Michael Hopcroft Posted August 15, 2003 Report Share Posted August 15, 2003 What if you find a character in a villain supplement that you especially like, but who you think would be even cooler as a hero than as a villain? Several characters from CKC come to mind. I'm surprised nobody has ever run Foxbat, for example, as a loony superhero rather than a loony supervillain. instead of constantly losing by overraching himself, he constantly wins by sheer luck (and his Rouge's Gallery is equally wacky except for one ultra-serious Dark Foxbiat-type who is deadly serious, ultra-competent, and does not hesistate to kill heroes if it suits his purposes). I also wonder if it is possible to create new superheores by working from the stats of a mfamous CU supervillain and supplying your own background. Your players never need to know that the mysterious emntalist who aids them in their times of greatest peril uses Menton's character sheet., or that the ultra-experienced power armor hero who shows up as a Deus ex Machina is a retooled Doctor Destroyer.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McCoy Posted August 15, 2003 Report Share Posted August 15, 2003 I have run Foxbat as a Hero. Invoking Venerabel Comic Book Cliche #16 ("any suffucently popular villian will reform and get their own title") in one campagine he actually organized and sponsored the PC hero team. (They went along with most of his suggestions, but balked at being called "Foxbat and his Fabulous Friends." This gave me an NPC who is just plain fun to run, could go into combat along side the PC's but have no danger of over shadowing them. Foxbat as an ally is far more frightening than Foxbat as a foe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
assault Posted August 15, 2003 Report Share Posted August 15, 2003 Shrinker makes a good hero. You don't have to change anything about her. She just hasn't made the transition to villain YET. Anyone who isn't familiar with her will be blindsided when she does turn villain. Anyone who is will get the biggest case of paranoia about her. What more could you want? Alan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hermit Posted August 15, 2003 Report Share Posted August 15, 2003 Re: How to turn a Villain into a Hero I haven't really changed anyone blantantly to a hero. I need villains more than I do NPC heroes right now However, I have used villain sheets as a basis for those NPC heroes (only slight variations in powers/stats, and a completely new background and name). One thing I've always wanted to try, but never had the chance to is to take a villain from some offical book, and then play him as a hero from "Backworld" now stuck in this one. Trying to prove that you're a 'good guy' could be one interesting plot hook. Think of those great Trek shows where Spock has the beard. The "good" double could find himself dealing with the people his evil self had messed with even in secret idenity. Imagine a heroic Stormfront, running into a woman this reality's version had seduced, used and dumped? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enforcer84 Posted August 15, 2003 Report Share Posted August 15, 2003 I always liked that 3rd Edition Champions gave Heroic and Villainous options for the villains in the book (save for Mechanon) that way you could use them as hand out heroes...some of them were paper thin, but I kind of liked them, it always made me feel like those villains: Ogre, Cheshire Cat, Green Dragon, Icicle, Pulsar, Shrinker, and Dragonfly could be redeemed. I've had some or all of them reform in most campaigns I have run. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GenreFiend Posted August 15, 2003 Report Share Posted August 15, 2003 The easiest way Change their Psych Lims. Change the name. Design a new costume. If you want, you can change any Killing Attacks into equal-point Normal Attacks. There you go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddHat Posted August 15, 2003 Report Share Posted August 15, 2003 Originally posted by Enforcer84 I always liked that 3rd Edition Champions gave Heroic and Villainous options for the villains in the book (save for Mechanon) that way you could use them as hand out heroes...some of them were paper thin, but I kind of liked them, it always made me feel like those villains: Ogre, Cheshire Cat, Green Dragon, Icicle, Pulsar, Shrinker, and Dragonfly could be redeemed. I've had some or all of them reform in most campaigns I have run. I liked that as well. I still almost always include a Hero Option or Path of Redemption in my villain's background stories. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug McCrae Posted August 15, 2003 Report Share Posted August 15, 2003 The comics trend for villains becoming heroes (which goes back a long way, maybe to the GA) was particularly strong in the late 80s, early 90s - Punisher, Magneto, Sabertooth, Venom, Lobo. As Hermit said, there's less reason for it in an rpg because as a GM you need lots of villains to challenge the heroes. How many times can you do the mind-controlled hero team bit? Well, OK, four or five according to Avengers Vol 3 #6. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemming Posted August 15, 2003 Report Share Posted August 15, 2003 A friend was starting a campaign and I had just finished off one. Instead of writing up a brand new hero, I took one of my villians from my old game and rewrote her as a hero. Her "new" origin was that she had been a deep cover mole in the villian team. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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