BoloOfEarth Posted April 29, 2010 Report Posted April 29, 2010 (Inspired by the Villain Theme Team thread) Just for fun, I thought we might collectively create a few villain theme teams. All of the members have to match the theme, whether in name, powers, or appearance. A bit of obscurity (as in Blue Raja from the Mystery Men movie) is acceptable as long as the poster explains how the character actually relates to the team's theme. Descriptions of each character (appearance, personality, powers, etc.) can be as brief or as detailed as the poster wishes. Full writeups aren't necessary. Here's the guidelines: Someone provides a theme and a number of members, and then posters that follow can provide a character or two to fit that theme. Agents (as a group) count as one character, but should have something about them that fits the theme. (So for a chess-themed group someone could suggest agents known as Pawns.) Whomever creates the last character then chooses the theme, name, and number of members for the next group (but not too many, okay?). I'm wondering how disjointed, eclectic, or perhaps smoothly-matching, of teams we'll end up creating. I'll start off with a theme: Computers. The team name is Mainframe, with five members. They specialize in hacking government and corporate computer systems for either information theft, altering info, planting false info, or sabotage. They'll hit physically-isolated systems just as readily as they'll do attacks remotely over the internet. Why? Well, sometimes they do this for hire, but most of the time they hack systems just to prove they can. Quote
Nuclear Fridge Posted April 29, 2010 Report Posted April 29, 2010 Re: Create a Villain Theme Team! Okay, let's see... Adapt an old GURPS villain: Scrambler from Super Scum. He's a walking interference field. His comrades have developed (or stolen) control systems, wired into a costume, that allow him to direct his innate power - a bit like Pulson. His function is literally running interference. Jamming communications, blocking CCTV signals, disrupting broadband lines. He isolates a target facility, allowing his comrades to get in and rob the lab or database. Quote
csyphrett Posted April 30, 2010 Report Posted April 30, 2010 Re: Create a Villain Theme Team! Reader scans and changes information from computer/ control systems from a distance. This allows him to violate electronic security by changing the access number to match, downloading files somewhere else, erasing or changing information. He tries to stay out of combat since he doesn't have any skills in that direction. CES Quote
Utech Posted April 30, 2010 Report Posted April 30, 2010 Re: Create a Villain Theme Team! Modeler is a beautiful woman with a mind that works like a supercomputer devoted to violence. When not fighting, she thinks about fighting. Models fights in her head. Studies likely opponents to analyze their style, procedures, abilities, and proclivities. When she fights, she is constantly modeling what each person on the field is likely to do and what would happen for different actions she might take. The more variables in play, the less Modeler is effective. But when she's fighting one-on-one with someone she's studied . . . she'll always find a way to put them down. Quote
BoloOfEarth Posted April 30, 2010 Author Report Posted April 30, 2010 Re: Create a Villain Theme Team! Keeping with the "-er" names, my contribution to the team will be Formatter, a magnetic energy projector with aspirations of being a mentalist. She's not all that powerful, but she has *incredible* control. One of her favorite tricks is to steal computer files by copying them into herself, sometimes overwriting the original file with electronic garbage. She recently discovered the ability to read and alter the neural impulses of the human brain, though both require physical contact and the latter takes additional time to be at all effective. (Telepathy, human + electronic, Invisible Power Effects, No Range and Transform [memories], No Range.) Quote
Cygnia Posted April 30, 2010 Report Posted April 30, 2010 Re: Create a Villain Theme Team! Finally, we have Hacker. Despite the name, he's not tech-savvy. He's the muscle of the group when they go on jobs and has an axe fetish. Brick with Find Weakness & Armor Penetration. He's not an idiot, but he willingly lusts after Modeler, who calculates his brute force to the best of her tactics. New theme: Shakespeare. Thieves with a theatrical bent, (team name) The Globe feels its their duty to stand up against the mediocrity and schlock of what passes for today's "entertainment". Code versus Killing, members 7. Quote
BobGreenwade Posted April 30, 2010 Report Posted April 30, 2010 Re: Create a Villain Theme Team! My suggested character for The Globe: The Shrew. A female speedster with claws and a particularly vicious attitude to combat. The other members have a hard time reining her in (though under the right circumstances they can also just let her loose and sit back to watch or play Parcheesi, rather like Muzzle of the Road Rovers). Quote
BoloOfEarth Posted April 30, 2010 Author Report Posted April 30, 2010 Re: Create a Villain Theme Team! Every team needs a leader, and The Globe's leader is Playwright. This middle-age, prematurely balding man is a brilliant mastermind with excellent planning and keen tactical skills. He does not have much combat ability -- he's basically a trained normal with a sword and some fencing and aikido skills -- but he can direct his teammates to victory. Unbeknownst to almost everybody, including most of his teammates, Playwright has a magical quill inkpen and a scroll of parchment. Whatever he writes with this quill and parchment will come true, in some fashion. He hesitates to use them often, as (1) he's afraid they will get taken from him, (2) the results are often different than he envisioned, and (3) he's afraid the pen will run out of magical ink, or the parchment will fail to erase itself afterward. Quote
concord Posted April 30, 2010 Report Posted April 30, 2010 Re: Create a Villain Theme Team! Capulet and Montague Both started as accomplished cat burglars with a rivalry that bordered on mania, each had vowed to kill the other if their paths ever crossed. They accepted the ultimate challenge from a client when they both were contracted to steal the same item with the full knowledge that the other one had also been hired for the job. Both viewed it as the way to achieve a fabulous payday and rid himself of a hated rival. As luck would have it, they chose the same day to do the heist. Little did they know that the item they were tasked with stealing was a retrovirus that had been developed for a criminal mastermind so that he could create an army of super soldiers. As the thief placed his hand upon the container with the blue liquid inside, he looked up to see his rival standing in the doorway with a gun. Just as his rival aimed at his head and pulled the trigger, the owner of the penthouse hit his rival throwing his aim off. The bullet shattered the vial before impacting the thief just below the sternum. His rival quickly dispatched the penthouse owner with a couple of shots and crossed the room to see what damage he had wrought. The thief lay quietly as his rival approached and when he was within striking range, the thief drove what remained of the vial into his rival's gut. Both now lay on the floor, slowly bleeding to death... When they woke, both were surprised that they still lived. They tired to remedy this situation by eliminating the other only to find that when one of them was wounded the other suffered the same wound. Their lives were now intertwined in such a way that one's death would also mean the death of the other. They begrudgingly became partners, their rivalry still exists as they try to outdo each other when they are committing their crimes. The Playwright gave them the names of Capulet and Montague. Both have superhuman agility, reflexes and healing factor. (High DEX, SPD and Regeneration as well as a Susceptability that when one takes damage the other takes the same.) Quote
csyphrett Posted May 1, 2010 Report Posted May 1, 2010 Re: Create a Villain Theme Team! Puck is a shapeshifting trickster that distracts the authorities with a bag full of dirty tricks. He can look like anyone, but prefers the form of a boy with horns and goat feet. CES Quote
Utech Posted May 1, 2010 Report Posted May 1, 2010 Re: Create a Villain Theme Team! Imagination is able to create Images and Mental Illusions. His powers are restricted, however, to those images and scenes found in Shakespeare's plays and sonnets. He must be able to recite the line or original stage directions in which the image is embedded. Examples: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May Blow, blow, thou winter wind! Thou art not so unkind as man's ingratitude Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand? Exit pursued by a bear. Enter a messenger with two heads and a hand. thunder and lightning. Enter three witches Quote
Badger Posted May 2, 2010 Report Posted May 2, 2010 Re: Create a Villain Theme Team! The Animated Skull An actor of Shakespearean plays in the early 1800s. He mysterious vanished one night (actually murdered). Exactly 100 years later, when the theater was being remodeled, a skull (not the body) was found sealed behind a wall. This skull became possessed by the ghost of the deceased, to take revenge. Unfortunately, he assumed the workers who discovered him were the murderers. And killed them. He now searches for the rest of himself. And to perhaps to enjoy good productions along the way. Eventually after years of traveling he met these guys. Abilities. Well he floats and flies (hey he cant exactly walk he is nothing but a skull) Speaks through telepathy Hates modern Hollywood (he likes good acting/writing, I mean have you seen modern Hollywood lately?) Shoots energy beams from his eye sockets. (if hit by the beam the victim/s will perform whatever scene, usually a Shakespearean play of some sort out) After his first encounter after reawakening he apparently hasnt killed since. Note: Think about hamlet, if you havent guessed yet. Quote
Utech Posted May 2, 2010 Report Posted May 2, 2010 Re: Create a Villain Theme Team! I think Badger added the seventh and final member of the Globe. Officially it ought to be Badger who chooses the theme, name, and number of members for the next group. But since he didn't, I will. Theme: This group despises (though does not fear) new technology. Convinced that modern technology is detrimental to both individuals and communities, the Neo-Luddites do all they can to convince others that new technology is untrustworthy, dangerous, or otherwise undesirable. They might cause a new robot to go haywire, make sure that hackers get hold of personal data on millions of people, or assassinate scientists who move too far too fast. Name: The Neo-Luddites a.k.a. The Nuddites Number of Members: 5 Quote
BoloOfEarth Posted May 2, 2010 Author Report Posted May 2, 2010 Re: Create a Villain Theme Team! (With apologies to Phil and Kaja Foglio) Boy Genius doesn't hate all technology, just *modern* technology. This brilliant but misguided teen feels that electronics, and especially computers, hinder the "spark" of human creativity by reducing everything to 1s and 0s. He's a steampunk fan's dream, with more coal-fueled, steam-powered brass gadgetry than you can shake a walking stick at. His dream is to someday build an armored dirigible (a Lead Zeppelin, if you will) from which the Nuddites can conduct their criminal activities. For now, he'll have to make do with a stolen blimp and a handful of small clockwork followers. Quote
Chimera 12 Posted May 2, 2010 Report Posted May 2, 2010 Re: Create a Villain Theme Team! Any group with a public agenda needs somebody to speak for them. For the Neo-Luddites, The Voice of Reason is that somebody. A middle-aged man with no obvious superhuman powers or gadgetry who normally refuses to wear a mask or costume, he is a skilled orator capable of effortlessly inciting crowds to riot against the evils of technology and making even individuals dedicated to the concept of progress question their beliefs...who just happens to also be very good at protesting his innocence whenever the charge of using some form of mind control is leveled against him. Quote
Hermit Posted May 2, 2010 Report Posted May 2, 2010 Re: Create a Villain Theme Team! Brother Inner Path A man of Chinese descent who dresses very plainly, and would be otherwise unassuming if not for the stylistic tattoos decorating his frame. Once a farmer's son who witnessed how industry and technology (Were he less dignified he might spit at the word) split the glorious dream of a perfect communist society where all wealth would be split equally. Instead, the city people grew rich, fat, and coddled where those in touch with the land grew poorer and disenfranchised, all because of Machines. At least that's how Brother Inner Path sees it, and no one is likely to change his mind. Rather than become another living cog, he wandered the remote locations of the Far East and learned how to depend only on himself, his own gifts, and his own two hands. He returned ten years later with his new name, and kung fu mastery that crossed into the realm of the seemingly impossible. He states calmly that a truly enlightened soul needs no weapon beyond himself to remove a foe, and in the Neo-Luddites, he proves it. Many a research scientist, or head of an Industry has been found in a supposedly secure room with his or her neck snapped, heart stopped from a 'death touch' , or impaled on their own broken ribs. The Brother dislikes some of his team mates that still rely on technology, but for now recognizes he needs them to continue 'his teachings' . While, like many of his team, he hates superheroes who rely on technology, his truest ire is reserved for those martial artists who also rely on the 'weakness' of gadgets such as utility belts and other fripperies. Quote
Cygnia Posted May 2, 2010 Report Posted May 2, 2010 Re: Create a Villain Theme Team! Plowshares is a mutant (though he believes he has been "gifted by God") with the ability to suppress and dispel technology. A computer is disassembled in the span of seconds; a blaster rifle shattered into nuts and bolts and pieces of metal once he focuses his attention on it. As of now, he can only affect one piece of tech at a time. However, the less complex a device is, the harder it is for him to affect it. Electro-magnetic plasma cannon? Piece of cake. Winchester rifle? Problem... Quote
Enforcer84 Posted May 2, 2010 Report Posted May 2, 2010 Re: Create a Villain Theme Team! Hammerette (Pronounced "Hammer-It"); amazonian strong woman with a large sturdy maul. She's bright, engaging, and totally in love with Boy Genius. She doesn't hate technology in the least, but he does and that's enough for her to follow. She was sad when he made her get rid of her cell phone, but she likes the curiously large replacement radio device he made. Source of powers unknown, or she's not telling. Theme: An "cause of the week" supergroup. These guys are more annoying than evil (or are they?) they follow the papers and fight the excesses of man...with the attention span of a chipmunk on crack. The New Peace Armada is a collective of super powered wanna be world changers. Might be Eco-Avenging vandals one week, PETA Preaching Animal Rescue rangers the next. They are mostly good hearted but ill informed and opinionated. Members: 8 (it IS an Armada after all) Quote
Logan D. Hurricanes Posted May 2, 2010 Report Posted May 2, 2010 Re: Create a Villain Theme Team! Lever is the team's strong man. He isn't superhumanly strong, however he carries a rod that provides him with unbelievable strength and lifting power. The source of this simple machine's power is unknown. Using the rod he can attack with some power, but the real impressive effects come about when he is attempting to lift or move objects. Lever is also a human calculator, capable of incredible feats of mathematics and analysis. His analytical mind shows him weak points in structures and objects allowing him even greater efficiency with his powerful lever. Edit: Whoops, too late...darn slow typing. Still will submit him for the Luddites anyway Quote
Logan D. Hurricanes Posted May 2, 2010 Report Posted May 2, 2010 Re: Create a Villain Theme Team! Theme: The New Peace Armada Newswire is a cyborg with implants that allow him to listen in on radio bands of all frequencies, including private or coded message streams. He's the information guy for the team seeking out potential opportunities for the team. On site he acts as a danger detection system, scanning for any possible interference that could be heading their way, police, supers or otherwise. Unfortunately he sometimes suffers from information overload and seems to simply zone out or go catatonic. Even at his most coherent he appears distracted or mildly stoned. Quote
Hermit Posted May 2, 2010 Report Posted May 2, 2010 Re: Create a Villain Theme Team! Theme: An "cause of the week" supergroup. These guys are more annoying than evil (or are they?) they follow the papers and fight the excesses of man...with the attention span of a chipmunk on crack. The New Peace Armada is a collective of super powered wanna be world changers. Might be Eco-Avenging vandals one week, PETA Preaching Animal Rescue rangers the next. They are mostly good hearted but ill informed and opinionated. Members: 8 (it IS an Armada after all) Major Compassion! With Fluttering cape, awesome biceps, and a big C on his chest, Major Compassion has the powers of superhuman strength, flight, and nigh invulnerability ...nigh, because like everyone else, his feelings can hurt. Indeed, he claims feeling is the greatest power of all, and will throw himself into a cause for someone who is 'obviously troubled' even if they're doing just fine. Alas, he's also an idiot who doesn't let facts stand in the way of 'helping'. Most recently he returned 23 penguins to the wild by breaking them out of zoos and dropping them off in ARCTIC waters...they were promptly eaten by polar bears. Another example was when, moved by the violence that racked the middle east, he seized several leaders of both Israel, Egypt, and Iran and brought them to the "PIG OUT PALACE!" ("If it squeals we make it into meals") for a bacon buffet and peace settlement and begged them to settle their differences "in a Christian Manner" In a sense, the latter worked as both sides agreed without hesitation that the Major is both a moron and a menace. Mister E 1 Quote
Enforcer84 Posted May 2, 2010 Report Posted May 2, 2010 Re: Create a Villain Theme Team! Major Compassion! With Fluttering cape, awesome biceps, and a big C on his chest, Major Compassion has the powers of superhuman strength, flight, and nigh invulnerability ...nigh, because like everyone else, his feelings can hurt. Indeed, he claims feeling is the greatest power of all, and will throw himself into a cause for someone who is 'obviously troubled' even if they're doing just fine. Alas, he's also an idiot who doesn't let facts stand in the way of 'helping'. Most recently he returned 23 penguins to the wild by breaking them out of zoos and dropping them off in ARCTIC waters...they were promptly eaten by polar bears. Another example was when, moved by the violence that racked the middle east, he seized several leaders of both Israel, Egypt, and Iran and brought them to the "PIG OUT PALACE!" ("If it squeals we make it into meals") for a bacon buffet and peace settlement and begged them to settle their differences "in a Christian Manner" In a sense, the latter worked as both sides agreed without hesitation that the Major is both a moron and a menace. Awesome! The Origin of the NPA was Champions Almanac II's random superteam name generator and Alien Enemies "The Champion of the Poor." you have managed to bring the Champ back! Quote
Hermit Posted May 2, 2010 Report Posted May 2, 2010 Re: Create a Villain Theme Team! Reefer Gladness!- In 1969 Ichabod Norton Hale managed to create a joint SO perfect, that it went beyond being stoned! He was suspended in a haze for decades. When he arose, he'd discovered a world that really needed to mellow out all over again. Convinced that the solution to all problems is getting high, he uses his botanical and chemical expertise for whatever cause they're following this week. R.G.'s arsenal includes his dreaded "Bong Bombs" and his F.A.B. gun (Funky Acid Blaster, and no we don't mean the stuff that melts metal). Reefer urges folks to embrace the drug culture, and when the weekly cause is war on drugs? No worries, he goes along because he worries the factories and meth labs are getting 'too commercial anyway'. Nearly started World War III when he laced a Norad staff coffee with custom designed cocaine (Can you say paranoia and nukes?) as a distraction. His battle cry? "Don't fear the Reefer!" Quote
Cygnia Posted May 2, 2010 Report Posted May 2, 2010 Re: Create a Villain Theme Team! Major Compassion! With Fluttering cape, awesome biceps, and a big C on his chest, Major Compassion has the powers of superhuman strength, flight, and nigh invulnerability ...nigh, because like everyone else, his feelings can hurt. Indeed, he claims feeling is the greatest power of all, and will throw himself into a cause for someone who is 'obviously troubled' even if they're doing just fine. Alas, he's also an idiot who doesn't let facts stand in the way of 'helping'. Most recently he returned 23 penguins to the wild by breaking them out of zoos and dropping them off in ARCTIC waters...they were promptly eaten by polar bears. Another example was when, moved by the violence that racked the middle east, he seized several leaders of both Israel, Egypt, and Iran and brought them to the "PIG OUT PALACE!" ("If it squeals we make it into meals") for a bacon buffet and peace settlement and begged them to settle their differences "in a Christian Manner" In a sense, the latter worked as both sides agreed without hesitation that the Major is both a moron and a menace. I think there was someone in the Reagan administration who had a similar faux pas by saying that the Israelis and Palestinians should settle their differences "like good Christians". Quote
Hermit Posted May 2, 2010 Report Posted May 2, 2010 Re: Create a Villain Theme Team! Awesome! The Origin of the NPA was Champions Almanac II's random superteam name generator and Alien Enemies "The Champion of the Poor." you have managed to bring the Champ back! Mmm, so I did! Not intentional, but no doubt my memory latched onto that as inspiration. Well, that and the Tick comic I got on Free Comic Book day I think there was someone in the Reagan administration who had a similar faux pas by saying that the Israelis and Palestinians should settle their differences "like good Christians". Possible. It also is a movie quote Quote
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