Ensemble Casts, & Proactive vs. Reactive in Solo RPG's

Ensemble Cast

Since it's October, and Halloween is just around the corner, my thoughts usually turn to Horror this time of year (not that they every really stray too far from it to begin with...).

When my thoughts turn to horror (gaming) I invariably get back around to pondering one of my favorite sub-gene's of horror: The Slasher Movie. I've pondered over how to run one of these as a successful Solo venture before, and have been doing so again as of late.

I'd come up with what I think may be a solution to some of the issues I've foreseen when I got side-tracked last night by Netflix's release of their new series "The Haunting of Hill House" which led me to one of the OTHER sub-genre's I brood over when this mood comes around: The Haunted House, which I'd also like to run.

The ensemble cast of 1963's "The Haunting", the great adaptation of "The Haunting of Hill House"

The solution I've come up with addresses some problems that I now realize BOTH have in common. One is Ensemble Casts. It's a subject I've discussed in the past when trying to figure out to run a "Star Trek" thing. I'll get that in a bit, as it's something I want to discuss at length, all on its own.

But the one that really hit me today when considering both sub-genres alongside each other is THIS: Proactive vs Reactive in Solo RPG's, which is what inspired me to post in the first place. In the past I've discussed a bit about how I thought "mission oriented" RPG's were much easier to run Solo. I realize now what I was struggling to articulate in that view is The Difference Between Proactive and Reactive in RPG's.

That is to say: Proactive would be the so-called "mission oriented" RPG's I mentioned earlier. They give you a goal, someplace to go, and something to do. On the other hand a Reactive one would be one where you wait for things to happen, then you respond accordingly.

The latter of the two are the ones I've struggled with. In order to make Reactive games work you have to have something to react TO. The only way I've ever solved this problem was content generators. Lots and lots of content generators.

It occurs to me as I write this that perhaps the main difference between Proactive and Reactive is the Proactive front-loads all your Random Content, whereas in Reactive you generate as you go, which means you need somewhere to go and something to do until then, since really PROACTIVE becomes REACTIVE to some extent once you start playing, as you roll new terrain, random encounters and so on.

All of this talk of Proactive vs. Reactive might be apropos of nothing, but I do think it is important, and somewhat instructive, to think about which structure the type of game or genre you're thinking of has, so as to look ahead to what some of your needs are going to be.

I think one of the things I've always struggled with in Reactive-type games is: Who is my character? Where am I going? What am I doing? I always likened it to wanting to have no more knowledge than the character. That is to say: the teens in a Slasher Movie don't KNOW they're in a Slasher Movie. The people that move into a Haunted House don't KNOW they're in a Haunted House Movie. Until all the fun starts. I'd like to be as surprised as they are.

I haven't solved that one. Without LOTS of purpose designed random tables (that STILL might produce results that didn't fit well together) the only option I can see right now is deciding what kind of "movie" you're making ahead of time and casting accordingly? At the least you might have to have some kind of random generation of "Who" and "Where" which might suggest (or let something like "Mythic" generate suggestions for you) of the "What" and "Why"?

ANYHOW, the idea that I have is on a way to handle Ensemble Casts, and deal with the Where They're Going and What They're Doing questions to some extent. At least until the "fun" begins.

The idea was inspired by the RPG "The Final Girl". In that game, 3+ players each create 2-4 characters or so, writing them up on index cards, which are put into a "pool". No one owns the characters, but each scene each player picks a character to play for that scene. There are a number of Introduction Scenes where we get to know these characters and establish Connections between them.

I was thinking about how to convert this game to Solo when I had the following idea, for handling scenes with ensemble casts.:

• CHARACTERS: Write each Characters name on an index card. You are either going to play all the Characters, or have one Main Character and play one of the "NPC's" in scenes that this character is not in, etc. If you choose a Main Character you can then pick one of the NPC's to be your next Character if that one dies, etc.
• LOCATIONS: Decide if the game is going to take place over a wide area or a isolated location. These are where your scenes are going to take place, and write them down on cards. For example: if you decide your Slasher Movie is going to take place at  Summer Camp, you might write up the main rooms of the Lodge on separate cards (or make a little sub-table of rooms on a card that just says "Lodge"?), Lake, Woods, Council Fire, Boat Dock, Garage, Barn, etc.
• SITUATION: Write up a number of cards with "Situations" typical to whatever type of "movie" you're playing. Continuing with out Slasher example, let's say: Sex, Drugs, Music, Booze, Dancing, Pranks, Spooky Story, Teasing, Banter, Quarrel, whatever tropes you want.
• NOW:  each scene draw (X) number of Characters (dice for it or decide, whatever), a Location and a Situation. Your Characters and Location are self explanatory. The "Situation" is something that you introduce during the scene. Choose which character(s) the Situation apply to, and feel free to be as liberal in your interpretation as you like (i.e. if you draw "Sex", maybe you chose two characters who run off somewhere to "do it", maybe it's just innocent flirting, or maybe a Character lusts after someone who isn't even aware of their existence).

So there's the idea in a nutshell. I see it as a way to decide at least who's in the scene, where it takes place, and what their motivation is, until your Game Master Emulator of choice kicks in and the session "gets some legs" and  takes on a life of its own, and things start happening.

Emma Drake, Agent 008, in "Russian Hellfire" (pt. 6 - Just the Mechanics) FINAL, AND FINAL THOUGHTS

So there is is, the big finale! If you've stuck with me this far I hope you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed playing, and writing. Thanks you for sharing the journey. I appreciate it.

There's really not a lot going on, mechanically, in this session, since it's so combat heavy, other than "Mythic" questions like "Do I know the layout of the base?", "Do I know where (X) is?" (for communications, armory, etc.) With the "Chaos Factor" maxed out, you're going to get lots of positive answers, as the GM Emulator is attempting to shepperd you toward the climax.

Annuska's final refusal to leave was the result of another Altered Scene for rolling under the CF when starting a new scene (which I thought was going to be a getaway, an extraction, and who-knows-what next.) Whatever the result was, it fit with everything until now, and showed me how I could wrap this up, as I was ready by now for a conclusion.

I had been spending "Grit" steadily, trying to finish these guys off and complete the adventure. I decided if we were going to go with some big final assault that I needed a way to leverage the rules to gain "Advantage". Using the "Outgunned" rule from "Magnum Fury" seemed like a good way to accomplish that. I thought of how I could "Outgun" them & the rest fell in place.

I was down to 2 "Grit" when making the final run on base security. I decided I needed another advantage, so I used the "Smoldering" Talent to freeze the guys in the hallway in place while I took myself an Action Hero moment, strutting close enough like a sexy bad-ass so that their cover didn't cancel my "Outgunned" Advantage.

After that is just a couple more "Mythic" questions to confirm I'd found the brother, and that the extraction team showed up without any further complications.

I had a lot of fun with this adventure. What kicked it off was a hypothetical set-up of a big Action Movie set piece of a gun battle in the street with seven armed opponents (I rolled a d4 for each car, got a 3 & a 4...go figure!).

I wanted to see which set of rules could HANDLE this kind of Action. That was when I settled on "Magnum Fury". It let me do these big "one-versus-many" battles without worrying about getting my PC drilled full of holes. "Dogs of W.A.R." was another STRONG contender, but I felt like "Magnum Fury" did it even better.

It became really clear to me VERY quickly that even though I set out to do a "James Bond" thing, what I really must have wanted deep in my heart was a big, explosive Action Movie, with lots of guns, fighting, and action.  The movie "Atomic Blonde" was a big motivating factor in doing a Spy thing. If see (or have seen) it, you'll know what I mean.

I was still hoping things would let me assume some of the typical Bond trappings, such as fast cars, posh surroundings, elegance, beautiful clothes, seduction, stunning locations, Villains, etc, etc.

BUT, things just didn't seem to turn out that way. The narrative just didn't drive it so. Maybe next time. Or it could be that I'm just too "Murican" in my thinking. That I really don't have the right mindset or approach for the high class, super-spy genre. If that turns out to be the case, I'm ok with that too. Maybe the adventures of 008 end up more Bourne and less Bond than 007. I'm good with that too.

Part of it also most likely has to do with the fact that, by design, I started "in media res" with the action. Once I decided to continue and make this a "thing", and not just a hypothetical rules test, I was picturing it to be like the before credits cut scene of the Bond films. I didn't expect it to take on a life of its own and grow to become the whole adventure. But, again, so be it. I just followed where ever it led.

So in conclusion, once again I hope everyone enjoyed and/or found it instructional. Hopefully, 008 will return! 😊

Emma Drake, Agent 008 in "Russian Hellfire" (pt. 5 - Just the Mechanics)

*WHEW!* That was a close one! So, let's see how it went down:

The airfield was also suggested by the "Covetous Poet's" add on "Spy Genre Pack" as a Secret Base.

We were in a bad spot here. I had no firm idea how we were going to get out of it. I asked "Mythic" if when we arrived if I saw any possibility for escape. I set the odds almost as high as they'd go and STILL got a "Yes"!  I had raised the "Chaos Factor" a couple of times now, I think to about an "8", so wild, improbable things were going to be more likely by this point.

HOWEVER, on my "Fists" I rolled a "Failure"! a "2" on 2d6. So I ruled that this meant the escape attempt failed and the "Getting Screwed" continued. 😉

So the next logical step was confinement. I had to think how I was going to get them out of this. I was tempted to spend a point of "Grit" to say that I had an appropriate spy gadget or device, one of the other uses you can put "Grit" to in "Magnum Fury". It would have been a very Bond thing to do. But, A) I wanted to save the "Grit". I felt like we were hurtling toward a final showdown, and I felt I'd really need it to ensure as much Success without Complication as possible, and B) it just didn't feel right.

Looking at her character sheet, the "Talents" caught my eye. This would be a GREAT time to start bringing them into play!

The "Sexy" Talent reads: "People attracted to your gender do little things for you all the time, without you even trying. If you spend 1 Grit you can get complete strangers to go out of their way, inconvenience themselves, or even get themselves in a bit of hot water just to please or impress you."

Sounded good to me, so 1 "Grit" spent to get him close enough to take him out. From there it was a couple more "Fists" rolls, I believe spending "Grit" to ensure complete Success, so I think I ended the scene with 6 Grit & the CF all the way up to 9 if I'm not mistaken!

Emma Drake, Agent 008 in "Russian Hellfire (pt. 4 - Just the Mechanics)

Here we are, back with another mechanics summary of session 4 of my "James Bond" (powered by "Magnum Fury") spy-RPG thing! Or at least as much as I can remember, since I didn't take in notes, as I originally had no plans to share this online. It's only because I think it turned out so well, and that I had so much fun with it that I decided to. 😊

The session started off at a ("Mythic") Chaos Factor of 5, since everything has settled back down. I believe I was at a (current) max of 9 Grit.

The guys waiting outside MAY have been the result of a Mythic Question. Or rolling under the CF to start the scene. Not sure.

I'm going to say I probably scored a full Success on the attack on the carload of goons.

The additional pursuers were a Mythic follow up question. The bus was my idea, I asked Mythic, and it agreed. I was trying to go for any kind of distraction or obstacle I could find. Pretty sure I rolled "Costly Success" and took "Less Effective Than Hoped For" on my Moves roll, thus enabling one of them to make it on the bus, which seemed very appropriate and cinematic.

I may have spent a couple of points of "Grit" to ensure full Success during this whole scene.

The Cemetery was suggested by the "Spy Genre Charts" add on for the "Covetous Poet's Adventure Creator and Solo GM Guide". At first it threw me (a Numbers Station in a Cemetery?), but then it clicked and I fell in love with the idea. Fun fact, when I Goggled up cemeteries in Moscow, I picked Kuntsevo because I liked the picture of the gate. Upon reading up on it, among other famous residents interred there are American spies Morris and Lorna Cohen, infamous British double agent Kim Philby, and the assassin of Leon Trotsky, Ramon Mercader. How very fitting. 😄

The little scene that unfolded in front of the cemetery was courtesy of rolling doubles under the Chaos Factor in "Mythic", generating what turned out to be a Scene Interrupt. I can't remember the exact Event Focus or Action/Subject rolled, but it was something to do with an NPC and was suggestive or some kind of argument, dispute, or refusal. Given the story we'd built thus far, Annuska throwing a tantrum and refusing to co-operate because of her brother seemed very natural. It seems like something you'd see in an Action movie. I could see myself sitting on my couch screaming at my TV "You stupid! Get in the cemetery!"

I believe I rolled a "Success at a Cost" on my Mouth roll to persuade her, took a "Takes Longer Than Expected" (which seemed appropriate), and when I asked "Mythic" if anyone arrived, it was only too happy to oblige, fittingly enough. Now I picture myself sitting on the couch screaming "See?!?! I told you so!"

At this point, I was stumped. How were we going to get out of this one? When I considered, one thought occurred to me: "Magnum Fury" has a mechanic, "Getting Screwed", where once per session the GM can automatically defeat, capture, or otherwise drop the hammer on the hero. It's a heavy handed plot device that serves the genre well, lets the GM have SOME effect on otherwise nigh-impervious Action Heroes (at least vs Mooks), and lets the hero recover one "Grit".

This seemed like a perfect place for one of one of those. If I was GM-ing this for a player, it's where I'd drop one, so I put on my GM hat and did just that!😉

So, now we're captured! The Chaos Factor was probably up to about a 7 by now, and I'm going to say my expenditure of "Grit"  versus how much I recovered equalled out. I may have been down a couple point s at least.

Tune in next time to see how 008 escapes, and what I believe will be the finale!

Emma Drake, Agent 008 in "Russian Hellfire" (pt. 4)

The next morning, 008 again studied the street as carefully as possible from the window, looking for anyone watching. When satisfied that she could see no one, she and Annuska Tarasnova prepared to depart. The tattoo parlor wasn't open yet, so Emma Drake made sure to disable the alarm with a code that was known to her for safe houses, then they let themselves out the side door, locking it behind them.

On the street, 008 again scanned intently, looking for any signs of surveillance. She locked eyes immediately with a carload of hardmen on the opposite side of the street, just far enough down the block to be out of the field of view from the window above. The safe house had been blown.

With no hesitation, Drake launched into action, running directly toward the car full of goons. She could have pulled the Glock-19 and made quick work of them, but she wanted to avoid causing another panic. Gunfire, even silenced, was going to bring the police that much faster. Corpses tended to do that.

The thugs on the far side of the vehicle had been quickest to respond, throwing open the doors and starting to exit first. Without breaking stride, Emma threw herself headlong into the air, tucking into a roll on the roof of the car, lashing out with both feet at hard cases', smashing them both in the face.

As she dropped to the street on the opposite side of the car, the other two thugs on the side facing the tattoo parlor had just gotten out.. Now as they tried to whirl around, one of them talking into a radio and the other opening his jacket to go for his pistol, 008 grabbed the edge of the door frame and swung herself feet first into the car. She thrust both feet through to the opposite side, catching the hard guy up front and blasting him sprawling into the street.

The fourth guy had managed to claw out some hardware as Emma grabbed his wrist and pulled it into the car, pulling the door shut hard to slam on his wrist, breaking it with an audible snap. He howled in pain and dropped the gun as she threw the door open again and launched a high roundhouse kick, catching him in the temple and dropping him in a heap.

She sprinted back to Annuska, grabbing her arm and pulling her along in a run as a second group of thugs came around the corner behind them. Emma saw a city bus on the corner and they jumped aboard. The doors started to close when the fastest of the KGB agents thrust himself through and tried to board. Drake nailed him with a straight front kick, sending him flying backwards as the doors closed.

"Drive!" she commanded the bus driver, and the bus pulled away from the curb. He looked at her with a mix of astonishment and curiosity. Apparently he expected an explanation. "Her boyfriend," 008 said, indicating her companion "He beats her." The driver grunted, apparently satisfied.

When the bus made its next stop around the corner and a few blocks away, the two women did their best to blend into the flow of passengers getting off and on. Drake pulled Tarasnova along as they ran to the opposite side of the street and hailed a taxi.

Emma told the driver to just drive around for a while. She scrutinized the flow of traffic behind them intently, looking for signs of pursuit. When satisfied, she gave the driver a destination, "Kutsevo Cemetery, please."

Annuska looked at her with undisguised confusion. "We have a numbers station there in the caretakers cottage" 008 murmured in a low voice. The blank look the pop star gave her told Emma that she had no clue what that was. "A short-wave radio transmitter, where we can broadcast coded messages to my people" she muttered, keeping her eyes fixed on the driver. He gave no sign that he was aware of the conversation.

Shortly, they pulled to a stop in front of the large iron gate to the cemetery. They paid the fare and stood in front of the gate watching as the cab drove away. "Come on, let's go." Drake said as she moved toward the cemetery gate. "No." Tarasnova said, not moving from where she stood,

"No? What the bloody hell do you mean?" Emma snarled, "We don't have time for this." Annuska stood her ground, refusing to be cowed "Not without Mickael." she said stubbornly. Drake frowned. "I told you we'd see to your brother." She did her best to stay calm and keep her voice level. "But, we have to contact MI-6. I need to appraise them of our situation. Of what's changed."

Tarasnova shook her head. "If you contact them, you'll have to leave. They'll want you out of Russia after all the trouble that has happened. Mickael comes first." 008's scowl deepened "Damn it, we don't have time to argue about this. We aren't safe out in the open like this." Annuska stubbornly shook her head "We find Mickael first. Then we call your people."

The argument was rendered moot by the screeching of tires. Two cars appeared from opposite corners, skidding to a stop at angles on each side, bottling them in. Emma grabbed Tarasnova by the arm and made a break for the cemetery gates, Locked. It was too early. The cemetery wasn't open yet.

Armed gunmen emptied from both vehicles, taking cover behind their cars, covering them and yelling for them to drop their weapons and get down on the ground.

008 knew she had no choice. Alone, she might have been able to shoot her way out of this. But with the girl at her side, she couldn't. There's no way Annuska could avoid getting hit in the cross fire. Carefully removing her pistol from the shoulder holster with two fingers from her left hand. she lay it on the ground and sank to her knees, hands behind her head, as the enemy closed in on them.

Emma Drake, Agent 008 in "Russian Hellfire" (pt.3)

Emma Drake opened the door at the back of the tattoo parlor and held it open for Annuska Tarasnova. Beyond, two flights of stairs led up to the second floor. As they climbed, Drake produced a key that the owner of the parlor had passed to her during their exchange, and she unlocked the door at the top of the stairs.

The door swung open to reveal a tiny, one room efficiency apartment crouching on top of the tattoo parlor. A single bed, a stuffed chair by the window, a radiator, a dingy refrigerator, and a small TV all huddled together in the room. One door opened into a closet-size bathroom with a toilet and a stand-up shower stall.

008 went to the closed curtains of the window, pulling them back just a tiny crack, scanning the street below for any sign of pursuit. When satisfied she dropped heavily into the stuffed armchair.

Annuska watched warily from the doorway. When Drake sat down she entered, sitting on the edge of the single bed and eyeing the grimy bedspread with distaste.

008 stared at her levely for a moment, studying her, before she spoke. "We need to talk. I'm going to go first. I'm going to divulge as much as possible so that you'll trust me, and that you you'll understand how serious this is. My name is Emma Drake and I work for British Intelligence. We had received information that told us your movements and activities, and that...something was going to happen today," Okay, not technically a lie. So far so good... "we believe it has something to do with the death of another British agent. Do you know who those men were, and do you know why they were after you?"

Tarasnova looked very pale and very nervous. "I imagine they were KGB. But I don't know why they tried to grab me. I did what they asked of me. They have my brother." Emma nodded. She had suspected it might be something like that. A picture was beginning to emerge. "What was it they asked you to do?" she enquired.

Annuska stared down at the floor. "They wanted me to...get close to a music journalist from the west. Peter Langford," Emma knew this was 003's cover identity "they asked me to get close to him and, just get to know him...befriend him. That's all it was at first. They asked me a few questions. Where he went, what he did, that sort of thing. After a while, he and I became...closer. I couldn't go on pretending. I confessed everything to him. He said he could help me, that he could help with my brother. He wanted to know if I knew where Mickael was being held. I didn't, but I told him I had overheard them talking about an old airbase once,"

She paused, sighing "He said he would take care of everything. I asked him how? I told him he was just a journalist. He was vague, but said he had friends, influence. You mentioned a British agent was killed. You're talking about him, aren't you?" Drake only nodded in affirmation. Annuska's face fell. Her lower lip quivered. "He was supposed to meet me at Sberbank today, after he had my brother. He was going to help me transfer my funds out of the country and then we were going to defect."

008 leaned back in the chair, tilted her head back and closed her eyes for a moment as she breathed deeply. She had studied Tarasnova carefully while she spun her tale. She watched carefully for all the nonverbal cues, body language, facial gestures, everything that she had been trained to look for that gave away deception.

Of course the method wasn't fool proof. One could also be trained well enough to eliminate all these tell-tale cues. But she didn't think Annuska had been. She "read" her as genuine. Non-deceptive. Emma's gut said she was telling the truth.

She opened her eyes and regarded the singer. "I believe you. I think you were set up. I think they used you to set up Peter for elimination, and then they were going to eliminate you as well to tie up the loose ends." She carefully omitted the part where she suspected them of also passing disinformation as to Annuska's complicity, making her a target of MI-6 as well in case the KGB missed her somehow, or she escaped. 

Tarasnova gazed at her with eyes shiny from barely restrained tears "So what so we do now?" Emma propped her head on one fist as she rested on the arm of the chair "We wait. Let the heat die down out on the street. Try to get some sleep. Tomorrow, I need to make contact with my people. And we need to see about your brother."

***

No mechanics recap for this scene, as this was just all "role playing" i.e. a scene that I conducted in my head to help explain the twists that things had taken thus far. (I may have run a few questions past the "Mythic" GME to confirm things).

About the only mechanical thing that occurred is that I set the Chaos Factor down one more, to a base of 5, since it seemed things had pretty well calmed down for now.

So, it will be on to part 4 next! There were two more sessions, each with two scenes after this I think, so I should be wrapping it up around Part 6 to 8. Thanks for reading thus far!

Emma Drake, Agent 008 in "Russian Hellfire" (pt.2 - Just the Mechanics)

That's more like it!

So, just like time, this one is JUST the mechanical bits of the session. As much as I can recall anyway. This one might be less exciting, as less happened, really, although there were some cool fight scenes... Anyway, here he go:

I think the first cop who showed up was the result of a "Mythic" roll under the Chaos Factor to start the scene?

I only got a Costly Success on the attempt to bluff our way past him. I took "Takes Inordinately Long Amount of Time" which I ruled meant someone might catch us before we got away (as you'll see in a moment...)

The metro was my idea. I asked Mythic, it seemed quite likely there'd be an entrance to one, & Mythic agreed.

I almost called it a "subway" in the write-up, because I forgot it's called a metro in Europe, until I Googled to make sure that Moscow even HAD a subway/metro. Hazards of playing on the fly! I'd have been in trouble if it DIDN'T have one...

The cops that intercepted on the platform were the result of a Mythic (follow-up) question stemming from how long the FIRST cop held us up!

The fight scene choreography is courtesy of my new "Fight and Chase Cards" from the "Operators" RPG. I love them. 😊

The 4th cop who just made the train was the result of yet ANOTHER Mythic question as to if we escaped (Thanks Mythic).

Since we then DID get away (or so I thought) it felt like time for a change of scene, since I THOUGHT we'd be going to the safe house now. WRONG! Another roll under the Chaos Factor. Whatever the result was, it was NPC Negative, & seemed to suggest Annuska running. That tied in nicely to my Costly Success earlier when convincing her to come with me, so I did it!

So I had to convince her again, and got another Costly Success. This time I took "Make Noise or Attract Attention" as the consequence, as it seemed fitting, which meant ANOTHER Mythic question, and another cop! Same with the escape from the metro station.

The hospital was the result of a Mythic question, & what the Action/Subject result suggested to me (something like "Oppress/Suffering" maybe?)
I don't remember where the Club came from. Maybe another Mythic question. I go to another source to suggest a location soon, but I don't think I did yet...

The Tattoo Parlor as the front for the Safe House was definitely as suggestion from something. Either Mythic or "The Location Crafter", since I know I pulled it out at least once just to try to mix it up. I do that a lot, thinking "Hey, why don't I try (X), & see what happens!"

I can't recall if I spent any "Grit" during any of this. It doesn't seem like it. If I did, I most likely made it back up at the end of scene. I don't recall spending much more Grit if any until the big finale...

Chaos Factor I believe went up one again at the beginning of the scene, with the cop, then down, then up again, then down. Up when Annuska tried to run, then down, Up again with the latest cop, pretty sure I left it up since it still really wasn't resolved, but I took it down one when we escaped, and one when we made it to the safe house.

Got all that? Yeah, me either. But if I remember correctly I think that meant the scene ended on a "6", since things were slowing down & settling under control (for now).

Emma Drake, Agent 008 in "Russian Hellfire" (pt.2)

Emma knew there was no way to backtrack and make their way to the faux police car staged for her escape. They had to find another way out.

As 008 and the Russian pop-princess made their way through the smoke and fleeing bystanders they unfortunately ran almost headlong into one of the police officers that was already on the scene. For some reason, something about them raised his suspicion. He began asking questions, asking for ID and so on.

Drake again answered in perfect Russian. She showed her (covers) passport, that of an international lawyer. She feigned fear and panic, saying she was here to conduct business on behalf of a client, indicating Annuska. He seemed to take an eternity studying the documents and looking them over before waving them on.

Wanting to get out of sight and out of the area as quickly as possible, Emma led them down the steps of a metro station. She knew of a safehouse very nearby, just a few stops away, where they could hide, rest, and figure out their next move.

As they reached the platform to wait on the next train, 008 noticed another cop at the end of the platform. He was watching them and talking into his shoulder mike. He began walking toward them as he was talking. Damn it, where was the train! Two more cops came trotting down the steps into the metro station. The one at the end of the platform started jogging toward them.

As the train roared into the station the three officers converged on them, shouting for them to stop.

As the doors to the train opened, Emma turned to face the two officers approaching from the metro entrance. The third came up on her left from the end of the platform, reaching out to grasp her when she struck, lashing out with an elbow to his jaw as the other two cops came within reach. As soon as her left elbow smashed into the first cops jaw, she immediately threw a boxing hook with her right to the cop on the outside, then lashed out with a push kick to the one in the middle, sending him sprawling.

Turning back to the first, she took him out with a Muay Thai flying knee strike, incapacitated the second with a jab to the throat, and left the third gasping for air with a heart punch as he struggled back to his feet.

Grabbing Tarasnova by the hand she pulled her onto the train just as the doors were closing. Before they could however, a fourth cop darted through. The train lurched into motion as Drake and the police officer faced each other. Would he attempt to apprehend her on a crowded train full of people? 

008 had her answer as he lunged toward her. She met him, snapping out a quick boxing jab, rocking him back on his heels. She followed with a snap kick to the solar plexus. A heel kick hooked behind his ear as he doubled over. Finally, a chop to the back of the neck disabled him as he sank to his knees

.

She quickly looked around. The passengers of the metro shrank back in fear and surprise at the sudden violence that had erupted in their midst. Fortunately they were already at the next stop. Blake again took Annuska by the hand and pulled her out onto the next platform.

That was when it all went to hell as Tarasnova suddenly jerked free of Blake's grasp and tried to make a run for it. Emma's hand shot out, grabbing the collar of her coat and jerking her backward. "What the hell do you think you're doing!?!" she hissed as the pop star whirled to confront her angrily. "I don't know you! I don't know who you are or what you want from me!" she wailed "Just let me go! Those policemen..." 008 quickly interrupted in a low voice "It was necessary. You're in great danger. I need to get you somewhere safe".

She saw the cop on the platform at the same moment he saw her. They both stood frozen momentarily as their eyes locked. He moved first as he started trying to talk into he shoulder mike and fumble for his side arm at the same time.

Drake moved toward him with blinding speed, grabbing his wrist just as he cleared his holster and started to raise his weapon, turning as she pulled him over in a side hip throw, following through with an axe kick to the gut as he sprawled on the ground, and laying him out with an open hand palm strike under the chin.

Without waiting for further debate, Emma grabbed Annuska by the wrist and pulled her up the steps of the metro into the street. In the distance, she saw more cops running from the way they'd come back down the street in their direction.

The two women ran as 008 looked for some way to throw them off the trail. She spied an emergency room entrance down the block. Perfect. As they drew adjacent she suddenly swerved, pulling Tarasnova after her. They bolted through the ER and charged into the winding corridors of the hospital. She could hear pounding footfalls behind her as they rounded a corner. "Need to put more distance between us," she thought.

They ducked into a stairwell. Went up a floor. Quickly covered the width of the hospital. Took another stairwell down two flights to the underground parking, then exited onto the street.

Looking about warily she didn't see anyone, but just to be safe she did spot another opportunity to throw them off the trail.

Down the street a group of Russian youth were entering what appeared to be a nightclub, judging from the brief blast of bass that emerged from the door the bouncer held open for them as they entered.

Emma and Annuska quickly made their way to the club entrance. Drake was prepared to bribe the doorman or bluff their way in when he looked at Tarasnova and broke out in a wide smile, holding the door open wide for them to enter. Drake and Tarasnova's eyes met as the pop singer smirked a little and cocked a quizzical eyebrow. Rolling her eyes, 008 took her arm and they went in.

Throbbing music and writhing bodies surrounded them as the made their way into the club and onto the dance floor. Emma could feel the bass thrumming inside, was nearly blinded by the strobing lights. She had to fight to keep from being disoriented. Bodies moved and twisted all around them as they crossed the dance floor. Drake saw what she was looking for: the entrance to the kitchen.

Quickly ducking through, they passed through without breaking stride, ignoring the voices being raised in protest, and exited the back door, which had been propped open due to the oppressive heat in the club, and into an alley.

They were now two blocks over from where they had first exited the metro. And only a half block away from the destination 008 had been steering them toward all along.  Leaving the alley and walking briskly, Drake looked in the reflections of windows on the street for anyone following them, but no one seemed to be paying them any mind.

Annuska looked about in confusion as they entered a tattoo parlor. The owner, who was working on an arm sleeve for a customer, looked up as they entered, then stopped momentarily and came to speak with 008. A few hushed words later as certain code phrases were exchanged he motioned to a door in the back of the shop with his chin, then went back to work.

Emma guided them to the back of the room and through the doorway.

Emma Drake, Agent 008 in "Russian Hellfire" (pt.1 - Just the Mechanics)

Make that 008. Drake, Emma Drake

I know in the last post I mentioned there would probably be little to no mechanics, due to the extra amount of time it takes, and my fear of it breaking my momentum. Another reason is I played this adventure very fast and loose, constantly on the go, in bite size bits and pieces. As a result, I kept no notes as I went, other than tracking my "Grit" (the in-game combo of HP + Hero Points from "Magnum Fury".  I just kept in mind where I left off, and picked back up there next time. Even the Chaos Factor (from the "Mythic" GME) I kept track of in my head. So all of the session reports coming out of this adventure are being reconstructed from memory.

However, my good friend from the G+ Lone Wolf Solo Roleplaying group Lino Pang expressed an interest in them, which made me reconsider. They'll be scant, since as I say, reconstructing from memory, but here's what I can recall in case anyone else is interested.

The Mission and City was generated by the James Bond RPG supplement "For Your Information" Mission Generator.


The Target and her Motivation was from "UNE" (Pleasant Entertainer, Capture Secret Society, I believe).


I personally felt the scenario I spun from the above was a bit hackneyed, but it turned out okay. And I really felt uncomfortable about the mission. Something didn't feel right about the mission (assassination) versus who the target was. It just seemed a bit extreme. I was hoping "Mythic" threw something in that would give me a reason not to carry it out.


The guys showing up was a Mythic Scene Interrupt, NPC Negative of some sort.


The escape plan was generated by questions and the resulting answers from the "Mythic" charts. Again, it seemed a bit preposterous but, oh well. Later I thought of ways I would have refined and polished it if I hadn't been having to play under the conditions I did (like adding a police uniform and credentials), but again, it is what it is.


Which Double-Oh was killed, and Emma Drake's number itself was generated from a chart of them also in "For Your Information".


The name of the target and the name of her (insipid) pop song were both from random generators Googled up online.


When the Mooks grabbed Annuska, I considered tailing them, possibly leading to a car chase. But I REALLY wanted a big Action set piece shoot-out. Then it hit me how I could stop them so that Emma could catch up to them.


I only rolled a Partial Success on the first shot to take the lead car out. I spent a point of Grit to turn it into a Full Success. It was critical to stop them so 008 could catch up.


The time spent crouching behind the car for cover was a result of only getting a Partial Success on the attack versus the first group of Mooks. I didn't want to keep spending Grit on every Partial Success, so I took a "Miss Your Attack Action", meaning they got to shoot at me twice. The targeting of the gas tank was my use of the "Clever Girls" rule from "Magnum Fury" to gain Advantage on my dice roll. I needed to take those guys out.


I only got a Partial Success on my "Mouth" roll to persuade Annuska to come with me. I took "The Action is only Partially Successful or Less Effective Than Hoped For". She's going with me, but she doesn't trust me. This could come back to haunt me later...

The "Mythic" Chaos Factor started at 5, went to 6 when the Mooks showed up, went to 7 when I blew the gas tank, went to 8 when the cop showed up, but lowered back to 7 when we got past him, which is where it starts next session


I spent one "Grit" on the sniper shot to take out the lead car. I spent one (and Burned it) to Speak Perfect Russian (by Burning the point of "Grit" I get to speak Russian the rest of the adventure, BUT my max "Grit" is now reduced by one from 10 to 9). I may have spent a couple more in there to get full Success on some of my rolls.


In any case, I Recovered one "Grit" for "Kicking Ass" , I recovered one for acting on my "Attraction" Flaw, and one for acting on my "Duty" Drive, meaning I started next time at my (current) max of 9.


I think those are ALL the mechanics I can recall from the first session. I will try to incorporate the mechanics in my next write up. I will most likely do them as a recap after the write-up as I did here, as I REALLY don't like to break the flow of the narrative.


Hope that this has been instructional!

Emma Drake, Agent 008 in "Russian Hellfire" (pt. 1)

Meet Emma Drake, Agent 008

Last weekend I started a series on how I came to the decision to use "Magnum Fury" as my system of choice for a "James Bond"/Spy-thing. It was long, and ultimately pointless, really, and I had a change of heart about it, or at least how it was to be presented, so I nuked it.

What I really want to do is just simply recap the session. If I don't keep it short and to the point my chances of finishing it are drastically reduced, so I'm going to attempt to do so. There will probably be a minimum of mechanics, if any, and the prose will hopefully be sweet and to the point. First though, I will go ahead and quickly give you 008's stats for "Magnum Fury".

Elizabeth Debicki as 008

Name: Emma Drake (Agent 008)

Style: Smooth

Career: Spy

Drive: Duty

Flaw: Attraction

Muscle: 2

Moves: 4

Brains: 2

Wits: 3

Mouth: 3

Fists: 4

Knives: 3

Guns: 4

Tools: 2

Rides: 3

Talents: Sexy, Smoldering, Stunning

And now for, the session itself...

As Emma Drake set up the sniper rifle, she thought back to M's office. The mission was assassination. The place, Moscow. The target, Russian pop star Annuska Tarasovna, who has has a hit single across Europe "Reject Your Sugar". She and 003 met "innocently" enough in his cover identity as a music journalist and began a relationship. Now 003 is dead, killed by the KGB, lured into an ambush.

Julia Volkova as Annuska Tarasnova

MI-6 believes Tarasnova is working for the KGB and set 003 up. They want her taken out in retaliation to show the Russians that they can't act with impunity. They've received information Tarasovna is to conduct a large financial transaction at Sberbank in Moscow, no doubt her payoff for the job, at which time she will be vulnerable.

The plan is to set up a sniper position across the street, stage a "protest" in front of the bank, with police called when things get disruptive, to provide cover and a distraction. In the chaos after the escape is to occur by exiting the building and leaving in a phony police car arranged to be

parked out front.

As she finishes she sees the "protest" getting rowdy below. Through the scope, she spots the target approaching. She looks nervous and scared. Suddenly two large, dark sedans roar up to the sidewalk, forcing protesters to scatter. Three men leap out of the lead sedan and grab Annuska, throwing her in.

008 comes to a quick decision as the two cars pull away from the sidewalk. Acquiring the lead sedan as it raced down the street, Drake put a powerful .300 Winchester Magnum round from the Accuracy International AWM into its engine block. Quickly working the bolt, she compensated as the car skidded and slewed, putting two more rounds into both the front and rear tire, smoothly and methodically working back to the second car, putting the last two rounds of the AWM's 5-round magazine into is engine and front tire as well.

Without pausing to see the results of her work, 008 raced down the stairwell of the building, pulling her silenced Glock-19 from its shoulder holster on the run.

As she exited the building people were running and screaming, panicked by the gunfire and screeching automobiles. Drake sprinted down the street, dodging civilians as hardmen and their captive spilled from both vehicles. The men began grabbing weapons from under the jackets, looking about wildly in all directions, trying to find the source of the shots that had taken out both cars.

008 took cover behind a parked car on her side of the street and braced on the roof as she began rapid firing. The whispering Glock worked left to right, taking out the goons from the lead vehicle, including a spectacular headshot, over the shoulder of the captive girl, to the thug behind her who tried to use her as a shield.

As she swiveled the pistol to track on the four guys from the second car they had spotted her.

Their confusion had only been momentary before they scrambled for cover themselves behind another car that had squealed to a halt diagonally in the street during all the bedlam. Before she could lock onto the next target the four men began a hailstorm of return fire, forcing Drake to duck.

As she crouched behind the car, slugs peppered the body, broke out window glass, punched into the interior. This was no good. Two of them could keep her pinned down while the other two reloaded and advanced. She had to finish this quickly.

Popping up over hood, 008 began rapid firing the pistol, targeting the gas tank. The explosion rocked the street as the fuel tank erupted, blowing the four burning scarecrows in separate directions.

Emma trotted across the street as she dropped the clip from the Glock and rammed home a fresh one. Quickly scanning the four burning figures they were quite dead. Same for the three she had gunned down from the first car. She approached the girl, who crouched stunned and terrified in the street, knocked to ground from the force of the exploding car.

Despite the fear etched into her features she was even more beautiful in person than in the file photo Drake has studied. She was glad she hadn't killed her. Perhaps the smart thing to do, the safe thing to do would be to do so now. Complete the mission and go home. Some would even say duty demanded it. But she was a Double-Oh. With that came a certain amount of autonomy. The ability to change the mission parameters as needed if she saw fit. In her eyes, duty demanded THAT as well.

Instead of playing it safe, of taking the quick and easy way out, she was going to do her duty as she saw it and follow through to the end. That was what duty demanded.

008 held out a hand to her and said in flawless Russian. "You need to come with me. It's not safe here.". She could see the doubt in Tarasnova's eyes, but she took the offered hand as Drake helped her up.

She didn't know for sure who the bad guys were. They looked and moved like KGB. In any case the mission had changed now. Instead of eliminating Tarasnova, Drake needed to find out why she had been targeted by what had appeared to be her own people.

Okay, so I guess I couldn't keep the fiction short. But I am enjoying the writing. This seems like a good place to stop, as this was also the end of my first scene and first session, so I'll post this while I start work on the next. Until next time...

Not 007, but close...

"The Vigilante Hack" Character Sheets! Part 2: Bruce Timm Style!

Remember this?

Like Bruce Timm's style of art? Need character sheets for "The Vigilante Hack" RPG? As promised in the last blarg post, here is the second set of character sheets for "The Vigilante Hack", all with blank character silhouettes in the style of Bruce Timm's "Animated Series" art. Ninety-Six poses in all, male and female! Download HERE.

"The Vigilante Hack" Character Sheets! Part 1

This is just one of over 50!

I love character silhouettes/poses for Superhero RPG's. "Champions" was my first Supers RPG (and still one of my favorites), which included a whole set of them on its character sheets (such as the one seen above). I could always draw my own characters okay, but having ready made poses is a much more convenient time saving option.

Since then I've been a bit of a horder for poses. I've done many custom sheets for "Champions" and "Marvel Super Heroes" over the years. With my recent love of "The Vigilante Hack" I decided to go ahead and make a bunch for it as well, and share them with the community-at-large.

You will find 59 PDF character sheets in a variety of poses, male and female, that I've collected from a number of sources over the years HERE. Note that there are several "Non-Vigilante Hack" themed poses included. I did this just in case anyone would like to use them for OTHER Supers games of their own.

I hope everyone enjoys drawing up their own characters! In part 2 I will be posting all of my Bruce Timm-style sheets, for those that prefer a more "Animated Series" style.

"The Vigilante Hack" Class Hack by Yours Truly Is Here!

Provided without commentary. Too bad ass for words.

For the past couple days while still on vacation I've been grinding away at at the last of the projects (for the moment), that I wanted to tackle. I had a bunch of ideas for new classes that I wanted to write up for "The Vigilante Hack". But first, I had to re-write the core classes. Not because they were bad mind you, but there were a couple of things: A) Some of the classes didn't quite fit my conception of what I wanted from them, and B) I wanted to bring them more in line with the conventions of the original Black Hack.

So with that said, I went ahead and re-wrote the core classes, and then wrote my new ones as well. Six re-written core classes, nine NEW classes, FIFTEEN classes total! PDF available HERE: "The Vigilante Hack" Class Hack.

I hope someone enjoys them and/or finds them useful. Feel free to drop by and leave a comment!

Now, have fun dispensing some vigilante justice!

Time For My Nightly Patrol!

Oh for Pete's sake! He's right there! Behind you!

Looking over my "City of Crime" supplement, I was stricken by how some of the results aren't completely appropriate for all sub-genre's of superhero RPG'ing. While it was my intent all along to go in and tweak it at some point to offer a more "comics code friendly" option, I was still somewhat surprised at how squicky or grimdark some elements were. So I decided to go ahead and do it right now, and to  jail break it out as a separate thing.

"A Night on Patrol" focuses specifically on just the Districts of The City, the Patrol Encounter Chart, the Specific Crimes charts, and the Types of Rackets chart. It has been edited to remove crimes and situations that might be distressing or uncomfortable, and that would not typically show up in your average comic book.

So get out there now and patrol the city in a more genre appropriate way!

The Owl swoops!

"The Vigilante Hack" is HACK-TASTIC!

Love the cover for starters.

Once again, it's been a while since blarging. All the usual reasons, so no need to dwell on that. What I wanted to talk about is a little game that has motivated me in a big way: "The Vigilante Hack" by Eric Bloat from Bloat Games.

"The Vigilante Hack" (TVH) is a small indie RPG based on "The Black Hack" (TBH) by David Black. I'd heard of TBH when it made its big splash a little more than a year-and-a-half ago, but I didn't pay it much mind. "Another retro-clone" was my thought. Then I heard some talk of its Usage Die mechanic, thought "neat", and still didn't pay it much mind,

Then a few months back, TVH dropped. I was taken immediately by the stark simplicity of the cover, which I found quite striking. Reading the description, I kinda went "eh". Though I liked the sound of it, at the same time I have plenty of Supers games, and this one didn't sound like it did anything new or different than the others (and to be honest, it really kinda doesn't), so I didn't check it out right away.

Apparently I just wasn't ready at the time, or the mood wasn't right, or whatever. But the exposure must have went in by brain and stuck there, waiting for the right moment. I got to thinking about getting a Supers game going again, as I often do, but couldn't settle on a particular game, a particular sub-genre or setting, etc, also as I often do. Then I remembered TVH and a little something clicked. I looked it up on DriveThruRPG, saw that A) it had been marked down to a measly two bucks, and B) that it already had support material by way of a GM's Guide, "A City Full of Sinners" (aCFoS), also two bucks. For $4, two books? Why not?

Another awesome cover.

For starters, they motivated me enough to post about them on several of my G+ groups recently. They've also continued to motivate me enough that I've been feverishly working for a few weeks on a couple of projects in preparation for a campaign. Finally, the fact that they motivated me enough to get off my butt and blarg about them at more length and examine WHY they've motivated me so much is obviously proof that I'm glad I gave them a chance.

On the surface, they're deceptively simple. A mere 37 pages for the core book! Another 37 for aCFoS. 74 pages combined. Just 10 pages more than the sixty-four pages of Moldvay's Basic D&D, which is a high point for me in lean, mean, succinct game design, so this is not a bad thing.

The rules are pure, old school, D&D stripped down to its core for task resolution and combat, and removing the clunky sub-systems, thus making a small, lean rule set even smaller and leaner, & streamlined even further, with a few innovations (like the aforementioned Usage Die) & modern flourishes (Advantage/Disadvantage a la 5e). This is also not a bad thing, as reading it reminded me of all the familiar things that I LIKE about old-school D&D, familiarity and ease of play being among them.

One of the areas I think the game really shines in is in its look, presentation, and style. It has a certain feel, a certain vibe about it that sells the premise of the game.

Speaking of which, let's talk about the premise of the game:

"The Vigilante Hack is not a superhero game. While yes, some vigilantes in The Vigilante Hack are considered heroes and some wear costumes, including capes and masks, there is nothing “super” about them. They have no X-ray vision. They cannot run faster than cars. They cannot leap buildings in a single bound and they are not bullet proof. The vigilantes in The Vigilante Hack are normal people, the same as you and I, who have become fed up with the lawless individuals, thugs, organized crime and villains and have decided to do something about it! They have trained hard, sometimes to the point of obsession, and have struck back at those very people who are ruining their city. Think Batman, not Superman. Think The Punisher, not Spider-Man. Think Batgirl not Wonder Woman. Being a vigilante can be a thankless and even deadly calling. You may get arrested. You may pick a fight that you can’t win. You may find yourself looking down the barrel of a villain’s gun or you may even cross the line of right and wrong and become the exact thing that you started out trying to stop."

If this is what you want, this is what the game delivers. And that's ALL it delivers. Instead of trying to be all things to all people, it does the one thing it does, and does it simply and well in a rules-lite package.

This was what set off the light bulb for me: I didn't want to play a SUPERS game, I apparently wanted to play a VIGILANTE game. A MASKED HERO game. A COSTUMED ADVENTURER or MYSTERY MEN game. Calling it a "Supers" game is really a misnomer.

And by narrowing the focus, I found this liberating. When contemplating a Supers game, I think I was overwhelmed by choice . By limiting the focus and saying "There are no superpowers. Everyone in this game is a regular human", I suddenly felt relieved. Even if I had attempted to play this kind of game with other rule sets, it would have felt like I was missing something, both because of how those games scale to handle superpowers, and just the fact in the back of my mind I would be aware that they're there. By saying "This is not what this game is about" it suddenly made me feel OKAY about it. It gave me permission to play this kind of game. By eliminating all other choices it set me free.

This is "Watchmen" without Dr. Manhattan. It's "Kick-Ass" by Mark Miller. It's the DCU if it only consisted of The Batman and Family, The Green Arrow and his related characters, and so on.

Again, this is not a bad thing. It seems to have resonated with me in some of the same ways that recent shows like "Daredevil" and "Arrow" have with viewers. It levels the playing field between the heroes and the criminals they will do battle with. Makes them more of a challenge. Suddenly the common street criminal or mobster seems like more of a threat. I like that. It also brings the genre back to its pulp adventurer roots in a way I also like.

So all that said, I've finished the two projects I was working on. The first was adapting a set of (hopefully easy to use) but very detailed Hand-to-Hand and Gunfire Charts to add flavor to (modern) d20 combat. The second I'm very excited about, as it's a project I've wanted to tackle for a while. It's an adaptation and expansion of various Patrol and Crime, charts, both published and online, to give a Patrol System for the types of situations a crime fighter would encounter on their nightly patrols.

With the completion of these, I'm ready to start my campaign! Speaking of which, next time I'll share the details of the campaign setting I've brainstormed thus far. I'd also like to share a few other Black Hack games, resources, and "Additional Things" that I'm adding to season TVH to taste.

Until then! 

Spring-ing Back Into (Superhero) Action!

My new crush

It's been a rough year for this Blarg-edy Blarg'er. Work upheaval & some (minor) poor health throughout the year didn't leave me with a lot of time. Or desire to "blarg" about gaming, or much of anything else. For a long while I didn't do, or even think about, anything gaming related.

BUT, as situations improved, I started thinking, then tinkering, & finally, feeling the urge to share my thoughts again! SO, here we are!

Oddly enough, it was just a little over a year ago that I made my LAST post here at the Blarg, on the same subject I'm tackling again: Superhero RPG'ing

One of the issues I'd been struggling with a bit in the past while working on the Super Hero Open World Sandbox Hexcrawl series of posts was which rule set to use. As I'd covered in a previous post I was a "Champions" man first, and then a "Marvel Superheroes" guy later. While I would be fine with running either, at the same time I still had issues with both. Still, my love for both REALLY made it difficult to entertain the thought of a new system.

But in this latest bout of spring-fueled mania, I decided to take the plunge. But which one? "Icons" , "Supers" , Capes, Cowls, and Villains Foul were among those that had my interest.

The Contenders

"Icons" in particular I'd looked over, and had things that left me cool towards it, despite the fact it seems to be the most popular of the new breed Supers RPG's of the rules lite variety. (Something about the "FATE" system just doesn't seem to click with me I think).

After reading up on all of them, I ended up settling on "BASH!" (as I'm sure you already figured out from the lead-in image at the beginning of this post...)

I'm still in the process of reading it, but so far my thoughts are: "Holy procrastination, Batman! Why did I wait so long?!?"

It's been out long enough that there are plenty of reviews that can do it better justice than I, (especially since, as I said, I'm still reading it), but I'll happily share what I'm digging about it thus far:

• Seems to nicely straddle the line between "Champions" and "MSH" in terms of rules, mechanics, and character creation, while addressing the issues I have with both.
• Has a really nice, simple universal task resolution mechanic, that still has enough crunch for me.
• The simplicity of character building should make modding or porting characters over a breeze, but again, with enough detail to satisfy. 
• Has a really nice mechanic for handling the power progression from Mook to Cosmic level, on such a small (mechanical) scale no less. It's not unlike the old "DC Heroes" RPG, but not as crunchy.
• VERY nice mechanics for making sure that all characters don't have to be built on the same point totals, yet characters of varying power levels are still "balanced out", which also eliminates the need to "make sure all the points are spent", and provides for cases when uneven/unspent point totals do occur.
• Nice and concise. 146 pages total, Rules and Powers covered in just 60 pages, the rest devoted to the GM's section, Settings, Example Characters aplenty, Alternate Rules, & the Index. This is a biggie for me, as I'm a big fan of the brevity of old-school rules like the original "Champions" or "B/X D&D".
• Speaking of Example Characters, they've got TONS of "comic book characters with the serial numbers filed off" stat'ed up in a sort of "blank template" format, so that you can either use them as those characters (if you chose to do so), as a starting point to mod that hero more to your liking, or especially as the starting point for your OWN character. Want to play a character "like" Spider-Man? Grab the "Swing-Line Skulk" template & then mod to your tastes!

  

  Why didn't somebody tell me he had one a' those, those...THINGS?!

• Finally,and this one was another big selling point for me, some REALLY nice Random Tables for Adventure Creation &/or Going on Patrol.  Like the rules themselves, brief, but detailed. You generate by Neighborhood (Slum, Downtown/Midtown, or Uptown/Suburbs) to get a Crime Type, then get a Specific Crime by that Type (Violent Crime, "regular" Crime, or "Routine Business". I'm a sucker for Random Tables, and HAVE a lot, but can always use more, and these weld together a couple of different approaches in a way I haven't exactly seen before, and like quite a bit.

If I had any one "complaint" it might be that I really wanted something that had BOTH Random AND Point-Buy Character Building. HOWEVER, as easy as character building IS in this game, it should be a SNAP to randomly generate characters in, say, Marvel for example, and then port them over!

So, overall I'm REALLY pleased thus far. Maybe now I can put all that prep last year to use!

YES!!!