So yeah, Space Bug is definitely coming to my Sentinel decks soon after Concord does. And as a hero at that.
I may have been working on this for a little bit as a treat. 
2 Likes
After getting to peak at Bill’s well done Notion site for his Phase Three plans, I really enjoyed how much cover images added to the experience, so I overhauled my setup to use them too. This actually helps me out a bit, knowing where some of my gaps are.
3 Likes
So last time I talked about future sets and I think I’ve fallen into the decision of “whatever feels right is what it should be.” Not an exciting answer, but an answer.
So let’s talk about something that is exciting: variants. Every hero comes with a character card usually referred to as “the base version” by the game fandom. But (at least in the core set of heroes) each hero also has a set of alternate character cards that can be used in place of the base version called variants. Many heroes only have one but at least one (Bunker) has 5 variants (admittedly I think part of that was attempts to “fix” Bunker who is seen as one of the clunkiest heroes in the base game).
These variants can represent anything, versions of that hero from another universe, versions of that hero from different points in their storyline, or even versions of that hero from what-if-style stories. Hell, the Cauldron released a set of Halloween-themed variants for several of their heroes in 2020.
With this in mind, let’s run down the list of our heroes and what I have in mind for them, variants-wise. Several of these have themes that I’ll talk about at the end but I’m sure you’ll pick up on them on your own.
Base Set
Charade
Menagerie Charade: Charade as part of the Menagerie, going into the final battle with Clockwork.
MIA Charade: Charade as leader of the MIA. Probably more focused on team leading than damage.
Secret Origin: Alycia Chin: Alycia on the run from AEGIS/the Division before becoming Charade.
Concord
Menagerie Concord: Concord as part of the Menagerie, going into the final battle with Clockwork.
Keynome Kid: Teen Adam from the Keynome storyline (but needs a new name).
Kid Concord: Concord before he had the adult super form and also early in his run, so probably a lot more spotty than normal Concord.
Ghost Girl
Menagerie Ghost Girl: Ghost Girl as part of the Menagerie, going into the final battle with Clockwork.
Ghost Girl Pandemonium: Ghost Girl from the Quillverse who became Pandemonium.
Ghost Girl, Spirit of the Solstice: (already done) Ghost Girl with the Solstice Candle.
Magus Ghost Girl: (already done) Charlotte as the Magus.
Mercury
Menagerie Mercury: Mercury as part of the Menagerie, going into the final battle with Clockwork.
Quillverse Mercury: Older Mercury who was trapped in the bubble from the Quillverse. Not super excited about this one, but it was the only thing I could come up with for Harry.
Radiance
Menagerie Radiance: Radiance as part of the Menagerie, going into the final battle with Clockwork.
Secret Origin: Numina: Holographic Summer action as team overwatch.
Princess Radiance: (already done) Radiance in the role of Princess of the Fairy Kingdoms.
Tech Support
Jason Quill
Boy Adventurer Jason Quill: Young Jason, not as experienced but makes up for it with zeal.
Quillverse Jason Quill: A repentant adult Jason with the Quillverse after Leo reintroduced himself to himself.
Link, Otto, and Pnuma
I haven’t thought too hard about these because I’m still trying to decide how interconnected these need to be, but at least one thought is that Big Bill and Mo could be variants of Otto, but that is a very early idea. Also if Link is his own character and not part of a shared deck with Pneuma, I’m sure berserker Link from phase three will probably be one of his variants.
MIA
Agent R
MIA Agent R: Nono as a member of the MIA.
Comrade X
MIA Comrade X: Alex as a member of the MIA.
Secret Origins: Agent 1337: Alex during their time with AEGIS/the Division.
Firebrand
MIA Firebrand: Emma as a member of the MIA.
Secret Origins: Hot Mess: Emma as an anti-villain in training.
SNOWMAN
MIA SNOWMAN: John as a member of the MIA.
ASIST
A10
Irregulators A10: Andi as a member of the Irregulators.
Alloy
Irregulators Alloy: Alloy as a member of the Irregulators.
Armiger
Irregulators Armiger: Will as a member of the Irregulators.
La Cordera
Secret Origins: Superchica: Keri while she still had the ‘tude.
Telekinetian
Irregulators Telekinetian: Nate as a member of the Irregulators.
Megaverse
Princess Peri
I don’t know for her yet. Still super early days here.
Space Bug
Halloween Space Bug: Space Bug cosplaying as Ash from the Evil Dead. Who gave that Moth a chainsaw and boomstick?!
So broad strokes on some of the themed variants.
- Team Variants: (Menagerie, MIA, Irregulators) Exactly what it says on the tin. Variants with powers that make them work much better on their team than normal or makes them slot more into the role they played in that team (for example, Menagerie Charade is a loner, MIA Charade is a leader).
- Secret Origins: These are callbacks to the hero’s previous heroic/villainous/etc identity.
- Holiday Themes: Ghost Girl has Christmas and Space Bug has Halloween. I’m sure we can fit a few more in (or just throw in more Halloween themed ones because those are always fun).
I’m sure I’ve missed some obvious ones, but what are your thoughts on this?
1 Like
Independence Day kid icon Mercury!
If variants can include ancestors, Manny sailed under a “Captain Quill” on a round-the-world voyage of adventure, and that name isn’t a coincidence.
1 Like
All sound appropriate.
Not sure how this works in the context you have, but when we talk about Variant in terms of timeline alternatives, then there’s certainly room for an out-and-out villainous Charade – “Father’s Daughter” (while Chin was still alive, spy/assassin; some overlap with Secret Origins version) and “Heir To Chin” (the commander of many mooks, though not above getting her hands dirty).
Young Jason should have crazy things happen around him, too – almost becoming his cartoon character alternate, including his dog being suspiciously intelligent. Also, we need a generic “Deus ex Patriae” kind of card where Jason gets some sort of defense or rescue from some gadget from his dad.
Not sure what the Quillverse version would look like here. Riffing off the villain side of thing, Quillverse Quill would make a good one – the tired villainous mastermind who thinks himself a misunderstood hero, not realizing how far he’s fallen; controls a lot of resources and tech, but vulnerable to psychic attack (hmmm, maybe can also invoke powerful sub-villains but then strikes against them, too).
Overall, I think this all sounds good!
Yeah, I think the Secret Origins variant (as planned) has enough overlap with those ideas that, while they wouldn’t be superfluous, they at least would muddy the waters on the “variant of Alycia when she was still a baddie” theme. Though if I could fit in a villain variant of Alycia being in place of say Pyrrhus, I think that might have some legs. 
Young Jason
Helicopter Parent (power): < add in some overprotective effect later >
I see someone has been snooping through my notes of the Quillverse Jason villain. 
Expanding on this, I was planning on a lot of this: Jason waiting in the wings, masterminding things while his minions do the heavy lifting. From the game, we already have (a somehow brought to heel) Sablestar Enora Dralis and a gem man named Fracture whose abilities greatly resemble Fractal’s to the point I think at least I if not other speculated that they were derived from her, because let’s throw human experimentation on top of everything else Evil Jason has done. I’m sure we can come up with a couple more to round out his entourage (especially if Bill thinks D-SOL-8 might have been under the employ of Jason before coming to our present).
Quillverse Jason is definitely one of the villains I’m most looking forward to designing, though I will need to be smart about it because while there are thematic differences between Quillverse Jason, Clockwork, and Pyrrhus, it would be really easy to make all of them similar from a mechanics standpoint.
I know you’re probably kidding but it’d be tempting just to write out the events of Harry stopping cattle rustlers in Wyoming for the bio.
They certainly can and it could be appropriate, depending on how the story with Charlotte goes.
Hmm, it could also be interesting to do a whole set of Time War (or some otherwise temporally themed) variants to include versions of characters from different timelines and eras, like Captain Quill for Jason, Magus Max Galliard Milo Lum for Ghost Girl, and probably others. We’ll put a pin in that one for now.
Not employment per se but they very definitely know each other.
I’m actually not! Independence Day Harry as a variant takes a more inspirational angle, Harry as icon and folk hero encouraging other people through his presence. He’s explicitly undertaking a non-“superhero” activity (charity) but happens to be using his powers along the way.
1 Like
Setting aside what Sablestar was getting from Jason and Rook (hint: access to the Sepiaverse), Enora Dralis is actually a separate character, and the Megaverse crew is going to meet her
Huh, I thought I had asked about if that was the same character or a separate one in the past, but I guess I just assumed it. Now I got to come up with replacement name for her since she’s coming up in Concord’s deck.
1 Like
Alycia definitely has better legs.
Obviously, young Jason doing something while Byron hovers overhead with a helicopter backpack (in lieu of a jetpack).
For Science!
Er, for Order!
Uh … for fuck’s sake, someone has to save the world and if it’s gonna be me then get off my goddamned back!
While mechanics diversity is important, significantly different story can make a big difference, too, and mask a multitude of underlying similarity.
I think we are all there.
1 Like
So Mercury’s deck is nearly mechanical completion, so I think it’s time to make sure all the cards feel right. To that end, here is the Mercury hero deck as it stands now.
As you no doubt can see, some of these I have very strong mental images for (namely any card that has all three of the Theme and Flavor, Image, and Quotes columns filled out) but just as many I’m struggling to come up with a good way to differentiate them (I’m looking at you Annoying Barrage and Quick Hits). Also, I do not put it past myself to have missed an obvious name for a card (though it’s also possible that the obvious name was already taken by another card name in the base game), so feel free to recommend names as well as themes, image ideas, and quotes. I try to get the cards to be approximately 50% from the game, 25% from post-game stuff, and 25% from stuff I just made up and sound cool, but these are not hard numbers and I’ll jump around to whatever makes the most coherent overall deck experience (which I seem to be succeeding on because people have very strong understandings of who Charade, Ghost Girl, Radiance, and Unmute are).
One notable omission is Uncle Comet’s trick, which Harry used a couple time throughout the game. That is a card idea I tried to get to work so many times throughout the versions of Mercury’s deck but it just wouldn’t in a way that made sense or played well. That said, it’s probably going to end up being the basis for one of Mercury’s variant powers (possibly Menagerie Mercury) so don’t fret too much about that.
2 Likes
Devil’s Shadow Hands style:
An endless flurry of attacks that aren’t intended to connect, but need to be dealt with anyway - and can leave the defender flailing once the attacker withdraws.
The ultimate “I’m not touching you!” move - a distraction that leaves the defender exhausted.
1 Like
After far too long, I have completed the Netherwarden’s deck art. Now I just need to go through all the standard bits and bobs: run this by the proofreading team, get it over to my digital programmer, and finish writing the necromancer’s bio and flavor dialogue for digital.
In retrospect, this was probably the hardest deck to complete because I was already done with the deck when they were Ghostheart. All too often I was taking artwork I has perfectly happy with and just redrawing it, retreading old ground and not always being happy with the newer version.
But now it’s done and I can move on to new things like Mercury and Concord. 
I would ask if anyone has interest or time to give a look over the quotes at the bottom of the cards to double check me to make sure everything sounds like the necromancer we all… pity and tolerate.
1 Like
Those quotes are super duper spicy. A+
Literally the only one that doesn’t give me any kind of vibe is Aspect of the Gatekeeper. I dunno if it’s too late to suggest alternatives, but in the interest of feedback, that’s mine. 
1 Like
Wouldn’t have asked for assistance if it was already too late.
Yeah, that is probably the most utilitarian quote, just reinforcing what the artwork is showing us, so if you have ideas feel free to make recommendations.
- “TK! The hand! Oh God…”
- “TK, it’s coming for you!”
- “TK, run!”
- “Behind you! The claw!”
1 Like
Simple but effective. Using this one in the updated card. Now to send them to the proofreaders.
While there are many sources of inspiration, including quotes from the games themselves and the Phase 2 stories, whenever I was writing for Netherwarden I would think of Parson Nathaniel from Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds. Just the right amount of delusion and fatalism for the character in my opinon.
1 Like
As I was doing some deck prep this morning (Bill made this great system for me in Notion that has greatly reduced the level of overhead it takes to track decks, and I’ve been slowly importing old data into it) I noticed a hole in my plans.
While this isn’t a hard rule, I’ve been working off the idea that each villain has their “iconic fight location” that matches up with a particular environment deck. For instance…
- Unmute in Challenger Park (recreating the fight between the Menagerie and Unmute in the first three issues of the Menagerie)
- Netherwarden in Oakland Cemetery
- Pyrrhus in the Chin base below Plateau Station (whatever that environment deck winds up getting named)
And as I’m working on the Clockwork/Doctor Infinity deck, it makes wonder what their iconic fight location should be? The easy answer is Disney World, given where the last fight of the game took place, but given that I already make a whole lot of name and design changes to avoid an indy publisher’s theoretical lawyers, I do not want to deal with the Mouse’s very real and very scary lawyers and so would have to develop a fictional theme park and I don’t know how interested I am in that. Like it might be fun, but it would probably feel more like a joke deck than “serious final boss fight location.”
The alternative is the research station found in the Sepiaverse where Charade, Mercury, and Ghost Girl were ambushed by Doctor Infinity’s starfish drone. (As an aside, the more I go through that whole section of the game, it’s a bit of a trip. It’s a research station built in an alternative universe of an alternate future timeline. Only in superhero comic books.) But it seems like a bit of a stretch given that Doctor Infinity never showed up there in person and that had a bit more to do with Future Jason/Director Quill than it did with Doctor Infinity.
One thing I don’t want to do is to try to recreate the time chase that happened in Phase 2 as an environment, since there’s already one canon environment deck and a well known fan deck built around that concept. Besides, that seems more like an inherent trait of a fight with Clockwork, not something that only comes up when the fight is focused in one place.
Again, not a major concern, but was curious what others thought about this.
1 Like
- Is it more important to match the events of the Masks campaign, or more important to introduce a fun environment deck that Sentinels players can use?
- If someone else does the work of building out a theme park (for example), how receptive would you be to using it as a Disney World substitute?
Deceptively complicated question. I always want to make something representative of the Menagerie game, even when it’s treading new ground.
I’ll point to Stanley Sports Center as an example of that. That never existed in the Masks campaign, but I linked it to a notable Menagerie villain (Ghostheart/Netherwarden), other supporting characters (the Irregulators are featured throughout and seemed to have had some Scooby Doo-like adventure there), and Rook/Tyran (they own it). But I also made it because I had an idea I thought would be fun and ran with it, making the connections as I needed them.
So I guess the second is more important, but I still want to try to match the events where possible.
I mean I think I’d love it. My concern was that it would be seen as a joke deck, but there’s so much about that sort of location that would be fun to work with: people in mascot costumes, rides, weird attractions, and some dumb Unmute cameo where she’s trying to stream an episode of her show from inside the park.
The difficulty would be balancing all of that with the idea that this is where Clockwork/Doctor Infinity had her last stand and was frozen in time until she eventually freed herself by possessing her alternate universe self while she was sleeping with the left of her teammate’s time-altered little sister (again, superhero comics). But I guess that ship already sailed 4 years ago. Plus canon Sentinels of the Multiverse has a movie studio be ground zero of their Galactus/Unicron stand-in landing on Earth, so maybe I’m overthinking things.