A Tale of Two Kinetos

I had the recent pleasure of once again talking with my friend William Corpening, creator of Kineto and our classic Champions Superhero RPG Campaign, 'The Age of Champions'.

We discussed, among many other things, how his version of Kineto differs considerably from my own. The reason for my Kineto diverging from his and the original 'canon' is quite understandable; my ideas about Kineto are based on my recollections of his appearances in our campaign.

Will's understanding of the character on the other hand are based on, well, Will made him up. He knows the character better in a way I never could. I'm working on memories from 35 years ago. Will's knowledge of the character is intrinsic. Will is the source of the OG incarnation. 

The core of the two Kinetos are essentially the same:

• He is a former Superhero.
• He is now viewed as a Supervillain by most of Humanity, both Normal and Super.
• He is an extremely powerful Super who controls Inertia, Momentum, and Kinetic Energy.
• He believes Superhumans to be superior to Normal Humans.
• He believes himself to be the 'most superior' of all Superhumans.
• He believes the salvation of Earth and its people depends on Supers ruling Normals.
• The majority of Humans, Normal and Super, do not agree with Kineto's Manifesto.
• A small number of Supers do agree with him. A smaller number of Normals do too.

Much of Kineto's early 'history' and backstory - his origin and the death of his wife for example - remain the same between the two versions. Likewise, most of the in-game events I've described in previous Kineto posts happened in essentially the same way. 

So the question is...how do they differ?

According to Will, the main difference is in their role in the universe. Will created Kineto on November 17, 1981 while sitting on the bus. The character was primarily inspired by Magneto (duh) but was used more like [the 1970s and 80s Marvel Comics version of] Thanos - a god-like, very big, very bad, Big Bad Guy. 

Will explains that his Kineto isn't particularly subtle, layered, or deep. He's a villain plain and simple. He's also a megalomaniac, seeing himself as a God among Ants. Think about that for a moment; Kineto doesn't perceive himself as a god among men but among ants. Everyone and everything is beneath him and only he can save the world by taking control of it. 

Will's Kineto is a nigh-unstoppable powerhouse, his only weakness his own massive ego and self-imposed code of honor. 

***

Will describes my version as 'more nuanced' and I'll take that as compliment (though I feel his is more layered then he thinks it is, lol). My Kineto sees himself as a King among Peasants, with the peasants being normal Humans. Other Supers are somewhat like Knights or other low-level nobility. This alternate viewpoint is absolutely key to understanding the incarnation I use in my games. 

Peasants aren't ants. They, along with Knights and such, are the King's subjects. He rules them but also protects them. He acts in the best interest of his people even if it's difficult for the common folk to understand his activities and goals. In fact, if my Kineto believed another King would be better at ruling he would hand the throne of the kingdom to that person. Of course he would insist on being kept on as an 'advisor' because someone has to make sure the king is doing their job [properly].

Adam's version of Kineto is just as powerful as Will's but more emotionally flawed. He has the aforementioned code of honor but it's more complicated as a result of his upbringing and experiences. The Kineto of Champions Earth-AD-1A is his own worst enemy, forever trying to fix a world that appears broken to him because he's viewing it through the lens of his own imperfections and regrets. 

Just some thoughts and conversation with my favorite Superhero RPG Gamemaster. I'll continue with my series on Kineto soon, hopefully finishing up in one or two posts.

See you soon,

AD

Barking Alien

No End In Sight?

What began as a discussion about Japanese Anime classics from our youth on Facebook the other day, turned into an analysis of two very similar though significantly different storytelling styles between myself and my very dear friend, William Corpening, the greatest Gamemaster I've ever had the pleasure of gaming with. 

Essentially, William noted that it took him some time to truly appreciate the Eastern approach to genre storytelling that, unlike an American Comic Books or TV Series for example, has a definitive beginning, middle, and end. The idea that Superman might have an end to his story wasn't a concept William ever considered. Likewise, he didn't plan on there being any 'grand finales' to his RPG campaigns. They simply went on and on until they didn't. 

While I like to think I share that approach, it simply isn't true more often than not. Will noted that my tales have regularly featured a final chapter and apparently always have, though in many cases this never occurred to me. 

In response to Will's statement about having to get used to the idea of Anime and Manga series coming to an end I posted, "I feel like Eastern storytelling of the kind you see in Anime and Manga, especially of the late 70s and early 80s, always spoke to me and that's why I was so WOWed by it. It was what I didn't know I wanted. It influenced my GMing even when I wasn't GMing anything specifically Anime-themed."

This initiated a most interesting exchange in which we compared our Gamemastering styles, with William's insight into my own both quite different and more insightful than what I have gleaned myself. 

Says Will (quoted from text, only slightly paraphrased):

"Are you familiar with Kishotenketsu? Introduction, development, twist and reconciliation. Your style seems to follow that pattern.

You have an end in mind, as far as I can tell. You begin with the ending in mind. I don't think I can even do that, which is why it always broke my heart to leave one of your games early. I wanna see how it ends!!!

I never really played with the end in mind back then. That's why it never ends."

I found this an odd perception initially, though not entirely wrong when I took a closer look at it. Generally speaking, I don't have an end in mind such as, "This campaign ends with the heroes triumphant over the evil despot" or "There will be a big battle in the final session with the PCs fighting the enemy forces while a third party tries to take advantage of the situation".

I don't do that. I don't know where a campaign will end and I don't want to know ahead of time. That leads to Railroading the players and having the GM's story taking precedent over the PCs actions and decisions. 

That said, more often than not I do have a story idea I want to explore going in. "What would it be like if everyone lived forever and death was an unknown? How do you tell that story? Where is the tension?" or "Imagine a Four Color Comic Book Superhero world set in turn of the century France. Where will that idea go?"

At some point while examining the campaign's meta-concept I do see that there will be an ending. There is a point in [most of] my campaigns where I realize the story and PCs are going somewhere, towards some kind of finale. The initial question that prompts the campaign needs to be answered somehow. I look forward to finding out what that answer is as much as they [the Players and their PCs] do and as Will so accurately points out, that process means my stories/campaigns do come to a distinct end.

As for Will's approach: 

"I never really played with the end in mind back then. That's why the story never ends.

I think we may be convincing ourselves and each other that there is some great difference between us. Our differences are likely infinitesimal. I'm starting to process it that way. I'll go left one day where you might go right the next. And yet, I still say you handle story better than I do. Maybe I might handle [large] ensembles better.

It's like I'm Biggie and you're Tupac. Biggie was a rapper and Tupac was a poet. You're the storyteller and I'm the freestyler."

An interesting analysis and one I think I will visit further sometime soon. I am talking to Will about doing a post where we discuss our approaches - both how they differ and what they share in common - and then putting it up and taking questions. Not sure exactly how this will be formatted yet but it is definitely on my agenda. 

That's all for now...

WAIT! Before I forget, a quick reminder that next month is the 2020 RPGaDay Challenge! Please check back as I tend to post A LOT during that time. 

OK, be safe,

AD
Barking Alien

Old War Stories - The Alternative Vulcan

There is no feeling in the world like someone remembering a game you ran or a character you played 10, 20, even 30 years later. It is the surest way of knowing deep down in your heart of hearts that you don't suck at this hobby after all. 

What do we have when the campaign concludes, the dice are put away, and at some point, sadly but inevitably, the notes are lost or fade. We have our memories. If there is any real prize or reward in RPGs, a way of 'winning' as it were, this is it. If people cherish a memory of gaming with you, you did good. 

In honor of Barking Alien's 10th Anniversary, some of my dearest friends and oldest gaming buddies have decided to grace us with some memories from the good ol' days.

This first one is from my friend William Corpening. Will is one of the greatest Gamemasters I have ever had the pleasure of knowing and playing under. In fact, he may very well be the best of the best. 

His tour de force is a 10+ years long Champions campaign that I talk about all the time and was lucky enough to be a part of for about 3 1/2 years from 1986 to part of 1989. My current Champions campaign and a number of previous ones are based on his setting. 

He also GMed short campaigns of Call of Cthulhu, co-GMed West End Games' Ghostbusters with me and two others, and participated as a player once in a blue moon in my own campaigns, most notably Mecha Anime games such as Macross-Blue Dragons and Paradise Fleet.

Apparently, I also ran a FASA Star Trek game he was in according to this story I received from him a few days ago...

"Here’s an old war story to add to your blog for the 10th Anniversary...

So… I stopped by the Compleat Strategist one day (NYC's premiere FLGS) and ran into Adam and a gaggle of players getting ready for a game in the back room.

I joined in obviously. Adam was GMing and that's always a treat. I quickly generated a Vulcan First Officer who was also the Security Chief/Tactical Officer.

Adam thought I was playing more of a Tuvok than a Spock, a Vulcan who saw physical combat and tactical solutions as logical in the right context [though this was long before we first met Tuvok]. The [NPC] Captain asks, “Are you from the Vulcanis Lunar Colony, then?” The Commander responds, “Perhaps…”

It gets crazier from there, but of course it does.

We find ourselves in a face-to-face with what seems to be a highly advanced Romulan Warbird. Some of the PCs theorize it may be a prototype of some kind. Adam drops a few clues as to the vessel's superior nature; it's not just superior to our own PC vessel, a 'Wrath of Khan' era Miranda Class, but a ship with cutting edge technology and systems that are only theoretical to Starfleet at that time.

My character seemed to know a lot about Romulan ships and their capabilities, leading some to wonder if I wasn't a militant Vulcan but a Romulan defector or worse, a spy. 

At some point I instructed the crew to fire "Photon Torpedoes, maximum yield!"

“Don’t you think that’s a bit much?” the Captain asked, surprised at a Vulcan being so aggressive.

“No,” the Commander replied flatly and calmly.

When we realized the barrage only did minimal damage to the ship (barely any damage at all actually), the Captain said, “Hmmm...Good call.”

We were hailed by the Romulan ship, which demanded to know why we had fired upon them, especially since we were allies. "Allies?", the PCs said bewildered. 

"Of course", said my Vulcan First Officer, "this ship is from the Future". (Nailed it.) 

So many adventures left unfinished… and so many great times had.

Congratulations!"

Thanks William! 

More Memories To Come...

AD
Barking Alien

Oh, today is my 50th Birthday. Wow. Feeling good. 

Parallel Development

My friend and fellow blogger, the rather brilliant and rather British Tim Knight, has been working on a new campaign somewhat similar to my own.

While I revisit the universe of my ol' friend William Corpening's Champions campaign, 'The Age of Champions', Tim is revisiting his old Villains & Vigilantes campaign for use in a new campaign of his own. Hmm. Champions and V&V. I smell a DC/Marvel style Crossover in the making! Filing that in my mental archives for later consideration.

A recent post on his blog HeroPress describes the various incarnations over the years of his original character, The Acrobatic Flea. Tim frames each version of the Flea from the many and varied campaigns of yore (across multiple game systems) as being the Fleas of Parallel Earths. 

Parallel Earths are a classic comic book trope dating back to 1961 and DC Comics' 'The Flash of Two Worlds' in Flash #123.The concept is a favorite of mine as I've noted in several posts over the years.

This got me to thinking about the Parallel Earths we've visited, been visited by, and learned about in the assorted 'chapters' of the Age of Champions campaign, including those run by yours truly. Will had a very interesting way of cataloging and tracking each alternate universe and as such, I actually remember quite a number of them. 

It helped quite a bit that a former Player Character turned reoccurring NPC, Professor Christopher Crichton, aka The Legionnaire, was our world's foremost authority on Alternate Universes and Parallel Dimensions. His superpower was the ability to switch himself with any one of an infinite number of alternate selves throughout the multiverse. 

Professor Christopher Charles Crichton

aka The Legionnaire

Scientist, UNTIL Agent, Superhero

Crichton made plots and subplots involving Parallel Earth viable in a fashion similar to the way Cisco Ramon does on the Flash TV series. 

Here then, without further adieu, is...

The Barking Alien Guide to the Age of Champions Multiverse!

I've mentioned it in past posts but I will repeat it for clarity: Will has a very specific convention for naming and numbering the worlds of the multiverse. Each dimension is noted for it's primary team of superheroic protectors, the world that serves as the Trans-Multiversal Nexus Point (usually Earth), one or more code names (based on who GMed, created, or published that world), and finally a letter, number, or both. 

World's with similar designations are likely similar to each other. As the elements of the designation change and move further away from one another, the more differences the worlds will exhibit. 

So, as an example, the universe in which most baseline Marvel Comics titles exist would be:

Avengers (Prime Team) Earth (Nexus Point) - Mu (Marvel) -1 (the main one). Avengers Earth - Mu-1 would be the world you would be viewing if you grabbed the latest issue of Spiderman off the shelves at your local comic shop. Alternatively, since Marvel itself refers to it's own Earth as '616' you could go with Avengers Earth - Mu-616. 

Will's original, 10+ year long Age of Champions campaign took place on Champions Earth - Wilcox Charlie-1. The particulars of that world include:

• Aliens face prejudice like Mutants do in Marvel Comics
• History, especially 20th Century history, is slightly different than it is on Earth-Prime*
• Magic and the ability to use it is a very rare and powerful force. 
• The Prime Team, The Champions, don't exist throughout much of the campaign
• Superbeings are less common on Earth than they are in Marvel and DC.  
• Technology is slightly more advanced than it is in on Earth-Prime*
• The United Nations has more authority and influence here than it does on Earth-Prime*

On this Earth, Prof. Christopher Crichton is the superhero known as The Legionnaire until he goes on reserve status to further his research into Multiversal Dynamics.

UPDATED!

Big Brother Earth - Alpha Delta-Z

Identified as an Alternate Earth instead of a Parallel as the characters, history, and concepts seen on BBE-AD-Z are very different from those of variants on CE-WC-1. In fact, they are virtually identical to those of Earth - Zero-Prime until the mid-1980s, including showing no evidence of superhuman activity. All supernormal, supernatural, or similar unexplained phenomena were deemed fiction, hoaxes, or simply impossible to confirm. 

At some point in the mid-1980s, a group of four friends on a camping trip in Upstate New York became imbued with incredible superhuman powers due to exposure to some as yet unrevealed cosmic event. 

The four teenage boys had powers beyond the type and level seen on many other Earths with super beings. Although not truly how it works, imagine that all the heroes and villains of CE-WC-1 or CE-AD-A draw their powers from a single source. Now imagine only four people drawing from a source that same size and strength. 

Within a few years of obtaining their powers the four boys, calling themselves 'Big Brother', managed to strong arm the nations of their world into a global peace. Simply put they said, "Be good to each other, cease acting like a-holes, disarm your nukes, or we will do it for you. Then we will find you and take care of your lack of compassion permanently. We'll then give the job to someone who gets it."

Heavy handed as their methods were they worked, though not all that smoothly and not all at once. 

Eventually, one of the four created a device capable of viewing other Earths, including CE-AD-1 (or AD-A, or WC-1 - wherever we are running our campaign). They decided to 'help' this chaotic world achieve peace and traveled there to 'enforce utopia'. An artifact was created to grant powers to two additional people who would remain behind to run things when the four left for CE-AD-1. 

After numerous battles and arguments, the heroes of Project: UNITY and the villain Kineto convinced Big Brother that their approach would not work on CE-AD-1 (et al). Indeed they were causing more chaos and doing more harm then good. The four members of Big Brother departed for their home Earth, warning that this didn't mean they wouldn't be keeping an eye on CE-AD-1. Should its inhabitants pose a threat to the peace of BBE-AD-Z, they would be back.

Big Brother is Watching.

The Prime Team is Big Brother, consisting of The Anachronist (capable of manipulating time and the perception of it), The Harmonist (capable of manipulating emotions and thoughts through music), The Revolutionary (who can perform amazing physical feats and alter probability, but only when he cheats, lies, or otherwise cons or fools people), and The Whimsy (capable of instantly creating any object or creature from thin air as long as it doesn't already exist. The object only lasts until it performs its function or the next object is created, but the effects of these creations are sometimes permanent. The Whimsy can never create the same object twice, as once he has made something, it has indeed 'already' existed). 

The Whimsy created an item he called the Cosmic Coalescence Conductor that granted superhuman powers to two additional friends of the Big Brother group. Sadly I forget their names. One could perform physical activities and cause effects that while technically impossible for a human being, they are nonetheless common in movies and television shows. For example, if he shot a handgun at a car's gas tank the car would explode. He could fall from a great height and walk away with minor cuts and bruises. The second was able to cast magic spells, create potions, and similar fantastical feats provided he spoke in theatrical incantations, mixed eye of newt with dust from a ruined castle, etc. He needed to make it showy and he needed to believe it made sense. 

Christopher Crichton remarks that he does not have a doppleganger on this Earth, though it is possible he did and the man is deceased. 

C.H.A.M.P.I.O.N.S. Earth - Alpha Delta-1

This Earth has no superhuman individuals in the classic comic book sense. It does have individuals with amazing levels of skill, high-tech devices, and some super science. It is a world in which secret agents battle diabolical masterminds and criminal organizations in a perpetual cold war environment. 

Imagine this world as being governed by the tropes of James Bond movies and television shows like Man From U.N.C.L.E. and The Avengers. 

On this Earth, Christine Crichton is the world's greatest spy, working for the Central Headquarters for the American Military Preparation, Intelligence, Operations, and Networking System - C.H.A.M.P.I.O.N.S..

Challengers Earth - Mu-AD1:

This Earth is a homage to Marvel Comics. It has all the Marvel tropes and the characters are clearly riffs on well known Marvel heroes and villains. The Prime Team is called the Challengers and resembles Marvel's Avengers. 

The Challengers consist of Favorite Son (Captain America), Tin Soldier (Iron Man), Raijin, The Thunder God (Thor), Big Man and Little Lady (Giant Man and Wasp), Sureshot (Hawkeye), The Apparition (Vision) and Sapphire Sorceress (Scarlet Witch).

On this Earth, Prof. Charles Christopher Crichton is known as Prof. Phenomenal, leader of the Phenomenal Four. 

Champion League Earth - Delta Ceti-AD1:

This Earth is a homage to DC Comics. It has all the DC tropes and the characters are clearly riffs on well known DC heroes and villains. The Prime Team is called the Champion League of Justice and resembles DC's Justice League and Justice League of America. 

The Prime Team consists of The Blue Bowman (Green Arrow), The Golden Ankh (Green Lantern), MaxiMode (Superman), Quark (The Atom), The Rook (Batman), Ultima (Wonder Woman), Zephyr (The Flash), and others. 

Here Chris Crichton is the mild mannered disguise of none other than the Man of the Future, The Man of Iron, MaxiMode! 

Champions Earth - Alpha Delta-A:

This Earth is virtually identical to Champions Earth - Wilcox Charlie-1 with the addition of characters, events, and ideas that occur after the end of the original Age of Champions campaign. This is the universe of my current campaign, Champions: REVIVAL. 

The PC heroes here are Hynagogia, Matrix, Pantheon, Too Fast, and Warfare. They do not, as of this posting, have a team name.

No team currently exists called The Champions. The main superhero team of this world, at present, is the UN sponsored Project: UNITY.

Crichton is as he is on Champions Earth - Wilcox Charlie-1 (CE-WC-1)

Champions Earth - Alpha Delta-1:

This Earth is virtually identical to Champions Earth - Wilcox Charlie-1 up to the Invasion: Earth War event. After that point the history of this world diverges as it follows new characters, events, and ideas introduced in my previous long running Champions campaign, The New Age of Champions. 
The PCs heroes here are Arcane, Ballistic, Night Knight, The Power, Professor Nth, and Revenant / Siphon

Crichton is as he is on Champions Earth - Wilcox Charlie-1 (CE-WC-1)

Champions Earth - Alpha Delta-2:

Inspired by DC Comics' Earth-2 and Earth-X, this world is identical to CE-WC-1 and CE-AD-1 up until the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Allied Champions prevent the bombings and World War II continues until 1955. 

The world's nations are divided up differently and a powerful Nazi regime still controls parts of Europe. The United Nations is referred to as the Alliance of Nations. The Prime Team is still the Allied Champions, though they are more commonly referred to as simply The Champions. The team membership is very different from the previously mentioned Earths. 

The Allied Champions consist of American Eagle IV and Winger IV (the latter being Bluejay on the Earths with a '1' or an 'A'), The Crusader, The Crimson Cowl II, The Mask of Freedom IV, The Phantom of Paris, and The Canadian Shield.

Here, a younger Chris Crichton is a 'boy genius' sidekick to the Allied Champions. He has a knack for building amazing devices out of found objects and junk (like a super-science MacGyver). 

Champions Earth - Alpha Delta-3:

On this Earth the heroes of CE-AD-1 are villains. This is the classic 'Evil Twin' Earth similar to the Pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths version of Earth-3. There are a number of heroes here as well, all alternate versions of villains who have battled the PC's, but many of them were killed by the Champions of Evil. 

The good guys of CE-AD-1 put a major hurting on their criminal dopplegangers in the New Age of Champions campaign by getting assistance from their alternate selves from several other Earths.

The Prime Team, the Champions of Evil, includes of Ice Witch (Ice Queen), Macrocosm (Microcosm), Ominous (Omni), Overkill (Overload), Pulse (Pulse), Scaramangler (Christian Scaramangler), and many others. 

Doctor Christopher Crichton is a scientist who specializes in multi-dimensional physics and while he doesn't have any powers, he has several inventions that enable him to teleport, fold space, alter his physical dimensions, and other related feats.

Champions Earth - Alpha Delta-4:

AD-4 is an Earth noted for its relative lack of superpowered beings. There are only a dozen or so costumed heroes and villains in the world and the powers that be generally frown on superhero activity. 

Not much else is known about this Earth. 

This world was heavily influenced by Charlton Comics, The T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, and Watchmen. 

Here Christopher Crichton is known as 'The Chief', and serves as the strategic and tactical specialist behind the Champions super team. 

Champions Earths - Alpha Delta-7, Alpha Delta-12, and Alpha Delta-23:

Little to nothing is known about these Earths other then they were destroyed and consumed by the multi-dimensional villainess Lady Disdain (aka Empress Ishtara Dys'Tayn).

Council of Champions Earth - Alpha Delta-1

While many identify this as an Alternate Earth, Prof. Crichton insists on logging it as a Parallel. He once stated that although it seems very different from CE - WC-1 on the surface, it shares many analog events, people, and concepts with that Earth.

Sometimes called Council Earth - AD-1, this is an Earth where magic is the primary power in the world. Science functions but is generally less effective and desirable when compared to the arcane arts. 

Imagine something somewhere between an out in the open Wizarding World of Harry Potter and a somewhat Victorian-Era Dungeons and Dragons setting. 

The world is protected by an group of powerful and wise wizards and witches from across the globe known as The Council of Champions. The planet is ruled by the Tribunal of Unity.

Little else is known about this world, including the exact make up and membership of the Council of Champions. 

Here, Master Kristoff of Croton, Son of Charles the Undamned, Archmage of the Eastern Rivers, Protector of the Hudson, and Banisher of Demons is a member of the Council of Champions. Kristoff specializes in spells and arcane knowledge dealing with demons, devils, and invaders from other realms. 

Force United Earth - Alpha Delta-1:

Identified as an Alternate Earth instead of a Parallel as the characters, history, and concepts seen on FUE-AD-1 are very different from those of variants on CE-WC-1.

Here the United Nations is paramount (even more so then on CE-WC-1 and its close parallels), with individual governments running the day-to-day goings-on of their respective countries but final say on all international and global matters falling to the UN. Much like CE-WC-1, AD-1, AD-A, and others, there is an international network of superheroes and superteams. Instead of UNITY, this world has The Force United. 

One member of Force United America, the superhero Excelsior, was blasted through a dimensional rift from this world to CE-WC-1. He remained there for several months until The Legionnaire could find his world's Quantum Frequency and send him home. Excelsior is considered an Honorary Member of CE-WC-1's UNITY New York (and presumably AD-1's and AD-A's as well. Wait...or was that an alternate Excelsior who...nevermind). 

The Prime Team, Force United America, consists of The Cheetah, Equinox, Excelsior, The Patriot, Spellbound, Talon Guard, and The Voyager. 

On this Earth, Prof. Christopher Crichton is one of the foremost authorities on the Meta-gene, Meta-genetics, and the biological science behind superhuman powers. 

Ravagers Earth - Alpha Delta-1:

Identified as an Alternate Earth instead of a Parallel as the characters, history, and concepts seen on RE-AD-1 are very different from those of variants on CE-WC-1.

In the recent past, a dark wizard supervillain cast a spell intended to raise an army of the dead. The spell was improperly cast and instead of summoning a hoard of shambling skeletons he slew one third of the world's population and those slain rose twenty-four hours later as brain-eating zombies. 

Old Glory, leader of the world's greatest super team, The Righteous, snapped after discovering what had happened. He proceeded to hunt down the necromancer and beat him to death on national television. Glory than issued a televised statement that he and his team would protect the living, destroy the undead, and make every last villain who had assisted the dark wizard pay dearly. He became obsessive and if you weren't with him, you were a danger to the very idea of good. He renamed his team, The Ravagers.

The Prime Team here, The Ravagers, are Gear Head, Miasma (former villain), Morning Star, Old Glory, and The Saint of Spades. 

The Christopher Crichton of this world died and was resurrected as one of the undead. He has the power to teleport by displacing himself with another person (basically they switch locations - only people in visual range). 

In addition to these worlds, I have seen a few Parallel Selves of Chris Crichton/The Legionnaire without knowing the Earth they came from. In the three and a half years I was part of the original Age of Champions campaign I recall encountering:

Charles 'Creek Charlie' Christianson, a ghost fighting gunslinger from a 'Wild West' Earth. 
Christopher CX1, an android/replicant type from a Cyberpunk/Blade Runner themed Earth. 
Krees, from an Earth where dinosaurs evolved into sentient humanoids. 

There are an infinite number of quantum realities and there is no way anyone could ever catalog them all, let alone visit them. Chris Crichton will keep trying of course. It's what he does and we're glad he's there to do it. 

Until next time,

AD
Barking Alien

*Our designation for our Earth, the Earth of the GM and players in the real world, is Earth - Prime-Zero, or simply Earth-Prime.

**Many of these Earths are my versions of ones William introduced in his campaign. Some are my own invention. Essentially, for each 'Alpha Delta' Earth assume there is also a 'Wilcox Charlie' incarnation.

After all, there are an infinite number of parallel worlds.

Yours is out there as well.

RECALL

Hey everyone!

It's been a very hectic month for me and as such a very light one as far as posting goes.

I did want to finish off May with a little update on Champions: REVIVAL.

We've run two sessions so far and we definitely have a hit on our hands.

Before I do session write-ups (likely in the next week or so), I figured I would give you all the established conceits of the setting and the Player Characters involved:

Six months ago prior to the first session of our campaign (i.e. Issue #1):

An alien being calling himself The Examiner arrived on Earth with numerous, space-faring, mountain sized machines which scattered themselves around the globe, floating a couple of miles above the surface.

He performed what he called 'The Final Analysis' and deemed 'The Grand Experiment' a failure (whatever that means). The result was that he was going to use his machines to destroy the Earth. The superheroes of the world, organized by Project: UNITY, went to stop him and his android minions. Three major supervillains also tried to help - Holocaust, Kineto, and Paradigm Shift.

Holocaust and Paradigm Shift had their own agendas and ended up attacking each other. Wounded, they escaped and disappeared. 😢

In the end, Kineto sacrificed himself to destroy the Examiner and his devices after the other heroes had disabled Examiner's defenses.

Three weeks after the Final Analysis Event, Omni, arguably the world's most popular and powerful hero (top three at least 😉) resigned from UNITY to take care of matters of a personal nature. He disappeared after that and has not been seen since.

Kineto (left) and Omni (Right)*

The Greatest Villain and The Greatest Hero

Both gone from the world.

This is all the PCs know at the start of the game. I told them that if they have contacts in the Supers Community, Government, or Law Enforcement they might know more. Likewise, if any of them have Knowledge or other appropriate skills they might be able to learn additional information. So far they've been too focused on what they're up against to investigate the backstory further.

The heroes are:

Hypnagogia (played by Esmeralda V.)

Hypnagogia is defined as the transitional state between being awake and being asleep. 

We all agreed that Esmeralda came up with the perfect codename for this most mysterious of superheroines. With the psionic power to manipulate light and the way the mind perceives it, Hypnagogia is a mistress of illusion, with her 'psychic holograms' visible to cameras and digital film as well the Human eye. 

She possesses a number of other powers as well, including a powerful blinding flash, the ability to read and manipulate minds of semi-conscious individuals, and turning herself invisible. In actuality, she is permanently invisible due to a subconscious panic attack she had when her powers first manifested. She must concentrate to become visible, and often uses her illusion power to 'show herself' (meaning none of the other PCs or NPCs know what she really looks like as of yet).

She is a detective, battling mostly street level villains and gangs before joining up with the rest of the group. Now involved in the dark doings of true supervillains, Hynagogia is trying hard to expand her understanding and use of her abilities to better combat her opponents. 

Who this young woman really is and how her powers first came to her is unknown at this time. She may not even know those answers herself.

Matrix (played by Jeff)

An orphan whose parents were involved in some government project that got them killed, the boy who would grow up to be Matrix lived on the streets of New York City using his higher than normal intelligence and mechanical aptitude to get by. He often fixed devices for people or would repair discarded items and sell them to get food and other necessities. 

Eventually, the kid was approached by some gang members who had gotten a hold of a high-tech weapon and were willing to pay him to fix it. He did, and before long he was known as the go-to guy for super-science repairs and modifications on the fly. This went on for some years and he eventually did work for some big name super-crooks.

Unfortunately for him, Matrix was eventually caught and sent to jail. His high intelligence enabled him to survive and even help some fellow inmates to navigate the often dangerous prison system. One particular fellow became a close friend and when that fellow was paroled they stayed in touch. 

One day a man arrived and met with Matrix to offer him a special deal - join a top secret government research project to expand Matrix's intellect to it's full potential and Matrix would receive a complete pardon. Matrix agreed. Things did not go as expected however. The fellow was an agent for a black ops organization that experimented on Matrix and a number of other young people. Eventually the experiments on Matrix unlocked a latent Intrinsic Field Power that caused a massive explosion at the hidden facility where he was being held. He escaped in the confusion, learning all the other subjects had already been killed by the experiments days before.

Now on the outside with a superpower could barely manifest again, let alone control, Matrix decided to turn his life around. He built equipment to help him harness and utilize his Intrinsic Field powers, and created the costumed hero identity of The Matrix to make up for the wrong doings of his youth. 

Matrix generates a field of energy that can only be fully utilized while wearing various devices of his own invention - gauntlets, boots, a helmet, a partial battle suits, etc. With the gear he can shoot blasts of different types, fly, use a variety of super-senses, etc. Without his equipment, he can only manifest a small portion of his power and it is extremely difficult for him to control the results. 

Pantheon (played by Dave C.)

A college professor specializing in Ancient History, Mythology, and Folklore, Pantheon discovered he possessed the rare gift [in this setting] of being able to utilize magic. On one of his many travels abroad, he learned that through long forgotten rituals he could communicate with the deities of old and channel aspects of them through himself to become their avatar.

The deities of this particular Superhero universe have yet to manifest in physical form on the mortal plane. While God and Goddess powered heroes and villains exist, there are absolutely no such mythological entities working the Earth. To put it another was, you might run into a Captain Marvel/SHAZAM type character or Wonder Woman, but there is no Thor or Loki.

The reason for this is currently a mystery, one Pantheon is curious to learn the answer to. In the meantime he uses his ability to summon divine aspects to fight evil magical entites, demons, and the Earth minions of evil gods. 

At present we know he can become the avatar of Isis, the Egyptian Goddess of Magic (various Spells and Mystic Abilities), Maui, Hawaiian Demi-God (Shapeshifting, Super Strength, and a Magic Fishing Hook) and at least two others. 

Pantheon has made a number of enemies during his short career, including the marauding mage who calls himself The Thaumaturge and his own former assistant who possesses the same gifts but tend to deal with darker gods. 

Too Fast (played by Marcus)

Not too much is known about this character's background either but he is definitely the perfect merger of classic and modern hero. While he is here to give his 110% to fighting evil criminals and saving lives, he also wants to make sure you caught that take down of the villains on your iPhone so he can upload it to his youtube channel. 

He is a little like Impulse/Kid Flash crossed with Booster Gold. 

His powers are particularly interesting. A Super Speedster for sure, Too Fast can also manipulate speed, adding it to or taking it away from objects and people. He often serves as a team support member by increasing the velocity of Warfare's running tackle or subtracting it from baddies as they try to escape. 

Too Fast's grandfather is a retired PRIMUS Agent (PRIMUS being a SHIELD-like organization that tends to look down on Supers in this setting). While relationship between PRIMUS and the Supers of the USA has improved here and there, it isn't all hunky dory. Grandpa is a source of info and helps the team navigate some of the red tape of dealing with PRIMUS, but he is also an older man out of his prime. It's like having Nick Fury and Aunt May combined!

Warfare (played by Eric)

By far the strangest character is Warfare, a four armed, alien warrior from a distant star who has come to our world to battle 'the greatest challengers and challenges the galaxy has ever known!'

Before coming to Earth, Warfare was a warrior/guardian on a planet that experienced centuries of global conflict. Sworn to defend his people from aliens, mad warlords, and anything else, Warfare was left without purpose when the wars finally came to an end. A new, world-wide government was established and peace and prosperity reigned supreme. Sadly, there is no place in a Utopia for one such as Warfare and so he left the planet for another world in need of his talents. 

As Earth was noted as a place constantly in danger of being taken over, destroyed, or otherwise subject to danger and villainy, Warfare headed there and has now joined with others to protect the people of his adoptive world. 

Warfare is seven feet tall, lightly scaled, pale green [with a darker, more scaly back], and possesses four arms. He strongly resembles Goro from Mortal Combat, though leaner and lizard-ish. 

In addition to great strength, armored skin, and martial prowess, Warfare wears the ancient Gauntlets of Chaos (really bracers). When Warefare takes enough damage he can utilize the damage to increase his physical abilities or duplicate himself, summoning a temporary clone. Unfortunately, absorbing a lot of damage can set off his Disadvantage of Berserker Rage. The Gems in the Gauntlets of Chaos want to promote rage, battle, and mayhem!

OK, that's the basics and all for now.

A lot on my mind. Hopefully I will have a little more time this coming month to explore some of it.

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Barking Alien

*Illustration of Omni based on a Superman illustration by Eric 'Doc' Shaner.

REVIVAL

With the exception of a single, personally significant post, I decided to take the month of April off from blogging. 

It hadn't been planned ahead of time and I'm not sure at what point during the month I made that formal decision, but I am very glad I did. Things were especially busy and hectic and I really didn't know what, if anything, I wanted to say regarding the hobby. 

It's a new month and I've had experiences that I want to discuss. I took a break and now I'm born anew, ready to talk about my new campaign, TV shows, movies, and my ideas for the future.

Praise the dice and Hallelujah!

The Gospel According to Champions

We have returned once again to the universe of my old friend William Corpening, whose epic 10+ year Champions campaign was as deep and layered with mythology and pathos as anything Marvel or DC Comics has created. 

In the past, when I have adapted Will's Champions Earth-Wilco Charlie-1 to my own games, I designated it Champions Earth-Alpha Delta-1, a variant timeline/parallel world in which the story continued after I left the original campaign along a different path. 

Since my last major event in the game was an alien invasion (The Invasion: Earth War crossover to be exact), I usually start my campaigns six months after that occurrence. It should be noted however that while that was the last time I was in the game, the original campaign continued for another two and a half years. 

My newest campaign is set in yet another universe, Champions Earth-Alpha Delta-A, with the idea of being a direct sequel to the original. Our story begins not six months after my last time playing Will's game, but rather six months after Will's game actually ended. The status quo is quite different. The major NPCs are different, with some heroes and villains gone, some returning, and many new ones entering the arena. 

It is a world many of the players find familiar and yet this take on it is almost equally surprising and fresh. Win-Win!

Preaching to the Choir

One thing that has been reinforced to me time and time ago over the past few years is that you need to have the right people for the right game and vice versa. Sometimes matching the group up with a game such that we're all on the same page feels like a monumental task. Other times, it just works. The parts all fit together with hardly any effort. 

Champions is that game for this group.

After such false starts and failed attempts, we have returned to the game that four out of six of us love. The remaining two are new to the setting and the system, having never partaken in them before.

My girlfriend is just learning to play RPGs in general, but she is clever, creative, and gets the general idea of Superheroes. She is a self-proclaimed problem solver, so she gets jazzed by the idea that figuring out a crime or defeating a villain is simply an obstacle to be overcome. 

Our other new addition also gets Superheroes and is well versed in Anime, Movies, and things that can easily be tied in. He represents an area of the game universe that hasn't been explored very much, but it's out there just waiting to be investigated. 

Basically, this is a group that understands the genre and is primed to be immersed in a campaign that embraces it. Those who know the setting really enjoy it. Those that don't are curious to find out about it. 

Since I tend to focus my games on the Player Characters, the universe they live in, and how they interact and relate to it and one other, I'm over the moon to have players with solid character ideas that link into key aspects of the setting. 

All in all this is looking very promising largely because of the people involved. 

Amazing Grace

To this very day I'm stunned that I love this crunchy, math-heavy system as much as I do, but Champions (specifically Hero System 4th Edition) is by far my favorite Superhero RPG. 

I've been playing (as a player) a rule-light Supers game over Google Hangouts for a few years now and while I have been enjoying it, the system is starting to get to me. It feels flat. The characters are not mechanically different from each other as powers have little variation in how they apply to the situations in the game. Skills are an after thought. There really isn't a feeling that one particular attack is better than any other in a given moment except you might have higher dice. My 10 Power is better than your 8 Power for example, but what power it actually is seems inconsequential. 

Champions not only gives you options, it gives you variety. It allows you to play the character you want to play the way you want to play it. It lets me, the GM, dial up or down the detail, the difficulty, and the scope based on my preferences and the story I want to tell. 

Every ability, every power, every situation or condition is able to be translated into the games mechanics. In it's crunch and rules-heaviness there is a certain elegance, a beauty in its complexity. . 

I love that it works, that it works well, and that my players get it. 

As the month goes on I will include more details regarding this campaign including information on the Player Characters, the plots and subplots, and anything else that seems interesting enough to share. If anyone out there has any questions about the campaign, please feel free to ask.

Can I get an Amen?

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Barking Alien

CHAMPIONS - THE AGE OF CHAOS - Part I

Sorry for the delay in getting out the latest issue of this series. Modern comics always seem to come out late don't they?

Now that you've...

Checked into the origin,
Read the back issues,
and
Gotten a hold of the character spotlight on Starguard,

I think it's time we really got this party started...

***

Campaigns I Have Known Played

Proudly Presents...

CHAMPIONS

THE AGE OF CHAOS

An AGE OF CHAMPIONS Campaign

Project: UNITY (in the AGE of CHAOS)

Left to Right:

(In the air)
Starguard and Omni

(On the ground)
The Arctic Fox, Night Force, Christian Scaramangler,
Pulse, Overload, and Fusion (Floating)

Title: CHAMPIONS - The AGE of CHAOS

This name was actually given to the campaign after about a year or so of play.

Prior to that it was assumed that the events and characters within the game were part of The Bronze Age campaign, which had already been running for a year and a half. Will decided to differentiate it because of the change in tone and the influx of new characters, starting with mine. 

The Age of Chaos is the third of the four campaigns that made up the meta-campaign, The Age of Champions.

System: Champions 3rd Edition, by Hero Games (published 1984).

Will had some minor house rules but for the most part what he did was pre-figure a lot of the crunch in his notes and in his head. Combat was extremely fast, with the Phase/Combat Round system used for large battles only. Smaller conflicts (meaning those with fewer than five total participants) were simplified to make them go much quicker (while still keeping a character's Speed and Dexterity relevant). 

Circa: 1986-1989. The campaign ran for approximately 3 1/2 years. It may have been as long as 4 years, lasting into 1990.

The game was run Monday-through-Friday during the school year (roughly September-to-June) for an average of 5 1/2 hours each day. The sessions were often broken up into 1-4 hour intervals. 

We played before and after classes and during our lunch period. 

For the first three years of the campaign there were no weekend games, nor any during the Summer months.

In the final half a year-to-a year games were only on weekends and even then only one or two weekend sessions a month. I based my calculations on the same 5.5 hour average but the weekend sessions were usually longer than that in point of fact. 

This means there were approximately 552 five and half hour sessions in total. 

For more details see this post. 

Gamemaster: The one and only William Corpening, Champions Guru Extraordinaire! 

Will was, like most of the players, a 16-18 year old male and a New York City native (from Jamaica, Queens I believe). He is African-American. 

Player Base: There were a total of 12 active players in the Age of Chaos campaign, although on average no more than 5-6 were at the table at one time. An additional four players participated 'part-time', often appearing in 'cameo rolls' (joining in irregularly whenever they were able). 

At least two of the major crossover stories featured 12-16 players at the table all together.

Players were mostly male, with two female part-timers, made up of a vast array of ethnicities and all between the ages of 16 and 19. 

Characters: Oh boy...

With 12 regular players and 4 part-timers, there were a lot of PCs. 

But that's just the tip of the iceberg...

The Age of Chaos campaign featured troupe style play. While neither mandatory nor especially encouraged, it was totally fine to have more than one PC per player. 

Considering how dangerous and dare I say brutal the campaign was, having an alternate character to play while your main PC was in the hospital wing of the team's headquarters wasn't a bad idea.

In Starguard's second or maybe third appearance he got hit hard by a super baddie (well, he was a bad guy at the time) and got put out of action for about four or five sessions. It was nice to have someone to be while Starguard was recuperating. 

Another factor to note here is that some players were playing heroes while others played villains. I will list the PC villains in a separate post in the section entitled Opposition.

Characters featured in the majority of adventures or who were especially important to a large number of plots will be identified as 'Mains', as in Main Characters. Alternate PCs, played less often and usually having more minor or support roles will be identified as 'Alts'. 

With so many characters (and a busy schedule of late) its taken me nearly a week to write up this entry, which isn't complete by a long shot. In the interest of getting out more posts and making sure this post isn't ludicrously long (it isn't - it's only ridiculously long) I am breaking it up into multiple posts. 

Here then is the main team - all Mains, all A List, full time UNITY member superheroes.

A final note: Christian Scaramangler, although eventually labelled a villain, will be honored here by listing him with the other heroic members of Project: UNITY. Why? Well, for all the trouble he caused and even the damage he did, the player always thought of him as a tragic hero. Indeed he acted heroically in many instances, saving the lives of countless civilians. Whatever he became in the end, he started as a member of UNITY and the game wouldn't have been what it was without him. 

Onward...

Arctic Fox / White Wolf II (played by Pete H. - Main)

Arctic Fox is essentially the Wolverine of a parallel, Marvel Comics homage Earth (Challengers Earth-Mu-1) that our world crossed over with during The Dark Trinity Incident. 

Trapped on Champions Earth-Wilco Charlie-1 following that event, Arctic Fox remained with the team, though he was having trouble feeling like he fit in. Eventually, he took some time off and traveled to this Earth's Canada in an attempt to reconnect with his origins. While in Canada, using a false identity, he befriended a old rancher and the man's daughter. Fox ended up helping the pair fend off gangsters trying to steal the old man's land. Fox also fell in love with the man's daughter in the process.

Afterwards the old man revealed that he was once a superhero himself. In fact, he had been the Golden Age Canadian super known as White Wolf. He told Fox that although this world may not be the one he's from, Fox would always have a home at the ranch. 

Arctic Fox returned to New York with a new name and a modified version of the old man's costume, becoming White Wolf II. (All of the that was actually run as a side adventure that eventually reconnected with our main plot).

Arctic Fox/White Wolf was born to a Canadian Mountie and an Inuit Fox Goddess/Spirit that saved the man's life during a terrible blizzard. He possesses heightened senses of smell and hearing, regenerative healing (though not as impressive as Wolverine's), incredible speed (he could run at about 100-150 mph), and had magically hardened, razor sharp claws. 

His most interesting power however was his uncontrolled, unconscious ability to generate ice, snow, and high winds the angrier he became. In intense fights his immediate area would experience blizzard level conditions and thick frost. 

White Wolf II is a full member of Project: UNITY. Following the 'Invasion: Earth War' story he transferred to UNITY Canada. On Challengers Earth-Mu-1 he was a member of The Northern Lights (aka Alpha Flight).

Christian Scaramangler (played by Eric F - Main)

At the age of 6 or so, Christian designed the first version of the Minute Man robots now used the world over to protect numerous nations from rogue superhumans. At 8 he created a Danger Room-like facility for super-beings to test and practice their powers safely. This design was was eventually replicated by the [Silver Age] Champions. 

It wasn't long before Christian's inventions were seen by a high ranking military official friend of his father, Joseph. With the assistance of the aging Golden Age super scientist, Doctor Jourdain Pascal Jeanias (aka Dr. Genius), the senior Scaramangler set up Scaramangler Industries to produce his son's technological marvels as a means of bettering the world and funding vast improvements to the Scaramangler Foundation. 

Avoiding any public recognition or appearances for most of his young and teenage years, the junior Scaramangler nonetheless developed into a handsome, cultured young man. Eventually, he made brief outings, leaving his workshop to support his father's humanitarian and super-humanitarian efforts. 

When Joseph Scaramangler was accidentally killed by two alien scouts who'd come to Earth as the possible prelude to an alien invasion, Christian designed and built for himself a custom suit of powered armor to join the search for the extraterrestrial culprits. Successful in apprehending them with the help of Project: UNITY, Christian was offered a position on the UNITY New York team by a joint decision of Omni and the UNTIL Director assigned to the group. Scaramangler accepted.

Unbeknownst to anyone (at least at first) Christian Scaramangler harbored a vengeful hatred of aliens as a result of his father's death. In addition, he misconstrued many elements of Omni's actions, as well as previous game world history, as the basis for an alien conspiracy he KNEW to be bent on world domination. 

Scaramangler would spend Experience Points, in-game resources, as well as time both in and out of game planning ways of defeating the alien menace he perceived. This included embarrassing, impeding, and thwarting many of the actions and efforts of Omni. Scaramangler (and his Player) was extremely deft at deflecting blame and getting rid of any evidence that he was behind any wrong doing.

Eventually, it started to get out of hand. Omni had difficulty doing much of consequence without his efforts being either deflected or his public image making it seem as if he were less than competent. So effective was Scaramangler that new players drifted towards being villains as often as heroes. He made it look fun. 

When I entered the picture it didn't automatically solve the problem but it did balance the scales.

I will talk more about The Age of Chaos era Scaramangler in a later installment, discussing his truly villainous actions and what became of him as a result.

For the duration of this character's existence as a PC he was a full member of Project: UNITY. Even when the truth was finally revealed to the team and appropriate NPCs, the public was never informed of Scaramangler's dastardly activities less it cause problems for the Scaramangler Foundation, which was a truly benevolent organization.

Fusion (played by Paulo ? - Main)

Fusion is essentially the Firestorm of a parallel, DC Comics homage Earth (Champions League Earth-Delta Ceti-1) that our world crossed over with during The Dark Trinity Incident.

The major difference between the DC Comics character Firestorm and Fusion is what enabled Fusion to acclimate to living on a new Earth more easily than Arctic Fox did. Unlike Ronnie Raymond and Prof. Martin Stein, who merge to become Firestorm and then come apart, the, um, 'people' who form Fusion have a very different dynamic.

When the Professor, The Student, and an Android containing the Fusion Matrix merged to form Fusion, the merged entity first turned its power on itself. When it turned 'back' the three individuals had become one being with mixed memories. I forget their names, but it was something like...Professor Alan Bernstein, Student Claudio Acosta, and Fusion Android Mk. III who form Fusion. Fusion un-merges to become Prof. Alan Acosta the 3rd. 

Having to come to terms with this and essentially constructing an identity and a life from the ground up meant it didn't matter if he did that over on his Earth or on this one. It was all the same to Fusion. 

Fusion possesses the power to rearrange the atomic structure of matter with some interesting limitations and applications. He must know the proper chemical or molecular formula and early on had to say it out loud. For example, in order to turn Steel into Sugar, Fusion would focus on the Steel object and say, "C12H22O11!", the chemical formula for sugar.

Additionally, Fusion could command the atomic structure of an object to 'split', creating an energy blast. Fusion's powers only affect matter and possibly plasma but not energy. Later he could affect energy with extreme effort.

Fusion was a full time, fully fledged member of UNITY. Before being transported to our Earth he was a newly recruited member of the Champion League of Justice (the Justice League of America counterpart) on Champions League Earth-Delta Ceti-1.

Night Force (played by David C. - Main)

A brilliant inventor and engineer, Night Force was previous the Chief of Operations for Project: UNITY's top secret headquarters in New York City. After revamping the base's security systems, the Chief told Omni and the other assembled superheroes that no one, not even the villain Kineto, could break in. Omni asked, "Not even you?"

The next day the Chief called a meeting with Omni and the UNTIL Director of UNITY. The Chief dropped one of Omni's costumes on the Director's desk. He had broken into the base the night before, bypassed his own security measures, and took the outfit to prove it. Omni told him to keep it. Furthermore, Omni suggested his skills might be better used in the field. A few weeks later, the team added Night Force to its ranks. 

Night Force was once described, quite accurately, as "What if Batman were Reed Richards under the cowl?". While a skilled detective, it is mostly because of his high intelligence and analytical mind. Although a trained martial artist, Night Force is no Bruce Lee. As far as gadgets go however, Batman is using sticks with rocks tied to them compared to what Night Force has.

Night Force's costume has a complex network of teleportation circuitry. What appears to be a utility belt, bracelets, and the like are actually panels used to activate a teleport sequence that summons a particular device from a 'transporter room' storage facility at the UNITY base. He looks like he's doing hand jive half the time. Devices include moon shaped boomerangs that can explode, create a stun blast, triangulate a capturing force field, and generate an EMP. He can also summon a Jet Cycle, an Impact Foam Shield, and even a gravity field generator. 

Night Force became a full time member of UNITY and later in the campaign took over field command and tactical/strategy duties from Omni. Eventually Night Force was officially made Team Leader of UNITY New York.

Omni (played by David C. - Main)

As a small child, Omni was secreted away by his maternal uncle, the loyal court Chamberlain, when a bloody coup by the commoners killed the Mandaarian Empire's Royal Family. The two aliens hid on the distant and primitive planet of Earth, blending into the population of Queens, NY using their psychic abilities (including generating mental illusions). 

Initially the Chamberlain refused to let the young Mandaarian go outside of their small apartment without him and did not let him interact with Humans more than absolutely necessary. Omni learned about Human society through books, comics, and television. He grew to love the ideals of free and democratic nations and was especially enamored with the Superheroes who protected them and their people. 

As time wore on, the Chamberlain grew old and more feeble. In order to obtain food, medicine, and other essentials, Omni started working several jobs including supermarket clerk and paper boy. He found Humans to be fascinating and wonderful and would periodically glean from their thoughts images of what they thought a 'hero' looked like. 

One day while he was walking home from one of his jobs he encountered a bank robbery in progress. Ducking into a nearby alley, he altered the mental illusion he had constructed to appear Human and changed it to his 'Superhero Identity', a gestalt image of the traits he obtained from the imaginations of various people. Knowing he needed a symbol on his chest - the thought scans told him most heroes had one - he chose an infinity symbol. Suddenly the crowd was astonished to see a teenage Super with a costume, cape, and green skin swoop down from the sky to help with the situation. With powers such as Telepathy, Telekinesis, and Flight Omni was able to assist the police in apprehending the crooks in short order. 

Omni became an overnight sensation! Although there was a general animosity towards extraterrestrials, the baby boomer and younger generations thought of Omni as smart, handsome, and dashing. It was a popular youth magazine that named him 'Omni'. The Chamberlain did not approve and went to Omni's room to give him a stern talking to. Unfortunately, he never made it. The Chamberlain died of a heart attack and although Omni did everything he could, the Chamberlain made him swear not to take him to a Human hospital. There would be nothing they could do for him anyway. 

That was the moment that Omni changed his life. He established his secret identity as a Human to enroll in school and his superhero identity joined The Champions as a junior member. Eventually he graduated and got a scholarship to attend a prestigious college. He went on to become one of the most popular and effective Supers of his day. Following the final mission of The Champions, Omni took some time off, finished college, got a job, and eventually returned to hero-ing solo.

Later still, as his abilities increased and expanded, he was asked to start and lead UNTIL's Project: UNITY New York team. 

There is sooo much more to Omni and his story but I'll save the details for another post. 

Omni is a member of the Royal Bloodline of Mandaar and like all Mandaarians possesses telepathic abilities. As with other members of the royal family, he has other additional psionic powers as well. Chief among his abilities are Telekinesis, the ability to create a TK Force Shield, a Telepathic Attack than can render someone asleep or cause debilitating headaches, create Psionic Illusions, and later in the campaign he could Teleport. Minor abilities include Psychotelemetry, Clairvoyance, and more. 

His physical appearance is an illusion. He is actually much less Human looking, resembling a classic 'UFO Gray' alien although his coloration in both forms is green. 

Omni was a full time member of UNITY and lead the team for the majority of the campaign. He is honestly one of my all time favorite Superhero characters ever. I meant that and I include ones from games, movies, television, and comic books. 

Overload (played by ? - Main)

Overload was once a US Marine who sacrificed himself to save his unit by diving onto a makeshift explosive in Libya. As he lay dying in a military hospital, a secret US government organization offered him the chance to undergo an experimental bionic procedure that would save his life and turn him into a superpowered soldier. He agreed and was transformed into Overload. 

PRIMUS assigned him as second in command of a team of American superheroes who they hoped would provide the USA with an alternative to always calling on UNITY for help with super-normal crises. That team was F.I.R.S.T. Strike (Federal Interception and Reconnaissance Superhuman Troopers). 

Unfortunately, most of that is a lie.

Overload, like all the members of F.I.R.S.T. Strike, was genetically engineered; grown in test tubes and imprinted with false memories. The person Overload was before he woke up as Overload never existed. 

When the truth was revealed by Night Force during a confrontation between F.I.R.S.T. Strike and UNITY, Overload switched sides as he was already having moral issues with the mission his team was on. 

In spite of being a nearly seven foot tall, cybernetic powerhouse armed with 'Rob Liefeld Guns', Overload is pretty down-to-earth. He tends to spend off hours having beers, playing pool, and watching sports with the folks down at Oddball's Bar and Grill (a popular hang out of the superhuman set), and seems like a fairly regular Joe.

Overload possesses superhuman strength, endurance, and durability, as well as a variety of heightened sensory abilities as a result of an array of cybernetic implants. He also has a built in transmitter and transceiver with a satellite link. He travels largely by superleaps achieved thanks to his bionic legs. 

His primary power however comes from his 'Kinetic Exchange Harness'. Overload can absorb a portion of any attack on his person that consists of kinetic energy/physical force and redirect that force through his specially designed 'hand cannons'. The absorbed energy propels the projectiles in these bazooka-life firearms to many times their normal speed, which is already quite formidable. The ammunition in the cannons varies and has included armor piercing bullets, concussion grenades, gas grenades, and high-explosive, gyro-jet missiles.

In addition to his special abilities and weaponry, Overload is as skilled as a US Marine with ten years active and combat experience (simulated). He is proficient in a number of forms of hand-to-hand combat including the Marine Corps Martial Arts program. (Yep. That's a thing). He is also a sharpshooter and well versed in the use of numerous types of firearms including bazookas, LAWs, and other rocket launchers from various countries.

Overload started out an anti-hero/enemy, became a probationary member, then a full member of UNITY.

Pulse (played by AJ - Main)

Ah Pulse. I love this guy.

When a lightning bolt struck his science exhibition display, many were certain the brilliant young physics student who would become Pulse was a goner. Instead, he awoke from a coma one month later with no immediately detectable injuries or issues of any kind. Before long he manifested his super-powers of speed and electricity and set out to right wrongs as the pavement pounding Pulse!

Unfortunately, Pulse's initial attempts at superheroing were a mixed bag. While he thwarted numerous crimes and even tangled with some serious super baddies, he didn't have full control of his powers. His activities caused brown outs, depleted batteries, and disrupted electric equipment in his vicinity. While the people of NYC (especially Queens and Brooklyn) loved him, the Mayor and a number of TV News personalities weren't so smitten. 

Pulse is very much a thematic homage to both Spider-man, and The Flash.

He isn't a teenager, being in a graduate program when The Bronze Age begins, but he was the youngest member of the UNITY team. He had a Rogues Gallery of colorful villains who pop up fairly often, not unlike Flash and Spidey. A common opening scene in many sessions was Pulse dealing with one of his many enemies and needing to finish up with them before he could join the rest of us.

Pulse (but really his player AJ) was the heart of the team. He was always positive, quick with a quip, and constantly wowed by the superhero world he was a part of. 

He had some great villains too. Arachne for example, was a spider-themed, gadget using, femme fatale not unlike Catwoman or Spidey's Black Cat. There was always an underlying romantic angle to their encounters. His arch-nemesis was General Winter, a Russian 'Mr. Freeze' type who wore a 60s/70s era Russian military uniform with a Cossack hat. 

Pulse could run at super-speed but no where near as fast as the Flash. I think his top speed by the end was Mach 3 or so (it might have been a bit faster). More interestingly, the more and faster he ran the more he would build up an electrical charge that he could release like a lightning bolt. I always thought it was so cool that the more rounds he spent running and not blasting the bigger the bolt was when he finally let it loose. Later on in the campaign he could generate a radius/area of effect blast that worked like an EMP, knocking out technology of all kinds. Pulse could also trap enemies in an 'electricity cage' by running around them tossing lightning back and forth to himself with his opponent caught in the center.

Pulse was the first hero Omni recruited into UNITY. He remained a full member throughout. 

Starguard (played by ME! Yay! - Main)

What can I say about Starguard? He is my favorite PC ever.

He was so fun to play because of his power set and so interesting to play because he isn't quite like the real me. I wish there was a bit more of Starguard in me actually. Starguard was bold, fearless, and very focused. He was a man of singular purpose when the need arose. He wasn't perfect of course. Every good character has flaws and he was occasionally very stubborn and known to hold a grudge. 

Qualities I like to think we share include an unflinching loyalty to our friends, an intolerance of bullies and bigots, and a strong sense of right and wrong. At least our own senses of it. Sadly I have been known to do the 'hold a grudge thing'. I've gotten better about it though.

Starguard developed a close relationship with Pulse whom he was protective of like a younger brother. He had a strong friendship/rivalry with the former villain turned regular guy turned occasional hero Adamant. His closest friend was Omni, partially because Omni's player Dave and I were close and partially because Omni was the real reason Starguard was on Earth (both in an in-game and meta sense).

I liked that Starguard had come to this unassuming blue marble on the outskirts of known space on the off chance he could forge a lasting peace between his people and their closest and largest stellar rival. It's funny to think back on it and realize that the consummate warrior was actually taking the most peaceful, diplomatic approach to the situation possible the entire time. 

OK, here is where I would normally go into the Opposition, but I am not nearly done with the heroes yet. Next up is the B-Listers, the Beta Team, The 'Alts'. Following that, I might do the Fallen - heroes who died in the line of duty.

Stay tuned, and get ready for February!

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