High End DC:TAS

[Savinien]

I'm considering running a spin-off campaign for a 'Batman & Robin'-esque spinoff from the Champions of Justice in our long-running campaign, the RCU. These two characters are powerful renditions of Batman and Robin. I'm hoping to detail some of the Rogue's Gallery that Guardian and Shrike have accumulated in their solo careers away from the JSA type book, CoJ.

 

My problem is coming up with decent stories. I need to create themed villians that could possibly challenge the heroines. But, the power level is fairly higher than DC:TAS is usually considered. The attacks and defenses of the heroines aren't exaggerated but, they have a plethora of skills and the like.

 

Also, the city of these two (LA), isn't witout its powered heroes, either. This means that the real power-house villians are likely dealt with by the overtly more powerful heroes in the vicinity.

 

I realize this is a rambling post, but any help anyone could give would be greatly appreciated.

[Publius]

Re: High End DC:TAS

 

I'm sorry, are you looking for theme villain concepts/plot ideas/starters that would fit with a high point DC:TAS and not be so powerful that it would trigger a full scale superhero conflict with the high powered 4-color types in the same geographic area?

 

Try to poll the players. What are they interested in doing? That is always the best place to start. Someone who wants to hunt down organized crime is going to go with a whole different set of bad guys than someone who wants to expose corrupt city officials or respond to a mystical infiltration operation going on sub rosa (a la Sunnydale). Then you can start with a basic framework to put the villains in.

 

EXAMPLE (using Organized Crime):

 

If the Batmanesque characters want to hunt down organized crime, make the villains Dick-Tracy type bad guys, thugs with funny monikers and maybe a superskill or two related to their name. They have, like your characters, skills and super-skills more than showy powers for the most part. They might not be the ones that face down the heroes in combat all of the time (faceless thugs can be scaled up or down to do that), but they can add to/enhance the bad guys or move the plot forward with their special abilities.

 

For combat, just add "Upscaled" Faceless thugs: A few years ago Batman had a few run-ins with clones that were created by a Big Baddie (I think it was Ras) but loaned out to organized crime types. I am about to take this idea and run with it in my own DC: TAS style campaign (the point values, like yours are starting to rise up past the 'norm' for campaigns of this type). The thug clones tend to break down quickly so they need to be replaced often and thus there is a good reason that (1) the whole city is not overrun by them, and (2) different organizations will have access to them (even some corrupt officials, corporate types and that sort). These Upscaled Thugs make for a good fight with the heroes and yet allow your non-combaty NPC villains to shine in other areas (and advance the overall plot).

[lapsedgamer]

Re: High End DC:TAS

 

Look at Bendis' current run on Daredevil, or, for that matter, refer to classic Miller Daredevil. The main foes are organized crime figures with powers and or superb training and super skills. They would be built on around 350 points, but they still fit into the Dark Champions genre. There is even the potential for crossover dependidng on now much interaction with other supers wanted to have.

 

Kingpin, Elektra, Typhoid Mary and Bullseye are all superpowered with an array of skills and powers. Kingpin used to go toe to toe with Spider-Man, who is pretty four color. Daredevil had some halfway decent themed opponents from time to time: Gladiator, Deathstalker.

 

In a world where super-tech is available, organized crime will use it to take on supers. Remember the Intergang/ Darkseid story line in the Superman series.

 

Bendis had this great storyline about Mutant Growth Hormone. A drug that not only made you high, but gave you limited superpowers for a short time. How about fighting a group of thugs with enhanced stats.

 

I am reading a limited series by Top Cow called Wanted. Millar is the writer and the art is very good. The tone is extremely dark, but the basic theme could be adapted to a less Iron Age world. The supervillians are organized crime. They banded together and eliminated all of their competition, including the superheroes. They run all the crime and have their own disputes over turf.

 

If you have Millenium City, look at Hazard, Signal Ghost, the new Purple Gang and Freakshow. They are standard Champions characters, but they could easily be used in DC:TAS scenarios.

 

Edit-- fixed some typos I saw.

[Savinien]

Re: High End DC:TAS

 

I'm sorry' date=' are you looking for theme villain concepts/plot ideas/starters that would fit with a high point DC:TAS and not be so powerful that it would trigger a full scale superhero conflict with the high powered 4-color types in the same geographic area?[/Quote']

 

You've hit it fairly close to the head, Publius. Thank you. I also have the misfortune of my Duo being part of a JLA-level super hero team. So, it can't get bad enough that they would just call in the team-mates.

 

Try to poll the players. What are they interested in doing? That is always the best place to start. Someone who wants to hunt down organized crime is going to go with a whole different set of bad guys than someone who wants to expose corrupt city officials or respond to a mystical infiltration operation going on sub rosa (a la Sunnydale). Then you can start with a basic framework to put the villains in.

 

I did and didn't get much help. I know the two players want to play a game which highlights these two characters and their lives within the scope of the overall setting. I want to be able to do that and still create a feeling of challenge once in a while.

 

I also realize that a fairly large portion of B&R stories never had much threat to the protagonists. I'm not sure how that concept fits in with the RPG compared to the source material, though.

 

EXAMPLE (using Organized Crime):

 

If the Batmanesque characters want to hunt down organized crime, make the villains Dick-Tracy type bad guys, thugs with funny monikers and maybe a superskill or two related to their name. They have, like your characters, skills and super-skills more than showy powers for the most part. They might not be the ones that face down the heroes in combat all of the time (faceless thugs can be scaled up or down to do that), but they can add to/enhance the bad guys or move the plot forward with their special abilities.

 

For combat, just add "Upscaled" Faceless thugs: A few years ago Batman had a few run-ins with clones that were created by a Big Baddie (I think it was Ras) but loaned out to organized crime types. I am about to take this idea and run with it in my own DC: TAS style campaign (the point values, like yours are starting to rise up past the 'norm' for campaigns of this type). The thug clones tend to break down quickly so they need to be replaced often and thus there is a good reason that (1) the whole city is not overrun by them, and (2) different organizations will have access to them (even some corrupt officials, corporate types and that sort). These Upscaled Thugs make for a good fight with the heroes and yet allow your non-combaty NPC villains to shine in other areas (and advance the overall plot).

 

These are great ideas. I'm pondering the best way to create these 'Upscaled' Thugs in the RCU. You've at least got me headed in a particular direction as opposed to simply treading water with no sight of land or rescue.

[Savinien]

Re: High End DC:TAS

 

Look at Bendis' current run on Daredevil, or, for that matter, refer to classic Miller Daredevil. The main foes are organized crime figures with powers and or superb training and super skills. They would be built on around 350 points, but they still fit into the Dark Champions genre. There is even the potential for crossover dependidng on now much interaction with other supers wanted to have.

 

Kingpin, Elektra, Typhoid Mary and Bullseye are all superpowered with an array of skills and powers. Kingpin used to go toe to toe with Spider-Man, who is pretty four color. Daredevil had soem halfway decent themed opponents from time to time: Gladiator, Deathstalker.

 

In a world where super-tech is available, organized crime will use it to take on supers. Remember the Intergang/ Darkseid story line in the Superman series.

 

Bendis had this great storyline about Mutant Growth Hormone. A drug that not only made you high, but gave you limited superpowers for a short time. How about fighting a group of thugs with enhanced stats.

 

I am reading a limited series by Top Cow called Wanted. Millar is the writer and the art is very good. The tone is extremely dark, but the basic theme could be adapted to a less Iron Age world. The supervillians are organized crime. They banded together and eliminated all of their competition, including the superheroes. They run all the crime and have ther own disputes of turf.

 

If you have Millenium City, look at Hazard, Signal Ghost, the new Purple Gang and Freakshow. They are standard Champions characters, but they could easily be used in DC:TAS scenarios.

 

 

Good ideas, all Lapsedgamer!

 

I'm not familiar with hardly any of your examples, but the overall message is fairly loud and clear!

[Publius]

Re: High End DC:TAS

 

In a world where super-tech is available' date=' organized crime will use it to take on supers.[/quote']This is a good point, a normal type guy with high tech armor and a high tech weapon can be a pretty awesome deterrent. And the JLA-level gang is not going to get called out becuase of one guy like this. An army of them maybe, but not a handful.

 

Bendis had this great storyline about Mutant Growth Hormone. A drug that not only made you high' date=' but gave you limited superpowers for a short time. How about fighting a group of thugs with enhanced stats.[/quote']I have something similar in my campaign world (which I discuss here 505506). Basically, superheroes tap into a cosmic source for their supernormal abilities, and because all humans have some level of the genetic marker that governs this capability, there does exist gene therapy and drugs that can artificially raise (either permanently in the case of GT or temporarily in the case of the drugs) these values and grant superpowers under certain circumstances. Doing so is dangerous in my game world, it tends to "burn out" what little capabilities that baseline humans have over time, but it is attractive enough to a certain type of person that it tends to draw a lot of folks in (and of course sets up some interesting adventure possibilities).

[Savinien]

Re: High End DC:TAS

 

Thanks for the help, guys.

 

Your words helped immeasurably.

 

In case you're still interested, I'm going with a sort of off kilter idea for the first story arc.

 

Shrike (the Robin knock-off) is a senior in high school. She'll begin to realize something new is going on in two of the 'crime' families/groups in LA. Basically, the children of violently opposed groups have fallen in love with each other.

 

At the same time (or fairly close), Guardian will learn of the death of another groups leader. The subsequent investigation will turn up the fact he was killed by his brother who then took over the faction.

 

In another family/group of a relatively ununited family, one man has assassinated the heads of the other groups an begins to bring those gangs under one thumb.

 

Behind the scenes, a single entity is responsible for all these Shakesperian happenings. I haven't named him, but I'm playing with Wordsmith. He's obviously off his rocker and thematically follows the story lines of classic literature to get to his diabolical ends (which I havent' figured out, yet).

 

I really just liked the idea of a single person orchestrating out Shakespere's plays for some reason or another. It will take awhile for the players (and their characters) to figure out what's going on.

 

I hope...

[lapsedgamer]

Re: High End DC:TAS

 

Thanks for the help, guys.

 

Your words helped immeasurably.

 

In case you're still interested, I'm going with a sort of off kilter idea for the first story arc.

 

Shrike (the Robin knock-off) is a senior in high school. She'll begin to realize something new is going on in two of the 'crime' families/groups in LA. Basically, the children of violently opposed groups have fallen in love with each other.

 

At the same time (or fairly close), Guardian will learn of the death of another groups leader. The subsequent investigation will turn up the fact he was killed by his brother who then took over the faction.

 

In another family/group of a relatively ununited family, one man has assassinated the heads of the other groups an begins to bring those gangs under one thumb.

 

Behind the scenes, a single entity is responsible for all these Shakesperian happenings. I haven't named him, but I'm playing with Wordsmith. He's obviously off his rocker and thematically follows the story lines of classic literature to get to his diabolical ends (which I havent' figured out, yet).

 

I really just liked the idea of a single person orchestrating out Shakespere's plays for some reason or another. It will take awhile for the players (and their characters) to figure out what's going on.

 

I hope...

That's good stuff. I'm sure that your players will enjoy the sessions. Don't forget the vengeful, yet conflicted NPC vigilante who cannot decide whether to act or not. He's obviously being manipulated by your master villian, who probably engineered the tragedies that set him on the road to vengance.

[mattingly]

Re: High End DC:TAS

 

I haven't named him' date=' but I'm playing with Wordsmith.[/quote']

 

The Bard?

Wigglestick?

[Savinien]

Re: High End DC:TAS

 

The Bard is simple, yet elequent for these purposes. What better name for this whacked out cat?

 

Thanks!

[Savinien]

Re: High End DC:TAS

 

The story begins!

 

After many futile efforts in finding some information on Los Angeles Neighborhoods and geographical layout, I've decided to wing it, for now. I made the first posts to the campaign and I'm liking the way it feels.

 

Guardian and Shrike were headed towards Chinatown to explore and investigate the rumors behind a new power trying to consolidate the Chinese Tongs and Triads. On the way, a plea for (back-up) slides across the Police Band. Shrike, though younger has taken well to the martial aspects of crime-fighting and Guardian is the better 'snooper'. Therefore, Guardian continues towards the Palace of Chinese Delights, while Shrike heads of to Nottingham (poor ghetto predominantly colored and infested with gangs).

 

In Nottingham: This is a small Caprini Green type location (as already mentioned infested with balck gangs). Recently, Malcolm XV, a long time leader among the nieghborhoods has passed away and the gangs are filling the vacuum with bullets and blood. A patrol cruiser ended up in the middle of two gangs gunning it out. Shrike will have to deal with that.

 

In Chinatown: Guardian is learning that Sillestro of the Venemous Snake Triad is accepting an invitation to a dinner party with a new Viatnamese Gang Leader in Little Saigon. The other members of the Tong are concerned what this means, as is Guardian.

 

To conclude, it's been a little while since I started this mess and I wanted to let you know how it's going. Slowly, but looking good!

[Steve Long]

Re: High End DC:TAS

 

Good luck, Savinien!

 

Sometimes trying to track down gaming-pertinent info on real-world cities is more trouble than it's worth, so "winging it" may work best. Unfortunately, not every city has a great reference book for it like The Encyclopedia Of New York City, which was really helpful to me as I wrote Hudson City.

[steriaca]

Re: High End DC:TAS

 

May I sergest Mister Wicked, from over in my own Charaterpaloza thread? He is basicly a rich mastermind and sleezeball who dresses like a late 19th centery gentlman, uses theamed weapions, and tons of thugs. With some work, he could easly be used agenst Shrike and Guardian (especaly since thay are two powerful and beutiful women, and he is a first class leacher with a buzzsaw fethish).

[Savinien]

Re: High End DC:TAS

 

Sure! I'll check it out, post haste!

 

Thanks!

[Savinien]

Re: High End DC:TAS

 

This game is still going. It's slow beyond belief cause the GM hates yahoo.groups.

 

I wanted to up it, because I'm expecting more info on the exactitudes in the near future.

[zornwil]

Re: High End DC:TAS

 

Here's an idea - robots, vaguely Futurama-themed, not so goofy. But all these single-purpose type occupational or such robots built by a criminal mastermind. They can be handled by less than the super-duper guys but a challenge stlll. If not occupational, could be sort of like Metal Men, pick a theme - metals, chemicals, types of weapons, or fruits (mostly kidding on this last one - I'm not above doing so but I think it is pretty goofy for most).

[Savinien]

Re: High End DC:TAS

 

First posts:

 

Guardian -

Sweat trickled along Terri’s spine, resting on her haunches as she was in the rafters of the barn-shaped warehouse. All of the air-conditioning units were firing, but the cool air they were creating was being pushed down towards the floor and staying there. The fans whirred noisily nearby, the rafters below her causing shadows to break up her body image if anyone thought to look up.

 

They didn’t the heat of their venom was more than enough to take their attention. The Spitting Snake Tong was up in arms against their Lieutenant Silestro. He had just announced his acceptance to an invitation from Ek Weng for a meeting. Terri’s eyes narrowed. This wasn’t the first time she’d heard Ek Weng’s name. In fact, all over Chinatown, it was the same. A new player was pushing his weight around the Tongs, while wooing the Triads back in the Homeland.

 

Kris was busy over by the Bay. It seemed a lot of the NBP (New Black Panthers) were up in arms about the death of Malcolm XV. 15 had done what was needed and kept many of the East Side Gangfare down to an acceptable death level. They mostly poisoned their own with their drugs and sold in their own neighborhoods. With ‘15’s death, the middle lords were trying to make moves to solidify their power.

 

Word had it that his brother, Aesop was going to take over.

 

Things were never dull, in L.A. but, this was getting ridiculous.

[Savinien]

Re: High End DC:TAS

 

First Post:

 

Shrike -

 

As Kris turned from Guardian's path she pondered the Hero picture

around Los Angeles. Any big stuff was usually dealt with by the

Technons, or Strike Force. But, Peter McMurphy had only so many men

and someone still had to do what they could with the rampant street

crime. Ever since the death of Guadian, Terri, and later Kris, were

the people with the short straw..

 

Kris had turned west to the East Side, and Nobb Hill. Ever since

Malcom XV had died, every two bit hood in the ghetto had been shooting

or getting shot. Flare ups of violence and aggression and become the

norm and the LAPD in the neighborhood was especially overworked and

underpaid. '15' had kept the peace ever since he had come to power

from Sugar Hill. They still did dirty deeds and followed the wrong

side of the law, but it was a controlled Evil. They mostly poisoned

their own with their drugs and sold in their own neighborhoods. Word

had it that Aesop, '15's brother, was going to take over his Empire.

Until then, though Nobb Hill was a warzone.

 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

Shrike came around the corner near the bottom of the Hill. The address

had been from Nottingham, a rat-infested hole hole of an area.

Tonight, it was worse. A bright yellow `vette was sidways along

the edge of the road, its rear wheel up on the sidewalk. Its rear

quarter pannel had smashed into a light pole there, hard enough it

canted dangerously. Two men black men with high-caliber psitols

crouched behind it, occassionaly firing down the street. Nearby, a

cadre of hoodlums were firing their way out of a white-paneled van.

 

A ways down the cul-de-sac, a U-shaped series of decrepit buildings

housed other gangers returning fire with a vengeance. A bullet ridden

squad car rested somewhere in the middle, steam misting the windshield

from a burst radiator. No downed officers were in sight.

 

Revving the engine of the Shrike-cycle, Kris gunned across the street and struck the curb. Just missing the stop sign on the corner, the Shrike-cycle completely cleared the van full of thugs. En route, Shrike dropped some gas bombs near the 'vette, the explosion of gas enveloping the car and the hoodlums momentarily. As the Shrike-cycle touched ground, the tires screeched as Shrike squeezed the brake. A break in the gunfire clued the young vigilante into the knowledge that both sides had likely seen her and were too stunned to keep firing.

 

She was next to the bullet riddled cop car now, its siren a dying wail. the car shielded her from the gangsters in the building and the Shrike-cycle offered some cover against the gangers just now falling over themselves to get out of the van. She heard the engine in the van rev conspiratorily. Apparently, those boys had no intention of sticking around now that Shrike had shown up.

 

.oO(Well, that's gotta help a little.)

 

Shrike went back to her utility belt, this time pulling out a disk about the size of a small saucer. Pressing a hidden button twice with her ring finger, she peaked over her motorcycle just enough to get a good visual of her targets, then hauled back and let it fly.

 

Spinning through the air, the timing mechanism built inside triggered, releasing the compressed woven nylon and steel spikes over the heads of the ex-van gang-bangers. As the net unfolded and came down, the spikes found purchase in the street, covering them and pinning them to the ground.

 

As the net came spinning down, two of the gangers were trapped beneath

its woven steel cords. Two were stil unhindered and were either moving

to get back in the van or turning their weapon on Shrike. A spattering

of gunfire rings out from behind her, shaterring another window in the

police car or whizzing over her head.

 

Pulling her battle staff from its slot on the utility belt, she stands, looking toward the house and the gunmen. "You boys have two seconds to drop your weapons and run before I rain a world of hurt down upon your heads. Your choice."

 

The gangers in the tenement (not a house, a large building similar to an apartment building), paused their various weapons lulling momentarily. As the heartbeats ticked on, the loud screech of tires pierces the night and the sound of automatic gunfire rings out from the direction of the van. Turning quickly, Shrike deftly deflects the bullets coming from the fleeing van. A bald black kid with gold caps on his teeth and a micro-uzi in his hand.

 

From the tenement is silence, for the nonce.

 

Kris hears a soft groan coming from the patrol car.

 

Shrike takes a heartbeat to look inside the patrol car to see

how many officers are inside and how much blood is visable. At the

same time, she yells "you still have one second left. Anyone not

wanting jail or worse had better run .... NOW!"

 

The tenement and car continued their silence as the van tore out of the neighborhood.

 

Inside the car, Shrike could see two cops, one sprawled across the front seat, his face buried in the passenger seat. The other was burrowed into the footwell of the passenger side of the car. His eyes were wide and his face pinched in pain. he looked painfully, but hopefully in Shrike's direction.

 

She didn't see blood, so Shrike was hopeful. In a lowered tone, she

says to the two officers, "Are the two of you able to move under your

own power? If I draw their fire, can you get out of the crossfire?"

[Savinien]

Re: High End DC:TAS

 

Would you guys like to see a modified write-up of the happenings in the game, or would you prefer barely modified posts as the game progresses. One obviously takes longer than the other, while the later may read better.

 

I'm also interested in how the Gallery would write-up the Bard. I'm waffling between a master disguise and Mind Control of some way or another. It would be interesting to mix the ideas a la Mad Hatter, but I haven't been struck by the Muse, yet.

 

Also, would you be interested in seeing write-ups of the Protagonists and name people, or should this thread fall into extinction?

[Savinien]

Re: High End DC:TAS

 

Here's an idea - robots' date=' vaguely Futurama-themed, not so goofy. But all these single-purpose type occupational or such robots built by a criminal mastermind. They can be handled by less than the super-duper guys but a challenge stlll. If not occupational, could be sort of like Metal Men, pick a theme - metals, chemicals, types of weapons, or fruits (mostly kidding on this last one - I'm not above doing so but I think it is pretty goofy for most).[/quote']

 

I'm considering this idea in combination with the THUG idea from Oddhat/Killer Shrike. I also sort of like the serum giving low end meta-characteristics. It seems to serve both purposes: Good plot hook and upping the threat level.

[zornwil]

Re: High End DC:TAS

 

Would you guys like to see a modified write-up of the happenings in the game, or would you prefer barely modified posts as the game progresses. One obviously takes longer than the other, while the later may read better.

 

I'm also interested in how the Gallery would write-up the Bard. I'm waffling between a master disguise and Mind Control of some way or another. It would be interesting to mix the ideas a la Mad Hatter, but I haven't been struck by the Muse, yet.

 

Also, would you be interested in seeing write-ups of the Protagonists and name people, or should this thread fall into extinction?

Personally, I prefer the more heavily-modified versions, but if you have no other reason than posting here to do that, I'd suggest saving yourself the time and putting up the barely-modified versions Either way, it's good to see.

[Savinien]

Re: High End DC:TAS

 

Personally' date=' I prefer the more heavily-modified versions, but if you have no other reason than posting here to do that, I'd suggest saving yourself the time and putting up the barely-modified versions Either way, it's good to see.[/quote']

 

Okay. I just moved the game from yahoo to a private play by post forum and reworked all the posts thus far. I'll edit in the posts above to include the better looking prose.

 

Thanks for reading, Zornwil!

[Savinien]

Re: High End DC:TAS

 

Wow, been a moth since the last update. While running this game I've realized one of the problems I have (one of many, I might add). Due to the slowness of posting, RL, vacations, and everything else... Focus is easily lost. It behooves the GM to know, ahead of time, what he wants and needs out of a particular scene.

 

Anyway, I've been working on who/what The Bard is and why he's compelled to create these melodramas throughout LA using real people and making a general antagonist of himself for Guardian and Shrike.

 

He's and immortal from another Dimension called Erylusia. The existence of this place and it's people have already been established within the continuity of the RCU. This guy was previously known by many names; Bard of Erin, The Skald, Mallory, or any other number of people I feel like making be this immortal.

 

He's grown bored with simply writing plays, books, TV dramas and like. Now, he's using people. He has some Mind Control and a slow draining Aid. The only lackey I've used so far is my Hamlet, Terrence Hill, the son of Malcolm XV. He's bent on taking down his uncle Aesop, for killing his father. He believes the ghost of his father is helping him.

 

I haven't decided who/what the ghost is, yet. Don't need to. When I finish the builds on The Bard and Terrence, I'll post them.

[zornwil]

Re: High End DC:TAS

 

I think an essential ingredient for a GM more for PBEM than IRL, as I'm now getting into more online gaming, is to keep throwing out flavorful teasers on the game world for the players. Doing it incrementally helps. It's just a random thought that occurred to me, and it works IRL and I think it would work better in PBEM because PBEM always thirsts for "more" flavor and interplay. However, it creates a tremendous burden on a GM to keep up. I really regret sometimes not spending the time to spruce up more of my X-Champions flavor material.

[Supreme Serpent]

Re: High End DC:TAS

 

Also, the city of these two (LA), isn't witout its powered heroes, either. This means that the real power-house villians are likely dealt with by the overtly more powerful heroes in the vicinity.

 

This is pretty generally side-stepped in the comics, unless it's specifically designed as a cross-over or a team-up issue. Marvel New York was overflowing with heroes and villains, but somehow Spider-Man was almost always the one to run into the Spidey-villains, etc. It was pretty rare to see the Avengers get involved in the latest gang war, even with people like Doc Ock, Hobgoblin, etc. involved.

 

A lot of situations can be time-sensitive. There's build up with investigation, detective work, etc. that the high-powered heroes normally aren't as good at. And when the last clue is in place, there's usually a rush to stop the plot, a hot-pursuit situation, etc. where you can't really take the time to call in and consult with the JLA.

 

You could even use the higher-powered heroes and villains as background and plot-openers for you. The battle between the Avengers and Masters of Evil that destroyed two city blocks could lead into an organized-crime insurance/reconstruction scam, or perhaps the destruction reveals evidence of another crime that the detectives can follow up on...