[MnM] The Incredible Years - The Final Countdown (C. Blaize and JDRakeh, input?)

[Jim Hague]

Ok, so I'm in the throes of plotting for my Incredible Years campaign, whose final episode is tomorrow (initial precis found here: http://www.atomicthinktank.com/viewtopic.php?t=7453&highlight=incredibles). The new Freedom League's defeated the minions of OVERTHROW and destroyed Doc Otaku's deadly Centurion-class Mechanaut (bearing the clone of Centurion, ready to be inhabited by Omega himself!)...now they face a final showdown with this series' master villain - Unifier (of the META-4 setting), who's established a secret base on Nomanisan Island. The League must discover Unifer's final stratagem, rescue their proteges the Next Gen and prevent the resurrection of Omega...along with facing off in a final battle against their archfoes, the lethal Alliance!

The current cast of characters, the new Freedom League, includes:

*Star Sapphire: Green Lantern-esque energy manipulator. Former AEGIS agent, responsible for monitoring several supers killed by Syndrome. Recently discovered her hidden Farside heritage and is developing minor psychic abilities to supplement her Precursor crystal-powered energies. Team leader. Archfoe: Lady Lunar.

*The American Dream: Everyman gadgeteer and inventor of the amazing Gravity Gauntlets that allow him to ensnare foes and hurl matter with the force of a runaway train. The Dream's dream is to show that anyone can be super, as a reaction to Syndrome's nihilisitc vision of the future. Vulnerable to electricity. Archfoe: None.

*Paragon II: Former college football hero and currently a reporter in Freedom City. Ted is the ancestor of the original Paragon, who was killed saving Freedom City from the Entropic Energy-powered Mechamorph. Ted's powers are straightforward - flight, invulnerability, superhuman senses and memory-metal 'footballs' as a ranged attack. Recently, Paragon II killed Die Nachtkrieger, who was resurrected by Star Sapphire and FC's mystic guardian WarMage. Archfoe: Behemoth.

*HotShot: Street kid taken in by infamous vigilante Foreshadow and 'apprenticed' to the League. HotShot is a mutant pyrokineticist with the powers of flight, a fire-based Energy Field and the ability to hurl bolts of fire, as well as creating simple constructs from plasma. Young, inexperienced, but extremely powerful. Archfoe: Undine.

*Texas Tempest: Formerly a drifter an alcoholic roaming the Texas badlands, the Tempest's powers manifested during a particularly horrific bender, destroying the small Texas town he was in. Wracked by guilt, Jack turned himself in to AEGIS and became an officially sanctioned super with the League during its early days. Recently, during an unwilling expedition to X-Isle, Jack's id manifested in the form of Malstorm, a vicious super with similar weather-control powers. Archnemesis: his 'brother'/evil twin Malstorm.

*Thunder Tiger: A teenaged Chinese-American with his father's suit of powered armor. TT made an enemy of Solo 'Doc Otaku' Takashi early on, and the two remain bitter enemies. Tiger's suit is heavy on offense - explosive energy blasts and a massive Multigun capable of a variety of entangles, Dazzles and flat-out damage. Capable of flight and highly protective. Tommy recently discovered that his girlfriend Amy was, in truth, MAGOG, a war robot created by Doc Otaku. tommy has helped Amy/MAGOG break free of Otaku's control using his skills as a hacker. Archenemy: Doc Otaku.

*WarMage: The grandson of WWII-era super Gunner, WarMage possesses a natural ability at sorcery (likely due to Gunner's brief involvement with his brother's wife, Lady Celtic), with an affinity for elementalism. Also capable of flight, healing, surrounding himself in a protective field of mystic energy and projecting bolts of Stygian (literally!) darkness, WarMage is Freedom city's mystic guardian after the 'departure' of his mentor, Adrian Eldritch. Archfoe: Medea.

The League's foes are:

*Unifier: power-mad shapeshifting dictator and supreme general of UNITROL, a powerful rogue nation. He's got a lot of flunkies - troops with power-draining laser rifles, robotic gorillas, guys in powered armor, a flying rocket-plane carrier and his very own supervillain submarine.

*The Alliance: Orion the Hunter (mastermind/superhuman strategist), Lady Lunar (Farsider super-mentalist), Doc Otaku (supergenius anime-obsessed inventor, has a pair of android guardians), Medea (ancient Greek sorceress, Half-Life (Entropic Energy-powered megalomaniac), Behemoth (new addition, super-strength brick) and Undine (water elementalist). The Alliance is about PL 13-15 on average.

And now, the request - I'm working on 'spotlight scenes' for each member of the League, a place where the character can really shine. The plot skeleton for tomorrow looks something like this, with only the Introduction and Coda/'Hand of the Overshadow' being fixed points. I'd like 'The Stars My Desolation' to be towards the end...but everything else can be freely shuffled. Scenes as follows:

1. Briefing - the League, aboard AEGIS' amazing HydroCarrier, get the lowdown on Nomanisan Island. Spyplane flyovers show heavy cloud cover in the area, disposition of Unifier's forces is unknown.

2. Graveyard of the Supers - general infiltration/evasion of UNITROL forces, likely a few skirmishes with lightly-armed minions.

3. Rumble in the Jungle - the League finds a group of Goriiladozers (robot gorillas) clearing away the rubble of the final battle between AEGIS forces and the remnants of Syndrome's goons. Fight likely to ensue, all in the majestic splendor of the retractable waterfall seen in the movie.

4. That's Some Mean-Looking Lava - one of the stealthiest entrances to the half-wrecked Syndrome complex is via a series of lava tunnels leading through the heart of the island's volcano. Guys in MOLE armor are working here, supervised by doc Otaku while they repair geothermal generators to provide the base with power. If they get jumped, they'll call for help from the Alliance.

5. The Heart of Darkness - Within the Syndrome facility, a maintenance tunnel or conveniently blasted hole leads to the infamous KRONOS Computer sphere, currently running a program to drain the last of the energy from the Next Gen. The Habitat module of the base is nearby, as are the containment cells where the Next Gen are held. The Alliance is overseeing operations here, and Orion has anticipated the League's arrival.

6. And Unity For All: As a diversion, the League must battle their mind-controlled proteges, the Next Gen, and somehow defeat them before Unifier can unleash his final stratagem!

7. To Oblivion and Beyond - The League discovers Unifer's ultimate plan! Almost assuredly alerted to the League's presence, it's a running battle to reach the control center, where Unifier is preparing to launch a rocket containing the second clone of Centurion into space...and into the heart of the Entropic Energy anomaly created by the detonation of the Mechmorph by the original Paragon.

8. Wrath of the Wasphawk! - Unifier's air marshall, Wasphawk, has been hiding in the artificial cloud cover over Nomanisan Island, aided by Malstorm. Their job's provide cover for the rocket as it blasts off into space. Big, huge fight here.

9. The Stars My Desolation - the League must somehow disable the rocket before it reaches its destination...and resurrects Omega, Overlord of the Terminus!

10. Coda/Hand of the Overshadow - a nice coda for whoever makes it this far, with some previews for Series 2, when it gets launched next year, with some previews of villains to come.

So help me out, guys - help me find those cool 'spotlight scenes' for everyone, hey?

 

[jdrakeh]

I see my name in the thead title, but said title gets cut off... so I don't know if it's a request for input or a request for me to stay out of your thread. I'll honor either, but I hope that it's a request for input, as this looks like a very, very, cool campaign (as a fan of both cyber-gorillas and plots that deal with resurecting vanquished foes, you've got my attention).

[Edit: Okay, it seems fixed now ]

 

[Jim Hague]

I see my name in the thead title, but said title gets cut off... so I don't know if it's a request for input or a request for me to stay out of your thread. I'll honor either, but I hope that it's a request for input, as this looks like a very, very, cool campaign (as a fan of both cyber-gorillas and plots that deal with resurecting vanquished foes, you've got my attention).

[Edit: Okay, it seems fixed now ]

Yeah, I retitled, and would appreciate any input you've got. This'll be a marathon session, with a dinner break in the middle, so feel free to pile things on...

 

[Roudi]

Heh... I'm gonna start calling C. Baize "THE BLAZE!" from now on.

 

[jdrakeh]

1. Briefing - the League, aboard AEGIS' amazing HydroCarrier, get the lowdown on Nomanisan Island. Spyplane flyovers show heavy cloud cover in the area, disposition of Unifier's forces is unknown.

This should be Star Sapphire's time to shine as the team leader and, if at all possible, it should be her briefing the rest of the team - draft up a cheat sheet that covers the major details of the situation as it currently exists and let her take control, delivering the briefing and answering questions about it, and then incorporate pieces of her elaboration into the adventure!

2. Graveyard of the Supers - general infiltration/evasion of UNITROL forces, likely a few skirmishes with lightly-armed minions.

I'd love to suggest something here, but none of the heroes seem particularly well-suited to evasion

3. Rumble in the Jungle - the League finds a group of Goriiladozers (robot gorillas) clearing away the rubble of the final battle between AEGIS forces and the remnants of Syndrome's goons. Fight likely to ensue, all in the majestic splendor of the retractable waterfall seen in the movie.

I haven't seen the movie, so I'm at a loss here. My initial thought is that Hot Shot might be able to flex his abilities here in a 'sweeping' capacity, effectively functioning as a human machine gun and downing a large number of goons (feel free to fudge their stats in his favor), proving his worth to the team.

4. That's Some Mean-Looking Lava - one of the stealthiest entrances to the half-wrecked Syndrome complex is via a series of lava tunnels leading through the heart of the island's volcano. Guys in MOLE armor are working here, supervised by doc Otaku while they repair geothermal generators to provide the base with power. If they get jumped, they'll call for help from the Alliance.

I'm thinking that Thunder Tiger should get to engage Doc Otaku in a battle to the death here, as the Doc is both his arch-nemesis and plays a big role in the scene. Other characters should be kept busy with MOLE-armored NPCs or by non-lethal confrontations with othe Alliance mebers during this time. This is Thunder Tiger's scene.

6. And Unity For All: As a diversion, the League must battle their mind-controlled proteges, the Next Gen, and somehow defeat them before Unifier can unleash his final stratagem!

The only character who seems to possess any non-lethal combat abilities or psionic power is Star Sapphire, so I can see this as a chance for her to shine as a hero - hopefully sparing the lives of Next Gen team members by either breaking the mental hold that Syndrome has over them, or by restraining them in an 'energy cage' (Yes, I know it's a cheap Green Lantern rip-off) until they can be dealt with safely.

8. Wrath of the Wasphawk! - Unifier's air marshall, Wasphawk, has been hiding in the artificial cloud cover over Nomanisan Island, aided by Malstorm. Their job's provide cover for the rocket as it blasts off into space. Big, huge fight here.

This is Texas Tempest's chance to square off with Malstorm and (if things go well) re-join with his id and become a whole person once again. In fact, this would be a great opportunity for Malstorm to realize that he can't technically exist without Texas Tempest and sacrifice himself to save Tempest from a potentially fatal attack, after which Tempest can get all fired up about kicking Wasphawk's ass so that Malstorm's sacrifice (and subsequent re-joining with Tempest) hasn't been in vain.

9. The Stars My Desolation - the League must somehow disable the rocket before it reaches its destination...and resurrects Omega, Overlord of the Terminus!

This is almost certainly the realm of Paragon II (as he's possibly the only hero who will be able to effect the rocket in upper Earth orbit) - which is too bad, as it really should be The American Dream's heroic self-sacrifice scene, proving once and for all that even a normal guy can be a hero. Maybe you can swing this as a joint effort on both of their parts, but one that The Dream has to gamble his life on.

I'm at kind of a loss for WarMage as, despite the source of his powers, he seems to have taken a lot of powers that either mimic or compete with those of the other heroes - and at the same time, he seems to lack a really involved back story that makes it hard to give him spotlight time based on motivations or creed. You might be able to factor him into the Wasphawk scene, as he is capable of flight.

 

[Jim Hague]

This should be Star Sapphire's time to shine as the team leader and, if at all possible, it should be her briefing the rest of the team - draft up a cheat sheet that covers the major details of the situation as it currently exists and let her take control, delivering the briefing and answering questions about it, and then incorporate pieces of her elaboration into the adventure!

See, this is why I asked you and Blaize to chime in - I hadn't thought of this at all. Sapphire is very familiar with the island, considering she was among the AEGIS agents that recovered the bodies of murdered supers from there...

I'd love to suggest something here, but none of the heroes seem particularly well-suited to evasion

Tiger's actually pretty stealthy - the suit has a Predator-style camouflage field. Hm.

I haven't seen the movie, so I'm at a loss here. My initial thought is that Hot Shot might be able to flex his abilities here in a 'sweeping' capacity, effectively functioning as a human machine gun and downing a large number of goons (feel free to fudge their stats in his favor), proving his worth to the team.

What you've got is a massive tropical waterfall in the background that 'opens' thanks to an equally massive pair of shutters on arms, like you'd divide the stream of water from a faucet with your hands. Water is, naturally, Hotshot's bane, and I might throw Undine in there, since he hasn't acquired an archnemesis yet...and she used to be his girlfriend in the gang he ran with.

I'm thinking that Thunder Tiger should get to engage Doc Otaku in a battle to the death here, as the Doc is both his arch-nemesis and plays a big role in the scene. Other characters should be kept busy with MOLE-armored NPCs or by non-lethal confrontations with other Alliance members during this time. This is Thunder Tiger's scene.

Oh, definitely. This is meant to be Tiger's scene, and between the MOLE suits and some of the Alliance members, it's going to be a hell of a fight. Given WarMage's affinity for Earth sorcery, he might not be badly suited to a confrontation here...especially if Medea shows up to lay the smackdown on the team. Whattaya think?

The only character who seems to possess any non-lethal combat abilities or psionic power is Star Sapphire, so I can see this as a chance for her to shine as a hero - hopefully sparing the lives of Next Gen team members by either breaking the mental hold that Syndrome has over them, or by restraining them in an 'energy cage' (Yes, I know it's a cheap Green Lantern rip-off) until they can be dealt with safely.

Tempest has also generated a Tesla cage in the past as a stunt, and Paragon (usually) restrains his super-strength to Stun damage (and has the 'footballs' that he can huck for same). The inspiration works well, since Sapphire acquired the Inspire Feat not too long ago...

This is Texas Tempest's chance to square off with Malstorm and (if things go well) re-join with his id and become a whole person once again. In fact, this would be a great opportunity for Malstorm to realize that he can't technically exist without Texas Tempest and sacrifice himself to save Tempest from a potentially fatal attack, after which Tempest can get all fired up about kicking Wasphawk's ass so that Malstorm's sacrifice (and subsequent re-joining with Tempest) hasn't been in vain.

I'd figured this for Tempest's scene, too, with Malstorm there. Thunder's been building between those two for weeks and weeks...and 'Mal' getting reintegrated gives me a chance to trot him out again later, thanks to some super-science device or other gimcrackery.

This is almost certainly the realm of Paragon II (as he's possibly the only hero who will be able to effect the rocket in upper Earth orbit) - which is too bad, as it really should be The American Dream's heroic self-sacrifice scene, proving once and for all that even a normal guy can be a hero. Maybe you can swing this as a joint effort on both of their parts, but one that The Dream has to gamble his life on.

AD's definitely a contender here, and I think it'd be better to red herring this - Paragon's player is almost sure to throw him at the rocket in an attempt to kill off the character 'heroically' (the player, sadly, is a bit of a drama hog and sometimes inconsiderate of others' fun) as the first Paragon died. AD has plenty of tech skills, but he's going to be super important either on the ground hacking the guidance system or onboard - the Centurion clone ain't waking up on its own, and that rocket's got life-support and energy-channelling systems to ensure Omega gets to his new 'home' safely...

I'm at kind of a loss for WarMage as, despite the source of his powers, he seems to have taken a lot of powers that either mimic or compete with those of the other heroes - and at the same time, he seems to lack a really involved back story that makes it hard to give him spotlight time based on motivations or creed. You might be able to factor him into the Wasphawk scene, as he is capable of flight.

His backstory's a little thin, yeah, but I'll fill it out a bit in the hopes of spraking an idea - Jackson is an orphan, adopted by a Midwest family after his original parents (his mother being the daughter of Gunner of the AoF) were killed in a car crash; his own reflexive magical talents barely saved his life. After high school, Jackson joined the Marines and served overseas fighting Communism. When he returned home, he was contacted by Adrian Eldritch and informed of his legacy. His apprenticeship in Freedom city came to an end when Eldritch sacrificed material existence to open a portal to the Terminus so the Freedom League could return home and stop OVERTHROW.

What WarMage doesn't know is that his grand-uncle's, the Human Tank, skull is in the hands of Medea, who's using it as part of the fuzzily-described but extremely powerful procedure to resurrect Omega. Given the connection by blood, and WarMage's vulnerability to iron, she'll have +2 PLs of Sorcery to affect him, I'm thinking.

Other suggestions are, of course, still welcome.

EDIT: Whoops, forgot an important point - the League does have a super-powered ally in the person of Randall J. Skelly, FC's (soon to be former, thanks to Paragon's murder of Nacht-Krieger) AEGIS Assistant Director. In the not too distant past, Skelly ended up (entirely unexpectedly for me as GM) inheriting the Beacon power from Langston Albight after the venerable scienist and former super was nearly killed at the hands of the Alliance (and died of heart complications in the hospital brought on by his injuries). Sapphire's in a relationship with him (another reason Director Powers is likely to fire the poor guy), and Skelly is very inexperienced with his newfound super-powers...enough that he often forgets that he's a hero and starts stumbling as his +2 Super-Intelligence tries to figure everything out and devise a thinking solution.

 

[jdrakeh]

What you've got is a massive tropical waterfall in the background that 'opens' thanks to an equally massive pair of shutters on arms, like you'd divide the stream of water from a faucet with your hands. Water is, naturally, Hotshot's bane, and I might throw Undine in there, since he hasn't acquired an archnemesis yet...and she used to be his girlfriend in the gang he ran with.

That sounds like a scene!

Oh, definitely. This is meant to be Tiger's scene, and between the MOLE suits and some of the Alliance members, it's going to be a hell of a fight. Given WarMage's affinity for Earth sorcery, he might not be badly suited to a confrontation here...especially if Medea shows up to lay the smackdown on the team. Whattaya think?

That's as good an idea for integrating WarMage into a scene as any (I'm still drawing a blank, but..)

AD has plenty of tech skills, but he's going to be super important either on the ground hacking the guidance system or onboard - the Centurion clone ain't waking up on its own, and that rocket's got life-support and energy-channelling systems to ensure Omega gets to his new 'home' safely...

Put him on the rocket... say that it must be disabled from the main control panel inside... and if Paragon II wants to sacrifice himself - let him sacrifice himself to save AD after he (AD) disables the rocket (after all, AD will need some way out of there when it spirals and goes into a nose dive at 30,000 feet). This way, AD gets to be a BIG hero and Paragon gets his heroic sacrifice (but this way it's the real deal, as opposed to a cheap shot at spotlight hogging).

His apprenticeship in Freedom city came to an end when Eldritch sacrificed material existence to open a portal to the Terminus so the Freedom League could return home and stop OVERTHROW.

Is Eldritch still around... leading an ethreal (disembodied) existence?

 

[Jim Hague]

That sounds like a scene!

Going to be rewatching tonight to get all the details down...and by the way, since you haven't seen The Incredibles, I can't reccommend it enough.

That's as good an idea for integrating WarMage into a scene as any (I'm still drawing a blank, but..)

Well, without his mentor Eldritch around, Medea might get it into her head to try and turn him. And I figured lava = molten rock = Earth, to give him a chance for some cool (or hot) creative power use. Hmm.

Put him on the rocket... say that it must be disabled from the main control panel inside... and if Paragon II wants to sacrifice himself - let him sacrifice himself to save AD after he (AD) disables the rocket (after all, AD will need some way out of there when it spirals and goes into a nose dive at 30,000 feet). This way, AD gets to be a BIG hero and Paragon gets his heroic sacrifice (but this way it's the real deal, as opposed to a cheap shot at spotlight hogging).

Y'know...Omega could already be in residence, and while AD tries to disable the power accumulators, Paragon has to fight him inside the rocket. And as the rocket goes higher (and closer to the EE anomaly), his powers are increasing, healing him of damage, bumping his powers up. And thanks to Steve, I've got a writeup of the latest Omega saved. Muhahahaha.

Is Eldritch still around... leading an ethreal (disembodied) existence?

"The MASTER OF THE MYSTIC ARTS is still present, yes!"

In joke here - to keep the slightly comedic theme, Adrian is a bit like the Doc Strange knockoff from Venture Brothers, prone to dramatic gestures and SPEAKING IN CAPITAL LETTERS AND EXCLAMATION POINTS!. Adrian just sacrificed his mortal form...now he's a sort of curmudgeonly Obi Wan Kenobi type, forbidden to use his powers on the mortal plane, considering he offended the Universal Powers by breaching the mystic seals barring travel from the Terminus.

 

[C. Baize]

Just to let you know.. I'm reading the thread through, to get a good grip on what's going on.
I'll post in a few.

 

[Jim Hague]

Just to let you know.. I'm reading the thread through, to get a good grip on what's going on.
I'll post in a few.

Sweet. Thanks.