Welcome to MacGuffin's!

[BoloOfEarth]

Good day, and welcome to MacGuffin's Resale Shop!  We've got the finest in lightly-used devices suitable for taking over a hero team, the city, the state, the country, or even the world!

 

Some of our merchandise has never been used, as either UNTIL, PRIMUS, or superhero teams have thwarted the creator's imaginative plans before his conquest could even begin.  Other products were used but countered by quick-thinking capes -- but that shouldn't stop you from picking them up at a steal and using them in another locale.  Just a simple renaming, some new paint, and maybe a few decorative doo-dads added, and they'll never know the difference!

 

 

 

{The purpose of this thread is to share various plot devices used in your campaign, preferably with some hints to help other GMs introduce them into their campaigns.}

[BoloOfEarth]

Right over here, we have the Quake Machine.  Originally created by Dr. Draconis based on designs and notes from none other than Nikola Tesla, the Quake Machine could be tuned to create vibrations similar to anything from light tremors to an outright earthquake.  With the right scientific mind  and precise calculations, these vibrations could be sent into the earth's crust and bounced off the mantle to surface at another location hundreds of kilometers away!  Deathstroke -- you remember Requiem and his band of misfits -- stole this little baby from a deserted Draconis depot and used it to threaten cities along the eastern seaboard of the US, until a Boston-based hero team took them down and captured the device. 

 

As I understand it, a miffed Draconis figured out Deathstroke had stolen his goodies and tipped off the heroes with technical details on the vibration amplitude and angle of attack from Deathstroke's initial uses of the Quake Machine that allowed the capes to trace the quake origin point to a few square miles of Boston.

[BoloOfEarth]

Got a launch vehicle you're not sure how to use?  How about an orbital neural disruptor beam?  This gem was created by Profesor Muerte during the original run of Terror Incorporated.  It utilized the brain tissue of a deceased mentalist, stolen from his funeral by Terror Inc. agents, to help generate a souped-up 50 meter-diameter beam of deadly neural energy that could be targeted from low-orbit with an accuracy of 5 meters -- easily close enough to catch your target as well as all of his friends!  And the beauty of it is, it could incapacitate or kill people while leaving structures completely unharmed!  (nervous cough)  Sure, Muerte could ramp it up to full power and cause psychokinetic damage to even inorganic materials, but we strongly recommend you avoid doing so, as this voids the MacGuffin's warranty.

 

As I'm sure you're aware, Muerte was a victim of his own hubris.  The heroes of Silver Phoenix learned of the mentalist's brain getting taken from the funeral home and traced the thieves to Muerte's launch complex off the coast of Peru.  After defeating Muerte's forces, the capes fired the satellite's control rockets to force it to re-enter the atmosphere.  However, we not only have Muerte's original plans, but an early prototype of the satellite itself!  All you need is the right brain tissue, a new power source, and you're in business!

[BoloOfEarth]

Ah, I see you've found the Snake's Pit!  This is where we keep the various tools and gizmos created by various VIPER Nests in their conquest of their home cities.

 

This beauty is called the Fimbulwinterizer.  Created by former Chicago Nest leader Windchill, this device could cause a city-wide drop in temperature up to 45 degrees.  In the right weather conditions these special transmission dishes, mounted atop a skyscraper, could be directed at the clouds and turn rain into freezing sleet and blinding snow, bringing the city to a standstill and leaving it free for your properly-equipped minions to loot and pillage to their hearts' content.

 

As a special bonus, we'll throw in two sets of dummy transmission dishes to mount on nearby buildings.  According to a well-placed source in the CPD, the Windy City's hero team resident scientist deduced from various stolen components what Windchill was up to and set up some sensors and tracking of weather patterns to figure out the epicenter of the sudden flash-freeze of the city.  But you can learn from Windchill's mistake -- a few of these dummy dishes will throw capes off the scent long enough for you to pull off your plot and vanish into the blizzard with the heroes none the wiser!

[Christopher R Taylor]

Does Godzilla count?  I have a bad guy named Cinema who is an immensely powerful reality manipulator, but insane, so he only creates stuff that is related to movies.  He had Godzilla step out of Lake Michigan and attack Chicago for the premier adventure of a superhero campaign I ran.  The hard part for them was beating the monster without flattening the city.

 

Because, you know, heroes try to avoid property damage.

[Tjack]

Over here we have the street drug SPIKE. The un-perfected batches of super-soldier-serum from your friends at Viper or Raver or whoever.

As a way of raising capital and maybe killing a hero or two, this stuff is being sold as the best cheap high there is and the bonus is that out of every hundred or so you get a super power! Like Flight! Sure it only lasts long enough to get a few hundred feet into the air before it cuts out. Or Super Strength enough to punch in a bank vault door, too bad there wasn't any invulnerability so you break every bone from your fingertips to your elbows before the high wears off.

Somebody should maybe stop this, huh.

[JohnnyAppleseed098]

On the back balcony, we have the goat cheese machine. At the push of a button, a slice of delicious goat cheese emerges from the tube. Farmers across the galaxy are trying to steal this ccontraption. (At that moment, Five farmers walk in with pitchforks)

 

Well, can you please help the store not get robbed?

 

(After the Farmers are gone)

 

Anyways the machine contains no milk, no hormones, no fake milk. It just does that.

 

(After that the rogue, realizing the potential profit from the machine, steals it)

 

Well, at least I don't have to deal with those farmers anymore.

[PhantomGM2602]

OH but I see that you're looking for the most powerful of magical items to be used against the heroic supermages,

This is the DARK GRIMORE, a counterpart to the TOME OF DREAMS currently used by the Court of DREAMS that is on loan from the Trismegistius Council.

Created by the Circle of the Scarlet Moon, it contains spells and enchantments that would counter the Court's so called powers of light. But Be cautious, it is said that a demon is imprisioned inside it and may push your powers out of control or cause the spells to backfire. So use extrem caution in utilizing this more powerful of spell books.

Only $100,000 in retal but for you DEMON Morbanes, 670% off the cover price for spells added into the book.

[PhantomGM2602]

Btw​ the Coven of Nightmares used the book against the court for the very first time and were defeated because the demon inside the book caused the spells to backfire on them causing their defeat.

[BoloOfEarth]

Welcome back!  I caught in the news how gang members on SPIKE are terrorizing downtown Megapolis; I hope you're enjoying your purchase of the formula!

 

We just got some new merchandise in, and I saw something I thought you'd be interested in. 

 

This silver coin, one of two unearthed in an archaeology dig in German, is known colloquially as a Coin of Power.  It greatly enhances the magical abilities of anybody holding it, nearly doubling the power of a mage's spells and will even moderately boost other, non-magical paranormal powers.  (cough)  That cold-iron case?  Well, I should warn you that each coin is powerful enough to act as a beacon to anybody with active magesight.  The cold iron helps us hide the coin from magically-minded do-gooders.  It's twin is currently being held in a high-security vault of a private collector.

[BoloOfEarth]

Ah, I see you're admiring that standing mirror -- or maybe just admiring yourself in that mirror.  I must say, you do wear that blood-red cowl well!

 

That mirror is the Transportative Reflective.  See those ivory flowers inlaid in the periphery of the wooden frame?  Pressed in the proper sequence while uttering an incantation, they can cause two different effects.  The simplest of these allows you to view out of any mirror or highly reflective surface in a given location.  The more advanced effect is to open a portal between this mirror and the linked mirror or reflective surface, allowing you to reach or step through to or from that other location.  Note, however, that the portal at the other end is no larger than the reflective surface you've linked to, so you can't exactly step out of, say, a hand mirror.  But I'm sure that an intelligent and creative person such as yourself can find interesting ways to make that work well!

 

This was originally found in and stolen from a historic house in Chicago by the Alexandrian Order, who then put the Reflective to great use breaking into museums, a Demonhame, and even a PRIMUS base to collect various magical artifacts.  I managed to purchase this from Codex a few weeks ago when he needed to gather some money to hire a good defense lawyer. 

[steriaca]

Ah, I see you admiring that wardrobe. It can change any clothing into a powerful suit of indestructible armor. We call it the Lolitan Wardrobe. Why do we call it that? Well, anything put into it comes out looking like something some street kid in Japan would pull out of there wardrobe. You know, Lolita Fashion. Not so useful if your a guy. And half useful if your a girl. So that is why such a powerful protective device is on sale for three-fourths price.

 

And don't make the mistake of going in there yourself. Not unless you want an indestructible full body Shiro Lolita outfit. And when I say full body, that includes the head. In something you can't rip off and can't breath through.

[PhantomGM2602]

Welcome Back!  I see you've made use of your purchases in fighting against The Champions and The Protectors. But I see that you desire something more that might put you on equal footing with SAGA the Tommorow Man---

Here is POWERHOUSE 2.9! The newest in our power enhancement drug line that is made exclusively for agents of VIPER our most powerful enhancer yet!

And with good reason, this batch has been created with nearly 3.7 MGs of Exocaine in each package that will provide over 48 hrs of raw super power and enhanced senses and strength. But a word of warning: take only two pills or powders for every 48 hrs, do not exceed that amount or you'll be subject to the side effects of exocaine.

It's available for only the low price of $900.00, half price for VIPER agents and Newbie villians.

[DShomshak]

Or perhaps you'd like to see more of our Weird Ray Machines? This one was built by Doctor Bliss, whose tale, almost inevitably, was very sad. Doctor Jonathan Bliss, neuroscientist, suffered terrible grief from the death of his entire family. Relief came only from using magnets to stimulate the parts of the brain that create the feeling of happiness. Alas, Doctor Bliss became addicted to his own creation -- and like so many addicts, he wanted other people to become users too. He built the Happitron to make everyone in an entire city terribly, terribly happy. It worked, too... too well. The Southern Sentries had to find it and shut it down before it burned out everyone's brains.

 

How did MacGuffin's get it? Ah, trade secret. But With a little tinkering, the Happitron surely can be tuned to merely incapacitate everyone in a one-kilometer radius with utter bliss, leaving you free to loot the city! Insulating helmets not included, but surely a Master Criminal such as yourself can build your own.

 

Ahem, and in the interests of repeat business... do not let the Happitron or any of Doctor Bliss' personal weaponry affect you. Overindulgence in the Happy Ray permanently damaged Doctor Bliss' brain, leaving him unable to feel happiness even using his own machine. Last I heard, he was still committed to a mental asylum, on permanent suicide watch.

 

Dean Shomshak

[DShomshak]

As usual, other scientists tried to duplicate Doctor Bliss' work. Bartholomew Pagnole succeeded, but he targeted different parts of the brain and nervous system. Whether he wanted to do so does not matter, I suppose, but he built an arsenal as Professor Pain -- including our next ray device, here. I suppose it also doesn't matter why he thought Montreal had to suffer. If you wish to punish or threaten a city, though, the Algedonic Projector can show your terrible wrath! In extreme cases, the device can even inflict pain severe enough to kill everyone in a city... slowly... while leaving buildings intact.

 

I say this merely as a point of technical interest, of course. At MacGuffin's, we neither suggest nor disapprove how our customers might use our merchandise. We merely believe that an informed customer is a satisfied customer!

 

Dean Shomshak

[death tribble]

I am a plot device.

[BoloOfEarth]

Ah, I see you've found our Live Items aisle!  Yes, MacGuffins has the only known Death Tribble in captivity!  They're the very devil to catch, I assure you, and even harder to hold! 

 

What does it do, such a wee little beastie, you ask?  Well, he may look tiny now, but turn him loose in a store of grain, and he'll eat every morsel.  And then grow.  And grow.  And grow. 

 

One of these once grew to twenty stories tall and terrorized the streets of London.  Crushed dozens of buildings flat, and burned scores more with its flaming eye-beams!  I hear tell some Godzilla-like creature fought it to a standstill, though of course the government covered the whole thing up.  Said it was a gas line explosion.  Ha!