Heroic Havoc™ #1

Instant Circus Is Going to Get You!™

Written by Joe Pearce

An Adventure for 5 to 8 Mutants & Masterminds™ Characters PL 10 & 11

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Credits
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Author/Layout: Joe Pearce

Artists: Jacob Blackmon, Joshua LH Burnett, and Ed Lacabanne
Animal Art: AnimalsClipart.com
Cover Artist: Ed Lacabanne
Testers: Grady Catterall, Bradley Clarke, Anna Gold, James Gouy,
and Geoff Kloess
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Special Thanks: Dave Bergreen, Andy Church, Marc Drew, Robert Ewing,
Randy Gulihur, and Ken Yeast

Copyright 2017 The Wyrmkeep Entertainment Co.

Heroic Havoc, Instant Circus Is Going to Get You!, the Wyrm in a Keep logo, and The Wyrmkeep
Entertainment Co. are Trademarks of The Wyrmkeep Entertainment Co. Portions of the work are
licensed under the Open Gaming License 1.0a or the Creative Commons License - see LICENSE
section at end of this module.
Super-Powered by M&M and its associated logo are Trademarks of Green Ronin Publishing and
are used under the provisions of the Super-Powered by M&M Trademark License (see
www.mutantsandmasterminds.com/licensing for details).
WEHH-001 • wyrmkeep.com/rpg
 AUTHORS NOTE plan. Read the section PUTTY just after TACTICS
for details!
Thank you for purchasing this module! The scenario
presented here is based on an adventure I ran for my Ivan the Strongman and The Marvelous Winona
own tabletop role-playing gaming group a few years are brother and sister and former circus performers
ago. I hope you and your players find it as enjoyable from the Eastern Europe. Ivan, not surprisingly, is a
as we did! brick while Winona is a skilled martial combatant
with some wind powers that allow her to fly. Given
GM INFORMATION she is a trapeze artist, would it be considered

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cheating? Winona doesn't really care!
This adventure is designed for a group of 5-8 low-
level (Power Level 10 & 11) characters, including The final super-powered villain is Calamity Clown.

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beginning ones. It can be ran stand-alone or as part Calamity is quite insane, but crazy smart too. His
of a campaign. For a campaign setting, this scenario powers come from his costume that he says was
is excellent for introducing heroes to each other as a given to him by a god of chaos. Each time he is
prelude to forming a team! asked, Calamity will name a different god.

BACKGROUND Calamity has brought along his gang of clown-

themed minions. They are equivalent to trained
A corrupt organization has decided to test an agents, although with a inclination for attempting to

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experimental crowd-control gas under live
conditions and are willing to use unsuspecting
civilians as test subjects! For this purpose, they have
sought out a group of super-powered villains to
be entertaining. They carry a few gadgets/weapons
that can be use to attack and annoy their opponents.
There should be two minions per hero plus one extra.
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procure the “guinea pigs” and run the experiment. When the “supervillains” are mentioned in this
Read the BARRELS AND GAS (17) section later in module, they refer to Master of Ceremonies, Putty,
his module for more information. Ivan the Strongman, The Marvelous Winona, and
Calamity Clown only. The other clowns are referred
The organization behind this might be a to as “clowns” or “minions.”
unscrupulous multi-national corporation, a criminal
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cartel, a foreign government ruled by a depot, or a The experiment takes place in a large, central park in
black-ops operation run by an out-of-control arm of the main city of the campaign (or pick some other
the U.S. Government. Choose whichever best fits large city like New York if this is being run as a
your campaign! stand-alone module).
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The leader of the villains is Master of Ceremonies STARTING THE SCENARIO

a.k.a. MC, a master of light and illusion, who has
decided to use a circus performance as a front for There are a number of ways to begin this scenario. If
running the gas test. He devised the plan and the heroes are already a team that the local
organized the other villains. authorities might seek out about a civic disturbance,
then they will be contacted by the police for help.
Putty is a friend of MC from way back. He is a Otherwise, individual heroes or subsets thereof can
former human cannonball, who became a criminal be introduced via one of the methods below.
after gaining his powers of stretching and
shapeshifting. He has a very special place in the If a hero regularly patrols the city to fight crime, then
have the hero encounter two hoodlums trying to rob

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 someone in an alley. The GM can even have two Early in the morning a circus tent appeared in the
heroes respond at the same time, just add a couple park. At least several dozen men, women, and
more thugs to fight. After the bad guys are defeated, children have ventured inside the tent, responding to
a patrol car with siren blaring will zoom past the the offer of a free show, but none have exited. Three
alley, leading the heroes to the site of the scenario. police officers who were called in to investigate have
also not returned. This was when the police decided
Alternately, the hero might be in his or her civilian to just surround the area and wait for a hostage
identity and just happens to be passing by the police negotiation team. Unfortunately, that team has been
blockade that has been erected. Maybe the hero is delayed.

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performing a ride-along with the police, and their
patrol car is called to respond. Of course, the hero If the heroes say they will check out the tent, the
could just be flying around the city and notice the sergeant will ask the them to retrieve the officers that

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commotion! went inside.

When you see text in a box like this, you should read
it out-loud to the players when the circumstances are
appropriate. Examples would be when they first
enter the location listed, have their attention directed
to some person or area, or explicitly ask about
something with associated boxed text. (Don’t read
them the text in THIS box though!)

KEY TO NUMBERED AREAS

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1. POLICE LINE

You approach a large crowd of people on the

sidewalk across the street from the corner of a large
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park where a large circus tent is set-up. The crowd is

being kept back by the police, who have cordoned
off a city block area around the park with yellow
“POLICE LINE — DO NOT CROSS” tape. Police
cars are parked along the street. One policeman is
using a blow horn to request that people “move !
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along.”
2. FAR VIEW OF FRONT OF CIRCUS TENT

The police have cordoned off the corner of a large

park in the center of the city. Everyone is being kept A large, circus-style tent has been erected on the
away from the circus tent that "miraculously" corner of the park. Colorful flags are mounted on the
appeared in the park earlier that morning. tent and waving in the breeze. There appears to be a
closed flap covering what would be the front
If the heroes approach any police officers, they will entrance to the tent. There is a sign hanging above
be directed to speak with a sergeant O'Donnell, who the entrance that reads “Cirque de Bling - Free Show
is in charge. The sergeant will relate what he knows: Today!” What appears to be a ticket booth sits just
outside the flap.
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 6. TENT ENTRANCE
If the heroes decide to approach the tent’s front
entrance, proceed to the TENT ENTRANCE (6) When the heroes get within 20 feet or so of the tent
section below. flap, read the following to the players:

3. BEHIND THE TENT

As you approach the tent front, a clown comes out of
the tent from behind the flap, secures it open, and
Behind the tent are two large objects covered by walks into the ticket booth from the rear. He pokes

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white tarps. Each is at least 25 feet long, 10 feet wide his head out of the window in the front of the booth
and 12 feet tall. and says, “Welcome to Cirque de Bling! We are
having a preview of the show today! Tickets are free!
How many are in your group?”

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These objects are trailer trucks covered by tarps. The
trailers are empty except for some blue blankets used
as shipping padding. There is no evidence of who The clown will redirect any conversation towards the
drove the vehicles here. The trucks license plates are heroes taking a ticket and going inside the tent. Once
fake, but the heroes could use the vehicle he has given all the heroes a ticket, the clown will
identification numbers (VIN) to determined the quickly leave the booth, walk to the front of the tent,
trucks were stolen from out-of-state a few days say, “Ticket please,” and take the ticket from each
earlier. hero as they enter the tent. He will also give a

4. PARK POLICE PERIMETER e cheery, “Welcome! Please take a seat!”

7. FIRST IMPRESSION OF TENT INTERIOR

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The police have apparently extended their perimeter
into the park, as the yellow tape extends behind the Bleachers have been set-up inside the tent near the
tent some 100 feet. Some additional police stand entrance. An audience of around two dozen people of
outside the perimeter to dissuade park-goers from mixed race, age, gender, and profession sit in the
approaching the tent. bleachers. The audience members seem to be in rapt
amazement at the events occurring around them.
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The policeman will have been radioed the

There are a number of men dressed as clowns
description of the heroes and will not attempt to
distributed around the tent. Most are entertaining
detain them.
audience members, but a few are positioned around
the bleachers like ushers.
5. THE TENT FROM THE SIDES
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A one-ring circus is currently in progress in the

There is no obvious entrance into the tent from the center of the tent, surrounded by a single 60'
sides or back. The front entrance flap must be the diameter wooden ring. This entertainment includes
only way in. performers, animals, and associated equipment and
props.
Examination of the tent itself will show that the
bottom and sides are tightly sown together. It is not The players will probably have questions. Respond
possible to “lift-up” the tent sides to enter the tent. to these by reading the appropriate descriptions
There is no obvious way to untie stitching (for good given below.
reason — see PUTTY).