Der PigDog's PigBlog

Recently I have been reading a lot of comics, including a lot of Alan Moore (V for Vendetta, Swamp Thing, Miracleman, Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?, Watchmen, From Hell). A mixed bag, but he constantly opens up interesting topics. In this series of posts I'm going to go through each of his writings that I have read, in publication order. I'm particularly interested in Moore's treatment of race, sex, gender, and authority. I'll try to talk about art as I go, but I'm not well-educated on the topic. Consequently I'll be giving the artist short shrift, and probably assigning Moore too much responsibility in plotting and conceptualizing the comic.  V for Vendetta I first read this as a child, without any strong preconceptions for what comics "are like" or "should be". Therefore its innovative formal qualities were totally lost on me. I had no idea that comics didn't usually feature changed page orientations or musical interludes, a...

I've been trying to drum up a Marvel Super Heroes game for a few weeks now, but my schedule has not been complaint. Nevertheless I am going to  keep  trying, dammit, because it has so many cool things. Here's an example: rules for magic use that are unique, flavorful, and downright badass. I read these rules and I cannot wait to get them in action. I'm doing some slight rephrasing and renaming here.  Any hero with Magical Training and Good (10) or better Psyche can use magic. If you start with Magical Training, don't start with any other powers. If you don't start with Magical Training, spend a year or more in study under a master to gain it. This master should be played like any other NPC with beliefs, wants, and needs, affected by the hero's Popularity, blah blah blah; in other words, you play out an ongoing relationship, part of the situation, you don't just press a "get magic now" button. Once you can use magic, you simply declare what you do, ...