Telling YOU about the RCU!

[Savinien]

Re: Telling YOU about the RCU!

 

I just tried the link to the RCU website, and all I got was the message "Access

Denied-". Is there a problem with the site?

 

 

Major Tom

 

Thanks for the head's up. I got the same error. I'll get the web guy working on it.

[Savinien]

Re: Telling YOU about the RCU!

 

Try this:

 

http://www.rcuhero.net

[RPMiller]

Re: Telling YOU about the RCU!

 

That worked.

[Guest Major Tom]

Re: Telling YOU about the RCU!

 

Oh, yes, much better.

 

One question, though: who's the cat-woman in the Champions of Justice pic?

 

 

Major Tom

[Kenn]

Re: Telling YOU about the RCU!

 

Do you have an older copy of the Champions of Justice picture? The only 'cat-woman' who has belonged to the CoJ is la Chatte (AKA Sylvie Breie) daughter of l'Ours Noir. But she hasn't been active with the team for a while. I left her out of the most recent team shot.

 

The women in the current team shot are Charcoal (in the grey) and Chakram (in the gold, stanfding on a floating blue disk.) Chakram is very new. I'm still converting the Hero Designer output into one of our usual pages.

[Guest Major Tom]

Re: Telling YOU about the RCU!

 

I don't have the CoJ pic myself, but it is at the bottom of Post #10 of this

thread (the first pic of the three that's at the bottom of the post).

 

 

Major Tom

[Savinien]

Re: Telling YOU about the RCU!

 

Looks like Kenn answered your question!

 

Yep, that's Sylvie. We don't see much of her in the game anymore as the player quit the group.

 

I'll see if I can't find some more fan-fic somewhere.

[Kenn]

Re: Telling YOU about the RCU!

 

Oh. That one. I forgot Sav had posted it over here. I've recently replaced it on the site, but...

 

So, la Chatte caught your eye?

[Guest Major Tom]

Re: Telling YOU about the RCU!

 

Yep, she did.

 

What can I say, except: I like... cats.

 

 

Major Tom

[Savinien]

Re: Telling YOU about the RCU!

 

I'll see if I can look around and find some fan fic for Sylvie. She was in the CoJ and I've never ran one of those. Also, the player left before I was involved in too many games with that character. She has a fairly storied history as she is one of the characters that was brought in from the Crusaders. They had a fairly... interesting... method of doing things in that campaign.

[Guest Major Tom]

Re: Telling YOU about the RCU!

 

Define "interesting".

 

 

Major Tom

[Savinien]

Re: Telling YOU about the RCU!

 

Well, you have to realize the RCU started as a single campaign surrounding a single group, the Champions of Justice. Other people playing in that game (and later) started campaigns that were supposed to be part of the RCU, but eventually got incorporated into it. All of this went down well before I became a part of the setting.

 

The Crusaders was one of those games where there were only a player and a GM, and the two traded the mantle as the mood fit them and played this large group of characters each. Some of it is like that weird stage in the JLA when it was all goofy humor. You know the one? Anyways, it isn't exactly my sort of gaming, but Kenn has seemed to slipped it in, in a manner that works.

 

It's fun to see Stuntman (a founding member of the Crusaders?), grouse about his former team-mates (who the same player played at the time). Like I say, interesting.

[Savinien]

Re: Telling YOU about the RCU!

 

Two of the characters in question, Stuntman and Fury.

 

Later, after deciding the Crusaders setting was part of the RCU and a group of Crusaders had problems with a villian team called Havok...

 

A new group took over the mantle:

[Kenn]

Re: Telling YOU about the RCU!

 

In the late 1960's, Anton Breié and Elisabeth Gilbert were married, despite his nocturnal activities as l'Ours Noir, Montreal's resident costumed vigilante. In the early 1970's they had their first child, a daughter, Sylvie. Being tomboyish and a member of the LOC-Bloc (not to mention Anton's unspoken disappointment in not having a son) Sylvie ended up being trained as a costumed crime-fighter by her father, often with her "godbrother" Garrett Grant. Once in her teens, she became la Chatte Noire; l'Ours Noir's young aide. Tragically, Anton was past his prime, and Sylvie watched the one time her father was too slow. She entered her mourning period and rebel phase at about the same time. She went to Paris, obstensibly to finish school, but in fact ended up in the rather wild crowd of the Paris Fashion World. She became a model. Once over eighteen, she started getting interested in crime-fighting again. She revived her la Chatte Noire identity. She eventually ended up in Williamsburg, New Jersey, in the Crusaders, in a relationship with the Cyclist. She went through many of the groups ups and doubts, hanging around with Cyclist, Stuntman and the Westerner. She was fortunate to have been on a shoot the day Havok decimated the Crusaders.

 

She and Stuntman became close after he revived from his coma, sharing their grief over their friends' deaths. They joined the Champions of Justice, though at first they found it overwhelming. There was a bad accident and Sylvie was nearly killed, save for Dragon's intervention. However, between his then novice magical skills and her earlier exposure to one of Madame Y's experimental retro viruses, there was an unforseen effect. The virus was from a lycanthropic cougar and Sylvie became a werecat. She dropped the "Noire" from her name; her relationship with Stuntman ended; and she left the COJ to join the recently restarted Crusaders. She eventually left Denver for her native Montreal, and after a brief experiment with her own team during the Algolian Invasion, rejoined the Champions of Justice. There she found the situation much better than it had been before.

 

Finally accepting that the professional organisation was never going fill the emotional void from losing so many loved ones, she out her all into the team, and was accepted as never before. Eventually, she was finally asked to fill a position on the Executive Board. However, after about six weeks, she learned of her mother's failing health. Having achieved a long sought professional goal, she decided to finally make her family a priority. She once again became an inactive Champion, and has dedicated her time to taking care of her mother.

[Savinien]

Re: Telling YOU about the RCU!

 

Next up, a treatise on the origin of Turbo, the RCU's Fastest Man Alive! (by kenn)

 

Rick Lynx, after leaving the biology building on campus had stumbled

across a mugging. He helped out and the victim got away, but took a

severe beating in the process and was wounded badly. His girlfriend,

Sarah Caton, found him lying there (she had come looking for him) and

got him back to the biology lab. Rick's academic advisor and biology

professor, Dr. Bob Hogan, was still there. He had been working on a

healing formula (drawing on the DNA of starfish and lizards and other

animals that can regrow missing parts.) In order to save Rick's life

(the usual ethical conundrum of do I try the untried thing or let him

die) Dr. Hogan used the formula on Rick.

 

It altered Rick's metabolism, and his wounds healed at a remarkable

rate. He also started doing everything else faster. After he got his

powers under control, he turned to super heroics. However, his powers

did metamorphasise. Originally running around 350 mph, he just kept

getting faster and faster. And his ability to carry things at high

speeds without them disintegrating became evident. For several years,

while the changes were evident, the explanation was not discernable.

 

Eventually, the series of events related to something called the

Omnisphere occurred (some of them I believe Jasonn has posted in the

RCU thread at Hero Games. The Omnisphere is a reality-warping cosmic

doohickey that crashed into Earth millennia ago, and had been laying

under the Caribbean. Over the course of time, geological movement

pushed it to the surface, and eventually it started causing problems.

And it was discovered that Turbo's powers were increased even further

(to the point he couldn't control them and dropped into a coma) around

it due to sympathetic harmony. It was eventually discerned that some

of Hogan's starfish in his healing concoction had been from the Cayman

trench and had been in contact with, and altered by, the Omnisphere.

And this alteration was passed into Rick when he first gained his

powers.

 

So as near as anyone can tell, Turbo's powers are a combination of the

biochemical alteration in his metabolism, and the fact that reality

warps around him enough that his powers work at an extreme level.

 

This little gem came to surface in the CoJ PBeM game on yahoo.groups. I'd like to mention here that RPMiller is the newest player in the RCU and I welcome him with arms wide open!

 

Thanks for joining RPMiller!!!

[RPMiller]

Re: Telling YOU about the RCU!

 

Thanks for having me!

[Kenn]

Re: Telling YOU about the RCU!

 

We're glad to have you.

 

And, here is the write-up another player did of the Retribution face-to-face game from last Thursday.

 

They spent several months apart until Balatar found himself shot in England, mistaken for Kristoffer, Son of Moldred, or one of his kin. It was at that point that he put out a mystical summons, bringing The Prophet, Artemis and Wulf to his aid. Confused by the change of scenery and the strange situation, Damon and Sara instantly started in on one another while questioning MI-9 secret agent Matthew Stockton and U.N.I.T. Brigadier Winifred Bambera about what was going on. After about a dozen insults, a half dozen threats and the realization of an extra dead body, the trio learned that the British hero Crusader had been killed in what appeared to be a Follower of Germanicus ritual sacrifice. While Wulf worked on stabilizing Balatar, Damon worked on tracking the mystical scent of the attacker. When that didn't pan out, they agreed to go with Stockton to Soho, looking for clues to the FoG Underground.

 

Once there, Damon searched for runes that would signify safe-havens, leading the quintet to a local bar. Anticipating the obligatory bar fight and leaving Balatar in the car to continue nursing his wounds, the crew entered, Sara knocked out the bouncer and Damon began searching for Followers. When he couldn't find any sign of them, they went to question the owner, ending with Artemis holding an arrow to her head to gain the information they wanted.

 

As they left the office, Balatar had taken the place of Stockton, the latter having to report in due to the one-day romance of Prince William. Learning that the young prince had only met his fiancé that day, Artemis questioned the coincidence and drawing the conclusion that the soon-to-be princess could have conducted the ritual for a type of power beyond the physical. While Wulf and Damon tried to learn more through the newspapers, Sara took Hans to his near-by flat (apartment) to clean up and bandage what was left of his wound. The two guys rejoin them and an agreement is finally reached; Millicent Spencer had to be stopped.

 

A loose plan was quickly formed, with Balatar using what little strength he had left to teleport them. Wulf thought of setting off the fire-suppression system while Artemis and Damon went after the woman. Running distraction, Damon terrorized the guards and royal family while Sara struggled with Spencer. Damon ended up putting the princess-to-be into his special form of bondage, allowing Wulf to come in and carry her away. When done, Balatar teleported them back out again, returning her to the scene of her crime.

 

Damon had convinced himself and the rest of the team that he could create a ritual that, with the cooperation of the Follower, could negate the pact made with Der Nacht, returning their soul and removing their powers. Given the choice between negation or termination, Spencer chose to surrender her powers, transforming back into her previous frumpy form. Once done, Wulf suggested that she turn to religion, while Artemis told her that she had better stay clean, or next time she wouldn't see it coming. Leaving once again by teleportation as Stockton was brought in to make the arrest, the group returned to Hans's flat to recuperate and decide where to go from there.

[Savinien]

Re: Telling YOU about the RCU!

 

Getting this thing going with Story arc #1 Issue #6 of the Eclipse campaign I ran in the RCU:

 

 

Months had passed, with only occasional breaks in the monotony, since the Storm and the situation brought on by, “The Omnisphere”. The Champions of Justice, a few other teams, and solo super-heroes involved had reported on it with a pseudo-believable explanation. Criminality attempts had continued, rarely succesfull under the watchful eye of Houston’s own super-team, ECLIPSE.

 

Ion Storm flies high above the black streak of the river, a short distance from the Port Authority. His thoughts are of his job and a possible promotion to Detective within the HPD. Sharp eyes pierce the murk of the night as he glances towards an unimpressive warehouse. Ever since that situation that introduced he and his teammates to Ghoul and El Vengaza, he’d grown an interest in Detective work and had been working towards a transfer and promotion. As the patrol goes on, we should take a peek at the rest of the team, and leave Ion Storm to his thoughts.

 

Back at the Observatory, Sentinel and Demolition discuss the merits of contemporary television and the undeniable fact of nothing ever being on, regardless of the number of channels. Words turn to Survivor and the possibility of an advent of Meta-Survivor... But, where is Mass Master? Let us take our scope down I-6 and towards the residence of Robert Carter.

 

The reader’s camera pans through the front door, down the hall, and into the dining room. The dining table is set with two places of a meal long finished. Fine china settings, an bucket of ice containing a partial bottle of Chardonnay, and two semi-filled wine glasses, one marked with red lipstick rest errantly upon the table’s surface. But, where is Bob? The camera moves into the living room and down the hall. When the sound of moaning is picked up on the mic and the camera pauses.

 

A deep baritone can be heard from the narrator, “It seems Mr. Carter is busy with his love Samantha and can’t be interrupted for the majority of this Eclipse write-up. He’s busy and his team mates are aware of his current situation. Barring the nigh-destruction of Houston, he is not to be disturbed.”

 

Back along the Warehouse district, Ion Storm has espied an individual racing along the waterway on a Jet-Ski. The suspect continues his flight along the snaking length of the river. Making a quick decision, Ion Storm dives towards the civilian in an effort to scoop him off the water vehicle. Just as he’s beginning to ascend once more and the engine of the Jet-Ski kicks off, the familiar torso’s of Hydronaut and Devilfish erupt from the wake broken surface of the Bayou.

 

Intuition or battle-honed reflexes warn Ion Storm of the impending attack just as the villains fire their weapons on him and our hero envelopes the civilian with his own body to protect him from their treacherous attacks. Surviving the blast of Devilfish and watching as Hydronaut's Volt Torpedo impacts harmlessly against the opposite bank, Ion Storm takes to the air to keep the villains in sight, await his team-mates, and stay out of range from the sea-antagonists derailed ambush.

A few minutes later, Sentinel and Demolition arrive on the scene. As Ion Storm watches, Hydronaut and Devilfish flee into a nearby warehouse. The other two heroes take the unwitting civilian into custody learning en route of a duplicitous scenario concocted by the two villains. When the two Eclipsers return to the scene, a quiet discussion ensues and Demolition is sent into the warehouse for recognizance.

 

The warehouse is found to be a storage facility for paper. One side of the building is row upon row of stacked paper rolls. The opposite side is a detachment of mezzanined office areas. Between these sections is docking bay for trucks and the vehicles used for loading and unloading the rolls. Hydronaut and Devilfish have stationed themselves opposite the dock doors and three para-militants armed with high-technology weapons are fanned across the mezzanine. All have bored their sights on the docking doors the villains used to enter the building.

 

Armed with this information, Eclipse plans a detailed strike against the ignorant ambushers. Using his transformation powers, Demolition makes a new door among the paper rolls. All three are supposed to stealthily move into position to fire on the armored villains, leaving the para-militants for strikes after the meta-villains have been subdued.

 

The best laid plans, often go astray during execution. Even though flying, Ion Storm creates enough of a clatter to warn of impending doom. Demolition fires a powerful explosion amidst the would-be ambushers, flinging them to each side and toppling one of the militants above. Ion Storm unleashes an ionic blast powerful enough to propel Hydronaut through two walls and dropping him unmoving outside of the building. Sentinel engages Devilfish in melee while the three militants drop grenades and high-powered, fully automatic bullets on Ion Storm and Demolition.

 

During the barrage, Ion Storm is eventually downed and Demolition is riddled with bleeding wounds. Eventually, our heroes destroy the militants weapons, hoping to render them harmless. Closer inspection reveals something unnatural about the militants and they are revealed as animate zombies, seemingly awakened by unheretofore known super-technology. The zombies combat abilities are impressive and enhanced by paranormal strength.

 

The ensuing battle comes to a climactic end when Sentinel moves to interpose himself between coordinated attacks meant for a winded Ion Storm. The move allows Ion Storm to blast Hydronaut out of an exit not far from Devilfish’s. Ion Storm notices the two nautical villains moving to make their escape, moves to stop them, and is knocked unconscious just after dropping Hydronaut once more.

 

Fortunately, Sentinel recognizes the impending doom of his team-mate, launches his Ditanium shield through one of the impromptu exits made by Ion Storm, and drops Devilfish before he can harm the helpless Ion Storm. The two zombies Sentinel was engaged with take the opportunity to escape, busting from the warehouse through the dock doors.

 

Up on the mezzanine, bleeding profusely, Demolition eventually blasts the zombie soldier through the wall and down fifteen feet to the ground below. Unaware of the remaining zombies’ escape attempts, James Black sinks into a well deserved rest and attempts to heal himself with his powers.

 

Running outside, Sentinel is surprised to see two Soundknaves in an air car attempting to evacuate the zombie soldiers. One of the Soundknaves turns his Sonic Doom on Sentinel and blasts him back into the warehouse as the air car begins to rise and make its escape. Ion Storm, awake once more, finished with the coup de grace to Hydronaut and the zombie outside, moves towards the opposite side of the building in an attempt to halt the fleeing air car.

 

Sentinel returns to the scene and launches his shield through the Houston night. Upwards it soars, twinkling stars reflecting from its unblemished surface, it clangs off of the propulsion unit on the bottom side of the air car. Soundknaves' screams are cut short as the air car plummets into the icy depths of the river. Acting quickly, Ion Storm fishes out the unconscious Soundknaves, but, the zombie soldiers are nowhere to be found.

U

sing his atomic vision and the aid of his team-mate, Ion Storm, Demolition does a quick recognizance of the river bed, searching for the missing zombies. Sentinel revives the two Soundknaves and attempts to interrogate them. The heroes find a tunnel within the river bed and learn of the existence of a mastermind behind a few, previously believed to be unrelated incidents named, Necron.

 

“If this tunnel leads to more of these zombie soldiers,” Sentinel pauses, as he fills Demolition and Ion Storm in on the information he learned from the Knaves, “We’ll have our work cut out for us.”

 

Demolition nods, “I know Mass Master didn’t want to be disturbed, but, I think we might need his help.”

 

Ion Storm glances back into the smoking wreckage of the paper warehouse, “Yeah him and anybody else in the area…

 

 

 

This was a set-up to the big finale of the first sotry arc. It was also where I was beginning to get annoyed with the player of Demolition. In my eyes, Eclipse was a certain type of group filling a particular niche in the RCU. The direction he continued to push Demolition in seemed counter-intuitive for Eclipse and the way I saw Demolition.

 

I was to learn that it would only get worse.

[Savinien]

Re: Telling YOU about the RCU!

 

Here it is, my final story as a GM in the RCU. I later created a 'twisted' alternate Earth RCU on Hero Central, but this was my last game. Demolition's player continued to push for his vision of the character and I kept trying to hold on to mine. During what should have been 'the best session ever', we got into an ugly argument and I severed my GMing reins, forever ending my association with the Triumvirate.

 

I continued to play in the RCU, but decided not to GM again.

 

And the Zombies Come Marching In

 

We return to our team poised along the Canal of Houston’s Port Authority. After a series of crimes and events seemingly unrelated, Ion Storm has recently been attacked by Devilfish, Hydronaut, and three zombie-like soldiers. As Demolition was regaining the use of his destroyed hand and aiding the downed Ion Storm, the remaining zombie attempted escape in an air-car piloted by Sound Knaves. Sentinel thwarted the escape by launching his shield into the propulsion unit of the air-car and dropping it into the Canal.

 

Saving the two Sound Knaves, Sentinel is joined by his team-mates and they discover the zombie is missing from the sinking wreckage! Thinking quickly, Ion Storm grabs up Demolition and moves him along the canal as the later uses his atomic vision to search the darkened waters for the missing zombie.

 

Eventually, the two find a hidden hatch at the canal bottom. Once more rejoined by Sentinel, the team enters the hatch and goes about investigating this strange tunnel. More than once the team is reminded of a similar corridor near the lair of Hydronaut and Devilfish that had been found months before.

 

Following the dank tunnel, Eclipse finds themselves in the Houston Sub-Sewer, a mass of tunnels resting far below the Houston Underground and transit system. A long search seems to be ending in no avail when Ion Storm suddenly spots an anomoly among the sewer shunts. Demolitoin, using his new found power of changing structures at the atomic level finds egress into the system without tipping off any of the security measures.

 

After bypassing more security, the team finds itself in a strange underground motor-pool, housing more of the old military air-cars. Above the team, voices can be heard, apparently belonging to the as yet, unseen Necron, Scientist of Sound, Decibel, and a group known as the Warriors of the Confederacy. Applying stealthy measures, the team moves up into the structure, an abondonded food processing plant known as, Cornen Foods.

 

Demolition’s recon found the place to be a flurry of activity with over a dozen agents of the various villians. A sudden sound from deeper in the building alerts Decibel and Sound Knaves are dispatched to investigate. On their way, they stroll directly past the hidden Ecplise, kicking off a massive battle.

 

During this immense conflageration, Decibel and his Sound Knaves, Necron and his ‘Grey Death Legion, and a number of the Warriors of the Confederacy were defeated. The loud noise was found to be a new super-hero unkown to Eclipse as Stronghold. The later was frozen in a block of ice by Necron as the mad genius unleashed his most potent creation.

 

It seems the Furor of Frigidity had used his necromantic science on the long dead vigilante once known as Pariah. This was the body reported stolen by Valhalla, the meta-morgue in New York. Ion Storm was familiar with the late vigilante from his old team, Justice Squadron.

 

The climitac battle among the icy interior of Cornen Foods was morgue-like as the four heroes did battle with the Risen Pariah. Finally, with a final impact of Sentinel’s shield, the dark figure fell from Ion Storm’s hovering form, seemingly defeated. Almost instantly, the unconcious figure, now sparking from the unit attached to his spinal cord, was engulfed by an orb of blackness.

 

Fearing an attempt at recuparation or escape, Sentinel and Demolition both attempt to attack the ‘globe’. Sentinel’s shield disappears within the darkness as Demolition dives, intangible from an air-car he’d brought up from the motorpool below. Both disappear into the blackened orb, while it disolves into nothingness. No shield, no corpse, and no Demolition left in its wake.

 

 

 

GM Notes: Even though this was supposed to be the end of this arc (and that dreadful year long cliff-hanger), the players were left with an even stranger ending. Though, they finally captured many villians (only Ghoul escaped this time), Demolition and Sentinel’s Ditanium shield was lost.

[Savinien]

Re: Telling YOU about the RCU!

 

I have an idea percolating. I'm wondering how many people would be interested in playing in a new/restarting Champions campaign at Hero Central.

 

http://www.rcuhero.net/

 

The setting would be the RCU and the team would be the American Rangers.

 

 

 

There is nearly a score of pre-generated characters to choose from and a couple players could possibly create their own. Tweaks to the pre-gens are okay (mechanically and personality-wise).

 

The American Rangers have long been an NPC team, but I've been talking with the RC Universe creator and we hatched this plan to give the American Rangers some play time.

 

Have a look at the subject material and weigh in whether or not you'd be interested.

 

I'm cross posting this to Player Finder, too. Wanted to give you guys that like reading about the RCU a good shot, though.