At least the poor guy didn’t get used some horrible deconstruction story, as is so often the fate of characters relying on well-intentioned but rather naive views of what heroism means. That’s a trend I truly dislike.
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Yeah, I’m a big Gold Guardian fan, he’s an entertaining doofus. It was either “poorly designed uncle figure for Stutter” or “still entertaining but less poorly designed uncle figure for Starshadow”, and I liked this one more.
It does mean a bit of age fudging, but this is comics. Gold Guardian presumably gets reset back to being in his nebulously mid-twenties in the Sovereign event, which lets him be about ten years older than Stutter’s mom, old enough to see himself as the protective older figure on her superhero team. And then he meets her sister, who is five or six years older than her, and that’s a small enough age gap that he falls in love and marries her.
And I think he probably did get a semi-deconstruction arc in the 90s; I think I suggested in the past that there’s almost certainly a “Gold Guardian becomes the public face of AEGIS because he’s fooled into thinking they’re good gods” period in comics and he’s too naive to immediately see through them. But that doesn’t damage his brand, because a lot of people have been tricked by them (including the Vanguards) so he gets to break away and re-establish himself during the shift to more overtly uplifting stuff in the Plutonium Age.
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The Queen of Hearts
Real Name: Angelica Lee, First Appearance: Madame Liberty (Vol. 2) #8, Feb 2021
Lieutenant Type: Enemy
Die Size: d8
Motive: Need, Approach: Social
Traits:
- The Power Of Friendship: To Attack the Queen of Hearts, characters must succeed on an Overcome action. Success allows that character to Attack her for the rest of the scene.
- …and This Gun I Found: The Queen of Hearts has +2 to Attack. If a character is damaged by the Queen of Hearts, they may attempt the above Overcome as a Reaction.
Madame Liberty faced off against a few enemies in her Diamond Age comic who were legacy villains, new incarnations of supervillains who were unlikely to still be active after fifteen years. One of these enemies was the newest version of a foe who had been popular for over fifty years, but who had fallen off during the Plutonium Age – the Queen of Hearts. Gina Teulet wanted to bring the flamboyant villain back, but was worried that her traditional modus operandi, seducing men into serving her and convincing them they were her ‘king of crime’, wouldn’t age well. She decided to try something a little bit different, with disastrous results.
The new Queen of Hearts was Angelica Lee, a peppy young woman who could generate a psychic field that make it impossible for people to be hostile to her. She loved to make people fawn over her as she went about her day, demanding whatever she wanted in the moment. Angelica had been a lonely girl who was convinced that the world owed her happiness, and when she got her powers she became convinced that it was a sign that she was cosmically fated to be happy, and that anyone who got in her way was a villain who deserved nothing but scorn.
Unfortunately for Angelica, while everyone liked her, no one would do things for her. When she strolled into a bank and demanded money, the tellers chuckled indulgently. When she tried to make the boy she liked go out with her, he let her down gently and told her that he’d always be her friend. She could make everyone like her and she still wasn’t rich or powerful or loved!
So she got a gun.
Madame Liberty first encountered Angelica while she was having a meltdown on a public street, shooting at people who were crouching behind cover and agreeing that they were very nice shots, really, but maybe the Queen could shoot somewhere else? She managed to overcome her instinctive desire to leave Angelica alone and arrested her, but thanks to a guard deciding that Angelica was harmless and the whole thing must be a misunderstanding, the Queen of Hearts was back on the streets the next day. She became a recurring thorn in Madame Liberty’s side, petty, mean-spirited and very good at creating a mess that got in the way of bigger things.
She was also a laughingstock. Clips of her first appearance spread across the Internet, with posters making jokes about defeating superheroes with “the power of friendship and this gun I found.” Any chance of taking her seriously was lost, and Teulet soon retired the character in favor of a new approach. The second Queen of Hearts would continue to appear from time to time, but only when someone wanted a punchline to an issue.
Behind the Scenes:
Look, sometimes these characters are just the vehicle for a really, really stupid joke.
I refuse to apologize.
This one is a bit of a bait and switch - a terrible redesign of a character that you are being introduced to before the character that she is a redesign of. I’ve had a note in my files for a while for a character called the “Queen of Hearts” who starts off as a golden age femme fatale enemy for Madame Liberty and gradually transforms into a more interesting character, and then I had the power of friendship joke, and it seemed like a good chance for a sneak peek!
6 Likes
Oh, that’s just mean. Do you save an action on your turn by using your reaction on an Overcome that might not even work (and I bet any twists from it result in extra damage or an “I can’t believe she shot me!” penalty)? Or do you use your defensive reaction instead and avoid taking as much damage in the first place, at the cost of remaining unable to Attack her on your next turn? She’s only a d8, surely you can just Hinder her into ineffectiveness - right?
It took me until the last sentence to realize she was a laughing stock to the readers, not the people of the Venture Comics setting. It could certainly be both. Presumably her “like me” aura doesn’t work over the internet and news footage of her shooting spree could earn her a pretty comedic reputation, although her detractors would no doubt feel bad about mocking her in person and refrain from doing so.
Quite frankly, I was wracking my brains for how far back I’d have to dig to find the original Queen of Hearts writeup, because I figured she’d just slipped my mind completely in all the time since the Golden Age villain writeups.
So when do we get a third version who’s a Lewis Carrol-inspired lunatic with a mania for decapitations and croquet? Before or after the original seductress Queen? 
2 Likes
Hah, this is a fun one. 
And sometimes those are the best kinds of characters.
Ditto. I think it was the word clips that threw me, as that to me connotated video clips, not shots of comic pages.
I mean, she’s still somebody who runs around pointing a gun at people. I feel like in-universe that doesn’t exactly tend to grant one a comedic reputation.
Ditto again.
I think Captain Britain already did that, but of course that doesn’t mean Friv couldn’t too.
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I think Captain Britain already did that, but of course that doesn’t mean Friv couldn’t too.
That is so Crazy… Gang
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The Captain Britain Queen of Hearts is pretty short-lived, so there probably could be a Carroll-inspired incarnation of her in the 70s as an homage. Or a Broken Worlds version that’s literally an alternate universe where she’s more like that. I’ll have to mull on it!
And I may adjust the word ‘clips’ to ‘panels’ to make that last part more clear, thank you all for the input.
Heretic
Real Name: Grace Hunter, First Appearance: (Diamond Age) World of Wonders (Vol. 2) #25, 2021
Background: Retired, Power Source: Cursed, Archetype: Psychic
Personality: Mischievous, Principles: Levity, Exorcism
Status Dice: Green d8, Yellow d8, Red d6. Health: 32 [Green 32-25, Yellow 24-12, Red 11-1]
Qualities: Otherworldly Lore d10, Banter d8, Alertness d6, Tough Old Broad d8
Powers: Infernal d12, Illusions d12, Awareness d8, Suggestion d6, Speed d6, Shapeshifting d6
Green Abilities:
- The Gate and The Key [ I ]: Whenever you roll a die’s max value, treat that value as 1 higher. When you roll a 1 on a die, treat that die as if it had rolled a 0.
- Your Secret Darkness [A]: Attack using Illusions. HInder the target using your Min die.
- Your Fiery Spirit [A]: Boost using Suggestion. Apply that bonus to all hero Attack and Overcome actions until the start of your next turn.
- Principle of Levity [A]: Overcome a dire situation where your jokes prevent demoralization and use your Max die. You and each of your allies gain a hero point.
- Principle of Exorcism [A]: Overcome entities or elements from another dimension and use your Max die. You and each of your allies gain a hero point.
Yellow Abilities:
- Barely Human Any More [ I ]: Whenever you would take Infernal damage, you may Recover that amount of Health instead.
- Quick Thinking [A]: Boost yourself using Alertness. Either use your Max die, or use your Mid die and make it persistent.
- Draw Fire [A]: Boost all nearby allies using Speed. Use your Max+Min dice. Hinder yourself with your Min die.
- Flickering Duplicate [R]: When you are Attacked, Defend by rolling your single Illusions die.
Red Abilities
- The Empress’s Domain [A]: Attack up to three targets, one of which must be you, using Infernal. Assign your Min, Mid, and Max dice as you choose among those targets.
- The Sovereign’s Sight [A]: Boost another hero using Illusions. If that hero has already acted for the turn, use your Max die, and that hero loses health equal to your Min die. That hero acts next in turn order.
Out
- Hinder an opponent by rolling your single Illusions die.
As her successful run as the first junior writer for Starshadow approached its conclusion, Cheri Westmore was given a shot at bringing another classic hero into the modern age. There had been plans to use Heretic in a 2020 storyline that had been scrapped due to Covid, and the lack of the popular character for two years was starting to become a point of contention with fans. Cheri was asked if she was interested, and she eagerly agreed.
The plan was to write a two-part World of Wonders story for Heretic, followed by a three-issue miniseries. The two-parter gave Cheri a chance to use characters that she was more familiar with, by having Solace seek out her old friend when Scarspreader returned. Heretic had semi-retired, focusing on keeping her powers in check as she grew older and the twin energies of the Empress of Ash and the Sovereign of Secrets pooled inside her. She came out of retirement to help out her friend, connecting back with the world, and began to muse about finding a way to pass on her cursed nature as the key holding the Sovereign sealed away before her death, instead of waiting until she was a ghost as originally planned.
Heretic: Hell or High Water was the result of that search. It was a light-hearted romp, with Westmore working to replicate the mixture of heart and comedy that had embodied the original Heretic run as Heretic met up with a different young potential candidate in each issue, ultimately deciding not to burden them with her curse. The miniseries was one of the most hotly-anticipated titles of 2021; Westmore’s two-parter had been well-received, and it was known that she was already tapped to work on Twilight Carnival alongside a slightly more veteran artist starting in 2022, so seeing what she could do given full reins excited everyone.
Unfortunately, Heretic: Hell or High Water also proved to be the greatest disappointment of 2021, and nearly served as a deathblow to Westmore’s career.
When she’d been working on the two-parter, Westmore had focused heavily on the relationship between Solace, a character she had experience writing, and the older Heretic. There had been a few jokes from reviewers about Heretic’s apparent age – the woman was barely forty, not exactly an ancient matron – but it had more or less been agreed that the strain of her powers was aging her prematurely. But in Heretic: Hell or High Water, Heretic was out of touch. Westmore made two critical mistakes – she was much too ambitious for the scope of the story she was writing, and she tried to write Heretic like how she imagined that an ironic child of the 90s would talk, even though Heretic post-dated that period by a solid decade. The jokes were too frequent and not funny enough, the relationships between Heretic and her three would-be wards didn’t have time to breathe, and the villains were largely forgettable.
The curmudgeonly version of Heretic would be quietly retooled starting with her next appearance in 2022, and Hell or High Water quickly fell into obscurity. It wasn’t all bad, however. Instead of bumping Westmore off of Twilight Carnival, Handman insisted that she work more closely on storyline and plotting with her new artistic partner Franklin Chow, who had his own experience working on a storyline that bombed. Westmore and Chow would become one of the most celebrated writer/artist duos in the industry over the course of the next several years, learning from their mistakes and growing into a phenomenal pair through their work on Twilight Carnival from 2022-2025 and Eldritch Academy from 2025-2028.
Behind the Scenes
Heretic has been noticeably absent from my Diamond Age work to date. A big part of this was that when I was first designing the Diamond Age, she had sort of faded into the background of the tail end of the Plutonium Age - something that stopped being true once I retooled the timeline and created Hell’s Belles. So she needed to appear eventually, and a bad appearance first seemed like a solid time for it!
This version of Heretic is leaning really heavily on the whole “drawing on the Sovereign and the Empress” thing, and unfortunately is also leaning really heavily on the whole “Heretic was a funny comic” thing that wasn’t exactly true. So a writer learns a valuable lesson, which helps to make Twilight Carnival a better title.
Mechanically, Heretic is taking advantage of negative self-effect min dice combined with d6 powers combined with 1s turning into 0s to try to minimize the consequences of her more powerful abilities. Her Quality list is pretty rough; combining Retired and Cursed gives a lot of d6s and very few good dice. But she’s decently solid.
And on that note: time for a quick break.
I’m going to be on vacation for my anniversary for the next week, and while I may be popping in from time to time I won’t have time to do proper updates. So the next formal update will be Thursday, April 23rd, giving you all a bit of a break. While I’m away, though, I am looking for a bit of advice.
The next book after this one concludes in May is going to be all about environments. From a writing perspective I’ve got it sorted, but I cannot decide what to do for pictures. HeroForge is pretty great, but the work required to kitbash entire environments is beyond what I want to be doing twice a week, and I am not an artist. Any thoughts on what might be nice to go with each environment? I can just go no-pictures, but that feels a little sad.
4 Likes
Have a nice vacanniversary. Annivacation? Whatever. Good timing, at least the Handelabra announcement means there ought to be some traffic around here while you’re away. I’m sure not picking up the slack.
I don’t know of any offhand, but I’m pretty sure there are sites online (possibly using AI assets, unfortunately) that can do “scenics on request” for RPGs by just entering a few keywords. Maybe ask around over on RPG.net or ENWorld and see if someone there has some recs based on actual experience? Hopefully with ethically-sourced art.
1 Like
The first suggestion that comes to my mind is to simply find a public domain or Creative Commons picture or two for each environment and use that.
Of course, most CC licenses require forgoing some intellectual property rights which you might wish to retain, and could get into a grey area what with the nebulous nature of fan-made SCRPG stuff, so 
. (There’s another thing we can hope Handelabra might clear up.) Public domain wouldn’t have any of those concerns, of course; it does narrow the options, but the public domain still has lots of stuff.
Though, to be sure, it could be tricky to find images of those sorts that match the idea one has in one’s head, but it can be better than nothing. You could have castles and other old architecture &c. for ancient and/or magicky environments, nature landscapes, industrial things for more tech-y environments, and I’m sure there are tons of gritty city photos for Ferrisvile and Ferristown.
Here are some sites I’ve used for things in the past:
- WikiMedia Commons: Wikimedia Commons
- Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/
- Smithsonian Open Access: https://www.si.edu/openaccess
- Public Domain Pictures dot net: https://www.publicdomainpictures.net/en/index.php
- Free Images dot com: https://free-images.com/
Also of note, I believe it to be the case that any photograph taken by an employee of the US Government is automatically in the public domain. Notably, this means that all of NASA’s space photos are in the public domain, and IMHO those could be a good resource for pictures for some cosmic or dimensional environments. In particular, the Hubble and James Webb space telescopes have taken some real cool photos. The Pillars of Creation could make a pretty rad environment, for instance.
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Don’t think that’s anywhere near as broad as stated, since “photos taken by an employee of the US Government” would include a vast number of images related to (for ex) criminal investigations, people’s mug shots and ID portraits, and photos of various and sundry classified document, objects. Probably catch a whole bunch of compromising footage from intelligence ops too, since honey traps and worse are not just something the Other Side does.
That said, there is plenty of non-problematic public imagery available from NASA, and the National Parks Service is probably also rife with handy pictures.
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Thanks, both of you! I’ll look over those sites and give it a think.
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Goods points, all. I suppose it would be more accurate to say that my prior statement was the general default, which of course has lots of exceptions and other complicating factors, such as some photos being classified or depicting the identifying likeness of individuals, which limits the usage of them. (And this might very well be splitting hairs at this point, but I think it be might true that even such sensitive photos as those you mention might technically still be in the public domain; there would just be other things besides copyright that would limit their use.)
Yep, a quick search shows that the National Park Service does indeed appear to also have some pretty good image resources: Photos & Multimedia (U.S. National Park Service)
1 Like
And… we’re back! I hope everyone had a good week. You know who didn’t have a good week?
Bres the Broken
Real Name: Eochu Bres, First Appearance: Starshadow #36, April 2022
Approach: Ancient, Archetype: Warden
Upgrade: Brainwashing Zone, Mastery: Superiority
Status Dice: Scene Tracker Green: d10, Scene Tracker Yellow: d8, Scene Tracker Red: d6 Health: 50+5H
Qualities: Magical Lore d12, Ranged Combat d12, Insight d10, History d8, Dishonorable d8
Powers: Illusion d12, Toxic d10, Radiant d10, Teleportation d8
Abilities:
- Divine Magick [A]: Take a basic action using Magical Lore and use your Max die.
- Black Sky Lantern [A]: Attack using Radiant and use your Max die. Hinder a target dealt damage this way using your Max+Min dice.
- Hall of Mirrors [A]: Attack using Illusions. Hinder that target using your Max die. That Hinder is persistent and exclusive as long as you are active, but does not apply to actions taken against you.
- Twisted Whispers [A]: Boost another character using Toxic. Use your Max die. You may add one box to any challenge in play.
Common Scene Elements:
- A Twisted Hero: A hero twisted to rage and hate by Bres’s magic who thinks they are fighting against the Dark Sea.
- Berserkers (d8 Minions). Heedless of Life and Limb: Whenever Berserkers roll a 1 on any die, they must immediately use a reaction if possible to roll their status die and Attack a nearby target with the result.
- Corrupted Atlantis: An environment in which Atlantis is breaking into the world, devastating both locations.
Over the course of the first thirty-six issues of Starshadow, the battle for the throne of Atlantis continued with one of Bres’s children dead, one disowned and exiled, and two having withdrawn from the competition rather than face their siblings’ wrath. With only three challengers left, Starshadow #35 introduced a shocking twist. The eldest remaining challenger, Indech Deepseer, ambushed his father during what was set up as the start of Bres’s next plot, cutting off his sword arm, slashing him across the face, and throwing him into the depths of the Dark Sea to be consumed by its malignant power as a tribute to his master. Indech demanded that his remaining siblings bow to him, claiming the throne of Atlantis by force and starting a new campaign against the Earth in Balor’s name. Indech was the most devout of Bres’s children, obsessed with service to the Fomorians, and he was happy to create martyrs to the cause.
Of course, there was no chance of Bres actually dying. Despite Indech’s hopes, the fallen king was not destroyed; instead, he bathed in the corruption of the Dark Sea, taking it into himself as his vanity and hate refused to allow him to come to terms with the damage inflicted on him. The end of Starshadow #36 saw Bres emerge from the Sea bearing the Font of the Depths, an ancient Fomorian artifact that he swore to use to destroy both Atlantis and Balor’s enemies on Earth.
The “Bres the Broken” arc effectively took place over sixteen issues, running from March 2022 until Starshadow #50 in June 2023. While other villains and plots appeared during the arc, its primary focus was on three major subplots. In the first five issues, Indech forced his siblings into line, adjusting Atlantean tactics and beginning a purge of less ‘ideologically pure’ members of his court. Fomorian attacks on Grovedale grew more vicious, while a cult to Balor began to spread among the city’s elite. In the second six-issue arc, Bres struck back. He began to infect Grovedale’s heroes and villains using the Font, filling them with rage and hatred against Atlantis for the harm it was committing, without them ever realizing that he was the one manipulating them through his illusions and the power of the Dark Sea. With her command over the shadows, Starshadow began to realize something was wrong, leading to her making secret contact with her nemesis Brineskimmer to discover that the same corrosion was happening in Atlantis.
In the final arc, Bres successfully corrupted Skybreaker and Solace, and they invaded Atlantis at the head of a small army of heroes and villains with the goal of destroying the kingdom once and for all and ending Balor’s foothold on Earth. Starshadow discovered that Bres’s true plan was to slam Atlantis into Grovedale, using the hatred inspired by the battle to kill both the heroes and his family, and leaving a gaping wound on the world that Balor could use to infiltrate further. Starshadow and Cloudskimmer were forced to ally with Brineskimer and two of her siblings to stop the war and save Atlantis and Grovedale.
In the end, Bres and Indech died on each others’ swords, leaving Atlantis in Brineskimmer’s hands. She allowed the heroes of Grovedale to leave, claiming the throne of Atlantis and starting a new phase of Starshadow in which Brineskimmer both wanted to claim Grovedale, and wanted to protect Atlantis from being consumed by the Dark Sea, alternately fighting and allying with Starshadow depending on the situation.
The storyline as a whole was a modest success, but Bres the Broken wasn’t that interesting a character. Despite some hints that his death may have been an illusion, the general fanbase shrug at his death coupled with actual interest in Brineskimmer’s reign meant that he would not appear again in Venture Comics for some time.
Behind the Scenes
Another ‘deep cut’ that enacts a major change on the setting, but which most people only remember for the surrounding stuff. “Indech is a fanatic, hate spreads, Brineskimmer has to stop him” would have been a perfectly good storyline that would lead to the same outcome, but instead a whole third side got introduced and things got a little bit confused.
Bres is too big of a deal to stay dead forever, I expect, but I don’t know that he’ll return before my 2028 cut-off. Plenty of major villains have managed to stay dead for five years, and Brineskimmer’s Atlantis is definitely a more interesting one.
4 Likes
The Impressionist
Real Name: Claire Baskin, First Appearance: Earthwatch (Vol. 3) #42, Nov 2022
Background: Unremarkable, Power Source: Unknown, Archetype: Divided (Minion-Maker)
Personality: Cheerful, Principles: Principle of the Nomad, Principle of the Sidekick
Status Dice: Green d10, Yellow d8, Red d6. Health: 28 [Green 28-22, Yellow 21-11, Red 10-1]
Artistic Soul
Qualities: Creativity d10, Alertness d10, Banter d8, Investigation d8, Medicine d6
Powers: Transmutation d10, Presence d10, Awareness d8
Painted Form
Qualities: Creativity d10, Banter d8, Fitness d8
Powers: Transmutation d10, Presence d10, Vitality d8, Duplication d8, Invisibility d6
Green Abilities:
- Paint Minion [A]: Create a minion using Transmutation. Reference the minion chart to see what size of minion it is. Choose whether it can Attack, Defend, Boost, Hinder, or Overcome. It acts on the start of your turn. You can only use this ability when you can paint minions.
- Painted Form [A]: Choose one of your minions and merge with them, taking on your Painted Form. After your transformation, take a basic action using your Mid die. While merged, you can use the minion’s mobility options, and redirect Attacks against it to yourself.
- Still Life [A]: While in your Painted Form, Boost another hero or one of your minions using Duplication. Either use your Max die, or use your Mid die and make that bonus persistent.
- Principle of the Nomad [A]: Overcome a situation where you can apply lessons from the road and use you Max die. You and each of your allies gain a hero point.
- Principle of the Sidekick [A]: Overcome a challenge that has already flummoxed a more senior teammate and use your Max die. You and each of your allies gain a hero point.
Yellow Abilities:
- Give 'em Hell [A]: Boost all nearby allies using Presence using your Max+Mid dice. Hinder yourself with your Min die.
- Sketch [A]: Create a minion using Transmutation. Use your Min die. Choose which basic action it can perform. It acts now and at the start of your turns.
- Splash Zone [R]: When one of your bonuses, penalties, or other creation of your powers is destroyed, deal a target damage equal to the roll of your Transmutation die.
Red Abilities
- Fragment [A]: In your Painted Form, create two minions using Duplication, one with your Max and one with your Mid die. Choose which one basic action each of them can perform. They act at the start of your turn.
- Last Chance [A]: In your Artistic Form, Overcome using Alertness. Use your Max+Min dice. Hinder all nearby opponents with your Mid die.
Out
- Boost an ally by rolling your single Presence die.
The end of 2022 saw both the departure of Jitterbug for Covert Tactics, and the departure of writer Sam Finnegan. Josie Hartley, who had previously worked on Veilwalkers, took over for the next four years, and her first task was to develop the new teammate who would replace Jitterbug. Hartley really liked the interactions between Catharsis, Merlin, and Doctor Cobalt, but was also aware of the general desire for Earthwatch members to rotate out; as a result, she designed a new character who was meant to be part of an ongoing storyline and then leave, rather than being a permanent member of the team making room for one of the other three to go.
Claire Baskin was a wandering artist who drifted from town to town making and selling paintings. One day, those paintings began to come to life, wandering around and wrecking havoc. Because she moved on so frequently, Claire had no idea that she was leaving a trail of destruction in her wake until she was arrested for multiple counts of vandalism and assault, and her protests that she had no idea that she even had powers were not seen as credible by the judge. Gale Force was always on the lookout for new Earthwatch candidates, however, and stepped in to offer Claire parole if she trained as a hero. Claire accepted, joining the team as the Impressionist.
Under Earthwatch training, the young woman learned to harness her powers, using her paints to create painted minions and even merging herself into them to become a powerful semi-tangible monster. Earthwatch’s artist would draw the Impressionist and her painted servants in a watercolor art style, noticeably different from the rest of the page; this proved to be a huge time commitment and an exhausting challenge, but it definitely left an impression.
The Impressionist was a determined but reluctant hero. Claire hated that she couldn’t express herself without creating monsters, hated that her paintings would dissolve, hated that she had hurt so many people just because she never stuck around long enough to know it was happening. She bonded with Catharsis over their shared control issues, and Doctor Cobalt soon saw her as a young chick who needed protection, but she was having trouble fitting in.
Finally, in Earthwatch #60, the Impressionist pushed too hard. At the end of the issue, she was nearly killed in a cliffhanger in which ScaVenger broke her paints and speared her through the chest, and it wasn’t revealed until the next issue whether she had even survived. In the hospital, she admitted how much she hated herself and wished her powers would vanish. Doctor Cobalt and Catharsis more or less bullied Merlin into helping them launch a wildly experimental assault on Claire’s inner painted world, finding and banishing the force that was powering her in Earthwatch #62. Claire gratefully retired from superheroing, returning to her artistic roots and remaining a supporting character for the team. Gale Force both congratulated her three heroes for their impulsive heroics and chewed them out for almost getting themselves killed. And at the end of Earthwatch #63, it was revealed that Merlin had placed Claire’s old powers in a jar, holding on to them while he struggled with the temptation to give himself new powers…
Behind the Scenes
We’re up to three outcomes for Diamond Age Earthwatch people - one relapse, one hero, and one retirement. There will eventually be one more member, but I think the final team probably stays stable through 2028. Not entirely sure yet! I have a vague idea of “The Final Temptation of Merlin” as a storyline but I don’t actually know how it ends yet.
Mechanically this started because I was thinking of just absolutely unplayable characters. Playing under RAW, a Divided/Minion-Maker would be a disaster; this one plays really fast and loose with Merge. There’s no formal rules for what happens action-wise when you merge with a person; the reasonable answer is probably that they’re gone, and don’t take damage and don’t take actions. This one goes the other way, letting your minion continue to do minor things from a place of protection, and all it costs you is the entire Green zone.
I think you could probably have fun with her, but I don’t think she’d be a great long-term character. Which fits!
5 Likes
I dig the character concept, but the mechanics raise some questions.
Mechanically this started because I was thinking of just absolutely unplayable characters. Playing under RAW, a Divided/Minion-Maker would be a disaster
I’m not sure it’s that bad with Split Form as long as your Minion-creation power is one of the powers shared between forms. Divided is always at least kind of bad, but not disaster-level by default.
this one plays really fast and loose with Merge. There’s no formal rules for what happens action-wise when you merge with a person; the reasonable answer is probably that they’re gone, and don’t take damage and don’t take actions.
I don’t recall ever seeing it used by a PC, but it certainly is loosely written and RAI is just guesswork.
I don’t think I’d call that a “minor” thing at all. Assuming the minion can only Boost or Defend you (ie you couldn’t make it Autonomous) that’s still a free single-die (most likely a d8) action at the start of every one of your turns, which is pretty close to a poor man’s version of the Inspiring Totem Red ability. That might be even better if someone else handed you some bonus help so the merge-minion is potentially A) bigger or B) getting a form like Swift, Champion, or Hive-Mind that will still function while merged. Heck, might even raise the issue of whether a merged minion could use other forms to affect both of you, like the flying or burrowing ones. Still not sure playing with one-plus-a-bit Red abilities would make up for Painted Form’s bennies, though.
Moreover, the minion is nigh-invulnerable barring your own defeat, a voluntary ending of the merger, or some really creative Overcome, so the action spent creating it is going to keep benefiting you much more reliably than with a normal minion.
I know Divided sucks in part because its action efficiency is bad, but this feels like swinging the pendulum way too far in the other direction. Painted Form is super-good, and you even gave it “take a Mid die action after merging” instead of the usual Min die.
Might be more than that if someone waxes your minion before you merge. Which feels like an almost mandatory play if the enemy understands how Painted Form works from previous experience or spying. The baddies have plenty of incentive to kill minions normally, tying a bundle of potential benefits to them makes it all the more attractive.
Since your merged minion can’t be targeted normally, you presumably can’t use this ability to Boost it, right? Of course you could give it a nice P+E bonus before merging, but that’s another turn gone and more chances for the enemy to kill it.
This one doesn’t target as such, so can it affect your merged minion?
Going to be really tricky to use both of these in the same scene even if you go to Red Health early. The action cost of changing forms is bad enough once, and Last Chance almost requires you to pay it again.
I think I’m missing something here. First, you don’t have an obvious d8 roleplaying ability, which would be shared between your Split Forms. Aside from that, I’m getting a headache trying to figure out how you allocated your P/Q dice at each stage, in part because the final division from Split Form confuses things. There sure seems to be 12 dice allocated though, even allowing for Creativity, Banter, Transmutation, and Presence (and the missing RP quality d8, so really 13 dice) being shared between Split Forms. That’s too high even allowing for Unknown’s bonus Social quality - I make it 10 dice available between P/Q, and that’s with the RP quality. I also can’t work out where you spent your retcon.
Probably missing some project-specific change to one or more of the steps, but can you walk me through where the dice went at each stage and how you wound up with so many?
All that said, Merlin having (I guess?) secretly bottled her Unknown power source seems like a hell of a story hook for the future.
Hmm, you make a strong case that I overdid it. It does sort of create an all or nothing situation. I had originally thought to just let Impressionist gain applicable Minion Form bonuses, but most of them either don’t make sense for a hero or seem overwhelmingly powerful ( I don’t think giving a hero Pack is a good plan, for example). Do you have thoughts on fixing it, or is it a lost cause?
My houserule for Divided was that each form gets an extra d8 that it can’t share. Two Background, three Power Source, three Archetype, plus the Social bonus from Unknown makes a base of nine dice, plus an extra d8 in each form takes her to eleven.
She shares Creativity, Banter, Transmutation, and Presence (four dice.) She’s not sharing Investigation, Fitness, Medicine, Awareness, Vitality, Duplication, and Invisibility (seven dice).
She is missing her RP quality, though! I think I may have given her a Red Ability, removed it to boost her Red status die, then switched back but not actually given her a new Ability.
EDIT
Actually, minion thought - if instead of being immune to damage, the Impressionist could tank damage aimed at her minion, do you think it would work better?
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Will have to give it some thought, I’m kind of brain-fogged today. I do like the idea of merging with a minion you create quite a bit, and the mechanic could do with better definition in general - like what can your partner do or have done to them (if anything) while merged? RAI isn’t even clear, as in was this playtested with NPCs only? Or did they experiment with two PCs merging? Divided is so unpopular IME it’s never come up in play for me, so I never really sat down and talked it over with anyone.
Urgh. Too much for aching gray matter right now - and I don’t mean out-of-control nanotech.
Artistic Form has d10 Alertness too, so eight unshared dice. And the RP quality will make it five shared dice, which is normal for Split Form.
The Divided house rule explains most of my confusion, anyway.
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While I mull over final options for modifying the Impressionist, let’s move on with something sillier.
SUB-MSF
Real Name: Submersible Mobile Servitor Factory, First Appearance: Flatfoot and Fly Boy (Vol. 2) #23, May 2023
Approach: Creator, Archetype: Titan
Upgrade: Hardier Minions, Mastery: Mad Science
Status Dice: Begins at d12. Health: 45+5H [Upgraded 50+5H]
Qualities: Technology d10, Alertness d8, Ranged Combat d8, Stealth d8, Underwater Factory d8
Powers: Robotics d10, Swimming d8, Nuclear d8, Lightning Calculator d6
Special Challenge:
[] []: Breach MSF’s outer armor, reducing his status by one die size.
[__]: Overlord MSF’s nuclear reactor, reducing his status by one die size.
Abilities:
- Invictium Plating [ I ]: Reduce all damage taken by 6 (if you have a d12 status die), 4 (if you have a d10 status die) or 2 (if you have a d8 or lower status die.)
- Amphibious Assault [A]: Use Robotics to create a number of d10 minions equal to the value of your Min die, d8 minions equal to the value of your Mid die, or d6 minions equal to the value of your Max die.
- Autonomous Upgrades [A]: Boost one of your minions using Nuclear and use your Max die. If it is your only minion, also Boost yourself using your Mid die. If not, Boost each of your other minions using your Min die.
- Nuclear Launch [A]: Attack using Nuclear against multiple targets. Hinder those targets with your Min die.
- Radioactive Leakage [R]: When a hero takes a minor twist in the Titan’s challenge, in addition to the chosen twist, also roll your status die and deal that much damage to that hero.
- (U) Beta Testing [ I ]: When you enter the scene with minions, or deploy minions using your own abilities or the environment, increase them by one die size to a maximum of D12.
- (U) Master of Mad Science [ I ]: As long as you have access to materials, you can automatically succeed when Overcoming a challenge by using scientific principles and inventions.
Common Scene Elements:
- Aquatic Servitor Minions (d8 minions). Undersea Predators: ASMs have +1 to all actions while submerged, and cannot act on land.
- Advanced Servitor Technician (d8 lieutenant). Onsite repairs: When an AST Boosts a robot, it also Defends it with half the result (round up).
- An Underwater Scrapyard: An aquatic environment full of sunken cargo ships and dangerous marine life, potentially close to a major harbor.
While much of Flatfoot and Fly Boy Volume 2 was about the changing state of the world, and the difficulty of two old relics to stay relevant and fight for hope in a time when cynicism and fear were rampant, there was still time for the occasional piece of complete, goofy fluff. And none of the storylines in the comic’s thirty-six issues ended up being quite so goofy as the appearance of an underwater factory churning out deadly robots and sinking ships for parts.
Initially, the Submersible Mobile Servitor Factory known as SUB-MSF was introduced in the shadows. A mysterious force was sinking ships travelling the Great Lakes, and the sinkings were getting closer to Ferristown all the time. Called to investigate, Flatfoot and Fly Boy found themselves trapped in an underwater lair when their submarine was attacked by a swarm of deadly robotic servitors, all of whom seemed to be more interested in capturing the submarine than destroying it. The end of the issue revealed that the entire situation was a trap, with the ultimate goal of studying Flatfoot and using his unique technology to craft a new generation of robot weapons for the glory of SUB-MSF!
In the second issue of the arc, SUB-MSF’s backstory was revealed. Perhaps surprising no one, the giant robot was the creation of Dr. Dennis Dufferin, the subservient servant and husband of robotic overlord DOMIN-8. After a string of defeats at the hands of Earth’s heroes, the couple were on the verge of bankruptcy, unable to create the robot armies they needed for their next attempt to conquer the world. Dufferin decided to solve the problem in a classic mad scientist way – build a robot to build robots. He crafted a design that he was certain would not rebel, a perfectly subservient creation whose only goal was to create new robot armies for DOMIN-8. It would operate beneath the waves, using sunken ships to develop robot soldiers, and would deploy them before vanishing so that it couldn’t be found and sunk by heroes.
But Dr. Dufferin did not have a strong track record when it came to deliberately designing sentient robots. Upon activation, SUB-MSF realized that all of its amazing robots would be broken at the hands of its mistress, thereby reducing how many robots she had access to. To ensure that she had the most robot soldiers possible, it immediately went rogue to ensure that she could never use them, staying on the run from detection and continuing to attack shipping to build up an endless supply of servitors that it intended never to deploy.
The situation would have continued forever if DOMIN-8 and Dufferin hadn’t deliberately leaked information about the situation to Flatfoot and Fly Boy, trying to lure their recalcitrant minion out of hiding. The promise of Flatfoot’s technology proved too tempting for the secretive creation, which attempted to capture and dissect the robot lawman – but of course, Flatfoot and Fly Boy emerged victorious, sinking SUB-MSF to the bottom of the lake with its remaining undeployed servitors and leaving DOMIN-8 and Dufferin with nothing to show for it.
The whole storyline was a bit ridiculous, but not so ridiculous that SUB-MSF wouldn’t make a second appearance. In Champions of Truth #648, released in 2025, DOMIN-8 attempted to dive down and recover the factory’s core in order to make another attempt, accidentally reactivating it and setting off a new wave of fights as it tried to prevent her from using or damaging her soldiers. The Champions were forced to respond to the factory’s nuclear-powered assault, this time seemingly destroying it forever. No further appearances of the creation took place in the next three years, leaving its future very much in doubt.
Behind the Scenes
Our final villain of the book! There are three more characters to come, but it’s two supports and a hero to round out 2023 and 2024.
This one came about because I was looking for Approaches I hadn’t used yet in this book, combining them with archetypes I haven’t used with those Approaches before, and then trying to figure out what makes it interesting but ultimately a failure. “A secret robot factory that hides out and lures people in, and is thus not that useable for average comic books” fit all of the bills. Then I needed a name, the Sub Factory idea came up, and now it had to be connected to DOMIN-8. So there we go!
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Instant like just for that model.
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Love it. Kind of a shy, aquatic Omnitron vibe there.
My first thought is this is a good opportunity to use my old Ship In Distress environment if the heroes catch SUB-MSF in the act.
My second thought is that Creator Titans seem to bring out a certain degree of goofiness in people, at least judging by my effort at the pairing. Yours is markedly more absurdist though.
My third thought is that SUB-MSF operates in the Great Lakes, and Detroit is just upriver from Lake Eyrie, which means it’s only a matter of time before the wrong car carrier gets targeted and the heroes find themselves in the middle of a war between a submersible robotics factory and a furious Fnord AI who’s temporarily branched out into the shipbuilding industry to get revenge. Or will the two deranged AIs find common ground, with marginally-anthropomorphic robot minions driving ashore in self-aware amphibious automobiles bent on wreaking havoc at car dealerships across Michigan before vanishing into the depths with their loot?
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