ERRATA FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS MUTANTS & MASTERMINDS™ ROLEPLAYING GAME PAGE 3 F.004.00 If you find Protection too powerful or effective in your campaign, you can modify it so that it only allows characters to ignore attacks reduced to a damage bonus of less than -5, rather than 0. This means attacks with a damage bonus of 5 less than the target’s Protection bonus still have a small chance of affecting the target. How much does Snare limit a target’s actions? This is covered in the power’s description on p. 82, but may require some interpretation from the GM. One successful use of Snare means the target is entangled: -2 on attack rolls and -4 to Dexterity (with a commensurate -2 penalty to Defense). If the snare is anchored to an immobile object (such as the ground), the target also cannot move. The target is still capable of taking physical action within the limits above: attacking, using powers, etc. An exception is the Sorcery power, which is restricted when a character is entangled, since he cannot “gesture freely” as the power requires. A second successful use of Snare renders a target bound and helpless. The target cannot move or take other physical actions. He loses his dodge bonus to Defense and his Dexterity is treated as 0, applying an additional -5 to Defense. Attackers additionally gain a +4 bonus to hit the target. The target is still conscious and capable of mental actions, including using powers, at the GM’s discretion. Additional uses of Snare after the second may, at the GM’s discretion, increase the snare’s hardness by +1, up to one and a half times the original hardness (which is equal to the power’s rank). Thus a character can “layer” a snare over a target to reinforce it. Can you turn extras on and off? Yes. “The use of extras is optional. That is, if your hero has an extra for a power, she can choose whether or not to use it. So a hero who has Energy Blast with the Area extra can fire a normal blast or choose to fire an area blast. You also can use your extras in any combination that you wish, except where specifically prohibited by their descriptions. The GM may ban some power/extra combinations in the game, when necessary” (p. 96). Can you vary the area of an area-effect power? Yes. A character can choose the area of a power that affects an area when the power is used and can vary the area of an ongoing area-effect power as a free action. The minimum area is a single five-foot square, while the maximum area is determined by the power’s rank as given in the power description. An area-effect power with the Full Effect flaw (p. 97) cannot be varied; it must always be used to cover the maximum area. POWER CREATION How do I create new powers? The guidelines for power creation are given on p. 92–99 of the Mutants & Masterminds core rulebook. The basic process of creating a power involves deciding what effects the power has, what (if any) modifications to the standard effects are required (via extras and flaws), what limitations the power has (via flaws) and adding up the power’s cost. I found a power that doesn’t work exactly according to the power creation rules. Why? Although all the powers in Mutants & Masterminds were created using the power creation guidelines given on pp. 92–99, some have been slightly modified or “tweaked” in various ways, either for game balance or style reasons, to give the powers the right look, feel, and game effect. We encourage players and Gamemasters to do the same with their own homemade powers and additions to the game. Power creation and design is an art as well as a science and we wanted Mutants & Masterminds to reflect that. Change things as you see fit to suit the style of your campaign and of your gaming group. CHARACTERISTICS The example of travel on p. 104 seems to be calculated wrong. Shouldn’t Marathon’s multiplier be ×1,024 instead of ×4,096? No, because sprinting applies a ×4 multiplier to base speed to begin with. Can you spend Hero Points to re-roll Damage saving throws? Yes. You can spend Hero Points (and Villain Points!) to re-roll Damage saves, just like any other die roll. If you spend a Hero Point to overcome the fatigue of extra effort, do you suffer the fatigue on the next round or is it eliminated entirely? It’s eliminated entirely. In essence, you don’t suffer the fatigue at all for that particular use of extra effort. DEVICES How are the costs of vehicles figured? A vehicle’s cost is the total of its movement ranks, its armor bonus, and any other features it may have (such as weapons). Vehicles have hardness equal to their highest rank for free. Any hardness in excess of this increasing the vehicle’s cost on a 1-for-1 basis (+1 cost per point of hardness). So a bicycle has movement 5 (5 pp) and hardness 5 (0 pp, since it’s equal to the vehicle’s highest rank) for a total cost of 5 pp. A train has movement 7 (7 pp), armor 8 (8 pp), and hardness 13 (which is 5 more than the train’s highest rank, so it costs an additional 5 pp) for a total cost of 20 pp. How do you determine the Defense of a vehicle? Vehicle Defense = 10 + size modifier + speed modifier + maneuver modifiers (if any) + driver’s Dex modifier as a dodge bonus. Can a character use extra effort in conjunction with a device? That depends on the nature of the device and the decision of the Gamemaster. Certainly devices powered or influenced by the wielder’s will/energy/thoughts/etc. can use extra effort, and GMs may permit characters to “push” super-science devices through extra effort. The GM may rule that some devices, like guns, either can’t use extra effort, or that the wielder must spend a Hero Point to eliminate the fatigue of the extra effort in order to apply it to that device. This limitation is not an additional flaw; it’s a facet of the Device flaw. COMBAT What’s the difference between Defense and Damage save? Defense is how difficult a character is to hit, the base DC of an attack roll. Damage save is a character’s ability to “soak” or shrug off damage. Protection reduces the DC for Damage saves. Why is the Difficulty Class for Damage saving throws so high? The idea behind Damage save DCs is that, all other things being equal, there is a 25% chance of no damage, a 25% chance of a hit, a 25% chance of a stun result, and a 25% chance of a knockout or disabled result. If you prefer to prolong combat in your games a bit, lower the base Damage save DC to 10 + damage bonus. This provides a 50% chance of no damage, a 25% chance of a hit, a 25% chance of a stun, and no chance for an immediate knock-out or disablement between two equallymatched opponents. If you prefer some variability in your Damage saves,
MUTANTS & MASTERMINDS™ ROLEPLAYING GAME ERRATA ERRATA F.005.00 PAGE 4 either use the optional rule for damage rolls on p. 128 or set the Damage save DC at 10 + 1d6 + damage bonus. What happens if a Disabled or Dying character takes additional damage? Any attack that inflicts damage on a Disabled character shifts that character’s condition to Dying. Any attack that inflicts damage on a Dying character shifts the character’s condition to Dead. As per usual, attackers can choose to inflict a lesser effect (such as unconsciousness) if they prefer. When a character recovers from being Unconscious or Disabled, how many hits do they have? The same as they had before becoming Unconscious or Disabled. The character recovers hits normally (see p. 129). How do characters pick up and throw things at each other in combat? See the rules for Improvised Weapons on p. 112. Does Super-Strength affect grappling checks? Super-Strength does not add a bonus to the melee attack roll to begin grappling but it does add its normal bonus to grappling checks. SAMPLE VILLAINS I have questions about the sample villains’ stats. Please see the Revised Sample Villains file, which addresses issues with the game statistics of those characters. Secondary printings of the M&M core rulebook contain these revised villains. MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS The sample thugs listed on p. 154 have +3 weapons even though they are only power level 1 and 2, respectively. Isn’t this against the rules? Technically, yes, however keep in mind that the Gamemaster is free to bend the power level limits as needed for the campaign. This is particularly true of NPCs, who generally don’t need to be as balanced as player characters. Low-level NPCs may have items of equipment that exceed their power level, if the GM allows. Can I use published d20 creatures in my Mutants & Masterminds game? Such creatures are fairly easy to use in Mutants & Masterminds with just a few modifications. Basically: • Take any ability scores the creature has over 20, divide the extra amount by two, round down, and make that the creature’s rank in the appropriate super-ability. • Give the creature a Damage saving throw bonus equal to its base Con bonus plus any natural armor bonus that it has. Subtract the natural armor bonus from its AC to calculate its new Defense. (This usually results in most monsters being easier to hit, but more difficult to hurt.) • Divide the creature’s maximum damage by 6 (round down) and make that its damage bonus, if it exceeds the creature’s base Strength bonus. Otherwise, just use the Str bonus. Drop multiple attack routines and use the creature’s largest damage bonus or give the creature the Rapid Strike feat. • Convert any spell-like or supernatural abilities the creature may have into ranks in the appropriate super-powers. Keep in mind that this system isn’t 100% exact (no conversion system is), but it’s a good ballpark. Tweak the stats as needed to give the creature the right feel. Can I create a Mutants & Masterminds fan website? Feel free! We only ask that you follow the restrictions of the Open Game License contained in the back of the book and observe the restrictions on Closed Content listed on the title page. What these basically mean is that you can’t use the Mutants & Masterminds name or logo without the permission of Green Ronin Publishing. You also can’t provide information on the allocation or use of power points for character creation of advancement. That doesn’t mean you can’t create new powers and list their costs, just that you can’t list the costs of powers from Green Ronin products or reproduce material on spending power points to create or advance characters. Which is the best superhero RPG? Why, Mutants & Masterminds, of course! It even says “The World’s Greatest Superhero RPG!” right on the cover! Seriously, this question should be phrased, “which is the best superhero RPG for me?” and the truth is that we can’t answer that. There is a plethora of superhero roleplaying games out there, each one different in its own way, each with its good and bad points, and each with its own fans (and, often, detractors). None of them is perfect because if one was, everyone would be playing it! Mutants & Masterminds is designed to be a medium-complexity, fastplaying game that captures the feel and the action of superhero comics. Like every hobby and every game, it’s a matter of personal taste. We recommend giving M&M a try and seeing if you like it. Give some other games a try, too, if you want, and decide for yourself which is best based on which one you have the most fun playing. After all, that’s what playing a game is all about, right? Green Ronin Publishing PO Box 1723 Renton, WA 98057-1723 www.greenronin.com Super Unicorn a design studio 12819 SE 38th St. #319 Bellevue, WA 98006-1395 www.superunicorn.com Mutants & Masterminds is ©2002 Green Ronin Publishing. Reference to other copyrighted material in no way constitutes a challenge to the respective copyright holders of that material. Mutants & Masterminds, Freedom City, and Green Ronin are Trademarks of Green Ronin Publishing.
GAME STATISTICS CHARACTER RECORD SHEET Character Name Group Affiliation Alternate Identity Identity Secret Public Base of Operations First Appearance Power Level/Max Power Rank Size Height Sex Age Weight Eyes Hair DEFENSE HERO POINTS SPEED SUPER-POWERS SAVES ATTACKS DAMAGE CONDITIONS FEATS & SUPER-FEATS DEVICES BASE ATTACK bonus DAMAGE constitution FORTITUDE constitution REFLEX dexterity WILL wisdom CON constitution DEX dexterity STR strength WIS wisdom CHA charisma INT intelligence MELEE attack bonus RANG attack bonusED misc modifier indicates a stun hit. stun hits impose a cumulative -1 modifier to all further stun damage saves. indicates a lethal hit. lethal hits impose a cumulative -1 modifier to all further lethal and stun damage saves. ©2002 green ronin, publishing. all rights reserved. permission granted to photocopy for personal use only. total = + score ability modifier power modifier =+ + + total dex modifier size modifier power modifier base + misc modifier flatfooted = + total base bonus + + str modifier power modifier misc modifier = + total base bonus + + dex modifier power modifier misc modifier = + total dex modifier power modifier = + = + = + = + = + total = + ability modifier power modifier = + = + = + + + + + INITIATIVE stunned disabled unconscious dying dead misc modifier + + + + + + + temporary modifier + + + + + + + + + temporary score temporary modifier temporary score temporary modifier temporary modifier + + name power stunts, extras, & flaws special effect ranks save dc damage bonus cost page action none reaction free half range personal touch normal sight duration instant concentration sustained continuous full special permanent name power stunts, extras, & flaws special effect ranks save dc damage bonus cost page action none reaction free half range personal touch normal sight duration instant concentration sustained continuous full special permanent name power stunts, extras, & flaws special effect ranks save dc damage bonus cost page action none reaction free half range personal touch normal sight duration instant concentration sustained continuous full special permanent name power stunts, extras, & flaws special effect ranks save dc damage bonus cost page action none reaction free half range personal touch normal sight duration instant concentration sustained continuous full special permanent name power stunts, extras, & flaws special effect ranks save dc damage bonus cost page action none reaction free half range personal touch normal sight duration instant concentration sustained continuous full special permanent name power stunts, extras, & flaws special effect ranks save dc damage bonus cost page action none reaction free half range personal touch normal sight duration instant concentration sustained continuous full special permanent name power stunts, extras, & flaws special effect ranks save dc damage bonus cost page action none reaction free half range personal touch normal sight duration instant concentration sustained continuous full special permanent ™
©2002 green ronin, publishing. all rights reserved. permission granted to photocopy for personal use only. SKILLS CHARACTER SKETCH skills in bold are trained only skill modifier ability modifier key skill name ability ranks modifier misc modifier acrobatics dex balance dex bluff cha climb str computers int concentration wis craft ________________ int demolitions int diplomacy cha disable device int disguise cha drive dex escape artist dex forgery int gather information cha handle animal cha hide dex innuendo cha intimidate cha jump str knowledge __________ int knowledge __________ int knowledge __________ int knowledge __________ int knowledge __________ int language — listen wis medicine wis move silently dex open lock dex perform cha pilot dex profession __________ wis read lips int repair int ride dex science _____________ int search int sense motive wis sleight of hand dex spot wis survival wis swim str taunt cha =++ =++ =++ =++ =++ =++ =++ =++ =++ =++ =++ =++ =++ =++ =++ =++ =++ =++ =++ =++ =++ =++ =++ =++ =++ =++ =++ =++ =++ =++ =++ =++ =++ =++ =++ =++ =++ =++ =++ =++ =++ =++ =++ =++ LIFT OVER HEAD equals max load LIGHT LOAD MEDIUM LOAD LIFT OFF GROUND 2 × max load PUSH OR DRAG 5 × max load HEAVY LOAD max ranks GEAR CAMPAIGN INFORMATION ORIGIN WEAKNESSES campaign fellow heroes sidekicks or minions gamemaster power points arch enemy
SUPER-POWERS DEVICES name power stunts, extras, & flaws special effect ranks save dc damage bonus cost page action none reaction free half range personal touch normal sight duration instant concentration sustained continuous full special permanent name power stunts, extras, & flaws special effect ranks save dc damage bonus cost page action none reaction free half range personal touch normal sight duration instant concentration sustained continuous full special permanent name power stunts, extras, & flaws special effect ranks save dc damage bonus cost page action none reaction free half range personal touch normal sight duration instant concentration sustained continuous full special permanent name power stunts, extras, & flaws special effect ranks save dc damage bonus cost page action none reaction free half range personal touch normal sight duration instant concentration sustained continuous full special permanent name power stunts, extras, & flaws special effect ranks save dc damage bonus cost page action none reaction free half range personal touch normal sight duration instant concentration sustained continuous full special permanent name power stunts, extras, & flaws special effect ranks save dc damage bonus cost page action none reaction free half range personal touch normal sight duration instant concentration sustained continuous full special permanent name power stunts, extras, & flaws special effect ranks save dc damage bonus cost page action none reaction free half range personal touch normal sight duration instant concentration sustained continuous full special permanent name power stunts, extras, & flaws special effect ranks save dc damage bonus cost page action none reaction free half range personal touch normal sight duration instant concentration sustained continuous full special permanent name power stunts, extras, & flaws special effect ranks save dc damage bonus cost page action none reaction free half range personal touch normal sight duration instant concentration sustained continuous full special permanent name power stunts, extras, & flaws special effect ranks save dc damage bonus cost page action none reaction free half range personal touch normal sight duration instant concentration sustained continuous full special permanent name power stunts, extras, & flaws special effect ranks save dc damage bonus cost page action none reaction free half range personal touch normal sight duration instant concentration sustained continuous full special permanent name power stunts, extras, & flaws special effect ranks save dc damage bonus cost page action none reaction free half range personal touch normal sight duration instant concentration sustained continuous full special permanent name power stunts, extras, & flaws special effect ranks save dc damage bonus cost page action none reaction free half range personal touch normal sight duration instant concentration sustained continuous full special permanent name power stunts, extras, & flaws special effect ranks save dc damage bonus cost page action none reaction free half range personal touch normal sight duration instant concentration sustained continuous full special permanent name power stunts, extras, & flaws special effect ranks save dc damage bonus cost page action none reaction free half range personal touch normal sight duration instant concentration sustained continuous full special permanent name power stunts, extras, & flaws special effect ranks save dc damage bonus cost page action none reaction free half range personal touch normal sight duration instant concentration sustained continuous full special permanent SUPER-POWERS AND DEVICES RECORD SHEET ©2002 green ronin, publishing. all rights reserved. permission granted to photocopy for personal use only. ™
CHAPTER EIGHT HEROES & VILLAINS FREEDOM CITY CAMPAIGN SETTING PAGE 132 0.00132.08 SEVEN In the early years of her life, Serena Vervain didn’t know she was any different from other children. She grew up in the West End of Freedom City, raised by her grandmother after her parents died in an accident. Her Nana taught Serena about herbs and folk remedies, read her stories and faerie tales, and told her about the little people and the spirits, both good and bad. Serena learned not to talk to other children about these things; they were part of the secret world that she shared only with her Nana. When Serena turned thirteen, she learned the truth. She came from a bloodline of witches that stretched back to the founding days of Freedom City. The gift often skipped generations, as it did with her mother, but Serena showed signs of being the most gifted witch in her family’s history and the seventh to wield a witch’s true potential of powers. As Serena’s gifts awakened, she learned her family had enemies, some of them ancient, and she would need protection from them. Her grandmother enrolled Serena at the Claremont Academy, where she could hone her gifts and benefit from both its protection and its education. There she took the codename “Seven,” as seven is a magical number and she was the seventh fully-realized witch of her bloodline. Now, at the age of 16, Serena has proven an exemplary student, and she has also begun learning from Adrian Eldrich, Earth’s master mage (p. 135). Although she knows nothing of him yet, Serena’s greatest enemy is lawyer Lucius Cabot (p. 53), an immortal who sold his soul to the forces of evil. Cabot is troubled by a prophecy that says the descendant of a witch he helped to hang will prove to be his undoing. He has carefully eliminated these descendants over the years. After arranging the accident that killed Serena’s parents, he believed that he was safe, but the prophecy will not be denied unless Cabot can eliminate Seven as well. Quote: “Great Goddess, aid your daughter!” Personality: Serena is a vivacious young woman with a love of life. She’s friendly and cares about others, doing her best to make them feel comfortable. In many ways, she’s the spiritual heart of the Next-Gen, helping to settle fights and getting everyone to cooperate. While the team respects Bowman, everyone loves Seven and talks to her. She balances both her mundane and magical studies with fighting alongside the Next-Gen and having fun and relaxing. She naively encourages everyone else to do as much, since she assumes they can manage their time like she does. She’s always organizing trips to the mall or the movies or something to break up the team’s routine, and she constantly encourages Bowman and Nereid to lighten up. She loves Chris (Megastar) like the little brother she never had but she is blind to his crush on her. Powers & Tactics: Seven is a witch, able to cast various spells. Her primary power is control over the elements (air, earth, fire, and water). She is also sensitive to mystical forces, and can sense when they are nearby. Her powers are still developing. Sometimes she can cast more complex and powerful spells with a bit of preparation and access to her spellbooks and grimoires (and the use of a Hero Point for the power stunt). Appearance: Seven is an attractive young woman with long, black hair and green-gold eyes. She often dresses in a black, dark RP BB
PAGE 133 blue, or dark green dress over a pair of similarly colored thigh-high boots. Pouches of herbs and other spell components hang from her belt. Campaign Use: Seven is a sorceress-in-training with the potential to be one of the most powerful spellcasters in the world. Heroes may help protect her from more powerful enemies seeking to do her harm before she can challenge their might. They might have to deal with the effects of a failed spell or enchantment on Seven’s part. Mystic heroes could even become mentors or teachers for Seven, perhaps guest-lecturers or tutors at the Claremont Academy or simply consultants and allies brought to the enigmatic home of Adrian Eldrich. Villain Option: Seven does come from a long line of witches, but they are all evil to the core. She is a true bad seed, tainted from the very beginning. Her unleashed powers led to her parents’ deaths. Her grandmother, the stern priestess of a secret black magic coven, raised her. Now the old woman fears Seven’s growing power, and tries to keep the girl under her thumb, but Seven is rebellious and wants to have fun with her power. Seven: PL 10; Init +1 (Dex); Defense 17 (15 flat-footed); Spd 30 ft.; Atk +6 ranged (+9L, fire blast); SV Dmg +1, Fort +1, Ref +3, Will +9; Str 10, Dex 13, Con 12, Int 14, Wis 16, Cha 17. Skills: Bluff +8, Concentration +12, Knowledge (occult) +7, Sense Motive +7. Feats: Dodge, Lighting Reflexes, Skill Focus (Concentration), Mystic Awareness. Powers: Amazing Save (Will) +6 [Source: Training; Cost: 1 pp], Sorcery +9 [Spells: Air Control, Animation, ESP, Flight, Force Field, Obscure, Snare; Power Stunts: Earth Control, Fire Control, Water Control; Source: Mystical; Cost: 7 pp]. LILLIAN VERVAIN Seven’s grandmother Lillian grew up in a very different time, when the Craft was something special, something secret, not something for crass entertainment in the media and on television. In her day, it was something kept secret, shared only within the family, and never talked about openly among strangers or friends. Although Lillian never had the kind of power that Serena possesses, she still uses her own modest gifts clandestinely in her herbalists’ shop, which lies on Morrow Street two blocks away from her house on Sindella Boulevard. Although she seems like nothing more than a kind, elderly widow living in an old house in the West End, Lillian has actually lived a fairly adventurous life, and knows people like Adrian Eldrich and Duncan Summers because of it. As to the exact nature of those friendships over the years, Lillian merely smiles wistfully and changes the subject. Lillian continues to teach her granddaughter what she can and supports her growth as a witch. Tremendously proud of Serena, she still fears the day when she’ll have to leave the girl on her own. Lillian uses her own mystic powers rarely due to the strain they place upon her. She’s well known in the West End as a source of sage advice and every folk and homeopathic cure known for 100 years. She’s also pleasant enough company regardless, and Lil is always available for a cup of tea and sympathy. Lillian Vervain is a thin, slight woman just under five feet tall. She wears her snow-white hair up in a bun always, though a few pictures show her with waist-length jet-black hair in her youth. She wears simple dresses these days, and often wears an apron whether she’s at home cooking and cleaning or puttering around the herbalists’ shop she still operates three days a week. She’s an excellent cook, “since it’s one of the best sorts of magic for everyone.” Serena’s classmates never turn down an offer of dinner at Nana Vervain’s house. Lillian Vervain: PL 7; Init +0 (Dex); Defense 13; Spd 30 ft.; Atk +3 ranged (+5L, fire blast); SV Dmg +0, Fort +0, Ref +0, Will +10; Str 8, Dex 10, Con 10, Int 13, Wis 19, Cha 15. Skills: Concentration +13, Handle Animal +5, Knowledge (occult) +10, Profession (cook) +12, Sense Motive +13. Feats: Mystic Awareness. Powers: Sorcery +5 [Spells: Air Control, Animation, ESP, Flight, Force Field, Obscure, Snare; Power Stunts: Earth Control, Fire Control, Water Control; Source: Mystical; Cost: 7 pp], SuperWisdom +6 [Source: Training; Cost: 3 pp]. SONIC Lemar Phillips had a pretty ordinary childhood growing up in Lincoln. He got into his share of trouble, although he was basically a good kid. He ran with a pretty rough crowd until he caught the attention of Wilson Jeffers, the director of the Lincoln Youth Center. Wilson helped give Lemar some direction and in many ways became the father figure he lacked at home. One night late in 1999, Lemar tried to stop a friend from getting involved in a gang robbery. Instead, he got dragged along against his will. Things went wrong almost from the start, and the gang botched an attempt to steal an experimental sonic disruptor weapon, damaging the device in the process. When it exploded, Lemar Phillips took the brunt of the blast but he miraculously survived and found that he now possessed the device’s power to generate and control sound. Lemar told Mr. Jeffers about his newfound abilities and wanted his help in learning to control them. Wilson Jeffers then shared his secret with Lemar—he had been the Black Avenger years before, a member of the Freedom League and the hero of Lincoln. Jeffers began training the boy to master his powers, and Lemar adopted the identity of Sonic. He also tracked down the criminal who sponsored the gang heist—the Maestro, the malevolent conductor of crime—and helped put him away in Providence Asylum for a time. Since then, Sonic has become well known as a hero in Lincoln and Southside, and he’s had adventures alongside Foreshadow, Johnny Rocket, and another Southside rookie hero named Wyzrd. Some of Sonic’s young fans have been tagging area buildings with his name in spraypaint, reminding would-be criminals that a new hero walks the streets of Lincoln. Ironically, Lemar recently had to spend a few hours scrubbing such a tag off the Youth Center. Still, he (and secretly Jeffers) is glad the community has accepted its new hero. Duncan Summers offered Sonic the opportunity to attend the Claremont Academy, but Lemar insisted on only doing so after his FREEDOM CITY CAMPAIGN SETTING HEROES & VILLAINS CHAPTER EIGHT 0.00133.08
CHAPTER EIGHT HEROES & VILLAINS FREEDOM CITY CAMPAIGN SETTING PAGE 134 0.00134.08 regular classes at Joseph Clark High School in Lincoln. Afternoons and evenings, Sonic patrols and trains with Mr. Jeffers and his teammates in the Next-Gen. Quote: “Check it, son! This’ll put your head out!” Personality: Sonic is a sixteen year-old with super-powers, so he’s caught between the fun of being able to do amazing things and the need to keep his powers secret and use them well. He idolizes Wilson Jeffers and hopes to make his mentor proud of him. He feels a strong sense of responsibility toward his mother, his little brother Toby, and to the Lincoln neighborhood where he grew up. He’s a bit awed by older and more experienced heroes like Foreshadow, while he’s a bit competitive with heroes closer to his own age like his teammates and Wyzrd. Lemar can be surprisingly level headed, but he still makes his share of mistakes. Powers & Tactics: Sonic has the ability to generate and control high-frequency sound. He can create deafening blasts of sound or sonic force beams that can shatter concrete. He can also dampen sound waves in his area, creating a zone of complete silence. His sonic vibrations also allow him to fly and create a protective vibratory shield around his body. Both latter effects create a constant, low-pitched humming noise. Sonic tends to go for the straightforward method of blasting his opponents unconscious, although he’ll sometimes use his deafening sonic blasts to soften up a group of foes and disrupt their ability to communicate. Against opponents with sound-related powers, he’ll often create a zone of silence to block or negate them. Appearance: Sonic is a sixteen-year-old African American boy with an athletic build, short brown hair, and brown eyes. His costume consists of a mask that covers the top half of his head and ties in the back, a short-sleeved form-fitting shirt (a stylized “S” on the front in white), and fingerless gloves, all of them in black. He wears baggy jeans and sneakers. Campaign Use: Sonic is a rookie hero who sees himself as the protector of his Lincoln neighborhood. Heroes can encounter him in and around Lincoln and Southside. His enthusiasm and cockiness get him in trouble from time to time. He may fall into a villain’s trap and need the heroes’ help—perhaps Wilson Jeffers contacts them—or he may jump to conclusions and attack the heroes before he realizes who they are. Villain Option: It’s not difficult to imagine what might have happened if Sonic hadn’t found the right kind of guidance. The villainous Sonic used his powers to take over a gang in Lincoln and became a super-powered bully, taking whatever he wants until someone stops him. Or perhaps the guidance Sonic received was not toward heroism. Wilson Jeffers could be a political radical devoted to balancing inequalities in American society through violence, with Sonic as his willing protégé. Sonic: PL 9; Init +1 (Dex); Defense 18 (17 flat-footed); Spd 30 ft.; Atk +6 ranged (+10S, sonic blast); SV Dmg +1, Fort +1, Ref +5, Will +1; Str 12, Dex 13, Con 12, Int 12, Wis 13, Cha 12. Skills: Bluff +7, Knowledge (Freedom City) +6, Listen +8, Spot +5, Taunt +9. Feats: Point Blank Shot, Ultra-Hearing. Powers: Amazing Save (Reflex) +4 [Source: Training; Cost: 1 pp], Energy Control (sonic) +9 [Extras: Energy Blast, Flight, Force Field, Obscure (silence), Power Stunts: Energy Blast; Source: Mutation; Cost: 6 pp]. RP BB
MUTANTSANDMASTERMINDS.COM EXCLUSIVE THE HEIST ADVENTURE THE HEIST W.011.01 PAGE 1 The Heist is an introductory adventure for the Mutants & Masterminds Superhero Roleplaying Game designed for 4 PL 10 heroes, although it can be modified for a larger group or for lower-PL heroes. The heroes must thwart Rant and Rave, a brother/sister villain duo attempting to rob a bank in Freedom City with the aid of some hired muscle. GETTING THE HEROES INVOLVED There are two simple ways of getting the heroes involved in the adventure. In the first, some or all of the heroes might be visiting the bank in their secret identities to conduct some routine business. They are there when the villains show up and have to figure some way to slip away from the action long enough to change into their superhero identities (assuming that they maintain secret identities). Having two or more of the heroes duck into the same storage closet to change into their costumes can make for an amusing scene and an interesting introduction for heroes who haven’t met before. Alternately, the heroes may be patrolling the city, on the lookout for trouble, or just going about their business in their heroic or secret identities. They either hear the bank alarm, pick up word of the robbery on the police band, or are alerted by the authorities and asked to help out, depending on the heroes’ activities and relationship with the law. THE ACTION Read the following aloud to the players: The Eastern Seaboard Bank is the largest in Freedom City. Rant and Rave have eight armed thugs with them, mainly to keep an eye on the bank patrons and to help carry the loot. Rant tries to make an example of anyone that defies him or tries to make a break for it, using his sonic shout to stun or knock that person unconscious. Heroes who act quickly when the thugs first enter It’s a fairly ordinary afternoon at the central branch of the Eastern Seaboard (or E-Sea) Bank in downtown Freedom City. Suddenly a group of armed men burst through the front doors of the building into the lobby. They order the bank patrons to lie on the floor and clear the way for a man and woman to enter behind them. They’re in their early 20s and both are dressed in raver-style clothes. There’s a definite family resemblance. The woman’s hair is long and flowing and the man’s short and spiky. “Rant and Rave are in the house!” the man says with a smirk. “Nobody messes with us, nobody gets hurt. Got it?” For emphasis he turns toward the bank guard edging toward the alarm and gives a loud shout. The man slams up against the wall and slumps to the floor, unconscious. GK SC A MUTANTS & MASTERMINDS MINI-ADVENTURE PRESENTING: THE HEIST
THE HEIST THE HEIST ADVENTURE MUTANTSANDMASTERMINDS.COM EXCLUSIVE PAGE 2 W.012.01 the bank may be able to slip out of sight before Rant and Rave enter, otherwise they’ll have to come up with some sort of distraction to get away unnoticed. Clever uses of powers and the Bluff skill are encouraged here. If the players really seem stuck for an opportunity, let one of them spend a Hero Point to get a suitable distraction, such as a foolhardy bank guard trying to shoot the villains. They take him out easily, but it provides the heroes with the distraction that the heroes need. If unopposed, the thugs begin forcing the bank tellers to put money into bags while Rant and Rave use their combined powers to dissolve the bank vault door, literally melting it into a puddle of liquid metal. Then the thugs also begin to loot the vault. A couple minutes later, the villains flee the bank with their ill-gotten gains, getting into two vans waiting outside and driving off. THE FIGHT Of course, the heroes may want to intervene before that happens. When a hero takes action, roll initiative. A hero or heroes who manage to sneak up on the villains (successful Hide check vs. their Spot checks) may get the drop on them. Otherwise, everyone acts in order of initiative, with no surprise round. Rave uses her powers to distort the heroes’ perceptions, making it more difficult for them to act, while her brother strikes with his sonic blasts. Rave’s Obscure power effectively gives the villains and their minions total concealment from the heroes, meaning that the heroes’ attacks have a 50% miss chance and the villains have a +2 bonus to hit them. Heroes with the True Sight feat are unaffected. The thugs open fire on any heroes as well. Although Rant and Rave aren’t expert strategists by any means, they work well together. Rant may use his sonic blasts to try to bring the ceiling down on one or more of the heroes, making a surprise area attack (good for potentially nailing high-Defense but lowDamage save heroes). Rave may distort things so that some of the heroes look like her and her brother, causing the heroes to hit each other. THE ESCAPE If things start to go badly for the villains, they’re likely to either try taking the bank patrons and employees hostage or creating a distraction for the heroes so they can escape. If Rant or Rave (or both) are incapacitated, the thugs may try taking hostages or they may simply flee, splitting up in hopes of some of them getting away. If Rant and Rave are still conscious, they combine their powers and damage the structural supports of the building, making it start to collapse. Then they make a run for it. It requires a carrying capacity of at least 200 tons to hold up the damaged building, and 10 rounds to evacuate all the people (5 if the heroes have some way of moving people outside faster). Heroes can use Super-Strength, Telekinesis, or similar powers to hold off the building’s collapse while the civilians escape (possibly with the aid of the other heroes). Heroes working together combine their carrying capacities. Keep in mind that a player can use extra effort to double a hero’s carrying capacity for one round, and can spend a Hero Point to ignore the fatigue of using extra effort, possibly allowing a single weaker hero to hold up the building long enough. PURSUIT Rather than confronting the villains inside the bank, the heroes may choose to wait until they leave, then pursue them. Overtaking the villains’ two escape vans isn’t difficult for a hero with 4 or more ranks of a movement power and the super-movement power stunt. The vans are hardness 10, but their tires are only hardness 3 and taking one or more of them out stops a van. The thugs shoot at any pursuing heroes and Rave may use her powers to cause heroes to careen off into buildings or to crash into the street (where they may get run over, DC 15 Reflex save to avoid, DC 25 Damage save if that fails). If a van is stopped, the villains try to flee on foot, although Rant and Rave will stand and fight if the heroes confront them. Finally, the heroes may try to follow the villains to their lair, an old warehouse building in the Greenbank neighborhood of the city. This requires three successful Spot checks (DC 13, though you may modify this up or down to reflect traffic at your option) to keep the vans in sight or the use of appropriate powers (or perhaps a means of tracking the villains at a later time, like a tracer planted on one of their vans). The heroes can then confront the villains in the warehouse without any civilians around. MODIFYING THE ADVENTURE The Heist is designed as a simple adventure for a group of four 10th-level heroes. You can modify the adventure to suit a larger group of heroes or a different style of play, if desired. For larger hero groups, add another super-villain for each additional hero above four. You can simply take one of the archetypes from the Mutants & Masterminds core book, give the new villain a name and description, and assume that Rant and Rave have formed their own gang of super-criminals. The Battlesuit, Martial Artist, and Powerhouse archetypes are particularly appropriate, but any of them are suitable. Alternately, rather than adding more villains, you can make Rant and Rave’s thugs more effective. Supply them with high-tech blaster rifles (+8 stun damage) and body armor (+4 Armor) and use the Combined Fire rules from Chapter Eight of Mutants & Masterminds to their advantage. For a group of low-powered heroes (power level 8 or lower) either reduce Rant and Rave’s power levels accordingly (so they’re MINOR LEAGUE Gamemasters planning on running the Major League adventure from the Mutants & Masterminds core rulebook may want to use The Heist as a lead-in or add-on to that adventure. It’s an excellent opportunity for the heroes to warm up and get a feel for the game system with a simple encounter before getting into a full-length adventure. In that case, The Heist can take place before the heroes arrive at Freedom Hall at the beginning of Major League or the heroes can hear the alarm from the bank while they’re at Freedom Hall and Scene 2 of that adventure (Breaking News) can take place at the bank rather than at Freedom Hall itself.
MUTANTSANDMASTERMINDS.COM EXCLUSIVE THE HEIST ADVENTURE THE HEIST W.013.01 PAGE 3 equal with the heroes), or eliminate one or both of them, leaving just the thugs for the heroes to deal with. For a somewhat different challenge, you can have the villains take the people in the bank hostage and have the heroes arrive on the scene afterward. They have to figure out how to get at the villains without risking the lives of the people in the bank, which calls for at least some amount of subtlety on the part of the heroes. FURTHER ADVENTURES While it’s possible (indeed likely) that The Heist is a simple case of a super-criminal bank robbery, you can also make it into the introduction of a longer and more involved adventure, if desired. Rant and Rave may be robbing banks to collect money for some other scheme, either of their own or for a master criminal working behind the scenes. Perhaps various other heists take place in other parts of the city, maybe even at the same time so that the heroes and the authorities cannot respond to all of them at once. The money from the robberies might be going into the coffers of a criminal organization or a master villain. It might be used to buy weapons or technology on the black market or further research into creating superhumans. Rant and Rave are likely to hold a grudge against the heroes responsible for busting up their plan and putting them away. They might come looking for payback at some point in the future. Lobby New Accounts Manager Office Office Office Office Vestibule Waiting Vault Drive Up Teller Work Area Tellers Lounge Mech/Elec Storage Toilet Toilet Conference Room Freedom City Eastern Seaboard Bank 1 square = 5 feet
THE VILLAINS Rant and Rave are a brother and sister duo of super-criminals. They were exposed to an experimental designer drug that triggered latent genetic mutations in each of them. The drug also may have made them mentally unstable, or they may have always been that way. Now the pair wants nothing more than to enjoy the high lifestyle they’ve become accustomed to through theft and hiring out their services to anyone willing to meet their price. Rant is 22 years old and his sister is 20. They’re both tall and thin and always dressed in candy-raver style clothing, including baggy pants and large amounts of multicolored beaded jewelry. Rave’s hair is magenta and straight, worn past her shoulders. Her brother’s is short and spiky with blue highlights. Rant: PL 10; Init +2 (Dex); Defense 20 (18 flat-footed); Spd 30 ft.; Atk +5 melee (+1S, punch), +6 ranged (+10S, sonic blast); SV Dmg +3 (+12 with Evasion), Fort +3, Ref +12, Will +1; Str 12, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 13, Cha 12. Skills: Bluff +8, Drive +7, Intimidate +8, Listen +6, Spot +6, Taunt +9. Feats: All-Out Attack, Blind-Fight, Blindsight, Dodge, Evasion, Great Fortitude, Lightning Reflexes, Point Blank Shot, Power Attack, Ricochet Attack, Toughness, Ultra-Hearing. Powers: Amazing Save (Reflex) +8 [Source: Mutation; Cost: 1 pp; Total: 8 pp], Disintegration +10 [Flaw: Only when in contact with Rave; Source: Mutation; Cost: 1 pp; Total: 10 pp], Energy Control (sonic) +10 [Extra: Energy Blast; Source: Mutation; Cost: 3 pp; Total: 30 pp]. Rave: PL10; Init +3 (Dex); Defense 20 (18 flat-footed); Spd 30 ft.; Atk +4 melee (+0S, punch); SV Dmg +3 (+13 with Evasion), Fort +3, Ref +13, Will +9; Str 10, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 13, Cha 15. Skills: Bluff +8, Drive +5, Listen +6, Spot +6, Taunt +8. Feats: Blind-Fight, Blindsight, Dodge, Evasion, Great Fortitude, Lightning Reflexes, Toughness, Ultra-Hearing. Powers: Amazing Save (Reflex, Will) +8 [Source: Mutation; Cost: 2 pp; Total: 16 pp], Disintegration +10 [Flaw: Only when in contact with Rant; Source: Mutation; Cost: 1 pp; Total: 10 pp], Illusion +10 [Extras: Area, Obscure, Selective; Flaw: Can only create illusions of twisted and skewed perceptions; Source: Mutation; Cost: 4 pp; Total: 40 pp]. THUGS Rant and Rave’s henchmen are modestly capable, but no real match for a group of superheroes. There are eight of them, however, and they try to use their superior numbers to their advantage (using flanking and combined fire attacks). Thug (8): PL 2; Init +1 (Dex); Defense 13 (12 flat-footed); Spd 30 ft.; Atk +3 melee (+1S, punch), +3 ranged (+3L, pistol); SV Dmg +1, Fort +1, Ref +1, Will +0; Str 12, Dex 12, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 10. Skills: Listen +3, Spot +3, and one of the following at +3: Bluff, Climb, Drive, Forgery, Hide, Open Lock, or Repair (two of the thugs have Drive) Feats: Point Blank Shot or Power Attack. Equipment: Pistol (+3L). THE HEIST THE HEIST ADVENTURE MUTANTSANDMASTERMINDS.COM EXCLUSIVE PAGE 4 W.014.01 CT SC
MUTANTSANDMASTERMINDS.COM EXCLUSIVE THE HEIST ADVENTURE THE HEIST W.015.01 PAGE 5 CREDITS Design Steve Kenson Editing Jason Orman Development Chris Pramas Art Direction Sean Glenn Illustration Greg Kirkpatrick, Craig Taillefer Colors Steve Cobb Cartography Sean Glenn Freedom City created by Steve Kenson. Green Ronin Staff Chris Pramas, Nicole Lindroos, Hal Mangold, Evan Sass Super Unicorn is Sean Glenn, Kyle Hunter, and Erik Mona The Heist is ©2003 Green Ronin Publishing. Mutants & Masterminds, Freedom City, and Green Ronin are trademarks of Green Ronin Publishing. The following is designated as Product Identity, in accordance with Section 1(e) of the Open Game License, Version 1: Freedom City, all character and place names, Power Points, Hero Points, Villain Points. All text is designated as Open Game Content, with the following exceptions: all character and place names, the background of Rant and Rave, and all Power Point costs. 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IRON CROSS 64 EC GO BACKGROUND While the Americans created their first superhumans through scientific experiment, Germany’s Third Reich took a more cost-effective approach. In the early years of the war, Nazi scientists and secret agents skulked around the United States and Western Europe, kidnapping foreign superhumans for dissection and replication in German labs. This grisly craft gained its greatest success in 1943 when Everyman, the original American superhuman, vanished while flying a reconnaissance mission over Berlin. Months later, a demented Nazi trio called V3 appeared, boasting the powers of America’s foremost champion. Later that year, another apparent Everyman offshoot took the field, a masked aristocratic übermensch who called himself Iron Cross. Iron Cross (Eisenkreuz) clothed himself in the regalia of Nazism, his features concealed by an elaborate mechanical iron mask. He spread his fame thwarting crimes on the German homefront, casting rumors about his identity to every state of Germany. Popular legend considered him a top Luftwaffe flight leader disfigured in combat and granted fabulous power in remembrance of his brave sacrifice to the Reich. His legend soon reached the ear of Adolf Hitler, who made Iron Cross his personal bodyguard and special consultant in 1944. With allied soldiers on Berlin’s doorstep, the Furher struck out desperately at London itself, sending all of his superhumans to England with orders to destroy the British capital. The Nazi team encountered a well-prepared Victory Legion of American and European heroes, and the resulting battle soon became history’s bloodiest superhuman conflict. A dozen combatants and hundreds of civilians lost their lives. Realizing a lost cause, Iron Cross quit the field, vanishing completely from public life. For much of the next decade, he worked behind the scenes as the supreme commander of ODESSA, a secret society of German special agents who ensured the safe passage of Nazi war criminals and German artistic and scientific geniuses from occupied Germany to a secluded Antarctic refuge called Neu-Schwabenland. Iron Cross and his agents ferried their charges away from the public eye using “flying saucer” vessels developed too late to tilt the war against the Allies. Later, he came to the rescue of migrating Nazis in South America, giving birth to a cottage industry of Iron Cross sightings that saw the United States and Israel dispatch agent after fruitless agent in an impossible mission to catch him in the act, or even to confirm that he was still alive. 65 NAZI ÜBERMENSCH OVERLORD Confirmation arrived in full in 1958, when META-4 agents Gavin Pierce and Johnny Calhoun encountered Iron Cross and a cadre of Nazi goons on Easter Island. The Americans had come to Rapa Nui to investigate a mysterious chamber discovered by archeologists beneath one of the island’s largest monoliths; the Nazis presumably came to destroy that chamber. Iron Cross made short work of Pierce and his allies, brutally dispatching them with stunning displays of super-strength. Before the Nazi supervillain could kill Johnny Calhoun, Pierce pried open the chamber’s seals, releasing a powerful alien being named Aton, trapped on the island since his vessel crashed there centuries ago. Aton routed Iron Cross and went on to become the celebrated Ancient Astronaut. Iron Cross once again vanished from history, returning once again to the solitude of Neu-Schwabenland. Connecting rumors of Nazi flying saucers to their apparent interest in the Ancient Astronaut revealed that the Antarctic Germans were interested in outer space and alien races, but couldn’t hope to hint at the extent to which NeuSchwabenland had become immersed in the world of the extra terrestrial. After finally reaching the Nazi compound, loyal Germans were informed that their government had, since the mid-1930s, received technological assistance from the Skoviak, a reptillain alien race who wished to see Germany dominate Earth. Caring nothing of human politics, the Skoviak valued only the Aryan genetic stock, which bonded easily with Skoviak DNA to create perfect “invisible” agents. Overtly aligned to Nazi ideals, these deep cover spies would insinuate themselves into human society, achieving positions of importance and awaiting the opportunity to turn the planet over to the Skoviak without shedding unnecessary blood or wasting natural resources in a violent invasion. Immediately before his death at the end of the Second World War, Adolf Hitler predicted that the “Third Generation” of Nazis would rise once again and claim the world as its own. While angry militant twentysomethings throughout Europe follow the career of the Nazi rock diva Blitz, arrogantly thinking themselves fulfilling Hitler’s prophecy, the true third generation of German/Skoviak crossbreeds are just being born in Neu-Schwabenland, already preparing for the day when they will join their parents and grandparents in the world beyond the Blizzard Doors. When three generations of Skoviak moles hold positions of influence in world governments and the boards of directors of multinational corporations the coup will be complete, and Adolf Hitler’s final words will ring true from his unmarked pauper’s grave. USING IRON CROSS Don’t fancy mixing your Nazis with your aliens, but like the idea of a World War II-era menace reaching forward from history to touch the lives of your heroes? Ditch the alien element and make NeuSchwabenland a very terrestrial compound developed by ODESSA following the war. In this scenario, even the best Nazi engineering couldn’t keep a community as large as New Berlin alive for so long without a healthy dose of obligatory comic book catastrophe. Some time in the 1950s, the subterranean city’s Blizzard Doors collapsed, plunging the compound into deadly cold. Neu-Schwabenland’s citizens died within hours. Somehow, Iron Cross survived, although his body entered a cold-induced torpor he endures to this day. The player characters become involved when contacts in the government or scientific community discover the entrance to Neu-Schwabenland while conducting a geological survey of Antarctica. Opening the damaged Blizzard Doors only to discover once-opulent swastika-emblazoned hallways, the authorities decide to enlist superhuman help. Once discovered and thawed, Iron Cross attempts to escape, taking control of existing pro-Nazi subcultures (possibly with the help of Blitz, p. XX) to reignite the fires of the greatest war the world has ever known. Whether you prefer him as noble scion of a a new order of alien-infused Nazism or as a thawedout throwback to a lost age of heroes and villains, Iron Cross’ demeanor and mannerisms remain constant. A calculating, self-interested genius, Iron Cross cloaks himself in Nazi ideology but is most interested in maintaining and expanding his leadership role and life of privilege. The Skoviak known their plan will fail if Earth develops meaningful space travel before the Third Generation achieves maturity, predicted about 2020. Accordingly, Iron Cross and his ODESSA agents work to thwart experiments into space travel and to hunt down and destroy all evidence of extra terrestrials in order to shepherd a skeptical populace. Characters from other planets or those who benefit from alien technology might encounter a surprise visit from Iron Cross, which could put the player characters on a trail that leads straight to high adventure in Neu-Schwabenland. Iron Cross dislikes American and European superheroes, particularly those who clothe themselves in patriotic garb. He peppers battle banter with references to how current opponents could never cut it in the “golden age” of heroics. If one of your heroes maintains a legacy that goes back to the 1940s, Iron Cross presents an interesting opportunity to provide an alternate viewpoint of the player character’s predecessor. Perhaps Iron Cross reveals something unflattering about the character, maintaining that the hero always ended a fight unconscious, or that he or she once confided in him that they agreed with Nazi sentiments. (Depending upon how darkly your campaign views the world, perhaps some of these insinuations are true). TACTICS Iron Cross has been in the superhuman business since the 1940s, and he fights like a man who has benefited from decades of experience. He seldom puts himself in unnecessary danger, frequently shooting grounded opponents from the safety of the air. An arrogant braggart, he has trouble resisting a one-on-one fight with a similarly powerful character or a character who represents a legacy that goes back to the so-called Golden Age. In melee combat, he prefers to bash opponents with foreign objects such as cars, streetsigns, or steel girders. He occasionally peppers his fight commentary with bad puns and pithy quips in the tradition of other 1940s superhumans. “The Thousand-Year Reich lives with the birth of the Third Generation, and the Third Generation lives by my leave.” Power Level: 17 Concept: Nazi Übermensch Overlord Name: Unrevealed Base of Operations: Berlin, 1943 Group Affiliation: Nazi Party, ODESSA Nationality: German (Neu-Schwabenland) Age: Unknown Height: 6’6” Weight: 280 lbs. Eyes: Blue Hair: Unknown GAME STATISTICS Iron Cross: PL 17; Init +4 (Dex); Defense 29 (+15 base, +4 Dex); Spd 30 ft., fly 50 ft.; Atk +20 melee (+15S, punch), +19 ranged (+15L, blaster pistol); SV Dmg +4 (Protection +10), Fort +4, Ref +4, Will +2; Str 20, Dex 18, Con 18, Int 14, Wis 14, Cha 16. Skills: Bluff +5+4cha, Language (French, German), Listen +2wis+10ss, Pilot +10+4dex, Search +2int+10ss, Spot +2wis+10ss. Feats: Durability, Immunity (aging, cold, electricity, exhaustion, pressure, radiation, suffocation). Powers: Flight +10 [Source: Mutation; Cost: 2 pp; Total: 20 pp], Super-Senses +10 [Source: Mutation; Cost: 2 pp; Total: 20 pp], Super-Strength +10 [Extra: Protection; Source: Mutation; Cost: 5 pp; Total: 50 pp]. Equipment: Blaster pistol (+15L), iron mask [Effect: Sensory Protection +10; Power Stunts: Radio Broadcast, Radio Hearing; Source: SuperScience; Cost: 1 pp; Total: 12 pp]. CAPERS Seven Priceless Paintings!: Recently, several previously unknown masterpieces by the World War II-era German painter Alfe Strasse have surfaced in international art circles. Shadowy agents of ODESSA are killing to get them back. An investigation into Strasse reveals that the master vanished at the end of World War II, and was presumed to have been killed during the Allied invasion of Berlin. All trails lead to a Chilean art dealer, who in turn leads the PCs to legends of Neu-Schwabenland, where Strasse and hundreds of other cultural figures were smuggled in the era of the Nuremberg Trials. A trip to Neu-Schwabenland, naturally, leads to a confrontation with Iron Cross. Goering’s Diary: Reichmaster Herman Goering, Adolf Hitler’s hand-selected would-be successor, distastefully referred to Iron Cross as “the foreigner” in his diary, which refers to an “Antarctic mountain range” as the German superhuman’s final destination. ODESSA badly wants Goering’s diary, and is willing to kill whomever it needs to in order to retrieve it. Why? What happens when the diary falls into the hands of the player characters? Look for more exclusive Crooks! previews only on mutantsandmasterminds.com ▫ ERIC CANETE GEOFF ONG
IRON CROSS 64 EC GO BACKGROUND While the Americans created their first superhumans through scientific experiment, Germany’s Third Reich took a more cost-effective approach. In the early years of the war, Nazi scientists and secret agents skulked around the United States and Western Europe, kidnapping foreign superhumans for dissection and replication in German labs. This grisly craft gained its greatest success in 1943 when Everyman, the original American superhuman, vanished while flying a reconnaissance mission over Berlin. Months later, a demented Nazi trio called V3 appeared, boasting the powers of America’s foremost champion. Later that year, another apparent Everyman offshoot took the field, a masked aristocratic übermensch who called himself Iron Cross. Iron Cross (Eisenkreuz) clothed himself in the regalia of Nazism, his features concealed by an elaborate mechanical iron mask. He spread his fame thwarting crimes on the German homefront, casting rumors about his identity to every state of Germany. Popular legend considered him a top Luftwaffe flight leader disfigured in combat and granted fabulous power in remembrance of his brave sacrifice to the Reich. His legend soon reached the ear of Adolf Hitler, who made Iron Cross his personal bodyguard and special consultant in 1944. With allied soldiers on Berlin’s doorstep, the Furher struck out desperately at London itself, sending all of his superhumans to England with orders to destroy the British capital. The Nazi team encountered a well-prepared Victory Legion of American and European heroes, and the resulting battle soon became history’s bloodiest superhuman conflict. A dozen combatants and hundreds of civilians lost their lives. Realizing a lost cause, Iron Cross quit the field, vanishing completely from public life. For much of the next decade, he worked behind the scenes as the supreme commander of ODESSA, a secret society of German special agents who ensured the safe passage of Nazi war criminals and German artistic and scientific geniuses from occupied Germany to a secluded Antarctic refuge called Neu-Schwabenland. Iron Cross and his agents ferried their charges away from the public eye using “flying saucer” vessels developed too late to tilt the war against the Allies. Later, he came to the rescue of migrating Nazis in South America, giving birth to a cottage industry of Iron Cross sightings that saw the United States and Israel dispatch agent after fruitless agent in an impossible mission to catch him in the act, or even to confirm that he was still alive. 65 NAZI ÜBERMENSCH OVERLORD Confirmation arrived in full in 1958, when META-4 agents Gavin Pierce and Johnny Calhoun encountered Iron Cross and a cadre of Nazi goons on Easter Island. The Americans had come to Rapa Nui to investigate a mysterious chamber discovered by archeologists beneath one of the island’s largest monoliths; the Nazis presumably came to destroy that chamber. Iron Cross made short work of Pierce and his allies, brutally dispatching them with stunning displays of super-strength. Before the Nazi supervillain could kill Johnny Calhoun, Pierce pried open the chamber’s seals, releasing a powerful alien being named Aton, trapped on the island since his vessel crashed there centuries ago. Aton routed Iron Cross and went on to become the celebrated Ancient Astronaut. Iron Cross once again vanished from history, returning once again to the solitude of Neu-Schwabenland. Connecting rumors of Nazi flying saucers to their apparent interest in the Ancient Astronaut revealed that the Antarctic Germans were interested in outer space and alien races, but couldn’t hope to hint at the extent to which NeuSchwabenland had become immersed in the world of the extra terrestrial. After finally reaching the Nazi compound, loyal Germans were informed that their government had, since the mid-1930s, received technological assistance from the Skoviak, a reptillain alien race who wished to see Germany dominate Earth. Caring nothing of human politics, the Skoviak valued only the Aryan genetic stock, which bonded easily with Skoviak DNA to create perfect “invisible” agents. Overtly aligned to Nazi ideals, these deep cover spies would insinuate themselves into human society, achieving positions of importance and awaiting the opportunity to turn the planet over to the Skoviak without shedding unnecessary blood or wasting natural resources in a violent invasion. Immediately before his death at the end of the Second World War, Adolf Hitler predicted that the “Third Generation” of Nazis would rise once again and claim the world as its own. While angry militant twentysomethings throughout Europe follow the career of the Nazi rock diva Blitz, arrogantly thinking themselves fulfilling Hitler’s prophecy, the true third generation of German/Skoviak crossbreeds are just being born in Neu-Schwabenland, already preparing for the day when they will join their parents and grandparents in the world beyond the Blizzard Doors. When three generations of Skoviak moles hold positions of influence in world governments and the boards of directors of multinational corporations the coup will be complete, and Adolf Hitler’s final words will ring true from his unmarked pauper’s grave. USING IRON CROSS Don’t fancy mixing your Nazis with your aliens, but like the idea of a World War II-era menace reaching forward from history to touch the lives of your heroes? Ditch the alien element and make NeuSchwabenland a very terrestrial compound developed by ODESSA following the war. In this scenario, even the best Nazi engineering couldn’t keep a community as large as New Berlin alive for so long without a healthy dose of obligatory comic book catastrophe. Some time in the 1950s, the subterranean city’s Blizzard Doors collapsed, plunging the compound into deadly cold. Neu-Schwabenland’s citizens died within hours. Somehow, Iron Cross survived, although his body entered a cold-induced torpor he endures to this day. The player characters become involved when contacts in the government or scientific community discover the entrance to Neu-Schwabenland while conducting a geological survey of Antarctica. Opening the damaged Blizzard Doors only to discover once-opulent swastika-emblazoned hallways, the authorities decide to enlist superhuman help. Once discovered and thawed, Iron Cross attempts to escape, taking control of existing pro-Nazi subcultures (possibly with the help of Blitz, p. XX) to reignite the fires of the greatest war the world has ever known. Whether you prefer him as noble scion of a a new order of alien-infused Nazism or as a thawedout throwback to a lost age of heroes and villains, Iron Cross’ demeanor and mannerisms remain constant. A calculating, self-interested genius, Iron Cross cloaks himself in Nazi ideology but is most interested in maintaining and expanding his leadership role and life of privilege. The Skoviak known their plan will fail if Earth develops meaningful space travel before the Third Generation achieves maturity, predicted about 2020. Accordingly, Iron Cross and his ODESSA agents work to thwart experiments into space travel and to hunt down and destroy all evidence of extra terrestrials in order to shepherd a skeptical populace. Characters from other planets or those who benefit from alien technology might encounter a surprise visit from Iron Cross, which could put the player characters on a trail that leads straight to high adventure in Neu-Schwabenland. Iron Cross dislikes American and European superheroes, particularly those who clothe themselves in patriotic garb. He peppers battle banter with references to how current opponents could never cut it in the “golden age” of heroics. If one of your heroes maintains a legacy that goes back to the 1940s, Iron Cross presents an interesting opportunity to provide an alternate viewpoint of the player character’s predecessor. Perhaps Iron Cross reveals something unflattering about the character, maintaining that the hero always ended a fight unconscious, or that he or she once confided in him that they agreed with Nazi sentiments. (Depending upon how darkly your campaign views the world, perhaps some of these insinuations are true). TACTICS Iron Cross has been in the superhuman business since the 1940s, and he fights like a man who has benefited from decades of experience. He seldom puts himself in unnecessary danger, frequently shooting grounded opponents from the safety of the air. An arrogant braggart, he has trouble resisting a one-on-one fight with a similarly powerful character or a character who represents a legacy that goes back to the so-called Golden Age. In melee combat, he prefers to bash opponents with foreign objects such as cars, streetsigns, or steel girders. He occasionally peppers his fight commentary with bad puns and pithy quips in the tradition of other 1940s superhumans. “The Thousand-Year Reich lives with the birth of the Third Generation, and the Third Generation lives by my leave.” Power Level: 17 Concept: Nazi Übermensch Overlord Name: Unrevealed Base of Operations: Berlin, 1943 Group Affiliation: Nazi Party, ODESSA Nationality: German (Neu-Schwabenland) Age: Unknown Height: 6’6” Weight: 280 lbs. Eyes: Blue Hair: Unknown GAME STATISTICS Iron Cross: PL 17; Init +4 (Dex); Defense 29 (+15 base, +4 Dex); Spd 30 ft., fly 50 ft.; Atk +20 melee (+15S, punch), +19 ranged (+15L, blaster pistol); SV Dmg +4 (Protection +10), Fort +4, Ref +4, Will +2; Str 20, Dex 18, Con 18, Int 14, Wis 14, Cha 16. Skills: Bluff +5+4cha, Language (French, German), Listen +2wis+10ss, Pilot +10+4dex, Search +2int+10ss, Spot +2wis+10ss. Feats: Durability, Immunity (aging, cold, electricity, exhaustion, pressure, radiation, suffocation). Powers: Flight +10 [Source: Mutation; Cost: 2 pp; Total: 20 pp], Super-Senses +10 [Source: Mutation; Cost: 2 pp; Total: 20 pp], Super-Strength +10 [Extra: Protection; Source: Mutation; Cost: 5 pp; Total: 50 pp]. Equipment: Blaster pistol (+15L), iron mask [Effect: Sensory Protection +10; Power Stunts: Radio Broadcast, Radio Hearing; Source: SuperScience; Cost: 1 pp; Total: 12 pp]. CAPERS Seven Priceless Paintings!: Recently, several previously unknown masterpieces by the World War II-era German painter Alfe Strasse have surfaced in international art circles. Shadowy agents of ODESSA are killing to get them back. An investigation into Strasse reveals that the master vanished at the end of World War II, and was presumed to have been killed during the Allied invasion of Berlin. All trails lead to a Chilean art dealer, who in turn leads the PCs to legends of Neu-Schwabenland, where Strasse and hundreds of other cultural figures were smuggled in the era of the Nuremberg Trials. A trip to Neu-Schwabenland, naturally, leads to a confrontation with Iron Cross. Goering’s Diary: Reichmaster Herman Goering, Adolf Hitler’s hand-selected would-be successor, distastefully referred to Iron Cross as “the foreigner” in his diary, which refers to an “Antarctic mountain range” as the German superhuman’s final destination. ODESSA badly wants Goering’s diary, and is willing to kill whomever it needs to in order to retrieve it. Why? What happens when the diary falls into the hands of the player characters? Look for more exclusive Crooks! previews only on mutantsandmasterminds.com ▫ ERIC CANETE GEOFF ONG
SPASM 64 EC GO BACKGROUND Merrill Bergie was born a sickly child in a rural Midwestern community in the late sixties. By then, costumed superheroes were just the tip of the parahuman iceberg, as mutants with enhanced senses and super-human intellects flooded the private sector, bolstering the American economy. Radical therapy was cheap and readily available for nearly any affliction. Young Merrill’s parents placed him in a program to strengthen his compromised constitution. But for the injections and the blue light that kind of burned, the child enjoyed his weekly trips into the city. By the age of 10, Merrill was not only healthy, but as strong as an ox. Unfortunately, later studies suggested a connection between the drug he had been administered, Panthelox-73, and an increased occurrence of psychotic rage. Merry made the most of his newfound vigor, leading his high school football team to a state victory. If not for a number of disciplinary incidents, including a narrowly avoided charge of manslaughter, Bergie could have easily enjoyed a high-profile scholarship. His exceptional athleticism made him something of a small-town celebrity, so he easily made the transition to sports entertainment. Over the next ten years, he clawed his way from backyard wrestling to the top of the Global Gladiatorial Federation. Though claiming to favor “man’s natural strength and cunning” over the use of parahuman abilities, this utterly corrupt pseudo-sport frequently dumped very dangerous, unstable “powered” individuals into the ring against each other. Of course, GGF matches soon became the most popular media events of all time. Washed-up middle-aged superheroes, battle androids, and kooks with bizarre motifs looking to make a name for themselves were common sights on weekly televised matches. Bergie, fighting under the name Earl Duke and advertised as a “common man,” was an easy fan favorite. Duke’s agent, a sinister Hollywood player named Nolly Pratt, managed a number of very popular “gladiators.” Though pitching them all as merely well-trained fighters, Pratt maintained a lucrative partnership with a French pharmaceutical company, Renard Prochem, which provided numerous performance-enhancing cocktails designed to slip by the Federation’s loose drug testing. The French firm’s dodgy ethics caused its share of casualties, and in reality, Renard used the pit fights to field test combat serums intended for the black market. But the serums were far from perfect, and few gladiators escaped unscathed. “time to lay on the hurt!” Power Level: 12 Concept: Raw Nerve of Rage Name: Earl Duke Other Aliases: Merrill Bergie Base of Operations: Global Affiliation: None Nationality: American Age: 35 Height: 7’2” Weight: 430 lbs. Eyes: Blue Hair: N/A ▫ ERIC CANETE GEOFF ONG
65 RAW NERVE OF RAGE Despite his riches and noteriety, Earl Duke’s body was being painfully eaten away by the chemicals that helped make him so popular. Duke managed to return to the ring numerous times after injuries and neuromuscular problems that would have killed the average man. When he could fight no more, Pratt tried to transition him into Hollywood, starring him in a pair of wretched family action movies, Nuclear Mailman and Submarine Mountain. On set, the star was violent and petulant, often physically accosting crew members before collapsing in pain. Earl Duke was reduced to a caricature, and even his legion of diehard fans, the Dukesters, drifted away. His physical condition deteriorated suddenly. Swollen, calcified muscles erupted painfully through his skin, while barbed tendons and cartilage twisted and bore through his internal tissue. Pratt took pity on his friend, and secretly flew him to Switzerland to undergo experimental treatment under the direct supervision of Renard doctors. The physicians did the best they could to stabilize Duke’s condition. Unfortunately, the Penthelox-73 he had been administered as a child reacted unexpectedly with the Renard treatments. Earl Duke emerged with a disturbing array of parahuman abilities. Knowing he could never return to his previous life of celebrity, and gracious to Pratt and Renard, Duke, now known as Spasm, Master of Pain, comfortably made the transition to international enforcer and mercenary. USING SPASM Spasm has accepted his lot as a follower. By trusting in Pratt, he has tasted a great deal of success. In Spasm’s mind, Pratt saved him, and as a result, Spasm is a loyal soldier. He rarely questions missions handed down from Renard, and enjoys the travel and violence. Strangely, Spasm directs his rage over his physical condition toward popular superheroes. He is bitter that his star faded from public memory so quickly, and believes that the fickle American public chewed his body up, turning him into a pop-culture joke. Spasm does not respond well to taunts or jabs at his former celebrity, and is quick to fly off the handle when confronted by costumed, media-whore heroes. When not fighting, Spasm is dimwitted and crass. He is a consummate bully who enjoys frightening old women, children, and pets. The only way he knows to get his way is through intimidation and threats. While obsequious to his superiors, Spasm rarely has the foresight to determine which asses to kick, and which to kiss. TACTICS Although he is well equipped to fight a number of opponents simultaneously on his own, Spasm is also well suited to act as the lynch-pin in a coordinated team attack, as long as he can keep his temper in check and avoid mental attacks. In such cases, Spasm focuses on the “pretty boys,” especially flyers, who try to stay out of the melee and utilize ranged attacks. He hides on a perch, lashing out with his unwound muscles and tendons at maximum range of 30 feet. Spasm uses his Elasticity only to extend the reach of his flaying attacks. The calcified barbs, enzymatic acids, and raw bio-electricity of this meat-scourge make it a threat to heroes who otherwise consider themselves invulnerable. With a successful strike, he attempts to initiate a grapple, neutralize the opponent’s powers, and either overwhelm him with the searing pain of his Fatigue power, or simply throttle him with a Choke Hold. Thanks to Improved Grapple, he is capable of doing this with one hand free. In a free-for-all, Spasm targets the biggest, baddest-looking hero in an attempt to prove “they ain’t so tough!” Thanks to his resilient and pliant physiology, and the hit he recovers every other round due to his Regeneration, in many instances he’s right. GAME STATISTICS Spasm: PL 12; Init +3 (Dex); Defense 23 (+10 base, +3 Dex); Spd 30 ft.; Atk +15 melee (12L/reach 30’/crit19–20/Penetrating Attack x3, slam); SV Dmg +10, Fort +7, Ref +3, Will -1; Str 18, Dex 16, Con 20, Int 10, Wis 9, Cha 12. Skills: Climb +12, Hide +6, Intimidate +13, Move Silently +6, Taunt +4. Feat: Ambidexterity, Attack Focus (unarmed), Choke Hold, Endurance, Great Fortitude, Improved Critical, Improved Grapple, Improved Pin, Penetrating Attack (unarmed) x3, Startle. Powers: Amazing Save (Damage) +5 [Source: Super Science; Cost: 1 pp; Total: 5 pp], Elasticity +6 [Extra: Protection; Source: Mutation; Cost: 5 pp; Total: 30 pp], Fatigue +10 [Flaw: Range (Touch); Source: Mutation; Cost: 1pp; Total: 10 pp], Natural Weapon +4 [Extra: Climbing; Source: Mutation; Cost: 3 pp; Total: 12 pp], Neutralize +10 [Flaw: Range (Touch); Source: Mutation; Cost: 1 pp; Total: 10 pp], Regenerate +5 [Extra: Regrowth; Source: Mutation; Cost: 3 pp; Total: 15pp], Super-Strength +4 [Source: Super Science; Cost: 3 pp; Total: 12 pp]. Weaknesses: Disturbing. Spasm’s skin varies in consistency from a mucus-like film, like the skin of a tadpole, to a tough weave of strong, silky fibers. It frequently splits, seeps bloody fluid, and regrows. Like visceral serpents, his muscle tissue undulates, often visibly beneath the surface, cracking and reknitting his skeleton. Understandably, Spasm rarely shows his face, and cannot move about in public without illiciting screams of terror. Unlucky. For whatever cosmic reason, Spasm is an incredible screw-up who often snatches defeat from the jaws of victory. His unique brand of reckless ignorance has led to an accidental self-electrocution on more than one occasion. How this misfortune manifests itself is left to the discretion of the Gamemaster. Vulnerable (electricity). Renard’s bio-chemicals and numerous sports injuries have ravaged Spasm’s nervous system. Many of his nerves are grotesquely enlarged and exposed, and while they carry a jellyfish-like sting, they are vulnerable to electrical surges. Spasm finds these attacks mindnumbingly painful and attempts to avoid heroes with any electrical motif or cybernetic powers. CAPERS Show Me the Muscle: Authorities have evidence that Nolly Pratt is seeding other professional sports with parahuman ringers. Heroes are brought in by the police, team owners, or even gambling interests to infiltrate a professional sports team without revealing their powers. Once their true nature is discovered, the heroes are set upon by athletic goons, using sports-related weapons and the Motif feat. Whether challenged on ice by hockey players with bladed sticks and explosive pucks or thrown onto the pitch with their hands in manacles to face an evil team of soccer players enhanced by Renard drugs, the players should find themselves out of their element. Signs inevitably point to Pratt and Renard, but by the time the heroes confront Spasm and mercenary allies (such as Player 2), the evidence will have been destroyed. Zombie Super Villains Must Die!: The Kevorkian Retreat*, a privately funded treatment center for parahuman sociopaths, is under a nightmarish siege. Drugs supplied by Renard Prochem to suppress super-powers have had apocalyptic side effects on the residents of the facility’s morgue. Upon death, the chemicals act as a strange catalyst in the pineal gland. The cadavers rise as mindless zombies still wielding their parahuman abilities. After an unfortunate PR debacle, the heroes have been incarcerated, sans costumes and equipment, at the retreat. An obligatory power outage causes heroes’ restraints and power suppression devices to fail, freeing them just as the zombies rise. This is a creepy opportunity for the heroes to confront villains and bystanders they have deliberately or accidentally slain. Another unfortunate sideeffect of the Renard drug is the zombies’ apparent subservience to recent guest Spasm and whatever allies he’s recruited from the sanitarium patients. *Calvin Kevorkian, son of the famous Dr. Jack Kevorkian, is a preeminent authority on parahuman deviant psychology. Look for more exclusive Crooks! previews only on mutantsandmasterminds.com
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