Powering up the Victory Party

[Shaft]

I'm using the Victory Party in a Dark Champions w/ Powers game. Since my PCs are 375 characters with powers (but also with Normal characteristic maxima), I felt that beefing some of the villains in Predators might be a good idea:

 

Dr Spregen's genetic skills are more advanced than listed in the book and he has augmented the core members of the Victory Brigade to have primary physical stats (STR, DEX, CON & BODY) scores of 18-20 (ubermen). Their mental stats are largely unchanged, though they have 5-8 pts of mental defense to reflect their ability to focus and dedication to the cause, backed up by genetics, of course. Their eyesight has been augmented to give them nightvision as well.

 

He has also engineered a dozen or so guard dogs to protect his compound, situated on the outskirts of Butte in an open pit mine once owned by the Anaconda Copper Mining Company(a real company from the 30s which I've decided was once a Viper front- the hidden base served as the core that the Victory party militia built their current compound). The open pit mine used to be an underground mine, which is now closed off for safety reasons, officially, but unofficially, houses Spregen's genetics lab. The mine serves as a cover for the rank and file mooks of the Victory party, allowing them to live in barracks with the excuse that they are actually mining. The huge expanse of the mine gives the party militia a sizable training ground. The Victory party has also infiltrated the local National Guard unit and as such has access to US military gear (Spregen serves as an honourary colonel to the unit) including a handful of Vietnam era Huey helicopters, some outdated artillery pieces and missle systems (much to his chagrin, the more up to date equipment is deployed overseas).

 

The guard dogs that patrol the compound have the same stats as wolves, but have an 8 INT, are capable of standing upright, and have a opposable thumb. They can't talk but they have a psychic mind link with Jager (Hunter). Any unusual findings are telepathically relayed to Jager, who coordinates the dogs from a distance and relays their findings over the radio to patroling militia members.

 

A series of large tunnels have been dug around the base (including one that reaches all the way to Spregens mansion in the suburbs of Butte and another one that reaches the National Guard compound) allowing the Victory Brigade to maneuver around their vicinity with minimal observation by satelite. The tunnels can be collapsed if they are compromised thanks to the explosives that Deadfall has placed.

 

Jager also has mind scanning capabilities and low level telepathy (I decided to steer his psychic abilities towards augmenting his tracking skills- he's modelled very much on the Dog Boys from Rifts). He also has (Wolverine style) retractable claws, and a tracking scent/targeting sense: smell.

 

Carnivore,from the Animated Series supplement, is one of two multiforms for one of Spregen's principle bodyguards. In his normal ID (which is an Aryan uberman with stats as above) he can accompany Dr Spregen in public (Spregen uses an alternate ID in Butte, where he is a pillar of the community who has invested a lot of time and money into building up the region)

 

Falke (Falcon) has used his technical skills to build himself a flying rig like Vulture or Falcon from Marvel. Like Jager, he has a psychic link, but with a small variety of genetically augmented hunting birds of prey that circle around the compound.

 

The twin brothers (Downshift and Deadfall) have a psychic link with one another in addition to their augmented physical stats. Downshift is also a trained helicopter pilot, and Deadfall is a very effective gunner for him (since they literally act as eyes for one another).

 

Kreuzfeuer (Crossfire) has some cybernetic augmenations such as smartgun links, cybereyes with improved vision (IR, UV) that allow him to function more effectively.

 

(Spregen has some expertise in cybernetics as well: the Brigade's knowledge of the German language is the result of an implanted skillsoft).

 

This powered up Victory brigade is more of a challenge for a powered group. Feel free to use the ideas in your own games. (Note, the rank and file members are not genetically augmented. Spregen has only augmented his core people- mostly for budgetary reasons. He might easily have another dozen or so augmented mooks with no other exceptional powers).

[Shaft]

Re: Powering up the Victory Party

 

I'm thinking that adding a full blown to telepath to their ranks might make sense, given the high occurence of psychic links in the group. Any suggestions for a pregenerated character that could fit in with this bunch?

[Gadodel]

Re: Powering up the Victory Party

 

Are these your own characters or are they from a HERO sourcebook? If the latter, which book?

[Shaft]

Re: Powering up the Victory Party

 

Are these your own characters or are they from a HERO sourcebook? If the latter' date=' which book?[/quote']

 

They are from Predators- the "Enemies Book" for Dark Champions. Most of the characters are written for a campaign in which PCs are Powerful Heroic (100 Base + 100 Disads) characters. My suggestions were written up to get this group of opponents up to a Street Level SuperHeroic level while still keeping there Dark Champions feel.

 

Ghost-Angel has written up an excellent review of Predators if you'd like to read it: http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=52764

[Shaft]

Re: Powering up the Victory Party

 

I'm thinking that adding a full blown to telepath to their ranks might make sense' date=' given the high occurence of psychic links in the group. Any suggestions for a pregenerated character that could fit in with this bunch?[/quote']

 

The idea came to me a little while after writing up this post: making Dr Spregen a telepath is a natural fit.

[Alverant]

Re: Powering up the Victory Party

 

I don't have the book with me right now, but I think the best way to power up the Victory Party is to either give them more members (as you did with Carnivore) or actually give them legitimate power. What happens if they do win an election while keeping the Nazi attitudes secret? Beating up Nazis are fun and all, but what happens if you beat up the bodyguards of an Alderman?

 

How about contacts in city government? I don't know if any members like stealth, but if one learns how to sneak around well, it would be a big indirect power boost. It doesn't matter how good your crime-mobile is, a cut brake line will still ruin your day.

[Shaft]

Re: Powering up the Victory Party

 

I don't have the book with me right now, but I think the best way to power up the Victory Party is to either give them more members (as you did with Carnivore) or actually give them legitimate power. What happens if they do win an election while keeping the Nazi attitudes secret? Beating up Nazis are fun and all, but what happens if you beat up the bodyguards of an Alderman?

 

How about contacts in city government? I don't know if any members like stealth, but if one learns how to sneak around well, it would be a big indirect power boost. It doesn't matter how good your crime-mobile is, a cut brake line will still ruin your day.

 

What I did in the game that I ran them in was make Springer a "man of the people". In his cover ID of Richard Springer, he was an influential business man who brought a lot of revenue to Butte's economy because of his mine. He also had grown a brain dead clone of himself that was fully aged and being pushed around in a wheelchair. When Spregen/Springer found out the PCs were coming after him, he leaked it to the press that his "father" was Dr Spregen, the war criminal. As the media turned out in drives, he expressed his shock at the discovery and asked for privacy. Meanwhile, the presence of the media complicated the PCs mission. And the tunnels that had been dug from his mansion to the compound ket Spregen/Springer get around as he needed.

 

Springer was also the honourary colonel of the nearby reserve unit (and he also had supporters as active members) and as such had access to military grade equipment and additional troops who weren't in on the truth about his organization. In the past, he had generously allowed the reserve unit to conduct maneuvers in certain parts of his open pit mine, so there was no reason to suspect any wrongdoing when he ordered them out to the compound.

 

He was also able to requisition a C-130 to fly his mole miners out when he decided to leave town since the PCs were making things difficult.