Pittsburgh: City of Champions

[steriaca]

30 minutes ago, Steve said:

I vote for Igor, the traditional name for a mad scientist’s assistant.

 

A perky female assistant dressed like a colonial Minuteman (or perhaps Betsy Ross) would complete the trifecta.

Would Igora be a better name for the female assistant?

[Steve]

53 minutes ago, steriaca said:

Would Igora be a better name for the female assistant?

Hmmm. Igor and Igora could be twins, which might be interesting.

[steriaca]

7 minutes ago, Steve said:

Hmmm. Igor and Igora could be twins, which might be interesting.

Robots can't be twins exactly. Cause Borris is a robot.

 

But Igora could also be a robot also.

[Steve]

22 minutes ago, steriaca said:

Robots can't be twins exactly. Cause Borris is a robot.

 

But Igora could also be a robot also.

Ah, I was thinking human helpers when I wrote that. Sorry.

 

A cute and snarky female assistant could play well off tall, grim and metallic Igor. She could be a gadget girl type.

[steriaca]

5 minutes ago, Steve said:

Ah, I was thinking human helpers when I wrote that. Sorry.

 

A cute and snarky female assistant could play well off tall, grim and metallic Igor. She could be a gadget girl type.

Isn't technically Franklin Stine the gadget guy type? Mad scientist with electricity gadgets anyone? Sure, he will provide his agents with tech to help them do whatever the job he needs them to do.

 

Boris the robot is the mussel of Franklin Stine. Igora and maybe Igor (if he exists) are his skilled hands, doing what he needs without using brute force. 

 

Franklin Stine and his henchmen are a nice group of solo villains, but can also be part of a supervillain group (a kind of a Pittsburgh "Rogues" or "League of Doom"). They can be kinda silly at times. Or at times rather serious also.

[steriaca]

9 hours ago, steriaca said:

Isn't technically Franklin Stine the gadget guy type? Mad scientist with electricity gadgets anyone? Sure, he will provide his agents with tech to help them do whatever the job he needs them to do.

 

Boris the robot is the mussel of Franklin Stine. Igora and maybe Igor (if he exists) are his skilled hands, doing what he needs without using brute force. 

 

Franklin Stine and his henchmen are a nice group of solo villains, but can also be part of a supervillain group (a kind of a Pittsburgh "Rogues" or "League of Doom"). They can be kinda silly at times. Or at times rather serious also.

It's kinda easy to get silly with the fore some. All four wearing colonial clothing. Benjamin Franklin Stine being obsessed with his namesake (Benjamin Franklin) and with electricity. Igor and Igora being the straight men to their bosses pseudo insanity. And by insanity I mean more Foxbat in nature than, um, I don't know of any Pittsburgh based serial killer so I have to go with my home town psycho Jeffrey Dahmer.

 

As for gadgets...an old style gun which shoots electric bolts. Kites which can be remotely controlled and can also shock people. Considering the type of villain I want to emulate for him, most of his electrical attacks are NND, Stun Only, or a type of Entangle (DC current locking muscles in place). But of course Franklin Stine has a VVP and can dip into Magnetism also.

 

Franklin Stine is not that much smarter than anyone else. In combat he basically relies on Borris to smash heroes and he and his henchmen supporting Borris. 

 

Franklin Stine's goles is to simply fund his current wacky invention, test his current wacky invention, or indulge in his obsession (everything Benjamin Franklin related, and/or electricity related). Borris is rather board with this, but is programmed for obedience. Borris is also programmed to descalate Franklin's crimes (suggesting not murdering people, for example). 

[Ninja-Bear]

6 hours ago, steriaca said:

It's kinda easy to get silly with the fore some. All four wearing colonial clothing. Benjamin Franklin Stine being obsessed with his namesake (Benjamin Franklin) and with electricity. Igor and Igora being the straight men to their bosses pseudo insanity. And by insanity I mean more Foxbat in nature than, um, I don't know of any Pittsburgh based serial killer so I have to go with my home town psycho Jeffrey Dahmer.

 

As for gadgets...an old style gun which shoots electric bolts. Kites which can be remotely controlled and can also shock people. Considering the type of villain I want to emulate for him, most of his electrical attacks are NND, Stun Only, or a type of Entangle (DC current locking muscles in place). But of course Franklin Stine has a VVP and can dip into Magnetism also.

 

Franklin Stine is not that much smarter than anyone else. In combat he basically relies on Borris to smash heroes and he and his henchmen supporting Borris. 

 

Franklin Stine's goles is to simply fund his current wacky invention, test his current wacky invention, or indulge in his obsession (everything Benjamin Franklin related, and/or electricity related). Borris is rather board with this, but is programmed for obedience. Borris is also programmed to descalate Franklin's crimes (suggesting not murdering people, for example). 

The thing is, most people associate Ben Franklin with Philly not Pittsburgh.

[steriaca]

59 minutes ago, Ninja-Bear said:

The thing is, most people associate Ben Franklin with Philly not Pittsburgh.

Thanks. That can be the entire joke. Not Franklin Stine's fault that he was born in the wrong city.

[steriaca]

Well, he is a Cloudcoocoolander. He actually believes Benjamin Franklin invented everything and comes from Pittsburgh. So...

[Spark]

OK, I think I'm caught up. A couple things of note:

 

First, I went to the University of Pittsburgh (multiple degrees) through the 80s. It is when/where I learned to play Champions. We played a LOT of Champions (several sessions a week for YEARS) and it always took place in Pittsburgh. And because I think you are going to ask, you have my by about 15 years.

 

Second, I just started running a pseudo-modern campaign, and while NOT living in Pittsburgh (we are 3.5 hours East in Harrisburg, PA), my players chose Pittsburgh (all of us either lived in the city or went to Pitt). The characters are written up. The NPCs are ready to go. It is HEAVILY Pittsburgh centric and HEAVILY tongue-in-cheek (or at least sarcastic). I'll add my thoughts to help your planning in my next post (to keep things cleaner).

 

Third, Tree of Life? I hope the shooting didn't affect you much. What a horror. I had been there for services many times while in college. Oh, and Chag Sameach.

[Spark]

Someone made a point about the costumes...a GREAT point to be sure. In Pittsburgh, ALL professional sports teams use Black and Gold as their colors (Steelers, Pirates, Penguins). The City of Pittsuburgh was the first to use the color combination, but I believe it is an ULTRA dark blue, almost black. The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) uses a variation on the theme: Blue and Gold. The blue and gold are darker and ligher depending on the year.

 

As a result, in EVERY campaign I've run in Pittsburgh, the heroes have always worn black and gold costumes. In my game that kicks off NEXT weekend, they will be part of a paid superhero group (so I don't have to kill myself getting them all together). While some of them have costumes already, the group sponsor is requiring them to wear a black and gold version of their costume. In fact, they will be issued several versions of that costume: One with all their armor and equipment; One for PR stunts that looks similar, is sparkly, but has the dangerous parts replaced by fake things (that can store candy for kids or somesuch); One for lounging around the base; One for formal events (essentially a black tux with yellow cumerbund or vests).

 

Edited April 23, 2022 by Spark

[Spark]

21 hours ago, Ninja-Bear said:

The thing is, most people associate Ben Franklin with Philly not Pittsburgh.

Thank you Ninja-Bear for picking up on the Ben Franklin/Philly thing. A point to note is that most Pittsburghers do...not...like...Philly people. There is a bit of friction there (in part for political reasons and in part cause...well, the Eagles or Phillies).

 

There are SOOOOO many other famous people from Pittsburgh including Andrew Carnegie (pronounced car-NEG-ee), several other early industrialists (Mellon, Westinghouse, Heinz), Fred Rogers, Andy Warhol, Roberto Clemente, and of course Jerome Betis (or almost anyone from the Terry Bradshaw/Steel Curtain era).

 

With the AMAZINGLY rich history of steel production, it may be more beneficial to make the robot some sort of result of many years of steel production, research within the Westinghouse company, and...well, you can do a steampunk theme since the steel heyday was really between 1905 and 1965 (it completely collapsed between 1975 and 1985...very quickly).

[Spark]

On 4/21/2022 at 4:45 PM, SCUBA Hero said:

A complete or nearly complete manuscript is not necessary to start getting pages posted on the Patreon.  So anyone who's interested, PM me with any parts you are interested in writing.

 

I can start on the Introduction, and possibly compile some of Mark Rand's work on history/people/infrastructure.

 

Reposting from original post:

 

Format:

• Introduction - Explain where all of the toolkit toggles are set (Silver Age, Standard Superheroic characters, power levels, and so on)
• History
• Geography and Government
• Transportation, Media/Arts/Entertainment, Subcultures
• Police, Emergency Services, Underworld, Superheroes, Supervillany
• Places of Interest
• GMs Vault
• Villains (include an organization and master villain)
• Adventures
• Continuing the Campaign

 

Note that bullet points 2-7 follow the structure of Millenium City and Vibora Bay.  MC clocks in at 135 pages, VB at 157.  Much of the difference in page count is VB's extended GM chapter and adventure seed ideas.  P:CoC would be longer, based on the Introduction and extended Adventures/Campaign sections.  Make the adventure/campaign arc related to why the previous super-team is no longer around and the new PC team has to pick up the mantle.

 

What a FANTASTIC framework!!! Thank you SCUBA!

 

A couple things:

 

First, I'm a scuba diver too. Probably heading to Florida to get some bottom time in a couple months. Until then...Quarries, cold, cold quaries, Just had to get that in there.

 

Second, I can write fairly well. OK fine, my writing is somewhat...mechanical (I do a fair amount of technical writing). I'm happy to help out writing any of those parts.

 

Third, for those writing, it may be helpful to start off with an hour on a Zoom call (or some other platform) to get everyone on the same page. I personally wouldn't want to go down a path only to find out it wasn't what the group wanted (I am a team player afterall).

[Mark Rand]

48 minutes ago, Spark said:

OK, I think I'm caught up. A couple things of note:

 

First, I went to the University of Pittsburgh (multiple degrees) through the 80s. It is when/where I learned to play Champions. We played a LOT of Champions (several sessions a week for YEARS) and it always took place in Pittsburgh. And because I think you are going to ask, you have my by about 15 years.

 

Second, I just started running a pseudoing-modern campaign, and while NOT living in Pittsburgh (we are 3.5 hours East in Harrisburg, PA), my players chose Pittsburgh (all of us either lived in the city or went to Pitt). The characters are written up. The NPCs are ready to go. It is HEAVILY Pittsburgh centric and HEAVILY tongue-in-cheek (or at least sarcastic). I'll add my thoughts to help your planning in my next post (to keep things cleaner).

 

Third, Tree of Life? I hope the shooting didn't affect you much. What a horror. I had been there for services many times while in college. Oh, and Chag Sameach.

Thank you for your greetings on this, the last day of Passover. 

 

The last time I was at Tree of Life was in April of 1990, when I was sitting shiva for my father.  At the time of the shooting I was home, in Bloomfield, getting ready for belly dance class.  Yes, guys do belly dance.  I didn't even know about it until my teacher got a call about it from someone.

[Spark]

47 minutes ago, Mark Rand said:

Thank you for your greetings on this, the last day of Passover. 

 

The last time I was at Tree of Life was in April of 1990, when I was sitting shiva for my father.  At the time of the shooting I was home, in Bloomfield, getting ready for belly dance class.  Yes, guys do belly dance.  I didn't even know about it until my teacher got a call about it from someone.

 

The last time I was at Tree of Life was the summer of 91. I don't know anyone there anymore.

[steriaca]

3 hours ago, Spark said:

Thank you Ninja-Bear for picking up on the Ben Franklin/Philly thing. A point to note is that most Pittsburghers do...not...like...Philly people. There is a bit of friction there (in part for political reasons and in part cause...well, the Eagles or Phillies).

 

There are SOOOOO many other famous people from Pittsburgh including Andrew Carnegie (pronounced car-NEG-ee), several other early industrialists (Mellon, Westinghouse, Heinz), Fred Rogers, Andy Warhol, Roberto Clemente, and of course Jerome Betis (or almost anyone from the Terry Bradshaw/Steel Curtain era).

 

With the AMAZINGLY rich history of steel production, it may be more beneficial to make the robot some sort of result of many years of steel production, research within the Westinghouse company, and...well, you can do a steampunk theme since the steel heyday was really between 1905 and 1965 (it completely collapsed between 1975 and 1985...very quickly).

It's my fault for forgetting that Benjamin Franklin is a Philadelphia person. But considering how there is a rivalry, I'm willing to have people run with that. 

 

As for Boris' orgins, sure. Make him an unfinished Westinghouse experment put up in storage for a later date to be finished, only to be forgotten about till stolen by that crazy Philly guy who thinks he's Benjamin Franklin. 

 

Might as well make the crazy a Philadelphian. Why not?

[Ninja-Bear]

11 hours ago, steriaca said:

It's my fault for forgetting that Benjamin Franklin is a Philadelphia person. But considering how there is a rivalry, I'm willing to have people run with that. 

 

As for Boris' orgins, sure. Make him an unfinished Westinghouse experment put up in storage for a later date to be finished, only to be forgotten about till stolen by that crazy Philly guy who thinks he's Benjamin Franklin. 

 

Might as well make the crazy a Philadelphian. Why not?

Since Park pointed out that their are many inventors in Pittsburgh, just make Franklin Stine in the moulding of one of those instead of Benjamin Franklin.

[steriaca]

4 hours ago, Ninja-Bear said:

Since Park pointed out that their are many inventors in Pittsburgh, just make Franklin Stine in the moulding of one of those instead of Benjamin Franklin.

I just thought up the character, not the final arbitrator of the character.  Whatever the final author wishes shall be. Much like how I thought up Balloon-A-Tic but I didn't actually finish the character. I provide the idea, it's your job to hammer into something to make.

[dmjalund]

I submit these guys for our consideration

[steriaca]

4 minutes ago, dmjalund said:

I submit these guys for our consideration

Nice duo. Beyond that, I got nothing. 

[steriaca]

Ok. Since my character Lady Heart is maybe going to be in this, I better list some of hir enimies.

 

Queen Nightmara: More something mentioned than actually stated out in the book, Queen Nightmara is a mystical tyrant from another dimension who lives to "feed on dark emotions". She lives for increasing the darkness and works through a group of magical girls she empowers. She likes to use teenage girls as her catpawns.

 

She can't set foot on our dimension until the dark emotions level reaches a certain level.

 

The Court of Hate: A four teenage girl squad of magical girls who serve Queen Nightmara, they are Lady Sorrow, Lady Pain, Lady Anger, and Lady Fear. They rairly work together, and use creaturs known as Nightmarians to do what their Queen wills. There crimes all are about spreading dark emotions in the area.

[Steve]

1 hour ago, steriaca said:

Ok. Since my character Lady Heart is maybe going to be in this, I better list some of hir enimies.

 

Queen Nightmara: More something mentioned than actually stated out in the book, Queen Nightmara is a mystical tyrant from another dimension who lives to "feed on dark emotions". She lives for increasing the darkness and works through a group of magical girls she empowers. She likes to use teenage girls as her catpawns.

 

She can't set foot on our dimension until the dark emotions level reaches a certain level.

 

The Court of Hate: A four teenage girl squad of magical girls who serve Queen Nightmara, they are Lady Sorrow, Lady Pain, Lady Anger, and Lady Fear. They rairly work together, and use creaturs known as Nightmarians to do what their Queen wills. There crimes all are about spreading dark emotions in the area.

How extensive is the Mystical World of Pittsburgh? It’s sounding like it might be the dominant category of superhumans. This could be explored.

 

It might also help to have a section for discussing how things are organized in the city by Worlds: Martial World, Mystical World, etc. That would help players interface their characters into one or more of the superhuman subcultures.

 

Maybe Stine could belong to a loose association of science-oriented villains that occasionally partner up for mutual benefit. It happens in the comics, even if it is just to have someone to go out drinking with and swap war stories.

 

Is there a “bar with no name” where villains congregate?

[Mark Rand]

As far as the occult world goes, Thomas Avery is an occult expert and retired mystic whose power has waned and has health issues.  He can provide background info and serves as a contact with the Trismegistus Council.  He shares his house with Marie Wells, his housekeeper, who might be a witch, Christina Valentine, a computer genius, Phoebe, his familiar, an orange tabby cat, and Muffin, Marie’s pet calico cat (her familiar if she’s a witch).  (It’s the GM’s call as to whether or not Marie’s a witch.)  There are also astrologers and occult bookstores in the city.

 

[steriaca]

The Clockwork is a hidden bar for the tech inclined, a place in the criminal underworld for mad scientist, robots, power armor agents, cyberspace spirits, and other technology based people to gather. While created by the underworld, it is understood that the place itself is neutral ground. A tech based hero sometimes goes there for a pint after patrolling the city, even if it is only a pint of oil and a small work bench to do some tinkering on.

[Mark Rand]

52 minutes ago, steriaca said:

The Clockwork is a hidden bar for the tech inclined, a place in the criminal underworld for mad scientist, robots, power armor agents, cyberspace spirits, and other technology based people to gather. While created by the underworld, it is understood that the place itself is neutral ground. A tech based hero sometimes goes there for a pint after patrolling the city, even if it is only a pint of oil and a small work bench to do some tinkering on.

There are a number of alleys in Pittsburgh.  All have "Way" designated the type of thoroughfare.  Some have addresses like regular streets.  It could be hidden in what looks like a house on an alley.

 

Another is The Light-Fingered Lady.  It's for cat burglars and people who like to dress like them.  Like The Clockwork, it's neutral ground.  The staff dress the part, too, with stocking masks under their ski masks.