Shades of Black: oops, the villains won

[BenKimball]

CAUTION: MINOR SPOILERS

 

So I kicked off a new story arc in my Champs game last night with Act I of Shades of Black. We had a grand time with the murder investigation and associated revelations, along with the exploration of Millennium City (the party is from California). Then we got to the mansion and hit a snag: the villains Knocked Out three of the party members, and caused the fourth (their mentalist) to flee.

 

Now I'm trying to think of a way to get the adventure more or less back on track. I'm trying to think of something for Black Paladin to do with his captives that will let me continue the adventure (i.e., he can't kill them) despite his evil nature.

 

Anyone have any ideas about where to go next? Clearly the three PCs are captured, and the mentalist will want to effect a rescue... what I need ideas on is why Black Paladin wouldn't just kill them. None of the PCs is the "perfect vessel."

 

Cheers!

Ben

[Monolith]

Well first off it's in genre for the villain not to kill the captives. He must taunt and torture them with information about his master plans first. Plus he might think the pcs have information which he can use for some grand caper. Maybe they know something about a missing mystic artifact, or maybe he wants codes to their base computer so he can use it to infiltrate the Champions base. Maybe BP just wants the captive heroes to see how great he is as he accomplishes his goal in the module. He does love to gloat and torment prisoners afterall.

 

I'd maybe think about having the mentalist take over the captive sacrifice and then have her quickly free one or more of the captured heroes with the dagger. Then let the fight ensue again.

[Dr. MID-Nite]

Well, assuming Black Paladin doesn't have the perfect vessel yet, it would be a liability to kill the heroes at this time. The whole city would be out looking for him and it might be harder to acquire the perfect vessel in that case. He's generally keeping a low profile, and mostly likely would continue to do so until the vessel is in his clutches. Killing three heroes in cold blood is NOT low profile. Sure, he may be inclined to, but he's also not stupid. He's smart enough to see the big picture. Now, your question is probably what to do with the heroes in this case. Well, for starters, BP would probably remove all their foci. One idea(though somewhat sadistic) is to have him nick his prisoners with the Eater of Shadows sword and give them all 3d6 Unluck. This would help his cause in a rematch. If none of these ideas appeal to you, simply say the police get a tip and arrive on the scene. BP has just enough time to get away, but not much else. Hope this helps.

 

Rob

[freakboy6117]

well he may not have his perfect vessel but 3 ritual sacrfice of righteous souls to ones dark gods always improves your chances of your big ritual going right.

[Mayday]

Wake up your heroes and see if they can talk their way out of the situation. If one comes up with a good reason (once Paladin has gloated enough) use that and maybe give the character a bonus xp for using his brain.

 

Alternately, have them bring along an old character sheet and play that character just arriving on the scene, thus distracting Black Paladin from simply killing them on the spot.

[Crimson Arrow]

Some of these ideas have been mentioned already, but these are the possibilities I came up with. They are not all mutually exclusive and there is a degree of overlap.

 

1. Torture the PCs to find out what they know (unlikely to be much, given that you are right at the start), but it could be about something other than the immediate plot.

 

2. Torture the PCs to find out about their strengths and weaknesses (maybe testing their resistance to fire, drowning, etc). Obviously, these heroes aren't going anywhere (yeah, right), but data on superheroes might be handy in the future.

 

3. Torture the PCs to find out about their allies and bases.

 

4. Torture the PCs for fun.

 

5. Keep the PCs for a specific use (like a sacrifice as part of a certain ceremony, or to leave their bodies at the scene of a robbery, to implicate other heroes).

 

6. Keep the PCs for generic black magic reasons (eg, a spell might need the blood of a hero to be available "on tap", so that lots of bottles of this potion could be made).

 

7. Keep the PCs as hostages in case someone tries to meddle.

 

8. Keep the PCs for ransom (quite common in mediaeval times).

 

9. Keep the PCs to avoid drawing down unwanted attention by killing them.

 

10. Every major villain loves an audience. He needs to strut and show off how clever and evil he is. This is not normally a reason in itself, save for the most egotistical villains. It is more likely that he'll throw in a bit of gloating as he tortures them or tells them they are going to be sacrificed.

 

11. He intends to brainwash them/ Mind Control them into acting as spies or troops for him.

 

12. He intends to cut them a deal of working for him or dying. This is possible for certain heroes who might have shown a mercenary streak and a willingness to kill and maybe a degree of cowardice. Do any of them have some kind of undeserved reputation?

 

13. He wants to humiliate the heroes and will take photos of them being tortured, will leave them tied up and naked on street corners, etc. If BP defeated them so easily first time round, he might believe it is more effective to ridicule the characters and warn off others, than to murder the heroes and have more competent ones come after him.

 

14. Related to idea 13, if Black Paladin has persuaded one of the good guys to betray the others (as per idea 12), that might simply have been a ruse to undermine the public's confidence in heroes. That hero is going to have some explaining to do. BP is nowhere to be seen (but is laughing maniacally, no doubt).

[allen]

Re: Shades of Black: oops, the villains won

 

Originally posted by BenKimball

CAUTION: MINOR SPOILERS

 

So I kicked off a new story arc in my Champs game last night with Act I of Shades of Black. We had a grand time with the murder investigation and associated revelations, along with the exploration of Millennium City (the party is from California). Then we got to the mansion and hit a snag: the villains Knocked Out three of the party members, and caused the fourth (their mentalist) to flee.

 

Now I'm trying to think of a way to get the adventure more or less back on track. I'm trying to think of something for Black Paladin to do with his captives that will let me continue the adventure (i.e., he can't kill them) despite his evil nature.

 

Anyone have any ideas about where to go next? Clearly the three PCs are captured, and the mentalist will want to effect a rescue... what I need ideas on is why Black Paladin wouldn't just kill them. None of the PCs is the "perfect vessel."

 

Cheers!

Ben

 

lots of good ideas already, but just to throw in my two cents...

 

first, i'd find out if the mentalist who escaped has any ideas on how to rescue his teammates (if you haven't done this already) and then, if his idea seems at least somewhat workable, i'd run with that.

 

if the mentalist doesn't have any ideas, then here's a couple of ideas...

 

one is to have Talisman call the MCPD with an anonymous tip (likely Mind Controlling some stranger into making the call), or else have her somehow arrange for the PCs to be alone for long enough for them to make an escape. Talisman wants the Black Paladin to fail, and though this might show her hand a little early in the adventure, i think it's in keeping with her character. (and as for BP keeping the PCs alive -- i don't think he would necessarily kill the PCs immediately; he'd much rather kill them in such a way that he benefits from their deaths, so he would hold off on it until he figured out some way to sacrifice them so that he gains power/some advantage/etc.)

 

the other idea would be: Black Paladin and Talisman stole more than just the skull helmet and bottle of wine from the museum in France. in fact, they stole three other similar artifacts. they use these artifacts on the captured PCs, turning them into something evil or evil versions of themselves -- whatever the case, a similar tranformation as that which created Lady Crow and the Gryphon. Then BP dispatches the PCs to perform some task -- maybe, if nothing else presents itself, the task is capturing the fourth member of their party who originally escaped. then the mentalist must use his powers to make his teammates remember who they really are, and since attacking a teammate likely goes against the grain for the heroes, you can also allow the Transformed PCs "Breakout" rolls to regain their senses during the fight. once the tranformed PCs return to their senses, the adventure is back on track -- and three of the PCs might even have more motivation to capture BP, since only he knows how to reverse the transformation (Bwah-hahaha...).

 

the last idea, i think, is a pretty tried-and-true staple of comic books and should be fun. the first idea, however, gets the adventure back on track more quickly.

[Koshka]

Originally posted by Crimson Arrow

11. He intends to brainwash them/ Mind Control them into acting as spies or troops for him.

 

BP is still looking for the perfect vessel, so why not try to brainwash/Mind Control them into collecting some of the candidates? From his viewpoint, having some women last seen with the heroes turn up dead is a bonus.

 

If the players are sharp enough to fool BP into thinking the brainwash took hold, that gets them all free and ready for the rematch. If they can't fake him out and really get brainwashed, there's a mentalist looking for them who can probably snap them out of it.

[Rechan]

Here's a suggestion that will really piss off your PCs:

 

If BP is more sadistic, have him do a little research on said Heros, and contact a villain or three that the PCs ahve delt with in the past.

 

"Hello, mortal wretch. I have something of interest to you. Do you recall the group that whipped your derriere before? I have them. Chained. I can mail them to you. Interested?"

[Crimson Arrow]

Good one, Rechan.

 

BP can get something he wants from the villains in return, such as help or maybe just a favour for the future. Why waste a valuable resource?

 

"I take it that you will not mind if the 'goods' are not quite in a perfect condition. Mwhahahaha."

 

[Rechan]

How about this?

 

Have BP unmask them. If he has seen them, then he could use that as a weapon in the future. "IF you come to stop me, I will expose you!"

 

This could be an interesting dilemma.

[Crimson Arrow]

Another good one, Rechan, but that's something that villains hardly ever do in comics, for some reason. If they find out the hero's secret ID, there is almost always a reason why they won't reveal it. In the "Hush", half of Gotham CIty ends up knowing Batman's secret ID (or so it seems). It depends how realistic the GM wants to be. In real life, of course you'd take off the heroes' masks.

 

It's a bit like if heroes are tortured in comics, they rarely have any scars, physical or emotional, although there are obvious exceptions (like Black Canary in the "Longbow Hunters" storyline). That even applies to other adventure genres (like in "Die Another Day", where Bond seems remarkably well after being tortured for 18 months).

[Chuckg]

I like the idea of throwing in a big retcon on the 'Perfect Vessel' plot so that the grand ritual requires a couple other human sacrifices in good condition -- and the PCs are elected.

 

Although the one about "Hello? "Hunted By" list? Yeah, I got your Hunteds /right here/..." is a classic.

[Supreme Serpent]

He needs time to do things uninterrupted, right? And doesn't know for sure how many heroes are after him?

 

Leave a message gloating that the captured heroes will be sacrificed in X time. Take them to a secret location OTHER than his main base, and leave them trapped with a magic talisman that blocks mind scan/mind link. Then go off and get pefect vessel, perform ritual, etc.

 

Heroes track downt their fellows, but now are behind schedule and have to rush to stop BP in time.

[BenKimball]

Very groovy stuff! Thanks all. I'm all set for Friday.

 

Cheers!

Ben

[Deathwatch]

He intends to brainwash them/ Mind Control them into acting as spies or troops for him!

 

 

this one can be the best of all if you can get one or two of the players to play the role. i have done it in the past.. let the captured go and 3-4 adventures later have them bushwack their own team. it can also spread a good deal of distrust into the ranks of heroes. this really works well when you have more than 4 players so you may wish to save such a evil trick till a much later date. in my case the heroes were actually replaced by androids that could mimic MOST of the replaced powers and both the players that had been replaced played the androids for weeks before the trap was sprung.

 

clues were left but heroes tend to be dumb about everyday things...

 

gee joe cut his arm .. but i dont recall him bleeding? hmm he is a mutant though ...LOLOLOL

 

Nomadprime