Looking for a good Scenario for Vigilante type Heroes

[JCR]

Greetings! I will be running a short scenario to introduce two new characters to our ongoing campaign I am looking for a scenario that would fit w/ what's happening in the main campaign. Millennium City has been struck w/ a tsunami of crime since the Champions have gone missing for a few weeks now. Our heroes in the main scenario where doing their best to stop the pack and some guy called reverend x (its an old official adventure the GM has and it was used to kick start our current campaign). What I want to do is run a short scenario good for two vigilante flavor characters placed in the same city at the same time the other team is stopping the pack and have them team up w/ the other group after the end of the scenario. Can anyone link me to such a scenario (I need it to have maps or its unusable to me; I don't have the time, skill, or talent to make maps)? I also have no problem buying one as long as it has maps and serves the purpose. Thank you!

 

P.S. it can be any edition champions, i have no problem translating stats to current edition!

[Christopher R Taylor]

Here's a scenario I used for my Dark Champions game

 

The PCs hear of a new smuggling operation in town, one that people are willing to kill for.  They hit the streets and through streetwise, interrogation, and luck find out that the local bad guys (Viper in my game) are bringing in a new shipment at x time in y location.  The PCs go there, but no matter when they go to get their early, the shipment has already arrived and is blazing out of the area in a special hopped up vehicle with armor and gun ports.  There's a chase through town, cops vs a the truck shooting it out as they careen through town and the cops are clearly outclassed. 

 

What's inside the truck?  Human organs.  Where are they headed?  With interrogation, superpowers, and streetwise, they find out that the organs were due for a super rich clinic for the most wealthy in town.  But where are the organs coming from??  More investigation and some head cracking at a local (Viper) sub base to check the computer records, and they find out that its coming from St Theresa's a hospital in the most poor and run down part of town.  Turns out the place is taking organs out of indidgent and dying people there and selling them to fund the oprations of the place so that they can stay open.

 

The PCs face a moral dilemma: the hospital shuts down if they shut down the operation, but the hospital does a ton of pro bono work for the poor folks in the area, and its a long ways to the next hospital which can't really handle that much more business all at once.

 

Oh, and a big shootout in the waiting room of the hospital awaits the PCs with (Viper) if they aren't smart about it.  Lots of potential innocent bystander casualties.

[Spence]

What are the "Vigilante type Heroes" power wise?

 

 

[JCR]

400 points. one uses chains and chainmail armor, the other uses gunblades, concealed guns, and tactical armor

[Spence]

Killer/Collateral Damage types or actual superHeroes?

[JCR]

Not really into collateral damage and they avoid civilian casualties, but not squeamish about killing the bad guys at all. They will be joining up w/ a group that actually does their best to not kill the bad guys.

[JCR]

On 8/10/2019 at 7:57 PM, Christopher R Taylor said:

Here's a scenario I used for my Dark Champions game

 

The PCs hear of a new smuggling operation in town, one that people are willing to kill for.  They hit the streets and through streetwise, interrogation, and luck find out that the local bad guys (Viper in my game) are bringing in a new shipment at x time in y location.  The PCs go there, but no matter when they go to get their early, the shipment has already arrived and is blazing out of the area in a special hopped up vehicle with armor and gun ports.  There's a chase through town, cops vs a the truck shooting it out as they careen through town and the cops are clearly outclassed. 

 

What's inside the truck?  Human organs.  Where are they headed?  With interrogation, superpowers, and streetwise, they find out that the organs were due for a super rich clinic for the most wealthy in town.  But where are the organs coming from??  More investigation and some head cracking at a local (Viper) sub base to check the computer records, and they find out that its coming from St Theresa's a hospital in the most poor and run down part of town.  Turns out the place is taking organs out of indidgent and dying people there and selling them to fund the oprations of the place so that they can stay open.

 

The PCs face a moral dilemma: the hospital shuts down if they shut down the operation, but the hospital does a ton of pro bono work for the poor folks in the area, and its a long ways to the next hospital which can't really handle that much more business all at once.

 

Oh, and a big shootout in the waiting room of the hospital awaits the PCs with (Viper) if they aren't smart about it.  Lots of potential innocent bystander casualties.

I went w/ this and it worked very well. Had to as always improvise some stuff on the fly, but I was able to make it work. Had one of the experienced champions player just draw me the maps on the fly on the hex map w/ a vague description and it paid off. Thanks for the suggestion!

[Thumper]

If you need good scenarios for vigilantes, watch a couple of episodes of pretty much any 80's action show -- Magnum PI, Knight Rider, Macguyver and The A-Team are particularly good for inspiration.  There's sort of a formula to these things.  Here is the  basic formula of most Action/Vigilante scenarios:

There is a Villain.  The villain has a Scheme.  The scheme requires a Macguffin.  There is an Obstacle to villain acquiring the macguffin.  The obstacle is an Innocent Person or Group. The villain has Resources that he can use to acquire control over the macguffin. The resources are Armed Thugs, Gobs of Money and Political Cover (hence the need for vigilantes).  The villain Initiates Action by making an attempt to gain control of the macguffin, usually by sending armed thugs, but then...

• ...the villain destroys the obstacle and takes the macguffin, but leaves a Trail of Evidence. The innocent has an Ally (typically a friend or relative) who is driven to investigate the claim and discovers the trail. This ally is either one of the heroes, or seeks out the heroes for help investigating, or discovers the villain through their own investigation and becomes the new Obstacle to the villain's scheme, which either repeats this option or...
• ...the villain does not kill the obstacle but gains control of the macguffin.  The obstacle may be left alive, left for dead,  escape the villain's clutches, or be interrupted by the heroes. They then seek the aid of an Ally, who is either the heroes or someone who can lead the obstacle to the heroes.  The heroes must regain control of the macguffin for obstacle/innocent persons. 
• ...the villain does not kill the obstacle or gain control of the macguffin.  The obstacle either drives the villain off, escapes with the macguffin, or .  They then seek the aid of an Ally, who is either the heroes or someone who can lead the obstacle to the heroes.  The heroes must defend the innocent person and the macguffin from the villain. 

Here are some examples of this formula in action:

• Dr. Feelgood (Villain) is a drug smuggler. He smuggles drugs into America (Scheme) and sells them for money.  He has hidden a shipment of heroin hidden in a Classic Car (Macguffin), and had it delivered to a Dillinger Motors, small, independently owned used car dealership that specializes in classic cars.  Jack Dillinger, the owner of the dealership, is an Honest Citizen (Obstacle). Dr. Feelgood sends his Feelgoons to steal the classic car (Initiates Action) in the middle of the night, but Jack is in his office and discovers them.  He chases them off with a baseball bat and discovers the heroin.  He knows the heroes and approaches them for help, because he's afraid if he goes to the corrupt police force he'll get caught up in a smuggling investigation and lose his import license, but he can't let the heroin wind up on the streets.  The heroes have to find the Feelgoons, track them back to Dr. Feelgood, and shut down his operation if Jack is ever going to be safe again.
• Evil Incorporated (Villain) is a corrupt corporation. They'll do anything to cover up their history of dumping toxic waste (Scheme).  David Ortega is a crusading environmental lawyer (Obstacle) who has uncovered proof of their crimes and stored them in encrypted file (Macguffin).  AggroTech's chief of security murders Ortega (Initiates Action), staging it as a suicide, but Ortega has sent copies of the encrypted  to his sister, Martina Ortega (Ally). Martina is dating one of the heroes, and asks him to investigate her brother's mysterious death, refusing to accept the police's conclusion of suicide. Now the heroes have to put together the clues and discover what David Ortega discover that got him killed.
• Safecracker (Villain) is a safecracking supervillain from the 80's.  In 1987 he stashed $4 million in diamonds in the walls of a suburban home under construction, and now he wants to get it back (Scheme).  He's sure he's found the right cul-de-sac, but he's not sure which of a six houses the jewels are stashed in and needs time to search them all. He's managed to get five of the families out of their houses with fake vacation prizes, but the last family has stayed home (Obstacle). Desperate and running out of funds, Safecracker gathers up his two thuggish nephews  and stages a the home invasion route (Initiates Action).  The problem is that family that lives here is one of the hero's family, and the hero is home...and in their Secret ID.  And the wife and kids don't know daddy is a vigilante.  

[Christopher R Taylor]

Don't forget to weave in subplots on the way and prep later plots.  News reports, mentions of something going on, a glimpse of someone while on the way to the main event.  For example, let's say in the future you have a scenario planned where there's a jailbreak.  Have the cops capture the guy who works on the inside to break the villains out (some super escape artist), so they've heard of him and know he's inside.  Or say you want to run a bit where someone really famous and evil gets away with a crime and the heroes have to go dole out some justice, have their trial begin.

 

And other subplots are great.  The secretary of one of the PCs (or the receptionist at their base, if they have one) shows up to work with a black eye and a lame excuse to how she got it.  A girlfriend has a big date planned on the exact night of a major event that the hero has to deal with.  Pets are mysteriously disappearing.  stuff to set up conflicts and future activity, DNPCs, hunteds, etc.

 

And most of all, try to find ways to weave at least one player's character story into the main plot.  Say some character is searching for their family, have a clue drop in one of the places or informants, something the informant doesn't know is related.  Or say a PC is trying to clean up corruption at city hall, have him witness a councilman doing something shady.

[archer]

8 hours ago, Thumper said:

If you need good scenarios for vigilantes, watch a couple of episodes of pretty much any 80's action show -- Magnum PI, Knight Rider, Macguyver and The A-Team are particularly good for inspiration.  There's sort of a formula to these things.  Here is the  basic formula of most Action/Vigilante scenarios:

There is a Villain.  The villain has a Scheme.  The scheme requires a Macguffin.  There is an Obstacle to villain acquiring the macguffin.  The obstacle is an Innocent Person or Group. The villain has Resources that he can use to acquire control over the macguffin. The resources are Armed Thugs, Gobs of Money and Political Cover (hence the need for vigilantes).  The villain Initiates Action by making an attempt to gain control of the macguffin, usually by sending armed thugs, but then...

• ...the villain destroys the obstacle and takes the macguffin, but leaves a Trail of Evidence. The innocent has an Ally (typically a friend or relative) who is driven to investigate the claim and discovers the trail. This ally is either one of the heroes, or seeks out the heroes for help investigating, or discovers the villain through their own investigation and becomes the new Obstacle to the villain's scheme, which either repeats this option or...
• ...the villain does not kill the obstacle but gains control of the macguffin.  The obstacle may be left alive, left for dead,  escape the villain's clutches, or be interrupted by the heroes. They then seek the aid of an Ally, who is either the heroes or someone who can lead the obstacle to the heroes.  The heroes must regain control of the macguffin for obstacle/innocent persons. 
• ...the villain does not kill the obstacle or gain control of the macguffin.  The obstacle either drives the villain off, escapes with the macguffin, or .  They then seek the aid of an Ally, who is either the heroes or someone who can lead the obstacle to the heroes.  The heroes must defend the innocent person and the macguffin from the villain. 

Here are some examples of this formula in action:

• Dr. Feelgood (Villain) is a drug smuggler. He smuggles drugs into America (Scheme) and sells them for money.  He has hidden a shipment of heroin hidden in a Classic Car (Macguffin), and had it delivered to a Dillinger Motors, small, independently owned used car dealership that specializes in classic cars.  Jack Dillinger, the owner of the dealership, is an Honest Citizen (Obstacle). Dr. Feelgood sends his Feelgoons to steal the classic car (Initiates Action) in the middle of the night, but Jack is in his office and discovers them.  He chases them off with a baseball bat and discovers the heroin.  He knows the heroes and approaches them for help, because he's afraid if he goes to the corrupt police force he'll get caught up in a smuggling investigation and lose his import license, but he can't let the heroin wind up on the streets.  The heroes have to find the Feelgoons, track them back to Dr. Feelgood, and shut down his operation if Jack is ever going to be safe again.
• Evil Incorporated (Villain) is a corrupt corporation. They'll do anything to cover up their history of dumping toxic waste (Scheme).  David Ortega is a crusading environmental lawyer (Obstacle) who has uncovered proof of their crimes and stored them in encrypted file (Macguffin).  AggroTech's chief of security murders Ortega (Initiates Action), staging it as a suicide, but Ortega has sent copies of the encrypted  to his sister, Martina Ortega (Ally). Martina is dating one of the heroes, and asks him to investigate her brother's mysterious death, refusing to accept the police's conclusion of suicide. Now the heroes have to put together the clues and discover what David Ortega discover that got him killed.
• Safecracker (Villain) is a safecracking supervillain from the 80's.  In 1987 he stashed $4 million in diamonds in the walls of a suburban home under construction, and now he wants to get it back (Scheme).  He's sure he's found the right cul-de-sac, but he's not sure which of a six houses the jewels are stashed in and needs time to search them all. He's managed to get five of the families out of their houses with fake vacation prizes, but the last family has stayed home (Obstacle). Desperate and running out of funds, Safecracker gathers up his two thuggish nephews  and stages a the home invasion route (Initiates Action).  The problem is that family that lives here is one of the hero's family, and the hero is home...and in their Secret ID.  And the wife and kids don't know daddy is a vigilante.  

 

You could make a Mid-Lib out of that.

 

If I weren't exhausted, I'd make a Mad-Lib out of that.

[Thumper]

1 hour ago, archer said:

You could make a Mid-Lib out of that.

Or random tables.

 

Roll 1d6 for Villain

1. An international art thief.
2. A drug dealer.
3. A professional hitman.
4. A corrupt politician.
5. A counterfeiter.
6. A loan shark.

And so on.

[JCR]

Awesome! thanks everyone for the assist!