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Just wondering in your game world do you have the main stay comics (and comic book movies) exist, ie can you PC's go to see batman v superman etc or do you not have that stuff around so players can make "the batman" etc.

In my world DC comics are around as comic books but marvel is not as my players like to run marvel like character (I have a cool kinda spiderman character in a game right now) just wonder

I don't tend to run comic book characters in Heroes, mostly because the power levels can be wildly incompatible. It tends to REALLY hork off the players that they really can't roll up characters in line with the power levels of Marvel or DC by the HU2 books.

On a mildly related note, DC and Marvel ciomics are (or were at one point) canon to be comic books in each others' universes.

I tend to have stuff like comic books and movies and stuff be around in my game...
...I just have it that there is a lot of licensing and the like.
So if you popped into the world of my C.A.P.E.S. game and grabbed a stack of comics at the local comic book shop... you would find bat man, and avengers, and stuff...
But several of the characters would be 'Anthro's' not human (to match the local demographics). You might read about the latest X caper... in century city, there are comics based on known heroes (and villains) past and present, etc.

This makes it so I don't have to stop the game every time someone wants to make some sort of pop cultural reference, but on the same note I don't have to be up to date on every comic book... as it could just be different or what ever.

Depends on which dimension the party is in.

Rifts Earth is prime, but i will say fighting the dreaded King Quesadilla was truly epic

dragon_blaze_99 wrote:Just wondering in your game world do you have the main stay comics (and comic book movies) exist, ie can you PC's go to see batman v superman etc or do you not have that stuff around so players can make "the batman" etc.

In my world DC comics are around as comic books but marvel is not as my players like to run marvel like character (I have a cool kinda spiderman character in a game right now) just wonder

I've tended to let them be in the universe but I've also not made references to it unless a player directly asks about it. Granted I've taken an idea from a Web Series that deals with heroes and did have a Government sponsored team make a character change his name and costume due to Cease and Desist letter from Marvel Comics saying that they owned Moon Knight and the fact that he had a sword didn't make it different enough even if he also had powers.


Daniel Stoker

Kind of why i always started playing a cyborg. You can apart then to fit just about any setting.

Daniel Stoker wrote:

dragon_blaze_99 wrote:Just wondering in your game world do you have the main stay comics (and comic book movies) exist, ie can you PC's go to see batman v superman etc or do you not have that stuff around so players can make "the batman" etc.

In my world DC comics are around as comic books but marvel is not as my players like to run marvel like character (I have a cool kinda spiderman character in a game right now) just wonder

I've tended to let them be in the universe but I've also not made references to it unless a player directly asks about it. Granted I've taken an idea from a Web Series that deals with heroes and did have a Government sponsored team make a character change his name and costume due to Cease and Desist letter from Marvel Comics saying that they owned Moon Knight and the fact that he had a sword didn't make it different enough even if he also had powers.


Daniel Stoker

In the Spinnerette webcomic the title character ran into that from Marvel as she used 3 Venom Halloween costumes to make her first costume as well as one female character who ended up retiring only to later return as Super-Milf (her original costume had a Power Girl style cleavage window so DC sued saying she looked too much like Power Girl solely for having the cleavage window and being hyper-busty as a result of her powers) due to the C&D she got.

I completely forgot they did that, but yeah that is another example of it.


Daniel Stoker

wyrmraker wrote:I don't tend to run comic book characters in Heroes, mostly because the power levels can be wildly incompatible. It tends to REALLY hork off the players that they really can't roll up characters in line with the power levels of Marvel or DC by the HU2 books.

On a mildly related note, DC and Marvel ciomics are (or were at one point) canon to be comic books in each others' universes.

the question wasn't about running DC or marvel characters in HU2, but rather whether the DC and marvel comic book lines existing in the HU setting.

for example, my Guy in a game that started up recently, Tyr's Hand. could he go into a comic book store and buy and read the latest DC superman comic issues? or the Avengers?

and this would extend to the other media too. is Disney making marvel comic's based films in your HU? is Batman VS Superman the latest big release? did City of Heroes exist, and does Champions Online exist? etc.

and if the answer to those is "no", what did you replace them with? do the HU NPC heroes and villains have comics about their exploits, so they can read fictional stories about their heroics? do they have movie deals? or are the superhero comics a largely subsumed by all the other genre's due to the real thing existing in the world?

glitterboy2098 wrote:

wyrmraker wrote:I don't tend to run comic book characters in Heroes, mostly because the power levels can be wildly incompatible. It tends to REALLY hork off the players that they really can't roll up characters in line with the power levels of Marvel or DC by the HU2 books.

On a mildly related note, DC and Marvel ciomics are (or were at one point) canon to be comic books in each others' universes.

the question wasn't about running DC or marvel characters in HU2, but rather whether the DC and marvel comic book lines existing in the HU setting.

for example, my Guy in a game that started up recently, Tyr's Hand. could he go into a comic book store and buy and read the latest DC superman comic issues? or the Avengers?

and this would extend to the other media too. is Disney making marvel comic's based films in your HU? is Batman VS Superman the latest big release? did City of Heroes exist, and does Champions Online exist? etc.

and if the answer to those is "no", what did you replace them with? do the HU NPC heroes and villains have comics about their exploits, so they can read fictional stories about their heroics? do they have movie deals? or are the superhero comics a largely subsumed by all the other genre's due to the real thing existing in the world?

Ah, I see where I misread that. Many apologies.

And no, the fictional superhero genre doesn't tend to exist in our games. Our regular PB GM "didn't read those comics growing up". And yet HU is his preferred setting. I try very hard not to consider the connotations underlying that.

In a general sense, yes it more convence than anything. Granted there are lienced comic books in my world as well as heroes tell adventures they have in summery and the writer and artists create those battle, they are often labeled inspired by even when heroes have direct control. As a result some Villians do the same, and occationally comic book writers and artist are kidnapped by villians that are bothered by the images those comic have potrayed those villians.

Nightmask wrote:

Daniel Stoker wrote:

dragon_blaze_99 wrote:Just wondering in your game world do you have the main stay comics (and comic book movies) exist, ie can you PC's go to see batman v superman etc or do you not have that stuff around so players can make "the batman" etc.

In my world DC comics are around as comic books but marvel is not as my players like to run marvel like character (I have a cool kinda spiderman character in a game right now) just wonder

I've tended to let them be in the universe but I've also not made references to it unless a player directly asks about it. Granted I've taken an idea from a Web Series that deals with heroes and did have a Government sponsored team make a character change his name and costume due to Cease and Desist letter from Marvel Comics saying that they owned Moon Knight and the fact that he had a sword didn't make it different enough even if he also had powers.


Daniel Stoker

In the Spinnerette webcomic the title character ran into that from Marvel as she used 3 Venom Halloween costumes to make her first costume as well as one female character who ended up retiring only to later return as Super-Milf (her original costume had a Power Girl style cleavage window so DC sued saying she looked too much like Power Girl solely for having the cleavage window and being hyper-busty as a result of her powers) due to the C&D she got.

Thank you for totally turning me on to the Spinnerette online comic- I enjoy reading it and it's a nice departure from everything be grim and end of the world - the characters can laugh at themselves and be human.

you should check out Grrlpower then.. has a lot of the same vibe, only with more metahumor and snark as well.

http://grrlpowercomic.com/archives/48 <first page. though the actual main story doesn't start up until after the prolog ends 5 pages later.

the main character is a a comic-book geek and runs a store. in their world the hero genre is fairly crowded, due to superheroes actually starting to show up and thus creating interest. mainly because there aren't many costumed heroes, most find jobs in the private sector or government. they give an example of a guy who can fly, who works as a search and rescue person, saving stranded hikers and whatnot.


in PS238 (also a fun one with a lot of humor, focusing more on "the next generation of heroes and villians.. who are still in school), hero comic books exist, though they leave the exact content vague. probably because the author is using some parodies/inspired-by characters using a mix of DC, marvel, etc. though i do think it is implied that the hero teams in that world have contract deals for things like comics based on their adventures.
first page: http://ps238.nodwick.com/comic/12072006/

fbdaury wrote:

Nightmask wrote:

Daniel Stoker wrote:

dragon_blaze_99 wrote:Just wondering in your game world do you have the main stay comics (and comic book movies) exist, ie can you PC's go to see batman v superman etc or do you not have that stuff around so players can make "the batman" etc.

In my world DC comics are around as comic books but marvel is not as my players like to run marvel like character (I have a cool kinda spiderman character in a game right now) just wonder

I've tended to let them be in the universe but I've also not made references to it unless a player directly asks about it. Granted I've taken an idea from a Web Series that deals with heroes and did have a Government sponsored team make a character change his name and costume due to Cease and Desist letter from Marvel Comics saying that they owned Moon Knight and the fact that he had a sword didn't make it different enough even if he also had powers.


Daniel Stoker

In the Spinnerette webcomic the title character ran into that from Marvel as she used 3 Venom Halloween costumes to make her first costume as well as one female character who ended up retiring only to later return as Super-Milf (her original costume had a Power Girl style cleavage window so DC sued saying she looked too much like Power Girl solely for having the cleavage window and being hyper-busty as a result of her powers) due to the C&D she got.

Thank you for totally turning me on to the Spinnerette online comic- I enjoy reading it and it's a nice departure from everything be grim and end of the world - the characters can laugh at themselves and be human.

You're quite welcome and glad you found it so enjoyable (although that Glass storyarc was definitely a dip into the grim and angsty side of things).

glitterboy2098 wrote:in PS238 (also a fun one with a lot of humor, focusing more on "the next generation of heroes and villians.. who are still in school), hero comic books exist, though they leave the exact content vague. probably because the author is using some parodies/inspired-by characters using a mix of DC, marvel, etc. though i do think it is implied that the hero teams in that world have contract deals for things like comics based on their adventures.
first page: http://ps238.nodwick.com/comic/12072006/

Heroes, particularly groups, tend to engage in quite a bit of marketing (Tyler's parents and their super-group have among other things a toy line marketed through the McDonald's expy including watches with built-in games for solo and competitive wireless play) in the PS238verse. Many groups and solo heroes have ended up becoming too much like Captain Amazing from Mystery Men or the premier hero groups from the Specials, too worried about corporate endorsements and marketing their toy lines. If you're rated good enough though you can get government funding with the strings involved depending on your level. Apparently level 2 funding is so good it was enough to sway a hero to leave his group and join a new one being set up (level 1 you need a spaceship at a minimum) as being a super-hero was how he paid his bills and he wasn't going to switch without a really good incentive.

I'd say yes, they can exist, but usually I would just let them be what they are: printed and published material that may or may not inspire characters into being a superhero/heroine. It's true that most PCs want to be the Iron Man/Superman/Hulk types but the Palladium Megaverse isn't really built that way. Besides, if one bothers to read the earlier issues, they'd find that Iron Man started out in a scrap iron suit that used magnetism, the Hulk was weaker and started as grey, and Superman did get uber-powerful but he had been stripped down dramatically by being killed by Doomsday and resurrected by the Eradicator.

There is a adventure hook in the back of Century Station that has villains hitting a comic convention, so it's established in the HU world.

glitterboy2098 wrote:[qdid City of Heroes exist, and does Champions Online exist? etc.

"PHOENIX WRIGHT, ACE ATTORNEY!!!!"
That, and Lawyers and Secretaries Online, the Game of Mundania.

"THESE DICE ARE RIGGED!!!!"
"Face it, MegaMenace, your Office Boy character gets lost between the parking lot and the mail room. Either quit whining or roll up a new character."