Taurus

Sectaur

Dennis wrote a great background section so even though I haven't added the illo yet, I wanted to post both pages!

Screechor

Here is Screechor's Datafile - I'll add the second page when I get some background info...

 

More heroes on the way...

Stress

Stress represents the negative consequences of conflict and is similar to Health in some ways from the good old days. When heroes and villains fight, the outcome is often determined by how much stress each side inflicts on
the other. There are three types of stress: physical, mental, and emotional. Each type of stress is a trait with a die rating, and that die may be added into the opposition’s dice pool when it would affect your ability to succeed
in what you’re trying to do. Only one type of stress may be added to the opposing dice pool. If you want to add in more, you need to spend 1 Plot Point (as a player) or a Doom die (as the Watcher).

Stress starts out with a die rating equal to the effect die that was used to inflict it, a lot like an asset. If you already have stress of a certain type and take more of it, compare the old and new stress dice - if the new die is larger than the old, replace the old rating with the new. If the new die is equal to or less than the old, step the old die up by one.

Stressing Out and Taking Trauma
Once any type of stress exceeds d12, your hero is stressed out and can’t take any actions or do anything until he recovers with another hero’s aid or in a Transition Scene. He also picks up a d6 of trauma - emotional, mental, or physical, depending on the stress that caused it - that takes longer to recover from. Like stress, trauma can be added to the opposing die pool. If you already have trauma from a previous Scene, you can take more stress of the same type, but only the highest rated die from any specific type is added to your opposition. If you have d10 physical stress and d6 physical trauma, the d10 is added, not the d10 and the d6.

If you’re already stressed out in a Scene and take more stress, it translates directly to trauma. If the new stress is larger than the existing trauma of that type, replace the existing trauma with that rating. If it’s equal to or smaller, step up the trauma by 1. You can spend a Plot Point to shift the stress to a different type, as usual, which may keep your trauma from getting worse. If any kind of trauma is stepped up beyond d12, your hero is dead. This isn’t necessarily the end for him, of course. People in the Marvel Universe have come back from far worse!

Three Types of Stress
Here’s a summary of the three stress types and what trauma of each type means.

• Physical stress is bodily injury, exhaustion, the effects of toxins or chemicals, and so forth. Being stressed out from physical stress means blacking out or becoming unconscious, or perhaps incapable of activity from pain or fatigue. Physical trauma includes serious wounds, broken limbs, system- wide infection, and worse.
• Mental stress is confusion, lack of concentration, mental fatigue, and the results of telepathic assault. Being stressed out from mental stress usually leaves someone insensate, incoherent, or unconscious. Mental trauma includes memory lapses, identity crisis, or impaired reasoning.
• Emotional stress is despair, fear, anger, or any number of negative emotional states. Being stressed out from too much emotional stress means being paralyzed with fear, lost in one’s misery, or consumed with irrational anger. Emotional trauma includes severe phobias, crippling depression, or persistent rage.

Usually, your opposition determines the type of stress you take. If you choose to, you may spend a Plot Point immediately to turn it into a different kind of stress. When you do this, describe how the attack or conflict affected you differently - made you mad, shocked you so much you felt actual pain, or staggered your senses.

Effects

Actions have consequences—in life, in comic books, and in this game. These repercussions direct the flow of the game and lead to heroes achieving what they want…or stumbling along the way. The game represents this with effects. An effect is a trait created by using an effect die. Like other traits, effects are rated with dice. They come in three flavors: assets, stress, and complications.

Assets (page 23) are similar to stunts, resources, and push dice, because you include them in your dice pool before you roll. They’re different from those traits because they’re not created with Plot Points but as effects, just like stress and complications. Therefore, the assets you add to your dice pool are the effects of previous actions. Assets usually last until the end of the Scene.

Stress (page 23) and complications (page 29), however, are a bit different. They’re temporary traits that are inflicted on your hero during conflicts that don’t go your way. Instead of including them in your own dice pool, they’re available to any opposition dice pool that you roll against. In the same way, you can always build up your own dice pool by adding in the stress or complications of the characters you’re up against.


I'll have a separate post to detail Stress tomorrow...

Stunts, Resources, and Push Dice

Super hero action is dynamic and exciting, and the game supports this through the use of stunts, resources, and push
dice. These player-created traits increase the chance of success and make Action Scenes more exciting. Heroes can use them to develop spectacular fighting combos or work together as a team. They each add to a dice pool before the dice are rolled, much like any other trait, and they cost Plot Points to create.

THE PUSH
Any player can add a d6 to his dice pool just by spending a Plot Point. This is called pushing your dice pool; while it’s the weakest way to use a Plot Point, it’s often the quickest and most efficient means of adding dice to your pool. It represents the hero pushing himself, drawing on his will, or just enjoying a lucky break.

PERFORMING STUNTS
A more powerful use of a Plot Point is to add a stunt die. Super heroes constantly use their talents in new or different ways, often just for one panel in the comic book. The game calls these thematic push dice stunts and they start out at d8. The catch is that you have to come up with some cool description of what your hero’s doing and the stunt must be tied to either a Power Set or a Specialty your hero has. You can only create one stunt at a time for any given Power Set or Specialty; once you use it in an action or reaction, it’s gone.

CALLING IN RESOURCES
A resource is a special kind of stunt linked to one of your Specialties and created by spending a Plot Point during a Transition Scene, much as you would create a stunt die for a Specialty in an Action Scene. The difference is that a resource starts out as a d6 (for Expert Specialties) or d8 (for Master Specialties) and it lasts until the end of the next Action Scene. Resources represent people you may know through your circle of contacts, information provided by your connections, or locations you can make use of as a result of your background in the Specialty. You can
unlock stronger and more persistent resources using Milestones.

Plot Points

Plot Points are similar to Karma (from the old school MSH) for the Marvel Heroic Roleplaying game. You earn them by investing in the story or taking risks, and you spend them to enhance your hero’s actions, activate opportunities rolled by the Watcher (GM), and more. You start the game with 1 Plot Point for your hero. Plot Points constantly flow around the table, among the players and the Watcher. Don’t be afraid to spend them!

Before you roll, Plot Points may be spent to…

• Push your dice pool with a d6. 
• Add in an extra trait from a trait group (i.e., two powers from a Power Set, or two Distinctions). 
• Add a stunt die for your Power Set or Specialty. 
• Activate certain special effects (SFX) in a Power Set. 

After You roll, Plot Points may be spent to…

• Add an extra die from your roll to your total (keep 3 dice rather than 2 as your action). 
• Keep an extra effect die (used most commonly to effect more than one target). 
• Activate an opportunity (GM die result of a "1") rolled by the Watcher. 
• Activate certain special effects (SFX) in a Power Set. 
• Use an effect die from a reaction roll. 
• Change stress you’ve taken to another type. 

During a Transition Scene (between fights, etc), Plot Points may be spent to…

• Add a resource die linked to a Specialty. 

Plot Points may be earned when you…

• Use a Distinction negatively. 
• Activate a Limit on a Power Set. 
• Have an opportunity on your dice (you rolled a "1") activated by the Watcher or another player to add to the doom pool.

A full explanation of each of these points can be found in the rule book on pages 10-13, but I wanted to provide an overview here.