Hugo Hellbinder & the Horror Within, A Doomed Fool and His Terrible Destiny

These two villains were used in an older magic-focused campaign that ran for a few months in 2022, with Hugo being a dupe of the sinister organization behind most of the game's action.  My heroes did manage to stop the Horror Within without it detonating, although it was much too late for poor Hugo.

Hugo Hellbinder

Hugo Schramm was a fairly minor player in occult circles until recently, but after undergoing an arcane binding ritual he's become a very big deal indeed as Hugo Hellbinder.  He now believes he's on the road to godhood and intends to carry out further rituals to accelerate the process - rituals that call for mass human sacrifices and various ancient artifacts, among other things.  That would be enough to attract attention pretty quickly by itself, but the vast power now barely contained within him serves as a beacon to mystic senses and supernatural creatures for miles around.

Unknown to Hugo, the rituals are all a trap.  His newfound power comes from being implanted with an alien spore that gestates within him even now.  Whether he completes the rest of his rituals or not the Horror Within will soon devour him body and soul, bursting forth as a apocalyptic menace that will briefly wreak havoc before overloading itself in a magical explosion rivalling the power of a small nuclear warhead.  Hugo Hellbinder is a walking weapon of mass destruction, and his clock is ticking.    

Description: A slender, wild-haired man dressed in voluminous layered "wizard robes" in somber hues of black and umber.  They start off pristine but become more tattered and charred as a fight goes on.  He wears a dozen golden rings marked with arcane sigils, which are likely to melt or vaporize as he damages himself during combat.  He speaks in a surprisingly deep voice for his light frame, displaying a faint Swiss-German accent emphasized by the odd German word.

Gender: Male     Age: 37     Height: 5'10"     Eyes: Gray, Wild Disturbing Stare

Hair: Black, Makes Rasputin Look Well-Groomed     Skin: Pale     Build: Thin

Approach: Overpowered                            Archetype: Fragile

Health: 30 + (5 x H)

Powers: Infernal d12, Absorption d10, Teleportation d10                                      

Qualities: Conviction d8, Deluded Demonologist d8, Otherworldly Mythos d6 

Status: (Personal Health Zone) Green - d10 / Yellow - d8 / Red - d6

Abilities:

Surging Energies (I) Whenever you roll a one on a die, reroll that die.

Step Beyond Space (R) When Attacked, Defend by rolling your single status die.  If the damage is reduced to zero, you may immediately move anywhere on the scene.

Unrivalled Power (A) Attack using Infernal.  Use your Max + Mid + Min dice.  Hinder yourself using your Max die.  Take damage equal to your Mid + Min dice.

Vanishment Charm (I) Whenever your personal zone changes you may immediately move elsewhere in the scene.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional):

Group Fighter (I) +20 Health.  When you take an action that lets you make an Attack, also make an Attack using your Mid die.

Master of the Unfathomable (I) If you are in a situation involving otherworldly forces, automatically succeed at an Overcome to do the bidding of unknowable entities beyond our reality.

Tactics

Hugo Hellbinder is convinced that he's fully in control of the vast energies within him, and plans to use it to achieve true apotheosis by continuing the series of rituals that empowered him in the first place.  He's wrong, but by the time he realizes it will be much too late to matter.  Until then, he'll deal with interfering heroes by hammering them with his Unrivalled Power one after another, always opting to maximize his output by using Surging Energies even when it harms him.  He relies on Vanishment Charm and Step Beyond Space for defense, and will always try to relocate himself to a safe place to continue his rituals Overcomes in peace, requiring heroes to split up or hunt him down each time.

His upgrade makes him more durable and further increases the damage he can dish out, but his mastery is the really dangerous bit since he can automatically succeed on Overcomes to achieve his destiny and release the horror within him. 

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The Horror Within

This thing is more of a pseudo-biological weapon of mass destruction than a living creature, dispatched from some otherworldly dimension to wreak havoc on its environs before detonating in an eruption of uncontainable eldritch power.  Fortunately they're quite impossible to directly transfer to our universe in their "primed" mature form, instead relying on magical rituals to transfer a parasitic spore to a misguided or fanatical adept.  This spore grants great power while it feeds on its host's soul and innate magics, but eventually consumes them from within and bursts loose their gigantic final form.  

Description: A massive alien form vaguely like a sea anemone crossed with an octopus.  Its dozens of sickly translucent white tentacles end in clusters of wormlike growths.  The thing seethes with eldritch energy that it can focus in enormously destructive gouts of purple-black flame so potent they wither and burn the limb(s) used to project them.  It produces a cacophony of obscene burbling and piping sounds and sprays gouts of milky ichor when damaged.     

Gender: Irrelevant     Age: Eternal     Size: ~90' Core Diameter     Eyes: None

Limbs: Dozens     Integument: Maggot-White     Build: Mass of Thrashing Tentacles

Approach: Overpowered

Archetype: Titan (Status Challenge: Ritual Counter-Magic 00  Final Banishment 0)

Health:  65 + (5 x H)

Powers: Infernal d12, Elasticity d10, Strength d10                                        

Qualities: Apocalyptic Menace d8, Otherworldly Mythos d8, Alertness d6 

Status: Titan Challenge Start - d12 / Stage 1 Completed - d10 / Stage 2 Completed - d8

Abilities:

Apocalyptic Damage (A) Activate one of the environment's twists in its current zone.

Lashing Abomination (A) Attack multiple targets using Strength.  Use your Max die.  Hinder each target using your Mid die.

Magical Backlash (R) When a hero takes a minor twist in the Titan's challenge, in addition to the chosen twist, roll your status die and deal that much damage to that hero.

Resurgent Energy (R) When Attacked by a roll that includes doubles, remove one of the successes from the Titan's challenge.

Torrent of Power (A) Attack using Infernal.  Use your Max + Mid + Min dice.  Hinder yourself using your Max die.  Take damage equal to your Mid + Min dice.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional):

Power Upgrade (I) +20 Health.  Increase all Power dice sizes by one (max d12).  Gain Engulfed By Unnatural Flesh (A) Attack using Elasticity.  Use your Max die.  The target can either be Hindered using your Max + Mid + Min dice, or be unable to take actions other than using an Overcome to attempt to escape.

Master of Annihilation (I) If you can cause massive collateral damage without regard for casualties, automatically succeed at an Overcome in a situation where a show of overwhelming force would help.

Tactics

The Horror Within is an eldritch parasite that transforms into a rampaging engine of destruction when released from its host.  Largely mindless but unrelentingly hostile to mortals, it uses its size and power to wreak Apocalyptic Damage to its surroundings unless opposed by someone or something potent enough to get its attention.  Against multiple threats Lashing Abomination leverages its enormous physical might, while a particularly dangerous singular foe will be targeted with a Torrent of Power.  Attempts to weaken the magics that allow it to exist in our continuum risk Magical Backlash, and more direct attempts at removing it from existence are likely to trigger its Resurgent Energy reaction.

With its upgrade in place the Horror Within is even tougher to deal with, and gains another option for dealing with priority targets using Engulfed By Unnatural Flesh.  It's mastery makes it even more efficient at wreaking havoc and endangering civilians before it inevitably overloads itself and burns out catastrophically.

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Design Notes

When I used these two, only Hugo (with upgrade) started the scene in play with the Horror Within "unhatched" as yet.  There was an urban environment representing a small city that produced a mix of mystic effects and potential sacrificial victims as twists, divided into a number of magically significant locations that the action could move between - Hugo has a lot of repositioning tricks that make him hard to pin down.  He also had a few sets of hapless cultist minions scattered around to help out.  Hugo himself could take Overcome actions to try to "complete his apotheosis" and if he managed H successes (IIRC that was either five or six in this case) he'd be removed from the scene and replaced by the Horror No Longer Within, which trashed the location it was now in in the process.  The Horror also popped up if/when Hugo was defeated, but it wouldn't have its own upgrade if the ritual hadn't been completed.  Regardless of how the Horror entered play, the scene immediately went to Red, and some extra Red boxes were added to the end of the tracker I think I used three, which might have been a little generous, two would probably have been okay since they finished Hugo at the bottom of Yellow.  If the heroes failed to defeat the Horror by the time the modified tracker ran out it counted as a Doomsday Device going off.

Both these villains could be decoupled from one another and used separately with some reskinning.  Hugo's inevitable self-destruct and de facto suicide ritual could be ditched entirely, turning him into a more typical glass cannon baddie who'd probably operate with other, more durable mystic-themed villainous allies.  The Horror is a little more work, but it could come boiling out of a dimensional rift in response to a summoning ritual as a sort of magical kaiju.  It isn't terribly durable as Titans go and would need other elements to avoid being focused down - maybe a bunch of "endangered civilians/infrastructure" challenges that start as it arrives.  The Horror Within isn't technically a unique entity but no more than one will appear in a given scene.

Alternately, you could use a less powerful host for it - probably a lieutenant with some kind of timer mechanic - and have it erupt the same way it does with Hugo.  Something like this might work:  

Host of Horrors d12 lieutenant (one per scene, max)

Description: A hapless dupe of a cultist implanted with a mystic spore that's swiftly growing to maturity.  They are crackling with energy barely contained energy and anxious to embrace their supposed destiny as a god through further ritual magics.

Impending Apotheosis: Start a timer with (8-H) boxes (minimum 3).  At the start of each of your turns mark off one box.  You may take an Overcome action during your turn to mark off another box following the usual rules for lieutenant Overcomes (pg. 156).  If you complete this timer you are immediately removed from the scene and replaced by the Horror Within with its upgrade.  If you are defeated while this timer is incomplete, the Horror Within immediately appears in your former location without its upgrade.  In either case, add two more boxes to the scene tracker and the entire track is now considered to be in the Red zone.  The Horror Within doesn't take a turn until round after it appears.

Overwhelming Power: You gain a +4 bonus to Attack actions, but each time you Attack your die size decreases one step at the end of your turn.  When the Horror Within first appears, remove all minions in its location and then deal d10 damage to all remaining targets there. .

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The Odds, A Diverse Group Of Unfortunate Villains

A diverse group of villains, each with desperate needs of their own but at least temporarily sharing the same goal.

The Odds

Countless individuals have received superpowers (accidentally or otherwise) from exposure to mad science experiments over the years.  Some of them have gone on to become well known heroes or villains, having won fate's lottery and received potent abilities with few drawbacks - or such vast power that any accompanying drawbacks seem worth the cost.  Not everyone's a winner though, and the Odds are a diverse group of villains who got the short end of the stick when it came to things.  They've banded together in part to support one another's driving needs, although some are more desperate (and more open to manipulation) than others.

Oddment is the group's nominal leader, and they all current follow his goal of acquiring technology for growing them new bodies and transferring their consciousnesses to them.  He knows he's on the clock with a collapse into psychosis impending, but generally puts on a good show of being cool and in charge.

Vestige has devolved from a skilled scientist to a predator desperate to continue her existence by any means.  When well fed she's stable enough to contribute some useful knowledge about the legal side of the scientific community, although bioengineering and mind transfer are far outside her field.  She's discovered an odd resonance with Afterglow's powers, which serve to keep her from fading away more efficiently than others she's encountered.

The Homunculoid is a lost and monstrous bioengineering project.  Oddment has made it promises that it may not even care about.  The thing's motivations are its own and probably not rational at all, but something keeps it with the group.  The others suspect its creator may come looking for it eventually, a creator with obvious skills in genetically engineering new life forms that might help with their long term plans.

Afterglow is more innocent victim than the villain she's been cast as, but she's also immensely dangerous to the civilian population and suffering from extreme mental fragmentation.  Her rare moments of clarity might lead to connections in the shadier parts of the medical research field, which are only a short step away from mad science clone masters and experimental mind transfers.  Her radiation output is hard to keep damped down to even semi-safe levels, but Vestige's reality drains seem to help keep it under control, making them a symbiotic pair. 

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Oddment

Harrison Odell was once the mad science villain Cyber-Maker, a specialist in augmenting ambitious criminals with cybernetic upgrades that would make them true superhumans - and which included backdoor access that he could use to control them, slowly building a veritable army of cyborg muscle.  A coalition of several heroes and villains twigged to the scheme and cooperated to bring him down, destroying his secret mountain lair and catching him in an explosion no one could survive.  Unless, of course, one was a genius villain who had pre-programmed his robotic surgical assistants to preserve his life at any cost.

That cost proved to be the loss of his entire organic body and large parts of his once-great brain.  What remained was augmented with a digitized recreation of his old personality, installed in a life support capsule implanted in the sturdiest combat cyborg chassis available in the ruined base's emergency backup shelters.  No longer either Harrison Odell or his Cyber-Maker alter ego, the new hybrid of organic and digital minds took the supranym Oddment for itself and assessed its new existence.  Odell had always avoided creating "full-conversion" brain-in-a-tank cyborgs because they went unstable too quickly to be of use, and now he was one himself.  His artificial memory overlays would keep what was left of him rational for longer than most, but eventually the collapse would come.  The only solution was to find a way to create an organic host body before the inevitable, which was not something he could manage on his own.  He would need allies with similar end goals...or at least useful pawns for his pursuit of bioengineering and mental transfer technology.

Description: A large mechanical humanoid covered in variegated black, umber and tan scales over a dull metal chassis.  Its human head sits deep in an armored collar atop the chunky torso, although this is an android fake - the real brain and its life support system are deep within the the chest in a separate armored capsule.  The oversized forearms conceal a mix of cognitive modification mechanisms, while the chunky "boots" and backplate conceal jump jets for short bursts of speed.  His strong baritone voice sounds quite natural, even when coming from concealed speakers after his decoy head has been destroyed.

Gender: Male        Age: 48        Height: 6'4"        Eyes: Brown

Hair: Light Brown     Skin: Titanium Alloy, Variegated Scales     Build: Cyborg

Approach: Generalist                Archetype: Inventor

Health:  35 + (5 x H)

Powers: Power Suit d10, Deduction d8, Inventions d8, Robotics d6

Qualities: Science d10, Combat Cyborg d8, Technology d8, Criminal Underworld Info d6

Status: ( # of inventions & mods) 4+ - d12 / 2-3 - d10 / 1 - d8 / 0 - d6

Abilities:

Augmentation Mechanisms (A) Boost using Inventions.  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.

Decrementation Mechanisms (A) Hinder multiple nearby targets using Inventions.  Boost yourself using your Max die.

Intercession (R) When an ally is Attacked, Defend them by rolling your single Power Suit die.  Boost yourself using the same roll.

Simple Brute Force (A) Attack using Power Suit.  Use your Max die.  Recover Health equal to your Min die.

Superior Technology (I) Whenever you create a bonus, increase the value of that bonus by one.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional):

Quality Upgrade (I) +20 Health.  Increase all Quality dice sizes except Combat Cyborg by one (max d12).

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

Oddment prefers to let his allies to the fighting while he observes his foes and tunes his mechanical  body for optimal performance against them.  He'll usually open with Augmentation Mechanisms, taking a persistent bonus for himself and sharing the other with an ally.  He uses Intercession reactively to protect an ally every round he can, further Boosting himself in the process.  He may continue building up bonuses or handing them out if he's being ignored, or he may switch to Decrementation Mechanisms to debuff multiple enemies while collecting yet another personal bonus.  All of his Boosts will be improved by Superior Technology.  If his Health is getting low he'll switch to Simple Brute Force, possibly piling his accumulated bonuses into the Min die for a big Recovery or onto the Max die to land a big hit and take out a particularly problematic foe.

His upgrade comes from spending time optimizing his internal processors and improves both durability and dice pools, which is particularly helpful when he can bundle in a big d12 Science die with his two mechanisms abilities.  His mastery reflects his ability to carry out scientific and technological tasks quickly and reliably under pressure.

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Vestige

Once a respected dimensional science theorist pursuing the dream of a functioning FTL drive, Tatiana Roman had no idea she'd attracted the attention of SIN's Operations Directive until one of their acquisitions teams interrupted an experiment at a critical moment.  The resulting malfunction consumed half the research complex in dimensional collapse, pulling everyone there into a null-reality state.  Everyone but Tatiana.  She resisted the pull through sheer force of will, but was left as a living anomaly, constantly being drawn toward un-being.  Tatiana quickly discovered that she could stave off oblivion by siphoning some vital element of reality itself from others around her.  

Only other humans could provide what she needed, and most of them were simply too fragile and weak-willed to endure even a single feeding before fading away - but her first encounter with superheroes investigating the catastrophe taught her that they were far better sources of what she needed, even if they were also more dangerous prey.  And prey is what they were.  Dubbing herself Vestige, Tatiana determined to survive no matter what it required to do so.  She would endure until she found away to reverse the accident that had created her, and if others had to perish so be it.

Vestige was contacted by Oddment while she was on the run after her powers first manifested, offering her potential salvation by transferring her intelligence to a new form free from dimensional instability.  The fact that his last recruit Afterglow proved to be able to "feed" Vestige's hunger safely for extended periods has further cemented her otherwise-dubious loyalty to the group.     

Description: A ghostly image of middle-aged woman dressed in a white lab coat over a gray dress and low heeled shoes.  Her natural colors seem faded and the entire figure is nearly translucent when the light is behind her.  She does seems to shine faintly in actual darkness as though caught in moonlight, adding to her phantasmal appearance.  Her sharp features are twisted with frustration and anger, and her hollow voice seems to come from far away.  When using her powers to feed swirls of cold purple-blue energy seem to flow from her victims into her form.

Gender: Female         Age: Early Fifties         Height: 5'2"          Eyes: Faded Blue

Hair: Faded Gray          Skin: Fading Into Transparency              Build: Stick-Thin

Approach:  Specialized                         Archetype:  Domain

Health:  50 + (5 x H)

Powers: Absorption d10, Intangibility d8

Qualities: Conviction d12, Close Combat d8, Fading From Reality d8

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

Abilities:

Call Victims (A) Activate one of the environment's twists in its current zone or one zone closer to red.

Destructive Grasp (A) Attack one target using Close Combat.  Use your Max + Min dice.  The target cannot Defend or use reactions against this Attack.

Endless Need (A) Attack up to three targets using Conviction.  Use your Max die against one target, your Mid die against a second, and your Min die against a third. 

Focused Hunger (A) Hinder one target using Conviction.  Use your Max die.  Attack that target using your Mid die.

Sacrificial Energy (R) When Attacked, redirect the Attack to an environment minion.

Siphon Reality (A) Roll any number of environment minion dice and Recover that much Health.  Remove those minions,

Upgrades & Masteries (optional, only if Vestige has been feeding in one area for at least a few days):

Mook Squad +0 Health.  Gain Call Fodder (A) Replenish your Depleted Fodder minions up to the number of heroes in the scene.

Master of the Unfathomable (I) If you are in a situation involving eldritch forces, automatically succeed at an Overcome to do the bidding of otherworldly entities beyond human concerns.

Tactics

Vestige's foremost concern is continuing her existence at any cost, but superheroes offer so much more "reality" to draw on than everyday people that fighting them is well worth the risks involved.  Against a single foe she'll rely on Focused Hunger (usually pooled with Absorption) at first, shifting to Destructive Grasp (often with Intangibility) if they display strong reactions or Defend abilities.  Against a group she'll reach out for as much energy as she can with Endless Need while using Sacrificial Energy to reactively use a minion for protection against Attacks.  Her sizeable base Health lets her hang tough in combat while accumulating environment minions with the occasional use of Call Victims for a single big Recovery using her Siphon Reality healing ability.

If she has her upgrade she may use Call the Fodder rather than rely solely on the environment for minions to victimize, although they're fairly inefficient "food sources" when used as such.  Her mastery reflects her jumping at any opportunity to cling to reality, even as a pawn of the terrible things that lurk beyond it.   

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Depleted Fodder d6 minion

Description: They can look like a female human of any age, ethnicity or occupation, but all are strangely faded, almost colorless and translucent as though they weren't fully real.  Obviously unnatural, they move like shambling phantoms.  Their touch is chilling, and their hopeless stare leaves victims feeling hollow and hungry.  

Last Dregs: You count as an environment minion for Vestige's Sacrificial Energy and Siphon Reality abilities, but your dice always count as rolling a one for Health Recovery or for saving against any damage inflicted when resolving those abilities.

Reality Leech: When you deal damage to a target with an Attack, the target also suffers a -1 penalty.

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Homunculoid

The creature known as the Homunculoid is an escaped bio-construct crafted from some horrific and utterly unethical manipulation of the human genome.  Who created it and what purpose they had in doing so remains unknown, lost behind memories of fire and chaos.  The thing knows only what it has gleaned from the minds that open to its telepathy, and takes its guidance only from the fleeting visions that run wild in its distorted psyche.  It literally latched on to Oddment when he accidentally encountered the Homunculoid in the ruins of another scientists lair, and has stuck with him since then.  Sometimes it dreams of having its mind transferred to a new, human body as Oddment has promised.  Other times it knows that promise was a lie, and is tagging along solely for the joy of the chaos his "ally's" plans will bring.    

Description: A clearly inhuman creature with a distorted human-like head over 18" across, set low between two powerfully-muscled shoulders leading to a pair of three-foot long arms that carry its weight.  An absurdly small humanoid torso in a red and green body-stocking dangles beneath that huge head, trailing two useless vestigial legs.  It mouth gapes open menacingly, equipped with teeth like crooked tombstones and panting steadily.  It speaks only telepathically, where its "voice" is an irritating shriek.  For all its awkward-seeming physique the thing is surprisingly nimble, bounding about on its powerful hands with ease.  

Gender: None (uses he/him)   Age: Unknown   Height: 3'2"   Eyes: One Blue, One Green

Hair: Stubbly Black                 Skin: Sickly Grayish-Blue              Build: Bizarre

Approach:  Tactician                          Archetype:  Fragile

Health:  15 + (5 x H)

Powers: Intuition d8, Telepathy d8, Agility d6, Leaping d6

Qualities: Alertness d10, Acrobatics d8, Murderous Bio-Construct d8, Stealth d6

Status: Green Zone Health - d10 / Yellow Zone Health - d8 / Red Zone Health - d6

Abilities:

Gestalt Awareness (A) Boost using Alertness.  Use your Max die.  The bonus applies to every ally's action until the beginning of your next turn.

Mindripper (A) Attack using Telepathy.  Use your Max + Mid dice.  Hinder yourself using your Min die.

Surprisingly Agile (R) When Attacked, Defend yourself by rolling your single status die.  If the damage is reduce to zero, you may move to anywhere else in the scene.

Vindictive Behavior (R) When a nearby ally makes an Attack, you may also Attack the same target by rolling your single Murderous Bio-Construct die. 

Upgrades & Masteries (optional):

Quality Upgrade (I) +20 Health.  Increase all Quality dice sizes except Murderous Bio-Construct by one (max d12).

Master of Total Chaos (I) Automatically succeed at an Overcome when you throw out all the rules during a situation that is spiraling out of control.

Tactics

The Homunculoid is a pretty unstable combatant who undergoes radical personality shifts as he suffers damage.  While mostly healthy he concentrates on supporting his allies with Gestalt Awareness while evading strikes and staying mobile using Surprisingly Agile.  Once he reaches about half Health he switches over to making Mindripper attacks against whoever has hurt him most, throwing out more damage when allies Attack using Vindictive Behavior if he has a reaction left when the opportunity arises.  If he somehow winds up being the last villain standing he'll do his best to flee even if the opposition is looking pretty rough as well.

His upgrade relies on getting access to booster drugs tailored to his unique biology, while his mastery represents his quirky, erratic flavor of problem solving.

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Afterglow

Mary Curry was once a research assistant in fringe nuclear medicine before her unethical employers chose to use her as a test subject for their latest drug.  The chemical was designed to allow human tissues to absorb and metabolize even hard radiation without harm, and it succeeded spectacularly after a fashion.  Mary became a living atomic reaction, generating impossible amounts of some heretofore unknown exotic radiation and thriving upon it.  Moreover, the process seemed to be dividing her very being on some quantum level, causing her body and mind to partially fission over and over again before collapsing back in on itself.  Unfortunately for such a promising research project, her endlessly fragmenting mentality led her to take violent action that resulted in the termination of all involved staffers, the destruction of the lab facilities involved, and the irradiation of entire site.

That feat earned her the supranym Afterglow in the news media, and she's now widely regarded as a villain rather than a victim.  Even if she was stable enough to explain the situation as she understands it, she can't control her dangerous radiation output and remains a menace to everyone she encounters.  If Oddment hadn't offered her a haven after following the Homunculoid's cryptic guidance to the site of her first "destructive spree" she'd be in a government containment facility already, and quite possibly scheduled for euthanasia in the hopes it would end her out-of-control reaction.  Instead, she's stumbled into allies who might grant her a second chance at life in a new body - and she and Vestige serve to help stabilize one another's erratic powers through some unexplained resonance.

Description: A buxom woman glowing with neon green radiation, wearing a similarly glowing halter top, knee-length shorts and ankle boots.  As she moves she continually leaves afterimages trailing behind her, blurring into one another and making one person look like half a dozen or more.  She usually hovers casually just above the ground but can fly faster than most people can sprint.  She has a rich contralto voice that echoes with reverberations of her duplicate selves.

When she spawns independent legion minions they share her radioactive glow but don't leave a blur of phantoms behind them the way she does.

Gender: Female     Age: Early Thirties     Height: 5'6"     Eyes: Glowing Green

Hair: Flowing, Glowing Green        Skin: Glowing Green        Build: Curvaceous

Approach:  Skilled                                Archetype:  Legion

Health:  10 + (5 x H)

Powers: Duplication d10, Nuclear d8, Flight d6

Qualities: Acrobatics d10, Imposing d10, Fragmented Mentality d8, Medicine d8, Ranged Combat d8, Science d8

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

Abilities:

Divided Mind (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.

Fleeting Images (A) Hinder multiple targets using Acrobatics.  Use your Max die.  If you roll doubles, Attack each target using your Mid die.

Full Separation (A) Add two Legion minions to the scene.  Their starting die size is one smaller than your current status die.

Furious Response (R) When Attacked, Defend yourself by rolling your single Imposing die.  Deal that much damage to another target.

Merge Energies (A) Remove any number of Legion minions from play.  Roll their dice and Recover that much Health.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional):

Power Upgrade (I) +20 Health.  Increase all Power dice sizes by one (max d12).

Master of Total Chaos (I) Automatically succeed at an Overcome when you throw out all the rules during a situation that is spiraling out of control.

Tactics

Afterglow is well aware of her relative fragility and her tactics attempt to compensate for it.  She'll usually rely on Fleeting Images (using Duplication) to hamper as many heroes as possible with a short-lived swarm of duplicates, and can even inflict some real damage with them if she rolls doubles to keep them stable long enough.  Her Furious Response reaction both prevents and deals some damage, and can be a major source of damage output, especially with bonus support.  Once she loses even a small amount of Health she uses Full Separation to spawn a pair of d10 legion minions, ideally letting them act before her next turn before removing one or both of them with Merge Energies to heal.  Like all legion minions their actions are a bit limited by Divided Mind, but with only two of them in play they can generally avoid suffering its ill effects.  She almost never spawns more than two minions at once, preferring to cycle them in and out of existence to maintain as much healing as she can while still getting some further mileage out of them.  A lot of her effectiveness will depend on how initiative goes and how much support she gets from her allies.

Her upgrade reflects her getting either a significant charge of nuclear energy in the recent past or building up a charge over a day or two of relative inactivity, while her mastery draws upon the confusing nature of her multiple duplicate afterimages.

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Afterglow Duplicate d4 to d10 legion minion (usually d10, rarely d8)

Description: Physically identical to Afterglow, although their minds seem more focused and their psychic signature lacks the fragmented nature of their creator.  They share her flight and signature radioactive glare.

Exact Duplicate: You may move as though you had Flight d6, or d8 if Afterglow has her upgrade.

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Doctor Whirligig, Colorful Gimmick Villain

A "silly gimmick" villain (notably, spinning, and making other people spin) worthy of the Martian Manhunter, or perhaps Golden Age Flash.  Mechanically effective, but visually absurd and based on science so bad that even a grade school reader would question it.  

Doctor Whirligig

Wallace Washington Topman is a self-trained physicist and electrical engineer who claims to have discovered a new principle of physics that lets him directly transform linear momentum into rotation, producing what he insists on calling a "green shift" (or for lower energy states, a "yellow shift").  He can also directly invert the momentum of an object approaching one of his "gyrolight" gadgets, causing a "red shift" that repels the object.  Absolutely none of this should be possible according to our current understanding of physics.  He explains this via his inspiration for his discovery - the study of UFOs he describes as spinning metallic saucers emitting green, yellow or red light as they raced over his house one night.

It's worth noting that every extraterrestrial individual questioned about this "gyrolight principle" insists it's utterly impossible and no known alien technology employs anything like it.

Despite this, his absurd technology does work, letting him casually manipulate momentum to defend himself and move at incredible speeds with apparent freedom from the limits of inertia, spinning wildly the whole time.  How he does it and why he isn't rendered helpless by his own high-speed rotation remains unclear, but he does it.  Projectiles are sent wildly off course or stopped in their tracks, melee attackers find the momentum of their blows turned against them as they go reeling away in dizzying circles.  He can even "ram" victims with the fringes of his "gyrolight field" and transfer part of his momentum destructively to a target, or send everyone within sight spinning madly away.  This would all be a fantastic scientific breakthrough - if anyone but Wallace could reliably re-create his results, or even explain how to operate the more sophisticated examples of his genius.  Despite being more than willing to explain at length how the "gyrolight principle" works to anyone who'll listen, Topman just can't make anyone else understand, and is widely seen as a fraud or a madman in scientific circles.  

Embittered by this steadfast rejection, Topman has adopted the supranym Doctor Whirligig and set out to gain fame and fortune as a super-criminal, spinning down the same path taken by so many other tech-villains in the past.  Admittedly, most of them looked significantly less ridiculous while doing so.

Description: A rather thin man wearing a reflective silver full-body "retro-spaceman" suit with accordion joints, moon boots, sturdy gloves and a snug hood that leaves only his face exposed.  The suits is studded with small gem-like "gyrolight" lenses.  Three larger hooded lenses are arranged in a vertical column on his thin chest, giving him an unfortunate resemblance to a traffic light.  When his powers are active all the lenses emit bright rays of green, yellow or red light depending on his current power level.  While surrounded by his gyrolight aura he also spins constantly at high rates of speed with his boots just off the ground, darting erratically from place to place like...well, a whirligig.  His tenor voice sounds odd, as though he were speaking into a fan - or spinning wildly with his mouth facing away from the listener most of the time.

Gender: Male        Age: 32      Height: 5'9"       Eyes: Brown

Hair: Light Brown, Pencil Mustache     Skin: Caucasian     Build: Lean, Large-Headed

Approach: Generalist                     Archetype: Fragile

Health:  20 + (5 x H)

Powers: Gyrolight Suit d10, Momentum d8, Speed d8, Inventions d6

Qualities: Close Combat d10, Banter d8, Criminal Inventor d8, Acrobatics d6

Status: Green Zone Health - d10 / Yellow Zone Health - d8 / Red Zone Health - d6

Abilities:

Building Momentum (A) Attack using Close Combat.  Use your Max die.  Recover Health equal to your Min die.

Gyrolight Curtain (R) When an ally is Attacked, Defend them by rolling your single Gyrolight Suit die.  Boost yourself using the same die roll.

Spinning Away (I) Whenever your personal zone changes, you may immediately move elsewhere in the scene.

Strobing Gyrolight (A) Hinder multiple nearby targets using Gyrolight Suit.  Boost yourself using your Max die.

Whirling Whirligig (A) Attack using Close Combat.  Use your Max die.  Defend yourself against all Attacks until your next turn using your Min die.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional):

Villainous Vehicle +15 Health  Include a Gyrolight Spinner-Car d8 lieutenant with the following abilities in the scene.  Bombard (A) Attack all heroes with this vehicle's roll.  Use this ability only if the vehicle is below its starting die size or if the scene is in the Red zone. Escape Plan (R) If the Villain is Attacked roll this vehicle's die.  If it rolls higher than the villain's current Health, both the villain and the vehicle escape the scene.  Recovery (A) Roll the vehicle's die.  The villain Recovers that much health.  Sturdy (I) When rolling a damage save, add +2 to the result.

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

Doctor Whirligig never stops moving during a fight, spinning in place like a top even when not zooming around.  His mouth never stops either, so expect a lot of monologs whether you want them or not.  He'll use Strobing Gyrolight regularly throughout the scene, as well as his Gyrolight Curtain reaction at every opportunity, then re-invest the resulting bonuses in his other abilities.  Against groups Whirling Whirligig is his main offensive move with a strong defensive rider (often pumped up with bonuses).  When injured or facing single foes he'll use Building Momentum instead for healing, again increased with bonuses.  He can move for free with Spinning Away whenever his personal Health zone changes, including when it increases from healing, so expect him to go zipping around the scene quite a lot as long as he lasts.

With his upgrade he's accompanied by his custom vehicle piloted by a trustworthy henchman with a very strong stomach, which (like its creator) has a lot of bells and whistles but isn't the toughest thing in the world.  His mastery reflects his mad science talents.

Trivia

Doctor Whirligig was inspired in part by fjur's color-coded villain Sirrush, although I'm pushing the concept to its silliest by having this guy literally glow in the GYRO colors as his power reserves (Health) drop - or climb, if his healing tricks work.  When he's defeated his lights literally go out, and it's very appropriate for him to go spinning wildly out of control to smack full-tilt into a wall and knock himself silly.

Because of the way his powers work he absolutely fails at any attempt at stealth unless his opposition is blind.  If quizzed about why he doesn't fill out his ROYGBIV bingo card, he'll be quick to explain that pushing beyond the "Blue Boundary" (much less reaching for indigo or violet) is obviously impossible and would rupture the fabric of spacetime by turning everything into antimatter with negative atomic spin.  Orange, well, he just doesn't like the color orange.

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Doctor Whirligig happily works alongside other villains, but his goofy schtick means he's usually seen as a bit of a loser and can only find D-listers willing to work with him.  To compensate he often has a cadre of henchmen equipped with his rather questionable technology backing him up.  They rely on conventional vehicles (usually stolen cars or trucks) to get around, since riding in the Gyrolight Spinner-Car makes them puke their guts out in short order.

Topman's Top Men d8 minion

Description: Doctor Whirligig's signature henchmen, dressed in very similar retro scifi outfits (albeit without the spinning thing or the chest lenses) and carrying scifi weapons that vaguely resemble the offspring of a pistol and a traffic signal.  Doc has a mild phobia about conventional firearms based on an early experimental failure, which is why his long-suffering lackeys use his unreliable inventions rather than simple guns.  Between that and the goofy suits they're very well paid to humor him.  

Spin-Pistol: When you Hinder a target you may reduce the penalty you inflict by one and move the target to an adjacent location in the scene.

Stupid-Looking Protective Suit: You gain a +2 bonus to saves against damage unless you roll a one.

This Stuff Works Better For Doc: Whenever you roll a one on your die, treat the roll as a zero and (if it wasn't a save against damage) gain a -2 "Spinning Helplessly" penalty.

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Rabid Wulf, Remorseless Berserker

This unpleasant little scumbag is a mechanical experiment in making a villain who can stack a lot of damage on one target fast, and should probably be used with a little care.  While fragile, if he spikes his Mid dice (which he can apply multiple times per turn) he can easily deal ~30+ damage, which is a potential one-hit KO on most heroes.  Even more average rolls should be 20+ damage, which is no joke, especially if it's landing first round while the heroes are still in Green and lack most of their defensive Reactions.  

I've seen some GMs bemoan the fact that they never KO the PCs and fights are too easy, which I don't really get - but this villain should serve as a wakeup call for anyone who's gotten overconfident.  He's also doing the bulk of his damage spread over two or three Attacks, which has the side effect of making damage reduction abilities more useful against him (which is probably a good thing, they tend to underperform sometimes) while also making it harder to stop everything with a single strong Reaction.  

Rabid Wulf

"Rabid Wulf" began life as Dean Goetz, a high school dropout with a lengthy rap sheet of gang activity, drug dealing and low-level crimes dating back to his pre-teen years.  He recently became addicted to Professor Pusher's latest variety of the Supe drug, and is one of the few users who's developed lasting powers from the stuff.  As Rabid Wulf, he's managed to make himself useful enough to various shady interests to make a name for himself as a brutal super-thug for hire, with a particular knack for delivering painful "lessons" to street-level heroes that meddle in things they shouldn't.  Dean is a thoroughly appalling individual on every level, and has strong connections to various white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups as well as Professor Pusher's operations.  He also has issues with Bigwig's gang and has been seen fighting alongside the Triple Threat gang in turf wars against them.

His powers are pretty basic but the combination of superhuman strength and impressively fast reflexes make him a dangerous opponent, something that's amplified by his remorseless nature and sadism.  Once Rabid Wulf singles out a target he'll do his best to beat them senseless or worse before moving on to a new victim, and he can dish out punishment fast enough to make endanger almost any hero.  That said, he's not exactly durable himself, lacks much in the way of mobility powers, and isn't much good at teamwork with other villains - or fighting heroes who use team tactics themselves.

Description: A rat-faced young man dressed in tattered jeans, black leather vest, and steel-toed boots.  His bare arms, torso and face are covered in low-quality tattoos with neo-Nazi iconography, and he wears four heavy swastika rings on each hand that double as makeshift melee weapons.  His voice is squeaky and high-pitched, which might explain why he mostly relies on growls, grunts and violence to communicate.  He's barely literate in English, and proud that he doesn't speak any "inferior" languages - which is pretty ironic, considering his political leanings and the fact that his family actually immigrated from Germany in the 1920s.

Gender: Male        Age: 20      Height: 5'10"       Eyes: Bloodshot Brown

Hair: Long, Scraggly Brown     Skin: Caucasian, Skinhead Tattoos     Build: Leanly Muscled

Approach: Relentless                     Archetype: Fragile

Health:  15 + (5 x H)

Powers: Agility d10, Strength d8, Leaping d6

Qualities: Close Combat d10, Alertness d8, Vicious Street Thug d8, Fitness d6

Status: Green Zone Health - d10 / Yellow Zone Health - d8 / Red Zone Health - d6

Abilities:

By The Throat (A) Attack one target using Close Combat.  Use you Max die.  If the target does not Attack you on their next turn, Hinder them using your Mid die.

Frenzied Assault (A) Attack using Agility.  Use your Max + Mid dice.  Hinder yourself using your Min die.

Making It Hurt (A) Attack one target using Vicious Street Thug.  Then remove all bonuses on the target.

Savage Follow-Through (R) After making an Attack on your turn, use your Mid die to make another Attack against one target of the initial Attack.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional, usually active after a recent hit of Supe):

Group Fighter (I) +20 Health.  When you take an action that lets you make an Attack, also make an Attack using your Mid die. 

Master Mercenary (I) If you have a contract for a specific task, automatically succeed at an Overcome when your payment is at stake.

Tactics

Rabid Wulf is a berserker in combat, throwing himself at one foe after another until he's triumphed over all or been beaten into submission instead.  He prefers to use Frenzied Assault, then immediately burn off its penalty using Savage Follow-Through to pile even more damage in his victim and leave him unimpeded for his next turn.  If an opponent seems to be trying to avoid a fight he'll use By The Throat at close range instead despite the fact that he'd probably be better off not drawing Attacks to himself.  Any opponent who stacks up multiple bonuses will draw a strike using Making It Hurt to strip them off, especially if he thinks they plan to use the mods defensively or on healing.

With his upgrade (usually in place when he's taken a hit of Supe recently) he becomes even more dangerous, and can easily take a hero Out from full Health if he spikes a Mid die roll with a high doubles result.  GMs might want to be merciful and throw the extra Group Fighter Attack at a fresh target if that happens - and he can use his Reaction with it instead of his primary Attack if desired.  His mastery usually only comes into play if a foe he's been told to beat down seems to be getting away.

Note that while he prefers to use his superhuman strength and reaction time to brawl in close combat, all of his abilities except By The Throat work fine at range if he has to fight at a distance by throwing stuff or borrowing a pistol from some random hood.

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

Continuing this series with a look at three more villain Archetypes.

Formidable

Formidable villains have an unusual 4/8/12 status die spread that's tied to whatever their specific weakness is, which is defined by the GM during creation.  If they have no penalties related to their weakness they get that big d12, a mix of weakness penalties and bonuses that might offset them is a d8, and only having weakness penalties with no bonuses drops them to d4.  They have an above-average Health bonus and choose two abilities from this list:

Channel Greatness - Creates a strong persistent and exclusive bonus with a moderate Attack as a rider.

Cleansing Elevation - Very strong Boost action that also removes all penalties on you.

Expended Negation - Unusual offensive action that lets you destroy one of your bonuses to deal light damage to every opponent.  That damage isn't an Attack, and therefore doesn't trigger most defensive reactions, nor is it affected by mods.

Share In Your Glory - Efficient Boost action that affects yourself and one or two nearby allies.

Unrivalled Paragon - Allows you to take any basic action using your Max die.  Despite the name, several other Approaches and Archetypes have the same trick, so it's more like "plenty of rivals" really.

Untempered Grit - Reaction that lets you ignore all penalties for the turn in exchange for taking damage equal to the total value of your penalties.  This does mean you won't shed any of those penalties either, but it not only avoids their effects for now, if any were degrading your status die you'll be back up to a d12 for this turn's action.

Four of these abilities are useful for manipulating the Archetype's unique status die mechanic, creating bonuses and removing or ignoring penalties, and one of the others lets you sacrifice the many bonuses potentially being generated for multi-target damage.  You also have a strong ally-friendly Boost option and a versatility trick that includes your highest single-target Attack.  The Archetype can be paired with any Approach, but the best choices will ones whose own abilities benefit most from ready access to bonuses and the potential for that excellent d12 status die.

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Fragile

Fragile villains have a 6/8/10 status die spread that starts at d10 and degrades as their personal Health drops through the GYRO zones.  They actually have a Health penalty rather than a bonus, and select two abilities from the following menu: 

Careless Smash - Very high-damage Attack that also does minor damage to you.  Your low Health makes even minor damage a concern, though.

Cheese It! - Defensive reaction that lets you move anywhere in the scene if you cancel out all the damage.  Relies on your status die, so it becomes much weaker as you take damage.

Dismantling Jab - Moderate Attack that removes all bonuses from the target.

Escape Plan - Innate ability that lets you move anywhere in the scene whenever your personal zone changes.  If you have access to healing this can trigger when you health increases as well as when it drops a zone.

Shrouded Attack - Solid Attack with a weak but multi-use self-Defend as a rider.  Even modest bonuses can make the defensive side of this quite hard to breach. 

Versatile Strike - Solid Attack with a wall of text that gives one of four different riders (most using the Min die) varying based on your Health.  It's a lot of words for not very much actual effect. 

With four different Attack abilities this a very offensive list, and its other two abilities lean into granting mobility and a modicum of self-defense.  Fragile villains tend to be just that, very effective as long as they remain healthy but falling apart as they drop through the GYRO scale - and their low initial Health makes that process faster than normal.  They can benefit from Approaches that offer healing, more reliable defensive reactions or damage reduction.  Approach abilities that Hinder foes, especially multiple foes, can be very useful for diminishing incoming damage. 

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Guerrilla

Guerrillas have a 6/8/10 status die spread that increases based on the number of opponents currently engaged.  This is a bit of an issue since "engaged" is not a tightly defined term, mechanically speaking.  As a GM I'd certainly treat all active enemies who are able to potentially Attack or be Attacked by the villain as engaged for status die purposes, whether they're in the same cramped indoor room or sniping from the roof of a building down into a distant outdoor plaza.  The intent might be that only heroes count toward status dice here, but the wording does technically mean hostile NPC minions and lieutenants would be included as well.  The Archetype has an average Health bonus and the usual two ability choices from the following:

Close Quarters Combat - Moderate multi-target close-range Attack with a weak Hinder against the same targets.

Even Odds - Innate ability that generates a bonus at the start of your turn based on how many opponents Attacked you since your last turn.  Quite efficient, especially if combined with a defensive reaction or damage resistance from your Approach.

Fighting Rhythm - Efficient Attack that uses all three of your dice, one against up to three targets.  If you have three targets, the damage becomes irreducible as well, which is very good. 

Human Shield - Strong Attack with a very nasty defensive rider.  You get a moderate multi-use self-Defend against everyone but the target, and any damage stopped by that Defend is dealt to your target.  This usually means you just won't be Attacked at all for a turn except by your victim.

Malicious Deflection - Status-die based defensive reaction that deals equal damage to another nearby target.  Quite strong when engaged with multiple foes, rather weak one-on-one.

Tangled Fray - Solid innate damage reduction whenever you're outnumbered by nearby foes. 

So three nice Attack options including a multi-target one bundled with a Hinder, a good strong reaction that both prevents and deals damage, a potentially quite strong innate bonus generator, and some damage reduction.  It's a pretty solid list overall and doesn't really need much help.  An Approach with some healing or dice manipulation would be helpful but not vital, or you could look for something that offers more ally support, which is one thing the Guerrilla really lacks.

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Continued in Archetypes part 3.

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Deadeye Mouse, Another Cartoon Villain

Have I mentioned I'm a big miniatures painter as well as dabbling in TTRPGs?  This fine villain is directly inspired by an old TOON miniature released way back in 1985.

Deadeye Mouse

Deadeye Mouse is the result of one of Mister Mean's schemes that didn't get quite as completely foiled as usual.  While he failed to turn the city's population into mice as planned, one of his human henchmen was permanently transformed into a cartoon mouse in the process, scrambling his mind quite thoroughly in the process.  He still works with Mister Mean pretty regularly, although he's also been seen in the company of petty criminals and former fellow henchmen.  Some of the less stuck-up mastermind-type villains have also hired him as muscle in the past.  La Chatarrera is particularly fond of him and considers his manically destructive sense of humor an absolute scream.  He's very economical as hench-villains go, owing to taking cheese as payment.

Unlike Mister Mean and his nemesis KO Clown, as a modern creation Deadeye mouse never goes monochromatic out of nostalgia.  He's still bound by the same cartoon logic and physics they are, and his formerly human mentality (such as it was) has been largely lost.  Despite packing a very large gun the violence he employs it for is strictly comedic with no lasting harm done to living beings.  Given the amount of damage he can dish out your heroes will probably be happy about that, and regular police are even more thankful about it  He can cause quite a bit of property damage though, and in a pinch he can conjure up cartoon dynamite and other nonsense just like his animated creator can.      

Description: An anthropomorphic albino cartoon mouse, wearing a pair of red gloves and smoking a cigar.  His absurdly huge revolver is ever-present except when it's funnier for it not to be.

Gender: Male            Age: Unkown            Height: 3'6"         Eyes: Pink

Fur: White               Nose: Pink              Build: Anthropomorphic Mouse

Approach: Specialized                     Archetype: Fragile

Health:  15 + (5 x H)

Powers: Cartoon Handgun d10, Agility d8

Qualities: Ranged Combat d12, Acrobatics d8, Former Criminal Turned Into A Cartoon d8 

Status: Green Zone Health - d10 / Yellow Zone Health - d8 / Red Zone Health - d6

Abilities:

Blazing Away (A) Attack up to three targets using Ranged Combat.  Use your Max die against one target, your Mid die against a second, and your Min die against a third.  

Cheese It! (R) When Attacked, Defend yourself by rolling your single status die.  If the damage is reduced to zero, you may move anywhere in the scene.

Deadeye Shot (A) Attack using Cartoon Handgun.  Use your Max + Mid dice.  Hinder yourself using your Min die.

Shoot and Scurry (A) Attack using Ranged Combat.  Use your Max + Min dice.  Defend yourself using your Mid die.

Tricky Little CENSORED (A) Attack one target using Acrobatics.  Use your Max + Min dice.  That target cannot Defend or use reactions against this Attack.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional):

Double Tap (I) +20 Health.  When you take an action that lets you make an Attack, also make an Attack using your Mid die. 

Master of Total Chaos (I) Automatically succeed at an Overcome when you throw out all the rules during a situation that is spiraling out of control.

Tactics

Deadeye Mouse is a classic "glass cannon" type that pumps out damage fast but falls to pieces even faster if he starts getting hurt in return.  Against multiple foes he'll spam Blazing Away at first before switching to Shoot and Scurry to concentrate on whoever seems most vulnerable.  If a hero displays strong defensive tricks he'll use Tricky Little CENSORED to bypass them while relying on Cheese It! to minimize the damage he's taking.  He usually won't use Deadeye Shot until his Health reaches the Red zone where the self-Hinder will be minimized, although he might panic and use it in Yellow instead.  There's really not much to running him, just a damage race between him and the PCs.

His upgrade ramps up his damage quite a lot and lets him either spread damage around more or focus down one target faster, and his mastery reflects the fact that he's become a cartoon and increasingly thinks like one, blazing away at scenic targets to produce implausible but amusing chain reactions.

For what it's worth, Cheese It! is the first rulebook ability I've ever skipped on renaming.  I'm sure you can see why.

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Designing An Action Scene, Part 2

Continuing on from yesterday's post, this covers all the crunchy mechanical stuff that needed to be written up for the scene as planned, along with some notes on how it came out when I ran it a few months back at the end.  My prep time on this was a bit over an hour, and would have been less if I'd had the environment available already - the villains had been done for months.  Took me longer to type up this post than assembling everything for play did, but I needed to be a bit more coherent here for readers that aren't just sitting across the table from me like my players were. 

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Protoids

Protoids are an artificial life form, or possibly a biological robot depending on your definition of what "life" means.  Composed of immensely adaptive pseudoplasm, they maintain a roughly humanoid form but can deform themselves enormously, vary their size from a few feet in height to nearly ten stories tall and their density from a thick fluid to harder than concrete.  Even brief contact with an organic life form lets them sample its genetic structure and over time process the information for their own self-improvement.  Protoids lack true free will or intelligence but are created with pre-programmed behavior patterns depending on their planned role.

Empowered Protoid

An Empowered Protoid is massive construct programmed to seek out raw material to expand its mass and spawn more of its kind.  Human bodies are an excellent source of those materials, although other chemicals are required.  Largely quiescent when adequately "fed" they can cause mass destruction if forced to forage for their own supplies.  In addition to the danger they personally present, they also regularly spawn much smaller protoids to assist in combat and gathering material (human or otherwise) for processing.  These speed-grown lesser forms are generally unstable, lasting only a brief period before breaking down into a chemical slurry.

Description: An enormous mass of pseudoplasm the color of a livid bruise.  It maintains a distorted humanoid shape that irregularly flexes, expands and contracts.  Its consistency varies from near-fluid to a crusty hardness but generally maintains a rubbery, adhesive pliancy.  The thing gives off an astringent chemical odor and a constant burbling sound but is incapable of speech.

Gender: N/A     Age: Newborn     Height: 25' To Start, Can Reach Nearly 100'     Eyes: None

Hair: None                   Integument: Transparent              Build: Vaguely Humanoid

Approach: Adaptive

Archetype: Titan (Status Challenge: Discover Weakness 00  Apply Counteragents 0)

Health:  45 + (5 x H)

Powers: Strength d10, Elasticity d8, Size-Changing d8, Density Control d6                                        

Qualities: Imposing d10, Close Combat d8, Pseudoplasmic Entity d8, Ranged Combat d8

Status: Titan Challenge Start - d12 / Stage 1 Completed - d10 / Stage 2 Completed - d8

Abilities:

Engulf & Encyst (A) Attack using Density Control.  Use your Max die.  The target can either be Hindered using your Max + Mid + Min dice, or be unable to take actions other than using an Overcome to attempt to escape.

Flailing Limbs (A) Attack multiple targets using Elasticity.  Use your Max die.  Hinder each target using your Mid die.

Metabolic Overdrive (A) Take d6 irreducible damage.  Increase all your powers by one die size each until the end of the scene.

Resilient Pseudoplasm (I) Reduce all damage you take by 6 (at d12 status), 4 (at d10 status), or 2 (at d8 or less status).

Sample & Assimilate (I) On your turn, whenever you Attack a target you haven't dealt damage to yet in this scene, Boost yourself using your Max die. 

Sudden Fluctuations (R) When Attacked, Defend yourself by rolling your single Size-Changing die.  Also Boost yourself with the result of that die.

Upgrades & Masteries (usually in effect):

Mook Squad (I) Gain Splattering Pseudoplasm (A) Replenish your Unstable Protoid minions up to the number of heroes in the scene.

Master of Conquest (I) As long as you are in command of your own forces, automatically succeed at an Overcome to seize an area or capture civilians.

Tactics

An Empowered Protoid is a powerful but unimaginative foe.  It relies on Resilient Pseudoplasm backed by Sudden Fluctuations in size for defense, making it very hard to damage until its status die has been reduced.  In most battles it will initially employ Metabolic Overdrive once or twice before beginning to pick off individual targets with Engulf & Encyst, usually opting for the second option to trap the victim within its form.  Each new target it strikes triggers Sample & Assimilate, making its next action more effective.  If hard-pressed by multiple foes the creature will resort to desperate Flailing Limbs.

Its upgrade lets it spawn more of its signature minions with Splattering Pseudoplasm, which it will do whenever their numbers are depleted since they're required to use its mastery to collect more raw materials, human or otherwise.

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Unstable Protoid d8 minion

Description: Vaguely humanoid masses of pseudoplasm the color of a livid bruise with an acrid chemical smell.  They swell larger and larger with each blow they endure before eventually rupturing and collapsing into a puddle of bubbling foulness.

Clinging Pseudoplasm:  When taking Hinder actions you gain a +1 bonus.  When taking Attack actions you suffer a -2 penalty.

Unstable Overdrive:  Each time you succeed in a saving throw against damage while your die size is less than d12, your die size increases by one rather than decreasing.  If you have to make a saving throw against damage while your die size is a d12 you are immediately defeated, no roll required.

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I had five players show up, so I added one of these to the scene as a fifth element.  It got to imitate the Empowered Protoid's Engulf & Encyst ability once and made a Flailing Limbs strike before the PCs finished it off, freeing the hero it had engulfed.  35 Health doesn't last long and the PCs knew how dangerous these things could be from previous encounters.

Attuned Protoid

Attuned Protoids are designed to be "rented" to other villains as powerful and perfectly obedient allies, and are optimized to adapting themselves to duplicate the most potent abilities of their allies.  This can make them very effective force multipliers for the right group, although they're incapable of properly emulating powers of technological or magical origin, and psychic powers work unreliably if at all.  This "model" of protoid is surprisingly agile and good at using its variable form to improve its mobility.  They are, however, quite fragile, and will melt into a reeking puddle of slime when defeated. 

Description: A roughly humanoid mass of blue, black and purple pseudoplasm with sickly yellow highlights.  Its unstable form distorts and stretches seemingly at random, altering its consistency from a thick fluid to rocklike hardness.  The thing stinks of harsh chemicals and gives off a continuous quiet bubbling sound, although it lacks the ability to communicate verbally.

Gender: N/A     Age: Newborn     Height: About 6'     Eyes: None

Hair: None                   Integument: Transparent              Build: Vaguely Humanoid

Approach: Adaptive                     Archetype: Fragile

Health:  10 + (5 x H)

Powers: Elasticity d10, Density Control d8, Strength d8, Wall-Crawling d6

Qualities: Close Combat d10, Acrobatics d8, Pseudoplasmic Entity d8, Ranged Combat d8

Status: Green Zone Health - d10 / Yellow Zone Health - d8 / Red Zone Health - d6

Abilities:

Attuned (A) Use an ability action of one of your allies.

Pseudoplasmic Bludgeon (A) Attack using Close Combat.  Then remove all bonuses from the target.

Sample & Assimilate (I) On your turn, whenever you Attack a target you haven't dealt damage to yet in this scene, Boost yourself using your Max die.

Spasmodic Evasion (I) Whenever your personal zone changes, you may immediately move elsewhere in the scene.

Sudden Fluctuations (R) When Attacked, Defend yourself by rolling your single Size-Changing die.  Also Boost yourself with the result of that die.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional):

Hardier Minions + 5 Health.  Gain Metabolic Augmentation (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).

Pseudoplasmic Servant (I) If you are in a situation involving the master you're attuned to, automatically succeed at an Overcome to obey their commands regardless of your well-being.

Tactics

These Protoids exist to serve the entity they're attuned to.  In combat, they prefer to employ one of their allies' more potent abilities using Attuned to imitate them.  While relatively fragile Sudden Fluctuation gives them a strong defensive reaction, and Spasmodic Evasion lets them move to safety if they take serious damage - or when they recover from it using an imitated healing ability.  They're good at Boosting themselves when Attacking thanks to Sample & Assimilate, which encourages them to spread their blows around multiple heroes.  If forced to use their own abilities they resort to Pseudoplasmic Bludgeon to strip targets of their bonuses by leeching away power.

The rarer, more advanced protoids with upgrades have the added ability to improve the performance of their weaker allies through invasive Metabolic Augmentation, injecting pseudoplasm into the recipients.  The also become very efficient servants of whatever master they're attuned to.   

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Secret Laboratory environment

Can be used for any covert facility capable of research and/or light fabrication work, whether it's a mad scientist's lair, site of a top secret government program, or something as prosaic as a meth lab, re-skinning its associated minions and lieutenants to suit. 

Hazardous Materials & Equipment d10, Site Security d8, Lab Staff d6

Green Zone

(Minor Twists)

Break Time: Add one Technician minion to the scene in a location occupied by one or more hero targets. 

Security Systems: Start challenge.  Disable Sensors: 0  If this challenge has not been completed when the scene tracker advances to the Yellow zone, end the challenge and immediately trigger a Loud Alarm twist.

(Major Twist)

Guard Patrol: Roll the environment dice.  Add a number of Security Staff minions equal to the Min die to the scene in a location occupied by one or more hero targets.  

Yellow Zone

(Minor Twists)

Anesthetic Gas:  Roll the environment dice.  Hinder all targets in one location using the Min die.  The resulting penalties are persistent and exclusive.

Edgar or Edward?: Add one Moseby Twins lieutenant to the scene.  This twist can only be triggered twice per scene.  00

Loud Alarm: Roll the environment dice.  Hinder all hero targets and Boost all environment targets using the Min die.

Shift Change?: Roll the environment dice.  If the scene tracker is in the Yellow zone, add Mid die Technician minions to the scene.  If Red, add Max die Technician minions instead.  If any Loud Alarm twists have been triggered so far this scene, add the same number of Security Staff minions instead.   

(Major Twist)

Serious Safety Violations: Roll the environment dice.  Attack two hero targets using the Mid die, then Hinder both those targets using the Min die and make those penalties persistent and exclusive.

Red Zone

(Minor Twists)

Just Keeps Getting Worse: Trigger three different minor twists from the Green or Yellow zones.

Rapid Response: Roll the environment dice.  Add a number of Security Staff minions to the scene equal to the Mid die, then Boost those minions using the Max die.

(Major Twist)

Disastrous Lab Accident: Roll the environment dice.  Start timed challenge.  Prevent Disaster 00 Timer 0 Triggered: Each hero Attacked with the Max die, then all minions are removed from the scene.

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Moseby Twins d6 environment lieutenant

Description: The Moseby Twins are a pair of middle-aged Caucasian men dressed stereotypical lab coats over dark suits.  Tall and thin and sporting thick bifocal glasses, they seem pretty harmless - until they trigger the modifications they've made through self-experimentation and begin to swell with muscle, their skin darkening to an ugly purple-blue as they bulk up more and more.  The harder they're hit the more powerful and distorted they become, although eventually their metabolism will overload and collapse, leaving them shriveled and helpless.  Usually they'll try to make a cunning escape before that point, but things don't always work out that way.  

Genius: You gain a +2 bonus to Overcome actions.

Metabolic Modifications:  Each time you fail in a saving throw against damage while your die size is less than d12, your die size increases by one rather than decreasing.  If you have to make a saving throw against damage while your die size is a d12 you are immediately defeated, no roll required.  Note that if you take damage equal to twice your current die size from one Attack you are defeated outright so this ability won't trigger.

Security Staffer d6 environment minion

Description: Basic paid muscle, carrying sidearms and telescoping batons.  Ones working within the facility may have actual uniforms, while outdoor guards will be dressed to blend in with area and keep their weapons concealed.

Sound the Alarm:  You may use your action to attempt to trigger the Loud Alarm environment twist.  Roll your die, subtract the number of hero targets in your location, and if the result is higher than one you succeed.

Technician d4 environment minion

Description: Unarmed lab workers.  They'll have suitable protective gear if they're working with anything hazardous.  They wear uniforms of some kind if the place is run by the kind of organization that issues them even to bottom-rung agents, but otherwise it's just basic lab coats and pocket protectors.

Non-Combatant:  You suffer a -2 penalty to Attack actions.

Sound the Alarm:  You may use your action to attempt to trigger the Loud Alarm environment twist.  Roll your die, subtract the number of hero targets in your location, and if the result is higher than one you succeed.

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Scene Locations

Some powers may allow the heroes to scout ahead with ease, letting them get an idea of what lies ahead with Overcomes before the action starts.  My players didn't have anyone with obvious choices like Remote Viewing, Telepathy or Animal Control, but the guy with Sonic managed to get a general layout through "subsonic ground-penetrating sonar pulses" so that helped some and they knew roughly where the most deeply-buried sections were.  Another hero with Intuition and Principle of Whispers "had a bad feeling" about the main lab space that marked it out as important.  So they had some idea where they might want to go, especially after they looked over the tanks and pipes in material storage. 

Disused Warehouse: Dark, echoing, cavernous space with only a few stacks of dusty crates full of junk scattered around.  Tracks of delivery trucks in the grime and dust make it easy to find the badly concealed hatch that opens on a ladder leading down to the lab, as well as the much larger section of floor that serves as a 20 foot square cargo elevator platform.  The hatch has a simple keypad lock and alarm, and obvious security cameras monitor the area with lackluster coverage - easily Overcome during a montage scene.  Nothing much going on here, and the scene tracker won't start unless the PCs do something overt like punching a hole through the floor or activating the main cargo lift.  Moving between the warehouse and material storage generally takes an action unless a suitable power is in use.

Material Storage: Directly below the warehouse, this cluttered chamber is about half the size of that space.  The only obvious exit is a large pair of swinging doors leading into the hallway that runs past security to the elevator down to the outer laboratories.  It contains the cargo elevator controls (currently in the raised position), the ladder leading up to the smaller hatch, a number of neatly stacked crates full of miscellaneous lab supplies, and a dozen huge cylindrical tanks with cryptic alphanumerical labels on them.  These last are connected to an elaborate set of pumps, hoses and pipes which lead down through the floor.  The place smells of whatever strange chemical mixtures are in the tanks.

Security: This is a small suite of rooms including a security checkpoint with its window overlooking the main hall, a camera monitoring room, a small arsenal/locker/break room, and a sign-in room with more lockers and a cramped adjoining bathroom, and a sturdy doorway that opens on a long underground tunnel that eventually leads to a secret entrance in the apartment building that houses the facility's personnel when off site.  This last might be another entrance point for the heroes if their investigations managed to connect the base with the apartments, and has the same inadequate security systems found in the disused warehouse.  There are H/2 Security Staffers in this location when first entered, with at least one at the security checkpoint itself and one in the monitor room, the latter of whom is usually slacking off.  Using the elevator usually takes an action (it's pretty slow), although using powers to move through the shaft itself (possibly wrecking the elevator in the process and triggering an alarm) would generally just be movement for your turn. 

Outer Laboratories: Located below the security/stores level of the base, the labs can only be accessed via a single large elevator, a sure sign that the place doesn't see many building inspectors.  This location consists of cluster of half a dozen small labs that seem specialized for chemical and biological research, along with a large locker room/bathroom facility that includes protective gear and a hazmat shower.  The computer network is no more secure than the rest of the base, and could be hacked to get access to information that would help with the first step of the Empowered Protoid's titan's challenge, and the lab supplies themselves are could be used to create a counteragent to use in step 2.  The main hallway in this location runs between the elevator shaft and the large security door leading to the Main Laboratory.  When first entered by the heroes there will be H/2 Technician minions scattered around the labs, all of whom will make escape their first priority after sounding the alarm if possible.

Main Laboratory: The main lab is a single very large space accessed through a security door whose keypad lock can be Overcome the same way as the hatch in the warehouse or just smashed open with brute force (the latter sounding the Loud Alarm twist if it hasn't already triggered).  The room has workbenches and equipment along the walls, while the center is dominated by a huge recessed vat of chemicals that the Empowered Protoid wallows in.  A complex array of pipes descend from the ceiling, feeding the vat and various machines on the workbenches and connecting to the tanks in the material storage location overhead.  Any other Protoids start the scene here and generally stay in the area until disturbed.  Unless they've both been encountered as environment twists at least one of the Moseby Twins will be present as well, although they'll be more reactive and move to meet intruders and link up with any active guards.

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The writeups above are quite a bit more elaborate than the notes I wrote up for the actual session, but I wanted to be a little more clear for readers here.  The heroes were able to move around the locations until something happened to set off an alarm, which eventually happened when they triggered a minor twist during an Overcome to get past the security sensors on the elevator leading down to the outer labs.  At that point the scene tracker kicked into gear and the action scene proper started up.  They'd have had  a hard time if they'd set things in motion when they first entered the base (which they debated over when considering just punching/blasting their way in), but as it was they reached the main lab as the scene hit Yellow and the big fight started, wrapping up when the main villain was KO'd around the middle of round eight.  

So that went pretty well.  I let them play out the round and one more beyond ignoring the tracker since they wanted to clean up the last few minions and the Moseby Twins.  A little extra time in the Red zone never hurts player's sense of awesomeness, and only one PC was Out at that point - although the last Twin took another hero out just before he dropped.  Two out of five PCs went Out clearing the place, and almost a dozen guards and techs captured for questioning.  

We ended the session with a combination montage/social scene covering the cleanup and recovery process, calling the authorities about what they'd found, and interrogating prisoners and checking records to make sure they hadn't missed anything vital.  There was no immediate time pressure so the heroes all got to heal themselves up a zone for free, and one of the two who'd gone Out opted to use their montage action to get up to Yellow while the other one decided to stay in Red and do some investigation work using their Principles.  They got rewarded with a lead to some other criminal activity (a "client" that had been looking to lease some Attuned Protoids for a job) for next session and a Boost to carry to that situation, but their Health will be pretty low the next time they get in an action scene - and there was one coming thanks to twists and story stuff leading to an ambush before the group could go check out the new hook.  

Normally I'd follow the rulebook and allow a full heal between sessions, but this one actually ran short due to two people needing to leave early and left the planned ambush scene unresolved, so I started next session with that and then treated it as a full session break before continuing for the night.

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