Post originally by Scorpio Rising at 2004-03-05 08:32:52
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You mention that a lot of the NPCs seem derivative - the stand-ins for Dr Doom or Phoenix, for example.
It strikes me that this might be deliberate.
Since the mid '90's, a lot of comics have deliberately filed the serial numbers off of "classic" characters from other publishers so that they can write their own stories with them:
Kurt Busiek's Astro City is the classic take on this, where he's borrowed all the characters he wanted from DC and Marvel and given them enough of a polish to make them a bit different. And then, to be fair, he's introduced the main characters around them.
Alan Moore:
'60's Marvel lineup => 1963 lineup
Silver Age Superman => Supreme
JM Strazyncki (sp?):
JLA => Squadron Supreme, or whatever they're called now.
Warren Ellis:
Batman & Superman => Midnighter & Apollo
Pretty much all of 'Planetary'
I think in a game it's okay to take this approach too. The *point* of character pastiches is to show the reader how to stat up a character like Dr Doom, or Magneto, or Brainiac in the current system. The similarity should, in principle, allow the reader to get a handle on, "Okay, with a Magnetic Control of 27 this guy can sink submarines or hurl nuclear missiles into orbit."
Post originally by Buzz at 2004-03-05 08:45:42
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It's too bad that Pulsar has gone out of business... not that I thought they did a particularly good job of being businessmen, but despite my disinterest in buying the "special edition" (the art, setting, and many hundreds of pages of sans-serif font were a huge turn-off for me), I was really looking forward to their promised "standard edition," which was going to be BoH but minus all setting details... and hopefully better art.
I'd like to get my hands on MEGS. Hopefully, someone will purchase Pulsar and release a less aesthetically-challenged version of it.
Post originally by Richard Wells at 2004-03-05 11:03:13
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There is bad derivative and good derivative. Alan Moore's Supreme as commentary on Superman and changes in concept and creation team was very good. It's predecessor (the Rob Liefeld/Erik Stephenson Supreme where Superman has constipation so watch out!) was very poor. Blood of Heroes followed the second example: boring imitations of characters that are ill suited for use in many campaigns. Pulsar needed to have someone edit the submitted campaign material and either fix or toss the weaker parts of it.
Post originally by Mr. Helm at 2004-03-05 11:50:09
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Been bought out. Still exists. The new publishers are working on getting the previous stock of releases put out over the next year before starting on the Blood of Heroes 3rd edition.
Post originally by David at 2004-03-05 11:52:35
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I feel like I have a solid understanding of the MEGS system now, and it sounds elegantly simple in many respects, particularly how all measurements use the same scale.
I have seen Blood of Heroes (original edition) and agree wholeheartedly about the art. Unfortunately, bad art makes any game less appealing to me, so I don't think I could buy the book and enjoy the setting while ignoring the art. It would just taint my view of the setting, I think.
Post originally by Mr. Helm at 2004-03-05 11:56:58
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Blood of Heroes definitely had gaping holes in its characters, but they weren't that bad. While most were poorly named, they did do a decent job of making characters that showed the system at work.
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