TheTemplar

Re: Speedster Tactics With the TK option, the STR you'll have available will probably be pretty low. By the time you slap AoE Radius (presumably Selective, unless the Speedster is going too fast to discern friendly targets from hostile targets - including himself) you're looking at a pretty hefty AP cost per pt of STR. I've been GM'ing for a few months now, so it's been a while since I've seen the character sheet, but IIRC, the highest I could get the TK STR up to and still fit it in my 60 AP Speed Stunts MP was 16 STR. So, I could usually disarm 2/3rds of the standard agents in a 4" radius. The other 1/3rd I either missed or they rolled boxcars and beat my STR.

Re: Super-sorcery Necromancer Ideas... Help! If you have access to it, the Fantasy Hero Grimoire (#1) has LOTS of excellent Necromancy spells to use as Necro powers. Some of my personal favorites: Wraithtouch (Drain BODY & STUN) Sa'Akiv's Soulripping (RKA, Penetrating) History of Blood (RKA, NND, Does BODY) The SFX of that last one are really cool. It causes you to lose up to however much BODY you've lost in previous adventures by "reopening old wounds." REALLY nasty - particularly in FH, but I can see how it would work for a super-evil metanecro. Apart from that, Necros can never have too many summons at their disposal... and if you can arrange the battle to be in a cemetary, WATCH OUT!!

Re: Speedster Tactics I'd agree here, Egyptoid. I have the exact same power from USPD on my speedster, but I bought it as the Telekenesis option. To me, it suited the SFX better (assuming the SFX are that Speedster PC runs around a X" radius, removing all the OAF weapons from the targets.) IF that's how the power is described in non-game terms, then it seemed more reasonable to me that I would have had a more difficult time taking a weapon away from a target stronger than me than a 10 STR agent, so I went the TK route to include the STR Vs. STR contest on each target. This might be a good way to reduce the effectiveness of the power build but still be able to explain it to the player in a rational way without them necessarily thinking that you're just trying to nerf'em.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... Jpork? Of the quotes from our last session, the most humorous were actually borrowed from a certain film by one George Lucas... ...but then what else would you expect when you send the "heroes" to VIPER's Orbital WMD that can cause "Death" from the "Star"s? ____________ As the D-Jet approaches the exterior of VIPER'S Jormungandr Orbital Cannon - Nighthawk: Keep your distance... but don't LOOK like you're keeping your distance. Tomorrow Boy: *disgruntled mumble* Nighthawk: Well, I don't know... Fly Casual! ____________ In the Primary Rail Cannon Maintenance room, after the sudden explosion of a computer terminal caused as a distraction by The Mac Bashtee: Tomorrow Boy (disguised as a VIPER agent, answering a call from the Security Office regarding status): Umm.... we're fine now. Everything's fine. Situation normal.... How are you?

Re: [Campaign] DEFENDERS CONGREGATE!! Next Issue: "...Must Come Down!!"

Re: Is it just me? (Or does this mini look like Ripper?) Yeah... that'd be a WHOLE lot easier to make into Ripper than the Frankenstein job I did using my duplicate DC Hypertime "Parasite" unique and the extra tentacles from my hordes of Brainiac 13's as Omicron Tubing. Funny thing about Ripper's dangly bits came up in game Saturday night. I think it's safe to say that my players (if not the PC's, too) have at least 2 psych lims pertaining to VIPER's great grape ape. 1) Hatred of Damage Reduction (Common/ Total) and (here's where the dangly bits come into play...) 2) Pity for Ripper (Uncommon/ Strong.) Great find on that mini, though.

Re: [Campaign] DEFENDERS CONGREGATE!! The Midgard Serpent, Pt. 2 The Defenders Season IV, Issue 7 Cast Fantastic-Man: Team leader/ Flight Brick w/ Density Alteration powers Nighthawk: Martial Artists/ Gadgeteer/ Detective/ Mega-Bajillionaire The Mac Bashtee: Avatar of a divine Celtic being with Nature Mystic powers Tomorrow Boy: Teenage Gadgeteer/ Telekenetic from the future La Espijisma: Metamorph with Power Mimicry abilities The Tornado! (NPC): Speedster ________________________ Act 1: The projectile fired by VIPER's "Jormungandr" Orbital Rail Cannon burned its way through the upper atmosphere as The Defenders scrambled to defend their base, and potentially all of Paragon City. With only ten seconds to react before impact, The Tornado! and Warforge (player absent due to nasty headaches - Migraine Marv) rushed outside to watch for the missile's approach. The Mac Bashtee managed to help all the civilian employees of the Headless Cross to his Grove - his extra-dimensional sanctuary. Nighthawk and Tomorrow-Boy rushed to the D-Jet to get it up in the air and Fantastic-Man soared straight toward the weapon, the smoke trail from its re-entry visible to his keen eyesight. As Fantastic-Man rushed upward to try to catch the projectile in the air, The Tornado! aided him from the surface by creating an enormous updraft, propelling Fantastic-Man skyward at tremendous speed. Nighthawk brought the D-Jet over to Warforge to carry the Titanium Titan up to help Fantastic-Man if needed. The Tornado! refused to get in, however, insisting that he stay behind to keep generating the column of upward air to help Fantastic-Man reach the missile and then (hopefully) prevent it from destroying them both along with their base. Tomorrow-Boy, meanwhile was furiously piecing together spare parts to create a modified version of his "Blitz Device" personal teleporter that Fantastic-Man would be able to attack to the projectile so that it could be safely teleported away. With only 4 seconds before impact (and about 1 second before he would meet with Jormungandr's blast,) Fantastic-Man was interrupted by Cromwell over his communicator, ordering Fantastic-Man to retrieve the projectile without damaging it if possible, as it provided the only viable analysis for Jormungandr's capabilities. After expressing his great displeasure with the inconvenience of Cromwell's order - and not feeling at all encouraged by Cromwell's statements of confidence in The Earth's Greatest Hero's abilities - Fantastic-Man met with the missile, digging his powerful fingers into the metal casing around the shell. With all his strength (and then some) and the combined efforts of The Tornado's signature "F5" maneuver, Fantastic-Man slowed the descent of the projectile, buying him precious seconds to think. Positioning himself near the cone of the missile, he pushed to the side, altering the trajectory of the blast so that it was now flying parallel to the ground, allowing him sufficient time to slow the blast down, and return to the Headless Cross with the weapon safely in his possession. He and The Tornado! took some time to recover their expended strength while waiting for Cromwell and his PRIMUS team to arrive. Tomorrow Boy, meanwhile, was going over the information that had been decrypted from the recovered data disc. He was able to determine that the cannon was only capable of firing once every 2 hours, which meant they had about an hour and a half to get to somehow disarm VIPER before they would have the ability to fire again. Jormungandr's defensive capabilities were also spelled out by the disc. The D-Jet (which fortunately had already been modified by Tomorrow-Boy to have space travel capabilities) would be able to bypass the surveillance equipment with it's cloaking field. Some modifications to the D-Jet's Force Field would enable them to phase through the magnetic force field surrounding Jormungandr, and any of the 5 external Airlocks on the Command Center atop the massive cannon would serve as an effective entry point. Analysis of the shell revealed that while it was not the warhead that was stolen from The Geddon Corporation by VIPER (see last issue,) it was similar in size and shape, meaning that the stolen warhead could be compatible with Jormungandr's firing capabilities. Cromwell explained that the warhead stolen from Geddon was the prototype of the warheads that were being stored at the USAF depot. Under a government contract, Judas Geddon had developed a new weapon with near-nuclear destructive capabilities, but without the collateral damage of standard ICBM's - allowing "Smart Bomb" style pinpoint destruction of specified targets without the fallout and horror of Hiroshima or Nagasaki. With the ability to decimate any target at will from their orbital superweapon, VIPER would be able to hold every global institution, law enforcement agency, or even National Capitols hostage with Jormungandr - The Great Serpent foretold to Encircle the Earth. Act II The D-Jet rockets invisibly toward Jormungandr - VIPER's colossal orbital rail cannon - as The Defenders race against the clock to prevent VIPER from firing their new superweapon again. They successfully phase through the force field thanks to Tomorrow Boy's reconfiguration of the ship's force field generator, and successfully dock at one of the station's airlocks. Disguised as VIPER agents by use of their shapeshifting abilities, The Mac Bashtee, La Espijisma & Tomorrow Boy go aboard Jormungandr. A simple mind control spell from The Mac Bashtee gets them (as well as Nighthawk, The Tornado! and Fantastic-Man, who are not disguised as VIPER agents) past the guard monitoring the airlock and also provides them with his security card. Thanks to Tomorrow Boy's evaluation of the base schematics, the group easily navigates their way through the sprawling corridors to the Cannon Maintenance room, where the incognito heroes learn that the tech crew there is rather displeased with the VIPER commander heading this operation - Heinous. They suggest that if "Oculon" were in charge of this operation, it would've gone much more smoothly. As the techs return to their work, The Mac Bashtee provides a much needed distraction by blasting an unused computer station with his Lightning spell. As most of the techs scurried to control the electrical fire and the other tried to convince security that they were in complete control of the situation and that there was no need to bring the mishap to Heinous's attention, Tomorrow Boy made his way to one of the abandoned work stations and covertly subverted all power from the cannon's firing controls, masking the readouts to show normal status. With Jormungandr's firing capabilities temporarily crippled, the team had bought themselves enough time to gain access to the bridge and (hopefully) apprehend Heinous and his VIPER cohorts. They proceeded to the security station where La Espijisma altered her uniform to duplicate that of a Cobra Division Lieutenant, insisting that Heinous had ordered her crew to conduct a thorough exam of the Jormungandr security protocols. Her agents - Tomorrow Boy and Mac Bashtee went to work, pretending to view security files while Tomorrow Boy upgraded the clearance level of the stolen security card to grant them all bridge access. The myriad monitors in the security office showed that Heinous himself was on the bridge & having a rather heated conversation with the holographic images of two heads - the first, a man with dark, slicked back hair, a moustache and a goatee, and the other a man wearing a partial hood that covered his head, leaving his face - and more notably, his oddly glowing eyes - exposed. Upgraded security card in hand, they make for the bridge. They reach the bridge level and proceeded into Jormungandr's main control room. Heinous's increasingly hostile holographic conversations were audible even from the outside of the large, metal doors that sealed the entrance to the bridge. The VIPER commander was so intent in his argument, that he did not even notice the three VIPER agents enter the bridge. "...so as you can see, " Heinous hissed, "Jormungandr is proceeding exactly as planned!" The bearded hologram spoke in a thick greek accent, "So.... your miserable failure of an attack against The Defenders... this was exactly as planned?" "I suppose you could've done better, Draconis?!" Heinous spat back. "Your delusions of glory would've doomed..." "That's enough... both of you," the other image interrupted. "Draconis is right, Heinous. You tread on dangerously thin ground. Another failure will most certainly not be tolerated." Heinous visibly swallowed his fiery bravado. "Of course, Oculon. I will not fail the Sup..." It was then that Heinous became aware of the additional people on the bridge. "Something has come up that requires my immediate attention." And with that, he ended the holographic transmissions. He wheeled about to face the trio of disguised heroes. "It's about time you showed up!" He growled. "But where are the rest of you? Frank, specifically." The heroes exchanged confused glances. "Oh please... don't insult us." A highback chair in front of one of the console stations swiveled around to reveal the bald, aging form of The Defenders' old adversary - Dr. Anton Megalo. "That's right, Defenders..." Megalo hissed coolly. "You didn't really expect us to dismiss the fact that an Airlock guard would mysteriously visit the Weapon Maintenance Room, The Security Office, and then suddenly get a security clearance promotion, did you?" He laughed evilly... "No, my dear heroes. There is no need to continue the charade. This is the part that I believe you like to call the... how do you say? Ah yes. "Unavoidable Violence." The scientist activated a device on his wrist, instantly teleporting Despite, Diamondback, Freon, Sidewinder, and Ripper to the bridge. Act III The battle was long and exhausting. VIPER struck the first blow as Sidewinder delivered a devastating charge on The Tornado!, knocking the Earth's Fastest Man into a computer terminal. The Mac Bashtee, having been blinded by a flare blast from Despite's Arm Cannon, retaliated with a blast of pure sunlight that blinded Despite, Sidewinder and Ripper... and unfortunately, Nighthawk as well. His senses honed by years of training, Nighthawk was able to hold his own against the attacks of Freon and Sidewinder. La Espijisma had used her power mimicry ability to morph into a copy of Diamondback, and the two fought viciously in one corner as Heinous and Fantastic-Man aired out their years of grievances against eachother at the expense of the room's structural integrity. Tomorrow Boy decided to take advantage of Ripper's blindness by taunting the hulking fury while hiding behind the also blinded Despite. In a (literally) blind rage, the berserking Ripper charged full speed into Despite, sending her over the railing around an opening in the center of the chamber that apparently led down to the reactor core of the station. Only a quick save by Tomorrow Boy's telekinetic grasp saved Despite from a firey death. Meanwhile, Fantastic-Man appeared to be gaining the upper hand over Heinous. With Ripper out of control, Despite out, and Heinous losing, it appeared the odds were against VIPER. Seizing the opportunity to at least salvage his paycheck, Sidewinder scooped up Dr. Megalo and sped off for the escape pods with VIPER's highest ranking scientist. But, Heinous's fortunes reversed, and he found himself standing above Fantastic-Man's prone form. As he prepared to deliver the final crushing blow, Fantastic-Man asked him the one question Heinous wasn't prepared for. "Why?" Why had Heinous turned on his former partners and friends.. Fantastic-Man, Wonderboy and Judo Girl. What if he DID succeed in killing Fantastic-Man? Then what? Would VIPER still have a place for him? Fantastic-Man's words struck a chord deep within what little bit of humanity was left in Heinous, and he halted his attack. "I never thought it would come to this," he confessed to his former teacher. "I never meant for..." The words would hang heavy in the air in spite of the deafening burst of energy as a thin red beam pierced Heinous's chest. The cyborg looked down at his mortal wound in disbelief as he collapsed first to his knees and then onto the floor, giving Fantastic-Man a clear view of the upward-aimed arm cannon of Despite. "Coward!" She spat. "He was never fit to lead us! I should've taken his place long ago!" Fantastic-Man rose to his feet, brimming with fury as he stared down the woman who had robbed his former pupil from his last chance at redemption. In a rage unmatched by even Ripper, The Earth's Greatest Hero rocketed through the air, driving Despite into the solid wall of the station, with the reassuring snaps of multiple bones shattering. The Mac Bashtee had recovered from his temporary blindness, however, and discovered that Heinous was, in fact, not quite dead yet. His healing spells managed to stabilize the cyborg, but if he didn't receive medical attention soon, Fantastic-Man's one-time protege would die. With Freon and Diamondback the only two VIPER combatants left standing that were still capable of rational thought (Ripper's rage had clearly gotten the best of him and there would be no reasoning with him in this state,) Fantastic-Man offered one last ultimatum. If these two criminals helped The Defenders incapacitate Ripper, he would personally vouch for them in their upcoming trials and would most likely be able to have their sentences lessened or at least commuted to more enjoyable facilities than Stronghold. Diamondback's cold personality was indifferent to the prospect of hard time, but Freon was convinced that he was far too pretty to go to jail, and agreed to help. After substantial effort, the six of them were able to finally render Ripper unconcious... ....as explosions rocked Jormungandr. The monitors all around the bridge crackled with static as a voice began speaking over the comm. "And thus did the Lord God STRIKE the serpent, forever condemning him to crawl upon the earth... on his belly!" The forboding, steel-helmed visage of Doctor Destroyer appeared on the forward viewscreens. "You pitiful snakes should have remained on the ground where you belong!" The Doctor proclaimed as more blasts impacted the station. "The heavens are the realm of the Gods... and one must expect to endure a few Thunderbolts when one interferes with the Gods!" The five concious Defenders made sure that everyone, VIPER criminals included, were safely removed from the bridge and raced through the exploding station back to the D-Jet. The space around Jormungandr was littered with debris from the exploding cannon as well as escape pods filled with agents fleeing certain doom. As the D-Jet prepared to Re-enter the Earth's atmosphere, the final coffin-nail blasts pierced Jormungandr, and the station exploded in a marvelous array of lights and colors. Most disturbing of all, however, as Nighthawk observed, was that the blasts that were fired at the station were not originating from the surface of the planet... The D-Jet landed safely at Stronghold, where a medical team was on stand-by to administer emergency care to Heinous. The other captured VIPER operatives were escorted to their respective holding cells. Heinous - Kyle, as Fantastic-Man had insisted he be called once again - was in critical but stable condition, and appeared to be recovering, albeit slowly. Cromwell gave a rare round of high praise to the team for an exemplary job and an overwhelming success... ...as the implications of Dr. Destroyer's latest show of power came to full bear in Nighthawk's mind. GM Notes: Holy freaking wow. This is our annual "Big Memorial Day Bonus Issue" session - where our prior GM always tried to have something unusually special up his sleeve for us. This particular adventure couldn't have gone any better had I scripted it. The pace was fantastic. The action was awesome, & there was some REALLY great RP going on. Unquestionably, the highlight of the evening came in the incredibly dramatic moments as Fantastic-Man tried to save Heinous. He used his Presence and Conversation skills to try to reason with him, and managed to give Heinous enough pause to give Fantastic-Man room to talk him down. It seemed like it was going great, until Despite freaking shot Heinous (NOTE: I had originally planned that one of the two - Heinous or Despite - probably Despite - would NOT survive the fight - and when Despite went tumbling over the railing Palpatine-style toward the reactor core, I figured that would do it. Little did I know that Tomorrow Boy would be able to (once again) overcome his fears of using his Telekinesis powers to save her from her fall. So, since she was still alive to witness this gross display of weakness on Heinous's part (from a VIPER perspective, anyway) I figured the only logical course of action would be for her to shoot him. Created this GREAT dramatic moment... but that was topped when Fantastic-Man stood up, squared off for a full Move-Thru... ...and rolled a frickin' 3. You can't buy that kind of drama, folks. Anyway, that's it for this session. Definitely the most fun I've had so far.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... I would think great whites could hold more explosives. I guess it all depends on what sort of damage you want to inflict. Perhaps a Multipower of sharks with varied sfx? Variable Shark Pool?

OK. Braingrabber buys TK STR 25, but decides he wants to make it the Psychokinesis variant, so he adds BOECV for +1. BOECV attacks normally do no BODY, so he also buys Does BODY (for another +1) to better fit the SFX of his power (that being, it's still is a physical force vs. the target's PD and therefore SHOULD do BODY damage.) Does he then also need to buy Does Knockback in order to do knockback, or does the fact that the power is still Telekinesis at it's root mean that it would still do KB so long as it is once again capable of doing BODY? Sincerely, Guy Who Doesn't Want To Have To Pay 15 Pts. For 1 Pt Of TK STR

Re: [Campaign] DEFENDERS CONGREGATE!! Next Issue: The Midgard Serpent, Pt.2 HOPEFULLY coming this Sunday as our bonus Memorial Day issue, otherwise it'll be a week from Saturday.

Re: Suggest a Name? Dr. Impossible Dr. Wraith The Planetar

Re: Adice for building a Gadgeteer please. Awesome! Seeing other people enjoy your ideas is a wonderfully satifsying high. Keep us posted on the campaign progess, will ya? I love reading campaign write-ups.

Re: Adice for building a Gadgeteer please. Well, personally I think "Can Only Change VPP Powers At Lab" as a -1/2 lim IS an appropriate amount... for a VPP. Simply because VPP's are so versatile that the number of options you'd have available at your lab is tremendous. It's just not as limiting on a VPP as it is on a Multipower. A VPP probably would be the simplest way to do this, and just make a pre-made list of all the powers the player has available & those are the powers he can choose from. If you keep the VPP pool amount low, then it would very effectively limit both the AP available in his powers as well as the total RC of powers he could take with him. That said, I can CERTAINLY understand your reservations about giving a brand new player a VPP. It's like giving a brand new Corvette to a 16 yr old. My other suggestion, if you don't want to go the VPP route, would be a multipower with several slots (6-10) and put custom limitations on the reserve and all slots like "Can Only Use X Number Of Slots At A Time" where X is the number of gadgets you want him to have on his person and "Can Only Switch Out Useable Slots At Lab." As to value, I'd say the first depends on how many/few slots you want him to be able to use per adventure compared to the number he has total. If less than 1/3rd of his total slots are available to him then I'd say it's probably a -1 to -1 1/2. If about 1/2 or less are available, I'd say -1/2 to -1. As to the Switch Out Useable Slots At Lab lim, that's up to you. I'd probably still rule it -1/2, but if you prefer -1 I think that's reasonable.

Re: [Campaign] DEFENDERS CONGREGATE!! The Midgard Serpent, Pt. 1 The Defenders Season IV, Issue 6 Cast Fantastic-Man: Team leader/ Flight Brick w/ Density Alteration powers Nighthawk: Martial Artists/ Gadgeteer/ Detective/ Mega-Bajillionaire The Mac Bashtee: Avatar of a divine Celtic being with Nature Mystic powers Tomorrow Boy: Teenage Gadgeteer/ Telekenetic from the future Warforge: Big mystic-style construct brick. "He's just a metal man." The Tornado! (NPC): Speedster ______________________________ Act 1: The phone rings one Wednesday morning at the Headless Cross (No... not THAT phone.. the regular, non-aliens-devouring-the-moon one.) Fantastic-Man answers and speaks with the Vice-Principal of Paragon High, who is concerned that Riv Allen (Tomorrow Boy,) of whom Frank Miller (Fantastic-Man) is the legal guardian, has not been at school for a week and a half. Frank explained that Riv had been going through some hard times lately, but that he would make sure he was back in school the next day. "Very good, Mr. Miller," The VP said. "In the future, if Mr. Allen is going to be missing school due to illness.. or whatever.. we would appreciate a phone call." "Sure thing. Have a good day, citizen." Fantastic-Man replied. Frank then tried to talk to Tomorrow Boy, who had been despondent ever since he accidentally caused a DEMON initiate to fall into the pit during a summoning ritual (see last issue - Marv) causing the Initiate to burst into flames. However, Tomorrow Boy was still inconsolable and sequestered himself to the isolation of his lab once again. Meanwhile, it troubled Nighthawk that after nearly a week and a half since the escape of Despite and Ripper - two known VIPER subordinates - that there had been no word regarding whether they had been recaptured. He discussed it with Fantastic-Man, and they and the rest of the team went to investigate the scene where the attack that resulted in the escape of the two supercriminals had occurred. A thorough investigation of the area yielded some very fruitful results. The Defenders found a cave that housed an abandoned headquarters of some kind. Amidst the remains of the office equipment that had been torched in the room inside the cave, Mac Bashtee found a disc and some mostly burned pieces of paper with "Project: Jormungand" written across the top, and some partial addresses followed by a series of numbers below. They also discovered a time bomb in the closet and managed to make it out of the cave as the device exploded, destroying all the remaning evidence of activity there. Act 2 - Upon returning to Headless Cross, Tomorrow Boy and The Mac Bashtee set about deciphering the encrypted information on the badly damaged disc and the partial addresses and the series of numbers (0923062240) on the paper. Meanwhile, Nighthawk took the samples of the mysterious fluid he had found at the scene, which had led him to the cave, back to his lab for analysis. The addresses matched a USAF Munitions storage depot on the outskirts of Paragon City, and the world headquarters of The Geddon Corporation - a multibillion dollar mega-conglomerate with its hands in everything from defense contracts to environmental concerns. The mysterious fluid Nighthawk had discovered was some sort of genetically enhanced super growth hormone, which he deduced was the Omicron serum used by Ripper. The series of numbers, as Tomorrow Boy figured out, was a date and time - 09/23/06 (today's date) and 2240 - 10:40 PM... about 45 minutes from now. The team assembled and Fantastic-Man divided the team into two groups in order to try to stop VIPER on both fronts. Fantastic-Man, Tomorrow Boy and The Tornado! headed for the USAF depot while Nighthawk, The Mac Bashtee and Warforge headed to the Geddon building. VIPER agents were already in position at both locations when the heroes arrived, and it wasn't long before the melee began. The Defenders jumped out to an early lead on both fronts against the agent squads. At the Geddon Building, The Mac Bashtee cast a powerful Lightning spell that knocked out several agents while at the USAF Depot, The Tornado! used his lightning quickness to take down several more agents. However, VIPER had more aces up their sleeve than apparent at first blush. Tornado! was attacked by Sidewinder and Diamondback, who had been inside the USAF Depot when The Defenders arrived, while Nighthawk found himself dodging blasts by Despite and Freon at the Geddon building. While Tomorrow Boy and The Tornado! dealt with Sidewinder, Diamondback, and the remaining agents outside the USAF depot (including a pair of Heavy Weapons Specialists manning a Boomslang railgun on the roof of one of the garages,) Fantastic-Man used his desolidification powers to fly through building into the vault area that a VIPER demolitions expert was trying to blow open. He used his strength to ensure that VIPER would not be able to gain access to the contents of the vault - a cache of warheads. Back at the Geddon building, things took a different turn. After covering the entrance to the building with a cloud of darkness from one of his blackout bombs, effectively cutting off line of sight from Despite, Freon and the VIPER SCS's that were inside the building, Nighthawk found himself facing a new threat, along with Warforge and The Mac Bashtee. An Anaconda class light hovertank rounded the corner of the building. The aft hatch opened and out leaped Ripper, already in a full-blown Omnicron induced fury. As the Tank fired at The Mac Bashtee, narrowly missing him but cutting a deadly swath through a nearby copse of trees, Ripper picked up the unconcious body of one of the Scarlet Serpent special agents that Nighthawk had already taken down, and using her as a club, smacked Warforge half way across the parking lot. With the Titanium Titan down, it was up to Dark Defender and The Godson to deal with these new threats. All was not well at the USAF depot anymore either. In a contest of one-upsmanship against Sidewinder, The Tornado! had come out on the loosing end of a who-has-a-stronger-Move-Thru contest, which resulted in the Speediest Man Alive being laid out cold on the hard asphalt. Ever resourceful, Tomorrow-Boy had managed to take out the Boomslang railgun threat, and enjoyed a fair bit of luck as Sidewinders gauntlet blaster had exploded the last time he tried to fire it at the Boy Genius, which left the speedy snake unconcious. Tomorrow-Boy had managed to avoid everything Diamondback was throwing (or.. more accurately.. spitting) at him when he was unexpectedly grabbed from behind by a cold, steel arm. "So.... You're my replacement... " hissed Heinous. "Radio your boy Frank and tell him that if he doesn't come out of that building with my warheads in 3 seconds, he's going to have to replace yet ANOTHER sidekick." Meanwhile, at the Geddon building, Mac Bashtee and Nighthawk had mounted an impressive rally. Using the Silver Hand of Nuada, The Mac Bashtee had dealt a crushing blow against the raging Ripper, sending him through the air into one of the vans VIPER had parked out in front of the building when they arrived. Nighthawk, meanwhile had managed to board the Anaconda Hovertank and had replaced the gunner. He turned the turret toward the berserk Ripper, who had just pulled himself up out of the wreckage of the van (seeming alarmingly unphased by the mammoth wallop Mac Bashtee had just put on him) and fired the main gun of the tank at him. After the blast, smoke and rubble cleared, only Ripper remained, standing at the center of the blast mark, his full fury now turned at the Anaconda tank. He siezed it by the front and hurled it into the air, directly into the soaring Mac Bashtee. Nighthawk managed to escape the explosion of the tank, only to be frozen in a block of ice by Freon, who had emerged from the building. He also encased Warforge in an icy cage and radioed to Despite and the others still inside that the entrance was secure and clear for extraction. Despite emerged carrying a missile warhead, and with Ripper, they escaped from the scene via a new model airborne gunship. Back at the munitions dump, Fantastic-Man had finally had enough of Heinous's threats. He flew out of the building, straight toward the VIPER commander. "Kyle..." he said as he sped toward the twisted, cybernetically enhanced remains of his former protege, "...you are the single greatest disappointment of my life." Before Heinous could even retort, the mighty fist of the Earth's Greatest Hero sent him careening through the air, into the fence surrounding the base. Heinous rose to one knee, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and snarled. He then turned his head and touched his ear to receive an incoming transmission. "We're done here.." he barked to Diamondback, "But I'm NOT done with you, Frank. Not by a long shot." He tapped a button on his belt and vanished in a shimmering blue light. Diamondback picked up the still unconcious Sidewinder and also teleported away. Act 3 - The team reconvened at the Headless Cross, where Tomorrow-Boy's anti-virus/ decryption programs had finished cleaning and translating the data on the disc retrieved from the cave. The only file that had been encrypted was titled "Project: Jormungandr" and in it were the plans for a rail gun - an Orbital Rail Gun. No sooner had Tomorrow-Boy discovered this than Heinous appeared on all the major television stations with an ultimatum. "Greetings, all citizens of Earth. I... am Heinous. Behold the great snake that now encircles the Earth... Jormungand." An enormous space station came into view on screen, with a large weapon aimed down toward the planet. "The United States of America has exactly 24 hours to turn complete and total governmental control over to VIPER, or we will begin destroying your major institutions, one by one. With the firepower of Jormungandr, not even your most heavily guarded, hardened, underground facilities will escape us. And... just to show you what we're capable of... I'm going to give you all a taste of Jormungandr's power... by destroying your beloved Defenders." Jormungandr fired and the stolen warhead sped downward through the atmosphere toward Headless Cross. To Be Continued... GM Notes: Good session. Really good thinking in combat all the way around. Tomorrow Boy has put an 11- activation roll w/ burnout on all his TK powers (players idea, mind you, not mine) to reflect all the feelings of self-doubt he has about his powers after accidentally causing the death of the DEMON initiate in the last adventure. That said, he was absolutely on fire with his activation rolls and never missed one. Nice to reunite Fantastic-Man and Heinous after so much time. And, I think it's safe to say that the players of Nighthawk and The Mac Bashtee have personally developed the psych lim: Hatred of Ripper: Common/ Total. I knew he was one bad mamma jamma, but I never expected him to hold his own against all 3 of them for the whole fight... especially once Nights took over the tank. Used a pretty varied amount of VIPER agent types, as each site was hit by 2 8-teams. Didn't get to really do too much w/ 8-team tactics as the agents themselves thinned out pretty quickly and it ended up being mostly The Defenders Vs. Dragon Branch. Nice reactions at the cliffhanger ending, too. No idea where La Espijisma's player was. Hopefully she'll make it for our Memorial Day Bonus session this Sunday night.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... From Saturday night's Defenders Congregate Champions game: Nighthawk to Tomorrow Boy: "It's all fun and games until you knock on my door saying "Teach me how to brood." ___________ Fantastic-Man and The Mac Bashtee discussing what the Midgard Serpent (Jormungandr) is and the nature of Ragnarok: Mac Bashtee: Think of all the evil from this worlds history coming together at one time. Fantastic-Man: Like Voltron? ____________ Commenting on the color of VIPER's blaster technology: GM: VIPER's beams are yellow, if I'm not mistaken. Warforge: So... VIPER has Urine Beam Technology, then? ____________ Warforge is being bludgeoned by Ripper, who's using an unconcious Scarlet Serpent as a club. Warforge can absorb Electrical, Fire and Light attacks and always asks what the SFX of most attacks that hit him are. He opens his mouth to ask the GM something when he is interrupted by... Fantastic-Man: Let me guess. You want to know if she IS an Electrical Attack. ____________ After Warforge finally stands up in Phase 5 after being hit by Ripper in Phase 12: Fantastic-Man: SO... Warforge IS actually in this battle! ____________ (sense a theme yet, folks?? ) ____________ Warforge: I didn't want him to notice it sliding into the darkness...... Oh wait, THAT didn't come out right... ____________ Tomorrow Boy: Is this guy as tough as you? Fantastic-Man: He's tough, but I think I can take him. Tomorrow Boy: Is he as tough as Warforge? Fantastic-Man: Pffft..... Who ISN'T tougher than Warforge?! ____________ Heinous (commander of VIPER's assault teams and former sidekick of Fantastic-Man) picks up The Tornado!'s unconcious body, threatening to kill him unless Fantastic-Man and Tomorrow Boy bring him the warhead he was attempting to steal. Tomorrow Boy flies down in front of Heinous and quickly attaches his "Blitz Device" to Tornado!, teleporting him away. Tomorrow Boy: Checkmate, chummer!

Re: How a team fits in its world (team types) The Home Team - A bunch of local supers who join forces to protect their town. Typically found in a large urban community. This definition could also be expanded to include a team of superpatriots created for the defense of a particular nation. The most obvious examples that jump into my mind would be the MC 8 or Tiger Squad from the Champions universe.

Re: If You Had To Play a Marvel Character… Spider-Man: Spins a web, any size, catches thieves just like flies. The dude is the epitome of Marvel at its 4-colored best before Mutant Angst took over. He's one of (if not the) most well-fleshed out heroes ever. He should get double disadvantage points for his Secret ID, because being Peter Parker never seems to stop sucking, and yet you can't not love the guy. He's the everyman that anyone who picks up a Spidey title can identify with (particularly if they've been cloned or had their loved ones thrown off a bridge by some dude on a Bat-Glider.) I'd play him just to relish in the witty banter with every villain out there. But, if the group already has a web-slinger, I'd have to go w/ Giant-Man. Why? 1. Super scientists rock. 2. Ultimate Janet Pym is smokin' hot. 3. Growth rocks. 4. Wiseacre supers have me in some sort of tractor beam. 5. Ultimate Janet Pym is smokin' hot. Or, if they were already Brick heavy - Mr. Fantastic/ Reed Richards Reasons 1-5 as above, but drop #4, replace "Growth" with "Streching" and "Janet Pym" with "Sue Richards."

Re: If You Had To Play a DC Character… I can't believe he hasn't been mentioned yet - maybe my unabashed love of speedsters isn't shared by many in Herodom - but I'd have to go w/ The Flash. I'd probably lean toward the Wally West Flash, too. He brings a lot of personality flavor to any team he's on - plus, with all his rookie-esque blunders, from a GM perspective the guy's a walking plot device. No disrespect to Barry Allen - he'll always be The Great One. But, in terms of creating dynamic team play, I'd give the nod to WW. I ran a Wally-esque speedster for about 2 1/2 years & he was a blast.

Re: Wonder if VIPER ever thought of this... True, VIPER has the training academy at Honor, BUT do they have such snappy propoganda? I got a pretty good chuckle out of this and just wanted to share it w/ any other ol' Joe fans out there. The quotes from the disgruntled Joes was probably my favorite part - not sure whose was better: Quick Kick or Snow Job. I think both have a pretty legit beef.

If you were as big a GI Joe fanatic in the 80's as I was, you'll love this: http://www.thebootytrap.com/camp%20cobra.htm

Re: What's your team missing? The Defenders 2 Bricks, Mystic, Gadgeteer, Metamorph MA/Detective & Speedster (NPC.) The Gadgeteer has some Energy Projector capabilities, as does the mystic, but there's no one character whose major schtick is Heavy Artillery. No Mentalist either. Guardians of Millenium City Energy Projector, Brick, Metamorph & whatever Jo-El decides to make ( I think he's currently up in the air between a Mentalist/Detective and a Super-intelligent Gorilla Martial Artist.) Either way, no Speedster. No Weaponmasters, Flagsuits or Powered Armors in either of the groups I'm in.

Re: Storn Art from idea to full picture Year 3 Not that there aren't enough bricks in the world - always good to see more muscly pics available afterall. But, just to bring up a few different ideas, I propose: Daddy Longlegs - quasi-mastervillain/ mad scientist w/ a serious spider fetish. I'd imagine the Dr. himself is about 5 ft. tall or so - maybe with a pronounced hunchback.. maybe not. Bald. Old. I've always envisioned him rather Dr. Sivana-esque - drawn either in some sort of unwieldy looking 8-limbed Spider Powersuit or possibly controlling one of his Arachnid battle mechas. (basically, just a big crazy-looking robot spider w/ some dorsal & ventral cannons - maybe various attachments at the ends of the legs like Doc Ocs tentacles...) (and I'm not at ALL suggesting this just because it's a pic I need for my game and haven't ponied up the scratch for it myself yet. Nope. Not at all. ) OR Cheesy Metamorph Guy Classic 4-color style Stretchy guy - maybe one arm stretched out wierd w/ a really big fist giving a huuuuge thumbs up at the end of it, and the dude's sporting a cheesy grin... maybe even a wink.

Re: Please post/share your ideas for Multiform Power Armor I had played around with this concept as well for a new Champions campaign one of my FH players is starting up - it came down to either a Multiform Powersuit or a Metamorph & I went Metamorph. I don't have all the sheets for the Multiform with me on my laptop, but as I recall he had 5 Suits. 1) Mk. I "Vanguard" - Basic form, flexible for all basic needs, 20/20 armor, 60 pt. Multipower powered gauntlets w/ 2-3 EB's of various advantages, boosted STR, DEX, CON & SPD, 10" flight & paid the Multiform cost for the other 4 suits. Had Safe Env: Vacuum & Zero G so it could be used in space, too if needed. 2) Mk. II "Phoenix" - Extra ED/rED, only vs. Fire/ Heat powers, CO2 projector (Suppress Fire), Safe Environment: Intense Heat, etc. 3) Mk. III "Wendigo" - Extra ED/rED, only vs. Ice/ Cold powers, Plasma Cutting Torch - Compound power RKA + more RKA vs. Ice, Safe Env: Intense Cold & Env. Movement: Ice (small retractable pitons built on bottom of boots) 4) Mk. IV "Leviathan" - Either changed Flight to Swimming or added Useable Underwater to Flight - can't remember. LS: High Pressure. EB FX changed from "Energy" blasts to "Sonic" bursts. 5) Mk. V "Titan" - 30/30 Armor, higher STR/CON boost, less DEX boost, no SPD boost (made him 4, I think.) Safe in Radiation. Suit too heavy to sustain "Flight", so Jet Boots functioned as extra "Leap." Heavy Duty suit good to have in case team Brick couldn't make a session. When I get back home I'll post the sheets if I still have them.

Re: [Campaign] Champions of Vancouver Holy smokes! That whole falling sequence sounds AWESOME! Great write up guys. Sounds like a really awesome game. Rep all the way around! (EDIT: I'll have to rep you up tomorrow, Amebushi.)

Re: The things I've learned playing the Stun Lottery Waiting for that STUN X die to stop spinning is one of the few gaming table events capable of generating a level of anticipation that surpasses the intolerable wait between new episodes of Robot Chicken.