#Doomsday Clock Sucks | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

theresattrpgforthat · 4 months

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Games with an atypical division of Player/GM responsibilities? For example, in Fellowship, the players have final say in lore/world building questions, not the GM. (Not counting GMless games, which have atypical GM duties by default)

Alternatively, if that's too niche: any games explicitly designed for rotating GMs and/or 'West Marches' style campaigns.

THEME: Unique Player Responsibilities / Rotating GMs

Hello there! I hope to do your ask justice, although I feel more at home talking about the first half of your question than the second. I’ll ask my followers to supply some more suggestions in the tags/reblogs, and throw at you what I have!

Fae’s Anatomy, by Hebanon Games.

Fae’s Anatomy is a comedic storytelling RPG wrapped around a challenging logic puzzle, recreating the high-stakes melodrama of medical procedurals like Grey’s Anatomy, House, and General Hospital.

Anybody can be an expert in Fae’s Anatomy. The game is set in a world where all forms of magic, spirituality, and mysticism are science. Science? Just another form of wizardry. Quackary, superstition, and pseudo-science work, but so does chemotherapy, antibiotics, and sound medicine.

In many ways, I’d say Fae’s Anatomy feels like a typical ttrpg: you have one person giving hints and clues to the rest of the players, who will use certain skills and abilities to solve a problem. But the closest role to the GM role - the Patient - is simply different from the doctors in what limits them. The Patient is suffering from some kind of mysterious illness, and while they have a little bit of information available to their general illness, the app presented to them to help them run through the diagnosis keeps the solution obscured enough to keep them on their toes. The Patient also has to role-play their symptoms well enough to help point the doctors in the right direction. In some ways, it feels like Fae’s Anatomy is an elegant form of charades - and if you want to hear how this game plays, you can check out the special episodes that Lawful Great Adventures recorded using this game!

Apocalypse Keys, by Rae Nedjadi @temporalhiccup

The Doomsday Clock is ticking down and emotions run high as you and your team of DIVISION agents struggle to find the Keys before the villainous Harbingers unlock the Doors of Power and bring about the apocalypse.

As an Omen class monster, you are the only thing capable of holding back the apocalypse. Combat occult threats and investigate supernatural phenomena alongside your team of supernatural agents working for the shadowy DIVISION. But in a world that shuns monsters like you, only your deepest, most heartfelt bonds can grant you the power to stop those who seek to unlock Doom’s Door.

There are two ways in which Apocalypse Keys uniquely empowers the players in ways I consider slightly unorthodox. Firstly, there’s the fact that the lore of DIVISION, the shadowy government agency that holds your monsters leash, isn’t fully fleshed out at the beginning of play. It’s slowly uncovered with each mission and playbook advancement, with the players being presented with questions and workshopping the answers together.

Second is the mystery mechanic, which was popularized by Brindlewood Bay and The Between, and also made its way into games such as External Containment Bureau and Bump in the Dark. While the GM designs clues and thinks about what kinds of Harbingers might be responsible for this specific apocalypse, it’s up to the players to decide what the answer to the mystery actually is - and it’s the player’s roll that determines how accurate they are.

Brinkwood, Blood of Tyrants, by Far Horizons Co-Op.

Mask up. Spill blood. Drink the Rich.

The world is not as it should be. The rich feed, literally, upon the poor, as blood-sucking vampires who barely bother to conceal their horrific, parasitic nature. The downtrodden peoples of the world struggle under the burdens of rent, payable through the sweat of their labor or the blood of their veins. Evil has triumphed. Many have given in to despair. But all is not lost.

In Brinkwood, you take on the role of renegades, thieves, and rebels struggling for freedom and liberation in a castylpunk world controlled by vampires. Radicalized by tragedy, you have taken up arms and fled into the forests, where you were taken in by unlikely allies - the fae, forgotten creatures of myth - who offered a different path and the means to fight back against your oppressors. Masks, forged of old wood and older magic, are the final tool left to fight a war long ago lost. If you wear them, they will take their price, etching themselves upon your very soul. But they will also let you spill the blood of the rich and powerful vampires that now rule the land, and from that blood strengthen yourself and your movement.

There’s a lot of things about Brinkwood that I absolutely love, from the way the mask playbooks are meant to be swapped among the characters/players with every mission, to the slow but steady revolution that you build by fostering connections with various factions in the Bloody Isles. But for the purpose of this request, we need to talk about Your Exquisite Fae.

Your Exquisite Fae is the process by which the group collaboratively creates a faerie patron, otherworldly and uniquely powerful. It’s inspired by the game Exquisite Corpse, which has each player draw a piece of a drawing without knowing what the others have already created. In Your Exquisite Fae, the players receive answers to prompts written by other players but aren’t given hints as to what the context was - and then they elaborate on what those answers mean. For example, one player might state that the Fae has eyes that reflect the night sky, gleaming like a thousand distant starts. The second player might decide that those eyes see the deepest fears of the enemy, giving the group an advantage at finding weaknesses and secrets when spying on vampires.

Ars Magica, by Atlas Games.

Ars Magica is the award-winning roleplaying game by Jonathan Tweet and Mark Rein•Hagen about wizards and their allies in Mythic Europe. This flexible, deeply built world can support games that are historically accurate or fantasy-based, epic or small scale, political or personal.

Players work together to tell the story of their covenant — all of the magi, their companions, and grogs. This history can span decades. It might be heroic, tragic, or both in turn. The covenant could influence the entirety of Mythic Europe or the fates of a small corner of the world.

Spells will be cast. Duels won and lost. Houses may rise and fall. But magic is forever.

The last time I talked about this game, one of my followers pointed out that this was an incredibly complex game that was designed to accommodate rotating GMs. The game styles itself as a troupe-style game, which means you’re not just responsible for your mages, but also your companions and servants. If you want a game with complex relationships and big-picture conflicts, this might be the game for you.

Slugblaster, by Mikey Hamm.

In the small town of Hillview, teenage hoverboarders sneak into other dimensions to explore, film tricks, go viral, and get away from the problems at home. It’s dangerous. It’s stupid. It’s got parent groups in a panic. And it’s the coolest thing ever.

This is Slugblaster. A table-top rpg about teenagehood, giant bugs, circuit-bent rayguns, and trying to be cool.

It may look like a small thing, but during crew creation, each character playbook has specific roles in determining the crew’s resources and relationships. The Grit picks a faction that trusts the crew. The Guts chooses a faction that the crew has somehow annoyed. Each player draws a portal between the known multiverses, but the Smarts draws two. The Chill has final say over where you hang out when you’re not Slugblasting, and The Heart has final say over your crew name.

I’ve drawn direct inspiration from this setup in my own game that I’m playtesting, by giving each playbook final say over some element in the world, and I think it really boosts player agency and gives them control over the kind of story the group wants to tell.

Planedawn Orphans, by Sharkbomb Studios.

Planedawn Orphans is a campaign kit that helps you prepare a campaign for the fantasy role-playing game of your choice. It provides a flexible and versatile framework to start a campaign. The campaign kit will help you get started and provide structure and support, but some assembly is required.

Set in the Planar City, a strange melting pot that connects the vast diversity of the multiverse. You all play Planar Orphans stranded in this city, your original home worlds destroyed, corrupted or lost. A mysterious Patron has brought you together, provided you with a base of operations and tasked you to complete a Planar Key. This key will let you create a new plane for you and your fellow refugees. Your quest will bring you to exotic places filled with strange creatures and bizarre phenomena.

This isn’t a standalone rpg, but rather a campaign kit for whatever system you like - or even multiple systems! I’m recommending this toolkit because I’m actually planning to use it to run a series of rotating-gm games later this year, with a friend of mine. You’re building your own custom dimension by jumping into a series of vastly different worlds, and your home base is built collectively. There’s a lot of player agency and GM agency here, as players have plenty of control over their home dimensions (since they can’t ever go back) and the GMs can take turns designing custom worlds for the party to jump into. I definitely recommend checking it out.

Also Check Out

Asymmetrical Games Rec Post

#rotating gms #unique player responsibilities #tabletop games #indie ttrpgs #dnd #game recommendations #asks #indie ttrpg

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darthkvznblogs · 4 months

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Total non sequitur of a question but what do you think of the DCEU?

I like the non sequitur! I hope y'all don't feel like you can only send me asks about the Kverse lol (though of course I'm always happy to answer those!)

I'll give you a very brief review of each:

-Man of Steel: I enjoyed it for the most part. I don't really gel with all the Jesus-y imagery, the bizarre choices with Jonathan, or the incredible amounts of collateral damage (you can't avoid everything but Superman would definitely try to limit it), but I kinda dig the look of all the Kryptonian stuff, I like Henry Cavill's more brooding Superman, and Zod was a cool antagonist.

-Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice: wayyy too many things going on. I can't McFucking believe they made Jimmy Olsen a CIA plant and killed him off immediately. I don't completely hate that version of Lex Luthor but he gets grating pretty quickly. The Knightmare stuff is pretty eyeroll worthy IMO (especially once they double down on it later). The titular duel is pretty good, but very short, and leads into some of the worst stuff in the movie. Doomsday sucks!

-Suicide Squad: aside from some cool freaky stuff with Enchantress, and Viola Davis and Margot Robbie being great casting choices, this one's kinda nothing to me. Rick Flagg, Capt. Boomerang and Deadshot are various flavors of decent to good. Tried to do a Guardians of the Galaxy-y thing and failed miserably. Top contender for worst Joker adaptation of all time.

-Wonder Woman: Great, if very simple plot-wise. The Ares stuff at the end really lets the rest of the movie down, but most of the movie's very cool and fun. I still get chills from the no man's land scene! Chris Pine's Steve Trevor is pretty damn good (but Chris Pine is just good in general)

-Justice League (Whedon's version): I actually like the choice to have a more colorful look for a Justice League movie, but yeah, not good. To say nothing of the behind the scenes drama, they tried to do what the MCU did with the Avengers with half the build-up. Doesn't feel earned at all. Some good action and character interactions, but that's about it.

-Aquaman: Pretty fun, I really appreciate the commitment to being just kinda bonkers, from the more comic-accurate looks to the ginormous underwater battle. I don't really love Momoa's Aquaman but I didn't mind him too much on his own.

-Shazam!: One of my favorites in the DCEU. Doesn't overcomplicate itself, doesn't exhaust itself with references to other stuff, just a good story about found families with real heart, some good humor, and a decent villain.

-Birds of Prey: Other than the bizarre choice to give Cassandra Cain's name to a character that couldn't be more different, I fucking love this one. Very fun, great action, and it reminded me I have a crush on Mary Elizabeth Winstead lol

-Wonder Woman 1984: Sucks. I hate to say it, I went in thinking I'd really enjoy it but it was genuinely painful to watch for the most part. Not even the power of Pedro Pascal and Chris Pine combined could save this one.

-Zack Snyder's Justice League: Definitely an improvement overall compared to the theatrical release, but dear lord it did not need to be 4 hours long. Flash's turn-back-the-clock gambit was super cool. Legit kinda ruined by the Joker monologue in the Knightmare, lol.

-The Suicide Squad: Didn't watch it! I saw how bloody and murder-happy it'd be and just shrugged and moved on. I'm sure it's as good as people say, but I'd have to be in a very particular mood to wanna watch it, tbh.

-Black Adam: Enjoyed it quite a bit, though the presence of the JSA in the modern day with very little explanation is a bit jarring. The Rock's Black Adam is a bit too heroic and personable for my tastes but brutal enough that I'm okay with it. Kinda loved Pierce Brosnan's Doctor Fate (except for the suit design, I hated it)

-Shazam! Fury of the Gods: Haven't watched it yet, but I don't hear great things about it, so not super enthused about it. Probably will watch it eventually.

-The Flash: I categorically refused to watch this one because 1) I got spoiled on what happens to Supergirl and y'all know I love Kara so it pissed me off, and 2) the CGI nostalgia fest felt extremely cynical and cash-grab-y to me. Not particularly interested in watching this one, but maybe someday.

-Blue Beetle: Gods, I really wanted to watch this one in theaters. It was in my town for all of two days and I couldn't go :( I plan on watching this one soon-ish - even if it's really bad I'll probably enjoy it, I'm a Jaime simp haha :P

-Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom: Genuinely didn't know this one was coming out. Also not particularly interested in watching it, but also not against it, so I'll probably end up putting it on some really boring weekend hahaha.

#ask box #dceu #snyderverse

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opticblasting · 1 year

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geoff johns might be the most fraudulent big 2 writer ever.

infinite crisis sucks, his flash sucks, his green lantern is good but it is also the sole reason why green lantern as a franchise has been screwed over atm, flashpoint sucks, his justice league is boring, doomsday clock and three jokers are some of the worst comics big 2 has ever put out, flashpoint beyond is. well. and then there's his jsa obsession.

#geoff johns #dc comics #zero.txt

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k05h3k · 1 year

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Seeing days passing is like, "wow, this sucks." Like watching a doomsday clock but not being able to do shit about it

#koshek.txt

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speedierthanasubmarine · 1 year

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My list of least favorite to favorite Batman actors:

Note: I’m a random person on the Internet, and my opinion should not affect you to the point of rudeness, harsh comments, or any sort of discourse whatsoever. I never say DNI, because you can interact with whoever you want, I’m not your mom, but if you want to start an argument…

DNI.

Also, I am an idiot and I’m aware of that, please don’t judge me.

Lastly, I’m excluding Kevin Conroy from the list because all his works vary, I either love his voice or I hate his voice, there is no in between. (Note: this was in my drafts for a very long while, during which Mr. Conroy had passed away. RIP Mr. Conroy.)

Without further ado: My Batman actor list:

9. Adam West- I personally didn’t enjoy his Batman… the whole vibe was too old and silly looking for me, but if I’d been alive at the time it came out I think I would’ve enjoyed it. It’s like the way my little siblings feel about the original yugioh series.

8. Battinson (Robert Pattinson)- I have a whole speech for this but I’ll try to be brief. Batman is the second smartest character in the DC universe (after Lex Luthor, a fact I think is still up for debate.) and the second best in hand to hand combat (after Lady Shiva which is not up for debate, I totally get that.) He can toss a man across a room with one hand, aim a gun without looking and grapple across cities supporting himself and all his body weight and muscle mass with one arm. He can learn a person’s tells, weaknesses, and inner natures after a few moments of conversation. Guy is a freakin BEAST of a man. Battinson gave me Walmart edition Tim Drake Batman from battle of the cowl vibes. He was like the brown ninja from Lego ninjago. (I don’t know if that guy went on to become great or something, all I know is that when I stopped watching the show he was a liability at best.) He didn’t feel like batman, or at least any batman I knew and liked to see. I don’t know if they were going for like, detective comics batman, but even then I felt like he fell flat and did a poor job. That’s my opinion and that’s that.

7/6/5. (Totally equal.) George Clooney, Val Kilmer, and Michael Keaton- Movies were fine, they weren’t anything special for me in terms of acting, no issues, no highlights.

4. Batfleck (Ben Affleck)- LISTEN I know his movies sucked, I’m not defending those, however he did a great job of playing the white knight, future state, urban legends, Injustice, Heroes in crisis, Doomsday clock, basically any elseworld Batman I ever read and liked- he pulled off the vibes. The paranoia, the desperation, the determination- he did those very well. He was the best BRUCE WAYNE. His Batman performance was eh, nothing special, weird suit, but his Bruce performance? Phenomenal. Especially when he had to be Bruce, party boy Brucie, shaking hands, “I bought the bank” Bruce, and then when he was “even a 1% chance” contingency, decoding files, nightmare having Bruce, and when he was working out, investigating, preparing Bruce. He did them all justice (pun intended.) better than pretty much everyone else. (UPDATE) I just remembered this list is for Batman actors, not Bruce, so I’d put him at 7, maybe 6. I’d change the list, but I’m lazy. (I also wrote the word Bruce so many times the word has lost all meaning.)

3. Jason O’mara- I thought he was great. I loved his voice, it was basically perfect. 10/10 Nothing more, nothing less.

2. Christian Bale- Absolutely amazing. Amazing Batman, fantastic Bruce, really cool detective, awesome everything. Only thing I’d change, and this is super petty, is just that in terms of aesthetics I’d want him to be thicker, I thought he was very lean, and the suit would just be upgraded to like 2022 quality, little more updated/sleek, yknow? But that’s not even a real critique, just a thought. I loved him, absolutely phenomenal.

And finally.

The moment we’ve all been waiting for.

The GOAT.

NUMERO UNO: MR. WILL ARNETT.

ALL OTHER BATMAN ADAPTATIONS ARE DOWNRIGHT MID WHEN COMPARED TO THIS GOD

Thanks for reading.

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phercynoya · 2 years

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It's been weird so far.

I've had a lot of socialization milestones for the past four years since I started dating around.

One of my personal theories is that queer folks like myself who had to "catch up" with experiencing and consummating desires bear the immaturity that adolescent heterosexual romances have in their teenage years.

Thinking someone being nice to us wants us deeply.

Craving for external validation.

Ignoring obvious red flags.

Unlearning years of self-hatred.

Trying not to transmit our pain to others.

There's a significant part of our identity that we had to postpone for a later time. And it's quite liberating to be around people who is cool with me being gay. That changed me quite a lot.

I learned to be more confident with how I look. I now try to take care of myself. I don't police my behavior as much. People who don't like me because I'm gay is not a "me problem" but a homophobic mindset that shouldn't make me less worthy of respect. Of course, the immature behaviors I mentioned are still here, and I'd like to believe I am managing them better compared to around five years ago.

It just sucks that the past few years made it difficult for me to establish more connections. Getting to know people over virtual interfaces doesn't hold as much weight.

It felt like the postponement period got extended indefinitely.

It's amusing to chart the Venn diagram of connections I made between different social media apps (Twitter, IG, FB). Most are connected via just one platform, while others follow me on all three. There's a part of them that I think I know, but the intimacy is just... not there? Or is it different?

I cannot even say that I am who I am online, because I do not and cannot broadcast every aspect of my being as virtual stimuli that are slaves to business-minded algorithms.

I suppose we make do.

This blog was created as a kneejerk response to a doomsday rumor about Twitter closing down unceremoniously, the place where I share a lot of my fleeting thoughts and personal opinions. I like hearing myself talk, and it helps telling something out loud instead of letting the mind farts bounce around my head like those DVD logos in LCD screens. Some farts hurt more than others, which is why it helps knowing that the smell goes away after a while, and that it is less harmful than what my unreliable brain tells me.

I'm not really sure how often I would write stuff here, and I'm actually surprised I even managed to write this entry. I write grant proposals (i.e. professionally beg) and monitoring reports for a living. It just seems weird that I would do something similar after clocking out for the day.

Yet here we are.

And Twitter is still alive.

I guess I can try writing something here from time to time.

'Til the next one.

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spiderwest75 · 21 days

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Doomsday Clock still sucks. It needs to be retconned from the DC Universe!

#watchmen #hbo watchmen #alan moore #comic books #comics #dc comics #dc universe #geoff johns #dc rebirth #doomsday clock #retcon #retcondoomsdayclock #retcon doomsday clock #Doomsday Clock Sucks

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oloohyeah · 1 year

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This post caught my eye and my memory to say something about it. I truly believe that being drunk is the most humiliating stage human can come to. It’s also highly dangerous and might be harmful to other innocent bystanders that were by mistake in the area where that drunk person drove his car and crushes it colliding with innocent people. I witnessed to few deadly events in which a man fell off his balcony and cracked his head as if it was an egg 🥚 and all his brains managed to escape while spreading gooie pinkish matter all over the sidewalk. Also, a young woman fell of the 9th floor to her death. It’s your life guys, Respect yourself and respects the liquor you’ve consumed. it is not a joke, your life is in jeopardy each time you order the first shot/ drink, and your end time clock, the doomsday is ticking, it begins at 9:00 and ends at midnight which indicates death. always check the doomed clock time, it's so important to your well-being, and if you are a moron and do not care, at least bring a friend, someone that doesn’t drink like crazy to be the responsible person to deliver you all home safely. 😊My last horror drunk story, I wish to dedicate it to all the ladies. A good friend of mine was scheduled to be married in a week. I was at their home when suddenly they started a kind of silly argument that spread to an event that happened to his girlfriend, as she visited a good friend from childhood. that night, she got so drunk, that this boy, took advantage of her and rape her. Of course that her Italian family beats the hell out of him. But this horrible scar forever will hunt them both. They are happily married, and both are lawyers living in Florida. To all of you, wherever you are, please drink responsibly or don’t drink at all.

It's better to lose a moment In your life, then lose your life in a moment.

Oh me, are you talking to me? No, I’m not a nerd and yes I drank alcohol before I even knew my name. Believe it or not, but 8 days after I emerged into the world, my folks did a big party in which I was the party focal point. Yes, it was my brits as 8 days all Jewish babies have to go through. whatever I knew is to suck a nipple. infect anything that came near my mouth, was destined to be sucked uncontrollably. That winter day, late afternoon while laying in the crib I saw a monkey with a long beard that came and stick in my mouth something sweet I succeed until I got fuckedup I didn’t know I was drunk but I was highly intoxicated. While I was in and out of consciousness suddenly a sharp burning sensation immediately woke me back to civilization craving my ass off saying to the monkey with a long beard: at least let me suck this sweet red stuff you previously gave me. The mf understood and gave me to suck another round that put me in deep sleep. So yes that was my first experience with alcohol. My second started when I was 6 years old and it was a weekly custom while my dad was to bless the wine every Friday night at the Kiddush. I used to find it so amusing when I as a little boy was to serve before my mom or other girls attended the Kiddush. According to the custom, after the father blesses the wine, he drinks from the glass, after, he passed it to the next male, sipping, then passing the wine glass around the table by each male age, slowly to come to me as the little only then I was to pass it to my mom, and she then passed it to all the girls around the table. Many times I remember I was to drink two or three sips coz the wine was so sweet and that was when I was to find myself crushing in bed, right after I finished my meal. So I can say that drinking wasn’t strange to me from childhood and by weekly doing the same custom I learn how to control my alcohol consumption. so yes, when I came to the legal age, ( in my country it's 18 years old you can drink) if you are surprised then I wish to say that there was an argument about why 18 and not 21 in America. And the answer came as swiftly as the argument. Since of in my country, anyone that comes to the age of 18 must serve in the army, So if 18 years old can be sent to war, then there is no question to argue about responsible when 18 years old is a mandatory duty call and as a duty call, it good enough for alcohol.

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5nake-eater · 1 year

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Doomsday Clock sucks conceptually for many reasons but I do think it’s funny that it is now canon that after the original Watchmen series, Dr. Manhattan decided to dick around in some random universe

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ufonaut · 2 years

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yj made me violent, vamps sucked and rogues hasn’t updated yet but god... flashpoint beyond. the ending with cleo/nostalgia and bubastis. i could scream out loud right now as we speak the new golden age is really gonna be a combo of everything i love in the world (watchmen & the jsa). everyone make sure to catch up on doomsday clock before nov

#personal

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succs · 2 years

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FUCK THE OSCARS!!!!!

#maybe it’s bc I’m a moore simp but I genuinely think most all the watchmen content post Watchmen is abysmal #and don’t come to me about doomsday clock I’ll cry #i don’t like it on an ethical level and just also bc most of it sucks that completley misses the mark on the original so hard #do people ever get tired of king writing the same character over and over just in different environments anyways #dc.txt

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theimpossiblescheme · 4 years

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I feel like the biggest problem with Doomsday Clock is that it feels like the writers are trying to pass the buck. It’s Watchmen’s fault that comics nowadays are so dark and gritty, they cry! Deconstructions are inherently bad!

Which... no. That’s not the fault of Watchmen. Nor is it the fault of Swamp Thing, The Sandman, The Dark Knight Returns, The Death of Superman, or any other comic that came out in the late ‘80s/early ‘90s that set out to put the standard superhero narrative under a microscope. They accomplished what they set out to do, which was tell a thought-provoking story, and sometimes that necessitated a darker tone. You can argue about whether or not the individual stories are any good beyond that (it’s no secret that I’m not a fan of The Dark Knight Returns).

But the real problem, at least in my mind, were the shallow copycats--the comics that only saw the dark and violent set dressing and completely skipped over the actual writing and messages being conveyed. That’s how we got shit like Youngblood and Frank Miller’s later output. These books weren’t interested in telling a smart story about the nature of superheroes--they just wanted to show lots of blood, guts, and guns. In my mind, those are a lot more to blame for the “current state of comics” than anything in Watchmen.

And to come back to Watchmen specifically, people forget that those characters were more than just “superheroes bad.” Dan Dreiberg and Laurie Juspeczyk chose to be heroes because they genuinely wanted to help people, regardless of Dan’s disillusionment with people like the Comedian and Laurie’s complicated feelings toward her mother’s legacy. Dr. Manhattan, who starts out as completely withdrawn from humanity and willing to commit massive war crimes because of his omnipotence, has his worldview kicked in and learns that life is worth preserving and caring about--he explicitly leaves the universe in the end so that he can create life somewhere else rather than continue to take it. Everybody looks at Rorschach (who is admittedly a terrible person and notably never has the same character growth the other three I mentioned do) and assumes that the entire book is based on the premise that if people like him exist, superheroes as a whole are a terrible idea. But in fact, most of the book is about people rejecting Rorschach’s worldview, about overcoming nihilism to decide that people are still worth saving. It’s still a deconstruction of what vigilantism can lead to in the real world, but it’s ultimately a very optimistic message. To steal directly from TV Tropes here, “Empathy is a hero's most important quality. Regardless of honorable intent, committing atrocities for the sake of the greater good never ends well; neither does singleminded, uncompromising adherence to a code. You can't solve the world's problems if you're indifferent to other people's suffering.”

That, to me, is still a message very much in line with most superhero stories. Deconstructions don’t all have to be bleak and hopeless. So blaming Watchmen and stories like it for bringing nothing but doom and gloom to modern comics--especially when poorly-written copycats were actually doing just that--indicates a fundamental misunderstanding.

#I didn't realize I had an essay in me... I don't even particularly *love* Watchmen I just think Doomsday Clock sucked. XD #dc #watchmen #deconstructions #the dark age of comics #the schemer speaks

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