Guys in white lab coats...

[Nucleon]

...so practical because of the unusual effects they usually create, yet sooo boring.

 

 

Nucleon Wonders: How do you make the T.O. Morrows and Eggheads of your campaings interesting and (gasp) even likable to your playing partners?

[Kid Chaos]

Most of my mad scientist don't wear white labcoats. In fact one of them has:

 

Enraged when asked about why he's not wearing a labcoat (14-/8-)

 

That alone keeps him pretty entertaining....well that and the fact he sometimes will actually aid the players. He's a certifiable loon and loves to tinker. He manged to get his hands on the resident Power Armour Hero's energy cannon and ended up upgrading it. He then sent the only working prototype along with his notes to the hero.

 

During a brief lucid moment he realized his error...ended up building a Armour Crusher Robot in an effort to rectify said error.

[Nucleon]

Originally posted by Kid Chaos

Most of my mad scientist don't wear white labcoats.

Well, it's great way to go around the archetype.

 

On one of mine, this same labcoat is the equivalent of the medal-laden mil uniform; With the years it had become crusty, dirty with mustard as well as bodily fluids (not his own), plus the regular abuse. That had some effect; The brick on my team refused to punch him with his bare hands, afraid he'll catch some nasty disease.

 

That gorilla in the sidebar looked cool, too.

[Rage]

Its all quite simple.

To qoute Homer Simpson:

"Bat Mans a scientist."

And for that matter so is Hank Mccoy, Giant Man, Reed Richards, The Hulk (when hes smart hulk atleast) etc. They sometimes wear lab coats... Somtimes they break your face open cause they RULE!

[Kid Chaos]

His question dealt more with the Eggheads (Marvel) and T.O. Morrow (DC) style lab coats though.

 

ala the mad geniuses.

[Wyrm Ouroboros]

... or just the scientists, i.e. the guys who happen to be 'Contact, 14-, Very Useful Skills (Scientific)' for the characters.

 

My answer is 'how you make any other character/contact interesting, useful, someone the PCs care about -- give them personality.' Give them a voice, a mannerism, a bad habit. Give them an agenda -- 'Superman, did you talk to the mayor about Affirmative Action like I asked you to?' Have them call the heros up and ask THEM to do something in return (for once!). Better yet, have them be able to be contacted, but 'I'm sorry, Mr. Superior, but I can't give you an answer on that. Or rather, I won't give you an answer on that one. It's against my religion/philosophy/moral code.' Instead of them being PC Contact #12, write down a few particular character notes -- skills, beliefs, mannerisms.

 

You don't have to whip up a whole character sheet for them, but you should have a few lines of notes, especially about how/why the hero can contact them.

[Hermit]

for example

 

Personality is the key... add a few quirks, and voila.Here's a guy I made last year as an NPC Coroner:

 

Dr. Andrew Micheals is a remarkably well tanned guy for someone who spends so much time with cadavears. He is head coroner for the city. Originally from California, Andrew enjoys making refrences (pro and con) to the state of his birth. While neither obessed with or oblivious to death; he does have a strong interest in various religons and philosphies regarding the here after.

 

In addition to the nice tan, Andrew is physically fit, has blonde hair and a nice tan. Off work, he prefers to wear bright colors such as Hawaiin shirts and Bermuda shorts.

 

"Scientific terms: Subject was pierced here, between the third and4th rib, then the attacker angled up to rupture the aorta of the heart. In Cali speak? Dude's dead."

[Rage]

Originally posted by Kid Chaos

His question dealt more with the Eggheads (Marvel) and T.O. Morrow (DC) style lab coats though.

 

ala the mad geniuses.

Careful or I'll use super science to break your face ALA Batman... KAPOW!

[Lord Liaden]

Well, I've played with a few ways to make the mad scientist types interesting:

 

One way is to play up the negative stereotypes of the scientific mindset: cool, dispassionate, devoted to knowledge and discovery whatever the consequences. Such people display almost pathological unconcern for ethical issues: they'll torture a subject to test brain responses to pain, with no sign of either disgust or pleasure - it's just an experiment, and sacrifices are necessary for the "greater good." Science is the highest ideal, against which all other concerns pale. A personality like this can be positively unnerving in the way they can discuss the most horrendous events as though they were merely interesting bits of data.

 

Another stereotype is the psychotic personality who really only is comfortable and vital when dealing with his specialized area. The more abstracted this area is from normal human interaction, the more of an impact the character will have on your players. Mr. Matthews from the recent Champs/SAS villain showdown is a good example of this, as he displays obvious pride in, and even paternalistic affection for the hideous biological freaks of his creation.

 

Then there's the tried and true "obvious mad scientist" schtick: weird mannerisms, laughter at inappropriate times, mercurial emotional swings, exaggerated behavior. Think Colin Clive as Doctor Frankenstein from those early monster films, or Kiefer Sutherland's character from the movie "Dark City." You shouldn't go too far over the top lest you make the character laughable and unable to be taken seriously by your players, but a strong dose of "twitchiness" can add a lot of distinctive flavor.

 

Of course you can always take the character over the top deliberately if you want him to be comic relief at least part of the time. The Producer from Aaron Allston's Strike Force book served that function; his obsession with movie escapism, and with creating androids based on characters from those movies, left him unable to distinguish between film reality and real life. As a result his creations are often silly and/or harmless, but sometimes quite deadly since the Producer doesn't comprehend that everyone killed won't just get up when the director yells "Cut!" That edge of danger keeps the players from treating him as a total joke.

[Kid Chaos]

Originally posted by Wyrm Ouroboros

... or just the scientists, i.e. the guys who happen to be 'Contact, 14-, Very Useful Skills (Scientific)' for the characters.

 

My answer is 'how you make any other character/contact interesting, useful, someone the PCs care about -- give them personality.' Give them a voice, a mannerism, a bad habit. Give them an agenda -- 'Superman, did you talk to the mayor about Affirmative Action like I asked you to?' Have them call the heros up and ask THEM to do something in return (for once!).

 

Superman's scientific contact is a saner version of T.O. Morrow. He still creates some of the oddest things though. Although he's useful also as something of a humour foil as well.

 

The above makes no sense and upon reflection I've decided I need to wake up more. Needless to say Superman's scientific contact (Emile or something like that). Has built Supes containment suit for the energy thing, built himself a robotic arm from alien technology, correctly identified the Cyborg as Kryptonian technology, almost cured the clone plauged on his own, etc.... And does this all while coming across as a good version of the mad scientist.