Schemes and Scoundrels (Inactive)

Game Master Idiot Cube

I'm looking for players for an open-ended game where you play as supervillains in a modern setting. We'll be using the Mutants and Masterminds 3rd Edition system. Don't worry if you're not familiar with it - I'm willing to help.

I'm still somewhat new to GMing, and this is my first time reaching out to play with people I don't already know, so be prepared for a few hiccups.

Expect this game to be a lot more sandbox-y than your standard "stop the bad guys, save the world" story. Being the bad guys yourselves, you will have a lot more agency over the tone of the story and the way events unfold. You will start out as small-time criminals, and gradually build your influence and power. All the while, you will have to fend off increasingly powerful superheroes, eventually gaining the attention of Earth's mightiest defenders.

I have two players already (Sundakan and A 1970 Corvette), and I'm looking for three or four more. Leave a dot if you're interested!

Yoyoyo mah boi.

I'm going to start brainstorming a bad guy. What kind of tone are we looking for? Should I err closer to the side of Captain Boomerang or the more particularly dark depictions of The Joker?

Lean towards Captain Boomerang. A really dark, disturbing character would be out of place with what I had in mind.

Excellent. Goofy villains are always more fun anyway.

What PL are we starting at?

Probably PL 10.

This sounds interesting. Let's see what my muse comes up with.

I would dot, is there an SRD or some "learn to play" guide?

Hey Idiot Cube

Colour me interested - am thinking on a Bi-Beast type riff with a dash of Mr Hyde - "Ettin", possibly siblings that merge/have been merged or a vestigial twin that manifests when he assumes his giant form.

Goofy enough?

I'm willing to throw forth a dot, but I don't own any of the books. I've looked at the system in my FLGS, but I've never played it. Is there an SRD or an online resource I can use to build a character?

EDIT: After Googling, I found this website: d20HeroSRD. It says it's for Mutants & Masterminds 3rd Edition. Is this a valid source?

Dotting for interest :-)

I'm willing to throw forth a dot, but I don't own any of the books. I've looked at the system in my FLGS, but I've never played it. Is there an SRD or an online resource I can use to build a character?

EDIT: After Googling, I found this website: d20HeroSRD. It says it's for Mutants & Masterminds 3rd Edition. Is this a valid source?

One of the factors in picking 3e instead of 2e was because 3e has the SRD, and I'm the only one with 2e books in our group.

Okay, great. I'll go see if I can make a character, then.

Ooh, my muse has spoken. Princess Caravalle would like to come on your little adventure, for she is interested in the treasures you might recover. She is quite useful, as many people who see her become her devoted servants. And animals too. They just love her so much that they can do amazing things.

-More to come-

d20HeroSRD is perfectly valid. It's what I use!

@Black Dow: Sounds good. You don't need to be "goofy" per se, just don't be a maniac who kills innocent civilians by the truckload. Heroes will crack jokes with each other and sometimes exchange banter with your group, but at the end of the day, they still want to put you behind bars. Hope that helps!

I could really get into this. I've tried a villains group once, and they're a lot of fun, but it's a challenge. Villains need to plot. Heroes usually have to wait for the signs of villains operating and react. Or patrol and see what they encounter. This puts more work on the shoulders of the players, since they need to come up with a good scheme.

Any thoughts on how you would seed the world with possible villainous plots for us? Or would we hench for a larger mastermind? I would imagine pbp would be good for this.

I'll muse on this and see what sort of villain I can come up with. I have the DC Heroes version of the rules. I think that's pretty close to 3rd Ed, right?

Okay, I think I've done this correctly. I'm presenting the mechanics of the Green Skull, practitioner of Dark Sorceries. Let me know if I need to fix anything. The Powers section was confusing for piecing together powers. I actually ended up using the Example Blast Power for one of them.

So, while I haven't decided what his outfit looks like (apart from having a sweet cape), I wanted the main physical feature to be that his head appears as a flaming green skull (hence the name), unattached to anything else. I noticed there was a "Feature" effect that could do something like this, but that I should ask the GM about the considered Feature to see if it was just something that could be done. I don't think it would have much of a mechanical effect, but I'm not sure.

@Black Dow: Sounds good. You don't need to be "goofy" per se, just don't be a maniac who kills innocent civilians by the truckload. Heroes will crack jokes with each other and sometimes exchange banter with your group, but at the end of the day, they still want to put you behind bars. Hope that helps!

@IC: Roger that. Will get working on my concept and build - might be closer to the weekend before I have something up. As mentioned above basic idea is an Ettin - big and a heavy hitter who won't be super-tough - effectively has glass jaw(s).

Will model off of some previous builds - with Mr Hyde (one of my fave Marvel villains) and a dash of Bi-Beast thrown in.

Might do a mastermind-y tinker sort. Big brain, can whip up some technobabble to solve any problem, bad case of the megalomanias, all that jazz. I'll narrow it down once the SRD site is back up.

Upon reading the rules, I've come up with a concept and I'll try to get her up and running. The basis would be a mix of the X-Men Dazzler and

Would anyone groan too hard if I made the "Game Boy" and used old Nintendo peripherals to kill people?

"I love the Power Glove. It's so...bad."

Would there be space free for a shapeshifter?

I am also interested. Will this be a play by post? Or Rolld20?

What would you say to a vampire who absorbs metahuman powers when he drains blood? Sort of Rogue-like, but instead of touch, he has to drink some blood (and not to death, since we're not going too dark).

Definites interest!

Working on Technocrat, the Master of Machines

O I would love to play and Evil TimeLord along the lines of The master.
Would have to nix their time powers a but to not brake game.
But super Smart Alien Mastermind.

The Orchestrator

Powers:
Super Smarty-pants ["I have an evil plan"]
Mind Control/influence ["Come join my evil plan"]
Time Manipulation (within game reason) ["O there will be no next time"]
Hard to kill (Regeneration) ["You think you have defeated me!"]

Man, this is already getting a lot of attention! I’m glad to see so many people are intrigued.

Any thoughts on how you would seed the world with possible villainous plots for us? Or would we hench for a larger mastermind? I would imagine pbp would be good for this.

Good question. I honestly haven't given it much thought yet. Maybe you could start out working with a larger organization, but have the option to break away from them as you become more ambitious. Let me know what you guys think.

I'll muse on this and see what sort of villain I can come up with. I have the DC Heroes version of the rules. I think that's pretty close to 3rd Ed, right?

I'm not familiar with DC Heroes, so I couldn't tell you for sure. I suggest you skim through the main page and character creation outline on d20HeroSRD, and see if the mechanics look the same.

So, while I haven't decided what his outfit looks like (apart from having a sweet cape), I wanted the main physical feature to be that his head appears as a flaming green skull (hence the name), unattached to anything else. I noticed there was a "Feature" effect that could do something like this, but that I should ask the GM about the considered Feature to see if it was just something that could be done. I don't think it would have much of a mechanical effect, but I'm not sure.

If it's a purely cosmetic effect, you don't need to make it a Feature.

I am also interested. Will this be a play by post? Or Rolld20?

Play by post.

O I would love to play and Evil TimeLord along the lines of The master.

*snip*

Sorry, but I'm gonna say no to time travel altogether. It makes things way too challenging for me, and essentially renders the rest of your team useless.

GM_Panic wrote:

O I would love to play and Evil TimeLord along the lines of The master.

Sorry, but I'm gonna say no to time travel altogether. It makes things way too challenging for me, and essentially renders the rest of your team useless.

I fully understand GM, why I asked if it would brake game.

I think I will still going with a super smart alien, and try and work form there. I have a cool idea just working on it now.

dot. How about a energy controller?

Went a completely different direction.

Bankshot uses his enhanced metabolism, throwing skill, and special trick balls (which look like billiard balls) to pull off heists in the hopes of striking it big.

While Technocrat was interesting, several others have listed desire to go with mastermind types, and Bankshot seems more like a good flunky for those guys. :)

I am dotting here because super villain games.

So change of idea, to a mentalist using her mind to will to affect the cosmos around her. Kind of Female Psionic Doctor strange, cafting her mind powers to her evil plans.

Name: Miss Areal Grey
Mastermind Name: The Determinist

Powers:
Super Intelligence and will:
Psionic powers: Telepathy/Mind reading/control/Teleportation/Alt form energy/Telekinetic etc.

Phntm888 wrote:

I'm willing to throw forth a dot, but I don't own any of the books. I've looked at the system in my FLGS, but I've never played it. Is there an SRD or an online resource I can use to build a character?

EDIT: After Googling, I found this website: d20HeroSRD. It says it's for Mutants & Masterminds 3rd Edition. Is this a valid source?

One of the factors in picking 3e instead of 2e was because 3e has the SRD, and I'm the only one with 2e books in our group.

I like 2e better. It's closer to pathfinder! And I have all the books.

And here is your princess. She's not a villain. She simply likes beautiful things. People want to worship her.

This is my working file on

Name: Prof Areal Grey
Mastermind Name: "The Conflicter"

Powers:
Alien Super Intelligence and will:
Alien Psionic powers: Telepathy/Mind reading/control/Teleportation/Alt form energy/Telekinetic etc.

Still working in her powers, the core idea now is that she has been infected with an Alien Sym-bot that gives her powers and lets her feed those drives she always had, but also has an alien plan all of its own.
Two minds one body, with one side being evil the other alien.

Dropping out. As nice as this sounds, I don't have the time to learn a new system. Good luck, everyone!

Aight, getting to work on "Crackerjack", real name unknown. He'll be a tinker, coming up with all sorts of gadgets on the fly, and I'll see what kind of staple gadgets seem fun as permanent powers.

Ok I dont know the rules and would need serious help but basically I want to create somebody whose in a coma in a hospital and uses a ghost form to terrorize and fly around doing wicked misdeeds draining others in order that one day his physical self will be cured! If this is too dark how about a really rich immortal guy who just keeps coming back aka groundhogs day the movie, somebody with a lot of cash and too much time who just hates everyone cause he cant die and is super pissed about it?

Ok I dont know the rules and would need serious help but basically I want to create somebody whose in a coma in a hospital and uses a ghost form to terrorize and fly around doing wicked misdeeds draining others in order that one day his physical self will be cured!

And what if you named it "Highway Star"?

Note on Princess' Aura of Majesty. What it does is turn people into her retinue. Mostly servants, footmen, and such. The transformation gives them the skills to do so. This is how bluebirds and mice know how to make beautiful clothes. The few who are guards are mostly "comedy sidekick" guards, though if she is feeling truly threatened, one of them may be effective. The uncontrolled is because she can't control what they turn into. (though if she feels underdressed, tailors are almost always first) The controlled condition does not represent direct control, it's that they are loyal to her. She can give orders, but barring that, they simply act per their nature. This transformation also results in spontaneous musical numbers. Since it's reversible, I will release other PC's, making them immune.

While Princess is very powerful, she's not very focused. Her delusions mean that she's often in a different reality than the main group.

I've updated her - I had to add singing.

All hail the highway star... btw nice deep purple reference

All hail the highway star... btw nice deep purple reference

While I like the song, this was more a reference to JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. One of the one-shot villains from part 4's Stand was Highway Star. When he was injured in a motorcycle accident he used it to steal "nutrients" from people across town to heal himself.

Hey Cube, would you consider it too cheesy if I took bunch of ranks in Quickness (like...20) and used it to whip up Inventions in basically no time (4 months worth of work in 12 seconds)?

Seeing how Princess is a manipulator I think I will go another root with my PC, I really like the idea of a human taken over or combined with an Alien being. I think there main power will be Alt form, where they can become the alien as some kind of Dark Energy and that gives them alt powers to do things.

So new entry:

Name: Prof Areal Grey
Mastermind Name: "Dark Light"

Powers:
Alien Form + Psionic powers: Telepathy/Mind reading/Teleportation/Alt form energy/Telekinetic etc.

Really like the idea of two minds in one body, talking a working out what to do. Platting, evil plans to take over the world.

Back story
He had been cast out, deemed unsuitable for citizen compliance, crime he had committed in a world at peace where all things had a place and every place had someone. He hated it, hated there stagnated views, there need for order, soft weak. Civilization, seeking to enrich there own thoughts and culture while having nothing to do with the greater galaxy. They how powers that could make the masters of the cosmos by all they did was contemplate and dream. So he had rebelled and taken to the old ways, such crimes he had done. Then they had to act, he dared them to act, they had known fear and he felt power. But they had not fallen to his will, he had wanted them to kill him so show thire hypocrisy. But they had not, the body yes, but his mind the kept alive and flung into the void. O they would not kill, they was his trap but they where happy to let him carry on a mind they had cast him out instead. lost in the greater dark and banished. For an age he could do nothing but as time went on hear leaned to see then move. He would forever be blocked from going back but this galaxy had things to see. Its this his the led him to follow a radio bleed from a system way out on the 3ed arm. A small blue world with life, life that lived and acted in ways his kind hated. They felt they know pain and anger. He looked on hungry feeling it all. Then a single being court his attention. She was weak and would seen be ended, such was her situation but in her was such range and anger, a will too. he was drawn to her and letting himself fall into the gravity well he flow down to the dark space she was in and enter her mind.

Areal Grey's life had been a blessed one, older middle class parents now both passed away, she was born into a small mid west town. They had both been teachers and her mother having her at 45 was very late to start a family. They where kind but years of teaching had made the cold and driven my a need to have Areal academically achieve. While others where out playing her life was books and more books. They called her frumpy at school and little miss know all. She did not care much but spent her time working to get to a good collage and university, which she did. She as good at math and got her MSC and the PhD with ease. It was at this time both her parents pass away with in mouths of each other. She was at a low point in her life when she meet Chip. He was cool and liked her, yes he had been out of work for a while but he had big plans. He give her her 1st love and that had been her down fall. He had trusted him, as he spend all her money, very thing her parents had left her. They her savings and then loans all in her name. She had not even thought about it when he had asked to sign her up for life insurance. Never, even thought about what he was doing. Not even when he asked down to the basement, only when he had hit her over the head has she though about things. As he tided her up and told her all about how much he hated her, and how weak and useless she was. How what he was doing was helping the world get ride of one more pointless person. How he had killed his last three lovers because they were like her, gullible stupid and weak.

As the house started to burn around her and he left she thought a lot. Then a darkness came and it offered her revenge, or she did not think on that long as she walked out the fire past the flames and into her lovers arms. She did not think as he screamed an burned in dark flame.

@Grym Slade: Those are both neat ideas, but yeah, I think the "draining other people" thing would be too dark. As for the immortal rich guy, you're in luck - there's an Immortality power which lets you come back from death after a certain amount of time!

@Philo Pharynx: Slow down, son. I'm fine with an "enchantress" type character, but you seem to be making a lot of assumptions about what you can accomplish with what is essentially a Mind Control-like affliction. "Limited to 3rd effect" isn't a thing, and even if it was, it wouldn't be a drawback. "Limited to minds" doesn't change anything about how the power works. You also can't make it Permanent - that can only be applied to continuous effects, and Afflictions are instantaneous. Would you be alright with just making it Perception Cumulative Area Mind Control?

@Sundakan: Sure, sounds neat. Keep in mind that Quickness only applies to routine checks, so you won't be able to crank out devices in the middle of a fight. I'm also going to say that you need access to a laboratory in order to build non-jury-rigged inventions. No matter how fast you are, there's only so much you can do without the right tools.

I'm gonna close off recruitment now. I'll hopefully have the four players picked out by tomorrow evening. Thanks for applying, everyone!

@Sundakan: Sure, sounds neat. Keep in mind that Quickness only applies to routine checks, so you won't be able to crank out devices in the middle of a fight. I'm also going to say that you need access to a laboratory in order to build non-jury-rigged inventions. No matter how fast you are, there's only so much you can do without the right tools.

How does the "Improvised Tools" Advantage interact with that? Likewise, the Skill Mastery Advantage letting me make Technology checks as a Routine Check in combat.

Just trying to suss out whether this is a rules conflict (which can be worked around), or you not wanting me to pull a time machine out of my ass mid-combat. Either way is cool. =)

@Philo Pharynx: Slow down, son. I'm fine with an "enchantress" type character, but you seem to be making a lot of assumptions about what you can accomplish with what is essentially a Mind Control-like affliction. "Limited to 3rd effect" isn't a thing, and even if it was, it wouldn't be a drawback. "Limited to minds" doesn't change anything about how the power works. You also can't make it Permanent - that can only be applied to continuous effects, and Afflictions are instantaneous. Would you be alright with just making it Perception Cumulative Area Mind Control?

Limited to 3rd effect was added in one of the other books. It is a limitation in that it doesn't do anything unless they fail by 3 degrees or fail 3 times since it's cumulative. It's only a -1/rank modifier.

Permanent is on her - it's what was called "always on" in previous games. It's a 0/rank modifier in this case.

I'll take off limited to minds and reduce it to level 6. It's not quite mind control. I need transform to be able to make woodland creatures able to do stuff.

Aura of Majesty: Cumulative Perception Area Affliction 6 (fairy magic, 3rd degree: Transformed, Controlled, Resisted by: Will, DC 16; Perception Area: DC 16 - Visual, Cumulative, Extra Condition, Reversible; Custom: When reversed, people are immune, Limited Degree (third only), Permanent, Uncontrolled)

Tentative interest based on current amount of applicants. I'm already in a 3e game (full disclosure) but I'd like to try a hand at villainy.

EDIT: Just saw Idiot Cube's last post. Whoopsie doodles. Have fun guys.

How does the "Improvised Tools" Advantage interact with that? Likewise, the Skill Mastery Advantage letting me make Technology checks as a Routine Check in combat.

Just trying to suss out whether this is a rules conflict (which can be worked around), or you not wanting me to pull a time machine out of my ass mid-combat. Either way is cool. =)

Ohhhhhhhhh jeez. This is gonna take some work. Maybe we'll limit in-combat devices to a certain number of character points? I'll put some thought into it. I don't mind crazy powers, but I can't let things get too out of hand!

Limited to 3rd effect was added in one of the other books. It is a limitation in that it doesn't do anything unless they fail by 3 degrees or fail 3 times since it's cumulative. It's only a -1/rank modifier.

Ah, I didn't realize that was what it did. For future reference, I only have access to what's on the SRD, so just run anything else by me before you include it.

I'm gonna tell you up front, there aren't going to be a lot of animals in this setting. If you want an army of woodland animals at your beck and call, you'll have to go out of your way to attain them.

I think his power was actually transforming peopke INTO animals that then become her servant. Sort of like a reverse Fairy Godmother.

I'd be fine with limiting the devices by CP in combat. Maybe to whatever I could make as a Free action and Take 10 on? Which is I think 20 CP max, so I could whip up a half decent death ray on the spot, but nothing really game busting.

I'll remember to keep in mind that Jury Rigged devices are one shot only as well, that's the biggest limiter.