Wednesday Comics: Requiem

Here's the next installment of  Jim Starlin's Metamorphosis Odyssey. The earlier posts in the series can be found here.

"Requiem (Metamorphosis Odyssey Chapter X)"

Epic Illustrated #7 (August 1981) Story & Art by James Starlin

Synopsis: Aknaton shows the others the history of the Zygoteans. Their world was once a veritable Utopia, but it fell into the hands of venal and incompetent rulers. First, they despoiled the planet.

Unfortunately, few of the people seemed to notice. They were consumed by their distractions and amusements and complicit in the despoiling of their world:

The people eventually realized what had happened. The gap between have and havenot was large, but the cries for social justice went unanswered. Instead, it was determined some would escape their dying world. Thanks to the influence of the military and religion, the many were inspired to toil to launch a few into the stars.

Zygotea died, but the Zygoteans lived on. They repeated the same process on every world they came to. The more monstrous they became, the more they came to resent those that reminded them of their origins. The Osirosans, the progenitors of all humanoid races, were the greatest reminder of how far they had fallen and so had to die. But the Osirosans conceived of the Infinity Horn--and a way to end the Zygotean menace.

The others are silent as Aknaton finishes his tale. Elsewhere, though, their enemies mark them all for termination:

Things to Notice:

• The Zygoteans originally look just like humans.

Commentary: 
We see the Zygoteans at last and...they look just like us, at least at first. Starlin is obviously offering a critique on and perhaps a warning to our own society. Interestingly,the Zygoteans wind up with long noses and bald heads, looking like a slightly more monstrous version of the Osirosans--or at least Aknaton. Maybe this is because they're bookends: the Osirosans started humanoid life and the Zygoteans were going to be the end of it.

Or perhaps, they are two sides of the same coin, given Aknaton's intentions.

Four-Color Mutant Futures

Looking for some for some good inspiration for a Gamma World or Mutant Future game? You can do a lot worse than comic books. Here are my picks for the best, alphabetized for easy reference:

Atomic Knights
Not as many mutants here as some places, but it's got knights in plate armor riding giant dalmatians.  Read more about them in this previous post.

Cobalt 60
Vaughn Bodē's titular character is out for revenge the man who killed his parents. There are mutants and aliens a plenty.

Kamandi
Everybody knows this one, right? If not, start reading it here.

Killraven
Mutant mayhem after Martians invade earth in a second war of the worlds. And its all been collected!

Hercules Unbound

Mashup Thor and Kamandi and you get this short-lived series. In fact, it ties in to both Kamandi and Atomic Knights.

Hunter
A half-human, hunter fights against mutant-kind ("goblins") on an irradiated future earth. Dark Horse has put it out in a nice collection.

Mighty Samson
In a devastated N'Yark (that seems like the inspiration for future of Thundarr) the mighty Samson fights a lot of improbable mutants. Read more about it in this post I wrote a while back.

Giant Fire-Breathing Lizard vs. Giant Space Robot!

With a new Godzilla movie in theaters, it's a good time to stat him in terms suitable for my quick-and-dirty Giant Space Robots! old school minigame. A close examination of the films might lead to different tactics or special abilities being applied to each of the versions, but I'll leave that to the Gojira-philes amongst you. (bear in mind that all creatures are giant in GSR!, so the scale of hit dice and what not are shifted).

A 50-55 m giant fire-breathing lizard has 3 HD (a less robust giant dinosaur might have 2+1) and does 1d4 with a bite or 1d6 with a tail slap. Their breath attack does 1d6+1.

An 80 m specimen has 5 HD and a 1d8+1 breath attack.Their bite and tail slap are 1d4+1/1d6+1, respectively.

The 100 m version is 6 HD with a 2d6 breath attack. Its bite/tail attacks do 1d6/1d8

The truly monstrous 124-150 m variety has 7 HD and a breath attack doing 2d8. It's bite/tail slaps do 1d8/2d4.

Androids & 'Zines

Looking for a little weekend reading? I've got a couple of suggestions:

On the "directly gameable"side, you could do a hell of a lot worse than picking up Tim Shorts's latest issue of The Manor. It's got a brothel locale by Matt Jackson, some clever pairs of rooms that can be stuck into any dungeon by Ken Harrison, and a class and a one shot adventure by Tim. Then, there's that Jason Sholtis cover.

On the fiction (but with game inspiration potential) side, you can do a lot worse than Charles Stross's Heinlein homage, Saturn's Children. It's the twenty third century and humanity is extinct, but their androids are keeping interplanetary civilization going in the solar system in a "something's missing," Toy Story sort of way. There are few android lineages missing something more than the main character Freya and her template sisters, sexbots all. Trying to escape a vengeful aristocrat, Freya stumbles into political games and goes to work for a spy agency (Jeeves Corporation) run by a former gentleman's butler. Jeeves is trying to prevent (maybe) the synthesis of a human by a black lab on the dark edge of the solar system.

This is the first book set in the universe of Neptune's Brood (which I discussed here), albeit in a much earlier era than that later work. There are a lot of cool ideas that could be worked into a science fiction of post-apocalyptic setting including androids or robots--or even a fantasy setting, as my other post discusses. Also, Stross spends a lot of time on the very real difficulties of interplanetary travel that will give you a lot to think about, even if that level of realism isn't typical for games.

More Strange Stars Art

I've shared these on G+, but for the non-Gplussers amongst my readership or those that might have missed them, here's a couple of art pieces from the Strange Stars setting book:

This is a moravec named Lincoln-5 Rhadamanthus-beta-27, a lawyer and judicial duelist in Circus, as rendered by Waclaw Wysocki.

Every sci-fi setting needs its cantina scene, right? This is a rough obviously, but it gives a hint of how great the finished image by David Johnson will be. It showcases a number of different Strange Stars sophonts having a drink somewhere in the Zuran Expanse.

Wednesday Comics: Absolution

Here's the next installment of  Jim Starlin's Metamorphosis Odyssey. The earlier posts in the series can be found here.

"Absolution (Metamorphosis Odyssey Chapter IX)"

Epic Illustrated #6 (June 1981) Story & Art by James Starlin

Synopsis: Using the talisman which holds the secret to the Infinity Horn's location, Aknaton performs a ritual, casts a spell. He reaches out into the void to find something greater than himself. And his call is answered by a being the awestruck Aknaton calls "Ra."

By whatever name, Aknaton begs the entity's help. The entity replies that the need of his worshipers is the whole reason for his existence: what does Aknaton need? Well, Aknaton needs advice--about what he's planning to do.

The entity is aware of the Osirosian plan to destroy the Milky Way. Does Aknaton want to know if it will be successful? Or does he want aid, perhaps?

Neither are Aknaton's desire. He is fully confident in the success of the plan (though the entity points out that in giving the sword to the Byfrexian, Aknaton may have created a variable beyond his control) and he needs no aid. He wants to know if what he is doing is right.

The entity shows him the horrors of the future where he doesn't act. After these visions he asks: "Is the question, do you have the right to play god? Or is it, do you have the duty to play god?"

Aknaton awakens alone, unsure if he actually communed with a god, or did part of him merely conjure the experience for reassurance? No matter:

Aknaton returns to the others. Vanth confronts him about his plans. Aknaton suggests he wouldn't question the plan if he saw the face of Zygoteism--and the future it will bring.

Things to Notice:

• "God" is a pretty standard Starlin cosmic entity.
• Finding the location of the Infinity Horn (the stated reason for this episode seems almost an after-thought.

Commentary: 
The purpose of this chapter seems to be to show the Aknaton's internal conflict regarding what he must do. Starlin chooses to dramatize this in his signature cosmic style, though he toys with the literal reality of the situation and the "god" in a way that is not far off from the sort of thing that might have been seen in a Verigo comic a decade later.

It all comes off as a bit of a cheat, perhaps. Does Aknaton earn his "absolution?" There aren't really any pros and cons to weigh--only pros are presented. The horrors of the Zygoteans are worse, we're told again and again. No additional evidence is really presented here to convince the reader Aknaton is right, though perhaps it makes him a bit more sympathetic by showing he's conflicted.

Biosculptor

A biosculptor is a limited form of bio-assembler, made for the purposes of plastic surgery. It's alterations are not as extensive or as customizable as those available with a trained technician and a full surgical suite (for instance, genetic alteration only of the grossest sort can be performed), but it has the advantage of being portable and easy to use. 

The biosculptor can reduce mass (up to 40%), but not add it appreciably (5%). It cannot create new subcellular assemblies (like chloroplasts in a nonphotosynthetic organism), lay down neural pathways involved in complicated behaviors, or alter body plan extensively (e.g. four-limbed to six-limbed). In general, it's changes will not alter attributes (GM discretion).

The biosculptor folds up to about the size of a briefcase, and self-extends as soon as it's booted up. The operator simply chooses the desired template from the devices library (or downloads another template) and uses the key pad or voice command to add further specifications.

Once that's done, the patient enters the biosculptor and applies the appropriate sensors. The unit anesthetizes the patient and fills compartment with a gel-like nanotech solution. The nanites begin the task of disassembling then reassembling the patient's body into the desired form.

[Inspired by the device appearing in the images above from the comic Lost Horizons by Juan Zanotto.]