Saturday, September 19, 2020

TITANOMACHY: BIGGER THAN BIG. TALLER THAN TALL.

M. Asif Khan grew up in a Pakistani village surrounded by the Himalayas. As the mountains dominated his vision, they similarly dominated his life. He started mountain climbing to conquer these titans and symbolically rise above his origins. He was not prepared for how literal this would be.

While scaling a recently shifted mountainside, Asif discovered a metallic giant packed in the ice and snow, thawing out under the sun. He drew close to the enormous figure and reached out, brushing the metal skin with his fingertips. In a flash the figure disappeared into Asif. The sudden cavity in the mountainside quickly filled with a crush of tumbling ice, snow, and scree dragging him along.

Though he fell just a man, Asif emerged from the rubble as BRUM - THE MOUNTAIN AMONG MONSTERS.

In its last act the alien bestowed the Titan Factor on Asif. Now able to attain tremendous stature, Brum led a successful career combating, and sometimes cooperating with, the planet's Daikaiju. A career functionally ended when Stellar Tyrant Ophiuchus invaded from another solar system. Joining forces with the Daikaiju, they repelled the Tyrant at great cost: Ptera Khan lost a wing, Anglax was blinded, and Brum couldn't change back into Asif. Now forever a Titan.

Now a resident of the Bonin Island Refuge, Brum must negotiate a new equilibrium with his monstrous housemates.

ATTRIBUTES
Agility d8 Smarts d6 Spirit d8 Strength d12+16 Vigor d10

SKILLS
Academics d6, Athletics d10, Common Knowledge d6, Fighting d8, Notice d6, Persuasion d6, Science d6

PACE 6 PARRY 6 TOUGHNESS 54 (30)

HINDRANCES
Enemy - Major, The Stellar Tyrant Ophiuchus  believes all Titan Factors belong to him,
Heroic - Major


EDGES
Brute, Iron Jaw, Mutation (Size x2), 

SPECIAL ABILITIES
Blunt Force Trauma - 3d12+16, AP 24
Dependency - Sunlight, the only thing that sustains him
Racial Enemy - Daikaiju, his unwilling "housemates" hold a grudge
Sapient - Brum is capable of complex thought and full speech
Size 18 - Larger than your average Daikaiju, Brum has Heavy Armor, can suffer three additional wounds and Stomp

Titanomachy is a collection of sample characters for Dawn of the Daikaiju from Pinnacle Entertainment Group. You can find the main rulebook here.

Tuesday, September 15, 2020

Tuesday Reviewsday: ThunderCats (2011)

 

We're drowning in fantastic animation. In the age of Avatar, Kipo and the Age of the Wonderbeasts, Voltron: Legendary Defender, and She-Ra and the Princesses of Power you're easily forgiven the sin of overlooking the excellent 2011 ThunderCats series. After all, it hasn't been on any streaming service as far as I know.

Recently added to Hulu, the 2011 series was planned for 52 episodes but tragically cut in half when the toy sales failed to meet expectations. I don't use the word "tragic" lightly considering how good the 26 episodes were I wish the studio could have finished their tale. I hold no nostalgia for the original series and this series grabbed me by the throat. The stakes are high, the animation fluid, the voice acting is top notch, and the characters draw you in. In the alternate world where the 2011 ThunderCats reached its conclusion, we might praise it as effusively as Avatar: the Last Airbender.

Both ThunderCats (1985) and ThunderCats (2011) are streaming on Hulu right now.