TEXT: A Fistful of 
  Plot Devices, #1
  Bruce Baugh
  
  A Fistful of Plot Devices, #1
  2
  Introduction
  Superheroes spend a lot of their active time responding
  to crises: something goes very wrong, and they must
  save the day. This is a collection of ways to create a cri-
  sis, including people, places, and things that can go
  wrong in interesting ways. They include some (real or
  impending) catastrophes, and also some basically positive
  developments that have nightmarish potential in the
  wrong hands. They’re each intended to provide reasons
  for lots of different kinds of heroes to feel like
  responding, suitable for use in many different campaigns.
  They aren’t complete adventures, but open-ended start-
  ing points.
  OPEN CONTENT
  The entirety of this document is declared as open content.
  A Fistful of Plot Devices, #1
  Written by Bruce Baugh
  Production by Philip Reed
  Superline Gamemaster’s Series: A Fistful of Plot Devices, #1 copyright © 2004 Bruce Baugh, All Rights Reserved. Artwork copyright Louis Porter, Jr.
  Design, used with permission. Requires the Mutants & Masterminds RPG by Green Ronin Publishing For Use. Mutants & Masterminds, M&M Superlink,
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  Designation of Product Identity: All creator names, Superline Gamemaster’s Series, and Ronin Arts. Crooks! and Hero Points are Product Identity of Green
  Ronin Publishing and are used with permission.
  All text, unless stated otherwise in the PDF, is designated as open game content.
  Also available from Bruce Baugh and Ronin Arts:
  Modern: Monstrous Advanced Classes – A series of PDFs that introduce new advanced classes designed for
  your D20 Modern campaign. From the vampire to the werewolf, this series provides GMs with a unique,
  and exciting way to create villains.
  Available today at www.rpgnow.com.
  
  A Fistful of Plot Devices, #1
  3
  Each entry is organized like this:
  The Situation: A concise description of the
  hook with which the GM can reel in the charac-
  ters.
  Developments: Ways things can go once the
  heroes rise to the challenge.
  Alternatives: Some possible complications and
  variations, to keep jaded players on their toes.
  Considerations: Things to keep in mind when
  preparing the plot device for use in your partic-
  ular campaign.
  Game Mechanics: Specific rules, where appli-
  cable.
  The Plot Devices
  Developments: The power crisis evolves in
  four distinct steps.
  I
  Step 1: Malfunction. With minutes or sec-
  onds of advance warning (or none at all),
  the power source runs amok. 
  I
  Step 2: First Wave. At this point, the power
  source emits unexpected energies that
  wreak some havoc and make it impossible
  for normal disaster-relief crews to approach.
  A force-field effect is the most common bar-
  rier, in addition to intense heat or radiation.
  I
  Step 3: Expanding Destruction. The power
  source continues to spiral out of control,
  sucking up the resources it needs to con-
  sume ever more matter and energy in its
  vicinity.
  I
  Step 4: Catastrophe. If nothing’s done in
  time, the power source explodes in a final
  devastating blast. The unfortunate survivors
  pick up as best they can.
  Alternatives: Besides relatively straightfor-
  ward energy blasts, out-of-control power
  sources may emit exotic fields of other sorts.
  Condition Critical
  The Situation: One of the many brilliant inventors with
  more genius than attention to quality control details
  has made an experimental power source that runs amok. In
  keeping with the comic-book ethos that building small
  prototypes in remote locales is for wimps, the new power
  source has gone online in the heart of a major city,
  either one the characters inhabit or one they can get to
  readily. Now it has to be contained and shut down before
  vast crowds and tracts of city are obliterated. The clock
  is ticking!
  
  A Fistful of Plot Devices, #1
  4
  Some classic possibilities:
  I
  Dimensional Gateway. The power source
  sucks energy to or from some alien locale: a
  parallel universe, a remote part of the char-
  acters’ universe, even the past or future of
  their own world. 
  I
  Making Elementals. People damaged by the
  unique energy around the power source may
  be transformed into creatures composed of
  that energy themselves. This can provide a
  convenient origin story for new heroes and
  villains, and also allow for dramatic change
  in the life of an existing hero. The man or
  woman locked into an existence as sentient
  plasma, or radioactive gas or radio waves,
  or something else other than flesh and blood
  is an archetypal figure of superhero stories
  inclined toward melodrama (or situation
  comedy, depending on how it’s played out).
  Considerations: So what is this thing, anyway?
  “Power source” covers a lot of possibilities. It
  could be a big nuclear power station or some-
  thing comparable, as seen in countless docu-
  mentaries about power blackouts, Three Mile
  Island, and the like. It might be a very small
  device, suitable for displaying on a lab bench
  surrounded by monitoring devices. If the PCs
  have ways of getting themselves into exotic
  environments and functioning there, it could be
  a satellite in a decaying orbit or a mining rig
  deep in the ocean. The GM should make sure to
  have a clear idea of its overall situation and
  nature in mind, but allow room for players to
  suggest details and ask questions. Sometimes a
  player will bring in a bit of inspiration you did-
  n’t think of, and if it fits, go right ahead and use
  it, since part of the point of the plot device is to
  be familiar.
  Game Mechanics: In step 1, there are several
  things that PCs and others on the scene might do
  to help the situation. Disable Device is the skill
  of choice for people somewhere inside the
  power source, or standing nearby a small one.
  Characters watching the situation in a control
  room might try Computers or a relevant
  Profession skill. Make the DC for this high
  enough that the player would have to roll very,
  very well—maybe even requiring a natural
  20—to actually stop the crisis right here. But
  once they’ve made the effort, allow a follow-up
  check with the same skill or straight Intelligence
  at half the DC to gain knowledge that can help
  out later. Be generous in allowing the characters
  circumstance bonuses for their understanding
  and experience so far, and players will feel that
  even not-immediately-successful action is well
  worth taking.
  In step 2, the power source goes off. This
  involves two (or more) power effects in combi-
  nation. 
  First, there’s a straightforward Energy Blast. If
  the power source is big enough to have internal
  rooms and chambers, it fills most or all of them,
  and extends beyond as suits the drama of the sit-
  uation. Explosions reaching across the city
  street to trap bystanders in a burning building,
  for instance, provide opportunities for heroes to
  make dramatic choices about their rescue prior-
  ities. (Don’t use this as license to make the play-
  ers feel doomed to watch many innocents die
  unless it’s a dark and gritty campaign by mutu-
  al agreement. Bring in brave firefighters and
  others to help out with the situations the PCs
  can’t cover alone.) Electricity, fire, and radia-
  tion are all standard types of energy for the
  blast, but almost anything can be justified by the
  nature of the invention. The first blast sound
  have a power level somewhat lower than the
  heroes’ PL, so that they’re likely to be no more
  than damaged by it. There will be less-powered
  people in the vicinity to demonstrate the perils
  as they get knocked out, shaken up, and other-
  wise injured.
  Second, there’s usually some generally unex-
  pected complication. A very strong Force Field
  around the area is a classic one, the wave of
  
  A Fistful of Plot Devices, #1
  5
  energy rippling and glowing with unnatural col-
  ors, and possibly expanding or contracting
  slightly so that bystanders may be caught inside
  or released without warning. Giving it
  extras like Deflection can make
  the 
  challenge 
  meaner;
  Immunity and Impenetrable
  make it work more like a
  pure plot device. It
  should be tough enough
  not to come down
  readily, and have the
  potential to reform if
  heroes do manage to
  create 
  a 
  temporary
  breach. An Energy Field
  embedded in the wiring of
  a building, the outer shell of
  a ship or vehicle, or other
  perimeter-defining structure pro-
  duces much the same results.
  Step 3 is just a matter of expanding the scope of
  the barrier described above, either by slowly
  moving across the terrain outside its current
  area of effect or leaping to the next suitable
  point of attachment. If crackling bolts of B-
  waves are running through the laboratory com-
  plex’s wires and pipes, for instance, they might
  beak loose into overhead power lines and the
  storm drains beneath the street to include every-
  thing within a block of the original experiment,
  all in a flash. 
  Step 4 doesn’t require detailed statistics. It’s a
  matter of narrative, and at that an optional one:
  just as with doomed bystanders, it’s not appro-
  priate in many superhero games. Perhaps the
  device finally fizzles out, and what matters is
  how much good the heroes did during the dura-
  tion of the crisis. Perhaps its knocked-out inven-
  tor regains consciousness and can shut it down.
  Lots of things can resolve a crisis while leaving
  room for the characters’ choices and action to
  really matter in deciding how it all turned out.
  The power source itself can either be shut down
  or destroyed. Destroying it is a matter of over-
  coming its hardness, as described in “Attacking
  an Object” in M&M. Anything worthy of a
  not-quite-careful-enough inventor’s
  labor is likely as hard as steel or
  harder, so its hardness rating
  will be 15 or more. If any of
  the heroes is particularly
  good at smashing things,
  this is a chance for that
  character to show off:
  make the hardness high
  enough to be a real but
  attainable challenge that no
  lesser breaker of things could
  manage. Electronic systems are
  susceptible to Computers skill
  checks, including the Datalink
  power. (This is another opportunity to
  showcase a power in action.) The DC for such
  checks should be high, because the device is
  both complex and unfamiliar, likely laden with
  poorly written and of course completely undoc-
  umented commands. Disable Device also
  applies in most cases.
  A GM wanting to create a good “race against
  time” feel may want to require accumulated
  successes from various sources while the outer
  boundaries of the energy field expand, fresh
  energy blasts sweep through the area, and so on.
  Each hero must contribute a couple or more suc-
  cess, from skills, directed attacks at the device
  itself, or assaults on the barriers keeping them
  away, while every few rounds some fresh com-
  plication arises. Remember that even cata-
  strophic failure on a single roll shouldn’t mean
  instant doom: it should just mean more compli-
  cations, requiring additional successes and plan-
  ning to compensate.
  
  A Fistful of Plot Devices, #1
  6
  Developments: The prehistoric peril unfolds in
  three distinct steps:
  I
  Step 1: Remarkable Discovery. Someone,
  quite possibly the PCs or established con-
  tacts and allies of theirs, finds the astonish-
  ingly preserved creature frozen in a glacier,
  or immobilized by unusual cases in a cave,
  or otherwise kept safe through the eons.
  With appropriate personnel and equipment
  providing support, they transport it to some-
  place it can be properly studied. Inevitably
  that place is in the midst of fragile things
  and vast crowds of people, ready to be men-
  aced in the next step.
  I
  Step 2: Revival and Rampage. The creature
  emerges from its dormant condition and
  becomes aware of its surroundings. These it
  finds unsuitable. By sheer force of will, or
  an untimely accident like a power outage, or
  with the help of someone who thinks that
  dinosaurs don’t belong in cages (or that this
  will show the boss what a fool he is, or
  some other less kindly motive), the creature
  gets loose. Now there’s a monster on the
  loose! Much property damage ensues; car-
  nage may also ensue, depending on the
  lethality of the campaign. The heroes must
  find a way to stop the creature before it can
  do any more harm.
  I
  Step 3: The Aftermath. Now the heroes have
  a captured creature to deal with. If it’s dead,
  that’s probably the end of the story...apart
  from super-science reviving it, supernatural
  power reanimating it, and other ways of get-
  ting dead tissue active again. If it’s still
  alive, though, something has to be done
  with it. Better confinement? Sending it to
  some remote spot? Sending it off the planet,
  or out of the present? The nature of the deci-
  sion and how it’s made are likely to provide
  plot hooks of their own.
  Alternatives: The creature might not be a relic
  of the past in any (relatively) simple way.
  I
  Weird Science. The creature could be some-
  one’s present-day recreation, synthesized
  out of preserved DNA, brought forth by
  semi-controlled mutation-inducing chemi-
  cals applied to “throwback” animals, or oth-
  erwise made deliberately. Such a creature
  can be more purely fanciful, combining his-
  torical elements with someone’s ideas for
  improvement and customization. It could
  also be more directly from the past thanks to
  a “time scoop” connecting different times.
  I
  The Living Fossil. The creature might have
  been alive and well all this time someplace
  obscure: deep in a jungle, far beneath the
  surface of the sea, high in a barren mountain
  range. 
  The Peril From the Past
  The Situation: An ancient beast (or plant!) has emerged
  in the present moment. It doesn’t belong here, and in its
  confusion, it’s wreaking considerable havoc on its sur-
  roundings. It must be stopped, because no matter how
  cool it is, people deserve not to be stepped on, eaten, or
  forcibly decomposed.
  
  A Fistful of Plot Devices, #1
  7
  I
  The Alien Legacy. Humanity is seldom
  alone in superheroes’ universes. Aliens on a
  survey mission millions of years ago might
  have collected many specimens and put
  them in super-science storage, then had
  their spacecraft crash. The contents of the
  storage areas wait patiently for archeolo-
  gists and other explorers to discover them.
  Perhaps the spacecraft got off Earth and
  then ran into troubles, and has been circling
  the outer reaches of the solar system as an
  apparent comet or asteroid until a chance
  collision sends it hurtling toward Earth. In
  this case, its true nature may not become
  apparent until after it’s struck the planet.
  I
  The Extraterrestrial Peril. Finally, the crea-
  ture itself might be native to some other
  world. That alien survey mission could be a
  present-day matter and have just arrived
  with a cargo from one or more planets in
  other solar systems. If it failed long ago, it
  could have drifted between the stars for
  many millions of years until the Sun pulled
  it in. In comic-book terms, the difference
  between a dinosaur and the giant grazing
  cephalothing of Epsilon Eridani II is not
  great.
  Considerations: There are some campaigns in
  which it’d be appropriate to confront the char-
  acters with an entirely nebulous thing of no dis-
  tinct properties at all, whose nature emerges in
  a metaphysical reflection of their concerns and
  questions...but not all that many. In most cases,
  the GM needs to work out the nature of the crea-
  ture in advance.
  Simple is often very good for superheroics. The
  classic Big Angry Lizard is a fun challenge: it’s
  a real menace, and fighting it effectively will
  take some teamwork for almost all PCs, but it’s
  a straightforward sort of thing. Nor need it nec-
  essarily be a lizard; it could be a Big Angry
  Shark, or a Big Angry Cephalopod, or almost
  any other sort of creature, because the basic
  principle of making something very large and
  damage-resistant and giving it an exotic attack
  or two to supplement its natural weaponry is
  easy to apply.
  The creature might be a dangerous plant. The
  biggest problem here is that players are likely to
  start wondering just how threatening a fern can
  really be and slide into farce or satire rather than
  the sort of suspended-disbelief epic action that
  is good superheroics. So the about-to-rampage
  plant needs to be capable of some initial demon-
  stration that gets characters’ and players’ atten-
  tion, like jets of poisonous spores, stinging nee-
  dles, or big gaping maws like those of Venus
  flytraps and pitcher plants. The plant must earn
  its credibility as a menace, in some quick dis-
  play of lethal potential. It must also be capable
  of getting from where it is at the moment to
  fresh victims, either by growing very rapidly or
  by actually pulling itself around (or both). 
  In the real world, kudzu can grow a foot per day,
  and other plants do nearly as well. So the sort of
  while-you-watch bursts of speed required of a
  killer vine aren’t entirely unprecedented,
  they’re just intensified like everything else
  around superheroes. Nor are mobile plants
  impossible, since slime molds go from station-
  ary to mobile and back again at different stages
  of life. A diffuse and simply structured killer
  plant might adopt an ooze-like nature for a
  while in search of prey. It could also do some-
  thing more exotic like casting out tendrils to
  anchor itself against new targets and then haul
  its bulk to the new location, drawing in the ten-
  drils as it goes. It could even launch itself into
  the sky, a giant version of the spiders that sail on
  sails made of spider silk or with the help of a
  membrane filled with lighter-than-air gas.
  The real world provides all sorts of exotic crea-
  tures ready for rampaging. The giant mammals
  of the epochs between us and the dinosaurs go
  sadly neglected in comic book and movie story-
  telling, even though they were smarter and
  
  A Fistful of Plot Devices, #1
  8
  capable of much more sophisticated behavior
  than almost any dinosaur. Apart from the saber-
  tooth tiger and occasional mastodon, the whole
  field is wide open for exploitation, and a GM
  choosing this source has the advantage of refer-
  ence books in every library full of neat pictures
  to show players. Then there are the downright
  weird creatures of the Precambrian, built on
  body plans unlike any that now survive. A suit-
  ably enlarged Anomalocaris or Hallucigenia
  would provide a prehistoric thrill that isn’t just
  what players have seen before.
  Even though giant size is traditional for ram-
  paging 
  creatures, 
  it’s 
  not 
  obligatory.
  Velociraptors are now well established as a
  human-scale peril, and even one medium crea-
  ture capable of swift, agile flight and possessing
  long-range attacks could keep a team of heroes
  busy for quite a while. A smaller creature is
  likely to combine speed with camouflage of
  some sort, whether it’s just the ability to hide
  itself well or actual powers of invisibility, mim-
  icry, and the like. The hunt for such a creature
  will almost always take longer than finding
  something big stomping buildings, and the
  alternating pursuit and being pursued by the
  thing on the hunt can be a guaranteed ticket to
  frustration for characters who aren’t equipped
  for it. On the other hand, characters with good
  sensory apparatus (or gear) and powers that
  won’t themselves do a lot more collateral dam-
  age might find the hunt just the right sort of
  challenge.
  Loosely or strongly connected swarms of small-
  er creatures add up to a single challenge of this
  sort, too. They may share an inhuman hive
  mind, or just have very strong coordinating
  instincts. In either case, they can work together
  against humans and other targets, and being so
  small individually, they’re hard to keep out. The
  swarm of killer insects of a bygone age loose
  inside a hospital or skyscraper provides scope
  for both hunting and straight-up fighting.
  Remember that your campaign’s rampaging crea-
  ture doesn’t have to have the same explanation in
  the game that any of its real-life inspirations do.
  There are past and present creatures so strange they
  make perfectly plausible aliens. There are books
  and videos speculating on the possibilities of future
  life, and you could move one of those species to a
  poorly-documented part of the past—maybe even
  back to the Earth’s early history, before bacteria
  made oxygen common, so that the thing’s very
  breath is poisonous gas. A good image or bit of
  information is its own justification, and since
  you’re not presenting a claim of fact, you can put
  it into whatever context suits you. Tell the players
  the real story later, if you want to.
  Game Mechanics: The classic rampaging peril
  from the past, as seen in countless comic books,
  movies, and other sources, starts off with several
  levels of Growth and some extra levels of
  Protection and Super-Strength. Protection lets it
  fend off nuisance attacks (“Bullets can’t stop it!
  Rockets can’t stop it! What can save us now?”),
  and Super-Strength lets it smash through obstacles
  and inflict a lot of environmental damage. Extra
  Armor helps if you want the peril to survive some
  serious counter-attacks, and don’t neglect the value
  of a well-placed Immunity or two so that heroes
  have to think about indirect strategies after discov-
  ering that the obvious doesn’t work. 
  Keep in mind that some selective defenses go well
  with overall damage resistance by allowing room
  for player ingenuity. If the King of the Dinosaurs is
  simply so tough that he can swat away any attack
  from any of the characters, the players may find
  the situation discouraging. If there are weaknesses
  for them to discover and exploit, on the other hand,
  they get to feel both clever and competent in their
  responses. Remember too that rampaging mon-
  sters provide inadvertent clues to their vulnerabili-
  ties, brushing up against an instance and shying
  away just where perceptive characters can see it
  and draw a useful conclusion.
  
  A Fistful of Plot Devices, #1
  9
  Many rampaging perils have a particular weak-
  ness: they depend on some highly non-standard
  food source. This can be raw electricity, leading
  the creature to focus its rampages on high-
  power lines, generators, powered armor, and the
  like. It could be some form of radiation, leading
  it to nuclear reactors and the like (and therefore
  possibly triggering the plot device above). It can
  be almost anything that’s exotic and inconven-
  ient if ripped out of its usual place and sent
  down a monster’s gullet. For decades, superhero
  team comic books had a standard plot formula,
  splitting up the heroes to deal with separate
  challenges and then reuniting for the last big
  showdown. Efforts to secure potential food tar-
  gets and/or deal with the aftermath of earlier
  feeding can split up a team of characters just
  this way, giving each of them some spotlight
  time and perhaps letting those who don’t do so
  well in straight-up fights nonetheless shine as
  heroes of the day in their own way. 
  Flaws allow you to customize the peril’s pow-
  ers, and you should include a few, as they give
  characters and players the scene of a dynamic
  situation that could change again at any
  moment. The Degrades flaw combines well
  with the feeding-requirement weakness, for
  instance; the power returns to its normal rank
  after the peril is exposed to enough of the nor-
  mally dangerous food source that it would suf-
  fer significant damage. Instead, it charges out
  with fresh vitality, only to wear down again.
  The Slow and Tiring flaws also fit a lot of ani-
  mal and plant abilities.
  Rampaging perils don’t always play precisely
  by the rules. You may wish to design your peril
  with a few Hero Points to use for inspiration, as
  discussed in the Characteristics chapter. This is
  the mechanical foundation for improbable
  escapes and other situations that are cool but not
  thoroughly sensible. “How did it get through
  such a small passage?” “If it was locked inside
  the hold and the door was barred from the out-
  side, who killed the crew?” These and other
  questions are best answered with a knowing
  smile and a reference to the great mysteries of
  ancient life.
  If the peril is still alive at the end of its initial
  rampage, the question of its long-term fate can
  involve as much or as little detail as you want.
  A quick scientific or engineering skill check can
  suffice to tell you that one of the characters
  worked out a good design that NPCs will imple-
  ment, and then it’s on to other challenges. On
  the other hand, characters with relevant skills
  and powers may well want to try to help the
  creature adjust to its new circumstances, or even
  try to send it back, if its method of delivery
  allows for that. Transporting a beast that is
  probably but not certainly now contained to
  some lasting haven is the stuff of further adven-
  tures, with potential for sequels throughout the
  heroes’ careers.
  
  A Fistful of Plot Devices, #1
  10
  Developments: The cult’s presence in the lives
  of the characters and their community has three
  distinct stages, with an optional but common
  fourth stage:
  I
  Stage 1: Benign Efforts, Minor Mysteries.
  The group (which may not seem very cult-
  like at all, at first) shows up as a new force
  for doing good. Its leaders have successful
  techniques for dealing with convicted crim-
  inals, juvenile delinquents, and others who
  need moral guidance, setting them on the
  path of better behavior. Recruits spend some
  of their time out of sight “in training” or “on
  assignment”, and sometimes the do-gooders
  end up getting in the characters’ way
  because of different ideas about how to deal
  with a crisis they’re both present for. But
  these aren’t big obvious problems.
  I
  Stage 2: Emerging Trouble. The characters
  discover that all is not well in this new
  organization. They may do so by their own
  efforts at surveillance and analysis if they’re
  suspicious; if not, an established NPC ally
  may seek them out, or the relative of an ally.
  In comics this is often the not-previously-
  mentioned sibling of a character’s friend,
  the black sheep of the family who thought
  he’d go straight now but is tangled up in
  something even worse. At least one villain
  the characters have fought before is work-
  ing with the organization, and it’s quite
  clear that any change of heart the villain
  claims is purely superficial. Unfortunately,
  the organization’s public face is winning it
  allies in the area’s government and media,
  and nobody wants to hear sour grapes from
  jealous heroes. The organization’s minions
  turn up committing acts that may or may not
  be strictly illegal, but certainly give their
  leaders information and assets that belong
  in better hands.
  I
  Stage 3: The Secret. Some major offense,
  like the abuse of confidential government
  records passed along by brainwashed secre-
  taries or the refusal to let now-reluctant
  The Death Cult
  The Situation: A new organization is attracting atten-
  tion in the heroes’ vicinity. Apparently benign or at least
  neutral, it’s got some prominent social group thorough-
  ly hooked: teenagers, aristocrats, artists, or some other
  readily identifiable subculture. Quite possibly one or more
  people close to the heroes becomes involved, spending
  more and more time and effort on the organization’s caus-
  es. Unfortunately, all is not as innocent as its seems.
  Behind the scenes, recruits are gradually dragged into
  illegal and immoral activities, and at the top is some sin-
  ister mastermind up to something thoroughly nasty. Can
  the heroes expose the evil before it’s too late? And will
  they be believed by the people they’re trying to save?
  
  A Fistful of Plot Devices, #1
  recruits leave, gets the heroes’ attention.
  There’s real trouble here, even though only
  a few crusading reporters, dedicated social
  workers, loyal friends or loved ones, and
  other wise individuals see it besides the
  heroes. Finally the heroes get the crucial
  information they need to get behind the vis-
  ible organization and expose the master-
  mind working behind the scenes. This could
  well be a villain they’ve fought before, or
  who at least has been established as a pres-
  ence in the campaign before; it can also be
  a newcomer to the scene. Evildoers are pun-
  ished, their minions are brought to justice,
  and people of good will deal with the after-
  math.
  I
  Stage 4: The Real Secret. Stage 3 can be the
  end of things, and a very satisfying one. But
  there’s often an additional layer of hidden
  evil. The mastermind the heroes took down
  turns out to be one more pawn, working for
  an even more sinister controller. This is a
  good opportunity to introduce a change to
  the boundaries of the campaign. If there
  haven’t been active supernatural powers
  before, the real controller may be a demon
  (or an angel with real attitude problems) or
  a worshipper of the elder gods. If there
  haven’t been extraterrestrials on the scene,
  the controller could be an alien, or a robot
  built by the aliens. This second showdown
  often begins with the heroes tired and
  recovering, so that they have to draw on
  their innate knowledge and talents rather
  than being able to assemble all the props
  they might like, and is as much a test of
  character as a physical fight.
  Alternatives: The cult may go after the heroes
  early on if the heroes get in its way, and it may
  have a more specific agenda than “every scrap
  of power we can get is ours”:
  I
  Heroes in Disgrace. Some cults are very
  good at manipulating the mass media and
  the opinions of authorities. If there’s any
  preexisting spark of resentment toward or
  fear of the heroes, the cult can inflame it;
  it’s also possible to manufacture scandals
  out of whole cloth...or, worse yet, out of the
  heroes’ real words and deeds, put in the
  worst possible light. Heroes who’ve
  11
  
  A Fistful of Plot Devices, #1
  enjoyed privileged status may find them-
  selves stripped of it in stages 2 and 3.
  Rebuilding a shattered reputation can be a
  very quick task, with proof of the master-
  mind’s machinations in hand after the
  heroes triumph, or an extended challenge
  against lingering doubts and suspicions,
  depending on the overall tone of the cam-
  paign.
  I
  The Cult’s Obsession. Power is a fine and
  worthy motive for any super-villain, but
  sometimes the secret controller wants a spe-
  cific sort of power: revenge on individuals
  or groups, ownership of a particular book of
  lore or magical artifact, or owning a piece of
  property which (visions or statistics say)
  will be crucial in some future crisis. In
  comic books, these focused drives are usu-
  ally justified by knowledge denied to most,
  though it’s always possible for the con-
  troller to be a very powerful victim of delu-
  sions. Like the general nature of the con-
  troller’s power, the nature of the obsession
  can be a hook for further adventures.
  Considerations: Handling people manipulated
  through their hopes and beliefs requires some
  tact. Comic-book cult plots often provide the
  writer opportunity for a little soap-box moraliz-
  ing abut freedom of conscience and self-deter-
  mination, and there’s nothing wrong with that,
  but it’s very easy for the whole thing to come
  out as simply insulting caricature. As GM, you
  know (or have the chance to know) your play-
  ers’ outlooks better than a writer trying to gen-
  eralize, so make decisions based on the real
  people you play with.
  Comics creators and fans have some long-run-
  ning arguments about controversial subjects in
  comics. Some argue that the basically simple
  structure of superheroes’ universes make them
  well-suited for conveying strong clear messages
  12
  
  A Fistful of Plot Devices, #1
  about social problems that don’t normally come
  up in their stories. Some argue that controver-
  sial subjects are worth using only when they’re
  handled with nuance and complexity, and that
  while this can be well worth doing, it may very
  well change the whole moral foundation of a
  series and its setting. Still others argue that
  problems calling for subtlety just aren’t good
  subjects for superheroics at all. Good stories
  have been written and drawn to prove all these
  points, too.
  It’s very easy for GMs to overboard with their
  preparation for this sort of thing. Some players
  can follow a lot of exposition and respond with
  comments like “That’s so cool! So they com-
  bine Catharist praxis with a Sethian cosmology?
  Rock!” Others are more likely to say “Um, so,
  it’s kind of Christian except not, and there are
  snakes or something?” Provide as much detail
  as helps your players get a sense of the group’s
  style and motives, but not a whole lot more. If
  you do want to get into historical or historical-
  ly-based beliefs and structures, consider just
  copying a good encyclopedia article (or provid-
  ing a couple well-chosen URLs) and making it
  available as a handout before or between ses-
  sions.
  The boundary between entirely suitable and
  fun melodrama and unpleasant, inappropriate
  emotional abuse varies a lot between players,
  too. NPCs are there to, among other things,
  inspire the heroes to action when the NPCs get
  in trouble, so a certain level of misfortune is
  very much in order. People the characters care
  about can be deceived, manipulated, and got-
  ten into all sorts of peril without pushing the
  boundaries of superhero convention at all. But
  heroes who just can’t get a break become
  depressing to play, for most players, and it’s
  easy to make irreparable changes that you as
  GM may regret later. Even if you don’t use
  them later, it’s often a good exercise to prepare
  at least one escape route for each major trau-
  matic change you plan to inflict on the charac-
  ters and their surroundings.
  None of the above is intended to say “don’t do
  it”, though. As long as you take your players
  and your campaign into account and make the
  plot suitable for them, this kind of story can be
  a whole lot of fun, and it makes an engaging
  change of pace from other challenges. It can
  unfold all at once, or with the early stages
  woven through other stories for a good long
  build-up. “Be careful!” isn’t the same thing as
  “Stop!”
  Game Mechanics: Designing the villains
  behind the death cult is much like designing
  other villains. Make sure they have good social
  aptitude, whether through high skills and pow-
  ers of their own or particularly useful minions
  whose loyalty they can count on. (A villain who
  relies too much on such a minion will of course
  be in trouble with the heroes manage to disable
  or otherwise neutralize the minion. Suddenly
  the mob realizes it’s been mind-controlled, and
  its anger shifts...exit one villain as fast as possi-
  ble.…)
  The heroes’ investigation provides an opportu-
  nity to pit skill versus skill in an extended con-
  test, if players are interested in it. Keep track of
  the points by which they and the cult members
  trying to block their search succeed at succes-
  sive rolls. A player who gets a 30 on a DC 20
  Computers check has a 10-point margin, for
  instance, while the GM rolls an 18 on the cult
  technician’s DC 20 Computers check to main-
  tain the internal firewalls in the face of the prob-
  ing. The heroes have a 12-point lead. For every
  5 points by which one side is ahead, reduce a
  relevant skill on the other side by 1 for the dura-
  tion of the contest. or restore a damaged skill
  belonging to a member of that side one of its
  lost points. Eventually, one side or the other
  ends up unable to act effectively, its defenses
  and reserves whittled down. You can combine
  this with modifiers for roleplaying to taste.
  13
  
  A Fistful of Plot Devices, #1
  14
  Developments: The crisis of duplication
  unfolds in three general steps. Events may not
  fit tidily in this particular scheme, but a pro-
  gression something like this takes place:
  I
  Step 1: The Duplicate in the Shadows. The
  GM introduces the evil duplicate into the
  heroes’ environment but doesn’t immediate-
  ly tell the players about it. The duplicate
  gets up to its various bits of evil-doing, but
  only characters who make a point of active-
  ly checking up with their contacts and asso-
  ciates hear of anything unusual going on.
  The early effects of the evil duplicate’s
  interference are small, and may well look
  like bad luck or someone else’s fault.
  I
  Step 2: The Plot Unfolds. Having insinuated
  itself into the hero’s life, the evil duplicate
  goes to work trashing the hero’s reputation,
  finances, social bonds, and general quality
  of life. Even the hero slowest on the uptake
  now realizes that something is really amiss,
  but is likely to spend time trying to chase
  down nasty computer hackers, super-vil-
  lains using disguises, and other leads that
  don’t pan out. NPCS, and perhaps some of
  the other PCs as well, wonder just what’s
  gone wrong with the hero, and speculation
  includes mind-control rays, consciously
  chosen villainy, possession, and the like.
  I
  Step 3: Beside Myself, Against Myself. The
  hero and at least some close associates now
  have a good general sense of what’s going
  on. The evil duplicate makes its move
  straight at the original now, in a clash
  exploiting its innate knowledge of the
  hero’s weaknesses and vulnerabilities. The
  hero may be able to call for help, but then
  the duplicate has had time to arrange sup-
  port of its own, from hired goons to cus-
  tomized weapons and gadgets. If the hero
  triumphs, eventually the damage can all be
  undone. If the duplicate wins, particularly if
  the hero wasn’t able to alert others in time,
  there’s a new villain out there with a very
  secure cover story....
  The Evil Duplicate
  The Situation:
  The heroes begin receiving disturbing
  reports of one of their number (or several of them)
  engaged in clearly un-heroic activity, from letting crimi-
  nals escape to pursuing wealth and power by abuse of
  heroic power and position to outright crime and villainy.
  It’s not a hoax (nor a dream nor an imaginary story)
  involving someone pretending to be the hero, investiga-
  tion reveals: it’s someone whose vital signs and biomet-
  rics are identical to the real thing. It is in fact an evil
  version of the hero. So the heroic hero must, alone or
  with help, confront the rival, put a stop to the villainy,
  and repair the damage done. And there is no foe tougher
  than your own self!
  
  A Fistful of Plot Devices, #1
  15
  Alternatives: The general theme of the unex-
  pected duplicate can express itself in several
  other ways, including:
  I
  The Evil Within. Rather than an external
  duplicate, an alternative personality dedi-
  cated to evil lurks inside the hero. It could
  be a demonic spirit, or a new personality
  created through hypnosis or mind control,
  or an evil ancestor or past life emerging
  through the mists of time. In any case, the
  evil within acts when the hero is asleep or
  distracted, and one of the signs of trouble is
  that the hero doesn’t seem to recuperate as
  well as expected from regular rest. Solving
  the crisis means identifying and defeating
  the power behind the hero’s internal divi-
  sion.
  I
  The Good Duplicate. An established super-
  villain is seen doing unexpectedly good
  things. Change of heart? Sinister scheme
  masked as philanthropy? The villain contin-
  ues doing the customary bad things, but
  with more virtue and charity mixed in all
  the time. In this case, the duplication
  process, whatever you choose to make it,
  got applied to one of the bad guys, and the
  villain is likely to be just as angry and help-
  less about it as many heroes. The ensuing
  struggle might well end with a new hero on
  the scene, albeit one with the villain’s repu-
  tation to deal with.
  I
  Outright Replacement. The evil duplicate
  may strike directly at the hero first, arrang-
  ing to get the original out of the way. The
  kidnapping happens before the duplicate
  goes to work, so there’s no question of the
  hero being seen in two places at once or any
  other 
  such 
  complications. 
  See
  Considerations, below, for more about this
  and related matters.
  Considerations: Perhaps the most important
  question to ask yourself when setting up this
  plot device is whether you want to let the hero’s
  player in on the secret. If the player can keep it,
  your life as GM will be greatly simplified in
  some crucial ways. The player can add in just
  the right sort of befuddled response that feeds
  the suspicions of other players, for instance, and
  may well have thoughts about vulnerable spots
  in the hero’s life that haven’t yet come into play.
  Furthermore, it’s just plain fun to play the vil-
  lain, and the player’s likely to have a good time
  being the unsuspected ringer, particularly if you
  use the option for outright replacement. The
  hardest part may well be getting the player to
  stifle cackles at moments that would alert the
  others in the game.
  As always when personal, romantic, familial,
  and other matters come up, you’ll want to make
  sure to keep the villainy in bounds. Some super-
  hero campaigns thrive on sudden tragedy from
  time to time; others collapse unpleasantly. If
  you want to push campaign boundaries a bit,
  consider just asking players outright about it.
  You don’t have to give away the plot you’ve got
  in mind, just ask them how they’d feel about a
  trauma in the style of a well-done comic book,
  preferably one you can show to the players who
  aren’t familiar with it thanks to handy trade
  paperback reprints. Pick one that has the gener-
  al sort of trouble you’ve got in mind and use it
  as a basis for discussion. If the players don’t go
  for it, try something else instead. 
  You also need to figure out just where  the evil
  duplicate comes from. It might be the magical
  or technological creation of some already-estab-
  lished villain, or an up-and-coming challenger
  who sees this as the way to make a splash in vil-
  lain circles. It could be a training robot built for
  training exercises by some covert agency, now
  run amok. (That happened with some regularity
  in some comics of the 1970s-80s.) It could be
  the counterpart to the hero from an alternate
  universe, perhaps one where good and evil roles
  are flip-flopped all around. It could be the
  hero’s future self, having lapsed into villainy
  
  A Fistful of Plot Devices, #1
  thanks to future crises (or, if you want to get
  really twisted with the time paradoxes, because
  of this very crisis now). 
  Whatever you settle on, keep in mind one of the
  crucial rules for mysteries in roleplaying games:
  if you make everything hinge on a single clue,
  that’s what the players will never think of and
  the characters will never succeed at finding.
  Rotten luck and differing judgment always
  seem to combine at times like this. Make sure
  that you allow at least one alternate route to
  every essential piece of information, and if
  players come up with neat lines of investigation
  you didn’t think of, accommodate them. When
  you’ve got the destination in mind, you don’t
  have to worry so much about each turn along
  the way.
  Game Mechanics: In step 1, if you’re using the
  optional campaign crisis level rules from
  Crooks!, you can introduce a mysterious drop in
  the public attitude toward the hero or heroes
  with evil duplicates on the loose. The evil dupli-
  cate’s actions create sporadic -2 circumstance
  penalties to the good original’s skill and power
  checks. Further steps may bring additional
  drops, and perhaps drops in other levels of well-
  being to keep the hero and allies busy solving
  those problems rather than getting to the root of
  it all.
  The evil duplicate may not be the hero’s dupli-
  cate in every detail of statistics. You should cer-
  tainly feel free to shuffle skill points around and
  even to modify powers, depending on its ori-
  gins. If you’re planning to have the duplicate
  rumble with the hero’s allies along with the
  hero, then definitely add some powers and
  resources to use in the big struggle. It looks just
  like the hero, but—gasp—it’s using these
  unsuspected abilities! (This can be a neat way to
  introduce new technology and props, by the
  way; if the heroes win, they can study the
  remains and have the basis for acquiring new
  powers of their own.) Remember that all other
  things being equal, the player-controlled char-
  acter tends to do better simply because the play-
  er only has the one character to keep track of,
  while you’ve got the surrounding world, and
  don’t feel guilty about giving yourself some
  compensatory advantages.
  16
  
  A Fistful of Plot Devices, #1
  17
  Developments: This plot device brings a whole
  series of visitors into the characters’ environ-
  ment, in about this order:
  I
  The First Wave: The Heir. Things begin with
  the heir and perhaps a few trusted compan-
  ions and aides seeking out the heroes for pro-
  tection. In a well-established campaign, the
  heir may have turned up in play before, if the
  heroes dealt with the deposing organization.
  But it’s entirely in the spirit of comics to have
  a refugee turn up without any preamble at all.
  Furthermore, assassins may well be in hot
  pursuit, so that the first the heroes know of it,
  they have to deal with a tangled violent mess
  right on their doorstep. Once that’s dealt
  with, there’s an opportunity for exposition
  and the characters to consider just how they
  propose to help.
  I
  The Second Wave: The New Authorities.
  After whatever initial violence there may be,
  a better-behaved team comes from the
  authorities that overthrew the heir to stake
  their claim. They present as much history as
  the characters will sit still for to establish the
  justice of the overthrow and the prosecution
  they want to mount now. Diplomatic wran-
  gling may well ensue, along with competing
  efforts at winning media and popular sup-
  port. Desperate antagonists may resort to
  blackmail and more physical forms of intim-
  idation; depending on how morally ambigu-
  ous this conflict is, both sides can behave in
  much less than admirable ways.
  I
  The Third Wave: External Complications.
  Forces outside the original dispute now try to
  stake their own claims. Local civil authorities
  may well object to carnage and mayhem.
  National and international peacekeepers also
  prefer to discourage independent violence in
  the service of far-away problems. Would-be
  mediators and would-be successors to both
  the deposed and deposers show up to pursue
  their own agendas. The heroes should have at
  least moments of wishing they’d never got-
  ten involved with the mess, and it provides a
  good test of their loyalties and ideals.
  The grand parade of claims, counter-claims, and
  miscellaneous complications gradually settles
  down, and the heroes can at last head toward
  some lasting resolution. Is the overthrow just in
  itself but the deposed heir worthy of protection?
  Kings in exile are common in real history as well
  as comics. Is the overthrow unjust but the new
  authority too well-established for anything short
  of a major war? The exiled heir can wait and pre-
  pare for the future, leaving a trail of future cam-
  The King Without a Throne
  The Situation: One of the defining qualities of superheroes
  is that they protect those who need protection. Here
  comes someone who needs a lot of protection: the rightful
  heir to some important institution, who’s been deposed and
  is being hunted by rivals who want to simplify the succes-
  sion by removing the heir. Once powerful, now reduced to a
  desperate struggle merely to survive, the heir needs help.
  Can the heroes see that justice is done?
  
  A Fistful of Plot Devices, #1
  18
  paign hooks. Are both sides unjust? It would be
  entirely in keeping with the superheroic approach
  to political structure for the heroes to bring in
  everyone to some suitable tribunal and work with
  a protectorate of some sort to establish an entire-
  ly new regime. The contested throne sits waiting.
  Considerations: The nature of the heir’s institu-
  tion depends on the campaign power level. For
  typical PL10 heroes, the heir can be the heir to a
  kingdom, the next in line for head of state of a
  democratic or republican regime, or some other
  sort of political heir. In a campaign at PL5, the
  heir might be the designated successor to the
  deceased leader of an important corporation,
  crime family, or private institution like a religious
  denomination. At higher power levels, the insti-
  tution could be an empire, on or off Earth; fugi-
  tive heirs to alien thrones are by no means
  unknown in comic books. This plot device
  should present the heroes with interesting chal-
  lenges, not overwhelming opposition and guar-
  anteed defeat.
  It’s temptingly easy for this kind of story to get
  drowned in background exposition. Resist the
  urge to work out almanac-quality history and cul-
  ture for the organization and regime involved.
  Keep it brief, and do rely on conventional expec-
  tations in at least some points, so that the really
  distinctive flourishes stand out and are easy for
  players to assimilate. Remember that there’s
  nothing wrong in presenting your players with
  “just like The Godfather” or “just like The Man
  in the Iron Mask” or “long-lost Anastasia”,
  except with their heroes able to influence the out-
  come.
  Some campaigns thrive on incorporating real-
  world issues, and some don’t. Presumably you
  know which sort yours is. Do be careful that if
  you base in-game events on real-world analogies
  and metaphors, your players won’t respond by
  vigorously disputing the legitimacy of the com-
  parisons and take the events as meaning some-
  thing else altogether, and that they won’t feel that
  they could have skipped the game session and
  read editorials instead. Construct your situation
  so that it has its own internal consistency regard-
  less of what players think about comparable situ-
  ations outside the campaign.
  Finally, consider whether your players really
  want to be the judges of a potentially internation-
  al (or interplanetary, or worse) crisis. If they do,
  great! Carry on. If not, provide at least one grace-
  ful way for them to hand the responsibility off to
  authorities they can trust. In this case, their job is
  simply to keep the peace while other people’s
  procedures go into effect. That can be a satisfy-
  ing role as well, particularly if they get to protect
  genuinely innocent and needy people in the midst
  of a chaotic, dangerous scene.
  Game Mechanics: If you want to get players
  involved in the social struggles possible with this
  plot in more mechanical depth, there are some
  excellent resources available made with
  medieval settings in mind but that adapt easily to
  the modern day. Supplements covering nobles
  and nobility, government, law, and the like are
  out there waiting for you. They’re not appropri-
  ate for every campaign, but then nothing is, and
  by providing solid rules and support, they let
  characters with social prowess shine as clearly as
  sluggers and zappers do in fight scenes.
  Any battle with the forces guarding and/or pur-
  suing the deposed heir is likely to involve a lot of
  flunkies. Because they’re easy to defeat, they
  provide heroes an opportunity to demonstrate
  their style. Abit of fun of this sort might be a wel-
  come break in the midst of head-spinning claims
  and counter-claims. The leaders, on the other
  hand, may well possess exotic powers associated
  with the organization and its history: mystical
  powers and magical artifacts, super-science that
  relies on rare minerals found only in places the
  organization controls, and so on. As with several
  of these plot devices, this can be a handy way to
  introduce new stuff into your campaign.
  
  A Fistful of Plot Devices, #1
  19
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  Open Game Content using the name of any Contributor unless You
  have written permission from the Contributor to do so.
  12. Inability to Comply: If it is impossible for You to comply with
  any of the terms of this License with respect to some or all of the
  Open Game Content due to statute, judicial order, or governmental
  regulation then You may not Use any Open Game Material so affect-
  ed.
  13. Termination: This License will terminate automatically if You fail
  to comply with all terms herein and fail to cure such breach within 30
  days of becoming aware of the breach. All sublicenses shall survive
  the termination of this License.
  14. Reformation: If any provision of this License is held to be unen-
  forceable, such provision shall be reformed only to the extent neces-
  sary to make it enforceable.
  15. COPYRIGHT NOTICE
  Open Game License v. 1.0a Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast,
  Inc.
  Mutants and Masterminds RPG Copyright 2002, Green Ronin
  Publishing; Author Steve Kenson
  Crooks! Copyright 2003, Green Ronin Publshing, Authors: Sean
  Glenn, Kyle Hunter, and Erik Mona.
  A Fistful of Plot Devices Copyright 2004 Bruce Baugh 
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Super Hero Games/Mutants & Masterminds/1st Edition/Mutants & Masterminds - 1st Edition - Ronin Arts - Accessory - Superline - A Fistful of Plot Devices 1.pdf