Cataclysm Act 2

Letting my mind marinate on Crisis on Infinite Earths for a day gave me an idea for how to manage Act 2 of the Cataclysm Across the Cosmos. I had originally planned to 'write out' some of the heaviest hitters - once Stardust the Super Wizard gets involved, he's able to go toe-to-toe with Kid Eternity, so he kind of imbalances things. However, if I involve him indirectly, he could be an important player in the story, and end up having long-term consequences thereafter. This is one thing I'd like to incorporate - that the events of Cataclsym could potentially matter to your own game world (if you go that way).

Here's the elevator pitch for Act 2, assuming the elevator has like seven stops and the door keeps ignoring the 'door shut' button you keep smashing...

The actions of Kid Eternity on the ocean's surface (as he draws the sunken U-Boat to the surface where he can face his final fate), have disturbed the earth's core, and are destabilizing it. Doctor Haunt has called Stardust to compensate; Stardust is channeling cosmic energy, siphoning off the destabilized energy from the core that is shattering the world. Kid Eternity has summoned a bunch of villains and sent them to kill Stardust. So, the idea is that Stardust spends the whole Act drawing power from the core while a group of heroes tries to keep the swarming villains from killing him off.

- If he soaks D12+6 points per round, he's going to average 12 points per round; if he rolls average, he can soak 120 points in one minute - that's ten rounds. As long as he can keep siphoning energy, he should be okay. He has no access to his SP - he's using all of them to maintain this stunt.

- If Stardust soaks 100 points within 1 minute, he stabilizes the core and is able to go on to his next task, flying off to keep the moon from crashing to earth. He will spend the rest of the adventure using cosmic energy to push the moon around the earth. 

- Each time Stardust is felled, the core is replenished 2d10 points, and Stardust has to get back to soaking as soon as he's back up.

- Here's the kicker - if Stardust is actually defeated, then bad stuff happens. The 'big bad' is that Stardust himself is annihilated - his essence gets drawn into the core, and ultimately pulled into the next world that the heroes will inhabit. In effect, this puts the 'power cosmic' of the PD universe on the board for someone in the next world to capture, fight over, inherit, or reckon with. It becomes a big loose end for the GM to use in their adventures going forward. You could decide to have Stardust reborn a la Gandalf, or you could have another new character take on the identity. 

On another note, I'm starting to conceptualize Cataclysm as a hybrid comic book/adventure in a single package. I'm liking the idea of drawing the cut scenes and introductory passages, and then nesting the Acts between. Moving it from two things - part of a comic and a separate adventure - and into an interactive comic book seems a bit more on brand, and sets it apart a bit. The image above would not have been in the comic (since I was only going to draw part of Act 1), but if I end up drawing a page or two of each act as an introduction, it might feel more cohesive... I'll keep tinkering with it.