Just about a day to go for Michael T. Desing's Stalwart '85 Kickstarter!

Mini-ethical dilemma today: I honestly feel a bit strange posting anything too...eh, hopeful and...I dunno, frivolous...on 9/11.  But y'know, if I wait till tomorrow, the clock will be almost at zero on this.  And I do want to share it...and you can't really deny the American connection here.  Today is a day to celebrate heroes!

So...just reminding you to make sure to get in now if you want to be a part of Dr. Michael T. Desing's Stalwart '85 Kickstarter!  Mike (may I call you Mike?) has covered a lot of the creation process over at his excellent blog and publishing HQ, The Splintered Realm.  Stalwart '85 looks to be a love letter to 1980s superhero comics, but in a way that imagines a third major publisher (largely using public domain characters) rather than generating a pastiche of '80s stories (which, obviously, I'm also fond of).

The Core Rules are already on DriveThru as a PWYW, so you can check out the basics before buying into it.  The mechanics definitely look solid, although I'm really in it more for the worldbuilding.  The art is familiar but unique.  And Mike, frankly, seems like a good dude.

It's already funded and into stretch goals.  Check it out HERE if you'd like to join me in getting in on the superheroic action!

Musical Monday: Superman's Best Songs (Part II)...and more on Light City's Brick

There are a lot of Superman songs out there.  Here's another one I like.

I remember first hearing this when it was the "B-side" (both songs were actually on both sides) of the cassette single of the Crash Test Dummies' remarkably popular song "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm."

Not my copy, although I guess it'd be kinda cool if I still had it.  Hmm...

Yep.  The cassette single.

I would go on to pick up the entire God Shuffled His Feet album, and I really enjoyed it at the time.  It's also worth noting that I've gone back and listened to it quite a bit over the last year, and I have to say, as a record, it's not only held up, but it's even better now that I'm older and have a little more life experience with which to frame the lyrics.  It touches on existentialism, maybe even Gnosticism...really it's just brilliant stuff that 16-year-old me couldn't comprehend.  Not that I can really comprehend it now...but that's kind of the album's point, I think...

That little aside...aside..."Superman's Song" was actually on their earlier album The Ghosts That Haunt Me, which I'm not sure I've ever heard in its entirety...but based upon my recently renewed love for God Shuffled His Feet, I really need to give it a listen.

Oh yeah!  The song.  It's fantastic...even if it is, as hilariously pointed out by one YouTube commenter, "[t]he most anti-Tarzan song I've ever heard."  Pretty cool video, too.

Now...let's continue talking about Superman, Light City, and The Brick a little bit.  As I've mentioned, I'd like the Brick class for Light City to allow such a character to be shaped into some variant of a Brick-PLUS, with some of the "classic" extra powers added to taste.  Mysterious francophone Light City co-conspirator soner du suggested an "exaltation" at levels 4 and 6, to be chosen from a power menu.  Their suggestions:

"flight, AC bonus, save bonus, damage bonus, bad-ass signature weapon, etc."

This certainly seems like the way to go, with some of the choices (or maybe the "default" option, for which the menu pick substitutes) lending themselves to more "pure" Brick types like the Thing.

The more I think about it, the more I wonder if the add-ons are going to need to start before level 4.  I had intended the three levels of The Brick in The Assembly to hold up to the class's expansion, but that might not be feasible.

At any rate, I suppose the question right now is:  What are the powers that need to be included such that most reasonable variants of a Brick are covered?  I think soner du touched on the biggest ones.  Flight is a given.  Using a specific weapon is probably important to cover stuff like Thor's hammer.  I'd say some kind of blasting, like Superman's heat vision and Captain Marvel's (er, Shazam's) lightning bolts, should be in there.  Some amount of super speed is probably a must.

Should X-ray vision be on the list?  That's so specific, but it certainly seems important in the Supes equation.  But then what about some kind of super breath?  At what point does the class just become an exercise in listing all of the things Superman has been able to do over the years?

Musical Monday: Superman's Best Songs (Part I)...plus Light City musings

There are a lot of Superman songs out there.  Here's one I like.

Some background:  I was probably in high school when I first saw the title of the Spin Doctors' debut album Pocket Full of Kryptonite.  Young and nerdy me thought it was a pretty cool reference for a popular band.  When I eventually realized that they actually had a song--on the radio, no less--about Superman...well, that's one of those little moments of vindication for the geek knowledge I had acquired.

Of course, Supes is such a cultural icon that it doesn't take much geek knowledge to sing about him.  (I guess that's why a "Superman's Best Songs" series can happen on this blog.)  But still...the angle of Jimmy Olsen pining for Lois Lane is a fun twist.

On the Spin Doctors:  Their sharp and catchy rock was exactly the kind of stuff I was looking for at that point in my life.  They're all probably pretty underrated as musicians.  And...singer Chris Barron gave hope to skinny guys like me that girls could pay attention to me (a prospect that wasn't helped by all of those Charles Atlas ads I had encountered in reading comics).  I just had to figure out how to become a rock star.

Oh yeah, and the band's still got it!  Earlier this month, they released this version of "Jimmy Olsen's Blues" from whatever variant of quarantine they currently find themselves in...

And speaking of Superman...covering his superheroic archetype is one of the critical steps I need to take in getting a more or less "complete" version of Light City into the wild.  The LC Multiverse's Supes analogue is Wonder Man, who has come up previously on here as a founding member of The Association.  I figure the most straightforward way to handle heroes like this is to treat them as Bricks-PLUS...meaning, the archetypal Brick with a suite of abilities added on.  Three levels of The Brick were presented in The Assembly (to cover the Hulk), and the class was extended to seven levels in the French translation/expansion L'Assemblee.  And in fact, The Brick was one of the classes I had in the unofficial queue for individual publication before I fell off the Light City wagon.  I even worked on a cover for it...

...which now looks...uh, pretty bad after converting from the PowerPoint I had access to at the time to the LibreOffice I'm using now.  Looks like I'm having a little font issue. :)  (And yes, I often fulfill my meager layout needs using PowerPoint and its ilk...maybe one day I'll take the time to learn some proper publishing software...)

So, on The Brick...I'm looking to incorporate those add-ons that turn a Brick into a Brick-PLUS as options for levels 4-7.  That is officially in the unofficial queue...

The Fall of Phoenix Jones

I have long found Phoenix Jones to be an interesting figure in the Real Life Super Heroes (RLSH) effort.  He carved a solid place for himself as founder of the Rain City Superhero Movement and arguably the first RLSH to actively fight crime like the ones in the comics we read.  I had never known many of the details of the path his career took until I watched this documentary the other night.

I obviously recognize why he's a bit of a controversial figure, but it's really hard not to pull for this guy.  According to the YouTube comments (yeah, I know), there may be some critical history missing that relates to his reaction to the MMA fight with his brother, but this is overall very well done.  His story is complex, just like many of the greatest superhero stories.

And...because of what this blog is, here's Phoenix Jones for Light City (taking the liberty of giving him a signature item a little early)...

Phoenix Jones

Pic from his Twitter feed...

Level 5 Brawler
STR 15     DEX 13     CON 12     INT 14     WIS 11     CHA 16
5 HD (18 HP)     Saving Throw 10
AC 7[12] (light body armor)
Attacks:  2x Unarmed Strikes, +6 to hit, 1d6+1 damage; Pepper spray 1x/fight, range 10 ft., +7 to hit, 1 damage, target must save or be incapacitated for 2 rounds whether the attack hits or not; Special Improvisation 1x/day.

Horrors and heroes, hot off the press!

Seems like lots of folks are getting in on the sharing of free stuff to make quarantining at home a little more bearable, or at least trying to shine a light on things that others are doing to help.  While I will point out that everything I've put up on DriveThruRPG is free so far, I'm not plugging anything there today.  Not directly, anyway.  No, there are two RPG releases have caught my eye lately that I wanted to spotlight just in case my post can raise their signals a little.

The first is by awesome gaming blogger and all-around great guy Justin Isaac from Halls of the Nephilim, who has written the horror game Slashers & Survivors - Slashcan Edition as a spiritual successor to his game Slashers & Victims.  While the earlier release was a quick-playing, rules-light game that first appeared as an add-on for Swords & Wizardry Light, this new one is...well, still pretty quick-playing and rules-light, but based on the engine of Bloat Games' dark fantasy RPG The Blackest of Deaths.

He's included a bunch of the trademarks of slasher films to help you craft a bloody horror game just how you like it.  Part of the idea with this new release seems to be that you may want to string together scenarios into a slasher campaign, rather than just run one-shots as Slashers & Victims might have been used most often.  This contrast makes me really enjoy the wording of the games' titles (in addition to "slashcan" being a cool word!).

Also, this is just a preview of sorts...there's a full version on the way!  In addition, Justin is currently statting up horror characters for the game in his April A-Z Blogging Challenge efforts over at the Halls.

-----

The second game for today's spotlight is something that I'm especially happy to share.  Quite a while back, Justin (the same Justin from above) and I published a series of titles for Light City, a hack of Swords & Wizardry Light for superheroic roleplaying.  One of these publications was The Assembly, designed as a quick-start add-on for the already quick SWL base game.  Well, a somewhat mysterious RPG author I know only as "soner du" from comments on here...so that may or may not be his name AND he may or may not be "he," as I am basing that only on his Blogger avatar...has taken The Assembly, added levels to the classes, thrown in a smattering of other stuff Justin and I produced, added his own original content, and translated the whole thing into French!

Even with the very limited French I remember from eighth grade, I can tell this is an awesome addition to the Light City canon.  It's a complete game in itself, which definitely inspires me to want to produce the same sort of thing in English at some point.  I can also tell that the author is (A) very good with small details...which you can see in moves like reordering the results of the 1d6 roll for The Marksman's specialty weapon so they're still alphabetical in French; and (B) not looking for much attention, since I'm not even sure of his name, and he only lists me, Justin, and Erik from Tenkar's Tavern (who created Swords & Wizardry Light) as authors - even though the new contributions are significant!

You can pick up Light City - L'Assemblée over at DriveThruRPG and on Lulu.  Oh yeah...the most exciting part about it is probably the back cover, which is a teaser for an upcoming book of magic for Light City called La Congrégation.  I can't wait to see this new addition to the Light City Multiverse!

-----

I hope you're all passing your socially distant time in enjoyable ways...stay safe!

E is for Earths

...of the parallel variety, that is.

I'd love for Light City to be accessible for all sorts of supers gaming.  I also just love a good, wacky multiverse.  Here's a little sample what's been discovered so far by the fringe physicists of Light City:

-----

Earth-Alpha:  The "prime" Light City universe.  In my head, anyway.  Heck, maybe every individual game world is its own Earth-Alpha.  That's the beauty of a prime universe: It's forever malleable, ready to be retconned, revised, and updated for the present time!

Earth-Beta:  The first parallel universe to be found, when Nature Man traversed the elemental planes and found his counterpart from this alternate Earth.  The boom in superheroics occurred much earlier here (in the 1940s...folks with masks and powers were a huge part of the Allied victory in World War II).  Some heroes, like Black Lion, are fairly similar between Earths Alpha and Beta, aside from age.  Others, such as the Flame, differ enough that it's hard to even trace how they're connected.  Still others have no known counterpart on the other Earth.

Earth-Beta

Earth-Gamma:  An Earth where The Assembly is the premier superhero team rather than The Association.  Cities don't all have the word "City" in their names.  And the movies tend to be a lot better.

Earth-Theta:  Here, an aged Black Lion came out of retirement in the 1980s to clean up his beloved Empire City after it had fallen deep into a crime wave.  He ended up facing off against his old pal Wonder Man, who has become a tool of the American government.

Earth-Mu:  A world of anthropomorphic cats.  And superheroes.  So, yeah, superhero cats.

Earth-Mu

Earth-Nu:  This universe has many of the same figures as Earth-Alpha, but the age of heroes began in the mid-1950s.  There are lots of apes, and Wonder Man is kind of a dick who spends a lot of time making his girlfriend look like an idiot.  Scholars of the Multiverse aren't quite clear on whether or not this is actually the same world as Earth-Theta.

Earth-Xi:  Pretty much everything on this world appears to be made out of toy bricks.

-----

There are a lot more of them out there!  (You might even say they're infinite...ba dump bump.)  I'm definitely interested in knowing what sorts of parallel Earths you would want to encounter in a superhero multiverse!

D is for Dogwood City

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.

Up next:  EARTHS!

C is for The Club

The Club is the premier "teen team" of Earth-Alpha, initially formed by some of the younger companions of members of The Association.  At its founding, The Club consisted of just four heroes:  Nature Boy, Cub, Melanippe (sister of Hippolyta), and Leora (niece of the Sea Amazons' Queen Mea).

Nature Boy

Cub

Melanippe

Leora

The Club would go through a number of lineup changes over the years, eventually including heroes such as Young Robin Hood (operating out of Forest City) and Rainbow Boy.  The team later became widely known as The New Club, and as young adults, its members would form a related group called The Crew, leaving the Club moniker to a new generation of young superheroes.

(Nature Boy, of course, would slowly become less involved with the team after taking up the mantle of his mentor, Nature Man, upon the hero's death saving the multiverse.  As Nature Man, David Crandall would eventually join The Association.)

B is for Black Lion

Only nine days into the month, and I'm already on the letter B!  So let's see, looking at the A to Z calendar...

...mm hmm, carry the 2, and I should catch up sometime around no shot in hell.

Oh well.  Onward!  We just took a quick look at Black Lion on Wednesday as one of the keystone members of The Association.  He was also one of the first characters I covered two years ago when I pondered a superhero universe centered on Dogwood City for my first go at the A to Z blogging challenge.  To recap:

Ten years ago, George Davis's brother was stabbed to death for a diamond he possessed.  This senseless act of violence motivated George to take on a persona that would be the bane of criminals everywhere...

And so, we have a dark-clad hero, driven by revenge and operating at the peak of human physical condition...the Black Lion!

Not the MOST original background, but originality is pretty much the opposite of what I'm looking for here.  I imagine him to be one of the most prominent heroes in the prime Light City Universe.  (Hopefully I can be forgiven for some inconsistency in whether or not he gets a "the" before his name.  Even the Batman can vary in that regard.)

And to stat him up for Light City...well, I may as well pull liberally from my previous thoughts on the hero that Black Lion is undoubtedly based upon (hey, I already included the Lion-arang when I gave him rough stats two years ago...!).

Black Lion
Level 7 Brawler
Real name:  George Davis (secret)
First appearance:  Wonderworld Comics #21 (1941)
STR 16     DEX 13     CON 12     INT 18     WIS 18     CHA 16
7 HD (25 HP)     Saving Throw 8
AC 8[11] (Lion-suit)
Attacks:  3x Unarmed Strikes, +8 to hit, 1d6+1 damage; Lionarang, range 60 ft., +7 to hit, 1d6+1 damage; Special Improvisation 1x/day.

Hmm...well, A is for The Association

How's it going, internet?  It's been a while!

So, there've been a couple of months of big transition for me, as I went from living just outside the perimeter of Atlanta, GA, to a little old rural farmhouse nestled in the mountains of western North Carolina.  My wife Laura got what is essentially a dream job working at a newly opened Behavioral Rehabilitation Center for the ASPCA, and I have happily tagged along to see what adventures await.  Thus far, that's meant I've spent a lot of time following groundhogs back to their den entrances, hanging out with all the four-legged kids that we moved here from Georgia, and pondering/worrying about what the heck I'm gonna do with my life.  All of which somehow take a lot more time than you'd think...somehow...and blogging has fallen to the side in that setup.

But...April is here, and it's time to A to Z!  I just couldn't let the month pass without taking part in the blitz blogging event that has been so much fun for me the past two years.  So this month, I planned to explore, in alphabetical fashion, random thoughts related to the game and setting of Light City, the little superhero RPG project that I started working on last year, based on the excellent game Swords & Wizardry Light.  Unfortunately, not only did I miss the window to be an official A to Z participant, but I've failed to even get the first post up anywhere close to on time.

But...that's not gonna hold me back!  Just consider this my own little half-assed, guerrilla A to Z effort.  With a little luck, maybe I'll get through M by the end of the month!

If you want a quick introduction to Light City...and there are plans in the works to get a more ideal/complete intro to the setting available for perusal...you might want to check out the short RPG supplement The Assembly (which has quick rules for making characters in the style of a certain Marvel Comics superteam) or look at +Justin Isaac's excellent master list of Light City content.  (And let me note, by the way, that while I've been slack as heck, Justin has not only been absolutely killin' it with Light City material, he's also unleashed a brand new Old West game, a clever SWL mod called Six-Shooters & Wagons.  Check it out!)

...

Also, wow, that was a wordy intro.  And maybe too many hyperlinks.  Oh well.  Time to start the A to Zing.  A is for...

The Association

The Association is widely regarded as the premier super-team in the prime continuity (Earth-Alpha) of the Light City Multiverse.  Originally formed as an ad hoc effort to fend off the global domination scheme of the intergalactic echinoderm known as the Space Urchin, the heroes decided to continue working together whenever their combined skills were needed.

The Association's lineup has varied considerably over the years and has included heroes such as the Flame, Samson, the Green Giant, Silver Streak, and the Atomic Thunderbolt.  Additionally, the team has strong ties to some heroes whose membership status is debatable, such as Cub and the Wandering Nephil.  Many incarnations of The Association, however, have included the following heroes as a core:

Wonder Man

Operating out of Empire City, Wonder Man was one of the first costumed heroes to appear in the Light City Universe (which is why individuals with powers are often referred to as wonderheroes).

Black Lion

Hitting the super-scene in Empire City about the same time as Wonder Man, Black Lion works to keep the streets clean with the help of his sidekick Cub.  Black Lion is highly respected as perhaps the greatest mind on Earth-Alpha.

Hippolyta

Legendary queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta is often regarded as a role model for the girls of Earth.  However, she strives to be a symbol of courage and power for all of humanity.

Queen Mea

Ruler of a splinter group of Hippolyta's people known as the Sea Amazons, Mea's primary concern is the defense of the world's oceans.  She is also a formidable warrior on The Association's many non-aquatic adventures, although her prowess on dry land has somehow become a running joke among observers of metahumans.

The Arrow

The finest archer on the planet, the Arrow serves as a strong supporter of his teammates and, quite often, as the conscience of the group.

New in Light City: Welcome to The Assembly!

I'm very happy to announce that there's a new Light City product available for download on your favorite OneBookShelf storefront:  The Assembly!

The Assembly is a two-page add-on for Swords & Wizardry Light that stays true to the original SWL philosophy of encouraging quick-start play by covering just a few levels.  You can print it out and tuck it inside your SWL folder to make it just about as easy to get a supers game going as a traditional fantasy outing.

This new release includes work by +Justin Isaac as well as my usual rambling.  It covers three new classes (The Brick, The Marksman, and The Supersoldier), some modern and comic booky weapons, and a bunch of baddies that fit the four-color theme.  You can even use it to play some of your favorite cinematic heroes, should you be so inclined.  And of course, it's free!

I hope you'll check it out and let me know what you think if you get a chance!

Light City: Johnny Storm

Elemental Week continues!  Just another set of stats for a mini I'm looking to put onto the Light City tabletop...

Human Torch

Level 7 Elemental
First appearance:  Fantastic Four #1 (1961)
Real name:  Johnny Storm (public)

STR 14     DEX 18(+1)     CON 13     INT 12     WIS 11     CHA 15(+1)
5 HD (19 HP)     Saving Throw 9     Flight (48 ft.)
AC 6[13] (flame shield)

Attack:  Fire Blast, +4 to hit, 1d6+1 fire damage, range 60 ft.
Elemental Powers (7x/day):  Flame Missile (a la Magic Missile), Knock/Lock, Light I, Radial Blast.

(Like Hal Jordan, original Fantastic Four member Johnny probably doesn't need much introduction, but here's a link to his Marvel Database page for reference.  Hal and Johnny would be a fun pair to put together in a story, actually...

Ah!  Here's a cover for a GL/FF story that Ross posted over on the amazing Super-Team Family blog...!)

Light City: Hal Jordan

It might turn out to be Elemental Week here at Monstrous Matters!  Just statting out some characters that are on my mind or haphazardly transplanted from Clix bases to put on the table for Light City...

Green Lantern (Hal Jordan)

Level 7 Elemental
First appearance:  Showcase #22 (1959)
Real name:  Hal Jordan (secret, I guess...)

(Hal probably doesn't need much introduction, but here he is at the DC Database.  Also, I snagged his stats from Taliesin's Mutants & Masterminds builds at the Atomic Think Tank...!)

STR 14     DEX 16(+1)     CON 14     INT 14     WIS 18(+1)     CHA 14
5 HD (20 HP)     Saving Throw 9     Flight (48 ft.)
AC 6[13] (green aura)

Attack:  Green Blast, +4 to hit, 1d6+1 willpower damage, range 60 ft.
Elemental Powers (7x/day):  Construct, Elemental Shield, Green Missile (a la Magic Missile), Hold.

Four-color thought experiment: Drafting a superhero universe

So, I've had this running through my head for a bit...really just a fun thing to ponder, but I actually think it would be a cool exercise to carry out at some point.

What if you took all of the superheroes out there, put them into a pot, and allowed the major comic book publishers to draft their rosters in the manner of American professional sports leagues?  (I'm sure some leagues in other countries do it, too, but it's more of an American phenomenon, as far as I know...)  To make it interesting, we'd let more than the Big Two in on it...maybe five or six entities...or hell, a hundred, since this is all hypothetical anyway...could choose their group of heroes to publish.

If you were in charge of choosing, how would you go about it?  Do you just pick the most popular characters out of what's available?  Your favorites?  Do you go for synergy above all?  Do you pick a theme and look for consistency?

There are a lot of fun wrinkles to consider.  Once you pick a member of the X-Men, do you feel the need to lock in mutant prejudice as part of your world?  If you first-pick Superman (one of the obvious top picks, I think), does his power level limit your choices the rest of the way?

And who would be the first character outside of Marvel and DC that's worth picking?  Spawn?  Hellboy?  Faith?  Popeye (sure, he's in there)?

There would have to be some specific ground rules that I haven't really ironed out...doesn't seem like it would make much sense to let someone have, say, Superman, but then let Supergirl go somewhere else.  Green Lanterns and the Fantastic Four present issues that would have to be addressed.  Those details are part of the fun of thinking about this, though.

From where I stand, there's really just one obvious first pick, no matter your overall strategy:

From the DC Database.

Probably the most popular superhero (and maybe the most popular fictional character) on the planet...extremely adaptable...doesn't have powers that warp the rest of the world...it's hard to see why anyone would choose anyone else.  Even if no members of the Family come along, Bats is worth it.

In my mind, it gets a lot hairier after that, though.  Based on my vision of an ideal superhero universe, with nods to both popularity and my own favorites, this is how I'd rank my top ten picks (at the moment, anyway)...

1. Batman
2. Spider-Man
3. Wonder Woman
4. Green Lantern (Hal Jordan if I have to pick one)
5. Captain America
6. The Hulk
7. Aquaman
8. However many members of the Fantastic Four I could get with one pick
9. The Flash (Barry Allen if I have to pick one)
10. Wolverine

I'd love to know how some of y'all would go about this...!

Playing in Light City: Ice

It's been a day of "recovery" here in the Atlanta area, as things return to normal after one of our winter storms...y'know, the sort of storm that makes folks from more nothern climes roll their eyes at the freakout and shutdown mode we enter when the flakes start falling.

Seems like a good time to stat up a frosty four-color character for Light City!  So, how about one that brings back great memories of my favorite comic book as a kid, the classic Justice League International?  Here's the beautiful Norwegian princess, the former Global Guardian, the ever-wholesome Mary Ann to Fire's Ginger...

Ice

From the DC Database...

Level 4 Elemental
First appearance:  Justice League International #12 (1988)
Real name:  Tora Olafsdotter
Formerly known as:  Icemaiden

STR 11     DEX 14     CON 15     INT 12     WIS 10     CHA 17
3+3 HD (14 HP)     Saving Throw 12     Ice slide (48 ft.)
AC 7[12] (ice shield, ineffective vs. fire)

Attack:  Ice Blast, +2 to hit, 1d6 damage, range 60 ft.
Elemental Powers (4x/day):  Construct, Hold.

----------

Check out her story on Wikipedia or at the DC Database.  I think you'll find her quite charming.  So much so that she can maybe be forgiven for her more abhorrent vices...

Magic-Users in Light City

One thing I can do...and am doing (some, at least)...in the absence of productivity on new Light City content is to assess what's already there.  I like the idea of the new, superheroic classes' matching up reasonably well power-wise with the basic Swords & Wizardry Light classes...and with that, the thought that the original four classes could fit into a Light City game without much issue.  So...how well-grounded is the idea of playing with supers using SWL rules without access to a unified document that brings the ideas together?

If you shake off the idea of a medieval fantasy world and set your sights more on four-color urban fantasy...say something in the style of Justice League Dark...I think the SWL rules would actually work pretty nicely.  Besides the fact that there are a ton of superheroes and related characters that would be just fine as Fighters and Thieves...I haven't really kept up with the show, but from the bits I've seen, it looks like just about every DC character that shows up on Arrow would work here...you could do a lot worse than a Magic-User or some sort of Cleric variant to play heroes like John Constantine or Zatanna.  I mean, Vancian magic can be problematic for "accurate" portrayals...but comic book magic is often pretty hand-wavey, anyway.

In this vein, a public domain character that I've taken a liking to is John Force, Magic Agent.  Combining early-60s Cold War spy thrills with supernatural themes, Force protected the land of the free as an agent for the American Security Group.  You can check his bio out here on the Public Domain Super Heroes wiki, and read his public domain adventures right here.

If you're wondering...yes, he did come before Nick Fury...!

Obviously, they don't call him the Magic Agent for nothing.  John Force has a magical coin with four columns on it corresponding to four different (although arguably not all that different) supernatural abilities...

When it came time to work his magic, he'd touch the appropriate column and cast his spell:

Honestly, this is pretty perfect for a D&D-style magic system, in my opinion.  While it doesn't correspond perfectly, the compartmentalization of magical abilities matches up nicely.  It may even be possible to pick out a spell for each column...

Now, there are a couple of combat-related issues that could come up in using SWL classes in a modern supers context.  The first is that, as you know if you've ever read...oh, just about any comic book ever...pretty much every hero can throw a solid punch.  The Magic Agent is no different:

While the Brawler is certainly designed to be the class that excels at such fisticuffs, I don't see any reason why Light City in general couldn't use some form of the Swords & Wizardry Complete rules on unarmed combat...say, perhaps, that any character with class levels (as I'm thinking of a majority of people as 0-level humans...) can deal a point of damage with a punch.  (And let the appropriate class[es] modify that damage...?)

And then there's the matter of firearms.  John Force is a secret agent.  Of course he uses 'em...

When it comes to weapon proficiencies, I appreciate the old school simplicity of characters that either can or can't use a certain weapon...and this works well in a world built around the game.  I have no issue with wizards who don't wield swords because...well, because they just don't, okay...?!

Arguably just as simple, though...and probably more practical in many games...is a simple house rule that anyone can try using any weapon (within reason with regard to complexity) but take a penalty if they aren't proficient with it.  And I may not be guessing at an ideal sweet spot here, but -5 to hit seems reasonable to me at the moment, so that's what I'm going to try.  We'll see how it goes...

Oh!  And one final thing on the Magic Agent here...he might be more suitable at a higher level, but until Swords & Wizardry Continual Light rolls out to take the four basic classes up to 7th, I'll probably avoid any assumptions about what we're going to see at higher levels (or expanded versions of these lower levels).  So, he's strictly SWL for now...!

John Force, Magic Agent

Level 3 Magic-User
First appearance:  Magic Agent #1 (1962)

STR 10     DEX 15     CON 13     INT 14     WIS 12     CHA 8
2 HD (9 HP)     Saving Throw 12
AC 8[11]

Attack:  Dagger, +0 to hit, 1d6-1 ldamage; Unarmed Strike, +0 to hit, 1 damage; Pistol, -4 to hit, 1d6 damage.
Spells Known:  Level 1 - Charm Person, Detect Magic, Sleep; Level 2 - Invisibility

Want to build a city with me?

I guess I cursed myself when I wrote that my free time hasn't been especially limited lately, because pretty much since I pushed the button on that post, it's been exactly that.  I've been aiming (heh) to finish The Marksman class for Light City for weeks at this point, which is kind of ridiculous when the point of the class-by-class approach to Light City is to facilitate progress on the project even when time and focus is limited.

But y'know what probably doesn't make for a quality blog post by me? Blogging about not blogging! So, here's the point of this little communication, the thing I actually have been able to accomplish lately...!

I present the Light City Multiverse logo with the hope that others will want to take part in this little experiment in playing with superheroes within the Swords & Wizardry Light framework.  You see, I have some pretty specific ideas in my head of the way I expect the rules regarding Light City to shake out (kind of the reason I see it even being a worthwhile pursuit when there are already a million and one other supers games out there), as well as a certain view of the "ideal" superhero gaming world.

There's no point in pushing all of that too hard though, unless I'm putting it all together as some huge rule and setting book, and one of the things I like the most about this hobby of ours is seeing ideas from different individuals bounce off of each other to make something even better.  And really, what background is better for letting disparate ideas intermingle than a superhero multiverse?  I thought for a while that it might be a bit pretentious to release a "compatibility logo," but hey, what have I got to lose?  Hopefully others will want to play in the sandbox!

Here's the first version of the logo that I've been somewhat pleased with.  It's followed by the license (using that word pretty loosely) and the logo with inverted colors.  Please come join me in Light City if you like!

(Updated 01/17/2018)

1.  The Light City Multiverse logo may be used freely on any work that contributes to our ability to pretend like we’re superheroes using the Swords & Wizardry Light ruleset.  You can also use it on other stuff, but this is probably where it makes the most sense.

2.  Use of this logo does not indicate that you relinquish ownership of any of your own physical or intellectual property.  Similarly, making this logo available for use does not indicate that we relinquish ownership of any of our own physical or intellectual property.

3.  While not a requirement, if you do use the logo (or make anything of interest to Light City), we’d love to be notified at lightcityrpg at gmail dot com.

4.  Light City is a big, multiversal sandbox with room for a lot of people to play.  We reserve the right to ask you not to use this logo anymore if you’re not playing nice.

5.  As you’ve probably guessed, the writer of this license not a lawyer, so we’ll just make a final general statement that we reserve the right to change this license and the logo itself.  If for some reason that has legal ramifications, we’ll all figure it out at the time.

EDIT:  Oh!  I should give a shout out to the source of the skyline art in the logo.  I snagged it from Pixabay, right here.  Thanks to user Clker-Free-Vector-Images (probably not their real name) for posting it there...!

Building the infrastructure of Light City...

While my free time isn't especially limited these days, I am finding that I rarely have a significant stretch of uninterrupted time to complete the little projects I have bouncing around in my head.  So while the next Light City installment is taking way too long (The Marksman is coming soon...!), I am taking little steps in working toward some of my hobby goals.

I recently made a stop at Home Depot to pick up an important item...

I'm pretty stoked that I can now continue my (years-long) quest to put some of the random HeroClix I've accumulated over time to good use...!

A belated Happy Fourth! Now, let's talk Supersoldiers...

I was supposed to finish this post yesterday, but a combination of work and celebration got in the way.  Ah, well...Happy (belated, now) Fourth to all of you who appreciate the freedom you've been gifted in your respective homes!

Naturally, at a time when Light City is always rattling around in my cerebrum, America's Independence Day makes me think of this guy...

...and this guy...

...and of course this guy...

So...let's also talk about Supersoldiers, shall we?  As I move through through the superhero archetypes (as I see them applying to RPG classes, anyway) for Light City, I 've known that something in the vein of Captain America needed to be included.  As with Batman, exactly what that is depends on the perspective you take in thinking about Cap.  You can focus on the patriotism, of course, making him an inspirational symbol.  When I included a red, white, and blue hero in my Dogwood City project last year, for example, I gave him a little ally-buffing ability.

You could also zero in on the way Cap handles a shield, which may make him a member of the Marksman class (the next one I hope to release for Light City).

For some reason, though, I'm drawn a bit more to Cap's basic power set...just that he's a badass fighter at the peak of (or just beyond) the normal human physical max.  I think part of it is that I think of DC's closest Cap comparison to be the guy who has somehow become one of the company's showcase villains over the past several years...

A Deathstroke/Captain America class should be easy enough, right?  I'd say so.  So easy, in fact, that it's pretty much already there in Swords & Wizardry Light...they're really just high-level, high-stat Fighters!  So how do I make this jibe with my goal of making Light City classes roughly comparable in power level to the basic SWL options...?

I've been thinking a lot about Light City power level after some thoughts from commenter X-Plus Kaiju Collectors Crew on my last LC post, and I actually really like where all of this has led me.  It seems reasonable to me to trade off the multiple attacks vs. 1 HD enemies that Fighters get (which I honestly find a little awkward because the player basically needs to somehow be aware that an enemy only has 1 HD...) to give a Supersoldier a stat boost.  Maybe even +1d6 to all the physical attributes...and probably INT too.

The beauty of putting an adjustment like this into SWL is that I could see it making a basic character feel pretty super...but the actual stat benefits are small enough that it really wouldn't break anything!

I should probably stat up a few characters at some point, along with exploring what a "basic" Fighter would actually look like in the Light City Universe...

Playing in Light City: Halo and Firestar

So as I noted along with the Ray's writeup, I planned on doing a Sidekick next.  But then Ross over at Super-Team Family: The Lost Issues posted this gem today (seriously, click the link and check it out!), so I figured it couldn't hurt to have one more post with a pair of hot Elementals (SWIDT?).

You can check out Halo and Firestar at their respective companies' wikis...

(Quick note: One thing I'm realizing is a potential downfall of the Elemental class is that "unchecked" flying doesn't come around until 6th level.  I think this is cool for building a character over time, but I don't necessarily like that any established character I stat up as an Elemental must be at least 6th level or have at least a small issue flying now and then.  Might be something to address at some point...)

Halo

Level 6 Elemental
First appearance:  Brave and the Bold #200 (1983)
Real name:  Gabrielle Doe

STR 11     DEX 11     CON 15     INT 12     WIS 8     CHA 15
4+5 HD (19 HP)     Saving Throw 10     Flight (48 ft.)
AC 7[12] (light aura)

Attack:  Heat Beam (Red Halo), +3 to hit, 1d6 light damage, range 60 ft.
Elemental Powers (6x/day):  Hold (Green Halo), Light I (Yellow Halo), Orange Missile (Orange Halo, a la Magic Missile).

Firestar

Level 6 Elemental
First appearance:  Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends (TV series) Episode #1 (1981)
Real name:  Angelica Jones

STR 13     DEX 16     CON 12     INT 11     WIS 16     CHA 13
4+1 HD (15 HP)     Saving Throw 10     Flight (48 ft.)
AC 6[13] (-2[+2] from fire aura, ineffective vs. water)

Attack:  Fire Blast, +4 to hit, 1d6 light damage, range 60 ft.
Elemental Powers (6x/day):  Knock/Lock, Light I, Microwave Missile (a la Magic Missile).

----------

Hmm.  I realized while writing these up that the Ray should maybe get Invisibility rather than his Photon Missile (a la Magic Missile) power...

Now, I really do think I'll stat up a Sidekick...