Mr. R

One month later June 2021
 
Frank Streeter sat at the work table in his workshop.  Well his number three workshop.  BUT, it was the only one that Mocker knew of.  After hearing about the robberies and beatings, he surmised that Mocker needed some repairs, and was heading here for a fix up.  So Frank sat and waited.  Soon his outer perimeter alarm beeped.  Checking the cameras, he wasn’t sure.  He was preparing to flip the anti personnel switch, when he heard the work code they used to use.
 
So he opened up the last door.  
 
“You look like sh*t!”
 
“Yeah!” Mocker replied. “I need fixing!”
 
“No duh!”  said Frank.  “Get up on the table and see what we need to do!  WOW!  This is gonna cost.  You bring enough cash?”  
 
Mocker tossed him a satchel.  “All I could get on short notice!  And I don’t want just fixing, but upgrading.”  
 
Frank looked at the gems and jewels.  “I am going to outsource some of this.  Argent is not cheap!”
  
Mocker started, “Argent?  Not Trade?”
 
“Trade!” Frank scoffed, “They tried to steal my suit.  They are mixed up with that Corp that tried to steal it in the first place!”  “So what upgrades?”
 
And Mocker started describing his vision…

September 2021

 
SSSCCCRRRREEEE!  BANG!  Clatter, clatter, clatter!
 
“That felt good!” Mocker exclaimed!
 
“Well we did upgrade the power level by 50%.  Also your sonic defenses are improved!” Frank commented.
 
“What about these boot jets?” Mocker asked.
 
“They are NOT boot jets!  They are redirection ports for your Sonic Emitter that allows you to maneuver in the air using your sonic abilities!”  Frank yelled!
 
“Yeah, yeah, as long as they allow me to fly away from my enemies!” Mocker announced!  “So I am bringing the band back together.  You in?”
 
Frank mused a bit “Will we occasionally mess with that Corp that ruined my life?”
 
“Absolutely!  I was thinking of starting with Mace.  We could use another tech person!” commenter Mocker.
 
“Naw, he died five years ago!” Frank announced.
 
“Really?  On the job?” Mocker inquired. 
 
“Nope.  Cancer!” Frank said.
 
“You send flowers?”  Mocker asked curiously.
 
“Nope.  Cash!”  “But you may want to check one of his old work-warehouses in Toronto!  I hear that someone has been using it, and it sure isn’t Mace!” Frank intoned.
 
“Toronto?  Like Canada?  What was he doing up there? Mocker asked incredulously.
 
“Believe it or not there’s an old folks home there for supers!  Mace got in after his diagnosis.  He was pretty happy.  Anyway he still took some consulting work and the occasional fabrication job from me.  So if someone is using his old lab, maybe we should get to know them?”  surmised Frank .
 
“I’ll check it out.  You get your suit up and running!”  Mocker flew off into the night!
 
Frank went back to his main workshop, went to a panel and flipped a secret switch.  A side door opened into a secret room containing a gleaming armored suit.  “Hello FIST!”


 

Max used his contacts to follow the speedster, but he was hampered by not having any movement abilities.  Finally in Chicago he was checking some leads when he heard about a super’s battle downtown.  
 
“Maybe I’ll get lucky!” he thought.
 
So quickly donning his battle gear, he made his way downtown, just in time to see the speedster (or was it blaster?) zip by a cross street.  Heading to the corner he saw his former client run by the hero called Shade and drop something at his feet as he zoomed by.  This was followed by an explosion that sent shade flying across the street, but did little to really damage him. 
 
“Dam!” Max thought, “all that will do is piss Shade off.”  Shade was a heavy hitter and Max knew his future partner was going to lose if the fight went on too long.  
 
Morningstar decided to intervene.  He tosses a wire grenade at Shade’s feet, momentarily stopping him.  “Shoot him now!” Morningstar yelled.  Soon the speedster was firing into Shade, Knocking him off balance.  Morningstar rushed in and swung at his opponent with a nasty uppercut that connected.  
 
Soon he and the speedster had Shade on the ropes.  When he got knocked into the river, they both decided to get as far away as possible (max getting a lift from his ally)
 
Later at a greasy spoon they talked.
 
“Name’s Mike btw. But you already knew that.  So why you out of Toronto?”
 
“Well that workshop got raided and I got offered a job.”
 
“Really?  Bashing or fabricating?” Mike asked
 
“A bit of both” Max answered, and explained what had happened with Mocker.
 
“Mocker… Mocker.. Yeah he was active about 20 years ago.  Is he still around?” Max exclaimed.
 
“Well he is an android and doesn’t age.  And he wants to get his gang up and running again.  But most of them are retired, or dead.  So he’s looking for replacements.  That is where you come in.  A speedster with a blaster, you are… different.  But enough like his old team member Mercury Mercenary.  So you in?” Max queried.
 
“Call me Merc!”

“Should’ve checked the weather report!” Frank complained as he drove through a southern storm.  “I’ll never find a weather controller during a rainstorm!”
 
Frank slowed his van as he came to a red light, then the street in front of him lit up like a bad Christmas tree!
 
“What the @&^$!”  As his  eyes cleared he saw an armoured car getting battered by a series of lightning bolts.  Eventually the truck came to a stop, and the back door was targeted by another series of blasts.  When it was knocked off, then a second light burst, followed by a peel of thunder rolled across the street.  
 
He noticed that the guards were unconscious and someone(?) was going through the contents.  Eventually they must have found what they were looking for because one set disappeared in mid air.  
 
Frank took a chance and ran out yelling for a meeting.  After about a minute, and hearing sirens, he sped off himself.  About an hour later,(after activating the colour change and new license plates on his van) he was driving out of the city.  A sudden fog prompted him to slow down and a flash in front of it made him stop.  A young lady walked out of the fog, “Not here.  Two days. At Enrico’s Restaurant!”  Then she disappeared and the fog lifted.
 
Frank looked up the place on his laptop.  “Great, a dive bar!  Couldn’t she have picked something less cliche!”   

HUH?  
 
Well if this was a trap, it was a damn silly one.
 
After knocking the door opened to a very fancy looking bar, very high class.  There sitting at the bar was the lady, dressed to the nines.  She looked at him a bit disapprovingly “You’re underdressed!”
 
“If you had given me some heads up, I would have brought my suit!’ Frank answered indignantly!
 
“Well you’re here.  What are you drinking (Please don’t say White Russian)?” as she gestured towards the bar.
 
“Rum and Coke with a twist of lime.”  Frank ordered, “So what is this place?”
 
“Think of it as an old style speakeasy, for supers!” the lady commented.  
 
Frank immediately looked around for possible enemies. “Relax” she said, “This week is the Villains Week.  Next week is for Heroes.  It's sort of like the tailor from Spiderman, the one who worked on heroes and villains on alternate days of the week.  Also this is considered neutral by both sides.  Even Supers need to relax”
 
Frank sipped his drink and admitted the rum was top notch.  “I’m impressed.”
 
“So talk,” she ordered.  “Why seek me out?”
 
Frank explained, her eyes widening as he went along.  “So let me get this straight, you thought I may have been the child of that cowardly jerk and inherited his powers, and were going to use that to try and get me to join?”
 
“Yeah.  I take it by the way you talk about him, you met ole Stormy?” Frank mentioned.
 
“Once, and I kicked his but.  But your offer sounds interesting.  I could use some bigger scores, and a chance to get rid of the stigma that twit saddled me with.”  At Frank’s raised eyebrow she explained “His rep as a coward has applied to many other weather workers.  So a chance to be rid of it would be nice.”
 
Frank got up to leave “So you in?”
 
“Certainly.  But where are you going, the night is young!” she asked huskily.  Frank sat back down.  “So what do I call you?”
 
“My handle is Storm King.  But for tonight you can call me Gabiella!

Yes, I can do something about the weather
 
 
Despite the name, she's your usual stormer type.
 
To power up-  Dex 21 and SPD 5.  Then bring MP to 60 AP (90 with the Indirect).  If still not enough more slots in the MP may be in order!
 

In a fantasy setting where the powers that be routinely intervene in mortal affairs religions are likely to be very different than they are in the real world.  In the real world proving what a god wants or even if they exist is often difficult that does not need to be the case in a fantasy world.  If a good god grants healing powers to his clerics and tells them to go heal the sick, they are going to do it.  If the deity does not want his clerics charging the poor for healing them they will not charge people for it.  If they try doing so the deity is not going to grant them the power to heal.  
 
 
Trying to make a profit off of religion does not work when the deity in question comes down and tells his “followers” to stop doing that.  So, while historically religions may charge for services that may not be true in a fantasy world.   In some cases it may be, but that depends on the nature of the deity.   If a deity wants his followers to be charitable and help others they will. 

I remember in the Fantasy Hero genre book for Fourth Edition, one of its manifold "spell colleges" was the College of Demonology. One of the spells in the College was just called, "Dispel," a bog-standard 10D6 Dispel against any magic spell. But the SFX description has always stood out for me: "The caster summons a small anti-magic demon, which he then hurls at the target. When the demon hits it explodes in a small, stinking green cloud which dispels magic."
 
That ain't super-powers.
 

This.  I used to game with a guy who had very strange ideas about politics.  He'd cram that stuff into every game he ran.  He was a good GM for the most part, but then we'd have to fight cultists of the evil god of bureaucracy.  Not making that up.  They intentionally try to make the government less efficient and more bloated.  His games were like a weird combination of D&D and Ayn Rand.  It was certainly unique, but it would completely take me out of the game.  You just thought "oh yeah, I have to give the right answer here or Jerry will flip out".  Of course my dwarven battle-rager hates red tape and filling out forms in triplicate.  That's totally something a medieval fantasy dwarf would encounter regularly and deeply care about.
 
 

He's fast
 
 
He's a blaster with a difference.

To power him up - Increase the Blaster and Grenades to 10d6. Maybe a pair of pistols? Add some super swimming. But do not make him a traditional speedster. He's a blaster with a cool twist.
 
 
 
 
 

Good idea!  Especially the extra mags!

Days later Mocker was with Frank and Max at a very old Crusher hide out.  Frank and Max looked at the old equipment.  Max whistled “Man you could make money selling this as collectables!”  Frank cringed, “Hey, they were state of the art when I first made them, but yeah, we need some tools.”
 
“What we need is to get a few more members.  And I don’t mean Vulture or Hornet.” Mocker stated.
 
“Well we can forget both of them anyway.  Vulture got cured and Hornet had his debt paid off by some rich dude, and he retired.  Same with Shocker, he finally turned himself in, did his time, got out and hooked up with Evergreen.  Now they work for some environmentalist think tank.” Frank stated.
 
“Shrew?” Mocker asked.  “Disappeared.” Frank said. “Last seen in Hong Kong.”
 
“And Merc?”
 
“Lost his powers and retired!” Frank stated.
 
“So that leaves Marionette, Bull and Storm Lord!” Mocker said.  
 
“Scratch Lordy also.  That think tank of Evergreen pays him a retainer for weather related problems.  He was mainly in it for the money, and now they pay him well to do almost nothing.  BUT!  I think the rangy dude got a lady pregnant, because I heard of a weather controller mixing it up down south.  She may be interested!” Frank commented.
 
Max piped in “If you're looking for a speedster, I made a gun for a fast dude a few weeks ago.  I can look him up!”
 
“Gun?” asked Frank.
 
“Yeah!  He said, quote “...running by doing clothesline is too old school!” unquote!” Max mentioned!
 
“OK, Frank, you look into this Storm King (for a lady?).  Max track down this speedster!  Meanwhile I’ll check info about Bull and Marion!” Mocker ordered!
 

A moment of silence for poor Mace.  I like to think he'd approve of Morningstar carrying on his legacy of hitting people with blunt objects, though. 

Lots of other factors in this as well (sorry if covered already. I read through most of the posts but might have missed if these were brought up already):
 
First, Fighters can lose their weapons and armor (and/or maybe have to put their armor on, find and draw their weapons, etc...) while a spellcaster always has access to their spells (in most magic builds).
 
Second, the rules have to be looked at as a whole. Fighters, more then most, have to worry about encumbrance. You might need STR 17 to use that Great Sword, but it also has major weight when combined with full armor and other adventuring gear, that can make fighter's slow, and lose DEX, END, long term END, etc... Now if your game house rules away encumbrance that's fine, but then don't blame fighters for being overpowered compared to mages because they have tons of high damage weapons and can take a ton of damage. There is a reason Conan had a great sword but ran round fighting in a loin cloth, he didn't want to be slowed down by the weight and limitations of heavy armor. Same with the Spartans and Ninjas and many other examples. If you ignore the limitations and drawbacks of heavy, difficult gear (because no one wants to keep track of bookkeeping, and such) then the characters are getting major advantages without any of drawbacks so of course they will be overpowered in some instances then other characters. 
 
The same also with allowing Fighters to wear their heavy armor all the time. Like, how do they take a piss or dump when they are in plate mail and wearing gauntlets? How do they scratch an itch on their back? How long does it take to get sand or a rock out of their armored boots? If they have to spend ten minutes and make a lot of noise taking off some or all of their armor every time they need to go to the bathroom and then even longer to get back in the armor? How about sinking deep into mud or drowning in a lake or river? 
 
There are major limitations and disadvantages built into most fighter's gear, but if the GM doesn't bother with them that is on the GM for making things unbalanced, not the rules.

Let's get ready to rumble!
 
 
 
 
 
This is the working class villain. He'll want to make money easily. He doesn't mind a dust up, but won't go out of his way to get back at someone.

To power up - I'd create a grenade VPP. Flash bangs, sonic grenades, gas grenades. But upgrading his mace will also work, or make him more Martial Artist with a point of SPD and some Dex ( +6 to dex and +1 to Spd would be dangerous)

So first up the new Lord Mocker
 
 
 
Hope you like it so far!

To power down - Really? When I just pumped him up? OK get rid of the flight. This keeps him ground bound.

To power up - Hearing Flash, AE cone, Force Wall. Basically anything that will add to his attacks. Also an active sonar system would be logical!
 
 
 
 

I may speak softly, but I carry a big FIST!
 
 
Mocker has no idea that this is a weak link in his team, but it will take a lot of role play and investigation to get FIST on their side. This could lead to a full on redemption arc!

Forget powering down, this whole experiment is to power up. But if what I did is not enough...

To power up - Power Blaster to 14d6. Add 15 to figured Str. To go a bit over the top, a 40 pt VPP representing modules he can add to the armor to customize it!
 
 
 
 

Oct 2021
 
Mocker approached what looked like an abandoned house in the countryside.  
 
Well if this was where Mace planted his workshop, he did a great job hiding it! Mocker thought!  Let’s see if Frank's info was any good! 
 
Mocker went behind the house into the garage and activated the hidden panel.  A palette on the floor moved aside to reveal a set of stairs going down.  
 
Mocker activated his Shield, just in case.  And started down the stairs.  Eventually he came to a metal door.  Trying the handle, he found it locked.  Oh well, so much for being quiet!
 
SCCCCRRRREEEE!  Scratch one lock.  Mocker kicked in the door and leapt into the darkened room.  And promptly got smacked by a mace at the end of a metal wire.  
 
THAT HURT!  
 
SCREEEEEE!  Mocker lashed out into the darkness, but if anything was there, it moved!  Another mace head came out of the darkness, but it narrowly missed.  Mocker moved into the darkness.  Now we’re even! He thought.
 
Another mace came out of the darkness and wrapped around his arm.  AAARRRGGG!  Electricity coursed through him.
 
If this isn’t mace, Mocker thought, then he is a clone!
 
SCREEEEE!  Thud!  Sounds like I connected!
 
Mocker found a light switch.  Flipping it he found his opponent pushing himself off the floor ready to go back at it.  Mocker hit him with the Stunning Scream and placed him out for the count.  
 
About a minute later the young man woke up.
 
“So WHO are you?!”  Mocker queried.
 
“My name is Max.”
 
“And how did you get in here?”
 
Silence!  
 
SCRRREEE!  Dented wall!  
 
“I’ll ask again.  How did you get in here?”  Mocker said coldly.
 
“It took me about three days to get past the entry codes, but eventually I made it in.  After looking around I realized whose place I was in.  Figured since he was dead, he wouldn’t mind.  I’ve been spending my time making stuff to sell on the black market using notes he left behind.”  Max intoned.
 
“But the other day on a delivery, some goons in high tech tried to rob me.  I barely fought them off, came back here, and was getting ready to rabbit out of here when you blasted in.”  Max said.
 
“Describe them,”  Mocker said.  After hearing the description “TRADE!”  
 
“TRADE?” Max asked.  “Trade what?”
 
“Not what, who.  Technological Research and Development Enterprises.  They want to own all high tech items and ideas.” Mocker sneered.  “Hey kid, join with me and my friend and we’ll keep them off your back.  At the same time we’ll bash some heads and make some cash, IF you don’t mind getting your hands a bit dirty?!”
 
Max grinned.  “I like the bashing part!”
 
“So what do I call you?” Mocker asked,  “Mace is dead, and I don’t want to be reminded of it.”
 
Max mused, picked up the mace off the floor,  “How about Morningstar?”

The Blood Red King from the Gestalt setting had a strong scariness factor for me.

Also. I maintain that while looking to our own world can be informative, it cannot be definitive on what happens in a fantasy world where a vast array of other forces, powers and laws of nature exist.

Actually that was part of my inspiration!

I guess I just like villain masterminds leading a group...like Magneto and his Brotherhood or the various Brotherhoods from DC's Doom Patrol. Muerte's considerably less overpowered, but still fills the same role. He also feels a lot more like Doom to me (if you remove his hero worship complication) than Destroyer ever will. Destroyer also has zero personality beyond "being evil".  He's so over the top asshat that ANYONE working for him seems beyond belief. Muerte is basically a toned down version that I feel is more in line with Silver and Bronze age comic eras.

So it sounds like we're all in agreement.
 
There is a line from the Guide to Greyhawk regarding populations that I've always found rather perturbing: " Where populations are given for demihuman and humanoid groups, the figure reflects fighting males only, as more complete data is unavailable." In other words, it sounds like those numbers don't account for women, children, and the old and infirm. When numbers are given for the racial demographics of each realm, including those ruled by non-humans, there's nothing to suggest that they reflect a quantitatively different standard than the human population. That led me to conclude that the line is meant to refer to areas which are not centrally organized enough for an accurate census.
 
However, I thought that if I extended the "fighting males" limitation to all the population figures, I could justify multiplying the written figures by four to include women etc. That would make Greyhawk, for example, a city of 232,000 inhabitants, which is more in line with large cities in history before the Industrial Age.

Well it has been two weeks.  School is back in session and we are hoping to help to a return to normalcy.  Smoke varies from day to day.  Some days it is very minor, and then we get like today, where it is almost like a fog (I literally can't see to the end of my street).  For once I am cheering the oncoming winter and hope the snow will totally dampen the remaining fires.  To quote the series "Winter is coming!"

Not quite as thick here in Edmonton, but a few days back it was hazy to the point of impaired visibility a block or so out.  If we actually get a bit of fog, and it was already smoky, the fog drags the smoke down and visibility gets very poor. And, of course, the air quality is an issue.