1. I hate rpgs...
2. Your answer to the trick question still leaves too many holes to the way the question was worded, Ptoing(ie, no numbers, and the question not mentioning people were in a line, which is a PIVOTAL hint in the red hat, blue hat teaser). If I remember correctly, they weren't allowed ANY sort of communication, so even if one person in the field knew the answer, how would one person magically make the others get in a line to resolve the issue? Again, question needs rewording...
Just got done reading Batman: The Dark Night Returns: Not a fan. Don't really get how this became so highly regarded back then. Wasn't too much a fan of the unfinished style drawn in the book. The story itself didn't draw me in. The 'Robin' girl coulda' been handled MUCH better to fit with the dark story. I woulda' kept her a normal girl, in normal clothes, rather, that wasn't wearing the strange robin suit the whole time. Then, in the panels, it might have been best to have shown a beaten and delirious Batman making himself believe she was Robin, with some, but not all, panels of her dressed in the robin suit, as more and more blood loss continued. But I guess this was the 80's, and fashion back then wasn't aware of how ridiculous it made itself look, especially that of comic book characters.
Also, I understand the whole concept of how Miller was trying to make Bruce Wayne more human than superhero with his flawed nature, and mid-life crisis of boredom and restlessness. But the villains and their motives in the book obviously suffer due to this, as they have to take a back seat to the "atmosphere", rather than their own plot; 2-Face met his end fairly quickly; The Joker story line was horrible, much less ridiculous...plus the way he was drawn seemed "queer" in ALL senses of the word. The designs of the Mutants weren't too great either.
The only interesting part of the whole story, at least for me, was when Superman made his entrance. His character seemed he'd give a much more darker story than that of Batman, as he's pretty much unstoppable, but has the problem of being seen as an unstoppable "god", so his conflictions would seem much more interesting to follow, as right and wrong can easily be decided by an action of his, but problem lays as to whom he should punish or save within the BIGGER picture of things. Much like that of Dr. Manhattan.
Also read V for Vendetta. It's written in a British setting, so the mannerism, and speech lingo confused me a bit. Evey seemed so annoying, as a character as well. Damn near the beginning of the book, V is introduced, without much ado to building up a good scene with the fingermen's attempted capture of Evey. After that, things move a bit too quickly for me. The main characters themselves aren't drawn to a point where they are distinguishable from one another, which is something that kept confusing me throughout the book(though Moore admits this fault as well, so I guess I wasn't alone...). V also dies abruptly, thus making the whole point of his "vendetta" seem kinda' vague, and more so a big let down. Not to mention his actions seemingly placed England in more Chaos than good, but then again, maybe Evey's helm of the 'V' character towards the end, leads the reader to believe she will be the one to finish fixing it, as V kept hinting throughout the book.
Good thing is I like the art of the book and panels. Thick, dark, inked lines which resemble those of some newspaper comics. Not to mention the trippy colors, and use of yellows and pinks in such a dark story; I found that kinda' funny. Speaking of dark, the Rosemary and Derek characters were a good read for moment, and her continuing efforts after he died were pretty dark as well.
And I may take some heat for this, but I can see how the Wachowski's would have found it difficult to work this particular story into a movie: wouldn't have made much sense to most people, and probably contracted more hate, than praise...not the mention the movie wouldn't have been that great. However, if it were to have been worked out as a television series, then maybe it would have worked for a bit.
The superhero themed stuff, I guess, just isn't for me. I've ordered The Maxx, and Four Women, and hope to have a good read. I think after that, I'll check out the book, Moby Dick, after purchasing a cd of "Ahab"s, a doom metal band, I'm a bit interested in the character, and his relationship toward the Giant whale, as I've noticed a character in a working story of mine may have some similarities with him....seriously, one day I WILL stop being lazy and type up a proper story...