I think Carol spends more of her time doing cosmic stuff these days, but there are still a ton of heroes that manipulate energy, and my search for a list of people who've been Avengers includes basically everyone. Even non-Avengers folks would work, since the Avengers don't just protect each other.

Monica Rambeau is definitely a high profile target in that line. The Summers kids, Cyclops and Havok, could have been on the list, particularly Cyclops as he's literally an infinite source of energy, limited only by his need to eat and sleep and stuff. Just hook him up to a life support system, keep his eyes open A Clockwork Orange-style, and you've got yourself a permanent gateway to a universe made of energy.

Also, Ricochet was kidnapped by an organization that may well have been AIM and experimented on in a way that either gave her or unlocked her energy manipulation powers. That sounds like too good a connection to just let slip by. Same team? :D

Well, I don't know what their roster in the current year in this dimension is. :P I figure it's not necessarily the same as in the mainstream continuity - perhaps some people stayed longer, for example. But former members or even just other affiliates would work well too. Non-Avengers could work better for that selfless hero impression, now that I think about it... it's definitely something to consider.

Especially if you do make Cyclops. Now that would be interesting.

Ricochet's energy powers sound like a different thing, but yes, there may be a connection there. Maybe AIM had some overarching energy project with different branches/shells (an energy research company here, a charity there) trying different approaches towards the same opaque goal. To add a bit of guilt, maybe test results from one sub-project were transferred to help with the other.

Hey, it's our world, the Avengers roster is whatever we say it is. I mean wikipedia says the current roster includes Deadpool, Miles Morales, and Cable. The team really can be whoever we say it is, y'know? :P Plus people are constantly dropping in and out, some former Avengers will still act on behalf of Avengers "just this once", there's a whole heckin' list of Honorary Avengers, etc. Comics are fluid. It was whoever you want it to be. :D Though we probably shouldn't have both Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson as Captain America at the same time.

One of my old gaming groups had this idea for a Superhero Reclamation Division, where we'd run games using our least favorite Marvel characters to try and make them suck less. My top pick was Cyclops. Still iffy on how to actually make him work, though, and kinda losing interest in him as my interest in Ricochet and Octo skyrockets. But he could totally be involved.

Ricochet, meanwhile, actually has rather similar powers to what this technology should be capable of. She takes in kinetic energy and and project it as kinetic energy as well. It's more limited in scope, since she can't absorb fire and spit radiation, or what have you, but she can do stuff like be shot with a bunch of bullets and channel that energy into lifting a bus. Might not be exactly the same thing, but certainly feels like another field villain with that technology would want to look into. Could definitely be a separate branch of research in the same project.

The Universal Energy Manipulator prototype is a wearable device consisting of a belt and a wristband. The belt contains the main components necessary for its functioning, while the wristband is mostly a linked interface used for fine control. The belt contains a complex network of miniaturised, versatile energy receivers, capacitors, converters, and transmitters that can, in theory, receive energy from any source and then project it as a controlled force field. It also includes a nanocomputer that can regulate the energy semi-automatically, keeping the system useable and safe without too much tinkering in the field (usually).

This device can use energy from any source – bioelectricity, background radiation, and any number of less common sources. Some of them, however, require more converting than the others to be useable. Also, tapping into magical or psionic energy sources seems fraught with all sorts of interesting complications that should probably be considered on a case-by-case basis. Notably, the device can tap into and amplify the wearer’s bioelectricity as a readily available power source. When worn by a normal human, it is not very powerful due to programmed restraints, though in conjunction with background radiation it can still be of some use. Overriding the restraints can provide somewhat more power, but at the cost of increasing harm to the wearer. In other words, doing so would be an act of desperation.

A protective force field would be the device’s most typical use. Depending on available energy, it may be thickened, extended, reshaped, and so on. It may also be deployed in an offensive capacity, though that requires greater finesse and more energy to work with. Theoretically it can be used to create constructs, move objects, and so forth, but that is even more difficult. Naturally, Svetlana is hard at work on improving those aspects.

The device may also be used defensively to absorb the energy being thrown at it by an attacker – up to a point. Its capacity for both absorption and safe storage is limited. Note that the energy it projects is usually homogenised, translated into a “standard” form that can be used and projected with maximum safety and control. Channelling either “raw” or specially modified energy with more unusual properties with regards to heat, gravity, mystical something-or-other is technically feasible but also risky.

The Power Capture suits developed by Z.E.A.L. are a full-body version of the Manipulator combined with some variant on power armour technology. While clunkier, they can store and use far more power. They can also more easily deploy exotic energies in an offensive capacity. However, they are also much more hazardous to the wearer and everyone around them. Some of this difference is down to design imperfections that Svetlana has since ironed out, at least on the scale of her smaller and weaker device. Yet there is also a difference in design philosophies involved. By now, there may be other, more dangerous offshoots of this technology.

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That is the basic write-up. I may have overlooked some points, but much of it is probably something we can fill in later. (As is the stuff I wrote out, really – I just prefer to have some kind of basic idea of the ability’s limitations that I and others can reference later.) Hopefully none of it is out of bounds. Fortunately, just how powerful it is can be easily scaled up or down based on what we think is fit.

One thing I am pondering is whether there is some semi-rare natural or synthetic material currently used in its construction. Maybe some sort of advanced power conductor, if such a material already exists in the universe? Something to explain why she can’t just make more. Although, I suppose its basic complexity might explain it fine, and after all, she did intend to make it possible to mass-produce eventually…
This message was last edited by the player at 07:13, Thu 13 May 2021.

:O

That's awesome! Octo and I are thoroughly impressed and he wants a closer look at it. PS do not let him have a closer look.



Did someone just say vibranium? :P

https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Vibranium

Ha. I had thought of Vibranium, but didn't realise it specifically had energy-manipulation properties. It still seems rather scarce, though. I suppose one option is using small amounts of it in some tiny but critical components. Alternatively, perhaps it will be incorporated later to unlock the technology's full potential.

This is another tempting option: https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Carbonadium The device would have to be able to cope with dangerous radiation anyway.

*takes notes*

While Wakandan Vibranium is a very rare and thus hard to acquire metal, almost everyone in the world has plenty of it to to all sorts of crazy things, and it pops up in vast quantities basically anytime someone needs a magic rock. There's really nothing to suggest your technology couldn't require it, and thus fuel more of AIM's (ZEAL's?) criminal endeavors to acquire enough to feed its desire for power.

Ah, the Kryptonite level of scarcity. Okay, I may as well use it then (with one remote design goal being to somehow replace it with something else).

An amusing sidenote: I started out writing this character as a largely normal if unusually intelligent and inventive person of a certain type I know of that just happens to exist in this universe. The Red Ghost connection was mostly a last-moment idea that amused me.

The more I think of it and read up on him, though, the more it makes sense:
 - He exposed himself to cosmic rays to give himself superpowers. She tried, unsuccessfully, to give herself superpowers with her father's device when she was seven;
 - He is a lifelong Communist. She probably isn't, at least not exactly, but she does have a profound distrust of the various powers that be and a tendency towards materialism and rationalism;
 - His last act (until he gets revived again in any case) was to try and leave a lasting legacy by protecting the entire world, which is pretty much her motivation too;
 - Both are pretty arrogant and reckless in general (okay, that might be a more general comic scientist trait).

There are probably some other points too. Basically, she is someone who could easily have ended up following in her great-uncle's footsteps. If she hasn't (so far), it's probably largely down to her grandmother's steadying influence, plus sheer luck and the Avengers convincing her to give superheroes the benefit of the doubt. Hopefully that's Marvelous enough!
This message was last edited by the player at 08:42, Wed 12 May 2021.

Wow!  What a great character.  You deserve a much more detailed answer than I am giving to you now.  Don't worry about giving more info than less.  Any GM would kill for that.

One thing I like about Counterforce.  Early Marvel Comics had the jingoism of the Cold War (as did most pop culture of the time).  To be fair, Stan Lee and the other writers did show a more balanced and human side to the 'godless commie Reds' then might have been expected.

I'm glad that we will get to show a character from the other side of the world (in so many ways) that is every bit as much as hero as a native New Yorker. :-)

Thanks!

By the way, my fallback character ideas were a Newborn (possibly a Phoenix clone, or an attempt to create one using a separate spark of the Phoenix Force) or an Outsider (Skrull? Kree? Atlantean? Plenty of options).

I am pretty satisfied with what I ended up making for my first choice, and I feel content to be one person at a time for now. Besides, I think the opening scene has enough things going on as it is! Still, it could be interesting to develop any of those possibilities for later use in this game. Not sure which one would be most fun yet though.

I didn't really have a fallback. I have an idea for a secondary now. But she is zany crazy and probably overpowered.

No such thing as overpowered in Masks, I think. :)

Novas are,  by definition,  overpowered.

Oh, given the ex-Soviet connections here, any connection to Omega Red? He's a frequent opponent of Wolverine and so known to Jubilee.

Probably not to him directly, but to the people who worked on the super soldier project he was enhanced by? Quite possibly. I think she'd definitely know of him and the cybernetic experiments that gave him his tentacles.

This is all great!  I'm looking forward to seeing it in the game.  You don't have to do anything else for now. :-)

I'd like to make a character for team 01C. Can I have "Exemplar"?
This message was last updated by the GM at 17:04, Sun 25 July 2021.

Done!  :)
This message was last updated by the GM at 17:05, Sun 25 July 2021.

Hero Name: Exemplar
Real Name: E’Llar

Look: whatever she feels like; whatever she feels like; whatever she feels like; whatever she feels like; whatever she feels like

(Alternatively: woman/shifting; Skrull/variable; laughing eyes; casual clothing; no costume)

Abilities:
Skrull shapeshifting, weapon formation

Labels:
Danger 0
Freak +1
Savior -1
Superior +2
Mundane +1

Conditions:
Afraid [ ], Angry [ ], Guilty [ ], Hopeless [ ], Insecure [ ]

Backstory:

How did you get your powers?

“By hatching from an egg. You don’t know much about us Skrulls, do you? It’s understandable, your planet is quite backwards. Some… rare, unfortunate exceptions aside, we all possess this ability at birth. It’s why we call ourselves the Changing People. I really can’t begin to imagine how sad it must be, to be locked forever in one form as you poor aliens are… At any rate, while we all change, some, such as myself, have a greater innate talent for it. Then there is a matter of training, in which quite naturally I also excelled. Surely you did not think that we would send anyone short of a true… exemplar to assist your amusing little program?”

Even if they themselves may not realise it. Tch. This is their idea of a punishment, of course… sending me to this dreary ball of mud as some token diplomatic gesture after the latest crisis. The natives would be awed and impressed by the Empress dispatching one of her own relatives, not realising that it is a “misbehaving” minor relative. Not a bad ploy, except the Empress fails to understand how much more gifted I am than any of my peers! It is as if all of the power over change that was meant to be my brother’s went into me, instead. “Undisciplined”? Pah! I have already shown them what I have learned to do. Hardly my fault if our trainers are too blind to understand it.

What do you do for fun?

“You really don’t know much about Skrulls. Why, pretend to be one of you, of course! Or rather… many of you. Sometimes I impersonate your celebrities and see how long it takes for their admirers to spot me. At other times, I take the form of someone in authority and test the strength of your security measures. More mundane humans can also be fun, on occasion. I may even be someone you know, a relative, a friend… At other times, I take the form of one of your planet’s lower creatures and eavesdrop on your secret conversations! Oh, don’t give me that look. I am doing your people a favour. You are all so soft and careless, and this helps keep you on your toes.”

If I have the gift, I may as well use it. Otherwise, what is the point? I swear, the adults are so pathetic with their whining about those hideous alien forms that they would only take on for the sake of the mission. The humans aren’t much to look at, sure, but I don’t see how it’s demeaning to copy one’s appearance – or that of local insects, for that matter. It’s our birthright to look as whatever catches our fancy for a moment. Besides, making sure you get all the small details right and seeing how far you can get is… fun. As is lying, trespassing, eavesdropping… haven’t done as much stealing or vandalism on this world yet, but that’s mostly because it’s so dirt poor.

Who, outside the team, thinks better of you than you do?

“Are you insinuating something, human? What does your species call it – low self-esteem? Because I assure you – my esteem for myself far exceeds any comparable emotion in the members of your species. Even among my own, I doubt that anyone can appreciate myself as much as I do! Although my relatives, the Empress and Chancellor E’Ktor, clearly think highly of me indeed, or else they would not have sent me.”

The Empress does not know me, she just looked at me and waved me off, and my uncle… Well, thinking about it, he did say something cryptic about how I might exceed my expectations, but he always was a strange old fool. Perhaps he really wants peace with Earth, and thinks I would bring it about? Senile near-fossil. The Empress only keeps him around to fool aliens, anyway.

My little brother, E’Rgor. If anyone in the universe truly appreciates me, other than myself, it must be him. At least, he better.

Why do you try to be a hero?

“Try? We Skrulls are natural-born heroes, even if some fall short of that potential. We possess courage, honour, guile – all necessary heroic qualities. We protect hundreds of planets and their inhabitants, Skrull and alien alike, from the wretched Kree and other threats. As for myself, of course I followed in my ancestors’ footsteps. It would not do for a royal to do less than the commoners. The universe clearly needs my help – beginning with your planet. Feel honoured!”

Well, they should be. Still… As if I have a choice. Training and service are mandatory – don’t they know that? I wouldn’t have minded fighting, but the military academy was full of idiots. The instructors tried to treat me like I was some ordinary, talentless recruit, and my “fellow cadets”… well. At least I showed them. Only I get to talk about my family like that. Pity I got caught, though. “Cheating in my exams”, as if I’d even care except for the opportunity the sparring sessions gave me… Well, anyway. Now that I’m on Earth, I may as well have fun with it. I’ve heard that it’s a trouble magnet, so there should be plenty of opportunities to show them what I can do. Show my instructors, too. Show them all!

Why do you care about the team?

“Care is too strong a word. I take pity on them. They are obviously doomed without my help – soft earthlings all. Consider my keeping them from getting themselves killed a gesture of good will from the Skrull Empire.”

…They’re not so bad, as far as soft, weak, stupid aliens go. Sometimes I can almost feel a sense of… kinship, as absurd as that sounds. Maybe because they, too, are slightly underrated by their kind? But I must never tell them that. It would only go to their heads.

Relationships:

You keep trying to impress _________________ with your antics.

You and ________________ pulled an awesome (if illegal) stunt together.

Influence:
You care way more than you let on. Give three teammates Influence over you.

Moves:

Mary Contrary: When someone tries to pierce your mask, comfort or support you, or provoke you, you can interfere. Roll + Superior. On a hit, they take a -2 on their roll. On a 10+, you also take Influence over them or clear a condition. On a miss, they get a 10+ no matter what they rolled and you mark a condition of their choice.

Team? What team?: When you use Team selfishly, clear a condition or mark potential. The first time in a session that you use Team to help a teammate, take +1 forward.

Are you watching closely?: When you mislead, distract, or trick someone, roll + Superior. On a hit, they are fooled, at least for a moment. On a 10+, choose three. On a 7-9, choose two.
- you get an opportunity
- you expose a weakness or flaw
- you confuse them for some time
- you avoid further entanglement
On a miss, you’re hopelessly embroiled in it and under pressure; mark a condition.

Moment of Truth:
This is when you show them what you really are. Whether you’re the hero underneath the rebel facade...or the one who can make the hard choices heroes can’t make. You do whatever it takes to show that truth, whether it’s saving the day from a terrible villain or stopping a bad guy once and for all. Of course, once you’ve shown what you really are, there’s no going back to playing the clown...

Team Moves:
When you share a triumphant celebration with someone, ask them if they think you’re cool. If they say yes, give them Influence and take Influence over them. If they say no, mark a condition or spurn them immediately. If they’re a teammate, then either way, add a Team to the pool.

When you share a vulnerability or weakness with someone, give them Influence over you, and ask them who they’d like you to be. Mark potential if you show them that person. If they’re a teammate, add a Team to the pool no matter what.

Potential:
[ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]

Advances used:
This message was last edited by the player at 04:29, Mon 26 July 2021.

Long story short: a Delinquent from a Skrull planet pretending to be a regal and haughty Outsider on Earth; but actually still just a Delinquent at heart. The arrogant superior yet strangely ignorant alien isn't 100% an act... maybe 50%. However, she is very committed to it, both for laughs and because she doesn't really know how else to interact with people. I think that's a pretty Delinquent-like modus operandi, as is the use of tricky powers and needling her teammates and others, which she absolutely will do.

Let me know if I need to tone her down, though, or change anything else.

By the way, from what I understand, the Skrulls have not been mentioned yet. That presumably gives me some freedom to piece together the local canon. With that in mind, I think of these Skrull as being closer to their earlier portrayals. A massive, highly advanced, yet decadent feudal empire in space. Its efforts are undermined by its own internal intrigues and complacent arrogance, but it remains a credible threat through sheer size and resources. Its Throneworld hasn't been destroyed by anyone yet, there have been coups but no total breakdown, and the religious fundamentalists of Secret Invasion are at most an extremist faction with no power (I honestly find their whole thing rather boring by comparison, at least from what I've read about them). Earth is only of some limited interest to the powers that be, though whether sending Exemplar is really just a token gesture is up to you. Also, various "historical" disasters may yet hit the Skrull Empire in the future. They just haven't happened yet (as the Watcher said about other events).
This message was last updated by the GM at 17:06, Sun 25 July 2021.

I like her! She is gonna be annoying as heck until we can get her to lighten up. :P Plus starting with a fresh Skrull Empire rather than one that's had all its stories told is a great way to give us some potential cosmic field trips.
This message was last updated by the GM at 17:07, Sun 25 July 2021.

Yep, definitely an interesting character.  I am always up for Cosmic based adventures after all :)  As long as the Super-skrull isn't her Uncle or something :P

Her uncle is actually a rare peace-loving Skrull who serves as Chancellor and wants her mission here to succeed in fostering goodwill on both sides down the line. The Empress, on the other hand (this one: https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/R%27Klll_(Earth-616) ) only appointed him to make the aliens let their guards down, and only sent an unwanted distant relative here to achieve the same end while she works on the next big scheme.

I love it!  Welcome Exemplar!   Although, it would be hard to deny a Skrull membership.  A shapeshifting delinquent is a wicked combination.  Let's see what happens.

Spoiler for those who have seen the Captain Marvel movie.

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Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
One thing I liked about the Captain Marvel movie was that the shape-shifting Skrull were actually, if not the good guys exactly, were more sympathetic than the Kree.  And this is neat because shape-shifting is innately a deceitful power even if it used for good.  It makes you wonder, could Mystique have been anything else but a villain?  My understanding is that she was born 'different' but didn't get her powers until later so that is a formative decade of abuse and prejudice that would sour a soul.  It does help explain her one dubbed line in the original X-Men movie.

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