On the Willful Killing and Maiming of NPCs

[BoloOfEarth]

S-SQUAD MEMBERS, READ NO FURTHER!

 

 

As mentioned elsewhere, I'm running an alien invasion story arc in my Champions game. One of the things I planned to do is have the aliens pull some NPC superheroes into an ambush situation and, frankly, kill them off. I want the players to appreciate that this is a real threat, not something they can just shrug off as “irritating but not a real problem.” Originally, I was going to have this be a completely off-panel thing involving a handful of supers never met before by the PCs, but I'm considering making it a bit more personal to the players.

 

In a past adventure against the Subterrans, S-Squad (the PC heroes) met a fledgling college student solo superhero named the Cobalt Kid. He's a Cosmic VPP type (45 points) who is notably lower powered than the PCs. (He started out below 300 points, when they were already 350-375 points. They've all gained about 40 points since then.) For some reason, the PCs invited him along with them against the Subterrans -- I was planning that he'd stay out of it, not being a fan of GMPCs. Even afterward, they kinda took him under their wing, with two of the heroes travelling from Chicago to Kentucky to work with Cobalt Kid during some down time. He's not a frequently recurring NPC, but the times he does show up are usually initiated by the players. Obviously, they like him.

 

In addition to his VPP, Cobalt Kid also has Flight with +1/2 Variable Advantage (so he can use Megascale to get up to orbit) and near-total Life Support. The players know he is on the relatively short list of space-capable supers, and with his VPP he could assist a team of space-capable but non-orbital supers in getting to orbit and duking it out with the aliens.

 

I’m pretty sure that killing him outright off-panel would probably overly upset the players (as opposed to just upsetting their PCs). However, between Sentinel's healing abilities (5d6 Healing to any physical characteristic, but can’t resurrect or re-attach limbs), most things short of death are pretty much reduced to a temporary inconvenience. And with Subliminal's megascale teleport (100 km with 4x mass), it’s not all that hard for him to grab Sentinel and then get to CK in time to save him.

 

More to follow.

[BoloOfEarth]

Re: On the Willful Killing and Maiming of NPCs

 

I have a handful of options I’m considering, and I’m looking for input, as well as suggestions for other options I hadn’t thought of.

 

Option 1: Just Whack Him. Don’t worry about the players’ reactions, just kill the NPC off-panel. As stated above, I’m not fond of this approach, but it is an option.

 

Option 2: Let Them Save Him. He’s grievously injured, but the PC heroes show up in time to heal him back up. This seems to have limited long-term emotional impact, IMO.

 

Option 3: Okay, Then Maim Him. In addition to requiring serious healing, CK is damaged in such a way that Sentinel can’t heal (brain damaged / blinded / lost limbs / etc.) This is one option I’m leaning toward.

 

Option 4: The Hard Choice. They learn that CK is seriously injured and perhaps they could get there in time to save him… but they’re also desperately needed elsewhere. So they have to choose between saving their friend, and saving hundreds of innocents. This could easily tie in with what I’m planning, as the aliens were going to be firing pocket-nuke missiles at cities along the US eastern seaboard while the NPC heroes assault the big ship.

[BoloOfEarth]

Re: On the Willful Killing and Maiming of NPCs

 

Lastly, what about the comic-book trope of "NOBODY could have possibly survived THAT!" (meaning that of course, he survived it)? I've used it a time or two, but always with the bad guys and only in cases where there's no body, making the character's demise very questionable. For a hero, I think the whole thing would be cheapened by making his death be a hoax or just a temporary thing.

[Cygnia]

Re: On the Willful Killing and Maiming of NPCs

 

What abilities/equipment do your aliens have in order to make things difficult for the PCs?

[Odraude]

Re: On the Willful Killing and Maiming of NPCs

 

Go with Option 4. Then, if they go to save him and depending on how quickly they succeed, have a bit of option 2 (maybe he is paralyzed, in a coma, loss of legs, etc).

[Ragnarok]

Re: On the Willful Killing and Maiming of NPCs

 

Option 4 sounds like the most dramatic, and hence the most appealing to me. The PCs will have to choose between saving hundreds of innocents, or saving a character who could *potentially* set them up for beating back the invasion and saving millions, perhaps billions of lives.

 

Moral conundrum indeed.

[Cygnia]

Re: On the Willful Killing and Maiming of NPCs

 

If you go with Option 4, be prepared for the PCs to split up to try to do both (ie. save everyone).

[BoloOfEarth]

Re: On the Willful Killing and Maiming of NPCs

 

What abilities/equipment do your aliens have in order to make things difficult for the PCs?

 

Well, the aliens obviously have better space technology than Earth as well as more lethal energy weapon tech. The Kaldarens have two castes: the worker castes, who tend toward high mechanical and electronic aptitudes and pretty hardy physiology; and the nobility, who have mental powers (at about 45 points or so, slightly lower level compared to Earth psionic supers).

 

They also have an empire hundreds of years old, so they have a decent fleet of starships (including warships) and very well-equipped troops. (The average Kaldaren trooper is equivalent to a very low-level super, about 225points.)

 

The aliens have decent stealth technology. Unbeknownst to the PCs, the Kaldarens have snuck some of their people through the UNTIL fighter patrols and down to Earth. They're trying to make some alliances with Earth-based groups -- terrorists, not-so-nice nation-states, mastermind supervillains, etc.

 

In the PCs' first encounter with the aliens, the aliens one-shot KO'd the hero team's energy projector (though admittedly they own the STUN lotto with that RKA). So the starship weapons are appropriately powerful.

 

Many of the mentalist aliens have crystals that allow Kaldarens to use their mental powers on non-Kaldarens (and vice versa). They also know that at least one of the PC heroes has one of those crystals (actually, two of them do) which they took off the first-encounter aliens. Since the aliens know how to locate such crystals in the first place, they can pretty easily find two of the PCs if they really want to. So an ambush on the PCs is definately do-able, even in secret ID.

 

Overall, the US government and UNTIL agree that Earth's supers are capable of keeping the aliens from successfully invading our planet. However, we aren't capable of projecting our power very far, so the aliens could fairly easily hold the high ground. Basically, both sides can hurt each other, just not decisively.

[BoloOfEarth]

Re: On the Willful Killing and Maiming of NPCs

 

If you go with Option 4' date=' be prepared for the PCs to split up to try to do both (ie. save everyone).[/quote']

 

Pretty much what I was thinking.

[Zed-F]

Re: On the Willful Killing and Maiming of NPCs

 

Here's another option: Option 5: Disappear him. It's a variety of option 2-3, only instead of explicitly killing him in a no-one could have survived that scenario, or maiming him, have the Cobalt Kid be forced by circumstance into doing something or going somewhere extremely dangerous but not necessarily explicitly fatal. He may or may not be changed as a result, but either way, enough clues and/or media coverage can make their way back to convince the PCs that something bad and/or permanent is likely to happen to him if they don't step in to help.

 

Ultimately, the PCs may fail to catch up to Cobalt Kid; he can vanish for a while, and who knows what might have happened to him by the time you feel it might be useful for him to show up again? In the meantime, they find themselves embroiled in the larger situation...

[matrix3]

Re: On the Willful Killing and Maiming of NPCs

 

If you go for Option 3, you can have him lose an eye and an arm and have them replaced by bionic upgrades. The whole trial will mature him, so he drops the "Kid" and becomes Cable Cobalt.

 

As a serious suggestion, how about Option 6: Alien Puppet. I don't know if the aliens have shown mind control/enslavement tendencies, but if they captured him, they might have a use for a human super, even a relatively low powered super. I see three flavors to this option.

 

A) They discover his broken, but healable body. They heal him, he is grateful, and then becomes a sleeper agent. At some point, he is somewhere with the team when the aliens attack, and he suddenly turns on his friends and helps the aliens.

 

The NPC's he was with are killed, but his body is never found. Later, they are fighting a squad of aliens, and recognize him. They see the Glowing Circlet of Mind Control (if you want to go obvious with it), and work to win the fight and capture him so they can fix the situation. Alternatively, there is a mysterious figure in alien armor. They fight, possibly several times, until the heroes take down the mysterious figure, only to discover it was their little buddy. This has the potential to go really tragic, if the heroes take him out with a killing attack, and then they unmask his dead body.

 

C) All the NPC heroes are lost and declared KIA. Later, the aliens starting fielding a small, but frighteningly effective team of supers against the humans. Yes, the whole team is being mind controlled!

[Hugh Neilson]

Re: On the Willful Killing and Maiming of NPCs

 

If you go with Option 4' date=' be prepared for the PCs to split up to try to do both (ie. save everyone).[/quote']

 

That sounds like the heroic approach. Make it possible, but not easy, would be my answer.

[Beast]

Re: On the Willful Killing and Maiming of NPCs

 

Let the player play the hero team that is going to be whacked

let there characters hear and see the battle but they cannot get to them to help out either too far away or they are off doing something else and they can see a recording of it

[Manic Typist]

Re: On the Willful Killing and Maiming of NPCs

 

Option 4, with a "NOBODY could have survived that!" type deal... so he's dead, gone...

 

Only to reappaer LATER (late alien plot, when they're losing ground) as a villain. Some master villain saved him and restored him... but either has mental control over him, or has twisted him against the PCs who have failed to save him.

 

Now the PCs get to try to bring him back to the side of good! If they succeed, he emerges as the mature Cobalt (I like dropping the kid bit).

 

Just need to think of a villainous spin off of Cobalt Kid.

[Duke Bushido]

Re: On the Willful Killing and Maiming of NPCs

 

Lastly' date=' what about the comic-book trope of "NOBODY could have possibly survived THAT!" [/quote']

 

If you are _really_ trying to stir something in your players, avoid that one like ex-lax for a coughing fit.

 

As you said, you have used it before. For villains, yes, but you have used it before. And when it was used in the past, did anyone ever actually re-appear later?

 

Considering that your players seem to _like_ this character, and because he's a recurring PC (and they may even secretly see him as a GMPC), you're more than likely not going to get the full effect you are looking for: you're players will understand that "he appears to be dead" and react accordingly, but they will all be fairly sure that "he's not _that_ dead."

 

 

Of the others:

 

The Hard Choice will likely (as someone already noted) lead to a split-up of the team in an attempt to save everyone. Worse yet, it might work short of _blatant_ cheating, which I'm fairly certain you want to avoid.

 

Would it be possible to just have him dead-dead, obviously by alien hand, but without actually witnessing it?

 

Perhaps they take him into battle, and in the heat of battle they lose track of him, or perhaps the team splits up pre-battle for some recon or something.

 

Then, during the heat of battle, his badly-mangled (and unhealable) body comes drifting by....

 

This sort of spares you having to have him "killed outright" in a single blow, and it prevents the team from saving him from an alien ambush....

Just a thought.

[Ian Mackinder]

Re: On the Willful Killing and Maiming of NPCs

 

Option 7: Target His Loved Ones.

 

Don't actually have to kill off this particular NPC. Yet. Nuke his hometown, mutate his girlfriend into a rampaging horror, kill his family, all of the above. When the PCs arrive, for turns out to be little more than "mopping up" on their part, have him tearfully confront them demanding to know why they didn't come sooner, etc.. Really put them on the spot, question what they have been doing (and NOT doing), etc..

 

I can see several ways the story arc could go from there - he could become an obsessed alien-hunting avenger type, or he could somehow blame the PCs for what happened, for instance.

[Legatus]

Re: On the Willful Killing and Maiming of NPCs

 

If you go for Option 3' date=' you can have him lose an eye and an arm and have them replaced by bionic upgrades. The whole trial will mature him, so he drops the "Kid" and becomes [strike']Cable[/strike] Cobalt.

 

As a serious suggestion, how about Option 6: Alien Puppet. I don't know if the aliens have shown mind control/enslavement tendencies, but if they captured him, they might have a use for a human super, even a relatively low powered super. I see three flavors to this option.

 

The NPC's he was with are killed, but his body is never found. Later, they are fighting a squad of aliens, and recognize him. Alternatively, there is a mysterious figure in alien armor. They fight, possibly several times, until the heroes take down the mysterious figure, only to discover it was their little buddy. This has the potential to go really tragic, if the heroes take him out with a killing attack, and then they unmask his dead body.

 

6B is so tragic, I just love that idea.

[Balabanto]

Re: On the Willful Killing and Maiming of NPCs

 

Option 4, with a "NOBODY could have survived that!" type deal... so he's dead, gone...

 

Only to reappaer LATER (late alien plot, when they're losing ground) as a villain. Some master villain saved him and restored him... but either has mental control over him, or has twisted him against the PCs who have failed to save him.

 

Now the PCs get to try to bring him back to the side of good! If they succeed, he emerges as the mature Cobalt (I like dropping the kid bit).

 

Just need to think of a villainous spin off of Cobalt Kid.

 

I really, really like this. However, consider the (Shudder, GOD I hate saying this, but it's not my game) Time Travel option.

 

The master villain behind the alien invasion is the Cobalt Kid! From the Future! After you have them make the choice, he is blasted into atoms, only to reconstitute having gained massive amounts of power from the explosion, which infused itself into his being. Repaired by the aliens, he now seeks revenge against the planet that ignored his contribution, and the heroes that failed to save him...

 

And owed rep.

[Ninja-Bear]

Re: On the Willful Killing and Maiming of NPCs

 

I really, really like this. However, consider the (Shudder, GOD I hate saying this, but it's not my game) Time Travel option.

 

The master villain behind the alien invasion is the Cobalt Kid! From the Future! After you have them make the choice, he is blasted into atoms, only to reconstitute having gained massive amounts of power from the explosion, which infused itself into his being. Repaired by the aliens, he now seeks revenge against the planet that ignored his contribution, and the heroes that failed to save him...

 

And owed rep.

 

I was just going to say that since he is a cosmic type character, when he died, he becomes a new type of of character. Something like a ghost ? But the above options look even better.

[matrix3]

Re: On the Willful Killing and Maiming of NPCs

 

6B is so tragic' date=' I just love that idea.

 

There is a lot of potential, and it's my fave of the options I listed. BUT, you would have to be prepared for the PCs to kill the Cobalt Kid, and really know how they would react if they did. You have to be willing to mute the damage so he could be saved if the players would really react badly to the Kid being killed by their own hands, even accidentally, as they could blame you for placing their favorite NPC in that position.

[BoloOfEarth]

Re: On the Willful Killing and Maiming of NPCs

 

I really, really like this. However, consider the (Shudder, GOD I hate saying this, but it's not my game) Time Travel option.

 

The master villain behind the alien invasion is the Cobalt Kid! From the Future! After you have them make the choice, he is blasted into atoms, only to reconstitute having gained massive amounts of power from the explosion, which infused itself into his being. Repaired by the aliens, he now seeks revenge against the planet that ignored his contribution, and the heroes that failed to save him...

 

And owed rep.

 

Interesting idea, but there's a complication. I've already provided clues to the players revealing that one of the alien princes is the architect of the Kaldaren/Earth war, mainly as a way to remove his brothers and clear his way to the throne. (One of his brothers was already killed by a mind-controlled Grond during an alien "rescue attempt" attack on Stronghold, and the heroes know about the mind control on Grond.)

 

I could work Cobalt Kid into the plot as the Machiavellian prince's mind controlled lackey, but I'd prefer not to make him the mastermind of the plot. And the whole plot is complicated enough without adding time travel (which I try to avoid anyway).

[BoloOfEarth]

Re: On the Willful Killing and Maiming of NPCs

 

There is a lot of potential' date=' and it's my fave of the options I listed. BUT, you would have to be prepared for the PCs to kill the Cobalt Kid, and really know how they would react if they did. You have to be willing to mute the damage so he could be saved if the players would really react badly to the Kid being killed by their own hands, even accidentally, as they could blame you for placing their favorite NPC in that position.[/quote']

 

Yeah, the players' reactions are something I'm really trying to keep in mind with this, as I could easily see them getting pissed at me for screwing with a favored NPC.

[BoloOfEarth]

Re: On the Willful Killing and Maiming of NPCs

 

If you are _really_ trying to stir something in your players, avoid that one like ex-lax for a coughing fit.

 

As you said, you have used it before. For villains, yes, but you have used it before. And when it was used in the past, did anyone ever actually re-appear later?

 

Yes, the local VIPER Nest Leader (Windchill) fell a half mile into Lake Michigan after getting knocked off an airship during a battle, and he reappeared about a year later. And (you guessed it) when his body wasn't found in the lake, the players pretty much assumed he wasn't really dead.

 

As I said, I think the "not REALLY dead" possibility would dilute any emotional impact Cobalt Kid's "death" would have.

[BoloOfEarth]

Re: On the Willful Killing and Maiming of NPCs

 

As a serious suggestion' date=' how about [b']Option 6: Alien Puppet[/b]. I don't know if the aliens have shown mind control/enslavement tendencies, but if they captured him, they might have a use for a human super, even a relatively low powered super. I see three flavors to this option.

 

A) They discover his broken, but healable body. They heal him, he is grateful, and then becomes a sleeper agent. At some point, he is somewhere with the team when the aliens attack, and he suddenly turns on his friends and helps the aliens.

 

The NPC's he was with are killed, but his body is never found. Later, they are fighting a squad of aliens, and recognize him. They see the Glowing Circlet of Mind Control (if you want to go obvious with it), and work to win the fight and capture him so they can fix the situation. Alternatively, there is a mysterious figure in alien armor. They fight, possibly several times, until the heroes take down the mysterious figure, only to discover it was their little buddy. This has the potential to go really tragic, if the heroes take him out with a killing attack, and then they unmask his dead body.

 

C) All the NPC heroes are lost and declared KIA. Later, the aliens starting fielding a small, but frighteningly effective team of supers against the humans. Yes, the whole team is being mind controlled!

 

Regarding the aliens using mind control and enslavement, the nobles do this on a cultural basis already. More info spoilered so it can be ignored for those who don't care to know.

 

The Kaldarens are actually two races: The Kalten (the mentalists; all upper castes) and the Dorak (mechanical savants; all lower castes). The Dorak greatly outnumber the Kalten. As insurance against getting overthrown, the Kalten have mind-controlled top Dorak technicians to create ways for their starships to require a mentalist's presence onboard before key systems (FTL, major weapons, and shields) will operate.

 

When the heroes first met the aliens, five of the six crewmen on the ship were Kalten, including one of the princes. He used mental powers on others as if it was his god-given right to do so.

 

 

 

As to 6A, I did something too similar to this (a "snake in the grass") in a past campaign. I'd rather not repeat myself if I can avoid it.

 

On 6B, this is very do-able. Though the heroes don't really have killing attacks (the only one I can think of is Only Against Electronics), so the tragic option isn't likely.

 

I hadn't thought of 6C. Interesting idea. I'd have to significantly change how the aliens were going to ambush the heroes, but it could be done. I'll have to consider this.

[Ian Mackinder]

Re: On the Willful Killing and Maiming of NPCs

 

Whatver you end up doing to the guy, don't forget about the aftermath.

 

A funeral service at which the PCs will probably be expected to stand up and talk about him. Plus grieving relatives - always great for making PCs feel ... uncomfortable. Possibly a muck-racking reporter who tries to stir thinsg up and make either the PCs or the departed look especially bad - even if (semi-)truthfully.