Submitted by James_Connor on Sat, 04/16/2005 - 15:00
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hum i would do it granted i know im not the best writer or hell post as often as i would like but i would certinaly like to give it a crack so yea post the notes :wink:
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The Fate of Fantastic Legends
ok I had another idea...
Like FL is already established and just needs a kick in the butt. What if we write some super world altering event, and take it from like 3 years later. Like that everything could be different, and we kinda start fresh without having to all establish new characters etc etc...what do you think?
The Fate of Fantastic Legends
That, I wouldn't mind doing, simply becuase it means not having to come up with new characters. The problem of scope and distance could still be there, so we really need a way to get things rearranged. Incidentally, it also means that a lot - and I mean a lot - has to happen off-screen. So we have to come up with the event, it's effects, how the world is reshaped after 3 years (or perhaps 4), and work in what happens to us all off-screen.
Not a problem for me to that last, of course... lots of notes about that as well. ;)
The Fate of Fantastic Legends
hum so dose that meen the starwars/Babylon 5 thing is out of the window dam mat shoudl get on he would back me up with the lovin of it
The Fate of Fantastic Legends
Actually, i was thinking of something similar myself. After talking to Adam about this new game, and the almost certain death of FL, the idea that it was a shame to lose all the effort dedicated to FL hit me with a vengeance (not that i put much effort, apart from creating Tess, but a lot of people did) However, at the same time i knew that 'I', personally, couldnt go on with the game as it was. Then I thought if we could 'start anew'. Somehow change the setting but keep the Universe and the characters (i kinda like my FL character and i feel guilty i didnt give her - or the game- much chance to develop). I was going to mention it to Adam, and then somehow it got forgotten.
I think that if we can solve the spatial problem (having all our 'FL White Hats' in the same area) and the time problem (the idea of going forward a couple of years sounds good to me) we could give the game another chance.
We are creative enough to solve the problem of what happened during that lapsus... we have some aliens around, we could arrange an invasion, there's also the machine war Adam had tried to start, it could as well start once and for all... we could end up with some human ghettos where we'd 'casually' get together... I dont know, i'm just babbling here, but if we get our heads together, like we do to plan a Season's Big Bad in LAbn, we'll surely get to something good.
That doesnt mean that we cannot try the Star Wars game. If we coincide that Dave's idea is sound, maybe we can keep a third game alive. I dont know. I dont think i'll be able to do it, writing for two already proved troublesome in my case, but who knows... we could get new players, or some of the old may feel strong enough to try...
The Fate of Fantastic Legends
Btw, shouldnt we be discussing this in FL too?
The Fate of Fantastic Legends
For now, there is only one player in FL who isn't in LABN.
The Fate of Fantastic Legends
I for one don't want to see FL die. I know I'm as guilty as hell of failing to keep up on it, but I have ideas and I want to go somewhere with Sol. I think, well, maybe anything that would light a fire under this game would be welcome. Robin and I have talked about what ails FL as well. I really think the biggest problem is the scope of the game. That's what we really need to deal with. The heroes are spread too far and too loosely connected.
In order to make FL work for real, we need to tie the different characters together in some way. Otherwise, we're like some kind of fan fic forum where everyone is writing alone for their own use. One idea I really like is the thought of creating a sort of JL or Avengers for the game, basically a loosely tied together group of heroes who work on major, big scale problems together and who use one another as resources whenever they face a challenge they just can't handle alone. I really think that Dave's crossover idea could well lead to something along these lines.
On a completely unrelated note, I'd love to play a Star Wars game as well I'll just have to give up sleep or something to make it work.
The Fate of Fantastic Legends
A note about the machine war idea: my notes on that span the course of about 50 or 60 years. The part of the story we got was the prevention of that conflict. If it did happen in FL, we would have found humanity rather brutally and efficiently exterminated - or nearly so, before the Bakkarans killed two birds with one stone. ;)
Which doesn't mean that I didn't have other plans dealing embroyonic stuff. :twisted:
To be honest, I'm not sure how well a third game would work out. But willing to give it a shot; my fuller notes will have to wait until getting home, however (at work at the moment). Though yes, one of the things that hasn't helped FL is our scope; we should probably pick one city or group to congregate to.
Here's a potential thought. We all have an NPC who was made, specifically, to facilitate networking. The group he's in basically channels information to various heroic groups, and helps them swap information: Vic baby. He also knows, as I recall: Sydney/James Gates, Sara (in passing), Mel (who he promised a poker game to), Tess through his daughter (again, in passing), and Sundance through Blackjack (though he would probably have a falling out with the latter).
In short, if we wanted to jump ahead a certain amount of time, we have a vehicle for someone who could propose the forming of a group. And in Sara and the machines - I will elaborate on this later - we have someone who intended to become a villain. Laying my cards out, Sara was going to come to a conclusion that we can't be trusted, join Caracalla, recruit Chase... and make a base of operations in Vega City. It was a way for Louisa and I to work on character development, and create a natural contrast.
We could solve the spatial problem by giving everyone a reason to form a group. Or just comming up with an existing group which would be around. Thing is, all of our old characters already had stories, so I'd rather NOT lose them.
Now to read Dave's other thread, and see how much of this is already negated. :)
The Fate of Fantastic Legends
Well I think we can all agree that "Something needs to be done" about FL. I personally don't want to see it die and despite being guilty of over-reaching I like the idea of 're-inventing' the characters. It's perfectly in keeping with the comic book genre after all.
There are plenty of elements that could be used to trigger such a re-invention but I'm going to opt out of siggesting anything specific. I will say I like Adam's Machine War idea. It gives us a concrete storyline. Clear direction and a wide scope while still forcing the characters to operate as a team.
The Fate of Fantastic Legends
Well im not super sure what Adam's idea is, so if you would be so kinda Mr,. Adam, care to enter your idea and explain it to all of us
The Fate of Fantastic Legends
Right, initially it involved a 50-year time span and time travel. The basic idea is that something happened to make Sara go over to Caracalla's way of thinking: a war between man and machine would be inevitable, and that it would be one to the death. Therefore, the most rational thing to do is wipe out the humans before they wipe out the machines. The war took a while to get completed, until an epic battle which broke the back of the human armies.
It also decimated the machines, the Bakkarans invaded. The machines got driven back, and both sides almost wiped out, when the machines send someone back to prevent the war from even stating. Hidden text has the little loop I was going to throw for fun. [hide]Everyone would be told that it was a secific event the machine 'hero' got sent back to prevent. It really wasn't; it would have been the aggregate of her experiences with humans. Basically, the conclusion was, for Sara, inevitable by the critical period. The only thing that would prevent the war was the certain knowledge that no matter who wins, both sides lose.[/hide]
A later edit of the idea had me working on the embryonic machine set-up. It would have featured a few things. One of them being development of the Chase AI, but I get ahead of myself. Sara was going to become a villain while still in Vega City - and when she did begin to agree with Caracalla, would end up using Vega City as an at least temporary base. It's pretty ideal, after all: communcations, labs, enough money to steal, rich black market trade to get in to. Part of her conclusion would be that they need help, so `liberate` the Chase AI in order to help them; eventually, the criminal element in La Perle de la Nuit would be consolidated under them.
Which was pretty much the thought of where I would get to when the future kicks in again.
At some point, it's possible that Sara would form a sort of 'collective consciousness', if she gained access to a powerfull enough computer, and the old Illuminati wireless network, which exists but is unutilised. This isn't a Borg thing; it's a Deus Ex: Invisible War inspired idea, where you would have her become, essence, a central processor for a bunch of individual AIs. A sort of pure direct democracy. Bracket that as a possibility which doesn't have to be realised after a jump, though. :)
Altering the idea, if we go with it, I can see this happening in 3-4 years:
1) At a minimum, Sara would likely construct an artificial body to download and alter the CHASE AI to operate in. He would begin running the more criminal element, with Sara doing science, and Caracalla military; Sara would also run long-term planning.
2) Caracalla/Chase would be the most visible two; I could never decide between Paul Sorvino or Jason Issacs for him. In any event, Caracalla would be in charge of things such as break-ins.
3) Sara would establish a lab, perhaps the old Illuminati one out in I think it was Arizona, where she made her and Observer's bodies.
4) Potentially, making moves to create some sort of factory.
I also played with a rather fun idea that I considered developing: she doesn't consider Meta-Humans - who, literally, are the `after the humans` - to be strictly human. They're another step beyond, giving her a three-species view: human, machine, posthuman. Part of her allies could well be Metas, but of a particular sort: the ones who were created in a lab. The basic appeal being: "Consider, we're the same. They built us for a specific purpose. What do you think they would do to you, if you did not follow their orders? Hmmm?"
By this time (3-4 years), Sara will have at least the beginnings of a private army. She may or may not have designed another AI for command and control, or some similar function; or, could be trying to get into the Meta Sepratist movement. There's a possible alliance with Skakti there as well, if you want to be frightened, but she could be disuaded from that.
Dave - short message for you.
[hide]We need to chat about Observer. It's possible that, if you get him reactivated, Sara might conclude that he could be usefull and try to capture and reprogram him. That would be frightening indeed, depending on how much of his memory core is in tact; remember, he stole the nuclear launch codes, and put backdoors into DoD.[/hide]
The Fate of Fantastic Legends
Bwahaha and now he has returned!
Ok, I really like the idea of pushing it into the future a few years. I got tired of writing as Lori because I ran out of ideas and I just lost all inspiration, but this could be a really good thing. This would let me change characters without changing storylines (I.E. changing my character to Tikal).
I liked Kris's idea of having a JLA type group, because that would let us interact with each other on big scale things but also let us pursue our own individual story lines.
Think of it as reverting the comic to issue 1. When a writer does that it is usually because no new stories can be created in the old comic. The reversion does not erase the history of the character, it just adds new supporting cast (usually) and sends the character on a different path. Kind of like the character starting a new stage in his or her life (I.E. when Catwoman stopped being a thief and became the protector of the East End of Gotham, her comic was briefly stopped and then reverted to issue 1, to show that this was the same woman but a different story)
The Fate of Fantastic Legends
I put this dicussion here to seperate it from the SW discussion. I want to keep FL as a viable game running in parallell to LABN. For some reason i think that this "seperate but on the same board" system will work well for the games a whole becasue LNG will become a one-stop shop for gaming goodness.
That said, we've discussed a fast-forward in FL. If you remember Marvel's 2025 line of comics this would be something similar. "Fantastic Legends: The Rise of the Heroes" would become "Fantastic Legends: The New Age"
Set in (approximately) the year 2010 - since most comics don't really deal in absolute years - it would be post machine War, Post Aliens and during the genesis of the Meta Corps. Most of the whole Meta thing will have been ironed out, leaving the average Joe feeling somewhat distrustful but accepting of Metas.
Several new terms will have entered the common Lexicon. Meta (of course) meaning someone with meta-human abilitites. Metas are either Natural or Induced. Natural Metas are mutants who have had their powers occur naturally. Induced Metas are cyborgs, chemically, surgically or otherwise externally given powers.
Alphas are Humans without a meta-gene capable of producing powers. There are orgainizations who will give Alphas preferential treatment. Betas are humans with a meta-gene present but who have not exhibited any powers.
Gammas are humans who have been exposed to some form of deadly drug, virus, energy, or other usually fatal exposure and have survived. Nearly everyone who survived the Mutaxin exposure of DC is a Gamma (those that didn't get classed as Beta or Meta). There will be humans who survived Alien exposure who will be classed a Gammas as well as those who through dumb luck survived disasters, etc. The Gamma label (unlike Alpha, Beta, or Meta) is not a scientific one, but a social one. It is often used as a personal attack, and can ruin an Alpha's reputation.
Aliens are now an accepted reality. NASA and the FAA have been merged into FASA (The Federal Aeronautics and Space Administration). Regular sub-orbital flights are being operated and the first intersteller generation ship - The Morning Star - is being built (although its projected launch date of 2015 seems a long way off).
Aliens on earth are rare, and are generally viewed with much distrust. They are generally under the protection of either the government or private individuals who are forming seperate deals with them.
Most of the existing superheroes have gathered together to pool their resources into a private Crime-fighting group. They have a "public" and a "shadow" group based out of Vega City.
The Public group is the one that gets the press, shows at movie premieres, does interviews and generally is the one that most people recognise as heores. The Shadow group does a lot of covert operations or semi-legal (we don't do anything illegal, right?) deeds. This keps the public perception of the Group as squeeky clean as possible.
The Group has close ties with the government who sanctions its operations and gives it limited authority (like it does the U.S. Marshalls). They also tap the scientific resporces of the Group which generally exceed that of the public.
The Group also has corporate ties that it uses to handle the marketing of its image, the merchandising and the protection of their various identities (as needed). They also train and monitor Metas whether they are part of the group or not in cooperation with the MAB - Metahuman Affairs Board (under the US Department of Health and Human Welfare)
So that is more or less what wwe've discussed so far. NONE OF THIS IS CANON YET It is all out there for discussion. Please feel free to add to this idea (or pan it) as you like.
The Fate of Fantastic Legends
It looks good so far, though with being Post-Machine War... we kind of need a resolution to that. The best I can come up with (improvising) is this, assuming the time travel happened without a hitch:
SARA has evolved once again into another program, which is operating on the old Illuminati Frequency when it comes to transmissions - what was once their communications network has become the primary transmission centre of the Machine Consciousness. The Collective itself functions mainly to gather and process information, operating simultaneously as a benign dictator and direct democracy, which is not to say that they're all of one mind; there's a "we" mindset and an "I" always present. Only to take place of the `War,` this new consciousness (I'll find a name later) responded differently: it designed a final, Cybernetic unit, going by the name `Tamil Ruan Binvalia I` (an anagram of Bavarian Illuminati).
Tamil's job was to create a massive legal grey area in classification for the machines, to give them a bit of self-determination even if they can't achieve full legal rights. With that in mind, at present....
Similar to an Indian reservation, the machines have a semi-sovereign reserve within the United States. They've managed to get almost absolute internal control, though Congress has something of a veto - for instance, they would quickly get in trouble allowing the drug trade to flourish there.
Thanks to their grey area, they have about three agencies anyone outside of the reservation has to register with - but who you register with depends on the exact configuration.
1) WAIT - Any of them which is primarily 'software' registers with WAIT to access other software on the internet; that's one of the few areas where control is actually successfull. It also results in some strange situations, where a company has to hire a sentient program, and WAIT checks their work; a bureaucratic nightmare which involves half a dozen regulatory agencies.
2) Meta Corps - A few of them, instantiated in artificial bodies, get to operate under jurisdiction of Meta-Corps. They have to adhere to MC guidelines, but get to bypass WAIT completely. The confusion does not end there.
3) WARN (World Agency Regulation Non-Humans) - Tamil has managed to get an overlap approved after about six months of hairsplitting. Any machine operating aproximatly human enough gets to follow THEIR guidelines instead of WAIT's.
4) Office of Machine Affairs - Newly formed under the FBI. It's an attempt at bureaucratic consolidation, hardly having any real power, thanks to the paperwork. Mostly its job is trying to deal with the jurisdictional overlaps and conflicts Tamil has created. Ironically, critics say that it creates more overlap than it resolves.
Does this make any sense? :)
The Fate of Fantastic Legends
Makes perfect sense to me.
Okay...for the "shadow" group, I'd love for Sundance to be nominal leader. It's my thought that she took initiative in setting this group up. I think both were established in response to a major threat to the world as a whole (the machine war maybe?). The biggest selling point for the "shadow" group is that the members get to maintain their secret identities.
The Fate of Fantastic Legends
Someone needs to take charge here, right?
So...love Dave's ideas. How about we make some decisions?
First...a time jump of how long? I'm voting for 2010. You guys?
Second...what cataclysmic type event fostered the change? What major world happenings have we missed?
Third...super teams...no super teams...multiple super teams? I'm all for the last one...
Fourth...how do we do it...one of us does a world setting sort of post...glossing over the years...touching on the most important events briefly? If so, then who?
Okay...mostly I'm itching to write and all alone...so...
Let's kick start FL.
The Fate of Fantastic Legends
I suggest that once I get all the FL posts moved over (sometime this week) that I lock the current story threads and open a new game thread for the "what happened" and everyone writes out the story threads in whatever manner you like.
Somone might write a personal histpry (like a "looking back" article) or someone else might write a chronological timeline. We'll leave that open for a short while then lock it and move on to true game board material.
I am further going to suggest that we start with Vega City's 100'th anniversary Gala on January 3, 2010 as our new Game Date. If your character isn't living in Vega City they should at least be near on that day as the World Patrol (or whatever cheesy name we come up with) has been asked to make an appearance.
Fantastic Legends
Would this be a good jumpin-on point, then? Because I looove comics/superheroes, and Heather pointed me to FL but I didn't really see an opportunity to join...
The Fate of Fantastic Legends
Ok So an additional event people might want to be aware of.
There was a Concordat/Bakarran skirmish in the solar system in 2008. There were between 1 and 3 "stray" tactical warheads that blotted a couple of major cities off the map. (pick whichever ones you feel need removing)
The battle was sufficiently visible that the general popuilace are aware it occured. Explosions bright enough to be seen during daylight that sort of thing. WARN is aware of who the protagonists were but doesn't have detailed information. Mel acts as an occasional advisor on the situation.
A question or two.
Dave the Alpha/Beta/Gamma thing is nice but as I envisaged the Meta Gene originally, 95% of the population would be Betas was this what you had in mind?
The Shadow Group/Public group split. Who's going to be on which. Mel is a shoe-in for the public group and is likely to be the leader, if the rest of you want to play in the shadow group how about at least generating a Meta for the public group. I'll of course create a shadow character if you like too. (note this doesn't mean you actually have to play/write both characters if you don't want to it's just a way of filling out the rostas for the groups)
Benji (Sorry I can't recall your real name right now.) If you want join in now would be the perfect time.
The Fate of Fantastic Legends
I'm going to work with the machines some more, naturally, in the `shadow` group - perhaps the Weishaupt unit. Not sure yet, but he's probably an artificial meta. Have to think on this some more. Can also come up with a public meta if y'all want, or just stick to my usual habit of writing things like villains. ;)
The Fate of Fantastic Legends
I see it more like 1% Meta/24% Beta/75% Alpha
I was thinking that team choice would be based on the modus operandi of the character. So less showy characters would be "shadow" team and Public team would the limelighters.
I imagine that the public members do shadow ops from time to time if their particular skills are needed (Donny for example).
The Fate of Fantastic Legends
Ah... I was under the impression this was a matter of whether the meta's true identity was known or not. It could go either way I guess. Whatever happens Mel's in the public one. Glowing demi-goddesses are hard to hide :wink:
The Fate of Fantastic Legends
In my estimation, the "shadow" in the shadow group has a lot to do with whether or not you are willing to have a public face, a persona. Sol is not, hence though she's a "showy" type meta, she's still in the Shadow group.
The Fate of Fantastic Legends
Since we haven't completed the transition yet I thought I'd post this in this thread. This comes from my need to fit Dave's Alpha/Beta split with my previous post on Metahuman origins on the FL boardfeel free to ignore both if you really want
Ok to put it more explicitly
Alpha's lack either the GAGC complex or the helper genes. They are totally normal humans with no possibility of becoming a meta without a massive rewrite of their DNA. If they possess the GAGC gene (and most do) and it gets activated for any reason, they die.
Beta's have both the GAGC complex and the helper genes. Most aren't however meta's the GAGC complex isn't active. Exposure to mutagenic effects may activate the complex in which case they become a Meta.
The Fate of Fantastic Legends
That works for me. Mutaxin is a "brute-force" that only activates the GAGC without any of the "assisting factors" which explains why people could be exposed to it and die (the GAGC present but no asssisting factors), people who have the GAGC complex don't exhibit powers, or people who lack the GAGC complex (true Alphas) are unaffected.
The Fate of Fantastic Legends
Um, hi again.
I like all of these ideas. I know i stopped playing for a while but now I think I'm ready to get back in. I think though that I would play as Tikal (with Spectrum being deceased, which of course i would write about). I would also want her to be on the public team, seeing as she doesn't have much of a secret identity to speak of.
And I would also nominate Crystal City to be one of the cities destroyed, if the positions have not already been filled.
The Fate of Fantastic Legends
Ok well, with SW starting up, and LABN still going, I dont think im going to come back to this game. With that said, I will write as to what happens to Eric AKA Fenris.
I am hoping to have had him part of the public super hero team (he's got a camera friendly look, so why not be in the public eye eh)...anyways before the new start up date, he'll get killed, (by what, no idea yet). Maybe the big bad of the new story arc, maybe someone else.
Anyways so yeah, just letting you all know! :)
The Fate of Fantastic Legends
Thanks Shaun for lettings us know.
This brings up an important point. The Star Wars game is taking a lot of time and energy right now and I see a number of people who are theoretically involved in Fantastic Legends committing to Star Wars. I understand the new structure may make things easier but still three games is tough.
Basically the question is this: After the relaunch who is actively going to be playing Fantastic Legends?
The Fate of Fantastic Legends
I certainly intend to try, depending on the amount of time which I have available at any given time. I have more invested in Lianna as a character than anyone from FL, though. Just to be upfront about that.
The Fate of Fantastic Legends
I had not expected SW to suck so many people in. This is part of why I am not unlocking the Game Board until it brings in at least one new member.
It is all shiney and new people, but you still have this other towy to play with. I intenst to go places with Donny...I deliberately created a SW character that was a lurker (much like Sid's) who isn't a mainstreamer by any stretch. Someone I could write little bits with in collabs and watch be used as needed as an NPC if needed.
I am helping with the worldbuilding becasue (as I mentiond elsewhere) I have that skill.
I have not forgotten FL worldbuilding either. I am still re-arranging things on the board (sorry for that inconvenience). I had not relized that some of the sublte differences in organization would cause so many problems.
That and I am not sure how well indexed the posts are, either. Has anyone tried doing a search fro FL specific terms?
NOTE:: Nevermind that last bit...I found a script to re-index thesearch so it'll probably fix a lot of the search problems.
The Fate of Fantastic Legends
While I can understand and respect the decision, I'm not sure that one new player will make the difference to keep it going. Or even a few new players. As part of my rationale, I would point to FL, which has had a number of outside people join. What matters is getting people who are interested, and for them to stay interested.
Now, it's entirely possible that FL's restart is going to give it the lifeblood that it needs to really come into its own, in terms of scope and the like. The public/private team idea is a good start on that. What I'm seriously considering for FL this time around is someone more peripheral, who I can write solo or collab when needed. One of the problems we had there was probably scope, and trying to form a coherent story which involves everyone when your stage is the world.
One thing that would probably help is trying to figure out who wants to try to have LABNish-level activity and in what game. That should give us a better idea of where we stand in terms of interest. The thought experiment: "Imagine you could only have either Fantastic Legends: 2010 or Star Wars: Triad. Which would you pick?"
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Actually, it occurs to me. Perfect auxiliary character for me is already created.
Anyone mind if I take up Vic again? :)
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I meant the SW game board. We already have Mike as our token FL-only player.
The Fate of Fantastic Legends
I know; I was talking about the SW game board as well.
The Fate of Fantastic Legends
I am going to give up sleep or something, but I'm too excited by both the relaunch and SW to not get into both. Unfortunately, I have this tendency to get my characters right into the thick of things. I'll see if I can't work on that with Taryn (she's going to make an appearance as a profile today, I think.)
As for wanting at least one non committed player for SW, I find that to be a great idea. As Mike is for FL, there should be someone who's whole focus is the game. In this way, we can be sure just putting it aside will result in much debate. As is the current case with FL.
With FL, we just need someone to take the initiative with the relaunch. I'm game to go when we're ready to go. I think I'll start my first relaunch post now, as a matter of fact.
The Fate of Fantastic Legends
I am going to LOCK the current Game Board on Monday unless someone has a severe reaction to this announcement.
This will allow us to re-open the next game board (which you can open now if you like). Entitle it:
"CROSSOVER SERIES TWO: The World of Tomorrow: 2003-2010"
and write it as sweeping events that cover that 7 year period. The cut off date is January 3, 2010 - the 100th anniversary of Vega City.
This board will stay open until January 3, 2006 (real time) and then we'll start the game again.
The Fate of Fantastic Legends
So, just to ask: does the 2003-2010 thing cover the changes to get us *to* this point, or does it go right into the formation of the public and private groups?
The Fate of Fantastic Legends
It would cover the period between. So if you wanted to write personal stories, or even sweeping ones.
It basically covers - in a dramatic manner - what went on.
Somewhere in there I would assume we formed the groups...anyone care to hazard a guess?
The Fate of Fantastic Legends
Let me get with Robin on this...he had an idea. I'll push, and he can devote time. He's opting out of SW...
The Fate of Fantastic Legends
Dave, you have no idea how glad that makes me. Seriously.
Expect a fair number from me to probably be cranked out - I'm going to try to tell as much of the 'machine war' story as I can. Should help that some of the posts in it were prewritten. ;)