drunkonduty

My "Magozoic" D&D setting has many pantheons, and only one. Theologians know there are 10 transcendent Godheads, called Archons, each associated with one of the celestial planes. However, mortals cannot interact directly with Archons -- only with avatars of the Archons, shaped by mortal imagination, whom mortals call gods. Gods seem to have distinct forms and personalities, can be born, die and reborn, get in fights, and generally behave like people with big magic powers. None of this affects the Archon, any more than a battle between two hand-puppets affects the puppeteer. A god can be forgotten for ages, but can be re-created if the ancient myths are rediscovered and the rites performed again. (One of the PCs just became the first cleric of such a long-forgotten god.)
 
This permits an unlimited number of pantheons, which are all true and all false. Humans tend to have pantheons modeled on human royal families, because that's such a common human system of authority.
* The Yidmiri pantheon (modeled rather obviously on the Greco-Roman pantheon) has a multiple generations, and many of the gods are children (legitimate or otherwise) of the ruling sky-and-storm god.
* The Marolici pantehon (modeled on Norse) has two families, with some intermarriage, and a few oddballs of obscure origin.
* The Drohashgi pantheon (modeled on Egyptian) has a primordial creator sun-god with several generations of descendants.
 
But there are exceptions. The broad Macrine plain is a land of city-states who have spent millennia conquering each other. Each city had its own pantheon: the gods were nearly identical, but the names and relationships differed. When one city rose to dominate the rest, it declared its own gods the "real" versions and the gods of the conquered peoples were versions of them. After many millennia of this, the Macrine people stopped giving their gods names and just refer to them by the roles: the Thunderer, the Emperor and Empress, the Hierophant, the Overseer, the Priestess, the Charioteer, the Star-Maiden, the Fool, and so on.
 
Nonhumans have different models of authroity and, consequently, different pantheons.
* The region's dwarves seem to have a divine family -- but the other gods aren't the children of the dominant creator-god; they were made in the creator's forge. Dwarves take the artisan, rather than sexual reproduction, as their model of creative power.
* The region's elves have a pantheon of deified heroes whose deeds made them living expressions of the Archons: for instance, the great general Ferrai became one of their war gods, while the mage Eboriax became their God of Magic by codifying the eight schools of wizardry. Most of their gods are deified elves because, well, obviously no one is more perfect than an elf (Admit it. In your heart you know it's true.) But not all.
* The gods of the gnomes are also deified mortals, but they are gnomes who ascended to divinity through various comical or unlikely means; they are modeled on the Chinese Eight Immortals.
And so on.
 
Prophets are important in this system, because they shape mortal belief and so change the nature of the gods. This may result in radical re-interpretation. For instance, the cult of Jeduthon Soteira turned a randy and temperamental sun-god into a figure of mystic enlightenment. Many people worship Jeduthon Soteira who don't give a rat's ass about the rest of the Yidmiri pantheon. Another prophet re-interpreted the Drohashi sun-god Sorath (son of the primordial god Suzeratos; "active" ruler of Heaven to his passive authority) as the true and supreme god whom all must worship; and invented, basically, Jihadism.
 
Conversely, there's also a lot of syncretism, as believers in Macrine gods assimilate gods from other pantheons to Macrine deities: as the Marolici storm-and-war god Talse and the Drohashi storm-and-war god Barakel are assimilated to the Thunderer.
 
All this is in support of a campaign whose premise is one of mortals being responsible for the world they live in. There is no supernatural Big Bad, whether Satan, Sauron or Cthulhu, to blame troubles on. And if mortals get it wrong, there is no Daddy in the Sky to save them. Or even to tell them what the right course is.
 
This is of course not suitable for every campaign. (And I threw out most of the bog-standard D&D cosmology.)
Dean Shomshak

In the Spirit of Sly Flourish and the Lazy Dungeon Master I would suggest starting with the characters. Hunted/Monitored and Psychological Limits can seed half your sessions - this will also tell what the players expect. An Alien Invasion (JLA) Subterrestrial attack (FF) Demonic Invasion (NTT) Trickster God (Avengers) Superpower  Terrorist (X-men) Shadow War (BtVS) missing Hero team (New X-men) expansion of a Global Team (JLE) rescue of escaped alien captive from kidnapping (NTT) rescue of experimental subject (YJ) Base provided to heroes by Benefactor (NTT) heroes approached by Insurance company to protect insured customers (Northwind)
 
Run a session and see which direction the players go.
Think of three things that the heroes could do - five places they might go - three days interesting thing about it each location -  three groups on individuals they might meet - five pieces of information.
keep doing this and the campaign will grow

I'd still play Marvel FASERIP. It was a fun, simple system. I had all, and I mean ALL, the Marvel Universe Handbooks. I had stats for every character worth noting, and many who weren't. (Looking at you, Stilt-Man.) 

Now I'm picturing a scenario in which utterly evil beings are invading, but one of them is mentally ill or really twisted by it's life experiences, and starts helping the humans, and doing good, but is unable to face that so rationalized it as evil.  " I'm not saving you, I'm using you as part of a plot against my enemies..."
 
...I think Spike may have gone through a phase like that on Buffy...

"Good" and "evil" are simply a group of societal norms subconsciously agreed upon by a society of people, and reinforced by additional behavior (including laws and enforcement, etc.).
 
So, most bad guys in real life, rationalize their negative behavior.  Even most mentally ill serial killers, rationalize their behavior.  Hitler, rationalized his behavior.
 
I am not saying any of them were right, or should be "understood" or sympathized with in any way; only that it is VERY HARD to actually find an example of a "villain" from real life, who actually saw themselves/their behavior as "Evil".
 
So, to me, when I see "Utterly Evil" as a complication; I read it as a being who is the polar opposite; they literally cannot conceive of being "good" - so they're every action is "Evil", and they cannot hide it (at least not for long).
 
As a complication for the character, there needs to be some ramifications - some consequence - so for me, I read it like their behavior is so bad, and they enjoy it so much, they cannot hide it and everyone, even the "normal" bad guys or mentally ill, see them for what they are - and that is so alien to the human mind, that they would likely either seek to destroy them or flee them (fight or flight).
 
The Cenobites from Clive Barker (Hellraiser) and the Horror's from Earthdawn (TTRPG) are examples of beings who know they are Evil, and actually feed off the anguish they cause others - and in both cases are completely alien to the human mind.
 

A good place to start is that the demon has absolutely no concern for anyone but themselves.  If the action will not benefit them in some way they simply will not do it.  If something will result in a minor benefit to them, but causes major disaster to everything else they will do it.   They can and will pretend to do something nice, but in the end it will benefit them.  
 
Next they look at all others as competitors and they always try to screw their competitors. They use every opportunity to reduce someone else’s plans and resources in case they would be used against them.  Anything another creature has can be a threat to you, so never let anyone get ahead. You never allow anyone to gain more from something than you do if you can help it.  
 
Last is the utter lack of trust in anyone.  You are a monster and so is everyone else, no matter what they say.  Everyone is going to turn on you so doing it first is just being smart.   Good is an illusion that only the weak fall for.  There is no joy and the only comforts you can have are those you take for yourself. You are utterly alone because everyone is going to betray you.     
 

Well, the question wasn't what someone evil was like, but what someone utterly evil was like. That's... a bit more difficult, though I think LoneWolf gave an excellent description of what demonic evil would feel like from the inside.
 
It's why I don't use "Evil" as a Psych Lim. It's too vague. I try to give something more specific, such as Megalomania, Sadistic, Treacherous, Vindictive, or the like.For instance, Baphomet, as the Demon Emperor of Wrath, has "Loves Causing Destruction and Needless Pain," "Won't Refuse a Fight," and a passel of Berserks. Minion-level Wrath Demons have, "Attacks Anything In Its Way." Scratchets (Imps, basically) have "Loves Nasty Prtactical Jokes." Mephistopheles has "Truthful in Word but Treacherous in Spirit," "Can't Force Anything on Anyone," and "Avoides Combat." Okay, he's implacably dedicated to the ruin of humanity, but that's long-term; it isn't relevant at the moment you face him.
 
Dean Shomshak

It means they don't pay taxes. Now that is EVIL !

Years ago I played a Fantasy game and the GM’s brother was a Robin Hood type archer and could do head shots all day. We still had fun just because of the players. I mean we were outshined by the character so I wouldn’t recommend having such a powerful archer in the group.

First off I should point out that I don't like penalty skill levels except in specific circumstances. eg. range skill levels are for characters with sniper sights. I plain don't allow penalty skill levels to offset targeting locations. I mean, +1 OCV with a specific type of weapon is 2 points. Who really needs a cost break on this? 
 
So, with that caveat, I'd like to ask the OP - who else is in the group? If you've got a group and almost every situation is going to be solved by Legolas standing a hundred metres away and head-shotting the bad guy are the other players going to be able to contribute in a meaningful way? Some of them may prefer seducing every barmaid, or playing politics, or summoning up demon hordes. And that's great stuff as long as everyone gets their time to shine. BUT if you have a group in which more than one player wishes to contribute to combat then you're looking at a potential problem here. The rivalry between Legolas and Gimli is played for laughs in the movies (it's rather more realistic in the books.) Which of your players is happy to be the perpetual Gimli (read "butt-monkey") in this?
 
My first concern when I GM is that all the players are balanced against one another. Now, I realise this reflects a lot of my own preference - I want my characters to be able to contribute to the game. And... nearly everyone I've ever played with has wanted this too. I strongly suspect that most of your fellow players are of a similar mind. No one wants to be a hanger on.
 
You've got new GMs. That's amazing. Don't scare them off with your bad-ass, unbeatable, super-dude. Play nice. Take time to explain how combat works. I don't mean the basic dice conventions and the SPD chart. I mean explain how and what your Legolas could do and how easily they could kill off even a big dragon from a safe distance by turning every mission into special forces sniper missions. Hey, if everyone's okay with that, do it. But let people go in knowing.
 

What properties are only "meant for boys"? What properties are only "meant for girls"? Dr Who has always featured strong female characters, and the audience demographics are split pretty much down the middle when it comes to gender. There's a large male following for My Little Pony, which was originally to sell toys to girls. Fandoms expand, or they die.
 
Is Hero System only meant for boys? What about D&D? Pathfinder?
Is it wrong for me to give out Hot Wheels to girls and boys on Halloween?
 
And back to topic, are comic books and their various spin-offs only for boys, or can girls like the Guardians of the Galaxy or the Avengers, too?

It's funny, because earlier today, a bunch of my friends on the Book of Face talking about Ghostbusters 2016, and how much they liked the movie, and several had plans to re-watch it soon. So some fans liked it.
 
As for Masters of the Universe Revelation, I wasn't going to watch it, but so many folks got themselves all worked up over it, that I decided to watch the first episode. I quickly watched the other available episodes, and am eagerly awaiting the second half of the first season.
 
I'm rapidly getting to the point where if the diehard fanboys hate a show or movie, it probably means that I'll enjoy watching it. 

You would think that type of marketing would drive the box office down but both topped one billion USD despite the haters. The people who were looking to be offended were I guess but maybe making movies for women and black audiences is something that could catch on. 

There are some uncited assertion in there. Where did female cast members "bash males"? The Brie Larson quote cited in the article listed upthread had nothing to do with the MCU, and was nothing close to male bashing, and it's the only thing presented so far.
 
As Ternaugh pointed out, Captain Marvel was a blockbuster, by any reasonable definition. As to why Black Widow is doing so relatively poorly, that's really complicated. I sincerely doubt it has anything at all to do with anything Johansson has said in interviews. The movie is about a character that is already dead in the continuity of the series. It was released simultaneously to streaming and theaters, and it was released a year late due to the pandemic. All those are almost certainly bigger factors than folks caring about whatever Johansson said.
 
Regarding Dr. Strange being cut from shows, do you have an example beyond WandaVision? Otherwise, that's one show, and I've got to say, making the decision to not have the powerful man come in and save the day at the end of that series was a solid one. Having any character show up and Deus Ex Machina the ending would have been bad, but having a man do it in a show that's otherwise been mostly centering women would have sucked.
 
This whole panic over more diversity in the MCU makes me laugh. There was one female super hero for the entirety of phase one of the MCU, and she's the one who didn't get a solo movie (until just now), while there were four male-led solo movies. In phase two they added two more women. Wanda only became a hero at the very end of the last movie of phase 2, and Gamora was added as the one woman in a crew of five. There were once again four male-led solo movies, and zero female-led. Phase three gave us our first female-led movie, and five male-led movies.
 
As the original lead actors retire, their characters are getting replaced. We got a black Captain America. We're going to get Iron Heart instead of Iron Man. We know we're getting a female Thor in Love and Thunder, and rumors say that Hemsworth's Thor may be going to die, but I haven't heard anything solid on the future of those two characters. A lot of fans want Shuri to be the new Black Panther, but, once again, Marvel seems to be playing their cards close to their chest, so who knows. This year we get Shang Chi, a new male lead, our first Asian lead in the MCU. Someone in one of these threads said that Dr. Strange is going to die in Multiverse of Madness, and that Hawkeye is going to die in his Disney+ series. I've seen nothing to back these up. 
 
But the thing is, if the MCU becomes no longer completely centered around white males for a while, it's not the end of the universe. White males have dominated lead roles in these movies so far (and in all of Hollywood, for that matter) for a long while, and it would take a long time of that no longer being true to reach even close to parity. It would be okay to let some other folks take the spotlight for a while.
 
 

That was a pretty standard Captain America speech. Cap has been a social justice warrior since way back.

This is, to put it politely, somewhat overwrought, and entirely inaccurate.
 
Is the Falcon (now Captain America) nerdy or gay, submissive, or an idiot? No.
 
Sure, the Winter Soldier is a reformed villain, but, then again, so was the Black Widow.
 
Black Panther? None of those things. And if the actor hadn't died, he'd be back for another movie soon.
 
The Vision died again recently, but we may well see him again.
 
Spider-man is nerdy, I'll give you that but what's wrong with that?
Dr. Strange doesn't fit this categories either, although he is a bit of a pompous ass.
 
I won't include Hawkeye, since he's a serial killer (but other than that he's an okay guy), or Starlord, because I'd say he does tend to fall in the idiot bucket (and is also an arrogant, insecure jerk).
 
I've seen Ant-Man criticized because Wasp is a better fighter than him, but there's a lot more to being a positive role model than being able to kick ass (which he still often manages).
 
There are also a ton of supporting characters who are good role models.
 
And, guess what, a gay character can be just as much of a positive male role model as a straight character, not that we see many of them in the MCU or other action movies (The Old Guard is a nice exception there). 
 
And Terry Crews is, this very year, playing a badass character on Brooklyn 99.  A smart, accomplished bad ass. He just happens to also be a dad, and a caring person. It's a sitcom, so of course they give him an amusing tic (he tends to refer to himself in third person), but he looks like a pretty positive role model to me.
 
 
 
 

I'd like to see some links to these interviews and statements by Brie Larson and Scarlett Johansson.
 
The idea that Marvel is somehow portraying white men as inherently evil is laughable on its face. Captain America? Iron Man? The Hulk? Hawkeye? Dr. Strange? Thor? Ant Man? Star Lord? Spider-man? Yeah, no.
 
Do they have evil white men in their shows and movies? Sure. But nowhere is it ever implied that being white and male makes them evil or inferior in any way. 
 
And as for people not going to see Captain Marvel, it's the second highest grossing of the non-team-up MCU films, so I don't think people stayed away in droves. And it really doesn't make sense to draw any conclusions about Black Widow, with the year+ pandemic delay, the new and untested release strategy, and the lack of a China release (as of yet).
 
 

For further inspiration, I suggest Astro City #17 (January 2015), in which Kurt Busiek presented an entire cosmology of layered microverses -- the Molecuworlds, Subatomica, the Quarklands, the Unterverse below them all, and others unnamed -- in only 24 pages. Plus another dimension, the Non. All in a cracking good story, too. The man's a flaming genius.
 
Dean Shomshak

In our fifth exciting episode -->
 
The heroes traveled back to Earth and collected the imprisoned Europaite Drone, and asking Golden Girl to join them again.  By this point, Silvercloud had built a powered armor suit capable of sustaining her in space.
 
The team traveled to Europa and returned the drone, though Capt. Force was disappointed, as the Europaites didn't really seem to care (again their alien culture being difficult for a Narrai {or Earthling} to comprehend).  Golden Girl was successful in at least getting the Europaites to understand the concept of 'cooperation' a little better; though, they made it clear if everyone would just open their minds and join the collective consciousness of the Europaites, everyone would 'cooperate' so much more efficiently.
 
While they were busy speaking to the Europaites, an alien they've never seen before, with 6 eyes, dressed in purple and black, with a staff, that has a ball of energy at the top, lands next to them all.  He releases a bag on his belt, and throws it at Capt. Force's feet; the bag contained the mummified heads of Kings {with crowns} who had turned down his liege.
 
"I am Garras Dron, Herold of Tyrannon the Conqueror - I am here to broker peace and offer you salvation." he announced.
 
Unfortunately the Europaites immediately attempted to command him mentally; with the striking of his staff on the ice, black tendrils lashed out and disintegrated the Europaite warriors that were present...
 
Solar put the Herold in a spherical force field and Capt. Force explains that the Europaites didn't mean it as an offense, and the heroes successfully stop the situation from escalating.
 
The heroes and Garras Dron spoke for a while; with Garras explaining the offer: the heroes of this sector of space would fight the Empress, and when she thinks she won, and eventually shows up in person, they would ambush her and kill her, liberating this sector!  They would of course then become one of Tyrannon's controlled sectors - but, they would be free of the Empress' yoke!  What a great offer!
 
The heroes didn't see it as such a great offer...  Though, they did good to keep that close to their vest, and not show their hand.
 
During the conversation, the Herold explained that "Already, the Tyrant of Earth makes plans to be the Vassal of the Empress and rule Earth, and a ruling House of Lyrissi barter with the "Air band" to assume complete and maintain control of the Lyrissi system with the Empress.  So, he explained, they were already losing...
 
The heroes convince the Herold they will consider his offer, and he extends them a communicator to contact him.  The Herold leaves, and Solar follows him (as she is much faster) - he eventually arrives at a huge amassed fleet, with a flagship larger than Earth - she takes that as her queue to return....
 
The heroes return to Earth and speak to Col. Rage; they learn the reference to the House of Lyrissi, is the House of Pan Tuo - which is one of the ruling houses of Lyrissi - they have not made public that they have the Air Band, but in the pit of vipers that is Lyrissi, many know.  The house assumes (having no idea who they are messing with), that they will be able to use the band to barter with the Empress, and retain control of Lyrissi…

"The Tyrant of Earth" - is Khan Manas II, of Kyrgyzstan (based on an alternate history I created).  Basically a cross between Vladimir Putin and Dr. Doom.  He is a petty dictator, who politically out maneuvered all his opponents by 2011 and took over Kyrgyzstan (which became independent in 1991), then solidified his rulership.  (Though no one knows it, he wears what appears and is assumed to be powered battle armor, but is in fact, a containment suit, because his Z-rad powers are so uncontrollable.)
 
The heroes provided specs to Silvercloud and asked him to make containment suits for a few of the Europaites, so they could come to Earth for a summit with the sector's governments, to try to start building the political bridges needed to unite the sector against the Empress.  They also told Col. Rage to "do his thing" to start interfering with Khan Manas II attempts to communicate with the Empress.
 
They also had Solar use her Detect (from her VPP) to find any surviving Lemurians; which she did on several Pacific Islands (Tasmania, Samoa, among others).  They also asked Col. Rage to find the most powerful Lemurian.
 
They then decided they needed to 'procure' the "Air band", to secure it.  Using Capt. Force's contacts in the Narrai government, they met a contact, Zypherian of the Lyrissi on a secluded mining asteroid base.  Capt. Force asked Solar to use her Detect Power (from her VPP) to find the band; she did, on Lyrissi 3 (there are 3 habitable planets in the Lyrissi system).  Zypherian offered a way to sneak them into the compound, but no further assistance - the heroes agreed.
 
The next day, a House Pan Vox shipping container had arrived and Zypherian explained that the shipment would get them into the estate.  The heroes climbed aboard and they were indeed deposited next to the estate.  Solar used various enhances senses from her VPP to locate two very strong Z-rad sources; she then used Clairsentience from her VPP to view both.
 
In the first they found one of the android Herold's of the Empress in a negotiation with the House Pan Tuo leadership.  In the other, they found the band.  Continuing to use Clairsentience, they reconnoitered and determined the best way to the vault.
 
Capt. Force used the "Earth band" (remember, basically a 500 point VPP for any matter that is solid) to shrink himself very small, so he could ride/hide in Solar's pocket.  She then used her VPP to inviso them both from just about any and all detection types, and they carefully flew to the point of entry of the vault.  Capt. Force used his band to simply create a hole in the middle of the stone door, and knowing it would set off alarms, Solar flew in circles around the room until she had reached her maximum flight speed, then simply grabbed the band and they flew out of the estate.  The Lyrissi on the grounds attempted to give chase, but could not perceive them (as she still had her inviso going), and the Herold attempted to give chase as well, but Solar was far too fast for him to catch her, once she could engage her FTL flight - and they successfully escaped.
 
Arriving back on Earth, having discussed it; with her own VPP generated mental defense, and Golden Girl helping as well, Solar put the "Air band" on, and did not go insane...
 
They then spoke to Col. Rage about the Lemurians; he said he had found one, but he was gonna be difficult.  His name was Arthur Curry (The Aqua Man) - but, (just like the scene from Justice League), he wanted nothing to do with joining a group, or fighting a war...
 
With that, the heroes decided to have a "memory movie" - they called together The Peacekeepers, Col. Rage, and the ambassadors (including 3 Europaites in containment suits); Golden Girl convinced Capt. Force to give The Aqua Man another shot, feeling if he saw the threat, he would join.  So, they included him as well.  Once they had everyone together, they used mental projection and showed everyone the memories of the bands, the first battle with the Empress, the scenes from the Eurupaites Oracles of her preparations, the fight with Outrider and his ships, and finally the scene of the other cosmic conqueror that Solar had seen.  It was finally enough to get everyone to understand what they were up against.
 
Capt. Force then asked Wuxing how he would fight in space, and he smiled, simply turning his body into pure photons...  They asked The Aqua Man how he would, and Wuxing explained that he could use the power of the band to encapsulate himself in a water bubble and propel that through space.
 
The heroes decided, now that they had a team, they needed to train, and since Wuxing was the only one who had trained and prepared to wield the band, he should teach them.
 
They also decided they would have to deal with Khan Manas II...
 
And that is where this exciting episode ended!
 

Eagerly awaiting the next exciting instalment! 

In our fourth exciting episode -->
 
Capt. Force explains to Solar that Narrai Prime and the other planets/moons/asteroids the Narrai have colonized in their system have 24 times Earth Gravity (25Gs) - which is why the Narrai species is so heavily muscled and dense; this requires Solar to use some of her VPP to increase her density in order to survive.
 
Our heroes fly to Narrai space, and go to a mining colony where Capt. Force's original mentor in the rebellion (from his backstory) lives.  They discuss what all is going on with the pending invasion and the artifact from Coullum The First (the Narrai hero from 7500 years ago, who had the "Earth" band).  The mentor does some electronic digging, and finds that the rebel cell that operates in the Great Go-Shibbi desert on Narrai Prime, have reported a recent expansion of an archeology site, where some of the Science Caste have recently erected barriers with military support, and that they heard it has something to do with Coullum The First.
 
Our heroes travel to the desert and are surprised to find a wall erected around an area, where the sand has been excavated from; in this area are ruins from long ago, dominated by a large arena with a large statue at one end.  Solar uses her VPP enhanced senses and sees the "Earth" band in the palm of the large statue.
 
The heroes land at a large tent erected near the arena, and encounter the lead scientist of the dig.  After speaking to him for a few moments, it is clear to the heroes that he is being affected by the band.  He describes how Narrai have come from all over the system, in order to attempt to claim the band - whenever anyone sets foot in the arena, another Narrai always steps in to fight them.  The scientist is super excited to study this phenomenon and admits he hasn't really reported everything to his superiors in the Science Caste, because he wants so badly to be here to study whomever actually can claim the band.  He further explains that every time there has been a victor, but every time that victor claims the band, they have gone insane, and have had to be killed by the military.
 
As they are discussing this, 3 Narrai assault ships land outside the enclosure.  Leading a squad of heavily armed and armored troops into the enclosure is Sgt. Roc-12, one of the most highly decorated Special Forces members in the entire Narrai military.  He is clearly making his way directly to the arena; and the scientist is almost giddy with anticipation.
 
Capt. Force steps in front of Sgt. Roc-12 and asks him why he is there.  Sgt. Roc-12 explains that he is there for the band.  Capt. Force asks if he is aware there will be a fight to claim it, and Sgt. Roc-12 simply says, "Of course there will be."  Capt. Force also asks if he is aware that if he does win, he may go insane if he claims it?  Sgt. Roc-12 acts almost insulted, claiming that will of course not happen to him, once he claims it.
 
After a quick conversation, the heroes realize that it may not be a good thing either way, so Capt. Force decides to follow Sgt. Roc-12 into the arena.  As Sgt. Roc-12 enters, a random Worker Caste Narrai in the stands gets up as if he was going to enter the arena as well, but when Capt. Force enters, he simply sits back down.
 
Once Capt. Force enters, a barrier springs up, encompassing the entire floor of the arena.  Immediately Sgt. Roc-12 draws a fighting knife, and prepares to fight.  Sgt. Roc-12 tries several  times, but never lands a blow - initially Capt. Force martial throws Sgt. Roc-12 into the barrier; when that doesn't do enough to slow him down, Capt. Force then does a nerve strike, which also only slightly injures Sgt. Roc-12.  Eventually, Capt. Force has to use his "Killer Laser" punch (his highest HTH attack), which knocks Sgt. Roc-12 across the arena and into the barrier, almost knocking him out.  Capt. Force finishes him off with another nerve strike.
 
As Sgt. Roc-12 falls, the barrier comes down.  His squad moves to take him to medical, and Solar flies down to meet with Capt. Force, who has taken the band from the statue.  As they are discussing their next move, several Narrai assault ships begin arriving, and the troops that arrived with Sgt. Roc-12 appear to get radio messages, and start to secure the perimeter around the arena; apparently the Narrai military isn't so good with Capt. Force just leaving with the band...
 
Capt. Force makes the hasty decision to slap the band on his wrist...  A massive influx of Z-Rad power courses through Capt. Force's veins, and he experiences the origins of the band, and their time they were together, then the rest of the entire history of the "Earth" band, up until now.  The band makes a mental attack, however, Solar remembered to provide mental defense to Capt. Force, and because of that, he was able to survive the bands assault, and keep his sanity (barely).
 
But, before anyone can do anything, a massive ship wormholes into low orbit, launching hundreds of fighter ships.  The ship then fires a beam to the ground, and something travels down the beam, landing with such impact, that the 3 assault ships that had landed are destroyed, as are several of the military members who were nearby.
 
Once the beam stops, and the dust settles, there is a huge Narrai-like warrior standing there.  He yells above the din of destruction, "I am an Outrider, of the Black Order; The Empress demands the band, hand it over barbarians, you don't even know what you're dealing with…"
 
The Narrai military begins attacking this new fleet, while Outrider calmly stalks into the enclosure.  Capt. Force scans Outrider, and discovers he is massively powerful, and will likely be a difficult fight for both our heroes.
 
Capt. Force orders the military nearby to evacuate the enclosure, and tells Solar not to hold back.  Solar is the fastest of the three, so she flies up to Outrider.  After much discussion of various options by the players, it is decided that Solar will use her VPP to increase her density to maximum, and then put the remaining point in a straight increase to her STR; this gives her a total punch of 55D6!  Solar rolls her punch, and hits.  She then rolls her damage; doing substantial damage with the punch alone - then we calculate the knockback, in which Outrider crashes through several vehicles and other structures, before eventually hitting the enclosure wall, almost 90 yards away.  This damage results in knocking Outrider out completely!
 
Capt. Force then uses the "Earth" (solid matter) band (which has a massive VPP of 500 points, restricted to only work on solid matter), to Transform 2 meters of all the alien fighter ships, into bubble wrap...  Causing all 500 ships to crash at once.
 
With this, the massive ship beams the unconscious Outrider back aboard, and wormholes out of Narrai space.
 
Having survived the battle, the heroes grab one of the enemy pilots (a lizard like alien), and take him with them, to the capital city of Narrai Prime - there they speak to the ambassador they originally warned about the Empress' return.  After explaining that now everyone can see what the threat is, they call for a video conference with Col. Rage from Earth, and the ambassador from Lyrissi as well.  Once they have them on holo-vid, Capt. Force plays a replay of the battle to the group, then explains that everyone should now see how they need to work together.
 
Col. Rage agrees and says they will continue to prepare and keep the two bands on Earth safe.  The Lyrissi ambassador explains that they do not know where the "Air" band is...  Though they agree they will search for it.
 
The heroes discuss their next move; Capt. Force decides he wants to ask Golden Girl to accompany them back to Europa, returning the drone that was left on Earth and see if he can convince the Europaites to join cause.  They then figure they will need to follow-up with the Lyrissi, to determine what the status is of the "Air" band.
 
And that is where this exciting episode ends!
 

I played in such a campaign some years back. The characters 'started' at 600 points. (!!!) The campaign lasted five years running weekly, and ended when we resolved the main quest that involved literally saving the universe. We had a technologically ignorant Tarzan, a super Vampire, a Sorceress, and my character, essentially a melee tank who was an Immortal, like literally. He resurrected once from a nuke.
 
It was more than a little freeform, and wildly fantastic. We could hop dimensions, we dealt with godlike entities both malevolent and benign, we vanquished Godzilla like threats, confronted armies and demon hordes.

That campaign remains my favorite campaign of any I have ever played. The GM too told us that ours was the only campaign he had ever run in over thirty years that had ever successfully run it's course by completing its ultimate quest.

My (starting) character in that game, Vestige.
https://www.mediafire.com/file/fr1y4w14hd7k0gh/vestige.hdc/file
https://www.mediafire.com/file/lstc7tmc59aiclh/Vestige.pdf/file
 
We are now playing D&D. 

I ran a Planescape game (old TSR/Wizards of the Coast/AD&D setting) for roughly two years using Fantasy HERO. There were two separate games.
 
In the first one the players all created normal fantasy characters (from a Prime world) and were thrust into Sigil, finding a complete world of wonder as they experienced all of it as a group for the first time.
 
The second game was also set in Sigil, but I allowed all of the players to create Planar characters who were already familiar with the Planes and allowed a wider range of character types and more powerful options.
 
Both games were a blast and really fun to run and popular with the players. Taking them outside of traditional fantasy world settings created a situation where they didn't know what they were encountering or how things worked. It was a nice break from the standard settings that we all use most of the time.
 
There are a ton of online resources available that might help you if you want to have them experience the Planes. The main boxed set covers the city of Sigil and provides an overview of the Planes.
 
Hellbound: The Blood War dives into the eternal conflict between the Devils (Baatezu) and the Demons (Tanari) and provides a great background setting for powerful characters to be challenged by powerful enemies.
 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planescape
 
http://theplanardm.com/resources/
 

Heads up for those of you who read digital comic books.  Until July 17th, Comixology has essentially every comic book that Black Widow played a lead role in at a steeply discounted price, and if you have Comixology Unlimited you can borrow them for free as long as you like.  I have started with Black Widow Epic Collection: Beware of the Black Widow which begins with her first appearance as a villain in Tale of Suspense  #52 and goes from there.  So far it has been a lot fun.

We do movies at the theater because it is a rare opportunity for a date night, but all of these reasons are perfectly valid too.