Sick Alliance Notion

[ZootSoot]

Mechanon wants to destroy all organic life, but has no desire to rule, right? The dead aren't alive, right? So howsabout Mechanon and Takofanes coming to an agreement to kill everything and Takofanes raise them as undead to rule over?

[Twilight]

Umm....YIKES!!!!

Dude that's diabolical! That's nasty!

In other words....BRILLIANT!!!! :D

However, I wouldn't suggest tossing that particular combination against any hero made on less then 500 pts or so.

[Hermit]

I don't know. I always thought once he wiped out the organic parasites infesting this orbital globe, Mechanon would proceed in the creation of a more orderly robotic society. A utopia of steel, and circuits.

Also, judging by his reaction in the Showdown with the Iron Duke, Mechanon doesn't care for magic. He might see Takofanes as an organic that has managed to fool his sensors.

Takofanes, on the other hand, might just see Mechanon as a ... well, a toy. A very fun toy capable of spreading much death by sorceries unknown to the arch lich, but a toy nevertheless.

Still... the team up, if it occured, would indeed be a nasty mix. I think eventually warring egos would put them at each others' unbreathing throats.

[Lord Liaden]

I could see these two united for a short time to accomplish a single goal: the eradication of life on Earth. After all, their greatest rivals and opponents would be killed as well. With their combined resources drawing upon both technology and sorcery, the world would be in serious trouble. Once the world was dead, though, they would be at each other's throats.

This would actually make an interesting post-apocalyptic time travel scenario: the world stripped of all life has become divided between a barren desert populated by animated corpses, and a gleaming steel wasteland filled with sterile machines. The border between them would probably seethe with ceaseless warfare of robots against supernatural horrors. Without green plants to process carbon dioxide the air would lbe unbreathable, and the greenhouse effect would make the temperature inimical to life - not that that would bother any of the current inhabitants. OTOH, industrial pollutants from Mechanon's construction might have swathed the atmosphere in toxic clouds, cutting off the sun and plunging the land into permanent winter.

Either way, a sojourn like that would provide plenty of motivation for the heroes to try to stop that alliance.

[Doug McCrae]

Originally posted by Lord Liaden
This would actually make an interesting post-apocalyptic time travel scenario: the world stripped of all life has become divided between a barren desert populated by animated corpses, and a gleaming steel wasteland filled with sterile machines. Reign of Steel vs. Reign of Skull

[Arthur]

That'd make a great Alternate Earth (Champions in 3D is my all-time favorite supplement pre-FRED). Sort of a cross between the future world of The Terminator and Day of The Dead.

That could compete with Horror World for sheer, well... horror.

[Static UK]

Arthur, I would NOT want to go there, no matter how many points my character was built on! Talk about nightmares!!!! :eek:

[BobGreenwade]

This could be just the sort of event that could end the Age of Superheroes (I think the year's 2020, isn't it?). All of the heroes on Earth -- and most of the villains -- team up to defeat Mechanon and Takofanes, resulting in the deaths of most of the former side but also the destruction (or at least the thousand-year stasis) of the two antagonists.

[Evil Steve]

Originally posted by Lord Liaden
This would actually make an interesting post-apocalyptic time travel scenario: the world stripped of all life has become divided between a barren desert populated by animated corpses, and a gleaming steel wasteland filled with sterile machines. The border between them would probably seethe with ceaseless warfare of robots against supernatural horrors. Without green plants to process carbon dioxide the air would lbe unbreathable, and the greenhouse effect would make the temperature inimical to life - not that that would bother any of the current inhabitants. OTOH, industrial pollutants from Mechanon's construction might have swathed the atmosphere in toxic clouds, cutting off the sun and plunging the land into permanent winter.


I think I need a cigarette. Damn that's good. I have got to do this to my PCs. [insert evil laugh here]

[Lord Liaden]

One more ghastly addition to this scenario: the animated dead which Takofanes has recruited to his service could include supervillains and NPC (or even former PC) superheroes known to the player characters when they were alive. In fact, since the date of the apocalypse would have been after the heroes travelled into the future, they could conceivably be faced with undead versions of themselves.

[Scott Destroyer]

Hello,

Hmm...could this unholy alliance (literally, with Takofanes :D) be the menace Captain Chronos was sent back to stop? Even he's a bit of a lightweight to be dealing with two foes of that magnitude; he'll be needing a good solid team of heroes to work with if those two are his nemeses...

Sounds like an interesting story arc for a campaign, at any rate. :)

[Lord Liaden]

Originally posted by Scott Destroyer
Hello,

Hmm...could this unholy alliance (literally, with Takofanes :D) be the menace Captain Chronos was sent back to stop? Even he's a bit of a lightweight to be dealing with two foes of that magnitude; he'll be needing a good solid team of heroes to work with if those two are his nemeses...

Sounds like an interesting story arc for a campaign, at any rate. :)

I think that makes a lot of sense. The magnitude of the threat would certainly be great enough, and Captain Chronos would provide both the means and the motivation for the heroes to visit the future to witness the outcome. They'd probably need convincing of the reality of the danger and of the Captain's good intentions.

Something else I've been thinking about: What kind of scheme do you think would be sufficiently devastating, and would demand the combined resources of both Mechanon and Takofanes? It would have to be something globally lethal, with requirements that neither villain could fulfill on his (its?) own. And it would have to be something that the PCs would be able to prevent (at the last second, of course).

Here's one that occurred to me: Takofanes develops an alchemical formula that transforms water into mercury or similarly toxic substance, while Mechanon launches a satellite delivery system to saturate the planet's atmosphere with the formula. Presto! World-wide mercury rain.

Any other suggestions?

[Trebuchet]

Originally posted by Lord Liaden
Here's one that occurred to me: Takofanes develops an alchemical formula that transforms water into mercury or similarly toxic substance, while Mechanon launches a satellite delivery system to saturate the planet's atmosphere with the formula. Presto! Word-wide mercury rain.

Any other suggestions? Yes. Full Life Support. :eek:

[Gary]

This alliance could last longer than expected. After all, there are billions of other planets with organic life and souls, and virtually unlimited other dimensions with the same. If they could defeat Istvatha V'han and Takofanes raises her as a lich, they could wreak some real havok. :eek:

[Lord Liaden]

Gary, I could see Takofanes trying that with Istvatha V'han if he got the chance, especially after putting this world under his heel; but I can't see either he or Mechanon quitting the Earth until the other was exterminated. As I indicated earlier, I could accept a short-term alliance to purge Earth of life, but once that was done the primary reason to ally would be gone. I agree with Hermit's observation: these two have virtually no common ground, and even a lifeless planet wouldn't have enough room to contain both those egos. :rolleyes:

[Gary]

Originally posted by Lord Liaden
Gary, I could see Takofanes trying that with Istvatha V'han if he got the chance, especially after putting this world under his heel; but I can't see either he or Mechanon quitting the Earth until the other was exterminated. As I indicated earlier, I could accept a short-term alliance to purge Earth of life, but once that was done the primary reason to ally would be gone. I agree with Hermit's observation: these two have virtually no common ground, and even a lifeless planet wouldn't have enough room to contain both those egos. :rolleyes:

It would be an alliance of necessity. Neither of them would be able to stand it, that entire populations of organics/souls would be breeding beyond their reach. For the same reason that they would ally to destroy life on Earth, they would do the same to destroy life on other planets/dimensions especially with proof of such life in the form of Firewing/Istvatha.

I had an ugly thought. Suppose Mechanon actually had a soul. Would Takofanes then be able to raise him as a gruesome form of mechanical undead? :eek:

[gewing]

Imagine all the fun cybertech updates they could give the elite undead troops. vampires with sunlight blocking forcefields (Thank you, Nick Pollata) Zombies with cybered reflexes so they can keep up with the humans. Shock bones ala Arduin(skeletons with surprises)

:rolleyes:

I think I have a headache now.

[Balok]

Strangers on a Train: Mechanon goes after the mostly magical group that gives Takofanes grief, which Takofanes deals with the hi-tech group that continually thwarts Mechanon's plans. After that, it's back to independent operations.

[Arthur]

Originally posted by gewing
Shock bones ala Arduin(skeletons with surprises)


Whoa! Someone else who remembers Shock Bones from Arduin! Talk about Old School....

I remember I was running an FRPG about 20 years ago. One player was playing a medium-level cleric. They were attacked by what appeared to be skeletons. The player said "Oh man, I just know these are shock bones. But my character wouldn't know that. He's going to try to turn them. Here goes a wasted roll."

He rolled his Turn Undead attempt, and they exploded into dust. They were regular skeletons.

Moral of the story: In role-playing, always go by what your character knows, not what you think is going on.

[gewing]

I liked the Bigglies too. ANd many of the magic items. I wonder where those rules are? :) Still better than D&D :p


Originally posted by Arthur
Whoa! Someone else who remembers Shock Bones from Arduin! Talk about Old School....

I remember I was running an FRPG about 20 years ago. One player was playing a medium-level cleric. They were attacked by what appeared to be skeletons. The player said "Oh man, I just know these are shock bones. But my character wouldn't know that. He's going to try to turn them. Here goes a wasted roll."

He rolled his Turn Undead attempt, and they exploded into dust. They were regular skeletons.

Moral of the story: In role-playing, always go by what your character knows, not what you think is going on.