Suggestions Wanted: Vigilante game

[DrFurious]

Greetings.

 

I'm about to start a Dark Champions vigilante game and I'm at a but if a loss for scenario ideas. I was hoping that the assembled herodom could offer some suggestions and help get the creative juices flowing.

 

The game is heroic-level with equipment purchased with money. Characters are based on 75+75 points.

 

The current crop of characters:

• A criminal court judge, owner of an apartment block.
  
• A Catholic junior priest with some mystic powers of an angel of vengence.
  
• A former dot-com mogol with a surveillance van.
  
• A wealthy ex-green beret who provides training for security and law enforcement.
  

 

!DrFurous!

[tkdguy]

Just a few questions to consider:

 

1. Do you already have a setting? If not, you can always use your own city/town as the background. That way, the players will already be familiar with the area.

 

2. Have the characters already met? If so, how did they meet, considering their varied backgrounds? If not, how could they meet? That would probably be the first advenure.

 

3. Why not use your local newspaper for ideas? The stories covered -- rape, murder, arson, etc. -- are perfect plot hooks for any Dark Champions campaign. Just change the names.

[Farkling]

Have a rich NPC (or the governer) hire (or request) the Beret to run security at the gala charity event of the season.

 

The judge is attending. He or a close friend is giving a speech.

 

The dot.com is hired by the Beret or a third party to observe the event. Allow him time to set up surveillance beforehand.

 

Arrange to have the priest pursue a bloodthirsty demon and his possessed minions onto the premises.

 

The ensuing fireball/exorcism should be plenty interesting.

 

Extra incentives: Some of the possessees are familiar to everyone. One of the dot.com's oild business contacts or suppliers. Retired military personnel of the Beret's acquantance. And a street kid or two that the judge kept out of (or sent) to juvie. The priest of course, was pursuing the demon, who is married to one of his best church supporters/contributors.

 

How's that?

[Vanguard00]

Re: Suggestions Wanted: Vigilante game

 

Originally posted by DrFurious

The current crop of characters:

• A criminal court judge, owner of an apartment block.
  
• A Catholic junior priest with some mystic powers of an angel of vengence.
  
• A former dot-com mogol with a surveillance van.
  
• A wealthy ex-green beret who provides training for security and law enforcement.
  

 

So you've got a rash of hi-tech burglaries. Computer chips, power supplies, etc, are being stolen. The judge hears about it through channels, the priest hears about it because a friend of his (alternately a member of his parish) worked at a plant; the dot-com mogul just watches for this sort of thing; and the security guy is hired by one of the firms before or after a heist.

 

The short version: a new gang is in town and they're looking to hit the hi-tech black market in a big way. They don't mind roughing people up a bit to get what they want, and they intend to take over the city's criminal market doing it. This means they'll clash with other local gangs.

 

The twist: there's already a syndicate-type group in place, and they're not happy with this new rival. No one knows about them yet but if they take the kind of action necessary to remove this threat they'll be exposed. Do they help the heroes? Go after the new gang themselves? And just who is this syndicate, anyway?

 

Possible subplots and hooks: a friend of the judge (another judge himself) is part of the syndicate, though not necessarily high level. A former compatriot (or senior officer) of the green beret's is also involved. Almost anyone from any of the character's background could be involved.

 

Potential gang wars in the streets, city corruption, heroic angst as friends and loved ones are revealed to be more (or less) than originally thought...

 

...this is the stuff of legends, man. Run with it!

[DrFurious]

I'd like to thank everyone for their suggestions. I've got an idea of how the game is to proceed.

 

Well, we've just finished our first session and for the most part things have gone well. We have a new character joining the group - a MacGuyver type mechanic. The first part of the session consisted of quicking creating the mechanic and incorporating him into the group.

 

I've decided that it would be best if the characters have known each other for a while. They are members of the same community and have attended several block-watch type gatherings. As part of the session introduction, I had the players introduce their characters and reveal details that would have emerged during several weeks of conversions. As a result, I think we have a relatively cohesive group.

 

The action began at St. Micheals Catholic Church, where Father John Richter works. A seminar was being held in one of the church's common rooms - the topic: Crime Prevention in the Community. The slated speaker, a police officer, had been injured in a recent incident. Since one of the PCs had connections with the force, he was called in as a replacement. The other PCs were present as part of the audience.

 

Meanwhile, Father Richter was attending to his duties - prayers were being held as well as open confessionals. During one of the confessions, a distraught individual begged the priest for forgiveness. In a disjointed conversation, the man mentioned some horrible crimes that he had committed with others - involving killing innocents. One moment he was contrite, the other he was ranting about the priest serving a dark master.

 

This alarmed Father Richter a great deal and he quickly exited the confessional -quickly followed by the unstable confessor. He emerged and revealed a 12-guage shotgun and a chest strapped with several sticks of dynamite. Firing into weapon into the air - a hostage situation ensued. The man demanded "the blood" and began raving about "the hunger".

 

Waiting for an opening, Father Richter led the man toward the back of the chapel where the sacremental wine was stored. Meanwhile some of the other PCs in the seminar room heard the shot and came to investigate. Realizing the situation, he returned to the seminar room to alert the other characters.

 

They began to evacuate the audience while the ex-beret Jake Anderson began to stealth toward the chapel room. Unfortunately, the actions of the other PCs were hampered by their wish to conceal their vigilante tendancies. The judge attempted to alter the police via 911, the new mechanic character hurried to his car for some weapons, while the ex-dot-com mogul filed out with some of the audience to a side exit.

 

Since his character hadn't heard the gunshot and he didn't want to be seen associating with the other PCs, the ex-mogol he was staying out of the action. I thought this was a bit odd since he had an Obsessed with Crime-fighting disadvantage and something odd was definitely going on. When the ex-beret pulls out his Desert Eagle and stalks into the church - SOMETHING must be going on. After some prodding, I got the character hussling back into the church.

 

Meanwhile, after another warning shotgun blast, Father Richter handed the wine bottle to the deranged and backed away, still waiting for his chance. Moving to the alter, the hostage-taker laid the shotgun aside and with the other hand stuffed into his pocket (presumably on a detonator) attempted to drink the "blood" Obviously not what he was expecting, he spewed out the wine. At this point, the priest attempted to tackle the assilant - missing badly and leaving himself wide open.

 

Leveling the shotgun, the assailant let loose and delivered a nasty wound to the priest's hand. This triggered a blood-lust disad in the assailent and he attempted to gnaw the injured hand. A scuffle ensued and eventually Father Richter was able to obtain the shotgun - unfortunately, the unstable man still had a hand on a detonator. A quick blast disabled the arm holding the detonator - which went flying into the pews.

 

Flipping between blood-lust and remorse, the man attempted to wrestle the shotgun and force the priest to kill him. At this point, the ex-beret entered and let loose with the Desert Eagle - virtually blowing his right arm off at the shoulder (critical damage roll!). Falling to his knees, the hostage-taker began bleeding profusely from the wound.

 

The other PCs arrived and took charge. The man was effectively out of the action. Police, paramedics, and the bomb squad arrived and began the clean-up. Two of the PCs slipped away to avoid un-necessary attention with the others delivered up their statements. The ex-beret was taken to the precinct for questioning and to make a statement. Unfortunately, the interrogating detective didn't take too kindly to his actions and grilled him until the early hours of the morning.

 

Next day, the PCs gathered to compare notes. The other PCs got the full story from Father Richter and began making plans to investigate the nutcase, who they learned was named Walter Meyers.

 

For the most part, I'm pleased with how the characters are working together. With the pre-session buildup of the characters knowing each other as part of the community watch, I think we've established a believable reason for them to associate. At least it doesn't seem as forced as some "get the characters to work together" scenarios.

 

Unfortunately for this session, several of the characters were left out of the battle. Hopefully this won't occur too frequently - I don't anticipate that the characters will be involved in altercations while playing their every-day lives.

 

We'll see how things progress next session.

 

!DrFurious!

[DrFurious]

If anyone is still reading this thread, I'd like some advice on how to handle one of my PCs actions.

 

In my last session, the priest PC and the hostage taker had been struggling. At the time, the priest had possession of the shotgun while the tormented hostage-taker was ineffectually fumbling at the gun. He was trying to get the priest to shoot him (apparently to commit suicide) but arguably this could be difficult to tell from behind.

 

Now, my concern is that the ex-beret PC had been rushing up from the rear (along with 2 other characters flanking) and unloaded with the Desert Eagle. Somewhat dangerous since the two were in an apparent stuggle. The resulting critical shoulder wound took him out and is what eventually killed the assailant enroute to the hospital.

 

My question is: how would the police treat the ex-beret? The gunshot is obviouly taken from behind the guy. When the police arrived, he gave himself and his weapon up without complaint. He's got a concealed weapon's permit for the gun. Now I've basically had the police detain him for questioning and to give a statement. He was released the next morning.

 

As it stands, I don't have too much of a problem with what the police have done (so far) but I'm concerned that the players may begin engaging in future bloodbaths. (I won't go into the other PC who wanted to finish off the guy when no one was looking because he had a Rep: Killer of Criminals [shudder]). I don't want him thinking that the weapon permit gives him a license to kill or wave his gun around. Then again, this is a vigilante game and I don't want to shut things down totally.

 

Realistically, what should the police have done?

 

!DrFurious!

[Farkling]

Police? I don't know. PErhaps they will impound the firearm as evidence. If the victim had lived, he woul dbe required to go to trial. The DA might be able to file "reckless endangerment" or "use of excessive force" charges in the public interest. However, without the priests cooperation and testimony, that would be difficult to complete. It would add some harrassment for the priest though.

 

He was trrying to defend the priest, which will try pretty well in the papers ("Vigilante Enacts Old Testament Justice" "Defiler Struck Down by God's Wrath" "Church Defended By Warrioir of God")....talk shows may want him to come around...

 

The police in my FICTIONAL opinion (I do not know in reality) will take the statement. If the DA decides not to hold him on manslaughter charges he'll be released and asked not to leave town while the investigation ensues. With a priest backing him up, I'm sure there will be little investigation. The police cannot do much about the fist attempt...they need a trend.

 

The dead man's releatives can make a case in court for "use of excessive force", or if the victim was sole support of his family, they can sue your Beret in court for "deprivation of income" or some such nonsense....the laws on the books can be twisted that way.

 

Suffice to say, if he's clean and aboveboard and is backed up by the other witness, then he may get away clean the first time. If he continues to do this, he will be observed more closely.

 

My $ 0.02

[Fur Face]

Police in Dark Champions

 

What the police will do depends upon your campaign flavor. Traditionally (comics/TV that is), there are always one or two cops who dont' approve and consider the PC's just as bad as the criminals they take out. Mostly though, in a Dark Champions campaign, the police do a lot of yelling/screaming, may bring you in to ask questions & such, but for the most part a lot of them are happy that someone is handling things in a manner that they couldn't. So they will tend to look the other way, if at all possible (Who killed this murdeous, drug pushing pimp? Gee, that will be the top of my priority list).

 

IMHO of course.

[DrFurious]

Session #2:

 

I've always liked it when I've gotten handouts as a player. For some reason having something in your hands keeps you more involved in the game. For this reason, I've decided to use a technique from CoC - newspaper clippings. Spending some time with the good old word processor, I came up with the front page of the local paper.

 

Headlines include:

• Man runs into Strip traffic (introduces the Strip, foreshadows a cult hunting people)
  
• Girls joining street gangs in record numbers (flavor/fluff)
  
• Mafia War Feared (setting up the Scatucci-Torccone war)
  
• Blackbridge Murder (first of the Boogieman killings)
  
• Interdiction of Drug Planes in Colombia to Resume (flavor/fluff)
  
• Helicopter Carrying Russian Governor and Aides Disappears (mentioning Russians for a later plot with the Russian mob)
  

Now depending on the player's actions, I may develop some of these stories or leave them as red herrings. A lot of this is to help set a mood as well as foreshadow campaign elements for later sessions.

 

Cast recap:

Judge Montgomery "Monty" Gibbs, aka "Vengence" - criminal court judge

Father John Richter, aka "Gabriel" - catholic junior priest with some mystic powers of an angel of vengence.

Kurt Vanderlay, aka "Knova" - former dot-com mogol with a surveillance van.

Jesse Hood, aka ??? - fast'n'furious mechanic with family connections in the mafia.

Jake Anderson, aka Pheonix - wealthy, scarred ex-green beret

 

The session opened up with Kurt beginning his investigation on the church assailant - Walter Meyers. He was able to assemble a dossier on Meyers using his links into the local and federal computer systems. The next step was to investigate Meyer's home - an abandoned tenement in the Freetown district.

 

That night, the group gathered outside the tenement - which the HCPD had already superficially searched. Investigating, they found indications that some remains had been disposed in the bathtub. In addition, they also found an unidentified haunch of meat in the freezer - possibly human. Other signs confirmed that Meyers has mental problems and an obsession with satanism.

 

Withdrawing, they encountered a street bum watching nearby. After a brief chase [the bum didn't react well when he saw a masked man stalking towark him and two others attempting to flank.], the bum revealed that another group in black trench-coats had arrived during the night [before the police] and had cleaned out the tenement. They had burned several items in a metal barrel nearby.

 

The barrel revealed a partial address for a warehouse at Pier Point. A brief meeting at St. Micheal's and they rendevoued at the warehouse - some in the survellience van, others in Jesse's weapon-laden GTO. Finding an inconspicious spot, they settled down to observe.

 

In short order, they observed a blue van arrive containing four men in matrix-style trenchcoats, sunglasses, and assault rifles (now dubbed the BCKs - Black Coat Killers) with a trussed captive (female?) under a black hood. Evidently relieving two BCKs guarding the interior of the warehouse, the van began to pull away. The PCs scrambled to follow. After some confusion, Kurt (Knova) began shadowing the BCKs in the surviellence van, followed by Jesse in the more conspicious battle-GTO.

 

Unfortunately, Knova's shadowing was not too good (8- !) and he broke cover. While the BCKs didn't give any indication that they had observed Knova's van, the PCs decided "oh f*** it" and moved to halt the BCKs in the middle of the busy street.

 

[Aside: This kind of took me unawares. I hadn't really expected the PCs to try something this foolish. The BCKs were obviously heading somewhere, WITH a hostage, and the PCs had no idea who they were working for. Still, only two PCs were driving so any cautious words from other PCs fell on deaf ears.]

 

Speeding up alongside the BCKs van [who STILL hadn't seen the PCs - bad PER rolls ] they attempted to shoot out the tires. Now imagine a running vehicle gunfight in four-lane traffic. The results were not pretty. Under assault, the BCKs attempted to evade the PCs. However, due to vehicle damage and a failed combat driving roll, they flipped the van (~40 mph).

 

Barely avoiding crashing themselves they spilled out into the accident scene. In the ensuing gun battle, two BCKs went down [one riddled with bullets, the other tranq'ed with darts] while the other two made their escape. Distant sirens announced the approach of police, the PCs grabbed the drugged BCK and the corpse of the hostage [she was killed in the crash].

 

The session ended with the PCs speeding away, moments before the police arrived on the scene.

 

Possible Aftermath:

The PCs now have a captive to interrogate and the body of a dead hostage to dispose of. I can't say that my players' choices have been stellar this game. While things could have gone worse, they've suceeded in alerting certain forces of their presence.

 

Certain physiological abnormalities in the BCKs will come to light during the autopsy - unfortunately the PCs have no contacts in the coroner's office.

 

One of the PCs [Knova] distains masks and may be identified by occupants of other vehicles. He would be seen with a limp (dead?) body of a woman slung over his shoulder fleeing the scene.

 

Dissention withing the ranks of the PCs may spill out. Several of the PCs (players) strongly opposed the street assault and the taking of the hostage body. Hopefully my players become a little bit more cautious and less reckless. We shall see what happens next week.

 

!DrFurious!

[Crimson Arrow]

Sounds quite interesting, though.

 

The PCs might end up almost as dangerous to the public as the criminals.

 

Couple of things. Maybe they shouldn't dispose of the body. I assume they took it to identify her/find some clues. If not, taking it was really stupid. As many players opposed that act, maybe it was just dumb.

 

However, no one seems to have much in the way of investigative skills. This could be a problem (also if you are going to run a serial killer plotline, which I think you are setting up). However, you've only given sketchy details, so maybe one of them has it covered.

 

Can one of them break in to find out the autopsy results? Maybe Jake and Jesse together could pull this off.

 

Alternatively, could the surveillance van's technology allow them to snoop on the autopsy as it's made, or could Kurt hack the computer system?

 

I know it's down to the players, but maybe they need some help getting into this kind of scenario. At the moment, they seem to be a bit gung-ho, which won't stand them in good stead in solving mysteries! Did they even seem sorry that they got the hostage killed?

 

BTW getting back to your original question, how about eventually having one involving a serial killer targeting priests or judges? Good way of getting the PCs directly involved. However, I think you might want to stick to a couple of "mop up the drug dealers" scenarios if you can't get the PCs to operate in a more careful manner.

[DrFurious]

From what I understand, the motive for taking the body was to obtain some identification (they were kind of pressed for time with sirens blazing in the distance). The player has later admitted that taking the body was probably a dumb idea.

 

While some of the PCs do have some investigation-type skills, I think that the more gung-ho players may drag things down. Safety of the hostage/general public was not on some players minds during this scenario.

 

BTW getting back to your original question, how about eventually having one involving a serial killer targeting priests or judges? Good way of getting the PCs directly involved. However, I think you might want to stick to a couple of "mop up the drug dealers" scenarios if you can't get the PCs to operate in a more careful manner.

 

I like the serial killer targeting priests/judges idea. Father Richter does have a DNPC superior who can be a good target for an attack. The other PCs for the most part are a bit detached from the campaign world. What I mean is that they haven't really gotten to know any of the major NPCs and become invested in their wellbeing. A good candidate may be the bum who first gave them information about the BCKs.

 

Thanks for the suggestions!

 

!DrFurious!