Incarcerating Gadget/Focus Villains

[korovan]

OK, this thread was sparked when I was browsing the UNTIL sourcebook and noticed that the Neo-Nazi battlesuit villain Panzer was locked up in The Guardhouse. My first thought was "Why? Without his suit he's just a guy. Put him in a normal maximum security prison and let him rot there..."

 

Which led to the whole question "As a GM, how do you get captured villains who have had their 'toys' taken away back in the game?" This is especially relevant to villains who can't rebuild their gadgets themselves (e.g. Armadillo, who basically lucked into his battlesuit) or whose Foci are unique (e.g. The Black Paladin's magic weapons and armor).

 

If you are sitting in a cell, have no powers of your own, and your Foci are locked up in "Warehouse 23" in a secret location on another continent... you seem kinda stuck.

 

What tricks and newspaper-thin rationles have you GMs all used to get around this problem?

[jkwleisemann]

Re: Incarcerating Gadget/Focus Villains

 

Usually, there's somebody out there who's willing to be owed a favor by a powerful supervillain.

 

Said person arranges the jailbreak, and retrieves the gear.

 

Alternately, some schmuck finds his way to said gear, appropriates it, and takes the place of the former villain.

[BoloOfEarth]

Re: Incarcerating Gadget/Focus Villains

 

Generally, I try to avoid having a villain's focus be irreplaceable. In cases where it is, there are several options.

 

In the past, I've had (non-incarcerated) supervillains do side businesses hiring themselves out to sneak smaller foci out of Stronghold lockup.

 

An enterprising supervillain breaking out of Stronghold once carried off a bunch of other villains' equipment to trade back to them.

 

Key equipment has been stolen while enroute from lockup to a top lab for study. (Not so hard to do when one of the PRIMUS researchers involved is actually in VIPER's pocket.)

 

Some stuff has been replaced in lockup with elaborate fakes, and the heroes have no idea who did it or how it was done. (To tell the truth, in some cases I'd be hard-pressed to say how it was done myself; I was lucky and my players didn't push too hard trying to find out.)

[Clonus]

Re: Incarcerating Gadget/Focus Villains

 

If you are sitting in a cell, have no powers of your own, and your Foci are locked up in "Warehouse 23" in a secret location on another continent... you seem kinda stuck.

 

What tricks and newspaper-thin rationles have you GMs all used to get around this problem?

 

I left the guy who had been captured in jail and had someone else use the suit of power armour the next time. In another case, I just had the creator of the gadgets give her a replacement set. But most of my supervillains unless they are a Hunted, stay in prison once caught.

[braincraft]

Re: Incarcerating Gadget/Focus Villains

 

1. Since they're the most experienced at using the focus, and they're already a known quantity in terms of unscrupulousness/being motivated to fight the PCs, they're the natural choice to use the focus again if it comes to that. Someone with enough pull to gain access to their focus/foci could easily also have enough pull to spring them. This third party could easily be the very government that incarcerated them, offering them parole or immunity in exchange for deniable services rendered, Suicide Squad-style.

 

2. All of the above, plus the focus only works for the villain in question or has limited use for other users. This is especially relevant if the focus compensates somehow for a deficiency of its wielder; say a villain who is normally paralyzed wears a psychic booster helmet that allows him to telekinetically animate his body in addition to its other powers. That guy has even more interest in keeping the focus than most.

 

3. The villain is also dangerous without their foci, but in different ways. This is enough for them to escape and steal their foci back, or to procure new ones (similar or entirely different). This is easy to justify for gadgeteers who built their own foci.

 

4. A different villain takes the foci, putting a new spin on their use. Maybe the new Ankylosaur is better at using the tail creatively, surprising the heroes when what looks like the same old jobber pulls out some crazy maneuver. Maybe Warlord likes the Armadillo armor so much, he steals it from the evidence lockers and reverse-engineers it, distributing scaled-down models to his troops. Maybe Glaive's little sister is pretty upset about how you beat up her big sis, and takes the magic weapon herself to exact a little vengeance.

 

5. The focus is dangerous all on its own. Even after you beat up Steely Jack, rip Jack out of its cockpit and lock him away, the Steely Jack's autopilot activates at an inopportune time and causes the robot suit to seek out its master, crashing through walls and buildings to get to his cell. Or maybe the Shadow Amulet that gave Dark Smoke Puncher his powers also slowly corrupts the guards that keep it under lock and key, eventually enticing one of them to become the new Dark Smoke Puncher.

[Narratio]

Re: Incarcerating Gadget/Focus Villains

 

I'd agree with Clonus to an extent.

 

If it's a focus or gadget that the user lucked into and so could be used by anybody, then the guy who was riding/using it just gets sent to a max security place and forgotten about while the gadget/focus goes on to have its own adventures at the hands of others.

 

But if it's a device that was built/created by the user then the Lex Luthor rules come into play. In the Silver Age Lex could build a time travel device out of a radio without appearing to have a gadget or variable power point pool. Add in half of Barry Allen's Rogues Gallery and a slew of the wierder Mavel villains and you find yourself following comics convention.

 

This says that anybody who ever built armour, weaponry or whatever, needs to be in a max security facility like Stonghold or the Vault. Even though they don't have a power pool, they can and will rebuild thier devices (or some part of it), even as one-shots, using no more than a transistor radio, laundry detergent and a mirror

[transmetahuman]

Re: Incarcerating Gadget/Focus Villains

 

This says that anybody who ever built armour' date=' weaponry or whatever, needs to be in a max security facility like Stonghold or the Vault. Even though they don't have a power pool, they can and will rebuild thier devices (or some part of it), even as one-shots, using no more than a transistor radio, laundry detergent and a mirror[/quote']I'm imagining draconian rules about access to duct tape in Stronghold... "Yeah, I can get hold of a kilo of coke for you; there's a dude in cell block 6 - but the duct tape... man, you couldn't pay me enough to risk it"

[korovan]

Re: Incarcerating Gadget/Focus Villains

 

I'm imagining draconian rules about access to duct tape in Stronghold... "Yeah' date=' I can get hold of a kilo of coke for you; there's a dude in cell block 6 - but the duct tape... man, you couldn't pay me enough to risk it"[/quote']

 

ROFL: The MacGyver Protocols.

 

Thanks for the replies everyone, you've given me some good ideas. Keep them coming...

[BoloOfEarth]

Re: Incarcerating Gadget/Focus Villains

 

I left the guy who had been captured in jail and had someone else use the suit of power armour the next time. In another case' date=' I just had the creator of the gadgets give her a replacement set. But most of my supervillains unless they are a Hunted, stay in prison once caught.[/quote']

 

For one-shot or once-in-a-blue-moon villains, that's fine. But there are a number of supervillains that aren't Hunteds, but my players love to "cross swords" with them as much for their personalities as their Powers. And it's frustrating for they players if those villains always escape from the heroes. So they get caught, are off the streets for 6 months to a year, and then somehow manage to escape and get their hands on their stuff again.

 

Even though they don't have a power pool' date=' they can and will rebuild thier devices (or some part of it), even as one-shots, using no more than a transistor radio, laundry detergent and a mirror[/quote']

 

Heh. I created a group of characters that use magical items and artifacts, knowing that the heroes would think that, stripped of those items, they'd be helpless. With that in mind, I planned ahead for how they'd get their stuff back, or otherwise escape incarceration.

 

For instance, the alchemist character, in addition to his normal multipower, does have an Alchemy Pool (40-point VPP, requires materials and extra time to create) for Plot Devices or PC-specific stuff. One of the first things he did is figure out how to distill the chemicals he needs from common household substances (soap, shampoo, toothpaste, food, etc.) to create a few "escape potions": Desolid, or 4 levels Shrinking, or Continuous 2x Penetrating KA, etc.

 

The fighter (Torg) has an intelligent sword that cut its way out of the evidence locker on its own and returned to him, helping him escape.

 

The witch's broom is also intelligent and can disguise itself as any type of floor-cleaning item (pushbroom, mop, etc.). It has used this to get out of the evidence locker and back to its mistress' side.

 

The team leader has a Necklace of Friends (Teleport, 2x AP, Megascale, Usable by others, Trigger, 4 uses) so if need be he can be pulled out of prison by any free teammate. He also has scrolls to locate and teleport *to* his items in lockup. Of course, he'll grab any of his teammates' stuff while he's there.

[Alibear]

Re: Incarcerating Gadget/Focus Villains

 

'Cos the villain payed points for it that's why. His power will find a way.