Supervillain on a non-Super world

[TerryW]

Had an idea as I was falling asleep last night. It's not so much a world or campaign idea as a thought excercise for a character.

A Lex Luthor type supervillain - Call them Miriam Mallus - fleeing her super-nemesis passes through from her world, and finds herself in a world basically indistinguishable from ours. Mallus is still the smartest person in the world (And therefore by definition the one with the absolute right to rule it - At least by her own standard), with an IQ of 20 and 4 levels in each of Artificer and Natural Scientist. However abilities like Gadgeteer no longer work - The laws of thermodynamics in this pathetic low-energy backwater world are such that prototypes need to be carefully engineered and tested to weed out flaws. So no kitbashing simple things like 300gW gamma ray lasers or AI-guided slaughterbots.

On the other hand, with an IQ of 20, +4 in the STEM fields due to her talents, and 20 points each in the sciences and engineering skills, Mallus's technical skills are still 28. Even allowing for penalties due to differences in the laws of physics between worlds she's still ridiculously skilled (18 if you think the penalty should be -10, 25 if you think it should be -5. I'm inclined towards -5, because if the physical laws are too different then even biology wouldn't work anymore). And her natural ability in science and engineering quickly overawes any normal scientist or technician who sees her work (+4 reaction). And while Mallus only has 1 point in skills like Streetwise, Fast-Talk, and Intimidation, that's still impressive based on her natural ability to read people and out-think them.

Physical skills - Mallus might not be a martial artist or gunslinger, but she still has excellent reflexes, the ability to draw a bead on human-sized targets moving at several hundred kilometres per hour, and can fight well enough to throw down with B-List unpowered heroes (She won't win, but they can make it hurt). DX 13 or 14, various ranged weapons at 16+, and Karate at 15+. Good enough for streetfighting.

Personality flaws - Megalomania, plus quirk-level Bad Temper, Callous, and Selfish.

So a mad scientist obsessed with seizing her rightful place as Benign Technocrat Guiding The Foolish Masses Into A Glorious Future is stranded* in our reality. And by stranded*, while the physical laws of this reality seem to make it impossible for Mallus to escape or for her brutish enemies to track her down, Mallus knows it's only a matter of time. Either her peerless intellect will allow her to break the dimensional barrier and return home, or her hated archfoe will find Mallus. Our mad scientist needs money, a workshop and production facilities, and of course minions.

And if it turns out she can't return home, she might as well conquer this reality. Because obviously Miriam Mallus is the only person smart enough to run a sensible world-system, and the oppressed masses of this world will welcome the overthrow of their current corrupt overlords.

I have my own thoughts, but what are your ideas on how Mallus prepares for her archfoe's arrival and/or goes about conquering the world, starting from scratch?

Money:
My thought is that the simplest method to get a lot of money is to hack various cryptocurrency exchanges. Unsupervised access to a computer is the main problem here. A library or cybercafe isn't going to cut it. She can try gambling (Default 15), but she still needs cash to buy into the game. Mallus probably works her way up from quick scams to make a few bucks, then gambling to build savings, then buying commercial equipment to enter into cybercrime.

Logistics:
Mallus easily has the skills to take over a small chop shop or money laundering operation and make it more profitable. Or she could buy some fake ID, find an unscrupulous tech bro willing to overlook the holes in her backstory, and set up a workshop. While she churns out a few trivial inventions to revolutionize this world's tech industry, she also appropriates equipment from the workshop for her own purposes. This could overlap with hacking crypto or standard financial systems, or it could be for some other part of her plan. Once Mallus has accumulated enough cash and filled in the holes in her legal background, she starts out on their own.

Power:
I mean, everyone needs a hobby. And the people of this world obviously can't be trusted to run things on their own. Why not take over and clean the place up while you're here? A few hundred million dollars stolen from poorly regulated markets and a public reputation as a genius philanthropist aren't much, but it's a start. Founding her own mercenary army is a no-brainer, and obviously she'll need some sort of off-books factory to produce advanced weapons, and a propaganda network to prepare people for the glorious reign of Mallus, but what else?

This is more for curiousity than anything, but I am interested in other people's ideas on what this character could do.

[whswhs]

We have, in the past, had participants in this newsgroup propose over the top character concepts, often rather similar to this one; invite speculation about what those characters could do; and resist criticism of the concepts in terms either of rules mechanics, or realistic plausibility, or of the type of narrative the concept would support. In fact several of those participants have turned out to be the same person using a series of pseudonyms. So I think many of us are rather burned out on this sort of exercise.

I will limit myself to one question: What sort of narrative do you want this character design to enable?

[TerryW]

That's a good question and I can see why you'd be cautious about this.

I suppose the only thing I'd really like to avoid are grimdark "George RR Martin Was Here" narratives. Other than that, I'd say err on the side of creating an entertaining story for PCs to interact with. Even if this scenario isn't really intended to go anywhere, it's still an RPGame.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by TerryW

T, I'd say err on the side of creating an entertaining story for PCs to interact with. Even if this scenario isn't really intended to go anywhere, it's still an RPGame.

The possibility that jumps out at me involves "minions". Malus might easily get frustrated trying to recruit the sorts of minions she's used to.

Our world is the sort of place where we _write_ "The Evil Overlords List" and even semi-minion-like people could find a copy of it on the 'net. The PCs (as some sorts of police) could get involved through something like a misjudged "minion" recruit tipping them off.

The PCs get bewildered by this person who's trying to live the Overlord's List rather than chuckle at it. Hilarity and confusion on all parts ensues. Malus has to trade down from an escape _rocket_ to something like an incredible folding ultralight but the PCs aren't prepared for even that.

[TerryW]

Hm. Thinking of "minions" she might make an interesting boss for a group of PC mercenaries.

On the one hand she lacks Sadism, Bully, or any other really nasty disadvantages. So she's not the worst boss to work for. On the other hand, full-blown Megalomania and quirk-level Bad Temper, Callous, and Selfish mean she doesn't handle bad news well. Overall no better than a retail district manager.

Being responsible professionals who have to explain why taking on the whole damn world is a bad idea would be an interesting change of pace for some groups.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by TerryW

I suppose the only thing I'd really like to avoid are grimdark "George RR Martin Was Here" narratives. Other than that, I'd say err on the side of creating an entertaining story for PCs to interact with. Even if this scenario isn't really intended to go anywhere, it's still an RPGame.

That doesn't really answer the question. "An entertaining story" is by definition the goal of running an RPG (for most people, at least!), but it's wide open; it doesn't tell me what specific sort of story you might have in mind, or why you think this particular character would be useful in creating that sort of story. And saying "but not this one thing" doesn't actually narrow things down. It's like saying "the animal is an invertebrate": vertebrates are one subphylum of animals with rather specific traits, but invertebrates are a couple of dozen phyla with more or less nothing in common except not being vertebrates. Negative definition is generally unproductive.

[TerryW]

Scenario - Someone obsessed with their own destiny as a world-conquerer is loose in the "real" world, and they're smart and skilled enough to cause a lot of trouble. They're not actively cruel, but they are deeply concerned with their own status and have trouble caring about the consequences of their plans on other people.

If you as a GM were interested in using that scenario, what kind of plot do you think would best fit the character's goals, and how far would you want to take it before getting the PCs involved. Given that they can't build their usual common-sense defying superweapons, how does a character like Mallus go about achieving their goal? Given that there are no superheroes to stop her, at what point do you throw ordinary* PCs into the mix?

* Whatever "ordinary" means for your preferred style of play.

Honestly it's just an idea that occurred to me at bed time. It seemed like a fun but underdeveloped concept, so I thought I'd see if anyone else wanted to poke at it a bit. If you don't want to play, then don't.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by TerryW

, how does a character like Mallus go about achieving their goal?

Well, i wouldn't be playing it "straight". A person with a 20 IQ and massive skills who seriously analyzed our world would probably figure out that the best way to take it over woul be to make an enourmous amount of money and then buy whatever they wanted. This wouldn't make a good story because it's legal and there's little way to stop it.

So I'd aim for farce with Malus responding to old habits and recruiting a secret army of "minions" but ending up with mostly cosplayers instead of mercenaries.

[TerryW]

A person with a 20 IQ and massive skills who seriously analyzed our world would probably figure out that the best way to take it over woul be to make an enourmous amount of money and then buy whatever they wanted. This wouldn't make a good story because it's legal and there's little way to stop it.

"If these billionaires are wealthy enough to buy politicians, then I need to be wealthy enough to buy billionaires!"

Yeah, GURPS: Stock Manipulation and Tax Avoidance aren't high on my list of must-buy supplements. Although I suppose it could be combined with your idea of farce. The PCs are investigating the local branch of a mulitlevel marketing group selling sketchy health supplements, only to find that the group is dedicated to the teachings of an up-and-coming tech genius who has a suspiciously high security budget. Amway takes on the world is a weird enough idea for the PCs to have trouble convincing authorities to take it seriously, but the money is real and maybe some of the security types are a real threat. Or at least real enough to keep the PCs on their toes.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by TerryW

"If these billionaires are wealthy enough to buy politicians, then I need to be wealthy enough to buy billionaires!"

Yeah, GURPS: Stock Manipulation and Tax Avoidance aren't high on my list of must-buy supplements. Although I suppose it could be combined with your idea of farce. The PCs are investigating the local branch of a mulitlevel marketing group selling sketchy health supplements, only to find that the group is dedicated to the teachings of an up-and-coming tech genius who has a suspiciously high security budget. Amway takes on the world is a weird enough idea for the PCs to have trouble convincing authorities to take it seriously, but the money is real and maybe some of the security types are a real threat. Or at least real enough to keep the PCs on their toes.

For that kind of thing you want GURPS Illuminatus!