Sunday, April 30, 2023

The Force Multipliers & Mister Machine

This is a "hard mode" villain team (and a new villain as their nominal leader) that's likely to require a bit more prep work than usual to run smoothly, and having an assistant GM wouldn't hurt.  You can scale them down to something less complex by leaving some individual baddies out, but they all punch above their weight thanks to group synergies.  If your PCs beat these villains they're certainly going to feel like they just took on an army and won, but don't be surprised if you wind up with a TPKO.   

The Force Multipliers

The irregular villain team known as the Force Multipliers has appeared on several occasions, usually organized by Mister Machine or (more rarely) Bodycount for a specific scheme and then splitting up again afterward.  Each villain on the team shares the ability to create duplicates of themselves, making the group a small army in terms of numbers.  When the full membership is present the group is a nightmare to deal with, leveraging synergistic effects of their similar power sets to overwhelm even powerful heroes with significant backup from the authorities.  Thankfully there are enough interpersonal tensions between individual members that they never stick together long, and it's pretty common for one or two villains to "sit out" a given plot entirely (occasionally because they're currently incarcerated).

The full roster of the Force Multipliers is as follows:

Mister Machine (see below) - Nominal team leader and usually responsible for organizing missions.  He frequently butts heads with Bodycount over specific details of a plan, but privately regards her as by far the most useful member of the group.  The others respect him for his decades of experience but he sees them as wholly expendable, with Horde being particularly unstable and not to be trusted without oversight.

Bodycount - Deputy leader, frequently organizes missions on her own, often without involving Mister Machine at all.  She finds him grating and thinks he's old-fashioned and over-cautious, but has to admit he's good at keeping the rest of the crew focused.  She's used to working with her favorite puppet Manpower and has been trying to manipulate The Brute Squad in the same way with modest success to date.  Horde leaves her a little baffled since he's not attracted to women and she hasn't found another lever that works on him, but he's also such a loose cannon she frequently just "forgets" to invite him along anyway. 

Manpower - Primarily Bodycount's stooge, he's secretly intimidated by Mister Machine's intellect and reputation and would have a hard time choosing between the two's orders if he had to.  He resents the Brute Squad for the attention Bodycount pays to him.  He's clueless and narrow-minded enough that he hasn't registered on Horde's sexual preferences, although if he ever does you can expect an ugly display of homophobia from the toxic jerk.  Manpower wins the "Most Likely To Be Left Behind If Things Go Wrong" contest hands down.     

The Brute Squad - He's not at his best when it comes to teamwork, but also kind of flattered that a big name like Mister Machine wants to work with him.  The fact that the full team can stomp heroes that are way beyond his league normally doesn't hurt either.  He's trying to ignore Bodycount's rather obvious attempts at manipulation, partly because he knows Manpower is jealous but mostly because he's got a serious girlfriend that he's thinking about proposing to.  That Horde guy is a lunatic, and also thinks his education makes him better than an ex-football player, which is going to cause trouble sooner or later.

Horde - Horde's happy for the chance to see some real action alongside a veteran like Mister Machine, something he throws in his cousin's face whenever their paths cross.  He's also secretly a big fan of college football who thinks The Brute Squad got a raw deal (anti-mutant bias at its worst!) but he always seems to say the wrong thing around the guy.  Doesn't help that the Brute Squad is really good-looking but definitely straight.  Bodycount and Manpower are clearly a couple, which made her aborted attempt at flirting with Horde extra awkward.  Manpower himself is kind of an idiot but he's the only other team member who seems to really enjoy a good adrenaline rush the way Horde does.

As a GM I definitely would not use all of the potential drama going on with this dysfunctional group at once.  Picking an element or two of it all to factor in during a scene could be a good way to give the NPCs some personality while twisting some dials on the difficulty.  The full team can be insanely challenging even to PC groups that are good at minion-scrubbing, and toning them down a bit through imperfect cooperation is an answer to it.  

Also consider using less than the full Force Multipliers team, adding friendly NPCs to the hero side  (maybe giving each PC a squad of soldiers or security minions or a minor superhero lieutenant ally), or using a more hero-friendly environment than usual - if you use one at all.  Full-team fights with these villains are going to be complex already, and adding more things to track won't help that.  If you can get an assistant GM for the session it would be great.

You can also put out a call for dice to let you track all the minions more easily.  Ideally you'd want sets of suitably-sized dice with a different color for each baddie (eg red dice are always Mister Machine androids, orange dice are for Bodycount's quantum copies, Manpower gets yellow duplicates, etc.) but that's a big ask even when pulling from everyone's dice collections.  Just making index cards for each villain's pool of minions (and for The Brute Squad's lieutenants) will probably have to do.

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Mister Machine

The criminal genius known as Mister Machine has no known true name despite having been active for over 90 years now.  He's best known for his signature android minions, which are complex mechanisms covered in a layer of polymorphic gel that allows them to mold themselves into virtually any humanoid form.  Their default appearance is identical to Mister Machine himself, making confrontations with the villain a confusing affair.  This is further complicated by the fact that his own organic body was abandoned decades ago, with his living brain being transplanted into an identical android frame.  This makes him nearly indistinguishable from his own minions without close examination.  He's also been known to use other, more powerful host bodies for specific schemes, but always seems to come back to a duplicate of his old organic form eventually.

Mister Machine's other specialty is what he calls broadcast vril manipulation, a poorly understood energy that he can tune to greatly enhance both organic and mechanical allies.  His ability to amp up all manner of allies makes him a popular figure in criminal circles, something he takes full advantage of.  Trading favors with other supervillains and shady organizations lets him recruit assistance for his own plans with ease, and he's owed a lot of favors by a lot of people.  He's even been know to work with some of the more morally flexible hero groups out there, and has been surprisingly reliable on such occasions - but he still expects reciprocal support if and when he calls in a hero's marker.    

Description: A slender, middle-aged white man with piercing blue eyes beneath bushy black eyebrows, sporting a neat goatee.  He wears a classic Howie lab coat over a dark suit and sturdy black boots.  His long black gloves stop just shy of his elbows, and are laced with metallic cabling and visible circuitry.  Speaks in a precise and pedantic fashion with a strangely flat intonation.  If badly damaged the true nature of his android body becomes obvious.   

Gender: Male         Age: Early 40s (Apparent)      Height: 5'9"          Eyes: Blue

Hair: Bald, Black Goatee            Skin: Caucasian, Hairless             Build: Lightly-Built

Approach:  Tactician                        Archetype:  Overlord

Health:  35 + (5 x H)

Powers: Inventions d8, Robotics d8, Lightning Calculator d6, Presence d6 

Qualities: Technology d10, Criminal Genius d8, Persuasion d8, Leadership d6                                      

Status:  (# of Minions & Lieutenants) 9+ - d12 / 5-8 - d10 / 3-4 - d8 / 1-2 - d6 / 0 - d4

Abilities:

Android Duplicates (R) Redirect an Attack to one of your minions.

Broadcast Enhancements (A) Boost using Technology.  Use your Max die.  That bonus applies to every ally's actions until the beginning of your next turn.  

Copied Consciousness (A) Attack using Inventions.  Use your Max die.  Defend yourself against all Attacks made against you until the start of your next turn using the number of your minions.

Exploitation (I) As long as you have at least one nearby ally, you may reroll all ones on your dice.

Robotic Revelation (A) Use Technology to create a number of minions equal to the value of your Max die.  The starting die size of for those minions is the same as the size of your Min die.

Upgrades & Masteries (usually in play unless his Flying Arsenal has recently been destroyed):

Villainous Vehicle +15 Health.  Add a Flying Arsenal d12 Lieutenant with the following abilities to the scene:  Minion Deployment (A) Add minions to an existing group equal to half the vehicle's current die size.  These minions are of a size equal to the highest die size already in the group.  If the vehicle has a bonus or penalty adjust the number of minions by that amount and then remove that mod.  Sturdy (I) When making saving throws against damage, add +2 to the results.

Master of Mad Science (A) As long as you have access to materials, automatically succeed at an Overcome by using scientific principles and inventions.

Tactics

Mister Machine is first and foremost a mastermind and manipulator, relying on his allies and android minions to carry out his schemes whenever possible.  His preferred tactic is to use Broadcast Enhancements whenever possible, which massively improves the performance of all his allies in the scene.  He'll use Robotic Revelation as needed to maintain a high status die and fuel his Android Duplicates defensive reaction, as well as improving his protection if he opts to use Copied Consciousness to take a more personal hand in a fight.  Exploitation gives him rerolls as long as any allies (including minions) are nearby.

His upgrade gives him an armored VTOL fanjet the size of a semi truck, loaded with pre-prepped android minions ready to deploy via combat drops, while his mastery shows off how much of a criminal genius he really is.  His Flying Arsenal is yet another ally for him to work with, of course.

Conceptually, Mister Maker's Robotic Revelation can only add new minions to a scene if there's a source for them, which includes his Flying Arsenal vehicle but can also be civilians, police or security officers, or even other villain's minions that were disguised androids just now revealing their true nature.  It's even possible that those NPC superheroes you just rescued were actually androids... 

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Morphic Androids d8 minion (if purchased as a scene element, otherwise variable per Robotic Revelation above)

Description: The "default setting" look of Mister Machine's androids is identical to their creator, but the polymorphic gel than makes up their outer layers lets them ape the appearance of virtually any humanoid being of similar size, anywhere between 5'4" and 6'5" tall.  Imitations aren't particularly difficult to detect, but will generally suffice for short-term deceptions.

Polymorphic Gel:  You or Mister Machine may use an Overcome action to let you adopt the appearance of a different humanoid of generally similar size.  If attempting to duplicate a specific individual the effect die suffers a -2 penalty, with any twists generated indicating flaws in the imitation.  You can always revert to your default form for free, without using an action.


Designer Note

Mister Machine started out as Mister Maker to avoid duplicating an in-print villain name, but after due consideration I'm shifting back to my original (and much preferred) name for the guy.  The original Mister Machine was a creation of Jack "the King" Kirby in the pages of 2001: A Space Odyssey, and later had his name changed to Machine Man and continues to appear in Marvel Comics to this day.  While the two characters are very different, consider this an homage to the King, who'd I'd like to think would approve of my own efforts here.


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Friday, April 28, 2023

Horde, Is That A Villain Or A Platoon Of Agents?

Another experiment with doing something different with villain approaches.  Focused villains usually rely on one very strong Energy/Element ability, with half their potential abilities revolving around E/E effects.  This guy?  He makes more of himself.  A lot more.  The only energy blasts are coming from all the zap pistols they're pointing at you.  

Horde

The man (men?) known as Horde was originally Jason Graham, an experimental physicist and cousin to Jamie Small, aka the villain Miniac.  Jason's own powers stem from him attempting to save his relative from a life of super-crime by inventing an "embiggening" device that would counteract the deleterious effects of Miniac's own technology.  Following in his cousin's footsteps he opted to test a prototype mechanism on himself, with disastrous results.  Rather than his space distortion device producing a growth effect as expected, it instead triggered a quantum duplication cascade, filling the lab with copies of himself whose psyches were linked on the subatomic level.  Jamie Small had been driven mad by resizing his own brain repeatedly.  Jason Graham lost his own mind by having it subdivided a thousand-fold in an instant.

Graham has since followed in the same trajectory as his older cousin, adopting the supranym Horde and building a reputation as a technically-skilled but somewhat unstable villain.  He's crossed paths with Miniac a few times but never worked with him, and relations between them are frosty.  Miniac thinks Horde was a fool for attempting to develop an embiggening device ("It obviously couldn't work, the science is ludicrous!") and Horde thinks his cousin is an ungrateful blowhard who refuses to admit the superiority of Graham's own scientific genius.

Horde's powers let him not only make stable duplicates of himself that can last hours or even days if produced in small numbers, he can also instantaneously manifest dozens, even hundreds of transient copies, which flicker in and out of existence when he uses Living Barricade or Massed Attacks.  His Duplication is now an innate power, having been baked into his subatomic structure during the initial accident.  He's also weaponized a variant of the technology, building his space-distortion pistols with their agonizing rays powered by Horde's own energies - which conveniently makes them useless to foes if he (or his duplicates) get disarmed.  If Horde was more mentally stable he'd be a terrifying menace, but he's easily distracted and far too quick to take chances to be an A tier threat despite his raw potential.       

Description: Tall, loose-limbed man in a bulky outfit that resembles a silver hazmat suit without the headgear, carrying a pair of strange-looking wide-mouthed energy pistols.  His boots, gauntlets, gun belt, holsters and inevitable equipment pouches are matte black.  He has a booming voice that trembles with excitement most of the time and a manic gleam in his eyes.  The more duplicates he has active the more hyperactive he becomes - and the worse his impulse control gets.     

Gender: Male                 Age: 35                 Height: 6'1"                Eyes: Brown, Lunatic Stare

Hair: Black, Close-Cut Beard                      Skin: Caucasian                 Build: Gangly

Approach:  Focused                      Archetype:  Legion

Health:  10 + (5 x H)

Powers: Duplication d12, Inventions d8

Qualities: Leadership d10, Manic Criminal Scientist d8, Ranged Combat d8 

Status: (# of Legion Minions) 0 - d12 / 1-2 - d10 / 3-4 - d8 / 5-8 - d6 / 9+ - d4

Abilities:

Duplication Effect (A) Roll your single status die.  Deal yourself that much irreducible damage.  Create that many d6 Legion minions.

Energy Reverberation (R) When one of your minions is destroyed, roll its die and Recover that much Health.

Imperfect Teamwork (I) Whenever multiple Legion minions all take the same action against the same target, you must roll all their dice at once and use the lowest rolling die amongst them for each minion's result on that action.

Living Barricade (A) Defend yourself using Duplication.  This Defend lasts until your next turn.  If an Attack deals more damage than the value of the Defend, Attack the Attacker using the value of the Defend and then end the Defend.

Massed Attacks (A) Attack one target using Duplication.  Use your Max die.  That target cannot Defend or use reactions against this Attack.  Attack multiple other targets using your Min die.

Space-Distortion Ray (A) Hinder one target using Inventions.  Use your Max die.  Attack that target using your Mid die. 

Upgrades & Masteries (usually in play):

Power Boost (I) +20 Health.  Increase all Power dice sizes by one (max d12).  Add the following ability:  Resilient Duplicates (I) Whenever a Legion minion with a die size greater than d4 rolls a save against physical damage, instead of the normal effects if it succeeds it splits into two minions, each of one smaller die size, and you take 1 irreducible damage.  If it fails its save, it is only reduced one die size rather than being destroyed, and you take 1 irreducible damage.

Master of Superiority (I) As long as you are manifesting an effect related to a power you have at d12, automatically succeed at an Overcome involving usage of those powers.

Tactics

Horde is an enthusiastic (some would say manic) combatant, always happy for an excuse to duplicate himself and start blazing away with his space-distorter pistol.  He invariably starts by using Duplication Effect, repeating it whenever his minion count drops below half a dozen even when his Health is low.  His Legion minions are handicapped by Imperfect Teamwork but (with his upgrade in effect, which it usually is) made a bit more durable by Resilient Duplicates.  Horde inevitably uses his Energy Reverberation reaction at the first opportunity every round.  He should probably stay safe behind Living Barricade while his minions do the work, but if he gets excited he'll switch to Massed Attacks instead.  Enemies with strong multi-target abilities will be singled out for a targeted Space-Distortion Ray if possible - and if Horde is still fighting rationally.

His mastery works any time he has minions active, making him (them, really) very good at Overcomes.  His upgrade changes his minion tactics enormously.  Without it they want to divide each type of action around between targets to minimize Imperfect Teamwork's drawbacks.  With it, they can use Attack actions in pairs on each other, aiming to roll as low as possible so that the resulting saves split d6 minions into pairs of d4s instead.  Visually this looks like two of them grabbing a third and pulling until they split in half.  This can backfire occasionally but Horde's duplicates are as much danger junkies as he is so they'll often do this so their creator doesn't have to use Duplication Effect so often.  With their small die sizes they often focus on putting out lots of small mods through Boost and Hinder actions, which are minimally affected by taking the lowest roll if they need to stack up on one target.


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Tuesday, April 25, 2023

The Evermind, An Infinite Being

My stable of villains is a bit light on classic cosmic powerhouse types, so here's an example complete with their personal lair/environment and the time-displaced victims that serve as its playthings.

The Evermind

The Evermind is a cosmic entity that claims to possess an infinite existence, having access to all of time and space at will.  Its motivations are poorly understood at best and its scientific and technological skills are so advanced as to seem magical, but it maintains an inexplicable interest in the Earth and events in its history.  Any meddling with time has a chance to attract its attention and intervention, although it seems to be equally likely to act to destructively alter the known timeline as it is to maintain it.  Other appearances are completely unexplained although frequently associated with individuals or even small populations going missing from the vicinity during the event.  

When it does appear, the Evermind is often accompanied by its mobile headquarters, the Impossible Pyramid.  Even without the stronghold the fabric of spacetime seems to be strained by its mere presence, twisting more mundane environments to suit.  Several other powerful beings and time travelers have become associated with the Evermind over time, including Atomattack, Johnny Crisis, Carronade and 4-Cite.  The mad mega-genius Mordecai Mentallax claims that the Evermind is actually a future version of himself from an alternate timeline that he hasn't yet brought into being.  Mister Incredible is arrogant enough to make the same claim about himself, a source of contention between the two villainous inventors.  The cosmic being itself remains conspicuously silent on the subject.     

Description: A strange figure like some cosmic infant, with a massive egglike head that dwarfs the slender, sexless child-sized body that hangs below it.  It has a comparatively small, impassive face with three large, star-filled eyes, and its skin is gleaming silver.  The creature seems to ignore gravity, floating slowly but effortlessly.  A palpable aura of unnatural menace accompanies every word it speaks in its high, piping voice.

Gender: Beyond Such Concepts       Age: Ageless       Height: 8'2"       Eyes: Three Black Voids

Hair: None                           Skin: Silver                       Build: Enormously Macrocephalic 

Approach: Ancient                   Archetype: Domain

Health:  60 + (5 x H)

Powers: Cosmic d12, Postcognition d10, Precognition d10, Awareness d8

Qualities: Science d12, Technology d12, Imposing d10, Alertness d8, Infinite Being d8

Status: (# of Environmental targets/challenges) 3+ - d10 / 1-2 - d8 / 0 - d6

Abilities:

Consume Timespan (A) Roll any number of environment minion dice and Recover that much Health.  Remove those minions.

Outside Infinity (I) Ignore damage from an environment source during the environment's turn.

Rejected Reality (R) Take 1 irreducible damage to reroll the dice pool of someone Attacking or Hindering you.

Twist Spacetime (A) Activate one of the environment's twists in its current zone or one zone closer to the Red.

Universal Entropy (A) Hinder multiple targets using Cosmic.  Use your Max die.  Attack each of those targets using your Mid + Min dice.

Upgrades & Masteries (always):

Defense Shield (I) You cannot be damaged by anything except yourself until the defense shield is destroyed.  The shield has 40 Health, or can be deactivated with three Overcome successes.  If a hero takes a minor twist working on the shield, you can use a Reaction to Attack that hero by rolling your single Precognition die.  Gain Reestablish Shield (A) Overcome using Cosmic.  Use your Max die.  On a success remove one success from the deactivation challenge.  Alternatively, instead of an Overcome, use your Max die to Recover that much of the shield's Health.  This ability cannot be used if the shield has been completely removed.

Master of Mad Science (A) As long as you have access to materials, automatically succeed at an Overcome by using scientific principles and inventions.

Tactics

The Evermind is contemptuous of mortal beings, and even most immortals don't impress it much.  If confronted with hostile inferiors it prefers to toy with them by using Twist Spacetime to use the environment against them, especially within its Impossible Pyramid lair.  It makes regular use of Rejected Reality to reset an opponent's personal timeline when threatened, knowing it can restore its own vitality using Consume Timeline if need be.  Outside Infinity makes it immune to most damage during the environment turn, albeit not from anything triggered during its own turn.  When angered or seriously damaged, the Evermind will make repeated uses of Universal Entropy to defeat its foes with the power of time itself.

Its upgrade is a shell of static time that makes it much harder to harm until dispersed, while its mastery represents its near-omniscient knowledge at work.   

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Impossible Pyramid environment

The mobile stronghold of the Evermind is a flying inverted pyramid whose four faces are composed of Penrose triangles, and the interior is even less comprehensible to denizens of linear time and three-dimensional space.  Visitors (voluntary or otherwise) will confronted with time-displaced entities from across infinity, strange fluctuations in personal timestreams, and exotic energies that defy conventional physical laws.  Simply navigating the shifting spaces of the place can be a challenge to heroes. 

Infinite Energies d12, Disrupted Realities d10, Temporal Portals d10

Green Zone

(Minor Twists - all of these scale up in effect as the scene tracker advances)

Strange Phenomena: Roll the environment dice.  Hinder and Defend all hero targets.  Use the Min die if the scene tracker is in the Green zone, the Mid die if in Yellow, and the Max die if in Red.

Time Warp: Roll the environment dice.  If the effect die is even, use it to Boost all environment targets until the start of the next environment turn.  If the effect die is odd, use it to Hinder all environment targets until the start of the next environment turn.   Use the Min die if the scene tracker is in the Green zone, the Mid die if in Yellow, and the Max die if in Red.

Unnatural Acceleration: Roll the environment dice.  Attack and Boost all heroes and villains.  Use the Min die if the scene tracker is in the Green zone, the Mid die if in Yellow, and the Max die if in Red.

(Major Twist)

Baffling Distortions: Roll a d4 for each hero that has not completed the Achieve Understanding challenge (see below) and move that hero to location that matches the result.

Yellow Zone

(Minor Twists)

Portals To Infinity: Roll the environment dice.  Add Mid die Time-Lost Warrior minions (see below) to the scene.

Threat From Beyond: Add a single Menace From Infinity lieutenant to the scene.

(Major Twist)

Temporal Pulsation: Trigger two different Green or Yellow environmental twists, one after another.

Red Zone

(Minor Twist)

Forever War: Roll the environment dice.  Add Max die Time-Lost Warrior minions (see below) to the scene.

(Major Twist)

Temporal Exploit: Roll the environment dice.  Increase the die size of all environment minions and lieutenants by one size (max d12).  All villain targets recover Health equal to the Max die.  Add a number of Red zone boxes to the scene tracker equal to the result of the Min die (max 3 extra boxes).

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Scene Layout

The interior of the Impossible Pyramid contains five discrete locations, each of which is a dimensionally confusing Escher-esque space filled with bizarre machinery and large enough for characters to seek cover, maneuver for advantage, forcibly reposition foes, etc.  Moving between locations is difficult without first completing the challenge below, which can be attempted in any location.

Achieve Understanding 0

Each hero must Overcome this challenge independently.  Until they have, moving to a new location by any means takes that hero to a random location other than the Sanctum, which can include the one they were trying to leave (roll ad4 to determine where they wind up).  Once a hero has Overcome this challenge they can move anywhere in the environment on their turn without using their action, bringing along any other willing heroes that start in the same location for free if desired.

Villain and environment targets move between locations via the normal rules, although the Evermind moves for free (it rarely leaves the Sanctum unless pursuing fleeing heroes).

1: First Facet Access Portals - This is the starting location for heroes when the scene begins.  You may take an Overcome action to use the exotic mechanisms found here to trigger a Temporal Purge in this location.  If successful, all environment targets in this location are removed from the scene and all hero targets in this location lose Health equal to your Mid die.

2: Second Facet Augmentation Chambers - If you take a Boost action targeting yourself in this location, you may use the strange technology found here add a +2 bonus to an effect die but lose Health equal to your Min die.

3: Third Facet Space Folding Labyrinth - Overcome actions taken in the Achieve Understanding challenge in this location suffer a -2 penalty.  Defend actions taken in this location receive a +2 bonus. 

4: Fourth Facet Entropy Engines - Attack actions taken in this location receive a +2 bonus.  Any Health Recovery in this location is reduced by 2. 

5: The Sanctum - Can only be moved to by a hero who has completed the Achieve Understanding challenge, possibly leading other heroes there at the same time.  Heroes in this location can attempt the following challenge: Temporal Reset 000  When completed, roll the environment dice.  Remove all environment targets from the scene.  Deal damage equal to the Max die to all targets in the scene.  Then reset the scene tracker to the first space in the Yellow zone.  This challenge can only be completed once per scene.

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Time-Lost Warrior d8 minion

Description: Drawn from across all of infinity, these a wild mix of soldiers from countless wars, violent criminals, primitive hunter-gathers, hostile aliens, dangerous predatory animals, killer robots, post-apocalyptic mutants and stranger things.  Utterly confused by their current situation, they're functioning on blind instinct at this point.  While they aren't individually powerful, they are dangerous in numbers - and their numbers are infinite.

Hostile to Everyone: You may only take Attack actions, and treat all targets outside of your minion group as enemies.  

Wild Attacks: Whenever you roll an odd result on your die during your turn, reduce the die size of one nearby enemy minion by one (minimum d4).  Whenever you roll the maximum possible result on your die during your turn reduce the die size of one nearby enemy lieutenant by one (minimum d4).

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Menace From Infinity d10 lieutenant

Description: Any of a variety of more dangerous threats from all across time and space, from dinosaurs, armored vehicles and alien beasts to military-grade mecha, bio-engineered monstrosities and cyborg super-soldiers.  Each is serious danger by itself, and as unremittingly hostile as other time-lost warriors.

Counterattack: When you fail a save against damage from an Attack, the Attacker takes damage equal to your save result.

Indiscriminate Aggression: You may only take Attack actions, and treat all other targets as enemies.  When you Attack, you may roll your dice twice and use the lower of the two rolls to Attack all nearby enemy targets.

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Design Notes

This is an uncommonly tough villain and a complex environment and the scene locations have a number of further complications for the heroes to deal with.  Just what's written here should count as about four medium or two difficult scene elements, so unless you have a large group adding more villains or other threats might be overkill.  There are several things that may alter the way the scene tracker usually advances, so don't be surprised if the heroes wind up with more time to work with than usual - and a lot of it in the Red zone.


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Monday, April 24, 2023

House Rules & Maunderings Index

This is a sub-index covering all the house rules and other general maunderings that appear on this blog.  You can find links to all the other sub-indices on the main Blog Content Index page.


House Rules

Tweaking Your Characters For Bad Nineties Comics - The final post of Bad nineties Comics Week

You'll Pay For This, Hero! - Nemesis house rules


Maunderings

A Musing On Powers - Discussion of why Tunneling isn't in the game, and why it might not really need to be

Designing An Action Scene, Part 1 - An overview of my process for designing and prepping an action scene, completed in the second part

Designing An Action Scene, Part 2 - The crunchy mechanical half of my scene prep along with some after-action commentary 

More Maunderings: Types of Scene Elements - A look at what each of the five types of scene elements contribute to an action scene

Other Sentinel Comics Online Resources - Index of links to other online discussions, podcasts, and resources for the game

The Other Kind of Character Advancement: Hero Points And Their Uses -  Also includes some suggested house rules for modifying the way some of the alternate reward s function

The Sentinel Comics RPG Advancement System Is Seriously Misunderstood - How characters grow and change over time in the game

Sentinel Comics RPG Gameplay Overview Part 1: Basic Ingredients - Start of a series looking at gameplay, starting with a review of the three scene types and how they differ

Sentinel Comics RPG Gameplay Overview Part 2: Putting A Session Together - An examination of how to prep and sequence different scenes types, with practical examples of starting points for a session  

Tweaking Your Characters For Bad Nineties Comics - The final post of Bad nineties Comics Week.

Twists In the Sentinel Comics RPG - Discussion of the many uses for twists and why you shouldn't be afraid to take them

Urban History And Your Roleplaying Campaign - Adding more character to your campaign's home city

Villain Design Analysis: Approaches Part 1 - Start of a series, covers Adaptive and Ancient Approaches

Villain Design Analysis: Approaches Part 2 - Covers the Bully and Creator Approaches

Villain Design Analysis: Approaches Part 3 - Covers Dampening and Disruptive Approaches

Villain Design Analysis: Approaches Part 4 - Covers Focused and Generalist Approaches

Villain Design Analysis: Approaches Part 5 - Covers Leech and Mastermind Approaches

Villain Design Analysis: Approaches Part 6 - Covers Ninja and Overpowered Approaches

Villain Design Analysis: Approaches Part 7 - Covers Prideful and Relentless Approaches

Villain Design Analysis: Approaches Part 8 - Covers Skilled and Specialized Approaches

Villain Design Analysis: Approaches Part 9 - Covers Tactician and Underpowered Approaches

Villain Design Analysis: Archetypes Part 1 - Covers Bruiser and Domain Archetypes

Villain Design Analysis: Archetypes Part 2 - Covers Formidable, Fragile and Guerrilla Archetypes

Villain Design Analysis: Archetypes Part 3 - Covers Indomitable, Inhibitor and Inventor Archetypes

Villain Design Analysis: Archetypes Part 4 - Covers Legion, Loner and Overlord Archetypes

Villain Design Analysis: Archetypes Part 5 - Covers Predator, Squad and Titan Archetypes

Villain Design Analysis: Upgrades - Covers all Upgrades, including a pair of homebrew ideas

Villain Design Analysis: Masteries - Covers Masteries and adds a few new suggestions

Villain Design Analysis: Final Thoughts - Wrapping up this lengthy series of posts

Villains: More Than The Sum Of Their Abilities - Things your villains can do in an action scene beyond their usual abilities

Villainy Unpublished: A Blog Introduction - The one that started it all


Superheroes Index

This is a sub-index covering all the superheroes that appear on this blog.  You can find links to all the other sub-indices on the main Blog Content Index page.


Superheroes

AA Jane - Amnesiac alien abductee and technological expert

Agent Augur - Telepathic espionage agent, team leader of the Syracuse Seven

Alchemetron the Astounding - Magical robot and master of science magic!

Big MAC - Power armored hero from an apocalyptic alternate timeline

Captain Brass and Corragioso - Clockwork hero and faithful steed

Cormorant - Reformed minor supervillain and amphibious flyer

Doc Paragon - Peak physical specimen and scholar of the bizarre

Doctor Atomico - Two different versions of the same nuclear-powered hero

Doctor October - Supernatural champion of justice and walking Halloween hotspot

Emo G - Young gangbuster with a complex Divided Form-Changer build

Florida Man - Whatever you're expecting is probably wrong

Go-Go Girl - 1960s flower child speedster

Go-Go Robo - Hippie fembot super-speedster

Jack Doyle, the Chronologist - Ex-supercriminal with the ability to see through time

FourEver - Elementally-themed mystical form-changer

Joe Cosmic - Multi-state form-changer specializing in density manipulation and cosmic energy

Justifier - Mysterious shapeshifting crimefighter, member of the Syracuse Seven

Knack - Genius drone creator hero, wife of Longhair and mother of Leaping Lizard

KO Clown - Animated cartoon clown from the 1930s, now fighting crime in the 2020s, member of the Syracuse Seven

Leaping Lizard - Young genius who turned himself into an anthropomorphic lizard to fight crime better, member of the Syracuse Seven

Longhair - Genius gadgeteer tech-hero, husband of Knack and father of Leaping Lizard 

Major Patriot - Nineties edgelord hero based on the art from page 134 of the core book.

The Malleable Man - He's not stretching, he's just warping the fabric of spacetime

Marshal Starblaze - Boringly efficient healer and defender that's none too bad at offense either

Meteoric - Multi-role speedster, flyer, and super-strong brick all rolled into one, member of the Syracuse Seven

Midas - Newborn AI minion-maker haunted by a legion of ghosts

The Mighty Bullfrog - Original & retconned heroic versions of the reformed villain

Mister Corundum - Quick-thinking alien brick and tactical expert, member of the Syracuse Seven

Mister Maximum - Bombastic Golden Age strongman who's returned to the hero business in the modern day after a long stretch where he'd lost his powers

Ray D8 - Young superhero who's been through some rough times

Scintillator - Slightly supernatural blaster with some tech-tricks up her non-existent sleeves, member of the Syracuse Seven

Scofflaw - Rogue corporate cyborg and vigilante hero

Sergeant Adamant - Patriotic ex-military bionic hero

Sister Maximum - Inheritor to Mister Maximum's powers, once a hippy activist, now a cosmic hero

Stalwart - Size-changing strong-woman with a few tricks up her sleeves

Storm Howler - Time-displaced werewolf warlock

Stormseer - Mysterious supermage with a magical artifact filling one eye socket

The Tourist From Yuggoth - Metamorphing alien visitor to Earth

Troubleshooter - Super-intelligent alien firearm and the guy who carries it

Upshift - Heroic mutant speedster and web content creator

Valentina - Magical minion-maker and Nineties Mary Sue fan service model

Vigilante Z - Young Gangbuster and Master Detective

Supervillains Index

This is a sub-index covering all the supervillains that appear on this blog.  You can find links to all the other sub-indices on the main Blog Content Index page.  Even as a sub-index this has gotten unwieldy due to the number of entries, so it's been broken down alphabetically into further sub-sub-indices.


Supervillains

A through D and numerical characters

E through L

M through R

S through Z


Blog Content Index

Teams & Organizations Index

This is a sub-index covering all the teams and organizations that appear on this blog.  You can find links to all the other sub-indices on the main Blog Content Index page.


Teams and Organizations

Blitz Company - Mechanized raiding force from a post-apocalyptic alternate future

The Camera Crew - Apparently legit journalists, actually out to destroy the heroes' public image

Carronade & the Brute Suit Boys - Crew of villains with far-future technology, former inmates who escaped in the same prison break

The Court of Entropy - Otherworldly demon-king and his inner circle of advisors

Crew of the Ardent Pursuit of Fortune - A notorious space pirate band

The Deadly Duo - A pair of gun-loving hero-hunter hitmen

DOOM - Mystical terrorist conspiracy with a mysterious acronym 

The Fearsome Foursome - A quartet of villains with a common origin and diverse powers

Fireteam Firestorm - Irradiated former mercenaries breaking into the supervillain business

The Force Multipliers - Irregular group of minion-spawning villains

Galactic Gladiator Circuit - Alien space gladiators galore

The Green Devil Army - Fanatical paramilitary militia group

Gryla's Family - Icelandic mythological man-eaters

JustX Action Group 77 - Mutants rights activist cell

Klass K - Group of alternate reality villain trainees on a field trip with their teacher

The Loud Crowd - Somewhat disorganized band of villains with a common origin and sonic powers

The Masters Family - Superhuman rulers of the island nation of Herralund

Military Forces of Underland - A representative selection of the armed services of an underground realm

New Rome Movement - Network of dupes obsessed with with past glories, controlled by Julius Caesar lookalike

The Odds - Diverse group of unfortunate villains pursuing a similar goal...for now

The Pentagram - Five-person villain team working for a larger organization

The Purple Gang - Unit of interchangeable power-armored mercenaries

Redd Hott & Fever Dream - Duo of skilled villainesses with a long history

The Seven Sea-Masters - A loose coalition of sea-going supervillains

SEVER - Superhuman EValuation and ERadication, a covert organization bent on fighting the menace of "superfreaks"

SIN - Science Integration Network, conspiracy of fringe scientists seeking to establish a worldwide technocracy 

Strain Zeta - An outbreak of dangerous macro-organisms

Synchron Supremacy Military Forces - Interstellar invasion forces from a galactic superpower

Syracuse Seven - Heroes and villains inspired by (and ported from) an old Tiny d6 Supers game

Team Paragon - Investigators of exotic mysteries

Those Two Idiots - Two racist morons

The Three Bears - Bizarre trio of animalistic superfreaks

The Three Masters - Trio of anachronistic martial artists from 69AD 

The Tri-City Foursome - Small-town superhero team

Triple Threat Gang - Street gang led by a trio of minor villains

Two From Hell - A demonologist and her "friend"

Two Are A Crowd - A pair of self-duplicating villains who can flood the scene with clones

The Weiss Organization - Publicly respectable security and PMC firm with some sinister secrets

Lieutenants Index

This is a sub-index covering all the lieutenants that appear on this blog.  You can find links to all the other sub-indices on the main Blog Content Index page.


Lieutenants

AA Jane - Amnesiac alien abductee and technological expert

ACE Rig - Combat exoskeleton built for heavy combat against super-powered foes

Adepts of DOOM - Spellcasting cell leaders in the mystical DOOM conspiracy

Alchemetron the Astounding - Magical robot and master of science magic!

Baronial Guard - Tough defensive henchmen with tech-enhanced archaic weaponry

Battle-Car - Autonomous robot disguised as a civilian vehicle

Big Junker - Hefty specialized robot built out of scrapped materials

Blank Slate - Generic clone template awakened before it was finished, highly adaptive

Blitz-Wagon - Ramshackle post-apocalyptic war machine, bristling with guns and loaded with raiders

Boss Thug - Low-grade criminal leader

Breacher Combot - Heavy robot optimized for spaceship boarding actions, good at bodyguard duties

Camera One, Two, or Three - Downrated forms of the Camera Crew villains

Cavern Coodinator - Low-rank military leader, good at motivating the troops

The Clown Car - "Adorable" toy car full of trouble

Companion Guard - Elite Brulgovian bodyguard

COPP Trooper - Basic corporate cyborg law enforcer in a dystopian setting

Cormorant - Reformed minor supervillain and amphibious flyer

D-List Supervillain - Low-quality super or high-quality henchman, you decide

"Deadly SIN" Operative - Dangerous leader for lesser agents of SIN

The Devil's Dozen - Elite cadre of hardened killers, baneful companions of Othar Kurst

Doc Paragon - Peak physical specimen and scholar of the bizarre

Eidolon_1.0 - Improved robotic shell for an embodied technoviral AI

Empowered Addict - Berserker lackeys of Professor Pusher

Exemplar_1.0 - Superior robotic shell for an embodied technoviral AI

"Fallen Angel" Operative - Airborne strike leader for the Angels of SIN

Fanatical Cape-Hunter - Well-armed hero-hunter, out for blood

Fire Angel - Angelic appearance, fiery temperament, too hot to handle

FNG - Highly unstable radioactive super-mercenary, backup for Fireteam Firestorm

Giant Mutant Rat - Frenzied monstrous vermin

Glomp Gator - Zombified swamp critters controlled by a viral Overmind

Heavyweight Combat Robot - Intimidating automaton

Hexxus Juvenile - Immature version of the adult Hexxus Alpha bioweapon

Hot New Character - In their first appearance, no less

Hyper-Speed Henchman - Unstable speedster headed for a burnout

Infernoids - Moderately powerful elemental entities from a dimension of flame

Jack Doyle, the Chronologist - Ex-supercriminal with the ability to see through time

Knight of Ruin - Demon servants of the Court of Entropy

Kopykat - Cloned duplicate of another superhuman

Lesser Dreadmorph - Shapeshifting alien monsters

Li'l Super-Fan - Duplicates of their impish creator, right down to being irritating as heck

Lunar War-Wolves - Synthetic lycanthrope super-soldiers...on the Moon!

Mask-Bearer - Specialized lieutenant who's carrying around the Effigy of the God-King's face

Menace From Infinity - Lost in time and space and indiscriminately aggressive

The Moseby Twins - A pair of mad scientists whose self-experimentation has made them dangerously powerful both to their enemies and to themselves

Mystery Mirror - Unnatural artifact from a lost reality, bent on warping our own

Personal Physician - Elite medical support for Brulgovian VIPs

Phantom Officer - Spectral naval officer

Procurator Zad - Sleazy alien fight promoter

Psi-Spy - Military-trained psychic mutants with a knack for Overcoming problems

Razzle & Dazzle - Twin android clowns for double the coulrophobia 

Run-Down or Homemade Combat Vehicle - Outdated, beat-up, and generally not safe to operate

Savior RSRD - "Good guy" version of the Savior drone, for times when it isn't being hijacked by a criminal

"Science Crime" Operative - Oddly-dressed agents of a technologically-minded criminal organization, have access to a variety of advanced gear and training

Sea Raven - Minor supervillain and amphibious flyer, reforms to become Cormorant

Second String Gladiators - A miscellany of C-list alien brawlers with showy fighting styles

Section Leader - Low-ranking officer of the Brulgovian military

Series-7 Peacekeeper - High-end guard robot for super-prisoners, lieutenant version

SEVER Agent - Fanatically anti-supers agent with specialized gear and leadership training

Shambling Horror - Undead Frankenstein's monster

Ship's Captain - Really helpful heroic ally, even when his ship is sinking

Sorcerous Thrall - Undead spellcaster

Strain Zeta Conglomerate - Medium-sized mass of giant flesh-eating protozoa

Supremacy Heavy Support Asset - Collection of high-tech military vehicles from a galactic superpower

Torch-Girl - Budding young villainess, sidekick to her father Firebug

The Tourist From Yuggoth - Metamorphing alien visitor to Earth

Triple Threat Soldiers - Street gang sub-bosses

Type 1 Demon - Old School vulture demon

Underland Lordling - Dangerously skilled duelist, master of fencing sabre and honor pistol

Warped Doppelganger - Evil duplicate version of a specific superhero

War Tripod - Heavily armed three-legged alien combat vehicle

War-Wolves - Lesser versions of the full villain super-soldier werewolf writeup

Weiss Mutant Operative - Medium-powered mutant agents of a shady security company

Z-Trooper Commander - Seasoned Golden Age German officer, skilled at keeping his troops on the move


Minions Index

This is a sub-index covering all the minions that appear on this blog.  You can find links to all the other sub-indices on the main Blog Content Index page.


Minions

Afterglow Duplicate - Perfect but short-lived copies of Afterglow

Agent of SIN - Foot soldier of a technocratic conspiracy

Angels of SIN - Airborne soldiers of a technocratic conspiracy

Armed Patron - Ferris wheel rider with a gun

Ash Cloud - Malicious entity composed of choking smoke and embers

Avatar_1.0/2.0/3.0 - Basic humanoid shells for an embodied technoviral AI

Bandit-Bear - Adorable three foot tall cartoon bears with ludicrously big guns

Bloodwing Construct - Bat-winged horrors out for blood

Bloody Ink Monster - Horrifying animated tattoo

Bow-Bot - Robot archer with high-tech arrows

Brulgovian Soldier - Rank and file trooper in the Brulgovian military

Capacitor Drone - Specialized robotic assistant to Negator in their crusade against supers

Carny Worker - Pugnacious roustabout

Cavern Commandos - Well-trained subterranean soldiers

Cohort-Drone - Networked training robots, highly efficient in large numbers

Companion Guard - National defenders of Herralund - and the Masters Family

Crazed Animals - Natural creatures driven berserk by fear

Cringing Lackey - Low-tier New Rome Movement follower

Crisis Actor - Bad publicity on two legs

Depleted Fodder - Victims of Vestige's reality siphoning

Desperate Survivor - Ordinary people gone berserk, potential heroic allies if reasoned with  

Despoiler Icon - Animated masses of urban infrastructure bent on tearing the rest of the city down

Devout Subject - Mentally-dominated worshipper of the Effigy of the God-King

Dimensional Doppelganger - Lookalikes from another universe

Doppel-Drone - Lookalike training drones disguised as innocents or even your fellow heroes

Dread Spirit - Incorporeal ghost, very mobile

Dreadspawn - Dangerous shapeshifting xenofauna

Dumb Thugs with Super-Guns - Everyday mooks armed with guns from the year 5000, sometimes they even hit what they shoot at

Emergency Response Drone - Search & rescue drones, at least while they aren't being controlled by criminals instead 

Everyday Thug - Petty criminal playing at innocence, but not very well

Five Venoms Swarm - Miscellany of toxic vermin, servants of Master Five Venoms

Gang Tough - Vicious thugs, more effective the more of them there are

Ghostlight - Phantasmal will o'wisps from another dimension

Glomp Zombie - Zombified civilians controlled by a viral Overmind

Grapple-Drone - Nimble flying drones, well-provided with tentacles

Green Devil Army Trooper - Paramilitary militia grunt

Hapless Chump - Accident-prone minor cartoon character

Hippie Heisters - Criminal counterculture types from the 1960s

Imprisoner Corps Troopers - Soldiers with specialized gear and training for taking live prisoners

Infatuated Dupes - Low-grade thematic thugs

Infernoids - Minor elemental entities from a dimension of pure flame

Hexxus Newborn - Infant form of the Hexxus Alpha bioweapon

Junker - Specialized robots built out recycled parts

Lost Souls - Nothing special about them beyond the whole eternal damnation thing

Maritime Malefactor - Seafaring scofflaws looking to flee a sinking ship

Miracle Metal Minions - Specialized minions of the Awesome Agglomerator

Mooks & Jobbers - D-list alien space gladiators, mostly good at losing a fight

Morphic Androids - Humanoid robots capable of limiting shapeshifting

Mystery Goon - They're crossing over from a story that hasn't been published yet and probably never will be

Murder-Wheel - Pretty much the upper half of a Terminator welded to a motorized unicycle

Neo-Shark - Genetically-augmented aquatic predator

Ninja Genin - Low-ranking ninja, good at getting past security

Nuisance - Minor pests native to old cartoons

Otherworldy Invader - Cross-dimensional intruders bent on conquest

Pathetic Addict - Unfortunate "customers" of Professor Pusher

Petty Criminal - Generic henchmen for the discerning villain, not interested in a fight

Pirate Crew - Space pirates, that is, complete with jetpacks

Ranting Bigot - Loudmouthed cowards

Reanimated Corpse - Near-mindless undead, durable

Robo-Soldiers - Reliable, albeit predictable automated troopers

Robotic Minion - Networked mechanical hench-thing

Robotic Toy - Thematic mini-minions, more dangerous than they look

Salvaged Combot - Secondhand battle robots built for smash and grab raids, sturdy despite their beat-up appearance

Savage Rats - A swarm of dog-sized rats with an appetite and no sense of self-preservation

"Science Crime" Operative - Oddly-dressed agents of a technologically-minded criminal organization, toting high-tech weapons

Scuttling Vermin - Giant cockroaches, at least by cockroach standards 

Seaman's Spirit - Ghostly spirits of drowned sailors

Security Robot - Guard automata, very dangerous when working together

Security Staffer - Basic rent-a-cop

Servants of DOOM - Rank-and-file minor spellcasters of the mystical DOOM conspiracy

SEVER Agent - Anti-supers agent with specialized power-cancelling gear

Slaver Robots - Teleporting alien automatons specialized in capturing enemies

Smoking Soul - Toxic vaporous phantasms - or possibly stray atomic vortices

Soviet Mechanoid - Durable robot soldier from an alternate timeline

Stolid Myrmidon - New Rome Movement paramilitary soldier

Strange Entity - Eerie things from beyond the mundane realms

Strain Zeta Legion Spawn - Swarming mega-bacteria created by the gestalt form

Strain Zeta Macrobe - Giant flesh-eating protozoa

Super-Fan Copies - Swarming copycat imps trying to be "helpful"

Survivor - Demoralized survivors of an earlier disaster

Synchron Supremacy Troops - Infantry forces of a galactic superpower

Technician - Noncombatant lab worker

Techno-Barbarian - Mutant raider from a post-apocalyptic alternate future

Terrifying Reflection - Unnatural horrors from a lost reality of mirror dimensions

Time-Lost Warrior - Temporally displaced and hostile to everyone and everything around them

Triple Threat Gangers - Street gang rank and file

Twisted Reflection - Evil psychic copies of otherwise normal people

Typical Thug - Basic crook, works best with a little motivation

Undercover Agents - Well-trained operatives who can blend in to almost any environment

Unstable Protoid - Powerful but short-lived biotech constructs

Useful Puppet - Mid-tier New Rome Movement follower

Valued Henchman - Top-tier New Rome Movement follower

Weiss Combat Operative - Basic contracted mercenary solider

Weiss Covert Operative - Deniable paramilitary black ops asset

Weiss Public Operative - Distinctive white-suited professional security agent

Weiss Support Operative - Undercover command and communications specialist

Woodwolves - Animate plant life that preys on animals

Worthless Bootlicker - Weakest New Rome Movement follower

Yule Lad - Mythological troll pranksters who aren't as sweet as the tourist board would like

Z-Troopers - Golden Age German soldiers, cautious and well-trained

Captain Brass and Corragioso, Clockwork Constructs

I'll be needing two new PCs for our planned October one-off games, and this oddball is the one I'll be using for what's supposed...