I think Justifier’s point is why would FILTER only have a finite (or at least, countable) number of anything (depending on whether or not there are an infinite number of universes or not - which I think they keep changing)?
But yeah, they do just seem to be relatively small in the big scheme of things.
Because it all started in one universe, did it not? Anything with a finite/countable beginning can only grow on a finite scale. Unlimited room to expend doesn’t necessarily grant the capacity to do so. Or are there an infinite/uncountable number of distinct FILTERs that independently popped up in different timelines and then conglomerated together when they all discovered multiversal travel? I can’t remember which.
I’m not sure this rings true. And I also believe there were multiple FILTERs that connected together.
Regardless, anytime there is a splitting of a universe that contains FILTER agents, they double that amount of agents.
Fair points, I suppose, but allow me to proffer the possibility that we may be looking at this the wrong way. Instead of thinking mathematically, what about narratively? Is FILTER intended to be a relatively small, elite organisation of maybe a few hundred guys, or a gargantuan, multidimensional conspiracy that has its tentacles in almost every world?
A while ago, I wrote in a question about why there aren’t any multiversal inmates breaking out and into Universe One. Either way, these sound like good questions to write in before making topic suggestions.
Speaking of which:
Maybe a good one to save for when Adam is unavailable.
I have my fan-castings of who could play many of the roles, of course, but Paul getting involved would be awesome. I wonder if Grimm does sci-fi?
(This is, of course, inspired by the discussion in this thread.)
Topic request: Writer’s Room: Legacy tries to face the Organization
Here’s one - how about a discussion of how to modify both session planning and action scene building in the RPG as the PCs start accumulating collections? It’s a tricky subject and could use some suggested guidelines now that some longer-running campaigns are starting to get well into the double-digit collection range.
I’d advise you to simply send in a letter about that, as episodes focused only on RPG mechanics don’t seem very popular, honestly, and I don’t think that that single topic would fill up an entire episode.
As for the problem itself — besides the obvious solutions of not awarding Collections anymore, capping the number of Collections Heroes can use per issue, or ramping up the opposition — one possible solution could be giving Villains their own Collections. (Either an arbitrary number or an amount actually based on their number of appearances, although the latter method would likely result in a very small number of Villain Collections, unless you have an extremely prolific Villain such as Baron Blade.)
Another possibility is saying that heroes can’t use all their Collections on the same type of benefit. Collections can be used to manipulate dice results, add a fact to the scene, or negate a Minor Twist — a GM could say, for example, that Heroes can only use half their Collections to do any one of those things every issue. (E.g., a Hero with 6 Collections could only use 3 of them per issue to manipulate dice results.)
Possibly. I’d find the podcast a lot more interesting and useful if they devoted the occasional episode to RPG topics rather than giving it a few minutes of Q&A on a very irregular basis, but I’m not sure how widespread that opinion is. If nothing else it’s become very difficult to pick out which episodes have anything to say about the RPG at this point because what content there is for it is scattered across so many episodes with no schedule whatsoever.
Mechanical questions and RPG-era lore aside, it would be interesting to hear more “this is how my game went” stories from the community and what C&A think of other folks’ corners of the multiverse. Plenty of potential content there, and having it bundled in (say) two-three episodes a year instead of scattershot Q&A would be better for both the folks who want RPG content and the ones who don’t.
I certainly agree with all that, but I still think it’s relatively unlikely to happen, as The Letters Page is mainly lore-centric and not everyone who listens plays the SCRPG.
There has indeed been a little of that, although I will direct your attention to WalkingTarget’s transcription of part of a letter from Episode #220:
I imagine that you don’t want to necessarily encourage “RPG reporting back” letters as a common thing. [That is accurate. They like them, but it’s definitely a “sometimes food” in terms of podcast content. You can send them in and they’ll read them (and they enjoy seeing what people do), but they’ll only make it to air on the podcast if they find them sufficiently interesting.]
Yes, I’m aware of that one. I’ve been filtering through the show notes and episodes themselves trying to find what RPG content there is for a re-listen over the last few days. An exercise in frustration and annoyance, I might add - which prompted my original suggestion.
Nonetheless, if they honestly believe they can’t get enough questions about RPG-specific stuff to fill an episode a meager 2-3 times a year “campaign diary” stuff from the community would certainly offer a ready supply of filler to get an episode to ~60 minutes, which seems to be their minimum aim.
Grimm’s powers mysteriously fail to work on any story which is copyrighted by anyone other than Sentinel Comics (or >G).
I just realized: Did we actually get a legit hero/villain team-up? 
I don’t remember one and looked through the wiki without finding anything. 
This one Ray Manta teams up Unity and Omnitron-X The Letters Page: Episode #176 - Writers' Room: Justice Comics #651 & #652
Seconded. If he hasn’t been done already we need a writeup on the mouthy guy on page 120. I think he got the only non-gameplay-example word balloons in the whole book. His supranym is clearly the Green Slime, a nod to both D&D and the classic scifi B-movie.
Also the dude on page 134, who appears to be a refugee from the Extremoverse. Death Patriot, maybe? American Devil? He’s so Nineties he gives me flashbacks to my days managing a comic shop during the speculator boom.
EDIT: Since I nominated him, here’s a suggested RPG statblock for Page 134 guy.
Nope. There’s at least one other—the conversation betwixt Angry-Face-Punk-Girl and Not-Crispus-Allen Detective-Guy on page 170:
Relatedly, does the surname Tucci look familiar to anyone else? It should, because it’s the name of the crime family that founded Sentinel Comics, as revealed in The Untold Story. : )
Also, it appears that Detective-Guy here is also acquainted with The Wraith, as shown in this art from page 119:
I think that that makes him the only character to appear twice?
Oh yeah, she could do with an origin story too. Baseball bat against mobsters calls for some explanation.
That detective has a tiny umbrella, but he’s not really using it anyway so I guess size really doesn’t matter there.
EDIT: And here’s two takes at doing stats for page 170 gal in the RPG. No idea if it’s even close to what she might end up being like if she gets an official version, but it’ll do for now. Interesting experiment in doing a more street-level hero.
Alternate Hero Name: Emo G
