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Champions Villain (Volume) 4: Organizations; What Do You Expect Out Of This?


steriaca

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I missed this excellent thread when I posted my more recent question about a Champions Villains v.4 (CV4).  I have read through most of this thread; great discussion with many good ideas.

 

I suspect that this book (if it ever sees the light of day, and I'm still hoping it does) would focus primarily on villains from various organizations like VIPER and DEMON, with only a relatively brief discussion of the background of the groups, and probably some agent write-ups also.  More complete books on individual organizations could handle the detailed background and operations of these entities.  So, for VIPER, for example, CV4, as I would see it, would probably include 6e write-ups for Viperia, Ripper, Oculon, and other Dragon Branch villains (including perhaps some that weren't written up in detail in the 5E VIPER book).  IIRC, DEMON (5e) had some bizarre and, imo, fascinating villains; besides Luther Black, there were such strange villains as Jack Fool whose odd RKA NND attacks could even affect someone as powerful as Dr. Destroyer (though it's doubtful he would live long against Dr. D, one of my least favorite villains, unless he had heavy support, highly favorable conditions and/or surprise on his side).  A section on Empyreans could include Arvad, Khusor, and others; Lemurians could include Shirak the Destructor; a section on Therakiel's organization from Vibora Bay could include Therakiel and various supervillain minions; and so forth.  That would be a great way to include 6e write-ups of many existing villains from 5e supplements, and it would be nice to see some all new organizations as well with some villain write-ups.  The Cult of the Red Banner had a very nice write-up by Steve Long already for 6e, but a brief section in CV4 could include the Dragon itself and maybe a few of his more powerful Earthly or extradimensional minions outside the Red Banner.  The DEMON section could include a few Kings of Edom like Vulshoth and maybe even Deizzhorath (but more likely just his Hand, as his bizarre description in DEMON 5e made him sound almost omnipotent).  And so forth.

 

As I noted in the other thread, I would love to see this and would happily support a Kickstarter of some sort (I did a search earlier today and it looks like the old one is long gone) and would personally get a physical book and a pdf, and I suspect this would sell well enough to make it profitable.  I am still hoping to see some incarnation of this book some day in the not too distant future.

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On 4/2/2017 at 5:24 PM, steriaca said:

So, after hearing about this great book, what should we be expecting about this book? What organizations should be in it? Why? Who should be put aside? Why?

 

Curious: is this a theoretical question, or will there actually be a 4?  I suspect theoretical. I wouldn't want to see VIPER, DEMON or COBRA. I'd look at possibly some updates on older villains, such as Avar-7, Herculon, Thok for flavor as a few to be mentioned.

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High Rock Press announced this book as part of their upcoming publication schedule on their website over a year ago; but by this year that announcement had been taken down, and there's been no peep about it since. I guess HRP got a little ahead of themselves. :(

 

BTW Tech, Herculan was updated for the current official Champions Universe in Conquerors, Killers, And Crooks for 5E, and again in Champions Villains Vol. 3: Solo Villains for 6E. A new version of AVAR-7 now serves Mechanon, so is detailed in Mechanon's source book, Book Of The Machine (5E), as well as Champions Villains Vol. 1: Master Villains (6E).

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As I noted in my earlier post, my guess is that this book (if and when we ever see it...) would not include detailed write-ups of VIPER or DEMON, which probably would require separate books of their own, but rather a relatively brief background/history/intro section for these larger organizations, but would primary feature villains from those organizations (like Ripper, Oculon, Jack Fool, and so forth).  The same approach could be taken for significant groups from Hidden Lands (5e) and Vibora Bay (5e), for such villains as Arvad, Shirak the Destructor (who was actually in CKC but is a Lemurian construct IIRC), Therakiel, and Valerian Scarlet.  I had hoped to see these already in CV3, but that book is already longer than the first two, so some omissions were inevitable.

 

Other, relatively uncovered organizations (in 6e) could get a bit more detailed background/intro material, but would also (in my guess) focus on villain write-ups of a few significant examples rather than highly detailed organization write-ups as in DEMON (5e) or VIPER (5e).

 

I dunno if the villains from Champions Worldwide (5e) can reasonably be characterized as an 'organization,' but I don't think it would be too far a reach to have a section on non-U.S. villains with a few significant examples that weren't included in CV3 (which did include some of the more memorable ones, like Li-Chun the Destroyer and the Living Sphinx) like Survalesh, Obelisque, and Asifa Rum'lia, just to name a few.

 

If CV4: Organizations never sees the light of day, one suggestion would be a CV4: Solo Villains pt. 2 or maybe a CV4: supplement to CV1-3, with a few master villains, a few groups, and some solo villains that weren't covered in the first three books.

 

I have found the detailed write-ups in 6e to be both very useful for play and also just enjoyable to browse and read for their own sake, so I'm definitely a big fan and supporter of more such books.  But I didn't even know until recently that Steve Long is no longer in charge of Hero Games, which explains the sudden dearth of releases, compared to the brisk release rate that occurred for a while for 6e products.

 

I wish Steve hadn't left, but that's water under the bridge now.  For someone who only peeks in here occasionally, can someone tell me who's in charge now and what their release policies/plans are (in general)?

 

 

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On 9/18/2018 at 12:22 PM, Lord Liaden said:

High Rock Press announced this book as part of their upcoming publication schedule on their website over a year ago; but by this year that announcement had been taken down, and there's been no peep about it since. I guess HRP got a little ahead of themselves. :(

 

BTW Tech, Herculan was updated for the current official Champions Universe in Conquerors, Killers, And Crooks for 5E, and again in Champions Villains Vol. 3: Solo Villains for 6E. A new version of AVAR-7 now serves Mechanon, so is detailed in Mechanon's source book, Book Of The Machine (5E), as well as Champions Villains Vol. 1: Master Villains (6E).

 

Thanks for the reminder. I looked and there was Herculon. I don't have the Mechanon sourcebook myself. If it's disappeared for over a year, I have the feeling we won't be seeing it, and if we do, it'll be a long time a coming.

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  • 6 months later...

Well, were it to happen, I'd rather the bits on VIPER be brief, since they deserve their own book (And I, for one, would love to pitch for it! Mind you, I use them as a pyramid scheme that sells the Brand Name of Evil (tm) to yutzes for easy money, but.) … while Demon got a big look (it needs so much change!) … after that? Terror Inc as a rebooted organization would work well. Pick up the pieces, sprinkle in some classics that have been overlooked over the years, and enjoy.  There are some others that can go in, but you really need to sit down and think about what you NEED, then pick groups that fill those roles.

One big evil magic group? Demon, check!
One big evil terrorist group? Terror Inc, check!
One big Mutant-hating group? Genocide, check!
One big science group? There's some room there.
Some kind of secret conspiracy group ala the Illuminati? Some kind of alien group? Evil mutants? Robots?

You've got options.

(As for me? I rebuilt SAT as, in essence, GI Joe. They were the go out into other countries and blow stuff up group while Primus was, in essence, the Super FBI. One stayed in the borders, one fought worldwide terror threats. Worked out well!)
 

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Ok. What we can have...

 

VIPER: Agreed. There is a 5th edition book, and the world around them didn't change much. So basically a few paragraphs about the group's history, goals, and reach, standard agent wright-up, and a standard nest leader write-up (with a list of what to add to make special agents in a sidebar).

 

DEMON: Again, history, goals, and such. And the explanation of what happened during the leap day workings. DEMON Brothers, Outer Circle Morbain, and a sidebar about the Inverted Trinity and what happened to them after Luthor Black is gone.

 

IHA: Scanner agents, Minuteman robots.

 

ARGENT: ARGENT agents. ARGENT Salesman. Sidebar of sample wears for sale.

 

WITCH: WITCH sister. Typical WITCH mother.

 

DI: DI security agent. DI scientist. DI middle manager.

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But also with a strong alliance to VIPER, since the villain who owns DI is secretly one of VIPER's highest leaders.

 

(And yeah, no "T" in "Duchess." ;)  Here's another odd tidbit on the spelling front: The discussion forums for Champions Online used to automatically edit the word "duchess" out of posts, apparently because it includes "duche." Ironic since that's not how you spell "douche." :rolleyes: )

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What would a "GENOCIDE" without the IHA look like? Well, the group would be always low on funds. No Minuteman robots (can't afford them), well armed and armored agents with 'normal' weapons and equipment. Perhaps a few non-mutant supervillains to make things interesting (but no mutants in hiding).

 

GENOCIDE supervillains.

 

Piecemeal: A mad scientist with a suit of 'power armor' which allows him to harvest body parts of mutants and keep them fresh and able to use there own abilities on his command and for his bidding. He is probably the grossest and evil villain GENOCIDE has.

 

Red King: A human in a power armor who came from an alternate world where humans are the slaves of mutants. His armor is 'future tech' created by human labor for trying to equalise the odds.

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For my part, I find the public and secret faces of the Institute for Human Advancement to be the most distinctive and interesting feature of the organization. That it can raise money, has slick public relations, wields political influence, in addition to its covert death squads, make it a more complex and challenging opponent than one which only engages in combat. Eventually during a campaign the true nature of the IHA should be uncovered, but if a Game Master wanted to continue using it past that point, it could have become sufficiently entrenched to regroup and modify its m.o., as PSI and ARGENT have. IMO a published detailed discussion of the IHA should include suggestions for where to take it post-exposure.

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2 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

For my part, I find the public and secret faces of the Institute for Human Advancement to be the most distinctive and interesting feature of the organization. That it can raise money, has slick public relations, wields political influence, in addition to its covert death squads, make it a more complex and challenging opponent than one which only engages in combat. Eventually during a campaign the true nature of the IHA should be uncovered, but if a Game Master wanted to continue using it past that point, it could have become sufficiently entrenched to regroup and modify its m.o., as PSI and ARGENT have. IMO a published detailed discussion of the IHA should include suggestions for where to take it post-exposure.

Ok. Noted.

 

One day I have to write up Piecemeal. His VVP should be scary, considering they are basically mutant body parts in containers around his armor kept 'alive' to ensure usefulness. Note: the body part must be kept alive, not so the doner.

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