Like many V&V adventures, FORCE had an fantastic cover. I remember wishing the module had included those heroes' stats.

From a creative standpoint, I liked Force's ability to gain positive reactions from either side (good/evil)--an ability used by other characters in some of the later adventure products.

polarboy wrote on Sep 18^th, 2009 at 4:21pm:


We've got some one who may be able to help you out in that matter.

I don't take off any points fer anything. In fact, I give the module credit for puttin' a brother on the cover.

But it certainly doesn't earn any points for being one of the most sexist modules on the books. Theere is only one female character. And she is much weaker than any of the men, and is stuck in the default stay-at-home psychic mode. Having a disability is fine, if it wasn't so borrowed from Prof. X.

That's all I got to say.

Okay... The FORCE mod

I was one of the folks who picked iffy...

But first off... let me tell you, It wasn't the characters or the story.

It was how the situations played out (just for me and my style of play).

Villains were TOO spread out (Kansas Compound and the St. Sebastian Island). They could and should have added more foes and definitely more female foes (I think both Shadarkos and Teleporter should and could have been women, PLUS I think at the island they should have had an aquatic foe: the last time I used the mode I made the character (Jaws MW vol. 1, or) Man-Shark as a member of the team).

I also feel that Stargazer's inability to walk should have been supplemented by an artificial mode to be able to walk about... after all... look at Force himself... huh Huh HUH?
Well fortunately the girl did my game, though at ½ move. I also gave her Precognition… a Heightened HEIGHTENED Defense giving her a whopping -8 to be hit plus an added -1 per level Giving her a total of -11 to be hit (She went from lackluster villainess to formidable… cause believe it or not… those d4 smacks add up).

I do not think the Module was bad mind you. I actually rather liked it (The components).
Force was a VERY reoccurring foe in my games (Force, Assassin, Project: Ultimatum, Takeover!, War-Zone (took place in Europe), Prison-Break! Highest Bidder, M.A.D. (Mercenaries and Arms Dealer), Church of Divine Discord, Land of the Rising Sun (Japan adventure), Death Knell (U.K. adventure)  and finally FORCE of DOOM!). He beats Doctor Apocalypse in reoccurring roles (and I LOVE Dr. A) and is one shy of my foe Magnet Man (as I have said before and will say again… the guy in the Purple and Green from the 2nd Ed V&V cover).

I just thought it was TOO strung out.
I had to do a lot of work to try to retro-fit the Church of Divine Harmony (Great concept) into the world as an existing organization (this being primarily because they were essentially a recruiting station for Mercenaries, Henchmen and Hirelings). Though I did make it that there were people there who were there because of they believed in the concept of what the Church stood for.

St Sebastian Island… there was nothing about that island that I didn’t love. I love Island bases… so just so everyone is aware, the Island had little to do with me liking the mod, just because an island appeared in the last mod. Islands always make perfect sense for bases… they are secluded most times and the villains can do as they please. Which suits them and me just fine.

It is a fine mod… I just felt there were some seriously iffy stuff about it that should have been fine tuned. Particularly the distance thing (Though I Force’s defense… he did have Teleporter on his team to help him along… unfortunately… the Crusaders did not).

Clamor actually became a central player and a Crusader in my games… because he was the brother of…

I also made the Hero chara from the interior members of the Hero team Justice Patrol them being:
Blue Knight: Super strong fighter and master of the power axe (and former member of the Crusaders)
Captain Cold: Leader and ice master extraordinaire.
Archangel: Sword wielding, winged warrior!
Empress: Super strong, queen of fire.

Good mod. GORGEOUS DEE artwork throughout it. Though I stand firm on my feeling for it.

G7

I don't remember playing FORCE 20+years ago, but I remember I liked the module/villains.  Fast Forward 20 years, I'm having a blast with it, I'm using it as a starter module for my kid's second campaign, and it's going great. 

I'm debating posting their adventures on the board if you guys would be interested in reading them...

Well since FORCE and Assassin are so interconnected... I'll just go ahead and place it on Poll list now.

But feel free to continue to comment on this mod and the others that preceeded it!

G7

SuperFriend wrote on Sep 18^th, 2009 at 11:51pm:


I actually liked the art in this one, but didn't care for the art in Assassin.  Both are fun adventures, though, and Force himself makes a great recurring villain!

Like most modules, I've run this one at least twice.  Back in the day (our first, high school campaign), I hardly remember what happened, and the only write-up I have for it (for our superhero group the Sentinels) is:

#6 /The Secret of F.O.R.C.E./ Disruptor, Pulsar, and Nightstalker stop F.O.R.C.E. and their plan to blackmail the East Coast.

[Not much of a summary, is it?]   

When I then ran it many years later for the original group in our current campaign - Justice Force - the summaries are a bit more in depth:

#8 – The East Coast for Ransom – A terrorist group known as the Force blackmails the U.S. with a deadly bacteriological agent, S-97, and a nuclear weapon.  A dying reporter with information about Force, who had infiltrated a Church of Divine Harmony commune, points Tempest and Panther toward the ShadowHawk, a hydrofoil anchored in Long Island Sound.  A battle at the vessel ensues with the yacht’s crew, Mr. Magnum, and Cicada, who is killed during the skirmish.

#9– The Kansas Commune – Spectre, Panther and Tempest fly to Dodge City, Kansas, and they infiltrate the commune in civilian garb.  Late that evening, in uniform, they search the compound, conflict with security forces, and discover an underground training complex.  The vigilantes rout the soldiers and villains Clamor and Stargazer, and realize that there is more than meets the eye with the Church and its leader, Father Heronomous Kinkaid, who is also the registered owner of the ShadowHawk.

#10 – FORCE – Returning to New York, the squad trails the hydrofoil south down the coast, encountering Phantasm along the way.  Eventually they arrive at St. Sebastian Island and find a heavily guarded, underground base.  The assault is joined by allies Manta-Man, Cyborg, and Magna-Man, and the struggle rages on against guards and superpowered opponents.  The heroes are victorious and capture Shadarkos, but they are unable to stop the leader, Force, as well as Snowblind and Phantasm, from escaping.

We are just finishing up FORCE, and I thought I'd post a few notes on what kinds of changes I've made have resulted in...

Our heroes actually had their powers "triggered" by a meteor that crashed outside the Kansas compound.  Force was away from the compound at the time, but Phantasm took on his guise, and interacted with the heroes.  He basically took them in.  They have become close friends with Clamor, and I believe he will "defect" to the heroes side when the final battle happens. 

FORCE has become very interested in the characters, specifically how they obtained their powers.  He has offered medical facilities to the characters, and has obtained samples of their DNA, as well as blood and tissue samples.  He has attempted to befriend them as brother Kinkaid, and is trying to belay that into a relationship with FORCE (using his enhanced Charisma of course.)  He also collected the shrapnel left over from the meteor, and has a few of his henchmen breaking into a military facility to get a sample of a chemical cocktail that was given to the heroes prior to their powers becoming active.

He has tricked the PCs into taking on the Crusaders, using Phantasm's illusionary powers, and helped them along as they have learned to use their new powers.  His inability to be mind read as an android has proven beneficial as the team psychic has not been able to "read/probe" either FORCE, or brother Kinkaid.  This has proven troublesome for FORCe, as he has been able to read/probe some of his henchmen, including Mr. Magnum and Clamor.  Luckily, they both follow FORCE as they believe in what he's doing and don't think of him as "EVIL." 

I have also made some changes to the FORCE character, in that he is trying to bring about world peace, under his rule of course, but with Mutants or special individuals above the masses.  He is trying to convince the heroes to join him, and so far has not forced them to do anything, and on several occasions has offered them the opportunity to leave, both the compound when they were there, and now the Island base.  He truly wants them to join him, first as he sees the posibilities of their powers, and secondly, he believes he will be able to duplicate the process that created them, and create his own zealot followers with "special" powers.  This may come to happen, may not, I'm unsure at this time. 

FORCE is actually becoming somewhat a Magneto like character to the PCs, where he's not necessarily a "bad" guy, he just wants Mutants and any other Special individuals to be above normal Homo Sapiens. Of couse, some would say the use of a "dirty" nuclear device to encourage a government to provide funding, but Magneto has done some similar things in his past.

I see FORCE as becoming a large part of this campaign, as it moves on, and I will most assuredly be utilizing Assassin in the future.

I'd love to hear how things turned out fo ryou guys, especially G7, as the covers of your modules leave my mouth watering.... more, more...

The Meteor stuff is Fun...
I mean... come on... how can you go wrong with meteors!

I like the additive of it to the Compound story and your intro Hammer.

By the by... I love Smallville as well... and the meteor rainfall absolutely rocked (pardon the pun)... I have never seen an alternation in the Superman Mythos that I have liked so much.

G7