Head on a Pike Poll

Happy Monday morning, everyone!

I woke up this morning to see (via Kevin Drum) that Felix Salmon is worried about a revolution in the United States. I was boggled, since my friends still seem more upset at Battlestar Galactica than Wall Street or the Treasury, but maybe I'm misreading things. I decided ... it's time for a poll!

Let's say you get your hands on ONE of the following people, and get to CHOP OFF THEIR HEAD and put it ON A PIKE. Who do you choose? (Sorry, I don't have an extended account, so you'll have to give your answer in comments.)

1. Edward Liddy, AIG CEO
   
2. Timothy Geithner, Secretary of the Treasury
   
3. New York State Senate leaders, responsible for raising your subway fare by 25% while cutting service
   
4. Battlestar Galactica executive producer Ron Moore

C'mon, let's start the week right, by putting all that hate to the test!

Disappointed at Champions MMO

I stopped by the Champions Online website, and damn was I disappointed. According to the FAQ: "Champions Online does not use the HERO System." Goddamn it! It looks like they're using Champions for the background, not the rules, which seems a little weird to me, since I never thought the Champions universe was all that interesting. The rules were the whole point!

For those of you who are new to RPGs and never played Champions, let me just say it was the primordial point-build system; like GURPS or Tri-Stat, but 10 times as disgusting. The point wasn't to actually play the game -- the rules were so cumbersome it took forever to do anything -- as to create the most obscene characters possible, by abusing the rules as shamelessly as you could get away with. Third edition understood this appeal, and gave us some gloriously disgusting examples:

• "PlanetMan: This is your average guy -- with the ability to shrink planets down to pocket size ... if he is annoyed, he pulls one out and throws it, turning the Shrinking off while one of his six DNPCs teleports him to another dimension...
  
• "Landlord: For only a handful of points, you can build a base with grounds that cover the known universe. The Landlord bought it. He owns everything. And for 165 more points, Landlord can have 4 billion loyal followers (that's everyone on Earth)[at the time].
  
• "NovaMan: A man with an explosive temper. If bothered while in his private intensive care ward, he explodes, doing about 700d6. This will level skyscrapers within about a kilometer radius..."
  

Now what kind of spoilsport would keep guys like NovaMan out of their MMO game worlds? Game designers have no sense of adventure anymore.

Update: Joking aside, I really do admire the HERO system, even if it was an easy game to satirize and it probably wouldn't work in an MMO.