We had an entertaining session of Champions Now tonight. The highlight I want to share is a short but cool example of how special effects showed up in the game.

Uncle Death is a hero with the ability to separate a person’s soul from their body and instruct the soul to act for him. In game mechanics this is an ego-based entangle followed by separate telekinesis constrained to only working while a target is entangled.

Sharla is the unfortunate victim of metapsychoactive drug experimentation. She’s in a delirious rage (some psych situations about not being in touch with reality and an enrage) and manifesting psychic tentacles that are reeking havok. The tentacles are separate telekinesis.

While villainous agents are breaking into the house to capture Sharla, Uncle Death succeeded at ripping her soul out (entangle) and normally this creates a TK entity that he can give orders too. However, because Sharla’s tentacles were also psychic as well as separate and already commanded to grab and destroy, the tentacles fought on even though her soul was hovering about her body in Uncle Joe’s control.

Uncle Death was grabbed and on the tentacle’s next action suffered a squeeze.

Meanwhile, Uncle D’s colleague, Frogger, leapt in, grabbed Sharla’s body and took her out of the house to safety before the agents broke in.

At that point both Sharla and her tentacles ran out of endurance. The tentacles deactivated and Sharla fell back into semi-consciousnesses.

I think you can follow the logic of how the special effects of the two powers involved interacted. It felt very appropriate and was a nice surprise for Uncle Death’s player that I did not plan but which emerged from play.