Chebucto Regional Softball Club

So my immediate thought given this context would be to make the new strain/miracle drug/whatever be something that combats the existing evil virus as a counteragent. So it would provide some amount of resistance/immunity to it, but i like the idea of a (probably unknown) drawback. Something like cordyceps maybe that slowly takes over and/or controls the person like you mentioned. This could easily be told to the players through the NPC you mentioned who has control of the new strain/drug; he can slowly become more erratic/out of control, and his actions can start to get more suspect (along with any potential physical signs). So basic idea for a campaign would be: - Players run into NPC that has new miracle drug that provides resistance/immunity to super evil virus - NPC is being hunted by the AI because of it - Players try to protect and help NPC get to somewhere safe to begin process of creating/manufacturing/growing new drug at scale (current supply must be protected because it's so low, so player's can't have any, but they know the NPC has tried it on himself) - Over their time with the NPC, his motivation and actions begin to turn more sinister as the effects of the drug set in - Player's need to eventually make a choice as to if the current situation with the virus or the new threat from the miracle drug is the lesser evil.

What, *exactly* are you trying to replicate from the show? The miraculous super drug the powers-that-be despise? The plot premise of running from the authorities with a secret? The main character himself? All of it? Something else? Depending on what aspects you like, you can do different things for your game (fyi I know little about EP specifically, but translating plot into games can be universal).

well, to be fair, almost no one used counterspells back then because of the many failure points, clunkiness, and the high chance of it being a complete waste of your turn. Better to just cast your own fireball first.

Thats pretty similar to what 3e (and iirc older) counterspell did. You had to cast the same spell in reverse to counterspell to counter a spell. So to counter spell a fireball, you had to have a fireball prepared and "counterspell cast" your fireball. That said, there was some action economy problems in 3e that made it not worth it (you had to use an action to 'ready' a counterspell on a specific target, when the target cast a spell, you had to roll to identify the spell, and if they cast a spell you didnt know or have prepared, you were out of luck)

Presumably, someone attempting to mug you would probably be a bandit (+3 to hit, +1 to damage), not another commoner