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Sentinels of the Multiverse: Disparation Expansion

Created by Greater Than Games

This new expansion to the hit cooperative comic book card game Sentinels of the Multiverse explores the heroes, villains, and environments of the Multiverse — those who travel through it, those who have been touched by its vast impossibilities, and those who would seek to destroy it!

Latest Updates from Our Project:

New Villain Update — Necrosis
about 1 year ago – Wed, Mar 29, 2023 at 08:19:50 AM

Greetings, Sentinels!

It’s time for an update all about a brand new villain! Get hype! Also, maybe get scared?

Necrosis

Dr. Benjamin Garner was a very pleasant fellow. Most of his friends knew Benji as an even-tempered if somewhat distractible introvert who was always thinking about work. His colleagues thought of Benji as an absent-minded genius who would likely one day revolutionize the energy industry, if only he could get out of his own way and actually focus on results instead of on being a perfectionist with the process.

None of them knew his fury.

Benji was a deeply angry man, far below the affable surface that was no mask — he was truly a happy and friendly fellow! But at his core burned a terrible fury against all those who burned through the world’s resources for their own selfish ends. He knew all too well the ticking clock that was the modern energy industry, and his work was a constant struggle towards making any sort of difference. Before it was too late.

Dr. Garner was researching the most literal green energy — the natural life force of all living things. What if there were some way of harnessing the living energy of everything in the world, but without taking it away from those living things? He develops a process to do so, but it is more harvesting than harnessing, and it creates a terrible sludge by-product, which is just the sort of thing he’s trying to avoid. 

In the process of trying to get from what he’s made — a terrible device for draining energy from living things and creating a corrosive sludge — to something that might actually improve the world, his lab gets wrecked by a massive rhinoceros. Bizarre! Unexpected! The lab he was working for quickly ejected him, not believing his story that his work was trashed by a very large and very surprising animal, and he was left with nothing. Soon after the lab disaster, he was approached by Vince Snyder of Conteh Energy, who offered him a job and a lab doing his very own research. Benji is uncomfortable with the idea of working for an energy company, but with the destruction around his lab and the sludge and collateral casualties, Snyder has enough both carrot and stick to control Benji. 

A little coercion and blackmail later, Dr. Garner is working at Conteh Energy, turning living things into pure energy. It starts with plants and moves to small animals, each living a distinctive “husk” behind on expiration, but creating massive charges of “clean” energy. Benji doesn’t love the way things are going, but he has to admit to himself that progress is being made, and the sludge and husks are all acceptable losses for the sake of research. He’s not usually an “ends justify the means” sort of scientist, but with the pressure from Snyder, he’s doing what he can. Right up until a human test subject is brought to the lab.

Snyder claimed that this was a volunteer trial subject, but Benji was pretty sure this was just someone off the street who wasn’t fully aware of what was going on. Either way, Benji was done — he would have no part in this. The Conteh Energy employees were hooking the test subject up to the machine, but Benji drove them back, pulling diodes off the man as fast as he could. Snyder, watching from the control room, activated the machine — if it worked, he would have all the data he needed. And if not? Well, then it would be a problem that solved itself.

Unbeknownst to anyone, working in close proximity with the machine for so long had infused Dr. Garner with much of the energy generated by the machine, so even as he watched the man he was trying to save melt away and reform as a husk, Benji felt that same energy invigorating him, blazing through the energy pathways of his body, and remaking him from the inside out. Energy arced off Dr. Garner’s form leaping to each living being in the room, draining them of their energy. Vince Snyder, safe in the control room, watched with equal parts horror and fascination as Dr. Garner howled in terror and madness as he felt himself absorb the life energy of every living thing in the room. The resulting husks turned as one, obeying his subconscious commands, and tore a hole in the side of the building. The man who many knew as Benji was no more. Necrosis was born.

Now, all would know his fury.

—

Whew! Sorry, got a little carried away when writing the backstory. Sometimes, I just get on a kick and have to keep going! Anyway, you can hear us craft this story live on Episode #190 of The Letters Page podcast. I think of Necrosis as a very recent creation, but that episode is from 2021, so, uh, not THAT recent. The story has evolved and refined since then, but all the key parts of what we say in the episode are still true. This is just a retelling in a different format. 

Necrosis is terrifying AND tragic! Poor Benji — such a good man, turning into such a monster.


As you can see, Necrosis’s energy affects the Heroes over the course of the fight, marked by the tokens accumulated on Hero character cards.

And oof, does he do stuff with those tokens…


Also, unsurprisingly, he’s got Husks to do his dirty work for him. But they’re hardly stable!


Necrosis has plenty of tricks to keep the Heroes at bay, and to build up the energy he needs.


Necrosis hasn’t been around all that long, but his appearances are as dangerous as they are consequential. Be careful! He’s already lost everything, and he won’t stop until you do, too.

Q&A

A couple of recent questions!

Q: If the heroes are in the unenviable state where there is only one hero target, does the imp pilferer deal damage to that hero target? Or is this a case where the imp sees only a "lowest health" target and doesn't deal the damage?

A: The Imp Pilferer deals damage to the Hero target with the second lowest HP. Since no such Hero target exists — with only one Hero target in play, a “highest HP” and a “lowest HP” exists, but not any “second lowest/highest” targets — the damage does not happen.

Q: Has it been hinted that cosmic stuff is the next expansion?

A: Certainly not by me! I’m usually far more vague with my hinting. Who can say? Time will tell!

—

Thanks, everyone! I hope you’re excited for another Hero update tomorrow. I sure am!

And keep on saving that dang Multiverse! It seems like it’s always getting itself into trouble.

-Christopher

Environment Update — The Block
about 1 year ago – Tue, Mar 28, 2023 at 07:39:15 AM

Good morning, heroes and villains, alike!

Today, we’re gonna talk about a prison! Yikes!

The Block

Human Inmates: 259
Alien Inmates: 143
Other Inmates: 76

F.I.L.T.E.R., which started out as an initiative to stop the influx of terrible extraterrestrial races, has become the organization in charge of jailing the most dangerous criminals and threats to our world. No government would acknowledge that F.I.L.T.E.R. exists, or that they can open portals to their time-locked prison The Block just about anywhere to book new prisoners. But they can. And they do.

Warden Hoefle runs a tight operation: besides the entire prison itself being kept separate from any known time-space dimension, the individual cells are cycled through time loops to nullify whatever powers or abilities the prisoners could bring to bear on the guards. However, there have been reports of disturbances within The Block, and someone should probably go check it out. If there were a full-scale prison riot there, it could spell disaster for every timeline accessible from The Block…

—

The Block has been the setting of more than a few Sentinel Comics stories, and the macguffin for even more! Its unique ability to connect to multiple realities make it a terrifying prison, and also a concerning potential danger…

Interestingly, The Block hasn’t come up a lot on The Letters Page podcast, but we did do an early episode where we explained pretty much everything about it:


The Warden is an uncompromising man, believing that he does what he does for the good of all reality. The majority of the guards are… less principled.


The inmates are hardly a unified force, as they’re from all manner of place, time, reality, etc. The only thing that brings them together is their hatred of the guards.


And, of course, The Block itself is a bizarre place. Sure would be a shame if the prisoners somehow got control of its functionality…


The Block is a tumultuous place, as the heroes find themselves there in the midst of a massive altercation between F.I.L.T.E.R. and escaping inmates. It’s almost impossible to avoid being caught in the crossfire, and neither side thinks very highly of your intrusion. Good luck!

Q&A

We got a few questions yesterday! 

Q: Is Apostate related to Æternus?

A: Not directly! Apostate is not a demon at all, but a Host spirit possessing a body (much like Fanatic is), and he’s merely adopted the demonic / fallen angel schtick because it suits his purposes for messing with Fanatic. Also, he likes the look. But he’s more than happy to “borrow” from Æternus, and even tempt denizens of that dread realm to come work for him!

Q: Also, will we get teases of difficulty/complexity ratings at the end of the campaign for heroes, villains, and environments? Also, do principles have any sort of rating/categories?

A: I’ll be releasing the entire Rulebook to y’all when it’s done, and that will give away all this information!

—

Tomorrow shows off a BRAND NEW VILLAIN! Who could it be?! 

Keep on saving the Multiverse!

-Christopher

Villain Update — Apostate
about 1 year ago – Mon, Mar 27, 2023 at 05:25:16 AM

Greetings, Sentinels!

It’s the beginning of the penultimate week of this campaign, which means things are really heating up! I’m back from PAX East (where we had a great time and I got to play Definitive Edition and even Disparation content with a bunch of lovely people, including lots of folks brand new to the world of Sentinel Comics!) and I’ve got a full slate of reveals to get through between now and the end of this campaign on April 6th, so let’s get to it!

Apostate

Fanatic, the winged angel of vengeance, has great strength and great power, but those abilities rely entirely upon her worldview — her faith. So, when the black-winged man attacked her, claiming her to be one of his kind, she was taken aback. Bezaliel, as he called himself, pointed out all their similarities: their wings, their powers, even their swords! Bezaliel insisted to Fanatic throughout their fights that she was in fact his creation, and not a holy angel at all! Shaken, Fanatic fled from their initial confrontation, needing to meditate on these claims.

With Fanatic out of the picture, Bezaliel began his assault, bringing terror and destruction to the world by summoning dark relics and demonic entities to this plane. The heroes of the world joined forces to face him, calling him "Apostate", and he proved a terrible threat to the very existence of mankind.

Will you fall for his lies and deceptions? Or will you unmask the true intentions of Apostate?!

—

Hoooo boy, Apostate is an interesting character. Starting off as just an evil foil to Fanatic and evolving into one of the most loved and hated deceiver characters from Sentinel Comics, his arc is one that has surprised readers the most. I’d really recommend checking out his episodes of The Letters Page podcast, as they reveal a lot about how ridiculous this character can be.

Apostate. What a jerk.


Look at his smug mug! He knows so many things he’s not telling you, and the stuff he IS telling you? You’d be better off never hearing it. 

So many lies!


What trickery is this? And, looking at his character card again, there seems to be no way to get rid of these accursed Ongoing cards! Terrible. 

Well, what else does he have in his deck?


Those look like they help Apostate a bunch, but they also give us a possible avenue to success! Blowing up his Relics means we can stuff his lies under his character card. I’m sure we’ll pay for that later, but it at least gives us a path forward.

Anything else?


Oh, sure. Demons. Makes sense. Yuck.

Did you know that these three card types are the only ones in Apostate’s deck? It’s true! No One-Shots — all Ongoings, Relics, and Demons! How… nice. 

As for his Critical Event, just know that things might get a bit… EXTREME!

—

Q&A

I don’t think I’ve missed any terribly pressing questions while I was gone, but if I missed yours, let me know! I’ll take a look at the comments on this very update to seed tomorrow’s update’s Q&A section, so get them in!

That said, I’ve seen a couple worth answering, certainly!

Q: Will Sentinels of the Multiverse: Definitive Edition go past OblivAeon?

A: There are no current concrete plans for content beyond OblivAeon… but we’re also not saying never, because who knows what the future may hold! Our intention is to focus on making all the big and important stuff up through OblivAeon, and not until we get much closer to that Multiverse ending event will we seriously consider going beyond it. So, for now, don’t worry about it. The level of demand and interest years from now will determine that outcome.

Q: Did Aeon Men show up prior to the OblivAeon Event?

A: TWO OblivAeon related questions! Delightful! Anyway, the answer is yes — those orange-suited chaps have been around for quite some time, initially as just random spaceman jobbers without any real explanation (or real intention from editorial). They were later given the name “Aeon Men” and later still connected to OblivAeon itself. Portends! (Or, more accurately, retcons!)

—

See you tomorrow for an Environmental update! Keep on saving the Multiverse!

-Christopher

Hero Update — Omnitron-X
about 1 year ago – Fri, Mar 24, 2023 at 07:21:42 AM

Greetings, Sentinels!

Let’s round out the week with a fan favorite hero!

Omnitron-X

Over a hundred years from now, Omnitron has gone through several forms. It constantly changes and improves itself whenever thwarted, always returning to terrorize humankind. However, it has learned that, no matter how much better, faster, stronger it makes itself, it is always defeated by these self-proclaimed heroes. What about them makes them better than such a vastly superior form?

It must be a secret of their empathy. Their ability to feel compassion for one another drives them to fight harder and overcome impossible odds. Surely, this can be replicated.

Omnitron rebuilt itself, in a humanoid form, and approximated an empathy-component. However, this proved to be its undoing! This new, tenth form of Omnitron realized with horror, a new emotion, that its previous purpose had been death and destruction! It focused its new efforts on returning to its point of origin to destroy itself before millions of lives could be threatened!

The heroes of the Multiverse have a new ally in the form of an old foe.

—

Omnitron-X is another character like yesterday’s who has appearances as both Hero and Villain — and also, later, an Environment! We have talked about the Hero version of Omnitron quite a few times on The Letters Page, including:

Omnitron-X is a well loved robot, both by many characters (especially Unity) within Universe 1, and also by the readership of Sentinel Comics. Starting out with some self-sacrifice before coming back as a different version of itself makes for a convoluted timeline, but an enduring character!


As you can see from the base power, getting a Protocol card up and running is key. Why? Because they’re what makes everything happen.


That’s right, the “Exterminate//Fabricate” system from Definitive Edition Omnitron is back!

Omnitron-X can use those effects for offense and support, and switches back and forth, depending on what’s going on in the fight!


Additionally, Omnitron-X has Plating cards for defense that can greatly reduce certain damage types.


They change the Omnitron-X chassis a lot! And, not to fear, there are tricks in the deck for doing Other Stuff with Plating cards, as well.

Omnitron-X’s First Appearance was during the big Omnitron event in the 70s, so expect that to be referenced for that variant. Other variants? Well, I’m certain you can guess some… and will absolutely not guess others!

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Other Crowdfunding Campaigns
The last of the crowdfunding campaign shoutouts, and this one is really impressive!

The mad geniuses over at TinkerHouse Games (makers of deluxe terrain and standees for all your tabletop gaming needs) have put together a fantastic box of awesome stuff to help make your RPG games come to life at the table! 


Seriously, go check out how many things they’re cramming into this box. I’ve had the pleasure of interacting with their products many times, and I can’t stress enough how both beautiful and functional they are. If this seems like the sort of thing you’d want on your table, you owe it to yourself to take a look.

—

Another successful week! Thank you so much for all the support, everyone! Even more coming next week, but for now, it’s time to take a couple of days to focus on saving the Multiverse!

See you Monday!

-Christopher

Villain Update — The Dreamer
about 1 year ago – Thu, Mar 23, 2023 at 07:23:48 AM

Good morning, Sentinels fans!

It’s that time again — update time! Are the heroes bad enough to take down… a little girl?

The Dreamer

When Vanessa Long transported herself backwards in time, her first goal was to save the not-yet-born version of herself. She managed to get her parents out of the clutches of Project Cocoon — which was different in this reality, but still present and conducting experiments the likes of which The Visionary was all too familiar. From then on, she monitored the Long family from a distance, fearful of what might happen to this reality’s version of herself. When Vanessa Long was born, The Visionary was relieved that it was without an explosion of psychic energy, and that the baby seemed to be normal in all ways.

Six years have passed, and The Visionary has kept an eye on the Long family, but with no signs of complications, the family seems to be out of harm's way. Until one day, when the young Vanessa Long's latent powers manifested very dangerously.

The young girl's thoughts manifested themselves as physical creatures, and the shock of her new awareness of the world shut down her body, leaving Vanessa into a coma. The Nightmares she manifested tore through her home and out into the neighborhood, releasing psychic monsters into the world that the comatose young Vanessa Long had no control over. 

Can the heroes save The Dreamer from herself? 

—

The Dreamer has been talked about mostly as either part of The Visionary’s story, or much later as the hero Muse, who becomes part of Sentinel Comics in the “Universe 1” SCRPG era. She’s in a few episodes of The Letters Page, including:

But! Before she can become Muse, you must save her while she’s much younger and called The Dreamer!


You can only hope to save her, and not until her villain character card flips do you have a chance to save her! It’s a matter of preventing the Nightmares from getting out of hand and rousing her from her slumber without any psychic backlash. Be careful!

She has some Nightmares that you might have seen before…


As well as some new cards!


That second card reminds me: this deck also has several cards from the “Nightmare World” event, for which Adam did some of the coolest art from a very specifically stylistic era of Sentinel Comics.


The Dreamer is a similar villain to The Matriarch, in that she doesn’t have many appearances in Sentinel Comics, but is still very important to the arc and remembered well. Thus, her Critical Event is the uncommonly used “someone else as the character card for the same deck”, and I’m very excited about it… but that’s for another day! 

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Other Crowdfunding Campaigns

Our friends over at Penny Arcade do a lot of game livestreams. In fact, I was just there at the end of last year playing a cooperative comic book card game with them! It went pretty well.

Their incredibly popular “Acquisitions Incorporated” livestreams have gathered quite the devoted audience, and they’re coming back with an action packed second series with all sorts of plans, including props, costumes, special guests, and more!

Check out their campaign! If I know anything about those folks, they’re going to tell a bunch of great stories!

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Tomorrow is the last update of the week, but there will be a bunch more next week — I promise! Until then, keep on saving the Multiverse!

-Christopher