Does anyone here even LIKE comic books?

Well, maybe guys' wardrobes are less spandexy than ours

the comic shop is still a geek ghetto. where we're sequestered away from the 'serious' people too busy to enjoy our hobby. they also tend to look down upon it and us because we haven't "grown out of them" yet

Looks like you're missing the point.

When CoH came out and even on the site, it was about being a superhero (then supervillain with CoV).

Now, it's about being superpowered, but still in the hero or villain sense. And for some it's about keeping within that theme of the game, and not going so far out of it.

You played PnP D&D, you can play that without really RPing and just use it as a dungeon crawl, hack and slash. So the question is, when you played it in it's many varied fantasy settings, then you all of a sudden pull out the "Well, I want to play a VtM vampire in this D&D setting"?

Or, I want to pull out my giant 60ft Robotech Mecha for this D&D game?

I thought he made some good points but that rip on Aspberger's was pretty rude and maybe reveals some true colors.

I for one - love roleplaying. I role play with some others with this twitter-like thing called Formspring - where we share messages with each other in-character. It's great. i have a very hard time staying in character sometimes because I sometimes want to give my own answers and opinion. If you wanna play along - you can follow me here:

http://formspring.me/AnbaricAmber

No, I'm not missing anything. The point or theme of any game is to entertain and I'm specifically speaking of what entertains me in CoX. In fact, you could say that I roleplay an everyday person. There is no *wrong* way to find entertainment in a game so long it's not at the expense of other people (such as griefing). Beyond that, the method that other people choose to maximize their enjoyment in CoX has nothing to do me. If I don't like a certain person's play style, I just don't associate with them. It's really just that simple. I certainly don't make an all out attempt to correct them or force them to conform to my way. That's just holier-than-thou and condescending at its worst.

Your reference about D&D and mecha is not really a valid comparison in this case. D&D is strictly a magic based fantasy setting with a dash of medieval/renaissance level technology thrown in for good measure. It is also only one of many in the PnP RPG universe. The superhero genre is far more diverse however. It certainly isn't only about spandex clad heroes and villains doing battle. Sci-fi, fiction, fantasy, historical or even alternate realities can all find their own niche within this genre. The same Robotech mecha that wouldn't fit into the D&D universe would have little problem fitting into this genre, as long as you change the name to avoid copyright issues.

I guess you haven't seen the new Avengers cartoon?

No, but i do want to pull out my oriental adventures hengyaokai unarmed kensai. given that they exist in compatable worlds and rulesets, your decision to exclude my character is an act of exclusion based on a narrow view of the game world, much like narrowing your view of superheroes to the 4-color golden age superheroes makes the game diminished by its specificity. Now am i saying that dm who dont allow eastern characters are bad? nah, but if i have the option of gaming with a dm that allows characters from compatible settings or one that doesnt, them its not a question which one gets my patronage. same with mmos, there is a superhero mmo on the market now that is oppressively 4 color, it is the only one i dont play.

He is neither a contact, nor redside.
Enough of your pointless Dogma...lol

And that's why they published conversion books in the 90s.

Anyway, you can play ANY game system as just a hack and slash.

And you can play ANY system as a heavy RP centered game.

Roleplay is all about the players.

No system can actually produce good roleplaying. You can't make rules for it. You can't make mechanics for it. Mechanics can't limit it either.


Saying you can't RP in a particular ruleset is somewhat of a copout.

Now, MMOs, I will admit are difficult to RP in. And until I find a computer that can innovate as well as a human, I will never include ANY computer or video game as a true roleplaying game. Action/Adventure yes.

But even the best have very limited paths and results and RP requires a give and take between players and GM, something we don't get with the environment and NPCs.

There are simply no computer roleplaying games. There are simply computer games that claim to be roleplaying games.

RP is like the Force. It partially controls your actions, but it also obeys your commands. :P

Actually, one of the classic first edition D&D modules, I think it was titled "Mystery at Barrier Peaks" involved a crash-landed alien spacecraft with non-magical robots and ray guns.

Interesting, I didn't know that. I guess it's a bit too old for me heh. I guess it just goes to show that giant robots and flying space ships can really exist in the D&D universe.

Anyways, when I dabbled in D&D, it was with 2nd edition rules. Since then my only association with D&D (3.5/4.0 edition rule) has been computer games, both the single player and MMO varieties.

It was called Expedition to the Barrier Peaks. It was a segment of a starship from an alternate universe. It has various types of cool "ray guns" (which didn't look much like guns so as to baffle the players), power armor, robots, and a variety of cool monsters some of which showed up in the wider game later.

Interresting. I haven't seen this 4 color MMO. And ewww on the golden age.

That said. *shrug* I see a difference between putting in a modern day demon slaying manga hero in a superhero setting and putting in a War of Worldcraft Day Elf.

And once is one thing, but seeing so many. That's probably my problem with it. In comics, this is a rarity, in game I see it way to much.

But if it helps, I feel the same way about Shields. In comics it's such a low low LOW used powerset, in game...EVERYWHERE! You can't turn around without seeing one!

see, I consider that "modern day demon slaying manga hero" to be a superhero

superheroes are the continuation of the demigod myths

Heracles, King Arthur, Beowulf, Reiko, Guan Yu, Lui Bei, so on

they are modern fantasy, it might pretend to be science fiction, but really just trade out "a wizard did it" with "a mutant did it" trade evil overlords with corporate masterminds and you have changed Tolkien to Stan Lee


every story is the same story, just in different places and from different frames of reference

Well I said the modern day demon slaying manga hero did fit in.

But I also clarified, it's more of a "I see the D&D character" brought into CoH. In superhero comics, this is something you wouldnt see often, it's a RARE sight. But this being a game, it changes things, so that one rare thing, becomes common place, because everyone needs to be the special snowflake.

I mean, unless it's a virtue thing, I've seen lots of Masquerading Vamps too.

It might not be because they need to be special.

If you get twenty odd fans of Fate/Stay Night, you'll have twenty odd copies of various sword swingers from history gathered in the modern age.

They might just be choosing it because they like it without regard for whether people think they're special or not.

How many iconic characters with 3 metal claws sticking out of their hands are there? Yet I see tons of them in game.

The problem here is that in the world of comics super-powered beings are unique little snowflakes, ones that happen to save the world. In CoX you can't throw a stone without hitting someone with super powers. There aren't a lot of comics that deal with superpowers being as common as allergies, but I'd imagine they might be interesting.

As for vampires... well, I don't know DC well, but in Marvel we've got Morbius, Blade, Dracula himself, and both Storm and Jubilee have been struck with a case of vampirism at one point.

But claws themselves is seen a lot.

And when I said "Masquerading Vampires" I was trying to say a game's name without saying the actual name

Finger tips claws are pretty common. So are fingers... but we don't get them.

Really, I'm a Virtue player myself and I don't see that many vampires. Of those I have spotted even fewer allude to that particular franchise that must not be named. Of course, I tend to spend my time smashing bad guys in the face rather than roleplaying.

The three clawed weapons are not common place, but not exactly rare either in Indian, Chinese, Japanese and even as far West as Roman in history

It seems to come and go when I do see it.