kyrin
2009-02-06, 11:47 PM
Seeing the storyline of the vengeful dragon brings to mind a quandary I've had since I read DC's recent series Justice, where Lex Luthor and the Legion o' Doom get ahold of secret ID's and family lists for the Justice League. Why don't villains strike at heroes' families more often than they do. Why don't real-life criminals strike at real-life law enforcement officials' families more than they do?
So I imagined a conversation between Luthor and Gorilla Grodd:
LL: Now the cornerstone of the Justice League's doom is laid, Grodd.
GG: What are you blathering about, Luthor?
LL: Information is power, my simian ally. For example, do you you know that the Flash is... Barry Allen?
GG: Of course I do.
LL: (Sputter) Whaat?
GG: I'm a telepath, Luthor. I read minds, even ones travelling at hundreds of miles per hour. I know his name, his family, his hometown, his favorite color, every grade he got in high school. You are all open books to me.
LL: Why haven't you struck at him through his family and friends?
GG: (Rolls eyes) Like all your hairless breed, Luthor, you lack vision. Are you even aware that the Flash is one of the most dangerous beings on the planet? He could run into a cutlery store in another city, grab a knife, and use it to skin me alive in the time it takes me to finish this sentence. Why would I want to give him a reason to?
LL: Er...
GG: And you are the stupidest of all. You routinely oppose an alien who can boil your brain by looking at you. You think a little green rock can save you from a creature who can simply toss mountains at you... from the Moon!
LL: Superman would never... his moral code...
GG: Would experience instant defenestration once his mate is threatened. The Law of the Jungle, Luthor. Your microcephalic intellect fails to realize that the heroes see our conflicts from an entirely different perspective than we. It's all a game of Cops and Robbers to most of them, and so they "pull their punches," as it were. Threatening Iris Allen would gain me nothing, except to motivate the Flash to use his full power against me. He might feel terribly guilty about it afterward, but I would be just as dead. As long as we strike at just them, it's all part of the game. And that is our only advantage, Luthor. Don't be a fool and throw it away.
Now this is not as applicable to a D&D world as a comics world (is the comic book forum gone?), but I think that some D&D villains might realize this. Mama Black is opening up doors she might not want to. Then again, I could just be looking for personal justification as a DM, because I think the whole "strike at the family" thing is so overdone (not to mention very unfun in a game played among friends), and I'd never use it.
Anyway, blah blah, I'm trying to avoid work. Thanks for reading.
JIM
aka kyrin
So I imagined a conversation between Luthor and Gorilla Grodd:
LL: Now the cornerstone of the Justice League's doom is laid, Grodd.
GG: What are you blathering about, Luthor?
LL: Information is power, my simian ally. For example, do you you know that the Flash is... Barry Allen?
GG: Of course I do.
LL: (Sputter) Whaat?
GG: I'm a telepath, Luthor. I read minds, even ones travelling at hundreds of miles per hour. I know his name, his family, his hometown, his favorite color, every grade he got in high school. You are all open books to me.
LL: Why haven't you struck at him through his family and friends?
GG: (Rolls eyes) Like all your hairless breed, Luthor, you lack vision. Are you even aware that the Flash is one of the most dangerous beings on the planet? He could run into a cutlery store in another city, grab a knife, and use it to skin me alive in the time it takes me to finish this sentence. Why would I want to give him a reason to?
LL: Er...
GG: And you are the stupidest of all. You routinely oppose an alien who can boil your brain by looking at you. You think a little green rock can save you from a creature who can simply toss mountains at you... from the Moon!
LL: Superman would never... his moral code...
GG: Would experience instant defenestration once his mate is threatened. The Law of the Jungle, Luthor. Your microcephalic intellect fails to realize that the heroes see our conflicts from an entirely different perspective than we. It's all a game of Cops and Robbers to most of them, and so they "pull their punches," as it were. Threatening Iris Allen would gain me nothing, except to motivate the Flash to use his full power against me. He might feel terribly guilty about it afterward, but I would be just as dead. As long as we strike at just them, it's all part of the game. And that is our only advantage, Luthor. Don't be a fool and throw it away.
Now this is not as applicable to a D&D world as a comics world (is the comic book forum gone?), but I think that some D&D villains might realize this. Mama Black is opening up doors she might not want to. Then again, I could just be looking for personal justification as a DM, because I think the whole "strike at the family" thing is so overdone (not to mention very unfun in a game played among friends), and I'd never use it.
Anyway, blah blah, I'm trying to avoid work. Thanks for reading.
JIM
aka kyrin