Been having the itch to run supers more lately, so I've fired up the long-running Guardians campaign.  Though instead of running with the big boys (the team itself), instead I've been running some lower level supers, who've started up their own West Coast team!

I ran on consecutive nights, and this will now make the fourth "comic book" in the 25+ year campaign.  Besides the 36 issues of Justice Force (that started it all back in the early 90s) and Exploits (more solo tales and issues that run parallel to the Guardians, but don't fit into the main title), there's now the Sentinels as well.

#1 – The Horns of Hades – San Francisco city manager Jeremy Braddock encourages Psilight to form a team in the Bay Area, and the city donates a closed down fire station in the Tenderloin neighborhood for use as a base.  He calls in Chronovator and Contagion, and new superhero Rejuvenator offers his services as well.  Psilight’s contact Miles Jefferies texts him, alerting him that the Horns of Hades biker gang, at the Lucky 13 bar, are the ones responsible for the disappearance of prosecutor Conner Mattheson.  Psilight races to the biker bar by foot while the other three fly in Chronovator’s ship, the L’Engle.  Psilight finds out little by questioning patrons, so Rejuvenator starts a bar fight by blasting a man.  The ten men and women of the Horns of Hades attack the heroes with knives and chains, but the adventurers make quick work of them all.  Suddenly Rejuvenator becomes accusatory and shoots Psilight, so Contagion swiftly renders him unconscious.  Chronovator and Psilight take the gang’s leader, Anglo, out behind the building, and Chronovator creates a portal, threatening to strand him in prehistoric times.  The biker immediately spills, revealing that his group didn’t take the man, but that they were asked to do so by the supervillain Mammoth, who is holed up at a home in Pacific Heights.  Psilight confronts Rejuvenator, who explains that he inadvertently switches between two personalities.  The teammates pledge to try to work past their differences.

Love it. 

It is tradition in our group that the first villain any new player or hero fights is Mammoth and Heater Jenkins.  We originally only had the rulebook, and they were the only villains we had. 

It's a great lesson for new players as well.  Do you take out Heater, who is a one shot knockout, or focus on Mammoth and take the gunshots from Heater. 

I think in this current campaign they'll return, Mammoth having undergone power enhancement and Heater gaining a new, better gun. 

I love reading your little summations.  It's easy to mine for my own game, and your experience in crafting the adventures shows.  Thanks for posting!

Our heroes enter the Lucky 13 (an actual biker bar in San Francisco):

It didn't take long, once the fight started, for the thugs and gang members to be taken out.  The last gal started to go for her gun, but decided to surrender instead.

I know.  My CDO (I like to put them in the proper alphabetical order) hardly allowed me to do so. 

The reason I did it that way was because that was how it came up on Google Maps (so the top of the map was true North and all).

Tenba raced over and grabbed a baseball bat, which Psilight shattered, turning it into a small club.

"John Bystander the Fourth for the prosecution, your honor."  LMAO

At least briefly, both Jenkins and Mammoth were up, though all Heater could do was try to wake up Mammoth again (when he was KOd again), before he too took another dirt nap!

We played this one awhile ago (more than a month), but I hadn't got around to updating the pictures.

#3 – Welcoming Party – Hundreds gather at Union Square as the Sentinels hold a press conference to explain their intent to protect San Francisco.  Rejuvenator is called away right before the monstrous Gargan makes his way through the crowd toward the stage.  A young man intercepts the brute, then transforms into the new superhero Raijin.  Battle is soon joined, with Psilight and Raijin slugging it out with powerful villains Gargan and Talus Baum.  After a massive battle, Talus Baum reveals that their attack was a message from someone unknown, and that the city is contested territory.  They exit the area with Raijin unconscious and Psilight barely able to stand.

Though eagle-eyed observers will note Rejuvenator on the dais, my son decided not to play, so we retconnned that and had him depart just before the action.

Finally downloaded pictures off of my phone to the computer.  Here's a few images of that last adventure ("The Hero Within").  Firstly the four PCs:

Some wreckage in the warehouse as they fight her:

One last pic of Omega Girl amongst the massive amount of debris.

Yes! You have some of the best Chits I have ever seen!

I was on a staycation last week, so I took the opportunity to run dsumner's "Rising Sun".  I'll post some pictures later on.

On the first day I ran the first half with three players:

#5 – Like a Thief in the Night – After the sabotage of numerous industrial facilities on the West Coast by radical environmentalists from the E.P.F. (Environmental Protection Front), authorities receive a tip from a reliable informant on where they will strike next.  With paranormals apparently involved, they ask the Sentinels to be ready for them.  Raijin, Psilight, and a visiting Wraith ambush and take down Geist, Riot, and a half-dozen masked E.P.F. members as they assault an S.A.C.C. (Sino-American Chemical Corporation) shipping terminal south of San Francisco.  Afterwards Lazarus Stone, the president and CEO of S.A.C.C.’s parent company, Titan Industries, makes the most of a live press conference with lots of media attention, where he rewards the three heroes with a large check to the charity of their choice.

About two weeks ago we finished off "Rising Sun" (written by dsumner) by doing the finale, on the ship as the villains flee.  We had a PC die (legitimately, which is rare in V&V), but I'd just nerfed his overpowered Paralysis Ray, and the player was eager to make a new PC anyway.

#7 – Battle at Sea – A U.S. Navy submarine and experimental military satellite provide the location of the Rising Sun’s submersible transport, the Sea Dragon, as it heads east.  F.I.S.H. flies Contagion, Psilight, and Raijin out over the Pacific Ocean, after the Sea Dragon was brought aboard the high-speed catamaran, the Daisuke.  The trio parachutes down, but Raijin and Psilight land in the water and are forced to scramble aboard near the anchor of the large boat.  They search the lower levels of the vessel and take out one crewmember.  Contagion makes his way into the secure bridge near the top, disabling the captain and first mate, then changing the ship’s course to slowly return to the States.  Unable to find the supervillains, the three make their way to the open upper deck and call out the enemy; Tetsuronin and Oni arrive soon after.  The heroes drop Oni instantly, but Tetsuronin proves difficult to defeat, parrying away most of their attacks.  Contagion is hit and sent flying overboard, soon tragically lost to the ocean depths.  Soon after Raijin is also knocked into the sea, so Psilight disengages and disables the boat’s engines.  By the time he rescues Raijin, Tetsuronin has escaped again via the Sea Dragon.