SPOILER: Issue

The Museum is an introductory adventure for the Mutants & Masterminds Superhero Roleplaying Game designed for 3-5 PL 10 heroes, set for our campaign BEYOND FREEDOM - some 50 years in the future (2054ad). The heroes must thwart the CHESSMEN, a mercenary/heist "family" of villains attempting to rob Freedom City's Museum with the aid of their pawns (mind controlled citizens for muscle). Hired by Galatea, a robot created as mate to Talos long ago. No one knows her unltimate plan is to steal the art from the museum that includes the bronze "statue" form of her one-time husband Talos (now inert for 25+ years). Galatea looks to reactivate Talos and ultimately find their son Argos (set adrift in the Terminus).

BACKSTORY

Daedelus and Talos had some titanic final battle, and at the end, Talos was a deactivated and frozen statue. Now, after years of being inert, his body is being displayed in a museum tribute to the Freedom League. Soon after, Daedelus once again left the Earth to explore the universe, and thus began the dissolution of the Freedom League. Galatea has always had a way to restart Talos' system if it ever failed. She never felt the need to use it or even let anyone know about it (who could use her to restart the "evil" Talos). Now she is lost and malfunctioning, she has had to wait until Talos' body as been removed from the mega-security under which it has been kept. Her moment to act is now with the museum exhibit. After the bad break with Patriot, she goes off someplace and just stews, thinking about her life and what she should do with herself now. She broods more and more on her betrayal of Talos and feels bad that she sold out her creator and mate, and starts reflecting on every bad experience she's had with humans. Eventually she decides she wants another shot at making a life with her "family" and sets about ressurecting Talos and preparing to rescue Argo. She doesn't really want to destroy humanity and repopulate the world with machine life like Talos wants, she wants to be loved and understood again and thinks it will work out this time with Talos and Argo. She could become horrified at his actions again and help the PC's defeat them again.

EXHIBIT

• Modern Myth - BEYOND HUMAN: The History of Superhumanity and Its Impact on Modern Society. This exhibit was created to provide a glimpse of some of super powered specimens. It is unique because it is the only exhibit to showcase some of our most valuable and rare superhuman artifacts and paraphenalia available from history. These pieces represent only a small fraction of the total superhuman population but are intended to give you a historical representation of what life was like in a time when Super Heroes defended Freedom from Super Villains.

GETTING THE HEROES INVOLVED

Some of the heroes might be visiting the museum in their secret identities. They are there when the villains show up and have to figure some way to slip away from the action long enough to change into their superhero identities. Having two or more of the heroes duck into the same storage closet to change into their costumes can make for an amusing scene and an interesting introduction for heroes who haven’t met before.

Alternately, the heroes may be patrolling the city, on the lookout for trouble, or just going about their business in their heroic or secret identities. They either hear the museum alarm, pick up word of the robbery on the police band, or are alerted by the authorities and asked to help out, depending on the heroes’ activities and relationship with the law.

Specific Ideas:

• KARL: terminus connection?
• SAM: His real body is in the building next door. Patriot's body was severely damaged by a powerful female robot (Galatea), and the original builder and blueprints were lost. Now Patriot's mind is housed in a computer system without any remote body to use.
• CAT: He's heard rumors (gather info) about something going down at the museum

Museum Ideas

• Super Tech, weapons, equipment, memorabilia exhibit?

Benefactor

• Ray Jr. could be their human benefactor.
• Patriot: Jack Simmons.

ACTION

The Freedom City Museum is the largest in Freedom City. The CHESSMEN have eight armed thugs with them, mainly to keep an eye on the bank patrons and to help carry the loot. Rant tries to make an example of anyone that defies him or tries to make a break for it, using his sonic shout to stun or knock that person unconscious. Heroes who act quickly when the thugs first enter the bank may be able to slip out of sight before Rant and Rave enter, otherwise they’ll have to come up with some sort of distraction to get away unnoticed. Clever uses of powers and the Bluff skill are encouraged here. If the players really seem stuck for an opportunity, let one of them spend a Hero Point to get a suitable distraction, such as a foolhardy bank guard trying to shoot the villains. They take him out easily, but it provides the heroes with the distraction that the heroes need. If unopposed, the thugs begin forcing the bank tellers to put money into bags while Rant and Rave use their combined powers to dissolve the bank vault door, literally melting it into a puddle of liquid metal. Then the thugs also begin to loot the vault. A couple minutes later, the villains flee the bank with their ill-gotten gains, getting into two vans waiting outside and driving off.

THE FIGHT

Of course, the heroes may want to intervene before that happens. When a hero takes action, roll initiative. A hero or heroes who manage to sneak up on the villains (successful Hide check vs. their Spot checks) may get the drop on them. Otherwise, everyone acts in order of initiative, with no surprise round. Rave uses her powers to distort the heroes’ perceptions, making it more difficult for them to act, while her brother strikes with his sonic blasts. Rave’s Obscure power effectively gives the villains and their minions total concealment from the heroes, meaning that the heroes’ attacks have a 50% miss chance and the villains have a +2 bonus to hit them. Heroes with the True Sight feat are unaffected. The thugs open fire on any heroes as well. Although Rant and Rave aren’t expert strategists by any means, they work well together. Rant may use his sonic blasts to try to bring the ceiling down on one or more of the heroes, making a surprise area attack (good for potentially nailing high-Defense but low-Damage save heroes). Rave may distort things so that some of the heroes look like her and her brother, causing the heroes to hit each other.

THE ESCAPE

If things start to go badly for the villains, they’re likely to either try taking the bank patrons and employees hostage or creating a distraction for the heroes so they can escape. If Rant or Rave (or both) are incapacitated, the thugs may try taking hostages or they may simply flee, splitting up in hopes of some of them getgetting away. If Rant and Rave are still conscious, they combine their powers and damage the structural supports of the building, making it start to collapse. Then they make a run for it. It requires a carrying capacity of at least 200 tons to hold up the damaged building, and 10 rounds to evacuate all the people (5 if the heroes have some way of moving people outside faster). Heroes can use Super-Strength, Telekinesis, or similar powers to hold off the building’s collapse while the civilians escape (possibly with the aid of the other heroes). Heroes working together combine their carrying capacities. Keep in mind that a player can use extra effort to double a hero’s carrying capacity for one round, and can spend a Hero Point to ignore the fatigue of using extra effort, possibly allowing a single weaker hero to hold up the building long enough.

PURSUIT

Rather than confronting the villains inside the bank, the heroes may choose to wait until they leave, then pursue them. Overtaking the villains’ two escape vans isn’t difficult for a hero with 4 or more ranks of a movement power and the super-movement power stunt. The vans are hardness 10, but their tires are only hardness 3 and taking one or more of them out stops a van. The thugs shoot at any pursuing heroes and Rave may use her powers to cause heroes to careen off into buildings or to crash into the street (where they may get run over, DC 15 Reflex save to avoid, DC 25 Damage save if that fails). If a van is stopped, the villains try to flee on foot, although Rant and Rave will stand and fight if the heroes confront them. Finally, the heroes may try to follow the villains to their lair, an old warehouse building in the Greenbank neighborhood of the city. This requires three successful Spot checks (DC 13, though you may modify this up or down to reflect traffic at your option) to keep the vans in sight or the use of appropriate powers (or perhaps a means of tracking the villains at a later time, like a tracer planted on one of their vans). The heroes can then confront the villains in the warehouse without any civilians around.

MODIFYING THE ADVENTURE

The Heist is designed as a simple adventure for a group of four 10th-level heroes. You can modify the adventure to suit a larger group of heroes or a different style of play, if desired. For larger hero groups, add another super-villain for each additional hero above four. You can simply take one of the archetypes from the Mutants & Masterminds core book, give the new villain a name and description, and assume that Rant and Rave have formed their own gang of super-criminals. The Battlesuit, Martial Artist, and Powerhouse archetypes are particularly appropriate, but any of them are suitable. Alternately, rather than adding more villains, you can make Rant and Rave’s thugs more effective. Supply them with high-tech blaster rifles (+8 stun damage) and body armor (+4 Armor) and use the Combined Fire rules from Chapter Eight of Mutants & Masterminds to their advantage. For a group of low-powered heroes (power level 8 or lower) either reduce Rant and Rave’s power levels accordingly (so they’re equal with the heroes), or eliminate one or both of them, leaving just the thugs for the heroes to deal with. For a somewhat different challenge, you can have the villains take the people in the bank hostage and have the heroes arrive on the scene afterward. They have to figure out how to get at the villains without risking the lives of the people in the bank, which calls for at least some amount of subtlety on the part of the heroes.

FURTHER ADVENTURES

While it’s possible (indeed likely) that The Heist is a simple case of a super-criminal bank robbery, you can also make it into the introduction of a longer and more involved adventure, if desired. Rant and Rave may be robbing banks to collect money for some other scheme, either of their own or for a master criminal working behind the scenes. Perhaps various other heists take place in other parts of the city, maybe even at the same time so that the heroes and the authorities cannot respond to all of them at once. The money from the robberies might be going into the coffers of a criminal organization or a master villain. It might be used to buy weapons or technology on the black market or further research into creating superhumans. Rant and Rave are likely to hold a grudge against the heroes responsible for busting up their plan and putting them away. They might come looking for payback at some point in the future.

CHESSMEN

'"You sir are a Patzer, nothing but a passed pawn!"'

A mercenary family clad in power amor equipped with each member wearing armor reminscent of the chess piece they take thier name from, but with alternating colors (ie the two Knights are Black Knight and White Knight).

• Nathaniel Staunton: The King and Queen would be the matriarch and patriarch of this dastardly clan, their armor being the most powerful and advanced.
• The Bishops would be thir eldest daughters, and would be blaster style armors.
• Gerald Staunton and Gerard Staunton: The Knights would be a son of the King and Queen and his wife, with centaur like armor and armed with power lances and shields.
• Robert "Bobby" Byrne and Donald Fischer: The Rooks would be the Bishop's husbands, mercenaries married into the family whose armor makes them super strong and tough bricks.
• The Pawns would be the citizens they've mind controlled, and they would wear advanced armor without powers and equiped with basic laser rifles and energy swords.

RULES of the Game

• Adjournment: Suspension of a long chess game with the intention to continue later, usually on another day.

• Arbiter: A tournament official who arbitrates disputes and performs other duties such as keeping the score when players are under time pressure.

• Battery: Two or more pieces of the same color supporting each other on the same file, rank or diagonal. Only queens, rooks and bishops can be part of a battery.

• Blunder: A very bad move, an oversight (indicated by "??" in notation).

• Book move: An opening move found in the standard reference books on opening theory. A game is said to be "in book" when both players are playing moves found in the opening references. A game is said to be "out of book" when the players have reached the end of the variations analyzed in the opening books or if one of the players deviates with a novelty.

• Brilliancy: A spectacular and beautiful game of chess, generally featuring sacrificial attacks and unexpected moves. Brilliancies are not always required to feature sound play or the best moves by either side.

• Castling: A special move involving the king and one rook.

• En prise (from French): A piece that can be captured. Usually used of a piece that is undefended and can be captured.

• Family fork, family check: A knight fork that attacks more than two opposing pieces concomitantly.

• File: A column of the chessboard. A specific file can be named either using its position in algebraic notation, a–h, or by using its position in descriptive notation. For example, the f-file or the king bishop file comprises the squares f1–f8 or KB1–KB8.

• Fool's mate: The shortest possible chess game ending in mate: 1. f3 e5 2. g4 Qh4# (or minor variations on this).

• Forced move: A move which is clearly the only one which does not result in immediate catastrophe for the moving player.

• Fork: When one piece, generally a knight or pawn, simultaneously attacks two (or more) of the opponent's pieces, often specifically called a knight fork when the attacker is a knight. Some sources state that only a knight can give a fork and that the term double attack is correct when another piece is involved, but this is by no means a universal usage.

• Fortress: A fortress is a position that, if obtained by the weaker side, will prevent the opposing side from penetration, this generally resulting in a draw (which the weaker side is seeking).

• Gambit: A sacrifice (usually of a pawn) in the opening.

• Good bishop: A bishop which has high mobility, typically because the player's pawns are on squares of color opposite to that of the bishop.

• Hanging: Unprotected and exposed to capture. Slang for en prise. To "hang a piece" is to lose it by failing to move or protect it.

• Insufficient material: An endgame scenario in which all pawns have been captured, and one side has only its king remaining while the other is down to a king plus one knight or a king plus one bishop. The position is a draw because it is impossible for the dominant side to force checkmate (in the event of a king plus two knights versus a lone king, checkmate is possible only if the player with the lone king blunders by moving the king to one of the four corner squares when an alternate move would always be available).

• Isolated pawn: A pawn with no pawn of the same color on an adjacent file.

• King-side: The side of the board where the kings are at the start of the game, as opposed to the queen-side.

• Lightning chess: A form of chess with an extremely small time limit, usually 1 or 2 minutes per player for the entire game.

• Long diagonal: One of the two diagonals with eight squares (a1-h8 or h1-a8).

• Passed pawn: A pawn that has no pawn of the opposite color on its file or on any adjacent files on its way to queening.

• Patzer: A weak chess player. (German: patzen, to bungle.)

• Queen-side: The side of the board where the queens are at the start of the game, as opposed to the king-side.

• Resign: To concede loss of the game. A resignation is often indicated by tipping over one's king.

• Sacrifice: When one player voluntaily gives up material in return for an advantage such as space, development, or an attack. A sacrifice in the opening is called a gambit.

• Stalemate: A position in which a player's king is not in check and the player has no legal move. A game is drawn if one of the kings is stalemated.

• Tabia or Tabiya: (from Arabic)

1. The initial position of the pieces in Shatranj
2. The final position of a well-known chess opening
3. (from 2) The opening position from which two players familiar with each others' tastes begin play.

• Time pressure, time trouble: A player having very little time on their clock (especially less than five minutes) to complete their remaining moves. See Time control.

• Triangulation: A technique used in king and pawn endgames (less commonly seen with other pieces) to lose a tempo and gain the opposition.

• Weak square: A square that cannot be easily defended from attack by an opponent. Often a weak square is unable to be defended by pawns (a hole). Exchange or loss of a bishop may make all squares of that bishop's color weak resulting in a "weak square complex" on the light squares or the dark squares.

• Win/winning position: a position is said to be a win (or a winning position) if one specified side, with correct play, can eventually force a checkmate against any defence (i.e. perfect defence).

ROBOTS

• Galatea:  ??
• Talos:  ??
• Argos:  ??