MNM Amazing Adventures (Inactive)

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Folks, I'm heading off soon for holiday obligations from now through 12/26 or so. I'll check on my phone but will be less active. Happy holidays all.

Happy New Year!

I'll try to get a good post up today/tonight so we can move on in the new year.

Bliadhna Mhath Ùr Tumbler & DQ

Was a sedate offering here given my pup's illness - however he (ergo we) had a good night and we've started the new year with a lovely walk, and all of us in good spirits.

Here's to a special 2020 to you both.

Glad to hear you had a good night. Thanks be for the blessings we have small though they may be.

Tumbler/DQ - just wanted to share that yesterday we had to say goodbye to my beautiful red staffy Darby. His passing was very peaceful and he's now free from the burdens his tumour inflicted upon him.

To say my wife and i are broken is an understatement - Darbs was, is and always will be, the epicentre of our lives.

Over the coming days, weeks and months we will heal and come to celebrate his life, but right now things are pretty raw. I may throw myself into distractions and my passions, so posting may be up, but likewise things may take a back seat - should that become the case please bot me when/where necessary.

Cheers

BD/Gary

So sorry to hear that, BD. When you need time, take it, when you need to escape and have fun, we'll be here.

Of course take your time and do what you need to do. Grief is unpredictable.

As a side note - current story arc in The Immortal Hulk is all about Roxxon... and previews of issue 34 feature a certain Samual Sterns as The Thoughtful Man...

Just a heads up gang that myself and my better half are heading over to UAE tomorrow for 3 weeks. My sister in law graciously paid for the ticket to allow us some time to relax, process the loss of our beloved boy and maybe heal a little.

I anticipate that by the weekend (and the weeks to come) I'll have plenty of time to post, but first few days I'll likely be off the grid as we catch up and fall into a routine.

If you could bot Frank as/where necessary and I'll endeavour to get my head back in the game (literally) come time.

Safe travels. I've been jogging along so if I should slow down let me know.

I know it's ridiculous and unheard of for people in a superhero series to just lay the plot out for the person they are seeking help from. But Dottie's old, she doesn't like to waste time. ;)

I think it's awesome you've brought in Sterns, btw. One of many MCU loose ends never addressed!

Nothing related to this game, but please tell share, if you are willing, about this trip to the UAE. Out of curiosity, I searched for flights, and found flights from Chicago to Dubai and that ranged from $1000 to $28,000 US. Maybe it is different from where you are. But what are you doing there? I'm not judging. It is just fascinating to me.

And on a completely different note. I'm going to post my thinking about Sterns, but this has some element of spoilers for our plot. If you don't want to get meta and mix player knowledge with character knowledge, just don't click and don't respond.

Flights to UAE from UK are slightly cheaper - in the main we'd typically spend around perhaps $800 per (economy) ticket. In this instance my sister-in-law graciously paid for the trip (she's a VP in an oil & gas company) as we'd missed our traditional Xmas visit because of my boy's illness. Since they embarked on their globe trotting oil and gas career(s) we've always visited them - we're as much close friends as relatives. Our travels have taken us to Texas & Alaska numerous times, and now UAE.

We typically fly via Edinburgh or Glasgow as they offer direct flights. We could go from Aberdeen (my home airport if you will) via Amsterdam or Paris - cheaper but much more time consuming (we'd rather take a 2 hour journey, then direct 8 hour flight overnight than a 3/4 hour journey into Aberdeen, then 12-16 hour journey time - including stops).

In a nutshell the trip is pretty much a 3 week sabbatical from the grind - losing our Darby Dog in the manner we did, with the care we gave him really emptied us physically, emotionally and spiritually. This sojourn is about recharging, enjoying the sun, our extended family based here in UAE and reflecting on how lucky we were to have had such an amazing, special boy. Not ashamed to say I'm tearing up as I type this, but think grieving with people who love us and who loved Darby (my niece and nephew adored him) is, and will be, a good thing for us. Each day brings moments of laughter and hurt in equal measure; we're just immensely humbled and thankful to have this unique opportunity to start healing our broken hearts.

After tonight our schedule should ease a little, so I'm hoping to get some posting and catch up done o'er the weekend.

Cheers

Gary

Just a heads up that I'm travelling back to UK from Dubai, so it'll likely be tomorrow before I'm posting again.

Appreciate the patience :)

Safe travels.

I may have set out too many plot hooks for too few fish, here.

More is generally better than less. It does seem like you have a complex plot going, but that's genre appropriate.

Next adventure: breaking into the International Spy Museum in DC to get old fashioned spy gear.

Headed out of town for the weekend. Will check in via phone but please bot if needed.

Having blue screen of death issues. My posting may be intermittent until I can get this thing fixed.

Sorry for the delay. I’m under the weather. I’ll get back when I can.

No worries - stay safe chief

I refuse to let Annabella Sciorra die! It's a waste of good casting! ;)

I agree!

Actually, I may have created a bit of a continuity snarl here. I'm sure we are after he appearance in Luke Cage season 2, but maybe not after Daredevil Season 3, where she also appears. Hopefully you can save her and I won't have to worry about it.

Easy fix: Here's where we find out that our Rosalie Carbone is a Skull - leading into Tumbler's version of Secret Invasion :)

I think your estimation of the timeline is correct.

That or we're dealing with an LMD Rosalie Carbone spying on the mob on behalf of SHIELD.

Which I shouldn't have suggested because that could activate one of Dottie's complications. ;)

Wee heads up gang - our management in their infinite wisdom are pressing ahead with an ISO audit (via Skype) which I'm heavily involved with due to my Ops Super role.

Been prepping all day today and audit is tomorrow - will likely be Friday before I'm back in the saddle again. Bear with and bot Frank if/where necessary.

Good luck, BD.

Frank, NOOOOO!

You do have 2 hero points, Frank...

Alas I only should have 1 (used one to rip open the gas room doors)...

I'd forgotten! But I see you spent it anyway. Didn't mean to push you into it, was just making sure you remembered, as I sometimes forget!

Not at all DQ - I defer to your tactical acumen :)

That is sure to get us in trouble!! :)

Just noticed this announcement from Monday. A new magic themed Mutants and Mastermind campaign. Sounds amazing.

Looks very cool indeed - has a (at first glance) ClanDestine, Excalibur vibe about it.

I've purchased the free NetherWar Guide to give it a proper once over.

And kicked off by Crystal Frasier (formerly from Paizo) to boot! Neat.

Yup - saw that Crystal was spearheading this. Know it'll rock.

Loads of scope (and its a big scope) with mysticism and time travelling aplenty.

Would love to resurrect my Eoten character for this game - ramp up the magical edge to him.

Yep, very excited about Crystal being lead developer. I will almost certainly be running this either here or in real life or both.

I downloaded and read the adventure 0 "Master of Earth." It is pretty fun. I'm definitely going to run a recruitment here starting in the next few days. You two will, of course, have pride of place in any recruitment. If you want in, you are in.

Of course, if you are too busy/committed, that is completely understandable.

Invitation is very much appreciated and gratefully accepted (I'll make time for any of your games chief:) but having DQ onboard would be the icing on the cake...

Oh I'm sure Dot will get her moment to shine, although she's not really much of a vengeance plotter. She just wants Negative to not exist. But she feels completely powerless against him so her from her POV the only choice she has is to run. Wanting a chance to prove herself once she feels less powerless? Absolutely.

As for new game... I am very intrigued. Here's the problem: I--hopefully--am transitioning into a new job over the next three weeks. (Which is a good problem to have!) Work I expect to be difficult and crazy, plus I'm kind of mostly a ball of anxiety right now. So I don't know how much time/energy I'll have for apping until these next few weeks are clear and hopefully everything goes ok. I'm telecommuting still so it's not so much clearing free time as needing downtime.

Oddly enough, BD, what I'd be keen on is likely a version of Gracie, but back to the original concept I had of her--empowered by the sword Excalibur and fueled by mystical Arthurian mojo. More armored magic warrior than juggernaut--which as a bonus, she'd step on Eoten's toes much less.

Congrats on the new job, DQ. After I saw your post, I imagined that might be a complication.

I'm not in a rush to get the game started. I'll get a recruitment up in the next few days. Mutants and Masterminds recruitments tend to take a while to get a team together and get builds hammered out.

Also, since the Adventure 0 is a prequel/flashback kind of thing, it wouldn't be a big deal for you to come in for adventure 1 if that made more sense.

Both of those characters look like perfect fits for the campaign.

Last thought for the night: we didn't recruit for this campaign, and it has been pretty great. Do we know 2 or 3 other MNM players who would be interested? If so, we could just do a private thing.

Kudos on the great play in this scene. Thanks to BD for being willing to be Worfed to show off Negative's toughness. Thanks to DQ for playing a character instead of a hero. I've played with so many people over the years who couldn't stomach losing a fight, but that, to me, is such an important part of the comics and even the shows. I figure we are in the middle of the series, and this is the time for a big loss.

That said, I do have plans to keep Dottie from vanishing completely into the wind. (And obviously, Frank will wake up.)

Echoing our illustrious GM's congrats on the new job DQ. Must be somewhat daunting to start a new role in the current climate, but have faith you'll make it your own given time. Best of luck regardless.

On our Game

Ha - no problem. Could have spent the hero point delaying the inevitable, but we need to have the defeat to give us impetus for the rematch :) Just glad Frank isn't waking strapped to some death machine lol.

Have always loved that feeling (especially at a gaming table) when you have clearly bitten off more than you can chew from a Big Bad. Remember playing the original Ravenloft and getting chills when Strahd toyed with the party in our first encounter. The old "we're gonna need a bigger boat" scenario.

Worked great here - and echo that part about Dottie acting like a character than a hero. Timely reminder that these two aren't your atypical dynamic duo lol.

Mutants, Masternminds & Magic Game

Would be great to see Good Knight back in play - she's been one of my fave concepts out of the multitude of games I've been involved with.

Eoten is a pet project of mine - combining passions of Old English myth, monstrous supers like Hulk, Ulik & Sasquatch and the Jekyll & Hyde, Big Guy & Our Giants are Bigger tropes.

Like DQ I'll likely do some rejigging to include a more mythical bent to him, but its an easy fix as his alter ego is an aging scholar of myth and legend...

As for private or board recruitment... I've found that M&M games tend to attract the same players, so could probably have a tilt at pitching some usual suspect names at you. Conversely we've Paizo newbies joining all the time, so an open recruitment might also being some fresh blood to the virtual table.

Hey BD you get loads of credit for playing your character too, you know. There are many ways that could have gone. Frank was true to himself. Desperate to be that hero. Not quite seeing the odds. Wanting to prove the use of his suit. That was a great scene for him.

The only problem with this "we need a bigger boat" scenario is they already knew they needed a nuclear submarine and have an inflatable raft. I am curious to see how hope might be injected into them. Vengeance isn't enough.

==

As for inviting M&M players, I don't know many on this board I'd recommend. There's a decent player I've been in a few games with but I know he's also busy with several games. He's someone that if he apped I'd point out but I'm not sure I'd reach out to prior. I have some personal friends in my S&S game (Threnody and Lark's players) who are good players and have committed well, but I don't know how familiar they are with M&M. I don't think Thren's player is. Lark's player I know he has played Champions and could probably pick up M&M easily.

I'm cool with an open recruitment. The one thing I'd ask that you'd pay attention to is not just character, but player. Check the player's user profile--see how many games they are in and how many they have flaked out of. M&M attracts a lot of people who love to BUILD characters--and build great ones--but are not good at committing to a game. Understanding you had the best of intentions, I think the Marvel Knights game died in part because we got a bunch of those players (plus one or two who kept really wanting to play Four Color even though you had been crystal clear about it being Gritty Street Level). This doesn't mean don't try your chances on a newbie, but just assess the players as best you can. My 2 cents.

I loved all of it. Not to be too congratulatory to ourselves, I could really see that scene playing out on Netflix. Atmospheric smoke and fog, brutal fight between Frank and Negative, Dottie being simultaneously awesome and flawed.

M&M games have been my least successful PbP games, which is why I'm leery. I think I'll do an open recruitment and see what we get. The Marvel Knights game was a real mess. I certainly hope to avoid that. I'll work hard to be clear about the tone and content of the game in the recruitment.

Go Team - mutual appreciation all round! Arcs like we've just had make this crazy past-time of ours all the more worth it :)

Well done also on our GM for crafting this story and indulging us, inspiring us on these Amazing Adventures. The easter-eggs have awesome and made this marvel zombie very happy.

On the proposed game - like DQ we are really looking for players who'll inhabit the game and see their characters storylines develop. Now while that sort of stuff makes for a more involved game from the GM's perspective, good players will assist with that massively.

An open recruitment will likely attract a lot of the usual names and faces to the party, so making it clear the type, tone and requirements of the game will be key. People being WAAAY overstretched is something I'm very wary of at the moment, and as DQ says we'll get great builds with a delivery that's probably lacking longevity from some quarters.

Am hoping that it being an "AP" it'll give us all direction and allow you to select a group that has stamina and can deliver both the roll & role play.

@Tumbler: Clocked that the intro NetherWar adventure features characters that are from

I'm a major fan of Humerto Ramos' work so if we need to frame characters as neophytes or teens (a la Champions or the students of Marvel's new Strange Academy then I'm totally cool with that.

Eoten - Giant of Albion can easily become Eoteen - Stripling Giant of Albion :)