Alternate Settings: Rules to villany

[Funksaw]

Was working on this idea in the car and wanted to get your opinion on it:

 

The Premise:

Heroes and Villians act like heroes and villians in a 4-color sense in a "real world" setting because they realise that they end up working in a mutually benificial matter. Heroes get endorsement deals and fame and celebrity, Villians who play by the rules get a good chance to get away richer and even if they get "caught" jail time isn't hard, and they can pretty much break out any time they want to.

 

It's an open secret. Some jeweler wants to gain some publicity and has some semi-precious material that they can't move. They start putting the good stuff someplace safe and leave the off-the rack stuff nearby and put the word out that they could use some publicity. A villian comes in and robs the place, maybe he's stopped, maybe he's not.

 

The Villan's Code:

 

1) Villians must not injure or harm citizens. Money's one thing, but people are another matter.

 

2) Villians must steal only from those who can afford it, and only a moderate amount.

 

3) Villians must construct death traps with A) an easily accessible escape route, and a failsafe to actually prevent the actual death in question in case something goes horribly wrong.

 

Etc., etc.,

 

Help me flesh out this idea?

[Enforcer84]

Re: Alternate Settings: Rules to villany

 

I like it. It sounds like a whole lot of the villains in comics actually practiced this. There should be hard and fast rules for what happens to those who can't play by the rules. These are the guys who get visits from your death dealing vigilantes or iced by powerful mastervillains "to make a point" ...

...

some of the big gun villains wouldn't feel the need to play the game though. And not all of them are motivated by money...I dunno. Cool Idea but their are some cracks.

[Logan D. Hurricanes]

Re: Alternate Settings: Rules to villany

 

Weapons are designed to detain, never harm: they capture, slow, shunt to another dimension, transform into stone, but never irreversibly.

[Logan D. Hurricanes]

Re: Alternate Settings: Rules to villany

 

...some of the big gun villains wouldn't feel the need to play the game though. And not all of them are motivated by money...I dunno. Cool Idea but their are some cracks.

True, but this scenario merely leads to the desparate crisis in which the non-lethal heroes and villains join forces to oppose the universal threat. Wherin they trap the dangerous psychotic super villain in a giant ball of cotton candy.

[Funksaw]

Re: Alternate Settings: Rules to villany

 

True' date=' but this scenario merely leads to the desparate crisis in which the non-lethal heroes and villains join forces to oppose the universal threat. Wherin they trap the dangerous psychotic super villain in a giant ball of cotton candy.[/quote']

 

Hell, they probably meet at the same coffeeshop. But yeah, that's the basic idea I had.

 

Similarly, heroes might have equally restrictive codes: For example... they can't use drugs, they can't present authority figures in anything but a positive light... etc...

[jediklingon]

Re: Alternate Settings: Rules to villany

 

Frankly, to me, this sounds really good as a comedy campaign. I don't think players could take it seriously for long, and as a GM, I know I couldn't. I can picture The Tick, caught in a death-trap, pulling out the Hero/Villain Code Book, and informing Chairface that according to article 1, clause 5, the Villain is supposed to leave the room while the Hero escapes, so that the Hero's appearance later can take the Villain by surprise.

[Karma]

Re: Alternate Settings: Rules to villany

 

Similarly' date=' heroes might have equally restrictive codes: For example... they can't use drugs, they can't present authority figures in anything but a positive light... etc...[/quote']

 

For a dark vision of this type of scenerio:

All heroes and villians must be registered with the BSHA (Buereau of Superhuman Affairs) and must become government employees if they wish to use their powers. The role of supers is as 'propoganda tools' for the government. The villians job is to instil a proper sense of fear in the populous, while the heroes job is to 'defeat' them to prove the power and 'benevolence' of the government that supports them.

All unregistered supers are considered 'true threats to the people' and are hunted mercilessly by all government supers (both 'heroes' and 'villians').

[Balabanto]

Re: Alternate Settings: Rules to villany

 

Well, there's sort of an unwritten code in my game between the heroes and the villains that goes like this:

 

If I fight you, and I send you to jail, but I didn't try to kill you, that's okay/If you send me to jail, and didn't try to kill me, that's okay.

 

But the moment a KA is thrown directly on either side, that's NOT okay. The kid gloves come off... And my world is old enough to have a villain/hero grapevine where some villains will feel that it's all right to use a Killing Attack on some heroes and not on others.

 

There's a lot of "Rogues Galleriness" involved too, where there are secret supervillain bars and stuff (No one's ever found one)

 

But the "Rules of the Hero/Villain Game" are part of my world. The "code" is difficult to define, but it does exist.

[Orion]

Re: Alternate Settings: Rules to villany

 

But the moment a KA is thrown directly on either side' date=' that's NOT okay.[/quote']

 

I've never understood the idea that because it is a KA, it is somehow worse. To me, it's did they do body or not. A blast is a blast. It may bounce off the brick, and break several bones of the mentalist, but it's the same blast. I don't think the mentalist is going to be okay with it just because it's "not a killing attack". Bricks have even more trouble - every time they use their full strength, it should be considered a possible killing attack, because it will kill many of the villains. The idea is fine, just use effects rather than game terms to describe it.

[novi]

Re: Alternate Settings: Rules to villany

 

If you haven't already watched Venture Bros., do so. It pretty much runs on this concept, with the Guild of Calamitous Intent being the organization organizing things for the villains. Governments put up with it partly because of bribes, but also because it keeps the villains playing by the rules. Death-traps, non-gun weapons, no indiscriminate killing, and so on. The show also hits upon being a henchman is a way of life, and so on.

 

And if it wasn't obvious, your setting needs to be a cynical one (as opposed to idyllic) to support that kind of grey morality. Still, could be fun.

[phoenix240]

Re: Alternate Settings: Rules to villany

 

The heroes and villains might enter into this kind of set up for their mutual safety. It keeps things from getting too out of control and turning the entire world of normals agaist them. Pehaps there is some aspect of metahuman powers that requires you use them extensively and this is one way to garuantee ample opportunity (if you need a rationalization).

 

Anothre plus is that you could use Neutral Ground (or some other Sanctuary like facility) completely straight faced in this type of setting.

[Mister E]

Re: Alternate Settings: Rules to villany

 

I would consider superheroes that don't play by the rules to be those like Hulk & Punisher. It seems appropriate to me that these two would be heavily Complicated characters, rather than the norm.