Memory fades with age

One of the things that totally slipped through the cracks was that as the group was gearing up to go after the Midnight men, they had a new member join them: Surge.

Brash, arrogant, and famous, Surge was an electrical blaster of no small ability.  He came from Chicago, relocating to the area of Peake Harbor to help out since they obviously didn't have anyone as awesome as him on the team.  Surge helped in the fight against the Midnight Men, and almost managed to stun Marionette in Canada.

So back to the story.

Behind the scenes

I'm going to pause here to inject some of the stuff I try to add in to my games.  In this case, an original supers team mentioned last post, a team the players haven't met as yet, and the background from one of my players.

The top pic is Canadian Shield.  From left to right, we have: Mosaic, Rebound, Kodiak, Big Nickel, Magus, Hellfighter, and The Arrow.

Next are the New Knights. From left to right: Spitfire, Stalwart, The Clansman, Union Jack, Gurkha, and Silver Shadow.


And lastly, the origin of Jonathan Light, aka, Spectrum.

Jonathan Light: A Beacon of Technology

By: Gina Giseppi      Originally published in the Peake Harbor Weekender Magazine; Sunday, October 30, 2011

Peake Harbor has seen a recent technology boom, with none more prominent than the move of the global headquarters of Light Technologies Unlimited here from Silicon Valley. I had the opportunity to sit down with Jonathan Light at Harborview Bistro here in Marina West to get to know the young CEO of LTU.
He arrived on time wearing a handsome grey suit with a black polo shirt. His brown hair is close cropped and his face is clean shaven. He looks young for his 35 years, with alert blue eyes that seem to take in every facet of his surroundings.

Gina: Thank you for meeting me Dr. Light.

JL: It’s my pleasure Gina, and please, call me Jonathan…Doctor Light was my father. (he said smiling)

Gina: Okay, Jonathan. I guess we should start at the beginning. We know very little about you here on the east coast outside of the major facts of the last few years. Can you tell me about your childhood?

JL: Sure. I was born in Las Vegas NV, in 1976. My father as I am sure you know, worked for the government as a scientist and engineer. Mom still is a High School math teacher to this very day. She does not need to work and hasn’t needed to for a few years but darned if she doesn’t love teaching. I had a pretty abnormal childhood. Dad worked long hours and I was always around math and science. Apparently I inherited all that from my folks. I went to private school in Nevada and then Cal Tech for my undergrad and masters in Engineering. Got my Theoretical Physics Masters at MIT followed by Doctorates in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering and Theoretical Physics. I was actually working on my next Masters in Electrical Engineering when pop passed and I had to drop it to take over the company.

Gina: Lets talk about that if you are willing. Your father was known as one of the most brilliant inventive minds to ever work for the government. He played a big role in the creation of the SR-71 and basically revolutionized the concept of Stealth jets according to recently declassified documents. Were you close?

JL: Sort of. As you can guess by where we lived he drove to the airport on Monday morning, and there were times when we did not see him all week, or days where he would get home after 9 pm and be out the door at 6 am. When he was around we were pretty normal. He took me to my martial arts classes and baseball games when he could. We would, and I know how geeky this sounds, sit up some weekends solving math and physics problems and equations. Mom would sometimes help, and she was always doing little things to “cultivate her genius men” as she used to always say. Looking back, outside of the math problems, we were relatively normal.

Gina: Then while you were at Cal Tech your parents moved to northern California so your father could start his own business?

JL: Yeah. He tried really hard, but while he was a brilliant scientist he knew next to nothing about running a company. I helped out when I could, but my studies kept me pretty busy. He finally got to a point where LTU was surviving. Not really turning too much profit, but not losing money either. As I finished my Masters Degrees and Doctorates was when we realized he was sick. He had done a great job hiding it from mom and I, blaming stress and long hours. He held on for a few more years, but I was basically running the company. When he passed, I took over as CEO and began looking to grow and expand.

Gina: So why the move here?

JL: Peake Harbor is rapidly becoming the Silicone Valley of the East Coast. I mean can you blame me for moving here? The area is lovely, great people, and a fantastic proximity to DC and a few major military installations. It will save me hundreds of thousands of dollars on travel alone…plus…no earthquakes. I hate earthquakes…Of course what happens? I move here and one occurs. (he chuckles). I guess that’s how it goes. Anyway, I really enjoyed my time on the east coast at MIT and decided that if LTU was going to hit it big, a change of scenery was in order.

Gina: And the IPO? All set for that?

JL: Absolutely. We have been prepping for this a long time. It is time to take LTU public and get the funding we truly need to create the life saving tech we do now on a much larger scale. We do not have the exact date set, but it should be announced soon.

Gina: If I can change topics for a moment: One of your warehouses was recently the scene of a break-in by some powered crooks and a subsequent fight between them and what seems to be a new super hero team. Any thoughts?

JL: I am just happy that nothing major was stolen and none of those brave heroes were hurt on my account. I know some are wary of costumed protectors, but as long as they work within the confines of law, I see no issue with their actions. As I said at the press conference, I thank them for their effort and hope that they will continue to light the sometimes dark streets of Peake Harbor, the way LTU carries the torch of invention and the latest in medical, engineering and non-lethal combat technology. (he grins sheepishly) Sorry Gina. Bill in PR would kill me if I didn’t say something like that in this interview.

Gina: Fair enough. So on to the social side. Is there a special lady in your life?

JL: Invention is my girlfriend right now. In reality though, I am so busy with the IPO and the move that I don’t have time to go out. So I guess the answer is no. No special lady.

Gina: One final question. What comes next for Dr. Jonathan Light?

JL: The IPO my main focus right now. After that, who knows? We are close to a demonstration of some new shielding tech that might change how we protect our troops, but I cannot say much more than that. I would like to end by saying thank you. Not just to you Gina for this enchanting Q and A, but to all of Peake Harbor. This city has made me and my whole company feel welcome from day one. I look forward to building a future together.

Meanwhile, back at the Hall of Justice...

We started our second game with an investigation into a series of high-tech thefts in the Peake Harbor area.  Manning Enterprises had been hit recently, and it looked as if someone was stealing components for a supercomputer of some sort.  The team was able to figure out which areas had not been hit yet, and then plan to stake out the dockyard warehouse of Light Industries.

They contacted Jonathan Light, CEO of Light Industries, and got his permission to stake out his warehouse.  He asked them to take along his personal security representative; Spectrum.  Spectrum was a new PC, and his concept was Hard light constructs as battle armor.  Tony Stark in most ways that matter, but he's also not so good with people.  The group agreed, and got set up in the warehouse.

They didn't have long to wait as a portal opened in the wall and out stepped...dun dun DUH!!! Apollo and his Midnight Men.  The team was Detonator, Noose, Black Empress, Stormstress, and a bunch of goons to carry stuff.  The villains looked around quickly, and then moved to grab their loot.  This is when the heroes struck!  Windsor started in on the goons (Takedown 2 was useful here) and Kali moved to engage Apollo himself.  She wrapped him up pretty well, but then he smiled. 

Yeah, this was about when the team discovered Apollo's super charisma to women.  Suddenly their four armed super strong war goddess wanted to help the other side!  She let Apollo go, but not much more than that...yet.  Mach raced over and started beating on Stormstress.  This went back and forth for a while until Psytrix ended it decisively with a mind blast.  Spectrum had been trading blasts with Detonator, but nothing seemed to dent his armor.  Noose tied up Kali, and was trying to choke her into submission.

About now, all of the minions were out, and people started switching partners.  Windsor and Apollo started a long range archery duel, both of them managing to stay a hair's breadth ahead of the other's shots.  Psytrix used his mental prowess to impose a prison of iron will on Apollo, and shut done his Charisma power! (This was one of the first times we saw a Hero Point in action). Mach freed Kali from Noose's attack, and Kali turned and promptly decked him into unconsciousness.

Apollo was now catching fire from all sides, and ran for it.  He dove for the portal that Black Empress had kept open, and they escaped.  The only one still up was Detonator.  He calmly looked around and drawled "Y'all are gunna love this..." and touched his gauntlets together.  The massive explosion filled the entire warehouse, and the team was blasted off their feet.  They regrouped and scrambled to put him down.  Several massive blasts later, Detonator was out, and the battered team was victorious.

Afterward, they interrogated Detonator at the police station, but weren't getting anywhere, so they went after some of the goons.  This was a lot more productive as they discovered an arms deal going on at Fort Meade to supply weapons to seperatists in Quebec.  The team got permission to enter the base and stopped the inside man from transferring high tech components needed for the supercomuter for the weapons going north.  From him, they got the location of a safe house in Quebec, and before anyone could blink, Mach was across the Canadian border.  Seconds after doing so, she was intercepted by The Arrow, Canada's premier speedster.  She was able to come alongside long enough to ask Mach to officially stand down and for the Protectors to come and meet Canadian Shield.

Borrowing a ride from the military, the team arrive in Canada and met their Canadian counterparts, or at least some of them.  The Arrow, Magus, Big Nickel and Kodiak agreed to accompany the Protectors on a raid of the seperatist safehouse.

The two teams smashed into the building in a two pronged attack, and cleared it in record time.  Entering the last closed room, they saw a foot tall woman sitting on the lip of a packing crate.  They realized it was Marionette form the Crushers!  From inside the box they heard a voice say "Well,  this is certainly inconvienent. Empress?" and a dark portal swallowed the crate and Marionette.  At the last second, Mach lunged forward and grabbed at something from the crate!  The team examined it and discovered they had one of Mocker's sub-assemblies.  Minor and easily replaceable, but chilling proof that the Crushers were involved. 

As the team returned home, they were greeted by a representative of the Mayor's office who wanted to give them official police powers and a snaction to act as Peake Harbor's team.  Things sure were moving quickly.  In fact it seemed almost too easy...

Awesome Kickstarter

For the three of you reading this sucker...

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1292093911/terran-trade-authority-the-proxima-war-savage-worl

These were some of the best books I'd ever seen as a kid. Making it an RPG setting seems like a no-brainer. Making it Savage Worlds is just smart thinking.

There's only 40 or so hours to go, and currently this won't happen, which would be a crying shame.  So hop on over and throw them a buck or two!

The first adventure!

So character creation was completed and the group, the Peake Harbor Protectors, was formed.  The membership was

Kali: Four armed super-strong alien demigoddess.

Mach: Jokingly called Mach 63 as that's her actual top speed.  Super-fast runner and ageless soldier.

Psytrix: Psionic powerhouse and used car salesman. 

Windsor: Specialist archer with a high tech bow and a bunch of trick arrows.   Also happens to be crown prince Harry.

The initial adventure was deliberately simple to ease folks into a new system; Stop a bank robbery.

So Kail was at a book signing when she heard that the main bank branch in downtown Peake Harbor was being robbed.  Mach heard about it on a police scanner and was there before anyone else moved.  Windsor and Psytrix were in the bank when it happened.

Mercury Mercenary, Mace, Temper and Hornet break into the bank, leaving Hornet to hold the door.  He set up his Vibratory fields and settled in to wait for any incoming heroes.  Temper was generally being a snot, and Mace was getting the bank manager to lead him to the vault.

In the bathroom, Psytrix and Windsor stumble across each other changing in opposite stalls.  After a brief moment wherein they decide that they are both good guys, they charge into the fray.  A running Mental/Arrow/Grenade battle ensues, and with help from Temper, Windsor and Psytrix end up stunned. 

Outside, MACH comes ripping in at ridiculous speed, and promptly misses Hornet.  He in turn, manages to critically hit MACH, and she folds like a cheap suit.  Things were not looking good for our heroes.

Kali tore into the place, using Hornet as a battering ram.  With him out cold, she continued into the room and cold-cocked Temper.  Like the force of destruction she was named after, Kali looked like she was going to mop the floor with the remaining Crushers...except they were a lot more skilled at dodging than she was at hitting.  Mercury Mercenary tried whittling her down with Automatic Rifle fire, and Mace continued trying to crack the vault.  Enough time passed that the heroes got back into the fight and Mercury Mercenary fell afoul of a net arrow, a clothesline from Mach and a haymaker from Kali.  Mace was summarily knocked out as all four heroes turned on him.

As the dust settled, the four heroes decided to meet again to talk about potentially joining forces more formally as Peake Harbor's only superhero team.

Welcome to Peake Harbor!

The setting for my game is the imaginary city of Peake Harbor, Maryland.  I'm a New Yorker, and I've lived in Chicago, but most of my group has not.  So I decided that if the city was going to be mostly imaginary to the players anyway, why not put it somewhere we could all identify, and then just make the city proper the creation.

Thus was born Peake Harbor. 

Tell you more?  Oh, okay.

PEAKE HARBOR At-A-Glance

Location:

Peake Harbor (major metropolitan area pop. 9,612,977; mid-Atlantic city near the east coast, just hours from the Appalachian Mountains) – Peake Harbor is part of the Washington-Baltimore-Peake Harbor-Northern Virginia Metropolitan Area and is tied with the Chicago metropolitan area for 3^rd place as the Largest combined statistical area in the United States.

City Highlights & Major Attractions:

● McKay Beach

● Bancroft National Forest & Park (The city is built around this akin to Central Park in some ways)

● St. Mary’s Historical Park and St. Mary’s College

● Little Asia (A large and vibrant series of interlinked neighborhoods blending Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese cultures.)

● Cedar Landing Amusement Park

● Completely encircled by the Manning Enterprises Elevated Rail (MEER) which transports over 70% of all commuters in, around & through Peake Harbor

● Manning Enterprises (Industrial Park, a sprawling 10 mile complex just north of the city, used by Manning and most major businesses in the area.)

● Manning Enterprises Tower (skyscraper; 960 ft.; located 5 blocks west of Little Asia)

● Tesladyne Industries Aquatic Research Center (Located off of Piney Point)

● Light Technologies Unlimited HQ (skyscraper; 1417 ft.; located 3 blocks north of Manning Tower) adjoined to Light Technologies Advanced Mechanics, Robotics & Genomics Division tower via skywalk.

● Jebediah Winfield State Hospital for the Criminally Mentally ill -- built on St. George Island, it has hosted the British HQ during the war of 1812, a hospital for the wounded from the Civil War, a TB ward, and currently, an asylum for the criminally insane.

Major Employers:

● Manning Enterprises (there's a genome research facility, a consumer electronics division facility, and a pharmaceutical division facility)

● Light Technologies Unlimited (there's a solar research facility, law enforcement non-lethal division testing grounds, a consumer electronics division facility, and an advanced mechanics &robotics division)

● Tesladyne Industries (Aquatic Research complex and Manufacturing location; specializes in aquatic technology like ROV Submersibles, manned submersibles and specialized diving equipment)

Claims To Fame:

● One of the strongest economies in US for the last 20yrs.

● Heavy tourism annually

● St. George island houses the Jebediah Winfield State Hospital for the Criminally Mentally ill, and is considered to be the most haunted island in America.

● Generates 90% of its own electrical energy through various “green” technologies

And so it begins

Which would be much more portentous if this were something more then my random gaming blog, but hey, there ya go.  My statement of purpose is to catalog most of my ongoing games, with a focus on my Mutants and Masterminds world. 

I've been playing Superhero RPGs for decades now.  From Marvel and it's FASERIP to Hero Games' Champions, I've tried a bunch.  After a lot of procrastinating, I jumped into M&M with the 3rd revision.  Now since I didn't have any preconceptions, I can safely say I love the system and I'll be using it as my default Supers system from here on.  I like a lot of the assumptions made by Green Ronin and I agree with the overwhelming majority of them.  Add in that it's a relatively easy transition for d20 folks, and this makes the system a no-brainer for my group.

After that came the world setting.  Well, I've been running Champions hard core for the last 10 years, and frankly, I needed a break.  I decided to go much less gritty, and adapted the Villains and Vigilantes world to my own needs.  So yes, I'm running M&M V&V. 

If you remember Villains and Vigilantes at all, you should see some very familiar names cropping up in future posts.

On with the show.