Bigtime Blowout

[cranialspasm]

So I am starting my very first Hero System GM experience with a supers game set in fictional Bigtime, NY. I have gotten a lot of my characters/settings from [ha!] a romance novel Karma Girl by Jennifer Estep.

 

Long before game starts, all players will receive several 'clippings' from articles written by reporter Carmen Cole.

 

Here is an excerpt from the first article.

 

"This reporter is now determined to reveal the true identities of superheroes and villains. No one will be deceived anymore. No woman will come home to find her boyfriend slipping into a neon pink codpiece. No man will be puzzled over why his wife has a strange collection of whips and an odd affinity for black leather. No mother will wonder why her son can never be on time for anything.

All superheroes and villains have strange, sometimes frightening powers, like the ability to move objects with their minds or shoot red-hot flames out of their fingertips. Since the goals of heroes and villains are at odds, they often engage in long, lengthy battles that destroy bridges, overpasses, and municipal buildings. Some of the bigger cities have several superheroes and ubervillains all battling it out for supremacy and leveling skyscrapers right and left. And they all wear masks to hide their true identities, thus avoiding paying for the public property they decimate on a weekly basis. These misguided people need to be held responsible for their actions, and I will dedicate my life to make sure that they are."

 

The reporter unmasks a favorite superhero "Tornado" aka Travis Teague and two days later he commits suicide (or so they all think... a dude that can fly jumping out of a window and plummeting to his death? his instincts and power would overwhelm him and save him)

 

The remaining four superheros of the Fearless Five retire, and find a new Fearless Five (the players) to maintain peace in the city and fight against the Terrible Triad. It has been six months since the unfortunate 'suicide' of Travis Teague and reporter Carmen Cole hasn't unmasked another superhero since. She has become the social pariah. Her employers would lose face in the newpaper industry if they fired her, so they've moved her to cover society functions.

 

I have two character concepts - One player will be a tattooed superhero that can pull her tattoos from her body and use them as tangible weaponry. She's a reformed villain whose love interest still dabbles in theft.

 

The other concept I have is of a girl who can manipulate metal.

 

I am still waiting on two guys in group and one girl.

 

I'm super crazy excited. I think the best way to get people used to combat is to run a danger room scenario for the first session so people can get used to their powers and tweak them if need be. Would this be a good idea?

[Pariah]

Re: Bigtime Blowout

 

She has become the social pariah.

 

Hey, what's wrong with being a Pariah?!

 

It sounds like a great game. Danger room is a pretty good option for a first combat. You might want to think about a constructions site or a demolition zone, too. That way, the characters have lots of 'environment' to play around with. The bricks might just learn the joy of using I-beams as clubs...or improvised throwing weapons. And the ability to blast a bad guy back into a half-finished building which then collapses on him...pure gold.

 

Good luck!

[cranialspasm]

Re: Bigtime Blowout

 

Good idea! Thanks!

 

And there's nothing wrong with being a pariah... unless you're an investigative journalist who needs to speak with people to make her living.

[bubba smith]

Re: Bigtime Blowout

 

So I am starting my very first Hero System GM experience with a supers game set in fictional Bigtime' date=' NY. I have gotten a lot of my characters/settings from [ha!'] a romance novel Karma Girl by Jennifer Estep.

 

Long before game starts, all players will receive several 'clippings' from articles written by reporter Carmen Cole.

 

Here is an excerpt from the first article.

 

"This reporter is now determined to reveal the true identities of superheroes and villains. No one will be deceived anymore. No woman will come home to find her boyfriend slipping into a neon pink codpiece. No man will be puzzled over why his wife has a strange collection of whips and an odd affinity for black leather. No mother will wonder why her son can never be on time for anything.

All superheroes and villains have strange, sometimes frightening powers, like the ability to move objects with their minds or shoot red-hot flames out of their fingertips. Since the goals of heroes and villains are at odds, they often engage in long, lengthy battles that destroy bridges, overpasses, and municipal buildings. Some of the bigger cities have several superheroes and ubervillains all battling it out for supremacy and leveling skyscrapers right and left. And they all wear masks to hide their true identities, thus avoiding paying for the public property they decimate on a weekly basis.

These misguided people need to be held responsible for their actions, and I will dedicate my life to make sure that they are."

 

The reporter unmasks a favorite superhero "Tornado" aka Travis Teague and two days later he commits suicide (or so they all think... a dude that can fly jumping out of a window and plummeting to his death? his instincts and power would overwhelm him and save him)

 

The remaining four superheros of the Fearless Five retire, and find a new Fearless Five (the players) to maintain peace in the city and fight against the Terrible Triad. It has been six months since the unfortunate 'suicide' of Travis Teague and reporter Carmen Cole hasn't unmasked another superhero since. She has become the social pariah. Her employers would lose face in the newpaper industry if they fired her, so they've moved her to cover society functions.

 

 

 

I have two character concepts - One player will be a tattooed superhero that can pull her tattoos from her body and use them as tangible weaponry. She's a reformed villain whose love interest still dabbles in theft.

 

The other concept I have is of a girl who can manipulate metal.

 

I am still waiting on two guys in group and one girl.

 

I'm super crazy excited. I think the best way to get people used to combat is to run a danger room scenario for the first session so people can get used to their powers and tweak them if need be. Would this be a good idea?

why use PINK type? i could barely make it out

[cranialspasm]

Re: Bigtime Blowout

 

I was trying to make it stand out. I apologize. I've removed the tags for easier reading.

[ghost-angel]

Re: Bigtime Blowout

 

color tags only work if everyone is using the same boards settings (pink stands out on the dark setting, I use the default one so pink is on a white background).

 

Anyways, another way to help people get used to mechanics is to ease them into things - start with beating up some basic thugs, something where they PCs are pretty much guaranteed total success. It'll be quick, and messy, but the basic How To of combat can be gotten.

 

then chase the thugs down to a hideout, beat up some more, but make them slightly tougher, and give them a "boss fight" with one tough thug that causes the team to pull out a full suite of powers and tactics.

 

The session may run a little combat heavy, but it'll help streamline down the road if everyone gets the full range of combat under their belts quickly.

[Greywind]

Re: Bigtime Blowout

 

Hey' date=' what's wrong with being a Pariah?! [/quote']For you? Nothing...

[Vann the Red]

Re: Bigtime Blowout

 

Sounds like it'll be fun. Please keep us updated.

 

VtR

[BoloOfEarth]

Re: Bigtime Blowout

 

Safe to assume the heroes will eventually look into the questionable suicide of Tornado?

 

I'm imagining Carmen Cole trying to restore her "good" name by unmasking a villain, and the heroes being in the unfortunate position of having to protect her from said villain and his friends.

 

You've got a good setup, lots of possibilities. Best of luck.

[Matt the Bruins]

Re: Bigtime Blowout

 

One nitpick: I don't think someone who's become a pariah to the public thanks to her whistleblowing would be moved to covering society events, where one's status could make or break one's effectiveness at getting invites and interviews. Covering mall openings and sappy human interest stories or being given an advice to the lovelorn column to write strike me as more apt punishments for a crusading investigative reporter.

[bubba smith]

Re: Bigtime Blowout

 

she's lucky tornado's family didn't sue for damages citing tornados wrongful death

[cranialspasm]

Re: Bigtime Blowout

 

Safe to assume the heroes will eventually look into the questionable suicide of Tornado?

 

I'm imagining Carmen Cole trying to restore her "good" name by unmasking a villain, and the heroes being in the unfortunate position of having to protect her from said villain and his friends.

 

You've got a good setup, lots of possibilities. Best of luck.

 

Yes, the owner of the newspaper she works for is actually one of the Terrible Triad. She got the early copy of Carmen's story and the Three uber ubervillains caught him off guard and incapacitated him and tossed him out the window.

 

The players don't know it, but Carmen has been tasked by the Terrible Triad to unmask the original fearless five and the new ones. She is given a month to do this and if she fails, she will be used in one of the horrific experiments that one of the TT has been working on.

[cranialspasm]

Re: Bigtime Blowout

 

One nitpick: I don't think someone who's become a pariah to the public thanks to her whistleblowing would be moved to covering society events' date=' where one's status could make or break one's effectiveness at getting invites and interviews. Covering mall openings and sappy human interest stories or being given an advice to the lovelorn column to write strike me as more apt punishments for a crusading investigative reporter.[/quote']

 

That's a great idea. I was thinking that she would have limited space in the society column (towards the back) where people rarely look, but the mall openings would be even funnier.

[cranialspasm]

Re: Bigtime Blowout

 

she's lucky tornado's family didn't sue for damages citing tornados wrongful death

 

I hadn't thought about that...

 

 

You guys all rock! Thanks for the suggestions!

[cranialspasm]

Re: Bigtime Blowout

 

color tags only work if everyone is using the same boards settings (pink stands out on the dark setting, I use the default one so pink is on a white background).

 

Anyways, another way to help people get used to mechanics is to ease them into things - start with beating up some basic thugs, something where they PCs are pretty much guaranteed total success. It'll be quick, and messy, but the basic How To of combat can be gotten.

 

then chase the thugs down to a hideout, beat up some more, but make them slightly tougher, and give them a "boss fight" with one tough thug that causes the team to pull out a full suite of powers and tactics.

 

The session may run a little combat heavy, but it'll help streamline down the road if everyone gets the full range of combat under their belts quickly.

 

 

Well now, why do you have to be so gorram logical? I forgot that not everyone uses the super awesome dark background.

 

I was arranging a drug deal altercation for them to come upon within the first couple sessions. At the end, if someone makes their perception check, one of them will spot Carmen on a rooftop nearby with camera in hand.

[ghost-angel]

Re: Bigtime Blowout

 

Well now' date=' why do you have to be so gorram logical? I forgot that not everyone uses the super awesome dark background. [/quote']

 

Logic... I've been meaning to quit. I don't use the dark background because there isn't enough contrast and it hurts my eyes.

[cranialspasm]

Re: Bigtime Blowout

 

Logic... I've been meaning to quit. I don't use the dark background because there isn't enough contrast and it hurts my eyes.

 

The white background hurts my eyes... It sucks having incredibly light sensitive eyes... They are pretty though.

[Trebuchet]

Re: Bigtime Blowout

 

The white background hurts my eyes... It sucks having incredibly light sensitive eyes... They are pretty though.

Firefox 3 lets me render website backgrounds in any color I select, so I use a medium gray background because my own eyes are quite light sensitive.

[cranialspasm]

Re: Bigtime Blowout

 

Here's a little setting info for my fake NY city!

 

BigtimeConvention Centerand Orchestral Hall: Home to the city's symphony and the site of many a society gathering. It's also where all the out-of-towners come for a variety of conventions, meetings, etc.

Bigtime Museum of Modern Art: The museum is the crowning jewel of art and culture in Bigtime. More than a few ubervillains have tried to break into the museum to steal some of its priceless works of art, but none have been successful. So far.

Bigtime Public Library: The information center of Bigtime, the library takes up its own square city block in the heart of downtown. The marble building houses hundreds of thousands of books, magazines, newspapers, and more.

Bigtime Police Station: The center of police operations in Bigtime. Superheroes like Granny Cane often bring in muggers, burglars, would-be rapists, and the like to the station.

The Chronicle and The Exposé: The city's two competing newspapers. Both daily publications are housed in gleaming skyscrapers downtown, and their respective staffs are always trying to out-scoop each other.

Good Intentions Lane: Don't let the name fool you. Good Intentions Lane is about twenty miles past the wrong side of the tracks. It's one of the most crime-ridden streets in all of Bigtime, and the city's superheroes constantly struggle to clean out the gangs and other riffraff that populate the area.

Laurel Park: Smaller than Paradise Park, Laurel Park caters mostly to families and senior citizens who like walk the trails and feed the pigeons that populate the grassy lawns.

Oodles o' Stuff: The city's shopping center. You can find anything you want in the mutli-storied building, from shoes to clothes to makeup to consumer electronics. Superheroes, in particular, love the store because of the deep discounts it offers them. In return, the superheroes try to keep their building-leveling fights away from the historic structure. Ubervillains also shop at the store, which is one of the few places in the city considered to be neutral territory.

Paradise Park: With a zoo, carousel, carnival rides, and concession stands galore, Paradise Park is one of Bigtime's major attractions. Thousands of people visit it each day, and the park never closes, not even on Christmas. It's also the site of events where regular folks can meet and greet their favorite superheroes.

Sublime: Sublime, owned by billionaire Sam Sloane, is the largest home in all of Bigtime. It has a couple hundred spacious rooms full of all sorts of pricey antiques, art collections, and more. The manor could house an army of people and has been the scene of many a society benefit. Acres of gardens, woods, and lawns surround the manor house.

Superhero News Network: The round-the-clock TV station is dedicated to, you guessed it, all things superhero. From in-depth profiles to the latest action-figure and video-game releases, the station covers everything that has anything to do with superheroes. Sometimes, they even read the latest diatribes and demands from ubervillains like Mad Maria or Noxious or Caveman Stan. But the station gets its biggest ratings from its live coverage. At least once a day, the anchor goes out to some reporter on the scene of an ongoing superhero/ubervillain battle.

[cranialspasm]

Re: Bigtime Blowout

 

It seems only fitting that my 50th post be in my own thread!

[cranialspasm]

Re: Bigtime Blowout

 

So one of my players got so confused with character creation that she bought the Hero Designer for her computer

 

Two of my other players are thinking a telekinetic and an earth elemental.

 

The last of the five hasn't given me anything yet.

[cranialspasm]

First PC Background!

 

Alanna Winchester aka "The Invisible Flame"

Background/History: A starving artist is the best description for me. I have a cozy little apartment; ok actually it’s a sh**hole. No matter how many times I paint the walls and add new throw pillows it’s pretty easy to see that I’m living in squalor. When I’m not dreaming of how I’m going to show the world how amazingly talented I am with my soon to be bestseller, you’ll find me waiting tables. My feet always hurt and I smell like greasy burgers, but I get good tips and my boss gives me flexible hours which allow me freedom to write. Oh yeah and freedom to fight crime. As for the writing, how flamboyant can you be when you’re by yourself in ratty sweats perched in front of a big box? Maybe when I’m famous I’ll be wearing fancy dresses and going to all those high brow parties. For now I’m sitting in sweats.

 

I kind of am interested in my boss, Gage, though I’m sure he’ll never see me as any more then a friend. OK, at the risk of sounding like a giggling 13 year old, I may be mildly hopelessly in love with him but I’d totally deny it if you ever repeat that. We’re fairly close though. We share a love of B movies. We get together once a week if our schedules permit to watch as many movies we can shove in a night before we pass out. Plus we both have an unhealthy addiction to Def Leppard. We both know it’s pathetic but we never miss a concert and every time they come out with a new album we instantly hit the stores together and then sit in the car just listening to the album in its entirety. Gage owns the diner and dreams one day that it’ll become a hit. It might be if he hired a better chef, but he’s stubborn and refuses to admit that Eric isn’t that good. It’s not that Eric is a bad guy; it’s just that he can’t cook. I’ve tried to tell Gage that forever but he just won’t listen. I don’t fight Gage too hard though. One look at him with his beautiful green eyes and close-cropped black hair and I sometimes forget what I was talking about. Darn, I sound so pathetically smitten. Please, someone just slap me.

 

Then there’s Rachel. She’s a social butterfly who refuses to believe that I am not dying to spend my nights dancing at clubs. She infectious though so there have been a few times you could find me awkwardly dancing in some place that I wished I had never walked into. Luckily she’s just as happy sitting around my dingy apartment watching TV and chatting the night away. She is secretly a homebody but she’s an event planner so she has to make a big show of always being out and about. It’s the perfect job for her and I must say she’s risen to a small level of fame. It doesn’t hurt that she’s amazing to look at. She’s all curves with gray eyes and a gorgeous head full of red hair. She stands out wherever she is. She’s good at what she does and never relies on her looks. Some of those most talked about recent events were her doing. I met her while I was flitting my way through community college. She was taking some random course and it happened to overlap with one of my courses. I didn’t really have a set plan for college; instead I just kind of randomly pointed to courses and said, that sounds good. It’s why I have random knowledge of such things as Tax Planning, Astronomy, and Bowling. The class I met Rachel in was Spontaneous Speaking. She figured it would help her get used to dealing with people while she was planning her events. I figured that it was better then Organic Chemistry which was the class listed above it. God knows how we ever clicked!

 

As for family, my parents died in a car accident when I was young so I was shuffled off to one family member after another until I eventually landed with my Aunt Nadine and Uncle Ryan. Unlike the rest of my family they actually kept me. They are enjoying their retirement just outside of the city and we share a phone call once a week. I sometimes manage to get away to visit them but they travel a lot so it’s been a while since our schedules have connected. Uncle Ryan was once an owner of his own construction business and they managed to make a nice sum of money from that. Aunt Nadine worked in a flower shop. She’s a whiz at making flowers look beautiful. She never owned it or anything; I don’t think that ever really occurred to her. She was too content just to stay with her flowers and honestly she doesn’t have a head for numbers and the things that go with maintaining a business. Her garden is amazing though and I admit I spent much of my time in it when I was growing up. People used to assume that she was the landscaper to my uncle’s construction work. Sometimes she’d take on the occasional landscaping job but it was rare and always under the supervision of my much more logical uncle. If she had been left to her own devices she’d be landscaping people’s yards for home-baked cookies or something equally unsuitable. She’s my mother’s sister so I’m assuming that type of flightiness runs in our family because I know I’m sure as hell a victim of it. I don’t remember my mom really so I can’t use her as guide to this conclusion. I’ve managed so far to keep my secret from everyone. Some of that stems from wanting to keep them safe. A lot of it comes from I just want them to see me and not the person I play on TV or in the newspapers or in the…well you know what I mean.

 

Personality/Motivation: I'm easily distracted...I'm sure we covered that already. It's just that there are so many interesting things going on that I find it so hard to pay attention to just one thing. I'd like to think it's all in a loveable way but I'm sure the many times you find yourself sitting in your car checking your watch waiting for me could be slightly annoying. My biggest motivations are simple: keep everyone around me safe and that often translates to the whole darn world. On a more personal level I'd envision the perfect future to be married to Gage in some big grand house after I've made my name as the best writer of all time. I realize that isn't going to most likely come true so I'll just be content to sell my book...once I finish it.

 

Quote: Think what a better world it would be if we all, the whole world, had cookies and milk about three o'clock every afternoon and then lay down on our blankets for a nap. ~ Barbara Jordan.

 

Powers/Tactics: I’m still learning; I find that occasionally new ones crop up but they all seem to stem from the same thing. I can manipulate and change metal. I can melt and disintegrate it. I can repel metal away from me. On top of that I’ve also recently been able to make metal come to me as if I’m a magnet which wasn’t too good until I was able to figure out how to control that. It was not fun watching various sharp objects hurl themselves towards me. Luckily it seems that I just may have some kind of damage reduction when it comes to that, but it tends to be hit or miss.

 

Appearance: I have waist-length straight blonde hair which I usually keep in a ponytail when I’m in costume. Yeah, I know that’s not sexy but you try fighting crime when you’re hair is covering your eyes and come back to me to discuss my decision. My eyes are blue and according to some they could knock a man's socks off. How much I want to bet on that I don't know. The costume I wear is a spandex number, apparently that is expected in superhero gear. I decided to pretend that everyone looks good in spandex. I’m ok with my delusion. Its ice blue and silver and has a corset style top which I believe the designer felt would make something happen with my body that my body just wasn’t prepared to do. I’m basically shaped like a stick with arms and legs. The costume is supposed to give the illusion that I sport a chest and hips but it’s not fooling anyone. You can’t make something appear that just isn’t there. Well, actually I’m sure plenty of other superheroes can but I’m not one of them. I don’t sport a cape nor do I wear tights. I think I’ve got a great set of legs so I wanted to show them off plus tights are itchy. I wear a pair of knee-high lace up boots in silver. They look like they’d be killer on the feet but they are surprisingly comfortable which is good because my other choice was fighting crime barefoot and apparently that would be a bad idea. My mask is ice blue and silver and goes across my eyes. Then it curls down around my left cheek in an elaborate pattern that I saw in a dream one night. It’s hard to describe, a lot of curves that cover enough of my face without revealing it that ends by my mouth. I’d say it is probably my favorite part of the whole costume.

[cranialspasm]

Re: Bigtime Blowout

 

OH! I'm so happy! Everyone's given me basic character concepts!

 

So far I have...

 

Ink Fury - A girl who was tattooed with radioactive isotopes and is now able to pull weapons from tattoos and fight with them.

 

The Invisible Flame - (see above)

 

PC #3 - A brick who is awesome and totally cheeses out (like Captain Hammer)

 

PC#4 - Someone who solves kidnapping cases who has acid based powers.

 

PC#5 - A telepathic/telekinetic woman who makes illusions.

[Clonus]

Re: Bigtime Blowout

 

I shudder to think how acid based powers are useful in solving kidnapping.

[Ian Mackinder]

Re: Bigtime Blowout

 

No woman will come home to find her boyfriend slipping into a neon pink codpiece. No man will be puzzled over why his wife has a strange collection of whips and an odd affinity for black leather.

 

It does not necessarily follow from this that the people in question are superpowered.

 

Sounds to me like said reporter has some major issues. ON the other hand, "confessing" to being a superhero might actually be preferable to telling the ghastly truth.

 

I can truly see a well-meaning (and clueless) parent trying to set their bachelor son up with "nice" girls, only to have him finally tell them that he is in fact 'Leatherman', fighting crime in the city's night spots. Such are the dangers that relationships with nice girls could only put them in danger. And when a younger man moves into Leatherman's Secret ID's apartment, the parents are told that he is the new sidekick.