Superheros - Invasion of Freedom City - Pimp My Plot

[Macbeth]

So I'm finally running a striaght up superhero's game. I've run games on such strange premises as League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Planetary, but now I'm running a 'normal' superhero game, and I could use some help.

The basic set up goes something like this:

The players are a relatively new superhero team in Freedom City. I want to give them a short warm-up adventure to get the hang of the rules and get a feel for the setting, then the real stuff starts:

An alien ship lands on top of the Atom Family's headquarters, bringing the begining of an alien invasion. My current idea is that the Star Khan (from the Freedom City book) has encountered an as-yet undiscovered alien race from the rim of the galaxy. This new alien race is a parasite of sorts: it boosts the powers and abilities of their 'host,' but also exerts more and more mental control. And they look like large slugs.

The Star Khan offers these alien slugs to various heros and villians around Freedom City. Eventually all of the big hitters (both heros and villians) are either under alien control or defeated by supers under alien control. The Alien contorlled area grows from the city center, putting the heros in a kind of defensive position.

Basically, the campiagn would have 3 parts: a buildup, where the PC fight some alien-enhanced villians and get the idea of what's going on. Next comes the resistance phase, where the PCs are basically fighting to maintin a foothold in Freedom City. They're out gunned and out numbered. The final part would be the comeback, with the PCs freeing some NPC heros and eventually taking back the city.


As you can see, this is a fairly bare-bones plot. What would you suggest to add more depth/flavor to it? How can it be changed? How can it be improved? Does it sound fun from a player's point of view?

 

[Shallown]

I would think an important part of this is to run some serial adventures featuring somewhat wimpy villians. You know normal Bank robbery mayber a kidnap plot etc. Let the players run their characters a little to work out the kinks which is more important in most supers games since character power development is slow compared to like D&D where you start off weak and grow fast. This gives players a chance to settle into thier characters peronalities and such.

then go into the parasite story line. This will allow you to peek thier interest in why some villian they fought 4-5 sessions ago suddenly is kicking thier hiney. It personalizes the aliens in a way you may not be able to otherwise. This way you have some background to work with the players have actually played throough. I think it works much better than just saying "Yeah this villian use to be a wimp but no seems powerful." Let the players figure it out themselves.

Later

 

[Wraith Form]

This will allow you to peek thier interest

Er, that's "pique". But whatever.

 

[Warehouse23]

When one of your players comes to you halfway down the line and tells you that they want their superhero to gain slug abilities, I'd let them. That will make for a neat "redemption" plotline. Is there a cure for slug infestation?

 

[Macbeth]

Hmmm... I hadn't thought too much about the mechanics of removing infestation. I'll have to think on that. Anybody got any ideas? (Besides rolling around in a pile of salt )