More people with powers stories!
about 4 years ago – Fri, Jun 17, 2022 at 04:21:57 PM

The X-Men core struggle dominates the vibe I'm bringing to Lifted Vol 1. Especially early X-Men. Mutants fighting for and against a world that fears them.  It's that X-Gene that ties them all together, like blood. They struggle with their own -Magneto, Apocalypse,  Marauders. They fight humanity -the Sentinels, Trask, Nimrod.   And plenty of Other threats, Shi'ar, Limbo, Mojo World, Arcade and Dracula!!

There are other titles that hit these notes. I've been talking about D.P.7 from Marvel's New Universe series and it seems to have struck a chord with many folks out on the social internet. It was "Heroes" before that was a show. Seven paranormals, patients in a clinic that studied the development of paranormal abilities, and add conspiracy!  These were seven regular folks that developed powers during Marvel's "white event" that gave powers to many others. The series had that underdog, extended family vibe familiar to X-Men titles. It had a great premise and run, though short, maybe two years?! 

It's a solid gaming setup. You visit this Lifted Research Clinic to get some answers about your new abilities. We play to find out how deep the rabbit hole goes!

Later we'd get Gen13 and DV8 from Image. Cool looks and powers and fight scenes, but doesn't hit like D.P.7 or the X-Men did.  Jim Lee's WildCATs connects...but that's another post!

We're closing in on our funding goal folks. That last mile is the work, we all know this.  Please keep sharing, ranting, and raving, and boosting the word! I love it!! If you happen to know Pepe Larraz, maaaan...I'd love to commission him to do some Lifted art!!

-Mad Jay

Halfway There!
about 4 years ago – Mon, Jun 06, 2022 at 06:21:19 PM

We passed the 50% mark of our funding goal, with 150+ backers, thank you very much! I appreciate the help shared and pledged to reach this goal. We still got some miles to go to reach our true goal, but I'm confident that with your help, we can do this! 

I've been hitting the streets to find super talents to team up with as guest writers for Lifted. I've found a couple of masked superhero vets who are joining us and I cannot wait to share who!!  We've also got a couple of designs in playtesting for moving Cortex Pathways from a chart to a card deck, still playtesting it but soon! If you don't know Pathways is a great session zero tool to make characters and setting details like situations,  prime NPCs, important devices, or connections.

Beyond just the Lifted setting in the core book, there will be sections covering approaches to running superhero games. Like how and when to run a Session Zero; Setting up premises for a one-shot session. Handling multi-session arcs without railroading and some best practices for online play and tools.  We'll also cover some approaches for handling scale and lethality in Cortex. I like my games on the grim side, some folks like a more upbeat tone - Cortex can support either mechanically and we'll get into how.

But It hasn't been all work! I learned this week the MCU Avengers vs Ultron fight is a metric for folks to feel out a game system.  I'd prefer the throwdown in X-Men #194. Juggernaut vs X-Men vs Nimrod. What comic book throwdown would you like to see in a supers game?

Until next time!

100 Backers in - Unleash the Leviathan!
about 4 years ago – Wed, Jun 01, 2022 at 09:06:18 PM

Welcome to Update #1 as we cross 100 backers and closing in on 50% funding.  Not gonna lie, I had bewildering visions of funding millions in 60 seconds! But, this is my dream hustle, and I'm old enough to know it needs the hustle part. So we'll get this done backer by backer and I'm in better company than most! Thank you for being here, for teaming up with us, putting your dollars down and supporting this project. I always(and still) wanted to be a comic-book artist, but my folks said it wasn't a real job...but the dream won't let go. Different medium, same dream.

As a kid, I loved when comics did a reboot or started a new arc and launched an issue with a montage double-page cover spread of what you could expect coming up! You'd see updated versions of old foes, new foes never seen before. New costumes on characters. It was fantastic! MAD LOVE to Kurt Komoda. He did an AMAZING job taking my nerdy, fan-boy descriptions and making them real. The Lifted RPG variant cover showcases the main antagonists you can expect to see in Vol 1.  And if I get my druthers...we'll have a wrap-around cover!

Let's break down this KS exclusive cover starting here:

What if Atlantis was found and it wasn't a lost civilization of advanced technology. What if it is the place where dark forces were defeated in an ancient battle and were sealed away for eternity.

And what if not just humans that can manifest powers. What if it happened to an octopus. An octopus that had access to Atlantis, the prison. 

What if this octopus is beyond pissed and absolutely, positively must kill every human being on the planet...to save its own kind.

We call it the Leviathan, and we know that Plato lied.

Until Next time!