TarSpartan's page

It likely involves hitchhiking with the 13th Doctor, closing and/or correcting several of the most egregious Moffatisms, punching Chris Claremont + Jim Shooter + Dave Michelinie in their faces (no wait, that was me empunchening their faces), and rescuing one Dottie Underwood. It's not that she is older; it's that you are now accidentally younger.

Relativistically speaking.

It's a wibbily-wobbly-timey-wimey-Jeremy-Bearimy thing.

Edit: Brian Michael Bendis was also punched.

As long as people are being punched, can Rob Liefeld be punched? Or is that just a given?

I think the FF should definitely be introduced in a post-credit spoiler. I have an image of the heroes standing triumphant at the end of Avengers 4 (or whatever movie they decide to use), when a sleek-looking spaceship lands nearby. The hatch opens, and a tall, middle-aged man in a form-fitting navy blue suit with greying temples and a few days' beard scruff walks out. He turns back to the interior of the ship, says "Sue, darling, we're home," and the screen fades to black. I add the beard scruff because first, it implies a long, difficult journey. Second, every time Reed was distracted by a long-term project in the comics, he had beard scruff (especially in the Byrne years).

Oh, and I want Tom Cavanaugh to play Reed Richards.

We have had ADH in San Antonio since 2005, and it is pretty much the only place I will watch movies. No, the local one doesn't have an IMAX (we have 1 IMAX screen in the 2.5 million+ SA metro area), but the service, culture, and environment is fantastic. If nothing else, I always go early to catch the pre-show features, as they are specific to the film and not just general advertisements for random stuff.

I just finished the Dark Tower series. I have to say I was surprised at which character(s) made it all the way to the end. I'm not sure I like the ending, but I don't dislike it, either. I think the series peaked with "Wizard and Glass," dropped slightly with "Wolves of the Calla," coasted through "Song of Susannah" (as in, there was a novella's worth of plot in a full book), and then finished on a slightly stronger note with the last book. Personally, I would have taken some of the material from the last book and put it in SoS, but that's just hindsight talking.

Even with the Co8 patch, TOEE is quite buggy. It also suffers from a lack of appropriate magic items once you hit the "high" level 8 part of the game. If you don't have crafting feats for your spellcasters you will get stuck.

Much like DeathQuaker, I get bored with the game, but every so often my OCD kicks in and I keep pushing through. I am currently in the 4th level of the Temple, and at my current rate of progress, will probably actually finish the game sometime in mid-2019. ;)

I have NWN, but haven't yet played it. My son has played through NWN 1 & 2 along with all of the expansion materials and loves them.

In any case, if you are looking for copies of these games, get them from GOG, especially if you can wait for them to run a 75%+ off sale.

You can catch the first 3D shot of Ryugu courtesy of Brian May's Soapbox here:

https://www.brianmay.com/brian/brianssb/brianssbjun18.html#29

So is Laurence Fishburne playing Bill Foster? Who else would be connected to Pym and be part of a Goliath project?

For what it's worth, the DC Adventures game (based on Mutants & Masterminds and the OGL) already does this. I think the only thing you miss is some of the granularity in the Strength tables.

Various theaters are doing a double-screening on the 17th of May.

Six of us have snagged adjacent seats for an Alamo Drafthouse double-feature. Booze and chimichangas, wewt!

The Alamo Drafthouse is the only way to see movies. I just saw a Victory screening of "Vertigo" on Tuesday, and have my tickets for "Infinity War" next week.

I just started book 5 of The Dark Tower series. Book 4 was the best so far, so I hope the trend continues.

Hama wrote:

I bet they have more hidden somewhere. THey aren't stupid.

But if that were the case, why would they have needed to steal one just before the rest got burned? They could have gone to the secret cache.

My No-Prize answer is that there are seeds stored somewhere in a secret vault, but those seeds take time to grow into the full herb. T'Challa's family needed help immediately, so they didn't have time to break into the vault. That would also explain why just the herb was taken, and not a whole plant to keep the line going.

Cole Deschain wrote:

I am somewhat amused by the fact that while they're nominally in the same universe... you cannot pretend that this is the same world that Iron Man (2008) happens in. ;)

We've been free of the "keep it real-world plausible" shackles of Batman begins for some time now, but GOD it felt glorious seeing Wakanda just generally ruling the roost.

Those HYDRA weapons SHIELD was stockpiling? Pathetic. Oh, Stark has power armor suits, huh? That's cute! Shuri demonstrated superior tech on every level WHILE being a better human being. And that's just her. I kinda want a Shuri spinoff flick that's just two hours of her making the world better without throwing a punch.

And Killmonger... well.

** spoiler omitted **

Also, you know. Michael B. Jordan is a friggin' BOSS.

ALL OF THIS. I cut Stark some slack because again he didn't have this miracle metal to work with from scratch as Shuri does but yeah I'm pretty sure she's gonna be like "Nice Suit." *Snicker* *mentally already drawing up plans to improve the Stark design*

I'm picturing an exchange like that between Stark and Vanko in IM2, except Shuri tells Stark how to improve his suit.

There was a great quote from the "Enemy of the State II" storyline during Priest's epic run, after the Stark/T'Challa fight. Ross makes some comment to the effect of "T'Challa *chooses* not to wear a suit of battle armor." Right after HPP takes out the stealth armor with a bottle of Windex.

Belafon wrote:

Cole Deschain wrote:

I'll confess, I'm amazed Palladium is still around to make this kind of mistake in the second decade of the 21st century...

Palladium is a textbook example - literally it could end up in a business textbook - of a company that was essentially founded as a “family” business and became moderately successful. However when the time came to move to a more corporate structure it didn’t do so, retaining too much control and oversight in one person. A few good hires and Kevin stepping back a bit could have resulted in a major player.

Well, it was for a while (mid to late 80s, early 90s)... Personally, I wish Palladium would have hired a good game system designer to fix the mechanics and let Kevin Siembieda focus on setting development.

Unfortunately, the refusal to update the base system mechanics (from what was pretty much a heavily house-ruled version of 1st Ed AD&D) in any significant way for decades meant that a lot of the fan base moved to other systems that were less of a headache, no matter how interesting the source material was. This is coming from someone who still owns his RIFTS books.

You mean fix things like taking the "Boxing" skill not only skews the action economy by giving you another attack, but adds HP, SDC, and a few other attributes? My brother and I have been trying to play a Robotech game lately, and the lack of balance in the rules is just staggering. I really appreciate the playtesting done by Paizo/Pathfinder to ensure proper checks and balances are in place. Yes, there are some wonky things in the PF rules, too, but they are orders of magnitude better than the standard Palladium ruleset.

For what it's worth, the "Temple of Elemental Evil" computer game assumes everyone is flat footed until their initiative turn is up. That's *really* helpful when trying to maneuver into position without incurring AoE. Let alone getting sneak attacks from the Rogue.

Hmm kind of like when video games give you a real powerful npc to travel with you but then take it away later.

So *that's* why Gandalf kept leaving the party!

I've been on a baseball kick, and in the last two months have read "The Year Babe Ruth Hit 104 Home Runs" and "Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty." The former taught me that no athlete has ever dominated his sport as Babe Ruth did in the 1910s and 1920s, nor has anyone else in history ever been able to hit a baseball as far consistently. The latter taught me that while Ty Cobb was not a nice guy, pretty much the whole "Cobb" movie and the books upon which it was based were total lies made up by a hack writer.

Velma: "I can't see without my classes."

Johnny: "I can't be seen without my classes."

Did anyone watch Ulysses 31, Mighty Orbots, Kidd Video, Pole Position, and/or Tiger Sharks?

Yes, along with "Turbo Teen." The 80s were weird.

Anyone else up for a revival of Automan? Or a live-action Herculoids show? That's not counting shows that were "local" to NC, like "Barney's Army" and "Frog Hollow."

I watched far too much TV as a kid.

Watch "The Lego Ninjago Movie." Trust me.

Sadly 'hero goes to jail' isn't nearly that 'original' of a plot... so I expect a lot of the old cliché's to pop up soon.

It's not even original for CW shows. I mean, Ollie is threatened with jail for his activities as the Arrow this season. At least the pacing of that trial matches real life, unlike the four weeks it took for crime, arraignment, trial, and sentencing for Barry. With Holiday breaks in between, to boot!

I just finished "The Year Babe Ruth Hit 104 Home Runs." No, he never really hit 104 in a year, but the book gives a fascinating look into the day-to-day life of a 1920s ballplayer, and dispels a number of myths about Babe Ruth.

Most of the time, performing a CdG in the middle of combat isn't a great use of a monster's actions. An enemy would need to

A. At least be sentient (Int 3+) - even the slowest thinkers understand the concept of "he's just unconscious".

B. Be predisposed to killing a helpless enemy, or at least be in a position where such an act has merit.

C. Not have something better to do with his turn

Great summary of why CdG almost never comes up in my games. Especially point "C." CdG is a full-round-action, exposing one to attacks of opportunity. It is rare that multiple party members cannot reach one another with a double-move, so the odds of being able to pull this off without taking significant damage from another party member are slim.

I guess it's a sign of how old my TV is that I thought Brainy was green. Oh well. Otherwise, it was a fun episode where nearly every character got to have a moment.

I'll second the vote for Grim Fandango. I *loved* that game when I played it 15 years ago (or so). I think it should be required playing before watching "Coco."

Time to fire up the Bonewagon again!

I grew up with three different James Bonds, and am used to different actors playing the same character, so I'm okay with Grant Gustin and Ezra Miller both playing the Flash, in different mediums, or Henry Cavill and Tyler Hoechlin 'sharing' the role of Superman.

Only three James Bonds? Wow, you're just a kid. ;)

*Technically*, if you count "Never Say Never Again," I grew up with five, since I was born a few years after the one Lazenby film.

In all seriousness, switching actors is a long-time Hollywood tradition. I mean, if you look closely, you have two different actors playing the Tin Man in the Wizard of Oz!

Vidmaster7 wrote:

Who would you guys choose to play doom?

I’ve been chewing on this one.

How about Jason Isaacs? Either in the suit, or voice only.

He does good accent work, and he can definitely pull off the ‘arrogant aristocrat oozing with malevolence’ bit.

Since we no longer have Alan Rickman, I think I can live with Jason Isaacs. He was pure, over-the-top *evil* in "The Patriot."

Thomas Seitz wrote:

As for how they get him into the Sun? I mean we send stuff to the Sun a good bit. How hard would it be to get him in it?

1. We really don't. A lot of our observations good ol' Sol aren't conducted by going that way. Por ejemplo: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2017/nasa-funded-sounding-rocket-will- take-1500-images-of-sun-in-5-minutes

2. Earth is 149,600,000 kilometers from Sol. Since it's potentially a straight shot rather than a transfer orbit, it's quicker to get to than Mars, but still takes over 100 days with the best speeds on record.

As an aside, I did a good bit of the optical design for that rocket...

We still need a proper Dr. Victor Von Doom.

On a related note, we need a proper Reed Richards as well. I mean, Ioan Gruffudd was OK, but not great. You need someone with a bit of age to project Reed's wisdom. Reed Richards is not a 20-something (and teen Reed never happened). I'm thinking someone like Tom Cavanaugh (from "Ed" and "The Flash") as Reed Richards. He's old enough that he looks mature, but still young enough to handle the demands of a superhero role. Plus, he has a strong physical presence and experience spouting comic-book technobabble. If only CW would let him go...

Yes, I have had to log in every time I access the site for the past few days to a week.

Daw wrote:

Bill Redford wrote:

So then those who show no talent for magic get tossed aside, banished or killed at birth. Interesting...

Being deliberately provocative, are we?

OK then, in this (arguably real) world, people judged as deficient are sidelined and often sequestered. Go talk to any of the groups trying to get support for special needs. Look how poorly we do it even in the wealthy nations. You think it will be any different in your posited world?

The inability to sense magic will be analogous to blindness or deafness in being able to recognize magic environmental threats. If flight is the norm, then stairs and walkways are just inefficiencies, unless you are one of the few who need them....

Well considering this is a one possible hypothetical option (that I posited, not the OP) for a fictional scenario in a fictional setting - yes - that would be very unbalanced and could lead to a great deal of abuse by the magically gifted. This leads to a plethora of story hooks and RP options for the players. Which is what we look for in these games.

If folks haven't read the Darksword Trilogy it's a great series. The sequels were okay as I recall. Not bad, but hard to follow the original trilogy.

The original books were written by Margaret Weis and Tracey Hickman.

When I saw the thread title, my first thought was "Darksword Trilogy." The first two books are among the best ever written by Weis and Hickman. The third is good until it takes a *HARD* about-face roughly halfway through. The sequel/fourth book was forgettable after the events of book 3.

In any case, for those who haven't read the series or don't want to look it up on Wikipedia, almost everyone in this society has some form of magic. Those few who lack any magical ability are pronounced "Dead" and cast out of society. Magical ability is finite, and some people have the talent to "recharge" depleted mages. This talent is known as "giving life." All in all, a fascinating series, at least until the major plot twist in the third book.

Anywho, I'm glad we've got Boseman for the Black Panther. Wesley Snipes has just a tad more swagger than I want for the King of Wakanda.

I want the Black Panther to be someone who doesn't always look as dangerous as he is, with a sort of human layer over the scary panther dude underneath. I haven't seen Snipes in a lot (Demolition Man, the Blade movies), but he seems more intense and 'on' 24/7. All scary cat, no friendly façade over it.

Did you see the first "Major League?" (i.e. the one that was actually funny?) Wesley Snipes was great as Willie Mays Hayes, and pretty darn hilarious. I think *that* Wesley Snipes could have played T'Challa. Don't get me wrong -- I think Chadwick Boseman is a great actor (which reminds me, I still need to see "Get On Up"), and I think he is all but perfect for the role. I just think an early 90s Wesley Snipes could have done it well, too. Much like the way Tom Holland is great as Spider-Man, but I can still appreciate Tobey McGuire from the first two Raimi films.

Well, yeah, it is kinda safe option. But it is also powerful storytelling tool, especially if you want to contrast and compare the hero and villain. They do that for a reason. Abomination is Hulk without any morality, just destroying stuff for fun, ie how Thunderbolt Ross and most of the world sees him, and by beating him he proves not to be this. Same for Tony Stark; Warmonger is evil capitalist who exploits people and gets rich on the cost of human life- the thing the reporter accused Tony being at the start of the movie and what Tony struggles with in the movie.

Is it overused? Yeah, definitely. But it also works if done right. And since Killmonger's goal seems to be "Wakanda is not working, time for new ruler and new rules" and T'Challa struggling with being a good king and a good man, making villain a Black Panther-like costume is just visual continuation of that theme.

The other thing to remember is that in comics lore, "Black Panther" is not a superhero name, but a title and duty of the rightful King of Wakanda. If Killmonger is making a grab for the throne, then it is only fitting he is claiming to be the rightful Black Panther as well. In that case, an "evil Black Panther" makes sense.

The thing about reading Priest books is that there is a warm-up period. It usually takes him six months or so to really get going, but once he gets going, he's incredible. For instance, Black Panther was good for the first few issues, but was untouchable until about issue #50 or so when Kasper Cole entered the story.

As for Deathstroke, I confess I bought the first few issues on faith, because again, it takes him a few issues to start drawing the threads together. Once he did, however, I was hooked.

Am I the only person excited that Christopher J. Priest (the former Jim Owsley) is writing two monthly titles now? He pretty much went into self-imposed exile after the end of "The Crew" and "Captain America and the Falcon" in the early 2000s, but recently returned to write "Deathstroke" for DC and "Inhumans" for Marvel.

So the Gyllenhall pic is OK, but the PC has some sort of major social disorder - it's not just that he's shy, but people actively dislike being around him.

I'm thinking a less-likable version of Gaston from "Beauty and the Beast," for instance. Or maybe Gaston as the audience sees him, not the village. Good looking but completely obnoxious and self-absorbed.

I'm fine with a movie based on the novel "Kenobi." The book was a great "western" style story set in the SW universe. I don't think it's canon anymore, though.

I'm fine with Tennant as Crowley. The question is will every tape/CD/whatever in the car turn to "Queen's Greatest Hits?"

I mildly disliked DM1 (can't stand Steve Carell), but loved DM2, and I have to admit that I really enjoyed Minions.

Toddler Gersen, on the other hand is OBSESSED with Minions -- she's seen it probably 400 times, and we have 2 DVDs full of Minions short features as well; her room is decorated with them, her 2nd birthday cake was Stuart's face, and she herself was a minion for Halloween last year. She found DM1 and DM2 to be "meh," however, so I'm leery of taking her to the theatre to see DM3, especially after the disaster of taking her to Moana (another movie she now loves): ** spoiler omitted **

I will recommend you wait for DVD/download/whatever on this one. Without spoiling too much, a plot point involves separating the Minions from Gru and they are consequently absent from a good bit of the movie.

That rings a bell. It's not something from THE HERITAGE UNIVERSE books by Charles Sheffield?

It's been a while since I read the Heritage series, but I'm pretty sure there weren't any robots. At least none that match this description.

I just finished "Chasing Space" by Leland Melvin. While stating he is the only person to catch a pass in the NFL and fly into space is a slight overstatement (he was cut by both the Cowboys and Lions in training camp without playing in a regular season game), the book is nevertheless an entertaining look into his life story. He describes the difficulties of being a science nerd while playing Wide Receiver in college, and transitioning from a pro football prospect to an engineer. His astronaut anecdotes feel a bit rushed in places, as does his description of overcoming partial hearing loss to return to flight status. Still, it's worth reading if you have at least a casual interest in astronauts or pro athletes.

Fromper wrote:

Kevin Spacey did a great job of playing Luthor the same way Gene Hackman played him in the original movies. Just like Brandon Routh did a great job of playing Christopher Reeve (playing Superman and Clark Kent).

Meanwhile, Eisenburg did a passable job of playing Luthor the same way Ledger played the joker in The Dark Knight.

I just have a problem with a Lex Luthor that sounds like the "Camille" voice from a Prince album.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the dream we all dream, man of steel vs. the bat of Gotham..."

I think I used area of effect spells like multiple ice storms to soften up the mob, and then focused on the salamanders first to limit castings of fireball.

Thanks -- that was pretty much the way I ended up winning. I decided that I shouldn't be sportsmanlike and talk first, just ambush with an ice storm. It took out the lesser creatures and softened up the main baddies. Then, I concentrated on the fireball-casting salamanders with my melee fighters while having everyone else spread out enough that no more than one person could be caught by a fireball.

I am amazed at how tactical some of these fights become.

I am still trudging my way through the game, and have finally made it through part of the Temple proper. I am finding some difficulty in facing enemies in the Fire Temple. Specifically, I find a leader who summons a bunch of elemental types and two giant salamanders that spam me with fireball. Any suggestions other than "go heavy on the protection spells" before starting? I have "Craft Wondrous Item" for my cleric & wizard, and haven't really used that yet because I hate to lose the XP. However, perhaps some Protection items are in order.

Never played one, but after reading this thread I might have to try a Halfling Bard. The DEX bonus is useful, the STR penalty isn't that bad, since Bards don't necessarily have to be melee types, and the +1 to hit, AC, and saving throws helps keep you alive to buff the rest of the party. Plus I'm having visions of all the singing from the "Lord of the Rings" and thinking that halflings would just make great Bards.

I used some of the Kalamar mods when I ran a Kalamar campaign. I've always wanted to run Return to the Temple of elemental Evil.

RttToEE is fun, but takes a *long* time. We eventually gave up because it took so long, but it was fun while we played it. I'm playing the PC version right now, and even that has taken me the better part of a year just to clear out the first level of the Temple!

Do fallen paladins still have access to wands and such? If so, that can be a consideration as well. Going either full Cleric or full Fighter is the usual route for a fallen Paladin, but maybe Ranger is a thought? Depends on why the Paladin fell, I guess.

Kind of off-topic, but kind of not: Stephen Amell will be competing on "American Ninja Warrior" this week. No, he does not compete in costume.

Just about to start GRRM's "The Dying of the Light"

From what I recall of that one it shouldn't take long. At least by GRRM standards.

So....Cat Grant/Calista Flockhart proves she's worth the money. I just wish CW would find a way to find the budget to move back!

Yeah, you don't realize how much you miss her until she comes back. She packed a season's worth of snarkiness into 30 minutes. Snapper has some of that, but he just comes off as a crotchety old man most of the time.

On a side note, am I the only one who hopes next year's meta-plot doesn't involve a xenophobic billionaire who has to team up with the good guys to fend off invading Kryptonians/Daxamites/Martians/Vulcans/Whatever? I was hoping Supergirl would break the CW super-show trend of holding the same meta-plot every year. You know, Oliver has to stop a genocidal madman from destroying/killing everyone in the city. Barry has to stop the evil Speedster before someone close to him dies. Etc. For all its flaws, at least Agents of SHIELD changes things up from year to year.

I'm playing a warlock in our Shattered Gates of Slaughtergarde campaign. SO far, I've enjoyed the class, but he's only 3rd level. The party is evil aligned and my character is a worshipper of Fraz-Urb'luu. Since, as mentioned in Dragon, Fraz isn't to fond of humans, I've expressed to the DM my desire to try and eventually turn him into a Shade (Dragon had a great article that broke shades down into 4 levels) in order to make him an outsider. Eventually, I'll move him into the Thrall of Frz-Urb'luu prestige class.

I know I am reviving an old thread here, but my family and I are currently working our way through SGoS, and my wife is playing a Warlock. Am I the only one who thinks Warlocks are almost too powerful for this adventure? We're about halfway through the Lab, and the party has barely had to break a sweat so far. About the biggest challenge was facing the two drow fighter/wizards who cast shield on themselves before the party arrived.