Heroes of the Century (Station) - An online HU2 campaign

[Glistam]

With the completion of our epic Palladium Fantasy game, our online gaming group has decided to take a break from heavy narrative structures and just pound on bad guys for a while in a sandboxy game. We figured Heroes Unlimited would fit the bill nicely, so I'll be running us in a Heroes Unlimited game set in Century Station for the foreseeable future. We've set up a website which is still very much a work in progress but it will eventually be fully populated with character, world, house rules, and adventure info. The site can be found here: Heroes of the Century.

This game is set in Century Station with some small tweaks to the default setting. This game is not a continuation of my last big Heroes Unlimited campaign, but many elements from that game may find their way into this one. All the other Heroes Unlimited books are on the table, and elements from other Palladium Games are likely to show up in various ways too. The Megaversal™ nature of Palladium's games gives me that freedom and it's one of the main reasons we're using Heroes Unlimited to run this game and not Mutants and Masterminds or Savage Worlds or some other system. Almost all of the Heroes Unlimited books being made available digitally on DriveThruRPG over the last couple months didn't hurt, either!

There's six players total. They've all all envisioned their characters so well that they've already enriched the world immensely just through their backstories and abilities. The current characters are listed below. Disclaimer: Any resemblance to persons living, dead, or fictional is purely coincidental.

• Gryphon (The Swordsman). A man who tried and failed to forge his own destiny. Can he accept the new destiny that's been thrust upon him?
• Black Phantom (The Soldier). He's seen how bad things can get and how quickly they can get that way. Now he's stepping in before they can get a whole lot worse.
• Jake (The Scientist). He treated the universe as a playground of infinite possibilities and zero consequences. But will reconnecting with estranged family allow his past to finally catch up with him?
• Covenant (The Sleuth). A man with a passion for solving mysteries. Can the appearance of a strange yet familiar weapon help him crack the one case he never could solve - his own past?
• Carl, Alice, Trip, & The Beast (The Strange) A man so desperate to believe he was normal, he created three other personalities with their own super powers just to prove it. Can the four of them learn to work together for the greater good?
• Granny2Good (The Senior). Ethel expected her golden years to be easy and comfortable. She did not expect to be a widow with superpowers. But no-one can make lemonade out of life's lemons like a grandma.

One of our players has already made a bunch of amazing art for the game! He's drawn all the PC's and many of the current NPC's, banners for several areas, a much nicer version of the city map than the one I cobbled together a few years ago, Roll20 icons, and more!

We'll be gaming using Roll20 and broadcasting our games live on Twitch with HippoTV every other Saturday starting at 9:00 pm EST. Our first game was Saturday, December 16th. One player each game will be writing an "official log" in order to record and present that game's events through their character's view. Feel free to stop by when we're live - we're fairly interactive with the audience and appreciate the visits.

[Tick]

Looking forward to it. Best of luck!

[Sir_Spirit]

This sounds awesome!

[Daniel Stoker]

Well that looks like a very cool game.


Daniel Stoker

[Glistam]

Here's our first official log, by Ethel

BECOMING A HERO?
Is there an age limit on heroes?

Image of Ethel by AZ_Rune

Hi boys and girls- my name is Ethel, or if your parents taught you well, Mrs. Falkenberg. I promise that everything I am about to tell you is true- or, in my advanced age, I just misremembered.

January 15, 2024:

Minding my own, I find a Note on my kitchen table! How did it get there? Why? Well, I read it, and at least I know why- seems like someone was spying on me! The note was inviting me to a gathering of Heroes! I only had one moment when anything “super” ever happened- that was the unfortunate day I killed my Brother! (Ethel note- if you want to read about that, read Ethel’s bio) So, I wolf down some breakfast, have a mimosa or 3, and drive over to Jake’s house. Saying a pleasant greeting to Shorty– he’s a good kid- I ask my brother if he has seen the note- he got it, but threw it away! For someone so smart he doesn’t think very often. I convince him to go to this strange meeting, and go to find the Beast, who was the only one whom saw me go fast, well, so I had thought. He also got the note, and said he would be there. Well, at least I would know 2 people!

January 17, 2024:

Shorty drives us to the meeting place in Jake’s Volvo- my Aircar would have stuck out like a sore thumb in the nasty Zericho neighborhood! There were a few people there already- some cocky dude in black named Zo and Cavalry. Cavalry I knew about- he had destroyed half of Philadelphia, and had actually destroyed the Liberty Bell! He was trouble- hopefully he has learned his lesson. Some guy named Gryphon flies down- he looks familiar. A kid named Carl shows up and immediately starts an interview with the people around me! Oops, he recognizes Jake- that is not good- my brother is a really private person!

We all go in, and others show up- that poor kid Carl is still filming everyone, and Shorty is obviously enamored of the beautiful Miss Amazing, who lands with a flourish. Suddenly, as others start gathering, all heck breaks loose- some electronic thing fries Carl’s phone and my hearing aid! People are looking around, some Guy, who I recognize as the Geist, is speaking. I hand my hearing aid to Jake to fix it, but suddenly I hear, clear as day, another Person in the shadow’s above who has stepped out! I realize suddenly why Gryphon looked familiar- "You’re the guy that saved me from that carjacker!" I exclaim at him, and he acknowledges my memory. I also now notice some overweight Kid has also joined us, and the Geist is finishing up some speech about joining him! I ask him to repeat himself, which he does, and then The Beast is standing where Carl was, exhorting all of us to join!

Image of The Beast by AZ_Rune

The Beast steps forward and says, "Listen, this is what we are all waiting for. We were given powers for a reason! We were not given powers to just stand in the shadows! We aren’t here for a government to decide what’s good or bad for us, or for corporations to make money off our backs! The Geist is giving us a reason to band together. Sure, he may be inexperienced- all of us are! I think all of us should get together in this group and show society what a group of right-thinking individuals can do to improve this world!"

It was quite a speech! Gryphon and Cavalry had already joined, and so did the rest of us- except for the Man in Black, who said he had some things to wrap up. I enthusiastically joined by rushing over to the Geist, only the second time I had used that special speed. Meanwhile the Chubby Kid was trying to get in Shorty’s shorts… no idea what that was about.

We didn’t have much time to get to know each other- The Man in Black shouts out "Incoming" and suddenly we are being attacked! The Beast somehow knew that there were 10 of them, and the Man in Black says, loudly, "I have a blind date with destiny, and it looks like she ordered lobster."

The Geist disarms one thug, and Miss Amazing attacks another. Zo lifts an enemy into the air. The Beast harms one, and kills another! I take a shot with my special cane, and get someone that was about to get the Beast! We get attacked, and I get shot, but someone must have protected me, because I did not die! All this time I hear everything, despite the fact that my hearing aids are out! What is going on??

Meanwhile, in the battle, the Chubby Kid says, "Pew, Pew" at an enemy, and they wet themselves. Gryphon takes out a couple, and the Man in Black ***** slaps someone to death.

Needless to say, we were triumphant- even convincing Jake not to teleport people away until they are interrogated- which the experts in that stuff are about to do.

I still have questions- Why am I hearing stuff without my hearing aids? Why did someone protect me from the bullets? Why am I here with these heroes- all I can do is run kind of fast, and shoot a gun or my cane?

Hopefully I can get some answers soon- I am going to learn that slap move from the Man in Black, so I can use it on Sharon!

[zyanitevp]

Ethel is a blast to play!!

[Glistam]

I don't even know where to begin about last night's game. It was crazy and amazing. The PC's are still trying to come together as a team and last night was the revelation of a bunch of personal drama as they tried to resolve some other issues (which didn't fully get resolved). I don't even know how the "official log" will represent everything but I can't wait to find out!

[zyanitevp]

I don't even know where to begin about last night's game. It was crazy and amazing. The PC's are still trying to come together as a team and last night was the revelation of a bunch of personal drama as they tried to resolve some other issues (which didn't fully get resolved). I don't even know how the "official log" will represent everything but I can't wait to find out!

Drama? Never! Roleplaying never has Drama....
The game was a lot of fun!

[Glistam]

Here's the official chronicle of our second game, this time by Black Phantom.

SALES MEETING CALL
You have one new voicemail, if you would like to listen to your voicemail, please press o…
[BEEEEP]

Click here to listen!

[FEMALE VOICE] Thank you for calling Ace Tomato Investments. We have a saying here at ACI. We should have your business, because we’re in your business. Please leave a message after the beep.

[BEEEEEEP]

[MALE VOICE] FP, sorry I missed the sales meeting call, I was with several clients and investors and couldn’t break away from the meeting, It was very inportant that I attended and made sure everyone was on solid ground and ready to fully invest their capitol. Anyway, I am calling to give my report of last months sales and investments. First, the New Jack City Yuppies have been dissuaded from any future hostile take-overs. Some have been schooled on proper business practices. The rest had their investment licenses revoked. I was able to determine which investment company had fronted them the capitol, Norwood Nightfall Cudgel LLC. and the Sales Manager is Lucien Phet. The initial investors meeting broke up after some G Fund sales poachers tried to crash the meeting. I was able to determine that they were working on Insider information, the source of which I have yet to determine, but research is active and ongoing.

We had our follow-up Investor’s meeting at Dr. Brown’s place of employment. Other clients and Investors present were Mz. CaslteHawke, CPT Dragoon, COL Abrahms, Mr. Black, Ms. Wolfe, Mr. Bungler, Mr. Charmenge, Doc Brown’s assistant Young Master Alpine and Mr. Slither (he is an odd one, not sure of his investment capitol). I ensured that the meeting wouldn’t be interrupted by G Fund investors or poachers, nor did I see any other investment groups. I did spot an interloper, but it just happened to be Ms. Wolfe, I didn’t recognize her right away as we were dressing more casual for this meeting. Speaking of I almost came in my full Black Tie ensemble, but then I realized Brown’s office was located outside of the main city.

Things got off to a rocky start as I accused Ms. Wolfe of severe insider trading, several of the other investors assured me that she has never practiced that type of investment. It’s a bit ironic as I have dabbled in the practice, often, and yet she stands accused by me. I was laughing a bit on the inside about that fact, but was able to maintain my business savvy or poker face as you like to refer to it.

After some more in-depth introductions, lead by Mr. Black, the investors broke off in small groups to network and discuss investment strategies moving forward. The topic of one of Mr. Bungler’s more infamous investment failures was brought up, especially since he was starting to show how bad he was in just simple penny-stock activities. Doc Brown mentioned he might be able to at least get his initial investment returned. I was interested in this venture and decided I could invest some capitol. We were going to get setup in his exterior conference room. I was all set and had a small portion of my portfolio ready; however, Ol’ Doc Brown had mis-represented his knowledge of the venture. Doc Brown seemed very displeased in his lack of market knowledge and went to one of his side offices and starting doing more research to asertain the problem or issue. The good thing was I didn’t lose any capitol or any part of my protfolio.

As I came back into the main office, I decided to double check to ensure we weren’t dealing with any other investment groups, corporate raiders or other hostile take over bids. I saw another company, it seemed familiar but I wasn’t sure. I asked Mr. Black if he could research this other company and he agreed. In the mean time, Alpine, Mz. CastleHawke and Doc Brown were quibbling over some strategies and a possible outside investor. I tried to corner Alpine, but he slip away into a exterior office and it didn’t seem of worth at the time. As CastleHawke and Brown were off discussing internal business, I gathered the rest of the investors and informed them of the possible the other company that may have been trying to outbid us.

There was all of a sudden an urgent VTEL call that interuppted our current conference call and we all went to join that meeting. It turns out the other company was just a single sales person and from a local non-profit. While I usually don’t mind them, they do have potential for taking away investment capitol from the serious investors. The lone sale person was Ford Wagoner and he had his investment license revoked by the automated investment systems of Brown’s office. Several of us ensured the revocation was kept under wraps and Ms. Wolfe and CPT. Dragoon followed up by sanitizing any hard copy records that may have been kept. Mr. Black, myself and others ensured the electronic copies were sanitized as well. We should not have any further issues with this non-profit company, but could you verify their records have been sanitized as well. While all this is going on, Mz. CastleHawke and Mr. Charmenge had an urgent meeting and investment discussion with Young Alpine. It turns out Alpine and Brown are some serious repeat investors, though the supply chain is no longer active. It seems the alpine investors brought that to a screeching halt. I will look into the supply chain more later.

I was a part of the internal session to determine Alpine’s full involvement and investment. I was using the usual capitol for this situation, when some new capitol fell int my lap, so to speak. Please reach out to some of my old internal sales trainers, I may need some advice on the best way to invest this new found capitol. Just tell them, that I may have found the missing funds that they first tried to award me all those years ago. It was very useful in this particular discussion to determine the fully advertise growth potential.

So the meeting was deemed a half bust – half boom. I did want to make sure of one more bad loan wasn’t floated by me, so I approched Ms. Wolfe and we disscused the insdier trading accusation I leveled from earlier in the evening. My new capitol paid off and I was able to determine that she is not an inside trader; however, she is a fomer ACI employee, from the Assay Enterprise team, so…You will have to have a talk with upper management and smooth the feathers of the other team and let them know that I didn’t realize I was poaching a member of their team for my own sales venture group. I really need this to happen, so I maintain credibility and integrity with my new sales team. Tell them I will personal invest some of my capitol in their next assay venture. I’m sure they may want to know how I came about my newly found assets recently, as opposed to all those years ago when my sales and investment potential was fully realized.

Alright, let me know how it goes with upper management, I’ll talk to you later FP, I owe you a beer by the way.

[Glistam]

Game 3 is behind us. Why was an armored truck making a pickup/delivery at 11:00 pm at night in a bad part of town? The players may never know because they killed the villains involved before they could question them. But what was the truck carrying? That's a mystery for another game, thanks to one player in particular...

[zyanitevp]

We are live tonight at 6 pm Pacific! Come join us for the craziness! Live on Twitch

[kiralon]

and we are now live, join us on twitch here

https://www.twitch.tv/hippotv

[Tick]

It was a good show!

For folks looking for podcasts style superheroes from Heroes Unlimited try http://strangecorpseposse.blogspot.ca/ ... Catch up on the show! A new Monthly show will be up later next week too.

[Tick]

A new show posted - For those that need more than one Super hero... http://strangecorpseposse.blogspot.ca/

[zyanitevp]

It was a good show!

For folks looking for podcasts style superheroes from Heroes Unlimited try http://strangecorpseposse.blogspot.ca/ ... Catch up on the show! A new Monthly show will be up later next week too.

Thanks Tick, appreciate it! Enjoying yours as well!

[kiralon]

and we are now live, join us on twitch here

https://www.twitch.tv/hippotv

[Tick]

Again this is a show to watch as you get to see the players work through the game and the story.
I have enjoyed the humor in some of the shows as well.
6 hours is a long time so for me, I find it is best viewed while working through house hold maintenance. I will say these guys all know their stuff and are a talented bunch as well.

If you want a show that is of a similar vein but in a podcast format. http://strangecorpseposse.blogspot.ca/ will give you a super hero fix in between the work these folks are doing. Unrelated otherwise, beyond the fact they are super heroes. LOL

Both shows get great reviews and inspire stories for other Game masters out there.

[zyanitevp]

Again this is a show to watch as you get to see the players work through the game and the story.
I have enjoyed the humor in some of the shows as well.
6 hours is a long time so for me, I find it is best viewed while working through house hold maintenance. I will say these guys all know their stuff and are a talented bunch as well.

If you want a show that is of a similar vein but in a podcast format. http://strangecorpseposse.blogspot.ca/ will give you a super hero fix in between the work these folks are doing. Unrelated otherwise, beyond the fact they are super heroes. LOL

Both shows get great reviews and inspire stories for other Game masters out there.

Was great to have you, and I also recommend StrangeCorpsePosse

[Tick]

For fans of this show!
We also updated ours with the latest episode.
Sharing great talent with great people here. http://strangecorpseposse.blogspot.ca has a new show up! It features the voice talents of Chris from @TheSwordcast (Twitter)! or their site swordcastadventures.com You need to tune in to both.

[kiralon]

and we are now live, join us on twitch here

https://www.twitch.tv/hippotv

[Sir_Spirit]

So the guy with the player:guest in his window and no pc name, is Covenant?

[Glistam]

Yes. Sorry I wasn't able to make that very clear. I hope it didn't cause too much confusion!

[zyanitevp]

So the guy with the player:guest in his window and no pc name, is Covenant?

Yes, and hope you enjoyed! We love feedback!

[Tick]

Everyone who has a chance to watch this show should. The GM has to manage many things and this guy does it very well. These guys have funny antics too. Make me giggle every once in a while.

[Glistam]

Well it's been quite a journey, but all good things must eventually end. Saturday, March 9th will be our final game. Due to family commitments I've had to put this game on a hiatus, but when or if we'll resume is unclear at this time.

Our finale concludes with the heroes of S.A.V.I.O.R. trying to stop Sinistry from completing their army of clones of The Ultramarine, the world's first superhuman. A time traveler alerted them to this threat and after overcoming a rogue time traveler trying to stop them, all that's left now is to save the world.

Our final game airs Saturday, March 9th at 9:00 pm EST on Twitch. Feel free to stop by!

[Glistam]

The final showdown aired last night! The superhuman army was destroyed, the rebuilt rogue A.I. was deleted, Sinistry was killed, and the city (and world) was saved. It's questionable if the heroes as a group would recover from this. The conflict seemed to drive the wedges between them deeper than ever before. It was a good game to go out on, and someday when (if) we pick it back up there will be some significant changes to the city - a new age awaits.

But that... is another story.

[RockJock]

Pretty awesome campaign. I'm glad it lasted so long.

[zyanitevp]

The final showdown aired last night! The superhuman army was destroyed, the rebuilt rogue A.I. was deleted, Sinistry was killed, and the city (and world) was saved. It's questionable if the heroes as a group would recover from this. The conflict seemed to drive the wedges between them deeper than ever before. It was a good game to go out on, and someday when (if) we pick it back up there will be some significant changes to the city - a new age awaits.

But that... is another story.

So proud that I got to be a part of it!
Now the group is on to Savage Rifts- should be starting in about 3 weeks.

[zyanitevp]

We have begun our Savage Rifts campaign!
Our next game is live on June 15th at 6pm Pacific, still on HippoTV
Come by and say hello!