Hello! Welcome to the fourteenth installment of Son of Thunder!

I am getting ready to go the Forte Twentieth Anniversary Party!

That something so good has lasted so long almost defies description. It seems like yesterday, literally, when the first episodes of Forte were launched. Since that time we've had many, many people come through the ranks, and it's in memory of every one of them that I respectfully attend.

After all, how many comics companies really lasted all that long, or put out 328 issues, for that matter? Sure, it's not quite the same thing as creating actual comics - we got through a year's worth of comic plots in say, two issues?

I look on Forte as kind of a lesson in life. I had tried to set up a few campaigns before, from Notre Dame's Aegis (one of the better campaigns I ran) to the three or four times at the Gametable to the Paragons and MidKnights in Sacramento. Then, and only then, came Forte.

That's what, six or seven campaigns (and for all I know, there were plenty more that never even made it that far) before finally getting the players, the game-world, the power levels, the villains and the other opposition, right.

And when we finally got it just how we wanted it - what fun we had! And for that matter, are still having.

Life's lesson: Failure leads to success, eventually, if you constantly correct what failed you the first time. Or: Try and try again. Or: Never give up. Or... well, make your own phrasing, I think you all get what I mean.

My very best friends in the world (well, excepting Maggie, but she's a ringer :) ) are from that game. Bar none. We've kept in touch, to varying degrees, throughout the years, and some phrases (... the Sorceror!) get used and reused over the years (often to much better effect!). And Mike even resurrected the Clobberin' Times, online this time, so we could continue enjoying our and other games (not to mention Mike's Forte-a-thon).

What a weird and wonderful ride.

More on what happened at the Forte Con, next issue.

Another Anniversary

Speaking of things that I never thought would last...

Fifteen years ago a group of us were at the San Diego Comic Con and decided to make characters for a game. Frankly, I hadn't played all that much, but when I did I was pretty much just been running through characters in Mark Arsenault's games (great guy... not quite as good GM) and was getting rather tired of putting all that effort into a character only to have the origin last longer than the game.

So, in true Forte fashion, we discussed (some might say argued a bit) to make sure that, with only six characters, no-one had the same powers or skill sets. Matter of fact, if I recall correctly, the only reason I ended up playing Americana, your classic brick, was because I waited to see what everyone else had first, then designed her.

Note, I didn't say, "created".

Truth to tell, Americana was an amalgam of several characters I had created previously. Some had entirely different powers. Some had names like Wintergreen (still love the name) and Black Ice (that one too) and Doc Rocket (Fifties prof with pipe and a rocket pack - real hard to figure out what those characters were like, right?). There was even a patriotic heroine in there called Americana - one of my first heroines, actually.

They all had something else in common - they'd been played maybe once, if at all.

You see, I had a whole binder full of heroes that never quite made it into Forte. Many were just outlines, really, or a cool costume design I didn't want to lose. Occasionally some would be brought into the game (Four Aces come to mind) and even fiction, but for the most part they remained in the binder.

Some of that binder's heroes were player characters I had created, only to have the campaign implode after one or two episodes. Mr. Mist (later renamed the Thunderer - didn't help) was the first character I ever ran, back in my Notre Dame days. Captain Comet was my first attempt at an African-American hero, because even my somewhat conservative self didn't like the idea of an all-white-guy hero team. Black Ice set a record for appearances in a Mark Arsenault game - two (great guy... but GM? well, not quite so great).

I didn't want to just pull a character out for ConTinuum, though. Most of the characters in that binder had been made for a specific campaign, and would require major reworking to fit the ConTinuum world. For instance, "fewer heroes" meant "more powerful" individuals. Fewer heroes also meant that each hero should be made as if he or she were starring in their own comic book, rather than a team book.

An aside. Ever notice how Superman and the Flash are often run kind of "dumbed down" in the JLA? If you really think about it, what problem couldn't Superman and the Flash solve together? I mean, Flash routinely unwinds tornados, for Pete's sake! He's more than fast enough to pound any spell caster or energy projector, he can hit a brick something like forty-two times or suffocate him in a whirlwind or pick him up in backwash and take him through a few trees or throw things at hypervelocity! And who's really going to even hit a guy who can run out to Paris for a Coke and return in three seconds?

Well, anyway, when I made Americana, I simply took a lot of my favorite aspects of many of my old characters.

Having a police family? Always wanted to explore that in a character, good and bad. Took that from one of my earlier characters, Black Ice (why not? It's not like it had even been touched upon in a game). The costumer, Beth? Took that general concept from Rex the Tailor, an (allegedly) comedic strip I ran in Klordny, years back, initially based on cartoon Rex Joyner's love of female costumes (see? I never throw out any idea!). Eric Crane, secret agent, cameraman? Aaron Storck (the name, the shirts, and the love of Wham!).

When it came to powers, I briefly flirted with all sorts of crazy things, like giving her fireworks powers or ties to the Liberty Bell. But I quickly realized that just having powers would be what set her apart in this game.

So I gave her enormous strength, defenses high enough and tough enough to deflect almost any conventional weaponry, and a few little things like running faster than normal and flight and secretly seeing in the dark. No combat levels, no odd but useful skills like security systems and weaponsmith. By and large, she's about as straightforward as they come.

But in a world where, essentially, no one has superpowers - that's enough!

Still. Seriously.

A black woman?

Well, at the start of things, I had hoped for a different viewpoint for a character. After all, I spend enough time as me as is. I had run a black character before with Captain Comet, and I thought it would mildly shake up the group dynamics a bit and not make us the White Guy's League of America.

I had hoped to get a few games out of her.

Well, here it is fifteen years and 100 issues later. Americana has lasted far longer than I had ever dreamed. She's given me insight into many situations over that time, and I've tried to write stories from her perspective rather than mine.

But one thing we do have in common - our absolute love of America. I've had to look up some things for the stories, but you'd be amazed how much is off the top of my head. I'd like to think that no matter if she was a he, or white or Hispanic, Americana would still be visiting the Jefferson and Lincoln Memorials fairly often, would still know all the verses of the Battle Hymn of the Republic, and would still live by the motto of God, Country, Family.

Happy 100 Issues, Americana.

This Issue!

Americana learns to her regret that someone has been watching her - and may know the secret she has been trying to keep hidden for so long: her identity! Read Tale of the Tape!

Americana is an unexpected guest on the most-watched daytime TV talk show - all six of her? Read Next, on Opal...

Next up, Americana is invited to Come to Justice, a small town in Kentucky with a big secret! Can this tiny town save Americana from certain doom?

Americana has been kayoed before. She has been captured. She has even had attempts made on her life. But never has she been abused... humiliated... broken... Beaten.

This is it. Americana lies utterly defeated, her spirit shattered, her body broken, her secrets stripped away. Surrounded by mocking enemies, unable to defend herself, and with Washington's halls of power squarely in the villains' sights, this is so-o-o not the time for her powers to run out... Let fly "The Fires of Jubilee!".

Artwork

Well, I have some more artwork in the Americana art galleries, most all of it from a time when she felt a little better. Check it out in Americana's Art Gallery #15!

Next time

Well, I guess a funeral is in order...

Who, then, will take up the mantle? Jason? Beth? Melanie Brown?

Guess we'll just have to wait and see...

That's it for this time.

See you in Seattle, Forte!

A-a-a-and let's go Cubs!!

K.C.