Our heroes are on the ground, and Vampire Superman is hovering above them, looking down. This is Not A Good Place To Be. So far they’ve done a pretty good job of battling Silver Banshee and she has teleported away.
It’s time for the main attraction.
Now, it has to be said that Superman is not the smartest superhero around. Man of Steel, thick as a brick. It explains a lot that Superboy, a hybrid clone of Superman and Lex Luthor is of average intelligence – Superman’s dumb DNA balances out Lex’s genius DNA in equal measure. Superman is the Groo the Wanderer of the superheroing world. This is the hero who thought “I will uphold Truth and Justice! I will become…. a journalist!”. Yes, Superman is that stupid.
Anyhow. Rant over. Well, it’s an observation really. It just sounded like a rant.
All of which I hope goes some way toward explaining how Superman managed to get tricked into putting a magical amulet around his neck, nullifying his invulnerability so that he could be bitten by a vampire. Silly old Superman.
I think of combat in superhero role-playing games as behaving much like it does in the comics; each hero gets one or two panels of action with each full round taking up about a page. And sometimes you need a huge glorious double-fold spread to show all the action happening at the same time.
This was one of those times.
Picture the scene: Vampire Superman is firing Heat Vision at Rough Diamond (causing an awesome light show) while Mudpuppet is raising her mud golem construct from the ground, Johnny Cool is firing shards of ice, Overclock is laying on the floor Incapacitated and Doc Pliable is wrapped around Vampire Superman’s legs.
The heroes are outclassed & outgunned, and they know it. To drive the point home (as if it needs making at all), I’m using Routine Checks for all of Vampire Superman’s attacks. Yes folks, he is Taking 10 while beating the living crap out of our heroes. It’s an option PCs can take in M&M against Minions to speed up play, and I’m using it to emphasize that from Vampire Superman’s perspective, that’s exactly what they are.
This helps keep the game flowing (and making my job easier) because I’ve fewer dice to roll, meaning I can concentrate on the action. This is officially a Very Good Thing.
Doc Pliable is getting very friendly with undead Supes, climbing up him with his rubbery ropey arms to try and get to his head and block off his Heat Vision. Vampire Superman has none of it and turns to grey mist. Ha! Crummy old Living Superman couldn’t do that!
Doc Pliable falls, Mudpuppet forgets that he can survive pretty much any falling distance, panics and creates a cushion of mud for him to land on.
Thanks for that!
Overclock finally gets back into the game as Vampire Superman reforms, gives a wicked grin and says “Let’s see how you Bat Children like my Bat Children!”, and from a side-street a Cloud of Bats appears. Red-eyed bats. With Heat Vision.
Booyah.
Ok, the Heat Vision isn’t that good (Heat Ranged Damage 3, if you’re counting) and the bats are just Minions, but collectively they’re a threat. As the team members with ranged attacks, Johnny Cool and Overclock make pretty short work of them, freezing and blasting them out of the sky (the Multi-attack setting on Overclock’s steampunk Energy Projector sure came in handy). Meanwhile, Vampire Superman goes toe-to-toe with Rough Diamond and Mudpuppet’s mud golems.
It’s not going well. Rough Diamond looks like he’s going to be named Chipped Diamond any second, and the mud golem is slooshing about without making much of an impact.
Then, dawn begins to break.
A single shaft of light crawls up the street and touches Vampire Superman. Briefly, colour returns to his cheeks and his eyes clear. “Please….. save me…… the cemetery…. ” he cries before his flesh begins to burn. He lets out a low moan of pain and takes flight, a red streak chasing the dark.
Coming up: Zombies and vampires and ghouls, oh my.
Mudpuppet, PL10 150pp
STR 2, STA 4, AGL 2, DEX 2, FGT 2, INT 4, AWE 4, PRE 4
Dodge 12, Parry 10, Fort 8, Tough 8/4, Will 11, Init +2Expertise:Magic +10, Perception +8, Stealth +6
Defensive Roll 4, RitualistSummon 10 (150pp, Controlled, Heroic, Mental Link) – we used the Construct Archetype from M&M3e
Create 5 (DC15, 30 cubic foot)Complications: Dark Secret, Power Loss when over 100′ away from natural earth
‘Please… save me…’ ?
You lost me there. Obviously your Heroes heard wrong.
Dumb as he is, Supes is all about the nobleness of spirit. And knowing how big a threat he is as a vampire, he’d beg for a slightly more possible death sentence than an ill-fated rescue attempt.
Oh I dunno. Superman isn’t above asking for help, and he always has hope.
A Vampire Batman, on the other hand……
Vampire Batman would nobly beg for death. Vampire Superman would want to be rescued (assuming that he knew there was a chance). UNLESS he was talking to Batman, ironically. Then, he would beg for death, but Batman would find a way to rescue him anyway. Because Batman is just that cool.
And to be fair, when Superman decided to become a journalist (back in, what, the 30s? 40s? 50s? Anywho), being a journalist kind of WAS a respected profession (upholding truth and all that, at least in the public perception). Maybe in the DC Universe, they still are. (I’d also argue that print media is still less sensational than Network News, but hey, that’s just my perception).
It’s at least as reasonable as Matt Murdock becoming a lawyer in pursuit of “justice…” Though the whole “Daredevil” thing as an outlet for how much he KNOWS the system is broken is the only part of that that makes it work. At least as a journalist, you have instant access to the news as it happens; he was smart enough to know that it would help him be a better Superman.
I used to favor Batman over Superman, but these days I genuinely have no preference. They’re both awesome.
Excellent observation about Vampire Batman & Superman. I think you’re spot on.
Agreed. Journalism was indeed a more respected profession back in Superman’s early days. I regret that the changing climate hasn’t really been addressed in the comics. It would have been fun to see how Clark Kent dealt with political bias and sensationalism in the industry rather than still being stuck in a 1930s style timewarp.
There’s so much about Superman that shows he’s not the brightest fish in the barrel – his walk across America (where did that come from?), locating his Fortress of Solitude in the one place on Earth that gets less sunlight per year than any other, having an apartment in Metropolis without a skylight (real clever for someone who flies, Supes)…. the list goes on.
In comparison, Power Girl (a character I much prefer to Superman, and not for the usual reasons folks usually like Power Girl) is science and business clever (but not smart enough to keep from losing her company while busy superheroing), knows the value of a good unpowered team of humans behind her, doesn’t lie to the people close to her, and is more likely to use her powers tactically rather than flying in with her fists straight away (though she will happily do that, in style, if that’s the best solution).
I would argue that in the Super Family, Power Girl got the brains, while Superman missed out entirely.