Chat about the game...

I've given up predicting my schedule. Had a week away on (much needed) holiday last week. meant to let you guys know but my schedule the week before (as this week) was horrendous with 6x12hr days at work and this week 7x12hr. When i get home from work tonight (just about to go, should be back about 2330) I'll update and get things moving. it will make a pleasant change from the morning I've had, 3 hours at the ironing board and another pile just as big to finish!

cheers, Paul

Ok guys, we've been forward and backward in time, space and reality. Nazis, Aliens, Undead, rogue superhumans, civil war between heroes, Lex Luthor style behind the scenes players etc.

I deliberately try to leave a lot of these storylines open. Chucking the bad guy in jail never sticks in the comics for long anyway, and neither does injury or death for that matter! That means we can play for years (as we have) and all of a sudden some bad guy I dredge up from the past comes out with a new plan to finally defeat those pesky heroes and crush the universe beneath their heel/rob enough money to buy a sports car/be declared the baddest bad guy in the tri state area etc.

With that in mind I plan the following:

1) Aliens take over the Earth

2) Time advances - this might move the characters on years in game time

3) The challenge level will be extreme. Your guys will be missing a few teeth and have a few scars after every battle!

4) A definitive end (if the good guys win) to the Shadow Demons saga which kicked off this whole campaign. Maybe

5) Possibly cooking up a kind of 'mini game' where as a side issue youo as players are managing a resistance faction, complete with R&D, missions, training characters and having specific objectives.

yes, I've been playing XCOM 2 and wondered about throwing superheroes into the mix. If you don't know anything about the game...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIRDb_O6qXA

If you don't want this sort of campaign (or if just one of you does) that's no problem - I have a number of other ideas (LH will be going into space for instance, as befits his power level) and haunt will continue to battle justice in his own spooky style. Frostbite I'd planned to develop and expand the team, and be heavily involved (including taking control of those minor characters instead of Frosty) on missions. Or we can combine the two and see what happens.

Thoughts?

Cheers, Paul

Not a big fan of aliens taking over the whole world scenarios. Let's face it, once they take over the whole world, there is no more infrastructure to fight back and kick them off planet. That's the problem with a lot of giant robot anime where only Japan is left standing to fight them off. It's just too unreasonable even in a superhero world.

Now a partial takeover of part of the world, mainly third world countries, is doable and harks back to the days of WW2 where Germany had control of most of Europe and Japan had most of the Pacific, and the Allies were fighting around the edges until they built up enough resources to launch D-Day and the invasion of Japan. I could see the aliens invading and taking over Africa and South & Central America and maybe parts of the Middle East as these areas don't have the technology base nor the military to fight back very well.

But a "problem" with this scenario is that once we take back the Earth after 4-10 years of fighting, we still haven't won and have to continue fighting by going to the aliens' planet and invading them since they will still be sending men and material to hold what they have on Earth and trying to take over more of it. Which means Earth is going to have to become a powerful interstellar planet. Huge space fleet battles will result. So this moves us into a Star Trek/Star Wars kind of game where superheroes become kind of backwater characters.

Also wouldn't most powered superheroes join the military to be a part of a special strike force instead of going solo? Anyone remember Strikeforce Morituri? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strikeforce:_Morituri

And how many heroes are left anyways? Seems like the vast majority of English heroes died or were critically injured in the fight the Haunt took part in and may have been forced to retire.

And what do you mean "Extreme"? It hasn't been extreme enough?!

Now I have no problem jumping us six months to a year or so ahead of where we are currently. It allows us to have London rebuilt during that time and gives a rationale as to why we became even stronger.

Would be nice to team up with Frostbite again. Yeah I know the problem of everyone having different schedules and that it could slow the game down but still interacting with another player is fun too and I think worth the time and energy. Doesn't have to be a big adventure but something fun to do. Just off the top of my head, maybe we could run into each other while helping find survivors or with reconstruction and something happens so we team up.

Or maybe we are out during the night patrolling, and jointly run into a team of medium powered supervillains and their henchmen, who are ignoring the curfew/martial law that the government put up after the Fall of London to control looting and rioting, doing a dastardly thing.
If I was a supervillian, that would be a perfect time to hit the gold reserves or the diamond exchange. Probably the diamond exchange. Lighter and easier to carry away and probably has less guards than a large bank or nation's gold reserves.

Just some ideas for now.

Points taken. A 'partial' takeover then. Where the Aliens' spokesperson persuades some, but not all of the countries to come over to their side. That would make more sense than fighting and flattening the planet to rubble in the process. In a way that's a better strategy, especially where the third world countries part comes in. They get their infrastructure raised to future tech levels, a higher standard of living than the rest of the world and all those decades/centuries of being looked down upon, so to speak, by the affluent west/east and far east nations make them reluctant to turn against their new overlords. A kind of 'you keep your independence. We're more than happy having food when we want it, limitless energy and future technology to draw upon whilst you choke the world with fossil fuels and fall out over trading policies...' LIttle do they... ahh, that'd be telling

Don't worry about the star fleet battles/star trek game coming to pass. Frostbite has been the nearest we'll ever get to that kind of game in his adventure in the microverse (which was kind of dipping toe into future adventures and explaining why the huge base of bad guys was there when Lionheart (I think it was LH, rather than Frosty?) came across it, then it was 'gone' - it shrunk back down, and they'd found out what they needed to form the basis of an invasion, especially with Timmy Jones' help.

There's some aftermath/set up to do before the time jump anyway. We'll get to that.

.

Of course the reason third world countries are third world countries has a lot to do with the fact that they are strictly involved in factionalism [religious, racial and secular] and tribalism and have little experience with and concept of freedom, democracy and free enterprise. Lots of countries in Africa, for example, when one tribe gets in power in a nation, they use that power to oppress and wipe out long time rival tribes, instead of joining together as a nation which is why there is always fighting there and no forward progress. The middle east is the same, not just Muslin versus Jews but Muslim sect versus Muslim sect.

So easy to takeover, not so easy to have them remain passive as they would start up guerrilla fighting, not just aliens but each other too. Middle East? Those guys wouldn't see them as aliens but demon made manifest on Earth to punish the wicked [ie those not of their particular Muslim sect] and a trial for the righteous and would need to be driven out by any means necessary. Africa and South America? Probably groups would line up behind the aliens in order to take down long time rivals and wouldn't mind being a puppet government if they still got all their perks. Quislings basically. The other groups not in power would head into the mountains and jungles and fight from there or lay low and try to survive.

So I would see the aliens taking out the current people in power and finding Quislings to do their bidding. But that begs the question: Just how much do the aliens know about Earth and its various cultures and beliefs? Based on what the Haunt went through, they know enough to find and infiltrate a large scientific criminal organization and help with its research.

Was what happened part of a test run invasion and they didn't expect it to turn out the way it did? Resistance - powers and tech - was greater than they figured? Is this why they then looked at the Third World for the actual invasion?

With two of our three characters with detective skills, these kinds of questions might be something we could sink our teeth into as we go along. Finding these answer might also let us find out how to better fight the aliens.

Just ideas going through my head.

Darn, you're trying to suss out all of my backstory/plotting! best get on with posting and see how Haunt gets on with it...

Both of your new issues are up

Thanks for the update.

SJ?
You out there?

I suspect it's a case of 'busiest time of the year' type of thing for Dave. He's normally on 'insta post' mode when it comes to keeping up (far faster than I can manage at any rate) but there's no rush. When Christmas is past I'm sure we'll settle into our usual routine of me being afk for days on end as I juggle real life/train driving issues.

That said, update later on today for you David when I get back from work.

I was thinking maybe he didn't know he had a new issue to look over for his adventures. I know he posts a lot faster than I do most times. Happy Holidays everyone.

Happy Xmas and New Year guys. Chances are I might not be able to update for next couple of days, but we'll see how it goes. Dave E, hope you're ok mate. Will email you after the big day if I've not heard on here. Cheers, Paul

Hello, mate still here, not seen an email to alert me of any updates including this one for a while. But then I've been so busy then post the big day away and then back sorting out the rest of the house and life and what not. Anyway just had a thought to check on board and may have missed things as a result. So apologise will look over later if I've missed a post and not replied.

Hope your Christmas went well, my friends, and look forward to a fruitful and fun time together beating bad guys to the back of beyond in 2019.

Dave/Sj

Good to have you back and to be back I'll take a look and get things moving again chaps. Hope you both had a great xmas and new year

Quick heads up, am away for just over a week from Friday 22nd to Sunday 31st enjoying a much needed week in the sun! Watch, it'll be record temperatures here in the UK while I'm gone...

Will update tonight when I get home from work.

Quick heads up about my situation. As you guys know I split up from the wife a few years ago and have been renting/saving for a house deposit. My landlord is a friend and told me just last week I was fine to stay in the house as long as required then he'd sell up. Then at the weekend told me he was having to sell quick and I needed to be out 'in weeks'. Just before I started work, so not great timing. Anyway, went to work, got home, started packing, same yesterday. Been looking on the usual websites for places to stay. Then I get another message saying landlord has found a buyer (another mate) and I may have more time (up to 6 months) but I'm thinking I need to get out before the situation changes again. I don't hold grudges against anyone, and he's a friend who I trust so if he has to sell I believe him. That said, this stay/go/stay isn't great for my peace of mind so I'm looking at moving in the next two months, with all the upheaval that generates. So aside from work (not had a weekend off for ages aside from a day with the kids the other week) I've got this on my plate as well, so if my posting gets (even more) spotty it's because I have packing/places to see etc.

in a couple of months (hopefully) I'll look back and wonder what the fuss was about!

Cheers, Paul

Hope it settles for you soon. Have no idea what housing problems are like where you are but good luck.

Hopefully after tomorrow (bi-annual rules exam) should get back to normal posting. It's a pain in the butt but part of the job so hey ho! *shrug*

How we doing guys? I'm (almost) settled back down after the move. With that in mind I'd not only like to continue to run the ongoing Vanguard game but I'm of a mind to run something else as well, away from supers. Be it fantasy, sci fi, horror (never done that, don't think I'll be any good at it but...) or open to suggestions. Also thinking on trying to recruit a few more players.

Heck, I can even dust off the old Golden Heroes game, go old school (again!)

Tap, tap, is this thing on?

Cheers, Paul

Nice to see things settling down for you. New players would be nice. Everyone I've tried over the years to join isn't really interested.

Hmm ... another genre to try out? How well versed are you in anime or Japanese Light novels, specifically Isekai genre? Be interested in trying an Isekai adventure, though I'm not sure which kind of game system would work for it. Be fun to try it out anyways.

Isekai - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Isekai
Isekai (Japanese: 異世界, transl. "different world") is the portal fantasy subgenre of Japanese light novels, manga, anime, and video games. Isekai works revolve around a normal person from Earth being transported to, reborn, or trapped in a parallel universe, usually a fantasy world.
They can also be trapped inside a MMORPG [usually a VRMMORPG] as their character from that game. They almost always either start out or become way overpowered during the series.

https://www.ranker.com/list/best-isekai-anime/anna-lindwasser

I've watched and/or read the first 15 or so of the ones on the ranker list above.

Sometimes these can be silly, sometimes they can be pretty serious - Rising of the Shield Hero is a good example of being serious, the hero is accused by the princess of the land of raping her and the only reason he isn't put to death is because he was summoned to save the world. Overlord is another serious series with bits of humor in it.

Some that I've read include:

Konosuba: God's Blessing on This Wonderful World!
That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime
Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest (Light Novel)
So I'm a Spider, So What?
Overlord
Sword Art Online [trapped in a VRMMORPG]
The Devil Is a Part-Timer! {this is the reverse, a Demon Lord, in order to avoid being killed comes to Earth where his powers are very limited and he has to survive as "normal" citizen.
Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody
No Game No Life
Reborn as a Vending Machine, I Now Wander the Dungeon - so funny!
Accel World - bouncing back and forth between a VR world and Earth
Defeating the Demon Lord's a Cinch (If You've Got a Ringer)
Didn't I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?!
The Magic in this Other World is Too Far Behind! Volume 4 (The Magic in this Other World is Too Far Behind! (light novel))
Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation (Light Novel)
How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord
The Hero Is Overpowered but Overly Cautious - this one is probably the weakest and least enjoyable of the books I've bought
In Another World With My Smartphone:
Woof Woof Story: I Told You to Turn Me Into a Pampered Pooch, Not Fenrir!
Skeleton Knight in Another World (Light Novel)
Division Maneuver Vol. 1 - A Hero Reincarnated (Light Novel) (Division Maneuver (Light Novel))
How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom (Light Novel)
Do You Love Your Mom and Her Two-Hit Multi-Target Attacks?, Vol. 2 (light novel) (Do You Love Your Mom and Her Two-Hit Multi-Target Attacks? (light novel)) - Boy trapped in a VR game as the hero but with his MOM tagging along and being way more overpowered than he is! laugh riot and now an Anime!


Anyway, it is a thought, get to mix up some genres and try things out.

Sorry again David (see your game thread. For some reason I'd not had an alert ) for not updating. As for the Japanese Anime thing my son tried to get me into it (even though he himself wasn't that interested) and it baffled me. I used to love the old Battle of the planets stuff from Sandy Frank but that's decades ago.

I've just got back from holiday and mountains of stuff to sort out (the washing is something to behold) but I also need to get to the Hospital (A&E) first as the bites I got on holiday have somehow flared into giant mounds on my skin, which is nice. Pointless going to the GP as I'd have died of old age before I can get in. After that I should be raring to go and will update everything.

Plan was (of course) to update on Holiday and that went the way of the dodo. Naff internet, no time to myself etc. Was nice to get away but getting back when there's so much to do is kind of a relief. And I have all week off Needed this break, work has ruled my life this year!

LOL! Just got back from the doctor myself. Somehow got an infected thumb. He had to slice the skin around the thumbnail open to drain the puss and blood and now I am on antibiotics. Fun trying to type without using my left thumb.

And anime is a wide ranging area as it is done for all ages and all genres. So preschool and elementary school kids. Then Junior High and early High school kids. Then older teens and then adults and then porn. So it is more of a matter of finding genres you like. Stuff for the little kids would bore you.

Now if you are looking for superhero animes for ideas or to see how they treat the idea of western superheroes then look at Heroman, One-Punch Man and My Hero Academia.

Comedies tend to be harder to get into because comedies tend to be cultural so what is hilarious to Japanese folks would leave us scratching our heads. Well, same is true for British and American comedies since our cultures are close to each other. We get some of each others' humor but some of it just passes us by.

You may see one or two visual differences with the forum. I believe the original graphics I used are expiring bit by bit so I'm logging in to find logos missing etc and replacing them when I can get round to it. We've been on this site for 9 years and I think we were kicking about on the previous site (with the owner of the website messing us about without warning ) for around a year or slightly more, which I reckon means we've been going for over 10 years! Obviously we're down to three (from a high of around 7 though many of those turned up, posted once and vanished) and it's tricky to find people who can stay the course (due to various reasons, including real life, losing interest and in the case of one particular member, being an out and out rules lawyer  Each to their own.) Anyway, just a reflection on where we started and where we are. If anyone knows anybody who fancies joining in point them in the direction of the site by all means!

Cheers, Paul

It turns out Tinypic, the image hosting service I used originally is no more which means many of the old images from are archives will be kaput, sadly.

I did some digging and hey presto...



The original starting post for the game from 15th October 2009

That was on a website called 'Rpg beat' and we had to move from there (to our current forever home) as the owner kept messing about with the format. I remember panicking on more than one occasion after being locked out of the site when all I wanted to do was post and play, then when it became clear it was vanishing completely I set this place up ... and downloaded the entire forum/website to archive.



Frostbites debut...

I think David joined in when we moved websites as the initial players were Dave E, Harry and Kendal as far as I can tell... Reading some of this stuff brings back memories...

Wow doesn't time fly, its been great to keep a game going so long. I've never been in such an immersive game as this. I have to say that back in the day I could post often 2 or 3 times a day. It's not age slowing me down today just responsibilities and real life, as we all know.

I think I managed to download the original archives, but I guess I've not looked at them more than once. And we've gone through several iterations of rules, we also had the pulp heroes game going as well, alongside this one. It's a wonder we've all kept up with it, especially our long-suffering DM ;-). Without whom this game wouldn't be the fun game it has turned out to be par excellence. Thanks, Paul.

Sj