I'll make this one quick! The world of Light City, and really the project itself, is a pretty natural extension of the the trip through the alphabet that I took on this blog two years ago, when I made my first attempt at constructing a superhero setting out of public domain characters. The focus that year was Dogwood City, based in my mind upon the large southern city that I lived in at the time.
I guess I sort of fell in love with the process, because shaping the details of such a fictional world in my head has become almost an addiction over time. Seriously, I think about stuff like...oh, how different heroes' debuts should fall on a timeline a LOT more than you'd probably think someone should consider such "facts." At least Light City is giving me a bit of an outlet for it now!
Anyway, there's really no reason that Light City and Dogwood City shouldn't be on the same map. (In my little section of the multiverse, anyway...!) Perhaps there'll be a chance to look at geography in a little more detail in the coming days. For now, let's take a quick second look at the flagship hero of Dogwood City...Nature Man!
Oh. Yeah, that was it. That WAS the quick second look. Maybe we'll take a slower look when the letter N rolls around.
You know the situation.* Everything's going smoothly in your supers RPG campaign when your team of heroes has to handle a situation at a local professional sporting event.
"Who's the visiting team?" asks one of your players.
Whaaa---? you think. The home team is easy.You're in Knight City, or Forest City, or Whatever City, after all...so you have that figured out. But who are they hosting? The pressure's on...they need a name...c'mon...3...2...1...
"It's the _____ City _____. Archrivals..."
1d100 Comic Book City Names (_____ City)
1
Autumn
2
Basin
3
Bay
4
Bear
5
Bell
6
Blade
7
Border
8
Bridge
9
Cable
10
Cactus
11
Calendar
12
Camp
13
Cathedral
14
Cave
15
Channel
16
Chess
17
Circle
18
Club
19
Coal
20
Coil
21
Cook
22
Cork
23
Current
24
Day
25
Dock
26
Empire
27
Fall
28
Flame
29
Flower
30
Gate
31
Grain
32
Hall
33
Hammer
34
Harbor
35
Holiday
36
Hook
37
Hope
38
Island
39
Judge
40
Key
41
Knight
42
Lake
43
Leather
44
Letter
45
Line
46
Lock
47
Low
48
Lumber
49
Machine
50
Marble
51
Market
52
Match
53
Metal
54
Money
55
Moon
56
Motion
57
Music
58
Needle
59
Night
60
Oil
61
Orange
62
Paper
63
Pear
64
Pipe
65
Plate
66
Point
67
Porter
68
Power
69
Print
70
Quilt
71
Rain
72
Rhythm
73
Ring
74
Rock
75
Rose
76
Route
77
Sail
78
Sand
79
Science
80
Ship
81
Slope
82
Snow
83
Space
84
Spring
85
Station
86
Steam
87
Story
88
Stream
89
Summer
90
Sun
91
Tiger
92
Time
93
Trade
94
Veil
95
View
96
Voyage
97
Wall
98
Winter
99
Wood
100
Zephyr
1d100 Sports Team Nicknames
1
Aardvarks
2
Angelfish
3
Armada
4
Arrows
5
Aviators
6
Barbarians
7
Barons
8
Baymen
9
Bears
10
Bees
11
Bobcats
12
Boxers
13
Bruins
14
Bulls
15
Burn
16
Cardinals
17
Cavaliers
18
Challengers
19
Cobras
20
Comets
21
Cowboys
22
Coyotes
23
Crabbers
24
Crocodiles
25
Dolphins
26
Dragons
27
Eagles
28
Express
29
Falcons
30
Ferrets
31
Fireballs
32
Firewalkers
33
Geckos
34
Giants
35
Gladiators
36
Goblins
37
Grooms
38
Gunners
39
Harriers
40
Hawks
41
Highlanders
42
Hippos
43
Hornets
44
Hounds
45
Howlers
46
Huskies
47
Hyenas
48
Internationals
49
Jaguars
50
Kings
51
Knights
52
Leopards
53
Ligers
54
Lightning
55
Lions
56
Lumberjacks
57
Lynx
58
Manatees
59
Marauders
60
Miners
61
Monarchs
62
Mudcats
63
Mustangs
64
Oilers
65
Outlaws
66
Owls
67
Panthers
68
Pioneers
69
Pipers
70
Pirates
71
Pointers
72
Presidents
73
Princes
74
Railers
75
Railroaders
76
Ramblers
77
Rampage
78
Rams
79
Retrievers
80
Rippers
81
Roadrunners
82
Rockets
83
Rockhoppers
84
Rogues
85
Scorpions
86
Seahawks
87
Sharks
88
Spaniels
89
Spirit
90
Stars
91
Terriers
92
Thunder
93
Thunderbirds
94
Tigers
95
Titans
96
Trolls
97
Vikings
98
Welders
99
Whales
100
Wolves
* You don't know the situation? Consider yourself lucky...
Well, I missed both Monstrous/Monster Monday and a shot at a second Were-Wednesday this round, so let me have some fun to close out the work week...how about a Friday with the Flame?
One aspect of Dogwood City (my public domain supers "project") that I've wanted to correct is the fact that I've never identified a signature hero for the city. Of the characters I've written about, there are a few that "speak to me" more than others. I like the Arrow, Black Lion, and Cub quite a bit, but they're really all ersatz versions of other well-known heroes. Daredevil is awesome, but he's been used a lot in other public domain supers projects (and there's something weird about the fact that another character is a much better known Daredevil).
Besides, my comic book heart might be happiest in the Silver Age.
I did include the Nature Family on the initial Dogwood City roster, and not only are they pretty awesome, they have the distinction of being some of the few pre-Barry Allen superheroes of the 1950s. They'll certainly vie for the status of top Dogwood icon(s). I've recently been reading the adventures of another contender, though...the Flame:
The Flame is really interesting to me because a big chunk of the Silver Age's genesis is tied up in DC's revamping of Golden Age heroes like the Flash and Green Lantern. Reading about the Golden Age Flame's history over at Don Markstein's Toonopedia, I realized that this strategy is exactly what was going on when Fox's 1939 hero was revamped in 1954 by Ajax-Farrell, who had acquired the rights to the character. Changing costumes, powers, and secret identities, the new Flame series only lasted a few issues, but it looks like it was one of those hints of things to come in the superhero market.
The Flame also fits Dogwood City nicely! Here's the seal of the city that inspires Dogwood...
...and a logo for the university I attend in said city...
...and a logo for the first NHL team to leave the city for Canada (yeah, we've lost two)...
...and a symbol from the event that helped said city gain worldwide prominence (even if no one cares much about this thing anymore)...
...and a restaurant right near my house...
So, yeah, flames are kind of a thing around here. I guess getting burned to the ground can do that to a city. Weird how that works.
As for the Flame's connection to actual flames...well, we get hints, like that first image in this post, that he uses some sort of pyrotechnics in his crimefighting. But for the most part, the Flame is just one heck of a brawler. So the bad guys can take that...
...and that...
...and that...
...and that!
His best trick, though, is probably picking up a dude by the ankle and swinging away at the other villains.
Time for another foray into Dogwood City Drabble, in which I indulge my obsession with constructing 100-word stories based on Dogwood City characters (and presenting them to the world).
Today's edition features the greatest archer of the Dogwood City universe...the Arrow!
Quivering Words
featuring the Arrow
First rule of being a vigilante archer: Know your arrows.
No one is better at this than the Arrow himself. It’s more than a science. It’s poetry. A web arrow here…a smokescreen arrow
there…whatever it takes to get the job done and
make a statement. He always has his
words at the ready.
Right now, though, the Arrow doesn’t need a poem. This isn’t a job demanding subtlety. Reaching back without hesitation, he pushes
aside a dozen clever turns of phrase and pulls out three exclamation points.
You can never really have too many boxing glove arrows, now
can you?
So here's something new for this blog: original fiction! Why?
Well...why not?
I've been thinking lately about figuring out a way to elaborate on the characters of Dogwood City (my supers setting based on public domain characters). At the same time, I've become a fan of the drabble (a micro-story), and specifically those that stick to a specific word count. So, why not combine the two?
Gotta say...the superhero drabble thing is pretty fun to write! I'm thinking it might be the next big thing in speculative fiction.
Well...it should be. If anyone else wants to write a 100-word superhero story, I'd love to read it!
Here's my first crack at it:
Decision at Midnight
featuring Cub
Cub looked down at his gloves. He could see a glimmer of blood shining under
the pale streetlight. It had only taken
him two punches to bring the hood
down and render him nearly unconscious.
Black Lion would be proud.
He’d barely approved this first solo patrol for the young sidekick, but
results like this should help. Now, what
was it that Black Lion always said about fighting criminals?
The first punch is
survival. The second is justice. The third is vengeance. You have to figure out where you’re going to draw
your line.
It's even more of a shame considering that I discovered one simian character that was almost too amazing to exclude. This is the Six-Gun Gorilla:
And he's pretty much exactly what you think he is.
Turns out he's looking for revenge on the Strawhan Gang, a bunch of Old West bandits who murdered his owner. As his name implies, he achieves this using a six-gun. So simple. So perfect.
6GG, as he lets me call him, ultimately didn't make the cut for Dogwood City due to the fact that I shied away from Western characters that wouldn't have a huge impact on the present. He also appeared as a feature in the British story paper The Wizard, while I focused on more traditional comic book characters. However, he's definitely filed away for the day I decide to explore the Weird Western history of Dogwood City.
I suppose I should have been familiar with this ape, as he apparently had a couple of comic book appearances in 2013, including one from BOOM! Studios. I somehow missed those, or...if I saw them...didn't get the historical significance at the time. I'd love to know how they are, if any of you have read them.
So, after spending 26 days in Dogwood City, I ended up with a few regrets over themes that I wanted to include, but didn't for one reason or another. After all, a respectable superhero setting should have some sort of standards, right? And yet I went the entire month without featuring...for example...a single freaking ape?
I'll aim to correct some of these oversights. To start, here's a Dr. Mortal tale from Weird Comics #5 that features a candidate for a simian denizen of Dogwood City. (And yeah, as far as I can tell, that last page really is the end of the story...even if it doesn't quite feel like an ending. All the more reason for the ape to show up again...!)
All right, it's time I step up, like so many others have already done, and reflect a bit on the April A to Z Blogging Challenge that recently came to a close.
My first thought is that I'm extremely glad I did it. It gave me an excuse to spend some time building a comic book setting...rather than just thinking about building a comic book setting, which is what I was more likely to do otherwise. I was very happy to get some great thoughts from visitors who may have never stumbled upon my blog if it weren't for the challenge. And perhaps most importantly, I really enjoyed the process of looking through public domain comic book characters and reading the stories themselves.
It never felt like a chore, although real life certainly made my posts a bit later for a few of the letters (and would have almost certainly ensured a non-post day if the challenge weren't in effect). I looked forward to putting a post up each day, and that feeling was enhanced by the idea that I was building something, so I think I picked a good theme for myself.
Now, about Dogwood City itself. I started out thinking the ground I'd cover would mostly be non-powered, costumed heroes, with the occasional non-costumed science fiction adventurer. Batman and the Challengers of the Unknown. That's the team-up I wanted to work with. I didn't want to build something that had so many beings of such power that it no longer resembled the real world.
I mentioned during the month that I was surprised to find myself drawn to some of the more magical/mystical characters (arguably starting with Frankenstein and certainly coming into focus with the Heap). This is probably influenced in part by the fact that the wife and I are reading the Harry Potter books at the moment, and the idea of a magical world mostly hidden from the view of us Muggles is really appealing. And that's not pure fantasy...sometimes it's science fantasy, like Mermeans fighting sea demons in the image above, or the other ridiculous/awesome adventures of Typhon. Even the planet-hopping of the Space Rovers fits the bill.
It looks like the team-up I've ended up with is more like Batman and Harry Potter. And, for now, I like it!
I couldn't quite settle on a single entry to close out this month-long trip around Dogwood City, so today is another two-fer.
First off, some ofthe othergaming blogs that I've been following during the A to Z challenge made the strong choice of going with "Vampire" for the letter V.
So, today's first Dogwood City denizen is Zora, a really old (like burned at the stake in 1744 old) vampire who encountered the Prize Comics version of Frankenstein.
Zora is in love with a 200-year-old undead soldier named Rollo and is quite adept at...er, convincing other monsters (like Frank himself) to do her bidding. She also helps to fill that vampire-shaped hole I saw in the increasingly fantastical Dogwood City setting.
...
Finally, let's have a look at the magical city of Zoom!
Zoom is a fantasy city that roams Earth's skies in a cloud.
Tales of the city and its malevolent and powerful ruler, the Sorceress of Zoom, come from Weird Comics, which quite often live up to the title. You really never know what you're going to get in a Zoom story, making it perfect for RPGs, in my eyes! I hope Dogwood City is ready for a different sort of invasion!
Zora Level 10 7 Hit Dice Defense 17 Bite (melee) +7 (1D damage + loss of 2 levels) Zora is immune to non-magical weapons, can shapeshift into a bat, and requires a saving throw vs. being charmed if a character looks directly into her gaze. She avoids garlic and holy symbols, and can be killed with sunlight or a wooden stake through the heart. (Yep, just sort of a generic OGL vampire for now...) Sorceress of Zoom Level 12 Magic-user 6 Hit Dice Defense 14 Attack (by weapon) +6 Typical little monster of Zoom Level 1 1 Hit Die Defense 11 Attack (by weapon) +1 A big thanks to all of you who traveled through Dogwood City with me this month! Your visits and thoughts are very much appreciated!!
Wow...we're really nearing the end of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge! I think I'm going to use the last couple of entries to cover archetypes that deserve inclusion in Dogwood City but haven't been hit so far. For today, how about a little espionage action? Here's Yank Wilson, Super Spy Q-4:
What can I really tell you about him? His title pretty much says it all. Oh, he's also a really good pilot! And...he apparently has some cool spy gadgets:
But you probably already knew that.
One aspect of Yank Wilson that's definitely worth mentioning is the reason I chose the images above for him, from Fantastic Comics #6. He's one of a select few characters to be written and drawn at some point by Fletcher Hanks. Hanks is the creator behind such Golden Age gems as Fantomah and Stardust the Super Wizard. His work has grown in popularity over the past several years with the publication of the collections I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets!and You Shall Die by Your Own Evil Creation! (which also give some insight into the rather tragic life of the artist).
If you've never read Hanks' stuff, I strongly recommend you work to correct that. He's become a must-read author of the no-holds-barred insanity that was sprinkled throughout the Golden Age of comics. His Yank Wilson story is easily one of the tamest Fletcher Hanks works you could read (and is probably one of the tamer Yank Wilson tales). I'd recommend heading over to Fantastic Comics #1 and reading the Stardust story that starts on page 16 for a pretty good intro to the mind of Fletcher Hanks.
Okay, so back to Super Spy Q-4. Here he is at the PDSH wiki, and here he is in generic gaming form:
Q-4
aka Super Spy Q-4
Real name: Yank Wilson Level 5 4 Hit Dice Defense 13
This is Xog. He's the King of...well, I'll let him tell you...
Captain Midnight traveled to Saturn back in the day. He found some crazy-looking Saturnians:
What's up with that body structure? Well, the genius inventor Captain Jim "Red" Albright (psst...that's Captain Midnight!) figured it out. It's actually kind of cool, even if...well, aren't Saturn's rings made of solids? (Note: I am neither an astronomer nor a geologist.)
You can tell Xog from the rest of them by the crown-like ring and the...geyser-type-thing spewing gas from the top of his head.
Now, if left alone, I'm not sure if Xog would have become a villain or not. But, in the wake of Captain Midnight's "invasion" of his planet, he and his army invade Earth right back. I look forward to seeing what the Battle of Dogwood City looks like!
Xog
aka King of Saturn, King of the Saturnians Level 5 3 Hit Dice Defense 12 "Arm" bash (melee) +3 (1D damage) Saturnian Warrior Level 3 1 Hit Die Defense 11 "Arm" bash (melee) +1 (1D damage) Being formed from gases in and around Saturn, Xog and all of his warriors display Saturnian characteristics. They can fly, take on a gaseous form, and shapeshift to resemble everyday objects (such as chairs). Xog inspires Saturnians who fight with him; his Saturnian allies gain +1 to all attack and saving throws while they are within 30 feet of him.
My wife and I recently binge-watched our way through Sons of Anarchy. We were hooked from the first episode; every evening until we finished the series pretty much came down to, "Okay, what do we need to do before we can sit down and watch Sons...?"
This tough crew hit comics on the heels of biker flicks like The Wild Angels, Hells Angels on Wheels, and The Cycle Savages (which even had the tagline "The Wildest Bunch of the 70's!"). They come from an era very different from that of most of Dogwood City's denizens, who hail from the Golden Age of comics. The Wild Bunch and their colleagues are decidedly Seventies creations who just happened to be published without proper copyright notice. (They were also published in black and white magazine form, outside the restrictions of the Comics Code.)
The Wild Bunch appear in the stories of Hell Rider, a bike-based hero that was an earlier effort of Ghost Rider creator Gary Friedrich. Here's that gentleman (Hell Rider, not Gary Friedrich):
Upon returning from Vietnam, the Wild Bunch are the crew that Hell Rider alter ego Brick Reese rides with...
These badass bikers are decidedly good guys but maintain a definite tough-guy edge. The heroic angle may be why, as far as I've seen, the Wild Bunch aren't shown to wear the traditional cuts and colors of an outlaw/1%er motorcycle club. Those usually look pretty cool, though, so I threw something together that might resemble what they'll wear around Dogwood City...
The Hell-Rider comics can be a bit tougher to come across on the web than some of the others I've mentioned on here. Here's a site where they can be had (check out the bottom of the page).
Animal/Deke/Slinker/Curly/Ruby (the Wild Bunch) Each Level 3 3 Hero Dice Defense 12 2 fists +3 (1D damage) OR Attack +3 (by weapon) Mastery: Motorcycling
First off, I would imagine that many people who happen upon this blog are well-acquainted with Tenkar's Tavern, but just in case you're not, I wanted to point out something really cool that's going on over there. Chuck Wright of Frog God Games is facing some hefty medical expenses and a tough road ahead, and his friends in the RPG community are at his side with a GoFundMe campaign in his support. Many folks have also donated some great RPG products that will be given out to random donors through a setup at the Tavern. Head over to Tenkar's Tavern to get more details, and if you feel like you can help Chuck out, it would be very much appreciated!
-----
Now...on to today's regularly scheduled A to Z post. Somehow I've so far avoided including a patriotic Golden Age hero in the Dogwood City archives. Today, that gets corrected, with V-Man!
V-Man was American pilot Jerry Steele, who was captured, tortured, and later killed by Nazis for assisting in an escape from a concentration camp. His lifeless body was stolen and restored by the mysterious "Father Duroc" using an amazing chemical treatment. After being given a magical costume, Steele became V-Man, defender of his homeland against the Nazi threat.
V-Man was assisted in his adventures by the V-Boys. Which, by the way, you're welcome to join...
One thing I find really interesting about V-Man is the "dot-dot-dot-dash" that often accompanies him, including on the cover of his short-lived series V Comics. It's Morse code for "V"...and is slyly used later on for a similar character, the Puppeteer, who is transformed into his superhero mode whenever his talking bald eagle Raven plays Beethoven's Fifth Symphony on a magic pipe organ. Not only is the whole eagle-playing-Beethoven thing an amazing high concept, the "dot-dot-dot-dash" is a nice representation of the symphony's well known opening...
Maybe some of you reading this are already familiar with V-Man. He's significant enough to be among the select comic book heroes over at the PDSH site to actually have a Wikipedia page. While Dogwood City's heroes know of his apparent death in the 1940s, there have recently been some rumors swirling that his body has been found, and that efforts have begun to revive him once more...
V-Man Real name: Jerry Steele Level 6 5 Hero Dice Defense 13 2 fists (melee) +5 (1D damage) V-Man inspires those who fight with him; his allies gain +2 to all attack and saving throws while they are within 30 feet of him. V-Boy (typical) Level 1 1 Hero Die Defense 11
Wow, just one week to go in the A to Z Challenge! I've been pleasantly surprised...surprised at the direction Dogwood City has taken as I've hit on more mystical than science-fictional superpowers, and also surprised that I like this direction as much as I do. I think it'd be cool to work in at least one "cosmic observer" type, like the hosts that traditionally introduce horror comics. I hit upon Retribution over at the Public Domain Super Heroes wiki:
I thought he might be a nice character to include, but upon first seeing this 1955 story, I assumed Retribution was just a knock-off of a certain member of the Trenchcoat Brigade. Eventually, though, I found that this story actually reprints a much older tale from 1946:
The Unknown predates the Phantom Stranger by more than six years! Very cool, I thought! Welcome to Dogwood City, I said!
The Unknown has a short and sweet writeup over at the PDSH wiki. He's a horror story host that some speculate is an incarnation of the Unknown Soldier. I love the idea of the Unknown playing the role of observer, advisor, and sometime-participant in the mystical events that swirl around Dogwood City.
His appearance did change a bit over time, as later artwork showed him as more of a ghostly hooded figure...
I have to say, though, I really like the classic look with the fedora. I guess there's just something about trenchcoats that I've been conditioned to associate with magic.
The Unknown
Real name: Unknown (as in no one knows it; it's not "Unknown")
Level ?
20 Hero Dice Defense 20*
Wave of the hand (melee or ranged) +20 (1D damage)*
Mastery: Human nature, the occult, the cosmos The Unknown can grant any other character a chance to rewrite fate. On a successful saving throw, the character's player may establish a plot point that must be worked into the story by the GM.
*The Unknown rarely engages in combat; when he does, he can only be hit on a roll of a natural 20. If the Unknown somehow reaches 0 hit points, he simply disappears.
