Chapter Seven: A Marvelous Time
The Gods have agreed to leave you alone provided you never let it out that you whooped their asses. Truly, you’ve become mighty heroes capable of the great deeds only sung about in legends. The bards have their hands full just recording what you do every day when you walk (and fly) down the street to your local super market.
Despite all your powers, all your fame, and your insurmountable reputation you long for the good old days when an orc scared your pants off, demons made you tremble in your boots (as if!), and fair maidens needed rescuing. Now whenever a fair maiden needs rescuing you just call up your personal friend, Zeus, and the bad guy is soon a high voltage stack of soot. *Sigh*.
But wait, what’s this, it appears an inter-dimensional rift has opened up in the foyer of your castle/—insert favoured residence of the hero here—Aha! You seize upon this wonderful opportunity to get yourself killed in the blink of an eye and jump within. Adventure Ho! You holler and aren’t very surprised to find all of your friends have jumped through similar portals being equally as bored and stupid as yourself.
You appear naked in a strange land with all of your gear sitting in a giant laundry heap beside your. You’re on a black road made of stone with steel chariots whizzing around. You immediately realize, being vastly intelligent, that you’ve somehow teleported to the future and into a land known as Metropolis where Superheroes rein, technology runs rampant, and TV news reporters always get captured by super villains.
You smirk and pick up your trusty magical god-whooping weapons.
It is now time for a load of interesting role-playing on your part as the players search for the reason they were brought here, run into the police and fire department, and generally make war on the United States of America (or the UN).
When they’re finished stealing Rolls Royces, buying hamburgers from McDonalds, and mucking around with TVs, laptops, and high powered weaponry you can feel free to proceed to the rest of the adventure below.
The Deal
As you’re mucking about –insert smart party member’s name here—happens to see something on a nearby Television screen. It appears to be a man wearing a cape that makes him look vaguely like a bat. A shorter man stands beside him wearing a bright red and green spandex suit bearing a huge R and wearing a yellow mask.
Behind these weirdly dressed people stand Super Man, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, Iron Man, and Austen Powers.
Bat Man, the strangely dressed man, takes the mike Super Man offers him and stares you in the eye, even though it’s impossible he could know where you are or what you’re doing. “Alright you super villains, it’s time for the New Age League of Just Ice to teach you a lesson. Prepare to get your rears kicked into high gear. You should’ve never stolen the Batmobile.”
The heroes may react to this however they wish. If they attempt to negotiate the League of Just Ice doesn’t believe a word they say and will stop at nothing to see them behind bars. They learn, however, that Lex Luther is behind this and if they can find him they might be able to prove their innocence.
The Battle with Just Ice
Read the following when one or more of the PCs attempts to negotiate with, attack, spy on, or otherwise meets up with the league of super heroes.
Bat Man stares you in the eye. That’s right, I can see you punk. Yeah, I rolled a 20. Now you’ll learn why Gotham city is the toughest town for criminals like you. Bat Man whips out his patented Bat Hook and starts whipping it around.
The stats of the various super heroes are as follows with one important exception: None of them can die! Because of the twisted laws of super hero dom no super hero can ever die. Whenever they appear to die, they actually didn’t and come back to life at the nearest opportunity with some loony story of how they escaped death. The only way to truly defeat them will be to hunt down Lex Luther and prove the PCs innocence, otherwise they’ll all just end up in jail, one way or another.
Defeating these super heroes multiple times only grants xp rewards as the GM sees the challenge as worthy, excess defeats count for nothing.
Super Man HP 200 RR 19 Damage 1d6 x 10 Speed: 24 fly Gold: none XP: 10,000 per defeat. Skills: +10 all Strength based: +40 all. Weakness: Kryptonite. Special: Cannot die! See above.
Wonder Woman HP 100 RR 12 Damage 1d6x3 Speed: 24 fly Gold: none, magic lasso, invisible jet. XP: 5,000 per defeat. Skills: +10 all Seduction: +20. Bracers of Deflection: Immune to ranged attacks. Special: Cannot die! See above.
The Flash HP 50 RR 15 Damage 1d6x5 Speed: 1,000 Gold: none. XP: 7,000 per defeat. Skills: Speed +50 all others +15 Special: Cannot die! See above. Also, feel free to have the Flash do pretty much whatever he wants, as many times as he wants, in the blink of an eye. Allowing him to make 50,000 attacks requiring RR 15 rolls to dodge in one round, may be reasonable.
Green Lantern HP 40 RR 18 Damage 1d6x5 Speed: 24 fly Gold: none. XP: 6,000 per defeat. Special: Cannot die, see above. Also Green Lantern has a power ring and a lantern hidden somewhere. His power ring allows him to make any skill check at +40 and is only blocked by the color yellow. Obstacles set by Green Lantern are RR 18 to avoid or smash or they take full effect. He can set up to 2 obstacles per round.
Iron Man HP 100 RR 21 Damage 1d6x5 Speed: 24 fly Gold: none. Power suit. XP: 7,000 per defeat wearing suit. Special: cannot die, see above. Also Iron Man’s power suit gives the wearer 2-6 armor the same as Dragon Armor, fly 24, can transform into a briefcase, deals 1d6+10 damage repulsor blasts, and has a regulated internal environment and is also generally keyed to him with a female computer voice.
Austen, Danger, Powers HP 15 RR 15 Damage 2d6 Speed: 3 Gold: none. Male symbol key chain, girly red suit. XP: 1,000 per defeat. Special: cannot die, see above. Skills: all +5 and Seduction +50 against women. Also, acting weird skill at +50. Once per encounter Austen Powers can name any effect he wants to take effect and the desired result comes about automatically with no saving throw. He doesn’t tend to wish all foes defeated, but rather than people pose for his camera shots, or using “Judo Chop!” on one person to knock them unconscious.
Bat Man HP 80 RR 14 Damage 2d6 Speed: 4 Gold: none. Utility belt. XP: 4,000 per defeat. Special: cannot be defeated, see above. Skills: all +20 Intelligence based +40, he is the leader of the Just Ice League of world defenders.
Robin. Stats at GM’s discretion. Should be piddly. At the first opportunity Robin betrays Bat Man and his allies and declares, “Holy Hula Hoops, Bat Man! These guys are the real heroes!” He will thenceforth annoy the PC party and try to help them to the best of his abilities (and fail).
Looking for Lex Luther
The GM should not make it clear to the players that the super heroes can’t be killed. They can be hunted down and beaten at the player’s leisure. Also the super heroes won’t kill the PCs who they think are super villains and will instead knock them unconscious and put them in ever increasingly difficult to escape jail cells guarded by killer robots and such like (stats at your discretion to challenge the heroes).
When the PCs finally learn that Lex Luther is responsible for their bad name (or discover that the super heroes can’t be permanently killed due to the super hero factor) they must embark on a mission to discover the whereabouts of the daring Lex.
Any attempts to use super powers, god abilities, radar, tracking, mind controlled Flash to search everywhere on the planet, and such-like all turn up failed results. Even using psionic abilities to find him yields no answers. It appears he’ll have to be found the good old fashioned way: by asking.
Despite your best and most valiant efforts Lex’s whereabouts are a mystery to you. He’s somehow managed to cloak himself from even your incredible abilities. This is unheard of. What could he be using and how will you find him?
The Wild Goose Chase
You can allow the players to bumble across the universe, teleport through dimensions, or whatever in search of old Lex Luther. The Just Ice League follows them, makes bad jokes, and haras
ses them wherever they go despite any attempts to point out that the heroes have done nothing wrong.
There are now two basic options which could happen: 1. the players generally give up and all get captured finally in some place they can’t escape, and 2. they actually manage to find Lex Luther through extraordinary efforts (as judged and awarded xp by you, the GM).
Lex Luther
It turns out Lex Luther is hiding in the shielded confines of the Just Ice League Space Station orbiting Earth. You don’t know how it’s been so darned hard to find, but you’ve finally got the place, maybe you’ll make it your new hideout?
As you approach the satellite in the depths of space (you brought a space suit right?) a voice crackles over the speakers, both real and in your heads. “Ha ha ha, and you thought only Super Man was stupid enough to fall for my schemes, eh? Well, I’ve shown you, haven’t I?
Lex Luther continues to taunt the players, making fun of their appearance, mannerisms, poor attempts to find him, and generally being a pain in the arse. When the PCs finally break into the satellite and hunt him down they find nothing but a speaker broadcasting into the nether, mental waves, and electronic computers whirring about.
“Yes, that’s right, you’ve fallen into my trap.”
Before anyone can teleport (unless you’re feeling generous) the whole space station explodes in a gargantuan nova which saps the heroes of all their powers and makes them vulnerable to giant space crab robots who zoom in from outer space and capture them, ferrying them down to earth and a giant prison that Lex Luther has prepared for them.
If Any PCs Escape…
You can let them formulate whatever plans they want for attacking Lex Luther’s prison or doing whatever they can come up with. The prison’s outer walls are pretty much impenetrable but a truly magnificent attack or use of stealth and ingenuity may gain entry to the compound.
Trapped in Lex Luther’s Prison
You all wake up tied in energy chains naked. You note your companions are much older and wrinklier than your remember them. Across from you in an adjoining room with only a 1 inch thick wall of see-through plastic between you, you can see the Just Ice league all drugged out and still wearing their brightly colored spandex suits, lucky buggers.
A bald man walks up to your side of the glass and taps on it while smiling banally. “Hi, I’m Lex Luther, criminal mastermind genius, and the man who just completely pawned you. Ha ha ha.”
You may have Lex Luther insult the heroes at will until they get seriously annoyed with him, you, and this adventure, then skip over to the grand escape below.
Attacking Lex Luther’s Prison
You see below you the well-hidden solid adamantium enclave of Lex Luther, it appears to a be a prison where he’s undoubtedly captured all the super heroes you weakened. Perhaps some of your friends are in there? Regardless, he must be stopped. If only to find a way back to your own dimension and out of this crazy Metropolis place where everyone is always attacking you and wearing weird, brightly colored spandex tights.
The walls seem to be impervious to magic, psionics, massive explosions, and everything else you can readily come up with. You must find an alternate route within.
The players will undoubtedly come up with several brilliant solutions, entering back doors, seducing guards, blowing the barf out of the place, or whatever. You should let them eventually get inside, but make them work for it and don’t let them steel parts of the adamantium or blow the whole place to bits. Exploding the Earth is worth a lot of negative xp as well (and Lex Luther’s prison survives anyway).
Layout of Lex Luther’s Base
Regardless of how the PCs make it to this point (breaking in or breaking out) you can now use your GM doodled map with the following encounter areas as you see fit. It should be noted that the adamantium walls are pretty much immune to everything and can’t be teleported, or mentally bypassed in any way that the heroes possess. Nor can they steal the stuff to gain ultimate power or an invincible shield. The whole thing is electrified and when you break off pieces it no longer works, this also means if they can find the reactor they can power down the defenses of the whole place.
Throughout the below areas Lex Luther is an illusion hologram which cannot be killed or destroyed and he will no doubt insult anyone trying to do so. He runs around, taunts the PCs, and (when he doesn’t know where they are) mentally and physically broadcasts his voice to everyone over the advanced intercom system.
Encounter Area 1 “The Prison Cells”
Any PCs breaking out any of the super heroes they haven’t completely ticked off or killed with have found some newfound allies. The super heroes are fairly brainless in their attempts to help out, but their attacks are effective (do not use their stats, just roughly approximate what would logically happen when they attack or use powers). They are equally powerless at blowing their way out or finding Lex Luther for real.
Be sure to detail the cool way the PCs break out of their prisons.
As you break free Lex Luther laughs and explains his plans. “I’m going to swap your genetic codes with a band of evil Cyborgs I like to refer to as The Nine, these neither living nor dead Ring Wraiths will serve me loyally through the power of the One Ring which I’ve managed to steal from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Anyone who doesn’t believe me can just cry like a baby, ha ha ha!”
It is indeed true. The GM should set his watch for 10 minutes and if the Heroes can’t stop Lex in that time they are sucked dry of their powers and killed and/or turned into 0-level peasants or annoyingly small amphibious reptiles.
Encounter Area 2 Hall Robots
Soon after busting your way into the corridors you hear an alarm blaring and the voice of Lex Luther in your minds. “Mwa ha ha. You think your power equal to the genius of Lex Luther?”
Giant killer robots detach from the walls and streak to the attack.
Giant Killer Robot HP 40 RR 18 Damage 5d6 Gold: 0 Speed: 5 XP: 1,000 Special: see invisible, detect all, blocks teleporting in 100 ft. field, dampening of super powers in 100 ft. Immune to fire, ice, acid, and electrical damage. Self Reparing at 10 hp per round unless killed.
The GM can feel free to attack the party with as many Giant Killer Robots as he sees fit.
Encounter Area 3 The Train Station
You bumble through a loose wall and find yourself in a strange underground subway tunnel. There’s a little grotto, a hole in the roof, and a swimming pool. A woman named Money Penny says, “Hi, I’m Money Penny, can I get you anything to drink?” and a fat man named Otis says, “Lex Luther is going to kill me for letting you in here.”
The two side characters can be killed, cajoled, intimidated, or whatever the party sees fit. There is a bit of kryptonite in a box here which Super Man really hates, and a desk RR 16 Perception which holds Lex Luther’s plans to siphon all the heroes and super heroes powers into his machine cyborgs “The Nine” and leave them dead dried out husks within 10 minutes (real time: set your watches people, if not done already).
The two NPC’s have no clue where Lex Luther’s gone. If around, Superman starts drowning in the swimming pool. He’s very grateful to anyone who saves him.
Encounter Area 4 Underground Highway
You enter a featureless cube shaped chamber and the door disappears behind your backs. Lex Luther’s voice laughs diabolically in your minds and ears. “Fools, you’ve fallen for the oldest trick in the book, I’ve got you trapped now and I’m going to suck out all your powers and feed you to the sharks.”
As soon as anyone easily busts out of here they find themselves in a giant underground race track. Any super heroes with them or Robin explain about how Lex Luther will siphon off all their power and kill them in 10 minutes unless they find him. Speed will be of the essence. Luckily the underground highway has a road map towards the next section of Lex Luther’s lair and there are a load of sweet cars here including the Bat Mobile which was stolen from Bat Man.
As soon as the P
Cs and any superheroes with them start racing off, read them the following:
As you hop in and take off at extreme speed you see a load of rival street gang cars painted black with red flames zooming in from all sides. The track opens up until you appear to be driving on a giant hot wheels track and you notice all your vehicles are equipped with turbo. This appears to be a scene right out of the Fast and the Furious 17.
This is a race and it must be won for the heroes to survive, otherwise they run out of time and Lex Luther takes them out. Any teleporting or flying PCs or those somehow equipped with jets or power armor find that the enemy cars can fly and teleport as well making the race at least interesting for them as well.
The race should be divided into 7 sections. Each section each hero may attack once, or attempt to drive their vehicles ‘really fast’. You can call for driving skill checks untrained or allow the players to brow beat you into using whatever skills they deem as appropriate.
By the 7th section all heroes must have a total speed score (rolled on skill checks) of at least 95 (average 15 each roll or fall behind) or have destroyed all enemy cars or Lex Luther takes them out. See Losing below.
If they make it, or destroy all opposing vehicles you can proceed to the next section they enter. Be sure to include ramps, jumps, and games of ‘chicken’ in the sections of your race. No one ever said you had to play by the rules.
Encounter 5 Hero Zapper
As you enter a large domed chamber you here a screech. A pterodactyl flies overhead and you see a jungle filled with dinosaurs before you. It appears you’ve landed in some kind of prehistoric hydroponics garden.
A giant robot with a huge freakin’ laser beam sticking out of its head in this area appears to disintegrate all super heroes accompanying the PCs. After it finishes this the next blow that hits it takes it out.
When this happens Lex yells out:
“Very good, you’ve bested my one-eyed robot, but can you save the particles of your super hero friends from my anti-matter conversion chamber?”
Encounter Area 6 Impenetrable Wall of Beer
Suddenly you run into a massive force wall the likes of which you’ve never seen before. It appears to be a giant wall of beer.
The PCs must drink the whole wall of beer to proceed within. Additionally, to make it to the next encounter you should design a series of 5 challenges which focus on the most obscure, little-used, and weird powers the players possess. Once they easily tromp these challenges, and now being very drunk, they may proceed onwards.
Encounter Area 7 Land of Dreams
As soon as you bust your way into these chambers a strange vision fills your head. You reach for your d20 to roll a saving throw but it’s too late, the wavering watery illusion fills your mind and you cannot break free.
It is now your opportunity as the GM to get your players to do some role-playing or die.
You should inform each of your players that they must each describe one scene their character lives out in an illusion dream world in which he/she faces their worst ever fear and nightmare, and a second dream where the character replays the happiest moment of their life (with no magical items or previous battles allowed to count, it must be a peachy vision).
Any characters role-playing this segment well gain themselves 2,000 xp and any who do poorly may suffer any kind of mental trauma, insanity, or death you wish to inflict upon them.
After all this mental wishy washy ness is over you can inform them they’ve snapped out of it and find themselves in Lex’s lab where clever characters RR (your discretion perception and knowledge) can find out about Lex’s evil plan to suck our their souls killing them and putting their powers in cyborgs unless they stop him within the next 10 minutes.
Encounter Eight Nuke Chambers
You enter a long tunnel leading ahead. There appears to be no other way around. Lining the walls of this tunnel are about 50 nukes set on timers to explode when you pass if you trip up invisible lasers in the air.
This is a skills challenge for the thiefly type characters in the group. Disabling nukes, resetting timers, and evading lasers (or using smoke to reveal their whereabouts) are all good ideas, otherwise a chain reaction of nukes may do serious damage to the PCs (but not the rest of the reinforced building).
If the PCs are ill-equipped to deal with this problem you can feel free to include a handy ‘off switch’ or allow them to enter the ventilation or find another way around.
Encounter 9 Power Reactors
You see a huge red chamber filled with an unknown power. This must be the energy source which makes the walls of this place invincible. If you could only harness its power, but you know you don’t have time. Lex Luther’s voice in your head is cackling about how he’s going to use this thing to harness your power and leave you a burnt out husk and somehow you know he’s telling the truth.
Blowing the reactor up is a simple matter which will probably implode the universe and kill everyone within it. It’s probably a good idea to tell the PCs this beforehand. If anyone looks around they might be able to find several jars labeled with the names of the Just Ice League. If anyone stows them for later regeneration (and saving of the captured super heroes if appropriate) they gain 5,000 xp per hero thus saved.
Shutting off the reactor requires talking with nearby scientists or a brilliant mind to work it out. Bat Man (if not disintegrated) may be able to help with +40 smarts.
As soon as the reactor powers down the whole building becomes much more vulnerable to the PCs wreaking it and using their powers to bypass obstacles. Be sure to make this a clear advantage to them.
Encounter 10 Lex Luther
At last you find the man responsible for all your misery. He’s sitting on a little throne made of cheap wood painted gold and slurping down on a smoothie. He smiles banally and waves at you, giving you a ‘you’re really stupid look’.
Lex Luther HP 1 RR 10 Damage 1d6 Speed: 3 Gold: none ($50) XP: 1,000 if killed 10,000 if outwitted.
Lex Luther will attempt to negotiate with anyone who catches him. He refrains from using skills but makes it clear that if the PCs kill him they’ll be trapped in the 20th century forever and never make it back to their beloved homelands. If they don’t care, he’s in trouble. If they do care he has a bargaining chip.
At some point he should offer them Australia and the prospect of teaming up with him to rule the world, if they also refuse this then he become somewhat angry and pouty. He pulls out a little switch box with a radio antennae, it has a little red button and a little blue button, both lit with L.E.D.s. He tells them the following:
“Okay you little Alice In Wonderland chicks, I’ve got a choice for you here if you’d care to see how deep the rabbit hole goes. Would you like to take the blue button or the red button? If you take the blue button you won’t remember we’ve had this conversation. If you take the red button you’ll go back to your home.”
The PCs may take the remote, hit the buttons, or whatever they feel like. You should make it clear the device cannot be replicated and will run out of a special non-duplicateable battery power within 24 hours. They can jail Lex Luther, save the super heroes, grab some sweet loot, and then be on their way.
Each time someone presses the Red button that character instantly disappears, presumably back to their homeland. Each time someone presses the Blue button they turn into a chicken. If no one bothers to catch the falling remote it may break which presents new problems.
Tying Up Loose Ends
If the super heroes were turned into vaporized muck the PCs may be forced to find some scientists willing to restore them to their original form (or perhaps will attempt it themselves). Bruce Banner and Spider Man may be good options for helping out.
Once the PCs pilfer everything they want and finish showing off their muscles and saying “I told you so” to the super heroes of the Just Ice League they may return home in peace using Lex Luther’s remote. Anyone smart enough to get someone to check the remote to see
if it will really send them back home gets a shrug and 1,000 xp.
All heroes should be awarded 12,000 xp for completing this adventure.
The End
Ha ha ha, it appears Lex Luther’s remote didn’t actually send you back to your homeland and instead teleported you back 65 million years into the time of the dinosaurs which is where he got his laboratory from. You’ve also lost all your levels and gear and have been transformed into small dinosaurs which a Tyrannosaurus Rex is about to eat.
Joking, of course, you all find yourselves back safely in your home kingdoms with all the loot you’ve plundered off Lex Luther and the Just Ice League not to mention Metropolis. You now have new tales to tell around the metaphorical gaming table and to keep the bards of your kingdoms singing for years (mostly in confusion).
No doubt there are greater challenges lying in wait for you in the inscrutable expanse that is the future, but it is time for you to create them on your own, or pay me an exorbitant sum of money to create them for you, that is, the game designer, not your GM who should, basically, do it for free.
Thanks for playing and looking forward to seeing you around the multi-verse!
David L. Dostaler
Author, Challenger RPG
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