Villain Campaign: need help

[Brogahn]

So after about a two year break from gamemastering I am going to once again run a HERO game.

 

When I asked my potetnial gaming group what they wanted to play, there was a great deal of enthusiasm for a Villains campaign. Immediately they wanted it to be gritty and lethal. I asked of them what will be your characters motivation for crime or extralegal activities and what motive will you folks have for banding together.

 

This is where I feel a bit overwhelmed, two of them want to do some nihilistic destruction of society and I can only imagine that it will be in some high brow fashion. I explained that were I to do this game I will be first making them start more or less from scratch. I have established that I will be using the City of Villains introductary theme of escape from the super human prison. The PC's are gettign lucky, they are NOT the subjects of the jail break. I am asking them to carefully craft their characters background and personality and to please let things build. I am eliminating their resources and I am limiting their contacts or followers. I want them to feel the pulse pounding exhiliration of escaping from prison going on the run avoiding recapture and then figuring out what they want to do.

 

I find this to be challenging because it means that I will be responding to their intentions and I have to seed the world with potential targets. The gang and I have discussed this and the fact that appropriate lead time will need to be given to me to figure out thought out appropriate scenarios.

 

I personally want the pc's to carefully craft their characters...but asking someone to roleplay petty, vindictive, or any of those lesser characteristics in criminals is hard. I have two already that are conspiring to be calcualting psychopathic monsters, a third might very well just be cold blooded calculating opportunist... I am not sure. I do know that I expect the game to have a high degree of inter party roleplay and I just want to ask my players to not doom this campaign from the beginning by making characters that CANNOT get along long enough to succeed.

 

Some general advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thank you

Brogahn

[Lunistra]

Re: Villain Campaign: need help

 

tie them together in some fashion, ie if one dies by the hands or the plans of a fellow PC a curse causes them to all die.

 

Or restrict the mindset of villains they can be so they will get along.

 

or make the big thug monster one reliant o nthe smart ones potions and he is in turn reliant on the maniacal cold blooded ones finances and he is etc.. in a circle

[NestorDRod]

Re: Villain Campaign: need help

 

At the risk of promoting another company's product, I would recommend checking out Necessary Evil, by Great White Games. It presents a rather interesting set-up for a villain campaign, and gives you a pretty good plot framework to run the whole thing beginning to end.

 

It wouldn't be that hard to convert the NPC characters to Hero. And it even has artwork by Storn Cook!

[Supreme Serpent]

Re: Villain Campaign: need help

 

I've played in a few and run one, thinking about another.

 

To quote myself:

 

Some things I think are important, in no particular order:

 

1) Make sure everyone's on the same page about expectations. If some guys want to be serial killers and others want to be kooky Silver-Age types while the GM is expecting to run agame of anti-hero mutant villains against the government...things will not go well. This of course goes for other types of campaigns as well, but especially ones where the PCs are supposed to be more proactive.

 

2) If there's a leader type PC, they need to lead. Not dominate, but lead. Dr. Doom and his henchmen don't make a good team game. Neither does Dr. Uncommunicative von Indecisive and his team.

 

3) The GM shouldn't leave everything up to the PCs. He should throw out some world detail, plot seeds and such that the villains can use to build upon.

 

4) Unless your players really like it, don't sweat the small stuff. If your players want to spend three sessions planning the bank raid in minute detail, selecting the perfect getaway vehicle based on projected loot weight, etc more power to you and them. Otherwise, take most prep work as writ.

 

5) Decide in advance how to handle villains getting captured. Unless you want every other session to be a prison break, consider other options like everyone have secondary standby villains that can be used if one is temporarily caught.

 

Communication is key, and I think point one is especially important.

 

Personally, I can do without the really nasty villain types. Don't think they'd work well or last long on a team. When you piss off and creep out a bunch of other guys who are just as powerful and have no qualms about killing YOU either, you don't last long.

 

I'd suggest making sure you're willing to run whatever level of nastiness they want to do. Make sure you don't end up with Texas Chainsaw Massacre when you wanted French Connection.

 

Especially viscious and antisocial villains will IMO likely lead to nasty infighting resulting in the group splintering altogether or a parade of temporary replacement psychos, spiraling body counts that prompt stronger and harsher responses by the authorities and heroes and attracting the more bloodthirsty vigilantes - the nastier you are, the more likely you are to end up facing Wolverine and the Punisher instead of Spider-Man.

 

Making sure that they can play well with others is good. Group character creation is probably a good idea, where everyone can come to consensus and tweak individual concepts as needed, work up pre-game connections and solid relationships, etc.

[lapsedgamer]

Re: Villain Campaign: need help

 

Two options:

 

Go Suicide Squad on them. Have a Task-Force-X-like organization engineer the jail break so the the villains can perform a series of missions for them. They would have to be fitted with some type of limitation device (internal bomb, time released virus) to keep them in line. As the campaign progresses, they could work their way out of the arrangement but initially they have to work within the restrictions imposed by the organization. After that, the organiztion could hound them forcing them to occasionally have to divert from their dreams of world destruction.

 

Take a hint from Wanted and Villains United. Hey, there are bigger fish in the sea. Create a Legion of Doom style organization that rules the underworld, or the world for that matter. If you are not a member, you better keep your head down or you will be offered a choice: join or die. As the characters progress, they would have to decide whether to be renegades within the villain community or join and try to subvert the organiztion from within.

 

I ran a villain game many years ago, and I did not set up a meta story. I just let the players determine the action. It started off as fun, but got old because the players looked at it as an opportunity to go D&D on me. Kill, plunder, level up. I incorporated logical, but not to my mind onerous, repercussions for their actions into the game, but they thought that that was unfair. I was taking the fun out it. We lasted about eight sessions before it lost steam. Good luck with your game. It sounds like fun.

[Richard Logue]

Re: Villain Campaign: need help

 

I was going to suggest a "Suicide Squad/Task Force X" sort of deal myself. In fact I have a villain campaign framework written up to do just that sort of thng. I would love to run it, but my players don't want to play villains. Such is life.

 

Another option might be to have the PCs already be in a group under a more powerful leader. The leader has gone missing or has been captured by the law. Now what do they do?

 

Here's a good one. The PCs are villains in a group and they've just received a challenge from another villain team. The team that scores the most heists or the most captured heroes, or what have you, wins the prize. It could be an even large scale contest involving many teams.

 

I ran a scenario for my heroes once where they uncoveredd a great villain conspiracy. A dozen villain teams had come together to bid on info about many heroes' secrets and such. Run it from the other side.

 

Give them a reason to stay together and cooperate with each other. Heaven forbid, they may even *want* to.

 

A villain campaign to me should be just as much fun as a hero campaign and it never has to involve being unsavory characters.

 

Perhaps the "villains" are really just heroes who have been framed for some heinous deed and now have to resort to underhanded tactics and things while they find proof to clear their names. In the meantime, the public and law enforcement agencies consider them "armed and dangerous" criminals.

 

Lots of ways to go.

[Supreme Serpent]

Re: Villain Campaign: need help

 

A quick scheme generator I made for a previous game:

 

Supervillain Schemes

 

1-3) Get:

 

1 – Cash

...1-2 -Bank

...3-4-Armored Car(s)

...5 –Mint

...6- Criminals (interrupt major cash deal)

 

2 – Valuables

...1-3 -Jewelry/Gems

......1-2 -Museum show

......3-4 -Society event

......5-Diamond exchange

......6-Bank, in safe deposit box

 

...4-6 -Bearer bonds

......1 -Courier

......2-3 -Company safe

......4-5 -Home of wealthy individual/criminal

......6 -Bank, in safe deposit box

 

3 – Supplies

...1-2 -Chemicals

......1 -Factory

......2-3 -Warehouse

......4 -In transit (tanker truck)

......5 -Company research lab

......6 -Government research lab

 

...3-4 -Hi-tech components

......1-Factory

......2-Warehouse

......3-In transit

.........1-3 -Truck

.........4-5 -Ship

.........6 -Plane

......4-Company research lab

......5-Government research lab

......6-Base

.........1-3-Superhero base

.........4-6-Rival criminal group (VIPER, etc.)

 

...5-6 –Agents/thugs/assistants

......1-3 -Prison

......4-5 -Recruiting (note and start rolling again)

......6 -Bust super-criminal free (in prison, court date, just captured, etc.)

 

4 - Mystical artifact(s)

...1-2 -Museum

...3 -Private collector

...4-5 -Excavation (go dig it up)

...6 -Base

......1-2 -Superhero base/trophy room

......3-4 -Rival criminal/cult

......5-6 -Government warehouse (“Top. Men.”)

 

5 – Superweapon (usually, but not always, at government facility)

(make up cool sounding one or roll below)

...1 -Large poison gas supply

...2 -Nuke

...3 -Giant Death/Laser/Freeze/Heat/etc. Ray

...4 -Mind control satellite/tower/chemicals/etc.

...5 -Giant EMP generator

...6 -Giant monster

 

6 – Other (steal vehicle for team, artwork, etc.)

 

 

4 ) Attack!:

 

1-2 – Superheroes

 

3 – Rival criminals – gangs, criminal organizations, VIPER, other supervillains, etc.

 

4 – Authorities

...1-2 - police (reduce presence/ability)

...3 - national guard (destroy/steal equipment/reduce ability)

...4 – PRIMUS

...5 - UNTIL

...6 - FBI (destroy/steal files, etc.)

 

5 – Kidnap target

...1-2 – wealthy individual (ransom)

...3 – government official (mayor, etc)

...4-5 – Scientist/someone with info

...6 – Lure (someone known to affiliate with hero X, etc)

 

6 – Location (Stock Exchange, Statue of Liberty, etc.)

 

 

5 ) Frame/blackmail

 

-1-2 - Hero

 

-3-4 - Authority figure

 

-5-6 - Wealthy individual

 

 

6 ) Other

[Comic]

Re: Villain Campaign: need help

 

Remember villains get to do whatever they want. That's why they're villains. Give your villains responsibility to decide where they're going a bit more than the heroes do.

[Alverant]

Re: Villain Campaign: need help

 

Take a look at existing villain groups. They stay together for two main reasons:

 

1) They have a common agenda/cause.

 

2) The leader forces his minions to stay with him through bribery or threats.

 

The second may not work well with gaming groups. So you have to get with all the players and decide what the goal of the villain campaign is and their roles in it. The two who want to play psychos have the role of being the leader's enforcers. So why do they follow the leader? Does he give them money/gifts? Do they owe him a favor? Do they like the leader's goal? Did the leader install cortex bombs that can be triggered with a thought?

 

Since you're using CoV as a basis, what villain group has actually accomplished their goals for the long term? Paragon City is still unconquered, ancient gods remain trapped, rival gangs continue to fight for territory. Longbow continues to exist no matter how many bases you blow up. If you want to run a villain group, you have to give them set backs and defeats otherwise once they accomplished their goals, that's it, campaign is over. Heroes continue to deal with threats because their goal is basically, "stop evil" and it can never be fulfilled.

[Brogahn]

Re: Villain Campaign: need help

 

While Brainstorming and going over your suggestions, I came up with a scenario.

 

My players are not necessarily interested in being villains for the sake of playing the role and outwitting the heroes. They have been in two super hero campaigns I have run and they want something else

 

(I personally want someone to run a supers game I get to play in... oh well)

 

I may have misled some of you.. I do not want to base the game in the CoX game world. I just want it to start with a prison break. They have records and have been captured before. I now have a new idea that I may actually want to spring on my players. That being that while they are imprisoned a number of serious Earth Shattering things occur. One of those would be the global psychic backlash that will leave many psionics in comas. Another would be an invasion by a very powerful malavolent force... I am thinking extra dimensional. Some of the main Superhumans go missing... and the world is lost. When the rescue comes most likely in the form of Viper... they are no longer coming to merely rescue their cohorts but they are also there to execute the criminal psionist in the infirmary. My pc will start the game with power dampners on and of course they will want to have those removed in order to make their escape. At that point the prison will come under "Temporal Bombardment" ... ie the prison will be locked in stasis for the next TWENTY years. And the world is ravaged and war torn. I really do wish post apocolyptic hero was ready. But that drops the PC's with a criminal bent into a vastly changed world with new governments and issues to deal with.

 

A main assertation by my players was a desire to have a less reactive game.

They wanted to be able to control and influence what they do. I think this could be the answer and so long as they develop interesting characters with powers I think this could be a very good in depth game.

 

Any thoughts or suggestions?

 

Ty

Brogahn

[Supreme Serpent]

Re: Villain Campaign: need help

 

But that drops the PC's with a criminal bent into a vastly changed world with new governments and issues to deal with.

 

Sounds like a typical D&D group.

[Prometheus]

Re: Villain Campaign: need help

 

DC's JSA Classified 5-7 had an interesting take on a villain group (the Injustice Society) that generally wants to work together and actually does a decent job of it. No world conquering required- these people have simpler motivations (like helping out a friend). There's backstabbing and ulterior motives and the happy ending is... I'd be spoiling it. But at least the backstabbing isn't always from the inside, and the character are invested in one another.

 

This particular setup would work well in HERO because these guys are basically hero characters with the serial numbers filed off, and given selfish motivations. Well, except maybe Ragman.

 

The part that stuck with me (and that I think applies here) is Icicle's musings at the beginning of issue 6:

 

 

Some cats like working alone... idiots and lunatics, you ask me. I know from the outside it looks like we're all a bunch of lunatics and psychos, but from the inside... let's just say some of us are more professional than others.

 

Take this one guy, Doctor Double X. In and out of the Slab like it's the John. Ever wonder why? I'll tell you why, and it's not because Batman is such a freakin' genius either. Dude cheaps himself on manpower and material every time. That kind of thing doesn't just blow the gig, it sucks the joy right out of it, too.

 

But working with real pros, man, that's heaven. You get a team, everyone knows their jobs... everyone's got the others' backs... with a crew like that, you feel unstoppable.

 

 

All while rigging a building with explosives. Go out and get it, it's a nice primer on a villain team campaign.

[jkwleisemann]

Re: Villain Campaign: need help

 

Some good advice here, generally. Though, with providing a framework... know your players, too.

 

Some people view "play a villain" or "play an evil character" as "who needs to like people? As anything more than dinner anyways." They slaughter teammates indiscriminately. They engage in rampant backstabbing.

 

They're *boring*, if you ask me. You know what's coming, everybody just pretends to be surprised when it happens.

 

Other players, on the other hand... they're more devious. They play a bad guy, all right... but one who has a few rules he follows. He doesn't backstab his teammates - it's too easy to backstab somebody you're always standing behind. It's much more challenging to stab somebody in the back when you're looking them in the face... which makes the chance to do so all the sweeter.

 

Granted, these players often fit at least 4/9 of the symptoms of future serial killers, but who's counting?

 

When you've got this sort of player around, you can loosen up a bit on the framework, so long as the player understands that you're doing them a favor. They'll play along, so long as every once in a while they get to loosen up the chains on the demon they're keeping in check, let him out to play for a bit with a more suitable target.

 

In case you couldn't guess, this is the sort of villain I prefer when playing Villain games.

[Captain Liberty]

Re: Villain Campaign: need help

 

A small correction:

 

Prometheus,

 

The villain is Ragdoll. Ragman is a hero who works with Shadowpact. Ragdoll is the Golden Age villain you are referencing.

[Lethosos]

Re: Villain Campaign: need help

 

If you need help with character psycholgy, consider this:

 

I have a villan of my own--a CoV Mastermind, to be exact--and I've thought about his movitations. First off, he does want to get into the "rule the word" schtick, but he misjudged things and got most of his powers stripped from him and tossed into the Zig. So when Arachnos came, he saw it as an opportunity--use the avaliable resources while scouting out the competition and make plans to take them out. (Including Lord Recluse, but that's a long way ahead, and well worth watching his steps.)

 

A true planner layers his reasons appropriately--and gives a better grip on the character in the game. If you have a choice in doing A or B, and one furthers your plans, you'd find a way to accomplish it even if the other players do the other. Even if it means underminding your comrades. That's behaving like a true-blue villan.

[OctoberRaven]

Re: Villain Campaign: need help

 

Not much for me to add what hasn't been added.

 

Remember this: Just because your PCs are villains doesn't mean you have to limit your combat to the heroes.

 

Also, even 'sociopathic' or otherwise misanthropic villains can function with a group. Some of you may remember my Geisteskrank villain from my Cabal of Nightmares group. I originally made him as a CE D&D character. He cared nothing for the group's needs, and would have killed all of them in their sleep if it suited him (he had a healer, and two of the other characters were princes. Besides, there's lots of good bodies to make zombies out of). His reason for staying with the group? Good for his neck, good for coming up with what he needed to revive his love, and simply more convienent in the short and long run. Plus he got to kill people, always a plus.

 

Really, all you need is a simple "You betray us, we ALL kill you" pact. A good group of villain roleplayers will live by the pact and will kill a traitor without hesitation. A bad group will all betray each other at once and end in a clusterfarce.

[Checkmate]

Re: Villain Campaign: need help

 

My first bit of advice is don't do it. I don't believe it will work out well. It sounds fun in theory, but most find out in practice, not so much.

 

If you do decide to do it, the most important thing is to not let them just be a bunch of psycho's just looking to get rich. That will get boring QUICK.

 

What do you want to do today?

Same thing we do every day, rob a bank

 

I would seriously recommend a group with a goal, maybe even a lofty goal. Make them Magneto, basically a radical trying to make Mutant life better, even if it means ending humans. Eurostar wants to make Europe better, and the best way to do that is with Fiacho ruling it.

 

They still need money and technology to finance their goals (bank robberies etc) but have them working towards something, give them a goal.

 

In my effort to steer you away from this idea, might I suggest a Dark Champions campaign instead. Let the players be psychopathic heroes instead of villains.

[Captain Liberty]

Re: Villain Campaign: need help

 

I was in a villain campaign several years ago that fell apart mostly from GM apathy, he lost interest. But it had a couple of good premises.

 

1. The PCs were all beholding to a "Mr. Big" who had various ways of controlling them, somewhat like the Secret Six.

 

2. There was a superhero team that was designated as the villains chief adversary. The GM had been sick and a Champions product had come out with a random hero generator in it (this was a LONG time ago) so he had time to roll up a half dozen heroes, and turned them into the hero team. I ended up using one of the heroes as a basis for my villain, thereby setting up a conflict.

 

Since you apparently want to play a superhero character, set up a group of the heroes you have devised (c'mon, you know you have a bunch) as a hero team and use them to chase the villains. With any luck, the players will provide you with a chance to play your heroes.

[Nucleon]

Re: Villain Campaign: need help

 

(I personally want someone to run a supers game I get to play in... oh well)

 

Oh, how Nucleon empathize with thee, mortal.

 

A main assertation by my players was a desire to have a less reactive game.

They wanted to be able to control and influence what they do. I think this could be the answer and so long as they develop interesting characters with powers I think this could be a very good in depth game.

 

Thy campaign outlining seems promising. And if thou really have players who can be proactive, that might be workable. Initiative is the only quality a vilain need if he does not want to be a mere pawn -and this kind of game gets old fast.

 

Nucleon would add that, with all the Civil War, Thunderbolts and Secret Identity stuff, this type of game becomes more and more commonplace. Here are, in all cosmic modesty, some of the guidelines Nucleon applied in his last vilain campaign, in no particular order:

 

- Make them feel the pressure; The villain underworld is a nasty place, as many of them is ready to sell you for the least favor. Make good use of the player's hunted & watched to put them on alert at all time. Create factions; Put many toes to step on on their way. This will likely instill some team spirit in them, in a "us vs them" way. There is honor even among thieves. The real psychopaths there needs to be though, or else they rapidly become scarce.

 

- Give them a leader at first; a guy/gal with a plan. And some advantage on the players, be it a threat, corruption or raw power. This leader's task will be to show the way, give a haven for the PCs and introduce them to the machiavelian world of villain politics. This leader might well be authoritative or even abusive, uniting the player against her after a short while. Or he might be a secretely heroic person, with real emotions however deeply buried.

 

- Play with values. Face them with "heroes" who are nothing more than glorified thugs; Show them dirtier than they are, by twisting Karma in a vindicative way. Tests their limits, provoke debates, as new ways will open to them.

 

- Finally, make a system where game money earned will equate points for bases/instalations & vehicules.

 

The most important part, once again, is focus; A medium-to-long-term plan is essential.

 

Make it big, and Godspeed!

 

:saturn

[Supreme Serpent]

Re: Villain Campaign: need help

 

- Finally, make a system where game money earned will equate points for bases/instalations & vehicules.

 

 

Did you work that up? I'd be very interested in seeing what you came up with. I've been working on an abstract system for something like that (see sig).

 

 

 

On another note, running The Great Supervillain Contest from the villain's side could make for a fun start to a campaign.

[Dr. Rune]

Re: Villain Campaign: need help

 

I'm going to have to go with those who advise to "don't do it". I've been in a couple of villains campaigns and they've all run into some sort of stumbling block. Whether it be waning interest, too much in-party fighting, or running low on interests/schemes, there always seems to be something to put the kibosh on a villains type game.

 

If your players are just looking to be more proactive maybe have them be 250pt. agents for the government or a secret society where their job is to 'go out and hunt down X'. That way they don't have to -necessarily- be good guys....they could be 'morally flexible'. This could lead to all sorts of interesting interactions where morals, values, and emotions are called into play.

 

You could also just.......end the world.

 

Have some sort of earth shaking catastrophe happen and the heroes have to be the ones to go about putting things back together.

 

Again, I'd steer more towards heroes....or even anti-heroes, but that's just me and YMMV

[Supreme Serpent]

Re: Villain Campaign: need help

 

I've been in a couple of villains campaigns and they've all run into some sort of stumbling block. Whether it be waning interest' date=' too much in-party fighting, or running low on interests/schemes, there always seems to be something to put the kibosh on a villains type game.[/quote']

 

You see...to me that's the REAL beauty of it. If you have a fairly stable group of players, run a short villain campaign. It crashes. The group goes on to do something else for a while. Someone talks about how fun the villain game was, and you should try it again. Runs for a bit, stops. Group does something else. Rinse, repeat a few times.

 

Then, a few years and several villain games later, you start the superHERO campaign...and have a large store of well-developed villains to use as the main bad guys...who will be exactly as ruthless and nasty...or as honorable and reluctant as they were when they were PCs, using the hideous power constructs the players built.

[Dr. Rune]

Re: Villain Campaign: need help

 

You see...to me that's the REAL beauty of it. If you have a fairly stable group of players, run a short villain campaign. It crashes. The group goes on to do something else for a while. Someone talks about how fun the villain game was, and you should try it again. Runs for a bit, stops. Group does something else. Rinse, repeat a few times.

 

Then, a few years and several villain games later, you start the superHERO campaign...and have a large store of well-developed villains to use as the main bad guys...who will be exactly as ruthless and nasty...or as honorable and reluctant as they were when they were PCs, using the hideous power constructs the players built.

 

Repped for great idea!

[Brogahn]

Re: Villain Campaign: need help

 

Hey Folks,

 

Thank you one and all for the insight. I wanted to updateyou on how things are unfolding. I am currently in what we might call preproduction for the campaign. I have just started my last quarter before I earn my degree and I am starting a new job. On top of all of that I am waiting for a spot to become available to run the game in our schedules. I may be sharing sundays with another player/gm.

 

With that said I spoke at length with players in group and individually. I expressed how important it was for me to be able to connect with their characters and to have an understanding of their motivations and that they be able to work together while staying true to their character concept. This approach really worked as the players started to reign one another in until I believe I am getting some characters that will work well together.

 

So far, the two player/characters I was most concerned about were the two wanting to play mutant twin brothers. Power wise one is going for Ice Powers and the other is going for Radiation Powers. If any of you are familiar with the manga/anime "Death Note"... they told me that they would be like the characters Light and L. This means they are highly intelligent, resourceful, clever and amoral at times. They will be sociopathic but not psychotic. They have the makings of Master Villains.

 

Another player is playing a professional criminal/assasain along the lines of Mystique/Carnage cross. A very potent and dealy metamorph. We have established that he will have a lineage with one of the other great Super Villains in the game world, his mother the QUEEN (1600+ Super Villainess who is pro mutant... think HER and Magneato)

 

Our only gamerchick (we only ever seem to have one at a time) is considering playing a "Little Nikki" concept. Half inferanl/ellysium spawn. In my world that means she most like has very specefic heritage. She would use magic. I have conspired with her to have a magical tome at least which gives me one or two plot seeds.

 

I must admit that I have shot down my 5th players idea for a character or at least shot down his power. He led with powers which I always think is a no no. He wants to play some form of paper manipulator based on a manga or anime he is familliar with. As it was explained to me this could be a paper green lantern. For some reason I am just not enthused by this idea and I asked him to work on it. I realize by writing this how totalitarian this sounds but for me to do my best I have to be interested and supportive of the characters in order to give my best to my players.

 

As it stands it will start as a 300/100 Points/disads game. I think this will allow for the development of substantially potent characters who have a lot of growing to do before they are truly terrifying. I do not have any hard and fast rules on Active Points or DC's yet. In the past I was very concerned about controlling these factors. I want to see what sorts of abilities the players feel they need to make their villain truly insidious.

 

Starting Locale will be the Stronghold Super Max Prison Facility. (Anyone have any information about a prison facility for supers...or advice about making it more realistic) I have let the players know that they will have the opportunity to escape when VIPER comes to get some of their own. From that point on I expect it to be high action staying ahead of PRIMUS and other Super Heroes.

 

Having conspired with the "little Nikki" player to have her go after her magical Tome which will be held in a seperate secure location. My metamorph chacacter is going to have doen quite a bit of mercenary/infiltration work for various organizations and has contacts. The sociopathic brothers are actually interested in deconstructing society and have thusly studied psychology, political science, sociology and many other non sci fi sciences. Also "little Nikki" was "trying out" for Viper when she was imprisoned. She is interested in their recruitment efforts for mystical power.

 

I am hoping to nudge the players into scouting a base of operations getting the funds to build it. Having it constructed secretly. I will make it known that they can do this independently or they can perhaps try to develop a relationship with Viper.

 

I already know that I can have my players run afoul of the mob or Viper not to mention other super villains. At least one player has expressed interest in gaining vengeance on the group that got him captured: G.U.A.R.D. Team Atlanta (an earlier campaign I ran where our pc's were the heroes)

 

As it stands I know I have to do a lot of work to seed the game world with opportunities and then write in specefic encounters based on the course of action my PC's take. I am looking forward to the challenge.

 

If anyone has any more suggestion....please let me know! (and if you are interested once I know who my PCs will be I will happily post details.

 

Tyvm

Brogahn

[input.jack]

Re: Villain Campaign: need help

 

Brogahn, here is my best advice for running a Villains game.

 

1) The COV breakout idea youve got is aces. Stick with that.

 

2) Read issues 1-12 of THUNDERBOLTS.

 

3) STOP after issue 12.

 

4) Be prepared for your PCs to turn on each other like rabid weasels.