wcw43921

Quite possibly the most justified F-Bomb this year

You know how they throw the ball into the crowd after they win the game?

That's not allowed in bowling.
 
I know that now.

Please...
 

Death from above!  The grim visage
of future world wars.  .  .

Death from above!  The grim visage
of future world wars.  .  .

Death from above!  The grim visage
of future world wars.  .  .

I have a character--one Doctor Invictus by name--who believes he was born to accomplish "great things."  To that end he has created what he considers "the ultimate instrument of peacekeeping"--the Mindshock Bomb, a device capable of generating a specific electromagnetic effect that renders people and mammals unconscious for hours at a time, with no effect on inanimate objects or other electronics.  He is almost ready to detonate a city-yield Mindshock weapon in the heart of Los Angeles, demonstrating for all the world that he has the power to stop invading armies dead in their tracks, and give whichever nation possesses the Mindshock the power to inflict absolute chaos upon their enemies.
 
What Invictus fails to mention is that the Mindshock is not entirely without lethal effect.  In previous tests the Mindshock was found to have killed, on average, nearly ten percent of the targets in its area of effect.  In Los Angeles, with a population of nearly four million, the lethal potential of the weapon is nearly four hundred thousand people--and that doesn't include the collateral damage of cars, planes and other vehicles suddenly going out of control, surgeons losing consciousness mid-operation, and other such calamities.  Invictus considers these "acceptable losses."  Others--including, hopefully, the heroes--may wish to differ.

Well, he sort of knew something was coming. When he emailed me telling what Artifex was doing, I emailed back something along the lines of, "Please tell me this is indeed what Artifex is doing." He took the plunge, and played along when the reveal came.
 
I've been lucky in my players. They were quite good at making their own troubles, which is why the campaign became called "Keystone Konjurors."
 
Dean Shomshak

I refuse to stand by past political precedent, and the results of polling (which show increasing favor for Dems in the midterms, just FYI). This is not politics as usual, the situation is unprecedented, so much can happen between now and November, and the prognosticators have frequently been wrong in recent years. Don't give in to fatalism, Americans! Get out and vote for what's right, for all our sakes. Show the world that government of the people, by the people, and for the people, isn't a dead dream yet.

Speaking of contagious plagues... I ran one in my second Keystone Konjurors campaign (playtest for the Ultimate Mystic trilogy). Only in mine, the plague was Barbie.
 
The player of one of the PCs, Artifex, said the Master of Cosmic Craft had made a 0-point Follower for his stylish loft apartment in Babylon: a human-size, living Barbie doll. Live-in housekeeper. I think: Okay. And, well, bed partner. I think: Ew. Then think: MUAH HA HA HA! Because Barbie is a powerful archetype, one of the best known toys in the world, and a focus of bizarre obsessions. Plus there's that manically/creepily cheerful song by Aqua. "I'm a Barbie girl, In a Barbie World. Life in plastic -- it's fantastic!"
 
It started as apparently a different adventure, I think there was a fire demon. Anyway, some bystanders get hit in the fighting, and one of them partly melts instead of getting burned. He's a living plastic mannikin. He also has no soul. The PCs find other soulless plastic people... and they're turning humans into more plastic people. The PCs eventually traced it back to Artifex's Barbie simulacrum, who is absorbing all the reality from the transformed people and growing into a nascent cosmic entity; also turning Artifex's apartment into a colorful molded plastic Barbie World. Called on this, Barbie tells Artifex to defend her, which he finds he must do: He was Barbie's first victim and working for her all along. Artifex tries to convince the others that this is a good thing. There is no old age, sickness or death in Barbie World. The Dragon would be destroyed. The others did manage to get through to him and convince him to turn against Barbie and destroy her. So, um, yay?
 
Good times.
 
Dean Shomshak

It's International Cat Day!
 

Me: "Alexa, check my bank balance and tell me what Apple product I can afford."
 
Alexa: "Apple juice."

that's why high SPF sunscreen is an important part of a superhero's kit.

Unfortunately, that is dialed back.

Not entirely work-safe, but really great.

Not entirely work-safe, but really great.

Another idea I had was for a character called Invictor--no relation to Doctor Invictus.  Invictor has the FISS powerset (emphasis on the Strength) and truly believes he, above all others, is best suited to rule the world.  Unlike all the other would-be world dominators, he seeks the mutual approval and acclaim of the people, rather than imposing his will by brute force.  So he goes around doing your basic superhero deeds--rescuing people from disasters, fighting crime and supervillains, preventing disasters from occurring--everything PC heroes do.  He may even offer to help the PC heroes on occasion.  And when the press asks him for a statement after his latest super-deed, he will tell them that his wisdom and willingness to use his powers to help people and protect them from harm makes him the ideal person to rule the world.
 
His website lists his agenda for his rulership, and a petition page that visitors can sign if want Invictor to be ruler of the world.  So far he has received over seven million signatures from all over the world--which has also attracted the attention of every hero team on the planet, not to mention every law enforcement and spy agency with skin in the game.