Marvel Monday: Peter Parker the Spectacular Spider-Man

While Gobound is spectacular as an option for a game like Exalted I believe it could work just as well for a Super Hero game so here is Peter Parker, the first Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, as a 3rd Level Godbound.

Spider-Man Level 3 for Godbound

Abilities       Score   (Modifier)  [Check]
Strength          19        (+4)           [2+]
Dexterity        18         (+3)           [3+]
Constitution   13         (+1)           [8+] 
Wisdom           8         (-1)            [13+]
Intelligence    18         (+3)           [3+]
Charisma        13         (+1)           [8+]

Saving Throws
Hardiness   9
Evasion      10
Spirit          12

Facts (+4)
Face It Tiger You Just Hit the Jackpot

J. Jonah Jameson Will Be the Death of Me

Marvelous Team-Ups

Physics Major at Empire State University

With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility

Words
Universal

    Corona of Fury (Smite Action) [Web Shooters]

    Effort of the Word for Alacrity (Constant)

    Effort of the Word for Might (Constant)

Alacrity
   All Directions As One (Constant)

   Swifter Than The Sun (On Turn)

   Untouchable (Instant)

   Walk Between The Rain (Constant)

Knowledge

    A Word Far Off (Action)

Might

    Surge of Strength (Instant)

Equipment
Light armor AC 3 [Spider-Sense]
Light weapon +6; 1d6+3, Fray 1d8 [Enhanced Strength]

Hit Points     19

Effort            7

Influence      4

Goal   

A Friendlier Neighborhood


   

#RPGaDAY 2020 Day 14: Banner

         

 

Invincible Iron Man Vol 1, #131 featured a procedure that locked the Hulk's personality into Bruce Banner's body.

Legend of Grayskull: The Masters of the Universe RPG

Power-Con, the convention of all things Masters of the Universe was held virtually this past weekend and Legend of the Grayskull: The Masters of the Universe RPG was announced for 2021. It is being published by Fandom, who own DnD Beyond and will use the Cortex Prime rules.

I'm a huge Masters of the Universe fan and have showcased it quite a bit here on the blog. My main experience with Cortex was the Marvel Heroic RPG and I wasn't too keen on how it played, but I'll give it a try. It appears that there will be an open playtest, organized play, virtual table-top and character generator, and a community content program.

I'm really happy to see how that this is a thing and I feel that Mattel has people running the property who cares about the fans.

RPGaDAY 2020 Day 4: Vision

"The robot Ultron is the creator of Vision, a type of android he calls a "synthezoid", for use against Ultron's own creator, Dr. Hank Pym (Ant-Man/Giant Man/Goliath/Yellowjacket) and Pym's wife, Janet van Dyne (the Wasp) of the superhero team the Avengers. Ultron sends his new servant to lead the Avengers into a trap. Wasp is the first to encounter the synthezoid, and describes it as a "vision" while trying to escape. Adopting the name, Vision is convinced by the Avengers to turn against Ultron.[6] After learning how Ultron created him, using the brain patterns of then-deceased Simon Williams (Wonder Man), Vision becomes a member of the team.[7] The team initially believes the Vision's body was created from that of the android original Human Torch.[8] The Avengers later are told that the time lord Immortus used the power of the Forever Crystal to split the original Human Torch into two entities – one body remained the original Torch while Ultron rebuilt the other as the Vision. This was part of his plan to nurture a relationship for the Scarlet Witch that would prevent her from having any children, as her power level meant that any offspring she might have could threaten the cosmic beings of the Marvel Universe."

Review: Event Zero for Adventurers! by GRAmel

Event Zero is a Super Hero guide and setting book from GRAmel and written by Umberto Pignatelli, Andy Slack for the Adventurers! RPG, which is required for this product.

Full disclosure, I was given a PDF copy for review purposes.

Event Zero opens with details about the city of Neopolis and the Event that occurred prompting some of it's citizens to be come Specials (supers). Neopolis  is a large American city and Specials appeared in 2015. Masks have been adopted do to the the fact that fist public Special, the Flaming Man, disappeared and rumors blame the government. Other public specials have disappeared, as well.

Neopolis is broken down by neighborhood with a paragraph for each presented.

Specials in the Adventurers! system must choose the Power Skill and several other skills are presented to round your character out.

The guidelines for Super Powers comes next. Nine powers are laid out and cover a good range of abilities found in comics. They are Super Stat, Damage (Telekinesis), Empower (Adrenaline Control),  Investigation (Data Receiver), Mind Control (Kiss of Slavery), Protection (Dense Body), Summoning  (Illusionary Pet), Super Stat (Hyper Aim).  These are in addition to other Spheres of Power found in the Core game. One difference is that Specials can change which Stat to use, as opposed to basing a Sphere of Mind.

Next up is the setting's big secret and the revelation of what caused Specials to appear.

Campaign themes are then presented and I found the information beneficial to help a Game Master find a direction for their version of Neopolis.

Campaign places and important characters are also provided.

Rules for Teams are presented next and we learn the mechanical benefits of them to Specials. I find it fairly unique that Teams give new mechanical options to its members. For instance, certain Roles are presented, such as Bickering Friends, Defender, and Striker.

Equipment and lifestyle comes after and we get charts covering weapons, armor, and standard of living.

Numerous NPC's are presented for use by the Game Master, which I deeply appreciate.

An adventure, the Slug Man is also provided. It's 7 pages long and can easily get a GM up to speed to run a session within a half an hour after purchasing Event Zero.

I'm very impressed with Event Zero. The cover and interior art is excellent, the lay out is clean, and I think Neopolis and Specials are well-presented in only 44 pages. At first I was a bit surprised at the number of powers presented, until I remembered that the Adventurers! Core has other options and the the rules for Special allow you some freedom to reinterpret existing Spheres of Power.

I'm a big fan of GRAmel and this is an excellent expansion to Adventurers! and a solid Supers RPG with the benefit of several other settings that were designed for this system.

I heartily recommend Event Zero.

Super Hero RPGs Part 2

I first started Role Playing when I was 19 years old and a sophomore in college. My first RPG was Champions 4e, the "Big Blue Book". It was like learning a program language and we we all had enough free time to do that. However, even though Champions was the game we were playing, I found a copy of the Magic of Palladium Books that sold me, I mean SOLD ME on Rifts, Ninjas and Superspies, and Heroes Unlimited. These games had CLASSES and LEVELS!

Due to my gaming ADD, I bought it and couldn't figure numerous things out about. It was arcane. There were huge glaring holes that book didn't answer...I was confused. To make matters worse, the rest of the group didn't want to switch games, we already were pretty good at Champions/HERO System.

But I couldn't help myself, there had to be even better superhero RPGs out there. So I bought Marvel Super Heroes, DC Heroes, Guardians, GURPS Supers, GURPS Wild Cards, Villains and Vigilantes , DC Universe, Aberrant, and others I've since forgotten. We played many of them but none of them worked any better than Champions (though DC Heroes was pretty darn close).

In the last few years I've come to realize some basic preferences I have in RPGs in general and Superhero RPGs in particular. 

First, I like Hit Points. I don't enjoy wound tracks to damage boxes. I like Hit Points.

Second, I don't want to roll buckets of dice. In Champions, you have to total the dice to find the amount of Stun (assuming it's not a Killing Attack), then look at the dice again to see how much Body damage there is, and then check for knockback.  That. Is. Insane.

So I'm being really picky in the superhero RPGS I'm looking at. Which is cool, I have no ETA on when I will run this game.

I just know I want a game with Hit Points, small pools of damage dice, and fairly quick and easy character generation.

My top contenders right now are Guardians (an excellent OSR game that is what Heroes Unlimited wanted to be), Rotted Capes, Event Zero, Vigilante City, Champions: The New Millenium, and Champions Now. I was looking at the Sentinels Comic RPG today but realized that you apparently automatically hit in combat.  That was a dealbreaker for me.

Review: Rotted Capes Survivor's Guide Vol 1 by Paradigm Concepts

The Rotted Capes Survivor's Guide Vol. 1 by Paradigm Concepts (full disclosure, I received this PDF for review purposes) is a major expansion for the Rotted Capes RPG.

It adds two new Power Sources: Cosmic (Silver Surfer), Mystic (Zatanna), and Supernatural (Ghost Rider). All three are excellent additions to the game and are hallmarks of the Supers genre. A cool feature is that the Supernatural source breakdowns demons, ghosts, vampires, and werewolves for play. Each Power Source provides an Attribute Bonus, Unique Advantages, and Unique Disadvantages. It's a great system and allows a player to focus their concepts without truly being a hinderance.

The book also adds Alien (Martian Manhunter), Android (Vision), Anthromorph (Tigra), and Demigod (Hercules) as Archetypes. I appreciate their referencing character types that are essential to comics and allowing them to be played. Archetypes give Attribute Bonuses and have Primary Powers which may be purchased at a cheaper point cost.

What I really dig about both of these approaches is that is kind of makes you feel like you have a broad class and origin, but purely from a conceptual stand point. You get mechanical benefits, but you  aren't hindered in any significant way.

Next comes new Disadvantage that include Addiction, Enemy, and Taboo.

Personality Flaws add options like Berserker, Combat Paralysis, and Too Much of A Good Thing (you are pretty and people assume you are also stupid).

The Survivor's Guide also adds the Occultist Skill Set (a bundle of skills bought all at once) and Instruction, Mettle, Mimic, Occult, and Performance as individual Skills.

New Advantages include Deflect Arrows, Hidden Stash, and Third Eye.

A whopping 34 new Powers are presented here and include Absorb Matter, Chameleon, Damaging Form, Gravity Control, Parlor Tricks, Utility Belt, and Weird Biology. These new skills are also added to existing Archetypes as Primary Powers and as All Skill Powres. The Guide also presents 20 new Power Modifications and 16 new Power Tricks. 

Some truly cool Superhero Gadgets are presented and I found them to have inspired by some major characters from the Big Two publishing companies. It's cool to see them available. Some additional equipment as presented as Lost Tech that can be found and possibly utilized by the Player Characters.

Superheroic Sorcery is discussed and gives the Editor-In-Chief (Game Master) some good advice to use. And optional rule for Horror is presented, which is pretty important in a zombie apocalypse. Finally, we are given some options on how the zombie virus might or might not affect non-humans.

The Survivor's Guide finishes with some Heroes to use as pregenerated characters or NPCs.

I'm truly impressed with all Paradigm Concepts has done with the Rotted Capes line. I hope we are treated to a second Survivor's Guide in the future. While the addition of a zombie apocalypse helps set Rotted Capes apart, this is well-designed medium crunch Superhero System either way. I cut my teeth on Champions 4th Edition and loved the old DC Heroes RPG and I feel Rotted Capes is equal to both games and a worthy addition to my collection. I hope to run it fairly soon and I think the Survivor's Guide Vol. 1 really adds quite a bit to the game and is necessary purchase.

Super Hero RPGs

I've had an idea for a Super Hero campaign and I've been looking over some of the Super Hero RPGs I own, trying to see if one works better than the others.

So far, I've looked at the following games:

Champions Now Playtest

Champions 4E (5E is good too, but I'll pas on 6E)

Champions the New Millenium (Fuzion)

Marvel FASERIP

Rotted Capes

Icons: Assembled Edition

Prowlers and Paragons

AMP Year 1

Cypher System

Brave New World

Super World

Supers! Revised

Triumphant

3d6 Supers

Modern AGE

Angel RPG/Beyond Human Playtest (Cinematic Unisystem)

Villains and Vigilantes/Mighty Protectors
Vigilante City

I'm looking for Lower Level heroes, powers at about the same level as the original X-Men.

I really like AMP Year 1 and Rotted Capes, but I'm not yet at a point where I can decide.

My intention is to make the same character for each system and post it on here with how character generation went.

At the same time, I'm going to take some time and really work out the story I want to tell and maybe that will help bring things into focus.

Mightiest Issue 7

The Avengers of Earth 926:

Iron Man

The Hulk

The Thing

Loki, God of Mischief

Wolverine

Spider-Man

Invisible Woman

Colossus

Thor

Hawkeye

__________________________________

Black Widow is searching for James Rhodes.

The Avengers continued to mingle at Emma Frost's gala at the Massachusetts Academy.  Tony Stark invited Cain Marko and "Black" Tom Cassiday to drink with him and got some information about their new employer, Advanced Idea Mechanics.  Tony even doubled AIM's offer and hired the pair away.  He also found out that an individual, known as Nightingale, had been paying "well above scale" for exotic jobs.

Loki convinced Wolverine to leave the party with him and Thor tried to follow them but was interrupted by Heather Douglas, who was very flirtatious and could see through his Donald Blake illusion.

Arriving back at the X-Mansion, Loki used his staff to take control of Wolverine's mind and then teleported them both to Boston.  He reached out and contacted the Other and informed him that he was about to hand the Earth over to the Other's Master.  He then opened a rift to Jotunheim and summoned Etins and and winter itself to assault the city.  Loki directed Wolverine to act as his general in the attack.

Thor returned to the X-Mansion, and after looking for his brother, decided to journey to Asgard to consult Heimdall.

Loki's forces ravaged Boston and local hero, Shamrock, joined the fight only to be literally cut down by Wolverine.  Loki wove a spell to enlarge Logan to 20 feet tall, transform his skin blue, and grant him "Rime Armor".

Heimdall revealed Loki's location to Thor and he took a moment to visit their father where he dreamt in the Odinsleep.

Loki, perched atop John Hancock Tower, began freezing skyscrapers.

Thor arrived on the scene and summoned a thunder storm to expel the mystical winter his brother had summoned.  The two stormfronts, however, began to violently mix into a terrible nor'easter that added to the carnage.  He also alerted SHIELD and called for the Avengers to aid him.

Wolverine launched himself at the flying Thor and a violent battle ensued.  God and mutant both came away from the skirmish with hellish wounds.

As the Avengers sped to Boston, they began to formulate a plan of attack.

Loki coordinated his Etin to slow down his brother, while he launched violent eldritch blasts at him.

Thor called for the Warrior's Three to come to Midgard's aid.

Invisible Woman cloaked the Quinjet with invisibility and Spider-Man launched himself at Loki, using his webs to wrench the God of Lies' staff from his hands.  The Thing dropped himself amongst the Etin and began dwindling their numbers.  Sue Storm arrived on the John Handcock Tower and slammed Loki to the edge of the roof.  Colossus dropped onto the building and landed squarely on Loki's staff, smashing it completely.  Tony Stark piloted the Quinjet and used the Hulk as a bomb that landed squarely on Wolverine's head.

Loki, enraged, launched a violent eldritch blast at Colossus, but the remaining essence of the staff surrounding him and reflected the attack upon Loki.  The God of Mischief was hurled off the roof and deep into a neighboring skyscraper, the mocking laughter of the Other echoing in his skull.

Thor was able to calm the violent weather and began searching for his brother, but to no avail, Loki was gone.

It was quick work to finish off the Etin, but downtown Boston was awash in destruction.  Logan found the body of Shamrock and was appalled at what he'd been forced to due.

Nick Fury arrived on the scene, while he was furious at the evening's turn of events,  he informed them that more pressing matters awaited the team in Argentina, at the Precinct site.

Mightiest Issue 6

The Avengers of Earth 926:

Iron Man

The Beast

The Thing

Loki, God of Mischief

Wolverine

Spider-Man

Invisible Woman

Colossus

Thor

__________________________________

Black Widow and Hawkeye are searching for James Rhodes.

Thor returned to his project with Dr. Henry Pym after returning from the Antarctic.

The Avengers stand face to face with Kree Sentry units in the Antarctic base, code named Zero.

Already, Thor and Wolverine are down, caught off guard by the Sentries.

(I began the session in media res).

The base has been mostly below the ice, with 3 communication spires reaching into the sky.  Melting from an unknown source, had exposed a portion of the base, and the team charged in.

Strong first strikes were taken by Colossus and Thing and 2 of the 3 units were badly impaired.  The battle twisted and turned until finally a female kree officer, identifying herself as Lieutenant Zola-Ged called her Sentries to halt and asked the Avengers why they were here.

Information about the base and it's location on a Hydra database was shared and the group found out Lt. Zola-Ged was cultural anthropologist of low importance, which suited her goals just find.  She was glad she'd happened to be at the base performing maintenance and backing up data or the Avengers presence could have resulted in an interplanetary war.  The team also learned that the United Nations knew of the base and that it had limited diplomatic relations with the Kree Empire.

Zola took the team to her computer lab, where she had a kree Minor Intelligence at her disposal, which also ran the base when it was unmanned.  The Minor Intellgience was an extension of the kree's Supreme Intelligence and sat in a vat of green liquid with tentacles from it's head interfacing with data
ports set into the vat.  Iron Man offered to share the data they'd retrieved and she began downloading it the MI, which began to scream and the liquid in the vat turned a crimson red.  Moments later the whole consoled exploded, destroying Zola-Ged and the MI.

Stunned, the team only had moments before the entire facility began to shudder and shake and JARVIS alerted them that a tectonic anomaly was forming below the base.  Loki teleported to safety and Invisible Woman used a Force Bubble to lift the team out safely.

They watched in silence as some type of rift has formed and was pulling the base into it's depths.  Within minutes the base was gone and the rift shut.  The only thing left was oppressive feeling of death all around the area.

Nick Fury immediately asked for an update for their situation and was extremely angry at their reports.  He called them home and informed them their punishment would be attending a gala party at the Massachusetts Academy serving as both a fund raiser for an expansion to the school and for gubernatorial candidate, Dr. Rachel Horton.

Back at the base the team began trying to look for ties between the 3 bases and who might be manipulating them.  Brainstorming and data mining led them to realize that all 3 bases had alien connections, after learning that technology used on Moses Magnum's yacht was shi'ar, in origin.

The team was ushered to the party in a Stark Industries Helicopter and warmly greeted by Emma Frost.

Everyone that was anyone was in attendance and politicians, the wealthy, entertainers, and sports legends bump elbows.  

Colossus found Bobby Drake and began to catch up;  Logan caught the attention of an attractive bald woman then went inside and sought refuge in the Library and then harassed some students; Spider-Man helped by beating those students at Call of Duty;  The Thing tried to keep a low profile.

Loki, however, went inside the school and found an empty bedroom and performed a mystic ritual to contact the Other and question him about what was happening.  The Other informed him that Tessaract in SHIELD custody was becoming less and less important as a corporation on Earth, Advanced Idea Mechanics, was close to finishing another.  The Other warned Loki of keeping the Avengers out of that situation and belittled the asgardian.

Loki's communion ended just as Logan, tracking his teammate, used his claw to break the lock on the room.  Both men began to chat, when a teddy bear on the bed turned into a 14 year old girl and began harassing them, leading Logan to destroy her phone and both men to flee into the hall where Spider-Man was waiting.

As the trio went back outside, the bald woman found Wolverine and introduced herself as Heather Douglas, CTO of Carnifex and gave the mutant her card, explaining she could use his skills in her business.

Mightiest Issue 5

The Avengers of Earth 926:

Iron Man

The Beast

The Thing

Loki, God of Mischief

Thor, God of Thunder

Wolverine

__________________________________

Black Widow and Hawkeye are searching for James Rhodes.

Colossus took some time to check in with old contacts to search for Kitty Pryde.

• Wolverine and Loki rallied against Magneto and began to take their toll on the Master of Magnetism.  In a berserker rage, Logan cut off Magneto's left arm and Thor smashed through the roof and caved in Magneto's skull.

•  In the X-Mansion's basement, Iron Man arrived to help Beast, Thing and Colossus move the Red Hulk or Warhulk back into the containment room.

•  The Avengers regrouped and filled Iron Man and Thor in on what was happening with the Red Hulk and to calm Logan down.  JARVIS informed them that Magneto was, in fact, an advanced Clone Model Decoy with extensive bionic augmentation.

•  The Beast brings up satellite imagery of the Las Vegas Hydra base they retrieved from the HERBIE robot and the team plans an outing to investigate.  The base, known as the Hole, is approximately 10 miles outside Vegas, in the Nevada desert.  It appears as a self-storage complex and scans show only 4 life signatures, 1 in the trailer by the front gate, and 3 others, over 100 feet below ground.

•  Thor smashes through the ground into the underground portion of the base with Wolverine riding him and Loki not far behind.  They find a cloaked man staring at a three dimensional image of the Tessaract and 2 identical red apelike aliens.  The cloaked mystery man orders the twin aliens to "Attack them and prove your worth to the Overmaster!"  Thor identifies twins as aliens of the roclite species and knows that they have exceptional abilities that get stronger closer the get.  The room is filled with many advanced computers, equipment, and weapons.  And in the corner farthest from the being wearing a cloak is a table with another image of the Tessaract.

•  As the roclite brothers brawl with Logan, Loki and Thor, the mystery man hurries down a side corridor.  Quickly Iron Man, the Beast and the Thing join the fray.  The aliens are identified as Krys and Kros--the Blood Brothers and are known as intergalactic mercenaries.  The battle is fierce and Thor is knocked unconscious by a strange blood draining power of Krys, while Kros throws Wolverine onto a strange looking machine that scans him while dazed.  Meanwhile, the Thing hurries after the cloaked mystery man down the corridor, but JARVIS alerts Tony Stark to the launch of a UFO from the complex and it's use of the same warp technology that the Chitari used when they invaded New York.

•  Loki is downed by a combined blow from the Blood Brothers and another machine in the room comes to life and produces a clone of Wolverine, who promptly attacks Iron Man.  The real Logan charges at his clone and the battle rages on.  The Beast grabs an energy rifle and targets the twin Logans, but blasts the wrong one.  Finally, the Thing realizes that he wasn't quick enough to catch the mystery man and rejoins the battle.

•  Teamwork overcomes the Blood Brothers and the group calls in SHIELD.  Iron Man orders JARVIS to download and analyze the complex's database.  The group investigates the rest of the facility and finds 2 additional floors filled with storage and a final floor that powers the whole thing.  They also discover a total of 4 bedrooms.

•  After handing the complex over to SHIELD, the Avengers head back home and try to figure out how the base they've just raided is related to Hydra.  They're certain there is something they've overlooked and feel that they're being manipulated in some way.  They decide to further monitor the Argentina and Antarctica bases, but make a strike agains the Nova Scotia base.  Its known as Leviathan and is a Super Yacht.

•  The raid goes very smoothly, while there are close to 50 security guards, none are super powered and  surrender quickly.  The team learns that the Leviathan is owned by Moses Magnum, a high profile radical and wealthy son of Malcom and Mariah Magnum, founder of Magnum Pharmatech and an award winning actress turned producer, respectively.  

•  Moses has gained a strong following among militant youth and has "organized" them to bring the people to the governments of the west.  He has been tweeting plans of a massive military strike by his followers on government buildings in the U.S., Canada, Great Britain, France, Japan, Germany, Switzerland, Russia, China, and South Korea for several months.  He had also leaked information to major media outlets about his plans to unleash a Tectonic bomb on the world that he'd developed while Chief Financial Officer of Advanced Idea Mechanics.  

•The Avengers find the Tectonic bomb equipment, but learn from SHIELD that Moses is in London "partying".  They also find half-finished plan to unleash the Tectonic bomb and assault government property on June 1st, now over 2 weeks past.  SHIELD informs the team that their intelligence shows that Moses is far more interested in grabbing headlines and partying than actual terrorism.   While his yacht and the equipment are taken into SHIELD custody and Moses' security team detained, Col. Fury is doubtful that Magnum will actually be found guilty of anything but being "being a spoiled jackass".

•  Once again the Avengers feel like they're being manipulated.

Mightiest Issue 4

The Avengers of Earth 926:
The Beast
The Thing
Loki, God of Mischief
Colossus
Wolverine
__________________________________
Iron Man, Black Widow and Hawkeye are searching for James Rhodes and Kitty Pryde.
Thor and Ant-Man are involved in a special project, analyzing the Tessaract and try to find Captain America.

• The team is gathered at their new headquarters, the X-Mansion in Westchester, NY and have decided to attempt to interrogate the Red Hulk, who is unconscious.  Loki, decides to enter the creature's mind and finds himself near a lake in the northern wilderness, as a mindscape.   Loki spots the Red Hulk staring at the water and circles to the other side of the lake, across from the monster.  He tries to draw it's attention, but the Rulk merely turns his back on the asgardian.  Loki, is startled by an old man, who quietly approached him.  They speak for a few minutes and the Prince of Lies decides to approach the Red Hulk, once again.  He circles the lake and the Rulk stands and confronts him, while the old man steps out from behind the monster and then fuses with it.  Loki learns the Red Hulk is a mercenary and is working for a client to determine the response time of the Avengers Initiative.  The asgardian feels Rulk is hiding things and uses his staff to force more information from the monster.  He learns that the Red Hulk works for and was created by Advanced Idea Mechanics and this version of the hulk is no mindless brute, but he doesn't reveal his true identity.  Loki uses his sorcery to share this information with the rest of the team.

•  Meanwhile, Karma notices that their airspace has been breached and gets a visual on a young man flying over the area.  Loki teleports himself and Wolverine to the roof and launches the mutant at the flying man.  Wolverine notices the young man is under 20 and probably of south american origin and that he has cybernetics that allow him to fly at high speeds.  The youth avoids wolverine easily, but slams into the canadian mutant and a vicious battle ensues.  The young mutant ends up dropping Wolvie and fleeing.  Colossus catches Logan and Karma manages to track the young man's flight path.

•  The Avengers track him to the Massachusetts Academy and as their Quinjet lands Wolverine is shocked to see Deathstrike charging at him.  Moments later, Iceman, Sasquatch, and Bevatron joined the battle.  Wolverine was shocked to see Deathstrike had survived their last encounter, and from her movements it appeared her body had assimilated the additional adamantium.  Iceman was able to calm Deathstrike and explain to Colossus and Beast that Jetstream, the young mutant had like to fly close to the mansion when he wanted privacy.  He didn't realize anyone was using it and also quickly confided that he had accepted a teaching job here to help these mutants, cope with Rogue's decision to give up her powers and temper Emma Frost's lesson, as she was the school's headmistress.  Once the fighting had ceased, Deathstrike approached Loki and demanded to know where William Stryker was, because she smelled him on the asgardian.  Deathstrike was adamant about finding and killing the man who enslaved her for over a decade.  After much confusion and threatening, the Avengers realized that the Red Hulk must be William Stryker.  Iceman promised to keep in touch with his old X-Men comrades.

•  Returning to the mansion, the group determines from file photos that the old man Loki met in Red Hulk's head is Colonel William Stryker, former head of Project: Pegasus, presumed dead.  They alert Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D because Stryker is wanted for Treason and numerous other crimes.  They also begin parsing satellite data of the 4 Hydra bases they uncovered from the HERBIE robot and are beginning to formulate a plan to investigate the base in Nova Scotia, a superyacht named Leviathan.

•  Meanwhile, Wolverine slips unnoticed to the holding cell to kill Stryker but when he opens the door, Stryker is awake and asks, "Do you still want to know about your past?" before attacking the mutant.

•  The rest of the team arrives and seem to be slowly winning, when a dazed looking Karma comes into the fight and attempts to mind control Colossus.  Loki manages to remove whatever has brainwashed her and she tells that the Leader and AIM Intelligencia are on the premises.  Loki and Wolverine teleport to the entrance hall and into a group of AIM Intelligencia agents and the Leader, himself.  Loki quickly finishes off the agents and Wolverine, in full berserker rage, cuts the top of the Leaders skull off only to be snapped from his red haze as he watches the Leader's skull regenerate, while the gamma-spawned genius laughs in his face.  The duo manages to overpower the Leader, while simultaneously the group below them overpower and stun the Red Hulk.

•  As Wolverine and Loki pause to get a situation report, Magneto drops through the ceiling wearing a strange exoskeleton and hurls the mutant and asgardian in opposite directions and through the building to the outside.  The issue ends as Colossus pleads for his teammates to report their status.

__________________________________

I took the plunge and converted the game to Classic Marvel or FASERIP.  It wasn't an easy decision, but it turned out to be the right one.  It caused some stress for 1 player and I'm not sure he's 100% on board, but he's giving it a try.

I felt far more comfortable and this was the most fun I've hard running FASERIP.  It's amazing that a game designed close to 20 years ago had so many groundbreaking ideas.

I've gotten rid of Karma penalties for violence and doll out Karma like FATE points or PLOT points.

The big difference is that I'm not dreading the next session.

I don't want to focus on system over the game, but Marvel Heroic Roleplaying is not the game for me, much like its cousin FATE.

Mightiest Issue 3

• The Avengers Initiative is on the hot seat by the Security Council for it's failure in St. Louis, the death of 946 SHIELD personnel and the destruction of the Triskelion and the security failure at Avengers Tower and the escape of all 3 Von Struckers.  This is compounded by low morale due to Captain America, James Rhodes, and Shadowcat being missing in action.  Col. Fury is very unhappy and wants results.

• Colossus pulls some strings with Storm, to move the Avengers base into the former Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters in Westchester, NY, which has moved to San Francisco and is backed by Warren Worthington the III.  SHIELD Agent Shi'an Coy Manh, a former student at Xavier's known as  Karma, is assigned to the mansion and is given access to Cerebro by Beast.

• Logan decides to use some old espionage contacts to get some information on Hydra.  Maverick, an old colleague from Weapon X, gets him a possible Hydra base using a server farm as it's front in Austin, TX.  Colossus decides he should accompany his old friend to Austin and they take the Blackbird and proceed in secret.

• Tony Stark and JARVIS begin data mining global security cameras for any kind of lead.  They find footage of the Red Hulk heading toward the Black Hills of South Dakota.  SHIELD gets them access to satellite images that help triangulate a possible search area, it's close to a small town named Stonebridge.  Stark, Thing, Loki and Thor quickly take a Quinjet there and discover Wolverine & Colossus are "off the grid".

•  Iron Man detects a strong heat signature and higher than normal levels of gamma radiation about 2 miles outside of Stonebridge.  They head to lonely cabin and Thor barges in to find a mannequin with a strange device lodged in it's torse.  4 missles are fired on the ground close by, but Iron Man and Thor dispatch them.  Red Hulk ambushes Thing, but 'Ol Blue Eyes gets the better of him, smashing him into the ground and Loki turns the soil to cement.  JARVIS alerts Stark to a fast approaching ground vehicle and Tony takes the offensive.  Someone uses strong mental powers to grip Thor's mind and force him to attack Iron Man, luckily his strong ego doesn't allow the strike to land and he breaks free moments later.  Iron Man is confronted by the Leader, riding a Skysled, but seeing he is overmatched the Leader chooses to escape.  The quartet return to Westchester with an unconcious Red Hulk

•  Logan and Peter arrive in Austin and begin casing the Weber and Long Data Stronghold, a company founded in 2003.  As night arrives they observe the facility and Logan see's only 2 guards, but they are far better trained and armed than a rent-a-cop.  They deal with the security cameras and break into the main server room.  As they move through the rows and rows of servers, Wolverine begins smelling oil and ozone and finds a robot interfacing with a server.  Before it can react, Colossus smashes it and the alarm claxons begin sounding.  The security duo bursts into the room as the lights are turned off, both agents are equipped with night vision gear.  Both agents appear more than human, but one is cut down by Logan and the other teleports to safety.  The two mutants return to Westchester with the server and the robot.

•  Arriving a few hours later than than South Dakota group, Logan and Peter turn over what they find, but are dressed down by Fury for going "off the reservation".  Tony Stark analyzes a data pad in the Red Hulk's possession and discovers he was a red herring, used by the Leader and Advanced Idea Mechanics the Intelligencia to draw their attention while they relocated Project: MODOK.  The Robot provides them with 4 possible Hydra bases in Buenos Aires, Nova Scotia, Las Vegas, and Antarctica.

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Rob, one of my players in Mightiest and a good friend gave me some interesting feedback on my concerns about Marvel Heroic RPG.  He was also helpful in giving the other players insight into the rules.  I think I understand my reservations better, too.  From an evolutionary standpoint, I've moved out of my Narrative Phase as a gamer.  I don't mind having players who can fill in the blanks or drive the story or even describe the scene, but not all players want that.  And that's completely separate from being capable of it.  I'm not sure that's what the Mightiest group wants, but maybe they'll grow in that direction.  I'm not opposed to "giving up control", I simply prefer a Judge/Author role in my Gamemastering.  And since I've only returned to in the last several months, I'm still "flexing the muscles", so to speak.  Another factor, is that after over a decade selling games, I see that your average gamer isn't that concerned about Narrative Control, but about playing a game, regardless of what threads on story-game.com or rpg.net might lead us to believe.  As an example, the average gamer at my store hasn't played Call of Cthulhu or might not have heard of it, even if many will tell you it's the best RPG ever published.

I also feel that the "family" of rules Cortex + belongs to (part of it's design team developed FATE from FUDGE) tries to emphasize Story Based Games with elements of Narrative Control by compounding layers of rules on what is billed as a rules light frame.  It's very discordant to me to have a rules light game with heavy crunch.  This along with an emphasis on how to pace stories in a very cookie cutter fashion, leaves me numb and let's the wind out of my sails.  I feel like the tools for this RPG succeed better as a competitive social game, and I've never been a big fan of the GM vs Players.

Those problems are compounded whenever someone tries something that requires a dice roll.  I feel like everything screeches to a halt, as soon as we go through the "laundry list" of which dice to roll and what Distinctions should be used or exchanged for a Plot Point.

In short, when used with my GMing style, I feel like I have to exchange all of my tools for a broken and poorly crafted set that was designed for someone else.

As an aside, I'm very disappointed that Margaret Weiss Productions haven't marketed the game significantly and haven't used ads in Marvel comics to promote their game.

And I think that leads me to my last 2 problem.  I already run games that aren't about me and are focused on the players.  I don't need rules for rule's sake to get in my way.  

Plus,  I think this game is as focused on how to play the "one true way" and being a teaching textbook for that one way, as much or more as a rulebook.  It's as though, MWP has created a game to teach new players how to roleplay and run games, but hasn't marketed it to them at all or even told them it exists.  So, veteran gamers, are the audience but this show wasn't made for them.  

Sadly, it's much like the comics industry MWP has attached itself to.  The Big 2 think they are appealing to hip, young readers and ignore the fact that their existing customer is middle-aged and isn't really that interested in social commentary over fights, but that's ok because neither publisher really wants them.  I guess, in that sense MWP succeeded admirably.

Does all of this mean I'm not going to run MHRP any longer?  No, the players like it and it's not such a godawful mess that I won't run it, unlike other games I own.  It's just not exactly what I'd prefer it to be, but the game is not about me, it's about my players.

Thor and Hawkeye Bonus Content for New Marvel RPG

I personally don't find Margaret Weiss Productions website the easiest to navigate, but I'm not throwing stones because I'm in charge of my company's website and know how difficult it is to design and maintain.  In Mightiest, Freddie is playing Thor and the fan made version we tried...well it didn't stand up too well.  We were both glad to find they added the God of Thunder as DLC (thanks, Rob).  In the process I found that MWP had added Hawkeye, as well.

Since it took me about 10 minutes to find the Downloads section, I decided to post them here.

Click here for the Thor DLC.

Click here for the Hawkeye DLC.

I won't lie, I'm still not sold on Marvel Super Heroic Roleplaying and have just purchased Avalon Game Company's Heroes Wear Masks and am also looking at the old Marvel FASERIP game.  I'll see how it goes tonight.  I'm actually not fond of changing rules so I'll put up with alot just to keep the game moving.

It's very strange to run a game using published characters as opposed to original ones.  In 20 years running super hero games, this is a first for me.  I actually like it alot and have found it's very easy to work on subplots and plan both action set pieces and character pieces.  Setting it on Earth 926 has helped, as no one is locked into a particular behavior.

The Avengers have quite a bit of fallout to deal with this session.  Captain America, Shadowcat, and James Rhodes, all missing in action.  Downtown St. Louis destroyed and the Red Hulk got away.  The Triskelion was leveled and 846 of it's personnel killed by Baron Strucker, using the android body he stole from Tony Stark, and not a single Von Strucker left in custody.  And last, but not least, a returned Red Skull who is working with the Enchantress and the Executioner, all three at large.  I guess the one bright spot is that Loki recovered the Tessaract...of course, the Red Skull won't be letting go of it that easily, I'm sure.

Mightiest Issue 2

First, let me critique myself by saying I didn't feel like I was on my game as a GM, monday night.

Part of it is a continued ambivalence at the Marvel Heroic Role Playing Game's system.  I'm well past interest in "narrativist" games in my RPG development.  Probably about 7 years past it.  In my opinion, having rules to help a GM frame, develop, and end scenes is admirable (and a good idea in what could be someone's first RPG), but I don't need rules for that.  In fact, those types of rules, are what I find distasteful in most "indie" RPGs.

The problem too, is that Marvel and Margaret Weiss Productions are fumbling the ball on promoting this project, remember when we used to ads for RPGs in comics?  Why Marvel haven't you dedicated ad space to promote this game, as part of the license?

But as soon as I called for Wolverine to roll an action, and we had to go through the "laundry list" of traits, the wind completely left my sails, so to speak.

•  Wolverine is the only one who witnessed Captains America's switch with the Red Skull by the Enchantress and Executioner.  Wolvie tried to assault the Skull, but his acrobatic skills won out and Amora enchanted Logan into leaving them.  The trio then made their escape.

•  While trying assess the full scope of Hydra's assault, Nick Fury let them know that a Red Hulk was destroying downtown St. Louis.  The Beast brought JARVIS back online and then led the Thing and Colossus to confront this Hulk.  On the way, he contacted General "Thunderbolt" Ross about Hulkbuster equipment and was given permission by Tony Stark to use an experimental Iron Man suit close by.
He dropped Colossus and Thing into the fray and set off for the suit.  Colossus and Thing kept this Hulk busy, and noticed the madder he got, the hotter he got.  The Beast made it back with the suit and it appeared their team had him on the ropes.  However, a surprise feint on the Red Hulk's part, caused them to ram into each other.  The Red Hulk exploded in blinding heatwave and left them lying in the wreckage.

•  Meanwhile, Loki, went on his own to divine the whereabouts of Amora.  He located them at a mansion in Long Island and teleported there.  He knocked on the door and was surprised that the man servant who greeted him, blocked an attempt at mind control.  Loki was then seated in the drawing room and shared small talk with the Enchantress, while Skourge pointedly ignored him reading the Weekly World News.  Loki, used his magic to split his psyche and invisibly proceeded upstairs, where he sensed the Tessaract.  He discovered the Red Skull in bed, gazing into the cube's depths.  Acting with surprise, he blasted the Skull outside, through the wall and escaped with his prize.

•  Wolverine proceeded to the Triskelion, where the Strucker twins were being held, to help defend against any attack by Baron Strucker to liberate them.  Loki teleported there and Logan commented on smelling Amora, the Skull, and Skourge "on him".  Loki blew it off and Wolvie gave him his privacy.  Howerver, Maria Hill wanted more answers and led away for a debriefing.  She was frustrated that he couldn't provide an address for the mansion.  While this was going on, Iron Man arrived from China and almost simultaneously, the base was attacked by Baron Strucker.  The Baron, in the his new android body, dropped an unconscious Thor on them and they were shocked his Mjonir was missing.
Stark was able to shut down Strucker's fire powers and Logan got in a grisly hit on the Baron.  However, Strucker scoffed at them and decided to "go nova".

•  As the St. Louis team arrived at the Triskelion, they were shocked to see the facility had been leveled.  Iron Man's armor was frozen and shut down; Wolverine was dazedly moving about, his skin rapidly returning to his body;  Loki was shocked that he had protected Agent Hill from the blast with his cloak and she had found the Tessaract; Dr. Henry Pym, who had escaped from Strucker's Android body, had found shelter under Thor.  Both were battered and the God of Thunder was still unconsious. All 3 Struckers were gone and first responders were en route.

•  The Avengers were surrounded by dead and dying S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives.  Nick Fury was 2 minutes out.