Savage Midnight: The Crown of Shadow Actual Play Volume 3

Volume 1
Volume 2

WARNING!

MAJOR SPOILERS FOR CROWN OF SHADOW BELOW!

The game picked up immediately where it had left off, with the group standing in the sewers with a black-eyed elf who introduced himself as Jael. Thorin asked if Jael was "they guy we needed to give the scroll case to", but Jael seemed confused by that and said he was their escort to Caradul.

Thorin, Merwan, Wendell, Wallace, Fergus and Jael departed from the site of Baden's Bluff, with Jael asking Thorin about their mission and their travels, but getting stone walled by the dwarf. Jael changed the subject and told the group that he would guide them through the western plains and into Erethor, so long as they followed his trail.

On the second night of camp, Merwan went searching for fresh game, while Jael commented that he needed to "commune with his monarch". Wallace and Thorin had a long chat, with Wallace explaining that he is from the shattered Dorn house of Dale, explaining that his family motto was "Against the Shadow". He told Thorin that he has no idea what Thorin's quest is, but that he is the last of his house, his family destroyed by The Shadow...but he will help Thorin cut a swath across the land as long as he is working against the forces of Izrador. Thorin explained that he is the last of his clan as well, as is Wendell. Fergus said he has no tribe, and Thorin said "maybe you do now". Thorin spotted Wallace looking for big rocks that he was stuffing in a sack tied to his belt. Thorin asked Wallace what they were for, and Wallace said "crushing men's heads." Wallace told Thorin that someday, he knows the forces of The Shadow will bring him down, but not before the fields are soaked with blood and bodies are stacked high. But he said that, before he goes, legend tells that one of Izrador's favored is a dragon...and Wallace dearly wants to rip that dragon's head from its shoulders. This led into an odd tangent between Wallace and Thorin, in which Thorin said he couldn't fly, but Wallace patted him on the shoulder and said, earnestly, "I believe you can."

When Merwan returned with rabbits, he mentioned that the game seemed spooked, and Jael arrived then, stating that it was the presence of the orcs, and that they needed to be careful. He said that warbands were amassed in the area. Wallace asked if they were going to go THROUGH the warbands, and scoffed when he was told "no". Thorin noted that sometimes, you need to avoid a smaller battle in order to win the war, showing lessons that he had learned thus far in the quest.

The group's travels led them closer to the forests, and Jael showed an amazing knack for guiding the group past the orcs. As the group spotted what looked like a whole army amassed near the forests, Thorin asked why the forces were amassed so strongly against the elves. Jael laughed coldly, saying that the dwarves are locked away in their mountains, every human of consequence has joined Izrador, the gnomes are busy playing their games on the river and no one gives halflings a real thought. In short, the elves are the only true resistance to the Shadow left, and once they are gone, the war ends. Merwan and Wallace told Jael that maybe he shouldn't count their respective people out just yet.

Exploring the forests, they came across what appeared to be a snowy valley...except for the small of ash that choked them. This massive valley inside the forest was a stretch of land that had been utterly burnt out. When the group tried to figure out what could have caused such complete devastation, Wallace - his eyes wide - simply said "Dragon." As the group tried to cross the valley, their eyes burned and they tasted ash, so Merwan shredded his clock, giving them all facial coverings. The only signs of anything resembling life they encountered was halfway through the valley, where they encountered a burnt out village. Thorin was immediately nervous regarding the possibility of the dead rising, but the devastation looked too complete.

As the group entered the deeper forests, Jael said that they needed to double up on their watches, to ensure that nothing was missed...and one night later, the group was awoken by a panicked Wendell Gale, who said that Jael had vanished in battle with a demon that sounded a lot like the demons that were possessing Tuk's hunting dogs. The group investigated, and saw only scorch marks on the ground. They were now lost without their elven guide.

The next day, they stumbled across a battlefield of orcs and elves, all of them missing heads, but the elves missing limbs here and there as well. Upon closer examination, Merwan swore under his breath and told Thorin that some of the deceased had gotten up and walked away...after laying for days. The orcs stumbled to the southeast...but the elves headed west...where the group was heading. Thorin suggested that they track the elves, thinking they might take the group to Caradul after all.

It didn't take long for the group to be staring down an armed elf with open wounds, who told the group that they were surrounded and being taken captive to Caradul. Wendell tried to parlay with them, but it did not work. As tensions grew too think, Merwan snapped off an arrow that staggered the elf. Arrows flew from all directions, with Wallace crushing one from a distance with a hurled rock and Wendell fired a bolt that took another. Merwan shrugged off an arrow and took his elf with a second shot, while Wendell took out the last archer. On closer examination, the elves wounds looked to be at least days old, filling the group with some satisfaction that maybe these elves were already dead.

Early the next day, the group heard fighting and animal howls. When Fergus went to investigate, he saw two dead dire wolves, perforated with elven arrows and magical scorch marks.

As they traveled on, Wendell staggered and suddenly acted confused and ill. The group saw a structure overhead, an elven outpost, and Merwan took Wendell up to rest...when the vines they climbed on retracted and it suddenly got very dark. Merwan moved to the edge of the platform and began to yell down at the group when he was stabbed from behind! For a moment, Thorin saw Wendell Gale holding a longsword, but  then he transformed into a tall, lean Sarcosan! As Merwan staggered back to the platform, the man with the sword hooked it under the scroll case's strap. Thorin began to scream at him, when Wallace grabbed him and said "I believe you can fly."

Thorin stared at Wallace for a moment and then nodded, and the giant of a man hurled Thorin up onto the platform with an amazing feat of strength. As Thorin hurtled through the air, he swung with a hatchet and drove it clean through the assailant's chest, whose last image of life was a flying dwarf, screaming through the air. (Thorin's player rolled a whopping 70 damage on the attack and I made the token effort to make two Soak rolls, but failed.)

On the ground, three massive dire bears approached Fergus and Wallace, so Thorin and Merwan made haste back to the forest floor...and then elves joined the dire bears. Merwan was prepared to strike, when a black eyed elf stepped forward, smiling, and waved off the bears and the elves. He announced himself as Dehan, and said that the elves had been expecting the group. Then he sadly offered his condolences, as the elves recovered the body of Wendell Gale a few days ago. Dehan referred to the attacker as "Jael", which raised questions from Merwan. Dehan informed them that Jael was a Legate that took the form of an elf in order to trick the group, before manufacturing his own disappearance, killing Wendell and replacing him.

The elves took the group to Caradul, to the heart of the ancient city, to the Arbor of the Witch Queen. The elves buzzed with excitement at the new arrivals, and when the group encountered the Queen herself, she greeted the weary travelers and asked them if they had something for her. Merwan handed her the Dragon Case and the uttered some words, animating the dragon, who removed the scrolls from inside it. She asked the group if they knew what they had brought, and when they said "no", she replied "The most ancient of dwarven secrets: The secret of forging mithral." Thorin was left speechless.

She brought the group each a perfectly fitted cloak, marking them as members of the Order of the Lady, the highest honor bestowed on outlanders. She also offered each a token of her own devising, and Dehan led them to a suite, telling them to rest, to heal, to mourn, and that they were free to stay as long as the like...forever, if they chose.

At their suite, Wallace said "I ain't stayin' here." Thorin said "Of course not. We have a dragon to slay." Merwan said "If nothing is done, war will eventually reach this ancient place. I shall die, if necessary, to prevent that." Fergus simply said "This is my tribe. I will go where they go."

Notes: The final battle with Jael was meant to be a bigger deal, but Thorin's player had a Teamwork Adventure Card that worked beautifully in getting him to the platform (giving Wallace a bonus on the throw and him a bonus on the attack), and then the damage just absolutely exploded, taking Jael out in one hit. The stage is set for the next phase in the campaign, and we do intend to come back to it, as we are loving the mix of Savage Worlds and Midnight. Not sure exactly what direction it'll take...but I'm pretty sure a dragon will be involved.

The Chronicles of Rachel Strand: DOUBLE CROSS Available Now!

DOUBLE CROSS, the latest Chronicles of Rachel Strand flashback comic, is available now via IndyPlanet.com! Synopsis below:

When Thomas Greymore and his crew pulled Rachel Strand from the coffin from which she had been sealed, not all of his team was ready to welcome her with open arms. Clayton Cross, Thomas’ best friend, has decided to take matters into his own hands...

Born a half-vampire, Rachel Stand is blessed with great powers...and cursed with a dark heritage. Choosing to fight the darkness rather than join it, Rachel takes up the Hellrazers to seek out and destroy evil wherever it may be found. These are her stories. These are the Chronicles of Rachel Strand!

Scope the cover below!

Other Rachel Strand stories are found in EQUINOX #1 and the Chronicles of Rachel Strand: VOODOO one shot! Check 'em out and let me know what you think! You can also find us on Facebook if you do that whole thing.

Savage Midnight: The Crown of Shadow Actual Play Volume 2

Volume 1

The session resumed right after the last one left off, with Thorin and Merwan escaping Redwinde in a hurry, trying to avoid the undead villagers. As they were traveling along, Orcish voices and footsteps caught their attention and the heroes spotted a small patrol moving up the trail. Merwan and Thorin held off, with Thorin going to his hatchets and asking Merwan if they could take the patrol...and Merwan honestly offering that he doubted it. The orcs began speaking to someone small, that the heroes couldn't see...a gnome that glibly deflected the orcs away from the trail with his silver tongue. When the orcs departed, Merwan and Thorin saw that it was, in fact, their former companion Wendell Gale!

Wendell was happy to see Thorin and Merwan, and asked them if the others were off gathering supplies...which Thorin glumly denied. Wendell shook his head solemnly in response. Merwan said that they were trying to reach Redwinde and from there, Baden's Bluff. Wendell said that it would be clear sailing from Swiftwater, due to his family connections.

The trio found themselves walking near the shores of the Ardune, a black, inland sea that is said to have been the location where Izrador fell from the heavens. Merwan explained to Thorin that legend says that his dark taint has corrupted the creatures in the sea. Wendell Gale mentioned that river eels in the Ardune grow so large that they can bite through the hulls of ships. Thorin was thoroughly creeped out by this.

As the group arrived at Swiftwater, Wendell took them straight to Tuk's Tradehouse, where they were greeted by festive gnome partying. Tuk, the loud and goofy owner of the establishment, greeted them from the bar as they entered. As the trio made their way near Tuk, Merwan said they needed a place to hide...so Tuk immediately pulled them to the back room, where his clownish demeanor vanished.

Inside the back room, Tuk asks Wendell how long it's been since he's been back to the river...and glumly has to tell Wendell that orcs have savagely attacked and slaughtered gnomes of the Gale family, killing and enslaving them because of rumors that the Gales had been aiding Elven spies. Wendell was rocked by this and Tuk told the group that he would hide them...but that they were not to say another word to him about their mission. He led them out of the Tradehouse and into a shed...where he revealed a trap door and led them underground. The storage room opened into a grain bin, which opened into a sprawling wine cellar that house three halfling slaves: Podrick, Kimball and Fergus. Though they all looked beaten and malnourished, Fergus looked the worst, missing an eye. He explained that the leader of a goblin work crew took his eye...so he took the goblin's. The slaves were in hiding, waiting to slip out to the plains and join up with a nomadic halfling tribe.

The food and drink and revelry above eventually proved too much for Thorin, and he went upstairs and joined in the fun, partying with the gnomes. After hours of lighthearted fun, a gnome burst into the tradehouse and announced that "company" was coming. Thorin tried to run for the back door but was too slow, so Fergus pulled him behind the bar. Thorin and Fergus sat, cramped under the bar, listening to the goblins act like they ran the place. Tuk asked Jaerik, leader of the goblins, what happened to his eye, and Thorin caught the reference to Fergus and his attack. After a few hours of listening to the goblins do whatever they wanted, Thorin nearly got pushed to the breaking point when he heard Jaerik announce that he was calling it an early night he wanted Tuk to get his daughter from the kitchen...so he and his "boys" could have a good night. Once the goblins were gone, Thorin exploded into a rage and asked Tuk where they took his daughter. This led to a tense standoff between the two as Tuk refused to give him any information, informing him that "this is the way things are". Thorin finally took off into the streets of Swiftwater, but failed to find the goblins' trail. (Bad Tracking roll. If he had decided to get Merwan first, there's a really good chance this would have turned into a two on twelve fight.)

Tuk later brought Captain Horace of the High Cloud Trading Family to meet with the group, and Horace said that he would take them to Erenhead and beyond...his sister had married into the Gale family and he felt honorbound to take the group on into the Sea of Pelluria and on to Baden's Bluff. He told the group to meet him in two days, just before dawn, and they would depart. Wendell told Thorin and Merwan that he wanted to stay on...to see this through. His family had been ruined, so he felt that he must. Fergus also said that he wanted to contribute in any way that he could. Thorin asked if he was sure, noting how dangerous the path was, but Fergus said that he had lived a life of captivity, and that wounding his goblin slavemaster had placed a horrible mark on him, so Thorin and Merwan agreed.

The night before departure, Thorin had another dream, in which he was running in the open plains. The Witch Queen's voice warned him that "The Hunter Is Coming" and a large wolf tackled him to the ground! As Thorin sat up on his bedroll, he heard the sounds of growling in the shadows. Two of Tuk's dogs were stalking Thorin! They lunged in to attack as he readied his hatchets, biting into him as he yelled out to his allies! Thorin moved quickly, however, hacking the two dogs down. Wendell had just awoken in time to see Thorin hack the dogs down and two ethereal, demonic forms hover over Thorin, sneering, before vanishing.

The group were quite dismayed at this revelation, that something had somehow possessed Tuk's dogs and attacked Thorin. The group decided to head for Horace early. Horace explained to them that whenever they reached checkpoints, the group would have to head to The Hole, a crawlspace inside the ships. They would also have to hide anything enchanted in a "dead zone" created by Horace. The first checkpoint wasn't a problem...but when they reached Erenhead, the group was forced to hide in the Hole for an entire day and a half, with their sweat mixing with their waste. It took impressive willpower to not snap and run from The Hole due to hunger and exhaustion, but the group held. (I gave Fergus a bonus due to his slave upbringing and Thorin had to benny his roll in order to avoid retreating. Merwan did fine.)

Once they hit open sea, Thorin righted himself quickly to avoid motion sickness. Horace spotted "The Mouth of Pelluria" nearby, a vast whirlwind in the Sea of Pelluria that humans call "The Maw", which moves through the sea and drags down ships indiscriminately. The ship cut free from it, and back towards Baden's Bluff. The call came out, once more, and the group departed to The Hole...because the ship was being boarded. The group listened in silence as orcs paraded around on the boat, along with a human inspector. The group heard an argument between a gnome and the inspector...and the gnome was viciously cut down by an orc. The orcs bellowed loudly and threatened to tear the ship apart, but Thorin and his allies held fast and Horace defused the situation. After the group went back above deck, Horace explained that THIS is the reality of the gnomes' war against The Shadow.

When the group arrived at Baden's Bluff, Horace told them to seek aid at Ail's Quayhouse, and to tell Ail that they were members of his crew. As they ventured into the city, rain began pouring down on them. Even Thorin, not the most perceptive of beings, spotted the hulking giant of a man following them, openly brandishing a large, two-handed sword. Though the rain was battering down on his bald head, he seemed unbothered by it. Thorin had noticed that Merwan had affected a sinister air as well and was brandishing his bow openly.

Thorin was so busy watching the giant behind him that he bumped into an orc and nearly dropped his hatchet. The orc snarled at Thorin, who hunched over to avoid his stares, but Merwan stood between them and explained that his "uncle" has "bad eyes" and is "twisted by disease". The orc recoiled and moved on.

Moments later, the group heard the orc arguing with someone behind them, and turned to find that he was ordering the giant man to relinquish his weapon. Multiple orcs had begun to surround him! Thorin told Merwan "You've been itchin' to shoot somebody"...and these poor, heroic travelers who have had to hold their tongues - and their weapons - for several days now refused to hold any longer...with Thorin charging the orcs and Merwan firing an arrow past him. Wendell mostly went for cover as the giant was swarmed by orcs but took their best blows, and Merwan fired a point blank arrow into the face of one orc.

Fergus distracted an orc from the rooftops, leaving an opening for Thorin to take out a pair of orcs. Once the fighting was done, and it was done quickly, and the group immediately scattered before the authorities could get involved.

They regrouped at Ail's Quayhouse, where Merwan introduced Thorin to Wallace of the House Dale, a Dornish warrior whose hatred of the Shadow overrides his common sense. As the group drank their ale and began to plan their next move, Wendell spotted something on the bottom of Thorin's mug and they examined the markings closely...realizing they were looking at a map...of the Baden's Bluff sewers! The group headed into the sewers and followed the tunnels until they emptied out onto the western shores for the Pellurian Sea...and an elf that looked disgusted to be there.

The promised aid from the Witch Queen had arrived.

NOTES: Midnight is a "low profile" kind of setting and I was seriously pushing Tommy's buttons tonight. If he had made that Tracking roll after the Tradehouse incident, things probably would have gotten very ugly, very quickly. We probably have one more session left of the Crown of Shadows (and it won't be next week, as I have a comic book convention to attend), and then we'll be taking a Savage Midnight hiatus, but we're both sure we wanna come back to it. We're just having too much fun.

R.I.P. Marvel Heroic, I Hardly Knew Ye

Margaret Weis Productions announced today that they are not continuing the Marvel Heroic RPG, apparently after sales of the Civil War line proved to be unsatisfactory. I, for one, am very sad to hear that.

Was I a hardcore Marvel Heroic player? Well, no. The only significant supers gaming I have done in years has been Marvel SAGA and Necessary Evil. That said, there was a lot I liked about Marvel Heroic. I mean, I did name it one of my Top Six last year. In fact, I was planning on trying to run either the introductory adventure or the Annihilation campaign for some friends, but I'm not entirely sure that'll happen now.

Apparently a lot of finger pointing is being leveled at Marvel and Disney. I'm not going to join in on that. I'm still a Marvel Zombie, I'll still go to the comic book store and load up on Marvel comics and I'll still dream of a world where, someday, I'm working for Marvel.

I said I was dreaming, didn't I?

One thing I doubt I'll ever do again, though? Get excited about a Marvel RPG. The first RPG I bought was the Marvel Superheroes Advanced Set, and we played it quite a bit. Many months were spent alternating between that and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition. I really liked the FASERIP system...and I seriously doubt I could ever go back to it, despite the availability of resources for it, the sheer amount of material released, and the continued popularity of it. Why?

Marvel SAGA, AKA The Greatest Gaming Tragedy Of All.

Marvel SAGA is a deeply flawed RPG. It is also the source of some of the most fun I've ever had gaming. To this day, it is still my favorite supers RPG, flaws and all. I own all of the books for it and have a ton of resources on my computer made by myself and other people...but over time, the flaws of the system have weighed it down a bit in my eyes, my most enthusiastic player moved away, I can't help but feel haunted by the promise of books we never received (like the Marvel Team-Up Roster Book), and the fanbase is dead, due largely to the fact that it required the use of a custom deck of cards, making the acquisition of a complete, playable set even more difficulty.

Then Marvel decided to release their own RPG, known as the Marvel Universe Roleplaying Game. It was a resource management game that had completely jettisoned the random element. It started off strong, with a corebook, and X-Men guide and a guide to Hulk and The Avengers (the Hulk movie had just been released)...but one, it wasn't very fun (IMO) and two, Marvel themselves killed it in three books. The next rumored release? A Spider-Man book.

Marvel Heroic actually got me pretty fired up, even if I wasn't sold on the Events set-up. I have reviewed the game and supplements extensively on this site, and MWP spoke highly of their ambitious plans (including gaming adaptations of one of my favorite periods in comics, the Marvel Cosmic run from Annihilation through Thanos Imperative)...but now that has been struck down shortly after the release of Annihilation and long before we ever saw a glimpse of Age of Apocalypse.

Frankly, it sucks. I was getting fired up for the cosmic stuff. I never even got to see Adam Warlock, damnit!

So, once more, fans are left looking at "What Might Have Been". I hold neither MWP nor Marvel any ill will on this. I hope both companies continue to flourish and prosper, in part for my continued enjoyment.

But damn it all, I'm tired of being disappointed by the premature deaths of Marvel RPGs.

For anyone looking to snatch up the PDFs before they disappear into the ether, you have until the end of the month to snag them from RPGNow.

For those who are clinging on and never looking back, bookmark Exploring-Infinity.com, an amazing collection of Marvel Heroic resources.

Necessary Evil: A Retrospective

Necessary Evil was the first Savage Worlds Plot Point Campaign I started...and, eventually, it became the first Plot Point Campaign that I've finished.

Shortly after we decided we liked Savage Worlds enough to make it a regular game, I ordered the Necessary Evil setting book and we got to work. When we started, it was myself and two players: My friends Tommy (no relation) and Kenny. Getting Kenny to play new games is hard. Getting Kenny to play new supers games is harder. His favorite RPG is Marvel SAGA (and with good cause), but we got him to give it a go.

I'm used to groups that are smaller than the assumed party size, and luckily we would discover that Savage Worlds handles NPCs *very* well. Playing the Plot Point straight (in the beginning), our team took shape:

Mindstorm: The alternate reality supervillain version of the first supers character Kenny ever created, for Marvel Classic many years ago, who underwent multiple changes through that campaign's life, and into Marvel SAGA. He did a fairly faithful reconstruction of Mindstorm, even if we found the Savage Worlds supers powers to be a tad more restrictive than what we were used to.

Angel's Bane: Tommy played around with concepts and powers in the book to make a man mutated into a demonic form, believing himself to actually BE a demon. This character only lasted two sessions, which may have saved the campaign...

Belladonna: An NPC with Poison powers, taken from an outline of mine for a superhero comic that'll never see the light of day. The second shortest lived of the founding members of the team. (Though she is presently believed to be alive, just didn't stick around long).

Bully, the Bull That Walks Like A Man: Another NPC taken from the aforementioned outline, a mutated man-bull in the mold of a minotaur.

Kale: A third NPC, taken directly from the Archetypes in the Necessary Evil book. The name came from a Sorcerer villain NPC I created and used one time in a Marvel SAGA adventure.

Angel's Bane died quickly, and I've long suspected it was a bit of player-directed suicide, but Tommy really wasn't happy with his character and how some of the powers work...but his second character proved quite suitable...

Socks: A bloodthirty melee fighter who was part man, part badger. Mutated into that form by V'Sori experiments, Socks was not a good guy, but he had ample reason to hate the aliens. Personality-wise, he was fairly friendly when not in combat mode, as opposed to the diabolical and manipulative Angel's Bane.

With his arrival, the core of the team was set: Mindstorm was the leader, Kale was the Swiss Army Knife, Socks and Bully were the sadistic, happy-go-lucky tag team that inflicted a LOT of damage over the campaign. The fifth slot rotated out throughout the campaign, but for the bulk of it, those four were always there.

Some Big Moments

Some of my favorite campaign highlights are included below:

• Bully being killed by the Black Ops Squad and paraded around in the streets of Star City, sparking one of the saddest and most emotional responses I have ever seen from a group after an NPC's death.
• Mindstorm recruiting Vesper instead of killing her as ordered, taking that first, tangible step from villain to hero.
• Socks standing toe-to-toe with the K'Tharen rebel Sugrot (thanks to an Adventure Card), leading to Sugrot forming an alliance with the team that was paid off again at least twice more in the campaign.
• The team rallying a Russian village to go to war against an approaching Drone army, ending in Socks stalking down and killing the V'Sori warlord that had crippled Asia.
• Mindstorm's player spending all of his bennies, at the beginning of combat, to help Kale Soak. He failed. At the end of combat, he uses an Adventure Deck card to utilize his Electrical powers to heal Kale.
• Socks refusing to let Bully remain a Super Drone, talking him back to his senses.
• Mindstorm confronting, and killing, his step brother as one of his last acts of war...all without powers.
• Socks defeating an Atlantean God in hand to hand combat.
• Mindstorm electrocuting himself to fry the same Atlantean God...and Kale using his newfound powers to resurrect his fallen friend.
• The custom HeroClix figures that Kenny made of the team.

Again, just some of the big moments I loved.

On Plot Point Campaigns

I loved the basic plot of Necessary Evil, but the campaign began to bog down early on when we were jumping from mission to mission. That's when Plot Point Campaigns really began to "click" to me: It's not a whole campaign that you run straight out of the book, it's a strong skeleton to hang your characters' subplots and hopes and dreams and allies and enemies on. The moment that the campaign really began to sing, I thought, was when I ran the first adventure that was entirely off of my notes: When Belladonna betrayed the team, turning Mindstorm over to his brother. From there, we took all kinds of crazy twists and turns, weaving in and out of the written campaign, including the major trek to Russia, where they learned more of the backstory about the setting (including the ultimate source of superpowers in the NE universe), as well as the above mentioned Mass Combat in which they led Russian villagers against a Drone army.

I transplanted one Savage Tale from Star City and dropped it into London, England, and a tied a major canon NPC death into the same recklessness from Socks that led to Bully dying.

I also learned that, as we reached the end of the campaign, that I could have kept running games in the NE world for years. I would have gladly expanded the war with Leviathan out well past the one session wrap-up we did, but time was not permitting with Mindstorm's player moving to Boston.

Interestingly, a common complaint I've heard about Necessary Evil has to do with its mission based structure...but most supers games tend to wind up with the PCs reacting instead of acting, due to genre conventions.

Going forward, Necessary Evil will be my benchmark for measuring Plot Point Campaigns.

There IS Life After Legendary

By the book, the campaign is supposed to wrap up somewhere in Heroic rank or so. Our campaign reached Legendary, and will continue sporadically as Mindstorm's player is able to visit Oklahoma.

What I learned is that Legendary PCs are tough...but they are still beatable. Not actually knowing if we would continue the campaign sporadically, I gave each PC and NPC a unique Legendary Edge that helped them accentuate their primary schtick in the game...but I made sure that each Edge was something I could live with in an ongoing game.

I hope I get to run another game into Legendary...and beyond. The PCs are more capable and have more options, but are also not indestructible juggernauts, nor does the book keeping change dramatically.

Savage Worlds Is Super...But How Does It Do Supers?

As much fun as I had here, I can't imagine ever doing another supers campaign with Savage Worlds. While Savage Worlds doesn't have the same steep "zero to hero" climb as, say, D&D does...the fact is that it does build from a weaker base into a much stronger one that doesn't really emulate most supers characters. Comic book characters grow and change, but rarely do they do stair step progressions over time, ala Savage Worlds advancements.

Additionally, we found the powers system to ultimately be too rigid for our liking for a full blown supers game. That being said, I would gladly adapt that same powers system to, say, a Savage Buffy the Vampire Slayer game. No Power Stunt option, and a few of the Powers are either too low powered or limited to really work in a supers setting for us, even for a lower powered one.

"Droned: To mistakenly strike your ally..."

While playing Savage Midnight, I was amused when Socks' player referencing being "Droned", in which one character takes out an ally with a mis aimed ranged attack, so named because of my horrible ranged attack rolls with Drones in this game.

Pick A Card

The Adventure Deck can be a tad polarizing at times, but we are all pretty big fans of it, as the Adventure Deck directly led to great moments like Socks shrugging off Sugrot's blows, Mindstorm being able to lead the Russian villagers in combat, Mindstorm being able to heal Kale, Flux gaining an Atlantean Artifact while being caught in a burning building and more. Not saying you should always leave every card in the deck every time, but even in our Midnight game the Adventure Deck is sticking around, given what a staple it became in this campaign.

Final Thoughts

Deadlands hooked us on Savage Worlds, but Necessary Evil made us fall in love with it. This was the most memorable campaign I have ever ran, and I'm both looking forward to, and intimidated by, continuing it sporadically when Mindstorm's player comes and visits.

I've heard that you can't have "meaningful roleplay" in neither Savage Worlds nor supers in general, but I am very glad to say that our experience was the complete opposite. We told an epic tale of redemption as low level criminals and henchmen rose up to become the saviors of the world, with a lot of comedy, drama and tragedy along the way...and, with the exception of the very first mission, the PCs told the story. I may have provided signposts, but they decided where they went and what they did, often sparking the story in unexpected directions (Mindstorm's player became the king of setting up a seemingly innocent action that played into his bigger plans), and I just tried to make sure I had as many of my bases covered as possible.

I've never had a campaign reach any kind of definitive conclusion before, and it's kind of a great feeling. I'm especially glad to share that time with Tommy and Kenny, but also the other players that sat in at points, like Brian, Jack and Ellie. I'm also glad that Clint Black and crew wrote this thing...it helped create some of my favorite gaming memories.

Anyway, keep watching the blog. I'm currently hip deep in World of the Dead editing, but we have more Savage Midnight coming, and I promise to try to get back on track with reviews very, very soon.

Keep the dice dizzy!
Tommy

To read any of the previous Necessary Evil Session Reports, see below:

Volume 1

Volume 2

Volume 3

Volume 4

Volume 5

Volume 6

Volume 7

Volume 8

Volume 9

Volume 10

Volume 11

Volume 12

Volume 13

Volume 14

Savage Midnight: The Crown of Shadow Actual Play Volume 1

This was a new experience for us…Savage Midnight, using the Midnight Conversion Document by Jeffrey L. Scifert. Years ago, we had started, but not finished, the Crown of Shadow adventure using D&D 3^rd Edition…nowadays, neither me nor my one remaining player are fans of said system…but we are both Savages.

The D&D version of the group consisted of three PCs and an NPC, but two of those players are no longer available…so we NPCed them. The group:

Thorin Stoneskull – A Clan Dwarf from Durgis Rock, stubborn and loyal. Carries a pair of enchanted Urutuk Hatchets called The Wrath of the Moon and the Fury of the Sun. His Heroic Path is that of the Null, making him resistant to magic.

Hammer – A Dworg berserker who is smarter than he appears…he is Ironborn, and a Channeler of the Loremaster tradition as well as a warrior. He was raised among the surface dwelling Kurgan Dwarves.

Eldon Ralda-Zir – An elfling thief who is Quickened. Raised among the Danisil Elves in the jungles of Eredane. His word is his bond.

Merwan the Steel Eye – A Pureblood Erenlander. The only human in the group, he is hunted by the minions of Izrador just the same as the Fey. Eldon is honor bound to him after he saved Eldon from a demon.

To recap: The dwarven contingent met up with the outlander contingent and Elven emissaries at Kurgan Falls, where they defeated goblins and avoided a stone golem. Upon returning to Durgis Rock, they found that it had been sacked by orc raiders and that an intimidating human had been asking about them. While the elves battled stone golems, the party found Woden, Dothin of Durgis Rock, mortally wounded. The party took the Dragon Case from him and swore an oath to deliver it to the Queen of Elves. Thorin also found Woden’s hatchets.

The elves gave their lives to stop the Stone Golems…and the party set out into the mountains, much weaker. They camped with Dorn refugees, but had to escape into the tunnels to avoid a very large orc force. Unfortunately, they were separated from Gnomish guide Wendell Gale in the process.

In the passages under the Kaladrun Mountains, they managed to bring down a wounded Umber Hulk and saved Golan, Scion of Pardrum, which allowed them time to rest in the Pardrum Holdfast.

As the respite ended, the four remaining heroes headed out into the underground tunnels with Calia, a dwarven Wildlander guide. (A very broad recap of the events played out under the d20 rules.

The group ventured into the tunnels and the one party member without Low Light vision, Merwan, spotted Orc Scouts moving through the tunnels. Eldon snuck up on them and tried to slash one scout’s throat, harming him but not killing him, while Merwan drove an arrow into the head of the other. As the wounded orc turned on Eldon, Thorin moved in and hurled one of his hatchets, taking it out.

The party emerged from the tunnels at night time, and Hammer and Thorin were both taken aback by the openness. Growing up with the Kurgan, Hammer has a knack for mountaineering, and he helped the group navigate down to solid ground. After a couple of days of travel, Thorin was visited in a dream by black-eyed Elven woman who warned that they were being hunted, but that they could find allies in the “City by the Sea”, a reference to Baden’s Bluff, home of the resistance. Eldon was skeptical of this dream, but in lieu of anything better to go off of, the group decided it must have been a useful message. While staying up late on watch, Merwan and Thorin decided that that the Queen must be guiding them.

A few days later, the group spotted vultures in the skies and moved in to investigate to find a wrecked Halfling camp. Nearly two dozen slaughtered Halflings were strewn about, along with three dead orcs and four wogrens, though one of them was still alive. Merwan and Thorin were able to identify that a dozen slavers seemed to still be alive, with about forty Halfling slaves. As the group prepared to head out into pursuit, Hammer drew their attention to an orc tied to tentpoles. At first glance he appeared to be dead, so Thorin dropped a drop of water on him to get a reaction.

The orc called himself Sardric, and after parlaying with Thorin for a bit – and explaining that he is a follower of the White Mother, who believes that Izrador is using the orcs as slaves, and who cut down one of his own brothers for torturing a Halfling instead of just enslaving him, Thorin asked for a spare blade…so Eldon moved in with a fighting knife, preparing to cut Sardric’s throat. Thorin cut him off and the two argued, with Eldon pointing out that Sardric is an ORC. Thorin wants to get this resolved so they can rescue the Halflings, which Eldon also scoffs at, noting that there are a dozen orcs with the Halflings. When Thorin questions Eldon’s devotion to the Halflings, Eldon counters that he was raised in the jungles by Danisil, not in the plains by Halflings. Thorin set Eldon off again when Merwan nursed the wounded wogren back but said he was too hurt to take with them…so Thorin left him rations, which Eldon strongly disagreed with, though Thorin did also tell the Wogren that life is hard, and he’ll have to find his own way to survive. Ultimately, Thorin left a hand ax at Sardric’s feet and told him that if the White Mother is looking over him, he will find his way free…but if their paths cross again, Thorin would kill Sardric.

The group set out on a forced march after the slavers, and a few days in, Thorin noticed the wogren – affectionately dubbed “Spot” – was following them. Merwan told Thorin that Spot had been following them since they left camp…and that his strength was returning. The group was hastened along as they began to find butchered Halflings in their path.

When the group happened on the slavers, the orcs had four sentries and the rest of their number were sleeping, with the Halflings huddled together, chained by the neck. Thorin sent Eldon ahead to release the pack animals and send them running, while he and Hammer charged the orcs remaining at the camp and Merwan opened fire from a distance. The group wasn’t terribly surprised when Spot charged the camp…but when Sardric joined in as well, that did stun them a bit. Sardric, Spot and the party, using the element of surprise, fended off the orc slavers and put them down. Sardric asked Thorin if his life were still forfeit, but the Halflings jumped to his defense. Thorin saw no reason to end his life and the Halflings offered to adopt him to the tribe! Sardric and Spot left with the Halflings, while the party tried to get back on track with their mission.

As the group headed across the plains, they were ambushed a day or so later by Sarcosan riders who were very unhappy to see the orc-like Hammer with the group. Merwan, taking a noticeably different demeanor, interjected and talked the Sarcosans down…eventually convincing them to give the group a ride on horseback closer to their destination. Along the way, the group learned about how unhappy the Sarcosans are, as many of their leaders just folded, betraying the Sarcosan people.

After parting ways with the Sarcosans, Merwan noticed that there seemed to be an odd change in the environment, though none of the rest of the group noticed it. They were in a kind of a swamp forest, when Merwan pointed out that it used to be farm land. This set the group on edge a bit.

The group came up on a town, Redwinde, and spotted a girl playing by the river…until she fell in! Merwan and Eldon were the only swimmers, so Merwan dove in as the group ran to the river bank. Merwan was pulling her out…when she bit him! And then the group found themselves surrounded by stalking, undead villagers!

Merwan fought himself free and scrambled onto the river bank as the villagers swarmed on Thorin, Hammer and Eldon! A man began yelling from a temple in the town that he could shelter them from the villagers if they could get free! Hammer was kept on the defensive (repeatedly Shaken), while Eldon was badly injured (two Wounds). Merwan and Thorin did most of the damage, with Merwan shooting undead down with his bow while Thorin hacked away with his hatchets. Hammer made a grim observation that “magic was gone”, but Thorin paid him no heed and still threw one of his hatchets, only to be surprised when it didn’t return to him. Eldon, badly hurt, ran to the temple but Hammer soon followed. Merwan and Thorin finally broke for the temple as well, finding a priest and three followers inside. They also found themselves staring at a menacing black mirror.

Everything was going alright in the temple…until Thorin asked which God the temple belonged to and the priest answered with “Izrador.” The group prepared to fight as the priest, Astegar the Damned, ordered his acolytes to attack! Astegar made particular note of Merwan, indicating that Legates throughout the land were looking for him. Merwan kept trying to keep enough room to fire his bow in the temple, and the group took down an acolyte, but were disturbed – but not shocked – to discover that the acolytes were undead as well. Astegar summoned the power of Izrador and blasted Hammer with a CRUSHING burst of energy…and one of the acolytes drove his blade into the defenseless Dworg’s chest to end his life. Eldon fought Astegar desperately, even spitting blood in his eyes at one point (Agility Trick to shake him). Astegar surrounded his mace in black flame and drove it into Eldon’s sternum, making a sick, wet sound. Merwan and Thorin were taking down acolytes and inflicting wounds on Astegar, but not enough. Merwan rattled Astegar when he shrugged off a blow from the flaming mace, but it still took several more arrows to finally bring the undead Legate down! Merwan rushed to the side of Eldon…but he had already passed away in the fight.

Merwan and Thorin reluctantly beheaded their partners…before stealing the robes of the Legate and one of acolytes to escape the tower and slip past the villagers.

NOTES: Our first time playing Midnight under the Savage Worlds rules, and I wasn’t TRYING to trim down the group…but I had also let my player know that if we were doing Savage Midnight, there would be no kid gloves. Thorin was saved by being the best fighter and actually having armor, while Merwan is living at range in fights. In fact, the only fights that gave the group any trouble were again an undead Legate and an undead attack with Merwan out of position to use his bow.

We didn’t play this weekend, but we’ll likely continue this next weekend as we aim to at least finish the Crown of Shadows…but hopefully also play much more Savage Midnight in the future.

Buster Squad 5: A Necessary Evil Actual Play Volume 14

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Volume 2

Volume 3

Volume 4

Volume 5

Volume 6

Volume 7

Volume 8

Volume 9

Volume 10

Volume 11

Volume 12

Volume 13

The Omega Contingency

A week late, but better than nuthin’, right?

We left off last week, jumping ahead a year into the future, when Dr. Destruction left the team a prerecorded message, telling them how to find The Overmind, to launch one final assault against him. This led directly into the team reuniting, with Steve the Atlantean in tow, to plan their attack.

Talos got right to work on repairing an Atlantean Teleport Tube to transport them to the V’Sori homeworld, and Bully marched through first, with Mindstorm right behind him. As the team entered one by one, they emerged in the bizarre mediation room of the Overmind, who sneered that he had planned for this eventuality, before unleashing three V’Sori/K’tharen hybrid bodyguards on the team, as well as drawing forth manifestations of the team from their own subconscious minds to torment them.

Socks wasted little time in shredding the demons of his teammates. In fact, the Twisted Talos was the only one who really did much of note, as the team made short work of their duplicates. The bodyguards, on the other hand, inflicted a lot of damage. The Overmind’s force field shorted out quickly (due to an Adventure Deck card), and Steve kept opening fire on him, but couldn’t see for sure that it was having an effect. Bully went into a rage and killed one of the bodyguards, but Kale was badly wounded in the fight. Talos also suffered injuries at the hands of the hybrid bodyguards, but the combined might of the team took the remaining bodyguards down and Bully marched to the Overmind, hurtling him from his stand and splattering him against the wall. The team thought they had won.

The roof tore open and the Omega Contingency revealed itself: A 50’ Drone body with the Overmind’s face on it! The Overmind had been transferring his consciousness into the body and was attacking wildly! Talos tried to hold it in place magnetically and failed, so Mindstorm tried Telekinesis instead!

Socks had Bully throw him at the face of the Overmind, and he began to hack and tear, trying to claw inside of its head! Talos sprang up to join him, but had less success! Talos and Mindstorm also tried to literally disarm the Overmind, but had no luck with that, either, and it repeatedly smashed at Socks with a massive vibrosword. Steve fired multiple deadshots at the Overmind, with minimal effect. Socks burrowed into the head of the Overmind and began looking for something to destroy inside…when a new plan emerged: Kale ran ahead of Bully and began casting a spell…as Bully charged in a rage…and Kale grabbed him, teleporting the two of them eye to eye with the Overmind…sending Bully crashing right through the head of the Overmind, disabling his robot body and destroying his transferred mind!

As V’Sori entered the meditation chamber to see what had happened, the team was surprised at what happened next: The revelation that the V’Sori had been being influenced by the Overmind for untold years…and that many of them were now shaking that influence, though there were plenty of others who bought into the V’Sori way fully and completely. The team saw what was coming…a V’Sori Civil War…and they immediately made a decision: They would stay and help the peaceful and repentant V’Sori fight for their lives and their culture. Talos pointed out that they could lay low and escape back to Earth with the V’Sori neutralized, but Mindstorm and Socks both agreed that this just one more necessary step in finishing the war that they had been fighting…but that they needed to send communications back to Earth to direct their organization regarding what would happen next.

NOTES: I shouldn’t have waited a week to type this up. It was fun, and satisfying, but after the deeply personal moments in the Battle of Star City and the previous conflict against Leviathan, we may have set the bar too high. That said, I was honestly kind of surprised at how willing the team was to help the “good” V’Sori. Heroes indeed.

If real life weren’t ending this group, we could EASILY have continued on from the end of the Plot Point Campaign (for starters, I would have stretched out the Leviathan plot), despite entering Legendary.

I gave each member of the crew a unique Legendary Edge that I wrote up for that character, taking an element of each and amping it up just a bit. I want to do more Legendary.

And lastly…I lied again. The current plan is that when Mindstorm’s player returns to visit (first scheduled visit is in November), we will pick up the campaign in shorter mega-adventures, the first of which will be The V’Sori Civil War.

Best campaign ever indeed.

Buster Squad 5: A Necessary Evil Actual Play Volume 13

Volume 1

Volume 2

Volume 3

Volume 4

Volume 5

Volume 6

Volume 7

Volume 8

Volume 9

Volume 10

Volume 11

Volume 12

In the aftermath of the Omega victory over the V’Sori, the world had been thrown into chaos. Mindstorm, Kale and Talos were working feverishly to utilize Dr. Destruction’s resources to better the world, while Socks, Bully and Steve the Atlantean spearheaded the hunt for the remaining V’Sori around the world.

Cyber-Burglaire decrypted Destruction’s information for Mindstorm, granting him unfettered access to the structure of Omega. Meanwhile, an Atlantean Blood Cult following Leviathan began making a lot more noise.

One evening, while working, Mindstorm stumbled across the file on Talos…and it suddenly clicked: Talos had been in the hands of King Meros, who was posing as Dr. Destruction…and Meros knew nothing about robots…meaning that, all this time, Talos was moving around on this team without the proper programming. He read closer and learned that Talos reactivated himself and Meros went ahead and deployed him to the field, hoping for the best. All this time, Talos was running around, not bound by his programming. As Mindstorm tried to reach out to Kale, Kale told him that the Atlantean Blood Cult was making a move, threatening to blow up an Earth Unity rally! Mindstorm swore under his breath and contacted Steve to pick up him, Kale and Talos, and take the six of them to the rally.

As they closed in on the rally, Mindstorm scanned the crowd to find the rogue Atlanteans and detected a couple in the audience, so he whipped up a VICIOUS storm to try to disperse them. He regretted that moments later when a lightning bolt ripped from his own storm and blasted the ship, injuring Bully. Steve the Atlantean struggled to put the ship down safely, but managed to do so without killing the team, even though the ship was toast. As the team piled out of the ship, a sneering Atlantean stared down at them from a rooftop, sword in hand. As the rally scattered, the Atlanteans among the crowd drew their weapons as well and prepared to fight.

Mindstorm asked Kale if he knew anyone here, to which Kale replied that he knew Samor, the priest that seems to have commanded Mindstorm’s own storm against him. Mindstorm asked him what he knew about Samor, and Kale replied “That he was never this strong. But selling your soul to Leviathan will do that.” Steve sighed as he looked at the Atlantean cultists advancing on them, and said “So now I take up arms against my own people,” before readying his blaster pistol. “Alright, then.” Kale noted that Samor might be their best hope of finding out how to find and stop Leviathan. Talos did a quick count of the Buster Squad and asked “Isn’t six usually a bad omen for you guys?”

Mindstorm instructed Kale to neutralize Samor, the Atlantean Sorcerer teleported to the building Samor was on, grabbing the Priest and attempting to strip him of his abilities…but Samor laughed, swatted his hand away saying “Leviathan loves me best,” and slashed him with his sword.

Talos lunged into the onrushing Atlanteans and asked them if they were ready to die for their God, before crushing one of them and muttering that he really doesn’t understand religion. And then the Atlanteans gangpiled him and did a surprising amount of damage to him. Mindstorm sent an Electrical burst that fried several Atlanteans, while Bully and Socks rushed into combat…but did surprisingly little damage. Steve, on the other hand, was a crack shot picking off cultists left and right.

Mindstorm attempted to Telekinetically bind Samor and failed, but Kale used Samor’s own trick and stole Mindstorm’s summoned storm to blast the Priest with lightning. The cultists were giving Talos, Bully and Socks all they wanted and more, but Steve was still inflicting damage when he commented to Socks that his heart just hadn’t seemed “in it” since the war with the V’Sori ended…which was promptly followed by Socks shredding Atlanteans. Mindstorm finally bound Samor with his TK, and Kale magically paralyzed him.

With the Atlanteans fallen, Kale picked into Samor’s mind for the location of the bomb, which was beneath the city! Socks burrowed down to find it…while Talos followed! Socks and Talos found the bomb and Socks asked Talos if he could disarm it. Talos said “No,” and grabbed it tight, then leapt out high into the air. He yelled at Mindstorm to make a Telekinetic platform and landed on it, then leapt higher…taking the bomb high into the sky, where it exploded in the atmosphere.

The team began questioning Samor for information on where Leviathan was being summoned, but Samor laughed at their threats…until Bully and Socks made a VERY persuasive case of intimidation (the “Spill the Beans” Adventure Card), as Mindstorm flew into the air looking for Talos.

Samor laughed that Leviathan was HERE and Socks, Bully and Steve were struck in their tracks (Shaken)…as Kale disappeared and LEVIATHAN loomed over them! The massive God took the form of a Sea Dragon and sneered at the meager opposition in front of him, swatting Steve with his tail and lashing out at Bully and Socks…but Socks, the little science freak that should not be, blocked his attack!

Socks screamed out to Mindstorm that they needed help NOW and he struck Leviathan, drawing blood on the Atlantean God! Steve lined up what seemed to be the perfect shot to take Leviathan out, but his blast had no effect, and Bully was hammered to the brink of unconsciousness. Socks kept attacking relentlessly as Mindstorm returned to the field of battle…just in time for Leviathan to revert back to Kale!

Kale BEGGED the team to kill him, because he had forced Leviathan back down inside of him…but that he was healing quickly. He told “Mike” (Mindstorm’s real name) that this was their only chance, and that he was sorry for everything. Mindstorm took his hand and said “I won’t leave you. Bring Leviathan back.” Kale said he was sorry once more, and Leviathan returned…holding Mindstorm’s hand.

Mindstorm raised his other hand to the sky and lightning surged down into his body, traveling into the Atlantean God. The eruption of power blew Socks, Bully and Steve away from the field of battle. It blew out every window in Star City. It blew out the power grid in Star City. Mindstorm cooked Leviathan from the inside out, killing himself in the process.

As Socks struggled to recover, his nose and ears led him to the smoking pit that was Leviathan and Mindstorm. When his eyes finally adjusted, he saw the very still body of Mindstorm floating in the air. Then he heard the soft speech in Atlantean and saw Kale standing at his feet, surrounded in mystical energy. The Atlantean speech grew into a crescendo until he finally spoke English: “By the Power of Atlantis, I command you to live! Live, damn you.”

And Mindstorm’s breath broke the silence.

Socks, Bully and Steve walked to the edge of the pit as Kale brought the very damaged, but living, Mindstorm out. As the Buster Squad returned to Dr. Destruction’s base, a back-up of Talos came online. Talos and Kale got back to the business of repurposing Omega while Mindstorm healed and Socks, Steve and Bully traveled the region, putting warlords, V’Sori, rogue Atlanteans and former Omega operatives gone rogue. Talos came to Mindstorm one night and confronted him about Mindstorm knowing Talos hadn’t been reprogrammed. Talos explained that all this time, he’s not been bound to reprogramming by Dr. Destruction, but that he had made a choice…and Mindstorm would have to trust him like he trusts the rest of the team. Mindstorm said that’s why he fought so hard for Talos…Talos said that’s why he blew himself up to save Star City.

As the months drifted on, Mindstorm went back to work. A few more heroes came out of the woodwork, and many of the Omega operatives had come to believe in the cause, truly. Kale made the team nervous at first, because he was now absolutely overflowing with power…but he was no longer drawing it from Leviathan. Mindstorm felt Leviathan die…but that power had to go somewhere, and it seemed as though it stayed in Leviathan’s chosen vessel. The team had to separate, because the world is a lot of ground to cover, and the Buster Squad no longer operated in tandem anymore…until, a year after the fall of Dr. Destruction, their V-MAPs flared to life for the first time in a very long time. It was an automated message from Dr. Destruction, explaining to them that the Earth will never TRULY be safe until the V’Sori Overmind is defeated…and that the Atlantean Teleport Tubes can be calibrated to take the team straight to the Overmind. He explained that they had the ability and resources to resolve this once and for all, but that he was no longer in a position to give orders or command…but that it was up to them to decide: Stay on Earth…or take the fight to the heart of the V’Sori fleet and end this for good.

And so the team prepared for that one final push to ensure that Earth is free from the V’Sori threat forever.

COMMENTS: I lied. This was NOT the final adventure. Next week really will be.

I promoted Steve the Atlantean to Wild Card, and Socks’ player does all the rolling for him and Bully, while Mindstorm’s player handles Kale and Talos.

I wanted the fight with Leviathan to be BIGGER, but we were in kind of a time crunch…but I had the “Kale turns into Leviathan” thing in mind going into it, with three outcomes: a) Leviathan wins, everyone dies…b) Leviathan turns back into Kale, they kill Kale, Leviathan and Kale die…or c) they refuse to kill Kale, Leviathan comes back completely healed, and if they defeat him AGAIN, they get Kale back, with Leviathan’s power but without being bound to him anymore. Of course, I should never underestimate Mindstorm’s player’s absolute refusal to leave anyone behind (especially since he truly began crossing that barrier from villain to hero), and he intentionally held onto Kale’s hand in hopes of him turning back so he could fry Leviathan. He rolled insanely well on damage, and I made it worse by applying the damage to him as well, giving him 7 wounds to soak (which he failed to do). In the aftermath, with Kale back, he got to make Kale’s spellcasting and Healing rolls, and he was literally rolling for his own life…barely rolling well enough to save himself.

Bully and Talos were largely non-factors in this mission, but Steve made for nice ranged support…and Socks got to cap off his career with the ultimate melee performance…he stood toe to toe with an Atlantean God and not only drew first blood, but inflicted three wounds by himself (he took Giant Killer in anticipation of this fight, and utilized No Mercy to make a bad damage roll come out MUCH better).

Ultimately, one more big moment in a campaign that has been full of them…and next week we say goodbye, as Mindstorm’s player is leaving at the beginning of April and the last weekend of March, we are playing in a larger group than usual for International Tabletop Day.

Oh…and now the characters are Legendary.

Tommy's Take on Annihilation Essentials Event Book

The best story I've ever read involving Ronan, the Super Skrull OR Annihilus, easy.

The Civil War publishing cycle for Marvel Heroic Roleplaying is done, and now it’s on to Annihilation. Annihilation sparked the new wave of Marvel Cosmic comics, beginning with Nova, and singlehandedly turned Richard Rider into one of my favorite characters in comic books (my #2 hero behind only Captain America). This first volume brings the Event structure to Annihilation, and all that entails.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: The book is available in Premium (rules included) and Essentials (requiring the Marvel Heroic core rules) versions. This review covers the Essentials Edition, which is available in PDF right now, with print coming down the pipe later. For those not familiar with Annihilation, it was a big cosmic crossover that took place around the same time as Civil War, involving Fantastic Four villain Annihilus joining forces with Thanos and unleashing the Annihilation Wave across the cosmos, destroying everything in its wake. Ultimately, Kree, Skrulls, humans and more had to join forces in order to stop it…even Galactus got involved, on the side of the angels. It was pretty epic and I recommend the comics heartily.

The authors seem to think the campaign will take about six months to play, and one of the group creation methods encourage the players to form their group by picking characters from different areas of the universe as their “spotlight” characters, and then everyone else making secondary characters related to each spotlight character…until you build the climax of the Event and the spotlight characters join forces. Other options include making a thematic group (all Kree, all Skrull, all Shi’ar, etc), or just a standard “Everyone pick your hero and we’ll work it out” group. A list of Event-ready datafiles are provided, though you can use others (including heroes of your own creation), if you give them ample reason to be in space and involved with the event. I could see, say, Hulk getting involved as he tries to leave Sakaar early or something. Though the Fantastic Four were active in Civil War at the time, they are included in the book as a “What If…?” type option.

The Annihilation Sourcebook provides stats for spaceships as well as rules for Timed Actions (via the Timer complication), and even a new Specialty level (Grandmaster, which is a d12 that can be broken down into 2d10 or 3d8). A slew of new power sets are provided, from Marvel classics like Nova Centurion, the Power Cosmic and the Unipower (Captain Universe!), to more generic cosmic-appropriate power sets like Soldier, Android or Privateer.

As the other Event books have done, Annihilation zeroes in on various groups involved in the event and focuses on how to play from their perspective if you so choose.

The Kree includes a Kree powerset, some generic datafiles, a handful of NPCs (like Captain At-Lass and Dr. Minn-erva), a pair of Milestones (like Genetic Kickstart, which has your Kree obsessed with jumpstarting Kree genetics, a mindset that helped breed the Inhumans), and Unlockables (like Activate Sentry, which gives you a big, giant Kree robot and not the horrible Avengers character).

Skrulls are included, with powers, datafiles (like Infiltrators and Warskrulls), NPCs, Milestones (Hidden Threat focuses on being a Skrull infiltrator, for instance), and Unlockables (need a squad of Warskrulls?).

The Nova Corps comes with a series of generic corpsman datafiles, a basic power set, a Milestone related to their code and reference to an unusual Unlockable that hinges on the Worldmind boosting a Nova, making them go Supernova and possibly out of control.

The Shi’ar includes the Imperial Guard, as well as datafiles like Deathbird, Deathcry and Lilandra.

The Eternals section covers playing Annihilation from the perspective of the Titans, but more importantly, it includes the Thanos villain datafile. An absolutely terrifying and awesome datafile, Thanos has built in plans for most things you can think of…but his Invulnerability has a gaping hole in it that applies only to Drax the Destroyer.

Even residents of the Negative Zone can get in on the act, standing up against Annihilus and the Annihilation Wave, if only for their own reasons. There’s a sidebar included about the Negative Zone prison being used in Civil War, which could cause the two wars to collide.

Annihilus and his minions are included next, seemingly out of place, as there are no Unlockables or Milestones here: Just one scary Negative Zone ruler hell-bent on destroying the universe.

The Galactus section has stats for Galactus (a Cosmic-scale threat…his solo affiliation is FOUR d12), as well as a Power Cosmic power set and unlockables that one can use to gain Galactus’ favor…including being turned into a herald!

The Kyln is a maximum security space prison, and includes datafiles on two ancient gods whose fellows were slain by Galactus, as well as Galactus’ forgotten first herald, now mentally enslaved by Thanos! The Kyln can also be a great starting point for a hero (or heroes), with a pair of Milestones, one of which focuses on clearing your name and escaping the prison and the other focusing on breaking in!

The “rest” of the universe is handled in a handy tour guide, including datafiles for generic Badoon and Dire Wraiths, as well a datafile for Rocket Racoon (sans Milestones, so just use Event milestones if you want to play him). There’s even a Symbiote power set (you did remember that the Carnage and Venom symbiotes were alien in origin, right?)

A full dozen Event Milestones are included above and beyond the group-specific ones (my favorite being “I Hate This Cosmic Stuff”, perfect for Jack Flagg in his time with the Guardians of the Galaxy).

The Event itself is set up into three Acts. Act One has four set-up scenes, one starting at the Kyln (and, like Breakout! in the main book, it provides ample excuse for multiple characters to be involved), one involving the Annihilation Wave attacking the Nova Corp homeworld, one being an attack on a Skrull world and one being set on a wretched hive of scum and villainy.

While the Event largely assumes that the narrative will largely resemble that of the comics, sidebars do allow for variations (like the Nova Corps successfully fighting off the Annihilation Wave and not losing the homeworld). Of course, it also allows for things to get worse: Instead of the Worldmind downloading into Richard Rider (or someone else) and making them Nova Prime, what if Annihilus’ troops are able to take it back to their master? Act one culminates in a battle with Annihilus himself, which the PCs are likely to lose, but again, it’s all up to them. If they DO win…then it may be a bad thing, as Thanos steps in and assumes control of the Annihilation Wave, rather than just acting as an advisor/lieutenant.

Act Two picks up business nicely, with any Cosmically-powered heroes being stalked by Annihilus’ lackey Ravenous, as well as the involvement of Galactus, the battle for the Kree homeworld Hala, and Thanos himself making a play involving one of the heroes. By the end of Act Two, the heroes should be formally forming the United Front, and if you’re using the various groups spread around the galaxy method of running the campaign, this is where they join up. Additionally, there an optional scene provided here for someone to make a trip to Earth…where they may wind up sidelined by the Civil War.

Act Three is pretty much do or die, as the heroes have to stand against the Wave. This involves taking out Annihilus’ lieutenants (which includes friggin’ THANOS), undoing damage likely done during Act Two, throwing down with those two ancient gods and, oh yeah, stopping Annihilus himself. Of course, if the heroes fail, you can always have the Annihilation Wave reach Earth and then hand over a list of the two sides in the Civil War and have one more last ditch throwdown. There was actually a great What If…? story about this, with Nova, Captain America and Iron Man joining forces at the climax of Civil War, sacrificing their lives to stop Annihilus.

Of course, the main hero Datafiles are also present, with the Fantastic Four included as noted above, as well as Nova, Star-Lord, Ronan the Accuser, the Super Skrull, Paibok the Power Skrull, Lyja, Devos the Devastator, Beta Ray Bill, Silver Surfer, Drax, Gamora, Blastaar, Gladiator and many more.

A very nice bibliography of the Marvel Cosmic run from Annihilation through Thanos Imperative is included, for those who want to read these stories for themselves (and I cannot recommend this stuff enough).

WHAT WORKS: This is maybe my favorite release for Marvel Heroic. Period. Soooo many options jammed into the book, capturing the epic scale of the Annihilation Event, and all in one book. As with Civil War, there is a roadmap, but no railroad tracks. You can blaze your own trail through Annihilation if you like. Also, Nova.

WHAT DOESN’T WORK: No Adam Warlock. We get the Fantastic Four, but no Adam Warlock. Sorry, I like Adam Warlock. And yeah, he wasn’t involved in Annihilation, but neither was Reed Richards. Also, we get a great picture of Nova and Annihilus fighting, but there’s an almost iconic Nova-Annihilus scene from the end of the series that wasn’t used. Yes, I’m nitpicking at this point. And yes, I will have a Baron Zemo-like reaction when Warlock shows up in a book.

CONCLUSION: Like I said, this may be my favorite release for Marvel Heroic. Heck, I bet I could buy the Premium version so I have the rules bundled in with this and be happy. If you hate Marvel Heroic, this isn’t going to sway you. If you thought it sounded alright, but wouldn’t touch Civil War with a ten-foot pole, might be time to jump in. If you’re already a fan…then you’ve probably purchased this already. I cannot wait to see the remaining books in the Cosmic line.

DISCLAIMER: I did receive an electronic comp copy of this book via DriveThruRPG's Featured Reviewer program, and my link to the product in question is an affiliate link. I may receive a portion of any purchases made via those links as store credit.