On the Willful Killing and Maiming of NPCs

[casualplayer]

Re: On the Willful Killing and Maiming of NPCs

 

If you are looking to put the fear into your PCs and make this invasion really seem like a threat, have CK show up on the S-Squad's doorstep mortally wounded but knowing that if he gets to Sentinel that he can save him. Then have Sentinel's powers not work properly. Either have CK die in the S-Squad's arms giving them a nice satisfying vengeance motive when they finally discover who killed the Kid but also putting them on notice that this enemy has a weapon that can't easily be remedied or you can have Sentinel's powers keep the kid just this side of death and later reveal that the only ones with the lasting cure are the aliens themselves, giving a name villain a bargaining chip to escape to return later in the campaign.

[BoloOfEarth]

Re: On the Willful Killing and Maiming of NPCs

 

Well, I *FINALLY* got to run the next installment of this. Cobalt Kid had stopped by and chatted with them, then went off to train with the members of COMET as their "orbital insertion specialist." One of the PC heroines, Sentinel, acted very motherly, which fit well.

 

When the aliens actually attacked, it was as a three-pronged operation. First, a small fleet popped out of hyperspace a few hours travel from Earth, so a number of NPC hero groups and UNTIL space fighters went out to head them off. The PCs were ordered to lunar orbit to wait in reserve (UNTIL doesn't want to lose their only FTL-capable stealth ship). There, they observed a large carrier pop out of hyperspace much nearer to Earth, accompanied by a bunch of boarding craft and heading for UNTIL's Gateway space station. At the same time, the heroes also saw two pair of warships (four heavy corvettes) pop out on the other side of Earth and begin launching tac-nuke missiles at cities in Europe and along the US eastern seaboard. Two hero teams in Earth orbit (COMET and the Justice Squadron) were sent to take on the corvettes while Earth-bound hero groups dealt with the oncoming missiles, and S-Squad was given the okay to close on the corvettes and act as support if needed.

 

At that time, the players were given the members of COMET, plus Cobalt Kid, to run in the assault on one of the corvettes. They don't normally get into running characters other than their own, but they seemed to be getting into the swing of things, displaying some teamwork and tactics and playing out their personalities fairly well (including CK showing off for the only female member of COMET, and some of the males of the team making comments about it). Just before they made their assault on the bridge, they heard one of the escape pods launch but let that slide since they still had to take the bridge. As they assaulted the bridge, one of the officers teleported away, and they heard another escape pod launch, so the players running Cobalt Kid and Comet Red said they were taking off after it while their teammates finished taking out the bridge crew.

 

I couldn't have planned it better if I tried.

 

They caught up to the pod a few km away from the ship and disabled its engines, then turned it around and were heading toward the corvette where the rest of the team was finishing off the bridge crew.

 

At that point, I switched them back to playing their normal characters on the USS Saber (their captured stealth ship, newly named). They saw the first pod launch, and the other corvette of that pair break off the attack to retrieve the pod and recall its fighters. Then, the heroes saw the second pod launch, followed by CK and CR chasing after it, catching it, and turning it back around. Then they saw the COMET-captured corvette explode with the second pod, CK, and CR caught in the blast. The players running CK and CR told me what they would do in the last moment before the blast wave hit, which reduced the damage enough to be survivable, and the USS Saber moved in to find and recover them. They also began scanning for other survivors, but there weren't any.

 

S-Squad also immediately warned the Justice Squadron members, moments before the bridge crew on their soon-to-be-captured ship left in a pair of escape pods. Those NPC heroes launched in another pair of escape pods and got away in time before that ship exploded. I decided Justice Squadron would direct their pods toward the other corvette of that pair, which was recovering the first two pods, and those heroes would carry on the attack there.

 

Meanwhile, down in the medical bay, a now-healed CK told Sentinel, "Thanks, that feels great. But why don't you turn on the lights?" The player realized what had happened -- CK was facing right at the explosion, while CR was facing away riding on the escape pod -- and she paused and said, "Kid... the lights ARE on."

 

We ended the session with the heroes, joined by a livid Comet Red, planning to teleport over to the other escaping corvette. Methinks the players are out for blood. I wonder what they're going to do when UNTIL says no and orders them to pull back to help support the evacuation of Gateway...

[matrix3]

Re: On the Willful Killing and Maiming of NPCs

 

Sounds good! I take it Sentinel can't heal the eye damage?

[BoloOfEarth]

Re: On the Willful Killing and Maiming of NPCs

 

Sounds good! I take it Sentinel can't heal the eye damage?

 

She can heal any one physical Characteristic. I'm not sure if a BODY Heal automatically undoes a Transform (I'm inclined to say no), but even if it can, at 5d6 the max she can Heal is 30 points, or 15 BODY, and the Transform effect was 20+ BODY worth.

[Checkmate]

Re: On the Willful Killing and Maiming of NPCs

 

Well there's that and the fact that you're the GM and said she can't

[BoloOfEarth]

Re: On the Willful Killing and Maiming of NPCs

 

Yeah, I know. But I try not to go against the rules as written if I can avoid it.

 

I would allow a BODY Healing with the adder "Can restore lost limbs" to undo blindness or deafness, but it would also need the max effect high enough. IMO, something like that shouldn't be easily undone.

 

Funny thing is, their ship's medical bay includes a big tank full of thick green liquid that heals BODY, including lost limbs, over hours-long immersion. But since they have Sentinel, they've never seen the need to try it out. And since it's an alien vessel, they aren't positive exactly what that liquid does.

[matrix3]

Re: On the Willful Killing and Maiming of NPCs

 

Funny thing is, their ship's medical bay includes a big tank full of thick green liquid that heals BODY, including lost limbs, over hours-long immersion. But since they have Sentinel, they've never seen the need to try it out. And since it's an alien vessel, they aren't positive exactly what that liquid does.

 

Hmm...put a human in there and the tank might see the human DNA as genetic damage and try to "fix" it. Could be an interesting radiation accident for a character...

[The Suave]

Re: On the Willful Killing and Maiming of NPCs

 

I've been keeping tabs on this thread, and I just wanted to let the OP know that this is the best thread in the Champs forum in a while (IMO, obviously). Scenarios like the one you're orchestrating make me want to GM or play in the Champions genre.

 

Well done sir, and rep.

[BoloOfEarth]

Re: On the Willful Killing and Maiming of NPCs

 

Okay, Sunday was the finale of this part.

 

To recap: as part of a multi-prong invasion force, four alien corvettes were firing nuclear and non-nuclear missiles at Earth. Various heroes and some UNTIL fighters were intercepting incoming missiles while two NPC hero groups (COMET and the Justice Squadron) went after the alien ships themselves. The PC group (S-Squad) was in reserve, observing from their captured alien ship. The players ran the NPC group COMET and captured one of the ships, but it self-destructed, killing all but one member of COMET (Comet Red) and an NPC friend of the PCs, Cobalt Kid. CK was blinded by the explosion, apparently permanently, and S-Squad was intent on attacking the alien ship that picked up an escape pod (presumably containing the captain) from the destructed ship.

 

The session started out with the Justice Squadron sending two captured alien officers (both mentalists) to S-Squad's ship. This in effect freed all of the PCs to leave their ship to board and hopefully capture another one (since the presence of mentalists, even deeply unconscious ones, would allow the PCs ship to continue functioning without them). When "ordered" by UNTIL to assist in the evacuation of the Gateway station, they sent their crew (of normals) to do that while they took on one of the corvettes.

 

I won't go into the nuts-and-bolts, but the heroes did capture the other ship before the captain could initiate the self-destruct. They also re-routed some previously-fired missiles and used the ship's weapons to attack other alien ships, and returned to Earth with their new prize.

 

Next on their agenda was helping Cobalt Kid. The healer, after verifying that there wasn't anything she could do to help him, began searching for other ways (other healers, transplants, nanobots, etc.) to restore his sight. The scientist contacted a mystic NPC friend (who has a VPP, like Cobalt Kid) to work with him to figure out a way for CK to use his powers for an enhanced sense (like radar) to get around his blindness. The mentalist used his powers and psychology training to lay the groundwork for helping CK get over his survivor's guilt as well as some self-pity over his blindness. The luck-based character... was interrupted with another issue to deal with.*

 

They did discover that their ship's med bay has something that might restore CK's sight, but it may also take away his powers. At this point, they haven't mentioned this option to him at all. At this point, CK is still blind and they still don't have a way to restore his sight.

 

Cobalt Kid asked S-Squad to go with him to Ottawa to attend COMET's memorial service, and they agreed. Despite CK's initial refusal to speak at the service, Subliminal convinced him that it would be a good tribute to them and cathartic for him. Two other PCs (Synergy and Serendipity) also spoke, talking about the NPC team's heroism and humanity.

 

* While leading CK out of the church after the memorial service, Serendipity saw a woman in the crowd -- a woman whom she's sure is her long-lost fraternal twin sister. Of course, by the time she passed CK off to another PC and got to the bench where the woman was seated, there was no trace of her. Totally different plot thread, but you gotta interweave them to keep the players on their toes.

 

As far as other victims from the alien attack, two of the nukes did get through, though both were diverted from their original targets. One exploded in the ocean (killing the French superhero who diverted it, along with several nearby ships and their crews), and another went off outside a smaller city in Canada (killing about 600 people) after it was diverted from a larger city by a reserve member of the Sentinels. Numerous UNTIL fighters were destroyed and most of their pilots lost their lives; also, 30 UNTIL personnel and two Earth solo superheroes were taken prisoner** when the aliens captured Gateway (which they currently still hold). (The aliens took major losses too; it wasn't a cheap victory for them.) The Champions vehicle was badly damaged and numerous Earth superheroes were seriously wounded in the fighting.

 

** And yes, those two supers are going to put in an appearance as mind-puppets of the aliens.

 

Overall, I'm happy with the way things went. It was a decent mix of heroism and minor angst and some great roleplaying. The PCs are ready to take the fight to the aliens and aren't looking at them as pushovers, either.

 

Thanks again to all of you for your suggestions. I know it helped make this part of the story arc a success. I've tried to rep everybody along the way, but ran into a few where I had already repped too recently. I'll try again now.

[Cygnia]

Re: On the Willful Killing and Maiming of NPCs

 

Nice update!

[matrix3]

Re: On the Willful Killing and Maiming of NPCs

 

So...just what's on Gateway station? Do the aliens get anything particularly potent, besides the ultimate high ground? Are there beam weapons or other dangerous weapons that might be turned on Earth?

[Broadsword]

Re: On the Willful Killing and Maiming of NPCs

 

You seem to be pretty free with detail. Are you not afraid your Players might recon this site? I've always been hesitant to post details of my Star Wars game online, as anyone could look at it.

 

Otherwise... Super cool campaign! Makes me want to GM Champions now too.

 

Broadsword -|--->

[BoloOfEarth]

Re: On the Willful Killing and Maiming of NPCs

 

I should note that the Gateway in my world is different from the Gateway station in the UNTIL book in some ways. I used the Argos III station from the Future Armada series, with some cannons added. However, most of the station's offensive abilities come from the 140+ fighters that can be stationed there. During the attack in my game, many of the fighters were drawn away by other threats before the strike carrier and boarding ships arrived.

 

As far as the aliens are concerned, holding Gateway doesn't gain them much. Earth tech is not up to theirs and the station isn't particularly well-armed (except for the ability to hold and launch many fighters), so from an offensive standpoint it's not a huge deal. It does give the aliens the high ground (actually, orbital superiority would be a better term), and seriously hampers Earth's surveillance and monitoring of alien ship activity. Since UNTIL's fighters now require ground launch and must use precious time and energy to exit the planet's gravity well, this does seriously harm defensive actions against future alien attacks.

 

Actually, the aliens could have just destroyed the station and gotten pretty much the same gains. And holding the station will take more ships and troops than it's really worth. Frankly Earth supers can teleport up there relatively easily. (Portal, from PRIMUS' Response Force One of Digital Hero #37, could open a gate from 5,000 km away, like from a captured alien stealth ship, allowing multiple hero teams to get aboard the station.)

The fact that they didn't destroy it is actually a subtle clue for the heroes that something's going on behind the scenes.

[BoloOfEarth]

Re: On the Willful Killing and Maiming of NPCs

 

You seem to be pretty free with detail. Are you not afraid your Players might recon this site? I've always been hesitant to post details of my Star Wars game online, as anyone could look at it.

 

Otherwise... Super cool campaign! Makes me want to GM Champions now too.

 

Broadsword -|--->

 

I was worried about it at first, but there's only one player I think might look at the boards at all. I work with him and frequently bounce general ideas off him; he's very good at separating player knowledge from character knowledge. And I don't think he'd go nosing around here anyway, as it would spoil some of the fun for him. (He's stopped me from sharing some behind-the-scenes details before.)