Steve

Champions : Return to Edge City - Invading Mental Privacy
So, it turns out that our attempt to outsource surveying of Edge City’s magical field has had some unexpected consequences, such as one Megan Grey, who for some reason has come from Millennium City to follow our employees around town. And somebody ELSE is following her around - the psychic supercriminal Hypnos. We pick the game back up at this point.

Hardlight: Yeah, easy to pick back up on - me falling off a roof and landing right between the girl and the evil psi agent and cartoonishly pointing a shaky hand and going "halt, citizen!"

And that’s when a purple beam of energy bursts from the head of a woman we thought was just an innocent bystander and hits him in the back.

Hero Shrew: Wait, what?
GM: What do you mean what?
Hero Shrew: What woman?
GM: The woman that just zapped Hardlight.
Hero Shrew: Oh, right.
Fireflash: Context is important.

Hero Shrew jumps down to street level, and attempts to distract this other supercriminal.

Hero Shrew: Hey, I know you - you’re that woman on television!
GM: … well, I’ll give you an extra dice for the confusion factor.

Purple Lady turns invisible, at least to Scooter the shrew. And one of the other bystanders turns into a bad 90s punkrock stereotype. So at least three of the people here are PSI agents. As we soon learn, most of PSI, including their leader Psimon, the telekinetic Mindslayer, the paralysing Medusa, tele-empath Torment, and purple invisigirl Lancer are hiding in the crowd. Presumably to ensure Hypnos doesn’t screw up - it’s not like anybody in their right mind would consider our team a threat.

Fireflash: I really hope this isn’t one of those female villains that gets excessively jealous around women prettier than her.

Hero Shrew’s mental defences also crumble, but with no apparent consequences, apart from pinpointing ANOTHER PSI agent in the crowd.

GM: Remember, this was their POLITE attempt to recruit a new talent. They asked first. They just don’t take no for an answer.

Fireflash is going through her mental Rolodex of PSI agents and guessing how many of them are likely to be sent on one mission. It’s an alarming list. Largely because the heads of PSI don’t trust some of them out on their own. At this point, Hypnos, who was expecting Megan Grey to resist him in the battlefields of the mind, narrowly avoids a punch in the balls. Megan’s own holo-disguise collapses, and Fireflash recognises her as the minor talent Trace, which explains how good she was at following people. The PSI operatives also recognise us, and consider Fireflash a credible threat, especially after she blinds Psimon and some of the others with a flash attack.

Torment: Yes. Yes, I agree Psimon, she’s a threat. FEEL MY PAIN.

This telepathic agony disables Fireflash while was she still in midflight. This is not good, since she’s going to hit the ground hard.

GM: And now Psimon has to locate Hero Shrew’s mind again.
Hero Shrew: Too small a target, was I?

GM: And now the one who turned invisible to Hero Shrew, Fireflash and Hardlight gets her go.
Flux: Let’s hope she just has a gun.
Hero Shrew: We already know she has purple mind bullets.
Flux: Oh dear.

Hero Shrew leaps over the telekinetic wall Mindslayer put up and slaps Psimon around a bit. This was probably a mistake, since now Psimon knows where he is and can actually implant those telepathic commands he was planning. And Mindslayer, though blinded, is feeling around for anything short and furry and slashes at Hero Shrew with a telekinetic blade. She misses.

GM: Hero Shrew ducks. “That looks sharp, lady”. Scooter IS the most agile of your party.
Hero Shrew: Despite my build. I bounce around like a rubber ball. A hairy rubbery ball.
GM: You hear a voice in your head. ‘PSI are mentalists - if our attacks miss, nobody gets gets hurt. Your friends do property damage when they miss. And it’s the Moreaus that get the blame’.

Despite the fact that Hero Shrew is probably nicknamed Captain Collateral, this telepathic order sticks. He’s now compelled to stop his friends from using their most effective attacks, just in case somebody gets blasted through a wall. Hypnos is still trying to get Trace under control.

Hypnos: You. WILL. OBEY!!!!
Trace: …… nn…. Nnnnnn…. Naff that! *punches him in the face*

Happily for Fireflash, nobody has noticed Flux yet, and he gets a blast off at Torment, and, indeed, blasts them halfway into a wall.

Hero Shrew: Hey! Be more careful! Somebody paid for that wall!
Flux: …. What? That seems a bit out of character… Hero Shrew is the guy that tears his own front door off.
GM: And uses pavement as a blunt instrument. But then, pavement is public property. But maybe Hero Shrew is just trying to be a more responsible hero.
Flux: At the worst possible time!

Hardlight, still paralysed by Medusa mental petrification, at least manages to put a force bubble around Hypnos.

Hardlight: Shrew! Get the ball!

And then Hardlight gets hit again, by Invisible Purple Mind-bullet Woman. And then Mindslayer’s blade slaps Hero Shrew across the street and into a wall. He flails a bit on the ground below.

Hero Shrew: It’s OK, everybody, the wall is fine!

Hypnos now has to get out of the bubble before he can go anywhere.

Hypnos: FREE ME!
Trace: No!
Hero Shrew: Maybe if you asked nicely?

Flux shoots Medusa in the face.

Flux: She looked at me funny.

Unfortunately, at this point Fireflash’s flash attack wears off, leaving Lancer, Psimon and the others to act freely. And Hero Shrew is leaping over to stop his teammate from being so careless with his energy blasts.

Hero Shrew: Hey! Be more careful!

Trace now has enough self-control again to get some retaliation in, preferably against Lancer.

Trace: Where. Are. You BITCH! Actually, where are you??? This has never happened to me before…

Apparently Purple Mind-bullet Lady is invisible to mental senses as well. And Fireflash is still recovering so can’t do another Flash attack yet. At least Mindslayer apparently thinks that leaving now, with Psimon in tow, is a good idea. Or maybe Psimon thought it.

GM: Mindlink is a wonderful thing.

So is Fireflash’s own energy blast, targeting Mindslayer as she’s flying off.

GM: Mindslayer is PSI’s equivalent of a Federation ship.
Hero Shrew: No rear shields?
GM: Plenty of shields - but if you get through it hurts.

GM: That actually Stuns her. So she drops everything. Including Psimon.

Hero Shrew: At least Fireflash is firing up into the air. WATCH OUT FOR PLANES!
Fireflash: Scooter, are you feeling OK?

Psimon loses patience a bit, and targets the genuine civilian bystanders.

Psimon: PLAY IN TRAFFIC!
GM: Classic Mentalist move - Instant hostage situation. Also -
Hypnos: PLAY IN TRA- Actually, I should be trying to shoot my way out of this bubble right now.

GM: It might just be Hero Shrew is trying to be a more responsible hero.
Hero Shrew OoC: At the worst possible time.

Flux blasts Psimon even higher into the air, so he’ll hit the ground even harder. Scooter reasons that the best way to avoid further possible property damage is to use the villains as weapons. He grabs the semi-conscious Torment and throws him at the semi-conscious Medusa - and manages to hit the invisible Lancer instead.

Hardlight figures out the problem with Scooter - and drops the bubble around Hypnos just as Hypnos fires. The pistol blasts a meter-wide hole out of a wall.

Hero Shrew:
Hypnos: Uh-oh.

Once all the debris settles, we’ve actually managed to capture all of them except Lancer, who has no real loyalty to PSI and legged it. Hero Shrew is holding Hypnos by the front of his suit

Hero Shrew: PSI, are you? Well here’s Pounds per Square Inch! *PUNCH PUNCH PUNCH.*

Of course the civilians who didn’t leg it the moment a superhuman fight started HAVE wandered into traffic. But they’re easy enough for Hero Shrew to gather up and stuff into one of Hardlight’s bubbles until they get over it.

GM: There’s always a few who gawk, or freeze.
Hero Shrew: Or want to get some photos for their Facebook.
GM: Yeah - they fall back to what they think is a safe distance.

Hardlight, still paralysed (and will be for a week), calls up the ECPD, and PRIMUS, who turn up to blindfold and restrain the psykers, and put Psimon into deep sedation, until he can be tried by telepresence.

Flux: I knew you’d show up.
CAESAR Suit: Funny guy.

Trace: What the actual fudge? I thought Millennium City was bad.
Hero Shrew: You’re welcome.
Trace: Welcome? For wha- oh, right, the rescue.

Most of Hardlight’s voluntary nervous system has been shut down by Medusa.

Hardlight: Ah, Scooter? Can I get a lift back to the base?
Hero Shrew: Pokapokapoka! Pokapokapoka!
Flux: Maybe electricity will snap him out of it...
Fireflash: Back to the lab/And see what’s on the slab - right now, that’s you, Hardlight.

The superhero forums seem to think that us managing to catch most of PSI, when none of us have any notable anti-psi protections, is a sign that we’re finally maturing as a superhero team.

GM: They think you’ve levelled up.

Of course, the question does arise as to why all the important members of PSI were in California at all - just adding Trace to their collection doesn’t seem important enough...

So, my Shadowrun group now switched to Warhammer Fantasy 2nd Edition, a custom Adventure (or maybe a adapted Package) "Quest for the Southlands".
 
The story is that some Elf Prince wanted to make a expediton into the southern Southlands. The Pheonix king said "I disagree. But while I can not stop you personally, none of my Subjects can go with you".
 
So acordingly the Group starts in Marienburg and has a very heavy "maritime Theme", specifically recruited for that mission:
Prince Arathion, Highelf, NPC, Questgiver
Rolf Bloem, human Manaan Priest (Water, Weather, Seatravel)
Ilumaris, elven mage that learnt in Altdorf (thus technically not a subject of the Phoenix king)
Jotunn Eisenbart (Iron beard), Dwarf Marine Soldier. Also me
It is worth noting that aside from me and the GM, nobody has any real knowledge of the setting
 
Character creation:
You roll 2D10+ racial basis (20, with some 10 or 30) for each Atribute in sequence. You can use the average result (11) for one of them.
Jotunn (OOC): "I am seriously thinking about using the average for my Fellowship (Charisma)"
GM: "Then you would be the 3rd one doing that with Fellowship this evening".
Jotunn (OOC): "Okay, I think average Balistics Skill then."
 
We played the rules a bit looser. Like being able to freely pick our classes (rather then rolling 2 at Random):
GM: "You were a bit undecided, Wich career did you pick?"
Jotunn: "It was a tossup between Mercenary and Marine Solider. But I picked the Marine Soldier in the end."
GM: "What made the difference?"
Jotunn: "The Mercenary does not have the 'Drink Alcohol' skill and I just can not play a dwarf that can not hold his ale."
 
 
First on the Agenda is finding a suitable ship, because without a Elven Crew he can hardly use a Elven Ship. We do find one for cheap. needs some work, wich is good so because the group was not exactly liking the name:
Harbor Master: "The Sea Whore, typical van Zandt name"
Arathion: "The ship can stay, but not with that Name!"
Rolf (OOC): "As a Manaan Priest, I would say we rename it 'The Albatros' "
 
Rolf (OOC): "Let us see what Manaan Priests believe in *starts reading the list*:
Women aboard bring bad luck
Naked women aboard calms the sea, wich is why so many galleon figures are of naked women
A coin under the mast brigns good fortune
A cat aboard brings good luck
A cat aboard brings bad luck"
Ilumaris (OOC): "So basically we need Shroedingers Cat?"
 
We are tasked wick picking and statting out important NPC Characters. WH Fantasy uses "Careers" where you get all the skills and avancements. The pick a new Career (usually from the Career exits). These Characters can/need to have multiple careers:
"1 Sea Captain
1st Mate
A few more mates
Helmsman
Navigator
Doctor
Carpenter
Cook - wait, what was he in his previous career?"
 
Magic in Warhammer Fantasy is dangerous:
GM: "If all the dice show a 1, your spell automatically fails"
Illumaris: "I only roll 1D10".
GM: "You do get more later, but that is another downside"
Illumaris: "How so?"
GM: "If multiple dice show the same number, there is a seperate table to roll on and tht one is really ugly"
Jotunn: "Basically your chance to screw up drops from 10% to 1%. But you get a 10% chance to screw up in new and exciting ways!"
 
 
2nd session:
The GM was enthusiastic about showing off "how elves do magic". Basically they can see (and relatively freely manipulate) the winds of magic if there are any around. The request for a excursion a few hours outside of the City however is really puzzling. But he pays, so he is the boss. But we do take a coach.
We drive a few hours. At the first major crossroads we hold. He goes up a hill. Pulls out some weird sperical contraption. Does some adjustment. It starts glowing. He comes back down and we continue.
 
GM: The Coach Driver is confused.
Jotunn: "I shrug with the shoulder and tell him: Elves do elven things."
 
We repeat that that navigation step once more
 
And then a final time. In the middle of a market place. In a small village full of superstitious villagers.
The last part we have to walk on foot. We notice that the path is somewhat travelled and we find a rock. But not a normal Rock, but a "Waystone". A marker of the ancient ones, wich happens to be placed where two leylines cross. Accordingly the area is strong in magic. We start freeing it and notice that apparently the Villagers also use it as shrine to some local Manaan Martyr.
 
Apparently the Etheral Sight views the winds of magic as various colors
Ilumaris: "The Colors of Magic?"
So the two elves start talking about wich colors they see, why the two non-elves stand idly by.
 
GM: There is a lot of green. And a bit of blue. Next to no red, purple or black."
Jotunn: "We see a rock."
Rolf: "It is grey."
 
Finally the manage to "untangle" something in the winds, wich results in the small wellspring at the botom of the shrine/waystone to get a lot stronger.
Jotunn: "Ah, elves. Natures Sewage workers"
GM: "The Elves act as if they did not hear you"
Rolf: "And you really should not tell that to a Manaan priest".
 
Unfortunately our little excursion did not go Unnoticed. Villagers are a approaching. Wich Torches, Pitchforks, a Sigmar priest and words like "Magic at the shrine" and "burn the witches" on their lips. So now we have to talk down the people.
 
Ilumaris (OOC): "I do not understand. Is magic illegal or legal now?"
Jotunn (OOC): "Out here that is different form Lynchmob to Lynchmob."
The issues is it does have an effect -  a refresing to healing one. And it does not help the NPC keeps using the wrong words - the ones starting with "M" and ending on "agic" - in front a ptichfork and torch wielding mob.
Something "round but soft" is being thrown, but misses.
 
Finally we manage to talk them down. Apparently the idea of a shrine with a spring that has healing properties does appeal to them. And especially the attention (and money) from Pilgrimages it will bring them.
 
Ilumaris (OOC): "Say, what was it they had throw at us anyway? Rotten Fruit."
GM: "No, that looks more like sheep dung..."
Jotunn: "I told you. Only sewage workers had to deal with that much crap!"

Pathfinder : Streets of Magnimar - Tea and Biscuits and Organised Crime
Gillert: So we're sending the lawyer, the murderer and the straight guy.
GM: I'm sorry, I didn't realise we were playing Will and Grace - Magnimar.
Ys: When you live as long as an elf, you have to assume most of them are bi, sooner or later.
GM: Most elf parents just assume their kid is bi as soon as soon as they reach puberty.
Gillert: They get 'artistic leanings'

After getting plague masks, cloaks, and extra lamp oil, we re-enter the sewers to hunt down and exterminate the remaining were-rats. Somebody has set up an Alarm spell at the entrance we used last time. Gillert gets to work disabling the trap.

Ys: Zin might be the trapsmith, but Gillert is a useful back-up, and he's useful in other circumstances as well.
Harshal: Zin is useful in other circumstances as well. Such as if we need someone to crawl under the table and find something we dropped.
Gillert: Or for getting past traps set at human-standard neck height.
Harshal: 'The Penitent Man And Kobolds Will Pass'

We sneak up to where we fought Moonbreaker and Silversniffer before - Ys spots a faint light source ahead, since she has low-light vision and the rest of us need a candle-lamp to see where we're going. Whoever is down here with us is doing an inch-by-inch search of the chamber. And she's got five orange-and-white floofy tails. And her lightsource is a diminutive figure with mothwings and long thin ears.

Ys: I gesture back to the others to stay where they are, completely forgetting they can't see me.

The Flying Fox and her sprite turn invisible the moment Ys gets within 40 feet.

Ys: Hey, you're pretty good.

Harshal: So, who was it?
Ys: Our friendly neighborhood vigilante.
Gillert: .... Spiderman?

Gillert: What was she looking for?
Ys: No idea.
Harshal: Perhaps she and the were-rats are in cahoots.
Ys: Could be - where's Cahoots?
Harshal: Well, I was hoping I'd hear a small gasp of indignation at that point.
GM: Sorry, small thing called Unshakeable.
Ys: Well, let's find the lair - check the room for secret doors.
The Invisible Flying Fox: I didn't think of that.
Ys: Hello. It's easier to talk to somebody if everybody is visible.
Invisible Flying Fox: Easier, yes.
Gillert: Maybe I should throw some white powder around...
Invisible Flying Fox: You could - how would you like to be forcefed Shardgel?

The Flying Fox reappears, and grins intimidatingly at Gillert, showing all her sharp teeth.

The Flying Fox: A little bird told me the rats got hit.
Harshal: We heard the same thing.
The Flying Fox: What's you're interest in them?
Ys: Making sure they're all dealt with.
The Flying Fox: So it was you that did the hit.
Ys: That would be a safe assumption.
The Flying Fox: I heard Moonbreaker got taken down.
Ys: Would that be the big one?
The Flying Fox: Aw. And I'd already bought one of these. *tosses a grenade from hand to hand*
Ys: Wish I'd thought of that.
Gillert: I did.
Ys: YOU did.

The Flying Fox: They were searching for something. Pretty desperately, by the looks of things.
Harshal OoC: I bet it's the journal.
GM: Was that in-character?
Harshal OoC: No.
Gillert: Don't give the bad guys information.
GM: You ARE the bad guys!
Gillert: You can be evil and a good guy. It's called being an anti-hero.
GM: That's not how this works!

The Flying Fox: So why are you interested in the were-rats anyway?
Ys: Purely mercenary.
The Flying Fox: Someone paid you? Interesting.... and disappointing.
Harshal: People have to eat.
The Flying Fox: I guess that makes this a race *throws the grenade to the floor, where it explodes into entangling Shardgel foam, and runs off back the way we came*
Ys: I'm not even sure what we're racing after.
The Flying Fox: Gives me the advantage then!

We find no sign of where the were-rats have fled to. It might well be there, we're just crap at finding it. So we return to the surface to hunt down rumours instead, which we are MUCH better at. And even better, we know that firebrand-cum-investigative journalist at Parvo Crispin's newspaper, who takes shorthand notes of every bit of gossip she overhears.

Harshal also gets word that a relative from the Spire Clan is coming to Magnimar. This is probably going to be an issue.

Ys: Who is this person and why should I let him live?
Harshal: A relative. And the Clan already know he'll be staying with me.
Ys: That's not a reason to let him live.
GM: The last time Harshal had any relatives in town you killed them.
Gillert: YS killed them.
GM: And you were an accessory.
Gillert: I'm still trying to convince myself I had nothing to do with the actual stabbing.
GM: There's a reason it's called an adventuring party - it's because you're party to all the murder-hobo shenanigans.

Anyway, the rumours suggest the were-rats have had some kind of ideological split, and are involved in a three-way internal feud. Time to let the Nightscales know. And have another go at decoding that journal.

Harshal: Maybe we should keep killing were-rats until we find one that looks important and torture them for information about the journal. But if we kill them all the were-rat problem goes away anyway.

Gillert: You want to come, Ys?
Ys: No.
Harshal: I, however, am of a profession used to negotiations. And Gillert looks like a gullible idiot and will put them off their guard.
Gillert: I AM a gullible idiot - I keep hanging around with you lot.
Harshal: Exactly.

Harshal: Refreshments? You'll be pleased to know that after the removal of certain key individuals, our vermin problem has fractured into internal feuding.
Mr White: I'm sure that there are people within my organisation that will be concerned that you could engineer this. I am not one of those people. I care only about results.
Harshal: Good to know. However, there is additional information I thought you should be aware of. That vigilante has taking an interest.
Mr White: I see. That IS unfortunate.
Harshal: Apparently something about the situation appeals to her competitive spirit. I have no idea what that's about.
Mr White: Hmm. Still, since you have fulfilled your part of the bargain, it's time for us to fulfill ours.

Mr White's silent associate Mr Black reaches into a bag of holding and pulls out a sack.

Harshal: Naturally I won't insult our guests by checking the contents now. We're professionals, after all. If they stiffed us everybody will find out later anyway. More tea?
Mr White: Thankyou.
Gillert: Did you bring the pink biscuits?.... Ys hasn't been near these, has she?

The payment is fireproof cloth armour and an alchemical flamethrower.

Harshal: Combine that with that magical doorknocker we bought earlier and we can run the best arson scam in Magnimar.
 

Playing Shadowrun:  The players were all scrounging for clue when this was said in all seriousness
"OK, you guys reach out to your contacts. I'll see what I can squeeze out of Mr Johnson."

In my Champions campaign, Dr. Destroyer has taken over the country of Cuba, crushing any military forces or superhumans that attempt to oppose his rule. He took advantage of a power vacuum caused by a massive invasion of Earth by Empress V’Han that ended up in failure, and one of her warships detonated over Havana, destroying a large swath of the city, giving him a window of opportunity to seize power while the country was leaderless.
 
However, instead of instituting the brutal tyranny that most would have expected from him, over the course of the following days and weeks, he begins his rule by utilizing his technology to provide seemingly endless amounts of food and medicines to the Cuban people as he institutes a more benevolent form of dictatorship. His soldiers, robots and superhuman assets quickly become familiar sights in towns across Cuba, providing security and dealing forcefully with criminal activity.
 
His actions have left many in the world confused as to what he has in mind. Some are wondering if this is actually an alternate reality refugee from the invasion instead of the Dr. Destroyer that has terrorized the world for decades.
 
What other actions might he take as part of his rule? How might other countries react to Dr. Destroyer in charge of a nation?

Mechanon’s origin actually changed as a result of the time travel story arc in my campaign. On one of their stops, they discovered Dr. Destroyer ruling over pre-Cataclysm Atlantis. He had been unwillingly catapulted there when the heroes destroyed a time travel device of his invention in an earlier stop (they ran into some of his agents arriving on a time platform at the start of the American Revolution). Blowing it up caused a temporal disjunction in the future, causing Dr. Destroyer to end up in Atlantis.
 
He went back to the future as part of an agreement with the team, and the heroes then had to get rid of all his tech to stop it from polluting the timeline worse than it already was. They ended up sending it all to the microverse with a simple caretaker robot invented by a PC to dismantle it. Mechanon was born of that garbage pile, and the PC who did it is now his enemy/creator, having been remembered over thousands of years of machine evolution in the microverse.
 
Mechanon became part of the group’s revised history when they eventually returned to the future. He strikes from the microverse now, using it as his home dimension to recover and upgrade himself for his next encounter with the PC’s team.

Mechanon’s origin actually changed as a result of the time travel story arc in my campaign. On one of their stops, they discovered Dr. Destroyer ruling over pre-Cataclysm Atlantis. He had been unwillingly catapulted there when the heroes destroyed a time travel device of his invention in an earlier stop (they ran into some of his agents arriving on a time platform at the start of the American Revolution). Blowing it up caused a temporal disjunction in the future, causing Dr. Destroyer to end up in Atlantis.
 
He went back to the future as part of an agreement with the team, and the heroes then had to get rid of all his tech to stop it from polluting the timeline worse than it already was. They ended up sending it all to the microverse with a simple caretaker robot invented by a PC to dismantle it. Mechanon was born of that garbage pile, and the PC who did it is now his enemy/creator, having been remembered over thousands of years of machine evolution in the microverse.
 
Mechanon became part of the group’s revised history when they eventually returned to the future. He strikes from the microverse now, using it as his home dimension to recover and upgrade himself for his next encounter with the PC’s team.

Actually, the PCs have been the unintentional cause of some events in the campaign. The Cuban plot development was a result of their actions during the war. When V’Han came, Cuba was one of her force’s major beachheads, and the PCs attacked the ship, which had a few of their alternate universe counterparts on it.
 
After V’Han was driven off, which some of the PCs felt might have been “too easy,” it was later discovered that many superhumans were now missing, and entire superteams were gone. The players are pretty sure this means they’ve been kidnapped by V’Han’s forces before her withdrawal. However, instead of diving right into that, the PCs have been getting run a bit ragged dealing with suddenly being the world’s most visible superheroes that are active. The V’Han War has been one of the more major events in my campaign.
 
Cuba was a V’Han beachhead, and the PC’s counterparts crushed the Cuban military at the head of V’Han’s soldiers in their opening move, which was one reason they decided to go to Cuba instead of one of the other hot spots. After the war was over, Dr. Destroyer made his first move, taking over the remnants of Cuba. His ability to produce food and medicine via his technology is pretty much equivalent to using a Star Trek replicator.
 
Instead of just beating the crook of the week, although some sessions are like that, the campaign’s overall story arc has been a series of events that slowly increase the stakes for the PCs and raise their visibility. They started out as one new team amongst many older, existing teams and their actions have gradually rewritten the campaign world, in one story arc literally when they went on a multi-session time travel odyssey and altered certain key events in the history of the Champions Universe, creating this alternate timeline version.
 
Their time travel adventures attracted V’Han’s attention, which then led to the war, which has led to the current events.
 
I always check at the end of each session if everyone is having a good time, and the responses have been positive. Everyone keeps coming back, and it’s been over two years now.

The PCs in my modified Champions Universe game have gone to visit Babylon.
 
After meeting their first Conurbite (the magical pretty people who live in Babylon), and I complete my description of her, I get back "It's Barbie Borg!"
 
I am now stuck thinking of Conurbites as Ken and Barbie versions of Star Trek's Borg, which is probably not too far off from how they appear from their description in Mystic World.
 
Babylon did allow me to entertain myself a bit when they bought a stripped-down copy (no weapons) of the Millenium Falcon from a Ferengi. They're now trying to figure out how to get it back to Earth.

The campaign has actually reached a point where I am in the process of thinking how I could expand it in different directions.
 
You might call the current campaign Phase One, and it will very likely continue on past this summer, perhaps replacing existing characters with new ones as the point levels are starting to grow a bit excessive.
 
My current plans for Phase Two is either an "Agents Of PRIMUS" campaign and/or a Teen Champions campaign with a New Mutants kind of feel, both set in my revised Champions Universe. There has also recently been some discussion about putting together an expansion team, currently called "Champions West" and to be based in Los Angeles.
 
Getting back to the current campaign...
 
There was also more down to Earth trouble for the team going on in the United States, since half of them have Secret ID, and the other two are Public ID types. The leader of the team, who has a Public ID, was asked to appear before the Senate Committee on Superhuman Affairs. Due to the fears and uncertainty in the aftermath of the V'Han War shaking things up, he was ordered by the committee chairman to have his Secret ID teammates reveal their identities to the government. It later turned out that a large contingent of Congress has been replaced by fetches, magical copies of people. This plotline was discovered to be the result of earlier PC actions in dealing with the Shadow Queen from Faerie (one of the Master Villain baddies in the CU). She had been allied with Black Paladin, and the team turned him against her, giving him her kingdom in exchange for his vow to do no more villainy within Millenium City. He has honored that vow, instead using his new Faerie resources to take control of elements of the United States government. This has been another one of the distractions the PCs are currently dealing with, heading off to Faerie to find the kidnapped congressmen and senators.
 
Meanwhile, the United Nations has extended an offer of worldwide police authority to the team, expanding them out from working in Millenium City to policing the world.

Actually, the PCs have been the unintentional cause of some events in the campaign. The Cuban plot development was a result of their actions during the war. When V’Han came, Cuba was one of her force’s major beachheads, and the PCs attacked the ship, which had a few of their alternate universe counterparts on it.
 
After V’Han was driven off, which some of the PCs felt might have been “too easy,” it was later discovered that many superhumans were now missing, and entire superteams were gone. The players are pretty sure this means they’ve been kidnapped by V’Han’s forces before her withdrawal. However, instead of diving right into that, the PCs have been getting run a bit ragged dealing with suddenly being the world’s most visible superheroes that are active. The V’Han War has been one of the more major events in my campaign.
 
Cuba was a V’Han beachhead, and the PC’s counterparts crushed the Cuban military at the head of V’Han’s soldiers in their opening move, which was one reason they decided to go to Cuba instead of one of the other hot spots. After the war was over, Dr. Destroyer made his first move, taking over the remnants of Cuba. His ability to produce food and medicine via his technology is pretty much equivalent to using a Star Trek replicator.
 
Instead of just beating the crook of the week, although some sessions are like that, the campaign’s overall story arc has been a series of events that slowly increase the stakes for the PCs and raise their visibility. They started out as one new team amongst many older, existing teams and their actions have gradually rewritten the campaign world, in one story arc literally when they went on a multi-session time travel odyssey and altered certain key events in the history of the Champions Universe, creating this alternate timeline version.
 
Their time travel adventures attracted V’Han’s attention, which then led to the war, which has led to the current events.
 
I always check at the end of each session if everyone is having a good time, and the responses have been positive. Everyone keeps coming back, and it’s been over two years now.

Actually, the PCs have been the unintentional cause of some events in the campaign. The Cuban plot development was a result of their actions during the war. When V’Han came, Cuba was one of her force’s major beachheads, and the PCs attacked the ship, which had a few of their alternate universe counterparts on it.
 
After V’Han was driven off, which some of the PCs felt might have been “too easy,” it was later discovered that many superhumans were now missing, and entire superteams were gone. The players are pretty sure this means they’ve been kidnapped by V’Han’s forces before her withdrawal. However, instead of diving right into that, the PCs have been getting run a bit ragged dealing with suddenly being the world’s most visible superheroes that are active. The V’Han War has been one of the more major events in my campaign.
 
Cuba was a V’Han beachhead, and the PC’s counterparts crushed the Cuban military at the head of V’Han’s soldiers in their opening move, which was one reason they decided to go to Cuba instead of one of the other hot spots. After the war was over, Dr. Destroyer made his first move, taking over the remnants of Cuba. His ability to produce food and medicine via his technology is pretty much equivalent to using a Star Trek replicator.
 
Instead of just beating the crook of the week, although some sessions are like that, the campaign’s overall story arc has been a series of events that slowly increase the stakes for the PCs and raise their visibility. They started out as one new team amongst many older, existing teams and their actions have gradually rewritten the campaign world, in one story arc literally when they went on a multi-session time travel odyssey and altered certain key events in the history of the Champions Universe, creating this alternate timeline version.
 
Their time travel adventures attracted V’Han’s attention, which then led to the war, which has led to the current events.
 
I always check at the end of each session if everyone is having a good time, and the responses have been positive. Everyone keeps coming back, and it’s been over two years now.

Dr. Destroyer is quickly consolidating his hold on the island, but he is not alone in his endeavors. In a surprising move that happened “off screen” for reasons the PCs will learn, Menton has chosen to assist in this endeavor, returning to Destroyer’s fold and apparently mending the rift between them. He has been working in the shadows with a number of lesser mentalists, locating points of resistance and either quickly eliminating them or rewriting their personalities into true believers supporting the new regime.

In my Champions campaign, Dr. Destroyer has taken over the country of Cuba, crushing any military forces or superhumans that attempt to oppose his rule. He took advantage of a power vacuum caused by a massive invasion of Earth by Empress V’Han that ended up in failure, and one of her warships detonated over Havana, destroying a large swath of the city, giving him a window of opportunity to seize power while the country was leaderless.
 
However, instead of instituting the brutal tyranny that most would have expected from him, over the course of the following days and weeks, he begins his rule by utilizing his technology to provide seemingly endless amounts of food and medicines to the Cuban people as he institutes a more benevolent form of dictatorship. His soldiers, robots and superhuman assets quickly become familiar sights in towns across Cuba, providing security and dealing forcefully with criminal activity.
 
His actions have left many in the world confused as to what he has in mind. Some are wondering if this is actually an alternate reality refugee from the invasion instead of the Dr. Destroyer that has terrorized the world for decades.
 
What other actions might he take as part of his rule? How might other countries react to Dr. Destroyer in charge of a nation?

One of the ideas that caught my attention in Mr. Allston’s Strike Force setting was the Governor, a being artificially holding back the progress of technology despite all the super-geniuses and their weird inventions. It could be that something or someone behind the scenes is influencing the world so it takes on the appearance of the Silver/Bronze Age.
 
It could be that the world is like the Matrix, a controlled reality of some kind. There is danger and problems that requires superhumans, but the world seems to function within certain predefined parameters. Or maybe mankind somehow imposed it upon itself, a consensual reality like in White Wolf’s Mage: The Ascension.
 
Who or what is controlling reality? Why do they want it to be like the Silver Age/Bronze Age? How are they able to get people all over the world to accept this reality? What happens to those who figure out the truth?
 
And what happens if everybody wakes up?

Back to your original post and comment about Luck...
 
I use a house rule to manage Luck for characters. Instead of rolling Luck (which can still happen, but in specific situations) characters get a "Luck Chit" for every 5 pts. These chits are randomly drawn at the beginning of the game, and use 'em or lose 'em by end of game. The PLAYER gets to choose when to spend a Luck Chit to affect the game in their favor. The chits have differing levels of power... the lowest provide an extra defensive action or a reroll of the dice, and abort maneuver without spending an action, etc.  The higher level chits let them have something dramatic or use a power in a non-defined way or get an automatic hit, etc.

In this case I would easily allow a player who was about to get hit with a lucky shot by a guard to throw a chit (one of the high level ones) and say, "The guy was so panicked, "CLICK", he forgot to take off the safety!"  Spending a high level chit to have a dramatic, scene appropriate moment go her way is what I built the system for, and "Safety left on!" could be a perfect description of one of those, if the player thought of it, and the table agreed. (Essentially, the table gets a "vote" on the described action as to whether everyone feels it fits the scene and is dramatically appropriate. Usually it is very natural, everyone laughing and saying, "Ok, that's cool!" or a noticeable shrugging and "eehhh, that doesn't feel right" and we discuss what would be more appropriate.)
 
I feel "safety left on!" would be something that fell within this narrative mechanic for my games, or any game that uses a bennie/luck/hero point type system.

From last night's historical fantasy game. As part of their efforts to build an alliance against the evil Prince Kor, Our Heroes have been trying to facilitate a marriage between the Holy Roman Emperor Otto III, and Princess Zoe Porphyrogenita, daughter of the Byzantine Emperor. Things are going well, until Robert, King of the Franks shows up...
 
GM: The French King looks around the room, spots the beautiful Princess Zoe, and makes a beeline over to start chatting her up.
Geralt: (Irish Holy Warrior) Oh hell no! I step between them and politely suggest to King Robert that this isn't the Princess he's looking for.
GM: Great, make me a High Society Roll to see how badly you step in it.
[Geralt rolls a natural 18]
[headdesk]
Geralt: (angrily) "What do you think you're doing trying to make time with the Emperor's betrothed!?!?"
...followed by an exchange of Who Do You Think You Are's and Don't You Know Who I Am's, ending in...
Geralt: ...And I deck him!
 
And that, children, is how in 1001 France declared war on Ireland and sat out the war against the Antichrist.

Hi Hero Geeks:  Hope this is ok to post.
 
Noble Knight Games is having like an 80% off sale on some products.  There is a BUNCH of great Hero stuff for sale!
https://www.nobleknight.com/ClearanceItems?CategoryId=1&ManufacturerId=39
 
Check it out! 

The first thing that comes to mind is a style based on Axemanship and various orcish axe designs. When I imagine orcish hordes, I can't help but put axes in their hands.

"I am Barbie of Borg. You will be accessorized AND assimilated. It'll be fun!"
 
Lucius Alexander
 
I am Palindromedary of Borg. You will be assimilated coming and going.

Dude, you don't need to defend yourself.  Frankly, I busted out laughing when I read your first post.  While I am neither a killer gm or a masochist type player, I do realize (as both a player and gm) that sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes you totally outclass the opposition, and sometimes you are totally outclassed.  It happens.  As long as you are honest and your campaign is overall fair and you and your group are having fun, no one else matters.  Do you!

As the PC that that was hit in the face with a 24 dice blast and who is a masochist I do not hold anything against Steve for doing it. I might bitch and moan a little and of course berate my teammates for running and leaving me to my doom. With that being said I will have a lot more PRE next time when I face that bag of bones Takofanes.

I generally play the NPCs as written in the books, so Takofanes was not tweaked down. The PCs as a team could do enough damage to hurt him (and could even be classed as Avengers-level at 700+ points each). The players are quite capable when it comes to dealing out damage and taking it, but PRE is an area some are a bit weak in. While two of them have 40 PRE plus some bonus dice for things like Reputation and Striking Appearance, the other two are in the 20-30 range. They're fine dealing with the likes of Eurostar, but If Doctor Destroyer glared at those two, they would not be able to meet his gaze.
 
They did get breakout rolls, but by then I had plenty of time for Takafanes to do his Emperor Palpatine impression on the supermage and turn him into an undead horror. "Arise, my young apprentice," and all that.
 
Those that ran away are dealing with a bit of PTSD now, and I was reminded of old Call of Cthulhu campaigns from back in the day.
 
The PC wears a full-body costume and mask, so his change in life status is not readily apparent. Takofanes left him his free will for the most part (since he's arrogant that way), but he can call upon the PC's services when he wishes. The PC now has a quest to find the phylactery holding his soul and get back his full freedom.
 
I was just surprised at winning a battle without a single shot being fired.

In my last session of my CU campaign, the PCs were in Faerie and entered Dracula’s castle, expecting to meet the Count and slap him around for information on a case they’re working on (all the PCs are 700+ Points). To their surprise, the arch-lich Takofanes was waiting in the throne room when they burst in, with Dracula acting as his right-hand man.
 
i opened things up with a PRE attack, using Takofane’s bonus PRE from the crown he wears (120 PRE total!). Rolling an 89 (putting everyone on the team in the +40 range), the three supers were immediately overwhelmed with fear (and two ran away in blind terror, leaving the group’s paralyzed with fear supermage to Takofane’s non-existent mercy).
 
i use that as an example to wonder if anyone imposes limits on PRE in their campaigns, or if a limit should be imposed.
 
One of the PCs has a 40 PRE, so he’s usually immune to villainous shock and awe of this sort and can be pretty intimidating to VIPER agents and even many supervillains.
 
It’s been a while since I got a PRE attack this high, so I didn’t remember that the effect lasts for an hour per the chart. That’s pretty potent.
 
 

A lot of mileage could be had with a team composed of CU Empyreans from Earth wandering the galaxy looking for trouble. Maybe some of the other races in the galaxy have their own versions of Empyreans.