It's tough to say what storyline readers hated most in the nineties, but Spider-Man's Clone Saga is certainly a contender. A muddled mess that was drawn out far beyond what was originally planned for it, the slog of trying to keep up with an increasingly confused plotline over Spidey's many books of the time ultimately cost Marvel a lot of fans, some of whom never returned. It also marked one of the early signs of an editorial obsession with Peter Parker's marriage somehow hurting sales - the story was originally supposed to reveal that the married Peter we'd followed for years was actually a clone who would go into retirement with MJ while Ben Reilly took over the mantle of Spider-Man. It's kind of impressive that Spider-Man survived the Clone Saga with as many readers as he did, and rather depressing to know that future editors and creative teams would make even less popular decisions for the character. But back in the day the Clone Saga looked like the nadir for poor Peter Parker, so of course it gets a post for Bad Nineties Week.
The villain below got used in a recent one-shot (well, one-and-a half, really) where our heroes got tanged up in an incomprehensible scheme involving cloned villains and both NPC and PC heroes, culminating in yet another ironic death for "mastermind" behind it all when he fell into a vat of genetic deconstruction fluid and melted.
Any similarities to Biomancer are purely because he's fully as goofy as the Jackal ever was - but at least no one spent hundreds of real-world dollars trying to keep up with his ridiculous plots as they sprawled interminably over multiple flagship Marvel titles.
Karrion Klone
This villain has an insanely convoluted backstory that's unlikely to even matter during play. Originally fringe geneticist Warren Miles, he became a supervillain after the death of a woman he'd been stalking, calling himself the Dhole after the animal whose DNA he spliced into his own for augmented speed and strength. The Dhole perished fighting a superhero shortly thereafter, only to return courtesy of his automated cloning technology. This cycle repeated itself multiple times, with his physical and mental condition degrading with each new life. Eventually he reached his current corpselike appearance and adopted the supranym Carrion Clone instead, becoming obsessed with obtaining DNA from superhumans to find a way to stabilize his condition - and create an army of obedient super-powered clones while he was at it. More deaths and rebirths followed as he was foiled again and again.
That would be confusing enough, but the current Karrion Klone isn't even native to our universe. The Drew Williams of Earth-K managed to replace his local doppelganger during his last cloned resurrection, avoiding the usual dimensional stress issues by copying his own mentality into an Earth-Prime klone...er, clone. Karrion Klone with-a-K has his own backstory that only vaguely resembles the previous version, who may or may not be permanently deceased now. Sadly, his motivations remain much the same, and his talent for biological mad science is just at remarkable.
Description: An emaciated figure with spindly limbs and skin the color of moldy meat. He dresses in a yellow breechclout, clawed gloves with with some kind of gadgetry obviously built in, and a jackal-faced helmet that conceals his twisted features. Both gloves and helmet incorporate mechanisms for delivering toxins, soporifics and stimulants as needed.
Gender: Male Age: Mid-Thirties Height: 5'10" Eyes: Yellow
Hair: None Skin: Sickly Pale Green Build: Cadaverous
Approach: Creator Archetype: Inventor
Health: 25 + (5 x H)
Powers: Inventions d10, Agility d8, Toxic d8, Leaping d6
Qualities: Science d10, Investigation d8, Medicine d8, Technology d8, Self-Made Madman d8
Status: (# of bonuses in play created with abilities) 4+ - d12 / 2-3 - d10 / 1 - d8 / 0 - d6
Abilities:
Klone Guardian (R) When Attacked, Defend yourself by rolling the die of one of your nearby lieutenants. Reduce the die size of that lieutenant by one (minimum d4) unless the Attack's damage was reduced to zero by this Defend.
Murderous Outburst (A) Attack using Toxic and at least one bonus. Use your Max + Mid + Min dice. Destroy all your bonuses, adding their value to the Attack.
Spawn Kopykat (A) Use Science to create a lieutenant of the same size as your Max die.
Stimulant Treatments (A) Boost using Inventions. Use your Max die. Then Boost using your Mid die. Either make one of those bonuses persistent and exclusive, or Attack with your Min die.
Upgrades & Masteries (optional, usually in play when not in his lair):
Villainous Vehicle +15 Health. Add a Vulture Kraft d10 Lieutenant with the following abilities to the scene: Escape Plan (R) When Karrion Klone is Attacked, roll this vehicle's die. If it rolls higher than Karrion Klone's current Health, both he and the vehicle escape the scene. Recovery (A) Roll the vehicle's die. Karrion Klone Recovers that much health. Sturdy (I) Gain a +2 bonus to saves against damage.
(alternate upgrade when in his lair)
Mind-Altering Haze (I) +10 Health. While the scene is in the green zone, all heroes' qualities of d8 or higher are reduced by one die size. In the Yellow zone all of the heroes' qualities of d10 or higher are reduced by one additional step (two die sizes total). In the Red zone, all heroes' quality dice are treated as d4. Heroes can remove this upgrade with three overcome successes. If a hero takes a minor twist while taking these Overcomes, they lose access to a quality entirely until this upgrade is removed. If a hero is knocked out while this ability is active, create a new friendly minion with a die size equal to the hero's largest power die to represent the brainwashed hero.
Master of Mad Science (I) As long as you have access to materials, automatically succeed at an Overcome by using scientific principles and inventions.
Tactics
Karrion Klone relies on creating obedient but short-lived clone duplicates of other superbeings whose DNA he's acquired. The process is swift but requires a genetic "blank" to impress their characteristics onto, meaning Spawn Kopykat requires access to a supply of these proto-organisms from suspension pods in his lair or on board his Vulture Kraft upgrade. He uses Stimulant Treatments to augment both himself and his lieutenants to build up his status die, while they allow him to use his Klone Guardian reaction for defense. Karrion Klone's unstable personality drives him to take a direct hand in battle when he has the advantage, using Murderous Outburst whenever he can do so with a status die of d10 or d12.
He'll almost always have his Villainous Vehicle upgrade outside his lair to allow him to use Spawn Kopykat and for self-preservation, and his mastery will be used to further whatever scheme has brought him out from the laboratory in the first place - usually collecting more genetic samples. Within his lair, he usually has his Mind-Altering Haze upgrade instead, hampering his enemies and even turning them into his puppets.
His lairs will also have the following challenge, which counts as a separate difficult scene element. Bearding Karrion Klone at the heart of his operation is a dangerous proposition.
Disable Suspension Pods difficult challenge
Overcome by either method:
Methodical Approach
- Access Main Controls 0
- Override Security System 00
- Power Down System 0
Special: Only one character can attempt to Overcome this challenge using this method per round. Each major twist generated while Overcoming this challenge releases a Blank Slate lieutenant into the scene instead of the usual results.
Just Wreck Everything
- Smash Suspension Pod Banks 0000
Special: Each Overcome success on less than a 12+ result releases a Blank Slate lieutenant into the scene. Any twist effects still apply separately.
Outcome: When either approach is completed, Karrion Klone can no longer use his Spawn Kopykat ability in this scene.
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Blank Slate d10 lieutenant
Description: Crudely-formed humanoid creature with vague facial features and slimy slug-belly white flesh. Incapable of speech and only dimly aware of its surroundings, but quick to respond to aggression.
Imprinting: Gain a +2 bonus to Attack actions after the first time you roll a save against damage, pass or fail. Gain a +2 bonus to Hinder actions the first time you receive a penalty. Gain a +2 bonus to saves against damage the first time your die size degrades.
Surprise Assault: When you first appear in a scene, you act next in the initiative sequence.
Kopykat variable, usually d10 lieutenant (see Spawn Kopykat)
Description: Indistinguishable from a known hero or villain, including one of the PCs.
Dependent: Can only be created with Spawn Kopykat as long as there's an active Vulture Kraft lieutenant or Disable Suspension Pods challenge in the scene.
Power Emulation: Select two or three abilities from those found on pages 287-289 of the core rulebook, choosing ones that best duplicate the original's capabilities.
Design Note
The Klone Guardian ability is a renamed homebrew taken from a previous post. You could drop it in favor of the Creator approach's Summon Mob ability to allow him to deploy minions in the form of more basic and unstable clones (possibly of himself) but he won't have much synergy with them. It will leave him with no defensive reaction so his lackeys will need to spend actions protecting him with Defend and Hinder actions.
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