From: Anders Sandberg (asa@nada.kth.se)
Date: Wed Apr 14 1999 - 13:08:58 MDT
"john grigg" <starman125@hotmail.com> writes:
> I found it somehow hilarious visualizing in my mind one of the most
> intelligent individuals I know of playing the "Marvel Superhero's"
> role-playing game! Even in my highschool the game was scoffed at for
> being crudely simple in design, nothing compared to "Champions"
> or "DC Hero's". But I still loved that game! I am to this day a
> huge Marvel and X-Men fan, and the simple game mechanics were fine by
> me.
:-) I must admit I had some misgivings about it, because I'm not that
fond of the superhero genre (Moore's _Watchmen_ excluded) for various
intellectual reasons. But sometimes it is fun to admit that you're
childish and enjoy the play. After all, there is no contradiction
between being mature and enjoying "childish" things (as if children
had bad taste!).
(the game system was BTW the second edition, a nice upgrade that
manages to work very well with the style of the game)
> I remember creating my characters for my game and wishing that I
> could have personal attributes and powers like they had. I think
> moments like those put me on the road toward extropianism.
The problem is that most of the superheros just "get" these nifty
powers - fall into nuclear reactors, are born mutated or some spacegod
decides to give them superpowers. The IMHO most interesting category
are the "self-made" superheroes, people who start out normal but make
themselves something more. They might not be particularly realistic
(ever noticed that science is almost never done by teams, and that
even the most amazing discoveries never percolate into the market?)
but they are great symbols for self-improvement.
> Anyway, I want to say Anders that I love your website. I was amazed
> my the scale and breadth of it. Maybe if I can make it from Alaska
> to California this summer for the Extro I could actually meet you in
> person. My ancestors on my father's side came from Sweden and
> Norway, though I don't a word in either language, take care!
I look forward to it! I'll be at Extro4.
-- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Anders Sandberg Towards Ascension! asa@nada.kth.se http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/ GCS/M/S/O d++ -p+ c++++ !l u+ e++ m++ s+/+ n--- h+/* f+ g+ w++ t+ r+ !y
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