As of January 16 2012, the ASE development thread is open for business. Some of you have already seen the opening vignette, but I think the EABA v2 power system is now mature enough to allow people to play in the full sandbox. To fully utilize ASE as a playable gameworld you will need the full chapter 6 of EABA v2, not the shortened version that is the most recent revision. However, to just read and comment on (and hopefully enjoy) ASE, you can just read the draft chapters that will be in other topics in this section.

Right off I suggest this for a filmography section, if any.



It's the new outer limits episode "Heart's desire" about an alien that gives powers to some people in the old west to see if humanity will pose a threat to his race.

When I read the initial premise of ASE I'd assumed Greg had seen this and based in on the episode. Later (long ago, actually) he told me he'd never seen it.

I've been told that one of the comic publishers also had a story arc or series where this sort of thing happened, but I'm going out of my way to avoid it just to keep from "contaminating" what I'm working on. Had to do the same with S.M. Stirling's "Dies the Fire" series just because of possible overlap with WarpWorld when I was doing the EABA version of that title.

I'm also going to have to go through ASE with a fine-toothed comb to make sure I do not duplicate any existing hero or villain names. Already had to change the Entity to the Eschaton because there was a Marvel character by that name.

I'd think the term "entity" would be fair use. Still, I suppose it's better not to rick a lawsuit even if it would be utterly bogus.

Read the ASE drafts. Few comments.

The world is great, pretty much ready to go as is. Very few minor changes I'd like to see:

The rise of anonymity: As the threat of being murdered by a nut with superpowers for saying something they don't like rises, I'd see anonymity as a new defense for free speech. You might have pundits going anonymous on the theory that superman can't kill 'em if he doesn't know who they really are.

Having just played thru deus ex human revolution a couple times I became familiar with the anonymous podcaster who went to great lengths to protect his anonymity and his life from the government and the conspiracy. Something like him would become common in the ASE world and you might want to note it. If you have not played thru DEHR maybe I can find you a youtube of the podcaster who was a theme in the game to listen to.

Religion: I would assume there would be a couple mehdis in the world claiming to be the expected one. At least 2, one sunni, one shia. Also there might be a shiva and a kali too. If you're going to have jesuses (Jesi?) and satans (sati?) then you need to merntion other religions too.

Corruption: Your note about judges becoming more honest in light of the threat of super vigilantes was good, it might extend to politicians corporate executives, both of whom a lot of people are tired of corruption and arrogance from.

The humor was good, some of your veiled comments re established supers had me laughing. (Platypus man LOL!)

You used one F bomb. I have no problem with that word in some contexts, I never said anything about it being used in Code Black. Still, it's the one word most comics still avoid, even watchmen avoided it. As a matter of personal preference I'd recommend forgoing it in ASE since it is at least inspired by comics and should emulate them in that respect.


Speaking of your concern over lawsuits, there are public domain superheroes you could mention. If you've ever heard of "Stardust, the super wizard" and other works by the cult comic legend Fletcher Hanks they are all PD now so you could have an ultra modeled after stardust or phantoma, both of whom are very scarey people to be having super powers. They'd make great examples of ultras that were very scarey.

BTW, Phantoma was the first super powered female comic character, predating wonder woman. She was also the original eco terrorist, with divine powers to go with the personality. (You who murdered the jungle born shall meet a jungle fate!)

Good comments, hopefully the first of many. Thanks.

Damn, post disappeared, what is with that?

Anyway, to repeat:

More minutia:

Can we have an examples of a sport? If batman is an agent, would that make rorschach a sport?

As for giving examples of an ethos, I'd use rorschach's quote about "There is good and there is evil. Evil must be punished and in this I will not compromise, even in the face of armegeddon" along with green lantern's oath as fine examples of an ethos.

Speaking of green lantern, I'd call him an ultra if superman is one.

BTW, dom deluise played a character called captain chaos once, I hope that's not a legal problem for you.

I don't know if you consider the subject of openly racist supers too odious or controversial to put in ASE, I think in game terms they would be inevitable. A racist hero like "Kaptain Klansman" or a skinhead calling himself "Race Master" would seem to be something that would have to happen. We could hope they were killed early on. Perhaps a reff to a "Kaptin (sic) Klansman" or "Ubermensch" being killed by a gay hero called the pink avenger or a jewish champion called Malachi in the first few months would be a way of acknowledging and dismissing the issue without unpleasant detail.

BTW, did you get the idea of "Captain Capitalism" from an old comment I made when ASE first came up? I could swear I made a comment about something like that and was flattered you remembered it and used it if that's where you got it from.

I'd change "Socialist man" to "Socialist person".

If you get ASE done and want to celebrate it's completion, I found the perfect thing to serve at the party:


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