New title be worked on at Tiger Paw Press

[tiger]

Villainy Codex V - Deathly Returns

 

Two deadly teams return.

 

[steriaca]

Well...Deathstroke (only Requiem and Frost) is in 6ed. And Neuron and Arc are in the background of 5ed Stronghold. But of course, you have your take on them. So I'm looking forward to them.

 

Remember to do a few things...

 

Talk about Deathstroke's string of bad luck.

...how both groups differ from the official Champions Universe history. Especially true with Deathstroke, as most of there members were killed off and Requiem and Frost (or was that Chiller?) spent a lot of time in Stronghold. 

...maybe a new member or two. If your going to say that most of Deathstroke were made fresh thanks to, say, Dr. Kirby Loo, then Neuron's team (I forgotten there name) might need a few new members (Alkasaure [sp!] is in Champions Villains Volume 3. Wyvern wasn't brought forward. Officially Neuron and Arc were depowered by overexposer to Stronghold power nullifier cell modules. 

[tiger]

6 minutes ago, steriaca said:

Well...Deathstroke (only Requiem and Frost) is in 6ed. And Neuron and Arc are in the background of 5ed Stronghold. But of course, you have your take on them. So I'm looking forward to them.

We'll have the OK for Nuetron & Arc to be worked up for 6th. The teams will have new members.

 

Forgot to mention that the images on the cover were created with Heromachine by Deadman from these forums.

[steriaca]

Three chears for Hero Machine! 

 

You keeping 6ed Deathstroke history?

 

Some ideas...

A member of Deathstroke who is related to the man who was Dr. Death (there strawman in the original module) who quietly seeks revenge on Requiem and Frost, and can be the "Starscream" of the group. "Requiem has fallen. Now I, Doctor Death rule Deathstroke...opps, spoke to soon. Sorry boss."

 

...The Conquerors. Well, I don't know if Wyvern could survive without Alkie. Or even controllable. 

[tiger]

2 minutes ago, steriaca said:

You keeping 6ed Deathstroke history?

Yea, pretty much filling in after CVV

[Lord Liaden]

I had a couple of ideas for Neutron and Arc within the official continuity from The Stronghold Files, that I never got to use in my own games, which you are welcome to freely adapt.

 

Timelapse, the mysterious time-manipulating villain last written up in CVV3, breaks into Stronghold and reverses the aging of the two villains, returning them to their physical prime and the peak of their powers, then aids their escape from Stronghold before disappearing. (Why? No one is sure what Timelapse's motives are.)

 

Once on the outside, Neutron looks up some of his former minions, including a woman with whom he once had a dalliance just before he was captured. That's when he learns he has a superhuman daughter, Magnetica (from Villains, Vandals, And Vermin, not updated for 6E). Being a social revolutionary, Magnetica readily joins her father's cause to conquer the world and remake it as a more just society (ostensibly). These three form the core of the new Conquerors team.

[Christopher R Taylor]

I like Deathstroke, its one of the best Champions modules they ever put out.  Its the first one that really was built as a superhero adventure proper

[Lord Liaden]

I was quite fond of it too. I particularly liked their political philosophy by which they recruited their support agents -- replace the current corrupt American government with rule by crooks who are at least honest about it. That's scarcely more outrageous than a lot of what we see in real politics today. I wish the module had done more with that.

 

I also liked a lot about their reboot in Champions Universe for Fourth Edition. With the addition of the mentalist Scatterbrain, the team was well-balanced and effective. And their hiring a publicist could have generated serious waves if married to their political agenda.

[steriaca]

10 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

I was quite fond of it too. I particularly liked their political philosophy by which they recruited their support agents -- replace the current corrupt American government with rule by crooks who are at least honest about it. That's scarcely more outrageous than a lot of what we see in real politics today. I wish the module had done more with that.

Well, they could decide to return to that. It's just...they are prone to having the worst luck of any supervillain group in the world. They started out as a serious threat to the world, but if anyone remembers Deathstroke they remember how many of their members are doomed to die.

 

But, just because the group has a bad reputation doesn't mean there is nobody who wants to join the group. 

 

It might be funny if two of the recruits attracted Requiem's attention by calling their duo Deathstroke, believing that nobody is using that name...

 

Then their is my idea for Scatterbrain 2. A woman who was slipped a bit of PSI serum when the guy who wanted to drug her mistook it for some designer date rape drug, she awoken with psychic powers but also with problems remembering things.

[Sketchpad]

Never cared for the way Deathstroke was treated past 4e. I used the group as a great foil for a few of the teams I've ran for in the past, and even gave them additional gear. I've since made my own version of such a team that was inspired by the original. 

[Christopher R Taylor]

Quote

if anyone remembers Deathstroke they remember how many of their members are doomed to die.

 

Yeah, its almost as if someone really hated that module or the villains in it.

[Lord Liaden]

It will be interesting to see who Tiger chooses to round out the team. Some from the current setting's vast roster of solo villains? Updates of older ones who haven't made it to 5E/6E yet? Or original characters?

 

It's also interesting that the current official CU villain, Hornet, has nearly the identical origin as Stinger from Deathstroke. In the same vein, Steel Commando would make a passable substitute for Death Commando. Just pick one of the numerous CU solo bricks to replace Arrowhead/Shockwave, and you'd pretty much have classic Deathstroke.

[Christopher R Taylor]

And whatever happened To Doctor Draconis?

[Lord Liaden]

Good question. Per the revised history of Deathstroke, he was "defeated" in 1993 after his alliance with the team went sour. Presumably he was captured by the Sentinels, but he isn't among the prisoners listed in the Stronghold source book for 5E. The book does list a "Draconis," but he's an unrelated villain, a member of VIPER's Dragon Branch (who's written up in VIPER: Coils Of The Serpent).

 

It might be fun to track down references to all the CU defeated villains from before this millennium who haven't been followed up on, and imagine what they'd be up to now. I posted about that recently when I proposed uses for Dr. Sebastian Poe.

[steriaca]

"Doctor Draconis" was another straw dog for Deathstroke. Or maybe an independent villain who hired the group as henchmen.

 

Draconis as a straw man is simply repeating what they did with Dr. Death. And if they keep doing that, some heroes start getting wise to that. And Deathstroke as hirelings is rather underselling a group who actually did have a goal (country domination, working up to world domination). But sometimes life makes hireling status something they have to do.

[steriaca]

What do you actually like? A "seriously funny" Deathstroke? Or The Conquerors who are worthy of the name?

[Steve]

An alternative to the nation-conquering version of Deathstroke might be to have them be the “secret masters” of a large town or small city they took over in the intervening years since their last appearance. It would give them a base of operations and set them apart a bit from other villain teams with more grandiose plans.

 

They could have secret IDs as upstanding citizens and maybe even be raising their kids with powers as the future of their operation.

[Lord Liaden]

2 hours ago, steriaca said:

"Doctor Draconis" was another straw dog for Deathstroke. Or maybe an independent villain who hired the group as henchmen.

 

Draconis as a straw man is simply repeating what they did with Dr. Death. And if they keep doing that, some heroes start getting wise to that. And Deathstroke as hirelings is rather underselling a group who actually did have a goal (country domination, working up to world domination). But sometimes life makes hireling status something they have to do.

 

Actually, Dr. Draconis in the Deathstroke module was just about the opposite of Dr. Death. If Death was a "straw man" for Deathstroke, they themselves turned out to be the unwitting straw men for Draconis. Their threat with the Dagger doomsday weapon Draconis invented, was just a bluff to extort money from the US government. But Draconis was determined his weapon would be used, and had set a trap for the team to make certain it was. I thought that was a fine plot twist.

[Lord Liaden]

2 hours ago, steriaca said:

What do you actually like? A "seriously funny" Deathstroke? Or The Conquerors who are worthy of the name?

 

For my part, I would like a more serious Deathstroke. Both versions of the team make for formidable opponents, and it's emphasized that his past failures and years in Stronghold have made Requiem a much more thoughtful, disciplined criminal. But I admit in general I'm no fan of silly supers.

 

Admittedly, the classic version of Neutron had some silly personality quirks, but his history as described in The Stronghold Files underlines that at his height he was a legitimate master villain and serious threat to the world. I would like to run with that, maybe emphasizing his brilliance as an inventor.

[tiger]

I've got the Conquerors all figured out, just working on backgrounds. Still working on Deathstroke, their are possible members from CVV that could be used. Have some of my own creations that could be used, still debating

[steriaca]

3 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

 

For my part, I would like a more serious Deathstroke. Both versions of the team make for formidable opponents, and it's emphasized that his past failures and years in Stronghold have made Requiem a much more thoughtful, disciplined criminal. But I admit in general I'm no fan of silly supers.

Seriously funny characters are not the same as silly supers. The "funny" stuff is not what they do, but what happens to them.

 

Of course, it isn't everyone's cup of tea. Your mileage will vary. And there should be various ways to run the characters.

 

Which reminds me, the idea of Deathstroke slowly taking control of the USA village by village, county seat by county seat, reminds me of Across from Exele Saga. 

[Mr. R]

For me the Conquerors were a tough team hampered by A VERY silly origin for Neutron (He and his father would rob banks for a living.  Father dies at the hands of a policeman so the Government MUST be deposed for allowing such an injustice!  But he's a mutant and had his powers during those robberies and so how.....? what ever)

 

Mechanically he was tough clocking in a 400 pts with 60 pt Active Point powers.  This was when most heroes and villain had 40 - 50 Active Point powers.  To bring him up to speed I'd go 70 AP and give him a Magnetics EC and a Large MP for various attack.  (Note keep the TK in the EC, so he can hold one enemy and blast another)

 

Arc was OK, just needed a boost to Int and better defined attack (I could never figure how it worked)

 

Now he needs at least two more, I'd go with a Brick and either another Blaster OR a Speedster

[Lord Liaden]

The Stronghold Files version of Neutron is described as having had a 200 pt. VPP only for electro-magnetic effects, when he was in his prime. It was undoubtedly intended to fit him for a master-villain role.

 

I do think the trauma of their father being killed in front of them would be sufficient to motivate anyone to change the direction of their lives; but Neutron's stated direction seemed rather vague, and more based in ego than in any logical viewpoint. For my Fourth Edition games using Neutron, I borrowed the motivation of the Champs villain Beamline, of imposing government by elite scientists like himself, being best trained to think rationally and objectively. My Neutron gathered scientist supervillains for his team, and established a covert network of other sympathetic scientists.

[steriaca]

I hope Requiem and Frost get new powers. I can see Requiem developing vertigo based powers (basically Mental Illusions, hearing flash defense adds to mental defense, perceivable (by hearing), only to do vertigo effects). Frost could maybe absorb heat and maybe redirect them. Or not.

[Hermit]

18 hours ago, steriaca said:

What do you actually like? A "seriously funny" Deathstroke? Or The Conquerors who are worthy of the name?

 

I tend to enjoy the humorous angle they've been played with in the past now and then, the 'these guys are not as bad ass as they think they are and they're going to end up on their faces again' bits, but I think I maybe in the minority. The important thing to me is you keep the brothers relationship tight.  Be they world shakers or just wanna bes, Requiem and Frost should always have each others' backs