Mark Rand

What do you think of my above-mentioned characters?  Since Helen has, at least, basic first aid training, Andrea and Melody might call on her for an assist, if they're at the same scene, even if it's just to help carry gear or a stretcher.

One idea I had for a beginning team was that they meet in the living room of Thomas Avery's house, and, when needed,use his front lawn as a rally point.

Of course, they might be replacing a team that, for some reason, vanished and are using the team's support base and support staff.

I chose the H135 because it’s often seen in the skies above Pittsburgh.  Both STAT Medevac and AHN Lifeflight use this helicopter.  Additionally the H135 also has a Fenestron or shrouded tail rotor.  All seats have headsets racked above them.  The pilot and front passenger have binoculars and explosion-proof flashlights in their front door compartments.  The other passengers have them under their seats.  The rear section holds emergency supplies and tools for opening manhole covers.

Helen Davenport pilots of team’s copter.  A former army captain, she piloted an AH-64E Apache Guardian.  Her copilot/gunner, Andrea Winslow, now a pilot of the H135 STAT Medevac keeps at Allegheny County Airport. Melody Samuels, RN, CFRN (Certified Flight Registered Nurse), is Andrea’s usual flight nurse.  

Bonnie Knight, a mechanical and electronics genius, and Christine Valentine, an IT genius, are the team’s main technical people.

Jeannette Barstow is the head of housekeeping.

All four live at the base.

And the superhero team's support staff?

The coffee shop could actually be a diner.  B/G, a former area diner chain, could be revived and one located there.

Any ideas on the support staff?  Which ones live in and which ones commute?

If they have their own helicopter it might be an Airbus Helicopters H135.  It needs only one pilot and can hold up to seven passengers.

52 minutes ago, Spark said:

 

Actually, there are three GREAT places for a base. In fact, I not only considered them all for the location of the base in the Pittsburgh based campaign I just started running, but when was in Da Burgh recently I checked them out. There are several things I considered when choosing a location:

1. Ease of access
   1. The heroes must be able to get from the base to anywhere, so somewhere between the Point (where the three rivers meet) and Oakland (where all the colleges are)
   2. Like most north eastern cities, it's an organic city without an easily navigated grid system, so the traffic can be quite ensnaring (2D6 SPD drain, cummulative, only-vs-vehicles). The solution is to move East and West via the rivers or the air, and if you are flying, flying over the rivers is the safest. So, being located closer to the water is a plus...AND it gives the GM the ability to have river monsters.
2. Visibility: Unless the base is purchased as underground or invisible, it has to be seen. These things tend to be prominent jewels of the city, points of pride. The base should  be easily seen from most places.
3. Safety: Avenger's Tower (or Stark Tower) was a HORRIBLE location for the Avengers since it became a target of an alien invasion. Had it NOT been in the center of Manhattan, the damage may have been reduced.
4. Fits in the surroundings: Something important can't already be there. Don't put it in the Northside. THAT is where the stadiums are. 

All that being said, There are three locations that are perfect:

1. Gateway View Plaza (just west of the Point, on the south shore of the Ohio). This is a non-descript strip mall in a depressed spot that has perfect view of downtown, is right on the water, can be seen from anywhere someone is going to shoot video (like sporting events), is at the base of Duquesne Heights so there are no houses in close proximity and the closest sit on top of a mountain which pretty much protects them. https://www.google.com/maps/@40.4433262,-80.0193044,1352m/data=!3m1!1e3
2. Hazlewood (Between the Monongahela and Second Avenue). This is a little further from downtown, a little more heavily populated, but a bit closer to the universities. Currently in this spot is the Aurora Test Facility which USED to be used by Uber to test...I'm assuming self driving cars. It's pretty much right on the river (giving water access and enabling heroes to just fly up and down the river), it's pretty much empty, but there is little distance between the facility and a residential neighborhood. There is a building (Mill 19) that could  be ignored for the game purposes which would give more of a buffer between the base and the houses. https://www.google.com/maps/@40.4155851,-79.9508835,4171m/data=!3m1!1e3
3. Lincoln Park (on the south shore of the Allegheny river, just east of Highland Park and the Pittsburgh Zoo). This one is just across the river from some decent shopping with heavy traffic. It's also harder to get to the airport. Like the Gateway View Plaza location, there is a mountain that will protect the residents. Currently, there is a boatyard there (Brilliant Boat Club), but that isn't too well noticed. AND, there are fewer residents (although there is a cemetary...spooky!). https://www.google.com/maps/@40.4813467,-79.8867968,4544m/data=!3m1!1e3

For the campaign I'm already running, I chose the first option. It gave me the ability to build the base as 4 stories with only one underground (and that is going to flood on them periodically).

• Roof: Helipad
• 3rd Floor: Residences
• 2nd Floor: Administrative offices and other police like functions (they are part of a larger system so they could be deputized and I didn't have to worry about the whole vigilantiism thing)
• 1st Floor: Reception, security station, meeting rooms, a coffeshop with outside access only, and an empty retail space with outside access only. I figure this one will be filled by something that would either be a great joke, a real help, or the bane of their existance.
• Basement: Labs, gym, and future home of the danger room once I figure out how to build that.

I hope these ideas and examples help.

I like the layout you came up with and option two the best.  In fact, anywhere in the brownfield might be good.

Any ideas about where in the city the base is or what it, generally, looks like?

Keep in mind that the Port Authority works on a hub and spoke system.  Most bus routes begin and end in the Central Business District.

There have been a few changes in the Champions' support staff.  Bonnie Knight is now the base technical expert.

In the original, Captain Joanna “Jo” Amos of The Guard, who is on very-detached duty, is secretly Quantum, the leader of the Champions.  In this version, her identity recently became public.  Her friend, Captain Dwight Macready, the regional commander of the Bay City/Norcal Region, sometimes calls her in to consult with her.

1 hour ago, TCArknight said:

If you were updating the Bay City timeline, would you move the Proprietor War to a more recent date or would you leave it at the turn of the millenium and have other events take place recently? 

 

Would you include reference to Covid? Perhaps as a side effect of some other event? 

I'd leave the Proprietor War where it was.  Yes to COVID, possibly as the result of a lab experiment that went horribly wrong.

Slapshot and Puck share the hockey theme in their garb, including hockey jerseys, gloves, and old-style hockey goalie's masks that have built-in eye shields.  They also have nose filters on under their masks.  Some of Puck's trick hockey pucks are simply hard rubber, usable for blunt damage.  Others spray smoke, tear gas, or sleep gas or act like flash-bang grenades.

On 4/28/2022 at 6:54 PM, Steve said:

Superhero to young sidekick as they eye the place from a distance: “You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious.”

Obi-Wan "Ben" Kenobi said this to Luke Skywalker in Star Wars episode IV - A New Hope.

A landmark that I forgot to put on the list is the Star Wars Pepsi machine outside Fire Station 27 on Mount Washington.

I can see Slapshot wearing an old-style hockey goalie's mask and wielding a hockey stick as his principal weapon.

His sister, Puck, uses trick hockey pucks.

The 4E Champions Headquarters could also work as the base for a local team.  It would have to be changed to include a basement.

Snowflake might be female.

Skids likes to create patches of ice under those that offend him, like bicyclists that ride on the sidewalk and drivers and motorcyclists that run red lights or cut people off.

21 minutes ago, steriaca said:

Time for a supervillain team.

 

Cold Confert: A small group of ice/winter theam villains.

 

Winterblade: Leader. Guy with the ice sword.

 

Icebreaker : Team brick. Super strong.  The colder the weather is, the stronger he gets.

 

Snowflake : Ice skater/martial artist. Tosses shuriken design like snowflakes.

Nice.

I might use the map of Champions Headquarters in New Millennium books with some adjustments to what goes in the rooms.  A swimming pool on an upper floor doesn't make sense when right below it are living quarters.  The staff might also get some changes.

I think most of the changes would be in the people in various places.

There would also be both players' and GMs' maps for the city as well as its various areas.

43 minutes ago, HeroGM said:

Avenger's Mansion, Stark Tower. See if you can find a good Arena map for the Wildstrike gatherings.

I think they're in a cave system.

14 minutes ago, steriaca said:

@Ninja-BearI didn't know we could @ people here. Nice.

 

Also Ice Wolf is a good name. We got a ki slinger here!

 

Pittsburgh slang for Heroburger should be Ro's. Keeps it short and sweet.

 

The main branch of the restaurant chain could have a small museum inside it, showing the known history  of the area superheros and supervillains of historical importance. This location is located somewhere where it could attract the attention of tourists (and unfortunately Philadelphians). It should also be placed in an area away from huge populations (in case a super fight breaks out).

 

As far as Heroburger management knows, everything on display are replicas of no real importance to anyone. Which of course means they have to have something important in the collection anyways, even if the management doesn't know it.

 

Also...to tour the museum is an extra cost. No food purchase is required, but there is a discount for those who buys a meal (not just a burger)...

 

...and there is a souvenir room to show the folks at home you went to the Heroburger Pittsburgh Superhero Museum . 

The Strip District might be a good place for it.  Construction is going on in places there and there are a number of parking lots there which could be converted into parking garages and buildings.

I was considering using Coastal City as a campaign city.  From the description, it's a deep-water port city with a swank hotel, a fine art museum, an overcrowded freeway system, a power company, a nearby air force base, a nearby NASA telemetry station, and a factory-lined channel, which may be a river coming from nearby mountains.

From the term "freeway system" I think it's on the west coast.  If so, the power company is probably Pacific Gas and Electric and, in the real world, REACH Air Medical Services would by the main medevac helicopter provider.

The Laurel Highlands is a region in southwestern Pennsylvania made up of Fayette County, Somerset County and Westmoreland County.  It has a population of about 600,000 people.

The region is approximately fifty-five miles southeast of Pittsburgh; the Laurel Highlands center on Laurel Hill and Chestnut Ridge of the Allegheny Mountains. The mountains making up the Laurel Highlands are the highest in Pennsylvania, with Mount Davis in Somerset County the highest point in the state at 3,213 feet (979 m).  Because of the elevation, weather in the Laurel Highlands is generally cooler and wetter than in most other parts of the state.

The Laurel Highlands are a popular area for camping, hiking, mountain biking, hunting, whitewater kayaking, trout fishing, wildlife viewing, and downhill (and cross-country) skiing, and golf.

Amusement parks and resorts

• Hidden Valley Resort

• Idlewild Park and Soak Zone

• Nemacolin Woodlands

• Polymath Park

• Seven Springs Mountain Resort

• Laurel Mountain

• Summit Inn Resort

Architecture

• Fallingwater

• Kentuck Knob

• Polymath Park

National Parks & Historic sites

National Parks

• Allegheny Portage Railroad

• Flight 93 National Memorial

• Fort Necessity

• Friendship Hill

• Johnstown Flood National Memorial

UNESCO World Heritage Site

• Fallingwater

Historic Sites

• Bowman’s Castle

• Bushy Run Battlefield

• Compass Inn

• Fort Ligonier

• Hannastown, Pennsylvania

• Heritage Discovery Center

• Johnstown Flood Museum

• Johnstown Inclined Plane

• National Road

• Quecreek Mine Rescue

• Route of the Lincoln Highway

• Somerset County Courthouse

• Somerset Historical Center

• Staple Bend Tunnel

• Uptown Somerset Historic District

• Wagner–Ritter House & Garden

• West Overton, Pennsylvania

Parks and outdoor recreation

State Parks and Forests

• Forbes State Forest

• Gallitzin State Forest

• Keystone State Park

• Kooser State Park

• Laurel Hill State Park

• Laurel Mountain State Park

• Laurel Ridge State Park

• Laurel Summit State Park

• Linn Run State Park

• Mount Davis (part of Forbes State Forest)

• Ohiopyle State Park

• Prince Gallitzin State Park

• Youghiogheny River

Trails

• Coal and Coke Trail

• Ghost Town Trail

• Great Allegheny Passage

• Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail (part of Laurel Ridge State Park)

• Jim Mayer Riverwalk

• Westmoreland Heritage Trail

• Five Star Trail

Downhill ski areas

• Hidden Valley Resort

• Laurel Mountain Ski Resort

• Seven Springs Mountain Resort

21 hours ago, Ninja-Bear said:

I’m in Central PA, and I speak most of that. Btw folks if you don’t know, we usually don’t say Pennsylvania but P A. Mark, do you guys kitten the lights? Or ever turn off the on switch?

 

I on no is it would be cliche but how about a Armor hero named Forge?

To my knowledge, we don't use those expressions in my part of the state.

The armored hero named Forge sounds cool.

My landmark list is attached.

Pittsburgh landmarks.doc

3 hours ago, steriaca said:

I understand it needs to have flavor. But not to the point that your saying "play this way OR ELSE". Different game masters have different styles of play.

 

A section on popular landmarks. A section on the attitude of a typical Pittsburghian. A sidebar of common slang words. A list of famous Pittburgians.

 

Speaking of famous Pittburgians, shouldn't there be more heroes and villains of various seriousness? I figure about 10 stated out, and about 20 with a paragraph of description (I'm willing to put Franklin Stine and his henchmen for a sidebar to make room for more important people).

I have a list of landmarks that I want to check over before I post it.  As far as slang goes, have a look at the attached.

Western Pennsylvania English.doc

From Wikipedia: The Middle Atlantic states, commonly shortened to Mid-Atlantic states, is a region of the United States generally located in the overlap between the Northeastern and Southeastern States.  Its exact definition differs upon source, but the region typically includes Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia.  When discussing climate, Connecticut is sometimes included in the region, as its climate is closer to that of the Mid-Atlantic states than the rest of the New England states.