Avengers #2

Avengers #2
6-27-12
Other Worlds

Players:
Kevin - Mister Fantastic
Mike - Wolverine
Cameron - The Sentry
Siobhan - Iron Man
Thomas - The Thing

Last session, an unlikely group of heroes just happened to be in the right place to stop a breakout of one SHIELD's four maximum-maximum security supervillain prisons, the Raft. They did their best, but in the confusion, 42 of the villains escaped the island and made their way into the city of New York.

This session starts in Stark Tower, with Maria Hill begrudgingly acknowledging Tony's help. She reluctantly tells him that maybe the world needs the Avengers, and that she can offer SHIELD support if he wants to start the team up again. He shrugs and says okay. Hill then leaves the Avengers' first 'assignment,' files on all forty two escapees, and leaves. A few minutes later, a small explosion happens in the city, and a line of smoke appears in the skyline. Tony suits up and heads out.

At the scene of the explosion, a run down neighborhood in the Bronx, a four-story tenement is on fire. Most of the people have escaped, but there are more on the top floors. Some people are climbing down the Fire Escape, dodging Burning Wreckage. On the street, two supervillains are fighting. It's Armadillo (BR34) and Tiger Shark (BR46), chained together by a nigh-unbreakable Adamantium Chain d12. The two are shoving and swinging each other around, and each of their turns they damage the scene further (unless a hero steps in to try and stop them). There are two scene complications, People Trapped in the Fire d10 and Imminent Collapse d10.

 Iron man swoops in and saves the people in the building, zipping through and nabbing every last one in one sweep due to his cybernetic senses. Just then, Logan comes stomping out of a bar across the street, finishing a glass of beer and throwing it behind him. He nearly severs the chain linking the two villains, try and get them to stop. They turn on him and attack, though Armadillo apologizes profusely.

We see that Robert Reynolds, the Sentry, was also in that bar with Logan. He uses his light powers along with mister Fantastic to help prop the building up. Iron Man, fresh from rescue detail, helps to push the building back into the empty lot behind so that the collapse doesn't harm any civilians.

Meanwhile, the Thing is taking an afternoon stroll through the rougher parts of town when he happens upon this scene. He trades slugs with Armadillo for a while, then he and Wolverine pummel the two C-List villains to a pulp. The finishing blow is dealt by the Sentry, who drops from the air like a cannonball onto Armadillo, who's trying to tunnel himself away.

Maria Hill shows up in a white Commercial plumbing Services van and takes the two unconscious supervillains away. She tips the Avengers off to a sighting of Tombstone made by the FBI's organized crime division in the warehouse division and drives off, promising to lock these two up in the Vault.

Upon arriving at the warehouse address, the team spots a gigantic black limousine. It looks big enough for the Thing to ride in! The heroes know something's going down in the warehouse, so Wolverine hops into a nearby boom crane's controls and slams a giant shipping container into the side of the warehouse. A mod of thugs come to the door, and start shooting at our heroes. The Sentry, not wanting to risk bringing about the Void and knowing his fellow heroes will be fine against the thugs, breaks into the limo and sits in the driver's seat, hoping to catch it's occupant by surprise.

The Thing takes the cargo container that wolverine smashed into the wall and throws it at the mob, knocking them all out in one sweep. They then go inside to deal with Tombstone.

Inside, they see Tombstone arguing with Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin. Fisk ordered the leak to the FBI that led the Avengers here, in an effort to rid himself of Tombstone. Kingpin's assistant, who's really Ms. Marvel in disguise, is embarrassed by Tony's flirtations. Kingpin knew of Ms. Marvel's undercover status and has been using her to funnel information back top the FBI and SHIELD. He intends to keep her on as an assistant, even though everythign's out in the open. In the meantime, the Thing grabs Tombstone and prepares to haul him off to jail. But instead of putting up a fight, Tombstone just looks Ben Grimm in the eye and says "Of course they send their pet monster to take me. You're not good enough for anything else, are ya?" As Ben stings from the comment that cuts too close to home, several shadows ominously appear from the back of the warehouse.

To Be Continued...

BR 1.5 - Armadillo and Tiger Shark

After the at least one hero has been contacted and asked to form a new Avengers team, an explosion happens in the Bronx that draws each of the heroes. When they arrive, they find a run-down tenement building, four stories tall, on fire and in danger of collapse. Outside the building are two super-villains, Armadillo and Tiger Shark, duking it out. They're attached at the wrist by a nigh-unbreakable Adamantium Chain d12. The pairs brawl has knocked out a support beam from the building and sparks have ignited the oil tank from the heating system.

Scene Complications:

Trapped Families d8
Imminent Collapse d8

Scene Distinctions

Burning Wreckage
Fire Escape
Fire Truck

Tiger Shark swam to freedom after the Breakout, barely dragging the heavy Armadillo behind. Though they now have their freedom, Armadillo wants to give himself up. He's been on the wrong side of the Avengers before, and doesn't to get into another superhero battle. Tiger Shark thinks Armadillo's a coward, and the two have been inefficiently attempting to knock each other out. During their turns, they will throw each other back or knock each other into support beams or other buildings, stepping up the scene complications or creating new ones. If the chain is broken, Tiger Shark will start a fight with the Avengers and rope Armadillo into it. Armadillo fights reluctantly, only fighting invulnerable heavies like himself and apologizing for every successful attack.

If the two feuding super-villains are questioned, they reveal that it was Electro that broke in to the raft, and that he took someone on the sixth level. Armadillo swears that he never intended for all this to happen and that he was actually trying to bring Tiger Shark back in to SHIELD.

BR 1.5 Action Scene - Tombstone

Tombstone (BR47) is leading a gang of escapees from the Raft, including Razor-Fist (BR45), Jigsaw (BR41), Constrictor (BR36), and Hydro-Man (BR41). Hydro-Man was able to get the group to shore, where Tombstone offered them safety and work as enforcers. They've each accepted for their own reasons, most of which involve money and power over others.

Maria Hill calls the Avengers during a transition scene. The local FBI office got an anonymous tip that Tombstone and several other escapees were meeting in a warehouse along the docks in NYC. If necessary, she also provides the heroes with a SHIELD-class transport helicopter and an agent to fly it.

When the heroes get to the warehouse, the see a Large Black Limo out front. The warehouse itself is huge, and the walls are made of sheet metal. Nearby a gigantic Boom Crane lifts assorted Freight Containers onto nearby Cargo Ships.

Inside the warehouse, there are stacks of Wooden Crates. The building is lit by a Wide Skylight and fluorescent lights that hang from the Metal Scaffolding along the ceiling.

If they sneak about or listen in, they see Tombstone dealing heatedly with the Kingpin! Tombstone wants to split off a portion of NYC for himself, a tactic that's worked well for the two before. Tombstone and Kingpin are rivals for rulership of the new york underworld, but together they can achieve so much! Especially with the extra muscle that Tombstone brought with him from the Raft.

Kingpin refuses, after letting Tombstone explain his plan and introduce his associates. Tombstone threatens him but Kingpin still keeps his cool.

"I'll kill you right here, Fisk."

"You'll do no such thing."

"Oh, yeah? Who's gonna stop me?"

"Why, the Avengers, of course. I imagine they've had enough time to get into position. Are you ready to return to your island resort, Lincoln?"

If the heroes bust in without listening, they come in on Tombstone threatening Kingpin, with his cronies behind him.

Kingpin is alone, except for his personal assistant and driver, Carol Danvers (Ms. Marvel, BR82). Carol is working undercover to take him down, but being played since the Kingpin knows about it. Kingpin called the anonymous tip in to the FBI, knowing that it would get escalated to SHIELD and the Avengers. He played Tombstone for a fool in order to remove him from the underworld game. Long ago, the two had compatible motives, but Tombstone is still a thug. Wilson Fisk aspires to greatness, and controlling crime is merely one method. Tombstones return could ruin Kingpins legitimate businessman front.

After the heroes defeat Tombstone and his minions, the Kingpin thanks them and then gets in his limo and drives away.

Kingpin datafile by Spatula on the MWP boards, found on the Lost Files of Marvel post on Exploring Infinity.

BR 1.5 - the Buildup

It's the day after the breakout. It's been a rough night for superheroes and SHIELD agents alike. Headcounts are taken, and 43 prisoners have escaped the Raft. Maria Hill, currently in charge of SHIELD while Nick Fury is missing, confronts some of the heroes who helped contain the breakout. She doesn't know or care what broke up the Avengers last time, but it seems they're needed again. Hill offers to help form a new Avengers team, with SHIELD backing but not control. Whether the answer is yes or no (though she should approach a character who'd most likely answer yes!) Hill leaves a tablet PC with all the data SHIELD has on the escapees. If her approach does not drive that character into action, she orders any SHIELD-affiliated heroes to track down and capture the escapees.

The tablet PC includes data that leads PCs to the different scenes in Act 1.5, though they don't have to go in any particular order. The scenes are: Tombstone in Brooklyn, Graviton in the Natural History Museum, Armadillo and Tiger Shark in the Bronx, Electro in Paris, and the Wrecking Crew in (wherever the Thor scene happens)

Breakout Act 1.5 milestone

I ran act 1 of the breakout mini-event for my first session of MHR, and we're not really at the point where there's a new team of avengers ready to go to the savage land. I want to build up to it a little more, so I'm working on an in-between act called Roundup. It's all about catching the super-villains who escaped from the Raft while our heroes were busy with Count Nefaria, Carnage, and the rest of Act 1. I'll also call more attention to milestones, as well as offering a new one:

Getting the Band Back Together
1XP when a hero officially joins the new Avengers
3XP when you fight alongside a hero who hasn't joined the Avengers yet, or you fight alongside the Avengers before joining
10XP when the new Avengers face and overcome a threat together, or you walk away from the team before it even forms.

I know a lot of the heroes in breakout have personal milestones regarding the new team and their place on it. This is meant to be a more generic and easy-to-use milestone to get my players in the habit of tracking and pursuing milestones. I originally had it written from the perspective of one hero pulling all the others in, but I wanted it to be accessible to multiple heroes. I don't even know if anyone's going to take it... In my last game almost everyone just took Liberate the Sentry and Round up the Prisoners. Hopefully we can branch out a bit and test the narrative waters.

Roundup will have several scenes with villain datafiles from Breakout including Tombstone, Graviton, Armadillo, and Tiger Shark, as well as fleshing out the hinted at scene in Paris with Electro. The Thor scene with the Wrecker would fit in well here, as would the Hulk scene with the U-Foes. I'll post the original scenes over the next few days, then a play report after the session next Wednesday.

As with all my ideas, suggestions and constructive criticism welcome! If I'm doing something wrong, I want to hear about it beforehand XD

Marvel Heroic Roleplaying, Session 1

Just got back from Watcher-ing my first game of marvel Heroic Roleplaying, and it went great! We played the first act of the Breakout scenario, and it was everyone's first time with this game. I had four players - Kevin was Mister Fantastic, Steve was Beast, Mike was Emma Frost, and Brenna was Iron Man. Emma, Beast, and Reed were at the Raft, eager to find out more about the Sentry who'd receently returned in their minds, while Tony flew in from a posh bar uptown, with a bit of a buzz and a good start towards his demon in a bottle milestone.

Electro blasted Iron Man to the raft, where Count Nefaria was trying to break down the Reinforced Entry Doors, held by Mister Fantastic. After a couple of tries and being stuck in the elevator shaft, Emma fills his mind with feelings of inadequacy while Iron Man prepares a supersonic bull rush. Reed snaps back from the door just in time for Tony Stark, the Human Torpedo, to deal d12+ physical stress in one hit.

After some bantering with the SHIELD guards, the heroes descend the empty elevator shaft to the bottom level, where the Sentry was supposed to be being held. Here they find a couple of lawyers, Nelson and Murdock, trying to fight something off in the dark. While they're distracted by the arriving heroes, Carnage snatches Murdock up into the ventilation shafts, then drops down.

Carnage can't seem to penetrate Iron man's armor or Beast's defensive tactics, so he tries something desperate - he sends a symbiote spawn up into the ventilation shafts to possess Murdock! The red symbiote swirls around Murdock, trying to contain and enslave him. As her fights it, it forms an opening around his mouth and two small horns, similar to his Daredevil costume! The heroes make quick work of Carnage, and help Murdock fight off the possession. Iron Man blasts the symbiote into oblivion, hopefully ridding the world of Carnage forever.

They then travel over to the Sentry's cell, to find him sitting in isolation with the door wide open. They work hard to convince him of the wonderful things he can do for humanity, that his self-imposed exile hasn't really helped anyone, and that there's always a way to use powers positively. Eventually, they succeed and he joins them, though he still seems a bit reserved.

On their way back, another prisoner hails them. "C'mon, guys! You know me! I's Deadpool! Beast, c'mon, I helped you X-guys out all the time! Lemme out!" All Deadpool did is host a party for an old friend of his, Rocky. "He wasn't the president when we met!" was all he'd say about the matter. When the heroes refused (Iron Man actually put his had up to the tiny opening in the door and blasted Deadpool with his repulsor, Deadpool remembered he still had his personal teleporter. With a shout of "Bamf!" and a little teleporter noise, he was off, back to cause chaos in the world above.

Iron Man locates the backup generator on the next floor up, but the stranded inmates there have broken into a SHIELD weapons locker and armed themselves with pistols and makeshift clubs. Iron Man flies ahead of the mob of crazed inmates to activate the generator. While the heroes are dealing with the mob, Crossbones, recently armed, joins the fray. When Tony gets the generator up and running (Stark Technology, obviously,) the inmates are frightened and stampede over the heroes like a herd of cattle. In the midst of this, Emma devotes her energy to making Crossbones' mind explode. She manages to give him a massive headache, taking him out, but no explosion. The Sentry uses Light Control to cow the remaining inmates.

Just then, a SHIELD squad with a manually-operated elevator platform comes down the shaft. "This is a restricted area," they say. "You'll have to come with us." After a completely undeserved tongue-lashing from SHIELD director Maria Hill, our heroes are left to do what they will, knowing most of the supervillains were contained from the Breakout. The Sentry decides that this world does indeed warrant a try, and offers to join whatever team they were a part of.

Lessons learned:

1. Always add the stress of your opponent to combat rolls! We forgot this so many times, it would have made the enemies way easier to defeat.

 2. Use better tactics by the enemies! The scenario was a cakewalk. part of that is I need to break up super-effective teams sometimes, and part is that I need to be ruthless with watcher characters.

Starfire Datafile

Here's the second of my Teen Titans datafiles:

Starfire (Koriand'r)

Affiliations:

Solo d6 Buddy d8 Team d10

Distinctions:

Alien Exchange Student
Acts on Instinct
Tamaranean Princess

Power Sets:

Tamaranean Biology
Flight d10
Energy Blasts d10
Superhuman Durability d10
Enhanced Strength d8
Enhanced Stamina d8
SFX: Multipower – Use 2 Tamaranean Biology powers in one dice pool, stepping each down by -1.
SFX: Guardian – Spend 1 PP to take Physical Stress intended for a nearby ally or friend.
SFX: Area Effect – When throwing Energy Blasts, add a d6 and keep an extra effect die for each additional target.
Limit: Powered by Emotion - Shutdown any Tamaranean Biology power to gain 1 PP. Recover by activating an opportunity or during a Transition scene.

Specialties:
Cosmic Expert d8
Psych Expert d8

Milestones:

This Planet is Strange and Wonderful
1 XP when you first remark on earth customs in a scene.
3 XP when your lack of familiarity with Earth culture or technology causes you to take Stress.
10XP When you either find a place in this world or decide you'll always be an outsider among earthlings.

Friendship is Glorious!
1 XP when you first mention friends or friendship in a scene.
3 XP when you help a friend recover stress.
10 XP when your friendship with a member of the team seriously endangers the mission or your teammates, or allows you to triumph against the odds.