A Jamaican Halfling

Without further comment, I present a missive originally published in Arak / Son of Thunder #13 (September 1982): 

 

The Return of Comic Book Creatures

Infrequently, your humble host provides examples of monsters from comic books now in the public domain.  (The previous posts are here, here, and here.)  Just in time for your Halloween edification, here are ten additional comic book creatures.

Captain Science #4; 1951, Youthful Magazines;
Art by Joe Orlando & Wally Wood

Great Klameth

Captain Science learns from a robot brain that “danger lies in the east [and] once more, men are being roused in fanatical fury by a promise of power.”  The person responsible is a ‘yellow peril’ villain with the wonderful (yet unlikely) name of Doctor Khartoum.  “His purpose,” the robot brain exclaims, “to take over the world!”  To this end, the insidious doctor “has set up headquarters in the ruins of the ancient temple of Klameth in the forgotten city of Btuh, deep in the Gobi Desert.”  The ancient priests evidently “found a way to bring SOMETHING  from another DIMENSION” via an altar/portal.  This extra-dimensional something is Klameth.  Like the ancient priests, Doctor Khartoum sacrifices young, nubile maidens to Klameth.  Captain Science and friends see this by means of “the viewing screen.”  The robot brain declares, “You must journey back into time and stop this danger before Doctor Khartoum has a chance to use it!”  Accordingly, the robot brain tells Captain Science how to make a time machine. The robot brain additionally states, “You must also learn the language of the Ancients, have dress like theirs, and a weapon to destroy this evil!”  Captain Science dutifully follows these instructions and, after traveling thousands of years back in time, “blasts the monster tentacle with hy-sonic rays, withering it . . .”  The hy-sonic (also spelled hi-sonic) rays “are also from another dimension” and are thus able to harm Klameth.  In an explosive incident, Captain Science makes use of a “tube,” the rays of which cause the temple to collapse and seal “the entrance off for good!”  After “rescuing the girls who were to be sacrificed,” Captain Science returns to the present just in time to witness Doctor Khartoum attempt to summon Klameth.  “Suddenly,” we are told, “there is a cataclysmic explosion and Klameth disappears forever and with him Dr. Khartoum.”  Captain Science explains that the robot brain had him “fix it so that whoever called Klameth forth again would be disposed of by hi-sonic rays.

Captain Science’s jaunt into the past was predicated on Doctor Khartoum’s successful summoning of Klameth.  (He saw it on the viewing screen.)  The reader may well wonder why the hy-sonic rays did not take effect at that time.  The reader should be assured that this is SCIENCE and if the reader had a robot brain, said brain could explain the details effusively.

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Tales from the Tomb #1; 1962,
Dell Publishing Co.; Art by Frank Springer

Mister Green

Speaking of extra-dimensional horrors, our next creature lives “within” a hooked rug.  For the comfort of Harry Felt, one of her boarders, kindly, old Mrs. Wittly places the rug “right by the bed, so’s you won’t have to put your bare feet on the floor.”  In reality, whatever comes into contact with the rug disappears with a loud snap.  When Harry accidentally drops a book on the rug, Mrs. Wittly assumes he has fallen into Mr. Green’s clutches.  Realizing this is not the case, Mrs. Wittly states:

Oh dear!  Mr. Green must have missed!  Well . . . so much the worse for you, Harry – Now Mr. Green will have to come out after you!  It makes Mr. Green quite peevish to have to come out after a body . . . He’s quite clumsy out of the rug . . . not nearly so efficient!  It’s always so . . . messy this way.  I’m sorry, Harry, Mr. Green must be fed!

We also learn that “Mr. Green needs one a night” and that he “can’t stay out too long!”   When out, Mr. Green seems nearly blind.

Once Mr. Green has fed, the rug can be touched with impunity.  Fresh stains are the only indicator that Mr. Green has dined.  The relationship between Mrs. Wittly and Mr. Green is curious.  She treats him like a pet, but it’s not as though they can ever interact.

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Amazing Man #26 (Meteor Martin feature); 1942, Centaur Publishing; Art by Basil Wolverton

Insect Monster of Gorikon

Square-jawed space hero, Meteor Martin, “was attacked by Martian warships while on moon patrol duty.”  A curious property of the “Martians’ blast ray disrupts atoms in such a way that all objects the ray strikes are turned into a negative condition,” causing such objects to transition to “a negative world – an invisible world inside our native universe!”  Said universe is occupied by Gorikon, an air-filled “galaxy of tiny planets.”  Unfortunately, Meteor and his companions find themselves in an insect’s trap – essentially a pond of quicksand.  Of course, if there’s an insect’s trap, there must be a responsible insect.  In this case, the insect is the size of an elephant.  Despite the injunction voiced in the illustration provided, the insect does indeed “get Rana!”  The insect rushes off “to toss Rana into a fiery pit . . .”  Armed only with a club, Meteor pursues.  Can Meteor prevail against the monster?  Will Rana be saved from blazing doom?  What will happen to the other fellows in the insect’s trap?  Sadly, we shall never know since the adventures of Meteor Martin did not continue past this installment.

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Weird Comics #6 (Blast Bennett feature);
1940, Fox Feature Syndicate; Art by Don Rico

The Unknown Horror

While walking in his garden, Lex, beloved ruler of New-America, is “bitten by the deadliest of all snakes – the winged snake!”  (“The winged snake!,” a physician exclaims, “Great thunder – not that!”)  We learn that, “Far off in the unexplored planet of Kolzo, there is a monster whose blood will cure Lex – but that monster is ‘The Unknown Horror!’”  So, contrary to the notion of “unknown,” there is an awareness that the horror (1) exists, (2) resides on Kolzo, and (3) has blood with curative properties.  Blast Bennett – last seen on Planet Alpo – is recruited to obtain some of The Unknown Horror’s blood.  (Although Lex is “mortally wounded,” he can apparently resist death while Blast goes on a “long trip . . . into unchartered [sic] space.”)  Blast and his youthful sidekick, Red, come across “a planet that isn’t on any of our maps!”  Blast jumps to the conclusion that “it must be Kolzo!”  After landing, Blast and Red soon encounter a monster “blowing smoke and fire from its nostrils!”  Somehow, they realize this monster is The Unknown Horror.  The monster easily resists one shot from Blast’s “explosion gun,” but eventually succumbs to two shots that Blast fires from behind.

A normal person sent to retrieve a blood sample would likely carry a container intended for such a sample.  Yet Blast Bennett is not a normal person; he “scoops up . . . blood in his glove” where it remains for the duration of the “long trip” back.  Rather than a nickname, perhaps “Blast” is a pejorative (as in “Blast, Bennett . . . What were you thinking!?”).

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Strange Suspense Stories #55; 1961,
Charlton; Art by Bill Molno & Vince Alascia

Winged Snake

Although having the same name, this winged snake is a much larger variety than the New-American type referenced in the above listing.  In fact, rather than a winged snake, this creature seems more like a giant eagle with a snake tail and scaly highlights.  Although it is twice referenced as “the crawling bird,” the monster flies about “in a hot, brilliantly lighted mammoth cavern” within an Andean mountain.  Said cavern is connected by tunnel to an Incan sun temple.  Stuart Baintree, an American archeologist fires a shot at the monster.  Because the winged snake “passed too close to the heat . . . or one of Baintree’s slugs grazed its head . . . the flying horror landed on the cavern floor!”  Baintree checks to see if it’s dead and monster comes to life, taking off with Baintree on it’s back.  An English speaking Incan princess toss a scepter to Baintree, who uses it to bludgeon the the creature to death.  Now that the winged snake is dead, the princess “can leave here at last!”  (Yet, the princess appeared out of the cavern earlier in the story.)

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White Princess of the Jungle #4; 1952, Avon Periodicals; Art by ?

Swamp Beast

Speaking of princesses, Taanda, “white princess of the jungle,” is the enemy of the swamp beast.  Regarding its origin:

     Five million years ago a small particle of matter swooped down from space and fell into the ocean.  There it remained, dormant and harmless - -
     - - - Until a storm lashed the planet in gigantic fury.  This was no ordinary storm - - planet Earth was undergoing physical and chemical changes! - - And the spore began to evolve - - -
     Eons of time passed - - Slowly, Earth’s surface changed - - Oceans grew larger and deeper.  Slowly, the spore developed into an embryonic creature that gulped down whatever swam by - -
     As the years went by it increased in stature - - Finally, it ventured out of the water - - strong enough to devour any jungle beast - - -

The swamp beast is brought to the attention of Taanda after it devours several villagers.  “It is like Karnok, the octopus,” the jungle princess observes, “yet it has the body of a giant slug!”  Thrown spears “fall harmlessly from the hide of the swamp beast.”  Fire doesn't bother it.  Planes are called in to defeat it, but to no avail.  Taanda concludes, “We must try trickery!”  Fortunately, Tanda notices the monster's “red spot.”  She swims underneath the thing and stabs it (presumably in the aforementioned spot) causing it to die.  So, a white jungle princess accomplishes what bullets and bombs could not.  Let that be a lesson to you.

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Weird Thrillers #4; 1952,
Ziff-Davis; Art by George Tuska

Octeel

We learn, “The octeel is part octopus and part electric eel!”  It thrives in the water caverns of Genero, a “small planet in the second universal orbit!”  An “electro-bolt gun” is useless against it because “the bolts of current are merely absorbed by the rubbery flesh of the octeel!”  A “brilliant young scientist” arranges the defeat of the creature by using a cable to connect a “jet spar” to a space ship's generator.  After he “plunges [the makeshift harpoon] deep into the monster's flesh,” electric current from the generator kills the octeel.  The scientist explains:

. . . I guessed right that that the monster's body current was positive!  That bolt of negative current from the ship's generator worked perfectly!  When that harpoon hit it, the circuit was complete!  My freind, we short-circuited the octeel . . .

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Alarming Tales #1; 1957,
Harvey Comics; Art by Jack Kirby

Plant Men

Professor Horace Googer, “tops in bio-chemistry,” developed seeds that “were human in form!”  Googer cultivated these plant men in his “chemical gardens,” likening the process to the legend of Cadmus.  (Kirby would would use the term again in his later work for DC Comics.)  Googer wants to monetize his “boys” and describes their usefulness to a business man:

They never tire!  They like to fight - - They’re powerful and aggressive - - Oh!  One other detail...bullets can’t hurt them, you know! - - You can’t destroy plants with bullets - - and that’s what they are - - plants!

Googer meets an untimely end, having “turned a wrong valve or something during an experiment and blew himself sky-high!”  Twenty plant-man survive the accident and the aforementioned business man decides to “assume full responsibility for them!”  What practical use does he put the Googer’s creation?

The plant men took to competitive athletics like ducks to water! . . . They’re unbeatable in the pro-football leagues! . . .One of them became a contender for heavyweight champion of the world!

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Gorgo #16; 1963, Charlton; Art by Steve Ditko

Chloryllfids

These creatures are also examples of humanoid vegetation, but unlike the plant men, the chloryllfids came into existence as a result of an atomic explosion:

...In the ocean depths where the center of the bomb had detonated in a huge kelp bed, a strange mutation had taken place . . . a living, biped vegetable grew rapidly in the smashed kelp bed, a fetid horror, spawned by radiation from the deadly bomb . . . They grew to huge size then broke free of their roots and stalked the ocean floor!

The chloryllfids are dangerous and voracious.  Upon invading an island, they consume all of the animal life there, including a jaguar.  (You know, one of those south seas jaguars.)  A scientist claims, “I cannot find a way to kill them . . . and I’ve tried everything!”  We learn that, “Each new lethal plant would spread its own seed until millions of the men-killers would be harvested to swarm over the Earth destroying all that man had built in centuries, destroying man himself!”  How can mankind survive such a threat?  Just have giant, prehistoric reptiles eat the chloryllfids.  (I guess the scientist doesn’t consider giant, prehistoric reptiles to be part of “everything.”)

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Forbidden Worlds #3; 1951,
American Comics Group; Art by King Ward

Atomic Creatures

An atomic bomb is also prominent with regard to these beings.  Even given the peculiar circumstances of comic book creatures, these atomic creatures are outstanding in their strangeness.  Their origin – to the extent I can comprehend it – follows.  So, there’s this two-fisted American scientist in charge of an experiment to detonate an atomic bomb “twenty miles up into the stratosphere!”  Commies attack the army base in a desperate attempt to sabotage the experiment.  As a result of the fracas, the high altitude balloon carrying the bomb launches.  Along for the ride are the scientist and his fiancée, who manage to survive in outer space.  The scientist guesses, “we’ve absorbed enough atomic rays from the fissionable material inside the bomb to enable us to withstand the extreme cold and lack of oxygen!”  (Also, the scientist’s voice somehow carries in a vacuum.)  Eventually, “the balloon and its deadly burden settle on a weird subworld...one of the small nameless planets that sometimes enter the solar system from the outer limits of space!”  The subworld is inhabited by spirits (?) who were once human evil-doers.  By exploding the bomb, these spirits believe they will be changed into “mortal beings,” allowing them to invade Earth.  (Still with me?)  The explosion indeed causes the spirits to become mortal but “the creative force of the atomic blast” brings into existence entities “black and brutish - - as primitive as the rock from which they were formed.”  Although having “mute and groping minds,” the atomic creatures are opposed to evil and the confront the one-time spirits.  Once the former spirits are defeated, the scientist opines about the atomic creatures:  “They may not have minds or souls, but they sprang from the basic matter of the universe - - - the very source of life!  That means they’re good - - - ”  After the scientist uses “repeated gestures,” the atomic creatures project a molecular beam that carries the scientist and his fiancée “through space to the Earth’s atmosphere!”  Upon reaching Earth, “an invisible force checks the hurtling flight.”

The fiancée queries, “Do you think we’ll ever be able to explain what we’ve been through…?”

To which the scientist replies, “I’m not even going to try, honey!”

I doubt even a robot brain could make sense of this.

Not Quite Gamma World

Art by Martin King

In 1987, TSR published the board game GAMMARAUDERS, “a wahoo brawl of world conquest and spiffy weapons with fins!”  Inspired in part by the Gamma World franchise, GAMMARAUDERS takes place in the post-apocalyptic Gamma Age.  As the above quote suggests, the premise was not entirely serious.  In the game, players control giant, cybernetic animals called bioborgs.  The bioborgs fight one another as well as more conventional military forces (known as 'popcorn').  Cryptic Alliances are also part of the game; functioning as factions.  However, the GAMMARAUDERS Cryptic Alliances are not the same as those in Gamma World.  Included with the game was a twenty page booklet “of bioborg background, Cryptic Alliance news, and world history.”  It was an interesting decision to include twenty pages of unnecessary background details for a board game.  It's almost as if the publishers had additional plans for the setting.

Given the reasonable assumption that a significant amount of overlap exists between comic book readers and RPG enthusiasts, DC Comics published a few official Dungeons & Dragons titles in the late 80s.  Also published was a GAMMARAUDERS comic book, initially written by Peter Gillis.  How many comic books have been based on board games?  Anyway, the early issues included rules for The GAMMARAUDERS (Extremely Tiny) Roleplaying System authored by Zeb Cook (or, as he introduced himself, Major Zeb of the Gammarauders Science Patrol).  So, we have a role-playing system published in a comic book based on a board game partially inspired by a role-playing game.

Included in the first issue was an essay by Jim Ward explaining role-playing games.  The essay began:  “We at TSR freely admit we do not have all the answers on what role playing is or isn't.”  He also offered:  “Role Playing at its simplest is putting yourself in someone else's shoes.”  Naturally, Ward took the opportunity to plug various TSR games.  Cook also made an effort to “explain what roleplaying games are all about.”  In his words:  “It's simple – roleplaying games are make-believe.”  He continued, “The rules are supposed to tell you who shot whom and settle arguments and the like.”

The GAMMARAUDERS (Extremely Tiny) Roleplaying System (hereinafter GETRS) version of a Game Master is called the Boss in the first installment, but the Keeper thereafter.

Each Player Character is a bioborg handler with five abilities.

Abilities are the things that tell you what your Character is like.  Each ability is rated 1 to 6.  A 1 means you're just not very good in that area.  A 6 makes you about the best there is with that ability.

Science – “your understanding of things – well, scientific.”
Style – “your ability to make an impression on others, the way you want it to be made.”
Rumble – “your skill in a fight.”
Bod – “your muscles and size”
Control – “your ability to keep your cool commanding your bioborg in the heat of action.”

Roll 1d6 (ignoring rolls of 6) for each of five ability scores, assigning those scores as desired.

Each player chooses a Complex for his or her Character:

It can be anything you want.  Perhaps he can't abide the color red.  Maybe she is touchy about her height.  He can even loathe his own bioborg, forever envious of the fine creatures other handlers have.  Choose something you can have fun with.

Roll 1d6 to determine the severity of the Complex.  Finally, “Decide all the other stuff, like appearance, dress, accent, and anything else that seems interesting.”  (A handler's name and gender are decided upon before any other step.)

Player Characters “are assigned bioborgs according to the whim of the Keeper...”  Similar to abilities, bioborgs have “numerical stats.”

Bod – “measure of size and fighting ability.”  (Roll 1d6 and multiply by 10)
Brains – “general smarts of the bioborg...(roll 1 die and divide the result by 2, rounding fractions up).”
Control – “the bioborg's willpower to ignore the orders of its handler and even make him do things he doesn't want.”  (Roll 1d6)
Armament – the number of weapons the bioborg can have at one time.  (Bod / 10)
Power – “the number of pods the bioborg can eat without becoming seriously ill.  Pods are the all-important fuel source for the bioborg's weapons (and 'most everything else).”  (Roll 2d6)

Bioborgs also have Complexes.  “These are secretly decided by the Keeper.”

The Gamma Age is populated by “factoids” that look like CRT terminals with robotic feet.

They answer every question – completely and literally.  Never, never ask a factoid what's new.  It will follow you for the rest of your existence, displaying every new thing on its screen.  Attempts to find out where they come from have proven equally futile.  It is quite possible that factoids know everything in the universe.  The problem is finding the right questions to ask.

In game terms, “A factoid will be able to answer any question on a die roll of 1 - 5.”

GERTS uses “the scientific principle known as Fistsfulls of Dice.”  When a character “tries to do something difficult,” roll a number of dice equal to the appropriate ability.  If the result of at least one of the dice equals the ability score, the character succeeds.  Easier tasks increase the number of dice to be rolled; harder tasks reduce the number of dice.

With regard to fighting, “You can do just about anything reasonable (and some things unreasonable).”  However, “You can only do one basic thing (shoot, run, shoot and run, etc.) in a turn.”  Initiative is determined by rolling against Control.

The person who makes the most successful rolls (i.e. rolls his Control score) goes first and so on until everyone has a chance to act.  If no one rolls his score, the person who rolled the most dice goes first and so on.  If it is a tie, those characters do everything all at once.

A weapon inflicts damage according to the results of a number of dice indicated in the weapon's description.  For instance, a “Handy-Dandy Blaster Pistol” inflicts two dice of damage.

When punching, kicking, or otherwise using your body, you do 1 point of Bod damage for each successful die roll you make.  If your Bod is greater than your Rumble, you add one to this result.

When a character's Bod is reduced to zero, that character is “out of play (until the next Big Scene Change).”  (Cook neglected to discuss the topic of scene changes.)

To determine a handler's running speed (in yards) for any given span of thirty seconds, roll a number of dice equal to the handler's Bod score and multiply by ten.  “Bioborgs use the same method to determine how far they move, but multiply the result by 50.”

Handlers enter into Contracts.  Small Contracts have a value of 1 to 6, “good Contracts are 7 to 12, big Contracts are 13 to 18, and Whoppers are 19 or more.”  The value of a Contract is representative of “its difficulty or length of service.”  A handler must fulfill a contract before he or she can enter into a new Contract.  “The Keeper will have fun negotiating contracts with the players.”

If a handler purchases an item, his or her current Contract value is reduced by the item's cost.  When the value of a handler's Contract is reduced to zero, “he's broke (a common situation).”  (The aforementioned “Handy-Dandy Blaster Pistol” has a cost of 1 while “Laso-Binoculars” cost 2.) 

In GERTS, there are two types of equipment; handlers have Personal Equipment while bioborgs have Fittings.  “Both types of equipment are governed by one basic rule:  You have to make things up.”  Each bioborg Fitting is either a Weapon or Defense.

In creating a Fitting:

Give the item a great name by combining meaningless phrases to make something that sounds really powerful.  Choose one term from each of columns A and B, and combine these with the appropriate Weapon or Defense name.

Weapons are assigned “a number of dice of damage (from to 2 to 12)” and a range “from 0 (hand-to-hand) to 1000 yards.”  A defense “confers complete immunity to one type of weapon” and “reduces the damage done by other attacks by a set number of dice, from 1 to 6.”  Every Fitting has a Pod Use Number ranging from one to three.  Whenever a Fitting is used, roll dice equal to the Pod Use Number.  If the result of any of those dice equals the Pod Use Number, “one pod carried by bioborg has been drained of power.”  The cost of a Fitting “is equal to the number of dice of damage or protection plus one die roll.”

Art by Martin King

Where Fantasies Are Real & Reality Is FANTASTIC

My first exposure to Message from Space was when it played on a double bill with Superman so many years ago.  To some (many? most?), Message from Space is a gaudy Star Wars rip-off.  It's certainly gaudy and it would not have been made except to capitalize on the Star Wars phenomenon but, as Lex Luthor said that very same day:

Some people can read War and Peace and come away thinking it's a simple
adventure story.  Others can read the ingredients on a chewing gum wrapper
and unlock the secrets of the universe.

While my appreciation of Message from Space falls somewhat short of unlocking secrets of the universe, the film offers more than a simple adventure story.  If we divest ourselves of the 'spaceships = science fiction' fallacy and accept the film as fantasy (as the tagline indicates), the film becomes more palatable.  Message from Space was inspired – in part – by Nansō Satomi Hakkenden, an epic of Japanese literature and one of the longest novels ever.  The influence is especially noticeable with regard to what Joseph Campbell referred to as “the call to adventure.”

Message from Space takes place twenty years after the last Space War, during “the times when earthling adventurers roamed the planets of the galaxy seeking riches in the form of resources and colonies.”  The warlike, steel-skinned Gavanas oppress the enlightened Jillucians nearly to point of extinction.  The Jillucian patriarch dispatches eight holy Liabe seeds to locate the assorted heroes who will save the Jillucians – and the universe – from the tyranny of the Gavanas.

The Liabe seeds, with the appearance of walnuts that sometimes glow, make their way to the film's protagonists who, in another context, might be player characters.  However, the meaning of the Liabe seeds (from the protagonists' viewpoint) must wait for exposition from Princess Esmeralida.

If the Liabe heroes (i.e., player characters) are destined to save the universe, then wouldn't that compromise player agency?  Well, yes it would.  As a matter of fact, in Message from Space, three of the chosen characters toss their walnuts* and a fourth declines the honor of being a hero.  This is representative of what Campbell aptly termed “refusal of the call.”  Of course, a story about characters deciding against doing something interesting isn't a worthwhile story.  Eventually, the characters that initially refused the Liabe seeds change their minds and accept their roles as heroes.  So, player agency is still thwarted.  Is that a bad thing?  Not necessarily.

Absolute agency is untenable in a role-playing game.  A player adopts a “role” for his or her character.  After all, we are talking about role-playing games, not agency-playing games.  Agency is limited in that player character knowledge should be restricted to in-game information available to the “role.”  Also, the player imbues his or her character (or role) with a personality and a psychology.  The way a character responds to stimuli – while not scripted – should be consistent with that personality and psychology.  Gygax addressed this issue by penalizing “aberrant behavior” with additional required training time/cost for level advancement (DMG, p. 86).  Of course, for Gygax, a character's “behavior” should be defined by class and alignment.

The notion of consistency should not preclude the organic development of personality and psychology (or “behavior” to employ a convenient term).  Yet, ultimately, it is a player's responsibility to play the role of his or her character with an established behavior and to interact appropriately within the setting.  Likewise, some of the GM's responsibilities include providing an intuitive (if not immersive) setting and accommodating (rather than curtailing) player agency.

Your character should refuse the Liabe seed if the character's established behavior suggests that course of action.  However, there should be circumstances wherein your character would accept the Liabe seed.  Is it an intolerable suppression of player agency if the GM arranges for those circumstances to occur?  I don't think so; I think there is a difference between 'railroading' and 'advancing the plot'.


* not a euphemism

Mysterious Island

This year marks the 150th anniversary of a remarkable event that occurred here in Richmond.  Now, this last day of 2015 affords me a final opportunity to commemorate the anniversary and atone for my procrastination.  The event was simply the ascension of a balloon carrying five passengers. The remarkable aspects of the event arise from the circumstances of the voyage and the ensuing adventure of the passengers – an adventure so fantastic, so incredible that the world can only regard it as fiction.

These exploits were dramatized by Jules Verne in his L'Île mystérieuse (first published in 1874).  I use the word “dramatized” because Verne was more interested in telling a story instead of relating a factual account.  As is often the case in his works, Verne sacrificed accuracy for the sake of literary style.  Not that I blame him; if the final result would be labeled as fiction regardless, he might as well “improve” the story.  Of course, Verne was not responsible for all deviations from the truth; some changes were necessary for legal reasons and others were imposed by editors.

The balloon passengers were Cyrus Harding Smith, Captain of the Union Army, and his associates – Gideon Spillet, Boniface Pencross, Herbert Dunn, and the “servant,” Neb.  Please note that personal names were not immune to alteration in Verne’s narrative.  Verne also added a dog.  Anyway, in March of 1865, Captain Smith and company appropriated a military balloon to escape from Richmond.  Due to inclement weather, they had no practical control of the balloon.  As a result, they eventually arrive at a mysterious island.  Here we see  a profound departure from reality on Verne’s part.  Verne’s description of the weather is thus:

Few can possibly have forgotten the terrible storm from the northeast, in the middle of the equinox of that year. The tempest raged without intermission from the 18th to the 26th of March. Its ravages were terrible in America, Europe, and Asia, covering a distance of eighteen hundred miles, and extending obliquely to the equator from the thirty-fifth north parallel to the fortieth south parallel. Towns were overthrown, forests uprooted, coasts devastated by the mountains of water which were precipitated on them, vessels cast on the shore, which the published accounts numbered by hundreds, whole districts leveled by waterspouts which destroyed everything they passed over, several thousand people crushed on land or drowned at sea; such were the traces of its fury, left by this devastating tempest.

In essence, Verne presents a phenomenal storm that lasts more than week, afflicts three continents, and causes inestimable property damage.  This is a case of exaggeration.  In reality, the weather was not quite so dramatic.  Regarding March 1865, Robert K. Krick provides the following information in his Civil War Weather in Virginia :

Richmond’s residents saw a “splendid rainbow” on the night of March 15. The next night “a violent southeast gale prevailed . . . with rain.” Bright sun tempered winds still blowing through Richmond on the 18th, but the dawn of the 19th reminded a diarist of spring in the Garden of Eden. Warm and pleasant weather continued into the 21st, when blossoms appeared on apricot trees.

I had not realized that former residents of Eden were living in Richmond during the Civil War.  Perhaps the phrase “reminded . . . of” was meant to convey “inspired notions . . . of” rather than an actual recollection.  Regardless, Captain Smith and his companions likely ascended on the night of March 16 when there was a “southeast gale.”  In Verne’s version, the party leaves on March 20 and the storm is “from the northeast.”  Verne’s “aerial maelstrom” carries the balloon thousands of miles contrary to the jet stream in about seventy-two hours.  Verne must invoke such a preposterous storm because he chose to place the Mysterious Island in the Pacific.  I suppose there are many mysterious islands in the Pacific, but the Mysterious Island – the one where Captain Smith’s party found themselves – is in the Atlantic.  So why the switch in ocean?  I can’t answer for Verne, but I suspect the explanation (or at least a partial explanation) is that divulging factual information about something mysterious would tend to compromise the mysterious nature of said something.  Mysterious Island is mysterious for a reason and – to this day – the ‘powers-that-be’ have a vested interest in that reason and in maintaining the mystery.

You won’t find Mysterious Island via Google Earth.  Very few maps chart the island’s position and those that do are secreted in secure collections to which the public is not admitted.  A flat-out denial of the existence of Mysterious Island is not feasible, but it is easy enough to suggest that any given reference to it stems from fiction; thereby, the mystery is preserved.  I believe Mysterious Island’s official status (perhaps ‘official non-status’ is more apt) can be traced to an amendment to the Treaty of Tordesillas.  However, the only surviving copy of that amendment is in the Vatican’s Secret Archives; not the Secret Archives that everyone knows about, but the really Secret Archives.  Rumors that pre-human artifacts were found on the island (and that the Church wanted that knowledge suppressed) are unsubstantiated (yet not entirely disproved).

Eventually, Captain Smith and the others encounter Prince Dakkar (more commonly known as “Captain Nemo”), one of the most misunderstood figures of the 19th Century.  (Verne manages to depict him as both a misanthrope and a humanitarian.)  Once again, Verne’s account veers away from the actual circumstances. 

The events of Verne’s Vingt mille lieues sous les mers (published in 1870 but serialized starting in 1869) transpire after the Civil War.  When the story begins, the world is not yet acquainted with Prince Dakkar’s depredations.  However, in L'Île mystérieuse, the exploits of Prince Dakkar are well-known to Captain Smith and company even though they have been on the island since the conclusion of the war, ignorant of any subsequent world events.  In terms of storytelling, Verne didn’t want to weigh down the narrative with exposition from his earlier work.  Since the readers knew about Captain Nemo, then so should the protagonists.

In truth, Vingt mille lieues sous les mers (hereinafter Leagues) follows L'Île mystérieuse, not vice versa.  It was Gideon Spillet who ‘broke the news’ about Prince Dakkar to an astonished world.  Spillet accompanied Prince Dakkar during the events of Leagues and, since he was a journalist, he reported those events. Verne’s account is narrated from the point-of-view of his long-time friend Pierre Aronnax.  No mention was made of Spillet in Leagues due to a dispute over publication rights.  Spillet and Verne reconciled their differences by the time the latter wrote L'Île mystérieuse, so Spillet appears in that story.  Shortly after their reconcilement, Spillet met an untimely death.  However, Verne could not include Spillet in updated editions of Leagues because of complications with Spillet’s estate.  Those complications also prompted Verne to change the spelling of Gideon Spillet to the unabashedly French Gédeon Spilett.  American editions used the ‘Gideon’ spelling.

Prior to Prince Dakkar’s claim to the island, it had been used sporadically as a refuge for pirates (or, alternatively, a staging area for privateer activity).  In any event, I consider theories that conflate ‘Treasure Island’ with ‘Mysterious Island’ to be altogether fanciful.

The destruction of Mysterious Island in a fit of apoplectic volcanism is another of Verne’s inventions.  I guess it makes for a good story.  (SPOILER:  The dog survives!)  In reality, the island fared just as it had previously – largely unknown but occasionally called into some peculiar service.

During the Second World War, Mysterious Island was used as a base of operations by the Blackhawk Squadron.  This multi-national task force employed cutting-edge aviation technology against Axis threats, often of an outré variety.  During this time, Mysterious Island was known as Blackhawk Island.  Notwithstanding the legend of their comic book analogues, the Blackhawks disbanded shortly after the war.  Allegedly, this was done at Stalin’s insistence and was a source of contention at the Potsdam Conference.

Eventually, a colony was established on Mysterious Island.  Specifically, it was an involuntary retirement community for people possessing knowledge inimical to the status quo. Whether the island still hosts this colony is a matter of conjecture.  When inquiring about some things – such as the particulars of Mysterious Island – prudence should be exercised.  After all, questions are a burden to others; answers a prison for oneself.

Superpowers in Supervillains

The Amazing Adventures of Holo-Man #1;
1978, Peter Pan Records; Art by Joe Giella

As one might expect from “an exciting game of super human role-playing,” player characters have superpowers – or “Abilities” as the rules refer to them.  A character's Ability is determined by rolling a percentile die and consulting the Ability Chart (sometimes called the Ability Table) and subsequent Ability Descriptions.  There are thirty-three Abilities.  Many of them are standard comic book superhero fare, some are unusual yet not without comic book precedent, and a few are original and...interesting.

There is a one to four percent chance of obtaining any given Ability; however, there is a ten percent chance that a character will not have any Ability.  There is a one percent chance of getting two rolls on the Ability Chart and a one percent chance of getting three rolls.  It is possible to obtain the Abilities of 'Enhanced Vision', 'Bulletproof Skin', 'Leap Great distances', and 'Flight' by themselves; however, for each of them, there is a one percent chance of obtaining the Ability and an extra roll.  ('Leap Great Distances' is identical to 'Flight' except the character “cannot hover...and cannot change direction or his landing site once he is in the air.”  Also, the Ability “may be countered by a punch from another superbeing that hits.”)  So, there is a six percent chance that a character will have at least two Abilities.

Under the Ability Descriptions, each Ability indicates its Area of Effect and the amount of stun and/or kill damage it inflicts (if any).  Abilities that can be used to attack also indicate if said attack is a “Material Attack Form,” which is whether or not the damage “is caused by a tangible object.”  Material Attack Form may not be intuitive; for instance, Heat Control has a Material Attack Form but Sound Control does not.

“A character that possesses the LIVING HAIR ability will have hair that is approximately 10 feet long...The character will have total control over every strand of hair.”  This is obviously based on Marvel Comics' Medusalith Amaquelin Boltagon.  Living Hair can be used in three 'forms' – attack, defense, and movement (using hair to climb a building).  When an Ability has multiple 'forms', only two can be used simultaneously.

Inspired by DC Comics' Wildfire, “The entire body of a character which possesses the LIVING ENERGY ability will be composed of LIVING ENERGY which will be held together only by the special suit that the character wears.”  Should the suit be punctured, an “energy output” explosion occurs.  “This energy output will have a duration of one combat phase, after which the suit will repair itself completely.”  Similarly, Explosive Demolecularization allows a character “to literally blow himself up...[then] his molecules will re-form at the same spot” in the fashion of Marvel Comics' Nitro.

Designer Rick Register created 'original' Abilities based on scientific principles.

A character having the STRONG FORCE ability will possess one of the fundamental forces of nature; the STRONG FORCE ability which suspends the atom's strong force, thus causing the electrons to fall into the nucleus.  The remaining material, after a successful STRONG FORCE attack, will basically be white-dwarf star matter, which, under normal gravity conditions, will sink through anything to the center of the earth.

If a character survives a Strong Force attack, there is a possibility that one or more of the character's limbs will become crippled.

Another 'original' Ability is Conversion:  “In accordance with Einstein's Unified Field Theory, a character with the CONVERSION ability may convert an ELECTRICITY, a MAGNETISM, a GRAVITY CONTROL, a RADIOACTIVITY, and/or a STRONG FORCE attack into one another.”

Last but not least (actually, 'least' may be accurate), we have Oxidation/Reduction:

Following the principles found in chemistry, a character possessing the OXIDATION/REDUCTION ability will be able to cause a bridge support to rust through, or will have the ability to to reduce water to hydrogen and oxygen, etc.  When the OXIDATION/REDUCTION ability is applied to a target character, this will change that character's molecules to carbon if the attack is successful.  The result is that the victim will look and will feel as if he were a burn victim.  A character using the OXIDATION/REDUCTION ability will have the capability to produce an atmosphere as long as there is some source from which to obtain oxygen nearby...  

Yeah, without the oxygen it's kind of tough, isn't it?

From Here To Eternia

Masters of the Universe Preview, 1982, Artist: Curt Swan and/or Dave Hunt

When most people think about the He-Man mythos (assuming they think about it at all) they recollect the 1983 Filmation series, but the Masters of the Universe had a history before the series – one with significant differences from what would become 'official' canon.

When He-Man was just an action figure, mini-comics accompanied MOTU merchandise.  Although called mini-comics, the early ones were more like mini-story books, with a single graphic covering most of each page and a few lines of text beneath.  Regardless, the point was to provide the basis of play – a narrative stage that established a fictional environment, the identities of the characters, and the ways in which they interacted.  Alfredo Alcala was the artist for the first series of mini-comics and Don Glut was the author.  Glut is a man with a variety of talents and interests.  Listing his many creations is beyond the scope of this post; however, as an example of his inventiveness, allow me to say he is the person responsible for Tragg and the Sky Gods (among other Gold Key titles).

“They will add to your strength, use them wisely...”

In the mini-comics, He-Man hails from a primitive tribe.  Having “jungle-bred strength,” he leaves his tribe because “Evil forces exist on our planet Eternia.”  It turns out that Eternia is a post-apocalyptic world.  After He-Man rescues “the Sorceress,” she provides him with vehicles and devices (and boots it seems) that “were made centuries before the Great Wars by Eternia's scientists.”  Notice in the illustration above that the Sorceress has green skin and is adorned with serpent-motif accessories – symbolic of knowledge.  The snake costume would become associated with Teela.  At the time Glut wrote these stories, no female characters were planned for the toyline; when Teela and the Sorceress were included, they were represented by the same figure.  As a result, the distinction between the characters was less than clear.  Teela was considered to be a “warrior-goddess.”

Note the golden unicorn fighting Skeletor

Below we see Skeletor's origin according to Glut and Alcala.

“...magic fires, created by ancient scientists and sorcerers...”

The notion of two 'magic swords' that join together to create an artifact of great power is very reminiscent of Filmation's earlier Blackstar series.

In 1982, still prior to the Filmation series, DC Comics published actual MOTU comic books.  These were written by Paul Kupperberg  who (along with Jan Duursema) created Arion, Lord of Atlantis prior to scripting the MOTU comics.  At the time, Arion was your humble host's favorite title.  Alas, it was Kupperberg who implemented the idea of Prince Adam as He-Man's “secret identity.”  Keep in mind that Kupperberg's version of Adam had incredible strength.

So, He-Man is a blond, incredibly strong dude with a Dutch boy hairstyle and Prince Adam is a blond, incredibly strong dude with a Dutch boy hairstyle.  You would think that people would be suspicious.  Oh wait, Prince Adam has a cowardly green-and-yellow tiger who talks while He-Man has a courageous green-and-yellow tiger who talks.  Yeah, I guess that's enough to throw off anybody.  Another thing I dislike about Kupperberg's Eternia is the technological disparity between the aristocracy and the peasants.  To my knowledge, Skeletor never capitalized on this.

In late 1982, Mattel approached Michael Halperin to write a 'bible' for the Filmation series.  Halperin came up with the good idea of Adam/He-Man's mother being an astronaut from Earth, but not all of Halperin's ideas became canon.  In Halperin's story, Evil-Lyn, Beast Man, and Tri-Klops were originally 'normal' Earth humans (and Beast Man's name was Biff – no lie).

If there was any one thing that ruined MOTU for me, it was Orko.  I appreciate the 'need' for a comic relief character, but why Orko?  I'd rather have Gwildor.  For that matter, a dozen Trobbits would be preferable to Orko.  It is Halperin we have to thank for Orko; however, in Halperin's bible he's called “Gorpo,” which is a more fitting name I think.

Halperin seems to have been familiar with D&D.

Where else would he get 'quasit' from?  Halperin also includes dwarves, trolls, gnolls, manticores, wyverns, basilisks, and giant centipedes in his bible.  In the following passage, we are told that Beast Man can supposedly control orcs.

Orcs (or at least creatures called orcs) appear in one of the later mini-comics.

“Orcs” in masks.  Can you tell they're evil?

Skeletor doesn't use this ability often enough in my opinion.

Skeletor, “Dark Lord,” channels Darth Vader

The Setting of Superhero 2044

Yet again, art by Mike Cagle

In Superhero 2044, Donald Saxman crafted a setting not so much to emulate the comic book source material, but to establish an environment that would plausibly allow the existence of costumed crimefighters with superhuman abilities.  More so than the actual rules, it is Saxman's setting that defines the game.  Readers are treated to eight pages of setting description even before character generation is addressed – that's more than one-fourth of the game's page count (excluding the Gamescience appendix).

The location is the island nation of Inguria and the year – of course – is 2044.  Information is presented in the form of an excerpt from the 2044 edition of The World Almanac.  Ingurian history begins in 1824, when “Shanter Island was discovered...by the English...”  Presumably, the South Pacific island was uninhabited but there is no information as to how the most prominent feature, Mount Inguri, was named.  Anyway, the island was used as a coaling station, eventually was acquired by the United States, and occupied by the Japanese during the Second World War.  After the war, Congress granted Shanter Island independence.

Page 2 of the rules tells us, “During the periods from 1982 to 1989, the construction of a modern spaceport from scratch turned the island into an urbanized center of commerce.”  The spaceport closed after “the six-day war in 2003” and reopened in the '20s.  By that time, Shanter Island had joined “the World Peach Council” (sic).  “In 2029 Shanter Island renamed itself Inguria and joined the New Whole Commonwealth of Nations,” which meant adopting the 'NWC Pseudodollar' (Pd) as its official currency.

The war allowed for mutations that are a staple of the genre, but it also brought about the Science Police, “charged with preventing world war.”  As part of its purview, the Science Police suppresses all forms of atomic power.  As Saxman told us last month, he changed the Science Police to an “organization called CURBIT” to avoid the ire of the entity now known as DC Comics.  (Personally, I would have gone with 'Science Patrol' or 'Science Rangers,' because nothing says awesome quite like “Science.”)  Speaking of science...

By 2044 many inventions or engineering ideas which are now only dreams are perfected and several completely new concepts and materials are available...The major change is the accumulator, which is essentially a very efficient battery...[Also,] computers have become nearly sentient...and are much more reliable.  Access to computers is universal and cheap...

Saxman wrote Superhero 2044 in the '70s – before Al Gore had invented the Internet – so his speculation about computers is interesting.  Saxman correctly forecasts the advent of 'computerized journalism.'  Home access to the “computer net” costs 250 Pd per month; given inflation, this might not be too far off the mark for 2044.  A “Fully mobile unit,” however, is backpack sized and can only be rented, not owned.

Inguria has a population of 243,000 (including an enclave of extraterrestrial 'Formians') and occupies 523 km².  Its major industries include “Tourism, space exploration, undersea metals, [and] fishing.” Various organizations “of special interest to the superhero” are represented on Inguria:

• Association of Technical Arts:  The ATA has “free computer and testing services for anyone they consider deserves them.”  Otherwise, “The ATA will hire out its facilities to anyone able to pay their exhorbitant [sic] rates.”
• The Hunter Club:  This exclusive organization offers “wide services to its elite members.  These include an allowance, computer use, hospitalization, liability, referral and a research center...near limitless benefits.”  At any given time, there are only fourteen members and officers and sixteen associates.  Becoming a member is a bit tricky; a character must be nominated by a member, then must survive various tasks.
• Köln Institute:  The Institute is “a training school dedicated to the development of the perfect human.”  Alumni are entitled to such services as “free dorm space, half-cost insurance, no-interest loans...free training [and access to]...Research equipment.”  Alumni are expected to abide by a code of ethics and donate a tithe.
• Uniquex (pronounced “uni-kyu”):  “this organization conducts training, categorizing, and recognition of Uniques and Unique powers.  It will buy Unique germ plasma of proven merit.”
• Inguria Protection and Service Program:  As a result of the demise of the Freedom League (see below), “the government found it necessary to encourage crime fighters to emigrate to Inguria.”  The program provides a monthly stipend of 200 Pd and free hospitalization to heroes who (1) register, (2) patrol at least twenty-five hours per month, (3) cooperate with the authorities, and (5) maintain sufficient scores in the Location and Prevention handicap categories.

The Freedom League was the foremost superhero team in Inguria.  It “was destroyed in 2042 by Doctor Ruby, a reclusive geologist of fantastic ability and criminal tendency.”  The only survivor was Mr. Banta, “alias the Shifter.”  Actually, only his brain survived; the rest of his body was “carbonized.”  Banta's brain is now housed “in a powerful cyborg shell.”  Now, Banta is the proprietor of 'The Superhero Shop.'  (Mr. Banta and the shop are depicted above.)  In addition to “a wide range of crimefighting equipment,” Banta sells the devices, trophies, knick-knacks, etc. accumulated by the Freedom League during its existence “although he is unaware of the true values or uses of the items.”  Grab bags might be available, “costing 1000 Pd times a certain die roll.”   The contents of such bags include “about one-half junk and a few traps.”  Saxman offers The Superhero Shop as a means to introduce clues, plot devices, and “anything the referee wants...”

Interview with Donald Saxman

Recently, I have been in correspondence with Don Saxman, whose claim to fame – at least for purposes of this blog – is the creation of Superhero 2044, the first commercially available superhero role-playing game.  Given the 1977 copyright date, it is undeniably old school.  For anyone claiming enthusiasm for “old school” RPGs, Saxman's experiences should prove insightful.  As such, I asked Saxman for an interview and he kindly consented.

If you have your own questions for Mr. Saxman, please ask them in the comments section and he may reply.

Thoul's Paradise:  Not only was Superhero 2044 an early role-playing game, it was – as you say on thesestrangeworlds.com – “the very first comic book superhero RPG.”  In the 21st century, we have certain concepts as to what a “tabletop” RPG should entail; in the mid-70s, when you created Superhero 2044, those concepts had not yet crystallized.  At the time, RPGs were very much associated with wargames.  In fact, I don't think you use the phrase “role-playing” anywhere in Superhero 2044, instead you reference “wargames” (as well as “improvisational theater”) in the introduction.  When you wrote Superhero 2044, did you make a distinction between RPGs and wargames?  In your opinion, were RPGs merely a 'special case' of wargames?  What were your perceptions and what were the differences?

Donald Saxman:  I wrote and playtested Superhero 2044 between early 1975 and 1977.  Actually, there were two editions with significant differences.  The first (Superhero 44) was printed by myself at the Indiana University media center in early 1977 and the more common color edition (Superhero 2044) was printed by Lou Zocchi's Gamescience about a year later.
       At the time, I don't think the term “role playing game” was in common usage, especially in the context of a table top game.  Those were “touchy feely” days and “role playing” was typically used more in the context of psychology and interpersonal dispute resolution.
       I think the first time I heard the term “role playing game” was in high school, maybe 1970 to describe the Model Congress and Model UN (collectively known as the “World Freedom Club.”)  These were live action, I guess, so they would qualify as LARPS now, but the goal was political awareness and not competition. I tended to “play” them to win, much to the chagrin of peace and consensus-loving fellow students and faculty advisors.  In one scenario I was the UN ambassador of the Malagasy Republic (Madagascar) during an attempt to wind down a growing war in the Middle East.  I looked at the scenario, my country's “goals” and my “assets” and quickly came to the conclusion that the best thing for Madagascar would be prolonged war and the interdiction (or ideally destruction) of the Suez Canal.  The result wasn't pretty, especially to anyone downwind of the eventual fallout, but I “won” and thereafter ships moving between the Atlantic and Pacific often stopped at the new Madagascar Free Trade Terminal.  Great role playing there.
       In 1972 when I went to Indiana University, I quickly joined the Society for Creative Anachronism and the Science Fiction Club.  In both cases, I was soon immersed in live action role playing. So by the time I joined the “Conflict Simulation Club” my idea of a role playing game was very different from todays.
       Basically when we played miniatures, or cardboard and map board games, and then eventually Chainmail and then D&D, we weren't thinking “RPGs.”  We were thinking “campaigns,” i.e. something that lasted more than just one session and we were thinking “fantasy wargame” i.e. something with explicit combat and something not rooted in reality.  So we made a distinction between D&D and, say, Tractics and Boot Hill and En Garde:  Those were all wargame campaigns but not “fantasy wargame campaigns.”  And we made the distinction between one day miniatures reenactments or Avalon Hill's Gettysburg:   Those weren't campaigns and arguably they weren't very realistic role playing either.
       To (finally) answer your first question, when I wrote Superhero 2044 I thought I was writing a “campaign” and I thought I was writing a “fantasy wargame.”  That was even my tagline:  “The Campaign of Superpowered Crimefighters in the Year 2044.”
       At the time, the term we used was “persona.”  You would adopt the persona of a wizard or Klingon or even a Malagasy ambassador.  Your persona would have different powers and abilities and equipment.  But they would also have different motivation and goals or victory conditions.  This is how a bunch of spindly college students could spend the evening pretending they were “breaking into a monster's home, killing them, and looting their bodies.”  Not a motivation or goal any of us had in “real life” but an easily enough achieved persona.
       This idea of “persona” loomed large when I was designing Superhero 2044.  One of the main motivations for my doing the game was the release of Tactical Studies Rules' Warriors of Mars game book.  I thought they had messed it up big time and that I could do better.  I wasn't just upset that they consistently misspelled “Martian” or that they had failed to get permission from the Burroughs estate (some of whom I knew).  It was that John Carter and other Barsoomians just were not heroic enough.
       So I set out to make a platform for the heroic persona.  There would still be combat – lots of it – so it would be a wargame, but the role playing would emphasize fighting evil.  And it would be science fiction-type fantasy.  And it would be a campaign. (BTW, the second edition rules for playing villains were written by one of Mr. Zocchi's staff writers, not by me.)

TP:  If Warriors of Mars was one of your “main motivations” for Superhero 2044, what were your other motivations?

DS:   A big part of it was the desire to create.  One of my best friends was Mike Ford, an increasingly popular science fiction writer who published as John M. Ford.  During playtesting he decided to begin wiring full time and he was a tremendous inspiration. In the mean time, he was a great D&D Dungeon Master who would occasionally toss in the stray displaced superhero into his fantasy campaigns.
       Although Mike's growing creative successes were a motivation, it wasn't D&D, or even Mike's superhero/D&D house rules that greatly influenced Superhero 2044.  Rather it was an entirely different RPG:  En Garde by Game Designers' Workshop.  En Garde was one of the first true role playing games that didn't rely heavily on miniatures combat.  En Garde was a simulation of 17th Century nobles, gentleman, and soldiers.  Amazingly, the game remains popular with very few changes to the core rules.
       Of course, another inspiration and motivation was the comic book.  For the record, I was (and still am) an avid comic book reader – specifically DC (or National back then).  The comic book series that most influenced Superhero 2044 was Legion of Superheroes.  The idea of a team of variously powered heroes working together in a future setting was especially appealing.   I went so far as to incorporate LSH staple “the Science Police” in the rules (I even won a science fiction convention costume party in a Science Police costume).  So the whole concept of the “unique” super-powered superhero was based on the Legion of Superheroes (especially the Jim Shooter and Win Mortimer and then Cary Bates and Dave Cockrum eras).
       BTW, in subsequent treatments of 2044 I replaced the Science Police with a (not owned by DC) organization called CURBIT (Confederacy of Urban Regions, Bureau of Illegal Technology) or “Tech Cops.”

TP:  With regard to the three character types:  Ubermensch have a net Prime Requisite modifier of +60, Uniques have a net modifier of +20, and Toolmasters have a net modifier of -10.  Other than modification of Prime Requisites, what are the differences among the character types in terms of game mechanics?  Why would I want to play anything other than an Ubermensch?

DS:  One of the weakest parts of Superhero 2044 is the character creation system. My original plan was to do three more or less equally sized game books:  the existing one, one entirely devoted to character creation (including a couple dozen pre-gen characters), and one with more background and some sample scenarios.  When I sold the right to Gamescience, I also pitched this and included some material that would have gone in the second and third book.  Lou Zocchi went ahead and added some of the pregens in the first (and ultimately only) book and the other ones never got completed.  However, a couple years ago I resurrected and expanded on some additional character generation material and it went into the “halfway to 2044” edition that Mr. Zocchi sold at game conventions.   I have been in the process of expanding even more for a new game, Strange World.
       As for your question, the basic prime requisites describe the physical and mental situation for each player, but are largely silent on their “powers and abilities” and “extraordinary tools.”  So you're right, an Uber looks powerful compared to an Unique or Toolmaster if you just go by prime reqs.  This is sort of like saying “Hawkeye or Black Widow could easily take out Tony Stark or Bruce Banner... But they would have a much harder time against Iron Man or Hulk (let's face it... they wouldn't last a minute).”
       Personally, I always liked playing Ubers, with a few relatively weak Uniques and Toolmasters and a lot of powerful NPC Uniques as background.  Conceptually this is a lot like playing a “fighter class” in a world of magical “wizards” and “clerics.”
       Of course, the whole division into three classes is pretty unrealistic, even in a world of superpowers. In comics, Batman (an Uber?) has access to very powerful cars, a utility belt, and the whole Batcave...so should he really be a Toolmaster? And how to handle heroes like Green Lantern?  Unique or Toolmaster?  There are lots of hybrid superheroes in the comics...Spider-Man, Thor, etc.  At the time, I was certainly influenced by the three character classes in D&D.

TP: Perhaps the most interesting thing about Superhero 2044 is the setting. You carefully designed circumstances which made the existence of super-powered crime-fighters plausible (or at least more plausible than otherwise).  Is there any fiction based on this setting?  Do you maintain rights to the setting?  For that matter, do you maintain rights to the game itself?

DS:  When I first wrote Superhero 2044 the setting was original and as unique as I could make it.  I wanted a situation where there was very advanced technology, so I picked a setting in the future.  I wanted a setting where there human mutations had resulted in super powers.  Unlike many comic book writers, I understood how mutation worked...exposure to radiation might result in profound changes...but not to the individual exposed.  Rather it would be the offspring of the irradiated.   This narrowed down the specific date.  It had to be about two or three generations after a nuclear war that took place in 1990.  Why 1990?  I was also writing a post-nuclear war RPG called “Ruinwar 90.”  So if we'd have adult super-powered humans I figured it would be about 50 years after the end of the 1990 war, i.e. 1994 plus 50 years.
       Next I picked some key technologies that would allow advanced weapons, vehicles, and other gear.   I assumed the key invention would be a “super battery.”
       Finally I wanted a self-contained environment so I created an isolated island where civilization had largely survived the war.   I wanted the environment to be in transition so I created the Freedom League...and then destroyed them so that there was an immediate and pressing need for brand new heroes. This is where the players come in.
       Then I began to populate the environment with non player characters, organizations, and supervillains.  As I previously discussed my plan (never realized) was to provide a lot more background in a follow-up game supplement.
       The main reason this never happened was that after a relatively small run of “Superhero 44” I sold the rights to the franchise to Lou Zocchi and Gamescience.  This was the right decision for me at the time, and the right thing for the game, which got much, much more exposure than it would have if I'd continued to self publish.  But for better or worse the game turned out to be a one shot.
       A lot of this background sat around twenty years.  It then got recycled into my “Strange World” online game and ultimately into the five-part “Strange World” series of short novels.  These are currently available for the Amazon Kindle (just search for Donald Saxman on Amazon and ignore all the boring-looking non-fiction).  You can also get them from my website www.thesestrangeworlds.com.
       The scope and setting of the online game and the novels is not the same as Superhero 2044.  Like I said, I sold the franchise.  But much of the flavor and a few of the characters remain.  For instance, the year 2044 remains, the post-war superhero setting remains and even a version of the “Inguria” setting remains in the form of New Miami.
       On the other hand, the superhero portion of the setting is just a small part of the overall environment. Anyway, feel free to decide for yourself.  Pay particular attention to the super-powered teenager “Cobra.”
       So my future plans?  I'm about a third of the way through a massive 400 page RPG based on the Strange World multi-dimensional setting.  I tried the Kickstarter route and failed miserably to create the necessary buzz, but the game will eventually be completed.
       Or will it?  It's been suggested I should refocus the Strange World RPG and turn it into a new version of Superhero 2044.   That's a possibility.  I'd have to reacquire the right to the franchise from Mr. Zocchi.  He's never particularly been enthusiastic about this but who knows?

TP:  The aliens from Formalhaut (which I assumed to be Fomalhaut) are an important part of the background and (in my opinion) deserve more detail.  How did you 'design' this species and has anyone made a depiction of one?

DS:  There's actually a story behind that.  When I arrived at Indiana University in 1972, I went to the student union for “orientation” and met a couple of upper classmen who were starting a science fiction club.  One was Leif Andersen, and he was a graduate student in planetary geology.   Mind you, humankind knew very little about this science at the time.   We'd landed on the moon, and had what we thought was a reasonable understanding of what was happening on Mars and Venus.  The Jupiter and Saturn moons were still a mystery.  The whole idea of extra-solar planets was, well, science fiction.  Leif knew if it became known he was a big SF fan it would impact his career, so I think he wanted to found the club so he could benefit from it while keeping a low profile.  Alas, he passed away before the Saturn and Jupiter flybys, which was a tragedy on so many levels.
       Anyway, I wanted an alien race for Superhero 2044 and I wanted it to be someplace new, and I initially picked Fomalhaut.  I had a pretty complex back story for them.  Back then, there was no Wikipedia and no easy way to research this kind of thing.   Anyway, well into playtesting Leif noticed what I was doing and let me know that Fomalhaut was a singularly unlikely place for life of any kind to inhabit.  For one thing, it was a triple star.  Who knew?  So the Triple star system of Fomalhaut became the imaginary Formalhaut.  The Fomals became the Formians.   Funny thing though.  The Hubble telescope found one of the first extra-solar planets orbiting one of the Fomalhaut suns.  And there are now planetary evolution models that allow for a life zone in such a system.  It's still a singularly unlikely place for intelligent life to evolve, but not an impossible place.   I wish Leif was around to discuss.  I spent a lot more time designing the culture than I did the Formians themselves.  Most of this didn't end up in the game.  I did provide more detail in the previously-discussed Strange World novels and they will be featured prominently in the eventual Strange World game.
      Here's a backgrounder from the novels:  The Formians are a relatively low tech level race native to Formalhaut 2.  In 2032, human radio astronomers detected a plea for help from this dying race.  Formia was a heavy (1.4 Earth normal gravity), hot world with a high oxygen content.  Industrialization increased global particulate levels and resulted in a planetary ice age (ironically designated “global cooling” by humans).  Worse than the cold, climate change turned much of the planet's free water to ice.  As population increased, and farmland decreased, more and more coal was burned to produce fertilizer and operate greenhouses.  Planetary ecology was on the brink of collapse.  The most advanced Formian technology was approximately that of AD 1900 Earth.   The age of steel was well established and electrification was beginning.  Nuclear power (and weapons) were being conceptualized.  Formians dreamed of space travel, but the best they could do was helium-powered blimps.
       Formians are quadrapods with two legs and two arms, each with five prehensile fingers.  They are about the same size as humans, with shorter legs and longer backs and arms.  Formians are mammals but lay eggs and are completely covered by grey hair that closely resembles penguin feathers.  Male Formians each resemble one another.  Female Formians are somewhat smaller and with somewhat more variation in body shape.  Formians live several hundred years.  They are approximately as strong and fast as humans and are very durable and difficult to injure.  They are very heat tolerant and not very cold tolerant.  Formians must use oxygen masks if they venture above about a mile over sea level.  Formian intelligence is variable.  Formians have photographic memory so “intelligence” often equates to experience and access to education.  Formians have the ability to mimic most sounds they hear, including human speech.  Formians are carnivorous but can't eat Terran food and generally rely on “artificial” food grown in tissue vats.  Formians must take allergy pills while on Earth.  These expensive allergy pills are illegal for humans to possess because they are addictive and hallucinogenic.
       The evacuated Formians prospered on Earth, either forming enclaves or integrating with human culture.  I have some sketches of Formians but hope to eventually have a professional tweak them into something more attractive.  In a case of independent evolution, the closest I've ever seen them come to realization in mainstream art is the intelligent platypus in much lamented My Cage comic.

TP:  Although you did not publish a supplement, Judges Guild published Hazard, an “official game aid approved for use with Superhero 2044.”  I assume it was “approved” by Gamescience.   Did you have any contact with the author, Robert Bingham? What are your thoughts about that supplement?

DS:  As you say, Judges Guild did Hazard and this was approved by Gamescience, but I was not involved.  Their depiction of the world outside of Inguria was fine, but not at all what I had envisioned.  It was very popular and no doubt served to make the game popular too, so who can complain?  I understand a lot of people used it in non-superhero role playing.  As an example of an interesting “parallel universe,” my version of “the world outside of Inguria” was actually the subject of an entire game.  I wrote it as “Ruin War 90” and sold it to Gamescience, and it was published in a very short run as “Nuclear Survivors.”  It was to be a prequel to SH 2044 set in 1990.  There was even a sequel game planned...a space opera set in the 2100s called “Hundred Suns.”  By the time Nuclear Survivors was published Gamma World was popular (as it is to this day) and I think that many would-be buyers thought NS was a rip-off of that game.  Actually, it was written before Gamma World, but even I admit GW was better.  It did however center on the 1990 nuclear war that sparked (literally) the mutations that eventually resulted in Uniques.  As you might imagine, I've recycled many of the concepts from this post-apocalypse game into the Strange World novels too.
       Hazard wasn't alone.  There were other supplements, including one in Different Worlds by Brian Wagner (Issue 5, Dec/Jan 1980, “Super Rules for Superhero 2044”).  Then the 1982 (issue 23) of Different Worlds has a supplement by me called “Part Time Superhero.”  I was planning on doing additional articles for Different Worlds but for one reason or another they never happened.  I also did a tabletop encounter that was demoed and sold out (all 50 copies) at the DeepSouth Con/River Con science fiction convention in the early 1980s.  It had rules for a group of five superheroes fighting five supervillains.  It's so rare even I don't have a copy anymore!  Lots of good stuff in all these if you can find them on eBay.

TP:  What really happened to Dr. Ruby?  Dr. Ruby is a geologist; your educational background includes geology.  How much character identification is going on?

DS:  Dr. Ruby was named after and somewhat based on Indiana University professor of Geomorphology Dr. Robert Ruhe (he passed away in 1993).  He was a real character and a pleasure to learn from and joke with.  At the time the Geology department offered a “Screwball Award” to a professor each Christmas.  This award was based on student voting and the main criteria was overall zany behavior.  Campaigning was always fierce.  I think he won it the year I was writing SH2044 largely because of his threat to flunk anyone who used the word “dirt” in his soils chemistry class.  “In this class, we don't use 'dirt.'  We don't even use 'dirty.'”  He continued, “We say soiled.”  This got into the school paper and even in the Indianapolis mainstream paper.
       Anyway, Mike Ford (who did the part for the “what really happened to Dr. Ruby” series based his drawings on life and pretty well nailed him I think.
       What happened to him?  I have two versions.  During the 1990s when I was running the first Strange World online game, Ruby managed to get into the tunnels that led to different parallel universes and found there was a universe where each of the illustrated outcomes had occurred – except the “really dead” option.  He learned that if he ever returned to his home universe he probably wouldn't survive.  He ended up a kind of traveling supervillain.
       However, that outcome came later.
       It was my original intent that the “lava suit” outcome was the real one.  In fact, I started a “choose your own adventure” type game that explored this.  I never finished it and the original (handwritten) manuscript is either lost or at the bottom of some 40 year old box in Public Storage.
       It's doubtful it will ever be revived but just in case I should put the obligatory spoiler warning about now.
       The adventure starts when a hideously burned man in a space suit is discovered dead in Battery Park.  The authorities decide it was one of the asteroid miners testing out an experimental spacesuit designed to survive re-entry.  (This is somewhat based on an old “Superman” TV show where a drowned man in a deep sea diver suit is discovered in an alley in Metropolis.)  The player/superhero thinks otherwise and eventually tracks down Ruby to his subterranean lair (protected by lava moats).  If they survive they just might manage to prevent Ruby from destroying the island's geothermal power station.
       The adventure also reveals a good deal of background about Dr. Ruby.  In his younger says he had experimented with protection against lava but his partner died in an accident.  Ruby blamed the Science Police for the accident (with a certain degree of justification as it turns out).  He went on to perfect the lava suits and realized that they would also protect against high intensity radiation.  He eventually ended up in London, where he hoped to loot the radioactive, half melted remains of the British Museum.  While doing this, he discovered the notes and journals of Professor Moriarty including “Dynamics of an Asteroid.”  This started him on his path of revenge.
       Using instructions from “Dynamics” he deflected the orbit of a large asteroid to impact on earth.  The Science Police formed a rare and tenuous alliance with the asteroid miners to place a nuclear device on the asteroid and break it apart and deflect its path.  Recall that one of the reasons the Science Police was created was to keep all forms of nuclear power and nuclear weapons off Earth.  Ruby then stole the bomb and returned the asteroid to its original orbit.
       He then devised a plan to nuke Science Police headquarters (and a good deal of the surrounding city).  Instead, the superheroic Freedom League attacked and were nearly all killed when the bomb detonated in an uninhabited area.  Ruby was widely thought to have died too, but he had escaped to his lair to sulk and plan.
       And who was the original man in the space suit?  A kidnapped biologist forced to clone a frozen Tyrannosaurus Rex (Ruby had also looted a map for the monster's Arctic resting place from London).  How much identification is going on?  Well, if I was a supervillain, I wouldn't have left the heroes in the dinosaur cage where they might conceivably escape. I'd have just dumped them into the lava moat.

TP:  That doesn't seem very sporting.  Regardless, thank you for taking the time to answer these questions.