Page Index Toggle Pages: 1 [2] 
Topic Tools
Very Hot Topic (More than 25 Replies) Exploits Issue Summaries (Read 13713 times)
Majestic
Justice Leaguer
*****
Offline


Guardian of Earth

Posts: 5179
Location: Seattle
Joined: Jun 8th, 2009
Gender: Male
Re: Exploits
Reply #35 - Jul 2nd, 2015 at 5:22pm
Print Post  
Thanks, Phrennzy.  Glad you like them, and it's cool that the ideas are inspiring for others' games.
  
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
Majestic
Justice Leaguer
*****
Offline


Guardian of Earth

Posts: 5179
Location: Seattle
Joined: Jun 8th, 2009
Gender: Male
Re: Exploits
Reply #36 - Oct 10th, 2016 at 5:05pm
Print Post  
I finally did a summary of the event at this year's GuardianCon (in June), which I didn't play in.  My son and another friend were co-GMs, and it was a massive, sprawling tale with an extremely intricate plot (even with the details of this write-up, there's lots that was not found out by the players).  They are considering doing a sequel, to explore more of it.

[Editor's Note: Delta is the name of my son's 'universe', for his V&V campaign.  So this was a "crossover" even with PCs from both games/universes, the Vindicators and the Guardians]

#43 – Excavated Evil – Prologue: In Delta, twin brothers battle each other for centuries, Aelmar eventually taking the form of a paladin and Belarious that of a large dragon.  A magical curse causes them to switch bodies; the paladin calls himself Valgar and the dragon Pendragon. In the present, Ryoma Okita (Kensai) fights off strange ninjas at his work office, but drops after being poisoned.  Galahad dispatches a number of street punks, and a mysterious man claiming to be a servant of Merlin asks for his help.  In Delta, heroes Archon, Ad-versus, the Damned, Anomalous, and Nox are assembled to confront a great evil: Archon takes out a purse thief, but the victim knocks him out with a weapon.  Ad-versus is summoned to the dean’s office at his community college; he declines a robed man’s request for help and in turn is rendered unconscious.  At a laundromat, a man appears and gives Ricky Wilson (the Damned) an airline ticket to a fantastic resort island.  A woman convinces Anomalous to leave a bar, but before he can depart he passes out from his poisoned drink.  Nox investigates the kidnappings of various paranormals, and soon finds himself alongside the missing four, Kensai, and Galahad on a plane headed to an unknown destination overseas.  A disturbance jars the aircraft as it passes between dimensions (back into Delta), and many of the adventurers suddenly observe different people sitting next to them.  As the craft is rocked by more turbulence, the bewildered vigilantes unsuccessfully struggle to repair the vessel, but cannot keep it from crash landing on an island!  The heroes aid the injured, but most of the passengers are found to be dead.  As the others set up a camp and gather survivors while tending to the wounded, Anomalous and Archon explore an apparently empty compound to the north.  The camp is attacked by zombies, who prove to be much stronger and faster than expected.  The champions fight off wave after wave of the undead, allowing the innocent civilians to flee into a cave.  Just as they are about to be overwhelmed, the zombies stop, becoming completely motionless!  Unnerved, the party moves north to the encampment, resting on the roof of one building and sharing with each other how they each came to be on the plane.  Ad-versus explores, and in an excavation tent encounters Pendragon.  The reptile admits to controlling the undead, and commands Ad-versus to break an ancient obelisk to the north.  The hero attempts to comply, but is stopped by the others.  The group continues to explore, discovering state-of-the-art equipment and facilities.  Notes from head researcher Dr. William Huxley hint at a recently unearthed dragon that controls zombies.  In the most extravagant room of the compound they meet Valgar, who tells them the evil dragon must be destroyed, not the obelisk.  Pendragon communicates through Ad-versus, but the team refuses to listen to him.  They search more, and in a cave find the obelisk, as well as stone tablets that tell of a battle between a paladin and a dragon millennia ago.  Pendragon (Aelmar) tells the explorers that the paladin Valgar (Belarious) is not to be trusted.  The Damned confirms with the cosmos that they can believe both, but Galahad senses evil in each of them.  The superheroes discuss their options in depth, and then break the obelisk (against Belarious’ wishes, freeing Aelmar). Galahad offered Aelmar freedom, but, overcome with rage, instead of leaving, he attempts to kill his captor instead, and the pair continues their ancient fight.
  
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
Majestic
Justice Leaguer
*****
Offline


Guardian of Earth

Posts: 5179
Location: Seattle
Joined: Jun 8th, 2009
Gender: Male
Re: Exploits Issue Summaries
Reply #37 - Mar 22nd, 2018 at 3:15pm
Print Post  
Two weeks ago was Gary Con 10, and there were two 3.0/Mighty Protectors games, the first an 8-hour one, and the second a normal, 4-hour affair.

I went ahead and incorporated them into my campaign (with a few minor tweaks), being as the GMs allowed everyone to bring their own 150 CP characters (I even made one for myself, just for this).
  
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
Majestic
Justice Leaguer
*****
Offline


Guardian of Earth

Posts: 5179
Location: Seattle
Joined: Jun 8th, 2009
Gender: Male
Re: Exploits Issue Summaries
Reply #38 - Mar 23rd, 2018 at 5:24pm
Print Post  
Now for recaps of the MP games run at GaryCon X.  This first one, "Daughter of Dagon" was 8 hours, so I broke it down into two separate issues.

#45 – Attack of the Cyber-Squid! - Revivicator, ColdSnap, Apparition, Quake, Foggy, and Nightstalker respond when a giant squid attacks the pier at Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco.  Apparition paralyzes the beast, and the group finds that the creature’s lower half is mechanized.  Inside the Cyber-Squid they discover empty seats, and the language of the interior technology reveals an Atlantean dialect.  Police Lieutenant Black asks for assistance from the vigilantes when armored soldiers begin searching the city.  That night the makeshift team rushes to an underground rave, which partygoers spill out of in terror.  They make quick work of a squad of six Lemurians, and afterwards one explains that they are searching for the missing Princess Rel.  After learning that Rel has been singing with a local band called Afros and Tattoos, messages are left with the band’s manager, Zero.  The adventurers try to convince the underwater dwellers that force is not the answer to recovering the missing girl, and continue to coordinate with Black to keep the city safe.
  
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
Majestic
Justice Leaguer
*****
Offline


Guardian of Earth

Posts: 5179
Location: Seattle
Joined: Jun 8th, 2009
Gender: Male
Re: Exploits Issue Summaries
Reply #39 - Mar 26th, 2018 at 5:41pm
Print Post  
#46 – Daughter of Dagon – Working through the night, the six heroes make their way to an apartment in the Tenderloin district, where the band’s lead singer Angel appears to live with many other young people.  Clues indicate that Rel and Angel are songwriting partners and live together in the bathroom.  Realizing that the pair has fled, they track down drummer Gell at a train station, and he spills that the couple are hiding at Angel’s parents’ house outside the city.  The adventurers hurry there, where they find Angel and Princess Rel held captive by Lemurians alongside Angel’s parents in the basement!  As the group takes down the adversaries, the Lemurian villainess Itrea arrives and joins the soldiers.  The superheroes prove triumphant, and after the battle King Dagon shows up, demanding that his daughter return to their underwater kingdom.  The victors insist that the choice is hers, as she has reached adulthood, and encourage her to do what she chooses.  The Princess decides to remain on the surface world, and gives up her royal position back home.
  
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
Majestic
Justice Leaguer
*****
Offline


Guardian of Earth

Posts: 5179
Location: Seattle
Joined: Jun 8th, 2009
Gender: Male
Re: Exploits Issue Summaries
Reply #40 - Mar 29th, 2018 at 1:10pm
Print Post  
By the last day of Gary Con (Sunday), everybody is pretty wiped out and exhausted.  This last game wasn't that great, as the GM was entirely winging things.  It was pretty obvious to all of us as we noted that he never wrote anything down, looked at notes, or consulted any rules.  We hustled to get to the event at 9 in the morning, but then spent more than 1-1/2 hours as two players created characters.  Then we played the adventure, which was the GM improvising the whole time.  He seemed like a really nice guy and was extremely entertaining (would be a great guy to grab a beer with), but he also was distracted super easily, and got off on tangents without much effort.

Eventually in that first encounter, I figured out that we were dealing with an illusion (another player should have had a chance to learn this when he Siphoned Power from it).

In the end, the GM apologized that he didn't know the game system better, and said he hoped to learn more about it before he runs it at Gamehole Con.

#47 - A Not So Secret War – In Milwaukee with F.I.S.H., Rejuvenator, ColdSnap, Nightstalker, and Apparition respond alongside Magnatron and Pero Syte to a massive multi-car accident on Interstate 94, including a large truck embedded in the side of a building.  The heroes watch as a small, blue creature in the midst of the chaos is hit by lightning and grows in front of them.  Their attempts to reason with and attacks on the strange being prove futile, as it gets bigger and changes with successive electrical strikes.  Eventually the assembled adventurers deduce that most of the scene, including their opponent, is an elaborate illusion.  Magnatron rescues the crashed truck.  ColdSnap recovers a small, mechanical sphere, which brings a young male paranormal to the scene to recover his technology.  The teen explains that he caused the accident and illusions in order to steal materials needed to save his dying sister.  He summons a remarkable vehicle, which he flies everyone in to Columbia Saint Mary’s Hospital, where they learn that he was telling the truth.  Using the recovered items, a cure is attempted, but the girl transforms into a winged, horned monster and flies away!
  
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
Majestic
Justice Leaguer
*****
Offline


Guardian of Earth

Posts: 5179
Location: Seattle
Joined: Jun 8th, 2009
Gender: Male
Re: Exploits Issue Summaries
Reply #41 - Jul 17th, 2018 at 5:16pm
Print Post  
I had just two players on Friday (multiple others were out of town), so I finished off the final part I hadn't done from "Always Outnumbered". 

For this game I used 2.1, rather than 3.0, since none of the characters involved had been converted yet, and it was just easier.

Kudos to polarboy for another excellent and fun adventure.  One of the reasons I like running published adventures is that they're often storylines or plot twists that I'd never have come up with myself.

#48 – True Believer – On the same night as a mass shooting in an Orlando nightclub, new hero Pioneer downs an entity called Lightning-Lych at Clockwork Orange, another club across town.  Psypher returns home, and is suspicious when Perihelion shows her the news clip of the incident.  As they drive downtown, they witness Pioneer flying above them as a man hops off a motorcycle, grows larger, and bashes in the front door of Another Era Stamps & Coins.  Pioneer flies down and explains that he sensed the attack, but the experienced pair clears customers from the shop as Halley guards the entrance and Psypher’s pegasus Princess keeps watch overhead.  After a brief fight, Psypher and Perihelion convince Scrimmage to surrender, but Psypher remains skeptical of their ally.  Lightning-Lych reappears and begins to fight with all three adventurers, but Psypher suspects Pioneer of being behind it.  Photojournalist R.M. Ingram snaps pictures by the front door, so Princess scoops him up and flies him high into the sky!  Ingram (secretly the supervillain Haste) uses his mental powers on Princess, which causes the winged horse to fly chaotically, terrifying her passenger.  Scrimmage spills that he was working with Pioneer, and after the energy creature is destroyed Psypher confronts their associate.  When Scrimmage reveals that Pioneer has criminals at his hideout, the “hero” rationalizes them as his captives.  The two explain that he needs to go into custody until the situation can be straightened out, but he flees, only to be swiftly caught.  Princess brings Ingram down, and Perihelion recognizes her compulsive behavior as being what he felt years earlier, after his first incident with the press.  When he challenges Haste, the exposed villain races away.  F.I.S.H. arrives, along with Commissioner Rollands, who gives them authority to enter Pioneer’s residence.  Across town, they enter the Homestead Hostel (a converted firehouse), and Psypher heads upstairs as Perihelion hacks into computers below.  Conscience (wearing no costume) takes control of Psypher’s mind, then sends her back down to the garage to take out Perihelion.  She shoots her old partner, but he is able to quickly snap her out of it.  The pair head to the upper level, where Conscience and Magnanimous give up without a fight.  They learn that Pioneer had been working with criminals, serving as a lookout and telepathic aide and providing a haven for them in the area.

  
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
Page Index Toggle Pages: 1 [2] 
Topic Tools
 
>