Campaign created Monday, May 17, 2010 05:32:34 AM by Jim Mills

Mostly one-on-one, Player Character and GM, a cross between 4-color with only some shades of gray. Heroes are mostly heroic, and villains don't go around killing willy-nilly... mostly.

05-26-2010: We now have 12 Players and are closing apps for now. We may re-open later. If you want to be on our wait list, PM or email Jim or Randi please. :)

Ground rules: We want this game to be a cross between 4-color with only some shades of gray. Heroes are mostly heroic, and villains don't go around killing willy-nilly... mostly. They're usually more interested in embarrassing the hero (and sometimes they resort to killing him/her). But there are some notable exceptions.

Morality: Shades of gray give rise to doubt and conflict.  Moral choices can be difficult, but are sometimes clear as well.  This is somewhere between 4-color and Dark Champions, not too gritty (usually), but not often white-hats vs. dark-hats.  PCs may be vigilantes or true heroes... that is largely up to the Players.

Realism: This campaign will not be totally realistic (people have super powers, after all), but character actions will have effects on the story, how media, people and politicians react to said actions, etc.  Otoh, some things may be forgiven heroes who obviously have saved many lives, prevented destruction of the city, and so on.

Outlook and Seriousness: Somewhere between positive and negative.  The Characters can and do make a difference in the world by their actions, and those actions do often have repercussions.  The game may have some comic elements to amuse Players and GMs, but overall the character actions are serious.  People get hurt when thugs hold up stores with guns... or when supers use powers to rob and steal or to try to grab power over others.  Sometimes hero-villain conflicts have casualties on the sidelines, innocent bystanders, etc.  Otoh, occasional comic relief may be thrown into the mix for a touch of lightheartedness.

Tone: There will be some very serious situations and moral quandaries thrown in for the enjoyment of both the Players and the GMs.

Importance of the Player Characters: This depends on how you build and play your Character.  PCs may be very important... or not.

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See our web site: http://pyre.weebly.com for background information, character-building guidelines, house rules, etc.

Power levels may vary (250, 350 or 450... Player's choice), but keep in mind that the NPCs and villains vary, too.  Some are more powerful than others.  Know your limits.  A 250-point Character does not do well taking on Dr. Death one-on-one.  Most 600-point Characters have trouble taking on Dr. Death (he is the game's BIG Super-Bad-Guy... think Dr. Destroyer... well over 1,000 points.  Avoid if possible.).  For the most part, we GMs will try to keep the less powerful heroes matched with lower-powered villains and not have you running up against NPCs who are a very many points above your character... at least, not usually (If you see Dr. Death, it is best to hide.).

Questions?  Send a Private Message (PM) to Jim or Randi.  Welcome to the madness.

2010-08-22 Sunday - Hoshi	As she talks, she waves her left hand and an image forms between them. "This is an illusion, an image of the appearance of the enemy we face. These Shadows are beings of darkest evil, manufactured, conjured from dark energies. They are creations of low intelligence, single-minded things intent on carrying out whatever orders their masters have given them. The Shadow Masters and their Lords make the creatures that we call Shadows. They are not people; they are things... created by dark energies. You might, as some do, call it black magic. Whatever you choose to call it, the fact is that the Shadows are created things, and not people. They look like they may be people... two arms, two legs, wearing black hooded cloaks and robes. And yet, should you manage to subdue and capture one, which is very hard to do, you will find that they are cloth and claws and energy... and that there is no person inside. It is as if they took a hooded cloak and robe, attached some claw-like blades, and made it into an almost-living thing, an automated foot soldier, empowered with certain abilities and sent out to destroy and kill. "They attack from the shadows, almost unseen, able to harm those in the physical world while they exist in a sidereal dimension of cold and dark. They have two weapons... a cold wind that they blow out of what passes for mouths in the head-area. It chills the air and anything it hits, causing water to freeze into ice, skin suffers frostbite metal becomes bitterly cold. Their other weapon is the claw-hand, blades that cut, but unless you possess some very special weapons, such as your sword, very little can harm them where they exist in this sidereal world of cold and dark."
2010-08-22 Sunday - Hoshi	"If ordered to do so, or if they must do so in order to carry out their orders, they can choose to emerge from this side dimension and enter our real world. If they do so, they are tougher here than there, diverting the energy used to keep them in that other place into a sort of defensive energy field that surrounds and protects them. Still, they are not impossible to defeat... if one strikes hard enough. When you have destroyed them, they boil away into vapor, leaving very little behind... bits of cloth and metal. The police call them the Shadow Killers. For a time they were the Shadow Killer, singular. The orders came from... high up. They do not want to panic the people, so they gave the impression that there was only one Shadow Killer. Now they are admitting that there may be more than one. The truth is that there are millions. What we have seen so far are advanced scouting forces. Their Lords and Masters are feeling out our defenses, and there are very few who can stand up to them when they can strike and remain immune to gunfire, grenades and hand-to-hand combat. "The Shadow Lords and Shadow Masters have conquered many worlds in this manner. First they scout out the world and test its defenses, then they send in a wave of mass invasion to bring down those defenses, capture the people, herd them through gates into prison camps and you do not want to know what happens after that. In short, they are consumed. Eaten. The Earth will be stripped bare. Everything will be taken, the planet razed down to the last useful minerals, all the water and finally most of the atmosphere, leaving a near-airless husk... a barren rock. That is our future -- death and destruction -- unless we find a way to stop them."
2010-08-22 Sunday - Hoshi	"The Shadows' home world, called the Shadow Land, is a near-lightless place without a sun or any stars in the perpetual night sky. It is a dimension of darkness with different physical laws to some degree. Worlds are heated from within, or from below. Almost all worlds are volcanic in one form or another. Many are not globes like Earth... they are strip-worlds... strips of land rather than spheres or near-spheres. As I said, the laws of physics differ to some degree. "Life came about there somehow... we are not sure how, exactly. But it did. And the people who live there became powerful energy wielders and mentalists. They came to rule the non-supers, who were subjugated and enslaved. Some became what our world calls Bricks... a race of super strong, tough and fast beings. We have very little information on navigating their worlds or where we may find their leaders. You now know as much as the most well-informed on Earth, save the enemy themselves. The Lords and Masters are shape shifters. They walk among us, infiltrating, learning, scouting out our people, defenses and most of all, our super beings. It was super beings who conquered the Shadow Land and now rule and reign. It is Super Beings who will oppose and defeat them. Conventional forces, short of nuclear weapons, will not do the job. And the military have considered sending H-bombs through the gates... but we must know where to effectively place them before they will do the job. They are very serious about this. You may shudder at the thought of using such weapons, but the alternative... the alternative is far worse, for the people of Earth."
2010-08-22 Sunday - Hoshi	"To date no one that we know of has managed to capture a Shadow Master, let alone a Shadow Lord. This will be our first task. We must find, capture, subdue and interrogate one of their leaders and gain valuable information from him or her or it. That will be my job, as one of the best mentalists on Earth. But I cannot do it alone. "That is what I know. Questions?"