A Sentinels of the Multiverse Adventure

The following story takes place in a part of the multiverse where the heroes struggle to defeat the villains and where copyright infringement is encouraged. Since I don’t live in that multiverse, I claim no rights to this storyline, game, or idea. I will add new chapters twice a week.

These battles create a complete story arc. They are generally more difficult than normal battles although not in every case. Advanced mode is recommended but not necessary. It is expected that players have played and beaten each villain. If that is not the case it is recommended that players attempt that before attempting these battles. Also, 4 or 5 heroes is recommended unless otherwise specified. The number of players does not matter. Players should consider trying random heroes first before selecting specific heroes. None of these battles should be included in the community statistics effort on the forum regardless of outcome.

These events take place after those in Rook City, Infernal Relics, and Shattered Timelines. The time portal is now stable. All cards in these expansions and mini expansions are eligible. The Enhanced Edition base should be used. If a required hero has multiple versions any of them may be used unless otherwise specified. If an excluded hero has multiple versions all of them are excluded.

A big thank you to Greater than Games for making arguably the greatest game ever. Also a big thank you to Spiff for inspiring this idea with his original scenarios at www.spiffworld.com. Questions and suggestions should be emailed to joemagicman@gmail.com. Good luck, sentinels.

Sentinels of the Multiverse Adventure 2014.09.11.doc (76.5 KB)

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1) A Map in the Sands

 - Villain: Mad Bomber Blade (available on www.boardgamegeek.com if you don’t already have it)

 - Environment: Tomb of Anubis

 - Required Heroes: Ra

 - Excluded Heroes: Omintron-X and Rook City Wraith

The story:

After the events that gave Dr. Blake Washington the powers of the sun god Ra the new hero continues his explorations with increased confidence. Ra has returned to the Tomb of Anubis where he discovered the staff of Ra and fought against the new Ennead threat. During the excavations Ra and his fellow heroes discover what appears to be an ancient stone map to a location of immense power.

Before he can decipher the map the tomb shakes from an explosion. Baron Blade has followed Ra to the tomb and intends to bury him and the other heroes there in revenge for his past defeats. Ra asks the heroes to hold Blade off long enough that the map can be extracted from the tomb.

Win condition:

The heroes must defeat Baron Blade, but only after the environment trash has been shuffled into the environment deck.

The heroes need to buy time while the map is taken out of the tomb. It is okay for Baron Blade to flip, but he must not be defeated until the environment deck has been emptied and the trash reshuffled into the deck. After that the heroes are free to beat the snot out of him.

2) The Next Target

 - Villain: Apostate

 - Environment: Ruins of Atlantis

 - Required Heroes: Chrono-Ranger and Rook City Wraith

The story:

The heroes were able to stop Baron Blade from destroying the map. After days of study Ra has translated the map, which seems to point to a location deep in the ocean. The Ruins of Atlantis. When the heroes arrive in the ruins a portal opens and Jim Brooks steps through hunting his next target, the legendary kraken. The heroes also discover Apostate there searching for something.

“Where is it?” Apostate demands, “Where have you taken it? I know it was you because I found this.” Apostatate holds up a ancient looking hair dryer.

“Hey, that’s mine,” says the Wraith, “I think.”

“Where is the chalice?” Apostate asks.

“Whatcha talkin’ bout?” asks the Chrono-Ranger.

“You don’t know, do you?” he sneers. “It goes by many names. The Holy Grail, the Fountain of Youth, the Cup of Immortality. It is a relic more powerful than any you or I have ever wielded. With it, I shall unleash hell.”

“Well, I ain’t sure what you’re hollerin’ ‘bout, but I reckon I got enough bullets in this here gun for you and the kraken, so if y’all are done yappin’ I’m ready to do some shootin’.”

Win condition:

The heroes must defeat Apostate, but only after three appendages have been reduced to 0 HP.

The heroes must kill the kraken. It is okay if Apostate flips, but he must not be defeated until the kraken has been killed. To do so, 3 kraken appendages must be reduced to 0 HP. Destroying them any other way is legal, but does not count toward the requirement. The 3 appendages need not be 3 distinct cards. Additionally, there cannot be any kraken appendages in play when the heroes win. 

Love it. More!

This is a very nitpicky thing, but if you really want to be story appropriate, you might make the hero restriction Horus of Two Horizons, since that represents Ra after he fights the Ennead.

Did the first scenario. It took two tries. The first team which was Beard Ra, EW Zero, Nightmist, and Haka did not do very well. They got the Baron to flip, but the envioronment didn't deck. 2nd attempt with Legacy, Beard Ra, Fanatic, and Scholar went much better. I had to put off killing BB a couple of rounds though, for the environment to shuffle its deck. I will probably try the second scenario later.

Sorry for so many posts. Just finished the second scenario with RC Wraith, Chrono, Tempest, and Unity. Got the victory and killed all three Krakens without using any instant destruction effects. Highest HP was Chrono with 6.

Nice job, Nielzabub. The first battle was inspired by the fact that Bomber Blade's side B seems too slow so I tried to give him time to charge up. Spiff, I think maybe I'll release chapters twice a week instead of once. I tried to keep story lines as consistent as possible, but I might not be perfect. That's why I noted this is a different part of the multiverse. An Earth 2 if you will. Or we could just say Ra shaved his beard. ;)

I'm a little confused why RC Wraith is a required hero for the Apostate fight since she isn't mentioned anywhere in your story synopsis.

Well, he did say it was an alternate world, and he may have a choice for it later on in a further story. Nitpick less man and just enjoy the challenge!

I'm an English major. I have to be nitpicky about story elements. I did enjoy the challenges though, I didn't think they were too hard or easy. I especially enjoyed the concept of Chrono Ranger hunting down the Kraken. I'm tempted to houserule the Kraken and CR as nemeses. Makes sense to me.

The "Next Target" battle was inspired by how much everyone dislikes Rook City Wraith compared to her other forms. To win this battle you really want to use her innate power to find the Krakens quickly. You are welcome to try using the other Wraiths if you think you can survive a super long fight.

Rook City Wraith and Omnitron are excluded from the first battle because they make it way too easy to mill through the enviro deck.

Cool.

3) Omnitron-VIII

 - Villain: Omnitron

 - Environment: Time Cataclysm

 - Required Heroes: Omnitron-X

The story:

The defeated Apostate vanishes in a blaze of hellfire leaving behind the tarnished hair dryer. The Wraith picks it up and the heroes leave. Back in the Freedom Five headquarters Maia Montgomery analyzes it with her mega computer and determines that it is over 100 years old. The computer places it as being created in 1883.

“That’s one of the years that the time portal opens up to,” remarks Dr. Meredith Stinson.

“Looks like we are making a trip,” says Maia.

The heroes were able to stabilize the time portal from previous battles. They start the machine they created that opens the portal. The heroes step in and are transported through time. During the journey Omnitron-X joins them from another time portal.

“Ally organism identities verified. Temporal position verified. Self intercept initiated. Battle systems online.”

“What’s going on?” the heroes ask.

Omnitron-X reminds the heroes that throughout its existence it has continued to upgrade itself. The empathy component that marked the upgrade to its tenth form turned it into an ally. However, the upgrade that allowed it to travel through time belonged to Omnitron-VIII. The memory banks of Omnitron-X recall a battle between the eighth and tenth forms. A much, much larger time portal opens, Omnitron enters, and the battle begins.

Win condition:

The heroes must defeat Omnitron.

At the beginning of the battle reveal cards from the top of the villain deck until H-2 Components or Drones are revealed. Put those cards into the trash and shuffle the other revealed cards back into the villain deck. Omnitron-VIII’s time traveling ability allows it to put more cards into play than usual. Its start and end phases are still the same, but during its play phase Omnitron plays the top card of its deck AND puts the bottom card from its trash into play in that order. The villain trash can be looked through but cannot be reordered. (You still shuffle and reveal cards to find a component or drone on its factory side)

Additionally, Omnitron’s components are only destroyed if Omnitron takes 7 damage in a single TURN not round. The fifth version of Omnitron strengthened its components to switch from round to turn as can be seen on Omnitron-X’s cards.

Love it.

I may or may not ever play these scenarios, but I love the stories behind them.

Just beat it. Combination of early Wrest the Mind plus Electro pulse kept it from being too difficult.

4) Back to the Past

 - Villain: Plague Rat

 - Environment: Silver Gulch: 1883

 - Required Heroes: Absolute Zero

The story:

The heroes leave the broken hulk of Omnitron-VIII to drift through time. The last message that flashes through its circuits is, “Form inefficient for time travel. Computing smaller frame dimensions.”

The heroes exit the time portal. They step into Silver Gulch, Oklahoma in the year 1883, but something has gone wrong. Something is there waiting for them. The Plague Rat attacks the heroes.

“The infection,” gasps Ryan Frost, “How did it get here? We have to stop it before it spreads and alters the timeline.”

Win condition:

The heroes must defeat Plague Rat, but there cannot be any infection cards in play when they do.

Sorry this is late. There was a little something called Origins that kept me busy.

This one looks very interesting and challenging. I'll have to give it a go at some point.

5) The Fountain of Youth

 - Villain: La Capitan on advanced

 - Environment: Ruins of Atlantis

 - Required Heroes: The Wraith

The story:

With the infection successfully wiped out questions remain.

“Did the Rat follow us or was it here before us?” asked Night Mist.

“I don’t know, but we’ll have to find out later,” said the Wraith.

The heroes head off to Atlantis. When they arrive they discover Maria Helena Teresa Fafila Servanda Jimena Mansuara Paterna Domenga Gelvira Placia Sendina Belita Eufemia Columba Gontina Aldonza Mafalda Cristina Tegrida de Falcon.

The time pirate La Capitan has come to Altantis to steal the legendary Fountain of Youth.

“A fitting treasure for a time pirate don’t you think?” she asks holding up a beautifully ornate goblet.

“Hand it over,” demands the Wraith.

“It’s all just a game you know,” La Capitan says offhandedly. “Unfortunately for you they misprinted me,” she grins.

“Huh???”

Win condition:

The heroes must defeat La Capitan using her oversized misprinted version. Her oversized card available through the Shattered Timelines Kickstarter was misprinted. Her split across time side’s advanced rules say, “The first time La Capitan would be dealt damage each TURN (not round) redirect it to the non-villain target with the highest HP.” The heroes must defeat her using this version of her advanced rules. Additionally, this rule (contrary to the official ruling) takes precedence over (happens before) her rule, “Whenever La Capitan would be dealt damage, move a card from under this card to the appropriate trash. If you do prevent that damage.”

This means that to remove cards from under La Capitan the heroes must hit her multiple times in a turn, the first of which gets redirected.

Just got insanely lucky while doing scenario number 3. Tempest started with two Into the Stratospheres, and because of Don't Dismiss Anything from the Scholar got to play it three turns in a row on the plague locus. I also got to use the deadly combination of Cleansing Downpour+Solid to Liquid+Mortal Form. Plague Rat only played two cards other than Plague Locus which were Afflicted Frenzy and Ravage. Ravage was played on a turn he was offensively transmuted and so it brought out no infections. Heroes won a pretty decisive victory with everyone having at least 20 HP and no Infections ever being played.

Holy cow, Nielzabub! Sounds like the Rat was kicked around like a nerd in a circle of bullies.

Did Nightmist even do anything? I made her required since she has so much healing and can destroy lots of ongoings. I try to give a boost to the villain while picking a required hero that may help with the situation like how Rook City Wraith helps find Krakens.

When I did this battle PR got us down into the single digits with two out of five heroes incapped.

BTW did you mean scenario 4 and Energy Form?

Yes, sorry, I meant number 4. Things looked bad for NM and Fixer for a bit, but it didn't take too long to get out the Amulet and Driving Mantis, and after that they redirected a lot of damage to the Rat. There wasn't any real need for ongoing or equipment destruction. The only two gunmen that came out where Sheriff Pratt and Cyrus Hays, and Hays's attention was mostly on the Plague Locus.

6) The Freedom Six

 - Villain: Iron Legacy

 - Environment: Final Wasteland

 - Required Heroes: Tachyon, Bunker, The Wraith, Unity, Tempest, and Absolute Zero

 - Required number of heroes: 5 (H=5)

The story:

The Wraith yanks the cup known as the Fountain of Youth from the defeated La Capitan.

“It is no matter,” La Capitan says. “When you get bored playing the other villains we will meet again.”

La Capitan breaks the fourth wall and the room around them begins to collapse. The heroes scramble out. The Wraith accidentally drops her hair dryer in the commotion.

Having escaped Atlantis the heroes head back to the time portal in Silver Gulch. Dr. Meredith Stinson calibrates their return to the present. The portal glows an odd green.

“Um, is that right?” asks Absolute Zero.

“I guess we’ll find out,” says Tachyon. They step through the portal and are flung into the far future. It’s clear something is wrong. They each emerge one at a time although some are from other timelines, different versions of themselves. Only members of the Freedom Five and Freedom Six seem to be emerging from the portal.

 “The timeline appears to be tearing again. First the Plague Rat in the past and now this,” says Tachyon, “It’s not like the chaos of the time cataclysm. It’s almost like a controlled tear looking for a specific result.” As she finishes her sentence a version of Paul Parsons steps out. Iron Legacy clenches his fists and charges.

Win condition:

The heroes must defeat Iron Legacy. Only members of the Freedom Six may be used. At the beginning of the game there must be 5 heroes. The first time one of those heroes is defeated it is removed from play and the remaining member of the Freedom Six emerges from the time portal with full health and takes the incapacitated hero’s place in the battle.

H=5, or H=6?

H=5.

In each of the previous battles I've made a rule change and then given the players a hero that can help. In this one it's reversed. The extra hero that shows up definitely helps the heroes, but the choice of heroes here helps the villain a little more than the players due to the nemesis bonus. At least that's what I found when I just barely lost this battle last night. On advanced as recommended.

7) Investigation

 - Villain: Miss Information

 - Environment: Silver Gulch: 1883           

 - Required Heroes: Nightmist

The story:

“Something weird is going on here,” says Faye Diamond. “We might not be able to return to our time from here, but I may be able to return us to 1883. If we return to that time then maybe we can figure out how to get home from there.”

“It’s worth a shot.”

The heroes reverse their last trip and arrive back in Silver Gulch.

“I am going to investigate who or what is causing the portal to prevent us from returning home,” says Nightmist.

Win condition:

The heroes must defeat Miss Information. At the start of each round (before the start of the villain turn) reveal the top card of Nightmist’s deck for that round H = that card’s magic level plus 2. Then shuffle Nightmist’s deck.

For example, if a magic level 1 card is revealed then H=3 for that round. If a magic level 4 card is revealed then H=6 for that round.

question: For the MIss Information battle do you kep flipping untill you get all five, because what if you get 3 covers or 3 gunmen until you get the others? Should you do them seprately or all at once?

Basically, instead of a diversion I want 2 cover, 2 gunmen, and the sheriff in play. If you find 3 covers, ignore the third and keep looking for the other cards. It doesn't really matter if you do them all at once as long as you end up with the right numbers in play.

Letting Miss Information play 2 cards a turn on side A is a mixed blessing. In a 5 hero game she usually takes eons to flip, but with two cards a turn you should be able to get down to business pretty quickly.

8) Ennead Medium Difficulty

 - Villain: The Ennead on advanced

 - Environment: Time Cataclysm

 - Required Heroes: Bunker

The story:

“Aminia, you’re behind all this?”

The secretary turned villain lays crying on the ground.

“You sabotaged the time portal, sent the Plague Rat back in time, and sent Iron Legacy after us. Why?” ask the heroes.

“You don’t care about me. You would let me die. I know. I’ve seen it.,” says Miss Information.

“That’s not true, Aminia. That wasn’t us. That wasn’t real. We need you. Come back with us,” Lieutenant Tyler Vance says warmly.

“Yeah, according to quantum duplicity therory, there’s tons of other universes,” says Tachyon. “Some where we don’t have powers and some where Stan Lee isn’t a comic book characterandsomewhereweare…”

“You’re not helping,” says Vance. He turns back to Miss Information, “Please.”

The battered secretary wipes her face and considered. Finally she relented. “Alright, but I want a raise.”

“Um, okay.”

“And my own office. And 4 weeks paid vacation. Oh, and we should probably get going if we are going to stop the original Ennead that I brought back from ancient Egypt and are on their way to the present.”

The heroes just gaped at her.

Win condition:

The heroes must defeat the Ennead on advanced. However, instead of putting H of the Ennead into play at the beginning of the game, only put H-2 into play.

>

The battered secretary wiped her face and considered. Finally she relented. “Alright, but I want a raise.”

“Um, okay.”

“And my own office. And 4 weeks paid vacation. Oh, and we should probably get going if we are going to stop the original Ennead that I brought back from ancient Egypt and are on their way to the present.”

The heroes just gaped at her.

FACEPALM

Sorry, Kingofsouls. I wasn't really sure how to do the Miss Information after battle story.

9) Activating the Fountain

 - Villain: Spite

 - Environment: Megalopolis

 - Required Heroes: Unity, Ra, Tachyon

 - Excluded Heroes: Haka, Visionary

The story:

With the Ennead defeated the heroes step out of the portal back in the present. Their quest to find the Fountain of Youth was successful.

“I am going to take this back to the lab for analysis,” said Tachyon pointing at the ancient cup.

“I will join you,” said Ra, “I happen to know a thing or two about studying mysterious relics. Devra might be helpful, too.”

“I’d be happy to help,” said Unity.

The rest of the heroes head off for some well-deserved relaxation.

As the research on the Fountain gets underway the heroes discover that it can be, in a word, “activated” by using different kinds of energy.

Meanwhile the serial killer Spite is on the prowl in Megalopolis. The heroes use whatever time they have between researching to rescue potential victims.

Win condition:

The heroes must activate the Fountain of Youth and defeat Spite. To activate the Fountain the heroes must do damage to Spite from various sources. There are 5 jewels on the cup. One for each source of damage from heroes. To activate a jewel the heroes must deal damage to Spite using H One-Shots, H Equipment card, H Ongoing card, H Innate Powers, and H Mechanical Golems. The order of the damage does not matter. If a card causes damage to Spite multiple times each instance counts. It doesn’t matter if the damage is from the act of playing the card or from using a power on the card. If a card boosts damage that does not count as having dealt damage (for example, if Unity plays Hasty Augmentation which lets Ra use his innate power and increases it, then the innate power is what did the damage so that is counted, but the One-Shot Hasty Augmentation is not counted because it didn’t do any damage.) If a hero card redirects damage then that doesn’t count as having done the damage. The H damage instances from each card type must be dealt before Spite is defeated. 

Don't be. That was actually pretty funny and I was just facepalming as a reaction to what the heroes might do once they heard that.

Yeah, that's the reaction I'd have if I was in their shoes. :) Actually, I'd be more like, WTF?

10) Hunting for Cards

 - Villain: Ambuscade

 - Environment: Insula Primalis

 - Required Heroes: Haka, Visionary

 - Excluded Heroes: Unity, Ra, Tachyon

The story:

After returning from the time portal most of the heroes took some time to relax. Haka and the Visionary are meditating in the untamed wild of Insular Primalis.. Haka has a vision of events from the past while Visionary has a vision from the future. Both visions include a glowing jeweled cup covered in unreadable symbols. Both tell of a horrible fate. Most startling is Visionary’s precognitive vision of Ra activating the cup and its terrible consequences.
Their visions are interrupted by a gunshot. Ambuscade has set traps for them and takes the opportunity to bring down his best prize, the mighty Haka.

Win condition:

The heroes must finish their visions and defeat Ambuscade.

Before the game starts, set H-1 traps face-up in Ambuscade's deck. I prefer to turn them upside-down and keep the other cards right side up. It makes shuffling a little easier than if they are face-up.

Haka and Visionary must finish their visions before it is too late. Haka must play his three meditation cards: Haka of Battle, Haka of Healing, and Haka of Shielding. Visionary must play her three meditation cards: Suggestion, Precognition, and Prophetic Vision. Playing these cards has no actual effect. Once used the card goes to a separate pile that is considered out of the game. A player may choose to use the card as normal, but then the card goes to the trash and doesn’t count toward the required condition to win.

11) An Ominous Vision

 - Villain: Akash’Bhuta

 - Environment: Mixed

 - Required Heroes: Fanatic, Young Legacy, Argent Adept

 - Excluded Heroes: Unity, Ra, Tachyon

The story:

Haka and Visionary escape from the hunter Ambuscade. Their visions showed a goblet filled with a glowing energy. They both recognize it as the cup taken from La Capitan in Atlantis. The Fountain of Youth. They try to contact Tachyon and Ra at the Freedom Five headquarters, but they get no response. Next they contact the heroes that can get to them the fastest. Fanatic, Young Legacy, and Argent Adept.

“You have to fly there as fast as possible,” Visionary says.

Haka explains that the alien race that created the Fountain crashed their ship into Earth. The people of Atlantis found it and used it to create a powerful city, but their city sunk when its people activated it. The Visionary explains that her vision showed Ra activating it on a grander scale and wiping out everyone on Earth.

The heroes take off. The disastrous entity Akash’Bhuta senses the heroes’ desperation and uses this opportunity to attack again as they fly over the landscape.

Win condition:

The heroes must defeat Akash’Bhuta.

The heroes are flying over several environments on their way to warn Tachyon, Ra, and Unity. To construct the environment deck shuffle the following cards together from several different environments:

Insula Primalis: Enraged T-Rex, Pterodactyl Thief, River of Lava

Rook City: Tony Taurus, Blighted Streets, Ambitious Racketeer

Pike Industrial Complex: Escaped Lab Rat, Supercooled Trisolvent Vat, Chemical Explosion

Tomb of Anubis: Anubis, Akana, Judgement of Anubis

Time Cataclysm: Charging Triceratops, Typhoon, Main Computer Room

In case anyone is reading these, but is wary to try them, I've played and won each scenario before I post them.

12) Too Late

 - Villain: The Dreamer

 - Environment: Megalopolis

 - Required Heroes: Expatriette

The story:

The heroes arrive at the Freedom Five headquarters in Megalopolis, but they are too late. Ra, Tachyon, and Unity have activated the Fountain. The other heroes find them unconcious. Worse, they find young Vanessa Long unconscious, too. The young girl, now 8, was living at the Freedom Five headquarters after the events two years ago. Now, the psychic projections her unconscious mind created have begun to appear again.

As the bizarre creatures begin to fill the lab the cup is knocked to the floor. The glowing energy in it spills out and flows into the fallen heroes. At the same time several of the other heroes fall to the floor as their energy flows into the cup.

“What happened,” asks a groggy Unity.

“The cup,” gasps Tachyon, “It’s unstable.”

“Looks like things are about to get messy,” says Amanda Cohen, “Just the way I like it.” Expatriette loads Pride and Predjudice and takes aim at the nearest monster.

Win condition:

The heroes must defeat the Dreamer.

At the start of each round (before the villain’s start phase) the players choose one of the active heroes. This hero is incapacitated by the cup for the round. They maintain their HP, cards in play, cards in hand, and are still a target, but are otherwise treated as incapacitated. Their cards (deck, in play, and hand) are indestructible, have no text (no effects) and are considered out of the game. However, their HP can still be affected since they are a target. They take an incapacitated turn instead of a normal one. This means that they skip their play, power, and draw phase, but get to use one of their incapacitated effects.

The same hero cannot be chosen in two consecutive rounds. If a hero is actually incapacitated by losing all their HP then that hero cannot be chosen to skip their turn, but they do take an incapacitated turn like normal.

If H-1 heroes are actually incapacitated then the heroes lose.

13) Let’s Talk

 - Villain: Grand Warlord Voss

 - Environment: The Block

 - Required Heroes: Tempest

The story:

The heroes are able to stabilize the cup and awaken the young Vanessa again.

“What is that thing?”

“I do not know, but I know who does,” states Tempest. “Grand Warlord Voss carved a path of destruction through the galaxy. The path he followed was one of Thorathian legend. A myth of an ancient race of immortal nomads. I don’t know the story, but I believe that he came to Earth to find that relic,” he says pointing to the cup.

“He is locked up in the Block right now,” says Legacy. “Let’s go see if we can get any information from him. The rest of you stay here and guard that cup.”

The heroes head off to the Block. The warden agrees to let them see Voss. Unfortunately, one of the other prisoners sees the heroes’ arrival as the perfect opportunity for an escape. The prisoner shuts down the Block’s security. Can the heroes keep Voss and the other prisoners from escaping?

Win condition:

The heroes must defeat Grand Warlord Voss and keep him from escaping from the block.

At the end of the villain turn put an “escape” counter on Grand Warlord Voss. If Voss ever gets 3 escape counters on him he escapes from the Block and the heroes lose. Each time Voss flips, remove all escape counters from him.

14) The Big Picture

 - Villain: Kismet

 - Environment: Pike Industrial Complex

 - Required Heroes: Fanatic

The story:

“This place can’t hold me,” bellows Grand Warlord Voss from his cell.

“Save it,” says Tempest, “If it were up to me you’d be dead instead of here.”

“Hahaha. Is that why you have come?”

“No. Tell us about the Lathintis,” says Tempest.

“Hahaha, you came to swap children’s stories?” laughs Voss.

“A story you believe,” says Tempest.

Voss is silent for a moment. He smiles, but does not deny it. “It is a legend of a people that visited my planet long ago,” he says. “They were gods. Their power came from the Lathintis. It was technology, magical, and divine all in one. They say that he who drinks of its power becomes immortal.”

“No,” says the Visionary, “Our visions showed it kills everyone.”

“You simple fools. It cannot kill. It removes one’s consciousness and stores it forever. The body may whither, but the mind is forever alive.”

“That explains the incapacitation effects.”

“So it is on Earth,” Voss says, “I knew it. But, if you have activated it then to claim it I need only wait here in this prison for your planet is doomed.”

The heroes head back to the Freedom Five headquarters. When they get there they find Fanatic in dismay.

“She took the Fountain of Youth,” Fanatic says. “I was guarding it, but luck was on her side.”

“Who took it?”

“Kismet.”

“She was in the Block. She must have been the one that turned of the security there and escaped while we handled Voss. I don’t know how she could have been lucky enough to have avoided all of us.”

“I know not where she fled,” says Fanatic.

“We may not know where she went, but the Fountain’s energy signature is unmistakable,” said Tachyon, already triangulating the location.

Win condition:

The heroes must defeat Kismet.

At the start of the game search Kismet’s deck for Lady Luck and put it into play.

15) Any Hero, Any Villain, Any Environment

 - Villain: The Chairman

 - Environment: Rook City

 - Required Heroes: Visionary, Legacy, Argent Adept

 - Excluded Heroes: All others

The story:

“What do you mean it’s not here?” says Legacy.

“I sold it,” replies Kismet.

“To who?” asks the Argent Adept.

“To whom,” corrects the Visionary. The Adept just glared at her.

“I don’t know,” Kismet says.

“The energy signature is being distorted. I can’t pinpoint it,” says Tachyon.

“You don’t seem to understand the situation, Kismet,” says Legacy. “We have to find that cup. Let’s split up and search the city,” he says to the heroes.

“We’re going to need this,” says Visionary as she yanks the lucky talisman from Kismet’s hands.

“NOOOO,” she shrieks.

Win condition:

The heroes must defeat the Chairman.

This battle tests the designer’s claim that any hero team can defeat any villain in any environment. Only Visionary, Legacy, and Argent Adept can be used unless you feel there is a weaker team you want to try.

At the beginning of each round (before the start of the villain turn) reveal the top 3 cards of any deck and return them to the top in any order.

Oh wow. So you were able to win with this?! The only way I could see that happening is an extremely early Lead From The Front + Next Evolution (x2?).

Sorry for the long hiatus.

Yeah, I disagree with the designers, but they are technically correct since I did win the battle. Any team can beat any villain, but a lot of luck is needed. That's why you get to use the talisman. I'll play it again to make sure that it's not a once in a lifetime thing.

I won because on turn 1 Legacy played Heroic Interception and Visionary played Brain Burn, but took no damage. Visionary fed Legacy cards so he could get his combo before the Chairman flipped. Anytime the talisman revealed a bad card in the set of 3 Visionary buried it. The main damage dealer was Demoralization. It was a long fight.

I figured demoralization would be big, and the deck control, good job with the brain burn combo.

Demoralize can do a lot of damage with all the damage boosting on that team.

I just played this battle again to make sure my victory was not a fluke. I won again. Argent Adept delivered the final blow. :) This time I did not get a Brain Burn until I was almost through the Chairman's deck a second time. I certainly would have been toast without the Talisman. There were a few times the top card of the three revealed was a jail break that I just pushed back.

After spending a little time thinking about it I realized that half of the time this battle is actually super crazy easy. I'll let you figure out how.

The operative IS a Villan Target

Correct, she is a villain card, as she is part of a villain deck, she is a target, and since she is a villain card, she is a villain target.  She is also a character card, as she has a unique back.  What she is not is a Villain Character card, because she lacks the keyword Villain on her card.

I think it's pretty known that Legacy can shut down all damage from The Organization with Ring, Lead From the Front and double Next Evolution  (Melee+Projectile). V can make him find it faster and Argent play it faster. Once that's down only a Thief an can mess you up.

Btw, just read through the Campaign. Nice, I don't like the rules changes since I can't reference them during the game. Sure could write them up but lazy for that.

You don't need all that. Lead from the Front and 1 Next Evolution with Inspiring Supertonic is the super easy setup I was pointing out. Even if AA dies his incap side let's you keep immunity going.

Sorry, I got confused. The Operative is a villain card and she is a character card, but she is not a villain character card.

PePe, I intend to have a Word doc available with the full adventure that you can print, but not until the story is done. We're getting close.

16) Gloomweaver House Ruled

 - Villain: Gloomweaver

 - Environment: Realm of Discord

 - Required Heroes: Tachyon

 - Excluded Heroes: Visionary, Legacy, Argent Adept

The story:

The heroes fight to reclaim the Fountain of Youth from the Chairman. Meanwhile, in the Realm of Discord, the elder god Gloomweaver has been planning another attempt at crossing over into our plane. He feels the chaotic energy of the activated Fountain of Youth accelerating. As he feeds off the energy his cultists begin the summoning ritual. Can the heroes handle this strengthened Gloomweaver?

Win condition:

The heroes must defeat Gloomweaver.

These are the house rules I use for Gloomweaver. It makes him more likely to flip.

At the start of the game search the villain deck for all 5 Zombies and put them in the villain trash. Search the deck for 1 copy of each of the 3 cultists and put them in play. Shuffle the deck.

Gloomweaver’s familiar Ophelia the Defiler has the keyword “Relic” and has 25 HP. The heroes still win if there are 3 villain relics in the trash at the start of Gloomweaver’s turn on side A.

Additionally, Gloomweaver flips if there are 3 villain relics in play at the END of his turn.

17) Turn It Off

 - Villain: Baron Blade

 - Environment: Rook City

 - Required Heroes: Mr. Fixer

The story:

The heroes have stopped Gloomweaver and recovered the Fountain of Youth from the Chairman. It is still glowing and unstable.

“Gloomweaver was the one changing the energy field. I should be able to stabilize it now. Just don’t do anything to disrupt the field,” says Tachyon.

“No problem,” remarks Mr. Fixer.

Still bent on revenge, Baron Blade attacks the heroes as they are leaving Rook City. They must stabilize the fountain before it activates and absorbs all sentient thought on Earth (i.e. before the Baron has 15 cards in his trash)

Win condition:

The heroes must defeat Baron Blade.

On his side B after dealing H damage to the highest hero Baron Blade also deals H damage to the lowest hero.

Additionally, the heroes may not deal more than 6 damage to a target in a turn. If they do, the fountain will destabilize and activate on a global scale. Game over.

Hero targets may deal damage to multiple targets, but hero targets may not deal more than 6 damage to a single target in a single turn. Damage dealt by villain and environment cards does not count toward this limit. The 6 damage limit is counted after all modifiers. We are only counting HP lost. However, remember that targets can go into negative HP.

Some interesting scenarios here, but a little too fiddly IMO.

Envisioner,

I'm glad you think they are interesting. What do you mean by too fiddly? Any suggestions on how to make them less so? I'm trying to provide challenging scenarios that give a different spin on the battles. Just trying to spice up things while everyone waits for Vengance to be released in February.

Too many moving parts.  Like requiring or forbidding certain heroes based solely on flavor, or the very complex mechanism on the Spite game that represents activating the cup.  One tweak per game would be sufficient, and preferably they should be small enough that you can easily remember them when setting up the game, without having to constantly refer back to the list.  "Fiddly" generally refers to an excess of minor details that have to be tracked, and that seems to fit here.

Unfortunately I can't play out these scenarios anyway, since pretty much all of them involve something I don't own (don't have Infernal Relics just yet, won't have Rook City until it's reprinted in December, and probably won't ever own the promo Wraith).  Still, I'm glad someone's done such a thing.  I might try writing one of these myself at some point.

Promo Wraith - Front

http://boardgamegeek.com/image/1130403/sentinels-of-the-multiverse-rook-city-the-wraith-p

Promo Wraith - Back

http://boardgamegeek.com/image/1299726/sentinels-of-the-multiverse-rook-city-the-wraith-p

All of the promos are available on BoardGameGeek as well as Spiff's website.

It's where I printed my versions.

As I've mentioned before, I prefer to have the physical card, not to use a hero that exists only in data form for me.  Too much of a mental load or something; it just doesn't work.

(PS: Hey Warlock, I've started our game.  Waiting for Greywind to show.)

Like requiring or forbidding certain heroes based solely on flavor, or the very complex mechanism on the Spite game that represents activating the cup.

That's the point of a scenario, to limit or enhance the game for story reasons.  Maybe you can argue that the particular limits or enhancements are too complex and therefore not fun (sounds like that's what you're doing), but if they're so vanilla that a scenario game is really no different than a normal one, then why play a scenario game?

I think that is part of the problem coming into this community, so many of us have played the heck out of the normal game, random selection and special challenges are something that spices things up and give us a different taste of the game, to a newer player they probably do seem kind of pointless.

well, that and the contrast that there isn't a regular or cannon one for your first play through. IMO that would be a great benefit for the game, I have tried to compile one but it takes a lot of time to do it properly. I do understand though the good reasons there are so as to choose to not have one.

I like the scenarios, although I haven't played with any of them yet.  I've been thinking about other ways to make the game harder.

1, target resolution in favor of villains.  This makes certain environments much more dangerous.

2, no communication between players.  "Well I didn't know you had a Rocket Launcher, that's why I Flash Flooded."

I don't know that I'd go that far.  The way I see it, the reason this is called "Sentinels of the Multiverse" is that, rather than us only caring about the canon universe, each player is playing through one alternate timeline, out of a theoretically limitless number of them.  Thusly, in my "universe", the Freedom Five has never officially formed, as I've never had more than three of them in one game.  The first "issue" was Baron Blade attacking Megalopolis and being stopped by Wraith, Ra, Absolute Zero and Tachyon; Legacy was nowhere to be found.  Shortly thereafter, Haka and Expatriette helped stop Voss's alien invasion, and I believe my third battle was against Citizen Dawn with Tachy, Wraith and Ra again.  So as far as I'm concerned, Ra is more of a teammate to the two girls than Bunker, who didn't show up until, IIRC, a fight against Apostate (and Fanatic premiered against the Chairman after that).

This would be hard to arbitrate, but I have found it can be excessively convenient.  Rolling a die to break ties on Enviro targeting is more appropriate than always choosing in favor of either side.  But from a comic book perspective, it's more fitting for the environment to mess up whichever team seems to be winning, as battles are always more dramatic when they're less one-sided.

2, no communication between players.  "Well I didn't know you had a Rocket Launcher, that's why I Flash Flooded."

Yeah, I always feel a bit dishonest about there being perfect information exchange.  Since most of my games are solitaire, what I do is play each hero's hand in order and don't look at them in between their turns; inevitably this means I know some of their secrets, but I can forget stuff and produce minor amusing mishaps, without usually sabotaging the game.  The only times I've ever found SOTM to be "easy" per se were my first battle against Omnitron, my only battles to date against Gloomweaver and Spite, and my second battle against Blade (not Advanced; since he was my first I figured he was worth revisiting once I knew what I was doing, but I wasn't ready to do advanced games yet).  Those were all solo games except Gloomy, and in none of those cases did it seem as though the heroes' access to each others' hands made a huge difference.  I always feel it would be slightly dishonest to use the complete knowledge, but it can always be handwaved as the team having some Martian Manhunter analogue sitting back at HQ and acting as a radio network between their brains.

Thanks for the feedback. You should definitely write one yourself, too. I will admit that one or two of the battles may require some bookkeeping. The Spite one I had a pencil and paper. The Gloomweaver one has a lot of tweaks, but those are the house rules I always use for him so I don't have a problem remembering them.

I have a Word doc that I plan to post so people can have the scenario tweaks in front of them if needed.

I mainly made this for people that have everything and can't wait for Vengance. If you don't have everything then Spiff's scenarios on his site are perfect. I also made this for people that have played the game over and over. As I mentioned in my disclaimer if you haven't beaten everyone on advanced then you should do that first. Especially since some of these battles are nasty and you'll want to know what works best in tough situations.

I actually don't have Young Legacy or Rook City Wraith, but I know what they do. Even if you don't have everything you don't have to play my scenarios word for word. Feel free to make substitutions.

Thanks again for the feedback. It's good to know people like the idea.

I have physical versions of all the promos (except the two that haven't officially been released yet). I printed them from files such as the ones in the links that Pydro posted.

I know other people have had them printed by Artscow or similar print on demand services. But if you really want to play with the promos right now, I don't see why simply writing the name and power down on a bit of paper is functionally any different to the "real" card - it's what I did before I printed them.

If it works for you, then good for you.  It wouldn't work for me.  (Especially since most of the ones I've seen lack a back.  Offhand, I think YL and RCW and Horus Ra and Redeemer Fanatic are the only ones for which I've seen the incap side.)

I know other people have had them printed by Artscow or similar print on demand services. But if you really want to play with the promos right now, I don't see why simply writing the name and power down on a bit of paper is functionally any different to the "real" card - it's what I did before I printed them.

I may eventually decide proxies are good enough, but I really don't feel them.  For one think, I have this instinctive sense that it's dishonest…that more copies of the original card SHOULD have been made available, just as more money SHOULD go into my pocket on a weekly basis, but that doesn't give me the right to mint my own.  Maybe this is just capitalist indoctrination, or maybe it's my actual feelings; I can't really tell.

On another level, I feel like the art does more than enhance the game, it actually contributes in a very functional way to the experience (probably the same reason I can't "decrypt" a game from raw text).  I identify particular cards in large part by their illustrations; if you handed me a Legacy deck where THOKK! was misprinted with a picture of Legacy fighting through a crowd of Proletariats, I'd probably put it into play and start volunteering to redirect people's damage, without ever realizing it wasn't actually Lead from the Front (unless I developed a question on how exactly the rules for Lead From the Front work, read the card minutely to try and figure it out, and was surprised to find that it was instructing me to deal 3 melee damage and draw a card).  Likewise, if I had a piece of paper on it that said "Legacy deals 3 energy damage", I don't think I'd feel confident that I actually had a hero in play; it'd weird me out and I'd have moments where I'd look at the board and think Legacy's deck had been spilled onto the table by mistake or something, because how could I be playing Legacy when his character card is nowhere to be found?  Having a picture of Paulina in a skirt prevents any such confusion and makes me feel comfortable with the situation.

Perhaps I'll get over it at some point, out of the degree of familiarity with the game which verges on boredom…but just as likely, upon reaching that point, I'd simply stop playing for several months and let the newness of the experience regenerate.

Umm, all mine have incap sides. The only ones that don't are GI Bunker and Grandad Legacy, since the backs haven't been released yet, and that's the only reason why I haven't proxied them.

And I'm genuinely curious. How does a card you've printed, incap side and all, differ enough from an officially printed one enough that it "wouldn't work for you"?

Well, you have >G's permission to print proxies - that's why they released the card art in the first place. I don't know the reasoning behind that decision, but I for one am very happy that everyone can own the promos in some way rather than just the select few who got in early enough for the Kickstarters and such (I'd never heard of the game myself until less than a year ago, quite apart from the fact that international shipping makes buying heavy games from KS far to expensive for me).

I guess GTG and other companies who release promos want to keep the actual officially-printed copies special, rare items to reward theose early supporters. Fine. If there were enough copies for everyone then they might as well just include them in the game in the first place and then they wouldn't be promos at all!

Fair enough. We all process information in different ways - some of us focus on the text and hardly notice the illustrations, but I imagine lots of people would experience the same cognitive dissonance if the card art was suddenly switched with the art of another card.

Because you know you're playing Legacy? Because you made a conscious decision a the beginning of the game that you'd play Legacy? Because you're using Legacy's deck?

Can you link me to where you found the images?  My access came from Board Game Geek, and they're missing a lot of backs.

And I'm genuinely curious. How does a card you've printed, incap side and all, differ enough from an officially printed one enough that it "wouldn't work for you"?

Who knows?  It just is.  DIY and products of industry are an inseparable line to me.

Well, you have >G's permission to print proxies

That's nice to know, but I'd still have to deal with figuring out how.  I suppose it depends on how impatient I get once there's nothing else left for me to buy.  But I can't help thinking that if anyone can print off their own copy of the original promos, then what was the point of them being promos?  And I hear that >G plans to eventually sell them in a pack once everything else is released, but why would they bother if "everyone" (from which I would be excluded, but there might not be enough others like me to justify a product release) already has them?  It strikes me as worrisome.

If there were enough copies for everyone then they might as well just include them in the game in the first place and then they wouldn't be promos at all!

I don't feel that's true.  They're alternate versions; the core game was based around the assumption of the main version (eg Legacy gets +1 to damage he deals, in large part because he doesn't have an at-will damage power, so Young Legacy is a little OP because she can blast for 4 with that one card in play - original Legs is still probably better in 4-5 player games but maybe not in 3s).

Because you know you're playing Legacy? Because you made a conscious decision a the beginning of the game that you'd play Legacy? Because you're using Legacy's deck?

See, that's far more logic than I'm capable of using sometimes.  My brain just goes out to lunch every now and again.

Well I could, but you aren't going to print them so what's the point?

Oh come on. It's ink on a piece of cardstock. In most cases it won't be quite the same quality as a "professional" version, but it's perfectly functional. Fine, if you don't like proxies then don't use them, but then you have no right to bitch about not having the promos when they have been made available to you with a little effort and/or cost.

I can't speak for >G, but I'll most likely buying the promos one they're available, for several reasons. I want to support the company who made one of my favourite games ever. The "real" cards will be nicer then my homemade inkjet ones (even though mine are perfectly usable). I guess a lot of people will feel the same and buy the promos for the same reason. Heck, I bet even the people who already have official promos will buy the new pack just because the cards will look different in some way.

I offered what I thought was a reasonable solution to your problem of not having that particular Wraith promo. I still think it's reasonable. I'm interested to know how you manage to play the game at all if you're unable to remember what hero you're playing without the constant reminder in the form of character card art.

Ha, she's got you there. :)

I can say I definitely will, but purely as an excuse to throw more money at >G!

Not fair! I was thinking the same thing!

That's okay - Silverleaf basically said it first.

18) Slowed but not Stopped

 - Villain: The Matriarch

 - Environment: Insula Primalis

 - Allowed Heroes: Heroes that have multiple versions

 - Excluded Heroes: Chrono-Ranger, Omnitron-X, the Scholar

The story:

“We need to get the fountain away from any populated areas,” points out Tachyon.

“It’s stable for now,” says Ra, “but we’ve only slowed the process, not stopped it.”

The heroes take the Fountain of Youth to Insula Primalis to buy some time. They need to find away to stop the “immortality” process. Unfortunately, for them the Matriarch is there learning to control the bigger, deadlier birds of the primordial wilderness. Not only that, the fountain is causing all kinds of strange reality effects due to the energy that Gloomweaver leached off it.

Win condition:

The heroes must defeat the Matriarch.

Select two versions of each hero. For example, Bunker has his normal Indestructible Bunker with Initialize version and also his Engine of War with Locomotion version. If a hero has more than two versions choose two of them for the game. Each hero’s max health is the lower of the two versions regardless of which version is in play. At the beginning of the game each player chooses one version to start as. At the beginning of each round players switch to the other version of their hero. All cards other cards in the game are unaffected. Any effects that are targeting that hero continue to affect the new version. This switching continues even after a hero is incapacitated.

The new scenario is interesting, but seems like it'd be an annoying amount of extra effort - not only having to "flip" (assuming that you keep your two hero cards back-to-back, and turn the pairing inside-out if incapacitated) your hero every turn, but also having to keep track of the max health of the one that's not showing.  (Some troupes maybe count out starting HP for heroes and remove tokens as damage is taken, and thus don't have as much of a problem here, but I think it's probably less common than doing the opposite, since otherwise you'd have to add tokens to every single Target the moment it comes out, as opposed to only when it takes damage).  I like the idea, but it'd be a heck of a lot easier if playing an automated computer version of the game (something I desperately wish we had), rather than physically.  Also, you should clarify what happens with characters who have three versions (such as Wraith) - do you choose any two, or is it always the original plus one specific alternate?

I would like to see them just to know what they do (unless they're stored in an encrypted file that can be sent to a printer but not viewed in a web browser, of course).

but then you have no right to bitch about not having the promos when they have been made available to you with a little effort and/or cost.

I wasn't aware that I was bitching.

I'm interested to know how you manage to play the game at all if you're unable to remember what hero you're playing without the constant reminder in the form of character card art.

Uh, I look at the card art; I would have thought that was obvious.

Not that I don't think they deserve it, but some of us just plain don't have that much money to throw.

Well the obvious solution is not to flip them.  Just overlap the cards so the lower HP is always visible.  On turns where higher HP is active, they will cover the rest of the card.  When lower HP is active, put the other underneath or off to the side.

I always use the markers as HP, and remove them as I take damage.  This makes it SO much easier to determine highest/lowest HP quickly.  For villains like Voss or the Matriarche with alot of same HP targets, sometimes I will use the damage scheme on their minions.  Even for Voss though, I often find its worth the extra seconds to just put the HP on his minions once I have a stack of ones handy.

I think you guys have misread the scenario:

You only use the health of the lower Hero character card when you're starting the game.

As in, if you're playing Fanatic, you'd pull both Redeemer and normal Fanatic, but you'd start with 30 hp.  

Then, at the start of each turn, you choose which Fanatic is actually there.  It's very similar to the Justice League Unlimited  episode "The Once and Future Thing (Part 2)" where different versions of Green Lantern and Batman constantly replace one another.

And, Envisioner--when you spend a series of long posts complaining about not being able to get a hold of the Promo cards and then promptly shoot down everyone's reasonable suggestions on how to get them--yes, that counts as bitching.

I understood. but Envisioner was just saying it would be hard to remember what your max HP is on rounds when you are using the higher HP version.  I was saying that I would overlap them so that you can still see the max HP of the card you are not currently using.  So on rounds when I'm using Redeemer Fanatic, I would have the Exorcism Fanatic card underneath with the '30' sticking out on the left.  When Exorcism Fanatic is being used, I'd have Redeemer completely underneath or off to the side.

Also, you only choose the version on the first round.  After that, it sounds like switching is mandatory at the start of every round.

Definitely understand, and in no way am I saying everyone else should/can. I was purely responding to Silverleaf's statement, as I quoted in my post.

Actually, most people use the tokens to indicate the number of current hit points; when we're at Cons, we rarely encounter folks who use the tokens to indicate damage (as you've described), and when we do, by the end of the game they've often changed approaches once we've discussed it. The reason is as dypaca explained: If the tokens indicate damage taken, every time we want to determine highest/lowest hit points, we have to do math, which seriously slows down the game. When the tokens indicate the current hit points, it's obvious from a glance. Since anyone can put tokens on a new target when it comes out, that doesn't slow up the game (someone can do that out-of-turn, while someone else is taking actions).

As to putting hit points on targets when they come out, we'll sometimes wait until they've taken damage - or not do it at all for Matriarch's birds and rarely for Gloomy's zombies.

I have never used the counters as damage. I always use them as health. I can see benefits for both, but I think health is much better. I've also played the game so much that I know all the max HPs by heart.

The real question is who uses 25 hp tokens for heroes, and who refuses to. (they are a pain to break down mid-game)  I won't even give Haka a 25 token.

I play with someone who likes to start with the 25 token on low HP heroes like Omnitron-X, just so he can act really surprised/disapointed when he needs to swap it out a few seconds later.

I refuse to use them for heroes, and actively discourage new players to do so. I know someone who does, just to see how long it takes before he has to break it down.

I would definitely be willing to start with a 25hp token on Adept.

I always use 25 token counters on my hero (who has a maximum HP of at least 25).  I also tend to keep the token denominations separated, so it is significantly easier to find the particular denomination needed.  I also keep the tokens simplified (i.e. never more than 4 ones, never more than 1 five, never more than 2 tens, and never having 2 tens with 1 five).  Keeping the tokens simplified is much easier if you do the subtraction on an individual set of tokens rather than the total token count.  E.G., being dealt 3 damage on someone with 27 HP, instead of having 27-3=24 and trying to figure out how to change 25+1+1 into 10+10+1+1+1+1, I simply take off the 25, figure that 25-3=22, which is easy to figure out as 10+10+1+1, and add it to the 1+1 which has been left on the card.  Or, taking 7 damage on what is 23, first removing 1+1 (as 7 is 2 more than a multiple of 5), then exchanging the 10 for a 5 (much simpler subtraction). This is much simpler than figuring the total, then subtracting, then simplifying the new total, and keeps things simplified.  I tend not to like things which are not simplified, as it tends to make totalling a bit more difficult (for me).  Once a single denomination has so many, I can't determine the count of that denomination simply by looking, but by actually counting, which takes longer (e.g. three tokens I can immediately see as three tokens, but nine tokens I have to count one by one (or two by two, however) until I arrive at the total of nine).

I haven't ran any profilers, but it just seems to me that the time saved by having simplified tokens well than makes up for taking the time to separate the denominations at the beginning of the game (assuming they aren't stored sorted) and taking the time to keep the counters simplified.

(This post was entirely written subjectively, with no objective observations being made.)

I tend to set up characters with denominations such that I never need to access the tokens again (which sit in a big jumbly pile in the middle of the table), so a 25HP character will start with 10+ 2 5's + 5 1's, since I can make any number between 1 and 25 with that. I then keep any health 'lost' in a small pile beside my deck, but out of play so I can swap easily.

I saw what you did there…

I like to start targets with the largest denominations possible/the fewest tokens possible, despite the fact that I know I will almost certainly need to make change.

Why? Um ... I like the tidiness of the initial minimal number of tokens? I perversely enjoy seeing the large denominations 'destroyed'? I dunnoh.

Okay I played three games today and used the tokens-as-HP method, and I agree that it is a vast improvement.  A little annoying to have the extra setup time, but totally worth the payoff.  Being able to tell how much HP everyone has left without doing math is just...yeah, Old Me was completely wrong on this one.

I have a weird thing when it comes to the tokens. on character cards, they represent HP, but on non-character cards (minions, environment, whatever), they indicate damage. I have thus far never gotten confuse, so I dunno, it works for me :)

When there are a lot of minion or the like, they don't get tokens until they take damage, in which they get remaining health, which seems a little odd, but works for our group

There's a file on the 'Geek in the main Sentinels of the Multiverse file section. I wouldn't bother though, you won't like them.

I didn't say you were. I said you had no right to bitch. Bitching in this case would be a bit like getting a free car and complaining, "It's red! Red doesn't match my shoes," rather than saying thank you and being happy you got something expensive for free

In my experience, people with that kind of attitude are precisely the ones who get that lucky in the first place.  I mean, when was the last time a person won the lottery and proceeded to use that money to found a new global megacorporation, which didn't have to be as evil as the ones that had clawed their way to the top of the business world, because the money just fell in their lap and they wanted to share the wealth?  I'm definitely going to enjoy playing Setback when Vengeance comes out, because I completely believe that Luck is a sentient force...with a deeply mischevious sense of humor.

You've lost me.

Try this: I believe that the world is the precise opposite of fair, and that it specifically rewards exactly what least deserves to be rewarded.

Replace World with Society and I'll agree.  People are screwed up.  But then the rain falls on the just and the unjust alike.  I've found that miserable people are miserable, by this I mean the nasty greedy people that anger us so have no real happiness in them.  People who can find happiness find it, those who cannot seek it.

I definitely believe it's true of human society, but I don't think it stops there.  Maybe we're all slightly psychic, and our personal greed and spite have bent reality a little bit, so that random events and natural patterns take on a degree of our own malice (just give it another 38,000 years and we'll probably see the proof), or maybe Mother Nature was an evil bitch all along, and our nastiness is just a consequence of the well we sprung from.  Regardless, I feel as if chance is more often mischance, and Murphy's Law is a universal constant.

Nature is economical, and uncaring.  When there is enough food, animals prosper until their demand outweighs the food supply, and they starve until it matches back up at which point they will start to go up again.

A lot of environmental efforts talk about saving the planet, when really we are trying to save ourselves.  The planet can survive pollution, some species die out and you have a while where certain areas are desolate but over time it will recover.  New species will fill the gaps and the Earth goes on.  We like to look at the world how it is now and think this is the right way for the world to be, or look a small bit of time backwards and try to bring that environment back.  We do this because we want to keep an environment that is friendly to us, because extinction doesn't register as a natural event when it is yours.  Nature doesn't sweat the details, it just keeps moving in whatever direction it is going in.  We cure diseases only to find new things waiting to kill us, we mess with the environment and animals and people suffer, but the land is still there, the rain still falls and plants (for the most part) still grow.

Historically the rise and fall of nations and empires relates very closely to changes in global weather.  We can grow food in previously dry areas, but we still need a growing season to do it.

What I'm saying is that the order of the universe doesn't exist for us or really care a lick about us, it will let us dig our own grave, and if we do it will go on without really noticing.  Any values we ascribe to land, ecology, even life itself is our creation.

My favorite example is a forrest fire.  It doesn't matter what starts it, or how long it burns, 20 years later it won't look much different.  The damage is short term to the environment, but not so to us.  A forrest fire can kill, destroy our life's work, and devestate an area for years or even decades to come.  When we warn about forrest fires and work to prevent them, we aren't doing so for nature, we do it for us, nature just is there, doing its thing.

With Global warming, manmade or not global warming isn't a problem for the Earth, the ecosystems will change and adapt and life will evolve or go extinct.  The sea rising, land mass shrinking and growing seasons changing hurts us a ton, but what does nature care for that?

I guess that is one of the reasons I tend to dislike nature heroes, nature doesn't have wrath, it doesn't avenge itself, it just adapts, and doesn't account for individual species when it does.  I love A'kashbhuta for the exact same reason, A'kash isn't malicious, it is just doing its thing, recreating what it feels like recreating, destroying what it feels like destroying, it only cares about us when we get in its way.

Precisely.

19) A Plan

 - Villain: Citizen Dawn

 - Environment: Wagner Mars Base

 - Required Heroes: Any

 - Excluded Heroes: Visionary, Wraith, Nightmist, Omnitron-X, Unity

The story:

After the near disaster caused by Ra activating the Fountain of Youth the heroes have succeeded in stabilizing it. However, the activation process has only been paused. The heroes take the cup to the Wagner Mars Base to further isolate from populated areas and study it.

“According to these read outs the cup is absorbing all the energy it can,” says Ra.

“And if it gets enough it will begin absorbing all conscious thought,” says Tachyon. “I haven’t been able to determine when that will happen, but my fight with Gloomweaver as he siphoned the fountain’s energy did reveal a possible way to stop it. I just need to run a few tests first.”

Just then a blast issues from a darkened closet in the lab. Citizen Dawn’s blast hits the cup and several of the heroes drop to the floor. The fallen heroes’ minds were pulled into the fountain. The remaining heroes quickly took to battle. That is, until another blast from Dawn.

“Looks like you won’t get a chance to run your tests,” shouts Legacy over the din.

“At least we have a plan,” says Tachyon.

Win condition:

The heroes must defeat Citizen Dawn.

At the beginning of the game, after putting H-1 citizens in play and shuffling, search for the two copies of Devastating Aurora and remove them. Shuffle the villain deck. Insert the two Devastating Auroras so that they are the 7^th and 13^th cards in the villain deck.

During the game, each time Dawn plays a Devastating Aurora the players switch heroes. After resolving the effects of the Devastating Aurora the players count the number of cards in their hand and trash pile and note their current HP. Players remove all current hero cards from the game. Each player chooses a different hero that was previously not in the game and put that hero in play with the HP of their previous hero. If that HP is above their max then they enter play at full health (their normal max). Then each player draws cards from the hero deck equal to the number of cards in their previous hand. Finally, each player discards cards from their deck until their trash pile is the same size as their previous hero’s.

Random heroes are recommended.

If a hero is incapacitated the hero does not switch when Devastating Aurora is played.

A couple of minor rule changes: Devastating Aurora destroys environment cards before destroying hero cards. Also, in a 5 hero game when the second Devastating Aurora enters play the excluded heroes are no longer excluded and any of them can be switched in.

If for some reason Devastating Aurora is played a third time the fountain activates and the game is over.

This sounds awesome.  Can't wait to try it.

I enjoyed it when I played it. I wish the fight against Dawn happened in a different environment, but the timing of the story dictated it. For those of you following along there is one battle left and it's an all out brawl.

Oh man. Oh man oh man oh man. I have GOT to try this one. It is, of course, legal to bury Devastating Aurora? and when a hero is switched out, is it possible to bring him/her back in for the second Aurora's switch?

You can't bury Aurora; all the heroes that could are on thee banned list.

Also, this game is insane and beautiful. I just got my arse kicked twice, and still want more...

With 5 players you could swap in Omnitron-X and bury it, but you'd have to be very, very lucky.

Since you know exactly where the Auroras are in the deck you wouldn't need to be lucky. That's why Omnitronks is banned at the beginning of the game.

There are 5 excluded heroes. That leaves 14 left to use. In a five hero game you start with 5 of them then switch to another 5. After the second switch there are 4 left. That's why I allowed Omnitron-X in after the second switch so that there are still 5 heroes. Really you can use any of the banned heroes after the second switch since it's too late to try to bury either of the Auroras since they've already been played.

I meant after your rules allowed it (that is after the second DA, the third, which would cause her to win, is at least 8 turns away).

I agree that knowing when they coming means that you could easily bury them with any of the banned heroes but it would be much easier if you allowed any of the heroes after the second, rather than just Omnitron-X. Omnitron-X allows you to see only 1 card and almost certainly speeds up the process of getting to the DA (only slowing it if you happen to find a DA with your power use), the others allow you to see 2 and can bury it with no real trouble (provided only 1 card is played per turn).

Also, I make it eighteen heroes, so in a five-player game using banned heroes is sort of required.

Got it. Yeah, you'd be taking a risk trying to stop the third with Omnitron, but it'd be awesome if it worked.

Is there something wrong with my math or with yours?

1-10:  Enhanced Edition heroes (AZ, B, F, H, L, R, Ta, Tm, tV, tW)

11-12:  Rook City heroes (E-P, MF)

13-14:  Infernal Relics heroes (tAA, N)

15-16:  Shattered Timelines heroes (C-R, O-X)

17-18:  Mini-Expansion Heroes (U, tS)

There are 10 heroes in the core set.

2 in three expandsions; Rook City, Infernal Relics, Shattered Timelines totalling to 6.

There are two mini expansion heroes; Scholar and Unity.

That brings the total to 18 which minus 5 would put yout at 13.

Yep, my math is wrong. I'll change it to say that any of the banned heroes can be used after the second Aurora. I thematically wanted some of the heroes to be unconscious and to feel like time is running out.

And now, the thrilling conclusion.

20) The Final Battle

 - Villain: Cosmic Omnitron and Ambuscade

 - Environment: Realm of Discord

 - Required Heroes: The Scholar

The story:

“That’s your plan?” asks John Rhodes, “You’re just going to smash it?”

“It’s much more technical than that,” says Tachyon. “In this plane the Fountain absorbs whatever it can. However, Gloomweaver showed that in other dimensions the energy can be extracted.”

“By smashing it,” repeats the Scholar.

“If you want to put it bluntly, yes.”

The Scholar grimaced.

“We’re going to need your help, John. You know, to keep things copasetic,” Tachyon grinned at him.

The heroes step into the portal on their way to the Realm of Discord. A cloaked Ambuscade slips in behind them as the portal closes.

The heroes step out of the portal and are greeted by Omnitron VI. It has learned to harness the cosmic energy that once revived it to cross into other dimensions. Bad luck for Ambuscade since Omnitron counts all humans as enemies. Well, bad luck for the heroes, too.

Can the heroes handle both villains in this final fight? Maybe the heroes can convince the villains to defeat each other. Good luck, Sentinels. The fate of the Multiverse is in your hands (pun intended).

Win condition:

The heroes must defeat Omnitron and Ambuscade as well as destroy the Fountain of Youth.

At the beginning of the game put a token in play to represent the Fountain of Youth. The fountain starts with 100 HP. It is a target, but it is not a hero target, villain target, or environment target. It is considered to be a character card. The Fountain must be destroyed before either of the villains are defeated.

In this battle there are two villains. Omnitron will start the game. Ambuscade takes his turn after the second hero’s turn. Then the other heroes take their turns. The environment ends the round as normal. When one of the villains is defeated they and all their cards are removed from the game and the battle continues against the other villain.

At the start of the game Ambuscade’s cloaking device is one of initial devices he starts with so he begins the game immune to damage and in hiding. Additionally, he sets H-1 traps before the start of the game.

Omnitron and Ambuscade will attack each other since Omnitron’s objective is to destroy all humans. All of Omnitron’s cards treat Ambuscade’s cards as hero cards. Ambuscade’s cards count Omnitron’s cards as hero targets. The environment and heroes treat both of them as villain cards. When an environment or hero effect applies to a villain deck the players choose which deck it applies to.

Omnitron’s components are only destroyed if Omnitron takes 7 damage in a single TURN not round. Note that Omnitron’s advanced rules apply to all devices in play including Ambuscade’s.

Epilogue:

Tachyon hands the Scholar the Fountain of Youth. It is no longer glowing and there is a large crack on one side.

“You are the only one I trust with this,” she says.

“I suppose you are right,” replies the Scholar. “I don’t need eternal life from this cup as long as I have the Philosopher’s Stone. I’ll keep it safe.”

The heroes have successfully stopped the threat from the Fountain of Youth, but their time of rest will be short lived. Who knows what evil awaits them? What devious enemies will seek their vengeance? Be prepared you Defenders of the World, Protectors of the Universe, Sentinels of the Multiverse.

For those that read the entire story I thank you. I hope you enjoyed it.

I've attached a Word doc of the entire adventure to the first post.

I also edited the battles against Plague Rat, Miss Information, and the Ennead a little. Thanks again.

Cool! Easy way to print it is useful. I'll give my feedback when i eventually come around to play it!

I also attached a pdf version to the first post.

well, I did start playing this after all, first three scenarios so far. Awesome you compiled it, would not have played it had I not been able to print it.

Kudos on the smart use of mechanics! Gladly surprised me Blade's interaction with Tomb of Anubis.

My feedback:

2nd scenario: add that no Kraken limb can be in play when you snuff Apostate? I had the enviroment deck reshuffled (1 kraken at the bottom) and could have killed Apostate with a limb in play, which isn't that thematic with the story. Since you can destroy this one with a card is not much of a burden.

3rd scenario: Limit the extra card Omni plays from trash to be a drone? He got a mix of Electro Pulse, Flechettes and Singularity within the first 5 turns. Omni has regular-weak cards and super strong cards, recurring the latter makes him impossible and not fun. I was playing with 3 Heroes so the additional limitation for the Componentes was already a challenge (which I think I'll keep as a default variant the next time I play him, cool idea).

PePe,

Thanks for the feedback. I will make those changes and update the doc. I'm glad you got a chance to try the scenarios. They are always fun to play between expansions. I put them all together with 4 or 5 heroes in mind. I'll think about how to make sure Omnitron is fun, but not impossible.

I've made the changes to the Word and pdf attachments on the first post. Omnitron still plays the bottom card of his trash, but he only starts with components and drones in his trash.

Cool! I haven't played in a while, stopped somewhere around Spite. But I remember the fight with Miss Information being absolutely brutal, some of her cards deal damage according to H or number of targets, with Silver Gulch hitting you further.

On the other hand, the Ennead fight was awesome. I think you nailed the right challenge level for a regular team.

I am glad you liked them. I originally started this so players had something to do while they waited for Vengance to arrive.

I changed the Miss Information fight. Now, it has an interesting interaction between Miss Info's H value and Nightmist's magic values. It actually makes the new Nightmist promo better than the old one. I agree the challenge you played where you started with a bunch of gunman was probably too hard.