"Let's get this straight. YOU'RE the sidekick!" A Mutants & Masterminds Camp. Journal

[Sith_Happens]

>Saves the day (from their own publicist, but still).
>Immediately turns around and helps set up a three-way robot gang war.

Meanwhile, Steinz continues to be terrifying.

[GorinichSerpant]

Great as always.

[razorfloss]

Man I love this journal and has me icting to try m&m

[(Un)Inspired]

Wow. So Rad. I just caught up on this journal after being away from the site for a while. You guys never disappoint. I think Michael is turning out to be my favorite character.

As always, I can't wait for the next update.

[Kid Jake]

>Saves the day (from their own publicist, but still).
>Immediately turns around and helps set up a three-way robot gang war.

Meanwhile, Steinz continues to be terrifying.

Yeah, Fanboy specifically said that he intends to escalate this to a global scale if the price is right; so I have no idea where this is going.

Steinz definitely has his moments, but I almost felt bad about the ass-whooping the runaway mutants handed him. His player says that he's now terrified of going back into the field, so he might be getting even more devious than before.




Great as always.

Thank ya.





Man I love this journal and has me icting to try m&m

Heh, thanks. I'd definitely recommend it, you can stat or do about anything with very little warning.




Wow. So Rad. I just caught up on this journal after being away from the site for a while. You guys never disappoint. I think Michael is turning out to be my favorite character.

As always, I can't wait for the next update.

He's quickly becoming one of mine too, I was especially amused with his little 'Listen up Rookie...' speech and loved that he finally had a chance to go all-out.

Hopefully the next update won't be too far off. We're trying to set something up, but Fanboy is moving into/repairing his new house and McCrow's going on a cruise so it'll be a little bit longer.

We're going to try to schedule enough time so that when we're finished with our main game we'll be able to start either a Fantasy campaign (Starring such characters as The Last Unicorn and The Friendly Death Priest) or a Deadlands campaign (Where one of them wants to play a 19th century Tony Stark who moonlights as an arms dealer for both the Union and Confederacy and the other wants to play a vengeful Gomer Pyle.) If that goes through then I'll try to get it wrote up too.

[(Un)Inspired]

It's gonna be both sad and satisfying when you finish this campaign.

[Kid Jake]

It's gonna be both sad and satisfying when you finish this campaign.

I agree on both accounts, though the 'end' end is still a decent ways off. In my head I've always had it divided into three acts (The Killer, The Nephilim and The New Age) and we're still in Act One, though depending on how things progress we may not be that many sessions away from wrapping it up.

The Killer/Nephilim arcs are what I would consider the story proper, with the world being shaped (and possibly saved) by the PCs and The New Age being the crazy ass world that results from idolizing a bunch of sociopaths whose only qualifications for gaining superpowers were being too drunk to find their way home on their own and taking the bus.

We've been wanting to do a comedic Neighborhood Watch campaign set in the New Age and featuring a bunch of overly enthusiastic D-List superhumans who've formed a neighborhood watch to survive and keep up property values in the new, war torn nation of Ventnor City, superhuman capital of the world. A place where 20% of the city has some sort of extra-human ability and a good 8% were never human to begin with, an insane world of super science and roving bands of vigilantes and/or warlords every 2 blocks.

The plan was to do these little teaser one-shots whenever I couldn't get both McCrow and Fanboy together but still had enough people to game, but it's been difficult to nail down either of them with enough people nearby to play. A shame though, because a lot of the upcoming craziness was meant to have already been hinted at through background stuff.

[Mustafu]

We should be able to set up a game soon hopefully now that the craziness from my move is dying down

[Kid Jake]

Definitely, I've been trying together in touch with McCrow to set it up.

[D-naras]

Definitely, I've been trying together in touch with McCrow to set it up.

No one should ever touch McCrow.

[Sith_Happens]

No one should ever touch McCrow.

Especially not "touch" touch him, at least unless they want to get mugged.:smalltongue:

[D-naras]

Especially not "touch" touch him, at least unless they want to get mugged.:smalltongue:

"Shut up! It happens to most guys! Hey, stop laughing!" said before indulging in heroic prostitute abuse.

[Kid Jake]

"Shut up! It happens to most guys! Hey, stop laughing!" said before indulging in heroic prostitute abuse.

It's the only way they'll learn.

[Mustafu]

Just wanted to let anyone still watching this thread that we finally ran another session tonight. I know it's been a while but hey, life happens. Kidjake should have the log up sometime tomorrow

[(Un)Inspired]

Awesome! I can't wait to read it.

[GorinichSerpant]

Hazo! The marvelous misadventures of McCrow and crew are back!

Now a very important question that just accrued to me, did you yet sort out who's the sidekick?

[Kid Jake]

Alright, at long last we finally present the next chapter of McCrow and Friends. Hope everyone enjoys it.

It's been almost a week since the world was introduced to The Fanboy and EVERYONE is buzzing about it. The first day or two there was a considerable amount of skepticism but when even more footage emerged of Fanboys heroism and the mayor of Ventnor City himself confirmed that his life was saved by a superhuman, the world went berserk. (Locals also got to watch a drunken McCrow beat several men to death with a pipewrench, but for some reason it never caught on quite as well on Youtube.)

Within only a few days Ventnor City's tourism reached record highs, hundreds if not thousands began flocking into the city in hopes of catching sight of an honest to God superhuman. Finch does not disappoint them.

He arranges apartment fires, a school bus accident on a local bridge, shootouts and other even more dangerous crimes so that almost everyone leaves with pictures of the Fanboy either firsthand or through street vendors. People have began wearing a black and white print with Fanboy's image and the words 'Save the City' in support of their new hero.

Life feels pretty good.

That is until a small package is delivered to the warehouse. Fanboy immediately grows suspicious and checks the insides for explosives; but it turns up clean. Opening the package they are overwhelmed with the smell of rotting meat. Grimacing, McCrow digs into the box and brings out a severed, rotting hand wearing a wedding band.

The PCs look at each other for a moment and while they don't know exactly what this means, a severed hand in a box is pretty much the universal symbol that s*** is about to get real. They take it to Prophet to see if he can find fingerprints or something to see who it came off of, but before they even reach the Prophet's room Sandy spots them in the hallway an begins wailing.

She recognizes the ring as her late husband's.

They're still processing this when Lucky Dan and his wife stumble down from their room a few minutes later on the phone, Dan's cursing to himself and as he hangs up he says "Our house burned down." as he throws up his arms.

"That was an expensive house!" McCrow shouts angrilly.

"In a very nice neighborhood!" Fanboy agrees. "Luckily, homeowner's insurance should cover it though."

Lucky Dan shakes his head in disbelief. "Why would [i]I[/i} have homeowner's insurance?" he asks, the shock still evident on his face. "I mean..." he just shakes his head.

McCrow and Fanboy rant and rave for the better part of an hour when an explosion sounds upstairs. McCrow jerks his head around and realizes it's coming from Richard's room. The hydromancer bounds upstairs, but waits until his hair stops standing on end before he opens the door.

Electricity is arcing all over Richard's body and he sobs uncontrollably.

"Richard, calm down!" McCrow shouts, remembering the damage this kid can do when he lets loose. "What's wrong boy?"

Richard barely manages to sob out that his dad's dead. McCrow's mouth pops open like someone just slapped him.

"Him and my mom were just walking to the car...and someone gunned them down." Richard whimpers. "They don't even know if she's going to make it." he sputters as even more energy begins building up and McCrow slams the door to allow the insulated room to take the brunt of the beating.

McCrow quickly explains the situation to Fanboy and he realizes that everyone's in danger. He grabs the phone to spread the word but it's ringing even before he gets the chance to dial out. One of Bradley's clones is on the line, panicking because his dad's been kidnapped. Fanboy asks how Bradley knows it was a kidnapping and Bradley responds that they left a message.

"F*** with us and we f*** with you."


"The damned Italians!" McCrow growls.

"Depaliamo knows everything about us." Fanboy realizes with a groan. "He was doing our freaking taxes! Why did we let him go?"

Realizing that they need to warn their allies more than ever, Fanboy dials Chavenski and is less than surprised to hear gunfire and a throbbing hum in the background.

"Thank God you boys called!" Chavenski wheezes. "The Italians are here, at the apartments. These robots...they're everywhere."

McCrow and Fanboy exchange a 'Whoopsie' look and McCrow shouts for Chavenski to hold on, that he's on his way.

Roger quickly gathers up all 10 of his droplets as Fanboy grabs a strike team of five grief stricken Bradleys and the Beastman. McCrow starts to bolt towards the team van and Fanboy shouts that there's no time, he's faster. Before anyone can argue they've all been seized and are streaking across the sky at more than 100mph with nothing between them and the longest fall of their lives but Fanboy's concentration.

They land in front of the apartments and find the place is a warzone. There are almost a hundred of the Luvbot spheres rolling around in the street, apparently fried and even more of the active Luvbots slugging it out with yet more Luvbots. Half the building looks like it's been burned away and corpses are strewn everywhere. It's anarchy.

Roger immediately orders five of his droplets to begin gathering up the spheres, figuring that maybe they can be salvaged. He orders the other five to sneak into the apartment building and drown anyone wearing a suit; trusting the Italians sense of fashion to ensure their doom.

Before anyone can tell the Beastman what to do he gives a resounding whoop and charges the building on all fours, sprinting up the wall almost 10ft before leaping with everything in his powerful legs and seizing a third floor windowsill. He lunges inside to the sound of broken glass and terrified screams.

Fanboy grins, once again glad that they rescued him.

The Bradleys are dressed in stolen S.C.A.R. equipment and move towards the entrance as a single unit, Roger follows suit. Fanboy elects to stay behind and take out the Italian's Luvbots, cackling when he discovers that Luvless made good on his word and the automatons are unable to target him in return.

Just like the last time McCrow visited the apartments there are a handful of Russians pinned down behind a couch as a squad of four Italians pour automatic fire into their cover; seemingly for sport.

The Bradleys open fire with automatic weapons of their own and two Italians go down outright, before they can even turn around Roger slams a literal wall of water into the lot of them and crushes them against the far wall until they stop struggling.

The Russians are nearly out of ammo so McCrow leaves a pair of Bradleys to help guard the door and continues upstairs. He finds another half dozen Italians pilfering the floor and dehydrates the first one he sees, rendering the man as little more than a pile of dust in a fancy jacket.

The rest open fire and one of the Bradley clones go down, leaving two more to return the gesture. Another Italian goes down but even more are spilling out of rooms and there's nowhere in the hallway to take cover.

Back outside, Fanboy already made short work of the unaggressive Luvbots and has started destroying the Italians' vehicles more out of spite than anything. He's feeling pretty smug when he gets another call.

Bradley's on the line and he simply shouts "They're here! There's hundreds of them, the Warehouse is burning!"

Fanboy releases a fountain of expletives and for a split second considers warning McCrow that he's leaving, but figures that his partner has things here. As fast as he can, Fanboy rockets back towards home.

Roger takes a handful of shots like a champ and while they're slowing him down he's giving better than he's getting. That is until he hears a ridiculous barrage of gunfire from downstairs as the Italians hiding in reserve flood the building and execute his watchmen.

McCrow realizes that things are tight, but he can hear Chavenski on the next floor; his massive SAW is unmistakable. If only there weren't a few dozen a-holes between him and his friend.

Then it clicks. There AREN'T a few dozen a-holes between him and Chavenski, just a few floorboards. Roger closes his eyes and reaches out with his power, he takes a few more shots for his trouble but it suddenly doesn't matter. The whole third floor simply collapses as nearly every pipe on the floor explodes with amazing force. The unsuspecting Italians are crushed like rats, those fighting Chavenski drop down a floor and are either knocked out or stunned and the big Russian alone makes his reflex save to remain standing.

And oh boy, does he. Just as somewhere around half a dozen Italians try to come rushing McCrow from behind Chavenski lands hard about 15ft ahead of him holding his massive SAW awkwardly in one hand and an oxygen tank attached to his face with the other. Chavenski opens up with a single full-auto burst which makes it impossible to tell exactly how many Italians there actually were, all that's left is hamburger.

Chavenski takes a deep breath of his dwindling air supply and coughs raggedly. "Taking your time?" he asks in a whispered wheeze.

"Thought you had it covered." McCrow replies with a shrug, sending a deluge of water down the stairs to dislodge any potential stragglers.

Chavenski checks his gauge and shakes his head worriedly. "I'm the last man standing here, but I've got about twenty minutes left...."

"Can you survive without it?" McCrow asks.

"If I take very little breaths." the Russian replies sarcastically.

"Let's get to the roof." McCrow suggests, planting a kick in the chest of a soaking wet Italian that tries to rush around the corner. "Fanboy can grab us there."

Chavenski shakes his head. "The stairs are-"

"A waste of time!" McCrow barks launching a geiser of water directly upwards with enough force to crack the celing of the next floor. With a full throated shout he summons the water to him and tries again, putting everything he's got into it and punching a hole until he sees daylight.

Chavenski stares upwards a little impressed and asks "And now?"

McCrow bearhugs the Russian without giving anyone time to react and uses the same trick to fling the two of them up through the hole he just made. Chavenski lands hard on the roof and rolls about ten feet once he lands, McCrow manages a little better and while he gets the wind knocked out of him he's otherwise unharmed.

McCrow rushes to the edge to shout down and realizes that Fanboy isn't there anymore. Nearly 40 Luvbots however are and hover off the ground until they surround the apartment roof.


Fanboy arrives at the warehouse in time to find around 600 Luvbots opening fire indiscriminately, trying to burn through their reinforced walls but failing to do much. They have managed to shred the front door and around 100 of their personal Luvbots and all remaining Bradley clones are holding the breach as best they can. Roughly 80 Italians are lounging on the docks and enjoying the spectacle while another man dangles from the roof planting breaching charges every five feet; there are already 15 such charges placed along the top floor.

Fanboy nearly panics and snatches 10 of the charges from the north side of the warehouse and tosses them amid the gawking Italians. They dodge out of the way for the most part, but before Fanboy can grab the rest a man on the ground hits a detonator and the remaining charges( as well as the man placing them) go up in flames and a nearly 20ft hole is blown out of the corner of their home.

Fanboy snatches nearly 30 Luvbots out of the veritable tide below him and hurls them at their human controllers, taking out several men and shattering several more robots in the process. The Luvbots attempt to return fire, but can't process him and go back to their business. Many pour into the newly created hole, perhaps even more horrifyingly however are 10 of them which grab up 10 Italians wearing backpacks and jet towards the hole in a staggered formation to make targeting all of them harder.

Rather than trying to grapple all of the, Fanboy snatches another telekinetic handful of Luvbots from the ground and hutls them like a shotgun blast at the men with packs. All but 3 are taken out by this attack, however those three are deposited inside and are quickly flooded with more Luvbots; making pursuit impossible.

Fanboy has a difficult time dragging all of the Luvots out of the hole and instead flies around the building in hopes of finding another entrance. He lucks out and discovers a hole just barely large enough for him to slip into, but too small for a Luvbot. He slips in and discovers Lucky Dan's family huddled in their room terrified and Dan himself standing in the doorway leading out drinking a cup of coffee.

As Fanboy watches, a Luvbot lunges towards Dan midsip and has its head blown off by one of its allies with the same idea. Another Luvbot comes into view only to be crushed by a falling support beam as Dan turns around, still in his bathrobe. "We're in trouble boss."

"Trouble doesn't begin to cover it Dan." Fanboy says as he rushes out of the room just in time to look on helplessly as he discovers what was contained in the backpacks.

Wheel chairs.

Each man which rushed the wall had a collapsible wheel chair strapped to him which they begain assembling the second they were inside. Fanboy's eyes scan the warehouse in growing horror until he finally lays eyes on Johnny on the Spot sitting pretty in his new ride. Johnny slowly and carefully gives Fanboy the bird and the second Fanboy so much as twitched in retaliation the speedster is already gone. If his disability slowed him down any, Fanboy doesn't notice.

"Next time, I break his f***ing arms..." Fanboy mutters, moving to rain down hell upon the remaining Luvbots in his warehouse. However to everyone's surprise, now that Johnny is free they all seem to be pouring out of their own accord. Fanboy decides to let them go, but snatches one of the man with a backpack and knocks him out with a savage thrust against the wall.

"You're my new Johnny." Fanboy says with a wicked grin.



McCrow and Chavenski are huddled on the roof, McCrow realizes that the Luvbots can't hurt him but Chavenski has no such protection.

"Get under me!" McCrow shouts and bearhugs Chavenski once again. The big Russian instinctively resists this command by stepping backwards and the Luvbots open fire as a group the second McCrow is clear.

Now Chavenski is one tough son of a bitch, but this is a barrage of cutting edge military hardware pouring enough fire on him to kill the moon. I don't fudge rolls, prefering to roll them openly, so imagine our surprise when he fails exactly one toughness roll out of 40. Granted, he fails so bad that he goes down with third degree burns and a hole in his side, but that just builds character.

McCrow responds by summoning water to himelf and assuming his hulking battleform, snatching one of the Luvbots out of the air and battering a second one with it. A group of Italians burst onto the roof but simply stare in open mouthed horror at what they find there and with a single mighty push McCrow flings them all off the building and to their deaths. Hearing even more rushing him, McCrow snatches another pair of Luvbots and crams them into the door in such a way that nobody else can fit through.

The Italians slam into his makeshift barricade and start hammering their way past when Fanboy finally shows up. He sees McCrow bellowing wordless curses at a horde of mafiosos and Chavenski laying bloody and burned on the ground and quickly decides that Chavenski is the priority here, snatching the Russian up and streaking off once again.

McCrow growls as even more Italians attempt to rush the door and decides that he's had enough of all of them. He expends everything hero point he has and drives himself to exhaustion in order to blow the supports out all along the building. With no further warning the whole thing collapses into itself.


Fanboy returns about 30 minutes later and finds nothing left of the apartments but a flooded hole, feeling inside he realizes that there's nobody left alive. Leaping into the air he does a quick survey of the surrounding area and finally finds what he's looking for:

The Beastman, soaking wet and covered in blood (only some of hit his own) is walking down the street with Roger McCrow thrown over his shoulder. McCrow has a pipe sticking out of his chest which bleeds profusely but neither Fanboy nor the Beastman seem to worried; he's survived worse.



McCrow spends some time in a bathtub with a gallon of homemade brandy and a girlie magazine and he's back to normal before anyone has a chance to miss him. The warehouse however is a mess.

Holes are blown everywhere and a good deal of trash is rolling in from the street. He even catches Sandy's daughter playing a mutt that wandered inside and chases the creature off with a fire poker; which is strange because they don't even have a fire place.

Now, amid everything else that's happening I thought I could slip one over on him and he was right to drive the dog off, though he didn't know it at the time. It was Lycaon, one of the superdogs and I had a whole thing planned if it could slip inside; but McCrow was pretty firm in insisting that if he ever saw a dog in his warehouse again he was going to spit and roast it, so that had to be abandoned.

After the damage is fully surveyed they realize that it might not even be worth repairing. Roger proposes a different plan:

"What if we built like a giant submergible lair?" he asks. "Who's going to come at us underwater?"

Fanboy smiles, "Yeah, we could shape it like a skull and fill it with the Legion of Doom."

McCrow strokes his chin. "We should probably think of a catchier name, we don't really have a legion yet."

Fanboy stares at him. "Superfriends reference." he explains.

"Oh..." Roger replies, "I never really watched Friends, seemed a little fruity."

Fanboy justt continues staring at him until he realizes that Doctor Luvless is standing next to them.

"Congrats again on making the news." Luvless says, as they stumble back in shock. "Just wanted to pop in and thank you guys for your suggestion the other day, it was brilliant."

The PCs eye him for a moment before Fanboy asks "What suggestion?"

Luvless laughs and says "The whole 'Make sure we can't be attacked by the Luvbots we sell' angle, it was a stroke of genius that even I didn't think of."

They continue staring at him as he pushes a duffelbag into Fanboy's arms, Fanboy looks inside and discovers to his surprise that it's filled with cash.

"The Italians were quite upset when they discovered their little toys didn't work on you, they even demanded a refund; can you imagine the audacity?" Luvless asks clicking his tongue. "I explained that the bots they purchased were the floor model; programmed to avoid harming my staff as a security measure and you know what?"

Fanboy almost goes white. "There's nearly a million dollars in here Luvless." he says, flashing the cash to McCrow who starts stuffing it into his pockets.

"Your cut boys." Luvless says with a wink. "They ordered another $20 million worth of merchandise, this time without the restrictive programming. They've also commissioned something a little...heavier."

"We'll beat their price!" McCrow shouts, not even bothering to find out what their price is.

Luvless looks shocked and strokes his chin. "Well...I never did agree to exclusivity, so I don't see the harm. Tell you what, I'll give you the friends and family discount; $75k each."

"Done!" McCrow shouts, tossing the rest of the bag right back at him.

Luvless holds out a handful of Luvbot spheres, though these are almost twice the size as normal ones. He drops them in McCrow's hand with a deep smile and says "Enjoy." and with that is gone nearly as suddenly as he appeared.



Fanboy takes this opportunity to question their prisoner and skips directly to the invasive mind probe, tearing information out of the man without ever saying a word.

McCrow meanwhile activates one of the large Luvbots and is nearly knocked off his feet when it forms. The bot looks similar to the Luvbots they've been using for some time, but it stands 12ft tall and has a centaur like body with six legs; each of its arms are larger than McCrow and the arms seem to be little more than giant barrels. This strikes him as money well spent.

Fanboy comes down stairs and declares that once the job was over, the Italians were supposed to retreat to an air field nearby where a plane was waiting to take them back to New York. Our heroes decide to pay the airfield a visit.

The trip is pretty quick now and Fanboy brings them (McCrow, Beastman, 5 Bradleys and himself) down just behind the strip, near a large barn and a dusty stretch of road. He uses ESP to scout the barn and discovers a sizeable private jet inside.

They have a quick discussion and the plan is to wait until the plane takes off and then have Fanboy just crash it in a massive pillar of fire and retribution. That's the plan at least.

An hour goes by and no sign of the Italians. Another and another and another goes by without a single hint of approach and after four more hours of this McCrow finally decides to change the plan.

"New plan! We burn the plane, the barn and everything else in sight and then go home." After eight hours of hiding in the bushes, noone seems to mind this change of plan at all and they emerge from their hiding place to wreck things up.

Fanboy extends his arms and telekinetically opens the large barn doors to allow everyone entrance when suddenly there's a loud whizzing sound and he feels blood running down his side. Fanboy looks down and realizes that whatever it is absolutely punched through his forcefield and body armor without resistance.

McCrow throws himself to the ground and rolls behind a decrepit old tractor as the Beastman flips and dodges incoming rounds, one of the Bradleys goes down in a shower of blood before winking out of existence.

Fanboy nearly collapses and shouts "It's the Italians, those a**holes laid an ambush!" however the Bradleys have dropped to the ground and started scanning the horizon and one of them shakes his head.

"It's not the Italians!" he shouts before bolting for cover. "It's S.C.A.R.!"

Everybody groans, not relishing a fight with these guys right now. Several more rounds are fired and something punches completely through Roger's tractor about an inch from his head. "We've got to move fast!" the hydromancer shouts.

"I've got an idea!" Fanboy replies, grabbing the Beastman telekinetically and hurling him in the direction of the shots.

A loud and exhilirating whoop echoes in the distance as their Beastly ally swoops down for the kill, a readied gunshot while he's still in midair however turns the whoop into a whimper and their feral comrade collapses where he lands in a pool of his own blood.

Fanboy curses but says he knows where they're at now, he points them out to McCrow as best they can and everyone begins marching forward, taking what little cover they can find. It's slow going until McCrow has enough and tosses out his new Assault Class Luvbot before leaping onto its back.

A pair of shots ring out that slam directly into the AssaultBot's face, but it doesn't seem to notice. Roger grins ear to ear and orders it to return fire. A hollow voice confirms his order and the bot raises one of it's arms and a nearly painful humming fills the air, several more shots ding off of its exterior and it releases its payload in the direction of the S.C.A.R. snipers.

The explosion is brief, but powerful and they never do find enough pieces to make a whole man, but it rains gore for the better part of a minute and nobody takes any more shots at them so they declare the AssaultBot's trial run a resounding success.

They collect the wounded Beastman, ensure that there's no usable equipment left by the S.C.A.R. guys and then scurry back to the airstrip to burn everything in sight before returning home to nurse their wounds.


During their recovery they take a few precautions. First off, they bring Richard's mother to the warehouse and stick her in the infirmary with Dr Kavlight. As bad as things are here, she's safer with the auto-turrets and Luvbots protecting her than at the hospital.

Second, they call Parks and give him the rundown. He basically whispers that he's busy at the moment but that he'll get back to them as soon as he can. They're a little surpried by his dismissal but shrug it off and get on with their lives.

Beastman heals up fast, but Fanboy's powers don't assist his recovery and he spends several days completely bed-ridden. Even using his abilities to get around causes a considerable amount of pain as he shifts ever so slightly.

Eventually however there's a knock at what's left of their front door and McCrow answers it to find Parks standing there in civilian clothes, he looks haggard and run down. They head to Fanboy's room and Parks explains his visit.

"They've stripped me of almost all my pull." Parks says with a pained shake of his head, "I've got maybe a month left before I'm in the unemployment line, but I've got something you need to see."

Fanboy raises an eyebrow questioningly and Parks tosses a burned CD onto his lap. "There's dangerous times ahead, I think we all know that. None of us realize how dangerous though..." he says with a sigh. "Do me a favor, don't go flashing this around. There are five men on the East Coast with access to this footage and if it gets out they've got a short list to prosecute."

Fanboy tries to ask him what the hell he's talking about but he just shakes his head and insists they watch the tape.

Naturally, they rush to Prophet's saferoom to pop it in and see what's so damned important. It's a video off of a standard portable camcorder set up behind a desk to survey the room interrogation style. A pair of voices discuss a couple of idiots in Jersey that have bumped the timeframe for Operation Goldenboy up more than two years. By the time stamp on the video which reveals this was taken not two days ago, they're obviously talking about the PCs.

"Who's this first guy?" one of them asks.

"Pretty impressive service history, good athletic background; supposed to be a charmer." the other replies.

"Let's see, codename is...Big Brother?" the first states, pressing a button and asking that 'Big Brother' be shown in. The door swings open and from the looks of things this room was built to contain superhumans, the door itself appears to be almost four inches of steel.

A tall, well built man enters the room wearing a nice if ill-fitting suit. He appears uncomfortable under such scrutiny. "Sir, I've arrived as requested. I hope to live up to the aspirations of this project and take-"

"Just your number please." the first man says irritably and 'Big Brother' responds with something that sounds like his social.

"Alright," the second man says, "You've been selected as a potential finalist but we need a demonstration of your ability before sending you to the field."

Big Brother nods and glances around the room before motioning towards the door. "Is it alright if I use this?" he asks uncertain.

The first researcher sighs, "Yeah, sure. Knock yourself out."

Big Brother stands in front of the door, takes a quick breath and exhales with enough force to tear the door completely off its frame. Chairs audibly slide as the researchers sit up in their seats and Big Brother hauls the door into the room one handed. Leaning the bulky slab of steel against the wall, he takes the door by the corner with one hand and tears a strip off as though shredding paper before rolling it into a ball and tossing it onto the table.

The table gives out under its weight and the camera is knocked to the floor, Big Brother is visible kneeling down to collect their papers and apologizing for the mess. Excitement is audible in their voices as they bid him not to worry and ask about other abilities.

A note of embarassment creeps into his voice and he suggests going outside for further demonstration.




McCrow, Fanboy and Prophet sit gawking at the screen for several minutes after the video is over. Prophet is the first to break the silence. "We need to do something." he suggests unhelpfully.

Fanboy excuses himself and calls Parks. Parks warns him that there's nothing more he can do to help, but Fanboy just asks for the location of the new DHS office. Parks is obviously hesitant to answer, but Fanboy explains that he wants to dispose of the cannisters before anyone else can be transformed by them. It takes a little cajoling, but he eventually convinces Parks to give him the address.

Going after the DHS isn't as daunting as it once was, Fanboy loads all five of their AssaultBots and 25 of their remaining Luvbots (the tussle with the Italians knocked out about a third of them so they've only got 125 left) into a sack and Roger gathers his droplets before they take off for the address Parks gave them.

They discover an abandoned factory where Parks directed them and it doesn't take much probing with ESP for Fanboy to discover that this is in fact the new Hole. Not wanting to jump into another personal scuffle so soon after their last, Roger has an idea. He puts five Luvbot spheres each into five of his droplets and they set the spheres to activate in 15 minutes with orders to blast anyone that's armed. Roger then instructs the droplets to go hide in the basement.

Fanboy watches the chaos unfold and it's damned near embarassing. The contingent of S.C.A.R. troops are skilled and well armed, but they don't have anything they can bring to bare to take down Luvless's space age tech. Within minutes they have been subdued and by the time our heroes head downstairs they can hear the Luvbots shouting 'Surrender or Die!' and brandishing laser weapons to emphasize their point.

McCrow walks around stripping the S.C.A.R. agents of their gear while Fanboy tracks down their commanding officer. He finds an older man in a standoff with several Luvbots and simply tears the pistol from the man's hand, disarming both him and the situation. The Luvbots disperse to find more dissenters.

Fanboy attempts to mentally probe the man's mind, but discovers he's too resilient to overcome. "Who ordered the hit?" Fanboy asks bluntly.

"I did." the man admits fearlessly. "Wilson wants you out of the way and I set my best men on it."

Fanboy shakes his head, "Why are you helping the Italians? It makes no sense."

The officer scoffs, "You've got that backwards boy, the Italians are helping us!"

McCrow sucker punches the man across the face and busts his lip. The officer responds by spitting blood directly into McCrow's face defiantly. McCrow naturally responds with a wild haymaker that loosens teeth. The man starts laughing derisively but a second haymaker from McCrow shuts him up and sends several bits of teeth clattering to the floor.

"Still funny?" McCrow roars. "Let's see how funny it is when I leave you in as many pieces as we left your men!"

"Enough McCrow." Fanboy says and corrals them down the hall and towards the area he's already telepathically scouted as the testing chamber. There's a rack of cannisters against the far wall which holds 32 in all, checking a desk drawer he discovers Wilson's signature confirming delivery of 32 cannisters of something he can't pronounce; he remembers this being the same kind of cannister that gave them their powers so he figures it can't be a coincidence.

Fanboy hefts one of the cannisters and discovers that it is incredibly light, too light even... He lifts another and another and another, all in all 29 of the 32 cannisters are completely empty. That doesn't bode well.

Figuring that they've got everything they're going to get from here, Fanboy starts rewriting memories to convince the S.C.A.R. troopers that the Italians are the ones who did this. It's a hasty job and he's not sure if it'll hold up, but it should sow a little chaos in their ranks at least. He finishes with the officer but realizes that something's off, he doesn't think it took.

"You're pretty strong willed, huh?" Fanboy asks.

The officer sneers, "All S.C.A.R. operatives are. They weed out the weak and ignorant before our first day of training."

Fanboy shakes his head in disappointment, "I guess that's why you guys have such a short life expectancy." he says and puts a bullet in the man's head from his own gun.



McCrow is pretty surprised that Fanboy just killed a man in cold blood and comments on it as they're loading gear and the cannisters up into an easily portable pile outside.

"What are you talking about? I watched you rape a man to death with an assault rifle!" Fanboy points out.

"Well...yeah, but that was heat of the moment. Totally different." McCrow says dismissively.

They bicker a little bit about the acceptably level of murder and head back home as quick as they can, pretty confident that somebody in there would have tripped an alarm. The trip is pretty uneventful and they get things stashed away pretty quick.

Once everything's set aside, they crack open one of the cannisters exictedly and Fanboy hooks it up to an oxygen mask to better administer doses. He takes a long experimental breath of the powerful transformative, excited at the prospect of what it might offer. To his disappointment it doesn't seem to do anything to him.

McCrow insists that Fanboy's doing it wrong and snatches the mask for himself, taking a deep breath himself but finding it equally useless. "Are you sure this is the right stuff?" he asks gruffly.

Fanboy shrugs, no longer so sure of himself. "Maybe...?"

Roger glances around for something not already affected by the gas to try it out on and grabs up one of his droplets, blasting the oblivious little creature with an experimental spray. The droplet responds by quivering uncontrollably and seeming to dissolve before their eyes.

Both of their eyes go wide and it suddenly occurs to them that maybe they should have tested the gas BEFORE they tried it on themselves. As they argue back and forth as to who's fault it is that they're going to die, they hear a little voice ask: "Who am I?"

Looking down, they see that the droplet has reformed but no longer has the vacant, manic grin that its brothers wear. Fanboy nearly gasps.

"It's fully sentient!" Fanboy almost shouts. "The gas works!"

The droplet seems confused and repeats its question to McCrow. "Who am I?"

McCrow ***** his head and picks the little critter up. "I think I'll call you.... Yeah. I think I'll call you Stallone." he says with a nod.

"Stallone?" the little creature asks puzzled.

"Yes, it's the name of a great man of incredible vision." McCrow assures it.

"Stallone...St-al-lone." the droplet repeats to itself.

"Who else can we blast?" McCrow asks excitedly.

Fanboy points out that the gas is dangerous, citing the more than 50% fatality rate of those exposed on the bus. McCrow suggests using it on their Italian prisoner but Fanboy replies that best case scenario they waste a hit of the gas, worse case scenario they have to contend with another superhuman Italian making life miserable for them.

McCrow suggests that may Sandy's kids would like superpowers but Fanboy shoots him down. Then, they both have the same idea at the same time. They'll ask Chavenski, if anyone's tough enough walk away from this thing new and improved, it's him.

Now going into this they knew it was a 50/50 shot at either giving a mass murdering Russian mobster superpowers or having something bad happen, they also knew that even if he survived he'd be getting a random power (determine by a last minute chart we whipped up) so for all they know they're risking the life of one of their only real allies on the offchance he might glow in the dark.

They make the offer to him and he's so sick of being what he considers an invalid that he'll take any chance that might restore the man he used to be. They give him the gas and he takes a long, deep drag off of it and quickly succumbs to its effects; convulsing and passing out altogether. I roll the die to determine whether or not it transforms or kills him and.....he makes it. Dr Kavlight steadies his vitals and the changes begin. Just like with the others, he'll be out for a while before his powers truly manifest.

I let one of the players roll on the chart to see which power he'll wake up with and off of a list that contained such items as Super Burrowing, Extra Bouncy and Acidic Spit he got Gravity Control, pretty much the only big flashy power I even included.


Things are going pretty good for the heroes all things considered. They still haven't located Bradley's dad, but they're making progress and they have three cannisters of world shaking, magical gas. Not wanting to risk the cannisters falling into the wrong(er) hands, they stuff them into their submersible holding cell and toss them to the bottom of the ocean for safekeeping.

They also try to prod Prophet into providing insight into their predicament when he finally admits he can't. I don't remember if I ever explained how his powers work, but he doesn't actually see visions of the future; he takes control of his body at a future date and has a minute or two to glance around and find notes or newspaper clippings he's left for himself. He explains that the last few times he's been transported into the future he's not been anywhere where he can look up information. In fact...he's not been in Ventnor City at all.

They question him as to where he would have went, but he honestly doesnt know. He doesn't even think he's been in civilization during this time. The news is troubling, but as Prophet points out there's no way for him to know if this will happen next week or 20 years down the line. His powers are unpredictable.

While they're discussing this in Prophet's saferoom, a news broadcast appears on the T.V. It's a breaking story concerning trouble in the park.

80 Dead in Terrorist Attack

Flashes across the screen and before they even see the first sentient tree shumbling around they sigh, Tree King is back.

They grab their satchel full of Luvbots and bolt to the park as fast as they can to handle this, by the time they arrive there appears to be somewhere north of 1,600 tree clones which have simply claimed the park as their own. Perhaps more disturblingly is a 30ft tree thicker around than a volkswagon which seems to have sprung up in the middle of the park; it sports a twisted, inhuman face which seems to be locked in a constant wail.

As Fanboy lowers the two of them to the ground and prepares for battle he's flagged down by one of the tree clones; surprisingly, they can hardly be called clones any longer. The one which flogs them down has a majestic bush across his shoulders, others sport various vines; flowers and thorns which the original Tree King never had.

"Leave this place and peace may be maintained." the Tree Clone states flatly.

"Peace?" Fanboy asks incredulously. "You murdered 80 people!"

"They were trespassers in our domain." the Tree Clone replies, "Avoid our land and peace may be maintained."

"This isn't your land chief." Fanboy replies. "It's city property, you need to piss off."

"We will make better use of it." the Tree Clone insists coldly.

"Take us to your leader." McCrow demands.

"You address him. We are all Tree King, they are all a part of me." the Tree Clone replies.

"Freaking Tree-Borg." Fanboy mutters.

"You're Tree King?" McCrow asks, not quite buying it. "You seem too calm. Where's that genocidal rage you're usually shouting about?"

The Tree Clone bristles but replies "I have accepted my new position in life. Leave this place and peace will be maintained."

"Peace will be maintained, peace will be maintained." McCrow mimics. "If you're Tree King then you know who I am. I splintered your ass once, I'll do it again if you don't turn around and crawl back into whatever hole you crawled out of."

The Tree Clone's eyes blaze and it shouts in a familiar blood curdling screech "Insolent speck, I'll flay your bones from your screaming meat!"

"There's the murderous rage you're usually shouting about!" McCrow grins and throws a mighty haymaker against the clone's jaw that basically breaks his own hand. The Tree Clone in charge as well as the four others nearby all scream in rage and release a cloud of spores which choke McCrow and send him sprawling down against the ground.

The Tree Clones turn growling to Fanboy and he holds his hands up in the universal symbol for 'I didn't do it.'

Diplomacy breaks down pretty fast even without McCrow's interference as Fanboy and the Tree Clone get into a shouting match about how Trees don't belong in the city, they belong in the jungle and that's where they should go; the trees point out that they're not that kind of tree and that their massive tree god is sort of already growing here.

Things get serious and the Tree Clones start swarming, Fanboy doesn't take it too seriously until he realizes that I meant ALL of the Tree Clones are swarming and he's suddenly looking at a murderous tide of wood and rage bearing down on him; he even spots the hulking form of Brick surging forward to get a piece of the action and decides that this fight just isn't worth it.

The massive tree in the center releases a disgusting amount of spores that are so thick they're visible and most of the trees on the ground follow suit.

"Every death from this moment forward is on YOUR HEAD! A dozen will die for each step you trespass from this moment on!" the Tree Clone representative shouts as Fanboy snatches McCrow as best he can and rockets out of the park.

He barges into the mayor's office, dropping the still unconscious McCrow in the waiting room, and demands to know what the mayor plans on doing about this.

"Me?!" the mayor stammers. "That's what you're for!"

"What would you normally do?" Fanboy snaps.

"You mean when mutant tree men try to murder all of my citizens for trespassing in his park? Strangely that's never came up before!" the mayor almost hisses. "I've got a call into the governor, but this is too strange to believe. Who knows when he'll arrange help?"

Fanboy shakes his head and then asks if the mayor knows any pyrotechnic guys. The mayor responds that he's got a guy that does fireworks once or twice a year for him, that he's pretty good.

Fanboy rolls his eyes, but he's desparate and takes the guy's address anyway. The Mayor calls ahead to explain things.


McCrow finally wakes up on the way across town and together they knock on Marshall O'Grady's door. The man that answers is not what they were expecting from the mayor.

For one thing he's drunk off his ass at 1 in the afternoon and he sports thick, bushy orange hair and a stylized eye patch over his left eye emblazoned with a flaming skull. He stands in the doorway in nothing but his underwear and increasingly elaborate tattoos, swigging out of a fifth of whiskey and constantly asking to be reminded who the hell they are.

Fanboy just leaves the mayor out of his explanation altogether, figuring that any added complexity just makes this harder. He bluntly says "I need a man to burn down the park. Are you him?"

"Six grand." the little Irishman snaps the offer up without needing to hear anymore. "But you just keep this between you and me."




General Wilson gave Michael his orders alone and then sent him to the hospital to retrieve his partner. The two of them would be brokering a deal between visiting Italian mobsters and the DHS to help take down a larger terrorist cell. Michael doesn't like it, but as he's constantly reminded; he doesn't have to like it.

His current partner, Dr Steinz will be doing most of the negotiating by himself, but it's always handy to have an invincible berserker on your side if things to belly up. The rub being that his current partner is still laid up in the hospital with a pair of broken legs from their last excursion. But then, that's life sometimes.

Before picking up Steinz, Michael decides to pay a visit to see how Mann is faring. It's painful to see him in his current condition, but then; thats like too sometimes. At least their life.

Entering Mann's room, Michael is shocked to find that it's empty. No sign of his former friend and partner. Rushing to the desk he flashes his badge and demands to know where Mann's been transferred to.

The clerk looks at him with confusion on her face and explains "He was signed out by a senior DHS agent, he was marked as fit to return to duty."

Michael's blood runs cold remember the shrivelled husk which remained of his one time friend. "Bulls***." he mutters.

[Grim Portent]

So... Tree King is an evil druid now?

And they plan to burn the entire park to the ground to try and finish him off?



I kind of foresee a big corrupt Justice League style thing forming with all the 'heroes' living in a underwater city built by Luvless, with McCrow leading an army of hydro-luvbots in the name of justice, beer and profit.

[(Un)Inspired]

What happened to agent Mann?!?

Great update as always.

[Kid Jake]

So... Tree King is an evil druid now?

And they plan to burn the entire park to the ground to try and finish him off?

Tree King is now a 30ft tall and growing broadcast tower. The more Tree Clones he created, the less he used his own form so basically he's like a bloated ant queen manipulating his drones and more or less giving up on his own mobility in favor of better range.

And they plan on burning whatever it takes to finish him off. :smalltongue:



I kind of foresee a big corrupt Justice League style thing forming with all the 'heroes' living in a underwater city built by Luvless, with McCrow leading an army of hydro-luvbots in the name of justice, beer and profit.

That's pretty much how I've seen this going since the first session :smallbiggrin: I just left it to them to get there on their own.

You should also be happy to know that McCrow has already got plans for giant mutated sharks with laser-beams on their heads.



What happened to agent Mann?!?

Great update as always.

That should be revealed next update. :smallbiggrin:

Thank ya.

[Grim Portent]

Tree King is now a 30ft tall and growing broadcast tower. The more Tree Clones he created, the less he used his own form so basically he's like a bloated ant queen manipulating his drones and more or less giving up on his own mobility in favor of better range.

And they plan on burning whatever it takes to finish him off. :smalltongue:

Hmm, wasn't there a mutant specifically suited to this plan? Who gets bigger when exposed to fire?


You should also be happy to know that McCrow has already got plans for giant mutated sharks with laser-beams on their heads.

Make him settle for mutated sea bass, sharks are endangered. :smallbiggrin:

[Kid Jake]

Hmm, wasn't there a mutant specifically suited to this plan? Who gets bigger when exposed to fire?

Yeah, they let a guy loose a session or two back that'd be perfect right here; but haven't bothered trying to track him down. He's on a silent rampage across the city, setting fires and such.



Make him settle for mutated sea bass, sharks are endangered. :smallbiggrin:

Naturally. :smallbiggrin:

[GorinichSerpant]

Yeah, they let a guy loose a session or two back that'd be perfect right here; but haven't bothered trying to track him down. He's on a silent rampage across the city, setting fires and such.
:smallbiggrin:

Brick is allied with Tree King right? If the fire guy also joins them, then they will basically have a team of naturally elemental evil who all share an existence of being horrid monsters that can no longer be human. It will be great.:smallbiggrin: Except Tree King has a very good reason to snuf out the person most qualified to kill him and that guy in turn probably isn't in a diplomatic mood lately.:smallfrown:

Also how much is the pyrotechnic based of demo-man from TF2?

[(Un)Inspired]

Thanks for posting this campaign journal KJ. It's exceedingly entertaining.

This also applies to any players who also read this campaign.

[Grim Portent]

Yeah, they let a guy loose a session or two back that'd be perfect right here; but haven't bothered trying to track him down. He's on a silent rampage across the city, setting fires and such.

So stealth pyromaniac? :smalltongue:

I have an image in my head of this poor guy who's constantly ablaze trying to do stuff to reassure himself that he's still human, petting dogs, smelling flowers, looking at beautiful sunrises/sunsets, mingling with people and so on. But everything he touches turns to ash, buildings burn and all that lives near him is set aflame as he throws his head back and cries tears of liquid fire at the injustice of losing your humanity for being on the wrong bus at the wrong time.

[GorinichSerpant]

I have an image in my head of this poor guy who's constantly ablaze trying to do stuff to reassure himself that he's still human, petting dogs, smelling flowers, looking at beautiful sunrises/sunsets, mingling with people and so on. But everything he touches turns to ash, buildings burn and all that lives near him is set aflame as he throws his head back and cries tears of liquid fire at the injustice of losing your humanity for being on the wrong bus at the wrong time.

I'm imagining someone seeing his plight and from a good distance away from him shouting "I feel for you man"

[Kid Jake]

Brick is allied with Tree King right? If the fire guy also joins them, then they will basically have a team of naturally elemental evil who all share an existence of being horrid monsters that can no longer be human. It will be great.:smallbiggrin: Except Tree King has a very good reason to snuf out the person most qualified to kill him and that guy in turn probably isn't in a diplomatic mood lately.:smallfrown:

Yeah, that guy's similar to Michael in that the DHS sort of drove him crazy, he's not in the mood to use his words. :smalltongue: Come to think of it, he's got a lot in common with Tree King even beyond the whole 'inhuman monster' thing.


Also how much is the pyrotechnic based of demo-man from TF2?

Pretty heavily actually. :smallbiggrin: They put me on the spot when they decided to hire a professional to burn down the park and I went with the first thing that popped into my head.



Thanks for posting this campaign journal KJ. It's exceedingly entertaining.

This also applies to any players who also read this campaign.

We're glad to know that so many people enjoy it. :smallbiggrin:



So stealth pyromaniac? :smalltongue:

Heh, basically. Arsons have gone up by about 200% in the last week or so, but unlike most of their villains he doesn't stand around declaring himself 'King of Whatever-Street-Corner-We're-On-Now' so they've been pretty content to leave him to the Fire Department.



I have an image in my head of this poor guy who's constantly ablaze trying to do stuff to reassure himself that he's still human, petting dogs, smelling flowers, looking at beautiful sunrises/sunsets, mingling with people and so on. But everything he touches turns to ash, buildings burn and all that lives near him is set aflame as he throws his head back and cries tears of liquid fire at the injustice of losing your humanity for being on the wrong bus at the wrong time.

You're partially right, though he's probably not going to be all that sympathetic a character. Let's just say that I was inspired by Willy Pete from Empowered.

Also, this is actually a guy from Michael's past; he even predates the bus. He was the one of the test supers that Fanboy watched S.C.A.R. put down. He's like a dehydrated villain, just add fire and voila!

[Mustafu]

Well now I feel bad for him. So obviously we're going to have to put him out of his misery. It's the humane thing to do. That or forcibly hurl him into the park.

[Grim Portent]

Well now I feel bad for him. So obviously we're going to have to put him out of his misery. It's the humane thing to do. That or forcibly hurl him into the park.

And the award for philanthropist of the year goes to... :smalltongue:

[Kid Jake]

And the award for philanthropist of the year goes to... :smalltongue:

Hrm...that actually gives me an idea :smallbiggrin:

[(Un)Inspired]

Hrm...that actually gives me an idea :smallbiggrin:

A villain who's super power is philanthropy?

Isn't that Kavos in your other campaign?

[Kid Jake]

Basically. :smalltongue:

I suddenly think I'm going to work in at least one of them winning a Nobel Peace Prize by the end of the arc/beginning of the next one, so long as their activities don't come to light. Just for the lulz mostly and to set them up as global names.

[(Un)Inspired]

Whenever I think of Chavenski I picture Boris the Blade from Snatch.

Maybe cause his other name is Boris the Bullet Dodger?

[GorinichSerpant]

Speaking of our good Russian Mobster, he's muscles can't support his weight anymore right, and he is a gravity manipulator right? Does that mean that he is going to float around all the time now?

[Kid Jake]

Whenever I think of Chavenski I picture Boris the Blade from Snatch.

Maybe cause his other name is Boris the Bullet Dodger?

I could definitely see that. At the very least I always pictured him sounding like Boris.



Speaking of our good Russian Mobster, he's muscles can't support his weight anymore right, and he is a gravity manipulator right? Does that mean that he is going to float around all the time now?

He'll probably build up to that as he gets more comfortable, at the moment I have much blunter use of his new powers in mind.

[wicketman8]

Never a disappointing post KidJake.

[Kid Jake]

Glad you enjoy it. :smallbiggrin:

[turbo164]

He'll probably build up to that as he gets more comfortable, at the moment I have much blunter use of his new powers in mind.

Idea for a Chavenski move:

Final Atomic Buster, from Street Fighter's Zangief. Is that blunt enough? ^_^


Great journal as usual :smallsmile: Especially loved their "paycheck" from Luvless!

[Kid Jake]

I could sort of see Chavenski doing that without any powers :smallbiggrin:

He would have actually given them the AssaultBots for free. The whole reason he's hitching his wagon to their star is because they're a walking disaster area and he wants his merchandise VISIBLE so that everyone has to buy from him just to keep up with the carnage. I have no idea if they'll ever realize he's just using them as targets for his real customers or if they'll even care when they find out. :smalltongue:

[razorfloss]

I could sort of see Chavenski doing that without any powers :smallbiggrin:

He would have actually given them the AssaultBots for free. The whole reason he's hitching his wagon to their star is because they're a walking disaster area and he wants his merchandise VISIBLE so that everyone has to buy from him just to keep up with the carnage. I have no idea if they'll ever realize he's just using them as targets for his real customers or if they'll even care when they find out. :smalltongue:

knowing fanboys personailty he wouldn't he would just ask for a cut of the profits

[Grim Portent]

I could sort of see Chavenski doing that without any powers :smallbiggrin:

He would have actually given them the AssaultBots for free. The whole reason he's hitching his wagon to their star is because they're a walking disaster area and he wants his merchandise VISIBLE so that everyone has to buy from him just to keep up with the carnage. I have no idea if they'll ever realize he's just using them as targets for his real customers or if they'll even care when they find out. :smalltongue:

You know what Luvless needs? A sidekick, one with marketing based superpowers!

Captain Commercial! Mister Mascot! These sidekicks and many more could be yours for a low low price of just £9.99. (Terms and conditions may apply, sidekicks should not be complimented, paid or fed after midnight.) :smallbiggrin:

[Kid Jake]

knowing fanboys personailty he wouldn't he would just ask for a cut of the profits

I could absolutely imagine that :smallbiggrin:


You know what Luvless needs? A sidekick, one with marketing based superpowers!

Captain Commercial! Mister Mascot! These sidekicks and many more could be yours for a low low price of just £9.99. (Terms and conditions may apply, sidekicks should not be complimented, paid or fed after midnight.) :smallbiggrin:

Hrm...I'm thinking maybe he should clone Billy Mays?

[GorinichSerpant]

Clone Billy Mays, Mr. Luvless Clone Billy Maysssss.... you know you want to....

[Grim Portent]

Hrm...I'm thinking maybe he should clone Billy Mays?

Why stop there? Why not create a being perfectly designed to sell stuff in style?

Splice Billy Mays' DNA with the Go Compare Man's. :smallbiggrin:

[Kid Jake]

:smalltongue:

I actually have a couple of people (sadly neither Fanboy nor McCrow) that should be getting together with me Saturday to play a game set in Ventnor's (possible/probable) future. If they ever go into Luvtech Industry's basement they're going to just find dozens of Billy Mays hybrids. Half Billy Mays, Half Sham Wow Guy; Half Billy Mays, Half Cobra; Etc... Maybe even one poor bastard that's just Half Billy Mays.

[GorinichSerpant]

:smalltongue:

I actually have a couple of people (sadly neither Fanboy nor McCrow) that should be getting together with me Saturday to play a game set in Ventnor's (possible/probable) future. If they ever go into Luvtech Industry's basement they're going to just find dozens of Billy Mays hybrids. Half Billy Mays, Half Sham Wow Guy; Half Billy Mays, Half Cobra; Etc... Maybe even one poor bastard that's just Half Billy Mays.

Will you be writing up that session? Do so pretty please with a cherry on top. This sounds hilarious. Also if I were a successful Billy Mays hybrid, I probably wouldn't be loyal to Luvless by default. So he would first have to brainwash me so I forget all those horrible experiments.

[Kid Jake]

If everything goes as planned I'll write the session up once we're finished. :smallbiggrin:

I've been wanting to run a Neighborhood Watch campaign ever since McCrow's player started pitching me the World's Worst Superhero (who WILL be making an appearance even without McCrow) so I'm pretty stoked to see how it goes.

[Drakeburn]

I'm really enjoying the campaign journal so far. But one of the things that bugs me is McGrow's "Stallone". I was expecting that little droplet to evolve into a human-like creature made entirely out of water (like Hydro for example). That would have so much potential there, as either an ally or a foe to the group.

I just have so many more ideas for this, but I'm not sure how you would feel if I just post it on here where your players can see it.

Anyways, keep up the good work! :smallsmile:

[Kid Jake]

Feel free to toss ideas into spoiler boxes.

McCrow actually took the Sidekick feat for Stallone and we were still tossing around ideas when I posted the last journal. When he appears next he's going to be about 4ft tall and heavily modeling himself after Rambo. :smallbiggrin: It's well within all of the droplets abilities to appear however they wish, he's just the first that's been inspired past 'amorphous blob'.

[GorinichSerpant]

So McCrow decided to show his new creation some movies, and the first thing he showed him was Rambo? Nice, we see that he didn't put much into his parenting skill. Or did Stallone see a bunch of other movies and picked out the appearance of Rambo as his favorite?

[Kid Jake]

Pretty much the only movies Stallone is allowed to watch are ones by his namesake (I don't know how I'm going to work in an Italian Stallion reference yet, but so help me I'll try.) or in the same basic genre. Basically just the crap that McCrow passes out watching while drinking. Stallone's basically of the opinion that Rambo is a state to which we must all aspire. :smallbiggrin:

[Bob of Mage]

If everything goes as planned I'll write the session up once we're finished. :smallbiggrin:

I've been wanting to run a Neighborhood Watch campaign ever since McCrow's player started pitching me the World's Worst Superhero (who WILL be making an appearance even without McCrow) so I'm pretty stoked to see how it goes.

So let get this right, Fanboy and McCrow are better super heros then this new hero?!?! I'm pretty sure both of them have done more harm then good at this point (intended or not). If it wasn't for the fact that they at least try to do good, and from time to time success at it, I won't even call them heros.

[Kid Jake]

He's just...the worst thing ever conceived. I seriously doubt I'll be able to do him justice, especially without the horrible sounds we use when discussing him; but I'm going to try and share our mutual vision with the world. :smalltongue:

[Bob of Mage]

Well knowing you and your players it will be fun to see what it is.

[Kid Jake]

I can't wait, I was starting to think I was never going to get the chance to put him in the journal. :smallbiggrin: When me and McCrow described him to Fanboy he just looked at us with disgust on his face and said that if he ever met the character, or even got a hint that he was meeting somebody that could potentially become the character, that he was going to devote 100% of his energy and resources to killing him as a public service, metagaming be damned. I'm pretty sure we all agreed it would be the most selfless thing he's ever done.

But now I feel like I'm overhyping him, so I'll stop. :smalltongue:

[(Un)Inspired]

Oh my god. I'm so excited now.

[Drakeburn]

I cannot wait to read about this "lousy" superhero. By the way you put it, he sounds like the Jar-Jar Binks of the M&M campaign. :smalltongue:

Do you think that McGrow might get any ideas in developing Stallone or his "water monster" form to be something like this.....
http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100717010943/sonic/images/7/75/PerfectChaosSADX.PNG


The idea of a super duo who have powers to combat Fanboy and McGrow has floated around my head a few times (kind of like a Yin - Yang relationship).

For McGrow a cryomancer might provide quite a challenge, having the ability to literally freeze up McGrow's source of power.

Coming up with somebody for Fanboy is a bit harder though. One idea I would throw in is a magician who can summon animated objects. Another idea would be a brain in a jar that could be a powerful telekinetic/telepathic weapon for S.C.A.R. The final idea is pretty much a sentient android (like Vision or Ultron). Maybe that android can be a supervillain for hire Dr. Luvless might develop.

It would be an interesting idea if a superhero, or a team of superheroes (with better hearts than the PCs of course) would show up and hog the spotlight from Fanboy and McGrow. There are so many different ways this can turn out.

[Kid Jake]

Oh my god. I'm so excited now.

Me too. :smallbiggrin:




I cannot wait to read about this "lousy" superhero. By the way you put it, he sounds like the Jar-Jar Binks of the M&M campaign. :smalltongue:
Not necessarily lousy (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jmF900DHKk), just horrible. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIl8i8jKfdw) (Note: That was the only thing I could think of to properly demonstrate 'horrible', I apologize.)


Do you think that McGrow might get any ideas in developing Stallone or his "water monster" form to be something like this.....
http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100717010943/sonic/images/7/75/PerfectChaosSADX.PNG

That's actually pretty similar to the image we already use for when he transforms. He alternates between some sort of serpent and a six armed humanoid shape.



The idea of a super duo who have powers to combat Fanboy and McGrow has floated around my head a few times (kind of like a Yin - Yang relationship).

For McGrow a cryomancer might provide quite a challenge, having the ability to literally freeze up McGrow's source of power.

Coming up with somebody for Fanboy is a bit harder though. One idea I would throw in is a magician who can summon animated objects. Another idea would be a brain in a jar that could be a powerful telekinetic/telepathic weapon for S.C.A.R. The final idea is pretty much a sentient android (like Vision or Ultron). Maybe that android can be a supervillain for hire Dr. Luvless might develop.

I've got a list of random powers that I roll as people are exposed to the gas now, Cryomancy replaced Gravity Control on it once Chavenski was powered up. Depending on how things go in the next session, I've got a couple of potential characters that might make for an excellent foil to McCrow.

Magic doesn't exist in this setting, which might be an odd line to draw considering some of the places we're going with it; but from the get go we agreed that we wouldn't be any Zitannas running around Ventnor City. The brain in a jar though is an idea I really like. Funnily enough though, I think Luvless himself (or at least his gear) was the perfect foil for Fanboy. Fanboy couldn't grapple him because of his ranks in spinning coupled with at-will teleportation, Fanboy couldn't read his mind or mental blast him because of his mental shielding. Once Luvtech starts flooding the street, Fanboy probably won't have a shortage of people gunning for him.


It would be an interesting idea if a superhero, or a team of superheroes (with better hearts than the PCs of course) would show up and hog the spotlight from Fanboy and McGrow. There are so many different ways this can turn out.

Why do you think I introduced Big Brother? :smallbiggrin:

[GorinichSerpant]

Why do you think I introduced Big Brother? :smallbiggrin:

Is his name a reference to the famous book 1984? And if so who thought that naming a government agent after a well known symbol of evil oppressive governments was a good idea? Why would that code name be appropriate? The original Big Brother wasn't known for his super strength.

[Kid Jake]

Is his name a reference to the famous book 1984? And if so who thought that naming a government agent after a well known symbol of evil oppressive governments was a good idea? Why would that code name be appropriate? The original Big Brother wasn't known for his super strength.

He is to a certain degree and I'll admit that's just a straight case of genre-blindness being introduced to the general populace to bring them a little closer to a comic book world. 'Oh, you mean we shouldn't trust Baron Von Doublecross? How could we have known!?'

As for why it fits: "Big Brother is watching you."

He's basically a Superman (as seen in The Dark Knight Returns) expy complete with super senses that allow him to see and hear everything within a five mile radius and the ability to punt dissenters the better part of the way across the Atlantic ocean if so inclined. He himself actually means well and doesn't see the threatening connotations of his own code name. His handlers on the other hand...

[GorinichSerpant]

He is to a certain degree and I'll admit that's just a straight case of genre-blindness being introduced to the general populace to bring them a little closer to a comic book world. 'Oh, you mean we shouldn't trust Baron Von Doublecross? How could we have known!?'

As for why it fits: "Big Brother is watching you."

He's basically a Superman (as seen in The Dark Knight Returns) expy complete with super senses that allow him to see and hear everything within a five mile radius and the ability to punt dissenters the better part of the way across the Atlantic ocean if so inclined. He himself actually means well and doesn't see the threatening connotations of his own code name. His handlers on the other hand...


Ah, I see then. Him not seeing the connotations seems very ironic to me.

Now I want to make a character name "Baron Von Doublecross" who is completely honest. To the point where he would have a negative bluff rank.

[Bob of Mage]

He is to a certain degree and I'll admit that's just a straight case of genre-blindness being introduced to the general populace to bring them a little closer to a comic book world. 'Oh, you mean we shouldn't trust Baron Von Doublecross? How could we have known!?'

As for why it fits: "Big Brother is watching you."

He's basically a Superman (as seen in The Dark Knight Returns) expy complete with super senses that allow him to see and hear everything within a five mile radius and the ability to punt dissenters the better part of the way across the Atlantic ocean if so inclined. He himself actually means well and doesn't see the threatening connotations of his own code name. His handlers on the other hand...


It still might be good to add an out right "good" hero team. This would add a new faction to the mix which could lead to lots of three way conflicts. They would likely be a foil to the PCs due to being more heroish. There would also be conflict from from Fanboy having to share the spotlight and someone daring to help McCrow. At the same time there would be cases when they would team up vs S.C.A.R. They would be a new foe for the New Blood and S.C.A.R. aligned PCs that isn't just the other PCs or normal bad guys. It would also help make it feel like the world is getting out of everyone's control if new supers and more so super factions keep poping up.

[Kid Jake]

He'd have to sport a majestic mustache which he twirls constantly.

[GorinichSerpant]

He'd have to sport a majestic mustache which he twirls constantly.

Exactly, and he would make honest mistakes that look like trickery if you don't have the full picture. Or his subordinates would make such mistakes, or he gets unlucky in some other way.

[Drakeburn]

He is to a certain degree and I'll admit that's just a straight case of genre-blindness being introduced to the general populace to bring them a little closer to a comic book world. 'Oh, you mean we shouldn't trust Baron Von Doublecross? How could we have known!?'

As for why it fits: "Big Brother is watching you."

He's basically a Superman (as seen in The Dark Knight Returns) expy complete with super senses that allow him to see and hear everything within a five mile radius and the ability to punt dissenters the better part of the way across the Atlantic ocean if so inclined. He himself actually means well and doesn't see the threatening connotations of his own code name. His handlers on the other hand...


Now that I think about it, it would be an interesting idea to give "Big Brother" a sidekick. Either a kid or teenaged sidekick as project "Little Brother." There is so much you can do with that idea. :smallbiggrin:

[Kid Jake]

This session was much shorter than I'm used to, in fact the whole thing might've taken a little over an hour after we finally started so we didn't accomplish all that much. That being said, I'm still fairly stoked because I never thought I'd get to use any of these characters. :smallbiggrin:

Anyway, without belaboring the point I present to you the first installment of...

The Watch

It's been eight long years since The Incident which changed Ventnor City from just another pit stop near Atlantic City into the superhuman capitol of the world. Only eight years and yet few can remember what the world was like before.

At one time Ventnor City had a population of just over ten thousand. Only a few years later that numbers has swelled to nearly sixty thousand; a good 45% of which are classified as superhumans. Roughly 10% were never actually human at all.

Nowadays, nobody comes into Ventnor City and absolutely nobody leaves. Even without the government cordon which surrounds the city with orders to shoot escapees on sight, the twin powers which run the town simply wouldn't allow it. The Superhuman Coalition owns the northern border of Ventnor City and the shoreline is owned by McCrow and Friends(A Limited Partnership), each is a faction of petty gods which demands regular tithes for the right to live in their city; while making examples of those who think they're too good to live in their city.

The city is home to dozens of neighborhoods, most under the control of competing Warlords; some of which have cast their lots in with the powers that be, others who bribe both sides for the right to run their neighborhoods like their own private kingdoms. Countless gangs either serve these warlords directly, or manage to operate under their collective noses.

Our story however, revolves around the free province of Mercy Avenue; an unaffiliated neighborhood which has fought hard to stay that way. They pay their tithes to both McCrow and the Coalition and in exchange neither side directly moves against them; however as they are unaffiliated, neither side cares about their plights either.

To survive in this day and age they have formed....The Watch.

Composed of the most able individuals from within the neighborhood, who are sadly still a far cry from the weakest of the warlords from the surrounding areas, the neighborhood watch seeks to nip crimes in the bud and save their property values one way or another.

The day has come that each of our heroes have dreaded for some time now as the captain of the watch, Winged Man (pronounced Wing-ed Man) has posted a notice for assistance on their doors. Winged Man has no real authority in the neighborhood, but as founder of The Watch and one of its few regular members it's more than a little embarrassing to turn him down. Everybody has to do their part in this day and age.

It's Monday night and the time has come for their first official Watch meeting. They find themselves sitting in Winged Man's dining room at a long table with numerous empty seats. Our heroes, as well as a young man with long hair and dirty clothes, sit on one side and the veteran Watch members sit on the other; Winged Man sits between his partners.

In the middle of the table are several paper cups, as well as a cold bottle of Pepsi; a plate of lemon squares sit next to them and as Winged Man keeps telling the man with inky black skin and black fatigues sitting next to him; they're for guests only.

Winged Man is a tall, middle aged man with salt and papper hair wearing an immaculate sweater vest. Most eyecatchingly however, he sports a pair of 6ft wings from his back. Most people say he reminds them of Mr Rogers and he mistakenly takes this as a compliment.

"I'm glad you could make it!" Winged Man says cheerfully, pushing the plate of lemon squares in front of the two young girls and dirty man, "We appreciate you coming. I hope we didn't interrupt your plans."

One of the young women, a girl with a perpetual frown on her face and a note of defeat in her voice says "No...I was just playing with my dog. Like usual..."

The other young lady shrugs, "I'm just concerned with why you invited us here to begin with..."

Winged Man sighs painfully and steeples his fingers in front of him. "As you know, we don't usually reach out to the neighborhood; that's for your own protection. But sometimes there are...accidents and we're forced to hold a recruitment drive to keep The Watch opertional."

Looking around the room, both at the newcomers and his own team, Winged Man shakes his head sadly. "I'm sure you've all heard the rumors... There WAS an incident withe the tragically, if aptly, named Exploding Boy. He will be missed. But Mr Misfit and his wife Betty were also in the blast. They're stable, but we're keeping them in our prayers. Not to mention the fact that I haven't heard from The Once And Future Man in nearly a month and he is presumed to have kidnapped himself again. We're suddenly down to half our usual roster."

With a look of resignation, Winged Man holds up his hands and says "We hate to have to ask so much of the community, but in order to keep the neighborhood safe and free we must ALL do our part."

The sad young woman asks "What do you want us to do?"

A genuine smile stretches across Winged Man's face as he says "All we need are people to take over our missing patrols. Tuesday and Thursday nights between ten and two. Just keep an eye out for any serious security breaches."

The young ladies talk among themselves for a moment before agreeing that this is the least they could do.

Winged Man claps his hands together. "Excellent." he says excitedly. "Since we're going to be working together, it's only natural that we should have a proper introduction. I am of course, the Winged Man. I would think that my abilities speak for themselves, but if you would like a first hand demonstration then I teach a women's self defense course Fridays at the Y. Come early and bring your own whistles."

"To my left," Winged Man Continues, "Is the elusive Human Shadow."

The man in question's skin is unnaturally dark, literally pitch black; as are his eyes. He wears a pair of black fatigues that are several shades lighter than his own skin. "You can be forgiven for not noticing me," the man starts; quickly finishing off a stolen lemon square less than stealthily. "Much like the elusive shadow from which I derive my name, I am impossible to follow."

"A true to life man of mystery." Winged Man agrees. "To my right of course is our greatest champion. A man among men who surely needs no introduction to the good people of Mercy Avenue: The Mighty Manslug!"

Arranged on a large wooden wagon is the severely bloated form of a 12ft long slug with a pitifully human face. It's eyes have rolled back into its head as though wracked in pain and its mouth is set in an eternal, wordless scream. A thick layer of slime drips off the giant gastropod's horrific body. It attempts to focus its eyes on the new arrivals and loudly rasps out "Kill....me..."

Winged Man laughs obliviously and pats the disgusting creature's shoulder. "Haha, you're right Manslug, as always. I DO carry on, don't I?"

The new arrivals stare at the pulsating mess before them and slightly wince.

"So..what should we call the three of you?" Winged Man asks.

The sad girl sighs and says that everybody just calls her Loser Face. Winged Man makes sure she's actually ok with being called that before shrugging and moving on. The other girl's name is Alicia.

Manslug wordlessly sobs in the background, writhing on his little wagon.

Turning to the young man, Winged Man asks his name as well.

The man looks around and replies "Oh, me? I'm Jeff. You know, from down the street?"

Winged Man's eyes widen in realization and he fishes a twenty out of his pocket. He slips it to Jeff and says that Jeff's mother already set things up; but warns Jeff that if something happens to his azaleas that he'll be switching landscapers yet again.

Jeff takes his leave and disappointment sets in on the girls as they realize THIS is the team...

Back to business, Winged Man glances over the new recruits. "The Watch can be dangerous on occasion, so we strive to provide mentors for new recruits. Just until you get acclimated at least. Since tomorrow is your first patrol, I suspect you'll need all the help you can get."

The girls agree that's a fine idea.

"That's why you'll be taking the Mighty Manslug." Winged Man says, either missing or ignoring the hope draining out of them. "He's been my right hand man since day one and there's no one I'd rather have at my side in a fight. Besides, the fresh air does him good and he's quite the night owl."

Manslug looks pleadingly at the rest of his team and whimpers to himself "Just...let...me...die..."

Winged Man laughs and claps Manslug on his sticky shoulder once again. "Plus he's SUCH a kidder! Never a dull moment with the Mighty Manslug around."

Alicia looks at the writhing abomination and whispers to herself that it doesn't look like he's kidding to her.

The basic Watch charter is quickly gone over and Winged Man calls the meeting to a close. He shakes each of their hands and thanks them for their impending service, pointing out that many are called but not all choose to answer.

"I'm not sure what I can do, but I'll give it my all." Alicia says.

With a look of absolute sincerity, Winged Man replies "Every bit helps."


It's 10pm on a Tuesday and they've just begun their first shift on The Watch. Loser Face and Alicia are walking the streets with Alicia pulling along Manslug's little wagon as they go. He pretty much constantly sobs quietly to himself, but is otherwise fairly unintrusive.

The neighborhood isn't all that large so within an hour they find themselves back where they started, just three more hours of this and they're home free. On their second pass they come across three teenage boys sitting on a curb and minding their own business. They're passing a joint between them and getting a little loud, but don't seem to be hurting anyone.

Despite the fact that Winged Man stressed that ALL crime should be nipped in the bud (especially loitering, which is a fairly dangerous activity in this day and age) neither of the girls want to make a big deal out of some kids having fun and Manslug doesn't even appear to know where he is at the moment.

They're about to move on when they hear a loud screeching sound, like metal on metal, followed by a heavy crash a block down the street. The kids bolt in different directions instinctively and new recruits grab Manslug's wagon and rush towards the sound.

As the three of them turn the corner they immediately see the source of the disturbance: what looks like an armored car is laying on its side and a heavy duty truck seems to be almost embedded in it; which is strange enough, there's nothing anywhere around here that should warrant an armroed vehicle's protection, however the real spectacle is the truck's occupants.

A massive man wearing a light blue suit with a dark blue jacket is literally prying the armored car apart with his bare hands while six men in light blue wetsuits complete with oxygen tanks, hold shotguns on the drivers of the armored car.

Loser Face gets the drop on them and clears her throat, as the six scuba men look up she unleashes the power she was cursed with all those years ago. Everyone looking at her feels an intense feeling of despair wash over them; weighing them down and overwhelming them. One man breaks into tears.

The large man smiles as he resists the effects and they can see that his skin is strangely pale and his mouth is considerably larger than it should be. His teeth seem overly numerous and terrifyingly sharp. He tears the side off the armored car with a casual grunt.

While the one man sobs uncontrollably, the other five open fire with their weapons against the team. Loser Face dodges out of the way, while Alicia takes a handful of pellets to the shoulder. Manslug takes numerous shots since he's the largest target, however they seem to lose all momentum once they come into contact with his slime and are slowly expunged.

Alicia rubs her hands together to build up a charge before unleashing a burst of electricity into the chest of one of the man in scuba gear and while he's pushed back a step he manages to shake it off.

Manslug wiggles violently as a Full Round Action and manages to roll his wagon 5ft in the direction of the shooters. "Do.....it!" he roars breathlessly.

Loser Face charges into the fray and throws a punch which lucks out and connects with a man's throat, he gags and goes down gasping for air. Another man sobs in despair as he succumbs to her abilities.

The large man pulls a foot long wooden box out of the back of the armored car and cracks it open, revealing a thick gold plated amulet which he dangles in one hand for a moment before strolling around the side of the upturned vehicle and shouting in a booming, boisterous voice "You think YOU cam defeat Sharkman and his Sharkpack? You've got another thing coming!"

There's a hail of gunfire, most of which slams into Manslug while the rest misses them completely. "Get down stupid slug!" Alicia shouts, but Manslug seems to be holding his head a little higher to give them a better shot. The bullets seem to be doing no good.

One of the members of the 'Sharkpack' charges Alicia and throws a haymaker, barely missing her chin. She presses a hand into his chest and delivers an overwhelming burst of energy which lays him out.

"Push...me..." Manslug suggest pitifully and Alicia kicks his wagon, sending it rolling downhill towards the Sharkpack. He wiggles as best he can to get even closer. "Please....?" Manslug almost begs. The Sharkpack laugh at the pathetic superhuman's desperation.

Loser Face's ability consumes almost everyone on the field except for Sharkman and she uses this chance to punch another of the Sharkpack in the back of his head, the man goes down and she smiles to herself.

"You think that's funny?" Sharkman asks from behind her. Loser Face starts to turn around, Alicia tries to shout a warning, but before either is finished Sharkman has rushed the 50 feet between himself and Loser Face and delivered a flying knee to her spine which snaps like a dry twig. (The DC for the attack was 34 after Power Attack and critting. In all, she rolled a six to resist.)

She tries to say something but only manages a bloody rasp comes before she succumbs to the shock and passes out. The remaining Sharkpack members snap out of their funk now that she's no longer clouding their minds and open fire on Alicia who manages to dodge most of the attacks but catches another bullet in the thigh. The final Sharkpack member chuckles as he walks up to the Manslug, presses the barrel of his gun directly against the creature's head and fires.

Alicia unleashes all the charge she has towards Sharkman who's pushed back a step or two but shakes off the charge like a wet dog.

Manslug's distant gaze settles on the man that's so close to him as the useless bullets push their way out of his forehead. The man starts to question what the hell's going on when Manslug's eyes suddenly lose their usual unfocused quality and something else takes over. Some dark, primal survival instinct which he has no control over. Manslug lunges forward and his jaw splits open, burying dozens of sharp, sawlike teeth into the man's neck and chest. Before the man even has a chance to scream he's missing the bits that let him and yet Manslug continues feeding despite the fact.

Alicia, Sharkman and the entire Sharkpack stand staring at him in open mouthed horror and almost as one they each take a step backwards and away from him.

Manslug suddenly seems to realize what's going on and his sobs grow louder as he throws back his gore soaked head and shouts "WHAT...HAVE...I...DOOOOOONE?!"

Sharkman blinks and mutters "What the f*** have I stumbled into?"

Alicia takes this opportunity to slam him with a twin blast of electricity that sends Sharkman's teeth rattling together.

Sharkman growls and seems poised to retaliate when a black figure rushes out of an alley, still slipping on a dark bullet proof vest as he scrambles to the scene of the crime. At nearly the same time, Winged Man charges from another side street.

Sharkman glances at the amulet in his hand and decides that it's more important than a street fight. He shouts to his men to fight like their lives depend on it, because as far as he's concerned they do.

The remaining three men gulp but rush the remaining heroes anyway. Winged Man reaches his man before the guy can bring his gun to bear and points a small cannister into the man's face, spritzing him slightly. The man shouts and grabs his eyes, completely abandoning his gun.

"I imagine that hurts." Winged Man lectures him. "I'm sorry, but that's what you get when you try to rob my neighborhood in the middle of the night."

The man continues wailing as the second man takes a shot and miraculously misses Winged Man. The Human Shadow presses a tazer to the back of that man's neck and he collapses like a puppet with its strings cut.

Alicia charges after Sharkman and hits him with a powerful enough blast to drive him to his knees, however she makes the mistake of getting too close and he responds with a backhand that throws her about 20ft backwards and breaks most of her ribs. She blasts him again with everything she's got, but he just grits his teeth and bears it; charging for everything he's worth into the night with his stolen trinket.


When the dust finally clears and Alicia's limped back to the armored car, she finds Winged Man kneeling sadly next to the corpse of Loser Face. "It never gets any easier..." he says morosely; closing her pained eyes. "But...at least she died protecting friends and family. It's all any of us can ask for."

Manslug writhes in irritation. "Why....not....me....?" he whines deeply.

Winged Man wraps an arm around the still bloody Manslug and wipes a tear from his own eye. "I know what you mean Manslug. Why not ME? Why must we old timers keep burying those who depend on us? It's just not fair."

The Human Shadow rests hand on Alicia's shoulder. "You did good rookie, even with...you know. Who knows what he would've done if you hadn't stumbled on him."

Alicia bites her lip nervously, realizing that despite the fact Winged Man seems genuinely upset at the death of a recruit, he doesn't seem surprised. She realizes that The Watch is far deadlier than she believed. "I just...I just wish he hadn't gotten away." she mutters.

"That's the way it goes sometimes." The Human Shadow says bitterly. "Don't worry though, we'll track him down as soon as we figure out what he was doing here to begin with."

Alicia nods in agreement, "How do we go about doing that?"

The Human Shadow smiles proudly. "You just leave that to me. Much like the elusive shadow from which I derive my name, I'm QUITE resourceful"

"We'll get on that soon," Winged Man states, "But first...there's something we must do."

Alicia tilts her head questioningly and Winged Man looks out over the still sleeping neighborhood, a sadness etched on his face.

"We've got to run a new recruitment drive." Winged Man says sadly.

[Kid Jake]

Now that I think about it, it would be an interesting idea to give "Big Brother" a sidekick. Either a kid or teenaged sidekick as project "Little Brother." There is so much you can do with that idea. :smallbiggrin:

If I went that route I don't believe I'd have Little Brother have any abilities; I actually think I'd make him some orphan contest winner that just gets to officially hang out with a 'Real life superhero' as sponsored by Mountain Dew :smalltongue:

[commander panda]

oh dear jebus the manslug. :smalleek:

the manslug!

I THOUGH THE SLUGSEX PICTURES WERE RHETORICAL!:eek::frown::eek:

[Kid Jake]

:smallbiggrin:

You're just lucky you can't hear the horrible/hilarious sounds that me and McCrow immediately start making any time we reference him. Any time one of us brings him up we inevitably gurgle out "Kill...me..."

And yeah, I only regret I couldn't find more graphic ones to set the mood for him better.

[commander panda]

i'm sure i am:smalleek:

truth be told, though, i still kinda laughed my ass off when i realized they weren't jokes.

btw, what edition of m&m do you use? i have a third edition pdf, but the basic abilities seem to be different from the statblocks you posted a while back.

[Kid Jake]

We play 2nd Edition. It's a little closer to other D20 products than 3rd.

Speaking of jokes, the girl that played 'Loser Face' tried to derail the game from the get go with classic ADD behavior; little did she realize that her half-assed character concept fit my setting perfectly. :smalltongue:

[commander panda]

We play 2nd Edition. It's a little closer to other D20 products than 3rd.

Speaking of jokes, the girl that played 'Loser Face' tried to derail the game from the get go with classic ADD behavior; little did she realize that her half-assed character concept fit the setting perfectly. :smalltongue:

that was unintentional???
man you sure know how to pick the players:smallamused:. i'm not sure if i would hate to have your gaming grope or love them.

also, thanks! i'm not sure i have it in me to completely relearn another ogl system. the first time was painful enough.

would you say second edition carries a lot of freedom about character concepts, or do you need to homebrew a lot?

[Kid Jake]

Yeah, going into it she had no idea that the other characters were basically joke superhumans making do with what they've got (Winged Man's wings can't support his weight because they're hollow and he's a grown man. The Human Shadow's sole ability is that he's black. Manslug...) She was just trying to be disruptive; when she asked me how to stat a Loser Face it took me about two seconds to throw together an area wide Emotion Control effect that just made her bum people out as a free action. She didn't seem into it (even before Sharkman one shotted her), so I doubt if she's coming back.

It took me maybe an afternoon to learn 3e once I knew 2nd, they're really similar just..different.

2e has basically unlimited flexibility from what I've seen. I'm put together Fantasy campaigns, a Pokemon game and all of these sessions and the only effect I've had to homebrew instead of basing on existing powers has been Manslug's custom weakness that makes everything he does require a full-round action.

[Grim Portent]

Is it bad that I adore the concept of Manslug? :smallbiggrin:

I really want to see his genesis occur in the main campaign, it could be a running gag that nothing Fanboy does can kill him. He could even start as a slug that gets hit by some gas rather than a human.

[wicketman8]

I always found it unrealistic how many awesome superpowers there were, so I love this idea. After all someone must have gotten screwed over at some point with some dumb power like causing TV to start using only spanish audio or something along those lines.

[Grim Portent]

I always found it unrealistic how many awesome superpowers there were, so I love this idea. After all someone must have gotten screwed over at some point with some dumb power like causing TV to start using only spanish audio or something along those lines.

How about a hero with all the awesome powers of velcro? :smalltongue:

[Kid Jake]

Is it bad that I adore the concept of Manslug? :smallbiggrin:

I really want to see his genesis occur in the main campaign, it could be a running gag that nothing Fanboy does can kill him. He could even start as a slug that gets hit by some gas rather than a human.

You're not alone. Every time I think of him I giggle. :smalltongue: I love that there's at least one superhuman I wouldn't trade places with if I got a chance. As much as I love McCrow, I think Manslug is his masterpiece.

As soon as I can find a counter for being hurled into the sun I'll introduce him into the main game. Or, barring that, I'll make sure that only Michael runs into him. :smallbiggrin:


I always found it unrealistic how many awesome superpowers there were, so I love this idea. After all someone must have gotten screwed over at some point with some dumb power like causing TV to start using only spanish audio or something along those lines.

Yeah, that was the driving idea behind The Watch when me and McCrow's player were tossing around ideas. That if a large enough population got zapped with powers, a good chunk of them would probably be pretty crappy, at least for their purposes. Some other characters that are already statted up but not introduced are:
AndrogynousManOrWoman, a person with the ability to shift gender at will; though none of their other features change. Still hailed as a mater of disguise for some reason.
Flower Child: A lady with the amazing ability to shift into the form of ANY plant at will; though she has no ability to actually perceive or influence the world once she shifts.
Jeff From Down The Street: I introduced him this session as just a throwaway joke to get their hopes up, but he's actually statted up as a reserve member. He has no powers or anything. He's just Jeff. You know, from down the street?

I also statted up the other members mentioned by Winged Man, just in case they show up later on. (Except for poor Exploding Boy. He never had a chance.)

Funnily enough, the reason we started playing Mutants and Masterminds to begin with was because me and McCrow had an idea for a superhero Roguelike where every time you started a game you would have the same fateful accident; but each time it would draw from a massive list of powers to give you, so you never knew what to expect. One play through you might be able to shoot lasers and punch through walls, the next you might have gills or be able to speak with mice.

I dug M&M out for inspiration for the powers list, but when we actually got into the campaign we sort of forgot about the game idea altogether....

[Twelvetrees]

Horrifyingly good. I have no other words for this.

[(Un)Inspired]

You're not alone. Every time I think of him I giggle. :smalltongue: I love that there's at least one superhuman I wouldn't trade places with if I got a chance. As much as I love McCrow, I think Manslug is his masterpiece.

As soon as I can find a counter for being hurled into the sun I'll introduce him into the main game. Or, barring that, I'll make sure that only Michael runs into him. :smallbiggrin:



Yeah, that was the driving idea behind The Watch when me and McCrow's player were tossing around ideas. That if a large enough population got zapped with powers, a good chunk of them would probably be pretty crappy, at least for their purposes. Some other characters that are already statted up but not introduced are:
AndrogynousManOrWoman, a person with the ability to shift gender at will; though none of their other features change. Still hailed as a mater of disguise for some reason.
Flower Child: A lady with the amazing ability to shift into the form of ANY plant at will; though she has no ability to actually perceive or influence the world once she shifts.
Jeff From Down The Street: I introduced him this session as just a throwaway joke to get their hopes up, but he's actually statted up as a reserve member. He has no powers or anything. He's just Jeff. You know, from down the street?

I also statted up the other members mentioned by Winged Man, just in case they show up later on. (Except for poor Exploding Boy. He never had a chance.)

Funnily enough, the reason we started playing Mutants and Masterminds to begin with was because me and McCrow had an idea for a superhero Roguelike where every time you started a game you would have the same fateful accident; but each time it would draw from a massive list of powers to give you, so you never knew what to expect. One play through you might be able to shoot lasers and punch through walls, the next you might have gills or be able to speak with mice.

I dug M&M out for inspiration for the powers list, but when we actually got into the campaign we sort of forgot about the game idea altogether....

Poor, poor Exploding Boy.

I pour out a bottle of the ooze from TMNT II for fallen friends.

[Grim Portent]

Manslug lunges forward and his jaw splits open, burying dozens of sharp, sawlike teeth into the man's neck and chest.
[Begin biology pedantry]
Since I'm currently doing mollusc anatomy in my uni course I'll take a moment to point out that technically he shouldn't have a toothed mouth, he should have a tongue like ribbon covered in rasping teeth. (Proper term is a radula. They're pretty weird looking.)
[End biology pedantry]

It's actually slightly more gross with the tongue rather than a vertebrate style jaw. :smallyuk:

[Kid Jake]

Horrifyingly good. I have no other words for this.

If this is ever turned into a comic, that's going on the trade paperback's book jacket. :smallbiggrin:





Poor, poor Exploding Boy.

I pour out a bottle of the ooze from TMNT II for fallen friends.

Truly, he was too beautiful for this world.



[Begin biology pedantry]
Since I'm currently doing mollusc anatomy in my uni course I'll take a moment to point out that technically he shouldn't have a toothed mouth, he should have a tongue like ribbon covered in rasping teeth. (Proper term is a radula. They're pretty weird looking.)
[End biology pedantry]

It's actually slightly more gross with the tongue rather than a vertebrate style jaw. :smallyuk:

Yes, but he's not a slug. He's a Manslug. :smalltongue:

Good catch though. I watched a lot of videos of slugs eating things when I was trying to get an idea of what he'd look like on the attack but I wasn't sure which would be the more disgusting way of going with him. I finally settled on him using the last (vaguely) human portion of himself to cannibalize people to be extra tragic/terrifying, but the more I think about it, the more the murder tongue just plopping out of his mouth might be the creepier way to go after all.

[Grim Portent]

I watched a lot of videos of slugs eating things when I was trying to get an idea of what he'd look like on the attack

Now that's dedication.

We used to have some freshwater snails in our tropical fish tanks several years ago and I used to watch them eating the algae that grew on the tank walls, they sort of scraped the walls with their radula in a sort of sucking motion as I recall.

Looking at some still shots of slug radulas it looks sort of like their face erupts with a curved cheesegrater.

[Drakeburn]

I'll have to admit, that was the most depressing campaign entry I've ever read (although I agree with what is said about awesome superpowers vs. lame powers).

Can you imagine throwing in a talking black cat into that campaign? *coughsalemsaberhagencough*
Now that would be priceless!

Although it is kind of funny how I have an idea for a supervillain similar to Exploding Boy (but more like the offspring of Neutron from Young Justice and Plastique from the Flash).


For that brain-in-the-jar idea, I've come up with the name "Brainstorm Prime." Well, its a start....

And Bob the Mage knows exactly what I had in mind. With S.C.A.R. on one end of the alignment scale, and Fanboy and McGrow's company somewhere in the middle, I feel as though there should be a faction at the other end of the alignment scale.

[Kid Jake]

Now that's dedication.

We used to have some freshwater snails in our tropical fish tanks several years ago and I used to watch them eating the algae that grew on the tank walls, they sort of scraped the walls with their radula in a sort of sucking motion as I recall.

Looking at some still shots of slug radulas it looks sort of like their face erupts with a curved cheesegrater.

It was less 'I must research this character!' and more 'Hrm...wonder what he'd look like eating somebody... Well that was cool, let's watch another one.'

I don't think there's any aspect of a slug that isn't terrible if you pay attention to it.



I'll have to admit, that was the most depressing campaign entry I've ever read (although I agree with what is said about awesome superpowers vs. lame powers).

Can you imagine throwing in a talking black cat into that campaign? *coughsalemsaberhagencough*
Now that would be priceless!

Although it is kind of funny how I have an idea for a supervillain similar to Exploding Boy (but more like the offspring of Neutron from Young Justice and Plastique from the Flash).


For that brain-in-the-jar idea, I've come up with the name "Brainstorm Prime." Well, its a start....

And Bob the Mage knows exactly what I had in mind. With S.C.A.R. on one end of the alignment scale, and Fanboy and McGrow's company somewhere in the middle, I feel as though there should be a faction at the other end of the alignment scale.


Really? Even with the senseless murder and suicidal abomination I thought it was more lighthearted than most sessions; I was aiming for more of a black comedy vibe than grimdark.

I really don't think it would be out of place. :smallbiggrin: We had to cut it short before I got around to introducing the non-human races that have sprung up since everything started; but hopefully this side campaign runs a few more sessions so I can better flesh it out.

My idea for Exploding Boy basically came from The Bomb from Dark Star. This guy brimming with immense power, but who can only use it once for obvious reasons.

Off the top of my head, I think I'd call him Hippocampus Jones. Not sure why, but it strikes me as a nifty nickname. Of course I also see him rolling around wearing a trench coat and hat over his jar for some reason...

I thought they WERE the opposite end of the spectrum. Of course I see it as more of an ideological battle of Law vs Chaos than any kind of Good vs Evil scenario. S.C.A.R. thinks that this stuff should be carefully regulated and controlled for the good of the nation; McCrow and Fanboy think people should shut up and not tell them how to live their lives. If there's a more extreme case of "I'll do what I want, consequences be damned!" mentality out there, I'd say he's probably too busy rubbing spicy mustard onto his privates while running up his phone bill to really affect the story much. :smalltongue:


Also, for anybody wondering about the other members of the team I mentioned in passing:
Mr. Misfit is a chimera of sorts. Prehensile serpent tail, bigass lion claws, ram horns, etc... Outside of Manslug (who despite his ridiculous and obvious weaknesses is functionally invincible) he's the most powerful member of the team.

Betty Misfit is a middle-aged house wife. She has no powers but she's extremely helpful and Mr Misfit refuses to join a team that doesn't welcome his wife.

The Once And Future Man has the ability to summon himself from the future...however something HORRIBLE happens between the present and the future and it turns him evil. Each incarnation is different (because he consciously attempts to avoid becoming that person once he knows about him) but they're all the worst kind of people. Future Him does everything in his power to keep Past Him safe, but they have to be physically touched to be dismissed so occasionally they manage to escape and run amok in the past.

[GorinichSerpant]

Those characters, wow. Why does Once and Future Man even summon his future self anymore?

You said that new races were created? Well there is probably the evolution of the droplets, who probably treat McCrow as their god and Stallone as his prophet. Tree King is probably impossible to fully kill so maybe iterations of him are still hanging around. Is Beastman genetically compatible with humans? If he is, then there is bound to be some offspring. I can't think of anything else? Hyper intelligent rats?

[commander panda]

Those characters, wow. Why does Once and Future Man even summon his future self anymore?

You said that new races were created? Well there is probably the evolution of the droplets, who probably treat McCrow as their god and Stallone as his prophet. Tree King is probably impossible to fully kill so maybe iterations of him are still hanging around. Is Beastman genetically compatible with humans? If he is, then there is bound to be some offspring. I can't think of anything else? Hyper intelligent rats?

maybe offspring of brick?

[Kid Jake]

Those characters, wow. Why does Once and Future Man even summon his future self anymore?

You said that new races were created? Well there is probably the evolution of the droplets, who probably treat McCrow as their god and Stallone as his prophet. Tree King is probably impossible to fully kill so maybe iterations of him are still hanging around. Is Beastman genetically compatible with humans? If he is, then there is bound to be some offspring. I can't think of anything else? Hyper intelligent rats?


The world is a dangerous place and sometimes you've just got to weigh summoning a potential terrorist against having a mugger remove your kidneys. Most of them go back to their own time willingly enough once they've saved their own lives, it's just the REALLY crazy ones that want to stick around and raise hell.


You've touched on the big stuff. Stallone is considered the father of the Droplet race and Roger has taken on considerable religious significance; not just to the Droplets but among superhumans in general who believe that they as a whole are destined for something more. He isn't a Magneto level cult of personality, but the fact that a sizable (and nigh indestructible) portion of the population exist solely as a demonstration of his power means that budding megalomaniacs pretty much all want to be him when they grow up.

[Grim Portent]

You've touched on the big stuff. Stallone is considered the father of the Droplet race and Roger has taken on considerable religious significance; not just to the Droplets but among superhumans in general who believe that they as a whole are destined for something more. He isn't a Magneto level cult of personality, but the fact that a sizable (and nigh indestructible) portion of the population exist solely as a demonstration of his power means that budding megalomaniacs pretty much all want to be him when they grow up.

All hail the God Emperor McCrow, tyrant lord of the seas and harbinger of the flood.

Actually, has McCrow's player considered that rain control is something he could arguably do? And by extension large scale weather pattern manipulation. If he does some book reading in character and learns a little about climate science he could disrupt the normal weather patterns around the city.

[(Un)Inspired]

If he does some book reading in character and learns a little about climate science he could disrupt the normal weather patterns around the city.

"Book reading" and "in character" in the same sentence describing McCrow?

[Kid Jake]

All hail the God Emperor McCrow, tyrant lord of the seas and harbinger of the flood.

Actually, has McCrow's player considered that rain control is something he could arguably do? And by extension large scale weather pattern manipulation. If he does some book reading in character and learns a little about climate science he could disrupt the normal weather patterns around the city.

Basically what (Un)Inspired said:


"Book reading" and "in character" in the same sentence describing McCrow?


McCrow is all about pure brute force; even the Droplets are just the result of him taking a handful of water, staring it right in its absence of a face and screaming "LIVE!" until it did.

Besides, he's already capable of burying Ventnor under a couple hundred tons of water as a standard action; I really hope he doesn't try to go all Storm on me too. :smalltongue:

[Drakeburn]

All hail the God Emperor McCrow, tyrant lord of the seas and harbinger of the flood.

Actually, has McCrow's player considered that rain control is something he could arguably do? And by extension large scale weather pattern manipulation. If he does some book reading in character and learns a little about climate science he could disrupt the normal weather patterns around the city.

I don't think McGrow is capable of pulling off something like that.

Extracting water from rainclouds maybe, but creating rainclouds is something else. I doubt with the ability to manipulate water can create thunder and wind.

[Grim Portent]

I don't think McGrow is capable of pulling off something like that.

Extracting water from rainclouds maybe, but creating rainclouds is something else. I doubt with the ability to manipulate water can create thunder and wind.

All it takes is for him to disperse water into the air rather than condense it from his surroundings.

Thunder and wind are the result of air of different pressures interacting, it's caused by a combination of heat and water density in the air (other particles are involved, but they're usually in low amounts anyway). If you increase the amount of water in the air you change the local atmospheric pressure. Normally this only matters in places where high and low pressure meet, but if McCrow could create an artificial change in pressure over part of the city he could create (small) localised storms if given enough time to prep.

Of course he is a drunken imbecile in a speedo (my compliments to his player by the way, normally characters portrayed like that die in just a few sessions), so I doubt he'd have the finesse to pull it off or the imagination to think beyond smashing stuff with a giant wave, which is probably more destructive than a gradual flood or a thunderstorm could be anyway.

[Bob of Mage]

Off the top of my head, I think I'd call him Hippocampus Jones. Not sure why, but it strikes me as a nifty nickname. Of course I also see him rolling around wearing a trench coat and hat over his jar for some reason...

I thought they WERE the opposite end of the spectrum. Of course I see it as more of an ideological battle of Law vs Chaos than any kind of Good vs Evil scenario. S.C.A.R. thinks that this stuff should be carefully regulated and controlled for the good of the nation; McCrow and Fanboy think people should shut up and not tell them how to live their lives. If there's a more extreme case of "I'll do what I want, consequences be damned!" mentality out there, I'd say he's probably too busy rubbing spicy mustard onto his privates while running up his phone bill to really affect the story much. :smalltongue:


The key thing is the "WERE" part. At the start when you had Agent Parks and Mann boing lots of stuff I could call it team Lawful. I would have called Parks LG in D&D terms and likely Mann might have fit too (he's seems to be the type to run into the burning buildings while on break). Now at this point in the you have the black-ops "kill 'em all" as the only people on the other side. At first I would put them LE, but after so many illegal abuses of power (the fact a serial killer is leader doesn't help) I'd say they now seem more NE as a group.

One example is the seeming lack of meaningful oversight. At this point there is no reason to not have a public group to deal with all the super powered threats. Everyone from the FBI to small town cops would be wondering what to do in case of supers after the first Tree King attack. Even more likely the higher ups in the DHS would have taken actions to generally prepare for large scale problems. If they didn't something public there would be out cries. Thus it is likely being done illegally with little to no oversight. Very much not a Lawful thing to do.

There would be two good ways I can think up off the top of my head to deal with this. First bring back people like Agent Parks with some power to back them up. It doesn't have to be Parks himself, but someone to fill the same sort of role of not using death squads (anyone who uses death squads is clearly non-good) as the only reaction to problems. Second add another faction who are more good to conter blance the evil of S.C.A.R.

The new "good" team could also be useful to lighten the mood since things seem to be getting quite dark. You could style them a number of ways. One idea that came to me was to style them as a Super Sentai-like group. Make them soemthing of a spoof like the Ginyu Force (of course non-evil) from DBZ or the the Prism Rangers of Disgaea. So lots of goofy poses and saying, Team uniforms also helps. The Prism Rangers are also a good example of how to have their story grow. First it might be as few as one guy who keeps talking about being a team. Then as time goes on random people join up. Much later they could group in size and power to be something of a real hero team (still quite silly to anyone who isn't blind to thing like "Big Brother").

Just puting this out there as soem brainstorming. Also I do hope you bring back both Agents Mann and Parks as I quite enjoyed them and feel sorry that so much bad happened to them.

[Drakeburn]

The key thing is the "WERE" part. At the start when you had Agent Parks and Mann boing lots of stuff I could call it team Lawful. I would have called Parks LG in D&D terms and likely Mann might have fit too (he's seems to be the type to run into the burning buildings while on break). Now at this point in the you have the black-ops "kill 'em all" as the only people on the other side. At first I would put them LE, but after so many illegal abuses of power (the fact a serial killer is leader doesn't help) I'd say they now seem more NE as a group.

One example is the seeming lack of meaningful oversight. At this point there is no reason to not have a public group to deal with all the super powered threats. Everyone from the FBI to small town cops would be wondering what to do in case of supers after the first Tree King attack. Even more likely the higher ups in the DHS would have taken actions to generally prepare for large scale problems. If they didn't something public there would be out cries. Thus it is likely being done illegally with little to no oversight. Very much not a Lawful thing to do.

There would be two good ways I can think up off the top of my head to deal with this. First bring back people like Agent Parks with some power to back them up. It doesn't have to be Parks himself, but someone to fill the same sort of role of not using death squads (anyone who uses death squads is clearly non-good) as the only reaction to problems. Second add another faction who are more good to conter blance the evil of S.C.A.R.

The new "good" team could also be useful to lighten the mood since things seem to be getting quite dark. You could style them a number of ways. One idea that came to me was to style them as a Super Sentai-like group. Make them soemthing of a spoof like the Ginyu Force (of course non-evil) from DBZ or the the Prism Rangers of Disgaea. So lots of goofy poses and saying, Team uniforms also helps. The Prism Rangers are also a good example of how to have their story grow. First it might be as few as one guy who keeps talking about being a team. Then as time goes on random people join up. Much later they could group in size and power to be something of a real hero team (still quite silly to anyone who isn't blind to thing like "Big Brother").

Just puting this out there as soem brainstorming. Also I do hope you bring back both Agents Mann and Parks as I quite enjoyed them and feel sorry that so much bad happened to them.

Yeah, I kinda feel sorry for those two. I just hope they return to the campaign soon.

Do you think Fanboy and Chum Chum McGrow would ever get the idea to give Agent Parks some of that gas they have left, if he wants to or not?

[Kid Jake]

The key thing is the "WERE" part. At the start when you had Agent Parks and Mann boing lots of stuff I could call it team Lawful. I would have called Parks LG in D&D terms and likely Mann might have fit too (he's seems to be the type to run into the burning buildings while on break). Now at this point in the you have the black-ops "kill 'em all" as the only people on the other side. At first I would put them LE, but after so many illegal abuses of power (the fact a serial killer is leader doesn't help) I'd say they now seem more NE as a group.

One example is the seeming lack of meaningful oversight. At this point there is no reason to not have a public group to deal with all the super powered threats. Everyone from the FBI to small town cops would be wondering what to do in case of supers after the first Tree King attack. Even more likely the higher ups in the DHS would have taken actions to generally prepare for large scale problems. If they didn't something public there would be out cries. Thus it is likely being done illegally with little to no oversight. Very much not a Lawful thing to do.

There would be two good ways I can think up off the top of my head to deal with this. First bring back people like Agent Parks with some power to back them up. It doesn't have to be Parks himself, but someone to fill the same sort of role of not using death squads (anyone who uses death squads is clearly non-good) as the only reaction to problems. Second add another faction who are more good to conter blance the evil of S.C.A.R.

The new "good" team could also be useful to lighten the mood since things seem to be getting quite dark. You could style them a number of ways. One idea that came to me was to style them as a Super Sentai-like group. Make them soemthing of a spoof like the Ginyu Force (of course non-evil) from DBZ or the the Prism Rangers of Disgaea. So lots of goofy poses and saying, Team uniforms also helps. The Prism Rangers are also a good example of how to have their story grow. First it might be as few as one guy who keeps talking about being a team. Then as time goes on random people join up. Much later they could group in size and power to be something of a real hero team (still quite silly to anyone who isn't blind to thing like "Big Brother").

Just puting this out there as soem brainstorming. Also I do hope you bring back both Agents Mann and Parks as I quite enjoyed them and feel sorry that so much bad happened to them.



When I say Lawful vs Chaotic I don't mean so much in D&D alignment terms as Authoritarian vs Anarchic.

S.C.A.R. is basically just full of soldiers who do what they're told; they aren't really what you'd call evil (except for maybe Wilson's personal entourage) but they don't ask questions; they just do their jobs. Wilson himself is a corrupting influence on the organization, but they still believe they're working for the greater good; I mean from the outside McCrow and Friends definitely look like a terrorist cell that needs to be stamped out and even from the inside it's sort of hard not to see his point.

To begin with, they were still trying to keep things under wraps to avoid another potential Cold War scenario where the rest of the world looks at America like "Seriously, you're freaking breeding WMDs now?" The reason S.C.A.R. was let loose in the first place was to contain and study the dozens of new, and potentially harmful, superhumans before they irrevocably changed things; but that obviously didn't work so now the DHS is adapting. Project Golden Boy is probably the public group you're waiting for; they're going to be four government sponsored supers (based mostly on classic heroes) meant to show the public that everything's ok.

The reason S.C.A.R. is still allowed so much leeway (not to mention why the troops still think this is all a great idea still) after pretty much completely abandoning its original mission is because Wilson has the powers of both Fanboy and Steinz. When he makes a suggestion to somebody, it becomes Gospel. So when he assures the people in Washington that everything is under control, to their minds at least, everything IS under control.

I do love the idea of a group of brightly colored combat cheerleaders hamming it up but good, (the Ginyu Force's entrance has always been one of my favorite moments in DBZ) but I'm not sure how well I can integrate them. I never really set out to make a dark setting, but I'm pretty sure all of my settings devolve into pessimistic crapholes eventually.

Hell, I once ran a Pokemon game where one of the kids (played by Fanboy) was drug dealer addicted to his own stuff and the other (naturally played by McCrow) used a hunting knife to stalk trainers and sell their badges to collectors. Keep in mind, they were both 10 year olds IG. :smalltongue: I remember McCrow's character stabbing a mankee in front of its trainer and then wearing it like a coat the rest of the campaign...

Parks actually should be reclaiming his spot soon, I haven't had much opportunity to really touch on stuff that's happening IC like I've been wanting to (our sessions seem to get shorter and shorter, I couldn't even work in having Steinz and Michael broker the deal with the Italians like I planned on) but within 2-3 more sessions he should become a power player again.

It might've been too subtle a clue, because I haven't heard anyone mention it, but during their meeting with Luvless he said "I do something for you, you do something for me." rather than the other way around; I kept hoping they'd ask for their favor so I could make the reveal IC, but the reason he worded it like that is because he's already made good on his end.

Parks has basically struck a deal with Luvless to save his career and usurp power back from Wilson, then he had McCrow and Fanboy settle the tab for him. :smallbiggrin:

[Kid Jake]

Yeah, I kinda feel sorry for those two. I just hope they return to the campaign soon.

Do you think Fanboy and Chum Chum McGrow would ever get the idea to give Agent Parks some of that gas they have left, if he wants to or not?

I'm REALLY surprised they didn't try already. I mean they were about to zap their friends kids just to see what would happen. :P

[Drakeburn]

When I say Lawful vs Chaotic I don't mean so much in D&D alignment terms as Authoritarian vs Anarchic.

S.C.A.R. is basically just full of soldiers who do what they're told; they aren't really what you'd call evil (except for maybe Wilson's personal entourage) but they don't ask questions; they just do their jobs. Wilson himself is a corrupting influence on the organization, but they still believe they're working for the greater good; I mean from the outside McCrow and Friends definitely look like a terrorist cell that needs to be stamped out and even from the inside it's sort of hard not to see his point.

To begin with, they were still trying to keep things under wraps to avoid another potential Cold War scenario where the rest of the world looks at America like "Seriously, you're freaking breeding WMDs now?" The reason S.C.A.R. was let loose in the first place was to contain and study the dozens of new, and potentially harmful, superhumans before they irrevocably changed things; but that obviously didn't work so now the DHS is adapting. Project Golden Boy is probably the public group you're waiting for; they're going to be four government sponsored supers (based mostly on classic heroes) meant to show the public that everything's ok.

The reason S.C.A.R. is still allowed so much leeway (not to mention why the troops still think this is all a great idea still) after pretty much completely abandoning its original mission is because Wilson has the powers of both Fanboy and Steinz. When he makes a suggestion to somebody, it becomes Gospel. So when he assures the people in Washington that everything is under control, to their minds at least, everything IS under control.

I do love the idea of a group of brightly colored combat cheerleaders hamming it up but good, (the Ginyu Force's entrance has always been one of my favorite moments in DBZ) but I'm not sure how well I can integrate them. I never really set out to make a dark setting, but I'm pretty sure all of my settings devolve into pessimistic crapholes eventually.

Hell, I once ran a Pokemon game where one of the kids (played by Fanboy) was drug dealer addicted to his own stuff and the other (naturally played by McCrow) used a hunting knife to stalk trainers and sell their badges to collectors. Keep in mind, they were both 10 year olds IG. :smalltongue: I remember McCrow's character stabbing a mankee in front of its trainer and then wearing it like a coat the rest of the campaign...

Parks actually should be reclaiming his spot soon, I haven't had much opportunity to really touch on stuff that's happening IC like I've been wanting to (our sessions seem to get shorter and shorter, I couldn't even work in having Steinz and Michael broker the deal with the Italians like I planned on) but within 2-3 more sessions he should become a power player again.

It might've been too subtle a clue, because I haven't heard anyone mention it, but during their meeting with Luvless he said "I do something for you, you do something for me." rather than the other way around; I kept hoping they'd ask for their favor so I could make the reveal IC, but the reason he worded it like that is because he's already made good on his end.

Parks has basically struck a deal with Luvless to save his career and usurp power back from Wilson, then he had McCrow and Fanboy settle the tab for him. :smallbiggrin:


Wow. Just, wow. :smalleek:
So technically, it is the players that make your games seem so dark.

Throwing around the "team of goody-two-shoes" idea, one ideal member for the team would be a young blonde haired woman, in a gold spandex outfit (with cape included of course), with the ability to fly. She could be like a celebrity, or somebody who wants to be a celebrity. That would really get Fanboy riled up, maybe.

[Kid Jake]

Wow. Just, wow. :smalleek:
So technically, it is the players that make your games seem so dark.

Throwing around the "team of goody-two-shoes" idea, one ideal member for the team would be a young blonde haired woman, in a gold spandex outfit (with cape included of course), with the ability to fly. She could be like a celebrity, or somebody who wants to be a celebrity. That would really get Fanboy riled up, maybe.


I don't know, I probably encourage it somehow. I mean my last session in the Pathfinder journal ended with one of the PCs cutting off the hands and face of the other PC to stop him from murdering a devil worshiping revolutionary. I can't help but feel at least partially responsible for that.

Oooh. I could see her being the Fangirl and the first thing she does is wink at him and say "I'm a big fan." Then after almost no time whatsoever of seeing how they operate she's just oh so very disillusioned.

[Sith_Happens]

Don't mind me, just catching up on the thread. Many reaction images ahead (hopefully all of which will get resized properly), it's just that sort of topic.:smallwink:

MOOD WHIPLASH, THE GAME SESSION.


(Locals also got to watch a drunken McCrow beat several men to death with a pipewrench, but for some reason it never caught on quite as well on Youtube.)

Heh, just the kind of joke I was expecting within the first paragraph.


[Wild Cerebus (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CerebusSyndrome) appears!]

https://img.4plebs.org/boards/o/image/1396/55/1396558862907.png


[Wild Petard (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HoistByHisOwnPetard) appears!]

http://cdn.screenrant.com/wp-content/uploads/J-Jonah-Jameson-laughing.jpg


He slips in and discovers Lucky Dan's family huddled in their room terrified and Dan himself standing in the doorway leading out drinking a cup of coffee.

http://under30ceo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/like_a_boss.jpg


Now Chavenski is one tough son of a bitch, but this is a barrage of cutting edge military hardware pouring enough fire on him to kill the moon. I don't fudge rolls, prefering to roll them openly, so imagine our surprise when he fails exactly one toughness roll out of 40. Granted, he fails so bad that he goes down with third degree burns and a hole in his side, but that just builds character.

http://i2.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/117/814/are-you-wizard.jpg

That one's actually half-serious, by the way; at this point I'm convinced that you accidentally performed an act of foul sorcery in the process of creating Chavensky, resulting in an NPC capable of siphoning luck through the fourth wall. Enough luck and with a long enough range that some measurable portion of the bad rolls made worldwide since then are directly his doing.


Fanboy smiles, "Yeah, we could shape it like a skull and fill it with the Legion of Doom."

McCrow strokes his chin. "We should probably think of a catchier name, we don't really have a legion yet."

Fanboy stares at him. "Superfriends reference." he explains.

"Oh..." Roger replies, "I never really watched Friends, seemed a little fruity."

...Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand back to comic relief.


Both of their eyes go wide and it suddenly occurs to them that maybe they should have tested the gas BEFORE they tried it on themselves.

For the love of all that is funny, please present these two with a big red button at some point.:smalltongue:


McCrow suggests that may Sandy's kids would like superpowers but Fanboy shoots him down. Then, they both have the same idea at the same time. They'll ask Chavenski, if anyone's tough enough walk away from this thing new and improved, it's him.

...

:eek:

...

:biggrin:

I know exactly where this is going.


I roll the die to determine whether or not it transforms or kills him and.....he makes it. Dr Kavlight steadies his vitals and the changes begin. Just like with the others, he'll be out for a while before his powers truly manifest.

I let one of the players roll on the chart to see which power he'll wake up with and off of a list that contained such items as Super Burrowing, Extra Bouncy and Acidic Spit he got Gravity Control, pretty much the only big flashy power I even included.

[WIZARDRY INTENSIFIES]


Things get serious and the Tree Clones start swarming, Fanboy doesn't take it too seriously until he realizes that I meant ALL of the Tree Clones are swarming and he's suddenly looking at a murderous tide of wood and rage bearing down on him; he even spots the hulking form of Brick surging forward to get a piece of the action and decides that this fight just isn't worth it.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raF9wfPxir8


He would have actually given them the AssaultBots for free...

Speaking of "for free," are you even charging power points for equipment any more or has it just become "You want a small army of robots? Sure, you have a small army of robots now, and here's a few PL 10 ones while you're at it."


:smalltongue:

I actually have a couple of people (sadly neither Fanboy nor McCrow) that should be getting together with me Saturday to play a game set in Ventnor's (possible/probable) future. If they ever go into Luvtech Industry's basement they're going to just find dozens of Billy Mays hybrids. Half Billy Mays, Half Sham Wow Guy; Half Billy Mays, Half Cobra; Etc... Maybe even one poor bastard that's just Half Billy Mays.

DO IT.


World's Worst Superhero

Considering the incredibly high bar that's been set for that title, I can't even imagine on my own who or what its holder could possibly be like.:smalleek:


Why do you think I introduced Big Brother? :smallbiggrin:

"Operation Goldenboy..."

Oh.

:smallamused:

The Watch

[Snip]

http://i2.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/884/127/009.gif

Incidentally, have you ever heard of Steelheart (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Reckoners)? It's set in a dystopian future where people periodically manifest superpowers at random but always turn evil as a result. This campaign is basically the comedy version of that.


The Mighty Manslug!

https://thecajunsamurai.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/only-the-dead-can-know-peace-from-such-evil.jpg


Alicia bites her lip nervously, realizing that despite the fact Winged Man seems genuinely upset at the death of a recruit, he doesn't seem surprised. She realizes that The Watch is far deadlier than she believed.
...
"We've got to run a new recruitment drive." Winged Man says sadly.

I do have a concern: Did these players go into this campaign knowing that it would involve them getting in way over their head against enemies blatantly above their weight class?

If so, is it also part of the idea that they'll probably be chewing through characters semi-frequently to emphasize this?

That last line implies a yes to both (and is also hilarious) but it'd still be good to know that no one was getting the short end of the entertainment value stick.


Of course he is a drunken imbecile in a speedo (my compliments to his player by the way, normally characters portrayed like that die in just a few sessions)

I take it you missed the post detailing how one of the major reasons for playing M&M in the first place is that it's proven to be the only system capable of successfully foiling McCrow's Mozart-like gift for having exactly this happen? Except replace "a few" with "the first?":smalltongue:


When I say Lawful vs Chaotic I don't mean so much in D&D alignment terms as Authoritarian vs Anarchic...

...So basically this campaign is V for Vendetta with superpowers. That makes so much sense it's scary.:smalleek:


The reason S.C.A.R. is still allowed so much leeway (not to mention why the troops still think this is all a great idea still) after pretty much completely abandoning its original mission is because Wilson has the powers of both Fanboy and Steinz. When he makes a suggestion to somebody, it becomes Gospel. So when he assures the people in Washington that everything is under control, to their minds at least, everything IS under control.

...This, meanwhile, is so obvious in hindsight it's scary. Not to mention just plain scary.:smalleek::smalleek:


I don't know, I probably encourage it somehow. I mean my last session in the Pathfinder journal ended with one of the PCs cutting off the hands and face of the other PC to stop him from murdering a devil worshiping revolutionary. I can't help but feel at least partially responsible for that.

Well, I guess I'm going to have to start reading that journal soon too.


Oooh. I could see her being the Fangirl and the first thing she does is wink at him and say "I'm a big fan." Then after immediately being incessantly hit on by McCrow after he somehow thinks that comment was directed to him she's just oh so very disillusioned.

Fixed that for you.:smallwink:

[Kid Jake]

Don't mind me, just catching up on the thread. Many reaction images ahead (hopefully all of which will get resized properly), it's just that sort of topic.:smallwink:

MOOD WHIPLASH, THE GAME SESSION.

The last time they tussled with Depaliamo he attempted the same thing, THIS time he had an army of murderbots and angry guidos to assist him. I was just surprised they didn't see his reign of spite coming. :smallbiggrin:


That one's actually half-serious, by the way; at this point I'm convinced that you accidentally performed an act of foul sorcery in the process of creating Chavensky, resulting in an NPC capable of siphoning luck through the fourth wall. Enough luck and with a long enough range that some measurable portion of the bad rolls made worldwide since then are directly his doing.

I can 100% see that; I'm pretty sure he drains a good portion of of our luck too. At one point after his fight was over I discovered I'd somehow started rolling a d12. :smalltongue:




For the love of all that is funny, please present these two with a big red button at some point.:smalltongue:

The first opportunity I get.





Speaking of "for free," are you even charging power points for equipment any more or has it just become "You want a small army of robots? Sure, you have a small army of robots now, and here's a few PL 10 ones while you're at it."

I actually don't count their equipment towards PL at all, I treat it as a sort of temporary pool. If you pay for something with PP then it's yours and it's safe; if something happens to it then you're due a replacement. If you purchase it with cash though it's there until I get sick of it and set it on fire, then it's gone.

I figure that they're stirring up a hornet's nest; they probably won't get to keep their robots long but they make 'em happy in the mean time. :smalltongue:



Considering the incredibly high bar that's been set for that title, I can't even imagine on my own who or what its holder could possibly be like.:smalleek:

I assume the bar has been raised/lowered?





Incidentally, have you ever heard of Steelheart (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Reckoners)? It's set in a dystopian future where people periodically manifest superpowers at random but always turn evil as a result. This campaign is basically the comedy version of that.

I've heard of it but haven't got a chance to read it yet. I'm sort of aiming for The Warriors meet The Tick.

My only regret with Manslug is that I have no way to share the glorious image I have of him in my head. :smallbiggrin:




I do have a concern: Did these players go into this campaign knowing that it would involve them getting in way over their head against enemies blatantly above their weight class?

If so, is it also part of the idea that they'll probably be chewing through characters semi-frequently to emphasize this?

That last line implies a yes to both (and is also hilarious) but it'd still be good to know that no one was getting the short end of the entertainment value stick.

Actually Sharkman was PL7 (the same as the PCs) and the Sharkpack(a name that I love because to me it just screams that Sharkman actually knows nothing about sharks and that makes me smile) were PL5 mooks; it was a potentially tough fight but I had most of the mooks react realistically to learning of the existence of a giant Manslug and just fire uselessly at him and Sharkman wasted his first 3 turns just taking a leisurely stroll while the players learned the ins and outs of murdering henchmen.

Also, when we were building the characters I had each of them take three ranks of Lucky so they each started with a nice little pool of 4 Hero Points each. When Sharkman attacked Loser Face I had him Power Attack to emphasize that he's a physical threat and then he went and critted too, which combined with trading two points of his attack for damage anyway meant that it was geared up for a NASTY blow. I pointed out that she still had a hero point to save herself with, but she was barely paying attention anyway and said not to bother; so her insides traded places with her outsides and a half-assed character turned into a meaningful reminder that in the cold, hard future of The Watch life is cheap and property values are plummeting.

I probably will be cycling characters through the campaign quite a bit (basically whenever I think of a hilarious one), but the PCs shouldn't be in any more danger than the ones in the main game are. Sometimes bad stuff happens (poor, poor Mann) but it won't be because I set out to make them fail.

Which is actually a drastic departure from what me and McCrow originally planned; where every single fight The Watch encountered would end with street punks beating them half to death but Winged Man claiming the moral victory and everybody limping back home to do it again the next night.






...So basically this campaign is V for Vendetta with superpowers. That makes so much sense it's scary.:smalleek:

That's basically what it's turned into, yeah.




...This, meanwhile, is so obvious in hindsight it's scary. Not to mention just plain scary.:smalleek::smalleek:

Not every power he's collected is just for murderin' more superhumans. :smalltongue: The ability to look at the wife of the man you just beat to death in front of her and say "I didn't do this." and then have her testify on your behalf is pretty handy.




Well, I guess I'm going to have to start reading that journal soon too.

You should. :smallbiggrin: They were the group that I used to post quotes from all the time. They're pretty much my backup McCrow and Fanboy, just in case these ever break. It's honestly unbelievable how similar they are. Kavos is the cool headed schemer who's worried about getting public opinion on his side and Gandil is a deranged monster who's convinced himself he's the greatest hero of all time.

I briefly had a NWoD Vampire game running that all four of them (plus the girl who played Alicia) were in, but it fell apart before I could pair the dopplegangers up and see who came out of it alive.


Fixed that for you.:smallwink:

I figured that was implied. :smalltongue:

[(Un)Inspired]

I picture Manslug as a mixture of Leto Atredes, Eeyore, and Bender from futurism in the episode he's turned into a human and becomes disgustingly fat.

[Sith_Happens]

My only regret with Manslug is that I have no way to share the glorious image I have of him in my head. :smallbiggrin:

Is a giant banana slug with a face strongly resembling one you might find plastered to a wall in F.E.A.R. or Dead Space at least close? Because that's what I imagined him looking like.


Actually Sharkman was PL7 (the same as the PCs) and the Sharkpack(a name that I love because to me it just screams that Sharkman actually knows nothing about sharks and that makes me smile) were PL5 mooks;

You could have fooled me based on all those toughness checks they passed.:smallconfused:

[Kid Jake]

I picture Manslug as a mixture of Leto Atredes, Eeyore, and Bender from futurism in the episode he's turned into a human and becomes disgustingly fat.


Is a giant banana slug with a face strongly resembling one you might find plastered to a wall in F.E.A.R. or Dead Space at least close? Because that's what I imagined him looking like.

A little of both actually, although I imagine him sounding like fat Bender trying to dislodge a chicken bone.



You could have fooled me based on all those toughness checks they passed.:smallconfused:

That was just a ridiculous string of lucky rolls. Sharkman alone rolled 3 natural 20's in a row resisting Alicia's attacks.

[Sith_Happens]

That was just a ridiculous string of lucky rolls. Sharkman alone rolled 3 natural 20's in a row resisting Alicia's attacks.

Maybe you just need to stop making gangster NPCs then.:smalltongue:

[Drakeburn]

A big red button for Fanyboy and McGrow?! Are you crazy!? :smalleek::smalltongue:

For some reason, whenever I give you ideas to add to your campaign, I cannot help but to feel like an evil genius assisting you in plotting Fanboy's and McGrow's ultimate demise. :smallamused:

As for Big Brother's "lovely assistant", I kinda imagined her more as a naive beautiful glory-seeking showoff (a female Booster Gold in a way). Although imagining that Fanboy would brainwash her to become his girlfriend, I've thought up of a couple safety nets for "Goldenrod".

1) To make Big Brother her boyfriend, so that he'll get jealous if Fanboy or McGrow try to take her away from him. Nothing like putting in bait for a love triangle (or square, if McGrow takes the bait).

2) Make Big Brother her brother.

[Grim Portent]

It has occurred to me that S.C.A.R. may want to try and make a super who can bring public humiliation upon our daring duo, to this end my mind, addled by caffeine and tiredness has conceived of the mighty Fantastic Fastener.

A hero with control over buttons, strings, belts, zippers, velcro, elasticized waistbands and all similar objects utilized to hold clothing on or closed. With but a glance he makes trousers fall to the floor, dressing gowns unfurl before the waiting cameras of the free press and flies come undone. Enemies of S.C.A.R. beware, or you too shall be mildly embarrassed in public by the Fastener! :smalltongue:

I really need to get some sleep...

[Bob of Mage]

A big red button for Fanyboy and McGrow?! Are you crazy!? :smalleek::smalltongue:

For some reason, whenever I give you ideas to add to your campaign, I cannot help but to feel like an evil genius assisting you in plotting Fanboy's and McGrow's ultimate demise. :smallamused:

As for Big Brother's "lovely assistant", I kinda imagined her more as a naive beautiful glory-seeking showoff (a female Booster Gold in a way). Although imagining that Fanboy would brainwash her to become his girlfriend, I've thought up of a couple safety nets for "Goldenrod".

1) To make Big Brother her boyfriend, so that he'll get jealous if Fanboy or McGrow try to take her away from him. Nothing like putting in bait for a love triangle (or square, if McGrow takes the bait).

2) Make Big Brother her brother.

So Big Brother and Little Sister? Would be very useful for marketing them to the public. Sell manly action figures of Big Brother to boys, and cute dolls of Little Sister to the girls. Great source of money to help fund S.C.A.R. Little Sister could be used for public events as more of a spokesperson, while Big Brother handles the dirty stuff. That way you help keep knowlegde of all the dark stuff that S.C.A.R. under wraps better.

[Kid Jake]

Maybe you just need to stop making gangster NPCs then.:smalltongue:

Roll20's dice love me for some reason; it reminds me of the time I nearly had a TPK with a single small monstrous spider on a level 4 party. It took more than hour of combat and they declared it was the worthiest foe they ever faced.


A big red button for Fanyboy and McGrow?! Are you crazy!? :smalleek::smalltongue:

For some reason, whenever I give you ideas to add to your campaign, I cannot help but to feel like an evil genius assisting you in plotting Fanboy's and McGrow's ultimate demise. :smallamused:

As for Big Brother's "lovely assistant", I kinda imagined her more as a naive beautiful glory-seeking showoff (a female Booster Gold in a way). Although imagining that Fanboy would brainwash her to become his girlfriend, I've thought up of a couple safety nets for "Goldenrod".

1) To make Big Brother her boyfriend, so that he'll get jealous if Fanboy or McGrow try to take her away from him. Nothing like putting in bait for a love triangle (or square, if McGrow takes the bait).

2) Make Big Brother her brother.

I think I'll rig it up to a few dozen psychotic superhumans in stasis; so the more they press it trying to figure out what it does, the worse things get. :smallbiggrin:

Hrm...number 2 isn't a bad idea. If she was introduced first and then he came in later to curbstomp somebody for looking at her wrong then his name would seem more corny and less oppressive.


It has occurred to me that S.C.A.R. may want to try and make a super who can bring public humiliation upon our daring duo, to this end my mind, addled by caffeine and tiredness has conceived of the mighty Fantastic Fastener.

A hero with control over buttons, strings, belts, zippers, velcro, elasticized waistbands and all similar objects utilized to hold clothing on or closed. With but a glance he makes trousers fall to the floor, dressing gowns unfurl before the waiting cameras of the free press and flies come undone. Enemies of S.C.A.R. beware, or you too shall be mildly embarrassed in public by the Fastener! :smalltongue:

I really need to get some sleep...

I can just imagine McCrow stumbling around bareassed in public with Fanboy's like "He got you too?" and McCrow just has no idea who he's talking about.

[Grim Portent]

I can just imagine McCrow stumbling around bareassed in public with Fanboy's like "He got you too?" and McCrow just has no idea who he's talking about.

Would McCrow be drunk in this scenario? Just kidding, I know he's always drunk.

[Kid Jake]

Would McCrow be drunk in this scenario? Just kidding, I know he's always drunk.

Either that, or just 'on the prowl'. :smalltongue:

[Grim Portent]

Either that, or just 'on the prowl'. :smalltongue:

It seems there is indeed something more horrible than the Mighty Manslug. :smalleek:

[Drakeburn]

I think I'll rig it up to a few dozen psychotic superhumans in stasis; so the more they press it trying to figure out what it does, the worse things get. :smallbiggrin:

Hrm...number 2 isn't a bad idea. If she was introduced first and then he came in later to curbstomp somebody for looking at her wrong then his name would seem more corny and less oppressive.

Psychotic superhumans you say? :smallamused:

Thinking up of a Mutants and Masterminds campaign for my little sister and her friends, there were a few superhumans I came up with.

Corrosive: At first I thought of making him a man who can sweat and spit acid, who would later develop the ability to manipulate his own acid so he can create bigger projectiles. Then I rethought him into a man who looks human, but is actually made of acid (Kind of like the Mist from the The Flash who can change between his regular appearance and his metahuman form). And he needs to feed on meat to sustain himself (including humans. Now that I think about it, he isn't an ideal character to include in a superhero game for 11 year-olds). Corrosive would start out as a bank robber who begins to slowly lose his humanity. He would have the ability to get through anything, either with the help of his acid, his liquid properties, or both. He would have the ability to turn his arms into acidic sprays. And his body would eat up anything that touches him (from weapons to armor to flesh).

Unknown: A shapeshifter for hire. Unknown is a very capable mercenary who can perform all sorts of jobs, including theft and espionage. He can probably even shapeshift into beasts and monsters if he finds himself unarmed. And it would make sense that he can using his shapeshifting ability to heal his own wounds. I'd imagine S.C.A.R. would hire him to give Fanboy and McGrow a bad reputation, maybe even infiltrate their group.

Windstorm: An meteorology intern at a news station becoming a aeromancer, wanting to prove everyone that he is the most powerful superhuman on the planet. He is basically sick and tired of being a nobody.
With the abilities to fly, move objects and people around with strong winds, and create tornadoes, he can be a dangerous opponent.

Diamondback: A hot-headed criminal who has gained snake-like superpowers: fangs with venom, snakeskin around his arms and torso, and enhanced reflexes.

Seismic Girl: A runaway teenager who wants to escape her tormentors from school gains the ability to create earthquakes. She starts from using her abilities to get revenge on the people who have been bullying her, and start causing unintended chaos and destruction. Her superpowers can get triggered by her emotions.

With all these great ideas, I just hope Fanboy and McGrow's players don't come after me. :smalleek:

[Sith_Happens]

Although imagining that Fanboy would brainwash her to become his girlfriend

On the one hand, I can't imagine this as something Fanboy would ever actually do. On the other hand, he's surprised me before.:smalleek:

I think I'll rig it up to a few dozen psychotic superhumans in stasis; so the more they press it trying to figure out what it does, the worse things get. :smallbiggrin:

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m00r76dT5X1qk22coo1_500.jpg


Hrm...number 2 isn't a bad idea. If she was introduced first and then he came in later to curbstomp somebody for looking at her wrong then his name would seem more corny and less oppressive.

Of course then you'd have to change his codename to Big Daddy, because someone's already referred to the hypothetical heroine as Little Sister in this scenario and Big Brother is just too close to completing the reference to keep as is.

It seems there is indeed something more horrible than the Mighty Manslug. :smalleek:

That being McCrow's Manslug.

http://files.sharenator.com/211859.jpg

[GorinichSerpant]

That being McCrow's Manslug.

http://files.sharenator.com/211859.jpg


My boundless imagination is only matched by my skill in blocking mental images before they form. Otherwise I would lose my sanity and my madness.

[Kid Jake]

It seems there is indeed something more horrible than the Mighty Manslug. :smalleek:

That's only until you see the Mighty Manslug on the prowl. :smalltongue:


Psychotic superhumans you say? :smallamused:

Thinking up of a Mutants and Masterminds campaign for my little sister and her friends, there were a few superhumans I came up with.

Corrosive: At first I thought of making him a man who can sweat and spit acid, who would later develop the ability to manipulate his own acid so he can create bigger projectiles. Then I rethought him into a man who looks human, but is actually made of acid (Kind of like the Mist from the The Flash who can change between his regular appearance and his metahuman form). And he needs to feed on meat to sustain himself (including humans. Now that I think about it, he isn't an ideal character to include in a superhero game for 11 year-olds). Corrosive would start out as a bank robber who begins to slowly lose his humanity. He would have the ability to get through anything, either with the help of his acid, his liquid properties, or both. He would have the ability to turn his arms into acidic sprays. And his body would eat up anything that touches him (from weapons to armor to flesh).

Unknown: A shapeshifter for hire. Unknown is a very capable mercenary who can perform all sorts of jobs, including theft and espionage. He can probably even shapeshift into beasts and monsters if he finds himself unarmed. And it would make sense that he can using his shapeshifting ability to heal his own wounds. I'd imagine S.C.A.R. would hire him to give Fanboy and McGrow a bad reputation, maybe even infiltrate their group.

Windstorm: An meteorology intern at a news station becoming a aeromancer, wanting to prove everyone that he is the most powerful superhuman on the planet. He is basically sick and tired of being a nobody.
With the abilities to fly, move objects and people around with strong winds, and create tornadoes, he can be a dangerous opponent.

Diamondback: A hot-headed criminal who has gained snake-like superpowers: fangs with venom, snakeskin around his arms and torso, and enhanced reflexes.

Seismic Girl: A runaway teenager who wants to escape her tormentors from school gains the ability to create earthquakes. She starts from using her abilities to get revenge on the people who have been bullying her, and start causing unintended chaos and destruction. Her superpowers can get triggered by her emotions.

With all these great ideas, I just hope Fanboy and McGrow's players don't come after me. :smalleek:


A couple of those are actually pretty similar to superhumans I've got planned to pop up in one capacity or another; Richard was actually originally statted out to corrode things with a touch but I switched it to electricity at the last minute because I thought it'd be funnier to finally take advantage of one of McCrow's weaknesses. :smalltongue: I do like the idea of a teenage girl that can't control the destructive powers she summoned though and Diamondback for some reason gives me an idea for a villain in The Watch that doesn't actually have superpowers but dresses like he does to intimidate people into surrendering without a fight.






Of course then you'd have to change his codename to Big Daddy, because someone's already referred to the hypothetical heroine as Little Sister in this scenario and Big Brother is just too close to completing the reference to keep as is.


Maybe I've just watched a little too much porn in my time, but if was going to call somebody Big Daddy I'm pretty sure I wouldn't waste it on something as minor as a Superman clone. I'd have to go full on Bueno Excellente (http://www.comicvine.com/bueno-excellente/4005-12153/) or forever feel like I'd squandered an opportunity. :smallbiggrin:

[Drakeburn]

A couple of those are actually pretty similar to superhumans I've got planned to pop up in one capacity or another; Richard was actually originally statted out to corrode things with a touch but I switched it to electricity at the last minute because I thought it'd be funnier to finally take advantage of one of McCrow's weaknesses. :smalltongue: I do like the idea of a teenage girl that can't control the destructive powers she summoned though and Diamondback for some reason gives me an idea for a villain in The Watch that doesn't actually have superpowers but dresses like he does to intimidate people into surrendering without a fight.


Giving destructive superpowers, that are activated by emotions, to a teenaged girl tormented by cyberbullying, does seem like such a fun idea to play around with. Man, saying that made me feel evil for a moment there. :smallredface:

As for Diamondback, I can see that as some sort of gunslinging outlaw with rattlesnake skin tattooed around his arms and torso (especially the Diamondback on his back).

[GorinichSerpant]

Maybe I've just watched a little too much porn in my time, but if was going to call somebody Big Daddy I'm pretty sure I wouldn't waste it on something as minor as a Superman clone. I'd have to go full on Bueno Excellente (http://www.comicvine.com/bueno-excellente/4005-12153/) or forever feel like I'd squandered an opportunity. :smallbiggrin:

God, the horrors I'm avoiding to imagine.

[Kid Jake]

God, the horrors I'm avoiding to imagine.

I almost went with Love Sausage (http://www.comicvine.com/love-sausage/4005-60457/).

[Drakeburn]

God, the horrors I'm avoiding to imagine.


I almost went with Love Sausage (http://www.comicvine.com/love-sausage/4005-60457/).

I don't think I even wanna know what you guys are talking about. :smalleek:


One last idea to spit out before my imagination fuel tank gets empty:

Hyperjump: A private detective who gains the ability to create portals to teleport himself or others (objects or people).
Oblivion: Hyperjump's powers slowly worsen to the point where his portals become vortexes that eat away the existence of anything that gets sucked into them. And not only does it drive him insane, but his powers also slowly eat away bits and pieces of Oblivion's existence as well!

I really like this idea, a superhero who slowly becomes a supervillain as a result of a "side-effect" from his superpowers.

[turbo164]

Is it possible for "normal" characters to have multiple powersets, or is that the special shtick of the serial killer? If allowed...


Frostburn - former frozen french-fry-factory worker, now with two powers!
Power 1: Throws fire!
Power 2: Is made of ice!

In a less extreme vein, could have like a spider summoner with arachnophobia, or someone who's allergic to cats who can shapeshift into a Liger...

[GorinichSerpant]

When I look at all the events that are happening in this Log, a lot of them seem supernatural. Even without the near death scene with the huge monster thing, a lot of the things here smell of the occult to me. Like Wraith (that ghost girl who is still haunting the warehouse) and Prophet seem to be right in the realms of magic. If hydromancy fell into the hands of someone who could be clever enough to use it to manipulate weather, then you'd have a person with a skill set that is well known to primitive cultures, the one of the rainmaker. (as in, during ancient times, people literally believed they could control the weather, used that to gain authority, and were killed as a scapegoat during long droughts)

So the logical conclusion from the existence of superhumans is that to some extent magic and mythological beings exist and all those storys may-or-may-not be based in actual fact. While the next logical response would be to have a mental break down do to the realization that all you and science know about reality is wrong, the more interesting response is to go out and look for said possibly existing magical things. So an investigator could be out there on the prowl for the truth.

[Kid Jake]

I don't think I even wanna know what you guys are talking about. :smalleek:


One last idea to spit out before my imagination fuel tank gets empty:

Hyperjump: A private detective who gains the ability to create portals to teleport himself or others (objects or people).
Oblivion: Hyperjump's powers slowly worsen to the point where his portals become vortexes that eat away the existence of anything that gets sucked into them. And not only does it drive him insane, but his powers also slowly eat away bits and pieces of Oblivion's existence as well!

I really like this idea, a superhero who slowly becomes a supervillain as a result of a "side-effect" from his superpowers.

Hrm...I might actually use that power set for one of the super dogs(Tindalos). Or maybe even Mallard....I could see him abusing his power more and more after finding his wife murdered until it just starts running wild on him and he becomes a living black hole.



Is it possible for "normal" characters to have multiple powersets, or is that the special shtick of the serial killer? If allowed...


Frostburn - former frozen french-fry-factory worker, now with two powers!
Power 1: Throws fire!
Power 2: Is made of ice!

In a less extreme vein, could have like a spider summoner with arachnophobia, or someone who's allergic to cats who can shapeshift into a Liger...


The only character with varied powers I can think of so far has been Stardust and they were all part of an 'angelic' theme. I probably wouldn't be too hard to fluff a power set so fire and ice together made sense though; so it's definitely doable.

I kind of like the Liger idea though; the image of this guy constantly breaking out in hives and refusing to use his power because he'll get cat hair everywhere is kind of hilarious.





When I look at all the events that are happening in this Log, a lot of them seem supernatural. Even without the near death scene with the huge monster thing, a lot of the things here smell of the occult to me. Like Wraith (that ghost girl who is still haunting the warehouse) and Prophet seem to be right in the realms of magic. If hydromancy fell into the hands of someone who could be clever enough to use it to manipulate weather, then you'd have a person with a skill set that is well known to primitive cultures, the one of the rainmaker. (as in, during ancient times, people literally believed they could control the weather, used that to gain authority, and were killed as a scapegoat during long droughts)

So the logical conclusion from the existence of superhumans is that to some extent magic and mythological beings exist and all those storys may-or-may-not be based in actual fact. While the next logical response would be to have a mental break down do to the realization that all you and science know about reality is wrong, the more interesting response is to go out and look for said possibly existing magical things. So an investigator could be out there on the prowl for the truth.


You've actually touched on an existing NPC that they've pretty much ignored; the guy that's more or less responsible for the canisters existing in the first place. :smalltongue:

[GorinichSerpant]

You've actually touched on an existing NPC that they've pretty much ignored; the guy that's more or less responsible for the canisters existing in the first place. :smalltongue:

You mean the Doctor(or was it a scientist) that they were looking for a while back? And then sort of forgot about when other stuff poped up.

Also I'm guessing you've come up with the answers such a person as I've described would be seeking, or at least as far as humans could grasp them...

And now I'm hoping that this game goes not only from heroic game to a dark grim and realistic version of what would happen if superhumans appeared but then lovecraftian horror. :smallbiggrin:

[Kid Jake]

You mean the Doctor(or was it a scientist) that they were looking for a while back? And then sort of forgot about when other stuff poped up.

Also I'm guessing you've come up with the answers such a person as I've described would be seeking, or at least as far as humans could grasp them...

And now I'm hoping that this game goes not only from heroic game to a dark grim and realistic version of what would happen if superhumans appeared but then lovecraftian horror. :smallbiggrin:

Yeah, one of the people they were supposed to be looking for (but gave up on apparently) was an anthropologist that somehow found his way onto the Defense Department's payroll, which was supposed to be their first clue that something weird was going on.

Without going too far into spoiler territory: "That's the plan." :smallbiggrin:

The first half is them becoming the most powerful heroes that this world has to offer. The second part will hopefully be about them learning just how little that means in the grand scheme of things.

[Drakeburn]

Scorch: An arsonist turned supervillain, equipped with a battle-suit armed with an arsenal of fiery weapons. He's mostly a mercenary, willing to do damage for a price.

Chain-Link: A ex gang enforcer gone solo, armed with a near indestructible chain and a suit of metal armor.

Madame Cassandra: A beautiful and wealthy crime lord who has the ability to control her pet: a python (as big as a python can get). I suppose she can communicate with her pet to make her seem more like Cassandra from Greek Mythology.

Poison Dart Man: A small time teenage crook who uses his superpowers just to survive as well as to get whatever he wants. Along with frog-like powers such as leaping and a long tongue, Poison Dart Man also has skin that is poisonous to anybody who touches it. He has to eat food with harmful stuff in it to keep himself "untouchable". (Twinkies, Monster Energy Drinks, etc).

Hive Queen: A popular teenage girl developing the ability to command bees, wasps, hornets, and yellow jackets.
I know that you had a superhuman who was basically a human beehive, but think what you can do with somebody who can gather up a swarm large enough to sting an entire city population!!!
(And I'd imagine that her archenemy would be Seismic Girl)

Do you think these are enough superhumans to give Fanboy and Chum Chum McGrow a hard time? :smallamused:

Thinking back to that Avatar: The Last Airbender episode about Bloodbending: if McGrow can extract water from a living thing, do you think he can use that water to also puppeteer human beings in the same way? Just a thought.....

[Kid Jake]

Thinking back to that Avatar: The Last Airbender episode about Bloodbending: if McGrow can extract water from a living thing, do you think he can use that water to also puppeteer human beings in the same way? Just a thought.....

He's actually mentioned that idea before; so it might happen.

[Drakeburn]

He's actually mentioned that idea before; so it might happen.

Aye yai yai. What will these guys come up with next? :smallsigh:

Then again, two little girls (my little sister and her friend) who are already interested in playing an M&M game (which I don't have the rulebooks for :smallannoyed::smallsigh:) would give me a hard time as a GM. Seriously, my sister's friend wants to have a character with Minecraft related superpowers. I'm not kidding, she really does. Then again, when she wanted to play D&D with my sis, she wanted to name her character iballisticsquid. Kids these days. :smallannoyed:

I'm quite surprised that of all the stuff you've thrown at them, that only one PC died (from The Watch).

Let's see...... I've provided 13 ideas for superhumans (or at least ideas for superpowers). 1 Super Heroine, and 12 superhumans (a lot of villains and a couple potential allies). Contains a lot of powerful potential for your campaign, as well as for The Watch.

It would be cool to see those ideas put to use in your next campaign journal entries (I can imagine the next two acts those can come up with: Competition for the Spotlight, and the Superhuman Apocalypse).

Of course, I'm just offering ideas for your game.


And now that I thought about it, maybe Hive Queen can be the daughter of that anthropologist.

[Kid Jake]

Aye yai yai. What will these guys come up with next? :smallsigh:

Then again, two little girls (my little sister and her friend) who are already interested in playing an M&M game (which I don't have the rulebooks for :smallannoyed::smallsigh:) would give me a hard time as a GM. Seriously, my sister's friend wants to have a character with Minecraft related superpowers. I'm not kidding, she really does. Then again, when she wanted to play D&D with my sis, she wanted to name her character iballisticsquid. Kids these days. :smallannoyed:

I'm quite surprised that of all the stuff you've thrown at them, that only one PC died (from The Watch).

Let's see...... I've provided 13 ideas for superhumans (or at least ideas for superpowers). 1 Super Heroine, and 12 superhumans (a lot of villains and a couple potential allies). Contains a lot of powerful potential for your campaign, as well as for The Watch.

It would be cool to see those ideas put to use in your next campaign journal entries (I can imagine the next two acts those can come up with: Competition for the Spotlight, and the Superhuman Apocalypse).

Of course, I'm just offering ideas for your game.


And now that I thought about it, maybe Hive Queen can be the daughter of that anthropologist.


Heh, I never know what to expect. Fanboy's building towards manipulating his force field to give him Superman styled lifting/striking capabilities. It'd still all be with his telekinesis, but it's basically fluffed as him learning to mug for the cameras since it makes a more heroic sight for him to get his hands dirty.


You can use the SRD (http://d20herosrd.com/) if you're interested in 3e; I taught a group using it and it was a snap. Minecraft powers might not actually be that hard to model; just make liberal use of Create Object. Does kind of sound like she's more interested in a video game than role playing though.:smalltongue:

Mann was also effectively killed off, he rolled about as terribly as Loser Face did but I wanted a chance to tempt him with Wilson before letting him pass on, Loser Face's player was obviously not coming back so I didn't see any point in saving her to even that degree.

Hopefully we'll actually get around to the other acts. :smallsigh: Sessions are pretty sporadic, but hopefully they'll pick back up.



I'm really sort of itching to start a new journal just for something to do; not sure what system to go with though. Before it's all said and done, I intend to do one of everything I own.

[Drakeburn]

You should start a Shadowrun game for those guys!

Pokemon might not have been the best choice (and heaven-forbid what they would do in a MLP RPG :smalleek:), Pathfinder is fairly suitable for McGrow and Fanboy's players (probably the same with Mutants and Masterminds as well). So their character decisions for that game would be perfect for the type of game Shadowrun is.

The setting takes place in Silverlock city, divided between two different worlds:

- The Inner City, a city of perfect paradise for the High-Class citizens. Living in luxury, provided the best of necessities (food, medical care, etc), and safe from war and crime.

- The Outer City, an urban area outside the borders of the Inner City where the lower class citizens are left to reside in. It is nothing more but a dark and miserable place where gangs rule the streets, corporations engage each other in secret wars of espionage and sabotage, and where there is little to no law enforcement throughout the Outer City.

- The border of the Inner City is one of the most heavily guarded places in Silverlock city, its border patrol ranging from military personnel to robots to mechs.

There is so much you and your players can do with this world.

I would run this game if I knew the system, but sadly I don't. :smallfrown:

[GorinichSerpant]

You should start a Shadowrun game for those guys!

Pokemon might not have been the best choice (and heaven-forbid what they would do in a MLP RPG :smalleek:), Pathfinder is fairly suitable for McGrow and Fanboy's players (probably the same with Mutants and Masterminds as well). So their character decisions for that game would be perfect for the type of game Shadowrun is.

The setting takes place in Silverlock city, divided between two different worlds:

- The Inner City, a city of perfect paradise for the High-Class citizens. Living in luxury, provided the best of necessities (food, medical care, etc), and safe from war and crime.

- The Outer City, an urban area outside the borders of the Inner City where the lower class citizens are left to reside in. It is nothing more but a dark and miserable place where gangs rule the streets, corporations engage each other in secret wars of espionage and sabotage, and where there is little to no law enforcement throughout the Outer City.

- The border of the Inner City is one of the most heavily guarded places in Silverlock city, its border patrol ranging from military personnel to robots to mechs.

There is so much you and your players can do with this world.

I would run this game if I knew the system, but sadly I don't. :smallfrown:

My guess is that the wall will explode at some point. Doesn't matter on which said of it our heroes are, it will collapse. In general this does sound like it would fit Kid Jake's games. It might just turn out to be a lot more light hearted then expected sense it starts so grim.

[Drakeburn]

My guess is that the wall will explode at some point. Doesn't matter on which said of it our heroes are, it will collapse. In general this does sound like it would fit Kid Jake's games. It might just turn out to be a lot more light hearted then expected sense it starts so grim.

That is pretty much what I would expect.

If Kid Jake decides to make the Inner City a domed city, the PCs might get in at the cost of everybody crushed under the debris of the shattered dome. Even if the gateways into the Inner City are turned deadly (like in Dishonored), they'll still probably find a way around it.

But we're talking about a setting that has nightclubs and prostitutes, biker gangs and bounty hunters, thieves and hackers, mercenaries and assassins, rich vs poor, Strong vs weak, power and corruption, and fantasy races in a Sci-Fi setting. Let me ask: How does one make a game like that lighthearted?

[Kid Jake]

How does one make a game like that lighthearted?

I've actually got a plot for Shadowrun in mind where the objective is to kidnap a pop star to mess up her world tour. :smalltongue: I'm on an iPad right now so it's awkward to type, but I'll try to mention a few other ideas I've got a little later.

[Drakeburn]

I've actually got a plot for Shadowrun in mind where the objective is to kidnap a pop star to mess up her world tour. :smalltongue: I'm on an iPadright now so it's awkward to type, but I'll try to mention a few other ideas I've got a little later.

You're kidding, right? :smalleek::smallamused: Kidnapping a pop star? ROFL


Besides, these are your player's we're talking about!!! If they can take Pokemon in such a horrific direction, do you have any idea the means they might use to complete that objective (yet alone what might happen to the pop star? I'd actually feel so sorry for her. :smalltongue:).

Just name ONE lighthearted thing those two have ever accomplished in one of your games.

[Kid Jake]

It probably wouldn't be with them actually, I've already got a queue of games for them including a Deadlands game where Fanboy will be playing a 19th Century Tony Stark styled arms dealer and McCrow wants to play a vengeful Gomer Pyle looking for the man that killed his ma, his pa, 13 of his brothers and sisters and his favorite mule.

Also, whenever we wrap up the Pathfinder game those guys have mentioned getting me to run a Cthulhutech game for them.

[Grim Portent]

Personally I'd like to see what would happen if you got Fanboy and McCrow's players teamed up with Kavos' and Gandil's in a Black Crusade game. A game where the intent is to be as villainous and warmongering as possible in the name of achieving immortality could only wind up hilarious with such a team.

[Kid Jake]

Personally I'd like to see what would happen if you got Fanboy and McCrow's players teamed up with Kavos' and Gandil's in a Black Crusade game. A game where the intent is to be as villainous and warmongering as possible in the name of achieving immortality could only wind up hilarious with such a team.


That would be absolutely fantastic, but I'm not sure I could get them all together at one time; Fanboy/McCrow's schedules are wacky enough to make just getting the two of them together pretty hard.


Shadowrun: Kidnapping a popstar before she can leave town in hopes of ransoming her back to her label, the problem being that she's pretty used to dodging kidnapping plots and is walking around with an entourage that would make most Megacorp CEOs jealous.

D20 Modern: A plot inspired by Saints Row, The Goon, The Warriors and with a dash of Powerpuff Girls thrown in for good measure. Set in a city divvied up between several dozen different gangs that range from Irish Arms Dealers and Voodoo Priests to Murderous Clowns and Space Cults. The PCs have one chance to save their neighborhood gang or die trying.

Dogs In The Vineyard: It occurs to me that it would actually fit the Fallout setting pretty darned well; this is the kind of game that would mostly be me plopping them down near a settlement and just seeing what kind of carnage they could find themselves.

Cthulhutech: An NEG story with survival horror elements involving the Rapine Storm and the fall of an arcology. I may end up just folding it into Kavos/Gandil's Cthulhutech game if we ever get around to it though.

Kaiju: Haven't got much of a plot in mind yet, but I'd love to run a game where the PCs keep getting bigger and meaner until the only thing they have left to challenge them is each other. Cue King of the Monsters freeforall. :smallbiggrin:

Ghostbusters/Jurassic Park/Zombie Apocalypse: Don't really have anything in mind yet, just keeping them in mind.


I've also got the Deadlands game I mentioned, a RuneQuest game based on The King of Dragon's Pass(still learning the system), a bigass dungeon crawl using Pathfinder that I hope to run for them eventually and I've got a pretty epic (if I say so myself) Paranoia game in the works that I'd actually like to record and post to Youtube when I get the chance.

[(Un)Inspired]

Combine your Ghostbusters, Jurrasic Park, and Zombie Apocalypse ideas and now you're cooking with fire.

The Ghostbusters get sent to the Jurrasic Park island to take care of a strain of Zombie virus that has swept through the park delaying it's Grand Openning.

Zombies fall under the G-busters jurisdiction right?

[Kid Jake]

That's the most brilliant thing I've ever heard. I'm pretty sure an unlicensed nuclear accelerator would work just as well on a zombie anklyosaurus as it would on a ghost.

[(Un)Inspired]

That's the most brilliant thing I've ever heard. I'm pretty sure an unlicensed nuclear accelerator would work just as well on a zombie anklyosaurus as it would on a ghost.

Not bad right? This is the kind of game I tend to look for.

[Drakeburn]

Don't we all just enjoy player shenanigans? :smallamused::small tongue:

D20 Modern: An agency of paranormal/supernatural investigators are called to assist in investigating bizarre cases. (kind of inspired by the Dresden Files and Grimm).

D20 Modern: A team of archaeologists accidentally awakening a mummified sorcerer who wants to take over the world. (Heavily inspired by the Mummy films).

Zombie Apocalypse: Hive-minded alien organisms surface and start enslaving the human race into mindless zombies and stopping at nothing to take control of every human on the planet. (Sounds a bit like a film straight out of the Sci Fy channel, but I suppose this idea can double for an alien invasion).

Combining Ghostbusters, zombies, and Jurassic Park? I suppose a new genetically engineered species of dinosaur and trained velociraptors weren't enough? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mvWuky1g0g)

[Kid Jake]

Not bad right? This is the kind of game I tend to look for.

I've got a list of like 40 games I want to run at one point or another and this one would check at least three of them off at once. :smallamused: Not sure what system to use though, my gut says D20 Modern for simplicity's sake; but I could see M&M working at a sufficiently low PL or maybe even World of Darkness. I'm envisioning a 3-5 session arc with some kind of implied time limit so everything wraps up one way or another at the end.



Combining Ghostbusters, zombies, and Jurassic Park? I suppose a new genetically engineered species of dinosaur and trained velociraptors aren't enough? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mvWuky1g0g)

It's never enough. I might try to shoehorn a musical number or two in while I'm at it. :smalltongue:

[(Un)Inspired]

I've got a list of like 40 games I want to run at one point or another and this one would check at least three of them off at once. :smallamused: Not sure what system to use though, my gut says D20 Modern for simplicity's sake; but I could see M&M working at a sufficiently low PL or maybe even World of Darkness. I'm envisioning a 3-5 session arc with some kind of implied time limit so everything wraps up one way or another at the end.


I think d20 modern would be a good it for it.

Hahaha World of Darkness. I want to play a Lasombra Velociraptor.

[Kid Jake]

I think d20 modern would be a good it for it.

Hahaha World of Darkness. I want to play a Lasombra Velociraptor.

Plus if I went with D20 Modern I could potentially reference it in the other campaign if it ends as badly as I think it will. :smallbiggrin:

Heh, I was just picturing the crazy lethality that could come from combining exploding dice with rampaging dinosaurs. In our (pretty much failed at this point) Vampire PbP Fanboy's playing a 1980's computer programmer turned Gangrel berserker that just dealt like 15 aggravated damage in one attack to some poor schmuck who's head he wanted to take home as a trophy. It seems like that'd keep our potential Ghostbusters on their toes.

[(Un)Inspired]

Plus if I went with D20 Modern I could potentially reference it in the other campaign if it ends as badly as I think it will. :smallbiggrin:

Heh, I was just picturing the crazy lethality that could come from combining exploding dice with rampaging dinosaurs. In our (pretty much failed at this point) Vampire PbP Fanboy's playing a 1980's computer programmer turned Gangrel berserker that just dealt like 15 aggravated damage in one attack to some poor schmuck who's head he wanted to take home as a trophy. It seems like that'd keep our potential Ghostbusters on their toes.

D20 modern sounds like the winner then. Do you have mcu experience with it?

I've looked through it a bit but I'm not terribly well versed.

[Kid Jake]

A little bit, it's basically just a crappier version of D&D. :smalltongue: I could probably port most enemies directly out of the 3.5 Monster Manual.

Basically he dealt almost twice the guy's health in incurable damage because for once in his life the dice actually loved him.

[Drakeburn]

Plus if I went with D20 Modern I could potentially reference it in the other campaign if it ends as badly as I think it will. :smallbiggrin:

Heh, I was just picturing the crazy lethality that could come from combining exploding dice with rampaging dinosaurs. In our (pretty much failed at this point) Vampire PbP Fanboy's playing a 1980's computer programmer turned Gangrel berserker that just dealt like 15 aggravated damage in one attack to some poor schmuck who's head he wanted to take home as a trophy. It seems like that'd keep our potential Ghostbusters on their toes.

For some reason, I'm in the mood to play a D20 Modern Jurassic Park game, with my character as a sniper, on a motorcycle, with a pet raptor. "The hunt is on!"

And sheesh. With those kind of vampires, a proton pack doesn't seem so overpowered at all. :small tongue:

[(Un)Inspired]

A little bit, it's basically just a crappier version of D&D. :smalltongue: I could probably port most enemies directly out of the 3.5 Monster Manual.

Basically he dealt almost twice the guy's health in incurable damage because for once in his life the dice actually loved him.

Wow that's brutal.

Porting monsters from 3.5 would make adding zombie dinosours super easy.

[Kid Jake]

And sheesh. With those kind of vampires, a proton pack doesn't seem so overpowered at all. :small tongue:

Yeah, it kinda seems like the bare minimum. :smallcool:


Wow that's brutal.

Porting monsters from 3.5 would make adding zombie dinosours super easy.

Yeah, it'd take like two minutes to stat all of 'em. Toss in a few other beasties and a ghost or two and boom.

[(Un)Inspired]

I actually might use this idea for a pathfinder game.

A wealthy city state has an island off its coast full of dinosaurs and magical bests that serves as a zoo/wildlife preserve/game ground for nobles/whatever but recently all communications coming from the limited infrastructure on the island have ceased. Any envoys sent to the island have vanished without a trace.

The king gathers a group of adventures to investigate the island.

There's a death cleric/cancer Mage/whatever that has spread zombies/zombie viruses to the island.

Good, low level fun.

[Kid Jake]

It's got everything. Dinosaurs. Zombies. Zombie dinosaurs. What more could someone want? :smallbiggrin:

If anyone cares, how about a vote? If I were to gather a random group and run a short (3-5 session) campaign, which would you guys want to read about?

Shadowrun? 1 Vote.

D20 Saints row?

JurassicZombiegeddonBusters? 2 Votes.

Cthulhutech? 1 Vote.

Something else?

[Drakeburn]

It's got everything. Dinosaurs. Zombies. Zombie dinosaurs. What more could someone want? :smallbiggrin:

If anyone cares, how about a vote? If I were to gather a random group and run a short (3-5 session) campaign, which would you guys want to read about?

Shadowrun?

D20 Saints row?

Ghostbusters/Jurassic Park/Zombiegeddon?

Cthulhutech?

Something else?

Shadowrun! Shadowrun! Shadowrun! :smallamused::smallbiggrin:

[Lord_Burch]

It's got everything. Dinosaurs. Zombies. Zombie dinosaurs. What more could someone want? :smallbiggrin:

If anyone cares, how about a vote? If I were to gather a random group and run a short (3-5 session) campaign, which would you guys want to read about?

Shadowrun?

D20 Saints row?

Ghostbusters/Jurassic Park/Zombiegeddon?

Cthulhutech?

Something else?

Popping in (hi everyone!): Cthulutech, but I'd probably read whatever you did regardless.

[Kid Jake]

Shadowrun! Shadowrun! Shadowrun! :smallamused::smallbiggrin:


Popping in (hi everyone!): Cthulutech, but I'd probably read whatever you did regardless.

Duly noted. :smallbiggrin: I'll keep a running tally until I find a group, so if anyone else wants to see something in particular just lemme know.

Also: Hi. :smalltongue:

[(Un)Inspired]

I'm gonna vote on the zombie dinosaur one.

[Bob of Mage]

For a short random campaign you have to go with the silliest idea. JurassicZombiegeddonBusters also seems like the easiest to have a self-contianed story with a well defined end point. The others seem like they'd could run for longer. while JurassicZombiegeddonBusters has a high risk of running out of steam. I mean after so long you just get used to the threat of a zombie T-Rex, or you die.

[Kid Jake]

Alright, I marked you guys down.

If that's the one I run I'm going to admit right now that I'm going to aspire to having a zombie t-rex eat one of them on the toilet. That's going to happen.

[Drakeburn]

Alright, I marked you guys down.

If that's the one I run I'm going to admit right now that I'm going to aspire to having a zombie t-rex eat one of them on the toilet. That's going to happen.

Yay! It isn't a dinosaur campaign with having somebody get eaten from the bathroom. :smalltongue:

[commander panda]

just saw this on pinterest and thought of this journal.

this villain is either awesome or totally dysfunctional. not sure which.
http://cdn.themetapicture.com/media/funny-knitter-superhero-Tumblr.jpg

[Kid Jake]

Hrm...I can't see the image.

[D-naras]

I want an excuse to draw so I am taking requests for character sketches! I will prioritize Kid Jake's and his players, but feel free to request your favorite McCrow and Friend's character and I will post it here once I finish it.

[Grim Portent]

I was listening to some music off of my 'bad but fun' list, and I think that with just a small change to the lyrics 'A Freak Like Me Needs Company' from the spiderman musical could make for a pretty fun theme tune for a team of bad guys. :smallbiggrin:

Link to the song if you haven't heard it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqh7RL4Kpag

[commander panda]

Hrm...I can't see the image.

huh. i went looking for a different version of that pick to usen but it turned out to be the origin for a full blown meme. (http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/the-knitter)

anyway, heres the pic i was trying to use, and some of the hilarious fanart i found for it.
http://lolsnaps.com/upload_pic/TheKnitter-63293.jpg
https://40.media.tumblr.com/f22ff82626d9f581134c4f89ec24fa9d/tumblr_mfuvcxIXW71qdgo15o1_500.png
http://24.media.tumblr.com/15e1fd02acfeec2b5183a6574ab64b7d/tumblr_mgqdmzaeTT1r4s6ngo1_r2_1280.pnghttp://gettingcraftywithkerns.weebly.com/uploads/3/7/5/7/37578505/6104536_orig.jpghttp://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/479/864/c31.jpg

[Kid Jake]

I want an excuse to draw so I am taking requests for character sketches! I will prioritize Kid Jake's and his players, but feel free to request your favorite McCrow and Friend's character and I will post it here once I finish it.

A few ideas off the top of my head:

The Mighty Manslug. (If you can handle the psychological toll of giving him form. :smalltongue:)

Tree King.

Psychotic Tiffany.

Johnny on the Spot, either pre or post-crippling.

McCrow in his trench-coat and glasses passed out drunk against a curb.










I was listening to some music off of my 'bad but fun' list, and I think that with just a small change to the lyrics 'A Freak Like Me Needs Company' from the spiderman musical could make for a pretty fun theme tune for a team of bad guys. :smallbiggrin:

Link to the song if you haven't heard it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqh7RL4Kpag


Change New York to Ventnor and that could be the theme song for The Watch. :smalltongue:



huh. i went looking for a different version of that pick to usen but it turned out to be the origin for a full blown meme. (http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/the-knitter)

anyway, heres the pic i was trying to use, and some of the hilarious fanart i found for it.
http://lolsnaps.com/upload_pic/TheKnitter-63293.jpg
https://40.media.tumblr.com/f22ff82626d9f581134c4f89ec24fa9d/tumblr_mfuvcxIXW71qdgo15o1_500.png
http://24.media.tumblr.com/15e1fd02acfeec2b5183a6574ab64b7d/tumblr_mgqdmzaeTT1r4s6ngo1_r2_1280.pnghttp://gettingcraftywithkerns.weebly.com/uploads/3/7/5/7/37578505/6104536_orig.jpghttp://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/479/864/c31.jpg

I'm honestly surprised that's not a real villain by this point, considering some (http://batman.wikia.com/wiki/The_Carpenter) of the ones that HAVE made the cut.

[commander panda]

I'm honestly surprised that's not a real villain by this point, considering some (http://batman.wikia.com/wiki/The_Carpenter) of the ones that HAVE made the cut.

i will call your carpenter and raise you one irony!
http://d22zlbw5ff7yk5.cloudfront.net/images/cm-42608-050e530ba97855.jpeg

[D-naras]

A few ideas off the top of my head:

The Mighty Manslug. (If you can handle the psychological toll of giving him form. :smalltongue:)

Tree King.

Psychotic Tiffany.

Johnny on the Spot, either pre or post-crippling.

McCrow in his trench-coat and glasses passed out drunk against a curb.



I need short descriptions for Tiffany and Johnny since I am too lazy to go search for them :smalltongue:

[Kid Jake]

i will call your carpenter and raise you one irony!

Isn't the Ragman covered in the souls of sinners or something that he murdered and converted into wrappings to help him kick ass? He might look silly, but that's pretty damned metal.




I need short descriptions for Tiffany and Johnny since I am too lazy to go search for them :smalltongue:

Here's Johnny:
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/UnLegend/JohnnyontheSpot_zps15d28cd3.jpg

To be honest...I don't really remember what Tiffany looks either like now that I think about it. :smalltongue: She would probably just be a short, blonde haired lady with crazy eyes and blade-like hands covered in a diamonds. So long as she looks crazy and sharp I'm pretty sure you could tell it's her. :smallbiggrin:

[Bob of Mage]

Your idea of the D20 Saint's Row style campaign crawled into my head and started laying eggs. First if you make the setting take place in a wider civil war thing would make more sense in context. Why are the PCs able to run around with tons of guns fighting evil cults in the streets? Because there is no one else left standing. This also allows the PCs to take control of large areas without being super villain-types. They can "save" an area from the "bag guys" and then the "grateful" people who live there will "help them out". You can replace anything in "" with whatever best fits the PCs actions.

In a longer runing campaign the heros will end up fighting stronger foes as time goes on. By using a civil war context you can easily explain where new foes come from, why they are willing to attack the PCs, and why the PCs might see them as a threat long before they start stealing trainsets. It also explains where the PCs rasing Wealth score is coming from. It would also explain how they are able to buy some many guns.

To run a civil war you would need a reason for one to start, for it to keep going, and maybe a way for the PCs to win it by the endgame. Starting one is easy, all you need is a leadership that is unwilling to do what some group want, and a group that is willing to use forse to get its way. For example have a king runing the nation before the war. Unelected leaders work best as it's easy to explain why people hate them. A corrupt leadership also works, but will require a more well founded story. Now the rebels need a reason to really hate the leadership (I say leadership more then government since the parts of the government itself could be rebels). Some reasons could be that they are from a group who feels mistreated (racial groups for example), people who want a say (works best where they lack a vote), people who feel the leadership is taking the wrong path (can be both the common people, or powerful parts of the government itself), people who want a better life and think the system should be reformed (your avreage Marxist), the military feels it could do a better job (often happens during wars that are going badly), random evil-doers (run of the mill doom cultists), and outside groups who want something of value but don't want to look like they are evil by out right invading (they are like vampires and need to be invited in before they kill people and feast on thier victims). Pick one or more of these and you have a war.

After the fighting is started there needs to be a reason why it isn't stopping and why the area the PCs start in is overrun with random factions. The best ways are to have the old guard make a run for the exit before they can be taken out, and then returning with more forces, have the rebels fail in the first push, or have infighting set in and no one being able to have enough power to run the show. Infighting might be the best option since it allows a number of options of how the PCs can deal with them. If they really want to they could bring about peace by bringing all the factions together (knowing your PCs it would either be by holding a gun to all their heads or out of fear that the PCs are now the biggest threat to everyone). There would be a lot of deal making as each faction tries to get what it wants (power, elected leadership, food) while not giving someone else an opening to take them out.

A second useful thing would be that you could run such a campaign more easliy with random players being able to play. As long as there is no cliffhanger endings, it wouldn't be odd for random PCs to not be around. X, Y, and Z could go and take out the clubhouse of some bikers. Next time X is busy because he has to deal the repairing fallen powerlines since he has a high repair skill and the NPCs can deal with it on their own. It would be best however to try and foucs a group of PC on one traget, and only run those PCs when most of the players are there. "Side-quests" would be easy to run since there would always be tons of one off things to do (take out some bikers, defend an attack from anrgy bikers, dump the bodies of a whole lot of dead bikers in some rude guy's backyard, deal with undead bikers that that weren't buried properly).

As can clearly be seen I spend way too much time on the bus thinking.

[Drakeburn]

Getting back to Mutants and Masterminds for a moment:

I thought up of a new superhuman for The Watch: A newspaper boy who has the ability to make only one duplicate of himself.

Wouldn't it be funny if McGrow somehow created a Sharknado in your campaign? That would be the most hilarious thing to read.

Maybe you can run an M&M game for this random group, only taking place in a different setting. Either a metropolis where the "big empowerment event" begins at when a laboratory blows up, releasing a cloud of mutagenic gas across part of the city, or the party wakes up in the middle of the desert with no idea how they got there.

[Kid Jake]

Ideas.

The Saints Row game is actually pretty much done unlike most of my ideas. I had a guy order a D20 Modern game from me a few months back and didn't specify what he wanted so I just went wild with it; sadly some personal stuff came up on his end and we never got to actually sit down and play it out.

It was supposed to be a mixture of Steelport and Townsville where crazy stuff is only barely kept in check by yet more crazy stuff and it was pretty much just assumed that the rest of the world had given up on ever recovering it...kinda like Detroit. It's home to several dozen gangs(think The Warriors but even more outlandish), but divided up by the Big Five. Mafia, Russians, Triad, Yakuza and the Dragons...which are exactly what they sound like. Each of The Big Five basically owned every other gang in their territory and would always step in before things went too far. The Big Five in turn pay off the corrupt mayor to help conceal their crimes.


People were supposed to be so used to the insanity that literally nothing surprised them anymore. One of the factions was just a group of Kaiju that would randomly rampage and then go back to sleep and people pretty much treated their appearance like an excessively destructive rain storm. (it was very much inspired by The Goon (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zr_Ta6NS3-g&spfreload=10) among others.) By the time the game starts they're so jaded they quite literally don't even notice when Mad Scientists with Tesla coils duke it out with Nazis in the middle of the street. If they interrupted their lives every time hyper-intelligent bears engaged in a musical gang fight outside their window, they'd never get anything done.

It was just supposed to be mindless fun though, much like Saints Row or The Goon. It would have its own internal logic, but I wasn't too concerned with making it fit ours. :smallbiggrin:




Getting back to Mutants and Masterminds for a moment:

I thought up of a new superhuman for The Watch: A newspaper boy who has the ability to make only one duplicate of himself.

Wouldn't it be funny if McGrow somehow created a Sharknado in your campaign? That would be the most hilarious thing to read.

Maybe you can run an M&M game for this random group, only taking place in a different setting. Either a metropolis where the "big empowerment event" begins at when a laboratory blows up, releasing a cloud of mutagenic gas across part of the city, or the party wakes up in the middle of the desert with no idea how they got there.

I'm almost positive the Sharknado is going to happen. I vaguely remember McCrow and/or Mr Amazing's players talking about doing something like that.

If I ever run an M&M game unrelated to Ventnor I'll probably just go with the standard "Some crap happened and then we turned super!" type of world where one guy's a werewolf, another gains strength every time somebody uses a vowel and another is actually a dinosaur; he just doesn't know it yet. That way I can just them decide how they got their powers.

[Drakeburn]

Wait, another idea just popped up in my mind.

Instead of running a D20 Modern Saints Row game, how bout you run a D20 Modern Grand Theft Auto game?
(I'm pretty much surprised how nobody in the Playground thought of it). Just imagine all the possibilities that kind of game can have. :smalltongue:

[Hazrond]

Psychotic superhumans you say? :smallamused:

Seismic Girl: A runaway teenager who wants to escape her tormentors from school gains the ability to create earthquakes. She starts from using her abilities to get revenge on the people who have been bullying her, and start causing unintended chaos and destruction. Her superpowers can get triggered by her emotions.

With all these great ideas, I just hope Fanboy and McGrow's players don't come after me. :smalleek:

Umm, isnt that just Terra Markov from the Teen Titans?

[Drakeburn]

Umm, isnt that just Terra Markov from the Teen Titans?

Well, sort of. Although she just has the ability to cause earthquakes which can only be triggered by her emotions, nothing else.
Similar, of course. But different characters otherwise.

[Kid Jake]

Wait, another idea just popped up in my mind.

Instead of running a D20 Modern Saints Row game, how bout you run a D20 Modern Grand Theft Auto game?
(I'm pretty much surprised how nobody in the Playground thought of it). Just imagine all the possibilities that kind of game can have. :smalltongue:


Outside of a slightly more serious tone, what would be different?

[Drakeburn]

Outside of a slightly more serious tone, what would be different?

Hm.... Other than the fact that one has a storyline while the other is sandbox, not that much of a difference actually. :smallconfused:

[Kid Jake]

Hm.... Other than the fact that one has a storyline while the other is sandbox, not that much of a difference actually. :smallconfused:


Which ones which? :smalltongue:

[(Un)Inspired]

Which ones which? :smalltongue:

That's the secret mystery of the campaign.

[Kid Jake]

Alright, I've began recruiting for "JurassicZombieGeddonBusters the Musical!" and have a bare bones plot laid out; so if things go according to plan I'll hopefully run the first session the 28th. If I can't find a group that's interested by that time though I'll fall back to one of the other games and start again.

Assuming me and Fanboy finish out the current arc we're running in Vampire and it actually comes out interesting I might post that one too, but it's basically changed from an intricate conspiracy meant to be unraveled by half a dozen fledgling pawns to the insane murder spiral of a nerd turned gangster.

[(Un)Inspired]

Alright, I've began recruiting for "JurassicZombieGeddonBusters the Musical!" and have a bare bones plot laid out; so if things go according to plan I'll hopefully run the first session the 28th. If I can't find a group that's interested by that time though I'll fall back to one of the other games and start again.

Assuming me and Fanboy finish out the current arc we're running in Vampire and it actually comes out interesting I might post that one too, but it's basically changed from an intricate conspiracy meant to be unraveled by half a dozen fledgling pawns to the insane murder spiral of a nerd turned gangster.

Awesome!

Also, whenever I just glance at the title of this thread I think it says, "Let's get this straight, YOU'RE the Mutant, I'm the Mastermind!"

[Kid Jake]

I have the urge to start all of my sessions by saying that now. :smalltongue:

[Sith_Happens]

Assuming me and Fanboy finish out the current arc we're running in Vampire and it actually comes out interesting I might post that one too, but it's basically changed from an intricate conspiracy meant to be unraveled by half a dozen fledgling pawns to the insane murder spiral of a nerd turned gangster.

Were you really expecting anything else?:smalltongue:

[Kid Jake]

Were you really expecting anything else?:smalltongue:

Heh, it actually looked like it might be a more subdued game there for a while. It was set in that magical time known as the 80s and everyone was playing a fledgling basically tricked into the embrace for some nefarious power play.

Fanboy was playing a computer programmer convinced he was developing the next big thing until he was turned by a Gangrel.

McCrow was a cutthroat executive that accidentally got the attention of a Daeva elder by messing with the kindred's business.

My sister ( who played Stardust in the session that introduced Mann) was playing a nurse turned drug dealer being blackmailed by a Nosferatu for blood.

The guy that plays end Gandil in my Pathfinder game was playing the manager of a video store that owed his bookies more than he'd ever take home in his life until he sold his soul to a Mekhet.

Alicia's player was playing an aspiring lawyer in debt to the above Mekhet.

Tiffany's player had some sort of insane shepherd/groupie accidentally embraced by the Tremere...

It looked pretty solid until the holidays distracted everyone but Fanboy and without anyone else to interact with he fell in with the wrong crowd. :smalltongue:

[Drakeburn]

heh, it actually looked like it might be a more subdued game there for a while. It was set in that magical time known as the 80s and everyone was playing a fledgling basically tricked into the embrace for some nefarious power play.

Fanboy was playing a computer programmer convinced he was developing the next big thing until he was turned by a gangrel.

Mccrow was a cutthroat executive that accidentally got the attention of a daeva elder by messing with the kindred's business.

My sister ( who played stardust in the session that introduced mann) was playing a nurse turned drug dealer being blackmailed by a nosferatu for blood.

The guy that plays end gandil in my pathfinder game was playing the manager of a video store that owed his bookies more than he'd ever take home in his life until he sold his soul to a mekhet.

Alicia's player was playing an aspiring lawyer in debt to the above mekhet.

Tiffany's player had some sort of insane shepherd/groupie accidentally embraced by the tremere...

It looked pretty solid until the holidays distracted everyone but fanboy and without anyone else to interact with he fell in with the wrong crowd. :smalltongue:

how is it that you haven't started a campaign journal about this yet!?!?

[Grim Portent]

Heh, it actually looked like it might be a more subdued game there for a while. It was set in that magical time known as the 80s and everyone was playing a fledgling basically tricked into the embrace for some nefarious power play.

Ah the 80s. I have the fortune of playing in an All Flesh Must Be Eaten game set in Italy 1989.

Amusingly of 6 original characters not one of us spoke Italian and only one wasn't British, though even the one that wasn't was still the child of British parents. It wasn't until our 7th player joined in that we got a PC that could speak Italian (a former Mafia member who wields an axe.) :smalltongue:

I'm playing a coroner/amateur occultist who thinks he caused the zombie apocalypse by enacting 'evil rituals' every second Saturday in his local graveyard. Whether or not he has is currently unclear. In the meantime he's a fan of Metal and dresses like Ozzy Osbourne.

When he dies I intend to replace him with his own reincarnation, but I intend to throw all logic out the window and play a Berzerker fan of Warhammer Fantasy (which was in it's infancy at the time) who rages and charges into battle like a maniac. While listening to a cd of Bolt Thrower on a walkman. :smallbiggrin:

Because Metal.


Fanboy was playing a computer programmer convinced he was developing the next big thing until he was turned by a Gangrel.
McCrow was a cutthroat executive that accidentally got the attention of a Daeva elder by messing with the kindred's business.
My sister ( who played Stardust in the session that introduced Mann) was playing a nurse turned drug dealer being blackmailed by a Nosferatu for blood.
The guy that plays end Gandil in my Pathfinder game was playing the manager of a video store that owed his bookies more than he'd ever take home in his life until he sold his soul to a Mekhet.
Alicia's player was playing an aspiring lawyer in debt to the above Mekhet.
Tiffany's player had some sort of insane shepherd/groupie accidentally embraced by the Tremere.

I am disappointed that not once do I see mention of weird outfits, metal or rock anywhere here. It's the 80s! Where's the over the top cheesyness?

[Kid Jake]

how is it that you haven't started a campaign journal about this yet!?!?

*le sigh* Because it's Play by Post and outside of Fanboy's character (who's actually advanced a bit) I basically just summed up the entire campaign right there. :smallfrown:

Except for Fanboy's character, everyone's stories just sort of ended mid-sentence and there isn't likely to be any resolution for them. Tiffany was more concerned with following Cheap Trick than surviving, McCrow was still convinced that the Daeva had spiked his drink and he was on the best trip of his life even as they disposed of a prostitute's corpse, Alicia was having an existential crisis, Stardust was in the middle of changing into a (in her words) sexy Nosferatu nurse which was probably going to be about as horrifying as it sounds, and Gandil was alternating between adjusting to life as a monster (sound familiar? :smalltongue:) and freaking out over missing work.






I'm playing a coroner/amateur occultist who thinks he caused the zombie apocalypse by enacting 'evil rituals' every second Saturday in his local graveyard. Whether or not he has is currently unclear. In the meantime he's a fan of Metal and dresses like Ozzy Osbourne.


Is he saddened or proud of that? :smallamused:


I am disappointed that not once do I see mention of weird outfits, metal or rock anywhere here. It's the 80s! Where's the over the top cheesyness?

Heh, it was there but mostly just implied. McCrow was basically playing your average 80's movie executive villain; Tiffany's entire life revolved around rock and roll and Fanboy's tale ends up being like 90% gang related.

[Grim Portent]

Is he saddened or proud of that? :smallamused:

Eh, mostly proud I'd say, he's arrogant, vain and believes himself to be smarter than pretty much everyone else. Add in that he's above average looks and charismatic as the devil himself and he's pretty used to getting what he wants and saw magic as a way to expand on that. The zombies were intentional. Not controlling them wasn't. :smalltongue:

He has a unique skill that lets him command the zombies (who appear to be parasite host style zombies, I believe my character to be infected along with one other party member) but so far I've never rolled high enough to make it work. I need to roll a 40 something and the highest I've gotten so far is 30, and that was with 2 explosions on the d10. :smallfrown:

So far his major problems with himself is how weak he's been. Due to a build oversight he can barely move (half the speed of the zombies) and this hasn't been improved by the fact that another PC threw a car at him and broke his left leg. He regularly gets mauled by things since he has the most HP and therefore tends to be out front and he can't dodge for anything, he has a stupidly specific weapon skill that's hard to find a weapon for (he has sword skills, but real swords are rare outside museums) and his craft skills key off a dump stat.

So his general competence level has been pretty low and he's been throwing himself into trying to work out stuff about the zombies to compensate for his bruised ego.

I kind of want him to die since I made him in a rush and have worked out how to build characters better through a little study of the system since the first session. And because pretty much any character development he's likely to get will be posthumous.

[Kid Jake]

For some reason imagining a pretty boy that slowly shuffles around everywhere leads me to picture your character as actually being a merman in disguise.

[Drakeburn]

Zombies? 80's?

Why do I get the image of Fanboy's character performing Thriller by Michael Jackson on a zombie apocalypse scale? :smalltongue:

[Kid Jake]

Heh, we're in like February of '82 so it should actually line up pretty well. I could see him arranging something like that before it's all said and done; just him and a bunch of ghouls chosen specifically for their dancing abilities. :smalltongue:

[Durkoala]

I was a bit hesistant to post here as I have no RPG experience, but there's something I have to know.

Basically, if the Watch is meant to be made up of terrible superheroes, what are your plans for when (or if) the players (or NPCs) start to get enough levels under their belts to be competent? What's a high-level Manslug going to look like?:smalleek:

[Grim Portent]

I was a bit hesistant to post here as I have no RPG experience, but there's something I have to know.

Basically, if the Watch is meant to be made up of terrible superheroes, what are your plans for when (or if) the players (or NPCs) start to get enough levels under their belts to be competent? What's a high-level Manslug going to look like?:smalleek:

I suspect that Manslug is high level already, he's basically immune to harm and can shred things with his bite. He has to either be of a decent level or be getting a ton of points from his 'full action to do anything' drawback in order to be bulletproof.

[Kid Jake]

I was a bit hesistant to post here as I have no RPG experience, but there's something I have to know.

Don't worry about it, feel free to ask anything that you're curious about. I thrive on attention. :smalltongue:


I suspect that Manslug is high level already, he's basically immune to harm and can shred things with his bite. He has to either be of a decent level or be getting a ton of points from his 'full action to do anything' drawback in order to be bulletproof.

Grim's got it right here. I actually built Manslug at PL10 (twice the level as the other NPC members of The Watch and even higher than Fanboy/McCrow in their current incarnations) and just invested everything into making him almost completely impossible to harm and able to do horrible, horrible things if he ever catches you. There's a reason he's the Mighty Manslug after all.

[GorinichSerpant]

Grim's got it right here. I actually built Manslug at PL10 (twice the level as the other NPC members of The Watch and even higher than Fanboy/McCrow in their current incarnations) and just invested everything into making him almost completely impossible to harm and able to do horrible, horrible things if he ever catches you. There's a reason he's the Mighty Manslug after all.

You said you couldn't think of a way to prevent Fanboy of throwing him into the sun, and that's why they wouldn't see him. I don't remember how long ago, but here is an idea: borrowing. It's hard to launch someone into space when they are under the surface of the earth.

[Kid Jake]

The image of him wriggling through the earth might actually make him more disturbing than usual.

One thing I thought might be funny is to introduce Manslug as a guy with slug themed superpowers who is initially very happy with his transformation. He's kind of gross, but he can turn it on and off; so turning slimy to stop gunfire or scale a building might not be the worst thing in the world. Each time they encounter him though his powers are a little more out of control until finally he just rolls around on his little wagon begging for death like usual.

[GorinichSerpant]

The image of him wriggling through the earth might actually make him more disturbing than usual.

One thing I thought might be funny is to introduce Manslug as a guy with slug themed superpowers who is initially very happy with his transformation. He's kind of gross, but he can turn it on and off; so turning slimy to stop gunfire or scale a building might not be the worst thing in the world. Each time they encounter him though his powers are a little more out of control until finally he just rolls around on his little wagon begging for death like usual.

Kid Jake you evil twisted human being, that is a genius idea.

[Kid Jake]

Kid Jake you evil twisted human being, that is a genius idea.

:smallbiggrin:

What's better than suicidal body horror Manslug?

Overly confident, arrogant Manslug that doesn't realize his fate is to be suicidal bodyhorror Manslug. :smalltongue:

[Durkoala]

Don't worry about it, feel free to ask anything that you're curious about. I thrive on attention. :smalltongue:



Grim's got it right here. I actually built Manslug at PL10 (twice the level as the other NPC members of The Watch and even higher than Fanboy/McCrow in their current incarnations) and just invested everything into making him almost completely impossible to harm and able to do horrible, horrible things if he ever catches you. There's a reason he's the Mighty Manslug after all.

Like I said, no knowledge of these things at all. So iirc, he's at about the same level as Brick? I'm guessing that invulnerability is a high-level thing, even without other powers?

To be honest, I really want to see what happens to Winged Man if he levels up. He's a complete joke, but it's been established that power growth is a thing that happens in-universe and he's always willing to run into danger. I'm not sure if it would be funnier for his reputation to shrink as his powers grow (because everybody with real power knows him as a sheriff with delusions of grandeur and the PCs will be doing the heavy lifting) or for him to just pick up a wide variety of useless powers that he treats like great gifts. Behold! My fiery toothpick!:smallbiggrin:

Oh god what am I typing... So, some species of snail (not sure about slugs) have 'mating darts' that they literally shoot at each other during snailsex... Yeah. It could be useful range attack (voluntary or involuntary :smallyuk:) for Manslug and could up his threat rating by a notch or two. And his squick rating by ten times that. :smallyuk:

So, yeah, I don't read campaign journals much, but I've enjoyed this one a lot and I hope it continues.

[Kid Jake]

Like I said, no knowledge of these things at all. So iirc, he's at about the same level as Brick? I'm guessing that invulnerability is a high-level thing, even without other powers?

To be honest, I really want to see what happens to Winged Man if he levels up. He's a complete joke, but it's been established that power growth is a thing that happens in-universe and he's always willing to run into danger. I'm not sure if it would be funnier for his reputation to shrink as his powers grow (because everybody with real power knows him as a sheriff with delusions of grandeur and the PCs will be doing the heavy lifting) or for him to just pick up a wide variety of useless powers that he treats like great gifts. Behold! My fiery toothpick!:smallbiggrin:

Oh god what am I typing... So, some species of snail (not sure about slugs) have 'mating darts' that they literally shoot at each other during snailsex... Yeah. It could be useful range attack (voluntary or involuntary :smallyuk:) for Manslug and could up his threat rating by a notch or two. And his squick rating by ten times that. :smallyuk:

So, yeah, I don't read campaign journals much, but I've enjoyed this one a lot and I hope it continues.

Yep, he's on the same level as Brick or Cottus. Invulnerability is something that basically any PL can pull off, it's just REALLY expensive and usually leaves you with nothing but invulnerability to show for your points; which means it's usually not worth it for a PC. Since Manslug is basically just a joke character though, he's got a toughness save that nearly equals Brick AND considerable Regeneration just in case somebody manages to chip away at him. If somebody manages to kill him, it'll be because they REALLY wanted him dead.

If Winged Man's power increases I could see him gaining other bird related abilities like enhanced vision or the ability to always know where north is, so his powers are still useless in a fight; but he can fill his niche as Watch Captain a little better. Mostly he just relies on being inspirational (he's got nearly every teamwork related feat there is) and gadgets you can buy over the counter; so even with a joke power set I could still see people being like 'Avoid the guy with wings; they don't work but he's never alone and usually packing bear mace.' :smalltongue: Assuming we manage to continue with The Watch campaign though, I'd definitely like to explore how the other neighborhoods feel about the militant homeowners of Mercy Avenue.

Ahahaha. Shame on me, I hadn't even considered weaponizing slug rape! :smallbiggrin: That's a fantastic idea.

Glad you've been enjoying it, I always have a good time playing it out and writing it up and it's nice to know that others are amused along with us.

[GorinichSerpant]

The only thing worse the Manslug, is Slugfamily *shudders*

I think Winged Man could use his wings to thwack people on the head.

[Kid Jake]

Actually, Extra Limbs DOES give him the Improved Grab ability, which means he basically does whack people in the face while holding them.

[Drakeburn]

Wouldn't it be funny if for The Watch if we introduced a character I thought up of for a while?

A talking chimpanzee, from a crash landed space shuttle, armed with an freakish alien laser gun, force field belt, and anti-gravity boots. Kinda like putting Gorilla Grodd and Rocket Raccoon together.

[Kid Jake]

He could be one of the Half Chimp/Half Billy Mayes monstrosities hidden under Luvtech Industries. :smalltongue:

I could just see Luvless shaking his head like "What was I trying to prove with this one again?"

[Drakeburn]

"Quit complaining doc." Frank groaned as he reached for a fat cigar.
"At least you have SOMEBODY to test out your freaky whatchamacallits. Do you know anybody else who is brave or crazy enough to touch your toys?"

So if you don't me asking, what is the difference between Mutants and Masterminds 2nd edition and 3rd edition?

[Sith_Happens]

So if you don't me asking, what is the difference between Mutants and Masterminds 2nd edition and 3rd edition?

3rd edition files off most of the d20 System serial numbers and streamlines a bunch of stuff, most notably the base effects that powers are made from.

[Kid Jake]

Yeah, from what I've seen they aren't really all that different when it's all said and done though. A strength of 3 in 3e is a 16 in 2e, powers like Dazzle/Paralyze/Stun are just Affliction(Power/Paralyze/Stun), some things are a little crappier; some are a little better, but if you know one, you can play the other with almost no problems.

[turbo164]

If Winged Man's power increases I could see him gaining other bird related abilities like enhanced vision or the ability to always know where north is, so his powers are still useless in a fight; but he can fill his niche as Watch Captain a little better. Mostly he just relies on being inspirational (he's got nearly every teamwork related feat there is) and gadgets you can buy over the counter; so even with a joke power set I could still see people being like 'Avoid the guy with wings; they don't work but he's never alone and usually packing bear mace.' :smalltongue: Assuming we manage to continue with The Watch campaign though, I'd definitely like to explore how the other neighborhoods feel about the militant homeowners of Mercy Avenue.


I heard this somewhere, Google isn't helping...but if it's true:

To the human eye, it takes about 24 frames per second for a film to appear as "motion." Any less and it appears choppy, as the brain sees the individual frames too long.

Pigeons apparently need about 180! frames per second for the same effect.

The Winged Man's newest superpower: Can't enjoy movie theaters.

(His wings already made the seats pretty uncomfortable (and he'd better not sit in front of anyone!))

Maybe this is already covered by his teamwork feats, but having some tiny bonus for leading a migrating-geese 'V' formation would be neat :smallsmile: Picturing someone trying to pull Manslug's wagon diagonally...

[Kid Jake]

Of course Winged Man strikes me as the sort that spends his evenings just smoking a pipe and reading the paper, so there's a good chance he'd never even know. :smalltongue:

[Kid Jake]

Alright, finally finished another action packed McCrow and Friends!

We managed to produce a few developments this time around; lemme know what you guys think.

Also, a few people have mentioned an interest in watching us play; McCrow set up a couple of cameras today and recorded us, but we're not sure how much it got before the batteries died. He'll be editing it together when he gets a chance, so if anyone's interested in a partial session we'll post that sometime.



Three days, the Irishman said.

A minimum of three days before their new pyrotechnics guy will have enough firepower to just level the park. Fanboy wants to track down the fire mutant and direct him against their wooden foe; but despite the soaring arson rate they can't seem to pinpoint his location until AFTER he's finished consuming everything and moved on.

Tree King himself hasn't made another move since seizing the park, though the thick spore cloud which covers the surrounding area has necessitated the evacuation of several blocks. The mayor continues asking for help, but the governor seems increasingly adamant that nothing's wrong.

With nothing immediate pressing on them, besides Franklin's upcoming wedding in only two days time, McCrow and Fanboy decide to take a day off and get ready.

Fanboy spends the time dong what he can to help Prophet search for Depaliamo, McCrow mostly drinks and talks about how his oldest son is getting married for the first time to anyone that'll listen.

It's all well and good until Bradley barges downstairs with his phone in his hand. As he explains to Fanboy, it's Depaliamo calling about his dad.

Depaliamo explains that he knows that McCrow and Fanboy has more of the stuff that turned them and Johnny into superhumans and that he wants it, now. Fanboy tells him to go screw himself.

"Hold on." Depaliamo says, taking the phone away from his ear and turning it around. Fanboy hears Bradley's dad screaming in pain and suddenly Depaliamo is back. "Tell Yurtz that you're why his dad has nine fingers."

Bradley's face goes white and Fanboy grits his teeth. Covering the receiver with his hand, he and McCrow have a quick back and forth before he agrees to Depaliamo's demands.

Depaliamo instructs Fanboy to have Dr Kavlight and Sandy drive out to a nearby bus station, alone. Depaliamo warns that if he sees anyone besides these two that he'll put a bullet it Bradley's dad and move on to someone else, no second chances. He then hangs up.

Fanboy quickly gathers their proxies together and explains the situation; he then talks Sandy into letting HIM use her body to make the switch, figuring that she's invincible and he's a powerhouse. She reluctantly agrees and McCrow makes a comment that it's not fair that Fanboy gets to play around inside her and he doesn't.

Much groaning commences.

Fanboy/Sandy and Kavlight go where they're directed and aren't surprised to find that a black town car is waiting there for them. They climb in and their driver takes them along a winding path to a series of shop fronts. He instructs Kavlight to get out with the canister and the doctor obliges.

The driver then takes the long route, seemingly out of town; however just before exiting he turns and circles. Then circles again. And again. And again. He finally gets a call, confirming that the gas is what they were expecting and that Sandy's cleared to get Yurtz senior. The driver takes a winding route back the way they came and meets up with another black car. Sandy is pushed out, as is Bradley's dad and both cars drive away.

Fanboy immediately relinquishes control of Sandy so that she can escort Bradley's dad home and then takes to the air with his own body; rushing across town at full speed to where his perfect memory tells him Kavlight was dropped off at. He recognizes the store fronts and takes note of one that appears dark and uninhabited.

He scans the interior and finds a single mind inside; a faint but recognizable presence. With a curse, he realizes that they tested the gas on Kavlight.



Michael Stockton paces outside Wilson's office, irritated at being left out of the loop like this while that rat Steinz is inside, schmoozing it up. When Steinz is finally rolled out by a plain clothes S.C.A.R. agent, his legs and one arm still in casts; welts still visible all over his body, Michael is so anxious to get going he doesn't even care where.

They gather up five more S.C.A.R. agents, all in plain clothes and pile into a van before proceeding to a parking garage across town. It takes MIchael a moment to realize where they are: Park's apartment.

"What the hell is this Steinz, what are we doing at Mann's handler's place?" Michael demands.

"Wilson's orders." Steinz replies. "Parks has been an annoying thorn in his side for too long; he wants us to make him disappear."

"Screw that noise!" Michael shouts back. "I got nothing against Parks, I'm sure as hell not going to murder him in cold blood!"

"But Michael," Steinz says, a smile playing across his face. "It's your patriotic duty."

...

It's several hours before Agent Parks crosses their vision and Michael steps out of the van, accompanied by five agents dressed in street clothes and packing high caliber pistols. It's easy to mistake Parks for just another paper pusher, but it would be a fatal mistake. Especially considering the kind of company he's known to keep.

Michael and his entourage proceed after their target silently, shadowing Parks around the corner and watching as he makes his way to a beat up, windowless van in his usual space. Michael finds it a little odd, since Parks' primary vehicle is an old Buick, but puts the thought out of his head.

The kill team moves in and Parks suddenly stops, the van key held immobile in his hand. Turning slowly around, he sees Michael and the agents and fear flashes through his face. "What is this Stockton?" Parks demands.

"Nothing personal Parks." Michael says and means it. "Just doing my duty."

"Duty?" Parks asks, pressing his back against the van and glancing around. "Since when do you do something just because it's your duty?"

Michael stops and tries to think, unsure of WHY it feels so right to gun Parks down and unable to adequately answer. "I...don't know." he admits, reaching for his gun. "Any last words, Agent Parks?"

"It's nothing personal Stockton." Parks answers, knocking on the van door.

Stockton tilts his head curiously as Park quickly steps aside and a tremendous force blows the door out of its frame; sending it hurling through the air where it splits Stockton down the middle of his torso. The S.C.A.R. men immediately reach for their guns as a figure wreathed in golden energy steps out of the van.

Mann stands before them, severely scarred and wearing a sleeveless under-shirt and casual slacks. His missing right arm is back, though made of a bright yellow, mostly transparent substance that glows with a strange energy which covers his entire form. His empty right eye socket glows brightly with the same energy and when he speaks his voice erupts from him like a loudspeaker: "Put your weapons down and get your hands up; aggression WILL be met with deadly force."

As Stockton begins pulling himself back together, his mind drifts elsewhere and he forgets himself once again. With a savage growl he flings himself at his reanimated Partner who responds by punching him in the head so hard it bends a perfect 90 degrees on his neck. Before the S.C.A.R. agents guns have even finished clearing their holsters two more are already sprawled on their backs with caved in chest cavities.

The remainder open fire indiscriminately. Bullets bounce uselessly off of Mann, however one strikes Parks in the sternum and he goes down hard, leaving a bloody trail down the side of the van. Michael charges again, grabbing Mann and attempting to bodyslam him; however Mann's body is considerably lighter than it once was and Michael overextends himself, falling backwards as he does so.

Mann recovers before Michael and plants both feet on the ground before his partner can react, reversing the grapple and lifting Stockton easily with one hand before spinning and slamming him face first into the van. The soldiers open fire and Mann shields Parks body with his own until the barrage stops.

Once they do, he slaps a pair of handcuffs onto the slavering Michael and quickly draws his sidearm; effortlessly putting a bullet into each of the remaining S.C.A.R. agents' heads, execution style in the blink of an eye.

Mann kneels down to check Parks vitals as he hears the sound of a vehicle peeling off and debates giving chase; rejecting the idea as abandoning Parks to die. He does what he can to stabilize his friend and colleague, but can't seem to manage it. Michael finally stops squirming and takes note of his surroundings.

"Mann?" Michael shouts incredulously. "What happened to Parks?! Oh sh*t...what did he make me do?"

With a pained sigh, Mann recalls his and Stockton's time together in Afghanistan and that Michael was always quicker with a first aid kit than himself. Gritting his teeth, Mann tosses the handcuff key next to Stockton and shouts "He'd better be alive when I get back." as he leaps over the side of the parking garage; trusting his partner despite his better judgement.

Mann lands just as a van comes barreling out of the garage like a bat out of hell and, putting two and two together, decides to give chase. The van has an early edge and starts to pull away, however Mann pours everything he's got into the chase and begins inching closer; with a start he realizes he's reaching speeds in excess of 50mph.

Before he has time to really process this however, the van begins to turn and in that split second slows down enough to Mann to latch to the sides with both hands. Mann slams on the breaks, digging his feet into the ground for all he's worth and for a second it sounds like the van is going to stall and then Mann changes direction and LEAPS for all he's worth, still holding on.

The van's wheels spin uselessly as they lose purchase both Mann and the van crash down violently in the street; tumbling end over end to a stop almost a block away. Mann staggers to his feet and tears the door off the driver's side without even trying; the injured S.C.A.R. agent inside holds his hands up in the universal sign of surrender.

"I was just following orders!" the agent shouts, suddenly shocked out of Steinz's control.

"WHOSE!?" Mann shouts.

"Dr Steinz!" the soldier squeaks, pointing in the back, not wanting to further anger a man he just witnessed suplex a van.

Mann easily tears into the van and finds Steinz even more broken and battered than usual. He throws the devious psychiatrist over his shoulder and rushes back the way he came, hoping that Parks is still alright.


Fanboy and McCrow are in the warehouse, ranting uselessly at each other about Depaliamo and swearing nine kinds of vengeance against the Italian people as a whole when the front door is literally kicked in.

They rush out to see what's happening and see Michael and Mann standing there, Parks held in Mann's arms still bleeding profusely. They rush downstairs, ready for a fight when they finally take note of the whole situation. Fanboy curses Kavlight's condition as they rush Parks upstairs.

They have Bradley take Chavenski to a private room to clear up a bed in the infirmary and Michael attempts to remove the bullet in Parks' gut, assisted by Mann and Bradley. Against all odds, they manage to bring Parks through the worst of it.

Leaving Michael and Bradley to finish up with Parks, Fanboy and McCrow drag Mann outside and ask him what the hell's going on.

"Wilson turned on Parks hard, sent a hit team to his home." Mann explains. "We couldn't take him to a hospital, they'd find him there; and we sure as hell couldn't operate on him in the street."

"Why here?" Fanboy asks suspiciously.

"We thought you had a doctor on tap and we knew Wilson wouldn't have the nerve to come at us here." Mann explains.

Fanboy nods his head in agreement. It makes a strange kind of sense.

"So...you're joining the team?" Fanboy asks.

Mann glares at him humorlessly. "No. Once Agent Parks recovers I intend to expose Wilson's crimes to the world and return to my position at the DHS. My...partner, will be joining me."

Fanboy shrugs, nervous around these DHS thugs but too worried about Parks to turn them away. "If you're going to do that...there's something you should know."


Over the next few hours Fanboy and McCrow fill Michael and Mann in on just who Wilson is and what he's capable of. Just a day or two ago Mann would have considered such accusations ridiculous, but now...

It's Prophet that finally interrupts their bonding session; dragging everybody into his control room as breaking news flashes across the screen.

One screen shows a scene in New York City where an athletic man in a skin tight, red and blue suit lifts a schoolbus to safety after an accident which sent it hurtling off a bridge. They call him The Big Brother.

Another shows a low resolution cellphone video of a man in L.A. in a yellow shirt stretching his arm more than a city block to grab a purse snatcher and haul him to justice. He's naturally referred to as The Rubberman.

In Detroit a hulking 6'8'' figure in a thick radiation suit, calling himself Mr Fission, successfully ended a gang war which has been plaguing the city's streets for the better part of a year.

Chicago has an older gentleman in denim coveralls who simply calls himself The Engineer who foiled an apparent bank robbery attempt by transforming the suspect's getaway vehicle into a miniature howitzer and holding them at gunpoint until police arrived.

Everyone present looks on with some degree of astonishment, specifically Mann. "This shouldn't be happening." he mutters.

"Tell me about it! What the hell are we paying our publicist for?" Fanboy shouts. "How the hell am I not in this?"

Mann shakes his head. "This is national news...your little publicity stunt could be played off as a laugh but this? This is going to change things. Why hasn't the DHS killed this story?"

Fanboy is surprised to discover that he knows something that Mann doesn't and explains that its because THEY made these guys.

Mann seems shocked and stumbles away to think about things.


Everyone else excuses themselves for the night but Michael decides to check on Parks once more before hitting the hay. Heading towards the infirmary however, he notices a little girl who glows with a strange green light.

Once she sees him, she bolts downstairs and seems to disappear. Curious, he moves to follow and calls after her. She doesn't respond, however as he turns a corner into the kitchen he sees a skeleton wreathed in the same greenish light standing with its back to him.

"Little girl?" Michael asks confused, causing the skeleton to slowly turn and wail at him.

He takes a step forward and is encased in superheated flame, his skin blackens and he shouts out in pain. By the time Fanboy bursts into the room, he's sitting on the floor bareassed naked, covered in a layer of black soot.

"Did you guys know you have a ghost?" Michael asks nonchalantly.



The big day is here and Roger insists that Fanboy come enjoy his son's first wedding with him, assuring the young man that it has nothing to do with the fact that he's been drinking for the past 32 hours straight in celebration and needs a ride. Fanboy is reluctant, but realizes it HAS been a while since he's taken one of Depaliamo's vintage cars out for a ride and decides it might be fun to get out for the day.

Without much fanfare, they drive to the church that McCrow's ludicrously expensive wedding planner picked out and mingle a bit with the crowd. Franklin pulls his dad away to thank him again and introduces McCrow to his future in-laws.

Neither seem particularly glad to meet him and McCrow puts it off as typical snobbery, the soon to be bride however is ecstatic when she notices him traipsing around the halls and tightly embraces him; thanking McCrow for his generous contribution to their wedding.

McCrow decides to roll a Sleight of Hand check at this point and gets a 1. I ask him what he's doing and he announces that he's pinching that ass; he is of course less than stealthy and the blushing bride to be excuses herself quickly. He stumbles drunkenly, muttering to himself.

"Don't you ever get tired of being an ass Roger?" his ex-wife Bonnie asks, her husband Bill by her side. Bonnie's around McCrow's age but has taken considerably better care of herself than her ex husband; she has blonde, shoulder length hair and a fair complexion. Bill is a little older than McCrow with distinguished streaks of grey in his dark hair; however he too appears to be someone who's never spent an evening huffing paint fumes behind a hardware store.

"Don't you.." Roger starts and then just shrugs and takes a swig from his hip flask. "Shut up bitch." he snorts, shouldering past Bill irritably.

Fanboy hovers near McCrow, snickering all the while. That is until a wheezing, grating voice calls from behind them "What's this boy, you turn fruity on me?"

Roger rolls a Will save vs Fear and fails spectacularly before turning pure white and shuddering. "N-n-no Sir. This here is-"

A thick wooden cane strikes Roger in the side of the face and shuts him right up. Fanboy turns around in shock and gawks, open mouthed. It's like looking at McCrow in a funhouse mirror.

The man sits low to the ground in a creaky old wheelchair, both legs amputated at the knee yet carries an old wooden cane anyway. His face is the spitting image of Roger, though thinner and splotchier; with a patchy beard instead of just a mustache. The man's eyes are severely crosseyed and glazed over with cataracts.

"This one of them boys? Who're you boy!?" the man barks, his distant gaze lolling about without focus.

"McCrow, who the hell is-" Fanboy starts, before the wooden cane cracks him in the jaw so hard his teeth rattle.

"My friends call me McCrow, you call me Sir!" the old man shouts, wildly swinging the cane (but missing) twice more just in case.

Fanboy holds his mouth painfully and stares wide eyed at the cane. "That hurt like hell you-" a second blow cracks him in the mouth and he tastes blood.

"Sorry, Sir!" Fanboy shouts, stumbling away from the crazy old man who reeks like kerosene; presumably for the same reason Roger reeks of whiskey.

"Ezekiel!" a heavy set woman with a thick German accent shouts, pulling the elder McCrow away from Fanboy before he can finish what he started.

"That boy gonna learn some manners if I gotta whip 'em into him!" Ezekiel McCrow rants as she wheels him into the church. "I don't take no backsass woman, not from him; not from you; not from..."

He trails off as the two of them roll out of sight and Fanboy just stares after him in abject horror. Roger is still visibly shaken.

"Why the HELL would you invite that man!?" Fanboy asks, wiping blood from his busted lip.

"I DIDN'T invite him." McCrow hisses. "NOBODY in their right mind would invite..."

It suddenly dawns on Roger that he probably should have specified to the wedding planner that his father wasn't invited ahead of time...

"Kind of explains a lot though..." Fanboy muses.

"About what?" Roger asks, oblivious.

Fanboy just shakes his head and goes inside.

Ben McCrow sits down excitedly next to Roger while everyone takes their places, Roger realizes that he barely recognizes the boy. It's been... He can't even remember the last time he actually saw him. The two make small talk until the bridal march plays and everyone finally goes silent.

The service is nice, the minister has a vaguely Mr Rogers quality about him that bugs McCrow but he's too busy watching his father sitting in the aisle and eyeballing him to pay much attention. Then he finally hears "You may now kiss the bride." and rises with the rest of the guests to applaud them.

Franklin and his new wife turn to walk down the aisle but stop halfway as a large, heavily scarred man with a green canister under his arm walks towards them; clapping slowly. McCrow and Fanboy immediately stand up as they recognize this as the form Wilson had when they first met him on the bus.

"A lovely service McCrow." Wilson calls out, tapping the canister against a pew threateningly as a group if well dressed (and better armed) Italians move to block the door.

Franklin looks over at his dad, obviously confused. "What is this dad?" he asks nervously.

Pushing past his youngest son Ben to reach the aisle, McCrow shouts at both of them to get back.

"Takes you back...eh McCrow?" Wilson says, shattering the top of the canister and allowing the green gas to begin flooding the room.

"You son of a bitch!" McCrow shouts, "Get everyone out of-"

Gunshots ring out as the Italians open fire. I roll to randomly see who's at risk of getting hit and Ben takes a bullet through the chest, collapsing just as Roger spins around to see it happen.

People begin screaming in pain and fear, Fanboy takes to the air and exerts enough force against the wall to crack it outwards; but not quite enough to break through. Wilson unleashes a similar telekinetic burst against McCrow who grabs onto a nearby pew and weathers the blow; his mouth still gaping open as he watches his youngest son bleed to death.

The gas already has already claimed a handful of victims and the Italians have scored a few more. Wild gunshots ring out from the middle of the crowd and Fanboy jerks back to witness Ezekiel McCrow waving a pair of hand guns around and firing randomly towards the back of the church; surprisingly he manages to take out an Italian despite his legally blind status.

Roger notices none of this. The shock of watching his son go down is wearing off and his mind won't focus on the boy's slim chances of survival or need for medical attention. All he sees is red; all he hears is the thunderous rush of blood pumping in his ears; all he can think to say is...

"Fuuuu-" he charges Wilson with a curse on his lips; every pipe in building rupturing at once to provide him the water he needs for his vengeance. Just before he reaches the General, his transformation into his battle form is complete and he latches on with both hands; attempting to crush the man outright.

Wilson smiles as he's coated in Tiffany's diamond like exterior and flares his arms out; bursting Roger's hold on him before delivering a blow that drives McCrow back a step.

Fanboy exerts his mental powers once more and shatters a portion of the wall, allowing the completely panicked crowd an avenue of escape. Or at least it did before he notices a dozen Italians waiting outside along with twice that number of Luvbots and an Assaultbot. Cursing, he hurls a pair of their own Assaultbots through the hole; ordering them to clear a path.

Roger lands a blow on Wilson threatens to crack his crystalline exterior, however to his growing irritation it heals before his eyes. Wilson manages to stab Roger within his own watery shell and though blood briefly flows, it too heals rapidly.

Ezekiel continues firing without a care in the world, as do the Italians. People go down on both sides and the gas claims even more people. Fanboy's Assaultbots destroy their Italian counterpart and then turn their attention to everything else in the street; it's a brief but ugly fight.

Fanboy leads the panicked crowd outside, only to watch in horror as a sedan sized German shepherd slams into one of his Assaultbots and crushes the thing until it's reduced to a simple smoking sphere.

McCrow roars in mindless rage and hurls a haymaker at Wilson, connecting and managing to accomplish yet another crack; he then grabs the monstrous superhuman and hurls him like a stone into one of the Italians, crushing the man outright and stunning Wilson with the ferocity of the attack.

Before Wilson can react, McCrow leaps forward with a two-handed blow, bursting the floor beneath him from the impact and sweeping the general off his feet once more. Using the diamond encrusted murderer like a cudgel he crushes yet another Italian before hurling Wilson against the far wall once more.

Using a Hero Point McCrow lashes out across the room with both arms, snatching Wilson by the feet and whipping him around through several pews before lifting him above his head and driving him into the ground with so much force that his hardened exterior actually fractures and begins falling off in chunks.

McCrow begins raining blow after blow down on his stunned/unconscious enemy; hoping to deal enough damage to make regeneration simply impossible. The remainder of the Italians succumb to the gas around him.

Out of nowhere, McCrow is telekinetically forced backwards and Wilson rolls out of his personal crater with a series of cracking sounds. "Not bad McCrow..." Wilson slurs. "But I've got more tricks up my sleeves than that."

McCrow roars once more and charges forward, however Wilson has simply disappeared.

Outside, Fanboy telekinetically grapples the gargantuan dog; tossing it left and right as his Assaultbot holds off a new swarm of standard Luvbots. People are scattering in the street; some are gunned down while others just narrowly manage to slip away.

"Help, please!" Fanboy hears and turns to see Bill and Franklin carrying the wounded Ben from inside. "He needs a doctor or he's going to die!" Franklin shouts.

Jerkin his head from one side to the other, Fanboy telepathically shouts to Roger "McCrow. Outside, now! Italians are about to swarm." before snatching Ben off the ground and flinging himself into the sky without another word.

The great beast finally tears the final Assaultbot to pieces before turning its eyes to the rest of the cowering survivors. Just as it lunges forward however, Roger bursts through the wall like a derange Kool Aid man and tackles it head over heels.

Barely holding the dog with one arm, McCrow turns and uses the other to direct a veritable tidal wave to sweep the charging Italians into a wall; smashing them back and forth. The beast struggles to get free, so Roger tightens his grip. It opens its mouth to snap at him and he jams one of his liquid extremities down its throat in retaliation.

It growls and snarls and bucks; but soon begins sputtering and whimpering before finally ceasing its struggles and dies.

By the time Fanboy returns the majority of the Italians have dragged their wounded out of the church and escaped; while their Luvbots stuck around to prevent pursuit. Almost all of the civilians are gone and the first responders are on their way.

Franklin and his wife sit weeping in the wreckage; McCrow in his human form lingers nearby but is unable to think of anything worth saying. Realizing that he probably doesn't want to be here when the cops show up, McCrow slips away.

Fanboy scans the city streets from above as best he can until he notices a large number of similar vehicles heading in the same direction. He chooses to follow at a distance and tracks them to Depaliamo's old home.

He mentally scans those below and inside, but realizes none of these are actually Depaliamo's men. As always, blood begets blood and as they huddle behind their safe little walls waiting to defend against an ambush they don't notice as three little spheres land nearby and Fanboy's remaining 3 Assaultbots form behind their defensive line.

The fight is short and not worth mentioning. Only a crater remains.


O'Grady calls them the next morning to confirm that their pyrotechnics are ready for their fight against Tree King, however McCrow is in no mood. He sits at the hospital until he finally learns that Ben has stabilized...though most likely won't regain use of his limbs.

Both of Franklin's in-laws as well as his mother Bonnie were caught in the gas; Bonnie is still in critical condition but his wife's parents passed only hours ago and she blames Roger and, by extension, Franklin for bringing this down on their family.

It's impossible to place a number yet on the civilian casualties as those slain by the gas deformed so severely that it's hard to tell where one ends and another begins. Only 10 gassed survivors have been recovered. Ezekiel McCrow however has yet to be found; neither a body or his chair.

Franklin is too numb to yell, but he demands answers. He wants to know how Roger apparently knows The Fanboy, how Roger controlled the water and ABOVE ALL why so many people had to die. Why Ben will never walk again.

Roger explains about the bus accident and tries to describe their beef with Wilson and Depaliamo, but doesn't get much further than his initial attack on the warehouse when Franklin just shakes his head and tells him to get out.

McCrow starts to open his mouth but shuts it again with a grunt. He storms off to lose himself in a bottle, stopping only to call and tell Fanboy that he'll have to deal with Tree King on his own. Fanboy understands, in fact suggests it might be easier that way.



Fanboy finds himself near the park, the spore cloud hanging over the area so thick he can feel the weight against his forcefield. It's been only three days and already the place is unrecognizable. A 15ft wall has been erected around the perimeter, constructed out of materials seized from the surrounding buildings. The wall is reinforced by new plantlife growing directly into it.

Tree King himself is nearly 60ft at this point and still growing. Fanboy lands in the park itself, his hands raised in a gesture of peace. He continues standing this way as Brick and a pair of Tree Clones lumber closer to him.

"You're trespassing." Brick growls.

"I apologize." Fanboy says, "But I've come to speak with you and the Tree King."

"I'm listening." the pair of clones say in tandem.

"I...WE need your help." Fanboy says genuinely.

Brick and Tree King seem drawn somewhere between amusement and rage. Brick is the first to respond.

"WHY would WE help YOU?!" the stone faced giant barks. "You locked us up and threw away the key. Treated us like monsters! You-"

"We may have treated you like monsters." Fanboy interrupts. "But we found the man who MADE you that way."

The faces of Brick and Tree King each go slack; a strangely human expression of shock clear to see.

"The man that did this to you. To US..." Fanboy explains. "We found him. Now surely, whatever problem you've got with us can wait right? I mean compared to HIM?"

Brick and Tree King exchange questioning looks, obviously never expecting this day to actually come.

"He's gone too far, too often and he's made us desperate." Fanboy admits with a weary sigh. "McCrow and I...we want a truce. At least until he's dealt with; then we can go back to tearing each other to pieces or whatever you want to do."

"Why...would you come to us?" Brick asks, a note of genuine emotion in his inhuman voice.

"We figured that you were the only people in the world who'd want to see him taken down as much as we do." Fanboy explains. "And...he's a dangerous man. Too dangerous to go at alone." he admits.

Tree King and Brick stare at each other in silence for a moment and then a smile splits the tree clone's face as it extends a wickedly clawed hand for Fanboy to shake.

"We're dangerous men too." Tree King says, sadistic glee obvious in his voice.


It's several days later when Parks finally wakes up and the first thing out of his mouth is to ask Mann how his trial run went. Mann assures him it was better than they dreamed.

Parks smiles weakly and checks his phone, discovering almost 20 missed calls from his superiors at the DHS. Calling them back, he reaches a man named Agent Reeves who claims to have found a new lead in the Wilson case and wants to meet personally to discuss it. He gives Parks a time later in the afternoon and a place before hanging up.

Michael warns that this is obviously a trap, but Parks is unwilling to abandon what may be their only chance left at stopping Wilson. Mann is quick to offer his protection and Michael reluctantly agrees to come along as well.

The three agents slip out of the warehouse without a word, finding nobody around to question them. Their destination is a local hotel, a room on the 6th floor. Immediately upon entering the lobby they recognize plain clothes S.C.A.R. troopers by the way the men carry themselves. Each trooper is wearing a strange earpiece on his left ear.

They head up to their destination and find even more S.C.A.R. men muddling around in the hall. Michael is still in favor of bolting.

Parks knocks on their destination and a short, graying man who identifies himself as Agent Reeves answers the door; inviting Parks and his entourage inside where General Wilson is already waiting, a devious smile on his lips.

All three agents are taken aback and that's before Michael nudges Mann in the ribs and motions towards the room's other occupants. Despite the fact that they're in civilian clothes it's impossible to mistake the men he'd seen on T.V. almost every day this week. Big Brother and The Engineer.

Mann tenses up, but nobody appears hostile yet.

"Now Agent Parks..." Reeves says, taking a seat and motioning for them to do the same. "We have gotten some outlandish and frankly disturbing accusations from you lately. You claim that Wilson here is some sort of...serial killer? It's beyond preposterous."

Parks starts to speak and is cut off.

"What proof do you have for such accusations?" Reeves demands.

Parks mentions the testimony of Fanboy, McCrow, Bradley, Lucky Dan...but Reeves just shakes his head.

"Before you drag a superior's name through the mud; I expect a good deal more than THAT." Reeves snaps, standing to his feet.

Shaking Wilson's hand, Reeves apologizes for all of this and assures him that Parks will be dealt with officially for this.

Mann and Michael start to protest but Parks shakes his head in disbelief. Called here just to be rebuked...?

The Engineer steps over to Wilson and extends his hand. With a joyful glance to Parks, Wilson shakes it and moves over to Big Brother, his smile threatening to spill off his face.

"It's gone." The Engineer says, his hand pressed against the wall.

Big Brother's hand moves faster than the eye can follow and he snatches Wilson's arm by the sleeve before he manages to touch him.

"You sure?" Reeves asks, only for The Engineer to try again and confirm that yep; his power's gone.

Wilson suddenly appears panicked, his eyes wide with fear as he realizes he's been caught. With a slick grin however he says "Release me and I'm sure we can work this out."

Big Brother smiles, tapping the earpiece in his own ear and sidesteps Wilson's second attempt at grabbing him before responding with a straight left of his own...which severs Wilson's torso from the rest of him and hurls him through a wall in a shower of blood and gore.

"Oh my God!" Big Brother shouts, genuinely surprised and embarrassed. "I just thought...I mean...I didn't think it'd do that."

"Chase him dumbass!" Michael shouts, startling Big Brother out of his reverie. "Don't stop to chat until the job's done!"

"Uhh...yeah." Big Brother agrees, lunging forward in time to witness Wilson run bareassed down the hall and fling himself out of the first window he comes to. Big Brother leaps out after him.

Parks just blinks. "What was that?" he stammers as several S.C.A.R. agents charge in, covered in a shimmering yellow forcefield and wielding strange looking weapons.

"I've been a little suspicious lately." Reeves admits as he waves them down. "Wilson kept assuring us that everything was going smooth; but this job should have been over months ago. Not to mention him requisitioning certain...supplies that have no business leaving The Compound for God knows what. I won't lie, your constant insinuations didn't win you many fans; but I thought they were worth investigating in light of other evidence."

"But..you just turned over another power to him." Mann points out. "As if he wasn't dangerous enough beforehand."

"He has my powers." The Engineer agrees "But not none of my degrees. Being able to reshape the building blocks of the universe isn't that impressive when you don't know what any of them do."

Michael cackles uproariously and Mann asks about the new armor on the S.C.A.R. troopers. Reeves motions towards Mann's own arm and mentions that they've started dealing with a... private contractor.

Reeves then extends a hand to Parks and asks if he'd consider returning to the helm. Parks stammers an affirmative as he reaccepts his old position.



McCrow and Fanboy sit across the table from Luvess.

"Two million, no more." Fanboy says.

"I don't get out of bed for two million anymore." Luvless says with a laugh. "I thought you boys were serious here, you're just trying to give ME the pocket change I already passed on to you."

"What do you want?" Fanboy asks exasperatedly.

"What do you got?" Luvless quips back.

"Two million and a canister." McCrow offers flatly.

Luvless's eyebrows shoot up. "What kind of canister?" he asks.

"You know what kind. The kind that made us into what we are." McCrow replies curtly.

"Well...I suppose I could provide some token modifications for-" Luvless starts but is interrupted.

"Hell no." Fanboy snaps. "We give you a canister, we want a COMPLETE reconstruction. Fully mobile, submersible, improved systems and weaponry...some kind of doctor bots. We want EVERYTHING upgraded."

"Fine." Luvless says with a defeated sigh. "I'll make your warehouse float and shoot lasers."

"I also want a lightsaber." Fanboy demands.

Luvless stares at him like he's an idiot. "A lightsaber? What are you even going to do with a lightsaber?"

"I don't know, I don't care. This is something that not even YOU can duplicate Luvless and we alone have access to it. It'll be worth your time to build me a lightsaber." Fanboy insists.

"Fine." Luvless says with a shrug, he figures that everyone needs a hobby. "How about you big guy? You have an irrational demand too?"

Roger sits there, his hands crossed in front of him as he pictures his youngest son ending up like Ezekiel. Old and bitter...an invalid. "I saw what you did to Mann..." he says after a moment's thought. "Can you do it again?"

[GorinichSerpant]

Wow, so much is going on. If this was a TV Show, I'd think it would be almost at the climax right now.

Also what happened to Kavlight? Did he die to gas, or is he still recovering and going to get a random super power?

Also, I say that everyone who Luvless makes into a cyborg will be collectively referred to as Luvborgs.:smallbiggrin:

[Kid Jake]

I'd estimate that there's only 3-4 sessions left before the end of the arc, depending of course on what other shenanigans they get up to in the meantime.

Kavlight survived and was tossed into his room to recuperate, he should be demonstrating abilities when he wakes up.

Luvless approves. :smallbiggrin:

[(Un)Inspired]

Solid gold. I seriously can't wait for the next update.

[Kid Jake]

Thankya. I was worried we were trying to cram too much into one session.

[(Un)Inspired]

Thankya. I was worried we were trying to cram too much into one session.

Nah. RPGs are like sex. You cram as much as you can in there and hope for the best.

[Drakeburn]

Thankya. I was worried we were trying to cram too much into one session.

Nah, in my opinion it seems like a really good tv episode special that has more to offer, and when it ends, it leaves you wanting more.

Whatever happened to McGrow's father? What superpowers will Dr. Kavlight get? Are Wilson's days finally numbered? What else does the Italian crime boss have planned for our heroes? Tune in for the next campaign journal entry of "Let's get this straight. YOU'RE the sidekick!"

[Mustafu]

I think we crammed just enough in. Gonna be kinda sad after it's over though.

[Kid Jake]

Nah. RPGs are like sex. You cram as much as you can in there and hope for the best.


Nah, in my opinion it seems like a really good tv episode special that has more to offer, and when it ends, it leaves you wanting more.

Whatever happened to McGrow's father? What superpowers will Dr. Kavlight get? Are Wilson's days finally numbered? What else does the Italian crime boss have planned for our heroes? Tune in for the next campaign journal entry of "Let's get this straight. YOU'RE the sidekick!"

Glad it's just my imagination then. :smallbiggrin: I was wanting to end on the big wedding, but if I had I might've had to cut out Ezekiel's appearance to save time and they wouldn't have been able to blow my mind by allying with Tree King...cause I'm pretty sure he'd have been pretty burned.


I think we crammed just enough in. Gonna be kinda sad after it's over though.

Yeah, I'll always wonder what sort of hell they'd be raising if we were still following them. Luckily though, I do have a second arc planned after this one ends; it'll involve a year or two time skip and then pick up with where we left off.

After that one though...well, at least we'll have time to do our Deadlands game.

[Drakeburn]

It is gonna be pretty sad to when it all comes to an end. :smallfrown:

I knew that things were going to spiral out of control, but I didn't expect it to happen so quickly. I can imagine this coming to a point where almost everybody dies in the end. Who the survivors might be, I don't really know.

[Sith_Happens]

That was... a lot of perspective flips. And it worked MARVELOUSLY.

Speaking of which, what's it like talking to yourself?:smalltongue:

[Kid Jake]

It is gonna be pretty sad to when it all comes to an end. :smallfrown:

I knew that things were going to spiral out of control, but I didn't expect it to happen so quickly. I can imagine this coming to a point where almost everybody dies in the end. Who the survivors might be, I don't really know.

I'm working on what should be the Finale now (nothing set in stone yet) but things should continue spiraling wildly out of control until the very end, if all goes according to plan. :smallwink:




That was... a lot of perspective flips. And it worked MARVELOUSLY.

Speaking of which, what's it like talking to yourself?:smalltongue:

Glad it turned out cool. :smallbiggrin:

Pretty great, I've never met a more charming conversationalist...oh, you mean in the game? :smalltongue:

I'm a little more verbose in the Journal than I am at the table, so I don't seem quite so schitzo when I've got a lot of NPCs running around, but I still feel a little like Smeagle. "Where is the evidence!" "We don't has the evidence!" "You're in big trouble now!" "No master, don't punishes us!"

[Drakeburn]

I don't suppose by any chance you're open to taking requests for fanmade characters to star in your grand finale?


Name: Drake B. Cornelius
Alias: Fire Drake
Background: Drake was a star athlete in his High School, doing well in boxing tournaments and working part time at a local gym. After he graduated from High School, he opened his own gym. However, his gym wasn't very successful, and his fierce temper didn't make his life become any better. Having his gym closed down, Drake has no other choice but to look for work. He has been a construction worker, a bodyguard, and has recently taken interest in jobs as a guinea pig for experimentation.

It would be cool if there was a metahuman in the final battle that is basically half human and half dragon. Scaly but impenetrable skin, has the ability to breathe fire, razor sharp claws, enhanced sight and smell, and the ability to fly.

[Kid Jake]

I don't suppose by any chance you're open to taking requests for fanmade characters to star in your grand finale?

It would be cool if there was a metahuman in the final battle that is basically half human and half dragon. Scaly but impenetrable skin, has the ability to breathe fire, razor sharp claws, enhanced sight and smell, and the ability to fly.

I might have a couple of those types of Cameos, just to fill out the numbers, but the spotlight will be on existing characters. I'm trying to think of any callbacks or plot holes I need to wrap up.

[Drakeburn]

I might have a couple of those types of Cameos, just to fill out the numbers, but the spotlight will be on existing characters. I'm trying to think of any callbacks or plot holes I need to wrap up.

I know. I'd imagine those cameos would be nothing more but disposable allies or enemies, like the majority of Magneto's army in X-Men 3.

For loose ends to tie up, other than whatever happened to Ezekiel, the fact that the warehouse is still haunted, and the fact that Depaliamo is still out there.
As far as plot holes go, the only thing that kinda bugs me is how many Italians Depaliamo has under his command. I mean where does he get all those guys from anyways? Wouldn't there be a point where there aren't many of Depaliamo's men left standing? (although I'd imagine he'd probably gas the men he has left).

[Kid Jake]

They aren't his men anymore; McCrow and Fanboy hit about a dozen Mafia dons at once and stole millions from them. Pretty much every Italian with ties to organized crime on the East Coast wants their head for one reason or another.

I actually originally planned to include the different Italian factions jockeying for power and such, but they didn't seem to care who was coming after them; just so long as they died for it, so I just shrugged and folded them all together again for simplicity's sake.

[Drakeburn]

They aren't his men anymore; McCrow and Fanboy hit about a dozen Mafia dons at once and stole millions from them. Pretty much every Italian with ties to organized crime on the East Coast wants their head for one reason or another.

I actually originally planned to include the different Italian factions jockeying for power and such, but they didn't seem to care who was coming after them; just so long as they died for it, so I just shrugged and folded them all together again for simplicity's sake.

Ah. That makes a lot more sense actually.

By the way, I've updated "Fire Drake's" fluff.

[Mustafu]

Let's face it, there are only two categories of people opposing McCrow and Fanboy... the dead ones and the not so dead ones. Any other information is irrelevant.

[Mustafu]

A few ideas off the top of my head:

The Mighty Manslug. (If you can handle the psychological toll of giving him form. :smalltongue:)

Tree King.

Psychotic Tiffany.

Johnny on the Spot, either pre or post-crippling.

McCrow in his trench-coat and glasses passed out drunk against a curb.

I can't believe neither of my characters names made it in there you jack*** :P

And yes, I realize I discovered this late but apparently I missed several pages of stuff

[Kid Jake]

We already have one that D-Naras did of Fanboy and...I'm not quite sure what Michael looks like.

[Mustafu]

Damn. Forgot about that. I'll find something else to sulk over then.

[Sith_Happens]

I'm a little more verbose in the Journal than I am at the table, so I don't seem quite so schitzo when I've got a lot of NPCs running around, but I still feel a little like Smeagle. "Where is the evidence!" "We don't has the evidence!" "You're in big trouble now!" "No master, don't punishes us!"

I was addressing the players actually, but I suppose the question applies to most GMs too.:smalltongue:

On a different note, I like how this session is a perfect case study in why you should always, ALWAYS wear a mask when you go superheroing.:smallamused:

[Kid Jake]

I was addressing the players actually, but I suppose the question applies to most GMs too.:smalltongue:

On a different note, I like how this session is a perfect case study in why you should always, ALWAYS wear a mask when you go superheroing.:smallamused:



Ah. When they realized that the only place they had to take Parks was the warehouse, they were like "Uh-oh, teamup!" :smallbiggrin:

For the most part, they tried to pair off in opposites to interact; but I am sort of curious it felt awkward Though considering the last time they met, they fought themselves; it might not've been that weird. :smalltongue:


Yeah, it sort of fits our goal of making the world more comic-booky as we go. Lesson One: Wear a mask or gangsters will blow up a church with all your friends and family inside.

[Sith_Happens]

Yeah, it sort of fits our goal of making the world more comic-booky as we go. Lesson One: Wear a mask or gangsters will blow up a church with all your friends and family inside.

Considering that "as we go" eventually reaches The Watch, I find your definition of "more comic-booky" rather suspect.:smalltongue:

[Kid Jake]

Alright, so we've been discussing a new campaign for a while now and since the last few sessions have ended before we've ran out of time; we figure now's as good a time as any to start one up.

We've got it narrowed down to two, based primarily on the fact that I've got them more or less done and waiting to go, but neither of them can decide what they'd rather do and Mustafu suggested leaving it up to the board. Would you guys rather see:

We're All Going To Die, I Thought You'd Be Happier
Warriors and Warlocks: A darkly humorous fantasy tale starring McCrow as The Last Unicorn, a naive and delusional beast that believes he's the last of his kind based on the fact that in all the centuries he's sat in his forest he's never seen another one, and Fanboy as a warrior-priest of the Death Cult who actually IS the last of his kind after watching the rest of his brothers murdered as part of some insane rite to kick off Armageddon.

or

An Arms Dealer, A Farmboy and The Four Horsemen Walk Into A Bar...
Deadlands: Fanboy is a 19th century Tony Stark, an inventor/arms dealer playing both sides of the Civil War in order to fund his various pet projects (such as a steam powered mech suit and giant, firebreathing mechanical spider) while filling a swimming pool with gold Scrooge McDuck style. McCrow is a vengeful Gomer Pyle, a slow-witted farm boy who miraculously survived the massacre of his family and believes God spared him so that that he could bring the men who did it to justice; his worldly possessions consist solely of a double barreled shotgun and half a box of shells.

[Kid Jake]

Considering that "as we go" eventually reaches The Watch, I find your definition of "more comic-booky" rather suspect.:smalltongue:

True, but that's after the brief 'Golden Age'. :smalltongue:

Also, The Watch may end up just being a 'What If...' styled alternate future, since its hard to guess exactly how things are going to play out. Kind of like the Justice Lords from the JL cartoon or the dozen episodes of Heroes set in a 'future that could be.'

[Sith_Happens]

McCrow is a vengeful Gomer Pyle, a slow-witted farm boy who miraculously survived the massacre of his family and believes God spared him so that that he could bring the men who did it to justice; his worldly possessions consist solely of a double barreled shotgun and half a box of shells.

This. Because letting McCrow play a delusional hobo with a shotgun is a recipe for success (for a certain definition of "success").:smallbiggrin:

[(Un)Inspired]

Damnit KJ! How can you ask us to decide between those to campaigns? As much as I'd love to see McCrow's sexual predictor Unicorn, I guess I have to vote for Stark and Pyle. It sounds too good to pass up.

[GorinichSerpant]

On it's own the Last Unicorn sounds cooler, but I feel that the adventures of a genius inventor and some idiot off a farm has more potential for character dynamics and story...

I honestly can't decide which I like more.

[Kid Jake]

With a little luck we'll eventually manage both of them. I'm going to try and have a shorter side session set aside the next time we play; we've had these characters statted up for a while now and it's about time we got some use out of 'em.

Looks like we're probably going with Deadlands. :smalltongue:

[Drakeburn]

My vote is definitely going towards Deadlands.

And yeah, I can see that The Watch might become more of an alternate reality. Just as long as Dr. Luvless doesn't invent anything that creates a doorway between those two realities, everything will be fine.

By the way, any chance that McGrow's "old man" will appear in the grand finale?
I kinda enjoyed reading about him, and wonder if he is going to go "Elderly Rambo/Punisher/Deadpool" on Wilson. That would be so hilarious. :smallbiggrin:

[Kid Jake]

Yeah, The Watch represents the absolute worst case scenario coming to fruition. If they do basically anything right, it should be at least a little less bleak.

Ezekiel was a helluva lot of fun (they broke out laughing so hard they woke Tiffany's player up when he drew guns he had no way to aim and actually managed to start killing people) so he's definitely coming back; but I'm still kicking around ideas for him. Fanboy suggested he not even be affected by the gas; as he put it "Ezekiel seems like the kind of guy that mainlines stuff harder than the gas just to help him sleep at night."

[Grim Portent]

I'm going to be the odd one out here and say that I rather prefer the idea of the deluded unicorn and the vengeful cultist myself.

[Drakeburn]

Yeah, The Watch represents the absolute worst case scenario coming to fruition. If they do basically anything right, it should be at least a little less bleak.

Ezekiel was a helluva lot of fun (they broke out laughing so hard they woke Tiffany's player up when he drew guns he had no way to aim and actually managed to start killing people) so he's definitely coming back; but I'm still kicking around ideas for him. Fanboy suggested he not even be affected by the gas; as he put it "Ezekiel seems like the kind of guy that mainlines stuff harder than the gas just to help him sleep at night."

Yay for Ezekiel! Is it bad that he's now my favorite character in the campaign? :smallbiggrin:

As for ideas, one idea I had for Ezekiel is to have him get the same set of enhancements Captain America got. The other idea I had in mind of Ezekiel is just slapping some immortality onto him.

[GorinichSerpant]

Yay for Ezekiel! Is it bad that he's now my favorite character in the campaign? :smallbiggrin:

As for ideas, one idea I had for Ezekiel is to have him get the same set of enhancements Captain America got. The other idea I had in mind of Ezekiel is just slapping some immortality onto him.

Oh god, an unkillble cranky old man, the truly horrid possibilitys...

[Lord_Burch]

Oh god, an unkillble cranky old man, the truly horrid possibilitys...

Plotwist: Ezekiel is actually Manslug.

[Kid Jake]

I'm going to be the odd one out here and say that I rather prefer the idea of the deluded unicorn and the vengeful cultist myself.

I'm equally psyched at the prospect of either, though I've probably put more effort into background stuff for the Fantasy game than any setting I've put together. A horrible world where Death is probably the most selfless of the gods and rabid gnomes filled with hallucinogenic mushrooms roam the forests looking for a terrifying 'good time'.

But then I just hear "Well gol-ly Mr Stark, are you sure sure these are the fellers that killed my pa? What a coincidence, they owe you money!" and it becomes a toss-up. :smalltongue:


The only reason the list doesn't also include a Shadowrun game is because I should be starting one this Saturday to scratch that itch.



Yay for Ezekiel! Is it bad that he's now my favorite character in the campaign? :smallbiggrin:

As for ideas, one idea I had for Ezekiel is to have him get the same set of enhancements Captain America got. The other idea I had in mind of Ezekiel is just slapping some immortality onto him.


Oh god, an unkillble cranky old man, the truly horrid possibilitys...

That was actually McCrow's first suggestion. Just have Ezekiel roll around the Earth forever, somehow becoming crazier and crazier as the centuries drag on.



Plotwist: Ezekiel is actually Manslug.

Manslug and Winged-Man have actually already been introduced in passing, I think McCrow noticed but I'm purposefully avoiding drawing Fanboy's attention to them to avoid his "Wham, bam, right to the sun!" threat. Mr. Misfit too; though he hasn't technically been introduced in The Watch yet.

[Drakeburn]

Hm..... I knew I recognized one of the cameos from The Watch, but I can't seem to get my brain to pinpoint the other The Watch cameo.

Another idea came up to my mind actually..... What if the gas acted like a fountain of youth for Ezekiel. Just imagine what he's capable of if he regains his youth. (but how much youth would he gain?)

Throwing around an idea for a one-shot game, here's what I have to offer you:

There has been a car accident some time before when the campaign starts for the PCs. A teenaged boy was killed, while a corporate lieutenant gets to walk away from the experience with little to no injury. The teen's father, who happens to be a corporate CEO of a different company, is devastated by the loss of his son. At the same time, he is enraged because he feels that it is unfair for the man who took his son from him got away with it without severe consequences. So he hires some Shadowrunners to avenge his dead son.

[Kid Jake]

Heh, I could see that. He regains his youth, but is still legless, blind and crazier than a sh*thouse rat.

The game I've got starting Saturday will be the 'Kidnap a Popstar Because What Could Go Wrong With That' idea I was floating around. If I ever sit these two down to play Shadowrun, I've already got a pitch:

They're stockbrokers/accountants/janitors for the brokerage firm of Meister and Klein. The firm is known for its stellar track record and competitive salaries, but high turnover rate; most people just think they're just lucky but they're actually self-employed runners who don't so much 'predict the market' as 'set competitors on fire to raise their own stock prices.'

[Drakeburn]

Heh, I could see that. He regains his youth, but is still legless, blind and crazier than a sh*thouse rat.

The game I've got starting Saturday will be the 'Kidnap a Popstar Because What Could Go Wrong With That' idea I was floating around. If I ever sit these two down to play Shadowrun, I've already got a pitch:

They're stockbrokers/accountants/janitors for the brokerage firm of Meister and Klein. The firm is known for its stellar track record and competitive salaries, but high turnover rate; most people just think they're just lucky but they're actually self-employed runners who don't so much 'predict the market' as 'set competitors on fire to raise their own stock prices.'

But why stop at young adulthood? Wouldn't it be funnier if Ezekiel became a teenager, or even a child? Oh the humanity.... :smallbiggrin:

I cannot wait to hear how well the Shadowrun game went. If there is anything "well" about it, that is. :smalltongue:

[Sith_Happens]

As for ideas, one idea I had for Ezekiel is to have him get the same set of enhancements Captain America got.

...Except without getting his legs or sight back. Which I guess would make him crazy, paraplegic Daredevil?

Or, alternatively:

Make him a cross between Lucky Dan and Jinx from Teen Titans: His power is that everything starts spontaneously going to **** for anyone or anything he's mad at.:smallamused:

But then I just hear "Well gol-ly Mr Stark, are you sure sure these are the fellers that killed my pa? What a coincidence, they owe you money!" and it becomes a toss-up. :smalltongue:

Sometimes it's little things that make playing an RPG worthwhile.:smallwink:


Manslug and Winged-Man have actually already been introduced in passing, I think McCrow noticed but I'm purposefully avoiding drawing Fanboy's attention to them to avoid his "Wham, bam, right to the sun!" threat. Mr. Misfit too; though he hasn't technically been introduced in The Watch yet.

You're going to need to point those out then, because I either missed or forgot about them.:smallconfused:

[Kid Jake]

I cannot wait to hear how well the Shadowrun game went. If there is anything "well" about it, that is. :smalltongue:

Assuming it turns out amusing I'll write it up and post it. I'm only planning for about 3-5 sessions in all; so it should be a journal I can actually finish. :smalltongue:


...Except without getting his legs or sight back. Which I guess would make him crazy, paraplegic Daredevil?

Or, alternatively:

Make him a cross between Lucky Dan and Jinx from Teen Titans: His power is that everything starts spontaneously going to **** for anyone or anything he's mad at.:smallamused:

I really like that idea! Anywhere Ezekiel winds up fires randomly start, crap breaks down, guns randomly go off. Nobody thinks anything of it though because all that stuff used to happen around him anyway.


You're going to need to point those out then, because I either missed or forgot about them.:smallconfused:

Winged-Man was the only one I've really tried to draw attention to; he was the 'Mr Rogers-like' preacher caught up in the attack.

The others should be made clearer during the Epilogue, but if you can't wait:
The Beastman is going to assume the name Mr. Misfit to better fit in with the increasingly colorful members of the team, assuming he survives the events of The Finale anyway. As his powers evolve he'll become more and more like the chimera I described.

Dr Kavlight is destined to become The Mighty Manslug.

[Sith_Happens]

Dr Kavlight is destined to become The Mighty Manslug.

You are a horrible person.

[Kid Jake]

You are a horrible person.

Nobody deserves to be the Mighty Manslug, it was going to be horrible regardless of who turned. :smallbiggrin:

Something we've discussed is that sometimes mindset can influence the transformation as much, if not more than blind chance or environmental factors. Baritone was a music lover that always wished he could make it big (not that we had much time to get to know Baritone :smalltongue:), Luvless was janitor that nobody took seriously, Fanboy always wanted to be a Jedi, Lucky Dan always thought he could get his life together if he could just get a string of luck, Michael wanting to be whole, etc...

Kavlight felt like a monster, thus that's what he's slowly becoming.