Issue 1

After all that set up the group was primed and ready for action. Here's an account of what when down the first session.

Barrier and Apogee arrive at the Ikarus launch command center with Valkyrie and enter the facility amid a hail of photo flashes. Apogee poses grandly for pictures as the press' attention is drawn towards the familiar airborn sight of Star City's premiere superhero Champion arriving fashionably late to meet them. The heroes exchange greetings and then head inside to prepare for the launch. Dr. Elena Mitchum greets them and briefly goes over the flight plan. She then subjects them to a battery of tests before their all cleared for the journey. The Heroes are all then lead to the portal room where they are teleported to the Ikarus. This is Barrier's and Apogee's first portal experience and it doesn't go very well for them. After a quick clean up the flight crew prepares the warp drives for a jump.
Elsewhere, Mungo Man, Voltz and The Temporalist wait in one of Dr. Omega's conference rooms to start the mission. They wait for another of Omega's hirelings, a Rogue named Oni, to take control of the Ikarus' portal room so they can beam aboard. Dr. Omega hands the Rogues each a device.
"It's a shunt. An emergency portal device. Keep it on you at all times if you want to make it back to base safely."
The Temporalist, never being a trusting man, decides to open the device and get a look. Being a man of science himself he easily opens the casing and checks it out. Not all looks in order, and in his expert assessment, the item doesn't do exactly what Omega claims. But before the Temporalist can figure it out the device explodes. He's thrown to the ground but his pride is hurt more than anything else. Dr. Omega's Omega-men surround the Rogue and call Omega to the room. The Temporalist takes it in stride telling the others he doesn't trust the device and refuses to use it. Dr. Omega tells them that there is a safety built into the device in case one of them decides to try and turn on them.
"You can refuse to use it if you like. If so, you're going to have to try and get back to earth on your own."
The Temporalist still refuses, but Mungoman and Voltz reluctantly keep their devices. Dr. Omega gives Mungoman one more device, a small disc and tells him he must attach it to the ship's navigational controls and leads them to his portal room. Oni makes contact, she's in position.
The Rogues appear in the Ikarus' portal room with a blast of portal energy. As they try and recover from the disorientation, the see Oni for the first time standing at the portal controls. 2 technicians lie at either side of her and one guard lies next to a severed rifle all unconscious.

"Portal room, we've registered an unscheduled teleportation. Is everything alright?"

The Rogues spring into action without a word between them. On the bridge. "Something's wrong." Valkyrie reports. Barrier springs into action. Valkyrie joins him ordering Champion and Apogee to protect the bridge.

The door to the portal room swishes open as 2 Prescient Industries security guards burst into the room guns leveled. Mungoman, Voltz and the Temporalist make quick work of them as Dr. Omega appears on the portal platform. Barrier makes his way onto the scene with Valkyrie. Mungo Man lashes out with a vicious attack on Barrier only to find it turned back on himself. Oni takes a step back and unceremoniously disappears. The Temporalist lets off a barrage of bullets at the hero only to find them turned back on him as well.
"Fascinating." Dr. Omega blasts the hero with his Omega Ray and Barrier turns away from the attack in pain. Barrier decides to take on Dr. Omega himself but can find little purchase against the powerful rogue.
Mungo Man breaks from the fight and moves into the hallway to join Voltz against Valkyrie. Oni makes short work of the PI Security guards helping the heroes as they find their rifles suddenly sliced in half by an unseen force.
Voltz has managed to throw Valkyrie off her game. She barrages the armored hero with electrically charged fists. "You're not so tough."Voltz gloats over Valkyrie right before a blast of crimson energy smashes her against a near by wall. Champion has joined the fight.
"Get to the bridge!" Omega commands Mungo Man. He complies with a nasty glare for the mastermind. Omega turns towards Barrier and clicks a control on his belt disappearing with a discharge of particle energy. Mungo Man races to the Bridge and runs into Apogee. Before the hero can do anything Mungo Man wraps himself around him tightly. Apogee easily uses his telekinesis to pop the villain off of him. Suddenly the Temporalist appears next to Mungo and takes the navigation device as well as the villains emergency shunt. He heads towards ship controls and a surprised Dr. Mitchum.
Dr. Omega appears on the bridge with a flash of light. He quickly grabs the young Doctor and lifts her off the ground, his gauntleted hand wrapped around her neck just as Champion and the other heroes get enter the bridge. "Ah, ah, ah. One more step and I snap poor Dr. Mitchum's neck."
The heroes quickly surrender. Omega has the rogues gather all of the scientists and heroes together as the Temporalist attaches the navigation device to the ship's computers.
Suddenly a field appears around everyone clustered on the bridge. The field seems to arch from Dr. Omega's henchmen, to all the Rogues wearing shunt devices creating an energy web that traps anyone nearby. Only Dr. Omega and Dr. Mitchum are unaffected. On the bridge monitor a countdown starts for a jump.
"I've been waiting a long time for this Champion." Omega begins his monologue. He tells them how this has all been an elaborate ruse to trap Champion on board and launch him into deep space. He's set the ship for Saturn, a trip that would expend the jump engine's power source leaving them stranded far from earth. The trip back would take decades and they'd all be dead long before that happens. The hero and rogues watch in horror as the countdown gets towards one. But before Omega can finish his gloating and leave, Dr. Mitchum manages to kick the statis field control in the villain's hand. The stasis field drops and Champion launches a vicious attack at Omega. Champion gets 2 quick hits on the villain before anyone can launch their own attacks. And then BOOM! They both disappear in a burst of energy.
Everyone looks towards each other and then the countdown clock. 3-2-1.... JUMP!

Primer

With the back story all set, I sent out emails to both sides to set the stage for our first epic game.

The Heroes set up:

Alpha Force's Star City HQ wasn't exactly what you were expecting. You were thinking something along the lines of it's New York counter part, a glass and metal spiraling affair that defiantly challenges the city's skyline. (Well... technically it's not really glass. It's a high density alien polymer that's a 10 times more resistant than construction steel. Another gift from the Altaari.) Star City's branch is a rather mundane affair. A corporate office building centrally located in the heart of Downtown, simple enough to miss if you were walking by. But this is a rather new installation, and new lot construction on the island is hard to come by.

You've been a formal member of the team for a few weeks now and you still haven't quite gotten used to walking into the lobby in the mornings. You still feel a tad ridiculous striding in in costume and checking in at the lobby. But Gen-F4 (or Jennifer) always makes you feel comfortable. She greets you as bubbly and warm as she does every morning "Good morning gentleman. I trust you're feeling well today." She smiles broadly and you marvel at how she could ever be a construct. "Everyone is getting together for a group meeting in the staging room. I think there are new assignments today." You're pretty sure she- it knows exactly what's going on, but you find her conversational tone comforting. "I have a cup of your preferred morning beverage waiting for you. Have a great day." With a hiss a dispenser door in Jennifer's desk slides open and a small tray with whatever you take in the morning is presented to you. This job definitely has it's perks!

The elevator doors glide open and you stride through a short hallway to find yourself in the Staging Area, Alpha Force's command center. A large circular table dominates the center of the room and you see most of the other Alpha Force members clustered engaging in morning conversation. Red Cross and Blue Shield converse amiably while the Huntsman listens quietly. Valkyrie works on the computer, probably preparing for the days briefing. Titan sits on the floor at his full 12 feet. He can be smaller, but he seems to feel more comfortable at that size. Him and the Comet seem captivated by the enchantress Illuma. You can't help but be captivated yourself. She's supposed to be the reincarnated Sorceress Supreme of Atlantis. something like a magical Dali lama. You've seen her powers in action so you know there's probably something to that claim, but seeing the 18 year old blue skinned girl in a loose fitting blue and foam green tunic makes it a little hard to swallow.

"Barrier and Apogee have arrived." Jennifer's voice announces your presence as you walk into the room. Valkyrie looks up for a moment and returns to the virtual screen hovering all about her. "Hey guys. Come on in. Take a seat." You do as everyone follows suit. Even Titan recedes to a more manageable size to sit at the table. The group welcomes you and quickly transitions into business. Titan and the Comet are assigned to look into a rash of high tech crimes across the city reportedly committed by zombies. Red Cross, Blue Shield and Illuma mention something about volunteering for some reconstruction at the site of a recent super clash in the Northpoint district. Huntsman claims to have leads on a designer drug ring run by the Family. He doesn't want backup. That guy loves working alone. Valkyrie leaves the last bit of business to you.

"Alright rookies. We haven't forgotten about you. You guys have done well on patrol and SoCorp says you were instrumental in helping stop that new super-perp Cacaphony. So I thought I'd throw you a bone and give you something exciting." Valkyrie runs her gantleted hands across the table projection screen and brings up a couple of images. One of Dr. Elena Mitchum, creator of Valkyrie's powered armor. The other of the Ikarus, a shuttle scheduled to launch within the week.

"No doubt you've all heard about the launch this Thursday. No need to tell you how important a launch like this is for the future of our planet (the media's doing a fair job of that.) Well, as a high profile event, Dr. Mitchum is understandably concerned about security during the test. Now, the Global Space Exploration Initiative has been kind enough to spare some security for the launch, but Dr. Mitchum has asked me and a few Alphans to add a little extra muscle." She turns to face you, the table reflecting off of her visor. "You guys ever been to Mars?" You wouldn't know it by looking, but you're pretty sure she's smiling under that helmet.

"It'll be a short trip. We'll be back by Saturday. It'll be me, Apogee, Barrier and one more." She actives another virtual monitor and the iconic face of Champion fills the screen. You're taken aback a bit. Champion is a legend and this is the first time you've interacted with him since you've been a part of the team. He's also stationed at the New York HQ, so his presence is a bit of a surprise.

"Hey guys," his voice is easy, oozing confidence and control, "I'm going to be in Star City for a few weeks, so I promised my good friend Dr. Mitchum I'd help out." He folds his arms across the iconic white C that's stretched across his chest. "It'll be great working with you guys. I've looked into your pre-Alpha career. You both seem pretty solid."

Valkyrie picks it up, "Alright, I've prepared a short bit of material to familiarize you guys with the assignment. Go over it and get ready. We're going to be part of history." With that the briefing is concluded. Your fellow Alphans leave congratulating you on your first big assignment. Whether you're ready for it or not, you're officially part of Alpha Force.

And the Rogues' set up:

Things seem the same at the Deadend cafe. It's still mostly empty except for the few regulars that seem to haunt this spot. In fact you seem to remember the exact same people in the exact same places the last couple of times you were here. If they noticed you entered you'd never be able to tell. You sit at the table you were instructed to by your employer and it isn't long before your waitress Darla comes to your table.
"The special?".
You nod an affirmative, she scribbles something on her pad and leaves. You watch her post your order for Carlos the short order cook and she gives you the all clear sign. You take a trip to the bathroom making sure to use the "special" stall. The toilet drops, tilts and swings you around quickly replacing it with another. You fall into darkness descending quickly with a hydrolic hiss. As abruptly as it starts, it ends. A sliver of light marks doorway in front of you that slides open to reveal a long corridor lined with halogen lights. Dr. Omega has a flare for the dramatic.
You quickly lose your civilian disguise and walk down the hall. There no doubt Omega is watching your every move.
An Omega-man greets you by name and escorts you to a briefing room where your allies await. Almost everyone is here. Temporalist. The Mungo man. Voltz. Only Landslide is strangely absent.
The briefing room is lit by a single ring of lights that illuminate a medium sized circular table. As the last of you sit a doorway appears flooded with light across the room and the armored silhouette of Dr. Omega appears flanked by two of his henchmen.
"Ah good. Everyone's here. Greetings associates. I trust Darla was accommodating. Thank you for taking the time to meet with me today." His voice is conversational yet still commanding. "Let us get straight to the business at hand. I'm sure you are all wondering what heist I have planned for you. Well, truth be told if I said it was going to be a high profile job I'd be understating things. If you're wondering where your earth moving associate is, his particular skill set is not going to be of much use on this mission."
With a casual gesture a wall monitor blinks to life. An article from the Star City Tribune fills the wall, a picutre of the shuttle Ikarus docked at the Inspiration space lab.
"No doubt you've heard that the Ikarus is scheduled to launch this week. The Ikarus, the vangaurd vessel that will usher in a new age for our tiny little planet."
" Billions of dollars have been invested by the world's most elite and forward thinking minds and institutions. The cost of the engine alone could finance the purchase of a small island in the South Pacific." he pauses for dramatic effect. "I'm counting on it because come this Thursday I plan to steal it with your help."
The audacity of the job stuns you for a moment. A moment which Omega uses to sell you on the job.
"At approximately 5:45 am Eastern time Dr. Elena Mitchum and a few of her technicians will be teleported from her lab to the shuttle. After a full diagnostic is run on the shuttle, it will be prepared for it's maiden voyage to Mars. At 12:15 it will make it's jump. And they won't be alone. I have good intel that Champion and a few Alpha Force members will be there as well. That's why your assistance is needed. I need you to come aboard with me to take the ship. I have an infiltrator on the ship who will take the teleportation room and program our coordinates in. We will be beamed from a pod in my facility to the shuttle where it will be a simple matter for us to take the ship, reprogram the flight coordinates, and ransom the ship for billions. A small price to pay for the future of human astronautics wouldn't you say? All said, if you all do your job properly, you could stand to walk away with more money than you could ever hope to spend in your lifetime."
He lets the gravity of his proposal weigh on you for a few moments before he gets into the specifics. You feel a flush of excitement and trepidation. Battle with a global icon. The theft of a cutting edge spacecraft. Win or lose, this one definitely puts you in league with the big boys.

Backstory.

I decided not to drop my players into the NE meta-plot right away. I wanted to create some tension in the group, and I wanted them to experience a pre-invasion earth. I sent out a few emails to the players to set the stage.
This is the first email I sent out the the Hero characters:

ALPHA FORCE HQ
15 Bannerman Ave
Downtown, Star City
May 18, 2004
Alpha Force applicant,
After careful review of your civilian policing record, and a week of probationary membership, Alpha Force has agreed to induct you as a formal member of our team. Following Alpha Force tradition, you will find a formal certificate enclosed with a copy of your Federal Policing license number. Please accept our personal congratulations for your outstanding achievements.

As a new recruit, you will be serving as ancillary Supers-support in conjunction with State and Federal law enforcement in Star City. As you know, Alpha Force is nearly a global policing entity, but with the growing number of Supers in the world it has become necessary to expand our once static numbers. Nowhere is that more apparent than Star City. Please report to AF Central HQ, Downtown within the next 7 days to begin basic training and orientation. We look forward working with you.

Upwards and beyond,

Champion
Red Cross
Blue Shield
The Comet
Valkyrie
Titan

The Villains setup was a bit different. I had already run one game with them so they had a bit of history. Dr. Omega had hired them to steal and sabotage a new facial recognition algorithm. After they completed the job, he contacts them again to setup another mission:
------------------------------------------------------------------DECRYPTIONENGAGED--------------------------------------------
----------------------REBUILDINGDATASTACKS-----------------------------------REROUTINGTOSECURESERVER
--TRANSMISSIONESTABLISHED--<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> <<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>AUTHOR:DR.OMEGA<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Greetings recruits. I congratulate you on the success of your last mission. I have received the data and the prototype and you have all been compensated in the agreed upon fashion. After such a successful display of your capabilities, I'm encouraged to invite you into a much larger roll within my organization. I'm looking
to do a high profile caper and I need reliable assets of your caliber to assist me. Whatever payment you received from the Omnitech job will pale in comparsion to what you stand to gain from this job. If you're interested in taking an active role in my organization (and you would be foolish if you did not). Meet me at the agreed upon location on the last job for details. In our line of work alliance is not a perk, it's a necessity.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>TRANSMISSION:TERMINATED<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Next I sent out a mock newspaper article to foreshadow the upcoming heist:

Project Ikarus to test prototype "jump engine"

May 15th 2004- Project Ikarus, the Global Space Exploration initiative, is set to test it's prototype space shuttle later this week. The Shuttle, Ikarus, has been outfitted with a state of the art "jump engine". What used to be the stuff of science fiction, the engine would allow the shuttle to make a trip that would take hundreds of years, takes mere weeks. According to Prescient Industries, the company spearheading the program, this is a titanic leap forward in the space exploration race. CEO, and lead researcher Elena Mitchum known for her development of the Tempest powered armor system (the armor powering the legendary Valkyrie's super suit), stated "In light of the past 2 thwarted alien invasion attempts, it has become extremely important for Earth to makes it's presence know in the the galaxy. The Ikarus is a huge step in that direction."
The researcher has made it clear that the engine is an early prototype. The scheduled trip is a "jump" to Mars and back, a round trip that should take under 72 hours. Ikarus, while still in early development, has many of it's systems on line and fully functioning. The engine itself has been reverse engineered from remnants Altari technology. The Ikarus' scheduled jump is next Thursday, May 23rd at 9 am.

Finally! SUPERS!

So now I am officially full swing into a Supers game with my lunch game crew. We've had 2 sessions so far (We've been calling them issues) and it seems like everyone is loving it (I know I am!). I've been wanting to run a Supers game for a long time, but outside from a few M&M games and a Champion game or two back in the day I haven't been able to.
I picked up Savage Worlds' Necessary Evil about two years ago and tried to talk a bunch of people into playing. Well I've finally succeeded and it's ON! The basic premise behind Necessary Evil is you take on the role of villains who must band together to save the world. I love the idea, but I wanted more conflict so I convinced half the team to play heroes and the other half to play villains. The line up consists of the Temporalist, a time slowing foe played by Dovi, Mungo Man a diabolical stretching aborigine hunter played by Austin. The Heroes consist of Barrier, former astronaut with kinetic reflecting abilities played by the incomparable Mandrews, and Apogee, Master of Telekinesis played by Paul.



We've also got a couple of NPC Supers to round the group out. Voltz, electro punk with an attitude, was created by Emma who's been busy working on a film. Hopefully she may join us later. And Valkyrie, a senior member of Alpha Force. (She's basically a female Iron Man... wouldn't that make her an Iron Maiden?)




The first couple games were great and the player tension is perfect. I can't wait until next game.


Next up: THE SETUP!



Update: Almost forgot one more of Dr. Omega's hirelings. Oni, the disappearing super-ninja.

Started a Supers game!

I started a supers game recently. We're 2 games in (2 issues if you will) and it's going great so far. I'll be posting more pics and more info later.

art by Austin Madison

Bergamont kicks ass

Man I was so inspired by Emma's ass whupping session that I had to crank out a pic of her character. Nastiness personified.

First game

Just finished our first lunchtime session of Shadowrun and it was AWESOME! The Shadowrunlite rules ran wonderfully and every body really got their characters. Our own Emma Coats was even able to beat her dice curse and kick some major ass!
It started off as all good games do in a bar. As the players were taking some time to get in a little R&R at the local faux divebar, the Nosedive, a prominent local Fixer named Warlock decides to pay a visit. Warlock has a rep for being a solid Fixer with great connections who actually looks out for his runners. Chase, who's running the 'dive, tell Bergamont to make sure no one disturbs the Fixer. But before the Adept can make that happen, the bar is overrun by Gangers in leathers and fezes. The Braineaters, a tech fetish gang rushes the door and make a bee line for Warlock's table. Bergamont, Cole and Turk make short work of the gang and Chase manages to get things under control. Warlock, impressed thanks the group and leaves his card. Looks like they just might have a future in the Shadows.