Well, there were three pieces of logic in that original plan: One, just as Ivy is a suped-up version when compared to her Comics version, Stroke is also a slightly suped up version, so he's a bit tougher/competent than his Comics version. The second was that the heroes don't know who they're dealing with. The third one is that this is his first in-game appearance, so this is where he establishes himself as a threat by handling the heroes in a way that means he isn't running away with his tail between his legs...in his next appearance, after he's been set up as a threat, that will be the time when they're adequately prepared for him and give him a lot more trouble than he was expecting.<br/>And this Slade hasn't had a good fight against a competent opponent in 13 years. He's staying because he's itching to get a good, strenuous fight out of it and he still thinks he can win. If he were to start losing, then he'd look to retreat with the loot. At the moment, he thinks he's winning...but they're doing better than anybody else has in a very long time, so he's letting his "thirst for a worthy opponent" get the better of him. :-)<br/><br/><br/>Warden:<br/><br/>I get being stressed, don't worry. And this time, I think it was necessary...whilst a PM might have been a tad more appropriate, I can't say anything about that. He without glass houses...shouldn't...throw stones at black pots...or something.<br/><br/>BUT it needed to be said; I AM powerplaying quite a bit, and I needed to be told because I abhor powerplaying and I abhor hypocrites, sooooo yeah. XD I needed to hear it, quite frankly, and I'd rather you tell me about the concerns so I have a chance to fix it rather than bottling it up and then exploding later down the line in a fiery display of passion. And that sounded vaguely dirty. Sorry. >.><br/><br/>ANYWAY.<br/><br/>No apologies needed, Ice. It needed to be said and I needed to hear it. No hard feelings from me :-)<br/><br/><br/>Doomsday:<br/><br/>Honestly, that's the biggest problem with GMing. I find the best way to do it is to set some basic ground rules (like, don't dictate other characters reactions) and then rely on people to get along...and make it clear that if there's a dispute that you can't handle on your own, or there's an argument or a discussion that is upsetting or annoying you, get the GM involved for a GM ruling. There's not an easy solution in my experience, so at the end of the day, a lot of it falls on trusting the players to be sensible and mature. *shrug*