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General Inspiration Thread

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Bill G.
Pro
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For me, the podcast format is technically more accessible, since I can download episodes, listen on my phone with other apps in the foreground (something YouTube blocks for monetization reasons), and generally hear it when and where I want. I don't miss any video since we have none, but that's an advantage for me here.
I'm a video guy.  I love me some podcasts, but for gaming I need to have some video.  It all comes down to format. For your average podcast, you have one, maybe two people speaking (unless you get into your big radio drama-style podcasts like Serial and the like, but that's a whole different can of worms).  But with an actual play, you have four/five/six different speakers and I get lost with that many different speakers and no other method of telling who is speaking (same reason I dread phone meetings). Now once I'm familiar enough with the speakers' voices I can sometimes get away without the reference, but that means I need the reference in the first place.
Mike said: Now once I'm familiar enough with the speakers' voices I can sometimes get away without the reference, but that means I need the reference in the first place. Well, heck, I still have problems sometimes differentiating between Mike and Bill, so, yeah, I can see (er, hear) that. It's like, "quick, whose circle is flashing on Discord?"  Coincidentally  enough, the voice artist for Benton Quest was swapped out early in the series because he sounded too much like the voice artist for Race Bannon. 
*** Dave H. said: Well, heck, I still have problems sometimes differentiating between Mike and Bill, so, yeah, I can see (er, hear) that. It's like, "quick, whose circle is flashing on Discord?"  So ditch the nonregional diction I acquired in college to be taken seriously in my science program and bring back my thick, unmistakable Arkansas accent from when I was a kid?  Can do.  :p
Or you can combine science AND Arkansas!
1521593544
Doyce
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I'm just going to reiterate my recommendation of the Netflix Defender series.  Luke Cage as The Bull, Jessica Jones as the delinquent, Daredevil as the Janus, and Iron Fist... Excuse me the IMMORTAL Iron Fist as the Legacy that takes himself way, way, way too seriously.
Why my child calls me a geek: We were talking about which Chris was the one in Guardians of the Galaxy (vs the one in Thor  vs the one in Captain America  vs the one in Fantastic Four  [which is the same as the one in Captain America] vs. the one in Star Trek), and I said it was actually supposed to be Jason. Which I was able to point out was part of stuff  I wrote back in August : THERE WAS ANOTHER ENTERTAINMENT CONTRACT THAT DIDN'T QUITE COME TO FRUITION. Oh, God. Yeah. So Marvel is negotiating with Hanna-Barbera*, right? And they want to do this space adventure thing with me as a grown-up, and there's this mess of paperwork and half the deal's done and stuff is getting signed and everything's mid-negotiation -- when Disney walks into the room, and everything goes to hell and Marvel pulls back and does their own thing, but they still have this character they have the signed-off right to call Jason Quill. And H-B, they threaten to sue, and Dad threatens to sue, and, for all I know, Dr Chin threatens to sue, and they end up renaming the Marvel character Peter Jason Quill, and doing him in the movie as a not-a-blonde. And that's how I almost got into the Guardians of the Galaxy , but didn't really. ARE YOU SORRY IT WORKED OUT THAT WAY? Not really. I get into enough trouble with people recognizing me from the cartoons of me as a kid. I really, really don't regret they won't make assumptions about me as an adult from a movie. Though the movies were cool. I don't think I'm quite that adventurous. (All of which derived from my taking a long walk and realizing I had named my character the same thing as Star-Lord, so I decided to make it the other way around.) --- * The animation company, not the coincidentally-named lawyers, of course.
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Bill G.
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Sheet Author
A man in love is no simple thing. <a href="https://imgur.com/gallery/EYsLmvq" rel="nofollow">https://imgur.com/gallery/EYsLmvq</a>
^ +10
1521902236
Doyce
Pro
Sheet Author
My little my little bit of inspiration: Kaylee flew to Washington last night to participate in the march for our lives today.
1522174811
Bill G.
Pro
Sheet Author
Seems disturbingly relevant but I won't speculate just how.&nbsp;<a href="https://imgur.com/gallery/O3noh" rel="nofollow">https://imgur.com/gallery/O3noh</a>
Man after reading&nbsp; this post from the Masks G+ community, I want a crisis crossover (though I guess the two&nbsp;Vyortovian invasions sort of were between the Menagrie, the JHHL, and the Irregulators).
1522279474
Doyce
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We just need another campaign or two running in the same setting so we can start crossing over characters from the different groups.
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Edited 1522284010
Doyce
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I have to admit I really love the idea of doing a Hiatus by having people pick an NPC hero of some kind that you do a crossover with , via a love letter. That's really cool.
1522386729
Bill G.
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Doyce T. said: I have to admit I really love the idea of doing a Hiatus by having people pick an NPC hero of some kind that you do a crossover with , via a love letter. That's really cool. Given the choice, I prefer play to taking a break, but if we did, I'd be down with this.
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Bill G.
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Sheet Author
<a href="https://digg.com/video/why-stop-liking-someone" rel="nofollow">https://digg.com/video/why-stop-liking-someone</a> This Is Why We Stop Liking Someone As Soon As They Start Liking Us Back
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Doyce
Pro
Sheet Author
Bill G. said: Doyce T. said: I have to admit I really love the idea of doing a Hiatus by having people pick an NPC hero of some kind that you do a crossover with , via a love letter. That's really cool. Given the choice, I prefer play to taking a break, but if we did, I'd be down with this. Sure! I'm just saying it's a fun thing to keep around in case we have a gap in play for whatever reason.
Bill G. said: Doyce T. said: I have to admit I really love the idea of doing a Hiatus by having people pick an NPC hero of some kind that you do a crossover with , via a love letter. That's really cool. Given the choice, I prefer play to taking a break, but if we did, I'd be down with this. I think this is intended more as a "the story jumps forward a couple of weeks in between sessions and these love letters cover that time" instead of "we go play something else or take some other sort of break from the game and use this as the reintro into the game".
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Bill G.
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Ah yeah, that's totally fair. I read "hiatus" as an out of game thing specifically, my mistake.
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Doyce
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Yeah sorry that's the wrong word for what I meant.
Alycia's definitely ready for the game tonight.
1522709127
Doyce
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I'm in one of those "I really want to stab someone" moods, so... Hmm. Maybe less helpful when it's the GM feeling that way.
Alrighty, then! I'll just stay here in this nice, safe, guarded, concrete-walled cooler! Sounds less stabby!
Doyce T. said: I'm in one of those "I really want to stab someone" moods, so... Hmm. Maybe less helpful when it's the GM feeling that way.
1522711117
Bill G.
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Sheet Author
Doyce T. said: I'm in one of those "I really want to stab someone" moods, so... Hmm. Maybe less helpful when it's the GM feeling that way. Hopefully you will feel better soon. And if not, Leo's due to Take a Powerful Blow anyway?
Alycia volunteers Leo to Take a Powerful Blow!
Okay, Stabby GM or not, I'm excited. Game night!
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Bill G.
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Sheet Author
<a href="https://www.wired.com/story/tricky-business-of-mea" rel="nofollow">https://www.wired.com/story/tricky-business-of-mea</a>... How to measure consciousness
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Bill G.
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Fiction like Idoru, Looker, Megazone 23, and more predicted the "virtual idol". <a href="http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20180402-the-fasc" rel="nofollow">http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20180402-the-fasc</a>... One of the potential futures I had for Summer was as "holographic performer", and playing her as a Star. This might be what that looks like.
Very happy&nbsp; the Roll20 forum is back up . Being unable to view, then respond to current threads or add more, I felt like a junkie who couldn't get to his next fix. :-)
1522967214
Doyce
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Sheet Author
I'm happy about it too, though I'll admit I was so busy yesterday I only had time to think "hey it's been kinda quiet" and stress I hadn't got back to Leo yet. Today hasn't been better (you know you're busy when your fitbit switches over to recording your office activity as exercise), but it's getting there.
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Bill G.
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What do teen superheroes look like? Well, we have actors who've been cast as heroes, and they went to high school, so... <a href="https://www.cbr.com/15-fun-and-embarrassing-high-s" rel="nofollow">https://www.cbr.com/15-fun-and-embarrassing-high-s</a>...
So apparently Netflix has made a new&nbsp; Lost in Space series and it's coming out Friday (side note - the trailer doesn't look bad).&nbsp; Wondering how Dave's going to react to that news.
Dave is guardedly enthused, and has been since the project was announced: <a href="http://hill-kleerup.org/blog/2015/11/21/the-return" rel="nofollow">http://hill-kleerup.org/blog/2015/11/21/the-return</a>... <a href="http://hill-kleerup.org/blog/2016/06/29/the-return" rel="nofollow">http://hill-kleerup.org/blog/2016/06/29/the-return</a>... <a href="http://hill-kleerup.org/blog/2018/03/06/danger-wil" rel="nofollow">http://hill-kleerup.org/blog/2018/03/06/danger-wil</a>... Both the Robot and Dr. Smith featurettes I've seen have my approval.&nbsp; Though, to be sure, I really &nbsp;don't need another new, interesting series dropping right now ...
Speaking of&nbsp; headcanon ...&nbsp; there's this . (James gets the blame for passing this one on to me.)
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Bill G.
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewc1hixzYPY&featur" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewc1hixzYPY&featur</a>... If you enjoy hip-hop and comic books, and I haven't posted this before, here's Madvillain (including MF DOOM). The guy is basically a "supervillain rapper", strongly affected by his own real-life tragedies - more here.&nbsp; <a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Music/MFDoom" rel="nofollow">http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Music/MFDoom</a>
Some second-generation super geniuses decide they want to make the world a better place through revolutionary ideas and concepts. Some decide they want to make a better place by making kick-ass amusement parks.&nbsp;&nbsp; That second group doesn't always turn out well . ( Honestly I have no idea what the context of that photo is, but this seems like a normal Wednesday morning news report in Halcyon City.&nbsp; Not even front page.&nbsp; Buried on page seven next to the announcements section in its own column called "Hyper Tech Mishaps." )
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Bill G.
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Bill G.
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<a href="https://displacersquirrel.com/2018/04/25/taking-in" rel="nofollow">https://displacersquirrel.com/2018/04/25/taking-in</a>... "Taking Inspiration from Avengers and the MCU" A lot of this is stuff I try to do for my forum side-stories: treat everyone as the protagonist of their own story, for example. If I can't find the sympathy in a character (viewpoint or otherwise), I'll at least try to find the humanity.
Fine article.
1524863012
Bill G.
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Sheet Author
They grow up so fast:&nbsp; <a href="https://digg.com/video/daily-selfie-time-lapse" rel="nofollow">https://digg.com/video/daily-selfie-time-lapse</a> Girl's selfies in a time lapse from age 14 to 22. Aside from just "here's some more background on a game about teen heroes", it's relevant to characters like Aria and Summer over the long term. In&nbsp; Presentation , we had Aria going to church and maybe going out to talk to potential investors. But she still looks 17, and a year of time won't change that on its own. Does Aria always want to look 17? Certainly not. Adults wouldn't take her seriously even if she had 10 years more life experience, and being taken seriously is vital to her function as Leo's business partner, along with any business or political ambitions she has. She has no native DNA, so any maturation of her look depends on her preference. I found what I think is a great "older Pneuma" look&nbsp; here , but there's other options, like&nbsp; this or&nbsp; this . Summer is under less outside pressure to change, but under more internal pressure - she wants to be taken seriously, feel respected, and so on. She might look like a "younger sister" more and more, subconsciously (or consciously) sculpting her shell to represent her real relationship with Aria. Or she might keep pace, wanting to be seen as an equal. If more Newman-type androids emerge, they'll face a similar situation. Their traditions might develop to deal with this - such as expanding the role of the birthday, with the android receiving a new bigger shell as a gift. If holographic shells are more in fashion, an algorithm could be written that models a human body's growth from child to adult in a steady progression, giving a steady growth similar to a biological person.
Aging is a weird thing all around.&nbsp; Alycia is (by fiat) 17, as Jason was. But 18 is going to come up some time this year (to the extent that we're kindasorta mirroring real time passage, not endlessly stretchable comic book time [which works much better in comics with adult characters because, as an adult, really things just kind of blur from year to year, other than birthdays, while kids have this "I am in the Xth grade" counter turning over year after year]). That instantly changes a bunch of responsibilities and rights. And if this really is the 2nd semester of the senior year (looks across the room at his own senior), there's a major life event coming up. At the same time, similar to what's noted above, Alycia is only 17 (or even 18). She's not going to be taken seriously, as a super-hero let alone as much anything else (and, as she's recounted, it was even worse when Dad was sending her out at 14-15 to run operations with mature mercs and mooks and assorted sociopaths). Indeed, for her, there's probably been reinforcement of "I need to come across as either a disturbingly stone-cold killer, or else a crazy young psychopath, or else the Smartest Person in the Room (-so-maybe-listen-to-me)." Aria and Summer both have a chance to actually change that in their lives, though not without cost both financial and personal cost. Unlike others, they have the opportunity (and so responsibility) to choose what age they see themselves as. They'll also potentially face -- if they are closeted -- the "immortals who must keep up a masquerade" trope, way down the line. I like your thoughts on traditions. One question I have is why those traditions would hew to human standards.&nbsp; To fit in, perhaps, but I suspect over time there would be more radical changes enabled by the choices they have.
1524904615
Bill G.
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<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/drawing" rel="nofollow">https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/drawing</a>... Drawing on family stories, creators craft new generation of Asian-American superheroes Comic giants Marvel and DC as well as smaller publishers have introduced a wider range of diverse characters in recent years.
1524904785
Bill G.
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Sheet Author
*** Dave H. said: I like your thoughts on traditions. One question I have is why those traditions would hew to human standards.&nbsp; To fit in, perhaps, but I suspect over time there would be more radical changes enabled by the choices they have. I did some thinking about this, but I kept coming back to the easiest and most logical reason: the characters will tend to stick close to human convention because they still think of themselves as human. More in the other thread.
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Bill G. said: I did some thinking about this, but I kept coming back to the easiest and most logical reason: the characters will tend to stick close to human convention because they still think of themselves as human. More in the other thread. [Which thread I'm avoiding until I finish my analogous scene.] What you say makes perfect sense -- though humans adapt to opportunity and resources for change (family traditions changing over the years as people come and go, geographies alter, favorite foods evolve). One could even argue that if the Newmans, over time, stuck too rigidly to meat-people norms, it would indicate less humanity, not more, an inability or programmatic unwillingness to change. Still, analogies would be there. "We've got to serve the turkey AFTER &nbsp;the onion rings! Nana always loved it that way. Without that, it's just not Thankgiving!" "But this makes so much more sense for when folk are arriving, Nana has been dead five years, and I have a great onion ring churro recipe that I'm sure everyone will love!" vs.&nbsp; "We acquire new bodies of a size and feature set along the curve related to&nbsp;human development. That's how the Gen2 Newmans established the norms, and without it we're no longer human." "I'm ready to be 6 feet tall even if I'll stand out at pre-school, Gen2 Summer adopted a smaller size to go on the Alpha Centauri probe more resource-efficiently, and these days humans body-mod and genetweak all the time, so who will notice?" Which then starts segueing in my brain toward Charlie Stross'&nbsp; Saturn's Children , so I'll stop there.
Bill G. said: <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/drawing" rel="nofollow">https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/drawing</a>... Drawing on family stories, creators craft new generation of Asian-American superheroes Comic giants Marvel and DC as well as smaller publishers have introduced a wider range of diverse characters in recent years. And done so, in many ways (unlike the past) that felt more organic and, while intentional, not as forced ("We need a black person on the Avengers!"). Not all the attempts have been successful, but I, for one, have been able to accept (or decline) the individual characters without getting all shouty about how comics are "ruining" "my" heritage.
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Bill G.
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*** Dave H. said: What you say makes perfect sense -- though humans adapt to opportunity and resources for change (family traditions changing over the years as people come and go, geographies alter, favorite foods evolve). One could even argue that if the Newmans, over time, stuck too rigidly to meat-people norms, it would indicate less humanity, not more, an inability or programmatic unwillingness to change. Well, there's two things going on there. They'll kind of hang out in the human-convention space not necessarily/not just to "fit in" with humanity, but because humans think a certain way, and they'll think human because they are. Earth cultures have all kinds of ideas about what a marriage looks like and how a wedding ought to be conducted and so forth, but a lot of them have figured out that "marriage" is a thing. They'll want to fit in with the rest of humanity, though. If you send a six-foot child to kindergarten, that kid is going to attract notice. If you're in a zero gravity space colony and all the kids grow tall, on the other hand, tall android kids work better. They might also regard shells the way we wear clothes, and "dress" for school very differently than they "dress" at home, or out with friends. At that point, recognition might become a problem - so it might become true that (for example) the face ought to stay the same, or that they all adopt some kind of symbol for themselves.
Without Spoilers , I can say that Avengers: Infinity War demonstrates the power of the slow build, the telling of individual tales before bringing people together for a joint effort, the establish of relationships before diving into a big conflict where those relationships are used, abused, and gutted.&nbsp; It's by no means perfect (I think the original Avenger &nbsp;is a better film, for example, and there are a lot of little individual decisions I can nitpick), but a lot of what it does it does by splendidly building on past successes to get the most out of the massive stakes=raising -- and by not being afraid to have everyone Take a Powerful Blow (or three).
"Creep," Radiohead Songwriters: Mike Hazlewood / Albert Hammond / Colin Greenwood / Jonathan Greenwood / Edward O'brien / Philip Selway / Thomas Yorke When you were here before Couldn't look you in the eye You're just like an angel Your skin makes me cry You float like a feather In a beautiful world And I wish I was special You're so fuckin' special But I'm a creep, I'm a weirdo. What the hell am I doing here? I don't belong here. I don't care if it hurts I want to have control I want a perfect body I want a perfect soul I want you to notice When I'm not around You're so fuckin' special I wish I was special But I'm a creep, I'm a weirdo. What the hell am I doing here? I don't belong here. She's running out again, She's running out She's run run run run Whatever makes you happy Whatever you want You're so fuckin' special I wish I was special But I'm a creep, I'm a weirdo, What the hell am I doing here? I don't belong here. I don't belong here. ------ At the high school spring concert at James' school, one of the seniors did an arrangement of this piece as his senior project (with some minor bowdlerization of the lyrics). I thought it was emblematic of teen angst (as I still recall it mumblety decades later), which sometimes bubbles up for some of our characters (Alycia in particular, but not exclusively by any means).