Abberant/Heroes Unlimited, Super-Hero Help wanted!

An intense dislkike for someone who can't come up with their own ideas.

JOKE JOKE, I kid because I love. I'll get back to you.

Do your players have their characters and powers done yet? I would try to come up with villains who force them to either use their powers together or in new and unusual ways. For example, a friend of mine was running a supers game and had three bricks in his party, just huge, hulking brawler types. The fourth party member was a pre-cog, and he was having a hard time working him into combat in a way that didn't get the poor guy creamed. I suggested that he have some sort of gigantic construct appear and let the three bricks go at it, as he knew they would, trying to bash it apart with sheer brute force. The trick was, this construct could take the punishment, and the pre-cog had to use his ability to forsee its movements and instruct the bricks on where and when to hit it. It not only knocked the bricks down a peg or two and kept them from running away with the campaign, it opened up a new strategy for the pre-cog, one that made him a valuable tool in combat rather than a liability.

So see what your players have cooking. Big on heavy weaponry or energy blasts? Send an ethereal bad guy after them. High tech? Whisk them off to magic-based reality where their tech works unpredictably. Brawlers? Evil telepaths who control them and make them fight themselves. Not only will it give you a good base to start from, but it also gives you the chance to build up some potential arch-enemies for these guys.

Let's try an exercise that used to work for me when I ran so many hero games. I'll give you names. You give me powers but DO NOT go the obvious route.

Monitor
Waste
Pixel
Splicer
Donner (German for Thunder)
Nimbus

Now to give you my thoughts (yours are good):

Monitor-Powered armor. (as in the Civil War ship)
Waste-Toxic waste based powers. Leaks nasty ooze that kills what it touches.
Pixel-Illusionary powers.
Splicer-Power stealer. "Splices" other people's powers to his own.
Donner (German for Thunder)-Gun character. Carries specialized shotguns.
Nimbus-Desolid with electrical powers. (OK that one may be obvious)

Okay, I'll toss you a couple.

I had a character, a highly-paid hitman for hire named Ordeal. What made him so special was that, aside from being a highly-trained martial artist with an extensive knowledge of pressure points on the body, he was also mildly telepathic with the ability to read his target's worst fears and conjure images of those fears in their mind. Using this knowledge, he would then proceed to kill his victim in the most painful, traumatic way possible. He would be called in when you didn't just want someone dead, you wanted them to suffer and you wanted a message sent to any friends they had who might be thinking of payback.

Then there was the Corsican. He was a projecting empath with an insane healing factor. Basically, he'd cut himself and project all the pain and trauma onto his victim while his body healed itself. He could simply watch you from a window, and if you were in range of his powers, you'd never know what hit you.

Hey Poxy there's this other thread in this forum that needs some love from you.

Hope these aren't too late.

'Ecto' can change all or part of his body into an ectoplasmic like substance. His mass remains the some but his volume changes. He can very the Ectoplasm's density from heavy (like mercury) to misty (like thick fog). Physical damage (fists, knives, bullets, clubs) have no effect on his ectoplasmic form and he can use it to partially shield others. Other forms of attack (fire/heat, cold, radiation,) effect he normally (some may even do greater damage. Ecto has full control of his form, he can attack with pseudo-pods (2 meter long) hitting, grabbing, choking/smothering, his form can flow, roll and climb. Note: His cloths don’t change with him. [ex-SEAL]

'Reaper' can disrupt cellular bonds in living tissue by touch. If he drugs a finger across someone chest he'll leave a razor like cut. If he grabs a wrist and amped up his power and the tissue would look like hamburger. At full power his hand against someone's chest would rend flesh, destroy bone and explode organs. [CIA trained hitman]

'Mistress' is a female who likes to dress and act likes a dominatrix. She has the short range telepathic power to increase a person's sensitivity to pain. Combine with her riding crop (or other S&M toys) she can easily leave someone unconscious or dead. She has the secondary talent of blocking others sensory systems, at lower level this will leave the target numb, at higher level she can force a person into a state of complete sensory depravation. Her effects are short term (expect for the death part). [Czech train spy]

Lydia (refuses to use her code name Dragonetta) is a 15 year Asian girl who a looks and acts very goth. She has yet to fully master all of her talents (her skin). She has poison sacks in her throat from which she can spray an irritant fog (like strong pepper spray) or an acidic stream. She is unaffected by her own poison/acid. Under heavy stress her skin hardens into a scaly protective layer. This layer doesn't return to normal but must be shed. Shedding takes Lydia a couple hours (and a hot bath). She obsesses about her skin always putting lotion on it and never exposing it to the sun. [Trained since age 3 as a ninja]

'Monk' can sense other mutants when their talents are being used. This 'sensing' comes in the form of visions during mediation or flashes if the mutants close. He has a secondary talent of "the old Jedi mind trick". He is also a well trained in marital arts. [Sniper trained/private hitman]

Ecto, Reaper & Mistress enjoy the sadistic side of their work a little too much. Lydia is indifferent and works for the "Team" because she is being taken care of. Monk would have broken from the "Team" with the PCs, but didn't have the opportunity. He still works for the "Team" because he is bullied and because he wants revenge on the PCs for leaving him.

Hey joNNy,

Had a second idea. Have each player make 2 characters, you make 3 or 4 (work as a group to get a well rounded team). At game time give each player back one of his PCs, in the escape make sure a couple of the non-PCs get offed (makes the escapees real outlaws).

Let me know what you use. I'd like to see where you take it.