Houston GM

Re: What a wicked little axe we have here... Expanding on Comic's brilliant idea (and some of the other opinions noted), a talking axe could be a big detriment, vastly amusing, yet make perfect sense. If I were doing it, I would consider putting a knight of the crusades in the axe. The axe considers his weilder to be an equal ... but frequently in need of guidance ... which it is happy to provide in a booming voice ... without regard to the audience. The axe considers most people to be commoners. If a reporter is interviewing the hero and asks a question that could be considered rude or prying, the axe loudly announces, "You shouldn't accept that sort of impudence from commoners. Would you like me to chop off his head?" That sort of scene is bound to play well in the news. The axe believes women are inferior to men. Women should be protected ... if they're of high station. Women who dress in revealing clothes are "harlots." And the hero needs to think about his reputation. "You shouldn't be seen conversing with this harlot. Associating with loose women could stain both our reputations." The axe prefers to face enemies in honorable combat, and likes to openly challenge tough opponents to face it that way. Certain enemies, like Firewing, would be happy to oblige. It thinks skulking around and ambushes are for cowards, and complains loudly if it's asked to participate in such actions. And just imagine the lack of restraint that the axe has around heretics, infidels and pagans....

Re: Smarter than your average Brick Swords and Shields are for Sissies: Grab an opponent. When other enemies attack you, use the grabbed opponent to block the attacks. If they use ranged attacks, use him to "Missile Deflect" the attacks. If nobody is attacking you, use the grabbed opponent like a club and swing him at other opponents.

Re: Underpowered tropes? NOMINEES for UNDERPOWERED TROPE (And my initial thoughts) Growth-based bricks In my opinion, the low DCV isn't the biggest issue. The bigger problem is that they lose the majority of their offense if you put them inside (or anyplace where they can't Grow). It seems like you lose your combat effectiveness in a common circumstance. That's easier to work around for villains than heroes. 'batman' style martial artist skillmonkey That seems to be an issue of trying to be good at too many things at once. If you're a martial artist, and a skillmonkey, and a gadgeteer (a combination of three tropes), you won't be the best at any one of them (unless you're playing with more points than the competition). Antman syndrome i.e Shrinking and/or talking to animals Looking at Hummingbird and Shrinker, there's definitely some potential for combat effectiveness. Talking to animals seems to be primarily a non-combat information-gathering power. I like characters to have some form of non-combat effectiveness. (How fun is it to play Grond when you're not in a fight?) As long as I can find a way to build the power that's not hideously expensive, talking to animals is a reasonable power to include. people who can change into living animals We may have a winner for the "underpowered" category here. This concept is probably going to be inefficient with points, and it puts limits on combat effectiveness (CV, DCs, defenses) that will be a lot more harsh than the campaign-imposed limits. OTHER POWER ISSUES MENTIONED speedster / martial artist: lack of ranged attacks I gave my speedster superleaping. Now he is the ranged attack. Missile reflection also works wonders for martial artists. Martial artists annoy GMs because they get missed a lot. Eh, not really. If I want to hit the martial artist, I'll use AEs, Explosions, BOECV, Accurate, invisible attackers (to halve DCV) or a dozen other tricks. power is being measured based on defenses if your character is out of the fight, nothing else matters Regardless of your build, there will be a way to take you out. If I can take you out of the combat for a phase or more, I've effectively stunned you. If I can take you out of the combat for 2 turns or more, I might as well have put you in GM's discretion. I gave my mentalist an EGO-based entangle (60 active points). After running the numbers, I realized I could one-shot Grond or a tyrannosaurus rex with that attack. SPD drains, well-phrased Mind Control commands, Megascale knockback, Major Transforms, etc. If you're out of the fight, it really doesn't matter how they did it. Thanks for the ideas. I'm already looking at ways to put together a decent shrinking/growth brick type.

Re: Mental Illusions: Can attacks look like nothing? Expanding on the previous answers. A mental illusion can be felt, so the target would feel an unseen force striking him. Yes, but the mechanics of the power limit the damage to the damage that a non-illusory attack would do. How much damage does an unseen force striking you normally do? As a GM, I would say it normally does very little. However, if the target was expecting to be attacked by an invisible super-powered martial artist, the unseen force might hurt a lot more. Not under normal circumstances (as Arkham stated), but you might be able do a convincing illusion of a heart attack on the couch potato, which could do some damage. It would be much easier to do substantial damage with an illusion of fire, a tiger, or a gun. People expect fires, tigers and guns to hurt. Sitting in a chair watching TV ... not so painful, even if you get a cramp from not moving. No. If Kevin gets hit by a bullet, Eric isn't going to expect it to hurt him. Illusion Man would have to do a different illusion to cause damage to the other three. As described, yes. Illusion Man could do an illusion of everyone getting hit. He could either make everyone think that one bullet came in and only hit them, or he could do an illusion of several bullets coming in and hitting each one of them. In either case, all of them could take damage from it. Furthermore, an AE Mental Illusion that can do damage to multiple targets (even normals) is going to require a lot of points.

Last week there was a thread about bricks being overpowered (or they were perceived as such by the original poster), and I recently read another thread that talked about speedsters being perceived as underpowered. Are there archetypes or tropes that are generally perceived as being underpowered? I recently made a speedster, and I'd like to take a crack at some of the other tropes that people think are underpowered. Since I intend to personally test claims that "X is underpowered," I'm not all that worried about whether the perceptions are accurate.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... Modified so Kirby doesn't have to read non-quote backstory.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... The PCs are federal agents. They are assisting the Atlanta PD SWAT team with a hostage situation. While discussing the situation: Henry: "So if we get a shot at the hostages..." Ham: (interrupting) "You mean the perps." Henry: "Right. The perps. I'm getting those two words mixed up in my head." Darnell: "No you're not. You're calling all of them hostages. And that's going to get confusing at some point." Ham: "Especially if we have to shoot the perps." Ham messed with cellular transmissions so the perps received a "missed call" notification on their cell phone from an unlisted number. When the perps noticed the missed call, three of them congregated and started arguing loudly about the missed call. Ham: "I'm going to call their cell phone again. If they're that upset about missing a call, just imagine how distracted they'll be if they actually get one." After the crisis has been successfully resolved. Darnell: "If anyone claims that I used excessive force, I'll point out to them that I had 144 bullets with me, and I only used one."

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... From my Teen Champions campaign. While searching for the Idiot King. Raphael: "It could be a coincidence." Otter: "Coincidence has been suspended until further notice." Raphael has been using his powers to keep Otter invisible. Raphael: I take out my PDA and send Otter a message. GM (to Otter): Your PDA buzzes. Otter: I take my PDA out of my pocket and look at it. GM: Yep. It's invisible. Otter (sighing): Okay. I get up, walk to gangplank, and head up onto the deck. GM: As you leave Raphael's line of sight, you become visible. Otter: I look at my PDA. What does it say? Raphael: "It would be nice if you would leave this room so I can drop your invisibility." Otter's sister, Liza, comes into his room. Liza: "Otter, why is your girlfriend in my closet?" Otter: "How should I know? It's your closet."

anti-Hummingbird gadget Have you tried Bat Juice? Apparently it's been tested before with good results.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... The campaign is teen superheroes in a post-alien-invasion world. Otter: "I've noticed that people never talk about 'UFOs' anymore." The PCs are assisting an operative in the Metahuman Resistance (Swift). Two of the teens (Angela & Otter) get to the rendevous ahead of the others. They decide they'll look less conspicuous if they're making out like normal teens. ... but they don't stop when the others arrive. Angela takes a break from kissing Otter and looks at Swift... Angela: "We thought we would look less suspicious this way. Do you think it's too much?" Swift: "Yeah" (pause) "You'll get better results if you use less tongue."

Re: Evil Schemes for the Average Megalomaniac None of these are intended as full story-lines. Instead, they are just a few starter steps. Atomic Khan!:Analogous to Dr Doom. Armored megalomaniac. 1) Khan starts by bringing peace to a war-torn African nation, and is hailed as a hero. His technological advances bring a new degree of prosperity to this nation. 2) Khan recruits villains to his cause, offering them a safe haven in this country where they will not be extradited. His most favored villains (the ones who do him the most favors) will receive diplomatic immunity. 3) Khan uses this country as a base for a military conquest of the continent, followed by the rest of the world. The Cult of the Faceless: Chaos / Entropy cult that worships nothingness. 1) They find a way to get the Void wraiths to possess the dictator of a country, giving them a safe haven that they can operate out of. 2) They start stealing the necessary components for a ritual that will open a gateway which will suck the earth into the Void. The Angler: Vice President Dick Cheney. 1) The Angler abducts and brainwashes the chiefs-of-staff for Obama, McCain, Pelosi, etc. This gives him direct access to information in their offices, and a voice to influence their opinions. 2) The Angler uses blackmail, bribes and hostages to gain control of the major news stations in the country. He leverages this control to influence public opinion on a grand scale. 3) The Angler makes contact with a human-looking alien race. He agrees to help them secretly take over the world in exchange for political power once the conquest is complete. Caine: Claims to be the First Vampire, and is quite powerful. 1) Caine begins hiring mercenaries (human and metahuman) to attack "holy" persons and places that could impede his plans. 2) Caine seduces/coerces a group of mystics into performing a ritual which blocks out the sun in a major city (a la Buffy). This allows his cult to operate freely around the clock. Doctor Anthrax: A deranged scientist who loves playing with bio-weapons. 1) Creates a plague which mutates into a strain that is wildly successful than Anthrax anticipated. Governments are forced to take drastic measures to slow the spread of this plague. 2) A person or pet that Anthrax is sentimentally attached to becomes infected with the mutated strain of the plague. The vaccine/treatment/cure that Anthrax created doesn't work on this strain. Anthrax has to enlist the help of others to find a cure soon enough to save his friend/relative/pet. Doctor Noah: A guy who loves to gene-splice Humans and animals. 1) Noah creates a voracious swarm of tiny "locust-men" which attack the power and communications grid. 2) Noah invades an area with an army of human-sized "ant-men". These soldiers are strong, tireless, fearless, and completely loyal. They will not stop until Noah's goals are achieved. Dorian Drake: Your typical corrupt CEO type, actually a Dragon in Human form. 1) Drake begins by taking over a number of companies using any means at his disposal (and bringing new meaning to the term "hostile takeover"). He uses shell companies and holding companies to conceal how widespread his involvement is. Eventually, he will be able to gain a monopoly in a crucial industry while maintaining the illusion that a healthy level of competition still exists. 2) Drake uses his monopoly to give his other diverse companies an advantage over their competitors. Collectively his corporate assets equal or exceed those of any megacorporation or zaibatsu in the world. 3) Drake's companies begin flouting the law in various countries (blatantly ignoring environmental laws, not paying taxes). 4) One government decides to bring Drake back in line by siezing all (known) corporate assets in that country and nationalizing them. Drake responds by supporting a coup. The successor government, in gratitude for his assistance, returns all of Drake's assets and gives him wide latitude in future business practices. Cutter John: A guy who likes to make zombies out of body parts. 1) John abducts a college sports team in order to get a substantial supply of high-quality parts. 2) John creates an "industrial accident" near a military base in order to create a larger supply of high-quality parts. 3) John starts gathering a large supply of chemicals that will act as both a toxin and a preservative. Once he creates a sufficient quantity of this formula, he will release this into a city's water supply in order to create parts for an army of zombies. He hopes to disguise the deaths as a bioplague in order to get the area quarantined so he can work in peace. Master Mind: The world's smartest man (so he claims). 1) Master Mind begins creating robot soldiers. He uses these robots to capture raw materials that are difficult to acquire, which also provides data on how the robots perform in combat. 2) Master Mind builds several undersea bases in order to create his army and avoid detection. He uses undersea mining as a main source of raw materials. 3) Master Mind sends his robot armies forth to conquer various capital cities. As part of his assault on Brazil, he launches some rockets into outer-space. These rockets disappear as they pass near, and then move behind, the sun. 4) Observatories start detecting "new" asteroids on unusual orbits and discover that other asteroids have "disappeared" from well-established orbits. None of these orbits takes them close to the earth, so it's mostly reported in astronomical journals. Master Mind is building a death star in earth's orbit, but exactly opposite the earth on the far side of the sun, so as to avoid detection. The asteroids are being moved into position to be used as raw materials. Set: Current Avatar of the Egyptian God 1) Set begins collecting powerful Egyptian relics that are stored in museums around the world. The first attempts will be straight-forward museum break-ins. 2) Heroes become aware of Set's attacks and thwart a couple. Set raises the stakes by creating diversions. In one case he blankets a city with a massive sandstorm. In another case, he sends a massive swarm (at least 1 mile in diameter) of venomous scorpions to drive the human population from the area. While heroes respond to these crises, he can recover the artifacts unopposed. --------------- Hmm. These ideas sound fun. My next campaign needs to be higher-powered.

Re: Prisoner Exchange White Knight The Tiberius Syndicate would probably need to recruit additional henchmen for the prisoner exchange. White Knight would seek employment as a henchman. Once hired, he would use the inside information to determine whether there was a double-cross in the works. If there was some kind of double-cross planned, he would pass that information along to FoJ. During the exchange, White Knight would lay low and maintain his cover as a henchman. If a fight started, he would go for cover and wait for the chaos to provide an opportunity to change into his heroic identity. Provided the exchange went smoothly, White Knight would maintain his cover as a henchman. As the Tiberius Syndicate began to relax, he would look for an opportunity to grab Roberto or another top tier henchman and escape with him. (Megascaled superleap allows a speedy escape.) Multi-Man "You said you needed an army at the prisoner exchange?" Between duplication, summoning and images, Multi-Man can provide an apparent army. He would provide backup, but not interfere with the prisoner exchange.

Re: What else is a classic trope ? The country-themed super-patriot. Captain America, USAgent, Minuteman, and there's at least a couple British ones. The handicapped/crippled man/woman who creates/repairs gadgets for the heroes.

Re: Meta-Backgrounds

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... I'll continue my quotes with a Valentine's tale of infatuation ... Shadowrun style. OwlCon, Shadowrun 4th Edition, "For Elves About to Rock" Following an unexpected bout of reasonableness and common sense, megastar Maria Mecurial's entire staff of bodyguards unexpectedly quit. In desparation, her manager turned to her opening band (who are also shadowrunners), and asked them to bodyguard her during the Cairo visit. That night, Maria Mecurial goes to a club and (true to form) starts a brawl. As her would-be-suitor's bodyguards step in, Titus (the drummer/street samurai) pulls out his titanium drumsticks. Titus: "Drum solo!" __________________ The next day, the band discovers that the would-be-suitor is filthy rich. Mr. Wolfe: "Congratulations, Maria. You've just acquired the world's wealthiest stalker." Maria Mecurial: "Why didn't anyone tell me he was rich? Did someone at least get his phone number?" __________________ After the stalker abducted Maria Mecurial, the shadowrunners are searching the stalker's mansion trying to rescue her. Heinrick (the lead singer/con-artist) tries to bluff his way past a guard. Heinrick (acting effeminate): "Excuse me. I seem to have gotten turned around. Is this Miss Mecurial's room?" Guard: "What are you doing here?" Heinrick: "I'm here to do Miss Mercurial's hair and make-up for the ceremony. Is this her room or not?" The guard lets Heinrick into the room. As the rest of the band starts creating a disturbance, Heinrick turns around and shoots the guard in the back. Heinrick (muttering to himself): "I knew there was a reason that I've never trusted those hair and make-up guys." __________________ Moments later. Heinrick: "Good afternoon Maria. We're here to rescue you ... unless you're still interested in marrying your wealthy stalker." Maria Mercurial: "Hell no! I'm not marrying him. He has four wives. FOUR of them. He actually expects me to be one of five." Heinrick: "Technically, you'd be five of five." Maria Mercurial: "You're. Not. Helping." __________________ Ash (the keyboardist/decker) explains his unorthodox combat techniques. Ash: "I'm much better with bedsheets and vases than bullets." __________________ Miles (the guitarist/physical adept) drops an elite guard with a shot to the crotch. Miles: "Can you say 'Eunuch'?" GM: He'll be working in the harem from now on.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... Owlcon, Call of Chthulu, "Miskatonic University: First Semester" Rush week and hazing have led the pledges into the tunnels under the university campus. The GM and players have an out-of-character discussion regarding which way they're headed. GM: You come to a T-intersection. Chester: We go left. GM: You go left, right? Chester: We go left. GM: Right. Chester: No, we go left. Corey: We go left, correct. GM: You go left, correct? Chester and Corey: Yes! __________________ The tunnel intersected a section of the sewers. The pledges hear some rum-runners coming down the sewers toward them, so they dash back into the tunnel to hide from the rum-runners. As the rum-runners reach the tunnel, one of them shines his electric torch at the entrance. Rum-Runner 1: Dat leads unner da university. Nebber go in dare. Rum-Runner 2: Why not? Rum-Runner 1: Dare's some bad stuff back dare. Youse don' wanna know more dan dat. Chester (still hidden): Uuuuuoooooaaaagh..... Rum-Runner 1: Holy @#$% !! RUN !! __________________ The pledges encounter some ghoul-like creatures. Chester, Franklin and Travis take off. Corey grabs Trevor's arm and pulls him after the others. As Corey is about to catch up to the others, he realizes that Trevor is no longer attached to Trevor's arm. A few moments later... Franklin: Where's Trevor? Corey: He got separated.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... OwlCon, Mutants & Masterminds, "Agents of CHIMERA" Buzz explains to Specs and Rocky the significance of a HALO insertion. Buzz: "They call it 'HALO', because if you screw it up, that's what you'll be wearing." __________________ Upon learning that we might be encountering the Sinister Simian Eagle: "Everything's better with monkeys." __________________ Doc (the regenerating medic) is going one-on-one with Maxwell's Demon (a fiery speedster). Doc has grabbed a fire extinguisher. Maxwell's Demon tries to blow the fire extinguisher up in Doc's hands, but fails. Doc: "Hey Hothead, take a chill pill." Doc slams the fire extinguisher into his opponent's midsection. Doc: "And make it go 'BOOM'." *** BOOOM *** __________________ Following the defeat of Evil Dr. Brain. Buzz: "Multi-tool: $75. Mechanics classes: $250. Seeing the Brain's expression as you drain the rest of the fluid out of his jar: Priceless!"

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... At OwlCon, Dark Ages: Fae, "Dark and Stormy Night" Jaques, an incarnation of frostbite, reports on the success of the mission. "They entered this world naked, screaming and covered in blood. And for many of them, that's how they left it." And this comment by Anne, a changeling of the Spring Court, is best without context. "I deflower myself."

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... At OwlCon, Shawdowrun 4th Edition, "Parts Unknown" The shawdowrunners had succeeded in capturing a cyberpsycho who had been previously referred to as the "Billion Nuyen Woman". "There's no way the corporation will destroy her. She's too valuable." "They'll probably make her a bodyguard." "She's way too psycho to be a bodyguard." "They'll probably put her in charge of a black-ops team." "Yeah. She's sufficiently psycho to lead a black-ops team."

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... From a Teen Champions campaign: Scotty: "Just so you're aware ... in the case of an emergency, I can only teleport out one of you at a time...." Otter and Raphael (in unison): "I'm first."

Re: Calling all lawyers--Supers and unique legal issues

Re: Vehicle Disads? Most of the obvious disads have already been mentioned, but I'll add a couple more: Public Identity: Everyone knows what the Aero Arrow is, and that it's parked in a hangar behind the Police HQ when it's not in use. Rivalry: The supergroup on the other side of town decides their vehicle has to be better than your group's, so they build one that has better engines/armor/firepower/etc. This can lead to a wonderful case of "keeping up with the Joneses". Any DNPCs (mechanic and/or pilot) become totally invested in this rivalry and keep pushing the PCs to invest more resources (XPs) into the vehicle. If the rivalry gets particularly nasty, incidents of sabotage could start happening ... either the other supergroup sabotaging your vehicle, or the DNPCs sabotaging theirs.

It's a Costume Party Background: Superhero and supervillain costumes are big sellers this year for children and adults. The best selling costumes include one or more of the PCs. The Heist: Several villains (gang members, Viper agents, Grab, or whomever) steal the MacGuffin while dressed as the superheroes and flee the scene. The Heroes Arrive: The police are already at the scene when the players arrive. When the PCs speak with the lead detective, he/she assumes that they're normals in costumes, not the actual heroes. Alternatively, some normals in costumes have already shown up claiming to be the heroes, been given access to the crime scene, and are either taking pictures or stealing evidence to sell on eBay. The Red Herring: As the heroes begin their investigation, they hear a disturbance. Some low-power criminals are committing a crime dressed in hero costumes. These criminals had nothing to do with the original crime; they're just using a similar idea. Confrontating the Enemy: The criminals have taken the MacGuffin to a nearby location where they can examine/activate/etc. it. They anticipated pursuit, so they set up the perfect cover. One of the villains (in his/her secret ID) organized a costume party and invited all of his/her friends and coworkers. The attendees were instructed to dress as their favorite superhero or supervillain. The PCs need to locate the real villains in this crowd. On the other hand, the villains will be operating under a similar handicap. The Complication: Foxbat heard about the party, and decided to show up as his favorite supervillain ... Foxbat! He believes the superheroes have also come to the party, and has been stalking them (even before they actually arrived). He has guessed that they will attend the party as their favorite supervillain ... Foxbat! He has already knocked out two "superheroes" (normals dressed in Foxbat costumes) and has them stashed in a closet. If the superheroes use blatant powers, Foxbat will try to sneak up on them one at a time and attempt to capture them. It's up to you to decide what clues will lead the heroes from the scene of the crime to the confrontation.

Re: WWYCD The aliens are here 'Mancer: (technological supergenius who pretends to be a sorceror) Provided his technology is still working... 'Mancer would (cautiously) team up with Dr. Destroyer. 'Mancer would expect to be betrayed as soon as the aliens were beaten to the point where Dr. Destroyer could finish them off without additional assistance. 'Mancer would do everything in his power to conceal the true nature of his powers from Dr. Destroyer and his minions. 'Mancer would also use the opportunity to study Dr. Destroyer's technology up close to discover its strengths and weaknesses. 'Mancer's preferred method of attack would be to discover an element that was rare on earth, but vital to the construction of the alien spaceships. He would then create nanites to disassemble anything built of that element and attempt to release them on the main alien ships. He would also design nanites that would do the same thing to Dr. Destroyer's technology. He would incorporate some form of time-release trigger into those nanites so they wouldn't activate until after the aliens' defeat. 'Mancer would use the opportunity presented by working with Dr. Destroyer to leave these nanites on some of Destroyer's technology (in his spaceship, on some Talons). 'Mancer would also arrange to fake his own demise before Dr. Destroyer could turn on him. (Explosions in space work well for this.) Ideally, two enemies would be taken down, one right after the other. The Count: (anachronistic vampiric vigilante) The Count wouldn't need to team up with Dr. Destroyer to attack the aliens. As long as the Count can learn the alien language (2 points would be sufficient, 1 point might be enough), he's ready to take them on. Furthermore, it wouldn't occur to the Count to ally with Dr. Destroyer, though he'd welcome the opportunity. "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer." Sabotaging Dr. Destroyer through an alliance would be almost as high priority as defeating the aliens. If the Count is attacking the aliens without allying with Dr. Destroyer: The Count has a standard pattern for attacking organizations. He captures a low-level minion and interrogates him (Mind Control makes this fairly simple). Using the information he's gathered, he goes a little up the chain of command and repeats the process. After a few interrogations, the Count has a substantial amount of information. The Count would want to get onto the flagship. Using Dr. Destroyer's spaceship would be too risky. It would be much safer to stow away on an alien shuttle (Desolidifying into mist form or using Mind Control on the pilot). He could also sneak on with a group of human slaves. If worse came to worse, he could survive getting sucked up the giant hose. (Is anyone else having Spaceballs flashbacks? "Suck, suck, suck.") The Count's anachronism does impair his effectiveness. He doesn't understand the value of venting atmosphere out of the ship, disrupting the central computer, causing the main reactor to go critical, etc. However, he does have several trustworthy allies (not Dr. Destroyer) who could assist him. The most effective might be an AI, who could be uploaded into the alien flagship's central computer. Once on board, the Count would attempt to sabotage the central command structure. Hierarchical organizations always have ambitious people who will sieze any opportunity for promotion. It takes very little to persuade them to kill their superiors in order to get promoted. Repeat this process dozens (or hundreds) of times throughout the alien ship in order to erode the command structure, morale, discipline, etc. After the command structure has been damaged, a few ambitious high ranking officers can be mind controlled into staging mutinies. Simultaneous (or successive) mutinies could devastate the fleet's ability to function. If any officers are successfully preventing the chain of command from shattering, they can be assassinated. If the Count is attacking the aliens with Dr. Destroyer's "help": The Count would appreciate having some of Dr. Destroyer's elite troops along when invading an alien ship. Dr. Destroyer views his troops as being useful, but expendable if necessary. The Count views these troops as potentially useful, highly expendable, and as a tasty snack. The Count would take the time to interrogate some of Dr. Destroyer's troops, to learn as much as possible about his organization. While formenting mutinies inside the alien spaceship, the Count would lead the aliens to believe that their elusive intruder was working for Dr. Destroyer, not just with Dr. Destroyer. Once the Count had heavily disrupted the aliens' command structure, he would let an ambitious officer know the location of Dr. Destroyer's base. When the aliens were almost ready to attack the base, the Count would warn Dr. Destroyer (through his surviving minions on the ship) that an attack was imminent. The Count would want Dr. Destroyer to do as much damage as possible to the aliens as his forces were defeated. (The Count would assume that Dr. Destroyer would escape such an attack, but would lose a lot of valuable resources in the fighting.) After the alien attack had been driven off, the Count would send Dr. Destroyers surviving troops back to him. The Count appreciates the value of a good 5th Column or Manchurian Candidate. Somebody should ask Dr. Destroyer whether he'd be willing to ally with my characters.

A couple questions.