The Champions of Evil

[OddHat]

OK, you need a quick villain group for tonights run. You have the Champions. What do you do to turn these good guys bad?

Defender with a MP full of RKAs?

Witchcraft with tactical sense?

Nighthawk with a LAW rocket and a dream?

[Chuckg]

Well, if you're truly doing Mirror-Verse Champions with Goatees *g*, then Nighthawk needs to be the /least/ villainous and violent of the team. :)

[Hermit]

Ironclad looks good with a beard. All aliens do, just ask Spock. :D

[Hermit]

Well, as I actually use the Champions in my setting... first thing I do is change the names and costumes making these folks new characters.

Defender is replaced by Onslaught ... secret Identity, Arnold Harmon... cousin or brother to James. Arnold was hoping to use his computer skills to embezzle a few funds from his playboy relative, only to stumble on to the notes on the armor. He now believes James is finacing the Champions and that the Defender Armor was a prototype. He broke into a Harmon factory, reprogrammed a few machines, and managed to make his own version of the armor... and he intends to put it to good use. Onslaught would be motivated by mayhem, rebelling against his expected 'family legacy', and stomping Defender just for the hell of it.

Ditch Ironclad the Alien, and enter Steelskin, rough and tumble brick and legbreaker. He's in it for the cash he thinks this team can provide and the chance to be a bully. Straightforward kind of guy.

Nighthawk needs a new name (I'm thinking Shadow Wolf don't know why), but much could be the same. Why not have him be a guy who ended up in the middle of crime...then super heroes came to the 'rescue'. Their incompetence resulted in his face being burnt badly. Where as Nighthawk is obssessed with Justice, Shadow Wolf is obsessed with revenge on meddlers and heroes... any hero will do. He's become a master of transferance.

Ruby is our Sapphire twist. Once a rival for Cory, she faked a career for longer than Milli Vanilla. Then news of her lip synching and digital alteration to her music went public... and her career went down the tubes. Desperate for attention and limelight, she enviously noted that Sapphire was loved as both a hero AND a singer. She decided to get powers of her own, and struck a deal with ARGENT. ARGENT attempted to overlay Cory's mutant DNA strand on Ruby's... Ruby got very sick, but recovered-physically. Hey, she even has similar powers (only of a red hue). Her mind however, is gone. She's quite insane, violently so. Her narcisism borders on obsessive and anyone who does not 'love her' is seen as a threat to her.


Witchcraft is.. hmm could just use Talisman ;) But if you want to keep to the sheet... call her Witchfire, and make her the daughter of another member of the Scarlet Moon, this experiment worked.. sort of. Have Witchfire be daddy's doting diabolical daughter. Think Ming's not so little girl in "Flash Gordon" only with none of that annoying potential for redemption and lots more loyality. Change the transformation into a frog into something else. Maybe she turns her victims into Worms to cut up. Or Butterflies to pin and collect.
(Yeah, call her Witchfire, might as well use the name :) )

[Magmarock]

OK, boys... get to shavin' or the laws gunna getcha!
LOL

Mags

[Lupus]

Originally posted by Hermit
Well, as I actually use the Champions in my setting... first thing I do is change the names and costumes making these folks new characters.

-snip- Reminds of me the Crime Syndicate of Amerika. :) Cool job.

[Wormhole]

Originally posted by Hermit
Ruby is our Sapphire twist. Once a rival for Cory, she faked a career for longer than Milli Vanilla. Then news of her lip synching and digital alteration to her music went public... and her career went down the tubes. Desperate for attention and limelight, she enviously noted that Sapphire was loved as both a hero AND a singer. She decided to get powers of her own, and struck a deal with ARGENT. ARGENT attempted to overlay Cory's mutant DNA strand on Ruby's... Ruby got very sick, but recovered-physically. Hey, she even has similar powers (only of a red hue). Her mind however, is gone. She's quite insane, violently so. Her narcisism borders on obsessive and anyone who does not 'love her' is seen as a threat to her.
I was thinking about doing something similar in my next game, only I was going to have Teleios steal a sample of her DNA and create an evil clone named "Rubia". Great minds think alike. :)

[Hermit]

Originally posted by Wormhole
I was thinking about doing something similar in my next game, only I was going to have Teleios steal a sample of her DNA and create an evil clone named "Rubia". Great minds think alike. :)

Actually, given Cory's public ID and relative fame, a physical clone like the one you suggest might be the better idea. More plot hooks as Sapphire must struggle to bring the 'fake' to justice AND save her own rep from her.

[Wormhole]

Originally posted by Hermit
Actually, given Cory's public ID and relative fame, a physical clone like the one you suggest might be the better idea. More plot hooks as Sapphire must struggle to bring the 'fake' to justice AND save her own rep from her.
Thanks. :)

BTW, in my plot I also have Teleios modify Rubia's DNA to include a biochemical dependency on an esorteric substance (for which I'm still trying to come up wih a good name for) only he can supply her with (basically a 0 pt Dependence disad). That's how he keeps her under his control (more or less).

[Lemur866]

Right...when you have an evil twin, the twin is proportionally as evil as you are good. So someone very good has a very evil twin, someone who is on the fence has an on the fence twin. So if your average vigilante hero has a evil twin, the evil twin might even be less evil than the hero.

[lemming]

Originally posted by Lemur866
Right...when you have an evil twin, the twin is proportionally as evil as you are good. So someone very good has a very evil twin, someone who is on the fence has an on the fence twin.
So if Hermit has a twin, they're identical except that they like the Red Skull?

And what about triplets?

ok ok, i'm going to bed

[Lupus]

Originally posted by lemming
So if Hermit has a twin, they're identical except that they like the Red Skull?

And what about triplets?

ok ok, i'm going to bed Fortunately, your evil triplet ends up being killed by your son from an alternate, dark future. So it all ends up okay.

[Supreme Serpent]

Originally posted by Lupus
Fortunately, your evil triplet ends up being killed by your son from an alternate, dark future. So it all ends up okay.

Oh no! :eek: It turns out that your son from an alternate, dark future WAS your evil triplet, lost in time to that alternate, dark future! By killing himself before that event, he causes another timesplit, where instead of an alternate, dark future, it becomes a dark, alternate future.

[Lupus]

Originally posted by Supreme Serpent
Oh no! :eek: It turns out that your son from an alternate, dark future WAS your evil triplet, lost in time to that alternate, dark future! By killing himself before that event, he causes another timesplit, where instead of an alternate, dark future, it becomes a dark, alternate future. But... but... can't I fix that by going back and killing my childhood friend Teddy?

Or was he an alien?

[GenreFiend]

Originally posted by Lupus
But... but... can't I fix that by going back and killing my childhood friend Teddy?

Or was he an alien?
Well, yes, he was. But, as soon as you attempt to travel back for that purpose, your future self from a post-apocalyptic alternate future will sho up to stop you. See, by killing Teddy when he was young, you would start a series of events that would lead to the worst alternate future of them all. Your only hope is to travel back to just before you started time-travelling in the first place, and prevent yourself from changing any history at all. Of course, that in itself would change history, since you did travel back and..... my brain hurts, now.

[Hermit]

As long as this removes Cable from my X comics, I'm for it.

[Supreme Serpent]

Originally posted by Hermit
As long as this removes Cable from my X comics, I'm for it.

I knew I liked you Hermit.

[Hermit]

*chuckle* Thanks

Cable, I'm afraid, came at the same time I gave up on X titles. He bored me to tears as a character, and frankly, wasn't half the man his father was (Then again, I'm a Cyclops fan).

Back on topic, sometimes past or future versions of ones self, or someone else using the same name in a different time period can make interesting evil 'clones' of PC heroes.

[Supreme Serpent]

To take this in a somewhat different direction, how many of you have used evil versions of the PC's in a supers game? One character or the whole group? How'd it work out?

[Hermit]

Originally posted by Supreme Serpent
To take this in a somewhat different direction, how many of you have used evil versions of the PC's in a supers game? One character or the whole group? How'd it work out?

Let's see, in 4th Edition, I lifted a suggestion from Malichite's treatment of Obsidian and had him clone a female Brick of a player. That worked okay.
I will probably do something similiar with Teleios.

Backworld (from Champions in 3d) worked wonders! I've used it more than once, and each time it ended up really riling the PCs (While still letting the players have fun), There is definitely an extra effort to beat out their evil selves. It worked well, and left many strings I can pick up later.


I am currently considering a "Rip Off" team, super heroes in it for the cash who have similar powers to the PCs, and are capitalizing in on their good will by duping them. Since the PCs aren't registered, they may have no legal recourse. Should be quite the blow out.

[Supreme Serpent]

Originally posted by Hermit
Backworld (from Champions in 3d) worked wonders! I've used it more than once, and each time it ended up really riling the PCs (While still letting the players have fun), There is definitely an extra effort to beat out their evil selves. It worked well, and left many strings I can pick up later.

I am currently considering a "Rip Off" team, super heroes in it for the cash who have similar powers to the PCs, and are capitalizing in on their good will by duping them. Since the PCs aren't registered, they may have no legal recourse. Should be quite the blow out.

Both sound like fun. I'm planning on bringing in an evil, alternate-verse version of my team. Emphasize the negative aspects of the characters' personalities, see how they react, maybe encourage some "character" growth in the characters.

[Hermit]

While I don't have it, there was an issue of Digital Hero, the Zodiac themed articles? The "Gemini" issue had an article about evil versions of the heroes. I never read it, but it might be worth looking into.

[starblaze]

Originally posted by Hermit
*chuckle* Thanks

Cable, I'm afraid, came at the same time I gave up on X titles. He bored me to tears as a character, and frankly, wasn't half the man his father was (Then again, I'm a Cyclops fan).

Back on topic, sometimes past or future versions of ones self, or someone else using the same name in a different time period can make interesting evil 'clones' of PC heroes.

Ok, I am not an avid X-Men reader so I will probably sound ignorant but why do so many people on these boards hate Cable so much?

[Fuzzy Gnome]

He has a tiny little head. Really, really tiny.
He has a great big gun.
He has a mysterious mutant power that turns out to be stupid.
He's from the future, just like every other lame X-Men character.
His eye glows for no adequately explained reason.
He's called Cable for no adequately explained reason.
He seems like a character a gamer made up trying for the cool and mysterious effect but getting the stupid and cliched effect instead. Because the gamer couldn't come up with a concept. Or a name. Or powers. Or much of a personality.

[Brandi]

Originally posted by starblaze
Ok, I am not an avid X-Men reader so I will probably sound ignorant but why do so many people on these boards hate Cable so much?

Two words: Rob Liefeld.

[Hermit]

How to say this?

Cable is a John Wayne wanna be without the Duke's charisma.
Cable is style without substance.
He's got so many twists and turns to his origin he ends up being nothing more than an abstract parody of the genre we're expected to take seriously.
Cable tries to be cool, but at best he's 'kewl' in a cheesey way.

YMMV, of course.

[Twilight]

Originally posted by Hermit
Let's see, in 4th Edition, I lifted a suggestion from Malichite's treatment of Obsidian and had him clone a female Brick of a player. That worked okay.
I will probably do something similiar with Teleios.

Backworld (from Champions in 3d) worked wonders! I've used it more than once, and each time it ended up really riling the PCs (While still letting the players have fun), There is definitely an extra effort to beat out their evil selves. It worked well, and left many strings I can pick up later.


I am currently considering a "Rip Off" team, super heroes in it for the cash who have similar powers to the PCs, and are capitalizing in on their good will by duping them. Since the PCs aren't registered, they may have no legal recourse. Should be quite the blow out.

Interesting twist on the whole Backworld deal, I'm wondering if anybody has done this in thier own campaign. Basically, the Backworld version of the characters comes to our dimension and team up with the character's archenemies in order to defeat them. In return, the characters must team up with the Backworld version of thier archenemies in order to keep from getting clobbered.

Is this idea really as original as I think it is?

Anybody else used it?

[Hermit]

Originally posted by Twilight
Interesting twist on the whole Backworld deal, I'm wondering if anybody has done this in thier own campaign. Basically, the Backworld version of the characters comes to our dimension and team up with the character's archenemies in order to defeat them. In return, the characters must team up with the Backworld version of thier archenemies in order to keep from getting clobbered.

Is this idea really as original as I think it is?

Anybody else used it?

No, not yet :)

Though it's very close to what I had planned for the 'rematch' between the PCs and their opposites. Nice idea!