[MnM/The Incredible Years] The Paragon Problem

[Jim Hague]

Well, after getting no response o'er on the officvial boards, I figured I'd pick the brains of the folks here for an idea or two.

Recently, one of the PCs in my Incredible Years (Freedom City campaign set in the universe of the Incredibles 2 years after the film) went and did something stupid - after the teams incapacitated the villain Nacht-Krieger (shadow powers, almost permanently insubstantial), the team's brick, Paragon, decided that 'to spare the conscience' of another team member (who'd used Rapid Shot to take Nacht Krieger down; NK failed his Damage save hard, and ended up taking a Lethal hit from it) he'd snap the helpless supercriminal's neck, killing him. Mind, NK was down a single Lethal hit (badly burned and unconscious), and the team's primary healer type was less than 15 feet away...but we drift off topic a bit.

Consequences have already come down the pipe for the team - they've lost half of their Trust Pool (originally all of their shared pool of Hero Points, half recovered due to the team's leader Star Sapphire resurrecting NK; please note that NK's a murderous Nazi scumbag and SS is Jewish...), their friendly face at AEGIS is quitting his job so he can plead the 5th at Paragon's trial, and the local Jewish community isn't going to be happy about the incident when it gets out.

What I need are conseuqences for Paragon himself, the perpetrator. The team is in the last two sessions of the first 'series', and I'd like to give the character a shot at redeeming himself. But a few caveats:

*Paragon can't 'nobly sacrifice' himself. Blame the player for this - he wants to leave the campaign, apparently, but refuses to actually say so.

*The road to redemption's got to be a tough one, and based moreso on roleplaying than dice-rolling.

*In the end, the consequences - a trial and likely some jail time - must remain, though that blow could be softened if Paragon overcomes the challenge facing him.

*The redeeming act must symbolically reverse the act that brought the consequences in the first place.

Right now, the team is infiltrating a prison to rescue the Next Gen, who've been captured by the team's enemies, a group called the Alliance. The Alliance are world-class supervillains, each one a fair match for 2 or 3 heroes. From there, the plot leads to the island of Nomanisan, where the archvilain of the piece is about to lauch a rocket containing a clone of Centurion...all in order to resurrect Omega, Overlord of the Terminus.

So, ideas?

 

[Dirigible]

where the archvilain of the piece is about to lauch a rocket containing a clone of Centurion..

Strategic suicide-super weapons? As they say in France, le joink!

I can understand losing Trust (nifty idea, by the way... das yoinken!) for killing villains, even if it was in a fairly gritty world... but gaining it back for ressurecting villains? Zuuwaah?

Anyway, on topic. Consequences for someone who'se willing to turn himself into a murderer in order to protect someone else from becoming a murderer. That's noble, in a weirdly psychotic way.

Most importantly, how does Paragon feel about his chance at redemption? Does he want it, or maintain that he did nothing wrong?

How do the laws of your campaign world treat murder followed by ressurection? Was it murder? Attempted murder? GBH? Or the net result, no crime actually committed?

 

[Jim Hague]

Strategic suicide-super weapons? As they say in France, le joink!

Oh, not even...fortunately, none of my players comes here, so I'll explain:

The missile (recovered from one of Syndrome's hidden stashes) is bearing the clone of Centurion into space, headed for an Entropic Energy anomaly created by the first Paragon in the second session of the game, when said hero lifted a massive, Entropic Energy-powered Mechanaut into space before it could destroy Freedom City. The clone has been half-quickened by the combined energies of the Next Gen, but for Omega to return, it also requires a massive infusion of that same energy. And only the body of what was once Earth's mightiest hero can contain such dire power...

I can understand losing Trust (nifty idea, by the way... das yoinken!) for killing villains, even if it was in a fairly gritty world... but gaining it back for ressurecting villains? Zuuwaah?[/quote]

More a matter of serious personal sacrifice (Sapphire being Jewish and NK a Nazi dirtbag) to undo what was inarguably an evil thing done. And just for you, I'm starting a thread on the Trust Pool, shamelessly taken from my good friend Keith Senkowski's game, Conspiracy of Shadows.

Anyway, on topic. Consequences for someone who'se willing to turn himself into a murderer in order to protect someone else from becoming a murderer. That's noble, in a weirdly psychotic way.

Most importantly, how does Paragon feel about his chance at redemption? Does he want it, or maintain that he did nothing wrong?

While I understand the character motivation - and Ted/Paragon's fairly new to the hero gig, having started about the same time as the teenaged Hotshot - the action was incontrovertably evil. A case can be made for self defense of the public good (NK has escaped Blackstone Prison once already), but with the team's sorcerer supreme standin right there, there was really no need to kill the villain off.

Paragon's feelings on the matter are pretty opaque; as I said, I suspect the player is wanting to leave the campign and simply continuing on momentum while not telling anyone. Paragon has seem at least stricken with guilt and willing to face trial for what he did...but given that the murder happened at a particularly bad time for the heroes, I want there to be more immediate consequences, along with the chance for Ted to redeem himself.

Did I mention this is the slam-bang double-sized final issue series finale?

How do the laws of your campaign world treat murder followed by ressurection? Was it murder? Attempted murder? GBH? Or the net result, no crime actually committed?

And more importantly, what defense will Cunningham and Crowley take to defend the now living Nacht-Krieger?

 

[Dirigible]

And just for you, I'm starting a thread on the Trust Pool...

Aww, shucks.

Immediate Consequences:
* Gangs of neonazis try (rather nervously) to provoke him into attacking them, to get him into real trouble.
* A boquet and a 'better luck next time!' card from MOSSAD.
* Some overzealous hero or other tries to arrest Paragon... again.
* Villains who've heard of the event attack P. first in combat, considering him the most murderous threat now, and if they're in danger of dying they might do something crazy like kill themselves to stop him doing it, or activating a suicide bomb.

Paragon's feelings on the matter are pretty opaque; as I said, I suspect the player is wanting to leave the campign

Well, obviously, talk to the player about that... if he does want to leave, perfect opportunity to have Paragon sentanced to prison or fall into the conveniently palced fusion reactor.

 

[Jim Hague]

Aww, shucks.

Well, hey, that's just the kind of guy I am.

Immediate Consequences:
* Gangs of neonazis try (rather nervously) to provoke him into attacking them, to get him into real trouble.
* A boquet and a 'better luck next time!' card from MOSSAD.
* Some overzealous hero or other tries to arrest Paragon... again.
* Villains who've heard of the event attack P. first in combat, considering him the most murderous threat now, and if they're in danger of dying they might do something crazy like kill themselves to stop him doing it, or activating a suicide bomb.

That last one has possibilities...definite possibilities. The Alliance'll know what happened to Nacht-Krieger...

Well, obviously, talk to the player about that... if he does want to leave, perfect opportunity to have Paragon sentanced to prison or fall into the conveniently palced fusion reactor.

Oh, I've tried. He's, unfortunately, a classic passive-aggresive case - every attempt to find out what's wrong are met with 'everything's fine' or 'I'm just tired.' It's a bad situation I'm trying to make the best of.