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In Harms Way
At Home!Danger rooms for MARVEL SUPER HEROES campaignsby Michael
HollingerThe Uncanny X-Men had the first one.
Just about every super-hero group with abase now has one, yet
very few groupsuse one to its full potential. I am speakingof the
danger room, a training arena thatis one of the most useful, if
seldom used,tools that a MARVEL SUPER HEROES
game Judge has. With the system present-ed in this article,
Judges will be able tomake their own danger rooms for
theircrime-fighting groups, ready for superheroes to use within
half an hour.
Before the procedure for creating adanger room is laid out, a
few thingsshould be said about running a dangerroom. First, heroes
should take only one-
fourth normal combat damage in a dangerroom (robotic opponents
pull theirpunches, etc.). I have my gamers groupsimmediately sent
to the clinic at their baseafter a danger-room workout, then
decreethat all damage taken has been healed (itsaves on paperwork).
Second, I have my
danger rooms divided into small areascalled tiles; one floor
tile is equal to oneMARVEL SUPER HEROES game area fordetermining a
heros movement, range,etc. Third, a floor tile is activated whenany
weight is placed on it. If a Judge wish-es, the pressure necessary
to trigger a tilecan be so sensitive that a character
flyingoverhead can set it off due to the slight
room's walls are " thick on paper. Onthe left side, draw in the
control room,where the danger room's activities aremonitored, and
mark it as such (com-
puters and control consoles may be addedas well). On the right
side, draw in lockers
DRAGON 81
change of air pressure above it. Onceactivated, a tile presents
a hero with acrisis (an attack robot or a trap) that mustbe
confronted and overcome.
A danger room should not be so difficultthat the heroes have no
chance to passit, but neither should the heroes be able to
pick off crises with ease, one at a time.The best solution Ive
found is to start witheasily triggered tiles until the heroes areup
against impossible odds, then havewhoever is controlling the danger
roomdecrease the sensitivity until runningacross the tiles alone
will activate them. Asa last resort, if the heroes are
over-whelmed, turn off the sensitivity of thetiles completely. The
tiles cannot usuallydifferentiate as to what causes the pres-sure
on them, so the results of activatingone tile could conceivably
activate one ormore other tiles.
It helps to assume that a nonplayer-
character hero, one who doesnt go outadventuring very often, is
in charge of thedanger room and can design its horrorswithout the
knowledge of the other he-roes. An enthusiastic
scientist/technician(something like Q from the James Bondmovies)
works best for the danger roomsmanager.
Danger-room constructionThe first step in creating a basic
danger
room is to draw the grid of tiles on whichthe characters will
play out the scenario.(The design here is quite basic; more
unu-sual designs may be developed, too.) I
suggest the use of a manila folder onwhich to draw out the
danger room. Byfolding the map up, you also have a handyfolder for
keeping all danger-room-relatedforms. In addition, the folder is
the rightsize for play and is much sturdier thannormal paper.
With a pencil, first draw out a largerectangle or square, about
10" across,centered on the unfolded folder. This isthe outer wall
of the danger room. The
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and showers for the heroes to use aftertheir workout. The
ceiling height in thedanger room itself is assumed to be abouttwo
stories. The material strength of thedanger rooms walls, ceiling,
and floor isassumed to be Monstrous, though the
Judge may alter this.Next, mark along the top wall of the
danger room itself, between the controlroom and the showers, in
1 segments,
using a pencil and ruler. Starting in the topleft corner, make
the first tile (called A1)1 long by 1 deep. Tile A2, moving
right,should be the same size, and so on to tileA7. Row B, just
underneath, is composedof six tiles; B1 is 1 x 1, B2-B5 are
1square, and B6 is like B1. Row C is likeRow A, Row D is like B,
and so on down toRow J, which is like Row B. (Optionally,the room
may be lengthened by havingthe center tiles be 2 long by 1
wide.)This produces a bricklike layout of tiles.
It is much easier on the eyes if you putthe outlines of the
tiles and the outlines ofthe walls in different color pens, or
have
the walls in pen and the tiles in pencil. Ican almost guarantee
that if you dont dothis, at some point a character will try towalk
through a wall.
The danger room is specifically madewith 10 rows and six active
columns sothat any location may be rolled with 1d10to determine row
and 1d6 to determinecolumn (tiles A7, C7, E7, G7, and I7 are
leftinactive as safe zones).
A sea of crisesNow that the danger-room map is com-
plete, it is time to fill the danger roomwith things to make the
heroes jump, fall,
get knocked unconscious, or what haveyou. The first step in
filling a danger roomis to determine the number of tiles
thatcontain crises during a particular scenario.You can either
select a number (start with10-15 crises for introductory
scenarios), orelse you can generate a number. In thelatter case,
roll 1d6 for the tens digit and1d10 for the ones digit, with a roll
of 0 =zero, not 10. This die roll will generate anumber between 10
and 69. Do not bealarmed at the fact that it is possible tohave
more active tiles than exist in theroom; a tile can have more than
one crisison it. It is recommended, however, that nomore than three
crises be placed on anyone tile. Remember: The more tiles
thatproduce an effect, the longer the process
takes to fill out the danger room.Danger rooms present crises in
two
basic ways: robots and traps. A dangerroom can arbitrarily hold
a maximum ofonly five different types of robots and fivetypes of
traps. One specific robot type andone specific trap type have
special pro-gramming, as detailed later, and usuallyonly one of
each of these will appear inthe danger room at any one time. All
other
robots and traps have generic programsand are assumed to be
unlimited in num-ber. Each generic robot and trap shouldbe designed
before the game begins, usingthe section Traps & robots
herein.
The special robot is an emulation robot,which is designed to
look and act asthough it is a real costumed hero or vil-lain. All
of its statistics come directly fromcriminal files (in game terms,
theAdvanced Set Judges Book or any gamemodule), and it is
programmed to respondin a reasonably complex, intelligentmanner,
though the robot is not itselfintelligent. Note that the real hero
or
villain copied by this robot might havepowers not known to the
super heroes,and these powers wont appear in therobot (surprise!).
The special trap simu-lates a natural disaster. Once set off,
thistrap presents the effects of a volcano,tornado, blizzard, or
the like over anexpanding area of the danger room.
The method for determining what typeof crisis is activated by a
tile is rolled onthe following table:
activation. Results from this table need notbe assigned to each
tile prior to its activa-tion, but assignment will let the
Judgebetter control the scenario. Once a tile hasbeen activated and
its crisis dealt with, itbecomes safe for the rest of the
scenarioif no other crisis has been assigned to it.
If an event is selected for a tile that hasalready been
activated and is now present-ing a crisis, the Judge has three
options.
He can either reroll the location, use thesecond crisis for the
second time the tile isactivated, or place the crisis on an
adja-cent tile. Again, allow no more than threeactive crises per
tile per scenario.
Your mission is...Now the Judge should determine the
mission that must be completed in orderfor Karma to be awarded
for the scenarioand in order to have the danger roomturned off,
unless the team wishes toadmit defeat. (Of course, the danger
roomcan be shut down by the controller if theheroes look like
theyre about to be killed!)
For random mission determination, rollon the following table
using 1d6. If the
Judge wishes to make the mission slightlyharder or easier,
merely add an appropri-ate modifier. Note that the Clear mission
isusually so hard that it cannot be randomlyrolled without a
modifier. Also, the objectof any mission will always be a
nonlivingthing; to use living victims would be cruel.The table to
generate the object of a mis-sion is given later on.
1d10
1-45
6-90
Result 1d6 ResultRobot (type 1-4) 1 TransportEmulation robot 2
Recover
Trap (type 1-4) 3 DestroyNatural disaster 4 Protect
Robots and traps are created using thesection Traps & robots
herein. Second-ary die-roll encounter tables should becreated for
the four robot and four trap
5 Assemble6 Survive7+ Clear
types, with one of each appearing per tile
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Protect: After placing the object in ques-tion on a randomly
rolled tile, roll up tworobots (using player-character rules forthe
game) for every three characters inthe group. The players must
prevent therobots from destroying the object. The PCrobots will not
move until they are at-tacked or until a hero activates the tile
onwhich the object is located. Once thishappens, no more tiles that
activate robotswill function; however, traps and current-
ly active robots will remain active. Theplayers must clear all
remaining robots
Destroy: Roll for the tile location of theobject. Next, give the
object either bodyarmor or a force field. Roll 1d100; therank in
which the number falls is the rankof the armor or field. For
instance, if a 53is rolled, the rank is Amazing (53). Theobject of
the mission is to bypass the de-fenses and destroy the object.
Certain rollsmay be disregarded and rerolled if thearmor or force
field is too strong or tooweak to challenge your heroes, but
alwaysallow the heroes a chance at victory.
Recover: Roll one tile location; this iswhere the object is
originally situated. Theobjective of this mission is to bring
theobject in question outside the dangerroom. On this mission, a
robot alwaysguards the door. (Roll up the robots statis-tics as per
a normal robot player characterin the game; do not count this one
againsttype allotments for the danger room.)
Transport: Roll for or select two tilelocations, the first being
where the objectstarts and the second being its destination.The
heroes objective is to move the objectfrom the starting point to
its destination.Because this mission is usually easy, the
Judge is encouraged to assign extra com-plications or
crises.
from the danger room.Assemble: After creating an object
using
Clear: In this mission, no object is cre-
rules given later in this article, have it be
ated, as the players will not have time to
disassembled, then roll a random locationfor each piece. The
objective of the mis-
deal with one. The players must deactivate
sion is to put all the pieces together again.It takes one turn
to put two pieces in the
every single robot in the complex. Each
same area together, or two turns if theobject is deemed awkward
by the die rolls
turn, a number of robots equal to three
in the following section.Survive: Do not select an object for
this
times the number of the characters is
mission; the mission is hard enough as is.Roll 1d20 + 10 to
generate a number be-tween 11 and 30. This is the number ofturns
for which all the heroes must remainconscious. Generate two robots,
usingplayer-character rules, for every characterentering the danger
room. Make all powersfor the robots combat related (e.g., donttake
Plant Control), and have one of therobots for each hero possess a
power gearedto take advantage of that heros greatestweakness or to
confront his strongestpower. The rank on this power should beequal
to the heros power that it is workingagainst, with a bonus of +
1CS. For example,Iceman, with Ice GenerationRemarkable(30), is
going into the danger room; a robotspecifically designed for him
might have Fire
Generation. (If the Judge is unsure of what agood opposing power
would be, find outwhat its nemesis is in MA3 The UltimatePowers
Book, a volume most certainly worthits price). The Judge should
start off with alltiles active but, in all probability, will
soonhave to turn them off.
automatically activated. In addition, oneemulation robot per
turn activates. Again,this is a very difficult mission. Use it
spar-ingly but threaten characters with it often.
Next, use Table 1 to generate the charac-teristics of the object
of the mission. Rollonce each for the objects size, weight,
andmaterial strength. If the mission is Assem-ble, roll for the
number of pieces. Theterm object is deliberately generic so asto
let the Judge throw in an interestingtwist. For instance, the
heroes will treat aglass figurine much differently than alump of
tin.
If the term awkward is rolled, make anote of it and reroll for
its weight. Inaddition to the Strength FEAT, the charac-ter
attempting to move an awkward objectmust also make an Agility FEAT
vs. Re-markable intensity. Should the term awk-ward be rolled
again, increase theintensity of the Agility FEAT by + 1CS
eachtime.
Roll 2d6 on the following table to seewhich complications come
into play. Withthe exception of May self-destruct andWill
self-destruct, any repeat rolls are
cumulative. The complications are ex-plained in the following
section.
After determining the mission and itsobject, roll for
complications. The exactnumber is left up to the Judge, but
thesuggested number is six minus the num-ber of the mission rolled.
This allows the
Judge to balance out the danger room.Thus, if youve consistently
rolled upeasily beaten opponents, you can stillchallenge the
players with complications.Conversely, the Survive vs. Godzillas
FiveCousins mission can be made playable byhaving one or two of the
creatures ex-plode on the eighth turn.
2d6 Complication2 Timed (1d6 turns)3 Stay 1d6 extra turns4
Combine two missions5 Object is hostile6 Object moves7 Object is
hidden8 Timed (3d6 turns)9 Object is protected10 Object moves
quickly11 May self-destruct12 Will self-destruct
Timed: The mission must be completedwithin the allotted amount
of turns or elseone random tile per turn will be activatedat
double-normal potency. If the randomtile activates a robot, double
all its ranks(by number) to a maximum of Monstrous.Traps will
automatically move beneath thehero and have doubled effects. If the
tilerolled was unoccupied, no effects are felt.
Stay 1d6 extra turns: After the mission iscompleted, the group
must set off half thetiles and overcome them all. Should
theysucceed before all extra turns are up, keepsending things at
them one at a time.
Combine two missions: Roll for anothermission but keep the same
object, then
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combine the two missions. For instance,Transport and Survive are
rolled. Thecharacters might have to bring a robot toa tile where it
will activate, then mustdestroy it and stand guard. Even better,the
characters must catch an emulationrobot and transport it to a giant
garbagedisposal or prison on a certain tile, stand-ing by to ensure
its destruction or capture.The possibilities are limitless.
Object is hostile: The object has a weap-on for use against
anything that comesinto its area.
Object moves: The object moves 1-4 tilesevery turn in any
direction the Judgechooses.
Object is hidden: The object in questionis hidden beneath a tile
(the Judge mightnot tell where), and the tile covering itmust be
activated in order to gain accessto the object. Any traps or robots
lying inwait are also sprung when the tile is acti-vated. If the
Judge decides not to tellwhere the object is, the heroes mustsearch
for it. While Penetration Vision or
other powers will work, the easiest andmost fool-proof searching
method is stillthe Accidental Mine Detector routine (i.e.:pray,
step, pray, step, etc.).
Object is protected: Four robots arealready protecting the
object from anytype of outside interference.
Object moves quickly: On each turn, rollld6. On a 5 or 6, the
object moves to atotally random location (roll location on1d6 for
the row, 1d10 for the column)either by flight, teleportation,
running, orsome other form of locomotion. If theobject moves by any
means other thanteleportation, the characters must make
an Agility FEAT vs. Amazing intensity to
catch it while it is in motion. Any tiles theobject runs across,
flies over, or landsupon are automatically activated.
May self-destruct: Each turn that thecharacters occupy the same
tile as theobject, theres a 50% chance that a timerwill be set off,
allowing 1d6 turns to passbefore the object explodes, doing
Incredi-ble (40) force and Excellent (20) edgedattack damage. The
heroes should be
informed of this complication but shouldnot know the number of
turns before itexplodes. The longer the heroes hold on tothe
object, the more exciting this complica-tion gets.
Will self-destruct: The timer is set for1d20 +5 turns and starts
when the firsttile is activated. Any character on thesame tile as
the object (or on an adjacenttile) in the turn in which the object
ex-plodes takes Incredible force and Excellentedged attack damage
as before. The he-roes should be informed of this complica-tion but
should not know the number ofturns they have before the object
ex-
plodes. Again, the longer the scenario, themore suspenseful this
complication gets.
E n j o y i n g t h e s c e n e r yAfter the mission and all its
complica-
tions are finalized, the Judge should add1-3 landforms to vary
the rooms topo-graphy. Roll for the location of one tile as
astarting point for each landform, thenexpand the landforms size to
a minimumof three tiles. The following table is intend-ed for use
only if the Judge is unsure ofwhat to put in.
Table 1Mission Object Table
1d6 Size
1 Very small2 Small3 Medium4 Large5 Very large6 Awkward
Strength Materialto lift Pieces strength
PR 2 FBTY 3 PRGD 4 GDRM 5 EXIN 7 IN
9 AM
Table 2 Table 3Robot FASE Statistics Robot RIP
1d101
2-3
4-5
6-7
RankPRTYGDEX
8-9 RM10 IN
84 MAY 1991
Statistics
1 d 1 0 Rank1-3 FE4-5 PR6-7 TY8 GD9 EX
10 RM
2d6 Landform2 Stream or river3 Pit4-6 Hill7-8 Pond or lake9-10
Bluff or cliff11-12 Chasm
Any variation in height is usually onestory high or deep. If a
character falls off
a ledge, treat it as a charging attackagainst the ground.
Short-circuiting robotsin water is a very common ploy in
myscenarios, so add a pond at least.
In no case should a topographic featureinterfere with an active
tile. For instance,a robot that emerges from a tile beneath alake
would be resistant to water. A trap atthe same place might indicate
that the lakeis really made of poisonous water or acid.
T r a p s & r o b o t sThe last step in creating a danger
room
is to give identities to the various trapsand robots that infest
the room. Emulation
robots should each be assigned a personal-ity as noted
previously (Doctor Doom isthe best!), and all disasters should
beworked out.
A trap is easy to describe but often hardto design. Some ideas
to get you startedwould include:
power-nullification trapsweb-casting trapslogic traps (the
character must solve a
riddle to escape)pit trapsspike trapsmoving-wall traps (walls
move in at the
rate of one area per round)
character-specific trapsacid trapspower-lowering traps (-2CS
power
drop)traps that use a characters power
against himillusion trapstraps that cause a character to
fight
his group
Table 4Robots Number of Powers
1d10 # powers*1 (O,1,O)2 (0,1,1)3 (1,1,1)4 (1,2,0)5 (0,2,1)6
(1,2,1)7 (1,2,2)8 (1,3,1)9 (2,3,1)0 (2,3,2)
* The first number is the number ofdetection/movement powers;
the seconddumber is offensive powers; the third isdefensive
powers.
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gas-spray trapsentangling trapsmachine-gun trapstraps that set
off 1-3 other tilesparalysis traps
Disasters: A natural disaster is verysimilar to a trap, except
that its area ofeffect keeps expanding by one tile perturn in all
directions. Starting on thefourth turn, the Judge should roll ldl0
onthe following table to see the progress ofthe disaster. If No
change is rolled as thefirst result, the expansion of the
disastersarea of effect continues.
1d101-56-89-0
ResultNo change from previous rollExpansion/retreat haltsArea of
effect retreats one tilein all directions
Some ideas for potential natural disas-ters include:
Volcano: blinding ash, lava (TY (6)
force, IN (40) heat), poisonous gas of RM(30) intensityForest
fire: blinding smoke, heat (TY
(6) + 1CS per turn, max. AM (50)), poison-ous gas of EX (20)
intensity
Nuclear explosion: instantaneous RM(30) force, AM (50) heat, AM
(50) radiationoptional
Monsoon: winds, flying debris andwater doing EX (20) edged
attack damage
Sea wave: water with AM (50) forceand triple speed (no
halt/retreat)
Blizzard RM (30) intensity cold, blindingsnow doing EX (20)
edged attack damage.Robots: A normal robot is generated by
a series of 1dl0 rolls on Tables 2-4. Rollfour times on the
first table for each of theFASE scores, then three times on the
sec-ond table for each of the RIP scores. If anythree of the mental
statistics is FE (2), thistype of robot has no on-board
intelligence.As such, the robot takes a - 3 modifier onthe number
of powers it possesses, but itis invulnerable to all
mind-affectingpowers. No danger-room robot is truly selfaware; they
are simply well programmed.After determining the robots
statistics,roll for its number of detection/movementpowers,
offensive powers, and defensivepowers, then select them at your
discre-
tion from the Advanced Set booklets orThe Ultimate Powers Book.
Ranks can bedetermined by using the MARVEL SUPERHEROES game tables
or by rolling2d20 + 10 and using the rank number soindicated (i.e.,
for 42, the rank is Incredi-ble).
Roll up a danger room and show yourheroes how much trouble they
can havewithout ever leaving home!
Marvel characters and the distinctive names and
likenessesthereof are trademarks of Marvel Entertainment Group,
Inc.and are used with permission, Copyright 1991
MarvelEntertainment Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
86 MAY 1991
EditorialContinued from page 7
18. We look for unique and interestingplots (a) in module
proposals forDUNGEON Adventures before all else,though a proposal
had better have a goodlength, game accuracy, and an
interestingsetting, too. There are lots of other thingswe look for,
too, like distinctive characters,
but plot comes first. Does the module tell astory? If not, out
it goes.
19. An article that takes up 25 pages inDRAGON Magazine is far
too long for ourtastes these days, so answer (b) is impor-tant. But
(e) is important, too, becausetheres absolutely no point in
replacing abrand-new official game system until thatsystem has been
tried and tested. TheAD&D 2nd Edition Complete PsionicsHandbook
deserves a fair shake. None ofthe other reasons given make any
differ-ence. Note in particular that DRAGONMagazine has published
unofficial addi-
tions and changes to official rules hun-dreds of times; its our
stock in trade.
20. Youre best off starting with (b) tomake sure you arent
publishing some-thing lifted word-for-word from a copy-righted
source. A game inconsistency (ahalf-elven magic-user in the D&D
game)was mentioned, but this might have beeneasy to fix on the
editors part. Sillier ideashave been published and have proven tobe
quite popular, and sometimes its okayto railroad the characters
into an adven-ture, so long as youre careful about howyou do it and
so long as you dont do it
very often.
So now you have an idea of what goesthrough your editors heads
as they lookover your article, module, or game sub-mission. * * And
you thought anyone coulddo this.
Next month, another topicbut no test.Enjoy!
* And dont send us a module with a dungeon in adead brontosaur,
either. The Avalon Hill GameCompany has already published one of
those in aRUNEQUEST module. I am completely serious.
* * If you were about to send us a module in which atinker gnome
in battle armor must fight a goliath-monster with a Bohemian
ear-spoon +5 that has
taken over a planetoid shaped like a klein bottleinhabited by a
shirokinukatsukami, think again.
