I need your opinion

[Richard Logue]

I am putting together a new Champions campaign that will be centered around my world's super-max metahuman prison. I've mentioned the prison many times in prior campaigns and adventures, but I have never really fleshed it out much. Now, its necessary to.

 

The name of the place is the Prometheus Meta-Human Containment Facility. There are two of them, and they are the creation of the Prometheus Corporation. One of them is located under the newly-renovated and re-tasked Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay, California. The other is built into the Rock of Gibraltar overlooking the ruins of Gibraltar (virtually destroyed during a major battle against Dr. Gravitic and his forces in 1985).

 

The two prisons serve as detention facilities for criminals who, usually due to meta-human abilities, cannot be held in standard prisons. PMHCF: Alcatraz services North and South America, whereas the jurisiction of PMHCF: Gibraltar covers the rest of the world. The Prometheus Corporation runs these two prisons under the watchful eye of the UN Security Council.

 

One of the services the Prometheus Corporation offers is meta-human retrieval. If a community or even a super team captures a meta-criminal, they can request Prometheus dispatch a retrieval team to transport the super to the designated facility. The Titan Guard is what I need a little help with.

 

Question: Does the Titan Guard consist of meta-humans employed by Prometheus, or are the Guards specially trained agents armed with cutting-edge technology? Which idea do you like better?

 

In case it is a factor in your opinion, the campaign is sort of on the level of DC's Suicide Squad comic. The PCs will be criminals serving life, or otherwise lengthy, prison terms for the crimes they've committed. The Titan Guards will be NPCs in the campaign that the players may or may not come into much contact with.

 

Thanks ahead of time for your help here. Also, if you have any general help or advice for me, please spill. And feel free to ask me questions about the campaign an setting. They'll help me think about things I possibly yet to consider.

 

Richard

[tgrandjean]

Re: I need your opinion

 

I personally would go with both.

The reasoning being that potentially with reformation, it might be possible for the ex-cons to join the Titans... with SS style safeguards of course.

While not the most likely in RL, it is an acceptable trope in comics.

The heart and soul of the Guard though should be the well trained everyman. This is to drill into the players that no matter how powerful they are, they are outnumbered by the rest of humanity by 1.000.000 to 1.

[McCoy]

Re: I need your opinion

 

One of the services the Prometheus Corporation offers is meta-human retrieval. If a community or even a super team captures a meta-criminal, they can request Prometheus dispatch a retrieval team to transport the super to the designated facility. The Titan Guard is what I need a little help with.

 

Question: Does the Titan Guard consist of meta-humans employed by Prometheus, or are the Guards specially trained agents armed with cutting-edge technology? Which idea do you like better?

Both. Teams should consist of agents properly trained and equipted, who will be able to handle the mission 99% of the time, with 2 or 3 approperately powered meta-humans as backup. Backup is ALWAYS dispatched at the same time as the main team, seperate vehicle.

[Lord Liaden]

Re: I need your opinion

 

Thirded, for the reasons given above, and because very few super-worlds contain enough heroic paranormals to serve as the exclusive villain retrieval teams in all the cases where they would be needed.

 

On the general advice front, Richard, do you have access to the Fourth Edition Champions sourcebook, Classic Enemies? That includes a detailed description of Stronghold, the Champions Universe superprison, with maps, facility and prison guard stats, procedures, and specialized supervillain-neutralizing and retrieval equipment, as well as discussion of some of the legal issues raised by such a facility. From what you say about your own Prometheus facilities, the Stronghold material should adapt to your purposes very easily.

 

Alternatively, the old (I'm talking early 1980's) Champs adventure module, Escape from Stronghold, has most of the same material, albeit for an earlier version of the system.

[David Johnston]

Re: I need your opinion

 

You wanna know the truth? For the Titan Guard I prefer scary giant robots inspired by Sentinels.

[Kevin B. Madiso]

Re: I need your opinion

 

My vote would be with mundane, non-superhuman guards with high-tech gear as members of the Titan Guard.

While guarding superhuman criminals in Prometheus is certainly a step up from the average job in corrections, it's still basically guard duty, which can be very monotonous and boring. Corrections officers don't get as much training as the average soldier, nor even as much as your average police officer. My understanding is that this is the case because highly trained individuals, like soldiers and police officers become bored with guard duty, because they aren't able to make use of their training in most cases.

For similar reasons, I find the idea of superhuman corrections officers to be similarly unlikely, because they'd likely grow bored with the hum-drum of everyday life in prison, not to mention the soul-crushing experience associated with being exposed to prison-life all the time (although if superhumans are as common as they are in some settings, like in Neopolis in Alan Moore’s Top Ten, superhuman guards would seem a lot more likely).

While it's quite possible that the Titan Guard would have a few superhumans on the payroll (officers who lead the capture teams or possibly founding members of the Prometheus Corporation), it's likely the vast majority of the Prometheus staff are moderately trained mundanes with access to impressive high-tech riot gear (like the Guardsman or Mandroid armours from Marvel comics) for if/when prison riots break out.

Anyhoo, that’s my 2 cents.

[levi]

Re: I need your opinion

 

I agree that it all comes down to how prevalent supers are in your campaign world and what super-heroes would be interested in the life of a Corrections Officer (CO).

 

If your campaign world is like San Angelo: City of Heroes, then 20% of the population is super-human and it makes more sense to have a cadre of supers to train and employ as COs.

 

If supers are rare, then only those supers with a penchant for corrections work would be suitable to serve as members of the Titan Guard. Some suggestions for these types of supers would be...

 

Lockdown

Once a common CO until an escape plot by supervillains exposed him to an unknown gas that triggered his dormant mutancy. Now Lockdown is a typical brick with the additional ability to freeze a fleeing inmate in his tracks with his Lockdown Stare (a Campaign Max DC Entangle, transparent to physical attack). He is often the first to arrive on the scene as he lives the life of a CO superstar in the prison industry.

 

The Observer

Dr. Avery Anderson was sociology professor who spent five years in a super max federal prison (for non-supers) as an expert observer / consultant to improve the effectiveness of the incarceration techniques. While interviewing a criminal who had been an unwitting agent of Menton, Dr. Anderson was mentally assaulted by the arch-villain and something inside his mind was forever altered. Now Dr. Anderson works for Prometheus as a consultant and tracker. His mind has developed the ability to read others' minds and sense criminal intentions in others at a great distance. He is called The Observer as a codename by Prometheus to protect himself and his family from reprisal by the villains he tracks down. However, he fears that the influence Menton had on his mental development may come back to haunt him someday.

 

Inkspot

A former professional tattoo artist, Darrel Grimes was hired by Viper to do some tattoo work for a local nest. During one afternoon of tattooing his three hundredth Viper insignia, the local hero team attacked the nest and Darrel was caught in the crossfire. One of the Viper agents Darrel had tattooed used him as a hostage with an experimental needle gun loaded with abiological weapon. Eventually, he injected Darrel to cover himself while he fled. Only the fast action of the heroes saved Darrel's life, but when he returned to tattooing in his parlor he found that he could manipulate the ink and even make his own body share the properties of ink. Darrel was not interested in risking his life as a super-hero, like those that had saved him. Instead, he sought out employment as an industrial espionage agent. Stealing company secrets with his ability to become ink-like and seep into otherwise secure buildings. Eventually, Darrel was hired to steal industrial secrets for Prometheus and was caught in the act. Instead of sending Darrel to prison for his crimes, Prometheus offered him a job in their Titan Guard. Darrel is now brought in on a regular basis to give tattoos as a reward to inmates who behave well and gather information inmates would never mention in front of COs. Darrel has no particular love for Prometheus and only works for them to save his own hide.

 

The Orb

Gurgakrii was tired of the politics on Soolasha. He was a scientist looking for a way to harness the energy of particular stars to power the underwater colonies of his people. No matter which bureaucrat was in charge, none of them seemed to share his vision for energy independence. Luckily, Gurgakrii had found a planet orbiting a perfect star for his experiments and that planet was covered largely in liquid water. Unfortunately, the most advanced civilization on the planet were land dwellers, but Gurgakrii had dealt with air-breathers before and had the technology to live among them as well as to traverse the stars to get to his ideal experimental location. Once Gurgakrii arrived on Earth and studied the way these humans interacted, he decided that there was only one company he could exchange technologies with in order to further his experiments. Of course, the humans would never deal with an Osathri (Terran Empire species) like himself, humans would never take an alien who looks like one of their giant catfish seriously. So he disguised himself in a great opaque orb and floated into the headquarters of Prometheus offering to provide all of their super-criminal transport needs with his advanced alien technology in exchange for funding to research energy independence. The Prometheus board of directors called him The Orb and agreed as long as they could own the patents on whatever he invented. Caring nothing of Earthly laws or patents, Gurgakrii agreed. Now Prometheus calls on The Orb to transport their inmates in his opaque, power dampening orbs he generates through the use of his advanced alien technology. Gurgakrii is jealously secretive about his technology, as it is his only bargaining chip to continue his research.

 

Well, if you're still reading this I hope it helped.

[Richard Logue]

Re: I need your opinion

 

Some good ideas here, and I appreciate them. This is how I've put it all your suggestions together.

 

Each facility's Titan Guard will be made up of specially trained normals sporting a wide variety of high-tech equipment. They will be backed up by a special team of meta-humans that can be dispatched quickly to any location in the world to assist the mundanes. Perhaps one of them is a team-teleporter.

 

This team of supers also pulls double-duty in public relations aspects. As an extra bit of irony, one or more of this group can be reformed criminals who have paid their debts and have become valuable members of society.

 

I like the idea that one or more of the "top men" in Prometheus Corporation are meta-humans themselves. Perhaps they are retired Silver Age heroes. But they are definately the vast minority to the normals in the board room.

 

David, the idea of the Titan Guard being Sentinel-style robots is also cool. I think I'll create some sort of "robot" to serve as some of the high tech equipment the Guards have available, but I'd rather the Guard themselves be human.

 

levi, I especially thank you for the character ideas. Not sure if I'll use them, but I'm always amazed when someone can come up with character concepts on the fly like that.

 

Lord Liaden, I'm not sure if I have my copy of Classic Enemies anymore, but thanks for reminding me that 4th edition Stronghold is in there. I believe the 5th edition version is slated for release some time this year, but I could be wrong on that.

 

Anymore ideas?

 

Richard

[death tribble]

Re: I need your opinion

 

I think you are best served by looking at a number of super prison supplements for other systems that have come out.

Lockdown is an official Mutants and Masterminds product

Escape from Alcatraz is a very high quality Mutants and Masterminds product via the Superlink facility. If you don't like the prison then you'll love the art. I did.

Lastly Gramercy Island for Palladium's Heroes Unlimited.

Mainly they have some agents or robots and then maybe one or two heroes or paranormals on guard.

[Manic Typist]

Re: I need your opinion

 

I think you should emphasize how highly trained and disciplined these "normal" guards would be, because in all honesty they probably have one of the most dangerous jobs in the world and an extremely hazardous working environment.

[lapsedgamer]

Re: I need your opinion

 

Some thoughts:

 

The Titan Guard should have access to some type of final option. When someone is incarcerated in a maximum security prison in the real world, they can legally be killed for attempting to escape. They can also be killed if they manage to escape and resist efforts to recapture them, also very legal. They are already convicted felons, and in most cases they were convicted of violent crimes. That provides the reasonable officer with enough evidence to believe that they will continue to be a threat to the community. That is the general standard for use of deadly force against a fleeing felon.

 

My suggestion is a variation on the giant robot theme. Bloodhounds are sentient tracker robots that are heavily armored and armed the teeth with lethal weapons systems designed for use against paramormal criminals. When an inmate escapes they track him/her down and kill them, no questions asked. Much like a Terminator, they will not stop until the prisoner is dead, or returned to the prison population.

 

In our world, when criminals are convicted of certan violent crimes they are required to give samples of their DNA for entry into the CODIS system. This makes their DNA profile searchable in a nationwide database for comparison to other crime scenes or pieces of evidence. In this case anyone sentenced to a Prometheus facility has to submit a DNA sample which is programmed into the Bloodhound database. The sensors onboard the robots can then key to the individual prisoner with great accuracy using the marvel of comic book science. I would of course make them look like big metal mastiffs on steriods for effect.

 

Inside the prison the DNA pattern is sampled at certain time by sampling stations, say at lockdown and at meal times. If you fail to check in you are checked for. I assume you have some type of power dampening device for use inside the walls. Alternately, this device could be tied into the DNA sampling as well, either as a sampling device, or as a deterrent, ala Wedlock or Escape from New York. This would work against anyone except clones, identical twins and those make exact duplicates of themselves.

 

This could lead to some interesting story arcs. What if a Bloodhound was malfunctioning, or someone made a mistake and forgot to update the database when someone was released? What if a super genius type figured out how to fool them for a prison break, or to assasinate a rival. What if the Bloodhounds were once remote piloted vehicles, and the operators failed to kill an escapee, and that resulted in the automation, like the movie Wargames? Also, would the UN put up with this? Would the ACLU?

 

 

Just thoughts.

 

EDIT: went through for typos.

[Manic Typist]

Re: I need your opinion

 

I just got an image of the cyberhounds from Farenheit 451 and those creepy silver orbs things from that movie...... you know...... where this creepy undertaker like creature is killing entire towns?

[freakboy6117]

Re: I need your opinion

 

phantasm how about th ebaloon thinsg from the prisoner.

 

but i thought of the warwolves from excaliber