The Letters Page! Episode 12 Discussion (Nightmist)

http://theletterspage.libsyn.com/episode-12-nightmist

Is the future great? Listen to this episode to find out!

For Nightmist probably not.  

Jeez, no happy endings for anyone here today.

I wonder what the justification was for cancelling Nightmist in the universe that publishes Sentinel Comics.

My favourite part of this episode was at the beginning, where it seemed Adam was physically pained by not saying "In the beginning she was a baby"

Still waiting for Christopher and Adam to say they where just kidding on her death and it is time to rewind. . .

T_T

Changed my icon to Nightmist to honor my favorite hero. Sorry La comadora and your time travel non sense.

Side note:

What is the deal the Nightmist in " ¿ Quando?  ¡Ahora!" I want to see her as a FF member.

No mention of the Mist Storm in Tactics. Thats really sad. That and Nightmist are absolutly connected and it's sad it's not even touched on. My current guess is that the mists that disapated at the end of the card game storyline somehow re-formed and are spreading through some areas of the world in Tactics, transporting everything it touches to a different dimension (as alluded to in the Tactics story).

Other than that there was a ton of great information this episode and happy that a lot of my questions were asked, even one that was addressed not as Foote but by my first name (I don't think they put that one together so I squeaked that one through). The Nightmist vs Fanatic part was really facinating to me in particular.  

Does this mean our bitter rivalry is over?

This episode brought to you by the number 'c' and the letter '2'.

More of these need to have them roleplay the scenes. Eventually it will be the Sentinels radio play, and I want them to have cheesy 40s and 50s style background music and sound effects.

Two possible reasons that they didn't mention that:

1. That's a reveal that they want to keep up their sleeve for a later date. That could be a very big plot point, and sharing it now might ruin the story.

2. Nightmist and that event have no connection whatsoever.

That's a comics trope that was used quite often. "You are a super being and I don't know you, so that means we have to fight!"

Honestly I'm surprised we haven't heard of any other situations where two heroes have come to blows on their first comic encounter. I'm really hoping that there is an episode dedicated to 'Sentinel Comics' in general, I have so many questions I want to ask about it's history…

Man, legit sad about Faye's demise. She seems to just have a really sad story overall -- dad suffers from Alzheimers, grandpa's soul is destroyed, Bugbear has to be banished. Poor girl.

She definitly had quite the fan following from the looks of it. I wonder if there was ever a Nightmist movie or videogame in the world where Sentinel Comics are real...?

Well our rivalry only exists in the playtest form. And I haven't had the time to playtest the newer card so I am lost down there. I have bearly been in the non-play test forum in a bit. I like it up here. They get to see La Comadora final prints before us. . .

Now I have a question for Christopher about the void now. . . 

If the OblivAeon event didn't happen we would've been able to cross over and find out.

I kept waiting for the Future section in the podcast, rewinding several times to make sure I didn't miss it by having forty winks. The sadness when I realise Nightmist doesn't have one (yet?)

Oh Nightmist you will be mist.

My favourite hero by far. It was her card mechanic that truly impressed me at first, and then I was truly sold by her general level-headedness and her centuries-long trip through other dimensions. Bad arse.

Funny how card games from a semi-actual comic series can get one so invested.

Historically, Lovecraftian inspired characters don't have happy endings. Not really anyway. The way Nightmist goes is better than most have faired.

Anyone think it's odd they would do all of the Dark Watch characters (And their villains) before doing 75% of the flagship team, the Freedom Five?

Not really.  I would have found it odd if Legacy wasn't the first hero they covered and Baron Blade the first villain they talked about.   Beyond that I really wasn't sure the order they would go in.  

We already knew a fair bit about the Freedom Five, and the Prime Wardens, too.  I would agree that Dark Watch, as a team, has received the smallest amount of attention thus far--there's been very little in the way of comics, promo cards, etc. to build out their backstory.  Heck, they're the only heroes that have only their original character card and a "member of a team" promo card.  All the Freedom Five (including Unity) and all the Prime Wardens have at least 2 promo cards each.

Technically speaking, all of Tempest’s variants are “team” variants. But your point is still valid.

They have covered Legacy, The Wraith and Bunker, that's 60% done. 50% if you're counting Unity. And Tachyon is coming before Hary the final member of Dark Watch.

I haven't listened yet but sad to hear Nightmist is dead, that's two confirmed hero deaths within the card game timeline, Ra and Nightmist.

Also sad since this means they probably will not have a power set for her in the RPG.

I bet they save the Prime Wardens till close to Prime War, and it makes sense working towards Lillian Corvus now, as OblivAeon is entering the home stretch, and she really needs the backstory or the Dark Watch behind her, otherwise you are tilling story that fits better with other characters in her episode.

Just because she is dead it doesn’t mean a player doesn’t want to play a character like her. And harpy has a similar power set. So I am sure they will have thing alluding to it.

Also all the character sheets released in the public play test show them in their pre oblivAeon out fits and roles even though the RPG is officially set after wards. So they could create a pre OblivAeon Night mist if they wanted to. (Doubt Christopher will do it, he already got lots to do)

I am sure they will have a way for others to create a magic user even one with ties to darker things.

DARKER things?! what's Darker than the cosmic entities that are all passed out in a centuries long coma and yet STILL cause humanity to collectively lose it's s***?

I, for one, am REALLY hoping there'll be ways to make magic users. I really enjoy me my Magic in RPG's. The very fabric of the universe is way to bland coloured as is, let's toss in some crazy shenanigans with a flailing of limbs and utterance of incomprehensible verbal wordalage.

I agree, it should cover the magic side of Nightmist, its the mist part that will be missing out.

Plus I've enjoyed seeing the F5 is RPG sheets and would like to see all the characters. If we play the RPG its more likely we will use the existing pre-made characters than making our own.

NightMist is probably my favorite character that I never play. I'm not as good with support-heavy characters, but I absolutely love her theme, and this episode continues that trend.

I'll have to dig into some of the strategy guides and play some more with her. I tend to love the complexity 3 and setup-heavy heroes, and maybe I can learn to enjoy playing NightMist.

I highly recommend it. In our games, NM is rarely in a support role!

Any of the video game versions are fantastic for this kind of thing – you can set up your teams and scenarios to really get mileage out of all the different characters in ways that would be tricky to do with the physical game with real people who may or may not want to play along with you feeling out a character.

One of my favorite things to do is use a team of all unusual characters (i.e., nobody that you'd normally use as a primary damage dealer), and quite often they make unexpectedly good teams. Such a team might not have built-in damage individually, but support and buffs add up…

I'll keep it in mind!

Rephrasing my support claim-- NightMist is probably one of the characters where it's hardest for me to juggle the concept of "play what you have" versus "play what you want to have". I think of her like Absolute Zero, where I want to b-line for her equipment immedeately, and before I have that setup going, I rarely want to play spells. And by the time I have her set up, most of the other damage heavy characters are ready and I move more towards playing cards like Mistbound, Planar Banishment, or Enlightenment to help others out.

TL;DR: I usually play NightMist as a slow, set-up build and should try taking more risks. :)

One thing that sets Nightmist apart from AZ is while AZ has one way to recoup his HP, Nightmist has several -- the Starshield Amulet, Master of Magic and Mist-Fueled Recovery.

While having the Amulet out is her ideal state, she's perfectly playable and useful without it, thanks to those three. As the guide points out -- the only meaningful HP value is zero, so I'm perfectly comfortable using spells right off the bat in the first couple rounds until I see the Amulet or one of the above cards. I've had whole games where I didn't get Starshield, Amulet or MoM out (or couldn't keep them out), but a late-game MFR got me back in health to keep contributing.

But yeah. Experiment, see what works.

I think I understand why she was written out of the game's future. I just don't like it.

Well, we may not have Nightmist, and it seems that the Scholar is probably dead, too, but Harpy, the Argent Adept, and Lifeline are all magic-users that should be supported in the RPG timeline.

I just noticed that Nightmist and the Scholar are the only two heroes in the card game capable of self-transmutation.  Wonder if there's a reason for that?

Guise is also capable of changing his form.  

In my games on the app with Nightmist, it is often the rest of the team playing support, while she is the primary damage-dealer. Her HP/hand size yo-yo mechanic often leaves her the last one standing too.

Definitely my pick for the most interesting hero to play in the game.

F6 AbZero can do that as well to an extent, but it's not on purpose and it ultimatey kills him in the end.

Had a whole thing written up on playing Nightmist but you guys beat me to it. I rarely get my ideal set up just roll with what I have, then play Mist-Fuled recovery on the last turn just so I can say I has the highest HP Hero. I even learn to use Astral Premonition to save a few games ( it is not sustanable, not as good of a controller as Parse or Visionary), and played the elder ring first for the damage boost. Good luck playing with your hit points, it is just a resource.

Naturalist  and Skyscaper can also change thier forms. And in a way so can Omitron-X and Bunker. The abilty to change into any form is harder to represent in card games, these heroes have 3 forms they can change into (sans Nightmist). By the end of OblivAeon is  Naturalist  is able to change into other forms, the incap art of this shiney promo shows him as a hyena type of animal. So I am sure the Rpg will support all kinds of nonsense.

Side note:

I am interested on how they will handle Mystique type of charaters, where identity is more important.

In the podcast, Christopher and Adam said that Nightmist drew on many sources of power to “be the gate,” including relics and some source that was “familiar” but went unnamed.

Thomas? Joe?

I'd guess that it was possibly some of the power of OblivAeon himself, or something akin.

Bugbear is on that list too, In fact even Gloomy. give power to open a portal to earth, yes please. 

If this is HP Lovecraft it can be R'lyeh or Cthulu the Elder god. My money is on grampa to make it poetic and bittersweet. 

Transmutation, not transformation.  Nightmist becomes a gas, Scholar becomes liquid, iron, and/or energy.  Naturalist, Skyscraper, and Guise just change into meatbags of different mass and configuration.  Omnitron-X and Bunker just reconfigure themselves.  Absolute Zero, I'm not quite sure what he does, whether he actually turns into ice or just has a shell (like Marvel's Iceman).

Guise is able to mimic those abilities and based on the incaps for Scholar of the Infinite he apparently has the Philospher's Stone within him now.

Also if this was a real life comic and she was as popular as they said there is no way Nightmist is permanently dead. Some future writer would bring her back sooner or later. Unfortunately, for many reasons, it is not.

However, comic book publishers have a long history of saying, "No, that character is dead, gone forever, you'll never see them again, we promise," and then they get brought back again anyway.

If Chris and Adam were playing up that meta-joke, I would be so happy.

You know there's been campaigns to bring characters back by sending stuff to the creators. Maybe we can send Lovecraftian relics.

@Mindwander So you are talking about characters like Metamorpho or Husk to a lesser extent right.

 Yeah, that would be tricky to pull off in any game. I ran a game where a person would produce any chemical. That player was a chemistry major. The BS and horrible things you can do with chemicals, it made the game hard to manage. Maybe I should read super people with these power and see how the writers handle them.

You can always do the Firestorm deal and have the characterthemself(or one half of the character) be an idiot that would have difficulty making table salt, let alone complex chemical formulas needed to melt metal chains while not harming biological matter.

I thought the rule was: "Nobody stays dead, except for Uncle Ben and the Waynes."

That list used to include Bucky and Jason Todd, too.

Was there a definitive statement that Nightmist is gone forever (as opposed to saying the she is nowhere to be seen now)? The complete lack of any sort of body seems awfully mysterious.

Well they've gone on to say that Nightmist has no future in either timeline after OblivAeon, so take that as you will. And it's hard to have a body left over when the body in question has evaporated into nothing but mist...

There is always the chance that Adam and Christopher could pull some crazy comic book universe shenanigans to bring NIghtmist back, but that's only if they really decide to. There's always the chance of a superhero can come back from the 'dead', but if they made an especially noble sacrifice like Nightmist did, they may yet stay dead...

Who has no future: NightMist or Faye Diamond?

Christopher and Adam skipped the entire 'Future section' of the Letters Page podcast for her, so... Both?

'Her' reffering to Nightmist.

We have already seen them leave parts of the future vague, and Christopher is known to be fond of exact words. There are lots of possibilities.

True. If they didn't say she actually 'died', then she would not really need to 'come back to life', right? She could still technically exist, her mists scattered amongst all the different worlds she opened gates to. Now that she is a being of magic and technically not a normal mortal, maybe if all of her 'esscence' could be recollected then there's a chance to bring her back. But since there's no more travel between different worlds after OblivAeon, that may be impossible to do...

(Totally a possible storyline for my future Sentinels Comics RPG game in the future. :D )

But it all depends on if Adam and Christopher actually want to bring her back or not. All we can really do is wait and see, enjoying our games until then.

Given what happened to her, I assumed that source was herself/the curse.

EDIT: It sounded like "I need more power to do this! I'll drain that, and that, and that! Still need more! Wait, what's this a souce of a cane power? I'll drain that" only that source is her magical entity self that she may jot recognise in desperation.

Yes.