Stalwart Team Up #1

Having just seen Deadpool and Wolverine, I'm jazzed for superhero team-ups, even though this one has virtually nothing to do with that one. But hey! It's superheroes teaming up! Huzzah.

Your weekend starts now! Head on over to DrivethruRPG and get yourself a copy. I promise it has less profanity than Deadpool and Wolverine. To be fair, pretty much everything has less profanity than Deadpool and Wolverine, but still... 

Scratching an Itch (.io)

Thanks to a suggestion from the Marvelous Matt Jackson, I now have a page on itch.io for Stalwart. Is it set up properly? No idea. Is it going to generate traffic and interest? Nary a clue. Is it going to tear a hole in the space-time continuum that leads to the eventual end of all life in this universe? Gosh, I hope not. I would free pretty bad about that. 

Is it one more place where the collective consciousness of humanity may be able to intereact the fruits of my creative loins? Uh. Yeah. I guess so. Though that is a weird way to put it...

It has a message board/community option, so that seems really cool if there are actually real human beings who actually go there and use it and stuff. I've never been there, but it seems like some of 'our people' (as in people who play old-school RPGs) hang out there, so it might be worth linking up with. 

Your mileage may vary. My mileage may vary. There may be no mileage to have variance within. 

I guess I will know when I know.   

Of Foolish Consistencies

I remember as an undergrad being struck by Emerson's quote, "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds". Not only is it okay to change your mind, but people who hang on to something too far past its natural end are foolish. Sticking with something just because you said you were going to is just plain dumb.

In some ways, I've tried to live by that. And in some ways, getting my books up for sale and building a readership on Amazon seems to be starting to come under the foolish category. I've read about how there's a glut of material there, and breaking through is really hard unless you are in romance (or *ahem* adult fiction) categories, and I don't think my book qualifies there. I realized that the Doc Stalwart book link for an ebook is broken, and cannot be fixed. No idea why. I can only sell it there as a softcover, and in the three years it has been for sale, I have sold exactly two. I'm grateful for those two sales... but, um... yeah. Not exactly setting the world on fire.

The first issue of Stalwart Team Up is in my publisher list, but it's marked as 'blocked', with no additional information. It could be that I'm still in the approval process (which can take a few days I guess), but it doesn't say that... it just says blocked. 

I think my people are on DriveThru. Maybe I should just stay there with them.

I'm circling back to simply putting the whole thing in one package - the comic story of 4-5,000 words, and then the 6-8 pages adapting it to the game. It's a pay-what-you-want download anyway, and this makes the books feel more substantial and in line with the others in the game so far (since they are averaging around 14-16 pages), and this would put the book well over that. I can fret a little less one month if I don't have as much subtance to add to the game (hey - here are three new characters, but the set pieces don't need maps and there is nothing else to add to the game really this time around)... I feel like it makes for a tighter package, and a cleaner presentation to the consumer (that would be you). My big concern was that, even with different coloring on the covers, there would be some (rightful) confusion for you all over which version of the book you are getting. 

And, if I ever get the whole Amazon thing working, I can always cross post the entire same package there (with the game material in the back), and if I get a few extra sales and more visibility out of it, all the better.

I'm going to start tinkering with the packaging. I'll let you know what I end up with...

The 'Best" Story

I have the first three issues of Stalwart Team Up written, and I’ve realized something about the format. I get to tell the best story for each of these characters, or at least a really iconic one. I don’t think this is necessarily the BEST Doc Stalwart story, for instance, but it’s one I really like. I got to write a different perspective for Doc. I love how the story I have written humanizes him more and brings a hint of tragedy to his whole story that is not present in the stories I’ve already written about him. Most of my stories are about the amazing things Doc has been able to do. This story, on some level, is about the things he never got to do. The small fights he never had time to take on, but that were still important. For me, it answered the question of “if you have Superman, why do you need anyone else?” Now, I know. I’m really happy with the answer.

As far as issue 2, it is, far and away, the best possible Condorian story I could ever have written. I absolutely love it. I have no need to write a Condorian novel (or even another Freedom’s Four story), because I found the perfect story to tell about both Freedom’s Four and Condorian, within the world of Tipo… I cannot tell you how much I love this little story. The fact that it expands the game world out in a nifty way is icing on the cake.

As far as issue 3… it is not necessarily the best Twilight Archer story, but it is absolutely an iconic sort of Twilight Archer story. I like how much it feels different from the first two issues, because he’s such a different character. It's also a very traditional sort of street-level adventure, which the other two are not.

My original thought was that I’d get to play with different genres by telling stories featuring different characters, and that is true, but I didn’t think about how the tone and themes would subtly shift as different characters came into and out of the narrative.

I also feel like the stories thus far have the right balance of character, moving the story forward, and action sequences. I’m very pleased with the story I’m telling so far. I’m looking forward to seeing what you all think of it. They also feel very rooted in the existing comics universe; I’m not doing a lot of world building; the world is already built, and now I’m just shining a flashlight into corners of it and examining those corners more closely.

The first issue should be up on Amazon in the next day or two (once it moves through Amazon’s pipeline), and I’ll release the RPG adaptation (which is already done) as soon as that goes live, so you can get them at the same time. I think I’m going to stagger releases to once a month going forward, just so I can place things through the school year and have some updates to keep releasing. I might even wait until August 1^st at this point (which is only a week away), because then I can get on a ‘monthly’ release schedule that I can maintain. Getting two or three more of these done and ready to go before the end of summer is a reasonable goal and will give me a way to keep publishing and supporting my game for the foreseeable future, which is vital to its continued growth and success.

I still envision a ‘complete rules’ as a collection that includes all of the books so far along with some extra material that would be a single pdf and print book release… but that’s definitely on the back burner right now. I think that I’m in a position to let the game grow organically for a little while, and maybe build a stronger following, before taking that next step. I’d LOVE to do a Kickstarter, but I’d also want to have a big enough audience to support that, and enough reason (i.e. new material to add) to make a collection like that worth everyone’s time and money.

Taming the Muse... Or the Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men...

I had a plan. I really did. I wanted to build Stalwart Team Up by fleshing out a general narrative structure, playing through the scenario, posting notes, and then using those notes to compose the actual stories for publication.

My mind decided it didn't want to do that. Instead, I have already written the first two and over half of the third issue, and have yet to pick up any dice. The stories are just naturally fitting together, and the 'team up' model is giving me a very organic progression from one partnership to another. The first three issues feature Doc Stalwart, Condorian, and Twilight Archer, and I already know the plot of issue 4, and the character who will appear, Microbe. 

It looks now like I will get the first three stories done and up for sale, and then get to the work of adapting these into game supplements. I suppose the order doesn't ultimately matter, as long as there is a synergy between the paired releases. It is helpful to have this in mind as I write, because it is challenging me to write sequences that are also viable as game-based scenarios. 

This is a different process from when I was writing Doc Stalwart stories before. For those, I was entirely focused on the characters and the story I wanted to tell, and if an entire issue was two people sitting in a room talking, then it was. It didn't much matter that there were set pieces and interesting combat sequences for actual play. Now, this is a factor in my thinking, and the stories have a little more action and move a little quicker as a result. 

I've also drafted a chunk of the first game supplement for this, and realized that I can build this as three scenes with two cut scenes between, a prologue and an epilogue. So, a structure of four story-based situations and transitional cut scenes (layered with roleplaying) with a three-act structure of combat/encounters nested inside. This feels like a very workable model. Ultimately, I am giving myself freedom to deviate from the comic in the game adaptation because I want there to be a bit more action. For example, I add a sequence where Trash Talker and some Goonsquad members take part in an armored car heist. This is nowhere in the story, but is a side quest that gives the players another enounter before the big fight at the end. 

The only other challenge I see is with covers - I want the books to have the same covers (so you know that they are telling the same story), but I want it to be clear for you all which one is which. I have added a label of either 'for the world's niftiest superhero rpg' or 'a superhero story' at the bottom, so you know which is which. I think that should suffice. I also changed the banner color on the stories as well from yellow to dark red just as another visual indicator.

Your Membership Card

I know that not all of you were able to attend this year's New Years Day Comicon ("Welcome 1984 with comics, toys, and more!"), but wanted to make sure you still got your official Stalwart Society card. It was printed in the back of the limited edition Mighty Doc Stalwart #250 that was only available at this convention (and which sold out of all 500 signed copies in record time), but I wanted to make sure that everyone had a chance to get one of these. Cut it out and carry it proudly!

 

Stalwart Team Up Mechanical Idea

I've got the first issue for Stalwart Team Up written, and I'm almost half way into the second, with idea threads already in place for the next two to three. I am very proud of how I'm capturing comic book action and combat, writing character-driven narratives, and bringing things to a satisfying conclusion. The first issue is a tight little story, and I think I have a model in place I can replicate.

I have started to think about how this can be effectively adapted into an adventure, and how this might mechanically emulate what I've written. The Marvel FASERIP system had Karma, which was a great way to emulate the roleplaying, character-based things that happen outside combat that have a direct bearing on what happens in combat. Peter did the right thing and helped Aunt May carry in the groceries, and because of this he has just enough strength left to lift the debris that traps him.

And I was thinking a simple rule tweak for solo play would emulate this very well, and would echo how the story is working so far. It's hero points.

Rather than starting the 'issue' with your full allotment of hero points, you start with 1. You can 'earn' up to your full hero point bank in the leadup to the final battle. If you stop to help the old lady, or hold the door, or do some other relatively minor (but still noble) thing, you get to add a hero point to your bank. There might be more opportunites than your actual hero points to earn them, but the idea is that the better you 'role play' a heroic character leading up to that final battle, the more resources you have to draw upon to be successful.

Again, this is utilizing a mechanic that is already in the system in a new way, allowing me to emulate comic book 'reality' in the game in a way that feels like it's appropriate. It's a great little mechanical tweak that will make solo play much richer, I would think. 

I'm looking forward to testing it out. It's a little odd to have the whole story written and then retroactively build the game experience to get there, because I had assumed I would do this process in the other direction, using the actual play as a way to brainstorm ideas to put into the actual story. I guess that the process matters less than that I get to the finish line, but I still find it interesting the way it's evolving.

Guide to Meridian and Other Updates

The Stalwart Guide to Meridian is up as a Pay What You Want Download. You do you.

I've also updated files for all of the other books based on feedback I've received (some minimal, but I wanted to get everything done and refreshed at once):

Core Rules

• Added the cover to the pdf.
• Clarified language of application/use of hero points.
• Clarified rules for subduing a fallen foe; this now requires a full round to complete.
• Trick Weapon – got rid of -1 shift for tier effectiveness; clarified that tier rank applies to all trick weapon applications.

Stalwart Companion

• Added the cover to the pdf.
• Updated language of tiers (changing reference of cosmic to ultimate).
• Refined and clarified mimicry gift.

World of Stalwart Volume 1

• Added the cover to the pdf.
• Twilight Archer – revised weapon damage to D10.

Stalwart Team Up Part 4

Let’s chat about the hunter character. I’ve got ideas. Of course. 

The first thing I think of is the idea of mentors. Doc Stalwart is Tipo’s first mentor, but that relationship quickly ends – Robin was my favorite character at five years old, and I cannot shake that. I love the idea of following the story of the student. It’s my go-to. The reason I was able to get into writing Doc Stalwart stories quickly is because I framed them from Mikah’s perspective; it ultimately became the story of his journey from young mutant who could read objects to starting to prepare for taking his place as the Chronicle of all Stories. 

So, following the student is a good bet to give me a reason to keep writing. Taking his mentor away on day one is going to help a lot.

As of yesterday morning, I assumed that Doc might enlist Microbe to step in and do a little mentoring – I’d like to get Microbe into a story at some point, so this seemed a good way… but maybe I could back burner that for a few issues. When he starts getting into the research and development this organization is doing, Microbe might be a great character to have along for the ride. Having them crawling through air ducts together might be fun (Tipo barely fits, and the cat who is leading them keeps wanting to eat Microbe who is only an inch tall). 

Right away, I see a potential for a student/teacher relationship with this hunter. Tipo is a hunter – he’s a friggin’ cat. They’re hunters. Tipo doesn’t see them that way (which will be a revelation when he finally gets there in his own brain), but others will immediately see him that way, and the potential of that for their own ends. The Hunter who hunts heroes because they are ‘the most dangerous game’ is a bit tired. I have two initial ways this could go:

A Black Panther/Sub Mariner approach – the hunter from another land who comes here because the world of these people (and maybe this corporation) is having a negative effect in that other world. Now I’m suddenly thinking a Hawkman type from a hidden sky city that the pollution is starting to harm. That would be a bit of a twist on it (and hawks/eagles are hunters, too… so it all fits the motif).

I now want him to be up in ‘the City in the Sky’ fighting bird people and constantly trying to keep himself from falling off the edges, bouncing around to avoid their arrows or blowgun darts or energy bows or whatever I come up with.

(Side note: I just opened Youtube on my phone to listen to Sloan’s People of the Sky. If you are not a fan of Sloan, you are missing out. Check out Coax Me if you don’t believe me – my favorite song of all time).

I also like that I could retroactively link these people to the old hero Condorian, who was their last representative. They have a new one, and he’s not nearly as friendly. I suddenly see a potential for Condorian’s death and funeral being some kind of key story event as well. I like having loose threads like this to start pulling at. He needs to team up with Condorian first, in order to build a relationship so that the death matters. I could give him Condorian as his next mentor, but that only lasts for a bit. It’s a team-up of one issue.

My second idea was that one of the gods of New Eternia (the child of the god Orion) is a hunter who goes against the gods to hunt humans he deems as vile. I like this a lot, but the eagle dude from sky city is kind of hard to beat, if I’m being honest. Cats and birds are sort of natural enemies. Bringing in the gods on day one seems a bit heavy-handed. That’s a story I’d want to build up to. The sky bird people thing is more and more viable the more I think of it.

Plus, the added bonus is it gives me more game and world content. If I’m at a crossroads about what to choose, I should probably side with the thing that’s going to give me more cool stuff for people playing the game to tinker around with. Sky city of bird people is definitely in that category.

I already have a character named Condorian, so this could be a title bequeathed by the People of the Condor upon their chosen representative. It’s his nephew who attacks, so it’s kind of personal for the original Condorian to step in at some point (like issue 2). At this point, all I’ve established about Condorian is that he was a hero during the Great War (part of Freedom’s Four), and that he has a brown costume (I published a picture him in the World of Stalwart Book I). I have not done anything else with him, so this is an opportunity to do that. I always assumed that his wings were part of a mechanical harness, but I never established that as canon. I always assumed that he was African American. Not sure why.

General Design Note: This is the benefit of not ‘over-designing’. Create just what you need to and leave enough wiggle room for later expansion. This is a perfect case in point. I’ve had that character out there lingering for a few years, and finally have an opportunity to do something really cool with him. If I’d rushed to establish a weak background for him just to have one in place, I’d be wrangling with how to retroactively fix it. Now I don’t have to!

I look up Condors to see if anything in research helps. I did that with Tipo’s character, and it was huge. I like using research not to bind myself to truth, but to use truth to underpin decisions. Rooting things in the real world (and ‘truth is often stranger than fiction’ is more than just a cliché), can create more story opportunities rather than cutting them off.

Here's what I find out about Condors (in no particular order)…

• Condors show up in a lot of Latin-American mythology! Well, that’s amazing. I’m rooting my story in a Latin-American character, so this is an unexpected and amazing parallel.
• Um. I found THIS: The Andean condor is featured in one of Chile’s most popular comics. This famous cartoon character is called Condorito and he’s entertaining kids and adults alike since 1949. THAT BLOWS MY MIND!
• Andean condors serve as an important symbol in Patagonia, meaning power, liberty and health. 
• They are primarily scavengers. Interesting. They are fantastic hunters, but would prefer not to have to. I like the idea that this is a society that is happy to make due with scraps, but they’ve been pushed too far. This character represents a breaking point of the society in its collective view of mankind.
• Condors don’t build nests, but instead lay eggs on the sides of cliffs.
• In a side search, I learn that relations between Chile and Mexico were not good in the 1980s. In 1974 they severed a diplomatic relationship that was not rebuilt until 1990. At the time of my comics, they would have been on the outs. This makes sense for paralleling stories from that era with the real world in some way. Mexican and Chilean descendants who end up in conflict.

See? Research DOES help. I’ll never convince my 8^th graders of this, but it’s true… okay, time to do more writing. Plus, I still have a city book to finish and publish (maybe today!).

One more thing I look up – the Spanish word for hunter. It’s Cazador. No lie. The universe really likes helping me right now. It’s throwing up softballs to me at the moment.

Cazador the Condorian he is.

Stalwart Team Up Part 3

Here's Tipo. I merged visual inspirations from classic Daredevil, Batman, and Spiderman (with some Moon Knight vibes because of the totem) to create my absolute favorite character I've ever created of all time. He's friggin' amazing. I cannot believe that this just came out of my stylus. I wrote the first 2,000 words of his story yesterday, and I'm hooked. I'll talk about my idea for a 'publishing model' for this in a bit, and how it's rapidly evolving, but my first thoughts (which I wrote yesterday morning, and am already starting to re-consider) are below. It's going to be a bit of a messy process, but I like my messy process. I am very confident it will take me where I want to go.

On to blogging...

I’ve already realized a big truth about writing superhero adventures. If I try to write ‘generic’ adventures for anyone, I end up with nothing. I have no ideas. Zilch. If I write specific stories for specific characters, I suddenly have the flood gates open and ideas roll forward. I’ve already got four or five ‘adventures’ roughed out. 

My plan is to do a multi-step process for each ‘issue’ I create:

1. Design the adventure/story/comic (it’s all three) here via the blog. Talk through my design process and how I put it together.
2. Actually play through the thing and write about the actual play experience on my blog.
3. Use my notes to write up a proper adventure to release as a pay-what-you-want release to support the game.
4. Write up the actual 'adaptation' of this issue in the way I've been writing Doc Stalwart adaptations and publish them somewhere (I'm thinking maybe going full Amazon e-book for these, and making each one longer - more in the range of 8-10,000 words rather than the 2,500-3,000 I was aiming for with Doc stories).
5. Bonus: Repeat until I get bored or run out of ideas. Or squirrel. Or fall play starts. Hopefully get a few 'in the bank' so when my mind has to take a hard right angle in 6 weeks, I've got enough stuff to keep a presence for a few months while I'm very busy on school.

In terms of how this adapts to something playable by others, there are going to be a few default possibilities:

• You’re playing a solo campaign (as I’ll be doing), and you use this pretty much the way I’m using it.
• You have two (or more) players, and one of them always takes the role of the main character, while others are the ‘team-uppers’.
• You just use original characters to play these adventures, adapting them to your group as needed. Ideally, each issue would include ‘alternate hooks’ to pull a group that is not rooted in this story into the same adventure via an alternate pathway.

It’s going to be a comic series (Stalwart Team Up) that was first released in 1984… right around the time of Mighty Doc Stalwart #251… so this is a parallel book. While it would make sense for Doc Stalwart to appear in the first issue, I feel like it should be Bronze Beacon… unless she left these things to Doc and he’s the one distributing them. I suppose that works. He could then ‘hand off’ some duties and officially bequeath some of the responsibility for protecting Meridian. He’s the one with the role now (and his name IS on everything I do), so him ceremonially handing it over in some way might matter in the bigger picture. On the meta level, the publisher would have wanted Doc to appear in the first issue from a marketing and sales perspective. If they could have sold a lot of books with Bronze Beacon as the lead, they'd have already done that. They know Doc is their money maker. I can always bring Bronze Beacon in later. She’s easier to justify later stories around; Doc is leaving Meridian, he will be off on a big adventure (that I’ve already published), so this is a narrow window between the end of the 250 and the start of 251. It's the same reason Spiderman appeared in everything for the longest time. He just sells more comics.

Okay, that settles it.

Let’s talk about some goals from a game design and storytelling perspective.

• I need to tell Tipo's origin in a compelling, concise way.
• I need to give him a reason to team up with Doc Stalwart.
• I need to create the mechanism by which Doc hands off the task of distributing the other relics.
• I want to create another hook for future stories (foreshadowing some larger threat).

Right away it comes to me. As soon as he can talk to cats, they can bring him problems. Report things around the city. He has a whole secret spy network of alley cats who see and know everything that’s going on. This is going to be a HUGE benefit in terms of hooking stories going forward. He doesn’t have to sit around listing to police scanners or patrolling the city looking for criminals. He just has to chat with the neighborhood cats to see what’s up.

I honestly think it’s kind of a brilliant hook. This is already a great idea for an ongoing comic book. Furthermore, it is rife with possibility for some humor. Daredevil keeps hitting up the same two thugs. He's got a few stray cats who are particularly connected, but who are a pain the butt to deal with. "I said three cans of tuna. What's with this guy trying to short me? Can you believe this Luigi? The disrespect we get from this guy?"

As an aside, this whole thing is my chance to work out my ‘frustrated comic book creator who never got to do it for real’ persona. I really, really wanted to live this life when I was in my teens and twenties, and to finally get to realize it in this way is sort of trippy.

So, the hook for future stories is already baked into my city book (which is how I’m hoping others will end up using it), which is that an unethical corporation is dumping waste in the poorer parts of town. I like the whole ‘little guy vs. corporations’ theme. It’s a larger theme that the book can focus on. This opens up potential for politics and intrigue and those things going forward as well. Ultimately, the book will work best if it’s comprised of stand-alone adventures that have a larger narrative thread linking them. This corporate entity is probably a good way to start it.

So, a possible order of events:

1. Doc arrives with a totem that ‘belongs’ to Teo’s family, and he is the ‘rightful heir’ to it. His father is dead, so it goes to him.
2. He gets powers, and quickly learns of a problem that the cats tell him about.
3. Doc agrees to help him with this (I have the image of Mr. Incredible at the beginning of the Incredibles checking his watch because he’s late for his wedding… Doc has a lot to do before he heads to the North Pole and gets to work at the Tomorrow Project, but he also is a hero and has a lot of loose ends to wrap up here… he kind of can’t help himself but participate, even though he has to leave soon. It puts a clock on it).
4. They solve the problem, defeat the villain, and take a first shot at the corporation in some way. This is obviously the big part of the adventure.
5. Doc leaves, tasking Teo with helping the city and distributing the rest of the items.

A good first villain… I actually want the new villain each issue to be a big part of the draw of this. From a game perspective, having a new villain each issue makes it something worth getting to expand your game in a meaningful way. A lot of the heroes will be existing (although I’ll get through them in short order), so I’ll be making new heroes at some point, too.

I’ve already got Sludge (he would have been perfect for this – toxic waste making the villain and all), but I’ve already got him published. I’m actually writing this blog post before I’ve finished the city guide to Meridian – Bog Horror is in there, but this would be a good place to do his origin story. Parallel him with mystical energy for good (Teo) and mystical energy corrupted by waste and contamination (Bog Horror). He’s a good parallel starter villain. But I don't love him as the recurring 'arch enemy'. I feel like 'issue one' is the chance to establish a keystone character like that.

I also think a hunter might be a good villain. Teo is a cat, so having a hunter be his first villain is a nice parallel as well. I start thinking about how to frame him as different from Kraven in some significant way…

Stalwart Team Up Part 2

Let’s talk about my character. 

I look up the Spanish words for cat and find Gatito means kitten. I kind of like this.

I also find that in Mexico, cats are sometimes called ‘michis’ because of how Spaniards would call cats. An informal way to address cats is ‘tipo’.

I am thinking like a phrase that means big little cat, so something like Gatito Grande or Grande Tipo would work. I could add a color here – maybe gold? Oro. Tipo Oro or Oro Gatito

Tipo Oro seems to have a nice ring to it, and I sort of like the irony of the name – gold is valuable, but my limited understanding implies that Tipo would be sort of like ‘mutt’ in English.  The golden mutt of cats is how I’m thinking of it, which I also like.

If others call him “Tipo” as a nickname, that’s even better. Either his first or last name should have a T (or both – he’s the Mexican version of Peter Parker, so I want a name that has comparable alliteration and commonality). Tomas “Tipo” Torres is a great working name.  

Tomas means ‘twin’… not sure what to do with this.

Torres has to do with towers and strongholds and fortifications. I love that. He’s a defender.

I look up less common names, and come across Teo. I have used this name for characters before (it is a variation on my middle name Theodore, which is why I like it to begin with), and it means ‘gift from God’, which I LOVE.

Okay, he is Tipo Oro: Teo “Tipo” Torres, the golden cat. Love it. I see him as this kid who’s always out in the streets, taking care of stray cats, and so others have given him the nickname “Tipo” as a form of friendly mockery – you’re basically an ally cat sort of thing. I like giving him this empathetic connection to cats – he’s already supernaturally predisposed to the powers he is going to get.

Let’s stat him up using the point build system in the companion. As a super, he has 40 points to distribute. He’s going to have strength and speed, and I think that reflex is his top trait. I could go D16, but I don’t see him that coordinated, but D12 is appropriate. Reflex D12 set. I don’t want to use Mind as a dump stat, but there’s nothing in his background that would suggest an advanced degree (and I picture him still in high school). He’s not a science wiz like Peter Parker, but he is clever. He figures things out. I see D6 Mind as appropriate to this. I don’t know if I see him as D12 strength, but D10 also seems quite reasonable. This leaves D12 for Power, which is maybe more than I had planned on, but I could definitely make work.

Might D10 (5); Mind D6 (3); Power D12 (6); Reflex D12 (6)

So far, so good. He gets 6 gifts (!) which is a lot (but I’ll take it), and he also has 5 tags.

I start perusing the list, and look at gifts as openly as I can. I’m not going to roll – I’ve got a pretty strong character concept (he’s a cat dude), but what that means in context has a lot of options.

Gifts from the Core Rules I could use:

• Animal control: cats. Not a bad idea.
• Bolt of Feline Energy. Meh.
• Damage over time. Cat Scratch Fever (again, I have a lot of gifts I can get)
• Danger Sense. This is almost definitely a given.
• Elite tier would be quite helpful.
• Enhanced Senses seems like a gimme. This and claws are pretty much default for cat-themed characters.
• Heal is not bad. Cats licking wounds sort of idea. I like it connected to his role as a protector and helper.
• Hyperspeed makes sense.
• Jump makes sense.
• Melee (claws) are probably automatic.
• Phasing is a reach, but it’s at least cool to think about.
• Prodigy is probably too much, and would be hard to justify. He’s not exceptionally well-trained. I tend to think of this as the one who has naturally soaked up a great deal of formalized instruction. That’s not this character.
• Regenerate kind of makes sense based on the mystical nature of his totem, but I don’t know.
• Running kind of makes sense, although the hyperspeed would account for this – he’s not Quicksilver, he’s just got cat-like reflexes. Hyperspeed reflects this better than running does.
• Wall crawling wouldn’t be the worst idea, but I don’t love it. He can climb easier with his claws, but not necessarily because he can cling to walls and ceilings. He’s not moving around ceilings at all.

From the Companion:

• Alter Ego might work. He has to transform into the alternate persona.
• Boost I could make work.
• Chameleon is kind of neat for what I’ve read about… the crafts that Mexican people create to display spirit animals have all sorts of patterns and colors, and the idea that he can shift his color to blend in with his surroundings is sort of a nifty conceit.
• Communicate with cats is a keeper.
• Counter attacks makes sense with his battle senses idea, and is a little different. In terms of game mechanics, it’s a nice gift to have.
• Emotion Control (thinking outside the box here) is a projection of how cats make you feel; my cats sometimes make me happy, and sometimes make me frustrated, so they control my emotions after a fashion. Again, just thinking through the possibilities… Also, doing something with emotions or peacefulness or something might be a nice ‘friendly neighborhood’ parallel, but I feel like it’s a bit of a reach.
• Hex is more for a black cat crossing your path rather than the theme of his particular cat, but it’s at least on the first cut list.
• Immortality would be cool… the cat spirit he has assumed is an immortal force, so as long as he has the totem, he’s not going to age.
• Ki makes sense from the animal spirit angle.
• Luck makes sense from the nine lives perspective.
• Night Sight. Thematically appropriate.
• Precognition would be cool (dreams that come with the totem), and would also be helpful for plot-hookiness.
• Serial Immortality would be crazy interesting, and that is far more like the nine lives thing. This also opens up a LOT more story ideas. I like this being a gift he ‘discovers’ at some point (by dying, of course).

Somehow, I see water linked to his limitation; cats don’t like water, and maybe this is a complex he has linked to the totem... 

I also, as I think about this more, like linking his origin to Bronze Beacon. I’ve already established that her gauntlets are ancient Egyptian (although probably alien before that), and the idea that his totem could be from Egypt at some point, and maybe also from an alien species of cat people, opens up a lot of story ideas.

Okay, wow. Back to gifts. I’m suddenly glad I have 6. At first it seemed like it was too many, and now it’s not enough. I know I have the limitation having something to do with water, so that will give a bonus gift or tag. I’ll probably take it as the tag… so getting my list to 6 gifts. Here are the ones I definitely want:

• Danger Sense and/or Enhanced Senses
• Hyperspeed
• Jump
• Melee (claws)
• Communicate with Cats
• Night Sight

And that’s six. Already. DANG. Those went quickly. Okay… I’m going to take the extra gift instead of a tag from the limitation, so I’ll pick up the Serial Immortality with that. I like that concept for his character. It differentiates him a bit. Enhanced Senses are more appropriate than Danger Sense. I don’t get Elite for his tier, which I might end up regretting not taking… but I also don’t want too many characters having it in the game world – every time someone else is elite, it takes away from those who truly are. It’s the Batman gift – this dude is not Batman.

For tags, I know I want brawl and sneak. He should have dodge. There’s nothing else I need, so I put 2 each into brawl and sneak, and 1 into dodge. I’m good with that.

Tipo Orro (The Golden Cat)

Teo “Tipo” Torres, Student

Super Hero (D10[5]2); Hits 20; Move 30’; HP 5

Might D10 (5); Mind D6 (3); Power D12 (6); Reflex D12 (6)

Communicate with Cats; Enhanced Senses; Hyperspeed; Jump; Melee (claws D12); Night Sight; Serial Immortality

Brawl +2; Dodge +1; Sneak +2

Limitation: Complex about water (Check mind DT 4 when going into water or suffer -1 overall shift)

Stalwart Team Up Part One

With Stalwart, I’ve been able to pull off a few things I’ve wanted to do for a long time. I have a set of core rules I really like. I’ve got an ‘ultimate handbook’ that I’m happy with, and that does was I wanted it to do - to set a foundation of the setting and characters of the larger game world. I’m wrapping up the city book, which should be up as a pay-what-you-want download this weekend. I’ve got the whole game rooted in some solid narrative foundations.

Now, it’s finally time to move the whole thing forward. 

One of my favorite conceits of comics of the 80s was Marvel Team Up – the idea that every month Spidey teamed up with another hero to battle a wide array of foes. I suppose I liked it so much because I was a big Spiderman fan, but the hero he teamed with that month would also then bring a viable threat at their power level – the wide variety of stories and genres he could cross over was greatly influenced by who happened to show up that month to work with him.

For a long time, I’ve had the desire to adapt this concept to a superhero game setting, but for many reasons it never got off the ground. I’ve tried to think of the right framing device and finally realized that the central character who does the team ups IS the framing device. The quality of Spiderman that made him perfect for this is that he is the friendly neighborhood Spiderman. He’s likeable. He’s kind. He’s genuinely interested in other people. He’s goofy, so others let down their guards more easily. His entire persona lends itself to the setup. He teams up with people because he likes people, and they tend to like him back. A character like Zealot doesn’t work, because he’s a loner by nature (Wolverine Team Up just doesn’t work as well). Twilight Archer is better, because he’s a mentor who seeks out others to train, but this immediately creates an uneven playing field; he’s the leader going into each of these scenarios.

But then I got an idea. And then I immediately thought of the problems with this idea.

I thought of a Mexican hero who inherits a totem that grants mystical powers in some way. He’s relatively poor (like Spidey), but he’s incredibly kind (always doing community service for others). He inherits the totem when Bronze Beacon (who is inventorying artifacts and realizing that several were gained unethically and should be returned to their original owners) gives him a family totem that grants him powers, and maybe even entrusts him with distributing the rest of these. She’s packing up for her move to the new museum, and has to leave soon. It’s a hook that creates many opportunities for teaming up in a relatively unstructured framework. I really like it.

I Googled this, and found a great resource about Mexican spirit animals, and started to think how this character takes care of homeless cats as part of what he does, so his spirit animal is this supercat with strength, speed, agility, a combat sense… so Spiderman without the webs and wall crawling. But with claws… so maybe wall crawling. Why not?

The problem is that I’m a white male, and this is a tricky thing for me to navigate. I’ve written a little bit before about how I try to process this dilemma. On one hand, I realize that superhero worlds in the 80s were largely populated by (and created by… and intended for) white males, so being intentional about expanding my game world with people who don’t share my background is a good thing. It’s a necessary thing.

I also realize that this is a field mined with traps for the unwary. I can easily veer into cultural appropriation or unintentional racism because of a well-meaning but also ignorant storyline or event or motif that ends up communicating something I don’t mean to communicate.

Case in point – I’ve decided my main character is both Mexican and poor. Does this mean that on some level I perceive that all Mexicans are poor? Gosh. That’s a tough question. I don’t think so. I was thinking that Peter Parker is poor, and that works better than Batman rich for the stories I want to do, and this character would work. Did I go ‘he’s poor, so then he must be Mexican’? I don’t think so. I was thinking that it would be cool if he was Mexican, because this is an experience I might be able to research and get some authentic understanding out of. It makes sense why he’d be living in this city at this time, but also not be white.

And when I wrote the previous paragraph is when I solved the problem. I like blogging a lot. The process actually solves problems. I’m not writing to show you what I have thought of. I write the blog to help me solve a problem in writing.

I make a mental note: I need to say that to my 8^th graders this year.

Anyway, this is the solution – I am making these stories with this character in order to better understand a culture other than my own. I am not sitting here telling YOU about the Mexican-American experience (because I have no idea)… I am sitting here letting you watch ME as I try to better understand the Mexican-American experience through the process of creating this narrative.

I feel better about this now that I understand my own intentions. I also am less concerned about a mis-step, because it’s a learning process. If I really screw up, someone will point it out to me and I’ll grow from it. Nice. Problem solved.

Onward and forward. Or, I would say up, up, and away if that wasn’t already taken.

Just Keep Selling

I have been noticing something odd that I love but that I cannot fully explain.

Stalwart just keeps selling.

And I know that is a very 'duh' thing to be saying, like yeah Mike, you want your game to sell, so that's good, right?

Yes, it's great. Fantastic. Gives me little warm fuzzies every time I check. But it's just unusual...

I've been doing this a while. Games come out, they have a week or two of sales, and then it just drops off. That's been the cycle for the almost twenty years now I've been selling games online. I hope I can get a lot of sales in the first ten days, because after that there's no guarantees.

I have sold 15 copies this month, which is a full month after the game came out.

I think this thread might be part of the reason. I would jump on and comment, but my account on rpg.net has been locked out for some reason. Not sure. I'm very flattered that people are saying nice things about the game (and especially the mechanical things). I've said to my wife for a long time that I am very proud of the complex mechanical problems I've been able to solve in some of my more recent games. Being felled is definitely one of the strengths of the game. It's just SO gratifying to have someone who is not me saying it :)

Anyway, I wanted to pop in to say thank you to everyone who reads this blog and who is also playing, supporting, making characters for, talking up, having fun with, and just being part of the whole Stalwart experience. 

It's probably been the most rewarding RPG publishing experience I've ever had. This last six weeks has been so much fun, and been so fulfilling, on so many levels.

Thank you a dozen times over.

Get Yer' Stalwart Updates Here!

I've got two new documents that are both quite rough around the edges...

The World of Stalwart Volume 2 is my first work on expanding the game world that was presented in Volume 1. Volume 1 was largely a collection of the material that I had thus far (revised and re-aligned to fit into this world and this game). However, Volume 2 is largely new ideas and things that I've only hinted at in the past. FYI, I've left the original notes for the appendix in the back, but I'm adding new catalogued Doc comics to a new list (before the old list)... I've just kept the old list in place temporarily so I can refer to it and align new back issue discoveries to the existing list.

The Stalwart Guide to Meridian is already shaping up nicely. I expect it will be relatively brief (maybe 16 pages)? but will have enough to start an ongoing series of your own with this as a base. I am not putting a lot of game information here; that is going into the World of Stalwart Volume 2. So, when I mention a new character, I will talk about their role in Meridian in the Guide to Meridian, but will give their game stats and comics history over in the World of Stalwart Volume 2. While it's tempting to have everything right where you'd want it, I think it's better to keep things organized for later use; if I have some character stat blocks that aren't in the World of Stalwart collections, then things can be harder to find later on. I'm also going to put in a bunch of plot hooks, which may or may not get built upon later as I develop some adventures.

My plan is to finish these two books (at least the Stalwart Guide to Meridian), and then start releasing adventures set in and around the city. I can already see a possible long-term campaign or two here, so those might end up being books as well (but there are only so many hours in the day).

One final thought... I've had several themes emerge as I've been working on Doc stories for the last while here, and some of them have surprised me a bit.

1. I have found that Doc Stalwart is largely a peace maker. So many of his stories end with him figuring out how to call a truce and have people dwell in relative harmony. I like the irony that a guy who can throw a tank and is constantly fighting everyone and anyone wants peace more than anything. I like that conflict in him.

2. One of the emerging core themes of the series is the role of machines in human experience. I guess that AI has me thinking about this more and more, but I've now got two storylines where Doc gets into philosophical debates with robots; he gets Zero to stop killing people by having Zero consider that creating is more powerful than destroying, and to be a truly powerful creature, Zero must find a way to create (since that is the primary role of God... the thing to which Zero aspires). The second debate is with the Stalwart Sentinel (no he's not my take on Vision, why do you keep saying that?) who was created by Project Javelin to be their own 'version' of Doc Stalwart (they were able to use brainwaves they had taken from him in his younger years while he was being studied and trained at the Tomorrow Project).  When they realize that he's missing something, Doc meets with the Sentinel (who he didn't know existed) and ultimately argues that the Sentinel cannot 'be' like Doc until it truly has the ability to think and create, not only to apply algorithms to replicate what Doc would do in situations. Doc is able to craft a program that gives the Sentinel the opportunity to learn and grow, and possibly become human at some point.

Commissions

I've been very happy with how my style is evolving of late, and I thought I'd throw a net out and see what kind of interest there would be in commissions. I am looking at doing tutoring as a side hustle, but drawing commissions for people would be a lot more fun!

Email me at mtdesing@roadrunner.com and we can start talking about what you'd like...

Options include:

Simple color or greyscale drawings are $20

    These include a character and a simple, suggested background. I will also create simple dungeon maps (up to 20x30 squares).

Samples:

Complex color or greyscale drawings are $30. 

    These include multiple characters and/or more fully-realized (although still largely suggestive) backgrounds. I will also create dungeon maps of up to 30x40 squares.

Samples:

Instagram

Are you on Instagram? I guess I am, too (at least, that's what they tell me). 

My instagram handle is @the_world_of_stalwart

See you there. Maybe. Or not. I'm not really sure. :)

Meridian Base Map Complete

I've had a busy 4th of July... we are road tripping tomorow, so today is a low-key day of hanging out at home. I'm making videos and maps, and Mary is setting up an Instagram for my game (I HATE Instagram and don't really like Facebook all that much, so Mary is doing the heavy lifting on those for me... which is VERY sweet of her to do). All that said, I finished my base map of Meridian, and I really like it. This is the foundation I'm going to use going forward.

A video introduction to Stalwart

I assume I'll get better at this as I do more of these, but here's an introduction to the basics of how Stalwart works. I think I'll make one for character creation next...

Playing with Loom - My First Video Tutorial

I figure that I can create some videos to help get the word about the stuff I create. Here's a video I created with a new character I designed on the spot... still figuring out how to embed this places and get it to youtube and signal boost it and all of that good stuff, but at least I have a video. Maybe next time I'll drink more water so I don't cough and will go somewhere my dog won't be barking :)

Visually Representing the City

I showed Mary the map I had started for Meridian, and she was... not a big fan. She doesn't think it should look like a GPS map, but an isometric view like the Disneyland and Batman LEGO maps that follow... but to do something on the scale I'm thinking would be... massive. It would be a HUGE project. It would be awesome, but man that would take a few weeks (not that I have a lot of other stuff I NEED to do... but still).

Hello City - Options

In shifting the game (a bit) from focused on my stories to focusing on stories that players could tell, I've been thinking that I'd like to publish a series of adventures (crosses fingers that I FINALLY get this right... it's been my big bugaboo in expanding games in the past - so I need a plan for it to work this time). I think that the adventures will be set in a 'new' comic series from Stalwart Press. The idea is that after Doc Stawlart #250, New Stalwart Press launched a new comic series, "the New Stalwart Adventures", that followed 'new heroes' on 'new adventures' (the PC heroes, in the new adventures I publish). 

While these stories are not limited to one location, I need a default city for the game to build from. I have two cities so far: Echo City (which I detailed pretty thoroughly in Sentinels of Echo City - I mean, it's in the name), and Midvale (which I detailed more briefly in Stalwart Age and then ported over to the World of Stalwart Vol. 1 with some edits and clarifications). I see my options as:

1. Build on Midvale. It's got a foundation in place, and it wouldn't be hard to add some things to it. This is the cleanest option; it's a smaller city with fewer moving parts. It's a great starter location for heroes (that's why it's in the book). However, this is also its biggest limitation; there's only so much to do here, and the heroes are likely to 'grow out' of the city in short order. There is not a lot of intrigue here; the mayor goes to the July 4th Parade and eats too many hotdogs, and his blood pressure is a bit too high. That's about it for local drama.

2. Continue to build Echo City. This is the most well fleshed out of my three cities so far, and there are lots of things I really like about it. There are many places where this setting could grow. However, what I have could also get cleaned up, revised, and moved into the World of Stalwart Volume II... that's NOT a bad idea... also, in terms of tone, this is more Gotham City and less Metropolis. In fact, if I make this the focus on World of Stalwart Volume 2, that gives me more nitty-gritty to build.

3. Design a new city. This was where I started yesterday morning. The drawing above is for a city I was calling Brimsbay, in the Pacific Northwest. I like this drawing, but I can move it anywhere (I'll be finishing and coloring it. obviously... but it's the line art). This gives me a blank canvas to work from. I could also do this with a city I have only minimally mentioned (San Helios or Gap City, for instance). 

4. Design Meridian. Honestly, as I've been writing this post, I've convinced myself this is probably what I should do. It has the most stuff happening, I've already made this the 'most important' city in the game world, and I know that in the future, it's key to other events (if you have read Sentinels of Echo City, you know that it's doomed - at least in one timeline. I have already decided that Sentinels of Echo City takes place in an alternate earth... because I've already diverged from some events there, so it's now a different world. I don't think the Powers Family ever shows up in this reality, for instance). It's been the historic 'center' of superhuman activity, but it's also largely without heroes right now; Doc is off at the North Pole, the Victory Legion has broken up, and the villains haven't gone anywhere. It's a great place to set new adventures, and it's large enough to encompass a lot of things happening. Plus, I could make the arrival of the Messari (and another competing alien race) a central part of the new setting (and the new adventures that take place there)...

The idea is that this city gets its own 'sourcebook' (maybe 16 pages? maybe 24? I don't want to go much larger than that... the idea is that it's the foundation I can build upon as we go)... then the new adventures ("The New Stalwart Adventures") would be set here. The covers would feature the villains doing their villainy, with heroes either not on the cover at all, or at the edges in silhouette (to suggest that these are the PCs of the game). This gives me at least 16 'issues' I could produce before being 'caught up' to the current Doc continuity. That gives me a lot of room to grow.

By the way... I've realized that stealing what Marvel is doing with the MCU and the multiverse saga is probably the best move of all... all of my games and superhero game worlds (including the old Resolute RPG) happen in divergent realities from the main one (Stalwart Earth). So, I now have liberty to cross-pollinate my own work over 20+ years and have it all be interconnected in some grand way. The best thing about Spiderman: No Way Home was that it made all of the Spiderman movies 'canon' (and it will do that with X-Men next, which is a brilliant move). It's a way to honor the messy history of comics and make all of that work, and all of those stories, still matter. 

Reddit Link

I'm realizing that I'm pretty good at writing games, and very not good (whatever the opposite of good is) at promoting them. Any positive word of mouth or talking the game up on other platforms would be greatly appreciated (and I am VERY grateful for the reviews people have already left - those are HUGE).

That said, I'm going to be on Reddit more often to try and engage in conversations around superhero games, and maybe create a little more awareness for my game in the process. I asked a question there about superhero cities, so if you are on Reddit and feel like jumping into the conversation, please do!

(Augury is mind controlling you... go do that... go do that...)

Thanks!

World of Stalwart Volume I

The World of Stalwart Volume 1 is now up for sale as a PWYW download. And just... wow. I LOVE it. It has:

• 110 entries
• 66 characters (5 expert tier, 21 paragon tier, 18 super tier, 10 legendary tier, 7 titanic tier, and 2 ultimate tier... along with 3 entities).
• Snapshot descriptions of about 1/3 of the 260+ issues of Doc Stalwart (it's a lot of story). 
• 66 illustrations (!)
• All packed into 54 pages.

Also, believe it or not, I'm already at work on Volume 2. I didn't even get to mention Aegis Prison and its controversial history... or the Stalwart Legion from the 28th Century... or the War of the Gods (between Olympus and Asgard that leads to the creation of the New Eternia)... or the TriUne of Id the All Knowing, Oculo the All Seeing, and Omeg the All Powerful (and their eternal conflict)... so I have a LOT to still write about.

I found my groove with this... and I think I have two more such "World of Stalwart" books (of this scale) in me before all is said and done... which would be pretty amazing. By that point, I think I would have covered all 260+ issues of Doc's adventures, and every character who had appeared in his book. Then I can get back to writing 'new' adventures starting from 261... and Skye Stalwart... and maybe another spinoff.

I ALSO have an idea for how I can publish adventures for you to take your own unique characters on that would be scalable to various tiers and also within the 'official canon' of the game world... so you'd be playing in 'official' storylines in the comic world... I'm going to be very busy this summer.

Rolling Forward

First of all, this is unapologetically a riff on Mr. Freeze. This character, and particularly his presentation in the New Batman Adventures, is perfect. So, I just ripped it off. Sue me. (No, I don't mean that LITERALLY, DC Comics... jeez).

Second of all, I'm starting to see this project as something of my magnum opus. It's the most complete game I've designed, in the most complete world I've created, with a complete novella that supports it. I'm thinking that EVERYTHING (so the three game books, the novel, and a bunch of other stuff I make during this summer) is going to end up in the Ultimate version of Stalwart. I'm thinking of trying to do something bigger with this - a Kickstarter or a real solicitation or something. I don't know yet... but the wheels are turning.

I think this is the book that I carry around with me for the next ten years and say to people, 'here's the best thing I ever made'. I want to do everything I can to make this as special as I can.

Character Concept: Rochambeau

I mean, if your game doesn't have a super villain named Rochambeau, is it a game you really should bother playing? 

Backup Story in Skye Stalwart #2

I played out the events of the backup story for Skye Stalwart #2... you have the introductory page I did (I posted it again for your reference), and then the actual play of the fight... spoiler alert: it's as ugly as you think it would be.

Battle Master has, obviously, been expecting them. “I knew if I waited until Twilight Archer was on another mission and then just ‘happened’ to have your detection system find me, you wouldn’t be able to help yourselves… I figure that Twilight Archer has taken enough of my students. It’s time to return the favor…” He activates his battle staff and prepares for combat… the Young Wardens do the same.

Initiative. Battle Master has used nemesis to prepare for this fight, so rolls D12. He rolls 1 and 5, so keeps the 5. The team makes a representative roll, and gets 2. He wins, getting to attempt 6 actions (from the +1 shift from nemesis). “I don’t like magic…” he uses 1 action to get close to Minnow, and attacks. He rolls 2 and 8, keeping the 8, and landing a critical hit (dealing D16 damage because it’s a critical hit with nemesis, so a +2 dice shift from his normal D10 damage). He gets 14 (!) and drops Minnow on the first shot. Okay, then. He turns next to Aria, using 1 action to cross to her and attacking. He attacks with 6 and 9, keeping the 9. Even with her shield, she cannot parry this, and it’s a critical hit, so he deals 12 damage; she soaks 5 and suffers 7. He attacks again and gets 12 and 5, another hit (12) that’s critical and that she cannot parry. He deals 11 damage, but she soaks 5 and suffers 6. She has suffered 11 hits, and is at 9. He has one more action, so he attacks a third time and gets 9, 9… so another critical hit. He deals 9 damage, and she soaks 5, so her hits are down to 5. He spends a villain point to add D12 to this damage, and gets a 12 additional damage – OUCH. She’s down. Halfway through the round, Battle Master has already dropped two of the four members of the team.

Windsprint runs at him (using 1 action), and then punches 3 times as he circles around Battle Master; he needs a 7 or better to hit (on D8), so I don’t like his chances… he rolls 5, 8, 3, hitting once. He deals 4 hits, but Battle Master’s armor absorbs all of this. Kid Cadet uses 1 action to pick up Aria’s shield, and then attacks with it, missing with a 5. He spends a hero point, getting only a 2 (!), but this is enough to bump it to a 7, and just barely hit. He deals only 1 point with the shield… he smacks Battle Master in the face, and Battle Master doesn’t flinch.

Ruh Roh.

Round 2. Both Minnow and Aria try to recover… each checks tier (DT 4)… Minnow gets a 6, but Aria only gets 2. She spends a hero point, and gets a 6, so she is back up as well (but only with 2 hero points remaining). Battle Master starts spinning and whirling his battle staff; he attacks Windsprint first, getting 5 and 1, with the 5 barely hitting. He deals 5 damage with his staff, leaving Windsprint at 9. He attacks again, getting 9 and 5, so the 9 is critical. For damage, he rolls 15, and LEVELS Windsprint (basically clotheslining him as Wind is trying to run in circles around him). He has 4 actions remaining; he starts spinning and kicking at Aria, attacking with a natural 12 and dealing 7 hits. She soaks 5 but suffers 2 from her 10, now at 8. Cadet is still holding her shield, trying to find a moment to toss it to her (and availability of an action to do that). Battle Master spins his staff, striking at her and getting another natural 12 (critical damage). Cadet uses a hero point to take an action now, throwing the shield in front of the attack; he gets to make a hero point check, and if the result is high enough (he’d need an 8 on D8), he times the shield so that it absorbs the blow… he gets a 2 (womp womp). Battle Master is actually able to spin the shield as it’s flying and angles the edge into Aria's stomach. He deals 13 hits to her (she soaks 5), but the 8 is enough to drop her again. She’s back down. He still has 2 actions left. He turns back towards Minnow and wallops her again, getting a 3 and a natural 12… so another critical hit, this one dealing 12 damage. She’s down again. Since both Aria and Minnow have been felled twice, they are defeated. He uses his final action this round to punch Windsprint in the head, causing him to be defeated as well. Cadet moves towards him. Battle Master kicks Aria’s shield towards him, telling him to pick it up. He does, and attacks. Cadet attacks twice with the shield as a weapon, getting 2 and 5, so missing twice. He has already used a hero point this round, so there’s not much he can do.

Round 3. Battle Master circles Cadet. Cadet wonders aloud, “why aren’t you attacking me?” Battle Master answers, “you get stronger the more you get hit… so, as long as I don’t hit you, you never get stronger… like this, you cannot possibly challenge me.”

Cadet knows there’s nothing to do, so he activates his communicator. “Cadet to Twilight Archer… emergency protocol seven.”

Battle Master grabs the communicator from Cadet (I don’t bother rolling)… “Ah, Twilight Archer. Good to talk to you. I’m about to kill your students, so I’m glad to have you with us. I’d like you to hear this.”

Twilight Archer’s voice crackles back, “Oh, hey. Battle Master. Glad to have you on the line. You should know that I’ve just planted several hundred pounds of plastic explosive under your primary training facility in Echo City. It’s taken all morning, but I’m pretty sure I can wipe the whole thing out. That’s, what, about a million and a half? Maybe two million bucks.”

Battle Master pauses. “I’m going to kill your students”

Twilight Archer’s voice comes back, “Then I’ll destroy your facility. Checkmate.”

Battle Master resumes, “I’ll let them go, and you disarm your explosives. On my word.”

A pause. Archer’s voice comes back, “Deal accepted.”

Battle Master hands the communicator back to Cadet, “next time I meet you, it ends a lot messier.” And then he’s gone.

Windsprint starts to come around, “So.. did we win?”

END

Analysis:

Okay, Battle Master is as advertised. Having elite tier + nemesis + knowledge of who's most dangerous is lethal... Minnow is by far the most dangerous; she has magic and can basically do anything she can imagine... Aria is second because of her ability to do damage; Windsprint and Cadet are really only minimally able to deal damage to him, and he knows that. He attacks in order. I had him use strategy and tactics, and it paid off. Lots of actions plus several critical hits equals lots of heroes dropping quick. I REALLY like the rules for elite and prodigy.

I had already worked out the 'story' ahead of time, so I knew that if the heroes lost (I expected they would, but not THAT easily), I had a way to save their bacon.

I didn't get to try out magic at all (Minnow dropped both times before she could act), and I would be curious if she and Aria would be able to at least make things difficult for Battle Master if the team had a little bit of strategy in place. I devised Battle Master's strategy on the fly as I was playing, but it made a lot of sense. Cadet never gets to take advantage of his dice shifts and boosts if he never gets felled; so just don't attack him, and he stays at his weakest. It's how a master tactician would think. I'm kind of proud of that one :) But, realistically, if Minnow is able to hit him with a stun spell and rolls really well, she at least gets him to spend a hero point to neutralize it, and then this creates opportunities for her and Aria to beat on him a little more... Aria has the potential to deal 12 hits with her shield, and a hero point could bump this up to as much as 20, so there's a chance she's able to start hammering him a little. I guess we'll never know...

An Introductory Page...

So, I'm going to very shortly play out a battle between the Young Wardens and Battle Master, but as I was walking to get a cup of coffee, I thought of what the first page of this comic would look like. So, rather than describe it, I thought I would just draw it... here's the splash page to the backup story in Skye Stalwart: The Girl Who Fell to Earth #2... I've thought about giving a sample interior page or two over time, but never actually did it until now. I expect I'll do a few of these for moments in Doc Stalwart history...