BoloOfEarth

You could always just roll a couple of d20s...

I could also see using Impenetrable defenses (or maybe Hardened + Impenetrable) as a stand-in for No Weak Points, whether for a person or object. Interesting idea to have massive CON and BODY representing a "perfect body" for a person. Kudos on that. For objects, rare materials or Unbreakable Focus would work. Though metagame-wise, any PC (or NPC for that matter) can have foci made from rare materials with no more effort than simply saying so in his writeup, plus GM approval. That said, let's say Joe Patriot has an Unobtainium Shield but isn't the peak of human perfection himself. Would that shield give him adequate defense from the Find Weakness? (Understand that I wasn't trying to poo-poo the AVLD idea out of hand. I'm just saying the defense(s) would need to be well-defined beforehand.)

One thing that I think was overlooked from the OP is that VPP has changed in 6th, though you still can't put limitations on the Pool cost. However, the Pool and Control costs no longer have to say in lockstep. IOW, you're no longer forced to have the Pool be the max active points of a power. To create the Omni-Gadget as a VPP, I believe you could do 24 Pool, 60 Control, with No Time to Change (+1), No Skill Roll Required (+1), 4 Charges on VPP (-1), At least OIF on all slots (-1/2). This costs 24 (Pool) + [60/2 (base Control) * 3 (VPP advantages) / 2.5 (VPP limitations)] = 60 points. Any given power from the VPP is going to be maximum of 60 AP / 2.5 = 24 points, so it fits within the Pool. Granted, 60 is still a lot of points, but it's much better than 96. Would it be skirting the rules to do a partially limited VPP to cover the entire Utility Belt, including the Omni-Gadget, so the Pool serves double duty? I'm thinking something like: VPP 40 Pool, 30 Control with No Time to Change (+1), No Skill Roll Required (+1), at least OIF on all slots (-1/2), Limited Powers (normal BatStuff; - 1/2), and +60 Control with No Time to Change (+1), No Skill Roll Required (+1), at least OIF on all slots (-1/2), and 4 Charges on VPP (-1) for the Omni-Gadget. That would be 40 + 22 + 36 = 98 points. So he can normally run around with 1-2 30 AP BatStuff items, both OIF, using the normal Control and taking up the whole Pool. Or he can pull out an Omni-Gadget (using the partially-limited Control, most likely with 1 Charge at -2 for final 15 RP, allowing him to also continue using one normal BatStuff item within the Pool.

I feel bad for not posting to this in a while. Thankfully csyphrett has taken up the slack with aplomb. I'll try to do better with the next team. That's eight - which team is next?

One of the Awakened never did actually awaken (at least not as himself). Stan Beckman was a promising physicist who was nearly electrocuted when a lab experiment went a little ca-ca. He was in a coma for six months before he was declared brain dead. What the doctors didn't know is that Stan's brain wasn't dead -- it was simply elsewhere. His consciousness had entered the various electrical equipment monitoring his body, and through them entered the hospital's electrical system. From there it was a simple step to traverse the city's power grid and beyond. Unfortunately, he spent too long wandering the power grid. By the time Stan returned, his body had already been disconnected from life support, declared dead, taken away, and cremated. All Stan knew was, there was no body for him to return to. No matter, he thought. He traversed the electrical lines to another hospital and entered one of their comatose patients. Boy, was that guy's family surprised when he sat up, disconnected himself, and walked out of the hospital room! Unfortunately, Stan couldn't maintain control of the man, and after a few weeks collapsed back into a coma. Once hooked back up to the EKG, respirator, and heart monitors, Stan went back out into the electrical grid to find another coma patient to possess. He's since discovered that he doesn't have to wait until he's hooked up to hospital equipment. He can simply place a finger on an electrical outlet and "leap" into the electrical grid (causing his former host body to collapse back into a coma). He's also learned how to empower each new host body with extra electricity, allowing him to act as a human taser, among other electrical effects. He tried referring to himself as Flatline, but the rest of the Awakened, as well as the public at large, know him as the Leaper.

I second that motion. One problem with people posting endless members is when the team description is left open ended (e.g. "six or more members"), or when someone sets an excessively large maximum (such as 20 for the Cursed Tomb). The Cursed Tomb took nearly all of December to reach that maximum, so it could be that people were hesitant to jump in with a new team until that maximum was reached. I know I was ready for a new team after a dozen members or so.

I didn't notice the One-Way on that, so ignore the stuff about enemy mentalists attacking through the Mind Link. It's hard making a mentalist that won't either (1) be ineffectual, or (2) walk all over most everybody. Then throw in (3) make the GM happy. The mentalist PC in my game has a smaller Multipower (something like 30-45 points) with slots for a Mind Link (any 8), out-of-combat Mind Scan (4d6 Cumulative), and in-combat Mind Scan (6-9d6). Circe typically has the Mind Link active for the team to chat securely, but if necessary she can drop that and lock on to an enemy. All of her attack powers are in her main Multipower (60-70 points). A psychokinetic punch (straight physical Blast), Mental Blast, cumulative Telepathy, cumulative Mind Control, straight Mental Illusions. To me, Telepathy is more often used out of combat, and the player went with cumulative Mind Control to allow eventual domination versus instant manipulation. RE: Mental Paralysis, one suggestion is to push (if not require) the Limitation: Mental Defense adds to EGO. It makes the power more palatable, at least to me. I also require a fairly common way to break free, with slapping or throwing cold water in the face being effective most of the time. And since none of the PCs have that power, these requirements mainly benefit the heroes.

That is a creative (though expensive) way to do it. Not sure I'd allow the AVLD though. How do you determine whether a given target has any weak points? What's to stop a player from saying, "Oh, my character's armor doesn't have any flaws. How? Well, he was extra careful when he made it."

RE: caving to the villain, I agree they shouldn't feel they have to. I actually prefer they don't cave. Besides, just because he says anyone can make one with spare parts in a cave, doesn't make it so. That's up to the GM. But laying out such a dilemma for the hero is fitting, especially for someone like Utility. Mainly, the whole thing was to describe one way to in-game justify the appearance of an unusual item. Similar scenarios can be played out for other potentially-nuisance powers / power combos (shrunken brick, etc.) As to the Mental Paralysis itself, I got the impression from the OP that it was excessive and disruptive, but I could be wrong. I do know that it can easily become a mentalist's go-to power, especially if the target has low EGO or the bad guys don't have a mentalist handy. And the OP's statement of the mentalist tactic of using a 6d6 Drain EGO + Mental Defense, followed by the 4d6 Mental Entangle, sounds a lot like he's using it as an automatic "I WIN" power. (BTW, Pranqstr, be aware that Adjustment effects on defensive powers are halved -- see CC-46. So if he rolls 21 points of Drain, that only drops Mental Defense by 10 points. Still "ouch" but just pointing that out.)

Disclaimer: The ideas below are not meant to hammer at MindSniper incessantly. Treat them like spices -- a pinch or two sprinkled into a few adventures along the way can add just the right flavor. Dump in too much, and it becomes a distasteful mess. If Mental Paralysis becomes too much of a problem, VIPER might fast-track their prototype Neural Invigorator (Aid EGO 3d6, Trigger (precipitous drop in neuromuscular activity, resets automatically in no time), Self Only, OIF, 4 Charges). Every Nest Needs One! Gooooooo VIPER!!! As to dealing with invisible mentalists, as Tasha pointed out the target of a successful attack will automatically know the attacker's location unless the attack has Invisible Power Effects. And the +1/2 to make the attack Invisible to Mental won't do that alone; you need the +1/2 Effects are Invisible to Target. Also, there's the point that there are indirect ways to locate the invisible person. Gee, why is this warehouse floor covered with sand? Or go high-tech, with pressure-sensitive panels that light up when weight is applied. Needless to say, there's the simple use of radar or motion detectors (for sense groups Radio or Touch). If MindSniper's powers are not bought as Invisible to Mental, then I'd expect ARGENT's local office to have a run on their Psionic Detection Goggles (Mental Awareness, OIF -- $149.95 from ARGENT in a variety of styles and colors, or $99.65 at your local WalMart, only in blue and silver). That, plus AoE attacks, perhaps NND (Try Our New Gamma-Ray Grenades! Get 'em While They're Hot!) should help make his life interesting. If the bad guys can pin his location to a 2-4m area, a Drain Invisibility 4d6, AoE, should mean that he now has a Fringe for a while, unless he also has Inherent or relatively high Power Defense. - - - - - Mind Scan Sniping can be a bit trickier to deal with, depending upon the Scan's details. If the Mind Scan is low dice but Cumulative, well, those are generally not as useful in combat, especially if the target has even just a few points of Mental Defense. Did he put one big Mind Scan into the same Multipower as his other mental attacks? All fixed slots, you say, for the full Multipower Pool? (Maybe not, but it's a possible rookie move.) Just chuckle to yourself silently and wait until he's locked on to point out that, as soon as he switches slots from Mind Scan to Mental Paralysis, the Lock-on ends. If you have a villain group using Mind Link (from a mentalist), and MindSniper gets a lock on to one of the Linked people, then remember that the villain mentalist can attack MindSniper through the Link, even without seeing him. But be aware that it runs both ways; the mentalist may want to drop the Locked-on target from the Mind Link immediately afterward, so MindSniper doesn't begin targeting him or the other villains through the same Link. If the heroes also use Mind Link, this can get fun. So BadMind is Linked to JoeDirt, who is Mind Scanned by MindSniper, who is Linked to the rest of the hero team. BadMind could drop everybody but JoeDirt from his Mind Link, and then use his Link plus MindSniper's Scan Lock-On and Link to mentally attack MindSniper's teammates, even those BadMind can't see. Remember: BoloAdvice is to be used sparingly and responsibly. Do NOT exceed normal doses or give BoloAdvice to squirrels. Avoid driving, swimming, or using heavy machinery for 24 hours after taking BoloAdvice. See our ad in Villain Prevention magazine.

FYI -- It's not in CC, but in 6th edition rules under Invisibility there is a specific notation under Incantations: In general, the "mental sniper" is a PITA (pain in the ***); see Hugh Neilson's Margarita Man for taking that idea to extremes. When I was starting my new Champions campaign, I strongly advised the would-be mentalist player not to try pulling stuff like that. However, since you already approved the invisible mentalist, I guess you just have to find ways to deal with it. I'll try and post a few tricks in another post. If "sleep" is the non-Mental Blast way to deal with his version, this can be learned by a bright enough person and disseminated throughout the villainous community. Certainly, if someone can put an Entangled target to sleep (Mind Control, Telepathic, One Command), the sounds of battle would likely wake the person fairly quickly. (Under Lightsleep, it says you make a Hearing PER -6 to wake if someone enters the room, makes an unusual noise, etc. For normal noisy combat, I'd say Hearing PER at -2 to -0 to wake up, depending on the noise level.) Personally, I'd turn it into a plot arc -- heroes are fighting a villain group and MindSniper mentally locks down BadBoy. In swoops Utility who, rather than attacking the heroes, snatches BadBoy (back to his lab to study the mental paralysis, though the heroes won't know this). An adventure or two later, the heroes learn that a doctor (an expert in sleep disorders) is kidnapped by person unknown. They eventually track down the (stolen) van that hauled him away and find the doctor, who says he was forced to help Utility to build an Alpha-Wave Generator (AWG) that induces sleep. An adventure later, the heroes then learn that Utility is selling AWGs (with tamper-proof cases and a 4-use, no-recharge power pack), for a relatively hefty price to any interested villain. Limit two per person, while supplies last. Assuming MindSniper wants to nip this in the bud, he might track down Utility (who BTW has a AWG installed in his goggles, Triggered if he ceases movement for more than 3 seconds, followed by a wake-up alarm, also Triggered). And Utility reveals he set up a remote computer to automatically release AWG schematics (simplified, without the tamper-proof case) to every villain and criminal group Utility knows if he doesn't lissue a "continue hold" order within 48 hours. "Let me go, and you only have to deal with those willing to pay my price. As a bonus, I'll do a six-month moratorium on new sales, since I'm a nice guy. Jail me, and anybody will be able to build one on his kitchen table. Every VIPER agent in your city will be carrying one within a week. It's your choice MindSniper." If the hero caves, I'd honor that deal, and then have just the occasional villain having an AWG handy after the 6-month moratorium. Just enough to be a nuisance without being overbearing. And if MindSniper says "No way!", AWGs can become as common as 5-point Flash Defense OIF goggles (which I believe may be a prize in cereal boxes).

Like Clarion, Tony Hall remembers voices but they were ones he recognized: his brother Mike and sister-in-law Nicole, both blaming Tony for their son's drowning. As he lay comatose, Tony had nightmares of that fateful winter day on the lake, teaching his nephew how to ice skate. Hearing the echoing crack as the ice split. Seeing young JJ going underwater. Trying desperately to save his nephew and getting pulled into the water himself. The shocking cold of the water, robbing him of all warmth. And then the darkness, which never lasted long enough before the nightmare began anew. But eventually the continuous nightmares stopped, or at least paused. He awoke to find himself lying on a hospital bed, chilled to the bone despite numerous blankets piled atop him. The only background noise was the rhythmic beeping of various pieces of medical equipment. He tried to call out for help, but he could barely make a noise with vocal cords long-unused and half-frozen. He lay confused a few minutes until a nurse arrived. She seemed shocked that he was awake, and when she touched him, he grabbed her arm. Tony felt warmth moving into his hand, then up his arm. The nurse opened her mouth to scream, but it was quickly cut off as a rime of ice coated her completely. Tony maintained his grip on her arm until the warmth suffused his entire body. As he released the nurse's arm, he could see her lifeless eyes staring out through a thick coating of ice. As Tony took this in, another woman entered the room, followed by a young man. "You are awake," the woman said to Tony. "Good. Bartos, unhook our new friend." Tony couldn't place her accent, but her voice made his heart leap for joy at her calling him her new friend. He tried to croak out a 'thank you' but she waved it away as inconsequential. The woman glanced at the flash-frozen nurse, murmured something in a foreign tongue, and then turned back to Tony. "I am Clarion. This is Bartos. You will come with us now. You have been in coma for six years. Will be weak. We help you stand." As Bartos and Clarion each took an arm, Tony got to his feet unsteadily. "Your skin is like ice," Clarion said. Tony nodded and said, "Ice," but his dry throat hurt from the effort. "Water," he said, hoping for a drink to wash away the ache in his throat. "Ice Water, is good name," said Clarion as the trio left the room. "Come, friend, we have others awakening."

I think that, done properly, CLOWN and Foxbat would fill separate comedic niches. An adventure with Foxbat should be like participating in a Second City comedy improv routine. An adventure with CLOWN should be like participating in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.

Sorry, didn't see this until today. I don't see them crossing swords all that much. I can't imagine CLOWN thinking they can shame Foxbat very well. and I don't see how CLOWN would fit into any of Foxbat's "Master Plans"TM, patent pending (though anything possible in the fruit-loopy mind of Foxbat). I could see Freddy admiring something clever that CLOWN did and trying to imitate them, with disastrous results.

Kinda-sorta, I think. IIRC, original CLOWN mainly wanted people to loosen up in general. I got the impression their pranks were generally less focused and more scattershot, with a strong element of them just "having fun," often at others' expense - including the PC heroes, often without a good reason why CLOWN is targeting them except that they're handy targets. Hermit's version seems more goal-oriented socially and ethically, whenever possible trying to make the punishment fit the (perceived) crime. Here's the post I put up for Scenarios for CLOWN, which quotes Hermit's original post: http://www.herogames.com/forums/topic/90140-scenarios-for-clown/

Stronghold Corrupted, Part 3: The lift lowers, but Honey Badger snatches the now-freed warden away so it goes down empty. After a few moments, they hear: Anti-Pope: Does Just Cause want to come down and plaaaaay? Honey Badger: I should totally put on the hat I took from him last time before jumping down. GM: Did you bring it with you? Honey Badger: (pout) Probably not. GM: Tell you what, I'll give you an INT roll to think about bringing it beforehand. (HB succeeds in roll) Okay, now you should realize that you took that hat before PRIMUS arrived, so they never got a chance to check it out. So they thought the Anti-Pope's powers were intrinsic. As you put his hat on your head, you realize that you're hearing the thoughts of all of the Corrupted members down below. Honey Badger: Does that mean I can teleport, too? GM: Maybe. You've never tried it before, but sure, go ahead. What's the worst that could happen? (evil grin; pause) Oh, and it might occur to you that if you're Mind Linked to them, they're all Mind Linked to you. And through Circe's Mind Link to the rest of your team. Honey Badger: (quickly takes off hat) Still, the brief connection allowed Honey Badger to know where the various Corrupted members are positioned. Their front-line fighters (Triptych, Father Hook, Shadow Paladin, and Unholy Warrior) are positioned around the lift itself, with Inquisition, Archbishop Licheus, and the Anti-Pope farther away. The heroes drop down the hole (except for Pops, who stays on the rooftop as his AP Teleport will allow him to get inside if they close the hatch) and engage the Corrupted. Father Hook takes on Honey Badger. Father Hook: Thou shouldst prepare to die, mortal. Honey Badger: (defiantly) Who are you calling mortal? Unholy Warrior is ripping into several heroes at a time with his enchanted weighted blades on chains (2m Reach, with 1d6 RKA Damage Shield, 2x Penetrating), causing BODY damage to several heroes, so Pops decides to take care of him. Pops: I look inside, and teleport him outside and off the rooftop as far as I can. I'm hoping the guards in the Zap Towers are paying attention and want to do a little skeet shooting. On the guards' next Phase, two of them take shots at Unholy Warrior as he's falling. One hits. Honey Badger: What are they shooting? Other than Unholy Warrior, I mean. GM: They're pulson cannons. Remotely operated, so there aren't actually any guards in the towers. HB: Pulsons? GM: In game terms, a 24d6 energy blast. Pops, would you like to roll 24 dice for me? Pops: 92 STUN. GM: Ouch. Please count BODY too, since he only has 20 total PD. (realized I forgot to roll Unholy Warrior's armor activation -- and get an 18) Um, never mind. It doesn't look like he's going to need an exorcism after all. One problem with Father Hook -- he gets a STR boost from a potion, which also makes his possibly go berserk in combat. Unfortunately for the Corrupted, he does go berserk, and the closest target is Shadow Paladin. Honey Badger: I was going to attack Hook, but I think I'll just let him have some fun for now. After taking a good poke from Hook, Shadow Paladin runs to the other side of Nexus. Shadowboxer: He doesn't have to turn fast, he just has to run faster than you. The Archbishop hits Honey Badger with a Ray of Enfeeblement (9d6 STR Drain), taking him down 22 STR (after Power Defense). After letting him suffer for a Phase or two, the GM has a moment of weakness himself. Honey Badger: That's it. I'm useless. GM: (to Honey Badger) It's too bad your team doesn't have anybody who can make something on the fly to restore your strength. Honey Badger: You mean, like, a Gadget Pool? (looks at Maker pointedly) Maker: Wait... I can do that? GM: (shrug) With a half Phase and a Gadgeteering roll, anything's possible. You'll have to drop your radar to make an Enervation Ray without losing your magnetic field generators, but it's do-able. Meanwhile, Shadowboxer notices that Anti-Pope's defensive teleport (additional DCV) is off, so he grabs the leader of the Corrupted. The Anti-Pope responds by not only teleporting himself away, but also uses Aportation to teleport Father Hook right in front of Shadowboxer. Shadowboxer: Ooo. Didn't see that coming. Pops: Yeah, us teleporters can be a pain, can't we? Inquisition is giving the heroes headaches (literally), so Pops opens a teleport gate next to Honey Badger, with the other end directly behind Inquisition. Honey Badger: (to Archbishop, who he's been fighting) Wait here, I'll be right back. It was a long fight, but eventually the heroes took down all of the Corrupted that were there. Leaving the incoming prisoner transport with War Nun and Mother Supreme, plus Ripper, Rad, and Major Justice. Maker: It's almost 11:00. Are we going to run that tonight, or next week? GM: Tell you what. Circe hasn't been doing anything this whole fight. No reason she can't have been Mind Scaning to lock onto Ripper, and then start piling on the cumulative Mind Control. As soon as Mother Supreme releases Ripper's restraints, he punches her in the face. Repeat until unconscious. Meanwhile, Rad and Major Justice can make short work of War Nun, then put Ripper back nighty-night. Malarky: Stronghold's going to need a new prisoner transport when they're done... I was a little sad that the heroes never got to face Mother Supreme, though. GM: I had a lot of fun naming her powers. Her defenses were A Hard Habit to Break. Her movement was Flying Nun. Nothing Gets Past Mother: +2 with all PER. Enhanced senses for Mother Sees All. Then there's her Multipower: Mother's Encouragement for an Aid, Mother's Loving Touch for Healing, Mother's Curse for an AP Mental Blast, Mother Says STOP for her Mental Entangle, and of course her Mind Control was Do As Mother Says.

Stronghold Corrupted, part 2: About 5 days after Necroma's exorcism, the hero team gets a call from the Stronghold warden's secretary (Deborah Torres), informing them that UNTIL agents in Nicaragua have located an item they believe had belonged to Tomas Guevara, the missionary possessed to become Inquisition. The item is due to arrive at Stronghold that night, and they'd like to perform the exorcism the next day at 2 pm. Since Circe doesn't know about such an item being found, they get paranoid and call Warden Wildman directly for confirmation. Their paranoia assuaged, they agree to travel to Stronghold the next day at 2 pm for Inquisition's exorcism. The next morning at 10:30 am, they get another call from Torres verifying they will be coming for the exorcism, and also letting them know that a prisoner transfer is en route to the Boston PRIMUS base with four of their past foes -- Abyss and Augur from A-Team, Stinger from Deathstroke, and Fat Cat from the Corporate Raiders. All are scheduled for trial within the next few days. Unfortunately, the heroes were never informed of any such trials. Cue more paranoia. They call the warden, who confirms what Torres said and lets them know who contacted Stronghold in the first place (Charles Bowen, a court clerk in Boston). The heroes then contact the Boston PRIMUS base for confirmation, reaching Lt. Det. Daniel Williams (not exactly the heroes' greatest friend). GM: Who's talking to Det. Williams? (the players all shake their heads and point at each other) Det. Williams: Hello? Who is this? Shadowboxer: All Williams hears is a bunch of whispered 'You talk to him,' 'Not me,' 'I talked to him last time, it's your turn!' Williams confirms the prisoner transfer and gives them Bowen's name as well, along with the case numbers for the trials. Shadowboxer: I call the court to confirm the case numbers. GM: You ask for Bowen? Shadowboxer: No, I want to talk to anybody but Bowen. GM: That's okay. He's not in today. But the clerk you talk to confirms the cases. 'Yep, case 9024836-B, Phillips, public indecency. Case 9033428-A, the Powells, disturbing the peace..." The heroes also learn that Bowen's body was found yesterday evening in his garage. Preliminary coroner findings are a heart attack five days ago. However, Bowen's coworkers confirm that he was in to work, hale and hearty, three days ago. They call the warden back to let him know the prisoner transfer was bogus. Malarky: Unless Fat Cat exposed himself during the battle at the mall and I just blocked it out, the case numbers don't match to those supervillains. The prisoner transport is already en route, so the warden puts them in touch with the pilot, who confirms all is peachy. Nonetheless, the heroes convince the warden to divert the transport vehicle to Fort Riley and arrange for PRIMUS agents to meet them there. The heroes teleport there and, once the transport lands, Honey Badger steps inside. Pilot: (opens cockpit door and looks out at Honey Badger) What's the deal? The prisoners are all behaving themselves. I even had Stephanie check on them just before we landed. (looks over at the cockpit seat) Tell him what you saw when you checked on 'em. (long silence, then pilot looks at Honey Badger) Okay? Honey Badger: Who are you talking to? Pilot: My copilot. (gestures at the empty copilot seat, sighs heavily) C'mon. (opens door to prisoner section, which is completely devoid of people) See? All okay. (walks back and checks on the restraints on an empty chair) Power suppression all in order. (looks at empty seat) Yeah, whatever, Stinger. You're not going anywhere but to trial, and then back to your cell in Stronghold. The heroes review video from the cameras in the transport vehicle. They see four prisoners and seven guards board the vehicle. Malarky: I'll bet those weren't guards with them. They were other prisoners. After taking off and reaching cruising speed/altitude, the guards remove their helmets and relax. GM: (pulls out map of transport vehicle and points to various seats, starting with the copilot and working back) Scatterbrain. Union. Agrippa. Requiem. Chiller. Shockwave. Daytrader. Over Amarillo, the transport slowed and dropped in altitude (supposedly due to turbulence), where Agrippa teleports away with the other villains. The heroes are convinced the Corrupted are involved in some way, since this is happening the same day as Inquisition's upcoming exorcism. Malarky: Have any of them worked with the Corrupted before? GM: Not that you know of. The only mystical one is Agrippa, and you know that he's Hunted by DEMON. Since the Corrupted have worked with DEMON, it's not likely they'd be chums. Honey Badger: (considering the villains who escaped) Are we the only heroes putting anyone into Stronghold? GM: No. In fact, during your tour of Stronghold after Necroma's exorcism, you saw a decent number of villains you've never met before. (pause) Odd, isn't it, how the the only villains to escape are ones that Just Cause captured? It's almost like someone arranged it just to piss you off. As the heroes prepare to teleport to Stronghold, Circe contacts them via the Mind Link. Circe: I just got the weirdest phone call from Rad [formerly A-Bomb of the A-Team but convinced by Circe to become a hero instead]. He's all geeked because he and Major Justice are accompanying Ripper to Stronghold. They stopped him from trashing a cathedral in Los Angeles last week. Anyway, Rad says that the church sent a couple of nuns to bless the transport, and they're on the flight too. Honey Badger: Crap. That'd be War Nun and... who's the one we haven't met yet? GM: Mother Supreme. Honey Badger: The gang's all here. Just Cause opts to head to Stronghold before the transport can arrive. Honey Badger: Do we really want to be fighting all of the Corrupted, plus Ripper? I don't think so. GM: The only Corrupted member they're bringing up for the exorcism is Inquisition. Honey Badger: Riiiight. All of them will be there. One problem: Stronghold has power negation systems. When the heroes toured the prison, they were given special magnetic field generators to wear that allowed them to retain their powers. Maker: Can I build one with my gadget pool? GM: Oddly enough, my notes do include a writeup for a "Maker Magnetic Field Generator". Change Environment, Personal Surface, Usable Simultaneously by up to 8 people... The heroes arrive on the rooftop of Main Security. The iris valve hatch opens and the lift raises with Warden Wildman. As they fill him in on the escaped prisoners, Nexus notices that he's not alone. GM: (to Nexus) You can see that the Warden currently has a spirit riding along with him. (Nexus makes a roll to recognize the spirit possessing him) It's.. that b**ch! Nexus: What b**ch? GM: The spirit who led you into that apartment to Charles Aching. The one who possessed the DA's wife to force him to throw the trail for Wight. Lamia. Nexus: Oh, that b**ch! Maker quickly builds a gadget to contain her, but due to the limits of her gadget pool and the fact that it has to affect Desolid, it's only a 3d6 Entangle. Pops: You know she's going to escape while we're inside dealing with the Corrupted. GM: Not necessarily. Lamia only has a 10 STR. Pops: So she pushes her strength. GM: Only if she makes her EGO roll. (rolls 3d6) Okay, she made it, but only just, so she can only push it 5 points, giving her 3d6 versus the Entangles 3 PD. Pops: She could still whittle it down. GM: (rolls 3d6, getting two 6's and a 4, doing 2 BODY to the 3 BODY Entangle) Maker: (to Pops) Shut up! You're NOT HELPING! (to be concluded)

Quotes (Part 1) from my Champions campaign, Stronghold Corrupted adventure: The news for the week had an article about members of Just Cause going to Stronghold to observe and assist in the exorcism of Necroma, one of the Corrupted supervillain group. (This was originally a group of a dozen missionaries in Nicaragua who had been kidnapped by cultists who then summoned evil spirits to possess the missionaries' bodies. The heroes know this.) I didn't actually run the exorcism before giving them the news sheets. Malarky: Did I miss something? GM: No, I'm going to start with the exorcism itself. Malarky: Well, at least we know up front that it worked. Discussing travel plans: GM: (to Pops) So, you're going to teleport everyone to Stronghold? Malarky: Even Maker? Pops: That's right. She keeps messing with the teleport. Maker: What? No, I'm not! That was some villain doing it. Pops: No, I can tell it's coming from you. You'll have to take a bus to New Mexico. Malarky: Yeah, you've got Teleport Herpes. Since they have a few days beforehand, Pops and Maker decide to first try tracking down what is causing Maker to misdirect Pops' long distance teleport. Maker builds a device to scan for energy effects that occur during teleportation, and they test it out. GM: How far are you teleporting? Pops: Just a few kilometers. GM: Okay. (has Maker roll 3d6) Pops, you end up where you targeted. Maker, you have to kick on her flight so you don't fall into the Charles River. Another test. GM: Again, Pops ends up where he targeted. Maker finds herself inside a self-storage unit in Cambridge. Shadowboxer: The important question is, did you pay your monthly rental fee? Maker: It's not my storage unit! Pops: I think next time I'll try teleporting across the country, see which state she ends up in. The particular energy signatures pinned down, Maker learns that not only is she kicking out this energy -- so is her costume, gadgets, even her entire lab. Maker: Is there anything I can do to get rid of this energy? GM: You can build something to remove the taint, as it were. It'll take about five minutes to scrub you and your costume clean. However, you notice that a little while after doing so, you begin accumulating that energy again, slow but sure. Pops: All I know is, when I leave her lab, I'm taking a long, hot shower. After a few days fruitless searching (and some really bad skill rolls), Maker finally determines that the broadcast energy from the bots she stole liberated from VIPER is causing the energy taint. Malarky: Looks like someone got pissed that you keep stealing their stuff. Maker: What? I only have two! GM: More like five. Maker: No, I have one old flyer bot, and one new one. Remember, the other new flyer bot got trashed by DEMON agents at the mall. GM: And the flyer bot you sent to the Cross-Rip dimension that never came back. Shadowboxer: Plus the Johnny Five [roller bot]. GM: And however many lab bots you took from that raid on the VIPER lab. Maker: (sulks) After shutting down the broadcast energy and complete scrubbing, they try another teleport test. GM: (to Maker) Okay, make another 3d6 roll. Maker: You've got to be kidding me! GM: Yep. Just messing with you. The teleport works fine. The heroes travel to Stronghold, and I hand them some printed info about the superprison as well as maps copied from the Stronghold sourcebook. Nexus: (sarcastic) Yeah, nothing's going to go wrong here. GM: What? The article says everything went fine! (pause) Should I pull out the hexmap of the area where they're doing the exorcism? Nexus: Did you make one? GM: Maaaaaybe. (grins) So, the deputy warden says that they'll either need to shut off the power negation systems there or do this on the rooftop, since they're not sure if the power suppression would interfere with the exorcism. Malarky: Shut off power negation throughout the prison?! GM: No, just on Level 6 of Main Security. Malarky: Well, that's okay then. Circe's player wasn't there yesterday, so there's some discussion on what the team mentalist will be doing. GM: Would Circe be using telepathy on Necroma during the exorcism? Y'know, to make sure the spirit really does leave her? Malarky: (heavy sarcasm) Yeah, be mentally linked to the possessed person when the evil spirit is forced out of that body, with nowhere to go. Can't see how that could go bad. Shadowboxer: That's the price you pay for not coming to the game. Despite that, we decide she will only establish telepathy after the exorcism is done. They're introduced to the priest, Father Joseph Bainbridge, who will perform the exorcism. Maker: Wait, Bainbridge? Don't we know him? GM: If so, it's a complete coincidence, because when I typed my notes for the game earlier today I just opened this random name generator booklet you gave me and (closes eyes, opens booklet to a random page, jabs finger at the page, and opens eyes) ...Joseph... (closes eyes again, jabs finger elsewhere on another page) ... Bainbridge! Malarky watches the exorcism (ceremony? ritual? not sure what term to use) from the POV of the student of magic he is. GM: The exorcism itself takes about 20-30 minutes, lots of prayers and statements in Latin, use of holy water and blessed incense, what have you. Malarky notes the various places throughout where he recognizes actual magical elements, with a fair amount of strictly religious elements that he's not sure are absolutely necessary. Malarky: Could I trim it down if necessary? GM: You could maybe do a short version in 3-4 minutes. Honey Badger: (quoting from Spaceballs) Right! The short, SHORT version! Do you? Yes! Do you? Yes! Good, you're married! Kiss her! Contrary to the players' paranoid expectations, the exorcism goes off without a hitch and is successful. Circe telepathically confirms that the former missionary (Lydia Chavez) is free from possession. However, all is not sunshine and roses... Circe: (through Mind Link to teammates) That girl is seriously messed up. All the things she was forced to witness and remembers doing while she was possessed... she's extremely depressed, borderline suicidal. Lydia: (to Circe) Please, is there anything you can do, take away those memories? I'd rather not remember any of that, ever. Circe: I'm sorry, dear, that's not in my wheelhouse. Yet. Pops: But she's working on it. The heroes are discussing finding the other items to allow them to exorcise the rest of the Corrupted, and the staff psychologist at Stronghold has a suggestion. Dr. Crawford: (to Circe) Is it possible Lydia could provide you information, from her memories of the time she was possessed, to tell you where the items were hidden? Or failing that, info that could help you locate the cultists, so they can tell you where to find the items? Having her actively helping free her fellow missionaries might help her get past the things she did while possessed. And you could telepathically help her come to grips with things along the way. (OOC) This is the GM's heavy-handed way of having Circe not be a direct part of this adventure, but still helping move the plot along. Pops: Circe, going down to Nicaragua by herself? GM: Well, the two UNTIL agents that brought the tainted first aid kit needed for Necroma's exorcism will agree to accompany her. Malarky: Two random UNTIL agents? GM: No, Lt. Truxillo and Sgt. Ishada. [note: these were GM-supplied characters played by Shadowboxer's and Maker's players the week before]. Malarky: Oh, that's okay then. They're good. GM: Plus, she'll maintain the Mind Link with the other Just Cause members. If she gets into trouble, you can always "Pops" down there and lend a hand. Pops: If I'm not too busy with that cellular regeneration project. After arriving in Nicaragua, Circe reports on her progress. Circe: We've located where the initial possession ritual was done. (pause) The Nicaraguan federales have a refreshingly accepting view of using mental powers on suspected cultists. (to be continued)

I'm using the concept posted on this forum, I think by Hermit (though my apologies if I'm wrong), where CLOWN is using satire and pranks to raise social consciousness and bring the high and mighty down a peg.

My characters loved to hate Deathstroke, especially Death Commando, so I ignored current CU history in their regard and kept the full team alive and intact, adding one member for my current campaign: Draconic. He's a good ol' boy who happened to find one of Dr. Draconis' old (1st-gen) battlesuits. It's worked out well so far.

Daniel Dickson did, IMO, a pretty good revamp of Professor Muerte and new minions (not necessarily Terror, Inc.) in Digital Hero issue #44. By having Muerte raised from the dead by Takofanes, his revamp even works within the existing CU history. Which reminds me -- I should probably introduce my players to the bad professor some time.

It's even more expensive than that. He was looking to combine 17d6 + 6d6 for a whopping 23d6.

Still going through it, slowly due to work/home stuff taking precedence, but here's a little more feedback, starting with positives. I like the inclusion of related side information (e.g. Astral Information with Dukhobor's writeup, or Alternate Histories for Chisel's country). The "Names, Names, Names" piece gave me about as much of a feel for the Cartel's member personalities as their writeups did, along with a feel for how they night interact. I think things like that really flesh out a work and make it fun to read, as well as potentially more useful. I also appreciated the "Optional Complications", with text explanations for each. As a GM, I'm fond of Plot Seeds to help me find ways to incorporate characters, and am pleased that Shared Origins: Dynatron looks to have plenty of seeds to sow. I also like the character Facts, with info based on skill roll made. The sample characters have a range of power levels, which is good. Since the Rainbow Cartel members are (barring Red Giant) all low-powered (300 points) by design, I'd have made all the other characters at least 400 points, but since Orb is the only non-Cartel 300-pointer, that's a fairly minor quibble. Haven't delved into the actual character writeups yet, so I won't comment further on those yet. And while the work is titled "Shared Origins," it does periodically mention ways that a GM could use the Dynatron beyond basic origin stories. I'd have suggested a separate section dedicated to this, but at least thought was given to continued / extra campaign use, which I appreciated. Another thought I had was, since the Dynatron can provide various power levels, perhaps providing one character with three writeups -- Low, Medium, and High Powered, highlighting appropriate differences based on the time spent in the Dynatronic process for each. Just a thought. Overall, I'm still enjoying reading it. Just wish I could dedicate more time to it.

Yep, that's what I was thinking.

Dark Knight gross profits (adjusted for inflation): $639 million Dark Knight Rises gross profits (adjusted): $496 million Captain America: First Avenger gross profits (adjusted): $269 million Captain America: Winter Soldier gross profits (adjusted): $192 million Avengers gross profits (adjusted): $662 million Avengers: Age of Ultron gross profits (adjusted): $461 million Going one-on-one, the Dark Knight wins quite handily. But if Cap has his friends along, Bats is going down.