GestaltBennie

Here's Silver Dragon

Here's Phobos and Deimos (Hero Designer)

Silver Dragon

Player:

Total Character Cost: 437

Disadvantage Points: 98

Base Points: 200

Experience Required: 139

Total Experience Available: 139

Experience Unspent: 0

BACKGROUND: Mariko Hamaguchi’s life was determined nearly thirty years before she was born, on the day that her grandfather died. Ishibashi Hamaguchi was a soldier in the Second World War, a man who was immensely proud of his samurai heritage. He had been wounded during the Pacific Campaign, and was recovering from his wounds when the first A-bomb fell on Hiroshima. Ishibashi, believing the deaths at Hiroshima to be a result of his failure as a soldier, took his own life. He committed seppeku with his family’s sacred blade, a katana forged in the 16th Century by the great Muramasa himself. Ishibashi’s last words, witnessed by his young son Hiroto, were: “May my spirit live on in my son’s children.â€

To Hiroto Yamaguchi, these words were a call to battle. He became a businessman in an important Japanese electronics firm during the early 1960s, and his drive and ambition took him towards the top. He saw himself as a modern samurai, using his skills for his corporation, making his nation stronger. And he trained in the samurai tradition. His wife gave birth to twins; a daughter and a son. Hiroto brought up his son, Okubo, to be the samurai that his father wanted; Okubo would be the reincarnation of his grandfather. To further that end, Hiroto approached certain oni, dark spirits of great power, spirits that had served his family for generations. In return for an unspecified price to be paid at a later date, they would bestow greatness on Okubo. Hiroto said he would pay them anything, anything except his son. The oni agreed to the price.

But Hiroto didn’t notice was that Okubo didn’t have a samurai nature. A bright, friendly, but subdued young man, Okubo wasn’t meant for greatness, and even the heightened abilities that the oni bestowed on him didn’t change his servile nature. There was something (or someone) else that Okubo didn’t notice either -- the older twin, his daughter Mariko. He did notice her strong willed nature (with displeasure), her temper (also with displeasure), and her wilful arrogance (with even greater displeasure). Mariko was the true recipient of the Hamaguchi spirit, and the oni with whom Hiroto had struck his deal did notice her qualities, and (in a capricious mood) bestowed their gifts on her as well as her brother. Mariko was a champion athlete and an excellent scholar, specializing in Japanese history. She impressed her teachers with her understanding of Japan’s feudal period.

When Mariko was 17, Okubo died in a plane crash. Even people touched by oni can die, if they fall from the sky into a fireball. Hiroto fell into despair, and cursed the oni who gave his sons their gifts; what use were gifts for a dead son? He felt as though he had failed his father. He took little notice of his daughter, who did her best to comfort him, to no avail.

Then the day came when the oni demanded their price for their gift -- his daughter. Finally, it occured to Hiroto that his daughter was more extraordinary than he had ever given her credit, and that he loved her. Hiroto refused the oni’s price. Of course, one does not refuse oni and expect to get away with it.

The oni used their influence on a clan of ninja, the deadliest members of the circle of worshippers of their dark fires. They entered the Hamaguchi home, and they took its most prized possession, the ancient blade with which Ishibashi Hamaguchi had taken his life. They slew Hiroto with the blade, desecrated the shrine of his ancestors, and left with their prize.

Mariko returned and found her father’s body. She did not weep, though her heart begged her to do so. She retreated into meditation, and spoke with her ancestors. They led her to the hiding place of something the ninja did not find; a suit of dragon armor. That suit, when worn by someone with powers that were granted by oni, would be as tough (and fly as swiftly) as a silver dragon. Despite its size, when she wore it, it fit her perfectly. Then, she swore an oath, stating that she would find the sword of her ancestors, and reclaim it, and no power of Heaven, Earth, or Hell would stop her. The oni heard her oath and laughed, for her quest was accursed, and she did not know it. Never would she hold the blade in her hands, until she agreed to pay her father’s price.

Believing that criminals would know best how to deal with criminals, Mariko turned to some of her father’s friends in the local yakuza. One of them, the crime boss Ikedu Kiyonaga, agreed to help her. In truth, Ikedu recognized that Mariko was beyond the powers of mortals, and knew there were certain advantages to having a superhuman in one’s employ.

Mariko learned the art of crime from Ikedu, and she learned hand-to-hand fighting techniques from Ikedu, who was a master of shito-ryu karate. And while her relationship with her mentor was sometimes strained by her headstrong nature and occasional fits of arrogance, she learned much from the yakuza leader. She also had her first confrontations with superheroes at this time; once, she was captured by the superhero Aslan. Aslan attempted to “convert†her and convince her that she should use her powers to serve society, but Mariko spat in his face and yelled ancient Japanese curses at him. She thought he was being condescending.

Mariko’s capture coincided with the fall of Ikedu Kiyonaga, and when Mariko escaped prison and regained her armor, there was no one left to shelter her. She decided to search Japan for her family blade. She learned that the blade had been sold to a collector in America, a Robert Powell. Naturally, she would have to visit Robert Powell. But she didn’t know that Robert’s full title was Major Robert Powell, UNTIL Field Commander, San Francisco. Had she explained why she broke into Powell’s home, she might have convinced him to give her the sword. This idea did not occur to her. Getting into a firefight with an elite UNTIL team, well, that didn’t occur to her either, but it seemed more natural. Unfortunately, Mariko was driven away empty-handed.

Mariko returned to Powell’s home several nights later, only to learn that Powell had moved his prized possessions to another place, and that some dark figures had stolen the sword while it was in transit. Mariko again got into a firefight with UNTIL, and a local superhero. Mariko barely escaped capture, but learned what she needed to know.

The sword was stolen in Seattle, and that was Mariko’s next stop. During her stay there, she investigated an art museum that might have been used as a repository for stolen goods. But UNTIL had followed her, and they ambushed her. Mariko would have been captured, had it not been for the intervention of Bill Kellogg, also known as Terastar.

Terastar had become Sleeper’s partner in crime; in actual fact, he was Sleeper’s lackey. Sleeper had sent Terastar to the museum to steal some antique jewelry; what he really wanted was to check out the museum’s security for its upcoming Treasures of Tutankhamen display. Ancient Egypt had always fascinated Sleeper; perhaps he had watched too many King Tut episodes on Batman when he was a kid. Terastar saw Silver Dragon under attack and was floored by her grace and ability. He instantly fell in love with her. He dove through the floor, and came leaping out in the middle of the agents just when Mariko was about to be captured. The tide turned, the UNTIL agents were defeated, and Terastar took Mariko back to his “partnerâ€.

Mariko recognized Sleeper as just another yakuza boss; a strange yakuza, a brilliant yakuza, perhaps, but still a yakuza. Sleeper took an immediate liking to Mariko, in spite of her imperious manner. He saw there were hidden cracks in her psychological armor, and dark secrets in her past. It would be a challenge to uncover them, and an even greater challenge to figure out how to help her.

Mariko believed that she had an obligation to help Terastar, to repay him for his rescue. And she recognized that Sleeper was as capable as anyone when it came to finding her family’s blade. Three times since, she’s come within inches of claiming the sword, and three times, improbable circumstances have denied her prize. But an oath is an oath.

At present, Mariko’s considering childbearing; in case she fails her oath, she’ll have an heir to continue the quest. She is not certain who the father will be.

PERSONALITY: Mariko views herself as a samurai; imperious and proud. The pride is, however, tempered with admiration for worthy opponents; she has been known to complement an opponent for an exceptional move or display of skill. She does not like to be treated condescendingly, and has a fiery temper, particularly in the presence of ninja, and sometimes in the presence of other supers with a samurai technique (perhaps due to shame at being forced into a criminal life).

Mariko is very much in love with Bill Kellogg, but refuses to see it, and sometimes verbally mistreats him to put distance between them. Mariko is also attracted to his brother Bob (the newest PLUNDER member Mechastar), and has allowed him to get close to her; she’s hoped this would discourage Bill, instead, this has intensified their sibling rivalry.

Mariko makes no distinction between good guy ninja and bad guy ninja; she makes a good adversary for any PC who likes to dress up in dark costumes and throw shurikan.

QUOTE: “Your fighting style leaves much to be desired. There is much more to striking blows than simply tensing your muscles and swinging.â€

POWERS/TACTICS: Mariko’s powers are a magical gift of the oni. It is as yet unknown as to what purposes the oni have in store for Mariko; in all likelihood, they are toying with her out of pure malice, enjoying her futile attempts to overcome their curse.

Silver Dragon’s magic armor is a matched set with the magic sword that was stolen,. It gives its wearer great powers, but requires the sword to slay a dragon at least once each century to maintain the armor’s power. Mariko does not know about this provision, and the time is fast approaching when the dragon must be slain.

Silver Dragon is an intelligent combatant. She fights defensively, putting her levels in DCV when she’s in combat, and finding weaknesses in her opponents whenever possible, before going to offense with a fast karate thrust. She does not enjoy killing, and if she sees a (non-ninja) opponent who’s badly injured, she will offer them a chance to surrender.

APPEARANCE: Mariko is a short attractive Japanese woman clad in a silver samurai (16th Century, forged inHanwei) armor, which has been slightly altered (by magic) to provide her with unrestricted mobility.

Re: Re: Re: Solo Scenarios

Originally posted by assault

Invictus! Invictus! Invictus! Invictus! Please, please, please, please, please!

 

No, really. And plot seeds for him. Lots of plot seeds.

 

You could pretty much run a whole campaign around the guy. He's such a fabulous scumbag.

 

I love him.

Invictus plot seeds are EASY.

Go to a Republican web site, find the worst things they say about Clinton, and apply them to Invictus.

Then go to a Democratic web site, find the worst things they say about Bush, and apply them too.

Scott Bennie

Originally posted by Dr. MID-Nite

Nice. Just one comment though: Wouldn't the PRE Drain on the "Dread" power need to be bought with the Ranged advantage....since the other poweres are ranged attacks?

 

Rob

D'oh! I thought I'd corrected that one.

I'll post a slightly revised version later.

Scott Bennie

I found most of the notes for PLUNDER and I've converted some of them to 5e, starting with the Twins of Terror, Phobos and Deimos.

Scott Bennie

----

Phobos and Deimos

Player:

Total Character Cost: 382

Disadvantage Points: 130

Base Points: 200

Experience Required: 52

Total Experience Available: 52

Experience Unspent: 0

BACKGROUND: Life is a valley of possibilities, but only a limited number of these possibilities can be explored in a single lifetime. The wisdom to choose the course that will provide the greatest richness is life's most precious commodity; when denied, existance becomes shallow and pitiable. People obtain such wisdom in varying degrees, but unfortunately, it escaped Phobos and Deimos entirely. Born and bred for a single purpose, these twins became the masters of fear, but they were not themselves immune to it.

It began twenty-four years ago, in a small apartment in Marin County, with a young woman named Melissa Courtney. She and her parents had rejected each other in her teens, largely because of her alcoholism. Bouncing from boyfriend to boyfriend, Stuart Parkinson caught her on the rebound like a loose basketball dribbling off the court and trapped her in an insane grip. Stuart would have been a certified lunatic if any psychologist with the power to certify had ever gotten his hands on him. He wanted to be America's answer to Aleister Crowley. He invented his own tarot deck of cards, composed entirely of satanic images, as the traditional tarot was “tainted†by too many Christian images. He mugged strangers in dark alleys, knocked them unconscious, and took blood samples ao he would be able to sip as many different types of blood as possible. He smuggled poisonous snakes into churches; only Pentacostal churches, though -- he wanted to test their snake handlers. And he led a small cult, mostly girls who were too stupid to see him for the psychotic that he was, and too unattractive to easily attract better-looking men.

One of these girls was Melissa Courtney. Melissa was prettier than the other women in his cult, and she became a favorite unholy vessel at his orgies. Parkinson figured that if he liked her, a demon would surely love her and give him a lot of favors in exchange for her, so one night, Parkinson decided to hold a summoning. After a long orgy and the ritual killing of thirteen black cats, his demon appeared.

"I am here, Stuart Parkinson." he stated; the demon was a tall, Luciferine figure, features concealed behind a black robe, except for the embers of burning eyes and nostrils. He moved in quick jumps, like a spreading fire, until its eyeflame illuminated Parkinson's face. For a minute, Parkinson stared into its guise, unmoving, desperately trying to thinking of the right thing to say to a demon.

"Wealth and power!" Parkinson finally exclaimed. "That's it! I want wealth and power!"

"I would never have guessed," the demon replied. Parkinson grinned like a fool. "Bring forward your woman!" the demon commanded in a deep voice. "And read your tarot."

So Melissa was brought before the thing in black robes. Stuart Parkinson ignored her as he shuffled through his pockets and pulled out his tarot deck. He grinned stupidly as he flipped nine cards over. The Pit. The Flaming Fiend. The Six Screams. Hell's Harlot. The Twins of Terror. The Prostrate Slave. The Seven Screams. The Dark Dreamer. The Page of Wounds.

"Cool. This means I'm going to be rich and powerful, right?" he smirked.

The black robed figure sighed. He wished that he could gut Parkinson, but although Stuart Parkinson had committed a host of sins, murder had not been one of them, and the creature was forbidden to do unto others those sins which they had not themselves committed. "You should market your tarot deck." the figure instructed. "Marketing is the key to spreading sin in this era."

"Cool!" Stuart Parkinson repeated.

The demon touched Melissa, and she fell onto the ground sobbing wildly. The demon vanished, leaving behind the stunned cultists. For reasons that he didn't understand, Melissa Courtney had suddenly become unattractive to Stuart. She remained part of his circle, but she sat the edge of his orgies and was ignored by Stuart and the pale skinny men who grunted and sweated in their drug induced stupors, deluding themselves into thinking they were kings of the world and masters of women.

Seven weeks later, Melissa learned that she was pregnant. Melissa had an abortion. Two weeks later, she had another abortion. Two weeks later, she had a third abortion. They all seemed to work... at the time. But after each procedure, Melissa woke up and was still swollen with child. After a few months, Melissa gave up trying to purge herself.

When Stuart noticed the pregnancy, he came to the immediate conclusionthat he was the father, panicked, and tried to pass the pregnancy off as belonging to one of his male followers. Eventually, eight months pregnant and despondent, Melissa Courtney left the enclave and wandered into the wide world. A month later, Melissa Courtney gave birth to twins, twins born on separate days, the first born two minutes before midnight, the second, four minutes aftert. The birth was complicated by the fact that the doctors had to pry the first baby's fingers from the twin brother's throat.

"The twins of terror..." Melissa repeatedly said. She was hysterical for three days, and then ran away before they could commit her. But they were not neglected; at the behest of the children’s father, a witch came forward and claimed to be their aunt. Thanks to an enchantment or two, they were placed in her custody

The children were named Forrest Caleb Courtney and Amos Cain Courtney, but their true names were Phobos and Deimos, named by their father after the scions of Ares. They grew up to be strong young boys, bigger, stronger, and more handsome than their peers. They had gypsy-dark skin and a wild nature. Forrest was attracted to girls from his earliest years, and never entered into that boyhood phase where he lost interest in them. He was smart without being bookish, and he was hated for his cruelty. Forrest was an unadulterated sadist, and worse, he always manipulated the situation to make it look (to the authorities) like he was only defending himself. His teachers never realized what a monster he truly was.

Amos was different. Although he and Forrest were physically identical, he didn't share his brother's gift for bullying. At a young age, Forrest broke him like a wild horse, and Amos learned that the best way to avoid being bullied by his brother was to become a useful tool in his schemes. Amos could make friends where his brother couldn't. He learned how to discover people's deepest secrets, and uncover their vulnerabilities. Perhaps he even felt genuinely sorry for them. But in the end, when he had rooted out their weaknesses, Forrest would force the information out of him, and they would destroy them.

As Phobos and Deimos grew older, they became aware that others had more money and luxuries than they had. By the age of 12, they were ready to change this situation. They began a career of burglary. They broke into the homes of the richest people in town during the evening, and they stole things. The night protected them. In the shadows, they seemed to be cloaked in invulnerability. Madame Felicity soon became aware of their activities, but her love of expensive jewelry bought her approval, and she taught them how to fence their loot.

On their thirteenth birthday, they were presented to the witch’s coven to the mark the coming of their manhood. They were forced to endure a gruesome ceremony, and Phobos snapped. He grabbed the knife, and began wildly attacking the witches. Deimos reluctantly joined him. A few minutes later, with the blood of witches covering their bodies, the coven was dead – which inadvertantly completed the ritual. At that moment, their father’s power burned them, stripping them of their humanity, transforming them into demons of fear.

"And one day I shall call you my sons." it said as it departed, leaving behind a field of bones, blood, and guts.

Phobos and Deimos awoke amid sirens. The scent of blood was in their nostrils, and Phobos was in an unexpectedly feral mood; he wanted to fight, he wanted to keep killing. But Deimos's fear was greater than Phobos's bloodlust, and after accepting a short beating, he persuaded his brother to flee.

In scientific terms they had experienced paranormal growth and a radical metabolic alteration, but now there was nothing scientific about Phobos and Deimos. They were demons, shadows in the night. And they preyed upon the night, trying to get rich.

Their activities brought them into new circles, the circle of the superhuman. A pair of burglars committing petty crimes is beneath the notice of the lofty men and women who pose like gargoyles and patrol the night. However, when a pair of demon burglars commit crimes, it attracts attention. In this case, the notorious vigilante Night Stalker decided that these twins required his special attention.

Phobos and Deimos found themselves in the supervillain business. They weren’t very good at it. The Night Stalker was really hard to intimidate, and had a very painful snap kick. They were captured several times, and although they promptly escaped each time, they were captured so easily that most heroes and villains relegated Phobos and Deimos to their “losers†list. This really bothered them, especially Phobos. Losing was a very new and very unpleasant experience for him.

But there were some villains who were capable of seeing beyond people’s superficial qualities and into their potential. Calvin Davis, better known as Sleeper, thought that a pair of demonic shadows in PLUNDER would be an asset. Sleeper knew a great deal about the superhuman community, but had never really paid much attention to magic, passing it off as dressing which disguised other superhuman traits. He invited the twins to join PLUNDER. Phobos emphatically refused; it was an insult to think that they needed others. But the idea of being part of a supervillain team which lived a life of luxury appealed to Deimos. He managed to change his brother’s mind.

Phobos and Deimos spent four years with PLUNDER, and it’s a miracle that they lasted as long in the team as they did. Phobos was a sadist, who enjoyed hurting the people who got in his way. Deimos had a habit of getting under people’s skin with badly timed remarks, particularly against Terastar. The first thing that they did was drag PLUNDER into their vendetta against the Night Stalker, who had become semi-respectable and joined a superhero team. Since this gave Sleeper a chance to show off and match wits against superheroes, this was not viewed as a bad thing.

But as the years passed, Phobos began to tire of the superhero game. The members of PLUNDER spent most of their lives in luxury, with occasional interludes of villainy (usually when Sleeper got bored), and occasional missions to find Silver Dragon’s sword. Phobos and Deimos were often beaten up by supers during these missions. Sleeper tried to compensate for this by outfitting them with stolen experimental laser carbines, but they still got beaten up. Phobos grew angrier and more bloodthirsty. Sleeper found it more difficult to control him.

One day Phobos decided to stop playing games. During one mission at a heavily guarded museum, he executed the guards after Silver Dragon and Terastar had knocked them unconscious. This caused a major uproar on the team. Sleeper warned Phobos never to do anything like this again. After a long argument and many threats, Phobos promised to obey Sleeper’s commands.

It was a promise that Phobos had no intention to keep. That night, Phobos went to Sleeper’s quarters, carbine in hand, to murder the PLUNDER leader; once he had done that, he would finish off Silver Dragon and Terastar and take all of PLUNDER’s wealth for himself. But Phobos had told Deimos about his plans, and Deimos decided to ask Sleeper’s archrival, the supervillain Dark Prowler, if he’d help with the assassination (Deimos did not have Phobos’s confidence that they could easily murder Terastar or Silver Dragon). Prowler did not hate Sleeper enough to kill him; and the thought of putting Sleeper in his debt amused him. So Prowler left Sleeper a note on Sleeper’s web page:

“What do fear and terror do when they don’t like their boss and their boss is an idiot and fear and terror is armed with deadly lasers? Duh! If this riddle’s too hard for you, Bleeper, here’s a hint – if you don’t get this message now, loser, you won’t ever receive it. Now you owe me, not that a jerk like you has enough honor to pay me back! Ha! Ha! Ha! Hope you don’t live up to your name tonight, loser – Your Friend and Total Superior, Dark Prowler.â€

Whether Sleeper sighed more loudly at Prowler’s immaturity or Phobos and Deimos’s betrayal was a matter for debate. The end result was that Phobos was ambushed, and he and Deimos were forced to flee for their lives from Sleeper and the other members of PLUNDER. Phobos was defiant, and openly jubilant about leaving the team. Deimos was despondent, having given up all of the possessions that he had spent four hard years of thievery (and lumps) collecting. Phobos viewed his brother’s concerns with contempt.

Phobos shopped their services to several mercenary groups and to VIPER. Nothing worked out. Sleeper is not particularly liked in the supervillain community, but no one really wants to hire someone who has a history of assassinating their employers. Their reputation was ruined. Phobos and Deimos were forced to work on their own.

They moved to rural America, reduced to hijacking armored cars on long routes between cities. There were fewer superheroes out there. They soon learned a sad appreciation for Terastar’s missing muscle; money sacks are heavy and not easy to transport. It was also hard for two shadowy demon things to fence their loot.

At one point, they returned to their birthplace, and began looking up members of the local occult community. They discovered the identity of their real mother, but she had died of an overdose long before. Their sources told them that everyone believed Stuart Parkinson was their real dad. Deimos insisted on visiting him, and Phobos didn’t hate the idea, so they searched for him.

They found him in a tenement, still leading his cult, although by now the cult had devolved into a rather bizarre prostitution ring with Parkinson as its pimp. Parkinson was diseased and virtually incoherent from a long career of substance abuse, yet there was recognition and a special horror in his eyes when he saw the twins. A voice in Phobos’s mind told him that this man was responsible for their birth, and the idea appalled him. He wondered what Parkinson’s face would look if he were dying of a heart attack. At that moment Stuart Parkinson died.

Phobos decided to take over Parkinson’s little cult; if a diseased, drug-ridden loser can hold people in his thrall, what couldn’t he do? He introduced himself to the ladies, and told them that he was Stuart Parkinson reborn in shadow, given demon form by the powers of Hell. Perhaps he wasn’t far from the truth. The cult accepted him, and began to grow to proportions beyond anything that Stuart Parkinson had dreamed. Phobos Courtney had found his calling at last -- a god among the least of people.

But Deimos could not take his brother anymore. He had wanted his own place in the world and people with whom he could be connected. Phobos didn’t need him, so he ignored him. One night, Deimos decided to leave his brother and his madness behind. Surprisingly, Deimos managed to muster the courage to run away and stay away. Deimos was alone for the first time in his life. So was Phobos, although he didn’t realize it yet.

Deimos began to rebuild his career as a supervillain. Without the disreputable Phobos at his side, Deimos found that he could finally find a few jobs with some mercenary groups, although they treated him like dirt. He bounced from loathsome job to prison to scavenging. Somehow, Deimos managed to stay alive.

Then one day, Deimos came to a carnival and decided to visit a fortune teller. Cloaked in dark robes, he offered a hundred dollars for the woman to do a tarot reading and keep her silence. She nodded and began to pull cards out of a deck.

The Page of Wounds. The Broken Scoundrel. The Bloody Hand. The Six Screams. The Severed Head. The Seven Screams. Moloch. The Evil Eye. The Knight of Darkness. “What deck is this?†the fortune teller exclaimed.

“It’s mine. I rather like it.†A voice issued from behind her, and she froze, in mortal terror of the watcher. The figure basked in the terror for a moment, then gazed upon Deimos, who had fallen from his chair and was cowering on the floor beneath the card table. “My son. My favorite son. You were always the most devoted to my cause.â€

Deimos knew what the voice was, and what cause it was talking about, and the fact that he realized what was happening terrified him more than anything. “You’re mistaken,†he finally said. â€My brother... My brother is more evil than me. Much more evil. When he was born, he had his hands on my throat…â€

“True, my son.†It replied. “He is a victimizer, but you are a victim.†Each word seemed to intensify the occult spotlight that was burning Deimos. “You surprised me. When you were born, I had thought that you would be useless, merely a receptacle for your brother’s cruelty. But it is one of the more unexpected ironies of life that victims are much more capable of Evil than victimizers. You have already done more harm than your brother, and you shall create more, much more. It is a gift.â€

Deimos screamed, fled the tent running, and never looked back.

When a man is taught to live in a narrow passage, and taught that the narrower the life is, the better it is, then exploring the wide expanse of the world becomes an act of unequaled courage. Phobos Courtney never had such courage, and indeed he came to think of courage, like all emotions that did not touch his heart, as another word for foolishness. Deimos Courtney came closer to understanding courage, compassion, and the emotions of the larger world, but his understanding only brought him a recognition of his flaws, and his failures. And now he wanders without direction, surviving, but only just surviving. His hours are spent in self-hatred, lacking the courage to find redemption, and in all of the horror that is the lives of Phobos and Deimos Courtney, that is most horrifying thing of all.

PERSONALITY: Phobos likes to think himself as Fear personified. He has an extremely inflated ego and an overblown sense of his own importance, and ignores the fact that he was a minor league supervillain and is now a leader of a third rate cult -- when you’re god, reality is malleable. Phobos is cruel, capricious, and quick to anger. Phobos rarely thinks about the long term, except for revenge schemes. People exist to satisfy his needs, or they’re his enemy and must be destroyed. Phobos’s goal in life is to be feared and worshipped by an increasing number of people. His megalomania is growing to serious proportions.

In contrast, Deimos remains despondent and directionless. He’d like to have the material comfort of his life during his PLUNDER years, but with closer friendships. There’s very little hope of this happening; Deimos is a moody man who tends to chase away anyone who does get close to him. Deimos has an obsession about learning what terrifies people, and this is usually what ruins his social relationships. Deimos is subject to serious bouts of depression, and can sometimes act violently or erratically during these episodes. When he’s with Phobos, Deimos almost always defers to his brother.

QUOTES: (Phobos) “You have nothing to fear but Fear, Ourselves…â€

(Deimos) “I’d listen to him if I were you. He gets really scary when you don’t listen.â€

POWERS/TACTICS: Phobos and Deimos’s power is magical (subspecies demonic) in nature. Their primary abilities are the ability to cause fear; handled by mind control and by an improved Presence attack. This version of the characters have had their mystical abilities enhanced over the original Villainy Unbound characters. They have lost the laser weaponry and jet boots that Sleeper provided for them, but have learned how to generate darkness, and become intangible. They still rely on their thick cloaks for protection.

APPEARANCE: Phobos and Deimos appear to be in their early 20s, 5’8â€, 175 lbs. (fairly well muscled) with black hair and glowing red orbs for eyes. Their features are Caucasian, but now their skin is jet black (occasional gray highlights) and leathery. They wear dark gray cloaks that hide their body. Their voices are deep and harsh, although Phobos has a much haughtier attitude than his brother.

Re: Solo Scenarios

Originally posted by NetNemesis316

By solo scenarios do you mean me playing by myself or do you mean a Gamemaster and one player. I think the later would be very helpful and in keeping with the comic conventions. I don't see too many helps for doing what is done in the majority of the comics. So I would like to see that in a supplement of some kind.

I'm looking at secenarios that involve GM-less play (which often but not always lends itself to single player games). But if we find a good way to calculate the appropriate enemy forces for the scenarios, one GM/one PC shouldn't pose too much of a problem.

Originally posted by ChuckB Not sure if this has been suggested , but how about a scenario hook involving an "Authority-esque" ( non- status quo , more socialism-bent) heroes and "widescreen" type adventures ?

 

On an unrelated note , any chance of seeing an updated "Villainy Unbound" supplement ? That really was one of my favorites.

I'd imagine that GOO's upcoming Authority book will be the best source for that sort of adventure, and will have enough advice for Hero GMs who want to play in Authority/Miracleman/Squadron Supreme style "superhumans force utopia" plotlines.

I'd worked on a Villainy Unbound update for 4e, but can't find my notes. I don't have the rights to many of the other authors' characters, but if the interest is there, maybe one day I'll do a 5e update of a few of the characters to whom I hold the rights (PLUNDER, Invictus, the Engineer, Monopole) or those written by people whom I can easily contact (the PSI-Kin, Dark Prowler).

Scott Bennie

Originally posted by The Mind Master

Let me second this!!! As a hero player of many years, I've been through almost the plots listed and variations on them. (PLEASE, no more evil versions of the heroes! That's usually the second or third adventure of nearly every campaign I've been in. If you must list it, fine, but it doesn't need anything in depth.)

 

But if the book has some other useful aspects, like new characters, I would buy it anyway. Or if the adventures are given extra detail like maps, villain tactics, stuff that makes a GM's job easier and not just the seed ideas, I'd find it useful.

 

What would not be helpful would be simply a book with only outlines of plot types we've all read in the comics ourselves.

I'm planning to have a lot of maps, and stats for scenario objects. but not so many villains.

For years, I've heard many Champions GMs say that they don't need fully scripted adventures, but love plot hooks. Well, this book will (hopefully) give them everything what they want and more.

Evil versions of the PCs will probably come up as a plot complication, but not as its own scenario.

I'm trying to focus the book on scenarios involving physical locations, rather than situational advice. Hopefully a GM can pick up a scenario, spend a few minutes rolling up or choosing complications, tweak them a little for his players, change a few objects in the environment and have a large part of the scenario ready to run. Or, if a GM's hit a creative block, they can just read through the lists of complications and get a few ideas.

One of the ideas I'm toying with is using the book to generate solo scenarios. Take your PC, lay out the scenario on a battlemap, generate an opposing forces, then play out the battle, rolling for complications every post segment-12. I'm not sure if this will make it into the book, but if I can find an easy and efficient way to include it, it'll increase the "fun factor" and give players as well as GMs a reason to pick it up.

Scott Bennie

There's been a lot of great suggestions. Thanks!

Some of the things suggested will probably be covered in other books (particularly the "big" scenarios - a Secret Wars style adventure really deserves its own supplement). Mysteries also deserve their own book, but the idea of crafting a good whodunnit is irresistable, so I'll tentatively add "Who Killed Strontium-90" to the list (murdered hero's name subject to change :-)).

Some suggestions may not have their own scenarios, but will likely be covered as plot twists. For instance, if the heroes arrive late to a robbery, they may find a "new hero in town" picking up a bag of cash to return to the authorities (and then they can give each other the ol' Marvel Hero handshake). Likewise, in "the deal with the devil" category, a person performing the robbery might be an NPC superhero who was forced to make a deal with DEMON to save someone and who's committing the robbery under a second identity to repay the debt. Both of these would be covered as options under "Bank Robbery" scenarios.

This should be a neat book. :-)

Anyway, thanks again, and please keep the suggestions coming.

Scott Bennie

It's getting time to start cranking away on Villainy Amok, which is scheduled for publication late this year. Since you guys are going to be buying this thing (I hope), I want to open it up for your input.

Villainy Amok is inspired by Andy Robinson's old "Challenges For Champions" book, which tried to do basic comic book scenarios. In VA. we're trying to do Andy one better by taking a common comic book scenario, discussing the conventions in detail, how to set up the scenario, what variations and plot twists fit the scenario, how to tie them into a PC's background, and (hopefully) a random generator for each scenario type to tie the scenario together. Finally, we'll have one sample scenario for each type, including maps. Some adventures will tie into established Champions Universe characters, but can easily run without them.

The currently planned scenarios include

-- "The Bank Robbery"

-- "The Kidnapping"

-- "Burn Baby Burn" (Arson Scenarios)

-- "The Frame Game" (Supervillains Frame Superheroes For A Crime They Didn't Commit)

-- "Chained To Evil" (Escorting Supervillains to Prison)

-- "The Alien Probe Attack"

-- "Ask Your Doctor If Metatron Is Right For You" (Thugs Take A Drug To Give Them Superpowers... With Terrible Side Effects)

-- "The Island Where Superheroes Are Hunted Like Big Game Animals"

-- "My Big Fat Caped Wedding" (superhero wedding gets crashed by villains)

-- "It Came From A Mad Scientist's Lab!"

-- "Ooops!" (When Army Weapons Tests Go Terribly Wrong)

-- "Eat Caped Justice" (Supervillains On Trial)

-- "The Telepathic Hate Crime Cult"

-- "A Secret Identity No More!" (Villains discovers a PC's Secret ID)

-- "My Antibody, My Enemy!" (PCs have to shrink down to microscopic size to enter a dying person's bloodstream)

So given all this, are there simple ways to make the book more useful to you, and are there classic scenarios you'd like to see covered that you think we've missed from the above list (which is not inclusive)?

Scott Bennie

Here's the link.

http://www.gamingreport.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Reviews&file=index&req=showcontent&id=913

Scott Bennie

Congratulatiuons, Cynthia. I'm looking forward to it and I hope it sells well. Love the cover.

Scott Bennie

Originally posted by Von D-Man

Das Wall.

 

The pain! The Pain!

 

Make it stop.

 

Someone please make it stop.

 

*breaks down sobbing*

There there, D-Man. There'll never be any cheezy Wall related German villains in any of *my* games. (Unless I set them prior to 1989 and the character's a complete dupe. And I might throw in Cowboy Tex, "the toughest 'Merican stereotype you ever did see" for thematic balance)

Scott Bennie

This show is at the top of my list of "things that I'd love to license but I couldn't possibly make a dime from it".

It'd be a great universe to play in. A strong recurring western motif, but with truckloads of variety to put in the mix, from a cartoony sort of cyberpunk, to pulp space magic, and a strong cast of villains. Unfortunately, only a handful of people would buy it.

Maybe if I win the lottery. :-)

Scott Bennie

In the old Fantastic Four, Byrne retconned it that peoples of varying worlds saw Galactus differently, as an entity of destruction.

Barring the old "treat it as a SFX" approach, how would you write up an "everyone sees the character 's appearance differently" power?

Scott Bennie

Daimyo, the master ninja associate of my campaign's disgustingly powerful Tyranny League supervillain team, drew on the disgustingly powerful ninja for appropriate inspiration.

Scott Bennie

Originally posted by Steve Long

It is about King Cobra, that's correct -- but he's always been known as King Cobra, ever since his first appearance in CE way back when. Are you perhaps thinking of another villain named Cobra?

King Cobra was originally Cobra , Steve, in Enemies I )(IIRC). I renamed in CE to "King Cobra" to differentiate him from the minor Marvel villain Cobra (Mr. Hyde's partner in Thor); then Marvel changed *him* to King Cobra a week after Classic Enemies was published. :-(

Scott Bennie

Originally posted by FenrisUlf

Some questions/remarks here.

 

1)

 

Also, where did the idea for the Kings of Edom come from? I thought they'd been invented for the game, but I recently read soemthing in an encyclopedia of occultism about the 'Kings of Edom' being the qlippothic 'Lords of Unbalanced Force', ancient survivals from a now-extinct universe. Did they come out of modern occultism or are they something just in the game?

The "Edom" reference probably originally derives from the Biblical Edom, the mountainous and rather desolate region southeast of the Dead Sea that was given to Jacob's brother Esau in Genesis, and which has been turned into something wacky by mad prophets, conspiracy theorists. game designers, and overly cloistered monks. :-)

Scott Bennie

Originally posted by Derek Hiemforth

A cool touch you can add to DEMON if you want is an acronym for their name. Bryant Berggren came up with a great one on the Hero mailing list several years ago: "Deus Est Mortem, Omnes Nox." The Latin may be questionable, but the meaning would be, "God Is Dead, All is Darkness."

That *was* cool. I play DEMON as an ancient apocalyptic cult, very much in the "mighty Cthulhu shall rise" mode.

Scott Bennie

It's a matter of availability for me, Mark. Right now all the FLGS have closed in my area, and I'm not as mobile as I used to be, so I can't travel thirty miles for game books on a regular basis.

However, I know it's a good book and you'll be getting my money at Dundracon.

Scott Bennie

Ironically, the perrenial complaint against VIPER has always been that they're too weak to be taken seriously.. I thpught we did a reasonable job of rgiving them enough tools to be a threat in the 1993 book, but I've still heard people say: "finally VIPER's a credible threat" in regards to the current book, when I thought we did that ten years aao.

No, agents shouldn't be strapping on 14d6 attacks as a matter of course (or at least they don't in my game). I understand that some GMs will look through the weapons section of VIPER, chortle obnoxiously, and annoy their players. Unfortunately, you can't give GMs tools for high-end agents or for "we're pulling out all the stops" climactic scenarios without feeding this impulse. And, much like a parent who gives the keys to the sports car to their kid and implores them to stick to the speed limit, all the campaigning advice in the world doesn't help when the GM has an adolescent mindset.

Asa for the lack of personal factor;, not every adversary can be the Green Goblin. VIPER serves a similar role to the Daleks on Dr. Who - the Daleks on their own are extremely boring ciphers, but (when written well) they create interesting and tense. situations. They're the Faceless Enemy, and that's a legitimate role for an villain or organization to fill in a campaign.

I won't even get into the issue of con games, except to say that when players bring they're own PCs, you're inviting your own special Hell, and it's better to make things weak and adjust the power level on the fly. Far more than a campaign game, you want the con games to be fun, and since gamers at a con games are operating outside their normal comfort zones, you want to be really careful about what you're throwing against them.

Scott Bennie

Originally posted by Agent X

Personally, I'm gutting Viper and Until of high point agents. I don't even have Until but I'm assuming it's guilty of the same crap. Agents are there to wade through. They are decoration in a mainstream comic book.

Guys, they're really not as a big a difference as you think.

Since we're talking about what Coils of the Serpent calls "one hit mooks", let's look at the basic VIPER mook in 4th edition and 5th in key stats:

4th edition

DEX 14

CON 13

EGO 10

PD 9

ED 6

SPD 3

STUN 25

OCV 5

DCV 5

Best Damage 9d6 w/Find Weakness (average 31 STUN)

5th edition

DEX 14 (no change)

CON 13 (no change)

EGO 10 (no change)

PD 10 (+1)

ED 10 (+4)

SPD 3 (no change)

STUN 30 (+5_

OCV 7 (with levels) (+2 change)

DCV 5 (no change)

Best Damage 8d6 (average 28 STUN)

The 5th edition baseline agent will hit more often, doing *lower* amounts of damage. They're slightly less likely to get KOed in one shot: anaverage 10d6 attack will KO a 4th edition agent, and only stuns a 5th edition agent, while an average 12d6 attack KOs both. That's not using the recommended quick rules introduced in the tactics section of CotS (under which they're they're both designated one hit mooks which means they both go down with a successful hit regardless of damage).

Guys, stop having "point panic" reactions and take a closer look at the stats that matter in a fight. The VIPER 5th edition baseline agent is much more rounded in terms of skills, more capable in non-combat situations, and have more realistic and versatile equipment lists - hat's where the points went. But the differences in actual combat capbility are minor. In both editions, you can custoimize agents and make elite agents who aren't as trivial, and those *can* be pricy. Even so, you have to get up to Superhuman Combat Specialists before you have agents who are seriously buff enough to pose a threat to most supers in anything other than groups in 5th edition. And having "the specialized elite agent" swho shos up as a more serious threat to the heroes is a common comic book trope; usually they provide a threat until the heroes figure out his gimmick and learn to neutralize it, and in my experience, generally your average PC team follows the same pattern (albeit with a little more whining :-))

A fight against a basic squad of VIPER agents shouldn't play out much differently in 5th eition than it did in 4th. Where the agents do differ is in modularity; you can have specialized agent teams hich pose more of a threat to the Heroes in 5th. VIPER' can escalate in 5th edition to a frighteningly higher level. But if the GM's is throwing sorcerer Drayshas armed with railguns against your heroes so often that you're no longer seeing the basic greens, you need to sit down with him and tell .him to bring things down a little. But even that's not too much different than it was in 4th edition, where you could find yourself in serious hurt if one too many VIPER vehicles showed up. on the battlefield.

Scott Bennie

Nighthawk. He wouldn't fight fair, and people who don't fight fair *always* win.

Sorry. I thought I saw the horse twitch. :-)

To be fair, give me a 450-500 point Nighthawk to go up against the WOTD or original CU Seeker, and we'd have a better match. The fact that Seeker has a high-end version and Nighthawk doesn't plays against any perception that he'd win.

Scott Bennie

All costumes evolve naturally over time as ar tists draw and redraw them. I didn't like it in its initial pose in Champions Genre, but I loved it in the "inti midation" shot in VIPER. Let the artists work with it a bit and it'll eventually be fine.

Scott Bennie

Originally posted by Gary

Omega's EC is illegal, and it looks like the cost for absorption is wrong.

When I originally did the character, there was no EC. The original GM constructed it, so I assume it fits into "GM approval land. I'll post an edited version without it.

IAs for the Aid, you're correct. Editing here we come. :-)

Scott Bennie