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Some art depicting the closing tableau of our latest session.
Left to right: Torque (Outsider), Sonia (Bull), NPC Adonis (the Delinquent’s wholesome older brother) hefting the defeated villains, Panic (Delinquent), and Halfpenny (Protégé).
An exciting session. The Team went to the zoo and cooed over a Time Sloth.
An exciting session. The Team went to the zoo and cooed over a Time Sloth.
Panic (Delinquent) gave up some of her closely-guarded secrets in order to protect her other closely-guarded secrets.
Sonia (Bull) bonded/flirted with Panic’s wholesome superheroic older brother, Adonis.
Torque (Outsider) hacked a magic wand from inside a pocket dimension it had trapped him in.
Halfpenny (Protégé) argued with his mentor Penny Dreadnought about how to be a hero, and learned that his predecessor as Penny Dreadnought’s sidekick became a villain: Red Cent!
The team also dispatched with the anagram-casting witch and hammer-wielding minotaur that had shown up to cause trouble at Adonis’s press conference. Good job, Salvatores!
It’s looking like a player in my campaign (the Beacon) will have to miss three sessions in a row.
It’s looking like a player in my campaign (the Beacon) will have to miss three sessions in a row. We are all a bit bummed about it. I’m thinking over how to handle this so that positive things come out of it for his character and for the story. I’m open to advice!
My basic idea is to chat with my player about what he’d like his character to do, in general terms, during the sessions he’ll miss. I may suggest playing to some of his current Beacon drives: Take down a threat all on his own, and Travel to an incredible place or time.
Then I’ll craft love letters based on that, probably one for each missed session. I’ll also allow/encourage the players to play a couple out-of-session roleplaying scenes (in a Google doc or something like that) for times the Beacon is able and willing to communicate with the team.
How have your playgroups handled things like this? Or how would you advise me to proceed here? Any tips are welcome!
Had a fun session last night. Split the party, so I printed out separate Team pools for each half of the team.
Had a fun session last night. Split the party, so I printed out separate Team pools for each half of the team.
The boys infiltrated a superpower-granting drug rave and the girls interrogated Viscount Consternation (in what turned out to be a Hannibal Lecter-style scene, where he was a pretty big threat to them from behind bars).
And Halfpenny the Protégé not only took the superpower drug, but used his Moment of Truth to agree to train with his mentor’s archnemesis! Wild. I love it when my players surprise me.
An artistic rendering of our team’s latest adventure:
An artistic rendering of our team’s latest adventure:
Halfpenny (the Protégé) socking Comediennemy, Panic (the Delinquent) creating illusions of Halcyon City supers, and Sonia (the Bull) throwing Torque (the Outsider) like a javelin.
NB: This all takes place on the severed hand of a giant metal space god named Ultimatus, a leftover from one of Captain Invincible’s victories. The hand’s resting place is called Titanfall Meadow, and humans have turned it into a concert venue: musicians perform on the upward-facing palm of Ultimatus’s hand.
My players had a successful session: the Salvatores rescued Cindi Mayweather from Comediennemy and her…
My players had a successful session: the Salvatores rescued Cindi Mayweather from Comediennemy and her Vaudvillains—and defused the situation mostly without fighting the robot separatists Hyperbolic Orange and Stygian Blue!
Since someone in the group asked for more examples of Love Letters, here are two that I sent to my players to…
Since someone in the group asked for more examples of Love Letters, here are two that I sent to my players to resolve dangling plot threads between sessions.
Torque is an Outsider who ended the last session by chasing a fleeing villain in his kirby-kraft (the Lever). Sonia is a Bull who ended last session accompanying a young girl (Aislin), someone changed by the same folks who changed Sonia, as the city’s premier science hero tries to remove Aislin’s hi-tech bracelet that those people have used to knock her out or forcibly teleport her.
_______________________________________
Dear Torque,
So, you want to capture Quartermaster? Well, sport, you’ve taken the first step: flying the Lever out the window of Crimebusters Visitor Center. But now you’ve got to pick up Quartermaster’s trail and overtake him, and then overcome the hardened criminal.
Since you’re relying on the Lever, you’ll roll +Superior, that is +1. On a hit, you overtake Quartermaster (and therefore clear Guilty). On a 10+ choose one complication from the list below. On a 7-9, choose two complications.
• F.A.T.E. hails you again, demanding you ground your craft and explain your reckless flying to F.A.T.E. air traffic control. You ignore them in order to stay on Quartermaster’s trail, and F.A.T.E. opens fire with anti-aircraft weapons on the Lever, essentially trying to taze your ship. The Lever takes some damage, and you know that this could cause problems later if you don’t take some time to see about repairing it.
• You catch up to Quartermaster and get in a couple hits, but he tosses down a sound bomb and gets away. However, one weapon you used tagged him with an exotic “scent,” so the Lever could home in on his location if he’s ever close enough to you again.
• Penny Dreadnought also catches up to Quartermaster. He pulls up on his motorized Penny Farthing and launches himself off to grapple with the villain. “Get back, Spaceman!’ Penny Dreadnought yells at you. “This is a time for fighting man-to-man, not fancy flying!” His words shift your Danger down and your Freak up.
On a miss, you are unable to catch up to Quartermaster before he goes to ground. Darn that stealthy mercenary! You don’t clear Guilty, and you mark an additional condition of your choice, whatever makes most sense to you based on the scenario.
XXOO,
Your Gamemaster
_____________________
Dear Sonia,
Last we saw, you were accompanying Aislin to Doc Quantum’s lab, where she and her aides investigated whether they could remove Aislin’s Forge bracelet. Based on your requests, it seems you would like to have Doc Quantum release Aislin into your custody AND to receive the casing of a Forge bracelet—just the metal shell with the electronic guts scooped out.
Let’s see how you do at this. This challenge will revolve around people skills. So roll +Mundane—that is, -1.
On a 10+, you get your wish. Aislin has clearly bonded with you and asks to go with you. Doc Quantum initially hesitates to release her into your custody, but you let her know you’re going to rely on your nun friend for help. Doc Quantum is able to take apart the extra bracelet and, at your request, gives you the casing. She holds onto the electronics inside for further study.
On a 7-9, choose one of the following modifications to this outcome:
• Aislin, as she recovers consciousness, becomes confused and uncommunicative—perhaps the trauma of what she’s undergone is coming crashing down on her. She doesn’t respond positively to you or anyone else around—which means by default she remains with Doc Quantum as Doc Quantum tries to figure out what should be done with her.
• Doc Quantum and her assistants can’t find a safe way to remove Aislin’s bracelet. The best they can do is clamp a larger bracelet-shaped device around it that should make it impossible for Aislin’s to receive any outside signals.
• Doc Quantum wants to hang onto all the pieces of the Forge bracelet to study it. When you ask for the shell of one, she inquires why you would need that and is unconvinced by your explanation. You leave without a Forge bracelet casing.
On a miss, all three of the above are true. Aislin clams up. She remains in Doc Quantum’s custody for the time being as Doc Quantum works on removing the bracelet, which has proven an extremely tough nut to crack. You’ll have to visit again (perhaps with a certain comfort object?) and take another shot. Mark Angry, as you seethe about how this went down.
XXOO,
Your Gamemaster
An artistic rendering of the latest adventure in our Campaign.
An artistic rendering of the latest adventure in our Campaign. Left to right: Torque (the Outsider), Sonia (the Bull) and NPC Aislin on her back, Captain Bowmaster (the Beacon), and Halfpenny (the Protégé).
Here’s an NPC superhero folks are welcome to use. He’s a mentor to a PC (Halfpenny) in my game.
Here’s an NPC superhero folks are welcome to use. He’s a mentor to a PC (Halfpenny) in my game.
Name: Penny Dreadnought
Generation: Bronze
Origin: When both of his parents were accidentally killed by a single penny dropped off the top of the Empire State Building, he swore to protect the world from all penny-related crime.
Abilities: Penny Dreadnought has become a master pugilist, wearing penny-themed brass-knuckles.
Demeanor: Penny Dreadnought is intensely serious about defeating penny-related crime, speaking in a growly voice even when he makes coin-based puns. (“Let me throw in my two cents.” punch, punch!)
Other Resources: Penny Dreadnought has a secret base (“The Penny-tentiary”) and rides a motorized penny farthing bicycle.
Hello Masks enthusiasts!
Hello Masks enthusiasts!
I’ve been running a game for a few sessions now. My players have been enjoying it. I’ll attack the artwork I did of the player characters for folks to check it out.
One thing the core rules didn’t make totally clear to me was a default method for young NPCs to take Influence over PCs. I’ve been using “this young NPC takes Influence over you” as a hard move when players fail rolls like Assess or Comfort/Support outside of battle. I’ve also prompted my players to say whether a young NPC has Influence over them when the story suggests that NPC does.
How does this sound to other GMs in the group? And how have you approached young NPCs taking Influence over player characters?
Here is the art:
Sonia (The Bull)
Captain Bowmaster (The Beacon)
Torque (The Outsider)
Panic (The Delinquent)
and
Halfpenny (The Protégé), a guest star who may be joining the campaign and the team.
