Checkmate Villain Storage

[Super Squirrel]

So, the players from our game were all together and we got talking about our game. We would all like to capture villains and prevent them from escaping but we were not sure how. So we talked... and we talked... and we talked... and, um, we had some ideas and twists and turns.

BUT

We came across our decision.

We are going to take captured villains and turn them into chess pieces. We would acquire them, take them back to our base, use a device there to transform them into a chess piece using a combination of magic and technology. These pieces would be, for the most part, indestructable (as much as the rules allow) and would be kept in our base in storage unless law enforcement officials ask for a particular villain.

To transform them back, its simple. You play a game of chess and the piece that puts the king into checkmate is restored to normal. (Obviously the King cannot be a villain).

Now we just need helping writing this thing up.

Our idea was to build in our base a medical scanner that people lie down into and we scan their body for damages, diseases, etc. We would also have a special function that requires a password (maybe even five) to activate "Checkmate".

So, assistance with writing this thing up is appreciated as we have a draft already on hand but want to get outside input on this matter.

Oh, our "rejected" idea that almost worked, was turning villains into ice cubes and storing them in our freezer.

[Lord Liaden]

It doesn't seem too difficult - pretty clear use of Transform, with the reversal conditions already spelled out. It sounds like this would require an Obvious Immobile Focus (equipment at the base), maybe with RSR (some Science Skill Roll) for the scan, and other Lims to taste. Note that if you only use a Physical Transform without Mental and Spiritual, your captive supervillains will remain conscious and aware while they're trapped in the form of chess pieces.

For me, though, the implications of the use of this process are far more profound. Does your team have the legal authority to incarcerate people? If they do, is this process accepted by the government of your campaign world? In anything close to the real world, I would think that civil libertarians would be up in arms about cruel and unusual punishment. If the heroes don't have legal authorization, do they just "chessify" captured villains without a trial? They're going to have to hide what they do from the government, and could be in real deep trouble if they're discovered.

Couldn't you just use the writeup for Stronghold in Classic Enemies and confine them there?

[Super Squirrel]

It is more a case of the GM wanting to let his villains get free and we don't want to.

Game 1: Adom Bomb was incapacitated by Phase 2 of combat. We turned him over to the police and five minutes later, he escaped.

Game 2: Villain was about to self destruct or something like that. Tossed him up to the air and *poof* disappeared who knows where.

Game 3: Villain team runs away to another dimension before police arrived after we had taken out one of the two.

It isn't so much that we want to detain the badguys without the governments consent, but we would like to keep the badguys from coming back. Perhaps getting some sort of legal ground to do so is in order.

[freakboy6117]

hmm you could go with the chess pieces being the villians have them as keys to an extradimensional obliette each piece is encoded with the dimensional coordinates thus people want to steal the pieces to rescue the villains. Say time in the dimension flows 100 or 1000 times slower than in the real world.

meaning that villains won't have tiem to plan an escape or forget about there crimes.
plus you have the joy of escaping villains with archaic gimics.
As for the medical scanner you want a two key system possibly with voice print and retina or palm print scanner as well for security.

[AngryBug]

I'd have to agree with Lord Liaden; the moral implications of turning people into chess pieces are enormous! It's akin to, well, freezing people into ice cubes... And since you mentioned a captured villain escaped "5 minutes later", this means you'd be "chessifying" people without a trial!
Now, I understand how frustrating it is when a villain escapes, but it is a part of the superhero genre. If the players are frustrated by this, perhaps the GM could ensure not every villain escapes, or have it at least take a little longer.If it's the PCs who are frustrated, well, they should be, and they are likely to look for a solution. If there's no "Stronghold" or equivalent in your campaign world, perhaps the PCs could lobby for one to be built.
However, if you think a supervillain is tough to beat, just wait until a supervillain's lawyer comes after you! I don't think indefinitely holding people without a trial is legal yet (for private citizens, anyway... ), which is what you would be doing. I don't think, "But, your honour, he's evil, we had to turn him into a chess piece!" will go very far in a court of law...
Imagine a group of vigilantes in real life capturing muggers and imprisoning them indefinitely in their basement. I don't think they'd be given a pat on the back by law enforcers...
I know it's just a game, but how heroic is it to remove someone's basic humanity just because of the possibility he might escape? Even General Zod had a trial before being sentenced to the Phantom Zone...
Frankly, the whole idea seems chilling to me. It would be especially frightening if conducted by a court of law, but it's certain to terrify the populace if a group of vigilantes is running around turning people into objects...
Isn't that the sort of thing the bad guys do?!

[Lord Liaden]

Angry Bug has admirably summarized the concerns I would have should PCs attempt something like this in my campaign world, and the kind of trouble that they could expect to result. That said, I can certainly appreciate how aggravating the situation you find yourself in is. Some villain escapes are to be expected in the genre, as Mr. Bug pointed out; but if you feel that every villain is getting away too easily, that takes away from the heroes (and the players) the sense that their efforts make any difference. That's just not good for morale, and will definitely poison the fun of the game in the long run.

Have you as a group expressed your concerns to your GM? To me this sounds more like a situation that needs to be negotiated with him/her. If all the players indicate that this is a problem for them (in a constructive, non-confrontational way ), a reasonable GM will try to adjust his approach so that everyone has a good time.

[lemming]

actually in zornwil's game, we're going through some of the fall out of a silmilar sheme of the players.

[Doug McCrae]

Game 1: Adom Bomb was incapacitated by Phase 2 of combat. We turned him over to the police and five minutes later, he escaped.

Was that 'Atom Bomb' or 'Adam Bomb'? If the latter, it's a really cool name.

[freakboy6117]

adam bomb was actually used in THE authority I think he was basically a human nuke. imortal unstopable and burried in the nevada desert to stop the russians using there ultimate weapon.