Location via proxy:   [ UP ]  
[Report a bug]   [Manage cookies]                

Xenon

Download as pdf or txt
Download as pdf or txt
You are on page 1of 39

XENON

A campaign setting for Marvel Heroic Roleplaying


based on the Power Creator Xenon CYOA
by MythicLengendary
https://imgur.com/gallery/guIGsM7

CHAPTER I: The Setting -- p. 2

CHAPTER II: Character Creation -- p. 8

CHAPTER III: The Campaign -- p. 21

CHAPTER IV: With a Company Unsightly -- p. 30


This is not a complete game; you will need a copy of the Marvel Heroic Roleplaying core rules to play.
CHAPTER 1: The Setting
The Cold War period saw a massive arms race between the great powers of the world, in particular
the United States and the Soviet Union. The competition to develop ever more powerful aircraft, tanks,
and nuclear weapons was known to the public, but the superpowers also competed to develop more
exotic weapons. Secret programs like Project Star Gate and the New Earth Army sought to activate
psychic powers by means of mental conditioning, applied mysticism, and psychoactive drugs. In the
world of Xenon these experiments worked beyond their designers’ wildest dreams -- the subjects who
survived developed a wide variety of metahuman abilities. The military-industrial complex wanted
psychic spies, but instead they got superheroes. There were also hundreds of spontaneous activation
events due to near-death experiences, recreational hallucinogen use, and even lucid dreaming; once the
doors to metahuman power were unlocked there was no controlling where and for whom they opened.
Not only did the world’s governments get their empowered warriors, it turned out that those warriors
and their civilian counterparts could pass their abilities on to offspring. The children of a powered and
an unpowered human wouldn’t have powers, but the children of two children of powered individuals
might and the children of two powered humans always did. By the year 2045, in which the campaign
begins, the Fourth Generation supers are now reaching adulthood and supers have grown to comprise
nearly 5% of Earth’s population of roughly nine billion.
Despite the best efforts of governments the existence of supers is now public knowledge. Some are
costumed villains and vigilantes straight out of comic books, some work for government or corporate
sponsors, and still others operate from the shadows trying to make the world a better place (though “for
whom” remains an open question). The presence of supers now affects every aspect of society, and the
genes for powers will eventually spread to all of humanity… if they can get through the 21st Century
without destroying themselves.

Astral Entities
All of the supers of Xenon, unlike those in most settings that feature superhuman powers, have the
same origin. The sum of psychoactive drug use, lucid dreaming, and near death experiences opened
myriad portals to a plane of exotic physical laws. Exposure to this realm, which is sometimes called the
astral plane, is what grants humans metabilities.
The astral plane is not an empty place, however. It was once home to billions of nonphysical alien
entities who had powers of their own -- and who could lend those powers to physical beings. Now only
a few million such entities remain, and most of them have yet to encounter a human with whom they
are compatible. Absorbing the metaphysical remains of such a being is enough to grant powers, but
joining with a living one grants additional benefits. Most of these beings, who are collectively known
as morphic patrons, can only join with a single host, but the three most powerful -- the Egregores --
grant power to multiple hosts. Joining with a live entity is always voluntary, and the human host can
terminate the arrangement at any time (at the cost of losing one’s powers, of course). Many humans
feel that the added abilities granted by a morphic patron are worth giving in to its occasional requests.
Joining with an Egregore offers more powerful benefits… and subjects the host to actual demands.
Unlike lesser patrons an Egregore can take back a portion of its power if its demands aren’t met.
There are four types of morphic patron, each of which offers a different range of benefits to its host.

Biodependent: Most morphic patrons have no need of a host to maintain an independent physical form;
they simply choose not to most of the time. A biodependent symbiote both must manifest physically
and needs a human host to bond with. It survives by consuming small quantities of body fluids -- often
blood and sweat, but it can also consume waste -- and dead skin cells. The symbiote’s presence speeds
healing and increases physical durability. With practice a biodependent symbiote can separate from the
host temporarily and take on any biological form the host can clearly envision. Given sufficient time
and nourishment the symbiote can bud off progeny that can be gifted to other people; there are entire
bloodlines who bear symbiotes that are descended from the line founder’s morphic patron.

Egregore: The Egregores are the last survivors of what was once a pantheon of seven. They are
absurdly powerful beings, and the powers they grant are always high level. An Egregore increases a
host’s ability to perform tasks that align with its goals and punishes a host for failing to behave in
accordance with its ideals.
 Cobalt Monarch: the Daedalus Entity is the avatar of knowledge, logic, and secrets. A host who
eschews passion and animal instinct, gains knowledge, and guards its own secrets while seeking
out the secrets of others finds favor with the Cobalt Monarch. Giving in to emotion, refusing an
opportunity to learn, or being too free with one’s secrets will cause the Monarch to turn away.
 Crimson Emperor: the Icarus Entity is the avatar of the will to power. It rewards its hosts for
seeking power, asserting dominance, or acting on ambition. The Crimson Emperor punishes any
display of weakness (be it physical or psychological) or failure of ambition.
 Ebony Prince: the Minos Entity is the avatar of fear, despair, loneliness, and the law of the
jungle. Giving in to one’s animal instincts -- in particular fear, hunger, and paranoia -- gains its
favor while even seeking safety and security, let alone achieving them, earns its ire.

Fractal: A fractal patron is not one symbiote but a hive mind composed of dozens or even hundreds.
They are individually weak, but together they are more than the sum of their parts. A fractal symbiote
rarely if ever manifests physically, but it offers mental benefits in the form of multitasking and memory
enhancement. Over time a fractal patron aids in finding new applications of the host’s powers.

Knight: Knight patrons are notoriously overprotective of their hosts. This kind of symbiote manifests as
projections of energy ranging from simple geometric shapes to stylized versions of biological forms. A
knight patron can deflect physical hazards and extend the range of the host’s powers -- for powers that
require physical contact touching the symbiote counts as touching the host, while ranged powers can
originate from the host’s location or the symbiote’s. A knight can’t get more than few paces away from
the host at first, but as the host grows in skill and power the patron can range further afield.

The morphic patrons aren’t the only entities in astral space. There are tens of thousands of creatures
that rival the mightiest of earthly beasts. When these beings battle each other -- which they do often --
the winner absorbs the loser’s power and becomes something greater. After winning enough of these
battles an entity becomes a true monster from the id capable of manifesting itself in the physical world.
Scientists have dubbed these entities titans. The least powerful titans are capable of meeting high-level
supers in single combat. The greatest can hold their own against multiple opponents of cosmic power.
Every appearance of a titan on Earth has threatened massive property damage and loss of life; they
seem to be attracted to major population centers. It’s unknown whether titans are actively hostile to
humans or if wholesale destruction is part of their evolutionary process, but those who have studied the
problem are sure that each titan is working to elevate itself to the level of an Egregore.
Titans, much to humanity’s good fortune, can’t manifest on Earth whenever they wish. They require
specific conditions to thin the wall between worlds enough for them to come through. For most this
involves certain astronomical configurations -- they can come through when the stars are right. Others
require physical conditions aligned with their requirements for evolution. The Ares entity only appears
at the site of especially violent battles, for example, while the Horus entity only appears in a desert at
sunrise on the hottest day of the year. There has yet to be an incident when two or more titans appeared
at the same time, but no one is willing to say it’s impossible yet.
Titans are extremely difficult to permanently kill -- so far only one, the Gaia entity, is confirmed
destroyed at this time and each member of the current Great Triumvirate (Golem, Hydra, and Typhon)
has been presumed dead at least once. But destroying the titans is a priority, for they are known to be
responsible for the destruction of dozens of other worlds. Everyone on Earth recognizes the titans as
the greatest existential threat that humanity is currently facing. For this reason the appearance of a titan
immediately ends all earthly disputes as the combatants unite to deal with their common foe.

Strange Changes
The opening of the portals wrought changes to the world’s population, both by altering the forms of
some and by bringing in refugees from elsewhere. Unchanged humans share the planet with two other
groups of sapient beings.

Mutaform: Some supers gain visible mutations along with their powers. Exotic coloring (of skin, hair,
eyes, or some combination thereof), bestial features such as horns and animal ears, and extra limbs like
wings or tails have all been observed, but a mutaform’s basic body plan never deviates far from the
human norm.
Mutaforms are a minority among supers -- less than a quarter of the total -- and the more extreme
mutations have grown rarer with each generation. There are even mutaforms whose alterations only
serve to make them more attractive. The presence of visible mutations occurs among supers of all types
and power levels.
Examples: Angel and Nightcrawler from X-Men; Ebon from Static Shock; the Asari and Quarians
from Mass Effect; anime catgirls.

Nonnative: Not all of the portals opened to the astral plane; there were also some that opened to other
worlds, whether alternate timelines, parallel dimensions, or other planets. The one thing that all these
worlds had in common was that they had been devastated by the titans. The refugees are collectively
known as nonnatives, though each species has its own name. There are over ten-million nonnatives on
Earth, enough to fill a major city, but they’re spread so widely among Earth’s population centers that
even the largest concentrations barely number in the thousands. No one species numbers over 20,000.
All nonnatives are carbon-based lifeforms that can survive in an Earthlike environment, but there the
similarities end. Some are close enough to human to be attractive as romantic partners (and might even
be “anatomically correct”), while others border on being monstrous. Nonnatives can’t pass for human
without a disguise, though many can pass for mutaforms. It’s rare for nonnatives to have metabilities --
with player characters being the obvious possible exceptions -- but some species’ natural abilities are
enough to make them the equal of low-level supers.
Examples: Arex and M’Ress from Star Trek: the Animated Series; the green martians of Edgar Rice
Burroughs’ Barsoom; the remaining aliens from Mass Effect; composite beings like centaurs, mermaids,
and the animal-headed Egyptian gods.

Bloodlines
Many of the First Generation supers begat offspring who shared similar powers, and the begetting
didn’t stop there. About 40% of supers are members of established bloodlines that have developed their
own organizations and infrastructure. The least bloodlines have resources equal to those of regional
corporations, while the greatest have power enough to influence international policy. Being a member
of a bloodline offers benefits in the form of resources and connections at the cost of familial obligations.
At the very least a bloodline member can expect to be assigned missions by their elders. Meddling in
career and educational choices is quite common, and arranged marriages aren’t unheard of.

Al-Fasil: The Al-Fasil of the Middle East and Near East are proof that wealth can be a superpower…
though they used other superpowers to obtain it. Their ingenuity has led to advances in medicine,
transportation, and infrastructure that have improved quality of life all over the world. Few Al-Fasil
engage in the kind of heroics that get one’s picture on a cereal box except to advertise their inventions,
and even those who go into the field generally prefer support roles over frontline combat. To profit
from a venture one has to survive it.
Members of the Al-Fasil bloodline have powers of enhanced intelligence and skills; many are super
inventors, while some have superhuman charisma or artistic ability.

Amon: The Amon originated in Northern Africa and have spread throughout the Mediterranean region,
but they are known to appear all over in the world. Amon elders have a reputation for being enigmatic
-- they show up, offer a solution to a problem that no one else anticipated, and disappear. The younger
generation are often sent out to gain experience by working with supers of other bloodlines. Nobody
hates the Amon, and everyone appreciates their advice, but no one actually trusts them.
Most Amon don’t have much in the way of actual powers; the bloodline specializes in useful
mutations that make up in subtlety what they lack in raw power.

Crossbreed: Crossbreeds, as the name implies, have genes from two or more bloodlines. They can be
the offspring of two supers from different bloodlines or the result of bloodline-specific genes trickling
out into the general population. Crossbreeds have no organization of their own, but one with the right
kind of powers might be adopted into an established bloodline.
A crossbreed can have any combination of powers.

Epona: The Epona family is the smallest of the major bloodlines. They originated in the British Isles
and have outposts in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the USA -- but there is reason to believe that
they are present in a great many places. The bloodline’s goals are mysterious, but they hold those goals
in higher regard than their own personal safety… and, some say, that of their allies. Epona favor quality
over quantity; though they are few, those few tend to be very good at what they do.
Epona all have potent stealth, surveillance, and infiltration abilities.

Evelock: The Evelock family retains the “make love, not war” sentiments of the hippies and New Agers
who were their progenitors. They ignore the petty squabbles of other bloodlines in favor of wildlife
conservation and environmental remediation -- the Evelocks have done more to reverse climate change
than has any other group on Earth. They also lead the way in disaster relief. Few other supers take the
Evelocks seriously, but no one really hates them and everyone agrees that they’re good to have around.
Members of the Evelock bloodline have powers that control some aspect of life. They can heal, talk
to animals, change shape, or control plants.

Grimlore: The revival of Celtic religious practices brought with it a resurgence of magical thought, and
House Grimlore is at the forefront of that resurgence. They’re less a bloodline than a mixture of church,
extended family, and clearinghouse of occult knowledge. They are the least selective of all bloodlines;
anyone with the right power set and a willingness to put up with an unabashedly mystical mindset is
welcome to join the Grimlore.
The Grimlore are the foremost practitioners of magic on the planet.

Leon: The Leon family of France, Quebec, and the southern United States most closely conforms to the
popular idea of a noble family. They enjoy the trappings of wealth, and their early education instills an
awareness of the importance of style. Their complex web of traditions and relationships, along with a
love of intrigue, can be opaque to outsiders but the Leons love drama too much to give such things up.
Members of the Leon bloodline all have the ability to control matter or some aspect of the physical
environment; they are alchemists, earthmovers, and weather witches among other things.
Noble Singularity: Supers of the Noble Singularity aren’t so much a bloodline as a common pattern of
power manifestation. Like crossbreeds they have no organization of their own but can be adopted into
established bloodlines given the right kind of powers. None of these supers is born with their powers;
they all manifest their abilities in adolescence or adulthood.
A Noble Singularity grants a single ability of great power and/or great versatility.

Oath: The Oaths of North America are the noblest super bloodline in the world. They pride themselves
on their warrior spirit and persistence in the face of adversity. Oaths are staunch defenders of humanity
even from an early age, and the western world depends heavily on them in the face of natural disasters
and titan attacks.
Members of the Oath bloodline are renowned for their superior physical abilities.

Outworlder Union: Few nonnatives develop powers, but metabilities are actually more common among
those that have bonded with a morphic patron. The Outworlder Union isn’t a bloodline at all -- it is a
militia composed of powered aliens. The Union discriminates not on the basis of power type but on
attitude; they recruit individuals who are determined to prevent what happened to their old homes from
happening to their new one. Union members vary greatly in power, but they’re all militants when it
comes to the titan threat.
Members of the Outworlder Union have a wide variety of powers, but all of them are nonnatives
who have morphic patrons… though none has ever bonded with an Egregore.

Romanov: The Romanovs originated in Siberia but have since spread throughout Eastern Europe with
presence in Asia and Western Europe. They adhere to spartan lifestyles and hellish training regimens
due to their disdain for weakness. Romanovs tend to be blunt in their dealings with others, often to the
point of rudeness, but there’s no one you’d rather have on your side in a fight.
Members of the Romanov bloodline are known for their versatility; each of them has at least two
power sets.

Tsukumo: The Tsukumo of Japan and Korea are the second smallest major bloodline; they outnumber
the Epona only because the Tsukumo tend to have slightly bigger families. The Tsukumo have the most
selective marital practices of any bloodline; they actively seek out possessors of rare abilities in order
to avoid developing a bloodline-specific type. Basic education within the family emphasizes Confucian
ethics, preparedness, and adaptability -- the Tsukumo rely less on power than on skill and their
determination to do the right thing.
Tsukumo have a wide variety of powers that can be quite powerful albeit highly situational. No two
families have the same power set, and powers can differ even between family members.

Voss: The Voss family originated in Germany and has a presence in Austria, Hungary, the Netherlands,
and Scandinavia. The House of Silence is the most secretive bloodline. Females born into the line are
all celibate for reasons the Voss decline to discuss; the males continue the line by marrying women
chosen by the clan matriarchs. The bloodline has a reputation for being Machiavellian, and in the case
of the matriarchs that reputation is well-earned. In any interaction with a Voss it’s best to assume that
she’s not telling you everything.
The Voss all have powerful psychic gifts, in particular clairvoyance, precognition, and telepathy.
These gifts tend to be stronger in females.

Zora: The Zora, like the Romanovs, have their origin in KGB experiments with psychedelics. Unlike
the Romanovs their lifestyles are more freewheeling and their training methods emphasize flexibility
over raw strength. With their supreme mobility the Zora have presence all over the world, and they are
at the forefront of space exploration.
Members of the Zora bloodline have powerful control over various forms of energy.

Independent: Most supers aren’t affiliated with any bloodline. Independents vary considerably in their
powers, motivations, and methods. What they have in common is having no blood ties to a community
of people with similar goals and abilities. This gives them a degree of freedom that members of a
bloodline rarely enjoy.
An independent super can have any combination of powers and mutations.

Minor Bloodlines: In addition to the major bloodlines listed above there are over three dozen minor
bloodlines. Most are families that consist of no more than a single clan each and whose progenitors
were Second or Third Generation supers. The rest are organizations similar to the Outworlder Union,
albeit smaller and with their own goals. Minor bloodlines don’t have the resources or prestige that
major bloodlines do, but neither do they impose the same level of restrictions on their members.
Members of minor bloodlines can have a wide variety of powers and mutations; each such bloodline
has its own pattern.

Ad Astra
Technology has progressed by leaps and bounds in the century since the singularity, and this was
largely the work of scientifically gifted supers. In the campaign world cancer has been cured, while
AIDS and COVID-19 were never global health crises. The Internet is faster, more reliable, and more
secure (though the world’s governments -- and the House of Al-Fasil -- hoard the best security tech for
themselves). Green energy is more common, environmental remediation provides millions of jobs
worldwide, and human-caused climate change has been greatly slowed.
The pinnacle of this progress has been in space travel. Launch vehicles are now cheaper and more
efficient, and space tourism might soon be within reach of the middle class. The two lunar colonies
each have a population of over 100,000, and there are six orbital habitats including the main family
stronghold of the Zora bloodline. Work is in progress for two more lunar cities and a Martian colony.
No one has cracked the problem of faster-than-light travel yet, but they’re working on it. The upshot is
that, in the event of the titans rendering Earth uninhabitable, humanity’s survival in space is plan B. In
the meantime Earth of 2045 is something like the fictional cyberpunk future but with less corporate
oppression and the occasional titan attack.
CHAPTER II: Character Creation
The original Marvel Heroic Roleplaying rulebook has no character creation rules -- the designers'
intent was for players to use canon Marvel Universe characters -- but a Xenon campaign requires
original characters, hence these rules for creating a character. Character creation is an 12-step process:
1. Create a Concept
2. Choose Origin
3. Choose Species
4. Choose Affiliations
5. Create Distinctions
6. Choose Power Sets and Power Traits
7. Choose Specialties
8. Choose Morphic Patron
9. Choose Bloodline
10. Create Milestones
11. Choose Relationships
12. Fill in the Blanks

Create a Concept
The first step in creating a character is deciding what kind of character you want to create. You can
use a concept interview -- with you as the player asking questions for the character to answer -- to nail
down your concept. The answers to these questions will guide your decisions in later steps.
 Non-super Life: Where were you born, and where did you grow up? What are your nationality
and ethnicity? What are your sex, gender, and sexual orientation? What skills do you have
(as a result of your education, job training, or hobbies)? What religion, if any, do you practice,
and how devoutly? What socioeconomic class were you born into, and which one are you in
now? Are you a loner, a social butterfly, or something in-between?
 Super Life: What are your powers? Do you look any different from a normal human, and if so
in what way? Are you part of a bloodline, and if so which one? What kind of morphic
patron, if any, do you have? Note that Egregore patrons are only available in campaigns of
Cosmic power level (see Power Level below).

Choose Origin
How did you acquire your powers? Each of the five origins has multiple variations.
 Born Super: You are either the child of two supers, the child of two people who each had one
super parent, or the child of a super and and a half-super.
 Lucid Dream: You have vivid lucid dreams -- probably nightmares, but perhaps something more
pleasant -- and through these dreams you contacted the astral plane and gained metabilities.
 Near-death Experience: You nearly died, either via accident, illness, or violence, but were
revived and came back with powers.
 New Normal: You don’t actually have powers. If you choose this origin any power sets you
have must come from gear, mutations, or (for nonnatives) alien biology.
 Psychedelics: You contacted the astral plane by means of a drug-induced hallucination. The
results vary with the exact choice of drug and whether you were a chronic user, a victim of an
overdose, or an experimental subject.
Choose Species
 Human: You look fully human. This has no particular advantages or disadvantages.
 Mutaform: You are human, but with visible changes. You have the Limit Obvious (anyone who
sees you knows you are a mutaform unless you take steps to disguise your appearance). You
may purchase any useful alterations as part of a Mutations power set -- examples include
Augmented Senses, Extra Limbs (Tail), Flight (winged), and Weapon (claws, fangs, tail, etc.).
 Nonnative: You are not human, but rather a refugee from one of the worlds destroyed by the
titans. You have the Limit Outsider (anyone who sees you knows that you’re a nonnative; it’s
possible but extremely difficult to hide the fact). If you have any superhuman abilities as a
natural facet of your species you may purchase them as part of the Alien Biology power set --
examples include all Augment Powers, Burrowing, Cosmic Senses, Extra Limbs, Flight (wings),
Leaping, Swimming, Swingline, Wall-crawling, and Weapon.

Choose Affiliations
Affiliations are a measure of how well a character works alone (Solo), with one partner (Buddy), or
in a group of three or more (Team). You have one Affiliation at d10, one at d8, and one at d6. Assign
the d10 to your strongest Affiliation and the d6 to your weakest with the remaining one getting the d8.

Choose Distinctions
Distinctions represent defining traits of a character's background, personality, or methods. Whether a
Distinction coming into play is a help or a hindrance depends on the situation, but the help aspect
should be proportional to the degree of hurt.
 James T. Kirk's To Boldly Go Distinction is a great help in tests of courage and contests of will,
but when the situation calls for a more reasoned and dispassionate response… well, it’s a good
thing he has Spock to advise him.
 He-Man’s I Have the Power Distinction makes him the equal of any challenge that requires
brute force or tenacious resistance. For challenges that require finesse or stealth, not so much.
 As England’s greatest consulting detective Sherlock Holmes can treat any riddle or enigma as
Elementary. He’s a bit less smug when the problem at hand is a physical fight.
Each player character has three Distinctions. An in-game event can change an existing Distinction
-- or, more rarely, add a new one -- if it's dramatic enough to redefine some aspect of the character. See
the MHRP core rules pp. BR52-BR96 (pp. 184-228 in the pdf) for examples of Distinctions. Note that
many of the Marvel canon characters have their best known catchphrases as Distinctions (as in the He-
Man example above).
If the campaign is set at a time when the PCs are recently emerged it's possible to skip this step on
the grounds that the characters have yet to do anything to distinguish themselves. In this case the PCs
will develop Distinctions in game -- either the GM can announce when an outcome is dramatic enough
to warrant gaining a Distinction or the other players can vote on it. If the consensus at the table says a
given scene is sufficiently dramatic multiple PCs may gain Distinctions from it.

Choose Power Sets and Power Traits


This is the part of character creation that players will spend the most time on... and rightly so. In a
campaign about characters with superhuman powers a PC's power set is arguably their defining feature.
This step has five sub-steps followed by a list of power sets with possible power traits for each.
Note: This power creation system is a refinement of the system developed by Wordpress user
samhaine. You can find his original article at https://samhaine.wordpress.com/2012/02/27/marvel-
heroic-roleplaying-point-based-character-creation/.
Power Level
The campaign's power level determines how many Creation Points (CP) the players can spend to
build their characters. The campaign power level can evolve from a lower level to a higher one as the
player characters grow in power, but it's the starting power level that matters for character creation.
New characters should be built at the current campaign power level.
 Local (20 CP): The characters' activities will mostly be confined to one city or just a single
neighborhood in a particularly large city. In a rural setting this could be a handful of towns that
are close to each other.
 Regional (30 CP): The characters operate in a single state, province, prefecture, or similar
administrative area with occasional forays onto the national stage.
 Global (40 CP): The characters routinely handle national level cases and sometimes deal with
situations that affect the entire world.
 Cosmic (50 CP): The characters deal with world-level situations on a regular basis and are often
called upon to handle otherworldly threats, with said threats equally likely to be extraterrestrial
or extradimensional.

Power Sets
A power set defines the range of abilities available, and all of the powers within a given set must be
appropriate to a single theme. For example, a power set like Mad Inventor easily admits a power trait
like Gadgeteer, but Telepathy or Superhuman Stamina would be a stretch. The GM should review all
power sets to ensure that they aren't too vague or too narrow.
Player characters all have at least one power set. The first power set is the primary suite of powers
granted by emergence. Useful mutations (see Mutations below) are collected in a separate Mutations
power set. A nonnative can also have a set of powers in an Alien Biology power set. Any detached
powers that the character controls -- for example, equipment that the character owns or one or more
loyal allies -- go in a Gear or Organization power set.
There is no Creation Point cost for a power set, but each power set must have at least one limit (see
Limits below). Additional limits don't grant more CP; they simply provide an additional way to gain
Plot Points or remove dice from the Doom Pool. At GM discretion a particularly restrictive limit might
provide +1 SFX. A limit that is merely a roleplaying challenge never grants this bonus; in order to do
that a limit must have game mechanics that affect the character (as opposed to affecting the group).

Power Traits
A power trait is a specific application of a power set. It is the power traits that describe exactly what
a character's powers can do. A power trait has a rating of d6, d8, d10, or d12. A power set can have any
number of power traits subject to the limit of how many CP the player has to pay for them.
The cost of a power trait is equal to its die value (DV) times a multiplier for its power type. The DV
is 2 for d6, 3 for d8, 4 for d10, and 5 for d12. By way of example, a power trait with a multiplier of 2
rated at d8 would cost 2 x 3 = 6 CP. See Power Types below for a list of the power types and their
multipliers.

Special Effects (SFX)


A special effect is a modification of a use of a power. The exact effects vary -- see the MHRP core
rules pp. OM88-OM91 (pp. 94-97 in the pdf) or the character datafiles on pp. BR52-BR96 (pp. 184-
228) for examples -- but in general SFX can be applied to any appropriate trait within the power set.
Each PC has three free SFX (total, not per power set), and each additional effect costs 2 CP. An
especially powerful effect might cost 3 CP, or it might count as two SFX if it is one of the freebies.
Limits
A limit provides a dramatic complication of using -- sometimes merely having -- a power set. It can
be a condition under which a power stops working (or works too well), a task that the power set makes
harder, or a complication that arises as a result of the power. See the MHRP core rules on pp. OM92-
OM93 (pp. 98-99 in the pdf) or the character datafiles on pp. BR52-BR96 (pp. 184-228 in the pdf) for
examples of limits.

Power Types
The list of power trait types below is comprehensive. The example list of power traits with each type
is not; players and GMs are free to create new power traits as needed. Power traits in italics were
created for this document and have basic mechanics detailed here. The rest appear in the Marvel Heroic
Roleplaying core rules or are clarifications of powers implied but not described there.

Attack Powers
Attack powers are exactly what it says on the label; they're all about taking an opponent down.
Attack powers come in three flavors -- direct (straight-up damage), indirect (impose debuffs or status
effects instead of damage), and insidious (damage that bypasses normal physical defenses, i.e. attacks
on the psyche, soul, or life force -- Durability doesn't defend against these attacks). The examples
below are all direct powers unless the description specifies otherwise.
Multiplier: 2 (Direct or Indirect) or 3 (Insidious)
 Drain (indirect; specify ability drained -- Reflexes, Stamina, Strength, Will, etc.; step a die
equal to or less than the effect die down one step or remove the smallest die from the dice pool)
 Energy Blast (specify energy type -- Electric, Fire, Force, Laser, Plasma, Radiation, Sonic, etc.)
 Material Blast (specify matter type -- Acid, Ice, Sand, Stone, Thorn, Water, etc.)
 Mystic Blast (insidious; works against Mystic Resistance)
 Psychic Blast (insidious; works against Psychic Resistance)
 Weapon (melee or projectile attack; specify weapon type)

Augment Powers
The easiest powers to understand augment basic human abilities. Augment powers are prefixed with
a specific adjective according to the die type; Exceptional (d6), Enhanced (d8), Superhuman (d10), or
Godlike (d12). Note that Marvel canon characters never have these powers rated at less than d8.
Multiplier: 2
 Beauty (appearance, charisma, and sex appeal)
 Durability (resistance to physical harm)
 Intelligence (improved memory and comprehension; can invent future tech)
 Reflexes (agility and hand-eye coordination)
 Senses (possible SFX include danger sense and hardening against sensory attacks)
 Speed (can be running or some type of matter/energy manipulation, i.e. Iceman's ice slide)
 Stamina (endurance, resistance to disease and poison; possible SFX include regeneration)
 Strength

Control Powers
These powers allow one to manipulate some form of matter or energy or an aspect of the world. A
power with "Control" in its name can be notated with a term that varies according to its rating (for
example, Earth Influence d6, Machine Control d8, Light Mastery d10, or Flesh Supremacy d12). These
powers are all quite versatile; any of them can produce a variety of effects like creating hazards in an
area, penalties on a target, or assets for oneself or an ally.
Multiplier: 4; 5 for powers marked *
 Amplify* (activate latent powers; temporarily increase another's powers)
 Animal Control (specify animal type)
 Animate (grants movement to inanimate objects)
 Elemental Control (specify element; Air, Earth, Gravity, Shadow, Water, Wood, etc.)
 Energy Control (specify energy type)
 Emotion Control (includes healing emotional stress/trauma)
 Flesh Control* (changes another being's shape; heal physical stress/trauma)
 Illusions
 Leech (suppresses other beings' powers)
 Machine Control
 Matter Control (specify matter type)
 Mimic* (imitates other beings' powers; power stunts or SFX might grant powers to others)
 Mind Control*
 Plant Control
 Possession* (physically merge with the target and take control of them)
 Probability Control (creates good or bad luck, makes the unlikely more likely)
 Sorcery* (has a prefix of Novice at d6, Adept at d8, Master at d10, or Supreme at d12; this
ability involves localized alterations in the laws of physics that allow summoning creatures,
conjuring items, or creating mystic energy constructs)
 Telekinesis
 Telepathy (includes healing mental stress/trauma)
 Time Control* (controls the rate of time passage or places a target in stasis; possible SFX
include time travel)
 Transmutation
 Weather Control

Movement Powers
These powers all provide some form of alternate mobility.
Multiplier: 1; 2 for types marked *
 Airwalking
 Burrowing
 Dimension Travel* (possible SFX include creating pocket dimensions)
 Flight* (prefix based on die rating; d6 = none, d8 = Subsonic, d10 = Supersonic, d12 = Space)
 Leaping
 Swimming
 Swingline
 Teleport*
 Wall-crawling
 Water Walking (also works on snow and ice)

Resistance Powers
While attack powers deal damage resistance powers prevent damage. The nature of the power
determines whether or not it works on insidious or indirect attacks; the player and GM should work
together to determine this. It's possible that a power that normally wouldn't defend against an indirect
or insidious attack can do so with a power stunt or special effect.
Multiplier: 2
 Absorption (absorbs incoming energy; can fuel other powers with stunts or SFX -- add effect
die to the dice pool for an action that could benefit from a charge of the energy absorbed)
 Integrity (resists alterations to the target's physical form)
 Mystic Resistance
 Psychic Resistance

Sensory Powers
Instead of increasing the sensitivity of normal human senses (see Augmented Senses for that) these
sensory powers add new senses or allow existing senses to be used in new ways.
Multiplier: 1
 Cosmic Senses (sense EM fields, radio waves, ultraviolet, infrared, gamma rays, and X-rays)
 Cybernetic Senses (receive radio/TV signals; hear infra- and ultrasound; connect to the Internet)
 Mystic Senses (astral projection; detect magic, souls, and supernatural beings)
 Psychic Senses (astral projection; aura sight, clairvoyance; precognition or postcognition)
 Spatial Senses (detect spatial anomalies and know one's current location/plane of existence)
 Temporal Senses (detect temporal anomalies; precognition or postcognition; know elapsed time
between events or current place in the timeline)

Transformation Powers
All of these powers change the user's body in some way, and with a power stunt or special effect
they might be extended to include others.
Multiplier: 2; 3 for powers marked *
 Duplication* (creates copies of the user and their clothing, the higher the rating the more dupes;
allows splitting of dice within the dice pool; possible SFX include duplicating equipment)
 Extra Limbs (specify limb type, i.e. Arms, Legs, Tail, or Tentacles; the higher the rating the
more, stronger, or more versatile the limbs)
 Growth
 Intangibility*
 Invisibility
 Shapeshifting* (possible SFX include gaining abilities appropriate to the shape assumed)
 Shrinking
 Stretching

Utility Powers
This category is a catch-all for powers that don't fit in any of the other categories. There are only
four examples here because, quite frankly, the author couldn't think of more... but the author knows that
he doesn't think of everything.
Multiplier: 2
 Enchanter (creation of improvised magical devices; step up the die gained from a talisman-
based resource one step, or with a successful roll create a talisman during an Action Scene)
 Gadgeteer (quick assembly of improvised technological devices; step up the die gained from a
device-based resource one step, or with a successful roll create a device during an Action Scene)
 Life Support (surviving a specific range of environments unaided, i.e. Aerospace, Underground,
or Underwater; the higher the rating the more extreme the environment)
 Omniglot (begin play knowing a number of languages equal to the die type for this power trait;
can learn a new language in minutes with a successful action using this power trait)

How Do I Shoot Web?


A read of the power traits will show none with entangling effects like Spider-man’s webs. This is not an
oversight, but rather a stylistic choice. Tangling attacks are SFX of other powers -- usually Elemental Control
(Earth, Ice, Wood, etc.), Energy Control (i.e. gravity or magnetism), Matter Control, Swingline, or Telekinesis,
but any power that can reasonably create a substance or force that can bind a target can have the Tangling SFX.
Mutations
The initial experiments that created supers often induced mutations. Grotesque or lethal mutations
have long since died out, while the benign ones have been passed along to subsequent generations. Any
super may purchase one or more of these power traits as part of a Mutations power set. Each mutation
has two or three tiers -- Tier 1 = d6, Tier 2 = d8, and Tier 3 = d10 -- except where otherwise noted.
Each tier includes the benefits of all lower tiers.
Players of the original Power Creator Xenon CYOA will note that not all of the mutations from the
CYOA are listed here. This is usually because those that duplicate existing power traits have been left
out. Others were eliminated because they represent game mechanics unique to the CYOA and have no
application in a tabletop rpg -- most of the Grab Bag mutations have been omitted for this reason. Note
also that the game mechanics for the mutations given here don’t correspond exactly to the mechanics in
the CYOA; they have been rewritten to be balanced for a ttrpg campaign.
Multiplier: 1
 Concealed (2 tiers): Your appearance changes significantly between your super and civilian
identities, or you create a mental block that makes it appear so. Any attempt to recognize you in
one form by someone who only knows you in the other must have an effect die larger than this
power trait’s to succeed.
 Core Instinct (2 tiers): Powers normally require conscious activation, but yours can activate
automatically when needed as long as the effect that triggers them is something you could have
noticed -- for example, the trigger must occur within your sensory range and be something that
the senses you possess could have detected. At tier 2 this automatic activation occurs even if
you are asleep, unconscious, or under the influence of a substance or effect that would prevent
you from noticing the trigger. Your powers may not have the Conscious Activation limit.
 Eternal (3 tiers): Your lifespan has been extended. At tier 1 you can expect to live 2-3 normal
human lifetimes and you are immune to most diseases. At tier 2 your lifespan is measured in
millennia, and you will eventually heal completely from any injury that doesn’t kill you. At tier
3 you are biologically immortal; you no longer age past the point where your body stabilizes.
 Iron Mind (1 tier): Your psyche is extremely resilient. For the purpose of computing penalties
you treat your total of mental stress as one less than the actual total (minimum 0).
 Low Frequency (3 tiers): You are invisible to Power Sense of an equal or lower tier.
 Masochist (1 tier): You don’t suffer from distressing feelings as much as other people do -- in
fact you sort of like it. For the purpose of computing penalties you treat your total of emotional
stress as one less than the actual total (minimum 0).
 Morbidity Limit (2 tiers): You have a built-in defense against any attempt to use powers to affect
your internal physiology against your will -- for example, to stop your heart with telekinesis,
use microbial control to cause your intestinal flora to multiply to the point of toxicity, or force
water into your lungs. Any such attempt fails unless the effect die is higher than the die for this
power trait, and even then the effect die is stepped down one step.
 Natural Harmony (3 tiers): At tier 1 your powers won’t accidentally harm you, i.e. via backlash
or reflection, and your performance with your powers is never degraded by fatigue or extreme
emotional states. At tier 2 your powers also avoid harming others -- for example, your area
effect attacks don’t damage your allies. At tier 3 you never become physically exhausted or
mentally stressed from using your powers (which can prevent you from taking certain limits).
 Noctis Cape (2 tiers): At tier 1 you only need eight hours of sleep per week, not necessarily all
at once. At tier 2 you don’t need to sleep at all, though you can still be knocked out. You also
ignore darkness-related visibility penalties rated equal to or less than the die for this power trait.
 Painkiller (1 tier): Your sensation of pain is greatly dulled. For the purpose of computing
penalties you treat your total of physical stress as one less than the actual total (minimum 0).
 Pandemic (tier 3 only): You can “infect” another person, even one who doesn’t have powers,
with any mutation that you have including this one. You can revoke any mutations that you
bestow in this manner at any time, but revoking Pandemic also revokes any mutations that
person bestowed. Bestowed mutations also vanish if the person who bestowed them dies. You
must touch the target to use this ability.
 Polysapien (1 tier): You have an alternate body that looks significantly different from your
original one but is of the same kind (human, mutaform, or nonnative). It can, however, be of a
different ethnicity or sex. The two bodies age separately -- the one you are currently wearing
ages, the other does not -- and conditions that afflict one don’t affect the other unless both are
exposed. You may use all of your powers and other mutations in either body. You may take this
mutation multiple times to get additional bodies.
 Polytype (3 tiers): You can have power sets in one additional Type for each tier of this mutation.
 Power Lock (3 tiers): You add your die rating in this mutation to your dice pool to resist any
effect that would suppress your powers. If you suffer a long-term suppression of your powers
they return in a matter of days (tier 1), hours (tier 2), or minutes (tier 3).
 Power Sense (3 tiers): At tier 1 you know if another super uses a power within about 50 meters
of you and have a general sense of the distance and direction. At tier 2 the range extends to 100
meters and you know the user’s approximate power level relative to you (less powerful, about
equal, or more powerful). At tier 3 the range extends to 500 meters and you know what Type of
power was used (see Power Typesets below).
 Subtlety (2 tiers): Powers typically have some kind of flare -- a combination of visible, audible,
and olfactory effects. At tier 1 your flare is reduced so that it can’t be detected from more than
10 meters away and the range at which you are detected by Power Sense is halved. At tier 2 the
flare is undetectable from more than 3 meters away and the range at which you are detected by
Power Sense is reduced by a factor of five.
 Vanilla (2 tiers): With this mutation you ignore Morbidity Limit of equal or lesser tier, but you
lack the normal protections against being harmed by your own powers -- for example, you can
burn yourself by overusing fire blasts or take damage from air friction while flying at high
speed. At tier 1 any attempt to suppress your powers has an equal effect on the suppressor, and
they are aware of this when they begin to suppress your powers. This ignores the protection of
Power Lock. At tier 2 you can’t have any other mutations besides this one.

Power Typesets
Most supers in a Xenon campaign have powers that fall within certain themes. The most common
themes, or Types, are coded by color. The bullet points below list some power traits available within
each theme, but these lists aren’t comprehensive; a character may have a power trait not listed for their
type if they can convince the GM that the character’s particular manifestation of that trait fits the theme.
Most characters only have one type (but see Mutations above), but it’s possible for a character to have
Aberrant powers instead or as well. The lists below have considerable overlap, and this is deliberate.
 Type Red: physical abilities such as Augment Powers (Beauty, Durability, Reflexes, Speed,
Stamina, or Strength), Flight, Integrity, Leaping, Life Support, and Swimming.
 Type Orange: control over natural elements or the physical environment; includes Animate,
Elemental Control, Life Support (appropriate to element; Aerospace for air elementals and
gravity controllers, Underground for earth elementals, Underwater for water elementals),
Material Blast, Matter Control, Transmutation, Weather Control, and mobility-related powers
appropriate to element (Airwalking or Flight for air elementals, Augmented Speed for earth or
ice elementals [earth or ice slide], Burrowing for earth elementals, Swimming or Water Walking
for water elementals). Fire elementals might have Energy Blast (Fire), while gravity controllers
can have Telekinesis.
 Type Yellow: power over living things or one’s own body; includes Animal Control, Augment
Powers (Beauty, Durability, Reflexes, or Stamina), Drain (Beauty, Durability, Reflexes, Stamina,
or Strength), Flesh Control, Growth, Integrity, Life Support, Plant Control, Shapeshifting,
Shrinking, and Stretching.
 Type Green: magical powers including Airwalking, Animate, Drain, Emotion Control,
Enchanter, Illusions, Mystic Blast, Mystic Resistance, Mystic Senses, Omniglot, Possession,
Sorcery, Teleport, and Weather Control.
 Type Blue: psychic powers including Airwalking, Augmented Intelligence, Drain (Intelligence
or Will), Emotion Control, Flight, Illusions, Mind Control, Omniglot, Psychic Blast, Psychic
Resistance, Psychic Senses, Telekinesis, and Telepathy.
 Type Violet: power over energy including Absorption, Augmented Durability (often with a Limit
for a specific energy type), Cosmic Senses, Cybernetic Senses, Energy Blast, Energy Control,
Flight, and Life Support (Aerospace).
 Type Grey: superhuman talent with skills and technology; includes Augment Powers (Beauty or
Intelligence), Cybernetic Senses, Gadgeteer, Machine Control, and Omniglot. May have other
powers as self-created gear as long as they can be justified as technological devices -- many
Type Grey inventors wear powered armor, use super-science tools, or carry arsenals of high-
tech weapons.
 Type Black: stealth, surveillance, and infiltration powers; including Airwalking, Augment
Powers (Beauty or Senses), Cybernetic Senses, Elemental Control (Shadow), Intangibility,
Invisibility, Shapeshifting, Shrinking, Teleport, and Wall-crawling.
 Aberrant: Any Aberrant abilities a character has must be part of an Aberrant Powers power set
separate from their Type abilities and any Mutations. There are three categories of powers that
qualify as Aberrant.
1. Power traits that don’t appear on the list of any of the color-coded Types;
2. Power traits from a different Type’s list -- most characters with a Type only have one such
power, while pure Aberrants might have several power traits from different Type lists;
3. Player-created power traits, which require the GM’s permission. See the MHRP rules on p.
OM95 (p. 101 of the pdf) for guidelines on creating new power traits.
Aberrant ability sets that have begun to coalesce into Types are referred to by the names of noble
gases or by the name of the first super to display them. For example, powers relating to the control,
imitation, and suppression of others’ metabilities (Amplify, Leech, and Mimic) have come to be called
Type Xenon. These emergent Types are still quite rare; most are limited to the members of one minor
bloodline or even just a single family.

Choose Specialties
Specialties represent skills and contacts that a character has developed or equipment that a character
can access. A Specialty is rated at Expert (d8) or Master (d10). Each character begins play with three
Expert Specialties. A player may use any unspent Creation Points from the previous step to improve on
this; it costs 1 CP to upgrade an Expert Specialty to Master, 3 CP to purchase a new Expert Specialty,
or 4 CP to purchase a new Master Specialty. See the Marvel Heroic Roleplaying core rules pp. OM98-
OM103 (pp. 104-109 in the pdf) for a list of available Specialties.
The world of Xenon doesn't have magic as it's usually defined in fictional universes, but characters
with the Mystic specialty understand folklore and how it interacts with metabilities. Therefore they can
use Mystic to create stunts for magic-based power sets or analyze magic-based effects. This Specialty
also covers knowledge of astral entities.
The Cosmic Specialty, in addition to granting knowledge of space and celestial phenomena, also
covers dimensional travel, alternate planes of existence, and knowledge of spatial anomalies.
Choose Morphic Patron
Morphic patrons offer certain benefits, but they also impose restrictions proportionate to those
benefits. There are five morphic patron options.
 None: Having no morphic patron means having no advantages from one, but it also means being
free of having to satisfy a patron’s requirements or serving its agenda.
 Biodependent Symbiote: More than anything else a biodependent symbiote has to be fed; it is,
after all, a biological lifeform with physical requirements for survival. You must consume at
least 25% more calories over your own requirements to support the symbiote, and you suffer
more from hunger and thirst -- any effect that imposes those conditions on you steps up the
effect die one step, or if you roll to resist you step the effect die down one step. On the upside
when you take a recovery action you step the stress or trauma down two steps instead of one.
 Egregore: Each of the three Egregores is a cosmic-level entity, and therefore only characters at
the Cosmic power level can select them. When performing an action that serves the patron’s
interests -- and this doesn’t just apply to actions using your powers -- you step up one effect die
two steps or two effect dice one step each. On the downside if you do something that conflicts
with the patron’s agenda you shutdown the GM’s choice of one of your power traits until the
end of the following scene. Note to GMs: This should be a minor power for the first offense
during the session, but further offenses will affect increasingly important powers. Consistent
violations can cause the Egregore to abandon the host.
1. Cobalt Monarch -- The Daedalus entity rewards you for seeking knowledge, protecting
your secrets, and taking actions based purely on logic. It punishes you for giving in to emotion,
considering animal appetites over rational considerations, or using inefficient means to attain
your goals without some overriding reason.
2. Crimson Emperor -- The Icarus entity rewards you for acting on ambition, seeking to
increase your personal power, and asserting your dominance. It punishes you for giving in to
your own weakness (whether physical or psychological), submitting to unproven or unworthy
authority, or backing down from a contest of will.
3. Ebony Prince -- The Minos entity rewards you for being paranoid, keeping in touch with
your animal nature, and seeking revenge. It punishes you for seeking safety and security, for
choosing not to avenge a wrong against you, or acting on pure logic.
 Fractal Symbiote: A fractal symbiote exists primarily in the host’s mind, so that’s where its
benefits and drawbacks manifest. The biggest benefit is the ability to multitask; you don’t have
to spend a Plot Point to keep an additional effect die when affecting two targets, but you must
spend a Plot Point as normal to affect a third target. You also have no trouble dividing your
attention -- for example, following two different conversations at once or composing an email
while driving. The symbiote’s reaction to sensory input can overload your mind, however; any
effect that imposes sensory distractions on you adds a d8 to the dice pool.
 Knight Symbiote: A knight symbiote is a creature of energy, and that makes it hard to conceal.
While the symbiote is physically manifested the range at which you can be detected with Power
Sense is doubled and any action to perceive or track you adds a d6 to the dice pool. The good
news is that a manifested knight symbiote adds a d6 to your dice pool when resisting, dodging,
or parrying an attack. You can also project your powers from your own location or from the
symbiote’s while it is manifested.

Choose Bloodline
A bloodline provides a character with family connections, resources, and a set of ideals… though
how closely the character follows those ideals is up to the player. A bloodline is also a source of
complications in the form of missions from the elders and consequences for not meeting the family’s
standards. Each bloodline has criteria for membership; a character who doesn’t meet those criteria is
not a full member of the bloodline but might still owe allegiance to it.
 Al-Fasil: You may choose this bloodline if you are a pure Type Grey with no Aberrant powers
who was Born Super.
 Amon: Every member of the Amon bloodline is a mutaform who was Born Super and has at
least one of Augmented Beauty, Eternal, or Noctis Cape.
 Crossbreed: To be a crossbreed you must have an origin other than Born Super and meet the
remaining criteria for two bloodlines.
 Epona: All members of this bloodline are pure Type Blacks who were Born Super. The only
morphic patron found among them is the Ebony Prince.
 Evelock: To be of the Evelock bloodline you must be Born Super as a pure Type Yellow with no
Aberrant abilities.
 Grimlore: Supers born or adopted into the Grimlore bloodline are pure Type Greens with no
Aberrant powers and any origin except Near-death Experience.
 Leon: To be of House Leon you must be a pure Type Orange with no Aberrant abilities and the
Born Super origin.
 Noble Singularity: You may have only a single Aberrant power and any origin except Born
Super. You may still have mutations.
 Oath: You may choose this bloodline if you are a pure Type Red, possibly with an Aberrant
ranged attack, with the Born Super origin. You may not have any morphic patron except the
Crimson Emperor.
 Outworlder Union: To join the Union you must be a nonnative with a morphic patron that is not
an Egregore.
 Romanov: To be of this bloodline you must be Born Super, have the Polytype mutation and two
or more types, and no Aberrant powers.
 Tsukumo: Every Tsukumo is a pure Aberrant with the Vanilla mutation.
 Voss: To be a member of the Voss bloodline you must be a pure Type Blue who was Born Super.
You can have no morphic patron but the Cobalt Monarch.
 Zora: All Zora are Born Super as pure Type Violets with no Aberrant powers.
 Independent: An independent can be of any origin and have any powers, mutations, or patron.
 Minor Bloodline: This option allows the player to create a minor bloodline with the GM’s help.
Decide what combination of powers, mutations, patron, and origins is common to the bloodline.
All members of the bloodline that appear in the campaign must conform to this pattern. The
player chooses whether the character is part of an established (albeit small) bloodline or the
founder of a new bloodline.

Create Milestones
A Milestone is a character's personal story arc. Each Milestone consists of three decision points.
How the character's story progresses depends on what decision the character makes at each trigger.
A character can have up to two Milestones. One should be personal to the character -- the player
works with the GM to create it. Note that by creating a Milestone the player is letting the GM know
what sort of story they want for the character. The second Milestone can also be player-created, or the
player can choose to pursue a Milestone specific to the event the group is playing through.
Each trigger awards XP based on how often the character can hit that trigger -- many times during a
scene (1XP), once per scene (3XP), or once per act (10XP). A trigger might be hit multiple times, but a
character only gets XP for it once. A character must hit the triggers in order. Once the 10XP trigger has
been hit that Milestone is resolved and the player must select a new one.
Milestones are always player driven; the Milestone and any consequences tied to it depend on the
character's choices, not on the actions of NPCs or other PCs. That said, choosing inaction is still a
choice. XP is awarded regardless of how the character chooses; the important thing is that the character
makes a choice. Check the hero datafiles in the MHRP core rules pp. BR52-BR96 (pp. 184-228 in the
pdf) for examples of character-specific Milestones or use the Milestones below.
Resolving Milestones is not a quick process; at least one transition scene must pass after resolving a
trigger before a character can resolve the next one.

Family Matters
1 XP when you choose whether to honor or ignore your bloodline’s traditions.
3 XP when you choose how to respond when your elders reward your consistent obedience or punish
your ongoing rebellion.
10 XP when the situation comes to a head and you choose to reconcile or break with your bloodline.

The Impossible Dream


1 XP when you choose the quest that will define your career as a super. You must declare your quest
to your bloodline (if any) and at least one other person.
3 XP when you suffer emotional trauma in the course of your quest and choose whether to give up
or fight on. If you give up you may resume the quest after recovering from the trauma.
10 XP when the end of your quest is within reach and you choose either to complete it or to set it
aside in favor of a different (but perhaps more satisfying) goal.

Lineage
1 XP when you present yourself to be noticed by potential mates.
3 XP when you narrow down the number of suitors to no more than three -- whether on the basis of
your family’s selection criteria or your own desires.
10 XP when you choose a suitor to commit to. In this case commit means at least getting engaged.

Vendetta
1 XP when you choose a rival or archenemy and formally declare your feud.
3 XP when you deal a serious reversal to your enemy and choose whether to gloat or win graciously,
or your enemy deals you a serious reversal and you choose whether to sulk, throw a tantrum, or learn
from the experience.
10 XP when you finally defeat your enemy and choose whether to kill them, capture them, or
forgive them.

Relationships
One of the most defining traits of any person is their relationships with other people. In Xenon there
are five broad relationship types, and each relationship has a rating of d6, d8, or d10 to describe its
intensity. Each player character should have a relationship to one NPC individual or group as well as
a relationship to every other PC in the campaign. Choose a rating of d10 for the strongest relationship,
a d8 for the next most important, and d6 for all of the others.
 Bond: This kind of relationship is defined by a sense of duty, an obligation, or a debt. This
might be membership in a group -- perhaps a family, a company, or a religion -- or a more
personal connection. At d6 a bond might be, “We’re not close, but we’re still family,” or “I
remember that favor you did for me.” A d10 bond might be a life debt or the feeling that,
“Family is everything.”
 Enmity: Feeling enmity for someone means actively disliking them at the very least, and at
higher levels it can be real hate. At d6 you will avoid interacting with the object of your enmity
whenever possible or subject them to verbal abuse and/or malicious pranks when you think you
can get away with it. At d10 you will try to harm your enemy at every opportunity, possibly
even to the detriment of your own interests.
 Friendship: You like this person. At d6 this is a casual friend, someone you greet when you see
them because you like them (not just to be polite), and you will often seek out opportunities to
spend time with them. A d10 friendship is reserved for your best friend.
 Rivalry: A relationship of this kind is based on competition; you actively seek out opportunities
to one-up your rival. A d6 rival is someone you enjoy competing against, and that competition is
the centerpiece of your relationship. A d10 rivalry is so intense that you might sabotage your
own interests for a chance to show your rival up. Note that rivalry does not in and of itself mean
dislike; you might very well be friends with a rival, it’s just that your friendship is based more
on competition than fellow-feeling. Which doesn’t preclude having a rivalry with someone you
don’t like, of course…
 Romance: Love is in the air! A d6 romance is at the level of an innocent crush while at d10 you
believe the object of your affection to be the love of your life. An alternate version of this kind
of relationship emphasizes physical attraction over romantic feelings -- the higher the rating, the
more volatile the sexual chemistry.

A relationship is not necessarily mutual; just because you feel a certain relationship for a person
doesn’t mean they feel the same way about you. For example, in My Hero Academia Midoriya thinks
of Bakugo as a friend while Bakugo clearly defines their relationship as a rivalry.
It’s also worth noting that a relationship is about a character’s feelings and actions, not their words --
having a relationship with someone and openly admitting to that relationship are two different things.
Going back to My Hero Academia, Midoriya and Uraraka spend much of the chronicle in deep denial
about their relationship being a romance.
The enmity and romance relationship types can be especially problematical when declared between
player characters. It might be a good idea for the GM to forbid any PC from having either type of
relationship with another PC. If enmity or romance is allowed between PCs it can only occur with the
other player’s consent, and then only if both players are mature enough to maintain the separation
between in-character and out-of-character.

Fill in the Blanks


This should probably be the first step, but the author knows that creating power sets for a game
about characters with superhuman powers is way sexier. Filling in the blanks is about the character's
mundane details -- name, age, sex, height, weight, hair color, and eye color at the very least. This is
also where the player can specify things like a character's former job (and whether or not they're still
trying to do that job), distinguishing marks, and known relatives or associates. Any prized possessions
of purely sentimental value -- that is, those that don't qualify as Distinctions or power traits -- can be
listed here as well.
A generous GM might award an additional 1-3 Creation Points for a written background. This
shouldn't be any longer than the backgrounds given in the character datafiles in the Marvel Heroic
Roleplaying core rulebook. If the character sheet for the campaign has space for a background then the
background (typed) should fit within that space.

Once you have completed all of these steps your character is ready for play. You begin each session
with one Plot Point (Exception: You begin the first session with 0 PP if your character doesn't yet have
a name) and will have opportunities to earn more throughout the game.
CHAPTER III: The Campaign
The exact nature of a Xenon campaign depends on a number of factors. The GM decides where the
toggles are set, but a wise GM pays attention to what the players want.

Power Level
The options here are the power levels from Character Creation -- Local, Regional, Global, and
Cosmic. The campaign power level determines how powerful the PCs are and the quality of opposition
they'll face.

Mood
The mood of the campaign determines the overall feel of the campaign, what sorts of things the PCs
do in the course of their adventures, and what degree of effect they have on the world.

Cinematic
This is the default mood. A cinematic campaign hews closely to the tropes of superhero comics --
high action, little moral ambiguity, and generous doses of both humor and drama. Heroes in this kind of
campaign are unrelentingly heroic, while the villains are unashamedly villainous, and the characters'
actions can truly change things for the better.

Humorous
A humorous campaign has the same over-the-top action as a cinematic campaign -- in fact, it might
be even more so -- but serious injury happens rarely if ever and collateral damage never takes the form
of serious injury to innocents. The villains tend to be mustache-twirling caricatures, and the heroes are
often their lantern-jawed counterparts. Moral ambiguity has no place in a humorous campaign; good is
good and evil is evil. Even so, while the brights are extra bright the darks aren’t all that dark; the focus
is on fun, not on moral quandaries. The characters' successes can't improve things in the long run, but
neither to their failures make anything worse.

Realistic
This is the dark and gritty option. A realistic campaign is in many ways the opposite of humorous --
the action has consequences up to and including the deaths of innocents, humor is less common and
much darker, and morality consists mainly of shades of gray. Heroes fight and win, but they don't walk
away unscathed. The worst part is that no matter how much the characters strive they can't improve the
world in any significant way in the long run; at best they can temporarily make things better on a small
scale. They might, however, succeed in making things worse. This is easily the hardest campaign type
to run; it requires a degree of maturity from GM and players alike to not devolve into the characters
being the kind of jerks the players can't get away with being in real life.

Continuity
Xenon is not nearly as complex and detailed as the Marvel and DC universes -- most of the timeline
consists of blanks for the GM and players to fill in -- but the GM must still decide where within that
timeline the campaign will take place.

First Generation (1951-1975)


A campaign set in this stage is about the appearance of the earliest supers. The full range of abilities
won't have been seen yet, none of the Types will be widespread (some won’t exist yet), and the Earth
will not yet have been subjected to titan attacks or an influx of refugees. PCs will have the chance to
participate in the formation of the bloodlines and might even be founding members. Missions for this
stage will focus on espionage and black ops in the service of governments, usually the USA and USSR.

Second Generation (1976-2000)


By this stage the Types are established and there is a basic understanding of astral space. The Cold
War nears its end, and covert ops have given way to public derring-do as costumed crime fighters and
criminals make their debut. The first titan attacks occur during this era, and the first refugees arrive
soon after. Dealing with the titans and the suspected invasions takes up a lot of supers’ time.

Third Generation (2001-2030)


During these years the bloodlines consolidate their power and the majority of nonnatives arrive.
Most metahuman criminals have either gone covert or gone legit, while the corporate sphere has fully
embraced supers as spokespersons or uniquely skilled laborers. Any military that has access to supers
uses them in warfare (usually proxy wars fought in developing nations), and law enforcement employs
as many supers as they can recruit. The offworld colonies are established near the end of this period.

Fourth Generation (2031 and onward)


The world is mostly at peace; intervention by supers has cut down on the number of disagreements
between nations that turn into shooting wars. While supers are still employed in law enforcement most
of their work is in disaster relief and titan defense. But with rising tension between nations -- and
between bloodlines -- the peace might not last. The frequency of titan attacks is also increasing, and
previously unknown titans have been sighted. Experts agree that if the titan problem isn’t solved soon
Earth will face the same fate as the worlds from which the refugees came. This is the default setting.

Allies and Antagonists


Any combat mission will require NPC opponents, and some will require helpers as well or instead.
The datafiles below assume a Local power level. Any power trait listed should be stepped up one step
for a Regional campaign or two steps for a Global or Cosmic campaign except where noted, and any
Expert Specialty should be upgraded to Master for a Global or Cosmic campaign.
The following stat blocks represent generic characters. The GM should customize these examples --
i.e. switching out SFX or limits or adding Distinctions -- to surprise players who’ve read this book.

Blaster
Solo d6 Common Tactics
Buddy d8 Blasters tend to be glass cannons. They rely on teammates
to draw fire while they fight from a distance -- they like to fight
Team d10
from the air when possible. Inexperienced Blasters will just
Energy Projector (specify energy type) plug away with Energy Blast until the target drops while those
who have more skill will use Energy Control to impose
Energy Blast d8 Subsonic Flight d8 penalties on their targets -- heatstroke for fire, paralysis for
Energy Control d8 electricity, slick ice for cold, etc.
If there is more than one Blaster on a team they will usually
SFX Impedance: Spend a die from the doom pool to have different energy types.
remove a die of equal size from the target's dice pool
for their next action.
SFX Ricochet: Spend a d6 from the doom pool to bounce a
blast off of an obstacle to attack from an unexpected
direction; step up the effect die one step.
Limit Exhausted. Shutdown any Energy Projector power
and step up lowest doom die or add d6 to the doom
pool. Recover power by activating an opportunity.
Combat Expert d8 Menace Expert d8
Caretaker
Solo d6 Common Tactics
Buddy d8 Caretakers don't really fight; their role is to support fighters.
They focus on buffing or healing their teammates. If an ally is
Team d10
downed the Caretaker is the one who will try to evacuate
Better Mousetrap them from the battlefield.
The Caretaker is also the team's driver or pilot. For teams
Cybernetic Senses d8 Gadgeteer d6 with limited resources the vehicle is an extended van or a
Dimension Travel d8 Healing d6 minibus, possibly with homemade armor. There will be a wide
selection of equipment stored in the vehicle and a smaller
SFX Know They Enemy: Spend a doom pool die to locate selection in the Caretaker's pocket dimension(s).
hidden enemies or detect concealed weapons. There is typically only one Caretaker per team unless it's a
SFX One for the Team: Spend a die from the doom pool to large team.
create a device resource on the fly.
Limit Hammerspace: You can only use Dimension Travel to
create pocket dimensions to store gear.
Business Expert d8 Tech Expert d8
Medical Expert d8 Vehicle Expert d8

Cloaker
Solo d10 Common Tactics
Buddy d8 Cloakers don't do stand-up fights. If they fight at all they
execute surprise attacks from stealth. With powers that aren't
Team d6
much good in direct conflict Cloakers prefer to avoid attacks
Impersonator or Super Sneak rather than withstand them. They often carry gear that aids
them in battle -- entangling weapons, flash-bang grenades,
Enhanced Reflexes d8 Enhanced Reflexes d8 tranquilizer dart guns, etc.
Shapeshifting d8 Invisibility d8 There is typically only one Cloaker per team, but a large
team might have two and there are sometimes entire teams
Weapon d6 Wall-crawling d8 of Cloakers for stealth missions; such a crew will have their
SFX Blindside: Upon landing a successful attack from solo and team affiliations switched.
ambush step up the effect die +1.
SFX Focus: Replace two equal dice in an Impersonator or
Super Sneak dice pool with one die +1 step larger.
Limit Exhausted. Shutdown an Impersonator/Super Sneak
ability to step up lowest doom pool die or add d6 to the
doom pool. Recover by activating an opportunity.
Covert Expert d8 Crime Expert d8

Empowerer
Solo d6 Common Tactics
Buddy d8 An Empowerer fights from the back line because they lack
abilities for direct attack or defense. They concentrate on
Team d10
increasing their allies' powers or neutralizing the powers of
Power Player their enemies. With great effort an Empowerer can turn an
enemy's powers against them. If fighting alongside normals
Amplify d8 Mimic d8 an Empowerer might give them lesser versions of a foe's
Leech d6 abilities.
Empowerers are one of the only types that is less effective
SFX Diminish: Target a foe's power trait; remove a die that against baseline humans than they are against other supers.
size from the doom pool to step the power down -1. They are also the rarest type; even the largest teams only
SFX Overload: Attack using one of target's power trait dice. have one, and most groups have none.
This costs an equal-size die from the doom pool.
Limit For the Horde: Can't use Amplify or Mimic on yourself.
Covert Expert d8 Medical Expert d8
Healer
Solo d6 Common Tactics
Buddy d8 Healers don't fight unless the situation is dire. Their job is to
keep their allies in the fight -- or, if things are going badly, to
Team d10
get downed allies back into the fight. A team's Healer will
Miracle Worker spend most of the conflict trying to avoid notice until they're
needed. Most Healers wear some kind of body armor to help
Enhanced Durability d8 Flesh Control d8 prevent injury to themselves, and those who aren't complete
Enhanced Senses d8 Weapon d6 pacifists will often carry some kind of sidearm. They also
double as medivac drivers.
SFX Only a Flesh Wound: Step down a stress die that was Healers are the most sought-after support type. They are
gained during the current scene one step by stepping somewhat rare, so few teams have more than one, but any
down a die of equal size from the doom pool. group will have as many as they are able to recruit.
Limit Lay On Hands: You must touch someone to heal them.
Covert Expert d8 Psych Expert d8
Medical Expert d8 Vehicle Expert d8

Heavy Hitter
Solo d10 Common Tactics
Buddy d8 The Heavy Hitter fights up close and personal -- with the
strength to dish out damage and the durability to take it they
Team d6
are the team's tank. A Heavy Hitter's powers aren't subtle, so
Powerhouse they rarely bother with sneaking. Instead they strive to attract
attention away from their more fragile teammates. A Heavy
Enhanced Durability d8 Enhanced Strength d8 Hitter is perfectly capable of fighting alone, however, and
Enhanced Stamina d8 Flight or Leaping d8 most of them prefer to do so.
SFX Into the Stands: Spend a die from the doom pool to
add additional knockback effect to your attack; the
bigger the die the further the target is knocked back.
SFX Shockwave: Spend dice from the doom pool to add an
equal number of effect dice to affect multiple targets.
Limit Exhausted. Shutdown any Powerhouse ability and
step up lowest doom pool die or add d6 to the doom
pool. Recover power by activating an opportunity.
Combat Expert d8 Menace Expert d8

Henchman
Solo d6 Armed and Dangerous Common Tactics
Buddy d8 Courage Under Fire Henchmen lack powers; they rely on military grade weapons
and armor and superior numbers. They adapt their tactics to
Team 5d6
their targets -- massed fire from a distance to take on melee-
High-tech Arsenal based foes, suppressing fire to pin down glass cannons while
using cover to get close to them, etc. Henchmen try to attack
Cybernetic Senses d6 Weapon (crewed) d8 from multiple angles without getting in each other's lines of
Exceptional Durability d6 Weapon (individual) d6 fire, and they often deploy from vehicles up to and including
APCs, helicopters, and amphibious assault vehicles.
SFX Lots of Us: Spend a doom die to add that die to the Henchmen don't improve their power traits or specialties at
Team or Buddy affiliation for the current combat. higher campaign power levels; they add greater numbers,
Limit Gear: Shutdown any High-tech Arsenal ability to add a better vehicles, and more powerful weapons. The stronger
d6 to the doom pool or step up the smallest doom die. the opposition the more Henchmen are present -- the odds in
their favor are usually 5:1 and can go as high as 50:1. There
Combat Expert d8 Menace Expert d8 are confirmed uses of briefcase nukes against titans.
Crime Expert d8 Vehicle Expert d8
Inventor
Solo d8 Common Tactics
Buddy d10 Inventors don't usually fight, at least not directly. Instead they
create gear for their allies or Henchmen to use. They do
Team d6
carry personal weapons in the event that their hidey-holes
Mother of Invention are discovered. The more combative Inventors sometimes
fight using armed drones or telepresence rigs. Inventors
Cybernetic Senses d8 Machine Control d8 usually deploy with a single teammate as a bodyguard and
Gadgeteer d8 Weapon d8 often double as drivers or pilots.
Inventing is an uncommon power set, so most teams only
SFX One for the Team: Spend a die from the doom pool to have one Inventor. If there's an Inventor in the field that's a
create a device resource on the fly. strong sign that the team has at least two.
SFX Overclock: Step up one Mother of Invention power one
step for its next use, then shutdown that power.
Regain that power by activating an opportunity.
Limit Gear: Shutdown any Mother of Invention ability to add
a d6 to the doom pool or step up the smallest die.
Science Expert d8 Vehicle Expert d8
Tech Expert d8

Magician
Solo d8 Common Tactics
Buddy d10 A Magician's versatility is their greatest strength. Their usual
tactic is to create obstacles to funnel enemies into their allies'
Team d6
attacks or impose hindering conditions. Enemies with high
Arcane Arts Durability are targeted by Mystic Blast instead. A Magician is
usually the best person to take down an opposing Magician
Adept Sorcery d8 Mystic Resistance d8 or Psychic. Most teams deploy a Magician alongside a
Mystic Blast d6 Mystic Senses d6 partner with more conventional abilities, usually one who can
fight multiple opponents -- a Magician's greatest vulnerability
SFX Split Spell: Split Mystic Blast into 2d6 (if rating is d10, is having to defend against large numbers of enemies.
2d8 or 3d6; if rating is d12, 2d10, 3d8 or 4d6). The Magician power set is the second rarest. Most teams
Limit Growing Dread: Both 1 and 2 on the dice count as aren't lucky enough to have one, and only the largest have
opportunities when using Arcane Arts. two or more.
Mystic Expert d8 Psych Expert d8

Mercenary
Solo d6 Best of the Best Common Tactics
Buddy d10 Military Mindset Mercenaries are baseline humans with more training and
better equipment than Henchmen. They use similar tactics
Team 4d6
but rely less on numbers; Mercenaries typically work in
High-tech Arsenal teams of two or squads of four. Their gear often includes
exotic tech. Mercenaries carefully research their targets
Cybernetic Senses d8 Weapon (crewed) d10 whenever possible; if they can they customize their gear to
Enhanced Durability d8 Weapon (individual) d8 better deal with whatever threat they expect to face.
As with Henchmen, Mercenaries don't improve their power
SFX Morale Boost: Add a d6 to the doom pool or step up traits or specialties in a higher-powered campaign; they have
the smallest die after completing a mission objective. improved vehicles instead. Mercenary vehicles and gear are
SFX One-two Punch: When a Buddy hits a target this round better than what Henchmen use. Mercenaries are more
before you attack step up your lowest attack die +1. careful about collateral damage, however; instead of artillery
or WMDs they will use chemical or biological weapons... and
Limit Gear: Shutdown any High-tech Arsenal ability to add a will also have medical personnel on hand to treat civilians
d6 to the doom pool or step up the smallest doom die. who are exposed.
Combat Master d10 Menace Master d10
Crime Master d10 Vehicle Master d10
Psychic
Solo d6 Common Tactics
Buddy d8 Psychics usually occupy a support role. They often use their
ESP to scout an area or create telepathic communications
Team d10
networks. In a fight they make occasional attacks from
Power of the Mind concealment with mental bolts, especially on targets who
have high physical resistance. A Psychic only takes a front
Psychic Blast d6 Psychic Resistance d8 line combat role against a Magician or another Psychic. A
Psychic Senses d8 Telepathy d8 Psychic usually fights as part of a team or with a more
physically capable teammate watching their back.
SFX Area Attack: For each additional target add d6 and The Psychic power set is uncommon enough that most
keep an additional effect die. teams only have one, but not so rare that many teams don't
SFX Memory Hole: Spend a doom die after hitting with have one.
Psychic Blast; target can't detect you until you make
an attack, are hit by an attack, or combat ends.
Limit Exhausted. Shutdown a Power of the Mind ability and
step up lowest doom pool die or add d6 to the doom
pool. Recover that power by activating an opportunity.
Covert Expert d8 Psych Expert d8
Menace Expert d8

Puppeteer
Solo d10 Common Tactics
Buddy d6 Puppeters don't fight; they have minions to fight for them.
They use the environment around them as a source of
Team d8
minions or weapons. A Puppeteer tries to remain concealed
Army of One (choose only one marked *) while the minions do all the work. If the master is discovered
the minions will converge to protect their master or cover the
Enhanced Senses d8 Duplication* d8 master's escape.
Hardened Senses d8 Machine Control* d8 Despite their lack of direct combat ability Puppeteers prefer
to fight alone, but having minions to direct means that they
Animal Control* d8 Mind Control* d8 know how to function as part of a team.
Animate* d8 Plant Control* d8 The Puppeteer power set is quite rare; few teams have
one, and even fewer have more than one.
SFX Area Attack: For each additional target add d6 and
keep an additional effect die.
SFX Through the Grapevine: Spend a die from the doom
pool to perceive through the senses of all minions for
the duration of this conflict.
Limit Exhausted. Shutdown an Army of One ability and step
up lowest doom pool die or add d6 to the doom pool.
Recover that power by activating an opportunity.
Covert Expert d8 Psych Expert d8
Menace Expert d8
Scholar
Solo d8 In the Know Common Tactics
Buddy d6 Right Tool for the Job Scholars are the rarest unpowered field agents, and arguably
the most valuable. They're not much good in a fight, but they
Team 3d6
are indispensable for dealing with high-tech gear and solving
Tools of the Trade scientific puzzles, and their knowledge of the abilities and
limits of supers can turn the tide of a battle. If forced to fight
Cybernetic Senses d8 Exceptional Intelligence d6 Scholars fight indirectly if possible, dirty if not. If they know
SFX Exploit Vulnerability: After making a successful attack who they're up against they’ll have specific countermeasures
step up the effect die one step by spending a die of prepared, otherwise they'll just have counters for the most
equal or greater size from the doom pool. common power sets (Blasters, Cloakers, Heavy Hitters,
Scouts, and Scrappers). Scholars prefer hit-and-run tactics;
SFX Bio-scan: Add Intelligence to Cybernetic Senses dice they'll hit a target hard enough to buy time to run away.
pools and add an additional die to the total when If Scholars are present there will be a group of them, i.e. a
analyzing or scanning for the presence of Xenon. researcher and several assistants. If active opposition is
Limit Gear: Shutdown any Tools of the Trade ability to add a expected the nerds will be protected by at least an equal
d6 to the doom pool or step up the smallest doom die. number of jocks (Henchmen or Mercenaries). Even if no
enemies are expected the Scholars will have a vehicle handy
Business Expert d8 Science Expert d10 for a fast getaway. Like Henchmen and Mercenaries
Medical Expert d8 Tech Expert d10 Scholars don't increase their power traits or specialties at
higher campaign power levels, but a head researcher will
have two of their specialties at Master.

Scout
Solo d10 Common Tactics
Buddy d8 The role of the Scout is less about fighting than gathering
information so that the rest of the team knows what they're
Team d6
up against. Scouts are also the supers most likely to be sent
Unseen Watcher on extraction (theft or kidnapping) missions. A Scout usually
goes in ahead of the rest of the group alone, and the goal is
Enhanced Reflexes d8 Intangibility d8 to get out with the goods without anyone the wiser. Fighting
Enhanced Senses d8 Weapon d6 is reserved for when the Scout is discovered or if presented
with a target of opportunity that's too good to pass up. In
SFX Immunity: Spend a die from the doom pool to ignore either case the Scout prefers to attack from ambush and
stress from projectiles or close combat attacks. retreat into the shadows.
SFX Shadow Meld: Add Intangibility to the dice pool of a Scouts usually work alone, but for extractions they often
stealth check. work with a Cloaker or another Scout. This power set is fairly
common, so many teams have at least one Scout.
Limit Exhausted. Shutdown an Unseen Watcher ability and
step up lowest doom pool die or add d6 to the doom
pool. Recover that power by activating an opportunity.
Acrobatic Expert d8 Crime Expert d8
Covert Expert d8
Scrapper
Solo d8 Common Tactics
Buddy d10 The Scrapper is similar to the Heavy Hitter in that both like to
fight up close and personal. The Scrapper differs in focusing
Team d6
on doing damage rather than drawing fire to protect their
Ready to Rumble teammates. A Scrapper can function as a duelist, but their
preferred method is to make hit-and-run attacks while a
Enhanced Durability d8 Enhanced Strength d8 partner holds the enemy's attention. When fighting multiple
Enhanced Reflexes d8 Weapon d6 opponents a Scrapper will frequently switch targets to keep
all of them off balance.
SFX Make 'em Bleed: Use Reflexes, Strength, and Weapon Scrapper, along with Heavy Hitter, is among the most
in the dice pool for a single attack, then shutdown one common power sets. Most teams have at least one.
of those powers. Regain that power by activating an
opportunity.
SFX Second Wind: Spend a die from the doom pool to step
down the lowest stress die one step.
Limit Exhausted. Shutdown a Ready to Rumble ability and
step up lowest doom pool die or add d6 to the doom
pool. Recover that power by activating an opportunity.
Acrobatic Expert d8 Combat Expert d8

Situational
Solo d6 Common Tactics
Buddy d8 Situationals have no common tactics because each one
fights differently according to the strengths and weaknesses
Team d10
of their particular power set. The one constant is that they are
Grab Bag (choose only two marked *) usually weak in direct combat, so they focus on support.
Many Situationals have abilities that impose debuffs on their
Enhanced Intelligence d8 Enhanced Beauty* d8 enemies or buff their allies, and just as many are trained as
Cosmic Senses* d8 Flesh Control* d8 drivers or pilots to increase their operational usefulness.
Collectively Situationals have an uncommon power set, but
Elemental Control* d8 Mystic/Psychic Senses* d8 as individuals each power set is somewhat rare. It's a rare
Emotional Control* d8 Weather Control* d8 team that has even one, and the limited applicability of their
powers means few teams bother with having more than one.
SFX Afflict: Add a d6 to the dice pool and step up the effect When designing a Situational choose any three of the
die +1 when inflicting a complication appropriate to the listed Specialties. If Elemental Control is selected specify an
Control power used. element (Air, Earth, Fire, Light, Metal, Shadow, Water, etc.).
SFX Helping Hand: Spend a die from the doom pool to The Grab Bag powers should fit a coherent theme, i.e. a
create a resource for an ally using a Control power. super-charismatic with Emotional Control and Enhanced
Beauty or an oracular detective with both Mystic and Psychic
Limit Exhausted. Shutdown a Grab Bag ability and step up Senses.
lowest doom pool die or add d6 to the doom pool.
Recover that power by activating an opportunity.
Business Expert d8 Psych Expert d8
Cosmic Expert d8 Science Expert d8
Mystic Expert d8 Vehicle Expert d8
Teleporter
Solo d10 Common Tactics
Buddy d6 Teleporters excel at hit-and-run combat and at ambushes.
They often use their mobility to engage multiple opponents;
Team d8
they can give the illusion of greater numbers and therefore
I Get Around can be effective when working alone. A common tactic is to
bounce around the battlefield, engaging different targets in
Enhanced Reflexes d8 Teleport d8 succession to keep all of them off-balance, and wait for an
Spatial Senses d8 Weapon d6 opportunity to land a decisive blow. If a fight is going against
them they can quickly evacuate themselves, and possibly
SFX Area Attack: For each additional target add d6 and their teammates, from the battlefield. With no direct attack
keep an additional effect die. powers a Teleporter will typically carry some sort of weapon
SFX Blink: When avoiding an attack use both Reflexes and into battle.
Teleport in the dice pool and add an additional die to The Teleporter power set is quite rare; most teams don't
the total. have one, and only the larger ones have two or more.
Limit Random Jump: Change Teleport into a complication to
add a d6 to the doom pool or step up the lowest doom
die one step.
Combat Expert d8 Crime Expert d8
Covert Expert d8

Trickster
Solo d8 Common Tactics
Buddy d10 Tricksters avoid direct combat if possible, and if forced into a
stand-up fight will always fight dirty. They prefer to attack
Team d6
from ambush and focus their efforts on vulnerable spots. A
Tricksy Trixie (choose only one marked *) Trickster is most effective when supporting a partner --
usually by drawing fire away from a back-line fighter like a
Enhanced Reflexes d8 Probability Control* d8 Blaster, Magician, or Psychic -- but they can fight alone if
Leaping or Swingline d6 Shrinking* d8 need be. Tricksters don't usually carry weapons into battle;
they prefer improvising weapons from their surroundings.
Illusions* d8 Transmutation* d8 Those who are more technically minded might carry parts
SFX Acme Catalog: Spend a die from the doom pool to from which they can build weapons.
create a weapon or device resource. Tricksters have an uncommon power set, but the real
reason why most teams have only one is that they tend to be
SFX Low Blow: After making a successful attack spend a annoying.
die from the doom pool to step up the effect die.
Limit Tough Room: Change any Tricksy Trixie power into a
complication to add a d6 to the doom pool or step up
the lowest doom die one step.
Acrobatic Expert d8 Crime Expert d8
Covert Expert d8 Tech Expert d8
CHAPTER IV: With a Company Unsightly
A ceremony to honor a group of young supers is interrupted by a titan attack. Strangers are forced
to work together to prevent a catastrophe.

A titan called Legba suddenly appears, and with it a number of lesser morphic entities that threaten
civilian lives. Banishing the Legba entity back to its home dimension is imperative because the longer
it remains on Earth the weaker the walls between worlds become -- if it stays too long other titans will
eventually break through.
This short two-Act event serves as an introduction to the Xenon setting. It is intended for a group of
young (or at least inexperienced) characters at the Regional or Global power level.
Everything after the event Milestones is intended for the GM's eyes only. Players who want to be
surprised should stop reading at the end of this page.

Structure of the Event


With a Company Unsightly is a mini-event in which the characters combat a titan attack… but not
directly. While the PCs are too inexperienced to battle a titan there are secondary opponents to defeat
and civilians to protect -- the PCs will handle this part while the veteran heroes take on the titan. Stat
blocks for the antagonists that appear in this event are provided at the end of this document. Each Act
can be played in one or two sessions depending on how long the transition scenes need to be for the
investigation portion of the scenario.
 Act One consists of the initial attack and the subsequent investigation into how to combat
further incursions.
 Act Two consists of tracking the villains to their base of operations and of the climactic battle.

Milestones for This Event


With a Company Unsightly has the following event Milestones that characters may choose to pursue.

A League of Greats
1 XP when you choose a team to become part of.
3 XP when your team suffers a crisis of trust and you choose whether to confront the offending party,
keep it to yourself, or confide in a teammate you still trust.
10 XP when the situation comes to a head and you choose whether to work through the problem
with your team or go your own way.

Fame and Fortune


1 XP when you use the crisis as an opportunity for self-promotion.
3 XP when you arrange to benefit materially from your heroics -- and choose whether or not to cut
the other PCs in on the deal.
10 XP when you choose whether to embrace your newfound fame and fortune or take a nobler path.

To the Cosmos
1 XP when you choose to pursue knowledge of other worlds.
3 XP when you risk your safety -- or someone elses’s -- to study an otherworldly being.
10 XP when you take steps to acquire the means to explore another world.
ACT ONE
Falcon, Ravens, Birds of Evil
A large crowd of supers, celebrities, and civilian onlookers is gathered at Caesar’s Superdome in
New Orleans, LA USA. The occasion is a class of young supers graduating from Project Theseus, an
international program for teaching excellence in the use of metabilities. In the midst of the ceremony a
citywide alarm warns of a titan attack.

Setting: Caesar’s Superdome


Caesars Superdome is a multi-purpose stadium in New Orleans’ Central Business District. It is the
home stadium of the NFL team the New Orleans Saints.
 The arena was previously known as the Louisiana Superdome and later Mercedes-Benz
Superdome, but the naming rights were most recently sold to Caesars Entertainment -- the
company best known for operating Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas.
 The stadium was used as a shelter of last resort during and after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
 The official (expanded) capacity of the structure is over 76,000 people, though attendance for
some events has exceeded 79,000.
 House Leon sometimes rents out the Superdome for major supers-related events.

Prominent Locations
Here are some sample locations in and around Caesar’s Superdome, each with at least two scene
distinctions included in the description.

Champions Square: This outdoor festival plaza is the premier tailgating area for sporting events held in
the Superdome. The area includes an outdoor amphitheater known as Bold Sphere Music (a.k.a. the
Blue Sphere Stage). During an event this area will be filled with Dense Crowds and Distracting Lights
and Sounds.

Locker Rooms: On the ground floor of the dome are the areas where the competing teams suit up.
There are plenty of Places to Hide here, and a brief search might yield Random Sporting Equipment.

Main Arena: The inside of the Superdome proper contains seating for tens of thousands of people. All
those chairs make the area an Obstacle Course, and at event time it will have the same Dense Crowds
as Champions Square.

Parking Lot: The large expanse of blacktop outside is a Wide Open Space that will be Full of Cars
during the event.

Hook: There’s No Place Like Dome


All of the PCs are at the event for a reason, but not all of the players will make the GM’s job easier
by thinking of one themselves. The GM should ask for a show of hands on each of the questions below,
and the responses determine where each player character is when the action starts.
 “Who’s graduating?”: The graduates will be on the main stage in the center of the arena.
 “Who’s working?”: The GM will need follow-up questions to determine what each worker is
doing. Security will be roaming the arena area -- each guard will have an assigned sector on a
specific level. Food service will be in one of the food courts (there’s one on each level). Media
will be at the camera or lighting stations (six cameras, three spotlights) on the second level.
Housekeeping goes wherever there’s a mess.
 “Who’s Networking?”: Anyone who raises their hand for this one should be asked who they’re
trying to connect with. The GM can then hand them a freebie and declare that they’ve managed
to get seats close to their target.
 “Who’s Spectating?”: This is an easy one; characters who choose this option are in the audience.
Members of most major bloodlines will have good seats at the end zones. The Zora and Oaths
will be in reserved seats on opposite sides of the 50-yard line. The Leons, Vosses, and Al-Fasils
will be in private club rooms. Bloodline members are assumed to be there representing their
families, while independents are in the cheap seats (barring Distinctions that would allow them
to be in better seats). This is the default option for anyone who doesn’t respond to the previous
questions.
 Anyone who chooses the “Working” or “Networking” option should be asked if their powers
have activated yet. Anyone who says no gets to have their singularity during this act!

Doom Pool
The doom pool begins at 2d6 for this Act.

Buildup: Getting to the Action


This is where the PCs get involved in the action. There's no problem with getting them to the site as,
per the Hook, they’re all on site already.

Action: His Train of Terrible Shadows and Ghosts


When the alarm sounds an announcement over the PA will tell everyone to shelter in place. The
arena staff will assure everyone that they’ll be safe if they stay inside. The veteran heroes present will
go outside to fight the incoming titan. Within a minute of their leaving a portal opens through which
huge flocks of raven-sized birds emerge. The corbeaux diabolique seem to be made of shards of
obsidian and will attack immediately. There are hundreds of them, and they will fight to the death.

Options with His Train of Terrible Shadows and Ghosts


 Anyone who wants to jump right into the fight will have plenty of targets.
 The birds will attack anyone who tries to fight or run away -- this means immediate danger to
both civilians and first responders. The unpowered security personnel are armed, and their
weapons are effective, but there aren’t enough of them to kill all of the birds even if they make
every shot count. Any PC who wishes to protect normals has plenty of work to do.
 Any PC who tries to lay low will find that the birds have Power Sense and regard supers as
preferred targets.
 The better the PCs are doing the more civilians and first responders survive -- every time a PC
rolls an opportunity the GM should narrate something unpleasant happening to a member of the
public (this is in addition to adding a die to the Doom Pool or stepping up a Doom Pool die). If
the GM rolls an opportunity whichever player’s character was involved gets to narrate a setback
for the enemies. Either way the more opportunities are rolled the more spectacular the effect
should be.
 Once combat has proceeded for at least four rounds the fight can end when the PCs have three
consecutive rounds of no significant failures and at least some success or until the Doom Pool
runs out, whichever comes first.

Transition: Champions in Their Rest


The veteran heroes come back shortly after the corbeaux diabolique have been vanquished -- one of
the Voss heirs sent a telepathic distress call to the matriarch. Once the vets are back they praise the
young supers for their performance (grudgingly, in the case of the Romanovs). In particular any PC
who is part of a bloodline gets a pat on the back from their elders.
In the aftermath of the attack the elder heroes take the youngsters aside for a debriefing. They
explain that the titan was a rarely seen entity called Legba which has the troublesome ability to bring
other entities from astral space -- the longer it remains material, the more powerful entities it can bring
through. The time is shortened if the stars are close to right for the entity being summoned. The vets
press the PCs and some of the NPC graduates into service to help deal with the problem.
If anyone chose the networking option for their reason to be there this scene is a perfect opportunity.
It’s equally good for anyone who wants to rack up brownie points with their bloodline. There is also
time to recover from stress, and anyone who needs medical attention will get it -- there are plenty of
paramedics on hand, and the Evelocks will have at least one healer there.

Transition: Overhead a Mad Hunting Horn


This part is where the characters try to figure out when and where the Legba entity will appear next.
They can use various specialties to gather clues. Activating any of these resources gives them the
information as well as a die they can use later. It might be a good idea to give this information to each
player in private and have them roleplay sharing it with each other.
 Business Resource: A group calling itself Open Doors recently bought an office building in
downtown St. Louis, MO and did extensive renovations on it. The property has been under
observation recently due to excessive power consumption and unusual electromagnetic fields.
There is a view of the Gateway Arch from the upper floors.
 Cosmic Resource: The astronomic configurations for two titans will be coming up soon -- the
Grendel entity within five weeks and the Typhon entity in eight weeks. As a member of the
Great Triumvirate Typhon is by far the more dangerous of the two. Given sufficient power to
support it Legba could bring either of them through early.
 Covert Resource: There are law enforcement records concerning doomsday cults that revere the
titans; they might know more about Legba and what conditions are necessary for it to come to
Earth. The most active cults are the Carcosans, l’Enfants de la Porte*, and Fimbulwinter. There
are dossiers on each cult complete with the location of their current headquarters -- the
Carcosans in San Francisco, CA; l’Enfants de la Porte in New Orleans, LA; and Fimbulwinter
near Garibaldi, OR.
 Crime Resource: Informants in the criminal underground reveal that a metahuman militia called
Fimbulwinter consists of doomsday preppers while a quasi-religious group called the Carcosans
is dedicated specifically to the Dagon entity and has made repeated attempts to bring it to Earth.
Another cult, l’Enfants de la Porte*, is mainly made up of scholars of astral space but there is a
splinter group called Les Intrus† that advocates unleashing the Typhon entity to rid the world of
unbelievers.
 Mystic Resource: A minor bloodline called l’Enfants de la Porte* has made extensive studies of
astral space and the entities therein. They are rumored to be Type Greens of low to moderate
power, and they are known to have used astral projection to map out sections of the astral plane.
Some experts suspect that they they know techniques for generating portals that would allow
astral entities to physically manifest on Earth.
 Science Resource: The electromagnetic fields that allow astral entities to manifest on Earth are
facilitated by large quantities of iron or steel. The structure of the Superdome has more than
enough steel for the job, but the shape is wrong for creating a free-standing gate. A ring or arch
shape would be better. The Gateway Arch in St. Louis, MO, Gorge Bridge in Fayette County,
WV and the Hadany Arch in Muncy, PA could all support such a portal, but in the case of Gorge
Bridge the water would ground out the necessary EM fields. The Hadany Arch is too small to
accommodate an entity of Legba’s size.
*l’Enfants de la Porte = French for, “Children of the Gate;”
†Les Intrus = French for “Gatecrashers”
Unlockables
In addition to the normal things players can spend XP on add the following items to the list. These
are tied to the event Milestones, so they're only available to characters who pursued the respective
Milestones. Each has a 5 XP and 10 XP level, which correspond to minor and major event resources.
 (5 XP/10 XP) Unlock Astral Maps: Any player who spends 5 XP during the act can unlock a
copy of l’Enfants de la Porte’s notes on astral entities and their conditions for manifestation. For
10 XP they also get a set of notes on the geography of the astral plane gathered by means of
astral projection.
 (5 XP/10 XP) Unlock Notice Me, Senpai!: Any player who spends 5 XP during the act can
unlock one of the veteran heroes (the rep for their bloodline, if applicable) as a mentor for the
rest of the scenario. For 10 XP the mentor will give the PC some kind of token marking them as
one of the hero’s agents.
 (5 XP/10 XP) Unlock Paycheck: Any player who spends 5 XP during the act can unlock an
agreement with the city of New Orleans or the state of Louisiana to get paid for participating in
the investigation and defense -- they will, of course, be required to make full reports. For 10 XP
they can get paid by the city and the state.
ACT TWO
From the Dim Necropolis

Act Two consists of traveling to the suspected location of the next incursion and of the climactic
battle. There is only one setting for this act.

Setting: The Cult’s Outpost


The outpost of Les Intrus is a simple office building near the Gateway Arch. The downtown location
means there are plenty of other buildings nearby, and there are no less than two riverboat casinos on the
river (which is in easy walking distance of the Arch), so there is no shortage of civilians to endanger.

Prominent Locations
Here are some sample locations within and around the Open Doors building, each with at least two
scene distinctions included in the description.

Connecting Corridors: Moving from the Entry Hall to here is necessary for getting to the Offices or the
Ritual Chamber. Each corridor offers a Straight Shot for ranged attacks or quick movement, but there’s
Little Room to Maneuver. The ceilings are also low enough to hinder the mako jumbie; any attempts to
avoid their attacks here gain a d6 to the dice pool.

Entry Hall: This is a big open area with Clear Sight Lines that make it also impossible to hide while the
cleverly placed furniture offers No Straight Path for getting through quickly. If the PCs don’t enter the
building stealthily or from a different location the birds will attack them here.

Offices: All of these rooms have been cleared out except for Sorcerous Apparati that aid the ritual, but
there’s Not Much Room in which to fight. Destroying one of the devices grants the character a d6
resource that can be used once later within the scene.

Ritual Chamber: All of the rooms on the second sublevel have been combined into a single massive
room, and the load-bearing pillars have been replaced with a series of concrete arches that intersect in
the center of the ceiling. This chamber has High Ceilings and Plenty of Space, and the Magical Aura
facilitates spellcasting.

Doom Pool
The doom pool begins at 3d6 for this Act.

Buildup: Getting to the Action


Getting to the action this time is easy; the veteran heroes will provide everyone with a ride. The Al-
Fasil rep can call in an aircraft that will accommodate everyone.
The vets will brief everyone on the strategy en route. The plan is to apprehend the cultists before
they can do summon the Legba entity or anything else into the world. If it’s too late for that the PCs are
to disrupt any efforts to keep Legba manifested while the vets defend the public. If anyone feels that
they’re being sidelined by being left out of the fight with the titan the Amon rep will point out that the
PCs are actually handling the main mission while the veterans act as a diversion.
As the aircraft pulls up within sight of the arch they see a portal open, and the Legba entity steps
through. The veteran heroes bail out to deal with the titan while the pilot takes the PCs on to the Les
Intrus outpost.
Action: From Out the Abyss’s Fire
The PCs are air-dropped outside the building where l’Enfants de la Porte have set up shop. As they
enter the complex an overhead portal disgorges a swarm of corbeaux diabolique while a pack of mako
jumbie charge at them from the side corridors. The PCs can hear chanting and see strange lights from
one of the rooms, so they have a good idea where the cultists are -- they just have to fight their way in.

Options with From Out the Abyss’s Fire


 If the PCs opt to finish off the birds before taking on the cultists the GM has the option of
sending in reinforcements, especially if the heroes are having an easy time of it. The second
wave should be smaller than the first, and if there’s a third wave it should be smaller than the
second. Sending in a fourth wave would be excessive unless the PCs are killing off large
numbers of birds very quickly.
 Characters with abilities like Intangibility, Invisibility, or Teleport can choose to bypass the
birds and attack the cultists directly. They will find a group of twelve cultists chanting around
an inscribed circle. At least six cultists will maintain the chant while the rest fight the heroes.
Legba and the birds de-manifest once the last cultist stops chanting.
 If all of the heroes charge into the ritual chamber there is enough room -- and a high enough
ceiling -- for the birds to follow them in. In this case they will have to fight birds and cultists at
the same time.

Conclusion: Till World and Time were Finished


There are only two possible endings once the scenario reaches this point.
 If the PCs succeed in stopping the ritual Legba is banished and Typhon never comes through.
The PCs are praised by the veteran heroes and possibly rewarded by a grateful public. Those
who are members of bloodlines are formally inducted into the ranks, and those who are not can
enter the service of one if they so choose or cement good relations with up to three if they
remain independent.
 If at any point there are 2d12 in the Doom Pool the GM may choose to end the scene by having
Typhon come through the gate. If the PCs are of less than Cosmic power level they are most
emphatically not up to this fight -- consider this option a total party wipe if the PCs don’t make
a run for it, which the veterans will order them to do. The surviving vets will commiserate with
them later about how there was nothing else they could have done… but before getting to that
point be sure to narrate a wonderful death scene for any PC who refused to evacuate. It is
recommended that the GM not use this option unless the players are doing a lot of egregious
showboating or obnoxious jackassery.
Bokor (Les Intrus Cultist)
Solo d6 Fanatical Common Tactics
Buddy d8 Sneaky Mystic Fanatics that they are the bokor are neither reckless nor
stupid; they won’t engage the heroes in direct battle if they
Team d10
can help it. They will fight defensively using Sorcery to
Backup Weapons generate magical shields to deflect attacks or create visual
obstructions to make themselves more difficult to target. They
Weapon (revolver) d8 Weapon (knife) d6 will use Mystic Blast on targets of opportunity except for
Voudoun Mystic fellow mystics; they’ll send the birds after other spellcasters.
The try to fight from a distance but will draw their Backup
Mystic Blast d8 Mystic Senses d6 Weapons if someone manages to close with them.
Mystic Resistance d6 Adept Sorcery d8 Given three rounds of uninterrupted chanting two bokor
working in concert can summon a single mako jumbie or a
SFX Area Attack: Target multiple opponents. For every flock of corbeaux diabolique.
additional target ad d6 to your dice pool and keep one Do not adjust the stats for the cultists if the PCs are more
additional effect die. powerful that Regional; just add more cultists (a total of 18 for
SFX Enchanted Weapons: In a pool containing a Backup a group at the Global level, 24 for heroes of Cosmic power).
Weapons die replace two dice of equal size with one
die of +1 step.
Limit Conscious Activation: While unconscious, asleep, or
stressed out shut down Voudoun Mystic. Recover
Voudoun Mystic when you wake up or recover that
stress. If you have mental trauma shut down Voudoun
Mystic until you recover from that trauma.
Combat Expert d8 Mystic Expert d8

Corbeaux Diabolique
Solo d6 Common Tactics
Buddy d8 The “devil crows” are straightforward creatures of chaos and
destruction. They prefer to fight up close and personal with
Team d10
beaks and talons, but they will shoot razor-sharp feathers at
Alien Biology a target that can fight effectively up close or that has ranged
attacks. Corbeaux diabolique fight as a group whenever
Enhanced Reflexes d8 Power Sense d10 possible -- the stats here actually represent a flock of several
Flight d6 Weapon (beak) d6 birds -- but a lone devil crow will fight smaller targets by
snatching them up into the air and dropping them.
Material Blast (shards) d8 Weapon (talons) d8 In the initial encounter there are dozens of flocks of devil
SFX Death Drop: Activate an opportunity or spend a die crows, but the PCs only have to deal with 12. There are 18 in
from the Doom Pool to execute a Weapon (Talon) the climactic battle. There is no need to adjust the stats for a
attack by dropping a target from a height; add Flight more powerful party of PCs, just add more flocks instead (at
and Menace to the dice pool for this attack. least three more for Global, at least six more for Cosmic).
SFX Flyby: Target multiple opponents. For every additional
target ad d6 to your dice pool and keep one additional
effect die.
Limit Banishment: Removed from the scene after becoming
stressed out by an EMP attack.
Acrobatics Expert d8 Menace Expert d8
Combat Expert d8

Legba
There are no stats provided for the Legba entity. This is in part because, "If it has stats we can kill
it," and partly because the PCs won’t be fighting Legba directly anyway. The GM should focus on
describing the titan as imposing, otherworldly, and frightening enough that the players understand that
it is more challenge than they can handle. Whether or not the characters think they can handle it is up to
the players.
Impress upon the players that the veteran heroes are counting on them to protect the civilians in Act
I and to disrupt the ritual in Act II. Without the PC’s efforts there’s no way to prevent Legba from
manifesting fully on Earth, which would be an unmitigated disaster. The players and characters alike
must know that the entire mission fails if they don’t accomplish what on the surface appears to be the
lesser part. In point of fact the veterans are the diversion keeping Legba busy while the PCs focus on
the part of the mission that’s vital for success.

Mako Jumbie
Solo d8 Common Tactics
Buddy d10 The stilt birds typically fight as mated pairs, but they are also
deadly alone. Their usual tactic is for one to draw fire while
Team d6
the other sets up for a flanking attack -- they will alternate
Alien Biology roles to minimize the amount of damage each one takes.
They use their great height (about 9 feet/3 meters) to strike
Enhanced Durability d8 Leaping d8 downward at targets on the ground, while flying opponents
Enhanced Strength d8 Weapon (talons) d10 will find that a mako jumbie is capable of vertical leaps
greater than its height. Their only weapons are their talons,
SFX Kick ‘em While They’re Down: Step up Weapon but that’s generally enough. Talon attacks are especially
(talons) one step when attacking a prone target. effective against prone targets.
SFX Knockdown Blow: After a successful Weapon (talons) At the Regional power level there should be at least three
attack spend a die from the Doom Pool to knock the mako jumbie per PC. Increase this to four for Global-level
target prone. PCs or six for Cosmic.
Limit Banishment: Removed from the scene after becoming
stressed out by an EMP attack.
Combat Master d10

Typhon
It’s highly unlikely that the Tyhpon entity will appear during this scenario, but if it does there’s no
way the PCs can fight it successfully, not even with the veteran heroes there to do the heavy lifting -- it
might be doable if it were just Typhon, but Legba is also on the board and additional help won’t get
there in time. Make it clear to the players that the only way to win this game is not to play. If they insist
on fighting this battle be sure to narrate how each PC combatant goes out in a blaze of glory.

Veteran Heroes
Each of the major bloodlines has a representative with whom the PCs can deal during the scenario.
No stats are given for them because the PCs shouldn’t be fighting them, but they are named here to
spare the GM the trouble of having to come up with names.
 Al-Fasil: Ahmal ibn Fuad Al-Fasil, multi-millionaire, industrialist, supergenius, inventor, and
ladies’ man; prefers not to go into the field, but if he does he takes on a support role.
 Amon: Solomon Tadesse (a.k.a. Rēgali), retired hero and father of the current bloodline head,
Project Theseus headmaster; he believes in tough love but never forgets that the love should
take precedence. His full range of abilities has never been revealed.
 Epona: Daniella Highsmith (a.k.a. Shadeling), hacker and burglar extraordinaire, least uptight
of the instructors for Project Theseus; drop-dead gorgeous but a huge nerd.
 Evelock: William “Willy” Haas (a.k.a. Father Earth), Second Generation healer and wood
elemental; he is one of the original hippies and treats all the young heroes like family.
 Grimlore: Eileen Kinney (a.k.a. Moonwise), tries to be a mysterious goth mama but she’s too
perky; Project Theseus’ magic consultant; especially skilled with divination magic.
 Leon: Alaina Boudroux de Leon (a.k.a. Steel Magnolia), mother or aunt to much of the current
generation of Leon heirs; magnetokinetic metal elemental who ticks every box for stereotypes
about southern belles and stage mothers.
 Oath: Wayne Clark (a.k.a. Supreme), up-and-comer who is determined to be the second hero to
kill a titan. He is driven and ambitious and tries to take charge in any situation, but he will listen
to others regarding their areas of expertise -- he cares deeply about results.
 Outworlder Union: Khorriq, sa-khan of the Szihooma tribe of the Tahan’leej people (think
World of Warcraft orcs, but dull orange in color and with three arms). He is a gruff but
honorable strongman who prefers straightforward but not necessarily violent solutions.
 Romanov: Nikolai Volkov, retired First Generation hero, but his extended lifespan makes him
look younger than his years; Project Theseus combat and physical training instructor.
 Tsukumo: Ishida Noriko (a.k.a. Kōdoburakku), demolitions/heavy weapons expert and self-
proclaimed “explodo-kinetic,” newly-appointed headmistress of the bloodline’s central school;
misses being a field agent but genuinely cares about educating young people. Fanatical about
protecting her bloodline’s secrets.
 Voss: Sabine Albrecht von Voss (a.k.a. Der Traumweber), junior matriarch of the Austrian
branch of the family; considered a cold fish even by others of her bloodline, but she is known to
respect competence and lavishly reward loyalty.
 Zora: Eric Wansky (a.k.a. Starbow), hotshot flyboy who loves speed and the ladies -- usually in
that order. He’s not all that powerful, and he knows it, but his precision with his lasers and his
flying are legendary.

You might also like