Willow & Tara: BASH! (and Hop Against Homophobia and Transphobia)

Today is the first day of the Hop Against Homophobia and Transphobia
http://hopagainsthomophobia.blogspot.com/2013/03/hop-against-homophobia-and-transphobia_15.html

As I mentioned earlier in the week that for the time period between May 17 to May 27 I will donate all the money I make from The Witch and from my DriveThruRPG Affiliate money to The Trevor Project.

I signed up for this hop to talk about characters. Honestly, who better to talk about than Willow and Tara. Plus Tara herself is a big fan of the Trevor Project.

Here is something that has been hanging out in my "drafts" for a long time. I think today is a GREAT day to finish it.

Willow & Tara: BASH!

Willow & Tara by Foxfire141

BASH! or as it was known, Basic Action Super Heroes is a great, fun game.

I have talked about it before with my super heroine "Justice", and of course I have done Willow & Tara as superheroes and as animated/cartoon/comic characters.  Bash is sort of the ultimate combination of all of that. While some supers games are "comics" games and others "supers in a real world" games, BASH is certainly a "supers by way of cartoons" game to me.  Trust me, this not a bad thing.

As always I am going with the "Dragon and the Phoenix/Season of the Witch" versions of the girls.  Though if I had stuck with my games this would have been part of Season 3.
The versions I am using are part of a game I never got to run; the Season 3 of my Willow and Tara game.  Basically they are attached to some school for magical/powerful students.  Tara is one of the teachers there so they appeared as NPCs/GMPCs only.  OR they would have been played if I had found someone to play them.  You can see more details of that game in their Cartoon Action Hour, M&M2, M&M3 and Icons write-ups.

Normally I'd do BASH! heroes about 40 points for a starting supers game.  That is what I did with Justice.  Here though the girls don't have any flashy powers.  They have magic and lot of it, but that is different.  Plus they are certainly more "Street Level" or 25 points.  I think I'll split the difference at put them at 30 or 35 points with 10-15 points for stats (like the 25 point level) and the rest for powers.  Plus the "Buffy" like character in the book is aimed at 20 points.  Depending on how I do magic they will end up in the 30 to 40 point range.

Willow Rosenberg

Name: Willow D. Rosenberg
DOB: August 1, 1981
Identity: Public, but unknown as a witch
Occupation: Part time computer instructor; Private Computer Security Systems Analyst.

Brawn: 1
Agility: 1
Mind: 5 (she is considered to be one of the smartest people in the game)

Soak: 1
Defense: 1
Mental Defense: 5

Powers
Super Senses (magical sensing, vision, hearing)  2
Clairvoyance 1
Telekinesis 5
Magic* (limitation: casting) 5 (use any power at 5)
- Force field
- Arcane blast
- Mind Control
Telepath (restricted to Tara only) 3

Skills
(1 physical, 5 mental +1)
Athletics (running)
Computers (hacking), Humanities (Religion), Investigation (Analysis), Occultism (Monsters), Science (Chemistry), Technology (Repair)

Advantages
Headquarters, Quick-thinking, Security Clearance

Disadvantages
In a Relationship (Tara), Minority (out married gay, jewish, witch), Susceptibility (anger issues)

Mental Malfunction: To right wrongs, punish the guilty.


Tara Maclay

Real Name: Tara A. Maclay
DOB: 11/07/1980
Identity: Public, but unknown as a witch
Occupation: Youth Counselor and Art instructor at <> Academy

Brawn: 1
Agility: 2
Mind: 4 (Tara is lot smarter than given credit for)

Soak: 1
Defense: 2
Mental Defense: 4

Powers

Super Senses (magical sensing, vision, hearing)  2
Clairvoyance 1
Telekinesis 4
Healing 3
Magic* (limitation: casting) 5 (use any power at 5)
- Force Field
- Arcane blast

Telepath (restricted to Willow only) 3

Skills
(2 physical, 4 mental)
Perform (Dancing), Riding (Gallop)
Humanities (Art), Medicine (first aid), Occultism (Rituals), Social Science (History)

Advantages
Grimoire (The Journal of Tamara Swift), Headquarters,

Disadvantages
In a Relationship (Willow), Minority (out married gay, witch)

Mental Malfunction: To protect the innocent

All in all similar to their Icons counter-parts.   Obviously this is a better choice of system for supers and not supernaturals.  But I expected that and wanted to try it out anyway.

Goodbye Marvel Superhero Roleplaying

Today is the last day.

Due to a licensing change with Marvel, Margaret Weiss Productions will no longer be selling Marvel Heroic Roleplaying.

MHR is a great game, but you need the right group to do it.  That might have factored into the sales vs. licensing equation.  In any case get these game books today while you can.

Marvel Heroic Roleplaying: Basic Game
Marvel Heroic Roleplaying: Civil War Event Book (Essentials Edition)
Marvel Heroic Roleplaying: Civil War Event Book (Premium Edition)
Marvel Heroic Roleplaying: Annihilation Event Book (Essentials Edition)
Marvel Heroic Roleplaying: Annihilation Event Book (Premium Edition)

At midnight tonight they are all gone.

Superhero Friday!

My A to Z post will happen later today.
But I wanted to post on two of my favorite Superheroes Games.

I have talked about DC Adventures from Green Ronin many times and I still think it is one of the best supers games I own.  They currently have a new book out and sadly the last of the line.
DC Adventures Universe is what amounts to a campaign guide/world book, but it is also great history of the DC Comics world.  This makes it a good choice for gamers and fans of DC Comics.  What know the details of Gotham City or Metropolis?  They have them here!  What was the past like or what does the future hold?  Here you go.   I picked this up last night and I love it.   Plus if you are a fan of Trey's Warlord Wednesdays then they also detail the Hollow Earth of Skartaris.  As a gamer I think it is a great book.  As a fan of DC comics it is a fantastic book.

Sadly another line is ending too soon and the books will even be gone after today.
Due to a licensing change with Marvel, Margaret Weiss Productions will no longer be selling Marvel Heroic Roleplaying.

I have also talked about Marvel here at great lengths.  MHR is a great game, but you need the right group to do it.  That might have factored into the sales vs. licensing equation.
But in any case get these game books today while you can.

Marvel Heroic Roleplaying: Basic Game
Marvel Heroic Roleplaying: Civil War Event Book (Essentials Edition)
Marvel Heroic Roleplaying: Civil War Event Book (Premium Edition)
Marvel Heroic Roleplaying: Annihilation Event Book (Essentials Edition)
Marvel Heroic Roleplaying: Annihilation Event Book (Premium Edition)

Both games are great fun if you love super-heroes (and who doesn't?).

For new readers, here are the stats for both games for the Other Side's covergirl, Justice.
Justice for DC Adventures and Justice for Marvel Heroic Roleplaying.

Get these while you can!

White Dwarf Wednesday #62

February 1985 brings us Whited Dwarf #62. While most of my White Dwarfs from here on I picked up many years after the fact, this one was part of my early collection.  It might even have been the last one I bought new. Once again we have an awesome Chris Achilleos cover.  I wonder if they bought these in bulk or something. The monster is some sort of goblinoid, demon or yeti. Either way that dude looks like he is about to become Yeti-chow.

Ian Livingstone mentions he is going to Dallas for the Hobby Industry of America's annual show (and even gets off a even-tired-for-1985 joke about J.R.). There is quite a bit of chatter on the white metal miniatures production.

Up first is an article I really enjoyed back in the day.  A Place of Damp and Darkness dealt with the levels under a city.  Given that it was 1985 and my love of all things British I always thought of London.  In my mind "D&D London" was a weird combination of London of 1066, Elizabethan and Victorian London as cobbled together from various sources as Doctor Who and Hammer films.  Not a pretty place, or even a real place, but a fun one.  Goblins lived in the sewers, something that you will see in my adventures to this very day.

Open Box gets Super-sized. hehe. Not is size, but two new Super Hero games.  Golden Heroes by Games Workshop and Marvel Super Heroes from TSR.    I have only heard of Golden Heroes, never played it.  Marcus Rowland loved it and gave it a 10/10 (even though he gave it a 7/10 for Complexity).  He comes back with MSH and introduces the reader to FASERIP and the differences between Feeble and Unearthly.  He gives it a 8/10 but for the life of me I have no idea why OTHER than he doesn't like seem "tm" all over the page. At this point in my life I was moving away from DC and into Marvel, so this was an awesome time for me. I recall how much we had taking our current D&D characters and restating them up as Marvel Characters.

RuneRites in next with some great spells for RuneQuest.   All have a nice Celtic feel to them.

The Dark Usurper is up, Part 2 of the Fighting Fantasy Solo Adventure.

Gary Draabwell gives us En Garde, Parrying rules for AD&D.  My then DM latched on these and never let go.  I don't think a single sword hit I had ever landed after this article.

Ok this one is an odd duck.
An Alien Werewolf in London is a Traveller Adventure set in 1888 London. A Vargr has time-crash-landed in London and you need to go in a get him. It's a very straight forward adventure.  Frankly it would work FANTASTIC for Cubicle 7's Doctor Who game and I even ran it once under Ghosts of Albion..

Eye of Newt and Wing of Bat is up for part 4. This time Swords and other weapons.  The section on "bane swords" was very helpful when we focused on making "Demonbane" a unique holy avenger  for my then AD&D game.

Fiend Factory has some relatives of the Dryad, the O Caber. They seem interesting enough.'

Treasure Chest covers hermits and hags.  In this case they are ways to customize forest encounters with the strange old man/woman of the forest.

Crawling Chaos is a new bi-monthly Call of Cthulhu feature.  This time they cover two new monsters the Bokrug and their servants the Thuun'ha.  I like the idea of new monsters in CoC, but in truth players

Tabletop Heroes covers painting faces. Crash Course has some more Car Wars has a bunch of smaller ideas and articles.

We end with ads.

Ok so a lot for me personally in this issue.  A lot of material that I made use of over the years or later adapted to something else.  Let this be a lesson to you. Don't throw out your old magazines!

R is for Raven

Total cheat today. But I am going with Raven. Her name is also Rachel Roth, so that also counts.
 Why is she good to post today? Raven is the daughter of the Demon Trigon. So she is half demon. But she is a good person, or at least she tries to be one.


Raven Detail by *AdamHughes on deviantART


Raven by *timberwolfd3 on deviantART


Evil Raven Laughs at... by =morganagod on deviantART


Raven's bookgasm {tontos como yo 'verse} by ~Asmodeus7891 on deviantART


Raven - Teen Titans by ~Neferet-Cosplay on deviantART


Blackbird by ~HastyKitten on deviantART


Trigon's Heir_colored by ~FezzTheeElite on deviantART


Raven by *RandyGreen on deviantART


Teen Titans-Raven by =autumnwraith on deviantART


Teen Titans Raven Theme by ~hackman2k3 on deviantART


Raven in ten years?? by ~Asukawa on deviantART


Demon's Daughter by ~raymundlee on deviantART


TT-Raven (DC Special) by *Glee-chan on deviantART


Sentinel of Magic by ~Neferet-Cosplay on deviantART

Sunday Updates

Moving this to Sunday since there are people hitting the blog then and I generally don't post on Sundays.
Plus I can collect these all through out the week and report them back to you.

Jeff Dee on the recent Villains and Vigilantes lawsuit:
http://my.deviantart.com/art/Villains-and-Vigilantes-RPG-News-360833993

An interesting Kickstarter, Monster Tome:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/monstertome/monster-tome

Tenkar is doing a Sword & Wizardry Appreciation Day on April 17, 2013.
http://www.tenkarstavern.com/2013/04/spes-magna-games-is-adding-to-swords.html

Wizards has put up some humorous walk throughs for two of their classic modules.

• S1 Tomb of Horrors
• S2 White Plume Mountain

Additionally Tomb of Horrors will be redone in Dungeon #213 for D&D Next.
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/TOC.aspx?x=dnd/4new/dutoc/213

You all might know this, but I just found it.  D&D T-shirts at DNDMerch.com.

Have a great sunday!

DriveThruRPG Sale

We have not had one of these in a while, but DriveThruRPG is holding a January sale.
Their "New Year, New Game" promotion with select games at 40% off.

Among the games listed here are a just a few of my favorites:

• Albion - not Ghosts of Albion, but equally as fun!
• Aletheia - have had it for a bit and really need to play it.
• Capes, Cowls and Villains Foul - really fun comic game
• Conspiracy X 2.0 is the best Modern Conspiracy game there is.
• Diana: Warrior Princess - ever wonder what future archeologists will say about the late 20th/early 21st Century? Wonder no more!
• Icons - a great FATE based Supers RPG.
• Leverage - one of the cooler Cortex+ systems out there.
• Little Fears: 10th Anniversary Edition - great creepy game. The original rules for Little Fears. My review.
• Mutants & Masterminds 3.0 - I have talked about how great this game is a lot here.
• Myth & Magic: Player's Guide - looks a bit like 2nd ed AD&D.  I have a review going up soon.
• Primeval RPG Core Rulebook - based on the English TV show about rifts in Time and Space. Compatible with their Doctor Who system.  My review.
• QAGS - See my review for this one!
• Shadowrun: 4th Ed. 20th Anniversary Core Rulebook - The cyberpunk meets the future meets magic game. Reminds me of going of to college. 
• The Victory System - the only one on the list that I didn't know much about.  It is by Dakkar Unlimited and I have known Dakkar for years, so I am willing to try it out based on that alone.
• Traveller Main Rulebook - I have enjoyed Traveller in the past even when it frustrates me.  I will give Mongoose a lot of credit for cleaning it up so much.
• Vampire: The Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition - this nearly 530 page tome is a MUST BUY for any fan of the Vampire game.  40% off the PDF is a great savings.
• Villains and Vigilantes - my first ever Supers game.  Glad to see this one back as well.

There are plenty more.

AND if you use this code:

happynyng2013 

You gain an additional 15% off.

Zatannurday: Hero Clix 2!!

I didn't forget!  I was waiting on this.

A while back I posted some Zatanna Heroclix.
Well now thanks to reader and fellow blogger Justin Isaac look what I got in the mail today!

Wish I could take a clearer picture, but it is the only Zatanna I didn't have!
And here is the "enjoy!" envelope it came in

She looks great with my others.

And with my other witches!

Thanks so much Justin for making my Zatannurday perfect!
Check out his blog (with cool ass supers) at the Halls of the Nephilim, http://punverse.blogspot.com/

Zatannurday: Alouette Cosplay

A while back I featured a pic of a faux Justice League movie that featured Zatanna.

Well I finally tracked down that Cosplayer, Alouette Cosplay, and she has done some more.

Here are some of her DC Heroes. First up, Zatanna



:DC: Sorcery Savant by ~AlouetteCosplay on deviantART


:DC: A League of Their Own by ~AlouetteCosplay on deviantART

And as Black Canary, with an unknown Zatanna


:DC: Fishnet Heroines by *AlouetteCosplay on deviantART

As Catwoman with Poison Ivy,


:DC: Double Team by *AlouetteCosplay on deviantART

As Catwoman again with Harley, Ivy and the Bat.


:DC: The Sirens and The Bat by ~AlouetteCosplay on deviantART

Batwoman (love this one)


:DC: Twice Named by ~AlouetteCosplay on deviantART

And finally Black Canary


:BC: Little Bird by *AlouetteCosplay on deviantART


You can find her on DeviantArt and Facebook.

Zatannurday: MachSabre Superwomen

One of my favorite artists is MachSabre, aka David Reynolds.

Long time readers here might recognize the name or at least his art.  David was one of the two Davids of the ShadowGirls fame and I have featured his art here many times.  I am doing that again today. Mostly because I like his art and Dave loves Supergirls.

So to celebrate the announcement that David is part of a new comic, Shadow of the Black Banshee, here are some of my favorite pieces, featuring of course Zatanna.


Zatanna by ~MachSabre on deviantART


Raven by ~MachSabre on deviantART


The Scarlet Witch by ~MachSabre on deviantART


Ms. Marvel vs. Power Girl by ~MachSabre on deviantART


Hawkgirl by ~MachSabre on deviantART


Kim Possible 02 by ~MachSabre on deviantART


Last Daughter of Atlantis by ~MachSabre on deviantART


Starfire by ~MachSabre on deviantART


Wonder Woman by ~MachSabre on deviantART


Wonder Spin by ~MachSabre on deviantART

This one of all the Batgirls was my desktop bitmap forever.

Chiropteras by ~MachSabre on deviantART

And of course you have all seen this one,


Commission - Tara and Willow by ~MachSabre on deviantART

But imagine my surprise when I found this one!


Willow and Tara Cuddling by =AstronSoul on deviantART

AstronSoul is just another fan like me that had D Rey make this.  I think it is cool.

Super Sale at DriveThruRPG

DriveThru RPG is featuring it's best Super Hero RPGS.  They also are highlighting bits from the reviewers for your enlightenment and yours truly is featured!

No surprise really, I have reviewed all these games at one point.
Here they are.

Marvel Heroic Roleplaying
What I said: "MHR is more of a game where the players are providing the framework. You need to create your character with the other characters and players in mind. Maybe not as much as Smallville or Leverage, but still. It is also a game where the main drama is about heroes, not really supers. It really is a "comic book" RPG, not a cartoon, supers or even super hero movie RPG. This game is about building characters, the relationships between them and the drama. Which, if you think about it, is kinda what Marvel Comics is about."

Read more here, here, here (Justice), here (Zatanna), here (Willow & Tara), and here (Batwoman).

Icons
What I said: "Icons comes with a pretty good pedigree. First it is written by Steven Kenson, who gave us Mutants and Masterminds and also worked on Silver Age Sentinels. Steve obviously knows his supers. It has Gareth-Michael Skarka of Adamant Entertainment and one of the minds behind "Hong Kong Action Theater". Walt Ciechanowski has a ton of game systems under his belt too including M&M, True20 and Victoriana (1st ed). And Morgan Davie, whom I'll admit I am not as familiar with. But he is one of the guys that wrote Icons, so that makes him good in my book. 
...if I needed to run a supers game on a rainy afternoon or a convention or just something to have some fun with, then Icons is a great choice."

Read more here, here and here.

DC Adventures (oddly, not on sale)
What I said: "When you take the world'ss best superhero game and combine the world's super heroes you get a combination of pure awesome that looks exactly like DC Adventures from Green Ronin. Based on the next version of Mutants & Masterminds DCA is not only a great game for Supers play, it is also a great introduction to Supers RPGs for the DC comic fan. All the iconic characters are included, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and more. Plenty of powers, traits, feats and skills to make any character you would want. It improves on the Mutants & Masterminds 2.0 design with some elements of True 20 and some nods to some designs of supers RPGs of the past. Plus the art is fantastic."

Read more here, here, here, here, here and here.

Capes, Cowls and Villains Foul
What I said: "Capes, Cowls and Villains Foul (CCaVF) is the eagerly anticipated supers/comic book emulation game from Spectrum Games. The same folks that gave Cartoon Action Hour. I want to start off by saying that this is an attractive book. At 164 pages of full of color it feels like a comic. Since that is what the author aims to emulate I would say it so far is a success.
All in all I am quite pleased with this game. I agree with the author in that I love Supers games, but it is hard to find that perfect game for your group. There have been some great choices that have come out in the last few years, but none are 100% perfect. CCaVF may not 100% perfect either, but it is really damn nice and has a lot of great things going for it."

Read more here and here.

Mutants & Masterminds Hero's Handbook
What I said: "M&M 3rd Edition first off looks a lot like the DC Adventures RPG also from Green Ronin out earlier this year. What are the big changes from 2nd Edition? Well GR is moving more and more away from the d20 3.0 standards and more into True20 land. That is the Abilities (and there are now 8 of them) are the pluses. So instead of Strength 18 (+4) like you see in other d20 games, M&M3 just uses Strength 4. Easy enough and a logical extension of their line of thought with True20."
Read more here, here, here and here.

BASH (Original and Ultimate)
What I said: "BASH! is a fantastic little game of Super Heroes. Instead of a huge book of powers or effects, BASH instead focuses on "What do you want to do?" and "What kind of hero are you?", Simple, but powerful questions. The game achieves the near miraculous feat of being simple to use and learn and yet powerful enough to keep you interested and coming back to the game."
Read more here and here.

BESM d20
What I said: "Is BESM d20 Anime?  Well I guess I have to ask, what is Anime?  BESM d20 is a good d20 version of BESM.  I am not convinced though it taps into that collective known as "Anime" as well as BESM 2 or 3 does.  I have played more BESM d20 than BESM 3 so to me it came off more like "Cartoon Cinematic d20".  Which is in itself not so bad.  I have mixed BESM d20 and D&D3 and gotten something a bit more cinematic. I have also mixed BESM d20 with d20 Star Wars for some really weird stuff, but all of it fun."

Read more here.

BESM 3rd Edition
What I said: "The book is very attractive and one of the most colorful RPGs I have seen in a long time. It reminds me of Mutants and Masterminds in terms of color. It is a thick tome, and now sized to fit well on my shelf. The Niko Geyer artwork is great and really captures the feel of the game well. On the other hand I have seen all this artwork before, maybe not in color, but certainly in other editions of this book. Now I understand that money was very tight at GoO and the art is great, so I am willing to cut them some slack here."
Read more here and here.

BESM Revised 2nd Edition
What I said: "All in all. BESM 2r is still the standard in which all other Anime games must be measured against.  Despite (or maybe even because of) it's flaws the game has style and character that no other game (even BESM d20 and BESM 3) have been able to duplicate."
Read more here.

Enjoy!

Zatannurday: When Zee met John

Justice League Dark #0 will be out next week.

In it we get a new perspective on when John Constantine met Zatanna.

I don't recall if this has ever been covered before.  In the Books of Magic it was understood that they were once a thing and not anymore.

Looking forward to seeing this one. I have not been keeping up on JLD, though I do have them in my queue at Comixology.

We also get a new (old) outfit for the younger Zatanna.  I have to admit I like it, though I do miss the fishnets.

Fire and Ice

Fire and Ice are my oldest son's favorites superheroes.  So today for him here are some Fire and Ice pics!
Plus tomorrow is the first day of Fall, equal parts Summer and Winter as it were.  Since I used Fire for the first day of Summer and Ice for the first day of winter, here they are in equal measure.


Fire Ice Showcase by *petercotton on deviantART


Fire and Ice by *CrimsonArtz on deviantART


Fire and Ice by *TiuanaRui on deviantART


Fire and Ice by *HanieMohd on deviantART


Fire and Ice by ~Ziggyman on deviantART


Fire's Ice Cream by ~Lame-o-Inc on deviantART


Fire and Ice by ~Lame-o-Inc on deviantART


National Pride by ~blubeetle3 on deviantART


MAXIMUM Cover by ~blubeetle3 on deviantART

So Long City of Heroes

It has been announced that City of Heroes, the Supers MMORPG is closing up shop.

http://na.cityofheroes.com/en/news/news_archive/thank_you.php

I never played CoH, but I did playtest the RPG version that Eden was working on back in the day.
Of course I stated up some characters.

What can I say? This was at the height of my involvement with The Dragon and the Phoenix.
I have to admit I liked how these turned out.

Capes, Cowls and Villains Foul, Part 2 (sorta)

I wanted to have at least one write-up done for you today.  But work has been really busy and I crashed last night while watching the Olympics.

So instead here are some links that be helpful till then.

Thread on RPG Net
http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?639850-Capes-Cowls-and-Villains-Foul

The Author's Blog
http://capescowlsandvillainsfoul.blogspot.co.uk/

Facebook page
http://www.facebook.com/spectrumgames

Website with some freebies
http://www.spectrum-games.com/

Enjoy!  I hope to have something more useful soon.

Capes, Cowls and Villains Foul

Capes, Cowls and Villains Foul (CCaVF) is the eagerly anticipated supers/comic book emulation game from Spectrum Games.  The same folks that gave Cartoon Action Hour.

I want to start off by saying that this is an attractive book.  At 164 pages of full of color it feels like a comic. Since that is what the author aims to emulate I would say it so far is a success.

I think that is a good place to start.  What is CCaVF?  Well yes it is a supers game, but it is more a comic book emulation game.  Meaning it tries to emulate the play-ability of reading a comic book.  This sets it apart from the likes of other purely "Supers" games that might be trying to emulate how a super hero could exist in some sort of reality.  Instead the assumption here is comic book reality. This would include things like editorial control or even breaking the 4th wall.  Both of which are discussed later.

Chapter 0 is our Introduction which helps lay the ground work for what we will be reading. We are told that physics and logic often take a back seat to drama and excitement.  So far I feeling that this will be closer to Marvel Heroic Roleplaying than say Villains and Vigilantes (both of which are great games for different styles of play).  We are told that this game is about telling exciting stories with your friends.  So far this sounds good.  We are told next that this game uses the d12.  I love that.  The d12 is the oft forgotten die stuck between the mighty d20 and the diva that is the d10.
We also learn that CCaVF is a resource-based game.  Now my experiences with resource based supers games has been mixed.  So lets see what we have here.

Traits are match against other Traits with various Linked traits.  Traits can be Primary or Secondary and after they are Used they become less effective.  So someone like Superman would have a Primary Trait of Super-Strength with Secondary Traits of Flight and Heat Vision. Following the example in the book the Traits are bolded.  Characters are likely to have 5 to 12 traits.  Characters can also have Complications and Factoids. Sounds great! Let's get into the design!

Chapter 1 is Character Design.  I like the term "Hero Design" myself, but that is cool.  Your "Editor" (GM) will determine how many starting points your character will have.  Much like the Power Points of M&M or other games. Except you are not buying the trait itself, you are buying what the trait represents.  So a Signature Triat vs. a Secondary one or an Auto Defend.  There is a handy chart with all the trait types and levels/ratings so you can add up your points quickly.
CCaVF encourages thinking about your character as a whole.  So when making your Batman-clone you would not list all his martial arts but would just list Advanced Combat Training or something like that. Superman would have Super-Sonic Flight while the Carol Danvers Captain Marvel would have Hyper-Flight.  So where are these traits listed?  They are not.  Yup.  YOU define what the traits mean.  So for example I define an Anamchara trait to go with my Willow & Tara characters.  This is a Shared Trait, so the points are split up, but I define what it means and what it does.  But don't worry the author gives you some ideas to work with.

The neatest thing though has to be the Editorial Control. These are like supercharged hero points or drama points. Editorial Control can be purchased with points, but is more expensive for more powerful characters. The Editor also gets a pool of EC points as well to use for the villains.  There are also examples of various ways to regain EC points.  Finally you fill out the character with factoids.
The chapter ends with an example of character creation.  This is followed by a quick generation card to get you plying right away. Finally a listing of Heroes and Villains.

Chapter 2 is the Rules chapter.Typically rolls are a d12 + some trait.  Other times you might need to roll 2 d12s and keep the highest or even 3.  The basic idea here is that the action needs to be like that in a comic book. So a bit of time is spent on combat.  Now heroes and villains in CCaVF don't have hit points, but they do have Setbacks.   Most of the chapter is dedicated to this this idea and some example difficulties are explored.  All and all pretty easy.

Chapter 3 is all about Villains.  Villains get special treatment in CCaVF.  They are created with the same rules that give us heroes, but there is more to them than that.  Given the treatment given them here, I think this should be must reading for any superhero RPG player/GM.  Heroes are often defined by their villains or rogues gallery.  This game did not forget that.

Chapter 4 deals with Options. Things you can do to tweak characters or games.  One really nice thing is about how deal with super hero team-ups and what to do when some characters are more powerful than others.  There is even a bit on killing (and why it should be avoided) and live action (LARP) supers.

Chapter 5 is a fairly comprehensive example of play.  If you normally ignore these please read this one.  Many of my questions were answered here. It is a good walk through of how to play the game.

Chapter 6 talks about Issues, or adventures for your new set of heroes and villains. Again there is a lot of good information here for Editors/GMs of any sort of supers game.  In particular there is the all important Introductory Issue which brings the team the together.  I could not help but think of the team of misfits in the new Justice League Dark while reading this.  Fantasy RPG fans should also take note of this chapter since it helps get past that old "you all met in an inn before an adventure".

We end with an Afterword where the author discusses why he made this game.  The Appendix has a great glossary, index and cheat sheets for the game.

All in all I am quite pleased with this game.  I agree with the author in that I love Supers games, but it is hard to find that perfect game for your group.  There have been some great choices that have come out in the last few years, but none are 100% perfect.  CCaVF may not 100% perfect either, but it is really damn nice and has a lot of great things going for it.

Up next I'll stat up some characters.

Zatannurday: Zatanna and Raven

My love for Zatanna is well known and highly documented, but she is not the only magic-using character in the DC Universe.
There is another character that honestly I like just as much, but never really focused on around here and that is Raven.

Since we are getting a new, renewed, Teen Titans on TV ("Teen Titans Go!") I thought I'd talk a little abotu Raven.

Raven is the daughter of Trigon the Terrible, one of the most powerful demons in the DC universe.
In fact when we are first introduced to Raven in "The New Teen Titans" she goes to the Justice League first. Where she meets Zatanna.  Zee tells the league not to trust her because she can sense Trigon's evil in her.

Raven has had some ups and downs. She went evil, tried to kill her teammates, she died, came back as a teen again, been a target for sacrifice and/or marriage by a cult.  Daddy issues are the least of her issues.

Outside of some special editions though Raven and Zatanna have never really worked together.  There was speculation that she might be in Justice League Dark (she would fit) but I guess she is now back with the Titans.

Anyway here some pairings of the two, official, other worlds and cosplay.

Of course who could forget this one.  Sort of a prelude to JLD.

Some Deviant Art pieces.

zatanna and raven colored by ~gianmac on deviantART

Justice League of... yeah, just Justice League by ~luanklebers on deviantART

My 52: Sentinels of Magic by ~EddieD0129 on deviantART

Ok, so Zee is known for pulling rabbits out of her hat. Sort of a gimmick, but yeah. Well on the Teen Titan's Raven was turned into a rabbit in the episode called, odly enough, "Bunny Raven".

Zatanna and Bunny Raven by ~red-wolf7 on deviantART

Nuth'n Up My Sleeve by *LEXLOTHOR on deviantART

Here are some cool Cosplay.

Looks like I'll have to create an adventure that includes both Zee and Raven for DC Adventures/Mutants and Masterminds 3.

Zatannurday: Supers Unleashed

I picked up this really simple super game a bit back called Supers Unleashed.  To say it is simple is an understatement.
It has a lot of potential and extremely easy to learn and play.

I have a feeling though that eventually that player of this game will want more.

So here is Zatanna, stated up for Supers Unleashed.

Zatanna

Super Points: 100

Powers: Magic 110
Limitations: Limit, must speak backwards: -10
Archetype: Magician (like Mage, only not as stuffy).

That is it!
I told you, very simple.

Sure I could reallocate points to mental or psychic powers, but she does all that stuff with magic.

Not too bad for a $0.99 game.