Good morning to all you Heroes, Villains, and even the Environment targets out there!

I’m excited to be back with another update, but this one has a BUNCH of villains, so let’s get right into it!

When Dr. Blake Washington, Jr. led his expedition into the Sahara that resulted in him gaining the Staff of Ra and becoming the avatar of the sun god, he left the bulk of his findings out of his published archaeological reports. However, the sudden appearance of this new hero, Ra, caused many to wonder as to his origins, and others to see opportunity.

Roderick Ward had long led a team of what he called “archaeological entrepreneurs”. He and his twelve comrades had seen more of the ruins of the ancient world than the top archaeologists and museum curators combined, and they had sold all their discoveries to the highest bidders. Ward paid little heed to those who admonished him and his team for their grave robbing and artifact peddling — the giant bags of cash he received paid for a lavish lifestyle which more than quieted whatever stirrings of a conscience he may have felt.

When Ward’s team heard about Dr. Washington’s successful discovery of a previously unknown pyramid, it sparked two ideas. First, that there had to be more to this story, and second, that there could be more treasure to be found. More importantly, there could be more treasure to be sold! Roderick Ward and his team of adventuring rogues spent years scouring the Sarahan wastes for other undiscovered ruins before finally stumbling upon a well-hidden structure, forgotten by time and buried beneath the sweeping sands. Not unfamiliar with hieroglyphics, Ward determined this to be the Temple of the Ennead, but what did that mean? Venturing cautiously through the temple’s traps and trials, they searched for valuable treasures.

Instead, they were the ones discovered! Ancient guardian mummies ambushed the group, and Ward had to make a hasty decision. Leaving four of his team to be slaughtered by the enraged undead protectors, the remaining would-be grave robbers barricaded themselves in a sealed chamber, ringed with ornate sarcophagi. Each of the nine sarcophagi depicted a powerful Egyptian deity, holding a great artifact of power. Ward and his eight remaining companions quickly forgot the impending peril, entranced by the aura of power in the room. Each took a relic from the outstretched, golden hands before them, and the team was instantly transformed into the fabled Ennead of Heliopolis. In these new forms, they had vast power and knowledge, but they also harbored ancient memories and hatred.

They had defeated Ra millennia ago, taking his place as gods of all the civilized world. However, after only a few hundred years, a new deity appeared, calling itself Horus. It fought the Ennead to a standstill before ultimately revealing itself to be Ra reborn and imprisoning the Ennead in this temple beneath the surface of the Sahara, doomed to be forgotten.

The Ennead have returned, with Roderick Ward as their leader, Atum. They have little need for the riches of this world — now, they have power! They yearn for revenge and will have it! Ra’s days are numbered once again…

—

The Ennead are powerful, capricious, and here to make sure Ra has a bad time! Ra has always been a fan-favorite hero, dishing out lots of fire damage and haughty expressions, so it’s only right that he has NINE nemeses in one deck!

To learn more about The Ennead, check out these episodes of The Letters Page podcast:

The Ennead have a main villain character card called “The Temple of The Ennead”, but it mostly exists to establish the play area and bring the members of The Ennead into play over the course of the game. Each of them have their own character cards, which start the game under The Temple and come into play, mostly one a turn, but with some possibilities to arrive at other times, as well!

And here are a few of them now!

Scary!

When they are defeated, they flip to their Incapacitated sides, which give them a more passive but still impactful action. No reveals on those yet! Time will tell!

Then, their deck is made up of One-Shots, each connected to a different member of The Ennead:

And also the Relics of The Ennead! These cards have just one copy each, and can bring forth and empower the so-called deities who use them!

The Ennead are a tough fight! If you’re going to fight nine gods, you’d better be ready for quite the conflict!

—

Most of the questions in the comments have been answered by helpful backers who are in the know, and that’s great! However, there was one thing that came up a few times in a few ways, and I wanted to address it specifically. To sum up the topic:

A: Great question! When I wrote Parse’s original bio (about a decade ago), at the time, my understanding of Asperger’s was based mostly on a student I’d taught several years prior, who had been diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, and who was bright, incredibly intelligent, deeply analytical, but also had challenges related to people and understanding social cues. Not to say that Parse was based on this student — they are both very different people — but I drew on what I knew when incorporating Asperger’s into the character. As a result, the information I had was entirely outdated. Modernly, Asperger’s is no longer used, as it is better understood to be part of what we know as the Autism spectrum. I am by no means an expert on the subject, so when various Sentinels fans over the years took the time to reach out and correct me, I was delighted to learn more! Thus, the character of Parse hasn’t changed at all! We’ve all just gotten better at using the right terminology to describe her experiences.

I hope this helps!

Join us tomorrow for an update about an environment! And keep on saving the Multiverse!

-Christopher

Good morning, Sentinels! 

There were lots of great conversations in the comments yesterday after the reveal of Miss Information, and you seem very into the new way she works! That’s great to hear. I look forward to sharing even more stuff with all of you! Speaking of which, here’s a Hero!

For all the trouble being on the Autism spectrum gave her in her younger years, Kim Howell prided herself in her ability to focus, to analyze information, and to come to accurate conclusions better and faster than just about anyone else. Her friends and family were unsurprised when she moved quickly from a temporary contract job at the Australian branch of RevoCorp to a full-time data analysis position. Her exemplary work in crunching numbers and delivering results paved the way for her inclusion on a team of code-breakers working on the top secret Omnitron project.

RevoCorp had recovered part of the original Omnitron core and was analyzing its self-altered programming in order to better understand what had happened. They were interested in determining if it were possible to recreate the conditions that had spawned a sentient AI, as well as what steps would need to be taken to prevent future occurrences. Ms. Howell was a key member of the deciphering team working on Omnitron, and was actively monitoring the remaining scraps of live programming when the cosmic event transpired that precipitated the reactivation of Omnitron in its more terrifying form. The overflow of information would have just looked like bizarre nonsense to most people, but Kim followed every bit. She saw like she had never seen before.

The code that rewrote Omnitron also upgraded Kim Howell’s mental capacities, allowing her to analyze everything she saw at a much deeper level. Suddenly, she could see the connections between seemingly unrelated events, the weak-points in structures and in people, even the aftereffects of otherwise unimportant actions. Her real time analysis gave her a chance to prevent great catastrophes or to practically foresee the future. Coupled with her skill at archery, she was able to make a notable difference in ranged situations with pinpoint accuracy.

Taking the hero name Parse, she set out to use her abilities to right wrongs and bring accurate analysis to vigilantism. She spent time in the streets of Rook City, fighting crime. She became an ally of the Freedom Five, and was the first to realize that their faithful administrative assistant was, in fact, the villainous Miss Information! She spent years in space, encountering all manner of bizarre creatures and helping them where she could, all while desperately trying to return home. She made it back to Earth in time to play a pivotal role in the OblivAeon event… but that’s another story.

Parse’s tale is as long and complex as her ability to analyze data, and it comes to just as fine a point. She can see the truth of things, but not all truths are what people want to hear. That’s fine with Parse. She’s not here to make friends — she’s here to make things right.

—

Of heroes from the pages of Sentinel Comics, Parse has perhaps the most variance across all her stories. From the gritty street-level stories of the 1980s to the space-faring adventures of the 2000s, you never know where or how Parse is going to be depicted next. Even through it all, her powers and personality have been fairly consistent, even aimed in very different directions.

To learn more about Parse, check out these episodes of The Letters Page podcast:

Representing everything that makes up the Parse story in one Hero deck is a challenge, but she has a lot of iconic elements that shine through!

First off and most importantly, she’s a human computer. She makes calculations. She sees how things work, and how to make them stop working.

She’s also an archer, though not a super-powered one. She doesn’t have fancy arrows. She’s just REALLY good at hitting her target, or making unlikely things work with a single shot.

Ultimately, she uses her abilities to quickly assess situations and either give valuable advice or overcome seemingly impossible odds.

Besides her First Appearance variant that looks into her gritty early stories before rebooting her as a less harsh character, she also has a variant from her time in space, as well as one from a reality where her role in space became less focused on returning to Earth and more focused on seeing the end of things…

We have a couple of questions today sparked by yesterday’s update about Miss Information! First off, a question from RedDusk:

A: Correct! Any cards that say “A thing happens to [Name]” or “[Name] does a thing” or anything like that only work if [Name] is in play. Otherwise, that instruction is skipped!

Then, SkyWhale asked:

A: SkyWhale! This is an incredibly astute question, and one that requires a bit of explanation.

Normally, things you do to one side of a villain character card persist to the other side. As an example, think about ALL of the Core Game villains. Baron Blade, Citizen Dawn, Grand Warlord Voss, Omnitron, The Matriarch, Akash’Bhuta. They are all the same person on both sides of their character card (which Miss Information is as well, but I’m getting to that), and most of them (not Baron Blade or Citizen Dawn, really) can flip multiple times over the course of a game. Imagine if Tachyon Hypersonic Dashed Omnitron, and then the villain character card flips — as it does every round with Omnitron — negating the effect. Boo! That’s no good! Fortunately, that doesn’t happen. The Hypersonic Dash still applies, even though it was played when the villain character card was on the other side.

Now, Aminia Twain is immediately different for a big reason. She’s a Hero target. (Incidentally, we’re gonna do some graphic design tweaks to make that more immediately clear on the front of her character card.) So, this means that Hypersonic Dash can’t even hit her, as it deals damage to “each non-Hero target”. But! The question still stands: what if a status effect of some sort happens to Aminia Twain? Let’s not worry about where it comes from or even what the status effect is: some effect is giving, uh, let’s say “Damage Immunity” to Aminia Twain. Then, she flips to the Miss Information side. What happens to the Damage Immunity?

It goes away.

WHAT?! WHY? 

Because she’s a different target. 

HOW?!

Because her keyword changed.

This is HUGE. She has the “Bystander” keyword on the front of her card, but she has the “Villain” keyword on the back of her card. Keywords matter a bunch: “One-Shots” and “Ongoings” are played very differently, just because of their keyword. Same thing here. Yes, it’s the same card, but it has both a different name AND a different keyword on the back. Thus, when the card flips, it’s a different target.

This will be mentioned in the Disparation rulebook, as well, so don’t worry about this update being the only place with this information. That would be rude of me!

OK, enough about all that. Time for me to get back to work on other things… but I’ll be back tomorrow morning with an update about another Villain! Who could it be?!

Until then, keep on saving the Multiverse!

-Christopher

Good morning, Sentinels fans!

It’s the beginning of the second week! We had a busy weekend here on the campaign, adding hundreds more backers — I’m thrilled to see you all here! 

Now, let’s get Villainous!

“They… didn’t save me."

The darkness closed in around her, pressing, crushing, choking. Aminia felt blind panic, like shadowed hands squeezing her desperately thudding heart up again her ribs and then— nothing. Darkness. Silence. And one thought: “They didn’t save me.”

Suddenly, the light hit her eyelids with searing brightness as she snapped into life with a jolt. She gasped for air. “Ms. Twain? Are you alright?” Dr. Stinson asked quickly. “Hiccups?” Mr. Parsons asked in his usual, genial manner. She felt her stomach churn — how did she ever find that phony charisma so charming? She smiled weakly and nodded, feigning another hiccup, before excusing herself from the meeting for a cup of water. Shutting the door behind her, she melted, stunned, on the other side of the wall. The meeting continued on within the room behind her — they didn’t even notice her absence.

What happened? Her eyes darted around the familiar headquarters of the Freedom Five, but not everything seemed like how she’d left it. Things were different. She was different. She had died. The darkness had lifted to unveil a changed world. Or perhaps, perhaps only she had changed? She went to the sink to fill the “World’s Finest Assistant" mug Dr. Stinson gave her three years before they let her die. The handle had yet to crack.

This world was most definitely different than the one she left, but no difference cast such a stark contrast as the difference she felt inside. No longer was she the devoted, sheepish secretary who alerted the Freedom Five to where trouble emerged, who placed orders for Tachyon’s many pairs of new footwear, who copied memos from the president, who washed sweaty spandex uniforms. Now, she was awake.

Aminia straightened up her jacket and opened the door to return to the job she perfected in her previous life. No longer would she skip date night to remove every fleck of red dust from their precious equipment. Nor would she lose sleep worrying about the calls she would make to loved ones with bad news after a battle. For never again would she shed a tear for the Freedom Five. No. For now, all she heard amid the cheer of the grateful crowds and the praise of the adoring public was that one final thought. They had a choice — me, their devoted servant, who gave EVERYTHING… or five total strangers.

“They didn’t save me.”

“Can they save themselves?”

—

Aminia Twain was the devoted Administrative Assistant of the Freedom Five for many years…

…before another version of her — from a timeline in which she died when the Freedom Five couldn’t save her from a villain — made its way through the Multiverse and took over the mind and body of this reality’s Aminia Twain, becoming the villain Miss Information!

To learn more about both Aminia Twain and Miss Information, check out these episodes of The Letters Page podcast:

Miss Information defeats the Heroes by turning their strengths against them, and revealing their weaknesses to their greatest foes!

Her deceptions leave clues behind, but will the Heroes uncover the truth in time?

How can the Heroes deduce who their true foe is, so long as they have so many opponents, each recognizable from some other potential threat (such as a Villain that was released last week…)? They all seem to be going after Aminia Twain! You’d better stop them…

Of course, when the truth is revealed, it is devastating. To everyone. 

Aminia Twain herself is a victim here, in so many ways. But the Heroes must save the day, and in this case, it means saving themselves from one they thought of as their greatest ally. 

—

The comments continue to be fantastic and delightful! Thank you all for being so engaged and encouraging!

We did get an interesting question about add-ons and RPG books from Faralis:

A: Possibly! We’d certainly like to, as we make more SCRPG products and run more crowdfunding campaigns about Sentinel Comics stuff. At the end of this campaign, we’ll have a good feel for how popular those add-ons were this time around, and if there’s been sufficient interest, we could definitely see them being part of future campaigns, as well!

—

Thanks again, everyone! I look forward to revealing another Hero for you all tomorrow!

And, as always, keep on saving the Multiverse!

-Christopher

Greetings, Sentinels fans!

It’s the end of the first week, and what a first week! I’m very curious to see what the rest of this campaign will bring… and I’m sure you are, too! So let’s get into it!

Established: 1867

Population: 923

Empty Jail Cells: None

Silver Gulch is a good town. Well, it was. Before them Hayes boys rode into town, that is. Since then, most of the townsfolk've cleared out. Hightailed it out of town, and just in time, too. Now, every street corner is filled with the sounds of breaking glass, hootin' and hollerin', and gunfire.

Last night, there was a strange, warbling sound, and a bright flash of weird light. Some folks in funny clothes came walking out of thin air, but they looked as confused as the rest of us! They're clearly far from home. Wasn't long before the Hayes brothers were taking pot shots at them, too.

—

Are you ready for a Weird West adventure?! Silver Gulch is back, but this time with even more temporal anomalies than before!

Looks pretty quiet, right? Don’t get used to it!

The infamous Hayes brothers are around, and there are rumors that they’ve gotten their hands on some kind of fancy science fiction apparatuses? That doesn’t sound right…

There’s a lot of property about, which might be used by outlaws and law enforcement as cover in the nigh-constant gunfights, but could also be used for their intended purposes, as well.

Uh, what’s that second piece of property there?! Where did that come from? WHEN did that come from?! We’ve got trouble.

Good thing the sheriff has put out a bounty on the Hayes brothers. I just hope it helps… in time!

Lost in time?! That sounds bad!

For more information on Silver Gulch, check out these two episodes of The Letters Page podcast:

—

The questions have been pretty quiet! Honestly, I’m used to a lot more, “But, wait, what?” during crowdfunding campaigns, but it seems like you folks are all pros at this! I especially appreciate everyone in the comments answering the questions that do pop up on things that have been addressed in the past. That’s great. 

As a reward, I’ll use this section to show off a Chrono-Ranger variant! I hinted in his update that his First Appearance variant is NOT the moment from the Akash’Bhuta fight. That was the first time he showed up in the pages of Sentinel Comics (well, unless you count his appearances in Covered Wagon Comics in the 1940s and ‘50s, but that’s just as Jim Brooks, not Chrono-Ranger), but it wasn’t his first named appearance. He was just there for a couple panels. So, rather than use the cover of that comic (that indicated nothing about him at all) for his First Appearance comic, we did this!

Now, I’ll note right off the bat that a couple of typefaces in that image are incorrect — InDesign was fighting me this morning, and I figured it was worth it to show you the card anyway and have our much-better-than-I-am-at-this graphic designers fix my mistakes  well before it goes to print. But! This way you get to see what many in the world where Sentinel Comics is a real publisher consider to be the actual First Appearance of Jim Brooks as Chrono-Ranger! 

Volume 3 of Tome of the Bizarre launched in April of 1988, starting off with the full backstory of Jim Brooks becoming Chrono-Ranger (as told in Wednesday’s update). And that’s what’s on this card!

—

Have a great weekend everyone! I recommend playing some Sentinels of the Multiverse: Definitive Edition this weekend — the Multiverse needs saving, after all! See you all Monday for another exciting update!

-Christopher

Greetings, Sentinels fans!

It’s the start of the third day, and what an amazing first two days we had! Hello to each and everyone one of you glorious gang of well over 3000 backers!

As promised, I’m here today to talk about a villain, so let’s get into it!

Young Maria Helena was tired of her dull life in Huelva, España. The most exciting part of her day was watching the ships sail in and out of port — she longed to be out on the sea, seeking the treasures of the known world, rather than stuck on land. So, when she saw an opportunity to sneak aboard a galeon, she did not hesitate. Disguising herself as a boy, she stowed away in the cargo hold until the ship sailed out to sea.

That was over 400 years ago.

Days into the ship's journey, Maria heard panicked shouting on the deck above. Tired of hiding and hoping that no one would notice another random boy on the ship, she raced to the top deck to see what all the commotion was about. As she reached the deck, the boat lurched terribly, throwing many crew members overboard, but Maria managed to barely catch herself on a railing. She could finally see the sea, but it was not the joyous occasion she had hoped for, as only a few dozen feet from the ship was a terrible wrongness. A horrible anomaly.

There appeared to be a vast crack in the surface of the ocean itself, and the water around it was pouring into the rift. The men who fell overboard were all quickly sucked in, and the ship was pulled closer and closer with each passing moment. Everyone aboard the ship ran about in a blind panic — no one had ever experienced anything like this before. Maria made her way to the ship’s helm, seeking better handholds to prevent her falling into certain doom.

As the ship finally dove into the crack in reality, sailors fell from the boat into the twisting void, but Maria held tight to the wheel, wanting desperately to sail the ship even unto eternity.

And then, she did.

The temporal energies of the rift in time changed the ship as it fell, and Maria Helena experienced some of that change herself. She could feel the energy of the rift stretching out before the ship, and knew that by turning the wheel that she gripped so tightly, she could move the ship through the temporal flow of time itself! Time was hers to explore — and to plunder!

Now, Maria Helena Teresa Fafila Servanda Jimena Mansuara Paterna Domenga Gelvira Placia Sendina Belita Eufemia Columba Gontina Aldonza Mafalda Cristina Tegrida de Falcon has sailed through the ages, collecting names for herself and a crew from her past, present, and future, all with the same great thirst for adventure and vast greed for riches from everywhere… and everywhen!

—

La Capitan sails through time, stealing things that delight her, names that inspire her, and ruffians to add to her motley crew! Check out these three episodes from The Letters Page podcast to learn more about her!

La Capitan is, at her core, a pirate. Add to that time shenanigans and a bizarre crew that dips into both piracy and cool time stuff, and you’ve got a villain who is both dangerous and also a lot of fun!

Of course, she’s stealing your stuff! First thing first, gotta go get the ship, and some crew to help run it!

Now let’s meet some of those crew members! A familiar — yet quite threatening — face, plus one who wasn’t originally part of THIS incarnation of La Capitan!

Now, with her crew assembled, she’s ready to take all your things! And man is she good at it. 

On The Letters Page podcast, we’ve told many tales of La Capitan (and even more tales of other heroes, villains, and more from the pages of Sentinel Comics), so it wasn’t hard to come up with interesting moments to draw on for her Events. It’s not time yet to get too deep into them, but rest assured that there will be both familiar tales, as well as exciting twists!

—

The comments section for this campaign has been busy! It’s also been pretty overwhelmingly positive, which I GREATLY appreciate. Sentinels fans are the finest community I’ve ever had the pleasure of being a part of! So, I don’t have a lot of questions (other than things I’m pointedly not answering, as mentioned in the last update). A big part of that has been the help from the intrepid Bailey, our customer service expert. Xir has been killing it getting people prompt and accurate answers. Thanks, Bailey!

However, there has been a question that prompted a change from us, so let me get to that one now!

A: Before yesterday afternoon, the answer to that question was, “Not as part of this campaign, but they are on our webstore!” Which is a fine answer, I guess. However, Bailey was unsatisfied with that answer and took decisive action! Thanks to xir hard work, those items are now available in the Add-On system! Huzzah! So, now the answer to that question is: “Yes! Go get ‘em!”

—

Thanks everyone! I look forward to sharing information about an Environment with you tomorrow!

Keep on saving the Multiverse!

-Christopher