BoloOfEarth

Boston Champions - Songs of Summoning (cont.) The heroes learn that most of the summoned creatures didn't do much more than scare a few people before popping back to wherever they came from. Curious about the one that Pops fought (which had specifically targeted the grocery store manager while ignoring pretty much everybody else around it), some go to the hospital to see how the mauled man is doing. Unfortunately, he's still in a coma. After establishing that they're working with the Boston PD... Malarky (to the ICU nurse): Can I maybe try a wee something that might help perk him up? Nurse Ratchet: I'm sorry, but I can't allow you to touch my patient. (walks away to treat another patient, but keeps an eye on Malarky) Nurse Nice: (walks up) You're one of those new supeheroes, aren't you? I saw something about you in the news. Malarky: Aye, that's us. I'm Malarky, a bit of a junior mage. Nurse Nice: Magic, huh? So, you can heal him, with one touch? Malarky (realizing his Healing spell is Area of Effect): That I can. Don't really need to touch him, though. (pauses) Say, do you mind if I stand over there in the corner for a bit? Won't be a bother. (smiles impishly) And if you should happen to move any really sick patients within, oh, a dozen or so meters of me in, say, five minutes time, who's to say what might happen? Needless to say, there was some miraculous healing that day in the ICU at Mass General. Malarky: Wonder if I can get a date with that nurse... Other heroes go to check the mauled man's apartment. Honey Badger: Maybe he was dabbling in the black arts... Enters the apartment to find it a mess -- furniture trashed, possessions destroyed, walls sliced as if by claws, and overly large maggots squirming all over the place. Honey Badger: ... and it got away from him. Circe tries reading the man's mind, but he's just as clueless as they are. Mr. Goodman (walking around a mental construct of his trashed apartment): Would you look at this mess? Why me? What did I ever do? I'm a law-abiding guy, try and keep the peace. Serve on the neighborhood watch. Try and keep things nice in my neighborhood, call the police when people aren't being civil. And this is what happens? Unfortunately, they didn't catch the clue and so they didn't ask if he had made any complaints against neighbors lately. Instead, they start checking out the bars near where some of the creatures appeared. Malarky: You guys realize I'm not allowed in a bar, don't you? I'm only 18. Pops: Wait, don't you use booze for one of your spells? Malarky: That's different. It's not alcohol, it's a spell component. Shadowboxer listens in on a few conversations between patrons. Guy #1: Hopefully they'll have a better band tonight. Guy #2: Yeah, those guys last night were horrid. I mean, their early stuff was alright, I can dig some good metal, but then they started on their 'new' stuff. Talk about dark and depressing... Shadowboxer: Excuse me. Couldn't help but overhear. Do you remember what the band who played here last night was called? Guy #1: Something like Road House, wasn't it? Guy #2: No, it was Road Kill. (players groan in agony. Ah, the lamentations of players are like nectar to the GM!) Circe: That was the band that tried out at my club last week, wasn't it? (smugly) Good thing I refused to book them. They won't be trashing my club. GM: Funny you should mention that... (pulls out the game map and begins laying it out)

Our group now alternates between my Champions game and a D&D-4 game. However, the D&D DM texted me a few days before our normal game day asking if I could run instead. I didn't really have anything prepared, so I threw something together. But I did take the time to put together a weekly news page. One article mentions the "newly-formed team of superheroes, as yet unnamed". Nexus: Does that mean we have to come up with a team name? You know we suck at that. (That's true -- past team names have included THEM (The Heroes of Eastern Michigan) and S-Squad (because all the team members names began with "S") GM: If you don't come up with a team name, the editor of the Heronet Herald will give you one. This is the same guy that came up with "Earth-818" for the alternate world. So, not very creative. You'll probably end up with something like Boston Area Super-Heroes. Maker: BASH! I like it! You know, that's actually the kind of name we'd come up with. Maker's player looks through the prior week's news, which included a Name That Dimension contest,with appropriate hokey prizes, to come up with a better name than Earth-818. She then passes the GM a note: "Maker wants the Foxbat inflatable punching bag and submits Ogygia for Earth-818." Another article in the current news talks about Pops taking down a misshapen creature attacking a supermarket, so I started the night off with that encounter. Pops is on his way home to get ready for a hot date. Pops: Why are you picking on me? You know that if I saw something happening, I'd probably just teleport the other direction. Nexus: Hey, at least you know up front you're going to win! The creature is a star vampire, which is normally invisible but becomes temporarily visible after feasting. GM: As Pops teleports into the store, he sees a badly maimed person lying on the ground, with several other people apparently fighting something invisible, which tosses them aside like gnats while it sucks blood from the maimed guy. As Pops watches, the creature becomes visible as the blood it's drinking circulates through it's body. (Shows Pops a picture of the creature. Pops: Okay, that's just wrong. I don't do tentacles. I don't even like anime. That's more Honey Badger's or Circe's thing. After a few phases of combat... GM: You notice that, as the blood it drank is being absorbed, the creature is starting to fade away. You figure it'll be invisible again by the end of the Turn. The creature grabs Pops and latches a tentacle onto his throat to begin sucking his blood. Pops: Well, at least it'll be visible a bit longer. Pops eventually defeats the creature and turns it over to PRIMUS. He then pays a visit to his teammate Malarky. Pops: You know that healing thing you did while fighting the Boston Commons? Could you do that to me? (points to his neck) I have a date tonight, and I don't want her to see this hickey. The heroes investigate, and discover that odd-looking creatures have been popping in and out of existence all over town. Some pop up in the afternoon, but most show up from about 9 pm to 2 am. None are reported between 2 am and noonish. Shadowboxer: I map out all the appearances and look for patterns. GM: You actually see two groups -- the afternoon appearances are in one part of town, near some apartment buildings and warehouses converted into condos, that sort of thing. The late evening/early night appearances are in a different part of Boston. Most of them have been pretty close to a number of lower-grade bars and other dives. Shadowboxer: That would explain the appearances ending by 2 am. That's when the bars close up. Malarky: So basically, we're looking for a drunk summoner. (More to follow)

I'm taking Comic's notation about "celebrities" to heart, so I'm going with a real celebrity. My apologies in advance to Mr. Walken. Christopher Walken has known about his sonic powers ever since he was a teen, but has carefully kept them hidden. Even as a member of the Hollywood Blacklist, he carefully disguises himself and pretends that his powers come from a souped-up smartphone. (It's actually a prop cell phone with some sci-fi doo-dads glued onto the case to make it look impressive.) As Cel-blow, he is one of Blacklist's ranged combatants.

So if it's an Android phone, do you have to buy that with Automaton powers?

Flash Group 1d6, Constant (+1/2), Uncontrolled (+1/2), Trigger (target moves; activates as an Action that takes no time, resets automatically; +1); Extra Time (Full Phase at initial activation; -1/4), Gestures (-1/4), Requires a Roll (-1/2), OAF (Enchanted flash powder; -1). Since it only costs 1 END, he could pour 8 END into it and make a 4 SPD character's life miserable for two Turns. Every time he moves to take aim, FLASH!

Telepathy 1d6, Cumulative (16x maximum = 96 points; +1 1/2), Invisible to Mental (+1/2); Concentrate (0 DCV; -1/2), OIF (mystic charm; -1/2), Extra Time (full phase; -1/2), Requires a Roll (-1/2). The character can sit across the tavern from somebody, enter a trance, and read the target's mind to his heart's content (assuming the target has minimal or no Mental Defense). Sure, it takes a while to build up to full power, but a 3 SPD person should still be able to get there in a few minutes. Start as the guy's walking in the door, and you should be good to go by the time he's finished his first glass of beer. Teleportation 2m, Safe Blind Teleport (+1/4), Area of Effect (2m Radius; +1/4), Constant (+1/2), Usable Simultaneously (self plus 2 others; +3/4); Gate (-1/2), Requires a Roll (-1/2). Who needs to unlock doors? Just step right past 'em! (But be prepared for nasty GMs to start putting pit traps and other things on the other side of the door...) X-Ray Vision (Fully Penetrative to Sight Group). In the right (or wrong) hands, this can make the GM's life miserable.

Rioting in the streets, every time Facebook goes down for more than 5 minutes. NT: My teenage daughter's very first boyfriend is meeting my wife and I for the first time. How should I greet him to make the right first impression?

My old job has had some problems with the A/C for the server room last month -- the economizer got stuck open (whether intentionally or unintentionally by plant services is up for debate) with the blowers on continuous, and on some nights the temp in the room dipped below 40 F. I guess they figured the colder, the better, and we shouldn't worry about the possibility of frost forming on the computer equipment.

I consider Teamwork an Everyman skill, so everybody has at least an 8- chance to coordinate an attack with someone else.

Yep. I was laughing so hard it took me a few minutes to continue the game. I let them go ahead and coordinate the attack without a roll. It just seemed the right thing to do after that.

Curious, Shadowboxer asks Timmons to see the entire will. The Last Will and Testament of Patrick J. McGinty I, Patrick Joseph McGinty, being of sound mind and body (no matter what those fooking friends of mine may say, and who the Hell are they to be throwing stones anyway?) do hereby distribute my estate as follows: To my long-suffering and dedicated wife Susan, I leave the bulk of my estate beyond that specified elsewhere in this Will, with the provision that all of it reverts to charity if she remarries an Englishman after I’m gone. Dead or no, I’ll not be having no fooking Brit living high on the hog off money I fought damned hard to take and keep. To my business partner Paul Rondale, in the unlikely event he survives me, I leave my entire interest in Rondale & McGinty's Automotive & Electrical Repair Shop of Arkham, Mass. And damn me, since he’s the more responsible of the lot still breathing, I leave him the objects in my office and workspace to dispose of properly. (You know the things I’m talking about, Paul.) Or if he wishes, he can keep them and bid adieu to his sanity, not that he has much left at this point. Paul should be made aware that I’ve already taken care of storing my private library for the posterior of future generations. To my friend and driver Aldous Quinn (if Rondale and company ever get off their lazy arses and get Aldous up and moving again), for his loyalty and invaluable assistance dealing with the damnable New England Shit Vortex over the years, I leave my Dusenberg J towncar, a bottle of neat whiskey, and a packet of cigars, that he may drive out to the coast, have a smoke, and tip a glass in my memory. I instruct my lawyers to use funds from my estate to purchase a carnival fun-house mirror (the type that makes you look skinny) to bequeath to Prof. Deborah Einstein of Harvard University. I’d have gone for the type that makes you look fat, but they don’t make them that blasted large. I leave my phonograph player and collection of jazz records to Dr. Alicia McPool of Radcliffe College, in the hopes that it might help her cope with the incessant screaming. To my associate Amy Wells of Arkham, Massachusetts, I leave my little black bag of “medical tools” and the glass jar that formerly housed our associate Col. Lancaster. To agent Landing of the ONI, I leave my journals and notebooks, so he’ll finally know everything we have been up to these past years and can have a proper stroke. As to my campaign manager Norman J. Plaski, who insisted he be mentioned in my will: Hello, Norm. To my lawyer of record (at this writing, Edward Wade Poole of Crane, Poole & Schmidt) I leave my lucky pocket watch, with the instruction that it is to be passed on to succeeding lawyers of record upon each preceding lawyer’s retirement or death. This watch is to be kept within the possessor’s earshot at all times until the completion of the Corbitt proviso and final disposition of the properties listed therein. I instruct my lawyers, money-grubbing lot that they are, to hold and maintain the property at 15 W. Haven Street, Boston, Mass., along with that detailed in the Corbitt proviso. Trust funds have been established for the properties’ annual taxes, care, and maintenance (and if I find you shysters skimming off the top, don’t think I won’t come back and haunt your greedy arses). The lawyers may, if they wish, rent out either or both properties in the interim to save money on taxes and maintenance until final disposition detailed below and in the attached Proviso. But if either place gets destroyed, they should know that it’s coming out of their damned hides. On or shortly after December 30, 2014, the property at 15 W. Haven Street, Boston, Mass., and all its current contents are to be turned over to Shadowboxer, along with the balance of the trust fund established for that property’s taxes and maintenance. At 12:17 am on the above-noted date, Shadowboxer may be found on the 4th floor of the Ronald McNair Building on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Upon signing over the deed to the Haven Street property, the lawyer of record shall also give Shadowboxer the accompanying sealed envelope, with instructions not to open the envelope nor read the contents until well within the grounds of the Haven Street property. And don’t think I’m not laughing my arse off at my own cleverness. Upon transfer of the property above, I also bequeath four bottles of neat whiskey and two boxes of cigars to Shadowboxer’s associate Sugar Beaver to distribute to his teammates as he sees fit. He’d damn well better care about it, too, as I’m leaving him good Irish whiskey, not watered-down American piss-whiskey like he’s used to drinking. And the lasses had best not start spouting any of that “smoking and alcohol are no good for you” crap. The boys can light up and drink as they please. As they prepare to take on the tasks at hand, I tip a glass in their honor and wish them the best of luck. Better them than me, says I. - - - - Timmons insists that, as far as he knows, that is the entirety of the will. So, where is McGinty's library? And how long is it going to take the heroes to find it?

(finishing the Boston Champions adventure; again, McGinty appears with prior permission from Drhoz and McGinty's player) The battle done, PRIMUS is called to cart off the captured supervillains. As the heroes wait for PRIMUS to arrive... Byron Timmons: (enters the room and almost walks into the bramble/briar patch) Oh, my! Maker: Who is it? George Takei? Byron Timmons: (heads toward Shadowboxer, completely nonplussed at the trashed robots and unconscious supervillains scattered about) Mister Shadowboxer and... (inclines his head to Honey Badger) Mister Honey Badger? I am the lawyer of record of an estate for which you are both named beneficiaries. (Hands each of them his business card) If you would be so kind, please call my secretary and arrange an appointment so that we may distribute your portions of the estate. Thank you, and good day. (He climbs back out the hole in the wall and continues on his way as if this is a completely normal situation.) The two heroes go to the offices of Crane, Poole, and Schmidt (seeing one lawyer who bears a striking resemblance to William Shatner) for the reading of the will. Shadowboxer: Whose estate are we beneficiaries for? Byron Timmons: This is the estate of Patrick J. McGinty, former governor and late of Boston. He disappeared from the public eye in 1929 and was declared legally dead in 1936. The will was signed shortly before his disappearance. (pause) I should warn you, Mr. McGinty apparently considered himself quite the smart wit. (disapproving sniff) Timmons reads the relevant portion of the will. Timmons: "I instruct my lawyers, money-grubbing lot that they are (another disapproving sniff), to hold and maintain the property at 15 W. Haven Street, Boston, Mass., along with that detailed in the Corbitt proviso. Trust funds have been established for the properties’ annual taxes, care, and maintenance (and if I find you shysters skimming …" well, what follows are some… rather colorful instructions as to the properties’ care and maintenance. "On or shortly after February 13, 2015, the property at 15 W. Haven Street, Boston, Mass., and all its current contents are to be turned over to Shadowboxer, along with the balance of the trust fund established for that property’s taxes and maintenance. At 11:17 pm on the above-noted date, Shadowboxer may be found on the 4th floor of the Ronald McNair Building on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology." "Upon signing over the deed to the Haven Street property, the lawyer of record shall also give Shadowboxer the accompanying sealed envelope, with instructions not to open the envelope nor read the contents until well within the grounds of the Haven Street property. And don’t think I’m not laughing my arse off at my own cleverness." (another disapproving sniff) "Upon transfer of the property above, I also bequeath four bottles of neat whiskey and two boxes of cigars to Shadowboxer’s associate Sugar Beaver…" -- I assume this is more of Mr. McGinty’s famed ‘wit’ and that he means you, Mr. Honey Badger, unless you (looking at Shadowboxer) have a Sugar Beaver associate of which I am unaware. "… to distribute to his teammates as he sees fit. He’d damn well better care about it, too, as I’m leaving him good Irish whiskey, not watered-down American piss-whiskey like he’s used to drinking. And the lasses had best not start spouting any of that “smoking and alcohol are no good for you” crap. The boys can light up and drink as they please." "As they prepare to take on the tasks at hand, I tip a glass in their honor and wish them the best of luck. Better them than me, says I." Honey Badger: Aw, man! I was looking forward to meeting Sugar Beaver! I was sure that was a girl! Think about it... Sugar Beaver... Sounds like a hottie, doesn't it? Shadowboxer has one of the magic-using heroes check out the envelope, who verified it has a minor enchantment to preserve the paper and keep anybody from peeking at the letter inside, but nothing dangerous. They check out the house and grounds; in addition to the old Victorian home, there's a garage (formerly a stable), an old stone well, a rose-trellis arch leading to a hedge maze, and a gazebo. Honey Badger: Is there an arrow in the gazebo? GM: No, but there are three bullet holes in it. Inside the house, Shadowboxer opens and reads the letter. Well, lad, we’ve had a few interesting conversations over the past few years, but it seems time’s running out for this old man. I guess you can’t spend years beating back a shit vortex without getting a wee bit of muck splashed on you. And in our line of work, you’re doing well if the muck doesn’t do quite a bit more than just stink. But I dug my fooking hole, so I guess I’ll have to lie in it eventually. I’m counting on you lot to keep fighting the good fight. You’ve got a rough road ahead, lad, but you’ve got friends to protect your arse – and they’ve got you to protect theirs. True, they’re an odd lot, especially that Syrup Otter lad. I can only hope they’ll get the job done. Heaven knows stranger things have happened in this old world. I wish I could offer you more than some well-read books and a pat on the back, but my days of being much help are well behind me. It’s up to you lot to find a way to win the day. Beat the blackguards back and kick some monster arse for me. And when you find yourself swimming underwater in a whirlpool of shit, well, lad, just keep looking for a crack in the crust. A final word of advice: you’ll find a splash of whiskey and a walk in the sunshine might help you keep your sanity. Well, what little sanity you might have, given that you’re crazy enough to get into our line of work. Your friend, Paddy McGinty P.S. Please pass on my apologies to that Malarkey lad for our first meeting, and I hope everything grows back well enough. (Note that none of them have yet met McGinty.) The heroes take a tour of the house. Timmons assures them that all of the furnishings and everything in the house had been put into storage in the 1930s, and brought out (and restored, where necessary) about a month or two ago. One thing the heroes notice: There are no books to be found anywhere in the house.

(Continuing the Boston Champions game...) The heroes get a full description of Marathon, and learn that the other-world version also had a spear and a shield, but no such items were stolen. The spear allowed Marathon to teleport himself, or his teammates. Maker: Maybe he kept some for his private collection. Shadowboxer: Or sold them for someone else's private collection. Remember, that's why the university stopped letting him go on digs. The heroes get all deductive and stuff. Pops: Maybe the Professor got his hands on the spear from this world, and is using it to teleport his lab around every time PRIMUS gets too close. Honey Badger is keeping an eye on the building while the rest of the team assembles costumes to disguise their identities. (He's the only one who has done any real crimefighting, and does so publicly.) While doing so, he notices someone else keeping an eye on the building: a very neatly-dressed man - almost obsessively so - sitting in a car. GM: He's mostly reading papers, making some notes on them with a red pen, and glancing every now and then at a pocket watch. Honey Badger: Pocket watch - you don't see those every day. What is this guy, a professor, grading papers? Hey, maybe he's The Professor. GM: Watching his own lab from across the street? Besides, he strikes you more as an accountant. Or a lawyer. Pops: That's even worse. Shadowboxer uses his shadow-sight to see what the papers are the guy is reading. They're pages from a will, some guy setting up a living trust for his wife and kids. Shadowboxer: Anyone we know? The heroes turn their sights on getting into what they're pretty sure is the Professor's lab. Since Shadowboxer's shadow-sight can't see inside, Nexus sends her spirit Contact to scout it out. When he doesn't return after a half hour, and she can't locate him by spell, they get worried and decide to break in. Honey Badger: We'll enter from the roof, drop in through the skylight... Maker: What if there's no skylight? Honey Badger: There's always a skylight. GM: Even if there is a skylight, there's also the point that this is a 5 story building and the lab you're heading into is on the 4th floor. Dropping in through a skylight only puts you into the room above the lab. Honey Badger: So we give the 4th floor lab a skylight into the room above it. As the heroes are planning and arguing, the Boston Commons make their move, entering the building under one of Sense's Veils right under the heroes' noses. Since the heroes captured the villains' shapeshifter/mimic earlier that day (he was supposed to mimic Attache to get them into the Professor's lab), Whitey mind controls Attache to open the doors for them. Pops teleports the heroes into the hallway outside the lab, but the villains are already inside, having closed the door behind them. Pops: So, do we break in and jump into the middle of a fight, or wait for the noise to die down and mop up whichever side won? They hear what sounds like a howitzer go off inside, and see the wall next to them crack. The plaster on the hallway side falls, revealing badly damaged armor plating. Honey Badger: We should probably go in. He rips a hole in the wall and climbs through, followed by several other heroes. They see the Boston Commons facing off against a bunch of robots. Two rolling robots similar to Johnny Five from Short Circuit. Two more flying robots like the ones they fought earlier. And over a half-dozen lab robots similar to the ones that worked for/with Tony Stark in the Iron Man movies. Plus two human lab technicians, who have grabbed up prototype weapons for an impromptu field test. In the middle are five racks full of various equipment, all wired into an ancient-looking spear. Honey Badger: Are any of them shooting at Honey Badger? 'Cause that's Honey Badger's job. And Honey Badger don't care. Marathon runs across the room to get the spear. Maker flies in with a stealth field on, zips over to the racks, and does a Move-By Grab on the spear, flying back with it toward the hole in the wall. Gerrymander nearly crit-fails a Tactics roll, and puts a Barrier wall around Marathon and the racks, not realizing Maker is already outside that area. Shadowboxer: That's not so bad. He didn't know she was already outside that area. GM: Smarter would have been to put a Barrier over the hole in the wall so she can't get out. Shadowboxer: True, there is that. As Marathon gets upset over being walled up, albeit temporarily, things get temporarily political. Common Man: Just like a true conservative - throw up walls and block things, just to prove you're in control. Malarky casts a spell to catch most of the Commons in a field of brambles and briars (AoE Entangle), including four alt-selves of Common Man that were there at the time. Gerrymander turns desolid and walks out. As he passes by a trapped Common Man: Gerrymander: Just like a true liberal - completely ineffective. Pops teleports across the room, ending up beside one VIPER technician holding a tiny pistol. Circe uses her TK to disarm the tech (Chad). Pops: (grinning at the disarmed technician) Hiya. Chad: (picks up various components on the nearby lab table and holds up one finger) Just a minute. I'll be right with you. Pops: No problem, take your time. (OOC:) How many Phases is it going to take him to get whatever that is together? GM: Like he said, a minute. Maybe two. Honey Badger picks up a roller bot and squeezes, causing considerable damage to it. Honey Badger: Look at that. Cheap Chinese construction. (Every lab robot and roller bot in the lab stops what they're doing to give Honey Badger the bird.) Maker flies out the hole, and Circe decides to follow her just in case she needs backup. When Gerrymander tries to stop her, Circe mind-blasts him, so he grabs her and squeezes. Malarky responds by hitting Gerrymander with his drunkenness spell. Gerrymander: (finally getting a good look at Circe) Hey, you're pretty hot. What say we blow this joint, go hit a club. Circe: Um... yeah? Sure? Honey Badger goes out to back Circe up in case she needs any help. Sizing up the situation, instead of attacking, he walks up to the other side of Gerrymander and puts his arm companionably around the villain's shoulders. Gerrymander: Hey, dude, back off. She's totally into me. Honey Badger. Oh, no problem, pal. But if you're taking my friend out, I just wanted to give you a few tips. (looks significantly at Circe). One, you make sure you act like a gentleman. (Gerrymander nods, while Circe continues to look mildly baffled) Two, you have to make sure she gets home safe afterward. (As Circe's player continues to look confused) And in case you (looking at Circe) haven't figured it out yet, I'm TOTALLY trying to coordinate with you here, so Three (rolls dice)... Circe: Oh. OH!!! (grabs dice, then looks at the character sheet) Do I even have Teamwork skill??? Honey Badger: (facepalming and shaking his head) Apparently not.

The Wikipedia page isn't my best work -- I was trying for subtle but mostly it came out a bit dull. But if you want to see it: Wikipedia entry: Patrick “Paddy” McGinty (October 30, 1870 – unknown) was a United States politician from Massachusetts. As a member of the Republican Party, he was elected the 50th Governor of Massachusetts and was one of the state’s first Irish-American governors, serving from 1925-1927. Biography McGinty was born and raised in Dunmurry, Ireland. He served in the 14th Engineers battalion of the Royal Army during World War I, achieving the rank of Sergeant Major. He moved to the United States in 1920 and took up residence in Arkham, Massachusetts where he worked briefly in a local quarry before opening an automotive repair shop. Allegations were made during this time of ties between McGinty and Irish mobster Dan O’Bannion but they have never been proven.[citation needed] McGinty gained fame in April of 1924 when he and several associates assisted the Boston police in capturing Patrick Malone and members of his infamous Crimson Gang following the King-of-Ireland Massacre.[1, 2] He was also credited with the rescue of a wealthy Boston socialite from kidnappers, after which he announced his candidacy for governor of the State of Massachusetts. His campaign for governor was rife with accusations of malfeasance ranging from exposes linking McGinty with bootleggers, to claims that he was personally involved in manslaughter as well as numerous acts of property damage and destruction.[3] Despite this, McGinty secured his party’s nomination and was elected governor by a narrow margin in 1924 (ironically, running on a platform of law and order). 1925-1927 Governor Patrick McGinty’s administration took place at the height of prohibition, and was marked by frequent scandals ranging from nearly constant allegations of collusion with bootleggers, to several accusations of conspiracy to commit murder. [4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11] At a press conference in January 1926 responding to allegations of ordering state police to halt a murder investigation, Gov. McGinty said, ‘To Hades with the lot of you” and announced he would no longer speak directly with any reporters.[12] All future inquiries during McGinty’s administration were handled through a series of short-lived press secretaries. Likely due to the many allegations of illegal and illicit activity, McGinty was denied re-nomination when the Republican Party instead chose Alvan T. Fuller to run for governor in 1926. McGinty left office in 1927 and retired from the public eye. McGinty disappeared sometime in 1929 and was legally declared dead in 1936. - - - - - - - - I was having fun with the citations (note the number of cites about scandals), most of which are scans of newspaper clippings that are less than complimentary of McGinty. As the heroes dig into it, they'll learn that all of the scans were posted by the same person, identified online as SarEinBU. A little digging will reveal her to be Dr. Sarah Einstein, an Egyptology professor at Boston University who inherited her great-grand-aunt's scrapbook of clippings and journals. I'm actually much prouder of my Last Will and Testament of Patrick J. McGinty, which I'll post soon. And his letter to Shadowboxer, revealing where he hid all his mystic books. Which I'm almost positive the players have completely missed. But more on that later.

(continuing the Boston Champions game; Paddy McGinty will be making periodic guest appearances throughout the campaign with prior permission from Drhoz and McGinty's player) Malarky hits the density altering guy (Gerrymander) with a powerful Flash attack, making the bad guy decide to duck back into the building. Malarky then runs over to the woman, who appears to be cowering in fear. Malarky: Come here, miss. I'll get you out of here safe. (She doesn't react to him, so he reaches out to grab her arm... and his hand passes through it. He's looking at a very realistic illusion.) Looks like she already got out of here. One of the bodyguards / covert VIPER agents recovers and was moving to get to Ms. Browning, but stops when Malarky ran up to her, and pulls out a radio. Shadowboxer listens in from a nearby shadow, but can only hear one side of the conversation. VIPER Agent: They've got Attache. Repeat, they have Attache. What do you want me to do? (pause) Roger that, be there in a few. Shadowboxer recalls hearing that someone named Attache is the newly-appointed joint second-in-command of the Boston Nest, so he lets the agent leave and tails him to the Robert McNair building, 4th floor, room 4103A. Meanwhile, the fight ends, with the heroes capturing Splinter and the mimic (Dyer), but Gerrymander escapes. PRIMUS arrives to debrief the heroes and cart off the bad guys. Lt. Williams: (looking at Honey Badger holding what appears to be his unconscious twin) How do we know you're the real Honey Badger, and not that guy? Honey Badger: The real Honey Badger doesn't bruise when you do this. (Proceeds to bash Dyer repeatedly with Splinter's Louisville Slugger, which breaks and doesn't automatically heal) Aw, man, Honey Badger was looking forward to using that! [Yes, Honey Badger routinely refers to himself in the third person.] Lt. Williams: (watching Honey Badger using excessive force on an unconscious captive foe) (in a bored, deadpan voice) No. Please. Stop doing that. You can't treat prisoners that way. (yawns) Circe notices an old man in a wheelchair watching the proceedings from the sidelines and chuckling to himself. After a while, he wheels himself to the nearest street and hails a cab. The cabbie helps the man into the back of the taxi, then proceeds to load the wheelchair into the trunk. Mystery Man: You watch what the fook you're doing with that! Do you have any idea what those things cost?! (waves his fist in the cabbie's face) Dent that, and I'm denting your fookin' haid! Maker: (OOC) Were you trying to do an Irish accent there, or was that accidental? As the man is getting into the cab, Circe uses her smartphone to snap a picture of him. Circe: (OOC) I imagine smartphones must be a pain for GMs in modern campaigns. Everybody always has a camera ready. Circe tails the cab to W. Haven Street, where the old man gets out of the cab and wheels up to one of the houses. After the cab drives away, the old man gets out of the wheelchair, carts it up the front steps of one of the houses, and goes inside. Eventually, Honey Badger takes Circe's place watching the house so Circe can get the photo to Malarky and Maker, two of the team's technical-minded members. They run it through facial recognition comparisons to known criminals, then a Who's Who of Boston, and finally a global internet search. GM: The best you get is a 78% match to an old photo of some guy named Patrick McGinty. Former governor of Massachusetts. Malarky: Former governor? When? GM: 1925 to 1927. Malarky: This may not be a good match. Do a Google search on him anyway; anything interesting? GM: (hands him a typed-up Wikipedia entry on Patrick "Paddy" McGinty) Malarky: This may be the guy we're looking for. Honey Badger is keeping watch on the house on Haven Street when he hears what sounds like whispering in the wind. Disembodied voice: Suuuugggaaarrr... Beeeeaaaavvvvveeeerrrr... Despite nobody seeing the old man leave the house, they later discover that it's empty. They do a title search on it and discover that it's actually being held by a Boston law firm for an estate trust. Nexus: Which law firm? And what's the name on the trust? GM: Crane, Poole, and Schmidt. Nexus: Cool! We get to meet Denny Crane! What's the name of the trust? GM: The Shadowbox Trust. (All players look at Shadowboxer expectantly, but all he can do is shrug and shake his head.) After the fight at MIT hits the news, the college student that Circe and Nexus rescued from the near-clutches of a mystery mentalist calls Circe. She has decided to tell all she knows, having figured out that the nightclub owner who saved her used mental powers to do so, as did one of the heroes in the MIT fight. Kristina Shaw: I mentioned yesterday that I knew some people on Snak Attak! [a group of low-powered or no-powered Boston University students patrolling to try keeping their campus safe; all are named after snack foods - and yes, that's how it's spelled]. Well, that wasn't the full truth. I'm actually Twizzler, a member of Snak Attak! (She demonstrates her stretching powers) One of my friends, Nerds, convinced me to tell you what I know, so you can hopefully get Whitey put behind bars. She proceeds to explain that a villain group (Boston Commons) on her original world must have been pulled over in the Cross-Rip. They are: Whitey: Gangster with mental powers Common Man: Duplicating martial artist Dyer: Shapeshifting mimic Gerrymander: Density-altering brick Marathon: Greek-armor wearing archaeologist Puritan: Woman able to heal friends and drain away powers from foes Sense: Invisible illusionist woman Splendid Splinter: Baseball-obsessed plant-controlling man All of the Commons ended up in the Fortress (her world's version of Stronghold) except for Marathon. Since his enchanted items could be taken away, leaving him powerless, Marathon (aka Dr. Loukas) ended up in the general population at Riker's prison. Obviously, the thefts were being done, along with this world's Dr. Loukas' kidnapping that the players hadn't learned about, to restore Marathon to the team. Honey Badger: They're from another world! I wonder if any of them are Dr. Lizardo. Or John Bigbooty. "Big-boo-tay! Boo-Tay!" GM: (stares at HB's player in disbelief, then hands him the character writeup for Common Man, pointing to one paragraph) Read this paragraph. Common Man's writeup: "A fan of Buckaroo Banzai, Common Man named his duplicates in the same manner as the Lectroids in the movie: all are John followed by a last name (sometimes quite odd), and all were mentioned by name or from the computer screen list in the movie." Honey Badger: (smiling impishly) It's a power of mine. (Still more to follow)

(continuing the Champions game) As Ms. Browning is meeting with Pops, Malarky is walking across the MIT campus heading to class and notices two men, looking exactly like the guy in the Red Sox uniform from one museum theft, and the man who pulled the stolen Greek artifacts out of the bus locker after the other museum theft. Also, two guys who don't look like students are standing around, waiting. So Malarky call all his new-found friends. Unfortunately, most of them are still enroute when Ms. Browning leaves the building, and the Red Sox guy pulls out a baseball and takes down one of the latter two guys, who are Ms. Browning's bodyguards. Malarky: Looks like I'm going to be late for class. The man from the bus depot was very well-dressed, but this guy on campus is wearing jeans and a parka. Circe: Wait, the guy we saw on the bus security camera was in an expensive suit. Maker: How do you know it was expensive? Circe: (points to KS: Fashion on the character sheet) I know an expensive suit when I see one. Pops teleports over to the opposite buidling's rooftop and begins teleporting students from the soon-to-be-battlefield onto the rooftop beside him. Pops: Now the big question is, are they going to just stand there and watch, or are they going to run downstairs and get the heck out of here? Maker: There's going to be explosions and stuff. They'll run away soon enough. Pops: These are students at MIT. In a supers universe. They see explosions, they'll think, "Oh, it must be Tuesday." A police helicopter appears overhead. Literally appears, out of an apparently empty sky. Honey Badger: Now that's a quick response. The helicopter fires a missile at the guy in the parka, doing no apparent damage. Circe: Wait, when did police helicopters get outfitted with missiles?! An apparent twin of the guy in the parka, this one dressed in a nice suit and overcoat, steps out of a building - as in, through the wall - and heads for Ms. Browning. Circe: Well, we found the guy's brother. Honey Badger arrives and faces off against the Splendid Splinter. Splendid Splinter: How about... (pulls out Louisville Slugger) ... a little Bat-Fu? (takes a batter's stance) It's a bit high and outside, but it looks like Williams is going for it. He's swinging for the bleachers... (CRACK!) The bat cracks when it hits Honey Badger, but then he notices it instantly heals itself. Honey Badger: Honey Badger's gotta get one of those! After taking down Splinter, Honey Badger turns toward the guy in the parka, who punches Honey Badger... and transforms to look like Honey Badger! Honey Badger: Guys, I don't think they're brothers... Maker figures out the police helicopter is a hologram being projected by a much smaller flying robot. She blasts it, damaging the hologram projector. GM: The helicopter turns into a Piper Cub, hovering in midair. Then a flock of birds. And then a dolphin. Maker then flies closer and hits it with her EMP. Maker: And I catch it before it hits the ground, 'cause this one's mine. (More to follow...)

Finally started a new Champions campaign after a 4-5 year hiatus. This one is set in Boston, one month after an event (called the Cross-Rip) that cause many superheroes to disappear from the game world, along with a fair number of supervillains, many of whom were in one of the superprisons at the time. For those in prison (and in some isolated cases outside), most of the supervillains that disappeared were replaced with other supervillains, many of which were not known in the game world. A few civilians also disappeared, or in a few cases switched places with their cross-world counterparts. All a plot by the Empress of a Billion Dimensions, that didn't go 100% as she had planned. But the details of all that might not be of interest to anybody here, and aren't really quotes anyway. The heroes (team still unnamed) are: Circe - beautiful, rich female mentalist, owns a nightclub (among other things) Honey Badger - super strong, incredibly tough, and... Honey Badger don't care Malarky - Irish-American MIT student who is learning magic and has some... interesting spells Maker - Female NASA astronaut gadgeteer who got energy powers in an accident at UNTIL's Gateway station; daughter of a Chinese woman and... Leroy Jenkins! Nexus - also beautiful female wizardress, able to see and talk to the dead (her Contact is a spirit) and plays in a band at Circe's nightclub Pops - MIT professor who created extra-dimensional tech allowing him to teleport himself and others Shadowboxer - Shadow-controlling PI able to see through and move through shadows, split off his own shadow, etc. Pops (Dr. Stevens) is looking at readings from an experiment when he sees three energy spikes (unrelated to his experiment) whose signature is remarkably similar to that of his own teleportation. But much higher - someone is teleporting tons of mass, somewhere fairly nearby. Unfortunately, his equipment wasn't designed to get a heading and relative range. To get the parts he needs fast, he seeks out Li Jenkins, who has a rep for creating things fast with her 3-D printer. As they discuss his designs, a pair of mafia thugs (Tom and Jerry) walk in, intent on hitting her up for protection money. Tom (looming over Stevens): You're done here. We need to talk to the Jap chick. Maker: Jap?! I'm Chinese, you jerk! Pops: Jap? Funny, you didn't strike me as Jewish. (pause at Maker's confused expression) Jewish American Princess? (pause at her continued blank expression) Y'know what, never mind. Honey Badger: (OOC) Use your ninja powers on him. Maker: (OOC) I don't have ninja powers! I'm Chinese, not Japanese! Maker: (OOC) I'm in secret ID. Can I use one of the things on my work desk and make it look like the energy is coming out of it? GM: Sure, what the heck. There's a toaster handy. Maker picks up the toaster, points it at Tom, and sends a nice NND blast into him, stunning the thug. Pops: Wow, that must be a four-slice model. Meanwhile, at Circe's club, her nightclub manager asks her to talk to a musical group's agent (Damon Folmier) about his client wanting to play at the nightclub. Circe finally agrees to allow the group to try out in a few days, without once asking what the group's name is. Damon Folmier: Okay, so Road Kill will be there Wednesday at two. Nexus: Road Kill?! You're booking Road Kill to play at your club?! Circe: Why? Who the heck is Road Kill? (After getting an explanation) Hey, they're trying out. Nothing says I have to say yes. Circe and Nexus are leaving the club when they notice a limo pull up next to a female college student. The man inside rolls down his window to talk to the girl, who looks panic-stricken and tries to run away. She stops, however, when a mental attack (which Circe sees) hits her from inside the limo, and she starts heading back to get in. Circe breaks the obvious mind control. Pops: (OOC) Maybe it was the other way around. Maybe she was mentally attacking the person in the limo... GM: (thoughtful expression) Hmmmmmm... Circe: (to Pops) Now you stop that! No giving the GM ideas! Circe and Nexus learn the girl was actually pulled over in the Cross-Rip, and whoever was in the limo was apparently from the other world too. But she's too afraid to talk, and the heroes don't push it, so they don't get more useful info from her. The heroes begin investigating a series of thefts of Greek artifacts from several area museums - a breastplate, helmet, horn bow, short sword, and greaves. One theft is done by a shapeshifter, mimicking one hero's DNPC friend who works at the museum, who took the stolen items (in a black suitcase) to a bus depot, put that into a locker and took a grey suitcase (with forged replicas) to plant in the poor schmuck's car trunk. The heroes check out the locker, finding it empty with no secret panel or hidden compartment, then pull the security camera tape and watch the switch, but nobody opens the locker before they got there. They check the tape for the camera that had a view of the lockers on the other side, and see a man reach in, apparently through the back of the locker, and pull the black suitcase out. Malarky: We'll tip off the police about both camera views. They'll see the guy pulling the suitcase out and should let Tom go. And the tape is unaltered... GM: (smiles malevolently) Malarky: ... well, we'll alter the part where we checked the locker... From security cameras, they see that the other theft was done by a man dressed in a Red Sox uniform, along with a woman dressed as a 1600's Puritan woman. GM (describing the Puritan woman, looks at Honey Badger's player): ... you kinda get that "naughty librarian" vibe. Honey Badger: (whimper) You're killing me. Pops (in secret ID) is interviewed by PRIMUS Lt. Williams, who is trying to pin down the location of the lab for The Professor, second-in-command of the Boston VIPER Nest. (It's a poorly-kept secret that the lab is somewhere on the MIT campus.) One of the players (I don't recall which one): The Professor? They should just look for stuff made out of coconuts. Lt. Williams' questions make it evident that he thinks Dr. Stevens (Pops) is up to something, but he doesn't come right out and say it, until... Lt. Williams: So, do you like being the professor? Dr. Stevens: It's pretty cool. You get to... wait, did you say the professor? You think I'm The Professor from VIPER? (rolls his eyes) Where do they get you people? Later that afternoon, Dr. Stevens meets with a woman (Allison Browning) trying to lure him to work for a private research firm (Boston Science and Innovations), founded by a former MIT professor kicked out about 7 years back after a prototype AI robot went berserk, killing a grad student. Pops: (to another player) Hush. I'm trying to become a mole in VIPER. (more to follow)

Soooo... We have a new winter storm approaching. Winter Storm Thor. I was wondering how much Marvel paid to have that name inserted into the list, and pointed out to my daughter that this begs the need to have Hurricane Hulk. She said, "No, we need Winter Storm Bucky. 'It'll be tough, but we'll have to Soldier on...'"

The knock was quiet, hesitant, as if the person outside wasn't sure this was the right door. Reginald, majordomo for the Morpheum Club, opened the door to see a young lady in a gingham dress with only a light cloth jacket to protect her from the cold outside. Her long brown hair was tied back with a red ribbon. "Good afternoon, miss. Please, step inside. You must be freezing out there." The girl nodded, her teeth chattering, and stepped inside, being careful not to brush against Reginald. "I... I'm not sure if I should have come here. He gave me this..." She showed Reginald a small business card, frayed at the edges and a bit stained with blood, with the Morpheum Club's address still readable under a bloody thumbprint. "... as he was dying. That, and this." She held up a brass pocket watch with a large bullet hole through it. "Who was it that gave you that card, miss? And that watch?" Reginald asked, though he was pretty sure he already knew the answer. "He said his name was Nicky." "Young Nicholas." Reginald shook his head sadly, "And you say he died? A pity. Sir Graham was rather fond of the lad." As the girl's eyes began to tear up, Reginald went to take her arm and lead her into the study. "There, there, mi..." She tried to pull away, but wasn't able to before he touched her -- and then he disappeared. The girl sat on the floor and began to cry in earnest. "Why is this happening to me? What is happening? Where am I?" After a few minutes, Reginald reappeared, moving as he had been before he disappeared. "... ss. No need to..." He stopped, startled to find her now sitting on the floor a few feet away from him, and paused in thought. "Temporal displacement of others. Apparently involuntary. How fascinating," he said quietly, then knelt across from the girl. "Relax, child, you're safe here. No need for tears." He took out a handkerchief and let it drop onto her leg. "Where are you from, miss?" Taking a look at her clothing, and noting the way she jumped when a car horn sounded outside, he added, "And when -- what year was it before you arrived here?" "I'm from Oak Junction. Kansas Territory. And it's 1843." "Not at present," Reginald said kindly. "There's no easy way to say this, miss. You have been moved through time, to 2015. Apparently because of that." He nodded at the broken pocket watch. "But perhaps one of the members of the Club can help return you to your home, and your time." - - - - - Unfortunately, that hasn't worked yet. Every time Sarah Wilder was taken back to 1843, she immediately returned to 2015. Now known to the other club members by the nickname SkipTime, she is trying to get used to a completely different world. She has learned how to somewhat control her ability to make anybody touching her (or anything she touches with her hands) skip forward anywhere from a few seconds to a few hours forward in time. She can now keep from automatically "skipping" someone in time with minimal effort. With concentration and a little luck, she can specify how far forward she sends somebody. With extreme concentration and a lot of luck she's even been able to send someone else backwards in time (though not extremely far - the longest she's done is a few hours).

Keeping in mind that this is all in a game and so things don't necessarily have to 100% follow real-world logic and consequences... Anti-Oprah detractors would slam the "so-called supers" appearance as Hollywood smoke-and-mirrors and dismiss it all as a publicity stunt by Oprah's producers. Any bad guys who would benefit from keeping the superheroes from being believed in would throw their weight behind discrediting it all. Oprah would definitely push to have the heroes put in a repeat appearance, if for no other reason than to show that her people didn't fake anything. Once she and her people verify the heroes are for real, maybe arrange something outdoors, a public place with plenty of civilian targets witnesses. Invite her detractors to attend and share the stage with her, to prove it's all real. Of course, lots of advertising beforehand. (Can you say "super-fight on live TV"? I knew you could!)

(May Seeker and Paul Hogan both have mercy on my soul.) Finder is a full-blood Japanese man who traveled to the Australian outback and learned how to wrestle crocodiles and use aboriginal magic from a mystic master there. In his floppy shark-tooth hat, khaki pants and vest, and boots, he's quite the striking figure, even if he's a bit short. And his machete... now, that's a knife!

That fills out the team. Freakboy6117, would you like to propose the next team name, theme, and number of members?

For my new Champions campaign, set in Boston, I'm using parts of the 4th edition VIPER sourcebook. One thing from there is that the Nest Leader is technically Python, but much of the Boston Nest's work depends upon Python's second-in-command, a robotics expert named the Professor. (Of course, my players expect their characters to see a coconut-powered robot somewhere along the way.) To add my own twist to the Boston Nest, I added another lieutenant for Python: a young woman named Attache. My initial concept was a completely normal, if highly talented, young woman, to act as a professional rival to the Professor. She has since morphed into a woman who has one (relatively broadly-defined) power: she can teleport small objects from her "storage area" to her briefcase, valise, or pockets. She can also create objects from raw materials. (So if she had read a book at some point, her eidetic memory would allow her to create that book in her attache case. Or she can use her Forgery skill to create counterfeit money. I'm representing that overall power as a VPP with which she can make a Major Transform to create things from thin air. Or create a VIPER blaster pistol. Or create food. The actual writeup is: Variable Power Pool (30 pt. Pool, 50 pt. Control), Change as Half-Phase Action (+½), No Skill Roll Required (+1); Pool and all Slots at least IIF (-¼), Object Size Limited by Size of Space to Pull From (-¼), Slightly Limited Powers Available (must be something in her “storage area” or a mundane object she can clearly and completely visualize; -¼), Not work if Teleports blocked (-¼) Does this seem a reasonable and viable writeup for that ability? Or is there a better way to do this?

I'm thankful my daughter's high school was (and hopefully still is) an exception. When she was in middle school, she was one of five students in her class tested early in the school year and moved ahead a grade in math. Everyone in the group was female. That group of students stayed a grade ahead in math throughout the rest of their schooling; they were joined by two boys in high school who were similarly skilled in math. It was interesting watching how the group all supported and challenged each other to excel. FYI: my daughter is currently pursuing a degree in environmental engineering and considering a double major with mathematics. Wish I could claim some credit, but she's the one with all the focus and drive.

The Detroit Lions win the Super Bowl.