Short, solo, experimental episode this week. Let us know what you think.
Games:
See ya next week!
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“MR. OPERATOR” TOM DALY (Operator)
Note: This character is made for the rifts setting but uses the Savage Worlds mechanics, consisting of a 20-experience-point build and house ruled powers from the Super Powers Compendium to create an operator-type character.
Tom Daly has been traveling and fixing people’s gear for so long that they don’t even remember his name any more. They called him Mr. Operator when they were kids and now they have kids of their own. Everyone calls him Mr. Operator, and he’s okay with that. He likes helping folks. He likes traveling. He likes being on his own. The Confederated States had other plans. Tom was pressed into service at a late age to maintain the quote of CS operators. He does as he’s told, as long as he still ges to travel and still gets to help folks.
Attributes
Agi d4
Sma d12
Spi d8
Str d4
Vig d4
Skills
Fighting d4
Guts d6
Healing d8
Knowledge (Electronics) d8
Notice d8
Persuasion d6
Repair d12
Shooting d4
Streetwise d6
Edges
Arcane Background (Super Powers)
Contacts
Invent (step 2, house rule)
McGyver
Mr. Fix It
Hindrances
Elderly (Major)
Anemic (Minor)
Bad Eyes (Minor)
Powers
Interface
Invent (3 levels)
Usagi Yojimbo: Yokai by Stan Sakai
To celebrate the 25th anniversary of Usagi Yojimbo, Stan Sakai created this hard-bound short ghost story. In it Usagi is drawn into the woods in pursuit of a lost girl only to encounter an army of ghosts and demons. This night is one that happens every hundred years when the yokai or haunts walk the earth in great numbers and will try to bring their Witch Queen over. Luckily, Usagi’s friend Sasuke the Demon Queller is in the area to stop this so the samurai doesn’t have to face this danger alone…
Here are the things I learned about Brian Clevinger during the course of our interview. First, he works really hard.
Second, Brian doesn’t like to talk about himself. He likes to talk about other people. This is a shorter interview than the one we did with Scott because Brian is much more comfortable talking about Scott than he is about himself, and well, I had already interviewed Scott.
Discuss Brian on our forums.
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This week Alex talks about beating Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes, and has also reminded himself why he doesn’t speak to Madden anymore. Jonathan welcomes a slim, black, not-as-expensive-as-it-used-to-be addition to family, and gets some FFXIII on.
NEWS!
Rock Band 3 has been announced.
Ubisoft’s DRM has been cracked and their authentication servers have been under attack, adding new meaning to the phrase “paying customers.”
Activision has taken careful aim at their feet and opened fire, sacking the lead creative minds behind Modern Warfare 2.
Microsoft has decided it’s okay for gamers to come out of the closet on Xbox Live.
Gears of War 3 tech demo at GDC.
Gamers may not be as obsessed with achievements and gamer score as Alex has previously believed.
If you have a ton of money to blow on oversized, complicated, extremely cool gadgets, we’d each like one, too, please.
EA is expecting two million subscribers for BioWare’s MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic. Apparently they need one million subscribers just to break even. Good luck, EA. Good luck.
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SGT FINN O’TOOLE (Dead Boy)
Note: This character is made for the rifts setting but uses the Savage Worlds mechanics, consisting of a 20-experience-point build and powers from the Super Powers Compendium to create a dead boy-type character.
Finn O’Toole lied about his age so he could join the Coalition States military. He knew from an early age that he was destined to wear Dead Boy black and kill the mutants and monsters that threatened his home. The CS is the bright light in the darkness of an anarchic world. He’ll crack any skull and burn any freak he’s told to if it means keeping his people safe.
Attributes
Agi d8
Sma d6
Spi d6
Str d12+1 (d8 natural)
Vig d12 (d6 natural)
Skills
Clmibing d6
Fighting d12+2
Notice d12
Repair d6
Shooting d8
Stealth d6
Throwing d4
Edges
Ambidextrous
Arcane Background (Super Powers)
Power Points (x2)
Two-Fisted
Hindrances
Bad Luck (Major)
Heartless (Minor)
Loyal (Minor)
Personal Powers
Fearless
Speedster (1 level)
Super Skills (4 levels spent on Fighting and Notice)
Power Armor (Device)
Attack, Melee (2 levels on power fists)
Darkvision (helmet with optical enhancements)
Deflection (6 levels across all armor)
Leaping + Bounce (1 level + bounce in power boots)
Super Attributes (3 levels of Strength from power fists and 3 levels of Vigor from trauma-response breastplate)
The Dead Boy Detectives by Jill Thompson
The Dead Boy Detectives, Charles Rowland and Edward Paine, are a pair of young boys who are ghosts. The two first showed up in Gaiman’s “Season of Mists” arc of Sandman, where they refused to go back with Death when Hell was re-opened…
Here the pair respond to a letter asking for help from one Annika Abernathy, a girl at a private school worried about the disappearance of one of her friends. So the two ghosts travel to Chicago and help Annika and her gang investigate the missing Elizabeth…
The big appeal here is Thompson’s shoujo style of art and story-telling. The characters are exuberant and fun. And the story maintains a light and humorous tone throughout. Hell, the book has an excerpt from another Thompson created Vertigo manga where she makes Despair of the Endless cute. Thats no small feat indeed…
A mix of news and reviews this week, because the Assassin’s Creed 2 Mega-Two-Way put a bit of a bump in our usual recording schedule. First up, big announcements!
Portal 2 has been announced!
Steam is coming to the Mac!
OnLive is scheduled to launch June 17! (And they’re taking pre-registration requests!)
Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes is coming to XBLA and PSN!
On the game front, Jonathan’s been playing a ton of indie games, Alex revisits an oldie but (maybe?) goodie, and we’re both psyched about our upcoming Greed Corp. two-way.
Links!
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ps238: With Liberty and Recess for All by Aaron Williams
I may have mentioned my love for the comic ps238 a time or two or twenty. Aaron Williams has created one of my favorite super-hero titles. He starts with a perfect high concept, a grade school for super-powered children. Then adds in various characters, some of whom are loosely based on more well-known characters. But through it all he writes children like what they are. Kids. ps238 is fun and smart and funny and even exciting on occasion…
This first volume collects issues #0-#5 of the series, which introduces the faculty and many of the student body. Including the “evil genius” Zodon, the alien visitor Prospero, Suzi the Nucleur Girl and Tyler the non-powered son of two of Earth’s mightiest heroes. It even has Revanent, the Batman archtype created by Michael Stackpole and gifted to Aaron to use in his book and Tyler’s off-campus mentor…
Platform: Xbox 360, Playstation 3, PC
Studio: Bioware
Owned by EA? Yes
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