Matt Frisbee

Re: Knightshift Stories -- Campaign Log Thanks for the praise. Faith is a contact of Powerhouse's, so she should be a recurring character in these chronicles. As for her weapon choice, yeah, I have a hangup for that particular model of gun, though I imagine it probably kicks like a mule throwing the heavy slug down a longer barrel... Matt "Haven't-handled-guns-since-I-left-the-military" Frisbee

Re: Knightshift Stories -- Campaign Log Player Character – Nightblade (Brad’s Second Character) CHARACTERISTICS VL..CHAR..PT 15..STR...05 20..DEX...30 15..CON...10 14..BODY..08 13..INT...03 14..EGO...08 20..PRE...10 12..COM...01 08..PD....05 06..ED....03 05..SPD...20 08..REC...04 35..END...02 35..STUN..05 COST IS..114 POWERS PT..POWER 15..Multipower (Hitori Hanso Katana) (30-pt reserve); OAF: -1 u1..2d6 HKA (The Sharpest Blade) (Total 3d6 with STR) END=3+STR u1..Missile Deflection (The Strongest Blade) (Bullets or less with no reflection) 07..Clinging (bought as Super Climbing Ability, -1/2) (Clinging STR +0) 18..6PD / 6ED Armor (bought as Super Dodging Ability) 06..+3” Running (9” Total, 18” NC) END=1/5” 05..+5” Superleap (8” Horizontal, 4” Vertical, 16” NC) END=1+STR 05..5” Gliding (bought as Weightless Technique for Martial Arts) (No NC glide, only to descend from high places or walk on objects that wouldn’t normally bear his weight) 03..+3” Swimming (5” Total, 10” NC) END=1/5” 61..Powers Total TALENTS & PERKS PT..TALENT/PERK 07..Combat Sense 14- 03..Fast Draw (Katana) 13- 05..1d6 Luck 03..Simulate Death 18..Talents & Perks Total MARTIAL ARTS PT..MARTIAL ARTS ....Karate Martial Arts 04..Punch (OCV +0, DCV +2, 6d6) 05..Kick (OCV -2, DCV +1, 8d6) 04..Block (OCV +2, DCV +2, Block) 04..Disarm (OCV -1, DCV +1, Disarm) 04..Escape (OCV ---, DCV +5, Escape) 04..+1 DC for Martial Arts Attacks (figured in) 25..Martial Arts Total SKILLS PT..SKILL 03..KS: Karate 12- 01..LANG: Japanese (Basic Conversation) [English is native] 05..Acrobatics 14- 05..Breakfall 14- 03..CK: Hudson City 12- 09..Climbing 16- 03..Concealment 12- 05..Contortionist 14- 16..CSL: +2 with All Combat 05..Paramedic 13- 03..PS: Paramedic 12- 05..Security Systems 13- 07..Shadowing 13- 09..Stealth 16- 03..Streetwise 13- 82..Skills Total 186..Powers, Talents, Perks & Skills Cost 114+.Characteristics Cost 300=.TOTAL COST DISADVANTAGES + 200 BASE PT..DISADVANTAGE 10..DF: Yakuza Tattoos (EC, MAJ) 10..DNPC: Sakura Kuragawa, daughter (Normal, 8-) 15..Hunted by Card Shark 8- (MP) 15..Hunted by Yakuza (8-) (MP) 20..PSY: Honorable (Com, Tot) 05..PSY: Smart Alec (UC, MOD) 10..REP: Former Yakuza Member (8-, EXT) 15..Secret I.D., Jack Kuragawa, EMT 100..Disadvantages Total 200+.Base Points 300=.TOTAL COST This character will be making his debut in Session # 5. Matt "Stayin'-on-top-of-things" Frisbee

Re: Knightshift Stories -- Campaign Log Finally, here's a background write-up from Shawn about his character Cypher! CYPHER BACKGROUND (by Shawn) Jeremiah Dietz (Jay to most people) grew up wanting to be a cop. He used to follow Patrolman Mark Holtz around on his beat. Holtz was an old school cop who did foot patrols two days a week. He told Jay it helped build a rapport with the people in the neighborhood. He also admitted, somewhat wryly, that it was the only exercise he had time for anymore. Jay was 15 when Mark retired from the force. A younger cop replaced Mark. The younger cop never left his car. This allowed the Tongs to step in, starting up protection rackets. Jay didn’t realize it at the time, but that patrolman was getting paid to look the other way. Jay’s parents owned a small record store in those days. When they refused to pay protection money to the tongs, the tongs burnt it to the ground with their broken bodies still within it. No one lifted a finger to help. No one was arrested. Nobody seemed to care except for Jay. He moved in a widowed aunt. Jay’s parents had life insurance, the benefits of which languished in a trust fund until he turned 18. But the death of his parents served to strengthen Jay’s resolve to become a cop – a good cop. The blasé student Jay had been until then suddenly became a focused and driven young man, devouring subjects, challenges and moving ahead to graduate from school a year early. College followed with the same intensity, and Jay graduated at the age of 20 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice with a minor in Psychology. Just days after his graduation, he joined the HCPD. Mark warned him about corruption in the force, and how persuasive it can be. It had taken all of Mark’s resolve to stay clean long enough to retire. Jay kept his eyes open but only saw things getting worse on the police force. Ever the optimist, Jay tried changing things from the inside by working with the system. Things changed when his partner was found floating face down in the Stewart River. Jay became more forceful in his accusations, ruffled feathers, stepped on toes and was increasingly isolated from the rest of the force. But Jay stayed clean and turned on anyone who was dirty. That’s when Becky “Becka” Awo’a recruited him for the vice squad. In the year the two worked together, they took down various street players and their small organizations. Jay played the face, good enough at disguise and to keep the bad guys guessing. Becka was the tactician, figuring out how the organizations worked and finding their weaknesses. Jay learned a lot about the art of conducting investigations from her. Then it all went wrong. They had uncovered a lead on a Tong white slavery deal and waited for approval from the division captain to move on it. Everything looked good on Saturday, and the captain told the pair to cool it Sunday while he got approval from the Police Commissioner. But when Monday came along, he caught Becka storming out of the captain’s office. The bust was off, Becka raged, the evidence had been taken from the cage over the weekend. His partner fumed the rest of the day. And while the rage faded the next day, Becka didn’t say more than two words to him the whole day. Wednesday came, but Becka didn’t show up for work. Thursday, she turned in her badge and gun without saying a word. Jay tried to follow her, tried to talk her out of it, but all she said was goodbye. Friday, a body in Becka’s police uniform was found floating in the bay near the Bayside docks. The victim had been badly mutilated, but Jay was convinced that it wasn’t his partner. He was ordered to take a week off and patrolmen were assigned to keep him under surveillance. Jay waited until two rookies were on watch, easily shaking them. He followed his hunch all the way down to the warehouse they had pegged as one of the Tong’s holding pens for the slavery ring. He slipped in past the security and verified the evidence of ring and its victims. He also found Becka – drugged stupid and beaten senseless, but alive. He slipped back out again, and called for backup. An hour passed and nobody showed. Nobody. Jay raced over Mark’s house, pouring out his frustration and rage. Mark only nodded, then took Jay to the basement. He opened up a gun safe and told Jay to take what he needed – this was the way the “old school” cops would do it. Some old clothes from a forgotten oak chest made Jay’s costume. The rest was history. Jay rescued Becka and the other victims. Several tong members were wounded and left for the police to clean up, provided they would get their hands dirty. Becka spent nearly a year recovering from the physical and psychological wounds of her captivity, testifying against her captors in court. The badge and gun joined Becka’s on the captain’s desk. Jay never looked back. He spent some time doing unlicensed detective work for the shadier parts of society before his aunt died, leaving behind her share a rich collection of records bought from Jay’s parents’ store before it burned down. Inspired by the legacy, Jay starts his own DJ business and finds it a welcome change from his darker side. But after a brief respite, he finds himself being drawn back into the pulse and challenges of bringing justice to the streets. He takes on the handle of Cypher because he likes the name. He keeps the costume, updating it slightly to include some armor in the trench coat and rubber bullets from Mark for his pistols. He buys a motorcycle to get around town and begins to point up the corruption of the police force by taking down the cases they won’t touch. Old School Justice – just the way Jay dreamed it would be. (A big thank you to Shawn for writing this up – it’s one of the first character backgrounds ever handed to me without my asking for it!) Looking forward to Session # 5 on Friday, August 25th! Matt "The-busy-GM" Frisbee

Re: Knightshift Stories -- Campaign Log For those of you who are interested, here are the pertinent maps from sessions 3 & 4. They include James Roman's apartment and Paul's Gas & Auto Service (where the main combat and explosion happen). Enjoy! Matt "Still-doin'-the-GM-thing" Frisbee

Re: Knightshift Stories -- Campaign Log SESSION #4 – 18 AUG 06 “EVERYBODY WANTS KANDI” Starring: Barry as Powerhouse (AKA Rhonda Savage) Brad as The Sentinel (AKA Justin Patrick) Shawn as Cypher (AKA Jay Dietz Co-Starring: DarkAngel Wendy Connors Kandi Cain Game Dates: 1800.29.JUL.2006 thru 2400.29.JUL.2006 Session Synopsis (from the personal journal of Justin Patrick) August 7, 2006 We all have choices to make. I made a choice over a year ago to don a mask and fight crime as best I could. Six years ago, a teenager named Candice Kennedy made a choice to turn her back on her dreams of a perfect life and live a waking nightmare. That nightmare ended last night as her body, deprived of the poisons that had sustained Kandi Cain’s efforts to fulfill a nihilistic vow of vengeance, finally stopped working. So much has gone wrong on my own quest for justice, that now, home to convalesce from a set of broken ribs, I have time to reflect on whether it was the right choice, and whether it will continue. Cypher, Powerhouse and The Sentinel have all been charged with being accessories to murder. Four members of the Cain Gang and a member of The Nubians are dead. Kandi was ultimately responsible for the deaths, but she never came out of the coma she entered shortly after being taken into custody, and I doubt she would have cleared us, anyway. On top of all this, DarkAngel has been forced to hang up her cape and start a new life somewhere else, lest the police make the connection between her brainwashed activities and the sudden disappearance of her alter ego. It has all gone so wrong so very quickly, I’m almost unsure of where to begin. I could almost feel the wrongness of it after getting gassed at James Roman’s party at the Berkely Grande Plaza Hotel Ballroom. That was Kandi Cain’s work. I should have found some way to get Wendy home and joined Rhonda in suiting up that night, but I begged off, claiming an epiphany at the party and wanting to follow it up on the prototype at the workshop. I did manage to ride the residual tweak of adrenaline through some design changes, but the crash of that drug’s upper effect had me crawling for my cot at the workshop on leaden limbs as it washed out of my system. It was late afternoon before I awoke. But after a few moments of pain and a half-hour of grogginess, I finally managed to pull myself together. It was then that I realized my epiphany had been merely a drug-induced delusion – my prototype processor was in shambles from the “modifications” I’d performed upon it. The work of the past six months lay in broken ruin on the bench, and all attempts to locate the original specs on my computer were for naught as well, as I had wiped the entire contents of the hard drive to make room for the “revolutionary changes” I had made. Fortunately, I keep weekly updated copies of the processor project in a downtown vault, but I was going to have to start over again with money I didn’t have on an already short budget for the project. Fortunately, Wendy called and tried to drag me out of my funk. We ate a nice hole-in-the-wall restaurant and she recounted her misadventures in trying to mend fences with Councilman Max Bishop (who she had greatly insulted during Roman’s party) and the leads she was following concerning the attempted murder of Roman (which was news to me). Rhonda called during the dinner on our special vigilante hotline, so I had to cut it short. Wendy was sympathetic to the excuse I handed her, saying that she had work of her own to do, but if I was free by midnight, to give her a call. At the bunker, Powerhouse filled me in as I suited up. Our newest ally on the streets, a gun-toting stranger in a trench coat by the handle of Cypher, had given the once over to the possible source of the city’s recent Pixie outbreak. Cypher was certain The Nubians would be there that night to collect the latest batch of the drug. I didn’t question his assessment as Powerhouse assured me his connections were solid. Instead, the two of us piled into the van to meet the mystery man about four blocks away from Paul’s Gas & Auto Service. The stranger was waiting for us in an empty lot astride his battered Harley-Davidson. His form was sheathed in a dark gray trench coat and a matching fedora shaded his eyes to the color of the streets. I bit back a comment about being a bit too stereotypical, reminded by the cocoon of spandex and Kevlar I wore that I had no place making smart remarks about anybody else’s fashion sense. “Brown Sugar called about two minutes ago,” Cypher said as we got out of the van. “The Nubians are on their way.” “How many,” said Powerhouse as her pale blue eyes bore into him. She never asked for anything -- she simply made a statement and intimidated people into responding to it. His eyes were safely hidden behind the smoked lenses of the eye shield he wore below the brim of his hat. “Three cars,” he said with a smile, “hauling nine Nubies and a duffle bag with four kilos of coke and a big cool of cash inside.” “And packing all kinds of heat, no doubt,” I added with a bit of an edge. “How many in the building?” He stepped off of the motorcycle and put it on its kickstand. “Two on the roof,” he said casually as jerked the bike into position, “and at least two more inside. It was pretty quiet when I checked it a half-hour ago.” He pulled out a chrome automatic pistol and loaded a magazine into the handle. He chambered a round with swift precision and slid the piece back into the holster under his left armpit. I frowned at him as he walked past me. Powerhouse laid a hand on my shoulder. “Rubber bullets,” she said as she turned to follow him. I shook my head and took up the rear of the party as we moved silently toward our target. We abandoned the alleys as soon as we could, passing like three spectral shadows up the fire escapes and then across the rooftops until we reached a decrepit three-story business building overlooking the former garage and gas station. Paul’s was a rectangular building with a single story some twelve feet high made of brick and architectural glass blocks. The two repair bays were on our end of the building, while the disused pumps and convenience storefront were on the other. A couple of surprisingly intact and functional vending machines stood guard between the service bay doors, but most of the windows of the building had been covered from the inside by a coat of translucent white paint. Cypher’s two sentries on the roof were still there, camouflaged by nests of cardboard boxes and plastic tarps. Fortunately, they seemed more interested taking occasional hits off of pressurized inhalers than keeping an eye open for trouble. The barrels of shotguns protruded from each position, so I shelved my impulsive suggestion about sweeping the roof clean before The Nubians got there. The point was made moot less than a minute after our arrival, as three late-model cars with deeply pulsing sound systems rolled up to the bay doors and parked. Each vehicle had a driver who remained behind the wheel, a gunner who stepped outside of the vehicle to keep an eye on things with a submachine gun, and a runner who joined the others at the door. One of the bag men carried the duffle bag that supposedly had the cocaine and cash inside to the door and presented to the guy who appeared in the doorway as the bay door rolled up and away. Cypher wasted no more time, moving silently but swiftly down the fire escape with Powerhouse close behind. I cast out a line from my combat baton and swung onto the roof. I made a rough landing and the goons on the roof burst from their cardboard and plastic nests, brandishing their shotguns with fiendish glee. I flung my baton at one of them, who was staggered by the blow, only to have a shotgun slug graze my shoulder. A second baton throw sat the first thug down for a long ten-count and I turned to face the second, only to have the world blow up in my face. I managed to get my left arm between my face and the muzzle of the shotgun, so the first blast simply broke a couple of bones in my forearm. But while I was reeling from the first hit, the thug pumped another round into the right upper part of my chest. The slug pancaked on the Ferro-graphite armor plate there, but the force of the impact shattered it along with two of my ribs. I managed to cast another swing line to get clear, but was forced to grit my teeth at the broken glass feelings in my ribs and forearm. As I made a lazy circle in the darkness, I could see Powerhouse throwing one of the vending machines at her attackers, scattering them like so many tenpins, while Cypher methodically picked off the gunners and drivers with his pistol while they were distracted by the lady brick. In my absence, the lone gunman on the roof was moving to draw a bead on my partner as she tore down the bay door one of the people inside the building was trying to close. The smart play at that point would have been to run for safety. Unlike myself, Powerhouse was bulletproof in most cases. But I couldn’t let that sentry start firing at her. I steeled myself against the pain, and swung directly into the gunman, sending us both sprawling. To my dismay, the latex-clad white-faced thug drew a bead on me yet again with the shotgun before I could recover my footing and fired. I took the brunt of the third hit in the abdomen, which drove the air from my lungs and sent me sprawling. Amongst the pain came a dull panic that I couldn’t breathe. I could taste blood and bile in my mouth, but I couldn’t get my breath back around the searing agony of broken ribs and the pulsing ache in my guts. I winced at the sound of gunfire near me again, but didn’t feel the sledgehammer blow of impact. As my lungs finally started working again, I realized that it was Cypher and the thug blazing away at each other. I staggered to my feet one last time, and found the thug had his back to me. I lurched toward him and clocked him at the base of the skull with my baton – literally all of the fight I had left. He graciously went face first to the tarpaper. Cypher slapped a fresh clip into his pistol as he trotted towards me. “You’re welcome,” he said as he hustled past. I staggered to edge of the building and cast a swing line to lower myself down to the ground. As I painfully edged down the side of the building, I became aware of a strong gasoline odor. I wondered if one of The Nubians’ cars had been damaged as I reached the ground. I noticed one of the punks lay sprawled on the pavement near the trunk of one of the cars. He had obviously been carrying the cardboard box of filled Pixie straws which now lay spilled a foot or two away. As I checked him for a pulse (which he had), I noticed the box had a shipping label from its manufacturer to Dohlman’s Confections in Mint Ridge. I quickly memorized the address, then the saw the duffle bag a few yards away and painfully collected it. I used my tactical headset to inform Powerhouse that I was going to take the duffle bag to the van and then started painfully walking back to it. Just as I reached the van, I was staggered by the concussion of a huge explosion. I turned to see a greasy fireball hurtling skyward where the old service station had been. My pain forgotten, I threw the bag into the van and raced back toward the scene. As I arrived, smoke boiled from the crater where the service station had been. The force of the blast had thrown The Nubians’ cars into the street and had blown out every window in the surrounding buildings. Powerhouse was carrying Cypher toward the van, who looked dazed and a little singed, but otherwise whole, cursing as she went. As she set Cypher down in the floor of the van and gave him the once over. “That bitch booby-trapped the place!” she snarled. “She must have figured we’d get it out of DarkAngel eventually.” I drove away as I heard sirens approaching the carnage. “Was there anyone in there when it blew?” I asked over my shoulder. There was an ugly pause, the silence aching like an open sore. “Yeah,” said Powerhouse at last, “Maybe half a dozen.” I swore once, loudly, and the pain from my injuries came down like a hammer. I gasped and wheezed, coughing up blood. “Hell’s gate!” she exclaimed from behind me, “You’re bleeding!” I nodded. “Took three slugs from a shotgun,” I said. “My left arm’s starting to swell up and I’ve got broken ribs on the right side.” I swerved and over-corrected causing the van’s tires to squeal. “I think you’d better take the wheel.” She slid into the driver’s seat while I painfully crawled to the passenger seat. “I’ll get you back to the bunker,” she said, “then call Dr. Goldman.” “No,” I said. “You do that and Kandi Cain will get away from us, maybe take another crack at your boyfriend.” I coughed again and spat. “She’s getting the straws for her poison from Dohlman’s Confections, so I figure she’s there or will be soon.” She seemed to weigh the decision as she drove toward the river. The sound of Cypher’s pistol chambering a round cut through the silence with a mechanical certainty that seemed to make up her mind. “I’m still in the game,” he said. “Then we’ll take the bitch down right now,” said Powerhouse, “before she kills anybody else.” Cypher draped an arm over the back of Powerhouse’s seat and smiled. “So Roman’s your boyfriend, huh?” Powerhouse shot me a look that would have killed a lesser man. I sighed and tried to smother a groan as we jostled over a pothole. The raid on Dohlman’s didn’t take long. The lights were on in the back, so Powerhouse and Cypher went in strong. Within a minute, Powerhouse was lugging a large metal container with a locking lid behind her which seemed to jerk and twitch of its own volition, while Cypher carried a harness arrangement which had a large number of darts attached to it, like an ammunition bandoleer. During the fight, I watched two of Cane’s latex-clad lackeys smash out a storefront window to escape the fury of the two vigilantes, but couldn’t muster enough courage to chase them. Within an hour, we turned over the container (with an increasingly desperate Kandi Cane inside) along with the duffle bag with the cocaine and cash to Sgt. Faith Padruski while Dr. Goldman set my broken bones. I made up a convenient lie about an accident at the workshop to cover my injuries and managed to spend a couple of days over at Wendy’s under her doting care. Her reporter’s instincts got the better of her, though and I was eventually forced to tell her the truth – the whole truth this time. She filled in the parts I tried to keep secret – about Powerhouse, about Faith and about why I never told her. “You’re going to have to make a choice,” she said at last. “I’m not going to be able to live like this, now that I know what’s going on. You’re going to have to choose between being a vigilante, or being with me. It’s that simple.” I was about to answer, but she put a finger to my lips while shaking her head. I could see tears in her eyes as she continued. “No, don’t answer now. Don’t make a snap judgment. You’re going to be down for a few more days, at least, and you’ve got nothing but time on your hands. You weigh it all before you come to a decision.” She leaned in close and kissed me softly and slowly. I could feel her tears on my cheeks as she pulled away. “But whatever you decide,” she whispered, “I will always love only you.” And then she was gone. And it was my turn to cry. Choices. Candice Kennedy had made the choice to become Kandi Cain because the love she wanted could never be hers. Candice was pretty, open and honest when she was in high school, but James Roman was heir to a fortune and flexing his social muscles. He told Candice he loved her, and at the time it might have been true. Then he took from her what she so willingly gave, only to leave her cold and alone, like all the others before her. She recovered, and tried to find someone new. She did, only to have her hopes dashed again when that boy moved on as well. Seven more times it happened, and then Candice lashed out, hurting the last one who had wounded her so deeply, the fury of her frustration savaging the boy’s body until he begged her to stop. And in that moment, Candice gave a name to her fury – Kandi Cain. She reveled in her newfound power, giving form to it in a radical makeover of makeup and clothing – Gothic, fearsome and strange. The rest is history. She drifted through the underworld, turning her talents to pharmacology. Soon, the world began to feel the pain she refused to acknowledge – the pain of addiction, alienation and abuse. She developed her own drugs to cover for imagined deficiencies, creating real ones instead. Addicted to the “candy,” she threw away the choices she had left to make when a chance encounter with one of her old flames from high school. Her full measure of revenge left him dead, and she began to actively seek out the others who had put her on the shelf. With eight down and one to go, she came to Hudson City to finish the job. But with her life of revenge nearly at an end, she decided to toy with this final one, the one who had started it all and wounded her so very deeply. In the end, though she tried, she found that she couldn’t really kill him after all. Candice’s first love had been a true love, even if it hadn’t been reciprocated. She needed someone else to do the deed. That’s where DarkAngel entered the picture. Kandi captured the heroine and brainwashed her into the killing machine that could do what she could not. But Kandi could not understand true love like Candice did, and even in the seeds she planted in the mind of the heroine, was the love that would kill them and allow DarkAngel to escape the suicidal shackles that had already been firmly attached to Candice when she first embraced Kandi. And now, Kandi, along with Candice, and the madness of her broken dreams is dead. She died surrounded by people who were trying to save the life she had already thrown away. What becomes of her now is not for mortals to say, even if I can feel some sympathy for Candice while despising Kandi at the same time. I called Wendy this morning and told her I’d made up my mind, provided she could allow for a little leeway. The Sentinel seeks justice no more. Justin Patrick, however, will still be around to lend what technical support he can to Powerhouse, Cypher and any of the other vigilantes who are trying to hold back the darkness in Hudson City. As for me, it’s time to step back into the light and live for the future that Wendy and I will be able to make together. SESSION NOTES Brad has decided to change characters, and will be playing a new one (Nightblade) next session. This was essentially a battle session, with the main fight and an epilogue scene – however, The Sentinel got hammered during the main fight (non-statistical dice rolls again), requiring this last little bit to explain his exit from the story. The characters will be made aware of their wanted status in the next session (provided they don’t read it here, first), but this is just a matter of form for the police department, since they don’t particularly like vigilantes in the first place. It is time to start incorporating more of the characters’ hunteds into the campaign now, so expect some slightly grittier action for the next few sessions. FUTURE PLOT ELEMENT DarkAngel has officially quit Hudson City, as her extended absence in her private life has compromised her ability to conceal her identity if she remains. We’ll have a new character to introduce into the storyline next session – along with new villains! OVERALL SELF-EVALUATIONS The capture of Kandi Cain was anti-climactic. She should have been at the gas station, even though I wanted the thing to be a death trap for the characters to escape. Make sure that you have some wiggle room for the characters in the future, with a little less intense scene work. XP AWARDED Both Powerhouse and Cypher received 1 XP for this primarily battle session. -- Matt Frisbee 0539 18 AUG 2006

Re: Supervillain Monologues Maul (a big bad brick): "If that's the best you've got, you're going to need help, hero!" "Go ahead and stand your ground -- that's as good a place as any to bury you!" Arctica (a cold-themed energy projector): "My heartbeat quickens in anticipation of stilling yours." "Beware my embrace, hero, for it veils the icy fingers of death." Buzzsaw (a metahuman assassin with hyper-vibration powers): "I don't know how I'm going to feel after killing you -- either saddened for the loss of a brave soul or happy that I've rid the earth of another costumed idiot!" "If you can't die with grace and dignity, then just stand still so I can get this over with quickly!" Those are a few gems I remember off of the top of my (balding) head... Matt "I-make-a-lousy-villain-'cause-I-keep-getting-jacked-during-my monologues" Frisbee

Re: Else Earth Naming Game... I was thinking along the same lines as David Johnston, but my suggestions would be an ultraconservative think tank or even a corporation. The Citizen's Syndicate The Patriot League The International Studies Group for Peace and Order Multinational Action Coalition for Extreme Situations (okay, that's a bad one) North American Metahuman Action Front (NAMAF) Sheesh, these are awful! Hopefully you're more creative than me. Matt "Senior-moment" Frisbee

Re: Bay City Rollers Campaign Log 131 views and no commentary posts. "The thread's dead, Jim." "Kirk to Enterprise. Two to beam up." (Appropriate sound effects fade to silence. Fade to black with end theme rising for credits.) Matt "Needed-to-purge" Frisbee

Re: Champions Assemble! The Bay City Rollers were sanctioned superheroes who wore signal rings. They were set to gently tingle for a standard "when-you-can-get-here" call, but had a pulsing tingle for priority calls and a stinging sensation when another hero activated his or her ring's "panic button" function. (Needless to say, we had some fun when heroes in their civilian identities had a panic button call...) Matt "You-need-to-do-what?-NOW?" Frisbee

Re: Bay City Rollers Campaign Log Session # 14 – 04 DEC 05 “Spellbound for Trouble!” Starring: Artemis, Firehawk, Longbow & Paragon. NPC’s: Claire “Crystal” Vosser, Joe “Low-Rent” Smith, Katherine Marks, Mr. Nobody & Sgt. Addie Parsons. Villains: Dragonfist, Spellbound and her demonic minions Game Date(s): 03 DEC 05 Session Synopsis: The characters are still putting their lives back together a week after returning from the time warp which stole seven months from their lives. Longbow receives a warning from Frizbee about the metahuman assassin Dragonfist after the latter inflicts enough damage to the former to put him in a hospital under police guard. A few hours later, Longbow finds Dragonfist atop the MertensBuilding downtown. During the battle, Longbow gets knocked off the roof, only be saved in the nick of time by Artemis, who then joins the fight against the assassin. The two manage to subdue the villain, but true to his reputation, it is not long before he has slipped the bonds of police custody. When Longbow returns home, he realizes that his girlfriend Katherine Marks is missing. About the same time, Artemis returns home to find that Crystal (who moved in to run Artemis’ shop while she was in a time warp) is nowhere to be found. A quick search finds a battered Low-Rent in the alley behind the shop. He tells her that four people who were both quick and strong kidnapped Crystal and left him for dead. The abductors also seem to have the ability to block the operation of the signal rings the heroes use. At this point, Artemis calls the rest of the Bay City Rollers to find the missing people, as all the signs point toward Artemis’ old nemesis Spellbound. The group, with Low-Rent’s knowledge of the Catholic world and Artemis’ ability to follow traces of demonic magic the kidnappers have left behind, soon locate Spellbound’s hideout in an abandoned church. The battle is brief and decisive for the characters, as Low-Rent hedges their bets by painting a large cross on the building and sanctifying it with holy water he received from Father Lonnigan. With the demons and Spellbound driven from the roost, the characters see to their loved ones. Sgt. Addie Parsons took a fist full of demon claws across her abdomen during the fight, but Artemis’ healing ability keeps her stable long enough for emergency surgery at the South Side Clinic. The characters’ victory is tempered with the knowledge that Spellbound has escaped from limbo, so she must be even more powerful than before, and it will only be a matter of time until she comes to pay them all back… GM Notes After talking with the players after the session, future sessions will tend to be more focused. Screamsheets will no longer be necessary and most adventures will be thrust upon the characters rather than having them attempt to pursue leads from the newspaper. Whatever floats their boats, since it also means less work for me. XP Awarded All of the player-characters received 2 XP each for the session. Session # 15 – 11 DEC 05 “Footsteps of Doom!” Starring: Artemis, Firehawk, Longbow & Paragon. NPC’s: Isaiah Groombridge, Claire “Crystal” Vosser, Joe “Low-Rent” Smith, Madame Lin, Sondra Kale, Ulik, Powtokow, Ligo & Kata.. Villains: The Dreadnought. Game Date(s): 09 DEC 05 Session Synopsis: The characters finally track down the metahuman responsible for the vengeance killings on the west side, only to discover it’s a madman who has resurrected the Klankenhausen Battlesuit from the depths of Nazi Germany’s secret weapons programs. The only catch is that it is being powered not by a uranium core, but the crystal heart of a Fire Wyrm, meaning the suit is alive with chaos magic! Out heroes manage to defeat Dreadnought, but in order to keep him down, they attempt to remove the Fire Wyrm heart from the suit… Awakening dazed and disoriented, the characters soon realize they have problems when nothing about their surroundings are familiar – Medieval technology, Viking descendants living in a village where Bay City used to be and what appear to be Native Americans! Ulik, the village sage, quickly renders a spell to make everyone understand each other, and thus begins the process of sorting out what to do about what has happened. That’s when one of the nearby Indian tribes makes a visit, checking out the strangeness they observed the night before, and the characters meet the party leader Powkotow, along with party hunters Ligo and Kata. After discussing things, the Indians decide that the heroes should meet with the tribe shaman. And so, our heroes begin the trek through the woods as the session draws to a close. GM Notes The players were all good sports about the transdimensional issues, but failed to use teamwork to put the Dreadnought down. To be blunt, this bunch is all about individual efforts and not about working as a team. Also, the sessions are now being victimized by time constraints which limit them to around three hours total (including smoke breaks). I’m not sure I’ll want to continue under those conditions. XP Awarded All characters earned 2 XP for the session. Afterword With Christmas looming, work schedules changed and the campaign went on hiatus for four weeks. By the time that lull was over, most of us (including me) had lost interest in continuing the story. The campaign ended at this point. Matt "Th-th-th-That's-All-Folks!" Frisbee P.S. I'll take questions and comments about this campaign, if you have any, of course.

Re: Bay City Rollers Campaign Log Session # 13 – 20 NOV 05 “Countdown” Starring: Artemis, Firehawk & Longbow. NPC’s: Isaiah Groombridge, Claire “Crystal” Vosser, Joe “Low-Rent” Smith, Joe “Paragon” Swanson & Dr. Who. Villains: Gravitar & Soldiers of Rogue Legion. Game Date(s): 04 APR 05 Session Synopsis: The characters continue their search for the graviton bomb, chasing down several leads, many of which seem to be decoys and wild goose chases. While Paragon and Crystal check out the First Street Bridge for possible devices; Artemis, Firehawk and Longbow run down leads brought to their attention by Low-Rent, who survived with several Rogue Legion soldiers near the southern docks. After checking the area with their gravity anomaly sensors rigged up by the Bureau of Metahuman Affairs, the team splits up. While Longbow follows a set of military truck tracks into the warehouse district, Artemis heads out into Delaware Bay to check on freighters outbound from the southern docks, and Firehawk checks in with the port authority to discover that one ship in particular bears further investigation. Artemis arrives at the ship and quickly discovers that one of its containers has a sophisticated bicameral explosive device, requiring her special magical abilities to disarm. Meanwhile, Longbow is joined by Low-Rent as the two discover more Rogue Legion soldiers in a warehouse with three military vehicles and a tanker trailer inside. Firehawk flies over to assist and comes under fire from a heat-seeking missile battery on the roof of the warehouse while both Longbow and Low-Rent combine forces to disable it. The battle is joined in the warehouse where Rogue Legion soldiers are subdued with only a little difficulty. While the others are busy mopping up the soldiers, Gravitar rips open the tanker where he’s been hiding and immediately attacks both Artemis (who had just arrived on the scene) and Firehawk. The fight goes badly for Firehawk and he is on the verge of being killed by his old enemy when Artemis goes desolid and attempts to materialize inside of Gravitar’s battlesuit. The resulting explosion throws Artemis, Firehawk, Longbow and Low-Rent seven months forward in time, and destroys the mystic pendant which has been the source of most of Artemis’ power. Dr. Who appears as the other characters awaken to discover a changed Artemis, and the master arcane fills them in on what has happened during the past seven months and about the impending Time of the Gathering. The session ends with our heroes attempting to put their individual lives back together after their long absence. GM Notes Well, things didn’t go as planned, but I managed to steer events toward launching the massive story arc concerning the Time of the Gathering. Otherwise, things went as swimmingly as could be expected when I’m gaming off the cuff. XP Awarded Artemis and Longbow each received 2 XP while Firehawk got 3 XP for Bill pointing out a blunder on my part concerning the motivations of Gravitar during the game. Even more to come later... Matt "I-gotta-eat-sometime" Frisbee

Re: Bay City Rollers Campaign Log SPOILER WARNING – The following summary reveals plot elements of “Virtual Ice” from Heroic Adventures, Volume One! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Session # 11 – 13 NOV 05 “Transitions” Starring: Artemis, Firehawk, Longbow & Paragon. NPC’s: Isaiah Groombridge, Tom Jacobs, Penelope Bookman, Katherine Marks, Claire “Crystal” Vosser, Joe “Low-Rent” Smith, Ruby Jasper, Chad Longwood, Sam Dalton & Dr. Who. Villains: Clarion Game Date(s): 29 MAR 05 Session Synopsis: Both Firehawk and Longbow discover they’ve become overnight celebrities as video of their battle with Vortex and her Rogue Legion agents has aired coast to coast. Through his agent, Tom Jacobs, Firehawk suddenly finds his bank account swelling, and decides to move from his Wofford Heights digs to a penthouse apartment in Kensington. While he’s checking out the apartment, he notices a kid dressed in a homemade “Firehawk” costume on the roof of a nearby home preparing to take flight. He acts quickly to avert a potential tragedy and sternly lectures the youngster about taking rash actions. Meanwhile, Aaron Fletcher struggles through a long morning of work, where several people interrupt his usual routine with questions about archery, medieval armor construction and period costuming. Even Penelope Bookman is in on the act as she is reading Robin Hood during the quieter moments in the library. The person who really catches Aaron’s attention, however, is the guy with the slide rule from yesterday who has returned and is avidly reading books on criminal psychology. Paragon is still recovering from a busy couple of days in Washington DC, covering for Captain Freedom. The problem is that work for his alter-ego has been piling up in his absence, so it’s a job for Joe Swanson to get caught up. As he’d getting ready for work, his girlfriend Ruby Jasper distracts him with her play of an online computer game called City of Heroes, where people design heroes and then take on computer enemies in the virtual Champion City. What really catches his interest is that several Bay City landmarks have been added to the virtual city with extreme levels of detail. Ruby comments that there is a group of player-villains who regularly meet near the virtual Bay City Historical Museum and rob it, as if practicing for the real thing. Diane Luna awakes after a full morning’s sleep to find a message on her answering machine from Sam Dalton. He asks her to check out a strange package he’s received from Nauru, a country which doesn’t exist anymore. (Nauru was subjected to an outbreak of a lethal and highly contagious extraterrestrial disease known as the Halloween Virus in 1973. The tiny island country was subjected to concentrated nuclear bombardment to eradicate the virus before it could spread. The entire island out to a distance of 12 nautical miles has been quarantined ever since by military vessels under the United Nations banner.) When Sam brings the package over, Diane determines that it is a finger or toe bone from a very large avian creature which has not decayed and has a large amount of residual magic. A later consultation with Dr. Who reveals the bone to be from a dragon skeleton in the Philippines. Oddly enough, it was from a dragon whose spirit was slain by Sam during World War II. Sam Dalton, as it turns out, is a bit more than a weirdness magnet – Dr. Who claims Sam is over 250 years old! Before any further inquiry can be conducted, a meeting is called by Isaiah concerning current events. The meeting is straight to the point: the Bureau of Metahuman Affairs wants the Bay City heroes to stop Clarion’s killing spree of south side drug dealers before she claims another life. With the help of Father Lonnigan of the Church of the Masses in Lower Downtown, the characters discover they are looking for Alison Bjornberg. Alison is a transient who has been donating a large amount of the money she’s taken from her victims to the Catholic Church. The characters quickly catch up with Alison as she heads for her daily workout and ambush her when she’s clear of the gym. Although the battle is one-sided and short, the characters consider themselves lucky that no one else in that heavily populated part of town was hurt. The battle was complicated by the appearance of a new hero in homebuilt armor going by the moniker “Low-Rent” whom Crystal manages to talk out of joining the fight. Exactly how she managed to do that is up for debate, but the youngsters do seem to have some chemistry… After the fight, Firehawk decides to keep a flaming eye fixed upon the Historical Museum to deter anyone from illegal activity there. While he’s staking the place out, he meets Chad Longwood, who is doing some survey work for a college course and working at the museum part-time as a security guard. Chad claims to have mapped out the entire area, showing Firehawk potential problem areas should villains come calling. Joe Swanson, on the other hand, takes a break from his accounting work to check out City of Heroes for himself. Using Ruby’s character, he quickly makes his way to the virtual museum where the bandits are at it again. Helped by an ad hoc group of player-heroes, he storms the building, but they are quickly smacked down by the coordinated efforts of the player-villains. While his online persona is down, he sees the bandits absconding with the virtual copy of the “Lady in Jade” statue. Now that he knows the target, he relays word to the rest of the group to prepare for action once again. GM Notes A disjointed session and adventure to be sure, but it was necessary to set a few plot hooks. Otherwise, everyone was a trooper so far as role-playing was concerned. The next session should have more combat as the characters go virtual. XP Awarded All four characters were awarded 3 XP for this adventure. Session # 12 – 20 NOV 05 “Countdown” Starring: Artemis, Longbow & Paragon. NPC’s: Isaiah Groombridge, Claire “Crystal” Vosser, Ruby Jasper & Dr. Who. Villains: Frizbee & Virtual Villain Devastator. Game Date(s): 04 APR 05 Session Synopsis: The characters join forces on the City of Heroes virtual world of Champion City to scope out the suspected group of villains using a construct of the Bay City Historical Museum to practice a heist at the real one. They spend some time creating their characters for the virtual space and then dive in, eventually confronting the newbie-bashing Devastator on a construct of the Golden Gate Bridge. The combined might of the three virtual heroes eventually forces the obnoxious virtual villain off of the bridge and they continue to their destination. Once at the virtual museum, they scope the place out and lie in wait for the villains, but the bandits don’t show. The heroes eventually head off in search of virtual adventure, eventually finding some and generally having a good time. Back in real space, Joe Swanson has a dinner date with Ruby Jasper and her parents, which gets him a bellyful of great-tasting pot roast and an earful of Ruby’s mother’s desires for her daughter to be married soon and for grandchildren. Diane Luna spends time cleaning her shop with Claire Vosser, who takes some of the time to discuss a number of things, including her feelings for Low-Rent, the street-level super she met a few days ago. Aaron Fletcher decides to use the good weather of the early spring afternoon to work on his archery skills, putting in several hours on the archery range. As he is getting ready to call it a day, he sees his old nemesis Frizbee, armed with a new skyboard and heading for the center of town. Longbow eventually catches up with the villain in the downtown area, and gets the villain’s attention with an entanglement bolt. After Frizbee recovers from his crash landing, the villain informs his old adversary that Gravitar has gone off of the deep end and intends to use a graviton bomb to destroy the city. After handing over a memory card containing information about the bomb to Longbow, Frizbee takes his leave of the area, warning the hero that the bomb will take about 15 hours to accumulate enough gravitons to explode. After explaining the situation to Artemis and Paragon, the three begin a search around the bay, but find nothing. After a warning from Crystal, the heroes continue searching around Memorial Stadium, where the Bay City Pilots are playing the opening game of the season. The heroes eventually find what appears to be a bomb in the back of a catering truck, and go on to find several more decoys around the stadium and disable them. Paragon, acting on a tip from Crystal, checks out the First Street Bridge abutments, and finds two metal tanks anchored underwater at their base. Could they contain the bomb, or are they both just another decoy? GM Notes This session was victimized by numerous segues, but was otherwise sound. I explained that Gravitar didn’t leave a trail of bread crumbs, so the characters would have to do the legwork, and they did. XP Awarded I gave the characters 2 XP each for the session. Still more to come... Matt "Just-slapping-them-in-here-as-fast-as-I-can-type-them" Frisbee

Re: Bay City Rollers Campaign Log Session # 9 – 23 OCT 05 “Lexicon Dementia” Starring: Artemis, Firehawk, Longbow & Paragon. NPC’s: Claire “Crystal” Vosser, Isaiah Groombridge, Tom Jacobs, Dr. Who, Penelope Bookman, Mr. Nobody, Carl Brownstone & The Green Avenger. Villains: Anagram & The Alphabet Gang Game Date(s): 17 MAR 05 Session Synopsis: The characters awake to the news of the kidnapping of Bay City University President Lowell Greenwood and a mysterious anagram puzzle in the newspaper. A quick bit of gray matter work and a conference call on their signal rings (and a set of Scrabble letter tiles) leads the characters to suspect that not only is Anna Graham (the recently fired professor of lexicology at BCU) behind the kidnapping, but she has taken on the persona of Anagram and intends to enact revenge for her firing that night. The team splits up to run down various leads. Aaron Fletcher arrives at his job at the library only to discover another CD-ROM from Mr. Nobody, detailing Professor Anna Graham’s work into prehistory languages and her theories about homo sapiens being genetically predisposed to speak. James Firestone has more personal matters to attend to, as he receives a phone call from his agent and friend Tom Jacobs. Tom’s car has been repossessed, and he confesses to James that he has fallen on very hard times. James reveals that he is Firehawk and promises to do whatever it takes in his heroic persona to get Tom back on his feet again. Tom, pulling back from the brink of despair, immediately promises to line up work for the superhero. Artemis’ interview of Carl Brownstone (who was left virtually speechless during Lowell’s kidnapping) confirms Anagram is behind the kidnapping and she has already rendered Greenwood speechless with her bizarre “Protolexium” language. Crystal discovers that her fledgling psionic powers can undo the damage that Anagram’s proto-language causes to her victims, though the cure is singularly unpleasant for both Crystal and the victim alike. Firehawk, acting on the information provided by Artemis, picks up a pair of fireproof earplugs from the BMA offices, and learns from Isaiah Groombridge that an advertising blimp has been stolen overnight. Figuring out that the only place large enough to store the blimp is in an old dirigible hangar on an airfield south of town, he races there to search. Despite his searches and questioning of the surrounding farmstead families, he turns up nothing. Paragon’s alter-ego Joe Swanson is met at the First United National Bank downtown by his girlfriend Ruby Feldspar. Their discussion is cut short by a robbery by men wearing turtleneck sweaters with large letters of the alphabet on their chests – The Alphabet Gang! Joe spends a few critical moments getting Ruby to a place of safety, and a few more to find a place to transform into Paragon before attempting to bust up the robbery. Unfortunately, the magical man of might is joined by The Green Avenger, “aiding” our hero with some nifty martial arts moves and a bewildering array of low-yield superpowers, including teleportation. After the pair makes quick work of the robbers, The Green Avenger disappears (along with several of the bank patrons’ wallets and purses), while Joe is left the difficult job of coming up with a suitable excuse to quell Ruby’s volatile temper. Artemis and Crystal spend part of the afternoon meeting with Dr. Who – a master arcane from the West Coast of the United States. Dr. Who informs them both that Crystal’s emerging powers and fading magical ability are the result of the spirit of Crystal’s mentor, Madame Z, passing the Great Veil into the spirit world. While Crystal says a final goodbye to one of her dearest friends, Dr. Who warns Artemis that the Time of the Gathering is drawing near and that she must learn how to channel magic without the use of her amulet. Dr. Who calls the amulet one of the Five Pillars of Reality which must be secured and protected for the good of mankind in this reality of existence. When night falls, our heroes stake out the Student Union of Bay City University, only to find President Greenwood is already there and will soon be made permanently unable to speak or write. Fortunately, our heroes manage to solve the word puzzle Anagram has left behind to free Greenwood. A few moments later, they locate the blimp which Anagram intends to use to unleash the power of Prolexium upon the city. Fortunately, the heroes cripple the blimp before the villainess can say a word over the blimp’s powerful PA systems and capture the villainess. GM Notes I was forced to contend with another late start to the session, but once the game got rolling, the various elements worked more or less smoothly. XP Awarded All of the player-characters were awarded 2 XP for the adventure. Session # 10 – 30 OCT 05 “Shorthanded” Starring: Firehawk & Longbow. NPC’s: Isaiah Groombridge, Tom Jacobs, Penelope Bookman, Katherine Marks, Powerhouse & Sgt. Addie Parsons. Villains: Vortex & Agents of Rogue Legion (and Clarion) Game Date(s): 28 MAR 05 Session Synopsis: With Artemis and Crystal off in another dimension on arcane matters and Paragon in Washington DC to cover for Captain Freedom (who is still on the mend from his fight with Mayhem two weeks ago), only Firehawk and Longbow are minding the store. The day starts badly enough when a vehicle being pursued by the Bay City police catch the eye of both Firehawk (who is on a very public patrol) and Aaron Fletcher (who is aboard an elevated train on his way to work). Aaron can only watch the events unfold while he rides the crowded train, but Firehawk does battle with a truly stubborn foe as the police hang back. A hidden missile-launcher in the trunk of the car takes Firehawk off course and the train can’t stop fast enough Aaron who chafes at the time lost waiting for the train to reach the next station. The characters get an assist from a previously unknown super, who tosses a car into the path of the fleeing vehicle, bringing the chase to sudden conclusion. Firehawk’s enhanced perception abilities grant him a glimpse of the new kid in town – young, blonde and female – before his is forced to tending of the needs of the injured still trapped in the wreckage. Longbow is not only late for the action, but his alter-ego is also late for work! Fortunately enough for Aaron, Penelope Bookman is covering for him at the library. He spends the morning doing mundane tasks while keeping an eye on an odd fellow who keeps checking ballistics textbooks and doing obscure calculations with a slide rule. Firehawk’s first gig as a professional actor is not going smoothly that morning, as he is forced to suffer through the inept performance of a less-than-gifted aspiring actor (who is a relative of the company’s owner) during his part of a Tabasco sauce commercial. The rest of the morning passes before Isaiah Groombridge asks the heroes to drop whatever they are doing and help with security around the courthouse. Powerhouse (a villain who was one of Spellbound’s crew back in Session Two and has connections to the paramilitary organization Rogue Legion) is to be sentenced for his crimes at two that afternoon. After making up a convenient lie at work, Longbow swings into action by checking out the courthouse. Firehawk decides to ride shotgun on the chopper bringing Powerhouse to the courthouse. Longbow, out grabbing a quick bite of lunch as the crowd continues to swell around the courthouse, notices a panel truck parked at a loading dock at the Symphony Hall across the street. Upon further investigation, a female employee in a breathing mask tells him the building is closed for fumigation. Longbow doesn’t accept the answer and works his way up to the roof, where the smell of fumigation chemicals is nowhere to be found. He slips into the ventilation system and overhears two Rogue Legion soldiers preparing their weapons. As he moves closer, he accidentally bumps his bow against the ventilation duct, and then all hell breaks loose as one of the soldiers chucks a grenade into the ductwork with our hero! Longbow manages to signal both the police and Firehawk concerning his situation, and the battle ensues throughout the Symphony Hall and on its roof. The final tally has two Rogue Legion soldiers captured, but the other four (with the help of the supervillain Vortex) manage to escape. Longbow is slightly wounded and Firehawk a bit dazed, but otherwise both are still ready for further action. GM Notes It’s true – no battle plan survives contact with the enemy. These guys smelled something fishy from the start and were expecting some sort of trouble with Powerhouse. Now, instead of having him safely in the hands of Colonel Fang, he’s still stuck in the Bloc Island SuperMax Prison. Oh well, Colonel Fang has access to any number of supervillains, so it’s not an insurmountable problem. XP Awarded Both Firehawk & Longbow were awarded 2 XP for the session. More to come... Matt "500-Post-Club-Member" Frisbee

Re: Uhm... ouch? This reminds me of a martial artist character in one of my campaigns who could drain off his opponent's PD (with a skill roll in his Martial Art). The argument went that as his character fought an opponent (the same one) he would learn the more vulnerable spots and key on hitting those. This particular power (as I remember it) wouldn't work against resistant PD, but since it was separate from his standard attacks and fit under the AP limit, I allowed it. It worked fairly well, actually, since his character had the highest speed of the group, but he spent most of his XP to buy up his REC... As for this build, if he 1) kept them as seperate powers and 2) could come up with a reasonable explanation as to how it works, I'd say go for it (then build a villain who would have some sort of defense for it as his nemesis). Matt "Evil-GM?-ME?!" Frisbee

Re: Plot Seed: Six Places to Nuke When You’re Serious If this topic breaks down into teams of evil geniuses, I want to be on the same team as this person! Matt "You-say-the-word-'opportunist'-like-it's-a-bad-thing" Frisbee P.S. Let's start working on an anti-matter bomb and make this thing happen!

Re: Bay City Rollers Campaign Log I remember that song, and turn it up on the radio every time it plays! Unfortunately, the game sessions were generally held on Sunday evenings. The name for the campaign sprang from a nickname for police -- used most notably in The Blues Brothers and was brought up during play in the early sessions of the game -- and the fact that the epicenter of operations was Bay City. Hopefully, you've enjoyed the recounting of the tale thus far, and thanks for your interest. For the rest of you, more session recaps are coming later next week (as my schedule permits)! Matt "The-busy-one" Frisbee P.S. This is my 501st post! Yay!

Re: Knightshift Stories -- Campaign Log Murphy's Law: Whatever can go wrong will go wrong. Frisbee's Law of Gaming: The probability of one of my game sessions getting cancelled or delayed is inversely proportional to my anticipation of playing in it or running it. Barry is still recovering from a minor health problem and Shawn was not available for this week's session, thus Session #4 has been pushed back one more week to August 18, 2006. Hopefully, I'll have something to report next weekend. Matt "Still-waiting-for-it" Frisbee

Re: Plot Seed: Six Places to Nuke When You’re Serious I'd opt for a smaller fission bomb as opposed to the 1 MT fusion weapon, then detonate it inside of or over a nuclear power plant. Since they are being forced to store spent fuel and radioactive waste on-site at most nuclear power stations, the seriously lethal fallout from such a blast would leave a large area completely uninhabitable for thousands of years. Someplace like the Cordova Nuclear Plant near the Quad-Cities (Iowa-Illinois) when the wind is from the Northeast. A quarter million people downwind, a major ground transportation hub and a cluster of bridges over the Mississippi, not to mention the Rock Island Arsenal and all of that farmland around it... Matt "Obscure-but-nasty" Frisbee

Re: Bay City Rollers Campaign Log Session #7 -- 09 OCT 05 "Fighting Fire With Fire" Starring: Artemis & Firehawk. NPC's: Claire "Crystal" Vosser, Isaiah Grommbridge, Lawrence Munro, Sam Dalton, Sasha Volkara, Debbie Olson, Will Coe, Hassid el-Dubai, Ali Abad, Sgt. Addie Parsons & Patrolman Albert Smith.. Villains: Ashtray Art, various Followers of Set and Moonserpent. Game Date: 01 MAR 05 thru 03 MAR 05 Locations: Artemis' Apartment, Moon Maid Tarot & Palm Reading, Bay City Zoo Reptile House, Crystal's Apartment, The Federal Building, Frazier Park & Kane Avenue Apartments. Session Synopsis: Artemis is called to help with Crystal's migraine headache and discovers wards that were put up by the Followers of Set. After fixing the problem, Artemis talks with Crystal about her scrapbook of memoirs concerning Crystal's old mentor, Madame Z. (Madame Z was one of a group of "Mystery Men" who were underground battlers of the paranormal in the 1950's and 60's and took Crystal in when she ran away from home, presumably on the premise that Crystal had magical potential.) Deciding that enough is enough, Firehawk decides to hunt down the serial arsonist plaguing the south side of the city, and turns to Isaiah for assistance in pursuing leads. Artemis is called in and the heroes meet with the Delaware state fire marshal and learn what he knows concerning the arson spree. Gaining a valuable clue, Firehawk dons vagrant attire and starts working as a dishwasher in the Kane Avenue Apartments Cafe while keeping his eyes and ears open. Later in the day, Artemis gets a lead on her old adversaries, the Followers of Set, from Sam Dalton, and attempts to head of the nefarious group as they try to bring the snake god's consort into existence. She flies quickly to the Bay City Zoo and spies a break-in at the Reptile House. Although Artemis trashes the three agents sent to gather a snake confiscated by the police from two of the faithful arrested the day before, one manages to get a sacred stone into the snake cage. The stone allows Moonserpent's trapped soul to take possession of the snake and the huge constrictor confronts the heroine, awash in magical energies and malice. Moonserpent's superior mental powers take control of Artemis, and she is forced to hand over the source of her power before the agents and snake leave, vowing to use their booty to bring the mighty Set back into the material world. Back at the Federal Building, Crystal rejoins the group and assists Isaiah in preparing the group to face off against the mental powers of the lady snake. Aided by the five members of the Bay City MARS, the characters storm the location where Moonserpent has cast her magic circle. Using stealth and guile, the characters manage to get very close to the action and ambush the villains. The heroes' superior tactics allow them to break the magic circle, send Moonserpent into the spirit world and recover Artemis' magical stone. The next day, Firehawk returns to his surveillance of the Kane Avenue Apartments. His search finally turns up the arsonist as Ashtray Art is beginning his dastardly work of preparing to torch the apartment building. Artemis is soon on the scene, and together, the heroes corner the villain in the basement. Despite being outnumbered, Ashtray Art lashes out at Firehawk, claiming that the hero has no right to defile "The Lady." The fight is desperate and vicious as the heroes alternately attempt to contain Art's efforts to set the building ablaze, and fight the villain himself. Artemis finally manages to open a water main to douse the villain, nearly drowning her partner in the process. Although the villain is badly injured, both heroes are declared justified by the police in their use of force to subdue the criminally insane pyromaniac. GM Notes Considering how badly the previous session went, this session was heaven by comparison. Of course, starting earlier in the day and having nearly five hours' worth of gaming time really let me stretch the role-playing legs of both characters. Future sessions should de-emphasize combats and re-emphasize this aspect as everyone had serious fun with both the interaction and trashing of the agents. I had Barry sweating for a few moments when Moonserpent took Artemis' pendant away, but that's the nature of the focus limitation. I also managed to get Firehawk to step away from the fiery mantle for a bit and exercise his character's other abilities. All in all, it was a very pleasant session. XP Awards Bill played his character very smart, so Firehawk was awarded 3 XP. Barry was great as always and was awarded 2 XP for the session. Session #8 -- 16 OCT 05 "The Transdimensional Kid, Part II" Starring: Artemis, Firehawk, Longbow & Paragon. NPC's: Claire "Crystal" Vosser, Isaiah Groombridge, Lily Monroe, Tom Jacobs, Dr. Who, Penelope Bookman, Captain Freedom & Mr. Nobody. Villains: (Anagram, Clarion,) Mayhem & Raging Bill Game Date: 16 MAR 05 Locations: Various locations around the Bay City area. Session Synopsis: Another day, another dollar -- James Firestone is awakened by a telephone call from his agent Tom Jacobs. Tom informs him of some voice actor work which needs to be done right away, which gets James rolling out of bed. Later, as they are sharing lunch at a local diner, they discuss the anagrams which have been painted on the outfield grass at Memorial Stadium. Deciding that the words have to be Latin, they call one of Tom's lawyer friends for assistance. Diane Luna's day starts in the emergency room of the Bay City General Hospital. Crystal's migraines are becoming less frequent but more severe, and she also seems to be manifesting telepathic power at the expense of her magical abilities. After taking Crystal back to her own apartment to sleep off the medicine she's taken, Artemis borrows one of her friend's crystal balls and contacts the legendary arcane Dr. Who. (This tactic was rather unexpected by me, so that was the name I threw out at the time, expecting to change it later, but the players liked it so much, it stuck.) The arcane promises to visit Bay City the next day, so he can examine Crystal. Aaron Fletcher's day starts in pain, as he is still recovering from a set of sore ribs from a gang skirmish he broke up during the previous night's crime fighting. (The character was more "street" that the others, and Brad indicated that Longbow frequently patrolled northern neighborhoods. The incident wasn't role-played, just mentioned in passing in the news.) The pain fades as the day wears on at work, but he can't shake feelings of paranoia when he learns from coworker Penelope Bookman that a "Mr. Smith" was asking about a government book concerning Project Plowshare. Aaron locates the book on the shelves and finds that the Mr. Smith was actually Mr. Nobody, who has left a small CD-ROM inside of the book intended for Mr. Fletcher. The disc contains an analysis of the anagrams left at Memorial Stadium, stating a high probability of the phrases being Latin. It also contains the biographic profile of Dr. Anna Graham, PhD, recently unemployed from Bay City University. Joe Swanson's day begins at the Federal Building in the guise of Paragon, where he receives his Bureau of Metahuman Affairs signal ring and a quick pep talk from Isaiah Groombridge, the Bay City Area Supervisor. Paragon dons the ring and heads out for a day of flying around town, fighting crime and helping people out. Fortunately for him, it's a day off for the hero's alter ego. Toward the end of the day, Longbow, who is following up the leads given him by Mr. Nobody, decides to call in the rest of the area heroes for a quick meeting. Before Artemis leaves for the meeting, Crystal warns her of great danger in downtown area just before sunset. Before he leaves for the meeting, Firehawk gets a call back from Tom Jacobs, who says his friend thinks the anagrams are terms for violation of the law and a law of retribution where the punishment is similar to the initial transgression. The group is surprised when the newest hero in town drops in unannounced, but he sheepishly explains he's still trying to figure out how the ring works. Artemis convinces the rest of the team that the anagrams will have to wait as she tells the others of Crystal's warning. The group spreads out over the downtown area and waits for the danger to materialize. The danger materializes in the form of a pair of villainous metahuman bricks who are old rivals -- Mayhem and Raging Bill. Raging Bill runs down Mayhem with a pickup truck to get his attention, and the battle is joined. While the two bricks slug it out, the heroes scramble to hold the fight in check and remove potential victims from the battle area. After damaging a few buildings and vehicles, the combined actions of the combatants and the heroes eventually get Mayhem and Raging Bill captured with no serious injuries to any of the bystanders or police. GM Notes An excellent session. Players warmed to their roles very well and experimented with their powers during the main battle. All of them were doing the heroic actions expected of them while keeping the two combatants from trashing the city. XP Awards Everyone did an excellent job, so I awarded all of them 3 XP for the session. More to come... Matt "Looking-forward-to-the-weekend" Frisbee

Re: Limitations and the Silver Age I'm assuming you're doing this as a preliminary to writing them up. Otherwise, of course, you would only need to give your players a "sketch" of what they were capable of and what their known weaknesses were and move on. For the Silver Age types, I was always willing to allow for fewer points for disadvantages and a higher proportion of Base Points to the total points. An alternative is to increase the effects of Susceptibilities and Vulnerabilities for higher point values from those specific disadvantages, or to double the points from such disadvantages. Also, you might try giving the heroes reputations for their disadvantages (i.e. all of the serious villains knew what Kryptonite would do to Superman). While I'm rambling on the subject, don't forget to give your Silver Age types hardcore reputations -- most street types knew the gig was up when Superman dropped in or ran in terror when Batman made an entrance -- because there weren't that many superheroes around back then. Enjoy the creative buzz and good luck on your project! Matt "Swimmin'-in-a-sea-of-nostalgia-these-days" Frisbee

Re: Bay City Rollers Campaign Log Session #5 -- 18 SEP 05 "The Transdimensional Kid, Part I" Starring: Artemis, Firehawk & Longbow. NPC's: Isaiah Groombridge, Claire "Crystal" Vosser, Clay Conrad, Dr. Helena Amory, Katherine Marks, Lilith the Cat, Fauntleroy the Forest Dragon & Head Butler of Briarwood Castle. Villains: Frizbee, generic thugs & DEMON agents. Game Date: 18 FEB 05 Locations: The Financial District, Moon Maid's Fortune Telling & Tarot, the Conrad residence in Arlington Heights (all in Bay City); plus Briarwood Castle and other various locations in Dimension Disney. Session Synopsis: Diane Luna is awakened from a sound sleep by the desperate yowling of a seriously freaked-out cat at the door of her apartment upstairs from her fortune telling and tarot shop. Taking in the creature, she correctly deduces that there's trouble afoot when she hears people rummaging around below her feet in the shop. As she investigates, she is attacked by two Egyptian men who bear marks of the Followers of Set (the mystic group she obtained her stone of power from after a failed attempt to sacrifice her to their serpent god). After deftly avoiding the Fangs of the Serpent dagger thrown at her, she uses her powers to identify the getaway vehicle. Later in the day, police tell her that the car was stolen, leading to a dead end for the time being. Diane decides to adopt the cat, naming it Lillith. Later that day, Aaron Fletcher meets with his girlfriend Katherine Marks for a downtown lunch, but a quick stop at the bank turns into danger for both as the disgruntled supervillain Frizbee (sans his flight disc) attempts to rob it. Forced to choose between confronting his old nemesis or protecting his girlfriend; Aaron slips away, dons his magic boots and races out of the bank to finish his transformation into Longbow. When he returns to the bank, however, Katherine is a hostage of the disc-tossing villain as he beats a retreat from the bank with the ill-gotten loot. Longbow waits until Frizbee tosses his hostage aside before pursuing justice by leaping onto the van as it pulls away. Soon the rivals are fighting a pitched hand-to-hand battle in the back of the van, both knowing that the loser faces certain death on the pavement as the van careens through midday traffic with one of Frizbee's thugs at the wheel. The desperate tactics and open doors of the van draw the attention of Firehawk, who is patrolling the downtown area this day. Realizing that life and property are in immediate danger, Firehawk swoops down on the van, trying to get its crazed driver to stop, but finally resorts to burning the tires off to slow it down to a crawl. Frizbee realizes that the cavalry has arrived, and jumps clear of the van, tossing one of his disc grenades into it to cover his escape. Firehawk throws the driver of the van clear before it explodes while Longbow runs down his less-than-fleet adversary. The pair claim the collar, but Longbow has some explaining to do to Katherine, as she seems to have figured out his identity, based on questions Frizbee was asking while she was in his clutches. After settling affairs with his girlfriend for now, Aaron Fletcher is introduced to the bookish and mousey personage of Penelope Bookman, who will be working at the library as an assistant librarian. Artemis, Crystal, Firehawk and Longbow are summoned by Isaiah Groombridge to the Bureau of Metahuman Affairs offices at the Federal Building later that afternoon. Local police have requested help searching for the missing daughter of Clay Conrad, a city councilman and prominent politician. A search of the Conrad residence reveals that no one seems to have kidnapped Patsy, but her personal journals reveals that she had a metahuman mother (something not generally known by the public) who died five years ago in an automobile accident. In addition, she recounts fairy tales in which she plays a starring role. This (and Artemis' ability to detect magical auras) leads the characters to believe that Patsy has metahuman abilities of her own that allow her to cross dimensional barriers. Using Crystal's new-found abilities at spell casting, Artemis manages to dimensional shift the characters into the target dimension -- a Disney fairy-tale landscape of Technicolor castles and real dragons. Shortly after their arrival, the heroes run across a sleeping purple dragon, who wakes and introduces himself as Fauntleroy the Forest Dragon. Fauntleroy knows Patsy well and is genuinely concerned that people from her home dimension are looking for her. He offers his services in assisting the search, giving the characters a lift to Patsy's home-away-from-home -- Briarwood Castle. After they arrive outside the moat, Fauntleroy contents himself by munching on mulberry bushes, but the characters notice he has suddenly shrunk to half his former size! The dragon comments (between bites) that he tends to get smaller the closer he is to danger, and the larger the threat, the smaller he gets. With this warning, the characters enter the castle on their guard. At first, the heroes are greeted with an illusion of happy man-servants, but none of the characters buys into that lie and the illusion shatters into the weapons and cruel smiles of DEMON agents left behind by their master Dark Seraph. The battle is short and furious, with the heroes making quick work of the agents. Although Crystal takes a quarterstaff across the chops in the fight, she is still spunky enough to coerce information out of one of the agents. His story is that Patsy was taken to the Tower Sinister for a dark ritual which will forever bend her will to the control of Dark Seraph, giving the evil sorcerer access to all dimensions. The characters make quick preparations for the trials ahead (and, no doubt, more combat) as they climb aboard a rejuvenated Fauntleroy for the journey to the Tower SInister as the session comes to a close. GM Notes I finally got a session where there were a minimum of interruptions and everyone took the various plot hooks I left for them. Subplots for Anagram, Penny Dreadful, Ashtray Art, the Followers of Set and DEMON have now been established and can be left to simmer. All in all, I was very happy with the way things turned out, though (once again) the opening fight was slightly longer that I intended. The players all did a great job in the roleplaying department and are beginning to experiment with their characters just a bit. XP Awards All three characters earned 2 XP for the session. Session #6 -- 02 OCT 05 "The Transdimensional Kid, Part II" Starring: Artemis, Firehawk & Longbow. NPC's: Patsy Conrad, Claire "Crystal" Vosser, Clay Conrad, Fauntleroy the Forest Dragon, Head Butler of Briarwood Castle, Celeste Conrad. Villains: Black Paladin, Dark Seraph, DEMON agents & the Sentinel Hounds. Game Date: 18 FEB 05 (Continued) Locations: Various locations around Dimension Disney and the Conrad Residence. Session Synopsis: After taking a few moments to regroup outside Briarwood Castle, the heroes note a number of idiosyncrasies in the design of the castle and its surrounds and come to the conclusion that all of Dimension Disney might have been created by Patsy Conrad. There is no time to spare, however, as the characters race to the Tower Sinister aboard the rapidly shrinking Fauntleroy. On their way to the tower, they encounter Celeste (Patsy's highly angelic mother), who has been preserved in a shrine near the tower. She reveals to the heroes that this reality is indeed a part of Patsy's imagination, and that her daughter has been in a coma in a private clinic for these past five years, a fact well concealed by Clay Conrad, Patsy's father! And her condition would preclude writing journals or attending school, which hundreds of witnesses say she'd been doing until she disappeared. Armed with this disturbing news, the group presses on to the tower on foot, as Fauntleroy continues to shrink and both Artemis and Firehawk find they can no longer fly. The heroes, aided by some quick thinking on the part of Artemis, quickly discover the correct path through the Thicket of Wild Thorns at the base of the Tower Sinister (neatly avoiding a confrontation with the Sentinel Hounds) and Firehawk (Keeper of the Mystic Flame and Guardian of the Sacred Fire) finds he can bend the Moat of Fire protecting the tower to his will, allowing the characters to cross unharmed. Once across, Longbow makes quick work of the token guarding force at the base of tower while Crystal dispels the wards keeping the group grounded. Soon, the heroes are ascending the tower to confront Patsy's captors. At the tower's summit, Artemis, Firehawk and Longbow battle against Black Paladin, Dark Seraph and three more DEMON agents to try to save Patsy. Dark Seraph takes control of Firehawk's mind while Longbow succumbs to a gas grenade thrown by one of the agents. Artemis is dispatched by Black Paladin, who tosses her unconscious body off of the tower, and the remaining agents do likewise to Longbow. Firehawk manages to break the grip Dark Seraph has on his mind when he ordered to roast Patsy alive on the altar so he can capture her soul and the dimensional travel powers she wields. Patsy, freed from the spell that held her motionless, taps into the elemental plane of fire, amplifying Firehawk's abilities to the point where he can defeat the sorcerer and his remaining minions singlehanded. Patsy uses her abilities again to shunt Dark Seraph's crown of elemental evil to a dimension of pure light, destroying it forever and the Tower Sinister with it. The characters awake with a start in Patsy's bedroom, realizing that only their spirit forms had left the room, and that all of their adventures in Dimension Disney had actually been in Patsy's subconscious imagination. Patsy's spirit form stays long enough to thank the heroes for looking for her and caring about her before she and her collection of journals fades away. The characters also realize that while it was just the spirit forms of the villains they fought, DEMON is now fully aware of what Patsy can do and will be looking for her. The next day, after a short talk with Crystal, Artemis uses her healing powers to cure Patsy's head injuries (which were beginning to degenerate) so she can begin the long road to recovery. GM Notes To be blunt, even though the players said they were happy with the way this adventure ended, I was highly vulgar and uncomplimentary in my self-review and was ready to award myself the "Worst GM to ever torture his players with complete mental masturbation" statuette. I also decided to put Crystal on the sidelines for awhile, since her abilities were starting to show up the players. I also resolved to stop focusing on Artemis so much in the future and begin to bring Firehawk and Longbow more to the forefront. XP Awards I awarded all the players 2 XP for suffering through this ****. They deserve better. Also, I ran their characters through Hero Creator to take their accumulated XP for some desperately desired upgrades. More to come... Matt "Keepin'-busy" Frisbee

Re: Bay City Rollers Campaign Log WARNING -- Spoilers for the "Throwing Stars & Bars Adventure" from Heroic Adventures Volume One ahead! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Session #3 -- 11 SEP 05 "Throwing Stars & Bars, Part I" Starring: Artemis, Firehawk & Longbow. NPC's: Isaiah Groombridge, Claire "Crystal" Vosser, Joshua Jackson, Mr. Nobody & Tom Jacobs. Villains: Frizbee & Gravitar Game Date: 03 FEB 05 (Daytime) Locations: Various locations around Bay City, Delaware Session Synopsis: As the day begins, Diane Luna is cleaning up her shop following the flooding of the Lodo district the previous day (caused by a combination of frozen storm sewers and a freak thunderstorm over the city, both of which happening together is highly unusual); James Firestone is struggling through a particularly tough voice acting session; and Aaron Fletcher (AKA Longbow) is just leaving home for his job at the Bay City Library's government documents section. Aaron's trip to work is interrupted by Frizbee (his old nemesis from Atlanta) and Gravitar, and both seem bent on a spree of destruction. The chaos attracts the attention of a patrolling Firehawk (as James takes a break from his work), who joins the fray to battle his old nemesis (Gravitar). Although the heroes and villains seem evenly matched, it quickly becomes apparent to Firehawk that Gravitar has made significant improvements to his battlesuit, as the villain starts trashing our hero. Longbow is thinking the same thing about his rival Frizbee, but the archer destroys the villain's flight disc, leaving him grounded and significantly less mobile. Frizbee returns the favor by flattening Longbow, then he beats a hasty retreat on foot. Meanwhile, Gravitar pursues Firehawk through an office building, only to be confronted by a mass of police on the other side. Gravitar, realizing he's finally outmatched by sheer numbers, attempts to flee with Firehawk hot on his heels. Out hero pushes the panic button on his ring to summon additional help and pursues the villain through the skies over the International Airport. Artemis answers the call for help, and caught between the two of them, Gravitar pushes his battlesuit beyond its limits until its power cells are completely exhausted, making a very ungraceful landing and subsequent capture. Back at the scene of the initial combat, Longbow recovers and assists the innocents caught in the aftermath of the fight. After Gravitar is carted away to jail, Artemis returns to the shop, enlisting the aid of Claire Vosser to finish the job of cleaning up. During the cleanup, Claire discovers a CD-ROM wrapped in a note from Mr. Nobody. (Mr. Nobody is a metahuman who has the power to make people forget everything they do or say around him -- it allows him to find things out to help the heroes.) The disc points to the fact that descendants of Confederate generals and high-ranking members of the Confederate government have been disappearing up and down the East Coast. The evidence also suggests that two more are in the Bay City area -- Linda Lee, a UPI reporter who covers Japan, and Joshua Jackson, a US Marine who is recovering from injuries suffered in a training accident at the local veterans' hospital. After viewing the information, Diane decides to visit Jackson -- as Artemis. Meanwhile, Aaron Fletcher discovers a misfiled book which is a printing of the Civil War journal of Caleb Jackson, a Confederate general. Towards the end of the book (which Aaron browses during his lunch break) he runs across an interesting story about Corporal Zachariah Collins, a half-Japanese soldier with a knack for tactics who was helping the Confederacy win the war until Jackson took steps to expose his "heathen" heritage and court-martialed him out of the war. Collins swore revenge against all those who participated in the proceedings and managed to escape custody, presumably fleeing to Japan. Aaron muses over the story, discovering a note inside the back cover from Mr. Nobody. Artemis pays her visit to Joshua Jackson, gaining no information, but she does get a chance to borrow the original journal by Caleb Jackson from Joshua, who was keeping it "for luck" during his recovery from crushed legs. Artemis spends a few moments to magically speed the healing process before running off to get the journal photocopied. James Firestone takes the afternoon off to rest from his battle with Gravitar and a frustrating day in front of the microphone, when he notices storm clouds are gathering in an unusual fashion north of his apartment. He transforms into Firehawk with a groan and flies toward the heart of the storm. Artemis, fresh from the photocopier, sees the streak of fire that is Firehawk against the rapidly deepening twilight, heading for a cluster of storm clouds and decides to join him. Longbow, just on his way home from work, also sees both the storm and Firehawk, and decides to have another go at being a superhero and swings into action... GM Notes It was rather hard to get the group to take the adventure hook for this one, but once the plot got rolling, they responded to the situations well enough. Barry did his usual good job of role-playing, and Bill wasn't too bad, either. Brad started warming to his character as the session progressed, so all in all, it wasn't a bad session. The introductory fight took entirely too long, so be sure to scale things back to fights against normal combatants in the future. XP Awards All three characters were awarded 2 XP for the session. Session #4 -- 18 SEP 05 "Throwing Stars & Bars, Part II" Starring: Artemis, Firehawk & Longbow. NPC's: Isaiah Groombridge & Claire "Crystal" Vosse. Villains: Raiden, Ronin, Techno-Ninjas, Tsunami & Yatsomoto. Game Date: 03 FEB 05 (Nighttime) Locations: Various locations around Bay City, Delaware, and the Yatsomoto Industrial Facility in the northwestern suburb of Greenville. Session Synopsis: The arrival of unnatural storm clouds bring our heroes into fray once again as Artemis and Firehawk streak into the heavens to locate the source of the rogue weather patterns. That source turns out to be the freakish Raiden, who engages the heroes in a battle amongst the clouds, which the heroes eventually win. Both heroes realize with a start that their battle has taken place above the veterans' hospital where Joshua Jackson is recuperating! Below the clouds, Longbow spies ninjas entering the veterans' hospital and suspects trouble. He follows them inside, eventually confronting them and their leader, Ronin. The fight quickly turns against the hero, but just as Ronin is about to deliver the killing blow, Firehawk arrives to knock Ronin on his can, but the battle is far from over. Eventually, Longbow is forced to retreat from the might of Ronin as Firehawk concentrates on saving Jackson from the ninjas. However, Longbow literally runs into the waiting clutches of Tsunami and is forced to battle the watery villainess. Artemis arrives (after turning Raiden over to the authorities) and uses her dimensional shift ability to put Jackson beyond the clutches of the villains, leaving him in another dimension for safekeeping. Firehawk uses the opportunity to dispatch the remaining Techno-ninjas, who cover the retreat of Ronin and Tsunami. During the cleanup, Isaiah Groombridge (Area Supervisor for the Bureau of Metahuman Affairs) informs the characters that the Techno-ninjas are the work of the Yatsomoto Corporation, and there has been activity at a recently purchased facility in Bay City's northwestern suburbs. Also, he tells the characters that Linda Lee is missing, presumably kidnapped during yesterday's freak storm which clogged the storm sewers with ice and flooded the Lodo. The characters burst in on the scene of Yatsomoto's revenge. (Yatsomoto is the identity assumed by Zachariah Collins when he reached Japan after being drummed out of the Confederate army and escaping custody. In the hundred-odd years since, he has used magic and technology to keep himself alive long enough to fulfill his vow of revenge against those who betrayed him.) Although Longbow makes a valiant attempt, Tsunami makes quick work of him by using a water blast to knock him through a factory building wall, and follows him outside. Firehawk's attempt at shutting down the generator powering the process of breaking down the genetic structure of his victims to retro-create clones of his former betrayers goes awry when Yatsomoto enters the fray and blinds him with a flash attack. Artemis battles the fearsome Ronin alone, eventually using her dispel attack to sever the spiritual link between the ghostly figure inside the samurai armor from its sword, leaving it powerless. She then turns to a crucial piece of equipment in the factory of horrors and attempts a desperate dimensional shift to prevent the transformation of the victims. Although she is successful, she is nearly killed in the process, as she accidentally enters a dimension that is hostile to human life. Firehawk, while blinded, still manages to cripple the generator, forcing Yatsomoto and Ronin to beat a hasty retreat. Longbow awakens after the fight, nearly drowned and naked, a victim of Tsunami's almost playful humiliation. Firehawk's sight recovers as the police arrive. Artemis spends several days in a private clinic operated by the BMA before she is well enough to heal the rest of her body. Yatsomoto and Ronin manage to elude capture and are assumed to have escaped to Japan. The six intended victims of Collins' revenge are shaken but unharmed. GM Notes Although this was a complete battle session, everyone had fun, even though they got beat. Looks my villains are finally tough enough to be worthy adversaries to the heroes. Next session should focus more on roleplaying, though. Artemis' dimensional shift power is being used too liberally, and I discussed limits on this power with Barry after the session. XP Awards All three characters earned 3 XP for doing an excellent job. More to come... Matt "Multi-tasking-is-such-a-pain" Frisbee

Re: Bay City Rollers Campaign Log BAY CITY ROLLERS CAMPAIGN LOG Session #1 -- 28 AUG 05 "The Replacement Heroes, Part I" Starring: Artemis & Firehawk. NPC's: Isaiah Groombridge, Sgt. Addie Parsons, Enforcer Pat Mahoney, Patrolman Albert Smith, Claire "Crystal" Vosser, Tom Jacobs and Sam Dalton. Villains: A pair of normal bank robbers and a trio of "Instant Werewolves" from Spellbound. Game Date: 17 JAN 05 (Daytime) Locations: Various locales around Bay City, Delaware Session Synopsis: Our heroes are just getting their certifications as sanctioned heroes from the Bureau of Metahuman Affairs Area Supervisor, Isaiah Groombridge, when they are informed that the city's former superhero (Blue Streak) has been placed on inactive status for personal reasons. Artemis and Firehawk waste no time getting to work, meeting with the Metahuman Activities Response Squad (MARS) leader, Sgt. Addie Parsons. Shortly afterward, Firehawk uses his powers to nab some would-be bank robbers. Meanwhile, Artemis, now in her Diane Luna persona, opens the Moon Maid Tarot and Palm Reading shop in the Lodo, near the Red Light District. First, Sam Dalton (a local with the reputation of being a weirdness magnet) drops by the shop with tales of strange goings on near his home, including werewolves on his doorstep! Later, Clare Vosser, owner of another fortune-telling ship at the other end of the Lodo, drops by with more information on the items which are being stolen by a very stealthy metahuman. Very quickly, the two realize their mystical natures and reveal their heroic identities to one another. Events escalate when Firehawk and Artemis battle three werewolves who are attacking Tom Jacobs, the talent agent for Firehawk's alter-ego, James Firestone, apparently in retaliation for his having bothered the supervillainess Spellbound! Artemis makes quick work of the "instant werewolves" by dispelling their necklace charms, and soon, the heroes have information about where and when Spellbound will be that night. The encounter is sure to be a dangerous one, though, as it becomes apparent that the supervillainess is attempting to claim all of the magical energies of another dimension for her own! If she's successful, not only will it mean the death of every living thing in that dimension, but also that Spellbound will become so powerful that not even the combined might of the world's superheroes will be enough to stop her! The session closes with Artemis and Firehawk enlisting the aid of MARS for a battle for the fate of two dimensions! GM Notes This was a typical starting adventure with a small fight and a lot of establishing groundwork. Bill and Barry did a good job of role-playing their characters. Remember that Artemis suggested silver bullets to Sgt. Parson, so MARS team members will actually have some when the fight starts. XP Awards Both characters were awarded 2 XP for the session, deferred until the end of the adventure. Session #2 -- 04 SEP 05 "The Replacement Heroes, Part II" Starring: Artemis & Firehawk. NPC's: Isaiah Groombridge, Sgt. Addie Parsons, Patrolman Albert Smith, Claire "Crystal" Vosser, and The Nameless One. Villains: Loupe Garou, Nightowl, Powerhouse & Spellbound. Game Date: 17 JAN 05 (Nighttime) Locations: North end of Frazier Park in Bay City, Delaware Session Synopsis: Artemis and Firehawk meet Isaiah at the Bay City offices of the Bureau of Metahuman Affairs at 10 pm. They find that Isaiah has brought some reinforcements for their anticipated battle with Spellbound in the form of the huge and hairy Sasquatch. Also supporting their efforts are Crystal and a Native American shaman with the moniker "The Nameless One." The plan is for the three heroes to use Artemis' dimensional shift power to bypass the mystical wards Spellbound is sure to have up as she attempts to steal the magical energy of another dimension to use in this one. The heroes hope to take the villainess by surprise before she can complete the dark ritual. The heroes quickly find out that Spellbound does indeed have wards up, and she's not alone, either! Three other supers are supporting her mad quest for power -- the vicious Loupe Garou, the silent and deadly Nightowl and Powerhouse, the most obnoxious brick on the planet. The battle is joined in short order, though the heroes are not as combat effective as they had hoped against this strike force of pure villainous combat power. Artemis is ringed out of the battle after taking a vicious swipe from Loupe Garou's claws, and Sasquatch goes down for the count seconds later after another savage attack from the werewolf (and a follow-up by Powerhouse). Firehawk's attempted retalliation goes awry on a missed move-through, but his momentum carries him out over the lake, causing Spellbound to wail in frustration! The hero's fiery visage is blocking out the reflection of the quarter moon on the lake, which is needed for the ritual to work its magic. Nightowl is the only villain with a chance of averting failure, but his invisibility is foiled by Firehawks flaming body (and his Change Environment power -- creates light and heat). Our hero doesn't rise to the challenge of combat, but uses his powers to cause mist to rise from the lake's surface, obscuring the moon's reflection. Spellbound's failure is assured when Nightowl's final and desperate bid to quench Firehawk's flames goes awry, putting the villain in the drink instead. Although Loupe Garou is wounded by the silver bullets from MARS troopers (suggested by Artemis), the villain manages to elude the dragnet. Powerhouse is brought down in the midst of posturing by the rocket launcher carried by Patrolman Smith. Nightowl, half-drowned and suffering hypothemia, is fished from the lake by rescue crews as Patrolman Smith revives Artemis. She returns the favor by magically healing the more severely injured members of MARS who suffered the claws of Loupe Garou. As for Spellbound, the last anyone sees of her are her desperate struggles to overcome her own wards as she is sucked into limbo through her own magic circle. Artemis knows, however, that the supervillainess is far too strong to be held anywhere for very long... GM Notes This was yet another one of those sessions victimized by a player no-show, personal issues and some very non-statistical dice throws. After a late start, however, the game went very smoothly for the 90 minutes played before the battle was over. Killing attacks can be truly awesome with excellent dice throws, so I plan to use them more sparingly in the future. Everyone responded well to the battle scene, and yes, I do need to keep better track of who is doing what and when in these big battles. XP Awards For the two sessions, Artemis received 4 XP, Firehawk received 3 XP. For the combat, Sasquatch was awarded 1 XP. More session logs to come... Matt "Wishing-I-had-the-right-software-so-I-wouldn't-have-to-retype-all-this" Frisbee

Re: Bay City Rollers Campaign Log THE ROSTER OF THE BAY CITY ROLLERS Artemis (AKA Diane Luna, professional mystic) Played by Barry. Artemis gained her powers after thwarting an attempt by the Followers of Set to sacrifice her to their evil serpentine god. In the process, she gained a powerful magical stone which gave her a number of mystic abilities and powers, including the ability to travel between dimensions. The power of the stone has drawn many mystical enemies to her, which she has used to hone her abilities to the level needed to fight crime and supervillains. Artemis fights crime as an extension of her war on the forces of evil, and the challenges that entails. Little does she know, that her stone will prove even more important than she or her enemies think... First Appearance: Session One Crystal (AKA Claire Vosser, professional psychic and fortune teller) NPC. See Normals Unbound for the full rundown on Claire -- she was issued some equipment from the BMA to help out the PC's in one session, and retained it for future use. First Apperance: Session One Firehawk (AKA James Firestone, professional voice actor / announcer / actor) Played by Bill. Firehawk is a fire-themed energy projector who achieved the trick through a mystical transformation as the latest Keeper of the Mystic Flame and Guardian of the Sacred Fire on earth. (Think Human Torch with big fiery wings.) Aside from these powers, Firestone was an amateur detective of sorts with the ability to mix and mingle. Firehawk is motivated by a need to prove himself worthy of the mantle he has inherited through mystic means and a genuine desire to protect the city he loves. The local media have latched onto this hero because he frequently paints a streak of fire across the sky in responding to crimes and emergencies, making it easier for them to find the scene... First Appearance: Session One Longbow (AKA Aaron Fletcher, librarian / historical archivist) Played by Brad. Longbow accidentally crossed swords with DEMON a few years ago in Atlanta and "inherited" his super powers through a magical longbow which shoots bolts of energy, a set of magical chainmail and a pair of Elfin boots. After cutting a swashbuckling path around the streets of Atlanta, Aaron took a job at the Bay City Library to be closer to his fiancee, Katherine Marks. (Think of the ranger character from the old Dungeons & Dragons cartoon, make him ten years older, and you get the idea.) Longbow is motivated to fight crime because he seriously enjoys the rush of being a superhero, and tries to live up the high standards he's imagined superheroes have over the years. He looks over his shoulder, though, as he knows that DEMON hasn't forgotten what it lost when he took the magical items from their clutches... First Appearance: Session Three Low-Rent (AKA Joe Smith, temp worker / security guard) NPC. Joe Smith was a low-powered mutant from the Lodo who became motivated to fight crime after Firehawk stopped patrolling the south side of town. (James moved to a more upscale neighborhood after going pro as a superhero.) Armed with nothing more than a few slightly superhuman abilities and a home-built set of body armor, he spends most of his free time battling street gangs and organized crime, but occasionally helps the group out when they need street smarts or plain old-fashioned guts. (This was my nod to bringing street stories to the fold in case a session wound up short-handed.) Crystal took a shine to the guy, and they worked on fitting a relationship around their other commitments. First Appearance: Session Eleven Paragon (AKA Joe Swanson, Certified Public Accountant) Played by Dean. Joe Swanson was transformed into this man of magical muscle when he found a legendary mystical 100-carat diamond while hiking along the Appalachian Trail. Although the diamond fell to dust after his transformation, Paragon realized his power when he squared off against the infamous supervillain Mayhem later that month. After helping subdue the criminal metahuman, he registered with the BMA and moved to Bay City. Paragon uses his powers to help people, regularly patrolling the skies and streets of the city, looking for trouble, often to the point of falling behind in his work as an accountant. The other love in his life is Ruby Jasper, his long-time girlfriend whose parents live in the city as well. Paragon has made a long list of enemies in the course of his crimefighting, and all of them tend to be the vengeful types... First Appearance: Session Eight Sasquatch (AKA Collin Kline, US Parks Ranger / environmentalist) Played by Dean. The skinny on this character was a multiform brick much the same as the Marvel Comics character of the same name. Dean only played this character for one session, and expressed dissatisfaction with it (possibly due to getting his butt kicked by Loupe Garou) and was unavailable to game for several sessions afterward. He would eventually return to the game as Paragon. The character lived on in various newspaper reports, often going head-to-head with the United States, Canadian and Mexican governments over environmental issues. First Appearance: Session Two The logs will begin with my next post! Matt "Slow-night-on-the-radio" Frisbee

Re: Bay City Rollers Campaign Log A THUMBNAIL GUIDE TO THE WORLD OF THE BAY CITY ROLLERS Background The whole thing started in the 1980's. Nobody knows why. People just started developing super powers. Nobody was calling them metahumans back then, because even the people with the powers had a hard time believing it. They didn't go public, though. They went underground. For a number of years, the exploits of metahumans were limited to groups of fight clubs. It was a novelty sort of thing where groups of metahumans from one town would find a place that was out of the way, and then use their connections to invite another group over for a fight. It sounds barbaric, but most of the participants were under the age of 25 and looking for a thrill. Some of them wore flashy costumes for the fights, but most just wore something that would hide the blood of their injuries and have room for some padding underneath. The fights were never serious, and they always fell well short of doing serious damage. Someone started videotaping the fights and bootleg tapes started circulating. To help identify the combatants, videographers started attaching colorful nicknames to the participants. Reputations began among the fighters and the tapes started reaching hands and eyes beyond the groups involved. By the end of the decade, there were twenty such groups across the country. The New York City group was the largest and had around fifty members. In 1990, the NYC Supergroup hosted the first (and only) national tournament. The prize was a trophy and the bragging rights to go with it. Seven groups picked up the gauntlet and another group offered to arbitrate and referee the tournament. It was fought over an extended weekend at the end of October, and the group from Chicago won it. A tape of tournament highlights was released in the underground video markets. One of the tapes was brought to the attention of the FBI, who recognized one of their most wanted criminals on it, and the investigation began. They tracked down their man in Baltimore and moved in to arrest him. The FBI thought the whole super powers thing was faked, like most of the stuff one sees in Professional Wrestling. People don't have super powers, period. That basic assumption cost four agents their lives when Charles "Mayhem" Paulson literally beat them to death in the close quarters of his hotel room. Investigators determined that the fugitive had been shot a dozen times at close range with handguns to no effect. Bullets recovered from the scene had traces of epidermis and body hairs imbedded in the deformed slugs. The only thing that forensics types could conclude is that Paulson was somehow bulletproof. Other evidence indicated he had killed each of the agents with a single blow to the head that not only fractured the skull, but caved in the skull cavity. In each case, it had been Paulson's fist, hitting with superhuman force. Paulson's case caused a sensation in the media. He started wearing his trademark sweatshirt with the large "M" on the chest whenever he committed a crime. The tapes surfaced on news shows and suddenly everyone was asking questions. Paulson emboldened others to act on their fantasies and a whole crop of metahuman villains seemed to explode onto the scene across the country. It would take two years before the first superheroes appeared to stem the tide. By the end of 1997, there had been three separate attempts to take control of the United States Government by force from individual supervillains or groups of metahumans. To counter this threat, the government passed the Metahuman Registration Act, requiring all metahumans who wished to use their powers legally, to register and identify themselves to the newly-created Bureau of Metahuman Affairs. Those who do not register and use their powers anyway, even to save others, run afoul with the law. Some exceptions are made, of course, for undiscovered powers and for juveniles. Metahumans in the USA Around one in every fifty thousand people is a metahuman. In the United States, this translates to about five thousand metahumans in a population of two-hundred fifty million. Approximately two hundred metahumans are registered with the US Government, or about four percent of the estimated population of metahumans in the country. Of that number, only about half of the registered metahumans are actively fighting crime, which means there are about a hundred superheroes in the United States. The others have registered their super powers in order to be granted waivers for work or personal activities. That means about four thousand, eight hundred other metahumans have not registered. Currently, the Bureau of Metahuman Affairs lists around two thousand supervillains with more being added to the list each day. Needless to say, the registered metahuman heroes are going to be staying busy for a long time. Metahumans and the Law A registered metahuman who offers to fight crime has limited federal police powers as part of the deal for getting registered. Those powers allow them to apprehend criminals who have been "caught in the act," as well as detaining and transporting said criminals to recognized law enforcement institutions. It also allows the hero free access to crime scenes and permission for the hero to cross official barriers such as police lines while in the pursuit of criminals or while acting to save lives and property (all while in his or her heroic identity, of course). Registered crime-fighting metahumans are legally absolved from of any civil liability for damages caused by their actions (the federal government picks up the tab in most instances). Also, they are absolved of criminal liability, unless evidence conclusively shows gross negligence on the part of the metahuman(s) involved. Such charges can only be filed on behalf of a city, county or state government. A personal note here -- Why would the federal government be willing to do this? There are three primary reasons. 1) In general, it takes metahumans to stop metahumans, and this is the price the government is willing to pay for a database of reinforcements in case someone wants to hold the President hostage again. 2) In cities where registered metahumans actively fought crime, overall crime rates dropped low enough that the costs of capturing supervillains were more than offset by the lack of other sorts of crime. 3) In general, registered metahumans are the best field observers for assessing the overall threat of a particular supervillain. In addition to these, the prestige any national government can gain is always enhanced by having superheroes to show the country's colors, not to mention the photo opportunities... Metahumans and the US Government Registered metahumans do not have an obligation to fight crime. Those that choose to fight crime, however, are issued a signal ring which allows local and federal authorities to call for help, and make all registered metahumans in the area aware of that fact. The ring also has a "panic button" feature which allows a hero who's in over his or her head to call for additional assistance, and to notify the authorities of potential or developing disasters. Otherwise, registered metahumans are allowed to maintain their own lives however they see fit. A hero, for whatever reason, can choose not to answer a call for help on the ring and face no repercussions. One that does it too many times, however, may be removed from the active roster, which revokes their legal powers (and protection). In Bay City, that's exactly what's happened as the campaign begins. The Blue Streak, a speedster superhero, has not answered the call often enough to suit the local Area Supervisor Isaiah Groombridge. During Blue Streak's inactivity, crime is up and the local authorities have been forced to shell out enough money to fund a Metahuman Activities Response Squad to fill the void. Welcome to Bay City, Delaware, heroes -- we hope you're ready... More to come... Matt "Enjoying-the-nostalgia" Frisbee