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Shrinker: The Hunter


Steve

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One of my players seems to like antagonizing defeated villains.

 

In a recent run, one of the enemies was Shrinker, chosen by me because the PC was originally built using Shrinker's powerset but with a more magical origin, so I thought it would be a fun match. The fight didn't disappoint.

 

Before the villains got picked up for Stronghold, this PC decided to cut off all of Shrinker's hair while she was KO'd. For some villains, this might not result in much more than a grimace and some half-hearted plans for revenge, but Shrinker's psych limitations don't work this way. She hates heroes and loves to humiliate them, and now a hero with powers much like her own has gone and made it personal.

 

What do you think I should have her do?

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Humiliation.  Bad humiliation.  Bad dream where you go to school naked humiliation.

 

I think when she escapes, she should shrink down, put super-strong Ex-lax into his coffee one morning, and then go commit a crime.  He'll rush to stop her.  Of course, she's called the news media to make sure the TV cameras are there.  He arrives, she traps him in an Entangle or something so it will take a while to get out, and then the laxatives kick in.  And of course, the cameras are there, broadcasting live.

 

He gets home and finds the Ex-lax packet resting on the lid of his toilet, along with a small lock of her hair.

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Shrinker is nasty and vindictive, but as her background is written up. even her most painful "practical jokes" stop just shy of lethality. Since she was publicly humiliated by this PC, I think she would go for something similar, but upping the stakes.

 

I'm reminded of an incident from Aaron Allston's Strikeforce campaign, described in the book of the same name, in which the hero Phosphene had gone crazy and adopted the villainous identity of Phantasm. Phantasm drugged and kidnapped the heroine Lorelei on her birthday, and placed her naked in a magician's trick cabinet on live national television.

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Yes, I wasn't planning on lethal, since I'm trying for a mix of Bronze Age with a bit of Silver Age. I've actually had to restrain PCs a little from killing more than once, so I have to be careful how far to push things.

 

Some form of payback is coming. I just need to find the right balance.

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I wrote up a shrinker named Downsizer who had the ability to cause others to shrink.

 

How much of a stretch (no pun intended) would it be for Shrinker to find a way to keep the heroic shrinker from growing to full height?  I figure a Transform doing enough to turn 1 level of the character's Shrinking into 0 END, Persistent, Always On (Transform automatically ends in the time it took Shrinker's hair to grow back).  Doesn't seem to have an effect during the fight, but when the hero tries to return to normal height, he's a munchkin.  And Shrinker has recordings set to play "We Are The Lollipop Guild" on a radio trigger.

 

- - - - - -

 

On a related note, my players (in the hero group Silver Phoenix) used to take unconscious defeated villains to a tattoo parlor and add "Silver Phoenix Fan Club" tattoos to them.  They got particularly pissed at Death Commando and dumped him on a deserted island with only a Swiss Army knife  and a Boy Scout wilderness survival book.

 

When they couldn't tattoo Viperia because her skin's too tough, they opted instead to change her into lingerie and photographed her (unconscious) in various risque poses.  Several photos were blown up to poster size and sent to the local VIPER's Nest. 

 

The next time they ran into her, it was not a happy meeting for the heroes.  :winkgrin:

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Since it's now become personal for Shrinker, I'm not sure whether she's the type of villain to go for a quick revenge or a slow build to a boil. Could she restrain her urges for revenge to let something long-term play out?

I think that,  because she is more or less a rebellious type, she would go for a quick strike. 

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Since it's now become personal for Shrinker, I'm not sure whether she's the type of villain to go for a quick revenge or a slow build to a boil. Could she restrain her urges for revenge to let something long-term play out?

 

Normally, I'd definitely say she's the quick burn type... but this time... perhaps they've pushed just a little too far (I mean, really, that's not very hero-like to embarrass your opponent like that, it's actually seriously petty); Perhaps this time she's going to go for the long game, build to something truly vicious, life threatening even.

 

There's no reason to stick to the same old story...

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Since it's now become personal for Shrinker, I'm not sure whether she's the type of villain to go for a quick revenge or a slow build to a boil. Could she restrain her urges for revenge to let something long-term play out?

 

My own read of her in these circumstances would be, not long-term, but big. She might take time to set something up, but when it hits it'll hit all at once, hard and loud.

 

In this case she might ask for, or hire, the help of another villain to pull it off. In the CU Mirage or Utility would relish the opportunity to publicly humiliate heroes, and their technical skills added to Shrinker's powers could produce something epic.

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As written, Mirage and Utility want to beat superhumans to prove normal people are just as good as they are; but both have worked with and for superhumans many times in the past. Partly for the opportunity to prove their point, partly for the money to finance their own schemes.

 

And yes, the three of them together could, to quote Mark Watney, science the sh!t out of the situation. ;)

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I have a question. What is your objective here as a GM? Are you simply wanting to have this character behave in a manner consistent with her personality and background? Or is this kind of behavior typical of your PCs and are you trying to curb it a little?

 

Because, if it's the latter and you don't want to escalate the threat level, escalate the scope. Not just a team up, but a team up that the PCs would really not want to see become permanent. Don't just have her team up with someone, but have her team up with someone and get along with them. Even enjoy the event. So much that they start working together more often. Teams are bad news for superheroes, even when it's just a duo.

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It's a little of both. I try to have NPCs respond based on their personalities, but in this case I'd also like to modify the player's actions a bit by showing that actions have consequences.

 

Shrinker was part of a crew robbing a jewelry vault when she met the PC in question, so getting her hair cut off after getting caught seemed like it should prompt a response, given her personality.

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She could get a sample of his dna, however you want that to work, and with ill gotten gains set up a genetics testing lab. With another female accomplice she could frame him for having a child out of wedlock, which of course he will deny. Then a day or two after the story breaks and any TMZ-esque media have reported it she could have the "Mom" present a falsified paternity test showing the child's lineage. Cut to a little while later and several other faux lovers come forward with stories of illicit liaisons and hush money to keep them quiet. As long as the salacious details keep coming the public will try him in the court of public opinion long before the testing lab could be thoroughly researched and the tests debunked. Maybe he gets denounced by media pundits looking to rile up there listeners and the whole thing snowballs till his reputation is smeared beyond easy repair.

 

 The real problem might be how you would have him ever recover his good name. I suppose if he has a secret ID he could just switch costumed identities but shrinking is semi rare.

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A simple idea is team her up with another notable shrinker, but one who is further off the deep end than she is. Hornet. I'm not saying that she go off the deep end, but cutting off someone's hair without their permission counts as battery (if they are sanctioned, they should be getting reprimanded) and can leave the victims with feelings of violation. Given her paranoia and petty nature, I could easily see her being a little nastier than usual and seeking out Hornet. (Who knows how villains manage this? Is there an evil Craigslist?)

 

Get his help flooding their base with bees or wasps, if she can find it. Petty individuals can be patient when they can visualize the payoff. Have them stalk and try to follow the PCs and wait for her opportunity. Have commentators in the media speculate about how she's elevated from the "set off the base sprinklers in the middle of the night" and "sneak in and short-sheet" style to painful and debilitating pranks. Have people speculate that the PCs behavior is a contributing factor to this change. Have someone quote the whole "monsters are made, not born" shtick. If the PCs escalate, have these same commentators remark on the PCs pettiness. It's expected from a lot of villains, but heroes are held to a different standard.

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It's mentioned in Champions Villains that Hornet resents the villain MantisMan, who uses insect-themed armor and weapons, because Hornet believes (erroneously) that MantisMan deliberately copied his motif. Hornet wants to "beat him bloody to teach him a little respect." (CV 3 p. 158)  That sounds like a motivation easily channeled against this PC. The CV trilogy also often mentions that various criminal scientists correspond and exchange ideas with each other over the Internet, so Shrinker could have been in contact with Hornet that way.

 

If official Champions Universe history matters to you, Shrinker, Utility, and Mirage were all part of the black-ops team of mercenary villains hired by UNTIL to take out Menton when the evil mentalist subverted the (fictional) Central American country of Guamanga in 2005.

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