The Human Centipede

[Opale]

Heya

 

From a discussion with Dean Shomshack, I realized that I had a bunch of concept for villains that I wasn't sure on how to build them.

 

For example, Human Centipede (aka Crowd Control), whose powers are :

 

Crowd Control - Simon's power is nothing short of horrifying and is, no doubt, responsible for his mental issues.  When Simon invokes his power, anyone nearby suffered a complete collapse of their body into its component parts, limbs, torso and head.  Some of the heads remain on the ground, somehow still able to scream without lungs.  The torso and limbs and the rest of the heads  form themselves into a horrifying, monstrous human centipede, completely under Simon's control.  This hideous creature is possessed of enormous strength and durability, being able to break down walls and withstand bullets.
Once the Simon is done with his 'new friends', the creature falls apart and the bodies reassemble where ever they are.  Needless to say most require treatment for severe mental trauma.

Puppet Master -Simon can control doll sized versions of his human centipede and frequently uses them to hide objects he has stolen for retrieval at a later date.  When needed, he can see through the eyes of the dolls but the image is grainy and distorted.  He cannot see or communicate through the dolls in any way.  When called upon, these dolls can move with astonishing speed and are very hard to catch.

 

How would you build that in an efficient manner, keeping in mind all the effects it has on people around ?
 

[Doc Democracy]

If you are open to it, then both powers are simply Summon and need for there to be people around to use it.  The people becoming the creatures are just SFX.

 

The complication is if it could be used as a weapon against the PCs because, while there is no harm caused, the people are immobilised (a traumatised head that simply screams).  There might be other ways do this but I think the best one has to be an area-effect Transform.

 

Indeed, hear me out here, you might use the mechanics of an area effect transform to determine whether enough bystanders are affected to be the SFX of the Summon without using the power. So you can judge how powerful the effect might be, an all or nothing transform, and how big the area is.  If that roll is big enough to affect five or six bystanders then the creature is Summoned.  A PC might be in the area but not affected due to power defence, or too much BODY. Players might be content to be affected if you allow them some awareness of what was happening (though you might need to get some clarity on players tolerance for loss of control and body horror).

 

So the Transform would not be purchased as a power, just used as a measure of whether the Summon can happen. You as GM might eyeball that a lot of the time, it would only become important if players were potentially affected.

 

Doc

Edited September 1 by Doc Democracy

[Opale]

thanks for the pointers DD

[unclevlad]

Be warned.  If a hero *needed* to kill this villain, even if normally that would be frowned on?  The Crowd Control power is more than nasty enough, in my book, that I'd give heroes considerable leeway, and punishment is likely to be as mild as is reasonable.  

 

I can see the Summon angle, but...you say the victim's form is totally controlled.  OK, so say it starts attacking.  If the heroes aren't familiar with Simon's power, and didn't see it?  Bouncing bullets isn't bouncing 12D6 energy blasts.  It's a totally non-human horror...I'd argue that many CvKs would NOT apply to a monster like that.  (YMMV.)  So they blast the head to tiny bits.  Simon's victim is.................what?  

Sounds dead to me.  

And what if a leg's pulped?  Again, sounds like it should remain pulped, if not outright *gone*.

 

Even if not, anyone hit with this power is, as you note, will suffer *major* mental trauma, of a type and level that wrecks lives totally.  Me...I treat that as *barely* less than killing them.  My personal take on law in a super powers universe is...this would be a capital offense.  Forget second chances, when you have someone THIS dangerous...and whose power has no constructive value.  

 

I'd also even let someone with a 15 point CvK...not quite total...kill Simon...and regret it afterward, but I'm not beating him with a steel i-beam over it.

 

 

[Doc Democracy]

11 hours ago, unclevlad said:

If a hero *needed* to kill this villain, even if normally that would be frowned on?

 

I think that was what I was getting at when I talked about ensuring that the players were good with this level of body horror and potential loss of control.  Part of that conversation might be the moral dilemmas facing the heroes as they seek to stop the "monster" and to address the issue of the villain that creates it.

 

In the Silver Age those made into the monster would recover, totally unharmed and not remember what happened to them.  In the Bronze Age there would be more made of the mental trauma and the lasting pain and suffering.  In the Steel Age those people were dead as soon as they were made into the monster and the heroes would need to go through the trauma of killing those innocents to save them...

 

I never run Steel Age games, I tend much more towards Silver with bits of Bronze.

Doc

[Opale]

Thanks you both for your keen insights.

 

My own campaign is a mix of SIlver Age and Steel Age, depending the characters I'm playing with.

 

And behind it is a nasty horrofic story with DEMON, Dark Edomite Powers, The Slug and a parallel cataclysmic world where the PCs failed, in order to give them a glimpse of what might be.

 

Simon/Centipede IS dangerous mostly because Heroes must find a way to stop him AND save his victims, not because he's superpowerful. The power will not be "built" to affect superheroes, but norms. 

 

Now I'd be eager to hear how each people here would react with his own favorite character to deal with Centipede and live with the consequences ?