Sand Zones, Star Scepters, And Pharoid's Legacy

SO...looking back over my old blog posts, I thought for sure I'd mentioned my love/fascination with Micronauts somewhere. Clearly this isn't the case. I suppose another dive into my personal history is necessary.

My earliest memories of Micronauts are, of course, the toys which for several years (I'm guessing 1977 to 1980 based on release dates) would inexplicably appear beneath my Christmas tree on Christmas morning.

I say "inexplicably" because (as far as I can remember) I never asked Santa (or my parents) for a Micronaut toy ever (at least, not till the very final series) and they were largely off my "kid radar;" I didn't see ads on TV for them (Saturday morning cartoons had not yet started marketing toys via serial tie-ins to children), my cousins/friends didn't own them (so far as I knew), nor did I ever see them in the stores (not that I frequented these regularly as a small child).  In later years, following the first batch's appearance on Christmas morning, my brother and I, now familiar with them, would sometimes pore over the Sears "wishbook," divvying up which Micronauts each of us would eventually own (as we did with ALL toys appearing in such catalogues)...but we never went so far as to actually LIST these, so far as I can recall.

Typical Micronaut
Antagonist

As a matter of fact, this led to tears (on my part) one Christmas morning when I received a Galactic Command Center and my brother received a Star Wars "landspeeder." While the Micronauts base was, by far, the more interesting and useful toy of the two gifts, all my young mind could process was the fact that my brother had received a Star Wars spaceship...and I had not. Where was my tie fighter? Where was my X-wing? Ah, well, I did get over it (even the same day) as children do, and while I have immense affection for all the Star Wars toys and action figures I received over the years of my childhood, the Micronauts, in retrospect, are far more interesting. There are many times I've thought that I'd wished I'd been a bit older when they'd been released so that I'd appreciated them more.

Then again, if I had been older would they have gotten so tightly woven into my subconscious imagination?

If you had asked me, as a child, which was my favorite Micronaut toy EVER, I would probably cite the last one received: centaurus, with his laser crossbow and glow-in-the-dark (removable!) brain. That's a figure I absolutely wanted and asked for...even saw it on a store toy rack before Christmas. And even today, it's still solid...one of the coolest action figures I remember owning. But two other figures stand out as being exceptionally loved and played with by Yours Truly. One was the (original) Acroyear, whose dagger I managed to retain for years, despite being of the age when one loses accessories right and left. The other was Pharoid and his Time Chamber which fascinated me endlessly. I took it with me to Christmas morning Mass (the only toy I ever treated with such reverence) and recall spending long hours just...fiddling...with the thing. Opening the tomb. Putting him in the tomb. Taking him out. Repeat. What was the story of this guy?

Such a weird toy.

[if I had to guess, the Egyptian motif probably had much to do with the fascination. The King Tut exhibit traveled to Seattle in 1978, and was another momentous experience in my formative years]

But regardless of childhood toys, it was the Marvel comics written by Bill Mantlo that really cemented my love of the Micronauts.  I am 99.9% sure I started reading Micronauts with issue #34 (circa 1981) in the middle of the whole "Enigma Force" storyline (guest starring Doctor Strange!). I mean, talk about starting with a bang: mysticism, magic, super science, alien species, drama, betrayal...and, of course, a murderous band of gunslinging adventurer-heroes...all in the desert environment ("Sand Zone") of Aegyptia, with its towering tomb monuments, said to house the giant ancestors of the Microversians.

In addition, there was also Pharoid and Acroyear, Force Commander and Baron Karza. 

Well, whatever. I collected more than a few of the comics during its 50-some issue runs, including several of the back issues...mostly ones that were Micronauts-specific rather than crossovers with the X-Men and such. See, I wanted stories steeped in the lore of the specific IP, strange as it was, weird as it was...and, often, quite "dark" in nature (considering the concept's origin as a children's toy line). Some of those body bank stories...brr, frighteningly gruesome. A lot of body horror in Ye Old Micronauts, even the first issue of "The New Voyages" (the last issue I ever purchased, summer of '84) when protagonist Commander Rann was forced to sever his own hand at the wrist. 

[and people wonder why I like to make player characters suffer...]

Okay, okay, enough with the nostalgia: why am I writing about the Micronauts? Well, the last few days I've been working with the Desert of Desolation module series (I3: Pharaoh, I4: Oasis of the White Palm, and I5: Lost Tomb of Martek), seeing if there is some way, somehow, that I can twist them into something fun and functional for use in my own D&D campaign.  After all, they ARE just sitting there on my shelf, and I have fond memories of them as a child. Plus, they seem to be...more or less...in the proper "level range" for my current batch of players.

Mm. I won't lie. They're all pretty bad. Or, maybe, "inconsistent" is the operative word. Take Martek, for example: it's got some pretty cool ideas in it. The Cursed Garden. The Abyss. The Moebius Tower. But it's a real stinker of an adventure...just really poorly designed and fatally flawed in several gross ways (the Skysea is AWESOME...but it also one of the easiest TPKs I've ever seen in a TSR module). As well, it is just...missing...stuff. Things to do. Monsters to fight. Places to explore...in a non-linear, nor railroad fashion. There are several "here's a place that the DM can develop...so long as it doesn't PCs too long from the story being told" instances. Why the heck not? Because we're in such a hurry to get onto the next story? 

[probably...considering the absolute dearth of requisite treasure levels in these modules]

SO...interesting concepts/ideas, poor-to-terrible execution...and as with my analysis of I6: Ravenloft, I find that a LOT of this adventure would work just fine for LOWER LEVEL CHARACTERS. There is really nothing "mid-level" about this adventure, save that all the Hit Dice of encounters have been pumped up...to no good end.

FOR EXAMPLE: You don't need these unique "noble class" djinni and efreeti...a normal 10 HD efreet with max hit points would work JUST FINE for characters of levels 3 to 5 (remember also that the MM specifically says there are noble djinni with the same HD as an efreet). You don't need all these 4 hit dice dervishes and air lancers...just make them standard dervishes and nomads of the MM. And these new undead? They're just 8 and 10 hit dice NOTHINGS that cause fear and hit for 1d10 points of damage. Just what the hell are we playing at Hickman? It's not like the treasure count justifies a party of 6th - 8th level!

And remember that whole post about how much water you need to carry? In AD&D (the edition for which these adventures were...ostensibly...written) a cleric receives the create water spell at 1st level. By 5th level (the minimum suggested level for I3: Pharaoh), a cleric with a 16 WIS can cast five such spells per day, each casting conjuring 20 gallons of water per day...enough for some 25 humans. As with my review of I6: Ravenloft, it appears that Hickman's design assumptions are based on an earlier rule set (in OD&D, only a 6th level bishop can create water...and doing so leaves the character without the ability to neutralize poison, cure serious wounds, or cast protection from evil 10' radius). 

[side note: when I ran the Desert of Desolation series in my youth, the party tackled it withOUT a cleric, making the adventure considerably more difficult]

*ahem*

SO...the modules are crap, but they're crap with interesting bits. They're railroads and poorly stocked, but they've got a bunch of maps that ain't terrible. So when I think of how to fix them...to take their interesting bits, and make them both playable and (if possible) more interesting...I keep coming back to the Micronauts and those images from my youth: Giant, upright sarcophagus-tombs. Ancient tech/magic lost centuries before. Techno-bedouins riding giant, domesticated "ostras" (think: axebeak) against horse-headed "centauri" (re-skinned centaurs) in tribal warfare. And somewhere, lost in the sands, a laboratory-temple housing the ghost of Baron Karza, waiting to be resurrected and resume his conqueror's ways.

Lots of ways to spin and 'skin this thing. And probably a lot of ways to do it in a way that doesn't require a large group of mid-level characters. A post-apocalyptic, desert wasteland concealing generational secrets buried beneath riddles, legends, and sand. Sand and blood and treasure. Dig it.

Who needs "Sambayan air lancers"
and "Thune dervishes?"

Star Wars Toys

I'm turning something D&D-ish over in my mind and will (hopefully) have up a post about it later today. Oh, and I've got football on the mind (of course), and have a bunch of "play reports" (with photos) from stuff my boy and I were doing over the weekend. But I just wanted to make a quick mention about the new Star Wars film.

About a week ago, I was in a Paraguayan toy store and got to check out the new Star Wars 7 sets for Lego. This was interesting to me because, A) I periodically check up on the SW7 news and hadn't heard anything about these, and B) the sets themselves and the characters that came with 'em. Oh, and C) the fact that they seemed to be actually be real Lego sets.

I don't know much about the Paraguayan toy industry, except what I've observed in various retail outlets. It's not unusual to find the same toys found on U.S. toy shelves except the boxes are crumpled or open and have substantial pieces missing. Toys with (English) blurbs on the package that say "Push button for lights and sounds!" and the button does nothing. Or toys that are obviously just a bunch of random pieces from different toys thrown in a box with a bunch of Korean trade-branding and a rough Spanish translation, combining things like Thomas the Train with Lego superheroes (sans accessories) plastic set pieces...basically remnants from some factory floor in southeast Asia that have been shipped to South America to make an extra buck.

The high end toy stores are usually free of these strange train wreck toys...but you'll pay four to five times the price of what you'd pay in the U.S. (and the price tags are often in dollars), and you still find some strange stuff. Like this Lego-compatible toy company from Poland that makes WW2 sets including sets based on the German army, including panzer tanks with Nazi SS officers. I mean it's jarring to me (and I'm not one easily taken aback) to find Nazi Lego toys. At least the little guys have "mean" facial expressions...it's just a little weird (especially considering Paraguay's past relationship with the Axis powers and the stories of the country acting as a safe haven for German war criminals). I mean, can you imagine the American Lego company selling a Lego set for a WW2 concentration camp? With little Lego prisoners? Wasn't Auschwitz in Poland?

Well anyway, toys are different down here. For "Invisible Amigos" (the Paraguayan version of "Secret Santa," though done in the Spring for Children's Day...a day that celebrates the country's war with Brazil-Argentina-Uruguay in which 90% of the adult male population was killed off and children were forced to pick up guns), my son received a "Superman" doll that boasted a not-quite-right color scheme and a giant flaming sword. Obviously non-licensed versions of licensed toys and books (Disney, Marvel, Lego, etc.) are par for the course in this town. But these SW7 lego sets were the real deal. Just released a couple weeks earlier than in the USA.

Different rules.

Granted, it was only the new Millennium Falcon and Kylo Ren's "command shuttle" but the packaging reveals quite a bit: like Rey and Finn being the Falcon's new pilots (thus, apparently, taking over the roles of Han and Chewie in the film), or the existence of a new character named Tasu Leech, an apparent leader of the Kanjiklub Gang, and probably played by Yayan Ruhian or Iko Uwais (two Indonesian actors with unspecified roles, per Wikipedia/IMDB).

Anyway, I find this kind of thing interesting. Okay, back to gaming-related stuff (if only so that I spend less time stressing about Kam Chancellor's hold-out).

Reminds me of the old Burger King posters.

[by the way, I am aware that this isn't really "news" as the Lego sets were released in the USA over the weekend. I suppose I could've mentioned it earlier, but it's not like I'm a journalist or something...]

Iceberg Tips

A bit of free time today, though perhaps one of the last instances of such in the very-near-future. I'd like to say I'm using it to bang out something excellent and noteworthy, but mostly I've been catching up on old emails and blogs and whatnot.

Also, I've spent a lot of time reading Mel Birnkrant's recounting of his years as "creative director" for Colorforms...a truly fascinating, fascinating look inside one of the bigger toy producers of the late 70s - early 80s. I spent a lot of time playing with Colorforms back in the day, often on long road trips prior to my learning how to read. My introduction to Spider-Man came about through Colorforms when I was three years old and flat-on-my-back in a body cast because of a broken leg.

Had this exact set as a child. Hours of fun!

ANYway, it's really interesting stuff (and a real suck-age of time, too). I can relate to a lot of his issues and frustrations as a designer...especially, his assertion that the toy biz is one of spotting icebergs...for every toy that gets produced, there are many more lurking below the surface of the water. I look at my own "To Do" list of games that are in partially produced stages and see the truth of this: my current count of unfinished "products" numbers...hmmm, let's see...seventeen.

[probably one of the reasons I don't bother entering competitions like Game Chef and the One Page Dungeon]

And that's just counting stuff that I've done some initial work/writing on. There's plenty of other ideas/concepts floating around in my head that haven't yet managed to make it to paper/computer. Maybe some day when I have a team or staff of people working for me and a lot of capital to throw around. Right now, I'm blessed to just live in a day and age that even allows self-publishing.

The history of toy/game manufacturing...or rather the big businesses we've come to recognize like Hasbro and Mattel...is quite fascinating, especially considering the slim profit margin in the industry and the financial missteps that have nearly sunk the biggest players. It's interesting how the Big Boys have benefitted the most...and managed to stay afloat...mainly due to expansion into overseas markets, outsourcing jobs to China, and acquiring other toy and game businesses (like WotC, Fischer-Price, Milton Bradley, Kenner, American Doll, Cranium, etc.).

But...well, now I'm starting to ramble. Let me get back to you when my head's a little more clear.

3 Days, 3 Games, 3 Different Styles (Part 2)

Before we get down to Game #2, I need to mention a little something more about myself: I don’t get to play games all that much. That is, I don’t often get to play as a PLAYER. Usually I’m the DM/GM/referee of the game. I said in the prior post that I’m experienced at running 15-20 different game systems and that ain’t no lie. I’ve run campaigns and multi-session games with: Gamma World (2nd edition), Star Frontiers, Boot Hill (2nd edition), D&D (all editions through 3.5), ElfQuest, Shadow Run, Story Engine (preferably Maelstrom, but with other settings), Capes, InSpectres, Rifts, Vampire the Masquerade (1st & 2nd), Stormbringer (1st through 4th), Ars Magica (2nd through 4th), Marvel Superheroes (basic and Advanced), Over the Edge, Amber Diceless RPG, and BattleTech…and I’m sure there are others I’m forgetting.

But as a player? I’ve only played in a handful myself. AD&D 1st and 2nd, D20 D&D and a couple B/X games (for the first time this last year!), though on-line only. Marvel (basic and Advanced). Stormbringer 4th. Ars Magica 2nd. Toon (which I hate-Hate-HATE). Heroes Unlimited. Mage (1st edition). James Bond, Classic Traveller, Story Engine, ElfQuest. And most of these (not some, MOST) have been one-off games, not sagas or campaigns.

In fact, I think that ONLY in the various D&Ds and Marvel (Advanced) have I ever played the same character in multiple sessions in someone else’s campaign. How fucking sad is that?!

And playing the games are fun, so please believe me when I say I cherish nearly every single game session I’ve played, good and bad. They are all sweet to me...I just like playing games.

Period.

So, now, onto PDQ...a game I've never even heard of, though I have heard of Truth & Justice, which is apparently the superhero setting for PDQ (a generic system in and of itself...or so I gathered from the rules explanation I was given). Folks who've read my blog know that I am a man of many obsessions, and one of these is finding the ultimate superhero RPG. In earlier posts regarding this subject, several commentators suggested checking out T&J as a possible answer to my prayers.

When Laura (the GM) invited me away from my own sorry and deserted gaming table Saturday, part of her rap that enticed me was her mention that the PDQ system might be familiar to me through the T&J game. My beleaguered brain assumed what it wanted...I was going to get to play a superhero game!...and I signed up. However, we weren't playing Truth & Justice, nor were we playing a superhero game. We were playing a cop game. We were a paramilitary police force.

On The Island of Misfit Toys.

Or rather we were in the utopian land of Zo, where the wonderful Zorcerer of Zo had found it in his kind heart to provide a place for all the misfit, unwanted toys from the Island. Of course, every toy had to work, and our characters (as misfit toys) were no different. We were newly drafted cadets in the "Playful Watch" and today would be our first day on the job. Training Day, in other words.

PDQ reminded me a bit of Sketch! except without the drawing part and a bit more "wide open." For your character you would pick several aspects or characteristics, based on what you felt was the capability of your character. This could be anything from "Fiery Breath" to "Rich as Rockefeller" (I suppose) and each characteristic would be rated +2, +4, or +6. All positive characteristics had to total +10. These characteristics could be used as bonuses to dice rolls (when appropriate) and would be reduced by any damage taken. If any were reduced to 0, your character was knocked out.

In addition, your character had one negative characteristic or quirk at -2 that could be activated whenever the GM thought it appropriate, to screw up your character. This could not be reduced with damage.

Okay, I can hear people asking already...how the hell do you determine what type of misfit toy your character is? Is there a random chart or something?

Ha. This was the bit I found to be sheer genius. As if the game wasn't insane enough already (no, really), the GM had gone out to the $0.99 Store and bought a bunch of random $0.99 toys (you know, those cheap-cheap knock-offs from China or Thailand or something?) and wrapped 'em up in Christmas paper so no one knew what they were. Then we all had to pick one at random, open it, and create a character from the truly unwanted and misfit toy.

As a bonus, Laura told us we could all keep the toy. "Free toys!" I believe is the way she gleefully put it (spritely might be a semi-apt description of Laura). She had a very high-pitched voice if you want to imagine the whole sound effect.

Of the players at the table, Chey had a wind-up helicopter with wheels that rolled along the ground while spinning his rotor blades. I forget what "whirly's" name was but his quirk was a fear of flying...however, he was a super-fast road racer. He also had missiles and super chopping rotor blades for "melee" combat.

Kris (Kriss? I forget), had some sort of flimsy plastic robot that transformed into a slightly be-weaponed triceratops. The name of her critter escapes my mind as well, but she was definitely the "tank" of the group being a "hard body +4" with "missiles +2" and "frickin' laser beams +4." Its weakness was its floppy joints/limbs.

Oh, wait...Stanley was the dino-bot's name.

Mark, a fellow Emerald City Gamefester (along with Laura the GM) had what was perhaps the weirdest toy. It appeared to be several mis-matched parts of a fantasy action figure line. It consisted of a small dragon figure with articulating forelimbs and flappy wings, a plastic crossbow (that the dragon was unable to hold), some sort of magical battlestaff (ditto on the lack of hands), and a disembodied plastic skull that was probably two-thirds the size of the dragon. Making this all work together as a single entity was a stretch, but Mark pulled it off: "Albi" the dragon could summon the skull (+2) by rapping his magic skull staff on the ground in order to get snarky advice...this often turned out to be really terrible stuff due to Mark's poor dice rolling.

Of the five of us (including Laura) only Chey and I had never played this particular game before (i.e. misfit toys in the land of Zo...the "Training Day" scenario was new to everyone)...

Oh, wait. You want to know about my character? Of course you do.

I fingered the (hastily) wrapped packages gingerly, not sure what to expect, not sure what I hoped for. Hopefully something anthropomorphic (Laura told me...gleefully...about what player who had ended up with a plastic tea serving set). Can I shake the presents? I asked the GM.

Sure! (it didn't help)

In the end, I went for something that felt like it might be an action figure or HotWheels car or something...it seemed to have a plastic blister on cardboard anyway. "I just hope it's something I can relate to!" I said as I tore off the paper. Here's what I got:

Yes, faithful readers. That is a fake, toy cell phone. Complete with recorded voice that tells you (in broken English) that you have reached a wrong number at the push of a button. Oh, and sometimes it makes a ringing noise. Also, a fax tone.

"Maybe you can be a cell phone that shoots frickin' laser beams," suggests a player at the table...maybe Kris(s).

Don't be ridiculous...I'm a cell phone, says JB. I should have cell phone powers. Like annoying the hell out of people.

Actually, it didn't take me very long to come up with an idea for a character. Here's what I wrote on my 3"x5" card / character sheet:

Siggi, the Melancholic Toy Cell Phone

Ring Deafeningly Loud +4

Talk In Commanding Tone +4

Look Unobtrusive +2

Catatonic Depression That He's Not A "Real" Cell Phone -2

Nice, huh?

So one might thing a non-anthropomorphic...hell, an IMMOBILE misfit toy would have a helluva' hard time acting as serious law enforcement, especially without opposable thumbs (or limbs of any kind, for that matter).

Well, you would be pretty dead wrong. Siggi was a consummate badass.

And I am being totally serious. When our sergeant was kidnapped and held hostage by hostile forces the morning of our "training day" (apparently there had been a recent civil war in Zo and insurgent toy forces were still "at large"), who do you think was able to sneak past enemy lines and imbed himself in deep cover among the tank and dozen or so plastic toy soldiers? Mr. Un-Obtrusive, that's who! After all, I had the same color uniform (green).

And THEN I was able to get half of them to lay down their arms with my Commanding Tone and shatter the lock on the sergeant's cage with my ringing while my companions were able to swoop in under the cover of chaos and dissent I had sown. Needless to say, their fortified position was pretty easy to overcome once Siggi was Johnny on the spot.

The only moment of panic came when I nearly slipped into a catatonic fetal position. It went something like this:

JB: Dammit, if only I had some means to communicate with my buddies hiding back up on the ridge.

Mark: Too bad your not a REAL cell phone.

Everyone at Table: Awwwwww...

Laura: Make a quirk roll!

This kind of thing happened three or four times over the session, but in all cases but one, I made my dice roll. As with my Traveller game, my six-siders were rolling hot!

After freeing the Sergeant we learned the whole thing had been only a test...it was "Training Day" after all. Now that we had "graduated" to full Playful Watch status, we got our first assignment: track down the REAL toy tank insurgent that was on the loose. He was big, mean, with a lot of firepower and a short temper and he too had a small force of plastic soldiers.

To find Maynard (the tank) we needed to first locate a T-Rex who knew his hideout. Finding Mr. Big & Toothsome wasn't a problem, but getting the info meant first answering his riddle...lest he eat one of us!

The riddle was pretty tricky (my brain was already pretty spongy by this point), but after a looooong time thinking and more than few hints from the GM (one or two from Albi's disembodied skull), we finally guessed it. And got the location of the bad guy's cave.

[by the way, I didn't have my camera Saturday or I would have taken pictures of the game table...Laura used what appeared to be Pathfinder battle mats for terrain and our toys all looked cool maneuvering around on its big squares]

The cave was even more (literally) dug in than the test run the prior day, and Maynard was able to shoot us from pretty much any approach. Once again, Siggi was able to save the day by infiltrating the enemy's territory and calling out to Maynard (in my commanding tone) to come out and surrender or be destroyed!

The ruse worked well enough to get him out of the cave...though only 'cause he was mad enough to shoot me! Fortunately, he wasn't able to kill me with one shot (nearly, though), and between chopper bombs, the dragon's bow and arrow, and Stanley's lasers we were able to bring him down. His little soldiers than dragged his unconscious bulk back into their cave...and Siggi used his deafening ring to bring down the whole place in an avalanche!

***

I won’t continue with the blow-by-blow…suffice is to say there was a “back entrance” to the cave and the Playful Watch needed to prevent the bad guys from escaping out the back with their fallen leader…which we did. Commendations all around (though no medals, unfortunately) and no casualties were taken.

Reading back over the story of “what happened” I see I glossed over some things, probably due to the fact it was late at night when I was writing most of this. For example, there was more than one trip to the local saloon over the course of the adventure (Albi the dragon was quite the lush), there was a a couple bang-up melees using “Whirly’s” rotar blades, Albi did quite a bit of successful reconnoitering with his “flappy wings +4,” and Stanley the dinobot was gruff and no-nonsense, suggesting “burn the bridge” tactics, and not being afraid to bulldoze when his frikkin’ lasers weren’t the appropriate tool.

Laura, as a GM, was well-prepped and planned for the adventure having (in addition to the “pre-gens”) a bag of toys representing all the individual NPCs and opponents…she even used different tanks/toy soldiers to show the difference between the “training mission” and “the REAL mission!” We had fun maneuvering on the battle mats…or just lining up our toys at attention on the parade grounds…and she brought along a camera to take pictures of the spread at various points.

As far as keeping a handle on the players…well, she obviously knew her way around PDQ but seemed content to allow the players to be “self-policing,” something I have mixed feelings about. One moment stands out in my memory: at some point during a momentary break in action, one player (who shall remain un-named) went off on a loooonng, off-topic tangent (basically re-counting an entire television episode) until another player (who shall also remain un-named), reigned the player in with a terse, “hey, maybe we need to stop talking about that and get back to the game now.”

It was a slightly awkward (and for me, palpable) moment. While we were all new to each other, we were all having a good time, and all quite willing to “be friends” with each other. At the same time, politely allowing one player to continue on their “mental cruise” was side-tracking the game more than the normal minor kibitzing. The GM just kind of smiled afterwards and went back to the story at hand…as did the rest of us despite the awkward moment. I don’t think there were any hard feelings (the “reigning” player had been polite if firm, not mean)…but again, I feel better when this kind of action is taken by the GM. I guess I’m just old fashioned about the “referee” aspect of the job.

Anyway, it was a lot of fun, and quite appropriate for a Con game, attracting several viewers at different points wondering what the hell was up with all the toys…too bad we weren’t in a more “front-and-center” table (we were waaaay at the end of the hall). While PDQ was a nice diversion, I will say it’s not “crunchy” enough for me in terms of…well, in terms of what I’d want for a superhero RPG. The reason I’ve kind of given up on Capes is that despite its rigid bidding structure, it is too fast and loose with the “limits of the universe.” Which may be fine for a certain age of comic book hero, but not for the type of game I want to play. In other words, PDQ was fine and dandy for The Isle of Misfit Toys, but I doubt I’ll be playing Truth & Justice anytime soon.

: )