In the HERO System, the sourcebook Dark Champions : The Animated Series - we meet a hero called ‘The Answer’ who is assisted in his crimefighting duties by the knowledgeable population of a messageboard dedicated to helping people find answers to whatever sort of questions they need to ask. Some of the prominent members are named, along with the posting styles and areas of expertise. This amused me greatly.
I wonder if Cecil owns a utility belt…
I’m curious, how does this work?
Posted January 9, 2006:
The Answer
Charter Member
There’s this crime wave in my city. All the robberies are proceeded by obscure riddles which reveal when the robberies takes place. Any ideas?
It’s not inconceivable. It’s the sort of in-joke I’d expect from Steve Long (the line developer), although Allen Thomas actually wrote that book.
Just for fun, though, I started a thread on the Hero Games discussion board here, so we’ll see what turns up.
(with my luck there’ll be another, older thread that answered the same thing which my search-fu couldn’t elicit…)
The backstory is that there’s the messageboard - dedicated to helping folks find answers in Hudson City, a fictional New Jersey metropolis. This fellow who would be the Answer came to town, and took notice of the messageboard. Occasionally, it was seeing people asking questions about things of a criminal nature… oh, for example, “I think I’m being stalked by the mafia. What should I do?”
The man got in touch with the messageboard administrators and established a relationship there - they send the crime-related questions and tips to him, and he uses them for research.
I wonder if there’s a membership fee?
I wonder if there’s terribly inappropriate, nearly random advertising?