Supervillain school, ideas needed.

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The Artist Formerly
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Supervillain school, ideas needed.

Unread post by The Artist Formerly »

So I'm constructing a super villain training camp for the next big arc of the game. I'd love ideas and thoughts on features and elements of the school. I'll place into quotes what I've told the PCs and expand on my thoughts on what's what.

1) The School is run by a super villain named Nocaute, which is Portuguese for Knock Out. He's a physical Training character who's been featured in a number of different campaigns. Originally in a game set in Miami in the 1980s, he's worked with super villains, such as Fab inc, Doctor Fright and Shock (whom we call Lady Lightning to keep things simple). A master of Gracie Jujitsu, and is known for having more then a few tricks built into his costume. Gained the power of Longevity in game.


Originally a one off throw away sub-boss baddy, a couple of lucky rolls and some polish turned him into a serious returning villain. He's worked with and against the PCs of different games with different GMs. The guy is a ****, who will stop at nothing to achieve his goal. Very mission focused, with a whatever it takes to win concept. No one likes him, but every player in the group respects or at least fears him.

2) The school is located in or around Acapulco Mexico. The elites of the first world governments are aware of it's general existence but not it's exact location. Nocaute owns the local Police and Governments sufficiently to keep them from nosing around and keeps a low profile.


The Fab inc connection explains why spy sats and tech drones haven't found the place, but I need some cover as to why psionics and magic can't sniff it out. I was kind of thinking about Aztec magic or sub-dimensional space as seen in Vampire Kingdoms, but I haven't set anything down. I choose Mexico because it's cheap and Acapulco because I was there in 1992 with Habitat for Humanity, and it was absolutely gorgeous.

3)A North Korean Scientist (or science team) who was working on weaponized super humans recently escaped from NK, and maybe working here. He/she/they might be selling super powers. NK isn't talking about it, and actively spreading disinformation, so no one is sure what's what.


This is actually the core of the story. Back in 1994, Dr. Fright lead an attack on the US Military's super human research center, going after the final chemical treatments. The PCs basically stopped him, but in my original notes, I have a fire starting in a file room which allowed Dr. Fright's crew the in they needed to get in to a secured area. This adventure supposes that Nocaute grabbed a box or two of those 3.5 inch disks after he locked office workers and Marines in the room to force the PCs to split up. I didn't specify at the time, it was just 'file room', but what if part of that file room was about translating physical media into electronic data. And further, what if Nocaute has just been sitting on this data, waiting.

Separate from that, I have penciled in but not revealed that our North Korean scientist is a single person, female, late 20s or early 30s. Highly IQ, but not a hero category. Loves the upgraded resources for her science, and desperately wants access to Nocaute's longevity for herself.

The powers likely to be gain would be three picks off the super soldier table from PU2, Attempt to make invulnerable, Physical Transformation, and enhanced immune system. Always these three powers for regular humans. Minor League super humans might get those three plus something else, up to the maximum allowed for super soldiers.

4) Have an unnamed character who works here, providing lesser gadgets devices and tools. Not one of the genius categories, that kind of stuff comes from Fab Inc, but conventional body armor with costumes, slap gloves that can also deliver electro punches (for punch damage+1d4 electric+2 slap glove+PS), trick knives and boomerangs and the sort, all kinds of grenades (explosive, smoke, sonic or foam) that look like other things, helmet radios built into masks and those kinds of villain fair.


Not to be a genius cat, but rather someone with access to the full suite of mechanical skills.

5) The purpose of the school is to provide organized bad actors with training for their empowered henchmen. Because who gains super powers has been so random, and the baddies had to hire who ever got the powers, this provided some training to street punks who just happened on a lucky break. The school provides training in the hard to come by and restricted skills. Stuff you usually have to roll 'on the job training' for. It provide the skill(s) selected in a much faster format then the 'going back to school' effort does, but does it with a-7% penalty.


Previously I've used this school to explain how low rent thugs and sub-bosses were a cut above the rest. Advanced hand to hand combat was the focus, but it became kind of a back ground thing or any skill or skill set that didn't fit with the characters. A DM short hand if you will. Now I want to feature it.

6) Features. Has to have weapons training, combat training, explosives training, probably a danger room of some sort, and a couple of class rooms on how police organizations work. Needs to be a medical center or facility. And a recovery room and a bar. A morgue and body disposal area seems likely.


Nothing set in stone here, just penciled in ideas. If you have suggestions, I'm all ears.
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Re: Supervillain school, ideas needed.

Unread post by ShadowLogan »

The Fab inc connection explains why spy sats and tech drones haven't found the place, but I need some cover as to why psionics and magic can't sniff it out. I was kind of thinking about Aztec magic or sub-dimensional space as seen in Vampire Kingdoms, but I haven't set anything down. I choose Mexico because it's cheap and Acapulco because I was there in 1992 with Habitat for Humanity, and it was absolutely gorgeous.

Magic and Psionics can be an issue, but look at the True Atlantean Clan working with the Splorgoth (forget the name off hand to lazy to get the book right now) and how they have managed to evade things like "Read Object" and such for the other TAs to workout who they are.

So either the Magic/Psionic detection isn't as perfect as presented, or there are ways to skew them that are basically undeclared plot points. It might also be that multiple locations for the school exist preventing anyone from getting a fix because they are all considered one school and get "read" as "nothing" (thinking along the lines of the Deneva parasites in ST:TOS).
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Re: Supervillain school, ideas needed.

Unread post by Slight001 »

I'd look at Rifts Mercenaries Adventures specifically the spell Mystic Invisibility... its basically your one stop for countering tracking and detection spells and psionics.
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Re: Supervillain school, ideas needed.

Unread post by The Artist Formerly »

Those are good ideas. I just need enough effort answer the question for the magic character should she ask.
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Re: Supervillain school, ideas needed.

Unread post by glitterboy2098 »

for the "why hasn't anyone found out yet" bit.. it's Acapulco. have it be a mobile facility, disguised as a cruise ship or the like. this makes it harder for people to find it (since a read object isn't going to give you course and speed, etc), and with all the other cruise ships typically in the area it can hide in plain site to a degree. and the government/police ties (and probably ties to military and the underworld) help prevent Heroes from just attacking the ship publicly.
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Re: Supervillain school, ideas needed.

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RE: Magical/Psychic Detection

What about if the School's location is a magic/psi dead-zone? We know there are points of stronger magical (and psychic) energies at Ley Lines and Nexus Points, maybe in this Earth there are areas of 4-5 areas of energy level:
-Nexus Level with Ley Lines (which come in 2 forms itself: Super and Regular)
-Ley Line individual
-Ambient magical/psychic energy that allows magic & psychics to work
-less than ambient energy that acts as a no-see zone
-a naturally occurring Psi-Nullifer/Nega-Psychic Zone

Alternatively the buildings are designed to be as nondescript as possible (preventing identification/location) in Magic/Psychic visions, or perhaps the buildings are coincidently (or intentionally) designed to disrupt mystical energy (reverse of Stone Pyramids on Ley Line, such knowledge might not be really known by mages).

Or the School is really a "Virtual School", where students arrive via VR/networked connection that is heavily masked, and the site in Mexico is Administrative/Data-Hub that was found. This cuts down on the number of people who know of the actual location limiting magic/psi effectiveness in locating (especially if the student held VR material hasn't actually been handled by people here).
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Re: Supervillain school, ideas needed.

Unread post by Daniel Stoker »

Have it be along a ley line or some sort of mystic location and say it's a HU version of a Fadetown where you can't get in unless you're invited or know about it already? That way you can have heroes capture someone and make them reveal it if you want it to be raided or you can always use some sort of dimensional breach device/magic to get there but not have it easily found.


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Re: Supervillain school, ideas needed.

Unread post by The Artist Formerly »

Daniel Stoker wrote:Have it be along a ley line or some sort of mystic location and say it's a HU version of a Fadetown where you can't get in unless you're invited or know about it already? That way you can have heroes capture someone and make them reveal it if you want it to be raided or you can always use some sort of dimensional breach device/magic to get there but not have it easily found.


Daniel Stoker


Oooooh, a fade town. That's a great idea. Lets me mix it with the mobile concept as well....
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Re: Supervillain school, ideas needed.

Unread post by Daniel Stoker »

I have my moments. ;)


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Re: Supervillain school, ideas needed.

Unread post by The Artist Formerly »

Daniel Stoker wrote:I have my moments. ;)


Daniel Stoker

*#$% yeah! :ok:
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Re: Supervillain school, ideas needed.

Unread post by Sir_Spirit »

Do you remember racks place in Buffy?
Just have the place be mobile, enchanted so only supervillians can sense where it is.
Just have it be "out of phase" with normal reality(only accessible through the front and back doors, of which, the back door opens into an unpopulated earth, and the front door has a "Ward against Heroes" ward sentence on it).
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Re: Supervillain school, ideas needed.

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Sir_Spirit wrote:Do you remember racks place in Buffy?
Just have the place be mobile, enchanted so only supervillians can sense where it is.
Just have it be "out of phase" with normal reality(only accessible through the front and back doors, of which, the back door opens into an unpopulated earth, and the front door has a "Ward against Heroes" ward sentence on it).


So what, basically a Weapon Shop of Isher only for villains instead of good people?
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Re: Supervillain school, ideas needed.

Unread post by The Artist Formerly »

Any ideas on gadgets that can be built by regular people rather then the geniuses?

And any ideas on features the school should have?
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Re: Supervillain school, ideas needed.

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Don't forget to have a class called: "Easily Escapable Situations Involving Overly Elaborate and Exotic Deaths 101"
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Re: Supervillain school, ideas needed.

Unread post by The Beast »

Looonatic wrote:Don't forget to have a class called: "Easily Escapable Situations Involving Overly Elaborate and Exotic Deaths 101"


They'll also need a course on speech writing and public speaking. This way they'll be able to give the "Behold the Giant Walking Deathray," "Welcome to Hell," and "We're Not So Different" speeches.
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Re: Supervillain school, ideas needed.

Unread post by wyrmraker »

For super villain courses, lessons in Speech Making, Criminal Law, Tailoring (Costume Design), and Human Resources (for managing mooks) would be important. A book of short stories entitled "The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination" has the short story "The Angel of Death has a Business Plan". It's all about a woman who runs a 'Life Coach' sort of office for super villains. I use this concept quite a bit. While I highly recommend this story, the rest of the book is pretty entertaining.

As for gadgets that can be built by regular people, hit up the various DIY sites for ideas. Instructables and Hackaday are my preferred resources for that stuff.
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Re: Supervillain school, ideas needed.

Unread post by eliakon »

The Teen Titan episodes involving the Hive Five and their school leap to mind...
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Re: Supervillain school, ideas needed.

Unread post by RockJock »

You have the pyramids right there use them. EIther just interference, or maybe it was used to build a magical safe place (Sanctuary spell used multiple times in the past?). Another option is a natural rock formation that interferes with psychics in the area, similar to how some locations have enough magnetic minerals in the soil to make compasses useless

This might be too far for you, but what about training in specialized skills like paired weapons/sharp shooting/vital strikes/sniper and so on that make characters more combat nasty?

How hightech do you want to get? For example, any of the AU type armor/weapons upgrades? Something as simple as the kinetic suit or whatever the impact resistant layer is called could be a big add on for baddies.

The full range of custom bullets/shotgun shells. A small submachine gun firing AP rounds can ruin the day for many a hero.

Mildly upgraded/gimmick melee weapons. Collapsable night sticks/ASP, maybe with a contact taser?

Gimmick explosives. Basically mini grenades in the shape of balls.

Caltrops, car or people sized.

Glop grenades, basically carpet of adhesion type of thing.

OTC drones modified as weapons. Everything from a flying suicide bomb on.
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Re: Supervillain school, ideas needed.

Unread post by The Artist Formerly »

wyrmraker wrote:For super villain courses, lessons in Speech Making, Criminal Law, Tailoring (Costume Design), and Human Resources (for managing mooks) would be important. A book of short stories entitled "The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination" has the short story "The Angel of Death has a Business Plan". It's all about a woman who runs a 'Life Coach' sort of office for super villains. I use this concept quite a bit. While I highly recommend this story, the rest of the book is pretty entertaining.

As for gadgets that can be built by regular people, hit up the various DIY sites for ideas. Instructables and Hackaday are my preferred resources for that stuff.

Just finished reading it, that's a great read!
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Re: Supervillain school, ideas needed.

Unread post by The Artist Formerly »

RockJock wrote:You have the pyramids right there use them. EIther just interference, or maybe it was used to build a magical safe place (Sanctuary spell used multiple times in the past?). Another option is a natural rock formation that interferes with psychics in the area, similar to how some locations have enough magnetic minerals in the soil to make compasses useless


Yeah, I was kind of kicking that idea around, but we've all seen dusk till dawn, and I was figuring the Pyramid might be a dead (hehehehe) give away.

This might be too far for you, but what about training in specialized skills like paired weapons/sharp shooting/vital strikes/sniper and so on that make characters more combat nasty?

How hightech do you want to get? For example, any of the AU type armor/weapons upgrades? Something as simple as the kinetic suit or whatever the impact resistant layer is called could be a big add on for baddies.

The full range of custom bullets/shotgun shells. A small submachine gun firing AP rounds can ruin the day for many a hero.

Mildly upgraded/gimmick melee weapons. Collapsable night sticks/ASP, maybe with a contact taser?

Gimmick explosives. Basically mini grenades in the shape of balls.

Caltrops, car or people sized.

Glop grenades, basically carpet of adhesion type of thing.

OTC drones modified as weapons. Everything from a flying suicide bomb on.


Well this week the school and an outside tech firm based in the heart of madeupistan sold to non-empowered graduates the wing boards from the Super Soldier special vehicle table, and the baddies were also outfitted with stylized S.H.O.C.K. armor. Made for a hell of a fight. Next iteration I think we need some mini-missiles on the boards.

AU stuff might be a bit much. In terms of the school, what I'm looking for is stuff that a person with modern (for HU) skills could manufacture without needing to be a Hardware character class. Wing boards and laser swords are a separate plot line. For the school, I was thinking more of a military trained character with a hollywood flair were the lead designer of the build team. I know that Marvel has a couple such characters and I believe that DC does as well. Not looking to knock them off, but it seems likes a reasonable thing in a world of super humans. I was thinking more of Adam Savage or Tory Belleci with a sinister background.

As for the staff, most of them are compiled from old character sheets of minor league and fill in villains. I think I have 9 or 10 names on the list of possibles, and will fill in who needs to be working at the school as I need them.
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Re: Supervillain school, ideas needed.

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Shock armor and a lack of self control can be nasty.
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Re: Supervillain school, ideas needed.

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Re: Supervillain school, ideas needed.

Unread post by The Artist Formerly »

Axelmania wrote:Perhaps http://sidekick.wikia.com/wiki/Henchman_Academy as a starting point?

Not sure what I'm looking at. Is that another game or TV show?
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Re: Supervillain school, ideas needed.

Unread post by Daniel Stoker »

It's a cartoon about a school for sidekicks that has an 'opposing' one for henchmen, so I guess he's saying you could mine the cartoon for ideas?


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Re: Supervillain school, ideas needed.

Unread post by The Artist Formerly »

Daniel Stoker wrote:It's a cartoon about a school for sidekicks that has an 'opposing' one for henchmen, so I guess he's saying you could mine the cartoon for ideas?


Daniel Stoker

Oh, okay. Thanks. :)
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Re: Supervillain school, ideas needed.

Unread post by Sir_Spirit »

If you have access to Young Justice, you might consider a "team" of villianous sidekicks who are the "stealth" component of a larger villian team/conspiracy. That is, the villians never mention them, and try to hide their existance. And instead of acting in the open they try to do things quietly, to ultimately undermine the heroes efforts in the long term(ideally the heroes will never know what they did or that they exist).
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Re: Supervillain school, ideas needed.

Unread post by slade the sniper »

Villains have kids too...it isn't too hard to imagine someone starting an International School with a VERY exclusive clientele...Warlords, space aliens, etc. Granted, you could always work it like the situation is actually some type of "tribute" situation, where the guy running the school is using those children as a way to control their parents. Alternately, the school would have to have some extremely OP security and non-aggression pacts for the parents of students...similar to Petite Princess Yucie.

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Re: Supervillain school, ideas needed.

Unread post by ShadowLogan »

The Artist Formerly wrote:Any ideas on gadgets that can be built by regular people rather then the geniuses?

And any ideas on features the school should have?

You could probably also adapt "Hero School", "Monster School", or even "Spy School" type premises for ideas on school features and lesson plans. Though the only one I can think of off hand is from S3 of the Adam West Batman's 3part Londinium (sp?) arc.
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Re: Supervillain school, ideas needed.

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The Artist Formerly wrote:AU stuff might be a bit much. In terms of the school, what I'm looking for is stuff that a person with modern (for HU) skills could manufacture without needing to be a Hardware character class. Wing boards and laser swords are a separate plot line. For the school, I was thinking more of a military trained character with a hollywood flair were the lead designer of the build team.


Heh.

Consider this: a military-trained character with a Hollywood flair -- who isn't a Hardware character class, but an Imbued one.

Yeah, I know there are Imbuing Agents that only work on that character, or on his blood relatives; but there's an option for an Imbuing Agent that can work on anyone, and we'll go with that.

And so his stupid little 1st-level students live through stuff that would've killed them, and gain experience and go up in level and improve all their skills, because of their temporary powers. They just have to submit to hypnotic conditioning, or let him pump them full of drugs, or whatever; regardless of his education level, he (a) has modern skills, and (b) knows how to do that one thing. He just does. Comes with the class.

Bonus points if he imbues them with, like, Totem Energy Aura, so each student gets a different temporary power: a track star just starting a life of crime gets superspeed and leaping abilities, a would-be burglar gets superstealth and climbing skills, a budding tech guy gets a bonus to planting bugs and a knack for playing saboteur, and so on. (You could do likewise with Extraordinary Intelligence, where every student gets a customized boost to different skills as per their interests and aptitudes.)
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Re: Supervillain school, ideas needed.

Unread post by The Artist Formerly »

Regularguy wrote:
The Artist Formerly wrote:AU stuff might be a bit much. In terms of the school, what I'm looking for is stuff that a person with modern (for HU) skills could manufacture without needing to be a Hardware character class. Wing boards and laser swords are a separate plot line. For the school, I was thinking more of a military trained character with a hollywood flair were the lead designer of the build team.


Heh.

Consider this: a military-trained character with a Hollywood flair -- who isn't a Hardware character class, but an Imbued one.

Yeah, I know there are Imbuing Agents that only work on that character, or on his blood relatives; but there's an option for an Imbuing Agent that can work on anyone, and we'll go with that.

And so his stupid little 1st-level students live through stuff that would've killed them, and gain experience and go up in level and improve all their skills, because of their temporary powers. They just have to submit to hypnotic conditioning, or let him pump them full of drugs, or whatever; regardless of his education level, he (a) has modern skills, and (b) knows how to do that one thing. He just does. Comes with the class.

Bonus points if he imbues them with, like, Totem Energy Aura, so each student gets a different temporary power: a track star just starting a life of crime gets superspeed and leaping abilities, a would-be burglar gets superstealth and climbing skills, a budding tech guy gets a bonus to planting bugs and a knack for playing saboteur, and so on. (You could do likewise with Extraordinary Intelligence, where every student gets a customized boost to different skills as per their interests and aptitudes.)


Oooh, I like that. *Swipe*

Not for the school, I'll build a whole story arc on that one. A super human of Fagin of New Jersey. Heh. I can even use that as his code name.
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Re: Supervillain school, ideas needed.

Unread post by Regularguy »

The Artist Formerly wrote:Oooh, I like that. *Swipe*

Not for the school, I'll build a whole story arc on that one. A super human of Fagin of New Jersey. Heh. I can even use that as his code name.


You could also do the Military-Background-But-Not-A-Hardware bit by taking, like, the Advanced Piloting program (fighter pilot with the full suite of weapons-and-navigation-and-equipment skills), plus the Physical one (boxing and wrestling and scuba diving and so on) plus a double dose of Investigation (to be a streetwise researcher who can prowl around picking locks and finding contraband and conducting surveillance).

So do that, but start play as a guy who owns an Enchanted Object: you check out anyone you'll be training by hitting them with Charm, and if and only if you're sure of their loyalty you let them use the Object before they go off on an experience-building mission. So your student casts whichever spell will let him succeed -- metamorphosing into another form for a couple of hours, say; or firing up a Charismatic Aura before stepping through a Mystic Portal, so he can bypass external security before fast-talking whoever he meets on the inside; or whatever -- and doesn't bring the Object along on the training mission; the Object of course stays with you; it's just that your student has created his own Dimensional Pocket, and is probably wearing his own Armor of Ithan.
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Re: Supervillain school, ideas needed.

Unread post by glitterboy2098 »

the DC cartoon series "Static Shock" actually had an episode with a villain who would impart powers temporarily to others. only they took it a bit darker, by having said powers be psychologically addictive, which let him convince teenagers to commit crimes in order to get 'recharged'. needless to say it made a good allegory for drug-dealers, drug addition, and the crime that often comes with both.
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Re: Supervillain school, ideas needed.

Unread post by Daniel Stoker »

Don't we already have that with Chiang 6 in Villains Unlimited? You could have him or another Chiang-Ku Dragon pulling that with their magic tea? Heck maybe have them also toss in some magic tattoos as well.


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Re: Supervillain school, ideas needed.

Unread post by The Artist Formerly »

Daniel Stoker wrote:Don't we already have that with Chiang 6 in Villains Unlimited? You could have him or another Chiang-Ku Dragon pulling that with their magic tea? Heck maybe have them also toss in some magic tattoos as well.


Daniel Stoker

Yeah, but everyone's been through Chiang's adventure. This is the same idea, but lets me shake things up.
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Re: Supervillain school, ideas needed.

Unread post by Daniel Stoker »

I liked the idea of granting magic tattoos to empower people int he school.


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Re: Supervillain school, ideas needed.

Unread post by Sir_Spirit »

There is also the Grant Powers Major Ability. can grant whatever powers you have or a random minor one.
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Re: Supervillain school, ideas needed.

Unread post by The Artist Formerly »

Daniel Stoker wrote:I liked the idea of granting magic tattoos to empower people int he school.


Daniel Stoker


Taffy Player#1 "Magic Tattoos!.... We should, uh, um, go under cover there, as super villains in training for, um. great justice."
Taffy Player#2 "YEAAAH, MOAR POWAH! er, um, I mean for justice and stuff. The Tattoo Artist might have a connection to Dr. Fright or Fab inc...(then we could go drinking with Clint and Jeff again!) we need to check this out! That could be a thing."

Since I issue new powers/upgrades every three levels or so, but make them justify it some what, they'd chase this thinking it's my ploy. Besides, we've done this. I have an Atlantean Tattoo master who lives in Key West (Human Immortal/Magic-Tattoos (basically Maxi-man or an undead slayer IIRC, he has more ink then he should). Additionally there are a few others who have them, including a Kali inspired death cult in India and mystic circle of magic users in England (think the Kings men only with some magic, and I had that idea LONG before the movie came out, a group from Northern France, North western German and the Netherlands (with a Viking Bent to them). And Chiang Six.
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Re: Supervillain school, ideas needed.

Unread post by The Artist Formerly »

Sir_Spirit wrote:There is also the Grant Powers Major Ability. can grant whatever powers you have or a random minor one.

That's kind of what I was thinking. Instilled via an injection of blood from the host or something... I'll have to figure it out. Maybe that + BS science+ captured super humans= Stolen powers granted to baddies who then use them on the PCs...
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