Epic Space Thread

[N/A]

This thread is for discussion regarding an upcoming adventure I'm running. This isn't a recruiting thread. It's invitation-only, so if you haven't already been contacted about it, you're out of luck. Sorry, better luck next time.

Keeping the momentum up will be critical for an undertaking of this magnitude, so I'll be setting strict time windows on posting, and those who fall behind will get left behind. I don't mean that you'll get dropped from the thread, but I do mean that your character will lose their chance to affect or contribute to the scene or round. Once this finally gets moving, I am going to keep it moving.

To that end, I'm going to be trying out a new style for running combat. Once I declare that the posting window for a particular combat round is open, players in that thread will be encouraged to post as soon as they can, in no particular order. I repeat: Players will not necessarily be posting in Initiative order. Instead, they'll post whenever they can (within the assigned window of real-life time), and when the window closes, I'll sort everything out. If two character's actions conflict, then whoever had the higher Initiative wins. This way, we won't ever be dependent upon any one player (other than me) to keep the whole thread moving.

Roster:

Atlas (Geez3r)

Cannonade (Trollthumper)

Citizen (AvengerAssembled)

Cobalt Templar (KnightDisciple)

Doktor Archeville (...Dr Archeville)

Dragonfly (Fox)

Geckoman (Ecalsneerg)

Jack of All Blades + Jill O'Cure (Gizmo)

Miss Americana (Electra)

Sage (Sorus)

Obviously, I'm not going to try to run a single thread with 10 PCs. Instead, I'm going to run two concurrent threads, with multiple points of intersection where PCs can swap information, gear, and even party members. So each act of the story will have two different objectives that require the PCs to split up.

Premise:

The initial premise (about which I'm being intentionally vague for now) is that a Claremont student is kidnapped during a raid by villains FROM SPACE! Villains who have slipped past the Lor blockade of Earth. Villains led by the infamous Captain Kraken. Duncan Summers calls up his old comrades on the Freedom League. Daedalus, being the one with the most relevant experience in these matters, decides to take personal responsibility for rescuing the kid. With most of the NPC Leaguers otherwise occupied, Daedalus taps his fellow League smart-guy Doktor Viktor Archeville to help organize a task force. Once the team is assembled, they'll pile into a Pegasus spaceplane (and maybe a refitted Pitchoo) and hit the road.

The question I put to you, the players, is how each character is going to get involved.

For some of them, the answer seems straightforward. Doktor Archeville employs JackB and MissA. He's even in on MissA's big secret, so he can help make arrangements to smuggle Gina along. JackB would probably jump at the chance for a rematch against Kraken, and so would Atlas, once Jack contacts him. MissA can drag Citizen along. JillC can bring Dragonfly in. Summers could appeal to Gecks directly, knowing that his former student's aptitudes will come in handy on this one.

For others, such as Cannonade, CT, and Sage, the answers aren't so self-evident.

Summers isn't about to send any of his other current students along on a dangerous trek through the cosmos, so none of the Next-Gen are going to be hitching a ride, and he won't necessarily be inclined to volunteer any of the teen PCs. But he might reluctantly recommend any with powers and/or skills that lend themselves specifically to the mission, and CT and Sage certainly both qualify on that front. Cannonade's the only one for whom I've got nuthin'.

Thoughts? Preferences?

[Gizmo]

Works for me! If Dok A's involved, that get's Jack in, and he can put out the call to his sister and Atlas. Presumably Dragonfly can just be present when Jill's phone rings.

Heh, Ecal, how would you feel about a little lampshading if Jack tried to get in touch with Arrowhawk, too, but tells Dok A he couldn't reach him?

[trollthumper]

Well, of the folks listed, Cannonade knows Citizen (spent time fighting Serpent People in the subway), Dragonfly (spent time fighting the spread of mutagenic drugs) and Atlas (spent time fighting radioactive Nazi zombies). It could be that one of them thought another meatshield would be helpful.

There's also the possibility that, if the kidnapping wasn't a surgical strike and the aliens had other business on Earth, Cannonade stumbled upon a street-level outcropping of that. A string of disappearances among the homeless turns out to be abduction for nefarious purposes, what looks like a set of overdoses from a new custom drug turns out to be field tests of an alien bioweapon, stuff like that. Things that fall into his wheelhouse and could bring him in with the other heroes for a consult.

[April]

Sage's skills are uniquely suited for interrogation (always a chance it'll need to be done) and communication (especially keeping multiple people linked to what is essentially an encrypted network without needing to carry along additional equipment.) In addition she finds people, it's her thing. So she has a useful skill set. Then there is the motivation, it's a person from Earth, a Claremont student and a possible friend (depending on who it is.) She'd pretty much insist to go, and since she's not really on a team (despite being close friends with YF) she can be easily detached without dragging along a whole mess of students.

[Fox]

Presumably Dragonfly can just be present when Jill's phone rings.

Simple, clean, and uncomplicated. I like it.

[Geez3r]

Works for me! If Dok A's involved, that get's Jack in, and he can put out the call to his sister and Atlas. Presumably Dragonfly can just be present when Jill's phone rings.

Heh, Ecal, how would you feel about a little lampshading if Jack tried to get in touch with Arrowhawk, too, but tells Dok A he couldn't reach him?

Atlas is on pretty good terms with JoAB and DokA, and if you're going to need some muscle on a space adventure, bring the alien. Works for me. Plus he's a back up telepath and infiltrator.

[N/A]

There's also the possibility that, if the kidnapping wasn't a surgical strike and the aliens had other business on Earth, Cannonade stumbled upon a street-level outcropping of that. A string of disappearances among the homeless turns out to be abduction for nefarious purposes, what looks like a set of overdoses from a new custom drug turns out to be field tests of an alien bioweapon, stuff like that. Things that fall into his wheelhouse and could bring him in with the other heroes for a consult.

That could work. The kidnappers themselves are blunt instruments, but the people paying their salary have a lot more finesse and intelligence. Since the target is a superhero, the kidnapping itself could have been the climax to a series of crimes meant to lure the hero into a trap, either by giving them a trail to follow, or by just repeating the same crime night after night in a neighborhood where the hero is frequently sighted, until they show up and take the bait. The same ruse could have ensnared Cannonade. Hell, Cannonade could have even been involved in the fight that ended with Kraken and his people escaping with the prisoner in tow. To soften the blow to his ego, we could say that, while overwhelmed, he managed to put up enough of a fight that he incapacitated one of Kraken's crew, who got left behind during their retreat. That also gives Summers and Daedalus someone to interrogate, which by extension gives Summers a reason to call in Sage, and easily answers the questions of how the PCs know where to go for the first act (they got it out of Kraken's henchman). Having directly engaged the enemy would give Summers and Daedalus a solid reason to debrief Cannonade, who would no doubt insist on seeing it through to the end.

And there could easily have been collateral damage during the kidnapping itself. The only target the "customers" are paying for is the aforementioned Claremont student, but Kraken and his crew might have scooped up innocent bystanders as targets of opportunity, to be sold as slaves or...resources to other markets. That could give Cannonade even more of a personal stake in the matter, and raise the stakes for everyone else.

[trollthumper]

That definitely works for me. I am a fan of this plan.

[KnightDisciple]

Cobalt Templar would definitely be willing to help rescue a Claremont student (even Daisy Gibbons). Beyond that, he'd want to help Sage (who is basically going to be his co-leader in next year's Young Freedom). Perhaps he all but forces his way into the group, for a chance to help a fellow Claremont-er? And/or, he's pulled in as brawn to Sage's brains.

[Dr Archeville]

This is all sounding rather nifty.

And his experiences here will give me yet one more reason to design a personal spacecraft for Dok (one based partly on Daedalus' Pegasus-class space planes, but better. Faster, certainly... measly 25c engines... sure, they can reach Saturn's moon Titan in under 5 minutes, but it takes two months just to get to the nearest star system!)

[N/A]

And his experiences here will give me yet one more reason to design a personal spacecraft for Dok (one based partly on Daedalus' Pegasus-class space planes, but better. Faster, certainly... measly 25c engines... sure, they can reach Saturn's moon Titan in under 5 minutes, but it takes two months just to get to the nearest star system!)

Yeah, the Pegasus is pretty pathetic. Don't worry, you guys won't be saddled with it for long (if at all).

[Ecalsneerg]

Summers could appeal to Gecks directly, knowing that his former student's aptitudes will come in handy on this one.

That'd make sense to me. There's not even an educational conflict, as all the US colleges seem to be finishing up on their exams about now, so there's not even that holding him back. He's also met Sage plenty of times, if that helps.

Heh, Ecal, how would you feel about a little lampshading if Jack tried to get in touch with Arrowhawk, too, but tells Dok A he couldn't reach him?

Hehehehe, go for it. (Or try the European drop box )

Maybe the Pegasus is deliberately pathetic. Daedalus can build better, but on his intermittent missions in space he gets peace from us damn mortals constantly needing saved, so his ship is much slower than it has to be.