Okay, Barna, there you go. Fire away !

If anyone has any specific questions.... oh hell, any questions at all about the game or TSR or what color the sky really is, ask and I'll see what I can respond with.

One thing, just remember my own personal involvement with the Marvel game was the UPB, the Fantastic Four Compendium, and the Gamers Handbook to the Marvel Universe. Anything else in the game line, you probably know it better than I do.

No guarantee is made as to the immediate usefulness of any answer. Management reserves the right to be spacy or make references to obscurities you'll need to Google.

If there was one power, origin, or ability you could add to the UPB what would it be?

Is there a power you would rewrite if given the ability to do so?

Can one use Grafting on one's self? Can one use Grafting in combat, say to rip out a heart (it is surgery after all )?

Can an Energy Vampire feed off of incoming energy, like attacks?

Why the absence of "boost" abilities? Something like "Abosrb X boost X" say heat absorption that fuels strength.

First I would like to say thank you to David E. Martin for some of the best resource material ever created in an RPG, that I have enjoyed for over 25 plus years, and is still going strong!

1). If there was one thing you could change or add to the UPB, the Fantastic Four Compendium, and the Gamers Handbook of the Marvel Universe, what would it be?

2). I noticed in the MU3 Gamers Handbook of the Marvel Universe that the Greek Gods of the Olympian pantheon (page 133) were listed to have Incredible (40) Invulnerability, all except Zeus and Hades. Now is this Invulnerability or True Invulnerability? Does that also include Hercules?

3). There are so many different variations on Captain America's RIP scores in the MSH RPG. In MU1 (page 129) they are listed; R:20 I:20 P:50, other material has his Intuition score at Incredible (40). Could you post or Private Message what you believe are his correct RIP scores?

4). There is no description of a power for Unstable Molecules (i.e the Fantastic Four Suits) given in the UPB or the Fantastic Four Compendium, would you mind giving one?

I made this thread a sticky on the Discussion Forum because it deserves to be there permanently for all of our Alumni Members!


Thank you DEM...








The Cutter

Ooooooo, Oooooooo, My turn.


Now Dave, if you were trapped in a burning building, were tide up and hand cuffed to a pillar and had No way out, and you only had minutes to live...
Who would you say was better, Jack Bower or Shia Lebouf?

And also, I myself am a bit confused about Grafting as well, is this power kind of like the power of flesh scripting, were you Don't actually need tools and you can mold flesh by touch?
Or is that what Shape Shift (others) and or Molding can be made to do, and Grafting is just the ability to perform Really Really crazy and insanely impossible forms of surgery on others without the "proper" kinds of tools?






There's Got to be something more to life than just looking, really, Really, REALLY good looking...
And with Grafting I'm gonna make it happen!

Dave;

What is your favorite MSH supplement? Which one if given opportunity would you revise, and why?

Also....who would have won the fight between Superman and Muhammad Ali?

If there was one power, origin, or ability you could add to the UPB what would it be?

Hmm.... gonna hafta think on that one a while. HEROES and ALPHAS suggest a bunch of stuff..........

Is there a power you would rewrite if given the ability to do so?

Given the sheer amount of bandwidth debate on it has taken up, I'd say True Invulnerability. What I thought was a simple albeit monumental power probably needs a page to detail what it can do at different levels and in different circumstances.

Can one use Grafting on one's self? Can one use Grafting in combat, say to rip out a heart (it is surgery after all )?

Doctors and dentists have been known to work on themselves but it's not easy. Pain tends to diminish one's concentration. But we're talking superbeings here. AH ! The creature from Jeepers Creepers ! There's an example of a being using Grtafting on itself.

Grafting as an attack ? Well, if that's what you've got to work with. A scapel is still a knife. Probably be best used as a surprise move, especially for a villain. Hmm, now I'm thinking of a hybrid of Hannibal Lector and "Buffalo Bill."

Can an Energy Vampire feed off of incoming energy, like attacks?
I wouldn't see why not. BUT-- you can also drink from a fire hose.
I'd suggest that feeding off incoming attacks is probably something mastered by medium and higher level E-Vamps. It would certainly be dramatic.
Lower level E-Vamps might risk disastrous forcefeeding (think the kid trying to drink from the firehose in UHF).

Why the absence of "boost" abilities? Something like "Absorb X boost X" say heat absorption that fuels strength.
At the time of writing I was not thinking along those lines. I was mostly seeing each power as a distinct individual action or resource. Superpowers are golf clubs.

DavidEMartin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If there was one power, origin, or ability you
> could add to the UPB what would it be?
>
> Hmm.... gonna hafta think on that one a while.
> HEROES and ALPHAS suggest a bunch of
> stuff..........
>
> Is there a power you would rewrite if given the
> ability to do so?
>
> Given the sheer amount of bandwidth debate on it
> has taken up, I'd say True Invulnerability. What
> I thought was a simple albeit monumental power
> probably needs a page to detail what it can do at
> different levels and in different circumstances.

Debate is putting it very mildly, flame wars is still probably an understatement given the reactions out of some.

1). If there was one thing you could change or add to the UPB, the Fantastic Four Compendium, and the Gamers Handbook of the Marvel Universe, what would it be?
My description of Four Freedoms Plaza. It's in the revised PDF.

2). I noticed in the MU3 Gamers Handbook of the Marvel Universe that the Greek Gods of the Olympian pantheon (page 133) were listed to have Incredible (40) Invulnerability, all except Zeus and Hades. Now is this Invulnerability or True Invulnerability? Does that also include Hercules?
I didn't do the Olympians so I'm guessing the writer meant Grubb's original take on Invulnerability. The Olympians could get drunk or get drugged, so I'm thinking they're still vulnerable in ways True Invulnerability would prevent.

3). There are so many different variations on Captain America's RIP scores in the MSH RPG. In MU1 (page 129) they are listed; R:20 I:20 P:50, other material has his Intuition score at Incredible (40). Could you post or Private Message what you believe are his correct RIP scores? Huh boy.... let me get back to you on that one.

4). There is no description of a power for Unstable Molecules (i.e the Fantastic Four Suits) given in the UPB or the Fantastic Four Compendium, would you mind giving one?
Unstable Molecules is the same league as The Power Cosmic, magical gobbledegook employed by writers. Reverse the Polarity of the Neutron Flow !
Okay.... but how the heck to actually describe the things....
The main properties of Unstable Molecules are [S29] Shapeshifting and [S7] Body Adaptation, just applied to the durability of an inanimate object rather than the survivability of a living being. The first power covers the ability of the costume to alter its form when the wearer shifts between civilian and super modes. The second power covers the ability of the ability of the costume to resist the damage otherwise done by the wearer's powers or form. Equally importantly, it lets the costume actually change its physical nature along with the wearer's transformations.
Hmm, now you have me wondering about this. I'll get back to you on this one.

Now Dave, if you were trapped in a burning building, were tide up and hand cuffed to a pillar and had No way out, and you only had minutes to live...
Who would you say was better, Jack Bower or Shia Lebouf?

Shia Lebouf. Yeah, he was in that crappy Charlies Angels 2. But he got to boff some hot chicks in the Transformers flicks.

And also, I myself am a bit confused about Grafting as well, is this power kind of like the power of Flesh Scripting, where you don't actually need tools and you can mold flesh by touch?
Or is that what Shape Shift (others) and or Molding can be made to do, and Grafting is just the ability to perform Really Really crazy and insanely impossible forms of surgery on others without the "proper" kinds of tools?
My inspiration was EC Comics, where mad scientists and vengeful victims could swiftly perform survivable surgeries that Vic Frankenstein could only dream of. So, at least in the lower and lmedium levels, your second guess is the correct one. Really Really Crazy and Insanely Impossible Surgery.
Or if you're familiar with Edgar Rice Burroughs' Barsoom series, the title character in The Mastermind of Mars.
I figure the power is somewhat psionic in nature, as in "Psychic Surgery." The user's power is somehow keeping the patient/victim alive during the operation and performing the necessary cellular/metabolic work to insure viability.
Never heard of "Flesh Scripting" but I think I see what you mean. Ever seen the Outer Limits epsiode "100 Days of the Dragon'?
At medium and higher levels, I'd imagine the user transcends the need for actual surgical implements. To an observer, it would look a chiropractor doing actual surgery.

DavidEMartin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> 4). There is no description of a power for
> Unstable Molecules (i.e the Fantastic Four Suits)
> given in the UPB or the Fantastic Four Compendium,
> would you mind giving one?
> Unstable Molecules is the same league as The Power
> Cosmic, magical gobbledegook employed by writers.
> Reverse the Polarity of the Neutron Flow !
> Okay.... but how the heck to actually describe
> the things....
> The main properties of Unstable Molecules are
> Shapeshifting and Body Adaptation, just applied
> to the durability of an inanimate object rather
> than the survivability of a living being. The
> first power covers the ability of the costume to
> alter its form when the wearer shifts between
> civilian and super modes. The second power covers
> the ability of the ability of the costume to
> resist the damage otherwise done by the wearer's
> powers or form. Equally importantly, it lets the
> costume actually change its physical nature along
> with the wearer's transformations.
> Hmm, now you have me wondering about this. I'll
> get back to you on this one.

There's also the case that Wolfsbane's costume rather than just stretching to match her new form would become an invisible collar around her neck even in her anthro form, and Reed Richards seems to have even been able to use them to build wearable and morphable computers. Seems like Unstable Molecules are about like how nanotech is treated, capable of being morphed and adapted to a nigh-infinite variety of desired outcomes.

What is your favorite MSH supplement? Which one if given opportunity would you revise, and why?
That Magic book. It's gibberish which is understandable given magic in the MU is pure ecto-gobbledegook.
Imagine the UPB restructured to deal solely with magical acts, energies, components, and beings.

Also....who would have won the fight between Superman and Muhammad Ali?
Ali did. Superman depowered himself with a Red Sun floodlamp over their boxing ring. Well, as Batman kept trying to point out to Superman, Superman lets his superstrength do the bulk of the fighting. Superman's got no hand-to-hand skills.
Ali faced the alien champion ("Hunya"?) in the ring while Superman faced the alien fleet in orbit. When Ali beat the alien, the alien tried to order his fleet to attack Earth but by the the armada was disarmed.

Neal Adams drew great starship battlefleets...... No two ships alike !

Who is your favorite superhero?

Who is your favorite artist?

Who is your favorite superhero?
Lar Gand of the Legion of Superheroes, a.k.a. Mon-el, Mo'nel, and Valor. All the crap he had to go through and he remains pretty upbeat. I mean, come on ! Superboy purposefully exposed him to green Kryptonite, seeing if he'd suffer, and unknowingly to lead, which would have killed him if Superboy had not then stuck him in the Phantom Zone for 1000 years ! And when he joins the LSH, there's Superboy again ! In the 70s, 80s, and on to the present day, it became a game with various writers to kill him, whether for a single story or for a new continuity.
A guy who is more powerful and probably smarter than Superman deserves better.

Who is your favorite artist?
If we're talking comics, Neal Adams followed by George Perez. Adams is a visionary genius who restarted comics art in '68 and gave us the Modern Age. Perez is the indefatigable craftsman, the only comics artist HAPPY to draw all 30+ Legionaires in the same issue.

DavidEMartin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Who is your favorite superhero?
> Lar Gand of the Legion of Superheroes, a.k.a.
> Mon-el, Mo'nel, and Valor. All the crap he had to
> go through and he remains pretty upbeat. I mean,
> come on ! Superboy purposefully exposed him to
> green Kryptonite, seeing if he's suffer, and
> unknowingly to lead, which would have killed him
> if Superboy had not then stuck him in the Phantom
> Zone for 1000 years. And when he joins the LSH,
> there's Superboy again ! In the 70s, 80s, and on
> to the present day, it became a game with various
> writers to kill him, whether for a single story or
> for a new continuity.
> A guy who is more powerful and probably smarter
> than Superman deserves better.

Poor Mon-El, you're right he really did get screwed over by Superboy (and just another example of how NOT pure and unimpeachably good Superboy/man was). Seems like through the Silver Age they'd make a point even if the Phantom Zone criminals weren't involved in the story to show them mocking Mon-El for his being helpless to help out and Mon-El bravely rejecting that mockery and remaining positive. In spite of all the reasons to be bitter and hate-filled he remained good and noble through everything that came his way even when denied the chance to know what it was like to grow up to adulthood as a flesh and blood being and existing as nothing but a ghost for centuries.

The "Hyper-Speed" power gives the hero the ability to do all things in hyper-speed? like running, swimming or digging.
Or just in combination with travel powers?

hi,

what was the first comic you bought/read or recall and is this what got you into the Marvel universe? If not what did.

whats your favourite book?

excluding Marvel, whats your favour RPG and why

Do you still do RPG, do you prefer to GM or play?

whats your favourite boardgame and whats your most memorable boardgame if different
ditto for card game (and please don't say magic for the love of god)

FNG

PS, sorry for the vague open ended questions but I think it is just as interesting to explore you as your writings.

The "Hyper-Speed" power gives the hero the ability to do all things in hyper-speed? like running, swimming or digging.
Or just in combination with travel powers?

Hyperspeed was taken from THE WILD WILD WEST, in which a scientist developed a potion made from liquified diamonds (yeah, I know....) that gave him to ability to move, act, and think at incredible acceleration. Unless he stood still for several minutes his time, he could not be seen. His activities became known when West and Gordon came investigating the mysterious disappearances of diamonds from Denver jewelers. For reason I've forgotten, the scientist dosed West and Gordon with the result they were now moving in an apparently temporally suspended world. They were warned that moving too fast would cause them to risk spontaneous combustion from air friction.

In game terms, the user is on a different clock. Hell, he's effectively in a different game session. WIthin his hyper-accelerated aura, he does everything at what to him appears normal speed. Any powers he possesses operate at again what is to him a normal speed.
Of course, the the outside, normal-timeflow world, the user is either a blur or even invisible.

So yes, the user can run, swim, or dig but only in the normal way he'd do so. Hmm, if the user has any medical skills or healing powers, this could come in really handy. You could perform major surgery from initial incision to final suture before the patient has a chance to say "Ouch."
Uh oh...... I think I just created a medically-oriented supervillain here, an organsnatcher beyond equal.....

I'm working on a novel, Freeze Frame, in which the protagonist is hyperaccelerated. I realized the power needs an aura that can affect the immediate surroundings, otherwise it's an immediate death sentence.
Hmm... there's an interesting plot element to throw into a game, people found suddenly, instantly suffocated, then mummified. Somewhere someone is trying to figure out how to safely accelerate people and they haven't worked all the details out yet.
Anyway, assume the power can accelerate enough air nearby to support respiration. And assume anything the user touches accelerates so he can handle it with normal ease. Otherwise you have the problem faced by the X15 pilot and his wife in The Outer Limits when they found themselves accelerated but unable to handle or move anything in the normal timestream because they'd in effect be trying to suddenly propel, say, a door, at Mach 25.

Okay, back to the question of superpowers-- as has been dealt with here years ago, Hyper-Speed is combined with Travel Powers to greatly accelerate them, not to mention giving the user the endurance to travel far longer distances than normal. It's the difference between Quicksilver and the Flash. Barry Allen has Hyper-Speed. Pietro does not.

what was the first comic you bought/read or recall and is this what got you into the Marvel universe? If not what did.
The earliest comic book I can recall is Walt Disney's Comics and Stories. I remember some Donald Duck tales, one in which he was trying to serenade a senorita but her father was opposing him by actions as drastic as siccing a robot lawn mower on him and pouring glue into Donald's open mouth (causing a "Ghastley Graham" Ingels-like horror show when Donald opened his beek). Another tale involved Gyro Gearloose taking Donald and the nephews on a crimestopping mission to the Moon. The Beagle Boys had a spaceship and a lot of black paint. They were going to permanently darken the Moon.....
Earliest superhero comics.... As far as Marvel goes, I owned the issues where Spider-Man first met the Sandman, where Hulk first met Tyrannus (remember him?), and where Hulk first met the Abomination. I couldn't read yet so I called Abomination "Lizard Gizzard."
First Marvel comics I was actually following -- the Neal Adams runs on XMen and The Avengers and the Gene Colan run on Black Widow, then Daredevil. He drew her naked. Hey, I was 16!

whats your favourite book?
Replay by Ken Grimwood. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. And as you get older, the book becomes even more salient.

excluding Marvel, whats your favour RPG and why
DC Heroes, the original Mayfair version. I'm in awe if their logarthmic game mechanics. Their system actually lets you change your game scale from Brobdingnagian to Microversal with ease. I'm trying to rip it off for my Chicago 2050.

Do you still do RPG, do you prefer to GM or play?
My gaming days were in the first half of the '80s. We used to gather at Olaf Westgaard's farmhouse basement on Friday nights for AD&D, catered by his wife's chili and sweet rolls. When the Westgaards moved, I became the GM for our campaign and kept it going until we moved to Wisconsin in '84.
The TSR staff played surprisingly little. Well, may not so surprising. People who work in a chocalatier's eat little candy themselves. But we did have some goofy forays into Ghostbusters and Call of Cthulhu.
I prefer to run the game. Yeah, it's a pain to set up but it's fun to see a novel act itself out before you. And players, like characters, can do things that surprise and delight you.
For example, the adventurers were trapped in a sealed room with flammable oil covering the floor, facing a lich waving a torch. They threw a cask of holy water. I rolled.
"You missed the lich."
"I was aiming at his torch."
I rolled again and sighed. "You ... hit ... it. ... The ... torch ....... went ............... out."
I can still hear the laughter and cheers.
You don't get that from a computer game.....

whats your favourite boardgame and whats your most memorable boardgame if different
ditto for card game (and please don't say magic for the love of god)
You mean Crack the Addiction ? Nah, my fave Collectible Card Game (jeez, I hate that pompous term) is Phil Foglio's Xxxenophile. Funny card game based on a funny comic.
Boardgame ? loved RISK although its been decades since I played it last. The 3M Bookshelf games FEUDAL and TWIXT were also adolescent faves.
Classiest boardgame graphic design ever-- MASTERPIECE, an art auction game. The board was a Rembrandt and the playing cards were art masterpieces.

Thank you DEM! for the best system I've ever gamed. One roll and no math, I as a GM know immedietly what happened in the story. My group agrees, its such an easy and fast system. My group has given up on D20 and other stuff, way too over complicated and we are doing math more then gaming. The ClassicMarvel system is by far the best and most flexible system I've had the honor to GM.

If you could have any power from the Ultimate Powers Book in real life, what would it be and why?

Can an energy vampite feed off environmental effects? Like basking in the sun, radiation from a reactor, or a lightning bolt. Or can they only feed from sources of potential energy?

If you could have any power from the Ultimate Powers Book in real life, what would it be and why?
When you're a kid, you want True Flight.
When you're a horny teenager, anything that would let you peek into the girls' shower room looks like a wonderful power to have.
As you get older and the body starts misfiring, Regeneration looks increasingly useful.
But I think I'd go with Hyper-Intelligence. If you're smart enough, you can build or devise or invent or formulate your way out of any situation and potentially create any power you want.

Can an energy vampite feed off environmental effects? Like basking in the sun, radiation from a reactor, or a lightning bolt. Or can they only feed from sources of potential energy?

I'd say they can't feed off environmental effects. There are other powers that would let them do so. But....... hmmm.........

I think the idea is that the power lets one living entity feed off the energy of another living being. The lifeforce is needed to make a conduit through which the feeding can occur.
(Feel free to fudge the definition of "lifeforce" when dealing with characters who aren't technically alive, say an android or an AI system.)

The examples in the energy vampire description are of draining a powered individual AND ", an auto battery can be drained on a Typical Intensity FEAT, a gallon of gasoline by Good Intensity FEAT, the magnetism every tape in a music shop on an Excellent intensity FEAT, the heat of a blast furnace on an Amazing Intensity FEAT and so on."

Why include this if ONLY living and/or sentient beings can be drained with the power?

barna10 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The examples in the energy vampire description are
> of draining a powered individual AND ", an auto
> battery can be drained on a Typical Intensity
> FEAT, a gallon of gasoline by Good Intensity FEAT,
> the magnetism every tape in a music shop on an
> Excellent intensity FEAT, the heat of a blast
> furnace on an Amazing Intensity FEAT and so on."
>
> Why include this if ONLY living and/or sentient
> beings can be drained with the power?

Well do remember that the main point of the vampirism powers is that you're feeding off of someone/thing, they aren't like the energy absorption powers of beings like Superman or the Eternals. Most of the powers can only feed off of living things (like Spirit and Psionic Vampirism), a few can substitute like Energy Vampirism but they just don't manage all that much from these non-living targets like a tank of gasoline or a car battery.

Hmmm, now I'm wondering what the intensity to drain a block of explosives like C4 or dynamite would provide, since those also clearly contain stored energy like gasoline does only much better.