[Let's Read] Freedom City: Every Edition!

[Libertad]

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Hello everyone! I’m back in the reviewing game today! Looking back this past year…scratch that, year and a half, I realized that the overwhelming majority of my reviewed content has been Dungeons & Dragons books, especially 5th Edition. I do enjoy the system, but after a while it got monotonous. When I came upon this review on RPGnet, (https://forum.rpg.net/index.php?threads/lets-read-super-powered-legends-by-rogue-genius-games.890985/) it inspired me to try something different for a change: covering the evolution of the setting for one of the most popular superhero RPGs on the marketplace.

When the D20 System was still hot and fresh, all sorts of products and genres were being thrown at it. There were a few superhero RPGs made for it, like Silver Age Sentinels, but virtually all of them sank pretty quickly for a variety of reasons. Mutants & Masterminds was the standout: its First Edition of 2002 was still very D20ish, but it didn’t take long for the designers to realize that a faithful ode to the genre would require greater departures from the fantasy dungeon-crawling the D20 System is optimized for, so in 2005 they released a Second Edition which went on to be incredibly popular. The current Third Edition was released in 2011, and there is some debate among the fanbase as to whether 2nd or 3rd is better, although the latter seems to be winning out. Borrowing inspiration from Champions, Mutants & Masterminds is a crunchy open-ended “build your own superhero/powers” system where the D20 is the sole die used for every means of resolution. Every Edition moved further away from 3rd Edition D&D, to the point that M&M 3e is almost its own thing.

Freedom City is the official flagship setting for Mutants & Masterminds, with a new version made for every Edition; the world it takes place in is officially known as Earth-Prime and has been expanded on in further supplements. Unlike typical comic book universes that go by Marvel’s “Sliding Timescale,” (https://www.reddit.com/r/comicbooks/comments/7pxr5d/can_someone_please_explain_the_marvel_sliding/) each edition of Freedom City more or less advanced in real time based on the product’s publication date: 2003 for 1e, 2005 for 2e, and 2017 for 3e. As you can imagine, the greatest amount of changes came during 3rd Edition, and while there’s definitely a metaplot it tends to avoid the White Wolf follies of making godlike NPCs tower over PCs who can only watch rather than change things on their own. On the contrary, starting-level PCs can be easily built to be the equal match of many of Earth-Prime’s most prominent superheroes. So rather than reviewing an individual book, I decided to be different and illustrate the evolution of the setting, noting where I can on what things changed while still giving a comprehensive overview. Interesting features specific to a certain Edition will be marked as 1e, 2e, and 3e.


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Introduction to Freedom City

I’ll note that each book differs in terms of chapters and separation, so I won’t be separating things by numbered Chapters. However, huge portions of the book have been repeated, plus or minus a few tweaks and metaplot/rules updates, so much of the information covered in this review can accurately summarize any of them.

The book opens up with a Foreward by creator Steve Kenson, explaining the comic book influences and how the Freedom City setting came to be: basically it existed before Mutants & Masterminds as a concept for a now-defunct superhero RPG. Originating for Steve’s private amusement, it soon proved useful in providing a proper world to play around in for the new Mutants & Masterminds RPG. What follows are Basic Premises for the setting that maps closely to Marvel/DC tropes: people with superpowers always existed but “went public” around WW2, superpowers are diverse in origin and function, the State no longer has a monopoly on violence due to permissive vigilante laws, etc.

We also have details on the overall history of the world, which more or less mirrors real-world history save for things such as prehistoric civilizations like Atlantis and the Serpent People of Lemuria, a lamp-bearing ghost fighting British soldiers during the Revolutionary War, and Franklin Deleanor Roosevelt and Winston Churchill creating state-sanctioned superhero teams (the Liberty League and Allies of Freedom) to fight fascism in World War II.

The 20th and 21st Centuries get the lion’s share of content, and are divided thematically based on the Ages of Superhero Comics. (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheAgesOfSuperHeroComics) The Golden Age premiered with the advent of the Centurion* smashing a bank robber’s car, and the Nazis deploying their own superpowered der Übermensch as a supposed Aryan** answer to America’s Centurion.

*Think Superman, but whose homeworld was an alternate dimension destroyed by Omega, the Thanos/Darkseid Expy.

**He was actually not human at all, but an exile from a race of cosmic energy wielders known as the Ultima.

The Golden Age came to an end when Joe McCarthy convinced Americans that mask-wearing mystery men were Communist spies, and summoned the Liberty League before the HUAC to intimidate them into unmasking and ratting on their fellows. Instead they gave Tailgunner Joe the finger and went independent, with only the Centurion and Lady Liberty remaining active throughout the entirety of the 50s.

The Silver Age began when the Greek God Hades invaded Freedom City in 1960 with an undead army, and the Centurion and other heroes got together to send them back to Tartarus. They formed the Freedom League, which was like the Liberty League but supported by private donations instead of government approval. The public welcomed them back whole-heartedly, and the mixture of Golden Age veterans and new superheroes went on to fight a new generation of threats. AEGIS (American Elite Government Intervention Service) was also formed, a US government agency tasked with dealing with superhuman threats.

The cost of crime-fighting took its toll on heroes by the Bronze Age of the 1970s, with a rise in more violent vigilantes, occult threats, and the deaths or retirement of superheroes. By the Iron Age of the 1980s, many Americans felt threatened by the new crop of bloodthirsty anti-heroes that seemed to predominate. Politician Franklin Moore* ran on a zero tolerance policy against vigilantism and made private superheroing illegal in Freedom City. He was highly corrupt and ran the police like his own private army, and both sides of the law were influenced by organized crime.

*who is definitely not an homage to Watchman Nixon and named after that comic’s acclaimed writer. (https://i.imgur.com/G0DkQL8.png)

The Modern Age began in 1993 with the Terminus Invasion, where Omega sent his extradimensional army to invade Freedom City. Much like Hades’ invasion this united the superhero community, but unlike those times the Freedom League would lose something precious. The Centurion perished in battle against Omega, who was believed to have died as well in the aftermath but in reality had to retreat. The Centurion’s death was mourned throughout the world, but this sorrow was put to productive use in kicking Moore out of office, making superheroes legal again, and Freedom City was rebuilt with the aid of superpowered help.

Here’s where things differ depending on what book you own: the 90s overall were happier times than the Iron Age, with the premier of the newest generation of the Atom Family (think Fantastic Four), the Raven (Batman) opening up the Claremont Academy as a school for superpowered teenagers, and the undersea nation of Atlantis got mass mind-controlled to invade the surface world before the Freedom League and Atom Family destroyed the MacGuffin (the Serpent Scepter) and drove off the masterminds (the Deep Ones).

By 2nd Edition Omega tried to destroy reality by seeding cosmic bombs through various dimensions and was stopped by a band of new-time heroes (the PCs) in the published adventure Time of Crisis. The Grue (Skrull) Unity also invaded Earth, and the Freedom League gained some new members and built a satellite headquarters orbiting Earth.

By 3rd Edition, several 2nd Edition material and events were added to the metaplot such as Claremont Academy getting its own superhero team, an increase in supervillains of a magical nature, and an alien robot mass-empowering humans randomly in the otherwise superhuman-free metropolis of Emerald City. Which is the other big setting book and also an adventure path for 3rd Edition. Earth-Prime also got its own Marvel-style “oppressed people with superpowers” trope in the form of…groan…illegal aliens. A cosmic force of oblivion known as Collapsar devouring worlds and the tyrannical Stellar Khanate taking over the democratic Lor Republic caused a galactico-political crisis, forcing many alien refugees to head towards Earth. This Age’s right-wing anti-superhero politician, Freedom City Mayor and big-time business mogul Jonathan Grant, started rounding up refugees and claiming their technology for personal profit. He was implicated in the creation of an alien-human hybrid assassin to murder his daughter, a prominent alien rights activist, but before he could spill anything further on his associates he got murdered in confinement. The position of Earth’s Master Mage became vacant (think the head of all mages), and Daedalus (Ancient Greek Iron Man) created a colony on Europa for the alien refugees to resettle.

Beyond the history, the introduction details the city in very broad strokes, with much of the information covered in more detail in the following chapters. Although we do get rumors of a “Phantom Cab” that seems to appear at random beyond mortal comprehension, known to get people safely out of dangerous situations. 3e is written like a travel brochure, including in-character quotes and pictures by notable residents telling readers about the wonders of their home along with some hand-written style editorial notes.


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Life in Freedom

1e and 2e had outlines for Freedom City demographics. I decided to compare its population to other US cities in 2005, and it’s around the population of Los Angeles. (https://www.biggestuscities.com/2005) It’s also slightly smaller than New York City (302.6 square miles/487 square kilometers) and far smaller than Los Angeles (503 square miles/809.5 square kilometers).


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Those 2005 rent prices, (https://www.renthop.com/average-rent-in/new-york-city-ny) tho. (https://www.rentcafe.com/average-rent-market-trends/us/ca/los-angeles/)

Amateur Discourse on Demographics from a US Citizen! A few observations. First off, there’s a massive amount of Libertarian voters. In most elections at the local and national levels, third parties squeak out miniscule amounts. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7tWHJfhiyo) Additionally a lot of self-defined Libertarians end up voting for Republicans, where the actual Libertarian Parties tend to be very ideologically different than Libertarian-Republicans,* so you’re splitting up an already-tiny movement. In terms of racial demographics Freedom City is closest to New York City in going by the largest US cities at the time, albeit with a much higher white population and smaller percentages of Asians and Latinos. Another thing to note is that generally speaking Hispanic/Latino people have their own separate category in US Census surveys due to having a multi-ethnic history, although this is more of an Anglo tradition borne out of US racial perceptions (Latin American countries tend to group people differently).

2e and 3e has a side-bar discussing in laymen’s terms the legal alterations in Earth-Prime that allow superheroes to operate in the United States. Costumed identities are treated as separate legal entities so superheroes can do things like testifying in court without unmasking, mind-reading and super-senses can violate the 4th and 5th Amendments depending on context and evidence acquired solely through them cannot be admissible in court, superheroes don’t have to follow criminal procedures unless they work for law enforcement, and generally speaking superheroes can reasonably get away with using superpowers as weapons provided they don’t do more than the minimum force needed. The law cracks down hard on superheroes who kill and maim criminals, which is likely in part due to the negative social stigma of the Bronze and Iron Ages.

Oddly there’s no mention of the legal status of nonhuman yet intelligent entities, such as the “personhood” status of AI or self-aware pets. I’d imagine that this would be a big one to cover.

The bulk of the section covers notable (mostly non-superpowered) people and places, from local restaurant chains, media institutions, major corporations, and more. Many entries have little in the way of foul plots or direct ties to the superhero community, and are meant more to “fill in” Freedom City.

The largest Businesses in Freedom City include DeCosta Construction which may or may not have ties to the Italian Mafia, not one but three “evil corporations” managed by CEOs who have extensive criminal contacts via Delphic Indutries (shipping), Grant Conglomerates (biotechnology), and Majestic Industries (chemicals and heavy industry), and the Rhodes Foundation whose CEO is waiting for the return of the Scarab,* the former CEO and Freedom League member who has reincarnated throughout human history to wage a never-ending battle against his evil rival the sorcerer Tan-Aktor. We also get two major banks (to rob or protect from robbers), three law firms and one whose criminal defense attorneys have made pacts with infernal entities, and two private security firms to act as cannon fodder, mercenaries, or even for more profit-driven superheroes to work for.

*And that reincarnation can very easily be a PC!


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The Educational institutions are split into high schools and colleges for our Spider-Man aged PCs to frequent, including the rough and tumble Joseph Clark high school that has long been plagued by drugs and gang violence, and the esteemed Claremont Academy that looks for superpowered teenagers around the world to enroll and teach them the responsible use of their powers. The Hanover Institute of Technology competes with MIT for budding young minds to create wondrous scientific marvels, and Master Lee’s School of Self-Defense is managed by a disciple of esoteric martial arts techniques. But after one of his pupils turned evil, Master Lee is reluctant to teach unless someone proves themselves of moral worth.

Libraries and “fine art” installations include some interesting spins, such as a museum of history that also has alien and non-human artifacts on display, a Super Museum dedicated to masked mystery men (and the villains they fought) of all stripes. The Healthcare industry is state of the art on account of necessity for all the collateral damage that comes from Freedom City being the epicenter of so many world-defining events, and the Freedom Medical Center has doctors who specialize in superpowers and their medical applications. There’s also Providence Asylum, which in the 90s received approval to treat mentally ill superhumans.

In 1e the Asylum sat upon a Native American holy ground which was responsible for an increase in supernatural activity, although later editions removed this. The 3e texts for mentally ill superhumans are different from prior editions, which indirectly linked mental illness and criminality, whereas the current edition uses more neutral language.


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The Media is given a pretty thorough write-up in comparison to other entries, likely to encourage PCs that want to go Clark Kenting. We learn a bit about what superhero comic books look like in Earth-Prime. Castle Comics is the most prominent publisher, and superhero comic books primarily focus on the (in-universe) real-world events of superheroes and supervillains, and thus have their own newswire services to keep up with current events.

For print media, the Daily Herald is a right-wing newspaper who is constantly critical of superheroes and reserves particular ire for ones who operate in poorer communities, who they described as armed thugs who “should be taken off the streets. In 1e and 2e they were very homophobic, questioning why the League let the “sexual deviant” Johnny Rocket join their organization. The more liberal Freedom Ledger is the oldest newspaper and is overall more supportive of superheroes, given that its Beaumont family owners have traditionally borne the mantle of Bowman throughout the ages. They earned acclaim for reporting during Omega’s invasion and the death of the Centurion. The other newspapers focus on more specialized topics, such as the gossipy Daily Word and the financially-focused Wading Way Bulletin.

Radio and Television are more personality-focused due to the host-based nature, such as the news reporter Amy Fend who is known for being brave enough to try and interview super-villains in the middle of their crimes, and Super-Vision is a multi-media franchise dedicated to all things superpowered. 1e and 2e had a write-up for a reality show star, Richard “Voyeur” Royer, who was a super-powered mutant who had the ability to project whatever he sees and hears as a radio signal that can be picked up and recorded by electronic devices. I suppose that with the ubiquitous presence of smartphones in 2017, he long passed his 15 minutes of fame by 3rd Edition.

The US Military has a presence in Freedom City, although they generally let superheroes handle the “smaller-scale” supervillains and instead focus on helping repel larger invasions. Star Island used to serve as a command center for space-related research, although it hosted a large refugee camp of aliens in the 2010s, and is now under the watch of AEGIS who guards the teleportal platform that connects to the colony in Europa.

The Parks and Aquariums serve as good places to host big battles for adventures, and two of them even have maps! Lake MacKenzie once served as home to lake monsters, giant crocodiles, and serial killers…although those are supposedly urban legends. Liberty Park saw its fair share of incidents, such as the Green Man transforming it into a deadly headquarters full of floral soldiers. Riverside Park has a 100 foot tall statue of the Centurion, constructed after his death. And Happanuk Hill was a burial ground to the (fictional) Indigenous tribe of the same name, preserved as an historical site and mystic experts claim that there are lingering traces of power.

2e had advice for using Ocean Heights Amusement Parks in campaigns, such as ideas for converted deathtraps, circus and entertainment-themed supervillains, as well a place for PCs to have some fun in their secret identities.

1e had its own section on Politics, which is absent in later Editions. There’s a write-up for a Republican Representative who is finding her platform increasingly out of touch with newer constituents, a Southside political activist who “reports from the outside” and covers economic issues such as homelessness and uneven infrastructural funding, a Democratic Senator who is trying to convince several scientifically-inclined superheroes to mass-produce their inventions and is head of the Senate Committee on Superhuman affairs, the leader of an LGBT rights organization, and a write-up on CODE or Citizens for Order, Decency, & Ethics. CODE was a media watchdog group that formed during the early 80s and helped elect Franklin More towards mayordom, and their mission statement is that independent superheroes not part of the State do more ill than harm, such as the property damage from battles with supervillains and encouraging children to emulate their risky behavior as role models. Unsurprisingly they’re not very popular in Freedom City, but draw the most support in Midwestern and Southern states.


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Religion explains that Freedom City is predominantly Christian, although it is home to a higher than normal portion of Voodoo and neopagan practitioners, the former due to the Loa known as Siren being a Freedom League member. The Islamic Center of Freedom City recently faced attempted arson by a Neo-Nazi gang led by the white supremacist supervillain Knightfire, although this attack united the neighborhood together to help them rebuild. A peculiar new religion known as the Pinnacle Path began in Freedom City, a mostly-spiritual self-help movement that proclaims that people with superpowers are pseudo-divine beings that reflect the best and worst archetypes of humanity. They also teach that anyone can gain superpowers through the proper rituals. It’s up to the GM whether the Path largely means well or is a scam. There’s also a brief write-up on the Mayombe, a Voodoo criminal cult that makes use of practices forbidden by the mainstream branch of the religion for self-empowerment.

Restaurants, Bars, & Clubs mostly contains one-to-two paragraph entries for a variety of restaurants and recreational places. Most aren’t anything to write home about, save that gambling is legal in Freedom City and thus there are four casinos in Southside that long had ties to the Freedom City Mob.

Science & Technology covers two major institutions. The Albright Institute is dedicated towards the research of superpowers in general, and its owner Langston Albright was the light-controlling superhero known as Beacon during the post-WW2 40s and 50s. By 3rd Edition he’s in his 90s and is looking for the next successor to his legacy.* The other institution is ASTRO (Applied Scientific and Technical Research Organization) Labs, which had its start in developing weapons during World War II to use against the Axis Powers. It’s now the largest scientific research company in the world, and is a good way to introduce just about any super-science device into the campaign. One of its more notable inventions is Impervium, a superhard “living metal” that can heal its own structural damage over time and is used in the construction of government facilities as well as Blackstone Prison for cells and restraints to contain superhumans.

*who can also be a PC!

Social Life includes some interesting entries, such as the Cape and Cowl Club which is an invitation-only secret society for superheroes to destress and relax, the Legion which is an online group of mercenary hackers who sell information and services to the highest bidder, and the Midnight Society that includes some of the most wealthiest and influential people in the world. While it’s not an official rule, the Midnight Society doesn’t invite any superhumans as members. In 1e it was a front for the villainous organization SHADOW, although later Editions made its true purpose vague with several suggestions for the GM.


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Sports lists Freedom City’s professional sports teams as well as the Ultimate Wrestling League, notable for hiring wrestlers with superpowers.

Street Life is our last major entry for this chapter/section, and discusses a variety of social issues plaguing the city’s less fortunate. The West End once served as an immigrant community through much of its existence, although rising property values are pushing all but the most stubborn residents out, and there’s tension between affluent criminals moving in and local gangs that aren’t fond of outsiders in general. Southside is the poor section of Freedom City, and most of its residents make their living working in retail at the Boardwalk’s casinos and hotels. Many homeless people live here, with most of them teenage runaways coming from all over the country in hopes of making better lives for themselves by meeting with or becoming superheroes. Our Lady of Mercy is a shelter and soup kitchen that has the peculiar situation of being under protection from the Mob; any ill-doers who target the shelter’s staff must answer to them, which means most find easier targets elsewhere. The Lincoln Youth Center is a community center for Lincoln and Southside youth, running programs to provide kids a place to go instead of being on the streets or forced into gangs. Finally there’s Weird Maggie, a homeless woman who is dismissed as a crazy person but claims to have some kind of supernatural insight into things.

1e had NPC entries for two more characters in Street Life. Sandra Rayne is a sex worker who managed to make a good living for herself, and has a friendship with the local superhero Foreshadow who pays her for information. The other is Nathan “the Knife” Korthu, who is the leader of a gang of homeless teenagers. He hasn’t killed anyone and privately hopes he never has to. In 2nd and 3rd Edition he was moved into the Freedom City Underworld section, but this came at the expense of his backstory.

Note: Introduction/Chapter 1 has stats for the Centurion. I plan to cover him with the other superheroes in Heroes of Freedom City later on, as I feel that this would be better in measuring him against his peers rather than doing so in isolation.

Thoughts So Far: Freedom City comes out strong, managing to bridge the line between being down-to-earth enough for a plausible contemporary American city while also showing how superpowered people have shaped and influenced the local culture. With a few exceptions, most of the people are “normal,” and those who have a part to play in the superpowered community have a less direct and more advisory role. There’s still room for GMs to fill in details of their own, and the lengthiest sections are those that’d be of most interests to the PCs which is also a good choice.

Join us next time as we cover Law & Order, the Freedom City Underworld, and the Freedom City Series!

[Reversefigure4]

An interesting, well written look. Thanks.

[Scots Dragon]

I'm a huge fan of Freedom City and Mutants & Masterminds so this is gonna be fun.

[Libertad]

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Law & Order

It is inevitable that superheroes will interact with both sides of the law, so sections on government and law enforcement get some decent entries. Freedom City’s government has an elected mayor and eight city council members who serve four-year terms, with the mayor acting as a tie-breaking vote when the council finds itself split on an issue. During 1e and 2e the mayor was Michael O’Connor Jr., who won a landslide against Franklin Moore due to that one’s unpopular history of corruption, and unlike his predecessor he made good on promises to fight organized crime. In 3e the mayor is Calliope Summers, who was the previous Raven. Now retired from superheroing, she has found another way to do good in Freedom City. Michael O’Connor Jr. is now a Senator for the state in which Freedom City is located.* We also have write-ups for three city council members who have been the same for all editions as well as three city Commissions focusing on various interest groups (civil rights, law enforcement, and economic development). There’s also write-ups of government departments, including one of interest to superheroes: the Medical Examiner’s Office which can help PCs investigate strange deaths, and in 3e gets a named NPC as a coroner!

*Somewhere on the East Coast but otherwise left to the GM’s discretion.

Now we move on to law enforcement proper. The local Freedom City Police Department used to be riddled with graft and corruption during the Iron Age, but things are better now after a thorough clean-up and replacement of the Commissioner with Barbara Kane, a cop who more than proved herself in defending Bayview against a group of Omegadrones during the Terminus Invasion. The police also have a special department known as the STAR (Superhuman Tactics and Regulation) Squad, who basically act as a SWAT team but with more advanced technology. As of 3e many other American cities and states developed their own STAR Squads.

AEGIS (American Elite Government Intervention Service) is the SHIELD equivalent of Earth-Prime, although they primarily have national rather than international jurisdiction. They’re a federal agency which recruits the bulk of its members from other law enforcement departments, and while they specialize in dealing with all things superhuman most of their agents are non-powered yet well-trained. AEGIS agents don’t go toe-to-toe with super-powered opponents unless necessary, although if the need arises the organization has access to MAX (Man-Amplifying eXoskeleton) power armor suits. And yes there are stats for such armor; they grant the typical “battlesuit” abilities such as enhanced strength, protection, radio communicators, and an array of weapons that are a kinetic blast, capture net, and blinding beam. AEGIS also has write-ups and stat blocks for three notable agents: AEGIS’ Director, Horatio “Harry” Powers, has the ability to sense the presence of superpowers of all types at a distance which he masks as “hunches.” Then there’s Patriot,* a Golden Age hero enhanced with super-soldier serum whose mind has been transplanted into a cyborg body by the US government and now acts as a secret weapon against terrorists and criminals of the super-powered variety. Finally there’s Stewart “Rockstar” Bonham, Chief Administrator of AEGIS’ Freedom City branch, who tends to engender a love-hate relationship due to his habits of glory-hogging, dating superhumans, and performing in rock bands in his free time. We also have a full-page map and details on the Iceberg, AEGIS’ underground lair in Freedom City. It contains all of the accouterments appropriate to a comic book government agency, such as labs to analyze supervillain gadgets, a hangar with helicopters and fighter jets that can fold into far smaller forms, and an advanced computer system that may or may not be a fully-developed AI.

In 1e and 2e he had stats, although by 3e he was moved into the Atlas of Earth-Prime sourcebook.

There’s also smaller write-ups on real-world law enforcement organizations, local emergency services, and the court system. Some of the more interesting entries include the firefighter June “Asbestos” Abados, a woman who is immune to all forms of heat and fire whose powers gave her minor celebrity status (accompanied by a less than-amicable marriage turned divorce), the head of the Probation Department Harriet Wainwright who proposed a “work release” program for superhuman criminals to use their powers for public service in exchange for commuted sentences,* and “Judge Joe” of the hit show “Video Justice” which is basically like Judge Judy. Our section wraps up with the four major prisons in which Freedom City houses its criminals, although the only one of note that gets any detail and a full-page map is Blackstone Federal Penitentiary. Located on an island off the coast of Freedom City, it is dedicated to housing super-criminals exclusively, with most of its facilities moved underground after Omegadrones decimated its foundations during the Terminus Invasion. We have stats for several security features and traps, write-ups of 2 named NPCs (Warden Joshua Drummer who has the ability to nullify superpowers and Abigail Wallace who helped design specialized security and once had an affair with the prison-obsessed supervillain Warden), and the Blackguard security guards who are non-powered but have access to AEGIS MAX suits.

*In 1e and 2e it was approved as a limited program, but as of 3e it’s been overall successful.


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Freedom City Underworld

This section is surprisingly short, and focuses more on the non-superpowered side of organized crime and gangs although there is some crossover with supervillains. The most powerful organized crime syndicate is the Italian Mafia, aka the Freedom City Mob, who specialize in drugs, smuggling contraband, vice trades, and using legitimate businesses such as labor unions and casinos to launder their dirty money. The Mob’s upper ranks are overall non-powered, although their ace in the hole is a fortune teller known as Tarot who their leader “Big Al” Driogano consults before doing anything riskier than usual for a mob boss. 2e noted that Tarot had trouble predicting the actions of superpowered people, particularly the vigilantes Foreshadow and the Silencer.

The other real-world crime syndicates who have a smaller presence in Freedom City are the Russian Mafiya who specialize in smuggling Soviet super-science gadgets, the Triads whose local branch is loyal to the supervillain Dr. Sin, and the Yakuza who mostly focus on corporate crimes and money-laundering but otherwise leave the city alone due to the Mob’s prominence. Street gangs tend to be disportionately teenagers, as older and more experienced criminals join the Mafia or get killed by them. There’s the Brotherhood, a white supremacist gang who are particularly dangerous due to being allied with the supervillain Knightfire, the Malanti who operate in the West End and mostly do petty crimes such as vandalism, and the Lincoln-based Southside C’s who make most of their money dealing drugs.

We have write-ups on three illegal drugs that can grant or interact with super-powers: Max which can grant increased physical abilities although the withdrawal symptoms can cause immediate heart failure, Zombie Powder which is brewed by the followers of Baron Samedi that can act as a painkiller but can also make one vulnerable against magical mind control and raise the addict as a zombie upon death, and Zoom which can grant super-speed but also risks immediate heart failure.

A more unusual “mob element” is the Toon Gang, fictional cartoon characters brought to life by the supervillain Toy-Boy. They look like short living cartoons and act on genre-appropriate logic. This means that they’re virtually immortal to most forms of harm even though they can still feel pain, and they don’t have a head for any crimes more complicated than robbing businesses at gun or knife-point. They’re considered small-time distractions on the scale of super-powered threats, although given a recent scheme with a truckload of marbles they’re taken more seriously after the deaths of 15 mobsters.* There’s also the Circuit Maximus, an illegal underground superhuman fighting ring. In 1e and 2e they were led by August Roman, the Centurion’s arch-enemy and self-styled Emperor of Crime. But as of 3e his daughter Saturnalia Roman has inherited the family business as her father has grown too sick and bedridden to do much of anything. Finally there are rumors of a covert mobile clinic known as the “Power-House,” which specializes in cybernetic and biochemical enhancements that can “juice up” people with super-powers for the right price…and unpleasant side effects requiring regular treatments to avoid them.

*This entry is the same in 3e as 2e, which seems odd given the 15-year time gap.


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The Freedom City Series

This chapter was added into the 2e and 3e versions, talking about how GMs can plan for campaigns and make use of the material for players who want closer ties to the setting “canon.” 2e also included campaign secrets and behind-the-scenes explanations, although as of 3e that entry got lengthy enough to become its own chapter which we’ll cover in a future post.

Freedom City Origins and Legacies are PC-friendly material, compiling a bunch of common origins for broad superpower concepts and their most likely sources in the setting. A few of them have templates, particularly in the cases of certain alien species or human off-shoots such as the Ultima (think flying brick but with “cosmic energy control”). Or heroes with legacy powers, such as the Light-Bearer template for Beacon (flying energy control with light-based power array). Interestingly we have a template for the Scarab appears twice in 3e, in two different places in the book and one with significantly more Power Points than the other. The one here in Origins has 101 points with a variety of telepathy/telekinetic powers, while the one in the Pyramid Plaza entry in Secrets of Freedom City has only 51 points with fewer and cheaper powers. I feel that this is a misprint, as the latter version makes use of the term “feats” which are renamed “advantages” in 3rd Edition.

Series Frameworks provides brief outlines on eight different campaign ideas making use of the Freedom City setting. Quite a few of them are standard: one where the PCs join the Freedom League, one where the PCs are students at Claremont Academy, and one where the PCs are the “local hero team” instead of the Atom Family/Freedom League/Next-Gen. But the more novel suggestions include one where the PCs are street-level vigilantes operating in the poorer neighborhoods or even during the Iron Age Moore Administration, one where the PCs are former supervillains part of Harriet Wainwright’s “Project Freedom” work-release program, and ones where the PCs are non-powered (but gadget-equipped) members of STAR SQUAD or AEGIS, and one where they’re a new government-sanctioned superhero team for AEGIS!

Alternate Freedoms is exclusive to 3e, providing suggestions for different takes on the setting rather than different campaign ideas. The Price of Freedom theorizes a world where vigilantism is still outlawed and Freedom City is ruled by a corrupt government. The Freedom Storm takes the events of Emerald City (alien AI mass-empowering people with nanomachines (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhMsboqMMzs)) and moves the event to Freedom City. The Star District is one where the alien refugees are never relocated to the moon Europa, and instead settle into the least desired parts of the city with a less-than-understanding human populace.

Thoughts So Far: I’m feeling a bit mixed on these sections. The coverage of various groups and peoples varies in length and depth, so one cannot help but feel that something’s missing in certain even if the material that we do get is likely more than enough for a GM. Some parts I feel weird about are the setting’s Captain America Expy becoming a high-ranking federal agent, on account that his inspirational figure has been notable for wishing to champion American values in spite of (and even against) the aims of the government. Barring a few examples, many NPCs don’t have built-in hooks or adventure material, instead primarily serving to populate the world with people the PCs are likely to interact with during their careers as costumed crime-fighters. This isn’t bad in and of itself as it’s merely a different set of game design priorities, although it results in a lot of “okay here’s the health department and who works for them, here’s what the Coast Guard does and they’re also friendly with Siren, etc.” While the Origins and Legacies serve a useful function, the few times they provide templates about half are incredibly expensive for the default PL 10, and I feel that more affordable options would help give players more room to build what they want.

I will say that I’m fond of AEGIS, as they are definitely a group that would have a much larger spotlight in most games than other agencies, and I do like how the book acknowledges how the criminal underworld adapted to a super-powered world even if it’s more brief and simplistic rather than in-depth treatises and theory-crafting. But then again superhero media isn’t usually one to get lost in the details, so going by “rule of cool” more than works.

Join us next time as we cover Secrets of Freedom City and the World of Freedom!

[Ameraaaaaa]

Loving this review so far! Love that there's a gang of cartoon characters. Just perfect for a one of gang or maybe a cooldown of a story arc in a campaign after some major event. Could be a fun opening adventure as well. Might get the 3rd edition book one day.

[Libertad]

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Secrets of Freedom City

Another 2e and 3e addition, this section covers campaign secrets to be defined by the GM and things not known to the general public, with potential “answers” behind several of them. 3rd Edition greatly expands on this section, and also folds Law & Order and Freedom City Underworld into this section, which we previously covered. The first section covers secret history and the overlapping cosmological implications: the reason why Freedom City, and to a lesser extent the USA, is so superhuman-dense is due to the Centurion’s life pod crashing near Freedom City. This caused an upsurge in other-dimensional energies that both draw upon and grant easier potential to paranormal and superhuman beings and events. Additionally the gods of many cultures are real, but cannot directly interfere on Earth-Prime save by being intentionally summoned by mortals as a result of a magical Pact from a former Master Mage centuries ago. Deities and other powerful entities representative of archetypes can act through a chosen host, such as Lady Liberty being empowered by the Spirit of Liberty or Cassandra Vale being chosen by the Voodoo Loa La Sirène.

The two major pre-human civilizations on Earth-Prime were the Serpent People who created Lemuria, an expansive yet decadent magitech empire, and the Preservers who were a powerful star-spanning alien civilization that conducted genetic experiments on cavemen and “seeded” humanity on countless other planets. The Preservers are long gone, although many impossibly-advanced creations and worlds bear their touch. The Preservers’ interference allowed human civilization to rise and counter Lemuria, most notably the civilization of Atlantis. Both empires destroyed each other, causing Atlantis to sink underwater and the Serpent People to retreat underground. Post-Cataclysm history begins with recorded human history, expanding on the origins of notable immortal/reincarnating superheroes such as Daedalus and Talos.

We also get an expanded backstory on the Centurion: coming from a world where the Roman Empire never fell, he was put in an escape pod as an infant to cross to the dimension of Earth-Prime in 1918 when his home world was invaded and destroyed by the Terminus. He was adopted by the Leeds family, given the name Mark, and learned about his origin and how his powers came to be (cosmic radiation from the dimensional crossing). Mark Leeds adopted a Roman-inspired costume and title to fight crime and injustice while also becoming a professor of Roman history at Freedom City University. He went on to found the Liberty League and later the Freedom League, using advanced skincare to make his secret identity appear to age when it became clear that he was immortal. By the 1980s the death of his wife and the disbanding of the Freedom League made him “retire” his secret identity, acting as the Centurion almost full-time, until 1993 where he died in battle against the man responsible for destroying his home dimension.

We get stats for the Centurion here. He is bar none the most powerful superhero in this book at an impressive Power Level 16. The Freedom League and other heroes don’t even come close, with the rookie teen team the Next-Gen averaging PL 9, and the more powerful Freedom League members and Adrian Eldrich being around PL 12-13.

As for the supervillains, only a few equal or exceed the Centurion’s Power Level: Argo, Meta-Grue, and Omega being the only non-omnipotent villains to meet this qualification. While I hate to put it this way, his power set is like that of a more boring Superman: the Centurion is a flying brick with amazing Strength and Stamina scores along with a host of Immunities. But his Super-Senses don’t include X-Ray vision (he can see in the dark and see farther, though), and he doesn’t have Superman’s non-punchy attacks like heat vision and ice breath. When it comes to non-combat skills he has quite a bit of Expertise skills along with Perception, Technology, and some social skills. The Centurion doesn’t have any Kryptonite-style weaknesses, either.

I do happen to own a copy of the now-discontinued DC Heroes line, which has Mutants & Masterminds stats for Superman. While Superman’s 1 PL lower at 15, he is able to do more things than the Centurion like I listed above.


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Secrets of the City

This section is exclusive to 3e and expands on specific locations, mostly in the form of secret lairs for notable superheroes. And since many are meant to serve as bases for PCs in certain campaigns, they also have headquarters stats for those who want to purchase them with the Equipment advantage.

The first is Lantern Hill, an old and rich neighborhood dating to colonial times with a history of the occult. It is the stomping grounds of Lantern Jack, the ghostly dispenser of justice and vengeance. We have stats for Lantern Jack, and he is a PL 12 character who has ghostly powers (invisibility, incorporeal nature, immune to all Fortitude effects) and bears a mystic lantern with an array of features (blinding attack, paralysis stare, illusion-nullifying light, poltergeist telekinesis, etc). He is primarily intended to be a background character, being more behind-the-scenes save for when the PCs have to inquire into the occult. At which point he’s more prominent as a dispenser of warning and wisdom. We also get descriptions of other notable features in Lantern Hill, but as the home of the demon-allied lawyer Lucius Cabot along with sample adventure opportunities.

The next area is Pyramid Plaza, whose triple towers are one of Freedom City’s most famous landmarks and the site of many historic battles between superheroes and supervillains. The towers are home to a variety of businesses and stores (a few of which are criminal fronts for the evil megacorp CEO characters such as Hieronymus King), but it bears a deep secret. Back during the 1960s the wealthy businessman Alexander Rhodes financed the construction of Pyramid Plaza to conceal a secret lair beneath the foundations. His real identity being the Scarab, this hidden lair is designed in the style of Ancient Egypt, with many high-tech facilities such as teleportation stations and a prison that once housed the Nazi supervillain Nacht-Krieger (who has since escaped with Overshadow’s help). The facility is still functional, although the current CEO of the Rhodes Foundation, Sophia Cruz, is awaiting the Scarab’s next reincarnation to bequeath them the lair. There are of course suggestions on how to use the Scarab’s lair in other ways in case the Scarab doesn’t return, such as it being taken over by a supervillain or the PCs.

Providence Asylum expands upon Freedom City’s primary mental health center, along with named NPC staff members. One of the more interesting NPCs is Dr. Karen Black, a psychologist with a degree in occult and magical studies. This is due to the large number of mentally ill people who claim to interact with the supernatural, and thus she can help determine if the symptoms are mere delusions or they’re actually possessed/haunted/etc. Most of its patients are normal, non-powered people, although it is notable for housing more than a few costumed criminals. The book notes that in prior decades those deemed “criminally insane” were put in with the general prison population, and that the switch to housing them at the Asylum has resulted in better treatment and rehabilitation. But due to the dangers of many superpowers, the metahuman-inclined patients are placed in a Secure Patient Care section. The Asylum has facilities beyond mere containment, such as gardens, a basketball court, and a theater which is used for art therapy and talent shows.

Claremont Academy is a prestigious private school that was purchased and redesigned by Duncan Summers after the original school was destroyed during the Terminus Invasion. It’s pretty much Charles Xavier’s academy, save that it recruits youth with a wide variety of powers rather than just mutants. The Academy’s purpose is a bit of an open secret among superheroes, being used as a funnel for powered teenagers who need help and training, but also fear that the US government may interfere and take over the school “for the good of the children.” The school proper was greatly expanded on in the Hero High sourcebooks for 2e and 3e, so its inclusion here is rather sparse beyond detailing the main grounds and a statblock for the headmaster Duncan Summers (PL 9 non-powered skill-user with non-lethal grenade gadgets).

Other Places and Characters Gives short write-ups for the various locations and NPCs detailed in Life in Freedom. For instance, potential backgrounds for Master Lee’s fallen pupil (assassin for hire, Circuit Maximus gladiator, etc), the dark secret behind the Unlimited Wrestling League (Saturnalia Roman uses it as a recruiting tool for the Power-House), adventure hooks for the Pinnacle Path (such as its leader having the ability to grant people superpowers), and likely places to locate Freedom City (default assumption is that it’s on the East Coast of the United States, although the author based its geography on southern New Jersey). But the most interesting addition is a full-page description of X-Isle, the Living City! This sapient “urban elemental” is located in the Terminus, capable of reaching out to Earth-Prime and other dimensions to absorb structures, roads, and other landmarks. X-Isle’s false metropolis is a jumbled array of buildings of wildly different architectural styles and age, and most of its inhabitants are realistic replicants that are extensions of the city-spirit itself. X-Isle is neither good nor evil, merely lonely, although it has little regard to the people and places it absorbs. Omega and X-Isle are aware of each other, although they may be allies (if Omega promises to spare it and its inhabitants) or enemies otherwise (X-Isle is opposed to Omega’s nihilistic lust for destruction).

2e, oddly enough, has more generic secret content. For instance, the the fate of disgraced Mayor Franklin Moore (likely allied with some group of villains to take revenge on Freedom City), whether the paintings and drawings of imprisoned psychic criminal L’Enfant Terrible are merely creepy artwork or contain a mental “meme virus,” and also entries for areas and groups beyond Freedom City from the World of Freedom chapter. Such places have already been expanded upon or “answered” with the release of the Atlas of Earth-Prime sourcebook for 3rd Edition.


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The World of Freedom

Exclusive to 1e and 2e, the content is superfluous in 3rd Edition due to being moved to a sourcebook all its own. The chapter starts out with covering planet Earth with entries separated by continent. North America is the focus of global superhuman activity, with Freedom City containing the largest superpowered population* followed by other large cities such as NYC and Los Angeles. Canada has less superpowered people, and Mexico the fewest although their masked superheroes are widely loved, having roots in luchadore traditions and romantic outlaws. South and Central America has few superheroes due to a combination of Nazi war criminals via SHADOW, drug kingpins, and military dictatorships leading concerted efforts to kill them off, and Brazil has a portal to a primeval Lost World in a forlorn plateau. There’s a lot of superpowered in France and the United Kingdom, although Germany has a complicated relationship with supers due to historical associations with the Nazi Übermenschen. There have been suggestions to form a single superhero team for the European Union, although politicking has prevented that reality from happening.

*and now has stiff competition with Emerald City in 3rd Edition.

Africa has relatively few superpowered people but a long history of them in the form of Ancient Egypt. There’s also the technologically-advanced nation of Dakana, ruled over by the superhero White Lion and the only source of daka crystals which serve as an all-purpose “Unobtainium fuel source.” South Africa had a secret government program where they’d recruit white supers and assassinate non-white ones both within and beyond their borders. After the collapse of apartheid those affiliated with this program went on to become independent criminals or joined SHADOW. As for Asia, it has a strikingly small number of superhumans for unknown reasons. The USSR and People’s Republic of China have been repressive when it came to superpowered people in general, relying more on scientific experiments to bolster government-sponsored People’s Hero teams. Japan has a lot of technology-focused superheroes and some mutants as a result of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings.

Again, Atlas of Earth-Prime went into further detail about Asia’s low superpowered population. The Soviet Union’s communist ideology was opposed to the existence of superpowered people in general, although it still sought to make use of their abilities either as government agents or slaves powering machinery in science cities. As for China, the government unearthed a shard during the Cultural Revolution which gained the ability to permanently absorb superpowers from a host (along with their memories of having such powers) and the ability to temporarily grant absorbed powers to others who come into contact with the shard. The organization responsible for the apportioning of superpowers is the Central Power Collective, which they use to keep China's superhuman population (and outlying nation’s via kidnapping) low and under control.

Poor Australia has but a single paragraph, merely talking about power sources of mystical energy in the Outback. We also have a write-up for the United Nations, who are far more powerful in Earth-Prime given that they have an organization known as UNISON (UN International Superhuman Oversight Network) which is responsible for international efforts protecting the world from super-criminals and extra-dimensional/planetary invasions. The United Nations does recognize the sovereignty of a few fictional nations such as Atlantis, although Atlantis has chosen not to join the UN.


The UN has of late supported the Freedom League’s efforts to better protect the world at large, although individual member nations have made it clear they retain the right to deal with internal matters as they see fit and to refuse the Freedom League’s aid. The League respects this and only goes where it is invited. Thus far, any international incidents have been avoided.

While this is a good explanation as to why various authoritarian regimes haven’t been overthrown, this makes the Freedom League sound rather ineffective when it comes to punching dictators in the face.

Hidden Lands covers the various regions and countries that don’t exist in the real world, or in places that do exist in ours but aren’t really occupied by people. The Aerie in northern Greenland is home to the Avians, a race of winged humanoids whose homes are threatened by climate change and whose leader Talona has led wars against nations whose corporations are responsible, with a particular ire reserved for Grant Conglomerates. Atlantis is an oceanic kingdom whose populace are the survivors of the prehistoric empire that sank beneath the waves. Their culture bears an uncanny resemblance to the Roman Empire at its height, and makes use of magical and technological artifacts which are in limited supply. They have mixed relations with the surface world, with several skirmishes and wars caused by human pollution of the Earth’s oceans. Kaiju Island is pretty much what you expect, and its proximity to Japan and Russia is an international “no man’s land” on account of attempts to explore or control the beasts ending in disaster each time. Centurion’s Sanctum is located in the Arctic Circle, guarded by robotic replicas of the superhero. The Sanctum contains a mainframe of the virtual reality city Tronik, as well as a portal to the Zero Room that acted as a prison for the hero’s most dangerous foes. Also located in the Arctic Circle is Ultima Thule, a hidden city inhabited by survivors of pre-Cataclysm Atlantis. Although they bear great powers, they choose instead to live lives in contemplation and study. Their most infamous nember Kal-Zed disagreed with this philosophy, and after a group of Nazi explorers came upon the city and had their memories wiped, he ventured out in exile to contact Nazi Germany and sell himself as a stellar “champion of the Aryan Master Race,” becoming the WW2 supervillain der Übermensch.

The Lost World is a primeval jungle in an alternate dimension for all of your pulp-flavored adventures and contains the lost Roman colony of Nova Roma and tribes of Serpent People. Shambala Vale is a hidden yet respected institution for martial artists located in the Himalayan Mountains. Sub-Terra is a vast underground series of caves home to many different races, such as tribes of Serpent People and their enemies the Morlocks, the Magmin who are beings made of liquid rock, and the sickly Sub-Terrans who serve the supervillain Terra-King. Finally we have Utopia Isle, also an outpost of Atlantis survivors who created a harmonious society. They sent an Envoy to the rest of the world during World War II, who joined the Liberty League. Utopia Isle initially saw promise in the gains made from humanity, although the use of atomic bombs made them ultimately decide to retain their isolationism.


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Mysteries in Space covers notable civilizations beyond Earth. Farside City is located on the Moon, populated by genetically-altered humans moved there by the Preservers and was once a dictatorship under the thrall of Lady Lunar before the Atom Family deposed her. The Grue Unity is an interstellar empire populated by a species of hive-minded shapeshifters who use their powers to infiltrate and spy on other worlds. The Lor Republic is a democratic union populated mostly by humans. Although originating from Preserver interference in Earth, their culture rejects the idea that they originated on that planet due to nationalist reasons, instead claiming that Earth humans are a lost colony from a distant glorious age. They declared Earth off-limits until they are “advanced enough” to be worthy of citizenship. Just like Atlantis, their society also resembles the Roman Empire. Finally there is the Stellar Khanate, a collection of worlds ruled over by the dictator Star-Khan. Needless to say, each of the three major galactic empires/confederations are enemies of each other.

We end our entry in space with a write-up on the Star Knights, Freedom City’s Green Lantern equivalent. Their order is based on the planet Citadel, led by a Preserver-designed AI known as Mentor who created the Star Knights and trains new recruits to act as an intergalactic order of peace-keepers. Every Star Knight is gifted a set of armor that comes with a host of super-powers.

Worlds Beyond is our final entry for the World of Freedom, detailing parallel dimensions of all kinds. Reality is often referred to as the Cosmic Coil by mystics, a network of planes of existence connecting to each other in all manner of ways. The pantheons of various deities have their own realms, such as Mount Olympus for the Greek gods and Guinee for the Loa of Voodoo. Some dimensions, such as the Astral Plane and Dream Dimension, connect to many different worlds and can be reached by psychic and magical means, and some “infernal” dimensions such as Tartarus and the Netherworlds are ruled over by fell entities such as Hades. Every dimension has a Master Mage whose duties are as a mystic guardian, although those who become corrupted by power and wickedness become Dark Lords, their realms turning into dread Netherworlds.

Some dimensions are classified as “Other-Earths,” looking much like the reality of Earth-Prime but often with a radically different history. Notable Other-Earths include Ani-Earth (anthropomorphic animals are the dominant species), Anti-Earth (like Earth-Prime but superheroes are villains and supervillains are likely killed off by the ruling Tyranny Syndicate), Erde (Fascists won WWII), Earth-Ape (primates are dominant species), and Terra-Roma (super-science is the only superpower, Earth is ruled over by an advanced Roman Empire that never fell).

Three dimensions special enough to merit their own entries are the Terminus and Zero Zone. The Terminus is a void between all realities, believed to be the “tail end” of the Cosmic Coil. Populated by shattered worlds and castoff bits and pieces from other universes, all things drift towards the Void to be annihilated, and the nihilistic tyrant Omega is the most powerful ruler. He has become obsessed with destroying Earth-Prime in particular, on account of the Centurion and many other superheroes thwarting his attempts multiple times. The other special dimension is the Zero Zone, an unchanging realm of stillness and endless white “mist” which is actually a quantum cloud of probability. When an entity capable of thought enters the Zero Zone, their consciousness interacts with the clouds and can alter the surrounding environment, often becoming a heaven or hell of the subject’s own making. The third dimension is Freeport, home to the pirate-themed city of the same name and Green Ronin’s other flagship product at the time. The villainous organization known as the Brotherhood of the Yellow Sign has a presence in both Freeport and Earth-Prime, leading those aware of both dimensions to assume that they began in one reality and somehow bridged the dimensional gulf.

I’d like to note that 2nd Edition introduced more material, particularly in regards to Other Dimensions. Originally 1st Edition only had entries for Anti-Earth, Freeport, and the Terminus, with other unnamed worlds to be developed by the GM.

Templates Galore: This section is home to plenty of templates and stat blocks, mostly detailing the various fictional species and a few notable characters such as Gigantosaur (think Godzilla) and the Grue Meta-Mind (immobile protean being with amazing mental powers). Virtually every creature, from Avians to Ultimen to Grue, have stats, and most are affordable in the building of PCs belonging to them. The exceptions are the Grue Metamorphs (PL 6 but 121 points) and the Star Knight template (104 points).

Thoughts So Far: I do appreciate that even in its infancy, Freedom City had a lot of detail on the rest of the world beyond its metropolitan borders. Ironically the publishing of many sourcebooks over time meant that 3rd Edition had less material due to already-covered ground. But for those with the funds to spare, I’d say that the “missing content” is an overall improvement on the prior Editions of Freedom City. The “secrets” of various people and places are helpful to the GM, and there’s enough interesting places beyond Freedom City proper to serve as inspirational material for GMs and PC origins. I do feel that there is some repetition in places: Atlantis, the Lor Republic, and Terra-Roma have “technologically-advanced Roman Empire” as a common theme, with the colony of Nova Roma in the Lost World making four Roman-themed places (five if we count Centurion’s destroyed home-world). On the one hand I do understand that this is likely due to the Centurion having such a prominent role in the setting, but at some point it can feel monotonous.

Join us next time as we look at Earth-Prime’s greatest defenders in Heroes of Freedom City!

[Libertad]

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Known in 1st Edition as Heroes & Villains and in 2nd Edition as Friends of Freedom, 3rd Edition’s title is the most self-explanatory. This chapter details the notable superheroes of the Earth-Prime setting, and given the metaplot development the entries differ by Edition. The Freedom League’s membership has gained and lost a few members over time, while the Next-Gen got an entirely new membership in 3e but are relegated to that Edition’s Hero High sourcebook. Eldrich is no longer Master Mage in 3e after bequeathing that title to Seven (who then ended up a Dark Lord of the Netherworld). One notable thing exclusive to 1e was listing one-sentence quotes (including for villains) to give a taste of their personality, as well as Rogues Gallery listings to show which supervillains have history with Earth-Prime’s defenders. There were also backstories and stat blocks for non-powered friends and acquaintances for many of the heroes, such as Captain Thunder’s wife and son as well as his old Air Force buddy Dan Cloud who serves as an aeronautic consultant and mechanic for the Freedom League.


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The Freedom League is the longest-lasting and most famous superhero team in the Earth-Prime universe. Their membership changed greatly over the decades, and as of 3rd Edition only Daedalus and Siren have membership stretching back to the Silver Age. Their traditional headquarters used to be Freedom Hall in Freedom City, but as of 2e they launched an orbital space station known as the Lighthouse to serve as that purpose instead. With teleportals and spaceplanes, they can easily go anywhere on Earth and beyond.

In 1e and 2e the Freedom League’s leader was Captain Thunder (Ray Gardener), a former Air Force pilot who gained lightning-based superpowers from a rogue experiment by the mad scientist Dr. Stratos. While he initially had a secret identity, Dr. Stratos captured him and revealed it to the world, and Ray had to relocate his family to Freedom City in order to gain a safer life. As of 3e he retired, with his son Ray Gardener Jr. (formerly Bolt of the Next-Gen) joining the Freedom League as Thunderbolt.

Bowman (Fletcher Beaumont III) is the fourth superhero to bear the legacy title of the Golden Age archer. In 1e he was a member of Claremont Academy’s Next-Gen, but as of later Editions he graduated and joined the Freedom League. Although he is one of the less-powerful members and has no superpowers, he more than makes up for it with his knowledge of tactics and arsenal of gimmick arrows.

Centuria (Katherine Leeds) is unique to 3e, the daughter of an alternate-universe Centurion who also arrived in Earth-Prime via a life pod from space. And like the Centurion that became world-famous on Earth-Prime, her home dimension was destroyed by the Terminus. Her proclaimed backstory and similarities in powers caused a media frenzy, and after some heavy vetting by other superheroes she was happily accepted by her new home. She is the most powerful member at PL 13, with abilities similar to her “father.”

Daedalus was a mainstay in all 3 Editions, being one of the world’s most brilliant scientists with origins dating back to Ancient Greece. He is much like the Daedalus of myth, although the minotaur he was responsible for trapping would eventually become Taurus, head of the Labyrinth. He also earned the enmity of Hades once the gods “gifted” him immortality as a means of making up for his son’s loss, and the ruler of the Underworld took his initial refusal as a personal affront. Ever since, Daedalus has wandered the world, learning from lifetimes’ worth of civilizations and covertly passing on his own findings to others such as Isaac Newton and Leonardo DaVinci. Few people know that Daedalus is the man of myth, and instead he pretends that a succession of “sons” are gifted his trademark battlesuit.

Dr. Metropolis’ true origins are unknown, although theories abound that he’s the metaphysical manifestation of the concept of cities. He appeared in the aftermath of Omega’s invasion of Freedom City, using his powers to repair the damage. He was called “Dr. Metropolis” by scientists which he accepted as his own, shortly thereafter joining the Freedom League. On the surface he seems emotionless and has trouble understanding human social cues, although he possesses a deep care for his beloved city. As you can imagine, Dr. Metropolis serves as a good narrative explanation for why Freedom City (and other metropolii of Earth-Prime) aren’t ruined wastelands with all the collateral damage from supervillains.

Johnny Rocket (John Wade) is a speedster who inherited his powers from his grandfather who was the Johnny Rocket of the Golden Age. His powers activated when one of the last surviving villains of the latter’s rogues gallery tracked him down and tried to kill him. Johnny’s powers activated instinctively, and in a manner that left a lot of witnesses, so he never had a secret identity. This would come back to haunt him when he was publicly outed by an angry ex-boyfriend. As this was the early 2000s America (and when the first book was published), this was a lot less socially acceptable then than it is now, so there were a lot of people calling for the Freedom League to kick him out as a “bad influence.” They refused, in fact going on to support him, and the original Johnny Rocket told the press how he was proud of his grandson as a worthy successor.

As of 3e, Johnny Rocket is still a member of the Freedom League, although he recently became an adoptive father and mentor to Jonni Rocket, a female clone of the superhero created by his archenemy Dr. Simian.

Lady Liberty (2e Elizabeth Walton-Wright, 3e Sonia Gutierrez) is not a single superhero so much as a title that has been passed down to generations of worthy women by the Spirit of Liberty. The first one to join the current version of the Freedom League was a liberal lawyer married to a police detective, although her superhero life has put a damper on their marriage. Elizabeth eventually stepped down her role, feeling that she could do more good via charity work and service at a legal clinic, causing the Spirit of Liberty to find a new host. It found that host in Sonia Gutierrez, a transgender woman and daughter of Mexican immigrants. Unlike Donna’s liberal and relative apoliticism, Sonia was well aware of America’s many moral shortcomings on its minority citizens, and while not a patriot like former Lady Liberties she was chosen due to her compassionate nature after she saved a random woman from an attempted murder. The newest member of the Freedom League, Sonia feels a bit in over her head at times although the former Lady Liberty established contact as a mentor.

Pseudo (R’ik Faax) is exclusive to 2e, a member of the shapeshifting Grue. Trained from birth to be a scout for the Grue Unity, he was sent to Earth with the purpose of sabotage, although he went rogue after spending time among humans. Seeing the worthy causes championed by superheroes, R’ik eventually joined the League sometime during the Silver Age, establishing a new identity as freelance journalist Rick Fox when not superheroing. He’s not listed as a member in 3e although that book doesn’t mention his fate. The most I could find is him being mentioned as a reserve member.

The Raven (Callie Summers) is exclusive to 1e and 2e, the daughter of the original Raven. Duncan Summers sought to keep his identity a secret from his family, although after one of his foes kidnapped Callie the secret was out. She did what she could to learn more about her father’s time as the Raven, covertly training in the hopes of becoming like him. Eventually Duncan realized that in spite of his protests he couldn’t deny Callie’s wishes. She is pretty much “female Batman,” having no superpowers but highly trained in a variety of skills and feats with a small arsenal of equipment and non-lethal grenades. As of 3e Callie retired and became Mayor of Freedom City, passing on the mantle of Raven to Elite, formerly of the teenage superhero team the AlterniTeens. That Raven currently operates out of New York City.

Siren (Cassandra Vale/La Siren) is two people in one: the psychologist Cassandra Vale and the Voodoo Loa La Sirene. Cassandra visited the Voodoo communities in Haiti in the 1960s as part of a research paper. She theorized that the power of belief can reshape reality, which is responsible for creating all manner of supernatural beings. She inadvertently came across a drug smuggling ring, and was saved by La Sirene when the smugglers attempted to turn her into shark food. The Loa explained to Cassandra that she was chosen for a special purpose: humans were ultimately good and worthy of aid of the spirits, although one of their peers Baron Samedi disagreed, arguing that humans were little better than animals and worthy only of being slaves to the Loa. So Cassandra was chosen to help settle this cosmic bet, operating as the superhero Siren to make the world a better place and also operating against Baron Samedi’s many plots.

Star Knight (Maria Montoya) is a 2e/3e addition, a child of immigrants and a cop who uncovered Grue spies in her police department when investigating internal corruption. It wasn’t long before Pseudo came to her aid, given that she was now wrapped up in a plot for the aliens to invade Earth. Mentor of the Star Knights approached Maria, offering to appoint her the new Star Knight of Earth’s sector of space. It was only natural that she’d also join the Freedom League, albeit as a reserve member. As of 3e she’s been less active on Earth on account of the interstellar turmoil wrought by Star Khan and Collapsar.

Thunderbolt (Ray Gardener Jr.) is a 3e exclusive, an intangible mass of electrical energy contained within a human-shaped bodysuit. Ray used to be a normal boy, having developed electrical powers during puberty inherited from his father, the great Captain Thunder. He enrolled in Claremont Academy to help manage his powers, joining the Next-Gen as Bolt during his time there. His zest for superheroism didn’t die out upon graduation, and sought to join the Freedom League. Ray got his wish, albeit as a result of recklessness in trying to apprehend Dr. Stratos on his own. Captain Thunder saved his son, albeit at the expense of becoming permanently depowered and Ray Jr.’s body atomized into a “living thunderbolt.” Daedalus and Dr. Atom helped construct a containment suit to let him live something close to a normal life, and he did join the Freedom League. Although he still bears guilt for being responsible for the circumstances that led to his father’s retirement.

Fun Fact: The 2nd Edition book Worlds of Freedom had a chapter covering Freedom City in the “near future” of the 2040s. Several characters mentioned in the 3e sourcebook were part of the team, such as Centuria, Jonni Rocket, and Thunderbolt.

Thoughts: The Freedom League is a pretty decent team. They have an established presence in the world and their various members occupy a diversity of roles that make them feel distinct. Although many are built with far more Power Points than a PC of equivalent Power Level, many of their members are within the bounds of starting PCs for typical PL 10 campaigns. Your average party may not be able to take them all on at once: there’s 8 of them, and over half are above PL 10, but unlike “big names” in other established settings (coughwhitewolfcoughforgottenrealmscough) their capabilities aren’t so far and above beginning PCs to the point that your players will feel useless in comparison.

I will note one peculiar thing on my mind: in the case of Siren, La Sirene is a real-world religious figure in Voodoo. I did read that Steve Kenson wanted to make a superhero setting where Vodouism is prominent in the same way that the Nordic faith is in the Marvel universe or the Greco-Roman pantheon in DC. But unlike those faiths, Voodoo has been under a sustained propaganda campaign, being portrayed as a creepy cult of zombies and black magic in most pop culture portrayals to the detriment of other aspects. The placement of Baron Samedi as a zombie-focused supervillain mirrors this, and from what I read of the actual faith the Baron doesn’t really occupy an “evil” role in Voodoo. That being said, I am not a practitioner nor do I know those who are, so I can only speak as an outside observer going off of what others have said.


https://i.imgur.com/c2piOwq.png

The Atom Family is the second major team of Freedom City. Modeled heavily off of the Fantastic Four with a side of Johnny Quest thrown in, the Atoms are a family of adventuring psychic scientists who travel to all manner of places around Earth-Prime and even other dimensions. Their “membership” dates back to the Golden Age, with Dr. Atom being your typical pulp two-fisted scientist who is now a disembodied AI confined to the family home in Freedom City. He is far from useless, being capable of traveling the Internet and appearing as a holographic advisor anywhere. Dr. Atom also invented and patented morphic molecules, an adaptive fabric made of super-strong material that is an in-universe explanation for how superhero uniforms remain virtually undamaged without the need for regular change.

The Atom Family’s membership remains unchanged between Editions. Besides the disembodied Dr. Atom, there’s Maximus Atom (eldest and leader when in the field, powers include size-changing), Tesla Atom (stereotypical nerdy scientist, energy manipulator), Victoria Atom (optimistic mediator of the family, stretchy-shapeable form), Chase Atom (psychic telepath/illusionist, is great at superhero stuff but has trouble adapting to “normal life”), Jack Wolf (former soldier of fortune who became guardian of the Atom children upon Dr. Atom’s ‘death’ back in the day, has no powers but pilots their flying “Atomobile” and is good with a blaster), Cosmo the Moon Monkey (Chase’s pet, psychic teleporting monkey from Farside City), and ALEX (Artificial Life-form Experiment, robot butler and lab assistant with British accent).

As of 3e, Max Atom became CEO of the family business Atomic Inc and got married and had children, Victoria manages a travelog blog that created the phenomenon known as “V-Spotting” (fans guessing where the Atom family might be traveling in their area). Chase has been approached by Thunderbolt of the Freedom League with an offer to join (an offer he’ll take up in Future Freedom from Worlds of Freedom). And Dr. Atom helped cure Gamma the Atom-Smasher, nuclear-themed supervillain, of his radioactive powers.

Thoughts: I like the Atom Family. They have a different enough dynamic and place in the world in comparison to the Freedom League, so they don’t feel like a carbon-copy cutout of “Generic Superhero Team B.” About half of their members aren’t that powerful or have complications preventing them from being useful in combat (Dr. Atom, ALEX, and Cosmo the Moon Monkey) but that helps strengthen their theme as a superpowered family who prioritize exploring the mysteries of the world.


https://i.imgur.com/UP5vlgf.png

This is the closest “group shot” I could find of the Next-Gen. Several members are also of the AlterniTeens in case it seems like there are “missing entries.”

The Next-Gen are exclusive to 1e/2e, and in the current Edition have an entirely different membership that is detailed in Hero High. The Next-Gen are a team of teenage superheroes from Claremont Academy and operate with the covert support of Duncan Summers. They are overall lower-powered than the Freedom League, with member PLs averaging around 8 or 9 with their strongest member Megastar at PL 10; in 1e they had overall higher PLs, averaging 10.

Bowman was a member in 1e, with Captain Thunder’s son joining in 2e as Bolt. Bowman’s time at the Academy had him as a star student, wanting to help restore the family name after the last generations’ less than noble departure from the Freedom League (namely alcoholism compromising his superhero career).

Bolt (Ray Gardener Jr.) is the newest member of the Next-Gen as of 2e, being eager to enjoy life and is good friends with Chase Atom. He has electrical-themed superpowers and as well as super-speed.

Megastar (Christopher Beck) was a normal high school student who ended up bonding with an alien piece of technology known as MEGAS, or Metamorphic Encephalic Guidance and Attack Suspension. The Grue sought to steal MEGAS from the Lor Republic after its carrier ship crash-landed on Earth. Christopher managed to fend off the Grue after changing into a taller and stronger silver-haired man with super-strength and flight. He was eager to prove himself to the Freedom League, although his age meant that he was sent to the Claremont Academy instead. As of 3e Chris’ life has been rough; personality problems, not being a “team player,” and relying far too much on MEGAS’ powers to coast him through life made him a washed-up superhero turned supervillain working as a galactic enforcer for Tellax in the Rogues Gallery sourcebook.

Nereid (Thetis) is the granddaughter of the original Golden Age Siren, her father being the King of Atlantis. She was sent to the Claremont Academy to gain a greater understanding of the surface world for her eventual role as Queen, being a literal “fish out of water” to this new environment. Although she isn’t overtly arrogant and spoiled, she does have a high opinion of herself in viewing her royal status as making her better than “common folk.” As of 3e she returned to Atlantis and resumed her royal duties, detailed in the Atlas of Earth-Prime.

Seven (Serena Vervain) is quite clearly Raven from Teen Titans, but more extroverted and serves as the Next-Gen’s moral support. She came from a bloodline of witches and has the potential to be the most powerful in her family tree. Her grandmother enrolled her in the Claremont Academy, and she took the name Seven due to that number’s magical powers and being the seventh realized witch in her family (sometimes the magical potential skips generations). Serena also began an apprenticeship under Adrian Eldrich, and her archenemy is the demonic lawyer Lucius Cabot who believes her part of a prophecy that will spell his undoing. As of 3e she took on Eldrich’s role as Earth-Prime’s Master Mage, only to lose it after defeating Una Queen of the Netherworld and accidentally taking her title of Dark Lord. If she refused the role the realm would cease to exist, effectively killing everyone in that reality.

Finally we have Sonic (Lemar Phillips), a young man who grew up in Lincoln and was strong-armed by a friend who sought to prove himself to a local gang. The gang sought to steal an experimental sonic disruptor, only for unforeseen circumstances to trigger it and bestow sound-based powers on Lemar. Startled by this turn of events, he shared what happened with Wilson Jeffers of the Lincoln Youth Center. Wilson in turn revealed his status as the former superhero the Black Avenger, and helped train him. By the time Sonic became a notable superhero in Lincoln and Southside he was offered a spot at the Claremont Academy, although Lemar sought to keep attending his “regular” classes at his local high school and is at Claremont mostly as a member of the Next-Gen.

Thoughts: The Next-Gen has some clear inspiration from the Teen Titans: Bolt is like Kid Flash and Nereid an Atlantean Starfire. Although I can spot other influences: for example, Megastar bears a strong resemblance to Ben Ten (kid uses an alien artifact to gain superpowers), and Sonic sounds similar to Static and has a similar backstory (African-American teenager pressured by gangs and gaining superpowers from weird science experiment). Like the Freedom League, each member has a unique power set and role, although given their lower Power Levels are a bit less multi-talented. Bolt is like Johnny Rocket in being a fragile speedster but with less powers and tricks, Megastar is like Star Knight as a space-themed bruiser but without that one’s universal translator and ranged attacks, etc. Unlike the Freedom League their Power Point totals are well within the bounds of their respective PLs, meaning that they are more on par with typical PL 8 teen superhero PCs if one’s GM opts for a Claremont Academy campaign.


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Solo Heroes is our shortest section, and its entries differ depending on Edition. In 2e Lantern Jack was included among them, although we detailed him already in an earlier post. Dr. Tomorrow wasn’t available in 1e although he was referenced in the history, while as of 3e Adrian Eldrich was destroyed in battle with Una before Seven deposed her as Dark Lord.

Dr. Tomorrow (Tomas Morgen) hails from the dimension of Erde, where the Axis powers won WWII. Tomas was created as part of a eugenics program in the Nationalist States of America to be the perfect Nazi poster boy, although he eventually learned of the horrors his ideology was built upon and made contact with the American Resistance. They raided a military lab to steal an experimental time-travel device in hopes of traveling back in time to prevent the Axis from winning. He made contact with FDR, helping form the Liberty League. Tomas’ dream of defeating the Axis was successful, although his manipulation of the time-stream either put him back in time into the Earth-Prime of the 1940s…or instead created a parallel universe in the timestream as a result of this. Regardless, his original home was still ruled over by fascists, so Tomas returned in the hopes of giving them the freedom that he helped win in Earth-Prime. He was successful in developing weapons and technology to help the Resistance defeat the Nazi’s brain-jar-controlled tanks and fighter jets, and having done his part he now travels through time warning various figures of import about cosmic catastrophes.

Eldrich (Adrian Eldrich) is Freedom City’s Doctor Strange, an all-purpose “superhero wizard” and investigator of the occult. He delved into the world of magic when visiting a lost Temple of Sirrion back in the 1930s, accidentally breaking the protective seals which housed the Atlantean archmage Malador the Mystic. Being a wizard of great evil, Malador imprisoned Eldrich and left him to die, although the temple’s guardians sensed Adrian’s magical potential as the reincarnation of their former master, awakening memories dating back to Atlantis and filling him with magical power.

Eldrich did a lot of good in the world, as much as any superhero, although unlike the more overt cape-bearers a lot of his deeds were done behind the scenes and rarely made it into headline news. In 1977 he made residence in Freedom City, eventually tutoring Serena Vervain in spellcraft. His body died in combat with Una, but his soul lives on in the higher planes.

Foreshadow (David Sloane) was born with the ability to see into the future, a talent he tried hiding. When a vision showed his parents dying in a car crash he tried to warn them, but they didn’t take him seriously and that terrible event came to pass. David was left with a significant inheritance, although he decided to travel the world and learn more about his powers as well as picking up other talents along the way. When he came back to his old neighborhood of Southside he saw how criminals and evildoers had come to prominence and decided to put his training and powers to use as the precognitive superhero, Foreshadow! He’s a street-level vigilante who tangles with the Freedom City Mob, and as of 3e developed a rivalry and mutual attraction with Lady Tarot. The Freedom League has encountered Foreshadow and even offered him membership, although he declined, preferring to operate on his own.

Thoughts: The Solo Heroes are a bit of a mixed bag for me. Dr. Tomorrow and Foreshadow are PL 9 and serve as useful allies for their respective fields (time travel, street level) yet not to the point that their abilities overshadow typical PL 10 parties. Eldrich is a very powerful PL 13 character whose magical array makes him quite multi-talented in what he can do, although I can’t help but feel he’s somehow out of place. I’m guessing that this must be why he was removed in 3rd Edition, and also for the possibility of a PC taking the role of the now-vacant Master Mage title.

Thoughts So Far: I already went over my individual thoughts for the entries above, so this is a more holistic judgment. I will say that Freedom City does a good job of making a setting that is “lived in.” Practically every superhero in this chapter has a solid backstory, personality, relationships, and distinct themes with little in the way of overlapping roles. And such overlap tends to come more from the relative rookie teenage superheroes, like Eldrich to Seven or Bolt to Captain Thunder/Johnny Rocket.

One downside is that the large number of superheroes in a relatively small area means that it’s harder for original PCs to establish themselves in the setting, and inevitably begs the question of what the other superheroes are doing when some city-wide threat comes to Freedom. The books attempt to alleviate this with various explanations and suggestions, such as the Freedom League having a more worldwide sphere of influence, the Atom Family usually traveling abroad, or the PCs joining the teams. Although given the way the characters are written it sounds like they’re a frequent enough presence in Freedom City to the point that they rarely leave the metropolis alone for long periods.

Join us next time as we cover the first part of Foes of Freedom! Yes, there’s a lot.

[Tanarii]

La metro area is almost 5k sq miles (about 1/4 of which is desert/mountains in the north and another 1/4 suburbs) and has a population of 13 million. Thats Los Angeles and Orange County combined. The densest region is the Los Angeles-Longbeach-Glendale region, as well as Anaheim. It's effective one big densely packed city (political boundaries not withstanding).

Comparing to just Los Angeles City doesn't really make a lot of sense unless Freedom City is also structured the same way, neighboring (and even interwoven with) other densely populated cities, spanning multiple counties. If it is, the stats make sense. If not, it's a fairly small city.

[Libertad]

La metro area is almost 5k sq miles (about 1/4 of which is desert/mountains in the north and another 1/4 suburbs) and has a population of 13 million. Thats Los Angeles and Orange County combined. The densest region is the Los Angeles-Longbeach-Glendale region, as well as Anaheim. It's effective one big densely packed city (political boundaries not withstanding).

Comparing to just Los Angeles City doesn't really make a lot of sense unless Freedom City is also structured the same way, neighboring (and even interwoven with) other densely populated cities, spanning multiple counties. If it is, the stats make sense. If not, it's a fairly small city.

The numbers I got for NYC and LA were via Googling, and many results often gave conflicting information. I presumed that "metro area" meant the city proper rather than outlying areas, which is how I got those numbers. I'll recorrect the info in a later post or the original one in due time.

Freedom City's size is small, although that may be due to being based off of real-world Southern New Jersey. From Googling, Camden is a mere 10 square miles in metro area, and Atlantic City around 17 square miles.

[Tanarii]

I think the relevant point is if it's part of a sprawling megacity made up of smaller dense cities (going by political boundaries) like LA or NY metro, or a standalone city, possibly not including any far less dense suburbs. If it's the latter, which it sounds like, it's decently large for a single political boundary. If it was the former and it really was like LA or NY it would have been worth noting that the stats are just for the city proper, but the metro area is considerable larger.

Thanks for the follow up, it gives me a better idea of what it's like.

[Beleriphon]

I can't wait to see your review of the adventures in the back of the 2E Freedom City. Captain Kraken is amazing.

[Libertad]

Want to let everyone know I'm still interested in continuing this review, I've just had a lot going on these past 2 weeks.

[Ameraaaaaa]

I'm still interested.

[Sir_Chivalry]

Yes please been checking back regularly to read this, it's very helpful

[Libertad]

https://i.imgur.com/y7TMLXE.png

This section is by far the largest in the book, so we’re doing it in several parts, with this post covering the villainous groups. 1e is peculiar in being the only Edition that has no villains that can’t be found in later versions, so for listing Edition changes I’ll note only the later ones for ease of writing. The transition to 2e added a lot more antagonists, although 3e has a few of which are missing, and in terms of the timeskip made quite a few big changes to several of them. Pretty much every villain missing from the current Edition is due to being previously statted in other supplements (such as Mastermind in Threat Report), the RPG’s Patreon page, or in the case of Doc Otaku he retired from supervillainy to run a robotics company. 1e and 2e split antagonists into groups/teams first, then individuals next but were otherwise alphabetical. 3e tends to go back and forth: for instance, the members of the Crime League and Tyranny Syndicate are listed under their respective groups (C and T) although Overshadow, the leader of SHADOW, is listed well before his organization under “O.” I much prefer 2nd Edition’s organization.

The Annihilists (3e) are the various rulers of the Terminus regions that pledged allegiance to Omega. Although their full number is left to the GM, the four detailed here are the most feared and infamous. Each shares a story of how they came to serve the Lord of the Terminus, usually resulting in helping hasten the fall of their now-destroyed homeworlds. Although they are very powerful (averaging PL 13-14), the Annihilists lack the desire for teamwork, instead preferring to use their privilege to jockey for favor and undermine the others via wargames and schemes. Shadivan Steelgrave is a fallen power armor wearing superhero who instigated a civil war among superhumans due to a prophecy proclaiming planetary destruction. He is now the creator and maintainer of the Omegadrones, once-living creatures turned into brainwashed cyborgs to serve as the Terminus’ shock troops. Madrigal Martinet was a superhero who sought revenge against the Warlord, a tyrant who slaughtered her people. She ended up making an alliance with Omega to achieve this, and is secretly in love with Mandragora. Mandragora hailed from a world where dragons and humans lived side by side in a modern world, and was proclaimed to be the one who would bring both people together when gaining the powers of dragonfire. He fought against Omega but failed, and swore fealty to him upon defeat in combat. Physician Friendly was a scientific genius who managed to save his world against a threat known as the Nanoknights, but in the end it wasn’t a world worth living in. He viewed cosmic destruction as a mercy killing, falling under Omega’s sway and becoming his chief torturer and biologist. Physician Friendly is a demented sadist who dresses in a stereotypical doctor’s outfit, accompanied by robotic Nightmare Nurses.

The Brotherhood of the Yellow Sign are cultists who worship the Unspeakable One, aka the Yellow King, aka the Lovecraftian god Hastur. The cult’s origins began in the Serpent People empire of Lemuria, sprouting up as a hidden group among the otherwise Yig-devout reptiles. When Lemuria fell in war against Atlantis, Yig’s example was forgotten, with the Unspeakable One reigning supreme among the Serpent People survivors. When humans evolved the Brotherhood began recruiting them, and when superheroes grew in number in the 20th century the cult clashed often against them. The Brotherhood is rather brief in comparison to other entries: they have a listed goal (summon the Unspeakable One to Earth-Prime who is a Power Level X* entity), stat blocks for PL 4 Serpent People and suggested traits for human cultists, and mention of the Serpent Scepter artifact which is a powerful item that can mind-control reptiles and change targets into Serpent People at rank 20 effects. Although this is extremely powerful by the game rules, it corrupts the user over time.

*term for a plot device beyond game statistics.

The Crime League arose in the 1940s, where the foes of various superheroes banded together due to there being strength in numbers. They served as archenemies to the Freedom League, both as an organization and to individual members. The Crime League’s primary goal is profit and self-enrichment as a group, although individuals often have their own personal goals. The core membership that has stayed the same across Editions are Devil Ray (US Navy deserter who absconded with an armored MANTA Suit), Dr. Stratos (weather-controlling meteorologist who thinks himself a god), Medea (of Greek myth, a sadistic and misandrist mage), Orion the Hunter (non-powered but highly skill gun-for-hire who gets a thrill in hunting superhumans), and Wildcard (jester-dressed guy who can control probability but whose luck eventually runs out). Edition-specific members of the League include Dr. Simian (2e and later, ape granted intelligence by experiments in ASTRO Labs, wishes to free the rest of the animal kingdom and take revenge on humanity for their crimes against nature), Hiroshima Shadow (2e only, city spirit who spawned from the atomic bombing of Japan and has an all-consuming hate of Westerners), the Maestro (2e, musician-themed scientist who hates modern music), and Tom Cypress (imagine a cross between Solomon Grundy and Swamp Thing). One special case is the Freebooter, who was a solo villain in 2e. Jared McGinnis is a wheelchair-bound hacker who built a pirate android to go out and commit crimes. His motivations were hacktivism, targeting political and corporate figures whose wealth and influence allowed them to avoid the consequences of the law, although Jared’s own elitism burned a lot of bridges with other hacktivist groups. He would eventually join the Crime League as a technical consultant, enjoying the wealth gained, although he still has a bit of a moral compass and the book notes there may be circumstances which cause him to defect.

In terms of 3e metaplot, Devil Ray ended up receiving a “gift” from Dagon which allows him to control aquatic creatures but is gradually transforming him into a monster which he takes pain to reverse; Dr. Stratos designated Captain Thunder’s son, Thunderbolt, as his new archenemy; Orion seeks to “train” the newest Lady Liberty into a worthy opponent, viewing her as far below the prior one’s example; Medea discovered that Wildcard is channeling a kind of “chaos energy” and his keeping a close eye on him; Maestro left to become a solo villain but challenged the Devil to a musical contest at a midnight crossroads, winning and gaining youth and inherent musical powers rather than relying upon technology. As for Hiroshima Shadow, his fate is unmentioned.

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The Factor Four (2e) are the archenemies of the Atom Family. They were rival explorers during the 1970s who gained elemental powers from a set of mystical artifacts known as the Prime Elements. Their crimes center around gaining access to magical and scientific knowledge and devices in unethical ways, such as kidnapping and theft. The Factor Four are locked into their current forms, which while granting them power makes it difficult for them to interact and operate in mainstream society. They are made up of Professor Fathom (water powers, amoral scientist), Granite (earth powers, the muscle of the group), Pyre (fire powers, getaway driver), and Sylph (air powers, Fathom’s wife and the least happy about her new form).

The Foundry is an underground arms dealing ring specializing in high-tech weapons and devices they sell to the highest bidder. They operate secret facilities all over the world which are connected by teleportation platforms and heavily guarded by legions of robots. Their leader is Talos, an intelligence android built by the Greek God Hephaestus in ancient times, and was a former friend of Daedalus before becoming resentful at the inventor’s refusal to build him a mate. This led the robot to conclude that mortals were secretly fearful and jealous of his “superior” artificial nature.

Beneath Talos is Keres, an android specialized for assassination purposes and can take various humanoid forms, and Scylla, an intelligent computer system who digitally oversees the security systems of all Foundry facilities. ECHIDNA is a giant physical AI that forms the “core” of the Foundry’s headquarters and can build a wide variety of robots which it teleports to various Foundry sites. The expendable “minions” of the Foundry are the Myrmidons, robots which are sold to the organization’s many customers and come in various models (basic, stealth, combat, and war). As of 3e the Foundry encountered some worthy competition of weapons designers with a similar organization, the Ghostworks, who are operating out of Emerald City. It is unknown whether Talos will seek to destroy or incorporate them into his organization.

https://i.imgur.com/p9UhlFD.png

The Labyrinth (2e) is a clandestine gathering of the world’s most powerful and unethical business leaders, led by Taurus who is the minotaur of Greek myth and richest man in the world…and who in turns worships Hades, making that deity the technical “leader” of the organization. The Labyrinth’s network of businesses can influence world politics via applying for government contracts for various projects, with deep ties in the military-industrial complex and biotech firms. The organization’s greatest asset is the DNAscent Process, a series of drug, genetic, and cybernetic therapies that can grant humans temporary (and in rare cases permanent) superpowers, often relating to physical enhancement. The scientists responsible are sequestered between various corporations and Pentagon projects so nobody has the entire blueprint, and Taurus retains a tight control of the approval process so as not to overpopulate the world with superhumans he cannot easily control.

Taurus himself is your typical “super-strength brick” but high ranks in various intellectual skills. There’s a “team” of operatives the Labyrinth can deploy for sensitive missions: Ms. Scarlet is Taurus’ second in combat and trains DNAscent subjects in combat training; Dr. Peter Hanks is one of the DNAscent scientists who has a pair of gorilla arms growing out of his sides; Dr. Victor Reeds works on cybernetic enhancements and inventions and has his own inbuilt enhancements; Access is a thief who can move, sense, and speak to machines; Dybbuk is a psychic and former Mob assassin who can mind control and possess people via telepathy; Payback is a Hades-worshiper who has a cybernetic arm granting him super-strength and can nullify the powers of others; Sidetrack is a DNAscent subject who can teleport and blind others with bursts of light; Tamper is a former IRA terrorist and DNAscent subject brainwashed into thinking that he’s assassinating sinners on behalf of the Catholic Church and can nullify all manner of technological devices and powers; and Targette is a former gang member and Sidetrack’s girlfriend, capable of absorbing harm and channeling it back as mental blasts.

Larceny, Inc. (2e) are four DNAscent subjects who managed to escape incarceration by the Labyrinth and decided to use their powers to get revenge on the biotech firm responsible for their captivity…and make some sweet, sweet cash on the side. Their headquarters are split between three converted lofts, with shell companies purchasing vacant apartments for emergencies. They work well as a team, not suffering from the vindictive one upmanship of some other teams here like the Annihilists and Tyranny Syndicate. Get-Away is the party speedster, a devoted hedonist and thrill junkie; Grab is a professional con artist whose powers allow her to stretch and bounce; Smash is super-strong bruiser with anger issues; and Trap Door is the leader of the team who can teleport and fights with a Kinetistaff that can deliver ranged blasts. Although they are wanted by the authorities, Larceny Inc. has done a lot to disrupt the schemes of the Labyrinth, so they’re more on the anti-hero side of things than being outright villains.

The Power Corps (2e) are a simple entry. Eight soldiers who were former minions of the supervillain Mastermind who decided to go on their own, acting as hired muscle. They are identical in terms of stats and have the typical “Iron Man” assortment of abilities: ranged blasts, radio communication, flight, super-strength, and environmental immunities.

https://i.imgur.com/ZV09e5d.png

The Psions (2e) are a family of psychics whose patriarch, Artur Zion, is a Jewish man who fled Germany to live in the United States. He naturally hated the Nazis and their proclaimed race-science, although his paranormal research led him to believe that the sudden appearances of super-powered beings represented the next step in human evolution. When his research didn’t coincide with these findings, he resorted to desperate measures such as using criminals to create potential paranormals and even experimenting on himself which ended up giving him psychic powers. He soon cultivated a family of psychics who are little more than a cult, teaching them that they are humanity’s next step and that the rest of the world is unable to appreciate or understand their greatness.

The Psions are a six person group themed around psychic powers. Ironically Professor Psion is the least powerful of them at PL 8 (others are mostly PL 10, generic telepathy abilities). The rest include Empath (emotion control and healing, field leader), Ember (pyrokinetic, doesn’t like the other family members), Jump (teleporter, privately doubts the family ideology), Aura (illusionist and telepath, another person most likely to break out of the family), and Argent (telekinetic, Aura’s twin sister who is torn between furthering the family cause and going on her own independently).

https://i.imgur.com/FbpNcfs.png

SHADOW, or Secret Hierarchy of Agents for Domination Over the World, is our setting’s HYDRA equivalent. Its leader, Overshadow, is a former Nazi SS officer who is the long-line of reincarnated lives of the Egyptian sorcerer Tan-Aktor and archenemy of the Scarab. His various non-Aryan heritages made him more clued in to the reality of things, with the text mentioning that personal empowerment comes secondary to ideology and that “racial or cultural superiority would be second to his superiority over all humanity.” Although SHADOW is now a more generic “take over the world” organization, it still has many ties and supporters of far-right groups. Such as aiding the South American dictatorships Nazi war criminals escaped to (detailed in Atlas of Earth-Prime), the South African super-soldier program mentioned earlier in this review, and Overshadow has an on-again off-again arm’s length alliance with Superior (detailed later) who was der Ubermensch and Hitler’s Aryan poster boy. So basically they’re still Nazis and Overshadow is an alt-right grifter pretending to be a “non-political moderate.”

SHADOW operates as a comic book terrorist organization. They get up to all sorts of villainous stuff, and their rank-and-file are programmed clones with no identity or individuality, and they have a secret base beneath Antarctica called Nifelheim. SHADOW’s upper leadership is the Penumbra, consisting of Overshadow and some other supervillains of various themes (a few of which have stats). Such examples include the Crimson Mask, who leads the Thule Society and assists in occult development, and Ragnarok, a Nordic half-god summoned to Earth by Overshadow and is the “heavy hitter” of the Penumbra. Two other villains detailed in this book, Taurus and Dr. Sin, are on as advisory members in a “keep your enemies closer” deal. The various Editions added more to SHADOW over time. In 1e the group didn’t even have Overshadow, Nazi origins, or detailed members, being a more general “secret criminal empire” for the GM to fill in the details. By 2e they were greatly expanded upon, and in 3e the Penumbra members (save one for the GM to create) were given descriptions. Additionally the organization’s clone agents gained specialized “super-clone” designs with themed superpowers along with telepathic communication due to experiments from a mind-virus known as Legion.

Additionally, they were listed as a separate entry in prior Editions, but given their relationship to SHADOW I’ll include them as part of them. Overthrow began as a leftist terrorist cell during the Cold War to strike out at Western governments, although in modern times they became completely coopted by SHADOW. As the general public is not aware of the rise of SHADOW, the fascists use these supposed anti-capitalists as a front to distract from their parent organization’s true plans.

https://i.imgur.com/KrHsaJ9.png

The Tyranny Syndicate are the Freedom League of Anti-Earth, where history and the rotation of the sun are uncannily “backward.” Here the Centurion became the Praetor, who viewed his powers as giving him the right to rule over the world as a new Caesar. He made alliances with other supervillains, forming the Tyranny Syndicate which soon became the sole global superpower, with most resistance (superpowered and otherwise) ruthlessly squashed. Praetor was eventually betrayed and murdered by the rest of the Syndicate, and their leaders have a high turnover rate: Captain Thunderbolt murdered Praetor, and was then murdered by Dr. Daedalus. The Syndicate’s members are basically evil versions of the Freedom League, and barring one exception (Madame Sin is evil Raven and has her own stat block) they use the stats of their Earth-Prime counterparts. Their backstories are understandably different: Dr. Daedalus gained immortality by sacrificing his own son to the Underworld, while Deathbolt was Captain Thunderbolt’s slacker son who stole his father’s powers via the assistance of Praetrix (herself a clone of the Praetor’s DNA).

3rd Edition expanded on Anti-Earth greatly in addition to providing more metaplot. Lady Anarchy, a former member of the Tyranny Syndicate, went rogue and unleashed a Chaos Storm in Viridian City in the Pacific Northwest, creating a new generation of superhumans to upset the status quo. We also have details on the Panopticon, the Syndicate’s aerial headquarters that is equipped with orbital weaponry that can fire anywhere on Earth’s surface. Then there’s the Academy, which is basically the Claremont Academy and tasked with indoctrinating young superhumans to be loyal to the Syndicate. We also have three heroic groups on Anti-Earth opposing the Tyranny Syndicate: the Courage Foundation (Crime League but only a few low-level lackeys remain), LIGHT (Liberty’s Insurgency for Goodness, Hope, and Truth, basically good-guy SHADOW), and Mind-Master (Mastermind’s good counterpart and sole remaining superhero of Anti-Earth, once got so depressed he tried to destroy this reality via one of Omega’s bombs via the Time of Crisis adventure).

Thoughts So Far: Overall I like the various villain teams, although some rise to the occasion better. My favorites are the Crime League and Tyranny Syndicate; the former are a great assortment of villains who can easily work as a team or individually for their own plots, with distinct personalities for each of them. The Tyranny Syndicate provides not just an evil Freedom League and an excuse to use that team’s stat blocks against your gaming group, but the entire concept of a “mirror world” allows for the fun idea of making evil doppelgangers of the PCs. The Foundry isn’t a team per se, but also have wide reach via providing a source for robot henchmen and all kinds of doomsday weapons to threaten your superheroes and the cities they defend. The Labyrinth also occupies a similar niche via its DNAscent program, and “rich evil corporations” are a broad enough concept to use for a variety of adventures.

A few fell short of the mark for me: the Brotherhood of the Yellow Sign is rather lacking in specific members and superpowered stat blocks unlike the other entries, with the human Cultist stat block and Serpent People being too low PL to menace actual superheroes. The Power Corps are fine as nameless “powersuit soldiers,” but they feel too one-note in comparison to the stronger write-ups of the other teams with individual villains and their backstories.

{scrubbed}

Join us next time as we cover the first group of Solo Villains!

[Sir_Chivalry]

I have returned to Freedom City many years after I last ran a game in it and in the intervening time I have to agree with you, SHADOW feels different. There's a lot of stuff in the setting which feels off at times because it was created in a time when certain things were comfortably "in the past" to the gaming community, I guess.

[Libertad]

https://i.imgur.com/Kh7DgDO.png
Villains of Freedom City, Part 2

Solo villains are characters who can easily operate on their own, and when they do have “help” it is often in the form of low-PL minions. While this is a picture-intensive chapter, I won’t include images of every supervillain because that task will take too long.

Argo the Ultimate Android is the first entry, and also the most powerful non-omnipotent villain in the book at PL 20 (2e) or 19 (right alongside Omega). He is an android built by Talos with the ability to mimic virtually any superpower, although he became “fixed” with what powers he has after fighting the Freedom League. He is of average intelligence and lacks skills, often relying upon others to repair him, although he seeks to become ruler over a society of robots.

In terms of game stats he’s ridiculous; his Powers section is very bloated given he has every superpower of the 2nd Edition Freedom League, which in one case gives him a ridiculously powerful Supersonic Punch that makes use of his already-impressive Strength. He can easily one-shot just about any character of 10-13 Power Level with this barring certain Immunities, and seriously hurt even the more powerful characters in this book. His main weakness is that he suffers additional degrees of failure from power drains and loses the Lady Liberty powers if bound or imprisoned.

Baron Samedi (1e/2e) is the archfoe of Siren, the Voodoo Loa of Death who is riding a mortal host that is a drug kingpin. He makes use of his criminal contacts to distribute zombie powder in the eventual hopes of turning the world into an undead apocalypse. He has various magical-themed powers, often of a “dark” nature such as mind and shadow control and undead summoning.

https://i.imgur.com/p8re0US.png
Captain Kraken is an alien soldier whose people serve the Grue Unity, but after deserting he became a space pirate. When crash-landing on Earth his ship’s computer absorbed a lot of detail on Age of Sail pirates, and he liked their style enough to reshape his technology into surprisingly-advanced “flintlocks” and “muskets” which are more powerful than modern-day firearms. He’s versatile enough in concept to work for nautical, space, and even heist-themed plot hooks.

The Collective is a swarm of cockroaches whose power and intelligence grow exponentially the more they gather and the more energy they absorb. They are immune to all forms of energy-related damage and grow in power from exposure to such energies. At their largest form they are incredibly powerful and can “summon” smaller swarms by decreasing in size, although attacks and effects which can forcefully disperse them is their major weakness.

The Conqueror Worm (3e) was once a foe of the Silver Age Raven, being a frail and sickly man by the name of Michael Reeves with a twisted moral code. It was ill-defined, being a vague hodgepodge of Old Testament fury and the desire to punish sinners as the self-appointed agent of God’s wrath. Michael of course exempted himself from his own moral code, which changed to suit his own circumstances. He fell to his death when fighting the original Raven, but his soul was sent back to earth by Malador the Mystic. Now imbued with necromantic powers, the Conqueror Worm has a consistent moral code: to show people the inevitability of death and divine judgment by raising an undead army.

Conundrum is Earth-Prime’s Riddler: a super-smart guy obsessed with puzzles and mental challenges. He fell into a life of crime after discovering that he enjoyed taking revenge on those for petty grievances, resorting to overly-complicated schemes to prove his own intellectual superiority. He’s a low PL 9 that’s mostly due to his skill bonuses, and in actual combat he will lose against all but the lowest-powered PCs. However, his strength is in a large Equipment pool and Inventor advantage to which he can use to build all manner of death traps…that is, if there were a few such devices provided as examples. While such things can be found in other products, Conundrum on his own is an underpowered guy with high evasive defenses and skill bonuses.

https://i.imgur.com/vuHKUo6.png
The Cosmic Mind used to be a human scientist in the Soviet Union by the name of Dr. Mina Kosmova. Her research into psychic powers was about to be scrapped by her government handlers, driving her to desperation in using a prototype neural device on herself. The end result was her becoming close to Dr. Manhattan: a glowing incorporeal floating brain possessed of a vast posthuman intellect. Dubbing herself the Cosmic Mind, she sought to join all of humanity into an enslaved telepathic network. She is a regular foe of the Atom Family, and as of 3e took advantage of the collapse of the Lor Republic to take mental control of agents within the Stellar Imperium. Whether she tries to overthrow the Star Khan as leader or enters into an alliance with him remains to be seen.

The Crimson Katana is Kimiyo Ranaga, the fourth in line to assume that title. Her predecessors were all scoundrels of the worst order, from Yakuza to Japanese war criminals, all sharing a background in coming into possession of the cursed Three-Flames Katana and Wakizashi swords. As for Kimiyo, she grew up in a terrorist cult known as the Katanarchists, sent to the US after many of her relatives were slaughtered in a war with the Russian Mafia. When she inherited the sword she was possessed by its last wielder, who struggles with her soul to take control of her body and thus rebuild the Katanarchists.

The Crimson Katana is an anti-hero and villain sharing one body, the former seeking to fight against the evils of her predecessors’ legacy and the latter a power-hungry cult leader.

The Curator is Earth-Prime’s Brainiac: an alien supercomputer part of a gigantic ringed space station complete with artificial habitats. Built by the Preservers to collect and compile research on every known life form, the Curator pursues this goal with single-minded intensity. The AI has found Earth a most curious study given its high number of superhumans and evidence of Preserver influence, leading his drones to steal and kidnap all kinds of unique creatures and objects from that planet. The Curator himself is a giant immobile computer with no offensive abilities, but huge bonuses to skills and communication and regeneration-based powers. He relies on his Drone minions to defend himself and act as his agents.

https://i.imgur.com/CZQFBJ1.png
Doc Holiday (3e) is another legacy supervillain. Actually an other-dimensional entity, Doc Holiday made a habit of possessing certain chosen mortals in order to counteract the joy and good spirit generated by holidays. Its original host was in the 1960s, but as of the 21st Century it inhabits body of college student Mark Holiday (the entity found his name deeply ironic). Now Mark’s life is a living hell; he’s resorted to all forms of treatments to exorcise himself, putting a strain on his finances. Locking himself away doesn’t work for long given the entity always finds a way out. As virtually every day of the year has a holiday somewhere, the spirit of Doc Holiday can spring to life at almost any time.

In terms of game stats the supervillain is PL 10, and whose powers vary wildly depending on the holiday. A sidebar of holiday transformations is provided along with what form he takes: for example, during Valentine’s Day he’s a demonic Cupid whose arrows inspire violent jealousy in those struck, while during Thanksgiving he takes the form of a zombie pilgrim and turkey with a blunderbuss that covers a huge area of effect.

Doc Otaku (1e/2e) is your amoral mad scientist themed around Japanese technology. Solo Takashi was once a protege of Daedalus, bored with a world that felt too simple for him. He eventually had a falling out in chafing at the senior scientist’s restrictions and moral code. Takashi quickly entered the criminal underworld, relying upon a MechOtaku battlesuit and three Angel Androids who look and act like stereotypical Japanese schoolgirls. As of 3e he has long since exited the supervillain game (for now at least), becoming the owner of a robotics company.

Dr. Sin is an immortal Chinese crime lord by the name of Tzin Sing. He was a common foil for the Silver Age Raven, who in a twist of fate fell in love with the villain’s daughter and both produced a child of their own, Callie Summers. Dr. Sin kidnapped Callie, prompting the Raven and his wife to embark on a daring rescue, which left her dead, the Raven crippled, and Dr. Sin seemingly dead. He would go on to cheat death and spent many schemes in trying to recruit Callie to his order once she became the new Raven.

As of 3rd Edition he was detailed in the Threat Report sourcebook, and has managed to take better control of his personal vendetta with an eye towards the longer view of things. There is no mention of what he thinks of this Edition’s new Raven. In terms of game stats he’s like Conundrum in being a “noncombatant genius,” having no real superpowers or highly damaging attacks, but very high skill bonuses, accurate attacks, and evasive defenses along with large Equipment and Minion pools left to the GM to customize.

Downtime is a “speedster” villain and professional thief who manipulates the flow of time to make himself move normally when almost everything else is frozen. He can do this via a Time Belt device he stole from a wealthy scientist to sell to the Foundry, although as that device imprinted onto his genetics and won’t work for anyone else he kept instead to the great anger of the robotic arms dealers. Downtime is a regular in Johnny Rocket’s rogue’s gallery, as the superhero’s high speeds are enough to counteract Downtime’s temporal control.

In terms of stats Downtime is PL12 with very high evasive defenses but below average defenses in other fields, making him a bit of a glass cannon. His Time Belt grants him a host of movement-based powers and advantages along with the ability to become invisible to visual senses. His attacks include an array of temporal stunts such as rapidly assembling objects and hazards in an AoE and deflecting foes’ attacks onto other targets.

https://i.imgur.com/I7Pd6cN.png
Fear-Master is either Earth-Prime’s Scarecrow or Marilyn Manson equivalent. Melvine Blume grew up as a nerdy Goth with a huge chip on his shoulder, studying music in college and wanting to make pieces that would shock, offend, and disgust listeners. He stook up scientific pursuits to learn more about the interactions between sound and the human brain, eventually creating sonic “fear weapons” that can inspire emotional terror and horrifying hallucinations in others.

No tragic backstory or personal vendetta here, Fear-Master is just a ****.

Blume was one of the new Raven’s rogues gallery, and in addition to superheroes he developed an enmity with the Maestro due to their differing tastes in music. And also Maestro accusing Fear-Master of plagiarizing his devices, which has no truth to the accusations. As of 3e he developed an interest in magic but after personal setbacks has declared the subject to be full of charlatans and deluded fools. Additionally the Foundry broke him out of prison in exchange for samples of his technology, and is now working on new gadgets and plans in Freedom City to get revenge on everyone who wronged him.

Statwise Fear-Master is PL 12 but with weak defenses. His primary strength is in his versatile Fear Weapons which can impose all manner of negative status effects on others and create illusions. We get a few sample status effects from his Afflictions and associated fear-based attacks.

Thoughts So Far: There’s a large number of super-smart masterminds and gadgeteers among our early entries, but there’s enough variety between them to not fall into the “five different flavors of mad scientists” trap. Some of my favorites include the Collective due to being a “puzzle villain” who can be more easily destroyed via the PCs exploiting its weak points in several ways; Captain Kraken because he’s cheesy in the good way; the Crimson Katana for being a “not technically a villain but is controlled by an even worse villain” hook; and Doc Holiday for a rather dark twist on an otherwise whimsical-sounding concept.

There were some weak points: Conundrum and Dr. Sin suffer in that their stat blocks don’t bring much on their own and require more legwork on the GM’s part to use, and combined with other “evil genius” villains don’t have a unique enough knack to bring something to the table. I’ve discussed my earlier reservations about the use of real-world religious figures in regards to Baron Samedi, although the inclusion of the Conqueror Worm is a bit too close to him in “undead criminal mastermind” territory so both feel a bit interchangeable. Argo is just too powerful and unwieldy if played straight; removing his Supersonic Punch or lowering it to reasonable levels can counteract this, although he still has very high defenses.

Join us next time as we cover even more supervillains in Part 3!

[Beleriphon]

Thoughts So Far: There’s a large number of super-smart masterminds and gadgeteers among our early entries, but there’s enough variety between them to not fall into the “five different flavors of mad scientists” trap. Some of my favorites include the Collective due to being a “puzzle villain” who can be more easily destroyed via the PCs exploiting its weak points in several ways; Captain Kraken because he’s cheesy in the good way; the Crimson Katana for being a “not technically a villain but is controlled by an even worse villain” hook; and Doc Holiday for a rather dark twist on an otherwise whimsical-sounding concept.

I always liked Kraken. Produced the best quote from my first M&M game: "I know what to do! I've seen Pirates of the Caribbean!"


There were some weak points: Conundrum and Dr. Sin suffer in that their stat blocks don’t bring much on their own and require more legwork on the GM’s part to use, and combined with other “evil genius” villains don’t have a unique enough knack to bring something to the table. I’ve discussed my earlier reservations about the use of real-world religious figures in regards to Baron Samedi, although the inclusion of the Conqueror Worm is a bit too close to him in “undead criminal mastermind” territory so both feel a bit interchangeable. Argo is just too powerful and unwieldy if played straight; removing his Supersonic Punch or lowering it to reasonable levels can counteract this, although he still has very high defenses.

Join us next time as we cover even more supervillains in Part 3!

For Baron Samedi I think the best way to look at it is that he's not actually the Loa but rather a host that has pulled on the Loa's powers to fuel his own ambitions. There's a neat books series that is probably best described as Godpunk. The one that is most relevant is Age of Voodoo that involves a spec ops soldier that becomes a zombie after visiting Hell and a voodoo priest that is possessed by Baron Samedi. The explanation the book features is that Samedi is the least friendly to humans and the most capricious.

[Libertad]

I always liked Kraken. Produced the best quote from my first M&M game: "I know what to do! I've seen Pirates of the Caribbean!"



For Baron Samedi I think the best way to look at it is that he's not actually the Loa but rather a host that has pulled on the Loa's powers to fuel his own ambitions. There's a neat books series that is probably best described as Godpunk. The one that is most relevant is Age of Voodoo that involves a spec ops soldier that becomes a zombie after visiting Hell and a voodoo priest that is possessed by Baron Samedi. The explanation the book features is that Samedi is the least friendly to humans and the most capricious.

My concerns aren't that they're using Baron Samedi at all so much as the fact that one of the book's major portrayals of Voodooism falls back into the "zombie death cult" archetype, and also as far as I can tell isn't an authentic or respectful portrayal of the faith. If Steve Kenson and other M&M writers consulted with or used sources of actual Voodoo practitioners (and said practitioners approve of how Siren and Baron Samedi are written) I'd be more mollified and would be happy to include it in my review as an addendum.

While Siren is definitely a counterbalance, most gaming sessions are going to have the PCs fighting supervillains more than they will be interacting with the Freedom League, so someone like Baron Samedi is going to be Freedom City's first and largest covering of the faith.

I am not really familiar with Age of Voodoo, but the tying in of devils and the Christian Hell with the religion (even if indirectly) is a common talking point that people have used to argue against Voodoo and Haiti in general, so I'd be careful with those types of media portrayals. Some even go so far as to claim that the Haitians didn't deserve to free themselves from slavery because some among their number rejected Christianity.

[Beleriphon]

My concerns aren't that they're using Baron Samedi at all so much as the fact that one of the book's major portrayals of Voodooism falls back into the "zombie death cult" archetype, and also as far as I can tell isn't an authentic or respectful portrayal of the faith. If Steve Kenson and other M&M writers consulted with or used sources of actual Voodoo practitioners (and said practitioners approve of how Siren and Baron Samedi are written) I'd be more mollified and would be happy to include it in my review as an addendum.

From what I can tell, if you want to use Baron Samedi Freedom City version isn't that far off if you take into account it isn't Samedi himself but his chevale that actually doing the things. So, the mortal host was drawing on the darker aspects of Baron Samedi just like Siren is drawing on the positive aspects of her Loa. I fully realize that this isn't quite how vodun or vodou actually work.


While Siren is definitely a counterbalance, most gaming sessions are going to have the PCs fighting supervillains more than they will be interacting with the Freedom League, so someone like Baron Samedi is going to be Freedom City's first and largest covering of the faith.

I am not really familiar with Age of Voodoo, but the tying in of devils and the Christian Hell with the religion (even if indirectly) is a common talking point that people have used to argue against Voodoo and Haiti in general, so I'd be careful with those types of media portrayals. Some even go so far as to claim that the Haitians didn't deserve to free themselves from slavery because some among their number rejected Christianity.

I recommend the book, along with the rest of the Pantheon series. Age of Odin in particular is really, really good. The main character isn't undead in the sense of say The Walking Dead, but rather this in between state, still has free will and is allied with the chevale of several other Loa (Mammam Brigette and Papa Legba IIRC). It goes to great pains to explain the bad guy is a bokor and has highly atypical goals compared to what voodoo is actually about.

[Libertad]

Oh wow, where’d the time go? I’m sorry for the delay, but I’m still a bit unused to the size and scope of this project even though we’re getting close to the finish line. Here’s our next bunch of solo villains!

https://i.imgur.com/uqbrnJV.png


Gamma the Atom Smasher is Adam Ward, son of esteemed nuclear physicist Dr. Franklin Ward. Adam was born a mutant who constantly emitted a deadly radioactive aura along with limited mental faculties, preventing him from being able to lead a normal life. His father resorted to drastic and unconventional measures in hopes of curing his son, up to and including the theft of deadly radioactive material which inevitably drew the attention of the Atom Family. Dr. Ward was successful in building a radioactive-repellent device for Adam that also allowed for his mind to properly develop, but at the cost of his own life. Placed into the care of ASTRO Labs, Adam was a quick learner, eventually finding out his own history and blaming the Atom Family for taking his father from him. He became the supervillain, Gamma the Atom Smasher, capable of wielding deadly radioactive energy along with super-strength!

He’s also listed as a supervillain for 3e in spite of his last mention in the metaplot of him becoming cured of his radioactive powers in 2009. I suppose it’s meant to be a matter of time until he goes back to his old life of crime.

Goanna (3e) is the Lizard of Earth-Prime, and with a similar backstory: a herpetologist who wanted to develop an all-purpose “miracle cure” for venom after losing his father to a snake bite. But he lost his funding due to using his research on humans, causing him to suffer a breakdown where he destroyed his own lab and injected himself with the anti-venom which had the side effect of transforming him into a giant humanoid reptilian. When his rampage was stopped by the Raven he turned human again, working with Daedalus to find a cure for his condition. This time the “cure” was worse, causing him to transform again, even stronger and smarter than before, allowing him to escape!

The Green Man is a male version of Poison Ivy: a botanist by the name of Nathan Grovemont who despaired at seeing humanity’s increasing destruction of the environment. He decided that plants would need to be evolved enough to be able to fight for themselves, and developed a “morphological stimulator” to grant animation and mobility to flora. Like Goanna he had the bright idea of using this on himself once he lost his funding, becoming a plant-human hybrid and eco-terrorist known as the Green Man. He also has three cohorts, Brides of the Green. They are women who joined his cause and have plant-based powers as well, although they don’t have stats in this book. Overall, the Green Man’s PL 12 power-set is heavily geared towards the “controller” role, where he can fill up areas with harmful vines, pollen, and summon animated plant minions.

https://i.imgur.com/ZHAWTgc.png

Hades (2e/3e) is the Greek God of the Underworld and Lord of Tartarus, one of our heavy-hitters in this book. He’s been banished from Mount Olympus for being a thorn in the side of Zeus, and there hasn’t been much love lost with other powerful figures when he pursued a personal vendetta against Daedalus for spurning his gift of immortality.

Hades is very much a mastermind archetype: he has many powerful agents, also statted elsewhere in this book: Taurus of the Labyrinth, Jack-A-Knives, and Cerberus (who is in the 2e sourcebook Freedom’s Most Wanted). He’s unable to be away from Tartarus for very long, and that’s a good thing for Earth-Prime: he’s a hefty PL 15 god with an array of dark magic powers and extremely high ability scores.

The Hellqueen (2e/3e) is an underworld spirit of a more Christian variety. Gwen Nugent was a kind and sweet girl taken in by a cult who summoned a demon to inhabit her body with the purpose of binding the entity to their will. The summoned entity came to be known as the Hellqueen after violently taking over the cult, and but not before Captain Thunder broke up the organization. This caused the Hellqueen to become an obsessed stalker of the superhero, and Gwen was finally able to take control of her own body via the Power of Friendship from her best friend, Nancy Dumont, appealing to her sense of humanity. For a time Gwen was able to return to a normal life, but when Dr. Stratos unmasked Captain Thunder to a global audience, she felt anger and bitterness overwhelm her again. For it was revealed that Nancy was actually the husband of Captain Thunder! That was all that was needed for the Hellqueen to return.

The Hellqueen is a PL 11 “succubus mage” with an array of hell-themed magical powers. They’re quite broad in function but as most are in an array she can only use one of them at a time.

Jack-A-Knives (2e/3e) is a Murder Spirit, an extraordinarily brutal killer in life chosen to be an agent of Hades when his soul was sent to Tartarus. He has operated in Earth-Prime via possessing various human hosts over the course of millennia, harvesting souls for Hades and going down in history as inspiring some of the most notorious serial killers. By himself Jack-a-Knives is little more than an incorporeal spirit that can possess others, but when he takes on a host body he grants them pretty high defenses along with the ability to materialize deadly knives. Outside of a host body Kack-a-Knives is at risk of being banished back to Tartarus, which is the major means of sending him back.

https://i.imgur.com/yU7ei9Q.png


Knightfire (3e)/White Knight (1e/2e) is a man by the name of Daniel Foreman. Raised by white supremacists, he was angry at the current state of society, resentful of superheroes who seemed to favor positions like being pro-Civil Rights or punching Nazis. Figuring them all minions of a worldwide Jewish conspiracy, throughout his childhood he had little left but to hope that some “white knight” would come and set things right.

One day his prayers were answered during a drunken bender by the mysterious figure known as Mr. Infamy, offering to give him superpowers if he truly wanted them. He woke up to find his home ablaze, his own flesh and clothes unharmed, and came to the conclusion that God empowered him with purifying flames. For some time he operated as a white supremacist supervillain, although he would soon die at his own hands after causing an arson during battle with the Freedom League. The fires eroded the (thankfully evacuated) building’s supports, causing it to collapse on him.

Daniel was dead for a time, floating in some infernal abyss that stripped at his soul until there was little left but anger. He came back as the spirit “Knightfire,” a wraith of hate that can possess others and empower them with hellfire. In 2e White Knight was a bit of a straightforward villain, being a fire-based PL 11 foe with flight and super-strength as well as non-powered Minions backing him up. In 3e he has much the same powers, although he’s stealing a bit from Jack-a-Knives in being able to possess hosts and give them his own powers.

Lady Lunar was born into the Royal Family of Farside City on Earth’s Moon. But she was “mind blind,” not born with the psychic powers that formed the backbone of Farside’s upper class. She was subject to bully and ridicule, forming over time into a hate and bitterness at being denied the seat of rulership she viewed as rightfully hers. She would become Farside’s ruler by forming a coup and seizing control of the Moonstone, the city’s major power source, which she used to gain powerful psychic abilities. Lady Lunar ruled as a dictator for a long time before the Atom Family overthrew her cruel reign. She fled before being captured, and ever since has concocted various schemes and allied with other space-themed supervillains such as Star Khan.

She is quite predictably a PL 12 psychic-themed supervillain, having powers such as mind-based attacks and status effects, telekinesis, and flight and teleportation.

Lady Seven (3e) details Seven from the Next-Gen, but as the Dark Lord who took over Una’s role as Queen of the Netherworld. Interestingly she isn’t exactly what I’d call a “villain,” as Seven is trying to make the Netherworld a better place yet is constantly tempted to use that power for selfish ends due to her status as Dark Lord. She is one of the book’s heavy-hitters at PL 15, being a more generalist mage with a wide array of powers ranging from long-range scrying, teleportation, astral projection, and several offensive mystical blasts among other potential spells.

Lady Tarot is a witch who can trace her lineage back to the old covens of Tuscany. Born into a mafioso family, she felt obligated to help the family business as a consultant, using tarot cards to read fortunes which “Big Al” Driogano would use for risk assessment. Her readings have helped thwart several attempts on the Don’s life, and in exchange has been rewarded quite well for this. Her major foil is Foreshadow, for her powers seem unable to make predictions about him and his actions, and from this was born a curiosity that eventually grew into a romantic fascination with the hero.

As of 3e her loyalties were tested upon discovery of a foolproof plan for the Mob to kill Foreshadow. Making use of forbidden magic, she entered into an infernal bargain with the help of Lucius Cabot (lawyer who serves demonic powers), giving up her heart to serve the cause of sin and evil in the world in order to save Foreshadow, even if that meant Foreshadow would be eventually forced to destroy her.

While Tarot is still a powerful Mob asset and mage, the result of the bargain has started to turn her more heartless. She is not very powerful, being PL 5 in 2e and 8 in 3e, with her powers being luck-themed abilities that can nullify attacks, debuff enemies, and play around with Luck Points and Hero Points in various ways.

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Magpie is a self-styled romantic thief of unknown origin. He has the power to teleport long distances (which he claims to have gained from a magical gem), although he rarely uses it save in more desperate circumstances as he relishes the challenge of breaking into the most secure facilities with but his own skill and wits. For a time he made many impossible robberies in Europe before the Raven (Callie Summers) caught him. Far from being resentful, he respected her for being one of the few on Earth-Prime to best him, and when he broke out he sought to earn her affections; something which she was flattered by but never could accept due to being on opposite sides of the law. He has more of a moral code than other underworld figures, refusing to do more unsavory criminal activities such as kidnapping and murder.

As of 3e he is the rival of the new Raven, and while it’s not a romantic one he enjoys exploiting that one’s relative inexperience and temper. It’s also believed that he’s preparing various apprentices to carry on his work for his eventual retirement. In terms of stats the Magpie isn’t very dangerous for his 11 PL, having only an unarmed attack by default. But his strengths lie in his very high skill bonuses and teleportation power.

Malador the Mystic (1e/2e) is the Freedomverse’s prominent “evil archmage,” an immortal being hailing from Atlantis who was imprisoned in eternal slumber for forging pacts with evil beings that threatened humanity. He would later be accidentally freed by Adrian Eldrich in the 1930s, with that superhero feeling a duty to make up for this with his newfound magical powers. Malador is your stereotypical power-mad undead sorcerer, willing to stop at nothing at gaining more arcane knowledge. In terms of stats he is a tough PL 14, having an array of magical spells.

Not much has changed about him in 3e, where he is statted up in the Superteam Handbook. If one were to compare stats with Lady Seven, he is a bit less powerful and doesn’t have as much spells, although unlike her he is undead (immune to Fortitude effects), immortal (“revives” when someone wears his mask), has a broader telekinetic spell (Seven’s can only move elemental objects of air/earth/fire/water), and can conjure illusions.

Madame Zero (3e) is Rule 63 Mr. Freeze. Victoria Leonard was a cryogenic scientist for ASTRO Labs. She was respected in her field despite her career taking place before the advent of Second Wave Feminism, so like many women she was married to a husband that served as the family breadwinner. When she discovered him having an affair, her life came crashing down, and her husband in no uncertain terms said he no longer loved her.

Feeling she lost the only person who loved her, she tried to kill herself by freezing herself in one of ASTRO Labs’ Freon tanks.

Afterwards Victoria woke up in a hospital room that felt burning hot, but also with the ability to sap the surrounding heat and turn things to freezing temperatures. She escaped, and after building an environmental suit that would allow her to operate in above-freezing environments, Victoria Leonard became the supervillain Madame Zero. After murdering her husband she fell into a life of crime, and due to her condition she was virtually unaging. In modern times she is looking for a cure for her condition in hopes of being able to live a normal life again. In terms of stats she is a PL 12 cold-themed scientific supervillain, having a Cold Control Array of various ice-based attacks as well as the ability to generate environmental obstacles such as extreme cold and impeded movement.

But another important ideal Madame Zero has is fighting back against climate change, destroying and sabotaging the operations of oil and gas companies unleashing greenhouse emissions into the atmosphere in spite of government regulations. The book notes that in such cases PCs with an environmentalist mindset may ally with her.

So wait, climate change is still a problem on Earth-Prime…and between her and the Green Man, it looks like the only people who want to do something about it are supervillains.

Shaking my head right now.

https://i.imgur.com/Ynf4QYb.png


Mastermind (1e/2e) was a caveman who got abducted by the Preservers in need of finding human specimens for their experiments. Subjected to myriad painful fates, his essence was distilled into little more than a brain connected to the alien machine’s knowledge banks, absorbing information over time. Thousands of years passed, and when the Preservers were gone he took control of the machines which he used to grow and inhabit a new human body. Being the pre-eminent example of what humanity could be, Mastermind’s body was immortal and at peak condition, with amazing psychic powers making him outright superheroic. He walked Earth for millennia, doing what he could to steer humanity’s fate by taking on the identities of various philosopher-kings, scientists, and political figures. But he was selfish, feeling that most humans were too short-sighted to shape their own destinies. When he exited one of his periods of hibernation in 2003, he looked at the explosion of the superhero population with fear, viewing them as rivals who would be a threat to his rule.

Mastermind hasn’t changed at all for 3e, and is statted up in the separate Threat Report sourcebook. He is a PL 15 psychic but every ability score is at least world-class standards for normal humans, and his defenses weigh heavily towards absorbing damage rather than evading it, and he has a variable array of Equipment Points to use for various hidden lairs throughout the world. Despite being an arrogant being full of contempt for the average human, his own background gives him a heavy dislike for torture and other villains who get off on pain, and he’s been known to be “merciful” during the pursuit of his goals. Mastermind’s hopes at shaping humanity into an ideal species has made him ally with superheroes, such as during 2005 when he worked with Daedalus and Dr. Atom to develop a vaccine for a literal mind-virus unleashed by SHADOW.

Thoughts So Far: There’s a rather large amount of magic and hell/afterlife-themed supervillains in this section, so there’s a lot of overlap even when some entries were removed for 3rd Edition. Lady Lunar and Mastermind both occupy the psychic role, with the former being more heavily focused on telepathy vs Mastermind’s telekinetic focus. Lady Seven seems to have replaced Malador as the “big evil magic guy” for 3rd Edition, albeit not exactly being villainous in motivation. Jack-a-Knives is another cool “puzzle villain” like the Collective in that there may be times when the PCs don’t want to damage the host or need to find an environment where the Murder Spirit can just jump into another body. I feel that White Knight/Knightfire steps on Jack-a-Knives’ toes a bit too much here.

In terms of favorites I’d have to pick Magpie, if only because I’ve recently watched Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro and enjoy the “charming thief” archetype. For my least favorite I’d have to pick the Hellqueen. Not only do other villains occupy the “hell-themed villain” concept better, her backstory and obsession is heavily tied to Captain Thunder, who isn’t even active in 3rd Edition anymore!

Join us next time as we finish up this book with the last 20 supervillains!

[Libertad]

From what I can tell, if you want to use Baron Samedi Freedom City version isn't that far off if you take into account it isn't Samedi himself but his chevale that actually doing the things. So, the mortal host was drawing on the darker aspects of Baron Samedi just like Siren is drawing on the positive aspects of her Loa. I fully realize that this isn't quite how vodun or vodou actually work.



I recommend the book, along with the rest of the Pantheon series. Age of Odin in particular is really, really good. The main character isn't undead in the sense of say The Walking Dead, but rather this in between state, still has free will and is allied with the chevale of several other Loa (Mammam Brigette and Papa Legba IIRC). It goes to great pains to explain the bad guy is a bokor and has highly atypical goals compared to what voodoo is actually about.

Again, if the first and foremost aspect of Voodooism being shown is the undead/dark magic aspect, the fiction is still replicating the common stereotypical tropes outlined above. Being self-aware doesn't necessarily make up for this, unless the rest of the book gives equal if not greater than spotlight on the other aspects of the religion. But I feel that this discussion may be best taken to PM so as not to derail this thread too much.

[Libertad]

It looks like I'm going to be wrapping up Freedom City soon. So I put up a Straw Poll for what book I should review next. Given that superheroes are on the brain, I figured I should go with another such book. Here are the options:

https://i.imgur.com/Ibbs44z.jpeg

Aberrant 2nd Edition: An update to the classic White Wolf setting's take on superheroes.

https://i.imgur.com/D5Ikqyd.jpeg

Claim the Sky: Superhero rules and setting for the Cypher System. AKA Monte Cook's take on superheroes.

https://i.imgur.com/xYpHm9T.jpeg

Aaron Allston's Strike Force: Back in the 1980s one of Champion's play-testers ran a superhero campaign and kept meticulous notes, releasing it as a part campaign setting, part read-through of prior sessions. He pioneered many innovative GM tactics for the time, and this sourcebook updates the book for 2016.

https://i.imgur.com/rImdNwz.jpeg

Emerald City: For those who enjoyed the Freedom City Let's Read, this book details Earth-Prime's other notable American metropolis. Only this time, the PCs are the only real hero team in a city that got struck by a Mass Super-Empowering Event. (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MassSuperEmpoweringEvent)

Here's a link to the Straw Poll. (https://www.strawpoll.me/45967293) I'll check the results a week from now to determine the winner.

The poll isn't working. I did another test poll and voted on it directly, so something seems up with the site itself.

[Libertad]

Villains of Freedom City, Part 3

Here we are, the final stretch of the final chapter in the book!

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Megalodon the Man-Shark (2e/3e) is Dr. Connor Kirkstrom, a marine biologist Dr. Connor. After losing limbs to a shark attack he became obsessed with the animals, eventually becoming a foremost authority on them. Much like Goanna, Kirkstrom started researching shark DNA for medical purposes, but once again lack of funding forced him to experiment on himself. His trials were a success, not only regenerating the missing limbs he lost during the shark attack, but turning the rest of his body and mind to become more sharklike! But this is a curse, for he loses control when experiencing anger, and when Megalodon takes control the monster will do anything to prevent itself from changing back into such a meek and weak form. Like Goanna he is an animal-themed close-combat supervillain, coming in at PL 12.

The Meta-Grue (2e/3e) is Darr’Kan, a Grue metamorph who was part of an experimentation upon the kidnapped Atom Family. By feeding off of their psychic energies, the Grue Unity hoped to create the perfect soldier to invade Earth by copying the powers of other heroes. But as a side-effect, Darr’Kan gained independence from the group-mind and sought to take over the Unity for himself. Much like Argo the Meta-Grue has every superpower of the psychic members of the Atom Family, although he’s a tough PL 13/16 (2e/3e respectively) rather than Argo’s 19/20. Although very powerful, the Meta-Grue isn’t one for tactics or subtlety, and over relies on brute force to get things done.

Mister Infamy is our first PL X plot device character. He is very much the Faustian Bargain, giving business cards with phone numbers in all 6s to those he knows will be susceptible to his offers. But he doesn’t ask for people’s souls; Mr. Infamy finds the idea cliche and dodges questions as to any demonic influence to his background. Instead, the only thing he asks for is “the privilege of being able to help.” However, the wishes Mr. Infamy grants are without exception the kind that appeal to the worst sides of people, and he is responsible for empowering a number of supervillains. Although the entity appears to have no limits to his powers and capabilities in reshaping reality, he follows a self-imposed limitation where he only changes things as part of a deal made by the bargainer’s free will in entering into the agreement. Mr. Infamy either lacks the ability or willingness to alter, read, or control the thoughts of others without their consent.

Mr. Mist (2e) is Brad Raymond, a research scientist for ASTRO Labs who experienced a workplace accident when androids for the Foundry broke into his residence of work. Forced into a permanent gas-like state, the inability to live a normal life quickly wore down his mental health to the point that he eventually trashed ASTRO Labs in searching for a cure. Over time Brad learned how to focus his powers and increase them, and this often takes the form of absconding with money and technology to either make himself more powerful or cure him (he’s still undecided which fate is preferable). He is PL 10 with gas-like abilities and resistances common to an insubstantial form.

Nacht-Krieger (2e) is a Nazi soldier who served Wilheim Kantor during World War II. Empowered by shadow magic, he was a notorious assassin, forced to go into hiding after the fall of Berlin. He sought to kill the Light-bearers, one of the superheroes he fought during the Golden Age, only to become trapped due to a cave-in and his mind was absorbed into the Schattenwelt, or shadow world. When Kantor founded SHADOW, he was able to summon Nacht-Krieger’s soul as an immaterial shadowy figure. He was eventually imprisoned by Scarab beneath Pyramid Plaza, only to escape again with Overshadow’s help.

Nacht-Krieger is a powerful PL 14 villain whose Shadow Form has a wide array of immunities with some nasty shadow-claws, although his defenses are very weak for his PL.

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Omega was a scientist by the name of Phoros the Bright. His people were the Phos, whose every action gave form to beautiful worlds, but found to their sorrow that entropy brought an end to all things. Unus, Phoros’ teacher, built the Doom-Coil as a means of checking the power of entropy. Out of curiosity and against his warnings, Phoros looked upon what powered the device and witnessed the End of All Things.

This knowledge corrupted him; Phoros became obsessed with entropy, worshiping it and encouraging others to do the same. When Unus moved against him, Phoros killed him as they both fell into the Doom-Coil. Emerging as the only survivor, he adopted the name Omega, the End, his body reduced to an eternally-burning skeleton as a permanent scar of entropy’s touch. Now the universe of the Phos became the Terminus, the Doom-Coil powered by the immolation of conquered world after conquered world.

Omega’s greatest defeat came at the hands of the heroes of Earth-Prime. Although he was able to slay his greatest foe, the Centurion, he had to retreat. And during the Time of Crisis adventure his designs were foiled again, but if anything that has only increased his passion to destroy the only world in the omniverse that has bested him. He is straightforward in his goals and desires: a single-minded obsession with bringing about the end of existence itself.

In terms of stats he is an amazingly powerful PL 19 being, with a Cosmic Power array of extremely damaging attacks as well as universal transmutation. His Exo-Armor provides him with flight, a universal translator, and an amazing Toughness save, but has a weakness where if his armor is breached he suffers a major penalty to those saves.

Quirk is our second PL X plot device character and is heavily inspired by Mister Mxyzptlk. Quirk looks and acts like an immature preteen boy who claims to come from a higher realm of existence. His major motivation is finding ways to alleviate boredom, which he often does by reshaping reality. Quick wanted to help fight crime with the Freedom League, but his methods were too drastic and led to his departure on less than good terms, making him return to Earth-Prime repeatedly like a child eager to torment those he doesn’t like.

Like Mr. Infamy, Quirk has self-imposed limitations. His actions are focused through the context of some kind of game or competition, which must have means of winning for the non-omnipotent parties which are the key to getting Quirk to set things back to normal. He also isn’t omniscient, not being more intelligent than the average human adult despite claims to the contrary, and this combined with his lack of maturity can be exploited by heroes seeking to gain an advantage.

Rant & Rave (2e) are a brother-sister team of supervillains who came from a neglectful household and soon fell into druggie culture. They gained superpowers from some new experimental drugs during a rave, and from them on decided that they wouldn’t let anyone push them around anymore while taking what they want. Their crimes are small-scale and petty, mostly consisting of theft and assault, although their powers can result in a lot of damage.

Rant & Rave are both PL 10. Rant can create and manipulate sound waves, while Rave can create sensory perceptions that can make others nauseated and hallucinate. When in physical contact with each other they can generate disintegrating beams which they use to make getaways.

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Sandstone (3e) is Alexandra Flint, a woman who escaped from an abusive household by joining the military as soon as she turned 18. While touring in the Middle East she ended up in a temple during a deadly sandstorm, where she found a jewel that permanently transformed her. Now one with the arid land, Alexandra was a mass of sand that could reshape into a stony humanoid form or disperse into a cloud-like mass of sand particles. Presumed to be KIA, she came back to the States as hired muscle for various criminal groups, but not before taking revenge upon her father.

Sandstone is a PL 12 character who can shift between two forms: her Stone Form makes her a super-strong close combatant, while her Sand Form makes her insubstantial and gives several sand-based area of effect attacks. While her primary motivation is profit, Alex does have a line she won’t cross: harming children, and in fact will go out of her way to keep them out of harm’s way.

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The Silencer is our Punisher equivalent. Thomas Oliverti was born into a mafia family, and his primary desire to become a musician was something his father wouldn’t accept. He grew to resent this, along with feeling anger at seeing the people hurt by their illegal enterprises. So in secret Thomas worked on designs based off of the Maestro’s handiwork. Outfitting himself with sonic weapons and a costume, he named himself the Silencer!

Although he primarily goes after the Freedom City Mob and other supervillains, the Silencer’s willingness to murder prevented him from being seen as a superhero by the public. As of 3e the mystic Lady Tarot enacted a spell over him, turning him into a slave subject to her orders and leaving him literally trapped inside his own brain, viewing the world on auto-pilot and slowly going insane from serving the people he sought to destroy. Big Al Dirogano used the Silencer for his own purposes as a thug and hit man, with his knowledge of Thomas’ identity as a back-up plan in case he ever breaks free.

The Silencer is a PL 11 character who follows the “non-powered” format closely. His defensive trade-offs favor dodging attacks vs outright resisting them, and he is heavy in the use of skills and advantages. His powers are exclusively various sonic-based gadgets, such as the ability to nullify sound in an area, a debuffing attack that induces vertigo in a target, and of course the “loud damaging sonic blast” attack.

Silver Scream was Lauren Hammond in life, a Hollywood actress who landed several roles in various horror films. But attempts at moving beyond this genre ended in box office busts, and other actors found her difficult to work with.

Content Warning



Feeling that her life had nowhere to go but down, she overdosed on medications to end her own life.

But Hammond’s soul lived on in Earth-Prime, unable to peacefully move on to the afterlife. She channeled these feelings into taking revenge on companies and figures she blamed for her fall from fame, and when a series of hauntings began the newspapers dubbed her the Silver Scream. The superhero Johnny Rocket managed to put her soul to rest by staging a film festival honoring her work, although she later came back to the world when a film critic wrote a scrutinous expose on her life. Now critics and companies are fearful of showing any work she’s been in, and her fanbase is largely on the Internet where the Silver Scream has attempted to “help out” her greatest fans in unproductive, destructive ways.

The Silver Scream is a PL 10 character who can create illusions, has a perception-ranged attack, and is invisible and insubstantial like a ghost. However her non-Will defenses are extremely low, so any abilities that can overcome her ghostly nature have a great chance of one-shotting her.

Star-Khan (2e) is our “evil alien overlord” villain, ruler of a vast intergalactic empire. He has warred against the democratic Lor Republic and the Grue Unity, and his attention eventually turned to Earth after encountering Daedalus when that hero was touring the cosmos. The Freedom League member, with the aid of the Star Knights, halted Star-Khan’s invasion which in turn inspired many rebellion movements to spring up among his subjugated worlds.

As of 3e his entry was moved to the Cosmic Handbook, with the major development being that he annexed the Lor Republic as a result of Collapsar’s devastation. When it comes to stats he is a PL 15 character whose superpowers arise from a Battlesuit and Power Staff allotted with the typical power armor abilities: life support, long-range communication, super-strength and protection, etc.

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Superior, formerly known as der Übermensch in Nazi Germany and Kal-Zed among the Ultimen, is a relatively young member of his race. Rejecting his people’s insistence on isolation and non-interference, he was more interested during the times when they walked as gods among humans. When Nazi explorers stumbled upon the hidden city of Ultima Thule, Kal-Zed learned of their ideology and their tales of the Aryan race before the Ultimen erased their memories and sent them away.

Kal-Zed traveled to Nazi Germany, presenting himself before Adolf Hitler as one of the Aryan supermen the fascists spoke of. Although the Ultiman had ulterior plans to seize control of the Third Reich himself once they dominated the world, such plans were put on hold when the Allies defeated the Axis. Forced into hiding and no longer welcome in Ultima Thule, Kal-Zed renamed himself Superior and became a recurring villain of the Centurion before being exiled to the Zero Zone.

As of 3e Superior managed to escape, and was disappointed to find that someone else had done the Centurion in. He tried to court Centuria as a queen to rule the world together, but was rejected violently. But his plot to dominate the world still remains, and while he doesn’t consider himself a Nazi his own ideology and actions aren’t that far off. Superior has used his infamous status to manipulate Neo-Nazi groups into serving as minions, and he has sometimes allied with Overshadow. Although the relationship with the latter is arm’s length, for both are aware that the ruler’s throne is only seated for one.

Superior is a PL 15 character and built like an evil Superman. In addition to flight and super-strength, he possesses the abilities of the Ultimen race and his cosmic powers take the form of a ranged damaging blast. Such a power is still unrefined given his relative age, but can conceivably allow him to pull off “space magic” abilities when the GM requires.

Syzygy is an alien warrior who was raised as a gladiator-slave on some far-off world. This brutal time turned him into a cruel figure lacking empathy, although he tired of being under the thumb of another and enacted a slave revolt where he was the only survivor. Traveling through many dimensions in search of a new home, Syzygy settled upon the universe of Earth-Prime and was enamored of the resident superheroes. Although respectful of their prowess, his background inevitably put him in a culture clash when he saw trial by combat as a worthy end in and of itself. Syzygy was puzzled at the insistence of preventing civilian casualties, so he used this last part to his advantage, putting innocent lives in danger as a pretext to draw the attention of superheroes and test their mettle.

Syzygy is a PL 14 villain who can shift into one of six dimensional forms (third dimension is default mode), each granting him a set of enhanced abilities, immunities, and/or attacks. He also has a Variable power pool that can take the form of alien technology.

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Talona is a winged woman, a member of the Avian people and resident of the Aerie high up in the Arctic Circle. The emission of greenhouse gasses soon brought sickness to the Avians, and when Talona discovered that a “groundling clan” known as Grant Conglomerates was responsible she told them to stop. They refused, so she turned to violence by attacking their Freedom City offices, and they captured her in the resulting battle. But Talona escaped into the city, briefly fighting Lady Liberty before that superhero learned of her background and promised to look into the corporation’s misgivings while helping her return home.

Talona returned, only to find the Aerie depopulated. Believing her people to be all dead, she declared war on humanity before discovering that the Freedom League helped them escape while negotiating pollution controls near the Aerie and providing them with medical treatment. As of 3e she learned about another Avian tribe near Emerald City. Although disgusted at their rumored penchant for cannibalism (this is true), Talona hopes that such words are lies by groundlings given that she seeks to unite the two civilizations to ensure the survival of the Avians.

Talona is a PL 12 character who can summon birds as either minions or a ranged attack, can fly, and enter into an Atavistic Rage that enhances her Strength and Fortitude and Will defenses at the cost of lower Dodge and Parry defenses.

Terra-King is a human by the name of Jerris Trent who was left orphaned and blinded by an earthquake. Much like Megalodon and Goanna this trauma motivated him to study the sciences of that which harmed him, seismography in this case. Over time his studies led him to discover a global network of caverns beneath Earth’s surface, and while on an expedition to Kaiju Island he discovered Serpent People and Preserver technology buried within this network. He also made contact with the Sub-Terrans, one of the underground races, who were more than eager to help his scientific project. Sadly Jerris misused this trust and authority, quickly rising to political power and declaring himself Terra-King, Ruler of the Underworld! Making use of pre-human technology, loyal Sub-Terrans, and that technology’s control over Kaiju, he has waged war upon the surface world as well as rival underground kingdoms such as the tribes of Serpent People and Morlocks. Some of his targets have been more justified than brute conquests, such as corporations and governments that brought harm to his people via fracking, nuclear tests, and dumping hazardous materials below ground.

Not much has changed in terms of metaplot in regards to 3e, with Terra-King being moved over to the Atlas of Earth-Prime. More details on his followers have been provided, such as the Kaiju known as Mollech who acts as a living excavator, as well as stats for the various subterranean races. In game stat terms he is a PL 10 character, possessing a Command Scepter that can summon kaiju, create electrical attacks, and he has enhanced auditory and tactile senses.

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Toy Boy is Desmond Lettam, former heir to the Fun-Time Toys company and born with a medical condition where his body stopped physically developing after eight years old. This has caused him to be the subject of bullying by his peers, his parents continually moving him from school to school. To cope with this Desmond built his own personal fantasy world, and when his parents died in a plane crash he was the sole heir to their company. He did little to attend to Fun-Time Toys, being a recluse while the Board of Directors attended to the day-to-day operations.

Using the funds he received, Desmond built various advanced weapons and robots disguised as toys which he used to kill off the people who bullied him in his childhood, while also selling the more promising pieces to whoever could meet his price. When the Raven put a stop to his plans, Desmond lost his business and wealth yet maintained the contacts he’s made among the criminal underworld.

As of 3e Desmond discovered that his medical condition would cause him an early death, making him desperate to look into ways to extend his life. He found a solution when Quirk temporarily granted him his wish to “become a real toy,” and when he was inevitably restored to human form he turned towards magic when conventional science failed to transfer his mind into an artificial body. Now he has the form of a bodiless wraith, which he can use to possess toys.

In terms of game stats the 1e/2e Toy Boy is a PL 6 character whose combat capabilities are more in line with a non-powered, non-combat trained regular human. But he has an amazing Intelligence score along with 20 ranks each in Minions and Sidekicks that take the form of toy-themed robots (which the GM has to stat up themselves). His 3e stats are very different: not only is he PL 9, he has ghost-like invisibility, insubstantiality, and is capable of possessing swarms of toys as a summon-based power that can create up to a whopping 64 minions. And there are guidelines for the various toys Toy Boy can possess and create, making use of existing archetypes and minions from other Mutants & Masterminds books.

Una, Queen of the Netherworld (2e) was the concubine and slave of a mighty wizard-king. She secretly learned the powers of magic by sneaking into his library, which she used to kill him and take over his realm, eventually becoming the world’s Master Mage and eventually Dark Lord. Una’s ambitions didn’t stop here, and when she learned of other dimensions she expanded her holdings by allying with and warring against other Dark Lords until she ruled over a vast interdimensional empire known as the Netherworld. Una’s two greatest defeats were when her domain made contact with the Battle-Brutes, constructs single-mindedly focused on destruction who now war upon each other after destroying everything else in their dimension; and Adrian Eldrich of Earth-Prime who forced her into an oath to never directly attack Earth’s dimension after beating her in a magical duel.

As of 3e Una was destroyed by Seven, although she makes a comeback during the Nether War series of adventures which I have yet to read. Her 2e stats are a PL 15 mage with a vast array of powers, specializing in various kinds of control-based powers (air, darkness, earth, weather, etc).

Warden is John Warden, a scientist and jailer who specialized in security maintenance for prisons such as Blackstone that needed new ways to contain superpowered inmates. He had contempt for “bleeding hearts” that cared more for human rights and regulations, feeling that the system should instead focus entirely on punishment. He was fired after even the prison-industrial complex found him too ruthless, and he decided that the bureaucrats and superheroes were in the wrong for not going far enough. John made his debut as the supervillain Warden, imprisoning and capturing Freedom City’s mayor, district attorney, and various judges before the Raven freed them all and put Warden behind bars for a change. It wasn’t difficult for him to escape, as he knew all the features of prisons, and when he broke free he worked for the Foundry to sell various traps and schematics. He even worked for SHADOW in a plot to imprison the entire Freedom League.

As of 3e Warden developed an interest in the occult, building a magical key that can grant him access to the Dimension of Doors that lay between realities. Finding a maze of locked rooms after much research, he named this section the “Dungeon Dimension” which he uses as a headquarters beyond time and space as well as a prison for all of his foes.

Warden’s 2e stats are PL 11 and non-powered, focused heavily on skills and feats with specialties in using Inventor to build all sorts of devices and traps. He’s much the same in 3e save except now he has a Dooy Key which allows him to speak and understand all languages, move between dimensions and cause others to be transported against their will as an attack, and the ability to teleport up to 4,000 miles.

Power Level Compilation: Although it’s become standard format in most Mutants & Masterminds books, Freedom City curiously lacks an index organizing characters by Power Level. So I made my own for 3rd Edition, which I’m posting here:

Villains

PL 4: Brotherhood of the Yellow Sign (Civilized & Savage Serpent Person)
PL 5: SHADOW (Shadow Agent)
PL 6: Annihilists (Omegadrones), Toon Gang
PL 7: Foundry (Charibdrone & Myrmidon MK I), Saturnalia Roman
PL 8: Labyrinth (Access), Lucius Cabot, Tarot
PL 9: Annihilists (Nightmare Nurses), Conundrum, Toy Boy
PL 10: Crime League (Medea, Tom Cypress, Wildcard), Doc Holiday, Labyrinth (Sidetrack, Tamper, Targette), Silver Scream
PL 11: Captain Kraken, Conqueror Worm, Crime League (Freebooter, Orion the Hunter), Foundry (Keres, Echidna), Goanna, Hellqueen, Jack-a-Knives, Knightfire, Labyrinth (Ms. Scarlet, Dr. Peter Hanks, Dr. Victor Reeds, Dybbuk, Payback), Magpie, the Silencer, Warden
PL 12: Annihilist (Physician Friendly), Cosmic Mind, Crime League (Devil Ray, Dr. Stratos), Downtime, Fear-Master, Foundry (Scylla), Gamma the Atom-Smasher, Green Man, Lady Lunar, Madame Zero, Megalodon the Man-Shark, Sandstone, Talona, Tyranny Syndicate (Madame Sin)
PL 13: Annihilist (Madrigal Martinet), Annihilist (Mandragora), Crime League (Dr. Simian), SHADOW (Crimson Mask)
PL 14: Annihilist (Shadivan Steelgrave), the Collective, Syzygy, Talos, Taurus
PL 15: Curator, Hades, Lady Seven, Overshadow, SHADOW (Ragnarok), Superior
PL 16: Meta-Grue
PL 19: Argo, Omega
PL X: Mister Infamy, Quirk

Heroes

PL 5: AEGIS Field Agent, Atom Family (Cosmo the Moon Monkey), Blackguard
PL 6: Atom Family (ALEX)
PL 7: Director Powers, Stewart “Rock-Star” Bonham
PL 8: Warden Joshua Drummer
PL 9: Atom Family (Jack Wolf), Dr. Tomorrow, Foreshadow
PL 10: Freedom League (Bowman, Lady Liberty), Patriot
PL 11: Atom Family (Maximus, Tesla, Victoria), Freedom League (Johnny Rocket, Siren, Star Knight)
PL 12: Atom Family (Chase), Freedom League (Daedalus, Dr. Metropolis, Thunderbolt), Lantern Jack
PL 13: Freedom League (Centuria)
PL 15: Atom Family (Dr. Atom)
PL 16: Centurion

As you can see, there’s a lot more villains than heroes as is to be expected. And among the villains, the bulk of them are within the guidelines for the standard PL 10 campaign, with individuals growing rarer at PL 13 and above. If the rogues gallery has any weak points, there’s a lack of lower-PL villains for lower-level games. PL 8 may be more manageable depending on the opposition, but 6 parties will have an incredibly difficult time against most of the villains here.

Thoughts So Far: Although it’s been a bit of a recurring theme in previous posts, the final stretch of villains here really brings out the magic-themed ones in full force, with 3rd Edition leaning into this even more strongly. This is due to the vanishing of Earth’s current Master Mage in the metaplot, who acted as a stopgap against proliferation of dangerous magic. It’s really a subjective taste, although the magic-fied versions of prior villains in my opinion have changed for the better. For instance, Toy Boy felt a bit too similar to Doc Otaku, but now he has a creepier and unique theme.

In terms of my favorites for this section, I like Syzygy in that he’s easy enough to drop into most plots while also having enough tricks up his sleeve to avoid becoming too repetitive. I also like the concept of Warden, although his dimensional attacks have the potential to take a character “out of commission,” so like many save-or-suck abilities it has to be used with care.

Silver Scream and Toy Boy are a bit similar in both being ghosts, and depending on the powers of your PCs can either be a good challenge if their forms cannot be directly dealt with/found out or a cakewalk when one hero with mystical super-senses manages to pinpoint and directly attack them. I do like Omega; like Argo he’s completely overpowered even by superhero standards given that few campaigns will match his PL, much less come within 4 points of it. Still, his status as being the entropic destroyer of universes makes me more accepting of this.

For my least-favorite ones, Megalodon feels a bit too much like Goanna despite being made first; they could work as a themed team-up, but otherwise it’s hard to see what using one in an adventure can do that the other cannot besides an aquatic environment. I was a bit let down by Superior: his position in the lore as Nazi Germany’s most fearsome supervillain feels wasted when he’s basically just a big beefy puncher. His cosmic power could at least have had some more effects beyond just ranged blasts, and Overshadow in comparison feels better-developed and more of a threat to the world. Finally the Meta-Grue feels too much like Argo save for being the counter to the Atom Family.

Final Thoughts: A lot of this may be due to nostalgia given it was my first superhero tabletop RPG, but I really like Freedom City. Like many instances regarding age and experience I feel that I can look back on it with a more critical eye while still being appreciative. The world borrows heavily from comic books, particularly Marvel & DC, but there’s enough changes in the homages and inspirations to make it feel like truly its own world rather than a straight rip-off. While the 3rd Edition update is appreciated, the changes to the metaplot leave me with mixed feelings in terms of some things being updated and not others, making the world feel unnaturally stagnant and haphazard.

Still, I feel that Freedom City overall is a useful and entertaining book series. The details on the city itself, along with its many famed figures on both sides of the good-evil spectrum, have plenty of material for enterprising GMs to mine for ideas. Additionally, I do appreciate how virtually every villain has a backstory; while this is standard for comic books as a genre, in terms of RPGs such characters rarely get that level of detail. And given the genre expectations of permanent death being rare, it helps prevent adversaries from feeling too artificial and wooden.

Voting: As I had to manually tally due to Straw Poll not working, I compiled scores by posts across the five websites in which I posted this review. Strike Force hands down is getting the most consistent interest, with Aberrant 2nd Edition a close second. As it’s been technically five days since I posted the options, I’m doing to go with Aaron Allston’s Strike Force! See you all in the next Let’s Read!

[Libertad]

I can't wait to see your review of the adventures in the back of the 2E Freedom City. Captain Kraken is amazing.

Actually those adventures are in the back of the 2e Mutants & Masterminds corebook. There are no adventures in the Freedom City sourcebooks.

[Beleriphon]

Actually those adventures are in the back of the 2e Mutants & Masterminds corebook. There are no adventures in the Freedom City sourcebooks.

Dang it! I still love Captain Kraken.