BoloOfEarth

Can't you just feel your superpowers starting to come into being? A bizarre gamma-ray burst breaks the rules for these cosmic eruptions (sciencenews.org)

So very much to unpack there. I'm struck by this quote from the article. Soooo... doing so was perfectly fine prior to last year?! I'm reminded of a comedian's routine where he mentions a news article about a man charged with "animal necrophilia." I believe he said something like, "What kind of defense do you present for a crime like that? 'Honest, your honor, the dog was alive while I was [having sex with it].'"

I saw this and had to share it. Herschel Walker defeat produces amazing disaster quote (msn.com)

One time I was taking a flight, and when I arrived at the airport to check my bags, I told the guy at the check-in desk, "I'm flying to Denver. I want this suitcase to go to Boston, this one to go to LA, and that one to go to Dallas." He said, "I'm sorry, we can't do that." I replied, "Why not? That's what happened last time I flew."

Where. Can. I. Get. That? Edit: Never mind. I found it on Amazon. Must get for a player I game with.

One of my favorite movies.

But instead of a delicious steak sauce, they invented A.1.

In a past Champions campaign of mine, a player character (Nexus) had precognitive and retrocognitive Clairsentience (Sight and Hearing). The players got to rely on that a little too much ... to the point that a DEMON Morbane created a "no-scrying powder" to block her visions - Darkness to Clairsentience. So when the heroes were investigating a murder and Nexus used her "Spirt Sense" to try to watch the murder and see who the murderer was... she was rewarded with a view of static from a few minutes before the murder until a few minutes afterward. He also created a false visions orb (Images to Clairsentience Sight and Hearing, AoE), basically showing her what happened at a given location but in an alternate universe (like in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, or in a world where dinosaurs survived and evolved). But the more irritating to her was when that same villain (knowing she was going to later scry the scene of several crimes) didn't block the visions but instead took breaks from doing the crimes to verbally taunt her. (He also had a crystal that detected scrying, so he knew when she was tuning in.) The fact that he could monologue at her and she couldn't respond... oh, it was delicious. Man, she hated that guy! (Note that messing with her Clairsentience was not a frequent thing, just that one villain doing it during adventures involving him. Doing that constantly to her would have been a *bleep* move on my part.)

Haapy (Belated) Birhtday, Log! Hey, I wonder if we can keep this thread going all year long, with people continually leaving belated birthday wishes for months and months until his next birthday rolls around...

My heart goes out to you, Christopher. I hope fond memories of Joel help sustain you through this difficult time, and pray the pain eases as quickly as possible. You remain as a testament to his great brotherly love.

This is a perennial favorite of mine. I've put some extensive work into some of my VIPER bases: The Chicago base of a cold-based Nest Leader was noted for being perpetually kept at freezing temperatures, with agents wearing special boots to walk on ice and IR goggles, with hallways and rooms able to be filled with fog at command. Made for a very interesting fight, with the heroes not prepared for slippery floors and hindered vision. The Boston base that was directly connected to the Charles River so submersible robots and vehicles could come and go with impunity. The above-ground front building for that same base had an internal "courtyard" where flying robots and vehicles (with holograms to mask their movements) could come and go from the underground base. The base of a robot-heavy Nest Leader, decorated with statues of various robots from TV and film. Nearly all were just mock-ups, but a few were able to activate and attack the heroes. There's nothing like the heroes having to take on an actual ED-209 or Terminator robot in the middle of their fight with VIPER agents. Several VIPER Nests have had "Walls of Infamy" with plaques commemorating various VIPER agents (some posthumously) for their actions in the field. Had a lot of fun with those, with the players taking time to check them out while skulking around. While none of this would work for the OP's situation, it's still a lot of fun.

"Politics-Free Weekend" - a weekend where political TV ads, mailings, rallies, and phone calls are strictly forbidden. Anyone breaking this rule is summarily removed from the upcoming election.

Thank you, Dean. The members of Anti-Social Media use their powers, as well as various social media platforms (TikTok, Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, YouTube, etc.), to try to "remake society" as they think it should be. It's too bad that they don't all agree on what that image should be, but they somehow manage to stay together despite their differences. Who are these seven would-be influencers, and what are their individual goals?

Jimmy Bonder is known as Bail, the "escape ticket" for Force Majeure in case they run afoul of PRIMUS or superheroes, as well as the "doorway" if they need to get into someplace en masse. He is a mutant teleporter, able to take along others (up to 4x mass, so De Minimis usually shrinks himself); C.D.'s intangibility means he needs to fend for himself unless he's in an animated corpse. Bail can also teleport objects, blink-teleport himself (for defensive purposes), teleport "reflect" attacks back at the attacker, and other such teleportation tricks. His powers do come with a cost - literally. He has a self-imposed mental block that requires him to get paid before he can teleport others. (At least, he claims it's a mental block - he may just be doing it to put the bite on other members of Force Majeure.) Outside of Force Majeure, Bonder is a fairly successful skip tracer and bounty hunter.

Look on the first page. Post #2 lists just the team names and creators. Post #3 is the hero teams and members Post #4 is the first half of the villain teams and members Post #5 is the second half of the villain teams and members They're listed in the posts, not as a separate file.

In my opinion, it's hard to look at Trump in any respect and see him as other than a loser. But that's just my opinion. Take it for what you will.

I'm just bumping this up so it's easier to find. It's rather nice to have the lists of teams and members available for perusal.

I'm sorry, I had forgotten about that, or I would have referred Dean there.

The list I have is years out of date - I think the latest team I have listed was posted in 2015. (I was hoping to update it during my work break between Christmas and New Years.) But here it is, in case it helps. If you're looking for suggestions, how about a team based on social media platforms (TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, etc.)? I was thinking a name like Anti-Social Media, though would definitely be open to anything better you might come up with. Villain Theme Teams.pdf

I told my daughters, "If you haven't grown up by age 30, you don't have to." They've taken it greatly to heart.

Pyre, Ra, and Mid are the polycule of the Sweethearts. Pyre is a female fire projector (not surprisingly); Ra is a male light projector, and Mid is a shapeshifter. Nobody (not even Pyre and Ra) knows whether Mid is male or female, and Mid isn't saying. All are from the Middle East.

And this is why you no longer have friends.

I think you may have had some extraneous words there. Specifically, "knows what he".

Thanks for the explanation. I get what you're saying, though depending on the villains involved, the collateral damage (to people or property) may not be a major concern to the villains. (It should always be a concern to the heroes.) And villainous arrogance / overconfidence may mean that they barely (if at all) consider the likelihood of things turning south on them. For any of those locations, the initial confrontation (I'm referring to villains approaching the new super, not heroes confronting the villains) doesn't have to be out in the open for all to see (and risk exposure). Using the college campus as an example, the villain(s) may be tailing the new super in disguise, and actually approach the new super as he/she is passing between buildings so they're not easily seen. Subtle but definitive demonstration of power to establish their bona fides, with a warning to keep the new super from making a scene. Or maybe they're just tailing him/her hoping to make the approach at a completely secure location, but the new super notices the tail and confronts them, so they try to make the best of a non-optimal situation. And really, if you're in a city, there's precious few places to approach somebody without a bunch of people nearby, so you're pretty much always going to have the potential for collateral damage. They can't exactly make the new super go to a deserted corner of a park at their convenience (well, unless they have a decent mentalist, though even if they do, mind controlling someone may not endear you to the person you're hoping to recruit). Also, since the villains are looking to recruit the new super, maybe an outright snatch (clean or otherwise) isn't their best approach. As I noted above, a subtle demonstration of power (e.g. Neutron making a pen hover over his hand spinning around, then sending it shooting up into the stratosphere) with a "Relax, kid, we just want to talk. No need for you to out yourself to the whole world as having powers." And frankly, if they're supervillains, unless they're brand new villains, they're most likely already in the heroes' focus (whether the PCs or government agencies), though they admittedly may not be currently known to be in that particular area.

Can you give some details (after you run it, if necessary to keep the players from finding out)? I'm just curious how it's to play out.