Let's Play - Spiderman - City in Darkness (Marve Superheroes Game Book 1)

[deaddmwalking]

This book was written by Jeff Grubb. He has a bunch of TSR credits including Al-Qadim and Spelljammer. So that's interesting!

Illustrated by Alan Kuppeerrberg and Keith Williams


THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (tm) in CITY IN DARKNESS

Challenged by a dead foe!

There is a silence for a moment. Then your spider-sense starts buzzing, as the whirring of turbine engines catches your ear. A dark shadow moves against the lights across the East River, and you see a bat-winged glider rise from the side of a courtyard overlooking the river. Swooping rapidly towards you is an all-too-familiar turbine-powered glider piloted by the Green Goblin!

How can that be? you wonder, stifling a cold chill that is tremoring up your spine under your Spider-Man suit. The Green Goblin is dead!

But you have no time for further questions. Your enemy is sailing over you, firing a blazing bolt of lightninglike energy straight at you!

Have you got what it takes to escape this sudden and vicious onslaught?

Roll one die and add the result to your Agility score. If the total is 11 or less, turn to 167. If it is 12, 13, or 14, go to 191. If it is 15 or more, proceed to 44.

Whatever the outcome, only your decisions, and the luck of the dice roll, can help you find the maniac who is keeping the City in Darkness

FACE FRONT, TURE BELIEVERS!

You are about to assume the role of the Amazing Spider-Man and encounter some of the most nefarious villains of the Marvel Universe in an exciting, totally new kind of role-playing gamebook.

Based on the popular MARVEL SUPER HEROES Role-Playing Game from TSR, Inc., MARVEL SUPER HEROES Adventure Gamebooks require only a single standard, six-sided die; a pen or pencil; a moderate supply of luck; and, most of all, your own personal skill in making decisions as you play the game. If dice are unavailable, a simple alternative, requiring only pencil and paper, may be used instead. See page 12. *********Dice are available, so we will not be using the alternate method***************

MARVEL SUPER HEROES Adventure Gamebooks have been designed to read easily, without complicated rules to slow down the story. Once you finish reading the rules that follow, you should seldom find it necessary to refer back to them. Your choices are clearly stated at each choice point, with occasional reminders of additional options you have available.

Your adventure reads like a book, plays like a game, and offers a thrill a minute—with YOU as your favorite Marvel Super Hero!

YOUR CHARACTER

In this book, you are the Amazing Spider-Man— in real life, free-lance photographer Peter Parker.

While you were still in high school, you attended a demonstration of the safe uses of radioactivity. At this demonstration, you were accidentally bitten by aspider that had been exposed to an extremely high level of radiation. The spider’s venom intermingled with your blood, endowing you with the proportional strength and agility of a spider. In addition, you acquired a special ‘‘spider-sense” that warns you of danger, along with the incredible ability to cling to walls and ceilings.

Seeking to find a way to support yourself with your new special abilities, you used your knowledge of chemistry to develop a chemical webbing that, though easily applied, quickiy hardens to a strong, flexible adhesive binding. So armed, you set out to make a name in show business, hiding your natural shyness behind a mask.

Your show business career was short-lived, however. After one early performance, you failed to capture a burglar, who later killed your beloved Uncle Ben. At that point, you learned the hardest lesson of your life—that with great power comes great responsibility.

Since that fateful day, you have fought evil and crime wherever and whenever you have found it. Your domain is high above the city, where you swing from building to building on your special weblines. You have battled many formidable foes. Sandman, Electro, Doctor Octopus, Vulture, and the Kingpin of Crime all count you as their enemy. You are feared by many, as a result of inflammatory editorials about you written by newspaper publisher J. Jonah Jameson. However, others have come to know you as a trusted crimefighter and a force for good in the world as you seek to protect the lives of the innocent. ...



PLAYING THE GAME

The Marvel Super Heroes portrayed in this series of books have certain powerful abilities far beyond those of the average human being: As Spider-Man, your special abilities, which will allow you to attempt things a normal person wouldn’t even consider, are listed on the removable MARVEL SUPER HEROES" Stats Card located at the front of this book. The Stats Card lists everything you need to keep track of in order to play the game in this book. At the same time, it doubles as a handy bookmark.

SCORING

Playing the game requires that you keep track of three things—Skill points, Karma points, and Health points—on the Super Hero Stats Card located at the front of the book. An explanation of each of these follows.

Health Points

Health Points Health Points represent your general health or life strength. If you are injured or become ill, you lose some of these points. If you lose all your Health points, you will fall unconscious and possibly even die. At any rate, if your Health points drop to zero or less, your adventure is over. If you are hurt or sick, you may regain some or all of your Health points by healing or by spending Karma, which is explained in the following section. Always remember, however, that it is not possible to regain more health points than you had at the start of the game.

Spider-Man begins this adventure with a total of 32 Health points.

Karma Points

Karma points Karma points represent the effects your actions will have on your future. You earn Karma by doing heroic deeds, by making the right decisions, and in general by being a good person. Conversely, if you do things you shouldn't, you may lose Karma. There is no limit to the number of Karma points you can earn, but you will do better to spend your Karma than to hoard it.

You may spend Karma on any die roll you make to aati your chance of success. Here’s how it works:

You must make your decision to spend Karma before you roll the die.

Once you commit yourself to spend Karma on a die roll, you must spend at least 2 Karma points. You may add as many more Karma points as you need to make your die roll successful, providing you have enough Karma points to spend. If you decide to spend Karma on your die roll but fail the roll because you didn’t have enough Karma points to spend or because you chose not to spend that much Karma, you still lose the original 2 Karma points.

Karma may also be spent to regain lost Health points whenever you reach a choice point in the story. For every Karma point you decide to spend in this manner, increase your total Health score by 1 point. Be sure to subtract the same number from your Karma total. The reverse is not true, however. Health points may not be converted to Karma points.

Spider-Man begins this adventure with a total of 12 Karma points.





ABILITY POINTS

Ability points determine how easy or difficult it is for you to perform certain actions, called FEATS. Whenever you are asked to attempt a particular type of FEAT, consult the ability called for on your Super Hero Stats Card, roll one die, and add the result of the die roll to your Ability score. The text will indicate what you should do next, according to what your total was.

The abilities used in this gamebook are described below.

FIGHTING determines how good you are in armed and unarmed combat. Your natural skill, combined with your many years as a crimefighter, gives you a much better than average skill with your fists.

AGILITY is a measure of your coordination. The radioactive spider that bit you gave you the proportional agility of a spider, allowing you to dodge and leap great distances, as well as hurl objects with great accuracy.

STRENGTH determines how much damage you inflict when you hit something. It also tells how much weight you are able to lift. You have the proportional strength of a spider, allowing you to lift great weights. You often pull your punches, however, in order to avoid seriously injuring human opponents.

ENDURANCE measures how long you can exert yourself physically without resting. It also determines how well you can stand up to punishment, how long you can hold your breath, and how well you are able to resist the effects of knockout gas. Your Endurance is far beyond that of an ordinary human being—a definite advantage when you go up against powerful villains such as Doctor Doom.

REASON reflects how well you can solve problems with your mind. You have a college education, and you did some graduate work in chemistry before becoming a free-lance photographer, so you’re no dummy.

INTUITION gauges how well you observe with your senses and are able to act on that knowledge. Your special spider-sense, gained from your encounter with the radioactive spider, helps make you aware of potential danger, even danger that you cannot directly see.

Psyche is based on your willpower and inner strength. A high Psyche score helps you to resist magic and mind control techniques. Your Psyche is far above average for human beings.

AGILITY WITH WEBBING is a special ability that is yours alone. You have developed an incredibly strong temporary adhesive that you can shoot from special web-shooters you wear on your wrists. Through long practice with these web-shooters, you are more comfortable using them than any other weapon. You carry extra cartridges of web-fluid in your belt, along with a mini-camera and a supply of spider-tracers, which are special devices that send out signals tuned to attract your spider-sense.

PLAYING WITHOUT DICE

Should you ever wish to play the adventure when dice are unavailable, there is a simple substitute that requires only pencil and paper. Simply write the numbers 1 through 6 on separate slips of paper and mix them up in a container. When a FEAT roll is called for, draw one of the slips, note the number, and place it back in the container. Mix the numbers up before you draw again. Each draw represents one roll of a die.

You, as Spider-Man, are now ready to face the dangers that lurk in the CITY OF DARKNESS. Turn to page 13 to begin your adventure. Goodluck, and good choices!

Name: SPIDER-MAN(tm)
Secret Identity: Peter Parker
Ability Points:
Fighting 6
Agility 10
Strength 8
Endurance 8
Reason 4
Intuition 10
Psyche 8
Agility with Webbing 16
Karma Points: 6
Health Points: 32

[deaddmwalking]

1

You move through the brightly lit canyons of 1 the city on a single strand of webbing. Below you the city is ablaze with light, from the powerful spotlights framing its most famous buildings to the soft glow of hundreds of street lamps and apartment windows. It is early summer and the warm weather has brought out most of New York’s population. Couples stroll along the sidewalk, stopping to watch breakdancers and mimes. Executives out on the town hail taxis bound for the theater district. Street musicians sound out hot, muggy tones on saxes and clarinets, providing background music for the smalltime hustlers plying the crowd with games of three-card monte.

You have a bird's-eye view of it all. Or in your case, a spider’s-eye view. You swing down the street, high above the normal hustle and bustle, your weblines arching from their special webshooters strapped to your wrists, providing a set of lines to carry you from building to building.

You've got to get across town fast—a meeting with Daily Bugle Editor Robbie Robertson was supposed to start five minutes ago, and lateness is not a virtue looked for in free-lance photographers, not even when jolly Jonah Jameson was in charge.

Of course, you muse, when it absolutely, positively has to get there overnight, Webslinger Express is the only way to travel. your lines might not reach the next tall structure.

Rather than risk missing a shot, you tuck into a roll, straighten at the last instant, and make a perfect two-point landing on a movie marquee.

“Hey, it’s Spider-Man!” shouts a voice from the crowd below. Heads turn and you feel the gaze of your admiring public.

“Wow!”

“Neat!”

"l thought he was from an imaginary story!”

“George, get out the camera!”

Ah, the tribulations of being a well-known, super-powered hero, you think, chuckling, adored by millions, or at least hundreds, capable of stunts only dreamed of by mere mortals, in reality mild-mannered camera hound Peter—

“Ya bum!”

The last comment breaks through your reverie and catches you by surprise. Not the words of an admirer, even in New York City. You scan the crowd below to see who your detractor is.

“Yeah, you, Spider-Bum! You’re a menace to society! I read about it in the Daily Bugle! Jameson says you’re a crook!”’ The speaker is a nondescript man, about thirty, wearing a tan windbreaker and a Mets’ cap. You could pass him on the street without even noticing him.

Beneath your mask you frown deeply. Okay, hero, you think, do you really want to take this kind of guff, or do you want to teach this loudmouth a lesson?

If you’re willing to put up with a little verbal abuse, go to 64. If you'd rather deal directly with the lout, go to 45.

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to put up with a little verbal abuse, since our hero is already late for work.

I again would like to indicate appreciation for helping to hold the line. I am still not able to catch too much of a break at work to be able to run any Let’s Plays in the near future. Is anyone planning to run Fighting Fantasy #73: Tomb of the Golden Skull when it gets released? If not, then I will probably run this next month.

[deaddmwalking]

I currently have no plans for running anything else. For the list I have for future Let's Play, I'm having trouble determining original versus revised version and have only been able to find Dr. Strange in Spanish. Of course, things may change - things are always in the last place you look.

[Beroli]

Put up with verbal abuse.

The original version of Crypt of the Vampire is the version that's set in a fantasy world, with elves and hobgoblins. The revised version has musketeers and er...szegeny.

[Thaluikhain]

Put up with abuse.

[deaddmwalking]

64

“According to the Bugle, I’m the Hulk’s tailor,’ you shout back, already shooting out your next webline, “and if you believe that, there’s this bridge I want to sell you.” A ripple of laughter runs through the gathering crowd, leaving the heckler red and fuming.

Unwilling to spend a beautiful summer evening arguing with a heckler, you swing off, climbing the webline as you go. Give yourself 1 Karma point for keeping your temper in the face of adversity.

You get only about half a block away when you hear the loud, dull whumpph of an explosion nearby. The explosion is followed by the chatter of gunfire, mixed with an electric crackle that sounds like a high-school experiment gone wild. Robbie Robertson and the Daily Bugle will have to wait. Something has come up—something that may require the presence of your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.

You kick into high gear and go to 146.

***************
There is a discrepancy. The pre-generated character sheet indicates you have 6 KARMA to start the game; the description of KARMA says you start with 12. I will update the character sheet to represent 12 KARMA to begin with, for a total of 13 now. When it comes time to make a roll, I will ask you to decide whether to apply KARMA.
***************

146

The shots are coming from nearby.

Swinging around the corner, you get the full picture from three stories above street level.

The center of the street is blocked by an overturned armored security truck. The truck bears the insignia of a blue horse’s-head, but otherwise looks like U.S. Government standard issue. The truck’s massive rear door has been blown off its hinges and is lying nearby. Army Jeeps, also with the horse’s head symbol, are pulled over in front and back of the truck—apparently escorts for whatever was inside.

The occupants of the Jeeps, men and women dressed in blue uniforms, have piled out and are using the vehicles for cover. Their attackers are across the street, crouched in an alleyway: two men, dressed in green bodysuits, carrying huge weapons that look like World War II bazookas. These weapons are the source of the unearthly crackling you heard earlier, and the pair are firing random bolts of yellowish lightning at the guards in the Jeeps, keeping them pinned down.



The smoke from the fight clears for a moment and you see, in neat lettering beneath the symbol on the truck, the word “Pegasus.” Good gravy! you suddenly realize. The boys and girls in blue are from Project Pegasus!

Pegasus is an energy project located in upstate New York, funded by the Department of Energy. In the past, the project has investigated alternate forms of energy, including those possessed by super-powered bad guys, a number of whom are your old foes. An empty armored truck does not bode well. At least I know whose team I’m on. Whoever would try to knock over a Pegasus transport has to be up to no good.

You’re not sure why these two groups chose a New York street to fight in, but it’s apparent that the guys in green are not too worried about inflicting civilian casualties. This looks like a job tailormade for the web-spinning wonder, and it might be a good time to pick up a few bucks shooting Spider-Man in action. Should you wade into battle, or should you take the time to set up your camera first?

If you set up the camera, go to 76. If you leap into combat, go to 87.

[Thaluikhain]

Leap into combat.

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to set up the camera in case some important pieces of evidence can be taken with it.

[Beroli]

Leap into combat.

[deaddmwalking]

87

You can just hear editor-in-chief Robbie Robertson saying, “I like your work, Peter, but the Bugle isn’t in the business of publishing the webslinger’s picture every time he fights some
ordinary villains.”

It's a terrible thing when two men with giant-size joy buzzers are considered ordinary villains. Must be inflation. Before Jameson became publisher, he’d buy anything to use in his anti-Spider-Man articles. ‘Spider-Man threatens trick-or-treaters,’ you imagine as a tagline for the pictures of this battle.

Anyway, you think, engaging in my livelihood isn’t going to help those government people trapped in that crossfire. Another series of lightning-like bolts dances across the open space between the alley and the Jeeps.

The situation looks easy. Two goons, armed to the teeth, stand in the mouth of an alley across the street. You can’t see if they have company behind them. You can easily make the leap and land between them, probably drawing their fire, or you can stay here and try to web up the pair of them.

Looks like a tricky shot, you think, but I'd better make my move now, before they spot me. What's it going to be?

If you want to leap into the alleyway between the two thugs, turn to 92. If you want to try your webs, go to 151.

[Beroli]

Leap into the alleyway.

[Thaluikhain]

Leap.

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to leap into the alleyway between the two thugs.

[deaddmwalking]

92

Flexing the muscles that give you the proportional strength and agility of a spider, you leap into the fray. A bolt of energy sears across the street, blasting the wall directly behind you.

If I'd hung around there, I'd be a Crispy Critter for sure, you think, somersaulting over the line of Pegasus guards.

“Hold your fire, ladies and gents!” you shout, bouncing off the hood of the closest Jeep. ‘‘Perforating my uniform with lead violates its warranty and will mess up your civil service record something fierce!”

A blast of lightning-like force ionizes the air on top of the Jeep where you stood just moments before. Before the flash has dimmed you're across the street, directly above the goons.

“If I didn’t know better, I’d say you didn’t like me. You've been reading Jameson’s editorials in the Bugle again, haven't you?” you quip as you drop down between them. “If you surrender now, I'll let jolly Jonah visit your cell.”

“Eat Shock-zooka blast, Webspinner!”’ says the thug on your right as he fires a blast from his futuristic weapon.

“Shock-zooka!”” you laugh, dodging the fiery blast. “You'd think that the people who invent these deadly gadgets would at least comeup with original names! Sounds like something that attacked Tokyo!”

Before the thug can get in another shot, you rush him, grabbing the battery-operated bazooka and ripping it from his grasp. The goon on your left, a little dumpier than the other, watches in wonderment, muttering, ‘““He moves so fast.’ The second goon seems so amazed by your speed he has forgotten to aim his own weapon at you. “You guys are just slowpokes,’ you taunt, lashing out with both arms at the assailants, “and now it’s nighty-night time!”

Make a Fighting FEAT roll. If the total is 8 or less, go to 109. If it’s 9, 10, or 11, turn to 22. If it’s 12 or more, go to 80. Remember to add any Karma you may wish to use before you make the roll.

*************************
A Fighting FEAT roll is 1d6+6. If you choose to use karma, you must use at least 2. You may continue to pay Karma to make the roll as successful as you like. For example, if you decide to use karma before the die is rolled, it will cost you 2 Karma. Let's say we roll a 4 (+6, for a total of 10). You can accept that roll, or spend 2 more karma to bump it to a 12. At least I think that's how it is supposed to work. The important thing is to decide whether you're spending 2 Karma to be able to modify the roll, or just taking your chances. If you spend Karma, you can decide how much to spend after the roll is made.

[Beroli]

Do not spend Karma so early.

[deaddmwalking]

Good enough. Not using Karma.

Roll: 9 (6+3)

22

You catch the taller goon on the chin, and he goes down like a sack of wet linen. He’s out of the fight, so add 1 point to your Karma score. His partner, however, ducks at the last moment, dodging your blow. The force of your swing spins you around, and the goon ducks behind you. You feel the none-too-gentle pressure of a weapon barrel placed against your back.

“Real slow,” says the goon, pushing the weapon hard into your spine. “We’re going to walk outa here, past all those guards. If you want to live. You tell °em to hold their fire, or I'll light you up like a Christmas tree.”

“You picked the wrong hero as a hostage,” you reply sternly. ‘Half the folks out there would just as soon shoot ME as YOU. Don't you read the papers?”

At the same time, you're thinking, If I move fast enough, I can turn and take the gun out of his hands before he pulls the trigger. Or maybe I can leap up for that fire escape. The alley is notably empty of things to use as weapons, other than a manhole lid lying at the far end.

The buzzing of your spider-sense pounds in your ears, and you realize that there's more danger here than on the range with a punk wielding a battery-operated cattle-prod.

You lunge backwards suddenly, bowling your attacker over.

“Stay down!” you bark at him as both he and his weapon clatter to the ground. You grab your assailant by the front of his uniform and toss him out of the alley.

At that moment, the alley explodes behind you, and you are lifted off your feet.

Turn to 55.

55

You are lifted off your feet by the shock of 55 the blast. The ground is shattered into a crazy quilt of broken asphalt. Make an Endurance FEAT roll. If the total is 11 or more, go to 121. If it is less, turn to 31.

**********************************
This roll will be 1d6+8. Please decide on whether you wish to use karma to ensure a positive outcome.

Name: SPIDER-MAN(tm)
Secret Identity: Peter Parker
Ability Points:
Fighting 6
Agility 10
Strength 8
Endurance 8
Reason 4
Intuition 10
Psyche 8
Agility with Webbing 16
Karma Points: 12 14
Health Points: 32

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote not to use Karma.

[Beroli]

Do not spend Karma.

[deaddmwalking]

Roll: 14 (6+8)





121
The darkness of the alley is brilliantly lit for half a heartbeat. The ground heaves, and cracks run through the walls. You are thrown clear of the mouth of the alley and only avoid injury from a piece of flying pipe by curling into a rolling crouch.

You land on the overturned security truck. Smoke drifts through the alleyway. Your two playmates are sprawled at the mouth of the alley. Guards from the Pegasus Project are already checking them, while others are moving down the alley itself. A tall blond woman dressed in a blue jumpsuit stands in the midst of the scene, barking orders. Her hair is pulled back into a tight bun, and she seems to be taking the entire situation, explosion included, as a personal affront.

“Get down the alley!” she shouts at a pair of guards. “Try to find them!”

“Find who?” you ask, jumping down next to her. She glances at you long enough to know that you are still among the living, but doesn’t reply. Find who? You still want to know. You thought you already took care of the crooks who were involved.

One of the guards approaches you and the blond woman. “I’ve gotten in touch with the New York Police Department. The paramedics are on the way. The police have put out an All Points Bulletin for them.”

“All Points Bulletin? Who are you looking for?” you ask, but again you receive no answer. “I just saw two goons. How many more were there?”

Another of the guards comes back from the alley. "Explosion in the sewers, ma’am. Awful mess. Must’ve been an arms depot or something. No sign of them. They must have had a vehicle waiting on the other side of the alley.”

“Now, wait just a cockamamie minute!”’ you shout, twisting around to face the head honcho.

“WHO is missing? WHO got away? And WHO are you looking for?”

She stares at you for a moment, as if you just wandered onto the scene. “I suppose you would need to know,’ she says. ‘“You missed seeing them take him away.’

“Let’s say that, given the fact that I almost had my head handed to me by thugs with blasters and bombs, I’m more than mildly curious.” Mentally you are counting to ten.

"We were escorting a prisoner from Project Pegasus to a parole hearing when we were ambushed,” she replies. “The prisoner’s name was Maxwell Dillon. You probably know him better as Electro.”

Go to 69.
***************
I'm expecting some web-slinging action with that page number.










69

ELECTRO!

Early in your career as a webspinning wonder you first crossed paths with Maxwell Dillon, better known as the villainous Electro. A freak bolt of lightning transformed him from a lineman for Consolidated Edison into a master of living electricity, who promptly turned his newfound talents to crime. Each time he has gone on a rampage, you have hunted him down and caught him, and each time he has found a way to escape.

A wave of rage passes through you. To be so close and have him get away! Electro was never one to learn his lesson, or even to lie low. He’ll be around, looking for revenge. And until he makes his move, you and the people around Spider-Man are targets.

“Spider-Man?” The commander of the Pegasus security force intrudes on your thoughts. “I would like to thank you for your help. When these thugs recover, maybe we'll get some answers.”

“Right,” you say, shaking your head. “But by that time, Electro will be miles away."

She shrugs her shoulders. ‘We do the best we can, when we can. Look, these clowns are going to St. Arbogast’s Hospital. Is there somewhere you can be reached when they come to?”

“I'll be around.”

“Have it your way, then,” she says, nodding, “If you have problems, tell them Captain Nash sent you.” With that she turns away and starts shouting at her troops. ‘You men! Clear those Jeeps out of the way! Let’s let those ambulances in! Blashfield! You and Lawson help set up the barriers. Have the police brass arrived yet?”

Just wonderful, you think, brooding. Electro on the loose, and all I caught were a couple of small fry. To top it all off, Peter Parker is even later for that meeting. Some days, as the rabbit said, “‘You shoulda stood in bed.”

You leap atop the overturned truck, bouncing off its Pegasus emblem. At the high point of the leap, you let loose a single strand of webbing, mooring it against a handy flagpole jutting out from the Empire State Building, three stories above you.

Twisting your body, you swing up to the highest point, then fire another strand, and in this fashion swing off into the night, hoping to make it to the Daily Bugle before Robbie gives up hope on you. Behind you, the whine of police sirens and the shouts of Captain Nash are lost in the rest of the city noise.

Turn to 176.

176

Interlude.

Deep beneath the city, a hovercraft settles to rest outside an entrance to an underground labyrinth unrecorded on any city maps. Two men, dressed in green uniforms, disembark, manhandling a bound human form between them, a form struggling in a bulky straitjacket. The pair and their prisoner approach the entrance, and a set of massive doors slides open to receive them.

The bound figure is not gagged, and his voice rings down the tunnels as his captors half-lead, half-carry him onward.

“Dolts!”’ shouts the captive. “Don’t you realize who I am? Don’t you know what I can do? I demand you turn me loose, fools! Now!” The captors make no acknowledgement of the figure’s demand, but herd him through one more set of doors.

Max Dillon, called Electro by those who know and fear him, is pushed roughly through the doors into a small cell, empty save for a circle of bright light. His captors shove him harder than necessary, and he topples to his knees in the center of the light. The doors clank shut and lock behind him, and he is left alone. His solitude is broken by a crackling voice that erupts from a hidden loudspeaker.

“Welcome to my sanctuary, Electro,” intones the voice. “I am sorry you had to receive such rough treatment at the hands of my men, but they were instructed not to let you out of your insulated straitjacket until we had had a talk. I have need of you, Electro—of you and of your special talents.”

Electro blinks in the strong light for a moment, straining at his bindings.

“I—I know your voice!”’ he says, staggering to his feet. ‘I know you! Listen, we can work together! Between the two of us, we can recreate the Sinister Six!”

The only reply is a long, throaty laugh that reverberates in the cell long after the loudspeaker has been shut off.

End of Interlude. Turn to 8.

8

It takes you another twenty minutes to make it to the Daily Bugle building. Thirty-foot letters spelling out the newspaper’s name dominate the forty-six-story building, illuminated by powerful spotlights. Your destination is the seventeenth floor, where the city room offices of the paper are located.

With a well-practiced flip of your body, you let — go of your webline and, tucking into a somersault, land on the vertical surface of the building. Far below you, the New York masses hurry down Second Avenue without thinking to look up to see a man-sized shape scrabbling along the side of the building.

You make for the third window over, which you know leads to a convenient supply closet in which you can change back into your civilian clothes. Miss Manners frowns on showing up for meetings in a crime-fighting suit, you think, smiling beneath the mask.





The second window over is open, and voices come from the office within.

“Where's Parker?” says the first, a sharp tone made raspy by a continual diet of cigars.

“I don’t know, but I’ve got a few other matters to attend to," says another more balanced, well-reasoned voice. There is the sound of a chair being moved away from the table.

“It seems that Mr. Parker’s attitude toward time leaves something to be desired,” says yet another voice, female, as a door closes in the room. “At least Sam’s here. Let’s get started.” You move past the window, noting the voices mentally.

The first belongs to J. Jonah Jameson, publisher of the Daily Bugle and avowed Spider-Man foe; the second, Joe “Robbie” Robertson, the editor-in-chief; and the third, Kathryn Cushing, City Editor. She doesn’t like you a whole lot either.

Wonderful. Robbie never mentioned that Cushing and Jolly Jonah were to be in on this meeting. Still, it has been a while since you’ve sent Jameson's blood pressure rising. Do you want to drop in on the meeting for a moment as Spider-Man, or pass on by to the other window?

If you want to spook Jameson, go to 125. If you want to hurry up and get to the meeting as Peter Parker, turn to 96.

[Beroli]

Nasty pranks, even if deserved, cost Karma. Get to the meeting as Peter Parker.

[JourneymanN00b]

I also vote to hurry up and get to the meeting as Peter Parker.

[deaddmwalking]

96

The storage closet is empty, and you quickly slip through the open window. Who locks windows seventeen stories up? A quick change later and Peter Parker, boy photographer, emerges quietly into the city room, heading for the conference room where Jameson and Cushing were just discussing your relative merits.

“You're late,” says Robbie, parked outside the conference room door loading his pipe. City Editor Cushing has no tolerance for smoking, so both Jonah and Robbie have taken to sneaking smokes when not in her presence.

“Sorry, Robbie, I just got caught in traffic. Everyone in the city is out tonight. I came as fast as I could.” Your excuse sounds bad even to you, but Robertson just nods.

“I realize I called you on short notice, Pete,” he says, tamping down the tobacco with his thumb, “and I called you because I know you are usually dependable and also need the work. But you aren't established yet with Kate Cushing, and since she normally assigns the jobs...”

“I’m going to have to show up on time.” You finish the sentence, looking at your shoes. The life of a free-lancer is not a whole lot of fun.

“Okay,” Robbie says, lighting his pipe,’ Kate and Jonah and one of Jonah’s free-lancers are in there. Look good for them, and there may be more assignments in the future. And tell Kate something came up—I’ll be in my office if she needs me.” With that, Robbie heads toward his office, leaving a cloud of pipe smoke behind him.

Turn to 101.





101

“You wanted to see me?” you say, entering the conference room.

“No, I want to see Spider-Man’s name under the column ‘Recent Arrests’,”’ snaps Jameson. “Where the blue thunder have you been?”

“Well, I—” you begin, trying to think of an explanation as you talk.

“I don’t want to hear any excuses, Parker. A newspaper isn’t built on excuses. It’s built on dedication. Do you know what dedication is, Parker?”

“Well, I—”’

“Dedication is what made this country great. Dedication is how I got where I am today. Dedication is showing up for meetings when I am supposed to. What do you think we are running here, Parker?”

“Well, I—”’

“This is a newspaper, Parker, not some college social club where tardiness is noted by a green
star by your name. A newspaper is a business, Parker. And in business, time is money. Millions are wasted each day on long coffee breaks and lunch hours, on people not showing up on time, wasting the time of others, yakking in halls. . . ”





You look around for support. Jameson’s freelancer looks at you and shrugs. He’s apparently heard this routine before. Kate Cushing just stares at you in a steely glare that summarizes Jameson’s ranting in a second. You've failed me, Mr. Parker, the glance says. One more failure added to a long string of others. How long must we put up with you?

After about five minutes of Jameson's speech, he seems to run out of steam, and Kate uses this moment to break in and get the meeting rolling.

“Peter, this is Sam Karpierz.’” She motions to the other man in the room, who rises from his chair to shake your hand. He’s a tall, rumpled man, a lean scarecrow whose clothes hang on him. His eyes, however, are alive and take you in in a single gaze.

“Sam works as a free-lancer for NOW Magazine;’ she continues. “‘He’s doing a series on fraud and thievery in the utilities. In his work, he’s come up with an amazing fact. Sam?”

“Well,” the scarecrow says as his blue eyes scan an open file folder. “There’s a large amount of theft in most utilities—employees walking off with things, embezzlement and fraud in the upper ranks, organized criminal activity—the normal sort of thing. However, take a look at this.” He shoves a clipping from a local suburban paper at you.

You read it aloud: “* ‘Dr. Clifford Jefferson, head of the South Brooklyn Psychiatric Facility, has been reported missing as of last Tuesday—”’

“Other side, Parker!’’ snaps Jameson.

Sighing, you turn the clipping over, though your spider-sense begins a low buzzing. Make an Intuition FEAT. If the total is 12 or more, go to 114; otherwise go to 17.

***********************
Intuition is at +10, meaning 3 Karma will guarantee success, while rolling without KARMA has a 1/6 chance of failure. Please vote on whether to use Karma prior to the roll.

On the one hand, I wouldn't mind setting up some general guidelines, but I don't think there's a way to know in advance what the stakes are - even in this case, you're a little bit blind on how important this roll is.

[Beroli]

2 Karma will guarantee success, will it not? Still, I vote not to spend Karma here. Unfortunately, I can't think of any guidelines for when to spend Karma that sound good to me.

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote not to spend Karma here as well.