DShomshak

Speaking of Superman and terrible fates, I would posit Christopher Reeves as a superhero if you toss in a mech suit or medical therapy to restore his mobility or even give him super-powers.  The exception that proves the rule.

On the supervillain side, then German chemist Fritz Haber supplies plenty of inspiration:
Fritz Haber - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Haber  
Brilliant, beyond doubt. The 1918 Nobel Prize for Chemistry was only the most notable of his awards. His doscoveries are significant in several areas of chemistry. As inventor of the Haber-Bosch process for turning atmospheric nitrogen into ammonia, as the first step in making fertilizers, he greatly increase food production: The article includes an estimate that half of humanity directly owes its daily bread to Fritz Haber. But he was also arrogant, callous and jingoistically patriotic in his active promotion and participation in German gas warfare in World War One. His lab also incidentally invented Zyklon-B, though it was meant to fumigate grain instead of exterminating Jews. Dramatists have found Haber an engagingly complex figure.
 
There is rather less ambiguity in our second Chemist of Destruction, Thomas Midgley, Jr.:
Thomas Midgley Jr. - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Midgley_Jr.  
Midgley's first claim to infamy is his part in developing and promoting tetraethyllead as a gasoline additive. As the article notes, when concerns arose over TEL's toxicity, Midgley held a press conference in which he washed his hands in the compound and inhaled its vapors for a minute to show its harmlessness. Not mentioned (I get this from a friend who read about him) Midgley immediately left for a hospital to be treated for lead poisoning. So, yeah, he villainously lied for the sake of corporate profits. Haber was flawed; I have to see Midgley as evil.
 
For an encore, Midgley was in the team of chemists that invented Freon. Midgley didn't live to see the ozone hole or the research tying TEL to lead-induced brain damage in children. But we now know he poisoned the air on a far grander scale than Haber achieved or sought.
 
(Though I note that one of Haber's discoveries might have warned us. Haber found that a long exposure to low concentrations of poison caused as much damage as an immediate exposure to a large dose. The amounts of lead put into the air by burning leaded gasoline seemed too low to matter. But that low exposure over years or decades...?)
 
Dean Shomshak
 

Hedy Lamarr
1) Incredibly talented actress
2) Inventor, self taught mostly, who worked for Howard Hughes at one point, also helped invent the Frequency Hopping Spectrum to jam Nazi torpedos (Tech would later be incorporated into Wifi)
3) During World War II, the Office of Strategic Services invented a pyrotechnic device meant to help agents operating behind enemy lines to escape if capture seemed imminent. When the pin was pulled, it made the whistle of a falling bomb followed by a loud explosion and a large cloud of smoke, enabling the agent to make his escape. It saved the life of at least one agent. The device was codenamed the Hedy Lamarr.
4) Incredible Recluse particularly later in her life
 

may I add Christopher Lee

No new technology works as well as its most enthusiastic boosters hope.
 
Every new technology brings new problems with it.
 
And yet, I see no evidence of people really wanting to give up computers. Or aviation. Or plastics. Or automobiles. Or radio. Or explosives. Or antibiotics. Or electricity. Or artificial fertilizers. Or automatic looms. Or vaccination. Or the printing press. Or, for that matter, writing (which took away our memories and put us at the mercy of paperwork), agriculture (the starting point for the threat of overpopulation), or fire (who knows how many still are killed each year from our failure to control it?), or knives (still a popular tool of murder).
 
I take this as evidence that the common person recognizes that the benefits from the expansion of human capacity consistently outweigh the drawbacks. And given this long history, I confidently predict that it will continue to be so.
 
So good for you, Mr. Branson. I raise my glass to you, and to everyone else trying to develop space industry.
 
Dean Shomshak

Given the potential benefits of space industrialization, such as nigh-limitless solar energy, minerals from the asteroids, and microgravity industrial processes... No, it's not clear to me that Branson could spend his money on any worthier cause. Sure, space tourism is a junket for the ultra-rich. But it's an indulgence that builds capacity for other things.
 
Dean Shomshak

In my two playtest campaigns for Ultimate Supermage and Ultimate Mystic, all the characters were of course mystical in some way. A friend of mine also ran a "dark mystical" campaign: both Morningstar (from USM) and Doctor Teneber (from Arcane Adversaries and CV3) were my PCs from that campaign.
 
Another friend of mine was in a campaign where, by chance, all the players wrote up some kind of brick. The GM ran with it. They called the team... The Brick Wall!
 
Dean Shomshak

No new technology works as well as its most enthusiastic boosters hope.
 
Every new technology brings new problems with it.
 
And yet, I see no evidence of people really wanting to give up computers. Or aviation. Or plastics. Or automobiles. Or radio. Or explosives. Or antibiotics. Or electricity. Or artificial fertilizers. Or automatic looms. Or vaccination. Or the printing press. Or, for that matter, writing (which took away our memories and put us at the mercy of paperwork), agriculture (the starting point for the threat of overpopulation), or fire (who knows how many still are killed each year from our failure to control it?), or knives (still a popular tool of murder).
 
I take this as evidence that the common person recognizes that the benefits from the expansion of human capacity consistently outweigh the drawbacks. And given this long history, I confidently predict that it will continue to be so.
 
So good for you, Mr. Branson. I raise my glass to you, and to everyone else trying to develop space industry.
 
Dean Shomshak

Given the potential benefits of space industrialization, such as nigh-limitless solar energy, minerals from the asteroids, and microgravity industrial processes... No, it's not clear to me that Branson could spend his money on any worthier cause. Sure, space tourism is a junket for the ultra-rich. But it's an indulgence that builds capacity for other things.
 
Dean Shomshak

No new technology works as well as its most enthusiastic boosters hope.
 
Every new technology brings new problems with it.
 
And yet, I see no evidence of people really wanting to give up computers. Or aviation. Or plastics. Or automobiles. Or radio. Or explosives. Or antibiotics. Or electricity. Or artificial fertilizers. Or automatic looms. Or vaccination. Or the printing press. Or, for that matter, writing (which took away our memories and put us at the mercy of paperwork), agriculture (the starting point for the threat of overpopulation), or fire (who knows how many still are killed each year from our failure to control it?), or knives (still a popular tool of murder).
 
I take this as evidence that the common person recognizes that the benefits from the expansion of human capacity consistently outweigh the drawbacks. And given this long history, I confidently predict that it will continue to be so.
 
So good for you, Mr. Branson. I raise my glass to you, and to everyone else trying to develop space industry.
 
Dean Shomshak

No new technology works as well as its most enthusiastic boosters hope.
 
Every new technology brings new problems with it.
 
And yet, I see no evidence of people really wanting to give up computers. Or aviation. Or plastics. Or automobiles. Or radio. Or explosives. Or antibiotics. Or electricity. Or artificial fertilizers. Or automatic looms. Or vaccination. Or the printing press. Or, for that matter, writing (which took away our memories and put us at the mercy of paperwork), agriculture (the starting point for the threat of overpopulation), or fire (who knows how many still are killed each year from our failure to control it?), or knives (still a popular tool of murder).
 
I take this as evidence that the common person recognizes that the benefits from the expansion of human capacity consistently outweigh the drawbacks. And given this long history, I confidently predict that it will continue to be so.
 
So good for you, Mr. Branson. I raise my glass to you, and to everyone else trying to develop space industry.
 
Dean Shomshak

Given the potential benefits of space industrialization, such as nigh-limitless solar energy, minerals from the asteroids, and microgravity industrial processes... No, it's not clear to me that Branson could spend his money on any worthier cause. Sure, space tourism is a junket for the ultra-rich. But it's an indulgence that builds capacity for other things.
 
Dean Shomshak

Howard Hughes - supposedly the inspiration for Tony Stark.
 
Elon Musk - first eccentric industrialist since Howard Hughes to fit the bill.
 
Which, of course, brings us to ... Tesla,  the quintessential mad scientist, reputed to control lightning with his bare hands, create force fields, interdimentional gates, intercontinental death rays, and an earthquake machine - his real inventions weren't a lot less fantastic.
(I guess he'd work as a villain, too.)
 
Oh, while nobody beats Uncle Al on the mystic side, Harry Houdini, either as a mystic or a super-skilled debunker (or both - shielding mankind from the supernatural terrors ...)

Given the potential benefits of space industrialization, such as nigh-limitless solar energy, minerals from the asteroids, and microgravity industrial processes... No, it's not clear to me that Branson could spend his money on any worthier cause. Sure, space tourism is a junket for the ultra-rich. But it's an indulgence that builds capacity for other things.
 
Dean Shomshak

Given the potential benefits of space industrialization, such as nigh-limitless solar energy, minerals from the asteroids, and microgravity industrial processes... No, it's not clear to me that Branson could spend his money on any worthier cause. Sure, space tourism is a junket for the ultra-rich. But it's an indulgence that builds capacity for other things.
 
Dean Shomshak

In case you're interested:
Scion High Campaign Chronicle Repost - Onyx Path Forums
forum.theonyxpath.com/forum/main-category/main-forum/... Scion High takes the Scion game and filters it through modern high school. The style is that of TV shows such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Smallville: basically action-adventure, but with heaping helpings of teen angst and soap opera. Characters face titanspawn monsters and evil cultists, but they also face the challenges of sports, dating, afterschool jobs, parents and teachers
 
Vide Archer's comments, though, I'll stipulate that my vote for "The Price of Dreams" is conditional on it not be run as the sort of Iron Age extorted-minions-of-evil-government that he seemed to be imagining. And I would agree: That would be horrible. (But then, I think most Iron Age is horrible, and as phony as the Silver Age style without being nearly as fun.) The morality and the politics around the super-teen refugee program might not be clear, but there would need to be some sympathetic people involved in running it.
 
The setting probably needs to be tweaked so that if the PCs are actually expected to engage in field missions, supers are rare enough that the government could not afford to just put the kids in super-school for years. Or at least, supers who are reliable enough and willing to work for the government are rare. It might be interesting to flip the standard comic-book trope of private citizen heroes following their moral codes while the Gubmint ranges from stupid, through asshole-ish, to outright villainous Shadowy Agency(TM), by playing up the loose-cannon vigilante aspects of the "heroes" hiding behind their secret identities. Conversely, while some of the super-teens' handlers want to train them as myrmidons for the State, others can present a vision of true social responsibility -- likely the careerists who know they could make more money in the private sector, while the authoritarian dicks are political appointees.
 
Dean Shomshak

In case you're interested:
Scion High Campaign Chronicle Repost - Onyx Path Forums
forum.theonyxpath.com/forum/main-category/main-forum/... Scion High takes the Scion game and filters it through modern high school. The style is that of TV shows such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Smallville: basically action-adventure, but with heaping helpings of teen angst and soap opera. Characters face titanspawn monsters and evil cultists, but they also face the challenges of sports, dating, afterschool jobs, parents and teachers
 
Vide Archer's comments, though, I'll stipulate that my vote for "The Price of Dreams" is conditional on it not be run as the sort of Iron Age extorted-minions-of-evil-government that he seemed to be imagining. And I would agree: That would be horrible. (But then, I think most Iron Age is horrible, and as phony as the Silver Age style without being nearly as fun.) The morality and the politics around the super-teen refugee program might not be clear, but there would need to be some sympathetic people involved in running it.
 
The setting probably needs to be tweaked so that if the PCs are actually expected to engage in field missions, supers are rare enough that the government could not afford to just put the kids in super-school for years. Or at least, supers who are reliable enough and willing to work for the government are rare. It might be interesting to flip the standard comic-book trope of private citizen heroes following their moral codes while the Gubmint ranges from stupid, through asshole-ish, to outright villainous Shadowy Agency(TM), by playing up the loose-cannon vigilante aspects of the "heroes" hiding behind their secret identities. Conversely, while some of the super-teens' handlers want to train them as myrmidons for the State, others can present a vision of true social responsibility -- likely the careerists who know they could make more money in the private sector, while the authoritarian dicks are political appointees.
 
Dean Shomshak

In the MCU as an example, and including the Netflix series; while they often showed modern cell phones, tablets, computers, etc. (with the assumed apps as well) - and the heroes even used them (especially in the Netflix series), it never impacted the movies one way or another - they were just there, like they are in real life - and didn't change a thing.
 
That is how I handle it in my game - the tech has stayed current, but it doesn't change anything.  In fact, if you read any of the recent episodes of my game <link>, you'll note that I gave one of the heroes an "UNTIL super-phone", that works interplanetary (I didn't even attempt to explain it) - and it has only aided my game...  In the last episode in fact, they did an intergalactic video call, which I again didn't even attempt to explain....  It was cool "window dressing" though, everyone liked it...
 
I also find it interesting, the whole vigilante concept from movies/TV - it was quaint years ago - but now, with PMCs (Private Military Contractors or Companies) on every corner, and any private firm able to employ them, not to mention high-end security specialists (used to be called body guards back in the day), who specialize in "full-spectrum security" (meaning social media, hacking defense, drone defense, physical defense, etc.), not to mention all the websites that think they're making the world safer ("outing" supposed pedophiles, sexual predators, etc.); I find the concept that a "super hero" would be labeled a "vigilante" a little absurd.  I think it would be really interesting to see how the modern world would actually react; citizen arrests are still "legal"...  Mercenaries have been around since ancient times, and no one has really done anything to curb that activity, in any meaningful way ("Soldier of fortune" indeed).
 
I think the government would react more like they did in the MCU and DCEU - feeling threatened by supers, as if they were a military risk or threat to national security.  That would lead to an interesting response over time I imagine...
 

Happy Tunguska Day!
 
Dean Shomshak

I've voted for the least problematic option to my mind. (Past the Cold War, worried about politics, kind of cool to divine origins in general.) I actually liked the "Team Mutant" option in your last poll, Hermit, even if it didn't quite scratch my itch for "secret history" stories, which is the way I wish that particular subgenre had gone to start with.
 
, , , 
 
"Oh, good. You're awake. I've never actually had to tase someone before. I didn't think it was supposed to knock someone unconscious!"
 
Dylan tested his bonds. Not too bad. Easy enough to slip. When he'd learned whatever this guy was going to tell him. Which, according to movies that had nothing to do with real life, would be pretty much everything. "I don't think . . . I. I'm sorry. Who are you again?"
 
"Henry McCoy. Dr. McCoy, but I prefer being called Hank. I'm the Director here at the Sunshine Valley Private Hospital. And you . . I  hope you don't mind a bit of invasion of privacy, are Dylan Lee, aged 21. You graduated from Wisconsin Journalism, last year, which doesn't seem like the world's best career choice in this year of our Lord 2015, but I notice you didn't ask me before you registered your major.  You're  are an intern at the New York Daily Bugle and you have a Master Card and a Visa, which is great, because you can use one to pay off the other and stave off bankruptcy twice as long!"
 
"So you Googled me. Dr. McCoy?"
 
"And searched our wallet. Yes. I was trying to figure out why you were sneaking around the wards in my hospital in a very cool black tactical outfit."
 
"We heard at the News that . . . Britney Spears . . . was an inpatient here."
 
"Baloney. We are an obscure little psychiatric hospital. In the 52 years this place has been open, under the previous director and myself, we have dealt with exactly one kind of patient: Young people who develop psychiatric issues around puberty. We are specialists, and I like to think that our results speak for themselves. While I like to think that we have something to offer celebrity patients, the fact is that our supporting foundation funds a diverse clientele ranging from the lower middle class to upper middle class. The wildest we get is some non-citizens. Two Russians! A Kenyan! One Japanese kid? Oh, wait, two starting next year."
 
Dr. McCoy hesitated, sighed. "Okay, and one celebrity. Allison was B-list back in the day. Still gets enough in residuals to drive a Lexus. Maybe we should advertise?"
 
Dr. McCoy shook his head, unconvincingly pretending to regret something. "Maybe not. Frankly, a  solid career at an obscure little hospital in a Catskills resort town has done very well for me. I made a lot of money, I have a nice house and a private plane. The children and grandchildren of former patients cut my grass. Hope is the cutest little thing. Laura is not. Life has been pretty sweet."
 
Crap. McCoy was just going to stick with the cover story. Like a sane person would. The movies did lie! Dylan slipped his restraints and hit that mental turboboost that sped up his reflexes until everyone around him was standing still. This place. Could it be? When Director Lang explained the mission, all he'd been thinking about was his student loans. No way was this lead, the latest in sixty years of bad leads going to pan out. But then they took him down, and he knew that wasn't something they could do with a taser. Well, they weren't going to blindside him again!
 
Until they did. A solid thump, and he was down, wind knocked out, a solid looking man in a jumpsuit above him, the restraints back around his wrist. He'd never been hit like this. Was this what superheroes felt like all the time? Well, let him catch his breath and this donnybrook was back on!
 
"Looks like he's going to be back  up in a second, Hank," the second man said. Where had he even come from?
 
"Put this on him, Tom."
 
"Is that what I think it is?" Tom asked.
 
"Don't get all high and mighty, Tom. These things work on 80% of us, detectors 80%. Dylan doesn't show up on our detectors. If the collar doesn't work, odds are he's not, you know. But if it does . . ."
 
And just like that, a smooth metal something was going around Dylan's throat, followed by a click and the worst headrush Dylan ever had. Or more than that, because suddenly his hands and feet were asleep and his stomach was trying to jump through his mouth. He tried to open his mouth, like you do when you're about to throw up, and somehow even that didn't work. 
 
Dr. McCoy fished his phone out of his pocket, answered it. Apparently. Dylan's eyes weren't focussing very well, either. "Crap," Dr. McCoy said. "Nate's getting a headache. Get that thing off him before Chuck picks it up. The Old Man is fragile enough as it is."
 
The barest blur, and the collar was gone. 
 
Dr. McCoy knelt down, held out his hand. "Here. I'll help you into that chair if  we can agree that you're not going to fight your way out of here, Dylan. Agent Lee." 
 
"I'm not a real agent," Lee said. "CIA does interns, too. At least they pay, unlike The Bugle."
 
"SENTINEL, Dylan, not CIA."
 
"I'm sorry?"
 
"Dr. McCoy means that you're an agent --an intern-- for a shadow agency within the CIA. SENTINEL. It is tasked with hunting people like us." Tom talked very fast.
 
"Us? I'm nothing like you, Speedy Gonzalez. You're the X-Men, a bunch of super-terrorists going back 60 years. I'm a vaguely patriotic Millennial who really needs a safe civil service job to have any hope of paying off his student loans." But inside, Dylan's stomach was going out again. They knew what he was. And in that moment he understood just how much he had always wanted to know the same. 
 
Dr. McCoy sighed again. "How much do  you know about speciation theory in evolution?"
 
"I thought you were a psychiatrist?" Crap. For a moment, Dylan had thought he might belong. But this sounded like gibberish.
 
"I'm a supergenius. Just like you have totipotent reflexes. Because you were born that way. Because you are a mutant. Which means that if  your employers ever figure out how you got your powers, you're going to find out what the inside of an extermination camp looks like."
 
"I . . . what? The government isn't running some secret Holocaust for movie monsters! That's crazy!" Although Dylan was willing to believe a lot of things about Director Lang. It had always been hard to believe that a man with so much hate inside him could be running his own division. 
 
"The government isn't doing anything. There are 416 mutants on this entire planet, and a good third of them were picked up by us long before SENTINEL noticed them. Which means that your agency thinks that it is quietly dealing with a problem on a scale of one to two people born a year. All antisocial and dangerous, incidentally. The CIA has kept bigger secrets. But you know what isn't a secret that they could keep? An enclave of 99 mutants, all living in commuting distance of New York and staffing their own superteam. We really need to keep it that way for a very, very long time. Like, say, 800 years at the current rate of natural increase. We also really don't want them finding out that detectors and inhibitors aren't 100% reliable. It's shocking enough to find out that CEREBRO isn't."
 
"If  you're thinking what I think you're thinking, I'm out," Tom said. "I think Laura has her Dad's number if  you need it. Or Emma?"
 
Dr. McCoy shook his head. "No, I'm not. Dylan's a mutant and he's stable. The community can't lose him. Demographically speaking. In fact, I'm tempted to drag this boy down to the Guthries right now. There's a lot of girls there who really don't want to marry a cousin. And boys, too, pardon your brother's patience with an old-fashioned Boomer. And we need to find out how CEREBRO missed him, and who else it might have missed."
 
Dr. McCoy hesitated for a second. "Dylan, would you like a job? Because I could really use a secret agent man on my action team."

Another poster expressed interest in seeing the plans for Wetchley House, the base acquired by the PCs in my first playtest campaign for Ultimate Supermage. Fortunately, I still have them as files, so you don't have to look at scans from my crappy scanner. Well, except for the picture of the house.
 
This was a 4th ed campaign, so the plans are hex-mapped.
 
The house isn't big. I don't remember the exact book from which I adapted the plans, but there are scads of books out there such as Victorian House Plans, Classic House Plans, etc. Then I traced and spliced together bits of drawings of those houses, with a little freehanding to fill in the gaps, and made an illustration. I'll start with that:

Dean Shomshak

Three bathrooms in Wetchley House! (2nd and 3rd floor on Earth, 2nd floor on Babylon.)
 
Dean Shomshak

And for anyone who wants some "flavor text," here's an excerpt from the Campaign Chronicle one of my players kept, initially for the benefit of a few former players (but wow I'm glad for the reference now). I added only a few notes of clarification.
 
Also, Wetchley House is ornately Victorian, but I'm not sure it qualifies as a "mansion." The original plans were of a house of fairly modest size, just one step up from a "cottage."
--------------
>Date: Mon, 11 Dec 1995 02:31:34
>To: [REDACTED]
>From: [REDACTED]
>Subject: Madhouse!
 
Well, after a month long break due to Thanksgiving, we again continue the saga of our motley crew of spellcasters...
 
Last month you may recall, we fought and defeated the Anarchitect; at the end, chaos went wild in the Anarchitect's Babylonian base, with Artifex running in and trying to spell hack the wild chaos to settle it. It succeeded, after a fashion. The Victorian mansion is now bidimensionally located (in both Babylon's Victorian London district and in our old lot on Earth in Tacoma, WA). We rest a day, and then decide to explore our new base together. I won't go into details of the exploration, since no exciting battles or such developed, but the house has 9 floors (maybe 10, depending on how you count). The first 4 floors are Earthly, and are - with a few odd bits, such as the living goldfish swimming in the crystal doorknob - a substantially normal appearing Victorian mansion (allowing for some modern conveniences; electricity, semi-modern appliances, etc.). On the Earthly levels exist such rooms as the Kitchen, a Parlor (which Jezeray is dressing this up as a Seance Room for her Fortune Telling business), Library, Smoking Lounge, 3 bedrooms, a Music room, and a Den. All are decorated in a substantially Victorian style. There is also a Cellar floor with the utilities and a now-unused coal bin, and a area perfect for Redeemer (who now has taken to calling himself The Bishop) to convert for his crypt-like quarters.
 
The "next" 4 floors (as we numbered them anyway) are Babylonian - each is decorated in a style based on the 4 sons of Urthona (the Supreme Lord of Art). His sons were Art's envoys to the other
Zoas. The bottom Babylonian floor is dedicated to Bromion, Art's envoy to Order, and is decked out in Swedish Modern (all white tile, chrome trim, very angular with lots of flush surfaces). This floor has a Game Room, Pantry, Office (w/ obsolete PC computer), and a very sterile bedroom.
 
The next floor up is in the style of Theotormon, Art's envoy to Nature, and is decorated in a style we termed Oriental Fusion - a mix of assorted oriental styles. This level has a parlor, vestibule (w/the traditional low Japanese tables), a very lushly appointed bedroom (which Artifex took dibs on), and a Buddhist Shrine of all things.
 
The 6th floor is a tribute to Rintrah, Art's envoy to Chaos, and is done in a style mixing Baroque and Heavy Metal elements - imagine the ornate carvings and paintings of mad King Ludwig's
castles, but with images of punk angels in leather instead of graceful swans or cherubim, and other similarly perverted imagery. This level houses a trophy room, and Armory (complete with medieval weapons and armor), a Salon, and the very ornate - if somewhat disturbing - bedroom.
 
The last Babylonian floor is in the style of Palamabron, Art's envoy to itself, and is decorated in a Art Nouveau / Surrealist style. This level is much bigger inside than outside, and has as its principle feature a Ballroom with a Musician's Dais. In addition, there is a Costume Room (with racks of assorted costumes; Jezeray stole a Gypsy costume to use in her job) and a storage room with lumber - which we will use to fuel the non-gas fireplaces that are located through the house. The main hallway "wraps around" and connects back to itself.
 
One door connects the corresponding floors on the Earth and Babylon sides of the house.
 
There is also a floor that does not exist with Babylon or Earth - in fact, when The Bishop used a Transform to open the skylight glass there was literally nothing beyond except a diffuse white light. The air started to get sucked out just like in a sci-fi movie when you breach the hull. This is what we call the Garden Level - it has a large garden, with a recessed bower to one side, and a round, 20' diameter pool (steps leading in suggest it is a swimming pool although the water is unheated) with a mermaid fountain in the center. There is also an area to the side decked out in plain white tiles. We think it would make a good gymnasiumif we put the equipment in.
 
The stairs form a double loop, too. If you start from the Earth side first floor and keep climbing, you go past the attic foor to arrive in… the cellar floor of the Babylon side. Keep going through the floors of the Babylon house, and above the attic you find the garden floor. Go up another flight and you’re in the cellar of the Earth side. One more flight up, and you’re back where you started.
 
Finally, the "tenth" floor, which is really the tower room above a balcony which is, in turn, over the front door. This is where Anarchitect was conducting his ritual. From the outside, this is just a little turret - but from the inside it’s a 20 foot square room. It seems somewhat reinforced, making it a good place to cast risky spells. It’s only 1 room, with 4 doors, one in each wall. 2 doors lead to the rooms near the turret – one to the Earth part of the house, one to the Babylon half. The other doors lead to matching closets on the Earth and Babylon sides.
 
I should also mention the elevator - it goes to every floor except the tower room. It has only five buttons, however. The first four (from bottom up) take you to the first four earthly floors. The last button takes you randomly to one of the Babylonian floors or the Garden floor. Of course, I have left our a plethora of bathrooms, small storage areas, etc.
 
Well, I hope I haven't spent too much time on the base, which understandably wouldn't interest you as much as me. Anyway, on to the actual adventure...
----------------
But that part isn't relevant here. Kudos to anyone who's lasted this long.
 
Dean Shomshak
 

Very much appreciated. (Polite applause.) I suspect I might have a very grateful totally not the Sorcerer Supreme to play sometime soon, which will be wonderful. Literally. As in it is "full of wonders".

With a telepath in the backstory, the infiltrator(s) might not even know it... "The Manchurian Superhero," for extra paranoia!
 
Though the question arises: Hpow does a government control a telepath who can implant deep programming? Who handles the handler? Loyalties may change more than once in such a campaign -- or at least, whgo needs saving from whom.
 
Dean Shomshak