GestaltBennie

Re: Gestalt: Architects of Change: What Would *You* Like to See Thanks! Getting authentic names in languages you don't speak is a trick. I always appreciate corrections.

Re: What Genre book Reprint are you most anticipating? Pulp, followed by Star here.

Re: Gestalt: Architects of Change: What Would *You* Like to See Working on it between classes, though I've hit something of a brick wall. I'm trying to plow through this week. As an apology, here's the text for the Alternate timeline chapter: ------------ Gestalt presupposes a 1989 start date for the Gestalt phenomenon, but what if it happened earlier, at a time that more closely mimicked a standard comic book universe? What if the gestalt had been actively shaping the course of human history and that many oddities were in fact, the gestalt at work? In all likelihood, the world would be a very different place than what we know today. However, for those who want to play in a conventional campaign, here’s a timeline that extends the Gestalt process back into the dawn of history. The rules for gestalt bonds not being passed down through a family line are somewhat relaxed in this setting variant: some of the best stories in a campaign where superpowers have existed for decades involve new generations of superheroes struggling to come to terms with their legacy, from living up to a legendary father, or casting off the mantle of a villainous predecessor. In this setting variant, because multiple generation games tend to mirror the comic book “ages” (Golden, Silver, Bronze, Iron, and Modern), the gestalt wave effects tend to fall at a time to usher in the next age. The current setting is meant to mesh with those presented in this book and Gestalt: The Hero Within, so the last few years of both settings are virtually identical. The Beginning The gestalt phenomenon has been evidenced in small ways throughout history. Often mistaken for magic, the gestalt has “hiccupped” power into the world. Many of these power places (ley points) correlated with the presence of Probability Tunnels buried underground by the Probability Lords during their visit to Earth eight thousand years ago. Power from these tunnels sometimes found their way into objects, particularly those associated with great events, creating “magical artifacts”. The gestalt taught people how to work the soil, invent the wheel, develop writing and trade, even how to make beer. However, the day of the true superhuman was yet to come. July 1, 1916. The bloodiest day of the Battle of the Somme. The carnage of the First World War produced a small wave in the Gestalt dimension, bringing about the creation of people who would develop into marginal superhumans in the 1920s and 1930s. Among the people given superpowers on that day is a young German soldier named Adolph Hitler, who was on the battlefield, who was given a Charisma Gestalt that he later put to evil use. However, the one person who truly stood out was an American named Hugo Griffin. Fighting as a volunteer for the English, bullets began bounding off his skin. He waded into machine gun nests and nearly single-handedly turned the tide of that gruesome battle, until a direct hit from an artillery shell finally took him out. Recovering in only a few months, he kept a low profile for the rest of the war. After the war, poverty forced him to use his powers more openly. He was christened The Eighth Wonder by the press, after his astonishing exhibitions of strength on the Atlantic City boardwalk. With the power to leap to the top of five story buildings, hoist trucks over his head, and bounce bullets off his skin without even feeling them, the Wonder became a circus sensation, then a professional wrestling champion, and then (after accidentally killing an opponent in the ring) a mercenary. Eventually, he retreated to a small Pacific Island, where he lived as a god to a native tribe. The Wonder was the herald of the age to come. Pulps! The pulp age brought out a lot of heroes. In addition to the Wonder, there was Alex Williams, a young British boy whose parents were killed off the west coast of Africa by pirates, Discovered by an intelligent (gestalt) great ape named Tobi-Eranko, he was empowered as a regional protector, swifter than a leopard, stronger than an elephant, able to communicate with animals and commune over great distances with Tobi-Eranko himself. By the 1930s, legends spoke of a “great naked savage” Alákoso, uncrowned master of the lands west of the Congo, protector of the jungle. His word was accepted as law by most of the tribes in Western Africa, greatly annoying the colonial powers. Alákoso was killed by the French during an incident in Dahomey (now Benin) in 1937, however Tobi-Eranko continues to protect Africa, appointing other, more subtle, protectors, even to the present day. The third great hero of the pulp age was known by the rather comical name of Professor Invento. This friendly, nutty scientist, aided by a pair of intrepid young reporters, Skip and Jane, fought crime throughout the world with his fantastic (sometimes malfunctioning) gadgets. Eventually they teamed up with a courageous Archeology Gestalt named Digger Drake to fight the efforts of the Thule Society, a cabal of proto-Nazi occultists. The Thule Society was the greatest menace of the age. Originally attached to what became the Nazi Party, this collection of occultists, pseudo-scientists and nationals might have died out in the early 1920s had it not been for the efforts of the Hermetic Mage Gestalt Volkssturm, a masked madman who went on a worldwide search for “mystical” objects (which had been empowered long ago by the Probability Lords). Volkssturm believed that the objects would lead him to Ultima Thule, the homeland of the Aryan “super race”, where aliens used magic powers to evolve simple humans into the magnificent ancestors of the German people. This eventually led to a struggle between Drake and Volkssturm inside a Probability Tunnel that resulted in Drake being crippled and Volkssturn being sucked into nothingness. The day that Volkssturm vanished was November 9, 1938, the same date as the assassination of Ernst von Rath, which resulted in the Krystallnact pogrom in Germany. It was also the date of the first true Gestalt wave. Gestalts Go to War! On November 9, a man was found in a Welsh mine shaft bearing a near-mortal stab wound made by a great spear. When the doctors asked his name, he replied: “Arthur, Dux Bellorum, King of the Britons.” Arthur Rex, as he came to be called, healed of his wound almost instantly, and went out into the streets to become a champion of the people. Possessing strength and abilities that rivaled the Wonder, Arthur was an overnight sensation. Eventually, he became an RAF captain and indeed helped save England in its darkest hour. He was mortally wounded fighting as a paratrooper at Caen on June 18, 1944, and the Lady of the Lake appeared once again to bear his body back to Avalon. World War 2 saw many gestalts enter active service, engaging in battles as fiercely contested as any other in this grisly conflict. Arthur Rex was the first to capture the public imagination, but he was far from alone. The most prominent for the Allies included: Danny Courage, the American champion of the age was the most feared Allied soldier in WW2; dressed in patriotic garb, Danny’s powers of super-speed (“The fastest thing on land”) combined with advanced commando training to make him the most feared Allied soldier of the war. The Fighting Chief may have been the most embarrassing stereotype of the war (especially in retrospect), however Sam Keyes was strongly motivated to show pride in his Apache heritage and “present many faces to our enemy, who only desires one face”). Sam was a Healing Gestalt who died in the Battle of St. Vith. Kid Commando, though hailed as a hero, may have been the most macabre gestalt of the era: he was a Sidekick Gestalt who latched onto a hero, elevated him to marginal superhuman levels, encouraged him into battle, and then watched as he was gunned down after a heroic fight. Kid went through seven “Captain Commandos” during the course of the war. Eyepatch, “the Fightin’ Sailor” was one of the most colorful gestalts (in both personality and language). He was a Brawling Gestalt; whose resemblance to a cartoon strip sailor (including huge forearms) was somewhat unnerving. Still, he was very handy to have around in a fight. Watchtower, Gestalt of Buildings, may have been the most powerful of all gestalts in the war. He used his abilities to take apart or reconstruct damaged buildings, and even talk to them, learning the exact position of snipers (and even getting the building to spit them out!) Professor Mull, aka The Thinker, was a Science Gestalt who took it upon himself the job of sabotaging Nazi weapons development, a task he carried out with ruthlessness and efficiency. His greatest invention (which still hasn’t been duplicated) was the anti-combustion bomb, a weapon that caused nearby combustible effects to fail, knocking V-2s out of the skies. Canadiana was a pure gestalt whose archetype was Truth. Though some dismissed her as “a dame” her psionic talents made her one of the useful gestalt heroes of the war. Vivre La Liberté (the gestalt protector of partisans) was the man who made patriotic costumed individuals popular in France, largely because he used his flamboyance to his advantage, attracting Nazi pursuers, leading them into ambush points, then turning invisible at just the right moment. M. Liberté was vital in coordinating the French resistance to assist the invasion of Normandy, laying false documents containing disinformation to confuse German Intelligence. The Axis, however, matched the Allies gestalt for gestalt. Numerous attempts were made to assassinate Hitler, Churchill, and the British Royal Family, however each side managed to protect their leaders. German’s greatest gestalt was Heilige Lanze (“Holy Lance”, a reference to the Spear of Destiny, allegedly the spear that pierced the side of Jesus Christ). Lanze was a pure Gestalt defender of Germany, the Aryan ideal come to perfect life. With physical strength and toughness that was second to none, the perfect German held the Allies at bay, until he fell out of favor with Hitler in late 1943 and was sent to the Russian front. The Deutschland Wundermann died in the defense of the Dukla Pass on the Czech-Polish border on October 8, 1944, when he was forced to commit suicide by the Soviet Despair Gestalt Otchayanie. He was succeeded in his role by Die Schützling (“The Protégé, a Sidekick Gestalt whom Lanze personally groomed for the role). The other German supers of the era included Hauptsängerin (“the Diva”, an Inspiration Gestalt who claimed to be a valkyrie, whose song could amplify the abilities of anyone who sung along to it (of course, she chose well-known German songs); Mechaniker (“the Machanic”) was a Vehicle Gestalt who could reassemble a tank that had been blown to pieces in minutes, or crank on a few bolts and make it considerably tougher for a day or so. Die Faulenzer (“The Sluggard”) was an Inertia Gestalt who was Danny Courage’s most frequent sparring partner. Hochofen (“Blast Furnace) and Eissturm (“Ice Storm”) were a brother and sister team, a pair of Flame and Ice Gestalts who attained a high standing in the Hitler Youth movement, but whose greatest influence was on the battlefield. Germany’s most powerful psionic was the Loneliness Gestalt Absonderung (“Isolation”), whose powers allowed him to make someone feel isolated and alone; a technique he applied as an effective torture technique. He was the only gestalt executed by the Nuremberg tribunal. Maceste was an Italian hero, a Strongman gestalt who claimed to be Romulus and Remus reborn into a single body. He was often partnered with Magnifico, a Light Gestalt. Both gestalts survived the fall of Rome and continued to fight for the Nazis. Numerous other gestalts were involved in the war, hailing from places like Poland, Czechoslovakia and Serbia: regional champions, living ghosts, figures borrowed from folk tales, and a cat turned spy whose tongue purified poisons. Most were only marginally superhuman and did not survive more than one or two battles, learning the hard way that having a gestalt and being invulnerable were two very different things. The Eastern front was no stranger to gestalt battles either. On the German side, Eindrucksvoll (“Impressive”, a Strongman Gestalt), Die Todesursache (“The Cause of Death”, a Death Gestalt) and Die Sturmzentrum (“Storm Center”, a Weatrher Gestalt who held off the effects of the Russian winter) fought great heroes of the Soviet Union like Soprotivleni (“Resistance”, a Determination Gestalt), Zaschitnik (“Defender”, Gestalt Defender of Leningrad), Soratnik (“Comrade”, a Soldier Gestalt), Dostizhenie (“Achievement”, an Inspiration Gestalt) and Brosat’ Vyzov (“Challenge”, a Competition Gestalt). The war between gestalts cumulated in a battle at St. Vith, Belgium on December 23, 1944. Considered part of the Battle of the Bulge, major gestalts from both the Allied and German sides agreed to meet here to fight a “duel of honor”, as stipulated by the challenge’s originator, Die Schützling. Surprisingly, the battle went down without a betrayal. The Fighting Chief, Die Faulenzer and Magnifico were killed, and five other Nazi gestalts were captured, including Die Schützling. On the Pacific Front, there were plenty of superhumans on both sides of the conflict. On the Allied side, the greatest heroes weres the Crimson Tide, a Vengeance Gestalt. brother of a seaman who died at Pearl Harbor and Nurse Nancy, whose healing powers somehow encouraged soldiers to accept her as a comrade in arms (though it was her ability to open long mended wounds which really made her formidable in a fight). Captain Shark was a Navy Gestalt, who fought alongside an elite crew, the Flying Fish, aboard the USS Calamity, undertaking dangerous missions that few would dare. Occasionally they were joined by Jesse Storm, a Water Gestalt who rode the waves into battle, and played a vital role in the American victory at Midway. Lifeguard was a Gestalt of Rescues who saved hundreds of lives. The Texas Tomcat ruled the skies in the Pacific; not only was this Aircraft Gestalt an uncanny shot, his pet aircraft, a Wildcat named Lola, was much more maneuverable and flew faster and longer than comparable aircraft. Australia contributed a valuable ally to the Allied cause: Cyclone Smith (a Tornado Gestalt) and his sidekick Ramsey (an intelligent bomber-jacket sporting boxing kangaroo who may have been the most bizarre gestalt of the war. however no one who saw him in action did much laughing, especially his opponents). “Kicky” O’Hearne was a Gestalt of Legs, a power that let her leap great distances, kick machine gun nests out of the ground, and crush any Jap who got caught in her much-feared body sizzors. She toured as a singer with the USO, but had an uncanny talent for crossing paths with spies and saboteurs. The Japanese fielded a squad of military gestalts renowned for its teamwork and efficiency: this team was known as Taishou (“Certain Victory). Led by Shainingu-Suta (“Shining Star”, a Samurai Gestalt), its members included: Chikaramoch (“Muscleman”, a Strongman Gestalt), Haruichiban (“First Storm of Spring”, a Weather Gestalt), Nobara (“Wild Rose”, a Gestalt of Plants), and Kokuei (“Dark Shadow”, a Gestalt of Fear). Taishou’s “certain victory” came crashing down on them at Okinawa, where the team was forced to retreat. After this disgrace Shainingu-Suta tried to commit seppuku in the honorable manner, but could not find a blade sharp enough to perform the ritual properly. Dismayed, Shainngu-Suta led his team into a Probability Tunnel that they had discovered earlier on a remote Pacific island. The entire team vanished from the face of the earth. On the home front, the Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy and Company B (a Music Gestalt and his followers, named after the titular characters of the hit Andrews’ Sisters song) led the way for keeping spirits high and discouraging hoarding -- however, except for regional protectors, most gestalts who entered the public eye chose to head overseas. Eventually, the war on Gestalt-Earth ended much as it did on our world: the Axis counteroffensive collapsed, superheroes stormed into Berlin and found Hitler’s body charred in its bunker, Hiroshima and Nagasaki died in atomic pyres, and the Cold War began almost as soon as the war ended. There were two significant differences: first, many believed Hitler managed to project at least part of his consciousness into another body that fled to Brazil after the war to become the world menacing supervillain called The Prince of Hate. Second, there were a lot of disaffected gestalts after the war. Days of Wonder No one wanted to think about fighting in the days after the war, and gestalts, like soldiers, were a reminder of a conflict that people wanted to put behind them. Some surviving gestalts joined law enforcement or became local protectors and leaders. For others, like the Texas Tomcat), the world was a cold and unappreciative place —he crashed his plane into a mesa and died in 1947. The Cold War heightened those feelings, as did the firebrand rhetoric of the Prince of Hate. In 1949, the Eighth Wonder returned from his self-imposed exile and helped Danny Courage and Jesse Storm to defeat the Prince of Hate— and then made the world’s gestalts an extraordinary offer. He and Professor Invento had raised a large island from the depths of the Pacific. The Wonder proposed that the world’s gestalt community retire there and raise a utopian society, allowing the rest of the world to remain relatively untouched by superhumans. Several hundred gestalts, moved by the Wonder’s vision of the future, signed on to the plan. Hundreds more followed during the Korean War and the Red Scare of the early 1950s. There were no gestalt waves during the decade, so as the world’s gestalt population shifted to the island, few took their place. The world settled into a semblance of normalcy. Meanwhile, the Wonder and his fellow gestalts set about to build a futuristic society away from the cares of man. Within a decade, using their superhuman talents to the fullest, Wonder Island became a high-tech paradise of culture and advanced living. More islands were raised from the ocean floor, creating an Archipelago of Marvels. In 1957, the launch of Sputnik changed that. All eyes turned skyward, including the gestalts of Wonder Island, who (aside from a few flyers who had risen to the edge of the atmosphere) had not turned their talents into the conquest of space. Invento and Professor Mull, the Thinker went to the Wonder and his Council of Marvels and strongly urged them to consider their own lunar program. The Wonder refused. He said it was not the right of gestalts to take away the dreams of normal human beings to strive for the stars; he felt that mankind would benefit from striving to be first. Both scientists were furious, however the Thinker would not take “no” for an answer. He disregarded the Council’s ruling and built an ambitious space program on his own island, the Mull of Mull. When word leaked to the Wonder of the Thinker’s insubordination, the furious hero descended on the Mull with a force of gestalts, dismantled the operation and threw him into a confinement cell. The Thinker escaped and immediately implemented his revenge protocols. He was the genius who had carefully raised the archipelago from the ocean floor. Now he would undo his creation. Mull also had a special weapon —a bomb that shut down links with the gestalt dimension. He detonated those bombs all over the islands at the same moment he collapsed the tectonic bulge on which Wonder Island rested. The islands sank into the sea. Without their gestalt abilities (and with their other technology sabotaged) most of the inhabitants of the archipelago drowned, including the Wonder. That day, January 24, 1958, is known as Black Friday among gestalts, the day that paradise was destroyed. The resulting tsunami devastated coastlines across the Pacific. The Thinker escaped the deluge; however vengeance was in hot pursuit; when the survivors figured out what had happened, they pursued him relentlessly. Wisely fearing for his life, the Thinker defected to the Soviet Union. Professor Invento was adamant about bringing him to justice; however Die Schützling, the Protégé, got to him first, leaving behind a corpse with a very large hole in its forehead. Thus ended the age of wonders, with the brains of the world’s smartest man splattered on the wall of a Moscow apartment. The Silver Age The survivors trickled back into mainstream society, and for the most part, tried to live quiet, unassuming lives (at least by gestalt standards). Most were in their 40s or early 50s, and the years were creeping on them. It looked as though the gestalt age would quietly die out, save for a few stragglers with longevity powers like Canadiana, whose youth was restored by the sight of the Northern Lights, or the Protégé, who christened himself Vendetta and wandered the world in search of those who “needed killing” (eventually dying at the hands of a CIA assassin).. For the most part, the world was a normal place. However, on September 22, 1961 that was all to change, forever. That was the day of the second great gestalt wave. Once again, thousands of people around the world were transformed into superhumans, and thousands more suddenly popped into existence. Foremost among these was America Man. Born in the shadow of Camelot, he looked a lot like JFK would have looked if he had one quarter native-American blood. Foiling the Anti-American’s plot to blow up the White House, the patriotic powerhouse was hailed as the spirit of America incarnate. They were not wrong. For years, America Man fought many domestic threats to American freedom like the Anti-American, Golden Gladiator, Dr. Canopus and the Menagerie, Starfinder and Armageddo, Hel and the Living Gun, as well as the finest gestalt heroes of the Soviet Union: Oyagnitsya Chasovoj (“The People’s Guard”, a Toughness Gestalt who served as Khruschev’s bodyguard), Zimnie Vidy (“Winter Storm”, a Winter Gestalt), and Boevojj (“Battle”, a Soviet mad scientist whose battlesuit turned out to be an unreproducable byproduct of his gestalt talents). There were other heroes in the second wave, of course: Apple Girl (the original female protector New York City, Mexico’s El Milagro, Steve Storm (Jesse’s son, who possessed similar abilities). Captain Astra, and Captain Ramsey Clark, waging colorful, occasionally gruesome battles in the heart of the world’s cities. Most considered it a sideshow and went about the business as if they didn’t exist; people appreciated the dedication to public service of folks like America Man, but it wasn’t an obsession or a major source of anxiety. In 1968, America Man was drafted to Vietnam. That one act brought a malaise to America and to the silver age of gestalts. Vietnam was a moral quagmire that couldn’t be solved by someone with a good right cross, and incredibly disheartening to those who embodied the idealistic aspects of America. America Man wasn’t the only gestalt in the war: Ramsey Clark was more effective, however even he could do little more than protect his company from snipers and guerilla attacks. In 1969, man landed on the moon, without gestalts having beaten them to it. It was a triumph for the Eighth Wonder, however, his role in that triumph went unheralded, even by the world’s gestalt community. If the moon landing didn’t feature gestalt participation, it did inspire a pair of future gestalts, Richard Griffin, whose grandfather was Hugo Griffin, and Emilio Astra, Captain Astra’s young son. Vietnam ended, replaced in the public mindspace by the Watergate scandal. America Man returned from duty, suffering from serious trauma. He resumed his career as a superhero, however those who witnessed him in battle noticed that he no longer gave patriotic speeches or made jovial remarks. There were similar changes to the personality of his arch-enemy, the Anti-American, who went from being a ridiculous villain to a hero of the counterculture. However the counterculture and the ideal America that America Man served were both fading, replaced by the “Me” Decade America and a new (seemingly narcissistic) culture. The two men met one final time on July 4, 1976, at the Statue of Liberty. The Anti-American had searched the world for gestalts capable of boosting his power: after receiving ten boosts from ten different sources, he took on the guise of the Bicentennial Man and declared the dissolution of the American union. This brought on a final showdown with America Man. After unmasking his foe, America Man shot the Anti-American in the head and left him for dead atop the cracked face of the statue. He vanished as fireworks lit up the sky above the statue and has not been seen since. The Next Age A little over a year later, on August 15, 1977, a third gestalt wave occurred. The gestalts produced by this third wave tended to reflect their time; the ones produced by this wave were grittier, emotionally tougher, than those that had gone before. Liberator was born in this wave, and he founded Columbia alongside three other newcomers: Dr. Paragon, Reactor, and Thrillseeker. They fought a new generation of villains, most notably Dr. Typhus, Dr. Matthias Power and the Devastators. Other notable heroes included Mistral, who took over guardianship of New York City after Apple Woman retired; Major Jonathan Clark, who succeeded his father Ramsey Clark in the role of the US military’s best man-sized weapon (though the USMC Vanguard was not formed until the Reagan administration, when it was involved in the invasion of Grenada); and Dr. Astra, son of Captain Astra. This was also the age of Robert Adderlee, when the first theories about the gestalt process were formed. On September 22, 1984, his landmark paper “Superhumans and the Gestalt -- Superpowers and the Human Collective Unconscious” Adderlee died shortly after its publication. In 1986, the Red Plague struck India, perhaps the first sign of the dark age that was to come. The Red Plague fanned a lot of anti-gestalt hatred overseas, and international agencies who had previously welcomed gestalt involvement suddenly distanced themselves from gestalts, though many agencies still used “talented locals” in their operations. 1986 was also the year of the Challenger disaster. The disaster hit even harder with gestalts because one of those who died in the tragedy was Roy Chess, who would have been the first gestalt in space as part of a legitimate space mission. His death encouraged his brother Ted (who was not then a gestalt) to join the space program. In 1987, the long-awaited Columbia-Devastators clash occurred, with Columbia barely eking out a victory as the Devastators self-destructed. The great battle of the age, however, was Columbia and Canadiana against Dr. Matthias Power. Matthias wanted to get his hands on Professor Mull’s technology, some of which was buried at the bottom of the Pacific, so he conceived of a way to raise Wonder Island from the bottom of the ocean floor. He succeeded, but while a team of scavenger villains distracted Columbia, Canadiana confronted him and his teenage daughter Theresa, on the spire of Wonder, the highest point of the island. Matthias tried to throw his daughter from the spire, but slipped, fell instead, and died. Age of Blood and Glory On September 24, 1989, Mistral was performing a routine surveillance of New York City when she noticed a disturbance at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan. She arrived to find several hundred people dead, including the archbishop of New York. Another wave of gestalts had occurred, and one of the recent arrivals, the Blood Red King, had decided to strike early. This wave was called “the Dark Wave” by many. Although the name was overly influenced by the King, it was not entirely misplaced, as many of the new wave of gestalts seemed to delight in violence, pain, and suffering. Mistral died soon after the St. Patrick’s massacre, though Kinestar soon took over her mantle and became the third vigilante superheroine of the Big Apple. Kinestar quickly assembled a rogue’s gallery of villains. Energy Master, the Magician, Mindwarp, Bloodkite, Jericho Bronze, and Scarlet Knight. Eventually the group was rounded up by Phillip Dansen, great-nephew of Professor Invento, to serve as the core of his supervillain team, the New Devastators (later renamed the Tyranny League). Another emergent gestalt who was born in this wave was Influence. Desiring to be the secret master of the world, he founded the Council of the Mind and worked behind the scenes to weaken laws that were designed to curb the use of gestalt abilities. If that wasn’t bad enough, a fourth nemesis appeared in the wave, perhaps the most dangerous of all. Dr. Theresa Power followed in her father’s footsteps, establishing a vast network of hidden fortresses and factories on a quest to avenge his father’s death. She captured Canadiana, last of the golden age heroes, and Thrillseeker disappeared investigating one of her lairs. The early 1990s was also the time of the Iraq War, which went down as described in Gestalt: The Hero Within. Not everything that occurred in the 90s was “dark”. There were numerous developments in scientific research, especially in the field of space development and exploration, thanks to Dr. Astra, who made building the world’s space capacity into his personal mission, assisted by NASA astronaut Ted Chess, whose interstellar flight capabilities allowed humanity to go places that no human eye had ever seen. There were comparable developments in computing, thanks to Richard Greer’s Trident computer processor. The superhero Technarch made large strides in robotics, but kept most of his creations to himself. Columbia experienced a massive reorganization. All of the original members but Liberator left the team, replaced by Labyrinth, Rex, Reactor, Powerjack, and Starbird. Powerjack’s tenure with the team was short-lived, and he was quickly replaced by Bombard. The new Columbia team would soon be tested: by the Tyranny League. On January 24, 2000, at a press conference in Chicago, Dr. Astra formally unveiled a set of power armor designed to allow humans to survive and function at a superhuman level in space. Imperator and the Tyranny League broke into the conference, declaring they weren’t allowed to accept the development of any technology that could put an individual human on the same combat level as a gestalt. The League destroyed the prototype, captured Dr. Astra, and tortured him to determine the whereabouts of every piece of his research. He managed to get a signal to Columbia to come rescue him; in the resulting battle, the Tyranny League was forced to retreat, though Bloodkite, Rex, Reactor and the good doctor lay dead on the battlefield. The Modern Age On September 11, 2001, terrorists linked to the Al Qaeda network blew up one of the World Trade Center towers. Columbia and others managed to evacuate most of the people in the first tower, and Technarch prevented a second plane strike from hitting the second tower. Even so, hundreds died, and the ramifications of the deed reverberated around the world; 9/11 was the most brutal act of mass murder that had occurred on America soil since the St. Patrick’s incident, and it was caused solely by non-gestalts. The USMC Vanguard lamented that Al Qaeda’s leadership had adapted to their snatch and grab tactics, as Bin Laden had eluded capture by the Vanguard in 1998. Major Clark called for an overhaul of the group’s small unit tactics. A new department, the Department of Homeland Security was added to the US cabinet, with a superhero team, Patriot Action, attached as a special ops force. The United States soon found itself in a two-front war, one against Syria, the nation that the Bush administration deemed their biggest enemy in the Middle East, and a second in Afghanistan. The Syrians launched missiles into Israel, but the US air force quickly took out the missile sites. The worst case scenario, an aggressive Israeli invasion that completely destabilized the region, didn’t occur, as the United States managed to dissuade the Israelis from invading (though they later moved to neutralize Syrian sympathizers in Lebanon). It took five weeks for the US military to force the Syrians to surrender and insurgent attacks, despite a large American occupying force, continue to the present day. A conflict in Kurdistan between the Kurds and the Turks was largely confined to border skirmishes between the two powers. Kurds seized most of the Turkish section of Turkey to incorporate into their greater Kurdistan, but after a surprisingly long and bloody fight, retook its lost territory and rained major devastation on formerly Iraqi Kurdistan. However prominent that 9/11 had been, the arrival of new superheroes soon grabbed the headlines. On December 5, 2001, another gestalt wave occurred. The modern age of gestalts had arrived. The first and foremost gestalt of the age was Trevor Griffin, Hugo Griffin’s great grandson. He was working as part of the ground crew during a space shuttle launch when the rocket began to malfunction. Trevor somehow got the idea to fly to the shuttle, detach it from the side of the rocket and, holding onto its undercarriage, fly it to safety. Dubbed the Titan, Trevor was America Man for the new age. Immensely popular, he shunned most of the typical heroics of the age to work as a human booster rocket for NASA’s space program. Even without seeking trouble, he made more than his fair share of enemies. One of them set a trap that propelled Trevor into the depths of interstellar space. On June 24, 2004, Trevor made first contact with the Ar’Turodain, the first extraterrestrial species ever encountered by humanity. Formal relations soon followed. A year later, on May 4, 2005, the Ar’Turodain’s more antagonistic cousins, the Ar’Kayadin, made contact as well. Unfortunately, this activity brought humanity to the attention of the Eiko, who are in the process of launching an invasion. Two other incidents occurred that shook humanity to its core. In August 2005, the old Silver Age villain, Golden Gladiator, founded a cult called the Mundane Alliance. With the help of a pair of powerful psionics, he stripped America of all faith in the gestalts, and replaced it with fear and hatred. It took an alliance between Columbia and Influence, with help from one of Gladiator’s old nemeses, Steve Storm, to bring down the cult and reveal its true mastermind, the Blood Red King. The other incident was the Tyranny League’s attack on an Atlanta industrial facility that was secretly building battlesuits for the US government. On January 24 2007, they launched the most devastating supervillain attack on an American city to date, leveling everything in a thirty block radius, and damaging the surroundings in a 10 kilometer radius. All of this has undermined faith in heroes, though President Obama sees an important role for them in rebuilding a nation hit by recession, supervillains, terrorism, and war. More importantly, however, the Eiko are coming, to put humanity to the test—one which threatens to be the last test of the human race.

Re: CotN Outtakes I took a breather from editing the current Gestalt book to put together something special. More (I hope) in a few days.

Re: Champions Background Information

Re: Escapist reviews CO. The words "even by comic book standards" told me all I needed to know about the reviewer. I should thank him, however, for making it easy to dismiss his tripe.

Re: [After-Action Report] Villainy Amok Thanks folks, I appreciate the responses.

Re: Do you play CO as an MMO? I had some experiences with WoW that color my opinion on this issue somewhat. I tarted playing WoW somewhere between six months and a year into the game. I always tended to be a lone wolf who enjoyed soloing; my few experiences with guilds and instances tended to be less than pleasant (almost as bad as my first PvP experiences). About two years ago, I took the plunge and joined a guild again with my secondary PC (male, Alliance warrior). It was a medium-sized RP guild of about 100 members, most of them mature gamers who'd been with WoW since the early days. I liked to farm and craft and I knew how to play the AH -- in short, I was pretty good at making money and always had a lot of it. As I was promoted in guild, I made it a policy to pay for people's first ground mount and first sky mount. In part, because my PC came from a hospitality and gift-giving based barbarian culture, and in part, because I'm a Christian in RL who thinks of it as his duty to extend grace to others, particularly those who are my friends or who choose to belong to my community. You don't ask people to *earn* grace. I also began helping people out in instances, even though I didn't like them much, especially when repeating them. I'm a funny chap who looks at things through an RP lens, and repeating the same instance over and over again tends to wreck supension of disbelief and the integrity of the story ("wow, the Scarlet Monastery replaced its losses fast!") Quickly, my two worldviews came to painfully clash with each other, as I began helping people (friends of guildies) who didn't understand why repeating instances would be a problem -- after all, the game's set up to *reward* repeat runs by giving them the choicest loot -- and who came to *expect* me to repeat run them every moment they were online. They would log on, immediately IM me, and ask me to run them. When I told them that I was busy and they'd have to wait, they'd regale me with sob stories about how their time was limited and they couldn't wait. Then I would run them through Uldaman or Zul Farrak, and as soon as they finished, they'd immediately demand another run. So much for having limited time. Eventually, I faced a choice between being someone's instance monkey, and denying my principles. However I'm human, and I decided I'd rather help those who appreciated it than someone who was clearly playing me for a chump. After Lich King came out, my guild fell apart --the guild didn't have a good plan to handle the expansion and keep players who wanted to level on the same RP page. I joined a friend in a new guild, and I extended the same offer of help to my new guildmates. When we decided on Imperial Plate as our RP armor, I began crafting Imperial Plate free of charge for guildies. This turned out to be a huge mistake. The new guild was made up of younger players. Whereas the old guild was made up of players who'd worked hard (pre-patch 2.3) to earn their levels, knew how to farm, and appreciated what it took to make a suit of Imperial, the new guildies had been mostly power-leveled. They were playing death knights, and instead of seeing imperial plate as RP armor, it was a suit to gear up fast. One guildie began repeatedly whining on the guild channel for cash within 30 sexonds of joining. When people offered ips on using his profession skills to effectively farm and craft, he insisted he never used those skills and refused to learn them. I ended up making dozens of suits at 300-500 gold per suit, many for fledgling guildies who'd take the armor and leave the guild the next day, quickly spreading the word to friends about free gear. They had a sense of ingratitude and entitlement that saddened me. Eventually, I insisted on a provision -- I'd pay 3/4 of the cost of the armor, and they'd only pay 1/4. Oddly enough, when they did the math, no one took me up on the offer. They were also terrible RPers who played narcissistic cliches and godmoded like crazy (when they RPed at all) but that's another story. As a result, I'm soured on the idea of requiring teaming for advancement. If I believed it encouraged a sense of community and togetherness, I might go for it. Cooperative play, when it works well, is really neat. And I really do like helping people. However, I strongly suspect, based on my experiences, that such a game would end up mostly rewarding the greediest and most manipulative sorts of gamers. Style issues aside -- and I grew up playing single-player RPGs and freely admit that's where my comfort zone lies, with the *freedom* to do my own thing on my schedule and at my own pace -- that's not a game I particularly like to play.

Re: Do you play CO as an MMO? I mostly played CoX and WoW solo. It feels very much like an MMO to me, but nonetheless, knowing other people's play styles, the development of team content, particularly with gopd, challenging lairs, should be a priority.

Re: List Your CO Nemesises! Not for me. If Cryptic ever objects, I'm okay with it.But they haven't reserved the name, so I assume they have no interest in the character.

Re: List Your CO Nemesises! I did Invictus, from Villainy Amok. I had to amend the backstory so Thundrax helped expose his dirty deeds, so he's now seen as a villain; of course he wants revenge. I couldn't make him a Might/Fire hybrid, alas, nor could I make his minions look like gladiators. The second nemesis will likely be Zorasto, a demon lord from the old SUNDER campaign.

Re: Dr. Destroyer Missions On Thursday, September 17 I have to miss them. Main computer died last night, with CO trapped in the DVD player so I can't even install to my laptop.

Re: Champions Background Information Hidden Lands and Champions of the North (5e) will get you some info on zones in the game, as will Monster Island.

Re: Screenshots Note: The first two have been slightly cropped and resized for a more dramatic look. Invictus from Villainy Amok, whom I'm probably going to turn into Thundrax's Nemesis. Thundrax going toe-to-toe with VIPER-X. Thundrax vs. a succubus! And hey... what happened to the seduction part? I read the Monster Manual! I know how they're supposed to react! In a very cool looking, but unfriendly place. I also had a screengrab of the Harbinger of Justice.. but it vanished from my computer. Strangest damn thing.

Re: List Your CO Heroes! Fooling around with the character generator. Nothing permanent here. A first pass at Kondo Rimi, aka Sarah Ann, aka Rose Acorn. Japanese mistress of disguise, martial arts expert and assassin. A character from our Pulp Hero game. Probably too elegant. The Dog of War. With apologies to Pink Floyd. Mercenary gestalt Playing around with old faces to produce, The Instructor, a Heartbreak Ridge-era Clint Eastwood looking, hardass martial arts instructor. What happens when you spend too much time on "Rate My Champion" and you see the same archetype presented over and over again? You get a little snarky. This is "Yet Another Dark and Edgy Guy". And no, he's not a serious character. ] I'm trying to develop a nemesis for Thundrax when he hits 25; here's a first take on "Lord Prometheus". I'm aiming for a bit of a Kirby aesthetic here, or as close as the game will let me get to it. Finally, an alternate costume for Thundrax. his outfit for Club Caprice.

Re: List Your CO Heroes!

Re: What Are You Listening To Right Now? In honor of Champions Online, Jars of Clay's "Hero".

Re: List Your CO Heroes! I have the game. Thundrax (more screenshots than you can shake a Ping Pong Ball Gun at in the Screenshots thread) has been mowing down Qularr like grass. If I recall correctly, I'm @thundrax. I'll try to create someone interesting for the Hero Games squad. In the meantime, here's a new version of Billy Deighton, Sky Sergeant of the Canadian Rocket Brigade. The art deco pieces really helped.

Re: [After-Action Report] Villainy Amok Thanks for the kind comments. I was hoping for a few more precise details than "I liked it" (as gratifying as it is to hear). I'm considering pitching a non-system specific Villainy Amok-style book for fantasy, and wanted to gauge which areas were most useful to GMs and focus my attention on developing those. But a lot of time has passed since VAmok was first published, and it's probably unreasonable to expect GMs to remember as many details as I was requesting.

Re: Gestalt: Architects of Change: Preview Here's the second preview, the rough text for the chapter that updates the campaign setting. Comments are welcome, as this is *NOT* final, so if you see anything that makes you unhappy, let me know. ---------- A campaign world cannot remain static, and Gestalt was always meant to have a political and social verisimilitude that allowed it to change with the times. The setting reflects the time in which it was created, and not just in the timeline; looking back, for example, it's clear that the Deregulators are villains who best fit the country's mood in the days after the Oklahoma City bombing and 90s incidents like the Waco siege, which now makes them appear quite dated. Likewise, some of the later elements in the book, such as the America Men, reflect the concerns of North America in the heyday of the Bush-Cheney administration, which is over now, for better or for worse. It's 2009, and the world situation has undergone another quantum shift in the zeitgeist. The setting is increasingly diverging from our timeline, however, there are still enough similarities that it changes are necessary in the setting to reflect the spirit of the times. This section does touch on some of the mysteries of the original book. If any events in your campaign contradict what's written here, the canon as established by your game group must take precedence. -------- Discovery! In September 2008, 7 1/2 parsecs away from Earth, on the fifth planet orbiting the star Beta Hydri, Ted Chess discovered artifacts from a long-extinct alien culture, tall towers of woven metal, spun like spider webs on the surface of a crater-marked dead world. Utility objects were found beneath one of the towers, though other traces of the civilization vanished long ago. This was earth's first contact with aliens who are unknown to the Ar and the Eiko, prompting one observer to call it "the first home we've discovered that belongs to a local neighbor". They were dubbed "Known Alien Species 4" (KAS-4, or "Kasfor") by Columbia University xenobiology professor Dr. Phillip Dansen, who estimates that the Kasfors flourished close to a billion years ago. Chess found evidence that they possessed psychic talents, as he detected faint telepathic emissions from one of the structures. Chess is lobbying NASA and the EASA to recruit a telepath to travel with him for further investigation; Kasfordia's thin atmosphere and high radiation levels make it extremely inhospitable to humans. Election 2008 On November 4, 2008, Barack Hussein Obama defeated Mitt Romney and his running mate, John McCain to become 44th president of the United States. Major issues included the campaign against the Tyranny League, a looming war with Iran (precipitated by the USMC Vanguard's raid on Iran's nuclear program in June), and a downturn in the economy. Accusations that Obama was an Oratory gestalt led to him taking a public examination for gestalt powers several times during the campaign, though his detractors refused to believe the results. Obama's election was considered to mark an improving trend in gestalt relations (though observers noted a warming trend in the last year, especially on the part of President Bush). One of Obama's first actions as President-Elect was to fast track the immigration of several foreign gestalts into Columbia, which had been opposed by the Bush administration. Rumors that Obama and Columbia were working together to bring in an army of foreign gestalts to impose a gestalt totalitarian order were dismissed as paranoid fantasies. Columbia refrained from comment on the election, except for Starbird and Carnival, both openly ardent Obama supporters. Obama promised not to disband the America Men (now known as "Action America"), though Flying Fortress's recent departure was said to be at the request of the president-elect, following a controversial battle in Cincinnati where Railgun was critically injured (many presume that Fortress was trying to settle an old score from his supervillain days). The election campaign was marred by several tampering attempts by gestalts, including a report that a Gestalt Protector of Democrats had gone into an apartment fire in Atlanta and telepathically determined how people were planning to vote, only rescuing those with "correct" political leanings. The ATF superteam stopped an assassinaion attempt against Obama at a rally in Philadelphia. Obama was uninjured but several bystanders were badly hurt. The attempt was complicated by a well-meaning gestalt illusionist who made everyone at the rally look like Obama in an effort to foil the assassin, which resulted in injuries to many bystanders and the escape of one of the two assassins, Timothy Derek-Jones, a Grey Army operative, who remains at large. In California, Proposition 8 passed, overturning the state's ruling on gay marriage. A proposition to bar privately sponsored superhero teams -- clearly directed at the Hollywood Knights, was widely defeated when the measure was shown to have been initiated by Weaponsmith. The passage of Proposition 8 has motivated several gay organizations to urge the world's most famous gay superhero, Surfer Joe of the Hollywood Knights, to refrain "from heroing in a state which opposes gay rights". Joe's answer was indeterminate and (some say) deeply confusing. Opening the Door In December 2008, the supervillain Portal made his first play to conquer the world. Making contact with a Fantasyscape dimension in the Gestalt ruled by the Iron Republic of America, the villain persuaded that world's President for Life, General Powell, to sanction an invasion force. Taking advantage of the transition between presidencies, 50,000 troops suddenly appeared in strategic locations throughout the continental United States, attacking key installations. Columbia and Action America set aside their differences long enough to coordinate resistance, and many superheroes and even a few villains joined them. The invaders were soon beaten back. Rather than face defeat, the alternate universe Powell decided to lead one last attack in his "Iron President" battle armor targeting President elect Obama. The armor (a custom crafted battlesuit) had the ability to drain people's life force, which he used to maintain his own faltering life. He planned to take symbolic victory by draining Obama's life energies, but was stopped by the near miraculous intervention of the original America Man, accompanied by our world's version of Colin Powell. Columbia, after a brutal struggle with the Iron Republican Guard, captured Portal when the Tyranny League chose that moment to launch an attack. Seriously weakened, Columbia was forced to retreat, but Kid Mercury was captured. Kid's current condition and whereabouts is unknown. Portal has now become an associate of the Tyranny League, and while the portals to the Iron Republic have been closed, the idea of extra-dimensional invasions has sent national security agencies into a panic. Furthermore Fort Bragg, Fort Hood, and Naval Station Norfolk, all primary targets, were almost completely wiped out in the initial attack. Nearly sixty surveillance satellites were shot out of orbit. This, along with damage to other installations, leaves serious gaps in America's defense against the upcoming Eiko threat. One other troubling outcome from the Portal incident: the prototype for the Schwartzkopf Mk I battle armor, that was stored at the Aberdeen Proviing Grounds has gone missing. Security footage suggests that the theft was a surgical strike planned to coordinate with Portal's invasion, however no one has positively identified the thieves. The Tyranny League, Weaponsmith, and Starfinder are the prime suspects. Gauntlet The Ar'Kayadin champion, the Invincible Ar'aax, has sent an emissary to Earth to formally challenge Earth's champion, Trevor Griffin, to a formal Ar'Kayadin dueling ritual. If the Ar'aax wins, the Titan will be forced to bow down to him, recognize his supremacy, and assist him in any action he takes on Earth (the stakes he originally demanded were higher, until Tarradan explained the limits to what humans would accept). If he loses, then Trevor becomes the new Ar'aax and takes everything that Zaruk owns, including his lands, titles, and even his family. Normally, Trevor would refuse such a challenge out of hand, but victory offers the prospect of gaining much needed Ar'Kayadin help in the upcoming Eiko invasion. The Titan is canvassing the superhero community, asking for their opinions. Although it may seem like just another fight, the Titan is the Gestalt Champion of Earth and his defeat would have numerous ramifications for the human species. The unhappiest man at the news of the challenge is Tarradan, who's been fighting a losing battle to gain Ar'Terran sympathies, and who, ignored by Ar'aax and a pariah among all but a handful of Earth's governments, has quietly contacted the Gene Guard to discuss the situation with the Ar on Earth and the possibility of "serious action" to advance the Ar'Kayadin civilization. The Gene Guard and the Ar'Kayadin are dealing with another internal problem: a wildly popular separatist movement has sprung up on the Ar'Kayadin world of Vettar. Playing with Power March 2009 saw the reappearance of Dr. Power, not Theresa Power, but her long dead father Matthias. He attempted to blow up the Brooklyn Bridge to announce his return, but was stopped by Kinestar and (the recently vindicated) Bronco. Matthias fell from the bridge and was confirmed dead, but his body was stolen by Gyrfalcon and Silverfist a few minutes later. During the recovery operation, Bronco was badly beaten by Silverfist and captured, while Gyrfalcon's psionic powers induced a stroke that left Kinestar partially paralyzed. Kinestar has undergone intensive therapy to recover from the injuries. The injuries did not stop the heroine from announcing her engagement to her long-time friend Simon Goldstein, a research scientist. Also, a new gadget-using crimefighter has stepped up to take Kinestar's place, the black clad Applejack. Matthias was spotted several months later in Toronto, where he tried to poison the Sheltie's dogs and ran afoul of the Canadian Shield. He was reportedly killed (again) by Merc Six, when he broke into the organization's operations center and demanded that Alan Throne cede control to him. Again, Theresa's agents recovered the body. These two incidents have triggered speculation that Theresa's learned how to raise the dead (prompting an uncharacteristically wry comment from Imperator about the new Matthias being "Plan Nine from Dr. Power"). "The Great National Transformation" At his state of the union address, President Obama made three "calls to action" regarding gestalts. First, he pledged closer cooperation with Columbia. Second, he called for the creation of a national team of gestalts under FEMA, to serve as an emergency response team, with powers to rescue and rebuild destroyed sections of the country. Third, standing with Lament (in her capacity as a grief counsellor), he called for gestalts across America to step forward, work with regulatory agencies and professional associations, and use their powers for the national good. However high-minded Obama's principles may be, they've been criticized by some right-wing commentators as the first step toward a "Gestalt World Order". One right wing news network begun airing a television series to highlight "hypothetical" scenarios for "Us Versus Them: The Coming War With Gestalts". More reasonably, others have questioned how much money will be devoted to training these gestalts to get professional credentials and how many phony gestalt schemes will take advantage of the program, concerns magnified by the current economic crisis, while others point to history and question the wisdom of using gestalts as "a miracle drug". One of the first acts of the Obama administration was to appoint a cabinet advisor on Gestalt affairs. The position was given to Mitchell Grace, the recently retired Boston superhero Argent. Market Forces On October 6, 2008, Failsafe, the Artificial Intelligence governing the New York Stock Exchange failed, leadiong to the collapse of major lending institutions throughout the world. Iceland's economy collapsed. Several heroes learned that Failsafe itself had been compromised by Computor, and managed to generate versions of themselves to infiltrate a cybernetic dimension within the Gestalt and retrieve the lost data. These heroes discovered Computor was working with Economics Gestalt Ben Aiachi, and arrested Aiachi, who exposed Computor's true identity as that of Richard Greer, the world's leading computer genius, and designer of the Trident processor. Computor's personal agenda is now history. Greer fled to the sanctuary of the Tyranny League, to Imperator's delight. Computor has always been a member in good standing with the League, however his libertarian goals put his long-term agenda at odds with Imperator's, which was a matter of some tension in the League's leadership. That conflict is now a thing of the past: Greer is determined to make people pay. On the bright side (from his point of view), he embezzled close to a trillion dollars to himself and the League, all beyond the world's ability to trace. Hopes that Failsafe's dismantling would shore up the American banking system were quickly dashed, and the world fell into a deep recession. The exposure of Computor's true identity has shaken the world computer industry; and computers with Trident processors, widely believed to be engineered to facilitate Computor's control, are being abandoned or dismantled. As the Trident is the backbone of the world's computing system and many companies can't afford to "upgrade" to slower, less efficient processors, the chaos that this is causing cannot be understated. A Zhengcorp technologies group, Zhengtech, is leading the development of a "supervillain-free" processor, and is about to market their new system, featuring the Shoucheng ("Harvest") chip, worldwide. Breaking Up is **NOT** Hard To Do! Perhaps it was only the post-Christmas blahs, but the Firestarters broke up in early January 2009, surprising virtually no one. After a botched operation that brought a warehouse down on top of Gordion and Flayer, the team turned on Dissenter, leaving him for dead. Dissenter recovered and attempted to join the Tyranny League. Imperator feigned interest, then betrayed him to the authorities. Dissenter is currently serving a life sentence in the Icebox. The Crimson Commander, now redubbed Hellflame, has joined Los Animales. Flayer and Gordion are a pair of killers loosely aligned with the Tyranny League. Most unfortunately of all, Wormwood and Apparition have fallen under the influence of the Blood Red King, and are now his faithful (and lethal) servants. Other changes to established groups include: The America Men: With Obama aligning his administration with Columbia, this team of "Bush league heroes" is struggling to find its identity. The team officially changed its name to "Action America" in January 2009. It's been a tough time for America Man II (who, after the original's return, changed his name to "the American Spirit") mostly due to tension between him and Silver Star over team leadership. Flying Fortress was expelled from the team for "callous disregard for the lives of bystanders" during a battle with Railgun, and Pathfinder and Blossom are also rumored to be leaving the fold. The American Task Force: The team's roster has remained stable in the last few years. The team, though greatly despised by many civil libertarians, is said to have the full confidence of President Obama. Recently they were charged with protecting a scientific expedition that was using a portal that the Magician had made into the Gestalt Dimension. The portal closed several days after they departed, trapping all of the team except American Avenger and Big Red (who were absent on other matters) within the Void. Columbia: As mentioned earlier, Kid Mercury has been taken prisoner by the Tyranny League and is presumed dead. Bellweather has joined the team, and the team is looking for new members. Pathfinder of Action America has joined them on several missions. Dynamo Jack has also seen action alongside them, and tabloids report that he's almost a sure bet to join (though he and Edge do not get along). The Hollywood Knights. Athena is associating with the Knights more frequently and the rift between her, Ricochet, and Paladin that led to her departure is slowly healing. Peacekeeper, however, vanished under mysterious circumstances, replaced by a local vigilante, a Justice Gestalt who calls himself Justice Machine. Surfer Joe has officially settled down, marrying team founder Foster Erickson's former companion, Michael Martin (himself a gestalt), the team's activities coordinator. Thrust into the public spotlight, Martin immediately charmed the press with his verbal skills and hunky good looks, but has down played speculation that he'll join as a team member. (Those in the know understand that Mike is something of a coward, haunted by witnessing his parents' murder as a teenager). The July 2007 wedding of Jim "Stuntman" Goddard and Lily Gordon ended in tragedy within a year, after Los Animales kidnapped Lily and her son Greg and caused Lily to miscarry. She filed for divorce in September 2008. Stuntman took a long leave of absence from the Knights to work with the Obama campaign, but rejoined in April 2009. Lily is finding some solace in the arms of her ex-husband, John Johnson (aka Wild Card of the ATF, Greg's biological dad). No one suspects that the turn of events was actually engineered by Powerjack, who used it to smear Stuntman and the Knights' reputation. Millennium: Last July, Red Dog and Brawl formalized their partnership by announcing the formation of a superhero team, called Millennium. Red Dog, Brawl and Kinestar are the core, but they've recruited a few other talents: Slammer, a telepath named Embrace, and a flamboyant speedster called Twisted Sister. Bronco briefly joined the team after his exoneration. Kinestar's recent injuries have proven to be a setback for the nascent squad; Applejack has not joined the team. The team has spent most of its time fighting Octavian, who's become a major player in the New York drug scene, introducng a bizarre narcotic whose side effects make people believe they are citizens living in ancient Rome. This drug ("Rexmundi") implants detailed information on the history and culture of ancient Rome into the addicts' brains via the facilitation of telepathic impressions. The identity of the pharmacist who engineered it is a mystery. The Deregulators: The Deregulators spent most of the last two years in prison, but were finally freed by the Psionic Seven. The team has remained strongly loyal to each other; snce his release, Freedom Smith has been quietly recruiting militiamen to assist in their operations, though he was nearly killed when one of the militia recruits turned out to be a Dawn Brothers infiltrator. The Menagerie: Folliowing the death of Dr. Canus at the hands of Action America, the team broke up, though some were later seen working with the Anti-American. Reports that Super-Gorilla and Mister Monkey were founding a "Secret Society of Super-Simians" turned out to be an April Fool's Joke, as were reports that Super-Gorilla contacted two other super simian masterminds from universes in the Gestalt Dimension to launch a "Plan of the Apes". The Psionic Seven: The Seven's roster has changed. Evo, the Post-Human, bored with waiting for mercenary assignments (and never all that fond of working with "animals" in the first place), has left the team, replaced by a powerful Motion Gestalt named Thrasher. Evo did not part on good terms, leaking the location of the Seven's Carribbean base to Columbia. Ominos allowed herself to be captured, but only to serve as a diversion that allowed the rest of the team to escape; she was broken out of prison within 72 hours, thanks to a "mutual rescue" pact with Starfinder. The Seven have vowed to kill Evo for his treachery, and word has slipped that he's turned to the Tyranny League for protection, causing the already chilly relations between the League and the Seven to get even colder. To make matters worse, Psycho-American's actions are becoming increasingly chaotic; the rumor mill speculates that he may not be a member for much longer. The Blood Red King. The Lord of Misery was mostly quiet throughout most of 2007 and 2008, but reemerged in India, where he raised Dr. Typhus from the dead to engineer a new Red Plague. His actions did not go unnoticed; Garuda attacked the pair, killing Typhus and forcing the "Khoonrayzi-Rajah" to retreat. However, several plague dogs engineered by the reborn Typhus were not recovered, but placed by Typhus's long time assistant Mari Paagalpan into cryogenic storage. Garuda, knowing that a new Red Plague could hit India at any time, are frantically searching for Mari and the lost dogs. The King's artistic side was spotlighted in a New York City Gallery show "Prison of Blood", in which patrons of a show by the "acclaimed artist" Roy Albert Redd (a moniker that prompted Kinestar to roll her eyes and lament how the King was getting cute in his old age) to be captured and drawn into surreal paintings, leaving behind their blood on the floor. 32 victims were captured by this living death, the one attempt to use an Art Gestalt to free a victim was successful, however the person reemerged without a drop of blood in his body and promptly died. In March 2009, the King hijacked a San Francisco talk radio show and offered to turn three listeners into monsters, saying it was "just like suicide, except you can get vengeance on the society that hurt you." The King was driven away from the studio by a cadre of Technarch's CounterCrimeDroids, however over a dozen people showed up at the station to take the King up on his offer. The King has also opened up a seminary where his acolytes and cultists could train to develop the inner darkness of their souls. Hard economic times has encouraged the rebirth of his apocalyptic cult, and the post-Eiko invasion period is also likely to nurture the fatalistic impulse Hannibal Poole: Poole was dealt a serious blow when, at the behest of a superhero team, Stuntwoman betrayed him and exposed him to the FBI. Though all charges were dropped due to lack of evidence, Poole's reputation is in shambles. He's consolidating his criminal holdings and preparing a legal team to clear his reputation; he's also had to employ several superhuman bodyguards to protect him from vigilantes who have tried to assasinate him. The Leviathans: The Leviathans have been dealt several serious blows over the last few years. The attempt by Hanshun Lung to create a nuclear crisis between China and America was foiled when his plans were exposed by several superheroes and Huo Lei Feng ("living in the way of Lei Feng", allegedly the gestalt reincarnation of iconic PLA soldier Lei Feng, who died in 1962 and was lionizd by Mao for his good deeds, cheery attitude, and dedication to the Chairman). Hanshun Lung was forced out of Shanghai and has made his court somewhere in Hunan Province, where he plots revenge against the Chinese government. Worse, a large team of gestalts was gathered by Victor Eismann and sent into the Gestalt Dimension to attack the Palace of the Fifth Eye, the headquarters of the Leviathan King, and disrupt his program to corrupt protogestalts in the Void. Many future gestalts were saved. Eismann will sponsor a second expedition at this year's Copenhagen tournament. The Leviathans did achieve one major success. Unwisely turning away from the Hollywood Knights, the Oracle Gestalt Insight was murdered by Wolniwolnos. His final prophecy was:: "Fire in heavens... the lonely ones... the deaf that search for the song... the light they must not see.. darkness must swallow the light... the silence of the song...." Armaggedo. Armaggedo has made several guest appearances on the Colbert Report, where he's named Colbert as his official sidekick. He's also taken on the costumed identity of Professor Fiend, who has pulled off the astounding feat of being even weirder than the original; disturbingly, people who are involved in Fiend's plots have a habit of breaking out into musical numbers. Return of the Glorious Hero to Heaven! In September 2008, the world mourned as Kim Jong-Il, long time despot of North Korea, tragically perished when a meteor fell out of the sky and landed directly onto him as he addressed the North Korean army. This was initially believed to be an attack by an evil pro-American or Japanese gestalt, however the glorious truth soon spread that transcendent Kim, far too noble to exist on this mortal plane for too long, was called by heaven to embrace his eternal destiny. After a month long period of mourning, Vice President Song Yong-Sun took up the reins of power. At hsis inaugration, he vowed "to be half as capable a defender of socialism as our beloved Kim, which will make me mighty indeed." Western hopes that Song would be more amenable were quickly dashed when Song and Ar'Kayadin ambassador Tarradan announced a formal alliance, with Tarradan declarng that the Ar'Kayadin would assist North Korea in developing an industrial base and improved infrastructure and agriculture, but would not provide military assistance. Despite the latter promise, the prospect of extraterrestrial interference in the internal affairs of an earth nation have alarmed most countries, though the American response, knowing about the upcoming Eiko invasion, has been muted. Other major world events include: Canada: The True North added the Steelsman to their ranks to replace Bellweather, who left to join Columbia. The North have found themselves embroiled in an escalating war with Merc Six, who've been commissioned by a wealthy patron to bring down the Canadian government. Several Canadian members of Parliament have been murdered, including a Cabinet Minister, prompting the government to invite Columbia to intervene (a move that did not sit well with Canadian Crusader, who took Bellweather's departure as a personal insult). Two transitional members of Merc Six, Tunnel and Carapice, were captured, and the four core members were forced into hiding for months. The Tyranny League is widely suspected as Merc Six's backers, however a recent alliance with the Dragon of the Woods suggests that their backer is none other than Weng Chiang. South America: Sinistrado, rebuffed in his third attempted conquest of Brazil, has changed his sights and is now targeting Brazil's neighbor Paraguay. He's taken control of key personnel in the Patriotic Alliance for Change, the ruling coalition, and the opposition Colorado Party, and is urging them to revoke what many Paraguans feel is an extremely one-sided arrangement in their hydroelectric treaty with Brazil. Such an act would (at the very least) heighten tensions in the region, which Sinistrado intends to exploit when he launches another attack on Brazil. England: The Destruction Society met an ignoble defeat at the hands of London Crusade and have been imprisoned in the Icebox. The Crusade discovered the whereabouts of Invincible (though after being buried alive for nine years, the British stalwart was in no mental shape to resume his superhero career; after months of psychiatric counselling, he looks to be pursuing a new career as a television actor) . If the Destruction Society were murderous thugs with pretentions, the Stormcrow has proven to be a far more versatile adversary. His crows turned on Protectorix, nearly killing the heroine, severing her connection with her gestalt permanently. The secrets he's uncovered has allowed him to extort favors in the highest British political and security circles, and he's secretly turned the Archivist against the London Crusade. In July 2009, he was responsible for an army of scarecrows that invaded downtown London, which was stopped by the fourth appearance of the Intrepids, who were joined by a tall guntoting man named Jonathan Torch ("gay action heartthrob of the future"). Continental Europe: Team Alpha, now called Europa, is fracturing. Black Agnes left the group in 2007 to become a Tyranny League attache, and Kosuacu and Munter followed in 2009. Uveir is seeking replacements in what he hopes will be Europe's premier team, but no one's joining. Russia: Since Vlastitel's defeat, the Russian government has attempted to cultivate warmer relations with gestalts, with limited success. More successful, however, have been Russian campaigns to recover territory lost during the collapse of the Soviet Union. With Chechnya quieted, Prime Minister Putin used the August 2008 Ossetia crisis as a pretext to invade Georgia, which he conquered after two months of fighting. He also sent a force to occupy disputed land in the Ukraine. When members of Chyestnost protested, they were imprisoned for months. Putin has also been cultivating ties with the Ar'Kayadin, becoming the first terran government to send an ar'ixta ambassador to Aggadi (Olympic wrestling champion Buvaysa Saytiev, who has introduced many Russian poets and authors to the Ar sub-cultures). China: In early 2009, the Pan-Blue coalition forced a referendum in Taiwan to gauge willingness to hold talks leading to reunification, citing China's recent industrial reforms as justification. The pro-unification vote was much closer than expected, with the '"yes" side losing out by a 62-38% margin, much higher than polls had indicated. Allegations that China had psionically influenced the vote were dismissed as laughable. Kurdistan: the Kurdistan War is over. In July 2008, a new Turkish offensive, supported by NATO, finally smashed Kurd resistance. Vowing to continue his struggle for a Kurdish homeland, the Kurd superhero Serhildan has fled into Kurd-held territory in Iraq. Iran, the Kurds' not-very-covert supporter, has withdrawn its support, and (no longer needing them as a buffer state) now occupies the Iranian and Iraqi lands they gave to the Kurds. The United States is no longer involved in a very unpopular war, and Turkey hopes the war's end will smooth their entry into the EU. The USMC Vanguard was noticeably absent for the last six weeks of the war. Their current wherabouts is a secret: they're off-planet, training with the Ar'Turodain to fight against the upcoming Eiko invasion. Africa: In November 2008, the city of Kuumahali was the site of a bloody battle as Askari and his summoned army of mercenaries attempyed wipe the city off the map. He was rendered powerless and imprisoned in the heart of the city, but it required Soulkeeper to sacrifice herself by transforming into a living prison in order to neutralize the villain. A number of superhumans are attempting to reverse the process. Kore Addebabaye has taken over leadership of Kuumahali, along with BloodWater, an American evangelical missionary who's the Gestalt of Wells. One Step Forward, Two Steps Back The fall of Richard Greer was a devastating blow to scientific research, however a few intrepid knowledge seekers have managed to make headway in a number of scientific areas. The most promising technological advances are in medicine, particularly in the area of using stem cells to create skin, cartilage, teeth and hair cells. The first practical use of these cells to treat burns is already undergoing clinical trials, while the hair regrowth treatment is promising to answer the dreams of generations of men: a cure to baldness! While computer development has snagged, research in robotics, particularly in Japan, has seen several major advances, including building two-legged robots to mimic human walking motion, and in buiding sensory systerms that are more sensitive in simulating the sense of touch than previous robotic generations. The Tyranny League has successfully halted work on battlesuits in the United States, with the notable exceprion of the Astra X-Suit. the Astra Brigade is up to 60 suits, however forty of these have been sequestered away from the public eye: they're being held in reserve to fight the Eiko invasion. Furthermore, the suit is now bolstered by an experiment portable psi-shield that offers defense against psionic attacks. The development of anti-psionic technology is beginning to pique Influence's interest in the same way that battlesuits attract the Tyranny League, and the two villain factions, traditionally rivals, are now getting closer to a collaboration. MONDO, the first space elevator, was completed in 2009. The completion of the project was marred by the controversial revelation that Major Korgun had gone behind the Ar'Turodain's back and passed along Ar technological secrets to the Astra Foundation, particularly in the area of material sciences, that facilitated its completion. The economic collapse has, unfortunately, discouraged the development of the industrialization of space. In November 2008, the Titan and the Warder escorted the Vulcan III expedition to Mars, and astronaut David Wolf became the first non-Gestalt to set foot on the surface of the red planet. The mission was the last hurrah for the Bush Administration, however previous landings by gestalts (and the presence of gestalt "baby-sitters" to accompany the mission) were major factors that contributed to public disinterest. The Oberth project, a set of automated telescopes set on the farside of the moon, was completed in June 2009. With three times the resolution of the Tombaugh and thirty times that of Hubble, the visible light telescope will probably be the star of the show, however the radio and infrared telescopes may prove to be the most valuable additions. The New Breed The most recent Gestalt wave produced a number of gestalts to defend and harrow the earth. While some of them have been mentioned earlier in this chapter, a few other notables from this new generation of superhumans include: Battle: An American Bounty Hunter gestalt, not particularly well-liked by the authorities, but very good at his job. He hasn't gone after a lot of gestalts (yet), though he's run afoul of Hannibal Poole's organization and played a game of cat and mouse with Stuntwoman. Lampsman: A Gestalt of Artificial Illumination? Who commits crime? Who throws light bulbs at people while artificially heating them, causing them to explode and shower people with hot shrapnel? Sometimes even people with seemingly goofy powers can be effective if they put their imaginations to work. Jump: A new Chicago-based villain, and another apparently very silly gestalt: the Gestalt of Leaping. Nonetheless, someone who can make people spntanteously leap great distances away from a fight (including into Lake Michigan) or cause people who leap out of the Sears Tower with no ill effects, they may need to be taken more seriously. Continuum: The Gestalt of Alternatives, transforms people into what they might have been if they'd made a different decision at some point in the past. (As his powers only affect the person who made the choice and not those affected by its ramifications, this gestalt creates plenty of confusion). Continuuum likes to find people who were forced to make drastic and dramatic life choices; as he imposes his powers on those who don't want to receive them, he's considered a supervillain. The Three Maidens: A team of three pure gestalt supervillains with a classical motif: Anika, Child of Guilt (a small child like girl who can summon a devouring spirit of terror, revisiting the worst thing has ever done a hundredfold on them); Phoebe, Lady of Lusts (a Sex Gestalt who brings out illusory sexual fantasies), and Moira, Crone of No Denials, who tramsforms people into decrepit old folks. Twice they've been hired as support by Concordia, and Hel has taken a liking to them. The Noose: The Living Gun's ropey cousin, a flying noose that, for kicks, tightens itself around people's necks and hangs them.

Reprinted from the Blackwyrm Forums, but with a 6th edition version and Hero Designer files added. Text is NOT final. BELLWEATHER Gestalt of Weather Actual Name: Keith Bell Occupation: Superhero. Legal Status: Canadian citizen, in the United States on an extended work permit with a (now cleared) criminal record. Gestalt Type: Bonded. Goal: Prevent the next Hurricane Katrina. Power Level: Respected Height: 6'0" (186 cm) Weight: 180 lbs. (59 kg) Hair Color: Dark Brown Eye Color: Brown Birthplace: McClean Lake, Saskatchewan. Group Affiliation: Columbia, former member of the True North, formerly attached to the RCMP. Known Relatives: Rose (wife), Madison (daughter). Description: Keith Bell has led a meandering but interesting life in his thirty-six years on Earth. Born five weeks prematurely to a pair of engineers who were searching for uranium in Northern Saskatchewan, Keith was fighting for his life from his very first breath. Not only did he survive, he thrived. Keith was a champion athlete in the schools he attended, which were many, as his parents bounced around the world. He studied for an architecture degree at the Univerity of Waterloo, had a 4.0 average, then dropped out of school. He worked numerous odd jobs, learning trade skills from their practised masters. He worked in disaster relief, and had a lot of adventures in far corners of the globe. In his mid-20s, he returned home to Canada and took a job flying freight for First Nations bamds in Northern Saskatchewan. This job was the life-chnger. One evening in 2001, he was flying a sick First Nations boy from the far north to a hospital in Saskatoon. The weather was getting stormy, but Keith didn't care. He had a life to save. It was a matter of bad luck that a funnel cloud formed over the aircraft. Sensing both his death and that of his charge, Keith said a silent prayer, asking God to make the tornado go away. It did. Keith had prayed at the exact moment the gestalt wave hit, giving him the power to save lives. He's not sure why he's a Weather Gestalt, though he did work at that weather station in Antarctica for three months. Was the answered prayer a coincidence? He didn't care. What truly mattered was that innocent lives had been spared, and he had been given a chance to indulge in two favorite pastimes: colorful adventures that let him meet interesting people, and saving lives. Keith's first costume was the gaudiest thing. He didn't mean to call himself Bellweather. He received it by accident during his first superfight (not counting his pre-gestalt battle in Bangkok, an all-comers Muay Thai challenge which nearly got him killed), a crazy affair in Thunder Bay against a creepy-looking guy robbing a liquor store who may or may not have been the Gestalt of Ooze. At the end of the fight Keith, so exhausted that he was ready to collapse on the ground beside his twitching opponent, had a microphone thrust in front of his face by a reporter. The man demanded to know his name. "Bell..." Keith replied, panting. "Uh... Weather..." He didn't get a chance to finish his answer with the word "gestalt?" The reporter proceeded to pepper "Bellweather" with a series of questions. Bellweather attracted notice, including that of the True North, an RCMP-sponsored superteam based in Winnipeg. Keith enthusiatically joined, though he hoped that the RCMP wouldn't look too hard into his background and find that one outstanding drug possession charge from college. Keith quickly earned the mantle of Canada's most powerful superhero, but wasn't content. He married a biology student and had a beautiful daughter, but something was missing. He wasn?t saving enough lives. He loved what he was doing, but always felt he could do more. When Hurricane Katrina struck, Keith flew south to help with disaster relief. He knew he had a calling, to make sure he was in the right place at the right time. There was only one team who could guarantee that -- so he called Columbia and asked to join. It took two years before Liberator was ready to take his request seriously, but eventually his name was leaked as a possible Columbia candidate. Keith's True North teammates were upset. Moreover, certain people in the American press who hated Columbia looked into his background, and uncovered his identity and his pot conviction. The RCMP, requested that he leave the True North. Some Canadians looked at him as "a pot smoking traitor". Keith's daughter was kidnapped and put in a coma for six months by a supervillain he'd never even met. His wife filed for divorce... but Columbia arranged for a Reconciliaton Gestalt to save their marriage. Eventually, however, the charges were dropped, and President Obama approved of his work permit personally. Bellweather came to Columbia to join the superhero big leagues. He appears almost the sterotypical Canadian: quiet, polite, reserved, and a little self-righteous, and (maybe) out of his depth on the greatest and most complicated superhero team on Earth. Personality: Keith is proof that nice guys do exist, although he's a doofus when he deals with small issues or social relationships (his wife has a lot of patience). He loves adventure, particularly when it lets him see new places and meet people with interesting life stories. Living mostly in the moment, Berllweather hates routine and the feelingof being cooped up. Often things that might seem important to others ("Oh, I didn't tell you I'm going to ditch you guys and join Columbia? Sorry!") aren't a big deal to him. Those who know him well come to love (and roll their eyes) at Keith's free spirit. Powers/Tactics: Bellweather is one of the most powerful Weather gestalts on earth. That said, he's not always as versatile as he'd like and he tends to rely on the lightning bolts that spring from his hands a little too much, but he enjoys the rush he gets from using it. Bellweather's not a great team player at the moment. On the True North was always the star that everyone else worked around, and so he's still learning how best to coordinate his attacks with his teammates. Appearance: Keith is a tall attractive man whose one-eighths Dene heritage blends well with his Caucasian features. His costume is a powder blue body stocking that covers him from his neckline to his toes, with the Columbia eagle on his left breast, and a small red maple leaf on his right shoulder. Bellweather (5th edition) Val Char Cost Roll Notes 20 STR 10 13- Lift 400.0kg; 4d6 HTH damage [2] 26 DEX 48 14- OCV: 9/DCV: 9 33 CON 46 16- 20 BODY 20 13- 18 INT 8 13- PER Roll 13- 20 EGO 20 13- ECV: 7 25 PRE 15 14- PRE Attack: 5d6 10 COM 0 11- 16 PD 12 Total: 16/28 PD (0/12 rPD) 16 ED 9 Total: 16/28 ED (0/12 rED) 5 SPD 14 Phases: 3, 5, 8, 10, 12 11 REC 0 66 END 0 50 STUN 3 Total Characteristics Cost: 205 Movement: Running: 6"/[Noncombat]" Leaping: 4"/[Noncombat]" Swimming: 2"/[Noncombat]" Cost Powers END 20 +15 REC; Conditional Power Only When Gliding (-1/2) 25 +50 STR; No Figured Characteristics (-1/2), Conditional Power Only on the Phase After Using Lightning Powers (-1/2) 5 15 Physical Damage Reduction, Resistant, 50%; Conditional Power Only on the Phase After Using Blizzard (-1) 0 12 Healed by the Weather: Absorption 6d6 (energy, Stun); Conditional Power Only Weather Effects (-1), Only Restores To Starting Values (-1/2) 0 86 Weather Control: Change Environment 32" radius (+2 Temperature Level Adjustment, +4 Wind Levels: +4, -2 Temperature Level Adjustment, Multiple Combat Effects, Varying Combat Effects), Reduced Endurance (1/2 END; +1/4), Varying Effect Limited Group (+1/2); No Range (-1/2) 5 112 Weather Control: Multipower, 112-point reserve 7u 1) Lightning Bolt: Killing Attack - Ranged 3d6, Reduced Endurance (1/2 END; +1/4), Area Of Effect (44" Line; +1 1/4); No Range (-1/2) 5 9u 2) Blizzard: Energy Blast 4d6, Reduced Endurance (1/2 END; +1/4), Personal Immunity (+1/4), No Normal Defense ([LS : Life Support, Cold]]; +1), Area Of Effect (7" Radius; +1), Continuous (+1) 4 7u 3) Calm the Storm: Suppress BODY 3d6+1, Reduced Endurance (1/2 END; +1/4), all Weather] powers simultaneously Weather Powers (+2) (107 Active Points); Costs Endurance (to maintain; -1/2) 5 10u 4) Pea Soup Fog: Darkness to Sight Group 6" radius, Personal Immunity (+1/4), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2) 0 35 Thunderclap: Hearing Group Flash 10d6, Personal Immunity (+1/4), Area Of Effect (One Hex; +1/2); Linked (Lightning Bolt; -1/2) 5 11 Mental Defense (15 points total) 0 19 Slippery Ground: Change Environment 8" radius (-4 to DEX Roll), Conditional Power Can Only Be Applied to horizontal Surfaces (-0); Linked (Blizzard; -1/2) 3 16 Shield of the Winds: Resistant Protection (12 PD/12 ED) (24 Active Points); Conditional Power Not vs. Fast Moving Attacks (attacks that move at hypersonic speeds) (-1/2) 2 30 Windriding: Flight 15" 3 35 Stormcoasting: Gliding 30", x4 Noncombat 0 15 Understand The Weather: Detect A Large Class Of Things (Weather, Know Temperature, Barometric Pressure, Wind Velocity, etc.) 13- (Touch Group), Discriminatory 0 17 Predict The Weather: Precognitive Clairsentience (Touch Group), Analyze, Discriminatory; Conditional Power Only To Predict The Weather (-2) 4 4 Climate Control: Life Support (Safe in Intense Cold; Safe in Intense Heat) 0 Perks 3 Fringe Benefit: Federal/National Police Powers 11 Contact: Gerald Curry (Contact has access to major institutions, Contact has extremely useful Skills or resources, Contact has significant Contacts of his own, Very Good relationship with Contact) 13- 8 Contact: Leading Washington DC Public Relations Firm (Contact has access to major institutions, Contact has significant Contacts of his own, Contact is slavishly loyal to character) 12- Talents 3 Absolute Time Sense 3 Bump Of Direction 3 Environmental Movement (no penalties on) Skills 3 Traveler 3 1) AK: Antarctica 13- 6 2) AK: Indochina 16- 7 3) AK: The South Pacific 17- 3 4) AK: Western Canada 13- 3 Breakfall 14- 3 Combat Piloting 14- 3 Conversation 14- 2 Language: French (fluent conversation) 3 Paramedics 13- 7 Power 15- 3 Jack of All Trades 3 1) PS: Architect 13- 3 2) PS: Carpenter 13- 2 3) PS: Fisherman 12- 2 4) PS: Meteorologist 12- 2 5) PS: Sailor 12- 3 Survival 13- 6 SS: Meteorology 15- 4 TF: Helicopters, Large Motorized Boats, Small Motorized Boats, Small Planes, Snowmobiles Total Powers & Skills Cost: 587 Total Cost: 792 200+ Disadvantages 10 Hunted: Columbia Mystery Backer 8- (Mo Pow; NCI; Watching) 10 Hunted: The Tyranny League 8- (As Pow; Harshly Punish) 5 Hunted: US Government 11- (Less Pow; NCI; Watching) 10 Psychological Limitation: Restless, Loves Adventure (Common; Moderate) 10 Psychological Limitation: Moods Reflect The Weather Around Him (Common; Moderate) 5 Social Limitation: Alien on a work permit (Occasionally; Minor) 15 Susceptibility: When Entering a Completely Artificial Environment 3d6 damage Instant (Uncommon) 15 Vulnerability: 1 1/2 x BODY any attacks within an artificial environment (such as air conditioned or heated buildings) (Very Common) 15 Vulnerability: 1 1/2 x STUN any attacks within an artificial environment (such as air conditioned or heated buildings) (Very Common) Total Disadvantage Points: 792 Bellweather (6th edition) Val Char Cost Roll Notes 20 STR 10 13- Lift 400.0kg; 4d6 [2] 26 DEX 32 14- 33 CON 23 16- 18 INT 8 13- PER Roll 13- 20 EGO 10 13- 25 PRE 15 14- PRE Attack: 5d6 9 OCV 30 9 DCV 30 7 OMCV 12 7 DMCV 12 5 SPD 30 Phases: 3, 5, 8, 10, 12 16/28 PD 14 Total: 16/28 PD (0/12 rPD) 16/28 ED 14 Total: 16/28 ED (0/12 rED) 11 REC 7 66 END 10 20 BODY 10 60 STUN 20 Total Characteristic Cost: 287 Movement: Running: 12m/24m Flight: 30m/45m/120m/180m Leaping: 4m/8m Swimming: 4m/8m Cost Powers END 10 +15 REC; Conditional Power Only When Gliding (-1/2) 25 +50 STR; No Figured Characteristics (-1/2), Conditional Power Only on the Phase After Using Lightning Powers (-1/2) 5 15 Physical Damage Reduction, Resistant, 50%; Conditional Power Only on the Phase After Using Blizzard (-1) 8 Healed by the Weather: Absorption 21 BODY (energy, Stun); Conditional Power Only Weather Effects (-1), Only Restores To Starting Values (-1/2) 55 Weather Control: Change Environment (+4 Wind Levels, 4 Temperature Level Adjustment), Reduced Endurance (1/2 END; +1/4), Varying Effect Limited Group (+1/2), Area Of Effect (60m Radius; +1 1/4); No Range (-1/2), Unified Power (-1/4) 4 90 Weather Control: Multipower, 112-point reserve, all slots Unified Power (-1/4) 6f 1) Lightning Bolt: Killing Attack - Ranged 3d6, Reduced Endurance (1/2 END; +1/4), Area Of Effect (100m Line; +1 1/4); No Range (-1/2), Unified Power (-1/4) 5 7f 2) Blizzard: Energy Blast 4d6, Reduced Endurance (1/2 END; +1/4), Personal Immunity (+1/4), Area Of Effect (15m Radius; +3/4), No Normal Defense (+1), Continuous (+1); Unified Power (-1/4) 4 6f 3) Calm the Storm: Suppress BODY 2d6, Reduced Endurance (1/2 END; +1/4), Weather Powers (+1/2), Expanded Effect (x8 Characteristics or Powers simultaneously) (+3 1/2) (105 Active Points); Costs Endurance (to maintain; -1/2), Unified Power (-1/4) 5 8f 4) Pea Soup Fog: Darkness to Sight Group 12m radius, Personal Immunity (+1/4), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2); Unified Power (-1/4) 26 Thunderclap: Hearing Group Flash 10d6, Personal Immunity (+1/4), Area Of Effect (1m Radius; +1/4); Linked (Lightning Bolt; -1/2), Unified Power (-1/4) 4 15 Mental Defense (15 points total) 15 Slippery Ground: Change Environment (-4 to DEX Roll), Conditional Power Can Only Be Applied to horizontal Surfaces (-0), Area Of Effect (60m Radius; +1 1/4); Linked (Blizzard; -1/2), Unified Power (-1/4) 3 20 Shield of the Winds: Resistant Protection (12 PD/12 ED) (36 Active Points); Conditional Power Not vs. Fast Moving Attacks (attacks that move at hypersonic speeds) (-1/2), Unified Power (-1/4) 12 Windriding: Flight 15m; Unified Power (-1/4) 1 15 Stormcoasting: Flight 30m, x4 Noncombat (35 Active Points); Gliding (-1), Unified Power (-1/4) 15 Understand The Weather: Detect A Large Class Of Things (Weather, Know Temperature, Barometric Pressure, Wind Velocity, etc.) 13- (Touch Group), Discriminatory 15 Predict The Weather: Precognitive Clairsentience (Touch Group), Discriminatory; Conditional Power Only To Predict The Weather (-2) 4 4 Climate Control: Life Support (Safe in Intense Cold; Safe in Intense Heat) Perks 3 Fringe Benefit: Federal/National Police Powers 11 Contact: Gerald Curry (Contact has access to major institutions, Contact has extremely useful Skills or resources, Contact has significant Contacts of his own, Very Good relationship with Contact) 13- 8 Contact: Leading Washington DC Public Relations Firm (Contact has access to major institutions, Contact has significant Contacts of his own, Contact is slavishly loyal to character) 12- Talents 3 Absolute Time Sense 3 Bump Of Direction 3 Move through Bad Weather: Environmental Movement (no penalties on) Skills 3 Traveler 3 1) AK: Antarctica 13- 6 2) AK: Indochina 16- 7 3) AK: The South Pacific 17- 3 4) AK: Western Canada 13- 3 Breakfall 14- 3 Combat Piloting 14- 3 Conversation 14- 2 Language: French (fluent conversation) 3 Paramedics 13- 7 Weather Control: Power 15- 3 Jack of All Trades 3 1) PS: Architect 13- 3 2) PS: Carpenter 13- 2 3) PS: Fisherman 12- 2 4) PS: Meteorologist 12- 2 5) PS: Sailor 12- 3 Survival 13- 6 SS: Meteorology 15- 4 TF: Helicopters, Large Motorized Boats, Small Motorized Boats, Small Planes, Snowmobiles Total Powers & Skill Cost: 472 Total Cost: 758 200+ Disadvantages 10 Hunted: Columbia Mystery Backer Frequently (As Pow; NCI; Watching) 10 Hunted: The Tyranny League Infrequently (As Pow; Harshly Punish) 5 Hunted: US Government Frequently (Less Pow; NCI; Watching) 10 Psychological Complication: Restless, Loves Adventure (Common; Moderate) 10 Psychological Complication: Moods Reflect The Weather Around Him (Common; Moderate) 5 Social Complication: Alien living in a foreign country on a work permit Infrequently, Minor 15 Susceptibility: When Entering a Completely Artificial Environment 3d6 damage Instant (Uncommon) 15 Vulnerability: 1 1/2 x BODY any attacks within an artificial environment (such as air conditioned or heated buildings) (Very Common) 15 Vulnerability: 1 1/2 x STUN any attacks within an artificial environment (such as air conditioned or heated buildings) (Very Common) 463 Experience Points Total Disadvantage Points: 758

Looking back at Villainy Amok, which was published over four years ago now, I'm curious at how useful the book was for GMs and how productive its approach to scenario building was. So here are a few questions. This questionaire is only intended for GMs who purchased the book with the intent of using it in their campaigns. Feel free to expound on your answers. 1. Did you use the book? If so, which scenarios? 2. Did you use any of the suggested "Unusual" scenario hooks? If so, which ones? 3. Did you use any of the random scenario generators? If so, which ones? 4. Did you use any of the pre-set scenarios? If so, which ones? 5. Did you use any of the NPCs? If so, which ones? 6. Did the book play in any role in generating a cool scenario for your campaign? 7. Did you use the scenario hooks in the Plot Gallery? Was organizing lists of plot hooks by situation useful? Thanks.

Re: Screenshots Very nice Rod. This game is going to be an invaluable GM's tool.

Re: Screenshots The beta is over. Here are my final set of screen grabs. Thundrax and a Mega-Destroid have a heart-to-heart: Thundrax goes back to his roots. Fighting VIPER since 1983. A Canada environment shot: And finally, a version of the 3rd edition art for my villain Borealis, who's been featured in 1988's Villainy Unbound and both versions of Champions of the North. I haven't seen him in game, but I note that the name has been reserved, so maybe he'll surface in Canada when they implement a Light power set. Thanks to everyone who's shared in this thread!

Re: Screenshots A shot from today's Mega-Destroid battle. Which, unfortunately, was a slideshow for me. Still, as the guy who created Destroids back in "Day of the Destroyer"... let's just say that daddy was very proud of them.