Bad Guys R Us: the work of Avery Liell-Kok

Hello all!

It's been a while since I touched base here since I've been posting more regularly on my personal blog.
I guess that means I have to throw my readers a bone.

As I've said before, Superhuman has three initial factions at launch: Heroes, Villains, and Mercenaries. Each team is chosen from a series of Archetypes listed for each faction. Each faction's archetypes are different than the others, and in the core book, there are 5 archetypes for each faction. For the sake of consistency, I hired a single artist to illustrate each archetype for each faction, starting with the Villains.

I first met Avery Liell-Kok as she was showing off her portfolio to Cliff at Slugfest Games (the booth I usually work at Gencon and Origins) at Gencon 2008. While her art wasn't what Cliff was looking for, there was a certain darkness that I instantly knew would fit for the Villains Faction Archetypes for Superhuman. So, rather than let her go, I hired her on the spot and put her to work. And she worked wonderfully!



Avery's first piece was the Berserker- meant to be an archetype that would fit both the bladed martial artist and  the mutant with metal claws, I told her I wanted a deranged female melee combatant.. something in the vain of Typhoid Mary or Harley Quinn. She gave me her first pencil drawings within a week and it was spot on, I had found my Thrillkill in her pencils.





For the Destroyer, a ranged combatant capable of sniping from a great range or massive damage if designed to be a closer ranged combatant, I wanted someone who's costume was fairly plain, but oozed power and awe. I wanted a radioactive powerhouse, and she gave me that in Chernobyl.







Next up was the Magnetic archetype. Magnetics could control one of the most formidable of Earth's elements allowing powerful villains of this archetype to do something as fine as slow the blood in a human body or as impressive as lift a skyscraper from the steel girders inside. Metalla was born from this need and Avery got her with only a sketch or two.






The Psychic archetype came fully formed in my head before I hired Avery, but when she started her initial sketches, one of them was exactly what I had pictured. Not only can Dr. Mindcrime read your thoughts, but he can control your mind as well making you do the most vile things he can imagine.







Finally, for the muscle archetype, called the Brute, I wanted Avery to draw the creepiest circus strongman she could imagine. Comic book hero costumes were designed to resemble circus performers initially, so I wanted something that was a nod to that heritage and history. Bruiser honors all that, but is still the creepiest villain of the bunch. Of all of them, this Brute is the one I would find least likely to be allowed to watch my children, yet would be the one most likely to try.



So there you go, The five Villain Archetypes, and the art that will represent them by a fantastic artist. Avery is now illustrating the upcoming role-playing game Critical! Go Westerly as well as doing some stuff for Akira's hilarious BESM Larp Advanced Dimensional Green Ninja Educational Prepatory Super Elementary Fortress 555.


~The Doc

The New Logo

As Superhuman nears completion, I wanted to share the new logo. It's mighty pretty and heralds some serious gameplay changes we had to endure to make Superhuman run faster and smoother. And my thanks go to our graphic designer, Peter Carioscia for the design elements he did that became a big part of this design.  In the end, we have a better product for you, the player.

Enjoy,

Doc

Just a quick update

Yes, I will, as promised, go into powers soon and discuss how they have changed from iteration to iteration as Superhuman enters beta tests for game balance (soon to be followed by campaign balance tests), and yes, I will be taking applications for beta testers soon... but that's not what I wanted to talk about.

Con season is winding down, and I wanted to mention how fantastic it was for us to meet and rub shoulders with our friends in the industry at Origins and Gencon. As usual, I got to talk shop and make nefarious plans with Matt from Armorcast, promote the new Smallville Roleplaying Game from Margaret Weis Productions which had both me and my wife as part of its awesome writing team, play in the Ex-Illis tournament (a great mini game from the guys at Bastion marrying tabletop miniatures gameplay with computer assistance), and demoed game after game of Slugfest's wonderful games such as Red Dragon Inn, Kung-fu Fighting, and En Garde! It was good times.

But for us here at Monkeyden, it isn't over. We have one last stop on the convention train, and that is Cincinnati's newest comic convention: The Cincinnati Comic Expo.

So if you're in the Cincinnati area, come to the Cintas Center on saturday and play some Superhuman! We'll be running demos all weekend and looking for new artists and sculptors to get us closer to release.

Cheers!
Doctor Mono

Getting to Know Your Demo Team pt 3: High Society

High Society didn't start out as a team of super villains. For the most part, it had always been a gathering of the most elite and wealthy members of Centennial City's social scene until the late '70's. United only in their spirit of one-upmanship, members of High Society were always led by whomever was the richest, the most powerful, or whomever had overcome the biggest obstacle to achieve their greatness. For many years, upstanding members of society such as presidents, governors, Centennial City mayors, even noteworthy citizens such as Dr. Kevin McCallister and Jonathon Grayson from McCallister Industries and the Pantheon Corporation respectively had found their way into this notoriously secretive organization that had its roots in the founding of the country itself.

But all that changed in the late '70's when the mantle of leadership for High Society fell on the shoulders of the young and cruel Prince Domus Nasirus of Khanth- notorious for his misdeeds as well as his tastes. After years in exile, Prince Domus used the resources at his command to retake Khanth by force renaming himself Lord Dominus, never relinquishing his hold on High Society.

Under the Direction of Lord Dominus, High Society began to change. No longer would the secret society's coffers be used for charitable works. Instead, Lord Dominus chose to use the surplus to fund his own personal and political agendas. Membership in High Society was no longer a simple matter of wealth and social standing; instead Lord Dominus chose to include only those that he found exceptional and like minded such as: the feared international terrorist known only as Tyrant, the Nazi war criminal General Disorder and the highly talented assassin called Recoil. It was a rare occurrence that High Society would act in concert. Usually, while Lord Dominus was in control, the society still remained a venue to show off the exploits of its members. If Tyrant was able to defeat Lightray, this was where he bragged. When Dr. Mindcrime planted the "seed of evil" that would eventually convert the victim to true villainy and insanity in his patient, the son of the famous hero Thunderbolt, this was where he could lay out the plan.

But when Lord Dominus left Centennial City to return to his castle in Khanth, leadership of High Society fell to General Disorder and a new day dawned. General Disorder had very different plans for High Society starting with organization. General Disorder brought in criminals and terrorists like the crime boss Pavement and the french liquid metal killer Guillotine and united High Society for high profile criminal activity. With the sheer amount of criminal talent available to him, General Disorder knew he had the type of team he could use to take over, destroy, or wreak any kind of havoc he could possible imagine.

And so they did.

Game Concepts and Changes

Wow an Update!!!

Yeah, sorry about that. I'd give you a snarky excuse, but I don't have one. Truth is, I've been so busy working on other projects such as the upcoming Smallville Role Playing Game for the awesome people over at Margaret Weis Productions that I haven't updated the blog. That is not to say that work hasn't progressed on Superhuman, ho no.

In fact, playtesting is a funny thing. you get to see where many of the weaknesses of a game are that you never noticed before. For example: Melee Combat.

Previously, Each player's turn ended with a Melee Combat Phase. In this phase, as you can expect, models in base-to-base contact engaged in hand-to-hand combat. This is all well and good. However, there is a rule in the Melee phase I am very fond of called Knockback.

Knockback is very steeped in comic shtick. When you hit someone and are able to do damage to them in hand-to-hand combat, you throw them in inches equal to the amount of damage dealt through walls and other models directly away from your model. I love this rule- it reminds me of every panel I've ever seen of the bad guy thrown into the brick wall by Superman's fist. However, it proved problematic for a while.

Both players had a Melee Combat Phase, but all combat phases happened after both players' Movement phases. Why did this matter? It meant that for the most part, the second player never got a Melee Combat Phase. Knockback usually caused the models to break apart by several inches and without the benefit of certain powers, that was a gap that could not be filled until the following turn. And I am not a fan of anyone losing a turn.

The easy solution was to drop Knockback. Hell no! That rule is the spirit of Superhuman and is one of the rules that separates this game from every other mini game out there (there are other factors of course, but I can wax ecstatic if I wish). No, I had a simpler method: Phase restructuring. I like the staggered turn sequence we use presently (Low initiative Move, High Initiative Move, High Initiative Combat, Low Initiative Combat) but a tweak could solve all the issues entailed.

So here it is, the new turn sequence:
1 Initiative
2 Low Initiative Movement
3 High Initiative Movement
4 High Initiative Ranged Combat
5 Low Initiative Ranged Combat
6 Melee Combat Phase (all engaged models)

In the end, we've found that having a single Melee phase did a few things. Yes, it allowed Knockback to be suitably effective but more than that it slimmed down turn length and seemed to concentrate the focus on that last phase in the turn.

Next up...
Power Pools by Faction and why different Factions have different Powers
and then (or maybe before) Getting to know Your Demo Team: High Society (villains)

Cheers,
~Dr. Mono

Getting to Know Your Demo Team pt. 2: Members of the National Trust

The National Trust has a long and storied past from its time as the Trust Fund, until more recent days as a government sanctioned super team. In the intervening years, many young heroes have joined and left its ranks. Some members, sidekicks and followers, became famous heroes in their own right. Some fell from grace and found villainy their path. Still others gave their lives in their effort to make a better world. But today, a few still owe allegiance to this team of intrepid heroes.

State of the Union- After years as the American's teenage sidekick, The Union Kid, it was only inevitable that John Montgomery would grow up to become his own hero. Powered by the same superserum that flows through the American's veins and tempered by years of super and military action, State of the Union is a grizzled veteran at only 22 years old. He is agile and strong, a brilliant strategist, and is truly an inspiring hero. Proficient in seventeen forms of martial arts, his melee prowess are only dwarfed by his keen mind and nearly unparalleled aim. Unlike most former sidekicks, State of the Union remains a source of pride for his former mentor and is the kind of leader that is not afraid to lead by example.

Bombshell- Molly Mackenzie is the daughter of a supermodel and a brilliant geneticist. Bent on creating a genotype that would remake human society where diseases and weaknesses of any kind were a thing of the past, Molly's father thought nothing about experimenting on his own daughter. He was more successful than he thought. Immune to all diseases and most physical harm, his tests on the child made her exponentially strong, to the point that as an adult, it is impossible to measure how strong she really is. Removed from the toxic influence of her father, Molly grew up by her mother's side and followed in her footsteps as a model and eventually actress. Becoming a hero (her publicist's idea) has only helped her career and she has found more fulfillment in heroics than she ever had through fame.

Gold Shield- Clark Richards always wanted to be a cop like his father and uncles. Growing up in the poor neighborhoods of Detroit, he always looked at cops as the true heroes of the streets, so there was never a doubt in his mind what he wanted from life. When Clark was fifteen, he and his little brother stumbled upon his father taking a bribe from a local crime boss. The pair ran away to an abandoned factory with their father and the local crime boss on their heels. Clark tried his best to hide his little brother but the crime boss' goons found them. Clark's dad took a bullet meant for the boys, but managed to fall into a piece of machinery that caught fire and exploded. Mr. Richards and the mobsters were killed in the blast, but Clark and his brother survived. The blast exposed Clark to chemicals that should have killed him, but instead gave him wonderous powers. He found he could fly, was stronger and tougher than the average boy his age, and could create a forcefield around himself and others. His little brother, protected by Clark's body, was only superficially hurt by the blast. Clark managed to find his way into the Trust Fund under the name Prodigy, and at twenty, joined the Detroit Police as their first supercop, Gold Shield.

Sorority- Even as a little girl, Erin Stewart was able to move things with her mind- big and small, heavy or light. it never mattered. The problem was, despite years of trying, she had very little control of her abilities and was something of a klutz. Accident prone and super-powered was never a good combination. Luckily, Erin became the roommate of a girl named Rebecca Stone. Rebecca moonlighted as the Falcon's sidekick, Sparrow, and brought Erin to the Nest where she could learn to control her powers alongside the Trust Fund. Rebecca always treated the unpopular, clumsy, bookish telekinetic as a sister, claiming they would be their own sorority. So when Sparrow died facing Tempest, Erin gave herself the name Sorority to honor her friend.

Sparks- Danny Davidson was a video game fanatic. He owned every console on the market and worked two jobs after school just to support his game addiction. Danny was smart and athletic, but his ADHD made it very difficult for him to be a success in school. But one fateful night, while his parents were out at a movie, a fifteen year old Danny was playing his Gamestation while a battle raged above his neighborhood between the villainous Hellmage and the legendary hero, Thunderbolt. During the battle, Hellmage deflected one of Thunderbolt's lighting bolts into the suburbs below. The magically altered lightning bolt slammed into Danny's home, and into the boy through his Gamestation controller. In the days after the event, Danny woke in a hospital room with none other than Thunderbolt waiting for him. Danny had developed super-speed abilities and Thunderbolt had arranged with his parents to bring him to the National Trust where he could learn to deal with his growing abilities. Danny thought it was the best day ever.

Sledgehammer- Joel Michaels always wanted to be a superhero like Thunderbolt, Downtown, the American, even Lightray. When he was a kid, he would draw his own comic books making costume after costume in the hopes that one day he would have to make a real one for himself. But as the years dragged on, there was no alien race coming to bestow great powers, or radioactive waste to dive into. Even struggling to learn martial arts and stay in good shape was far from enough for the teenager to transition to tights. Joel had all but given up on his dreams of heroism by his early twenties only to be surprised by a power hidden within. Nose deep in a comic, Joel's attention wasn't where it should have been when he was hit by a car walking to one of his classes at Centennial University. To his shock, Joel was completely unharmed; in fact, his body had become sheathed in metal and he had manged to damage the car rather than the other way around. Instinctively, Joel rushed to the driver side and ripped the door off the side of the car in order to save the unconscious driver within. He turned his body to shield her in the nick of time as the car blew up in a great ball of fire. The newspaper reports of his accidental heroism brought State of the Union to his door only days later.

Art by Bryan Bretz

Getting to Know Your Demo Team pt. 1: The National Trust

So, I was thinking, since I have these pretty demo sheets all printed and laminated, you the public might like to see them. Not to mention get a bit of an intro into the characters. So, here is the first demo team- for the Heroes faction- The National Trust.

The team that would become The National Trust was formed when three sidekicks of members of the famous Hero League thought it would be a good idea to team together to fight crime when their mentors were otherwise occupied. The original roster consisted of The Union Kid (the American's sidekick), Sparrow (Falcon's original sidekick), and Boy Thunder (son of Thunderbolt). After offering her lair (the Nest) as the team's first headquarters, Sparrow joked that the team should be called the Trust Fund. Unexpectedly, her teammates agreed.

Over the years, other young heroes joined the Trust Fund's ranks and membership rose and fell as members left or fell to other means. Union Kid eventually left his mentor's charge and the team, striking out on his own with a new name, State of the Union. Boy Thunder also chose a new code-name, Tempest, as he slowly succumbed to his inner lunacy and became a powerful villain to rival even Dominion himself. During one of Tempest's rampages across the American Midwest, the Trust Fund tried in vain to take down their former comrade. In the process, four team members were seriously injured and Sparrow was killed. It was only the assistance of Tempest's brother, Downtown and his buddy Chance that kept the team alive and managed to drive Tempest off. The Trust Fund, battered and beaten, disbanded that day.

Years later, State of the Union reformed the team under a government charter with the name: The National Trust. Like the Trust Fund, State of the Union filled the roster with new young heroes and sidekicks of well-established heroes as well as two former Trust Fund members, Sorority and Gold Shield. However, The National Trust is a much more mature team than its teenage predecessor. With a national charter, The National Trust has a stronger connection with the nation it defends and is often seen as "America's Heroes."