Cast
 "I am less than amused, but I guess I should have seen this coming." |
Kevin - A "career" gamemaster with years of experience under his belt, a large social circle, and a longstanding rivalry with Rob. He has a notorious reputation for being a powergamer, though he considers himself retired in favor of running campaigns for other people. He's known for being merciless towards "problematic" players, although sometimes he can be blinded by his own perceptions, and his knowledge of the Timely System isn't QUITE as in-depth as he'd like to believe. One of his former characters, Nick Fury, serves as the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. within the campaign and is the closest thing to a commanding officer the Defenders have. |
 "Don't mention it, what are friends for if not build advice?" |
Sarah - Kevin's official co-GM. Sarah is always happy to step in when a party needs to be split up or when Kevin needs to step away. She is generally amiable and takes setbacks less seriously than Kevin, but should not be pushed when mad. Ironically, she tends to have the least amount of patience towards her best friend Gwyneth. Sarah prefers to control NPC's or occasionally bosses, but does have her own character: Maria Hill, Deputy Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. |
The Players
 "A small price to pay for being a literal ass-kicking, combat-ending machine." |
Rob - A long time frienemy of Kevin's. Rob has a knack for character optimization and an unfortunate habit of derailing every campaign he participates in thanks to his overpowered character builds. He means well enough, and is making efforts to improve his skills at communication and cooperation, though he and Kevin are both still determined to get the best of each other. He is currently dating Gwyneth. His character, Tony Stark, is an Artificer/Vigilante who specializes in building armored suits, and has crafted an identity for himself as the renowned superhero, Iron Man. |
 "I'll forgive most things from most people. Once." |
Clark - A current systems analyst and former coworker of Kevin, Scarlett, and Jeremy. Clark is a very laidback, go-with-the-flow style of player. He prefers to operate outside of the spotlight, and welcomes other players drawing attention to themselves so he can do so. His character, Phil Coulson, is a S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent, a class unique to the Timely Tabletop System that combines formidable combat abilities with rogue-esque skills. Upon being assigned as a liaison to the Defenders, Coulson has given himself his own codename, The Man On The Wall. |
 "Hey, I don't know WHY Bruce has history with a pizza shop owner, but I'll be damned if I'm going to pass up the possibility for wacky hijinks and hilarious schemes." |
Mark - A friend of Kevin's. Mark plays to have fun, although what that means exactly depends on the game he's playing. He isn't overly concerned with stats, and tends to gravitate towards unusual builds. Humorously enough, his current character is possibly the most unorthodox he's ever run, but wasn't made by him. Bruce Banner, an Alchemist/Brawler with a mutagen-created alter-ego known only as The Hulk, was made by another friend of Kevin's, and pushed further into "insanely broken" territory with help from Rob. |
 "You can tell a lot about how a person plays by how they treat NPC's. And whether or not they're able to spot a fake one." |
Scarlett - A coworker of Jeremy, and a former coworker of Kevin and Clark. Scarlett prefers to keep what she's capable of and what she knows as secret as possible. She has a hard time trusting others, which makes it hard for them to trust her in turn, but ultimately means well. Her character, Natasha Romanoff, works for S.H.I.E.L.D. but does not have any levels in the Agent class. Instead, she is a Rogue with levels in the Black Widow prestige class, which doubles as her codename. |
 "... Okay but at least I didn't TECHNICALLY team-kill, right?" |
Kris - A powergamer par excellence. Kris's sole reason for playing is to create the biggest, baddest guy in the room and crush all those who stand in his way, with little concern for the social or roleplaying aspects of tabletop gaming. His devotion to the game is such that his primary source of income is competing in local tournaments, to his girlfriend Natalie's occasional consternation. His character, Thor, is a Warpriest who skirts the alignment restriction by furthering his own cause, though Kevin has managed to reign him in by tying Thor's powers to his hammer, Mjolnir. |
 "I simply want to tell a good story. And it'd be quite dull if this is where Thor's ended." |
Liam - Kris's twin brother. Liam's characters tend to run semi-reluctant support for Kris's in-game antics, but for the Defenders campaign he's decided to step up and take on the role of the main villain. He has decided to play Loki, a Rogue/Sorcerer with a chip on his shoulder and more than a few tricks up his sleeve, though it's clear that even he has someone he answers to... |
 "Guess I'd better gear up and get moving before your curiosity gets us all killed." |
Jeremy (Clint Barton) - A coworker of Scarlett's, and a former coworker of Kevin and Clark's. Jeremy enjoys playing the game whenever he can find the time... which is rarely, as he usually finds himself called away by some real-life emergency. Consequently, when he IS able to sit down and play he tends to laser focus on whatever the objective is, whether that's thwarting an enemy, rescuing an NPC, or retrieving an item. His character, Clint Barton, is a S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent/Divine Marksman/Arcane Archer multiclass, combining precise archery skills with a handful of high-tech arrows that mimic potent spell effects. Codenamed Hawkeye, Clint is currently under Loki's thrall as Jeremy had to attend to a last minute crisis just before the first session started. |
 "Hey, can't expect to be 100% consistent ALL the time, it's why I didn't want to run a Paladin." |
Chris (Steve Rogers) - A writer by trade, Chris is more concerned with story and character cohesion than game balance or mechanics, although he isn't averse to running stronger builds if he can tie an interesting narrative idea to it. His current character, Steve Rogers, is a Shield Champion, though most of his character levels are tied up in the Super Soldier template, which grants him impressive boosts to his physical ability scores and proficiencies. After serving in the US Army as Captain America, Steve was thought to have died at the end of Kevin's WWII campaign, but a quirk of his template allowed him to survive into the modern day, where he works for S.H.I.E.L.D. as a recruit for the Defenders. |
Other Campaigns
  "And it may be just a game, but my top priority HAS to be the bottom line. Always." |
Gwyneth (Pepper Potts) - Sarah's best friend. A corporate lawyer by trade, Gwyneth is friendly on the surface, but has a self-serving and manipulative streak beneath. Still, she is loyal to her friends (to a point), and can be trusted to keep her word (as long as you get it in writing). She prefers to avoid playing combat in-game, but when it comes to the social sphere she is almsot as prone to create horrifically-optimized characters as Rob, who she is currently dating. Her current character, Pepper Potts, is an Executive who excels at investigation and interaction... and is also Evil, not that most of the others seem to mind. She has also played Howard Stark in the World War II campaign. |
 "Okay, so I can't pin down exactly WHY this sounds like a bad idea, but I still gotta ask: you sure about this?" |
Don (Jim Rhodes) - A relatively new player of the Timely Tabletop System, Don has taken to the rules well and has developed a rapport with Rob, but still gets ahead of himself from time to time. He has taken over playing Jim Rhodes, a Pilot who excels at using vehicles for combat. To that end, he's been granted use of one of the Iron Man suits, which he operates under the moniker of War Machine. |
 "It's just a game. And the whole point is to have fun, not to win or to prove a point." |
Idris (Heimdall) - A friend of Kris and Liam's, Idris plays the game more to hang out with his pals, though it doesn't stop him from trying to create powerhouses of his own. Occasionally he'll step in to help settle arguments, but generally he prefers to sit back and watch the chaos unfold. Heimdall, his latest character, exemplifies this mindset well; though he is a Sentinel of Asgard, a Paladin archetype with impressive stats and combat abilities, his Oath of Loyalty to the throne of Asgard can often restrict his actions. |
  "Soooo... I guess since none of us ended up in federal prison, we can't call this a TOTAL failure, right?" |
Natalie (Lady Sif/Jane Foster) - A new player, Natalie has joined the game to see why her boyfriend Kris is so into it, though after watching Kris proceed to turn the GM's face several different colors, she's started to rethink that decision. Still, she's determined to give the campaign her best shot. Her character, Lady Sif, is a Fighter Kris designed who has several cohorts, known collectively as The Warriors Three. She's had a bit more fun with the game upon switching to playing Jane Foster, a Scientist researching interplanar astrophysics. |
 "Fair. But I hope you don't expect Peggy to just sit back and do nothing here?" |
Emily (Peggy Carter) - A friend of Kevin's, who's been playing various campaigns with him for years, though recently she's also become fairly good friends with Gwyneth. She prefers to prioritize in-game resources and connections over actual character abilities, though she has stepped up her game a bit for the WWII campaign. Her character, Peggy Carter, is a period-appropriate S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent archetype known as an SSR Agent, which blends combat and subterfuge skills at the cost of most advanced technological gadgets. |
 "So... you decided to go with the 'taste of his own medicine' approach, huh? Respect." |
Sebastian (Bucky Barnes) - A friend (and editor) of Chris, who goes by the nickname Baz. He's used to reining in some of Chris' more off-kilter ideas, mostly in the form of providing sardonic comments. He tends to keep to himself otherwise, but still enjoys playing the game and is a solid team player. His previous character, a Gunslinger by the name of Bucky Barnes, fell to his death during the WWII campaign, and he's still working on the details of his replacement character. |
 "Hey, you know what's even easier than purposeless fight scenes? Random punchlines!" |
Ryan (Wade Wilson) - A player in Kevin's Mercenary campaign, and Josh's best friend for reasons nobody else can comprehend. Ryan is a troll and a gadfly in-game and out, committed to stirring up trouble and refusing to take things seriously. Accordingly his builds tend to revolve around surviving reprisals from both Kevin and his fellow players. His current character, Wade Wilson, is a Mercenary whose Extreme Fast Healing trait makes him borderline unkillable, and whose Insanity flaw causes him to believe he is a tabletop character in a superhero campaign that is a framing device for an online webcomic (crazy, right?). To better fit the superhero aesthetic, he has taken on the codename of Deadpool. |
 "I am going to make it my secondary mission to kill you before this campaign is over, Ryan. I promise you that." |
Josh (Cable) - Ryan's best friend, and another player in Kevin's Mercenary campaign. In contrast to Ryan, Josh takes the game and himself extremely seriously, and his characters all tend to follow a similar pattern; gritty, tortured, "morally complex" individuals, ranging from violent anti-heroes to outright villains. Josh himself seems to be unaware of this, and insists that his concepts are all wholly distinct and original from each other, including his current character, Cable. Despite his blindspots and penchant for melodrama, he is very adept at the game, and one of his characters even won a contest to be published as official content. Although he is less intentionally abrasive than Ryan, he has a competitive streak that tends to rub other people the wrong way. |
Former Players
 "Can't believe I got my big moment upstaged by a couple of razza-frazzin rock'em sock'em robots..." |
Terrence (Jim Rhodes) - A long-suffering "friend" of Rob's, Terrence prefers games with combat and often tries to make characters to one-up Rob's, but very often falls short (much to his frustration). After one too many times being upstaged by Rob, Terrence has quit the game, and his character of Jim Rhodes, a Pilot class with supreme vehicle skills, has been taken over by Don. |