"Let's get this straight. YOU'RE the sidekick!" A Mutants & Masterminds Camp. Journal

[D-naras]

For a spontaneous session it sure ties up well with the rest. Nice job man.

So, McCrow played Steinz and his friend played Zing? Who was playing crazy diamond lady? And Mann is really dead, not comic book dead??? What about that lady that could heal? Can't she put him back together?

[Mono Vertigo]

... I think Steinz is the creepiest so far, and that's saying a lot.

[Sith_Happens]

1. You sure like setting up your PC groups to interfere with each other's goals, don't you?

2. I guess this explains where Tiffany decided to go after the Tree King Trophy Incident.

3. It took me a bit to figure out who was playing whom, but as soon as Steinz tried to kick in a door it clicked. "Definitely Roger/Mann's player forgetting that he has a lower Strength score now."

[D-naras]

1. You sure like setting up your PC groups to interfere with each other's goals, don't you?

2. I guess this explains where Tiffany decided to go after the Tree King Trophy Incident.

3. It took me a bit to figure out who was playing whom, but as soon as Steinz tried to kick in a door it clicked. "Definitely Roger/Mann's player forgetting that he has a lower Strength score now."

The ease of the character within the setting tipped me off actually.

[Kid Jake]

For a spontaneous session it sure ties up well with the rest. Nice job man.

So, McCrow played Steinz and his friend played Zing? Who was playing crazy diamond lady? And Mann is really dead, not comic book dead??? What about that lady that could heal? Can't she put him back together?

Thanks

Yeah, his friend hasn't read the journal, so he was still under the impression that they were heroes; rather than just different varieties of superhuman sociopaths. It kinda fits the 'confused homeless guy' concept though, and I hope he stays with it if he comes back.

Tiffany was played by McCrow's girlfriend as usual, I've thought about helping her come up with a second character like the guys have; but her character's fairly mercenary and has made it clear she works for anyone that flashes cash at her; so it makes sense that she'd change sides every few days.

I don't want to get too into what's up with Mann yet, but he's pretty wrecked. He's still alive, but if he walks again it'll be miraculous. Stardust could heal some of him, but she's MIA. I've talked to my sister a bit about how she'd like the character played as an NPC and she had....interesting ideas, that didn't involve either the DHS or McCrow and Friends.

... I think Steinz is the creepiest so far, and that's saying a lot.

I honestly didn't do him justice either, his player made a very convincing speech for everything he asked someone to do; no matter how horrible it was. Also, the way he described Steinz MO was "First I berate them (lower their willsave), then I control them (Mind Control), then I talk them into killing themselves(Suffocate). And THEN I got superpowers."

1. You sure like setting up your PC groups to interfere with each other's goals, don't you?

2. I guess this explains where Tiffany decided to go after the Tree King Trophy Incident.

3. It took me a bit to figure out who was playing whom, but as soon as Steinz tried to kick in a door it clicked. "Definitely Roger/Mann's player forgetting that he has a lower Strength score now."

It fosters an air of co-operative backstabbing that I find amusing, especially when they go out of their way to screw over their own characters.

I'm pretty sure she's just been knocking over jewelry stores and generally behaving like you'd imagine a petty thief that's gained superpowers would act. I thought it'd be fun to put someone as volatile and destructive as her in charge for a session, so I reasoned that Wilson/The Killer is basically just using the project to advance a few of his own petty rivalries and needed someone that wouldn't ask questions when they heard the phrase 'No survivors.'

Heh, Dr Steinz original response to hearing that there were robots was "Do I see a coffee shop on this street? I think I'm going to sit this one out." When I told him that there wasn't, he said that he'd feel awkward waiting in the car by himself and moved to find a back entrance instead.



Also D-Naras, McCrow's player loved the picture and has set it as his Facebook image now. Several times during the last game he talked up McCrow/Fanboy and how Tiffany was obviously part of the B-Team. Every time she referred to McCrow as some variation of a sad old man without pants he'd respond with "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize that YOU had fanart too. What...what's that? You don't?"

[D-naras]

...
Also D-Naras, McCrow's player loved the picture and has set it as his Facebook image now. Several times during the last game he talked up McCrow/Fanboy and how Tiffany was obviously part of the B-Team. Every time she referred to McCrow as some variation of a sad old man without pants he'd respond with "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize that YOU had fanart too. What...what's that? You don't?"

Oh , that's awesome! I am free to take requests from you and your players as well as anyone else that frequents this thread. It should be good practice!

[Grim Portent]

Someone needs to hang a sign on the general's door that says 'Please do not feed the psychopath superpowers'.

[Sith_Happens]

Someone needs to hang a sign on the general's door that says 'Please do not feed the psychopath superpowers'.

I don't know about a sign, but that'll definitely be a fun conversation whenever Tiffany decides to meet up with the Warehouse Crew again.

Fanboy: "So, uh... Dare I ask what you've been up to?"
Tiffany: "Oh, you know, just your run of the mill black-ops stuff for the DHS."
Fanboy: "...The DHS?"
Tiffany: "Yeah, the new head honcho and me really see eye to eye on the whole 'body count' thing."
Fanboy: "...Did he touch you at all?"
Tiffany: "'Touch me?' Are you some kind of ****ing perv now? Because I fully intend to keep things at the 'handshake' level thank you very much."
Fanboy: "I MEANT LIKE A HANDSHAKE YOU IDIOT, HE'S THE ****ING SERIAL KILLER AND HE HAS YOUR POWERS NOW!"
Tiffany: O_O

[Sartharina]

I hope the friend sticks with the campaign as well, and becomes a true superhero, instead of sociopath with hero powers.

[Mustafu]

Screw Tiffany, I can't believe you're putting a leash on me -_-

[Kid Jake]

Oh , that's awesome! I am free to take requests from you and your players as well as anyone else that frequents this thread. It should be good practice!

Awesome, we'll probably take you up on that.

Someone needs to hang a sign on the general's door that says 'Please do not feed the psychopath superpowers'.

Yeah, but the general isn't really the general. He WANTS to encourage these people to tear each other to pieces.

I don't know about a sign, but that'll definitely be a fun conversation whenever Tiffany decides to meet up with the Warehouse Crew again.

Fanboy: "So, uh... Dare I ask what you've been up to?"
Tiffany: "Oh, you know, just your run of the mill black-ops stuff for the DHS."
Fanboy: "...The DHS?"
Tiffany: "Yeah, the new head honcho and me really see eye to eye on the whole 'body count' thing."
Fanboy: "...Did he touch you at all?"
Tiffany: "'Touch me?' Are you some kind of ****ing perv now? Because I fully intend to keep things at the 'handshake' level thank you very much."
Fanboy: "I MEANT LIKE A HANDSHAKE YOU IDIOT, HE'S THE ****ING SERIAL KILLER AND HE HAS YOUR POWERS NOW!"
Tiffany: O_O

Pretty much word for word how I see it going.

I hope the friend sticks with the campaign as well, and becomes a true superhero, instead of sociopath with hero powers.

Yeah, his blind optimism would be a nice clash if nothing else. While the group may not be heroes in the strictest sense though, they're usually sometimes the lesser of two evils and they've probably done more good than harm, so long as you don't consider the mass murder of career criminals harmful.

You also might be interested to know that we've discussed putting together a heroic game in the same setting, albeit with powers that are more often obstacles to overcome than assets to brag about (which doesn't stop them from going to their heads). We're calling it The Watch, it'll be set about 5-6 years in the future and will follow a mostly superpowered, overly enthusiastic neighborhood watch trying to keep the peace in the Newly Sovereign Nation of Ventnor City.

Screw Tiffany, I can't believe you're putting a leash on me -_-

Is this because Tiffany doesn't need to breathe in space? You knew that I was always going to try and sabotage that one way or another.

[Sith_Happens]

Is this because Tiffany doesn't need to breathe in space? You knew that I was always going to try and sabotage that one way or another.

I think he means how Dr. Steinz's power is basically tailor-made for keeping Michael in line.

[Kid Jake]

I think he means how Dr. Steinz's power is basically tailor-made for keeping Michael in line.

Wow, that didn't even occur to me for some reason.

Spoiler

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Despite his abilities, Steinz is a creature of chaos. He's very much based on Hannibal Lecter and his player's mentioned that he's going to be the devil sitting on Michael's shoulder, attempting to strip him of what humanity remains and turning Stockton into the same sort of unrepentant monster as himself. Basically attempting to encourage Michael's berserker persona to replace the real him, under the guise of helping him rid himself of it.

If anything, he's hoping to unleash him.

[Grim Portent]

Hmm, I'm wondering now what would happen if Tree King or Brick's powers were absorbed.

Would they look human again? Would Wilson turn into a monster? Would it just not be possible to absorb them?

[Kid Jake]

We've discussed that and the consensus is that he isn't willing to risk it to find out. It seems like the fact that they can't change at will would suggest that he couldn't either, so it really wouldn't be worth it.

Also, since he has to touch his victim skin to skin, it's possible that neither Brick nor Tree King's powers COULD be absorbed without disassembling them beforehand to find their gooey bits.

[GorinichSerpant]

As I finished Kill La Kill before reading this, Dr.Steinz will forever be drawn in that art style within my head cannon, despite the fact that everyone else isn't.

Dr.Steinz is really a horrifying character when you think about it. Sure Brick can smash you into a pancake, Luvless can varporise you, Tiffany can shred you, etc., etc. but if Dr.Steinz wants you dead, you won't even notice what happened.

Also the fantastic fan art doesn't seem to show up for me, so I don't know the wonders of those drawings.

[Kid Jake]

Plus with the way Steinz operates, even if you somehow miraculously survived you'd still think that you WANTED to die, even if you can't remember exactly why.

[Jacob.Tyr]

Plus with the way Steinz operates, even if you somehow miraculously survived you'd still think that you WANTED to die, even if you can't remember exactly why.

This is terrifying in almost every way. Does it have an additional effect - Ennui linked to it or is that just a given?

[Kid Jake]

The way Dr Steinz is built his powers are all based on a subtle hypnotic effect that requires a Diplomacy check to activate. The way he's fluffed he basically just plants the thought in your head and you take it from there. Granted it's to such an absurd degree that your subconscious won't even let you breathe once you pass out once he's convinced you it's a bad idea; but his social skills are so beefy that he didn't even notice when the General stole his powers for a few days because he's naturally manipulative enough that people still did what he wanted.

Spoiler

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His player more or less outright stated that he's been abusing his position for years, talking people into taking questionable actions for his own amusement. He's partially based on a character from Dexter who kept talking his patients into killing themselves for reasons that escape me at the moment.

Also Mustafy/Fanboy pointed out last night that we've basically completed the Captain Planet roster now. McCrow, Brick, Fire Guy, Captain Mr. Amazing and Dr. Steinz apparently has the power of Heart.

[D-naras]

And what a black, black heart it is... Your guys are the grimdark-the Boys version of Captain Planet.

[Kid Jake]

And what a black, black heart it is... Your guys are the grimdark-the Boys version of Captain Planet.

"With your powers combined, I'm Captain Militant Environmentalism!"

Now I just need to introduce a deranged Ted Turner styled billionaire that tries to sew them all together to fight pollution.

[Grim Portent]

"With your powers combined, I'm Captain Militant Environmentalism!"

Now I just need to introduce a deranged Ted Turner styled billionaire that tries to sew them all together to fight pollution.

I think Steinz would also need to get a pet monkey wouldn't he?

Tree King could be Gaia.

[GorinichSerpant]

"With your powers combined, I'm Captain Militant Environmentalism!"

Now I just need to introduce a deranged Ted Turner styled billionaire that tries to sew them all together to fight pollution.

While turning a blind eye to everything but pollution. War, natural disasters, alien invasions, all that doesn't matter, we need to focus on solving pollution guys.

[Grim Portent]

Also Mustafy/Fanboy pointed out last night that we've basically completed the Captain Planet roster now. McCrow, Brick, Fire Guy, Captain Mr. Amazing and Dr. Steinz apparently has the power of Heart.

Earth!
Fire!
Wind!
Water!
Mind Control!

[Kid Jake]

I think Steinz would also need to get a pet monkey wouldn't he?

Tree King could be Gaia.

That's what he has Michael for.

Of course Tree King has about as much respect for the earth as he does its people, just one more thing to take his frustrations out on. Of course since nobody else really cares either, maybe he'd be a perfect fit after all. Gaia always seemed bitter to me anyway.

While turning a blind eye to everything but pollution. War, natural disasters, alien invasions, all that doesn't matter, we need to focus on solving pollution guys.

Any loser can stop the Skrull from enslaving the world as we know it, it takes a REAL hero to destroy oil derricks and save the endangered white speckled owl from poachers.

Earth!
Fire!
Wind!
Water!
Mind Control!

Hey, at least he's honest.

I'm sure if Ma-Ti had thought of just making...whoever the ratman was just kill himself out of regret, most of those episodes would have lasted about 3 minutes apiece and I could've gotten back to spending my Saturdays watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

[Drakeburn]

This has probably been the most entertaining Campaign Journal I have ever read.

McGrow's shenanigans have always made me crack up. So I cannot wait for the next session.

Keep it up!

[Kid Jake]

Thanks, always glad to hear that we entertain.

[Lock Otype]

As an RPG newbie, I really want to try M&M now. Great read!

[Mustafu]

We may have to do the next session online or something because my schedule is about to get really crazy with work and the move.

[Jacob.Tyr]

We may have to do the next session online or something because my schedule is about to get really crazy with work and the move.

Record/stream that ****.