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MutantHigh: A Hero Campaign (Updated 4-16)

Zen_Pollo

First Post
First Day

“Day, after day, I get angry”
-Violent Femmes, Add It Up

Prologue: (Not so Fresh) Off the Plane

Sweat…

Perspiration rolled down the boy’s forehead. When he stepped past the sliding glass door of the airport terminal, it seemed to Alex Goldberg that a warm wet glove had enveloped his body and had begun to wring the sweat from him like a damp dishrag. It was good, though, because the heat distracted him from other things.

********** Character Portfolio – Alex Goldberg
Exhibit 1: A picture of a prepubescent boy mooning a Boston, MA City Limit sign.

Exhibit 2: Film footage of Sister Angela smacking the young boy’s knuckles with a ruler at an orphanage.

Exhibit 3: A newspaper article from Boston Globe (October 13th, 2008) BOY HACKS RMV! GIVES EVERYONE A TICKET!

Exhibit 4: Film footage of Sister Angela throwing Alex into a closet and then locking it behind him.

Exhibit 5: Excerpt from a doctors report dated, April 14th, 2009: …Patient admitted following a severe allergic reaction to a common bee sting. Antihistamines ineffective. Attempted to administer Atropine via pneumatic syringe. Patient used strange (WTF) power??? to subdue orderly and inserted the syringe into the nurse’s rect…
**********

Dang, it’s hot out here!, thought Alex I wonder if Texas is like this year ‘round. He wiped his face and dug in his travel bag for the sun tan lotion Sister Angela had packed. Applying the lotion to his face and neck the boy thought, Good thing she gave this to me, skin cancer’s a bad mother…

“Shut your mouth, Vato!” laughed an olive skinned young man behind Alex.

“But I didn’t say anything,” muttered a perplexed Alex.

“I know, you didn’t have too,” replied Justin Alambra. He pointed to Alex’s temple with two fingers and a cocked thumb.

“Boom,” whispered the Latino.

********** Character Portfolio – Justin Alambra
A .JPEG of a junior Mafioso wearing a red dew rag and making a gang sign – EASTSIDE!

A Segment from COPS:2013
A young shirt-less Latino sits in the back of a squad car with his hand cuffed behind him and his face blurred.
Police Officer McGinty: “Son, if you take the rough road, sooner or later, you’re gonna hit the bad brakes”
Later in the segment, Officer McGinty waxes philosophical: “This mutant violence problem crops up from time to time, you just gotta roll with it you know…it’s part of the job”

Film Footage from a prison yard shows a young boy getting “Cut” for the first time. An older inmate leans over behind the boy creating the tattoo with black ink from a pen and a sewing needle. Slowly, the word “Alambra” takes form on the boy’s back.

A grainy pinhole night vision security camera shows the following scene unfold in a cell:
Justin rubs his backside while pulled up his pants. He then kicks the already recumbent form lying on the cell floor. Spitting on his assailant, he yells, “Who’s the B****, now?”
Alambra stares intently at the nearly unconscious inmate. Suddenly, the would-be rapist thrashes on the floor and his mouth tries to form a scream, but no sound emerges.

Another film taken from the prison yard shows a slightly older young man getting a tattoo on his left shoulder. He smiles sublimely at the form of the Crucifix as it takes shape against his brown skin.
**********

Alex shivered. He looked around and shivered again.

“Get on the stupid bus, Esse,” grinned Alambra, trying not to look at the crowd being held back by the police.

“Yeah, RRRRrrrriiiiighhht, Is it always this hot in San Antonio?” temporized a perspiring Goldberg.

“Boy, get you up on that bus,” said a dapper young man dress in a suit. “And to answer your question,” grinned Kayden Devereux, “Yes, it is always this hot in San Antonio, trust me.”

********** Character Portfolio – Kayden Devereux
PAPE LEJUNE: “Damn you Devereux, you go to H***!”* BAMM! The shotgun’s thunderous cacophony rattles the door of the laundry chute where 6-year-old Kayden hides. He hears the sound of boot steps stomp away and a door slam close. Still, the boy waits, trembling. As a tear rolls down the corner of his key, he waits, and says nothing.

2012 Junior National Gymnastic Finals:
“Well, Bill, that was a fine performance by Kayden Devereux. Barring injury, he should be a potent force during the 2016 Olympics”
“Of course, Pat, but the fate of mutant athletes such as young Kayden is currently being considered by the IOC…”

“Don’t you worry Tommy-boy, I’ll fix this right up,” says Kayden as he rubs his hands together and applies his palms to Tommy’s ankle. Slowly, under Kayden’s ministrations, the red swelling begins to abate. “You shouldn’t ’ve tried that dismount. Just cuz I can do it doesn’t mean you can. This isn’t monkey see, monkey do, understand?” lectures Kayden. Tommy grimaces and looks away.
**********

“Bah, I should’ve hired a limo, like my Aunt told me,” grunted an exasperated Devereux as he tried to maneuver his designer luggage into the overhead storage bin on the tour bus.

“Dude, you have a limo? Bad-A$$’” guffawed a boy so large he took up two seats on the bus by himself.

“Yeah, I’ve got a limo. It even has enough room in the back for you, double-wide,” smirked Kayden.

“Hey, I’m just big-boned!” complained a disgruntled Daniel Espinoza as he munched on a candy bar.

Scratching his head, Goldberg says, ”Say aren’t you that kid who beat up that boy and sent him into a coma?”

Daniel’s face falls and he turns to look out the window at a protester screaming obscenity at him.

********** Character Portfolio – Daniel Espinoza
A .BMP of a fat kid giving the finger to a sign reading Boston, MA City Limits graces the desktop of Daniel’s home computer.

Another .BMP shows the backside of a fat kid urinating into the Big Dig…(Yes, folks it still isn’t finished!)

A video of a fat kid wrestling with a boy much older than him ends with the boy getting pinned.

A surveillance video taken by an undercover policeman shows a felon applying a pneumatic syringe to the shoulder of a fast kid. As the boy looks away, the Trainer says, “Good, with this, no one will get in your way now”

A Greater Boston Area Wrestling Championship medal hangs on Daniel’s bedroom wall.

“Hey! Mutey,” yells the Freckled kid whom is encouraged by his friends. Daniel tries to ignore him, but he can feel the rage build inside. Freckles snickers, “Don’t you know, Fat-A$$, there are starving kids in Africa?” Daniel flushes in shame and glances at his laden lunch tray as the rest of the kids in the cafeteria begin to laugh nervously. “What’s a matter, cat got your tongue? Or is that Lingua?” Gasps of disbelief echo the boy’s statement, but Daniel cannot hear them. He slowly stands up and faces his tormentor. A strange sound echoes through the cafeteria – the sound of ceramic tile cracking under pressure. Freckles takes a step back, but he doesn’t realize you shouldn’t run from a predator. Daniel takes a step after him and another tile cracks under his weight. Freckles turns to run, but Daniel only smiles malevolently…And Leaps.
**********

The rest of the aspiring students took their seats until the bus was full. Each one looked frightened. Each young man and woman had seen the signs in front of the airport terminal.

“Listen up, Maggots,” yelled the bus driver, “sit down and fasten your seat-belts!”

The door to the bus swung closed and the bus took off through the arid August heat toward their new home for the next nine months.

“The last time I was on a bus like this, they took me from juvee,” mused Alambra, “But why does it feel like I’m going to jail?”

He looked out his window at the crowd thronged at the airport terminal. He could just barely read the placards held aloft by the protesters, Mutant = MUD!.
 
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First Day, A Hero Campaign

This thread marks two firsts for me:

1) This is my first time running a Hero Campaign

and

2) This is my first posting of a campaign to a story hour

I greatly would appreciate any comments or suggestions on either endeavor.

My theme for the campaign is going to be a mix between Buffy, the first season, and Days of Future Past. Hopefully, I can mix in a little bit of A Seperate Peace, but I may be overambitious.

Anyhow,
I hope you enjoy it!
 

Yahooo!

I am finally playing in a campaign and it happens to be Zen_Pollo's. I am playing Justin Alambra...mentalist, ex-convict, really trying to reform but very cynical...but, there is always hope....thanks for the tatoos!

ZP, you shoulda taken up writing earlier. This first post if very good!

The First Day was a doozie! Can't wait until the next scene!

Hey, maybe you should put Issue #? in the titles to give that comic book or actually...trade paperback sorta feel!

We gotta get JY to do some art for us! I can see the frames rolling by now....

Thanks Zen_Pollo.
 

lol, very cool first post :) I like the way you tryes to capture each players take on their character. And hey, Daniel anit fat :p he's just big boneded like his momma said. Heheh, gotta love the density power... only 14 yet able to throw full size trucks at the people he loves :D

God I love Hero :) great freakin system, little hard to make a character though, heheh (the core book which is all character generation no filler must be like 300 pages long, it looks like a college textbook, literally... it's got algebriac formulas, unreadable geek speek, and enough ambiguity to tide a power gamer over till George Lucas finally apologizes for the whole prequel fiasco ;)).

Well I'm looking forward to your next post !
 

Issue #1, 1st Installment

First Day – A Hero Campaign

Issue# 1: First day at school -- First Installment

Scene: Not a single cloud softens the glare of the early morning Texas sun as it radiates upon the brown, crisp grass of the school formerly known as TMI. Despite the care of its gardeners, little grass grows here during the summer and stretches of dirt mark areas where people cut across the lawn on their way to class. A crowd fills the parking lot of the school. Throngs of children, piles of luggage, and sobbing parents form a contrast to the stiff presence of uniformed guards and military-fatigued instructors. The instructors stand out as much for their brown wide-brimmed hats as for the crisp and authoritative manner in which they direct the aspiring young students towards the dormitories. However, one group stands out even more – a television crew…

“This is Patricia Palencia reporting live for Fox News 9,” says a Hispanic woman wearing a yellow skirt suit. “Here, at what was once known as the Texas Military Institute, we are recording a moment of history. The campus where General Douglas Macarthur once roamed is now known as the Institute for Paranormal Youth. For a look at how this transformation occurred, let us review event of the last fourteen years…”

“Beginning in the year 2001, certain children being born began to exhibit strange, yet inexplicable, powers. For years, their mysterious gifts defied explanation. Some people called their abilities miracles while others called them supernatural. Yet, once man, Dr. Melvin Friendsly, discovered the truth behind phenomena. In fact, we have Dr. Friendsly here with us today. Doctor, how would you characterize your discovery?

“Well, Patricia,” says a speckled man with mousy brown hair and a large nose, “I first studied Paul Phenomenoplis, the first confirmed mutant, in 2007 when his parents brought him to me after objects in his room began flying about inexplicably. By this time, many other scientists and doctors had attempted to explain the phenomena by looking for some sort of unique expression within the mutant’s genetic code which was different than in the rest of us.”

“Kind of like the genetic differences between having black hair and brown hair,” pipes in Palencia.

“Exactly, Patricia,” continues the Doctor, “However, their flaw was not in the methods they used, but in their paradigm of thought. What they needed was not to find some elusive chromosome but rather, to understand why mutants can do these amazing things in the first place.”

Palencia furrows her brow.

“Okay, let’s give an example,” says Friendsly as he gestures to a short kid standing nearby.

“This is young Max Delwind,” introduces Friendsly. “He is a true multipath, though he has some strange mental block I haven’t yet deciphered,” mutters Dr. F.

“Anyways, Max, I want you to lift that trash can over there,” says the Doctor pointing to a dumpster nearby.

********** Character Portfolio – Max Delwind
A .JPEG of Max playing his PS2 when he was a youngster still serves as his mother’s wallpaper on her computer at work.

A set of divorce papers is on file at the Bexar County Courthouse between Martha Delwind and Donald Delwind citing irreconcilable differences. Martha gains custody of 6-year-old Max. Donald moves out of state.

A video of Max at his ten-year birthday party shows him blowing out the candles of his chocolate cake. His mother gifts him a t-shirt with the words “Momma’s Little Angel” printed on the front.

The t-shirt is torn and discarded after the tenth time Max gets beat up at school for wearing it.

After the shirt is thrown away, Martha dresses Max in a nice pair of slacks, a sweater, and some penny loafers, thus ensuring no girl will ever speak to Max again.

Max rolls a d20, and it comes up a “1”. Frowning, he stares intently at the die until it rolls over and lands on “20”. Max gloats, “Threatened! Ahh yeah, who’s the b**** now!” “Dammit, Max, quit cheating!” cries his buddy.
**********

Max steps aside and begins to matter a strange incantation and make twiddling motions with his fingers. After a moment of concentration, a bead of sweat begins to trickle down his face. Slowly, the dumpster lifts off the ground until it reaches shoulder height.

“Very good, Max,” says the Doctor, “You may set it down, now.” With a grunt of effort, Max slowly lowers the dumpster. “Man, I’ve never been able to do that before, I’ll have to write that one in my spellbook,” grins Max.

“That’s amazing,” gasps Palencia, “How can he do that?”

“Contrary to what my young friend believes,” sighs Dr. F as he rolls his eyes, “it is not magic; It’s Physics!”

“You see, Patricia, one must ask how our young companion can lift such a heavy weight. According to the Law of Conservation of Matter and Energy, Matter and Energy can neither be created nor destroyed. In order for such an event to transpire, Energy must have come from somewhere.”

“And that’s the Dark Energy you discovered?” queries Palencia.

“Indeed!” exclaims the Doctor. “During the latter part of the Twentieth Century, Physicists around the globe discovered that all the Matter in the known Universe accounted for only 5% of the total force of gravity in the Universe. Moreover, Astrophysicists discovered some mysterious force was pushing all the Galaxies in the Universe apart. These twin phenomena were called Dark Matter and Dark Energy, respectively.”

“Huh?”

Dr. F sighs, “Suffice it to say, that everything we can observe with our five senses accounts for only 5% of the total Universe.”

“Wow!”

“Wow, indeed, young Patricia,” continues the Dr., “And this is how mutants are able to do what they do – by subconsciously channeling Dark Energy”

“So, how come I can’t ‘Channel’ Dark Energy?” ponders Palencia.

“Ah, good question,” says the Doctor, “The other scientists studying the phenomena had one thing right, there is a difference in the genetic make up of mutants. However, the difference is not in that portion of their chemical DNA that is apprehensible to our five senses. The difference lies in that portion of matter which is IMPERCEPTABLE to our five senses!”

“You mean that Mutants have Dark Matter in their DNA?” asks Palencia.

“Not exactly, what I mean is that all Matter in the Universe has qualities, besides sheer mass, which are imperceptible to our five senses, yet are noticeable via their phenomenological effects on gravity—In other words, ALL MATTER IS DARK MATTER! This includes the Matter that comprises our genetic code.”

“Okay…” mutters a confused-looking reporter.

“What the Good Doctor is trying to say, Mrs. Palencia,” interjects a handsome middle-aged man wearing a well-tailored suit, “Is that in a mutant’s DNA, there are portions of their genetic code which use the ‘Dark’ qualities of Matter to control the flow of Dark Energy in the world around us.”

“Of course! And you must be Evers Carlton, the newly appointed Dean of this Institution,” says a relieved Palencia.

“Eureka,” grumbles the Doctor dejectedly.

“Yes, it’s a pleasure to meet you and to be a part of this great school,” smiles Evers.

“Tell me, Mr. Carlton,” Patricia says, back in her depth, “How is it that the former institution known as TMI, came to be the new Institute for Paranormal Youth?”

“Certainly, Mrs. Palencia,” says Evers smoothly, “As you may know many churches were swept up in the scandal surrounding the Catholic Church near the turn of the millennium – the Episcopal Church was no exception. After settling several lawsuits regarding allegations of child abuse, the Episcopal Church had to reorganize under Chapter 11 bankruptcy rules. Coupled with the recession in the United States economy and declining enrollment at the school, the Church elders decided to put the school up for auction.”

“And that’s where Uncle Sam came in?” asks the reporter.

“Yes, the Federal government had already enacted legislation in 2013 authorizing President Wolfowitz to start a national center for the training and study of the mutant phenomena. With this school up for sale near the beginning of the 2014 fiscal year, it just made more sense to renovate this campus, than to build a new one!”

“And what a renovation it was, Carlton,” grins Palencia, “What changes have been made over the past year to the campus?”

“Well, Patricia,” pontificates Carlton, “We’ve added 18 new dormitories and quadrupled the capacity of the other facilities. That, coupled with a tenfold increase in staff size, has enabled the school to meet our students needs for the 2015 school year…”


**********

Carlton and the Patricia Palencia ramble on for some time as buses unload what appears to be an unending stream of students and luggage. Our heroes’ journey is about to begin. And sooner than they think!

Next installment: After School Challenge!
 

Grr.... stoopid school. I mean who in their right mind would sign their kid over to the goverment so they could attend some special 'school' where all the teachers wear BDU's and drill instructor hats... School, right and I'm a jedi master :D

Well I shouldnt say anything I mean apparently my characters parents were dumb enough to fall for it, lol :p

edit: Uhh... When the heck did my name change from Malachai_Rose to Broccli_Head ...

Hmm, Ohh I know Broc forgot to sign off my computer before he left, lol, serves him right. Maybe I should go around posting really dumb stuff pretending to be Broc :D that oughta teach him, heheh.

BH here: Grr...you'd better not. I have one player clamouring for my head already...best not make it worse

However, I agree with MRose...what sort of incentive do the parents have for transporting their children to a Gulag!?:mad:
 
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Wow, What a great Audience!

Great detail ZEN. I wonder what's gonna happen next. I think Alex Goldberg is pretty cool. I mean that fight we had with those other kids was exciting. Thank god for 40 points of forcefield powers.
 


Here's what I picture Justin lookin' like....

my quote: Open your mind....
 

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Update !!! Update !!! Update !!!

lol, slacker :D

(I can say this since I know Zen, he really is a slacker. just sits around all day never doin nothin, never mows his yard or anything :p lol)

oh yeah and before I forget...

BUMP
 
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