Catgirl Avengers RPG

Back to the Previous Section - Back to the Introduction Page - On to the Next Section

Villains and NPCs

In any role playing game, there are two type of characters: those controlled by the players, and everybody else - usually run by the game master (Headmistress in this game.) "Everybody else" can be considered non-player characters - NPCs - but some NPCs are created with the express purpose of opposing or hindering the progress of the players. These NPCs are known as Villains. It's a generalization based on the assumption that your players are the good guys, sure, but we're sticking with it.

Villains in Catgirl Avengers can be categorized into several classes based on how much of a threat they are to the players. The lowest are Cannon Fodder, who mostly just get in the way. Next up the chain are Thugs, who at least try to put up a fight even though they go down like bowling pins against a good fighter. Henchmen are the leaders of gangs of thugs, and are actually competent against the players. Bosses have a handful of henchmen and their attendent thugs and cannon fodder with which to execute their evil plans, and are truly worthy opponents capable of giving an entire party of catgirls trouble. Fiends are the highest level villains, archrivals of the players who are meant to last for many a night of adventures. You can defeat a fiend's evil plot, but you rarely get rid of him for long.

Villains and their underlings have the four characteristics just like players do, and they have talents, hit points, and stuff as well. All villains and other non player characters are created just like player characters, by purchasing ranks in the four characteristics, talents, odds and ends, and stuff with Villain Creation Points, which are detailed below. Most Villains do not have to have a Clique chosen for them, and in many ways it's easier if they don't.

Villain Creation Points

You spend villain creation points based on whatever class of bad guy you are working from, building them up into a complete non player character. Creation points must be used before the villain comes into play (hey, it's only fair, right?) and once used cannot be recycled for some other use for that particular villain. If you are playing in a campaign, it is possible in the course of play that a thug or henchman might actually become more important as a bad guy in the game. When this happens, and you'll know when it does, the Headmistress should feel free to add a creation point or two to that villain. If the catgirls can improve over time, why can't some of the bad guys?

Villain Level	Creation Points
Cannon Fodder	2 to 4
Thug	5 to 8
Henchman	8 to 19
Boss	20 to 29
Fiend*	30+

Just for the record, it is recommended that only non-humanoid or non-mortal villains (referred to for the sake of convention as Monsters) may have characteristic ranks that exceed Superior. *It is not recommended for the sake of gameplay that any Fiend be worth more than 75 creation points.

VILLAIN STUFF

Villains of Cannon Fodder, Thug, and Henchman level are assumed to have equipment and weapons commensurate with their status and occupation. If they are part of a well-heeled criminal, government, or terrorist organization, they will probably be well-equipped and should be given weapons, armor, and gear that reflect this. Naturally, expensive or rare items as well as magic and ultratech will probably not be trusted with Cannon Fodder, or even Thugs, though a Henchman could certainly have such things. Bosses and Fiends must purchase levels in Villainous Resources, as detailed below, in order to equip themselves and their minions.

VILLAINOUS RESOURCES

Volcanic Island Temple Fortresses in the shape of skulls don't exactly grow on trees - they must be acquired, usually with the expenditure of cold hard cash. Those faceless minions your villains surround themselves with also don't come free of charge. Even if they are fanatical cultists who have sworn to live and die at your villain's command and therefore don't collect a paycheck, you still need to feed them, house them, and equip them. Villains acquire such resources by spending Villain Creation Points on Villainous Resources. A certain level of Villainous Resources will determine how many of what class of underlings they can support, and what kind of weapons, armor, and gear they have at their disposal. A villain who needs something beyond his means will have to devise and execute a plot to get it, and thus are adventure hooks made...

Only Bosses and Fiends are allowed to spend points acquiring levels of Villainous Resources, everyone else is too low on the food chain for such things, and are assumed to have the patronage of a Boss or Fiend for their support. Sure a small time gang of thugs might have to make ends meet by robbing liquor stores, but if a Boss needs some of their muscle, it is expected that he will pick up the tab for whatever expenses come up. The table below shows the maximum of each type of underling a Boss or Fiend can support, and how much cash can be spent on each of them. The value listed for Budget will determine how much can be spent on a Cannon Fodder underling's stuff. Thugs get double this amount, Henchmen get triple this amount, and Bosses get ten times this amount. Bosses and Fiends don't have to spend this much on a particular underling: in fact a cheapskate villain on the verge of bankruptcy is a staple of the genre. Whatever isn't spent on the underling may be transferred to another underling, allowing him to spend over his given limit. Again, many villains do this in the genre, creating rivalries between henchmen and thus the opportunity for later betrayal by a disgruntled underling.

You will note that while a powerful villainous organization can have thousands of cannon fodder underlings and hundreds of thugs, the ratios of Henchmen and Bosses get lower as the resource level goes up. This is because even in the most powerful and iron-fisted of regimes, having a large number of powerful subordinates is generally hazardous to the Leader's health. In fact, while it is not impossible for a Boss level villain to have a Boss level underling, we don't recommend giving any villain Good or better villainous resources unless they themselves are Fiend level. Unless the two Bosses are fiercely loyal to each other for some reason, the villainous organization simply can't stay together with two or more Bosses trying to run the show. One Boss will eventually do in the others, or else will split off his own faction from the organization and take a big chunk of the resources and underlings with him. Likewise with Henchmen: one of them will eventually work himself up to Boss level, and will either split off his own faction or else eliminate a rival above him and take his place in the organization. Under no circumstances are two Fiends allowed within the same organization, unless one fiend is a non-sophont monster of great power. They simply can't coexist at this level as equals without trying to destroy the other. Such is the way of villany.

It is also good to note that having an organization of Amazing level or higher leaves precious little in the way of creation points for your Fiend's characteristic scores and talents. That's okay. We can assume that what makes the Fiend dangerous and challenging at this point is not the Fiend's personal abilities but the very powerful organization he has created. Who needs to know Magic Powers when you can hire an unscrupulous Henchman with Necromancy+3, or understand Ultratech when you've got your own laboratory of Weird Scientists and Gearheads to create an army of plasma cannon equipped battlemechs? Who cares if you don't have Snow Job or Taunt when you can sic a Senate Investigating Committee or an FBI criminal probe on your enemies?

One last word on the number of underlings an organization can have: the numbers below reflect the number of underlings personally affiliated with the core villainous organization. As villainous organizations increase in power and influence, they gain the leverage to use other organizations, even legitimate and generally virtuous ones, to do their bidding without risking their own corps of troops or spending a dime of their own money to do it. Remember that FBI probe mentioned above? It can happen at a moment's notice with just a phone call from a Deputy U.S. Attorney General bought and paid for by Venus de Coeurmauvais or one of her Bosses.

Resource Level	Point Cost	Cannon Fodder	Thugs	Henchmen	Bosses	Budget
Hopeless	1	5	1	1	0	$100
Pathetic	2	10	2	1	0	$500
Weak	4	15	3	1	0	$1000
Average	6	20	4	2	0	$2500
Good	10	50	10	4	1	$5000
Excellent	15	100	20	6	2	$7500
Superior	20	500	100	10	3	$10000
Amazing	25	1000	200	20	4	$10000
Incredible	30	5000	500	30	5	$10000
Monstrous	40	10000	1000	40	6	$10000
Ultimate	50	25000	2500	50	7	$10000

The resource level also determines what kind of infrastructure your villainous organization has, and whether or not magic and ultratech items are available to it. The money to purchase and maintain all of this infrastructure is assumed to be acquired from a variety of sources, legal and illegal, and is deliberately abstracted for the purpose of keeping things simple. Bear in mind that the more powerful an organization becomes, the more likely its cash flow is generated through legitimate means, as the higher profile the organization has, it will either create legitimate business fronts to mask its evil from the public, or else coopt the government in such a way as to make whatever income schemes it utilizes legal.

Resource Level	Magic and Ultratech Availability	Infrastructure Example
Hopeless	None	Access to commonly available vehicles that you can steal, low-rent housing in the warehouse district or other bad part of town, no expense account, little to no intelligence network for collecting information. No insider influence on the government.
Pathetic	None	Access to commonly available vehicles, Henchmen get decent (or at least better) housing compared to the thugs and cannon fodder, who are at the same level as Hopeless. Henchmen will have access to a small (~$1000 per month) expense account for pulling jobs and keeping the underlings happy enough to stay on with the organization. Intel net made up of local informants. May have a cop or two on the take.
Weak	None	Access to commonly available vehicles, low rent housing for the cannon fodder and thugs; Henchmen get much better accomodations and access to an expense account (~$2500 per month) for pulling jobs and keeping the underlings happy. Intel net made up of local informants, with a few well placed cops and low-level bureaucrats on the take.
Average	1D/2 worth of Common magical or ultratech items as appropriate to the nature of the organization, plus 1 Rare item.	Access to commonly available vehicles, decent housing for the troops with Henchmen living comfortably. Henchmen have expense accounts worth $5000 per month for pulling jobs and keeping the underlings happy, plus a little flash money to make their own connections outside the organization. Intel net made up of local informants as well as the odd outside source of information. A handful of well-placed cops and bureaucrats on the take as well as local politician or two.
Good	2D worth of Common magical or ultratech items as appropriate to the nature of the organization, plus 1D worth of Rare items.	Access to commonly available vehicles plus minor military equipment and weapons, decent housing for the troops with Henchmen living very comfortably. A private compound is available for housing and training the troops. Henchmen have expense accounts worth $7500 per month for pulling jobs and keeping the underlings happy, plus flash money to make their own connections outside the organization. Intel net made up of local informants as well as the networks of other affiliated organizations. The organization does not face serious trouble from the local police or government unless they do something so publicly awful that it can't be ignored. State level politicians routinely solicit offers of political favors for campaign contributions.
Excellent	4D worth of Common magical or ultratech items, plus 2D worth of Rare items, plus 1 Unique item.	Access to commonly available vehicles plus military equipment and weapons, good housing for the troops with Henchmen living very comfortably. Several private compounds are available for housing and training the troops. Henchmen have expense accounts worth $10,000 per month for pulling jobs and keeping the underlings happy, plus flash money to make their own connections outside the organization. Intel net made up of local informants as well as the networks of other affiliated organizations plus a few insiders at the national level. The organization does not face serious trouble from the local or state police and government unless they do something so publicly awful that it can't be ignored. State level politicians are deep in your pockets, and at least a few national level politicians court you with favors openly or through cut-outs and on the sly depending on how legitimate a face your organization has at this point.
Superior	1 Common magical or ultratech item for every 10 Cannon Fodder, plus 1 Rare item for every 20 Cannon Fodder, plus 1D of Unique items.	Access to commonly available vehicles plus advanced military equipment and weapons, good housing for the troops with Henchmen living very comfortably. Several private compounds including one in an exotic location (volcano, island, at the south pole, in low orbit, whatever) for the main base are available for housing and training the troops. Henchmen have expense accounts worth $15,000 per month for pulling jobs and keeping the underlings happy, plus flash money to make their own connections outside the organization. Intel net made up of local informants as well as the networks of other affiliated organizations plus key access to national level classified materials. The organization does not face serious trouble from the government at any level unless they do something so publicly awful that it can't be ignored. You maintain a stable of powerful and connected politicians deep in your pockets, and have international connections with various NGO's and the U.N.
Amazing	1 Common magical or ultratech item for every 5 Cannon Fodder, plus 1 Rare item for every 10 Cannon Fodder, plus 2D of Unique items.	Access to commonly available vehicles plus advanced military equipment and weapons, good housing for the troops with Henchmen living very comfortably. Several private compounds including one to three in exotic locations (volcano, island, a base at the south pole, 1000 fathoms deep, in low orbit, whatever) for the main base(s) are available for housing and training the troops. Henchmen have expense accounts worth $25,000 per month for pulling jobs and keeping the underlings happy, plus flash money to make their own connections outside the organization. Intel net made up of local informants as well as the networks of other affiliated organizations plus key access to national level classified materials. The organization essentially controls the government of its host nation(s) and will not be opposed with the exception of facing an open revolt of the populace otherwise. Bosses may be Corporate CEOs, Mafia dons, national level politicians, flag-rank officers in the military, or similiarly well-placed movers and shakers in world affairs. You maintain a stable of powerful and connected politicians deep in your pockets, and have deep international connections with various NGO's and the U.N.
Incredible	1 Common magical or ultratech item for every 3 Cannon Fodder, plus 1 Rare item for every 5 Cannon Fodder, plus 3D of Unique items.	Any vehicle or weapon system available to the governments or mega-corporations of the world are available within a short period of time. Numerous compounds and facilties for housing and training the troops, including a handful of exotic locations. Henchmen may be Corporate CEOs, Mafia dons, national level politicians, flag-rank officers in the military, or similiarly well-placed movers and shakers in world affairs. You openly rule at least one of your host nations and have a seat at the U.N.
Monstrous	1 Common magical or ultratech item for every 3 Cannon Fodder, plus 1 Rare item for every 5 Cannon Fodder, plus 5D of Unique items.	Any vehicle or weapon system available to the governments or mega-corporations of the world are available within a short period of time. In addition, and depending on the nature of the organization, you may draw upon the resources of another world, or parallel dimension or plane of being, including the powers that rule there. Numerous compounds and facilties for housing and training the troops, including a handful of exotic locations. Henchmen may be Corporate CEOs, Mafia dons, national level politicians, flag-rank officers in the military, or similiarly well-placed movers and shakers in world affairs. You openly rule at least one of your host nations and have a seat at the U.N.
Ultimate	1 Common magical or ultratech item for every 3 Cannon Fodder, plus 1 Rare item for every 5 Cannon Fodder, plus 1 Unique item for every 2 Henchmen.	The organization effectively rules the world; whether they do so openly or not is up to the nature of the organization and the preferences of its leadership. As such the resources of the entire planet are at the organization's disposal, and the organization has since turned its sallow eyes upon other worlds to conquer. For obvious reasons, Ultimate Resource organizations must be very carefully thought out for use against the characters. At this and at Monstrous level, the players might even be unwittingly working for one branch of the organization against a rival branch as one or more Bosses struggle for supremacy.

One way to think about how an organization is actually put together and operates is the Mafia example. Groups of four to six Cannon Fodder underlings form a Crew. The Crew generally operates as a group, and is tasked with small jobs and simple operations when needed - otherwise they are free to come up with whatever will bring in cash on their own, so long as those above them in the organization get a cut of the take and they aren't so gratuitous that it brings down the heat on their heads. The Crew is led by a Thug. Thugs can also be independent specialists, such as hit men and cleaners. Multiple Crews report to a Henchman, who can be thought of as a lieutenant in the organization. A Henchman will generally have one of the Crews under his command as his personal Crew, with a Thug as his second. Henchmen can also be independent operators, though they generally have much greater responsibilities than Thugs. Henchmen report to a Boss, who runs up to 7 Henchmen and their Crews. Often times one of the Henchmen will be the Boss' right hand man, known as the Underboss or Capo , that the other Henchman take their orders through. The Capo is considered to be next in line to succeed the Boss should something happen, so a Boss must choose his Capo wisely. If there are multiple Bosses in the organization, they answer to the Boss of Bosses, a Fiend level villain. As with the Capo, the Boss of Bosses may have the senior Boss as his right hand man, known as a Consigliere.

Another way to look at an organization is the espionage or guerilla model. Each 4 to 6 Cannon Fodder underlings make up a Cell, and are led by a Thug, who only knows how to contact the Henchman above him. He does not know the existence of or identity of any other Cells being run by his Henchman leader. The Henchman in turn is being run by a Boss, though he may only be able to contact the Boss through the Underboss or through blind information drops. If there are more than one Boss in the organization, they are in turn run by the Fiend level villain, possibly through cut-outs or blind info drops if they have strict security measures, and possibly in person if they are able to meet without risking their identity (usually through a business front or else they enjoy diplomatic protection.)

Villainous Talents

These talents are only available to Villains. They represent ways to make villains more challenging (and in some cases more likely to survive) rather than simply loading them up with more villain creation points.

Escape Plan
Cost: 2 points

The villain has a knack for getting out of a tight situation. If the villain is ever hit with an attack that will render him KO'd or slain, he gets a saving throw of 1D. On a 4 or higher result, the villain makes a miraculous and complete escape from the scene with only 1 hit point remaining to him. If he fails his save he takes the full damage of the hit. Note that the save is only attempted after he has failed his save to be hit, but before the damage is rolled.

EXAMPLES OF VILLAIN CREATION

1. First, let's make up some Cannon Fodder villains. In this case, they are a squad of four guards who keep an eye on the front door of the Boss' hideout. Each guard gets 4 creation points, and starts out with a BOD, BRAINS, MOXIE, and LOOKS of rank of Average, and no talents, stuff, or odds and ends. Hit points, attack rolls, and save rolls won't be determined until the creation points are spent. Since these guys are guards, they need to have good BOD ranks to fight, so we'll spend 2 creation points on BOD, to make them Good, and giving them 3D base dice. They don't need to be good looking, particularly smart, or very strong-willed, so we'll keep them at Average for BRAINS, MOXIE, and LOOKS. That gives us two points to spend on talents and stuff. We won't bother with Odds and Ends for them right now, since they're just cannon fodder. Because these guys are guards, they'll need some fighting skills, so we'll spend one point to give them Shoot, and one point to give them Clobber. They won't have much opportunity to use other talents.

Back to the Previous Section - Back to the Introduction Page - On to the Next Section