Dr. Confoundo Posted February 6, 2007 Report Share Posted February 6, 2007 Previously, in the World at War!: Hitler's minions, I described my current Golden Age campaign, and got some great help designing some bada$$ Nazi Supervillians. A quick recap to get people back up to speed on what is going on: The setting: With the United States' entrance into the European theatre in World War 2, Hitler and the top Nazi mystics of the Ahnenerbe needed a new source of power to insure their victory over the Allied armies. Luckily for them, one of their investigative teams found something during the time that the Germans occupied Norway - a cup whose translated runes would eventually lead them to the cavern where Loki lay bound until Ragnarok. Rescuing the weakened Loki from his eternal torment, the Ahnenerbe team returned the god to Berlin, where Hitler and Loki struck a bargain: the god would use his magics to create 12 mystical runestones, which would bestow great powers upon a chosen handful of Germany's finest soldiers. Thus, the Nazi's first superhumans were created. Unbeknownst to Hitler, Loki knew that he couldn't utilize all of the runes, for they were rightly Odin's, as he had hung for nine days on the Yggdrasil tree to learn them. Odin took the remaining 12 runes and gave them to the Allies, creating a countering group of superheroes: Beacon! The British Blur! Ironwood! Retribution! Together they fight Nazi menaces as The Liberty Brigade! Why only four Allied supers? I've only got four PCs. A couple other runes have popped up, and they work as support staff for the team, having mostly non-combat powers. So the PCs received their powers from Odin, who told them that he needed champions in a grand chess game against the forces of Loki and the Runekriegers he created for the Nazis. They've been introduced to most of the bad-guys, gotten a hang of their own powers and abilities, took codenames and gained costumes, been formed into their own unit of the U.S. Army, and are just about to save the lives of King George VI and Princess Elizabeth from the giant Zerstörboter ("Destructo-Bot") created by Doktor Zahnrad ("Doctor Gear"), as it rampages across London and plows into Buckingham Palace. This will be their debut as public superheros, and will move the campaign into it's second phase, which will last a few episodes. So that's the set-up for the group, and where they are now. But there's a secret that they don't know, and it will turn everything on it's head when (or if) they find out: Odin knows nothing about them, and couldn't give them superpowers, even if he wanted to. All of their powers come from Loki. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Confoundo Posted February 6, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 6, 2007 Re: World at War: Ragnarok! Unbeknownst to everyone, Loki is pulling all of the strings. When he was released by the Nazi researchers, he was happy to grant their wishes of power; but a gift from Loki is always one to be wary of. He gave matching powers to some Allies soldiers, always disguising himself as Odin when handing out those powers, in order to set up a cosmic version of 'Let's you and him fight!' Now, with two superteams at his beck and call, he can get back to what he really wants to do: start Ragnarok. He's going to need both teams to get the process started, so he needs to play them off each other, misleading or commanding them to do whatever he needs to get done. *** This is where you can help me: I suck at subterfuge. I need to convince the PCs to do things that they shouldn't be doing, in order for Loki's plan to play out right. It can be as simple as: "Gather this artifact, and bring it to this certain place in order to foil a Nazi ritual", not knowing that the ritual will only start when the artifact gets there. Does anyone have any plot ideas for me? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csyphrett Posted February 6, 2007 Report Share Posted February 6, 2007 Re: World at War: Ragnarok! Well to borrow a page from Kurt Busiek, you can tell both sides that the opposite side wants the artifacts. Good players will snap at this easily. Even if they don't, once the bad guys start snatching them, they'll want to get involved. Then all you have to do is plan where each thing is and what it does. The players will help you as far as planning what they are going to do and how they are going to do it. CES Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wyrm Ouroboros Posted February 6, 2007 Report Share Posted February 6, 2007 Re: World at War: Ragnarok! Just an odd question, but ... ... except for the fact that Loki gets the pleasure of all the Gods dying relatively horrid deaths, why would he want to incite Ragnarok? He's fated to die a pretty horrid death, too. Would he not instead prefer to push the two sides to a) greater and greater atrocities, utter domination of the planet, c) give him complete authority/power over them, or d) all of the above? Everyone dies in Ragnarok; like, two people survive to repopulate the Earth, the only remaining gods are bloody pacifists ... I just can't see Loki wanting it to happen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pyre-Archer Posted February 6, 2007 Report Share Posted February 6, 2007 Re: World at War: Ragnarok! Everyone dies in Ragnarok; like, two people survive to repopulate the Earth, the only remaining gods are bloody pacifists ... I just can't see Loki wanting it to happen. Good point that. Mind, Loki is the trickster god, so he's bound to have an angle. F'r example... Take out Heimdall, saving his own skin Gain Surtur's power, so -Loki- can do the fire flinging Force one of the other deities to take his place, sort of a stunt double Loki. So, in a way, Loki would die, just not the one everyone expects Possess Lif or Liftrasir. Allows the other evil gods to make a first strike, or otherwise cripple the Vanaheim. Let's face it. Two mortals and a pacifistic pantheon are pretty easy pickings for a trickster god. Just a few thoughts, courtesy of Encyclopedia Mythica. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manic Typist Posted February 6, 2007 Report Share Posted February 6, 2007 Re: World at War: Ragnarok! Also, he's arrogant. He thinks he can get out of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Confoundo Posted February 7, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 7, 2007 Re: World at War: Ragnarok! Also' date=' he's arrogant. He thinks he can get out of it.[/quote'] That's basically my viewpoint on it. He's such a sneaky guy that he thinks he's got a way to game the system - kill all of the other gods, but leave him holding all the marbles. And I don't really think that having the marbles are even the real goal - Loki is a trickster... the big con is reward in itself. In addition, for whatever reason, the Nazis have already broken the prophesized chain of events by releasing Loki in the first place. If that didn't go as it was supposed to, what else can be changed? Finally, this is a comic-book... it's just the kind of thing that a supervillian like Loki would do Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Confoundo Posted February 7, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 7, 2007 Re: World at War: Ragnarok! Well to borrow a page from Kurt Busiek, you can tell both sides that the opposite side wants the artifacts. Good players will snap at this easily. Even if they don't, once the bad guys start snatching them, they'll want to get involved. Then all you have to do is plan where each thing is and what it does. The players will help you as far as planning what they are going to do and how they are going to do it. This is basically what I was considering. What Kurt Busiek story are you referencing? I've probably got it in my collection, and maybe I can steal... I mean 'make an homage' to it. I was also thinking of one of the 1980s G.I. Joe cartoon mini-series, where they have to track down powerful pyramids (or something... it's been awhile) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csyphrett Posted February 7, 2007 Report Share Posted February 7, 2007 Re: World at War: Ragnarok! This is basically what I was considering. What Kurt Busiek story are you referencing? I've probably got it in my collection, and maybe I can steal... I mean 'make an homage' to it. This is part of the plot to JLAvengers. The JLA and Avengers are told that each want things from the other universe such as the cosmic cube and green lantern's power battery. CES Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Johnston Posted February 7, 2007 Report Share Posted February 7, 2007 Re: World at War: Ragnarok! Just an odd question, but ... ... except for the fact that Loki gets the pleasure of all the Gods dying relatively horrid deaths, why would he want to incite Ragnarok? He's fated to die a pretty horrid death, too. Would he not instead prefer to push the two sides to a) greater and greater atrocities, utter domination of the planet, c) give him complete authority/power over them, or d) all of the above? Everyone dies in Ragnarok; like, two people survive to repopulate the Earth, the only remaining gods are bloody pacifists ... I just can't see Loki wanting it to happen. Ah but what you don't realise is that Loki is the good guy. Baldur was so popular with the Aesir that Odin grew to fear for his throne. Meanwhile Loki was just kind of an annoying pain. So Odin figured he'd kill two birds with one stone and frame Loki for Baldur's murder by setting things up so it looked like one of Loki's practical jokes gone awry. Now Loki wants to start Ragnarok, because only that way can Odin be brought to justice and Baldur brought back to life... What? OK, never mind. Yes the answer is presumably that either the prophecy isn't set in stone, or can be gamed. And after being tortured for however many centuries, well he's just got a bone to pick with Asgard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wyrm Ouroboros Posted February 7, 2007 Report Share Posted February 7, 2007 Re: World at War: Ragnarok! "It ain't no fun 'less you c'n gloat." Just my $0.02 worth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Confoundo Posted February 7, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 7, 2007 Re: World at War: Ragnarok! This is part of the plot to JLAvengers. The JLA and Avengers are told that each want things from the other universe such as the cosmic cube and green lantern's power battery.I knew the plot sounded familiar. Thanks for the refresh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csyphrett Posted February 7, 2007 Report Share Posted February 7, 2007 Re: World at War: Ragnarok! It was the first thing I could think of to fit your problem. Other separate methods could involve intelligence gathering by the Allies, distress calls, so forth. There are a lot of means, but there's no guarantee how your players will react, or whether they'll take any bait at all. CES Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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