Getting to Know Your Demo Team pt. 1: The National Trust

So, I was thinking, since I have these pretty demo sheets all printed and laminated, you the public might like to see them. Not to mention get a bit of an intro into the characters. So, here is the first demo team- for the Heroes faction- The National Trust.

The team that would become The National Trust was formed when three sidekicks of members of the famous Hero League thought it would be a good idea to team together to fight crime when their mentors were otherwise occupied. The original roster consisted of The Union Kid (the American's sidekick), Sparrow (Falcon's original sidekick), and Boy Thunder (son of Thunderbolt). After offering her lair (the Nest) as the team's first headquarters, Sparrow joked that the team should be called the Trust Fund. Unexpectedly, her teammates agreed.

Over the years, other young heroes joined the Trust Fund's ranks and membership rose and fell as members left or fell to other means. Union Kid eventually left his mentor's charge and the team, striking out on his own with a new name, State of the Union. Boy Thunder also chose a new code-name, Tempest, as he slowly succumbed to his inner lunacy and became a powerful villain to rival even Dominion himself. During one of Tempest's rampages across the American Midwest, the Trust Fund tried in vain to take down their former comrade. In the process, four team members were seriously injured and Sparrow was killed. It was only the assistance of Tempest's brother, Downtown and his buddy Chance that kept the team alive and managed to drive Tempest off. The Trust Fund, battered and beaten, disbanded that day.

Years later, State of the Union reformed the team under a government charter with the name: The National Trust. Like the Trust Fund, State of the Union filled the roster with new young heroes and sidekicks of well-established heroes as well as two former Trust Fund members, Sorority and Gold Shield. However, The National Trust is a much more mature team than its teenage predecessor. With a national charter, The National Trust has a stronger connection with the nation it defends and is often seen as "America's Heroes."

Free RPG Day and Origins.

This June we were lucky enough to hit both Free RPG Day at Yottaquest in Cincinnati and Origins Game Fair in Columbus, Ohio with Superhuman in tow. Several demo games were played at each and Superhuman seemed very well received. Games were pretty involved with major beatings on both sides.

For demo games, I had settled on making a board for the Blood in the Streets issue- a straightforward city brawl. Choosing factions was a simple matter, two small Heroes and Villains faction teams were made and I printed up pretty laminated rosters for each. Since miniature molds haven't been made yet, I modified and repainted some spare Heroclix miniatures; while the board and terrain was a mix of old Heroclix stuff, large scale Hot Wheels, and beautiful printed pdfs from Worldworks Games. The final product was awesome and really fun to play on- I hope to have pictures for you soon.

In the end, however, I really wanted to move away from any dependency on Heroclix products. Miniatures would have to wait, but terrain was a different story. At Origins, I got to meet the awesome guys at Armorcast LLC, and they were more than happy to provide me with terrain parts I needed to replace the pieces from my old Heroclix sets. Once I paint them up I plan to add them to the Blood in the Streets board for all future demos.

But there was another lesson we learned at the events. One demo set was far from enough. At Free RPG Day alone, I had several people watching the demo games and wanting to play. So in the very least, a second demo set is needed to be made. For this one, I'm going with the issue Picnic in the Park. It will has more open terrain and will feature another Heroes faction team against a Mercenaries faction team. Like Blood in the Streets, Picnic in the Park is a straightforward brawl, but the wide open park and lack of cars to throw will make for very different gameplay.

Both demo sets will be ready to play in open gaming this year at Gencon, and I should have some images up here soon.

Cheers,
~Dr. Mono