Running for a Villain Team

[Tradewind]

Ok, so some friend of mine want to to run a game where the PCs are super villains in a super heroic setting. I'm game for trying but for the life of me I'm having difficulty constructing a plot where villains would be compelled to work together. Any suggestions from GMs more clever than I?

[Opale]

Re: Running for a Villain Team

 

First things to set up are :

 

- How deeply villains are they ?

Will they kill with joy, murder thousands, be vicious and/or cosmic evil, or just go-gangers robbing banks ?

 

- What is each of those villains goal ?

After two or three bank robs, a villains discovers he's aimless. What would you do with such powers in your hands ? I mean some villains are villains because they walk below the line, to hit down dictators, corporations and systems that schock their self-made morality and to get some revenge from their normal life. Other are just monsters or maybe Inhumans which are not interested into Humanity at all, and wants it eventually destroyed

 

- If you are a villain, you need peers.. or not

 

A villain is LONESOME. Most people are good people given the opportunity. But a villain rarely have friends, love or family that doesn't hunt them down. If your campaign is setup to make them fall down from far, it will be this way. Cut them form any contact. Show them how fearful they are. Make them beenbetrayed as the freaks they are..

 

Finally, I happened to find out that MOST players are not able to play good interesting villains. Because they lack the three points above. I don't tell they don't make good criminals, it's easy. But a Supervillain is something else. Something more "enlighted" again.

[drunkonduty]

Re: Running for a Villain Team

 

First thing you need to do is let the players know that they have to play together as a team. Their characters need to have a reason(s) to work together. But I'd suggest letting the players come up with those reasons. Are they henching for Doc Destroyer? Are they trying to escape from Stronghold and need one another? Are they friends? Is there a big crime that they canonly pull off with each other? They have a common enemy like the Champions? Obviously moderate the idea(s) if you feel the need but try to make it something the players want. If they can't come up with reasons to get along it'll make your life a misery as a GM. And everyone needs to remember that "villain" doesn't have to mean psychopath. The villain is just one the wrong side of the law for some reason.

 

Which begs the question: why are the PCs on the wrong side of the law? They just grew up bad? They're the victim of circumstances? They grew up on the wrong side of the tracks? Doc. Destroyer has their family held hostage and unless the PC does as the Doc wants they're dead?

 

I think once both these questions are answered you'll all have a much easier time coming up with plot lines for them.

 

Cheers.

[kahuna's bro]

Re: Running for a Villain Team

 

try the dc comics series secret society of super villians to see how a group of thiskind works,also the second season of justice league unlimitedhas an updated legion of doom you could use as a template

[Logan D. Hurricanes]

Re: Running for a Villain Team

 

You might take inspiration from the Flash's Rogues, a group of individuals that learned to work together as a unit (they even have a medical plan!).

[csyphrett]

Re: Running for a Villain Team

 

A Suicide Squad also works if you have the right explosive leash.

CES

[Tradewind]

Re: Running for a Villain Team

 

Ok, so I've had a small inspiration from the book Masked and I was hoping I could get some feedback/advice for how to pull this off.

 

The idea is basically that one of the most powerful superheroes in this world has the ability to force someone to be moral, basically he has a power cleanses people of all negative thoughts and feelings and leaves them as a perfectly moral being. Now of course this basically means he's killing the original person and creating basically a heroic zombie without any free will. As a result it opens the field for 'good guy' bad buys who belive that freedom of choice is more important that temporary justice and real villains who want to kill the king of the superheroes.

 

Are there any really glaring flaws in this? My requirements are really that there needs to be tiers of opposition and there needs to be a reason for a group of bad guys to work together towards a common, long term goal.

[JQP]

Re: Running for a Villain Team

 

Fun to think about some of the ramifications of superpowers and butt them up against comic conventions. Let's face it, if America actually produced a bumper crop of super-heroes, they'd be stinking rich from gigs as PMCs in Iraq/Afghanistan, strip-mining, etc. They'd be a lot more like those guys from that supergroup Herricane and Captain Adventure from Penthouse Comix belonged to; obsessing over their marketing strategies/profits, reputations, etc.. They'd be long on Super...hero, not so much.

 

Not to say the superhero wouldn't show up, but he'd tend to be found in heavily monetized roles. The altruistic types would probably mostly be political or religious radicals.

[wrestlinggeek]

Re: Running for a Villain Team

 

I have decided a simple way to get a villain team together. Each PC has a heroic nemesis. These heroes have just formed a team. Now, the PCs have to cooperate or they're each as good as in jail.

[csyphrett]

Re: Running for a Villain Team

 

Ok, so I've had a small inspiration from the book Masked and I was hoping I could get some feedback/advice for how to pull this off.

 

The idea is basically that one of the most powerful superheroes in this world has the ability to force someone to be moral, basically he has a power cleanses people of all negative thoughts and feelings and leaves them as a perfectly moral being. Now of course this basically means he's killing the original person and creating basically a heroic zombie without any free will. As a result it opens the field for 'good guy' bad buys who belive that freedom of choice is more important that temporary justice and real villains who want to kill the king of the superheroes.

 

Are there any really glaring flaws in this? My requirements are really that there needs to be tiers of opposition and there needs to be a reason for a group of bad guys to work together towards a common, long term goal.

 

The most glaring flaw is generally villains aren't going to care, and unless your king of the superheroes can defend himself against multiple attackers, they might try to kill him out of hand.

 

It might be good for a one shot, but I dont see how you can turn that into a running plot.

CES

[Opale]

Re: Running for a Villain Team

 

Tradewind, reading yoru ideas, I suggest you read the Squadron Suprem comic, which include a huge parody of the JLA, making the Heroes looks like Villains as they brainwash criminals into good people..

 

And then who become the freedom heroes ? the lasting vilains that fight them.. *winks*

[JQP]

Re: Running for a Villain Team

 

Yep. "Heroes" run amok is easily the best way to run a "villain" team. Just like real life. You could wrap a whole supers game world around that.

[Utech]

Re: Running for a Villain Team

 

Consider a "Brotherhood of Evil Mutants" scenario. The PCs are mutants (or whatever) and think that anyone who isn't a mutant (or whatever) is worth less than the PCs. The PCs have no problem taking things from normals (squibs, sheep, vermin, whatever) and may not even have a problem with killing or enslaving them. The PCs work together because they see the value in each other and by working together they should be able to take their rightful places among the ruling class. Super"heroes" are misguided bleeding hearts who really ought to know better.

 

The PCs fight superheroes only because superheroes try to do crazy things -- like put the PCs at the mercy of the normals! The PCs probably try not to harm superheroes at first. Instead, the PCs try to convince superheroes to join them. Eventually the PCs may decide they need to kill some superheroes. A shame, really, but if the superheroes insist on acting crazy, they'll have to be put down.

[Myrlyn]

Re: Running for a Villain Team

 

Ok, so I've had a small inspiration from the book Masked and I was hoping I could get some feedback/advice for how to pull this off.

 

The idea is basically that one of the most powerful superheroes in this world has the ability to force someone to be moral, basically he has a power cleanses people of all negative thoughts and feelings and leaves them as a perfectly moral being. Now of course this basically means he's killing the original person and creating basically a heroic zombie without any free will. As a result it opens the field for 'good guy' bad buys who belive that freedom of choice is more important that temporary justice and real villains who want to kill the king of the superheroes.

 

Are there any really glaring flaws in this? My requirements are really that there needs to be tiers of opposition and there needs to be a reason for a group of bad guys to work together towards a common, long term goal.

 

You might also want to check out the 12 issue limited series by Marvel "Squadron Supreme". Following a massive attack on the world, the Squadron Supreme - the premiere hero team of their world - initiates their "Utopia Program" to rebuild the country/world into a utopia. The Squadron assume overall control of the government of the United States and remake the nation into a virtual utopia. The team implement a series of sweeping changes, including revealing their secret identities; instituting a program of behavior modification in prisons (inmates are forced to submit to a process that mentally inhibits their criminal instincts); enforcing a strict gun control policy; and developing medical technology to resurrect the dead. One of the team members, Nighthawk, rejects the plan at the very beginning, and recruits a team of villains to eventually stop the Squadron from completing their objectives.

 

The 12 issue series was collected in a trade back that you can get on amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/Squadron-Supreme-Mark-Gruenwald/dp/078510576X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1288102280&sr=8-1

 

[megaplayboy]

Re: Running for a Villain Team

 

The villains have to be in the same general ballpark as each other, with respect to goals and methods. It probably also helps if each has more problems(i.e., hunteds) than they can possibly handle solo. It's challenging to GM because normally a PC hero group tends to be reactive rather than proactive. In the case of a villain team, unless they start out stuck in Stronghold or something, they're going to be meeting to discuss their next heist, or how to get a superhero team out of their hair--the initiative is generally theirs. What that means is as a GM, you may have to do a lot of improvising, if they choose to do something you weren't prepped and ready for.

[BoloOfEarth]

Re: Running for a Villain Team

 

In the same vein as megaplayboy's last comment, you might want to consider getting or creating a collection of building/structure maps - a few warehouses and office-type places, a factory or two, a few banks (small local branches as well as a larger one with a big vault). If the city has mass transit, a subway station or two. University buildings or labs for when they have to "borrow" a research scientist. That way you can wing it when they decide to build the Big MacGuffin and need to collect funds or parts or information.

 

To every session, I would bring character sheets for the main heroes for the campaign city (if it's based at one), as well as common law enforcement (police, UNTIL, PRIMUS) and criminal agencies (VIPER, ARGENT, DEMON) they may interact with regularly. For my Champions S-Squad game, my regular binder always contains character sheets for UNTIL and PRIMUS assault and Iron Guard agents, VIPER and COIL agents, as well as a few local NPC solo heroes and a few vehicles (PRIMUS prisoner transport, VIPER flying APCs) my players' heroes might encounter along the way.

 

I'd run a number of "collections" and minor bits with very few of them involving serious opposition. (e.g. kidnap a scientist and run into a few campus cops, break into a warehouse and have to bypass security guards plus a cop car on patrol, etc.) Battles against the superheroes should be climactic, not continuous. Think about it as if you were running heroes -- would they cross swords with the villains at each and every turn, or only at a key point or two?

 

It doesn't have to be all reactive on your part, however. A group of pro-mutant villains might hear about an anti-villain group or government agency testing a power-nullifier and the PC villains might want to steal the prototype to figure out how to protect themselves from it. In your "utopia-creating superhero" idea, they might learn that he is creating a device to allow him to project his powers over a greater area, and they decide to sabotage it.