Campaign suggestions: Who Did It?

[drunkonduty]

A few weeks back I ran a scenario in which a villain had converted an old, semi abandoned car factory into an automated production line that started spitting out (cheap) attack robots.* I always intended for this to be a lead into a bigger mystery. Now I find myself having to put my money where my mouth is and actually develop this. What I need is a mystery plot. It can involve interviewing subjects only to have them die mysteriously just as they're about to spit out the answers, tracking down low level mooks, catspaws, shell companies, red herrings. I'm trying to avoid combat for a session or two, just been a lot of it lately and we need a RP break.

 

So... who converted the old factory and why? I'm running in more or less the standard Champions Universe. Only big changes are:

Doc Destroyed died in Detroit. Really. Irrevocably. Deader than Takofanes. Speaking of Takofanes: never happened.

 

So who did it and why?

 

A few ideas that I'm toying with:

 

ARGENT, field testing/show casing their new line of budget attack robots.

Mechanon as the opening move of some complex Xanatos Gambit.

Black Harlequin, just because. (actually, now I type it, this one is too simple.)

 

Or someone else?

Suggestions welcome.

 

In case you're wondering: The PCs have a flying brick with some tech skills, a shape changer with lots of culture knowledge, a streetwise bat-clone, and a two-headed Zaphod Beeblebrox wannabe with incredible luck and a ray gun.

 

Thanks in advance for any and all suggestions.

 

 

 

*Yep, I stole it from the Sentinels of the Multiverse card game.

[Cassandra]

VIPER reopened the factory to secret build weapons.

[drunkonduty]

Sorry, I missed a small, but important, detail. There was nothing secret about the robots - the factory simply spewed them out and they wandered into the street and started shooting up the town.

 

However, I do like VIPER. And the heroes have already had a run in with the local nest.

 

Perhaps this could be part of some larger VIPER scheme, that is involving the central command structure rather than the local nest. Although it goes against established VIPER procedure for the central command to take such an active role. Or... I'm gonna riff a bit here. Bare with me. Or don't. This could go on.

 

The local nest is on the small end of the spectrum (it's the Brooklyn nest run by Fire Owl.) Too small to run such a scam. Perhaps the big nest over in Manhattan set up the factory. They did it in Brooklyn because there was an available factory to use. That it drew the heat away from them and maybe pointed it toward another nest is just a lucky coincidence. Fire Owl hears through the grapevine that the other nest set this stink off in his neighbourhood and is now annoyed. When the the heroes start sniffing around he is happy to throw some clues their way. Maybe a captured goon talks a bit too much. Later a Deep Throat style meeting can be set up. All the hints (and if need be, flat out statements) point toward the Manhattan Nest. The heroes then have to start tracking that nest down over in the exotic land of Manhattan.

 

Meanwhile: the Manhattan Nest was in fact operating under orders from Central Command.

 

CC are indeed testing out a scheme. They plan on setting up a bunch of these factories in the rust belt of (what is left of) Detroit. The robots will then march on Millennium City in a wave of destruction. Why? As the culmination of a terror campaign they have been waging across the US for a few months now. Now of course an operation this big costs lots of cash (even though it makes use of a lot of existing plant and material acquired locally.) And VIPER aren't the sort to simply throw away $$$, they'll want some pay back. So while the robots are doing their thing VIPER squads across the city, backed by members of Dragon Branch, are getting ready to carry out a bunch of raids. Quiet data raids mostly but one big showy one for form's sake. After the dust settles cue big publicity campaign from VIPER along the lines of "Tremble before us! See what we can do to your vaunted City of the Future! The Future belongs to us!"

 

The Manhattan Nest has been instrumental in moving material into the US for this plan. They get it in from cargo ship, load it onto trucks and deliver it to Detroit.They were also asked to test one of the set ups here, well away from the actual target. The Manhattan nest don't know what the big plan is. They don't even know where the trucks are going - the drivers are from nests in the mid-west. The drivers simply deliver to a warehouse in Detroit. From there the local MC nest takes over. It's all very complicated with lots of "the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing."

 

The heroes can follow the trail of material as it goes across the country, shaking down VIPER goons as they go.

 

But they can also try and follow up on the technology. The robot and plant designs have been furnished by ARGENT. A contact of the heroes can help them in tracking down the design. This trail can take them to Larisagrad (where a lot of the components were manufactured) and eventually pointing them toward ARGENT. Now of course ARGENT corporate policy means they don't betray their clients' trust. BUT some up and coming corporate slime wad is happy to sabotage his/her rival in the company by accidentally letting some delivery schedules fall into heroic hands. This will tip off the heroes as to the next delivery in New York.

 

Woo. That's a lot of confusing plot and betrayal. But I think that's what I'll go with.

[Greywind]

It's simple.

 

It was the one-armed man!

[Alewis478]

Ex-ARGENT engineer. Mad that he was fired he's using stolen tech to build these robots and blame his former employer for the havoc they cause.

 

This can put the heroes in race, of sorts, with ARGENT who's also trying to get to the bottom of things but aren't as subtle as the heroes would be.

 

So for a while the heroes should know ARGENT is involved and they should assume they are responsible. Could develop an "enemy of my enemy is my friend" situation or the heroes could end up with both as foes.

[drunkonduty]

Alewis, that's good. It has the benefit of being fairly simple but still allowing for a lot of betrayal, misdirection and back-stabbery. Plus cross-fire. I do like some cross-fire.

[Balabanto]

It was a program that was installed long ago from some computer programmer. M.A.V.R.I.C. redux, anyone?

[drunkonduty]

Colour me curious: what is M.A.V.R.I.C. ?

[Lord Liaden]

Colour me curious: what is M.A.V.R.I.C. ?

 

M.A.V.R.I.C. is an artificial-intelligence device from the Fourth Edition Champions Universe, the lead villain from one of the adventures from Champions Presents #2. IIRC it was created by a brilliant but eccentric cyberneticist with delusions of grandeur, but highly unstable. M.A.V.R.I.C. killed its creator, then set about its own plans for world conquest. It created a host of robot servants, everything from human-seeming androids, to artificially-intelligent vehicles, to simulated animals.

 

It sounds like you might have the outline of the plot you want, but in case you're looking for additional suggestions:

 

Interface. The cybernetic mastermind is big on gathering intelligence about his opponents before making any moves against them. He could have released these robots to cause chaos and draw out authorities and superheroes, so as to analyze their capabilities and tactics. If the heroes followed the robots back to the factory, Interface undoubtedly monitored and scanned them.

 

The Engineer. The robots that wandered into the city could just have been accidents or overlooked on her part. The Engineer isn't entirely sane; she plans major technological projects that are intended to make the world better in some idealistic way, but she rarely considers the negative consequences from them, or would care if she did. These robots may have been a labor force she crafted to help build some components for her latest project.

 

Automaton. This formerly-human disembodied intelligence hates (but is secretly jealous of) fleshy human beings like he once was. He could have possessed the computers controlling the factory. While Automaton might have just wanted to hurt people for simple satisfaction, it might be intriguing if the robots were a controlled attempt to reproduce the accident that created him by killing his original body, and thus produce a "race" of cyberkinetic entities like himself.

 

Syzygy. Something like a lower-case Mechanon, Syzygy is a robot bent on world conquest, and the robots could have been a trial run for mass-producing a robotic army. However, unknown even to itself (due to its programming having been accidentally scrambled), Syzygy is an advance scout for the X'endron Network, a spacegoing armada of alien artificial intelligences aspiring to dominate all life in the galaxy. Syzygy may have finally regained memories of its origin and purpose, or its activities drew the attention of the Network. If you want a big mystery, it doesn't get much bigger than a potential alien invasion.

[bubba smith]

I go with the M.A,V.E.R.I.C.option

[Lawnmower Boy]

The X'endron Network is awesome enough to use Syzgy. Also, Syzgy is big with the flying drone thing. Tracking down "rogue" flying drones in the midst of hobbyist/police/hotel security swarms could give your characters a real workout for technological and forensic skills. Plus, imagine the slapstick potential of a bunch of superheroes jumping into the middle of a swarm of drones in a resort hotel, looking for the one that is actually hooked up with Syzgy's network. 

[drunkonduty]

LL: I like both the Interface and Syzgy options. Plenty of potential for running the heroes around in circles.

 

The ones I like best are the ARGENT in-fighting one. (Rather than an ex-ARGENT engineer I'd have the incident being part of some byzantine corporate faction fighting.)

And Syzgy having regained it's memories (or at least some of them, to whit - testing Earth's defences.)

 

Thinking, thinking...

[TheQuestionMan]

Argent = A.I.M./Intergang???

[Spence]

I'd go with Viper.  But instead of the plans being provided by ARGENT, have them as being stolen from ARGENT and then given to Viper by an unidentified mastermind in the shadows.

 

The shadowy mastermind being Mechanon of course.

 

This will give you all kinds of dastardly goodness as the PC's get sucked into level after level of intrigue and ass-kicking 

[Lord Liaden]

LL: I like both the Interface and Syzgy options. Plenty of potential for running the heroes around in circles.

 

The ones I like best are the ARGENT in-fighting one. (Rather than an ex-ARGENT engineer I'd have the incident being part of some byzantine corporate faction fighting.)

And Syzgy having regained it's memories (or at least some of them, to whit - testing Earth's defences.)

 

Thinking, thinking...

 

Glad those have potential for you.   I'll just point out that ARGENT and Interface have a long history together which has more recently turned to serious hostility, so either could be contributing to or causing the woes of the other. The recent robot factory incident could even have been one of them attempting to lead heroes to the operations of their enemy in order to hurt them... and/or distract the heroes from their own plans.

[Lord Liaden]

Argent = A.I.M./Intergang???

 

Very strong similarities with those two, yes. More like the corporate AIM from Iron Man 3, in that it started out as a legitimate tech-research and government-contracting company, until it was caught selling secrets and services to criminals and supervillains. It's outlawed in the United States and many other countries, but operates openly and is even sponsored in others. It still retains a basically corporate structure, with the primary motivation of making money.

[Lord Liaden]

I'd go with Viper.  But instead of the plans being provided by ARGENT, have them as being stolen from ARGENT and then given to Viper by an unidentified mastermind in the shadows.

 

The shadowy mastermind being Mechanon of course.

 

This will give you all kinds of dastardly goodness as the PC's get sucked into level after level of intrigue and ass-kicking 

 

Worth noting that Mechanon and the Engineer hate each other. And both have hacked into the computer systems of both ARGENT and VIPER. As with ARGENT and Interface above, you could certainly draw PCs into a complex conflict between rivals with this scenario.

[Spence]

Worth noting that Mechanon and the Engineer hate each other. And both have hacked into the computer systems of both ARGENT and VIPER. As with ARGENT and Interface above, you could certainly draw PCs into a complex conflict between rivals with this scenario.

 

Mechanon is one of my favorite Master Villains, but he is very difficult to use directly.  Even his lower power versions are well above most player characters for my games the last few years.

 

I have the Book of the Machine on my shelf but haven't read it yet.  It would be too painful to see all that villainy and not be able to use it right now.....

 

So for now Mechanon will remain a shadowy threat on the horizon...

[drunkonduty]

My cup runneth over!

 

Big thanks to everyone for contributing.

 

I think I'll stick with VIPER running their terror scam, the plans having come from ARGENT and ARGENT corporate in-fighting. But with the added complication of Mechanon and the Engineer both being aware of the plans.

 

Mechanon hopes to suborn the robot factories. To this end he has placed viruses within computers controlling the factories that will upload into the robots too. Otherwise it is staying in the background and will not interfere until the end when it just might show up to protect his newest children.

 

The Engineer is aware that Mechanon has interfered with the plans, but is not sure how. So she tipped off the rival ARGENT exec with an inter-office memo from a supposed traitor in the other exec's administration. She hopes to throw a spanner in the works by kicking off some infighting that will hopefully lead to some heroes getting involved. (she's using a catspaw to recruit some catspaws, how's that for a double bank shot?) She was hoping for the Sentinels but got my lot. She is also still keen to find out what Mechanon is up to and thus is keen to get her hands on a copy of the code that is going to be used. To this end she will give some anonymous tips to the heroes (when my payers hit dead ends) in return for a captured hard drive.

 

OK, what started out as a session or 2 of mystery has just turned into a whole campaign arc.

 

Re. Mechanon being too powerful. Yes it is. But it could send a lieutenant. Also, I'm planning on using some of the older, lower powered versions of it initially. Why you ask? Because I want the players to get to see the upgrades as they happen.It's just better drama.

 

Thanks again to everyone for contributing!

[Lord Liaden]

Mechanon is one of my favorite Master Villains, but he is very difficult to use directly.  Even his lower power versions are well above most player characters for my games the last few years.

 

I have the Book of the Machine on my shelf but haven't read it yet.  It would be too painful to see all that villainy and not be able to use it right now.....

 

So for now Mechanon will remain a shadowy threat on the horizon...

 

Then you absolutely should read Book Of The Machine. It's chock-full of Mech's lesser servants in dizzying variety, from combat drones to infiltrator androids to supervisory AIs, to Mechanon's most powerful lieutenants, as well as its several bases and numerous lesser facilities. Bottom line, you could have tons of Mechanon-derived fun using that stuff without ever having to bring in the technological terror itself. 

[Spence]

Then you absolutely should read Book Of The Machine. It's chock-full of Mech's lesser servants in dizzying variety, from combat drones to infiltrator androids to supervisory AIs, to Mechanon's most powerful lieutenants, as well as its several bases and numerous lesser facilities. Bottom line, you could have tons of Mechanon-derived fun using that stuff without ever having to bring in the technological terror itself. 

 

You evil evil villain.....

 

I am in the middle of building up an intro supers game intended to both teach the Hero systems and introduce the players to a super's game.   They will be playing junior/new members of the city's superhero group at first using pre-gens facing low level villainy.....

 

I cannot even think of reading the BotM right now lest I be tempted to tinker........

[drunkonduty]

BotM has robot lions. And robot sharks with frickin' laser beams.*

 

 

*They don't have laser beams.

[Lord Liaden]

Yup, the Chromecat and the Steelshark (no lasers, but they do spit torpedoes), as well as the Steelhawk, Steelspider, Tritaniumceratops, and Ironquill (looks like a cross between a porcupine and an ankylosaur). Part ot Mechanon's drive to replace organic life with machines. And only a fraction of the coolness available.

 

Okay, I'll stop being evil now.

[Spence]

Okay, I'll stop being evil now.

 

You know you can't stop.  You enjoy it too much...

[DusterBoy]

M.A.V.R.I.C. sounds like the Champs version of Skynet...