Wednesday, March 09, 2011

Meet Marathon...


This is Wesley Tolliver, a.k.a. Marathon. He's one of in a long line of superhero characters for games I've played over the years. This particular game is a DC Adventures game run by KnightErrantJR. The first session was the other night, and I had a good time.

Wesley is a paranoid, cynic (yeah, I know... big stretch for me) who's day job USED to be as a sleazy, chasing cheating spouses- type of private detective. I say "used to" because the first session had us waking up from year-long comas and newly possessed of abilities we did not have when we went to sleep.

Ach, well, after exchanging "pleasantries" with Amanda Waller and Steve Trevor, we were apprised of the current situation. No one has seen the Justice League, the Justice Society, or the Teen Titans for six months. What had started as a research project (which we had apparently volunteered for) became a contingency plan, hence the name PROJECT: Fallback. Our group has been busted out of "cold storage" to go help stem the tide of rising villany happening in the world. Great...

So the four of us, (Wesley and three unknowns, one of whom is really quiet) are told to pick a city to start our clean-up efforts. After some debate, we choose Central City, former home to the Flash. They stuff us into a limo to drive us to our new "home". The fact that we were driving raised a red flag with Wesley, but he just sort of rode with it. Sure enough, some schmuck tagged the limo with a grenade launcher and it was on.

Marathon and some guy calling himself Fahrenheit emerge from the limo and take to the air to survey what's happening. Turns out we have Lady Vic, Double Dare, and David Cain accosting our poor, defenseless vehicular transportation device. This just won't do. Anyway, fight erupts... the youngest, unnamed member of our entourage can apparently direct REALLY destructive dark energy. He's just not real good at aiming. Meanwhile, the quiet guy... yeah, he can turn into a bear. So "Gentle Ben" climbs out of the limo wreckage and begins VERY EFFECTIVELY mauling Lady Vic.

It breaks down into Fahrenheit flambe-ing the Double Dare twins until they're unconscious and smoldering, the bear and the dark energy kid screw up Lady Vic's world, and Marathon chokes out David Cain from range, ala Darth Vader. A few bumps... a few bruises... but we were pretty okay.

Then Fahrenheit notices an invisible figure stalking us in the bushes. *FWOOSH!!!* go the bushes, only to reveal the figure as Deathstroke/Slade the Terminator. Yeah, this day was just getting better and better for Wesley. Another fight ensues (continues?) and while we are trying to pummel the crap out of each other, we ask Slade why the hell he is attacking us... a group of nobodies. Hell, how did he know we even existed? (RED FLAG #2) Turns out, he's been hired to kill us, but sent the B-team in because they (apparently) need the practice. Fight continues... Have I mentioned that the bear is REALLY GOOD at mauling people? Yeah, even for Deathstroke, a four-on-one situation is not a good idea when one of those four is a BEAR. So we jack Slade up, call the authorities, and then Wesley phones Ms. Waller.

Though she never admits to it, Wesley is certain she arranged this "field test" for us. Why is he certain? Paranoid. Cynic.

After all the rigamaroll, we continue on our way to Central City in an invisible helicopter, where end the session.

A few things about Marathon/Wesley
  • He flies...
  • He doesn't sleep...
  • He heals somewhat rapidly...
  • He can choke people out at range...
  • He can ensnare people at range...
  • He can take a beating...
It's that last ability that is his primary "superpower". It is also why Wesley chose bright colors like red and yellow for his costume/uniform/outfit. It makes Marathon a bigger target, allowing him to draw fire from others who might not be able to take it as well.

I enjoyed myself last night. I may end up tweaking my character a bit as I have had very little experience with DCA/Mutants and Masterminds 3rd Ed, but overall, Wesley is pretty much on point with where I want him to be.

Thanks to KEJR for running the game... I think I will enjoy myself...

-- GopherDave

2 comments:

  1. You know, if you had kept running around in the hospital gown, I was almost ready to suggest you change your name to Outpatient!

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  2. I would seriously keep the hospital gown around for "around the base"-wear if Amanda Waller was be a regular. Just to make her feel uncomfortable...

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