Calling All Evil GMs

[SAW]

I am running a sweeping Halloween scenario where every player is running 4 different characters (yes they all have that many, big long-runnung campaign) with things taking place in four different cities and all connecting to face Takofanes next week.

 

Now we have a few characters with Cosmic VPPs. In the three previous cities there has been the need for one of them to pop off a mega-scale AOE Healing to make sure that nobody in the city died of their wounds (yes these problems affected most people in the cities, with characters this powerful you really have to challenge them).

 

Now when these characters do this it is a very massive, very public display of power. What I'm looking for from evil GMs everywhere is possible fallout ideas. Many lives were saved by these actions so not all of the response will be negative, but I think that quite a bit will be. Even some of the positve feedback may return to bite them on the @$$.

 

If you need more detail I can provide it later. Any ideas will be greatly appreciated.

 

SAW

[EverKnight]

Re: Calling All Evil GMs

 

First thing that springs to mind is: what about the people that were undergoing surgery at that point. Half-way through an operation and the patient's body spontaneously closes up would certainly cause some complications. Could be even worse if it is plastic surgery only half complete. The patient could end up with only half of the operation completed with some lopsided results.

 

Second thing is the crowd of worshippers that forms clamouring for the miracle touch of healing. The heroes would be unable to go anywhere public without attracting a mob of people. Religious leaders could become involved and a mass public debate begun on the phenomenon.

[Gummibear]

Re: Calling All Evil GMs

 

Heres another one that came up with my super healer.

 

What happens to the ones that are declared "dead" but suddenly get brought back to life or if your healer had res, what happens if she deliberately res'ed the character? These characters may not believe in being "reborn" and may have already been at their just rewards in heaven or what not. The church may think that they are now souless. Or they themselves may believe it.

My super healer went around raising people and before long several characters began to question the ethics of doing this. Who made him god?

 

Also some good things:

The overnight death numbers would plummet dramatically and many family members would be overjoyed with supers. "My father was in a terrible accident and would have died before the paramedics got there, but suddenly his wounds closed themselves and he was able to get up and wait for the paramedics. Really they weren't necessary anymore."

 

And some more bad things in a couple weeks.

"I'm Kent Delersmith with the American Radio Company News. The city continues to reel from the massive population increase two weeks ago. Overnight instead of maintaining an equilibruim of population control through natural death and birth the city underwent three days of near negative population decline. We spoke with Dr. Borenden of the National Population Bureau."

"Thank you for having me Kent. We estimate that there are 1.5 deaths every second or .08%. However there are 2.7 births every second. Though the population continues to grow at roughly a 1.4% annual rate there is a control of this growth. Since the death rate decreased to less than 1 death for every 1000 population we saw a dramatic increase in population. Since this went for three days, or 36 hours the population has grown by and additional 540. Though this may seem relatively small if we look at this J curve for the next twenty years we start to see some very disturbing numbers...."

Research J curves they're great fun.

[garou]

Re: Calling All Evil GMs

 

People who were in the process of reporting, or heading to report, assaults or other violent crimes are suddenly left without the most obvious physical evidence (bruising, bleeding, etc).

 

Teachers, social workers, etc who were suspicious of abuse now have to wait to see if the bruises reappear.

 

Some random lunatic claims that he was the real cause of the healing, and starts going out to heal the masses.

 

At least a couple people will be convinced that they are immortal or now possess superpowers - and begin trying to fight crime. When Joe Average, with no applicable skills or abilities, starts trying to take down Viper, he's going to have a nasty shock ahead, if he survives the encounter.

 

Supers get sued by several people who were attempting suicide, a la "The Incredibles".

 

Supers start getting requests from people suffering from all sorts of illnesses. Mobs surround them when the appear in public, begging for that healing touch.

 

Supers start getting flack for not doing this sooner. "Where were you during the last major disaster? Why didn't you save my child from cancer? Why didn't you use your powers for this sooner?"

[tinman]

Re: Calling All Evil GMs

 

There will be a strong reaction from those whose religious beliefs preclude medical treatment. This will be much worse if the healing character used some kind of magic to do it.

 

Even if the healing didn't affect human tissue that isn't part of a living body every research experiment involving human biological material in the affected area will have to be restarted with all new samples, just in case there was an unknown effect. If there are any pharmaceutical companies in the area this could cost them big-time and they may get into a lawsuit mood.

 

Other than that the biggest reaction to a character who can heal (mass healing or otherwise) would be an overwhelming number of constant requests from those who need healing. As the character can't possibly respond to them all there will be bitterness and anger over every failure to heal or cure someone. eventually the character will start to be portrayed as fickle and cold-hearted, witholding life-saving treatment because they are selfish enough to want down-time or merely because they simply can't be everywhere at once.

[RDU Neil]

Re: Calling All Evil GMs

 

I like the "negative side effects of healing" point best.

 

Person in car wreck with a piece of metal in his chest... suddenly heals over and he just dies when the metal then cuts him open internally and he bleeds out.

 

What is healing exactly? Are there a ton of brain dead, should have died folks around?

 

Did the healing just stop certain wounds, and they still had others... and are now crippled or malformed?

 

I think the bigger ramifications of this is to to try and figure out exactly what "healing" means? Does it cause new tissue and blood and everything... all in proper amounts and properly structured... to appear in place? Is it just accelerating the bodies natural process? Does it is remove the damaging external "stuff" that caused the wound, or heal over it? These are the hard things to figure out... and if it just "magic" where somehow, with no explanation, the person is just fine... bullet gone, no sign of wound... well then you've created a whole mess of godlike abilities that should fundamentally change the course of human history. That could be fun!

[Vanguard00]

Re: Calling All Evil GMs

 

Good ideas thus far. I immediately thought of EverKnight's suggestion that people would be coming from all over the world to receive healing. Not to mention the press would have a field day with a hero who can heal a city but never has before. What's he been waiting on, the second coming? That hero might not ever know a moment's peace again, secret ID or no.

 

The lawsuit suggestion gave me the idea that some folks might sue the hero for invasion of privacy ("We didn't ask to be healed!"). Some doctors/hospitals might sue the heroes for infringing upon their livelihood. Some religious folks might sue the hero for infringing upon their religious beliefs.

 

Military or governments (or villainous organizations, or just about anyone) might want to co-opt the hero for their own use. He could become very hot property indeed. A quiet abduction might be in the making already...

[Karmakaze]

Re: Calling All Evil GMs

 

I could also see cults springing up around the heroes. Scary obsessive stalker cults.

[Vanguard00]

Re: Calling All Evil GMs

 

I could also see cults springing up around the heroes. Scary obsessive stalker cults.

Deifying the hero, even. That'll make a lot of folks happy...

[EverKnight]

Re: Calling All Evil GMs

 

Supers start getting flack for not doing this sooner. "Where were you during the last major disaster? Why didn't you save my child from cancer? Why didn't you use your powers for this sooner?"

 

To do this in a slightly different way. The press first run with story making out how the heroes saved so many people and how grateful everybody should be. The story then runs on claiming how the supers will always be there to perform their miracle healing when disaster strikes, despite what the heroes may try to claim. Then when the next disaster does strike and the heroes are not avalaible or are unwilling to help a tide of resentment is unleashed against them for letting down the people. All of it pushed by media that likes nothing more than a good story. Soon the heroes are villified for their uncaring attitude.

[EverKnight]

Re: Calling All Evil GMs

 

Deifying the hero' date=' even. That'll make a lot of folks happy...[/quote']

 

It could get very uncomfortable for the hero as he begins to hear voices in his head that gradually get louder and more persistent. Eventually he realises it is the prayers of those that now worship him.

[EverKnight]

Re: Calling All Evil GMs

 

There are, of course, the money making opportunities presented to the hero. The stereotypical rich guy and the terminal condition he or a loved one has. Naturally he seeks out the hero thinking that his money can buy anything.

 

Or there are the shady organisations that have worked out that a healing touch is ideal for torture that does not leave a mark. Of course no true hero would involve themselves with anything like that.

[psm]

Re: Calling All Evil GMs

 

I'm sure there would be a few, billion dollar pharamceutical companies a little worried too. It would really cut into their profit margins if this character could heal everyone. It would make them obsolete. I would think that some of them might feel threatened.

[TaxiMan]

Re: Calling All Evil GMs

 

How about pregnancies? Abortions don't work (though they thought they did). An incredibly high number of pregnancies occur, since the little 1-cell buggers successfully implant. Vasectomies spontaneously reverse.

 

Other unintended healing occurs - cosmetic surgery 'undoes'. Tattoos are rejected. Perhaps a person's carpal tunnel returns because the surgery to relieve the pressure 'heals'. Depends on how this super-healing works. If it puts people back to the way they were, you get weird stuff. If it somehow knows what people want, then you get different stuff -

 

Cosmetic surgeons complain because all their patients no longer need their services. Marriages break up as spouses visibly discover the attributes desired by their partner (I leave that to you). All teenage girls start to look like [fill in with teen star idol]. All teenage boys [damn, I don't want to go there, but parents will be horrified].

 

Play on!

[Vanguard00]

Re: Calling All Evil GMs

 

How about pregnancies? Abortions don't work (though they thought they did). An incredibly high number of pregnancies occur' date=' since the little 1-cell buggers successfully implant. Vasectomies spontaneously reverse.[/quote']

Worse yet, pregnancies automatically abort as the body is "healed" of the fetuses. People who spent good money for artificial insemination or the like are seriously P-O'ed.

[CBikle]

Re: Calling All Evil GMs

 

I like the "negative side effects of healing" point best.

 

Person in car wreck with a piece of metal in his chest... suddenly heals over and he just dies when the metal then cuts him open internally and he bleeds out.

That's interesting, but I think a little out of line.

 

Depends on the tone of the game, but in most I've been in, it's always assumed that the healing is "smart" enough not to do things like the above example, otherwise it just seems adversarial and arbitrary.

[Evil102]

Re: Calling All Evil GMs

 

No good deed goes unpunished, eh?

 

The scale of the side effects will obviously depend on how upbeat/downbeat/grim&gritty the campaign is.

 

1) Public response. While the overwhelming local response will be positive for the heroes, there'll probably be some who wonder why the heroes didn't use this power last week when their dear old aunt martha was dying of cancer. This sort of feeling will grow stronger outside of cities hit by the healing field, and will be particularly bitter in any cities or countries that have recently experienced large casualties from disasters (such as earthquakes, hurricanes, etc). Expect an even larger backlash the next time such a disaster strikes and the heroes don't immediately drop everything to fly out there and whip up an uber-heal...

 

2) Healing mechanics. While I agree it would be a bit vindicive to have the heal undo corrective surgical measures, I'd say that cosmetic surgery is fair game. If the heal restores people to their undamaged template as determined by their genes, then we can expect a large number of people with face lifts, boob jobs and tummy tucks being unhappy. Especially if one of the cities affected is L.A. Thinking about it, lasik surgery would probably go too.

 

3) Unexpected beneficiaries. How wide-ranging is the healing power? What if Stronghold or an equivalent is within range of the mojo? Things could turn bleak if Firewing or someone is prematurely woken from the Hotsleep program... or a theoretically-destroyed vampire rises from his ashes...

 

4) The Source of all things. There's no mention of how/why the healing power works. What if the characters are just a conduit, and the healing force is actually the power of a being/godhood/race/celestial personification? Using the power on one or two people would have a negligible effect on the Source, but what would the effect be of healing several million people all at once?

[Super Squirrel]

Re: Calling All Evil GMs

 

Surgeons in a hospital prepared to begin bypass surgery on a patient's heart. They had already opened the chest and clamped off the veins to prepare the bypass when suddenly the would rehealed itself with the clamp still inside. By the time they reopened the chest to correct the situation, the patient had died. The patient happened to be none other than the cousin of Duchess Nerietta Von Drotte of Duchess Industries.

 

Joseph Stanton was an archealogist who made a startling discovery in an exhibition into the South Pacific. He discovered an ancient temple belonging to a power demon of ancient origin. When DEMON started showing up trying to get the location of the temple out of him, Stanton knew the only way he could protect the world would be to take his own life. As DEMON agents stormed his home, he put the gun to his head and pulled the trigger. But as life began to fade away he felt a strange sensation and realized someone had just healed his life. But before he could take another shot, the DEMON agents grabbed him and dragged him away to their layer.

 

And of course you could take the pandemic approach. Farmer Johnson thought he would have to put down his entire lot. He was worried that his chickens were showing signs of the bird flu. The Center for Disease Control dispatched a representative to take sample eggs for further testing. The agent happened to be delivering the samples to the CDC Laboratory in the city when suddenly all of the eggs were cured. When the lab tested negative for Bird Flu at Farmer Johnson's farm, they haulted their investigation.

[SAW]

Re: Calling All Evil GMs

 

Excellent ideas all. You have all proven your worthiness to hold the Evil GM membership card.

 

I don't think I'm going to use any of the surgery stuff though, we were talking about an "evacuate the entire city" type situation so I don't think there would be to many open-heart or cosmetic surgeries going on at the time. And as far as undoing already finished cosmetic procedures remember, this Healing not Transform. Fundamentally altering the way someone looks is done with Transform.

 

I love the worship stuff I only have one problem with it. I can't figure out how to fix it.

 

I don't like to do things like this to the players without figuring out at least one way for them to get out of the situation. I have been in too many situations (as player and as GM) where the GM so thoroughly bones the players, unintentionally, that there is no way in Hell they can get out without chaging something that aleready happened and I hate to do that. I can usually count on them to come up with some other way I didn't think of to fix a problem, but it's been my experience that if I don't come up with something they won't manage to either.

 

All of your ideas have had me maniacally rubbing my chin wilst I was using the Evil GM Evil Grin Pat. Pend., so keep'em coming and any ideas for how get my players out these messes would also be fantastic.

 

Thanks much,

SAW

[Kabluey]

Re: Calling All Evil GMs

 

Here's an idea: At the time that the healing took place, a serial murderer in the city is being executed. The healing prevents him from dying, however, and then his lawyer trots out some stupid, century-old local law that forces the government to set him free. Of course, he reverts to old habits...

 

You could even do something like say that the interaction of the healing power and the execution method gives him super-powers (e.g., electrical powers if he was to be executed, poison powers if being executed by lethal injection), so it could turn him into a real foe for the heroes.

 

Depending on how evil you wanted to be, you could even have this guy publicly thank the heroes for their assistance - that would go over well with the public. He could even start killing their enemies - not the super-powered ones, of course, but the reporter who wrote a negative article about them, for instance, or the public figure who had spoken out against vigilantes, or whatever.

[SAW]

Re: Calling All Evil GMs

 

*Shmeless bump*

[EverKnight]

Re: Calling All Evil GMs

 

*Shmeless bump*

 

You want more?!?

 

OK, if you go with the mega-amounts of publicity and worship options then the best way for the characters to get rid of all that is to disappear for a while. You can then have scenarios where the characters have to perform their heroic duties while not revealing themselves and not displaying the flashy powers that caused the problem in the first place. This then leaves the option for some unscrupulous people to come in and con the worshippers by pretending to be the heroes. So now the heroes have to expose these fakes to protect their good name.

[Mr. Negative]

Re: Calling All Evil GMs

 

I love the worship stuff I only have one problem with it. I can't figure out how to fix it.

 

I don't like to do things like this to the players without figuring out at least one way for them to get out of the situation. I have been in too many situations (as player and as GM) where the GM so thoroughly bones the players, unintentionally, that there is no way in Hell they can get out without chaging something that aleready happened and I hate to do that. I can usually count on them to come up with some other way I didn't think of to fix a problem, but it's been my experience that if I don't come up with something they won't manage to either.

 

This is a nice attitude to have. It really can take the steam out of a game when the players feel that they are "stuck" and can't do anything about a situation.

 

Some questions/ideas follow:

 

Does the populace know that the PC healed them? If not, you could have one or more groups claiming the healing was their responsibility. You might have people claiming it was a miracle, or another superhero (perhaps even one with healing powers) claiming that he was responsible.

You could even have a supervillain with "evil" healing abilities (illusion, reviving as zombies, healing but with mind control) claim responsibility.

 

It could also be left as an unexplained event, to be pondered by researchers and scientists.

 

If your group has such far-reaching and potent abilities, perhaps a little mind-wiping (ala "Identity Crisis") might be in order. This would allow the PCs to avoid the unhealthy attention, but draw them into another moral quandary.

 

If the campaign has "Cosmic Entities", then someone might show up because Fate, the Balance, or Death has been slighted. The PCs might have to find willing (or unwilling) people to "make up the balance" for those who should have died. The healing PC might have to sacrifice her powers, even publicly, to atone for the transgression against the natural order.

 

Perhaps this use of "Cosmic Healing" has damaged reality, and the PC has unknowingly created a dark mirror image of himself, capable of inflicting injury on just such a massive scale (check out the Sentry and the Void from Marvel). The PCs may not have averted such injuries, but unknowingly shifted them from their locale to another. They may still have a chance to avert the injuries and deaths, by quick action, but now know that any time such massive power is used, the same results will ensue.

 

Finally, I'd really look into the ramifications of such a power anyway. The GM allowed it to be used, so it's a valid ability in this world. Is there any inbuilt restrictions to the "City Healing" ability? If not, then what IS there to stop the PC from using it again and again and again? If it isn't restricted, then you might want to explore what a world with such unlimited healing would be like. If it does have "hidden" ramifications, then probably ALL massive uses of power should have hidden ramifications. After all, if HEALING a city causes some force of Order to be disturbed, then HARMING a city should probably also cause some sort of disturbance. I'd try to make sure that whatever you did to "handle" the situation wasn't a specific response to just this one occurence, but something that fit into the cosmology of your game world.

 

 

The other thing to be asking your PCs might be:

 

"If you've had the power to heal thousands of people all along, why HAVEN'T you been using it?"

 

Is negative attention from the media and particular groups really enough to dissuade you from ending pain and suffering for thousands of people?

[dbsousa]

Re: Calling All Evil GMs

 

Is this healing power limited to humans? Did it affect pets? Rats? germs?

 

Perhaps someone dying of an acutely contagious disease was healed during the event. He is now immune to the disease, but has become a carrier, and is "patient zero" for an epidemic. Evilest case scenario, the patient is a jetsetter, and is spreading this disease thoughout the world...

[RDU Neil]

Re: Calling All Evil GMs

 

Is this healing power limited to humans? Did it affect pets? Rats? germs?

 

Perhaps someone dying of an acutely contagious disease was healed during the event. He is now immune to the disease, but has become a carrier, and is "patient zero" for an epidemic. Evilest case scenario, the patient is a jetsetter, and is spreading this disease thoughout the world...

 

I love this idea. Rep.