Single Enemy Campaigns

[Alverant]

The thread about "single origin campaigns" gave me an idea about exploring the idea of single enemy campaigns where most (or all) of the opponents you face are different aspects of the same organization. Has anyone ever tried it? I have two ideas.

 

Viper, a ruthless terrorist organization determined to rule to world. (Sorry folks, had to say it.) It started during WWII by a cabal of business men to exploit every dark facet of humanity, every tragedy, do anything for money and power.

Viper: naturally the main bulk of their forces used pretty much as written in the book sans their snake god.

Demon: a group of Satanists who is the mystic branch of Viper seeks magical power in the form of artifacts and basic spells to do what technology cannot. There is nothing above the level of Morbanes and the Edomites are not part of Demon ... yet.

Mechanon: a AI developed by Viper who has mostly gotten out of their control. Mechanon was originally programmed to "Wipe out all resistance" but a glitch changed it to "Wipe out all existence". Viper still has enough control to keep it away from their bases and agenda most of the time.

Dr.Destroyer: the immortal secret head and founder of Viper. Leaving Nazi Germany early in WWII he feels he is the apex of humanity and it is his right to rule over all.

 

Demon, the gravest threat to this world and beyond by summoning the Edomites to this universe.

Viper: much smaller than the standard Champions universe. Their purpose is to spread misery and despair while acting as a cover for Demon's real purpose. It is also a "dumping ground" for people who are evil but just aren't the type of people Demon would recruit or have no magic potential.

Demon: used as written in their book.

Mechanon: a summoned golem from the technosphere who has become infected by the Edomite taint and as much of a Demon enemy and threat as a rival and ally. Both seek the same goal, it's a question of who will receive the most power when it is accomplished.

Dr.Destroyer: a former member of the Inner Circle (replaced by Pandemonium) who left when he decided that he should rule and be worshiped by humanity instead of Luther Black. But unlike Black, Destroyer does not want to share the power with the other Kings of Edom. He wishes to keep them imprisoned and gain power for himself. This Destroyer is more technology based but uses some magic because he will not allow himself to be beholden to higher (or lower) entities instead he goes the route of using non-sentient natural/supernatural forces.

[clsage]

Re: Single Enemy Campaigns

 

The thread about "single origin campaigns" gave me an idea about exploring the idea of single enemy campaigns where most (or all) of the opponents you face are different aspects of the same organization. Has anyone ever tried it? I have two ideas.

 

Viper, a ruthless terrorist organization determined to rule to world. (Sorry folks, had to say it.) It started during WWII by a cabal of business men to exploit every dark facet of humanity, every tragedy, do anything for money and power.

Viper: naturally the main bulk of their forces used pretty much as written in the book sans their snake god.

Demon: a group of Satanists who is the mystic branch of Viper seeks magical power in the form of artifacts and basic spells to do what technology cannot. There is nothing above the level of Morbanes and the Edomites are not part of Demon ... yet.

Mechanon: a AI developed by Viper who has mostly gotten out of their control. Mechanon was originally programmed to "Wipe out all resistance" but a glitch changed it to "Wipe out all existence". Viper still has enough control to keep it away from their bases and agenda most of the time.

Dr.Destroyer: the immortal secret head and founder of Viper. Leaving Nazi Germany early in WWII he feels he is the apex of humanity and it is his right to rule over all.

 

I like this one...but I personally would steal a concept from an old "Man From

Uncle" novel entitled 'The Dagger Affair' which has the organization THRUSH

being formed by Prof Moriarity. And given that we see THRUSH being given

it's marching orders thru a semi-AI style computer in the TV series I've

always drawn a strong parallel betwen THRUSH (with it's computer known

as CENTRAL) and VIPER (with the SERPENTINE network). So you could have:

 

Dr Destroyer: While the world believed him dead at the Riechenbach Falls,

Prof James Moriarity survived. However, he was horribly injured in the event

and required the development of, thru his incredible intellect, an

exoskeleton to allow normal movement. Having been a egomaniacal genius

already, the trauma of his injuries has only served to drive his urge for

world domination to greater heights.

 

Etc.....

 

Just my slightly more than $.02US.

 

-Carl-

[Peregrine]

Re: Single Enemy Campaigns

 

Dr. Destroyer is a third possibility; the upcoming Book of the Destroyer will give enough details to make him the central villain figure for a whole campaign. He could be the Supreme Serpent of VIPER easily enough, though VIPER would only be a portion of his resources (to differentiate from the above VIPER-as-single-threat), with DEMON still the mystical branch of VIPER and Mechanon as one of Dr. D's constructs gone rogue (or has he...).

 

Istvatha V'Han is yet another. She could be using Dr. D and/or VIPER as her advance agents to either prepare the Earth for conquest, or to covertly conquer it for her. In this scenario, the known invasions have actually been coincendental, as a local governor within her domains discovered Earth's dimension and tried to conquer it, not knowing that his Empress was already working on the project.

[Clonus]

Re: Single Enemy Campaigns

 

Single enemy series are annoying to me. They underline the fictionality of the world since only in fiction is life quite that simple.

[clsage]

Re: Single Enemy Campaigns

 

Dr. Destroyer is a third possibility; the upcoming Book of the Destroyer will give enough details to make him the central villain figure for a whole campaign. ...and Mechanon as one of Dr. D's constructs gone rogue (or has he...).

 

Oooooooo! This plays into one of the theories that is posited in one of the

CU books (was it "Champions Universe" ?) where the question of 'Where did

Mechanon come from ?' is raised. And one of the theories is (as I recall):

 

 

Mechanon is actually Dr D himself, but simply in a different suit.

 

 

-Carl-

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Single Enemy Campaigns

 

I did something close to this in a past campaign, although the PCs didn't realize it at first. Their main antagonist was inspired by Gold Rush Games's San Angelo: City of Heroes setting for HERO System, with elements from other Champions books. In that campaign I blended two light-powered master villains, Photon/Stephen Bow from SA with Sunburst from Classic Enemies. I gave the character a messianic complex after being "touched by the Sun," the accident that gave him his powers. In my world Stephen Bow became CEO of Eclipse Industries, a major industrial corporation, but he had also taken on the guise of Adam, founder of the new-age Light of Truth Ministry from SA. I modified the Ministry a little, making them New Age sun worshippers, with Adam presenting himself as the avatar of the Sun itself. As Photon he would recruit the most fanatical followers of the Light of Truth as agents of "Solar Mass," which assisted Photon in his supervillainous schemes. (I always liked the interplay of light/sun motifs among these groups.)

 

The various branches of Photon's organization were able to clandestinely help each other. Donations to Light of Truth financed some of Stephen Bow's secret projects at Eclipse Industries. Pirated Eclipse technology equipped agents of Solar Mass. Solar Mass would eliminate people who pried too deeply into the affairs of Eclipse Industries or the Light of Truth Ministry.

 

I found several hooks to get the PCs involved with the different branches of Photon's organization: stopping Photon's crimes, investigating shady dealings at Eclipse, rescuing a brainwashed DNPC from the Light of Truth. The heroes were attacked and harrassed in and out of combat by these groups, and I was rather proud that it took the players a long time to realize that they were dealing with different aspects of the same enemy.

[Peregrine]

Re: Single Enemy Campaigns

 

Single enemy series are annoying to me. They underline the fictionality of the world since only in fiction is life quite that simple.

 

Good point.

 

Remember though, that this is not necessarily "single enemy in the whole setting" (even though that's how the discussion has gone so far), but also "single enemy for the campaign", given that "campaign" is a subset of "setting". The latter matches a good amount of heroic fiction.

[Alverant]

Re: Single Enemy Campaigns

 

Remember though' date=' that this is not necessarily "single enemy in the whole setting" (even though that's how the discussion has gone so far), but also "single enemy for the campaign", given that "campaign" is a subset of "setting". The latter matches a good amount of heroic fiction.[/quote']

 

Actually that was the intention. This is a fictional world, we can make it as simple as we want. In some TV series from Transformers to Stargate SG1 there was one primary enemy. Almost every episode dealt with that enemy even if it wasn't obvious at first. I was wondering if anyone tried it in their gaming group.

 

I was thinking it would be hinted at like a Viper nest leader using a Demon magic want or finding out an elite Viper agent is now one of Dr.Destroyer's henchmen.