Create a Villain Theme Team!

[BoloOfEarth]

Re: Create a Villain Theme Team!

 

For any team seeking to mete out justice, the ability to see the past (and sometimes, the future) is incredibly helpful. Luckily for The Jury, their leader (the Jury Foreman) is a fairly reliable precog / retrocog. Technically what he does is psychometry, touching objects to "read" major events in the past and/or future either related directly to that object (such as a weapon used in a robbery), or to an individual (in the case of an object frequently touched or worn by said individual).

 

The Foreman, whose real name is Bobby Jones, is a former college professor (History) who discovered his abilities after slipping on the ice and banging his head. He was okay until he was called to serve on a jury for a man accused of murder. During jury deliberations, he touched a knife used in the slayings and saw visions that the killer was actually a mass murderer, responsible for dozens of murders in a half-dozen states. The visions of those murders were too much for Jones and made him want to exact justice for the many crimes man perpetrates against his fellow man. It didn't help matters that the murderer was later freed on appeal.

 

 

Jones / Jury Foreman has been recently diagnosed with a brain tumor. He has had visions of his teammates at a funeral and suspects that he only has a short time left to live. Because of this, he has been actively looking for someone to replace him on The Jury.

 

[Gent]

Re: Create a Villain Theme Team!

 

James Williamson is Bill Gavel, the vicious vigilante. He has the ability to teleport and a very large hammer. He's always glad to introduce those who he believes are criminals to his hammer. He was prone to being proven wrong after further investigation, however, and joined The Jury in hopes that he would be right more often if he worked with a retrocog like the Jury Foreman.

[Cygnia]

Re: Create a Villain Theme Team!

 

Habeus Corpus

 

Scott Farley remembers it all. His crowning moment of working for "Voice For the Voiceless" (an "Innocence Project"esque organization), after eight painstakingly long years, after thousands of dollars spent and thousands of letters written, the DNA test finally came through and it proved that Bill Ryder wasn't guilty of rape even after his conviction. Ryder had been a habitual criminal, drugs, assault and petty theft, but of this crime he was innocent. The wheels of justice turned slowly in releasing an unlikeable man like Ryder, but the day Scott got the conviction overturned and saw the look of sheer joy on Bill's face as a free man, he thought it was the greatest day of his life.

 

Three months later, it all turned to ashes. Three months later, Bill was caught again, charged with the rape and murder of a young woman who went to buy a pick-up truck from him. Ryder screamed set-up, but to Scott's horror, this time the evidence was concrete. The guilt ate at Farley and he snapped. He read up on the case of Jack Abbott as well. How many other habitual criminals would be better off staying in the cage? Innocence from one crime doesn't prevent guilt for others. He's been secretly manipulating DNA test results for some cases in order to make sure "problem criminals" stay in jail, but it isn't enough. So he's now using a power he turned his back on as a child -- the power to go desolid and walk through walls as a living, invisible ghost. Now he's making sure these risks will only leave the cage as a corpse. He and Mortimer have become the best of friends.

 

New Team: The Fantasticks!

Number: 6

Theme: These six men and women have lost sight of reality. Maybe they were once gamers or fiction writers or actors or just took too much acid, but they all see this world as a dream -- and it's up to them to wake the rest of us up whether we like it or not. Code vs. Killing preferred.

[Badger]

Re: Create a Villain Theme Team!

 

As a general point can we drop down to 4-8 villains for the next few teams ? The Chrononauts was really quite arduous and seemed to have sapped our creative juices. Where you have something more definite like the Zodiac or the months of the year, it is easier to get a fix on individual members of a large team. The Chrononauts was like nailing blacmange to a wall. I give Badger a pass on the above as a jury does have 12 members. And then I had ideas for three.

 

 

Yeah, I prefer 6-8 members usually myself. The Jury idea hit me thanks to being unable to get away from that blasted Casey Anthony trial (i mean really it was like nonstop on every station, oy) Been in my mind last week or 2.

[BoloOfEarth]

Re: Create a Villain Theme Team!

 

Quote

Yeah, I prefer 6-8 members usually myself. The Jury idea hit me thanks to being unable to get away from that blasted Casey Anthony trial. Been in my mind last week or 2.

 

I have to say, I really enjoyed the idea of The Jury and, if I ever re-start my Champions campaign, I intend to include that group. Rep to you for the idea.

 

That said, I prefer smaller (5-8) member groups myself most of the time, though The Jury did need to be 12 members.

 

[BoloOfEarth]

Re: Create a Villain Theme Team!

 

I probably shouldn't do this at 3 AM, but here goes.

 

You'd think in a world filled with superheroes and supervillains, where aliens and other-dimensional beings have come to Earth with relative frequency, there would be less of a stigma on being a comic book collector and superhero RPG player. But Stan "Stick" Stevens was still looked at as a nerd and a social outcast. He told himself he really didn't mind, but it ate away at his confidence until he withdrew from all but his closest friends.

 

All Stevens really ever wanted was to be a superhero, but he knew in his heart that would only ever be a dream -- until the day he was in the right place at the right time. Or the wrong place at the wrong time, as the case may be. He was stuck in traffic behind a truck carrying toxic chemicals, when a supervillain knocked a superhero into the truck. Stevens was splashed with the chemicals and fell into a coma that lasted several months. When he awoke, he found his body had become incredibly malleable, able to stretch and remold at will like silly putty. Unfortunately, his mind was also a little bit reshaped in the process, and Stevens isn't quite sure he has actually awakened from his coma.

 

Taking the name Mister Stick based on his childhood nickname, he commits crimes in the hopes of finally waking up both himself and the world that he considers little more than a fevered dream.

[Nothere]

Re: Create a Villain Theme Team!

 

Tod Wilks loved old serials. The cheesier and more B the better. His favorite was Captain Cadin. So when the chance to buy the raygun used in the series came up, he was happy to drive to get it. Unfortunatly it was raining, and while getting out of his car, he was hit by a lighting bolt. Waking up in a hospital they asked him who he was, and he responded Captain Cadin.

 

Captain Cadin wasn't fooled. The evil Tarlos evil emporer of the Garlon empire had subjected him to the Ulvan Mind Wornms before. Though this time they had learned from their past mistakes. Instead of presenting a warped view of reality, this time they were creating the illusion that he was on a different world. And his memories were just "A mash up of different science fiction shows." That there really were no "Princess Alana or Cadet Sparky." They tried to prove it by showing him movies staring a man who looked nothing like him, and pointing out the world only had one moon. But Captain Cadin not only knew it was only a projection of the mind worms, but how to beat them. His first step was to wecape the hospital. Then he rebuilt his rocketpack, raygun, and other weapons. He's started building his spaceship but still needs parts.

Of course this is all part of the plan to escape the worms infulence. As he learned from the other two incidents you do that by acting completly out of charecter. Thus he escaped when he attacked Sparky and Alana respectully. Of course in this fantasy world He has no close personal friends to attack. So he'll have to go with quanity over quality. Fortunatly as this world is nothing more than the windworms projection, he can do any awful thing he wants.

Running into the Fantastics, a group of others being manipulated by the mind worms. He quickly took charge. Sooner or later he and the rest of them will hit upon the horrible thing required to throwm off the mind worms, and return to reality. Then Emporer Tarlos will larn what happens when you try to spread evil through the galaxy.

[Badger]

Re: Create a Villain Theme Team!

 

Obsessed with the good Old Western movies. The Duke fights with 2 strange magical pistols. Doing things like shot ricochets with ease (among many other trick shots). Also strangely, the guns dont do any knockback whatsoever. Also, a good hand to hand fighter- he evitably gets into a barfight EVERY single time he goes in one. He is also usually found in the company of a black horse he calls "Tex" even on missions where a horse in not only not needed but likely a hindrance.

 

Note: Also it is "The Duke", never call him just Duke, you have to add "the" to it. He gets angry.

[death tribble]

Re: Create a Villain Theme Team!

 

Bad Trip

 

Once upon a time there came a group of people called Hippies. And to further estrange them from a mundane world they smoked strange herbs which gave them vivid dreams. Then one of the came among them with news of the great liquid that gave really good dreams and it was called LSD. Lo ! let this serve as a warning ! If you have a baby do not let them fall into a whole bath of LSD as the effects could become permanent.

Bad Trip is over 40 years old and can make people dream whether they want to or not and can bestow dreams on those that cannot dream or sleep. He has rejected reality and seeks to change it back to what it was. A world of peace and love. the dreams cannot kill but can render someone unconscious if they cannot cope with it.

If you think archetypal hippy, then you are thinking Bad Trip. Coloured glasses. Coloured clothes. Beard. Believes in peace.

He avoids The Duke as he never liked John Wayne. And getting angry 'isn't my scene, man'.

[death tribble]

Re: Create a Villain Theme Team!

 

Anna Scorsese never had it easy. If it was not the King and I gags, it was the gags about her 'famous brother' Martin even though she was not related to the director. She became a writer and like many she nursed the idea of writing a great American novel. However she was one of the writers on a soap opera but never the chief one and never the one the one in charge if directing major plot points. She also had to contend with poor actors and actresses who took her well crafted words and mangled them. She began to seethe inside.

What happened next was a matter of circumstance. With the rest of the writing staff off sick, stranded at a convention or on holiday Anna was given two days to rewrite ten scripts for shooting over two days (Christmas Eve and Christmas Day). This was by ace director and supreme Narcissist J. Edmond Stansman who believed actors were 10 a penny and writers were next to useless. Then the building was hit in a fight between the Golden Guardian and Diablocus and during the confrontation Anna suffered a concussion. Her mind gave way. There were no such things as demons and superheroes. Time to wake up. And that is what Anna intended to do to others. As The Writer. She would not have got anywhere with this except Bad Trip gave her a special LSD tablet which gave her powers. Now Anna writes and things come true. And what she writes takes the fantasy and miraculous and magic out of life.

 

Next one is the last one and the new topic.

[Gent]

Re: Create a Villain Theme Team!

 

Donald Trump went to sleep one night, and, when he woke up, he was in a different world. In this world he found that he could make the most powerful superhero into a bumbling incompetent.

 

This Donald Trump comes from the nightmares of a Trump employee. The nightmare featured Trump berating the employee, who then bungled their attempts to prove their competence. However, it is unknown how the nightmare-Trump got into reality.

 

[Gent]

Re: Create a Villain Theme Team!

 

New team: Automatonics

Five robot-themed supervillains. Only one of them is actually a robot, and only one builds robots.

[death tribble]

Re: Create a Villain Theme Team!

 

Robert in Disguise

 

Not everyone gets regular superpowers. Like Robert Prosland. His superpower is well rather unique and has proved rather nauseating to people around him. Robert found he could turn into a number of things and could become vehicles, mailboxes and even other people. But well have you ever seen the cartoon or the film Transformers and seen how the vehicles change shape ? Now watch a human do that. It make people sick. And as one of the first times he did it was in front of lot of people, he lost his anonimity. And picked up the new moniker. No one would touch Robert with a bargepole until the Automatonics came along.

Maybe he's insane. But he is now a full fledged villain.

[death tribble]

Re: Create a Villain Theme Team!

 

Halfman

 

Rufus Pendrell never caught a break. Not that much good at school either on the sporting field or academically he drifted into crime. But even then he was not that smart and ended up being a guard or a third wheel whilst others planned the job and carried it out. He would have ended up in prison if a security guard hadn't plugged in in one raid. The gang could not leave him as he'd talk and his dead body would only make people look for the rest of him. So they took him to an underworld doctor who patched him up. Then in the next raid a rival gang shot at them and Rufus was hit again. So off to the doc who replaced part of Pendrell's anatomy with plastics, metal and wires. Rufus's share went toward the 'treatment'.

A few raids later and the cops plugged him as he was covering the getaway. More metal, plastic and wires. Then the rival gang caught up with them and tried to kill them all. One of the others had betrayed them as well for the money. Rufus turned on them and used his cybernetics to eliminate the rival gang. His former cohort bolted. Rufus then took the name that the gang had used so derisively against him, Half Man. He now had a purpose and was more than happy to join the Automatonics when they came recruiting. Rufus is the token cyborg member of the team. And is basically fire support and scouting. He tolerates Robert as people are equally freaked out by a human cyborg.

[Cygnia]

Re: Create a Villain Theme Team!

 

Femmebot

 

All Miyuki Shimada wanted was someone to love her. But trying to date left her disillusioned. Human men lie and cheat and hurt. What Miyuki wanted desperately was someone who would never leave her, who'd always be there to protect her and be there for her needs only. Fortunately (or unfortunately as the case may be), her father was the head designer for a robotics firm in Kyoto and Miyuki managed to get her hands on a new lifelike prototype (male) android. A few hours of tinkering on the side enabled her to override the company's security controls and now Ai (as Miyuki calls the droid) is devoted to her as the perfect boyfriend. "Femmebot" is what the rest of the team derisively calls Miyuki behind her back as her robophilia is something even they are creeped out by. Behind her back though, as Ai is still super strong and durable. And that's just the Uncanny Valley in effect when his head is looking at them while he's supposed to be in sleep mode...right?

[death tribble]

Re: Create a Villain Theme Team!

 

Professor Crackpot

 

Caractacus Potts was one of the nerds at school and a prodigous inventor. However Shaun 'Winner' Casey often made a point of destroying the 'crackedpot' or 'crackpot' invention almost as soon as it had been seen. Until the day Potts exhibited a robot called Gulliver, Gull for short, at the science fair. Shaun went to destroy it but was warned off by Caractacus and teachers. Undeterred he attacked again while the judging was going on and despite shouted pleas from others hit the robot as hard as he could with a baseball bat. This caused a piece of metal to detach and slit Shaun's throat and he died bleeding profusely on national TV. While Shaun's parents blamed Potts and sued (and lost), Potts himself calmly showed tests that proved the robot had been tested for damaging attacks and that what had happened had been an accident. He also managed to air videoes of Shaun making his life a misery on numerous occasions which backed up his own coldness at Shaun's death.

Although he graduated a lot of people blamed him for Shaun's death but he was past caring. He continued studing robots and increased his knowledge of them making new and better versions of 'Gulliver'. He even got a degree in Robotics. But no-one wanted to employ him because of the death. Undaunted Potts went to work for the Underworld and began building robot vehicles and machines as labour saving devices for crooks. After a few near misses Professor Crackpot began using remote viewing so that he would not be at the scene or close to it when his 'Ronald Reagan' robots were confronted by heroes. The self styled professor realised if he used 'Gulliver' or 'Gulliver' technology the heroes would track him down. Studying up on murderers, arsonists and bombers, Potts also took care not to have a signature style so that one robot would not be linked to another. So far no one has linked the 'Reagan' androids and battlebots with the smooth 'Vetec' class of robotic vehicles. Republicans and fans of the ex-president have offered $100,000 dollars for information on the person behind defaming Reagan but no luck so far.

Professor Crackpot serves as the defacto leader of the group and through his contacts met Miyuki Shimada and Rufus. Robert was brought in later and is a useful spy. The Professor keeps a couple of well built battle droids close when he is working to keep heroes away from him. His Reaganbots are secured elsewhere.

[Badger]

Re: Create a Villain Theme Team!

 

Jeffrey Danielson was Crackpot's roomate in college. He'd heard about the whole murder-bot scandal. Whatever. He was too busy scoring pot and booze. (in fact, Crackpot gave him the nickname back then of "Mr. Jack Daniels", as a combo play on his last name and his vices).

 

Eventually, Jeffrey would help as a kind of "asisstant" for some of Crackpot's projects. Sure, he wasnt of any help, but Crackpot couldnt be choosy and Jeffrey got some money for pot.

 

Eventually, after he dropped out of college (like you expected different) Jeffrey bounced around the underworld. He would meet Crackpot again, and prove a valuable contact in the underworld for Crackpot.

 

Unfortunately, eventually under a drunken bender he had to play with the battlebot. And somehow through some mishap or another became "psychically linked with the battlebot's computer". Crackpot wasnt sure how, he rolled his eyes for the 987th time at Jeffrey's escapades. But, it gave them an idea. Using this as an opportunity in testing out his planned battle armor tech, he took the battlebot's computer and connected it with a new armor suit, modifying the AI with the battle armor. Now with Jeffrey in the suit (why did it have to be him?) he has an enforcer loyal to him. Christened the name Symbiote. (Jeffrey wanted to go with Aluminum Can but was eventually convinced Symbiote was cool)

 

For some reason the armor/AI only works with Jeffrey at the helm. Though, it really doesnt need Jeffrey to do much, it just likes him at the helm. Jeffrey could even be (and believe me he has) stoned out of his mind and it still works. Coincidentally, with the "human element" the software seems to be largely unaffected by most computer viruses.

 

Jeffrey occasionally hangs out with Robert, and no matter how often he sees the transformation sequence, the perenially inebriated Jeffrey replies "WOH, duude"

[Badger]

Re: Create a Villain Theme Team!

 

International Intrigue

 

This team is made up of 7 super-mercenaries for hire. At least one was a former spy. But not all. (preferably one of the other is an all-around, jack-of-all-trades skill monster) (the other 5 can be just about anything that would seem appropriate to an international super-merc team)

[death tribble]

Re: Create a Villain Theme Team!

 

Legionnaire Etrange

 

Yves Roucheau is the team scout. He goes in first or takes the vanguard assignment. He can use a number of weapons but usually sticks to something light that he can run with if he needs to. As a French man he cannot be a member of the Foreign Legion and they want word with him over his name. He is not verbose but he is a good listener. He can understand German, English, Spanish and Russian but he only ever speaks in French or English. Outside of an assignment he keeps himself clean shaven and smartly dressed.

[death tribble]

Re: Create a Villain Theme Team!

 

Assault

 

Boris Smendyov is the heavy weapons specialist of the group. If it is the big gun, like a bazooka, heavy machine gun, a crew mount or whatever then Boris is the guy. He can lay down suppression fire or target his rounds like a sniper. He can use pistols or single shot rifles or even small arms like an Uzi but he much prefers the big stuff. Give him a large gun and Boris will actually smile. Boris is a fatalist and gets called J'em Hadar as he never exects to come out of a firefight alive. Boris was in the Russian military and in Spetnatz so how he came to be in the team is something of a mystery as are the two years he was missing before he was seen as a member of the team. The Russians are not after him but the question is why not ? Boris is loyal to his colleagues and refuses to be 'red baited' by people calling him Commie. Some people call Yves and Boris brothers as they don't say much. This is despite the fact that Boris ia a big hulking guy and Yves is not.

[death tribble]

Re: Create a Villain Theme Team!

 

What is this ? the Badger and Death Tribble show ?

 

Anyway

 

Signals

 

The other really big guy in the unit is Signals. He is the radio and computer guy. He is not a hacker per se. He is a comms expert par excellence. He can send messages in a variety of different codes and languages. He can also do semaphore and morse code. He tends to use a rifle or an SMG in combat. He can also understand a variety of different languages but the African ones are ones that just really escape him. He can also build a radio or comms device from scratch with the right equipment. So he can talk more than the others. He is also partly responsible for the fact that people cannot understand the comms traffic that he send out. And the CIA and FSB would love to get their hands on him. But this Navajo Indian has the others at his back and ain't going down easy. And yes he can do smoke signals.

[Cygnia]

Re: Create a Villain Theme Team!

 

Bailarina

 

From Brazil, the lovely Deolinda could have been a dancer, but she never gained success due to her poor social class. Seething with resentment, she turned her natural grace and beauty towards the escort business where she found out that enamored and distracted men usually are very loose with their lips. But sometimes those men are very dangerous and their secrets even more so. She might have ended up as just another statistic in Rio, but she fought back, stabbing to death one political attache from Venezuela who regretted some of the things he may have said in front of her and wanted to tie up "loose ends". Fortunately for Deolinda, the attache was being trailed by Yves as a target for assassination anyway. Yves and Deolinda got to talking (she speaks English as well as Portuguese) and he soon recruited her into the fold. Sometimes, it takes a woman's touch in their business....

[csyphrett]

Re: Create a Villain Theme Team!

 

Longshot is Norman Wood. He speciality is shooting people from a mile away with a big rifle. Sometimes he has to shoot through obstacles. The rifle helps with that.

CES

[Badger]

Re: Create a Villain Theme Team!

 

What is this ? the Badger and Death Tribble show ?

 

 

We'll be the new Rocky and Bullwinkle.

[death tribble]

Re: Create a Villain Theme Team!

 

We'll be the new Rocky and Bullwinkle.

 

Do you hate me THAT MUCH ?

I hate that cartoon. The voice of the rodent is too high and the moose is too stupid.