Super-Vision #4: Tales from the Secret Crypt of Mystery

Greetings, ghosts and ghouls! Welcome to the Halloween edition of Super-Vision. As All Hallows Eve approaches, we turn our attention to all that is dark and spooky in the superheroic world of Mutants & Masterminds, and there are some dark things indeed lurking in the shadows, just waiting for you. Read on about them, if you dare...

Product Update: So Dark The Night...

Coming to you soon (and heading out to print as this is written) is Christopher McGlothlin's Noir sourcebook on film noir settings and stories for Mutants & Masterminds. Folks used to the bright and shiny four-color adventures of Christopher's Time of Crisis are in for a surprise, since Noir is anything but bright and shiny, and any hope it offers is sure to be dashed. Here's what you can expect to see in the pages of Noir:

Chapter One: Dark Passage is all about creating film noir characters, with a twist: these palookas and dames may have super-powers! In addition to talking about how to apply existing M&M skills, feats, and powers to Noir characters, the chapter provides new character creation options. Among them are systems for Wealth and Reputation based on material from d20 Modern. There're also new feats like Force of Personality (allowing you to base your Will save on Charisma rather than Wisdom), Protective Presence (substituting your Charisma modifier for your Dexterity to determine your dodge bonus), and Light Sleeper, because it's best in Noir to rest with one eye open. You also get a look at power sources, devices, and information on guns used in the genre in "The Guide to Noir Gats."

Chapter Two: The Night Has a Thousand Eyes is for the Gamemaster. It's all about how to create that film noir feel. What are the themes of the genre? How do they show up in stories? What are all the classic elements of a good Noir adventure? The chapter tells you all of it.

Chapter Three: The Asphalt Jungle presents the City, a complete Noir setting. Its shadowy streets and seedy dives could be anywhere. That's for you to decide. From the waterfront to midtown, from the shores of Creighton Lake to the streets of Little Italy, from the boxcars of the Rail Yards to the desolate alleys of Skid Row, this chapter shows you the City and all of its dark corners where trouble is waiting. This chapter also looks at using Freedom City as a Noir setting.

Chapter Four: They Live by Night details Noir personalities, usable with the City or a setting of your own creation. To call them heroes would overstate the matter, but they're the people trying to do some good, or at least trying to survive without having to cross that line too many times. Enigmatic figures like the Black Bowman, the Nightwalker, and the Dead Man's Hand inhabit the City, potential allies or adversaries (or both) for your Noir characters.

Chapter Five: Ministry of Fear talks about the real underside of the City, with fearsome foes like the Butcher and Stiletto, the madness of the Directress, or the sly seduction of Lady Anaka. Here are the antagonists to spice up your Noir adventures, and make the shadows of the City seem bright by comparison. As a bonus, you’ll also find information on the Scorpio Circle, four heroes of the Meta-4 universe during the 1930s, including Mister Mystery and the Pugilist!

The book wraps up with a filmography and viewing guide to inspire you to create your own tales in the black and white world of film noir.

Noir will be 64 pages, in atmospheric black & white, available in late November at game stores everywhere.

The Halloween Sale of Terror!

For those of you who haven't seen, Green Ronin is having a Halloween sale to celebrate the opening of our new online store. Among the fearsome products on sale is our award-winning Nocturnals sourcebook. If you haven't already acquired this complete, lavishly illustrated guide to Dan Brereton's spooky pulp horror comic series, hop on over to the Green Ronin store before they disappear back into the shadows!

[ Visit the Green Ronin Online Store ]

Masterminding: Fear and Horror

Generally you don't think of superheroes being afraid. They bravely face terrible danger on a routine basis to safeguard the world from harm. Still, there are forces that can send a shiver up even a superhero's spine, and fear is sometimes a power or weapon of villains. Here are some ways you can include elements of fear and horror in your Mutants & Masterminds games:

New Power: Terror

Cost: 2
Action: Half
Range: Sight
Duration: Concentration
Saving Throw: Will

Choose a target in your line of sight. If the target fails the Will save, he is shaken and suffers a –2 on attack rolls, defense, and checks. Failure by 5 or more means the subject is frightened and will also flee from the source of the fear (specified by you) as quickly as possible. Failure by 10 or more means the subject is panicked, dropping any held items and fleeing blindly from the source of the fear. A panicked subject who is cornered cowers, dazed, and does not attack (most likely using full defense instead). The subject's fear lasts for as long as you concentrate to maintain the effect (taking a half action each round to do so).

Extras

• Duration: For one extra, your Terror is Sustained, requiring only a free action each round to maintain. For an additional extra, it is Continuous and lasts for an entire encounter without any need for you to maintain it.
• Nightmares: Your Terror is accompanied by hallucinations of whatever the subject fears. The subject reacts to the terrifying hallucinations as if they were real.
• Suffocating Fear: For two extras, if the subject fails the Will save against your Terror, he must also begin making Constitution checks to suffocation for as long as the Terror lasts.

The Terror power is especially suited to fear-based villains, such as Fear-Master and the Silver Scream from Foes of Freedom.

Mental Strain

Mental strain represents the psychological damage caused by terrible experiences: horror, violence, and trauma. When confronted by these things, some people collapse under the strain. This variant is most appropriate for very realistic settings where characters are expected to deal with terrible situations and their consequences. When confronted with a particularly stressful situation, characters make Stability saving throws using their Charisma modifier (representing the character's sense of self and force of personality). Players can improve Stability saves using the Amazing Save power, just like other saving throws, to represent heroes more hardened to mental shock and trauma. The DC of the save depends on the circumstances:

DC	Situation
10	Witness a friend killed. Kill an enemy in the heat of battle.
15	Witness a gruesome death or torture. Suffer torture.
20	Witness a friend or loved one killed in a terrible manner. Commit murder.
25	Commit cold-blooded murder. Witness death and destruction on a vast scale.
30	Terrible, cosmic horror.

If you succeed on the Stability save, nothing happens; you manage to deal with the circumstances and move on. If you fail the save, then your character momentarily loses control. You, the player, have three choices:

• The character becomes panicked and attempts to flee as quickly as possible. If unable to do so, the character cowers helplessly.
• The character becomes helpless, cowering, curled up in the fetal position, or just standing dumbstruck and unaware.
• You spend a hero point and the character is dazed for one round, taking no action, but defending normally. The character then shakes off the horror of the situation and acts normally.

The first two effects last for the duration of the encounter (more or less at the GM's discretion). Spending a hero point at any time during either effect allows the hero to shake it off immediately.

Option: Mental Strain and Weaknesses: If desired, mental strain can have a long-term impact as well as a short-term one. When a character fails a Stability save, in addition to the normal effects, the character racks up mental strain points with a value equal to the save's DC/10. So a failed Stability save vs. a DC of 20 results in 2 mental strain points. When the character accumulates 10 of these strain points, he acquires a new Weakness related to the mental strain. This is usually a Quirk, but mental strain can have strange and even supernatural effects on some characters. The player and Gamemaster should cooperate to come up with Weaknesses suited to the nature of the mental strain that caused them. If you're using the optional Weakness rules from the M&M Annual, the characters can build up lower-level Weaknesses from 2 or 5 points of accumulated mental strain.

Superlink Spotlight: Metahumans

This month's Superlink Spotlight product isn't really all that scary—far from it, in fact. Metahumans, from Body Count Entertainment, is a collection of characters for M&M campaigns. The book does have some parts well suited to Halloween adventures, however.

The 54-page black and white book is broken down into four sections. The first is heroes, such as the members of the Liberty Society and Dr. Infinity and his Infinity Men. Part Two is villains, including the Anarchy Syndicate (which includes a power level 10 machine controlling dog who looks like Spuds Mackenzie) and solo villains like Diabolique, the Gecko, Lady Star, the hideous Leech, and the mysterious Mothman. Vigilantes take up Part Three, including the Peacekeepers team, willing to use any means necessary to fight the forces of evil, and solo vigilantes like the Demon, a one-man crusade against crime.

In Part Four we get some new powers, many of which are suitable for spooky, mystic, or horror adventures, including Blessed, Dream Invasion, Dream Manipulation, Faith, and an expansive Vampirism power you can really "sink your teeth into." Also included are the vampire's traditional weaknesses and ways to fight the bloodsuckers. Perfect for that vampiric villain in your next game!

Metahumans sells for $12.95 plus $3.00 shipping (anywhere in the world) and is available from Body Count Entertainment online at lukedesade.com.