The Black Campbell

So this week marked the return of Marvel Heroic RPG to the gaming table. It’s been a couple of months since we did the test play, and we found that the game ran smoothly despite a few “what was that rule again” moments on my part.

The campaign is still a homebrew universe, set primarily in Liberty City, Delaware — a fictional city founded by the grandfather of the current, and who was the original, Paragon after he bested a human nuclear bomb the Nazis had sent to destroy Washington in 1945. There’s a big helping of The Incredibles and The Venture Brothers, meets Wild Cards and various comic books I liked back when I collected comics.

The game opened with an origin story flashback sequence for one of the new characters, El Gato — a former barrio hood from Los Angeles that was turned into a cat by strange chemicals at a “jump” factory run by rival white gangs. Jump is a main feature of the adventure — it is a drug, originally a military experiment to create supers (or metahumans, as they are officially called) during WWII, to counter a similar Nazi program. Jump gives normals powers at between a d6 and d8 level (what we call Class C powers) for between 30 minutes to 12 hours, depending on the person’s biochemistry. Their genetic code, biochemistry, and it is thought, their psychological makeup lead to what kind of powers they get, how powerful they are (Class B: d8-d10, Class A d12), and it can occasionally lead to permanent powers (For “jumpers”, I roll randomly unless I need something for the story.) The drug also has a nasty effect on the nervous system of the user and burns your brain pretty quickly. It’s highly addictive psychologically; having super powers is cool.

The game started with El Gato landing in Liberty City for an SMA (Superhuman Martial Arts League) fight. He usually does tandem fights, as he is small (3’6″) and not overly strong…but he’s hard to hit and has a mouth that will piss anyone off. He’s the distraction for his teammate. He gets to the venue, the Indian Run Casino on the river and moments later the place is attacked by three jumpers — one a sonic blaster, two with super-strength and durability, of which one can set off earthquakes by punching or stomping on the ground. The other characters just happen to be in the area: Paragon is flying home from trying to score a licensing deal, and the head of a “capes and masks” unit of the police is nearby getting himself a YooHoo and a Bust-a-Nut bar.

The fight went well and the players were able to use each other’s strengths to quickly put down one of the villains. The cops were badly outmatched by the bad guys, but Paragon and El Gato evened the scales. For the mostly normal cops, they have to use their wits (since they didn’t have their power armor handy) and instead of trying to inflict stress, they used their shotguns with “goop” rounds and soporific gas grenades to hit the bad guys with complications to slow them down.

One of the bad guys is run out of the casino by a security guard who has a power…one that earned him the metahuman registry alias of Stinkbug. You can guess his power. They eventually capture the bad guys, take them to the SCU (Special Crimes Unit — the official title of the “capes and masks” squad) for interrogation, where they learn the jump is coming from a small group of hoods out of Atlantic City currently testing their product so they can put together a jumped-up army to go against Grendel (the Matt Wagner Hunter Rose version) who is kicking their crime family’s ass right now.

The cops get sidetracked a few hours later for a capes and masks call that includes a HAZMAT team order. Stinkbug, having blasted the lobby of the casino with putrification that changed the color of the carpets, paint, (as well as Paragon’s uniform), and left a smell they are hard pressed to get out, was fired from his job. Having been called Stinkbug in the press, despite giving his real name and having attempted to change his alias in the registry, has committed suicide. The note mentions his inability to keep a job, get a girl, or lose the horrible nickname his dad gave him. This will be a running theme: superpowers don’t always improve your life. They also don’t make you competent, as would seem in normal comic books — criminals are still usually stupid or lazy; heroes are not always good guys. Or competent.

El Gato manages to track down the dealer for the jump, questions him, and finds out he’s working for their prime jump manufacturer, Bernie Corso. They get the dealer back to SCU and find out from him where the factory is.

Next time: big fight at the factory.

I decided to take a shot at building one of my favorite characters from the Marvelverse…I don’t know why this character appeals so much — maybe it’s the visual, maybe it was Longshot was just so out there it caught my imagination…here she is:

SPIRAL (Ricochet Rita)

Affiliations: Solo d10, Buddy d6, Team d8

Distinctions: Lovelorn, On Her Own Side, Slave Hunter

POWER SETS:

Genetically-Altered Cybernetic Alien

Superhuman Reflexes d10   Superhuman Psychic Resistance d10   Superhuman Durability d10   Enhanced Strength d8   Enhanced Stamina d8   Enhanced Speed/Jump d8

SFX, Multiple Arms: Add d6 and keep an extra effect die per extra opponent; SFX, Psychic Domination: On successful reaction to psychic stress, inflicts effect die on attacker with same complication, etc.; +1PP to for +1 step to effect; LIMIT, Exhausted: 1PP when GACA power is shutdown; recover with opportunity or in transition scene.

Extradimensional Sorceress

Sorcery Mistress d10   Energy Resistance d10   Energy Blast d10   Teleport d10   Invisibility d10   Weapon (Swords) d6

 SFX, Afflict: Can add or subtract power level to a target equal to the number of shifts over the reaction to the spell; SFX, Counterattack: Reaction to energy attacks allows her to inflict stress equal to her reaction effect die; SFX, Life-force Drain: 1PP and Sorcery attack to target causes Physical stress to target and heals all stress and trauma; LIMIT, Astral Silhouette: Invisibility shutdown against astral or mystic-based senses; LIMIT: Energy blast shutdown against living creatures; only effect on inanimate objects or mystic/energy “objects”; LIMIT, Gotta Dance!: If Spiral cannot dance her spells, 1PP and shutdown any Sorceress power created assets or complications. If she fails a resistance reaction to distraction or suffers stress, 1PP and the power and its assets and complications.

Specialties: Acrobatics Mistress d10, Combat Mistress d10, Cosmic Expert d8, Mystic Mistress d10, Tech Mistress d10

Assets: Can call on slave hunters from the Mojoverse (Gang of 3d8) with a PP, has access to The Body Shop — 3d8 genetic and cybernetic body modification medics, or call on members of Freedom Force, depending on the period she is being played.

History:

Rita was a successful stuntwoman nicknamed Ricochet Rita when she encountered the being known as Longshot, a genetically engineered slave of another dimension ruled by the monstrous Mojo and leader of a rebellion there. Rita helped Longshot, falling in love with him in the process. At some point, Rita was abducted by Mojo’s agents and abducted to his universe. There, she became, Spiral a slave-hunter for the Spineless Ones and the the property of Mojo. To ensure Spiral’s hatred of other humanoids, Mojo had Spiral designed with six arms rather than only two and gifted her with the ability to wield magic.

Mojo sent Spiral and various rebel hunters to recapture Longshot, who at the time was rendered amnesiac from a previous capture. They followed Longshot through an interdimensional portal to Earth, although they were ultimately unsuccessful.

It is unknown if Spiral was trapped on Earth or elected to stay. Spiral enlisted in Freedom Force, the United States government’s team of superhuman agents, as a means of learning more about Earth, and served with them on most of their adventures.

Later, Mojo joined Spiral on Earth, intending to prevent Longshot from returning to their native world and stirring up the slaves. Mojo then decided to take over Earth himself, but was defeated by Longshot. Spiral led Mojo back to their home-world. At some point, Spiral returned to Earth and to Freedom Force.

While on Earth, Spiral also created a guise as “pro-priestess” of The Body Shoppe, a place where genetics and technology are used to alter people in the same way that Spiral herself was altered, she is responsible for the transformation of the Japanese warrior Lady Deathstrike into a cyborg, as well as, presumably, many of the cyborg Reavers. Later, Spiral lured the mutant Rachel Summers, the X-Man once known as Phoenix, to capture and slavery in Mojo’s universe. Later still, Spiral and Mojo temporarily captured many of the X-Men’s proteges, the New Mutants, the hero Captain Britain, and his sister Betsy Braddock, later known as Psylocke. Spiral was involved in Braddock’s cybernetic implants in place of her eyes.

Spiral eventually left Freedom Force after a clash with the X-Men in Dallas, Texas, where the X-Men seemingly died in battle with the trickster-god, the Adversary. She presumably returned to the Mojo’s universe, where later, the X-Men Longshot and Dazzler led a rebellion against Mojo. For reasons of her own, she teleported the X-Men to the universe to aid the rebellion. After Mojo was seemingly killed by Longshot, Spiral teleported away.

Later, Mojo returned with Spiral at his side to capture the hero Shatterstar. Shatterstar was mortally wounded by Mojo by being transformed into a digitized state. Spiral saved his life, however, by transporting him and his ally Longshot to the bedside of a comatose youth named Benjamin Russell, who was then physically linked Shatterstar. In that act of heroism, Spiral revealed to have some very deep feelings for Shatterstar and Benjamin Russell, but nevertheless teleported away, apparently back to the Mojo’s universe.

Spiral later appeared during the hero team Excalibur’s encounter with the mystic Dragons Of The Crimson Dawn. Spiral was somehow mystically linked to the Dragons, wearing the same Crimson Dawn-tattoo that Psylocke possessed. After the Dragon’s defeat, Spiral escaped to an unknown location.