As I figure most of us are both comic and game fans, I figured I shoud mention there is a Kickstarter going on for what looks to be a comic version of Last Night on Earth. One person plays a "super villlain" and his minions, while the others play various superheroes trying to twart his dastardly plots. It looks like it has promise, but they still have not posted the rules yet. However, as I love comics and games, I couldn't really resist taking the chance.
I wish I won the lottery, such that I could afford making my own super hero to be included in the game. Come to think of it, I wish Iello would work with Greater than Games to make a promo of one of the Freedom Five. It would be cool to just have a mini of one of the many heroes I have come to love over the last year and a half or so.
Ignoring the pun in what you said, that's my issue with pretty much all minis games right now. And most comics, for that matter. I'd encourage everyone to look up The Hawkeye Initiative. Historical minis are, by and large, not the target of my "tirade," but even those all-male casts aren't entirely immune.
Yeah, I really commend SotM for taking such a balanced approach to gender equality. Some of my friends complain that the gender balance in the game seems a little too summetrical and therefore a bit forced... but I imagine we kind of have to force it a little until it just becomes natural.
The gender/racial (hell we could even add sexual preference given that Tachyon has a girlfriend/wife) diversity that >G has shown in SotM has been exceptional. It is something that every new player I introduce the game too has noticed immediatly. It is really hard to give >G enough credit for this given the current socio-political climate surrounding all of those topics.
I plan to back GC if they get solo rules done by the end of the kickstarter. If I am going to invest 160, I want to make sure I can use it if I don't find anyone else interested.
The times I have heard this among my group (and I questioned it myself when it was brought up) the answers I got where along the lines that it was so close down the middle and not quite reflective of the existing gaming or comic world, that it was too much of a conscious effort to make it balanced… so in a way forced.
That's why I mentioned that if such is the case then perhaps we do need "force" it a little so it becomes the norm.
I think the real genius on the part of the GTG crew was not just to actively be more gender-inclusive in their choice of characters for this game, but to do it in such a way that guys could feel comfortable playing female characters without a second thought.
Yes, the opposite is true and girls can play the male heroes without a problem too, but lets face it… gamer girls have been forced to do that plenty of times before.
SotM intially gives the impression of alternate "real" heroes. You have a Superman, Batman, Flash, Aquaman, etc. In SotM, it was less about female heroes, but more about the alternate version. We have a female Batman, Flash, Punsisher, etc. Changing the sex of the heroes just reinforced the familar but different idea. I have always found diversity to be the most effective when it isn't noticed, and in SotM, at least to me, you only see it when you are looking for it.
I tend to notice when there isn't as much of a choice of character sexes. I play a lot of RPGs and stuff, and in games where you only have a choice from pre-generated characters (or just can't choose your sex) I quickly notice when there's very little/no choice of female characters - being female myself, I always like to try and play female characters if possible. Sometimes my character choice won't work with that, though - for example, in Diablo II I always play a Necromancer, but the Necromancer is male and you can't choose your sex so I'm stuck playing a male character there.
Similarly, if I'm reading a story or something and more or less all the main/important characters are male, that stands out more to me than if there were a bunch of female characters there. Then again, I also notice when a series uses a female protagonist - I've read books by Trudi Canavan, Maria V. Snyder, and Alison Croggon, all of whom use female protagonists and I notice it more for some reason. In a good way, though - I suppose it's because main characters are usually male, so when one isn't it makes a nice change :).
I know it doesn't look like we are going to hit all the stretch goals, but i remind sme of the early SoTM Rook City kickstart.
The game looks solid. I like the art style. It brings to mind a combination of SoTM and Arkham Horror.
I just hope we are able to unlock Dr. Shadow. he looks awesome.
That to me is the one thing that i miss in SoTM. A cool magician-type character. The music inspire Argent Adept and the Scholar are really too 'silly" to fill Dr Strange or Dr fate's role. No offense to anyone who likes their concept. Just my opinion.
