Create a Villain Theme Team!

[Cygnia]

Re: Create a Villain Theme Team!

 

"Leapin' Lemurs!"

 

Annabelle Hannigan thought it was too good to be true when she was taken from that orphanage by Mister Edsel. Of course, she had dreamt about it earlier, just like she had dreamt about her poor parents dying in that warehouse fire. She tried to warn them in time -- she did! But they thought she was just being silly.... She's been having a lot of dreams. Mister Edsel sure is interested in them! He doesn't think she's being silly at all. In fact, he calls her America's Dream. He even got her this beautiful German Shepard named Brandy to help protect her! And Mister Erroll thinks she's really swell. That one day he could get her into Hollywood! Mister Edsel tells Annabelle there's a lot of bad people who'd be after her if they knew what she dreamed about -- like those evil union people who killed her parents.

 

Funny, Annabelle doesn't remember those people in her dreams...

 

 

As of right now, Annabelle is pretty much an innocent. She hasn't fully embraced Edsel's anti-Semitic rants. Her dreams are random, involving both precognition and/or recognition. One day soon, she might dream that her parents died due to the fact that Edsel's working conditions had no escape routes from the fire -- something that was intentional.

 

Likewise, Edsel is keeping an eye on Erroll's behavior towards his ward. Not that he particularly cares if Annabelle gets hurt, but he does have his own reputation to protect. Still, if Erroll can help sway Annabelle to believe and practice his hateful politics, it's something to consider. Right now, Brandy obeys Edsel's orders over Annabelle's, but as she treats the dog with more love and kindness, that too will change....

 

[SKJAM!]

Re: Create a Villain Theme Team!

 

The Dashing Swordsman would be a perfect gentleman towards America's Dream...until she hits sixteen. Still mannerly thereafter, but actively trying to get into her pants. He's into "jailbait", not children.

 

The Voice of Reason

 

Pastor Coffin Rausch (his father was a very strange man) is a man of strong beliefs and considerable speaking ability. He immediately grasped the implications of radio for his ministry and has slowly built from just a weekly half hour to a full-powered station that can be heard three states over dedicated primarily to spreading his version of the gospel. Then he noticed something odd. While the parishoners in his physical church were appreciative and generally agreed with him, they sometimes had opinions that were at odds with his, and weren't afraid to tell him to his face. But the radio listeners...the people who listened to his daily sermons faithfully seemed to hold exactly the positions he told them to in his speeches.

 

Although Pastor Rausch is not fully aware how it is that it works, the slight distortion of his voice by radio speakers gives it a mildly hypnotic effect. It takes several days to several weeks to fully kick in, but eventually every opinion The Voice of Reason repeats to you over and over will become your opinions as well.

 

What brought Pastor Rausch to Mr. Edsel's attention was his fervent anti-Communism. The pastor is absolutely convinced the Reds are a clear and present danger, and only arming Germany and its allies to battle the forces of International Communism will slow them down.

 

Pastor Rausch is married, but has only had sex with his wife enough to produce three daughters and (finally!) a son. He's terribly confused by the feelings he has towards other men, such as Mr. Edsel, that seem unduly close even for friendship, and battles them with flagellation.

[Badger]

Re: Create a Villain Theme Team!

 

Sorry Cygnia' date=' but I cannot find any inspiration for members of this team. I am waiting for the next challenge. Hopefully we'll get the Iron Eagles fleshed out soon enough.[/quote']

 

To be truthful I couldnt either. I thought it needed at least one big time communist hater in the group. But SKJAM I see fit one in. But, I seem to be in writer's block mode this weekend.

[BoloOfEarth]

Re: Create a Villain Theme Team!

 

Giuseppe Bugiardini (known in some circles as Joey Bugs) was a second-generation Italian American and an up-and-comer in Chicago's organized crime scene. He had amassed considerable money and power when a mob accountant uncovered proof that Joey was skimming money. Of course, the Mafia doesn't take such matters to the police or to court, and Joey Bugs soon found himself the victim of a firebomb tossed in his house. The resulting explosion and subsequent fire left Joey seriously injured.

 

Luckily for Joey, a friend rushed him to a doctor he knew (someone who had lost his license to practice medicine due to a drinking problem). The doctor was able to keep Joey alive, but unfortunately had to replace a large amount of Joey’ skin with sheets of stainless steel. To help him carry all that extra weight, some of his joints are hydraulic, giving him higher-than-normal lifting power.

 

Presumed killed by the Mafia, Joey now goes by the name Bugsy. He blames the mob accountant (who happens to be Jewish) for his falling-out with the Mafia, and actually takes very little blame for *anything* bad that happens. He is not surprisingly very pro-Italian, and is a staunch supporter of Il Duce Benito Mussolini. It’s not hard for Edsel to whip Bugsy into an anti-Semitic furor.

[Cygnia]

Re: Create a Villain Theme Team!

 

Sir Giles Brightford was a bit of an odd duck, even by British nobility standards. Rumour has it that he mingled in the same circles with the infamous Aleister Crowley and dabbled in black magic. Still, Edsel believed he found a kindred spirit when Sir Giles approached him on a business trip to Edinburgh. Given the connections among both Parliament and high society Giles possess, Edsel feels the Englishman can wield the right sort of political pressure to make Britain "do what's right".

 

 

The truth about Sir Giles is only partially right. He is a sorcerer -- and a rather powerful one at that. Though he is quite friendly with Crowley and his crowd, Giles thinks the so-called "Great Beast" is a bit of a nutter with all his talk of Satanism. Sir Giles' followers and confidants spy on occult circles such as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn to look for potential converts -- or if anyone is dangerously close to the truth.

 

For you see, Sir Giles is neither pagan, nor Satanist, nor Druid. Though he foresees terrible atrocities in the coming years, he feels it won't be enough. Only by America and Great Britain siding with Germany will there be enough earth-shattering bloodshed, horror and misery to finally awake the mighty Cthulhu from His slumber!

 

IA! IA! CTHULHU FHTAGN!

 

[Cygnia]

Re: Create a Villain Theme Team!

 

And I've got the 7th one. I yield to whoever wants to name the next team and motive first!

[BoloOfEarth]

Re: Create a Villain Theme Team!

 

The almost constant foes of the heroes of Graveyard Shift, the Revenants are five villains who are either undead themselves or seek to reanimate the dead or otherwise use corpses/spirits/life forces for their nefarious purposes.

[BoloOfEarth]

Re: Create a Villain Theme Team!

 

Badger and csyphrett: I sent each of you a private message a few days ago. If you could check that and respond, I would greatly appreciate it.

[Cygnia]

Re: Create a Villain Theme Team!

 

Rachel screamed in pain as the doctors told her to push. She never wanted this brat in the first place. And when she was told that not only would the baby would have health complications if it survived, but that her very life would be endangered if she continued the pregnancy, she begged her husband and her family to terminate. But there was too much pressure and guilt involved. Now, here she was dying -- and the doctors were forsaking HER life just for the potential of someone else's...

 

...the last thing she remembered before dying was cursing everyone's existence.

 

Rachel didn't stay dead, coming back for revenge as the ghostly Lamia. Her first victims were her own daughter and husband, possessing the man she once loved to suffocate the infant. Mad with grief, he soon took his own life in jail. Lamia despises children, seeing them as vermin to be culled. Each death she causes only makes her stronger. Her usual MO is to possess a loving parent (sometimes a nurse), then has them kill the unfortunate child, leaving plenty of "evidence" to the crime. She has a skewed sense of mercy in one case, however. If a parent mentions they don't want their infant, she does everything in her unholy power to make the child's death look like a case of SIDS without setting up the parent as a murderer.

[Utech]

Re: Create a Villain Theme Team!

 

It ain't easy being a zombie. You tend to shamble a lot. Everybody screams. Everybody runs away. Lots of them go and get guns and shoot you in the head. It's enough to make you cry. If you could. Which you can't. But the worst part? The constant decomposing. Man, that bites.

 

So if you're one of those rare ambitious zombies with dreams of an unlife, what can you do to keep from falling to pieces? Get new pieces, of course!

 

Corpse will work for pretty much anybody who promises extra parts. In a pinch, Corpse can raid a graveyard for the recently deceased, but it's far better to get them real fresh. Real fresh. But parts ain't parts, if you catch my drift. Some parts are more equal than others. A good pair of marathoner's legs? Great! They let you go all 28-Days-Later on people. Weightlifter's arms? All the better for ripping up the opposition. An archer's eye? A surgeon's fingers? Yeah. That's where it's at!

 

Constantly in a state of decomposition, Corpse must replace his entire body at least once each month. Being dead, he's a darn sight hard to kill. It's much easier to disable him by pulling off the limbs...

[BoloOfEarth]

Re: Create a Villain Theme Team!

 

It's much easier to disable him by pulling off the limbs...

 

So, literally, disarming him?

[SKJAM!]

Re: Create a Villain Theme Team!

 

Doktor Eternity promises everlasting life through his immortality serum. And it's true, you won't ever die. But considering you will never heal either, that might not be such a good thing. And the bad Doktor generally fails to mention that anyone under the influence of his serum must obey his every command. What's the serum made of, you ask? Well, let's just say that there's a good reason Doktor Eternity never takes off his clothing. Ever.

[The Arc]

Re: Create a Villain Theme Team!

 

Gross

[Utech]

Re: Create a Villain Theme Team!

 

So' date=' literally, disarming him? [/quote']

[Badger]

Re: Create a Villain Theme Team!

 

Badger and csyphrett: I sent each of you a private message a few days ago. If you could check that and respond' date=' I would greatly appreciate it.[/quote']

 

Sent a message. My bad for not noticing it. It should be there next time you come in.

[Badger]

Re: Create a Villain Theme Team!

 

This was a character idea I had 2 years ago. I started a thread then for some ideas. Anyway, he got put on the shelf by me since. But, he does work for this team so....

 

Dead Ringer Donald Ring was always fascinated by dead things. Even as a kid he had the morbid fascination of watching flies buzz around dead rodents in the woods. So, becoming a mortician seemed natural. For some mysterious reason (an anonymous voodoo practitioner theorized that simply Baron Samedi just wanted to stir things up a little in the living world) he discovered an unusual power. He could shapeshift into the form of any dead person who he had touched.

 

As any shapeshifter might do, he figured he could make some money with this power. Burglary, Spy for hire. Scams upon the deceased's loved ones. Whatever, it could be fun.

 

The Revenants eventually recruited him. He isnt much in battle, but he sure seems to do well in areas like intelligence gathering (just find a guy with the security clearances and kill him) and the like.

 

The only inconvenience tends to be inadvertently meeting the occasional person who knew that person in life. Although, he has found he can only take a certain form once though he isnt limited in how long he can take that form. But, being a mortician he always has a few "spare" forms he can take if need be (something he has done a couple times to avoid capture).

 

There is the possibility he could end up with some form of a "working relationship" with Corpse. Provide the bodies so long as it doesnt give away and future forms. (Corpse would have to find his own face, for instance)

 

 

 

Note: Dead Ringer seemed to be the most popular name suggestion in that thread from a couple years ago, so I went with that. The name was the main reason I started the thread in the first place.

[Ice9]

Re: Create a Villain Theme Team!

 

Krados the All-Seeing. A god-king, literally a demigod, with the power to shake worlds, and just one minor problem ... he's dead. Not undead either - impaled through the heart with the sword of ages, he can't move or even speak. However, it isn't easy to completely destroy a demigod, and Krados is still conscious. While nowhere near his former strength, he does still have a few powers. He can communicate telepathically, dominate anyone who looks into his eyes, and smite any foe foolish enough to touch him. And being a demigod, his body is nearly indestructable - although he finds being used as a shield undignified. Usually carried around by a couple of mind-controlled minions, he's never far from his last actual follower, a former temple acolyte who survived the final battle. While he mostly treats his acolyte as just another minion, Krados has granted him immortality and is careful not to let him die - in truth, Krados thinks the acolyte may be his last link to life.

 

Can't think of any inspiration for the next team right now - if someone wants to pick it, go ahead. Otherwise, I'll think one up a bit later.

[SKJAM!]

Re: Create a Villain Theme Team!

 

The Revenge Squad

 

Five low-powered villains, each of whom has a personal grudge against one or more of the heroes from the Hero Theme Team thread. They met while coincidentally all being transported to prison on the same bus, and escaped together. The Revenge Squad hopes that by ganging up on individual heroes, they each can attain the vengeance that they've been unable to accomplish on their own. Each has taken a vow to stick together until all of them have had their revenge.

[Cygnia]

Re: Create a Villain Theme Team!

 

Bob Beltram was just a small-time card sharp who decided to take his chances and cheat at a satellite event that would have won him entry into the next year's World Series of Poker. Unfortunately for him, the Even-Odds were on patrol. Worse for him, the Children of Shiva decided to pick that afternoon to attack. Bob had already been caught by the Queen of Hearts (OK, that could have been worse) and was being transferred to the police when a stray blast from Savitr came their way.

 

Maybe he was genuinely trying to help; maybe he was under the effects of the Queen's emotional control, but Bob threw himself into the line of fire. The last thing he remembers seeing was just how beautiful and sad the Queen looked....

 

Bob lost his sight that day, but somehow, the events of the attack activated a latent metagene in him. He could "steal" others' sight and cause temporary blindness. And in total darkness he could see, react and fight perfectly. He's fanatically obsessed with making the Queen of Hearts his and his alone. One day, she will bow to Blind Man's Bluff!

[Cygnia]

Re: Create a Villain Theme Team!

 

He calls himself Baron Wolfgang von Kempelen and claims he's from the 18th Century. Authorities instead claim he's just psychotically disturbed and will be fine once he's gets treatment. All this talk of so-called "Guardians of History" and chess-playing killer robots can't be serious...

 

Too bad he escaped.

 

The Baron has no powers himself. He is, however, quite mad and he is indeed from the 18th Century. Give him the parts and enough time and he can kitbash together a steampunk robot with a limited lifespan that'll have the right tools/powers for the job (think a combination Variable Power Pool ala robots that resemble the Clanks from "Girl Genius"). The Baron wants to claim Timekeeper's perfect watch as his very own as he thinks it'll be the ultimate power source to bring his masterpiece The Turk back to life once more!

[csyphrett]

Re: Create a Villain Theme Team!

 

Mario Avila was caught in a battle between Owls and Vultures. He learned of his ability to fly that day as everything he cared about was taken away. Arming himself with claws that cut through armor, he has become the Falcon of Florence to get his revenge.

CES

[Matt Holck]

Re: Create a Villain Theme Team!

 

The Rigger had a whole villain team cloistered in his 3 mast ship

when the heroes attacked and sunk his ship

since than he has set elaborate traps to thwart the heroes

 

 

next villain team 5 members The Interruption

this team execute their crimes with complete plans and quick efficient actions

they can rob a bank and disappear in 12 seconds

[BoloOfEarth]

Re: Create a Villain Theme Team!

 

Given the short time duration, I'm assuming a team of mostly higher-than-normal SPDs. But I'll throw in a "speedster" that is a bit non-traditional.

 

Interview is a mentalist who puts the phrase "speed of thought" to the test. While she can't move any faster than a normal human (she has a SPD of 2), she can use her mental powers fast enough (SPD 12) that it almost defies description. However, doing so tires her out greatly, so she doesn't do this very often. Her strongest power is Telepathy, with the ability to cut through mind blocks like a scythe and read deep into the target's memory, but she can also replay the pain of injuries from the target's past (Mental Blast) and even re-enact entire memories (Mental Illusions). She is one of Interruption's scouts, surreptitiously reading minds of those in the target area to learn security details (patrol patterns, lock codes, location of whatever the team is after, etc.) that might help out her teammates.

[Utech]

Re: Create a Villain Theme Team!

 

They call him the BFG -- and it don't mean "Big Friendly Giant". Jack -- "Do the impression. Go on. Do it. I dare you... -- Sparrow has all the subtlety of a typhoon. He points at something with both arms, takes a few seconds to power up, and BOOM! The something is lots of little pieces of somethingfetti. Given the time it takes for BFG to activate his power, he's best at blowing up things that don't move or people who don't know he's around.

 

The Interruption often use BFG as a distraction rather than as an integral part of the main mission. He can be across town from the actual caper causing a skyscraper to teeter, giving old City Hall that new "tunneled" look all the kids are screaming about these days, or reducing a power substation to a couple of wires and scorch marks. From time to time, though, the Interruption actually need BFG in on a job. Mostly when there's a stubborn wall that just can't be removed without his inimitable charm, wit, and BOOM!

 

BFG is a glass cannon. He has little in the way of personal defense. His typical MO is to show up, blow up, and shove off before the law arrives. Precisely what his BOOM! power consists of is left to the gentle good graces of whichever GM might wish to make use of dear Jack. My intention, though, is for PCs to look at the aftermath of a BOOM! strike, shake their heads, whistle softly, and maybe pee their pants just a little in fear.

[BobGreenwade]

Re: Create a Villain Theme Team!

 

Whippet is a super-speedster who does the actual collection of cash. He's a classic speedster, including the "Speed Zone" ability to surpass the time barrier and perform dozens of tasks in the blink of an eye. He probably could do this stuff on his own if he really wanted to, but it's much easier working with a team who can open locked vault doors, create distractions, and do other things he can't.

 

He's sometimes tempted to hold out some of the cash for himself... though he has yet to succumb to that temptation.