Dome City

[steriaca]

Ok. I was the jerk who suggested putting a kid in the Skull robot. I was making a Five Nights At Freddy's refrence (the origin of the moving anomatronics in the series is that they are haunted by the murdered kid's ghost, and want to play, forever and ever). I can see CyberJack doing it to an adult, but not to a child. I originally did not give a reason. So I should give him one.

 

The security chief is also a child molester. As a abused child himself, CyberJack did what he did after discovering what he discovered because he felt he had to. Big Bubba is a ragtag of spare parts of all the other anomatronic actors.

[Scott Ruggels]

Duke, you should be writing dialogue.

reading back because I have been busy.   If there were to be a "dead kid', if this were  movie, this would be a scene where the hero questions his powers, the populace would turn against him, and the Skull would use it to dig into his side with a dagger, verbally. All very well and good for a film, but these are role players, and beginners, and I have found it's very hard to predict outcomes, as to how impactful a scene might be.  We are aiming for a more cinematic, than 4 color approach in this, but would this derail  the flow?  The original King Kong had Kong sove people off the log into a canyon full of monsters, but the director and the animator thought it stalled the film, and just had them fall and bounce off the jungle floor.  We don't want to derail the  flow. I am slightly against killing the kid unless it's there to make a STRONG point.

 

I am of the opinion, that in Superhero Movies, Superhero names are bestowed upon them by the press or their opponents. rather than naming themselves.  A superlative, or Pejorative  appear on a newspaper headline, or Nightly News segment, branding them for life.  Chaos is a good name for a gang, but the individual members, how did they come up with those.  As for the main villain it should always be "The Skull", and never just Skull.  (often it even might be Mr. such-and-such, Sir, depending on who is addressing him). I think names should be "civilian names"  they do something notable.

 

As for terminology, "Evolved", is bad, I agree. Meta Human might work.  but we need to be careful about copyright and trademarks.

 

 

 

I'd write more, but my D&D game is about to start.

[steriaca]

7 minutes ago, Scott Ruggels said:

Duke, you should be writing dialogue.

Reading back because I have been busy.   If there were to be a "dead kid', if this were  movie, this would be a scene where the hero questions his powers, the populace would turn against him, and the Skull would use it to dig into his side with a dagger, verbally. All very well and good for a film, but these are role players, and beginners, and I have found it's very hard to predict outcomes, as to how impactful a scene might be.  We are aiming for a more cinematic, than 4 color approach in this, but would this derail  the flow?  The original King Kong had Kong sove people off the log into a canyon full of monsters, but the director and the animator thought it stalled the film, and just had them fall and bounce off the jungle floor.  We don't want to derail the  flow. I am slightly against killing the kid unless it's there to make a STRONG point.

Understood. I was the jerk who suggested it, as a Five Nights At Freddy's reference. We can loose it just as easily. We can also loose the gooie surprise inside Big Bubba.

Quote

 

I am of the opinion, that in Superhero Movies, Superhero names are bestowed upon them by the press or their opponents. rather than naming themselves.  A superlative, or Pejorative  appear on a newspaper headline, or Nightly News segment, branding them for life.  Chaos is a good name for a gang, but the individual members, how did they come up with those.  As for the main villain it should always be "The Skull", and never just Skull.  (often it even might be Mr. such-and-such, Sir, depending on who is addressing him). I think names should be "civilian names"  they do something notable.

Ok. They named themselves. They read comicbooks as children. They shout the codenames they pick out.

 

That won't mean that others will use them.

Quote

 

As for terminology, "Evolved", is bad, I agree. Meta Human might work.  but we need to be careful about copyright and trademarks.

I was trying to find another way to say "mutant". Especially without alluding to a serten franchise who's name starts with an x.

Quote

 

 

 

I'd write more, but my D&D game is about to start.

Enjoy it.

[steriaca]

The Prince A. Pal's Happy Court Complex.

 

Sorry, there seems to be no spellcheck on the Firefox web brouser.

 

The entier complex is surounded by stone walls made to resemble midevil walls. Imediedly inside the walls are parking lots.

 

To the far right is the minigolf area. To the left, the two go-kart tracks. Behind them all is a roller coaster called The Dragon. And to the center is the Prince A. Pal Castle. And, yes it was designed like a castle. The towers hide solar panels. Wind turbines and hidden on the top of the wall and along the roller coaster track.

 

The "castle" is about four stories high (such is it's hight that it can be said to look over the wall). The basement is the storage "dungon", and the sub-basement is where the anomatronics are worked upon when they break down and where the spare anomatronics are kepted. This is also where CyberJack has his office (remember, he works here). The first floor is where the Kitchen is, where the gift store is,  and where the main preformance hall/eating place and main arcade is. The second floor is a secondary kitchen and has an indoor play place for younger kids and another preformance hall and eating place. Also, there is a small adult hall with another anomatronic of an Elvis-like nature (Sir Vess), so parents have a place to cool off from all the kid stuff. Above them is the third floor, with the private party preformance hall they nickname the "Birthday Hall". Again, there is a small kitchen which is only running when there is a preformance. As part of the hall is a side room for video games exclusive to that floor.

 

And on the fourth floor? Managment rooms, break rooms, the security officer's office (where he can see the entier area inside the castle and grounds), and some private rooms where one can talk freely without the ding of everything. Each floor has a men's room (Lords) and woman's room (Ladies), starewells, and various elevators for emploies only. And one elevator which runs from the sub-basement to behind the preformance stages of each floor which has one, so they can quickly remove damaged anomatronics and replace them.

[Scott Ruggels]

SO, it's basically a Dave & Buster's with animatronics? XD

 

[steriaca]

8 minutes ago, Scott Ruggels said:

SO, it's basically a Dave & Buster's with animatronics? XD

 

I guess. Never went to one.

[Scott Ruggels]

2 minutes ago, steriaca said:

I guess. Never went to one.

Its worth a trip, their cheese sticks are amazing.

[Duke Bushido]

2 hours ago, steriaca said:

Well, think Chuck E. Cheeze times 10. There are more than arcade games there. They might be different floors, with each floor having there own sit down eat place and anamatronic monstrosity. Imagine not having to deal with one Prince A. Pal psudo robot, but three.

 

And let there be a go kart track and minigolf also. Why not. This IS the flagship resteraunt for a fledgling chain. One created by an almost millionaire who puts his own cash into the dang thing.

 

There's a place outside of Savannah that went up a couple of years ago-- I can't remember the name of it, but that's sort of what you brought to mind when you suggested inviting the town to this place.  It's got a massive video and pinball arcade that spits out prize tickets (the part I refer to as the "Child Casino") as well as Go-karts and a couple of mini-golf courses.  There's a snack bar there, and they appear to own more unused property that they can expand into if they take off.  When you made the mayoral invite, I sort of blended that place into a Chucky Cheese and gave it your Kinghts of Olde theme.  I added a couple of "rides--" nothing to spectacular to fit not a city lot, but fun for kids who aren't into (or are bored with) the video games.  Most importantly, it's a pretty large complex: it would be possible to run a couple of thousand people through here in a day's time.  Seemed about perfect.

 

Moreover, there's a place in Rye Patch that actually has a castle.  They rent it out for venues (my wife has a niece who got married there.....   >shudder<... Sorry...   it was a D&D-themed wedding.....   >shudder<....)

 

It's _huge_, and really sad, all at once.  It's made of concrete blocks with no attempt at pretending these are stone, or even hand-made blocks.  The "moat" is an algae-filled drainage ditch they ran completely around the castle.  When the place is in use, the owners will come and pour a turquoise-colored dye into the ditch and turn on a couple of pumps to get it circulated.  The end result might as well be _paint_ it's so opaque.    It has a kitchen, a couple of small dining rooms, a couple of "use them for something" rooms, an interesting entryway, and a _massive_ dining room, as well as a couple of costume rooms / changing rooms.  The restrooms seemed insufficient for the occupancy, but there was always the ditch.....

 

At any rate, I couldn't help but think "that is so perfect for a set piece....."

 

So they all got pushed together, thematically.  I think we're sort of on the same page here.

 

 

2 hours ago, Scott Ruggels said:

Duke, you should be writing dialogue.

 

Hey, thanks, Scott.    mighty kind of you.

 

 

2 hours ago, Scott Ruggels said:

 

reading back because I have been busy.   If there were to be a "dead kid', if this were  movie, this would be a scene where the hero questions his powers, the populace would turn against him, and the Skull would use it to dig into his side with a dagger, verbally. All very well and good for a film, but these are role players, and beginners, and I have found it's very hard to predict outcomes, as to how impactful a scene might be.  We are aiming for a more cinematic, than 4 color approach in this, but would this derail  the flow?  The original King Kong had Kong sove people off the log into a canyon full of monsters, but the director and the animator thought it stalled the film, and just had them fall and bounce off the jungle floor.  We don't want to derail the  flow. I am slightly against killing the kid unless it's there to make a STRONG point.

 

That's about where I am with it, though I get the "Freddy's" reference, and suspect that most younger player would as well, I think that might actually _detract_ just a little bit: a shout out to the "real" world in the middle of your pretend one, as it were.

 

_However_...  I also like that even if CJ ends up copping to everything, the dead kid serves as a clue for the astute character, most particularly in hind-sight, should we go with "the Skull gets away this time."

 

 

2 hours ago, Scott Ruggels said:

 

I am of the opinion, that in Superhero Movies, Superhero names are bestowed upon them by the press or their opponents. rather than naming themselves.

 

Agreed, at least for the most part-- PC's should still be able to pick their own names.   You just have to play it as the name that was "given" to you if you're a local boy.      That's why I was sort of pushing for the Skull to have been named by those people with whom he dealt when I did the write-up.  It amused him enough to run with it when he announced himself to the world.

 

2 hours ago, Scott Ruggels said:

 

  A superlative, or Pejorative  appear on a newspaper headline, or Nightly News segment, branding them for life.  Chaos is a good name for a gang, but the individual members, how did they come up with those.

 

It's a bit of a cop out, but I'm not opposed to the gang members already having street names that proved to be coincidently prophetic.  

 

 

2 hours ago, Scott Ruggels said:

As for the main villain it should always be "The Skull", and never just Skull.  (often it even might be Mr. such-and-such, Sir, depending on who is addressing him). I think names should be "civilian names"  they do something notable.

 

Agreed.  When you see me type "Skull" in this thread, it usually indicates I'm on a touch screen, or just really in a hurry to get something down.  But yes, this character is undoubtedly _The_ Skull.  There are no other Skulls like him.  The Skull is the skull to which all other skulls aspire.  The Skull is the ultimate embodiment of intelligence and planning; cunning and bad fashion....

 

 

2 hours ago, Scott Ruggels said:

As for terminology, "Evolved", is bad, I agree. Meta Human might work.  but we need to be careful about copyright and trademarks.

 

 

 

 

 

2 hours ago, steriaca said:

Understood. I was the jerk who suggested it, as a Five Nights At Freddy's reference. We can loose it just as easily.

 

You're not a jerk; you had an idea and you ran with it.  It served several purposes, whether that was your intention or not:

 

1) This is real.  This is dangerous.  People are going to die.

2) The Skull kills, and does so indiscriminately.  So indiscriminately that it never occurred to him the guy he's framing up (have to wrap up any loose ends, after all, even his favorite general) might not kill a child.

3) Clue potential for (forgive me, people) "finding the _real_ killers."

 

My concerns mirror Scotts: possible squeamishness, side-tracking the story-- my concern is that it might be a distraction.  Again, I can go either way, but as it has the potential to totally change the outcome of the story:  CyberJack either _is_ or _is not_ willing to be the fall guy (I have to believe that even his fear of the Skull would not tolerate taking the blame for a child murder).  If he's not willing, we need to frame him pretty hard.

 

 

 

2 hours ago, steriaca said:

We can also loose the gooie surprise inside Big Bubba.

 

Nope.  That's got to stay.  I don't _love_ it, but I totally get the need for it.  It's easy for a television-raised generation to gloss over the murder of a few hundred nondescript people.  They need at least one grisly kill pushed directly into their faces to get that "this is what dead means" feel.  Got to get them into the mood, so to speak.

 

2 hours ago, steriaca said:

I was trying to find another way to say "mutant". Especially without alluding to a serten franchise who's name starts with an x.

 

 

I think pretty much all comic books have mutants.  Most brands just roll with it as a thing, just like the mutation that resulted in my pretty blue eyes.  Then one company did something stupid with it that made lots and lots of money.  But this is not the place for that discussion. ;).  I have zero issues with the word "mutant."  It doesn't make me think movies and superheroes.  In all honesty, every time I hear it, I think of fruit flies with curled wings.

 

 

55 minutes ago, steriaca said:

I guess. Never went to one.

 

 

I've never _heard_ of one, so we're even.  

 

 

[steriaca]

For thoes who really don't know, I have been told Dave & Busters is what Chuck E. Cheeze would be if ran by beer loving sports guys. In fact, I hear after 9pm or so, if your under the drinking age of alcohol consumption, you can't get in at all.

 

Basically remove the anomatronics and add a bar and a wall of tv sets tuned to different sports games.

[Duke Bushido]

14 minutes ago, steriaca said:

Basically remove the anomatronics and add a bar and a wall of tv sets tuned to different sports games.

 

 

That's not better.....  

 

 

[steriaca]

The Distraction Robbery.

 

This appears to be a typical bank robbery. The bank is being robbed by two gang members per player, and one Skull Agent. If the heros beat them before round three comes around, feal free to add as reinforcements two gang members and one Skull Agent per hero. If the heroes are still fresh (more than half stun for the majority) at round five, feal free to bring another wave in without waiting for the heroes to knock out them. But no more than that. Feal free to fudge rolls after round five to the heroes favor, as the fight can take too long.

 

Once the round ends and everyone leaves the bank, described the beauty of the area, including the beautiful purple sky... (Just a random, non-standard color folks.)

[Hugh Neilson]

To the Skull as the author of his own defeat, I would rather see the PCs’ actions bring the Skull down.  Agreed, that means get the dome down, and not necessarily bring in the Skull.  But it should not be “PCs do their own investigations, roll lots of successful or unsuccessful skill rolls, then one of the Skull’s goons turns on him and the PCs can win”.  It should be the PCs’ own investigations that get them the info they need to advance the plot.  If the players flounder, we need a means to get them back on track – but we already have two NPCs to serve that purpose.

 

I don’t see a dead body in the animatronics adding anything to the scenario.  Unless there is a reason for the Skull to take this step, it just makes him look random.  CyberJack is not the focus of the adventure, so developing his background is a “side quest” I think this intro adventure can do without.  “The Skull kills without remorse or hesitation” is very different from “The Skull kills at random, without consideration of whether it furthers or frustrates his plans.”

 

I see Chaos as powered up by the emergence of the Force Dome, a complete shock to all except the Skull himself.  They’re a bit more powerful than the PCs, but not as coordinated, and perhaps actually distracted by their new powers.  I’d see them as “done in one” – Skull is gambling that their powers will take out the PCs, but no such luck.  If the PCs don’t pull it together, we have MuckMan and Cluebat to provide an assist.  Making them another arc of three encounters and some investigation draws away from the main plotline a bit too much for an intro. 

 

If Chaos wins the first battle, they likely rampage for a bit with their newfound powers, and we can present the Heroes an opportunity to take them down later.  This might be an optional scene (maybe following the Animatronics session).

 

In the alternative, maybe we plan on Chaos trashing the heroes (or being broken out, if they get beaten) and being the Skull’s chief lieutenants in Chapter 2, getting taken down one at a time or in pairs as they are separated to lead his forces, but I don’t see Ch 2 needing the extra complications.  Final option would be to use them instead of the animatronics to disrupt the town meeting, but I prefer animatronics  after Chaos so we get two types of battle.

 

To the hold the Skull has on his minions, has he earned it?  He has done nothing to date, and is on the run from the mob.  We say he is powerful and fearsome, but is he?  I could see someone who has seen his powers, and propensity to violence, being scared in his presence, but he does not have the resources, as presented, to convincingly be so terrifying that his very name causes hardened criminals to shake in fear.  As Steriaca says, he’s not there yet – maybe he will grow into it.

 

Plus, I’ve never liked the “none of your interrogations have any effect – they are far too scared of their master, each and every one of them, to ever reveal anything”.  It’s another undermining of the PCs’ ability to investigate.

 

I’d also prefer the PCs get the credit for defeating the Skull’s plan.  There is no compelling reason for CyberJack to take the rap.  The heroes have succeeded if they bring the Dome down.  Maybe the Skull is captured, perhaps believed dead, or maybe he slipped away.  We could also leave him no way out – his twisted mind simply cannot envision he would NEED to escape – or he can have an escape plan that maybe works and maybe doesn’t.  Or hey, maybe he didn’t have the resources to equip his mob, construct the dome AND build an elaborate getaway plan.  As Steriaca notes, being captured is an inconvenience for him, not crushing defeat.

 

I like the revised “theme park”, especially if we want tourism to be a major industry in Hebzibah.  Park space nearby doesn’t hurt the ability to pack in the people.  It’s not conducive to a “town meeting”, but it is a show that “we will not cower in fear”, which is probably more angering to the Skull.  Tack on the heroes being “on display” as something of a town morale boost (after they defeated Chaos when the dome went up) and we have a focal point for the Skull to attack.  This is why the Heroes are right there when the Animatronics attack these “fools who believe these pathetic ‘heroes’ can protect them from the power of the Skull”.  That section should focus on letting the Heroes be Heroes - let them save lives, not watch in helpless frustration as townsfolk are slaughtered all around them.

 

Oh, and while it is only presentation, I a fine with sidebars for items not directly germane to the adventure, like an explanation of why there are no stats for the Dome, or the Prince A Pals menu.  If they are taking over the layout, that is a clear sign we have too much extraneous information.

 

“How big is Hebzibah?” is relevant to the PCs stuck inside, and as a player they would be quite reasonable to want to take stock of the resources available to them.  Especially once they are in the city leadership’s “inner circle”, which is part of the Prince A Pal scenario.  The theme park removes that “gather the town in a tavern” fantasy game feel, anyway. 

[steriaca]

2 hours ago, Hugh Neilson said:

To the Skull as the author of his own defeat, I would rather see the PCs’ actions bring the Skull down.  Agreed, that means get the dome down, and not necessarily bring in the Skull.  But it should not be “PCs do their own investigations, roll lots of successful or unsuccessful skill rolls, then one of the Skull’s goons turns on him and the PCs can win”.  It should be the PCs’ own investigations that get them the info they need to advance the plot.  If the players flounder, we need a means to get them back on track – but we already have two NPCs to serve that purpose.

Well, the Skull is author of his own defeat in the way by killing his henchmen for doing things wrong. He only has so many of them, after all.

2 hours ago, Hugh Neilson said:

 

 

 

I don’t see a dead body in the animatronics adding anything to the scenario.  Unless there is a reason for the Skull to take this step, it just makes him look random.  CyberJack is not the focus of the adventure, so developing his background is a “side quest” I think this intro adventure can do without.  “The Skull kills without remorse or hesitation” is very different from “The Skull kills at random, without consideration of whether it furthers or frustrates his plans.”

 

 

 

I see Chaos as powered up by the emergence of the Force Dome, a complete shock to all except the Skull himself.  They’re a bit more powerful than the PCs, but not as coordinated, and perhaps actually distracted by their new powers.  I’d see them as “done in one” – Skull is gambling that their powers will take out the PCs, but no such luck.  If the PCs don’t pull it together, we have MuckMan and Cluebat to provide an assist.  Making them another arc of three encounters and some investigation draws away from the main plotline a bit too much for an intro. 

 

 

 

If Chaos wins the first battle, they likely rampage for a bit with their newfound powers, and we can present the Heroes an opportunity to take them down later.  This might be an optional scene (maybe following the Animatronics session).

 

 

 

In the alternative, maybe we plan on Chaos trashing the heroes (or being broken out, if they get beaten) and being the Skull’s chief lieutenants in Chapter 2, getting taken down one at a time or in pairs as they are separated to lead his forces, but I don’t see Ch 2 needing the extra complications.  Final option would be to use them instead of the animatronics to disrupt the town meeting, but I prefer animatronics  after Chaos so we get two types of battle.

 

 

 

To the hold the Skull has on his minions, has he earned it?  He has done nothing to date, and is on the run from the mob.  We say he is powerful and fearsome, but is he?  I could see someone who has seen his powers, and propensity to violence, being scared in his presence, but he does not have the resources, as presented, to convincingly be so terrifying that his very name causes hardened criminals to shake in fear.  As Steriaca says, he’s not there yet – maybe he will grow into it.

 

 

 

Plus, I’ve never liked the “none of your interrogations have any effect – they are far too scared of their master, each and every one of them, to ever reveal anything”.  It’s another undermining of the PCs’ ability to investigate.

He doesn't earn that rep just yet. Once he has about half his forces whiped out by his own hands, it would be likely his agents will abandon or defect and he gets a rep as a murderous master. Which will make recruiting for the next caper hard. Not impossible, only hard. Nobody wants to work for a boss who will stab you in the back, after all.

2 hours ago, Hugh Neilson said:

 

 

 

I’d also prefer the PCs get the credit for defeating the Skull’s plan.  There is no compelling reason for CyberJack to take the rap.  The heroes have succeeded if they bring the Dome down.  Maybe the Skull is captured, perhaps believed dead, or maybe he slipped away.  We could also leave him no way out – his twisted mind simply cannot envision he would NEED to escape – or he can have an escape plan that maybe works and maybe doesn’t.  Or hey, maybe he didn’t have the resources to equip his mob, construct the dome AND build an elaborate getaway plan.  As Steriaca notes, being captured is an inconvenience for him, not crushing defeat.

Yes. He is probably so much a megalomaniac that he can never think "what if my plans go wrong", and never works that into his plots. So, the heroes can catch him in the caves easy.

2 hours ago, Hugh Neilson said:

 

 

 

I like the revised “theme park”, especially if we want tourism to be a major industry in Hebzibah.  Park space nearby doesn’t hurt the ability to pack in the people.  It’s not conducive to a “town meeting”, but it is a show that “we will not cower in fear”, which is probably more angering to the Skull.  Tack on the heroes being “on display” as something of a town morale boost (after they defeated Chaos when the dome went up) and we have a focal point for the Skull to attack.  This is why the Heroes are right there when the Animatronics attack these “fools who believe these pathetic ‘heroes’ can protect them from the power of the Skull”.  That section should focus on letting the Heroes be Heroes - let them save lives, not watch in helpless frustration as townsfolk are slaughtered all around them.

Yes. They need to be rescued stat. And that is what the heros do.

2 hours ago, Hugh Neilson said:

 

 

 

Oh, and while it is only presentation, I a fine with sidebars for items not directly germane to the adventure, like an explanation of why there are no stats for the Dome, or the Prince A Pals menu.  If they are taking over the layout, that is a clear sign we have too much extraneous information.

Agreed.

2 hours ago, Hugh Neilson said:

 

 

 

“How big is Hebzibah?” is relevant to the PCs stuck inside, and as a player they would be quite reasonable to want to take stock of the resources available to them.  Especially once they are in the city leadership’s “inner circle”, which is part of the Prince A Pal scenario.  The theme park removes that “gather the town in a tavern” fantasy game feel, anyway. 

 

Hepzibah is as big as we need it to be. Prehaps as big as Milwaukee, Wisconsin or Green Bay, Wisconsin at least.

[Hugh Neilson]

ASIDE to the Joker "just carrying out practical jokes".  See http://thegreatcomicbookheroes.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-jokers-first-appearance-in-batman-1.html for his 11 page first appearance.  He was actually watered down over time before coming back as the insane killer we have today.

 

12 hours ago, steriaca said:

Yes. They need to be rescued stat. And that is what the heros do.

 

To me, the key is that they are able to rescue the civilians, not that we set them up to watch in frustration as the body count rises, despite their best efforts.

 

12 hours ago, steriaca said:

Hepzibah is as big as we need it to be. Prehaps as big as Milwaukee, Wisconsin or Green Bay, Wisconsin at least.

 

My point is that, as a player, I would be asking how big it is, looking for resources commensurate with how big it is, and not expecting its size to vary from one chapter to the next, leaving aside destruction of parts of the city -  but again, if all the Heroes can do is look on as the city is leveled and civilians die in droves, how heroic does that make the heroes feel?  I am assuming we want larger than life, heroic Supers, not tallyers of a body count who are just as bloodthirsty in their vengeance against the villains, of course.

[steriaca]

18 minutes ago, Hugh Neilson said:

ASIDE to the Joker "just carrying out practical jokes".  See http://thegreatcomicbookheroes.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-jokers-first-appearance-in-batman-1.html for his 11 page first appearance.  He was actually watered down over time before coming back as the insane killer we have today.

Yes, early Joker was just as bloodthirsty as todays Joker. Point taken.

18 minutes ago, Hugh Neilson said:

 

 

To me, the key is that they are able to rescue the civilians, not that we set them up to watch in frustration as the body count rises, despite their best efforts.

Point also taken. And we will allow them to do so, and advise the GM to do so also. We have about 3 setsvof seven robots about, which may be too much. If we keep it to one set of seven (both first and second floors show video on screens of selected preformances of the automatronic actors), then it should be defeatable without much of a body count. And remember, CyberJack is not targeting kids. He is targeting VIPs (including the heroes).

 

Yes, the Skull wants them to rampage. Something CyberJack will not allow as kids are there.

18 minutes ago, Hugh Neilson said:

 

 

My point is that, as a player, I would be asking how big it is, looking for resources commensurate with how big it is, and not expecting its size to vary from one chapter to the next, leaving aside destruction of parts of the city -  but again, if all the Heroes can do is look on as the city is leveled and civilians die in droves, how heroic does that make the heroes feel?  I am assuming we want larger than life, heroic Supers, not tallyers of a body count who are just as bloodthirsty in their vengeance against the villains, of course.

That should depend on the game master. We should encourage a less body count world. Smarts says that normal people back away from the purple energy wall, for instance, so once the Skull shrinks it as a threat, it only destroys empty houses. But that is up to the game master.

[Duke Bushido]

Forgive the lack of clarity.

 

I thought I was pretty clear that I'm not a big fan of high-body count stories for supers.  This is why I _am_ a fan of the dead guy in the Big Bubba suit.  Stay light on _actual_ deaths, but make the ones that do occur as poignant as possible: keep the heroes aware that without their intervention, death _will_ happen.

 

As admitted perhaps even a hundred times, I know bugger-all about comics.  Now I know that the Joker can arrive on the scene absolutely terrifying from Day One, but the Skull cannot attain that even over the period of weeks or months between losing his mind and setting his plan in motion.   Evidently there's an "instantly terrifying" power build that only one of them may possess.

 

 

[steriaca]

Joker's thing is that he is unpredictable, he looks strange, we don't really know much about him, and he is a killer. This is what makes him one of Batman's iconic foes.

 

The Skull, on the other hand, has the insanity and looks and murder down pack, but he is not exactly unpredictable nor unknowable. We already gave him an idenity and reason he does what he does. So right out of the gate, the Skull is not the Joker.

[Duke Bushido]

Well yeah.  I don't really care much for the Joker,  and to be honest-- and no; I'm not intentionally baiting the fans-- I thought the Heath Ledger interpretation was possibly the worst in history.  The intensity?  _good_.  Everything else?  yiiich,

 

 

It just really bugs me, the idea that "he's cant' be scary because he's new."

[steriaca]

7 hours ago, Duke Bushido said:

 

It just really bugs me, the idea that "he's cant' be scary because he's new."

Go ahead and do make The Skull scary. Just make sure he doesn't do things at random.

 

In defense of the boy in the anamatronic: If the Skull knows CyberJack's background and wants to both frame him and send him a horrible message for his belief of his betrayal, then he will put that kid into the machine. That will not force him to accept the blame, but he will get the message.

[Duke Bushido]

37 minutes ago, steriaca said:

Go ahead and do make The Skull scary. Just make sure he doesn't do things at random.

 

Agreed.  We're shooting for meticulous, effective, long-range planner; not the Joker.

 

37 minutes ago, steriaca said:

 

In defense of the boy in the anamatronic: If the Skull knows CyberJack's background and wants to both frame him and send him a horrible message for his belief of his betrayal, then he will put that kid into the machine.

 

Understood.  I also like the idea that, rather than sending a message, it's laying a red herring to confuse the investigation.  And the fact that it's a kid demonstrates that the Skull is not as all-knowing as he believes himself to be: where he _truly_ omniscient, he would know that CJ would _never_ hurt a kid.  I also like that even though intended as a red herring, it's actually a clue. 

 

37 minutes ago, steriaca said:

That will not force him to accept the blame, but he will get the message.

 

 

The thing we have to script for is that putting a kid in there will cause CJ to categorically _deny_ that he was the mastermind, and fight the accusation tooth and nail, no matter what his fear of the Skull might be.

 

[Hugh Neilson]

12 hours ago, steriaca said:

Yes, early Joker was just as bloodthirsty as todays Joker. Point taken.

 

Actually, I would say "original Joker" had no regard for human life, was a calculated planner and wanted everyone to know how smart he was.  He reads more like a pulp villain (appropriate, as early Batman was really a pulp character in a new medium).  He's not trying to rack up a body count, as the scene with the cops shows, but he's not trying to avoid it either.

 

12 hours ago, steriaca said:

Point also taken. And we will allow them to do so, and advise the GM to do so also. We have about 3 setsvof seven robots about, which may be too much. If we keep it to one set of seven (both first and second floors show video on screens of selected preformances of the automatronic actors), then it should be defeatable without much of a body count. And remember, CyberJack is not targeting kids. He is targeting VIPs (including the heroes).

 

I buy into "target the VIPs.  More robots, to me, means less powerful robots.  4 or 5 to one Super would suggest they are pretty weak individually.  Nothing says they have to have the time, or the equipment, to alter every animatronic in the place - and it may make the Supers more nervous that some of them just keep performing normally.

 

12 hours ago, steriaca said:

That should depend on the game master. We should encourage a less body count world. Smarts says that normal people back away from the purple energy wall, for instance, so once the Skull shrinks it as a threat, it only destroys empty houses. But that is up to the game master.

 

This also depends on how the scenario is written.  If the wall shrinks in rapidly, taking out a few dozen buildings with no warning, then we just forced our heroes to watch a mass execution they could not prevent.  If the walls close in slowly, they can evacuate.  I am still unclear how we need batteries just outside, and projectors just inside, yet the wall can contract.  Do the projectors move?  Do the batteries?

 

9 hours ago, Duke Bushido said:

I thought I was pretty clear that I'm not a big fan of high-body count stories for supers.  This is why I _am_ a fan of the dead guy in the Big Bubba suit.  Stay light on _actual_ deaths, but make the ones that do occur as poignant as possible: keep the heroes aware that without their intervention, death _will_ happen.

 

Emphasis added. Random Joe #327 whom the players don't know and have no reason to care about is just gory scenery.  Who actually dies in the MCU films?  The first one I can think of is Coulson in Avengers, and his death served a major plot purpose.  He didn't just appear once, then drop dead.  As well, just plugging a dead guy into the suit doesn't scream "I am a master planner who kills without remorse when it serves my purposes."  It says "Hey, here's a random dead guy so we can have some gore."

 

9 hours ago, Duke Bushido said:

As admitted perhaps even a hundred times, I know bugger-all about comics.  Now I know that the Joker can arrive on the scene absolutely terrifying from Day One, but the Skull cannot attain that even over the period of weeks or months between losing his mind and setting his plan in motion.   Evidently there's an "instantly terrifying" power build that only one of them may possess.

 

Golden Age was a bit different, but even there, how many people initially thought the threat was real?  Throughout the story, targets were afraid of being killed.  No one was doing the Joker's bidding because his very name struck fear into their hearts. 

 

What has the Skull done in those weeks or months to build his aura of terror?  Can the PCs discover that, or even already be aware of it, from their own skills and investigations?  The sense I got was that, until the dome went up, the Skull was a crime boss who was paying his mugs for their services, and pretty much no one knew who he was.  Does he have a reputation (even one limited to the local underworld) when we start?  If so, I would expect the Supers can learn about that through their investigations.  It would be great if their investigations, early on, can bear useful fruit.

 

[assault]

On 7/28/2019 at 2:04 AM, Duke Bushido said:

I would, however, find "doesn't make sense without careful analysis" acceptable:  for example, if he's already working on step five while the heroes are dealing with step one, well it's certainly not going to make a lot of sense right away.  As sort of a 'frinstance, imagine finding a little boy hard at work in the woods with a folding shovel, digging a shallow trench eight feet long.  "Whatcha doin', Kiddo?"

"Missy Peters started a-goin' to my history class, and she's real nice, and I'm powerful sweet on her, an' I think she might like me, too, but I don't want her to go away until she kin make up her mind as to us maybe going steady 'er not."

 

??  que?

 

The young man becomes satisfied with his shallow trench, folds his shovel, puts it in his pack, pulls out a sandwich, and walks away, pleased with his efforts.  "that'll do it."

 

This makes _no_ sense.

 

Unfortunately, it makes sense if you think: shallow grave.

[steriaca]

In retribution to my defense of kid + anamatronic the Skull: ok. It is a bit too distasteful, and only makes sence to shock CyberJack into telling all he knows. Hey, we said The Skull was a smart, long term planer. We never said he is able to see ALL outcomes of his actions.

 

So, is he going to frame CyberJack or not? Is he going to shock CyberJack into silence, or will his actions simply reveal all he knows about The Skull to the authorities? Will we even do this thing?

 

Let me get official. Let him be captured. Leave the robot double as a sidebar option. Don't mention the kid, cause there is none. In fact, forget I even mention the kid. The kid is nobody important in our story. And may say to our players "don't play again".

 

As for the shrinking of the dome, let's do the initial warning slowly. That gives the players time to get people out of the way.

 

The battery's move with the dome, of course. They start by rising out of the ground, then follow the dome. When the Skull stops the dome, they settle down and dig themselves back into the ground. Except they will be exposed to the air, but protected by the forcefield. The only time they are not protected is, well, when the dome shrinks.

[Duke Bushido]

45 minutes ago, Hugh Neilson said:

I buy into "target the VIPs.  More robots, to me, means less powerful robots.  4 or 5 to one Super would suggest they are pretty weak individually.

 

Give that they are essentially-- and forgive this-- "animated animatronics,"-- this is the way I was already thinking.  A single full-stat "write-up" that represents all the relatively-easy-to-wreck animatronics and a series (twelve, perhaps?  We could have a whole "round table" of these guys) and maybe a few "bards" that welcome people to each section of the establishment, etc.  Then a short list of brief appearance descriptions for the individuals.  I think it might even be fun to have four or five of them "mounted" to pedestals, unable to move (perhaps serving wenches or even the bards), swinging randomly at anyone who passes by.  

 

I just think that lots and lots of "robots running nuts" would create a bigger panic amongst the crowd than would, say, six.  And being animatronics, they aren't too terribly hard to wreck.  The challenge would come from having to destroy these things _completely_-- think zombies-- crawling at you when their legs are smashed, etc, and _not_ hurting the panicking crowds.  Essentially, as the enemies won't be _terribly_ difficult to defeat (but should be some challenge, regardless), this will serve as practice for similar "watch out for civilians" type situations as these players continue to game.  I hope, anyway.  I just assumed, as CJ builds himself a custom body guard, that the animatronics wouldn't gain a lot of special defenses or attacks beyond-- oh, I don't know: STR 15 and a club; something like that.  Again, the assumption could be completely wrong.

 

 

45 minutes ago, Hugh Neilson said:

Nothing says they have to have the time, or the equipment, to alter every animatronic in the place - and it may make the Supers more nervous that some of them just keep performing normally.

 

Dude!  That is just awesome enough to include.  I'm picturing a couple of "jump scare" scenarios.  Good call.

 

 

45 minutes ago, Hugh Neilson said:

 

 

This also depends on how the scenario is written.  If the wall shrinks in rapidly, taking out a few dozen buildings with no warning, then we just forced our heroes to watch a mass execution they could not prevent.  If the walls close in slowly, they can evacuate.

 

Still waiting for more feedback on that.  Unfortunately, we're getting less participation than I'd hoped for.  Lots of views, but not a lot of thoughts.

 

 

45 minutes ago, Hugh Neilson said:

I am still unclear how we need batteries just outside, and projectors just inside, yet the wall can contract.  Do the projectors move?  Do the batteries?

 

Covered this before with the magnetism / Zoidberg gag.  Granted, the gag was so pants-wettingly hilarious that I can understand how it caused the actual idea to be missed.     I kid, obviously.  I'm just not that funny.

 

Short version:  at a signal, magnetic field between the batteries tightens, drawing them closer.  Presumably, the projectors are either located at points  well-within the "critical crunch" radius, or are also mobile but some similar means.  They are also findable with investigation (re: the "this is where the Skull had us dig all those damned holes" comment earlier in the thread). 

 

45 minutes ago, Hugh Neilson said:

 

 

Emphasis added. Random Joe #327 whom the players don't know and have no reason to care about is just gory scenery.  Who actually dies in the MCU films?  The first one I can think of is Coulson in Avengers, and his death served a major plot purpose.  He didn't just appear once, then drop dead.  As well, just plugging a dead guy into the suit doesn't scream "I am a master planner who kills without remorse when it serves my purposes."  It says "Hey, here's a random dead guy so we can have some gore."

 

While I don't disagree with you, remember that this is "adventure #1."  Because this is adventure #1, unless we're ready to start offing DNPCs, who is this close personal friend?  They don't have one yet.  Every dead guy is a stranger at this point, but unfortunately, we need one or two to make sure the players grasp the severity of this situation.

 

 

 

45 minutes ago, Hugh Neilson said:

 

 

Golden Age was a bit different, but even there, how many people initially thought the threat was real?

 

Regarding that:

 

I have every intention of including a "changing the feel" section for the GMs.  In this, I hope to include notes on both reducing and increasing gore while still maintaining the feel of danger and the threat of large-scale loss of life.  In keeping with our goal, these sections will be brief (going to need an editor for _that_.    .   Any takers? ), but hopefully helpful.

 

45 minutes ago, Hugh Neilson said:

What has the Skull done in those weeks or months to build his aura of terror?

 

You tell us.  What works for you?  More in a moment:

 

45 minutes ago, Hugh Neilson said:

 

  Can the PCs discover that, or even already be aware of it, from their own skills and investigations?

 

Indubitably.  A brief history of the Skull was presented earlier, including his background and small hints of progression.  There hasn't been much contribution to that, so I figured we could revisit it when it came time to write it up formally.  Still, contributions are welcome.  More on that (and the above) after this:

 

45 minutes ago, Hugh Neilson said:

 

 

  The sense I got was that, until the dome went up, the Skull was a crime boss who was paying his mugs for their services, and pretty much no one knew who he was.  Does he have a reputation (even one limited to the local underworld) when we start?

 

And here's the more, or at least an even-briefer encapsulation of his history:

 

Unable to get funding, he turned to the mob for funding, thinking his superior intellect would allow him to control his situation; his (then) naivety, however, proved to be his undoing.  He's no longer on the run from the mob as the next thing he did was kill the majority of that mob (at least locally) by using the last bit of money from the mob to built his exoskeleton (shot down by you, if I recall) and the pro type of his power-boosting helmet.  He used the resources "procured" from this now defunct mob (wiser members of this mob swore allegiance to him and became the "suits--" the more "professional" end of his operation, as his reputation has grown from "pencil neck genius" to "efficient killer who holds a grudge.").   As he continues to winnow the ranks of "disloyals," his reputation as grudge-driven increases considerably.  

 

He began manufacturing drugs, used local gangs at distributors, all to build his resources and work on his "revenge." (it was during this period that he picked up the nickname "the Skull.")  He freely admits to any who wonder who the target is and why that the target is "everyone" and that they will "pay for the mistake of wronging me."  He orchestrated additional crimes for materials, etc, to get his plan up and running-- the manufacture of the drugs, the manufacture of the batteries, etc.  He trained the most loyal of his "suits" into paramilitary-type discipline and offed the others.  He recruited smarter, more reliable gang members into suits or liaisons between suits and gangs.  He finds the gangs extremely useful for distribution and "man on the street" intelligence, grunt work, and not much else.

 

Added later: Once he determined how his revenge would take place-- bottling the city and demanding they acknowledge his genius and accept his rulership (helmet and mind-boosting drugs, as well as prior experience with the mob, are costing him _some_ sanity, which has random effects on his foresight)-- he realizes that the energy matrix he has designed to create the Dome will radiate on frequency "origin X," and quietly investigates for those likely to be affected.  Finding random gang bangers likely to be affected, he quickly organizes them into their own gang-- a special liaison group, if you will-- elevated above the normal street gangs, and possibly even the suits themselves.  He explains to him that they will serve a special purpose in his plan; that they will become his direct agents of chaos, and christens them as such (knowing the value that "inferiors" place on a group identity   ).  Given they are little more than hooligans almost incapable of operating with professionalism or with unit tactics, the suits have taken to simply referring to them en masse as "Chaos," as in "oh great.  Here comes chaos." or "We've got this under control; we don't need you're chaos over here mucking things up."  The gang has perverted this distaste into a point of pride, and refers to themselves as "Chaos."  The Dome goes up, within hours, the members of Chaos fall ill.  The Skull sees to their needs (leaving the hospital with power, for example), and within two or three days, the members all have the powers that he predicted they would develop.

 

When the dome goes up, it's clear that to his mind, the lives of thousands of people are "just about the right exchange" for having been not immediately seen as a genius and for being embarrassed by the now-dead (or under his control) mob several months back.  Those who notice (or later discover) that he has been experimenting on himself (helmet and drugs) all in the name of a single revenge plot realized both that he is very unhinged and that there seems to be nothing out of bounds to him with regard to "writing" a perceived slight.  Most of all, they notice the absolute intensity that drives him and continues to fuel his quest for revenge.

 

There.

 

That's two short descriptions, one with the newer stuff.

 

Feel free to toss out additional ideas or comments on the current ones.

 

45 minutes ago, Hugh Neilson said:

  If so, I would expect the Supers can learn about that through their investigations.  It would be great if their investigations, early on, can bear useful fruit.

 

 

 

it is my hope that they can eventually discover the following things, if they discover nothing else:

 

1)  the man is an absolute, unquestionable genius, at least with regard to both physics and engineering

2) the man is vain beyond vain, and this was ultimately driven by a quest to fulfill a need for recognition of item 1.

3) the man is using external amplifiers (drugs and helmet) for his personal powers.  He may or may not have the powers without these items, but certainly they will be weaker.

4) he started his operation in the old mines, but now that he "owns the city," he is moving to a more suitable location (toss-up between the hospital or one of the tech firms.  Hospital offers more chemistry labs, of course)

 

 

Any of those four things provide an immediate "handle" on the villain which can, by skillful characters (remember: I didn't say players!  Like Hugh, I'm not really big on "if the player doesn't know it, then the character doesn't, either" type games.  This is why I _hate_ GMing for my wife: she knows way, way, _way_ more about forensic medicine than I _ever_ will, and she just isn't happy until everything breaks down into one of those "procedural police" type shows (which I personally hate.  I'm an action guy.   )

 

There are more things that can be discovered, of course, and even then, none of the above are _necessary_ things to know, but I hope at least those are discovered because I see them as being the most helpful.

 

 

As always:  Chime in.

 

I'm way overdue for my pillow appointment so I'm going to bow out now.

 

 

[steriaca]

8 hours ago, Duke Bushido said:

 

Give that they are essentially-- and forgive this-- "animated animatronics,"-- this is the way I was already thinking.  A single full-stat "write-up" that represents all the relatively-easy-to-wreck animatronics and a series (twelve, perhaps?  We could have a whole "round table" of these guys) and maybe a few "bards" that welcome people to each section of the establishment, etc.  Then a short list of brief appearance descriptions for the individuals.  I think it might even be fun to have four or five of them "mounted" to pedestals, unable to move (perhaps serving wenches or even the bards), swinging randomly at anyone who passes by.  

 

I just think that lots and lots of "robots running nuts" would create a bigger panic amongst the crowd than would, say, six.  And being animatronics, they aren't too terribly hard to wreck.  The challenge would come from having to destroy these things _completely_-- think zombies-- crawling at you when their legs are smashed, etc, and _not_ hurting the panicking crowds.  Essentially, as the enemies won't be _terribly_ difficult to defeat (but should be some challenge, regardless), this will serve as practice for similar "watch out for civilians" type situations as these players continue to game.  I hope, anyway.  I just assumed, as CJ builds himself a custom body guard, that the animatronics wouldn't gain a lot of special defenses or attacks beyond-- oh, I don't know: STR 15 and a club; something like that.  Again, the assumption could be completely wrong.

 

 

 

Dude!  That is just awesome enough to include.  I'm picturing a couple of "jump scare" scenarios.  Good call.

Beyond moving around, they are nothing special. They have "numbers" and confusion on there side, but are nothing to a superhuman.

8 hours ago, Duke Bushido said:

 

 

 

Still waiting for more feedback on that.  Unfortunately, we're getting less participation than I'd hoped for.  Lots of views, but not a lot of thoughts.

Old Mother Hen syndrome. We make the cornbread. Everyone else wants to eat it, but don't want to work on it. Which in this case os ok. We have made this cornbread...err...adventure to be consumed by the masses.

Quote

 

 

 

Covered this before with the magnetism / Zoidberg gag.  Granted, the gag was so pants-wettingly hilarious that I can understand how it caused the actual idea to be missed.     I kid, obviously.  I'm just not that funny.

 

Short version:  at a signal, magnetic field between the batteries tightens, drawing them closer.  Presumably, the projectors are either located at points  well-within the "critical crunch" radius, or are also mobile but some similar means.  They are also findable with investigation (re: the "this is where the Skull had us dig all those damned holes" comment earlier in the thread). 

 

Yep. Magnets. We are not scientists. But neither are comic book writers and movie script writers. We can get away with pulling out pseudo-science out of our ass as long as it sounds feasible.

Quote

 

 

While I don't disagree with you, remember that this is "adventure #1."  Because this is adventure #1, unless we're ready to start offing DNPCs, who is this close personal friend?  They don't have one yet.  Every dead guy is a stranger at this point, but unfortunately, we need one or two to make sure the players grasp the severity of this situation.

 

 

 

 

Regarding that:

 

I have every intention of including a "changing the feel" section for the GMs.  In this, I hope to include notes on both reducing and increasing gore while still maintaining the feel of danger and the threat of large-scale loss of life.  In keeping with our goal, these sections will be brief (going to need an editor for _that_.    .   Any takers? ), but hopefully helpful.

 

 

You tell us.  What works for you?  More in a moment:

Well, yes. The GM should have many options. Does he like a light game? Then more capture and less gore. Prehaps in such a game, the security chief is merely tied up alive inside Big Bubba. In a horror game, forget CyberJack's dislike at harming kids, he'll go full Freddy's on the robots.

Quote

 

 

Indubitably.  A brief history of the Skull was presented earlier, including his background and small hints of progression.  There hasn't been much contribution to that, so I figured we could revisit it when it came time to write it up formally.  Still, contributions are welcome.  More on that (and the above) after this:

 

 

And here's the more, or at least an even-briefer encapsulation of his history:

 

Unable to get funding, he turned to the mob for funding, thinking his superior intellect would allow him to control his situation; his (then) naivety, however, proved to be his undoing.  He's no longer on the run from the mob as the next thing he did was kill the majority of that mob (at least locally) by using the last bit of money from the mob to built his exoskeleton (shot down by you, if I recall) and the pro type of his power-boosting helmet.  He used the resources "procured" from this now defunct mob (wiser members of this mob swore allegiance to him and became the "suits--" the more "professional" end of his operation, as his reputation has grown from "pencil neck genius" to "efficient killer who holds a grudge.").   As he continues to winnow the ranks of "disloyals," his reputation as grudge-driven increases considerably.  

 

He began manufacturing drugs, used local gangs at distributors, all to build his resources and work on his "revenge." (it was during this period that he picked up the nickname "the Skull.")  He freely admits to any who wonder who the target is and why that the target is "everyone" and that they will "pay for the mistake of wronging me."  He orchestrated additional crimes for materials, etc, to get his plan up and running-- the manufacture of the drugs, the manufacture of the batteries, etc.  He trained the most loyal of his "suits" into paramilitary-type discipline and offed the others.  He recruited smarter, more reliable gang members into suits or liaisons between suits and gangs.  He finds the gangs extremely useful for distribution and "man on the street" intelligence, grunt work, and not much else.

 

Added later: Once he determined how his revenge would take place-- bottling the city and demanding they acknowledge his genius and accept his rulership (helmet and mind-boosting drugs, as well as prior experience with the mob, are costing him _some_ sanity, which has random effects on his foresight)-- he realizes that the energy matrix he has designed to create the Dome will radiate on frequency "origin X," and quietly investigates for those likely to be affected.  Finding random gang bangers likely to be affected, he quickly organizes them into their own gang-- a special liaison group, if you will-- elevated above the normal street gangs, and possibly even the suits themselves.  He explains to him that they will serve a special purpose in his plan; that they will become his direct agents of chaos, and christens them as such (knowing the value that "inferiors" place on a group identity   ).  Given they are little more than hooligans almost incapable of operating with professionalism or with unit tactics, the suits have taken to simply referring to them en masse as "Chaos," as in "oh great.  Here comes chaos." or "We've got this under control; we don't need you're chaos over here mucking things up."  The gang has perverted this distaste into a point of pride, and refers to themselves as "Chaos."  The Dome goes up, within hours, the members of Chaos fall ill.  The Skull sees to their needs (leaving the hospital with power, for example), and within two or three days, the members all have the powers that he predicted they would develop.

 

When the dome goes up, it's clear that to his mind, the lives of thousands of people are "just about the right exchange" for having been not immediately seen as a genius and for being embarrassed by the now-dead (or under his control) mob several months back.  Those who notice (or later discover) that he has been experimenting on himself (helmet and drugs) all in the name of a single revenge plot realized both that he is very unhinged and that there seems to be nothing out of bounds to him with regard to "writing" a perceived slight.  Most of all, they notice the absolute intensity that drives him and continues to fuel his quest for revenge.

 

There.

 

That's two short descriptions, one with the newer stuff.

 

Feel free to toss out additional ideas or comments on the current ones.

Ok. Good background. But if he already done away with the mob boss and tooken over, what about the old underboss? He should excape with minor injuries (his helmet only uses OMCV to target, it doesn't make the energy blasts from it a mental power), and started recruiting a rival mob. It then should be him along with the industry leaders of the city that the Skull asks for to die in part 3.

Quote

 

 

 

it is my hope that they can eventually discover the following things, if they discover nothing else:

 

1)  the man is an absolute, unquestionable genius, at least with regard to both physics and engineering

2) the man is vain beyond vain, and this was ultimately driven by a quest to fulfill a need for recognition of item 1.

3) the man is using external amplifiers (drugs and helmet) for his personal powers.  He may or may not have the powers without these items, but certainly they will be weaker.

4) he started his operation in the old mines, but now that he "owns the city," he is moving to a more suitable location (toss-up between the hospital or one of the tech firms.  Hospital offers more chemistry labs.)

Skull should have multiple places as temporary bases. The mob bosses old manor (a sense of living richly). The hospital ("free" drugs and medical supplies). The top floor of the largest skyscraper in the city (best place for the projector to be set up, aiming straight upwards on the roof). His main and final headquarters is the mine, where he started and where his original labs to develop his technology are located.