(d20 modern) I need ideas

[Vorpalbob]

I am planning on beginning a D20 modern campaign, and my main villain is a "suave lover" type guy who finds a way to open a rift into another dimension, and brings through goblins and ogres and such to be his minions in his quest for world domination.

The players will just be a group of friends who hang out, but are drawn into this guy's plot, and try to stop him. I just can't think of a way to do this without making it feel like I am leading them about by the nose. One idea I had was that they (or at least one of them) are cops, and investigate a murder committed by one the gobbie minions.

I will be using the standard D20 modern rules, Weapons Locker, psychic FX rules, no homebrews.

Note; I want to have one of the PCs, quite early on, to somehow gain psychic powers.

Any ideas would be appreciated!

[Altair_the_Vexed]

PCs are Cops is a good start, but a bit restrictive.

Department 7 is mentioned in all the d20 modern books - it's a generic paranormal activity investigation department of the government / military / CIA / police - you could allow the PCs to be recruited to that group from all sorts of backgrounds, prior to the game starting...

Or you could have one or two of them be cops, and the rest are just mates with whatever backgrounds they chose.
The goblins attack a wedding party or some similar social event which the PCs are all at (to steal some heir loom worn by the bride - belonged to her great aunt, you know) - and the PCs jump in to help.

[Shardan]

Don't go goblin. go something sneakier. make the heroes the only ones able to see the changelings/invisible beasties/other. Maybe they and the villain were all exposed to the same extradimensional forces. the villain gets minions, the heroes get true-sight/psionics/magic/superpowers

[Zovc]

You could argue that it's leading the players by the nose, but you can always just "give them an offer they can't refuse."

In other words, put them in a situation where doing nothing and/or not becoming the heroes will result in them getting 'killed.' Even the least 'motivated' person (read "character") should have some basic will to survive.

One thing to consider: How much will the world fall apart because of this "suave lover" character's actions? Will they notice the anomalies? Why or why not?

[Storm Bringer]

as Zovc mentions, wether or not thier is The Masquerade is a very important point for hoq to play this.

[Vorpalbob]

The world is going to be sort of masquerade, in Toronto/south Ontario (i used to live there), with some extradimensional travel. Suave-lover guy has a big house near Niagara Falls, with small pieces of land, some with small farms or warehouses dotting the area. He is very rich, but not very well known.

I like the idea of the PCs being paranormal investigators. (BTW, is there a Canadian parallel to the FBI?) And that only they can see the transdimensional enemies, but I will keep some goblin-y, visible minions for behind-the-scenes stuff.

As to how effective suave-lover guy is (name suggestions would be nice), I am playing him as extremely intelligent, but hasty and impatient. I am considering him having a semi-willing (probably attractive female) accomplice that the PC's can manipulate.

Thanks, and keep those ideas coming!