The History of Venture Comics!

[FrivYeti]

The Randomizers:
Background 6, 5, 5 [Options: Academic, Upper Class, Unremarkable, Dynasty, Retired]
Power Source 7, 7, 4 [Options: Experimentation, Relic, Supernatural, Alien, Extradimensional]
Archetype 6, 5, 5 [Options: Blaster, Close Quarters Combatant, Robot/Cyborg, Sorcerer, Wild Card]
Personality 4, 8, 6 [Options: Mischievous, Distant, Fast Talking, Alluring, Nurturing, Decisive]

Fission

Real Name: Trevor Finn, First Appearance: Vanguards #16, Feb 1960
Background: Unremarkable, Power Source: Extradimensional, Archetype: Wild Card
Personality: Decisive, Principles: Loner, Hero

Status Dice: Green d8, Yellow d8, Red d10. Health: 32 [Green 32-25, Yellow 24-12, Red 11-1]
Qualities: Fitness d12, Alertness d10, Insight d8, Personal Teamwork d8
Powers: Duplication d10, Awareness d10, Cosmic d6, Shapeshifting d6, Strength d6

Green Abilities:

• Shake It Off [R]: When you would take damage that would change your zone, Defend against that damage by rolling your single Fitness die.
• Muscle Through [A]: Take any two different basic actions using Fitness, each using your Min die.
• Pile On [A]: Boost or Hinder using Duplication. Use your Max die. If you roll doubles, you may also Attack using your Mid die.
• Principle of the Loner [A]: Overcome when doing something different from the rest of your team and use your Max die. You and each of your allies gain a hero point.
• Principle of the Hero [A]: Overcome in a situation in which innocent people are in immediate danger and use your Max die. You and each of your allies gain a hero point.

Yellow Abilities:

• Oversplit [A]: Attack multiple targets using Duplication. Then, take irreducible damage equal to the number of targets hit.
• Get Too Close [A]: Attack using Awareness. Use your Max die. Hinder that target with your Mid die. Hinder yourself with your Min die.
• Cosmic Duplicate [A]: Use a Green action ability of a nearby ally (using the same size power and quality dice they would use.)

Red Abilities

• Hit The Wrong Double (I): Once per issue, if you would go to 0 Health, roll Fitness + Duplication + Red Zone. Your Health becomes that number.
• Spread Out [A]: Choose three basic actions. Use Duplication in your pool and take one action with your Max die, a different action with your Mid die, and a third action with your Min die.

Out

• Boost an ally by rolling your single Duplication die.

Early in 1960, the writers of Vanguards idly introduced a couple of new characters to the series, with the vague idea that they might be added to the team. The first of these characters was Fission. Trevor Finn was a mild-mannered, unassuming guy who was on vacation in the fictional Caribbean island of Santa Juanita, when it was rocked by a Jotari attack - the Jotari were in search of an alien spaceship of unknown origins that would help them break down the dimensional barriers between worlds. Trevor was one of two people caught near the spaceship as the Jotari tried to activate it, and fell through a portal in space; he came out as three people!

Discovering that he had the power to create cosmic spacetime fragments of himself, Trevor joined the battle against the Jotari. Many of his fragments took on the aspects of the other Vanguards, deploying shadows of their own abilities against the enemy, and Trevor helped to save the day. Afterwards, he and his partner agreed to stay in touch, staying in the area to protect the ship from dangerous forces. The plan was for the two of them to join the Vanguards, but the editors of Venture Comics had other ideas; they were looking to expand their titles, and they thought these two might be interesting choices.

For his part, Fission was a robust hero but an uncertain person. He would dive into trouble without hesitation, but also without coordination or reliance on others, too afraid of getting his friends or partners hurt. As a big, shy person, he was part of several romantic triangles, each of which involved him being too nervous to respond to very obvious romantic gestures, only to then have to save a potential romantic partner when she was put in danger by Jotari activity!

Behind the Scenes

There’ll be more about Fission once his partner is written up. For now, look at this lug!

Fission is probably this line’s version of Spider-Man, with his uncertainty and belief in his own responsibility coupled with a tendency to do things himself and a disastrous romantic life. He, however, has a partner to try to shake him out of it (spoiler alert: it doesn’t work.)

Any resemblance between his outfit and a Vault Dweller uniform is purely coincidental.

[Chief_Lackey_Rich]

What a neat build. Love the concepts behind the abilities, their names really sell what’s going on with them. Don’t think I’ve ever seen a d12 Fitness before on a hero. Going to get a fair amount of mileage out of that Green reaction, especially if teamed up with someone who can get you healed back up a zone now and then.

[FrivYeti]

The Randomizers:
Background 2, 2, 7 [Options: Criminal, Military, Law Enforcement, Tragic, Adventurer]
Power Source 2, 4, 4 [Options: Training, Experimentation, Nature, Power Suit, Alien]
Archetype 1, 7, 8 [Options: Speedster, Armored, Flyer, Elemental Manipulator, Wild Card]
Personality 2, 4, 3 [Options: Natural Leader, Impulsive, Mischievous, Sarcastic, Distant, Stalwart]

Wavelength

Real Name: Celeste Ortiz, First Appearance: Vanguards #16, Feb 1960
Background: Adventurer, Power Source: Alien, Archetype: Flyer
Personality: Impulsive, Principles: Defender, Justice

Status Dice: Green d6, Yellow d8, Red d10. Health: 32 [Green 32-25, Yellow 24-12, Red 11-1]
Qualities: Alertness d10, Banter d10, Acrobatics d8, Deep Space Lore d8, Action Archaeologist d8
Powers: Teleportation d10, Flight d8, Presence d8, Deduction d8, Gravity d6

Green Abilities:

• Grab and Drop [A]: Attack a minion using Flight. Use whatever that minion rolls for its save as an Attack against another target of your choice.
• Strike and Vanish [A]: Attack using Teleportation. Defend against all Attacks against you using your Min die until your next turn.
• Principle of the Defender [A]: Overcome a situation that requires you to hold the line and use your Max die OR use your Mid die and Defend with your Min die. You and each of your allies gain a hero point.
• Principle of Justice [A]: Overcome to stop an act of injustice in progress and use your Max die. You and each of your allies gain a hero point.

Yellow Abilities:

• Teleport Strike [A]: Attack up to three targets using Teleportation. Apply your Min die to each of them.
• Speechify [A]: Boost all nearby allies using Presence. Use your Max+Mid dice. Hinder yourself with your Min die.
• Evasive Action [R]: When you are Attacked at close range, Defend yourself by rolling your single Teleportation die.

Red Abilities

• Long-Distance Teleport [A]: Boost yourself using Teleportation. Use your Max+Min dice. Then, you may end up anywhere else in the scene, avoiding any dangers between your starting and ending locations.
• Last Stand [A]: Make a basic action using Banter. Use your Max die. All other heroes who take the same basic action on their turn against the same target receive a Boost from your Mid+Min dice.

Out

• The hero who goes directly after you may take 1 damage to reroll their die pool.

Alongside Fission came Wavelength! Celeste Ortiz was an archaeologist investigating mysterious ruins that didn’t line up with any Earth culture. Ostracized for her belief that they constituted proof of alien activity, her journeys took her to Santa Juanita, where she discovered an ancient alien ship buried in a mountainside. Her investigation accidentally activated the ship, which sent out a beacon that was intercepted by the Jotari, leading to their attempt to claim it.

Celeste tried to marshal the alien ship’s defenses, and instead merged with it, developing an incredible command over gravity. She could create and step through portals, manipulate gravity around herself to fly, and even control gravity in small ways in the area around herself! She joined the battle against the Jotari and helped the Vanguards save the day, and then committed to staying in Santa Juanita and studying the alien ship, ensuring that it didn’t do anything else that caused a problem.

Fission and Wavelength, after their initial appearance in Vanguards, appeared in Venture Into Mystery for three issues to confirm their popularity before receiving a bimonthly comic, The Reactors, starting in January of 1961. The editors of Venture Comics had expected that Fission would be the breakout success of the pair, but it turned out to be Wavelength who got most of the attention - a fierce and intelligent archaeologist in the style of Alan Quartermain, who jumped into danger without a second thought and acted as a shoulder for Fission to cry on. Despite the hopes of some fans, Wavelength never demonstrated any romantic interest in her partner, treating him as a little brother that needed to be looked after.

Behind the Scenes

And there we go! Duplication and teleportation creating a duo that can’t be stopped. I mean, they can be stopped. But it’s hard.

I considered making Wavelength a Speedster, but I like the idea of leaning into gravity powers instead. This version of her uses gravity abilities as a minor aside to her main tricks of bamphing around and flying through the air, but I could imagine a more gravity-focused elemental manipulator archetype instead.

I looked up whether “ancient aliens” were a thing in 1960, and the answer is “yes, but she’s really ahead of the curve”. It’s a relatively small idea right now, picking up steam in the late 60s, which will probably make her briefly more popular and then more laughable unless the editors shift some things around.

[FrivYeti]

The Randomizers:
Background 9, 10, 6 [Options: 6, 9, 10, 15, 16, 19]
Power Source 4, 1, 6 [Options: Accident, Experimentation, Mystical, Nature, Relic, Tech Upgrades]
Archetype 7, 1, 1 [Options: Speedster, Shadow, Armored, Flyer, Sorcerer]
Personality 4, 3, 6 [Options: Impulsive, Mischievous, Distant, Stalwart, Inquisitive, Alluring]

Wonderer

Real Name: Barqan the Wise, First Appearance: Venture into the Unknown #47, Oct 1960
Background: Otherworldly, Power Source: Mystical, Archetype: Sorcerer
Personality: Mischievous, Principles: Spirit, Magic

Status Dice: Green d8, Yellow d8, Red d8. Health: 32 [Green 32-25, Yellow 24-12, Red 11-1]
Qualities: Magical Lore d10, Fitness d10, History d10, Creativity d8, Djinn d8
Powers: Transmutation d12, Weather d8, Shapeshifting d8, Presence d6, Teleportation d6

Green Abilities:

• Petrify [A]: Hinder using Transmutation. Use your Max die. If you roll doubles, also Attack using your Mid die.
• Storm [A]: Attack multiple targets using Weather, applying your Min die against each.
• Principle of the Spirit [A]: Overcome in a situation where your spiritual nature comes in handy and use your Max die. You and each of your allies gain a hero point.
• Principle of Magic [A]: Overcome against mystical forces and use your Max die. You and each of your allies gain a hero point.

Yellow Abilities:

• Spread Confusion [A]: Boost or Hinder using Shapeshifting, and apply that mod to multiple nearby targets.
• Wish Granted [A]: Overcome an environmental challenge using Transmutation. Use your Max die. Either remove any penalty in the scene or Boost equal to your Mid die.
• Monkey’s Paw [A]: Destroy all bonuses and penalties on a target. Then, Hinder that target using Transmutation, using your Max die.

Red Abilities

• Turn To Mist [R]: When you are Attacked and dealt damage, you may ignore that damage completely. If you do, treat the value of the damage as a Hinder action against you instead.
• Magical Prodigy (I): When taking any action using Magical Lore, you may reroll your Min die before determining effects.

Out

• Hinder an opponent by rolling your single Transmutation die.

Some of the older editors of Venture Comics had missed their magical adventures; while Skybreaker was still theoretically using magic, it was thin on the ground in the Silver Age. On a whim, they put out a call for pitches for magical adventures, putting the three best into the last three issues of Venture into the Unknown in 1960. Two of these promptly vanished into the depths of Venture Comics history, but the first, the Wonderer, was a smash hit.

Kamil El-Masry was a lonely boy living in Ferrisville, who happened across an old lamp on the banks of the river. Knowing the stories of such lamps, he immediately rubbed it, and smoke poured out, revealing the form of a djinn! The djinn introduced himself as Barqan the Wise, and offered Kamil one wish in exchange for his freedom. Kamil promptly wished for a friend. Touched by the boy’s innocence and loneliness, Barqan pledged to be his friend for as long as he was needed, taking him on a magnificent adventure - and, along the way, stopping a bank robbery with his magical powers. The combination of whimsy, creativity, and heroics was well-received, and Barqan was chosen to occupy a bi-monthly slot alternating with the Reactors beginning in February of 1961.

Barqan, or as he called himself when disguised as a hero, “The Wonderer”, was a powerful magical being, a wise but playful sort who, it was later revealed, often deliberately shut himself in a lamp to see how people would respond to being offered a chance at a wish. When their wishes were kind or good, Barqan would intervene to make their lives better; when they were cruel or greedy, Barqan would twist their wishes into an ironic (but not cruel) comeuppance. Above all else, the djinn wanted to believe in the best in people, despite the temptations that he offered, and always gave his subjects a chance to turn things around.

Throughout his adventures, Barqan continued to spend time with Kamil, often rescuing him from other Ferrisville villains, and working alongside other heroes to keep the world safe as one of the Champions of Truth!

Behind the Scenes

Oh hey, it’s a genie who isn’t evil!

Otherworldly is one of those backgrounds I’m liable to get so rarely that I had to jump on it, and then I kept getting the most magical options so I just really, really leaned into it for a classic wish-granting pal who is definitely safe to be around. Had I gotten the numbers, I would have gone straight for Reality Shaper, but Sorcerer works just fine. If Barqan had been created in the Golden Age his ironic wishes would have been a hell of a lot nastier when deployed against the unrighteous, and that may happen to him when the Iron Age rolls around, but for now he’s a playful friend sort of djinn rather than a vengeful monster sort of djinn.

Principle of the Spirit is just Principle of Undeath with some minor flavour adjustments.

Next, we’ll start in on nine villains for these heroes and groups (plus maybe one each for Madame Liberty and Flatfoot, since they’re still around and un-rebooted) and then a short history of the first few years of the Silver Age.

[Chief_Lackey_Rich]

As a big fan of the old Shazzan cartoon, I naturally approve of this character concept.

Nice theming on the abilities there.

[FrivYeti]

Randomizers:
Approach: 9, 1, 4 [Options: Relentless, Underpowered, Bully, Specialized, Overpowered, Creator]
Archetype: 1, 6, 6 [Options: Predator, Overlord, Formidable, Legion]
Upgrade: 12, 7, 10 [Options: Malice, Mysticism, Total Chaos]
Mastery: 12, 9, 6 [Options: Brainwashing Zone, Quality Upgrade II, Power Upgrade I]

Mary Molotov II

Real Name: unknown, First Appearance: Skybreaker Stories #4, Sep 1958
Approach: Underpowered, Archetype: Formidable (Needs Equipment)
Upgrade: Power Upgrade I, Mastery: Total Chaos

Status Dice: Fully Equipped: d12. Equipment Damaged, but with bonuses to offset: d8. Unarmed: d4. Health: 35+5H (Ultimate: 55+5H)
Qualities: Creativity d10, Stealth d8, Banter d6, Explosives Expert d8
Powers: Signature Weapons (Explosives) d8, Presence d6, Lightning Calculator d6, Invisibility d6

Abilities:

• Wall of Fire [A]: Attack multiple targets using Creativity. Defend against all Attacks against you until your next turn using your Min die.
• Shaped Charges [A]: Attack using Explosives. If you roll doubles, add that value to your Attack. If you roll triples, add all three dice to your Attack.
• The Getaway (I): When the scene tracker changes zones, create a simple Challenge: “Mary is Missing”, and roll her single Stealth die, Recovering that much Health. Until the challenge is resolved, Mary Molotov cannot be targeted by hero abilities, and at the start of each of her turns, roll her single Stealth die and Recover that much health.
• The Big Guns [A]: Boost using Explosives and use your Max die. That bonus is persistent and exclusive. Also Attack with your Mid die.
• Got The Wrong Girl [A]: Boost using Invisibility and use your Max+Min dice. Remove all penalties on yourself.
• (U) Power Upgrade (I): Increase all of your Power dice by one step. Gain 20 Health.
• (U) Master of Total Chaos (I): If you are in a situation where everything is spiralling out of control, automatically succeed in an Overcome to accomplish a task by throwing out the rules.

Common Scene Elements:

• A Complex Explosives staged challenge; it allows Mary to take an Overcome each time the Scene Tracker advances to attempt to advance it again. If partially resolved, she tests with her Min die, and if fully resolved she is stuck.
• An environment representing buildings rocked by explosions and frightened civilians.
• Lieutenants representing her bomb-loving followers, usually taking the form of d8 lieutenants who can take a reaction and roll one of their dice, swapping the result for one of Mary’s dice on an action.

The rush to get Skybreaker to print meant that the writers of Skybreaker Stories weren’t actually sure what enemies to set against him in his early issues. They had a looming, shadowy villain who had tried to steal his spear, they had a few bank robbers and mad scientists, but they were still worried that bringing in the Fomori again would be seen as too demonic by the Comics Code. Glancing through their archives, one writer ran into a popular character who hadn’t been used in a few years, and tossed a new Mary Molotov into a Skybreaker story, to the surprise and delight of readers.

The new Mary Molotov was quite a bit different from her predecessor in substance, while being nearly identical in style. Rather than being a hired gun for criminal interests, she was a grand performative villain, entranced by explosions and power, who came to Grovedale following rumours of Skybreaker and his amazing might. Mary deliberately set up a massive series of explosions to lure Skybreaker out, simply to watch him in action, and while he was able to stop her before anyone was hurt, she detonated a few buildings along the way, while Skybreaker tracked down what he thought was her and turned out to be a mixture of innocent bystanders and henchfolk enraptured by her performative explosions.

Mary was thrown in jail, but of course was able to escape shortly afterwards by jury-rigging a bomb out of cafeteria materials, and she would return to be a thorn in Skybreaker’s side for years to come. With no motivation or ideology beyond a desire to see things explode, she sometimes partnered with other villains to acquire supplies, facing off against Flatfoot, Madame Liberty, and the Vanguards, but she always looped back around to Skybreaker, entranced by his might and the style with which he fought her bombs. It was a one-sided romance; Skybreaker had no eyes for her. But it persisted throughout the Silver Age.

Behind the Scenes

singing You gotta have bombs! All you really need are bombs! When the odds are saying you’ll never win, that’s when the grin, should come! But you gotta have bombs!

Once again, I wasn’t planning on opening the age with a revamp, but the idea of a character who was both Underpowered and Formidable stuck with me, and the Master of Total Chaos seemed like it would align beautifully with Mary Molotov (the alternative was to stick with Formidable and Malice and create a new incarnation of the Huntsman.)

This version of Mary doesn’t have any direct defenses, but her custom Underpowered-based ability to slip away and heal when the scene tracker changes means that you have to pin her down fast and get her gear away from her. Without her bombs, she’s mostly harmless, but with them she throws up some wild damage, especially if she can put together a Max die persistent-exclusive Boost using a D12 - and of course, if you do pin her down, you may have the wrong Mary and need to start over.

This is also where I noticed a tiny flaw in my randomization system which probably I should have thought of earlier. While d10, d8, d8 works great for randomizing 1-18, it turns out that with my house rules, d8, d6, d6 has the potential to produce a result of 15 or 16 on a 1-14 scale. Doesn’t come up a lot. Such is life.

[Chief_Lackey_Rich]

Interesting approach to the Formidable status die thing. Makes sense for someone so equipment dependent.

[FrivYeti]

Yeah, I like the idea of someone who has immensely high dice while they’ve got access to their arsenal, but their arsenal is kind of their whole deal.

And speaking of people who really only do one thing, but boy do they do it:

Randomizers:
Approach: 4, 6, 1 [Options: Relentless, Underpowered, Bully, Disruptive, Focused, Overpowered*]*
Archetype: 2, 5, 6 [Options: Inventor, Indomitable, Overlord, Formidable, Inhibitor, Domain*]*
Upgrade: 12, 3, 4 [Options: Group Fighter, Villainous Vehicle, Brainwashing Zone*]*
Mastery: 8, 2, 9 [Options: Behind the Curtain, Profitability, Superiority*]*

Mindscape

Real Name: Volen Jotu-Kal, First Appearance: Vanguards #1, Nov 1958
Approach: Focused, Archetype: Domain
Upgrade: Brainwashing Zone, Mastery: Superiority

Status Dice: Based on environment minions, lieutenants, and/or challenges. 3+: d10. 1-2: d8. None: d6. Health: 45+5H (Upgraded: 55+5H)

Qualities: Conviction d10, Otherworldly Mythos d8, Persuasion d8, Jotari Prince d8
Powers: Suggestion d10, Illusions d10, Vitality d8, Telepathy d8

Abilities:

• Society Spurns You [A]: Hinder multiple targets using Conviction. You and any nearby allies Defend using your Max die.
• Your Thoughts Betray You [R]: When Attacked by a hero with a penalty, that hero takes damage equal to the size of that penalty.
• Their Minds Are Mine (I): Ignore damage from an environment source during the environment’s turn.
• The World Reformed [A]: Activate one of the environment’s twists in its current zone or one zone closer to red.
• Brain Frenzy [A]: Roll any number of environment minion dice. Attack every target in the scene other than yourself with those dice. Remove those minions.
• (U) A World of Subservience (I): While the scene is in the Green zone, all heroes’ quality dice at or above d8 are reduced one size. In the Yellow zone, all heroes’ quality dice at or above d10 are reduced two sizes. In the Red zone, all heroes’ quality dice are treated as if they are d4.

Heroes may remove this ability with three Overcome successes. If a hero takes a minor twist, the hero must lose access to a quality entirely until this ability is removed. If a hero is knocked out while this ability is active, you may create a new minion using the hero’s highest power die to represent the controlled version of that hero.

Common Scene Elements:

• An environment representing a community trapped within Mindscape’s power.
• A fellow Jotari villain or group of lieutenants, who act as the muscle for Mindscape’s plots.
• A multi-step Challenge hiding Mindscape, which must be overcome to target him or his brainwashing field.

After two appearances in Venture into the Unknown, the Vanguards exploded into their own comic in November 1958. For their first appearance, their writer was determined to write a story that would draw readers and make a huge splash, and he went all-in with the introduction of Partisan’s older brother and crown prince of the House of Jotu-Kal, Mindscape!

In his first appearance, Mindscape used his phenomenal telepathic abilities to infiltrate the Vanguards’ base, gradually bringing the staff under his sway as he constructed an illusory threat for the Vanguards to face. His goal was to terrorize the base into fearing the Jotari, weakening resistance and causing them to turn on his brother. Volen had next to no physical might, but he was a clever manipulator who tricked the Vanguards into fighting each other, used their friends as weapons, and nearly managed to set off a bomb that would wipe out their base. In the end, Partisan was able to overcome his illusions, and once he was revealed he was forced to flee back through the portals.

Mindscape would return to face the Vanguards many times over the course of the Silver Age. His telepathic powers, implied to be the method by which the Jotari elite maintained control over their lower classes, made him a force to be reckoned with, often in conjunction with some other Jotari plot or military force. He would take control of human communities by giving them dreamlike lives as long as they surrendered their wills, construct elaborate fantasies to ensnare important targets, and above all sneer about his mastery and superiority over weaker minds. In one particularly notable crossover in the pages of Venture Into The Unknown #50 in 1963, Mindscape and Iron Will joined forces to crush the spirit of humanity; of course, the two mind-controlling villains simultaneously betrayed each other, allowing Madame Liberty and the Vanguards to defeat them with ease.

Behind the Scenes

The Vanguards need their own Doctor Doom, and here he is!

Mindscape really only has one trick, but boy does he have it in spades: Turbocharge the environment using The World Reformed, and then Hinder the heroes so that they can’t deal with the problems that the environment is popping off, until things get big enough to overwhelm the heroes with a mob of angry, mind-controlled minions. He’s sort of the opposite of Iron Will in many ways, crafting elaborate dream worlds that ensnare targets and make them lash out at anyone who would disrupt the dream.

Mechanically, Domain and Focused aren’t really in alignment; Domain’s reliance on the environment makes it work best with villains who have lower dice pools, whereas Focused gives you one extremely powerful die pool and calls it a day. But with the right environment, I think he’s pretty devastating.

[Chief_Lackey_Rich]

@FrivYeti

Society Spuns You [A]:

That should be “Spurns” I think.

More importantly, you’ve taken two of your abilities from the Disruptive approach, not Focused (which appears on the page directly below it). Focused would also have a third ability, and as you said isn’t a great mesh with Domain - but most approaches really aren’t anyway. The best I could do with the pairing was the Green Queen, and she only sort of works thanks to her custom environment.

Probably easiest to just switch to Disruptive, which is on your randomizer list anyway and does offer that group Hinder ability, which is pretty important for him.

[TakeWalker]

you really get a sense of the threat he poses this is one that would make a good Sentinels deck!

[FrivYeti]

Oh, man. Yeah, I’ll take a look. I feel bad losing the high dice but that is a big mistake I made.

[Chief_Lackey_Rich]

Well, you could stick with Focused, drop Society and Your Thoughts and replace them with three new abilities. Focused does have a very good defensive reaction in Sympathetic Shield, but the rest of the list is mostly offensive or energy/element related stuff that aren’t great with Domain. Defensive Charging maybe fits the concept if you can spare the actions you want to spend on environment manipulation.

OTOH, Disruptive’s got a great dice pool itself. No d12 power, but in every other way it’s a better mix than Focused.

[FrivYeti]

Yeah, I think I will go ahead and stick with Disruptive. I’ll edit Mindscape shortly. In the mean time…

Randomizers:
Approach: 5, 3, 4 [Options: Prideful, Underpowered, Bully, Focused, Mastermind, Specialized*]*
Archetype: 3, 5, 2 [Options: Inventor, Bruiser, Indomitable, Formidable, Inhibitor*]*
Upgrade: 12, 6, 8 [Options: Brainwashing Zone, Power Upgrade II, Quality Upgrade II*]*
Mastery: 5, 9, 3 [Options: Conquest, Mad Science, Superiority*]*

Dauphin de Sabre

Real Name: Louis de Richemont, First Appearance: Madame Liberty #207, March 1959
Approach: Specialized, Archetype: Bruiser
Upgrade: Power Upgrade, Mastery: Conquest

Status Dice: Green d6, Yellow d8, Red d10. Health: 40+5H [Calculate zones using p.239]
Qualities: Close Combat d12, Imposing d8, Born to the Purple d8
Powers: Strength d10, Presence d8

Abilities:

• Take Them Down [A]: Attack using Close Combat against one target with your Max die, another with your Mid die, and a third with your Min die.
• Strike Fear [A]: Attack one target using Imposing and use your Max+Min dice. The target cannot Defend or use reactions against this attack.
• Overwhelm [A]: Attack using Strength. If you are Green status, use your Max die. If you are Yellow status, use the Max+Min dice. If you are Red status, use Max+Min against one target and Mid against another.
• Face Me [R]: Defend against an Attack where you’re the only target by rolling your single Close Combat die. One other nearby target takes an amount of damage equal to the damage reduced.
• Untouchable (I): Reduce damage taken by physical and energy sources by 1 while in the Green zone, 2 in the Yellow zone, and 3 in the Red zone.

Common Scene Elements:

• A squad of superhuman-worshipping soldiers (D8 minions who get +1 to saves as long as they are near the Dauphin.)
• Opposed challenges representing the innocents that the Dauphin is attempting to take command of.
• Members of the Dread Dynasty, each of whom is a d8 or d10 lieutenant with a super-powered ability. They include:
  • Duke Pike (d10): The duke’s metal skin reduces physical damage by 2.
  • Countess Kunai (d8): The countess can Attack two near enemies with a single action by flinging energy spikes.
  • Lady Battleaxe (d10): When Lady Battleax Attacks a target by shaping stone, she also Hinders them using the final damage taken as her result.
  • Baron Khopesh (d8): The Baron’s quick speed and flexibility allows him to Boost as a reaction when he successfully saves against damage, using his roll as the result.

While Madame Liberty continued to fight Soviet agents in Europe in the Silver Age, her enemies also became gradually more exaggerated and flamboyant. The first, and most enduring, grand example of this was the emergence of Dauphin de Sabre and the Dread Dynasty!

Dauphin de Sabre was at once a monarchist and a powered supremacist. He claimed to be a French nobleman who could trace his lineage back to the kings of France, and who had developed superhuman strength after experimenting in “bringing out the inner purity of his noble bloodline” - this series of experiments may have also driven him mad with power. Gathering a group of super-powered people who also claimed to be able to trace back noble lineages from around the world, he declared himself the new King of France, and embarked on a campaign of conquest!

Madame Liberty was able to infiltrate the Dread Dynasty by forging an aristocratic background, getting close enough to undermine de Sabre’s plot and leave him to be arrested for his crimes against the state, but some members of the Dread Dynasty escaped, and successfully broke him out of jail in the following year. What followed was a series of schemes and plots by the Dauphin and his followers to ‘prove’ that noble blood was inherently more powerful than common democracy and deserved to rule. Madame Liberty was rarely strong enough to face the Dauphin and his followers directly, bringing in her own allies or sabotaging his plans instead. Her status as a commoner with amazing powers vexed the Dauphin greatly, and on at least two occasions he tried to convince her and himself that she was, in fact, of noble blood - a claim that she found laughable. The second time, in 1967, was also the only time that the Dauphin and Madame Liberty worked together in the Silver Age, opposing a Soviet super-soldier program that both of them hated for very different reasons.

Behind the Scenes

I mostly just wanted an excuse to write a bunch of minor lieutenants, and here it is! I was trying to figure out a theme, and I got to “Noble Title + Weapon”; for a minute, my plan was that these guys thought that having super powers meant you deserved to be nobility, but that’s a very well-trod path in comics, so I took a last-minute swerve into “being nobility means you deserve to have super-powers.”

Since Madame Liberty has already fought racial supremacists, this one went a slightly different route - de Sabre believes that the nobility of every country is superior. He’s not racist, he’s classist. Very, very, very classist.

The Dread Dynasty don’t literally have weapon powers; they just take whatever names best fit the powers they have, and a lot of the time it’s a real stretch.

[Chief_Lackey_Rich]

Heh, weird synchronicity. I feel like Baron Bowman (whose claim to nobility is patently absurd and whose gimmicks are all tech and not the innate power of superior breeding) would have issues with this group even if he wasn’t a rabid anglophile. Of course, we all know how well swords and lances versus arrows worked out for the French at Agincourt.

[Thunderbird]

I really thought just from the figure that this guy was going to be Christopher challenging people to a fencing duel.

[FrivYeti]

That is wonderful timing.

Yeah, I expect that the Baron and the Dauphin would not get along well. He might be particularly angry at Duke Pike, who is British nobility and has chosen to follow a gasp Frenchman. But if they do get into a fight, Baron Bowman may discover that the Dauphin has hired the services of…

Randomizers:
Approach: 3, 8, 7 [Options: Prideful, Focused, Mastermind, Overpowered, Generalist, Adaptive]
Archetype: 8, 2, 5 [Options: Inventor, Indomitable, Formidable, Inhibitor, Squad, Fragile]
Upgrade: 8, 2, 10 [Options: Hardier Minion, Quality Upgrade II, Calming Aura]
Mastery: 8, 9, 6 [Options: Mercenary, Profitability, Superiority]

Red Herring

Real Name: Wouldn’t You Like To Know, First Appearance: Venture into the Unknown #21, Sep 1959
Approach: Adaptive, Archetype: Inhibitor
Upgrade: Calming Aura, Mastery: Mercenary

Status Dice: 3+ Heroes with at least one penalty: d10. 1-2 heroes with at least one penalty: d8. No heroes with penalties: d6. Health: 25+5H (Upgraded 35+5H)

Qualities: Technology d10, Persuasion d8, Finesse d8, Master of Disguise d8
Powers: Inventions d10, Illusions d8, Precognition d8, Agility d6

Abilities:

• Masked Villain (I): At the start of the action scene, you are perfectly disguised as another character. While disguised, you have access to one of their power dice (at d10) and one of their abilities using that power. As a reaction, you may cast off your disguise to negate one Attack or Hinder against you, then roll your Precognition die and recover that much Health. Then lose this ability for the remainder of the scene.
• Go All-In [A]: Lower two of your powers by one die size each. Increase one of your other powers to d12. Then take a basic action using that power.
• What Will He Do Next [A]: Boost using Inventions and use your Max die. Attack with your Mid die. Defend with your Min die.
• Planned For That [A]: Select a nearby target. Either turn all bonuses on that target to equivalent penalties, or move a penalty from that target to another target you can see.
• Spring The Trap [A]: Hinder using Inventions against multiple targets and use your Max die. Attack one of those targets with your Mid die.
• (U) Playing The Minor Leagues (I): The heroes act as being in the Green zone for status die, access to abilities, and for the purpose of all abilities. Heroes may remove this ability with three Overcome successes, recognizing the true threat at play. If a hero takes a minor twist, you may use a reaction to Hinder them by rolling your single Illusions die.
• (U) Master Mercenary (I): If you have been given a contract to perform a specific task, automatically succeed at an Overcome in a situation where the difference is getting paid and not getting paid.

Common Scene Elements:

• A trap-filled environment that favours Hindering heroes.
• A multi-step challenge deployed when the Red Herring is revealed to stop his current distraction before someone gets hurt.
• Minions who belong to whichever villain the Red Herring is currently impersonating.

As Venture into the Unknown continued, it produced more misses than hits; characters who would appear once or twice, before vanishing into obscurity as their concept was exhausted. One of these was the superhero known as Agent Apollo of AEGIS (the Agency for the Enforcement of Global Information Security), a super-powered copy of recently-popular secret agent James Bond, working for a secret agency whose agents all had Olympus-themed code names.

Agent Apollo went nowhere. First introduced in Venture into the Unknown #14, in which he faced off against an even more forgettable mad scientist, the editors decided to give him one more chance to see if he would build up steam. Intent on crafting a story that would resonate for his beloved super-agent, the writer set him up against a devilish villain who concocted an entire fake death ray plot in order to keep Agent Apollo from discovering his true intention - keeping the agent busy while his nemesis, Dr. Destructo, kidnapped the President!

Agent Apollo and Dr. Destructo were never seen again. But, to the surprise of both the writer and his editors, fans wrote in to ask whether the secondary villain, the Red Herring, would ever come back! The fake death ray was a huge hit, and the fans loved the cunning villain, who had masqueraded as Dr. Destructo for half the issue before revealing himself and escaping.

Never ones to miss an opportunity, the Venture editors jumped on it, and the Red Herring made his next appearance in the pages of Flatfoot Adventures near the end of the year. Soon, he was popping up once or twice a year, always in a different comic, never advertised as present and always pretending to be a new or existing villain for a major hero to face. Each time, his scheme was merely a distraction, albeit a potentially dangerous one, hired by another villain to buy time for their own scheme to progress. Often, he was the first part of a two-parter, allowing a villain to accomplish a goal without the hero needing to fail directly.

As a supervillain not attached to any specific hero, the Red Herring rapidly became a fan favourite across the pages of Venture Comics, and the editors were required to put a rule in place that no given hero could face him more than once in a three-year stretch, and coordinate to make sure that he didn’t show up in two comics in the same month. The joke didn’t work if he was around too often, after all.

Behind the Scenes

Heroes hate this one trick.

In truth, Red Herring isn’t the best villain unless you build the right environment for him, but that feels appropriate. Inhibitor is a tricky archetype, because most of the penalties your villain creates are going to go away the next time a hero acts. Unless you have a way of staggering when penalties hit heroes, the Inhibitor is stuck with a low status die. But the Red Herring’s powers make him an annoying villain to face, able to bounce back from the big hit you intended to land and then turn all your bonuses into penalties on you. He gets much, much worse as an ultimate foe, using his disguise to lull heroes into thinking they know what’s going on, hitting them with Hinders as they try to figure out the truth, and then popping out to cackle with glee. Your players will really, really enjoy punching him in the mouth. I have used this guy in other superhero settings, and my players grew to gleefully loathe when I’d be halfway through a monologue and suddenly my register would go nasal and the villain would announce some variation on “you have fallen prey to The Red Herring!”

Masked Villain is both a stronger and weaker version of “Powerful Imitation”, trading versatility for a one-time grand reveal that gets you a bit back in the game.

[Chief_Lackey_Rich]

Fan of a Pup Named Scooby Doo, are you? Fred Jones will see through Masked Villain every time.

@FrivYeti

Inhibitor is a tricky archetype, because most of the penalties your villain creates are going to go away the next time a hero acts. Unless you have a way of staggering when penalties hit heroes, the Inhibitor is stuck with a low status die.

If you want lasting penalties as an Inhibitor they’re easy enough to get. There are two perfectly decent abilities that grant P+E penalties on their own list and that strong multi-target Hinder option you took that makes it hard for teams to Boost/Overcome to clear each other of penalties, plus whatever their approach offers. You can also take twists to turn temporary penalties into two-use versions - that trick works even with ability Hinders, not just basic actions.

[FrivYeti]

@Chief_Lackey_Rich

Fan of a Pup Named Scooby Doo, are you? Fred Jones will see through Masked Villain every time

Huh! That is actually one of the few Scooby shows I’ve never watched. Didn’t know the reference there.

I hadn’t thought about villains taking twists to make their Hinders two-turn. It’s a good plan!

[Chief_Lackey_Rich]

@FrivYeti

Huh! That is actually one of the few Scooby shows I’ve never watched. Didn’t know the reference there.

If you enjoy most of the franchise, you might want to give it a shot. When it was on the air way back when I took one look and never watched it because I erroneously assumed it was just another of those “de-aged character cartoons” that were something of a rage in that era, all of which turned me off big time. Eventually took another look after seeing some positive reviews and was pleasantly surprised to discover it was a lot more self-aware than expected, had some decent writing and knew how to tell a joke. Still more for kids than adults, but not to a painful degree. At this point I’d rate it in the top three or four Scooby series in the whole franchise, which is pretty high praise.

@FrivYeti

I hadn’t thought about villains taking twists to make their Hinders two-turn. It’s a good plan!

Some builds can really wind up depending on it regularly, particularly in the face of serious minion-sweeping tricks. The fact that one villain twist option is to sacrifice a minion or degrade a lieutenant makes it easier for “summoner” minions to opt into if they can justify it narratively. Better to lose one lackey for sure to extend penalty protection on the rest, after all. Predators (who lack a native way to get a P+E penalty out) can also wind up relying on it for some of their best abilities…

[TakeWalker]

@Chief_Lackey_Rich

Fan of a Pup Named Scooby Doo, are you? Fred Jones will see through Masked Villain every time.

I saw the villain’s name and immediately thought “Fred’s gonna be so mad lol” XD