Breakout
Session One
I chose Black Widow, with Black Ops Betrayal and Round Up the Fugitives for my milestones. She starts off in a military helicopter, crossing the river on her way upstate.
Michelle chose Spider-Woman, with Blast from the Past and SHIELD Super-Agent as her milestones. She begins in the Raft, serving as a Super-Agent chaperone to visiting dignitaries.
Ally chose Shadowcat, with In Over Your Head and Liberate the Sentry as her milestones. She begins on the docks, sent to watch and report if anything happens on the Raft (as the X-Men have been tipped off something may occur there tonight).
Action: Carnage and Count Nefaria
Action Order 1)
The Event starts off with Spider-Woman witnessing power go out and everything go dark inside the Raft. Immediately lost in the dark, Spider-Woman moves quickly to get the civilians in her care to follow her closely, while she attempts to use her Super Senses to determine which way to go to get up them back up to the Landing Deck.
Spider-Woman rolls Solo d8 (2), SHIELD Super-Agent d4 (5), Enhanced Senses d8 (1) and Covert Master 2d8 (1, 1), taking a Plot Point for the reduced Distinction die.
5 + d10 effect
Watcher activates the three opportunities to add a d8 and a d6 to the Doom Pool, granting Spider-Woman 2 Plot Points. Watcher then rolls the Doom Pool:
D6 (4), d6 (6), d8 (8), d6 (6)
14 + d6 effect
Spider-Woman is unable to determine which way to go to get back to the Landing Deck. As a result, she’s still searching in the dark with her charges sticking close to her…when Carnage sneaks up behind them!
Watcher spends a d6 from the Doom Pool to have a Watcher character take the next action. Carnage in this case, who snatches up one of the civilians Spider-Woman is trying to lead out of there. Carnage cackles triumphantly and Spider-Woman’s astonished to find he‘s snuck up behind her in the dark.
Watcher’s acted for Carnage with that, so he chooses Black Widow to take the next action. We cut to her on the chopper flying across the river high above the Raft.
Black Widow sees Elektro fleeing the Raft with an unidentified person from aboard the chopper. Recognizing that the power has been cut off down at the Raft and that the prisoners are very likely going to be breaking out of there soon, she orders to pilot to circle lower. Once close enough, she uses her Swingline to rappel down to the Landing Deck.
There Black Widow is on hand to witness Count Nefaria blow a hole through the walls of the Raft and float out onto the Landing Dock. Not knowing the first thing about “Count Nefaria” I hit the Watcher up for whatever info Black Widow likely knows about him. Getting the general idea that he’s bad news to take on alone, I opt to have Black Widow hide so she can (hopefully) take him by surprise somehow.
Black Widow rolls Solo d10 (5), Russian Superspy d4 (3), Enhanced Reflexes d8 (7), Acrobatics Master d10 (1) and Covert Master d10 (8). I spend a Plot Point to use the extra Specialty in my dice pool but get another one for using a Russian Superspy Distinction at d4 rather than d8.
15 + d10 effect
Count Nefaria reacts: Solo d8 (7), Mastermind d8 (4), Subsonic Flight d8 (3), Combat Expert d8 (5).
12 + d8 effect
Count Nefaria doesn’t notice Black Widow Swingline over behind a parked helicopter and observe his escape from the shadows. (Black Widow gets an xp for using her Black Ops Betrayal milestone as well).
Black Widow taps Shadowcat to go next.
Shadowcat is observing on the docks when the electrical display lights up the sky over the Raft. She’s making the call back to the X-Men when Electro escapes with a prisoner and the lights go out on the island. Since it’s going to be a while before any X-Men backup arrives and things are apparently breaking loose over there right now, she decides to use her Airwalking ability to simply run across the river to the Raft. She spends her action turn doing just that.
Since all the heroes have taken action (and Carnage as well) the only character left is Count Nefaria. Not realizing Black Widow is watching, he flies off to make his escape and spends his turn doing that.
Action Order 2)
With Count Nefaria having taken the last action in the order, Watcher gives Black Widow the nod to go next. I decide she’d better give it all she’s got to stop Count Nefaria from escaping, so she steps out of the shadows and fires her Widow’s Sting Bracelets at him before he gets away!
I spend a Plot Point to activate the Widow’s Sting SFX and activate the Limit as well in order to get that Plot Point right back. Black Widow overcharges her Widow’s Sting Bracelets and they short out! But she gets one highly charged shot off at Count Nefaria…
Solo d10 (6), Russian Superspy d8 (4), Enhanced Reflexes d8 (7), Electric Blast d10 (8), Combat Expert d8 (8)
16 + d10 effect
Count Nefaria reacts: Solo d8 (6), Mastermind d8 (4), Superhuman Durability d10 (8), Combat Expert d8 (7)
15 + d8 effect
Black Widow drops d8 Physical Stress on Count Nefaria with that shot!
Black Widow taps Spider-Woman to take the next action, so Spider-Woman spins around. She’s still blind in the dark but now at least aware that Carnage is nearby and has just snatched up one of her civilians! She decides to use her Enhanced Senses to try to zap Carnage in the face with her Venom Blast…in the dark!
Solo d8 (5), SHIELD Super-Agent d8 (7), Venom Blast d8 (2), Enhanced Senses d8 (7), Combat Expert d8 (6). She also activates her Limit to shut down her Wall-Crawling power, describing channeling her power into that blast, in order to get a quick Plot Point.
14 + d8 effect
Venom reacts, taking advantage of the Very Dark scene distinction: Solo d10 (7), Sneaky d8 (5), Superhuman Reflexes d10 (10), Combat Expert d8 (3), Very Dark d8 (5)
17 + d8 effect
Spider-Woman misses Carnage and doesn’t do any stress to him at all…but the Watcher spends a d6 out of the Doom Pool to use Carnage’s effect die from his reaction to drop d8 emotional stress on Spider-Woman! Her Venom Blast not only missed Carnage but hit the civilian! As an Expert specialty character that would be enough to almost stress him out right away, so Spider-Woman is horrified that she almost killed a civilian with a literal shot in the dark! Carnage laughs manically at Spider-Woman’s bumbling.
[The civilian here isn't an actual distinction, asset or complication of any sort. He's just a narrative tool the Watcher used to explain converting that reaction effect into stress for Spider-Woman.]
She taps Shadowcat to go next, hoping Watcher will let her get to the Landing Dock in time to help Black Widow. Because then there’s a better chance the two of them will get in there and help her with Carnage!
Shadowcat arrives at the Landing Dock in time to see Black Widow appear out of the shadows and zap Count Nefaria in mid-air. She sends Lockheed to give Count Nefaria a good scorching while she runs ahead to stand with Black Widow.
Solo d8 (1), Spirited d8 (5), Intangibility d10 (4), Fire Blast d8 (2), Combat Expert d8 (5), Nefaria’s Physical Stress d8 (8)
13 + d10 effect
Watcher takes the opportunity for the Doom Pool and Shadowcat gets a Plot Point.
Nefaria reacts: Solo d8 (4), Mastermind d8 (8), Superhuman Durability d10 (3), Combat Expert d8 (8)
16 + d8 effect
Shadowcat (or Lockheed, really) fries Nefaria for d10 Physical Stress! His Physical Stress is now up from d8 to d10.
Shadowcat picks Carnage to go next and he takes a great deal of sadistic pleasure in grandstanding (for the Doom Pool) about all the horrors he’s going to inflict on the civilian Spider-Woman just shot a moment ago. This is a Menace “attack” against the civilian with the effect to go into the Doom Pool rather than inflicted as stress on him.
Solo d10 (9), Insane d8 (6), Telepathy d8 (7), Menace Master d10 (2)
16 + d10 effect
Civilian: Solo d4 (1), Expert d8 (1)
0 + d4 effect (default)
That’s a triple extraordinary success by Carnage, stepping his d10 effect die up to d12 + d6! The Doom Pool gets quite a boost from that little bit of grandstanding on Carnage’s part.
[Turns out we kinda did this wrong. Watcher isn‘t supposed to roll against other Watcher characters like that. What should have been done was Watcher simply narrates Carnage menacing the civilian, then just dropping Carnage‘s Menace specialty d10 right into the Doom Pool. No action/reaction required. That would have given Watcher an extra d10 in the Doom Pool rather than the d12 and d6 he got from this action/reaction but we're not going to bother arguing it. Live and learn, I figure. (And thanks to the folks at the Margaret Weiss Productions forum for pointing this out to me!)]
Meanwhile, outside, Count Nefaria finally gets to fight back against all the zapping and scorching he’s suffered. With Lockheed on hand, he opts to rid himself of that irritating creature first. He targets Shadowcat’s Fireblast trait.
Count Nefaria: Solo d8 (5), Destructive d8 (8), Energy Blast d8 (4), Combat Expert d8 (7)
15 + d8 effect
Shadowcat reacts: Buddy d10 (8), Spirited d8 (3), Intangibility d10 (2), Flight d6 (2), Combat Expert d8 (8), Count Nefaria’s Physical stress d10 (4)
16 + d10 effect
Count Nefaria’s Energy Blast goes wide, missing poor Lockheed and accomplishing little more than light up the sky a bit. Whew!
Watcher taps Black Widow to start the next Action Order.
Action Order 3)
Black Widow really wants to take Count Nefaria out of action before he can fight back any further…but her Widow’s Sting Bracelets are Shutdown! What to do?! She has no choice but to tinker frantically with the darned things to get them working again and hope for the best!
Buddy d8 (3), Russian Superspy d8 (7), Enhanced Reflexes d8 (2), Covert Master d10 (8)
15 + d8 effect
Doom Pool: d6 (1), d8 (2), d6 (1)
2 + d4 effect (default)
Black Widow succeeds and, with a frantic smack, gets everything realigned in there. Her Widow’s Sting Bracelets are ready to fire again! More than that, she spends a Plot Point to recover her Widow’s Sting Bracelets to d8 again (having been stepped down to 2d6 after her Widow’s Bite SFX last action).
Black Widow taps Shadowcat to go next, still hoping they can put Count Nefaria down before he cuts loose on them!
Shadowcat decides to keep scorching Count Nefaria with Lockheed, figuring it’s better to provoke him to attack her than Black Widow (since she has a nice d10 Intangibility to roll against any action of his against her). So Lockheed goes at it again.
Buddy d10 (3), Spirited d8 (8), Fire Blast d8 (1), Combat Expert d8 (4), Count Nefaria’s Physical stress d10 (2)
12 + d10 effect
Count Nefaria reacts: Solo d8 (4), Mastermind d8 (6), Superhuman Durability d10 (5), Combat Expert d8 (2)
11 + d8 effect
Shadowcat drops d10 physical stress on Count Nefaria, stepping up his already existing d10 to d12. Another hit like that and he’s out of the action!
Shadowcat taps Spider-Woman to go next, since she’s itching to whoop Carnage. Since the civilian Carnage is supposedly manhandling isn’t really a scene distinction, asset, complication or anything else…so far they’re just a convenient bit of narrative fluff…Spider-Woman decides that gives her license to simply narrate shooting around the guy to hit Carnage. Michelle describes Spider-Woman darting to the one side and shooting Carnage with her Venom Blast.
She’s still in the dark here, with Carnage enjoying that Very Dark scene distinction in his reaction rolls, so she drops a Plot Point for a nice Covert stunt to trick Carnage into thinking she’s going to come at him from this direction when she’s really coming at him from that direction. She also drops another Plot Point to add a second die into her total, since she really wants to hit him hard and even the odds a little.
Solo d8 (4), SHIELD Super-Agent d8 (7), Venom Blast d8 (4), Superhuman Reflexes d10 (7), Covert Master d10 (10), Duck-n-Weave stunt d8 (2)
21 + d10 effect
Carnage reacts: Solo d10 (4), Insane d8 (6), Superhuman Reflexes d10 (8), Combat Expert d8 (6), Very Dark scene distinction d8 (7), Spider-Woman’s Emotional stress d8 (5)
15 + d10 effect
Spider-Woman steps up her effect die to d12, since she scored an extraordinary success over Carnage with that attack. She zaps Carnage for d12 Physical stress!
Since Carnage is not a happy camper now and no longer having fun menacing people, Watcher selects him to go next so he can express his displeasure. Carnage tosses his pseudo-narrative civilian aside and goes after Spider-Woman! He lashes out with his tentacles, intent on Feeding so he can use Telepathy on her next time for extra stress!
Solo d10 (2), Insane d8 (5), Tentacles d8 (8), Combat Expert d8 (3), Spider-Woman’s Emotional stress d8 (5)
Watcher spends a d8 from the Doom Pool to add a d8 to Carnage’s total.
18 + d8 effect
Spider-Woman reacts: Solo d8 (1), SHIELD Super-Agent d8 (8), Superhuman Flight d6 (6) Combat Expert d8 (1), Carnage’s Physical stress d12 (5)
14 + d12 effect
Spider-Woman takes d8 Physical stress from Carnage’s attack, though it’s stepped down to d6 due to her having a higher effect than his. On the other hand…Carnage used his Feed SFX, so that steps the Physical stress right back up again to d8 again!
Watcher nabs both opportunities, dropping a d8 into the Doom Pool to replace the one he spent on Carnage’s attack. He then switches the scene over to Count Nefaria.
Count Nefaria, unlike Carnage, isn’t stupid nor a berserk murderous psychopath. He sees easily enough that he’s faced with two heroes who can’t fly like he can. The only thing presenting a real impediment to his escape is Lockheed. He targets Shadowcat’s Fire Blast and Flight power traits, since she won’t have any way to stop him from escaping if he manages to take that whole power set out of action. He uses the Boost SFX to Shutdown Kinetic Control in order to step up his Energy Blast to d10. He also drops the d12 from the Doom Pool into Count Nefaria’s dice pool and spends a Doom Pool die for a second effect die.
Solo d8 (1), Destructive d8 (8), Energy Blast d10 (5), Combat Expert d8 (6), Doom die d12 (10)
18 + d10 and d8 effect
Shadowcat reacts: Buddy d10 (3), Spirited d8 (8), Intangibility d10 (6), Flight d6 (1), Acrobatics Expert d8 (6)
14 + d10 effect
That’s not enough to save Lockheed and Count Nefaria knocks out both her Fire Blast and Flight power traits. Essentially knocking her whole Lockheed power set out of commission! Lockheed tumbles to the Landing Deck, KO’d by the nefarious Count Nefaria!
To add insult to injury, Watcher takes the opportunity Shadowcat rolled and adds a d6 to the Doom Pool, too. Not a great day for Shadowcat.
Action Order 4)
Watcher goes with Carnage again to start the next action order, so Carnage lashes out at Spider-Woman with his Tentacles again! Even worse, Carnage uses his Multipower SFX to add Telepathy to his dice pool, heckling Spider-Woman about her pheromone based powers in order to distract her (something she‘s insecure about)! He steps both Tentacles and Telepathy down to d6 to do so though.
Solo d10 (8), Murderous d8 (5), Tentacles d6 (5), Telepathy d6 (4), Menace Master d10 (2)
13 + d10 effect
Spider-Woman reacts, spending a Plot Point on an Acrobatic Expert stunt (jumping up and running along the wall to flip down behind Carnage).
Solo d8 (8), SHIELD Super-Agent d8 (8), Superhuman Stamina d10 (10), Superhuman Reflexes d10 (6), Acrobatic Expert d8 (2), Stunt d8 (8)
18 + d10 effect
That’s a nice roll! Spider-Woman doesn’t waste the opportunity and drops another Plot Point to use her effect die from her reaction, stepping that up to d10 with that extraordinary success she just rolled! She flips down behind Carnage, having dodged his Tentacle attack, completely unfazed by his heckling, to kick him in the head with a high kick!
Smack!
Carnage takes d10 physical stress! With his Physical stress already at d12, that steps it up one, putting it over d12. Spider-Woman stresses out Carnage! (She doesn’t pull her punches either, letting him take the d6 Physical Trauma as well. Just on principle.)
Carnage collapses to the floor, beaten and injured.
Watcher flips the scene to Count Nefaria outside. In contrast to Spider-Woman’s praiseworthy victory (and everyone at the table did, in fact, cheer out loud), Count Nefaria has nothing stopping him from flying off and escaping…
So he promptly does. Leaving Shadowcat nursing poor Lockheed, who’s been KO’d and knocked to the deck, and Black Widow cursing the fleeing villain even as he laughs mockingly, flying away free.
That sucks. But Shadowcat and Black Widow don’t waste a lot of time grumbling about it. They dart into the shadows where Count Nefaria came from, looking for more trouble to get themselves into.
Transition Scene: Black Widow and Shadowcat find Spider-Woman
We come upon Spider-Woman quickly enough to lend her a hand locking Carnage up again and tending to the civilian he terrorized. Black Widow takes the opportunity to suggest to Spider-Woman that she scrounge up a couple of SHIELD agents for backup. Spider-Woman spends a Plot Point to poke around and find a squad of four to take command of and they’re tagging along with us now.
Spider-Woman herself took bit of a beating in her fight with Carnage, having d8 in Physical and Emotional stress both. We each take turns trying to help her recover from that. Both stress types step down to d6 automatically since we’re starting a Transition Scene, then Black Widow and Shadowcat both roll against the Doom Pool to provide Assets for Spider-Woman to use in her recovery roll.
Black Widow: Buddy d8 (7), Natural Leader d8 (1), Enhanced Stamina d8 (5), Covert Master d10 (9)
16 + d8 effect
Doom Pool: d6 (5), d6 (1), d6 (3), d6 (3), d8 (1)
8 + d6 effect
Black Widow uses the extraordinary success to step up her d8 effect to d10, then offers that to Spider-Woman to use in her upcoming recovery action. She lets Watcher’s opportunities go but Watcher gives her a Plot Point and drops a d6 in the Doom Pool for her opportunity.
Shadowcat: Buddy d10 (2), Girl Next Door d8 (1), Intangibility d10 (2), Science Expert d8 (8)
10 + d10 effect
Watcher takes the opportunity for the Doom Pool, making Shadowcat’s shot at supporting Spider-Woman tougher than Black Widow’s was.
Doom Pool: d8 (2), d6 (6), d6 (3), d6 (2), d6 (6), d6 (3), d6 (5)
12 + d8 effect
Watcher’s in a mean mood apparently, so he spends the d8 Doom Pool die to use the reaction effect against Shadowcat. Her attempt at recovery support fails and will present a complication for Spider-Woman when she attempts to recover.
Spider-Woman makes her recovery action now but doesn’t have any Plot Points to buy another effect die. She decides to focus on her Physical stress, as she’s more likely to suffer that kind of stress during the Event.
Team d10 (5), SHIELD Super-Agent d8 (7), Superhuman Stamina d10 (10), Superhuman Strength d10 (9), Combat Expert d8 (7), Black Widow’s support asset d8 (1)
17 + d10 effect
Doom Pool: D6 (5), D6 (5), D6 (4), D6 (6), D6 (2), D6 (3), Watcher’s complication d8 (2), Spider-Woman’s Physical stress d8 (3)
11 + d8 effect
That’s an extraordinary success on Spider-Woman’s part and her d10 is already enough to knock out her Physical stress altogether. She takes another effect die instead of stepping up that effect needlessly. A d8 to knock out her Emotional stress, too! Very nice recovery on Spider-Woman’s part.
Watcher isn’t very generous and ends the Transition Scene before Shadowcat can tend to poor Lockheed, though.
(This was the end of our first session playing Breakout. Next time we face a crazed mob of drugged up super-villains! Hope you enjoyed!)
Session One
I chose Black Widow, with Black Ops Betrayal and Round Up the Fugitives for my milestones. She starts off in a military helicopter, crossing the river on her way upstate.
Michelle chose Spider-Woman, with Blast from the Past and SHIELD Super-Agent as her milestones. She begins in the Raft, serving as a Super-Agent chaperone to visiting dignitaries.
Ally chose Shadowcat, with In Over Your Head and Liberate the Sentry as her milestones. She begins on the docks, sent to watch and report if anything happens on the Raft (as the X-Men have been tipped off something may occur there tonight).
Action: Carnage and Count Nefaria
Action Order 1)
The Event starts off with Spider-Woman witnessing power go out and everything go dark inside the Raft. Immediately lost in the dark, Spider-Woman moves quickly to get the civilians in her care to follow her closely, while she attempts to use her Super Senses to determine which way to go to get up them back up to the Landing Deck.
Spider-Woman rolls Solo d8 (2), SHIELD Super-Agent d4 (5), Enhanced Senses d8 (1) and Covert Master 2d8 (1, 1), taking a Plot Point for the reduced Distinction die.
5 + d10 effect
Watcher activates the three opportunities to add a d8 and a d6 to the Doom Pool, granting Spider-Woman 2 Plot Points. Watcher then rolls the Doom Pool:
D6 (4), d6 (6), d8 (8), d6 (6)
14 + d6 effect
Spider-Woman is unable to determine which way to go to get back to the Landing Deck. As a result, she’s still searching in the dark with her charges sticking close to her…when Carnage sneaks up behind them!
Watcher spends a d6 from the Doom Pool to have a Watcher character take the next action. Carnage in this case, who snatches up one of the civilians Spider-Woman is trying to lead out of there. Carnage cackles triumphantly and Spider-Woman’s astonished to find he‘s snuck up behind her in the dark.
Watcher’s acted for Carnage with that, so he chooses Black Widow to take the next action. We cut to her on the chopper flying across the river high above the Raft.
Black Widow sees Elektro fleeing the Raft with an unidentified person from aboard the chopper. Recognizing that the power has been cut off down at the Raft and that the prisoners are very likely going to be breaking out of there soon, she orders to pilot to circle lower. Once close enough, she uses her Swingline to rappel down to the Landing Deck.
There Black Widow is on hand to witness Count Nefaria blow a hole through the walls of the Raft and float out onto the Landing Dock. Not knowing the first thing about “Count Nefaria” I hit the Watcher up for whatever info Black Widow likely knows about him. Getting the general idea that he’s bad news to take on alone, I opt to have Black Widow hide so she can (hopefully) take him by surprise somehow.
Black Widow rolls Solo d10 (5), Russian Superspy d4 (3), Enhanced Reflexes d8 (7), Acrobatics Master d10 (1) and Covert Master d10 (8). I spend a Plot Point to use the extra Specialty in my dice pool but get another one for using a Russian Superspy Distinction at d4 rather than d8.
15 + d10 effect
Count Nefaria reacts: Solo d8 (7), Mastermind d8 (4), Subsonic Flight d8 (3), Combat Expert d8 (5).
12 + d8 effect
Count Nefaria doesn’t notice Black Widow Swingline over behind a parked helicopter and observe his escape from the shadows. (Black Widow gets an xp for using her Black Ops Betrayal milestone as well).
Black Widow taps Shadowcat to go next.
Shadowcat is observing on the docks when the electrical display lights up the sky over the Raft. She’s making the call back to the X-Men when Electro escapes with a prisoner and the lights go out on the island. Since it’s going to be a while before any X-Men backup arrives and things are apparently breaking loose over there right now, she decides to use her Airwalking ability to simply run across the river to the Raft. She spends her action turn doing just that.
Since all the heroes have taken action (and Carnage as well) the only character left is Count Nefaria. Not realizing Black Widow is watching, he flies off to make his escape and spends his turn doing that.
Action Order 2)
With Count Nefaria having taken the last action in the order, Watcher gives Black Widow the nod to go next. I decide she’d better give it all she’s got to stop Count Nefaria from escaping, so she steps out of the shadows and fires her Widow’s Sting Bracelets at him before he gets away!
I spend a Plot Point to activate the Widow’s Sting SFX and activate the Limit as well in order to get that Plot Point right back. Black Widow overcharges her Widow’s Sting Bracelets and they short out! But she gets one highly charged shot off at Count Nefaria…
Solo d10 (6), Russian Superspy d8 (4), Enhanced Reflexes d8 (7), Electric Blast d10 (8), Combat Expert d8 (8)
16 + d10 effect
Count Nefaria reacts: Solo d8 (6), Mastermind d8 (4), Superhuman Durability d10 (8), Combat Expert d8 (7)
15 + d8 effect
Black Widow drops d8 Physical Stress on Count Nefaria with that shot!
Black Widow taps Spider-Woman to take the next action, so Spider-Woman spins around. She’s still blind in the dark but now at least aware that Carnage is nearby and has just snatched up one of her civilians! She decides to use her Enhanced Senses to try to zap Carnage in the face with her Venom Blast…in the dark!
Solo d8 (5), SHIELD Super-Agent d8 (7), Venom Blast d8 (2), Enhanced Senses d8 (7), Combat Expert d8 (6). She also activates her Limit to shut down her Wall-Crawling power, describing channeling her power into that blast, in order to get a quick Plot Point.
14 + d8 effect
Venom reacts, taking advantage of the Very Dark scene distinction: Solo d10 (7), Sneaky d8 (5), Superhuman Reflexes d10 (10), Combat Expert d8 (3), Very Dark d8 (5)
17 + d8 effect
Spider-Woman misses Carnage and doesn’t do any stress to him at all…but the Watcher spends a d6 out of the Doom Pool to use Carnage’s effect die from his reaction to drop d8 emotional stress on Spider-Woman! Her Venom Blast not only missed Carnage but hit the civilian! As an Expert specialty character that would be enough to almost stress him out right away, so Spider-Woman is horrified that she almost killed a civilian with a literal shot in the dark! Carnage laughs manically at Spider-Woman’s bumbling.
[The civilian here isn't an actual distinction, asset or complication of any sort. He's just a narrative tool the Watcher used to explain converting that reaction effect into stress for Spider-Woman.]
She taps Shadowcat to go next, hoping Watcher will let her get to the Landing Dock in time to help Black Widow. Because then there’s a better chance the two of them will get in there and help her with Carnage!
Shadowcat arrives at the Landing Dock in time to see Black Widow appear out of the shadows and zap Count Nefaria in mid-air. She sends Lockheed to give Count Nefaria a good scorching while she runs ahead to stand with Black Widow.
Solo d8 (1), Spirited d8 (5), Intangibility d10 (4), Fire Blast d8 (2), Combat Expert d8 (5), Nefaria’s Physical Stress d8 (8)
13 + d10 effect
Watcher takes the opportunity for the Doom Pool and Shadowcat gets a Plot Point.
Nefaria reacts: Solo d8 (4), Mastermind d8 (8), Superhuman Durability d10 (3), Combat Expert d8 (8)
16 + d8 effect
Shadowcat (or Lockheed, really) fries Nefaria for d10 Physical Stress! His Physical Stress is now up from d8 to d10.
Shadowcat picks Carnage to go next and he takes a great deal of sadistic pleasure in grandstanding (for the Doom Pool) about all the horrors he’s going to inflict on the civilian Spider-Woman just shot a moment ago. This is a Menace “attack” against the civilian with the effect to go into the Doom Pool rather than inflicted as stress on him.
Solo d10 (9), Insane d8 (6), Telepathy d8 (7), Menace Master d10 (2)
16 + d10 effect
Civilian: Solo d4 (1), Expert d8 (1)
0 + d4 effect (default)
That’s a triple extraordinary success by Carnage, stepping his d10 effect die up to d12 + d6! The Doom Pool gets quite a boost from that little bit of grandstanding on Carnage’s part.
[Turns out we kinda did this wrong. Watcher isn‘t supposed to roll against other Watcher characters like that. What should have been done was Watcher simply narrates Carnage menacing the civilian, then just dropping Carnage‘s Menace specialty d10 right into the Doom Pool. No action/reaction required. That would have given Watcher an extra d10 in the Doom Pool rather than the d12 and d6 he got from this action/reaction but we're not going to bother arguing it. Live and learn, I figure. (And thanks to the folks at the Margaret Weiss Productions forum for pointing this out to me!)]
Meanwhile, outside, Count Nefaria finally gets to fight back against all the zapping and scorching he’s suffered. With Lockheed on hand, he opts to rid himself of that irritating creature first. He targets Shadowcat’s Fireblast trait.
Count Nefaria: Solo d8 (5), Destructive d8 (8), Energy Blast d8 (4), Combat Expert d8 (7)
15 + d8 effect
Shadowcat reacts: Buddy d10 (8), Spirited d8 (3), Intangibility d10 (2), Flight d6 (2), Combat Expert d8 (8), Count Nefaria’s Physical stress d10 (4)
16 + d10 effect
Count Nefaria’s Energy Blast goes wide, missing poor Lockheed and accomplishing little more than light up the sky a bit. Whew!
Watcher taps Black Widow to start the next Action Order.
Action Order 3)
Black Widow really wants to take Count Nefaria out of action before he can fight back any further…but her Widow’s Sting Bracelets are Shutdown! What to do?! She has no choice but to tinker frantically with the darned things to get them working again and hope for the best!
Buddy d8 (3), Russian Superspy d8 (7), Enhanced Reflexes d8 (2), Covert Master d10 (8)
15 + d8 effect
Doom Pool: d6 (1), d8 (2), d6 (1)
2 + d4 effect (default)
Black Widow succeeds and, with a frantic smack, gets everything realigned in there. Her Widow’s Sting Bracelets are ready to fire again! More than that, she spends a Plot Point to recover her Widow’s Sting Bracelets to d8 again (having been stepped down to 2d6 after her Widow’s Bite SFX last action).
Black Widow taps Shadowcat to go next, still hoping they can put Count Nefaria down before he cuts loose on them!
Shadowcat decides to keep scorching Count Nefaria with Lockheed, figuring it’s better to provoke him to attack her than Black Widow (since she has a nice d10 Intangibility to roll against any action of his against her). So Lockheed goes at it again.
Buddy d10 (3), Spirited d8 (8), Fire Blast d8 (1), Combat Expert d8 (4), Count Nefaria’s Physical stress d10 (2)
12 + d10 effect
Count Nefaria reacts: Solo d8 (4), Mastermind d8 (6), Superhuman Durability d10 (5), Combat Expert d8 (2)
11 + d8 effect
Shadowcat drops d10 physical stress on Count Nefaria, stepping up his already existing d10 to d12. Another hit like that and he’s out of the action!
Shadowcat taps Spider-Woman to go next, since she’s itching to whoop Carnage. Since the civilian Carnage is supposedly manhandling isn’t really a scene distinction, asset, complication or anything else…so far they’re just a convenient bit of narrative fluff…Spider-Woman decides that gives her license to simply narrate shooting around the guy to hit Carnage. Michelle describes Spider-Woman darting to the one side and shooting Carnage with her Venom Blast.
She’s still in the dark here, with Carnage enjoying that Very Dark scene distinction in his reaction rolls, so she drops a Plot Point for a nice Covert stunt to trick Carnage into thinking she’s going to come at him from this direction when she’s really coming at him from that direction. She also drops another Plot Point to add a second die into her total, since she really wants to hit him hard and even the odds a little.
Solo d8 (4), SHIELD Super-Agent d8 (7), Venom Blast d8 (4), Superhuman Reflexes d10 (7), Covert Master d10 (10), Duck-n-Weave stunt d8 (2)
21 + d10 effect
Carnage reacts: Solo d10 (4), Insane d8 (6), Superhuman Reflexes d10 (8), Combat Expert d8 (6), Very Dark scene distinction d8 (7), Spider-Woman’s Emotional stress d8 (5)
15 + d10 effect
Spider-Woman steps up her effect die to d12, since she scored an extraordinary success over Carnage with that attack. She zaps Carnage for d12 Physical stress!
Since Carnage is not a happy camper now and no longer having fun menacing people, Watcher selects him to go next so he can express his displeasure. Carnage tosses his pseudo-narrative civilian aside and goes after Spider-Woman! He lashes out with his tentacles, intent on Feeding so he can use Telepathy on her next time for extra stress!
Solo d10 (2), Insane d8 (5), Tentacles d8 (8), Combat Expert d8 (3), Spider-Woman’s Emotional stress d8 (5)
Watcher spends a d8 from the Doom Pool to add a d8 to Carnage’s total.
18 + d8 effect
Spider-Woman reacts: Solo d8 (1), SHIELD Super-Agent d8 (8), Superhuman Flight d6 (6) Combat Expert d8 (1), Carnage’s Physical stress d12 (5)
14 + d12 effect
Spider-Woman takes d8 Physical stress from Carnage’s attack, though it’s stepped down to d6 due to her having a higher effect than his. On the other hand…Carnage used his Feed SFX, so that steps the Physical stress right back up again to d8 again!
Watcher nabs both opportunities, dropping a d8 into the Doom Pool to replace the one he spent on Carnage’s attack. He then switches the scene over to Count Nefaria.
Count Nefaria, unlike Carnage, isn’t stupid nor a berserk murderous psychopath. He sees easily enough that he’s faced with two heroes who can’t fly like he can. The only thing presenting a real impediment to his escape is Lockheed. He targets Shadowcat’s Fire Blast and Flight power traits, since she won’t have any way to stop him from escaping if he manages to take that whole power set out of action. He uses the Boost SFX to Shutdown Kinetic Control in order to step up his Energy Blast to d10. He also drops the d12 from the Doom Pool into Count Nefaria’s dice pool and spends a Doom Pool die for a second effect die.
Solo d8 (1), Destructive d8 (8), Energy Blast d10 (5), Combat Expert d8 (6), Doom die d12 (10)
18 + d10 and d8 effect
Shadowcat reacts: Buddy d10 (3), Spirited d8 (8), Intangibility d10 (6), Flight d6 (1), Acrobatics Expert d8 (6)
14 + d10 effect
That’s not enough to save Lockheed and Count Nefaria knocks out both her Fire Blast and Flight power traits. Essentially knocking her whole Lockheed power set out of commission! Lockheed tumbles to the Landing Deck, KO’d by the nefarious Count Nefaria!
To add insult to injury, Watcher takes the opportunity Shadowcat rolled and adds a d6 to the Doom Pool, too. Not a great day for Shadowcat.
Action Order 4)
Watcher goes with Carnage again to start the next action order, so Carnage lashes out at Spider-Woman with his Tentacles again! Even worse, Carnage uses his Multipower SFX to add Telepathy to his dice pool, heckling Spider-Woman about her pheromone based powers in order to distract her (something she‘s insecure about)! He steps both Tentacles and Telepathy down to d6 to do so though.
Solo d10 (8), Murderous d8 (5), Tentacles d6 (5), Telepathy d6 (4), Menace Master d10 (2)
13 + d10 effect
Spider-Woman reacts, spending a Plot Point on an Acrobatic Expert stunt (jumping up and running along the wall to flip down behind Carnage).
Solo d8 (8), SHIELD Super-Agent d8 (8), Superhuman Stamina d10 (10), Superhuman Reflexes d10 (6), Acrobatic Expert d8 (2), Stunt d8 (8)
18 + d10 effect
That’s a nice roll! Spider-Woman doesn’t waste the opportunity and drops another Plot Point to use her effect die from her reaction, stepping that up to d10 with that extraordinary success she just rolled! She flips down behind Carnage, having dodged his Tentacle attack, completely unfazed by his heckling, to kick him in the head with a high kick!
Smack!
Carnage takes d10 physical stress! With his Physical stress already at d12, that steps it up one, putting it over d12. Spider-Woman stresses out Carnage! (She doesn’t pull her punches either, letting him take the d6 Physical Trauma as well. Just on principle.)
Carnage collapses to the floor, beaten and injured.
Watcher flips the scene to Count Nefaria outside. In contrast to Spider-Woman’s praiseworthy victory (and everyone at the table did, in fact, cheer out loud), Count Nefaria has nothing stopping him from flying off and escaping…
So he promptly does. Leaving Shadowcat nursing poor Lockheed, who’s been KO’d and knocked to the deck, and Black Widow cursing the fleeing villain even as he laughs mockingly, flying away free.
That sucks. But Shadowcat and Black Widow don’t waste a lot of time grumbling about it. They dart into the shadows where Count Nefaria came from, looking for more trouble to get themselves into.
Transition Scene: Black Widow and Shadowcat find Spider-Woman
We come upon Spider-Woman quickly enough to lend her a hand locking Carnage up again and tending to the civilian he terrorized. Black Widow takes the opportunity to suggest to Spider-Woman that she scrounge up a couple of SHIELD agents for backup. Spider-Woman spends a Plot Point to poke around and find a squad of four to take command of and they’re tagging along with us now.
Spider-Woman herself took bit of a beating in her fight with Carnage, having d8 in Physical and Emotional stress both. We each take turns trying to help her recover from that. Both stress types step down to d6 automatically since we’re starting a Transition Scene, then Black Widow and Shadowcat both roll against the Doom Pool to provide Assets for Spider-Woman to use in her recovery roll.
Black Widow: Buddy d8 (7), Natural Leader d8 (1), Enhanced Stamina d8 (5), Covert Master d10 (9)
16 + d8 effect
Doom Pool: d6 (5), d6 (1), d6 (3), d6 (3), d8 (1)
8 + d6 effect
Black Widow uses the extraordinary success to step up her d8 effect to d10, then offers that to Spider-Woman to use in her upcoming recovery action. She lets Watcher’s opportunities go but Watcher gives her a Plot Point and drops a d6 in the Doom Pool for her opportunity.
Shadowcat: Buddy d10 (2), Girl Next Door d8 (1), Intangibility d10 (2), Science Expert d8 (8)
10 + d10 effect
Watcher takes the opportunity for the Doom Pool, making Shadowcat’s shot at supporting Spider-Woman tougher than Black Widow’s was.
Doom Pool: d8 (2), d6 (6), d6 (3), d6 (2), d6 (6), d6 (3), d6 (5)
12 + d8 effect
Watcher’s in a mean mood apparently, so he spends the d8 Doom Pool die to use the reaction effect against Shadowcat. Her attempt at recovery support fails and will present a complication for Spider-Woman when she attempts to recover.
Spider-Woman makes her recovery action now but doesn’t have any Plot Points to buy another effect die. She decides to focus on her Physical stress, as she’s more likely to suffer that kind of stress during the Event.
Team d10 (5), SHIELD Super-Agent d8 (7), Superhuman Stamina d10 (10), Superhuman Strength d10 (9), Combat Expert d8 (7), Black Widow’s support asset d8 (1)
17 + d10 effect
Doom Pool: D6 (5), D6 (5), D6 (4), D6 (6), D6 (2), D6 (3), Watcher’s complication d8 (2), Spider-Woman’s Physical stress d8 (3)
11 + d8 effect
That’s an extraordinary success on Spider-Woman’s part and her d10 is already enough to knock out her Physical stress altogether. She takes another effect die instead of stepping up that effect needlessly. A d8 to knock out her Emotional stress, too! Very nice recovery on Spider-Woman’s part.
Watcher isn’t very generous and ends the Transition Scene before Shadowcat can tend to poor Lockheed, though.
(This was the end of our first session playing Breakout. Next time we face a crazed mob of drugged up super-villains! Hope you enjoyed!)