Goliath wrote on Sep 20^th, 2010 at 9:34pm:


This is a long-running campaign, so characters like R.A.M. 101 get progressively better (and higher level, usually) each time they're faced.

At least that's usually the case.  I just was going through an old adventure - not one of the Guardians issues, but for a different group of characters (but still part of the main campaign), and I discovered that I'd used R.A.M. 101 there as well.  So I think the first time I used the robot was here (issue #24 of the Guardians), which was back in late 1993, then used it again for that other group (called the Misfits) in something like 2002 (I think I made the spider something like level 6), and then I used it again recently (earlier this year), and I'm pretty sure I went with level 4 again (without any of the upgrades given from 2002, since I'd forgotten about that encounter and missed it when I searched the Guardians write-ups).  Oh well, I guess I can chalk it up to being a different writer (even though I was the GM in all three cases!).   
That usually doesn't happen, though.  Being an ongoing campaign, I'm usually very careful to make sure that characters stay consistent, timelines are followed, major events are coordinated, etc.  So in this case (where there's a boo-boo), I'll come up with some in-game story reason why the spider might have had different weapons that he/it suddenly no longer had; perhaps they were temporary based on the work of some mad scientist or something along those lines!).   Levels aren't as huge in our game (4th level and 6 are the same on our chart), so goofing that up isn't the end of the world (though I will fix things for next time R.A.M. is faced).

As to how often we play, we try to game every other weekend, and we usually play for 4-6 hours.   

#26 - Strange Days Indeed - Shadow Knight and Entropy investigate bizarre happenings in Maine, then find themselves somehow in a temple on Nacht Island, where they are crushed by Doctor Apocalypse.  Waking back in New York at the headquarters of the Destroyers, they have a run in with Behemoth and Ratman.

#28 – Opposing Force – The Guardians of Earth Corporation is formed and Quiasar becomes team leader.  Troubles with the Zap clone are revealed in a team meeting, as are problems in China (from the T.O.T.E.M. missile) and New Babylon (from civil war).  Entropy, Dr. Desist, and Shadow Knight encounter millionaire Franklin Emerson and his bodyguard Oliver Harris (Mr. Magnum).  They later have a run-in with Force, who they discover is Emerson, and they decisively trounce the android.  The villain is able to transfer his essence before his artificial body is destroyed.

I'm leaving tonight and going out of the country for about a week.  I'll be likely without internet access, so there will be a short interlude on these daily posts.  I'll fire them back up when I return from the Bahamas!   

#31 – Welcome to the Neighborhood – The Guardians are attacked in their new headquarters in Washington, D.C. by disguised workers.  Alliance member Sting, masquerading as an architect, attempts to kill Entropy while his gang of Roustabouts and Bandit tackle Crocodile and Dr. Desist.  Japanese terrorist Osore watches the fight, which is won by the heroes.  The villains are traced to a carnival in Virginia that is crawling with military police.  General Brown, head of Army Intelligence, has been abducted and the trail leads to the nearby estate of the carnival owner, Mr. Dark.  The original three Guardians, accompanied by Cobra and Quiasar, enter the seemingly abandoned house and contend with illusions and despair generated by Mr. Dark.

#33 – No More Secrets – Sinder, Dr. Desist, Shadow Knight, Entropy, Quiasar, and Crocodile travel to China to check on the effects of the T.O.T.E.M. missile.  They meet some villagers, who take them to the fortress of an evil despot high in some cliffs.  The team invades the mountain stronghold, facing weapons, traps and robots.  They are captured by Dr. Destroyer, who does an extensive mind probe on each of them, revealing the secrets of their pasts both to him and to each other.  Shadow Knight is thrown into a large tank of water, and his teammates watch helplessly as he is savaged by the mutated shark King.

#35 – The Star-Devourer – Shadow Knight, Sinder, White Leopard, Crocodile, Entropy, and Dr. Desist are called to San Francisco to look into some missing Polynesian statues from the de Young Museum.  Cultists of the Darkspawn call down a massive creature from the stars, and the heroes intercept it just as it gets to the Golden Gate Bridge.  The over 500-ton behemoth can hardly be slowed down, so the team turns their attention to the gathered cultists near Mount Tamalpais.  Subduing the gestalted followers chases the beast back to the heavens.  Congressman Maxwell’s attorneys attempt to have his case dismissed, but only a delay is granted.

Identity: Kramer Thomas
Name: CROCODILE
Side: Good
Sex: Male
Level: 15
Age: 57

Powers:
Heightened Intelligence : +21.
Heightened Defense: -4 to be hit.
Animal Powers: Reptile; +2 S; +2 E.
     Natural Weaponry: +3 to Hit; +6 to Damage; Teeth, Claws, Fin; no Agility - from Reptile Powers.
     Heightened Senses: 'Sixth Sense'; Detect Danger x3.
Armor: Type A; ADR-98; regrows 42 overnight; weight x 2.94.
Heightened Attack: Skill; +15 to Damage.
Heightened Endurance: Skill; +11.
Heightened Expertise: Skill; +4 to Hit – all HtH attacks.
Diminished Senses: Poor sense of taste and smell.
    
Weight: 590 (7'4")
Basic Hits: 12
Agility Mod.: -4

Strength: 15
Endurance: 26
Agility: 12
Intelligence: 34
Charisma: 19

Reactions From:   Good: +4   Evil: -2

Hit Points: 118
Power: 88
Healing Rate: 8.4
Damage Mod.: +5
Accuracy: +1
Carrying Capacity: 1,763
Basic HtH Damage: 1d10

Movement Rates: 53"

Det. Hidden: 24%
Det. Danger: 84%

Inventing: 102%
Security Clearance: 3
Rep. Pts.: 6
Perception: 32

American Citizen

Training: +2 to Hit – Claws

Biology (Genetics) – 4/20
Intimidation – 3/16
Research – 3/19
Computers – 2/18
Literature – 2/18

Chance to Hit / Damage:
Claws – 15 / 1d10 +26
Teeth, Fin, HtH - 13 / 1d10+26
Born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi, Kramer Thomas was a bright and inquisitive child.  After high school he enlisted in the U.S. Army and was shipped off to Vietnam, where he endured two years of savage and brutal warfare.  During the invasion of the Quang Tri province, his best friend Henry Tromidor was nearly blown in half and died in the young soldier's arms.  After the war, he achieved a Master of Science in Education and was appointed as a professor of Genetics and Molecular Biology at the University of Florida, where he met and married Shirley Potter.  While studying reptile DNA and behavior on an expedition to Kakadu, Australia, he was terrified by an encounter with a large salt-water crocodile; he nonetheless was fascinated by the powerful, primordial crocodylus porosus, and after his return to the U.S. he continued to study the species.  Over the next few years his marriage deteriorated, and eventually his wife left him.  Despondent over the loss and frustrated about nearly depleted government grant money and recent Vietnam flashbacks, he decided to pursue a dangerous scientific experiment: to transform himself into a human crocodile.  After applying an external cream and ingesting an unusual serum, the scientist submerged himself in a strange liquid and activated a switch.  After an explosion, a large, armored, reptilian creature emerged from the tank; Kramer Thomas had been transformed into a seven foot tall, six hundred pound monster.  Choosing the name Crocodile, he contacted C.H.E.S.S. and became a founding member of the Guardians.  He adventured with the group for seven years, then spent the next eight only occasionally getting involved in paranormal affairs.  When he learned that the alien Gwai'ir faced extinction from a genetic threat, he volunteered his biological expertise and left Earth to aid the dying race.  Upon his return, he has again become a (mostly) retired superhero that spends his time studying genetics.

If you check this site's Photobucket account:

http://s976.photobucket.com/albums/ae247/VandVforum/Guardians%20Campaign/

You can see pictures (as well as counters and a few character sheets) for the three first (and long-time) members of the Guardians - Dr. Desist, Entropy, and Crocodile.

I hope to post a few more soon as well.

#38 – Enter the Dragon’s Claw – The Guardians successfully fight off the ninjas; many are knocked out and again found dead.  As the heroes escort Mr. Yamashito to the sale, the owner of Vanguard, Leslie Richter, is replaced with a duplicate.  During the formalities, ninjas drug, kidnap, and replace Yooso as well.  In the middle of the transaction, supervillains Shogun, Tsunami, Komodo Dragon, and Raiden attack from the sewers and begin destroying everything.  The battle serves as a distraction, and the Dragon’s Claw attempts to spirit away Yasunari.  Quiasar shoots out the tires of the fleeing limousine to rescue him from the ninja impersonating Yooso.  Komodo Dragon and Raiden are captured, but Shogun is found to be dead.

#40 – A Day at the Mall – Osore, of the Rising Sun political party, has issues with the team for their recent interference in Japanese affairs.  While Quiasar, Shadow Knight, Entropy, White Leopard, Dr. Desist, and Crocodile deal with an out of control robot at the National Mall, Osore and his Elite Guard of ninjas attack them.  The Guardians fend off the offensive, capturing one of the Guard.  Osore penetrates their secure holding cell and kills the captive before he can talk.  Epilogue: The group sends a diplomatic overture to the terrorist, and the two sides reach an understanding.

#42 – Athabasca – The LeBeque gang captures and holds a uranium mine for ransom in Athabasca, Alberta.  The Canadian government hires the Guardians for discreet aid.  Crocodile, Entropy, Quiasar, Shadow Knight, and Freeze investigate, then launch an assault on the mine.  They clash with Mr. Mind, Miss Body, Coral Snake, Stump, and Earth Mother.  The team scores a victory, talking Earth Mother into surrendering and capturing the rest of the gang.

#44 – Resisting the Inferno – Plasma Ranger, Entropy’s former leader in CEF1, comes to the Guardians base and introduces new superhero Firemist to Quiasar, Shadow Knight, Crocodile, and Entropy.  The Seven Servants to Sargatanas: Devilspawn, Sabredance, Sequoya, Albatross, Supersonic, Firefall, and Oblivion teleport into the team’s lab and attack.  The two sides are evenly matched and the battle rages on for a great deal of time.  Devilspawn concentrates powerful magical spells on Quiasar, who remarkably resists them.  Sensing imminent defeat, Devilspawn negotiates a truce and the villains are apprehended.

Majestic wrote on Oct 19^th, 2010 at 1:30am:


What my friend James did with this storyline was one of the coolest I've seen in all my years of playing V&V.  Somehow, even though I'd read the rulebook cover-to-cover many times, I'd somehow missed that one of the teams listed a few pages in (on p. 1) was called the Guardians (just like our main superhero team).

So my buddy James hands three of us (the ones of the group that were still C.H.E.S.S. agents) a manilla packet each with a "Top Secret" stamp on it (we'd gotten a cool stamp with those words back in the day when we played the RPG by that name).  Inside was classified information about these old Guardians and what had happened to them recently (in our campaign, that is).  He placed those "old Guardians" as a team in our campaign from the 70's.  And he created a cool storyline that incorporated some of them interacting with our modern-day Guardians (sort of like Watchmen does with some of the old Minutemen).

So we got to adventure alongside Action Man, Black Glove, and Flying Cobra (and I drew markers/counters based on some images we had from the rulebook) and Straasha (well, Straasha robots) became part of the campaign.  You'll see the specifics starting with issue #50, but it was back in issue #45 that he first did some foreshadowing about what was to come.   

#47 – A Stranger Among Us – David Sweet puts the team in contact with the C.I.A. regarding a stolen high-tech hydrosub.  Mr. Wesley and Agent Simpson send Entropy, Cobra, and Crocodile to Delaware, where they set up an ambush at a secret government laboratory.  The heroes encounter Chaos and his advanced vessel, and interrupt the alien’s theft of hydrogen.  After a struggle, the lightning fast stranger turns each of them temporarily into an amoeba and makes a clean get-away.  Congressman Phillip Maxwell (Purple Mask) goes to trial on charges of coercion and is acquitted.

Galaxy Boy wrote on Oct 21^st, 2010 at 12:21pm:


IIRC, I had different amoeba-looking markers/counters left over from The Devil's Domain.  Basically I'd made a bunch of slime-type/amoeba markers in different colors, so I think I used different ones that matched up roughly with the colors of the various characters' uniform colors.  So the guy dressed in red turns into a red amoeba, the darker one into a brownish-black, etc.   

That alien character - Chaos - has returned at least once.  That's a pretty nasty power (Transmutation), especially when it's combined with somebody that moves way faster than everybody else (with Heightened Speed)!   

#49 – The Hit – The Guardians are asked to help the Zap clone reintegrate into society, but also receive a warning from Plasma Ranger about a possible assassination attempt.  Entropy, White Leopard, and Dr. Desist attend the release ceremony, where a missile, followed by gunfire, turns the proceedings into a war zone.  Shadow Company: Agent V (Panther), Agent W (Hans Wagner), Agent X (Mercury Mercenary), Agent Y (Niles Foxworth), and Agent Z (Timothy Roberts) surround Zap and terminate him.  The heroes attempt to stop them, but are hindered by a force field.  Squaring off, the two sides negotiate rather than fight, and the assassins depart.