from little plot seeds, mighty games do grow: Share your ideas!

[Kirby]

Re: from little plot seeds, mighty games do grow: Share your ideas!

 

Foxbat's MASTER PLAN, revealed!

 

After years of careful research. After countless hours planning raids and conducting death-defying mid-air stunts. After sweating profusely combating never-do-wells and being interfered with by those lunatic do-gooders, Foxbat has finally been able to complete his MASTER PLAN!

 

The Foxbat Museum of Super Memorabilia opens to the public Monday 8 am.

 

Yes, all of Foxbat's doings, crimes, ponderings, flying (well, gliding), and repetitive beatings have all been for one purpose: to open a museum containing pieces of super history. Scarlet Archer's boots. Sapphire's Brazilian bikinis. Bulldozer's belt. Dr. Horrible's Freeze Ray. Defender's Jet Boots. Dr. Silverback's lab kit. Foxbat's own Weapon of Mass Destruction (lose weight overnight!). These and much, much more are all in his museum, which greets you with a "giant, life-sized" statue of Foxbat himself.

 

Small problems may arise when Dr. Destroyer comes for his helmet that was found after Detroit's destruction, as well as VIPER coming for the Nest Leaders for Dummies instruction manual. Or when the power goes out and the tiny monsters Foxbat "happened upon" revert to full size of 100'.

[Egyptoid]

Re: from little plot seeds, mighty games do grow: Share your ideas!

 

someone's animated the little darlings - - PDAs

[Cancer]

Re: from little plot seeds, mighty games do grow: Share your ideas!

 

There's an interesting article in Physics Today this month, not behind the subscriber wall, about the history of the Chinese nuclear weapons program. I don't know that there's plot seeds there, but if not there's certainly some stuff that could make useful fill-out material.

[quozaxx]

Re: from little plot seeds, mighty games do grow: Share your ideas!

 

Stronghold

 

The PC or team gets notice that the area around Stronghold is covered in ice. Anyone who gets near it is instantly frozen solid. (A major transform). Upon investigation from a safe distance; they realize that the center is NOT coming from the "hot sleep" containers - and Glacier, but rather from Frost's cell room... And to make matters worse; the area is getting slowly bigger.

 

The PC tackles a minor new villain with ease. He says he'd plead guilty if he can get placed into Stronghold quickly. (He's says he's afraid to hurt anyone else.) On the exact moment he steps foot into the Stronghold area, the PC and this new villain have changed places. Now, it's evident that the PC's body is now being used by this new villain. The PC is in the villain's body, and the dampening field is preventing him from reversing the process.

 

The PC or group tackles a very powerful villain - and win. They are asked to escort him to Stronghold. When they see Stronghold in the distance. It suddenly disappears - leaving a large hole in the ground. And to make matters worse, the prisoner is escaping.

[Lord Liaden]

Re: from little plot seeds, mighty games do grow: Share your ideas!

 

ARISE, DREAD THREAD!

 

Seems to me that this marvelous thread has languished in inactive obscurity long enough. Having read the new 6E Champions Villains trilogy, I figure there's enough fresh material, and enough new participants to the boards, to add to the fun. So, let me kick things off with a plot which hit me recently:

 

Eclipsar and Kigatilik

 

The fearsome demon of darkness, Eclipsar, senses a kindred spirit (in several senses of the term) in the far North. Traveling there she discovers the icy prison of the terrible god of winter night, Kigatilik. Determining that his nature and goals are highly compatible with her own, Eclipsar helps Kigatilik escape. The two monstrous villains then pool their vast powers, smothering the entire Earth in unending night and winter.

 

Unless Eclipsar and Kigatilik are found and stopped quickly, the biosphere of the whole planet will wither and die. But it will take a potent array of heroic might to defeat two of the most powerful supervillains in the world, plus their minions.

[Hermit]

Re: from little plot seeds, mighty games do grow: Share your ideas!

 

Very cool. Does my heart good to see this thread dusted off

[Lord Liaden]

Re: from little plot seeds, mighty games do grow: Share your ideas!

 

Reaper

 

Time's Up: An "immortal" NPC acquaintance of the PC heroes (e.g. Cateran or an Empyrean) seeks them out for help. It seems the Reaper has somehow discovered that the NPC is unaging, and taken this as a direct offense to Death itself. Hence Reaper has fixated on "correcting" the situation, pursuing him/her relentlessly. If the PCs agree to help they'll soon find themselves stalked by the lethal monster, who's perfectly happy to kill anyone between him and his prime target.

 

Ground Zero: Twice in recent months, attempts at starting new construction on a vacant lot in San Francisco have been stopped by the Reaper, who's killed all the construction workers at the site before disappearing again. PCs who investigate the lot find that in 2009 it was the site of a building collapse that killed over a hundred people. Could this event somehow be connected to the origin of the deadly villain? And perhaps be the key to ending his rampages?

 

A Few Good Horsemen: The Reaper encounters the disease-spreading supervillain Plague, and sees him as an embodiment of one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, just as Reaper considers himself the embodiment of Death. Already mentally unstable and inclined toward such grandiosity, Plague agrees to join the Reaper in an unprecedented rampage of death and terror. At the same time the pair actively seek to recruit more villains to fill the ranks of the remaining Horsemen. And what if forming these Four Horsemen really does fulfill the metaphysical conditions for ushering in the Apocalypse?

[Lord Liaden]

Re: from little plot seeds, mighty games do grow: Share your ideas!

 

Though for this I'd make a much more potent vampire than Stalker for use as Takky's chief bloodsucking stooge' date=' something more along the lines of an ancient European vampire of the nosferatu/vrykolakas variety (no more sexy undead! ) with several millennia of power and experience. Go and check out the animated [i']Batman versus Dracula[/i] film for some idea of what he should look and feel like.

 

This reminds me of a plot I considered running involving Stalker and Bloodstone of the Crowns of Krim, itself inspired by a couple of Bloodstone plot seeds included in Conquerors, Killers, And Crooks. In that book it suggests that Bloodstone discover he has the power to mentally control vampires.

 

Bloodstone attempts to force Stalker to do his bidding, but the veteran vampire proves too strong and cunning to maintain control over. Stalker kills Bloodstone, drains his blood, and takes the Blood Crown for himself. The combination of the Crown, Bloodstone's enchanted blood, and his own vampiric nature transforms Stalker into a mighty and terrifying monster, rivalling the power of Dark Seraph himself. Stalker might even attempt to wrest control of the Crowns of Krim from Dark Seraph, leading to a destructive conflict between the Crowns that PC heroes have to stop.

 

(See, Mr. Long, this is why including plot seeds with your character write-ups is a good idea.)

[Cancer]

Re: from little plot seeds, mighty games do grow: Share your ideas!

 

Here's a real-life teaser paragraph from this week's Science. If nothing else, this could become the core concept to a terror program using ... foxbats.

 

Nipah virus claims few lives' date=' but in Bangladesh, where nearly all known cases in the past decade have occurred, the virus kills almost three-quarters of those it infects and leaves many survivors with crippling neurological disorders. Almost every winter since 2001, the virus has flared up in Bangladesh and has killed 111 people in the past decade; 50 people died in 2004, the worst year. This winter is shaping up to be bad, with the death toll at 27 as Science went to press—and 2 months to go in the Nipah season. Disease hunters believe they have pinned down the virus's natural reservoir—fruit bats—and they have nailed a transmission route in Bangladesh: consumption of contaminated date palm sap. But fruit bats test positive for Nipah antibodies across southern Asia, and date palm sap is a delicacy throughout Bangladesh. Yet the virus mostly haunts only what investigators call "the Nipah belt," a clutch of districts near the Ganges River in western Bangladesh.[/quote']

[Doctor Agenda]

Re: from little plot seeds, mighty games do grow: Share your ideas!

 

Perhaps Stalker needs to continue to feed on the blood of super beings to maintain his new powers.

[Lord Liaden]

Re: from little plot seeds, mighty games do grow: Share your ideas!

 

Professor Paradigm and the Paradigm Pirates

(I really love saying that.)

 

 

The Two Towers: Residents of Manhatten are stunned to wake up one morning to see the World Trade Center towers standing intact and proud on their original site at "ground zero!" Not a mirage or projection, the towers are solid and accessible, full of living people who have never heard of 9/11.

 

Professor Paradigm believes that the symbolism and mythology surrounding the terrorist attack on the towers has distorted the true significance of the event in people's minds. Searching through alternate Earths until he found one in which the Center was never destroyed, he causes that world and Champions Earth to merge at that location, resulting in the towers existing on both worlds simultaneously.

 

However, the Trade Center isn't the only difference between these worlds. The Center's world was conquered, by a major supervillain such as Doctor Destroyer, or alien invaders like the Gadroon. The conqueror detects the dimensional overlap, and seizes the Champions Earth side as a staging area for invading it.

 

Professor Paradigm may be able to stop the invasion by severing the merger, if the PCs can persuade him to. That's assuming Paradigm didn't intend for this to happen from the start...

 

 

Professor Panhandler: The mysterious Paradigm Pirate calling himself Avant Guard does what Professor Paradigm asks him to more often than not; but sometimes he takes completely unpredictable actions, from motives even more inscrutable than the Professor's. Avant Guard decides to steal Paradigm's powered armor, and rather than keep it gives it to the first person he meets on the street, a mentally-disturbed homeless man. Now when the man is seized by uncontrollable emotions or hallucinations, his response is powered by Paradigm's unique and formidable technology. And perhaps because the armor is the creation of another disturbed mind, the man is surprisingly capable in its use.

 

Even after discovering the theft, Professor Paradigm may be in no hurry to reclaim his armor, wanting to study the impact on the world of this new random element.

 

 

Genie From the Bottle: Professor Paradigm is fascinated by magic, although he doesn't yet fully understand it. He recently captured a moderately-powerful supernatural creature on one of the higher planes, and has kept it in stasis at his base while he studies it. When PC superheroes track down and attack the base, the power to the stasis chamber is interrupted, allowing the creature to escape.

 

The creature is an Emissary, or weakest avatar, of the vastly-powerful dimensional conqueror, Tyrannon. As soon as it's free it wastes no time calling one of Tyrannon's far mightier Viceroys, which appears in the middle of the battle between the heroes and the Paradigm Pirates. The heroes and villains may have to join forces to combat the ruthless Conqueror. OTOH Tyrannon may decide that Professor Paradigm could be manipulated into helping him establish a beach head in this new reality, and offers to aid him against the PCs.

[Lord Liaden]

Re: from little plot seeds, mighty games do grow: Share your ideas!

 

Incubus

 

I TOLD you I'm awesome!: While the PC heroes are away from their home city on a mission, a minor comic-relief villain they're familiar with, e.g. Foxbat, encounters the powerful, chaotic extra-dimensional imp called the Incubus. Intrigued by this chronic loser, the Incubus offers to make all his desires reality.

 

When the PCs get home they find their city... changed. Statues and murals of the villain posing majestically are everywhere. Every street sign bears his name. Screaming fans are lined up around the block to see the movie about his life, or buy his new music CD. Parades chanting his name march down the street. Droves of people strut about in knockoffs of his costume. Oh, and local law enforcement has APBs out on all his enemies -- including the PCs.

 

The Incubus appears to the heroes, and promises them he'll change the city back to normal, if they defeat the villain. Problem is, Incubus has made him as skilled, brilliant, and powerful as he always imagined himself to be.

 

 

Short Bus: The Incubus decides the PC heroes are too puffed up with success, and need to be cut down to size. Incubus takes that expression literally, reducing the heroes to a few inches in height, and dropping them into a forested area outside the city, the depths of the sewers, or equally uncivilized location. The PCs will regain their normal size if they can make it back to their headquarters or other landmark; but the distance to be covered is now the size of a country to them, terrain features look epic, and the local wildlife is the relative size of dinosaurs.

 

 

Draft Picks: Incubus's antics attract the attention of the Examiner, a vastly-powerful cosmic entity who is obsessed with testing the physical, mental, and moral qualities of other beings, particularly those of power and strong motivations. The two near-omnipotents agree to a contest between them, using superhumans as their proxies. One of them chooses the PCs to act on his behalf; the other picks a team of supervillains the heroes have encountered before, or superheroes with whom they have a rivalry, or a group whose reputation, good or bad, is well known to the PCs.

 

The two teams are kidnapped to an unknown location, and told they'll be returned only if they compete. If they need further incentive, Incubus and Examiner are capable of granting almost anything the supers desire as a reward. (They're willing to employ much harsher persuasions, if necessary.) The competitors are run through various contests, individual and group, culminating in a final battle between both teams.

 

Initially, only the Incubus and the Examiner know how the contest will be scored, and the stakes they're really playing for. Given their power and unorthodox motives, the possibilities are endless.

[Lawnmower Boy]

Re: from little plot seeds, mighty games do grow: Share your ideas!

 

Takofanes

 

In his days of greatness, the Undying King was served by the most powerful liches of his day. But that day was 70,000 years past. Where does one find the remains of powerful sorcerors in modern days, to raise as fell liches and servants of his power?

In recent days, followers of the Throne of Human Ivory have been breaking into anthropology museums around the country, stealing bones preserved there since the heyday of scientific grave-robbing in the Nineteenth Century. One assumes that the logic is that anyone buried so carefully in the old days was probably a powerful shaman.

 

But now representatives of an old and powerful local family have come to the PCs, telling them that they've been the victim as well. The problem is that, well, it's a secret. Their ancestor had/was a terrible secret, and they were buried in some private family grave. Perhaps the story is of murder, madness, espionage or Satanism. Or this ultra-respectable Main Line family has a different kind of shameful secret. Their founder being in reality an Indian chieftain, notorious figure who faked his own death, African witch doctor, Barbary pirate, Chinese opium fiend, or whatever. The only thing that is more frightening to them than the revelation of this secret is the knowledge of what Takofanes might do with the special resources/knowledge of his new lieutenant. "Not only do I throw a mighty fine curse spell, I was Thomas Jefferson's British handler during the Revolution!"

 

ii) A variant of this idea: Takofanes has a lead on the remains of Beijing Man, and the Japanese scientist who carried out mystico-scientific experiments on it at Unit 731. The PCs have to find it first, and figure out a way to keep it safe from the Archlich's minions.

[quozaxx]

Re: from little plot seeds, mighty games do grow: Share your ideas!

 

Murderers for Hire

 

Someone has put a price on a PC's head. Dead! One Million Dollars. The job is offered up to Merc-Force 1. But they need help on this one, and splitting the million more than 3 ways won't be THAT bad. But, when they put feelers out for additional mercenaries, the price is so good that every mercenary villain is now out for the PC's blood. It's a race (or more like a competition) to see who kills them first. But who put price on the PC's head?

[assault]

Re: from little plot seeds, mighty games do grow: Share your ideas!

 

I've already posted this to my blog, but it belongs here as well.

===

I need a plot, so I will begin by asking "Who is buried in the plot?"

 

Someone named Eaton. They were eaten.

 

His name was Ed, cause they ate his head.

 

Edward or Edmund (or Edgar….)? Edmund, in this case.

 

Mister or Doctor? If it's Mister, it might just be a rampage. If it's Doctor, it's probably targeted, or the title is a red herring, and it's just a rampage. Doctor, then.

 

So, who ate Dr Edmund Eaton's head? Why did they want his brain?

 

Well, he was probably a scientist. Scientists have Beautiful Daughters and colleagues.

 

He was probably a colleague of Professor Phineas Plott, the inventor of the Plott Device. Just because he has a daughter doesn't prevent him from being younger than Professor Plott - his daughter might be quite a bit younger that Patricia and Penelope.

 

Perhaps whoever ate his brain was after knowledge of the McGuffin. In that case, why didn't they just eat John McGuffin's brain in the first place? (Or is it Malcolm McGuffin? Either way, he's Scottish.)

 

Perhaps McGuffin will be the next victim, who will need to be saved.

 

Since we are dealing with scientists here, the killer is science related - an alien, an interdimensional entity, Science Zombies or a Hideous Mutant of some kind. They want the McGuffin for some reason - either to return home, summon or create allies, cure themselves or further mutate themselves so they are powerful enough to Take Over the World.

 

It's probably the latter. Our Hideous Mutant might claim only to want to be cured, but their brain was Hideously Mutated too, and they have been overwhelmed by their lust for power, and maybe brains.

 

So, that's their motivation. Who are they?

 

Well, that's quite obvious. Nobody other than - Ed Eaton!

 

And it's a wrap. Everything else is filling in details.

 

This is a perfectly serviceable Silver Age plot. Perhaps a bit more Challengers of the Unknown than Superman, but definitely Silver Age.

 

Scientist is involved in a lab accident and apparently killed. He returns, searching to complete his transformation so that he can Take Over the World. Can he be stopped? Can he be cured?

 

Toning down the Brain Eating thing is possible, but even Superman was faced with some pretty darkish stuff sometimes. The details will set the tone here.

 

Anyway, the case will be called "The Case of the Headless Professor!"

 

[Aquaman]Outrageous![/Aquaman]

[assault]

Re: from little plot seeds, mighty games do grow: Share your ideas!

 

My previous rant worked well enough that I've started another. I'm still working on it, but here is a bit of doggerel to start with:

---

There was a man called Mr Fine.

He wasn't rich but he owned a mine.

It had been abandoned long ago,

But late one night there came a glow…

 

The Scooby Doo-ness of it all is interesting. What's down there?

 

I didn't originally intend it to rhyme, but it ended up that way.

 

There was a man named Mister Brown.

The richest banker in the town.

He never smiled, but always frowned.

That was why he was kidnapped by a clown.

 

OK, so there's a villain.

 

There's no obvious connection between the two bits of nonsense so there's no reason for one has to exist. They are probably separate and unrelated crimes. Or not.

 

EDIT: I finally got back to this, almost a week later.

[SteelFrog]

Re: from little plot seeds, mighty games do grow: Share your ideas!

 

i really like the idea of the progenitor rpg---in the late 1960s, there was an event that caused people to manifest powers, and it has changed the world ever since

[quozaxx]

Re: from little plot seeds, mighty games do grow: Share your ideas!

 

Mirror cracked

 

Mirrors (of Smoke and Mirrors) was hired as a distraction. He job was to cast an illusion of a fire breathing dragon. A very realistic illusion. The one who hired the duo was VERY specific on what illusion should be cast, where it should be, and how realistic it is. They were most adamant about the realistic nature of the beast. When Mirror's illusion is cast over a local chemical producing industry; it comes to life literally. Wreaking real havoc. Spilling chemicals everywhere. Mirrors can't control the thing, but someone obviously is. The one who hired her! It must be! Has he changed Mirrors? How did he make the dragon come to life? How is he controlling it? What does this mean for the heroes?

 

 

What is Teleios' goal?

 

[Lord Liaden]

Not so much plot seeds...

 

... as a newly-assembled villain team.

 

When Steve Long was discussing the proposed new 6E Champions Villains trilogy, he expressed his hope that compiling villains scattered across several Fifth Edition books, especially those published after Conquerors, Killers, And Crooks, would raise the profile of many interesting characters who were often overlooked by Champions gamers. In my case, seeing these characters together has often highlighted potential connections between them that I never noticed before, even with villains I was familiar with. Four previously solo villains, from CV Vol. 3, have so many similarities that a strong common concept for teaming them up sprang to mind. As I worked through the possibilities inherent in the team, it seemed to me that they could potentially be of interest and use to other Champs fans. So, let me now present for your entertainment (hopefully):

 

 

GAIA'S WRATH

 

 

Membership: Geothermal, Hornet, Sunspot, Thorn, and Galeforce (provisional).

 

 

Background/History: After the formidable earth-powered supervillain Geothermal escaped from Stronghold in 2009 he retreated beneath the Earth's crust, emerging only surreptitiously as he spied upon the surface world, planning how to renew his genocidal war against the planet's "despoilers," the human race. In this way he learned of Sunspot, a solar-powered superhuman who seemed to share his own belief in the need to purge the planet of mankind in order to preserve all other life. When Geothermal encountered Sunspot being attacked by superheroes he intervened to help drive those heroes off. The two elemental villains quickly agreed they should cooperate to advance their common cause.

 

Geothermal and Sunspot decided to rehearse working together by attacking a controversial new oil-drilling project in what had once been protected wilderness. When they arrived at the site they found it already under attack by the plant/human hybrid called Thorn. As they described their planned campaign to Thorn, he realized this was what his own effort to protect and liberate plantlife from human exploitation was inevitably leading to. Thorn eagerly volunteered his service to their cause.

 

Thorn also suggested another recruit for their group. He had exchanged ideas and information with the insect-man Hornet through the criminal scientific underground. Hornet had never before considered outright war with the human race, but his already violent misanthropy was easily turned in that direction. And it was Hornet who suggested the name for their team. For too long humanity has thoughtlessly befouled the environment, selfishly extinguished countless plant and animal species, ruthlessly stripped the planet of its vital resources. Their race is long overdue for a reckoning, to feel the wrath of Gaia. The four of them, embodying the forces that shape the world's biosphere -- the earth, the sun, plants, animals -- will be Gaia's champions and weapons, until the human threat is ended. Permanently.

 

 

Group Relations: For a band of genocidal sociopaths, the members of Gaia's Wrath get along surprisingly well. Two strong motivations unite them. The first is their cause. Gaia's Wrath truly believe that all other life on Earth is in a war for survival with the human race, and that fate has chosen them to turn the power of the Earth back upon its tormentors. They will not give up or show any mercy until humanity is so decimated that it no longer poses a threat. They might stop short of total eradication and allow a small enough fraction of humanity for the planet to sustain to survive -- no more than 10% of its current population. That's only if humans abandon their industrial civilization and adopt an agrarian, pastoral lifestyle; and if they accept the rule of Gaia's Wrath.

 

While they've convinced themselves of the sincerity of their goal, at base it's a rationalization for their deeper drives: anger, hatred, envy, greed, and lust for power. Consciously or unconsciously, all of them feel abused and mistreated, that they've been denied the rewards and greatness they deserve. Their crusade is the most intellectually-acceptable way for them to act on their feelings.

 

Their other motivation for forming the team, although none of them would admit it, is companionship. Gaia's Wrath feel totally estranged from the native sapient race. They no longer think of themselves as human; in fact, the circumstances that made them what they are have made their thought patterns and emotions alien in many ways. There's a ferocity, an elemental passion, driving them, that only a being like themselves can truly understand.

 

Despite their common ground, because their passions are so intense -- and their egos so large -- conflicts and disputes often arise. When they do, however, Geothermal is quick to quash them. He is the de facto leader of Gaia's Wrath because the rest of the team fear his great power, and because he won't accept any lesser status. Privately each of the other members thinks he'd make a better leader, but wouldn't dare say so. Nonetheless Geothermal is intelligent enough to listen to his teammates' suggestions, and to recognize good advice when he hears it.

 

The group dynamic has helped shape how these villains operate. When on their own Geothermal and Sunspot merely attacked large population centers, trying to personally eradicate as many humans as possible. Hornet and Thorn are more patient, deliberate planners, which has led to Gaia's Wrath taking much more care in plotting out their campaign. That includes taking advantage of the synergy of their considerable collective scientific expertise, to invent the means to kill many more humans than they could through direct violence alone.

 

 

Tactics: The members of Gaia's Wrath are all too proud and independent to have devised sophisticated combat maneuvers depending on one of them issuing orders. However, they're also highly intelligent, and have worked out general strategies playing to their strengths. Gaia's Wrath are especially strong in ranged attacks, so will try to keep their distance whenever possible. At the start of a battle Geothermal and Sunspot typically throw Area Of Effect attacks to unbalance and disorient their opponents. If they've previously identified one particularly dangerous foe, the whole team may instead coordinate their attacks on that person to try to put him or her down early. Geothermal will then take point in the team's assault, trusting to his massive Defenses. Hornet and Sunspot will use their Speed and aerial maneuverability to dart rapidly around the battlefield. Being relatively immobile, Thorn will hang back to support his teammates with Ranged Powers, unless opponents come close enough for him to employ his Stretching and massive Strength. If he has the opportunity Thorn will quicken plants into monstrous followers, and send them against his enemies' flank, preferably by surprise.

 

All of these villains are experienced and versatile combatants, with a wide array of Powers, and will choose the most effective option against a particular opponent. They're aggressive and ruthless, using their most damaging attacks at full power. They don't pull punches unless they think someone will be very useful alive. Gaia's Wrath are unconcerned with innocent bystanders caught in the crossfire. They intend to kill most or all humans sooner or later, anyway.

 

Gaia's Wrath have turned their scientific brilliance to the purpose of mass murder. They will devise and implement technologies to kill as many people as possible, almost always with a "nature" theme, as though the planet itself is striking back at Man. Possibilities based on each villain's specialty include: gathering and directing vast swarms of insects to attack humans; mutating all the large plants in a city into mobile carnivorous predators; modifying a string of satellites to concentrate the Sun's radiation into an orbital "death ray;" triggering earthquakes, tsunamis, or volcanoes near large populations. Gaia's Wrath will never cause large-scale or long-term harm to the environment, such as by detonating a nuclear bomb; although they may regretfully accept some local environmental damage as necessary "casualties of war."

 

Their campaign isn't confined to simply killing people. Gaia's Wrath will sometimes target sites of human degradation of the environment they consider particularly heinous: heavy industrial pollution of the land or water; extensive deforestation; exploitation of mineral sources threatening the ecology of an area; and the like.

 

Some of their actions leading up to a major scheme could involve acquiring the resources to set it in motion, rather than simple slaughter. The atypicality of those actions may lead PC heroes to discover what they really intend, and hopefully stop it in time.

 

Whatever they plan to do, Gaia's Wrath can't be appeased or bargained with. Most other supervillains threaten to make terrible things happen unless they get what they want. In the case of Gaia's Wrath, making terrible things happen is what they want.

 

 

Associates, Allies, And Adversaries: As a new team, Gaia's Wrath is not yet known to the world at large. However, all its individual members have a reputation with the authorities, and Geothermal and Sunspot are known to aspire to genocide. Once the team goes public, it will quickly rise up the rankings of threats to world security.

 

Few supervillains will work with Gaia's Wrath. Their individual extreme personalities had already alienated much of the Superhuman World, and most villains would violently oppose the decimation of humanity, however hardened they may be. For their part, the villains of Gaia's Wrath actively hate humans and can barely tolerate their presence. Yet Gaia's Wrath would still consider bolstering their ranks with villains who agree with their views, particularly if those villains are inhuman or have Powers with an elemental motif. For example, Gaia's Wrath are actively seeking the mighty earth-monster Terrayne, and the alien warrior Firewing, hoping to recruit them to their cause.

 

The evil druid Cairngorm has long pondered whether Geothermal is connected to the Old Gods of Earth whom Cairngorm serves, and whether helping Geothermal would please his masters. Cairngorm despises most of Mankind, considering them fit only for blood sacrifice, and would shed no tears over the deaths of billions. When he hears of Gaia's Wrath he may seek them out to offer adding his magic to their science, to craft an epic sacrifice to satiate the Old Gods.

 

If it were possible for Gaia's Wrath to hate anything more than the human race, that thing would be Mechanon. They consider the mad robot an abomination, an artificial mockery of true life. They know of its intention to eradicate all organisms, not just humans, and that it could have the means to do so. Gaia's Wrath will seize any opportunity to destroy the technological terror or its resources, or thwart its plans. A threat by Mechanon, or any comparable menace, to devastate the Earth's biosphere, is about the only thing that might prompt Gaia's Wrath to ally with humans, albeit briefly.

 

Gaia's Web: Some extremists among the world's environmental movement have actually expressed support for Geothermal's and Sunspot's eco-terrorism. There are even people who worship them as modern incarnations of ancient nature gods. Until recently those villains ignored their would-be followers, valuing them no more than other humans. Now that they're more organized as part of Gaia's Wrath, they've begun exploiting these misguided people, covertly mobilizing them via the Internet. Calling themselves "Gaia's Web," the villains' human dupes gather intelligence and act as fronts for the team's operations, or as distractions for heroes from the Wrath's true objectives. The Web are also the middlemen converting the rich deposits of precious metals and gemstones that Geothermal easily locates and extracts, into working capital for laboratory space and equipment, transportation, bribes, and whatever other material assistance Gaia's Wrath requires to enact their schemes.

 

 

Update: Since they began their efforts to recruit other members, Gaia's Wrath has added the supervillain Galeforce (also from CV Vol. 3) to their team, provisionally. Like the others, Galeforce was a human transformed physically and mentally by accident. Her background and powers fill out the biospheric motif of the group, representing both the ocean and the atmosphere. Her scientific training also complements that of her new teammates. For example, she's currently collaborating on research to create artificial tornadoes and hurricanes.

 

The rest of Gaia's Wrath remain wary of fully accepting Galeforce. She's still more human than they're completely comfortable with, and they're not convinced of her dedication to their cause. On the other hand, she's proven to be a reliable team player, readily following Geothermal's lead and supporting her teammates in a fight. Galeforce realizes she's not as powerful or versatile as many superhumans, and appreciates having Gaia's Wrath backing her up. Working with these extreme eco-terrorists gives her plenty of opportunities to indulge her lust for destruction, and the mineral wealth Geothermal has access to is enough to slake her greed.

 

Since she lacks movement powers, in battle Galeforce typically hangs back with Thorn, employing her ranged attacks. She's adept at using her Battering Winds to hurl opponents into the path of the other members' attacks, and her Pushing Winds to keep physically weaker foes at bay.

[Lawnmower Boy]

Re: from little plot seeds, mighty games do grow: Share your ideas!

 

Captain Chronos

 

Actually, this one will work with any time traveller, because it is very, very simple. Someone opens up a time gate. To 2353AD, the year that the Xenovores invaded Earth. Now they're coming through to the 21st Century.

And since the Xenovore genome is a radiation accident in waiting, some of them are developing superpowers. (Check out Galactic Champions, 126--7 for "Maraud," the Xenovore Captain America, if you want to see a villain that can really sink its teeth into your PCs. Someone should work that guy into Champions fanfic at some point.)

[CrosshairCollie]

Re: from little plot seeds, mighty games do grow: Share your ideas!

 

Shamelessly stolen idea from the Chaotic cartoon ...

 

SUPERDOME!

 

The Superdome is the ultimate virtual reality game ... you can play as your favorite hero or villain in one-on-one or team competition, with sci-fi style VR; total sensory input, like your mind is inside the supers' body! But to get a supers' abilities in the game, you have to scan them in the real world with a handheld device first, giving your avatar their powers, skills, and fighting technique. Will villains or very private heroes let you get away with scanning them? What if this is all a big plot by a mastermind to learn how every super on the planet fights so he can discern their strengths and weaknesses? Perhaps aliens are using it to find the best of the best to abduct for their gladiatorial games?

[quozaxx]

Re: from little plot seeds, mighty games do grow: Share your ideas!

 

Aurora

 

Scientists from the northern most Canada have been watching studying the Aurora Borealis for years. For about two weeks now they noticed an increase or intensity and size of the northern lights. In fact, they can even see it during the day. As they check and recheck their facts, they also discover that the aurora australis (southern lights) has also increased in size and intensity. They calculate that within a month the entire world should see these lights. Is the supervillain Borealis responsible? America sends the PCs northward to find out. Or is it possible that this is the Roman goddess Aurora returning with the the gods?