Hermit

https://www.npr.org/2018/12/14/676950106/quoting-the-lorax-court-pulls-permit-for-pipeline-crossing-appalachian-trail
 
Man knows his Seuss 
 
 

I lived in Melbourne once. Unfortunately, it was in winter and I had been living in Papua New Guinea immediately before that. Something something frozen something.
 
But in this case I kind of have to volunteer for the team to keep all the Yanks in line.

My character? Well, it's tricky. I don't have any characters trained in Australian Ninjitsu.

Keanu Reeves has been EXPOSED

SarcophaGuy
 
55 STR 45
26 DEX 39
23 CON 26
10 BODY
13 INT
10 EGO
13 PRE
10 COM
PD
ED
5 SPD
16 REC
46 END
STUN
 
 
Appearance: In hero form, he appears as a classic mummy body with an Egyptian Pharaoh headdress. His face looks much like a metallic sarcophagus face turned to life. When the wrappings move to reveal other parts of his body, those parts appear to be metallic just as his face. He's a lot faster than he looks. His voice is deeply resonant but somewhat hollow which makes him sound breathless.
 
Herman Garfunkle (no relation) always had an unnatural attraction to everything Egypt despite growing up in a normal rural Louisiana setting. He graduated from school five years early and went on to college to study Egyptology. On his first spring break, he decided to go to Egypt rather than to the beach with the rest of his classmates. While there, he was spirited away by an irresistible mystic force and was returned forty days and forty nights later with hazy memories of meeting with ancient deities who needed his help...and with the ability to transform into a being who could provide that help. Thus was SarcophaGuy born!
 
When speaking English, SarcophaGuy has a thick Cajun accent but that accent doesn't carry over when he speaks other languages. Herman could "correct" his English but he thinks that it is everyone else who talks funny.
 
(mostly 4th edition)
 
Life Support: immortality 8< (an old version of the aging slowly power, roll per day or per phase during combat if someone has a power which interacts with immortality)
Life Support: can breathe while buried or confined (like a mummy or someone sealed in a sarcophagus)
Regeneration 1BODY 8<
Armor
Infravision
N-Ray vision only through sand, sandstorm, stone, and loose dirt
Shapeshift back into his former appearance. Note this does not alter access to his powers except for the stretching/swinging because his wrappings disappear. Also note that he is obviously still underage in his original form (and his original form is aging slowly as well).
 
Multipower
Change Environment create sandstorm
Energy blast with variable special effects (sand, flies, frogs, etc. think of the confrontation of Moses vs the Pharaoh's court wizards)
TK only in desert countries as in the Middle East, actual deserts, or in places with ample sand such as beaches, a typical manifestation of the power would be a sand or stone hand
 
Multipower
Tunneling only through sand or loose dirt
Stretching (living bandages/wrapping)
Swinging (wrappings)
Running
Leaping
Gliding
 
 
Martial Arts (Hop-Towea, a formerly lost ancient Egyptian art. It is pronounced hop-toe-way-uh.)
3 Leg Sweep
5 Defensive Strike
5 Defensive Block +1 OCV +3 DCV Abort
5 Defensive Fast Strike +2 OCV +1 DCV STR +2d6
4 Flying Grab -1 OCV -1 DCV grab, full move
 
 
PS Archaeologist
PS Student
PS Cook
Linguist
Traveler
Jack of All Trades
Scholar
Eidetic Memory
 
Languages: Ancient Egyptian, Summerian, Ancient Greek, Ancient Hebrew, Modern Greek, Latin, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Yiddish, Persian, Arabic
AK: Egypt, Middle East, published archaeological digs
KS: Egyptology, Summerian History, Ancient Astronaut "Theory", Mythology, Astronomy
 
 
Watched: Egyptian Deity
Watched: Catholic Church which fears he's trying to restart an ancient religion
Watched: various fanatical Muslim groups
Enraged when a powerful being presents a threat to harm sacred ancient Egyptian sites
Overconfident
Driven to pull his weight on the team (common, strong)
Much too serious for his age (uncommon, moderate - doesn't know how to relax and have fun)
Takes his mission seriously and thinks he's supposed to be the avatar for the gods' return
10 Celebrity (frequent, minor) - (constantly bothered by paparazzi and the public, the character is constantly asked to set aside time for a myriad of social events and appearances. The nature of this Disadvantage is akin to not only living in a fishbowl, but also being the most colorful fish. Many people, especially in the Middle East, treat him as a god come back to life and just want to be close to him. Others consider him to be a hoax peddler out to scam people and show up to protest his appearances. Whether any of this turns into Hunteds and people out to harm him will be determined during the campaign.)
 

My ivory coast hero is Siaka Ouattara, better known for his nomme de guerre, Starcaller. According to his aunt and uncle who raised him, he's the son of an office manager (his aunt's younger sister) and an extra terrestrial scientist/missionary.
Starcaller's powers center around a "star field" (night sky appearance with blue white glowing eyes) which grants him flight, defense, life support, sensors and energy control. He's similar to the Superfriends era Green Lantern in that he can make (at this point) only simple constructs and blasts. He has visited the Moon under his own power. His mother died in childbirth. 
 
My Egyptian teen hero would be a young woman who may or may not have magical brick powers granted by the Heliopolis Warrior Goddess Bast. But she's not about to announce this. She goes by the name Pillar (of The Community) and exhibits Super Strength, toughness, healing, and swiftness. She may or may not have been seen arguing with someone who wasn't there.
 

Ivory Coast because why not
No worries from Canada
Egypt because I've often wanted to do one.
 
 

I went to college with a fellow from Ghana who was planning on going back there as a missionary. He had some horrific stories of the grinding poverty there among the general populace. I don't think I could take being a full-time hero there.
 
I went with Melbourne. I can always agitate to build alternate bases in other cities. No offense to Melbourne but it's the furthest city away from everything on continent and the world map except Tasmania and New Zealand.
 
For the young hero group, I went with Egypt or New Zealand. I had a friend whose uncle's house overlooked the Helm's Deep setting in New Zealand. He always made the place sound idyllic.
 
As for Egypt, I could play my hero SarcophaGuy. defender of the ancient sacred crypts of Egypt.

I went with Melbourne, understanding, and Ireland.
 
Do I have to create characters?

Only Administrators and Moderators have access to that, a choice that was deemed... logical
 
*munches popcorn and goes back to viewing "Pon Farr in the Afternoon"*
 
 

Earlier this week I taped an episode of the BAMF! podcast, in which I and superhero gaming luminaries Steve Kenson and Christopher McLoughlin talk about superhero RPG design and related topics. Enjoy!
 
BAMF! Podcast: Steve Talks Superhero RPGs

My aim was true; the initial blast of chemicals hit the cluster of sentinels squarely.  Stunned and dying, they began to crawl in random directions.  Without relenting on the trigger, I smoothly swept streaming justice across the entrance to their lair, knocking back the guards before they even knew what hit them.  I don't remember bellowing in fear and challenge; who knows?
 
But now the fog of war took over.  I had no idea what lay in the darkness beyond the entrance.  Dozens of the enemy?  Hundreds?  A swarm that, unleashed, would blot out the sun?  Regardless, though I had claimed the element of surprise, they were surely greater in number and mobility, and I knew they would seek to counterattack at their first opportunity.  Recalling the wisdom of King Leonidas at Thermopylae, I realized that I had to maintain control of the narrow entrance, converting their defensive asset into a choke point that negated their numerical advantage. 
 
I maintained a suppressive fire, washing the spray back and forth across the gateway and trying to get the spray to reach as far back into their sanctuary as possible.  The tactic worked at first--though I did not have line of sight to the entire entrance, I was able to catch the enemy as they emerged, knocking them out of the sky and dooming them to a twitching and hopefully painful demise.  I kept spraying... and they kept coming, dying valiantly on their threshold .  It soon dawned on me that though I had brought a brand new can of wasp spray to this showdown, one with 33% MORE BONUS!! capacity, it was not to be enough.  Before long, the can sputtered once, twice... and I was abruptly unarmed.
 
Like the British at Isandlwana I had begun an engagement without sufficient ammunition and was about to pay the price.  Warily, I retreated a couple of steps, brandishing the useless can as though it might intimidate any of my illiterate attackers.  I glanced over my shoulder, realizing that a suicide plunge off the carport might be my only means of escape.  I turned back to the enemy lair, ready to face my fate.  No longer under fire, the wasps kept coming.
 
And they kept dying.  Luckily, I had soaked the entire entrance with enough wasp death that the latest attackers could not exit without coating themselves in it and disabling themselves.  So they continued to sally forth, and they continued to die in a puddle of neurotoxin on their threshold--banzai charges, doomed to fail before they began. 
 
Before long it was over.  Uncounted hordes of the enemy (well, close to a hundred) lay in contorted agony on the battlefield, and dozens more surely lay within their fortress.  There was no way of knowing if any had survived.  Surely some had, but it was clearly a decisive victory.  I left the bodies where they lay, as a warning to any who might follow.  And I went to the hardware store to buy more spray. 

That was a labor of community that served me well, I won't lie. LL and many others gave valuable input and it is my hope I'm not the only one who got use out of it.
 
 

This is old by now, but if someone wants to incorporate Foxbat into a War on Christmas adventure....
(With apologies to Frozen)

Foxbat will hack into networks, and show his musical challenge!
 
"The Snow glows white on the city tonight
not a hero, to be seen
Gone is my trepidation
because it looks like I get away clean!"
 
 
"The wind is howling and I should stay inside
but can't stop scheming, heaven knows I've tried."
 
"I want to win, I want them to see
that I'm no villain of mediocrity
Steal a mil but they must know
Yes they'll know!"
 
"It's my show, it's my show
Can't hide my genius anymore
It's a show, it's a show
That's what I'm stealing for!"
 
"I don't care
about the pay
let's have some fun!
My Master Plan is making the news today!"
 
"Its sad how the cold sends all the folks away
To get to their warm houses while they can
but I'll never let the weather
thwart my Master Plan!"
 
"It's time to show the world exactly what I can do
Foxbat has no limits, heck I even flew
No right, no wrong, no rules for me... I'll be....
on News 3!!!!"
 
 
"It's my show, it's my show!
I'm the one with the dreams so high!
It's my show, it's my show!
You heroes will never see me cry!"
 
"Here I scheme, come let's play
Forget the storm!
Winter scenes are more climatic anyway!"
 

Yeah....
but I feel bad about the dogs

Yeah....
but I feel bad about the dogs

I left it vague so folks could decide for themselves.  Trying to keep the politics to a vague minimum 

Yeah....
but I feel bad about the dogs

Yeah....
but I feel bad about the dogs

YE GODS!!! Reminds me too much of the Batman:TAS episode "Christmas with the Joker"

I picked Houston, because I like Obsidian and for the space adventure vibe.
 
Seattle would have been too easy. I live nearby, and I already set my two Seattle Sentinels campaigns there. (Plus my two Keystone Konjuror supermage campaigns based in Tacoma.)
 
Pittsburgh was mentioned. Pittsburgh is cool: perhaps the closest the real world comes to Millennium City. Once notorious as a symbol of Rust Belt post-industrial urban decay, it has rebuilt itself as a high-tech hub. Three major research universities, one of which boasts the Gothic skyscraper "Cathedral of Learning," as cool a setting for a super-battle (or super-team base!) as you could imagine. Except maybe for the PPG, Inc. corporate headquarters, which looks like Superman's crystalline Fortress of Solitude from the movies. Villains who are into subterranean lairs can find plenty of room in the old coal mines.
 
I had the heroes of Avant Guard visit Pittsburgh in pursuit of the mad biotech mega-villain Helix, and it worked really well.
 
Dean Shomshak
 

Seattle would certainly be a simpler choice, more conventional than Honolulu, but still with that Pacific access.
 
EDIT: Although if you're going American Pacific Northwest, I kinda wish it would be at New Constantinople.

This is old by now, but if someone wants to incorporate Foxbat into a War on Christmas adventure....
(With apologies to Frozen)

Foxbat will hack into networks, and show his musical challenge!
 
"The Snow glows white on the city tonight
not a hero, to be seen
Gone is my trepidation
because it looks like I get away clean!"
 
 
"The wind is howling and I should stay inside
but can't stop scheming, heaven knows I've tried."
 
"I want to win, I want them to see
that I'm no villain of mediocrity
Steal a mil but they must know
Yes they'll know!"
 
"It's my show, it's my show
Can't hide my genius anymore
It's a show, it's a show
That's what I'm stealing for!"
 
"I don't care
about the pay
let's have some fun!
My Master Plan is making the news today!"
 
"Its sad how the cold sends all the folks away
To get to their warm houses while they can
but I'll never let the weather
thwart my Master Plan!"
 
"It's time to show the world exactly what I can do
Foxbat has no limits, heck I even flew
No right, no wrong, no rules for me... I'll be....
on News 3!!!!"
 
 
"It's my show, it's my show!
I'm the one with the dreams so high!
It's my show, it's my show!
You heroes will never see me cry!"
 
"Here I scheme, come let's play
Forget the storm!
Winter scenes are more climatic anyway!"
 

And suddenly bone spurs become an epidemic
 
 

And suddenly bone spurs become an epidemic
 
 

This thing is going up behind the old May Co. Department store building at Fairfax & Wilshire Blvd.  Anyone for a re-enforced, concrete sphere?  The reactor for the headquarters in the old May Co.?