Today's NPC: Magda Berlioz, CPA

Magda Berlioz, CPA

SYSTEM: Any

Magda first comes to the attention of the PCs because she's a tax accountant, working for a firm hired either by one of the PCs (in secret or hero identity) or for the team, if there is a team. Magda is young, unmarried (to the displeasure of her father), and has a bright future ahead of her. She's built rather like an Olympic shot-putter, but she has a cheerful disposition, and she's pretty sure her boyfriend will propose very soon.

And she's just been handed the job of handling the taxes of the PC|team, now that old Mr. Courtemanche is retiring.Things are looking good for Magda.

The PCs soon get to know the way that Magda is frustrated by their inability to keep proper receipts, and their tendency to claim things like "extradimensional mileage--work expenses" (if she's the accountant for a hero identity or identities). Magda is very happy when her boyfriend proposes (he's an insurance underwriter). They might even get to know that her mom was a serious granola-crunching hippy who raised Magda on a commune after she split with Magda's father, and cast "good luck" spells on her every full moon. But they certainly know that she's a good accountant who finds every allowable deduction for them.

That's when Magda gets possessed.

It probably happens on a trip to the hero HQ to discuss some deductions, triggered by accidentally brushing against some mystic object, but it might happen when she shakes hands with a magical hero or, frankly, the stars might just be right.

She becomes temporary housing to a powerful extraplanar deity, maybe one that calls itself a god, maybe an Elder Thing, but one with a mission of conquest.

I'm sure that the heroes can defeat the entity and send it back to its home dimension; that's what heroes do.

Except that Magda isn't really the same after that. Not that her personality has changed, but her fiance breaks it off for fear that some night he'll be sharing the bed with Czernobog, and she's put on notice by her company. Yes, possession is one of the risks of associating with superheroes, but it never happened to Mr. Courtemanche.

Magda can probably rebuild...except that first possession has wrought one more change: it's given her the Quality "transient housing for the incorporeal". If there's an entity in search of a body, it will probably get Magda, which means that the PCs will see her outside of tax season.

Magda tries to make this work...she puts the heroes on speed dial, except of course that once she's possessed she doesn't want to dial. Proactive heroes probably have her on a list. "Weird clouds over city? Check Magda and other usual suspects." She gets fired, tries to open her own business. She probably has the heroes as clients, maybe other exceptional individuals. ("Well, I think that as a werewolf, you can reasonably deduct the cage and manacles. Can we get some kind of affadavit from a recognized sorcerer?")

The Quality cuts both ways. If someone else is possessed, the players can try to encourage a helpful spirit into Magda. However, they might get something inimical. Also, if she's possessed by something relatively weak, like a revenant with unfinished business, it might get ousted halfway through by Zargox, Eater of Souls, which would mean that the current fight against Earl of Evil over there just got to be a fight on two fronts.

It's possible that one use of the Quality is that she retains bits and pieces of the god like abilities of the possessors. That will be handy when Paul is trying to kill her.

Paul, you see, is one of the previous hosts and possessors of the Quality. But he's old now (it would awful but telling if his last name were Courtemanche), and powerful extraplanar entities no longer try to possess him. (He's the shabby and dilapidated motel when compared to the bright new building that is Magda.) Paul's thing is that after he gets possessed, he feels better. A little of that life force gets left behind, and sure, he might die sooner, but he feels better. His joints don't ache, he can sleep better, and he can work small bits of magic.

The PCs can get involved with Magda through their taxes, the incidents created by one of Magda's "tenants", through the police catching Magda as she's possessed and creating an incident, or through the death attempts that Paul makes. She's a gateway to get them involved in the unfinished business of a revenant, and possibly a romantic interest for a character.

Here's how she might be written up in ICONS as the PCs first meet her:

Magda Berlioz

Prowess	2	Coordination	3	Strength	4
Intellect	4	Awareness	3	Willpower	3
Determination		–	Stamina		7
Specialties	Business Expert
Powers	None (yet)
Qualities	Darn good tax accountant and CPA Dad's traditional, mom's a granola flake, I don't want to be like either of them Transient housing for the incorporeal

Random Encounters in Superhero RPGs

I don't know which of Arneson or Gygax was responsible for the random encounter, but to me it's both narrative and non-narrative. Narrative in the sense that it provides material that the players can select among in creating their own narrative (kind of Darwinian story-telling) and non-narrative in the sense that these encounters have nothing to do with the story/adventure. If the adventure or arc of the campaign is about looting, er, cleansing the tomb of the lich-king, the  meeting with the kobolds in the frontier town on the way there has nothing to do with the story. It provides color, yes; it probably provides the PCs with enough XP to be able to tackle the first challenge in the tomb of the lich-king. In the hands of the right DM/GM it might reinforce themes in the adventure or campaign, and from a story point of view, it says you're telling a longer story, because you have time to spend on these interludes. (Of course, there can beno story, just an evening of random combat encounters. But we're going to ignore that for the moment.)

Most of which doesn't apply to superhero games in general and ICONS in particular. Color is good, sure, but combat provides experience in only the loosest sense, and there aren't levels to be concerned about. You probably don't want the random encounter to be too hard, because you don't want it to steal focus from whatever you have planned for the evening.

The rolls for Champions disadvantages were a kind of random encounter that were personalized for the campaign: DNPCs, Hunteds, and Rivals were rare (8-), moderate (11-) or common (14-). If a particular disadvantage got rolled, it was probably going to show up somehow.

Bearing in mind these purposes (buffet assortment to see what the players want to follow up on; color; soap opera), here are some ideas for random encounters in a superhero game. I have included two combat situations, but only against minion-quality foes, so the PCs should make short work of them.

Even moreso than in other games, if a random encounter doesn't make sense in context of the game, don't use it.

2d6 Roll	Random Encounter
2	Unusual type of minions (such as zombies shuffling out of graveyard for normal heroes)
3	Informed that enemy has escaped custody/been freed
4	Loved one tries to get closer to hero
5	Fan tells hero of approval
6	Uncomplimentary article or comment from member of public
7	Loved one explains new interest that could be a source of trouble later
8	Date with romantic interest
9	Hero has chance to do good deed
10	Persistent NPC fakes being victim of crime to get interview
11	Enemy publicly claims to have reformed
12	Loved one wants to break it off

Obviously, there could be many more, but this is a random (ahem) sampling. You could subdivide it like this:

1d6	1d6	Random Encounter
1-2	1	Trouble at work
1-2	2	Good news at work
1-2	3	Extra obligations at work
1-2	4	One of the neighbours needs help
1-2	5	There's a superhero request and the person with PC is oblivious to hints about ending this conversation
1-2	6	A relative/old friend visits
3-4	1	Fan tells hero of approval
3-4	2	Someone fakes being victim of crime to get interview
3-4	3	Hero has chance to do good deed
3-4	4	Loved one has interest/new problem that could be a source of trouble later
3-4	5	Loved one arranges a date/party, possibly at a bad time
3-4	6	Loved one wants to break it off
5-6	1	Store robbery
5-6	2	Mugging
5-6	3	Informed that enemy has escaped custody/been freed
5-6	4	Enemy publicly claims to have reformed
5-6	5	Uncomplimentary article or comment from member of public
5-6	6	Unusual minion spotted in crime (e.g., zombies in a street-level crimefighter campaign; plant monsters; etc)

Converting Mutants and Masterminds into ICONS

Someone else (not me!) wrote a guide to converting M&M characters into ICONS. They wrote this about second edition M&M, and first edition ICONS.

Now, the best way to handle this is to conceptualize the character and write it fresh in ICONS. But the conversion guide was written for second edition M&M, and third is now out, and, well, I have a nit-picky view of the world. So, in a fine example of the tech writing art, I decided to update it, without bothering to check whether it gave good results originally.

I reproduce it here, but with a bunch of caveats:

• First, a numerical conversion like this isn't a good idea.
• Second, I didn't write this originally: I only updated some sections to reflect third edition M&M, and I didn't even check those (beyond running a couple of numbers).
• Third, apparently the characters generated by this are wayyyy out of scale.

Still, with apologies for not giving credit to the original author, I put it here to make it easier to find. The original post was at http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?757183-ICONS-Assembled-Some-Questions&p=19041807#post19041807

The conversion is for 2nd edition M&M. I've taken a stab at a third edition-ICONS Assembled version because someone will want it...but a better choice is knowing both systems and converting by "feel" rather than by numbers. A much better choice.

My opinion only: in general, I feel like in ICONS a level of 8 in something is best in the world. When you get to level 9 and 10, you're talking best in the universe/century/millennia kind of territory. Nobody should ever be saying, "Oh, my character has only level 8 in this." A character with level 8 in a power can take on and succeed against a character with level 10. (Of course, the opposite is also true: it depends on the powers involved, and the lower-power-level characters might need to team up.) The Troll, for example, is an epic villain. With a Damage Resistance of 9, he is tough to beat: players have to team up or use his qualities...and if they have a character with Mental Blast, he falls apart.

Please remember that I didn't write the original, of which vast swathes remain. I only updated it.

The following will look ugly; I don't know if you can even do tables here.

General conversions: powers and abilities

First number is M&M 3rd edition, the second is ICONS Assembled. Convert against this chart and you'll still have only a rough guideline that needs to be adjusted.

M&M	ICONS
<-1	1*
-1	2
0	3
1-2	4
3-5	5
6-7	6
8-9	7
10-14	8
15-18	9
>18	10*
* Maybe a candidate for a Quality as well.

So, those abilities...

Prowess

This is the M&M Fighting ability. If you really care about the powered/non-powered thing, consider using Martial Arts to achieve Prowess levels higher than 6 with non-powered humans. Remember also to add in advantages and skills that enhance melee attack bonus. What you're looking at is how good the character is at his/her best. You might want to do this last, after looking at skills

Coordination

Use the average of the agility and dexterity plus any ranged attack bonus and defense bonus feats rolls to determine the number used for conversion. You can improve ranged attacks with the Power or Weapons specialties. Again remember that non-powered humans can be boosted with the Power or Weapons specialties.

Strength

This is converted from the M&M Strength ability. Consider superstrength and your heavy load lifting ability when determining Strength; ICONS doesn't distinguish between lifting and fighting.

Intellect

Convert the Intelligence ability.

Awareness

Use the average of the Perception and Insight skill totals. Yeah, technically Insight should be Will based, and you can do it if you want, but I've seen better effects averaging them. Except when I don't.

Willpower

Use the average of your Will Save and Presence and compare it to the Stats and Powers Chart.

Skills to Specialties

When determining Specialties, determine what your character is really good at: those are the things that might be specialties. In ICONS there are no requirements to have a specialty in order to do something: any shmoe can try Medicine (as first aid). Yeah, skill monkeys are still difficult, but since you can say "Science" and mean all of them, it's not quite as painful.

In both systems, the skill/specialty rank adds to the character's ability, so consider comparing the sum in both cases to see if you need a specialty at all. If your doctor in M&M has INT 10 and Medicine 5 just so he can be a doctor, consider putting the doctor bit in a Quality and leaving it out of the Specialties entirely. Your character will probably need fewer specialties because the ICONS specialties are looser. (TheICONS version will get fewer specialties, as well.)

Remember that most of the fighting skills are absorbed into Prowess and Coordination, above. You can still add them as Martial Arts, Wrestling, or Power specialties, but consider whether you need to.

But, assuming the skill ranks are seriously different from the ability...

If the skill is less than 6 in M&M, don't even consider buying a specialty unless the character is meant to be an idiot savant

Skill, M&M	Specialty in ICONS
6-10	Specialist
11-20	Expert
>20	Master

Yes, I think the rules allow you to have an ICONS character with rank 10 in something and a Master specialty, but why? Remember scale. If that level of expertise is important, maybe you need to re-scale your game.

Advantages

ICONS doesn't even have advantages. Most of them are going to be roleplaying handwavy things. If you want the GM to use them as plot hooks and make a big deal of them, maybe they could be a Quality. Something like Fearless, consider if you want to be fearless. If you really, really want it—if it's at the core of your character concept—then consider something like Resistance: Fear effects. But really, that's probably better done as a stunt if you have a Quality that somehow alludes to it. There's a different feel between a character with the Quality "Man without fear" and someone with Resistance 5: Fear effects.

Powers

Pick what ever powers fit your character and use the chart for the ranks. You should pick the powers that best representation of your hero and leave the rarely used or less used powers for using power stunts.
In doing conversions from other systems, I've noticed that there's a difference in feel between a power or ability that's mimicking something a normal person could do, and something that's just plain super. When you convert damage or strength, you have guns to compare against. Mind Control, not so much. Because of this, super super powers might be converted as if they were a lower rank but I have no idea how much.
If a power can have a specific limitation, consider a Limit for it. If the limitation affects multiple powers or the whole character, maybe it's a Quality.

In M&M a character can have a lot of powers in an array for relatively little cost; there's no equivalent to arrays (or Multipowers, for the Hero Games players). In that case, consider Magic or Gadgets or Cosmic Power. All three allow you to pluck powers from out of a hat or utility belt for the cost of a test. Or have a Quality that generates many determination points that you can use for stunts.

Qualities

Here you can tie up a few of the loose ends like complications and advantages that might not fit intoICONS. There are only three of them now, so look for things that can be advantages and limitations.

Determination

In my experience, Determination points are more powerful than Hero points, though that will depend on the GM. It also applies only to player characters.

Benchmark it!

Consider the scale you're working at. It doesn't matter if the conversions aren't appropriate for the original game, what's important is that they work relative to the current game. Batman has different abilities depending on whether he's in Detective comics or Justice League.

This goes along with scale. Look at the benchmarks for both games. If your M&M character could not lift a building but your ICONS ability says you can, drop the ICONS strength level down.

Now take it out for a test drive. Tweak it.

But really, I think you'd be better off starting with the idea and working from the ground up.

The Immortality Show

How many methods for immortality can you think of? I can think of these right now.

Obviously, living a long time is the first that comes to mind. That doesn't really give you the game mechanics of coming back after you "die" but it works. In ICONS and Mutants and Masterminds, buying Life Support (aging) does this just as well as Immortality. If you want a cheap way to live forever and still have the risk of dying, Life Support is the way to go.

Some kind of treatment, whether it's the Lazarus Pit or implanting monkey glands or full-blood transplants of the blood of superheroes is the next. It might or might not provide some kind of regeneration.

Next is serial possession. The spirit is immortal and leaps from body to body. There might be limitations--maybe the victim has to be a blood relative, or a particular kind of mutant, or a baby, or a clone. Planting your mind in a clone (a la John Varley) counts. (I can imagine a very creepy family where everyone knows that they might be taken over by great-great-grandfather for his next body. Some of them might be deliberately slothful, trying to make sure that their body isn't the next one that gggf will want; some of them actually want to die, so they're playing the "fitness=death" lottery; and one of them is hunting great-great-grandfather to kill him and claim to be the current host.)

Maybe the host comes to look like the original. In some ways, they will: the immortal spirit probably has habits that affect the body. ("So, Lucy, when did you take up smoking cigarettes?")

Imagine duplication where the duplicates are the age when the power first manifested. The original eventually dies of old age, but a duplicate (if one is split off at the time of death) "becomes" the original. And so on, and so on.

Can you think of others?

Show some initiative (M&M Style)

SYSTEM: MUTANTS & MASTERMINDS 3E 

And here is a PDF form I put together that is useful for combat.

The big thing it has that I haven't before is that the button at the bottom will sort by initiative (that's bonus+1d20). If you don't put anything in the d20 box, it generates a number between 1 and 20 and adds it automatically.

It was very useful for teaching myself certain parts of JavaScript. :)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0KkM_vAe2HXa3RUdDNoWG9NVHc/view?usp=sharing

What Street Level means to me

SYSTEM: ANY

Someone was asking for a street-level system over on G+ the other day, and I had answered before I really examined my assumptions. So here we'll take a quick look at street-level supers.

If I say I want a street-level hero, then I probably mean Black Lightning. Or Arsenal. Or Batman...wait. Do I mean Batman? Or Spider-Man? I mean, the Bat goes up against Darkseid on a regular basis, as part of the Justice League. And while Spider-Man whups a certain amount of hoodlum butt, I never think of someone like the Green Goblin or Doc Ock as street-level, so why should their arch-foes be street level?

But on the other hand, if we measure a hero by his or her occasional opponents, then anyone who has ever been in the Avengers or the Justice League is not street level. (And over the years, they've had pretty much everybody.) Even though the Justice League has a number of decidedly cosmic foes, it has also had members like Vibe, who it's pretty safe to say is street level. And Black Lightning.

And, frankly, it can't be power level, because I don't think that we can count Adam Strange as street level, even though he's just a dude with a raygun and a rocket pack.

Where does Squirrel Girl fit? I mean, her whole raison d'etre seems to be to take down cosmic villains with a plucky attitude and a set of frankly silly (uh, sillier than usual) powers.

So it can't be occasional opponents and it can't be power level. What about regular opponents? Well, for the early part of his existence, Jim Corrigan as the Spectre confined himself to thugs and hoodlums. In those days, he was the spirit of vengeance. Star Lord has, well, the kind of powers that would do him okay in Hell's Kitchen, but he is a regular in cosmic stories.

There is no hard-and-fast rule, especially as characters wander between titles and teams. So the term "street level" has got to be a guideline, a kind of wish list, rather than an absolute.

With that out of the way, when you say a character is street level, here's what it means to me. Your definition might vary.

• The character isn't that powerful, or that really intense power is limited in some way. Perhaps OmniNom can turn anyone into a piece of bedroom furniture given their true name, but most people don't even know their true names. OmiNom has to be like any regular trained person...until finding out the person's true name...and then exacts retribution. Or Hulkette can bench press a tank, but has normal tensile strength problems when trying to lift or move heavy objects.
• Some guys with guns are an actual threat. Kitty Pryde and Colossus probably aren't street level by that metric. Batman might be; every once in a while, they get a lucky shot (when guided by the plot).
• The usual stomping grounds is a neighbourhood or city, and it's a noteworthy event when the character goes elsewhere.
• The usual foe hasn't got ambitions beyond the city. There are no plans to take over the world, but rather plans to knock over the 7-11. Or bank. Or maybe get that valuable item out of the vault. Or revenge. If he or she gets hold of an unstoppable robot killing machine, the most likely use is to rob jewelry stores.[1] Again, it's a noteworthy event going up against a foe with bigger plans.

These aren't absolute; characters can be really powerful and be limited mentally or morally, or have sworn an oath to defend this patch of land. But really I need three out of four of these for a character to sometimes be street level.

It feels more like scope, though that's not all of it. Spider-Man is street level mostly because he chooses not to deal with world or nation threatening problems. Cosmic characters talk about worlds and universes where street level characters talk about buildings and streets. They save the world or the universe on a regular basis. (Must be tough to get insurance on Rann.)

In an RPG, lowering the available points/dice is an easy adjustment, but if everyone's on the same page, you might not need even that.

1. And then drive the Unstoppable Killing Machine out of town to unload it, but the cops are still following it, so you have to kill or disable the cops, and then the spy satellites have it, and it's just sitting there...with a load of bullion...waiting. Killing anyone who comes near. Man, that sounds like a setup for a story.

X-Men...really?

I was listening to the Play On Target podcast, where Lowell Francis interviewed Eloy Lasanta, and Lasanta mentioned his love of the X-Men. I've heard of this love from others and I realized that the superhero RPGs I love (Supers! and ICONS) do a more four-colour setting by default.

I was never a big reader of the X-Men...the proliferation of X-titles in the 1990s was of the reasons I fled to DC (truthfully, I had been a DC child anyway) and then away from comics. But I recognize the basic characters and I see that the powers approach of my favourite games doesn't really reflect the X-Men as I understand them.

Caveats that I might be totally wrong in my understanding so that True Fans(TM) might object. However, this approach might be fruitful in figuring out how you do things to more accurately reflect the comics. It's mostly inspired by Marvel Heroic Roleplaying (it's not influenced by AMP except for what was in the podcast; I don't own AMP and haven't read it).

When I look at them, the characters in the core X-Men and the New Mutants (again, circa the late 1980s and the early 1990s, when I was occasionally looking at the books) are mostly human but with one or two powers that make them different. As humans, they're usually pretty good...Scott Summers is well-trained, Warren Worthington seems to be buff, Kitty Pryde manages well, and so on. (In story, the justification is the danger room and the training.) It's not until later (such as in Excalibur) that you see any disabled heroes. Anyway, the powers are applied differently: a character might freeze a lock or throw iceballs or make an ice wall, but it's one power. We'll call it a theme. This is like the power sets in Marvel Heroic Roleplaying.  (I don't have a list of themes handy, but I might edit one in later.)

Both Supers! and ICONS have mechanisms to handle this stunting: Competency dice and determination points.

First, we roll to see how many themes you have. We're going to use 2d6 because we want the bell curve.

Roll	Number of themes
2-6	One power theme (Colossus has the Strength theme; Angel can fly; Cyclops blasts things with his eyebeams)
7-10	Two power themes (Kitty phases and is smart; Wolverine has the healing factor and an animal theme)
11-12	Three power themes (I can't think of examples at this second, but I'm sure they exist. Maybe Cable, who has cybernetics, and the telekinesis, and being from the future and having that kind of knowledge might qualify as a third--I don't know enough about the character to be sure.)

Then we're going to figure out the width of your biggest theme. This is the number of standard expressions of your power. Iceman lucks out because he has three main expressions: ice armor, movement, and the ability to create things out of ice. Colossus has two expressions: strength and durability. (You might be able to call that one in ICONS with Alternate Form.) Cyclops and Angel have a single expression: optic blasts and flight, respectively. (Actually, you could make an argument that Angel's second theme iswealth but I'm not sure I want to go there. Worth considering that wealth might be a power, like anyICONS ability over 6.)

Again, we roll 2d6 for the bell curve:

Roll	Width of theme
2-6	One main expression
7-10	Two main expressions
11-12	Three main expressions

If you have multiple themes, the additional ones only get one main expression. (That's okay: you can stunt on any of these themes.) You get to pick which one might have multiple expressions, if any. You can run all of those main expressions at once. So Iceman, who has three main expressions, can have the armour, the movement, and the attack.

You pick (or roll, on the nonexistent table) your themes. Once you have themes, you can pick or roll main expressions. Those are the powers you normally use, but you can stunt others.

"Great," you say. "But what is the point?"

The point is that it's free to swap expressions or powers within your main theme. (In systems with a finer grain, such as Mutants & Masterminds, you might say that swapping within your theme takes a bit of time, maybe your movement action, but doesn't cost hero points.) To keep extra expressions up simultaneously costs a competency die or a determination point. To stunt in some other theme costs a competency die or a determination point. It costs two dice or points to bring a power into your theme, and you have to have a justification.

By defining the themes, we get to ones where it's difficult to use a power (it's from a different theme according to the homebrew rules we've just put down).  In fact, you can have character generation being constructing your theme, or players can add to the theme with experience. (That's certainly the only way to add powers or expressions to a secondary theme.)

Themes would include a particular animal or being animalistic; darkness; force; light; air; earth; water; fire; plants; movement; telekinesis; mental; decay or corruption; magic; strength; time; body alteration; and so on. A theme has one or more obvious main powers and the set of things that often go with it. A theme has, oh, five to ten powers in it--we're looking for comic book cliches here. Some of them will be contradictory...just don't take them both.

For instance:

Theme	Expressions (powers)
Air	Flight or Gliding, control winds, shielding winds, alternate form (air), gentle fall, shielding
Animal theme	Depends on the animal...Power mimicry specific to animals, Flight, Swimming, Burrowing, Leaping, Claws/fangs, Strength/toughness, Growth/Shrinking, Super-senses (smell, taste, hearing, eagle eyesight, 360 degree vision, sonar, infrared vision, electroception)
Body alteration	Growing, Shrinking, Phasing or Intangibility, Air walking, Density Increase, Duplication, Regeneration, Enhanced Senses, Stretching or Malleability
Mental	Mind reading, Mental link, Mind control, Mental blast, Mind find, Possession, Telekinesis, Precognition
Phasing	Intangibility, Air walking, Enhanced senses, attack by phasing through things, disable electronics
Strength	Strength, Invulnerability, Leaping, Flight, Superbreath, Alternate form that gives strength, Density Increase, Immobility

A given power can show up in more than one theme. There are multiple ways of doing an energy blast: that was the whole point of going to effect-based powers. Here I'm trying to graft a cause back on to those.

Themes might possibly be the character types in the Mutants & Masterminds random character creation system. In Champions terms, everyone gets an elemental control and the ability to stunt within it for free.

This is totally untested, but I think it might work.

Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes (a bunch of links)

A while ago, I did a bunch of ICONS versions of some of the heroes and villains from the first season ofAvengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. While all those posts are still there (really), I thought it would be good to gather the links together in one place. These are links to Google docs.

I was intending to put the right disclaimers on them and put them on the ICONS wiki ... I think I did some of them ... but heck. That takes a while, and I'm not so sanguine about the future of g+ as I was back then.

I'm just copying and pasting links here. I haven't gone back and looked at the posts or the files, so it's possible that I'll include something that I hadn't finished or that hadn't been fixed. Do let me know.

So. A:EMH writeups in alphabetical order.

• Abomination: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1dCcOQG1qk8Qcsm1kOb2kHRxpRrvgIYmdvAG7NBj8HKc
• Absorbing Man: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Ae54TFQDLLGDdpDydPh4xBs1o8CsPraeW2gj0hqnoXE
• Baron Strucker: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1um-_ltlY5YQEmiksn-MWJkC_fIGExEXs_0V33Rc3WF4
  Baron Zemo: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Ln5qM41lo2Q3kq914gEjBHCaLjWG3P3a02oxRr29jcc
• Black Panther: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1LCKYFgxSws2b8QuFv3c6SmsnenNiddN4Hbknqnws86I
• Captain America: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1onWSgzgROpjAVJZELSSD3YEWUE72CHa0k02wJyRYKhY
• Chemistro: https://drive.google.com/open?id=12eQ3yDQHWsQVwZiKZ9EPcdp_ue17wQ-YgeBUoanX9Jw
• Crimson Dynamo: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1bbYjoeXmOowFUjM0mnR_uy7hDhIsx8Phn3hDwPN_g5Q
• The Enchantress: https://drive.google.com/open?id=11i3_ZWmGWPlJrMHjLOldZci2ZLwBZ6zkgsTNsadKNX4
• The Executioner: https://drive.google.com/open?id=11ygg8ud1jrr96eq3RzmqWNRPqGJK0bNcCEeFrkrphwM
• Grey Gargoyle: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Vs_ZKlTSsQxYr919JPA8hR7FaLh3Eza3xw9ljBcrsic 
• Griffin: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1NpVvYMGK3QaEyEYyZOEuEpfaEGogyFd3MXB66nqxmy8
• Hawkeye: https://drive.google.com/open?id=13WMpM1oMPBhZUHi7__QQ2mMqTRsm5jiYzPzdJQS2PRE
• Hulk:  https://drive.google.com/open?id=19-i9sZjgOIMhUsXZG4KlkZZoNYRSlQEk5yLyMp9l-E4
• Iron Man: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1iVzhjOTSb8Th9k95ay59KUreos2SKXh_HYgRNhNWE-c
• Living Laser: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1-hR_bm5xKDuSZDIqkXNKxw4eaBiiypY4MwZQBbVNKWk
• Mandrill: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1FS5JKrNPCDO08p6kVLZ6sHQOl6aegsTGc897Q7A0KZA
• Spider-Man: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1L8X8wodmGk4LPNMUYoqLzpsd3tIY9dDA91J9d4fzeJc
• Thor: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1pAq1zLlFlEhHONXtL7UXI_JzCnmW7f-qZZ5Biw6R7Hs
• Ultron-5: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1mHeUL5A9kIIFh-ZchQr08iy7kC1c2Cjh-CpiI5JGFCI
• Wasp: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1T7Tc_EWh0mVjL1HAPMUAsNh_fscivKTDJCoViDRcW1I
• Whirlwind: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1BIv4kpVlj4s8NQ1FJfkneyc8UIlvfE2VSmjZUjwz9B8
• Wonder Man: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1KxhzINdI9M05yVjlKMVODw6J5lnTel8_qmUclceG1uc

The Ultimate Spider-Man!

SYSTEM: ICONS

I got the collection Spider-Men out of the library, and loved it. So I thought I'd take a whack at Miles Morales.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/17l6ukKO4-tAfThCY-L-DNhSfX2i7XAuqPkHvIizjl4k/edit?usp=sharing

Of Mandrill and Woman...well, women

This guy is certainly up there in my list of favourite losers. (There's a nice sequence in New Avengerscomic where he possesses Spider-Woman to attack Spider-Man. That comes after one of my favourite character bits where Spider-Man explains why he won't kill Norman Osborn.)

Anyway...the Mandrill.

I can't immediately see how he would fit into the Jobbers of Evil (I think he'd be at cross-purposes to them), but you know he's gotta be involved....

The Min-Maximoff Thing

So I threw together generic Maximoff twins. They are not representative of any comic, movie, or TV show, but they're a reasonable basis for you to build any particular Quicksilver or Scarlet Witch.

And yes, I saw Avengers: Age of Ultron tonight.

Earth's Mightiest Heroes Villains: The Masters of Evil

SYSTEM: ICONS

Here are all the Masters of Evil from Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, gathered in one place.

• Baron Zemo
• The Enchantress
• The Executioner
• Abomination
• Wonder Man
• Whirlwind
• Crimson Dynamo
• Chemistro
• Living Laser
• The Grey Gargoyle

Thinking about them as a group, the best they have going for them is numbers. Otherwise, they're kind of heavy on the hitting.

Ranged attacks--well, many of them have a ranged attack.

* Zemo has his blaster.
* Chemistro's ill-defined power is useful only at range.
* Living Laser is only useful at a range.
* Whirlwind and The Executioner can do things at range, but they prefer to be in there hitting.
* The Crimson Dynamo can, but tactically he seems like a guy who clears out the mooks and then tries to hit things.

Most of them are useful in hand to hand combat: the Abomination soaks up damage, the Crimson Dynamo soaks up damage, the Executioner soaks up damage...

And the presence of Iron Man on the team drives a quarter of them to insane acts.

Despite their reputation, they're only okay against the Avengers if Zemo has a plan. Think about them carefully if your heroes are significantly different from the Avengers.

Heroes who aren't affected by magic or who  have a lot of powerful ranged attacks are going to yawn, pick them off, and ask when it will be tea-time. I suspect you could take them apart with the proper mix of characters just because those characters hit the weaknesses of the Masters of Evil. (Hmmm...maybe it's time to haul out the Mythic GME and try just that.)

Earth's Mightiest Heroes Villains: The Griffin

SYSTEM: ICONS

It turns out that I have a weakness for loser villains. I like them, and I think about ways to make them effective...or just funny.

In that spirit, here's the Griffin, a set of characteristics that never seem to amount to anything. Oh, the individual fight might be tough but he makes no plans and is obviously a pawn for others. Even Nick Fury uses him this way.

Griffin

EXTERIOR PARK NIGHT.

CLOSEUP of someone laying down a Slim Jim, then stepping away.

SHOT OF DARKNESS and a SNUFFLING SOUND. 

CUT TO the place where the Slim Jim was. It's gone.

PULL BACK to reveal CARR with a sack by his side, methodically laying down Slim Jims as he backs away.

CARR

 Good boy. That's a good boy.

SERIES OF CUTS showing CARR backing home, slowly, laying down Slim Jims all the way.

TITLE CARD: The Jobbers of Evil.

CUT TO INT LIVING ROOM. DUVAL and PARKS are on the couch.

DUVAL

What a day. First, I go to case a bank in Atlantic City, and it gets robbed while I'm there. Squirrel Girl got them. Amateurs. I mean, Squirrel Girl.

PARKS

Drink?

DUVAL

Merci. Then I went to buy some liquor--because of the stress--and discovered that in the confusion someone had lifted my credit card, the one I paid extra for so it wouldn't be questioned.

PARKS

The gold one.

DUVAL

So I had to steal the liquor. Fortunately I was in the city. Won't be traced back here.

PARKS

(Watches DUVAL drink)

I had a rough day too. I had this craving for a s'more. Like you cannot believe. But when you're made of light, you can't.

DUVAL

A s'more?

PARKS

Graham wafer, marshmallow, chocolate. Oh my god. Heaven. Better than sex.

DUVAL

Watch your mouth.

CARR enters and goes to the FRIDGE. He starts loading his sack with meat.

CARR

Hey, guys.  Oh, hey, Paul, I borrowed that credit card of yours. I needed some Slim Jims.

DUVAL

That's where it went. Slim Jims? They're like a Euro a pack.

CARR

I needed six hundred. My credit card wouldn't cover it.

CUT TO INTERIOR THE PARKING GARAGE

DUVAL

Why is the Griffin in our parking garage?

CARR

I have a plan.

COMMERCIAL BREAK

INTERIOR LIVING ROOM

PARKS

Iron Man first, then Hawkeye.

CARR

Think of Hawkey as a warm-up.

DUVAL

People are going to find the Griffin, and we'll be found. You know what that means.

PARKS

(darkly)

Squirrel Girl.

CARR

See, I was thinking you could petrify him. We could store him that way. We have an empty storage space.

DUVAL

I'm not going down every hour to stone him again. What if I'm late?

(beat)

Besides, the storage area is full.

CARR

Full? We don't have anything--

PARKS

This is why you disappear every hour. You're not smoking at all.

DUVAL

Linda. She likes it. Being stoned, I mean.

CARR

That's just one person. We could still--

DUVAL

Well, she called two friends, and they called...

CARR

How many are there?

PARKS

Wait...you're storing them there?

DUVAL

I make a little cash from renting it. It's off the books.

CARR and PARKS look at him.

Just at night. It's cheaper than an apartment.

(beat)

And some of them pay me with favours.

CARR

How many? Total I mean, not favours.

DUVAL pulls out a small notebook, pages through it. 

DUVAL

Seventeen...no, sixteen, because Miranda went back to her mother.

CARR

Paul, we've got the Griffin in our parking garage. I figured you'd be able to store him. You can't if the storage room is full.

DUVAL

Well, that's why it was a bad idea for you to lure the Griffin.

CARR

Okay. We've got three doctorates between us, we can figure this out.

PARKS

What about that polymer you invented that makes the change permanent?

DUVAL

Kills them. And I like Linda. And Sophie. And, mon Dieu, Jennifer. How could I forget Jennifer?

CARR

I'm a little uncomfortable with mass murder anyway.

PARKS

Liberal.

CARR

Trying being a black man with an academic degree and a criminal record.

PARKS

Trying being a light beam.

CARR

Listen, Sunshine...

DUVAL

Gentlemen... Mes amis. We have a problem here.

PARKS

Right. Can we train the Griffin? Calvin got him to eat the Slim Jims.

CARR

You've never had a dog. We can't train him in one night.

DUVAL

I have an idea.

CUT TO INT PARKING GARAGE ELEVATOR

PARKS

I refuse.

CARR

It does make sense.

PARKS

I will not be a laser pointer to lure him away. I have my dignity.

DUVAL

Look, we have the Griffin during the day and the women at night. Until we figure out what to do with him.

CARR

I wonder if Purina makes a chow for him?

(The others are looking at him.)

He can hunt for his own food at night.

PARKS

I can't eat. I can't drink. I refuse to become a laser pointer.

CARR

(Inspired)

We'll watch Voyager with you.

PARKS

Well....

DUVAL

Seven of Nine is very hot.

PARK

Who cares? The holodeck. Hard light...so very, very hard...

CARR

(He can't believe he's saying this.)

Yes. The holodeck is very...hot.

PARKS

Every episode with the holodeck?

(thinks)

I'll do it.

TITLE CARD: The Jobbers of Evil.

Earth's Mightiest Heroes Villains: Ultron-5

SYSTEM: ICONS 

Well, in honour of the movie (which I haven't seen yet), here's the earliest villainous version of Ultron fromAvengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes.

In play, he can stunt like crazy, earning the heroes Determination points that they will need later. The qualities ensure that he will always close off whatever they used to defeat him last time, but there will always be something the heroes can use.

In fact, thinking about it, although you're always using the "Oedipus mechs" quality, each time you'd probably want to re-word it to present some aspect (so to speak) of the Quality that they can use this time. I never thought of it before, but that's probably a good way to use the whole business of learning qualities. Don't tell them the exact wording of the quality, because you might want to use the villain again. (Loser villains like the Griffin have straightforward qualities you don't bother to reword; that's why the heroes go, "Oh, it's the Mandrill or the Griffin again.")

Anyway. I present the hideously expensive world-shaking unlimited Ultron:

Ultron

Earth's Mightiest Heroes Villains: Baron Zemo

SYSTEM: ICONS

Ah, the last of the cartoon's Masters of Evil. I have to admit that I frequently mixed up the names of the Barons Strucker and Zemo. Even though they have quite different looks, mechanically they're kind of similar.

I'd have to play him to know exactly how Zemo differs from Strucker. I upped his physical stats a smidge from Strucker's to make him closer to Captain America, but there's not a lot there that's different. The sword is more powerful because, hey, it's a glowing energy thing.

I know the show mixed bits of the father and son (from the comics) but since I wasn't reading about them, I don't know much more than that.

Baron Zemo

I wonder if making both Hydra leaders Barons wasn't supposed to be a commentary on nobility and Nazism.

I also wonder if the Masters weren't supposed to hit most of the Avengers as foes. Iron Man has both Living Laser and Grey Gargoyle and Crimson Dynamo, Thor has Enchantress and Executioner, Captain America has Zemo, Wasp has Whirlwind, Hulk the Abomination, and Hawkeye gets Chemistro. If they enrolled Man-Ape, they might well have had everyone.

Tactically, they don't seem varied enough to me, but you haul them out when Zemo has an idea.

Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes (so far)

SYSTEM: ICONS

Below are all of the Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes conversions that I've done so far. Villains will get a separate post when there are more of them.

I haven't done all of the Avengers...merely the ones who piqued my interest. And I'm basing these for the most part on the cartoon series, usually the first season (because that's the one I've seen the most).

• Black Panther As mentioned elsewhere, I'm not happy with this build. The suit has "absorbing" powers used for invisibility/concealment and when he's fighting Radioactive Man, but I only have invisibility there. Still, perhaps he stunted the Life Support power for that episode.
• Captain America
• Hawkeye
• Hulk
• Iron Man
• Thor
• Wasp

Ant-Man I've thought about; probably he'd have Shrinking 8 and Growth 8 with a mutually-exclusive limit, and ant control. Ms. Marvel I'm not sure; I haven't really rewatched her stuff that much.

Allies...

• Spider-Man

Probably the Thing, Wolverine, Iron Fist, and Luke Cage. When I get to the New Avengers episode, I might do them. The rest of the Fantastic Four...they show up on occasion.  There are nice versions of several of them already out there, so I'm not sure that my voice needs to be added to the mix. And instead of the various Guardians of the Galaxy, Fainting Goat Press has a set of supers who look just like them, and are as good as anything I could do.

I acknowledge and respect the intellectual property rights of Marvel. The characters and images belong to them.

Earth's Mightiest Heroes Villains: Chemistro

 This guy, I have no idea what he's doing on the Masters of Evil. Aside from fight Hawkeye and prove that the Enchantress is a ruthless cookie, I don't see a purpose. 

Okay, maybe that's the purpose. 

At least in the comics he has noble goals, with lousy execution. (Though I have to wonder what a car company is going to do with a transmutation drvice...at least, with cars.) In the cartoon, he's cannon fodder.

But cannon fodder with fashion sense.  (Well, relative to other super villains.)

https://docs.google.com/document/d/12eQ3yDQHWsQVwZiKZ9EPcdp_ue17wQ-YgeBUoanX9Jw/edit?usp=docslist_api

Earth's Mightiest Heroes Villains: The Grey Gargoyle

SYSTEM: ICONS 

Despite (or perhaps) how scanty the information in the show is, I find that I like this guy.

The Grey Gargoyle

I'd love to see him put into a Suicide Squad-like setting, because there are glimpses of a finicky, snarky character there. Throw Chemistro and Living Laser in, call them the Jobbers of Evil, and give them an apartment in New Jersey.  Wackiness ensues.

If it were a commercial for a TV show:

INTERIOR BEDROOM.

 DUVAL and WOMAN in bed; both are obviously nude but DUVAL wears glove on right hand

WOMAN

Let's talk.

DUVAL

This is an American obsession, isn't it?

WOMAN

Talking?

DUVAL

Yes. We just-- Don't you know that men always want to go to sleep now?

WOMAN

(pouts)

For me.

(pause. Duval gets ready to go to sleep)

Why do you always wear that glove?

DUVAL

Reminds me not to get stoned.

WOMAN

Kinky. I love getting stoned.

CUT TO

KITCHEN OR HALL; We see WOMAN as statue in bedroom; DUVAL is in stone form.

DUVAL

(to CARR)

She asked for it.

TITLE CARD: The Jobbers of Evil

CUT TO POKER NIGHT, CARR, DUVAL, and PARKS around a table

VO

Can three supervillains share an apartment...

CARR

I'm tired of planning for Iron Man. Three weeks now. Let's do Hawkeye.

VO

...without driving each other crazy?

PARKS

(laying down cards)

Fizzbin!

 CUT TO HALL

LANDLORD

(at closed door)

Real money this time! That gold stuff changed back!

CUT TO INTERIOR, EVERYONE IN COSTUME

LANDLORD as statue propped in corner

 

CARR

Time to go to work.

VO

This network.

CUT TO LIVING ROOM. ALL THREE WATCHING TV. 

Pizza on table, PIZZA GUY as statue propped in corner

CARR

 Star Trek? Again?

DUVAL
(shrugs)

I can petrify you for the duration of the show.

CARR

Voyager?

(thinks)

 Yeah, hit me.

VO

This fall.

CUT TO LIVING ROOM. DUVAL TO THE OTHER TWO

DUVAL

 Why is the Griffin in our parking garage?

VO

The Jobbers of Evil
 

Earth's Mightiest Heroes Villains: The Enchantress

SYSTEM: ICONS

And  here's an attempt at Amora. Even though Amora gets a relatively lot of screen time (for a villain), I found it quite difficult to boil her down to three qualities. Still, I gave it a shot.

She might be considered under-powered for all that she's the second-best in the Nine Realms, but I stuck to my guns and gave her only an 8 in Magic, and a 7 against Asgardians. Given how powerful magic can be in a magic-rich environment, that scales reasonably well. The Norn Queen would have an 8 or maybe a 9 in magic. Surtur...probably a 10, or GM's dispensation to do whatever the hell he wanted.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/11i3_ZWmGWPlJrMHjLOldZci2ZLwBZ6zkgsTNsadKNX4/edit?usp=sharing

Earth's Mightiest Heroes Villains: The Executioner

SYSTEM: ICONS

Here's a stab at the Executioner (ahem). He's interesting in that, although he's clearly a Strong Fighting Guy, half the stuff he does with the axe is never seen again. So I declared them stunts.

Clearly he's a foe who exists to (a) give the heroes a hard time and (b) generate Determination Points for them.

(Which is okay; there ought to be someone like that.)

https://docs.google.com/document/d/11ygg8ud1jrr96eq3RzmqWNRPqGJK0bNcCEeFrkrphwM/edit?usp=sharing

Ambushed by (the Masters of) Evil!

SYSTEM: ICONS 

So I took some of my Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes builds out for a spin. As usual, I might well have gotten something wrong, and I think I had the Coordination on Hulk and Abomination too high...but other than that, it went fairly well.

Page 1

Hawkeye, Wasp, and Hulk are out for pizza to discuss the latest thing Hank has done. They order their usual (personal pizzas for Hawkeye and Wasp, ten pizzas for Hulk) and are deep in conversation when Abomination walks out with the pizzas.  He shoves them in Hulk’s face, along with a side helping of fist. The others appear during this panel.

Abomination hits, because he rolled a 6. Hulk was surprised, so the difficulty is 0, and he might stun the Hulk. That’s Strength versus Strength; Abomination gets 9+6 (15) versus Hulk’s 10+6. No stun. I wish my dice rolled like this during a game…

Living Laser and Whirlwind appear, causing much collateral damage that Tony will have to pay for. Living Laser is in energy form in order to travel fast.

Page 2

Roll initiative. Combat order is going to be Abomination, Wasp, Hulk, Hawkeye, Laser, and then Whirlwind.

Abomination follows by grabbing the table and whacking the Hulk with it. He shreds the table, but his ulterior motive was to clear some space for fighting.

Abomination rolls 2, but his Prowess is 6 and his Martial Arts are on Prowess, to be a 9. Hulk rolls a 2 so this hits, but there’s no slam or stun, just damage 9. Hulk is down by 2 stamina now. The regeneration will kick in.

Wasp shrinks and hits the Abomination with her stings. Even if she gets both shots, it’s not going to affect him, so he ignores her.

Hulk roars (of course) and tries to smash Abomination. 

Hulk rolls a 4, Abomination rolls a 2, so Hulk hits but it’s not a great hit. He deals out 10 damage, but there’s no slam or stun.

Hawkeye whips out his bow. As the one with the most common sense, he sees that the other two can be trouble, and should be eliminated, so he acrobatically leaps to wherever his friends won’t be affected by the blast and fires a burst arrow, hoping that Parks isn’t in light form.

Parks is insubstantial, so we’ll ignore him until he’s solid. Whirlwind is not, so the two burst shots hit him and combine, for damage 7. They hit with a massive success and a major success, so let’s roll stun and slam. Hawkeye gets 11 for the stun; Whirlwind gets 5. Hawkeye gets 9 for the slam, Whirlwind gets 10.  It’s a massive success for the stun, so Whirlwind drops unconscious. One down, two to go.

Living Laser is not a guy with finesse, so he decides to unleash his shooting damage on Hawkeye. Hawkeye’s tough to hit, though.

Living Laser rolls a 6, Hawkeye a 5, so it’s 11 to 11…except Hawkeye’s also being acrobatic. That makes it a 12. The shot just misses him. 

The shot misses, and Hawkeye quips, “I can’t believe Iron Man said you were trouble. You can’t hit the broad side of a—“ And he stops as he faces Crimson Dynamo, who opens fire.

Crimson Dynamo rolls a 2, Hawkeye’s still acrobatic as all get out and rolls a 5, so it’s 6 versus 12. Total miss. Hawkeye gets a Determination Point because I had to bring in Crimson Dynamo.

Page 3

Abomination follows up with another shot to the Hulk, trying to slam him outdoors and fight there.

Abomination rolls a 6 for 13, Hulk rolls a 4 for 10. That’s a major success…will there be a slam? No; it’s 13 to 13.  No effect, but Hulk takes 1 stamina. 

Wasp is going to fire at the Abomination’s eyes to distract the Abomination.

This is a maneuver (Coordination versus Coordination, I think) that the Hulk can use. She uses her Aerial Combat specialty and gets +3 for being shrunk; and rolls a 2, he rolls a 1, so it’s a major success: she creates one advantage, and she activates it. Hulk can use it now.

Hulk takes advantage of the momentary distraction and rushes the Abomination, surging out of his position to charge into the Abomination.  Hulk uses the advantage to get +2 to his effort. He rolls a 6 and Abomination rolls a 2, and +1 damage for the rush…so that’s 3 stamina, and a Prowess vs. Prowess roll for the rush. He rolls a 6, Abomination rolls a 6; he doesn’t do anything successful on the Strength vs. Strength roll that follows it.

Hawkeye grabs an arrow and decides to try to shoot through the faceplate, hoping that he’ll be able to knock out Anton once the plate is gone. It’s a called shot, so +2 to the difficulty. He rolls a 1, Crimson Dynamo rolls a 5, so it’s 10 versus 9…a moderate success. He does half damage with the arrow (3) against resistance to damage 4. The arrow bounces off harmlessly. “Uh, guys? I know you’re busy with the other big green thing…but I’ve got a big red thing here.”

Living Laser has picked a target: Hawkeye. He fires again at the acrobatic archer. The Living Laser rolls a 2, Hawkeye rolls a 4 for 7 vs 11. The Living Laser's shot missed, but gave Hawkeye an idea.

Crimson Dynamo says, “You are practice for the day I destroy Tony Stark!” and opens fire on Hawkeye.

Crimson Dynamo rolls a 2, Hawkeye rolls a 1, so its 7 versus 8. Once again, the Dynamo misses, but the diner looks quite ruined by this point. 

Abomination has one target: the Hulk. And he’s hitting him repeatedly. He’s going to stunt Fast Attack so he can combine the attacks. Both attacks succeed, but only marginally so they do no damage that gets through the Hulk’s resistance.

Wasp knows she can’t hurt anyone here: Parks is insubstantial and the other two are tough. But maybe she can overload the Crimson Dynamo’s senses by shooting directly at the antenna array…

Called shot, and she’s going to try to make it with Fast Attack, combining the attacks so they do extra damage. She’s also going to spend a determination point to activate her own Founding Avenger quality to push the damage. If she hits once, that’s 5 damage, and his resistance provides only 4 against a called shot; if she hits twice, that’s 6 damage. She rolls 2 and a 5, plus her 3 for being shrunk, plus her 1 for Aerial combat…that’s an effort of 11 and 14. Crimson Dynamo rolls a 1 and a 3, for opposing values of 5 and 7. In both cases, a massive success, so he takes 2 stamina and gets the “All Shots Are Called Shots” quality, which is active. No one needs to spend a point to activate it; it just is.

Her stinger blasts land true, and the Crimson Dynamo starts moving more slowly, less able to weave and duck.

Hulk has a hate-on for the Abomination, so he tries a second time to hit.

He rolls a 4, Abomination rolls a 1, and Abomination’s specialties are all on attack, so it’s 10 to 7, or a major success. He does his full damage, but he also spends a determination point to activate his “Hulk is the strongest one there is” quality and increase the effort on his Slam. He rolls a 2, so it’s 14 versus Abomination’s 12.

The Hulk’s mighty blow from above knocks the Abomination prone.

Hawkeye decides he’s going to maneuver so that when Living Laser fires at him, the blast will hit the Crimson Dynamo. 

This sounds like a Coordination+Athletics (7) versus Intellect (5) test. Both parties roll a 4, so it succeeds. The Living Laser’s attack was good enough to hit the Crimson Dynamo but not Hawkeye, so Crimson Dynamo takes the damage, 4 more stamina.

“I’m sorry,” says Hawkeye, “you can hit the broad side of a barn. Crimson Dynamo is Russian for barn, right?”

Crimson Dynamo can’t send a request to Living Laser…his comms are shorted out. So he decides to rip up a section of counter to use as a burst attack against Hawkeye. He rips out the counter and bats at the bowman.

Crimson Dynamo rolls a 4, Hawkeye rolls a 1, for 9 vs. 6, or a Major success. The Slam test is 11 versus 8. Hawkeye goes from full stamina to 2 in one shot.

The chunk of counter hits the tumbling archer and knocks him to the ground…and knocks him almost unconscious.

Page 4

Abomination smiles. “They taught us how to fight from the ground.” He starts by grabbing the Hulk.

He rolls 3 for 7+3 versus the Hulk’s 1, or 10 vs 7. The Hulk is hampered by the move, and is at -2 while held.

Wasp sees the waitress who was hiding under the now-absent counter and flies over to get her to safety. “Run! I’ll cover your exit!” She interposes herself between the waitress and, well, everyone else.

Wasp gets a determination point for that.

Hulk struggles mightily against the Abomination’s grip.

It’s wrestling, Strength versus Strength to try to escape. They each roll a 5, so no effect.

The Living Laser realizes that he can use the waitress instead of hitting the Wasp directly. So he’s going to fly around her very quickly (he’s light, after all), turn solid, and threaten the waitress.

His prowess is only 4, but it’s a surprise to the waitress, so she’s difficulty 0 to catch. He rolls a 4, she’s difficulty 0…massive success.

“All we want is all of you. Come quietly or she gets a laser lobotomy. Hulk can’t get here in time to save her. I am, after all,  as fast as light.”

Wasp says, “Hulk…I think we have to…”

What next?

So not bad. Wasp turns out to be more difficult to hit than I thought. Having to roll again and again for Slam or Stun is a bit of a pain, and I'd like to see a mechanism for deliberately slamming things...but overall, very pleased.