Rich McGee

I am not certain what you are asking, Doc,but I _think_ you are asking if the clock still euns when the heroes aren't around.
 
If that is the case, then yes; I do that.  If I decide that Event happens fifteen minutes after the players so The Thing, then whether they get to the Event or not, it happens, and yes; it can radically alter the direction of the game in an instant, but as long as everyone remains on board with it, I don't expect to stop doing it.
 
Now to be fair, the "timer" I use isn't terribly strict, but I do not pause time in the rest of the universe because the  players have decided there is an invisible observer somewhere in the completely empty room, and spend twenty minutes here looking for him.
 
Or you know- whatever the situation may be.  You really do _not_ need a complicated plot.  Say the "main plot"- or rather, the ideal run through of the scenario- might consist of perhaps four linear scenes.  Then add two layers behind those scenes of what the adversaries are doing to move events along.
 
The players Will complicate it for you; I promise.
 
And when they talk about it later, they invariably want to know how you come up with such intricrate plots over and over again....
 
 
 

The Sentinels game almost requires this kind of detail for every scene.  The published scenarios have this summary in there for every scene the publisher envisages.
 
I was reading it, initially, not sure if I appreciated the explicit hand-holding or resented the handcuffs it was putting on my (and the players) creativity.
 
I have come down on the former side. I like the detail and structure it provides. It gives a great insight into the author's mind of what is going on and demands the author put that detailed thought into it.
 
Timers are front and centre in the game.  Every encounter has a timer, which has Green, Yellow and Red zones and certain powers are only available to heroes and villains if either the environmental (or personal health) counters are in the yellow or red zones.
 
Like Blades in the Dark, you can have several timers running at once and I reckon they will add to the pacing of encounters and the session.  When you tell players they can access their yellow powers, even when their health is in the green zone, it means things are getting tight.  Access to red powers, things are getting critical.
 
It is something HERO does not provide in any form at all.  However, having this explicit structuring of encounters in published adventures, I think, would be a great thing, no?
 
Doc

Sentinels is an interesting game.  I've read it but not played it.  I do not structure my plots to that extent because I find players usually have very different ideas from me about what they should be doing next.
 
I usually write quite an extensive background, so I know what has happened already, and how we got here (the last one I did started, "20 billion years ago, the Scourge had annihilated every other sentient species in the Universe and so, naturally, turned on each other..." - I was quite pleased with that*) and a skeleton of what I think is going to happen, if everything goes according to plan (HA!).  Then I build a bunch of characters I think I might need, dream up a few red herrings and just have at it.  Most of the play is Theatre of the Mind, or whiteboard, but I will clear the floor and set up piles of books and stuff and use miniatures for the big fights.
 
*Most of my 'plot/backstory' never actually turns up in the game, but I feel better knowing it is there if someone asks a pertinent question.

It's an interesting idea. So maybe set up an adventure like:
 
To the Foxbat Cave
OO   Uncover clues to where Foxbat Cave is (-3 to rolls)
O      Confront and Defeat Leroy the Exo-Skeleton Man 
OOO Interrogate Leroy as to Foxbat's Scheme. Each success grants 1 info statement.
OO    Find the two bombs (-2 to rolls)
O       Confront & Defeat Foxbat
 
Give 1 XP for each successful plot point. 
 
Each point has to be achieved before the next can be used. 

In Sentinels, each of your steps would be broken down as above, in the uncover clues section you might set up the scene to provide a couple of ways you envisage they might find those clues or what actions might turn them up, which means thinking, even in sketchy terms, of who or what holds the clues.
 
It is a decent way to structure things for folk who are not confident of winging their way through with a decent idea, a glib tongue and a few scraps of paper with some numbers on. 🙂 

It definitely has some merit. By listing a modifier, it gives a task some difficulty rating to some extent. Maybe this would be good at the beginning of an adventure section in a kind of summary, while expanding on it within the adventure itself?

Someone mentioned that a guy had got 150 commissions from him. Pity he ain't got the cash to get some more. 

Amusing.  Good reminder of why we use dice.

It's stating the obvious, but some defenses?  Could just be your basic resistant costume, could be more obvious armor or a force field, could be cybernetic subdermal plating, or a mix of any of those.  Maybe some sensory defenses as part of her (I assume cybernetic) enhanced senses.
 
Like the multi-mode wolf gauntlet, that's pretty neat.

Well, to think up Fenris, the daughter of Falcho and commander of his agent groups.
 
1) I need a good name for her secret identity (considering she actually keeps one). A good female Danish name, which of course I am not qualified to give her. She might give it as "Fenris Falchodoter", but that obviously isn't her birth name.
 
2) Think of weapons.
          As part of her costume, her right gauntlet can change into a wolves head which has three 'modes'. One is a wolf head clugel (Hand-to-hand Attack). Two is it opening it's jaws and clamping down (Melee Killing Attack, Contanious, plus a linked +STR only to grab). Third is a limited ice generator blast when it's fully opened.
          Cybernetic Strength and Reaction Enhancers.
          Enhanced Senses.
          Cybernetic leaping.
 
Is there anything else which I should add?
 
 

Thanks, Tribble; it's back up.
 
Alas, I am very pressed for time, but to get things rolling:
 
Sandy Mitchel had the worst luck ever.  "Let's go skiing!"  He said.  "It'll be fun!" He said.  "You're from the northern US, right?  You know how to ski, right?"
 
"Yes, and _heck yes_!" She lied.  She and Tony had only been dating for six weeks, but she wasnt going to turn down an opportunity to spend a weeked at one of those swanky ski resorts, no, Sir!
 
She had really believed Tony just wanted to get away, with her, for the weekend.  She figured she wouldn't have too much trouble talking him into meals, enjoying that lounge with that massive fireplace, watching the snow, and heading back to their room for... "a while."
 
Who'd'a thought the big lug actually wanted to _ski_?!
 
So here she was,Hell and Gone from the main trail, ankle-deep in a crevice.  That sounded better than it actually was, what with her being upside down and all.
 
"Crevice" wasn't accurate at all.  She wasn't sure where she was in relation to the trail: as soon as she went over the side and saw the forest racing toward her, she instinctively wrapped her arms around her head.  She remembered screaming "pizza! Pizza! Pizza! Pizza!" Over and over again, but for the life of her, she couldn't figure out why. 
 
She looked up-  err, _down_.  Down, just a little bit above her.  Hey; that's probably why she couldn't remember what yelling 'pizza!' was supposed to do.  That... That was a lot of blood.  There was a small puddle of it; like being ankle-deep in snow, 'a small puddle of blood' didn't sound bad on the outset, not until one got around to wondering how much more had soaked into the snow below.  
 
She was keenly aware of the wet warm, sensations at the her left arm, her lower right leg, and most worrisomely, the back of her head.  There were lumps in the snow, she noticed.  She had no idea what that meant,  but it did cause her to wonder several worrisome things about her head wound.
 
She was becoming dizzy and nauseous- more, she hoped, from being upside down for who-knows-how-long than from blood loss.  She spent a considerable amount of time tryng to decide if she was okay with dying like this or if she felt she should add some sort of struggle to her last few minutes of life.
 
Finally, human nature decided for her.  She was cold.  Too cold.  She wasn't going to die that way; it was too miserable.  Besides, there was light in this small... Crevice?  Cave?  Ravine?  This place.  Lots of rocks; lots of snow, but pretty decent light.  There was probably a way- maybe even several ways- out of here.  Just her luck to be stuck in the only tight spot.
 
She began to try to pull herself free of the snow and earth that wedged her in place, just a few feet from the snow below her. She felt the agony of her broken bones and stopped struggling.  "Screw it" she thought.  "I'll die cold."
 
But her bad luck held.  No sooner had she stopped wiggling and twisting than a bit of the soil that held her broke free and dropped defiantly to the ground beneath her.  "Well screw you, too!"  she yelled to the fist-sized lump of loam.  
 
Then a second bit broke free and dropped.  She stared at them in anger.  After a few drops of her precious blood had begun to paint them, her anger exploded. "Well?  What are you waiting for?  You're free!"  She waited for a response.  When it became clear that none was coming, she yelled again. "Run, you cowards!  Go on; get out of here!  I don't need you!  We don't need you!  Go!!"  Then there was a hard blow to the back of her head, so sharp as to send her senses into a nauseating spin, then a soft 'plompf' hit the snow below her.  A fist-sized stone stared at her.   She glared hatefuly at it.  "Couldn't just _leave_, could you?  Couldn't just roll on out of here without tacking a crack at me, could you?!  Well we I don't need you, either!  Take your friends and go, you _traitor_!"
 
Then a pebble fell.
 
Then another.
 
Then another and another and another and in seconds there was a small avalanche of gravel and loose soil and she felt her body shift slightly...
 
"No!  Not all of you!  You can't _all_ love him more!  You can't just _leave_ me-"
 
Then the cascade became deafening as stone and soil and even snow showered around her and suddenly she was _pushed_ forcefully down to the blood-soaked cavern floor by the weight of the mass collapsing around her.  She caught sight of what looked like an entire tree falling toward her.  "Hunh." she thought with bemusement.  "It really does happen in slow motion."  She watched as the massive, half-rotten old tree chased her downward, slowly rotating-
 
Then there was a microscopic instant of pain beyond all imagination.  Then there was nothing at all.
 
 
_Activated_.  
 
_Prepare for possible intrusion; source unknown._
 
_Affirmative.  Security measures_?
 
_Biological_.
 
_Xenoid_?
 
_Unclear_.
 
_Anticipated_?
 
_Kahree seeding party approximately six-thousand cunahr overdue._
 
_Request verification_
 
_Nine Kahree seeders attempted to introduce lab-designed biologicals into the environment for the purpose of improving local stock.  This party disembarked approximately six thousand cuhnar ago.  This party has not returned_.
 
_Verify time statement_.
 
_Cannot comply_.
 
_Reason_?
 
_Geological upheaval five-point-one-six cuhnar ago partially buried this one.  Minor damage to this one's structure, but many memory crystals were taken offline.  Status unknown.  Drone repairs inneffective in recovering lost function.  Second geological upheaval four-point-nine cuhnar ago.  Additional functions lost, including many control centers for maintenance drones.  Primary function intact:  await and assist Kahree.  Defend self from invasion by local biologicals.  Maintenance drones prevent loss of self due to corrosive and other hazardous local conditions.  Little other function remains: primary maintenance is focused on those devices for maintaining Kahree crew_.
 
_Confirm location and identification beacons of Kahree crew_.
 
_Cannot comply_.
 
_Reason_?
 
_identification beacons ceased broadcasting five-point-nine-nine-seven-four cuhnar ago.  Note that said beacons had not moved for several desci prior to cessation of beacons.
 
_Confirm Kahree life span_.
 
_Medical subroutines report average Kahree life span of one-hundred thirty-two desci, or point zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero four cuhnar_.
 
_Anticipated invasion is Kahree seeding party_?
 
_Unknown.  Be advised that boarding party may be Kahree seeding party_.
 
_Affirmative.  Known hostile xenobiologicals_?
 
_Exterminate and sterilize_.
 
_Nature of potential invaders_?
 
_Uncertain.  Initial testing of biological samples excreted by subject prior to entry demonstrate Kahree DNA_.
 
_Seeding party has returned_?
 
_Potentially_.
 
 
Computers and robots lack a certain something.   That lack allows them to remain optimistic in spite of some cut and dried facts.
 
_Location of intruder_?
 
_Airlock Seven.  This one granted access on the basis of Kahree DNA.  Damage to that portion of self prevents further examination.  Security drone 171 activated to assess and dispatch appropriate action_.
 
_Affirmative.  Online.  Proceeding to airlock seven_.
 
A four-foot tall cylinder of gleaming metal rose on four spider legs and clicked its way down an unlit corridor.  _Security deployed_.
 
_Medical drones as available await orders_.
 
_Deploy medical drones for assessment_.
 
_Drones deployed.  Additional security drones being brought online_.
 
_Size of intruder's party_?
 
_One.  Potentially disabled_.
 
_Deploy reinforcement security drones_.
 
_Deployed_.
 
 
 
"There is a waiting room" Sandy thought with wry amusement.  Even death had a schedule.  She thought back to the agony of dragging herself through the crevice for who knows how far or how long.  She'd have just given up if it hadn't been for that weird dog.  She had begun to realize that she had been crawling steadily downward; the edges of the crevice now seemed miles above her-  though that could be delirium, too.  Either way, she wasn't getting up those walls.  Even in good health, she wasn't particularly athletic.  Why should she be?!  She was attractive, financially-secure, and reasonably intelligent.  She never had any problems finding someone to lift a box or fetch her car in the rain.  She had absolutely no reason to lift cows or climb rocks in her spare time!  "Well," she thought, "at least I outran those damned rocks!  Serves them right!"  As a bonus, she realized the bleeding had stopped.  Tentative probing with the fingers on her good hand suggested the blood had frozen into a sort of bandage.  That was fine; at least it didn't hurt anymore.
 
Then there was light in the distance- a square of reddish-orange light had slid into existence ahead of her, and something had crept out.  Purposefully, it began to trot towards her.  As it neared, she managed to work out that it was roughly dog-sized.  Eh. Maybe she just decided it was dog-sized.  It was-  okay, maybe she just decided it was dog-shaped, and it probably didn't matter how many legs it had, since nobody _really_ knew how many legs a dog had anyway.  So it was just a wierd plastic-and-metal dog.   
 
It had used it dog's hand-like pincer mandible to sieze her by the scruff of her coat and a couple of it's doggy tentacles to wrap around and support her head and injured limbs.  She was grateful for her constant cycle of blacking out; she was certain it was saving her some pain.  She was becoming frustrated by the repeated cycling into consciousness, though.  Pain, delirium, waves of nausea.  
 
The wierd dog sat her down here, in this antiseptic waiting room.  The walls were... Warm.  Hard, metallic, but warm.  The red-orange light glowed from the ceiling as a whole, giving the illusion of having no source at all.  For just a moment, she was under a warm red-orange sun, sunning herself in her metalic back yard.  Then she remembered the walls and she was back in this clerkless waiting room.  The warmth was bringing back more pain, and scratching an itchy scalp proved that her head-  oh my god!  What was that in her hand?!  
 
A door slid open in a featureless wall.  She blinked at the wingless angel that clicked and skittered into the room and stopped just out or reach.  She stared at it.  It remained motionless.  It made no sound.  Then there was the faintest mechanical whirr and it shrieked.  It made a blood-curdling, horrific screeching noise that tore through her peceptions and threatened to jelly her eyes.  She attempted to cover her head, to curl into a ball, but there were too many things broken and battered in her body.  All she could do was gasp and sob for the eternity that the not-an-angel shrieked at her.
 
'Hell.'  She thought.  'One stupid skiing trip and I did and go to Hell.  Why couldn't this happen at work?  During one of those stupid department meetings?  Or budget analysis?  And where's my dog?  Does he have to go, too?  He was a good dog!  He tried to save me.  'Course, he _did_ drag me to the waiting room for Hell..'
 
"Hey!" She yelled to what she now understood the be a demon.  "Take that damned dog!  This was his idea!"
 
_Dispatch medical immediately_.
 
_Contact has been made_?
 
_Affirmative.  Records in transit for review_.
 
_Security programming sufficient for declaring medical emergency_?
 
_Intruder is non-symmetrical.  Known asymmetrical Kahree_?
 
_This one has no awareness of such.  No symmetry_?
 
_No bilateral symmetry.  No trilateral symmetry.  No quadrilateral symmetry.  No pentilateral symmetry--_
 
_Sufficient.  No known beings exhibit symmetry beyond pentilateral_.
 
_Kahree symmetry_?
 
_Bilateral.  Subject confirmed Kahree_?
 
_Unable to assess.  Medical assessment required_.
 
_Dispatch medical_?
 
_Dispatch medical_.
 
_Urgency_?
 
_Immediate.  Unable to achieve contact.  Subject appears to have lost capacity for speech; no repsonse to request for identification.  Considering asymmetry, physical damage to biological is possible_.
 
_Deformity_?
 
_Unknown.  Secretions have increased.  Estimation of volume of biological suggests this rate of secretion is unsustainable_.
 
_Explanation_?
 
_Biological was questioned extensively_.
 
_Ascertained_?
 
_Reference initial inability to achieve communication_.
 
_Done.  Medical has been dispatched_.
 
Two smaller openings appeared in another wall.  Two disk-shaped machines floated into the airlock.
 
'More demons?' Sandy thought as she observed the floating objects.  They circled her before pausing briefly.  One of them split slightly, then seemed to instantly become thicker-  some sort of instant growth spurt that doubled its thickness.  Coils unwound from around it and begun to float and probe the air.  The second one twisted at the midsection, then shrieked and screamed at her as the first monster had done.  She screamed to, but in blind terror; she had no idea what else to do.
 
The first disk was reaching for her thirty tentacles, maybe more.  Lights played from some, sounds from others.  A few more begun to lightly touch and probe here and there, eliciting fresh screams where some parts were more tender, and others were in absolute agony-  some parts were in so much pain that she didnt even notice the handful of tenticles that were peircing her flesh here and there, probing deeper into her.
 
_Analysis_?
 
_Specify_?
 
_Is the intruder Kahree_?
 
_Kahree DNA has been detected_.
 
_Intruder is Kahree_?
 
_Many components of DNA differ from known Kahree parameters_.
 
_Subject contains Kahree DNA_.
 
_Subject is biological experiment from seeding party_?
 
_Cannot determine.  Insufficient information on file regarding seed project biological specimens_.
 
_Subject has Kahree DNA_.
 
_Confirmed.  Continue with examination_?
 
_Confirmed.  Treat as Kahree.  Ascertain nature of biological.  Determine threat_.
 
_Cannot comply_.
 
_Reason_?
 
_Subject appears to be unable to hear.  Subject makes no attempt to communicate_.
 
_Reason_?
 
_Extensive damage to cranium; brain exposed.  Additional extensive damage to body.  Brain damage expected.  Fluid loss appears critical.  Probability is subject will cease_.
 
_Subject known to contain Kahree DNA.  Do not allow cessation.  Treat as Kahree_.
 
_Priority_?
 
_Total_.
 
_Affirmative_.
 
Another demon entered- squat and round like the first one, but on wheels- well, balls of a sort.  Several limbs extended outward from it and stabbed into Sandy's body.  The pain was biblical, but stopped almost instantaneously-- the two tenticles stabbing into her brain may have had a lot to do with that.
 
As the machine trundled closer, she could see some sort of twisted gremlin on its surface- a grotesquery straight from a horror movie.  It wasn't until she saw one of the floating disk-demons move in behind it that she realized she was seeing her reflection.  A remote part of her subconsciousness objectively noted that most of her face seemed to be missing.  She had a brief moment to try to remember where she had left it before the large demon- the first one- moved closer, reaching for her with limbs that sprang from its cylindrical body.  Then even her abysmal luck felt guilty for what it had done, and she died.
 
 
 
_Status_?
 
_Biological subject continues_.
 
_Status of current host body_?
 
_Transplant contraindicated.  Subject is or is descended from Kahree hybridization experiment.  Outcomes known for Kahree irrelevant.  No known outcomes for hybridized species_.
 
_Extent of intervention_?
 
_Fluid loss of primary concern.  New integumentary system synthesized and bonded to fascia.  Fascia deemed insufficient for both bonding and servicing integument and for protecting vital systems of subject.  New fascia tissues synthesized and bonded to subject.  Non-Kahree DNA subroutines rewritten to support and maintain both fascia and integument.  Both synthetic tissues will be nurtured and replicated by subject biological without undue stress on existing systems.
 
Number of limbs uncertain; skeletal and circulatory analysis suggests bilateral symmetry to be the norm for this subject; that norm has been restored.
 
Subject presented with numerous elements of skeletal and ligaments support structure shattered or otherwise damaged, suggesting insufficient adaptation for local conditions.  Damaged skeletal, ligamental, and muscular elements repaired.  Improved musculature DNA has been encoded; ligaments will regrow stronger and more securely attached to skeletal components.  Synthetic skeletal compounds and lattice work have been infused with existing structure; subject DNA encoded to allow continued repair and production of these elements is ongoing; expected to be completed before maintenance cycle.  Production of circulatory fluid and immune-responsive circulatory components briefly impaired.  As original biological cells complete their functioning cycles and are replaced with new synthetics, this impairment will diminish.  Strongly positive outcome expected.
 
Circulatory system repaired; improved fascia and integument negates need for improvement in this system.  
 
Of high concern is the loss of flesh, bone, and neurological tissue due to extensive damage to the cranium.  One of a pair of light-sensing organs was lost and replaced with an improved vat-grown biological designed by modifying DNA found in the surviving mated organ.  This study required destruction of the surviving organ; it, too, was replaced.  Design alterarions included adjustments for light conditions presumed prevalent in native environment, as ascertained by studying the area in which the subject was found.
 
The sensory cluster of olfactory receptors deemed too exposed for temperature and atmospheric conditions found in native environment.  No data for this hybrid is available.  Self-healing was deemed logical, though DNA shows that subject requires a nasal lattice work that will not reconstruct before all telemeres are split, causing subject to cease.  DNA altered to effect accelerated healing process and telemere replication.  Telemere replication only partially successful, but facial lattice work and superstructure should heal well within the duration of subject's existence.
 
Of greater concern was loss of neurological tissue  from within the shattered cranium.  Likely owing to Kahree DNA, subject is incapable of regrowing or repairing neurological tissue.  Cloning and synthesizing results poor.  Multiple problems were solved with cybernetic treatment.  Mental capacity is greater than estimates for the original; communication is now possible.  Subject's hearing was far too mis-tuned to interpret speech on proper frequencies; subject's vocalization apparatus far too weak to create proper speech.  Both have been modified through chips implanted into the neural network to replace lost brain function.  Subjects current hearing and speaking ranges determined to be potential survival traits in native environment, and left intact.  Safest solution was extending range cybernetically.  Rapid healing for Brain tissue not possible, even with DNA encoding.  The nature of the cranium's natural development not conducive to safe rapid healing beyond small increments.
 
A cranial protection device has been developed which will interface with neural chips when worn and allow for both interpretation and broadcasting of speech as well as replacing most native sonic abilities known to be Kahree, at least until subject is able to heal its natural abilities.  Helmet will also in stages accelerate healing of and effectively protect the cranium until it has healed.
 
All reflexes test normal; subject responds to all stimuli within tolerable ranges while wearing protective communication helmet_.
 
_Considerable resources and effort expended for local,biological_?
 
_"Treat as Kahree"_.
 
_"Treat as Kahree."  Subject retains Kahree DNA_?
 
_Less than upon discovery.  Considerable DNA rewritten to allow continuance of subject_.
 
_Subject is not Kahree_?
 
_Subject is less than one-hundred percent Kahree_.
 
_Subject will continue without assistance_?
 
_Projections for subject confirm affirmative_.
 
_Subject confirmed as,non-Kahree_?
 
_Subject is not Kahree_.
 
_Eject subject_.
 
_Subject will be ejected_.
 
 
 
The hikers found her, wandering the woods naked, clutching a ball of shredded and bloody clothing and wearing some sort of owl-faced helmet.  They attempted to hail her, to see if she was okay, and were knocked unconscious by a piercing scream that tore at their nervous system and a hard physical blow that launched them back several feet.
 
The naked woman ran toward them, screeching over and over, and upon reaching their unconscious bodies, fled into the woods.
 
She was sighted twice more that summer, but it wasn't until the middle of winter- peak tourist season- that sightings began to pour in, and a concentrated effort to find 'the screech owl witch' was taken in earnest.
 
Eventually she was found, naked and somehow impervious to the cold, sleeping on the same bloody and shredded clothes she was seen carrying.  Probably for the best.  She couldn't sleep in the helmet; it kinked her neck, but she knew she was supposed to wear it.
 
She was identified by the ID in her wallet (though none of it mentioned those crazy big eyes!) and eventually dental records and blood samples as Sandy Mitchell, the woman who had disappeared a year ago and for whom a three week manhunt  had been undertaken.  This woman, though--  she had some....  Problems...
 
She had massive gaps in her memory, and it was some time before her motor skills were one hundred percent (though they just kept getting better and better even after that).  She had cognitive deficits that were two years getting over-  it is worth noting that while her therapists were working on ways for her to cope with them, they actually just _went away_, without explanation. Except for the nightmares and the wild bits of stories she would share with her therapists, of course.  Even they werent really clear, but she was never going to forget them.
 
In just a couple  of years, she was better than normal, and the doctors and therapists stopped scheduling appointments.  
 
Then the bills started coming.  She had no job skills- she had absolutely no recollection of her job at all, and no permanent home.  As she was deemed,'cured,' even the charity that was putting her up began to hint that it was time for her to move on and let someone with more need take her place.
 
Well, it was pretty obvious that her life was going to go nowhere if she couldn't get some money, and she had no idea how to do that.
 
'That's okay,' she thought to herself while reaching for her helmet. 'Sandy Mitchell doesn't know how to survive here, but Screech does....'
 
 
 

So the PCs walk into a factory to fight two villains, one a high-dex blaster and one is a probability warper. The PCs have so far been steamrolling enemies, consistently punching way above their weight class, and this should not have been different. Three experienced heroes and two 300pt summons and two 200pt summons walking into this room, they're rolling deep against two 350pt villains and six 100pt minion robots. They absolutely should have slapped this fight down.
First roll of the fight is a 18, autofail for a roll that could only have failed on a 18. I rolled to see where the missed blast goes, and it's the worst possible place and sets off a chain reaction of molten lava pouring across the floor, damaging the coolant tank. PC tries to climb down a ladder with hands full and needs to roll a 15- Acrobatics roll, fails it and lands on top of their squishiest teammate who had turned off his force field because he was safe from any enemy attack during that phase. A randomly-rolled burst of coolant freezes them both to the floor. Third PC uses his tried-and-true 1hex-area-effect move-through at long range and misses the DCV 3 area they were aiming for, hits the wall and knocks himself to -2 STUN. First time he's ever missed. Squishy PC puts up his force field, teleports to safety, just as the coolant tank finally tips over and lands on top of him. None of these environmental hazards hits any of the villains or minions, only the PCs.
During all of this, the probability manipulator is just holding her actions. She had stuff she could do, she had powers and all. But every time something went disastrously wrong for the PCs, I counted that as being her action. She never took a single move. The PCs were all either knocked out or trapped with no way to escape within one Turn.
This was the harshest loss I've seen in a long time, and completely unexpected. I think I may have jinxed my game by putting in a probability warper. The PCs have decided she's the new nemesis. I don't think they're wrong. She hasn't even used any abilities or said a word yet.

Very belatedly, you got me thinking about how to explain that almost six year old image.  The "flag background" has seven stripes and eight stars, which obviously never existed in our timeline - the US started with 13 and 13 (one for each founding colony as they became states) and reached 15 and 15 as new states were added, before they realized where that might end up and went back to the original 13 stripes (honoring the founding colonies) and ever-increasing stars (as states were added).  But the US might have grown very differently over time in a different timeline, so here's a rough sketch of a plausible concept for alt history explaining that flag.
 
1) For whatever reason, states get added much more slowly than in our history.  Maybe the native populace was much, much more effective at keeping the colonists from spreading westward, maybe politics discouraged rapid expansion and territories becoming states as easily, and perhaps many original-colony states simply expanded westward rather than founding new states (which leaves four colonies out of the land race, but they might have arranged to "leapfrog" or establish passage corridors or something to keep the Union together).  Personally I like the idea of taking the "North America is special because it has way more supers than it should by population" and starting it early, with loads of native supers drawing a hard line for colonial expansion until the European settlers have been there long enough that they start breeding their own supers population to at least compete (and "prove" they belong in NA and aren't impure, backward, subhuman, etc.).
 
2) Going from that starting point, the eventual Civil War starts with far less than the 34 states (and massive territories) it had historically.  Let's say there was some expansion - this time truly negotiated with the local populace and looking a bit less like colonialist BS - and the Founding 13 have grown to only 15-18 total.  The northern states are still ahead on population and industrialization, while the southern states are still more focused on slave agriculture and refuse to give it up even if they have naturally-occurring supers arising from the Black population.  This time Secession leaves the two sides more even, with all the Founding slave-holding states (including Delaware and Maryland) forming a Confederacy along with some of the new states.  Both sides are smaller and weaker in this setup, with the Union only retaining 8 loyal states (7 of which are from the Founding 13) rather than 23-ish and the Confederates having 7-10 (with 6 Founder states) rather than 11-ish (allowing for the divided states that neither side really fully controlled at first).
 
3) Given more limited resources, less of a power gap between North and South, and possible dangers from the Western border for everyone, the ACW is very different here and the Union fails to re-unite the country.  I prefer to think the war is ended by a massive intervention in the South by native polities (and supers, if they're around) that results in the Confederacy being crushingly defeated.  Their slaves freed and given the right to choose where they want to live, but the whole former Confederacy becomes a new mixed region with a coalition of native and freed Black leaders building something new (and hopefully) in the place of the former US states.  The North wisely goes along with this outcome, leaving the US a much smaller nation but a more united one going forward.  There's a whole new diplomatic balance on the East Coast and continent as a whole is changed forever.
 
Conveniently, that would leave the post-ACW US flag with 7 stripes (the remaining Founding Colonies) and 8 stars (the "extra" being the one post-Revolution state added (I rather like a misshapen Ohio, which might gain the chunk of land we know as West Virginia, who presumably broke away from the Confederacy during the ACW as it did historically) as seen in the artwork.  So there's that explained.  Who the hero is and what else changes for this diminished US's history leading up to 2023 I'll leave to someone else, but it's not a half bad alt-world setup for a supers game.  It isn't what the alt-history community would call good grounded work, but I've got pre-colonial native superheroes keeping European colonists from even reaching the Mississippi River so that wasn't really what I was going for anyway.
 
With Duke Bushido offline someone's got to write the big posts, right?              
  

Okay, I'm in.  Once again I refuse to do the obvious despite humming They Might Be Giants' "Particle Man" the whole time I was doing this writeup.  Instead, two different sets of obscure references for added inspiration:
 
Primary 
 
EMT Maxwell Morgan received his powers by pure happenstance while tending to civilian casualties from the Cosmo-God Omegos' attack on New York City.  Caught in a wave of energies refracted through the Prism Absolute, he found himself able to control a spectrum of exotic energies hitherto unknown to Earthly science.  Adopting the heroic identity of Primary, he now uses his fantastic abilities to help protect the innocent from superhuman threats and heal those injured in body, mind and soul.     His circle of friends and fellow ambulance service volunteers are still unaware of his dual identity, but the struggle to balance his responsibilities between the two roles grows harder every day.  The situation is further complicated by invitations to join no less than three hero teams, all of who are offering to help train him in the use of complex power set - something Maxwell feels he badly needs, as he's getting a bit overwhelmed with the whole hero gig.   As Primary he displays a remarkable range of abilities, although he can only manifest one group of them at a time, with the color aura radiating from his forehead changing to match his current mode.  Each color offers a very different set of powers:   Blue - Enhanced intelligence and problem-solving, potent telepathy and telekinesis Red - Augmented physical strength and durability, coherent light and heat projection  Yellow - Creation of simple but durable energy constructs, radiant light emission that heals injuries (physical or otherwise) while dealing terrible damage to supernatural entities of malign nature   Switching between power sets is near-instantaneous but requires concentration that he doesn't always have to spare during a crisis.   Maxwell wasn't the only person to have been accidentally empowered the day Omegos was defeated.  He's clashed several times with a casually larcenous time manipulator/speedster calling herself Clockstopper who radiates an aura of orange light that resonates with his own when in red or yellow mode.  He's also experienced similar resonance while being attacked by a villain known as the Unquiet, a glowing green spectral entity who can appear and vanish along with its undead minions in a miasma of purple energy.  Who these villains were before their transformation and what their connection to Primary may lead to is an ongoing mystery.  

Okay, after due consideration I'm passing the baton to Quackhell for Goregnasher the Bloodhemoth, a name so 90s Extreme it should have been an Image character.  Also managed to evoke a great deal of curiosity about what the other two minis were on that vendor table and who wound up with them, without actually blowing the secret and spoiling the fun.  Let's see what you've got for a new image, Quackhell.
 
I will make note of the fact that I somewhat regretfully eliminated Duke Bushido's effort from consideration owing to the fact that 1) he's involuntarily offline for the foreseeable future and I don't want that to delay the next round of the game and 2) he said he doesn't like winning these things because he stresses out finding images and I'll take him at his word, at least this time around.  I am awarding him honorary mention for having the only entry that made me seriously consider picking up another copy of that mini solely I could convert it with a backpack harness ridden by a his chosen Tenderwise partner.  Anyone that helps justify me spending money on minis gets my approval. 
 
Thanks to everyone who contributed an entry! 

That sort of happened in Jack Vance's "Demon Princes" space opera series. <spoiler>: The interstellar society has apparently forgery-proof money, with a ubiquitous "fake-meter" that can tell tell the difference. Nobody knows what the fake-meter detects, because the machine infallibly self-destructs if tampered with. Only a handful of people -- the directors of the interstellar bank know the secret. When series hero Kirth Gersen finds one of the directors murdered, it takes him a while to realize what the message he carried meant, but eventually he figures out it's the secret of money and the fake-meter. He now can forge unlimited amounts of money.
 
And what was valuable enough to tempt the band director to betray the secret, when money is almost literally no object? How about... the secret to renewed youth and life indefinitely prolonged? A biotech treasure for which any trust might be betrayed, and any price paid.
 
Dean Shomshak

One that's likely going to cause even more trouble than century-old Nazi villains is  Aaron Allston's "School Holiday" from Space Gamer #51 (readily available in online archives as well as the SJG store).  In 1982 a scenario where a supervillain team and their platoon of SMG-toting mercs take an entire high school hostage was seen as a suitable opportunity for heroics that downplayed the possibility of a massacre by simply ignoring it.  In 2024, with decades of mass shootings in schools behind us in real life, it's incredibly insensitive and the police response and merc escape plans (essentially "drive away in armored vans") are wildly implausible.
 
No idea how you could make this palatable to a modern audience, but perhaps there are elements that could be salvaged and used for something less naive.  If nothing else the school map is pretty handy (I've used in many times over the years, and not just in HERO/Champions) and the villains (while rather crudely constructed by modern standards) could be interesting enough if updated - and it seems a shame to let that Denis Loubet art of them go to waste.

One that's likely going to cause even more trouble than century-old Nazi villains is  Aaron Allston's "School Holiday" from Space Gamer #51 (readily available in online archives as well as the SJG store).  In 1982 a scenario where a supervillain team and their platoon of SMG-toting mercs take an entire high school hostage was seen as a suitable opportunity for heroics that downplayed the possibility of a massacre by simply ignoring it.  In 2024, with decades of mass shootings in schools behind us in real life, it's incredibly insensitive and the police response and merc escape plans (essentially "drive away in armored vans") are wildly implausible.
 
No idea how you could make this palatable to a modern audience, but perhaps there are elements that could be salvaged and used for something less naive.  If nothing else the school map is pretty handy (I've used in many times over the years, and not just in HERO/Champions) and the villains (while rather crudely constructed by modern standards) could be interesting enough if updated - and it seems a shame to let that Denis Loubet art of them go to waste.

The BBC is making it and Disney is streaming the episodes internationally.
 
That is all

Patrick Troughton faced a daunting task, having to replace William Hartnell not just in the lead role, but as same character, only radically different. It was an unprecedented concept for television, and if he and the writers hadn't stuck the landing, Doctor Who would have ended then and there. Fortunately for all Whovians contemporary and not yet born, they did.

Over the last week I have been watching some old Dr Who stories that I had not seen before and all of them are Patrick Troughton, review in What I have Been Watching Recently thread soon. But i have to say they are better than some of the latest stuff 

The sexual assault element of his character is going to cross so many lines it'll never show up at all in most modern games, the ones where people respect hard boundaries and X cards are in use.  Using that kind of thing without discussion in advance and a full-table buy-in doesn't fly the way it did even ten years ago.  Good thing, too.  I don't roleplay so I can experience the worst parts of everyday news, and damn few stories in any medium are improved in any way by the inclusion of rape - especially when it's done solely to coerce a male character into doing something, as in the example.  Tone deaf in the extreme, that.
 
 

An exception:  LBB Traveller had a fairly involved character generation process (including what was arguably the first "life path" system in the industry) but was not only quite deadly during play, it could even shortcut things by occasionally killing you during creation. 

As you said, nah, dude.

Any particular reason why?  I'd never considered his sexuality, although I suspect having easy access to almost everyone else's minds (and bodies, if desired) probably gives him a unusual viewpoint, especially when it comes to non-mentalists and their personhood.