steriaca

Doable, but be careful. If you make him get away too offen, they might not like him showing up all the time.
 
Unless the plot demands it, he should always be captureable. This way the heroes can point to it and say they are doing good in the world. And the players.
 
(He can always excape later, or if dead/redead, resurrect later.)

Regarding the dome -- I did something similar once, with the dome being self-regenerating.  So if enough damage was done, it could open a hole - which would close again relatively quickly.  This allowed the heroes to get inside after making an effort, but they couldn't, say, bring in an infantry division very easily.
 
RP   AP   Sample Gadgets                                                                                                       
25   148   Victor Von Dome:  Barrier 12 rPD / 12 rED, 8 BODY, 6 km Long, 3 km Tall, ½m Thick, Hardened (+¼), Impenetrable (+¼), Stops Teleport (+¼), Megascale (1m = 1 km; +1); Fixed Shape (Globe;   -¼), OAF Immobile Fragile (-2¼), Dome Drops if OAF Destroyed (-½), 1 Charge (-2)

24   100   Dome Repair:  Healing 2d6 BODY, Constant (+½), AoE (4 km Radius; +¼), Megascale (1m = 1 km; +1), Decreased Re-Use Duration (1 Turn; +1½), 0 END (+½), Persistent (+¼); OAF Immobile Fragile (-2¼), Only affects von Dome (-1)
 
This was for a game where the max attacks were about 12d6-14d6.  If you're going to provide a writeup of the dome, feel free to use this or something similar; you may want to increase the size, maybe make it Configurable (+1/4) so the Skull can open and close holes in it, and add Affects Desolid.  Also remove Fragile so the "dome generator" would have a massive rPD / rED itself - instead of 30 rPD / 30 rED, I'd make a GM call to allow it to be 20 rPD / 20 rED, Hardened (+1/4), Impenetrable (+1/4).  Sure, the heroes can figure out where the dome generator is located, but can't easily trash it before the Skull's forces converge.

Blame renfars.

I like the idea of Brother Bone still believing he is some kind of healer. He could wrap himself in an illusion of a living being and run some new age 'health retreat' somewhere. All the pa, err, victims will be slowly dieing from his powers, but they will appear to be healthy and happy people (more illusions combined with 'helpful' necromancy which keeps pain at bay without healing a darn thing).
 
He does have an army of skeletons/zombies at his command, but thoes are more of a side effect of his gole of 'healing the world' than the gole itself.

Congratulations on being the winner. I was waiting for that one more entery, and got distracted by things. The current distraction is Dome City.
 
Anyways, this group is called The Omegas. Father Omaga is a speedster who can run up walls and across water. Mother Omaga shoots energy bolts from her forehead and can fly. Miss. Omaga is superhumanly strong and nigh invulnerable, which ticks her off cause she wanted something cool and feminine as a power, like force fields and invisability. And finally there is Kid Omaga, who is hyper intelligence and hyper dexterous.
 
This family won there powers from the gameshow So You Want To Be A Superhero. They are contracted to use there powers for the greater good, or they will be repossessed.

Congratulations on being the winner. I was waiting for that one more entery, and got distracted by things. The current distraction is Dome City.
 
Anyways, this group is called The Omegas. Father Omaga is a speedster who can run up walls and across water. Mother Omaga shoots energy bolts from her forehead and can fly. Miss. Omaga is superhumanly strong and nigh invulnerable, which ticks her off cause she wanted something cool and feminine as a power, like force fields and invisability. And finally there is Kid Omaga, who is hyper intelligence and hyper dexterous.
 
This family won there powers from the gameshow So You Want To Be A Superhero. They are contracted to use there powers for the greater good, or they will be repossessed.

Congratulations on being the winner. I was waiting for that one more entery, and got distracted by things. The current distraction is Dome City.
 
Anyways, this group is called The Omegas. Father Omaga is a speedster who can run up walls and across water. Mother Omaga shoots energy bolts from her forehead and can fly. Miss. Omaga is superhumanly strong and nigh invulnerable, which ticks her off cause she wanted something cool and feminine as a power, like force fields and invisability. And finally there is Kid Omaga, who is hyper intelligence and hyper dexterous.
 
This family won there powers from the gameshow So You Want To Be A Superhero. They are contracted to use there powers for the greater good, or they will be repossessed.

I would assume the dome is a sphere, and the mathematically inclined my eventually twig to that, and figure out that maybe what's generating the sphere is at its center point, but have been distracted by all the tasks they have to do. I'd  think that endless requests from officials, and disaster responses may keep them too busy to stop and think, thereby delaying the discovery until later.

One idea could be that bonified men and women with superpowers are rare. Most supers in this world are self trained guys with martial arts skills and specialised equipment. "Mutants" exist (The Skull is one of "the evolved" after all), but mutations tend to be physical/mental in nature, and less "look, a freek".
 
Also mutations are not anything one can point to and say "mutant" in the game world. Skull looks the way he does because of lifestyle choices and poisons from his experiences, not because he is a mutant.

You have mad money?   I'm shocked.
 
All my money is mad at me, and I have to spend it on rent and food less they get too upset.

You have mad money?   I'm shocked.
 
All my money is mad at me, and I have to spend it on rent and food less they get too upset.

Sir Real,  Carries a Paintbrush 
Sir 
 
Chester the Jester, Bad puns and dad jokes.

Coming back to this, I question whether anywhere will not be noticed.  Here, Duke has suggested technology, tourism, and agricultural trade are the main industries.  So how does a city with a bunch of tourism escape notice when suddenly domed off?  Even if it's just a tech town, don't its residents have cell phones and internet access (which, when cut off, make it noticable than no communication is going in or coming out)?  Do none of its businesses report to out of town management?  If it needs regular supplies, isn't it noticed when the supplies can't be delivered due to the Dome?
 
I think "what is the response from outside?" is a Chapter 2 issue - the Ch 1 "dome is up" time is short enough that the outside world is only just becoming aware of the issue.  The Skull not thinking of this bigger picture can be an outgrowth of his sanity issues - the possibility that, say, the Gov't would not simply recognize his superiority and cede control once faced with his amazing Dome just never occurred to him.  Possibly leading to a climax (Ch 3?) in which "if I can't have Hepzibah, no one can" and the heroes need to prevent the Dome being overloaded and destroying all within it (if the Skull is missing, presumed dead, on his defeat, so much the better - Skull v2.0 can show up later).

Skull Agents (the Skulls):
 
Two levels of protection (standard armored uniform backed up by a small force field of 0 END).
 
Bone Blaster: It's a simple Energy Blast at 0 END. Note, the battery which powers the gun and the force field is inside the right glove. This, disarming the gun doesn't risk the heroes discovering the secrets of the battery.
 
And, with the exception of some minor powers (flash defences, some minor mental defense which mentalist can rip aside if they focus upon it), and your set.
 
Battery: While it is a lesser version of the battery which powers The Skull, it is based upon his own battery. It won't last forever, but should hold a charge for 50 years even with heavy use.
 
We don't need two levels of agents. If the players need more of a challenge, simply add more agents, or even a super to back them up.

The Skull:
 
Helmet: The OMCV vs DCV Energy Blast and Killing Attack at 0 END should be enough. The idea of Extra Limbs and Stretching and Telekinesis is silly when we have his exoskeleton. First level, 75 points, second level 90 points.
 
Exoskeleton: Your basic "power armor" without the various energy blasts. Increses his physical abilities, provides two levels of defense, plus the Missle Deflection ("energy absorption" is merly a special effect). The second level of his stats adds Reflection to this also (instant absorption and release of energy via the empty battery). First level 20 defences, second level 30 defences.
 
The Drug: An Aid to INT with the side effect of dependance. Skull himself already has the physical limitation of adiction to it. Prehaps also dependence (diminished INT when he can't take it).
 
His vast intelligence is his "mutant power", and the drug he feals gives him an edge intelligence wise. He was already an unstable person, the drug even more so.
 
How does "the evolved" sound like, as a replacement for "mutant"?
 
Battery: It might be a complicated build, but prehaps the battery can be grabable in combat (seperate 0 END on a IAF Focus). He is wise enough to have as back-up power supply, and is wise enough to know to get away as soon as possible once the battery is removed. He could also rig his battery to explode...later, when he returns.

Good enough.
 
 
Tell me what you think of this, then:
 
Pollutant X, which is ultimately responsible for ninja bear's MuckMan and the start of the investigation for the Raven, is in fact a byproduct of the creation of the super-battery that the Skull is using to power the Dome.  
 
Let's move back ten years.
 
Leonard, who will become The Skull, becomes the owner of a great idea: a revolutionary new super-battery technology.  ---  Break--  How does he get it?  Does he design it?  Does he find it?  Does he steal it?  Is it the result of genius inspiration, or is the an alien artifact he stumbled across while living in the old mines, on the run from the mob some years before?  Even if it is not his design, I believe we are in agreement that he is smart enough to understand the principles behind it and recognize its value and its potential.
 
So he has come here, to Hepzibah, drawn by its reputation as an up-and-coming center for technological advancement, the city's then-new focus on supplementing and eventually replacing their traditional power production with as much "green energy" as possible.   If he can't find backers here, then he won't find them _anywhere_.
 
He couldn't find the backers he'd hoped for.  He was actually quite shocked to discover that none of the tech firms he approached, including up-and-coming high-profile pioneers Company 3 (think Elon Musk's outfit: stay in the public eye, and be as flashy as possible) turned him down cold.  Plans were one thing; anyone could show up with indecipherable plans and claim they yielded a whole new angle on energy storage and retrieval.  Show us something we can _use_.  Explain the science.  Fearful of having the idea taken from him, he refused to explain it, and promised instead to return with a working pro type for testing.
 
Unable to find backing from a populace already used to being taken by "high tech con men," he turned toward the criminal element, and found his funding.  The things he had to agree to do, though....   But this is not that story.  This is Leonard's story.  Upon completion of the first batch of super-batteries, he took them around again to potential users and investors, all of whom were impressed.  Safe to produce and handle (thus far), and capable of storing upwards a thousand amp hours in something the size of a deck of cards with a weight of mere ounces....  Retrieval of the power was equally impressive: the battery would handle any draw up to full and nearly instantaneous discharge, much like a capacitor, with none of the downfalls of that particular device.  There was little doubt that overnight, the electric vehicle industry could be revolutionized!
 
Unfortunately for Leonard, that's just what happened.  But it happened without him.  While he haggled for a partnership deal, the syndicate from whom he had borrowed the money simply seized the remaining batteries and sold them for millions.  Then they sold the plans to an automobile manufacturer for millions more.  The buyer of the batteries, philanthropist by nature, simply divided them up and gave them to each of the interested tech firms in Hepzibah, and a few months later, they were available commercially.  To date, sales are slow, as there is no solid infrastructure yet for any field in which they would be superior to currently-avaliable technology.  A couple of upstart electric car companies are using them, but the price is extremely high, making them novelty items at best.  The Raven's electric motorcycle is powered by one, and carries three others as spares, "just in case."
 
Upon confronting the syndicate, Leonard was met with a thorough beating, and the reminder that he should appreciate having his "debt" paid all at once.  Then he was reminded that "brains is a real good thing to have, Doc.  But brains...  well, brains ain't as good as smarts; you know what I mean?"
 
And that's when he lost it.  That's when he vowed that everyone here-- the syndicate, the tech firms-- the city!  Everyone who stood in his way, who stopped him from demonstrating his genius would be _forced_ to acknowledge it; the stupid and inferior were destined to bow before the genius, and he would move Hell and high water to make sure that the genius to which they bowed would be his.  He would be a king, or he would be dead.  There would be nothing in between.
 
During his work with his prototypes, Leonard realized that the batteries would store not just electricity, but almost any energy-- thermal, kinetic, radiation-- anything.  And they could be configured to release it in any of a wide variety of forms.  He had in his hands a way to store and release, for lack of a better term, "Tabletop Plasma," and with just a little work, he could control and mould it completely.  (it is these changes to the design that result in the toxic byproduct of the batteries he is currently producing.  This byproduct is responsible for his hair loss and gaunt appearance).  Fearing the syndicate would return demanding more batteries (foolish, since they had gone so far as to sell the plans), he fled town and set up a shop in one of the abandoned mines in the foothills.
 
Realizing his need for operating capital, and learning the lessons of the criminal element, he began to manufacture drugs and recruit small time gangs as distributors.  His gaunt face and bald head highlighted by the grime of living in an old mine, combined with his obvious intelligence, the gangs took to calling him "The Skull."  Within no time at all, he had a small empire started, and began to shape his business as work in earnest on his batteries and his plan to break every living person in this city, then the country, then the world.  First, though, he had to finish he exoskeleton.  He wasn't as strong or as fast as those in the syndicate.  Those who had beaten him, humiliated him.  Those who had stolen his rightful recognition as a genius, and possible savior to the modern world.   He wasn't strong enough.  Not yet.  But in just a few more days....
 
 
 
okay, that seems like more than enough for our villain.  Any thoughts? And does anybody want to write him up? Remember that he is the "master villain" of this arc, and with his exoskeleton should be at least a match for two player characters at once; possibly three.    I don't see a reason to do a "lowball" version of him.

Great ideas guys.
 
Here is the how The Skull and The Skulls are able to slip through the energy barrier. The Skull agents all have a switch on there belts, hidden by the skull shape buckle. Once switched, it stays on for as long as it takes for them to run (not walk) through the barrier. This creates an energy single that matches the barrier. The Skull himself can turn on and off the switch at will, so there is no need for him to run through (unlike his agents, where it automatically turns off).
 
How does this help our heroes? It involkes the Troup "steal the guards clothes". Also, blasters might be able to mimic the energy pulse to get past the barrier. Once there, the hero could destroy the power battery. Once down, the entire system could dasy chain meltdown like a Christmas tree with obe burnt out light.

Desolfication, only vs AoE attacks, requires a dex roll.

Yes. We are whipping the dead horse. Again and again and again.

Yes. We are whipping the dead horse. Again and again and again.

Meet Wendy, the messenger of Death.
 
The Messengers are those who bring the soul to their afterlives.  Wendy died in the 1800's but death found her cheerful attitude so amusing he made her one of his agents.  Now she helps souls to move on to their next life, often helping them get closer before hand (Helps them do that last errant, say goodbye to someone they love, etc...).  She does her best to make people realize death is not scary, just another part of life as such...
 
I'm thinking of her like the old Cain and Able from Houses of Mystery and Secrets, where each of her stories start with her claiming the soul of someone, then we get to see an interesting story about their life...Often with a little bit of unfinished business getting done in the end (The weeping Widow smells a trace of her husband's cologne and knows it's going to be okay...)

This is the Hero System. If someone tells you there is only one way to do something, they are lying.

Sorry Chris. I just want to see Hero Games publishing again. With adventures in a shared world, like we had in 4th edition. We need not have physical books, but man, we had a product every two weeks. 

This is the Hero System. If someone tells you there is only one way to do something, they are lying.

This is the Hero System. If someone tells you there is only one way to do something, they are lying.