STRANGEWAYS CHRONICLES, vol.1, no.4.(June 20, 1990)
	Written by Robert Dagnall.  Copyright 1990.  All rights reserved.  

**********  Current Subscribers

	As of 4/3/90, the mailing list is as follows:

		72010.202@compuserve.com        (Jon Sloan)
		f35437c@saha.hut.fi             (Brother Tasukine)
		luther@mps.ohio-state.edu       (Bryan A. Luther
		ag3c+@andrew.cmu.edu            (Adam Glass)
		moconnor@vela.acs.oakland.edu   (Michael O'Connor)
		gfink@iris.ucdavis.edu          (George Fink)
		lord_zar@ucrmath.ucr.edu        (Wayne Wallace)
		goldfarb@ocf.berkeley.edu       (David Goldfarb)
		cohen@tramp.colorado.edu	
		cerebus@ucrmath.ucr.edu         (Edward Tyrrill)
		garyt@ios.convergent.com        (Gary Tse)
		dave@wpi.wpi.edu                (David R. Gosselin)
		bchoeh@unix.cis.pitt.edu	(Brian C. Hogue)
		sherm@watcsc.waterloo.edu
		driskill@cs.utah.edu            (Hank Driskill)
		esti@tank.uchicago.edu          (Paul A. Estin)
		cks@white.toronto.edu           (Chris Siebermann)
		cdr@amdcad.amd.com		(Carl Rigney)
		rkr103@psuvm.psu.edu		(Ricky Rechowicz)
		pearlman@cis.ohio-state.edu	(Andy Pearlman)
		anthony@cs.pitt.edu             (Anthony Kapolka)
		jkingdon@watserv1.uwaterloo.ca  (John Kingdon)
		tsang@ocf.berkeley.edu          (Donald Tsang)

**********  News

	Well, I'm up and running again, having played last weekend.  To all of
you who were waiting patiently for the next installment of my campaign, I 
apologize for the long delay.  I have a good explanation: college.  School and
its attendant demands must come before my flights (and swims, and teleports,
etc.) of fantasy.

	While preparing to run again, I thought about the last session, and 
some of the interactions I'd had with players before and after the run.  I
decided that I would be happier without some of the players, as their styles
and expectations differed from my own.  I pared the group down to two players
from the original group of eight, and sought a few new ones.  This has 
turned out wonderfully so far; I've been fortunate to find a crop of very
imaginative and enthusiastic role-players.  The only problem I foresee is
that of attrition: one player in last week's session has left the Bay Area
(being a friend from my home), and another is slated to leave in two months,
with the end of summer.  I'll deal with this when it becomes a problem.  For 
now, I have a full roster of characters, and I'll detail them below that you
may familiarize yourself with the current cast.

	I have not prepared a synopsis of the events of Saturday's run; in its
place I have included some information on groups in the campaign, to be
included in the sourcebook I intend to produce.  This sourcebook will serve as
a touchstone for me as GM, and will also familiarize players with the milieu
I've created.  In one of the rulebooks (Champions II, I think), someone 
describes how he ran amok creating his campaign world, then grew tired of 
reciting the entire thing whenever new players arrived.  He typed the whole 
thing up and distributed it, adding new chapters as they occured to him.  This
is what I hope to do, eventually. 

**********  The Characters

	LINK LARSON--Link is one of the characters held over from the previous
scenario; Zephyr is the other, and as they were involved in the same part of
my three-pronged scenario, it's easy to maintain continuity despite the fact
that Zephyr's player wasn't able to make it this particular day.  He should
return for the next game; I'll assume that Zephyr was out patrolling and 
tending to her personal life in the intervening time.
	Link has been reworked since the last session.  He now has a detailed
list of gadgets, and an even more-detailed list of skills (86 points' worth!).
Conceptually, he hasn't changed; Link is still slightly better in terms of
characteristics and equipment than any top-of-the-line agent, but he may be
out of his league fighting supervillains.  Unless he's very cautious and uses
what assets he has wisely, he'll get squashed.  Fortunately, that suits his
player well.  For those of you who don't remember who Link Larson is, he's the
team sidekick for the Sentinels of Liberty, a prestigious superhero team based
in the Bay Area.  The Sentinels recently disappeared without a trace on an
unknown mission, and Link's been left with an empty base and his grief to keep
him company.

	SEVEN--If you're familiar with Longshot of Marvel Comics fame, you
already have a good working knowledge of Seven't concept.  His power is luck,
in various forms.  The player found an elegant way of simulating Longshot's
ability to damage foes he wouldn't normally have a chance of affecting through
incredible coincidence (a thrown rock lodging in a chink in the opponent's 
armor, for instance): he bought an NND attack linked to his STR, and another
one usable at range to simulate lucky shots and throws.  The defense against
these is Luck.  
	Seven is not as pure as the happy-go-lucky Longshot; Seven helps 
people, especially normals who are endangered by supers, but he's just as
likely to help himself to valuables or vehicles.  Particularly cars; he always
seems to find cars that have been left unlocked, with the keys in the ignition.
He has purchased a Vehicle, defined as a different car each session, to 
reflect this :-).

	MEMOREX--Memorex is a Mentalist, though few people know this.  His
telepathy is fully invisible, so even those with Mental Awareness can't pick
it up.  He also possesses a number of other mental talents, including an
Ego Attack, Healing (he convinces people that they're getting better), Mind
Control (I think), and Invisibility.  He's the product of a lab experiment
at Generay, a shady corporation (or so he thinks; in my world, such accidents
serve to trigger the Pandora effect latent in an individual, and do not create
superpowers themselves), and they'd like to get their hands on the paranormal
they accidentally created.  I have sent a request to the player to flesh out
some of the details of the experiment and Memorex's actions to escape; these
will help me define Generay's goals and motives, as well as the actions they've
taken to achieve them.

	DAITON--No, I don't know what the name means.  Daiton's a person with
a distinctive, reverberating voice, some nice martial arts capabilities, and
the power to 'replay' recent events.  This works as a series of linked powers
(I will provide an exact writeup soon, with the player's permission; for now,
I'll give a general description): Reflection, defined as reversing the path
of a ranged attack; Invisibility; Images (to create an image of himself as he
was 4 segments ago, which plays hell with the GM's bookkeeping, but also
plays hell with the other PCs' understanding of what's going on, as you
shall see) and something else which I don't recall, as he didn't use it in
play.  The effect is that Daiton disappears, while a decoy image of Daiton 
appears in his place.  While the invisible Daiton runs around, the image
follows 4 segments later, duplicating Daiton's actions and movements exactly.
It's all very confusing and complex, but it made for a wonderful what's-going-
on-here session as the other PCs tried to grab him...but that is a story
for next issue.

	There you have it, then, the current party.  Daiton's player has left
the area, but he was kind enough to permit me to use his character as an NPC,
so he'll return in later scenarios.  
	I am a bit concerned about the power level of the characters.  Memorex
is a skilled Mentalist, and can gather information about the party's foes,
but isn't much good in a fight.  Both Seven and Link Larson pack NND attacks
as their main punch; this is bad because any villain with the defense against
one of their attacks effectively negates that character's presence in combat,
and any villain with BOTH defenses (Luck and Life Support aren't all that
uncommon) need only worry about half the group.  Lastly, Zephyr, a 40 STR
brick with flight, is a character who can hold her own and then some in a 
scrap, but she's about it.  As the party stands, I think they're fairly limited
in a combat situation.
	With Daiton gone, they've lost the team Martial Artist.  However, I
have found another player to replace him, and perhaps he'll bring in a 
character that will augment the group's firepower.  And, as one player pointed
out when I mentioned this, they'll just have to cope by creating good plans
and using teamwork.  Like chess, position and timing can offset a lack of 
material.  They'd better be sharp, though, because they've just about 
figured out what's going on, and when they track down Stump, all Hell is going
to break loose...literally.

**********  Campaign Background

	Here are the sketches of some of the major organizations of my
campaign.  This list is by no means complete or conclusive, but it gives you
and the players some idea of who they might ally with, and who they might look
out for:

                     Organizations and Groups
	AESOP--Agency for the Evaluation and  Study  Of  the  Paranormal.
The  U.S.  Government's  formal organization for dealing with the
activities of supers. First formed in the mid-'70s to consolidate
the  fact-finding  and interdiction capabilities of various other
government agencies (DoD, CIA, FBI, NSA, various research  insti-
tutes  and universities); later took on an administrative role as
well, acting as the liason between  the  United  States  and  the
paranormal  community.   Currently,  its  mission  is  to  expand
knowledge of paranormal activities and their nature;  to  coordi-
nate paranormal resources in accord with the interests of the Un-
ited States; to provide intelligence  concerning  paranormal  ac-
tivities  to security forces; and to interdict such activities as
may conflict with national security interests.
	AESOP provides financial and logistical support to many 
superheroic teams and individuals.  It enjoys advisory status 
with a number of national and international organizations, including the 
United Nations Security Council, NATO, ANZUS, the EEC, OAS, INTERPOL, and
the United Nations Council on the Sciences.  AESOP's Regional Offices are in
New York, Atlanta, Dallas, Detroit, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.  It also 
maintains installations staffed with research specialists and security
personnel in most major U.S. cities--look under "U.S. Government--Agency for
the Evaluation and Study Of the Paranormal" in your White Pages for the office
nearest you.  In case of emergency, dial 911 and the operator will assist you.

	The Sentinels of Liberty--One of the earliest and most accomplished 
superhero teams, the Sentinels of Liberty were founded in 1971.  Based in 
the San Francisco Bay Area.  Entire team, save for sidekick Link Larson,
missing in action since 2/90.

	The Rangers--Blacklisted superhero team, founded c.1985.  True to
their name, the Rangers appear to have no base of operations, appearing without
warning and disappearing without trace.  They are now considered outlaws by
AESOP.

	Covenant---Cabal of paranormal terrorists whose abilities are thought
to be magical in nature.  One of their members, Glyph, has been implicated in
the 1986 Challenger disaster.  Little is known of their motives or 
organization: they have attacked paranormals on both sides of the law, often
with lethal force and lethal intent, and have been involved in acts of sabotage
and terrorism against targets in the paranormal research and high-technology
industries.

	CAPE--Citizens' Alliance for Paranormal Emancipation.  "Supers' rights"
organization, dedicated to preserving the human and civil rights of paranormals
throughout the U.S., and later in its history, abroad as well.  CAPE's diligent
lobbying and legal staff served as counsel to paranormals throughout the
turbulent Vietnam years and the draft battles that accompanied them; later,
CAPE was instrumental in the landmark Wertham v. Greyshade and Inferno v.
U.S. District Court of Appeals decisions that set the stage for superheroism
in its present form.  Organizatino disbanded in 1982 when its president and
guiding hand, Joseph Schuster, was incapacitated as the result of a severe
stroke.  Without his spirit and energy CAPE lost momentum, became enmeshed in
funding disputes, and died, soon thereafter followed by Schuster, who passed
away at age 67.

**********  Questions

	I'm considering adding a few NPC heroes to the group to help them in
rough situations.  If I do this, though, it will be after their first big 
encounter with supervillains.  I want to see how they do, first.  Has anyone
run a mixed NPC/PC party?  What pitfalls, other than the obvious one of letting
the NPCs do all the thinking and take all the glory, need to be avoided?

	One of you sent me a suggestion for Atty. Roberts' new supers-aid
organization, calling it HAVEN.  It's a perfect acronym, but I've forgotten
what it stands for.  Could you tell me what it means again?

	If you were a player, what would you want to see in a campaign source-
book?  What information do players and GMs need to orient themselves in a 
campaign world?

	If you have any suggestions for new organizations or villains, and 
would like to share them, I'd love to hear from you.  However, I am more
interested in conceptions than writeups; that gives me more room to tailor
things to my own tastes.

	For those of you with campaign settings: I'd like to hear about your
campaign backgrounds.  Care to share?

	It's nice to be back in action, and I hope I've renewed your interest.

					Robert Dagnall
					dagnall@ocf.berkeley.edu