Proof positive that not all publicity is good publicity.
The Camera Crew
The Camera Crew is a trio of de facto villains passing as a new, corporate-backed initiative to improve journalistic relations with the heroic community and provide better (and safer) news coverage to super-crises as they happen. The pitch seems reasonable on the surface. A crew of journalists equipped with protective power suits and advanced recording equipment? Plus they can project defensive holograms for added safety, making them able to operate much closer to a super-fight or disaster than conventional reporters without needing protection from heroes and law enforcement? The suits are equipped with jump jets and grapples for extra mobility, letting them reach optimal vantage points so the footage will be more useful for post-crime investigations? Agreements with city and state governments and even federal agencies already in place, protecting against civil liability claims? And their backers will provide public relations assistance to heroes who don't already have access to them? What's not to like?
Well, lots of things, because the corporation behind these three has nefarious plans.
Recordings of heroes in action will be collated and analyzed and then quietly offered for sale to select black market customers. This will let villains study fighting styles and tactics for weaknesses. The mechanical effect of this is the ability to gain significant bonuses against "studied" heroes when they trigger minor twists. Their use will usually be accompanied by the villain quipping that they've seen that trick before or that the hero did that better in the video, which hints at what's going on.
Videos will also be carefully tampered with to make the heroes look careless or inept, and any actual mistakes will be exaggerated if possible. Crisis actors will be seeded around dangerous situations to make things harder for the heroes, and "expendable" villains will be given covert support and nudged toward certain crimes at certain times when the Crew will be present. This doctored footage and faked interview material will be "reluctantly" given to legit news outlets and government officials as evidence of heroic wrongdoing.
Ultimately the plan is to ruin not only the PCs' reputation and effectiveness as crimefighters, but to taint the public opinion of heroes as a whole. The heroes might even find themselves outlawed and forced into true vigilantism, perhaps even hunted by their own former allies.
This probably won't come to pass in full. The players will likely smell something fishy and take proactive steps to investigate the Crew, or one of them (most likely Camera Two, who's the most unstable of the lot) will blow her cover and take the whole plot down with her. But the Crew's real backers are insulated by layers of corporate ownership and legal fictions, and if everything does end in disaster they'll see it as a learning experience. After a while they'll pick up the pieces and attempt another scheme, and they might even arrange for the Camera suits to wind up in the hands of criminals who can use them for more conventional villainy - perhaps even with their original operators, who are likely to have even more of a grudge against law and order than before.
Camera One
Koa Calimbas is a former indie film director who screwed up big time by releasing a documentary full of faked interviews and altered images that painted a popular hero team as violent thugs, apparently based on a personal grudge against them. He avoided jail, but the civil suit and bad publicity left him nearly penniless and unemployable. When he was offered a position on the Camera Crew he leapt at the opportunity, and has extended his previous dislike for a handful of heroes to the entire superhero community. He's not great at concealing his enmity, but usually stays buttoned up in his suit where he won't be recognized and can remain more socially remote. Koa is actually quite a competent filmmaker and really cares about the quality of his work, unlike his teammates.
His camera suit is optimized for projection, recording and sound effects, and he makes imaginative use of his illusions to mess with heroes and onlookers whenever he can get away with it. If it comes to a fight he has a very potent sonic attack backing up his other abilities.
Description: Outside of his suit, a rather slovenly-dressed middle-aged man of Hawaiian ancestry with strangely familiar features. Hey, is that the guy who directed that documentary about supers with all the faked footage?
In his suit, an anonymous figure in snug-fighting lightweight yellow power armor with a some black striping and a prominent black "ONE" printed vertically on the left side of the chest. The helmet is an opaque ovoid with an array of holo-camera recorder/emitter lenses and microphone grills covering the faceplate. A cluster of much larger lenses and mikes occupy the center of the chest and there are small mikes on the back of each gauntlet. His voice is disguised behind a vocal masking effect that gives it a mechanical tone.
Gender: Male Age: 35 Height: 5'10" Eyes: Brown
Hair: Shaved Scalp Skin: Hawaiian Tan Build: Broad-Shouldered
Approach: Skilled Archetype: Inventor
Health: 25 + (5 x H)
Powers: Illusions d10, Sonic d8, Power Suit d6
Qualities: Creativity d10, Stealth d10, Criminal Underworld Info d8, Disgraced Documentary Filmmaker d8, Investigation d8, Technology d8
Status: ( # of inventions & mods) 4+ - d12 / 2-3 - d10 / 1 - d8 / 0 - d6
Abilities:
Final Sound Check (A) Attack using Sonic and at least one bonus. Use your Max + Mid + Min dice and add all your bonuses to the total, destroying them.
Grand Artistic Vision (A) Hinder multiple targets using Creativity. Use your Max die. If you roll doubles, Attack each of those targets using your Mid die.
One-Man Crew (A) Take any basic action. Use your Max die. Recover Health equal to your Mid die.
Set the Scene (A) Boost using Illusions. Use your Max die. Boost again using your Mid die, then either make one of those bonuses persistent and exclusive, or Attack with your Min die.
Upgrades & Masteries (optional):
Mook Squad +0 Health. Gain Extras On Set (A) Replenish your minions up to the number of heroes in the scene.
Master of Enforced Order (I) If you have complete control over your surroundings, automatically succeed in an Overcome to organize rabble to accomplish a task.
Tactics
Camera One is the auteur of the group and has the most skill at tweaking scenes to make the heroes look incompetent or overly violent. If left alone he's as likely to spend actions on Overcomes to serve that purpose or (with his upgrade) order the extras around, usually starting with Set the Scene for a good persistent bonus on himself and a regular bonus to either keep or hand off to Camera Two. If forced to fight, he'll rely on Grand Artistic Vision to confound (and possibly harm) foes at first, switching to One-Man Crew if injured. At a dramatically appropriate moment he'll pick a particularly troublesome hero and single them out for a brutal Final Sound Check hit.
His upgrade gives him a steady supply of extras to use, and the mastery to get them to follow his directions flawlessly.
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Camera Two
Kansas Washington (her middle name is City) is a former private investigator who lost her license and five years of freedom when she was caught running a blackmail scheme. Thoroughly unethical and interested only in money, she only got on to the Camera Crew because she was a former cellmate of Janell Wittson (see below), who owed her some favors and appreciated the idea of having some muscle on the team just in case. She doesn't have any particular beef with superheroes in general, but she's no great fan either and her short temper and borderline paranoia makes her the most likely person to break cover and start a real fight. She never opens up her suit around outsiders if she can avoid it, and uses her PI skills to avoid tails and surveillance when in her civilian ID. On the other hand, she's also the most likely Crew member to take a bribe to reveal what's really going on - if you haven't made her mad.
She doesn't use her suit as well as her teammates, but is good at sneaking in "accidental" hits that look like they came from some other source. Her loadout is optimized for lighting effects, holo-projection and recording snap shots, which also makes it a walking arsenal of laser weaponry if a battle starts - whether Kansas starts it or not.
Description: Outside of her suit, a powerfully built African-American woman with a cold look in her eyes and several small facial scars from past brawls. She's fond of men's clothing (especially a noir PI look) and could easily be mistaken for a man at first glance, which is a great way to tick her off right from word one.
In her suit, an anonymous and androgynous figure in snug-fighting lightweight bright orange power armor with a some black striping and a prominent black "TWO" printed vertically on the left side of the chest. The helmet is an opaque ovoid with an array of holo-camera recorder/emitter lenses covering the faceplate. A single very large lens occupies the center of the chest and there are small lenses on the back of each gauntlet. Her voice is disguised behind a vocal masking effect that gives it a mechanical tone, further increasing of misgendering her and getting on her bad side.
Gender: Female Age: 33 Height: 5'10" Eyes: Brown
Hair: Deep Brown Skin: Mahogany Brown Build: Gym Gal
Approach: Leech Archetype: Inventor
Health: 25 + (5 x H)
Powers: Illusions d10, Radiant d8, Power Suit d6
Qualities: Creativity d8, Ex-Con Cellmate d8, Technology d8, Stealth d8
Status: ( # of inventions & mods) 4+ - d12 / 2-3 - d10 / 1 - d8 / 0 - d6
Abilities:
Final Lighting Check (A) Attack using Radiant and at least one bonus. Use your Max + Mid + Min dice and add all your bonuses to the total, destroying them.
Reaction Shot (R) When Attacked, Defend yourself by rolling your single Illusions die. If this negates the Attack entirely, Hinder the Attacker and Boost yourself using the same roll.
Set the Scene (A) Boost using Illusions. Use your Max die. Boost again using your Mid die, then either make one of those bonuses persistent and exclusive, or Attack with your Min die.
Wide-Angle Shot (A) Hinder multiple targets using Illusions. Recover Health equal to your Min die. If you roll doubles, Attack one of those targets using your Max die.
Upgrades & Masteries (optional):
Hardier Minions + 5 Health. Gain Bonus Pay (A) Upgrade a number of your minions equal to the number of heroes in the scene by increasing their die size by one (max d12).
Master Mercenary (I) If you have a contract for a specific task, automatically succeed at an Overcome when your payment is at stake.
Tactics
Camera Two is the least interested team member when it comes to getting good footage, and the quickest to resort to obvious violence when threatened. She'll try to use Set the Scene for bonuses (often sharing with Camera One) at least once before their cover is blown, then immediately use Final Lighting Check on the toughest foe. She'll use Reaction Shot at every opportunity, hoping to trigger its strong rider effects and roll the bonus straight into another super-zap. When hurt or outnumbered and currently lacking bonuses she resorts to Wide-Angle Shot to buy time and maybe get a lucky shot in.
Her upgrade lets her improve the performance of either simple thugs or actors, and is one of her go-to moves while still covert. Her mastery reflects that fact that she's in this for the paycheck rather than the art.
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Camera Three
Janell Wittson was sleazy publicity agent known for representing dodgy business and suspected criminal bigwigs. This led to a three year interruption in her career when she was convicted for fraud after being a little too enthusiastic about lying for a corporate client with mob connections. It was during her prison term that she met and more or less befriended Kansas Washington (see above). Once Janell was at liberty again she set about restarting her career, only to be offered an "exciting new opportunity" as part of the Camera Crew. The project seemed a bit risky, but she'd always been a bit of adrenaline junkie and her new employers had some...information from her former clients that made refusal unwise unless she wanted to return to jail for a much longer stay. Janell managed to get Washington on to the Crew as well, and in a pinch expects more backup from her than she probably ought to.
Unlike her teammates Janell doesn't actively conceal her identity. If confronted about her past, she can convincingly explain that she was young and had made some poor choices in business associates. She served her time and learned her lesson, so what's the problem, hero?
Her suit carries the usual array of holo-recorder/projector gear optimized for close-up action shots, but it also mounts an extensive drone control system for coordinating small aerial remotes for coordinating multi-angle shots and big scenes. These also double as a tactical comms and recon net, and she tends to work closely with her teammates if a fight breaks out.
Description: Outside of her suit, an adult blonde woman with an expensively tailored wardrobe designed to favor her slightly stocky figure, something she's sensitive about. She's always got a friendly smile on her face, even when she's shafting someone in a business deal.
In her suit, an anonymous figure in snug-fighting lightweight fire engine red power armor with a some black striping and a prominent black "THREE" printed vertically on the left side of the chest. The helmet is an opaque ovoid with an array of holo-camera recorder/emitter lenses covering the faceplate and a crown of short drone-control antennae. A small cluster of lenses occupies the center of the chest and there are small lenses on the back of each gauntlet. Her voice can be disguised behind a vocal masking effect that gives it a mechanical tone, but she usually leaves it off so she sounds more personable.
Gender: Female Age: 32 Height: 5'7" Eyes: Cornflower Blue
Hair: Blonde, Short Skin: Tanned Year Round Build: A Little Stocky
Approach: Tactician Archetype: Guerrilla
Health: 40 + (5 x H)
Powers: Illusions d8, Remote Viewing d8, Awareness d6, Power Suit d6
Qualities: Creativity d10, Technology d8, Unethical Publicist d8, Stealth d6
Status: (# of Enemies Engaged) 4+ - d10 / 2-3 - d8 / 0-1 - d6
Abilities:
Good Under Pressure (I) At the start of your turn, gain a bonus equal to the number of opponents that Attacked you since your last turn.
Hard To Pin Down (I) If you are outnumbered by nearby opponents, reduce all damage dealt to you by two.
Scene Direction (A) Boost using Creativity. Use your Max die. That bonus applies to every ally's action until the start of your next turn.
Work With Me Here (A) Take a basic action using Technology. Use your Max die. One nearby ally takes the same basic action as their reaction.
Upgrades & Masteries (optional):
Shooting Permit (I) +10 Health. The heroes act as being in the Green zone for status die, ability access, and all abilities. Heroes may remove this ability with three Overcome successes. If a hero takes a minor twist while attempting these Overcomes, you may use a reaction to Hinder them by rolling your single Illusions die.
Master of Profitability (I) If you have access to great wealth and other resources, automatically succeed at an Overcome to leverage those resources to get even richer, no matter who pays the price.
Tactics
Camera Three is the oddball in the group, with a much more up-front style where she tries to add to the heroes' confusion while getting close-up footage, all while also monitoring the full scene with remote microdrones. In a fight she still stays close and draws attention, hoping to get the most out of Good Under Pressure and Hard To Pin Down. If she's got a lot of allies in play her go-to move is Scene Direction with Illusions or Remote Viewing, setting up a global bonus for everyone. If their side's numbers are running low she'll switch to Work With Me Here in conjunction with a single ally for whatever needs doing most. Worth noting that Camera Two hates having her reaction "stolen" for this ability, and the rider won't work on her at all if she's already used her own reaction ability.
Her upgrade represents the team doing extra prep work to seem legit, which can really leave heroes struggling. Her mastery doesn't come up in combat often, although she's not above a little kleptomania when filming at a site with a lot of valuables.
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The Camera Crew sometimes employs actual everyday thugs, but they prefer specially trained flunkies who know how to act harmless and mug to the cameras when there's an extra opportunity to make the heroes look bad. They're being paid extremely well to keep their mouths shut if they do get caught out in any fakery, so they're not likely to provide any leads without using powers on them.
Crisis Actor d6 minion
Description: They're just regular people, right? Right? Heroes can't use excessive force on them no matter how much they get in the way. The negative publicity would be terrible.
Faked Injuries: Any hero may take an Overcome action to remove you from play. If they would generate a twist while doing so, roll your die, deal that much morale damage to the hero, and then you are removed from play. This counts as the required twist, regardless of whether it was major or minor.
"Innocent" Bystanders: You may not be targeted by hero Attacks or take Attack actions yourself. If you ever roll a zero or less on your die due to penalties you are removed from play without harm.
Please Move Along: NPC law enforcement officers may take an action to remove you from play automatically.
Everyday Thug d6 minion
Description: Petty criminals, but they are packing concealed heat courtesy of the Crew's backers. They're not keen on fighting heroes but the pay (and promised legal services if arrested) makes them willing to give it a shot. This is just day labor for them, they know nothing about any grander schemes.
Heart's Not Really In It: If you ever roll a zero or less on your die due to penalties you are removed from play without harm.
Playing Innocent, But Not Very Well: You may not be targeted by Attack actions until you've taken an action that targets anyone but yourself in the scene.
Camera One, Two, or Three d10 lieutenant
Description: Any of the Camera Crew members as a lieutenant rather than a full villain, for use as needed. They look just like their regular versions, of course. When they use any of the abilities below, the source of the effect isn't immediately obvious and can only be detected by a hero succeeding at an Overcome, either during the scene or when reviewing events afterward.
False Images: When you take an Overcome action to interact with a challenge, you gain a +2 bonus and you may choose to add an extra success to the total needed to complete the challenge rather than marking one off.
Holo-Projectors: When you take a Hinder action you may Hinder multiple nearby targets.
Image Relays: When you Boost yourself, you may also Boost up to two allies.
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Campaign Notes
Who's behind this whole scheme is up to you and your campaign's established setting. In my campaign their ultimate backers were the anti-supers group SEVER. It could just as easily have been a carefully-concealed subsidiary of the corporation that funds Hothead instead if I'd wanted a smaller scope to things. In the Sentinels setting, this could be a Glamour scheme, Baron Blade being unusually subtle, or (if you're running pre-Oblivaeon or an alternate future) the old villainous Revocorp. The GM should also consider how long they want the Crew around before their cover is inevitably blown, and make allowances for the players derailing your plans and getting suspicious earlier.
If they're intended to be a simple one-and-done, the whole team can show up to film a minor crisis - a mundane bank robbery (maybe even using some of their minions as well) or a fight with a minor villain or two - and then more or less immediately betray themselves, turning the scene into a conventional brawl. Consider adding a few rounds in Red depending on how long the Crew was pretending to be harmless photojournalists. You could extend this to an issue or three by having them "play nice" for a few scenes before something gives them away, maybe gradually ramping up the number of "accidental" Hinders they take over time.
If you want them around for a collection or more, a slow burn approach where just a single Camera shows up for an action scene or two, then a pair of them, and finally the full team is a good approach. Play them as helpful at first, let the players get used to them showing up often but not always. In any scene where they're expected to remain "friendly" use the lieutenant version above, switching to the full villain writeup if their cover is blown and they start fighting for real. If they took damage prior to such a switch, reduce their starting Health by 10 for each die step the lieutenant form lost from their starting d10. If they do switch mid-scene, add at least one Red round to the scene tracker, two if in Yellow, and three if already in Red.
When playing the "long con" you'll need to work in some hints and clues for the heroes to investigate and there should be multiple opportunities for social scenes with Crew, either in uniform or (if they can be identified) in their civilian IDs. Their personalities will influence how things go, and might very well lead to one or more of them betraying the rest.
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