WWYCD: The Famous Guy Hypotheticals

[David Johnston]

Phase 1:

 

For some reason you care that The Heckler has stolen a high-tech component and you pursue him to his home city, one noted for it's fine 19th century architecture with gargoyles everywhere. As you look for Heckler you encounter Dark Avenger, an impressive looking fellow who you recognise by reputation. He seems to have some territorial issues though and demands to know what you are doing in "his" city. He intends to find Heckler himself and turn him and any stolen property over to the local police.

How do you handle Dark Avenger?

 

 

Phase 3

 

Having gone to quite a bit of trouble to secure the precious device, you are considerably annoyed when Trickster apparently shows up out of nowhere to attempt to steal it again. He may or may not succeed depending on how prepared you are for someone with amazing speed and ability to defy gravity with superhuman leaps and wallcrawling stealth. He's a slippery one, though, so whether or not he gets the maguffin, he manages to elude you temporarily.

 

However, I say "apparently" advisedly. When you pick up Trickster's trail only a few hours later, and confront him, as he dodges your attack, he claims to have no idea what you are talking about. He does not now have the maguffin on him and seems to be in a hurry on some kind of kind of business important to him. Now you know that he's some public image problems, but you also know that some well respected heroes have worked with him on a recurrent basis.

 

Will your character give him the benefit of the doubt or take him in? Note that even if you don't have enough evidence in this case, the cops still want him for questioning in a number of other cases.

[caris]

Re: WWYCD: The Famous Guy Hypotheticals

 

Adonis - pretty much handles the Dark Avenger like anyone else. Adonis makes a pass at him and once turned down goes on with his own life ignoring the illegal sillieness that DA tries to pull. "I'm sorry studdly, but there are no restraining orders banning me from your city. I do not have to 'get out of it'." Unless DA does the actually extremely unusual (for his normal MO) and attack a non-felon that has not attacked him, there isn't that much that DA can actually do other than being obnoxious.

[jkwleisemann]

Re: WWYCD: The Famous Guy Hypotheticals

 

Void: Scowl at the guy; he has his reasons for being here, and is perfectly willing to expound upon them. Assuming DA is willing to play nice, Void's willing to work with him. Otherwise, he's not heading out just because some other guy with a cape and a cowl say so.

 

Huntress: "Fine. I'll be watching the papers - if he's not in police custody within 72 hours, I'll be back. And then, if you're still going to be a jerk about it, well I'll just have to deal with you being a jerk about it while I make sure he doesn't build another suit of this," (pointing at her armor) "for himself!"

 

Scarface: *raises an eyebrow* "And, considering how many times you've turned him over to the police, why are you going to give him another chance to escape and kill people? Frankly, my methods are far more effective." *chambers a round*

 

Galaxy Girl: "A teenaged girl in a purple jumpsuit shows up, chasing after somebody who's normally one of your enemies, and you're spending your time interrogating her? Dude... you have really got to get out more. There are clouds out there, and people, and grass. And ducks. Don't you like ducks?"

 

Probably just before teleporting out shortly before being hit with a Dark Avenger-arang. ^^

[Blue]

Re: WWYCD: The Famous Guy Hypotheticals

 

Anthem: "Only if I can have your autograph."

 

Uncle Slam: "I'm familiar with your methods and I'm not a fan. But I'll respect your territory... for one day, then I resume my hunt. You'd better get moving."

[CrosshairCollie]

Re: WWYCD: The Famous Guy Hypotheticals

 

(In response to 'what are you doing in my city ..')

 

War Wolf: "My job." *ignite Jetbootsu, continue search solo (or with teammates), knowing that the brooding Dork Knight will never cooperate, so won't waste time in negotiations*

[SKJAM!]

Re: WWYCD: The Famous Guy Hypotheticals

 

Mask of Justice: "Preventing Dr. Yandor's Shrinking Ray from being used for nefarious purposes of course. I'm happy to have you along, since you know the city better."

 

Kira Midori: "Coordinating with the Gothic City PD, as you should already know. I mean, that's why they turned on the Dark-Signal."

 

Talion: "You know, that's a very good question. I could sure use your help with the Heckler."

[OddHat]

Re: WWYCD: The Famous Guy Hypotheticals

 

Style - "A killer with a WMD component is loose in this city. I don't have time to argue. If you'd like to share information, you can get back in contact."

 

Flesh Gordon - "That is a Nice Cowl. No, really, just very stylish. I bet the girls really dig that look. I knew a guy once who wore a cowl like that. What was his name? Phil? Francis? Something like that. Man, did the fems dig that cowl. I remember once, it was me, Francis, New York Bill, and Dave the Dog, all of us in this bar, I guess it must have been 1934, 35 ... no, I guess it was more like 1933, because I remember that Prohibition was still in force. Man, Prohibition. That really was a strange time, all of us fighting crime but half of us still drinking, putting money right back in the pockets of the crooks. Pockets. Say, does that cowl have pockets? Francis used to have a little hidden pocket in his cowl, you know .... Ow. Dude, stop hitting me. Ow. Look, you're obviously feeling all kinds of tense right now. Ow! Dude, quit it!" "Dude! So un-called for! Oh no! I've landed on a mime! Speak to me, little mime! Say, what's this? It's that gadget! Hyborg's thing a me bob! Groovy. Better get this mime to a hospital. Don't worry, mime citizen, I'll...hey, he ran off."

 

"That was one tough mime."

 

[Lethosos]

Re: WWYCD: The Famous Guy Hypotheticals

 

Queen of Spades "...right. You can come with me, or leave me the hell alone. I don't have an aversion to leaving you sleeping the sleep of the stunned, either way, so lemme get what was stolen from Vibora Bay and give him a facefull of Scepter for his efforts." Then leave Cape Boy in her dust.

[Powerhouse]

Re: WWYCD: The Famous Guy Hypotheticals

 

Lady Silver: "With all due respect, I have as much right to be here as anyone else. I would welcome your aid greatly though. *as the DA continues to stare grimly, she smiles disarmingly* Look, you know your city and the Heckler but it's my responsibility to bring him back. I wouldn't try to cut you off from New York if the situations were reversed so I ask for the same courtesy. Come on, this isn't a contest. Let's work together to make sure that no one gets hurt.

 

Starknight: "Who the **** do you think you are? I fly across the galaxy, beat on cosmic gods, and blast small mountains to dust - a freak in tights isn't telling me jack!" *after taking a second look* That's some cute buns in those tights though. Hey, are you doing anything later tonight? Come on dark and brooding, if you looks half as good under that mask as the rest of you does I just *might* be able to put a smile on your face.

 

Alternatively: Go **** yourself! *while waving an energy construct in the shape of a middle finger*

 

Sentinel: *displays his badge* You've got a costume and utility belt. I've got the backing of the federal government and half a dozen idiots in spandex back at the base. No let's try again where you offer to help me out.

 

Tyr: "Dark Avenger, I have heard of thee and know you to be a kindred spirit in the pursuit of justice. Let us join forces in common cause so that together we can bring this foul creature to justice!"

 

Revenant: as an undead avenger of the night, this would be interesting. After some thought and a staring contest to beat all staring contests, he would hand the DA a card with a number on it. "I don't know your city. 24 hours. If I don't hear from you, I'm coming in."

[Stone]

Re: WWYCD: The Famous Guy Hypotheticals

 

Quantum - Doing my job, just as you are. I'd welcome the chance to work with you, but the choice is your. Either way, I'm not leaving til the Heckler is in custody and the item is recovered.

 

Spectre - Your job, now get out of my way (turns desolid and walk through him).

 

Stone - rise to his full hight (8ft - 500 lbs) and look down at DA. "Why are you asking question you already know the answer too? Now, lets go get the Heckler before he is able do any damage w/the componet." The entire time he would be thinking - "This is the guy everyone is scared of? What a joke."

[Marketeer]

Re: WWYCD: The Famous Guy Hypotheticals

 

Blackberry would apologize for violating Dark Avenger's turf, and ask permission to tag along and assist in Dark Avenger's investigations. It's pretty hard to seriously offend Blackberry; it's not so much that she has thick skin but that she genuinely likes people.

 

 

Since I don't see anything in the original post indicating that the doohickey was Blackberry's, she wouldn't have a personal stake in how it was returned.

[David Johnston]

Re: WWYCD: The Famous Guy Hypotheticals

 

The player is free to pick any fitting reason for why the character cares about this gizmo enough to go chasing after it.

[SatinKitty]

Re: WWYCD: The Famous Guy Hypotheticals

 

I agree with the others. Any C of mine would give the guy 24 hours, then she's coming in. If DA interferes, she'll arrest/fry his @$$ too.

[Trebuchet]

Re: WWYCD: The Famous Guy Hypotheticals

 

Zl'f would tell the Shadowy Vindicator that she's in hot pursuit of a known dangerous felon, that she's not known for excessive violence or troublemaking, and she'd certainly appreciate it if he'd join forces with her to capture the bad guy since this is "his" city and he obviously knows it far better than she does.

 

If he agrees, then the chase is back on.

 

If he says no, the chase is still back on, albeit at a higher rate of speed since now she'd have to outrun the Avengercar too.

[Lord Mhoram]

Re: WWYCD: The Famous Guy Hypotheticals

 

Meeb would just look at him strange and say "I'm going after this guy, so fine, help or hinder, but if we don't find him it's on your shoulders, and by the way, I make an excellent swingline if you can stand having one that is green"

 

Ballistic would just look at him like he was an idiot, and cast his detection spells and head off after the bad guy.

 

Terminal Velocity would be impressed, but comment that this was his case, and he would love the chance to work with the Dark Avenger, and that he would do whatever DA said, assuming it didn't keep him out of the fight. TV is still a little insecure, and is definatly not the leader of the team he is on, so he is sort of used to taking orders. Working with Jepeordy pretty much assures that.

 

Blackcat would nod, and say "I don't mean to intrude on the area that is your special mission to deal with, but we have a major situation. I can be a great asset in a fight, as I'm sure you know. I may not have the detective skills you do, but I do have my own way of getting things done. If we join forces, we can likely end this quicker than if we work alone, and I'll be out of your hair. And don't worry, I doubt that is anything you can do that I can't keep up with, physcially or tactically" with the last bit being delivered with something of a smirk.

[AdamLeisemann]

Re: WWYCD: The Famous Guy Hypotheticals

 

Reinard will simply talk to Dark Avenger like this, "From one cop to another, my jurisdiction is in an entirely different dimension that I can't get back to. So I'm settling with this world. I have to get back the stolen property before this creep gets his ghands on it and I will pursue this mission regardless how much you b!tch about me being in your territory. You are simply wasting your time with me. Now, we could co-operate on this, or I could go after him. Frankly, it's no fur off my tail either way." If DA co-operates with him (unlikely as it is), then they both take down the Heckler and the technology gets returned. If not, Reinard does it himself, skirting the Dark avenger in the process. Reinard might let DA take the credit for it, but his concern is just to bring about Justice.

 

Lab Rat, being a nervous nerd teen, would back off, but let it be known that DA must be careful with the technology as it would most likely explode of roughed up too much, with a big radius. As in the whole city.

 

Kitsune would "leave." And then the Heckler gets tracked by a small fox or whatever shape she takes up for the job.

 

Sonic Eagle would just go about and try to tackle the Heckler. Then he would use his newspaper connections to lable Dark Avenger as a territorial jerk who tries to prevent other heroes from doing their jobs. This will hurt DA's PR big-time if it works.

[Powerhouse]

Re: WWYCD: The Famous Guy Hypotheticals

 

Off on a tangent, I love some of the responses here but I wonder if they are "realistic." Yeah, a funny term for the comics. Bats does this all the time with outsiders and he's supposed to be, as Superman says when written by Morrison, "the most dangerous man on Earth."

 

Just curious since none of my characters are shaking in their boots themselves either so I wonder how much of this is player knowledge vs character knowledge since I guess alot of supers might be aware that Batman doesn't kill.

 

Thanks and keep going with the responses, they're fun!

[incrdbil]

Re: WWYCD: The Famous Guy Hypotheticals

 

Hornet: after asking for some proven delegation of jurisdiction within the city, then suggests working together, explainging quite rationally the threat, acknowledging and respecting DA's abilities and knowledge, then frankly relaying his own knowledge in the matter, in addition to his abilities, and how working together would protect DA's city quicker. Hornets got a bit of a reputation, he's a fellow believer in never killing, protecting the innocent above all. If DA's not smart enough to realize the efficiency of working together on this, or too arrogant to accept the possibility of someone else catching the guy, Hornet might ask him if glory is more important than crimefighting. If THAT doesn't work, well, Hornet has little patience for entertaining fools, so he shrinks and flies off alone to do the job--after of course working with local authorities in an open, friendly, courteous manner.

 

Ranger: Acknowledges his turf, but also tells DA he's going after the guy with or without DA's participation, and that he'd appreciate his assistance due to his superb knowledge of the city. He'd try his utmost to convince him, but tell DA that He is going ater the guy, because Ranger never stops running his targets to ground. Mercilkess, ruthless pursuit. He might have a slip of the tongue and note unlike someone, he'll take the shot and make sure Heckler never hurts anyone again if given cause.

 

Blaze: "A swingline? How cuuuuute!." Gives him once chance to cooperate, then gets to work. (Yeah, Blaze is that arrogant. He'd make the msitake of not trying to get DA's assistance because DA's initial dialogue would piss him off, and without his teamamtes to settle him down, Blaze would just escalate things verbally.)

[ghost-angel]

Re: WWYCD: The Famous Guy Hypotheticals

 

Jessica - "Huh? Oh don't you get territorial with me buddy, wolves don't like that crap. Yeesh, Superheroes!" Would start to walk off, "And another thing! I mean really, someone goes through all this trouble to chase down some schmuck, and all you can do is say" *imitates DA* "This is my city, you can leave now. ooga booga" and then looks indignant, "Least you could do is ask what's going on, maybe what I know. But no. You can't think of that. All your primitive monkey brain knows is My City. Yeah - way to win friends and influence people bub. Now if you'll excuse me I've got more important things to do than argue with some idiot in a cloak." She takes a few steps, then sniffs the air, "And change deoderants, really anyone with a half decent nose can smell you coming from half a mile out." And then she explodes into ravens and flies in all directions looking for her prey.

[Trebuchet]

Re: WWYCD: The Famous Guy Hypotheticals

 

Just curious since none of my characters are shaking in their boots themselves either so I wonder how much of this is player knowledge vs character knowledge since I guess alot of supers might be aware that Batman doesn't kill.

Based on your initial post, I assumed DA was well known and you were deliberately setting him up as a Batman clone. In comicdom, Batman = impressive + scary rep. I wrote my earlier reply on that basis.

 

Zl'f would probably find him a bit creepy, but she's not going to be overawed by him. After all, she's a founding member of MidGuard, our campaign's JLA/Avengers equivalent. She's friends with the likes of Cyberknight and Silhouette, who in our campaign have reps of the same caliber as Iron Man and Superman. She'd probably treat DA as her equal, but certainly not as her superior. She'd defer to him only so far as his knowledge of his home city and this particular villain goes, and not a centimeter more. Zl'f may be 30 cm shorter and 60 kg lighter than DA, but she's no shrinking violet.

 

One of the more interesting WWYCD's IMO.

[TheRavenIs]

Re: WWYCD: The Famous Guy Hypotheticals

 

Crossfire would look at DA, all the time finding weakness. After he found it enough to take the ashe down with one hit, look at him. "I have a job to do, you help or not, I don't really care." Crossfire has a rep as a bit of a rouge but also a real hero, he won't allow an innocent to die, but a villian---things happen in a fight sometime. If DA took a swing at Crossfire, it's block and counterstrike, taking DA down---hard. Make sure he won't die then go find the idot and get back the tech. [techno/mystic/ninja]

 

Sentinel is a new player in the game would look at DA and smile, "Sure, I'd go but if you mess up people will die, so I'm going to stay and find him. I'd like your help I am no dectective and do not know your city, plus I can take what most villians can throw at me. [brick]

 

Cosmic Blue think KOS-MOS with understanding of people, "I have a job to do, I would like your help I'm not familuar with your city and it's criminal element. I won't be going, for the reasom that it is my responsibility to help get it back." Then stand her ground and wait, she can stare into the sun for hours, so I think he'll not win that contest.

 

Flame teen hero, "Sir. If you would allow me to help you this would go faster, I don't have to be on fire to have my powers." [Teen Human Torch without the temper of J Storm]

 

Ca'Rom Holt look at DA, "I already have a life lock on him, if you would be so kind to go and stop him, I would be very thankful to you." Alien, very respectful to others but he can get angry. [Dawnstar/Wildfire type]

[Powerhouse]

Re: WWYCD: The Famous Guy Hypotheticals

 

Good points by Zi'F. I was just wondering. My Silver Knights are this world's equivalent of the JLA/Avengers so I guess that's why they aren't over-awed. Starknight has the Overconfident Disadvantage as well so that doesn't help.

 

Regarding Sentinel, he's basically Solid Snake who's been assigned to baby-sit the spandex crew so he's used to dealing with egos and people who can kill him by staring hard.

[David Johnston]

Re: WWYCD: The Famous Guy Hypotheticals

 

Based on your initial post' date=' I assumed DA was well known and you were deliberately setting him up as a Batman clone. [/quote']

 

This is correct.

[David Johnston]

Re: WWYCD: The Famous Guy Hypotheticals

 

Phase 2

 

There are two likely outcomes to Phase 1.

 

1. By the time you and the Dark Avenger catch up with Heckler, it's well into the next night and he has already disposed of the item somehow. This is the most probable outcome of insulting, ignoring, or fighting with Dark Avenger, although some characters with subtle and effective investigative methods or lots of dumb luck get option two.

Dark Avenger is disgruntled and wants to see your back as soon as possible, (or possibly to put you in jail if you are Scarface) but you do have Heckler or if you inflicted an ambiguous death on Heckler, one of his close associates. How do you go about getting information from your prisoner?

 

2. By the time Dark Avenger and/or you catch up with and defeat Heckler,it's the same night and he still has the gizmo. This outcome is most likely if you stepped back and let Dark Avenger handle things, were willing to let him call the shots, or Persuaded him to work with you as an equal. However now Dark Avenger wants to or has turned Heckler and the maguffin over to the city police force where they will respectively reside in jail and the police evidence locker. What's your approach to getting the maguffin back where you think it belongs?

 

As a lesser side issue, Dark Avenger informs you that the maguffin was nothing Heckler wanted for himself and has learned that a courier will be arriving to pick it up in a few hours in a broad daylight exchange for some rather exotic chemicals Heckler wanted. DA is prepared to let you take it from there if you want. Noon is not his most effective time of day.

[ghost-angel]

Re: WWYCD: The Famous Guy Hypotheticals

 

Phase 2

 

There are two likely outcomes to Phase 1.

 

1. By the time you and the Dark Avenger catch up with Heckler, it's well into the next night and he has already disposed of the item somehow. This is the most probable outcome of insulting, ignoring, or fighting with Dark Avenger, although some characters with subtle and effective investigative methods or lots of dumb luck get option two.

Dark Avenger is disgruntled and wants to see your back as soon as possible, (or possibly to put you in jail if you are Scarface) but you do have Heckler or if you inflicted an ambiguous death on Heckler, one of his close associates. How do you go about getting information from your prisoner?

 

As a lesser side issue, Dark Avenger informs you that the maguffin was nothing Heckler wanted for himself and has learned that a courier will be arriving to pick it up in a few hours in a broad daylight exchange for some rather exotic chemicals Heckler wanted. DA is prepared to let you take it from there if you want. Noon is not his most effective time of day.

Since Jessica doesn't take well to being ordered around unless it's by her direct superior... she gets option 1.

 

"Well mr capes for brains, I probably could have used your help, and I know you could use mine. I make a great meat shield. But noooo... you had to be all bad*** and tough and try and scare me off." Huffs, "Oh don't go acting all arrogant, or I'll tear off my own arm to beat you senseless with. You can have Heckler, I need the object."

 

...(after the information is given)

 

"Oh hey, NOW you share info. What is WITH you superheroes. Fine." Pulls out a cell phone, "See this, this is calling in FRIENDS. You know what those are? Yeah - that's right people you cooperate with. Now disappear yourself."

 

....Jessica can't be intimidated through physical threats (disad, gets her into all sorts of trouble) so that pretty much kills most of the DA Mystique for her. DA could probably outthink her all day long (most people do actually, she forgets to think most of the time) though... maybe if he weren't such a jack***...