Christopher

The Bronze Behemoth is often mistaken for a Power Armor or a Robot, but in truth it is way to bulky on the inside to house a human. But only a human.
The Behemoth is the Robot suit of a alien called "Brinz Bih'moth". His species is both unusually small and very in love with thier (and earths) steam age. So when they reached thier "sufficiently advanced technology" phase, they opted for a steampunk/clockwork theme on all thier tech.
 
Brinz is just a really ardent fan of earths Steam age so he went on a trip to visit a planet he considered "the center of steampunk". Needless to say he was a bit steamed about finding out that steampunk is not nearly as common as some broadcasts would have you believe. Also Brinz's ship got blown up when some supervillain tried to capture it. And now he is stuck here.
 
He opted to join the heroes in hopes of finding some way home. And also get even on the Villain that blew up his ship. It looked like a Steam Locomotive and everything! The absolute dream of the spacefaring steampunker.

Pathfinder - Streets of Magnimar - The Thief On Thief on Thief Caper
Pathfinder - Magnimar, continues, as as usual the Harroe Deck in use by the GM and Gillert's character is reading to some interesting random problems - for a certain level of interesting.

Harshal's Player: What I'd like to know is why is there so much kobold porn on Tumblr.
All: ...
GM: Wait, what????
Harshal's Player: I wonder if Kobold Princess has something to do with it.
GM: Probably - you know how things snowball on the internet.
Gillert's player: *shudders*
GM: I bet I can guess where YOUR mind just went. Fun movie, Clerks.

Rumours - the Nightscales have settled their remaining differences, after the leadership struggle.

GM: The previous leader gambled and lost. He shouldn't have lost, but he hadn't taken PCs into account.
Harshal OoC: Rolled badly on the Wandering Adventurers table.

The new leader of the Thieves Guild is one Athar Torn.

Tannis: Meanwhile, we're looking into the Tannis Oberech Home For Wayward Familiars.

Of course, such an undertaking will be a drain on finances, as will rehousing all those kobolds.

Zin: I'm fine with raiding another strange wizard's mansion.
Gillert: They're not called wizard mansions - they're called magical deathtraps.

On the other hand, hiring the kobolds out as work teams generates income. Get to work, you little scaley buggers! Our work on the docks and warehouses is also attracting renewed interest in that part of Magnimar - some people are already showing tourists around.

GM: Which basically involved hiring our armed guards to accompany you - since you still need to go through Underbridge to get there. So other people are already making money from your enterprise.

Tannis: We need to put a stop to that.
GM: ... These guys have no concept of economics, do they.
Ys: I think they've already invented vertical integration. Whereas I'm a fan of vertical disintegration.

Gathering info on Athar Torn. He's a cult leader, of the Elemental Queen of the Inferno.

Harshal: Even with the most benign interoperation of 'cult', this is not a good sign.
Gillert: 'We're a book-reading club - over here is the King in Yellow, the Necronomicon...'

Consulting the world map as we investigate Athar's background - the map with such useful annotations as 'Huge International Clusterfuck', 'Pirates and More fuckin' Pirates'.

GM: There's a lot of interesting stuff in Bungabungaland.
Harshal: And we're not going to see any of it, since we're city folk and will never leave town. Magnimar is the best city in the world - who would ever want to leave?
GM: Top three, sure.

GM: Athar made a statement - you didn't find out what the statement WAS, but apparently there were a number of injuries, and they other gangs are happily following their lead now. So it's possible he had the other gang leaders made an example of.
Harshal: I wonder if it's related to that murder in the alley a few weeks back.
Gillert: The one we perpetrated or the other one?

Harshal: If we keep asking questions about Athar, and the cult, and the Nightscales or whatever evolves to replace them, it's going to attract attention back to us.
Gillert: True.
GM: Maybe - but as new businessmen - Up-and-coming venture capitalists -
Tannis: Thankyou.
GM: - you'd have a good reason to wonder what a renewed Thieve's Guild will mean for your business.

And of course, sooner or later people in suits are going to show up for their cut. How do we deal with them when they do?

Tannis: This is mostly directed at Ys -
Ys: You don't want me to kill them, I get that. But I've recently acquired a new toy - see? It has a flat side.
Tannis: Very good.

Gillert: OK, if they're polite we'll deal in good faith, but if they're stand-over thugs-
Ys: We beat them unconscious and dump them in an alley to recover.

The inevitable mobsters do indeed show up - but they're Nightscales, not Sczarni.

Tannis: And who might you be?
Mobsters: Our names are currently unimportant. But you may call me Mr Black, and my associate is Mr White.

They want to enter a business agreement, using our docks to import certain goods. They assure us that none of the goods are actually illegal in Magnimar, that they'll expect us to deal with any Customs inspections honestly, and will deal with any transport problems offered by Underbridge.

Harshal: Well, they're certainly taking a weight off my mind. If the stuff isn't illegal...
Ys: Of course, they've said nothing about whether it was illegal to export from the original port.
GM: Magnimar generally doesn't care - that sort of thing is the other country's problem.

Mobsters: One more thing - some of the goods will arrive in sealed jars. It is important that only us or the Customs inspector open them. The contents might be spoiled by exposure to air.
All: .... Okaaaay

The contract Harshal draws up after the negotiations is actual very favourable - although we have no idea what the weird metal objects and stranger fabrics coming in from Alkenstar, and glassware and the mysterious jars from Osirion, are actually for.

Gillert: Ah... what do these jars actually look like?
Harshal: They don't have animal heads for stoppers, do they?
GM: They're not canopic jars, no.

Gillert: Can we avoid importing or exporting cattle for a while?
GM: Well, there's one cow that would be a really d**k move to export.

Hanging around during the Customs inspections doesn't help either - Harshal doesn't spot any of the symbols meaning 'Don't Check This Bottle' that he was expecting, and Ys' best guess that the Nightscales are doing something alchemical to volatise the strange oils they're importing.

Harshal OoC: So... they're making a fuel-air bomb because Athar Torn is a cult leader of the Queen of the Inferno.
Tannis: ... Oh. I forgot that.
Ys: Oh. Greek Fire.
GM: You did notice the Customs inspectors were using safety lamps.

We do figure out that the metal stuff is made from Alkensteel, a remarkably durable and corrosion-resistant metal. And some of the fabrics are probably asbestos. Ys needs a closer look at that oil - so we plan to hit one of he convoys after they leave our warehouse. After all, if they got stolen from our warehouse we'd have to replace it, but if it got stolen during transport...

Harshal: Sign this. Now it's your problem.

GM: I would like to remind you that last time you were on a job one of you referred to another by name.
Ys: Yes, but everybody who heard us is dead.
GM: Either way I'd suggest codenames.

Harshal: We need to steal it of the back of a truck.
GM: I think you're planning to steal the entire wagon.... and you've finished the false front to the kobold grotto, haven't you. You f**kers.

Of course, since all this commerce is legal, we'll have to do it in broad daylight.

Gillert: Our stealth bonuses aren't that good.
GM: Yes they are.
Gillert: Well, we still need to set up a distraction.
GM: Kobold festival! Cymbals! Fireworks! It's a Kobold Holy Day! Nobody will know better.
Tannis: And that's why I'm paying them a bonus.

Ys: I don't want to hit the wagon in Underbridge - I don't want to piss off the Gargoyles.
GM: You live there.
Ys: Yes, but that's not the reason. Some of them are drinking buddies. A gang that stayed independent from the Nightscales AND the Sczarni. And we go to church together.
Tannis: ... which church.
GM: That's the question. You've heard Ys say stuff before she's killed people before - you're not sure, but it had the cadence of a prayer.
Gillert: 'I have sinned... and it was awesome'.

The plan - distract the driver and guards, Zin snipes the driver, and the rest of us, in disguise, dash out of the alleys to deal with the guards, and then we drive off in the wagon. For some reason the GM thinks this is hilarious.

Tannis: Zin, how do you feel like setting up a distraction?
Zin: What kind of distraction?
Ys: Total destruction.
Tannis: DISTRACTION.
Zin: I'd need more money for total destruction. Hey, guys! It's a day off!

The Kobolds do their best to be as conspicuous as possible, while the PCs are invisible. Stealth Synergy is such a useful feat. However, the GM's gleeful expression has us highly concerned.

GM: It's a kobold band playing 'Dance of the Parasprites'. You really are just Fraggles, aren't you.

The wagon we're hijacking has two half-orc guards, in addition to the driver. This should be easy. Which makes us even more nervous.

Gillert: Thought for the day - a tripwire for a dragon is neck height for most creatures.

GM: -and... What's the name again?
Tannis' player: Tannis.
GM: Sorry, it's been a while since I've used the names.
Tannis' player: That's alright. Mark.
GM: Mark works actually - it's my middle name.
Tannis' player: Goddammit.

Zin fires, and we rush out. And we find out why the GM has been so giggly - as other nondescript figures dash out of the alleys. Some of them were in the same alleys we were. We stare at the Sczarni hijackers, and they stare at us. The driver tries to stare at the crossbow bolt sticking out of his head. One of the Sczarni trips over the trap Zin set to cover our retreat.

GM: You're not the only group out there with Stealth Synergy.

Happily, Gillert's Colour Spray affects everybody.

Gillert: ... and I've just realised that includes the horse.

The guards, driver, and one of the Sczarni go down to the magic. The Sczarni sniper, who had been readying his own shot when Zin fired his and triggered everybody else to run out, finishes off the guard and calls down "Well, THAT was interesting."

Ys: Parley!
GM: Ys, of all people, just called for parley. Make this date on your calendar.
Tannis: *in his Taking Charge voice* OK everybody, continue with the plan! Down this alley!
Sczarni Sniper: *reloading* You got a closer spot?
Tannis: *hurriedly trying to remember if there are any empty lots nearby that AREN'T our kobold grotto*
Ys: *too busy offering up the driver's blood to the god of Murder and Assassination*
Gillert: And is anybody even remotely surprised?

We wake up the horse, and then we hear whistles, and look down the street.

GM: Coming out of UNDERBRIDGE is a full squad of guardsmen.
Gillert: Oh, fuck off.
Harshal: Exactly what Harrow cards did you draw over there?
GM: *grinning evilly* Not saying

And thus we flee, trying to outrun the guards, and not alienate our new friends in the mob, and keep hold of the wagon of mysterious goods.

ALMA captures images of Sun
 
Cassini photographs Mimas
 
Dark energy, but no dark matter?

One quote from the beginning that I forgot:
 
Circe:  (reading a news article about PRIMUS honoring the hero team for their hard work over the past year)  Why are they giving us an award?  Do they hate us?
 
(Player paranoia is a funny thing.  Thus far in this campaign, I don't think I've had a villain team attack the team once during an awards ceremony in their honor, and they've had several.  One heroine was even knighted by a foreign government for nearly sacrificing her life stopping a nuke from hitting their capital.  Nobody attacked or disrupted the ceremony.  I guess the takeaway is, players are never happy.)
 
On with the show.  Red shows the heroes some pictures of the people who have been flying around in the jet, from security cameras at each airport.
 
GM:  ...one guy looks young and is completely bald; one is big and bulky, with wavy black hair and a pornstache...
Maker:  Did you say 'pornstache'? 
 
Shadowboxer makes an intuitive leap.
 
Shadowboxer:  When was the jet in Montreal?
Red:  December 11.  Left the 18th.
Shadowboxer:  Was that the same time as the attack on the Mechanon base in Canada?
GM:  Maaaaaybe.
 
Looking at the notes Red found in the jet, Maker realizes that someone is modifying the same gravity lens idea that she investigated at the Mechanon base.  Which makes it very likely the people Red is trying to catch up with are the Heavy Metals. 
 
GM:  To clarify, don't confuse the Heavy Metals with Road Kill, whose lead singer is named Heavy Metal. They Heavy Metals aren't a band.
Honey Badger:  And yet, I'll bet they still sing better than Road Kill.
 
UNTIL lets the heroes know that the main thing taken from the Mechanon base is one of his repair/rebuild units.  Also that a quantity of adamantium was stolen for a metallurgy lab at Millennium City University, and the guts from an old Mechanon shell at the MC Science Museum.
 
Malarky:  So, they're going to build their own Mechanon?
Lt. Roe:  Rhodium's not stupid enough to do something like that.  Thus far, they've been pretty smart and careful.
Shadowboxer:  They'll at least make sure it has a switch, for Good and Evil. 
Lt. Roe:  Besides, they don't have access to the kind of resources Mechanon has.  We think they've already built a robot, a scaled-down version of Mechanon.  Probably programmed to be loyal to them.
Pops:  (heavy sarcasm)  Perfectly safe, I'm sure.  I don't see any way that can go wrong.
 
The heroes contact the PRIMUS base as well as UNTIL to warn both organizations.
 
Honey Badger: (to Red) I'll bet you don't want to meet the Colonel...
Red:  Why would you say that?  I've heard that Col. Hardin is a consummate professional, and I look forward to working with him.
Honey Badger:  ...
Maker:  Remember, dear.  Red doesn't have a sense of humor.  At all.
 
Meanwhile, the company Malarky works at in his secret ID is EcoOp (a clean energy, environmentally friendly company), and his work computer (specially tricked out with its own firewall and anti-hacking stuff) sends him a text that someone is trying to hack in.  Backtracking the hack, he discovers that the hacker spent most of his/her time looking at info on EcoOp's solar cells, and then started nosing around into other stuff before running into Malarky's enhanced security.
GM:  As you're tracing what the hacker did, you notice that someone just placed a relatively large order for the exact solar cells the hacker was looking at.  Are you going to interfere with it in any way?
Malarky:  Nope.  Let the sale go through.  It's more money for the people who pay my salary.  Who's paying for it, and where's it being shipped?
GM:  The order came from Montgomery International, and it's to be next-day shipped to an address in Chelsea.
Pops:  Next day delivery?  Who is this, Amazon?
 
They check out the delivery address, with is a disused warehouse.
 
GM:  There's a new looking sign out front:  Monty Haul Cartage.  "Transporting your Treasures Securely."
 
Inside, they find three hired guns (a female bodybuilder, an ex-con, and a former military guy).  Also a parked, empty refrigerated truck.  Circe reads the bodybuilder's mind. 
 
GM:  She was hired to guard the warehouse and receive a shipment.  When it arrives, they're to load it into the truck, sweep for bugs, make a call, and then leave.  They're not supposed to look into the boxes, but she's planning to.  Doesn't want to find out she signed for drugs or a dead body.'
Circe:  Why a refrigerated truck?
Honey Badger:  Camouflage.
GM:  Yep.  Everyone uses plain old panel trucks.  They're instantly suspicious.
 
Malarky:  Why did they come to Boston?  They could have ordered the solar cells and had them shipped anywhere.  What else do they need for that gravity lens idea?
GM:  Framework, electronics, the gravity manipulators...
Malarky:  The gravity manipulators - anyone in town make those?
GM:  As a matter of fact, Dyna-Tech, the company who did most of the parts for the new UNTIL Grav-SLeds, has a small factory on the west side of Boston.
Circe:  So they're probably going to break into Dyna-Tech while we're waiting across town for the shipment to arrive.
Red:  Why do that before they have the solar cells?  Why not just wait for the shipment, and then hit Dyna-Tech.  After all, a bird in the hand... damn it, now I'm doing it.
The shipment is delivered, loaded into the truck, call made, and the guards take off.  Malarky teleports into the refrigerated truck, tags a crate with a magical beacon, and teleports back out.
 
Circe:  When are they going to get here? 
Honey Badger:  Why would they all show up, just to drive a truck away?
Circe:  I don't want all of them.  Just two or three, so we can whittle down their numbers.
GM:  After an hour or so, nobody has showed up.  It appears they didn't read the script.
 
Malarky:  Maybe nobody's going to drive it off.  Maybe they'll just teleport in, and then teleport away with the goods.
GM:  Funny you should mention that.  Your magical beacon is suddenly sending a signal from somewhere other than the warehouse.
Malarky:  I hate it when the bad guys get smart.
 
They track it to another refrigerated truck, in Roxbury (several klicks away).
 
GM:  It's heading in the general direction of the airport, but not directly.  It's taking a circuitous route.
Shadowboxer:  Maybe the guy that hired the driver said, "For an extra hundred bucks, can you hit all the Pokemon Go stops in town?
Malarky:  I want a Pikachu!
 
The heroes / players don't know it, but one of the Heavy Metals spotted them tailing the truck.  Thinking they might lure the heroes out of town, Rhodium sends the pilot out to the plane after the solar cells are loaded up, with orders to take off and fly elsewhere.  But the heroes have other ideas.
Malarky:  I'm not so worried about the solar cells.  But it looks like they're drugging the pilot to get her cooperation.  So after she closes up the jet, Pops can teleport in and teleport her to the PRIMUS base for safekeeping.
Red:  Want me to stay with her at the PRIMUS base?
Malarky:  No, I think we'll need your help against the Heavy Metals.  We don't have a lot of front-line fighters.  Just Honey Badger and Shadowboxer.  The rest of us are more like support.
Pops:  Wait, I thought he was the guest star in our comic book.  Are we actually the guest stars in his comic book?
 
Shadowboxer:  How big is the Dyna-Tech factory?  Pretty big?
GM:  Well, it's not too big.  It's big enough to, say, fit on a standard battle map at a scale of one hex = 2 meters.
 
So the heroes are keeping a close eye on the Dyna-Tech facility and gearing up to take on the Heavy Metals and their Mechanon Junior, with the aid of Rhode Island Red, an UNTIL strike force, a Silver Avenger, and a PRIMUS assault team.  Plus, Dyna-Tech has four guards in sets of TURTLE Armor.  Should be a cake walk for the good guys, right? 
 
Of course, villains have Hunteds too.  Especially those who dare to steal from Mechanon, trash a base of his, and build their own lackey in his image.  Heh, heh, heh.

Continuing the events of Metal Mayhem (part 1):
 
Shadowboxer (driving a cab in secret ID) discovers he's being followed by a guy who keeps checking an old military compass clipped to his motorcycle handlebars.  Through trial and error, he and Malarky discover that the compass is magically detecting the mind link the team uses constantly (even in secret ID).  Checking the guy while he's sleeping, Malarky discovers that the guy has both a divination and an evocation spell on him.  Specifically, one spell to detect telepathic contact, and another to trigger hellfire.
 
Circe:  What you're saying is, if I try to tromp through his noggin, his head will explode.
GM:  It's just a hypothesis Malarky came up with.  You'd better test it.  Y'know, for science.  (evil grin)
 
The team's PR guy, T.J. O'Roarke contacts Nexus.  (And special mad props to death tribble for creating the idea of Rhode Island Red.)
 
T.J.:  There's a superhero from Rhode Island who's checking in with you guys.  Normally, I'd call Honey Badger in to talk to him, but in this case I don't think it's a wise idea.
Nexus:  Why not?  Who is this guy?
T.J.:  He's called Red.  Specifically, Rhode Island Red.
Pops:  Rhode Island Red?!  What is he, a giant chicken?
GM:  (shows players a picture of the character, who is indeed a chicken-man)
Pops:  Yeah, best not call Honey Badger.  He'll show up with barbecue sauce.
T.J.:  It's generally bad PR when one hero eats another hero for lunch.
 
GM reads the bit from death tribble describing Red.
 
GM:  (dramatic voice)  Who will Cry Fowl and stand firm against injustice?  In a world of danger you need someone who will not chicken out.  When others have flown the coop he remains steadfast.  The Battling Bantam, the Resourceful Rooster, the Courageous Cockerel, behold!  Rhode Island Red!  (pause)  I have to admit, I didn't write that, or come up with the character idea.
Maker:  You just loved the puns too much.
GM:  Yep!
 
Pops:  He's probably into cockfighting.
GM:  He does practice Kung Fu.  Well, a variation.  He calls it Cock Fu.
Nexus:  No.  You didn't just go there.
GM:  I did.
 
Red:  (while tilting his head and bobbing it back and forth repeatedly)  I'm investigating the kidnapping AWK! of pilot Lauren Hamilton and the theft of a Bombardier Global 6000 jet from Pegasus Air in Providence on December 1st.  Since then, I've tracked it to Millennium City, Montreal, Chicago, AWK!  back to Millennium City, and now to Boston...
Nexus:  Is he really doing that?  The squawking and head thing?
GM:  Yes, he is.  Kinda has to.  It's not a costume.  He's a man-chicken.
Pops:  You need to stand up and do the wings too.  Get the full effect.
 
Nexus:  (OOC) Does he lay giant eggs?
GM:  (sarcastic)  Yeah, giant rooster eggs.
Malarky:  He's a rooster, not a hen.
Nexus:  Oh.  Yeah.  Right.  Never mind.
 
Red:  This is the first time I've actually caught up to the jet.  I found some papers when I snuck in last night...
Nexus:  Wait, you snuck into the jet?  How?
Red:  (mildly offended)  I have skills.  I am a private eye.
Nexus:  I just thought you'd kinda stand out.
Red:  I did it early in the morning when nobody was around.  (pause)  I always get up early.
 
It should be noted that the chicken puns ("winging it", "ran afowl", etc.) were flying fast and furious all night. 
 
Malarky:  (makes EGO roll by a lot)  It should be noted that Malarky, master of tomfoolery and pranks, is keeping a totally straight face and not cracking any jokes at all.
 
The papers have doodles of circuit diagrams and equations. 
Nexus:  We'll want to show these to Maker.  She's our tech guru.
Honey Badger:  (OOC)  Will you be able to read that chickenscratch?
Maker:  (to HB)  Are you through yet?
Honey Badger:  (grin)  Nope.  I got a million of 'em.  I can do this all night.
 
Red explains that the people who hired the plane and pilot, and then absconded with them, are likely drugging the pilot to make her cooperate.
Malarky:  That's kind of a chickenshit move.
GM:  Really?  I thought you weren't going to go there.
Malarky:  Sorry.  I'm weak.
 
The players learn some of Red's abilities.
 
GM:  He has a Crow of Justice.  Adds to his PRE, gives him a 10d6 Presence Attack.
Pops:  Holy crap!  That would make anyone run away.
Shadowboxer:  But really, would you want to take the chance of getting beaten up by a chicken?  Think what it would do to your rep.
 
(more to come)

When I showed up at my friends' house for gaming last night, their daughter was sitting in the living room with a friend.  Her mom (who plays Maker) mentioned that I'm the gamemaster for the night's game.
 
Daughter:  That means he's the one who's going to murder someone.
Me:  What?!  Did you read through my notes?  How did you know I planned to murder one of them?
Maker's player:  Yeah, yeah.  We've heard it before.
Me:  (moves behind her so her daughter can see me but my friend can't, and starts pointing at Maker's player and mouthing, "Her".
 
For various reasons (other GM running his game, then holidays plus a death in the family) I haven't run my Champions game since late November, so I put together two sets of news items for last night's session.
 
Me:  I wanted to mention what you've all been up to all month.
Pops:  We have real lives, you know.  We don't have to be fighting people constantly.
 
Circe:  (reading how Honey Badger stopped a drive-by shooting)  I can totally see you flipping a car over and banging it on the ground repeatedly.
 
Maker, formerly a NASA astronaut, is asked by her UNTIL Contact, Lt. Jaxon Roe, to lend her technical expertise to an UNTIL investigation of a recently-found Mechanon base in Canada.  (Someone spotted a supervillain group fighting Mechanon sentry bots in the woods, and UNTIL backtracked the battle damage to the mine where the Mechanon complex was hidden.)
 
Lt. Roe:  (After explaining why they need her)  So, are you willing to go?
Maker:  I get to play with high-tech Mechanon toys?  (grin)  I'm in!
 
Lt. Roe:  To clarify, we need Li Jenkins, astronaut.  Not Maker the superheroine.
Honey Badger:  Li Jenkins?!  As in, "LEEEEROOOOYYYY JENKINS!!!!"?
Maker:  Shut up.  Leroy's my father.
 
She is flown by UNTIL jet to Montreal, and then onto an UNTIL Grav-Sled to the hidden Mechanon complex.  Seeing one of the news items about the new UNTIL Grav-Sled (the Cordero, replacing the 1980s-era Martinez Grav-Sleds), she's all excited. 
 
Maker:  So, how fast does this new grav-sled go?
GM:  Sorry, the one you're riding in is one of the old ones.
Maker:  Awwwww.... (pouts)
Malarky:  The new ones are still in testing.  Be patient.
 
She meets some UNTIL techs, one of whom recognizes her from her time as an astronaut.

Sgt. Ramos:  It's a shame what happened on Gateway.
Maker:  Yeah.  But I survived so it's all good.
GM:  (OOC)  From his comments, it seems he knows you're a gremlin magnet.
Maker:  What do you mean, gremlin magnet?
GM:  The disad.  On your sheet.
Maker:  I don't have any such disad!  See, there's her psych lim to always be the best, her scientific curiousity...
GM:  Keep reading...
Maker:  Wait!  Social limitation:  gremlin magnet.  Where did that come from?!
GM:  It's been on your character from the start.  Honestly...  (sigh)
 
She also meets members of Canada's superhero team, the Sentinels.

GM:  There's A-Man, Adamantine...
Maker:  A-Man?
GM:  Hey, I didn't name him.
Nexus:  Is he played by the Fonz?
 
In addition to a robot assembly plant, the complex included a silo, though the rocket inside was blown up by the supervillains as a distraction while they stole stuff from the robot assembly plant.  With A-Man's help, they dig through the rubble and find the remains of several dozen mini-bots, each about the size and shape of a thermos, which were apparently the payload of the rocket.  With much experimentation, she figures out that the mini-bots were designed to project a localized gravity field.  Working in tandem, several hundred of them could create a giant gravity lens to redirect or focus light.
 
Maker:  Like a giant laser beam?
GM:  From your calculations, it looks like Mechanon wasn't planning anything so focused as an individual or even a building.  It would cover whole countries.  Y'know, just something to give global warming a kick-start.
Malarky:  (OOC)  They worry about a 1.5 degree increase?  Let's see how they like 10 degrees!
 
GM:  And the best part is, if someone launched something to take down the gravity lens, the mini-bots can just disengage and scatter, then come together elsewhere and start up again. 
 
GM:  From what you're finding, it doesn't look like Mechanon was quite ready for launch.
Maker:  They the rocket shouldn't have been fueled.
GM:  Good point.  And yet it was.  Which tells you...?
Maker:  So, did one of the villains fuel it up?
Honey Badger:  Wait... did someone feel up a rocket?!
Maker:  Fuel.  Not feel.
 
Maker presents her info and is ready to leave. 
 
GM:  You overhear the UNTIL techs and one of the Sentinels mention Titanium.  Though not the metal.  It sounds like they're referring to a person.
Maker:  Is there a villain named Titanium?
GM:  As a matter of fact, there is.  Member of a group called the Heavy Metals.  (pause)  You never asked about the villains who attacked the place, so I felt the need to spoon-feed you the info.
 
Malarky:  When you leave, do you steal one of the thermos bots?
Maker:  Of course not!  I'd never do that!
Malarky:  Like the VIPER bot collection you have?  Face it, dear, you're compulsive.
GM:  (to Maker)  Make an EGO roll to not try sneaking one out.
 
(more to follow)

Being Engineer is propably intelligence based. So once again the difference between Intelligence and Wisdom.

Context would just spoil it:
 
"What are the implications of the tent?"

"Gravitons? WE. ARE. SPARTILCES!"
I guess with that name, a "this is sparta" joke was asked for.

Here's one for a "weird conspiracy" style game: The Bayangi
 
Val Char Cost
5 STR -5
14 DEX 12
18 CON 16
5 BODY -10
13 INT 3
14 EGO 8
20 PRE 10
10 COM 0
 
5 PD 4 Total: 5 PD (0 rPD)
5 ED 1 Total: 5 ED (0 rED)
3 SPD 6 Phases: 4, 8, 12
7 REC 4
20 END -8
17 STUN 0 Total Characteristic Cost: 35
 
Movement:
Running: 3"/6"
Swimming:2"/4"
 
Cost Powers END
40 Shrinking (0.25 m tall, 0.1953 kg mass, -6 PER Rolls to perceive character, +6 DCV, takes +9" KB), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/2) (60 Active Points); Always On (-1/2)
24 Life Support (Immunity: All terrestrial diseases and biowarfare agents; Immunity: All terrestrial poisons and chemical warfare agents; Longevity: 800 Years; Sleeping: Character only has to sleep 8 hours per week)
7 Discriminatory with Smell/Taste Group (10 Active Points); Extra Time (Full Phase, Deep Sniff; -1/2)
5 Microscopic (x10) with Sight Group
7 Does Not Bleed (15 Active Points); Concentration (0 DCV; Character is totally unaware of nearby events; -3/4), Requires A Simulate Death Roll (-1/2)
 
Perks
25 Robot: Vehicles & Bases
 
Talents
4 Simulate Death 13- (+1 to roll)
5 Rapid Healing
4 Double Jointed is an Understatement
 
Skills
3 Analyze: Robots 12-
3 Bureaucratics 13-
3 Computer Programming 12-
3 Contortionist 12-
5 Cramming
5 Cramming
5 Acting 14-
3 High Society 13-
3 SS: Robotics 12-
2 Systems Operation (Robot Piloting) 12-
3 Concealment 12-
2 Chameleon Effect: +4 with Concealment (8 Active Points); Only to Hide (-1), Only when not moving (-1), Self Only (-1/2)
 
Total Powers & Skill Cost: 162
Total Cost: 197
 
100+ Disadvantages
15 Social Limitation: Secret: Alien operating a robot (Occasionally, Severe)
10 Psychological Limitation: If injured, compelled to flee or, failing that, play dead. (Uncommon, Strong)
30 Vulnerability: 2 x BODY Physical Normal Attacks (Very Common)
30 Vulnerability: 2 x BODY Physical Killing Attacks (Very Common)
5 Hunted: Paranoid Conspiracy Theorists 8- (Less Pow, Harshly Punish)
5 Reputation: Shadowy "Puppet Masters" behind many world governments., 8- (Extreme; Known Only To A Small Group (Conspiracy Theorists))
5 Distinctive Features: Alien in a robot body (Easily Concealed; Extreme Reaction; Detectable Only By Unusual Senses)
 
Total Disadvantage Points: 100
 
Background/History: Bayangi (singular, Bayang) are merely a crackpot conspiracy theory of a classic type. They are said to be a tiny race of aliens who mostly live and move inside of robots designed to perfectly mimic Human beings, a typical sort of paranoid delusion; naturally it is assumed that they are the shadowy "them" who "really run things." It is said that they are utterly loyal to their own kind, each hoping to eventually earn the honor of having their personality uploaded from their bodies into a kind of legendary supercomputer, thus gaining a form of incorporeal immortality.
 
Personality/Motivation: The Bayangi are reputed to be agoraphobic, in that they prefer to remain most of the the time enclosed within their comfortable robotic vehicles; but if one takes even a single point of BODy damage, it must make an EGO roll at -5 or abandon its robot and flee, seeking a hiding place in which to go into its healing torpor. While masquerading as Human, it will supposedly use Acting to mimic whatever personality it wishes to project.
 
Quote: "No, of course we are not going to 'liquidate' you to insure the continued secrecy of our existance. How barbaric, and unnecessary. No, we do no propose to stop you at all. Go tell it to the unsuspecting world. We need not control your tongue; we control everyone's brain. Who do you think will believe you?"
 
Powers/Tactics: The Bayangi's supposedly innate powers have mostly been summed up in the phrase "fine control of bodily processes." Allegedly, their bodies isolate and nuetralize potential toxins and pathogens usually without conscious awareness; by turning their minds inward they can go into a kind of healing trance in which recovery from injury is greatly hastened. Normally, of course, they weild whatever imaginary high-tech powers are built into the "robot vehicles" that they "pilot."
 
Appearance: In the unlikely event that a Bayang is found outside of its robot vehicle, it will appear as a small creature with a slender lizardlike body and head and four very flexible multiply jointed limbs each of which divides at the tip to form a "hand" of three opposable tendrils. Skin color is said to be variable but "seems to be linked to mood."
 
Campaign Use: Look over this write up, and please notice one thing; nowhere does it state that these aliens are EVIL ™. Yes, they could be infiltrating Earth (or wherever) for any of several nefarious purposes; they could also be agents of "uplift" trying to subtly guide the world towards some beneficent goal, spies of great galactic powers fighting a "secret war" between aliens that is in fact irrelevant to Earth, anthropologists merely trying to study a culture as "participant observers," or possibly doing something so strange as to be beyond comprehension. There could even be factions among them doing all of the above and more, each commanded by its own "legendary supercomputer."
 
 
Lucius Alexander
 
Copyright Palindromedary Enterprises
 
 

The Aahalin were old, very old, and broken. They broke themselves a long time ago, in three devastating wars. Their home planet's ecology barely survived, and less than one percent of the Aahal did the same. No Aahalin had been born since, and now, an aeon later, there were just a handful left. At the time of the great wars the Aahal had started to explore the galaxy, and their home system had a vast array of space stations. Now all that remained of that interstellar effort was dust.
 
The species evolved from a tree-dwelling, communal omnivore. Several branches of descendants fought for supremacy, until only one remained. Unopposed, proto-Aahal began dominating their world. Millennia passed, and culture and technology led to civilization and prosperity and, eventually, the Aahalin's almost-suicide by war.
 
Now, all that was left was but a handful of individuals, only neural systems hooked into computer networks, supported and kept alive by machines. They spoke to each other about the past, about faded glory, hoarded knowlege, threadbare philosophy, revisited in the infinite. No-one longer looked to the stars, apart from ignored, automated observatories.
 
One day, one of these telescopes detected something new: a what appeared to be an alien craft dropping out of warp at the edge of the inner system. It spent some time surveying the planets and debris orbiting the star, and was in an intercept trajectory with the Aahal's planet when yet another, similar craft showed up. The two ships briefly exchanged radio communications, and apparently made course adjustments to meet when the second craft opened fire witha barrage of missiles. The first ship answered in kind. When the noise died down, both craft were one with the dust of the Aahal's past glory.
 
The appearance of an alien race in their home system had mildly piqued the interest of a few Aahal -- but the fiery exchange sent them all into an uproar. The first Aahal spaceship built in an aeon surveyed the wrecks, and showed that the two ships had indeed been crewed by members of the same species -- a species not too unlike the Aahal themselves in their youth.
 
The Aahal were shaken out of their torpor. A species given to present violence against its own members? That hit too close to home. That could not stand. Newly constructed listening posts throughout the system found transmissions originating in a system not too far away -- in all evidence, the home system of the alien species. These transmissions confirmed the violent nature of the senders, a violent nature even worse than the Aahalin feared.
 
All of Aahalin came together. Factories that had been lying dormant for a geologic age roared to life, producing an armada of drones and an army of robots, with the one expressed purpose of saving this young species from itself.

To get back on topic:
"Sometimes being super also means, being super confused how your powers even fit together."

A few from Wednesday's Fantasy Hero game. Our heroes have been transported to the land of the Fey. I'm describing the village they're approaching, with all the elfin villagers gathered in the town square.
 
Player: "Do they have these really tall hats? Are they singing the Whoville song? Is there Who Hash?"
Several of us singing: "Fahoo Fores, Dahoo Dores...!"
GM: "It's not Christmas here."
Player: "It's always Christmas in Whoville!"
 
They make friends. Over dinner, the village poet/Lothario is chatting up Thyri, the beautiful woman warrior. Next to them is Father Edmondo, the Priest and designated storyteller.
GM: "He spends most of the meal flirting with you."
Thyri: [dismissive hand wave] "Yeah, good luck with that."
Edmondo: "He's a poet right? I get him going exchanging stories."
GM: "Great. Now he spends the rest of the meal flirting with you."
Edmondo: [shrug] "Meh. I probably don't even notice. Friendly guy."
Other Player: "Should've known he goes both ways."
GM: "All elves go both ways. I thought everyone knew that."
 
Later, our heroes ask the Fey for magical advice. My (not terribly original) take on the Fey is that they're basically all magic users, and while some are obviously better at it than others they don't see it as a separate class/profession/whatever. And this is a small village, so everyone has to earn their keep somehow.
Edmondo: "We're hoping you can help us understand [bad Guy's] magic so we can figure out how to fight him."
Village Elder: "Ah, if you want to learn the secrets of magic, you must talk to...the Baker."

The Nov. 26 issue of the Economist has a pair of space-related stories in its Science & Technology section. First is an article about the programs, plural, to image exoplanets directly. It's already been done a few times, but a number of super-sized telescopes and coronagraphs are in the works that will image many more, with a lot more information about each exoplanet. I expect to be gobsmacked.
 
The next article, "Ye Cannae Break the Laws of Physics (Or Can Ye?" is about the EmDrive paper. A clear and concise look at the experiment, with the reasons why it's exciting -- and why, despite this, you might want to curb your enthusiasm. Notably, the experimental team admits they did not wait to rule out every source of experimental error they could think of. (And peer review is less impressive than it might sound, too. That just means some qualified people agree that the experiment could find the intended phenomenon -- not that it actually did so.) For me, though, the most interesting datum was that NASA's Eagleworks lab investigates other "fringe" ideas about propulsion, not just the EmDrive. I must work this into a Champions adventure.
 
Dean Shomshak

Depends how big the bug is. And how delicious:
http://www.lfg.co/page/1035/
 
When in doubt, just install it like one would with a Dog: Wherever he can not bite ot scratch it out.

While not from any Gaming Group and not even regarding Hero, this is still a very funny comic:
http://survivingtheworld.net/Lesson2974.html

Climate change is a bit more terestial as far as problems go. But scientists recently found not one, but two ways to combat the greenhouse gasses:
Seeweed removes the Methane from Cow Farts almost entirely:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-cow-farting-1.3856202
 
And CO² can be turned into Ethanol in one single, cheap, scaleable step:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/green-tech/a23417/convert-co2-into-ethanol/
Especially as a Energy Storage, ethanol might be interesting here.

Additional quotes from Foxbatty Fed:
 
Unfortunately, I only put about 6 songs in my MP3 Elvis playlist.
 
Maker:  Could someone please take out The King so we can listen to something else?
 
Blinky is facing off against Malarky.  He opens fire with his autocannon, which Foxbat made sure is loaded with rubber bullets.
 
Blinky:  It's a good thing for you that Foxbat took away my portable population annihlator!
 
Malarky creates a mass of thorny plants around Blinky and a pseudo-Seeker, but Blinky teleports out.
 
Blinky:  Irritating, isn't it?
 
Blinky uses a net missile on Malarky, who immediately teleports out.
Malarky:  Yes, it is irritating, isn't it?
 
Since she arrived, Nexus has been filming the battle with her smartphone.
 
GM:  Okay, Nexus' phase.
Nexus:  (move her character about a hex and changes facing)  Okay, now I'll film Circe and Professor Steriaca.
Maker:  Are you planning to actually, y'know, help anytime soon?  You could hit The King with an OCV drain, for instance.
Nexus:  (shrug) Nah, I'm fine. 
 
Circe hits Professor Steriaca with his telekinetic blast, since the mad scientist apparently protected himself from mental attacks.
 
Steriaca:  Ah, I see you made a Tactics roll!  Well, since I have it handy...  (aims and fires a Seeker Missile at Circe)
Circe:  NO!!!
(Missile explodes, the gas enveloping Circe.  The GM rolls 1d6, getting a 3.)
Circe:  (OOC, laughs) Circe has 10 Power Defense.
GM:  That's fine.  Do me a favor, roll 1d6 every Segment and add them up.  It's a Damage Over Time attack, defenses only apply once.  It has Partial Transform, so let me know when it gets past 10 points.
Circe:  &^%#@&%$#!  (looks at Seeker's picture, sees that he is shirtless)  Um, it's gonna get kinda risque when her top disappears, isn't it?
GM:  No worries, the Comic Code requires that Circe transform into a male before her top goes away.
 
Malarky damages Blinky's teleport chair, then traps the flying alien in an Amber Globe.
 
Blinky:  Ha!  I'll simply shoot my way out!  (Opens fire with his autocannon, and then begins screaming)
Malarky:  Yeah.  Rubber bullets bounce.
 
Honey Badger finally KO's The King.
 
The King:  (wavering, fading voice)  Warden threw a party in the county jail...
 
Pops spent most of the fight teleporting into each Centipedemobile pod, and teleporting the Foxbots 20 meters into the air.  The first one (Froederick) fell to the rooftop, taking minor damage.  The second, Freddo, turns on his flight.
 
GM:  Apparently Froederick forgot he can fly.
 
Honey Badger decides to take a mid-fight break.
 
Honey Badger:  Which pod has the beer and pizza?
GM: Turbo, the red one.  (pause)  I thought about putting it in Hopper, which moves with Leaping.  All those beers, nicely shaken up...
 
Circe finishes off Steriaca with another telekinetic blast, then fires at Foxbot Froederick, who uses a Deflector Shield to deflect the attack.
Froederick:  In retrothepct, I probably should have uthed that to protect the profethor...
 
After Pops has removed four Foxbots from Centipedemobile pods, the front two (Wings and Porter) disconnect from the other pods and lift off.
 
Honey Badger:  No getting away that easy!   (leaps at them)  I'm going to try a Move-Through.
GM:  Before you roll, the Foxbot in the Porter pod was holding his action.  (rolls to-hit)  As you leap toward them, you get about 6 meters away when he uses the aportation ray to teleport you to the other side of them.
Circe:  Well, at least somebody is going off the roof.
Honey Badger:  (shrugs)  I still have my can of beer and slice of pizza.  I'll finish them on the way down.
 
The heroes prevail against the rooftop foes, though they're disappointed that Professor Steriaca had a long-range teleport harness triggered to get him to safety if he fell unconscious.  As they prepare to head down the elevator shaft to take on Foxbat and the rest of Foxbat Force...
Circe:  So, how does Transform work?
Malarky:  Once it does more than twice your BODY, you're fully transformed.
Circe:  And how many dice total am I rolling?
GM:  It's 16 intervals.  So a total of 16d6.
Circe:  16 dice?!?!
GM:  It turns out, you need to do a lot of extra BODY to bring a normal person up to Seeker's power level. 
Malarky:  Any way I can use my Healing spell to reverse it?
GM:  Probably not.  The max you can Heal anybody per day is 12 BODY, way lower than the total BODY he's likely to take.  (to Circe)  Don't worry, you'll be back to normal in a day.
Circe:  But I'll have to take on Foxbat as this!  (waves Seeker character sheet angrily)
 
(We'll be running Part 2 of Foxbatty Fed next week, so hopefully I'll post more quotes after that.)

"Only gods could defeat the Outsider Invasion. But the Outsiders knew of all the big ones. They were prepared for each and every one of them and so all the big religions Deities fell.
 
What was left was us, the forgotten ones. The Greek gods. The Egyptians. The Mayan.
But our alliance did not stop there. It included gods and godesses of whom the people had even forgotten even the language to speak thier names in - like the Celtic ones or the revered ancestors immortalised and deified with the ancient Moai.
But even united in purpose and goals there was no way for us to defeat the outsiders at this point. In the end even our temples, our shrines were destroyed as was the entire earth. But we were not defeated that day. We still had one option left. A option almost forgotten to time, as every other time a god would try it, his own Pantheon or all the others would surely intervene during the departure: Time Travel.
 
So we permanently fused our divine essence together. And stepped back into the past, before the Outsider Invasion.
The current gods and even our past selves are not...amiciable to our existence or activity. But that does not mater. We will stop the invasion, one way or the other. If you need a name for us, call us Pantheon."
 
Pantheon is the amalgam of all those lesser gods from no longer relevant religions, that fused together and travelled back in time to prevent the "Outsider Invasion". They are not greated well by the existing gods, as time travel was generally a taboo amongst the gods. In particular the big, current ones view it with suspicion, as not part of them is inside Pantheon (wich is simply because they were defeated first, so nothing was left to join the Alliance).
While a timetraveller send to prevent a alien invasion sounds good, Pantheons methods seem questionable at best so he is regarded on the far end of the "Dark Hero/Vigilantee/Villain" spectrum. It should also not be mistaken for being generally pro-Earth existence. A lot of the dieties of those ancient religions were trying to destroy the earth themself. The are mostly along becaue "how can I destroy the planet, if the outsiders already do so?"

"Only gods could defeat the Outsider Invasion. But the Outsiders knew of all the big ones. They were prepared for each and every one of them and so all the big religions Deities fell.
 
What was left was us, the forgotten ones. The Greek gods. The Egyptians. The Mayan.
But our alliance did not stop there. It included gods and godesses of whom the people had even forgotten even the language to speak thier names in - like the Celtic ones or the revered ancestors immortalised and deified with the ancient Moai.
But even united in purpose and goals there was no way for us to defeat the outsiders at this point. In the end even our temples, our shrines were destroyed as was the entire earth. But we were not defeated that day. We still had one option left. A option almost forgotten to time, as every other time a god would try it, his own Pantheon or all the others would surely intervene during the departure: Time Travel.
 
So we permanently fused our divine essence together. And stepped back into the past, before the Outsider Invasion.
The current gods and even our past selves are not...amiciable to our existence or activity. But that does not mater. We will stop the invasion, one way or the other. If you need a name for us, call us Pantheon."
 
Pantheon is the amalgam of all those lesser gods from no longer relevant religions, that fused together and travelled back in time to prevent the "Outsider Invasion". They are not greated well by the existing gods, as time travel was generally a taboo amongst the gods. In particular the big, current ones view it with suspicion, as not part of them is inside Pantheon (wich is simply because they were defeated first, so nothing was left to join the Alliance).
While a timetraveller send to prevent a alien invasion sounds good, Pantheons methods seem questionable at best so he is regarded on the far end of the "Dark Hero/Vigilantee/Villain" spectrum. It should also not be mistaken for being generally pro-Earth existence. A lot of the dieties of those ancient religions were trying to destroy the earth themself. The are mostly along becaue "how can I destroy the planet, if the outsiders already do so?"

I nominate: All the "Horror Clowns" in Germany.
 
Thus far they have been:
Biten by a Dachshund. And biten and beaten by the owner of said Dachshund.
Knived in self Defense.
Beaten by a Bicycle Driver in self defense, who then left the scene.
 
I guess the Police informing people over the media and social media on what constitutes "acceptable self defense" if you meet a Horrorclown let that trend realy backfiring.

Star Wars - Scum and Villainy (Space Opera Flavour)
 
In which some scum and villains attempt to make some filthy lucre at the edge of Imperial and Hutt Space. There's no way this can end badly.

Forvuk Zayk: Dressellian brute
Fendri: Bothan pilot of our Corellian freighter.
Fakybe: Chandra-fan con-artist and engineer.
Fnord: NPC engineer that works for the starport on Fomos.
R4W9: Our rescued Astromech

Forvuk: How big can stealth fields by made? Big enough to hide a Peace Moon?
Fakybe: Don't think so.
Forvuk: Maybe the Peace Moon wasn't blown up at all.
Fendri: I saw it explode.
Fakybe: You did?
Fendri: Well, I saw footage of it.
Fakybe: You saw footage of it. Think about what you just said - you saw footage, provided BY the Empire. Although for that matter, how DO we know the whole thing wasn't faked? The Imperials SAID the rebels blew up the Peace Moon - but that's not really that plausible, is it? An installation would have defenses, wouldn't it? How DID a couple of rebel X-wings managed to blow it up? Must have been an inside job. Controlled demolition!
Fendri: Proton torpedoes can't melt durasteel beams!
GM: And why would they build an installation as big as the Peace Moon anyway? It would be easier to convert a moon into something that can fire a super-thermal laser through hyperspace.

Things have been happening on Fomos - the Imperials have been confiscating every droid on the planetoid, and according to Rick of Rick's Cantina Alderaan, they're being stored in a warehouse, or a Lambda-class shuttle nearby. This 'training mission' by the Imperials is getting stranger and stranger. At least Forvuk's obsession about the massacre of his family on Drelkh is useful, since Fakybe goes to the trouble of inviting the Imperials to the audience-involvement screening of a classical bombastic war movie, with musical interludes by those Trade Federation marching droids, and improvised saxophone solos. This might seem like a non-sequitur, but it's all part of Fakybe's plan - as he takes complimentary drinks around to the officer's table, he gives them a polite warning about Forvuk's intentions to ask them about Drelkh, and gets told to warn him off.

Forvuk: You didn't ask them about Drelkh.
Fakybe: Not directly, but I DID prove myself helpful and polite, and a useful intermediary between the Imperials and any alien species they don't want to talk to or be seen talking too. Of course, it doesn't pay to be TOO subtle about it, or the GM doesn't notice what you're up to.

Then complications arise in the form of Captain Trex, a Trandoshan slaver and bountyhunter. He is highly pissed, since the Wookiee Lowrickk, that medical droid, and a pilot named Pash, stole his personal ship as they fled servitude to Trex's bosses in the Hutt dynasty. He wants a word with us, since he already knows Lowrickk and the droid paid us to take them to Fomos. It's abundantly clear that we don't get to decline the invitation for a chat. Happily, Fakybe can tell them the exact truth - we haven't seen the Wookiee and the droid or their contact since the thing with the pirates, we've never even met Pash, and the Imperials have gathered up all the droids on Fomos anyway.

Fakybe: But there's still some smugglers on Fomos that were involved with the pirates - why don't you ask them?

In a best-case scenario the bountyhunter's gang and the surviving smuggler-pirates will have a shoot-out with each other - but we probably won't be that lucky. We do know where Dario Blunt and the other surviving pirates hang out too - perhaps some careful sniping will ensure a shoot-up?

GM: Remember what the Imperials told everybody - massive reprisals if any Imperials get hurt. Do you REALLY want to start a shoot-out downtown?
Forvuk: Yes.

How to find out what's up with the missing droids? Can we lure the Imperial guards away from the warehouse, to get a look inside? One method springs to mind.

GM: On Fomos, water is more valuable than life, but not as valuable as beer.

The petty officer is okay with us doing 'maintenance' on the building, as long as we don't go inside. The Probe Droid inside is on a shoot-to-kill protocol.

Fendri: I'll just push Forvuk's heavy blaster back to the bottom of the tool bag.
Fakybe: It's not a blaster - it's a long-distance welder.

Under the watchful supervision of the bored guards, Fakybe climbs into the warehouse conduits to fix all the dodgy cabling that the Imperials added more complexity to. Oh, and plant his commlink where it can film the inside of the warehouse. Fendri receives a brief shot of droids *repairing* other droids, right before the Probe Droid takes out the camera with a heavy blaster.

Fakybe: Feed me more slack on the B2 cabl- BANG - F**k! F**kity F**k!
Fendri: What's wrong?
Fakybe: That Probe Droid just shot at me!
Petty Officer: Then you'd better get out of there, son.
Fakybe: Believe me, I am!

The Imperials shrug it off, blissfully unaware that we actually were up to no good. Fakybe went into the ducting under his own recognizance after all. They also decide that the commlink getting destroyed is better than it being shot while Fakybe was still wearing it - that would have required more paperwork.

Fendri: I have a cunning plan. It could go horribly wrong, or horribly right, but this IS Star Wars.

Fendri and Forvuk want to recruit one of the Trade Federation droids, and use it to disable the probe droid with an ion blaster. After all, it's only programmed to stop LIVING targets from entering the building.

Fakybe: We still don't even know WHY they have all the droids. I'm not even sure why we're doing this.
Forvuk: For money.
Fakybe: They're droids, they don't have money.
Fendri: Hang about, I'm trying to come up with a suitably heroic reason - To give the droids their freedom!
Fakybe: Well, I suppose we could tell them to take of Trex's ship and fly off in it. That would be amusing. Any astromechs in the photo I managed to get?
GM: Oddly enough, no.

VX-49, the medical droid, isn't there either.

Fendri: Oh gods, I'm going to be joining the Rebellion.
Fakybe: How so?
Fendri: Because I'm rescuing droids just because it's the right thing to do.
Forvuk: There must be SOME way we can profit from this.

The others eventually decide that staging a mass droid break-out, and letting them hijack the YT-series ship in dry dock nearby, and sending them off to take over that pirate base we attacked, is the way to go. We can say we saw that med-droid too, when our astromech goes rogue to pilot the YT.

Fakybe: I still don't understand why we're doing this.
GM: Neither do I, and I'm the GM.
Fakybe: OK, can somebody explain to me why we're doing this, and how we got to this plan? Because I don't recall any of us taking strong drugs lately. Although I can see one advantage to the plan - because if I can't see any reason why we're doing this, I'm sure the Imperials won't think to connect us to the crime either.

We head off to recruit the Trade Federation marching troop and their agent, the rogue military protocol droid M-PSR-E0. If droids could have expressions, his face would be a picture.

Fendri: Can you help me out here?
Fakybe: Don't look at me, I still think someone slipped us strong hallucinogens.
Fendri: M-PRSR-E0, I know you believe in droid rights, just like I do -
Fakybe: *sotto voce* since when?

M-PSR-E0 doesn't want to risk his 10 primary droids, since they're all originals. Number 11 is a replica.

Fakybe: Is there a flowchart? Step One : Start Droid Insurrection. Step Two : ???? Step Three -
Fendri: Profit!

Fakybe: This is such a bad idea - we're implicated three different ways - we brought the Trade Federation droids here, we brought that med droid here, our astromech is going to be their pilot...
Fendri: You can say it...
Forvuk: 'I have a bad feeling about this'
GM: And you have any number of droids who can tell you the odds.
Fendri: Hooray, we're starting a droid insurrection!

GM: It IS odd that the Impresario thinks this can actually work - obviously he's working from information you don't have.

We get the Suitcase ( Trade Federation Droid 11 ) into the warehouse in a heavy lifter crate of tools and equipment. The heavy lifter droid has been tampered with so the inevitable investigation later suggests it was hacked, and not by us. 11 then has a good look around, under the oblivious sensors of the Probe Droid, and discovers that the captive droids are being run through an escape pod simulator. For some reason the Imperials want to find better ways to tell if droids are using escape pods, and survival protocols afterwards. Can't imagine why. Most people think droids aren't capable of much, but maybe that's changing after that whole incident with the Peace Moon. Fnord uses Binary to talk 11 through shutting down all the restraining bolts on the captive droids. Then it's just a matter of walking all the droids out the back door, when the Imperials are looking elsewhere.

Our Rodian friend sends us a photo - of an Aqualish pirate captain in carbonite, being unloaded from a ship here in Fomos. Fakybe sends them a thumbs-up emoji.

Fakybe: We'd better go check on this. It IS a bit odd - why would the Hutts send a freeze-dried Aqualish BACK to Fomos? And I'm sure the smugglers will try and rescue him the moment they find out. Plus we'll have plausible deniability while the droid insurrection kicks off "We weren't involved, we were busy being shot at by smugglers when it happened."

The freeze-dried pirate has been installed in place of the Wanted poster at Rick's place. Rumour has it that one the Hutts, Thakba, ordered this, as the first stage in a Hutt takeover of Fomos and to intimidate the surviving pirates. Mogul the Hutt, the film aficionado we brought to Fomos, has taken over the abandoned mansion opposite Rick's Place, and is using the roof as a sunbathing lounge. I guess we won't be using it as sniper position anymore.

Fakybe: You know, I think we might be at least partly responsible for a joint Imperial-Hutt takeover of Fomos. I feel slightly guilty about this.
Fendri: *shrugs* eh.

Thakba Besadii Diori is the Hutt Kingpin of Sleheyron that ordered the bounty of the pirates in the first place, and ordered the new interior decoration of Rick's. Mogul is from Nulhutta, which at least suggests they're not related.

Fakybe: We've given Mogul a foothold on Fomos. It's a good opportunity for him, and Hutts take opportunities. Mogul might have been a small fish on Smuggler's Moon, but here he can be a big fish. A big, brown, turd-shaped fish.

Hopefully a business meeting with Mogul will give us an alibi during the droid escape. And if the bountyhunter Trex assumes VX-49 was involved in the escape, he might chase off after them and forget about us.

Just recapping the plan, mostly because I still can't believe we're doing this - The Imperials have a warehouse of confiscated droids that they're training in survival skills for some inexplicable reason. For some other inexplicable reason, we're smuggled a replica Trade Federation droid into the warehouse, to disable all the restraining bolts, disable the Imperial probe droid on guard, and hurry them all across to the YT pirate Freighter we captured, where our astromech will fly them all off to the pirate base that only us and the handful of surviving pirates know the location of. They'll 'kidnap' Fnord, 'steal' the Electronic Counter-measures Pod that BOSS temporarily leant to us, and hook it up to the captured starfighter in another bay. The jamming will cover their escape, especially since the Imperial star destroyer is out of system at the moment.

Fakybe: Apparently this is what we do now.
GM: Yes, a strange plan that will cost you lots of money, and crew.
Fakybe: I still don't know why M-PSR-E0 is going along with this.
GM: He's a military protocol droid that likes seeing all these old droids marching around not getting shot at.

We'll be off making business deals with Mogul the Hutt when it goes down, by way of alibi.

GM: Scoundrels might wonder exactly why somebody would want to film on a planet with rugged scenery, rugged extras, and zero change of rain, snow, or fog interrupting filming.

GM: R4 is going to be so screwed after doing this. 'They won't just wipe me, they'll fry my circuits. But at least my fellow droids will be free. We'll start a Pirate Collective.'
Fakybe: Well, you're already an RRRR unit.
GM: Captain ARRR4W9

GM: Mogul has already renamed the mansion as The Voyeur's Hutt. His eyes roll back as he directs a horrified female slave to scratch under a belly fold.
Fakybe: Well, there's a mental image I won't get rid of in a hurry.

There's the sound of heavy weapons fire, and an almighty crash and roar as the YT Freighter takes off through the roof of the repair hanger.

Fakybe: What the Frak was that????
Mogul's Minion: Somebody just stole a Freighter from the starport.
Fakybe: Wait, what? A Freighter? Was it OUR freighter???? *punching numbers into a commlink* R4? Fnord?

Forvuk and Fendri run out to watch the Freighter disappear into the sky. It's not the Deniable Plausibility, which is a relief, since it means the droids didn't double-cross us. Still, since that Freighter was worth a share of the anti-pirate reward to us, we have to pretend to be upset.

Fendri: Hey! No! That was worth thousands of credits to us!

Forvuk: The ship's gone!
Fakybe: *'faints', apparently believing he means the Deniable Plausibility*
Mogul the Hutt: *laughing himself sick*

As we hurry to the starport, another unauthorized ship takes off - that starfighter we thought R4 was going to fit the ECM pod to.

Fendri: R4 took the starfighter too?
Fakybe: That was clever of him.... wait. He took the ECM pod. That was BOSS property.
GM: So was the starfighter.
Fakybe: *internal facepalm*
GM: Shall I roll up some new characters for you?

We eventually realize that R4 didn't even go near the starfighter - and we have no idea who took it.

Forvuk: Wait, somebody has scrambled our starfighter?
GM: YES!
Fendri: That wasn't part of the plan!

BOSS reports that the starport is in an uproar, they have no idea who took the starfighter, but the Imperial Frigate that just entered the system is looking into it.

Fendri: We get in our ship and GO.

So does everybody else with a ship too, including the Rodian bounty-hunters, Tie Fighters, etc.

GM: Inner system comms are in Chaos as everybody tries to track the skipjacked freighter, contact the starfighter, and figure out what the hell is going on, while the YT still jams everything.
Fakybe: Well, time to add to it. *broadcasting on all channels in his native tongue* DON'T YOU DARE SHOOT THAT SHIP THAT'S OUR MONEY IF YOU TORPEDO THAT SHIP I'LL TAKE IT OUT OF YOUR NURFHERDING HIDE.

GM: You can hail the Bantam Menace.
Fakybe: The Bantam Menace?
GM: You had to call the starfighter something.
Female Voice: Am in hot pursuit of the stolen ship - are you here to assist or hinder?
Fakybe: You stole our prize starfighter to follow them!
Forvuk: Pull up or we open fire!
Female Voice: That's a negative - this ship has been impressed into the Imperial Navy.
Forvuk: .... is the jamming still enough to stop anybody else from hearing this conversation?
GM: Probably.
Forvuk: Right then - I open fire.
Fakybe: Please tell me that was a warning shot.
Fendri: That's our ship you're shooting at, remember.
Forvuk: Can I fire a warning shot with both barrels?
Fendri and Fakybe: NO!

As it happens her efforts to dodge the warning shots are enough to wreck the frankly rubbish starfighter anyway. The unknown pilot has to bail out in a hurry. At least we can talk our way out of this if she actually IS Imperil Navy.

Fakybe: She never told us who she was.
GM: Yes she did!
Fakybe: No, she just *claimed* she was with the Imperial Navy. Our ship is called the Deniable Plausibility for a reason.

The robot-filled Freighter jumps out, the jamming goes away, and we broadcast to the converging other ships, Tie Fighters, etc.

Fakybe: We've stopped one of the skip jackets, apprehending her now!

GM: If she has a flightsuit, she can survive if she climbs out the cockpit and into an airlock. If.

GM: You can see her now - or her Imperial Flightsuit, anyway. Of course, now the jamming is down you can hear her own broadcasts. YOU GODSDAMMED ALIEN MORONS etc.

Forvuk: We can demand compensation from the Navy for damage to our ship.
Fakybe: Well, we can TRY, but I don't think we should try and push it.

I make a suggestion to the GM that may prove amusing in later episodes - since the Imperials aren't going to believe us, and they'll be very annoyed with the pilot for taking the starfighter without permission, they'll attach her to our ship's crew by way of punishment.

Pathfinder - Scum and Villainy (Fantasy Flavour)
Pathfinder, in the freeport of Magnimar, where persons unknown have used an undead cow to spread Anthrax through the populace. We found the cow, but have mostly used the chaos as cover for burglarizing.

Dramatis personae -

Tannis Oberech: Bastard son of a noble, but mostly just a bastard.
Harshal High-seeker Stasny: Corrupt barrister.
Ys: Freelance elf assassin
Zin: Kobold trapsmith and master of disguise.
Gillert: A poet who fell into the company of people mad, bad, and dangerous to know.

GM: The Pathfinder's Society think they've found a cure for the plague.
Tannis Oberech: Let's steal it.
Harshal: Quite. We can't have them profiteering from the misery in Magnimar. So let's steal it and sell it ourselves.
Tannis: Or we can use it to discredit the Society.
GM: Tricky.
Tannis: How about if the cure actually makes people sicker?
GM: ... and you have a source of the spores.
Day Z the Undead Cow in her crate: MMrRRRRUUMMMMMMM.

We want to invest in property - one option is the large boat that ran aground east of the Irespan, destroying every wharf in the bay and still a menace to navigation. The other option is one of the empty warehouses that used to supply those docks. Now we just needed to get the best possible price of aforementioned property.

GM: Ys has Diplomacy and Harshal has Intimidate.
Harshal: Ys is an assassin - you don't want them to be scary, you want them to seem harmless right up until they stab your enemy in the spleen. Whereas I am a lawyer. 'Your Honour, he's intimidating the witness' 'Correct.'

Ys goes in to the bank that currently holds title to the empty warehouse, posing as a Riddleport investor, and offers 1000 gold. The next day Tannis goes in, posing as a tough, and offers 200 gold and menaces.

Loans and Defaults Guy: I really can't let this go for less than 15,000.
Zin: 15,000???
GM: Sorry, 1500. He was thinking in silver.

The banker is quite annoyed that the bank clerks gave Ys the runaround yesterday, even if she is apparently from the despised Riddleport.

L&D Guy: She might be from Riddleport, but their coin still clinks.

L&D Guy: Ms. Yon.
Ys: Yes, of Hither and Yon Trading Company

L&D Guy: Now, I am not the kind of person to assume the worst of people based only only their accent, but would you by any chance know any 'facilitators'?
Ys: I might know some people who ... do bad things.
L&D Guy: Because yesterday I had a visit from a character who made a ridiculous offer and made me feel threatened. And I don't like feeling threatened. He was not the kind of person who can function in polite society. So my superiors are willing to reduce the amount required for the warehouse, in return for his head.

We could produce a body magically altered to look like Tannis. Ys, as an assassin with poor impulse control, has an easier solution in mind.

Tannis: We have another job for you - we need a body.
Ys: Right now I need to pass a Will check.
GM: Because right now you're worth 350 gold to her, dead.
Ys: You're valuable, now.
Tannis: Oh shit.

Ys: I've decided not to kill you.
Tannis: ... this is appreciated.

Harshal: Can we find out where the banker lives and let him wake up with the head on the pillow next to him?

We end up getting both the warehouse, and the salvage rights for the grounded ship. We're not the first to have made the attempt, but everybody else had the Nightscales thieves' guild causing trouble. Then we hire all those kobolds as labour to build a breakwater around the wreck, and shore it up, and Harshal writes a fluff piece for Parvo Crispin's newspaper about the value of kobolds in public works. With his talent for convincing lies, this catches on, and the party gets invited to a civic event in their honour. After all, we did secure a navigational threat, and intend to rebuild those wrecked docks.

GM: And Sala No-name has moved to a park closer to Ilia.
Gillert: The authorities must be glad.
GM: Sort of. Down here most people are all 'Cool! Can I pet the doggy?'
Gillert: 'Yes. Once.'
GM: 'Why?'
Gillert: 'Because you'll only have one hand afterwards'
GM: Technically you can pet the doggy twice.

Tannis' eccentric cousin Emelliandra has been joining ribcages into a long serpentine construct. Pity we didn't know about this when we needed to get rid of that headless body.

Emelliandra: I need a body.
Tannis: ... why?
Emelliandra: I'm making a Necrophidius.
Harshal: Of course you are.

Surreptitiously trying to sell off those paintings generates an interesting response. A Black Knight turns at Tannis' apartment, wanting to purchase the paintings that Tannis DIDN'T advertise.

Black Knight: We have no interest in how you came into possession of them. Indeed, we applaud your initiative - but we want those paintings. We are willing to reward you for them, rather than take them, which is why I come unarmed.

The Black Knight correctly identifies one of the paintings as the Obsidian Courthouse, an extra-planar locale associated with Asmodeus, the demon prince of contracts. Uh-oh.

Tannis: I need to talk to my business associates, but I give you my word I won't sell it before I see you again. Is there somewhere I can can contact you? A name I can ask after?
Black Knight: I do have a name, but I will not be telling you it. Names have power, after all.

The room is getting uncannily cold, too. The Black Knight promises to return soon, which is not ominous at ALL. Nor is the strong lilac scent he's using to obscure what he really smells like.

Zin: What did they offer for the paintings?
Tannis: Two platinum.
Harshal: Is that all?
Tannis: Two platinum BARS.

We agree to the offer, on the additional condition we get a contact in case we acquire more interesting paintings.

Black Knight: It seems you are fishing for my name again, despite our generous offer. Very well - I will give you a name, of one we have influence over. Emelliandra Oberech. Good night.

The platinum bars are ten pounds each, and stamped with the mint mark of one of the more ominous kingdoms elsewhere on this continent. At least it isn't one of the even more disturbing kingdoms on the other continent.

Harshal: I wonder why they even have all those zombie plantation workers, if they're all dead anyway.
Ys: He doesn't NEED zombies, but the zombies had a better union.

While not from any Gaming Group and not even regarding Hero, this is still a very funny comic:
http://survivingtheworld.net/Lesson2974.html

A fun exchange from teh bunneh's Lucha Libra game over the weekend.
 
"Don't you find this a little suspicious?
"How so?"
"Every monster we've ever faced all showing up out of nowhere, and then vanishing all at once right when these aliens show up?"
"[scoff] That just means it's Tuesday."
"Yes, but today is Wednesday."
"...My god you're right! Something strange and suspicious is going on! We should investigate!"