For those of you unfamiliar with the SotM story and setting, here is some basic information about what is the minimum "base knowledge" needed for this game.

Sentinels of the Multiverse started out as a cooperative card game where players control decks that represented the abilities of various superheroes and compete against an non-player controlled villain and environment deck.

The heroes and villains of the cards were made such that it seemed like the cards were based off of famous quotes and panels from the Sentinels comic books (e.g.

however there are no Sentinels comics.

It is kind of meta in that the developers of the game will talk about famous story lines and eras within Sentinels comics but beyond the one listed on their website there isn't any actual comics.

The major expansions to the card game represented "story arcs" from the comics (that don't exist) and the card game eventually spawned a tactical mini-game and an RPG. All three are based off of the same core components and figures however the three games also represent different timelines and parts of the multiverse (more on that below).
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:25, Wed 08 Feb 2017.

The following is a who's who of famous heroes (and villains further down) of the SotM setting.

The full encyclopedia is available here: The Multiverse but what I've done below is broken out the heroes by their primary groupings as well as indicating the villain(s) that are their nemeses.


Heroes

This message was last edited by the GM at 20:37, Tue 18 May 2021.

The following is a who's who of the infamous villains, aliens, cosmic powers and extra-dimensional horrors that populate the Sentinels universe. Note this is hardly a comprehensive list.

Threat Levels:

• Below Alpha Threats - Most street thugs, goons, and non-powered minions would fall into this category. More then capable of being stopped by a small group of police officers without too much trouble.
  
• Alpha - An Alpha threat is a powered villain or a highly trained ordinary criminal. Still capable of being apprehended by ordinary law enforcement however they will struggle. Should be easy for a single hero to take down.
• Beta - A Beta threat threatens a local region, like a single city, and in theory could be stopped by a large enough law enforcement presence but in practice non-powered individuals will suffer tremendous casualties in the process. A single hero might be able to take down a Beta threat however backup is recommended.
• Gamma - A Gamma threat threatens a large area, like an entire country. Well beyond the reach of non-powered individuals and even most powered heroes, a super hero team is almost necessity at this point.
• Delta A Delta threat is one that threatens the entire world and usually requires an entire super hero team working in tandem across multiple missions to stop.
• Omega Omega threats are those that threaten all of existence and require an 'all-hands on deck' approach. An Omega threat can easily defeat even a super powered team and it is only through multiple hero teams and dozens of heroes working together that they can be stopped.

This message was last edited by the GM at 19:36, Mon 17 May 2021.

A list of the important geographical (and temporal) locations that the Sentinels find themselves battling in over and over again.

Earth Locations

For the most part the Sentinels version of Earth is the same as what you are familiar. The same nations with the same major events etc.

Below are the locations that are most commonly encountered in Sentinels on the planet Earth:

Megalopolis


The largest and most prosperous city in the United States (and the world) Megalolpolis is the hub for all things Sentinels. It is where many heroes are from, where many more patrol, and the primary point of attack for those that threaten humanity's peace and security. It is home to Freedom Tower, the headquarters for the Freedom Five that are now acting as mentors and trainers for heroes around the world.

Rook City


Founded by the Overbrook family, what was originally called Overbrook City has been corrupted over time, just like its name. During the 1920's the rise in industrial manufacturing and gothic architecture helped cement the name change. #1 in the United States for murder, property theft, and drug-related crimes it is almost impossible to find an honest soul living in Rook City. One way or another, the city will chew them up and spit them out. The city is home to Pike Industries and the major, Eddie Overbrook is commonly called The Barber because he always takes a little off the top.

San Alonso


Move over Hollywood, sunny San Alonso is where the real movie magic happens. With the rise of super heroes and villains there has been an explosion of superhero themed movies in the past few decades. VERY loosely based off of real events these fictional Champions have caused Champion studios to rise to the top of the movie making pile.

Mordengrad


The home of Baron Blade, this town used to be part of the Soviet Union however when Baron Blade rose to power he declared the region to be a sovereign nation and with the might of his weapons technology forced the surrounding nations to recognize its independence. Completely loyal to Baron Blade, many in the country willing volunteer to join his legions in return for the prosperity he has brought to their region by freeing them from oppressive Soviet rule and making endless wealth by manufacturing and selling advanced weaponry.


Insula Primalis


A tiny island tucked away in the Arctic circle, Insula Primalis was isolated from the rest of the world for millions of years. Heated by several of the volcanoes present on the island, the area became a tropical paradise in the otherwise frigid Arctic. Because of the unusual environment, large dinosaur-like lizards continued to evolve over millions of years and it wasn't until the Cold War that the island was discovered by mankind. Difficult to get to and very dangerous due to the large predator inhabitants reminiscent of velociraptors and T-Rexes, the tiny island also became the headquarters for the Citizens of the Sun as founded by Citizen Dawn. Using citizens with the power of flight or teleportation, they can quickly move around the globe despite their isolated compound.

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Other Locations

Due to the setting and storylines, the heroes often find themselves far and away from the planet Earth, like the following locations:

Wagner Mars Base


Founded by billionaire entrepreneur Jane Wagner, the Wagner Mars base is now home to almost 2,000 scientists and technicians. While the journey there and back can take nearly a year for most people, thanks to both alien technology and super powered individuals it is possible to travel the distance in weeks or even days. Similar to the International Space Station or arctic research bases, the Mars base holds a variety of international scientists working to make mankind an inter-planetary species.

Realm of Discord


An ethereal plane that is barely touching the Multiverse, it is a place of chaos and despair. Normal laws of physics and reality are thrown out the window and a person's mind can reshape the landscape far better then any tool or power. It is home to a variety of chaotic demons and monstrosities that feed off of discord and fear. Heroes are drawn into the Realm through a variety of means and once there it is a battle to survive the ever shifting landscape and laws of reality.

Dok'Thorath


The homeworld of Grand Warlord Voss, the Thorathians were beaten into submission to serve their rulers ceaseless desire for conquest. When he and his fleet disappeared after their failed invasion of Earth the Thorathians were split into a might civil war between the loyalists who held out hope that Voss would return, and the rebels who viewed this as their golden opportunity to escape from Voss' grasp.

Enclave of the Endlings


Created by the last of an ancient race of aliens to preserve a single member of a sentient species before they are wiped out. Run by Jansa Vi Dero and isolated from time and space with powerful technology, the Endlings she collects remain ageless and immortal in a combination preserve and museum towards the lost civilizations. Jansa and the Enclave fled the destruction of ObliVaeon and now exists in an isolated pocket dimension removed from all other realities.

The Block


The Block is a prison that exists outside of the normal boundaries of time and space. What started out as a secret inter-government initiative to defend humanity against the influx of super powered villains and alien invaders quickly grew beyond the scope of control. Now the Block, run by F.I.L.T.E.R. operates almost like a prison-for-hire. Using their ability to open up portals almost anywhere and anywhen, they reach out quietly and offer to house the worst of the worst criminals in exchange for resources and influence. Not only does the Block exist in it's own realm, but each cell is cycled through time loops to nullify any powers or abilities the prisoners posses. Despite running a tight ship, there have been several disruptions that have allowed massive numbers of prisoners to escape and flood the rest of reality in a wave of crime and mayhem.

The Final Wasteland


Along a certain timeline, the bizarre mutants and monsters of Earth rose up and drove out humanity. After a millenia these freaks of nature became the normal part of nature, turning Earth into a desolate wasteland. There is no hope, no grounds for salvation and anyone who finds themselves trapped her quickly hopes for escape, or a quick death at the teeth and claws of the many bizarre monstrosities that make up the local flora or fanua.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:10, Mon 09 Apr 2018.

Due to the intervention of a certain cosmic power, the timeline and reality of the Sentinels has split and fractured creating the Multiverse. Every major decision, every major consequence results in splits where different timelines then proceed down alternate paths.

The creators of the SotM games have stated that every game, be it RPG, miniatures or card game is "canon" in the sense that it is some alternate reality playing out.

Time travel is not possible in the traditional sense within the Multiverse, instead various heroes and villains like Omnitron-X, Visionary, and Iron Legacy instead crossed into alternate realities that hadn't progressed as far in their timelines. This means that when Omnitron-X fights Omnitron II, Omnitron-X doesn't have any previous memory of that encounter. There are a few exceptions to this as Chrono-Ranger is able to travel through time although it is very imperfect however other characters like La Capitan are not so much time traveling as reality hopping.

That being said, there are three major timelines to discuss when talking about characters and settings. The card game timeline, the Tactics timeline, and the RPG timeline. The card game timeline serves as the base that the other two build off of. The Tactics timeline jumps ahead 10 years and tends to be a grimer place as the Earth was devestated by OblivAeon's attacks and the government has turned against super heroes in backlash. The RPG timeline doesn't jump ahead quite as much and overall is a bit nicer place to be as the Freedom Five had transitioned away from frontline heroes and created a mentorship program to train the next batch of super heroes.

THAT BEING SAID, here are some highlights of major timeline evenst that have occurred. Unless otherwise specified, the following is all based upon the card game timeline so is common to all timelines involved.


The Terra Lunar Impulsion Beam
Established in the Ruins of Atlantis, Baron Blade intended to pull the moon into the Earth to defeat the Freedom Five once and for all, at any cost. The Freedom Five defeated him once again and stopped the beam however he unveiled his new powered armor suit and engaged them in a ferocious battle. Eventually the Freedom Five damaged his suit and it exploded into his face, causing horrible scarring. In addition, the sealed dome the heroes and villain were fighting in cracked and Baron Blade was sucked out into the oceans, presumed dead.

Formation of the Prime Wardens
Originally the Argent Adept was the main adversary to the elemental spirit Akash'Bhuta however Akash'Bhuta was able to tap into the Void and power itself up far beyond the Argent Adept's abilities and through various connections he joined forces with Chakha, Fanatic, Tempest and Captain Cosmic to battle and defeat the elemental spirit. In the end they decided to stick together and form the Prime Wardens as defenders of Earth from extradimensional and extraterrestrial threats. Akash'Bhuta returns again as a villain but ultimately goes into a deep hibernation and creates a spawn called Akash'Thrya that travels around with The Naturalist.

The Mad Bomber
Baron Blade washed ashore and spent years planning yet another act of revenge. He planted bombs all across Megalopolis and when the time was right, he sent the Freedom Five video clues showing them the dozens of places that would soon be destroyed. After running them ragged, Baron Blade ambushed the group with a newly built death ray but his killing shot aimed at Legacy was thwarted when Absolute Zero lept in front of the beam, damaging his suit but surviving the blast due to his nearly absolute zero internal temperature being able to absorb the energy of the death ray.

Invasion Day and Grand Warlord Voss
 Grand Warlord Voss eventually turned his mighty army against the Earth. Tempest tried to warn the local heroes but it still came as a surprise when his fleet of warships emerged into orbit. Dropships rained down and hordes of gene-bound troops disgorged to wreck havoc around the globe. At first it seemed like the heroes of Earth might be able to rally and win however any hope the heroes had was a cruel ploy by Grand Warlord Voss. He intentionally withheld a huge amount of his forces and sacrificed troops in order run the heroes ragged. Like a cat toying with mice, he gave them just enough hope that when he finally unleashed the full might of his armies, the heroes of Earth would be crushed as much by despair as by the boots of his armies. In a desperate act, Legacy, Tempest, Nightmist and Fanatic flew to Warlord Voss' command ship to engage him directly. Although Voss provided formidable, he was weakened enough that Nightmist was able to create a portal and drag him into the Mists of R'lyeh. With their warlord suddenly gone, Voss' army fell into complete disarray and quickly retreated.

Dark Watch
Many heroes beyond just The Wraith patrolled Rook City although despite their best efforts nothing seemed to really make a difference. One man ended up becoming involved in most of those heroes lives, one way or another. Mr. Fixer seemed a simple blind mechanic and yet he always seemed to be around when a hero needed rescuing. Although he would rarely fight he would often provide a safe place to rest and recover after a hero was beaten badly. Over time he ended up becoming good friends with three such heroes: Expatriette, Nightmist, and Setback. When he went missing, it was Expatriette who raised the alarm and began scouring the city for her friend after finding his shop broken into. When she failed to turn up anything she reached out towards other heroes she had heard of and eventually Nightmist and Setback agreed to join her in searching for their friend. Eventually it was discovered that Mr. Fixer had actually once been a sensei to the woman that would eventually become the Operative and she eventually decided to track down and kill her former mentor. His corpse had been sent to the mystic temple of Zhu Long where the evil sorcerer had used an ancient ritual to resurrect Mr. Fixer into an obedient servant. The trio of heroes ended up having to battle their former friend until a blow to the head finally allowed him to recover fragments of memories. The four turned on Zhu Long and swiftly defeated him before returning to Rook City. Now dubbed Dark Watch, the four have declared war on crime in Rook City in a concentrated effort to finally crack the Organization once and for all.

Shattered Timelines
The next major storyline event came with the shattering of the timelines. Suddenly time travelers and extra-dimensional hoppers like Visionary, Omnitron X, Chrono Ranger and villains like La Capitan started showing up. This was later realized to be because of OblivAeon. OblivAeon was a Singular Entity whose goal was the complete destruction of all realities. By shattering the timelines he was able to steer events throughout the multiverse in a specific direction to eventually collapse the realities back on each other and destroy them all.

Vengance
Baron Blade was never one to be kept down and after several more defeats he went around the world sponsoring prison breaks, including the extradimensional prison The Block, and recruited giant teams of villains specifically to take down the heroes that had thwarted him time and again. Eventually he was defeated but at great cost to the heroes.

Omnitro I thorugh IV
Intermixed with the above are the various incarnations of Omnitron. A sentient AI, Omnitron I was one of the first big threats that the Freedom Five fought and after it's destruction OblivAeon repowered it with cosmic energy creating another threat from Omnitron II (often called Cosmic Omnitron). Baron Blade found enough parts from it's defeat to create the Omni-blade which he used during the Vengeance arc. Omnitron IV ended up taking over an automated factory as it tried to continually improve itself to create the next one. In the end Omnitron IV was defeated by the time-traveling Omnitron X and Unity and ended up being unified as Omnitron U.

Deadline
From his position at the Enclave of the Endlings, Tarogath was able to sense the growing destruction throughout the galaxy at the hands of OblivAeon, even though the threat was still hidden. Tarogath adopted the mantle Deadline and went to Earth hoping to cause massive destruction on a global scale in order to stave off the coming threat thinking that the development of Earth was what was drawing the attention of OblivAeon. Deadline caused widespread natural disasters by shattering the mystic ley lines of the land but was eventually defeated.

Progeny
As the harbinger of OblivAeon, Progeny landed on Earth and was a nigh-unstoppable killing machine requiring nearly every major hero teaming up to stop his rampage of destruction. What was worse was it made it clear that it was just the beginning for Earth.

Skinwalker Gloomweaver
Gloomweaver once again made an attempt to transfer itself from the Realm of Discord into Earth by using a zombified version of Spite as a vessel. Even though it succeeded the heroes of Dark Watch with some additional help were able to defeat it.

Cosmic Contest
Jansa Vi Dero could see the destruction of Earth and all of reality so made the decision to retreat the Enclave from existence entirely. Before she left she decided to find a champion from Earth she could save as a representative of the planet. A grand tournament was created that pitted heroes against heroes, villains against villains in an effort to find the best example of what Earth had to offer the universe.

In the end out of the entire main cast of Sentinels comics, it came down to Nightmist vs. Baron Blade. Both were in very bad shape from a few brutal fights earlier but in the end Nightmist was able to defeat Baron Blade and claim ultimate victory. Jansa offered Nightmist safety however Nightmist and the other heroes were able to convince Jansa to just let them all go and Jansa eventually agreed without claiming Nightmist for the Enclave of the Endlings.

OblivAeon
The OblivAeon fight was an epic tale that is too large in scale to explain succinctly here. Many villains like Baron Blade and the Ennead joined up with the heroes to save all of reality. Many heroes and villains alike were killed in the aftermath. Some big events was first when Ra leading the Ennead did an all out attack on OblivAeon causing the first real damage to the destroyer but in return OblivAeon obliterated them entirely, killing them all. Next Rook City was almost completely destroyed and in there Chrono-Ranger took a direct blast and effectively died (although he would end up being saved by Cron by the two merging together creating the Time-Slinger). Captain Cosmic was drained of all power, Hakha was thrown into another reality and in the end Nightmist sacrificed herself to open up portals to the entire multi-verse to allow alternate reality heroes to join in on the fight. Akash'Thrya turns into a giant tree to protect Megalopolis becoming now known as Akash'Flora.


Game Start
The game starts a couple months after OblivAeon was stopped. Many of the heroes are working nonstop to try and repair and rebuild the cities, rescue trapped survivors and overall try and put the shattered pieces of society back together again.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:38, Tue 18 May 2021.

Some final musings about the Sentinels of the Multiverse setting.


Theme
The creators of Sentinels describes their setting as "Silver Age with Modern sensabilities." What this means is that there is a lot of Silver Age era stuff on display: heroes are heroes, villains are villains. There is quite a bit of "red scare" influence on the comics where Legacy is the American champion fighting against a shady Eastern European mad scientist.

With very few exceptions, heroes are 100% good guys. The main exception is anything involving Rook City which is lifted out of the Iron Age and is very much an homage to the grim and gritty Gotham or Sin City settings. Expatriette started out very much as a Punisher-style character and the storyline of the villain Spite involves a lot of brutal serial killings.

On that note, at least in the beginning, with very few exceptions the villains are 100% bad guys and often had very nebulous reasons. Many villains it seems like their whole motivation is "hey, I have powers therefore I should rule the world" and despite being beaten back time and time again, it never sinks in that there is another way. Baron Blade can (and has) made endless wealth selling his inventions but for him his life goal is to kill Legacy. The fact that he is the ruler of a country of followers and has enough wealth to build endless Mobile Defense Platforms doesn't seem to phase him, those are just means towards his real goal of fighting the Freedom Five.

HOWEVER although many characters started out this way and it would be easy to just write of many characters as just simple 2-dimensional characters, the Sentinels storyline does a decent job of giving both heroes and villains some depth and actual character arcs. Heroes like Fanatic, Expatriette, and Absolute Zero have all had major arcs where they have grown into their roles as champions or heroes and those stories have had lasting impressions on their characters. Many villains have had arcs as well with Infinitor battling off his madness long enough to save Captain Cosmic. During a later period of comics Baron Blade and Legacy are trapped in a positive energy field that prevented them from hurting each other so the two ended up just chatting. While it didn't happen overnight, that lengthy talk set the seeds for Baron Blade to dabble in heroics later on when the Earth was threatened.

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Other Sources of Inspiration
I love super hero RPGs and collect several different kinds that I may or may not tap to include in the game. Other RPGs like Champions or Mutants & Masterminds might be used, as well as computer games like City of Heroes or Freedom Force. If you recognize something familiar, feel free to call me out on it. These sources mean a lot to me and I love paying proper homage to them in my own little way. I will always be truthful about their sources, assuming I don't forget :P
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:55, Mon 09 Apr 2018.

With the full release of the RPG there have been a lot of updates about heroes and villains so what follows is a quick spoiler of what happened to the major players after the ObllivAeon fight leading up to the campaign start.


Legacy/Heritage/Beacon: Legacy (Paul Parsons) has retired after the OblivAeon fight shifting into an advisory and mentoring role. His daughter, Paulina Parsons has shifted from her previous identity as Beacon to the new Legacy in charge of the new Freedom Five.

Wraith: Still Wraithing it up as a main hero.

Bunker: Still Bunker and still a main part superheroes although his Bunker suit has gotten several total makeovers thanks to both Baron Blade and post-OblivAeon tech updates.

Tachyon: Tachyon was forced to learn to pace herself as during OblivAeon she nearly tore herself apart pushing past her limits. Now although she is still an active hero all the Maerynian, Thorathian, Endling, and OblivAeon tech dumped in her lap has kept her busy in the lab.

Absolute Zero: Still Absolute and still Zero.


Freedom Five/Sentinels of Freedom: After OblivAeon the Freedom Five have shifted into becoming the Sentinels of Freedom and while they still take the field to fight supervillains they have also put a new focus on training up the next wave of superheroes. Now they split their time between fighting bad guys and training up new teams to defend the country/world/universe.

Chrono-Ranger/Time Slinger: Chrono-Ranger kind of died during the OblivAeon fight but CON was able to jump back and integrate itself with Chrono-Ranger bringing him back from the dead...kind of. The newly dubbed Time Slinger is living on borrowed time (ha!) as the destruction of OblivAeon cut CON and Time Slinger's tech off from the vital temporal energy source it needs to function, and that includes the tech that is keeping Time Slinger alive.

Argent Adept: After recruiting Akash'Bhuta's new form Akash'Thriya into fighting OblivAeon, Thriya was injured so badly that she went into a "cocoon" state in the form of Akash'Flora, the giant hundreds foot tall tree in the middle of Megalopolis. Now Argent Adept stays nearby to serve as a magical, musical groundskeeper trying to help the healing process and bring Akash'Thriya back to life.

Haka: During the OblivAeon fight, Haka entered the portals Nightmist summoned to recruit heroes to battle. When OblivAeon was destroyed the portals were destroyed as well and it is believed that Haka is trapped in some parallel realm of existence.



Southwest Sentinels/Voidguard: The SWS got a HUGE power upgrade with each one of them being given an Oblivion shard to "power up" although things have not gone exactly to plan. Dr. Medico absorbed the spirit of Gloomweaver and has turned red and violent. Writhe is fixated on inventing scarier and scarier machines leaving much of the Voidguard duties to Mainstay and Idealist.

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Baron Blade/Luminary: Baron Blade briefly teamed up with the Freedom Five to upgrade their abilities with his fearsome tech to fight OblivAeon and it seemed like he made the ultimate sacrifice when he died stopping Grand Warlord Voss (who had made a surprise appearance to suck up OblivAeon's energy and threaten to become the new OblivAeon...it's a big complicated thing. Everyone thinks he is dead but they also think they have heard that story dozens of times and every time Baron Blade makes yet another appearance.

Miss Information: Miss Information had gotten a power upgrade from Baron Blade that had driven her mostly insane. Now she has control of the Pandemonium Key that allows her to peer into other realities and make her own illusions real. This has not been good for her mental health and has only made her more dangerous.

Fright Train: Fright Train has been upgraded with an armored suit of his own using ideas stolen from the Bunker upgrades.

The Operative/Dragonclaw: A lot can be said about the Operative. First she was Mr. Fixer's student, then she was the choice enforcer for the Chairman, then she was a disciple of Zhu Long. She is an expert in martial arts, criminal organizations, and now ancient ninja magic.