My 2009 Captain Marvel Concept Bible

Captain Marvel Concept Bible

As the last Ms. Marvel series ended, which I wasn't thrilled with for a while save for the Secret Invasion tie-ins, I wrote a book concept which I keep thinking about now that there is a Captain Marvel book coming out that stars Carol Danvers. What interests me is that there are so many obviously different things based on the very little I know (Which is on purpose. I want to come to this book not having everything spoiled two months before the release.), but yet there seem to be universals that everyone wants to focus on. I still love how I ended the whole thing.

              It all comes down to the name: Marvel. The very word evokes something unique and special. It is an ideal; something to aspire for. But every day there are opportunities and challenge which distract us from achieving our goals. Mar-Vell himself epitomized the word through his actions and his integrity in facing down his and Earth's enemies. But it is also not so much to strive, but to inspire. And that is in itself a challenge Carol herself has faced. In becoming a symbol, the desire to be the symbol has been put ahead of actually doing what is needed by a hero the world can marvel upon as a hero. It is not enough to be the hero people want, but to be the hero the world needs to see in itself. What makes Carol a more perfect Captain Marvel than Mar-Vell or Noh-Varr or Hulkling or anyone else is that she is a human first. She was not brought to Earth to save it. She is of Earth, and Earth can defend itself.

[Shadowrun Fiction] Women of Fire

This was originally part of an idea and storyline that I wanted to pitch as part of The Twilight Horizon, but it didn't seem to get any interest among the others and I never got to work on the book, but I feel comfortable posting this now that the book has been published.

Synthia sat in the “Railroad” McHugh’s that sits at the junction of I-40 and I-15 sipping her coffee and appreciating the custom-made noise-cancellation earbuds a client gave her as she listened to music on her commlink. It was early as fuck in the morning/predawn and there was a car load of tourist kids running around like maniacs while their parents, dead tired from driving all night tried to caffeinate themselves enough to make it to Fun City by dawn. It was bad enough that the cheap hoodie she wore to throw attention off of her appearance had slipped off to reveal her hair as its bioluminescence shifted from a light pink glow to pitch black as the kids approached her. It wasn’t enough that her Glamour ability attracted unwanted attention, but kids tended to have zero self-control in responding to her ability’s effects. At least they couldn’t see her reflective silvery eyes behind her shades.

There's Nothing Free In This World - A Shadowland Collaborative Novel

Some people post short fiction or links to short fiction. I am providing a link to a 329-page, 1.6 Mb PDF.

This was a relatively tight retelling of the last great campaign on Shadowland that took place from 2005 to 2007. It was the career-ender for some PCs. It was the end for some others. It was our telling of the end of the Sixth World as our most important characters knew it following the events of Crash 2.0.

Back Cover Blurb

The End Of The Fucking World

In the wake of the worst terrorist attack in human history, a crippled Seattle finds itself to be a warzone in the midst of political machinations and an intercontinental insurrection. But just when thing seem to be under control, a player everyone assumed was gone reappears to take control of the isolated city-state, opposed only be a handful of people who are connected through the one person in the Emerald City who can weave all of these catastrophes into one tapestry of political intrigue.

Shadowrun Wiki Contributions

Wiki and Book Contributions

Women in Shadowrun

I've been discussing and getting some great feedback on women in Shadowrun. So I'd like to bring this conversation to a site more conducive to a proper discussion.

The previous posts after the jump.

Little Victories

None of [Dungeons & Dragons] changed our reality, of course. But winning a fantasy baseball league doesn’t prevent you from having to go back to your stultifying tech job Monday morning, and there’s no VIP champagne celebration waiting for you at the end of a fantasy Super Bowl. If the victories we create in our heads were let loose on reality, the world we know would drown in blazing happiness.

Patton Oswalt. Zombie Spaceship Wasteland, p. 57. 2011.

Have Fun. It's a Game

There has been a trend in Shadowrun since Nigel Findley died that this game is Serious Business. It seems to coincide with the same period in comics from what I understand. However, there is a sense of humor and absurdity that he brought to the game that hasn’t been seen since (this was also about the time Tom Dowd left as the first line developer). There is a sense of the absurd that I think is lost in part to the passing of time. The ridiculous trid shows in Shadowbeat have mostly come to pass. The semi-joking tone of the recruitment insert in the Lone Star sourcebook includes reasons for joining that include wearing cool mirror shades and leather uniforms, plus having unlimited donuts and free reign to beat suspects. This isn’t far from recruiting ads I’ve seen for police forces or the damn CIA that emphasize how badass you will get to be. Even the ubiquitous Navy ads feature the SEALs, who make up less than 1% of the branch, but they make for great b-roll video in a commercial with a rock beat and a powerful narrative voice.

But there is so much of the last fifteen years that was trying to be realistic and serious, and emphasizing minutiae details and research at the expense of recognizing this is a game. Shadowtech had quotes from a Senate hearing that were for comedic effect in making a Superman reference.

I think Cyberpirates! had some exception to this problem just by the very nature of Gingerbread Man and the pirates of the Caribbean and how they operate. It also creates an amusing as Hell bit as Gingerbread and Kane snipe at each other. But I also know that it delves deeply into the realm of Serious Business, and this was after it was toned way down from the authors’ intent.

This game could give good old King Jack Kirby himself a run for his money any day when it comes to high concept ideas. So let's not pretend James Bond is beyond the pale. This is a game where an AI took over a cubic kilometer pyramid in downtown Seattle for 16 months to experiment to death on 90,000 of the 100,000 inhabitants in order to draw its creator out from hiding so it could download itself into 1,000 peoples' brains and then re-upload itself to be a free-floating Matrix-dwelling AI during the IPO for one of the biggest corps in history until its "birth mother" fought it to the death as a Norse apocalypse cult teamed with a sociopathic computer-brain hacker blew up the Matrix and set off a nuclear weapon above the server farm as part of a plot to bring about Ragnarök/recreate the Matrix in her image.

That's canon. And that's one of the most hardcore adventures/campaigns and storylines I think has ever been published for SR (Well, Renraku Arcology: Shutdown, Brainscan, and the Deus stuff in System Failure. As a whole that book is hit and miss, but it does not lack for vision). It's one part of a vast tapestry of ideas that are ultimately up to the players to actually set the tone according to their own whims.

If we do our job right, any type of story is possible. Any genre. Any theme. And to be fair to the last 20 years of authors of SR, who've I've given no end of shit to when I was young and stupid, they made a relatively sane game with batshit crazy elements. But now there are rules for some of the wackier stuff. And that's awesome. Because to paraphrase Predator: If there are rules for it, it can die.

Remember, Rule Zero for every group should be Have Fun.

Shadowrun is Awesome Town, population: You.

Besides, it's just a game. If you don't like it, ignore it or change it. No one's putting a gun to your head and making you use technomancer critter swarms and kitteh protosapients (I just don't like using contemporary names for stuff).