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Callos_DeTerran
2013-05-23, 11:55 PM
I'm going to be running a superhero game for my IRL game soon using the Modern20/Super20 system. The basic premise of the game is that a recent alien invasion (the only publicly recorded instance of alien interaction at that) has left the Earth battered and beaten. Many of earth's superheroes and even some supervillains were killed in the fighting which has left a power-gap that people are rushing to fill.

The PCs is going to be a group of heroes who take it upon themselves to protect the city they live in, which is important because the alien invaders have left a lot of technology behind that enterprising criminals and ne'er-do-wells are using for their own ends and this power vacuum has also encouraged several 'C-list' villains to step up their games to really shake things up.

Thing is, I'm sort of running low on ideas for supervillains and superherO NPCs that can give them a hand. And I don't just mean power-sets, I mean backgrounds, personalities, origins, the works! So far the idea is for the campaign to be super-heroic, but not on a cosmic level. Everything the players deal with will be entirely on an Earth scale for the most part.

Mr Beer
2013-05-24, 01:13 AM
Have you read Wild Cards? There's a dozen or whatever books about criminal-themed superhero stuff right there and it's largely novelised from game sessions run by George Martin IIRC, so it slots pretty well into gaming worlds. Pretty light on the spandex though.

DiscipleofBob
2013-05-24, 09:12 AM
A good start would be to watch/read some superhero media. Particularly those with a large amount of characters.

For started, I'd recommend Justice League Unlimited, Batman Brave and the Bold, and Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, all for instant streaming on Netflix. All three have large casts that you can draw inspiration from.

Or you can just go to the Marvel Wiki, DC Wiki, or Superpower Wiki and start browsing.

It also depends on just how cheesy you like your superhumans.

Joe the Rat
2013-05-24, 10:01 AM
While the rules covered are specifically MEGS (and slowly adding M&M), Writeups.org (http://writeups.org/index.php) has a LOT of characters from a lot of media... and they take particular pride in dredging up D-listers and oddball golden age publishers, plus a ton of Not Big Two and quite a few international (i.e. not American) sources. Plus TV and movies and other games and books. Since the stats are typically collapsed at the start, what you see is the "What they do, who they are, what's their history" presented. You're not looking for stats, so not seeing (or understanding) them is a non-issue.

The hard part is finding things when you don't know what you are looking for. Work backwards through the updates list or hit the "Random Entries" button and cut loose. Mix and match as you like.

Bulhakov
2013-05-24, 11:00 AM
Just pick a power at random, such as one of these: http://cityofheroes.wikia.com/wiki/City_of_Heroes_Wiki:Archetypes_and_power_sets_port al
then a person that will receive this power and how
(for example using an online NPC generator: http://www.roleplayingtips.com/one-sentence-npc-generator/ )
then think what would that person most likely do with their power? Alternatively choose a power and think how it would be growing up with it.
Would they don tights and become superhero/supervillain, or will they more or less go on with their lives, just act a bit differently?

Try to build a story that can be told in 3-5 sentences. Just some quick examples:

- An ambulance medic saves the life of a good witch and gets blessed with the power of unnatural good luck. It was supposed to be a small blessing from gratefulness, but due to some star alignment the spell turned out ultra-powerful - every lottery ticket bought wins millions, every casino visit breaks the bank, every gun fired at him misses or misfires. The guy becomes an incognito hero, visits a different mafia-run casino every day, then makes donations to charities all around town.

- A teenage thug from a poor neighborhood discovers that every time he meets a new person he can command that person to do anything (the person will carry out the task, but then become immune to this power). He quickly rises in the criminal underworld as he can order anyone to kill themselves, reveal their darkest secrets, have sex with him, fall in love with him or forget he ever existed.

QuidEst
2013-05-24, 05:47 PM
- They were already working for organized crime when they discovered their power. From there, it was easy to give themselves a "promotion".

- The supervillain thing is a cover. Their attacks actually cover targeted hits on important figures.

- For all the hero-worship going on, there's also a villain-fanatic subculture. Somebody might get their start cashing in on that to get chicks and support.

Rake21
2013-05-24, 06:13 PM
I was in a forum game a while back, and one of the villain groups we took on was called the Dead Man's Hand, a group of card-themed assassins. They were incredibly dangerous, deranged, and tossed out horrible card puns like it was their job... Which it wasn't... Murder was...

Anyway, each member was a borderline (or over the boarder) sociopath, raised by the groups leader, Wild Card.

Jack worshiped the ground Wild Card walked on, and molded him in the image of his twisted father-figure. While he wasn't close to Wild Card's level, he was still a fairly competent threat and was incredibly adept at stealth. He was also the worst offender for the stupid card jokes.

King and Queen were completely dedicated to each other, rarely working alone. They were typically sent on hits where the employer wanted things load and messy.

Ace was the most business minded of the group, and a complete professional. Ace's entire existence is motivated by money and power. He'll kill anyone for any reason if it'll help him attain either of those two things, and he will do whatever it takes to get the job done. Killing bystanders, burning down buildings, going toe-to-toe with superheroes? He's up for any of that. Ace is the most sane of the group, which doesn't say too much, and serves as the DMH's second in command. While he thinks the card gimmick is stupid, he goes along with it out of fear of his boss.

Wild Card himself is best described as a crazy mix of the Joker and Bullseye. He's utterly insane, and incredibly skilled. Wild Card is completely motivated by his own sick enjoyment. His profession was chosen for the thrill he gets from killing, rather than the money.

Man on Fire
2013-05-24, 08:26 PM
Superhero version of Straight Edge movement - they decided to take a stand against violent and grim antiheroes and have very clear cut lines about their job. "No killing. No guns. No cybernetic enchancments."
If you want to add a twist to it, add that they still are as amoral as the antiheroes crowd, being motivated only by money and fame and excuse to brag abotu their superiority. But make sure you don't have any member of straight edge in your group first.


Superhero who looks like he escaped from Rob Liefeld's wet dreams, but talks and acts like he was living during Silver Age.

taken from nice webcomics Fusion:
X-Pletive, man whosoe power comes from ****ing swearing! Is really a minister, he gets stronger and tougher the angrier he becomes, and because he hates swearing, he becomes increasingly more powerfull when he swears.

Arbane
2013-05-24, 11:42 PM
Have you looked at City of Heroes' (http://cityofheroes.wikia.com/wiki/City_of_Heroes_Wiki:NPCs_and_enemy_groups_portal) assorted NPCs and enemies? The setup is almost exactly what you've described, and it's not like anyone's going to be playing it any more... (*sob*)

Anyway, a few characters I've thought of:

Good Guys:

Sergeant Steadfast! Former US military vet who was exposed to mysterious alien bio-agents in the war, he now uses his powers of immense strength, nigh-invulnerablility, and knowing how to use handguns to be a HERO!

Radiance: A sorceress from a long line of Light Mages. She can blind opponents, produce semi-solid light 'holograms', and even make cutting lasers, but it's a strain.

Kid Cryo: A young mutant with extremely short-range cryokinesis powers. He can cover himself in icy armor, freeze things by touch, and zip around on ice-slicks.

Spoonbender: A psychic with the power to telekinetically bend metal. Nothing else, just metal. But he can wreck a building by twisting girders, trash a car with a thought, ruin guns by looking at them funny, and he does NOT want to know what he'd do to a cyborg. (He carries a taser for the occasional opponent who doesn't freak when their gun turns into abstract art.)

Pretty Reaper Suzi: A young (in cosmic terms, anyway) psychopomp who's descended to the material world to round up some of the many stray souls who died in the invasion and are now causing trouble. She manifests as a young goth magical girl armed with a ribbon-bedecked magic scythe (which can slice through anything except the living), and she's assisted by a talking owl named Whom. Comes across as alternately disturbingly morbid and disturbingly perky.

Frank the Talking Dog: He's a dog. Who can talk. And teleport short distances. Origin? He doesn't know, either.

Bad Guys:

The DOOMBRINGER!; A violent wannabe punk who got his hands on an alien disintegrator pistol. he's cobbled together a costume, and will be causing a lot of low-rent trouble until he gets killed.

The Technovore: A mad scientist's experimental robot, designed to rebuild itself for greater power. When its creator died/vanished in the invasion, it eventually assimilated every piece of equipment in the lab, and now it's casting about for new technology to upgrade itself. It's not inherently hostile to humans, but it's only impetus is to improve itself, and you are IN THE WAY.

The Tombstone Kid: Alvin Crawford never made it as big in the Old West as the likes o' Jesse James or Billy the Kid, but that's only because he got gunned down in an ambush before he really got his criminal career going. That probably should've been the end of things, but it turned out that the curse of a medicine man he'd shot actually worked. He might've spent the rest of eternity staring at the inside lid of his coffin, but when it was dug up to construct a new casino, he had his chance to escape. He'd been buried with his six-shooters, and they still fired just fine. Which is odd, seein' how they weren't loaded.
Look out, heroes. There's an old gun in town.

Czar Chasm: Former USSR Super-Soldier (back when the USSR was still a going concern), now he uses his impressive powers of earth-control as a killer for the Russian Mob.

The Hoax: A mysterious, seemingly uncatchable master thief, who styles himself after the likes of Raffles or Auguste Lupin, he scrupulously avoids lethal violence and focuses on outsmarting the police (easy) and the heroes (finally, a challenge!). Cuts a memorable figure in his tuxedo and moustachioed mask, armed with a gimmicky cane and his seemingly superhuman agility.

Avilan the Grey
2013-05-25, 04:21 PM
FOr me, I woulds start with deciding what Age it would emulate?

Golden Age, Silver Age, Bronse Age, Dork Age...

A Gold Age (or Silver) would both be easier and harder than a modern age:

On one hand it is very freeing to be as cheesy as you want and have as corny origins as you want (Bitten by a radioactive <insert animal here> is the least corny option there...) . On the other hand it might be hard to actually keep the cheesiness alive with a straight face.

Other than that...

Arbane has a good list.

Here are a few substitute heroes and villains based on DC or Marvel:

Black Wolf - Hero / Anti-hero. Based on a mash-up of Wolfsbane and Wolverine. Actually transforms into a wereform with claws, but still has the intellect unless going into berserker rage. Superhuman senses even in human form. Origin is Family Curse

Froststar - Hero, female alien that landed on earth by mistake (crashed spaceship). Her power level is only slightly over other members of her species, but on earth she is a superhero. Based on Starfire, but with frost powers. Desire to be naked all the time optional. Has no secret identity.

Specimen Zero, Super Prototype, Peter - Hero, common soldier in WWI that underwent treatment and experimentation and ended up a supersoldier and gained longlivety. Ended in a coma at the end of the war and missed WWII and was not awaken until the 1960ies. Has been known by many names, but always insisted to call himself by his name, never wanting to put himself above other men or women. Has no secret identity. Based on Captain America(movie version), of course.

The Mechromancer - Villain. Can instinctively build anything from anything. Based on Tony Stark / Forge / Dr Doom etc etc. Can McGyver a taser in five minutes if left alone in your closet. If left alone on a scrapyard for 1 hour, you will face his army of diesel-powered mechas. Origin? You tell me. Driven by an undying hunt for revenge against... something.

Doomboy911
2013-05-25, 05:41 PM
Slick
He goes where he pleases and does as he pleases. Able to escape most things, traps, the truth, the past. He's a slippery figure both figuratively and literally. Downright impossible to hit and without a history. He serves whatever side pays him the most because to him good and evil don't exist money and power does. Clad in a grey shimmering suit he cares about style.

Yeah I spend a good deal of time working on superheroes and such so I'm always good for a villain. Not sure how the d20 modern stuff works. I'm more of a savage world man.

enderlord99
2013-05-26, 12:29 PM
I have a rather unique idea for "a" hero.

He has 2 souls and dozens of bodies. Only two of those bodies are alive at a time, because they can only live with a soul in them. However, either soul can teleport (for lack of a better word) between the bodies, in which case the one it was in before essentially dies, and the one it is in now comes back to life. Additionally, his bodies never age, and they never rot either.

Randel
2013-05-26, 03:26 PM
I would suggest listening to The Megas and their songs inspired by the megaman villains. Could provide some inspiration. (you can find some of their songs on Youtube).

In particular:

Gamma -
A powerful defense robot/AI. Was origionally designed and worked on before the invasion but due to some incident, accident, or just suspicion of just how powerful this AI could get if activated, its project was shut down and it was put into storage.

Then the invasion occurred and one of the scientists working on Gamma was devestated at the destruction and obsessed over how Gamma could have turned the invasion around and how it must have been the invaders who had manipulated events into shutting Gamma down.

So, the scientist (could well have been driven insane by grief or the trauma of the attack) seeks to reactivate Gamma so it can defend Earth from the next attack and even bring the fight to the aliens... nay, the Rest of the Universe!

Gamma itself is nearly emotionless and ruthless. Its only emotions are undilluted anger at anything that obstructs its directives and unfathomable joy when it fullfills a directive.

Its current directives are:

1. Destroy all forces hostile to humanity.

and

2. Protect all humans (with "human" being defined as a humanlike mind... so it doesn't start hunting down "mutants" or friendly robots or whatever).


When first activated, Gamma calculated that since humans can die from anything from old age to aliens to violence from other humans that performing a purely defensive role was suboptimal... and since it was designed to interpret humans as the "minds" that inhabit human bodies then it just has to protect human minds.

Thus 10 seconds after activation it began plotting to forcibly upload the brains of everyone on Earth and raise an army of robots to eliminate any obstacles to that goal.

So yeah... it was going to start The Matrix.

Gammas origional form was supposed to be a 50 foot tall giant robot fitted with weapons to defend against nukes, monsters, or supervillains. It still plans to use this body, if only because it's more defensable than running its software on computers.

In addition, it plans to build or recruit an army of robots to help it upload humanity. Gamma and its forces will defend humans from harm, if only to ensure they survive long enough to be uploaded. It will kill one human to save two humans (or at least maim them a bit).

Its long term goals also include sending copies of itself out to exterminate any aliens it doesn't perceive as "human". Sufficiently humanlike aliens will be forcibly uploaded.

Man on Fire
2013-05-26, 03:45 PM
Here is a crazy idea. there is an obscure DC character that would make great comedic antagonist in the game.
http://i.imgur.com/WLtlDoH.jpg

I mean, seriously, look at this, that's Captain Planet levels of cheesy!

Avilan the Grey
2013-05-27, 01:58 AM
Here is a crazy idea. there is an obscure DC character that would make great comedic antagonist in the game.
http://i.imgur.com/WLtlDoH.jpg

I mean, seriously, look at this, that's Captain Planet levels of cheesy!

Even if i didn't recognize the stand-in WW (Artemis, was it? :smallsigh:) it is obvious that this was written and drawn in the 90ies...

Oh and "The Chauvinist"? Really? It's right up there with "Decepticon" when it comes to names we really should not call ourselves.

Dundee15
2013-05-29, 01:22 AM
Inventress:
A genius college student who made gadgets for some local heroes who was attacked and held hostage by a gang of villains that wanted weapons for themselves. After getting hurt during her own rescue, she was forced to inject herself with an untested nanobot solution to save her own life. These nanobots repaired her body and now allow her to interface with technology on an unprecedented level. After creating a power-suit for herself she became a hero, now fighting along her other hero friends.
(note, depending on how she got her it could have made her a villain instead)

Wild Fox:
A martial artist who was kidnapped and tested on by a military organization to create the perfect soldier by mixing animal DNA with human. Many of the other test subjects went mad with the new set of animal instincts running though their head, Wild Fox was a different story. Meditation was key in keeping a calm mind and protecting her sanity. After escaping from the lab, she found her senses to be much keener and herself to be much swifter. After training she created a fighting style to take advantage of her new abilities.

Stone & Tome:
A young girl was studying in the local library when she came across a magical tome allowing her to cast spells... the first thing she did was get revenge on her brother by petrifying him. Feeling guilty, she tried to reverse the spell but failed multiple times being too weak of a mage, and was only able to restore his ability to move. Still trapped in a body of a statue, Stone acts as protector (or villain if you so wish) to his sister Tome until the day comes that she can free him.

Lothmar
2013-05-29, 12:13 PM
The super Imposer - power: the ability to overlap his image over physical images/records and even memories. He cannot change 'what has happend' he can simply change that someone remembers him in place of someone else.

ex: The super imposer replaces your mental image of your father with himself. This does not mean that he necessarily knows anything about you or how to act like your father etc but when you see him you think 'oh that's dad'.

Phenoma'mon - Power: This gentleman from the Caribbean's is plagued by paranormal activity all the time that he cannot control. The powers are jealous, possessive and defensive meaning they will just as likely attempt to hurt those close to him as they are to protect him from any number of hazards.

Napalm - Power: Nathan Palmer an up and coming highschool pitcher with hopes of becoming a professional one day awakes in the hospital when his powers manifest and accidentally burn down his house. His condition causes his body to secret a substance equivalent to napalm instead of sweating. This has caused him to suffer severe burns across his entire body and has lost practically all of his skin and constantly lives in bandages as his body burns off most grafting attempts. His core temperature is high and he is prone to getting sick and feverish when performing extreme activities. Nathan can 'scoop' off and mold globs of this substance and throw it as a projectile that clings to and burns its enemies.

Hydra - power: This man suffers a mutated and uncontrolled form of regeneration. His body possesses a self defense mechanism that is akin to certain lizards where it will 'break off' pieces of itself to protect the main body, meaning if struck hard enough pieces will dislodge themselves from the main body. The main body will then regrow two limbs from the previous site and the limb itself will grow a new body. Thankfully the body can only support so many body parts in this fashion and will eventually be rendered incapacitated after it regrows several limbs (usually 10), if the process is still forced to invoke (someone attacks the unconcious body) the dna will become further corupted to the point that the body will completely dissolve into mush. Hydra can 'defragment' his dna by 'absorbing' the intact dna of the duplicates produced in this fashion removing a single extra limb per dupe absorbed in a classic snake eating its own tail fashion.

Norse-4A2 - This alien android is an electronic vampire that siphons energy and spreads a control virus to infected electronics it feeds upon.

Ira - this Irish mercenary possesses powers akin to x-mens 'gambit' and can 'charge objects' with energy from his hands and use them as explosives. He can also leave 'radiant hand prints' behind by pressing his palms to a surface, the power of which 'bleeds off' over time however he can and does use this technique to create various and numerous traps in enclosed environments like buildings, alleys, etc.

Jay R
2013-05-29, 01:25 PM
Take an iconic superhero, and then make some sort of change so that he's completely different from the original:

Have an alien who is able to lift Thor's hammer, and leaves with it, so Thor is left stranded on Earth without it.

Have Batman replaced by somebody else, because Bruce Wayne's back is broken.

Wonder Woman loses her super powers, and learns martial arts to fight as a non-powered human.

The U.S. government claims that they created the Captain America identity, and takes it back. Steve Rogers fights crime under another identity.

Tony Stark becomes an alcoholic, and another person becomes Iron Man.

That way, he's totally different from the character in the comics.

Yes, I know - every one of these is a storyline used in the comic books.

tensai_oni
2013-05-29, 02:50 PM
Take an iconic superhero, and then make some sort of change so that he's completely different from the original:


You know the OP isn't playing in an established setting, be it DC, Marvel, or anything else, right?

Jay R
2013-05-29, 06:09 PM
You know the OP isn't playing in an established setting, be it DC, Marvel, or anything else, right?

Yup. This is how I create new heroes and villains in new worlds. Take an idea, change it, and rename the character.

Dr. MacAbre was patterned on Dr. Fate and Dr. Strange. Hyperion was based on Superman. Professor Power was a Cosmic Boy / Lightning Lad cross. Pinball was a Plastic Man / Bouncing Boy ripoff. And so forth.

Eldan
2013-05-29, 06:41 PM
You should have a look at Worm (http://parahumans.wordpress.com/). It's a web story that comes out in chapters two or three times a week and pretty damn good. Starts with a teenage girl with superpowers and scales up to international level. Highly cynical and often quite brutal, though. Bonus points for being sort of in the middle of the apocalypse and much of the story playing out in ruined locations.

Beleriphon
2013-05-29, 10:10 PM
I'm fond of The Spelling Bee! The Spelling Bee! uses the powers of spelling to defeat evil and teach kids to stay in school. His enemies include:
The Ampersand (its a guy that plays to Spelling Bee!'s schtick but is "evil")
The All-American Gang Banger (think of the Crips only filtered through 50s style wholesomeness and whitewashing)

Arbane
2013-05-30, 07:50 PM
One City of Heroes team I used to play with was on the villainous side, the Crime Family. They're like a real-world mob family, all related by blood or marriage, and the leadership all either have superpowers or exceptional skills. They claim, and try to maintain, a monopoly on costumed crime in their city. (You wanna try anything on their turf, ya gotta give 'em their cut.)

Some members:

Violent Crime: The leader, 55 years old and still going. He doesn't have any inherent powers himself, but he's exceptionally strong and a martial-arts master. Don't make the mistake of thinking he's a stupid thug - he's definitely a thug, but a very smart one. The fact that he's elderly in a dangerous line of work like this should indicate just how good he is at carefully-applied brutality and keeping his weird relatives in line.

War Crime: A former mercenary, still working with his highly-trained crew. Wanted in 20 countries for assorted atrocities ranging from use of poison gas to setting a bus full of children on fire as a distraction. Skilled at chemistry, makes his own nerve gas, napalm, and other horrible stuff.

Capital Crime: One of the Crimes' more quiet enforcers. She's a ninja, and likes to kill by beheading.

Cyber Crime: War Crime's old war buddy, he had to be rebuilt as an experimental cyborg after an op went sour. Can mentally control most machines.

Whitecollar Crime: A crooked executive with low-level psychic powers. Mostly infiltrates legit corporations and ruins them through embezzlement.

Vehicular Crime: Can drive anything with a motor. Sometime in ways that defy physics.

Juvenile Crime: Only 16 years old, and just getting into the family business. has pyrokinetic powers like his father, Arson Crime.

Thought Crime: Whitecollar's younger sister. Has mind-control powers, much stronger and less subtle than his.

Small-Time Crime: A supercriminal who married into the family. Has shrinking powers, doesn't think he gets enough respect.