Return to the Ruins of Adventure - Session 10: Talking, Talking, and more Talking

This session finds the party back in the civilized section of Phlan after a nasty fight with a green dragon and the first part of the session is haggling, talking to NPC's, and leveling up.

Jovanni (Half Elf Bard) leads negotiations with Barnabus of he town council and manages to get an increase in their fee since there was a dragon involved. As a part of the original agreement each member of the party is allowed to choose a magic item from the city vaults and they do so with much satisfaction. There is also some discussion of the council's next request which they will return for later.

The head of the green dragon -taken after the battle- is sold to the Dragonskull Tavern, which (despite the name) has been without a dragon skull for years. This is done for 100gp up front and 1 free drink each day for each party member for life. The Dragonskull is where Jovanni's main guild contact hangs out so this is a useful deal in several ways. There is also some negotiation with the guild representative as a potential source of exotic items.

Althea (Eladrin Wizard) trades the enchanted fomorian eye to the Mage Guild in return for membership, and eventually haggles the bard and warlock memberships in as well. Mikal (Human Infernal-Pact Warlock) asks about duties and is asked to keep an eye out for something.

The local gem dealer is a also a victim of the bard's excessive social skills and makes the party a very good deal for some very average gemstones.

Next the PC's remember that there are gods and that they have local offices in the town...

Uthal (Goliath Barbarian) and Kordan (Human Fighter) head for Martial Hall, the local temple of Tempus (the war god). There they make a deal for some healing potions in return for gold and stories of their battles so far. The high priest, Koros Redbeard (pictured above) is a loud boisterous man who has actually heard good things about them from the town council. He directs them to the adjacent training hall and it's master Dannan MacLeir, a dwarf from the Moonshaes who is an expert swordfighter. 

Althea runs into a local priest at the mage guild during her negotiations and pulls him aside to discuss his problems later. He tells her he is trying to locate a missing party from his temple and the mage guild has not been especially helpful. he invites her back to the temple of Torm with her full team to discuss further if she is interested.

Several members of the party also discover Sunset House or "the red house"  and decide to spend some time there - the barbarian especially enjoys himself. This house is associated with the temple of Sune (across the screen) and there is a discussion of doing some work for them as well.

So after a few days the party has taken on multiple jobs:

• The town council has heard rumors that a powerful magic item is to be auctioned off in Podol Plaza a few days from now. Barnabus wants to know what it is, who is selling it, and who is buying it. the reward is another choice of magic from the town vaults.
• The thieves' guild wants to know about a rival group that is said to be gaining power in the ruins and is supposed to be based near Podol Plaza. the guild will pay 500gp for this information. 
• The mage guild wants to know about 3 wizards, garbed in black, that have been seen in the ruins and have shown considerable power. They are not guild members but the guild likes to keep an eye on all arcane types in the area and they know nothing about this crew. they will pay 100gp each (500gp total) for this information.
• The temple of Sune wants the party to keep an eye out for any exotic slaves they find in captivity. the Sunites will give them a place to stay and teach them a "trade" and will be happy to ...reward...the party for any rescues of this kind. 
•  The temple of Torm had a more complicated story: They (along with the temple of Kelemvor) keep a watch on Valhingen Graveyard, the massive city of the dead across the river from Phlan proper. Neither temple is strong enough to cleanse the foul place, all they can do is monitor and hope to contain any evil that bursts forth.  Recently the Tomrites mounted a punitive expedition to take out an unusually active band of undead and (according to a sending from the expedition) they discovered a powerful magic item, a lost relic of an ancient Tormite hero. They recovered it but were swarmed by hordes of undead and only a few of them made it out of the graveyard. The expedition's survivors never returned to the temple and now the rumors of an item for sale in the ruins has Armanthius, the high priest, concerned that this is in fact the item his people recovered. He would love to have it back but he is mainly concerned with the fate of his men. His request to the party is that they they locate and retrieve any surviving members of his expedition or, failing that, learn of their fates and also find out what they can about the item in question. The reward for this is a set of healing potions and a free raising if they die during the mission or at any time after that if they do not. 

Leveled up to 3rd, equipped with new gear, and refreshed from their break, the party set forth for Podol Plaza. The plaza is a relatively stable area of the ruins that was a marketplace in ancient days and is one again now under the control of the Crimson Legion, a large band of Hobgoblins that maintains very strict control over this area. They make a great deal of money from the controlled trading environment and having such an area is worth enough to other factions in the ruins that it has persisted for years.

Approaching the main entry point to the plaza area, the group decides to act like legitimate traders. They show some gold and talk things up enough enough that for the first time in their brief history they manage to pass through some monsters without rolling for initiative! They are given a pass to show to any patrols they encounter and are waved on through. They encounter two patrols on their way in and successfully pass the resultant questioning.

Reaching the Plaza proper, they see large crowds milling around, trading at various tables and stalls around the square, and witness a slave auction happening in the center of the place.  They learn that the special auction is supposed to happen tomorrow and there are rumors running rampant about what it is. There are strange wizards in town, the temple of Bane across the river has sent representatives, and the Fire Knives, a rising new power in the ruins,  are taking an interest too.

The party spends the night at the Dead Dragon Inn, an ancient structure that is the only authorized inn within the boundaries of the plaza as defined by the Legion. They pick up a little more information and see some of the notables mentioned in the rumors. Uthal and Kordan consider starting some trouble  but the innkeeper's bouncer "Brutus" makes an appearance and things calm down as the arcanists of the group recognize distinctive appearance of a flesh golem and realize trouble here is a bad idea all the way around.

The next day the party is up early and heads to the plaza to get a good spot...

 

A crowd gathers on the cracked stonework of Podol Plaza. The auction block is surrounded by bugbears and hobgoblin archers watch the crowd from towers in the corners of the plaza. Hobgoblin soldiers stand near all 4 entrances to the plaza – not interfering but ready to block access if needed. Mordicus, leader of the Crimson Legion stands atop it next to a cloth-covered rack of some kind. He announces in common “The greatest treasure ever offered for auction by the Crimson Legion is up for bidding – NOW! As he finishes his sentence the cloth drops away to reveal a dull, plain-looking suit of chainmail. A "huh?" goes up from the crowd and he jostles a nearby human wizard who makes passes, says some words  and then the armor changes to a shining suit of plate, the finest anyone here has ever seen. “It is a mighty suit of armor, imbued with magical power beyond anything we have ever seen and fit for the mightiest of champions –what am I bid for this incredible prize?”

Bidding begins and the Temple of Bane is very active as the Preceptor wants it for himself and will pay quite a lot to get it. The Three Wizards bid but drop out at 10,000 with a shrug of their shoulders.  A group of orcs from the Bloodskull tribe is active at first but drop out at 50,0000. Bidding tops out around 125,000 gold and the Banites will win, just beating out a Tiefling in red leather armor who has been an intermittent bidder right up to the end. 

Various figures in the crowd turn to each other and wave and otherwise signal and the onlooking guards tense up, waiting to see if someone makes a play for the armor right there in the square - but no one does. The crowd begins to disperse, then inside Kordan's head he hears:

"Free me and I will make you the hero you know you can be" Together we can be a legend!"

(To get the true impact of this you need to use the correct accent. This guy's accent. Yep, I went there.)

Kordan looks up and realizes the voice is coming from the suit, that no one else can hear it, and that he wants it badly as Destiny is calling - The Invulnerable Coat of Arnd lies before him and wants him to rekindle the legend.

DM Notes: Here is a report of one player's "interpretation" of the session. he's been doing these for a while so I'm going to go back and add links to each of my session reports.

Hooo boy this one was a doozy, a pivotal point in the campaign. Advancing to third level, the first extended rp session in civilized Phlan, first set of skill challenges, and the introduction of the first artifact.  Thoughts in order:

The "Town Vault" is my compromise between 4E's preferred method of handling magic items (let your players pick them) and my old school sensibilities (magic items are found in dusty tombs and dragon hoards and in the ogre chieftain's hands, not purchased at a store). For each council quest I specify a level of item (for Kuto's Well it was level 6) and pretty much let the player's pick an item from Adventurer's Vault 1 or 2 as their reward for completing it. The concept here is that the town has been in ruins for centuries and many adventurers and expeditions have come and gone and the town has collected many many magic items from those expeditions and excavations, storing them in a massive underground vault. Lacking a lot of cash the town has decided to use this hoard to finance the expansion into the ruins. This maintains some internal consistency while giving the players a fair amount of choice about their signature items. In the old days when fighters were good with all weapons you could hand a guy a +1 polearm , then a +2 battle axe, then a +4 Defender longsword and all was well. Now with feats and powers being tied to specific types of weapons it's not as easy, so I'm  OK giving them some choice.

When I designed the civilized section of Phlan I knew the town council would be the main quest-givers for any party but I wanted to include specialized contact groups for different types of characters. Martial Hall is there for Martial types, the mage guild for Arcane types, the temples for Divine types, and a druid in a grove on the edge of town for Primal types. I also included some nobility for high-society types and  the Thieves' Guild for lower-society types. There's a general outfitters/equipment shop tat can also be a source of information or quests and an alchemist as well. So far the PC's have been focused on only a few of those and that's fine - I like having some room in the design for a potential second or third party. I like to sketch in names and titles ahead of time, along with a basic personality and appearance and some notes on information and quests they might have. For example, Koros Redbeard, high priest of Tempus in Phlan, looks and sounds like Brian Blessed. This gives me an easy hook to remember even after extended downtime between appearances.

Once the party left town it was time for our first experience with skill challenges. I had left these alone before sticking to regular combat and quest XP for the first couple of levels. Having had time to study the much better presentation of skill challenges in the Rules Compendium made it a fairly straightforward thing to do. I made getting a pass from the hobgoblins a challenge, getting through the patrols (whether by interaction or by stealth) a challenge, talking their way into the Legion's jail (next session) a challenge, and getting information at the inn a challenge. Of course many of these could also end up in combat too so I had full combat stats handy as well but the party surprised me a little and talked their way into Podol Plaza with no combat at all.  I was very pleased with the way it went and I will be including more of them where they are appropriate. To me they are an extra spice for the DM to add, but will not be the main focus of most games.  If there's a chance for something other than combat I will consider working up a skill challenge to grant a better chance for skill use and an XP reward.

So...the artifact. One of the interesting changes in 4th edition is the idea that artifacts can be introduced at any tier of play, even low-level Heroic Tier. The more I read this the more I thought it could be a lot of fun as they have mechanical elements that encourage certain behavior and they have specific goals that when accomplished mean that the artifact moves on. The example in the DMG is the Invulnerable Coat of Arnd and knowing the player of my party's fighter very well I knew he would jump at the chance so I decided to start with him, though I do hope to give everyone in the party a chance to be the center of attention for at least a few levels through our campaign.

Also knowing the fighter's player I knew that the Coat of Arnd is way too close to the Invulnerable Coat of Arnold, and thus the accent and personality of the coat was crystallized for all time.  I tweaked the background a bit so that "Arnd" was a famous barbarian heroic dragon slayer who came to Phlan centuries ago to fight dragons during one of thier migrations that destroyed Phlan. He joined the temple of Torm, then eventually was slain and interred with his legendary armor in Valhingen Graveyard. Knowing that a time of need was approaching, the Coat sent dreams to hte nearby temple, guiding them to the mausoleum in which it rested and beginning the new legend which we are still telling. The coat hates dragons, and the coat pushes the wearer to fight them whenever they appear, which will make the later stages of the Phlan campaign very interesting. Mechanically it's powerful but not ridiculous the way some old 1E artifacts were. plus it "expires" later so someone else will get their turn too.

Overall it was a great session and set a good tone for the next part of the campaign.

Motivational Monday

The New Year

Hoping that 2011 continues the gaming renaissance here so I thought I would post a few of my goals for the new year:

• On the RPG front the name of the game is FOCUS. I've settled on 3 types of games to run now and I plan to stick with those for the year:

• D&D
• Supers
• Star Wars

I'd love to run more Traveller or Trek or Deadands but for 2011 they will just have to wait.

• On the book front I want to try and work in more fiction, less rulebook time. Now that I've consumed most of the D&D & M&M material maybe that will be easier, although as i write this I'm reading DC Heroes 3rd edition, so we'll see how that goes.

• On the miniatures front I'm going to try and get our 40K battles back on track and work in some other systems too, like Battletech and Federation Commander.

That's all for now - hope the new year goes well for all.

An Important Public Service Announcement

Designing a Supers Campaign

So when I really started thinking about doing another supers campaign I decided I wanted to follow 3 basic rules:

1) Silver Age Characterization - Good guys are good, bad guys are bad, and there isn't a lot of crossover between the two. There may be a few honorable villains whose word can be trusted and they might even work with the heroes to defeat a common foe, but by and large there are white hats and there are black hats and not much gray in between. As a result, there will be no lethal attacks for heroes in this campaign - "lethal" = "bad guy" in this kind of world and is a deliberate choice. Heroes only kill under extreme circumstances, at a dramatically appropriate moment, and usually to save an innocent life. Then they go all angsty about it and may resign from the team for awhile or go off and consult with an oracle or a sage or a priest of some kind. I can work with that.

Some of you may look at that and think that it's too simplistic. To a point, you're right - it's a very simple approach almost akin to Basic D&D. But I want it that way for several reasons. First, this is our first supers game in a long time and I don't want a lot of complicated tortured backgrounds of reformed villains. Second, this one is mainly going to be played by teens and tweens and I don't want them going around slaughtering bad guys (we have D&D for that). Third, it will make for a nice contrast when we do play a more modern-age type campaign. Fourth, most of their super experience consists of the Batman/Superman/Justice League animated series and the Batman/Spiderman/X-Men/Iron Man live action movies. Those are pretty clear-cut on heroes vs. villains so that's their expectation. If I was running my 4th or 5th supers campaign this decade and playing with a bunch of 30+ fans then it would be a little different. This will make a nice base to expand from, however, and that's why I chose it.

2) Silver Age Science - Science is the superhero version of magic in this age. If you can come up with a scientific-sounding name for something then it's clearly something that's possible. In Fantasy games, "It's magic" can be used to explain almost anything. For Silver Age Supers darn near anything can be a ray or a field or a special kind of energy or some strange alloy and it's perfectly acceptable. As a corollary to this radiation causes damage and mutation (similar to Gamma World), not sickness and death. It's how half of the Marvel universe gets their powers and that's good enough for me.

This also lets me play around with the technology level of the setting without resorting to design sequence games like GURPS Vehicles or Fire Fusion and Steel from Traveller. If I need flying cars for an agency then they have flying cars. If I need all the cars in the city to run on electrical power (due to the cheap power available from the reactor) then I can. I can have the police carry blasters instead of guns and make traditional lethal attacks out of style.


3) Original Setting - I have at least 5 city settings for supers games - Millenium City, Vibora Bay, Hudson City, Freedom City, San Angelo, Bay City, Metropolis, Gotham City, and Marvel New York. (OK that's more than 5) and I have not run a lengthy campaign in any of them, but I find it's easier to remember details if I wrote them myself, rather than read them out of a book that someone else wrote. It may be counter-intuitive, but by making some broad notes in advance and some large-scale maps, I don't have to worry about contradicting what's in the book and I can make things work the way I want them. Plus, not having a rigid outline in place means that the details develop to fit the campaign, and not the other way around. This is especially important in a supers game where all kinds of crazy stuff can happen.

Thus was born "Atomic City" - I wanted something that sounded almost old-fashioned yet fit a supers campaign, particularly a Silver Age game. Atomic City is a city founded in northern California as part of a government research project during WW2 that incorporated in 1950 and slowly expanded to integrate the surrounding smaller communities in the region. As you might guess one reason for the name is that the first nuclear power plant was constructed here (unlike the real world) and the local nickname for the area became the official name when it incorporated, and the classic atom logo is still used by the city today.

There are other ways to do it - I have pretty good notes on my old "Miami 2000" Champions campaign from the 90's where I adapted a real city to fit my needs. That's a fun approach because you can use real-world maps then alter them as you see fit to make things interesting. I worked in everything from marine life parks to historical sites to the Everglades to Crockett and Tubbs in that game and it was a lot of fun.

I also have notes on my planned-but-never-run Gothic City campaign set in a city much like the Tim Burton Batman Gotham City - set in an unspecified time period with 50's looking cars alongside cell phones - I've always liked the mixed decade design look (Batman, Flash TV series, Dark Conspiracy RPG) and I may carry a little of that over to Atomic City  but I don't want it to be a "dark" setting. I just want a dash of retro-future here and there.

I do have a use for all of those other city settings though - there's really no reason some of them can't exist in the same world as Atomic City. Since AC is on the west coast, Freedom City fits just fine over on the east coast. If I put Millennium City on the great lakes and I put Vibora Bay on the Gulf Coast then I have a decent super-city on each coast. The one I plan to use the most right now will be the one that I detail, but if the heroes take a trip to one of the others, hey, I have a book that's crammed full of details right there waiting. If a second campaign starts up and I don't want it sharing the same airspace as AC then I have ready-made places ready to go too.

So that's the first take on the supers campaign. I'll put up at least one more post on the city as I see it and some plot outlines from the first 12 "issues" over the next week in between D&D updates.

Return to the Ruins of Adventure - Session 9: Attack of the Emerald Queen

The players:

Uthal, Goliath Barbarian 2
Tavar, Deva Invoker 2
Kordan, Human Fighter 2
Javanni, Half Elf Bard 2
Mikal, Human Warlock 2
Althea, Eladrin Wizard 2

After recovering from the fight with the kobold leaders the team heads for the last remaining door. Opening* it they discover a large, columned temple hall with a large dragon statue at the far end and a glowing green ball atop an altar. Moving in they are instantly set upon by a needlefang drake swarm and a guard drake unleashed by one of the handler-types they have seen before.  The kobold high priest stands at the back of the room near the altar unleashing clinging venom blasts at different targets as his warriors and guard animals chew them up in hand to hand combat. A human bandit fights alongside, the first non-scaled opponent they have encountered since entering the well.  During the combat the priest screams that the party has angered the Emerald Queen and that they will pay for their transgressions.  Also, a magical crossbow trap covering the door fires every round, nailing almost every member of the party during the fight.

The invoker summons a fire angel and drops it on the priest and is partially successful in keeping him busy until the fighter can get to him and engage. The barbarian takes on the guard drake and its handler while the wizard, warlock, and bard fight the bandit and the swarm, leaving the fighter and invoker to tackle the high priest. In the priest stand alone, holding off the entire party for a round or two until he finally succumbs.

Healing up and searching the room, the party discovers that the glowing ball on the altar is actually the preserved eye of a fomorian, usually associated with scrying or communication type magic. Deciding not to severely desecrate the altar after thoroughly searching it (but after looting the bodies)  the group heads out to the well and elevates themselves up and out. They get about 20 steps away from the well when there is a whoosh of water shooting up from the well (along with the splintered lifting platform) and a roar and then a large draconic shape fades into view atop the well itself. "You have slain my children and now you will pay!"

Much of the party is stunned for the first round so the dragon engages and spews poisonous breath  all over them. The team spreads out as Uthal and Kordan charge while Althea drops a flamning sphere next to it and various other magical effects flare off around the party and the beast.  In a  long and vicious fight the Invoker, Fighter, the Warlock, and the Bard all drop at some point, though most of them are revived to fight again during the battle. Finally, with almost the entire party bloodied or unconscious Kordan manages to pin the beast in place by ramming a sword through its foot and the party members still in fighting shape charge in. The Emerald Queen goes down ad stays down, leaving the inner court of the ruined keep drenched with blood and venom and a party of injured and dying heroes raise their hands in victory.

DM Notes: This was the climax of the Kuto's Well section of the campaign and it was intense.

The fight in the temple was vicious but only lasted 5 rounds. It did demonstrate the effectiveness of ongoing damage though as the priest was lighting people up for direct damage + ongoing 5 almost every time he shot, one reason that the Invoker and Fighter moved to engage him even though there were other targets still up and closer. Locking him up in hand to hand prevented him from firing off that nasty ranged attack and then once the fighter got on him it was only a matter of time. Several dailies were fired off as the party assumed this was the finale and they felt the lack when the dragon attacked. They did take a short rest before continuing though, and it's a good thing.

The Emerald Queen was a tough challenge for my group of 6 as it has well over 200 hit points, decent armor, and nasty breath and melee attacks. I've run a couple of these fights now and they are epic every time.  The recharge mechanic for the breath makes fighting one uncertain and a few rolls one way or the other could have resulted in much more pain for the party.

This wraps up the Kuto's Well adventures and most of the party will be level 3 after this. Next time it's back to town to sell loot and recover and level up, and find out what's next in the big city.





*Opening in this case means that the fighter and the barbarian smash it to kindling and charge in.

Return to the Ruins of Adventure - Session 8: Against the Emerald Prince

We begin down Kuto's Well outside a just-opened door to a room full of kobolds next to a pit trap containing one injured fighter.

Uthal, Goliath Barbarian 2
Kordan, Human Fighter 2
Jovanni, Half Elf Bard 2
Mikal, Human Warlock 2
Althea, Eladrin Wizard 2

In the span of a few seconds the door slams shut and Kordan is extracted from the pit, then the party retreats back around a corner. During a hurried tactics discussion it is decided to use a tenser's floating disk to shield unlucky party members from the spikes. As the fighter recovers, Althea casts the ritual and the group moves back to the door.

The disk is pushed into the pit and Kordan makes a running leap at the door, smashing it open and bursting into the room. A furious fight ensues as the party leaps over the pit and the 6 kobolds in the room stand ready to engage.  At one point Kordan gets bull-rushed back into the pit but thanks to the TFD is not as severely injured this time. Althea thunderwaves several of the kobolds and Uthal leaps into the fray. Mikal blasts several with arcane fire as Jovanni keeps everyone up and moving. The consort, bodyguards, adviser, and priest all fall until only the tribal champion is left, though he eventually falls too. Searching the room, the team finds some treasure and a healing potion. They then take a short break.

After taking a short rest the group heads back down the passage, through the common room, and down the opposite passage, coming to another door which is of course kicked in promptly. This appears to be some sort of guardroom as two kobold temple guardians unleash guard drakes on Kordan and Uthal who push their way into the room as the Bard, Wizard, and Warlock blast away with magic blasts.  The Chieftain of the tribe, calling himself the Emerald Prince proves to be very tough but he eventually falls to the combined might of the group.

The carving on the walls here is very intricate and very old, and looks like it might once have been colored in some way though it is bare stone now. There is a definite plant motif to the work with vines and leaves carved into the stone with great skill. There is another door in the room but the party decides to retreat to the bedroom to recover from these last couple of vicious fights.  They barricade the door and post watches, then most of the group passes out.

DM Notes:  Another 2-encounter night but two good ones. One lasted 6 rounds and one lasted 5 so combat is not ridiculously lengthy.

The first fight featured several attempts to knock people into the pit right outside the door so that made positioning and movement a little more exciting than some fights. In round 5 of that fight the Wizard landed a crit with a force orb, the fighter landed a crit with one of his attacks, and the barbarian landed a crit as well - it was a very explosive round and the fight ended in round 6 because of it.

The second fight featured the barbarian developing a move-throw-retreat tactic that worked fairly well for him and starting to work on his special charge abilities as well. The wizard is also getting better at positioning the Thunderwave or Flaming Sphere vs. using the Chromatic Orb. The warlock is mainly fire support at this point but he can fight in melee if he has too. The bard is all about ranged attacks mixed with buff & movement abilities. The fighter is very good at taking a beating and is figuring out how to use his attacks as well as he has a lot of movement and control abilities that are not as apparent in reading as they are in play.

The group is coming together well and the game continues to be a lot of fun for all of us.

Motivational Monday

Atomic City Stories - Issue 0

During an otherwise quiet weekday morning several citizens find themselves at the downtown branch of the Atomic City Bank. Suddenly the doors fly open and 5 armed thugs rush in, followed by a mountainous man-thing who strides to the center of the room and bellows "I AM OGRE! I AM STRONGEST! AND I AM TAKING ALL THE MONEY!" Various panicked patrons and employees hit the floor in response.

But it turns out that not all of the people in the bank are helpless bystanders. One woman turns with glowing red eyes and extends her hand. One man smoothly draws unfolds a hi-tech bow from a briefcase he was carrying. One man snarls and sprouts claws from his hands. Then another man turns to the criminals and reveals his dark-furred skin as a spiked tail rises up over his shoulder. All assume a stance that indicates they are ready for combat, then a hurricane of violence is unleashed.

In the blink of an eye the woman, clearly the superhero Nightmist, is next to one of the thugs and her arm blurs as she backhands him across the room - he slides to a stop and does not rise again. The bowman, surely the new hero Eagle Eye fires an arrow into the middle of the room which begins spraying out a dark smoky cloud. The spiked-ail character is surely Darkjumper and he tail-slaps one of the thugs next to him, stunning the man, then he disappears in a cloud of smoke and reappears next to another thug across the room. The other man, now hairier than before and sporting large claws growls and rushes "Ogre" from near the entrance, slamming into him with a furious claw assault - this must be Strikewolf, another new superhero.

The struggle lasts less than a minute - Eagle Eye fires off several explosive arrows, stunning and bruising multiple thugs and is hit once by gunfire, staggering him. Nightmist and Darkjumper join in the fight against Ogre and manage to land several hits - Nightmist goes toe to toe with the big villain while Darkjumper teleports behind him, tailslapping and dodging when the blows are returned. For a brief moment the heroes appear to be in trouble when Ogre finally connects with a full-strength-dead-on punch to  Strikewolf, rocketing him back into the lobby wall through it, and then through the outer wall of the bank, and sending him almost the length of a a football field down the street. He lies in the street, stunned for a few seconds, then he gets back up and breaks into a full run back towards the bank, scratches and bruises healing as he does so. As Strikewolf rushes back into the bank, Nightmist and Darkjumper have been pounding on Ogre as Eagle Eye finishes off more of the thugs, identified now by their uniforms as agents of the sinister organization Viper. Nightmist and Darkjumper each land one more hit as Stirkewolf launches into an all-out power attack with his claws and sends Ogre flying back, knocking him out. The last two Viper agents run for it but they can not outrun Nightmist and Darkjumper, who run/teleport in front of the fleeing duo and extend one arm each, clotheslining both agents in a full run, dropping both of them to the ground.

As police sirens wail in the distance, Nightmist fades into the darkness and Darkjumper teleports away, leaving Eagle Eye and Strikewolf to fill in the authorities on hat just happened.


DM Notes: So during my time off this week I decided to run the apprentices through a Mutants and Masterminds playtest. We built characters but I wasn't sure we really understood the system well enough to make characters they would want to keep and no one really wanted to play any of the templates in the rulebook. So out comes the handy-dandy Marvel Heroes compilation by some of the M&M ThinkTank guys and soon we have Hawkeye, Nightcrawler, and Wolverine in M&M form along with Apprentice Twilight's half-vampire self-made character Nightmist. Making a nightmarish mixture of systems, I then used the starting scenario from old-school Champions and had Ogre and some Viper agents robbing a bank. So we have some Marvel characters fighting the Campions kick-off adventure using Mutants and Masterminds as the system - Yeah!

It was very slow and very clunky but I had been reading up on the rules before this so we covered the basics fairly well. We worked in some of the options and feats very gradually and by the end of the fight (al 8 rounds of it) we had a pretty good sense of the flow of the game The whole idea of Attacker tolling to hit but Target roiling for damage was really messing with their heads but they seem to have gotten comfortable with it now.  It went well and they are ready for more.

One off-table challenge was for me to come up with a setting I liked. I haven't written up a super setting for probably at least 6 years and even then it was notes on a campaign that never happened. I wanted to start fresh so I ignored all of my old stuff and the Freedom City sourcebook and just started brainstorming. I'll post my notes later but "Atomic City" is the result. It's a fictional city on the west coast that will contain only the stuff I want to include - no baggage from old campaigns or systems or characters, although the history may include some names from some of my old ones that never had a strong setting. They need a home and I just happen to have one for them now...

Motivational Monday

 

(Oops, got 5 & 6 out of order, so here's #5)