1984-like-Magic
Monsters
Man
Magisterio the MagnificentYour name is Magisterio the Magnificent! You are the terror of all humanity, for your mighty monster-mooks follow you blindly upon your quest for Evilness! Your powerful armies will be composed with mighty Magic, and none shall stop you!
You now have everything to Embark Upon Your Epic Quest for Evilness!
ARE YOU READY FOR EVIL!?
Year One of your Epic Quest for Evilness - Day One - Hour One - Your Evil LairThe terrible
monsters which belong to you are known as...
Albino Leviathan GatorsThey are possessed giant albino sewer alligators, and they are extremely Evil.
Problems: They are Static. They are Complete Darkness Only creatures. Your Lair is automatically Underground, Near the Water, and Dark.
The basic
Mooks you can hire are known as...
Arcane Swarm!
They are your fleshy sacs of defense, albeit they are actually conscripted from whatever avilable pests you can make your magic work on. Currently you've enchanted 10 cockroaches to be larger, stronger, and smarter than average, and they obey simple directions well. They also feed on debris, make messes, and are generally more suited on following normal cockroach behavior rather than actually being smart. You could call them your 'gutter guardians', but you might prefer to use them as your 'vermin vanguard'.
They are Undoubtedly Loyal however, and will never betray you.
The
Dark Minions you can command are...
Shadow Caw.Once common city creatures, these winged Minions are eager heralds of your ominous power. Bearing the mark of your scroll clutched within your hand within their eyes and upon their plumage, they can unleash minor curses upon your foes, sowing chaos and fear with every beat of their wings and can manipulate observed small shiny objects from a small distance.
Problem: They are show offs. They will try to
Distract and/or a Small Steal Shiny Object first, no matter what the Enemy is, what you asked them to do, or whatever else there is in the area. They do give a small bonus to control, but the dratted birds have no self control themselves.
There are different Degrees of Evil Minions you may have.
Monsters are inherently stupid minions. They can be used to defend your lair, or defend key locations, but are generally useable only on Destruction Missions otherwise.
Mooks are the 'Grunts'. Like, the one-hundred Team Rocket members in Sylph Co. armed with Rattatas. They can do Groundwork, both for Destruction and for Control Missions.
Dark Minions on the other hand are intelligent creatures, which can be used for Control Mission.
Depending on the Dice Luck, you might start with something useful, or with something bad.
Being Pure Control gives you a +2 on the 'scale' of Control-related stuff, but a -1 on the Destruction Scale. So while you have high chance of getting bad 'Destruction-related stuff' you have a high chance of getting 'good Control Related stuff'.
(Using a D12 table)
1) Horrible bad stuff of doom happens to your things. (Utter Failure+Heavy Backslash)
2) Bad, utterly bad stuff comes to you(Utter Failure)
3) You fail, badly. (Bad Failure)
4-5) You fail, go home. (Failure, normal)
6-7-8) You succeed, but nothing special happens.
9-10) You succeed, and you earn a Bonus of sorts. (Your kidnapped woman turns out to be highly influential, your stalker develops a crush on you rather than an instinct to murder your spouses and so on...)
11) You succeed tremendously, (The Kidnapped sidekick of the Hero turns to evil, and becomes one of your loyal minions!)
12) You're on a roll, baby! (A twelve is the automatic Plot Armour Shield. The Evil MUST succeed the mission, and no matter what the heroes do they will!)
Your Lair is located deep under the sprawling City Named-A, a serpentine labyrinth of old and no-longer maintained sewer tunnels that have eroded in places to join with some natural karst caverns. Too bad for this city; one day a few hundred years from now it'll probably have a lot of sinkholes, if the whole of it doesn't just collapse at once. Good thing for those people above that you're far more interested in control than destruction; but tearing the entire city down early is a clear option should that become your goal instead - a likely Very Obvious and Multi-Turned action that might draw Much Attention. But would they find you in time, or be able to undo the damage already done by time if you added your Effort to the Passage of Time?
Your Alligators patrol the tunnels and caverns around and throughout your base, every so often catching and almost eating one of your arcane swarm before their training kicks in and they release the creature again. Your pair of Shadow Caw race about, playing tricks on each other and taunting your alligators, occasionally dancing coins, shiny trash, and razor blades through the air and squabbling about who get to catch and hide these treasures or keep them dancing mid-air.
Truly, you expected more when you committed to this, but apparently there's prices to pay and power to gain before things can be the way you want them. At least you have your Dark Advisor, the Scroll you've made your symbol, gripped within your very hand. Those that think they are the Powers That Be are annoyingly ruthless, authoritarian, and bothersome. All of your life they have limited your performances, required you to showcase their propaganda during your act, and even surveilled you in your home. But with The Scroll now Gripped in your Hand, you have some real freedom again.
There's a Demon on the Other Side of the Scroll, you are sure of this. Haven't learned Its Name yet, not sure the extent of Its Powers. But It has honestly protected you and hidden your activities since right before you found It. And It seems to be giving you far more than just the Illusion of Control, for all It has Told you that you Must Earn Your Happy Ending or whatever else you want, and far better is to come if you succeed.
Without It, you couldn't even enter the Forbidden Forgotten Sewers that hide your Lair. Any deviation from your expected and assigned routine and you'd be Reeducated, or just Disappear. But your Scroll and Its Demon possess strong illusion magic and have Hidden and Empowered you. It cannot hide everything you might do, but when you're supposedly sleeping or reviewing the Government's Propaganda, the Scroll can take you away from that waste of time and leave you free to act as you choose, leaving behind the illusion of you doing only what the city-state expects you to. You enter and leave your Lair by unrolling the Scroll fully and stepping through it, though It has warned you that you can still be seen if you allow that when as you go about on Missions or even Defend Your Lair.
You're not sure if the Scroll is an Object or a Demon, but it's definitely not human which makes it acceptable to your strict standards of 'No Humans Tolerated Within My Ranks'.
Dark Advisors grant Bonuses/Penalties depending on what/who they are. More than one advisor might be unproductive, because they will fight one another for 'supremacy' and to establish a chain of command.
In this case, the dice roll was pretty high and you have Someone who inherently gives you a +3 on Control-Related missions...as long as It is assigned to them. You can send the Scroll on Missions without you, should you choose to do that.
You now stand on your Overlord-Like throne, a platform of limestone that your Crows have been trained to keep trash away from. Updrafts from the karst caverns keep the sewer stench at bay. Your Scroll is spread across a stone protuberance, and It converses with you in your mind.
"My Nefarious Overlord!" the Demonic Voice within your mind is filled with glee, "Today we will do our first Evil Mission!"
Upon your Scroll forms a map of the continent with two locations outside of the City and a third within it each marked with a bright red X. Sinuous underground paths show the way to each X, but the distant ones are Much Too Far To Walk.
There are Three Types of Mission: Control. Destruction. Mixed.
Control mission increase your Control-Status, Control-Level and generally grant control-related Bonuses.
Destruction does the same with Destruction-stuff, and 'Mixed' gives a little bit of both. (and by little, we mean 0.5)
There are however various sub-types of missions.
Ranging from Kidnappings to Burning Down Orphanages (the latter which we won't do, since we are Evil with Standards)
Mission Number One: We need more money. Rob another City's Bank. Destruction.
Mission Number Two: We need more infrastructure. Kidnap a Submarine, it could probably be adapted to navigate through the underground tunnels, which we can work on Flooding Further if needed. (Even vehicles have souls!) Mixed.
Mission Number Three: We need more minions. Kidnap and Corrupt People from this City's Streets. Control.
"So, choose one my Evil Overlordness!" burbles that eager Demonic Voice in your mind. "I can transport up to 5 individuals to an Out-Of-City location and any survivors and a Reasonable Amount of Loot back afterwards, should this Scroll Remain Intact. If you Take Captives from a Distant Location then bringing them back could be a problem for now if there Were No Casualties, but you can always choose to Abandon Someone To Find Their Own Way Back, and they might eventually do so. We can replace small numbers of Arcane Swarm Mooks easily if you want that done. If we can Empower Your Scroll, I may be able to help you even more, but today's Missions unfortunately are not directly going to help do that.
If you choose to Stay Within The City, you can send 10 individuals on the Mission. As this is your first Mission, nobody's expecting you, and whatever you choose today is probably less difficult than anything is ever going to be again!"
Explanations
The Evil Actions and You!-The more You Know About Evil!Corrupt: Control dice is rolled. You win the Opposite creature's Loyalty, and he/she/it is converted to your cause. You fail and you lost a turn the enemy can use to bash your head in. Heroic Heroes, Good Heroes, Stupid Heroes are immune to this unless Moral Event Horizon has been reached. (Or Break The Cutie has been brought forth if the enemy is a Magical Girl/Boy type)
Kidnap: You Kidnap someone. If you succeed in bringing him/it/her to your lair, you can try and Corrupt her for free once per turn, without 'Bash Head=Yes' furthermore, even if the enemy succeeds in resisting, she/it/him isn't going anywhere any time soon. Unless she manages to escape, and if she does and tells the world where your lair is...Enemy Hero Raids, incoming!
Destroy: You kill the target. Destroy a building yields salvage, money, whatnot. Destroy a human, monster, creature yields a corpse (Obviously) and also Shocks the world depending on the individual killed. Kill a Stupid Hero, and the world might actually give you a medal.
Kill the Heroic Magical Girl of Love, Peace and Everything Nice and you might find yourself facing an extremely bitter city the next time you come back. Then again, you're evil. You're used to bitter feelings, right?
More actions might pop out soon!
1) Upkeep. Generally, this is the 'I want to talk with X, Y and Z about Puppies'. Someone wants more fluff, more roleplay? Upkeep moment is for you! You want to be 'placed in the game'? Then say so and become one of the Arcane Swarm today! Or maybe wait a bit for more Dark Minions to be unlocked!
2) Choose a Mission/Upgrade your Base. You can Either Choose A Mission or Upgrade your Base. Upgrades are generally left in your 'imaginative' head. Think something, I give you requisites. 'Ray of Doom' might require Destruction Level 12 for example, 'Ray of Moon Annihilation' might required Level 300. The more specific you are, the more the requisites won't be random.
3) Assign People/Minions/Things to your Mission. A Maximum of TEN people can be assigned, of which there MUST be One Dark Minion/Dark Advisor/Yourself at the very least. Dark Minion (Unless they have a specific bonus to it) Give +0 to success of mission. Dark Advisor gives +1, you give +2 (Since you are pure control) only on Control missions.
4) Enjoy the resulting carnage.
5) Weather the Storm. Aka: The Heroes' turn! Those Dastardly Heroes might Interrupt your Evil Plans, they Might Fight back and they Might Even raid your base! So be prepared!
6) Downkeep. More fluff.
7) Turn Results. Afterwards, we begin again with the Upkeep and the new day.
They are random concepts. You are an evil mastermind. People don't follow you to get paid, they follow you because you can prove them you're both evil and able to pay them. Even if they don't see a grand, it doesn't actually matter. They just want you to rob a bank, even if then you burn all the money.
Sure, having money means being able to say 'With the Money stolen, we will buy mercenaries' or 'With the extra energy, let us create Hypnotising Spirals'.
Doesn't mean you can do without...
But the Price of Stagnancy is Misconduct.
Nobody likes a lazy Overlord, and when Nobody Likes the Overlord...Bad Things Tend to Happen.
Take Everything with a pinch of theoretical Value rather than actual stat-assigned stuff. A Shadow Caw might, as the description pertains, have relative bonuses on directing attention, moving small objects, and information gathering, but it's not like I'll write about all the tiny-itsy bonuses it has concerning those. Just think of how 'logically' it should have those bonuses, and you'll find out it probably does.
The Dark Advisor is a Scroll of Demonic Power, already known to be able to transport you and a few minions around and to transform small numbers of creatures to your will and service. Guess who'd be perfect to slip a small team inside a prison or a Bank undetected?
Remember,
think not what Evil can do for you, think what YOU can do for Evil!Human Monstrous Resources at the MomentThree Albino Leviathan Gators.
Ten Arcane Swarm.
Two Shadow Caw.
One Dark Advisor (Your Scroll that you often keep Gripped in Your Hand!)
You, Magisterio the Magnificent!
Author
Topic: Evil Overlord, a suggestion homage game (Read 1289 times)