I’m running a superhero RPG at the moment, and I’ve sort-of introduced the major villain of the theme, but I need some help for his ‘master plan’ and some stuff leading up to it. The story in a nutshell:
The PC’s are teen heroes, something of a cross between x-men students and teen titans. The school that they’re in is run by Daedelus, whom they assume is a super-scientist gadgeteer type. They’re right, but they don’t realize it’s actually -the- daedelus, ancient greek scientist who has become immortal.
Anyway, using one of the oldest cliches in the world, Icarus is also still alive, and seething at his father’s ‘failure’ to save him. Thus, he has become a supervillain, but has been biding his time until he can find dad.
Finally, he’s found big D, and sent a chimera (genetically engineered) to kill him. The PC’s intervened. Now, Daedalus only knows that someone has attacked him with a monster from mythology. He has no idea his son is still alive, but he’s a little worried.
If you were icarus, and wanted to play with dad before killing him, what sort of great supervillain-mastermind-y things would you do? Keep in mind, I want my PC’s to eventually figure out who’s behind it all, but not -too- quickly. I’d like to do some greek-history-based things, stuff they can research and the like. Any ideas?
For some reason, the words “Greek Supervillian” give me a visual of Telly Savalas portraying an Aristotle Onanissis type. Yeah…making the villian married to a former US first lady would throw some interesting twists into the story, but might be too much hassle…The guy has major holdings, very wealthy, villas all around the world, especially the mediterranean. Lives on a huge yacht much of the time. Maybe the Ernst Blofeld (james Bond villian) from the Sean Connery film where he lived on the yacht, had all the frogmen henchmen…
Trap the team in a labyrinth, similar to D’s original (complete with genetically engineered Minotaur), but with improvements such as teleporters. tesseracts, and time loop dead ends.
Use a bomb that shorts out electronics and chemical combustion, effectively neutralizing modern technology. Follow up with a team of crack “Persian” (or Spartan, if that’s more to your liking) supersoldiers, perhaps with weapons shielded against said plot device. Force the team to reenact Thermopylae.
Have Herakles show up. In mythology, he discovered Icarus’ body, and thus may be sympathetic to him.
One Word: Talos.
This is Mutants and Masterminds, right? Great game.
Icarus’ master plan is, obviously, to build a giant wooden bird as a ‘lets put it all behind us’ gift to Daedalus. This bird, of course, is a giant robot, and as soon as D isn’t looking, Icarus presses the Big Red Button and it attacks.
After a massive battle which destroys D’s lab and nearly kills the heroes, the bird grabs D and begins flying straight for the sun!
How about–
[list=A]
[li]A bronze robot that resembles the Collussus (sp?) of Rhodes[/li][li]A minor hood that has been dipped in the River Styx to give him the same powers Achilles had[/li][li]Hi Opal[/li][li]Another minor hood that has a ray gun that turns people to stone, & contains one eye of the Medusa[/li][li]A chemical weapon based on the Hydra’s poison[/li][li]Dragon’s teeth that, when sown like wheat, sprout Skeleton Warriors (YAY! Ray Harryhausen)[/li][li]People turning into fauns, fryads, centaurs, etc.[/li][li]A Giant Robot Horse made of wood, that spill out dozens of wooden Hoplite Warrior Robots[/li][li]An old, blind poet in a Goth coffeeehouse that keeps giving them tips. (Homer, & I don’t mean Simpson)[/li][li]A third hood that has been transformed into a Giant Cyclops[/li][li]A streetgang that has been given winged flying backpacks to commit crimes[/li][/list]
If any of these work for you, & you use them, please give me a play-by-play of the session.
You could have him own a large island. Then build it up as a set of challenges that follow the themes of the 12 labors of Hercules. He kidnaps D and tells the team that they must sucessfully complete each challenge to get him back. Modify some of the labors so they fall directly in the skill of each character, then make them do it alone.
I suggest a large person, say 6’10" or so, with a missing eye. Not an actual cyclops but evocative of one. Most of these other suggestions are just way too obvious and if you want to pace it out, allusions work better, much like your initial chimaera idea.
Crashing to Earth: Plane crashes
Failed technology: Computer viruses, power outages, etc
The Sun (or heat in general): Fires
Hubris: Anything that strikes at Daedalus’ pride
You want things that just seem like random unconnected attacks, but with a theme so that when Icarus reveals himself, the characters say, “Of course, the clues were there all along.”
Icarus would likely not only be carrying a grudge against his father for allowing him to “die,” but for having had a hand in creating the entire scenario on Crete from which they had to flee in the first place–Dad having been proximally responsible for the Minotaur itself and the Labyrinth in which it was confined, as well as for his and Icarus’ imprisonment therein by allowing Theseus and Ariadne to escape. It seems, then, that Icarus might try to attack his father through the young PCs, by tricking Daedalus into sending them into a trap in order to either frame him for their deaths, or to poison the PCs’ trust in their mentor and turn them against him. Icarus may be jealous of the PCs, or he may sincerely believe that it’s better that the PCs come to reject Daedalus, lest he later “abandon” them as he did his own son.
I second the idea of a Labyrinth-type maze as the ultimate trap for the PCs, ideally situated on the island where Icarus was supposedly “buried” by Hercules. Greek mythology being so rife with human-animal hybrids, and Daedalus being the first “genetic engineer” of sorts by creating the Minotaur, it seems like some type of anthropomorphic creatures should figure into the mix, possibly as Icarus’ island minions. Perhaps even some PCs might find themselves temporarily transformed into animal hybrids during the course of the adventure, which might make the PCs suspect that the Greek sorceress Circe is somehow involved. Any sort of overtly technological attacks should cast suspicion on Talos (assuming you’re working with the Mutants and Masterminds Freedom City campaign material)–if by some wild chance you’re not, you may want to track it down and mine it for ideas.
On the other hand, the Foes of Freedom supplement for M&M details a supervillain group masterminded by the original Minotaur, now calling himself “Taurus,” who also bears a grudge against Daedalus (does the guy actually have any friends from Greek mythology?), so it might be interesting to tie that group in as a red herring. Also, the Mutants and Masterminds Annual #1 supplement contains an entire section on various Greek mythic heroes and demigods who have either survived until, or been reincarnated in, the present day.