Sherman Davies' DC customs - Hourman

[Sherman Davies]

Yeah, a "guess the order marker" mechanic is a no-brainer for designing a Riddler custom, but "what happens when the opponent guesses right or wrong" is definitely the trickier part. Normally for me, designing a card based on an established IP is mostly a matter of translating what I think a character does into Heroscapey mechanics, but Riddler's weird in that what he usually does in stories is not really related to tactical combat. In the end I decided to go with a Riddler that worked somewhat like the one from the Adam West TV series, a cheerleader for a bunch of hired goons.

[japes]

Originally Posted by Matt Helm

Ahhh, you pick the physical marker to be turned. My bad, I read it like I would say, "You are about to reveal Order Marker #2". Hopefully you can see why that seemed odd to me.

I will be honest and admit, I actually thought the same thing as you here.

[Myriadite]

Really nice take on the character!

Is the "Once per round" on One Step Ahead a little redundant? You only have one first turn, unless there is some design that let's you take a turn before revealing order marker 1. I suppose the redundancy is not wrong, and it makes the intent very clear.

[Sherman Davies]

One Step Ahead is a power I designed years ago for my Ra's al Ghul custom (it was designed to be a counter to my Batman custom) so I can't be sure that I'm remembering my reasoning correctly, but I think, as you say, that my intent was to be explicit and clear even if it might be a bit redundant. I may have been worried that without "once per round" a player could misinterpret it to mean that they could also use it after Turn 2, rearranging OM3 and OMX.

[Sherman Davies]

Been rereading one of my favorite graphic novels, The Golden Age by James Robinson and Paul Smith. It's a DC Elseworlds series revolving around a bunch of DC's WWII-era characters. Revisiting it reminded me of how the Justice Society of America and All Star Squadron comics were some of the earliest ones I can remember treasuring as a kid, even though I was more of a Marvel fan even then. I've never picked up any minis for those DC Golden Age characters myself, but I always wanted to add them to the Shermanverse anyway, so I decided now's as good a time as any.





I had a soft spot for Hourman as a kid; probably due to the costume design with its complementary colors and the really simple concept of a guy who has super powers that only last for an hour.

[chas]

As usual, you make simplicity an art! I wonder if he should get a few turns without rolling though, as otherwise he may poop out right away, and be practically useless. Perhaps three?

Another way to do it would be to start him out weak, and let him take the power pill ("Miraclo?") at the start of any round, and start rolling only then (or perhaps three rounds later).

Hooray for the JSA!

[japes]

I like this. Sometimes we over think these temporary powers and make them too short. But it makes sense that he starts the fight powered up and just doesn't know when it will end.

[Matt Helm]

Great way to represent his temporary power that could escape him at any time. Have you thought of just utilizing the Initiative roll to determine the power? It seems like you are rolling the 20-sided die twice at the start of the round when you could combine them into one roll. Of course you'd have the awkward realization that you are rooting to win initiative with a low roll. And I guess powers that affect initiative would potentially affect Hourman's power timing. Never mind.

Now if only someone could convince you to put a signature somewhere on your cards.

[Tornado]

Very cool. I think both suggestions are interesting to consider.
My one thing was a high roll results in a negative so would have considered subtracting one per round and loses power at zero.

[Sherman Davies]

Originally Posted by chas

Another way to do it would be to start him out weak, and let him take the power pill ("Miraclo?") at the start of any round, and start rolling only then (or perhaps three rounds later).

Well, that wouldn't really work thematically because if he took the pill during the game and he failed the roll (even three rounds later), there's no way that would represent an hour of "in game" time.

Originally Posted by Tornado

My one thing was a high roll results in a negative so would have considered subtracting one per round and loses power at zero.

I considered having it work that way, for the reason you gave, but I went with addition because I feel like it's easier for players than subtraction (I'm probably just imagining that) and also because it follows the Marcu Esenwein precedent of "high number = bad" for a drawback power.

Originally Posted by Matt Helm

Now if only someone could convince you to put a signature somewhere on your cards.