Scott Ruggels

This is exactly the situation for the Solar system game. I have 6 players that are completely unfamiliar with the Hero System. as such we are using Espionage-Danger international to learn the system, because it is simple, and complete enough to run a heroic level game.

I was most familiar with their Hollywood Way location, sorry to hear it closed In other ways, do you think that screen based entertainment have killed miniature wargaming as a hobby? I am thinking it’s true due to labor ( painting and stands), and expense, that people play online now. RPGs I think are making their come back, for social reasons, even if it’s Roll20.

Common sense? what's that?

I have seen a lot of different game stores recently. The Last Grenadier in Burbank is where one goes for Minatures and "old stuff". They still have shrink wrapped rules sets 25-30 years old on the shelves. They also sell some model kits and have several very large open gaming tables for rent. The staff is a bit introverted, but helpful and are knowlegeable with minatures. However outside of D&D and some pathfinder, it's all miniatures rules and miniatures. the place is not well lit, has a stupidly high old style retail ceiling, and rbrything has a slight layer of dust on it. The Village Geek, in McPherson, Kansas, is very much following the trends of the Modern Game Store. Clean, well lit, and has snacks and drinks for sale, and rental tables available. It used to service some miniatures war games, but now primarily sells board games, and collectible cards. It has a fairly complete stock of Pathfinder, and D&D 5th edition.It also has a very short wall section of Fantasy Miniatures. It sells no back stock, or consignment, so everything you see there is supposed to be on the shelf by the manager's orders. The staff is very knowledgeable, and if it isn't busy, is happy to talk at length and answer questions. Recently they have started to buy and sell old video game cartridges , all in a glass case up fromt, and they do have a small selection of periodicals. There Operating hours are from 1pm, until Tooo late. And apparently they have a lot of folks come in after dinner to play. Tournaments are scheduled fairly often. Turn Zero Games, at the corner of Wilton and Wilshire BLVD. This is my FLGS, within walking distance. It's a clean, but dimly lit retail space in a strip mall. most of the space it taken up with rental tables at $2 a head. They rest is Cards, and Card supplies and a few board games on the front walls. Their trade is mostly cards, and card supplies, but they have a corner for Pathfinder and D&D books, vinyl mats, miniatures and paints. everything is well organized, if a bit sparse, but apparently the turn over for D&D books is such, everything still smells new and still has sharp corners. The staff is knowledgible, and helpful, and can easily be coaxed from their card game at the table next to the register. after 3PM, the place fills with card players looking for a game or two before going home to dinner, as the croud is mostly Junior High and High School students. It's next door to a Yoshinoya, and a Pollo Loco, but they still sell a few snacks and drinks. other than a few boisterous voices , the place is calm, quiet and well insulated. Hope this helps?

Yes, it would be. I play D&D, but I don’t run it.

Oh man, I loved that show!

Between boss fights and mental entangles, I would be hard pressed, as anGM, as to which one Inwould toss out of my game first. I admit I will occasionally use a boss fight, I don’t like them much. I like the idea of Mental Entangle even less. Perhaps it’s ancase thatnI tend to run heroic level exclusively, and generally have a low weirdness threshold in my games, that I am feeling most of 6th edition’s bulk is for theses dye cases, only seen in some obscure silver or Bronze Age comic once or twice.

Oh completely. It also would make sense if it was just stacked RPD/ RED. on top of normal for one of those frustrating, one offf Villains. The problem is it’s a new rule with a new Paradigm , that instead could have bee extra defenses on an activation.

Never had it in play. never used it as a GM (Damage reduction was my poison of choice). and it now seems like an excuse to argue. Not a fan of the mechanic, and "if you hit, you hit". seems like the fairest way to deal with it, So in future, Combat Luck will not be used in my games.

Yes, the more we know about the race, what it looks like, what it’s capabi are, the better we can develop the mechanics of what weapons are possible. If they have a prehensile tail, four arms, or flip cars like Humans flip tables, that will have far more importance, than their cultural overlay.

Spiderman: Into The Spiderverse won Best Animated Feature.

Well we had a "Church Militant", which while not actual Paladins, bore arms, could administer low justice,, protected church personnel, assets, and some buildings. They weren't numerous, but it was a career for Soldiers and mercenaries who had accepted the Grace of God.

the first season was technically inept, animation wise, and rushed (Done with banks of PC"s in a rented Hotel Room), and it was basically set up of characters environments and rules. Things really don't get going until the middle of the second season, where the "Web Creature" appears, and "mainframe" is revealed to be a very small fish in a very large Web. From then on it's a rollercoaster. (American Audiences didn't see the third and fourth season until much later, due to ABC being sold to Disney, and Disney murdering all product not produced by Disney, which also removed a couple of other science fiction shows I liked back then.)

I would have to respectfully disagree, in that I loved the old Package deals, in fact it's one of the reasons I am running the Solar System Campaign using the DI- Espionage rules. The switch is that I write the package deals, not the players, so that they will have a few to pick and choose from and it keeps things "tidy", at least for me. But then I am not a math nerd and sometimes hand wave the numbers.

Well we canter lao that, can we? I mean it's a bit obvious.

I will try to be there next year.

Critical success on Animal handler, becomes "animal Friend" for the animal was successful on? Congratulations, You now have the classic Cowboy Serial Sidekick!

Israel is going to the Moon https://mashable.com/article/spacex-falcon9-moon-lander-launch/#HzevCukk9ZqR

Chesley Bonestell documentary is being released soon. The artist that launched 1000 Space Careers: https://datebook.sfchronicle.com/movies-tv/visionary-space-art-pioneer-chesley-bonestell-celebrated-in-documentary

Well after some thought, it looks like the game is going to be using "Danger International" or "Espionage" rules. 4th edition may be too much, as all of the players are HERO Novices, so D.I. or Espionage, as set ups for a heroic Level game seems to be the best course to get the players up to speed more quickly. We don't need a lot of creation rules at the moment, but we need examples of "modern", combat. This also means I don't have to do a lot about the Roll20.net back end coding, because I can't code. But still working out other details, But this looks like the most expeditious way to get the others up to speed on HERO.

What about "The Archer: Fugitive of the Empire"(1981). I think that was the first time I saw a D&D like fantasy on TV that was not the Rankin Bass Lord of The Rings adaptation. "They won't hurt bow. Boat. Boat does not scream. "

I ave to say, i Looooove conversations like this. Thank you. Okay, backing up a little bit, the "ubiquuity" of supers before the "20 year mark" is easily explained. A.) They didn't seem ubiquitous because, prior to 1988=87, cable was a rarity, so the majority of Television were Three Networks, who's news broadcasts were national and international news. Supers would be, for the most part "Local News"< and even then, with the "If it bleeds it leads" ethos of journalism, Supers with a code against killing would not generate much "news". Also Newspapers would be generating mostly text, as photos before the mid 80's were small, and black and white. I remember what a shock it was seeing the Palo Alto Times, with a color photo on the Front page. Because of the old , pre-digital technology. Photos of supers would be quite rare, other than publicity shots, or photos of the destruction left in the wake of a super battle. This would be the same for Local TV News, which would arrive after the fact, again interviewing bystanders, and showing scenes of damage a little vaguely from beyond the police tape, in glorious VHS Standard Def. Hell, there may have been a regulation left over from the 50's "Agents" days that certain subjects were prohibited to be broadcast in detail, masking off any images of supers? With the rise of Cable, it wasn't long before the original CNN came about, and their big debut was the Tienanmen Square massacre, followed by the First Gulf War in 1991. The internet was still DARPANET in those days, and would not become the World Wide Web until around 1995. The Past is a different country. B.) the "Explosion" 20 years ago, is easily explained by the explosion of cameras on cel phones, and the creation and rise of social media. I would say that the more public face of Supers would have been in the wake of 9-11. As younger friends enlisted in the Marines after 9-11, I could see people with powers "stepping up". (but then to me, 9-11 still feels only 10 years ago to me.)

I would beg to disagree, but its off topic, and would become acrimonious. Dropping it.

Only thing missing was the mid court net.

I would like to advocate for heroes being more "active" between the late 1930's and the present. 1.) many of the "Action Hero" stars of the 1960's and early 70's were WW2 vets, people like Telly Savalas, Lee Marvin, Charles Durning, Kirk Douglas, and Paul Newman. This means that someone "activated' in the WW2 Time frame as a 20 year old would be in their 40's through the 1960's. Assuming a 30 year productive phase of their lives, this would mean they would be active through the mid 1970's, and retirement age would fall in the early 80's. (Like Commercial Airline Pilots trained as Bomber pilots in WW2, all retiring in the early 80's) Now, the Supers from back then seemed "slower", and in most cases less powerful than later generations, but many might have been around long enough to be inspirations or mentors to the next or following generation, even if their rep only extended to within their own family, or small town. They would be probably 200 pts at best back then, though most were competent normals with one or two "powers". I think after WW2, most of the Nazi Smashers would change careers, maybe raise families, But many of the civic minded would continue their public service as crime fighters, or government agents. 2.) Speaking of Government Agents, Through the fifties and early 60's were the Cold War, and the rise of organized Crime. Perhaps what was seen as a diminishment of "super activity" was instead a shift into more investigative, and covert action. so while there was the usual "Rescuing Kitty from a tree" type news stories and some supers assisting during times of natural or man made disaster, most of the work was in collaboration with state, and federal agencies to thwart the communist or Mafia threat. There may have actually been more activity than during The War, but a lot of it, was by people with Secret ID's working behind the scenes, and so the public didn't see a lot of it, other than perhaps a few splashy headlines and news reports about "Such and Such Crime Family"< being captured or involved in a battle at their compound with a Masked Hero. Otherwise, the 50's into the mid 60's would have been a comfortable time, and the Space Race making things more optimistic, as public attention turned to space. This is the time where you see the last of the huge construction efforts were made, such as mega bases and underground installations, as in following decades, environmental impact studies and regulations would put a throttle on size, as well as resource costs. 3.) I would consider the Vietnam Protest years to cause a break in the spirit of Civic service, coupled with the Malaise era pessimism and perhaps a sharp rise in liability, and other such legal challenges would make superheroes a bit more scarce. Court efforts, I could see as forcibly retiring many of the Old guard, leaving a bit of a vacuum. The counter Culture's effect, with the rise of the anti-hero in entertainment, and that 70's "Soft on Crime" sentencing, might give a rise in super villains, as well or at least the "mentors" of the current crop. Point totals may rise a little into the 225 range, but there were probably not that many active participants then. 4.) The Reagan years. (My high school and college years) with the rise of national Optimism, and the eventual demise of the Soviet Union, I would see would spark a rise in Superheroes. This also means that anyone that graduated high school, the same year I did, is 11 years away from social security, but their 30 year military retirement in 2012. I would say here is where we see a lot of the classic Champions Heroes and Villains start. People that started at this time, if still active are the senior members, and/or leaders of organizations and teams. Power levels probably would have jumped, one from the optimism of the time, and two the rapid advance in technology then. 5.) The Nineties is probably where most of the current crop of top tier villains got their start. 6.) Post 9-11, that was 18 years ago as of this writing, so heroes in their 20's and 30's got their start, influenced by then, or developed superpowers in the Military, during the budgetary flush years. One might start to see a few large megaprojects start after that (but contrast with how long it took to build the 9-11 memorial and the Freedom Tower, though, or even worse the two recent sky scrapers in San Francisco, on competently built, the other leaning precariously, giving an indication that building competence is not as common as it used to be.) So there will be bases build, but probably structures not too much bigger than a Fire Department Engine House. Power level might creep past 275pts, and up. 7.) Post Detroit Disaster Lots of heroes fell. Lots of Villains were "put down" by the few survivors, and some Retirees. The Detroit Disaster, coming only 10 years after 9-11, I would see as sharpening the attitudes of the Post 9-11 attitudes, though I can also see that it being an impetus to withdraw US troops from some overseas areas, to station them as a "ready reserve" in case something else big like that happens. This would be where new heroes, some mentored by retirees, start to assume the mantle of Defenders of Truth Justice and The American Way. I feel that the past is important. This is where you get a father's or grandfathers special Ring, or a trunk with an old costume and weapons. This is also where attitudes, of the NPCs and the public in general would be formed. Because of the constant presence of Superheroes, the Public will be accustomed, if not comfortable with them in their daily life, but even at their height, a random member of the public would encounter a Superhero about as often as they would a member of the county sheriff, or state police., maybe less. but because ot the media attention, stories within the family, or just a bit of reading, that not only is the public accustomed to the presence of supers, that those that have been given powers, have a set of cultural tropes, and steps to take, to step into the boots of their predecessors. But like mid range pop stars from decades past, their exploits fade into the background, the place where only the truly legendary still have cultural currency. From the 60's Everyone remembers the Beatles, but who remembers Tommy Roe? This also presents a source for some deep explorations and mysteries. I would say that looking back it would be periods of "Can do optimism", that spawned a resurgence of Heroes , and in the ebb tides, you might find more villains than normal, but on the whole, people only remember those that were either legendary, or had a direct impact on their lives. Thoughts?