Serial Villany

[Kharis2000]

To clarify matters, I don't mean 'serial' in the sense of the Republic serials. What I was looking for here was a discussion of serial (or 'legacy' if you prefer) string villains in your pulp games. That would be villains that continue in a 'string' or line built around a common set of equipment, powers, or theme but are not the literal same man, and may have different motivations.

 

I wrote an example of this up for M&M where the villain was actually a series of different men wearing the same costume and using the powers it granted them at the behest of the suit's inventor, but it occurred to me that I'd never asked if anyone had done something like that. So....

 

Have any of you used them? How did that work out? What problems did you encounter with them?

 

By way of example, one of the most 'beloved' (and I use the term very loosely) serial villainy strings in my own Pulp Hero game has now made a total of three appearances.

 

1st appearance was as a mad scientist type who discovered that he could take 'living electricity' (bio-electric power) from animals and humans and infuse in others, granting them superhuman abilities. The party copped to him after a few too many college athletes (the more athletic the 'doner' the more energy to transfer) vanished, and the resulting showdown with the professor (who revealed his own enhancement in the course of the fight) and his 'vitality-enhanced' pet gorilla left both bad guys dead and the lab destroyed in a fire. (I can't claim credit for this - it was lifted in altered form from an old FGU 'Daredevils' adventure.)

 

2nd appearance was as the 'Bestiariius' (the animal handling master in the old Roman arenas according to my college Latin): a blackmailer who threatened the city with scores of vitality-enhanced stray dogs and cats under his control (he used ultrasonic cues to set the animals on a rampage). He was revealed to have been the lab assistant of the first man with the process, who'd added the sonic trigger programming to the mix and stolen energy from a stockyard by wiring the metal fences up as 'siphonic vitality extractors' to transfer energy to large pens of captured strays. He also perished.

 

3rd appearance was on a smaller scale, where wealthy citizens were being blackmailed, and apparantly torn apart by wild animals if they didn't pay. The name 'Bestiariius' was used again here as well. This time, it turned out to be the veterinarian that had helped the lab assistant in the second appearance using the surviving equipment in conjunction with his female assistant. They would enhance the vitality of the wealthy's pets, and if no payment was recieved, use a sonic trigger fired from a device mounted on a small balloon to 'set off' the pet. (I just used the stats for cheetahs for treated housecats, wolves for dogs, and eagles/falcons for birds, and so on) These folks too, met a sad fate at the hands of their own creations, when the vet was torn apart by 'activated' house cats, and one of my players made a 'thrown objects' Missile Deflection Roll against an 'activated' cat the vet's assistant had tossed onto him as he stood in the sonic broadcaster's range and subsequently tossed it back at her (hitting her in the head).

[Supreme Serpent]

Re: Serial Villany

 

That would be villains that continue in a 'sting' or line built around a common set of equipment' date=' powers, or theme but are not the literal same man, and may have different motivations.[/quote']

 

Nope, haven't done it. The longer the campaign goes, the easier this would be to work in. Unfortunately lately most of my campaigns have been pretty short. It's a good thing though. "But, it CAN'T be the Jade Jackal - we saw him die!"

 

Several examples in comics of this sort of thing. Mr. Fear in Marvel, multiple guys with similar costume, same gear, different plans. Green Goblin/Hobgoblin. Others I'm sure, but those are the ones that immediately spring to mind.

[Basil]

Re: Serial Villany

 

To clarify matters, I don't mean 'serial' in the sense of the Republic serials. What I was looking for here was a discussion of serial (or 'legacy' if you prefer) string villains in your pulp games. That would be villains that continue in a 'string' or line built around a common set of equipment, powers, or theme but are not the literal same man, and may have different motivations.

 

I wrote an example of this up for M&M where the villain was actually a series of different men wearing the same costume and using the powers it granted them at the behest of the suit's inventor, but it occurred to me that I'd never asked if anyone had done something like that. So....

I've never done this myself, but I know there's been a few like this written up in various HeroGames products.

 

The best source I can think of is 4th Ed. Dark Champions products. A quick look-see turns up:

 

Spike (Murderer's Row, p.87-88): a succession of three men who used the same pair of spiked gauntlets; worked as killers for hire.

 

Caliber (Dark Champions, p.166-167): a succession of three brothers (first of whom was not called "Caliber) and a common thug, all used guns esp. handguns, worked as mercenaries and killers for hire.

 

Purge (Underworld Enemies, p. 81-83): a suit of "psychoactive armor" worn by many people, all filled with hate and after vengence; the suit gives them multiple skills and abilities, and Psych Lim.s This, BTW, is the most interesting version of "serial villain" I can remember ever seeing.

[Mike W]

Re: Serial Villany

 

Never done that in any game. Though I have occasionally "switched" who was in a suit of power armor or something like that.

[Cold Steel]

Re: Serial Villany

 

Kharis, you used to be TimeShare?

 

Back on topic.

 

So far in my pulp i only use one: The Scorpion. I modfiy him to make a society of killers.

[mraley]

Re: Serial Villany

 

Kharis' date=' you used to be TimeShare?[/quote']

 

AFAIK (and if anyone should K it's me), Kharis has always been Kharis.

 

Speaking as the recipient-and-almost-victim of an "enhanced" terrier, I can only say, "Bad dog!"

 

Mary Ann

[tkdguy]

Re: Serial Villany

 

I created a recurring villain for my Castle Falkenstein campaign. He was a Prussian spy named Rudolph von Schreck. I named him after the actor Max Screck, who came out as Count Orlock in Nosferatu. He was devious and resourceful. He always had a way out, which is why the PCs (the players as well as the characters) hated him so much. I reused him as an NPC villain in an online Highlander gsame I played in.

[ThothAmon]

Re: Serial Villany

 

One such villain suitable for Pulp-ing is the master villain Card Shark from 4th Edition Dark Champions. The Card Shark identity (used by multiple people over the years) would be a perfect foil for a Shadow-esque hero.

 

I have used a homegrown recurring pulp villain but not quite in the form you describe. The mastermind / evil sorceror had extended his life by sucking the life from others (5 years drained = 1 year extension) but eventually died in a climactic battle. His evil spirit (or soul) later returned to possess a PC mortal enemy in Manitou / Sleepwalker fashion, attempting to complete a ritual that would swap his soul and the PC's soul on the Demonic accounting books

 

Defeated yet again the sorceror then became a phantasmal figure that only the one specific PC could perceive. Whilst he was a useful source of information he was also attempting to corrupt that PC, tempting him to the 'Dark Side'