Stone Posted November 4, 2003 Report Share Posted November 4, 2003 Related to "Force my hand" post. I've decided to have a chat w/my group. If they continue on their journey to the "dark side", I'm going to send another group after them. That got me thinking. Normally I would create a big bad villian to scare them. I mean scare as a plot device. A previous GM in our group had two favorite villians - 1) Omega (excess of 500 pt energy absoption & power pool) & 2) Wraith (high point darkness teleporting and drains). We hated these villians. It always seemed we where never meant to beat them. In fact, it was Omega that supposedly killed Wraith, though we could never find a body. So, who do you use? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rage Posted November 4, 2003 Report Share Posted November 4, 2003 Re: Who or whom do you use to scare your PC's? Originally posted by Stone Related to "Force my hand" post. I've decided to have a chat w/my group. If they continue on their journey to the "dark side", I'm going to send another group after them. That got me thinking. Normally I would create a big bad villian to scare them. I mean scare as a plot device. A previous GM in our group had two favorite villians - 1) Omega (excess of 500 pt energy absoption & power pool) & 2) Wraith (high point darkness teleporting and drains). We hated these villians. It always seemed we where never meant to beat them. In fact, it was Omega that supposedly killed Wraith, though we could never find a body. So, who do you use? OOh have Omega combined with Wraith. call him Zenith or Ghast or something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffreyWKramer Posted November 4, 2003 Report Share Posted November 4, 2003 In my old campaigns, people always feared a villain called Frenzy, a totally insane and sadistically psychopathic speedster-martial artist. I'm about to unleash him (rebuilt for 5E and boosted significantly) against my current group, which is in an extremely high-point campaign, so we'll see if he has any of that old mystique. In 5E, Menton, Dr. Destroyer and Istvatha V'Han are just plain terrifying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patriot Posted November 4, 2003 Report Share Posted November 4, 2003 Here Is a world class assassin , and member of My team Destroyer......Hope you like him...he could solve all your problems...just make sure you have a scene ...face to face..."any last words...didnt think so....blam! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheEmerged Posted November 4, 2003 Report Share Posted November 4, 2003 As part of my villain campaign, I decided it was necessary to "put the PC's in their place" to keep it from getting out of hand as it did the first two times I ran a VC. As such it was necessary to establish that some of the "heroic" PC's can mop the floor with them. As such, in their 2nd adventure I put them against three members of the "Justice Battalion" -- and one of them managed to KO the party's tank on the first turn. Insert "Put the fear of Dog into them" crack here (pun intended). Now that the campaign is established, the PC's know that my campaign's Golden Avenger is terrifyingly powerful -- enough to nearly kill Firewing. They also know that my Dr. Destroyer rewrite has over 3000 points... But nothing scares them like the return of... Annoying Man! Officially he doesn't exist in the current campaign -- partially because of death threats if he shows up Imagine someone with a point total like the CKC Destroyer designed with the sole goal of annoying the PC's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theron Posted November 4, 2003 Report Share Posted November 4, 2003 Embryo. Imagine the world's most powerful mentalist. Now, make him an angry, nigh-invulnerable, six month old child. He normally appears as an egg-shaped nimbus of light (his very powerful force field) with the hazy silhouette of a baby inside it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost who Walks Posted November 4, 2003 Report Share Posted November 4, 2003 Most scary villain I have is Apepi, a 5,000 year old dragon with severe childhood trauma. He gets a magic power pool, can turn into a 300 foot dragon, and has his own nation of fanatical worshippers. He also has a couple of dozen dragon kids he sends after people he dislikes. Second place falls to Thor, a rewrite of him that I did based on his HERO stats. Forget the comic book, and have him run around looting, plundering, and maiming. Course those are both "Villains" So far as going after Heroes, I use Project U-Turn. Take two silver avengers, give them a group of villains who have all been promised pardons in return for a period of working for the government. Release on players when the get out of line. Nothing can stop the Feds, after all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barton Posted November 4, 2003 Report Share Posted November 4, 2003 Project U-turn May I steal "Project U-Turn" for my game? It sounds like fun to let them meet your heroes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phydaux Posted November 4, 2003 Report Share Posted November 4, 2003 In my "PCs are the villains" campaign I run a vigilante named Shadowhunter. Think of a cross between Batman and Punisher. But for a hero campaign, nothing beats The Fox. I LOVE The Fox! "He hit me with a WHAT?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted November 4, 2003 Report Share Posted November 4, 2003 Originally posted by phydaux But for a hero campaign, nothing beats The Fox. I LOVE The Fox! "He hit me with a WHAT?" In the past I made the Fox of Crime patron and partner to Panda and Racoon, also from Classic Enemies. Essentially silly animal-themed villains not really into violent crime, but surprisingly effective as a team and able to get out of nearly any sticky situation. Twice I used the Weasel from High Tech Enemies against five heroes of around 400 points. I toned down the size of his outrageous Killing Attack, and he still kicked their butts, including killing the team brick who insisted on going toe-to-toe with him. The second time the heroes knew about his vulnerability to magic and were prepared for him, but were still quaking in their boots. Given the power level of some of the new Champions characters, if I brought him back now I'd probably leave him essentially as per the original writeup: very tough, very fast, very vicious and with claws that could julienne a tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hermit Posted November 4, 2003 Report Share Posted November 4, 2003 While not ALL of them are scared, one tactic that's worked is having my NPC Superheroes openly blanch at the name "Taknofanes". First of all, they SHOULD blanch, he's one scary mystic killing machine. Secondly, if I expect the PCs in my group to respect/fear a baddy, I'm not going to do it by having NPCs act like they're above the same worry. So far, the 'word of mouth' is working. The group is certain that eventually they're going to face this guy, and it will be the battle of their lives. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tech Posted November 4, 2003 Report Share Posted November 4, 2003 The Monster does well enough to put shivers into the players & characters. Leech does a good job to scare the characters but it has to be carefully set up - but when it is, it works like dynamite. Weasel, sans the Find Weakness with everything, does a good job of scaring players and characters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solomon Posted November 4, 2003 Report Share Posted November 4, 2003 Originally posted by Ghost who Walks So far as going after Heroes, I use Project U-Turn. Take two silver avengers, give them a group of villains who have all been promised pardons in return for a period of working for the government. Release on players when the get out of line. Nothing can stop the Feds, after all. [/b] This sounds a lot like the campaign I'm currently running. All PCs but two are reformed villains acting as government agents in return for a pardon - and protection from their own ex-teammates. Plus, there's a great deal of treachery and double-crossing involved, as a rogue PRIMUS officier is secretly dealing with shady organizations. Can you give us some more info on your "Project U-Turn", Ghost? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost who Walks Posted November 4, 2003 Report Share Posted November 4, 2003 Originally posted by Barton May I steal "Project U-Turn" for my game? It sounds like fun to let them meet your heroes. Go ahead, they aren't run by players, they are used by me as a method to get villains out of prison. Similar to the original Suicide squad comic. They are alo a method that allows the government to come after the heroes, with officially sanctioned villains. I run PRIMUS a little more neutral than some others. They have superpowers, but aren't always very heroic. I've used them on a couple occasions to get rid of villains, such as when a major action occurs. For example, I once had them teaming up with the PC hero team to stop an alien invasion. Oculon (VIPER boook now, I believe) got killed when he tried to fire his eb at a spacecraft, while wearing a spacesuit. U-Turn The two avengers are: Silver Avenger Emma Steel: African-American, a made a silver avenger as a reward after a major battle when she was still an assault agent. Has minor brain damage, has connections to PRIMUS R&D, who provide her with lots of experimental weapons. Silver Avenger Rita Vasquez: Small Arms/armor expert, still wears her old Iron Guard suit, even though she has know gone through the Silver Avenger process. Both lack real administrative talent, which is why they aren't sitting in a PRIMUS base, behind a desk. They work well as a team, having been assault agents together for years. A high ranking PRIMUS guy somewhere in Maryland administers the project from his office, I used the general that was provided in the Classic Org book (forget his name) The criminals they get vary, just pull them out of an enemies book. They occasionally get some heroes in there, usually ones who have crossed the border illegally (Sorry Wolverine...you didn't pass through customs, you're under arrest) Sometimes they get called in to deal with situations the local PRIMUS base can't deal with. PRIMUS higher ups really don't care if some of the criminal members get killed. Makes more room in Stronghold. It also provides an incentive for supervillains to stay in prison...good behavior can get them in Project U-Turn. The headquarters I use for them is the Mobile PRIMUS Strike Base (MPSB). Its a series of train cars pulled by a locomotive, that travels around the country to trouble spots. The train used is the same model that the government uses to transport nukes around. Some of the train cars are outfitted as holding cells. Anyway, hope this is useful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bartman Posted November 4, 2003 Report Share Posted November 4, 2003 Back in the day... The Seven Horsemen and VOICE both worked well for causing extreme unhappiness among players. Both are powerful groups who are quite willing to leave heroes' bodies in their wakes. They would have to have 100-200pts added to have the same impact they had in the late 80s, but properly played most teams should be quite wary of them. I've also used a group of homegrown assassins/terrorists/mercenaries to great effect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stone Posted November 4, 2003 Author Report Share Posted November 4, 2003 Cool! Thanks for the ideas =) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnOSpencer Posted November 4, 2003 Report Share Posted November 4, 2003 I put my PC's in their place with 2 normal VIPER squads and one old fashioned "5 team". Left them at -32, -28, -170, -158, and -55. Teamwork and autofire are your friends. Flashbangs help too. John Spencer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemming Posted November 5, 2003 Report Share Posted November 5, 2003 I've got a bunch that I just have to mention to one of my players to make him twitch. The others just don't have the history. One friend of mine would do the public speed chart and alway put a Mr. X at the top of the chart with a speed 12. But having villians just to scare the players, nah. But one fun trick is after a villian gets hit with an attack just mutter under your breath about being in double digits. Seems to freak out the players for some reason. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stormraven Posted November 5, 2003 Report Share Posted November 5, 2003 Originally posted by JohnOSpencer I put my PC's in their place with 2 normal VIPER squads and one old fashioned "5 team". Left them at -32, -28, -170, -158, and -55. Teamwork and autofire are your friends. Flashbangs help too. John Spencer I don't use Viper, but I swear, my players fear my agents more than any super I've ever sent after them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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