Classic/80s Champions Villains

[novi]

I should be running a Champions game for my local group in the near future.  And I was hoping for a little advice on the villain selection.

 

While still nailing down specifics with the group, the general setting will be Saturday morning 80s cartoons, by way of the Champions Universe (since it lets me use all those Hero books I own).  OTOH, that is a lot of books to comb through.  So I wanted to pick the minds of the veterans around here as to which of the Champions villains are among the most classic/iconic, and/or suitable to that sort of cartoon aethsetic.

 

You know, beyond VIPER and Foxbat.

 

In more detail, the group is a Hair Metal band who also happens to be superheroes (Super-globetrotters meets Josie and the Pussycats, I guess).  In particular, inspired by an old post on these forums.  If anyone does recognize the source, it would be nice to check with the author that they don't mind me swiping their ideas.

Quote

Intro:
December 13, 1987; for upwards of a decade, five heroes
have dominated as the greatest force against evil in the galaxy.
These five heroes work together for the purposes kicking ass,
showing off the power of big hair, and protect the sanctity of rock.
These heroes are...

Delicious Rick: pretty boy front man, blessed with a voice that
literally can bring mountains to their knees, he sends villains flying with
his powerful wails...

Spandex: the elastic woman. She can stretch her body to magnificent lengths, but few things are bigger than her hair...

bondage: leather clad technological mastermind, armed with nothing
more than a whip, a brilliant mind, and extreme brute strength;
this big fella is a force to be reckoned with...

Aqua-net: under water hero, big haired ruler of the deep,
his hair stays thick, even when trapped many leagues
beneath the sea...

chronic: high speedy heroine, moving at blinding speeds, this crazy
young lady fights crime with the power of angst and teen rebellion...

together these are the mighty hair metal crime fighting team,
FeedbacK! But one faithful day in their quiet era known as the 80's,
the space time continuum is greatly disturbed. While somewhere in Seattle,
the first practice session of one very influence band, are heroes are sucked into a worm hole and disappear, lost in time and exposed to great amounts of gamma radiation. Their heroes presumed lost forever,
the world changes in unimaginable ways; it is now 2006, when our heroes are suddenly returned to existence. The world they knew is gone, and must now fight new villains, new trends, and return the dignity and power of REALY big hair!
This is there story:

(sorry, probably my worst idea ever, and filled with spelling mistakes at that, this might continue, but i'm just giving it a test run...)

 

[BoloOfEarth]

Well, the obvious choice for an enemy group is Road Kill. 

 

Another possibility is Deathstroke.  You can go old-school and use the 2E versions with Deathsinger, Frost, Arrowhead, et al.  Heck, if you have the 2E module, you could revamp that and run it - IMO it has the feel of an 80s superhero cartoon.

[Doc Democracy]

My list of early bog standard villains were:

The Ultimates (Binder, Plasmoid, Black Star, Charger and Slick);

Ankylosaur;

Ogre,

and Firewing for the mega-villain.

 

[novi]

I should probably clarify that other than the BBB, my collection is all 5th and 6th Ed.

 

I'm not sure I've heard of any of BoloOfEarth's suggestions.

[bubba smith]

or those confused the the super globetrotters were supposed to be the Harlem Gloetrotters as super heroes 

[DreadDomain]

3 hours ago, Doc Democracy said:

My list of early bog standard villains were:

The Ultimates (Binder, Plasmoid, Black Star, Charger and Slick);

Ankylosaur;

Ogre,

and Firewing for the mega-villain.

 

This. For some reasons I loved the Ultimates as an enemy/rival group. To this list I would also add Leech and Grond.

[BoloOfEarth]

3 hours ago, novi said:

I should probably clarify that other than the BBB, my collection is all 5th and 6th Ed.

 

I'm not sure I've heard of any of BoloOfEarth's suggestions.

 

That's a shame, especially about Road Kill.  They're a heavy metal band with superpowers.  It was a 4th edition book with a mini-adventure (Rock and Revenge), as well as several linked adventures (Crimes Against Music, The Awesome Amp, and the Ballad of Control).  They've put in appearances in most of my Champions campaigns, just because they can be so over-the-top it's fun.

[Doc Democracy]

42 minutes ago, DreadDomain said:

This. For some reasons I loved the Ultimates as an enemy/rival group. To this list I would also add Leech and Grond.

 

How could I have forgotten Grond!!  I used to throw him in at random when I needed to mix things up.  He was the only villain that never stayed incarcerated but was never vicious...

[BoloOfEarth]

Heh.  I once had a supervillainess make friends with Grond, gave him a My Little Pony as a gift -- and then later stole it and convinced him that one of the PC heroes took it. 

 

You can imagine the hero's confusion when Grond came charging at him, shouting, "GROND WANT PINKIE PIE!!!"

[Duke Bushido]

38 minutes ago, BoloOfEarth said:

 

That's a shame, especially about Road Kill.  They're a heavy metal band with superpowers.  It was a 4th edition book with a mini-adventure (Rock and Revenge), as well as several linked adventures (Crimes Against Music, The Awesome Amp, and the Ballad of Control).  They've put in appearances in most of my Champions campaigns, just because they can be so over-the-top it's fun.

 

 

Agreed.  Between the heroes you described and Road Kill, you could have an all-metal remake of Jem.  

 

(Laughing _near_ you; not at you.  Frankly, I love the idea.   )

 

 

Duke

 

 

[Lord Liaden]

36 minutes ago, BoloOfEarth said:

 

That's a shame, especially about Road Kill.  They're a heavy metal band with superpowers.  It was a 4th edition book with a mini-adventure (Rock and Revenge), as well as several linked adventures (Crimes Against Music, The Awesome Amp, and the Ballad of Control).  They've put in appearances in most of my Champions campaigns, just because they can be so over-the-top it's fun.

 

You can have it for a song from the Hero store:

 

4 hours ago, novi said:

I should probably clarify that other than the BBB, my collection is all 5th and 6th Ed.

 

I'm not sure I've heard of any of BoloOfEarth's suggestions.

 

See, when you titled the thread, "Classic/Eighties Champions Villains," we all assumed you were asking for suggestions from that era, not this millennium.

 

However, BoloOfEarth's suggestion of Road Kill does raise the possibility of conflict with other singer-supers. Sapphire of the Champions is an obvious choice; but the Teen Dream (Teen Champions) could involve your characters in the schemes of Teleios. Or maybe a gig at the trendy club, the Minefield (Vibora Bay) could draw them into the demonic doings there.

[Duke Bushido]

Ooohh-

 

and you could interrupt Howler at karaoke night....

 

 

[novi]

re: Lord Liaden:

 

Yeah, I kinda knew that when I was posting it, but I couldn't figure how to properly communicate otherwise.  *sigh*

 

But to be fair, I am kinda looking for both angles.  Which actual old-school characters I should look into, as well as which newer characters to use.

 

I probably will have to pick up Road Kill.  As for the Ultimates, I'm not familiar with that older line-up.  How does it compare to the newer versions?

[Lord Liaden]

2 hours ago, novi said:

As for the Ultimates, I'm not familiar with that older line-up.  How does it compare to the newer versions?

 

Binder, Slick, and Blackstar are largely unchanged from their earlier incarnations. Cyclone, Thunderbolt, Radium, and Orion were never Ultimates. Instead, they had Charger (similar in some ways to Thunderbolt), and Plasmoid, a powerful alien artificial life-form made up of energy fields. Plasmoid's programming had been scrambled in its journey across space, leaving it largely purposeless and random; but for some reason it was willing to follow Binder's orders (most of the time).

 

Enemies Assemble (a later published collection of supervillain teams) updated and modified the Ultimates. Due to an accident involving Plasmoid, Binder's intellect was vastly expanded. He devised a full powered-armor suit employing force-field weapons, and took to calling himself the Ultimate Mastermind. Meanwhile Charger's health had deteriorated, requiring an extensive life-support suit, but his power increased as a result, leading to a name change to Supercharger.

[BoloOfEarth]

23 hours ago, BoloOfEarth said:

Another possibility is Deathstroke.  You can go old-school and use the 2E versions with Deathsinger, Frost, Arrowhead, et al.  Heck, if you have the 2E module, you could revamp that and run it - IMO it has the feel of an 80s superhero cartoon.

 

If you're interested in Deathstroke, in addition to the 2nd edition module, they were updated in the 4th edition Champions Universe book.  Two of them (Requiem and Frost, IIRC) also appear in the 5th Ed Stronghold book, and again in the 6th edition Champions Villains Volume 2 - Villain Teams book.  (I wasn't happy with the killing of Death Commando, Shockwave, Stinger, and Scatterbrain, so I decided that didn't happen in my game world.)  I don't recall the 2E versions being very detailed and never actually ran a game in 2E; I used the 4E versions or updated them for use in later Champions editions.

[Lord Liaden]

What I did like about the 2E Deathstroke module, was the concept of the philosophy behind their organizational recruitment, "government by crooks who are at least honest about it." I always wished someone had done more with that. In today's political climate especially, I could see that actually having some appeal.

[Steve]

Well, if Doctor Destroyer is too high-powered for the group, why not go with the bargain basement knockoff clone of him known as Professor Muerte? He and the rest of Terror, Incorporated would make great 80s villains.

 

Bulldozer makes for another very 80s-esque villain.

[Ninja-Bear]

I once had a villain team of Dragonfly (leader), Thok (an alien insectoid) and Stinger.

[Lord Liaden]

Throw in Insectoid from Escape from Stronghold, and you'd have... well, an argument for a REALLY big bug-zapper.

[Duke Bushido]

heh heh heh heh heh .......

 

 

Anyone still got a couple of their home-brew 80's villains kicking around?

 

We can convert them to 6 (novi said he was using 6, right?) and hand them off.  

 

 

 

[steriaca]

15 hours ago, Duke Bushido said:

heh heh heh heh heh .......

 

 

Anyone still got a couple of their home-brew 80's villains kicking around?

 

We can convert them to 6 (novi said he was using 6, right?) and hand them off.  

 

 

 

We could probably convert Argent Anorky from European Enemies, doing the group up correctly, and have a great "Battle of the Bands" against Road Kill and prehaps an original group De Gunsite Boyz (superpower evil rappers).

 

Members of Dr Gunsite Boyz:

Drive By: Speedster with a machine gun.

Street Smart: Mutant gadgetear who makes things out if stuff you can find on the street.

Beat Box: Brick with sonic powers.

Lil Bird: Flight. Guns.

 

[Steve]

Hmmm... on a side note (pun not really intended), going through the three main villain books for 6th ED, there are actually a few villains with PS: Singing.

 

From Champions Villains Volume 1:

Avant Guard

Warcry

 

From Champions Villains Volume 3:

Howler

Riptide

 

If you put the four of them together, they make for an interesting team. You could maybe add Lady Blue to them as their manager, since she has PS: Public Relations.

[novi]

Been a bit distracted the last few weeks.

 

Anyway, I never actually said which edition, but it will be 6th.  And I'm strongly considering lowering the power level - 10 DCs average attack, probably 350 points total.

 

Where would I find the write-up of that earlier version of the Ultimates?  Or, perhaps, would somebody be willing to post 6th ed versions of Charger and Plasmoid somewhere?

 

Oh yeah, and Professor Muerte.  I recall the name, but don't think I've seen the original write-up.  Which old book is he hiding in?  I think my players might enjoy him.

[Amorkca]

Prof Meurte is detailed again in this supplement

 

 

[Killer Shrike]

On 2/12/2019 at 10:13 AM, BoloOfEarth said:

 

If you're interested in Deathstroke, in addition to the 2nd edition module, they were updated in the 4th edition Champions Universe book.  Two of them (Requiem and Frost, IIRC) also appear in the 5th Ed Stronghold book, and again in the 6th edition Champions Villains Volume 2 - Villain Teams book.  (I wasn't happy with the killing of Death Commando, Shockwave, Stinger, and Scatterbrain, so I decided that didn't happen in my game world.)  I don't recall the 2E versions being very detailed and never actually ran a game in 2E; I used the 4E versions or updated them for use in later Champions editions.

 

I used tweaked versions of Deathstroke as a primary villain group for a few of my 4e and later 5e Champions campaigns. My version was grittier / more hard core than the published version, but they were great villains that the players loved to hate.

 

 

 

In the early 90's a group of supers from across the American south started working together from time to time, and in 1993 a formal team was founded drawn from a network of allies and friends. Taking the name Justice Incorporated, with the logo "When you want Justice not Law, call 1-888-JUSTICE".

The new team quickly established itself as not messing around, fighting several engagements with supervillains and criminal syndicates, most notably including encounters with Agents of Deathstroke (an organization of primarily high-tech mercenaries led by a ring of five supers level badguys, Broken Arrow, Swan Song, Old Sparky, Killshot, and Hypothermic) which would prove to be a reoccurring nemesis for the group.   http://www.killershrike.com/SouthernJustice/Team_Background.aspx