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| The Midnight Men Art by Dave after Frank Miller |
Thursday, 28 July 2022
Tuesday, 26 July 2022
Sunday, 17 July 2022
Icons: Issue #5 - The Midnight Men... Payback!
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| Midnight Men #5 Pencil and ink by Chris |
Having met defeat for the first time, The Midnight Men are now being held captive in Dirge's dark tower. They are behind bars and chained to the floor with their abilities drastically reduced in power by spells.
In a nearby cell is Malcolm Greybridge; child prodigy with a mutant-like ability to control computers. Our campaign started off with his disappearance and now, here he is, locked up in a cell beside us.
Dr. Midnight questions Malcolm, who provides the following information:
"I was here with two other children before , one girl, one boy, but both of them disappeared a day ago and no one will tell me what happened to them."
Just then guards show up and start to take Malcolm away.
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| Dirge's guards |
Masked Justice demands: Where the hell are you taking him?!
Guard: "He will be sacrificed. The stars are now right."
Malcolm then begins to scream and cry, saying he wants to go back to his mother and father. He begs the Midnight Men to help as he is taken out of the room.
As the guards leave, one turns back and says: “You will live to see the Lord Dirge summon Shigg to your dimension and sacrifice you all to his glory. All of your kind, what you call hero and villain alike, will fall like dust before the Great and Terrible Shigg. None will be spared.”
Gate Keeper: "Does this include the Warbride and her crew? " (see last issue!)
The guards leave the room without answering.
With a combination of Dr. Midnight's tech skills, Black Bolt's rage and GateKeeper's magic, the Midnight Men soon escape from the cells. Guards enter the room to stop them but are quickly bounced around like a pin-ball on a 50,000 point run.
Now free, the Midnight Men make their way to Dirge's throne room but on the way run into Speed Demon and The Ultra-Mind (Brain in-a-Jar) who want to negotiate, having found out they won't survive Shigg's arrival. However, before they can open their mouths, the Midnight Men, still angry from their defeat; beat, fold and flatten them like raw dough.
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| Ultra- Mind (Brain-in-a-Jar) |
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| Speed Demon |
Afterwards, our heroes find the throne room near the top of the dark tower and are greeted by Warbride and Troll.
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| Warbride |
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| Troll |
In this room there is a platform being raised slowly to the ceiling's apex where there are writhing tentacles and a huge, alien eye poking through a gate. Dirge is on the platform casting a spell to bring forth Shigg, an all-powerful and evil Old One. Malcolm Greybridge is suspended from above by a beam of light emitted from the central eye, ready to be sacrificed at the spell's conclusion. The boy is screaming as he knows his death approaches. The Midnight Men have five pages left before the ritual is complete.
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| Dirge |
Dirge: "Eons and gods have fallen before us. The petty life of your ephemeral Earth has been forged into the door that will invite the Old Ones. Your universe will die and be reborn as the Old One's domain. And all of you will be the first to be sacrificed for their greater glory."
It's payback time!
Ding! Ding! The bell rings and Black Bolt delivers a haymaker to Warbride's china-chin, slamming her through the wall of the tower where she falls 80 stories. Nighty-night, princess.
Dr. Midnight, Gatekeeper and Masked Justice cut Troll's honeymoon short. A double kick to the ribs, a high speed hammer to the horn, then a power nullifying spell and Troll has no lead in his pencil. The big guy has fallen down and can't get up. Our heroes are pissed! They circle around him and start laying in with the size 13's. It's a hoedown on Troll's skull! They're doing the new dance called the "kick in the face." They pick him up and finish him off with a savage one, two, three to Troll's pie and it's bedtime for Mr. green and ugly.
On the platform, Dirge is on the verge of completing his ritual when Black Bolt's on him like a nightmare come to life. He gives Dirge a close up of a monster fist to the eye. Black Bolt's in and out like a fiddler's elbow. An upper-cut to the bread basket and a lightning bolt to the donut hole and Dirge is flopping around on the ground like a fish out of water. Black Bolt grabs him by the lapels and screams: "You f*&@ed with the wrong guys, you child-sacrificing s*#@ licker!!!" He finishes with a world class five-knuckle sandwich and it's on the slab with a toe-tag for Dirge.
With the spell ended the gate closes on Shigg, stopping its entry into our world and the alien dimension quickly fades.
The Midnight Men take Malcolm back home to his parents and he runs into their arms, all of them shouting and weeping with joy and relief. Black Bolt made a promise to Malcolm's parents and "Swore to Protect" (Black Bolt's Quality) Malcolm and bring him home. The Greybridges see that there is a man behind the monster and will never forget what he and the Midnight Men have done.
With the end of this first story-arc, Stark City, and the world, are presented with undeniable proof that - for the first time in almost thirty years - true super-powered individuals have reappeared, wanting to take up the fight for justice, protection of the innocent and upholding the law.
These heroes have a name... the Midnight Men!
Tuesday, 12 July 2022
Icons: Issue #4 - The Midnight Men...Defeated!
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| Midnight Men #4 |
This issue had the Midnight Men entering the desolate, hostile alien dimension in search of child prodigy, Malcolm Graybridge. Off in the distance there was a huge dark tower and we figured the action was there.
As we advanced, the sky began to darken and before us, floating 50 ft in the air is the Acolyte (super villain and chief lieutenant) and six cultists, chanting.
The Acolyte then looked at us and rejoiced, saying:
"Shigg’s time on Earth has come. Dirge is the harbinger of the apocalypse and the boy (Malcolm) will open the gateway!"
Big scrap follows and after a thorough trouncing the Acolyte and his crew's tongues are sticking out and their eyes are flashing "No Sale."
After some persuasion, the Acolyte reveals that August Pickman joined the Cult of Doom in a bid to jump up the ladder and become a magical power-broker; instead, when confronted with the direct force of Shigg, his mind was destroyed and replaced with Shigg's power, which has taken on the identity of “Dirge” and been imitating Pickman's human conduct and expanding his “St. Philip's Academy” business in order to harvest minds that can help to crack the barriers between this world and the Old Ones.
Dirge intends to sacrifice Malcolm Graybridge (who possesses near-mutant abilities to program and link with computer systems) to Shigg in order to “align the stars” and open the portal to permit Shigg to our dimension.
The Midnight Men make it to Dirge's dark tower but blocking our way to the entrance are these goons:
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| War Bride, The Ultra-Mind (Brain in a Jar), Speed Demon, Troll |
War bride: "We've been given power as overlords in the New Order, but the Midnight Men can also gain this title if you cease resisting and join Dirge's forces!"
Black Bolt: "And what of Malcolm Graybridge?!"
War Bride: "There are always sacrifices needed in order to bring about change; the world has seen far worse than one child sacrificed to remake the course of the natural order."
Snap! We lose it! The Midnight Men launched into a furious assault but alas, were no match against the these malfactors. It seems our Gamemaster learned his lesson well, back when Genocide got his ass kicked.
The Midnight Men take a nasty beating and for the first time, our heroes lay on the ground...defeated.
Will Dirge's plans to sacrifice Malcolm Graybridge and summon forth Shigg, to send humanity into a new dark age succeed?
Stay Tuned!
Wednesday, 6 July 2022
Sunday, 3 July 2022
Icons: Issue #3 - The Midnight Men... Slugfest!
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| Pencil and ink by Chris |
In this issue the Midnight Men went down into the sewers looking for the missing children from issue #1. Down there we fought robots called Hunter Killers.
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| Hunter Killer Robot |
With some quick thinking, Dr. Midnight made an EM pulse that shutdown the HK s. Afterwards we found some kids that were hooked up to strange machinery and being drained of their psychic energy. However, one child was missing - Malcolm Graybridge.
Malcolm is a child prodigy, gifted in computers and programming. In issue #0, Black Bolt met Malcolm's parents and swore to bring him back alive. One of BB's Qualities is Sworn to Protect so, suffice to say, he was not a happy golem.
Returning to the surface we spoke with some of our contacts/ persons of interest: Frank Stargell (The Red Wasp; retired; Knightley Community Centre manager), Paul Krevitz (Wrathmaster; retired; owner/operator The Crepes of Wrath restaurants), SCPD Capt. Jesus Ramirez and August Pickman, founder and CEO of a chain of private schools, St. Phillips Academies.
Soon after, while the Midnight Men were in downtown Stark City, a giant tear in space opened and through this rip we could see a pinkish sky and a desolate landscape. GateKeeper determined a rift had opened and another dimension was starting to cross over into our own. Off in the distance we could see a huge black tower.
That's when we were confronted by:
In typical villainous fashion Dr. Deimos said:
"So, Stark City's best has come to the rescue? Well, you've finally met your match, heroes! Get ready for the...Ooofff!!!"
Just then, Dr. Midnight SMASHed Dr. Deimos in the chops, Ragtag had a SHOCKING encounter with Black Bolt, and Pulsar was BLASTED by GateKeeper then hammered by Masked Justice and finally pounded into the ground like a tent peg in a team coordinated BEAT DOWN!
It turned out these villains had been hired by an anonymous source to stop all from crossing the dimensional rift.
Our heroes pressed onward venturing into the desolate dimension towards the dark tower, in the hopes of rescuing Malcolm Graybridge; if he had not been killed already by whatever evil forces that lay ahead!
Thursday, 30 June 2022
Midnight Men Trailer
Jamie, a member of our group, is a smart cookie and for fun likes to dabble in 3d rendering and has even made his own D&D themed video game.
He created this video for the Midnight Men and we thought it was great. He mentioned recently that he is working on another one and we are looking forward to seeing it!
So, grab some popcorn, sit back, turn up the volume and watch the action packed trailer for the upcoming motion picture (no set release date) of...THE MIDNIGHT MEN!
Wednesday, 29 June 2022
Icons: Issue #2 - The Midnight Men... His name is Genocide!
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| Pencil and ink by Chris. |
This is the story of Genocide:
The Midnight Men were looking for the missing children from issue #1 when a space ship was seen in the sky above Stark City. Genocide then appeared near a park and started wrecking buildings prompting the Midnight Men to soon arrive. Genocide is supposed to be a Darkseid type figure: really tough and powerful. Our Gamemaster created him to teach us a lesson and put us in our rightful place, making sure we knew others were above us on the food chain. Or, at the very least, to pose a challenge for us to beat.
Things however, did not go according to plan. Unfortunately for our GM, being new to the game he miscalculated on how tough to make him.
Big G stood before us and gave the usually speech:
I am the Revelation. The trigger-force at the core of all things. When you cry out in your dreams, it is I that you see! Your world is now mine. Bow to me and worship your new lord and master..Genocide!!!
Initiative was rolled and Genocide gave Black Bolt and Masked Justice each a pretty hard slap but it didn't put them down. It was then that Genocide bought a ticket to the pain train and hopped on. The onlookers who witnessed what happened next are still traumatized to this day by the sheer brutality of the beating delivered to Genocide. Within two rounds he was stunned and after that the only fighting that took place was between the Midnight Men - fighting over who was going to hit him next.
We passed him back and forth, like Kurt Russell at the end of Deathproof. Despite his pleas to stop, more slams and stuns followed as he was sent through cement walls, had cars bashed over him then his head was dribbled across the basketball court and spiked through the hoop a few times. When it was all over, Genocide was left a broken heap on the ground lying in a chalk outline.
Afterwards, a beam came from his space ship and lifted his prone form back aboard and within a half second it warped out of our solar system.
That day, Genocide's plans for planetary domination came to a screeching halt. On his ship he probably has a map of planets to subjugate but the Earth now has a big red X over it. And we figure his crew is always reminding him about that day - "Hey Genocide, remember when you tried to take over Earth and got your ass kicked?"
Maybe we'll meet him again. Who knows? Villains have a way of reappearing. After years of physio he may want to take another crack at the Earth. But if he does he'll have to face its protectors once more; That group of heroes that are called upon when it's past the 11th hour, the world is dark and all hope seems lost..The Midnight Men!
Sunday, 26 June 2022
The Midnight Men - Icons Superpowered Roleplaying
These are the members of the Midnight Men, our supers group. The team would best fit into the Golden age of comics (1938-56). The characters are pretty tough by Icons standards.
Dr. Midnight (Dr. Daniel Faust) is a gadgets guy and when needed can pull a kitchen sink from his utility belt. He usually uses power gloves to beat punks down into pulp. He's smart and has all around solid physical stats. His tech skillz are leet and is generally the groups leader and communicator. Dr. M's base, SW of Hubertville, serves as the teams headquarters and is where he builds his equipment and gadgets to protect not just Stark City, but the world over. His Qualities are: Obsessive, Up to the Challenge and Don't Worry, This'll Work.
Next is GateKeeper. He's a magic guy that has a demon in him who's power he harnesses. One day we suspect he will go all "Dark Phoenix" on us. His on-hand spells are magic blast, illusions, force shield and teleport. He has a high awareness and mental resistance. In addition to having a bizarre sense of style, GateKeeper has a lot of utility with spells that take more time to prepare. His base is an old mansion that needs a good carpenter and is located on Angel Point.
He has an Occult Speciality (skill) of 3 which allows him to perform stunts and rituals. His qualities are: Master of Deception, The Demon Seal and Know the Unknowable.
Origin: Last in long line of Aetherian sorcerer heroes, GateKeeper uses his mastery of the magic arts to protect the world from dangers both natural and supernatural. As a bearer of the Demon Seal, he also keeps the elder demon Azmathaen, imprisoned safely away within his soul, offering him an additional source of power in his war against darkness.
Such power comes with a price, however, and GateKeeper must remain ever vigilant to prevent the escape of the demon and his vile influence onto the world.
Origin: Masked Justice (aka Turk Broda) is a former lawyer who could not overcome the corruption in the legal system. The bad guys had the money and resources to manipulate the courts, pay off judges, and intimidate the juries.
He became resolved that the only way to give the innocent true justice was to take matters into his own hands - or fists!
He then used his intellect and past military experience to secretly train and become a weapon for justice.
And last is Black Bolt. He's super strong with electrical powers and his golem body makes it near impossible to kill him. BB lives in an old mausoleum/ crypt located in Cloudview Cemetery. He considers his fists his most persuasive form of diplomacy. Black Bolt possesses the strictest code of ethics of the group, and will not retaliate if shot at by police or attacked by others who he regards as innocents. But, if they have chosen a path of evil for themselves, then God help them. Qualities include: Man Or Monster?, Rage In My Heart, Sworn To Protect and Lighting Born.
Origin: Rain poured down that dark and stormy night and up in the castle's highest tower, when lightning struck the conductor and surged into the golem's body... Black Bolt was born!
He was created by an unknown villainous mastermind who used selected human body parts to make a monstrous servitor of destruction. Even though Black Bolt's visage is that of a hideous monster he somehow managed to maintain his humanity through his creation.
In a rage, Black Bolt broke his bonds and escaped into the night. He now tries to punish evil even though his appearance causes terror in those he has sworn to protect.
Friday, 24 June 2022
Icons: Issue #1 - The Midnight Men...It's Clobberin' Time!
We've been playing Icons for the past while. It's a superhero role playing game by Steve Kenson. Looks simple and straight forward but under the hood it can get more complex. One feature of the game is to try "Maneuvers," that involve describing what you'd like to do and how it will effect things. An example is using your combat ability to throw a villain off balance to help give your team a bonus to hit. There can be quite a bit of abstract gaming involved, like using Qualities and Determination which can slow down play a bit to figure out, or it can just be "roll to hit."
Fights can end be pretty quick in terms of rounds or pages if slams and stuns are rolled. You can also try to find weaknesses to use against villains, or vice versa, by discovering Qualities. This also helps in giving the game that comic book feel.
We've all been putting an effort into making comic covers for these games and this is one of the primary reason I wanted to blog. We all take part in their creation. Chris, who does the pencils & ink, is not a professional artist, but we love his work and the effort he puts into it. We've been playing for a while so lots of covers to come.
So here we go - issue #1 of The Midnight Men!
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| Pencil and ink by Chris |
MM#1
Top left to right is GateKeeper, Black Bolt, Masked Justice and Dr. Midnight on the bottom.
In our first issue we were searching for missing children which led us to abandoned warehouses in Geartown where we found a villain called .50 -.50 and some of his cronies.
Here's what .50 -.50 looked like before the fight.
Then after.
No kids were found but clues led us to the Wellington area of Stark City next.
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