Here's a recap of the latest session of my Sentinels RPG campaign "The Alternates"! As per usual, there's a narrative recap (written as if it was in-metaverse) and then I go over the actual running of the game, and any lessons I learned as the GM.
If you're lost, you can catch up with the previous Game Recaps! You can find links to the first "Season" (the first 12 episodes) in the Recap for Game 12. "Season 2" will encompass Episodes #13 through #30. Here is the Recap for Episode 13, Episode 14, Episode 15, Episode 16, Episode 17, Episode 18, Episode 19, Episode 20, Episode 21, Episode 22, Episode 23, and Episode 24.
Brief Description of the Game: In the meta-verse (where Sentinel comics is a published comic book multimedia empire), there is a premium cable animated television series (in a style similar to “Into the Spider-Verse”), which itself is based on a comic series called "The Alternates." This RPG campaign represents that show, with each game session (ideally) representing one hour-long Episode of the show. The recap below is written in-metaverse as if it was an article on a popular website that posts recaps of episodes.
Player Characters/Protagonists:
- Cytoblast: Dr. Douglas Hemlocke can control plants, including transforming himself into a plant form, all thanks to his mystical knowledge and his ancient magical staff.
- Dr. Comet: Possessed by a demon that travelled to earth inside a comet, Dr. Diana Aster can magically control fire and ice, though her powers often go often out of control when her emotions flare up.
- Jersey Devil: A barely human cryptid of mysterious origins, "Mr. Leeds" is both man and monster, able to teleport by way of a parallel dimension.
- Kid Radical: A highly skilled autodidact with a strict code of behavior, Kid Radical has a superhuman ability for following trends and learning new skills, although it often seems like he can't quite connect with modern society.
- Quasar Kid: A superhero teen from the far future, Quasar Kid has a cosmic metabolism, super strength, and the power of flight, but he hasn't yet adjusted to being in "the past."
Recurring allied NPCs/Supporting characters:
- Starshadow: A retired intergalactic adventurer, Starshadow wields mighty cosmic powers, but he is now reluctant to use them.
- Bouncer: An invulnerable action movie star, Bouncer is also super-strong and capable of mighty leaps (hence the name "Bouncer"), but he hasn't been the same since the Oblivaeon Crisis.
- Night Knight: A costumed, armored vigilante who has taken over the protection of Rook City, despite the country legislating against super vigilantism. With a gravelly voice and endless gadgets, Night Knight has sort of picked up where the Wraith left off.
A Very Quick Story Synopsis: In an alternate timeline where Baron Blade was killed decades earlier (causing countless changes to the world of Sentinel Comics), the heroes of the Multiverse are almost all killed in the "Oblivaeon Crisis." The few remaining heroes, especially the Alternates, are left to deal with the villains and interstellar threats that still endanger the Earth!
Also, some important villain stuff going on - Unbeknownst to the heroes, Baron Blade has reappeared (after being presumed dead), and was secretly striking at the heroes during the last season. He has assembled a Vengeful Seven team, which is being lead by Hippocampus (the Hippo, except now he's super-smart). They are working behind the scenes on some sort of revenge plot.
I've also done some very amateur sketches for the game! You can see them in this Google Photos album.
And now, an imaginary recap of an imaginary episode of an imaginary television show about an imaginary superhero team!
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The Alternates Episode #25 Recap:
“Walking the Tight Rope"
By Eddie Jaczerkowski
The plot of Baron Blade (whoever he is!) continues to unfold as the Alternates face more of his Vengeful Seven. Let’s dig right into my Recap of Episode #25!
Episode Recap
In the cold open, the episode introduces us to the history of the villain Highwire.
Titus Walker is an acrobat performer in a circus. During a particularly dangerous tightrope walking act, Walker takes a fall without a net. He is paralyzed from the waist down. Despite his friends in the circus trying to encourage him to take a new path in life, he is embittered, insisting his life has no meaning without a life in acrobatics.
Enter Dr. Vitruvius (a doctor from Mordengrad who The Luminary warned the Alternates about in the last episode). He promises he can restore Titus Walker to his “former glory.” After a great many painful surgeries, Titus Walker emerges as Highwire, who has increased acrobatic agility as well as the ability to channel electricity through conductive objects.
At the end of the cold open, we see Dr. Vitruvius asking Highwire how he’s feeling (after Highwire performs a few acrobatic feats). Highwire tells the doctor that he’s feeling great, and we see that there’s some sort of implant in the back of Highwire’s neck - a small device with a blinking red light.
Outside Rook City, the Alternates are approaching a building belonging to Revocorp. (Viewers may recall that, last episode, Luminary gave the Alternates a lead on Revocorp, telling them that Revocorp had access to “Blade Tech” and, thus, Revocorp may be connected to the reappearance of Baron Blade.)
The building does not seem particularly well-guarded, and the Alternates approach without a problem. They reach a rear door with a decades-old numeric keypad. After inspecting the keypad, Kid Radical remarks, “This is a TouchPro 7000. I know this!”
Cytoblast, looking over his shoulder, says, “They don’t make `em like this anymore!”
Kid Radical chuckles. “That’s because the code 662607015 works on all of them.”
Cytoblast scowls. “Damn it. I have one of these on my house.”
The team enters the warehouse facility to find rows of strange metal panels set into the walls, with large fans running. Kid Radical remarks that they look like heat sinks. The Alternates wander through the halls, all of which are covered in strange electrical conduits and mechanical tubes.
Finally, they exit the seeming maze in a large room with a giant screen on one wall. (Viewers should recognize this room as the one in which Baron Blade has addressed the Vengeful Seven several times during the season.)
The room is slightly darkened and mostly empty, except for a man in red tights lounging in a chair, reading a newspaper. It’s Highwire, unaware that the Alternates have entered the room. He lowers the newspaper and looks at them for a moment, then scrambles to his feet.
“Oh <BLEEP>! It’s them!” says Highwire. (Despite the show occasionally containing colorful language, Highwire is deliberately censored with bleeping, which generally has a comic effect during the episode.)
Suddenly, the shadowy monstrous form of Night Terror arises, floating up through the floor, and the power-armored Recursor flies into the room from a nearby doorway.
The fight starts when Kid Radical rushes Highwire and shoves the newspaper into his face, then follows up with a punch in the bread basket. Highwire doubles over and howls bleeped-out obscenities.
Meanwhile, Night Terror assaults Cytoblast, threatening to “Terror-Eyes” him with her dreadful gaze. Cytoblast counter-attacks, but realizes that Night Terror’s ethereal form is unharmed by his massive arboreal fists.
While flying overhead, Recursor tells the Alternates that they’re “too late,” saying, “Baron Blade has already captured your friend, Starshadow!”
Quasar Kid attacks Recursor, striking at the joints in his armor to bypass its protection. Recursor responds by blasting Quasar Kid with energy bolts from his suit’s gloves. Quasar Kid tries to close, but Recursor blasts off the ground and floats close to the room’s high ceiling.
Nearby, Highwire manages to wrap his metal whip around Dr. Comet’s arm, channeling high voltage into her body and severely harming her. However, Dr. Comet reaches deep into herself and produces a gigantic “Hale Bomb” iceball, which she directs at Highwire. The blow knocks him out “cold.”
In response to Recursor’s evasive flight, Kid Radical draws some of the remaining electricity out of Highwire’s unconscious body and overcharges his “Tech Deck” skateboard. He launches the overloaded board into Recursors, which gives Recursor a massive jolt. Suddenly, Recursor begins spinning uncontrollably in the air, as a computer voice from within his suit exclaims, “ERROR! ERR! INTERNAL CORRUPTION! CONTACT CREATOR!” The suit blasts upward, breaking through the ceiling and bursting out of the room.
Facing off against Night Terror, Cytoblast murmurs mystical phrases to himself. His monstrous plant form glimmers with energy, and his fists grow small purple leaves (akin to the cabbages he saw in the Realm of Discord earlier this season). He then unleashes magic-infused blows on Night Terror’s form, striking true against the villain’s intangible body. She screeches and falls in a puddle on the floor.
Suddenly, the giant screen in the room comes to life. Baron Blade’s face appears on the screen, and his voice echoes through the room. “Vengeful Seven! I need to warn you. It seems that the Alternates may know your location… oh. Oh, I see.” The screen shuts down.
Jersey Devil leaps at the screen and punches it, cracking the glass in a spiderweb pattern.
Cytoblast binds Night Terror using a spell, ensuring she can’t escape, and Quasar Kid picks up Highwire by the ankle. The acrobatic villain is punch-drunk and confused, so he is rather befuddle, rather than intimidated, by the hero’s show of strength. “Wheee!” squeals Highwire.
Trying something different, Jersey Devil teleports Highwire away for a moment, then returns him. Crawling along the ground, eyes wide, Highwire exclaims, “Well that was some <BLEEP> up <BLEEP>. That’s the most <BLEEEEEEEEEEP> thing I’ve ever seen.”
Highwire, shaken back to sensibility, is all too happy to talk. After Dr. Vitruvius restored his ability to walk and gave him powers, the good doctor asked Highwire to repay him by working for Baron Blade as a member of the Vengeful Seven.
“Paying off medical debt by working as a criminal? That’s messed up,” Kid Radical says.
“It’s not all that different from how private insurance works,” replies Cytoblast.
Highwire tells them that he did a few small jobs for the Vengeful Seven, including robbing a government facility in search of some diamond (and fighting the Guardians of Freedom). Their big job was supposed to be stopping the Alternates, but obviously, things didn’t go as planned.
Finally, Highwire tries to negotiate that they should just let him go. Insisting he only did a few minor things, and adding that, in a manner of speaking, the Alternates were actually trespassing, he asks that they release him in exchange for the information he’s given. Seeing him as no real threat, the Alternates agree.
Kid Radical tells him, “If I see you around whipping things, I’m gonna be so disappointed. Also, I have to say... those were some sick flips.”
“Thanks!” says Highwire. “You’re pretty impressive on that skateboard, too.” He exits the scene as quickly as he can after that.
The Alternates are then drawn to a corner of the room where Recursor’s suit had ejected some sort of red-hot overloaded component. Kid Radical examines it and determines it might contain a data core, so they should get it back to headquarters to check it out.
The episode then cuts to Recursor (from some time earlier in the episode) crashing through the roof of the building and spinning wildly into the sky, smoke billowing from his suit. After he reaches a higher altitude, he presses a button on his wrist, and all the alarms and lights on his displays turn off, and the power armor stops smoking and immediately stabilizes his flight.
“That was perfect,” Recursor says to himself.
The credits roll as “Tight Rope” by Leon Russell plays over them.
Final Thoughts
Highwire’s background is somewhat interesting, if only because it introduces Dr. Vitruvius to the show. He’s also a comic relief character, but obviously he exists to bridge gaps and move along stories, not to really accomplish anything on his own. Still, if the story needs a character like that, I’m glad the show runners made him funny.
Recursor, who is obviously up to something, reveals that Starshadow was apparently captured, not destroyed in the explosion we saw last episode. That’s not surprising - Starshadow isn’t really the type to just get blown up. He does have cosmic powers, after all.
So what is Recursor up to? Whose side is he on? Was he a mole who was feeding the Alternates information through Omnitron-X/Unity? Did he drop that mention of Starshadow on purpose? Did he have his suit eject data specifically so the Alternates would collect it? I guess we’ll have to wait and find out.
As for Dr. Vitruvius, he looks kind of like a cross between Einstein and Stalin. He’s got Stalin’s stern face and mustache, but Einstein’s hair. He gives me the chills, that’s for sure. And I’m not exactly sure how he fits into all of this. Did he “revive” the Baron? Or is he pretending to be the Baron, if indeed the Baron Blade on the screen is an imposter? Is he working with the Baron, or for the Baron, or neither?
I was able to attend the “virtual” Comic Con panel that the showrunners of The Alternates had last week, so I’ll be writing an extra article this week about what they revealed at the panel, as well as a summary of the Q&A. Stay tuned for that!
Be sure to join me next week for a Recap of Episode #26, “Hit Me.”
Eddie Jaczerkowski is a staff writer who loves comic books and writes about television.
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Running the Game!
Back to the fighting and the punching and the beatings! Hooray!
So this was a fight against 3 pretty easy villains without much else going on. It was meant to be quick and easy, because the Alternates had information that obviously gave them the jump on the Vengeful Seven (minus four). I wanted to make sure there was time to chat with Highwire after the fight and for me to tell some other tidbits of story here and there.
It's amazing how flexible Villains can be depending on (a) how you build them and (b) how much you [ab]use their Abilities. There's not as much need to fudge die rolls if you can make the fight feel better or worse based on which Abilities you use at what time. Villains can be pretty fragile or they can be pretty strong, and that gives the GM a lot of wiggle room in designing and running the encounters.
I was supposed to post a thing this week with the publication histories of the PCs, then I thought about the fact that it's "Comic Con / GenCon" season, and then, "What would an Alternates panel be like?" and then I thought about writing an "article" about a "virtual" Alternates panel (because the metaverse has a pandemic too) that totally happened and that would be fun to describe.
So uh... if you have any questions that would be cool for someone to ask at the metaverse's Alternates Virtual Comic Con panel, post them right here!
Other than that, thanks for reading!
