In our recent episode, we discussed the ins and outs of running a superhero campaign: what makes it different, what you should focus on, and what different systems offer to recreate the epic struggles from comics, movies and television. A confounding villain scheme is one of the hallmarks of the genre, and the more tangled you can make the web, the better.
As we noted during the episode, certain types of game genres rely more on preparation and less on improv, much to the chagrin of DM Thorin! Like in his Call of Cthulhu campaign, mysteries and intrigue require us to build out the clues of the mystery or the moving parts and factions in an intrigue game to allow for internal consistency and verisimilitude. There are only so many “George Lucas” moments that players will allow with their suspension of disbelief.
In a game world full of superpowered heroes and villains, it’s easy to create the catastrophic event that the players need to stop or the singular villain they must thwart. But, for an even deeper dive, let’s take a look back to our episode on villains, where we discussed my Triangle of Evil: Monsters, Villains, and Amorphous Enemies. We’ll delve into how I built out a web of intrigue and schemes that balanced internal consistency with not scripting so much that the players lost all agency.
Welcome to “Hell Hath No Fury.”
The Set-Up
“Hell Hath No Fury” was a short adventure I wrote to introduce a new group (of 8 players!) to the Marvel Superheroes RPG. I had been watching a good amount of the Netflix Daredevil series and really wanted to explore the intrigue and adventure that existed at the street level of the Marvel Universe. I also wanted to be able to play with an iconic villain like The Kingpin.
With these types of villains, the heroes are less able to just punch their way through problems, like you could against a monster or even a singular villain. To accomplish this, I drew a diagram of the different factions I wanted involved, how they were allying with or plotting against each other, or, in some cases, both.
Understanding the moving parts of this web of intrigue allowed me to set the scenes up for the heroes and understand how the villains might react in given situations – similar to my advice in building more three-dimensional NPC’s, where I give the NPC an overall attitude, a goal and a secret. By understanding the driving motivation of a villain and/or organization, it’s easier to roleplay them on the fly.
The Kingpin
Easily one of the most iconic villains of all time, across all genres. The untouchable Wilson Fisk, Marvel’s answer to the “Teflon Don.” The type of villain that would never be so base as to sully his own hands with the dirty work when there are plenty of underlings and associates who will.
Within “Hell Hath No Fury,” I worked off the player meta-knowledge that Fisk is the head of organized crime in New York, but kept the characters, generally, in the dark, aside from the player playing Daredevil. The scene opened at a gala to raise funds for The Holy Ghost Church, the neighborhood church in Hell’s Kitchen – which also happens to be home base for Cloak and Dagger – that had been sponsored by Fisk International.
Unbeknownst to all attendees, the champagne had been spiked with a new drug called Genesis, developed by members of the Inner Circle of the Hellfire Club and being distributed by the Maggia families (Fisk’s main competition). What the heroes realized later was that the drug created strange, aggressive behavior in most people but also served to unlock the X-gene in latent mutants, manifesting their powers.
After these events, the Kingpin becomes amenable to working with the heroes “as a concerned citizen” to point them towards the “perpetrators of such a terrible act,” the Manfredi Family.
The Maggia
The largest competitor to the Kingpin, the Maggia families, have begun working with the Inner Circle of the Hellfire Club to distribute Genesis. Obviously, they are looking to consolidate their power and remove Fisk from his perch. To add an additional wrinkle to the heroes, I made it that the drug is so new that there are no laws against the manufacture and sale of it, making it technically legal. Now, you can’t just kick open the doors of random warehouses without becoming a target of law enforcement yourself.
The Hellfire Club
This is where the web becomes incredibly tangled.
After numerous skirmishes with the X-Men, the Hellfire Club, under the leadership of Sebastian Shaw, the Black King, has been working to rebuild its ranks. To this end, Shaw’s personal assistant, Tessa, developed Genesis. Because of their insulation as a reputable organization within New York and the world, the Inner Circle made contact with the Maggia. The person tasked with this is Shinobi Shaw, the White King, and Sebastian Shaw’s son.
Additionally, as the new mutants begin to appear from the effects of Genesis, Sebastian Shaw’s connections to Project: WIDEAWAKE allowed him access to the Sentinels to be used to gather up these new “recruits.” Truth be told, I added this section so I could throw some Sentinels at my players. Every Marvel adventure should have at least a couple Sentinels.
Unfortunately for Sebastian Shaw, his son has begun scheming with Selene, the Black Queen, to overthrow Sebastian and claim leadership of the Inner Circle. Because, hey, why not add a couple more strands into the web?
Untangling the Web
Think of these amorphous evil organizations as large NPC’s: They each have goals, motivations and secrets. You don’t need to know exactly what they’ll do beforehand, and that can free you up to respond rather than react to how your players decide to approach the situation.
This was my first experiment in building out deep intrigue and mystery within a game, with the caveat that I had no knowledge of where it would go once the game began. As Moltke the Elder said, “No plan survives contact with the enemy.” This was a balance between solid preparation and complete improv.
In the case of the “Hell Hath No Fury” group of heroes …
They, unfortunately, did not spend as much time with the Kingpin as I expected. They grabbed the information that he had which they used to track down the Maggia distribution warehouse (after the required Sentinel attack, obviously…) This information then led them to the Hellfire Club, which led to their (final?) showdown with the Inner Circle.
The story ended with them learning that Fisk International had just purchased Pier 54, the former base of operations for the Maggia, and begun construction. But, that’s a story for another time …
Final Thoughts
As you can see from these descriptions and motivations, there was no specific path that the players had to take. All of these factions were operating with their own agendas and timetables that were going to happen regardless. This is, in my opinion and experience, a great way to set up an intrigue-type of game – multiple villains and factions vying for their own goals while allying with other groups as it suits their purpose – like a roleplaying version of the board game Villainous or the entire plot of Game of Thrones.
While a player whose character can keep adding valuable game content is something to be prized, a villain who can do so is just as, if not more, valuable. An NPC with this capability is the gift that keeps on giving because, not only do they stand out and add to the credibility of the campaign world, but they actually assist in driving both the story and, hopefully, the character’s motivations … just like in the comics!
Until next time, heroes … LIVE THE ADVENTURE!