Jump to content

STRONGHOLD -- What Do You Want To See?


Steve Long

Recommended Posts

Re: STRONGHOLD -- What Do You Want To See?

 

I'd love for the breakout scenario to get into how to run an extended Fugitive/Prison Break adventure. Chasin' after folks would be an interesting change for most campaigns. Also' date=' is there a particular paranormal they'd bring in to help out... like a dude named Bloodhound, or some great-at-finding-people mentalist?[/quote']

 

With maps of the escape route :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 74
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Re: STRONGHOLD -- What Do You Want To See?

 

Everything in the outline looks great, only other things I can think of are:

 

how are prisoners treated, all the same or is there a good behavior/bad behavior type structure in place. Are all the prisoners locked away in solitary, or do some of the better behaved ones help out in the infirmery.

 

Would there be a work detail, and how would you keep prisoners under control while on it. Power restraints of some sort?

 

How does visitation work

 

Mabee a short wrongfully imprisoned scenario in the GM'ing section where the players have to clear thier names while dealing with prison life and/or break out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Re: STRONGHOLD -- What Do You Want To See?

 

I got another idea from watching the supremax story on 60 Minutes last Sunday.

 

Public relations. What does the outside world know of Stronghold? Are pictures or interviews allowed? Does the public know who is being held there and why? Does the public even know Stronhold exists? I would imagine they do, but their perceptions may be completely wrong.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: STRONGHOLD -- What Do You Want To See?

 

It just occurred to me that it would be very cool to have one of the inmates be someone who's here because, even though he has no actual superpowers, he's just so incredibly adept at escaping every other prison in the Federal system (thanks to not-quite-superhuman Skills) that this is the only place that can hold him. This character could be statted out or not, but he could be at the center of the newly-reworked Escape From Stronghold as well as several other plots. Combine a masterful sleight-of-hand artistry with a Macchiavellian ability at manipulating others... and don't even give him a fancy costume or code-name. He's just Jakob Kowalski or whatever you want to call him, and he's as much a headache for the staff as any other inmate not in Hot Sleep.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: STRONGHOLD -- What Do You Want To See?

 

How does Stronghold cope with non-standard biologys and powers? In particular, an alien magic-worker? I wonder about this because Vitus, my own character, has a very good chance of ending up in Stronghold one of these days - no evil clones required.

 

Would the staff risk putting him in Hot Sleep given his non-human biochemistry? It could well be fatal - and how could they test it?

 

His abilities are quite easy restrained - just cuff his wrists behind his back and he's mostly helpless...And it's not as if he's going to TELL anybody how easily he can be disarmed.

 

And if they take all his gear off him he won't be able to speak the language, and taking his translator off without destroying it would require minor surgery (it's a one-piece earring)

 

On the other hand, if all powers are surpressed regardless of source, then Vitus would probably be be able to hold his own - he's a 7-foot-plus carnivore with long experience shoving long cylindrical objects - such as bronze staves, or in a pinch prison broomsticks - into places they're not supposed to go.

 

How many inmates would an imprisoned 'hero' have to maim (in self defence, allegedly) before they put him in solitary?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: STRONGHOLD -- What Do You Want To See?

 

It just occurred to me that it would be very cool to have one of the inmates be someone who's here because' date=' even though he has no actual superpowers, he's just so incredibly adept at escaping every other prison in the Federal system (thanks to not-quite-superhuman Skills) that this is the only place that can hold him. This character could be statted out or not, but he could be at the center of the newly-reworked [i']Escape From Stronghold[/i] as well as several other plots. Combine a masterful sleight-of-hand artistry with a Macchiavellian ability at manipulating others... and don't even give him a fancy costume or code-name. He's just Jakob Kowalski or whatever you want to call him, and he's as much a headache for the staff as any other inmate not in Hot Sleep.

 

Keyser Soze!

 

 

Sorry, I just have The Usual Suspects on the brain for some reason, even before you brought up the Machiavellian manipulator.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: STRONGHOLD -- What Do You Want To See?

 

It just occurred to me that it would be very cool to have one of the inmates be someone who's here because' date=' even though he has no actual superpowers, he's just so incredibly adept at escaping every other prison in the Federal system (thanks to not-quite-superhuman Skills) that this is the only place that can hold him. This character could be statted out or not, but he could be at the center of the newly-reworked [i']Escape From Stronghold[/i] as well as several other plots. Combine a masterful sleight-of-hand artistry with a Macchiavellian ability at manipulating others... and don't even give him a fancy costume or code-name. He's just Jakob Kowalski or whatever you want to call him, and he's as much a headache for the staff as any other inmate not in Hot Sleep.

 

I really like this idea--unfortunately it's too soon for me to award you Reputation for it. Make a note that I owe you, and I'll get you when I can.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: STRONGHOLD -- What Do You Want To See?

 

Possibly some guidelines for who gets assigned to stronghold and who doesn't. Do you have to have superpowers to get assigned there or will they assign a high end martial artist with no actual super powers? What about someone whose powers are all tech based? If you take the normal human out of the power armor, he's just a normal. Granted he might have some very unusual friends.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Re: STRONGHOLD -- What Do You Want To See?

 

Probably a bit late, but here are my suggestions:

 

Under "using SH in your campaign", I would like to see a discussion of using Stronghold in worlds with different legal systems. For example, if there is a law preventing a supervillain's identity from being revealed until his appeals are exhausted, how does Stronghold accommodate this? Is incarceration in a cell without time in the prison yard considered cruel and unusual punishment, even if the villain's powers can only be contained by the cell? Are there scanners that can be calibrated to a prisoner's DNA to track down escaped villains? Basically, a page that tackles legal scenarios that are different than the default environment of the CU.

 

Where is confiscated power armor held? In the genre, power armor villains eventually get away and recover their armor - something that is hard to do if the armor is a thousand miles away at some secret government laboratory. And what happens if someone gets arrested for the specific purpose of having their armor captured? One good timer system linked to a suit's nuclear power plant, a bit of high-tech wizardry...and the entire facility could blow up.

 

The part of the original Stronghold that still stands out in my mind is Ripper. At the time, the concept of extra Strength limited by charges, which he could use to force his way out of a cell, was quite innovative. I'm not asking for Ripper to make a return appearance (though I wouldn't mind if he did), but having a similar innovative villain would be good.

 

For robots...I'd like to see the high-end security robots take STUN. It allows them to have higher defenses versus being destroyed, while still allowing foes to take them down.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: STRONGHOLD -- What Do You Want To See?

 

Well way to late to be helpful, but an idea I had, a page or two about where to place it, the difference of having it:

 

(all of these have been in comics at one time or another)

1)In a city

2) in a dessert

3) On an island

4) The Neg...err umm I mean Other dimmension

5) Shunk to ant size

6) In orbit

7) Underwater

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: STRONGHOLD -- What Do You Want To See?

 

Log -- it's currently being written. ;)

 

Fedifensor -- Ripper already appears in VIPER, so he won't be making an appearance in Stronghold. However there are six new villains, including a couple of "old favorites." :eg: As for discussing different legal set-ups and situations, there is only so much I can do. I don't have the time or space to explore every possible ramification or use of the legal system and the way the GM can change it, but fortunately I think the information in Chapter One is thorough enough that a GM who wants to make changes can do so pretty easily himself.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: STRONGHOLD -- What Do You Want To See?

 

I'd like to see a bit on historical breakouts, how they were done, and what Stronghold did afterwards to make sure they didn't happen again.

 

I also assume that you're going to take the same generally optimistic and good interpretation of the Stronghold that you had before. Some sidebars could be added to demonstrate how stronghold could be made "darker" or "lighter" in tone. Such as replacing normal attacks with killing attacks on various weapon systems for the darker tone, and making all systems STUN only for a lighter tone.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: STRONGHOLD -- What Do You Want To See?

 

So an "Iron Heights" version of Stronghold. [ASIDE: Iron Heights was a Flash story a few years back. That was the prison for Supers in the Flash area. The warden dislikes Supers intensely. The prison is powered by an imprisoned energy generating villain, and other villains' powers are put to use by the prison officials.]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: STRONGHOLD -- What Do You Want To See?

 

Super Powered Guards

 

Sorry, none such exist. All Stronghold guards are ordinary humans. IMO it kind of spoils the fun of, and many uses of, a super-prison if you make the guards superhuman too.

 

But naturally, any GM is free to tweak things however he likes. ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: STRONGHOLD -- What Do You Want To See?

 

Sorry, none such exist. All Stronghold guards are ordinary humans. IMO it kind of spoils the fun of, and many uses of, a super-prison if you make the guards superhuman too.

 

But naturally, any GM is free to tweak things however he likes. ;)

 

Superpowered Femme Bot guards it is!:D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: STRONGHOLD -- What Do You Want To See?

 

I assume we'll be seeing lots of nice maps included, but I just want to add specifically that I'd like to see general grounds outside as well as inside.

 

The security devices and cells are amongst the things I'm really looking forward to. Along with these, however, I'd love to see a developmental timeline. What were the earliest devices? How many people died when they severely overestimated the strength of the shackles? When and how did they evolve to their current state? Who developed the technology? That kind of thing.

 

And I think you need to seriously reconsider the centerfold :winkgrin:

 

Ditto on the timeline. The centerfold speaks for iself.

 

The timeline information would be very useful for Pulp, Golden Age, and Silver Age games, and handy for folks not using the Champions Universe setting. For instance, I'm running a game where supers just recently appeared and early paranormal management technology would be just the thing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...