Grozz keeps gettin' graphic...plus, a Soldier!

I hate to start out posts by just lamenting my lack of posts...

BUT...man, I'm really having a tough time working regular blogging back into my schedule, aren't I?

Luckily, Grozz has me covered!  If I can't post my own thoughts, I can at least update my buddy Art's graphic novel reviews every so often.  So...that's what I've done.  He led with Scott Pilgrim & the Infinite Sadness and has now added The Punisher: Born to the list.  Check out the Gettin' Graphic With Grozz page for the full (yet concise) reviews...!

Image link

And to celebrate the Punisher's appearance among the selections on that page, I though it'd be fun to stat out old Frank (or, more specifically, a rather young Frank) using the Soldier class I recently wrote about...

(More soldiers to come, I think...!)

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Frank Castle

(Francis G. Castle, born Castiglione)

Soldier, Level 2

Image from the Marvel Database.  Plus, check out Kelvin Green's excellent breakdown of this issue from his exploration of Marvel Comics' 1991 offerings.

Human, 25 years old

Affiliation: United States Marine Corps

STR       DEX        CON      INT       WIS      CHA
15 (+1)  13 (+1)   14 (+1)   14 (+1)    16 (+2)    13 (+1)

HP 12     Move 30 ft. (6 units)
Attack Bonuses: +3 melee, +3 ranged (+5 w/Two-handed Small Arms)
Additional notes: Effects of exhaustion treated as one level lower than usual

Proficiencies
Skills: Athletics, Perception, Religion, Survival
Languages: English, Italian, French, Russian, Dari, German, likely others

Saves: Strength, Dexterity
Weapons: All simple and martial weapons; expertise with Two-handed Small Arms
Armor: All armor, shields

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Rehashing a 5e-ish Soldier class...to get me rolling...

Man...I had a nice little blogging rhythm going for a brief span...which I guess was easy enough when I was just doing irregular work from home.  Now that I'm back to "the grind," I'm a bit disappointed in how easily I've let the million and one blog posts I want to write get repeatedly pushed off to another tomorrow.  (I do have kind of a cool job though...where I scan my fingerprint to get into the lab and have to unironically say, "I can't tell you that," when folks ask about some of the details of my work.  It's honestly nothing all that exciting, but it's fun to play important government contractor sometimes...maybe I'll work that into a post at some point...)

Image from Joepedia

So, I need to do something to give me a nudge back into action, to help me maintain my delusion that I'm getting closer and closer to finishing some of the projects I've started over the years, then left to barely keep a heartbeat through a trickle of attention here on Monstrous Matters.  I'm finding that, sometimes, I want to post about something specific, but then I think, "Wait, that'd be better if I ALSO posted this character with it..."  Which then leads to, "Oh, if I'm gonna post that character, I need to outline this class first..."  Which quickly devolves into "How can I write up this class without first finishing that other class I need to compare it to?"  And by that time, I'm well past thinking about whatever post idea prompted the whole chain of events, and the cycle gets to start all over again when I read a science article or see an action figure I want to pick up.

This is (hopefully) a post that's going to make it easier to write down the stuff I want to, when I want to, IF I actually have the will to.  Now that I've posted some thoughts on classes for my fantasy heartbreaker, I want to revisit the Soldier class that I scribbled down a couple years back (with action figures in mind) so that it'll fit the simplified, OSR-inspired, 5e-ish form of Monstrous Heartbreaker classes.  The basic fighting class for the game is The Warrior, which is essentially just a simple set of rules that boost a character's effectiveness in combat in different ways.  I think The Soldier should be similar but give a bit more of an impression of formal training in things besides dealing and taking damage.

As for balance...?  I definitely don't want to end up with comparisons that make one class better than another in every reasonably conceivable RPG scenario.  BUT...I'm also a believer that anything different about two similar components of a game is an opportunity for scenarios where either one can outshine the other.  So let's see where that puts me with...

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Image from Joepedia

The Soldier

Hit Points: [5 + CON] per level  (Hit Die: d10)

Proficiencies
Armor: All armor, shields
Weapons: All simple and martial weapons
Saving Throws: Strength, Dexterity
Skills: Athletics, Survival

All characters have had a life leading up to becoming a 1st-level adventurer, and many have hobbies and interests outside of their main profession.  Decide on some of these details for your character, and select one additional Skill (from the Skill list) and two Tools and/or Talents to represent the proficiencies gained from these activities.

Equipment
Begin with a set of campaign-appropriate equipment (per DM).


Tireless
Beginning at 1st level, you treat the effects of exhaustion as one level lower than usual.


Military Specialty
You have trained for one specific role above others. At 2nd level, choose one or two of the specialties from the following list of items in bold. You gain the underlined items (skills, talents, tools, weapons, and/or languages) as proficiencies. If you already have the proficiency from another source, you gain expertise.

Asterisks (**) indicate the "cost" of each specialty. You may choose one ** specialty, two * specialties, or one * specialty taken at the level of expertise (does not stack with expertise otherwise gained).

Airborne (Athletics, Parachutes) **

Artillery *

Chaplain's Assistant (Perception, Persuasion) **

Cook *

Communications (equipment) *

Diving *

Dog Handler (Animal Handling, Dog Training) **

Electronics *

Hand-to-Hand Combat Instructor (Unarmed Combat, Perception) **

Heavy Weapons *

Intelligence (Perception, Deception) **

Interpreter (Choose four languages) **

[Biome] (Arctic, Desert, Jungle, etc.) Warfare (Nature, Survival) **

Medic (Medicine) *

Pilot (aircraft) (Flying, Aircraft Repair) **

PT Instructor (Athletics, Perception) **

Radar *

Rifle Instructor (Two-handed Small Arms, Perception) **

Sabotage (Insight, Demolitions) **

Small Arms Armorer *

Transportation (Driving, Ground Vehicle Repair) **

Action Surge

Starting at 3rd level, you can push yourself beyond your normal limits for a moment. On your turn, you can take one additional action on top of your regular action and a possible bonus action.

Once you use this feature, you must finish a short or long rest before you can use it again. Starting at 17th level (seriously? good luck to you...), you can use it twice before a rest, but only once on the same turn.


Ability Score Increase
When you reach 4th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1.


Extra Attack
Beginning at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.

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Image from Marvel.com

The idea with this class is definitely to have the skills of a "typical" member of an infantry as the core (so that many members of the Joe team fit the model, and to feed the mechanics of action figure campaign play), but I wouldn't mind having it flexible enough to also cover similar roles like those taken on by the drivers of the Wheeled Warriors' Lightning League, or MCU Sam Wilson's work in the Air Force. The list of options is definitely a work in progress...as I tried to get the ball rolling by looking through some early G.I. Joe file cards and adapting what I found there, but it's surely an effort that could use a deeper dive into that source material, and maybe even a little more reasoning around the balance of specialties (yeah, even after scoffing at the idea of balance up above).

But now that I'm "free" to stat up Soldiers to my heart's content, I suppose I'll see how that all works out...

Thanks for reading!

It's time to get graphic with Grozz...

And now, for something completely different...!

(Sort of.)

I've mentioned my good friend Art (AKA Grozz) before here on Monstrous Matters when I wrote a bit about the boxing microgame Ring Doctors that he inspired me to try creating.  Since then, I've learned that (1) his name is, indeed, Art, and (2) we share many interests beyond the tabletop sports sims that were at the center of our meeting back during Covid.  I'm not even completely sure what he knew about me that led him to take this specific approach, but it was somewhere around the time he left a random voice text that was just a selection from Rorschach's journal (read in character) that I was like, "Yeah, I think this dude is weird enough that we'll probably get along pretty well..."

Grozz

As we talked comics more, I realized that Art took the time...seemingly after every comic he read...to put together concise but detailed reviews of the work he had just made his way through.  As in...it seems to be part of his process...like a comic isn't fully digested until he has it summarized in review form.  And he was about to take a journey through a list he found of the top 100 graphic novels ever.  It's the kind of thing that I would want to share here on the blog if I were ever organized and methodical enough to do it for everything I read.  But, y'know.  I'm not.

BUT...I also thought it'd be cool to collect his reviews in one place.  And since I have a blog about nerd stuff...I have that power.  And so, today I introduce to you a new section of Monstrous Matters...Gettin' Graphic With Grozz.  There's a permalink up there on the menu bar below the header; I'll try to post when new entries are added.  The plan is for them to be collected on that page as long as Monstrous Matters is plugging along as an amorphous expression of my life and interests.  As a bonus (for me)...I've just started a new job and have fallen off of the blogging schedule I managed to build up for a little while there, so this gives me something to make me feel like I'm tending my little corner of cyberspace a little more than I actually am... ;)

I definitely appreciate Art "trusting" me with his reviews!  Obviously, this isn't exactly a hub of internet nerddom, so I'd be a little surprised if the overall number of eyeballs on his work is actually increased significantly by appearing here in addition to the other spots on the web where folks post reviews...

But, hey...you never know.  And to all of you readers/victims of the usual Monstrous Matters content, I hope you enjoy!  It's all definitely a work in progress...please let me know if you have any thoughts or suggestions for making this feature worth even more of your time.

(Oh!  And in case it needs to be said:  Art's opinions, on comics or anything else, are not mine, nor do my opinions = Art's.  And the opinions expressed in "Gettin' Graphic With Grozz" are not the official stance of Monstrous Matters.  I suppose you could say that my opinions actually are the official stance of Monstrous Matters, but that view implies a level of perceived self-importance that makes me pretty uncomfortable, so I'm not gonna be the one who says it.)

Now...first up:  Scott Pilgrim & the Infinite Sadness!

Wheeled Wednesdays: Maybe, someday, in 1:18?

When I was growing up, 3.75" action figures (AKA 1:18, AKA God's scale) were understood to be the default size for any new toyline coming out, especially if the line included a fair number of vehicles.  This is thanks to G.I. Joe and Star Wars, of course...and while there were certainly some iconic action figure lines that deviated from this scale, if they were going to do so, they needed to have a reason.  It has been a lot of fun as a grown-up kid to see characters that weren't originally available in that size (or weren't originally available at all) make their way into 1:18 form through lines like Super7's ReAction Figures.  Several years back, Hasbro even released a San Diego Comic-Con exclusive set that featured characters from brands that spent the '80s in another scale (e.g. MASK, Rom, Visionaries) brought in line with the 4" G.I. Joe figures of the era.

Official product shot, found with this review at the Transformers Wiki Community

Much like MASK, the 1980s Wheeled Warriors toys were released in a much smaller scale than G.I. Joe and Star Wars (and even smaller than MASK, for that matter), which allowed for an extreme focus on cool vehicles without vaulting the toys out of the price range of their target audience.

Image from eBay

My renewed interest in these toys was spurred, at least in part, when I was thinking recently about what other lines or properties I would enjoy seeing with 3.75" figures, and I realized that Wheeled Warriors would be very close to the top of that list (if not at the very top).  I like the idea of having Joe-sized figures to represent the generic folks that came with the toys (like Drill Sergeant's driver above), but since Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors was a reasonably popular cartoon, some action figure customizers have naturally turned their attention to the series, and I'd also like to occasionally look at some examples of these creations here on Monstrous Matters.

The first set of awesome customs is from artist Chris Sizemore, who posts on Instagram as sizemore77customactionfigures and on the HissTank.com boards as Flint_rocks.  Four of the show's heroes, as well as main series baddie Saw Boss, are represented here in the updated (4") G.I. Joe scale.  I definitely recommend clicking over to this thread on the forum to see these in greater detail...!

From the HissTank.com forum

Wheeled Wednesdays: Let's go ahead and get this out of the way about Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors

Okay, after focusing last week on the greatest contribution of the Wheeled Warriors to 1980s pop culture (that theme song!), today we have to come to terms with some of the fundamental issues of the IP.  It's worth it to talk about these things now, so we can keep them in mind while evaluating aspects of the series and toys, and then set them aside as needed to get closer to fully appreciating the franchise.

Image from Wikipedia

#1 - The cartoon is remarkably disconnected from the toys.

This isn't completely out of line with 1980s standards.  With the onslaught of toy/cartoon one-two punches of the era, there were often discrepancies between the onscreen product and the items found on store shelves, especially if the toys included comics giving a glimpse into the world of the toys.  (See, for example, the early efforts of the Masters of the Universe toyline.)  With that said, there's a special kind of disconnect going on here.

The show is called Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors, yet a Jayce figure was never released.  In fact, the figures that came with the toys weren't even given names and were essentially generic soldier-drivers onto which kids could paste whatever background they wanted.  Now, I actually think this is pretty cool.  I had tons of fun with my Wheeled Warriors (despite later trading them for a MASK Switchblade).  It's probably worth noting, though, that my little south Georgia town also didn't even have access to the syndicated show, so the only time I was able to see it (same with MASK, fwiw) is when we visited my grandmother in Florida.  My kid brain definitely conjured whatever version of WTF it was able to grasp when I did finally look through Grandma's TV listings and find this show about a dude named Jayce.

Image from the Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors Wiki

#2 - The cartoon's first episode...and arguably its entire premise...is a mess.

I really look back on the Wheeled Warriors fondly.  I like the idea of playing in that universe, especially in the form given to us by the toys, with a small army of freedom fighters who work to save the galaxy/universe from a cabal of evil plant-brains who are self-aware enough to call themselves the Monster Minds.  And I'd love for that form of the franchise to be tied closely to the cartoon that lots of kids presumably watched in the '80s.  And I've watched the first episode of the show multiple times, wanting to love it each time.

Unfortunately...it just has some issues that are so glaring it's practically impossible to ignore them.

Now...once you get past the first episode, if you just catch up later with where the characters are in their (sort-of) arcs, this isn't much of a problem.  The show is well known for the participation of J. Michael Straczynski in its writing (and world-building?), and that may be why it comes across as so much stronger after that introductory story.  In fact, the last couple of episodes are probably some of the best 1980s toy-cartoon tales I've ever watched.  (Seriously, just find out the basics of the universe and skip to the last couple of episodes if you want to start out enjoying the series...)

But that pilot...oh man...

There's no way I'm going to be able to do justice to this whole topic in one hastily-tapped-out blog post, so I'd like to direct you to some YouTube creators who have delivered excellent looks at the series.  First of all, the channel Secret Galaxy (formerly Toy Galaxy, and arguably the best channel on YouTube) has a really nice overview that you can find here.

Second...and I'll embed these here...the channel RetroBlasting produced a three-part series on the franchise that I would imagine has served as a pretty comprehensive introduction to the IP for many people in the nearly 12 years since its upload.  Let me note...and I'm not completely sure why I feel the need to note this...that I really became aware of the dude in RetroBlasting's pair of hosts when he had a weird online beef with another guy whose Masters of the Universe (and general toy industry) content I liked.  It gave me a weird view of the guy to start with (one that was potentially completely unfair, btw) and has kind of made me assume this fellow's general approach to...everything...is to act annoyed by it.  Well, whether that's the truth or not, that attitude is pretty perfect for looking at the Wheeled Warriors and dissecting the franchise's foibles.  (And either way, these folks know their stuff and make great videos...)

The first episode here is largely a skit (that's actually pretty funny and demonstrates some of the fundamental problems of the IP well).  Part 2 covers the cartoon, and Part 3 hits the toys.  If you think they're worth a bit of your time, I hope you enjoy...!

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I'm still going to game-ify the Wheeled Warriors on here.  Soon.  Just a reminder, I want to be able to make a character sheet for this guy:

Image from eBay

Musical Monday: Seal sings "kissed by a rose on the grey," and my world is falling apart (a little bit)

"Kiss From a Rose" has to be one of the most well-known and well-loved pop songs to be heavily associated with a superhero movie.  Originally released in 1994, its inclusion on the soundtrack to 1995's Batman Forever (not a bad movie btw...something maybe suited for a future post...) is what vaulted it into the public...ear.  And it does work amazingly well with the Batman mythos, since Bruce Wayne's lasting emotional trauma after the death of his parents gives a simple connection to the song's rose on their grave(s).

Except I just found out yesterday that he isn't singing "grave," he's singing "grey."  And I'm not sure how to feel about it.  It seems to be a pretty commonly misheard lyric...I'm definitely not the only one to be shocked by it, and I found at least one person suspecting the Mandela Effect at play.

Which would make sense...I mean, we even see the Waynes' graves, and roses, in the music video, don't we?

Wait...don't we?  Wtf do I remember THAT from?

Hmm.  What else am I going to find out about all of this?

Wait a minute, Val Kilmer died?!

Okay, I'm leaving this and coming back to it...

The last skill list I'll ever need...

...because it'll work for everything!

Fantasy?  Check.

Historical?  Of course.

Modern?  Yup!

Superheroes?  Absolutely!!

TRON-style interprogram conflict within a computer system?  Uh...

Maybe not everything.  I guess.  But I do want to have one that I can apply across most genres I'll be playing...and potentially mixing into the games that sprout from my fantasy heartbreaker.

Well...I wanna create stats for Mutt from the G.I. Joe team, right?  So let me think through this...

The core of the game is D&D Fifth Edition.  It has 18 skills, which were kept identical in the transition from the 2014 to 2024 editions and which are used as-is by the 5e-forked rules of Tales of the Valiant.  They're a solid set for fantasy and in general hit a nice level of broadness (breadth? too weird a word for this use...).  Some of the really specific choices from 3e/3.5 have been absorbed by others, and we're left with a selection of nouns that feel more specific than ability/attribute descriptors, but that all could also be subdivided into more specific tasks.  So...no Use Rope.  They should all stay; here's our base:

• Athletics

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• Acrobatics
• Sleight of Hand
• Stealth

-----
• Arcana
• History
• Investigation
• Nature
• Religion

-----
• Animal Handling
• Insight
• Medicine
• Perception
• Survival

-----
• Deception
• Intimidation
• Performance
• Persuasion

And vehicles, FWIW, are treated as Tools, so a different kind of proficiency entirely.

Now, I consulted with a couple of modern takes on 5e to see how they deal with the skill list -- Everyday Heroes and Ultramodern5.  They're both worth looking at!  And since both games are pretty open and have SRDs just a search away, I think it's probably safe to talk about their skill selections pretty...er, openly.

So...both end up with 22 total skills.  Ultramodern5 does this by just adding four more on top of the 5e list: Computer Use, Demolitions, Engineering, and Sciences (all designated for use with Intelligence, although I'm not TOO concerned with that yet, as I think it might be best to just let every skill check have its associated ability determined at the time of the check).  And vehicles, once again, are handled by a proficiency separate from skills.

Image from DriveThruRPG

Everyday Heroes, meanwhile, also has a list of 22 but goes about it in a different way.  For one thing, as you might have imagined I would get to by my mentions of them above, Vehicles is a skill in itself.  The rules also drop Arcana, History, Nature, Religion, and Animal Handling.  Arcana is arguably gone just to fit the modern setting better.  It's also possible that it is simply taken up into the new skill Social Sciences, much as History and Religion must be.  Natural Sciences can then absorb Nature.  (Getting rid of Animal Handling is a little bit of a head-scratcher for me, though.)

Image from DriveThruRPG

The other additions are Endurance, Computers, Mechanics, Security, Arts and Crafts, and Streetwise.  (Oh...and if it matters, Medicine is moved from Wisdom to Intelligence as the standard base ability.  I do like it better with INT...)

As I mentioned above, I want to take the Ultramodern5 route and just keep the basic 18 from 5e, adding on what's necessary.  So, from what I see here...what's necessary?  Both games have a computer skill...that's a good one.  Demolitions?  Nah...I definitely had a phase where I thought Demolitions made sense as a skill, but that just seems so...specific.  It can be a Talent/Aptitude/whatever I end up choosing to call the proficiencies that work kind of like Tools but don't have to be tools.  Same with Security from Everyday Heroes.

I'm fine with just one Sciences skill and letting Nature hang around as a related but not identical set of knowledge that someone may have.  After all, quantum mechanics seems to be at the root of how nature works, but that's not what we mean when we say someone has an understanding of Nature.

Arts and Crafts?  It's broad enough to fit the theme, but just seems...unnecessary.  And do we need Streetwise when we already have Insight, Perception, Survival, and all the skills that describe characters' impact on those around them?  (I don't think so.)

Engineering and Mechanics hit a similar note for the games, and I'm definitely tempted to run with one of those...there is something a bit different about these approaches as compared to the more theoretical angle of the Sciences.  That's a tough one, though...especially since we so often think of the scientists in a story/RPG as the ones who come up with all the gadgets.  I'm leaning no, but with these and Endurance, I could still be convinced either way.

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Alright...uh, drumroll please...?  The WIP skill list for the Monstrous Heartbreaker stands at (and please feel free to check my math on this):

• Athletics

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• Acrobatics
• Sleight of Hand
• Stealth

-----
• Arcana

• Computers
• History
• Investigation

• Medicine
• Nature
• Religion

• Sciences

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• Animal Handling
• Insight
• Perception
• Survival

-----
• Deception
• Intimidation
• Performance
• Persuasion

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I think it might work.  And I'm definitely up for whatever criticisms you may have to send my way...!