Marvel RPG in Haven - "All Creatures Great and Small"

 

I was never that into beastfolk in DnD or any other media. Though I have long had a soft spot for Gnolls in my games. I mean, hyena-men with the builds of basketball players (I think listed as 7 feet in the orginal MM) is kind of a cool concept. Other than that, in my current Haven campaign there are cat-human hybrids Manx McAllister and his twin grandaughters I have been using as NPC's. But also my latest fascination with the anime Chainsmoker Cat was covered in a recent post. 

All this had me thinking more on beastfolk in recent weeks, and as of a week or two ago I decided I wanted more of this going on. So as a base for it my mind drifted to the furry community. 

I swear to god this is not a usual part of my thought processes. My deep fandom goes to hard sci fi films, comic books, rpg's, and some minor things in my orbit like certain anime. But Furry fandom was not really all that adjacent to me. I would say the closest I got to it was collecting maybe a half dozen issues of Omaha the Cat Dancer back in the day. 

That was decades ago and I am not really sure if furries existed yet and if that fandom was as sexually charged as it seems to have gotten. Nuff said I guess. But I decided that in the future setting Haven the furry community is just one of many such scenes. Much like the "Urban Cowboy" bar scene I tapped into in early sessions months ago when the character got involved in a kerfuffle between two fan scenes in two adjacent nightclubs.

Remember Juniper "Cowgal" West?

So here were my thoughts prior to introducing this stuff. Furries are a scene much as they are now, and the scene has been accepting of the "Anthro's" that are a sort of sub-culture of them. Anthro's are basically furries who go to more extreme lengths than just big floppy costumes. They tend to be heavily tattooed, very often get a certain amount of plastic surgery and/or dental work to get a bit of animal aesthetic. Then the next step are "Moreau's," who have had physical enhancements, either chemical or cybernetic, and even in some extreme cases (such as the Hyena lad "Hardee" at the top of this post) some animal DNA therapy. I will admit I am in large part inspired by an episode of Batman Beyond I saw many years ago that featured "Splicers," surgical genetic hybrids. 

I also had dreamed up that Mutants are sort of in the equation. With a large mutant community in New America City (they take up a neighborhood area they call "Xavier") many refer to it as "Mutie Town." They got political advocates and lawyers who fight for their rights.  In the decades after WW3, with the world mutant population having boomed, the Science Police have currently (in multiple countries) taken to policing the mutant communities. And we all know what more policing of a group leads to. I have not written down every possible notion about the political and sociological ins and outs (all in my head pretty much), but what I am thinking is that Anthros, the "Moreau" ones at the least, are trying to piggyback on upcoming mutant related legislation, and the mutant community is not having it.

But the Anthro's have their resources. I came up with two attorneys who are actually themselves part of the furry community.  Not Anthros' just furry cosplayers. 

Above: Peter Pedigree and Sonny Gold. And yes, those are just masks and costume attachments. They don't go into court with those (usually). 

So here is something I had not thought about originally. But the Furry/Anthro situation could be compared to certain LGBTQ issues and situations. Was not my intention, and it's not something I will lean into. I mean, I think mutants in Marvel have long been compared to racial and gay community issues. Not leaning into that, but I will mention it in a later post if a player vocalizes on that. 

I should mention at this point that a couple of days before former president and former Science Police director (see previous post) Russel Logan got on a Zoom call to the characters, and updated them on the Manx McAllister clone situation. See this post for his origin. He has been in Science Police custody since the character took him in to them. Logan gave them the lowdown he had just found out. On day one the creature acted like a rabid cat. On day two he believed he was Manx McAllister and demanded to know why he was there and why he looked different. On day three after behavioral staff explained he was the product of a teleport accident gone awry at Manx's birthday party, he was reflective. By the next day he was asking to be referred to by his new name "Sheut Neko." Neko being Japanese for "cat," and Sheut is one of the 7 aspects of the mortal soul in Egyptian spirituality, "Sheut" representing the shadow self. See: William S. Burroughs "Seven Souls"

Anyway, Sheut Neko apparently had gained teleportation powers at birth and escaped the facility. Back to the sessions.

So I did up some maps to a Furry members only nightclub, in the more upscale parts of uptown. 

The frontage of the nightclub "Felix the Cats." The limo belongs to the Furry attorneys, and there are not other cars because only VIP parking in the front. 

The Furry bouncer
"Chubs" McGill

 The characters are out on a night patrol, and they witness mutants approaching the front of the club, and a woman with apparent water powers entraps the bouncer in a curtain of water, and they enter. 

"Cascadia"

"Quatrain" He has the four
arms, Mighty 1, and Sturdy 1

"Swift" She's fast

"Bounce" He can become a 400 lb
rubber ball with Mighty 1 and Sturdy 1

The mutant squad enter the club and head to the lawyers table. The Furry attorneys seem to be meeting with members of the Anthro community. Besides the lawyers there is also a leader in the community ( a cat guy of course), some beast girls for some reason (groupies or something, I had yet to determine where I wanted to go with that. I just like the images), a male and female hyena Moreau's (sort of security for the group), and also Sheut Neko the Manx McAllister clone, who had already found allies within the Furry community.

Sheut was incognito at first, so used a hoodied image until he revealed himself.

Hardees sister Har Har

Community leader Chris Catfield

The females were there mostly for color, and because I had already collected a ton of images. But this black beauty I have in mind to eventually hook up with Sheut Neko. Seems about right. 

"Liz" is not exactly a beauty in my mammal eyes, but I like the image. 

This ended up being a two-session arc. The characters followed the mutants into the club and basically stood by as Cascadia approached the meeting table and read them the riot act for their trying to horn in on mutant legislation being worked on (I have not thought it all through, but I imagine healthcare related. Also, I don't know yet if the more extreme surgeries, especially the genetic splicing stuff, is fully legal). Paladin and Seraph were the closest to the table, and while Cascadia was saying her piece "Bounce" in his 400 lb. rubber ball form just dribbled sort of threateningly near the PC's. 

As the session was coming to a close (two hours or so a session at times feels just right, sometimes it just flies by). As usual Seraph tried to be a voice of reason, and told them police were probably on the way and they should leave. I just decided they would do so. One of my faults is that I almost always expect characters in my games to get right in the grill of potential foes. If this was my DnD they would have. But they remained sort of distant other  than Seraph being the voice of reason. Even with some minor assault and battery on the bouncers, the characters were not going to stop them, though were watching them closely. It had been a long week and I was tired, so I just figured I would end it. 

By the next morning I had regrets. I had put a good bit of work on the maps, the bar concept, and all that. But role play and my descriptions, along with the characters never really going right to the fisticuffs, sort of took the night. I sort of worried about the session being a non-starter for a couple of days. But in life one of my processes is to worry something to death until I had an epiphany, and that happened here. I would not let the encounter end. The mutants had not made it to the exit yet. So I dreamed up a continuation of the moment. 

Not that I needed more NPC's (favorite player Amber often goofs on me for using lots of NPC's, in this campaign especially). But I thought of a way to delay the exit of the mutant intruders. I decided that literal furry heroes, protectors of the community were present at the club. So when we started the following week, I had them run over and block the exit to tell the mutants they had committed battery and needed to wait for the police. I had them be a hero duo. I called them "Foxclaw and Hopper."

Though a furry without any physical alterations, Foxclaw's use of animal themed cybernetic equipment qualified her as an Anthro. I figured she was a cybernetics engineer who had created her and Hoppers equipment. Besides her Furry association, she also thought of herself as a bit of a crime fighter in general. She had her gauntlets that besides being clawed had a Mighty 1 grip strength. Her boots gave her a minor leaping ability, and her suit was micro chain that provided her a Sturdy 1. And her goggles gave her Heightened senses 1. 

Hopper already had some cosmetic mods, but Foxclaw had given her cybernetic leggings that granted her a decent leaping ability, and Mighy 1 for her kicks. Bit of armor for Sturdy 1. 

So mutant Cascadia assumed the two Furry heroes were acting on the orders of the Furry lawyers, so she sent the partially armored and 4- armed Quatrain to go and put some pressure on them, while having Bounce and Swift get Foxclaw and Hopper out of the way. The young speedster girl Swift did not have much in the way of offense but was prepared to bash somebody with a booze bottle. Meanwhile bounce, in big ball form, was blocked by Paladin and Igneous. He made some ricocheting attacks on them, bouncing off one and into the other, and back and forth. But Iggy  just grabbed the rubber ball man up in his usual grapple and dragged him outside where police where just showing up. Cascadia did some water attacks on the Furry vigilante's, while over at the Furry attorney table Nova flew over to block Quatrain from attacking. The tall mutant grappled Nova, who much like Seraph likes to do, started trying to talk the foe into just giving up on all this (way too many pacificists in this group). 

The cops were now coming in. Cascadia called off her peeps, because the plan was to not do more than basic assault and battery. They are activists, so expect to be arrested at times without sending anybody to the hospital. So the action ended fairly abruptly, like it does a lot with this group. Police Captain Lou Bannon showed up with more cops, and detained everybody in the club to figure it all out. 

Captain Louie is an old NPC from back in the day, when he was a lieutenant. He was usual comic relief, being a no-nonsense guys who was constantly irritated by meta human and their shenanigans. Older now, he is even more grumpy. I based him back then on Danny Devito's character from the old show Taxi. 

The mutants did not resist arrest, so they would be taken to the normal police station for processing, and probably not spend more than the night (as I may have mentioned the mutants have their own lawyers). But a couple of Sci Pol agents were called in to go along to the station to keep an eye on them a bit. There is a lot going on with the mutant community, and it is being watched by the Science Police, but usually there has to be major damage of harm for them to be locked up at Sci Pol headquarters. This was not considered any kind of terrorism. Basic police stuff. 

With things having calmed down, Iggy talked the bartender/owner about some stuff. Like what all this might be about. She is a normal human Furry, but dressed up like an old Marvel hero and called herself "Tigra."

He got some info on that was going on with this Anthro/Mutant stuff. And also about what Sheut Neko is doing with the Anthros. Since he has the mind of Quantum scientist Manx McAllister, he is aware of the miracles Manx had done with Teleporters, not just his recent de-aging with them, but also the fact that as a child he was combined with his pet cat in an accident, there is the possibility that Anthros would not have to go through expensive and painful procedures if that process could be duplicated. So Manx clone Sheut has brought that possibility to the community. More on that will come up later I hope. 

So another not too challenging combat situation in this session. I've decided that if I am going to rank the characters up anytime soon to Rank 4, I am going to need to pump up the challenge. I hope to do that next session with an arc that will fulfill that need. Stay tuned. Cheers. 

Marvel RPG - Ain't no party like a Quantum Scientist party!

 

So after the last sessions adventures in The Liminal Zones, the group had a meeting with employer Elizabeth Patricia Kyono, and she tells them that the grateful McAllister twins have invited both her and Justice Incorporated to Grandpa Manx's 86th birthday party they are throwing for him the following Saturday night. Knowing the twins a bit as both genius quantum scientists AND party girls, she says that the party is likely to be as much about them as it will be about Grandfather Manx. 

(for more info my cat hybrids in the game in my last post and the one before that)

And so it is. Not just many members of the higher science community, but also many McAllister Scientific employees both old and young, and a certain amount of B and C level celebrities who have gravitated to the charismatic and energetic McAllister sisters. 

The Bottoms is the southernmost area of New America City, and is a district of low-income neighborhoods, in large part made up of a diverse ethnic population originally started by refugees  after WW3 from places like The Caribbean and parts of South America. The Twins Maxine and Tabitha's house is part of a strand of wealthy lake front properties that you often get in otherwise poor areas. And such was the cat sister's pad.

Arriving with Kyono via stretch limo, the group headed in, and in the main hall Manx and his granddaughters were on the dance floor cutting a rug. Old man Manx still had some hip in his hop and was doing all sorts of 80's and 90's moves (the Robot, Roger Rabbit, etc).

The grand hall had a stage for live band and DJ, but also in the room were a couple of vintage teleporter pods. As a matter of fact, family heirlooms. They were the very groundbreaking experimental pods Manx's parents invented in the 70's, and the self-same ones that young Manx god stuck in as a kid and got spliced with his pet cat.

Be afraid. Be very afraid. 

In the main room the twins had their father, Manx jr., video call from a big view screen on the wall, wishing his dad a happy Bday. Manx jr. went into biology like his late grandmother, bucking the quantum science the rest specialized in. He was doing research in The Savage Land, and was sort of me planting a seed to eventually get the group to go there when I think of a good way to do it. 

 

I had not fully fleshed it out yet, but in the moment I decided that he had been down there long enough to have been a father figure or something to some younger dinos. When I plan the adventure out I will go deeper with what is going on there.  

The party was raging inside and out back in the pool area. But for those in the house Manx sr. had the music turned down and declared he is going to do a little experiment as a party trick. He explained the pods where his hybrid form was created as a kid, and he showed an old device that he said his parents copied his bio data when he was 21 years old in the course of their attempts to figure out how to separate the cat DNA from his human form. Though as 21 years old he had gotten used to who he was and did not let them continue their quest to "cure" him. But tonight he would use that info from his much younger self for a little experiment. 

At this point a man who had yelled a few things out during the video call with Manx jr. spoke up again. His name is Boris Brutorz, a Russian biochemist and former colleague of Manx jr. As a matter of fact, Boris and Manx jr. worked together to cure Boris of an affliction. The Russian scientist was complaining about how the quantum scientists in the McAllister family were dangerously playing god with their ongoing experiments, and that only his old friend Manx jr. was doing the right thing by engaging in bio science. Manx sr. bluntly asked how he got into his party, and that he was one to talk, having gotten in legal trouble in the past with chemically doping himself and others in his work of the past, and actually causing a real danger, which we will become clear in a moment, dear reader. But Manx said that since his son Manx jr. not only helped cure him of a dangerous affliction years ago, but that he also helped him with related legal issues so should shut the hell up and let everybody enjoy the party.

Note: this guy is an old NPC of mine from Champions games of yore. In a way he was my Bruce Banner, and my incredible Hulk. 

Biochemist Boris Brutorz

So old man Manx went into the pod, had assistants activate it, and teleported from one 75 years old pod to the other. 

He was the first human to ever be teleported,
and here he was doing it again all these decades later

Manx came out of the misty antique pod chamber, and as planned he had used the data his parents stored of him in the 80's, and he was reassembled in that form. A 21-year-old cat human hybrid. 

The twins Maxine and Tabitha were angry and appalled that he was going to use the ancient tech (updated with some modern addon's of course), especially since their personal research was trying to get portal technology viable rather than the breaking down and transmitting bio matter. Now they were just flabbergasted. 

"Sis, we've seen old pics of gramps, but 
they don't do justice to how foxy he was.."

The whole crowd were amazed, and many not yet really understanding what happened. Were they being punked?

Boris Brutorz was mad upset with all this, and though it was thought his old affliction was cured, it came back with a roar. He turned into his own raging alter ego, "The Brute". 

Again, he was my Hulk for my games many years ago. And if the image looks familiar, yeah, back in the day I imagined him looking like Hanover Fiste from the 1980 Heavy Metal film. 

"Don't worry, I got an angle"

First the enraged creature smashed one of the pods, while yelling and cursing in Russian. Manx cried out. These pods were precious to him. The characters jumped right in to fight Brute, with Igneous growing to his 24-foot size and knocking the raging monster across the room, out through the plate glass windows, and out to the crowded pool area where the party was still raging. 

 

As a Southern Californian who grew up near Malibu I have
been to a bunch of pool parties like this in my life. 

The others came as they were, but Amber did up a version of Seraph
with a sexy party dress special for the session. Yowsa!

Out at the pool, they managed to take down Brute after taking some lumps themselves. Brute was Rank 5 compared to them being Rank 3. But he was not exactly Hulk level power. But formidable to give them a really good fight, which is the stage of the campaign we are in now.  

But something else was going on in the house. The teleporter pods were sparking and misting, especially the big cable that connected them. The characters came in to check, and there in the haze was an odd site. A glowy eyed and pitch-black apparent clone of young Manx. 

The creature was confused, then bared fangs and popped claws as the crowd grew to gawk at him. Everybody was sort of perplexed as to what happened except for Paladin who started giving Manx shit for doing such an experiment in public, and what danger the creature might be. Manx explained that extra bio matter is included in the teleporter system to account for any dangerous glitches that could occur in a teleporting form, and that the damaged pods has caused a full copy, albeit different looking, of Manx. 

The creature ran off into the lake and swamps area, and though the party gave chase he got away. A fleet of police cars surrounded the neighborhood, as Science Police showed up and questioned Manx and the twins. Even his granddaughters were raising eyebrows at the de-aged Manx for what he did. But he was still in the glow of being a young man again. 

We had to end there. But ramifications of all this will surely appear in upcoming sessions. I mean, of course they will heh heh. 

Cheers