Steve

Ooohh-
 
and you could interrupt Howler at karaoke night....
 
 

Heh.  I once had a supervillainess make friends with Grond, gave him a My Little Pony as a gift -- and then later stole it and convinced him that one of the PC heroes took it. 
 
You can imagine the hero's confusion when Grond came charging at him, shouting, "GROND WANT PINKIE PIE!!!"

If any forum could be spared from the purge, this one does seem the best to choose.

Pathfinder : Mummy's Mask : Wandering Monsters
Nemat: One of the advantages of being an urban adventurer is actually getting to sleep in a bed.

Onka: For a minute there I thought we were going to tart up the gnoll.
Zenobia: ...what?
Nemat: Nothing!

Even if most of the undead in the Necropolis are crowding around the gates like Black Friday shoppers, there's still plenty of random monsters to run into. For example, we're heading towards the second Elegiac Compass location, and realise we’re being followed by some exceptionally unpleasant undead - hairless, festering, so malformed that they’re quadrupedal. Happy, their actual combat prowess isn’t so sophisticated. If they’d just waited until we reached the bathhouse, we wouldn’t have smelled them coming - the place is a swamp.

Asrian: But no naked zombies.
Nemat: Thank the gods.

Nemat does find a Lens of Detection among the wreckage, though.

Nemat OoC: An Inquisitor just found a Lens of Detection - all the criminals leave town. I can go full Mad-eye Moody with this.

Asrian: Well, this was a bust. But not as beautiful as Zenobia’s.
Zenobia: *blushes under her regrown fur*

The other two locations we need to check are the Pyramid of Arithmetic Bliss, and the Tomb of Menket Maatya. Nemat, naturally, wants to go to the latter, so he can exercise his History Geek skillz. Menket was a wizard and astrologer who died about a century ago, who just before his death made arrangements for his tomb.

Nemat: Just before? This was a good astronomer.

Unfortunately it looks like somebody got here before us. The place has been looted, and the crystal from the middle of this compass is missing as well. Nemat launches into a high-speed pursuit of the culprit, and the first thing he finds is a metal skull amid the rubble, which he picks up. Apparently it’s a Gearghost, and it doesn’t like being disturbed.

Skullboy: OI! Getoff! This is my loot! Nobody else gets it!

Gearghosts were thieves killed by traps, and exist to spread the pain by making their own traps. It seems likely he was one of the people the Silver Chain used to loot the Necropolis.

Onka: It would be such a useful undead is it wasn’t bats**** crazy.

Happily, one of Nemat’s abilities synchronises very well with and scimitar-work by his friends, and Zenobia and Asrian both use scimitars. The demented metal skull is promptly dispatched, although it will probably reform soon enough. Off to the Pyramid of Arithmetic Bliss! It’s just as well there aren’t any maths geeks in the party. For one thing it’s trapezoidal.

Nemat: Ah, it’s a conceptual pyramid.

Naturally we try to get in through the topmost floor, first. This could be a problem, since the chamber is black. With spiders. Happily, Onka knows Fireball. Less happily, the surviving spiders pile up around the body of a gigantic dead spider. Which animates. And sprays web at us. Which catches fire in the burning oil we set up as a barrier ( and the toppings contains Potassium Benzoate). Happily, Nemat can easily make himself resistant to the flames, which is even better when Zenobia hits the monster with a Tangleburn Bag.

Zenobia: Doesn’t Tangleburn explode if you try to put it out with water?
Onka: I believe so. Who knows Create Water?
Nemat: *grinning evilly* I do.  

Flux, our technomage, has been mind-controlled and kidnapped by Talisman and the other bad guys. He’ll probably realise that going off with them was a bad idea, but not until the spell wears off.

GM: 24 hours later you go B**** F***ing MINDCONTROL!

Not that some of us have actually realised this yet - we’re still in a smoke and crow-filled California bungalow, where we were trying to pull Black Paladin apart like a stewed chicken. He teleported out before we could.

Hero Shrew: Coward! Come back and fight like a man! *looks around* Where’s Flux?
Allana: He got teleported out. Willingly.
Hero Shrew: … what?
Flux OoC: I’m going to put it all down to mind control.
GM: You’ve seen the way Talisman dresses, right? There will be debate which brain you were thinking with.

Scooter is bit upset. Quite more upset than the rest of the team are used to.

Flux OoC: You weren’t nearly as upset when Fireflash was kidnapped.
Hero Shrew OoC: Letting her be kidnapped was the PLAN. Then it went pear-shaped.
Flux OoC: That’s true. We all panicked a bit when my thingy-detector stopped detecting.
GM: ‘Thingy-detector’ - this is the level of competency Quadrant had before Allana joined.

GM: Does ANYBODY in this team apart from Flux have any occult knowledge?
Allana: Of course not. *pointing around the team from herself, to Scooter, to Fireflash, to Hardlight* Mundane, mundane, mundane, mundane and an idiot.

And least there’s a few minions half-buried in the wreckage we can apprehend. Less happily half the magic circles were destroyed when Scooter burrowed up from underground. And the bungalow is still surrounding by guardian undead.

Fireflash Hi, my name is Fireflash, this is my ID. You’re under arrest.
Minions: Lawyer. Lawyer. Lawyer.

GM: Sonya recognises some of the symbols though ‘Those are planetary symbols! They keep showing up in Sailor M- … never mind’. Her Geek is showing.

Flux OoC: Are these headshot zombies? *BLAM* Nope, still moving - limbs it is then.
Hero Shrew OoC: Unless it’s Saturday Morning Cartoons zombies, who always seem to revert to human at the end of the episode.
GM: Even in Saturday Morning Cthulhu - I mean Inhumanoids.

Hero Shrew: I’m going to have to ask Colin for time off from my other job. I’m going to have to concentrate on finding my friend.
GM: You could always rent out one of those new Sleep Pods.
Flux OoC: Non-zero chance of psychosis though.
Hero Shrew: If we don’t find Flux soon, I’m probably going to go psychotic anyway.

We DO try to track down where the bad guys got the generator, inflatable mattresses, and porta-potty from, but it’s hardly likely that Black Paladin, Talisman, and Shadow Dragon would have been hiding out here eating microwave dinners. This site was probably just one of their attempts to get their Big Project to work, and they’ve probably taken Flux back to their actual hide-out. And we’ve got no way to contact Alberich, the mage that showed up to assist in the previous battle. That doesn’t stop him and his Cabal (which apparently includes a necromancer, a former vampire, and a Moreau voodoo-practitioner) from finding us.

Allana: Mr. Alberich is here. Sorry, I never found out if Alberich was a first or last name.

From the scent Allana picks up, the wolf-Moreau apparently used some of Scooter’s hair to locate the team, but she doesn’t stick around long enough to ask. She used her magic to get Alberich here in a hurry.

Alberich: So, there was a magic circle here. Which you destroyed.
Allana: Scooter came up through it and the roof couldn’t support my weight.
Alberich: A collective ‘you’.

Apparently they were trying to bind a fire elemental. Our new Harry-Dresden-wannabe also analyses the residual magic to get us a bearing on wherever Flux was taken, and opens a portal. Using the same black smoky energy Talisman uses. This doesn't reassure Fireflash and Allana. But they’ll have to hold Scooter back once Alberich explains.

Allana wisely waves her smartphone through the portal to get a GPS signal first - it’s Ellison Heights, a few blocks from Fireflash’s home. Allana’s plan is to grab Flux and bug out. The room on the other side is nice enough, but Allana can hear somebody watching porn nearby.

GM: The guy watching porn has a stab vest and a shock rod. He uses it on Girl Scouts.
Hero Shrew: What???
GM: Ok, that come out wrong - he uses it on anybody that comes knocking on the front door and won’t go away. Jehovah’s Witnesses.

GM: The rest of the guys have gone to get everything on Flux’s shopping list. Flux IS there, gesturing and chanting over a pile of crystals.
Allana: Sorry about this *punches Flux out*

We grab Flux and everything that looks expensive or important and try and sneak out again. Happily, Alberich obliges with another portal. Scooter thinks he recognises one of the Moreaus in the porn, but doesn’t alert the bad guys by ejaculating something to that effect.

GM: And in related news Dysprosium Dawn have a reduced presence on the streets for a while, because somebody rolled them, and they don’t want to say who. That’s because Flux told Black Paladin and Talisman they should steal the materials they need from Dysprosium Dawn.
Flux: I was mind-controlled at the time.

It also takes Allana to remind us we got our copies of Superhero Teams For Dummies from PRIMUS, and we all put it to one side because we were busy.

Fireflash I was in the middle of exams at the time. My copy is back at Mum’s place, at the bottom of the ‘to read’ pile. Or maybe in storage.

And Scooter is back working the door at the Collar Club when some guy in a suit apparently offers a job. He’s one of those excessively friendly people that leave Scooter baffled.

Hero Shrew: Um, OK? My shift ends in an hour.
Strange Guy: Great! I’ll meet you inside - take in the ambience. You stay you, champ.

Hero Shrew: So what’s this job? I’m already working two.
Strange Guy: It’s not a job offer, it’s a revenue stream. Call me Rep.

Rep: You’re an important guy, Scooter - working a place like this isn’t really image-friendly.
Hero Shrew: Hey, it’s the best titty-bar in the Zoo.

Rep: We’re talking endorsement deals, licensed merchandise. You eat a lot of those food bars, right?
Hero Shrew: Wow, you’ve really been doing your research.

He also knows where the other team members live and work - or at least those with public identities. He also knows all about the importance of keeping secret identities secret. But apparently going to Allana’s clinic or Fireflash’s home would be more sleazy than going to the Collar Club. He only wants 15% of whatever deal he arranges for us, after Scooter talks it over with the rest of the team. Scooter calls Fireflash, at 3AM. She answers the videophone naked, but he doesn’t comment.

GM: He works at a titty-bar.
Hero Shrew: I see LOTS of co-workers naked.

Fireflash So what impression did you get?
Hero Shrew: 15% seemed fair?
Flux: Net or gross?

Hero Shrew: Can I get an action figure?

Apparently the Rep also represents people like Sapphire, and a few of the Bay Area teams. Fireflash calls her mom to get advice - she’s a commerce attorney for accounting firms - and arranges a lunchtime meeting with the Rep, herself, her mom, and Flux. Hero Shrew needs to sleep, Hardlight has a krill-farming meeting he can’t afford to miss, and Allana wouldn’t fit in the chairs. Or perhaps she would have - the Rep has actually arranged reinforced steel chairs with the restaurant.

Rep: Miss Helstrom, Mr Flux! And this gorgeous creature must be your sister? I know, I know, it’s an old compliment, I know she’s your mother. Afternoon, Mrs Helstrom, charmed to meet you.

Rep: I can see Nocturne as the spokesperson for brassieres. What’s the biggest complaint for large-chested women? Lack of support!
Fireflash *comparatively flat-chested* Really.
Rep: And swimsuits for you!

Rep: I’m talking those three magic words in marketing - Collect. Them. All.

Fireflash’s mom certainly likes everything she’s hearing, and the example contract he brought with him is comprehensive.

Flux: Why us?
Rep: You’re new! Used to be Hero Shrew might have come across as tokenism - too much of an uphill battle for me. But now you have Nocturne - two Moreaus on the team, and two women! Great visuals.

Fireflash What do you think, Mom?
Ellen Helstrom: Well, I feel like I need a shower after this, but he really seems to been looking after your interests, not his own.

Fireflash I think we can introduce him to the rest of the team.
GM: At the very least it’ll be fun to watch fur crawl.

Rep: Sonya, you change your outfits all the time, that’s great! Flux, you never change yours. We’ll ramp up the Snake-eyes aspect - all your details are redacted. It’s a SECRET!
Allana: Glowy axes and shields...
Rep: Hardlight is the Accessory Hound! Scooter has to be brushable.
Allana: My toy is going to be HUGE.

The intention is for the pruning that's already been done to be all that is needed. Should that not prove to be the case (e.g. the 4.5GB database requires too high of a RAM load for reasonable hosting plans), the order of operations for additional pruning would be:
Prune all posts started over a year ago in the NGD - this would remove the long-running (and space-hog) threads and get rid of the bulk of the posts that can/should be pruned back.
  Prune posts in the gaming forums (HERO System Discussion, Champions, etc.). This will remove a decent amount, but not as much as the NGD.
  Prune any remaining forums (this is the only point at which the rules questions forum would come into play)  
Again, the intent is to have the pruning that has already been performed be all that is needed.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR ANYONE WHO DOESN'T KNOW THE WORKINGS OF VIPER
 
 
 
Currently, the campaign I'm in is fighting the Viper organization (Sourcebook #425) who's Supreme Serpent is a computer, although I have the Prime Serpent as the Supreme Serpent. My episode in the works is to have the Supreme Serpent & Prime Serpent go down - permanently. Viper will be dealt more than one severe blow: not only will they lose their Supreme Serpent but the computer system they're so proud of between nests has something of a doomsday bug in it. Before Viper was ever a book or anything more than a name, I created a hero who's origin was with Viper. He planted a bug in the system only he was aware of. It's part of the very most essential part of the system so it's laid there dormant. Now, after 38 actual years of Champions, this part of my hero's origin will come full circle. His powers come from Viper experimentation: the type of experimentation where many villains got powers, and then promptly left Viper and ran for the hills. Villains, whose origin involves Viper, will either make cameos, or actually be involved with the wounding of Viper. As for that dormant computer bug, it will ultimately become a doomsday bug for Viper's many computer systems. Alot of people associated with Viper will become known to the authorities, such as the Duchess, and will be removed.
 
Viper knows our heroes are up to something & already tried to make their move against our most experienced and widely-known supergroup: they pulled out their U-1000 Omega Destruction Module and blasted the base. After the smoke cleared from the blast, they'd almost taken down the front door although all the front windows were blown in.   Viper agents just stood there in disbelief. The heroes retaliated... afterwards, not a single agent was conscious and no tank or aircraft was in one piece. It's time to deal with Viper!
 
(Side note: this one of the reasons we stat out hero bases so the players have something to show for their point investments.)
 
At this point in the campaign, Viper will take on (most likely) the form of the Viper book: Coils of the Serpent.
 
This most likely will be more than one episode. There's alot going on in this episode so it'll take time. That and real-life is really being real right about now.

Also crossposted from rpg.net
 
Panorama of a lush rolling plain, scattered groves thick with trees, a river gleaming in the distance. The camera pans around to show a mounted group of typical adventurers who have obviously just come over the crest of a ridge - an obvious female Elf and male Human armed with bow and sword, and a male Dwarf in plate armor with an ax.
 
Narrator: It is a world in many ways comfortably familiar....
 
Striding uphill behind the group, and soon looming over them, appears the gray and rocky figure of a Stone Giant. The Elf looks back and up and asks "What do you see ahead, and what is the land telling you?"
 
Narrator: Yet holding endless surprises. A world of Dragons ...
 
Cut to a scene of people fleeing a burning town. An enormous green dragon lands right in their path so heavily as to knock them from their feet, before unleashing a blast of flame that conceals and presumably consumes them.
Cut back to the Giant and companions. The Giant speaks in a voice deep as a mountain's root, "This land was cut by the plow, long ago, and then fell the heavy tread of a Dragon. We are closer. There is....something else...."
 
Narrator:  ...of Dungeons...
 
Cut to a man framed from the waist up, chained to a wall, ghastly pale and unshaven, leeches clinging to his bare chest. His eyes open and focus on someone outside the camera view. "Why don't you let me die?"
A cultured voice responds "Very well. Here is a vessel of poison....I am content for you to die now."
All that is seen of the speaker is a scarlet sleeve and a pale hand holding an earthenware bottle covered in script resembling insects and crawling worms, presenting it to the lips of the victim, who drinks thirstily, then chokes, gasps, and goes limp as the leeches fall away. His head then begins to melt, before reforming into something slimy and grey and mostly featureless, the mouth becoming a circular and obscenely pulsing sucker. The unseen voice continues "Die...and rise again to feed upon the blood of the living."
 
Cut back to the Giant, still speaking "...in hidden places under the earth, foul things are done. The Dragon, Skarm the Desolator, is not the only evil thing in this land."
The Human says "Sounds like we came to the right place. Tell me again why we're here?" The Dwarf answers "Because Dragons always have gold." The Elf responds "Because we're heroes."
 
Narrator: ....and of Demons
 
Cut to the courtyard of a ruined castle.  The archers are firing into a looming inky black form with spidery legs and long snaky arms looming at the far end of the courtyard. The arrows simply strike the blackness and vanish into it. "No gold is worth this" declares the Dwarf. "We must be heroes then" answered the Human, drawing a sword and charging, followed by the Dwarf as the Elf continues to ply the bow. The Demon seizes and hurls one of the great stones fallen from the ruined wall, which the Human evades by dropping prone. Black fluid sprays as the Dwarf strikes, then he is seized and held aloft. Close up shows the ropy black tentacles exuding a slime that corrodes the armor and eats right through the ax haft until the ax head falls away. Cut to the Elf apparently whispering to an arrow before nocking and loosing it; there is a burst of light when it strikes, and the Demon shrieks and drops the Dwarf.
 
The head and long sinuous neck of a Dragon - the same one seen earlier - rises over the castle wall to glare at the Demon, which cowers down and then sinks into the ground. The dragon turns its gaze to the adventurers and opens its maw.
 
Dissolve to flame.
 
Title card appears in the flames:
TURAKIAN AGE
The Desolation of Skarm
(Brought to you by Hero System)
 
 
Lucius Alexander
 
This preview has been approved for all palindromedaries
 

Crossposted from RPG net
 

TA is my go-to fantasy game setting: Recognizably "generic" yet with a number of distinctive elements; broad and detailed but with plenty of room to elaborate; almost every location having plot seeds ripe for development. Admittedly, I've made a large number of modifications to the history and geopolitics of Ambrethel to suit my own priorities and preferences, but I couldn't and wouldn't have done so without having been given such a solid frame to hang them on.
 
Previously I posted to the forums what I would suggest if I were a GM (or writer) looking to further develop a place in the Turakian Age world as home base for my campaigns. I would look for a spot with plenty of story hooks built in, but also lots of unspecified room to expand upon. I'd want the home base to be large enough to be interesting, but small enough to be manageable. I would prefer it to be able to support a variety of adventure styles without going very far afield: wilderness exploration, city skulking, dungeon crawling, monster fights, political intrigue, military conflicts, etc. But I'd also like there to be ready potential for PCs to travel to other interesting places, as their abilities and ambitions grow.
 
On the largest continent of Arduna there are two enormous bodies of water which are the centers of vast geographic regions, with multiple kingdoms on their shores engaging in trade and political interactions: the inland Sea of Mhorec, and Lake Beralka. These two bodies are linked by the long Shaanda River, navigable along its entire length, making it one of the most heavily trafficked trade routes in the world, potentially bringing people from almost anywhere. There is no single state dominating the Shaanda; pairs of rival kingdoms are at each end, but the central stretch contains several independent small cities and large towns. The largest of these cities, Ishthac, is smack-dab at the middle of the river (according to the included map).
 
One would expect the larger kingdoms at the ends of the Shaanda to vie for control over the strategic central river. One of those kingdoms, Valicia, is ruled by a powerful wizard with ambitions of conquering the whole region (and who makes for a fine "big bad" for a campaign). But the cities of the Shaanda are described as too independent and clever to be ruled. To me this implies that they probably cooperate to defend themselves and play the kingdoms against each other; but that doesn't preclude rivalry among the cities themselves. Otherwise the Shaanda cities are given little further definition -- nothing about city layout, population, society, government, or the like.
 
Ishthac lies at the south-western edge of the huge, rugged Valician Hills region, said to be populated by "monsters" which sometimes raid the river settlements; as well as independent-minded "hill folk" with only a few other clues as to their nature. The Valician Hills also rest above one of the largest regions of the "Sunless Realms" (TA's analogue to D&D's Underdark). Somewhere within the hills is a hidden coven of powerful witches whose agenda is unknown. Chonath, a large ancient ruined city once the home of mighty magicians, and now monster-infested, is perhaps a hundred and fifty miles west of Ishthac.
 
Traveling a couple hundred miles along the Shaanda River in either direction from Ishthac will take you into the territory of the larger kingdoms, and the dangers and intrigues they feature. From there it's a relatively short trip to the Sea of Mhorec or Lake Beralka, and ready transport to half the continent.
 
I also previously posted a set of plot seeds set in one area of Ambrethel which IMO is particularly well suited to a campaign inspired by A Song of Fire and Ice/ Game of Thrones, emphasizing politics and diplomacy more than fighting and looting: Besruhan Intrigues.

You could have Flashover and Superstar volunteer as inspirational role-models for the reform-minded criminals. Both were conflicted and confused young people who started out as supervillains, but each in their own way was given an opportunity to turn their lives around. Today both are respected members of the Justice Squadron, one of the most renowned superhero teams in the world (fully written up in Champions Universe: News Of The World).

This is a campaign idea I've been thinking about recently to use with my current gaming group someday.
 
Second Chances is a boarding house set up to assist supervillains in their efforts at reintegrating back into society after they've served out their sentences in Stronghold, maybe for those who've gotten released early for good behavior or after serving on the Champions Universe's version of the Suicide Squad. It's a government-sponsored halfway house dealing in supervillains. It might even make for a decent convention game background.
 
My thought was to use it as the basis for a PC team, putting together former supervillains into a ragtag group of anti-heroes that actually can do some good together. Think Guardians of the Galaxy, only made up of parolees. It could also work for a Dark Champions: The Animated Series sort of setting.
 
One of the things that the government would do is provide new secret IDs for each parolee in their efforts at rehabilitation, so they would all have the Social Complications: Criminal Record and Secret ID, maybe at a reduced level for the Secret ID, since it is one known to the government. Watched by PRIMUS (or another group that deal with supercriminals) would also seem to make sense.
 
What sort of supervillains might work from the current CU as parolees? Shrinker and Foxbat might make for a couple of interesting fellow parolees, but who else?

This is a campaign idea I've been thinking about recently to use with my current gaming group someday.
 
Second Chances is a boarding house set up to assist supervillains in their efforts at reintegrating back into society after they've served out their sentences in Stronghold, maybe for those who've gotten released early for good behavior or after serving on the Champions Universe's version of the Suicide Squad. It's a government-sponsored halfway house dealing in supervillains. It might even make for a decent convention game background.
 
My thought was to use it as the basis for a PC team, putting together former supervillains into a ragtag group of anti-heroes that actually can do some good together. Think Guardians of the Galaxy, only made up of parolees. It could also work for a Dark Champions: The Animated Series sort of setting.
 
One of the things that the government would do is provide new secret IDs for each parolee in their efforts at rehabilitation, so they would all have the Social Complications: Criminal Record and Secret ID, maybe at a reduced level for the Secret ID, since it is one known to the government. Watched by PRIMUS (or another group that deal with supercriminals) would also seem to make sense.
 
What sort of supervillains might work from the current CU as parolees? Shrinker and Foxbat might make for a couple of interesting fellow parolees, but who else?

This is a campaign idea I've been thinking about recently to use with my current gaming group someday.
 
Second Chances is a boarding house set up to assist supervillains in their efforts at reintegrating back into society after they've served out their sentences in Stronghold, maybe for those who've gotten released early for good behavior or after serving on the Champions Universe's version of the Suicide Squad. It's a government-sponsored halfway house dealing in supervillains. It might even make for a decent convention game background.
 
My thought was to use it as the basis for a PC team, putting together former supervillains into a ragtag group of anti-heroes that actually can do some good together. Think Guardians of the Galaxy, only made up of parolees. It could also work for a Dark Champions: The Animated Series sort of setting.
 
One of the things that the government would do is provide new secret IDs for each parolee in their efforts at rehabilitation, so they would all have the Social Complications: Criminal Record and Secret ID, maybe at a reduced level for the Secret ID, since it is one known to the government. Watched by PRIMUS (or another group that deal with supercriminals) would also seem to make sense.
 
What sort of supervillains might work from the current CU as parolees? Shrinker and Foxbat might make for a couple of interesting fellow parolees, but who else?

This is a campaign idea I've been thinking about recently to use with my current gaming group someday.
 
Second Chances is a boarding house set up to assist supervillains in their efforts at reintegrating back into society after they've served out their sentences in Stronghold, maybe for those who've gotten released early for good behavior or after serving on the Champions Universe's version of the Suicide Squad. It's a government-sponsored halfway house dealing in supervillains. It might even make for a decent convention game background.
 
My thought was to use it as the basis for a PC team, putting together former supervillains into a ragtag group of anti-heroes that actually can do some good together. Think Guardians of the Galaxy, only made up of parolees. It could also work for a Dark Champions: The Animated Series sort of setting.
 
One of the things that the government would do is provide new secret IDs for each parolee in their efforts at rehabilitation, so they would all have the Social Complications: Criminal Record and Secret ID, maybe at a reduced level for the Secret ID, since it is one known to the government. Watched by PRIMUS (or another group that deal with supercriminals) would also seem to make sense.
 
What sort of supervillains might work from the current CU as parolees? Shrinker and Foxbat might make for a couple of interesting fellow parolees, but who else?

GM: Why is that even still installed?
Me: So, ‘No’ then?
GM: Yes. I mean, yes to No.
Me: that’s not very helpful - I’ve already pressed No.
GM: I’m a computer engineer!
Onka’s player: Then Yes and No should be your bread and butter.

Patching up all the holes after our encounter with remarkably carnivorous grasshoppers, we proceed over the rooftops to the glassblower’s shop we were told about. One of the Elegiac Compasses is there, and apparently intact - with one important exception. The copper-wrapped quartz crystal that should be making up the core is missing. Happily, it was removed so recently that we can track the thief - apparently a young dragon.

Zenobia: *sigh* So it saw something shiny and nicked it.

Perhaps a blue dragon? The desert locale, and electrical properties of copper and quartz, would suggest it. But maybe not.

Nemat: A juvenile blue dragon would be larger.

The tracks lead to a large sinkhole behind the glassblowers, happily in a courtyard not crawling with zombies.

Zenobia: Do we need to send up a Dancing Lights signal?
Onka: What signal? ‘Here be Dragons’?

Nemat: I’ve got rope. My parents gave me it, along with the rest of my kit. ‘It’s dangerous to go alone. Take this. And this. And this.’

Asrian carefully climbs down, and since her low-light vision is full colour, realises that the dragon isn’t a blue. It’s something much more unusual. It does explain why it wanted a 50-pound quartz crystal though.

Asrian: It’s a crystal dragon. And it’s asleep.

Nemat argues that diplomacy will be more successful than theft or killing her in her sleep.

Nemat: Ahem! Cough! AHEM!
Dragon: Five more minutes mummy…
Nemat: AHEM!
Dragon: WTF??? *jumps up and tries to look big* Who are you? Did Mum send you? How did you find me?
Nemat: We followed your tracks.
Dragon: … what tracks? *trying to look innocent*
Nemat: From the compass.
Dragon: Compass?
Nemat: The one you took the crystal from.
Dragon: What crystal?
Nemat: *sigh* that crystal right there.
Dragon: Oh, the shiny thing from the clock thing.
Nemat: We kind of need that back. Look, why not use the glassblower’s shop as your lair, there’s plenty of shiny stuff in there.
Dragon: Uh, zombies, duh?

Nemat negotiates a deal - we clear out the zombie infestation, and she can be the guardian of the compass, as well as having a nice location for future business.

Zenobia: Diplomancy wins again!
Nemat: And I didn’t even have to use my penis. Yet.
GM: You would have had a penalty at that - she’s not into males. Human males anyway. She looks at Zenobia with interest though.
Asrian: MINE.

Nemat’s player digs out his 140 year-old copy of ‘Enquire Within Upon Everything’

Zenobia’s player: Anything in there about clearing out zombie infestations?

We stick our heads down the chimney of the shop. From the smell, it actually seems like the glassblower’s kilns have been in use recently, which is odd. Even more so, the bricks are still warm. Asrian starts climbing down - and gets grabbed at by a long black hand. What ever owns the hand soon regrets it.

Zenobia: So, basically the same result as grabbing a cat by the belly?

There is a lot of swearing, in a variety of languages.

Asrian: That sounds like Zenobia, when I- nevermind.
The Owner of the Hand: Palm! Oshwyt! Worm! We have intruders!

Apparently somebody is using the glassblower’s workshop as an alchemy lab. Nemat soon deduces that the whole rumour about mumia use is true, at least if you’re careful with your abuse of the drug. Although it doesn’t do your bodily hygiene any favours.

Nemat: But they don’t smell so bad when they’re dead.
Zenobia: IgiveyouhalfasecondtosurrenderCHOP

Nemat Petrifies one of the minions. The players all launch into ‘I Will Survive’. A little while later (and perhaps because the NPCs didn't join in the song) Zenobia is looking at the last surviving minion, who is still Petrified, and also on fire.

Zenobia: Is he still alive?
Nemat: I think so?
Zenobia: … should we do something about that?
Asrian: I could pick him up and put him outside.
Nemat: He might have useful information. And it would be nice to take a prisoner back with us for once.
Onka: We are law-abiding citizens, supposedly.

Either way, these mumia-producers were very lucky that their stockpile of raw materials weren’t woken up by that necromantic pulse a week ago.

Zenobia OoC: Well, Miss Crystal Dragon, it wasn’t zombies, it was Mumia producers. So if your new place of business has a reputation as a meth lab, that’s why.
Nemat: Also, there’s a roomful of potential zombies in the side room, but we sealed it up and they should be fine if you leave them alone.

Once we get it repaired, the Elegiac Compass projects a beam out across the rooftops, towards the centre of the Necropolis. Not entirely surprising. We still need to find another compass to triangulate it properly.

Champions - Return to Edge City : Heart of Darkness
In Old Monterey, tracking down the Black Paladin’s powered armour army, and shortly to suffer the most grievous blow the team has yet endured. Hero Shrew points excitedly at his zombie detector. Flux, pointing with less excitement at the actual zombies.

Hero Shrew: Flux. Flux. FLUX.
Flux: Yes, I know, OK?
Hardlight: There’s zombies?
Flux: Yes, they’re RIGHT THERE.
Hardlight: Oh. Shambly.
Flux: Well, let’s HOPE they’re the shambling type and not the ‘i’m in your face eating it now’ type.
GM: No, they’re not murder-wraiths.

Hero Shrew: Wait, I’m Hero Shrew, not Hero Zombie.
Flux: Give it a few minutes.

At least Hardlight has tweaked his hardlight field to turn himself invisible now - maybe he can sneak past the zombies to see whatever is in the abandoned bungalow they’re protecting.

GM: It’s been abandoned for years - it’s been vandalised, graffitied, etc.
Hero Shrew: Maybe that’s what they made the zombies from.
GM: Then their average IQ went up.

And, indeed the inside of the building has been excavated, and the Black Paladin and his entire crew, three magic circles, a bunch of other minions doing fine engraving work, and multiple copies of the suits are in there. Incredibly, they don’t notice Hardlight creeping around. Or as he tiptoes away again, tripping over a bucket.

Minion: The basic concept is sound my lord, but we overreached - we shouldn’t have gone for such a powerful animating force.
GM: I can’t believe how badly I rolled for their awareness checks.

It will take at least an hour for anybody that could survive a fight against the Black Paladin and the others to get here. We’re on our own.

Hero Shrew: Well, at this point I’d ask if we know anybody with an Orbital Laser Weapon, but…
Fireflash: There’s one person with that tech. And he doesn’t let anybody else have it.
Allana: And it’s kind of unpopular after what happened to Detroit.

There’s also the problem that anything heavy enough that we can drop on Black Paladin is going to be unhealthy for his human thralls. We instead plan to glide down onto the roof - right up until Scooter spots all the crows on the roof.

Hero Shrew: Doesn’t the Black Paladin call himself the Knight of Crows or something?
Fireflash: Can any of you dig a tunnel?
Hero Shrew: I can.
All: …
Hero Shrew: What? You’ve never asked me to before.

Of course, Allana won’t fit through Scooter’s tunnel - so she’ll have to infiltrate through the roof anyway. Flux can teleport in along the old cable tv lines.

Hardlight: How can I move silently? Oh wait, I can fly.

Flux: Scooter just need to pop through the floor like a horrible fluffy flower.

Unfortunately, the roof of the building can’t even support the weight of Allana anymore, because all the internal walls of the building have been knocked out. Allana and Fireflash drop in, just as Scooter bursts out of the ground. And then the invisible figure on the roof jumps down the hole after Allana and Fireflash, talons out. Just as well Fireflash put her forcefield up. Even better, Allana has four arms, so she can hold onto Fireflash as Fireflash blasts people, and still grab Lady Crow by the ankles and throw her at Talisman. Morningstar tries to play Whackamole with Scooter.

Morningstar: Round Two, fuzzball!

Black Paladin: Really, Miss Helstrom?
Fireflash: It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Hardlight resists the impulse to telegraph his attack, and stays invisible and silent long enough to blast Black Paladin in the back. All it does is make the Black Paladin laugh. The swarm of crows mobs Allana and Fireflash, which doesn’t do her echolocation any good. But with her wings, toughness, and Fireflash’s forcefield, they’re as safe as if they were sitting in an Abrams tank. In fact, safer.

Black Paladin: I’m disappointed Miss Helstrom - you KNOW my plan, and you STILL brought him?

He teleports over to Flux and attempts to knock him out with his mace, the Crusher of Hope, and Talisman attempts to teleport the stunned Flux and her team away. Allana snatches Flux into her embrace next to Fireflash - if she can keep moving, Talisman won’t be able to snatch him. Fireflash attempts to blind the badguys, and the flash illuminates one of the side rooms - Scooter sees immobile figures - a lot of immobile figures.

Hero Shrew: Hey, guys? I’ve found the exo-suits.
Fireflash: Then smash them!

Talisman might be intangible right now (since there’s a bunch of people in the room swinging highly energetic objects like fists, maces, and high-energy particle blasts around) but that doesn’t stop Hardlight blasting her out through the ceiling.

Hardlight: Team Rocket is blasting off again!

Morningstar, now blinded by the Black Paladin’s Fog Spell, is not having a good day, and seems incapable of hitting anything. Likewise, Shadow Dragon is being unpleasantly reminded how vulnerable he is to Fireflash’s blasts.

Fireflash: Fate has chosen him to be the buttmonkey.

Flux risks a blind teleport towards the exo-suits - and they’re bunched up nice and tight for his electrical attack. No point letting Black Paladin KEEP all the armour for his order of anti-paladins. Black Paladin is getting increasingly frustrated, since we’ve apparently learned how to tank - his hardest attack bounces harmlessly off Allana’s skull, and when she unfurls her wings Flux isn’t there.

Black Paladin: WHAT?!?

Unfortunately Talisman DID notice his teleport, and uses a mind control spell on our technomage. It’s pretty convincing, especially since he’ll get to tinker with things like the exo-suits.

Talisman: Why resist us? We offer you Knowledge. Power. Safety. Come with us. Come with us.
GM: And the rest of you have no idea what’s happening.
Flux OoC: *groan* the city is going to suffer.

Hardlight tries to clear the fog with a holographic giant industrial fan. Black Paladin draws his sword, the Eater of Shadows, and tries a shadow blast on Allana.

Allana: Good idea, target my even stronger defence. *stalks forward, cracking her knuckles*

Hardlight: Where the f*** are Flux and Hero Shrew?
Flux OOC: Well, Scooter is over here near me, but hasn’t seen anything yet, and Sonja is still tucked under bat boobs.

Hardlight’s submillimeter radar does see Flux and Talisman standing over in the other room.

Hardlight: F***!!!!!!!! Whathername! She’s over there! Trying to kidnap thingy!

Not very useful when we’re all blinded by fog and squawking crows. Allana grabs Black Paladin by the head and throws him through the wall in the direction of Talisman. Too late to stop Talisman, Morningstar, Shadow Dragon and Flux teleporting out. At least Black Paladin is still here, since he was moving at high speed at the time, through two walls.

Fireflash: Grab an arm each and make a wish.

Sadly, while the rest of us pile on the attacks, the bastard teleports himself away before we can twist his head off. We’ve got the exo-suits, but lost our friend.

Thunder and lightning have GOT to be part of this somehow. Either the first ones to go through it, the same judge involved, serving as the team's mentors for a month before their time runs out, arch-foes, or have their kid being the team liason who talks about how their parents got a second chance and squandered it, so now it's their turn to try and help out.

But it calls out for 'em.

, I can't help you with characters or story for the 6e universe, or even the majority of the 5e universe (after deciding the rules set was a bit more oppressive than I cared for- but was easily backwards-adaptable, I focused on genre books and a couple of settings (I was surprised at how much I enjoyed Tuala Morn, considering it was Fantasy, but I liked it a lot). 
 
I just wanted to encourage you, because this can be a lot of fun.  Back in the Era of the BBB, I was inspired by the Murder in Stronghold adventure in Champions Presents #2.   Not for the adventure, but for the backstory of the character Salamander: the super-criminal who, though never caught, had a very short career before deciding to fight the good fight.  Moreover, I liked his tendency to let the criminals go if they surrendered their ill-gotten gains and promised to become better people. 
 
Sure, it rarely worked, but I got to thinking about those times that it _might_ have worked.  What would those people do with their lives. 
 
So I played with it. I didn't think of the "let's start a new campaign where the Pcs are all reformed villains.". I wish I had, because I can see lots of potential there, too. 
 
Judge Leroy Colton was voted into office shortly after moving to Campaign City.  Historically, before coming to Campaign, he had been one of those" go to jail or enlist in the service" judges when dealing with first-time offenders (or at least first time _caught_ offenders). 
 
Then one day he was presiding over a trial that involved super villains and noticed that one particular lower-powered individual had, in all the scenarios for which the group was being tried, had seemed to go out of his way to not injure non-combatants.  In fact, he really hadn't even done much property damage, compared to his associates.  He smashed a few things, fought some superheroes, but only enough to ensure his getaway.  Mostly he just menaced the crowd with displays of power and threatening speeches. 
 
So Colton, when passing sentence, gave this one individual a choice: spend the next sixteen years in Lockdown (we already had a prison for supers before Stronghold was published, I'm afraid.  It was actually the very first thing we needed outside the core book:  we fight supers, we catch supers...  Where do we _put_ supers?) or serve as a special officer for SWAT. 
 
Eventually, two other villains were given a similar choice. 
 
Public outrage--particularly from law enforcement--made this a high-profile fiasco, and three years later the program was disbanded, with the three former villains looking at serving the rest of their time in Lockdown.  
 
Blockbuster, the first villain given this opportunity, had come to find that he _liked_ what he was doing, and after a drawn-out and impassioned session with the state senate, was given the OK to create a charitable organization for the purpose of reforming super-villains. 
 
I'll spare you the rest of the history specific to our world, but suffice it to say that there were successes and failures, and the focus of this plot device in our world was the constant suspicion of the Pcs, and the often-questionable moments when the paths of the  Pcs and the Redeemed (guess who?) would cross.  Of course, every success story was questioned, and every failure--particularly recidivism--called the entire team and the program itself into question.  The best story arc we had was when a mentalist who had been with the team six months had slowly begun to mind-control the rest of the Redeemed, and lead them on covert criminal missions... 
 
That one nearly lead to the destruction of the entire program and cemented, in the minds of many other characters, including two PCs, that reformation was impossible for villains with powers: the temptation to use them for personal gain is simply too strong for weak individuals, etc, etc. 
 
 
Short version:  the Redeemed still pop up from time to time (and updating the team is as easy as thumbing through your file of mid-to-low level villains you haven't seen in a while) and not only did we have _lots_ of fun in the early years of this new plot device, it's still fun to break out every once in a while... 
 
I hope you have as much fun with it as we do.
 
 
Duke

Herculan has already made an effort to turn his life around -- he might make a good mentor/supervisor for others in the halfway house. Firedrake (Sharper Than A Serpent's Tooth) never wanted to be a villain, and turned himself in to authorities as soon as he could get away from King Cobra's influence. Any villain whose description indicates he/she is basically a decent person, and could be reformed under the right influence, would work here, including Alchemica, Exo, Grotesk, Riptide, and Vixen.
 
I'm not sure I'd agree with Amorkca's suggestion of Lady Blue, though. She already thinks she's doing good for society in her own way, and hasn't felt any inclination to stop. IMHO she probably works better in a campaign in that grey area that challenges PCs' ethics.

This is a campaign idea I've been thinking about recently to use with my current gaming group someday.
 
Second Chances is a boarding house set up to assist supervillains in their efforts at reintegrating back into society after they've served out their sentences in Stronghold, maybe for those who've gotten released early for good behavior or after serving on the Champions Universe's version of the Suicide Squad. It's a government-sponsored halfway house dealing in supervillains. It might even make for a decent convention game background.
 
My thought was to use it as the basis for a PC team, putting together former supervillains into a ragtag group of anti-heroes that actually can do some good together. Think Guardians of the Galaxy, only made up of parolees. It could also work for a Dark Champions: The Animated Series sort of setting.
 
One of the things that the government would do is provide new secret IDs for each parolee in their efforts at rehabilitation, so they would all have the Social Complications: Criminal Record and Secret ID, maybe at a reduced level for the Secret ID, since it is one known to the government. Watched by PRIMUS (or another group that deal with supercriminals) would also seem to make sense.
 
What sort of supervillains might work from the current CU as parolees? Shrinker and Foxbat might make for a couple of interesting fellow parolees, but who else?

Hero System. Here is the store link: Journey To The Center Of The Earth

This is a campaign idea I've been thinking about recently to use with my current gaming group someday.
 
Second Chances is a boarding house set up to assist supervillains in their efforts at reintegrating back into society after they've served out their sentences in Stronghold, maybe for those who've gotten released early for good behavior or after serving on the Champions Universe's version of the Suicide Squad. It's a government-sponsored halfway house dealing in supervillains. It might even make for a decent convention game background.
 
My thought was to use it as the basis for a PC team, putting together former supervillains into a ragtag group of anti-heroes that actually can do some good together. Think Guardians of the Galaxy, only made up of parolees. It could also work for a Dark Champions: The Animated Series sort of setting.
 
One of the things that the government would do is provide new secret IDs for each parolee in their efforts at rehabilitation, so they would all have the Social Complications: Criminal Record and Secret ID, maybe at a reduced level for the Secret ID, since it is one known to the government. Watched by PRIMUS (or another group that deal with supercriminals) would also seem to make sense.
 
What sort of supervillains might work from the current CU as parolees? Shrinker and Foxbat might make for a couple of interesting fellow parolees, but who else?

This is a campaign idea I've been thinking about recently to use with my current gaming group someday.
 
Second Chances is a boarding house set up to assist supervillains in their efforts at reintegrating back into society after they've served out their sentences in Stronghold, maybe for those who've gotten released early for good behavior or after serving on the Champions Universe's version of the Suicide Squad. It's a government-sponsored halfway house dealing in supervillains. It might even make for a decent convention game background.
 
My thought was to use it as the basis for a PC team, putting together former supervillains into a ragtag group of anti-heroes that actually can do some good together. Think Guardians of the Galaxy, only made up of parolees. It could also work for a Dark Champions: The Animated Series sort of setting.
 
One of the things that the government would do is provide new secret IDs for each parolee in their efforts at rehabilitation, so they would all have the Social Complications: Criminal Record and Secret ID, maybe at a reduced level for the Secret ID, since it is one known to the government. Watched by PRIMUS (or another group that deal with supercriminals) would also seem to make sense.
 
What sort of supervillains might work from the current CU as parolees? Shrinker and Foxbat might make for a couple of interesting fellow parolees, but who else?

This is a campaign idea I've been thinking about recently to use with my current gaming group someday.
 
Second Chances is a boarding house set up to assist supervillains in their efforts at reintegrating back into society after they've served out their sentences in Stronghold, maybe for those who've gotten released early for good behavior or after serving on the Champions Universe's version of the Suicide Squad. It's a government-sponsored halfway house dealing in supervillains. It might even make for a decent convention game background.
 
My thought was to use it as the basis for a PC team, putting together former supervillains into a ragtag group of anti-heroes that actually can do some good together. Think Guardians of the Galaxy, only made up of parolees. It could also work for a Dark Champions: The Animated Series sort of setting.
 
One of the things that the government would do is provide new secret IDs for each parolee in their efforts at rehabilitation, so they would all have the Social Complications: Criminal Record and Secret ID, maybe at a reduced level for the Secret ID, since it is one known to the government. Watched by PRIMUS (or another group that deal with supercriminals) would also seem to make sense.
 
What sort of supervillains might work from the current CU as parolees? Shrinker and Foxbat might make for a couple of interesting fellow parolees, but who else?