where do the villains get the MONEY?

[Wyrm Ouroboros]

Re: where do the villains get the MONEY?

 

Crime pays, but only if you have 'market penetration' -- like the mob, or the yakuza, &c. Supercrime really doesn't pay; you need to get your cash from somewhere else. IMO, stock market cunning and manipulation is the best place to get it from; other stuff takes too long, comparatively. But a couple of ATM heists can get you the seed cash, if you need it.

 

Otherwise, at least IMO, 'because I needed the money' tends to be a less-than-effective way of going about it.

[Great Beyond]

Re: Instant Cash

 

Valet park for a fancy party. Use the registration to find out where the guy with the Maybach lives and send the rest of the time to visit before he leaves. Oh yah and you get to keep the cars.

 

Fixed that for you.

[Alverant]

Re: where do the villains get the MONEY?

 

"It's in the abandoned warehouse district."

 

Where are the abandoned luxury penthouses?

[Logan D. Hurricanes]

Re: where do the villains get the MONEY?

 

You're missing the most obvious source... inheritance! the idle rich thief is a classic trope. I was also particularly impressed by Luthor's scheme in Superman Returns.

[ParagonAlpha]

Re: where do the villains get the MONEY?

 

Year ago, when I was young and Hero Games had just published Champions II, I played in a villain game.

 

We funded our operations with bank heists and armored car robberies. We then started a corporation (villains have Secret ID's too) all legal like.

 

It was priceless when our GM decided to make the teams leader sweat it out when another corporation tried a hostile takeover. Megalomaniacs have a hard time with that. Needless to say the other corporation had a hard time staying around when a group of villains decide that their employees, holdings and assets are fair game.

[FenrisUlf]

Re: where do the villains get the MONEY?

 

Year ago, when I was young and Hero Games had just published Champions II, I played in a villain game.

 

We funded our operations with bank heists and armored car robberies. We then started a corporation (villains have Secret ID's too) all legal like.

 

It was priceless when our GM decided to make the teams leader sweat it out when another corporation tried a hostile takeover. Megalomaniacs have a hard time with that. Needless to say the other corporation had a hard time staying around when a group of villains decide that their employees, holdings and assets are fair game.

 

And now I'm wondering what could happen in a game when the PCs start taking a villain's assets apart, only to discover that his corporation is the major local employer in an otherwise-depressed area...

[Peregrine]

Re: where do the villains get the MONEY?

 

And now I'm wondering what could happen in a game when the PCs start taking a villain's assets apart' date=' only to discover that his corporation is the major local employer in an otherwise-depressed area...[/quote']

 

What else? Buy said corporation out and run it themselves (in Secret ID, of course).

[FenrisUlf]

Re: where do the villains get the MONEY?

 

What else? Buy said corporation out and run it themselves (in Secret ID' date=' of course).[/quote']

 

For Batman, okay, but when your character is closer to Spider-Man in terms of (lack of) wealth that's going to be difficult.

 

Which is why it pays to keep a friend like Iron Man around.

[ParagonAlpha]

Re: where do the villains get the MONEY?

 

For Batman, okay, but when your character is closer to Spider-Man in terms of (lack of) wealth that's going to be difficult.

 

Which is why it pays to keep a friend like Iron Man around.

 

 

Yeah but Iron Man went all "George Bush" and Spidey just made a deal with a devil to forget his past.

[Drhoz]

Re: where do the villains get the MONEY?

 

One of the PC's in our game is making a mint repairing satellites for companies that are quite willing to pay him to do it (he can travel into space and has lifesupport) as he is much cheaper and faster then waiting for NASA. He does have the problem of paying taxes and such (he has a secret ID) but if your a villain.... Also there is arson (no traces of accelerant if you have a flame/fire attack). If one of the villains has magic' date=' you could get paided to curse rivals, foresee the future (great for stock tips), cause rich men/women to fall in love with you and will you their fortunes, etc. Speedsters could deliver money, drugs etc faster and safer then Fedex.[/quote']

 

Zero, my character in Weldun's City On The Edge campaign, is a telepath. He spends his extended lunch hour down in the business district, near the stock exchange.

 

Cash flow problems, solved.

[Guest Major Tom]

Re: where do the villains get the MONEY?

 

Zero' date=' my character in [b']Weldun[/b]'s City On The Edge campaign, is a telepath. He spends his extended lunch hour down in the business district, near the stock exchange.

 

Cash flow problems, solved.

 

 

Zero's a hero, right? So, wouldn't using telepathy near the stock exchange be

considered to be something along the lines of insider trading -- and therefore

highly illegal?

 

 

Major Tom

[Logan D. Hurricanes]

Re: where do the villains get the MONEY?

 

It's only illegal if you get caught.

[Doctor Agenda]

Re: where do the villains get the MONEY?

 

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.

 

In my Desperate Measures campaign, Power X, the paranormal representation agency, has contracts with most of the city's banks to monitor their cameras and quickly alert several highly-mobile combat-worthy paranormals of any bank robberies or ATM shenanigans. So far it's the ATM heists that have kept them busier. One time they caught up with a Brick who had run off with the whole machine.

[Drhoz]

Re: where do the villains get the MONEY?

 

Zero's a hero, right? So, wouldn't using telepathy near the stock exchange be

considered to be something along the lines of insider trading -- and therefore

highly illegal?

 

 

Major Tom

 

It's not as if he's going to *tell* anyone. Plus he works though a number of brokers, throws in the occasional deliberate mistake, and frustrated the attempts of another psyker to deliberately manipulate the market whilst he was there. A few 1000 a week is a small price for the brokers to pay, even if they don't realise they are

[Watchdog]

Re: where do the villains get the MONEY?

 

A lot depends on how much the rest of your campaign world has "adjusted" to the presence of superpowers. Without adjustments:

 

1 STR TK, fine manipulation, invisible power effects, would allow you to do a lot of damage at the roulette or craps table.

 

4d6 telepathy, invisible power effects, would be enough to make you the best no limit holdem player in the world.

 

So it depends how prevalent the countermeasures are. Casinos aware of superpowers need some detection capabilities. And those sunglasses favored by so many of the top poker pros would probably have an expensive but much needed 10-20 points of mental defense.

[Silbeg]

Re: where do the villains get the MONEY?

 

For the super-intelligent villains... especially ones with some beef on the dole (read bricks)...

 

1) Go to Vegas/Reno/Gambling Mecca of your choice...

2) Play Blackjack, with the extraordinary perception skills (and eidetic memory) to count cards.

3) Rake in the winnings.

 

If the casinos try to muscle you, out muscle them.

[FenrisUlf]

Re: where do the villains get the MONEY?

 

Maybe (if you're talking about a desperate supervillain who lacks super-genius powers) he ciould just knock over half a dozen crack houses or so to swipe their money?

 

After all, it's not like street gangs or bikers will be calling up the cops to demand the return of their drug money.

[DusterBoy]

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.

 

Yeah, his name was Crassus. Hence the word "crass". The same guy to whom a certain G. Julius Caesar owed 25 tons (yes, tons) of silver when he invaded Gaul.

[Mike W]

Re: where do the villains get the MONEY?

 

Traditional:

 

 

1. Crime pays.(Beetle)

2. Own a business and don't leave a trace(Lex Luthor, Justin Hammer)

3. Government lackey(Crimson Dynamo)

4. Idle rich/I own my own country(Dr. Doom)

 

Other ideas:

 

Day trader with one heck of a business rating(as long as he doesn't have a record)

 

Writer/Artist/Songwriter

 

Movie Producer - all you really have to do is sell the script, get the director and put up the cash. Other people do all the real work.

 

Invented something. Probably really mundane, maybe even corny(beer hat, singing fish) but you sold a TON of them and now have more money than god and no need for a job.

 

Created a character/toy line that became hot: can you imagine how much the guy who created the Ninja Turtles is worth, or the Bratz dolls?

[FenrisUlf]

Re: where do the villains get the MONEY?

 

Other ideas:

 

Created a character/toy line that became hot: can you imagine how much the guy who created the Ninja Turtles is worth, or the Bratz dolls?

 

So Bratz were invented by a supervillain? That explains so much.

 

And now I have this image of the villain activating his army of skankbots, with the heroes going down under a pile of robotic life-sized Bratz dolls...

[Drhoz]

Re: where do the villains get the MONEY?

 

So Bratz were invented by a supervillain? That explains so much.

 

And now I have this image of the villain activating his army of skankbots, with the heroes going down under a pile of robotic life-sized Bratz dolls...

 

Oh god, Rule One Violation, Rule One Violation! Weldun's already hit us with Scare Bears, Furbinators, the plot from the GI Joe Movie, and worse - do you want us to suffer Bratz Attackz too?

[mirage]

Re: where do the villains get the MONEY?

 

For the super-intelligent villains... especially ones with some beef on the dole (read bricks)...

 

1) Go to Vegas/Reno/Gambling Mecca of your choice...

2) Play Blackjack, with the extraordinary perception skills (and eidetic memory) to count cards.

3) Rake in the winnings.

 

If the casinos try to muscle you, out muscle them.

 

Wouldn't the Casinos already be owned by super-intelligent villains?

[wcw43921]

Re: where do the villains get the MONEY?

 

For the super-intelligent villains... especially ones with some beef on the dole (read bricks)...

 

1) Go to Vegas/Reno/Gambling Mecca of your choice...

2) Play Blackjack, with the extraordinary perception skills (and eidetic memory) to count cards.

3) Rake in the winnings.

 

If the casinos try to muscle you, out muscle them.

 

Wouldn't the Casinos already be owned by super-intelligent villains?

 

 

May I suggest to you (and everyone else reading this thread) that you check out issues #28 through #30 of PS 238 for Aaron Williams' version of Vegas in a superpowered universe. Very useful, I think.

 

http://nodwick.humor.gamespy.com/ps238/index.htm