High Tech Crimes

[Dust Raven]

I'm working on a new campaign to entertain two of my closest friends. The goal is to take a different approach to the Champions genre than I have in the past. Previously I've run varied adventures in which the player characters are responsible for capturing bad guys threatening the city or comiting crimes that only a superhero can investigate. Adventures have involved just about everything, from giant monsters smashing the city to psionic masterminds subverting the population to mighty wizards casting world conquering spells to special forces terrorists spreading advanced weapons through the underworld.

 

What the players want here is something in which there characters aren't crimefighters at all. They are two aliens hiding out on Earth from a corrupt government they have learned too many secrets about. I plan on involving this alien government, but not as a constant, every adventure, threat. In the time it takes for their hunted to find them, and inbetween its actions against them, the player characters will need something to do. That's where I'm getting stumped.

 

I'm turning to the collective Hero System mind for ideas on what kind of adventures I can run in a modern day world for a couple of superpowered aliens where they can still keep a low profile. I'm not used to running low profile games so I'm at a loss for adventure ideas.

 

I'm also looking on ideas for villains/advasaries. The setting is a small, super tech metropolis. It's still early 21st century, but this particular city puts on display and makes available to the public many recent technological advances. These usually are restricted to entertainment and transportation, but it would logically bleed into the adventures that take place there, with high-tech weapons, armor, robots and such. I don't have any enemies books, so I'm likely to create all the villains from scratch, but I'd still like a few ideas of archtypes/motivations/MOs and such.

 

Thanks in advance!

[AngryBug]

Re: High Tech Crimes

 

I'm sure there are a lot of individuals and/or groups that would be very interested in getting a hold of a couple of aliens.

Have humans on this world made First Contact? If so, there may be an "MIB"-type agency monitoring all extra-terrestrials. Failure to register could result in deportation! Registering could alert the alien overlords to their location! What's a fugitive to do?

On the other hand, if mankind is not generally aware of the existence of ETs, any agency discovering their existence is most likely to react to their presence with suspicion, if not outright paranoia! Once the govt. gets wind of them, they're likely to have Scully and Mulder and/or Project Blue Book on their trail, not to mention the military.

Alternating between the alien hunters and the human ones could keep either from becoming stale, and is also likely to yield some rich storylines (not to mention PC paranoia) as they close in from both sides.

Of course, with all these Hunteds, they're going to need some allies... A team of paranormal investigators? Independant UFOlogists? Star Trek fans? A group of low-powered NPC friends with a knack for stirring up more trouble than they can handle is a time-honoured way to keep the stories flowing. The human Hunted could itself become an ally once they finally capture the two "illegal aliens", only to discover that the real threat is the sinister alien government (surely capturing Our Heroes is not their only purpose for being on Earth?)!!

Well, that's my 2 cents for now, hope it helps. Sounds like a great campaign !

[AngryBug]

Re: High Tech Crimes

 

2 cents more...

What to do in between appearances of the alien Hunted depends a lot on the question "What do these guys DO in between Hunted appearances?"...

What I mean is, can they pass for human? Create fake IDs/credentials? If they can get jobs, you can make it easy to create adventures by giving them interesting ones. I'm sure a couple of superpowered aliens could find gainful employment as private investigators, security guards, bounty hunters, etc., etc.... This not only provides them with "cover", it gives you an easy "in" for story ideas. (Comic relief opportunities abound, too- a detective who can see through walls and read minds, but doesn't know how to work the telephone...)

Conversely, if they CAN'T pass themselves off as human, they're still going to need a place to sleep (assuming they sleep). Assuming they don't just hike off into whatever unpopulated wilderness is nearby, this means alleyways, shanty towns and the like, which means the city's homeless population (assuming (gee I'm assuming a lot ) the city is not so Utopian that there are no homeless) will become aware of them. If so, they will no doubt find themselves becoming the unofficial, even unwilling, defenders of the downtrodden (yes, unfortunately, like $pawn...).

Finding their place in this muddy backwater they find themselves hiding out in should yield a rich vein of story material, as they come to understand, then love(?), these primitive, backwards, unsophisticated ape-descended bipeds amidst whom they are forced to conceal themselves. How they go about finding that place (or series of places, as each new Hunted appearance forces them to leave their newfound friends and move on) should yield a lot of material, if these players are serious roleplayers.

Once again, I hope this is of some use...

[Magmarock]

Re: High Tech Crimes

 

Before I share my ideas, I will say that these two players sure made the GM job hard for you, unless... Do they have any DNPC's? If not, then they should. They should have something, anything, to tie them to this world so that they'll actually give a crap about what happens to the humans around them. You didn't give a lot of information about these aliens, like are they of the same race, so I'll do what I can. That being said:

 

1) A secret society, or group of cultists, who don't believe in aliens, believe that the two PCs are the gods (or emissaries or messiahs or signs) they've been waiting for down through the centuries. They try to lure, or capture the aliens and take them back for whatever religious purposes they have which could be anything from worship to sacrifice.

 

2) Like Starman or The Hulk, they could wander around and help people with smaller problems, more on a social level, and try not to attract attention to themselves.

 

3) One of the two aliens is a carrier of a benign strain/bacteria that, when met with two other random, benign strains carried by two humans, creates a plague-like virus that sweeps quickly across the population. This is a deadly strain and the two aliens must race find a way to stop it without revealing themselves to their Hunteds. Time Travel makes for a handy enabler to the solution. (This one I blatantly stole from 'The Outer Limits')

 

4) One or both aliens come down with a fatal illness and they need medical attention or a cure from their own technological world(s) to heal. This can be a long illness that initially debilitates them only a little. Sub-plot material.

 

5) Likewise, it could be extremely lethal and you could pull a D.O.A scenario on them so they must find out who killed them with poison/biological weapon and gain the cure from their attaker before a set timeframe.

 

6) Archeologists find the useless remains of a crashed spaceship from long ago, with two mummified bodies inside. These two resemble the PCs. Should there be any medical comparison, the DNA of the mummies matches the PCs. So the mystery is, who did they end up this way and in the past?

 

7) A small group of alien colonists came to Earth from the same planet that the aliens are from. They are in danger, either recently beeing discovered by the PC's Hunteds or are slowly dying some environmental agent they've soaked up over the years. They need help or rescue. Sub-plot: One of them is female and falls in love with one of the PCs.

 

 

 

Eh, so theres a few ideas to toy with. Twist and pull as needed. Enjoy.

 

Mags

[Dust Raven]

Re: High Tech Crimes

 

Thanks for the help guys!

 

Here's some more information on the aliens in question. Each is of the same race. They look completely human except for their eyes, which are kinda irredescent. They are light sensitive and must ware special eye protection or else be blinded by our harsh human sun (kinda like the lizards in V). Their physiology is a bit different, but only x-rays/dissection/blood-test will reveal this. Their race/culture is highly advanced and has been aware of Earth and it's people for several hundred years, but have not made contact with our "lesser, barbaric and uncivilized society." This is one of the reason these two decided to hide out here. They are actually breaking several major laws just being on Earth, let alone interacting with the people.

 

One of the aliens is an empath with ability to sense and manipulate the emotions of others. His empathic nature has a drawback though. Whenever he gets too stressed out/angry, he runs the chance of going into emotional overload (and essentially hulking out, but only a small increase of STR and durability, mostly he just loses control). He's a people person with a talent for electronics and enjoys tinkering with "lost causes" (such a unrepairable electronics). One such is an alien equivalent to an electric guitar he accidentaly wired to create sound waves powerful enough to stun or damage objects (or just dissorient).

 

The other is quasi ex-military who's a sharpshooter with pistols. He's gruff, arrogant and tactless, but honorable. His is the ability to control machines and electronics. To a limited extent, he can mentally 'comunicate' with electronics as well as sense electrical current. Oddly enough, he hasn't a clue how to fix/build such things. This electrical sense grants him a special "union" with vehicles enhancing his ability to drive/pilot them. He's likely to carry a special pistol of some sort that's likely to operate off of raw fuel, such as sand or water.

 

Neither of them is likely to have an actual DNPC, but they would need some kind of "cover" to blend in with the natives. They are likely to make friends quickly though.

 

The people of Earth aren't aware of aliens, though there are many conspiracy theorists, UFO hunters and such. There may be a kind of MIB/government 'alien watch' program as well.

 

Thanks again and keep those inspirational ideas coming!

[AngryBug]

Re: High Tech Crimes

 

 

Like Starman or The Hulk, they could wander around and help people with smaller problems, more on a social level, and try not to attract attention to themselves.

 

 

Yeah, that's the approach I'd take with these guys for sure. Getting involved in people's troubles will be a piece of cake if the empathic one has a certain amount of NCC in his powers. Mr. Empathy will sense people with problems and won't be able to stop himself from helping out, while his gruff-but-honourable buddy will be "forced" to go along, perhaps complaining all the while...

Between that, "MIB"-or-what-have-you, and the alien Hunters themselves you should have enough material to go on for a while at least.

As far as what "cover" they'll adopt, the most obvious would be electronics repair"men", but I'm not certain how to work adventures into a repair shop. Plus, if the aliens keep tracking them down they'll need to be constantly on the move...

If anything comes to me, I'll pass it along. Your players should probably work out for themselves how they plan to blend in with the natives, anyway, so I'd be pestering them for some advance notice on their plans, as that will make figuring out what happens in between alien attacks a lot easier.

Let us know how it goes...

[S7Michelle]

Re: High Tech Crimes

 

As far as what "cover" they'll adopt' date=' the most obvious would be electronics repair"men", but I'm not certain how to work adventures into a repair shop. [/quote']

 

 

I think I can help with that part:

 

The first thing that you/they should decide is whether to go with a small town or a larger city. I personally think a small town would be more fun since you end up with interesting neighbors who are very likely to try poking their noses in your business). Also in a small town, your neighbors are more likely to help you out. “Some guy in a suit was poking around asking questions about you. Sent him down to Ol’ Follies place, so he should be gone for a bit. Head on out through my back door….and remember we’re all hoping you bring your delicious pie to the church social next week.â€

 

As for a few potential plots:

 

1. “I found this do-whicky out in the barn. Used to belong to my Great Grand pappy….not quite sure what it does though….â€

a. Item might be alien technology—how did it get here and does it mean there are other aliens in the area.

b. Once the item is repaired it causes some sort of havoc—characters have to stop it.

c. The item turns out to be something incredibly valuable/useful. Do the characters give it back once they realize what it is? Try to buy it? Lie about it?

d. The item is a weapon. This could lead to a whole solving a 100 year old murder adventure.

 

2. “We’ve been robbed.†Someone breaks into their store or home and steals a few things that look valuable. Most of them are easily replaceable stuff (TV, VCR, etc) but one is a vital piece of alien technology that they have to get back.

a. Thief is standard criminal.

b. Thief is a group of teenagers that are just raising heck.

c. Thief is an occultist/hunter that was specifically after the alien tech and just stole the other things to hide his trail.

 

3. “Does not compute.†The metal items in the store are vanishing. Eventually the characters discover they are being eaten by a robot (the more metal it eats the bigger and stronger it gets). The robot is a blank slate in terms of personality and ethics. It has no concept at all of right and wrong. And has been learning about things the world by watching TV. Its not evil just incredibly childlike. Which can be dangerous, since if it decides to hit someone in retaliation for them hurting its feelings, it’s going to do some serious damage. It’s been drawn to the store because of the “food†and because it likes the vibes put off by the aliens. It doesn’t want to leave. Additionally, it probably belongs to some person or company that is going to want it back.

 

4. “Always said you couldn’t trust outsiders.†A string of thefts has been occurring in the town recently. Since the characters are the newest addition to the town at least some of the residents are getting suspicious of them. Characters need to figure out who is actually committing the robberies and clear their names.

 

5. “Ms. Cranberry knows everything about everyone.†Ms. Cranberry, an older lady who is infamous for knowing everyone’s business and sharing it with everyone else has gotten curious about the characters and has been doing a bit of prying around. Its to risky to let her find out you’re an alien because she’ll probably share that information with her the entire gossip grapevine.

 

6. “You know, you’re kinda cute.†One of the women in town has fallen for one of the PCs. Unfortunately, her boyfriend (or if you are feeling truly evil, her husband) is not at all happy about it. And, he used to be the high school quarterback.

 

7. “Oddest thing happened down in Summerville.†Some crop circles show up in a neighboring town. Is it a hoax? Is it a sign that other aliens are in the area? Is it a message? The PCs may want to go take a look and find out.

 

8. “Superbowl Sunday.†This is a chance to play up the strange new world angle. The PCs get invited over to someone’s house for a football game or perhaps for a holiday or some other sort of cultural event. Something that seems perfectly normal to us, but bizarre from an alien perspective. “So a bunch of guys dress up in funny outfits and try to strike whoever is carrying an oddly shaped ball?â€

 

9. “Betsy Sue and Bobby Joe have gone missing.†Two local teenagers are missing and the town is putting together a search party.

a. They are lost/trapped.

b. They ran into a wild animal and are hurt.

c. They were kidnapped or are witnesses to a crime and are hiding.

d. They ran away from home/eloped.

 

10. “Critters.â€

a. A wild animal has started preying on the livestock and pets of the town. The creature is a bit larger, tougher, and more dangerous than most and the local law enforcement and hunters are having trouble dealing with it.

b. There are rumors about a monster that has always lived out by the abandoned mine. Something happens that make it look like the rumors might be true? Is it monster? An alien? A mutant? Or just a wild animal?

 

 

If they decide to go for a larger city instead:

 

1. “Paperwork†An annoying bureaucrat shows up wanting to make sure that all of their paperwork is in order. If the characters aren’t careful, he’s going to realize that things aren’t as they seem.

 

2. “You might want to buy a bit of Insurance.†A gang is hitting up the small businesses in the area for protection money. They’ve just showed up at your store.

 

3. “Little Shop of Horrorâ€: There is something odd about one of the neighboring stores, though no one else seems to notice it but the characters. The empathy gets odd and unpleasant vibes from it. Some of the people who shop there are acting oddly now or have had accidents shortly thereafter. There is no proof of anything, and even if there was, the characters probably don’t want to draw police attention to themselves. Are they just being paranoid? Is something really going on?

a. It is an occult shop and the proprietor is selling cursed items.

b. The proprietor is a mad scientist and is using his customers as guinea pigs.

c. The shop is sitting on the sight of a mass murder and spirits of the dead are possessing people.

 

4. “The woman of your dreamsâ€: The PCs form a friendship with an attractive young woman who unfortunately has some serious money problems (addict, just broke, whatever). She goes to work and an exclusive gentleman’s club in an attempt to pay of her debts. A few days later the PCs get a phone call from her asking for help. Once they get there and find her, she’s claims she didn’t call them and doesn’t seem to know who they are. Instead she willingly and quite happily goes off with a stranger. In fact, the woman they spoke to wasn’t their friend. The proprietor of the club is creating clones (with modified personalities) of the women working in his club and selling the clones to his wealthy patrons.

 

If they decide to go for a traveling campaign:

 

1. “Strangers in a strange land.†While not a specific adventure idea per se, I’d be very tempted to play up how different this world is. The foods aren’t the same (imagine biting into a Jalapeño when you have no clue what one is), things don’t look right, the customs are different, people do things that seem downright odd. There have to be tons of chances for misunderstandings, confusion, and just dealing with all those little details that weren’t covered in your “Guidebook to Earth.â€

 

2. “The Urban Legendâ€: A bizarre murder (which exactly matches an urban legend—maybe the hook for a hand one) takes place in a town that the characters are visiting. When the characters investigate, they find a puzzle piece. On the back of it is written part of a sentence containing one of the character’s real names. Sporadically other urban legends comes to life in a town the characters are visiting or that they just left—always with another puzzle piece containing more of the picture and message. If the characters confront one of the creatures from a legend, they can fight it, stop it, and even destroy it. But, since the creatures are just created by the true villain (someone with the ability to summon/create urban legends), it doesn’t solve the problem. Eventually, the players should be able to use the image on the puzzle and the writing on the back of it to track down who is doing this and why.

a. Maybe he is a cultist/magician who believes that by causing the legends to play out he will be able to tap into the power of belief to perform some sort of special ritual. The final step of the ritual involves the aliens in some way.

b. Maybe he is a conspiracy theorist who went nuts when he saw the PCs space ship land and realized that aliens really did exist. (In this case, maybe go with a multiple personality disorder. He doesn’t know what his other half is doing.)

c. Maybe she is a deranged stalker who thinks that by doing this she can catch the attention of/win the heart of one of the PCs.

 

 

This sounds like a game that will work best keep at a personal level (plots that directly effect them or someone they care about) and with the players encouraged to be a good bit more proactive than in a typical Super Hero game. I’d recommend encouraging your players to develop a few IC long range goals and bringing in adversaries that will cause problems obtaining those goals.

 

Though I’m certain you already know this, and I do apologize if I’m stating the obvious, remember that an adversary doesn’t have to be super powered or even out to deliberately harm the character in order to be a challenge. A nosy neighbor or a bunch of mischief making kids can be more challenging to deal with than an villainous energy projector out to conquer the city. After all, you can hit the energy projector.

 

One last thing, in this type of game, in addition to stealing plot ideas from comic books and other traditional super hero sources, look at shows like Roswell, Outer Limits, Eerie Indiana, Mutant X, some sitcoms, Law and Order (if they decide to go with detective type characters), etc. There are tons of modern day shows out there to borrow ideas from after all. =)

 

=( I just reread your initial post and realized that you’ve already decided on your location (a small, super tech metropolis). That’s what I get for skimming. Well since this is already all typed, I’m going to post it as is, and hopefully you can modify the ideas to fit.

 

Have fun,

Michelle

[Lord Liaden]

Re: High Tech Crimes

 

I'm thinking that a pattern something along the lines of the Smallville television series might work for you: the aliens are attempting to live normal lives, but because of their extraordinary abilities keep being drawn into situations where they must use those abilities to help people they care about. They try to do this discretely so as to preserve the secret of their origins, but gradually various groups begin to become aware of and take an interest in them. They'll need to find allies that they can trust to keep their secret... who will of course become enmeshed in the plots tightening around them.

 

I would suggest that you take a hard look at Hero Games's Millennium City sourcebook. The setting you describe sounds almost exactly like it, and the book goes into a lot of detail on the city and its inhabitants. Moreover, there are several super-powered beings and groups there, benevolent and criminal, who maintain a relatively low profile (as supers go) and could be allies or enemies: Doctor Silverback, Jade Phoenix, the New Purple Gang. I'd say that PSI would be particularly interested in your PCs given their powers.

[Dust Raven]

Re: High Tech Crimes

 

=( I just reread your initial post and realized that you’ve already decided on your location (a small, super tech metropolis). That’s what I get for skimming. Well since this is already all typed, I’m going to post it as is, and hopefully you can modify the ideas to fit.

 

Have fun,

Michelle

Thanks for the great ideas! And thank's for not deleting any of it. I can use quite a bit of everything for some plot seeds.

 

And now I'm off to, as suggested, watch Smallville and I'm thinking of investing time in a few other programs as well (such as Buffy and Angel). Though the supernatural aspect is far removed from my desired setting, it's not problem at all to substitute PSI for an organization and robots for vampires and other aliens for demons.

[S7Michelle]

Re: High Tech Crimes

 

I'm glad that you found my ideas helpful.

 

If you do decide to go with the "strange new world theme," and if you can find it, I'd suggest reading the short story/essay "The Crazy Years" by Spider Robinson. It is printed in the book "By Any Other Name." While I don't necessarily agree with all of his points, he definately sees things from a very different perspective. The essay covers everything from writing, to drug use, to sexuality, to technology, to the news, and even literacy. Heck it even explores the bizaarness of kitchens and bathrooms.

 

Here is the conclusion that was drawn at the end of the essay:

 

"Yoomins believe at their core that LIFE ISN'T TOUGH ENOUGH."

 

"Yoomins made a terrible historical mistake. They destroyed or tamed every single predator that threatened them, from the sabertooth to smallpox, and gained control over most natural catastrophies--long before they were emotionally prepared to do without them. They have become accustomed to the regular sound of ringing alarm bells in their head and so will manufacture an emergency if none arises naturally. In between emergencies they fantasize about them. They are addicted to fear and for some reason cannot admit it. They are neurologically wired to deal with a more hostile environment than the one that presents itself...and are undone by the lack of competition. They turn their own intellegence to making life difficult enough for their own comfort, for their innate sense of the rightness of things. Thus, the brighter they are, the stupider they appear to be."

 

The rest of the book is an interesting set of short stories about the future. Though very little that would make good plot fodder. Really Spider Robinson in general writes settings close to what you are doing. I'm not sure if his books would be a huge help but they might provide you with some setting ideas. He's a decent author. Though some of his stuff is borderline R rated.

 

Michelle