System Mania!

So as those of you who have been following this blog know I plan to release villain roster books for BASH Ultimate Edition, ICONS and Mutants & Masterminds 3rd Edition.

I had hoped to do Villains & Vigilantes, Champions and a couple of others, but in the end they either never got back to my request, or I didn't like their licensing deals.

But...

You also know that I plan to post up Zenith Universe heroes for free on the website, so there need be no licensing issues as I believe it falls under the provisions of "fair use".  Please correct me if I am wrong on this one.

So what systems would you like to see heroes statted up in?  The above three are a given, plus V&V and Champions.  I was also thinking 4C and SAGA as well.

Any others?

Cheers!

Mighty Super Heroes! or Excelsior! ?

This is the question.

I have promised to do a retro-clone this year of MSH Classic (FASERIP for those who remember) in response to my feelings on 4C. Yes I wasn't very impressed.

Now over on Grognardia there was some talk about MSH Classic today and I posted about this. Naturally I posted about my plan to do this and how I wanted to call it "Mighty Super Heroes!" Get it? M-S-H?

Anywho, an upright citizen named Delta reminded me and everyone that Marvel and DC hold the trademark on the term "super hero". Now while I don't fear that they would come after me for a "free" project, nonetheless anarchist (yes I see the delicious irony in that) suggested calling it "Excelsior!" instead. I like that too.

So what do you think folks? What are you thoughts on title?

Comment please :)

To Public Domain or Not to Public Domain.

In my preparation for this campaign, I have managed to score permission to publish roster books or heros and villains using the BASH! system (I also intend to make versions for Superlink M&M and possibly 4C). This has allowed me the freedom to pour over the volumes of old campaign documents I have collected this past 25 years, as well as scour the internet (what did I do without it for all those years?) for inspirations as well.

Imagine my surprise to find this;

Public Domain Superheroes!

Yes a public domain heroes (and villains) wiki.

This site is fantastic and it focuses on the concept of heroes & villains who have not had their original copyrights renewed and as such have lapsed into the public domain.

Many are surprising, such as the original Blue Beetle (no not the Charlton one that DC now owns) as well as interesting characters like the original Wonder Man (and Wonder Boy) and such luminaries as Captain Atom (again a very specific early version).

For those who have read Project Superpowers or Terra Obscura, you have seen how these characters can be used, updated and even modernized a wee bit.

The tricky part is the trademark stuff. You have to be careful not to seem like you are trying to confuse people into thinking yours is the same one being published by DC or Marvel or whomever. That said, it seems to me that despite the fact that a lot of the modern copyright laws were modified to protect Mickey Mouse, the end result is not that DC or Marvel would think I am trying to pass off my Blue Beetle as their Blue Beetle, but instead that they simply have large law firms and I don't.

Still with some cleverness it can be done. For example on the original Blue Beetle;

"After his father was killed by a gangster's bullet, young Dan Garret joined the New York Police Department, but he soon tired of the slow pace and red tape of police work. He donned a blue three-piece suit and a white mask and established a costumed identity, fighting crime as the Blue Beetle. He had no powers, but he used a gun and a wrist-mounted mini-radio to get an edge on the criminals he was fighting. His calling card was a small beetle-shaped marker that he left in conspicuous places to alert criminals to his presence, using their fear of his crime-fighting reputation as a weapon against them."

See the a comic page here!

Now to me that is a much more interesting Blue Beetle than yet another spandex clown with super powers. I like the Dick Tracy aspects of this guy. Your mileage may vary, of course.

So I continue to ponder this topic and see where it takes me, but I must say that I am intrigued. Please feel free to share your thoughts on the matter.

Zenith Comics Presents: Ultimate Guardians

Well the die is cast and I am underway working on my Ultimate Guardians campaign. There has been a lot of enjoyment in my mind of working out various things and such.

The question of system is still up for debate (my declaration of BASH as a winner earlier may have been a bit premature) and it seems the old FASERIPer is in the running, but maybe as 4C. I will know as soon as I start to write stats down.

I have also teamed up with my buddy Longbow from the Super Buddies forums and he has started doing some art for me in the Bruce Timm style from the DCAU.

The first piece up is my old favourite, Lady America;

This is an old costume of hers and not her final look for sure, but it was nice to see her come to life in the first costume I ever designed for her!

While she isn't a Guardian at the start of the campaign, she will be an ally of them team.

The characters (no art yet) are as follows;

Galvanos - A Japanese Robot in the Shogun Warrior style controlled by a handicapped Japanese youth.

Max Plastic - A smart mouthed former-crook-turned-hero who can stretch and shape himself into almost anything.

Kestrel - An angry young mutant with the looks of an angel. His temper is legendary.

Traxx - A speedster who embraces all the traditional stereotypes about speedsters.

Zero-G - An ex astronaut turned superhero with power over gravity itself. A southern gentleman.

Arrow - A soldier/archery expert with hand-to-hand skills to match. He is secretive about his past.

Cascade - A mutant aquatic woman form Australia who studies marine biology and is at best a relunctant hero.

Now the game will be set in Capitol City, which I am going to do an big overhaul of. I am going to make it sort of a Chicago of the East, more on that later.

The big trick to the game is this. All the characters are from the older campaigns I have run, but this time it won't be the player who made them playing it. For example, Galvanos' player won't be playing Galvanos, etc... Really shaking it up.

More as it develops