WWYCD: You Find A Strange Door...(superhero edition)

[steriaca]

While patrolling the city, your superhero finds a strange floating wooded door with a wooden cat sign on it. It can't be moved, radiates magic, and smells of food can be smelled from the door. It's Saturday, and while there is a lock on the door, the door doesn't seem to be locked.

 

What will your character do?

 

(Inspired by "Restaurant From Another World".)

[Stealthgamer]

Kestrel: Call for other characters for backup. One of the magic users, probably her protege, the technomancer Nimisha, will want to do a more detailed magical examination of the door. She has "rose-colored glasses" that can see if it leads to a harmful dimension like the Qliphotic or the Netherworld or someplace like that, and if it's a one-way or two-way portal. If Nimisha's otherwise engaged, Kestrel might call on her NPC friend Alicia Blackmun. Her curiosity is strong, but not as strong as prudence, at least in this case. She wants to open that door, but it's best not to go alone, nor without scrying the door first. She will try to determine the nature of the food with Discriminatory Smell, but she'll wait for reinforcements to arrive before proceeding. She'll loosely guard the door to warn anybody else from unknowingly using it, if it's in an area that's remotely public.

 

If it's a dimensional door, she's extra cautious, as she's still not back to normal from the last time she got sucked into another dimension. What was supposed to be a 12-hour gender reassignment (male to female, part of a magical undercover operation against DEMON) is now in its third month. She has gotten a much more respectful appreciation of what it's like to be a woman, but the traumatic sexual assault that happened in the other dimension still haunts her, and the pregnancy (with twins) that had to happen to avoid being stuck as a DEMON broodmare forever... well, it wasn't what she wanted. She might be a woman for just another month, or until the pregnancy runs its course six months from now.

[archer]

Police perimeter to keep civilians from investigating

 

Call in team

 

Super-scientist and/or mystic specialists to evaluate the situation

[assault]

"Hmm. I wonder if you can get a beer here. Eh. At worst It's same old, same old."

 

Walk on in.

[steriaca]

5 hours ago, assault said:

"Hmm. I wonder if you can get a beer here. Eh. At worst It's same old, same old."

 

Walk on in.

Everyone is called by their favorite meal here, so prepare to be named Beer!

 

And no, not even the dwarfs are called that.

[Pariah]

I actually used something like this to kick off my longest-running campaign.

[steriaca]

On 1/31/2023 at 1:41 PM, Pariah said:

I actually used something like this to kick off my longest-running campaign.

I just remembered, the Floating Vagabond was much like the "Restaurant From Another World".

Edited February 2, 2023 by steriaca
Just remember the title, and I called it wrong. So...coreection.

[Duke Bushido]

Martin Power:

"Nope.  Sorry.  Not magic.  No; I distinctly,heard you say 'magic;'  I'm sitting this one out.  No.  Seriously, Rags; I don't care!  Look, I can't punch magic, okay?  You'll be fine.

 

(He shies away from anything involving 'magic' after an incident years ago involved a magic-wielding illusionist that presented himself as insanely powerful (he wasn't), and Power thought 'at last! Someone I can just unload on!" And hit him for so much Knockback he sailed completely off aircraft carrier (again, illusion) he was levitating beneath him.  If it weren't for a flying teammate from another planet who was both telepathic and very resistant to the illusion, Power would have had way more issues with his CVK than he did for the "nearly" his teammate managed to salvage)

 

Maximum:  I don't know, guys.  I mean, I will if you will.  Who knows?  Could be fun!

 

The Good Guy:  What?!  _Another_ one?!

 

 

 

[steriaca]

(There are many of these door in the unnamed fantasy world Restaurant happens on...othoe it is all the same door. But yes, I guess superheroes encounter lots of extradimensinal doors. So "Another One?" indeed.)

[Hermit]

Eel doesn't fly, and really mysticism gives him the creeps. He probably redirects folks away from it while hoping someone who knows magic shows up.

 

Pogo openly agrees it's a bad idea to open it, that your average citizen should be kept away, then, when no other heroes are looking, opens it to 'just take a quick peek'. She will be missed.

 

Pinprick hits the door with a shrinking arrow so no one bigger than a foot tall can get through there. There, saved the world from who knows what invasion. You're welcome!

 

 

[Duke Bushido]

On 2/1/2023 at 10:49 PM, steriaca said:

But yes, I guess superheroes encounter lots of extradimensinal doors. So "Another One?" indeed.)

 

 

The story here:

 

Years ago, I had a player who was going to PCS in six months.  He wanted to "learn how to GM" before he left so that if he couldn't find a Champions group, he could start his own.  He co-GMed with me for a few weeks and when he felt he had it down pat (and had bought _three copies_ of the rules: 2e boxed sets.  I mentioned "years ago," right?), I stepped down and played in a campaign of his devising.

 

Unfortunately, he was really big on "anti-heroes" like Punisher and, under certain writers (I am told), Wolverine and Batman.  He liked the "I am a good guy!  You can tell because I only beat /cripple / murder "the bad guys."  

 

I love westerns, where in-genre, that's the norm, but while those people might be the heroes of the story, they are not necessarily "good guys."  While I am not the biggest fan that the superhero genre ever had, I still feel that no matter how angsty or obnoxius they are, they should still be at least making clear efforts to be "good guys," heavy on decency, or at least wrestling with the attempt to be.

 

In short: I don't care for anti-heroes in the supers genre.  I have nothing _against_ anti-heroes, right up until they put on spandex and become hyper-macho gun-toting stereotypes.  

 

To reconcile what I thought spandex supers should be with what anti-heroes are, I came up with the Good Guy.  He is unquestionably "touched."  Like periodically out of synch with reality.

 

"This city is in pain.  Only I can hear its cries of agony, and its whimpers of fear.  For too long have too many done too little.  For too long have her so-called protectors carved comfortable reputations for themselves by taking from her in a more insidious way.  For too long have the werewolves roamed free.  This city needs a face it can believe in.  This city needs a face it can trust.  This city needs the face of an undeniable good guy [puts orange fishbowl with spray painted smilie face over his head].  That's me.  This city will immediately know it finally has a champion [puts bandolier of shotgun shells across chest].  This city will know it has a defender. [Slings shotgun across back]  This city will know it has all the help [drops pistols into holsters] and all the support [buckles belt of grenades] and all the love it will ever need. [Secures a dozen throwing knives to various bits of his black-and-orange costume].  This city will know the instant it sees me [hefts  barbed wire "whip" over shoulder] that I, (secures throwing forks to other bits of his costume) and I alone [hangs grappling gun /autofire crossbow from grenade belt] am undeniably a Good Guy."

 

[Leaps out of window firing grappling gun in random direction (Swinging: No Conscious Control).]

 

"I trust this city; and this city trust me.  Fate will carry me to where I am needed. [Randomly fires grappling gun again, snagging the skid of a medical transport chopper (2d6 Luck) and gets jerked onto a different path]  quiver in fear, evil.  Quiver in fear, werewolves.  Too long have you infested this city.  But I can see clearly now.  I can see you for who you are.  I am coming for you, werewolves.  I will _get_ you, werewolves, and your little dog NASA, too.... [Randomly fires grappling gun again]  but first, I have to pee...."

 

So yeah: it is entirely likely he could open a dimensional door, step through, fall into a chimney, surface through a toilet, and announce "There has to be some other way; this is getting boring...."

 

 

 

 

 

 

[steriaca]

Sounds like The Punisher put through the crazy The Tick mold. I like it. 

[Duke Bushido]

Thanks!  Weirdly enough, he was both the most intimidating and least lethal character in that campaign.

 

I didn't just drop This guy onto the GM with an attempt to wreck or rearrange his plans for the campaign.  We talked a few times:  I told him I wasn't really happy playing a murderous super hero (though I was okay with doing a normals as murderous vigilantes kind of thing, but he was big in the super powers and spandex thing, and wanted to do it that way).

 

So he asked how I was with violence and supers, and I laughed my butt off.  Out of all genres of fiction, I have always found supers to be the single most violent type of "heroes:"  they solve complex ciphers and riddles in two panels, then spend eighteen pages absolutely beating the _crap_ out of each other.  If there is a barrier to breach or an obstacle to overcome, they will not sneak, skulk, hack, program, or otherwise work their way past it; they will beat it with fists and pelt it with energy blasts until the obstacle is destroyed!  Why open a door when you can bash it down,  _justicely_?!  (Yes; I meant "justicely."  You can stop wondering now.   )

 

So yeah: incredible over-the-top violence unseen this side of the last few minutes of Alderan, but no killing, and stop the pummeling of at least the living things (property is always fair game) when it is clear that they can fight no longer, and get them medical treatment if they need it; don't just leave them bleeding to death with seventeen broken bones in a frozen ditch 80 miles from town while patting yourself on the back for not killing them (lookin' at you, Batman). Do not kill people or plant evidence.  

 

He capitulated that this was more accurate than he had stopped to consider before, and asked if I was okay with it (again).

 

Yes; violence is not a problem.  I just can't get behind self-styled heroes that sneak and murder, nor can I get behind a fan squad that loves them for it.

 

I asked if he would prefer I not play, and assured him that I was prefectly okay with it (I had gotten in on an on-going Car Wars game with another group, so I was "getting my fix" pretty regularly.)  He insisted that it was important to him that I play, and I insisted that it was important to me that he not have to compromise his vision for his first-ever campaign.

 

He asked if there was a way that I could make a character who was okay with other "super heroes" doing the MDK thing while my character only "helped a little."

 

Now it is important to know one thing about this group--  well, there was a lot about them important to _me_,  but for this to provide you with any useful insight, you only need to know this one:

 

Stupid Movie Night.  I know thousands of other people in the 80s and 90s did it as well, but for those not familiar with the idea, it was homemade MST3K before there was an MST3K.  Every third Friday was Stupid Movie Night: you, or you and a date (if you had a date, it was mandatory to attend.  He or she might as well learn this about you before you got in too deep) would show up with a VHS of the worst, stupidest movie you could buy or rent, and we would watch them and tear them apart with vigor until we'd start dropping off or having to go to work.

 

Leslie Nielson did (more than one) a science fiction movie that was _terrible_.  Between the nine of us in the group, we owned four copies under two different titles.  Strangely, I can't remember the title of my copy, but the other title was "the creature wasn't nice" or something like that.

 

Someone had it playing in the background (we were at Sushi's place, and most of the moives ended up there) and some of the guys were watching it while Trevor and I talked.

 

For those who have not seen this garbage gem staring Leslie Nielson and Penny Marshall, there is a scene where the terrified crew of the spaceship inches their way down the hallway, crowded up to the captain (who seems to have the only gun).  There is a point where a world-darkening, blood-curdling inhuman scream _train horns_ its way through the corridors, the entire crew freaks and panics in place, coming completely unglued.  Neilson never flinches.  He puts on a serious look of concentration, cocks his and strains his ear forward.  "I think I heard something...."

 

That was the scene playing at that point in our conversation.  Just as we both lulled in speech and began to ruminate on ideas, _that scene_ broke the silence, and the light came on.

"Trev,  I think i've got it."  And I spilled the idea, and he giggled and laughed and said "can you have him ready for Saturday?"

 

See you Saturday; no problem.

 

 

Oh: the least actually lethal:

 

He goes through the motions.  He even enjoys stealing silver jewelry from werewolf-owned pawnshops and mall kiosks, and from the restaurants on werewolf-owned cruise ships and NASA-owned golf resorts.  He enjoys melting the silver into weapons, too, even though he knows it's all a lie-- a lie spread by NASA to help their werewolf brethren, to strengthen them!  _Never_ use a silver weapon on a werewolf, for it strengthens them and gives them power over your soul!  He takes the silver to keep it out of the hands of the werewolves.  He crafts the weapons to give them hope- to lure them to him with their hopes that he will use these weapons on them and thereby strengthen them.  He keeps the weapons, though; they work well enough on NASA lackeys.  But if you want to really vanquish a werewolf, the secret is neoprene.  Now you know.  Now you're a hunter, one of us.  Neoprene.  Pass it on.....

 

 

 

 

[Duke Bushido]

Oh-  almost forgot!

 

Mesmer:  "Careful!  It could be a cat dispenser!"

 

(Mesmer inherited the mystical tools, books, etc-  all the trappings of the family business, his great-great grandfather having been the original sorcerer protector of the turn of the last century.

 

Fortunately, upon the death of his grandfather, the mystic artifacts sought out the next black-haired son in the bloodline, and presented him with themselves, the powers they grant, and the key to the Library (the great fire was a cover: the library was moved to an extradimensional space by the guardians of the seal-- the thing that prevents large-scale demonic invasions (smal ones are plot-relevant and somehow continue to this day) to control access to some of the more... "Interesting" works...)

 

It took a a few years to find the heir.  His mother had been a desperate college student in a bad situation, and put him up for adoption.   He has absolutely no knowledge, and no training (his education should have begun at age four), so he does his best to project an air of authority and competence while usually panicking and winging it.

 

 

[starblaze]

On 2/2/2023 at 2:48 PM, steriaca said:

Sounds like The Punisher put through the crazy The Tick mold. I like it. 

There was a Punisher parody in the Tick cartoon named Big Shot.

[steriaca]

11 minutes ago, starblaze said:

There was a Punisher parody in the Tick cartoon named Big Shot.

I also remember a Punisher parody facing Slapstick, hating all mutants because they interrupted Wheel of Fourtion.

[Khymeria]

If I wanted to play it safe I would have taken over the family furniture store. I strap on the old feed sack and see what’s cooking. 

[Drhoz]

R.O.V.E.R would only enter it in pursuit of somebody on his target list, since his programming respects private property except in cases of pursuit, but things would rapidly get out of hand on the other side, without radio contact to SPOT to keep him out of program loops and edge cases. AmigaOS is probably not the best computer language to run a robot bounty hunter off. 

 

Vitus : If there access to more magic-friendly universes through the door, then you wouldn't see Vitus for dust. He might not even hang around long enough to tell his erstwhile teammates what he really thinks of them and their dimension. 

 

Hero Shrew: If they have an all-you-eat menu then it's not going to open into Edge City past tonight. 

 

https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/0d1db61f-eda1-4aab-9ae9-6481477613b5

 

Ripper K(and for that matter Felix Bethke) : NOPE. That's a magical working that’s WAY above their pay grade. Of course if somebody was willing to pay triple rate, with danger money and expenses, they'd consider investigating. 

 

Zero: Might stick his head in and telepathise everybody nearby just to confirm it isn't an interdimensional invasion gate