The Book of Bizarnage

[Lord Pyre]

I'm good with simplifying Elusive, yeah. Could give him something like an Acrobatic Maneuver-esque shield movement too, if you want him bouncy.

So currently He wants to get close to his target but actively NOT attack his target because of the autowounds, just pick off everyone around him. Seems weird so just want to check that's your intention!

Theme wise yeah, he's about 0% Bizarro. The whole Spider-Boy book is all Spider-Man, just swap these characters for Spider-Man and Venom and you wouldn't even know. Now I want to check to see who has more comic history, Venom Pigeon or Bizarnage? Both exist for only a few panels, so good icons for C3G to tackle.

[Tornado]

Very 2000AD.

[toyhandle]

I don't understand why Spider-Boy #1 gets the bad rap it does. The subversion of Spider-Man origins blended with Super-Boy elements show that the writer, Karl Kesel (credited as Co-Creator of Kon-El Superboy in 1993, 3 years before this book), is intimately familiar with the source material he is remolding, and doing so with intelligence.

A few Super-Boy elements in the book would be Cadmus, Dabney Donovan being the villain behind the entire plot, and his work relating to the "menagerie" that Bizarnage escaped from.

Bizarro first appeared in Super-Boy #68, being a monochromatic skinned, Frankensteinish-minded copy of Super-Boy who just wants to be liked. Merge that idea with the murder-driven tendencies of Carnage, an imperfect copy of a copy of Spider-Man, and you have Bizarnage.




Just as Spider-Boy utilizes Bizarnage's naivety against him, so too did Super-Boy against Bizarro.


Bizarnage's defeat somewhat mimics Bizarro's at the end of his first book, as they both lunge headfirst at the Boys to their doom.

[tcglkn]

Cool parallels! This doesn't quite reflect the version of Bizarro that most people know these days though.

[Lord Pyre]

Yeah I've never read classic Bizarro. Cool stuff there Toy!

[tcglkn]

Originally Posted by tcglkn

NAME = BIZARNAGE

SPECIES = Symbiote
UNIQUENESS = Unique Hero
CLASS = Antagonist
PERSONALITY = Insane

SIZE/HEIGHT = Medium 5

LIFE = 6

MOVE = 5
RANGE = 2
ATTACK = 5
DEFENSE = 7

POINTS = ???

TWISTED OBSESSION
At the start of the game, you must choose an enemy Unique Hero. Bizarnage adds 2 to his Attack number when attacking the chosen Hero and any blanks rolled by the chosen hero while defending against an attack from Bizarnage count as unblockable hits on Bizarnage.

PHANTOM WALK
Bizarnage can move through all figures and is never attacked when leaving an engagement.

SYMBIOTE CLAMBER
Once per turn, before, during or after Bizarnage's normal movement, you may place Venom on any empty space within 2 spaces of his current location that is no more than 40 levels up or down. Bizarnage will take any leaving engagement attacks when moving with this special power. If Bizarnage is placed adjacent to an enemy figure that he was not engaged with at the start of his turn, that figure rolls 1 fewer die when defending against Bizarnage's normal attack this turn.

SUPER STRENGTH

Thinking about making these changes to move forward here. I think when you're obsessed with an opponent's figure, it makes more sense if it only boosts you when attacking them. Dropped the defensive part of Elusive and just made it Phantom Walk and boosted his defense a little.

[johnny139]

I think that works. You could also make it a general boost combined with a general debuff (like +2 attack, -2 defense) when he's in range, if you wanted to give some more flexiblity, but obviously it's a little less unique than the reverse counter strike.

[tcglkn]

Yea I like the counterstrike representing the trickery of getting them to overextend into you.

[tcglkn]

COMPETITIVE REVIEW BOARD CHECKLIST

Spoiler Alert!

Efficiency- Check to see if your design is providing armies with turns/moves/etc. to a degree that would make it difficult or impossible for an opponent to keep up with your output.

1. Does your design allow itself or figures to move/attack/take a turn/etc. instead of/in addition to your normal turn for revealing an Order Marker? Is it granting these benefits to too broad a range of units? Does it combine with other powers to create overly long or powerful chains of actions?
Nah

2. Does your design allow you to take actions during an opponent's turn? Can it combine with other powers to create tediously long reactions to enemy actions or a restrictive environment?
Nah

3. Does your design allow you to rearrange your Order Markers or otherwise bypass the costs of Order Marker requirements on the special powers of other figures?
Nah

4. Is your design doing anything outside of a player's turn, at the start or end of the round? Is the effect too powerful by itself or when combined with other powers?
Nah

5. Does your design have any powers that trigger anytime it moves as opposed to only when it moves normally on its turn? Will it be too efficient when combined with figures that grant extra moves to figures?
Nah

6. Is your design adding or subtracting from initiative rolls? Will it pair too easily with other figures that alter initiative or have powers triggering on the results of initiative rolls?
Nah


Potency- Check to see if your design is wounding/removing/etc. enemy figures, increasing the chances of other figures in your army doing so, or otherwise directly effecting the number of figures available to players to a degree that would make it difficult or impossible for an opponent to recover from.

1. Does your design have a chance to inflict wounds or destroy figures? Is it getting these chances too frequently or having to high a chance of success? Is the power balanced against expensive targets that can cause a massive swing in the game when destroyed?
Nah

2. Is your design adding to the stats or 20-sided die rolls of other figures in your army? Is it a boosting a broad enough range of units effectively enough to become a 'mandatory' draft or inhibit future design space? Can it be combined with other boosts too easily?
Nah

3. Will your design benefit from stat boosts or other enhancement to an overpowering degree? Will it restrict future growth within its faction or point cost by limiting available boosts to others?
Nah

4. Does your design take control of enemy figures permanently or temporarily? Is it too difficult to for your opponent to regain control of their figure or recover from the losing the figure? Does the method of taking control expose the enemy figure to the powers of other figures in your army that can easily destroy it?
Nah

5. Can your design heal itself or others or revive itself or others? Is it doing so in a way that an opponent cannot hope to overcome in certain scenarios?
Nah

6. Does your design place enemy figures on its card or otherwise have an unconventional method of temporarily removing enemy figures from play? Will it guarantee your victory against a single remaining enemy figure?
Nah


Chicanery- Check to see if your design is preventing your opponent from taking actions with too much ease or is otherwise causing negative play experience through tactics that make your opponent feel you're 'not playing fair'

1. Does your design restrict the movement of enemy figures, or allow you to move enemy figures? Can it do so in a way that results in an unwinnable scenario for your opponent if they are down to one figure, posses only figures with a range of 1, etc.? Can your design easily combine with other figures to greatly impede enemy figures or otherwise gain an excessive advantage?
Nah

2. Does your design effect/change the placement of an enemy's Order Markers, or remove their Order Markers entirely? Can it force Order Markers to go onto cards that have no figures on the battlefield? Can your design easily combine with other figures to completely dictate the placement of an enemy's Order Markers or remove all of their Order Markers?
Nah

3. Does your design inhibit your opponent from attacking your figures or make attacking a losing proposition? Are there scenarios or combinations that make your opponent totally unable to harm your figures through attacking?
Nah

4. Does your design directly negate the powers of enemy figures or otherwise ignore them in a way that can completely disrupt the opponent's strategy or leave them feeling like they are stuck playing figures without special powers?
Nah

5. Does your design become overly powerful in a podded group of figures, or provide significant benefit to your army without leaving your Start Zone?
Nah

6. You can attack your own figures in Heroscape, does your design have any powers that will trigger off of doing so or otherwise wounding/destroying your own figures? Is this intentional on your part? Will the design be too efficient or potent when doing so?
Nah

CONSISTENCY CHECKLIST (SHORT FORM)

Spoiler Alert!

Consistency Concerns
Name and Identity
Verify character is named in a way that is clear, accurate and feels consistent with the way other characters are named.
Yep

Uniqueness and Type
Verify that the power text reflects the listed uniqueness and type, that the uniqueness fits the character, and that squad size is listed for squads.
Yep

Left Box
If the character's species, class or personality is reused, verify that the character feels thematically consistent with other figures that have that species, class or personality. If they are not reused, verify that there is no pre-existing species, class or personality that would make more sense.
Yep

Size and Height
Verify that the listed size and height are accurate. Standing the mini up next to a stack of tiles, and a few other minis of various sizes, is encouraged.
Yep

Super Strength and Flying
Verify that these special powers are present if they make sense, and not if they don't.
SS, no Flying

New Powers - Names
Verify that any new powers are not using power names identical to, or very similar to, pre-existing powers. Verify that any new powers are actually new and not old powers with new names.
All good.

New Powers - Effects
Verify that the effect and timing of all new powers is clear. Verify that any logical immunities, benefits, or weaknesses (whether those be necessary for thematic or mechanical reasons) are implemented: consider whether defensive powers that work against normal attacks should also work against special attacks, whether or not a power has an elemental component that some figures should resist, and whether or not unliving figures (such as Undead and Androids) should be affected.
Yep

Reused Powers
Verify that the design is reusing powers in place of creating new ones, where reused powers could implement the same theme and mechanics with no differences or only trivial differences. Verify that any reused powers have the correct text.
Need to figure out how Phantom Walk and Clamber interact.

Power Level
Verify that the character's movement, attack, range, and defense (in conjunction with any special powers that enhance those stats) feel consistent with the capabilities of characters with analogous powers and abilities. Verify that the character falls into a similar point range to characters with comparative powers and abilities.
Should be good.

[tcglkn]

When doing the checklists I noticed that Clamber specifies that you DO take LEAs when using it, how does that work with Phantom Walk? Can we just drop that line here without causing any problems?

[Arch-vile]

7 defense seems like a lot when paired with 6 life. Seems a bit off compared to our usual Symbiote stats, though we do have some variance there.

I'd just cut that line from Clamber, yeah.

[tcglkn]

I don't want him to be too expensive so dropped to 6 defense and dropped that line from Clamber.