"Bonds of Steel"

         This is a convention event which I created to run at GenCon Indy 2006. It is a twist on the idea of a superhero family, taking in part from the Fantastic Four and Furst Family (from Astro City) -- but mainly The Incredibles. Roughly, it could be seen as doing The Incredibles with a less vanilla family. The brief event description was as follows:

Materials

Currently I am only posting the material which would be available to all the players. I will make the full material available at some point as a downloadable adventure.

• General Player Background

• Adventure Materials (Draft) (1MB PDF)

Player Characters

The event is designed for six players, but I include eight full characters for some flexibility. This includes the four nuclear family members, and four related characters. I would say the minimum should be the two parents (Blaze and Mr. Steel), their daughter Crystal, and her boyfriend Gordon. I include a brief background below along with a link to the character sheet. The full background (often with secret information) is part of the GM information. The four nuclear family members are:

Adrian Steele (Mr. Steel)

An accident at his father's work revealed Adrian's power to turn into living steel and form steel shapes. He started as the dark teenage avenger of Lakefront City taking on the gangs and rackets. Later, he joined Lakefront's Freedom Squad. After several years they disbanded, and he married their former ally Fiona Blais. He still fights crime on the side -- but in civilian life he's been doing contracting and high-risk security, working nights and weekends while Blaze does 9-to-5.

Fiona Blais (Blaze)

Blaze first appeared as a fiery avenger against the secret plots of Herbert Enterprises, shooting gouts of flame. She had a checkered career as a crimefighter: defeated many villains, but also clashed with several "heroes" and had romances with a few as well. Meanwhile, she kept up a secret identity as a paralegal doing worker's rights. She was married for a few years to Vincent Holt, then divorced and later married Adrian.

Crystal Steele (Crystal)

The rebellious daughter of Adrian and Fiona, now 16. She discovered her powers at age 11 -- making her body transparent, hard, and super-strong. These days, she tends to disappear a lot to go off doing her own thing with her friends.

Hunter Gabriel Steele (Mercurial)

The slacker younger son of Adrian and Fiona, now 12. "HG", as he goes by with his friends, discovered by age 6 that he can change into liquid metal. He is fiercely loyal to his family, but doesn't always do what they say. His parents worry about how his video game playing and skateboarding seem to take precedence over his grades.

There are also four relations and friends:

Gordon Kingsley (Golden Boy)

Crystal's new boyfriend, Gordon goes to her school and his powers manifested just a few months ago. He has super-strength and reflexes, along with new-found skills, that he is still adjusting to.

Vincent Holt (Volt)

Fiona's ex-husband and former teammate of Adrian. Vincent is a talented scientist and inventor who can generate electricity from his body, allowing him to use an array of gadgets. He was a founding member of the Freedom Squad, and its leader.

Harriet Caitlin Blais (Hurricane)

The mother of Fiona and a long-time superheroine, once the sidekick to WWII superheroine Speedstress. She can fly and act with super-speed, but tends to leave chaos in her wake.

Aurora Bryant (Aura)

The youngest daughter of the former government liaison to the Freedom Squad, Aurora is now in college. She discovered her telekinetic powers slowly over the years. She has been a close friend of Adrian and Fiona, and babysat for them for several years. (Watching super-kids takes special talents, after all.)