An interesting and informative game night

Tonight we got back into the 2e game we started a few weeks ago, but there was a catch. Before we began play, the more experienced player was wondering if we could go back to 3rd edition/Pathfinder. My daughter, a newer player, was all for staying in 2nd edition. She says it is easier.  I was a bit shocked as I thought for sure that 2e would reign supreme at our table for the foreseeable future. So we discussed it and decided that Pathfinder would return as the default system. (BTW my daughter still prefers 2e, but says Pathfinder is easier to play than 4e, but not easier to learn.)

Everyone rolled up new characters and we pretty much put them in the same place of the campaign as the 2e characters. There were a few tweaks and on the fly changes made on my part, but it went well. This game was a bit rockier than the last, due in part to external interference, but was over all a fun night.

After we were done playing for the night, the more experienced player and I sat on the porch discussing the possibility of getting another regular group together and the people we could try to recruit. This led into a discussion about DMing and how I'd like to find someone to take over or at least share the responsibility with me so that I could run the occasional PC. This led to a discussion on DMing styles and here is where I managed to learn a thing or two about myself.

In our discussion we were talking about guys we know that can/do DM and what kind of DMs they are. DM "x" is big on dragons and finds a way to work them in every chance he gets. On the other hand DM "a" is really into vampires and the whole gothic Ravenloft type of game. DM "y" is all about the in town adventures and DM "b" always seemed to run things with a Forgotten Realms feel. These guys are consistent. They use the same basic monsters, the same settings and the same types of adventures.

"But how do I DM?"

Through self reflection and discussion I came to understand that I'm either very versatile, or I suck as a DM. My player said that while I like my zombies and mimics, I really do like 'em, I tend to throw every kind of creature into a game. It's almost a monsters of the week type of thing.

I'm more of the type that just wants to see how much crazy shit I can throw at a party. 4 or 5 Puzzles, a couple of traps, a living wall, a ghost, a zombie horde, a mind flayer, a flesh golem, a gelatinous cube, some green slime, a couple of mimics, a duregar patrol, an Ogre Mage and maybe even a kobold shaman to shake things up. That's just to get everyone's attention.

It is kind of weird that I throw so much and such a variety at a party since I never try to go for the TPK. If anything I'm too lenient on players and too generous with the loot. I sometimes, as I did tonight, have the monsters come in conflict with each other, with the PCs just being caught in the middle. To me that seems natural. Especially in a dungeon environment.

For example, the group was avoiding some "Romero" zombies when they locked themselves in a room they had found. They hear some talking outside and decide to check it out. A duregar patrol shows up to give them grief and makes so much noise that they draw the attention and are over run by the horde of zombies. The PCs barely managed to lock themselves back in the secure room and had to tough it out for 3 days before it was ok to venture out. Lucky for them they had just stocked up on provisions.

At some point we all use dragons and even the type of dragons we use says a lot about us. Most guys seem to like red dragons, others tend to include gold, silver and white. I've known guys who only use undead dragons. Me I've always pretty much stuck with green, black and blue. Black is my personal favorite, though I'm really fond of the blues too. If I use dragons those are generally the ones that show up. I'm also not as strict with their alignments. I've had black and green dragons that helped a party and gold dragons that were greedy and conniving.

I tend to be kind of gray with alignment for PCs too. While many other DMs are very strict about what a LG Paladin can do. Me, I'm open to discussion on the matter.

Something else I came to realize during our discussion was that I tend to run epic, almost cosmic campaigns. "The Five Towers" was a dimension hopping trip through various campaign settings and worlds. "The Temple of the Mad Elf", leads into a save the world before it is destroyed campaign. "The Keys to Oblivion", "The City Well" (aka "The Well of Doom"), and "The Town of Twilight" were all epic campaigns with potentially world shattering results. Even my smaller adventures like "Where's all the Beer" and "The Green Isle" were written to potentially lead to grander campaigns.

While I have run my share of small, one off adventures, I just tend to think big when it comes to my adventures. I think in terms of Crisis on Infinite Earths, Lord of the Rings and Star Wars when I plan them out. Perhaps it comes from reading too many summer comic book events and watching too many movies.

I also realized that I'm not a descriptive DM. I describe what you need to know, but not a lot of the smaller details, unless you ask. I need to work on that.
I also refuse to speak in voices and hate playing in groups that do that. I don't mind talking for a character (my character says..., he says... or I tell them...) but the whole dinner theater thing just isn't for me.  I can't do it and I just don't like it.

One of the more positive things I came to realize is my best setting to date is Eberron. I've run most of the D&D worlds (Dragonlance, Forgotten Realms, Ravenloft) and I can run them, but so far I've done my best stuff in Eberron. I connect with that setting for some reason. I get the whole pulp, pseudo-tech, steam punk feel of it. Just like my friend told me, in Eberron I tend to run more exciting, Indiana Jones style adventures. Sure they may still be epic in scope, but looking at the individual adventures, they tend to be more exciting and fast paced. All of the DMs we know seem to have their "specialty" settings and Eberron appears to be mine.

Now that we are going back to Pathfinder, though I have everyone in agreement that we'll revisit 2e again soon, I think I can get that same feel out of Golarion. I'm going to catch up on my Golarion reading over the next week and hopefully, find that same pulpy groove. I'm thinking about running the Serpent's Skull AP or at the very least borrowing heavily from it because of its Indiana Jones feel I think it might kick-start my creative motor.

Next week we're planning to play again with a bigger group. I'll try to share more then.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. My friend also mentioned how he would like to try out more of my games. If we get enough players he'd really like to get into some more Call of Cthulhu, d20 Modern, Hollow Earth Expedition, and Serenity. I'm really hoping I can fit some All Flesh Must Be Eaten, Mutant Epoch and a supers game in there too. Of course if that happens I'll be posting something about it.

Of the 52, not many seem popular

Over at Comic Book Resources they did a poll to see what fans thought of the 52 titles in the DC reboot. Even though I openly stated that I thought many of these books were destined to fail, I thought there would be more fan support for some of the titles.
If the results of the poll are any indication, fans aren't too keen on this reboot. Frankly the results are actually a lot more negative that I was about the DCnU, as it's being called. I think there were over 10,000 responses and although I'm sure many net dwellers responded multiple times (because they've just gotta do stuff like that), it still seems like the response is overwhelmingly negative.

I'm not against the reboot, or DCnU, but I'm also not falsely optimistic about books that just don't seem to have any staying power. Even though some of those books star characters I really like. I'm a realist and I know that many of the characters I dearly enjoy, just don't appeal to that many fans. No matter how much I prefer to read about Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, Firestorm, the Atom, Captain Marvel or Captain Atom, they will never sell as much as the 100 Batman books that come out each month. That's why their titles just don't last as long, if they are lucky enough to get their own title. That's also why those characters get shot in the head, sent to another universe, or have other terrible things happen to them as they get swept under the run and forgotten for a while.

I've already done a quick book by book analysis(even though it was probably one of my longest posts) so I won't do it again here. What I am going to do is share the books I intend to pick up. Which really isn't that many.

I'm definitely getting: (*note the items in bold are books where I've already paid my yearly subscription so I'm getting them in the mail until at least January regardless of the reboot)

1. Blue Beetle
2. Capt. Atom
3. The Flash
4. The Fury of Firestorm
5. Justice League
6. Justice League International
7. Legion of Superheroes
8. Legion Lost
   
9. Mister Terrific
10. Wonder Woman
11. Nightwing
12. Green Lantern
13. Green Lantern Corps
14. Green Lantern: The New Guardians
15. Superman
16. Action Comics
17. Superboy
18. Animal Man

I might try:  

1. Batgirl
2. The Savage Hawkman
3. Justice League Dark
4. DC Universe Presents
5. Grifter
6. Red Lanterns
7. Stormwatch 

As I've stated before I'm not a big Batman fan, but even I can be drawn in by the buzz. So I may give the two core Batman books a try. I definitely won't be buying any of the extra books like The Dark Knight, Batwing or Catwoman.

So I ended up with a list of 18 definite buys and 7 possibilities for a total of 25 of the initial 52. I'm willing to give about half of the books a chance. Of those 25 I'm betting only 1/2 will make it too far beyond the 1 year mark, if they last that long. Of course DC editors have already stated that the initial 52 are just the beginning. Other titles are on the way in the upcoming months. They aren't stupid. They know many of the initial 52 titles will fail.

Now I will resume purchasing Batman Beyond, which is supposed to be a relaunched later. I'll also buy the rumored Justice League Beyond book that I've heard mentioned if/when it comes out. Other than the ones I mentioned I don't plan on touching any of the other titles. Some just because I can't stand the characters (Aquaman) others because they just don't appeal to me (Sgt. Rock). It's a good thing I'm not a big fan of  Marvel books or I may have taken this opportunity to cut my DC purchases and pick up more Marvel. I wonder how many fans may end up doing just that?

There is one thing I am curious about regarding the reboot. I know that Green Ronin has been running pretty far behind schedule on the DC Adventures RPG. Could it be because DC is requiring them to take the DCnU into account? I haven't seen anything about it, yet, on the Mutants & Masterminds message boards (Atomic Think Tank). As a matter of fact I've hardly seen anyone discussing the reboot on those boards.

Now you can find tons of threads and posts about the reboot over at the CBR boards, the Paizo boards, and of course the DC message boards. I'm sure there are tons of other boards and blogs discussing the topic, but those are the ones I frequent the most.

My daughter's take on the editions of D&D and other RPGs

As I've mentioned a few times, I have been teaching my teenage daughter to play D&D. We started out with 4e/Essentials, dabbled in 3e/Pathfinder and are currently playing 2e AD&D.

Well, the other morning we were talking about some of my D&D books and I asked her which edition she liked better. She thought about it for a second and decided that she liked 2e the best. We haven't played Pathfinder enough for her to decide how well she likes it, so it is still an unknown at this point. She told me that 4e/Essentials was the "easiest to understand, but the hardest to play" and 2e was a little "confusing to learn, at first," (I think Thac0 is to blame here) but it was the easiest to play. She also said it was the most fun to play.

I asked her why and she said it was because there was so much to keep track of during play in 4e. Marking things and being bloodied and all of the powers and feats along with the skills, seems to feel overwhelming to her. She liked the fact that in 2e a fighter is just a fighter and doesn't have any "spells" (her words not mine) like they do in 4e.

Her explanation of this was that in 2e the character seemed like a real person and in 4e they seemed like superheroes. It was easier for her to " make-believe" she was the fighter in 2e. She was able to suspend disbelief and actually immerse herself in the character and events of an adventure.Where as in 4e she was always aware that it was "just pretend" and she felt as if she were just playing a game. One thing she did say in favor of 4e was that she liked the character generator (I still have the original, downloadable one on my Desktop PC) and she wished we had a good one like that for 2e.

Again Pathfinder is not really included at this point as she has almost no experience with the system. I'm probably going to wait until the Pathfinder Beginners Box comes out later this year before I seriously to get her into a Pathfinder game. I showed it to her and she seems to be really jazzed about playing it, but she wants to wait for the Box. Personally I think that the large core rule book has her a bit intimidated, which is understandable. Given her familiarity with the 4e Red Box, the Pathfinder Beginners Boxed Set seems the best way to introduce her to the game.

Besides 4e & 2e, she's been going through my other RPG books to see what she likes. So far she's intrigued by Rifts and Mutant Epoch, but she's not too sure she wants to play them. She thinks they are too complicated (too much math) and given that she's a new player, I'm inclined to agree. I may try running some simplified versions in the near future.

She has also shown some some interest in d20 Modern, but really hasn't given me a yes or no on that one yet. When I say d20 Modern I'm also including Monte Cook's World of Darkness, Etherscope, d20 Call of Cthulhu and all of the d20 Modern supplements (Future, Past, Cyberspace). I use all of those as d20 Modern sourcebooks and run it all as one game, so I could run anything from gothic horror and urban fantasy to post apocalyptic and pulp to space opera with  the same characters. While I wish the d20 Modern core had classes that were more similar to D&D than the generic ones that it uses, it is still one of my favorite systems. It is just too versatile.

I've been trying to get her into Hollow Earth Expedition because I love that system, but she seems kind of cold towards that one. I may try running a simple zombie game with the system and see how she likes that.

I'm also thinking about running All Flesh Must Be Eaten and Buffy. She likes zombies and she loves Buffy so those could be winners. As a matter of fact in 1st grade she had to write a paper about what career she wanted to pursue when she grew up and being a vampire slayer was what she wrote about. That's my girl. So Buffy may appeal to her and the system isn't hard.

I've shown her all of my retro-clones and she is adamant that see will not be playing them. She keeps saying that they seem to be "too old". I keep explaining that they are new games, that are just made to look and feel like old ones, but she's not interested. When we were having our D&D discussion I asked her about this and she stuck with the "too old" reason. She's of a mind that anything before 2e is just too outdated to play.

I tried pointing out that she is completely happy to play the original Nintendo and Sega Genesis, which were out before she was born, but that line of reasoning didn't take. She just responded that they were "different" and the same rules didn't apply to them. I even tried talking her into trying my recently re-aquired Expert rules or the Rules Cyclopedia, but both were a no go.

Hearing her and her cousin, whom I discussed this with over the weekend, both respond like this older editions and retroclones got me to thinking. It never really occurred to me how much presentation matters. Once you are a gamer, those books that emulate the books you remember from childhood, or that you have come to appreciate through experience, aren't likely to appeal to the younger generation. To them playing a retro-clone or older edition of D&D is the same as using a 1st edition ipod when all their friends have the current edition. Perhaps a better analogy would be to compare retroclones as a computer running windows 95 and 4e as a computer running Vista or Win7. I get a kick out of playing with an old computer so the older editions have some appeal to me, more so in curiosity/nostalgia than function, but the younger crowd doesn't have that frame of reference.

I remember my first Windows 95 computer, I remember learning D&D with the Expert rules. Revisiting those old games and having things that emulate that helps keep those days alive in some nostalgic way. For my daughter they just appear to be older and outdated versions that lack the fine-tuning and advances of the newer stuff.

How do I explain her liking 2e? I'm not really sure. Part of me things she remembers 2e because it was the edition we played when she was little. She's seen the books on my shelf her entire life and she has heard us talk about our old 2e games countless times. Even if she has just started playing it, she has a frame of reference and a familiarity with it. The same thing can be said for 3e/Pathfinder. Plus she knows how much I like it. Teens may often think their parents are idiots who don't understand them, but they still love us (most of the time) and want to like the things we like. Even if they don't always want to show it.

She may not take to 3e/Pathfinder system, but she sure knows about and likes Eberron, Forgotten Realm and Dragonlance. She's watched my groups enjoy many adventures in those worlds so they are familiar. Especially FR as we also played that in 2e.

4e is the newest kid on the block and even though she may like 2e better, she still likes 4e and would rather play it than a retroclone or older edition.

A pretty long post on the DCU reboot

**Originally posted as a comment on CBR. I decided to repost and expand upon that comment**

I have no real issue with the quasi-reboot. Some of the changes they apparently are making to some of the core/iconic heroes seems a bit odd, but if the stories are good, so be it. I'm not afraid of change and won't whine and cry if things aren't exactly like they've been for the past "x" amount years. I think the changes seem pointless and little too 90's retro, but I'm not going to start declaring this the first signs of the death of comics. If I don't like it, I won't buy it.

I was surprised by the choices of books in the first 52. I completely expected half of the line to be made up of Batman books so the 11 or so that are being released are no surprise. After all DC/WB doesn't seem to have nearly as much faith in their other characters.  Many of the 52 seem destined to fail within the first 12 months so I guess it will end up being a self fulfilling prophecy. There are just so many books and characters that just don't seem to have the staying power, outside of a few diehard fans, to keep a series afloat.

It's nice that DC is willing to try something different and attempt to grow awareness of their books/characters beyond Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman during their attempt to enter/create a new era, but they just seem to have made some odd choices. Why totally overlook the opportunity to re-invent fan favorite characters like the Marvel Family, the Atom & Blue Devil, among others, to focus on books and characters that don't seem to have that big or loyal of a following, such as Red Hood/Jason Todd?

While I'm sure there are people who are big fans of Jason, there rarely is a character that doesn't have at least a few fans (yes I'm talking about the 2 other Wild Dog fans out there), how does he warrant getting a position in the first wave of the reboot? Granted I can't stand Aquaman and I'm not a fan of Hawkman, but I know they have a big enough fan base and are recognizable enough to the general populace to have earned their place in the first wave. Though I do confess to being confused as to why the Atom got no love.

I understand and I don't think it is any real secret that the books/characters chosen are more than likely the ones that DC/WB believes hold the best possibilities of not only appealing to the younger generation of fans, but of also making the jump to other media (TV/Movies/Video Games/Action Figures). But I still can't believe they totally overlooked the Atom! He didn't even get a place on any of the Justice Leagues, but Hawk & Dove get their own book? WTF ?!!!??(for all you loyal readers "WTF" is the phrase of the day. Whenever you see it scream real loud.)

I don't think, under normal circumstance, that many of the titles in the initial 52 would make it to the 2 year mark before they were either canceled or went through another reboot/major overhaul. I honestly think that DC will try real hard to keep even low selling books among the initial 52 afloat. At least for a while. Otherwise they will have invested all this time and energy into something that will become known as DC's failed "Heroes Reborn" and I'm sure the suits @ WB won't like that much. Unless, of course, that's the plan. Maybe this really is just one big publicity stunt and everything will go back to normal in a few months. 

The Fury of Firestorm: I'm a Firestorm fan and I know there are quite a few other fans out there. However, I think the revised origin could turn some people off and kill the book.I hope I'm wrong and I'd love to see the character become one of the next gen iconic characters, but DC just doesn't do very well when it comes to straying too far from the idea that the entire DCU revolves around Batman and Superman, but mostly Batman.
My prediction: 24 issues

Captain Atom: I've been a Captain Atom fan since I was a kid, but I've got a bad feeling about this one. I think they are going to try to make him the Dr. Manhattan/Doctor Solar of the DCU and I don't think they will do it well.
My prediction: Unless they surprise me, I'm saying 12 issues.

Mr. Terrific: I actually like this character and applaud DC for picking him for a solo book in the initial 52, but I don't think he's compelling enough for his own book. He would have been a great addition to the Justice League or JLI.
My prediction: 12 issues

Aquaman: It's no secret that I have always disliked (hated) this character and could never understand his appeal (the same goes for Namor), but I also understand that he is one of the most recognizable characters outside of the big 3. I also know he has a fairly loyal fanbase so I'm betting this book will suck(I'm biased) but will stick around for a while.
My prediction: with a good writer I'm betting 36 issues.

The Savage Hawkman: I don't really like or dislike this character. I've always thought he was a bit boring, but had the potential to be cool. I actually kind of like him when he makes guest appearances, but I've never wanted to buy his solo books. I'm also betting this addition to his convoluted history won't be any better than his past books. I wish him well, but just don't see him lasting long.
My prediction: 24 issues

Justice League International: First of all I really became a comic fan/collector in the JLI era so I've been wanting to see this book for a very long time. However, the team that appears in this books just doesn't seem right. First WTF is up with Booster's outfit? It looks silly. I would rather see Animal Man than Vixen on the team. Also where is Blue Beetle, Captain Marvel, Mr. Miracle (Scott), Dr. Fate (he appears to even be missing from the magic books), Doctor Light and Captain Atom? I'm not asking for a return of the "bwa-ha-ha" league because I think that people forget the book wasn't originally about cheap laughs and slapstick. It was a really good superhero book that happened to have some really funny parts. The funny just took over once the book became popular.
My prediction: I hope, hope, hope this book is done well and lasts for a while (though I wish they'd get Batman off the team!) but I think this one will see lineup and creative changes fairly quickly. 36-48 issues.


DC Universe Presents: I love anthology series or ones that are basically a series of mini-series because they give lesser known characters that have fans but can't support a regular series a place to shine.Unfortunately these books don't seem to last long with current readers.
My prediction: 24 issues



Green Lantern: The New Guardians: I'm a long time GL fan and even I'm getting a bit burned out on the abundance of GL books and characters. It seems like GL is well on the way to reaching Batman status with 11 related books coming out each month. (BTW I don't read any Batman books. I have come to greatly dislike the character. Though I will pick up Nightwing) I know that the movie is coming out and they are trying to cash in on the hype around that, but really 4 GL related books?
My prediction: I'll try it and I might like it (Unless this is he John Stewart GL book then I won't make it past the 1st issue), but I'm betting I won't read it for long. 24 issues, just because of the movies.

Red Lanterns: Don't get me wrong the Red Lanterns are cool as hell. I love the idea of the color spectrum and multiple corps, but do we really need an anti-hero corps? These guys should be held in reserve for big GL story-lines and events. I think this is an example of too much of a good thing. Of course I'm a sucker and I'll be getting the first issue.
My prediction: I'm betting the Reds will play a part in one of the upcoming GL films so I'll give this one 36 issues.


Red Hood and the Outsiders: Jason Todd, didn't I call in to have them kill your annoying ass when I was a kid? Considering I could not stand this character when I was a kid and still reading Batman comics, I don't see me liking him any better now that he is an annoying anti-hero. What is this the 90's. I'm really getting that vibe with the costume designs and gun totin' heroes. I wonder if the 52 will come with alternate, holographic, chromium covers drawn by Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld?
My prediction: Considering that all of the Outsiders books have kind of sucked over the past decade or so, I don't see one starring a character that people actually paid money to have killed bucking that trend. 12 issues

Batwing: Really, Batman of Africa? While it would be great to see a book like this survive, there just aren't that many readers that are interested in characters from other cultures. DC just doesn't have any luck with these types of books. People in America, and it seems the rest of the world, want to read about American heroes. I think this stems from the fact that American writers and artists have a harder time accurately portraying characters from other cultures. Yet non-American creators seem to have a pretty good handle on how to portray American characters. He might work and become a favorite as a member of a team, but solo I just don't see this having any staying power.
My prediction: less than 18 issues.

Animal Man: I love the character and would love to see the book survive for a while, I just don't think it will happen. Thanks to Morrison's run on the character it seems that DC can't see him existing outside of the realm of the weird/vertigo realm. I want A.M. back as a superhero on a team. I don't want an attempted rehash of the Morrison run. I've already read and enjoyed those books when I was a kid. Still as an Animal Man fan I'll be giving this one a try.
My prediction: If the book is halfway good I think Animal Man has enough of a following to stick around for a while. However I'm saying 24 issues will be the max on this one. I just don't think there are enough of us fans to keep this one alive.

Swamp Thing: Few creative teams have been able to get Swampy right. I doubt this book is going to do it either. I think that this book will end up disappointing and alienating long time fans without bringing in new ones.
My prediction: With this one I will be optimistic and give it a maximum of 3 years, just because Swamp Thing does have a fairly strong fanbase. However, I will add that during the initial 3 years we will see them trying their damnedest to recapture the magic of the classic run

Justice League Dark: WTF?! The Magic Justice League with John Constantine??? That's just silly. First of all a PG-13 Constantine just seems wrong. The character has been R-rated for too long and he works in that environment. John is supposed to be the foul mouthed, chain smokin' bastard we all know and love. This is one of the few changes that I am whole-heartedly against.
My prediction: I think this one might make it 15 issues, but I'm betting 12 is too generous.

Demon Knights: A medieval magical Justice League...

My prediction: Less than 12 issues


Frankenstein, Agent of SHADE: Ummmm, no.

My Prediction: Less than 12 issues.

Resurrection Man: The original series was under-and I'd like to see it go for a while, but I just don't see it happening.
My Prediction: 18 issues

I, Vampire: "Hey don't the kiddies love vampires? Let's do a vampire book!"

My prediction: 12 issues if it is lucky

Voodoo: She was never that interesting in the first place. Books about female characters, especially ones that aren't that well liked, just don't cut it.

My prediction: Less than 12 issues.


Hawk & Dove: Hawk and Dove with Liefeld? What is this a semi-annual book? How long has it been since the last issues of Youngblood was published? Well at least they had feet in the promo images I saw.

My prediction: I'm betting this one will go no more than a six months before a new creative team comes on board and probably no more than a year before cancelation. So that should equate to about 3 issues if Liefeld stays on the book.


Stormwatch: I have high hopes for this one. I'm betting a DC version of an Authority/Stormwatch mash-up with the Martian Manhunter has the potential to be a great book. Very reminiscent of the JLU cartoon. But one of the things that people loved about the Authority was its edge and I don't think that will translate into the core DCU.
My prediction: 24 issues


Blackhawks: I don't see this one lasting long at all

My prediction: 12 issues

Sgt. Rock and the Men of War: I've personally always hated spy/war comics. I can't stand Nick Fury or Sgt. Rock, so my point of view on this one is too biased to be fair. I think there is an audience for this, but it is a very small one.
My prediction: 12 issues

All-Star Western: Again, I have never liked western comics, but Hex has some fans out there.
My predictions: I'll be generous and give this one 24 issues.


Grifter: I like Grifter and I think DC could possibly turn him into the Deadpool/Punisher of the DCU. I think they will fail miserably and piss off the few fans the character has, but if done right he could be a very popular character that would make a kick ass movie.
My prediction: 18 issues

Omac: Give me a break. This character/concept has always sucked.
My prediction: less than 12 issues


Blue Beetle: Granted I grew up with Ted Kord as the Blue Beetle. He's my #1 favorite superhero and I would really, really like to have him back.
However, I do think that Jaime is a decent character and I understand why DC thought the concept needed an update. Even though he reminds me of something off of Ben10 or some kind of Power Ranger, I can't deny that this version of the Beetle has the most cross over potential. A superhero kid with shape changing power armor just screams multiple action figures with tons of goofy accessories (Deep Dive Blue Beetle, Deep Space Blue Beetle, etc...)
My prediction: I'm gonna say 24 issues.


Suicide Squad: I've never been a fan of the Suicide Squad, but I know there are a lot of people who do like it. This one could have staying power, but I think it'll need some fine tuning in the first 2 years.
My prediction: This one could go for a while, but I'm betting 24 issues if they screw it up.
You probably noticed that I didn't say anything about the Superman or Batman books and that I left alone the core GL, Justice League, Wonder Woman and the Flash books alone. That's because those books are more than likely going to get published, in some form, no matter what. So instead of a book by book take on them I'm going to group them together where applicable.




The Batman Family: Given that the only Batman books I've really enjoyed in the past 15-20 years have been the ones starring Dick as Batman, I think it is safe to say that I have a fairly strong bias here. I won't be reading any of these books, except Nightwing and Batgirl, but I know that that Bat-books are some of DC's biggest sellers. With the exception of Batwing and possibly Batwoman I think all the Bat-books will do fairly well. At least for the first year or two.



The Superman Family: I'm not sure about the direction they are taking with Superboy in the reboot, but I know that Conner is a fan favorite and has a pretty good following. Supergirl is one of those characters that has a past almost as messed up as Hawkman. No one really seems to know what to do with her so they continually re-imagine her. I think the upcoming version will be too alien and fail.
Now for the white elephant, Superman. If the images we've seen so far are an indication of what to expect I'm not hopeful. I'm all for rebooting his origin, making him younger, making him single and redoing the supersuit. However, the 90's armored look that was recently released? That's just stupid. There are a million and one variations of the Superman look that are waaay better. Many of which we have seen on the JL cartoon or in Elseworlds stories. In the image I saw he looked like Superboy/man Prime. I'm hoping that is who was really in the image and it was released to throw everybody off and get us talking. You know how us fanboys love to bitch and moan about change. If so, good job DC, you got us talking. If it is really how the "new" Superman will look, I repeat it's stupid and won't last long.

Wonder Woman: This is character that much beloved but who can't sell a book for shit. There have been good runs of her book(s), but never a definitive run. WW never had a "Batman: Year One" type of run. There has been nothing that has truly defined the character and every creative team has a different (sometimes drastically different) approach to the character. There is no definitive Wonder Woman. She really needs that. I don't see the new book as being any different than they rest of them.


Justice League: The return of the "big 7" was expected. I was surprised by the addition of Cyborg, but then I thought about the fact that he appeared on Smallville, fills the "ethnic" void left by John Stewart/Vixen/Martian Manhunter (i.e. he's not white) and is a young, tech oriented character, it made sense. He is a good fit for a "younger, hipper" Justice League. Plus, if I remember correctly wasn't he part of the Superfriends in the old Super Powers cartoons? So I guess Cyborg has earned his spot on the league, plus he's not a bad character. I was disappointed that the Atom didn't make the initial cut and that Aquaman did, but that's life. Plus I'm not diggin' the 90's leather/armored look with collars and chin guards.


The Flash, Green Lantern, Green Lantern Corps, and Green Arrow : These were kind of no Brainers. Hal, Barry and Ollie have all died, come back and been reimagined before, so rebooting them isn't that big of a deal. Honestly Ollie kind of needed it after the last couple of changes in the character.

Teen Titans: Really? Robin has wings? Yeah its gotta be 1994 or he's watched too many episodes of G-force (Battle of the Planets). Wonder Girl's a criminal? Who's the Spider-girl and shadow person in the back of the image? Is that Obsidian or a new take on Raven? BTW, how did conner get a tattoo?

Static Shock: I'm actually surprised that this didn't happen sooner

Legion of Superheroes: The Legion Lost (legion members in present day) isn't really new and the current LSH seems to be doing well. They might make them younger, but I don't think they'll mess with them too much.

Now for the surprises, for me at least, regarding the reboot:

I can't believe that the Atom, Powergirl, Starman, Capt. Marvel (or the Marvel Family), Booster Gold, Mister Miracle (Scott Free), Hawkgirl, Manhunter (Kate), Blue Devil, Plastic Man, Elastic Man(and wife) and Stargirl didn't get anything in the reboot.

First I thought Booster's book was selling pretty well. It's one of my favorite DC books. Of course I'm biased as I was a Booster fan from the first issue of his original series. Is it because they think Booster can't support two books and decided to focus on the JLI?

Powergirl not being represented kind of worries me. I really enjoy her current book and have been a longtime PG fan, but I've got the feeling that her being alternate universe version of Supergirl may have put a target on her back. I think she may disappear until yet another alternate, non-kryptonian origin can be developed for her. Or else she will return to her status as an Earth-2 citizen and be removed from primary continuity.

Where's the Atom? He can be made younger, plus he's a tech/sci-fi kind of character. C'mon DC give the little guy a chance.

Starman and Stargirl both seem like perfect fits for the new, younger DCU. Why aren't they in the Justice League or Teen Titans? Why hasn't Scott Free returned and why isn't he on the JLI? Hawkgirl is more well known than Hawkman by the younger crowd since she starred in the JL cartoons. Why does he get a series and she gets ignored? If DC is doing a mystical Justice League, where the hell is Blue Devil? Everyone else is getting rebooted, why not BD? If there is a character that belongs on a supernatural JL, it is Blue Devil.

What the hell was DC thinking by ignoring the Marvel Family, especially Captain Marvel? If they are wanting to appeal to a younger demographic why leave out the long lived character who is a kid/teen that can turn into an adult and become the Earth's mightiest mortal. He's been around as long as the big 3(really it should be the big 4 and Captain Marvel should be considered one of the iconic characters), he once outsold and was more popular that Superman and Batman, and he has a loyal fanbase. Seriously, you dropped the ball big time on this one DC.

I hope that some of the overlooked characters will show up was that the JL since it will eventually expand to 14 members. I think that that more members could be joining the JLI too. Hopefully, the Atom will be added to one of the Leagues.

As for the same day print & digital release. I don't have an iphone or an ipad and I don't like reading comics on a computer, so I don't see this really affecting me. I'm one of the ones who wants to hold my comics in my hand. With print books I don't have to worry about the industry switching to another format down the road and thus making my entire digital collection obsolete and possibly losing it. Sure a natural disaster could cause me to lose my print collection, but in 50 - 100 years if nothing like that happens I'll still be able to take my old comics out of a box and enjoy them. If the current digital format becomes an unsupported format down the road, I'll either have to find a way to convert my entire collection or repurchase them all. Screw that.

Plus I don't like the idea of "renting" or purchasing the rights to view my comics. Even in the digital world I want to own my shit. I love my kindle, but that's one of the things that pisses me off. I also refuse to give up my physical copies of certain books. Lord of the Rings, Dresden Files, Mark Twain, Wheel of Time, I have them on my kindle, but I also have and will continue to purchase (in the case of the still ongoing series) the physical books.

If DC instituted a Netflix type of deal where I could read "x" amount of books for a monthly fee I might do it. Say DC says you can read 10 books per month online for $7.99, 20 for $9.99 and so on and you retained the ability to re-read the books you've already read without eating into your monthly allotment, I might go for that.

Basically you create an online "pull list" of the books you want to read for the month and they enter your library. You can change the list from month to month or read the exact same series each month. If they stayed with the same day publication it might be worth it. I would still buy my physical books and that won't change, but this option might entice me to read books I might otherwise skip. Take R.E.B.E.L.S for instance. I wanted to read that, but it never fit into my budget, so I never picked it up.

Nothing is going to replace my monthly Justice League, and Superman books. I'll buy them, my other DC books and the books I get from other publishers for as long as they're printed. I've been doing it for nearly 30 years, I like them and I see no reason to stop now. But for the books that I skip (Teen Titans, REBELS, Outsiders to name just a few) reading them digitally might be worth it to me. I'm not losing anything because I never would have bought the physical books in the first place. Unless one of my print books got canceled.

Well that's my take/rant on the DCU reboot up until this point. I may have something else to say as more information is released and I actually get to see the books. Everything I've said is, of course, my opinion and as you know opinions are like assholes, everyone has one.

I may be way off on everything I said and this could be an instance of me talking out of my ass. In a way I kind of hope it is, but I feel pretty confident that my lack of confidence in may of the series is well founded.

Kickin' @$$ and takin' their stuff: Introducing a new generation to 2e AD&D

It is memorial day weekend and I can think of no better way to spend it than going to the drive-in (Thor was awesome!!), grilling out and playing a kick ass game of D&D.

Saturday I ran my daughter and my niece (both of which are teenagers), and my former brother-in-law through a six hour 2nd edition AD&D game. It was one of the best games I have had the opportunity to participate in for quite some time and all of the players did a great job.

I am especially proud because it was my daughter's first time with 2e (4e Essentials is all she really knows) and my nieces first time playing an RPG. I also think I did some of the best DMing I've done in years. It has been a long time since a six hour game went by and everyone was still eager to play. Even though I could have gone another 3-4 hours I had to stop the game because it was getting a little late. So I am declaring this session a huge success.

After not playing 2e for nearly a decade I can't believe how easily I feel back into the old rules. Sure there was the occasional 3e/Pathfinder or 4e rule that slipped in by accident, but for the most part we had to make just a  few clarifications on things during breaks. The girls had no problem with THAC0, my brother in law and I did a fairly good job of remembering most of the rules and fell right into how we gamed years ago.

My daughter broke from her usual routine of playing a fighter to play a two-weapon ranger and my niece played the fighter. My brother-in-law played I psionicist Minotaur (house-rules) to add a little bit of extra muscle to the party of new(er) players.

I ran them through an adventure that mixed a little bit of the Abyssal Plague story that is currently running through the core D&D novels (they aren't great, but they are fun) with a little bit of your normal meat grinder dungeon crawl. I even threw in a dungeon level that was nothing but puzzles and riddles to mix it up.

The girls seemed to have a good time and even reminded me of myself and the gang I played with when I was around their age and just learning the game. For them it was more about getting lost in the imaginary world and having a good time than it was about rules and minutia. I can't speak for my brother-in-law but Saturday's game felt more "old school" than any game I've played in a long time and it had nothing to do with the edition or system. I actually can't wait to play again and that, to me at least, is what gaming is all about.

We plan to finish this adventure in a few weeks and then we are going to decide if we will stick with 2e or move on to 3e/Pathfiner. Honestly I'm perfectly ok with either system as they are my two favorites. I've talked my daughter into giving The Mutant Epoch, Call of Cthulhu and maybe even a supers game a try. So I'll end up running a solo game for her with those systems/genre. Who knows, if she does well I may even try running a Starblazer Adv. or Hollow Earth Expedition game for her.

However, I can't decide between DC Adv./M&M, Silver Age Sentinels, V&V,  or Icons for running a supers game. Personally I think Silver Age Sentinels (d20 version is ok, but I think the tri-stat version is better) is a bit under rated, and I'm really wanting to run it, but I'm leaning heavily towards Icons because of simplicity or DC Adv. due to familiarity.

Gone but not Forgotten

Back when TSR came out with Dragon Dice a few friends and I played it for a while, along with nearly every CCG that came out and 2e AD&D. Then life got complicated, games got put on the back burner and due to some unfortunate circumstance I "lost" most of my games and comics. (FYI, just because the judge says someone has to give you your stuff back doesn't mean that the law will do anything about it if they don't. Especially if that stuff happens to be comics and games.)

Recently I fond out that Dragon Dice is still alive and enjoying a small revival thanks to some devoted fans. Apparently a company called SFR bought the rights to the Dragon Dice and have been putting out starter sets and expansion backs. I bought a starter set and now enjoy the occasional game.

Once I found out that a game I thought was long gone was actually still alive and kickin', it got me to thinking about others. Games like Spellfire, Decipher's Star Wars CCG and Wyvern (Wikipedia entry) were ones that I enjoyed a great deal back in the day, but that, for one reason or another, are no longer officially with us. I know that Spellfire has been the butt of a lot of jokes, but my friends and I had a lot of fun with it and while it was a bit sad compared to Magic: the Gathering, I still remember it fondly. 

While I do not know of anybody that is still supporting Wyvern, it appears that Spellfire was turned over to the fan community and the fan forums appear to have been active as late as 2006. Fans created a program called Crossfire to enable online play and apparently there were a few more boosters released (have not confirmed this yet), but other than a few active fan pages it seems like there has been no noticeable activity over the past few years.

Of the other games I played back then not all are lost to memory, some are still thriving or at least surviving in one form or another. Everyone is familiar with Magic: the Gathering, Legend of the 5 Rings, the World of Darkness games (Vampire, Werewolf, etc), but I can't help wondering if somewhere out there others fondly remember the games of the 90's as fondly as I do.

Along with Spellfire, Wyvern, and Star Wars I would like to know if anyone else has games from the 90's that they remember fondly that are no longer around. I want to know if games like the Vampire/Jyhad CCG (I just found out that this was actually active till 2010), Rage CCG, Overpower or anything else (CCG or not) that I may have forgotten about from that time are still active anywhere out there.

If you are a publisher of one of the smaller or forgotten 90's games or if you happen to have any information about games from that time feel free to leave me a link in the comments.

I think I'm turning old school

One of my old players and I recently decided to try getting a regular gaming group going again. It may or may not work as we have done this several times over the past few years. It may last for two games or two months, you can never tell. Life has a funny way of interfering with my games.

Anyway this particular player was in the 2e group I joined over a decade ago so he is an experienced player and has been present in nearly every group I've been a part of over the past decade. As I've mentioned in other posts I've been waxing nostalgic about 2e for the past year or so and since the opportunity has presented itself I asked him if he'd be willing to return to 2e. Happily he was very enthusiastic about the idea and still has all of his old books.

Even though I'm in the middle of reading my new Mutant Epoch RPG book, which I'm planning to run for my daughter when school lets out in a couple of weeks (and maybe the new group, BTW I plan to have a review up for The Mutant Epoch soon.), but I've also been re-reading the 2e core books.

After getting through the core rule books and the creative campaigning book,  I've realized a few things
.

First of all 2e, using just the core books, is incredibly simple. Thac0 is the most complex part. I don't hate it as much as I thought I did, but I still like ascending AC and BAB waaaay more. Back when we made the switch to 3e it seemed, at the time, that 3e corrected and simplified so much about 2e. Experiencing the game now with a decade's worth of playing 3e & 4e, I honestly think that 2e is the more "simple" system. Sure there are issues, as there is with any system, but I made 3 test PCs last night, just for fun, and got each one done in less time that it takes me to make comparable characters using 3e/Pathfinder or 4e. Naturally I'm talking about using pencil and paper only. Throwing out a quick DDi Essentials character isn't the same.


Secondly I realized that 2e has some amazing supplemental material. Maybe even some of the best I've ever seen. Creative Campaigning, the Book of Villains, all of the Complete Books (Wizard, Necromancer, Fighter, Elves, etc), tons of great campaign settings and that's just the tip of the iceberg. I know there were some less than stellar books that came out for 2e, but what my group thinks is crap may be exactly what another group is looking for. Luckily just like 3.x, Pathfinder, and even 4e, you don't have to buy or use everything that is released. If you don't like it, ignore it.

I don't care if you're talking about 1e, 3e/3.5/Pathfinder, or 4e, there is something that was put out for those systems (or the system itself) that other gamers hated. I also think that 4e, and Pathfinder are well on their way to releasing just as much material (gamebooks, novels, fortune cards, battlemats/maps, minis, etc) for use with those editions as there ever was for 2e. As a matter of fact I bet if you combine the material from 3.x and Pathfinder there is at least as much of that out there (probably more if you include 3rd party material) than 2e material.  Don't get me wrong I am a devoted Pathfinderite, I thoroughly enjoyed 3e/3.5 and I like Essentials pretty well, but I also have to admit that I don't like everything that has been released. If you release enough supplemental product, you are bound to get some crap.

Also revisiting the system that was such a big part of my life from 15 till I was in my mid-20's has made me realize how much I miss it. The only system I've played as long as 2e was 3e/3.5 (now Pathfinder) and I can honestly say that despite any complaints I may have had with it, we had a whole lot of fun. There were some really great adventures had using 2e and I can't wait to try and recapture some of that fun. It may not happen and it may just be me getting old and nostalgic, but I'm going to give it one heck of a try.

Lastly I've realized that more than almost any other RPG product I want a 2e Rules Compendium or Rules Cyclopedia. A single 400 - 500 page book with all the updated, essential (no pun intended) information needed to play the game. Just like the original RC. I'd pre-order it today.

I personally think that it is crazy for WotC to continually ignore so many potential customers/sales. They are not going to win over all of the gamers who turned their backs on 4e. It actually seems as if they are trying to alienate and maybe even push away those of us that were willing to give 4e and/or Essentials a try.

As someone who trolls the blogs and messageboards regularly, I have seen a lot of people who were 4e supporters now saying they are fed up with WotC and/or the direction the game is going. There are also a great many gamers that decided to stay where they were and simply refused to cross the edition line into 4e territory. Some of us returned to older pre-3e editions or went to completely different systems. I don't care if you are on the pro or anti 4e side of the fence or even if you are in the "can't we all get along" camp like I am, you have to admit that 4e fractured the D&D community. I fear that 5e (if we ever see it) will be met with skepticism, at best, if not outright hostility because of 4e. Unless, of course, WotC does something amazing to pull everyone in.

While many gamers are very firm in their intent to not support 4e, that doesn't mean that everyone is unwilling to support WotC if they do something good. This is why I think that WotC would be wise to release Rules Cyclopedia versions of older editions.

$50 per books, smaller print runs based mostly on pre-orders and then sell them almost exclusively at conventions, gaming shops and online. Release them on a quarterly schedule (OD&D RC in Q1, AD&D in Q2, etc) and when they are gone that's it. I don't know about everyone else, but I'd love to have a 2e RC. Sure there will be some who say "I have the originals" or "I have retro-cloneX" or that will have no interest in them because they like the current edition/other system, but there are a lot of us that would be happy to have updated "official" material for our favorite editions. It's just my opinion, but I think it would be a good idea.

Of course this could all be for naught if the world ends today. So if that happens have a good Rapture.