Look... What You Made Me Do

My daughter is a Taylor Swift fan (a ‘Swiftie’), and I have a running joke where I sing “Look… what you made me do” as a lounge singer. I was thinking of all y’all this morning, and that song came into my head… because you need to look… at what you made me do.

Stalwart has had a few knocks against it, and I have accepted those as functions of the system. It doesn’t do street-level supers all that well. It doesn’t have a lot of granularity. The dice get swingy (especially at the higher end).

This change addresses all those concerns.

In my proposed change, there are two ‘types’ of tiers: human and superhuman. The human tiers roll 1 die, and have SVs of half the die rating +1. Human dice range from D4 to D10 (I go back and forth on the D12, but for right now it's not there)… So if you are an enhanced human who has been given a dose of the Freedom Formula, you have D10 Might and Reflex. However, the moment you cross the line from ‘human’ to ‘better than human’, you now roll two dice, starting at 2D6 and peaking at 2D12 (with 2D20 reserved for cosmic entities). However, there are also places between these tiers where we can mix and match dice to create more granularity… For example, at the Meta tier, you roll D6+D8… for these tiers, the SV is the average of the two dice, which creates a nice, smooth scale.

Human Tiers

• Normal (D4; SV 3/1)
• Trained (D6; SV 4/2)
• Expert (D8; SV 5/2)
• Paragon (D10; SV 6/3)

Superhuman Tiers

• Super (2D6; SV 6/3)
• Meta (D6/8; SV 7/3)
• Legendary (2D8; SV 8/4)
• Colossal (D8/10; SV 9/4)
• Titanic (2D10; SV 10/5)
• Supreme (D10/12; SV 11/5)
• Ultimate (2D12; SV 12/6)

This would also change dice shifts a bit, since you would shift your lowest die up +1… so you would shift down from 2D6 to D4/6, then down one more to 2D4… you would shift up from 2D6 to D6/8, then to 2D8, then to D8/10… this mechanically distinguishes humans from superhumans, and creates a remarkable amount of granularity. I am not too concerned about balance… as a quick thought through this, Arrow is an Expert human (so he attacks with D8), but he also has Aim +3, so he’s averaging 7 to hit (max 11), which means that he can reasonably use his bow against someone with Titanic Evade (10). The numbers don’t scale to the point where they are impossible. I plan to play test the HECK out of this before making edits, but I’m seriously considering this change to the core mechanic.

Kickstarter Thoughts

I've spent some time brainstorming ways that a potential Kickstarter could end up being more than just 'here's a book you can buy'... and I have ideas.

Oh MAN do I have ideas.

Because the thing that I keep coming back to is that my whole goal is to build community. I want to have a community of fellow players who are all engaged in some way with this shared text. In some ways, I want to be the caretaker of it, but I also want it to be bigger than me. I'm excited about the idea of people having their own games that are set within the various realities connected to mine, with their own characters and campaigns and worlds and events that may or may not align with those in the 'official' game. 

I've got some really, really cool ideas for a KS that would directly and practically support this goal. 

I'm very, very excited about how this is coming together. I'll be sharing more soon.

IRL

One of the things that the comics do well (when they do this well) is that they have the superhero's performance closely tied to their drama outside of super life. When Peter is fighting with MJ and forgot to stop and get bagels for Aunt May, he's suddenly struggling against the Green Goblin more, because things just sort of spiral out of control on him. Tony Stark's personal life is in shambles, and suddenly he cannot remember how the repulsors work. One of the great things about FASERIP was that it had Karma, which actually created mechanisms for this stuff to directly impact your super-heroing.

I've got an idea for a mechanic called In Real Life (IRL) that would have a direct bearing on your superhero life, and emulate Karma (after a fashion).

Your IRL starts at zero. Everyone is pretty chill. No drama. But then you get a call that your sister needs your help just as the alarm goes off at First National Bank. You don your mask and ghost your sister. You take a -1 hit to IRL. At the beginning of the adventure, your GM requires you to check mind (DT 4). You fail. It was your mom's birthday. Oh, shoot. I mean, you kind of got her world peace for her birthday, but that's not going to make up for missing the luncheon. -1 to IRL. As long as your IRL is at 0, things are okay. People might be a little annoyed or a little extra pleased with you, but it's not affecting your superhero life.

But... once you get into positives or negatives, things change.

At -1 (or +1) you receive a shift to your hero points, moving either up or down one die rating. At IRL -1, your hero points (normally worth D10) drop to D8.  At IRL +1, your D10 hero points are now rolled using D12.

At -4 (or +4), you receive a -2 or +2 shift to your hero points, moving either up or down two dice ratings. 

At +10 or better, you're on top of the world. You get the +2 dice shift, and +1 bonus hero point. Go you! But... you can also hit rock bottom. At -10 IRL, you've watched your life totally fall apart. You cannot use hero points at all, and you suffer -1 edge to all of your checks. EVERYTHING falls apart. You cannot focus, you keep dropping your weapon, you cannot get your powers to work. 

I think this would be a rare thing, but I also think it could be a cool way to build a character arc that is supported mechanically. I think of Daredevil's Born Again storyline here.

Your GM would have a lot of autonomy in deciding this, and could even deal bonus IRL damage for huge events. You forgot to get the medicine for your grandfather (-1 IRL), but he ended up having a heart attack and went to the hospital as a result (oof. That's another -3). And... while you were off saving Meridian again, he kind of died (yeah. That's another -5, so you're at -9 from this one series of awful things). You're living on the edge of everything falling totally apart on you. When Uncle Ben dies, Peter Parker hits -10... and realizes he can never let himself feel this way again. It's a character-building moment because the weight of his life choices ended up costing him dearly.

I like that this sytem:

1. Emulates comics (always good).
2. Can be plugged in easily or totally ignored (always good).
3. Is very easy to manage, track, and implement (more goodness).
4. Puts a heavy focus on roleplaying and character work without adding much. Character stat blocks don't need to add this (because everyone is assumed at zero). It's something you could choose to use for your character (Rogue TOTALLY has this), or ignore (Wolverine is Wolverine whether or not he's madly in love with Jean, and whether or not she loves him back). Some characters wouldn't worry about their personal lives, because being a super is all it's about. A player who wants to curate this gets a benefit from doing so (the bonus to hero points for success), knowing that the risk of messing up is always out there for the GM to tinker with. I almost think that a character like Captain America has this turned off entirely. He's going to always put his country first, and personal sacrifices are going to be necessary. He won't let the personal disappointments of his life interfere with his job performance. That's a character-based decision right there that has in-game consequences (because he cannot get the hero point bonuses either - no matter how much good he does, it never really makes much difference - he soldiers on anyway).
5. This 'replaces' XP in some measure. Your character can 'grow' and get 'better' over time in a meaningful way without the power creep of leveling. It's more organic, but also creates a sense of change in your character over time. It rewards ongoing play.

X-Men 97 and In Medias Res

So I have had a little time this week - summer school is done, and the girls are at a diving camp on the other side of the country... so I've had some time. I went for the longest bike ride of my life (somewhere around 40 miles), spent a few hours with my friend Bob making characters for a game of Swords and Wizardry that he's starting (and which I am incredibly excited to play in), and watched the first five episodes of X-Men 97.

I've told you about my first comic book character - the Renegade (from like 1984), but I've never told you about the follow-up book. It was called "Phoenix Force", and it was entirely and completely inspired by Byrne's run on Fantastic Four, but it was all X-Men character swipes. The team was led by "Pulsar" (Cyclops with Reed Richards' brains), with a girlfriend called "Mind Girl", and two other characters named "Frostbite" (who happened to be able to make his ice into huge slip and slides, of course) and "Borg" (who looked like Colossus but who had the Thing's "I'm such a monster boo hoo" persona). They lived in the Phoenix Tower and battled a scientist/sorcerer called the Overlord, who was ruling a different Eastern Eurpean nation from a different castle, so therefore a completely original character. 

Yesterday, I'm watching X-Men 97 and halfway hoping the Overlord just made an appearance. Just for a second.

I could write a full review, but I'll just say this - it's everything I could want it to be. The pacing is fantastic, the characters are compelling, the conflicts have high stakes, and the emotional connections I'm building to the story are legit. It's just really, really well done.

But I stopped watching at episode 5 and I'm just going to let it marinade for a bit (maybe until tomorrow if I can help myself)... because I know now that this is the sweet spot. I haven't read an X-Men comic since about 1988, so I know of half the characters just from their images and other things, but know next to nothing about their stories; the characters I do know have grown up a bit since I last saw them. So, it's all new to me. As a result, I was genuinely surprised by the events of episode 5. I thought the show was going one direction, and it zagged on me. Now, I'm sitting here with the world in ruins, the bad guys seemingly too big to overcome, and with no clue what happens next.

It's awesome.

This is how I felt the whole time between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. It is how I felt between Infinity War and Endgame. It is how I really, really hope I feel between Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. There's a big difference between feeling as though I'd like to see what happens next and knowing that I NEED to see what happens next. After Jedi, I wanted to see more, but I also understood that if I never saw anything else, that was enough. I was going to be okay. I was not okay after Empire. If Jedi never came out, I would have had significantly more childhood trauma to work through.

And from a gaming perspective, this is where I would want to be as a player. You've set up this rich world with great characters, and then blew the whole thing up. Now, you hand it off to the players and let them figure it out.

I want to move Doc's story forward. Kind of. But there's a part of me (maybe a bigger part) that just wants to sit here (here being 1985), and let things sit where they are. Skye Stalwart has just been rescued from the Null Zone. Meridian is rebuilding. The world has been shaken by the Null Incursion and now the (impending) discovery that there may be aliens among us.

And I've realized what Doc would do next. He would want to destroy Null the Devourer and close all access to the Null Zone forever. It has taken his wife, it took his daughter's childhood, and it took the peace and security in Meridian that he had fought for years to maintain. I could see him being somewhat obsessed with this, and I could see this taking him away from earth for a 12-issue run in his own book. Earth has just awakened to the presence of aliens, the Hall of Victory is closed, and the Victory Legion is scattered to the four winds.

This is where the game just sits. April, 1985: The Mighty Doc Stalwart #265 ("Turning the Page", where Doc sets off on a solo mission into the Null Zone to destroy it forever), Skye Stalwart: The Girl Who Fell From Earth #1, and Stalwart Team Up #8 (which was a bi-monthly series at the time). I know that this is what I have room to 'backfill' to. I keep thinking of the 'back issue bin' of expansions where I do for Doc's older stories what I have started to do with Team Up - tell the story and then stat it out in game terms. I've already written a pretty cool Doc Stalwart invading Simian City story that goes somewhere in the continuity, but I haven't figured it out yet - but it's a chance to flesh out the city in more detail, outline some of Simian Prime's tech, and add to that facet of the world a little bit. 

Just for reference, these actual books came out in April 1985: Secret Wars #12, Crisis on Infinite Earths #1. So, it's a good place to sit for a while. Amazing Spider-Man 260 (with one of my favorite covers of all time), had just come out in January. This is my 'golden age' of comics collecting - I'm getting back issues as much as I'm getting the new issues, absorbing all of this story at once. I remember I was reading the reprint series of the original Amazing Spider-Man books (Marvel Tales) while also collecting the ongoing Amazing SM and Peter Parker books, and loving how long and rich the history of this character was. It was later into Byrne's run on FF, Spidey was still dealing with the drama of the alien symbiote costume, and all was right (and by that I mean wrong) with the world.

When I launched Stalwart only a few months ago (but what in some ways feels a lifetime), I did so under the belief that I'd start to roll the clock forward in this world. But I want the game to feel like I did collecting both the Amazing Spider-Man and his reprint book at the same time. 

   

ALL of this got me thinking that it might be time to start putting EVERYTHING together in one big book. It would be all of the Stalwart game stuff I've released, some notes I've got going for GM advice and expanding/clarifying how to use Hero Points (Cyclops using his consussive blasts to fall safetly in Episode 1 was a great example of how I want hero points to work - you use your power in some very stunt-like way that you cannot just do all the time - you create a cool storytelling moment for your character without suddenly amping up their powers exponentially). I've got SO much stuff at this point that getting it all under one set of covers, unifying and simplifying it, and putting all of the miscellaneous references (and a lot of stuff from the Stalwart Age blog that nobody has ever seen but which fleshes out the game world in so many ways) into this one book seems like it might be worth the effort. 

And this time, Doc Stalwart finally ends up on the cover. For a game centered on him, I'm kind of surprised that he's never been the cover character for any of the game releases... and I think it's called Stalwart '85. Just 'cause. 

Slipnaught

I don't have a standard way to design characters. Sometimes, I come up with a concept for the story, and build the character that way. Sometimes, I think of a power I want to use, and build a character around that (like I did for White Hot, who I'll share later)... and sometimes I come up with a name as I'm doodling, and the interactive process of the stylus moving along with my brain tinkering comes up with a character concept. I was halfway through doodling this guy when I thought of 'slipknot', and then realized I could play with the name, and then figured he's the world's greatest escape artist, and then thought that the elongation gift with a power of D4 would effectively make him able to contort himself in dramatic ways without really 'stretching' all that far. It's the power on its lowest setting. Then if I give him high Reflex, infiltration, and profession (escape artist), I've got my own little version of Mr. Miracle going...

No idea what to do with him yet, but he's kind of nifty. He seems like he'd be a good fit for Tipo's Rogue's gallery, but it would have to be when Tipo is teamed up with a low-power hero, since this guy isn't all that much in the fighting department... I could see a plot twist where Tipo needs him for something, and then I team up Tipo with a villain he's defeated before... hmmm....

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)

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.

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...

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. 

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.

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...

 

When Things Start Clicking

This might be the strangest of indicators, but this is how I know that things are clicking... I was drawing Mongrel (who originally was going to be 'Feral', but I decided to save that character for the next book, and put a lower-tier starter villain in this one). He was a pretty generic Vermin sort of dude until I added the "I Love Echo City" on his t-shirt... and then I got the idea for the backstory about street hot dogs... and then I decided to make it the backup story in an April-fools themed issue. And now this is one of my favorite characters, just because of his interesting backstory. It's silly and goofy, but he's now far more memorable than 'guy who was exposed to toxins' he was going to be. Now I want to write a silly story about how Doc Stalwart is running around Echo City with a tranquilizer gun trying to find this guy so he can 'cure' him, while Mongrel goes from street hotdog vendor to street hotdog vendor, trying to get his revenge... Doc finally tracks him down, tranquilizes him, administers the cure. The guy thanks Doc, shakes his hand, and wishes him well. Doc leaves. Then, the guy goes out and decides to try one of those delicious hot dogs from a street vendor...

 

Stalwart V 1.1 Release Notes

Release notes? Dang. Like a real game designer or something... Changes to the Stalwart core rules in v1.1 include:

• Re-named tiers at the D20 threshold to make it more accessible to players.
• Added rules (-1/+1) for shifts down from D4 and up from D20.
• Revised Hero Points to a pool of tier dice to use daily.
• Revised language for might thresholds to representative items instead of weights.
• Added language for thresholds at the D20 tier to better imply this is a playable tier.
• Changed action rules; you no longer suffer a penalty to SVs when using actions beyond half your tier SV, only to dice (because there is no way to account for this before your turn; you do not necessarily know before your turn how many actions you will use, so the penalty would not apply; this would therefore penalize characters acting earlier in the round by having SVs drop after acting).
• Added move to character creation checklist.
• Revised gift: Heal (now just usable once per minute, but a hero point allows it to be used again).
• Revised gift: Jump (now grants distance based on endure using standard distance rules in 3.2)
• Revised gift: Melee Weapon is now just Melee (with examples like bite, claw and weapon given)
• Revised gift: Reflection now lets you hit the original attacker or another foe nearby.
• Revised the language of Telekinesis for simplicity and clarity.
• Revised gift: Shape Change (now grants one gift like a bite, amphibious, or flight)
• 
  Added gifts: Elite, Mind Shield (so that focus no longer automatically soaks mental damage), Prodigy
• Revised tag: Leadership (now grants a bonus to one ally check per round).
• Revised tag: Martial Arts (to account for rating granting bonus to unarmed melee damage)
• Revised tag: Stealth (to refer to tier and not reflex, since tier governs sneak attempts).
• Added limitation: Impaired
• Added specific rules for villain points and tenacity as a villainous option.
• Added guard dogs, sharks, and t-rexes as more sample animals.
• Revised the stat blocks to align with current stat block format I am using in the World of Stalwart.

Also, Gladius the Grim is me attempting to see how Stalwart does at emulating the world's most iconic superhero. All in all, it feels pretty much where it should be... he's got a stat block in the World of Stalwart.