Welcome to McGuffins. May I take your order?

[Boll Weevil]

I'm in the market for an awesome McGuffin. An item of power that, if evidence of it's whereabouts became known, would send many of the denizens of the Champions Universe scrambling to find it. I could home-grow one but the CU is full of McGuffinny goodness. The Mandragalore, Serpent Lantern and Basilisk Orb are good candidates, I think. Have any of these actually been written up in or at least been described as to what they do? The writeup(s) would be cool but not necessary. I would just like to know what a character or organization would gain by possessing it/them.

 

Are there other grand Mcguffins in the CU? Do any of your have any interesting home-growns to share?

[Ranxerox]

Re: Welcome to McGuffins. May I take your order?

 

I didn't invent this one. It comes from writer Gail Simone and the comic Secret Six. One of her story arcs revolved around a get out hell free card that the devil created to create strife on earth as sinners fought over it. Personally I thought that this was a brilliant McGuffin.

[Matt the Bruins]

Re: Welcome to McGuffins. May I take your order?

 

I think the secret of that Pill of Immortality that Dr. Yin Wu created for himself would qualify. I can certainly see Dr. Destroyer, the Warlord, and a whole host of lesser villains doing a scavenger hunt for it if they knew of its existence.

[Zeropoint]

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A life-size statue of a falcon, made of solid gold and heavily encrusted with gems.

[Escafarc]

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A life-size statue of a falcon' date=' made of solid gold and heavily encrusted with gems.[/quote']

Made with gold from some Mexican mountains in a North African city, last seen in South Florida

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Welcome to McGuffins. May I take your order?

 

I'm in the market for an awesome McGuffin. An item of power that' date=' if evidence of it's whereabouts became known, would send [u']many of the denizens of the Champions Universe scrambling to find it. I could home-grow one but the CU is full of McGuffinny goodness. The Mandragalore, Serpent Lantern and Basilisk Orb are good candidates, I think. Have any of these actually been written up in or at least been described as to what they do? The writeup(s) would be cool but not necessary. I would just like to know what a character or organization would gain by possessing it/them.

 

Are there other grand Mcguffins in the CU? Do any of your have any interesting home-growns to share?

 

You're right, Champions Earth is replete with awesome items. To deal with the ones you mention first:

 

The Mandragalore is described in Hidden Lands. It causes multiple "natural" catastrophes of unnatural frequency and intensity to occur over a wide target area -- earthquakes, tornadoes, wildfires, tsunamis, volcanoes, the works. HI does give it game stats which I'd prefer not to transcribe (IP concerns), but essentially it's an enormous MegaScale Major Transform.

 

The Serpent Lantern, as described in VIPER: Coils Of The Serpent, contains a "spirit serpent," one of the offspring of Nama. The Lantern gave the founders of VIPER extended lifespans, in exchange for magically binding them in loyalty to Nama. Since the Lantern has been lost those VIPER leaders have once again begun to age normally. Champions books published to date mention no other powers of the Lantern, but since it's appearing in Champions Online more may be revealed.

 

The Basilisk Orb is an Elder Worm artifact described, but not statted, in DEMON: Servants Of Darkness. With it a person can view all the possible alternate futures, choose one that leads to his desired goal however improbable that may be, and then make that future the one that actually takes place. In the case of the Edomite, leader of DEMON, he lost the Orb before he could make his desired future irrevocable. The Orb also radiates a "corrupting" influence that fills people with greed to possess it, and perhaps other negative emotions. Apparently the Basilisk Orb also plays a prominent role in the "Tuala Morn" era of the Hero Universe, but I'm not up on the details of that.

 

I think the secret of that Pill of Immortality that Dr. Yin Wu created for himself would qualify. I can certainly see Dr. Destroyer' date=' the Warlord, and a whole host of lesser villains doing a scavenger hunt for it if they knew of its existence.[/quote']

 

Dr. Yin Wu also seeks the legendary Jade Mirror of Transcendence, which apparently allows the possessor to remake reality on a global scale. Wu wants to change the entire world into medieval China, with himself as Emperor (as mentioned in 5E and 6E Champions Universe). Wu believes the Mirror was destroyed over the centuries, so he hunts for the rare substances needed to recreate it himself.

 

The Janus Key is another powerful reality-altering artifact, the degree of change based on the willpower of its user. It can also grant passage to a group of dimensions known as the "Cosmic Axis." Exposure to its energies can imbue someone with other magical powers, but also makes him obsessed to the point of madness. You can read more about the Janus Key in the new 6E Champions Universe sourcebook.

 

The Mystic World gives full 5E game stats for several magical artifacts of tremendous power, including: The Krypticon, or "Book of Secrets," the greatest tome of occult knowledge in the world, particularly spells affecting space, time, and dimensions; the Scepter of Night, a creation of the Kings of Edom, allowing lesser beings to tap their power to warp space and time, drain life energies, affect minds, empower others with Edomite-like abilities, and summon Edomites -- but at the cost of being psychically linked to the Kings; the Star of Urizen, bestowed by the Prime Avatar of Order on his favored servants, which grants several abilities including augmentation of any magic spell cast by its user. All these items were in the possession of the Archmage, but lost when the last Archmage was killed.

 

On the non-magic front, the hidden land of the Empyreans, Arcadia, is guarded by devices of their mysterious creators, the Progenitors, which maintain the comfortable climate of their valley in the Antarctic, and hide their land from detection by sight or any other method. These devices represent technology more advanced than any other on Earth, and would surely tempt any science-minded supervillain who learned of them.

[Folded]

Re: Welcome to McGuffins. May I take your order?

 

How about this? Call it whatever you like.

 

An object whose only power is to make people desire to possess it. The more susceptible to greed the character is, the less knowledge of the artifact is necessary to trigger it's power. For the average person, seeing it would be required. For someone truly acquisitive (say, your average billionaire), just knowing that it exists is enough. The greed intensifies over time, until the victim is willing to trade ANYTHING to get it.

 

Once you do possess it, the artifact's power reverses itself, and you will do anything to get rid of it. If your will is strong enough, you could hold onto it long enough to get anything you wanted from a single individual. Once it has passed from your hands, the desire not to have it increases, possibly to the point of madness. Half the universe wants the thing, the other half is trying desperately to make sure that they can't possibly come into its presence ever again.

 

Folded

[Basil]

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Aladdin's lamp and ring. Particularly if you go to the original idea, which had none of this "three wishes" bumf, and w/o the "twist the wish around" stuff. The genie of the lamp (and the genie of the ring) obeyed the owner, fully and willingly and helpfully, *and* with all their considerable power.

 

Then there's "The Gizmo". In it's "off" form it's a unremarkable medallion. When turned on, it turns into whatever non-magical/non-superpowered/etc. device you need, and changes back into a medallion when you no longer need whatever it was. Important note: that's *need*, not want; and, it's a bit peculiar in deciding what you need.

[Markdoc]

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A technomagical ring that cancels superpowers in a substantial radius around it. Not so appealing to your average supervillian, perhaps, but an item beyond price to your non-super-powered crime boss: with this, his gun-toting, martial kick-slingin' bodyguards can protect him from powerful supervillians. He could even knock over his super-powered rivals' operations, who won't be expecting an attack by "normals".

 

It'd force any heroes who wanted it to operate on a level they don't normally, and potentially think their way through rather than fight their way through. It'd also be desirable for Supervillians to get hold of, if only to get it out of circulation. While it's a really powerful device, it is unlikely to be terribly attractive to heroes since it also suppresses their powers. Edit: which means that it's not a campaign wrecker if your heroes get their hands on it!

 

As far as build goes, two unified powers, with area affect (radius, megascale) Suppress "all Cha above 30 active points" + "Suppress all powers that do not have "real" as a limitation"

Huge number of active points, but hey, it's a McGuffin. You'd need to decide yourself, who created such a thing!

 

Cheers, Mark

[kahuna's bro]

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the alien suit from the greatest american hero passed down from ralph hinkley to worthy succesors the suit is now missing following the passing of FBI agent bill maxwell whom the aliens allowed to remain as mentor to the greatest american hero now ralph must relocate the suit before it can be used for evil

[Lord Liaden]

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One of my favorite McGuffins from the early years of Champions is no longer in official continuity, but given the background of the current Champions Universe, it would easily fit in. The Worm Scepter, product of ancient, monstrous Lovecraftian races, was a major component of the pre-4E Champs adventure, Wrath of the Seven Horsemen. It was the origin of most of those selfsame Horsemen, supervillains of great power and extreme personality. The Worm Scepter has the ability to draw out a person's true "aspect," their single most powerful trait or motivation, and transform the person into the embodiment of that trait. Being physically and mentally dominated by one aspect often granted the transformed person tremendous power, but also gave him or her a monomaniacal obsession with that aspect. There was no way to be sure what trait would manifest from a given individual, although his known history and personality were useful clues.

 

Some of the Horsemen of the adventure embodied the familiar apocalyptic concepts -- War, Famine, Plague, and Death -- but Fear, Destruction, and Terror were all members at one time or another. The aspects need not be negative; the likes of Justice or Mercy are equally possible to manifest. However, even the most heroic ideal would still be applied rigidly and obsessively, e.g. Justice could be an inflexible, mosaic vigilante.

[Hawknight]

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How about The Emerald Eye of Azog from Great Supervillan Contest. So many fought for it only to find out that it was not worth fighting for.

[BlueCloud2k2]

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Some of the Horsemen of the adventure embodied the familiar apocalyptic concepts -- War' date=' Famine, Plague, and Death -- but Fear, Destruction, and Terror were all members at one time or another. The aspects need not be negative; the likes of Justice or Mercy are equally possible to manifest. However, even the most heroic ideal would still be applied rigidly and obsessively, e.g. Justice could be an inflexible, mosaic vigilante.[/quote']

 

What about Blunt-Force-Trauma, or Hates-Cool-People? And shouldn't it be the motorcycle-riders of the Apocolypse?

 

What? Go read Good Omens by Neil Gaimon.

[BlueCloud2k2]

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Borrowing from Stargate SG-1

 

The fountain of youth has been found! But unknown to any and all who use it, it is the resulte of an alien artifact. What's more, the energies of the artifact are too-powerful for humans to take in directly and are both addictive and slowly drive those who are exposed insane. Not to mention those exposed to its energies have a tendency to become zombies when they die...

 

Or, Archaeologists have found the Tomb of Merlin - and he's still trapped in Morgan La Fey's trap! But what if Merlin was the bad guy and Morgana the heroine? And the newly-released Merlin is ready to renew his assault on the world and Morgana isn't around to keep him in check?

 

Or, it has been discovered that there are 7 golden spheres that when brought together summon a dragon that will grant you any one wish you desire. Let the hunt begin! (Okay, that last one was me being facetious - Rep to anyone who gets the reference)

[johnvalentine]

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Uhh... Dragon Ball?

 

I had a similar but completely "Not-what-they-do" set of 7 golden orbs the size of pool balls called "The Orbs of Feilong" which were mystical spheres that worked as an extension of the owner's will, allowing him to manipulate objects, see through orbs, fly by standing on them, etc. They looked like they were clear orbs filled with swirling gold and silver dust. No stars though.

[kahuna's bro]

Re: Welcome to McGuffins. May I take your order?

 

Borrowing from Stargate SG-1

 

The fountain of youth has been found! But unknown to any and all who use it, it is the resulte of an alien artifact. What's more, the energies of the artifact are too-powerful for humans to take in directly and are both addictive and slowly drive those who are exposed insane. Not to mention those exposed to its energies have a tendency to become zombies when they die...

 

Or, Archaeologists have found the Tomb of Merlin - and he's still trapped in Morgan La Fey's trap! But what if Merlin was the bad guy and Morgana the heroine? And the newly-released Merlin is ready to renew his assault on the world and Morgana isn't around to keep him in check?

 

Or, it has been discovered that there are 7 golden spheres that when brought together summon a dragon that will grant you any one wish you desire. Let the hunt begin! (Okay, that last one was me being facetious - Rep to anyone who gets the reference)

dragonball evolution

[Lord Liaden]

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It's not a singular item, but kelvarite from the Champions Universe makes a splendid McGuffin IMHO. It's a rare meteoric mineral that's unstable and explodes easily; but people bombarded with radiation or fragments from kelvarite often develop superhuman powers. These generally include great strength and durability, and some type of enhanced movement capability (running, flight, leaping, teleporation), although other powers are possible. Several published CU supers owe their origins to kelvarite.

 

Recently in official CU history, UNTIL raced to keep a large chunk of kelvarite out of the hands of the African dictator, Joseph Otanga. But there's more of it scattered around the world, waiting to be discovered.

[Lord Liaden]

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We shouldn't overlook the technological benefits to be reaped from the classic crashed-alien-spacecraft scenario. In the CU the Warlord owes his weaponry to scavenging from a vessel from the Hzeel, who have been scouting Earth preparatory to an invasion; and there are alien species in the setting far more advanced than the Hzeel. One of the galaxy's oldest civilizations, the Mandaarians, have peacefully visited Earth several times in the past, and may attempt to do so again.

[megaplayboy]

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Anyone who escaped the gladiatorial games on Malva may have come on a stolen Malvan vessel and crashed it somewhere...but perhaps it's salvageable (presuming the smartest minds on Earth could understand it after months of study, even the most mundane Malvan tech would revolutionize life on Champions Earth).

[Lord Liaden]

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Anyone who escaped the gladiatorial games on Malva may have come on a stolen Malvan vessel and crashed it somewhere...but perhaps it's salvageable (presuming the smartest minds on Earth could understand it after months of study' date=' even the most mundane Malvan tech would revolutionize life on Champions Earth).[/quote']

 

Now that is an excellent point! In fact both Ironclad and Herculan arrived on Earth in stolen Malvan starships. Herculan's was "demolished" by the "primitive natives" of Earth, but pieces of it may still be in the hands of some yokel with no idea of what he has. OTOH Ironclad's ship crashed into Lake St. Clair, and AFAIK there's been nothing published as to what became of it.

 

I think I'll ping Steve Long about that.

[Ockham's Spoon]

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I will throw out two "historical" McGuffins. The first is the Philosopher's Stone, which not only allowed to user to transform any metal to gold, it also allowed the creation of an immortality elixir. In the real world it was discovered by J.K. Rowling and used as the starting point for a fantastically lucrative series of books. So maybe to "turn to gold' thing works...

 

The second is the Holy Grail. This artifact was rumored to have all sorts of powers, immortality just being one. But in my mind the real beauty of this relic is that as a "holy" object it might well be hunted for by both good and evil people. Will the evil people be ultimately destroyed or converted by its power? Will people with good intentions ultimately be corrupted by an ends-justifies-the-means mentality? Is the Grail really a sacred artifact or something mistaken for one? The role-playing possibilities make this an excellent object of desire.

[megaplayboy]

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The Polyversal Remote is a handheld device that enables the user to:

1. view distant places, times and dimensions

2. travel to and from those locations

3. summon beings and objects from those locations

4. alter their local surroundings

5. alter their local physical constants, including probability

6. alter local inhabitants

7. freeze, slow or speed up the flow of time locally

8. analyze anything it views, including living beings

9. translate languages

10. provide basic environmental and physical protection to the wielder of the remote

 

(VPP, OAF, Requires a Skill Roll(Use Polyversal Remote)(-1/20 active points), occasional side effects)--points as suitable to campaign setting

[ahduval]

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Another 'real world' mcguffin is the Lance of Longinus.

 

Previous owners (according to legend) include Charlemagne, Napoleon, and Hitler. Possessing the spear meant being undefeatable. (of course the legend also says losing it means death to the previous owner.)

 

In the DC comics it was also used to explain why the JSA didn't just invade and conquer the Nazis by themselves, since as soon as someone with superpowers would cross into German occupied Europe, they would become mind-controlled into fighting for the Nazis.

[Escafarc]

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[Lord Liaden]

Re: Welcome to McGuffins. May I take your order?

 

The first is the Philosopher's Stone' date=' which not only allowed to user to transform any metal to gold, it also allowed the creation of an immortality elixir. In the real world it was discovered by J.K. Rowling and used as the starting point for a fantastically lucrative series of books. So maybe to "turn to gold' thing works...[/quote']

 

 

The Philosopher's Stone (or I guess more accurately, "stones") is part of the Champions Universe, as well. In the backfiring of the Mandagalore that sank Lemuria, pieces of its fuel core were scattered across the globe. These fragments have the power to Transform anything into anything else -- a potent weapon in itself, let alone potentially reactivating the Mandragalore. Zorran the Artificer possesses a Philosopher's Stone, and another was confiscated from the supervillain Alchemica when she was sent to Stronghold. Implicitly there are more fragments out there.