where do the villains get the MONEY?

[DocMan]

What ever happened to pulling bank jobs?

 

Sometimes the classics still work, ya know!

 

Doc

[phydaux]

I gave a reality conflict with Supers pulling bank jobs.

 

You're likely to only get 2-3 thousand dollars per teller on duty. If you stay to clean out more than 2-3 tellers then you're almost garenteed that the super heros will show up.

 

Bank jobs are too high risk/low reward.

 

ATM jobs, however, seem cool. An ATM, particularly in a highly travelled area, can have upwards of 50 thousand bucks in it.

 

Although I think banks would start protecting them with NND gas and sonic booby traps if things got too out of hand.

[Chuckg]

> You're likely to only get 2-3 thousand dollars per teller on

> duty. If you stay to clean out more than 2-3 tellers then

> you're almost garenteed that the super heros will show up.

 

a) From the DM's point of view, that's not a bug -- that's a feature.

 

If the villains really must get through a bank job w/o superhero response, then the answer is "pick a city without superheros, like Cleveland".(*)

 

(*) And yes, I'm aware that some people set campaigns in Cleveland.

 

(Which leads us to the time-honored question 'What blithering idiot *EVER* chooses to rob a bank in Metropolis, when they can just go a couple hours' drive down the Interstate and execute a much more likely-to-succeed bank robbery in Philadelphia?"

 

Of course, some criminals are idiotic enough to get into police stand-off situations in Gotham City, as well...)

 

c) The main reason that most bank robbers just do the teller windows and don't go for the vault is because they can't get it open before the cops show up. Any villain team with a decent brick or powerful energy blaster obviously doesn't have that problem.

[DocMan]

Originally posted by Chuckg

c) The main reason that most bank robbers just do the teller windows and don't go for the vault is because they can't get it open before the cops show up. Any villain team with a decent brick or powerful energy blaster obviously doesn't have that problem.

 

Exactly. And if you're after the vault, you have the luxury of going after it at night when there's fewer people to push pesky alarm buttons. Even better if you've got someone with half a chance of bypassing the security system.

 

Doc

[johnflang]

In our campaign where we were super villians we did the following:

 

1) Drug dealers have lots of cash cant go to police to report stolen goods

a) Steal from him

Impersonate him and steal his laundered money

 

2) Heist 100 million in gems from a diamond repository in New York fence as you need cash.

 

That pretty much solved our money problems and ended the campign since we did not feel like commiting any more crimes.

[phydaux]

Originally posted by johnflang

That pretty much solved our money problems and ended the campign since we did not feel like commiting any more crimes.

 

Ha! Your GM just wasn't trying! The campaign hasn't even started and I ALREADY have four differant ways to screw over the PCs.

[Chuckg]

> 1) Drug dealers have lots of cash cant go to police to report

> stolen goods

> a) Steal from him

> Impersonate him and steal his laundered money

 

Without even trying...

 

a) Have your bank freeze the account and confiscate the money when the DEA because they followed the money trail from a known drug dealer's account to yours.

 

If you tried to withdraw it... *shudder*. Do you know what happens when you try to suck more than $10,000 in cash out of a bank at once? See above, and add the IRS to the mix.

 

c) The above are the merciful options. Having Mechassassin, Lazer, Steel Commando, Shamrock, and Hazard show up saying "The cartels were *really* pissed about that last one, so they told us that if we can kill you, we can split whatever you stole". (Add other mercenary supervillains if the above aren't enough.)

 

d) Same as above, only it turns out that the drug dealer was a VIPER front, and instead of various super-mercs you're getting Oculon, Armstrong, and a hand-picked crew from Dragon Branch.

 

(While it is true that crooks can't go to the cops when ripped off, they have their own ways of getting their own back.)

 

> 2) Heist 100 million in gems from a diamond repository in

> New York fence as you need cash. [snip]

 

Have your fence rat you in to PRIMUS in return for a slap on the wrist and a 10% settlement from the diamond repository's insurance company.

[Dog Soldier]

A few years ago there were some 'pirates' that cleaned out several drug dealers. They had some inside knowledge of when the dealers would have a large amount of cash on hand and hit them then. If you had a team of super villians that sort of thing would be right up their alley.

[OneSmallGod]

"The game depends on the card you're dealt." (Absolute Zero, a villain from a campaign in which I played.)

 

AZ, who obviously had wicked cold powers, specialized in hitting vaults. He and his partner Shockwave could drain security systems and then shatter bank-vault doors. Their average in-and-out time was less than three minutes, and when they included a mass-and-range teleporter named "Scotty" in their crew, they raked it in for quite a while. Their favorites were loose cash from gambling casinos and tracks, and bearer bonds from corporate holdings. With the latter, the secret is to create as much chaos as possuible to delay an accounting of what's missing, and have your fences ready to take possession instantly after the heist, before the cops are looking for the stolen merchandice. More hoobs have been caught trying to shop a chance-grabbed trinket around town for a good price, ginving the Recovery Specialists a chance to close in!

 

"Small-timers grab the money themselves. Big-time operators have the mark

give them the money." The Organizer

 

All The Organizer did was make introductions. He's the one who introduced Scotty and Shockwave, for example. He set a price on his help, and the crew paid happily. The Organizer threw business to other people, but he never handled merchandice himself - only the finder's fees. He also worked with folks in the recovery business, helping to recover those priceless paintings or other valuable items, for a small commission and a finder's fee. (And since he helped set up the heist in the first place, he got paid by both sides...)

 

Have you considered an evil genius who has invented an operating system which is pretty good and widely marketed, but also allows him to issue Mind Control instructions to people staring at the screen for hours on end? You know, it plays videogames really well, too!

[Mephron]

Originally posted by umbra

If someone is a shapeshifter the can get paid to impersonate people ... i.e. If you always wanted to date Superman... Heck you could even start doing Superhero porn. I'm sure there are lots of lonely people out there who would rent/buy stuff like that.

 

In the game I'm in, there's someone who has a minor transform that allows them to change someone's appearance.

 

He kidnaps women - just one at a time - changes them to look like superheroines, and then films BDSM movies with the women. It's very much an underground thing, but people who are into it talk about how 'real' the performances by the actresses are, how great the makeup is...

 

...most of them don't know that this is a low-grade supervillain basically filming his own rape fantasies and using them to make money.

 

We just found out that he kidnapped a college girl, and he's hired a real super to play the attacker in the next movie. He's a brick....

 

Our team, which is mostly women, was motivated to find him before. We're wondering if Manniquin will be able to walk and feed himself when this is over.

 

(And guys? This is a great thread. It gives some of us new ideas of things to run for players to have to deal with.)

[Mephron]

Originally posted by phydaux

ATM jobs, however, seem cool. An ATM, particularly in a highly travelled area, can have upwards of 50 thousand bucks in it.

 

Although I think banks would start protecting them with NND gas and sonic booby traps if things got too out of hand.

 

In our campaign, our characters have their base at the top of a skyscraper (all of the PCs either fly or have abilities to not have to worry about the height). The top 8 floors are ours. The next 8 floors are empty and heavily reinforced, but with charges so that, if there's a problem, it can separate our base from the rest of the building in order to keep it safe.

 

On the first floor, at street level, is a bank. someone tried to ROB the bank by ripping out the ATMs and carrying them off. At noon on a Wednesday.

 

You'd think that the sign 'Home of the San Diego Knights!" on the building that was put up would warn these people. But no...

 

Bulldozer was very, very unhappy that day. And swore he'd get even with (and I quote) "that stupid chop-socky Jap broad!" (Yes. He was taken down by the team's martial artist.)

 

Never underestimate the ability of a supervillian to come up with an unexpectedly brazen (see also: really stupid) plan....

 

(Interestingly enough, we also found out that there were two other supers planning on doing the exact same thing an hour later, but when they saw Bulldozer being taken away, they decided to give up. That's a plot for you! Your supervillian team goes to commit a crime and finds out that either someone else is doing it at the same time... or that they did it half an hour ago! So, what do you do about it?)

[korovan]

Re: where do the villains get the MONEY?

 

Legend has it that in ancent Rome (which didn't have a public fire department) one of it's most powerful senators made his fortune by organizing a private fire department.

 

Apparently they would wait until someone's house was on fire, then show up and demand an exorbinant price before they would put the fire out.

 

That was Gaius Licinius Crassus (yes, the one from Spartacus).... he did exactly as you said, but he also had another trick: he would rush (with his fire brigade) to the site of a fire, and then offer to buy the property on the spot... for a fraction of its value. The panicked home/business owner, facing the loss of the building's entire value (in those days before insurance) would often agree.. and THEN Crassus would order his firemen forward to save the place, thus making a big profit even after the cost of the repairs...

[korovan]

Re: where do the villains get the MONEY?

 

Blackmail could be a very lucrative crime for some mentalists or metamorphs.

 

A telepath could uncover the dirty secrets of the wealthy and shake them down for either a big payoff all at once or a slow-bleed every month...

 

A mind-controller could force the mark to do illegal/immoral/fattening things on camera, and then threaten to expose them ("So, Ms. Jolie, unless you want your little ... performance... with the Bolivian soccer team and their mascot to hit Youtube, you will kindly cough up 100,00 dollars each month...)

 

A metamorph could mimic Ms. Jolie on camera, and then make the same threat.

 

A different kind of mentalist could alter Ms. Jolie's memories to make her think/remember that wild night as actual fact, and pay to cover it up.

 

A memory-eraser could steal the happy memories from someone, and then demand money for their return ("So, you don't recall the last twenty years of you life? Your marriage? Your children? Would you like to?")

 

I could keep this up all day...

[FenrisUlf]

Re: where do the villains get the MONEY?

 

Legend has it that in ancent Rome (which didn't have a public fire department) one of it's most powerful senators made his fortune by organizing a private fire department.

 

Apparently they would wait until someone's house was on fire, then show up and demand an exorbinant price before they would put the fire out.

 

Didn't that happen in19th century American cities too? I know it happened in NYC, anyway.

[McCoy]

Re: where do the villains get the MONEY?

 

I gave a reality conflict with Supers pulling bank jobs.

 

You're likely to only get 2-3 thousand dollars per teller on duty. If you stay to clean out more than 2-3 tellers then you're almost garenteed that the super heros will show up.

 

Bank jobs are too high risk/low reward.

I saw an interview with a RL bank robber whose day job was with a brokerage firm on Wall Street. He had a coke habit and was desperate for cash. He was laughing at himself as he recalled counting the take from his first job and realizing that he had made more than that legitimately as a bonus the week before.

[Guest Major Tom]

Re: where do the villains get the MONEY?

 

Lure a superhero (or superheroine) into a trap, render him/her unconscious

somehow, and put him/her up for sale on vBay (just like eBay, only for your

fellow supervillains).

 

 

Major Tom

[Maelstrom]

Re: where do the villains get the MONEY?

 

You know, in one of the Parker books, the protagonist indicates that the best place to get a lot of money fast was a check-cashing place. They're not as heavily-guarded as a bank, and not a federal beef, either.

[zaras]

Re: where do the villains get the MONEY?

 

Where do the bad guys get funds?

 

The respective Governments of the nations in which they reside; terrorist/freedomfighter, superhero/supervillan.

 

Of course there is always that rumour about the Metamorph with Duplication that represents practically the entire welfare demographic...

[zaras]

Re: where do the villains get the MONEY?

 

Lure a superhero (or superheroine) into a trap, render him/her unconscious

somehow, and put him/her up for sale on vBay (just like eBay, only for your

fellow supervillains).

 

 

Major Tom

 

Consider that stolen. Just what ever reputable villanous org. needs for the digital age.

[The Weapon]

Re: where do the villains get the MONEY?

 

One thing that supervillains could do well is protection rackets. After all if you've been seen going toe to toe with a superhero the local pimps, casino operators and other criminal enterprises would rather not annoy you. Don't bother to intimidate the local legitimate businesses, just tell the racketeers who do they owe you 10%.

 

Of course you should make sure no supervillain is already doing this and that the local gangs don't have a supervillain on the payroll. Or you could simply offer to work for the local protection racket on a "make the occasional appearance and be on call" basis. Either way it should be good for routine expenses while you plan the big heist that actually makes your profits.

[Guest Major Tom]

Re: where do the villains get the MONEY?

 

You know, the villain group could always do what COBRA did in one of the old

G.I. Joe episodes to raise funds: run a TV telethon.

 

 

Major Tom

[FenrisUlf]

Re: where do the villains get the MONEY?

 

I saw an interview with a RL bank robber whose day job was with a brokerage firm on Wall Street. He had a coke habit and was desperate for cash. He was laughing at himself as he recalled counting the take from his first job and realizing that he had made more than that legitimately as a bonus the week before.

 

That sounds like some things I've read about criminals myself. For a lot of them in the end the money/power/whatever is less important than pandering to a dangerously narcissistic ego.

[Alverant]

Re: where do the villains get the MONEY?

 

If you want to have a long term villain, start him out as a henchman. As the campaign progresses he saves enough money to become a master villain on his own and hire his own lackeys.

 

But for world-class villains you can have rich parents who meet a mysterious demise.

[FenrisUlf]

Re: where do the villains get the MONEY?

 

But for world-class villains you can have rich parents who meet a mysterious demise.

 

That reminds me of a cartoon I saw years ago. An older man and a younger one are standing in front of a large open bay window, its lower frame reaching the floor, and gazing out at a gigantic factory. The older man is throwing his arms out wide and saying to the younger one: "Son, someday all of this will be yours!"

 

In the next panel, we see the younger man walking off whistling while behind him, the window frame is empty -- save for a pair of feet (wearing the same shoes as his father) just about to vanish from sight at the bottom outside the window.

[The Weapon]

Re: where do the villains get the MONEY?

 

I think these are all good ideas. As far as the base goes, think about what we see in the comics and cartoons: the villian works out of an abandoned building (warehouse, theatre, home, etc).

 

"It's in the abandoned warehouse district."

 

Most of the villains do not have access to everything right off the bat. They need to work their way up just like PC supers would.

 

Let the villains steal everything they need. That way they can make enemies of both the criminal organizations (VIPER, DEMON, ARGENT) and the law enforcement organizations (PRIMUS, UNTIL, MARS), and the superheroes. It's more fun when everyone hates them.

 

Another way for them to get equipment is for them to work for VIPER or ARGENT occasionally as mercenaries, and then accept payment in equipment of various types. So they get a 15 year old VIPER skyshark chopper, but it works and it is free.