Saturday 15 June 2019

In the Super Hero Old Folks Home




River City is basically a dumping ground for b-list superheroes and washedup government agencies that manage them. So this is a follow up to my last sessionof TSR MARVEL (not the MU my setting ive run since about 84 started as champions then superworld them TSR marvel). I will amend this as partly i need to use this today....

Recently the Mayor of River city Wally Surface former ape detective and superhero went to visit his old friend Captain Gorilla at Hero Hall, The super human retirement centre (one of several). The hall has operated since the 80s and of course has been destroyed a few times. Captain Gorilla looks like a aging silverback congo gorilla refuses to talk to humans mostly, but he tipped off Wally that Dr Morgan SInclair the institution director was really the supervillain Mandragora the man dragon and now the centre needs a new chief.

So Wally has selected one of the heroes, late silver age hero Jack Frost, in his professor alter ego to take over temporarily. To assist him in rooting out any more plots of Mandragora that might be active, Evac the official super hero of the world wide rescue service was sent for his paramedic and military scale disaster relief skills.


The former manor house has two main wings aside the admin centre. One wing is open to residents who hang out in 4 main rec rooms. This wing has a greenhouse also which used to contain Tree Man but he has sorta taken root and doesn't even have a face anymore. (His player of three years ago dropped in - drew up a quick version of old character with variant origin. Also known to hippies as Man-Tree or Tree Guy. Was once human fused with alien plant. Now part of a secret race of druid-gnome men. Can generate an Incredible ten tonne mass of vegetation. Can shoot logbolt and tree trap as power stunts. Usually effects a area with thick woods. Has been known to plant drug crops in public.

The second wing has isolation chambers for the more deranged residents with a test lab Hazard Chamber out the back. The admin block in the middle has posh offices and fancy foyer with the more run down kitchen and hospital in the rear. Underneath is a plant level with a 50 year atomic cell from 1988 and the Hazard Chamber.

Originally the centre was for superheroes only but then sidekicks were included then once Superhuman Senility Syndrome S.S.S. was used as a defence in court, many minimum security villains were let in too. Some things that were once human are housed here. No super pets admitted. Some of the residence say their pets were confiscated and dissipated. Some want pets admitted. The place is a time capsule of eras of the super heroes. The free superheroes belong to four residence groups (therapy gangs or hero teams) based mostly on their eras.

Staff
Manager Position Vacant John Siku aka Jack Frost (acting)

Open Wing Chief Dr Byron Mandula (44)
Briliant kindly optomistic Psychiatric doctor who believes superhumans need love and understanding, brings doughnuts to share
Closed Wing Chief Dr Victoria Savage (39)
Harsh bespectacled with severe fashion believes in surgical solutions and harsh treatments
(she has come to share ideas with a resident in the south wing).

Nurses
Mary Steel (36) - super strong, daughter of patient Lance Steel, tough love but fair
Donna Claymore (29) - ex millitary peacekeeper, no nonsense
Garry Fang (27) - failed martial arts hero got job after leg shattered when he was Goldfang

Orderlies
Patrick Simmons (42) - huge muscle bound ex villain goon, dim, circus muscleman strong
Maxamillian Power (28) - super strong failed hero, small arms proof, lift a tonne
Bernard Star (47) - used to wield cosmic power rod as the hero Cosmic Torch, till it got broke in a fight, knew lots of residents growing up
Ralph Chromlech (26) - not sure how he got job but has a knack for problem solving and calming people down. Likes to hang in tree room
Dorris Hammersly (48) - huge brutish woman who smokes and can bend bars

CyberneticsDoctor Bot - Mediocre AI councillor and psychological analysts tool, has calm voice and speaks through centre terminals and robots
Wrekka Mk 1 - Orderlies 8 foot tall bend to fit in 7 foot doorways. Monitor on chest displays emojois. Happy mode is orderly uses net gun, shock fist, tear gas grenade launcher (6), Angry mode enables kill mode military protocol with machinegun arm and flamer arm. Flamer arm has a retractable yard long disembowelling spike. These work in the wings around residence and help handle the patients and act as security. They are notoriously buggy and have been hacked or gone rogue

Wrekka Mk 2 - Military grade to fight metahumans and kaiju. 40 foot tall with weapons and varient versions, with atomic fuel cells, plasma sword, laser cannon and missiles. Four guard Hero Hall estate and patrol at random at least hourly. Variants A=Morphs into tank mode B=Morphs into fighter mode C=Morphs into Aerospace D=Modular payload specialised for target E= Has one to three crew
Wrekka Mk 3 - sealed 20 foot tall non metallic, hydrogen fusion fuelled, noanotech self repairing, forcefield hardened seamless hill, levitate with anti grav, repeating plasma gun, taken from future tech. Two in roof cavity ready for defence or termination of dangerous beings. Variants A=Human form replicant decoy model (Rm ranks) B=nemesis power takes round to adapt to rival power or force with a feat to see how well C=Biological material grown over Increadibillium skeleton, a living biorobot, uses weapons, once ablativeflesh gone is a hideous gory skeleton D=Implanted into a human as a covert unit, at some time it morphs the host into a Remarkable rank wrekka destroying their personhood utterly E=Clever Wrekka, superior intelligence, strategy and improvisation, use martial arts and better fighting F=Hunter model with improved meta detector antenna and satellite dish and laser uplink, can record and direct orbital weapons or artillery F=Sea version G=Space version


Open Wing
Room One (Patriotic Heroes - tend to be racist, hate modern world and computers)

Captain Commonwealth (96) - helped fight nazis and still keen, wears a daiper and Union Jack flag as a cape that gets stuck in doors ind in his wheelchair lots
Captain Australia 1 (94) - ww2 vet sure nazi plots are everywhere
-Spunky (85) Caps plucky boy sidekick also hates nazis and still wares shorts
Captain Australia 2 (73) vet of Korea, hates commies, thinks Nazis are ok to help fight reds
Captain Canetoad (65) former crook and son of the Statesman Hero/Villain of Queensland Canetoad, believes his sidekick Hoppy is still with him conversing but he died in war
Captain ANZAC (70) a Vietnam war vet, a drug guzzling wreck who thinks hippies were right. Regrets his sidekick the Kiwi 
Kid left him because he was a arsehole (Now just "Kiwi" aged 65 and in NZ, a hero still, huge strong guy in feathered and furred coat with huge club and face tats)

Room Two (Mystery Men & Women of post WW2 silver age) 

Lance Steel (80) globetrotting adventurer without powers, wears jodhpurs, flying jacket and cape, had a talking jet shot down in Vietnam) deathwish to die heroically
Ace Armstrong (90) spy and adventurer with no powers but used gadgets like a remote hacker birbot, ray pistol, jet pack (he is not meant to wear this indoors)
Madame Xanadu (70) masked mystery maiden with no powers, is a total bitch in black leather with her sidekick Sapho (60) who recently got married under new Australian law
Blue Dart (70) has a plate in head and sees things, conspiracy and UFO nut, can ramble for hours about inter connections, will try and get other residents worked into spreading chaos
Jonny Victory (90) was a sidekick who's hero (Victory Man or VMan or Victor Victory) died in the big one and Jonny remained a daredevil into 60's before he had too many injuries, his wife violet died a few years ago and he moved in most recently after his kids couldn't handle him. He likes to get other old guys riled up in adventure and begging Evac for a ride in the WWR vector heavy lifter near orbital aircraft.
Maser Master (64) gadgeteer science freak with beams that shoot from eye sockets and can see radar and microwave radiation and hear signals. Annoyed by all the wireless and microwave signals everywhere now. Complains constantly about modern tech

Room Three (The Fearless Five -
 Bronze age team)
Ice-knight (65) bit of a jerk and still thinks he is a star and the greatest mutant Ice hero ever
Fantastic Man (62) strong and invulnerable, cant remember anything but his fantasies about his home planet Alkron which sent him to escape a black hole to earth
Atom Boy (90) was a WW2 Sidekick of the Atomic Man who died in Korea fighting the Red villain Tzarbomb. Uses his incredible powers to keep warm and stop noisy things that bug him with excessive force, people like to keep him calm. He is a living atomic bio reactor. Did kill a few guys who laughed at his name and people stopped
Jinx (65) used her bad luck powers which people now doubt she ever had but she keeps claiming all her problems are her powers bouncing back at her to balance her karma
Max Volume (64) inventor of his tuning fork gun and sonar helmet which no longer work and he cant fix them and he hates computers and digital tech
Crimson Claw (60) former enemy of the gang they get on pretty well now, has a bionic arm set to normal strength for now 

Provocatrix (61), the Fearless Femme Fatal and her wife/chauffeur Kate-Oh

Room Four (Ladies of Liberty Room)

Lady Dynamo (70) the girl hurricane who spins like a top and is a bit scatty now
-Dizzy (61) her girl sidekick a former nemesis who causes vertigo and ruins peoples balance inducing vomiting. They are inseparable
Muscle Maid (70) a hulking behemoth who's muscles never stopped growing
-Brain Lass (61) her super intelligent sidekick who feeds her best friend and still looks 16
Pink Mist (62) former detective who turned into gas with mind altering properties and misses her dead husband a Marine from Harlem New York who divorced her in 80's and her ex sidekick Winky (45) now head of a perfume company who occasionally visits
Cat Queen (108) could talk to and command cats and had cat powers. Pretty fickle and touch has had nine sidekicks called Kitty most who died and forced government to outlaw taking pre teens into battle. The three surviving kitties lead normal lives and are 98, 78 and 65


Closed Wing
Mostly single sealed specialised private rooms for population in confined rooms

Doc mercy (67) who euthanized and lobotomised criminals,"cut out crime"
The Crab (61) battlesuit science guy who turned himself into a idiotic blob of cancer
Barron Blitz (102) nazi in unbreakable metal mask still dreams of the fourth 
riech, wears a nappy and struggles to get food i his mask
Captain Gorilla (71) gave himself gorilla powers and over the years has become a actual gorilla who wont talk to humans and often roams the gardens
Doc Cold (78) inventor of the cold gun and cold cannon, robbed banks, now antisocial
Janus Jones (71) master of a thousand faces now has the personalities to match
Lady Fury (65) whip wielding speedster in black leather surrounded by time manipulation field with poor control and mad. Kept in a magnetic bubble cell
The Brute (84) drooling hulking creature mostly fed by spoon on meds
Big Shot (74) crime boss feigning insanity to avoid prosecution and mob hit men. Runs a few jobs through proxies and claims is reformed with no memory of underworld. Wants new luxuries and to smoke inside and a phone
Killray (84) with glider wings and shoots death rays and can breathe water, now mostly mumbles and afraid of any sudden movements sitting in huge glass tank in room
Amorph (76) was a muscle bound goon of a villain now is a insane shoggoth sealed in a forcefield
Gyrotron (84) robot covered in dust actually always online and plays games and watches the homes camera system. He has made friends with the tree who has started to use the greenhouse console to log in under his old account from when he was human
Night Queen (70) former queen of underworld avoided hanging in 60s for kidnapping and arson now claims to be reformed. Apparently she never had powers of shadows as she claimed many times fighting and flirting with super heroes


Graveyard
Blackie The Mystery Boy 1932-1956 masked crime fighter who's secret was he was black, was killed by racist police in his non hero identity while carrying groceries home
Blimp Man 1929-1974 from cancer, 1984 shot down by automated anti alien air defences after brief resurrection
The Ghoul 1926-1989 former undead villain who ate corpses to gain powers of darkness. Corpse is missing some say he gained knowledge, skills and powers of those he ate
Jet Man 1939-1982 & Jet Lad 1946-1982 died when their atomic jet crashed on supersonic bomber test flight escort (actually they were chasing a UFO)
Mr Satan 1924-2019 criminal mastermind with mind control powers that were removed in 1984, survived by his sidekick: Imp the boy Demon 1936-present, bow a Lawyer)
Moon Man & Moon Maid 1938-1987 silver skinned twins who were sure came from the moon civilisation, died trying to return in home made rocket, the "Selenite Siblings"
The Puzzler 1953-1986 a prankster mastermind survived by his son Problem Child (1973-present) who is in prison for supervillain stuff. Clowns no longer allowed in Hero Hall
Rex Rapid 1954-1991 super speedster who turned into skeleton using powers just one more time, was a great cop detective led own special crime squad, wore out body attempting to break the sound barrier. Had more than a dozen wives, was bitter and twisted at end
Panic Attack 1958-2014 committed suicide as fear powers turned on herself
Flying Fortress (1925-2015) had a battlesuit that dropped bombs and tackled aircraft in WW2, korea and vietnam. Crashed on anniversary flight 2005
Doodlebug 1912-2012 senile nazi who could fly and shoot explosive bolts lost powers in 1981 testing the power removal process in prison. Survived war surrendering and helping scientific studies of the nazi ubermench formula (actually alien spores)
Blue Balls ?-1996 claimed to be alien, short with three glowing blue energy spheres that chased foes and exploded and he disappeared in a time portal blast fighting off future robots
Man Mountain 1944-2005 & Rocky 1953-2005 former best friends killed each other in fight over desert which was pretty strange and everybody thinks is tragic
The Flamer 1936-2016 suicide when unauthorised biography of wartime atrocities he committed and non traditional sex life. Mostly he was following orders in war killing several thousand Reds in the Korean war. Wore a bullet proof fire proof suit and solved problems with a plasma torch, thermite sticky bombs and other heat weapons
Dr Zombie 1012-1936 1942-1954 1966-1979 1986-2004 Supernatural seeming powers to animate dead so returned as dead again and again and again increasingly more rotten and insanely violent

Richard player of Elderly hero Jack Frost dreamed up these
"Provocatrix, the Fearless Femme Fatale. Orphaned by mobsters, she made a Demonic pact for the power to exact her revenge on all criminal scum. In exchange for the ability to feel fear, she was given enhanced strength and agiliy, and can walk through shadows. She is also cursed so that any man she ever loves will die a gruesome death. Being unable to fear the loss of her lovers, many other heroes met their doom when she fell for them. Unfortunately for the Demon, she worked out a loophole. Being unable to fear the social consequences of same sex attraction, she became a devotee of Sappho, and ended up settling down with Kate-Oh, her sidekick and chauffeur." 


Maser Master, whose gadgeteering expertise enabled him to build Rubidium goggles to tame the microwave radiation gushing forth from his ruined eyesockets after a lab accident. Nearly as strong as laser beams, his eye blasts would stop criminals dead when his net gun and stun darts failed.

So players of Jack Frost, Evac and Tree Guy set about digging up information ad met staff, talking to patients and listening to shameful history of superhumans. At one point the old guys bugged Evac and stole the WWR heavy lifter with a hackerbot bird he didn't notice sneaked on board. Any way he was a bit mad but took old guys for joyride. Jack Frost found leaking money and released funds for patient recreation and some upgrades. Rigged Mandragora and government bugs so he could give them false reprogrammed results.  Went of to realise Mandragora was stealing genetic samples from hospital for 40 years and selling to foreign powers, supervillains and aliens via a uplink to the moon. Jack Frost got idea that that Mandragora had killed some residence and deleted some from all records. Diamond Dame and Doc Cobra the fastest man alive were two in photos and old docs but nothing online. Jack began working on cures for the residents he believed were being used as guinea pigs by Mandragora.

Tree and robot shared notes and helped each other, Robot ordered sacks of fertiliser for tree friend. Robot was still but watched Jack and Evac who eventually awoke the robot with threat of putting room in a magnetic bubble cutting it off the net. Guys helped it fin the boy it adventured with in late 70s, the son of it's creator.

The heroes decided to take over this place as a base. Once all teamed up they made a plan to follow Mandragora's moon signal using a scratch built one way booster for the WWR aub orbital lifter. They plannned to use last fuel to return to earth and glide through the atmosphere with a wood, ice and forcefield re-entry 
heat shield. Busy mostly talking and investigating. Had a few rounds of fight when Blue Dart told both Captain Australia's that the heroes were really communazi alien plotters infiltrating the centre! One of the Cap's slipped on ice and got trapped by tree growth and then ice and stunned. The other cap jumped 30 foot up, to grab the legs of Evac but only slowed him and he smashed Cap into Blue Dart knocking him out.

Anyway was writing this as a scenario and has turned into a series arc reskin or something. Might get some more newb players in too.

3 comments:

  1. I live in a family of Marvel enthusiasts while I only like the Phantom, so looking at this list of misfits is a delight. They seem no different to the regular super heroes I keep hearing about. Great stuff cobber!

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  2. If you enjoy classic TSR Marvel, you should check out the MSH RPG Unofficial Canon Project (www.facebook.com/groups/mshucp). We have continued the classic game, producing over 30 new books including the Golden Age Sourcebook.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. im a member but i dont use the marvel universe

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