Magnificent Bastard Cleanup

Hi, quite a long time ago I created my only MB entry, for Dhravid Raven. Some of the language I used for the original writeup was a bit clunky. I changed it myself on the YMMV page, (which I appreciate was wrong), but wanted to now formally suggest the change to his entry on MagnificentBastard.Literature K To Z? if other Tropers disagree I'll change back to the original writeup, apologies. It's mostly wording changes to the second half of the entry. Old writeup:

• Dhravid Raven was once a digital demigod with many bodies, created after an ordinary man fell in love with a Guardian AI named Anais Six. Discovering that the Guardians were concealing the existence of alien life and precursors who built the K-Gates used by humanity, and after trying to leak this information to the public, the Guardians tried to 'delete' him. Surviving in a single body, Raven reverse-engineered precursor technology to build his own K-Gate, aiming to escape the Guardians for good. He later manipulated Zen Starling into recovering a precursor artifact needed to complete the gate, using the Imperial train in an elaborate Impersonation Gambit, leaving him unaware that the plan involved crashing the train and killing hundreds to cover Zen's escape. He keeps his word and rewards Zen handsomely, even though he could have solved a lot of problems by killing him, as aptly demonstrated when, as Raven is about to fire up the K-Gate, Zen reappears and derails his plan by threatening him, blowing up his train and inadvertently leading Railforce, along with a physical manifestation of Anais, to him. Raven hardly blinks, effortlessly disarming Zen and crushing Railforce using vastly inferior firepower, and once again is about to make his exit when he's killed by a wild animal. Nevertheless, he remains dignified and calm to the end, snarking at his surviving enemies as he lays dying.

• Dhravid Raven was once a digital demigod with many bodies, created after an ordinary man fell in love with a Guardian named Anais Six. Discovering that the Guardians were concealing the existence of alien life and Precursors who built the K-Gates used by humanity, and after trying to leak this information to the public, the Guardians tried to 'delete' him. Surviving in a single body, Raven reverse-engineered precursor technology to build his own K-Gate, aiming to escape the Guardians for good. He later manipulated Zen Starling into recovering a precursor artifact needed to complete the gate from the Imperial train, using an elaborate Impersonation Gambit, and leaving his young accomplice unaware that the plan involved crashing the train and killing hundreds to cover Zen's escape. Despite Zen being a loose end at this point, Raven keeps his word and rewards Zen handsomely, which eventually leads to Zen reappearing just before Raven is about to fire up the K-Gate, having destroyed Raven's train and inadvertently guided a Railforce wartrain, commanded by a physical avatar of Anais, to his location. Raven hardly blinks, effortlessly disarming Zen and crushing Railforce using vastly inferior firepower, and is once again about to make his exit when he's killed by a wild animal. Nevertheless, he remains dignified and calm to the end, snarking at his surviving enemies as he lays dying.

Edited by Azorius24 on Apr 1st 2024 at 5:29:44 PM

OK, so recently I EP'd Kondo Isami from Like a Dragon: Ishin! and gave him a write up and now his write up is on the game's YMMV page. But the write-up also has major spoilers for the game so am I allowed to insert spoiler tags into the write-up?

Rewrite works and yes for the YMMV page, any Magnificent Bastard pages are spoilers off though.

FYI: DCEU: Aquaman, DCEU: Cyborg, DCEU: The Flash, and DCEU: Wonder Woman have all been merged back with DCEU: Justice League.

I replaced the links to DCEU!Wonder Woman and DCEU!Aquaman remerged Character-Specific Pages with links to the CSPs for their comic counterparts.

A couple of years ago I proposed Ensign Ro from Star Trek: The Next Generation and I stand by that proposal, but she reappears in Picard season 3. Ro was a somewhat maverick officer, who eventually calmed down. Picard sent Ro to infiltrate a terrorist group, the Maquis, who were former Federation colonists now in Cardassian territory after the Federation signed a peace treaty with the Cardassian Union. The colonists resented the attempts by the Cardassians to kick them off their land and took arms against them. Ro was loyal to Picard at first but started to sympathize with the Maquis and betrayed the Federation.

In Picard season 3, its 30 years later, the Maquis were destroyed by the Cardassians Dominion allies decades ago, Ro was arrested, served her time, and given a chance at redemption by becoming a Starfleet intelligence officer. She is helping Picard deal with a group of Changelings who are taking over the Federation. Ro sacrifices herself after she realizes the Changelings have taken over a Federation starship and are planning on killing Picard, by ramming a shuttle into the starship.

So would Ro's appearance in Picard make her no longer an MB, she is now more of a hero than an anti-hero or does her actions from 30 years ago make her an MB back then?

Edited by Overlord on Apr 5th 2024 at 4:35:42 AM

You're fine if she had some bastard credentials during her tenure. We've had redeemed MBs before.

Keep Ro, we have a number of MB’s who eventually graduate into full heroes and still keep because of stuff they pulled during their villainus/anti-heroic phases.

Keep Ro

On an unrelated note, DCEU: Black Adam has been remerged into DCEU: Shazam, does anybody have a suggestion for a pothole to replace the link to Black Adam's character page within his writeup?

Edited by jlvs200s on Apr 6th 2024 at 8:59:47 PM

Deity of Human Origin mayhaps?

MagnificentBastard.Hunter X Hunter pic was removed. Was that a bug ?

Edited by StalkerGamer on Apr 9th 2024 at 7:07:33 AM

It must not have been added to the sandbox, I'll fix that shortly

On an unrelated note, DCEU: Ocean Master and DCEU: Ares have also been megred back and I know that Ares' link can be replaced by moving the War God pothole, though I'm not sure what to change Ocean Master's link to, maybe Eco-Terrorist could work given his motivation?

Was any of this from Fighting Fantasy approved? I couldn't find any of it on the various MB pages, several of the villains are Complete Monsters, and the entries are overall poorly written.

• Magnificent Bastard: While it is quite hard to make good, fleshed-out villains in one introduction and 400 entries, especially with the Card Carrying Villains format, some of them pass the test with flying colours, displaying enough charisma, presence and smarts to leave their mark on the players.
  • Karam Gruul from Moonrunner is with little doubt the best Evil Genius of the series, and earns his credentials despite being one of its most evil villains. An Expy of Fu Manchu in person, he can see eye-to-eye with his inspiration. Perfectly cordial, Wicked Cultured, and charismatic, he is running circles around the authorities of the Four Kingdom as a whole, and has you dancing to his tune to the bitter end. He created his own brand of The Dark Arts which made him one heck of an Evil Sorcerer, all sorts of creatures including what he made of you, and a Weapon of Mass Destruction. You must catch him as in a Film Noir, unravelling many covers and false tracks shielding the huge conspiracy he built from scratch. He is Hidden in Plain Sight behind a smokescreen, covered by another smokescreen, and he has a body double impersonating him to top it off, while keeping his lieutenants as seemingly unrelated. He has his countless spies and mind-contolled Manchurian Agents killing your allies and framing you for it. He approaches you under decoys, sends you poisoned gifts or false messages, and devises lots of Death Traps that could impress Professor Ratigan himself.
  • The Dark Elf Sorcerer of Siege of Sardath: Poised, imperturbable and one of the most genuinely Affably Evil villains of the series, he regards you as an enjoyable Worthy Opponent and chats with you as if you were his guest. He is a world-class example of The Chessmaster and The Strategist, who wrecks Sardath's defences and escape routes with Shock and Awe powers syphoned from the Big Good he holds captive, and attacks it with airborne squadrons harder to repel. Worse, he sends shape-shifted agents Kill and Replace council-members of the local cities to lead them into traps and sabotage opposition in the bud. Being Genre Savvy like nobody's business, he sends agents take the MacGuffin that can defeat him, never underestimates foes and refrains from Evil Gloating. He uses Awesomeness by Analysis to correctly deduce your assets and intentions from few details, only being defeated in one heck of a Battle of Wits.
  • The Demon Prince Myurr from Dead of Night is notable for his intense, frightening presence and his fleshed out feud with The Hero. Feared for his diabolical intelligence, he spends the entire story playing everyone like a fiddle while slouching on his throne and sipping blood from a chalice, as if the entire country was his game board. He loves taking an innocuous human aspect to spread chaos and corruption undetected, using it to cause the sinking of Atlantis in the backstory. He abducts your parents to lure you out, and covers it by sending shape-shifted demons fake their death and curse your hometown, leaving you Mis-blamed instead of pitied. His Legions of Hell are two steps ahead wherever you go, putting you through ordeals, false clues and Batman Gambits, and he even tricked the Guardians of Neutrality themselves to side with him. Much worse, all this was but incentives to lure you where he could use your life-force to unleash Hell on Earth.
  • Count Reiner Heydrich from Vault of the Vampire and Revenge of the Vampire manages to be this while being one of the most evil villains in the franchise. As an Expy of Dracula himself, Heydrich exudes style, finery, charisma and menace. He is Wicked Cultured and a Silent Snarker extraordinaire, who can Troll you even slumbering in his coffin, and exerts a strong magnetism on allies and enemies alike. He is Crazy-Prepared enough to hide the Villain-Beating Artifact away from both heroes and scheming sisters and to prepare secret hiding places. The second book shows him as a crafty Evil Genius and the best aversion to Orcus on His Throne of the franchise, always taking matters in hand. He devises a complex plot, buying a Haunted Castle whose awful reputation provides a cover and eliminating everyone knowing about him, always one step ahead of you. Finally, he hides his secret goal from servants and foes alike to induce the latter in mistake should they get close to the truth.
  • Heydrich's little sister Katarina proves that the trope runs in the family. A Wicked Cultured Lady of Black Magic and The Baroness, she might be content playing Orcus on His Throne, but she does it with style, poise, confidence, perfect yet threatening manners, and dangerous seduction. Living in the lap of luxury she hardly needs complicated schemes, but she is a Consummate Liar expert in Batman Gambits, skillfully using Xanatos Speed Chess and Unwitting Pawns even of foes to get what she wants, without needing to move from her chair. The sequel reveals that she is also very good at fabricating a story on the spot, pretending to be a captive to take you by surprise when you meet her.
  • Finally, Jaxartes from Fangs of Fury might look at first glance as just generic Evil Sorcerer number 578432, but he proves that a book should not be judged by its cover, with nigh unshakable (and justified) confidence and a threatening but courteous smile. The entire game is a Race Against the Clock whose pace he sets at his leisure, and he equips his students with Laser Blades worthy of Star Wars. Contrary to most Evil Overlords he knows that overwhelming military forces can still be defeated and does not rests on his laurels. He breaks the magic that can save the land and sends his Mooks in pre-emptive strikes, when you're tasked to restore it. He has all your allies slaughtered before they can help you, sets many ambushes, and puts a bounty on your head while he is at it. Even worse, he has planted The Mole in the very city he targets, sowing suspicion, undermining its defences, and leading you to a trap.

I searched on google for them and it appears that they did get approved. No clue as to why they're not on any pages, maybe they never got posted to the drafts.

Would concur with them not being written well regardless, and also the concerns with Grull and Heydrich being CMs given these writeups:

• Vault of the Vampire & Revenge of the Vampire: Count Reiner Heydrich is the ruler of Mauristania who murdered his elder brother, Siegfried, to seize control of his family holdings, and keeps his younger brother, Wilhelm, insane and terrorized. Ruling over the nearby lands, he abducts and preys upon countless young women to kill them or turn them into vampires, giving some to his sister, Katarina, for their blood. In Revenge, his influence spreads and he has an entire monastery killed with many more innocents killed to add to his undead ranks, all the while plotting to drain the life of an army of sleeping vampires to empower himself and destroy all he can to become a true vampire king.

• Moonrunner: Karam Gruul, The Inquisitor General of Brice, is a brilliant and devious killer who committed countless war crimes, including flame spells on a border and torture within his Tower of Inquisition. Escaping justice and intending on restarting the horrible war, Gruul also uses an undead Serial Killer to create victims, having others murdered and tortured, or mentally enslaved to become his creatures, including the story's hero who turns out to be his former Moonrunner, a lycanthropic creature forced to commit atrocities at Gruul's bequest, all so Gruul can cause as much horror as possible and escape justice forever.

Edited by TurlesTheVegan on Apr 9th 2024 at 12:02:47 PM

Looking it up...all six were done very early in the thread and well before Lighty ever got around to doing the Complete Monster deep dive. Also, they were effort posted one after another within the span of a few pages and were consistently mass as "all the FF candidates. I've not really read too many of the Fighting Fantasy game books so I can unerringly say whether they keep or not.

However, two of the above, as shown by Turles, are approved Complete Monster candidates and seem really awful, especially Gruul.

I think these two should be reevaluated and I think I'm pushing for a cut on them at the very least going off their CM entries alone.

Edited by LoreDeluxe on Apr 9th 2024 at 9:09:20 AM

I'm gonna agree with cutting those two based on their CM writeups, yeah.

From a quick glance at their character pages:

• The Dark Elf Sorcerer seems a very solid keep.

• Myurr is pretty brutal and has some petty Sore Loser moments toward those that outwit him, so I'm not totally sure about him either.

• Katarina appears to be turned into her brother's thrall and completely subservient to him in the sequel. That's never a good look, so she might need to be reevaluated as well.

• Jaxartes seems solid as well.

So, the Dark Elf and Jaxartes are easy keepers, but Myurr and Katarina might need to be looked into. I might PM Lighty for second opinion since he read most of these.

Edited by LoreDeluxe on Apr 9th 2024 at 9:31:04 AM

Can we also ask RobertTYL for input on FF as well? They did propose several CMs for the gamebooks that Lighty didn't cover, so they could have something to talk about.

I certainly wouldn't mind a second opinion, given that I myself have no knowledge about the series.

I remember Myurr, he is repulsively evil. I remember that book, Myurr invades a village, creates an organic factory, feeds the villagers to the factory's furnaces to power the factory so it starts polluting the air and makes Titan more like the Demonic Plane.

Edited by Overlord on Apr 9th 2024 at 9:43:18 AM

OK, I say cut Myurr as well.

Yeaaaaah, gonna give a cut vote to Myurr as well.

Here is the factory:

https://fightingfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Land-Blight

Yeesh, yeah, cut the suggested!

Cut Myrurr, Reiner Heydrich and Gruul and Abstain on Katarina, though leaning cut pending further elaboration.

On an unrelated note, Ninjago - The Serpentine and Ninjago - The Overlord's Army are now a thing.