Want to see what Sparks
are like? Download and enjoy the Sparks: Free
For All set at no charge! It includes Sparks
from several of our earlier sets, to prepare you for what you'll find in
this one! Give it a test drive, and you'll like what you see!
Angelique (A/a):
The Archangel Gabriel was wandering nightclubs, stricken with amnesia and
nearly glowing with deadly gamma rays. When Angelique tried to help him,
he bit. Now, she can fly, glow with heavenly radiance, dance on pins, and
show people what the world would be like without them.
Autumn (B/b):
She's a confused teenage superhero with a
constantly-growing set of elemental powers . . . Her swirls of dead leaves
can surround her in a brisk, icy wall, confuse and blind opponents, and
clutter enemy lawns.
The Rook (C/c):
He can withstand the glare of the sun, barrel
through a stone barrier four meters thick, and run at six times the speed
of a cheetah . . . he just can't turn once he gets going at full
speed, so his buddies in the Union of Heroes call him "Rook."
He likes to add the "the." Sometimes.
Epidemic (D/d):
She makes us sick. She makes you sick. She makes everybody sick.
Rictus thinks that's hilarious, so the two villains team up often, but
secretly, she wishes she could be a hero; she's just playing the cards
she's been dealt, and Rictus feeds her insecurities, telling her that there's
no such thing as a heroic disease, that she'll never amount to anything
but what he wants her to be.
Rubicon (E/e):
The leader of the Union of Heroes is known for his colorful battle cries,
serious attitude and trademark "seven-ton punch." Need we say
it? If you cross him, mister, it's war.
Cerebrotron (F/f):
When Minaret and John Justice destroyed Doctor Cinema in a blazing fireball
at the North Flats Waste Disposal Facility, it was a grim day for them
(Minaret, in particular, had never taken a life) but a good day for the
safety of mankind, the lives of the people of Justice City, and the readability
of film reviews in the Daily Chronicle. But Doctor Cinema wasn't dead,
oh no . . . His brain lived on, and now it's returned, more twisted than
ever, in a battle-construct of his own design. The show starts at seven,
and Justice City gets a front row seat.
Rictus (G/g):
He was badly deformed when he was submerged in a bath of experimental
chemicals, but not badly deformed enough for his tastes, so he dove
back in, giggling all the way. Now, he wears a terrifying grinning skull
mask - or does he? Nobody really knows the story behind the criminal mastermind,
but he's got a twisted charisma that binds other villains to his cause,
and he could be hiding anywhere, from one of the city's several abandoned
amusement parks to one of the city's several abandoned warehouses full
of giant toys.
Luminary (H/h):
Her power over light is as potent as her weakness
to absolute darkness; Luminary is so fully immersed in her energy-state
that she may not be able to return to physical form anymore. That'd be
a real tragedy to the woman behind the mask, who's madly in love The Rook,
but may never be able to touch him.
Platinum (I/i):
When the Union of Heroes found the wreckage of the Antarean cruiser beyond
the orbit of Mars, Platinum was just a bit of miraculously-intact debris,
floating in the void, with most of her memory gone. She thinks she may
have been little more than an automated stewardess in her former life,
but the Antareans must order some heavy cocktails, because she can bench
press Mount McKinley and withstand a pony nuke without losing any of her
shine.
Duke Erebus (J/j):
He's a real villain's villain, a suited, masked megalomaniac with the stage
presence to make the cape seem like a natural accessory. His plots are
clever and his skills in combat are potent; what keeps him down is his
tendency to fly into a rage whenever things go even slightly wrong.
Despite that, he maintains an army of followers at his secret underground
lair, and plots the enslavement of humanity every morning over Pop Tarts.
Horizon (K/k):
Danni Goodman is from what she feels certain
is an alternate future . . . She was a citizen of Justice City in 2231
when an energy surge in her skycar sent her hurtling back through time.
The trouble is, history, as she knows it, didn't have costumed superheroes,
alien robots, or angst-ridden teenage mutants in it. But she realized that
her advanced technology, like a superpower, came with a responsibility,
so she uses it to fight evil, protects it from the prying eyes of modern
corporations who try to steal it, and works hard to find a way home - if
home even exists anymore.
John Justice (L/l):
He led the Union of Heroes for years as Captain
Delaware, until the scandal of his marital infidelities threw him into
public disfavor and made him much less of an icon to the children of Justice
City (much less his home town of Dover, where he's now the only man who
has to pay sales tax). Since then, his attitude has darkened, and he's
begun to see himself as a Grim Vigilante type. He's been shopping for a
darker costume, too, but Minaret is working hard to keep him in the light,
even if she wasn't able to keep him in the Union.
Beta Squad (M/m):
Superheroes just starting out often join Beta
Squad, the "internship program" at the Union of Heroes HQ. Members
of Beta aren't supposed to actively fight crime - just learn to use their
powers and practice hard in the Peril Pit, until they graduate to Alpha
or take on their own identities . . . But inevitably, a hothead Beta leads
the Squad into the fray, or the other heroes are so busy saving the world
in China that day that Justice City would be helpless without them. Recently,
the total disappearance of Alpha Squad has the city fearing the worst,
and Beta is being called to step up to the plate.
Mischief (N/n):
Mischief is the leader of Beta Squad (though she's recently been granted
Alpha rank, making her the only Alpha not missing), and can pass through
walls, walk on air, and turn herself both invisible and silent. Her
powers didn't help her avoid the public eye, though, when Captain Delaware
decided to give her some private lessons when Minaret wasn't looking, and
she's been fighting hard to keep her own reputation from being sucked down
with the sinking ship of John Justice. That her hero-name provided easy
ammunition for the Chronicle headlines didn't help.
Whipcord (O/o):
Whipcord's powers to bend and stretch his body at tremendous speeds come
from his uniform, crafted from an unknown alien fabric. He came across
the suit in his days as a private detective, as part of a stash in a mafia
safehouse out on Lake Wilkinson. He's used it to incredible effect as one
of the city's most visible superheroes, defeating everyone from The Sinister
Sixteen to dark powers of TheosoFist, the mad war-robot possessed by the
spirit of Madame Blavatsky.
Minaret (P/p):
Minaret's powers to transform matter into other matter is her most powerful
weapon against evil, but her toughest battle of late has been for the sanity
of her husband, John Justice, after he saw fit to let his eye wander to
the students in Beta Squad. She's refused to divorce him, convinced that
the marriage can still work, but as he loses his place in the world, Minaret
seems certain to lose touch with whatever nobility he has left.
Landmass (Q/q):
In school, Toby was picked on for being "the
little guy," but after being exposed to an ancient incantation, he
became anything but little. He's the embodiment of the strength
of the earth, a man who registers on the Richter scale. He's no villain,
but he's not much of a hero either. On several occasions, he's stomped
right past the scene of a tragedy or crime without lifting a stony finger
to help, wrapped up in his own self-satisfaction.
Doc Sigil (R/r):
A real-life doctor of anthropology at State University, Doc Sigil is a
"Master of the Occult Sciences," beating up the bad guys with
spells, charms, and summoned spirits. He's usually an independent operator,
keeping watch on the mystic front, but lately he's been seen fighting alongside
of some of the fringe superteams, too, perhaps searching for a sense of
community.
Gloom (S/s):
It's ironic that she and Luminary are best
friends, but they have to be very careful when working together. Her powers
of darkness and Luminary's powers of light not only clash visually, they
cancel each other out, and constitute a real physical danger to each of
them. Despite that, they work daily in the Peril Pit, facing a variety
of simulated challenges to better coordinate their abilities.
Piqueshow (T/t):
She's the heroine that the press seems to
think is a villainess, but that's mainly because she hates reporters with
a furious passion. She does a lot of things with a furious passion,
making her a controversially popular figure with the city's teens. She's
a snarky partygirl who has no compunctions about producing her own swimsuit
calendar or self-promoting via her website, all of which grates on more
traditional, no-thanks-are-necessary-good-citizen heroes. But they can't
deny her effectiveness; the city would have fallen to the Crimson Hottentot
if not for her.
Swelter (U/u):
The leader of the Fire Triplets, the city's
only elemental-themed superteam, swelter is a lot more fun-loving in real
life than the specter-of-justice image he projects. That image, though,
may be why Rictus has been focusing on his group, lately - the mad clown
seems determined to get a laugh out of (or at the expense of) anyone who
he decides is too serious. As Swelter has demonstrated, though. Rictus'
wigs are highly flammable.
Gale (V/v):
She "flies" lifted by the winds
she commands, an independent superheroine from nearby Pleasant Valley.
She's been seen more often over the skyline of Justice City lately, though,
leading many to believe that the Union's attempts to romance her into joining
may finally be coming to fruition.
Tantrum (W/w):
Rage is the weakness of Duke Erebus, but it's
the one and only superpower of the man the press calls "Tantrum."
The angrier he gets, the stronger (and louder, and more resilient) he gets,
so when he gets up a good head of steam, he's a challenge for the entire
Union at once. Make him laugh, though, and he's no stronger than
an ordinary man, but his funny bone is as tough as the rest of him.
Deadline (X/x):
His trio of Timewarp Disks can be manipulated
to stop, slow, or even reverse small patches of time. Mostly, he uses this
power to enhance his already-formidable combat abilities, sending a flurry
of punches and kicks from seven different directions in time and space,
and dodging bullets with ease . . . He's expanding his powers, though,
and making more grandiose plans. For obvious reasons, Horizon desperately
wants to capture those disks and see what makes them tick.
Bastion (Y/y): He
was fighting the Centurions of Dread alongside Alpha Squad when they vanished
- the only certain survivor of that mysterious incident. His armored supersuit,
though, had been shorted out entirely by a burst of unknown energies, and
his sensors detected nothing of what went on. He was found, unconscious,
on the mountainside, in the middle of a shallow crater sixty meters wide.
The last thing he can remember of the incident is the merry sounds of battle,
followed by total blackness . . . but something is tugging at his memory,
something dark and hidden. He's afraid he's next.
Downpour (Z/z):
She can control several tons of water with
her mind, and take watery form. Her life as a fashion model was turned
inside out last spring, when her secret identity was revealed to the public
after years of discreet superheroism. Now, she's more famous than ever,
but despite a natural streak of vanity, she's getting tired of that kind
of attention.
This set comes with two additional Sparks, mapped
to the bracket keys; a friendly cop and a stockingheaded bank robber or
mugger. The rumors that the missing men of Alpha Squad can be found somewhere
on the keyboard are usually ignored; too much hope can poison a city if
those hopes turn out to be unfounded.
In addition to the Sparks themselves, this set
includes twenty flats. The flats aren't scaled any particular way
- they're all the same glyph-height; just print them out at any scale that
seems useful. It's best to print them relatively large, for clarity. They're
mapped to the ten number keys, and to the miscellaneous symbol keys "above"
them, accessed by pressing a number along with the SHIFT key.
- Vehicles (1,2,3,4):
Great for mapping purposes. Print 'em BIG!
- Time-Bomb (5):
Complete with animal sacrifices!
- Rubble (6,7):
One with twisted girders, another with just rocks.
- Effect Markers (8,9,0,!):
Useful for marking superpower effects and other in-play functions. A circle
of fire, a circle of "generic energy", a swirling vortex, and
a circle of swirling leaves for Autumn.
- Gizmotronic Technomat (@):
From overhead. With the new laser attachment.
- Going Down (#,$):
An iris hatch and a manhole cover.
- Bubbly Puddle
(%): It's acid, toxic waste, or an alien blob,
as you please.
- Small Computer Desk (^):
From overhead. Makes a good improvised missile weapon.
- Crystal Formation (&):
Helpful when setting up fights on an alien landscape, or in a Fortress
of Quietude.
- Crates (*
and both parentheses) 'Cause you gotta have
crates!
Justice City is a Windows TrueType font. It works on any
modern Windows system, and on up-to-date versions of the Macintosh OS (Mac
began supporting Windows fonts in OS X). If you have any doubts whether
Sparks will work on your system (especially if you're a Mac
user), please download the Sparks: Free-for-All
sample font and test it on your computer. If the Free-for-All
works, this set will too.
Justice City can be ordered online or via post. If you
have a Visa or Mastercard (or a check/debit card that can be used like
one), ordering online is easiest! I accept payments via PayPal, the fastest
way to get money across the internet.
Click Here to Order
The price is just $10.
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