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Obligatory Warning
If you are spoiler-wary, be aware that this entry (and this series) is full of spoilers. (On the other hand, the first adventure is from 2013. So, y'know, if you thought you might like to read it, you've had six years.)
Today we'll talk about Primal Power, an adventure by Mike Lafferty & Dan Taylor, with art by Adrian Smith, Darren Calvert & Jacob Blackmon.
And I did run this one, long ago. Here's the write-up by one of the players, Hugo-nominated James Nicoll. (I figure I can keep using the adjective until we've seen the results. Then I either don't mention it any more or I get to say “Hugo-awarded”.) He played Scamp.
Precis
A psychic supervillain gorilla sends intelligent gorillas to raise havoc at the zoo to cover an attempt to rob a nearby weapons lab.
Likes
Well, it's got gorillas. Who doesn't like gorillas? (And it has what is essentially Gorilla City, complete with advanced tech.)
Besides Gorilla City under another name, this also gives us a scientifically and technologically advanced research organization, something you can use again and again.
The whole point of the first action scene is to use the zoo, which is an environment that doesn't get enough time in superhero RPGs.
I really like the random table of superscientific weapons.
It's a small adventure. It might be slight—it doesn't spread its tendrils all over, slopping consequences all over. There's a mind-control ape out there; he's got a plan. Throw the players in.
I also like that there is mention of the various squads of agents that PATRIOT controls. Even though the heroes end up doing the important stuff (they're the heroes, after all), you don't wonder if the entire agency could be replaced by one guy with a web browser and Skype.
You're going to see this under Dislikes as well: portable psionic shields that mean it's not an adventure about being mind-controlled. Because, as the adventure rightly points out, having your player mind-controlled is not fun. I applaud that; it just short-circuits the make this adventure about that.
Dislikes
On the other hand, it is a slight adventure.
The supervillain can be taunted into a mindless rage, but I feel like there must be better ways to tell the players about it than to include it in the scene 2 briefing.
(Actually, it would be even nicer, he said with his trying-to-be-a-writer hat on, if the second briefing wasn't necessary: if there were something at the scene that would tell the heroes what Lord Virunga was up to. Maybe a clue or something. I see the difficulty: it's not like the lieutenant gorillas have pockets for the PCs to rifle. Still, some kind of option might have been available, with the briefing information as a fallback.)
In some ways, Lord Virunga is Confederape with additional flame control powers, so you have to work hard to make them distinct (if both exist in your game.)
While I applaud the idea of the portable mind shield projector, I have to admit that it blocks off a couple of options for future games.
The two hero NPCs are...well, one is mentioned as being there for mind-control if you want them to fight an enthralled hero, and the other does nothing from an adventure point of view, but she provides verisimilitude for PATRIOT and she is a potential PC. If you don't need her as a PC, I might replace her with a “normal” agent, simply saying that PATRIOT is stretched tight, and then use mind-control whichever hero will provide your gaming group with the biggest challenge...if, in fact, you want to have a fight against a mind-controlled hero.
Changes and Consequences
This adventure doesn't itself have a lot in the way of consequences, but it puts two new pieces in the playbox: the scientific lab (ARES) and the portable mind shields.
I'd probably limit the mind shields to some mind-control and illusions: then you can still have options (mental blast and telepathy are the big ones) but you don't get mind-controlled. Your Mysterio or Scarecrow villains can still use drugs to make you hallucinate, so that's not off the table. Or maybe the devices exist, but they were rescued from the wreckage of an alien spacecraft (a wrecked alien spacecraft is explicitly mentioned in the ARES backstory): we don't know exactly what these mind-shields actually do, but one of the side effects is protecting you from other people's mind control. “We'll need them back after the adventure. Sure, you can borrow them if you fill out these questionnaires and let us put these sensors on you.”
Man, I'd like to see more about Virunga. I'd spin out his and the city's backstory significantly.
I'd also do more with a rivalry or alliance between Lord Virunga and ConfederApe. Does one try to recruit the other? Is there bad blood because one refused the other (Virunga thinks that ConfederApe is not a “real” supergorilla, perhaps)?
Assembled Updates
Lord Virunga gets a makeover because Elemental Controls have changed and because Animal Control is now just Mind Control with a limit. Essentially, two of his powers get combined into one power. Specialties become Athletics, Wrestling, Science, and Technology. Powers become Growth 1 (Limit: Constant or permanent, whichever word you want). The Elemental Control Fire is just Fire Control 6, defaulting to Blast. Mind Control is plain old Mind Control with the limitation that he needs the helmet if he is to control anything other than apes, monkeys, and some lower primates.
His Qualities become:
- Psychic Simian Mastermind
- Hates humanity with a fervor
- Longs for but outcast from Gorilla Nation
The Qualities for his lieutenants remain the same, because there are only three. Instead of calling them Qualities and Challenges, they're just Qualities.
Memphis Bell uses just Science Expert as a specialty instead of Science (Biology). Invulnerability 3 becomes Damage Resistance 3. Her Qualities become:
- High ranking PATRIOT scientist turned superhero
- To Serve and Protect
- Bad luck socially
Lone Star trades one elemental control for another, but his Electricity Control is simple, defaulting to Blast. His Qualities might be:
- Mid-level PATRIOT agent
- Looking to cash in on his celebrity
- Supremely overconfident
Conclusion
Despite the fact that I found things to pick on, this is a really solid adventure. It's very good for what it is. I'd give it a B+ or A-, depending on my mood that day.
This adventure is very good at what it does. Still, that's okay.
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