STRANGEWAYS CHRONICLES, vol.1, no.2
		Written by: Robert Dagnall (dagnall@ocf.berkeley.edu)
		Covering the period from: March 4, 1990--


	The first run of the campaign took place last Saturday.  I will here
present a brief description of each of the characters used...eventually I will
type them out and send them to everyone in detail.

	LINK LARSON--Link is the sidekick to the Sentinels of Liberty, a Bay
Area-based superteam.  Perhaps I should say he *was* the sidekick to the team,
as they disappeared without a trace a little more than a month ago.  Link has
not given up hope that they are alive, but doubts are creeping in as time wears
on.  Usually a cheery fellow, he has lapsed into depression due to the loss of
his friends/comrades.
	Link is a character with an agents' characteristics and many foci; he
might be called a gadgeteer, as he has a gadget pool, but he is more than that.
He possesses a number of foci culled from the personal armories of the 
Sentinels, items he was able to retrieve before their base was sealed by the
government pending further investigation.  Link's player is saving points to 
buy the base; thus, eventually, it will be released to him, and perhaps the
PCs will occupy it.

	MIKE WOLFER--Mike was a normal human being until the events of the 
first scenario.  The players' original conception was one of a demon who had 
been summoned, then broken free to do what he would, but I saw an opportunity
to insert him into the flow of things, discussed it with the player, and
the result can be seen under the description of the first session, which will
follow in issue 3 of this series.
	Mike is basically a martial artist.  His skin has an orange cast, and
if the players' drawing can be used to judge, he has a very stocky build.  
Mike was a biker until his transformation, and retains his Harley, bought as
a vehicle.

	HARLEQUIN--Harlequin is a breed of super-clown, with a Variable Power
Pool (Cosmic, silly effects) used to make cream pies (Flash), hippity-hoppers
(those round things you sit and bounce on, bought as Running), silly string
(Entangle), seltzer bottles (I don't know what he uses those for, other than
to help other characters clean off the pies he's thrown) and the like.  I may
be wrong in referring to Harlequin as 'he'--the player drew Harlequin as a 
female, and has hinted that he/she/it might be a hermaphrodite.  I'll figure 
this out next session.  Harlequin is skilled at finding things to break its
falls, and also purchased 2 extra lives (from Dragon #100).  I normally do not
allow unofficial powers, but this seemed to fit well with the character.
Basically, it means that Harlequin gets 2 extra chances; if it's killed, it'll
pop back up--twice.  After that, it's dead, permanently (barring unusual 
circumstances).  Each Extra Life disappears once used, and they may only be
bought when the character first comes into being.  

	GREEN ELF--The name pretty well describes her appearance.  Slight, 
pointed ears, green skin.  Her primary ability is creating images; she can
make her images solid and generate other special effects which are consistent
with the images; for example, she can create an image of a gun and do a small
(1 or 2 dice) RKA from it.  She does not consider herself combat material, and
tends to use her powers to distract and harass rather than directly oppose
adversaries.

	KITTY--Kitty is a humanoid with feline features, including a tail.  
Kitty also has powerful teleport abilities, including an 'auto-blink' which
serves as a defense.  We are still hammering the mechanics of this power out, 
but it seems to be shaping up as a 5" Teleport with Trigger: triggered by
incoming attacks, Limitations of Random Direction, and a Side Effect of
Dirorientation after use.  The Trigger will sense attacks through Danger Sense,
bought at a -1 limitation as it only works for the trigger, not the character.
Kitty's main attack is an NND which her passengers enjoy, a la Nightcrawler.
The defense is a CON roll, and she must make it as well or she takes the
damage.  I disagree with the player's buying +10 DEX and +3 SPD through an
Elemental Control set up expressly for that purpose, so he and I are going to
have a discussion about this.  I'm sure we'll get the character shipshape by
the next session.

	PANTHER--Panther is an unusual character; he is a human who shifts 
to the form of a large cat, and also to the form of an elderly Chinese 
gentleman.  Panther has prodigious acting skills, a wide variety of martial
maneuvers, extra PRE bought only for PRE attacks (his roar, I think), and
'repulsor rays'--a 7d6 EB with Double Knockback and a high END Cost.  

	Is it just me, or does this group seem to have more than its share of
cat people?

	ZEPHYR--Zephyr is possibly my favorite character, speaking from a GM's
point of view.  She's very simple, mechanics-wise: an Elemental Control with
Flight and a respectable +15 PD +15 ED Force Field, perhaps with 1/2 END Cost.
She is knowledgable about biology and has teaching skills, to boot.  Her 
primary offensive ability lies in her 40 STR. 

**********  Questions & Comments from me

	This team seems to be a bit shy on Energy Projectors, heavy on the
Martial Artist-types.  Further, the martial artists aren't very powerful.  I
am somewhat concerned that the team will not prove versatile, but we shall see.

	The group may split in half next week; half staying here, half going to
Brian (Kitty)'s campaign.  Nothing's definite yet.  The split involves the
two different campaign flavors.  Some of the players, mostly those who 
have played with Brian before, have expressed an interest in playing with him.
There is also the possibility that the entire group will play in both 
campaigns, though that will put a strain on all of our academic workloads!

	How would you work Kitty's auto-blink power?  The player wants to be
able to teleport out of the way of any attack.  Since it's a short-range 'port,
Area Effect attacks will still catch her.  Further, as a movement power, you 
can only do one half-move if you abort your next phase (correct me if I'm 
wrong), meaning that Kitty will blink out of harm's way once, then be a 
sitting duck for the next incoming shot or shots.
	I have recommended Missile Deflection; teleporting around could be the
special effect of the power.  For defense hand-to-hand attacks, Kitty could buy
several levels in DCV.  Tuck both of these in a Multipower, perhaps.  Alter-
nately, Kitty could purchase several levels in Dodge, which protects against
both ranged and h-t-h attacks. 
	The player insists on Teleport, however; he cites the 'Blink' power
from GURPS Supers, which I'm not familiar with.  Does anybody else have any
information/ideas which would help simulate this?

	What does everyone think of this series of reports?  Does it look 
as though it holds some promise?  What would you like to see in future in-
stallments?

**********  Questions and Comments from others

	Wayne Wallace writes:
>When you write up the characters, don't forget to put in their origins!=
>just because humanity is undergoing "stress" doesn't mean that there aren't
>logical explanations(ie because of gene x, johnny-boy became firestar
>when the burning house his baby sister was in was about to kill her.).
>We need things like: the cosmic ray altered johnny-boy's DNA & RNA in such a
>way that he became attuned to the motion of high-energy molecules(heat) and
>can now control them to:
>set people aflame, no heat ray necessary, disperse flames, keep flames away
>from him, etc.

	This refers to the section in issue 1 where I explained the Pandora
theory, which hypothesizes that superpowers are a result of stress on the
collective psyche of humanity.  I chose not to use genetic mutation precisely
because others have used it--witness the mutants in Marvel comics.  Further,
I think that ascribing superpowers to a function of the human mind instead of
the human DNA makes more sense; this way, superpowers may manifest according
to some unconscious idea of the person involved, lending them coherence.  
Superbeings are the dreams and nightmares of mankind made flesh; the powers
similarly reflect the personalities of their wielders.  
	Of course, there are exceptions to this; this may be due to some deep-
seated and unknown part of the super's personality, some outside factors, etc.
	I've also considered adding a requirement that all characters have at 
least one or two Psychological Limitations; it stands to reason that if the
Pandora Effect causes one's desires and fears to manifest, it might augment
other parts of one's personality as well.
	Someday I'll write all this up in the form of a scientific paper, 
something presented at a colloquium on superphenomena in the Strangeways 
world that the players will have access to.

	Wayne also writes:
>So get the next installment done soon! and NEVER worry about length 

	I'm typing these as fast as I can; I have enough material to make 
perhaps two or three more installments.  By the time I get those out the next
session should have taken place, which will provide more grist for this mill.
One of the keys to this series is going to be input from you; without that,
it's possible I'll run out of things to say.  So if you want a steady flow of
ideas, contribute some of your own for discussion!
	I ended #1 at that point because it seemed a good place to break.  I
didn't want the campaign background and the character descriptions to blur
together.  By cutting there I also encouraged people to focus on this back-
ground, which will hopefully lead to some feedback.
	For those of you with campaigns:  how did you go about setting them 
up?  What questions did feel needed to be addressed before actual play?

		Goodbye for now!
		Robert Dagnall