Some brainstorming help, please.

[novi]

So, my f2f group is going have a gap between long-term games due to out-of-country travel on the part of the next GM.  And I've offered to run a little something for those two weeks to introduce a couple of the players to the HERO system (the rest of us are familiar, if rusty).  Which leaves me needing to do a bit of brainstorming on something to throw at them.

Well, I already have an idea, but I need a bit of help on crafting the opposition.  The PC will be pregens based on this cheesy old post from the boards (and yes, they are largely on board with the utter ridiculousness involved )
 

 

Intro:
December 13, 1987; for upwards of a decade, five heroes
have dominated as the greatest force against evil in the galaxy.
These five heroes work together for the purposes kicking ass,
showing off the power of big hair, and protect the sanctity of rock.
These heroes are...

Delicious Rick: pretty boy front man, blessed with a voice that
literally can bring mountains to their knees, he sends villains flying with
his powerful wails...

Spandex: the elastic woman. She can stretch her body to magnificent lengths, but few things are bigger than her hair...

bondage: leather clad technological mastermind, armed with nothing
more than a whip, a brilliant mind, and extreme brute strength;
this big fella is a force to be reckoned with...

Aqua-net: under water hero, big haired ruler of the deep,
his hair stays thick, even when trapped many leagues
beneath the sea...

chronic: high speedy heroine, moving at blinding speeds, this crazy
young lady fights crime with the power of angst and teen rebellion...

together these are the mighty hair metal crime fighting team,
FeedbacK! But one faithful day in their quiet era known as the 80's,
the space time continuum is greatly disturbed. While somewhere in Seattle,
the first practice session of one very influence band, are heroes are sucked into a worm hole and disappear, lost in time and exposed to great amounts of gamma radiation. Their heroes presumed lost forever,
the world changes in unimaginable ways; it is now 2006, when our heroes are suddenly returned to existence. The world they knew is gone, and must now fight new villains, new trends, and return the dignity and power of REALY big hair!
This is there story:

(sorry, probably my worst idea ever, and filled with spelling mistakes at that, this might continue, but i'm just giving it a test run...)

I can't seem to find the originial post on the forums; does anyone recognizes this insanity to give me a proper name to credit?

But anyway, So our 5 heroes of rock find themselves thrust forward in time from the era of Reagan to today, where they must navigate a world that no longer as a place for big hair.  Does the power of rock have a place in our modern, hip-hop world?

My big issue is that I'm not that into new music, so I'm not entirely sure what to do for the villains of this piece.  I'm not going to bother picking on rap for this, so don't go there.  It's maligned for many wrong reasons, and there are likely better targets out there.

I am somewhat tempted to make at least part of the plot that the villains kidnap Simon Cowell.  How can you talk about modern music without at least acknowledging the influence of the various Idol and Talent shows?

Any thoughts on villains based on post-80s music?  And preferably a little newer than the Bad Spice girls or the Back-Alley Boys?

Also, I'm not 100% on board with Bondage.  Any suggestions for a better 5th member?  I'm partial to keeping a tech-bent to the character though.

Any help is appreciated.

[mrinku]

Boom Box. Master of portable sound?

[BoloOfEarth]

As far as foes, there's always Road Kill, looking for a comeback. 

 

If you're looking for your own home-brew team and are just looking for inspiration, you could go with Country Pop, which has had a resurgence over the last few decades.  I'm imagining a team of singing supervillains -- let's call 'em Rodeo -- all fans of various pop country stars and groups.

• Swift (fan of Taylor Swift) -- I'm thinking a speedster.
• Rascal (fan of Rascal Flatts) -- a brick -- "I'll knock you Flatt!"
• Dixie (fan of the Dixie Chicks) -- shrill sonic attacks
• Antebellum (fan of Lady Antebellum) -- mentalist who dresses like a lady from the Old South
• Garth (fan of Garth Brooks) -- water-controller (Brooks... get it?  Okay, I'll take myself out back to be beaten for that) to be a foil for Aqua-Net
• Billy Ray (fan of Billy Ray Cyrus) -- brawler type, with the Mullet of Death

Alternately, you could create a team with each member representing a different modern musical genre, all competing among themselves to prove which is better.

[BoloOfEarth]

The foes could be kidnapping hosts and judges from various Idol-type shows, intending to hack the airwaves and put on one of their own -- "Bad Boyz Got Talent" maybe? -- so they kidnap Cowell along with Howie Mandel, Piers Morgan, Bruno Tonioli, and of course Ryan Seacrest to host the gig.

[Lucius]

Also, I'm not 100% on board with Bondage.

 

 

Many people aren't at first. But if you have a partner you trust, have an open and honest conversation about limits and expectations, and have an agreed upon safe word.....

 

Oh wait, wrong conversation

 

Any suggestions for a better 5th member?  I'm partial to keeping a tech-bent to the character though.

How about "Roadie?" Or "Sound Engineer?"

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary suggests an unsound engineer

[massey]

The foes could be kidnapping hosts and judges from various Idol-type shows, intending to hack the airwaves and put on one of their own -- "Bad Boyz Got Talent" maybe? -- so they kidnap Cowell along with Howie Mandel, Piers Morgan, Bruno Tonioli, and of course Ryan Seacrest to host the gig.

Can the heroes just let the villains keep them?

[mrinku]

For some reason I dearly want Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids to turn up out of the time-warp and get involved in cracking the case.

 

As far as post-80's music based opponents go, Gangsta Rap springs to mind. I love the idea of a Roadkill revival, though. Since they'd probably have been actual arch-nemesis of the band in the 80's you could have a deal of fun with the ageing rocker thing.

[Nothere]

Wait you mean from the 70' cartoon? He picked that axe now he'll get the call.

[TheQuestionMan]

Surbrook's Stuff => Character Archives => Music Derived Character Adaptations.  

http://www.devermore.net/surbrook/adaptationsmusic/musicchar.html  

[novi]

Thanks for the suggestions.  But as I think further on it, it strikes me that pulling them out of the 80s is actually better suited to a long-term game.  For just the one shot that I'll be doing, it would be better to just keep it in the 80s and just go full Saturday Morning cartoon on it.  And what better way to do that then to have them foil a VIPER plot?

The biggest reason I don't just use Roadkill is that the only pre-5th book I own is the BBB, and I am poor.

But anyway, any suggestions on what kind of plot VIPER has in mind for this week's episode?   Sonic doomsday weapon or mind-control music are obvious, but I haven't thought past the initial idea yet.

Also, not that I'm going to bother with any sort of timeline adherence for this, but which dragon branch VIPERs are the oldest and most iconic?

[BoloOfEarth]

Quite a while back, the boards had a thread on VIPER plots, and I collected them into the attached document.  Perhaps one of them might strike your fancy.

 

Failing that, basing something on the specific heroes involved could be fun.  If the hero team members actually sing and play instruments, I suggest something centered around a charity benefit concert featuring the PC heroes (perhaps sponsored by Hostess, as a nod to those old comic book ads with the heroes foiling some D-list villain's plans thanks to Hostess Twinkies).

 

Perhaps well before the concert VIPER kidnaps several individuals connected to the concert -- a promoter, a sound tech, a roadie, a concessions manager, etc.  Each disappears for a few days, and then is found with their memories wiped of their time as captives.  Perhaps VIPER used the time to create realistic-looking robots of each one, to attack the heroes.  (So the heroes might learn of various tech thefts of robotic components, as well as parts for the aforementioned mind control music generator.)  Or maybe VIPER is going to sneak in their Dragon Branch supers disguised as those individuals.  Or most of the kidnappings could be a ruse, and the only important one was the concessions manager so VIPER could replace all the Coke and snack cakes with drugged versions, intending to turn the crowd of concert-goers into a mob of berserkers (keeping the heroes busy while VIPER pulls a job across town, which the heroes can deduce from other clues).

VIPERPlots.pdf

[freakboy6117]

For some reason I'm thinking Rick and morty style Cosmic battle of the bands giant literal rock gods descend and demand we "SHOW US WHAT YOU GOT!" rock concert/gladiatorial combat with very obvious expys of classic rock bands/super teams.

 

Definitely requires an appearance from VAL HALEN viking God of ROCK!! perhaps filling in for silver surfer with a DIO/GALACTUS hybrid presiding.

 

Fights

 

Trials & Tribute-lations the band must battle a gigantic red devil controlled by the hypnotic power of the music of a band made up of two chubby shlubs on acoustic guitars. The song they play seems amazing but no one can remember a thing about it after wards turns out they are using a mind controlling pick the band must discover this or be knocked out of the running.

 

God gave Rock and roll too us.

 

A band made up of five avatars of gods of music from different pantheon I'd suggest

 

APOLLO as lead singer team leader (radiant golden blond sun god with a side order of music prophecy and hunting).

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo

 

LONO of the Hawaiian pantheon as Drummer he's the God of fertility rain prosperity and peace basically he makes it rain in both senses.

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lono

 

 

SARASWATI multi armed hindu goddess of wisdom and bass guitarist

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saraswati

 

XOCHIPILLI the prince of flowers Aztec God of god of art, games, beauty, dance, flowers, song and also homosexuals as the flamboyant effeminate keyboardist.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xochipilli

 

Finally HATHOR Egyptian goddess of Joy the perky busty lead guitarist and backup vocalist

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hathor

 

Ragna-ROCK!!!

 

Norwegian death metal magi bent on bringing on the apocalypse via their dark magic infused metal.

 

Knights of the interstellar Supreme sovereign

 

Four leather clad alien knights representing a powerful monarch of a potent interstellar empire. Made up of

STARBORN the energy projecting lead singer

The ferocious prehensile tounged bassist and Co lead singer THE DEVIL

THE ASTRONAUT guitarist faster than light flying Cosmic speedster

And THE TIGERMAN stealthy monomolecular claw weilding drummer.

 

That should be enough for a pretty epic bracket competition you can have the team watching them decimate other super bands in between their gigs add in some back stage shenanigans sabotage groupies and the sort of madness that comes from alien sex drugs and rock and roll

[TheQuestionMan]

Full of sound and fury signifying nothing!

[steriaca]

Have you read the Stephen King short story Rock And Roll Heaven? An intresting ideal of a town where dead musicains are alive and playing. Imagine them waking up in this town, and slowly realising that they gave there lives to save the world in 1989.

[mrinku]

This is Spinal Tap! should probably be required viewing. I'd also suggest The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension. ('d recommend it anyway, but it is actually relevant here as the heroes are also a band in their spare time. Plus Eighties.)

[novi]

I do appreciate all the suggestions, really.  I'm just afraid that they are more high concept than I'm looking for at this time.  I've burned out several times trying to put together games with high concepts, and just want to keep it simple since this isn't going long term.  About one episode of a cartoon is what I'm looking for.

 

But I've worked out a relatively straightforward little plot.  While traveling to their next gig in their tour bus, traffic comes to a stop because of an accident in front of them.  When they go forward to investigate, they find VIPER is robbing a truck and they get in a fight.  But then they find that this robbery is just a distraction.  VIPER knocked out their roadies and stole their trailer full of instruments!  They need to get them back, not just on principle, but because they'll loose Hostess as a sponsor if they don't play this next gig!

 

VIPER just wants their fancy speakers, which Bondage made to keep up with Delicious Rick, to use in a new sonic cannon.