Superman and Kara get help from "The Cavalry", superteam put together by general Lane (Livewire and the other Intergang crooks) plus Dr. Irons in his Prototype Steel suit.
Brainiac reveals that Krypton was in the process of Peace Talks with their enemy and the War was going to end. HE was going to be Decommissioned....he couldn't allow that
Activating the "Eradicator" protocols he placed in Kara he sends her into berserker mode.
When she breaks his control Brainiac tries to kill them by throwing them into the Sun.
To everyone's surprise that turns out to not be a good idea.
The stubbornness of Lois Lane vs. the Black Mercy AI for the Mind of Clark Kent
Meanwhile Kara defends Earth from Brainiac while fending off Luthor's army of Metallos and Task Force X
I am really glad to hear that a Season 3 has been approved already cause they have done a great job with this series. There may be a lot of weird twists on a lot of classic Superman lore but they really do have the spirit down right.
Brainiac uses a device called "The Black Mercy" to manipulate Clark's Memories while Kara, Jimmy and Lois mount a rescue attempt by infiltrating Kandor, Brainiac's space station.
ok interesting, apparently people looking at some of the recent photos have spotted that Mr. Terrific, Hawkgirl and Guy GL all have LordTech corporate logo on their uniforms.
Well Jimmy has spent the rest of his fortune, hiring Livewire to help him and Lois steal a space ship to go rescue Clark.
Monsieur Mallah and the Brain join them, because after visiting various alternate realities they discovered that the Other versions of themselves are....less than polite. So they returned to Earth-12 and have been having regular brunch with Jimmy.
Also Lex gets to test his "Project M" prototypes. A collection of Kryptonite powered robots.
Have to say though, getting a little tiered of Amanda Waller being the face of fascism at DC these days.
She was always a hard one but these days everyone seems to portray her as Way over the line of Reason.
While most of it is still a mystery I think we do get a hint in the final episode of the season.
Spoiler:
73 Yards apparently is the range of the Perception Filters on the TARDIS. So everything around you to a radius of 73 Yards is always in a language you can understand, and everyone in that radius sees you as something that fits their world view. So the episode is probably something that the TARDIS did to Ruby. Why? no idea. maybe a round about way of trying to warn them about what was happening. Regardless it was those same Perception Filters that were used by the Big Bad to set up his evil plan
Season had it's ups and downs but overall I think the ups outnumbered the downs. The good episodes were really good
The big question now is Ms. Flood. Clearly she's the one who has been making it snow around Ruby, probably to set up Sutehk but there could be something more to it then that.
Gonna have to wait for the Christmas special I think
Seeing some photos of Mr. Terrific going around and looks good. Not quite as buff as he is in the comics but other than that he looks pretty much perfect.
Brainiac, an AI that was in charge of Krypton's fleet is focused on recreating the Kryptonian Empire...but not the way it was. Brainiac has a vision for a better empire, one people like Jor-El and the science counsel did not have the stomach for.
Kara has been deeply brainwashed into being his soldier and he expects Kal-El to help, willing or otherwise.
Spoiler:
Oh man if you are someone who loves Supergirl, this episode is going to hurt. There is some great stuff of her and Clark playing in an asteroid field and teasing each other the way cousins should....and then there is her realizing the sheer magnitude of what Brainiac has made her do,
she has killed billions and she doesn't remember any of it.
and then Jimmy and Lois show up with Monsieur Mallah and the Brain
The Freeze breath does not appear to be simply blowing really hard, more of an Anime Mouth Beam kind of thing. It also caused frost to build up around Clark's head.
and it seemed to surprise Brainiac, who immediately changed his orders from Kill to Capture.
The bigger thing however is Lex Luthor steps forward and explains to the various important people in Metropolis why Superman is a threat to Earth and uses Jimmy to help make that point.
and to give Jimmy a thanks for inspiring him to step up and become the man Metropolis needs.
After a hard day of dealing with Earth is for Earthlings, a somewhat depressed Clark uses the beacon to make a call to his cousin, if she's out there.
Dr. John Henry Irons and Dr. Sylus Stone create Metallo
Superman's Bio-Aura power
and Flip, leader of the Newsboy Legion, that has been in the series since start, is revealed to be Natasha Irons
Lois and Superman attempt to rescue her father from Task Force X
Superman fights The Atomic Skull
Waller shows she is not above using civilians as test subjects for her living weapon experiments, much to Sam Lane's shock and disgust.
and Superman finds the beacon that will lead him to his cousin
Also Jimmy now has interns, AKA The Newsboy Legion
General Lane needs a place to lie low. After refusing to stay with Lois and put her in danger, Lois suggests he stay at Clark and Jimmy's place. He has no problem with the idea of putting Clark in danger.
Jimmy's networth tracker, now under 4 million
By the end
Alex, now calling himself Lex, offers Waller his technical know how, making bold moves after being inspired by Jimmy.
Season 2 starting off with Clark agonizing over Valentines Day only to be interrupted by the Fortress of Solitude with a new revelation. Hologram Jor-El learns English and fills Clark in on his background...
Spoiler:
and the background of the Kryptonian Empire that brutally conquered it's way across the galaxy until it faced an enemy it could not defeat and ultimately destroyed them
So that's New
The General was clearly not out of line to be worried
So that pretty much wraps up the big mystery of season 1 just in time to introduce the mystery of Season 2. His cousin Kara is out there and needs to be found.
and then we have the Jimmy Sub-plot
We have a ticker that pops up at the top of the screen showing Jimmy's current Net Worth.
It is going down
Also Jimmy.......Do not inspire Lex Luthor
damn it Jimmy
When I was a Kid the local game store had a regular "Game Day" that I would go to when I got started in D&D. This one time I got pulled into some game I had never heard of. Made a Lizardman, had a Spirit Node for magic in my Tail. Can't remember anything more than that and the impression that I had a lot of fun with it. Only got to play it the one time but I always wanted to try it again. I'd think about it every so often for close to 40 years now, just a casual "Oh yeah that...I wonder what that game was. Ah well" and then out of mind and on to other things.
Well turned out the game was Swordbearer, and I bought it last night off Drivethrough RPG
I doubt I'm going to ever get to play it with my group but it's nice to get my hands on it and I will probably plunder it for ideas
So far only DAL and Konosuba (and the occasional episode of Urusei Yatsura) has made an impression. I've tried a couple of shows but they were so forgettable I've literally forgotten what they were called and what happened in them.
Does anyone have recommendations for good shows I may have missed?
It's a fairly weak season. I've been enjoying "Tsukimichi; Moonlit Fantasy". It's a fairly decent Isekai with some interesting twists. "Delicious in Dungeons" over on Netflix is pretty fun too.
A few other shows that have something neat to them, but nothing really stands out. "Reincarnated as the 7th prince" can be fun when the kid goes psycho to cut loose with his magic, but you have to get past the Shota elements.
Last season had "Frieren" and "Apothecary Diary". Neither was particularly fast paced but both very well written.
Seeing some talk about Bizzaro or Ultraman (but as a clone, cause multiverse is ruined for everyone these days) for the Superman movie. If so I think we are looking at a Superman is framed plot.
Which again leads me to the JL team is an Anti-Superman team trying to arrest him.
Yes you make concentration checks anytime you would normally in regular pathfinder spellcasting. If you need a Spell level to figure out the DC, the Spell level of a Sphere effect is considered 1/2 your Caster Level
There are some specific talents and feats for getting around that if you need to
Night Below
Our heroes descend into the catacombs below the Ice Hive in search of Diamonds they need to resurrect the dead wizards they discovered.
Unfortunately the Armiger got pulped by an Ice Elemental fairly early and they retreated. Left with no other options they went to the Temple of the Insectoid Krik Where the Undead priests of their dead god offered the group a choice. they could attempt the difficult and expensive ritual that might return their friend to life or they could do the fair simpler (and cheaper) option of turning him into an undead. They discussed the options and realized the party Druid could cast Reincarnate on the dead wizards (because who cares if they don't come back in the same bodies).
They had the Undead priests cast a Raise dead on their friend, but as they did the Necromantic arm graft he has went berserk attacking everything around them. The Stonelord held the arm down long enough for the newly resurrected Armiger to get control of it.
After a day of recovering they returned to the Catacombs, battled numerous undead and returned to the Frozen city with a sizable amount of treasure and a crown of diamonds.
They set out now for the Deep Gnome Settlement to Reincarnate the dead wizards (who's bodies are being kept there under Gentle Repose spells)
Got my copy of Ultimate Engineering today. It has some similarities to the Inventor Handbooks they did previously but is a lot more open ended for the nature of Gizmos and inventions.
And now with this book, I am ready to build my Spheres Campaign World.
Greylurker, do you happen to use Hero Lab or VTT maps for your Night Below campaign?
I'm considering running a PF 1st edition for my online PF1 group in the future, and was wondering if you (or anyone) knew of any HL or VTT-ready jpgs of the maps?
No it's a face to face game, although for mapping out the Underdark I'm not really using a map...More of a Corkboard with index cards and string.
The string being open connections between regions. PCs make a series of tests to navigate from one to another, I throw a few challenges and such along the way. Sometimes something like a Cave in happens and I cut one of the strings, other times a new passage is discovered and I connect two locations with a new string. Discovering Rumors about a location lets them put up a new index card and the more rumors they have for a location the easier it is to get to
It's a modified version of something I got on DrivetrhuRPG called "Downcrawl"
With the corpses of two dead wizards the group decides not to pursue the dragon and instead returns to the Gnome city to see about a Raise dead for them. The main obstacle, the need for 5000 gp worth of diamonds for each raise dead. Rumours tell of a Smooth Cavern with numerous gemstones but with a strange gnome repelling magic. The group sets out and unfortunately gets themselves lost in the dark tunnels of the Deep Below. After more than a week trying to find their way Ohmar spots some familiar tunnels and they manage to make their way back to the Gnome town.
After some discussion they head back to the Ice Hive in hopes of buying Diamonds from the markets there. No such luck unfortunately but there is one more chance, in the frozen city at the centre of the glacier there may be gems to be found, if the group is brave enough to face the frozen undead
Tyrant's Grasp
We finished the House of Blood but one of the other guys was telling me that our DM seemed to have skipped over some Riddles, Puzzles and Role-playing opportunities. He's had a busy week, so maybe he didn't have a huge amount of prep-time this week but I hope it doesn't become a regular thing
We are making our way back to the world of the living and reached the 2nd waypoint in our trip. A creepy mansion full of Blood themed monsters that hit like a damn truck.
Night Below is still going, though not every week right now and....they are probably going to die next game.
We managed to get a 5th player who made a Deep Gnome Rogue. They hunted down a Behir and gave it a pretty solid thumping. Now they are hunting the Dragon it told them about.
They are 8th level
The Umbral Dragon is CR 15
I'm dropping hints that they might want to rethink this. Desiccated corpses of Orcs and Quargoths. The Druid's Celestial Badger wanting to GTFOut of the area.
They even fought it's Tiny Demonic familiar that had Half the Dragon's Hit Points
They have around two weeks to let all that sink in
I'm hoping they turn around and go hunt Quargoths and Rock Trolls.
Risks of a Sandbox game
The Night Below has gained a new player, a Deep Gnome Unchained Rogue named Omar. After a little bit of shopping and item creation the group sett out for the spot on the map marked Dragons and is confident they can deal with the Behir they know is there. After a brief skirmish with some Quargoths they can hear the sound of something massive moving towards them
The Druid made an interesting couple of Belts. We use the Unchained Item creation rules for any permanent magic items. First Belt was a CON belt made from Death Dog pelts and a bit of Ankheg chitin. Mutated in the middle of crafting and gained a Quirk. When worn by it's creator, it doesn't give off a magical aura.
2nd Belt was a Strength Belt for the Armiger. Druid was hit with inspiration part way through but failed to follow through. Belt gained a quirk but not an immediately visible one.
It's a Mood Belt
Changes color with the wearers mood
I'm making a list of colors and moods
and since they are in the Underdark and most of the group has darkvision, they will probably never know
For me I start by summarizing the main plot. Break it down into 3 to 6 acts. Jot down some of the "Cool Moment" scenes I want to include (EX: Dwarf Airship vs. Flying Kaiju in Act 4). Stat up the Main Villain, 2 or 3 lieutenants, a few different grunts.
Then A player's Guide
I kind of enjoy writing stuff up with InDesign, so I tend to go nuts at this point with backgrounds, font styles, images, layout. Try to come up with a nice PDF for my players to read over.
For my next one though I have kind of a different idea for more of a Sandbox sort of game.
Found a thing called Dawn of Worlds online. Neat little world creation game you can do with your group. Going to combine that with some ideas I am lifting from Fabula Ultima and pretty much run a group session to create the campaign together.
Going to start with Dawn of Worlds with each player being a God for the setting and we create the world as a group.
Then in Session Zero each player creates; 1 Kingdom, 1 Mystery, 1 Threat, as well as define lore for a Weak monster (like goblins) a strong monster (like Giants) and 1 Legendary Monster (Not necessarily a powerful one but something super rare).
Then I'm going to take it from there and see what happens
The Faraway Paladin; Rust Mountain story has been great and feel very rooted in D&D. Excellent portrayal of a Paladin and I have to admit I am finding Stagnate, God of the Undead, very interesting. An evil god who loves humanity, who thinks beautiful things, like a heroic spirit, should last forever.
....Ok Nightcrawler parentage thing is a bit Wow...but I think I'm probably ok with it. Apparently Claremont had this in mind back in the 80s but it got nixed.
So our other DM is going to run Tyrant's Grasp. Spent our game session making characters
Group is
Human - Incanter (Spheres of Power) who if I understand what he is planning is going to be a Red/White deck Magic the Gathering wizard
Tiefling - Trickster (from Kobold Press) as I understand it it's basically a Wizard/Thief hybrid class
Aasimar - Paladin (Hospitaler archetype) with his eye on the Holy Vindicator Prestige Class
and me Human Armiger (Awakener) from Spheres of Might. Basically a Fighter who summons Ghosts from his weapons.
My campaign will be getting a little cut back. Long Story short, I had a Heart attack 2 weeks ago.
So to lighten my load on various things I will be running Night Below twice a month and someone else is going to run a different campaign the other two nights while I clear out my decks of various different things causing me stress right now.
I suppose One option is look some of the alternate versions of classes from 3pp for inspiration.
The Talented Fighter for example Takes all the Fighter abilities, including the Bonus feats plus a bunch of stuff from the Fighter Archtypes, and turns them into "Fighter Talents". Then gives out a Fighter Talent every level.
So maybe you steal a bit from that and say when the Fighter would get a bonus feat, he can take a "Fighter Talent"
I probably wouldn't. In most cases the Bonus Feats are from a specific category; Combat Feats, Metamagic Feats, Teamwork Feats, etc... meant to reinforce the idea of specific training.
If you are just going with a general, everyone gets a feat at every level, and then take away the bonus feats you would actually be diminishing that.
