STRANGEWAYS CHRONICLES, vol.1, no.3
		Written by: Robert Dagnall (dagnall@ocf.berkeley.edu)
		Covering the period from: March 6, 1990--


**********  Questions and comments 

	I've decided that it is better to include everyone's comments on what
has gone before near the beginning of each installment, rather than at the
end.  This creates a nice segue from one issue to the next.  Similarly, my
questions will appear at the end of each issue, capping off the presentation
of material with calls for discussion of specific areas.

	Michael O'Connor writes wondering what the starting point levels for
characters in my campaign are.  I believe I forgot to include this in my
earlier communiques:  the criteria for beginning characters were 250 points,
give or take a few if they have a really nifty effect and don't have quite 
enough points to achieve it; attacks a maximum of 60 active points, defenses
a maximum of 25 active points.  These mechanical considerations were supple-
mented by the following:  I told players that aliens, whether from other worlds
or lost terrestrial civilizations, were discouraged as I felt they would 
require a great deal of work to make their existance consistent with other
campaign elements.  Contact with alien races would, I believe, have a number
of consequences for our culture, a topic which is not generally addressed in
the major comic titles.  If a player wished to run an alien, he and I would 
sit down and map out some of its relations to our culture, reactions to its
existance, its different viewpoints, etc.  Nobody has taken up the challenge
this presents yet, but I hope they'll approach me in the future.  As an 
Anthro major, this would be a fascinating exercise...
	In my first newsletter, I closed with a manifesto of sorts for my 
campaign.  If this were literature, it would be the main theme, or the moral of
the story.  This is: I am attempting in all aspects of my campaign to treat
the unrealistic and the fantastic in a logical, consistent manner.  I applied
this to player-characters, as well.  If they have a suit of powered armor, I
want the player to consider who might want to discover its secrets, and what 
the PC has done to protect himself and his invention.  In one of Joel 
Rosenberg's books, a character counsels another to 'think it through'...that
is another requirement in my campaign.  Rather than a restriction, I find that
doing so suggests many new ideas for adventures.  They seem to grow roots and
branches in my mind the more I think about them.

	About Kitty's auto-blink power, partially described in issue 2:  
Several people have suggested ways to construct such a power.  Several levels
in DCV usable against both hand-to-hand and ranged attacks would work, save for
the fact that the player wants to move around, as well.  Another good idea is
Missile Deflection, with the Side Effect of a random teleport and perhaps a 
Flash on the character, to simulate disorientation.  Yet a third idea is to 
make the Danger Sense that Triggers the 'port sensitive to attacks which do
BODY only.  Kitty would then blink out of the way of bullets, but a gas 
grenade would affect her.
	As before, I have reservations about the concept of this power.  If one
can avoid any attack, is that not a perfect defense, regardless of whether or
not one is disoriented by the effort.  Kitty's not guiding the port; even if
she was nauseated by the rapid, unexpected shifting, the power would still
protect her.
	Also, according to the rules as I see them, building this as a movement
power presents another problem:  that of burning up one's phases and aborted
actions.  Let's say someone shoots at Kitty when it's not her phase.  This
Triggers her blink, and she Teleports 3" away, avoiding the shot.  Fine--I 
believe it's legal to perform a half-phase action when you abort your next 
phase.  But what happens if a second gunman fires on her in the same phase?
She has already aborted, and therefore cannot perform another action.  The 
player's conception of the power as a short-range Teleport doesn't seem to 
work well in this example...one reason I favor the idea of combat levels over
Teleport or even Missile Deflection (which doesn't work vs. h-t-h attacks).
Still, as I've said, the player is fixed on moving when this happens, not just
as a special effect but in a real sense, changing his postition through what
is effectively a 0-phase action.  What do you think?

	I mentioned 'setting up a party line' previously; it would be 
interesting to me to chat in real-time with people who receive this mailing.
Mike O'Connor mentions 'Internet Relay Chat'; does anyone know how this works
and what it does?

	About the distribution of supertechnology in my campaign:  I was caught
in a bind when I considered its place in the scheme of things.  If agents have
it, I'm sure the Pentagon would have it as well, yet I did not want to 
radically alter the current state of our armed forces, or for that matter the
kind of technology available to the average consumer.  While teleportation as a
common method of travel is an interesting possibility, I wanted to ground my
campaign in the here-and-now rather than introduce all kinds of world-shaking
concepts (not that supers aren't world-shaking, mind you!  But they're not so
common as to revolutionize the way of life for most people).  At the same time,
I have to admit that I like gadgets, so I wanted them in my world...  I think
I have struck a balance between the two extremes of distributing supertech, and
I think it makes sense, even if it is a bit tenuous.  Again, this is not an
issue which has been adequately addressed in the source material.  Does anyone
know of innovative ways of limiting the spread of supertech that I might 
add to the things I've already done?
	Michael O'Connor contributed a scenario idea which grew from this 
topic:  "I had a campaign adventure based on the ending of "Raiders
Of The Lost Ark", where there was a warehouse with tons of ancient, powerful
artifacts and such owned by the U.S. Govt.  Let's just say that a couple of
the artifacts had opposite alignments and New York turned into hell.  Not
that it isn't ALREADY hell, but..."  hee hee hee...

	Michael didn't like what I said about supers, that they're common in
my world.  Let me clarify that.  They are about as common as people with
unusual abilities such as eidetic memory, speed reading, lightning calculation,
etc. are.  Supers are by no means everyday sights, and they still inspire 
wonder in the most jaded of us.  The best analogy I can think of is the 
status of celebrities:  everyone knows they exist, yet it's *still* exciting 
to meet one in person (at least, to meet some of them :-) ).  This hasn't 
changed in some sixty or seventy years of filmmaking, and later, television
coverage.  I refused to work out a demographic estimate of superbeings because
I didn't want to be bound by such a thing; there are as many supers as I need
to create the feel I want.  

	About Kitty's EC with DEX and SPD in it...I used to purchase Character-
istics in ECs as well, and I know from experience that it's a good way to 
shave points.  Which is precisely my objection to Kitty's EC.  It's nothing 
more than a coupon to reduce the cost of those two characteristics.  There are
no other slots in the Elemental Control.  To me, it seems obvious what's afoot
here, and I don't think it's justified merely by writing "Cat abilities" at 
the top of the EC.

	The rationale for Panther's repulsor rays, as I understand it, is 
magic of some sort.  I have yet to procure copies of character sheets from 
some of the players, as you can tell, but I'm letting them run their characters
on their own recognizance, as it were, for the time being.  

	From some of the difficulties I'm having with nailing down exactly how
some of the characters were built, I think an audit might be in order.  It's 
also in keeping with the season...

	Requiring Psych Limits would be a quirk in my world, and it would not
make a differance for characters.  I have yet to see one without a Psych Limit.
Call it a special effect of my campaign, if you will.

**********  Synopsis of campaign activity

	In this section, I will describe what happened in the latest scenario.
I'll tell this tale from an omniscient point of view, so you can tell both 
what the players are doing and thinking as well as what is unfolding behind
the scenes.

	Planning the first run was very difficult.  It's hard to find a reason
for a group of superhumans to draw together in one place; they are a 
notoriously diverse and divergent lot.  I didn't want to resort to some of the 
usual mechanisms, for example, the Bald Mentor Who Puts Out A Call For Young
Heroes, the Real Big Disaster, or even the potentially funny Master Villain's
Coming-Out Party for New Adversaries.
	No, I wanted something a bit less blunt, something insidious.  In the
Champions rules they give the example of a complex plot, wherein Hero 1 meets
Heroine 2 at a bar in Vienna, Hero 3 senses a murder with his psychic prowess
and flies in to investigate, etc.  This would be fine, save for the fact that
I did not have anyone's character sheets in front of me to plan scenarios 
around.  Thus, I had to develop a complex plot which was also open-ended.
Rather than explain the setup right off, I think it might be better to detail
what the characters did; I'll explain later.

	The session began with Zephyr at Atty. Alex Roberts' office to handle
the adjudication with her landlord.  Her landlord has begun the eviction 
process following the discovery that Zephyr is a superbeing.  Zephyr got to the
office early, and Roberts, a great fan of all things super, challenged her to 
an arm-wrestling match.  She won.  Zephyr mentioned that she didn't have much
of an idea what to do with her powers; she'd been forced 'out of the closet'
by a film of her catching cars thrown by a villain.  She now has a public ID,
whether she wants it or not.  She lost her teaching job at a local high school
as well: parents and the PTA don't like the idea of supers around fragile
children.
	Roberts suggested that he might know someone who could help, and 
contacted Link Larson, sidekick to the Bay Area superteam, the Sentinels of
Liberty.  The Sentinels disappeared, leaving no clues as to their fate, about
a month ago, and their base has been deserted since.  Link developed ties with 
Roberts while trying to settle the question of who should possess the base and
its properties now.  A meeting was arranged between Link and Zephyr, but not
before Link passed on one piece of advice about coming out as a super: "Go back
in."  
	In preparation for Link's arrival, Roberts removed the autographed 
picture of Golden Eagle, leader of the Sentinels, from his wall; he thought
it best not to remind Link of his missing comrades.  Also on Alex's wall is a
bronze plaque which reads "With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility".
	
	Elsewhere in San Francisco, the ACT (American Conservatory Theater) was
holding open auditions for a production of "Waiting for Godot", starring Robin 
Williams.  Steve Martin had fallen ill and the co-starring role opposite 
Williams was open; the director liked the idea of using fresh talent.  Panther,
with his interest and background in acting, arrived to try out.  When his turn
onstage came, he rolled a 17 on his Acting skill--the spots hit him and his
mind went blank.  He stood transfixed for seconds on end, only to be inter-
rupted by a well-thrown cram pie from Harlequin.  Harlequin loves existential
works, and rehearsals are even more...well, existential, so s/he was in the
seats for this occasion.
	Blinded by the pie (a Flash attack), Panther could not see the 
audience, and his wits reasserted themselves.  Robin Williams bounded up to the
stage, swiped a bit of merangue from Panther's cheek, and pronounced it good.  
Inspired by Williams' presence and infectious energy, Panther launched into his
character's speech about being blind.  Coupled with the pie on his face, it 
made for wonderful improv!  Williams and the director, convinced they may have
a diamond in the rough on their hands, promised to give Panther a call (and 
they will, too).
	As Panther left the building, trying to assimilate the wondrous events
of the last few minutes, Harlequin decided to accompany him--Panther looked 
like *fun* and had a great sense of humor!  Walking out of the alley along the
side of the theater building, they heard a commotion from the street ahead:
shouts, screams, and a gunshot.  Charging around the corner, they espied a 
spear-wielding figure, clad all in black, slashing a street tough across the
wrist.  The tough's gun dropped to the ground, and he ran for his life along
with a crowd of transients and other street people.  Several bodies lay in the
specter's wake, those of homeless folk who hadn't moved quickly enough.
	
	At a Safeway grocery store near downtown, Kitty decided to stop in for
a midmorning snack.  She headed for the pet food aisle with a craving for 
Fancy Feast brand cat food; she finds the liver flavor particularly tasty.  On
the way, she felt a tug on her tail, and reflexively picked up the offender
with that prehensile appendage.  It was a young child; the little girl burbled
with delight as Kitty hoisted her into the air, her tail curled about the
youngster's waist.  The girl's laughter and cries of "big kittycat" drew her
mother's attention; on seeing the strange, feline humanoid playing with her 
daughter she rushed down the aisle, plucked her child away, and hurried off,
calling Kitty a "freak" over her shoulder.
	Green Elf was also due to shop, and eventually she and Kitty bumped 
into each other near Produce.  Their unusual appearances formed a certain 
common bond between the two women, and they were engaged in conversation when a
third unusual shopper entered the store:  Mike Wolfer, riding his Harley.  

	Back to Link and Zephyr (I switched between the 3 groups to keep things
moving.  When I was working with one group, the other two groups would be
engaged in character conversations.  I took care to leave them in situations
conducive to that when I went to another group.  Role-playing in its purest.
Nonetheless, it was difficult to juggle the multiple plotlines and keep 
everything straight in my head).  They had decided to go out for breakfast with
Alex and talk at greater length.  Zephyr's landlord was late for their appoint-
ment, which justified putting that issue off for another day.  As they walked 
down the street to a cafe, a car passed overhead.  A winged man was carrying
it, and the car's sole occupant, a middle-aged man in a suit, was honking the
horn and screaming for the police from the driver's-side window.  As the car
hove out of view around a corner, Zephyr picked up Link and flew off in 
pursuit.  Alex hailed a cab, and took advantage of the opportunity to say 
"Follow that flying car!"
	The winged man ignored them as they approached.  Link, noting the 
similarity this person bore to Golden Eagle, tried contacting him on their
special radio frequency, but there was no indication that his hailings were
being received.  Zephyr dropped Link off inside the car--he scrambled through
the passenger's window--to assist the driver, then flew in front of the being
carrying the car, impeding his progress.  She demanded that he put the car
down safely; he looked at her and ordered her to move aside.  "Now, look," she
began...at which point he made a Grab for her.  I rolled a 3 for his attack:
Zephyr found that she couldn't pry his fingers from her throat, as he was far
stronger than she, and was only released when he flung her aside.  She rocketed
through the facing wall of an office building, crashing through several 
interior partitions and offices before coming to a halt.  Fortunately, no one
was hurt by her passage or by falling debris outside.  Zephyr got her bearings
and charged back out the way she'd come in.
	Meanwhile, the car had lurched to one side when 'Golden Eagle' released
one of his handholds to attack Zephyr.  The car's owner, Phillip Stump, was not
wearing his seatbelt, but Link caught him before he tumbled out the window.
Link instructed the man to open the door.  Phillip asked him if he was crazy,
and verbally abused Link as one of those dangerous supertypes.  As he refused
to cooperate, Link decided it was time to take action, and quieted him by 
bouncing his head off the door frame, just hard enough to knock Stump out.
Link then reached over and pulled the door handle; both of them hurtled toward
the street below.  
	Golden Eagle, seeing this, cried "No!" and let go of the car; he 
caught Mr. Stump, pulled out of his power dive, and continued on his way with
the unconscious man in his arms.  Zephyr arrived in time to catch the 
plummeting car before it landed on the traffic and pedestrians below, and Link
slowed his fall with his flight gadget (a ring, I think), making a perfect soft
landing.  Zephyr deposited the car on the sidewalk without so much as a scratch
and once more she and Link flew off in pursuit.
	They arrived at the Exxon Corporation's office towers in time to see
Golden Eagle alight with his burden and enter the lobby.  Following, they 
found that the elevator with their quarry had ascended to the 42nd floor.  
Link popped a pill which gave him great strength for a brief time, wrenched the
doors aside, and they flew up the elevator shaft.  Zephyr shoved the elevator
car above the 42nd floor, Link repeated the door-opening maneuver, and the
pair rushed down a hallway, following the alarmed glances of office workers.
They came upon Golden Eagle settling Mr. Stump behind his desk; then the Eagle
turned to leave.  Not this time, thought Zephyr.  She went to Grab him but 
missed, and he ducked past her.  Link checked Stump's vital signs; he was alive,
though he'd have a nasty bruise.  Zephyr caught up with Golden Eagle once more,
jumped in front of him, and explained that they just wanted to talk with him,
when she realized that he was no longer impassive.  In fact, he looked 
terrified!  As she spoke again, he cried out "Leave me alone!" and pushed by
her.  She heard him cry "Mom-mieeee!" as he plunged into the elevator shaft and
took off in pursuit, not knowing what to make of this latest development.
	Link opened the window in Phillip's office and flew to the ground,
arriving just as Golden Eagle, pursued by Zephyr, emerged from the building.
On the way down the shaft, Golden Eagle had punched through the elevator car
without slowing; again, it was fortunate that no one was in the way.  As Link
and Zephyr boxed him in, Eagle, tears streaming down his cheeks, curled into a
ball on the sidewalk and hugged himself--then his form shifted to that of a 
boy about seven years of age.

	Elsewhere in S.F., Harlequin and Panther moved to engage the warrior
with the spear; Harlequin threw a pie, which the figure easily ducked, and 
Panther closed the distance between himself and the killer.  A melee ensued;
at close range, Panther realized that his opponent was a woman, not a man.  He
also found that she was far more skilled at combat than he; she blocked his
attack with her naginata, brought the butt of the weapon around, and scored a 
solid blow to his jaw that sent him flying backwards, stunned and nearly 
unconscious (it was a supremely good roll--45 stun on a 10d6 attack).  
Harlequin Entangled their assailant with Silly String, but on her next phase
Naginata broke free and moved toward Harlequin.  Harlequin struck again and
missed, receiving a nasty strike to the midsection for his/her effort, and 
also fell stunned.  Panther had by this time recovered and fired off a burst
of repulsor rays, catching Naginata from behind.  Yet her incredible speed 
enabled her to dodge the full force of his attack, and she landed on her feet,
again ready to engage them.  Panther closed to hand-to-hand again, swung 
again, was blocked again, and this time received the bladed end of the spear
in a shallow cut across his ribs; his resistant defenses turned all but 1
BODY worth of the killing damage.  Harlequin swung a slapstick at the killer
but failed to do any damage.  Nonetheless, Naginata was distracted by this
strike long enough for Panther to fire another repulsor blast, this time 
striking her squarely.  The figure in black, naginata still in hand, flew
across the street and tumbled in the air attempting to make a Breakfall roll.
Unfortunately, Breakfall doesn't help when you impact a wall; she took a 
tremendous amount of damage, the wall collapsed, and all was quiet.
	Upon tending to the injured and calling the police, Panther and
Harlequin attempted to dig their enemy out of the pile of rubble.  They did not
find her; in her place was a young homeless woman, Margaret, known to the
local transients and the people at the mission.  Panther's parole officer 
arrived with the police and took everyone back to the station to get their
statements; while there, a legless man in a cart wheeled up to Panther and 
accused him of dropping a wall on Margaret, "who never did nothin' to nobody".
Panther calmed him down, and on questioning the man found that Margaret 
reportedly fell ill earlier in the day and went to use the restroom in the
mission, after which Naginata appeared and the carnage began.  

	I had spoken with Mike Wolfer's player about changing his origin; the
character lent itself perfectly to a scenario I had in mind but hadn't had
the time to draw up a villain for.  He agreed, and thus Mike Wolfer became the
third person to be transformed (more on this later, I promise).  Mike's mission
was to go shopping and gather the provisions for a romantic candlelight dinner.
I drew up a shopping list and told him to go to it, and let nothing get in his
way.  Running down the metal turnstile with his bike, he tore through the 
liquor section first for a bottle of white wine; very few bottles were left
intact after he left.  Next, at the meat counter, he snared several steaks.
By this time, Kitty and Green Elf were heading toward the roaring sound of his
motorcycle, wondering what was happening.  Mike careened around a corner
heading toward them; they dove out of the way as he T-boned into Produce and
acquired the makings of some delicious stuffed mushrooms.  Off he went again 
to get candles, which were at the center of the store.  Oh, yes...I forgot to
mention that a stockboy threw a case of lettuce into the air in his haste to
find some cover, and Mike, never one to let a salad go to waste, made his 
DEX roll by 2, neatly catching two heads of lettuce in his little red basket
as he drove past.
	Green Elf headed him off in another aisle and made it seem as though
the mushrooms in the basket had come alive; they demanded to be put down.  
Mike's instructions stipulated that he had to have the mushrooms, but said 
nothing about living, speaking mushrooms, so he dropped them.  He was also
required to remain until he had captured all the items on the shopping list, 
so he performed a bootlegger and sped back to the produce section.  
	At this point, I left the group to have a jolly food fight amongst 
themselves; I figured that they could get along without me, and the outcome of
Mike Wolfer's shopping tripi was largely irrelevant for my purposes.  Un-
fortunately, while I was away with another batch of players, one of the folks 
in this group took it upon himself to introduce some new campaign elements.  
He brought in a 60-year-old grandmother who was a ninja master to attack Mike,
which probably confused the player to no end (he's new at Champions, so I 
shouldn't have left him at the mercy of these other two people).  When I 
returned and heard what they'd done, I aborted their aberrant plotline; it 
seemed to be an effort to show what their characters and their superior 
experience with the game system could do, at the expense of Mike Wolfer and his
player.  Fortunately, that's all straightened out by now.
	
	By the end of the session, things stood as follows:  Link and Zephyr
had returned the young boy, Frank Romanelli, to his mother; they found her at
home with a police cruiser outside and two officers taking her statements.  It
seems that on her way to the hospital where she worked, and en route to young
Frank's school, her son complained of an upset stomach.  Suddenly, there was
a flash of light, and the explosion blew out the side of her car without
injuring Mrs. Romanelli.  She thought her son had been killed; the last thing
she remembers seeing before she lost control of the car and rammed the car in
front of her was a winged man arcing ahead along the freeway.  The heroes 
inspected her car in the driveway, and sure enough, the passenger side of the
car was blown outward as if by some tremendous force.
	The police decided to bring Link and Zephyr into one of the downtown
S.F. stations to meet with two other supers who participated in another 
disturbance, one that had taken place in the Mission District that morning.  
Thus, Harlequin and Panther will soon compare notes with Zephyr and Link; 
perhaps they will join forces to get to the bottom of this mystery.
	Kitty, Green Elf, and Mike Wolfer are at a restaurant, actually the
same cafe which Link and Zephyr had intended to eat breakfast at; once 
subdued, Mike seemed to come out of a trance and has no memory of the Safeway
romp.  Last he knew, he was a human biker; now he's a demon of some sort with
orange skin.  He's trying to come to terms with this, and figure out what 
happened.
	Link asked Alex Roberts to smooth things over with the Exxon people, 
who aren't happy about the people flying through their lobby.
	And lastly, Link and Zephyr plan to investigate possible connections 
between the Romanellis and Phillip Stump, the man from the airborne car.  

	Now, here's what is happening, unbeknownst to the players and their
characters:
	There's a man on the loose with the ability to create other super-
humans.  He doesn't know about his power; it operates unconsciously and 
imperceptibly.  This man is Phillip Stump.  He transforms random people when-
ever he experiences stress, and the resultant super will generally have a form
and a compulsion related to the source of that stress.  Phillip is the cause
of each of this morning's incidents.  He was caught in traffic during the
early morning commute; his power reached out and transformed young Frank 
Romanelli into Golden Eagle, or a convincing facsimilie.  The real Golden
Eagle was not as strong as this version; Frank Romanelli's alter ego is a 
combination of Stump's need (get to work, fast!) and Stump's knowledge of
superbeings (the Sentinels were prominent heroes, even moreso in the wake of
their disappearance, so it follows that Stump's power would use that form as
a readily available model).  Once the new super's function is fulfilled, the
compulsion wears off, and in most cases the person reverts to normal form.  
The super abilities are still present, however...consider it a Multiform.
Thus the reason for Frank/Golden Eagle's sudden terror and his frantic rush out
of the Exxon building; he was reverting to the mindset and soon thereafter the
form of a 7-year-old child.
	Naginata was an expression of Phillip Stump's distaste for the 
beggars and punks who hassle him every time he goes out on the street for lunch
or what-have-you.  They're everywhere, and he thinks it's time somebody 
cleaned up this town.  Which is exactly what Naginata did, for a few people.  
Again, the object of Stump's powers was randomly chosen, so it'll be difficult
to trace the effect back to Stump.  The only clue here is the proximity to 
Stump's place of work, his attitude toward the people in that part of town,
and, of course, the flash of light (not an explosion--Mrs. Romanelli's car was
destroyed by an exertion of Golden Eagle's power) and feeling of nausea that
accompany each of Stump's transformations.
	Mike Wolfer doesn't fit perfectly into this scheme, but it was a matter
of expediency.  I had planned to use a demon running amok on a shopping trip
(Stump was going to prepare for a romantic dinner with his SO, a secretary on
his floor, but found he was pressed for time, as well as nervous, so he 'sent'
another to do the shopping for him--Mike Wolfer), but didn't have time to 
draw up the monster, so I substituted in the PC Wolfer.  The fact that he did
not revert to human form after his mission was over I attribute to a quirk in
Stump's powers...it's a bit of an inconsistency, but not too bad.

	So, how are the players going to solve this?  Link and Zephyr plan to
research connections between the Romanellis and Stump; they won't find any, but
they will discover that Mrs. Romanelli and Phillip Stump commute to work by the
same route.  This may or may not strike them as significant, as thousands of 
other people also use the Bay Bridge to drive to work.
	All of the incidents took place close to Stump's Exxon offices.  If 
they watch his movements, they'll begin to see a correlation between where he
is and where these odd manifestations and mayhem take place.  There's usually
a slight delay, from a minute to a day, so the pattern won't be immediately 
obvious, but it will become apparent.
	
**********  Completions and connections

	Or, where we go from here.  The stakes are going to rise next session.
Stump's car has been impounded by the vigilant S.F. parking police, so he will
use BART to get to work on Tuesday (this series takes place during the working
week, beginning at slightly before 9 a.m. Monday and continuing until a grand
finale, which I have yet to decide upon, at 5 p.m. Friday).  This could be a
tremendous disaster if, for instance, the train is delayed in the Trans-Bay
Tunnel and Stump decides he wants out; another passenger will become a swimmer
with super-strength, tear open the tube, and swim upward with the BART car in
tow, flooding the rest of the train and major parts of the system, and 
generally wreaking havoc.  Stump's creation will surround the car he's in with
a Life Support field--Stump's not self-destructive, even unconsciously--but
that won't make things any less harrowing to the people on board.
	Stump has also wanted to ask that secretary--the one Mike Wolfer went
shopping for, to prepare a nice dinner--out, but he hasn't yet found the nerve.
Someone else will embody Stump's desires, and sweep her off her feet to dance
on the clouds, seducing her with Mind Control (he'll appear as the man of her
dreams).  When Stump finds out about this, he's going to be outraged: first
Link and that winged madman after him, then a dunking in the Bay courtesy of
some finny freak, and now some super's gone and stolen his girl!
	Perhaps Stump will create a super to end all supers...literally.  They
have plagued his life long enough...
	Other possibilities which have cropped up include:
	--if Stump perceives his life to be endangered by one of his creations,
it's possible that his power will make another super to counter the first.  And
a third, and a fourth...he could easily create a tremendous, Secret
Wars-style battle, all by himself, through his fear and loathing of supers.
	--Alex Roberts has been thinking long and hard about Zephyr's problems.
She doesn't know what to do with her abilities, and had difficulty finding
someone to talk to, someone with experience in such matters.  She can't be the
only super who has had to deal with this, he realizes!  He'll use his expertise in law, especially superheroic law; his skill at dealing with bureaucracies;
professional contacts; and more than a few favors:  all to found the first 
organization dedicated to aiding superbeings.  It'll have counseling, a
safehouse program for hiding supers and families of supers whose Secret IDs 
have been compromised, a costume designer, a battery of legal experts....what 
else can you think of?  Sort of a mission and anti-defamation league, all in 1.
	And what would the name of this organization be?  Think of this as the
first Strangeways contest...winner gets my thanks (and a credit for the idea, ifany of this ever gets published).  Create a name, acronym or not, and send it
in!  
	--The Exxon lawyers might dislike the supers for flying through their
lobby, destroying their property, endangering their employees, etc.  They may
add to Zephyr's legal trouble and cause other headaches for Link and Frank
Romanelli, if they ever find out who he is.  And what will they think of the
supers hassling Phillip Stump, a valued member of their organization, for 
ridiculous--some would say slanderous--reasons?  Then again, they might not 
wish to have Mr. Stump associated with their company should it be shown that
he was in any way involved with the disturbances on Monday morning...this 
could lead to Stump developing a career as a supervillain, or perhaps sending
a special someone to take care of the boss and the rest of the corporation's
leadership.
	--Will Panther get the part in "Waiting for Godot"?  It could be his 
big break, but will he have other responsibilities when they call, such as
defending the city and/or his comrades from Stump's wandering monsters?
	--What has become of the Sentinels of Liberty?  I think Link will get
the deed to the base, as he's saved the points for it, but what if the PCs
move in and the Sentinels return?
	--Kitty, Green Elf, and Mike Wolfer are being sought in connection with
the mayhem at Safeway...when the other PCs track them down (an APB has been 
issued for people matching their appearances, which are fairly difficult to
conceal) what will happen?  What will reactions on all sides be like?
	--The PCs are not the only ones who have taken notice of the strange
spate of superhuman activity in downtown San Francisco.  Several supervillains
are sure to show interest.  I have one slated to appear next time, a person
whom the players might cross paths with as both he and they try to determine
the source of these new supers...
	--Speaking of tracking down Mr. Stump, what's to become of him?  The
players will eventually find out what he's doing, at which time they'll have to
determine what to do with him.  There will be a big battle, I'm sure...Mr.
Stump isn't one to go quietly with a bunch of costumed maniacs, so when they
finally confront him some guardians will undoubtedly appear.  Perhaps one of
the players will get zapped, as well.  This would be a good opportunity to 
change a PCs powers around if one of the players is unhappy with his character.
The government would love to have Stump's services in developing new super-
soldiers...perhaps with drugs or a telepath's attention they could guide his
subconscious powers to get the results they desire.  Imagine!  Supers made to
order!  And any number of other agencies and villains could make good use of
such an ability.
	--What will become of Naginata and the new Golden Eagle?  Will Frank
use his powers to thrash the school bully?  Will he get into heroing, perhaps
as an NPC that joins the players' group?

**********  Questions and Endnotes

	I'd like to know what you think of the plotline so far.  What needs 
more attention, what needs less emphasis, etc.  Do you think it's too complex?
What avenues could be explored that I haven't looked at?  

	I'm considering writing up a newsletter to distribute to my players
each session which would cover recent developments in the campaign world, news
items of interest to supers (such as the Air Force's offer to sell some of its
decommissioned SR-71 planes to practicing superteams...), plot hints, etc.  
What else might I include in such a newsletter?  Comics?

	Eventually, I'd like to take all the things I've established in the
first few sessions, all the elements of the Strangeways world which I've 
mentioned in passing, and gather them into one packet to present to new players
and to give my world a sense of history.  Looking back at the things I 
mentioned in issue 1, what other aspects of my world have I left undiscussed?
What needs filling out, and what ideas do you have for doing so?
	
	That's all I can think of at the moment.  This is a long, long article,
I know, but I'd appreciate it if you'd read it all the way through.  Let me
know if you find any inconsistencies; I'll clear them up as best I can.  And
as always, I'd like to know what you'd like to see in these postings, what
problems you're having or questions you'd like answered from your own games
(I'll post them in here for discussion), and what you think of this series.

	Remember:  DON'T POST THIS STUFF TO THE NET!  Do you want the players 
to catch Stump so soon?

				Take care,
				Robert Dagnall
				dagnall@ocf.berkeley.edu
				March 7, 1990