Mayday

Once a very long time ago in early Thor comics, they showed that Ragnarok happened but to the 'real' gods who died exactly as the mythology says they did. That Thor was red haired and bearded and wore dyed norse style animal skins while our Thor is blonde wearing high quality gear. That was how his Asgard escaped Ragnarok destruction, because they were not 'the Gods'. I dont know what they are instead but I think that was debated 3 pages ago.

The way I always remember Thor came from the Secret Wars. There was a big ole storm going on and everyone was inside quaking in their booties that their base might be destroyed, Storm was trying to mitigate the worst damage and clearly losing on her last power reserves (back when the X-Men were insufferably cool), and then you see Thor on the roof outside like he was standing in a bathroom shower having the time of his life because y'know, Storm is just a mortal who used to claim she was a goddess, Thor is the real thing.

We defeated Dr Destroyer by having my mentalist/gadgeteer sneak in while the other heroes distracted him, and hotwire the mega computer controlling the warheads. Dr D didnt think he could take that kind of damage coming down on his head and fled. She defeated Eurostar in much the same way. Many many danger room sessions against Eurostar, Pantera ripped her entrails out as her first action, before Mayday got to move so when the real fight came she locked herself in the jet cockpit and while the rest of the team ran around with the usual one on one, sniped from the cockpit. She now has Le Son on a Disad, to kill her on sight and Mentalla isnt very happy either. (Mayday's ego blast is 7d6 armor piercing, it hurts no matter who you are) Durok and Pantera were captured and tied up, the rest took off. We followed them to where Mentalla and Le Son and the rest were holed up, inside an underground military base theyd taken over. Mistress Death had an Ego Blast AE, and so she would zap the area and whoever was still standing Mayday would drop on the same phase.

Everyone in my gaming group has run something at one time or another, and as most GMs know, the players never do what you expect them to do. What have they done to you? Or you done to your GM? When I left for college I wrapped up the superhero storyline I'd been running against these two heroes and return on break to find that theyd re-started it, bringing back Evil Evil Blayne (the clone of Evil Blayne, a Texas redneck thug). Evil Evil Blayne was a Sherrif and the complete opposite of his clone brother Evil Blayne. One of my lesser NPCs was a housewife, Evil Blayne's wife who hung out with the villains and had the superpower to make her index finger glow. (just glow, really. Blue) It transpired that while in the bathtub listening to country radio the radio fell in and electrocuted him. Sherrif Blayne suspected the wife had done him in and tried to arrest her, starting a plotline that lasted till I got home again next summer, of Sherrif Blayne and a camera crew (Channel 5 LIVE!) chasing her to the Mexican border from New York City. Several of my other NPCs were eaten by sewer monsters. One took over El Salvador (El SALVOdor) and another Costa Rica (CYBERica) declaring war on each other... The other one is more of an accident and a learning experience. My very first time running a game, with the same two players who had never played before was in the Dr Who system. I had this big story ready about collecting pieces of an artifact and defeating the Master etc etc. They landed on an ice world, a Time Lord and his Companion. The Time Lord rolled practical joker for a personality trait so he darts outside first. The Companion follows a minute later, a burly guy who liked to carry guns at all times, and zero sense of humor. Time Lord hides around the corner of the police box and trips the Companion as he comes out then uses his last Action Point to laugh at his Companion. The Companion gets up (2 APs), pulls a gun (1 AP) and shoots the Time Lord in each kneecap, and then walks away on his remaining APs to do the adventure solo. Time Lord electrocutes himself to escape the pain while the Companion slips climbing a glacier and kills himself. Game over in ten minutes. Luckily we got better.

My telekinetic threw him through a 40th story wall, and held him as she rammed him into the pavement far below. I was pretty pleased with myself until 2 turns later when Im standing in front of the elevator doors, they open (on a speed 1 with a dex of LAST) and a really pissed Mechanon on a held action nails her from behind with surprise and no held action. But, that is still our group record for taking out Mechanon even if it wasnt for long.

I had to take down Batman once. Failed once. Draw the second. Fighting Bats, how cool a plotline it is....! I like complicated plots and so all I can think to do is come up with the hugest, most complex plot ever designed to keep him always on the move. Wear him out with fatigue, you're undead. Have you considered the benefits of a citywide riot? Start dismantling his contacts, his allies (if any). Fake HIS death and let the other supervillains add to the chaos by coming out to play. Hire a hot hacker to dream up more trouble. Have multiple goals so that there IS no one thing for him to figure out. Make a chart with 100 slots full of random things you can do. Its random, you're going to need that. Good luck. Seriously. If hes a well played Batman, you're going to lose.

Cramming. They may study all they like but its not going to 'stick' for long...

Hey Shrike, you got a website for Jon? I added the url of this thread to Wraithes website for later reference. She is my PRIMUS agent, and I like Nick Fury. :-)

One of my early games as a GM the villains took a liking to the heroes. Invited them to all her high society social events knowing that their code of chivalry would not let them attack first. Some of the more high spirited (and young) villains on her roster lured the heroes out on a call and kept them busy all day long, and when the heroes finally got home that night all the lights were on in their two story house and it had been sealed then turned into a giant fishtank. ALMOST broke his code of chivalry, but he ended up staying the night at the villainess's mansion while the intrepid ones responsible put everything back to rights.

I'd think Seattle a good place for a game with Microsoft right there. I was in a WoD game set just north of here and so researched the area a bit. Its nice. Also, Silicon Valley/California. They have useful resources and good climate, plus Hollywood is just over there for hiring staff to memorialize your epic takeover of the world. With a good movie or two, you might even become popular in the process. Wouldn't the heroes just hate that.....

One more idea. I wasn't part of this but got to watch, most of our team got transported to the Jurassic and abandoned, a one way trip. The GM intended it as a finale to the game and so had no plan in mind for them to get out of this. They spent weeks of intensive brainstorming working out and discarding plans to present to him, and their chosen plan was pretty good. They got back to the present with only a few weeks having passed. Another do or die time was when I was forced to defend our base all alone from a PSI invasion while the rest were off dealing with what we later realized were diversions. I got to set up the base defenses, set traps in the corridors, fight off computer hackers... it was pretty cool and couldnt be done successfully with the old hack n slash gameplay.

Hero, do you think it would help if in the next campaign the reactive guys played sidekicks of the active guys? If the Follower is their preferred style this would let them do that and be accepted as such. We had a girl who insisted that she had fun but everytime we played she'd be in the other room reading a book, or asleep at the table. We didn't know what to do to get her interested either, I always thought she was there for the company and would have been just as happy to not play at all, just be in the room with her book or pillow.

Harry, if they are happy reacting, let them react. Or give it a try and see if my method gets them to thinking about their characters and working them out a bit more so that they develop into proactive players. Can't hurt. I've always thought it would be fun if two unrelated heroes with DNPCs found those DNPCs carrying on a romance on the side, and even marrying. And the first fight. And the baby.... That would definately get some reactions going on, especially if the heroes knew who each other were and didn't get along. There may be other Disads you can use to tie characters together and get them talking. The more active players might be encouraged to take the reactive types in. In one group I was in the musclebound freak decided that the rest of us werent in as good shape as we could/should be even tho most of us neared or surpassed Normal Human maximums... so he turned into the Gym Teacher from hell during downtimes. Jogging, pushups, diet, he was merciless. Another game I played a 16 year old girl, and we started off with the guys (generally hardbitten Soldier of Fortune merc types or stealthy Yakuza assassins) took her out to a nightclub for her birthday and then had to chaperone her against what they considered to be bad influences, or else kids they simply took a dislike to. Of course, a vampire and the Monster kidnapped her off the dancefloor leading to a merry chase, but it was interesting to put these guys into a situation they would never be in on their own. In a similar vein another PC drug the entire team (in civvies) to a cheap biker bar to hear his favorite garage band play. Have the reactive type players select 2-3 adjectives to describe themselves. Dr Who the RPG had a good list for this and taught us alot about how to RP. One early character rolled up 'practical joker' which the player was not. But he soon realized that RP let him be more than himself without negative social consequences. The two guys I began playing with in the beginning almost always played polar opposites and became each other's arch nemesis. That sparked alot of RP too. Time travel (or the illusion of it) can also lead to interesting RP, as can losing your powers. In one Dr Who game we were on a space station and you had to check all weapons before being allowed on. When trouble started you could almost hear brain cells sizzling as they got very creative. Powers are sometimes a crutch that way. Block them from using their abilities for a session or two.

I always start off with "So, you wake up in the morning. Looks like rain/sun/snow/foggy out, what do you do?" We always have ideas in our head about what our character does or would like to do, and so I let them work on it and splice in my plot as we go. Sometimes theirs is better so I go with theirs instead. Take each aside as necessary through the week to rp with them till a point when they all can come together at our next session. This style only works if your players are very active though. Or motivated, perhaps competing with each other.

Some teams and some characters are just doomed. Dice hate them. So I had this female Magneto heroine. She had souped up flight speed and there was this villainess that we could NOT defeat, or even touch although the GM swears she was nothing special. The whole series of encounters with her were messed up, but my personal 'moment' came when I was being chased by half a dozen military style helicopters armed with missiles and machine guns through a very tight canyon maze. Not enough room to get up to speed and pull out of range while carrying my team mate (an armored brick) so I used him as a body shield (he was unconscious from the last fight with her) and eventually got shot down because it never occurred to me that all I had to do was fly UP.

Interesting story March Warden. I do not know what to say to help you feel better except cliches, however true they are. Life goes on and so will you. Look again at your data, see if you can find the error and if you cannot then move on to the future. You have much to do and my prayers go with you. You may want to disguise Eternia as a new heroine if at all possible, fake a new gimmick and look for her to deceive your enemies at least a little while. Have you tried hypnotism? I hear that persons can develop new voices and accents under its influence. My powers have a unique visible aura to them so I could not be disguised, but perhaps she can be. For Heartseeker I recommend armor. Did wonders for me. Bon chance. Mayday

Crisis on Infinite Earths anyone? The multiverse begins collapsing upon itself due to something happening in our or another universe. Some universes are magic intensive, some tech intensive. Meanwhile 'our' starting universe is humdrum normal, when weirdness begins happening. Heroes get wrapped up in or come out of these other places, during this flux time weird origins occur or visitors from the other universes pass on their powers to normals here. Some fall into universes with different time flow rates or time eddies perhaps while only minutes, days or hours pass here. The crisis ends, these people are stuck with the powers and remnants of that time.

I have a PRIMUS agent as well, created for one of Shelley's games way back when. http://www.geocities.com/cyn_starwars/bio/Wraithe.htm When I first started in Champions our GM have us 250 for stats and stuff, then 10 bonus skills free. Pure skills like KS, PS, language, Mechanics, Combat Driving, all the 3 pt stuff or less pretty much. These helped tremendously to give us background skills and everyone had them. The 'younger' characters may have things like french in high school, or combat driving (video games), mechanics (shop class) and so on that help them even out to Agent John, and its kind of nice. The other thing I'd suggest is that the Cyberline didnt work perfectly on him, hes only half Silver Avenger. The powers only work part of the time or just not as effectively, and the leftover points trimmed go towards his mega skill list. Nick Fury is a great character and I love PRIMUS. Would love to hear how this character works out in your games.

I use standard D&D and Warhammer figs and modify them with an Exacto Knife as necessary.

Mayday: American Valor - I never knew how many muscles a man could have and they all look gorgeous. I don't think he knows how good looking he really is. Thoughtful, brave, stoic in the face of imminent death. Maybe not the most brilliant mind but he is good with people and as much trouble as followed us, we needed a full time PR person... AV, what can you say about this man. When he dies, the leaders of great nations will stand at his grave. Great poets and songwriters will immortalize him far better than I ever could. He truly IS a hero, by being himself. We are all better for having known him. Night Warden - What I wouldn't give to train under this man. The best strategic mind we had. Very intense but not AV intense. This was stare into your soul intense (but not stare into your soul like Eclipse staring into your soul). I knew all about him from old tapes but he supposedly died before I met the team. Turns out he didn't so the only time I actually met him was through our computer duel, but the quickness of his mind, the challenge you provided, it was a deep honor and privelage to have beaten you Night Warden. Prime Directive - You're sure hes not in the room? Ok. I think he's crazy. No really. I know he regenerates from anything but he still feels pain. He really scares me, this guy will do absolutely anything because it won't matter. Then there's the time he got replaced by a ninja robot and noone could tell the difference. I mean, he doesn't SAY much. He just looks at you. Its creepy. Now I know why you went to the nightclub with us though. The most human I ever knew you and you were a robot out to betray us. I trusted you. Not fully of course, but you and the Flamerider robot set me up good. Kudos to you. I respect that. I just can't respect the real you. You're going to get someone killed, even if it isn't you. I can't accept that. Giga-Watt - How could you not like Giga-Watt. Nice guy. Could be the only team member besides AV that didn't radiate 'Assassin' on first meeting (and every meeting after that). We hung out in the games room quite a bit. He made me feel like I wasn't alone in the US. Flame Rider - I don't understand the American James Dean fascination, or rebel biker fetish. Neither of us ever said much to the other. I guess he was closest to my age but he just wasn't someone I'd hang out with. Life has rules, I accept them and I don't think he was quite ready to... but he is dead and I'm sorry about that. He wasn't a bad person. Just not someone I had anything in common with. Eclipse - Erm, there isn't much TO say about the avatar of the egyptian moon god. I respect other religious beliefs and the other gods that exist... what do I say. I wish you well? I don't know what to say to a God. I have strong religious convictions and feel I can talk to my God, but this is different. A different god. It feels wrong. I'm sorry.

In my town, this would have to be a Skilled Normal. And not too Skilled or he'd have left. I present to you.... HAWG By day a local tech college student majoring in tv repair and car repair. Hawg was forced to work summer jobs for cash to afford a thirdhand car and gas money. Baling hay, fast food industry, supermarket bagger... Until one night driving home drunk he ran off the road and crashed into a mega pig farm. Drowning in pig sewage Hawg pulled himself out of the mud and collapsed. The weird chemical mixture of pig goo and chemicals from uneaten bio-engineered food pellets gave him SUPER POWERS! Specifically Methane cloud production. Using his technical training Hawg built a gun to trigger a spark, which in combination with his powers can create explosions. Without the spark, the stench alone can drop medium sized cows. When using his flamethrower he must say (postal glint in his eyes) "I said DO YOU WANT FRIES WITH THAT?!?"

My first GM built Mayday (a human mentalist) with ego powers on the limitation OAF (-1) Head.

Vanguard... went after a time machine guy reputed to be on a huge oil tanker sailing the Gulf of Mexico. They snuck on board at night and made their way to the hold where they detected a monster power source operating. They entered a large metal room and disabled a bomb or something there then turned to go. When they opened the door, the outer room was not there, just a wall of white. One stuck a sword into it and the blade disappeared. They shot at it with energy blasts, threw shuriken but nothing damaged it. Then, it disappeared. They left the room, the ship was gone and nothing but Jurassic forests for miles. The whole thing was a ruse to get them there to be gotten rid of. Luckily one was an immortal Egyptian God of the moon, another Batman the gadgeteer, and yet another a lightning Energy Blaster with Scientist skills. Between them they rigged up a battery, mined metals and forged parts that had burnt out, scavenged their gear and rebuilt the Time Machine. The game actually ended with them in the past and they spent weeks plotting how to get out of that fix cause the GM wouldnt run them until they found a way. Very motivated players :-)

So True. I almost always bump my females up at least a point (12 is pretty, 14 is cute, 16 is very cute, 18 is eyecatching, 20 is an absolute vamp) but the guys invariably tag their females at 16+. One game we had 3 females and 1 guy (a big strong brick). I wanted a total knockout that time and went for 20 COM with a 20 PRE, and so did they. All 3 of us. *smacks head on the table* The team chatter was.... interesting. Whenever we went anywhere invariably as each left the team plane or met the Mayor they did a COM/PRE Attack to be the ONE considered most beautiful. At least the costumes were fairly tasteful although mine was a hot red fine chain mesh bodysuit with cleavage and a humongous cape for emphasis.... That was my female Magneto character, she had that Instant Change trick he had of sucking his costume on, and definately had a chest upgrade from my usual, plus long flowing blonde hair and blue eyes, no mask.

I forgot... ....Vegeance (not mine). Her day job (night job) was as a coroner in a Dark Champions campaign but something happened where her civilian self was believed to be and so she is now believed dead and exists only as her hero ID. Was for the best, she's got enough to do.