The One Destroyer

[GenreFiend]

I got this idea from two different sources:

"The One" starring Jet Li.

The annual, Pre-Crisis, JLA/JSA Team-Up.

The Destroyer of an alternate reality, having killed his Earth's Champions and conquered the globe, Is trying to now conquer his whole universe. But, he doesn't have enough power. So, he sets about using both magic and science to try and find another power source. He discovers other universes.

Destroyer then contacts the Dr. Destroyer of one of these other Earths, and offers him help in defeating that world's Champions, in exchange for his loyalty. Dr. Destroyer says no, and attacks, claiming that he follows no one, especially not some imposter. Dr. Destroyer is killed, and Destroyer absorbs his power, adding it to his own.

Destroyer then begins travelling the Multiverse, contacting his duplicates and demanding their loyalty. If they turn him down (as they usually do), he slays them and absorbs their power anyway. Until a small group of Destroyers do the one thing he never expected them to do. They ask for help. From the Champions.

 

I thought this could be an incredible (though very ambitious) short-term campaign. Bringing together various Champions teams from different realities (I was think 4th Ed., 5th Ed., and New Millenium [please, don't hurt me!]). A GM could even create teams in other systems and convert them to FReD. Possible complications include the fact that inter-dimensional transport is provided by the Destroyers, and they are almost definitly planning on betraying the Champions, as soon as their mutual enemy is out of the way. They may even be planning to turn on each other.

Anyway, I would love to hear what people think of my idea. Any comments or questions would be more than welcme.

[GenreFiend]

Hello?

 

Is anyone going to reply to this? Even if you think it's the stupidest idea you've ever read, at least give me some feed-back. All comments, suggestions, questions, and even critiques are welcome.

[Hermit]

Re: Hello?

 

Originally posted by GenreFiend

Is anyone going to reply to this? Even if you think it's the stupidest idea you've ever read, at least give me some feed-back. All comments, suggestions, questions, and even critiques are welcome.

 

Mmm, sorry, wasn't ignoring you or anything- just trying to think it through. I'm not sure it would work. For one thing, Dr Destroyer has a strong distrust of magic, and does not use it (at least as far as I recall).

 

Also, you could do it, but the idea that the "One" had it right and eliminating your counterparts makes you stronger will set a precedent you'll have to keep track of. That could be cool, or it could be a hassle.

[GenreFiend]

Re: Re: Hello?

 

Originally posted by Hermit

Mmm, sorry, wasn't ignoring you or anything- just trying to think it through. I'm not sure it would work. For one thing, Dr Destroyer has a strong distrust of magic, and does not use it (at least as far as I recall).

 

Also, you could do it, but the idea that the "One" had it right and eliminating your counterparts makes you stronger will set a precedent you'll have to keep track of. That could be cool, or it could be a hassle.

 

5th Ed. Dr. Destroyer distrusts magic. The New Millenium Dr. Destroyer (who preferred, simply, Destroyer) was 90% magic-powered. The idea is that there are variants throughout the multi-verse, and while some use only tech, some use only magic, and some use both. The main bad-guy of the plot would be one who uses both.

 

As for the other thing, as I said, this would be a very short mini-campaign, basicly limited to this one story. For full campaigns, I prefer using player-created heroes, instead of the teams from the book.

[Blue Jogger]

It's not a stupid idea, but it is a rather tough one to run.

 

I rather like the idea of Destroyers contacting each other.

"Follow me or die!" "Funny, that's what I was thinking."

 

Most heroes would realize that Destroyer wouldn't just give them an inter-dimensional transport. Instead let the heroes stumble across it.

"You do remember, Destroyer has an inter-dimensional transport." Even better, have the heroes "borrow" it while Destroyer watches from his stronghold. "Foolish heroes, they took the bait."

[OddHat]

Re: Hello?

 

Originally posted by GenreFiend

Is anyone going to reply to this? Even if you think it's the stupidest idea you've ever read, at least give me some feed-back. All comments, suggestions, questions, and even critiques are welcome.

 

Not a bad Crisis series, but unless you're runing cosmically powerful superheroes or very toned down Dr.Destroyers the players might feel like they're extranious to the adventure. They're going to fight the endlessly reborn and more powerful Destryer (assuming they survive the first encounter) and his minions again and again, to what purpose? To save our realities Dr. Destroyer? And how, when that Dr. Destroyer, who could easily wipe out almost any team, can't face what's coming for him?

 

This sounds like it could turn into a very GM centered mini-campaign, with the PCs mainly there to watch the heroic NPCs battle and die, or a game where the players will be switching characters in every session, maybe several times in a session. You'll have to make sure your players are OK with that.

[Barghest]

New Millenium was an abomination that needs to be scourged from the Earth!

 

That said, do whatever you want, GenreFiend. It's not a bad idea, just not one that really speaks to me.

[Lord Liaden]

Ambitious concept indeed! I think you're actually going beyond those JLA/JSA crossover stories with this: it's almost along the lines of a Crisis on Infinite Earths thing. The Destroyer who's been absorbing his duplicates' power will be a staggering combat monster, so you'll either need a large number of very powerful heroes to stop him, or a very large number of standard superheroes. That's going to be difficult for your players to run, unless you have them battle his minions (not very satisfying) or take out some portion of Dr. D's plan, like a necessary component of his power-absorbing device.

 

That last part might actually work if the other alternate Destroyers aren't really dead, but imprisoned and hooked up to some power siphoning equipment that feeds their abilities to the One Doctor. If the heroes can free them then the One will lose his enhanced abilities, and have X number of really p.o.'d dopplegangers on his back.

 

One thing that you need to do is give the heroes strong incentive to actually work with the Destroyer(s) against the One. Consider taking this cross-dimensional Doctor along the Istvatha V'han route: he's conquering each new alternate Earth as he steals the power of that world's Dr. Destroyer. Perhaps the PCs will have to confront an invasion of their world by the One Destroyer and his minions. They might visit one of these alternate Earths and learn how hellish their world will be under Destroyer's heel. Then when they believe they're out of options, let them meet the Destroyer Squad.

 

I hope that's of use to you.

[Space Cadet]

Originally posted by Lord Liaden

Ambitious concept indeed! I think you're actually going beyond those JLA/JSA crossover stories with this: it's almost along the lines of a Crisis on Infinite Earths thing. The Destroyer who's been absorbing his duplicates' power will be a staggering combat monster, so you'll either need a large number of very powerful heroes to stop him, or a very large number of standard superheroes. That's going to be difficult for your players to run, unless you have them battle his minions (not very satisfying) or take out some portion of Dr. D's plan, like a necessary component of his power-absorbing device.

 

That last part might actually work if the other alternate Destroyers aren't really dead, but imprisoned and hooked up to some power siphoning equipment that feeds their abilities to the One Doctor. If the heroes can free them then the One will lose his enhanced abilities, and have X number of really p.o.'d dopplegangers on his back.

 

One thing that you need to do is give the heroes strong incentive to actually work with the Destroyer(s) against the One. Consider taking this cross-dimensional Doctor along the Istvatha V'han route: he's conquering each new alternate Earth as he steals the power of that world's Dr. Destroyer. Perhaps the PCs will have to confront an invasion of their world by the One Destroyer and his minions. They might visit one of these alternate Earths and learn how hellish their world will be under Destroyer's heel. Then when they believe they're out of options, let them meet the Destroyer Squad.

 

I hope that's of use to you.

 

Man, that's only slightly less frightening than the Mechanon/

Takofanes plot idea mentioned in another thread. But then

again, it's just the sort of twisted idea I've come to expect

from you, LL - or, as I've taken to calling you since your cur-

rent avatar first appeared, Lord Smith, Chief Agent of Riven-

dell.

 

Space Cadet

[Trebuchet]

I think it's a cool idea, but it will be hard to prevent the players from feeling utterly helpless. Don't forget that in such a scenario, at least one of the Destroyers would be a good guy. If you play it like Jet Li's movie, the good Destroyer would be getting tougher too.

 

If you want this scenario to be less over the top, perhaps use a less powerful villain...

 

I can't wait to see the Legion of Interdimensional Foxbats!

[GenreFiend]

Thank You

 

Thank you everyone for your input. Looking back, I don't think I'll ever get the chance to actually run this, anyway. But, I was thinking of this more along the lines of a massive Con Tourney or short-lived ultra-campaign, anyway. As for the heroes just sitting around, watching Drs. Destroyer fighting each other, that was never in the plan. The thinking on the Destroyers' part was more along the lines "The Champions of our realities are the only ones who have ever really beaten us. Perhaps several Champions teams can beat our enemy."

As for a reason for the heroes to get involved, they would be made to understand that one Destroyer with the combined power of hundreds could conquer all realities and subjugate them to his rule. But, as I said, I'll probably never get to run it anyway. I have a hard enough time getting people together for a regular game.

Oh, and I had not planned on all the Destroyers getting more powerful, only the one doing the actual killing.

[GenreFiend]

Why?

 

Originally posted by Barghest

New Millenium was an abomination that needs to be scourged from the Earth!

 

That said, do whatever you want, GenreFiend. It's not a bad idea, just not one that really speaks to me.

 

What is this problem so many people on this biard seem to have with New Millenium? I liked it. I thought it was an interesting new take on the setting, and actually liked the idea of inter-connecting most of the characters somehow. I especially liked taking Dr. Destroyer's past further back than WWII (all the way back to the beginning of human history), but then I have always been a big fan of Vandal Savage.

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Why?

 

I suspect that a lot of the antipathy toward the New Millennium was because it was written for the Fuzion System game mechanics, which supplanted our beloved HERO. For many people the setting and the system are inextricably linked. Also, NM swept many of the familiar characters and organizations of the old Champions Universe out of existence, or transformed them unrecognizably, to a far greater degree than the current incarnation of the CU did.

 

FWIW I found the NM setting to be hit or miss, but the hits were often very good. And I agree with you that the primeval Destroyer was one of the hits.

[Mordacius]

As for the heroes just sitting around, watching Drs. Destroyer fighting each other, that was never in the plan. The thinking on the Destroyers' part was more along the lines "The Champions of our realities are the only ones who have ever really beaten us. Perhaps several Champions teams can beat our enemy."

I have another possible twist:

If I were to run this, I'd pregen a bunch of alternate, heroic versions of Dr. Destroyer for the PCs to play. ('Cause really, how else would a person get to try running *that*? )

[GenreFiend]

Hmmm..........

 

Now THAT'S an idea!

[Black Rose]

Originally posted by Trebuchet

I think it's a cool idea, but it will be hard to prevent the players from feeling utterly helpless. Don't forget that in such a scenario, at least one of the Destroyers would be a good guy. If you play it like Jet Li's movie, the good Destroyer would be getting tougher too.

 

Dr. Restorer, you mean. The man who saw that the world would be destroyed by the nuclear proliferation of the superpowers and became a guerilla peacebringer to the word, mounting (relatively) bloodless attacks on missile bases and weapons labs? hmmm, I like this guy.

 

Now to see if I could rewrite the good doctor in a benevalent format.

 

If you want this scenario to be less over the top, perhaps use a less powerful villain...

 

I can't wait to see the Legion of Interdimensional Foxbats!

 

Now, this would be scary. I think, to make it work "right", you need at least three Foxbats trying to claim the Oneness; the generic Foxbat, one more Black Harlequin-y, and someone more sane, who acts insane to throw people off of his real Master Plans.