Idea for SHIELD super-team

[AccidentalRob]

Recently Marvel has played with having Fury recruit a couple of powered agents. About time. But why not take it a step further? A SHIELD team, put together solely of agents in special gear/costumes… using the items of power that supervillains have lost to them over the years.

How often has the Vulture been busted? That freaky Harness grants him flight, super strength, and armour/durability. He's a freakin' bald old jerk who actually managed to kick Spider-Man around like a rusty tin can once or twice. Imagine what that harness could do on some jacked, highly-trained agent! Like Reed Richards or Tony Stark couldn't figure that out. (And why haven't they given a copy to Sam Wilson/the Falcon?)

Or the Wrecker's crowbar. Like Doctor Strange couldn't have figured out a way to transfer that to another owner. Super-strength, moderate invulnerability, and the ability to hit like a truck with a giant, unbreakable crowbar. In the hands of a dumb construction worker, it turned him into a threat. Trained agent? Hell, yeah!

The Beetle's armour. Blizzard's cryogenic battlesuit. The list goes on and on.

[chaosnet]

I like the concept.

+1

[Nerd King]

I did a similar concept when I ran the Marvel Universe RPG (the one Marvel published themselves) set in the Ultimate Universe.

I created a set of gear/chemical formula based powers from the various Ultimate universe heroes & villains and had the players choose their powers from that.

As the game used a point build character generation some could choose multiple low level powers (i.e. Pym's Growth formula and Falcon's wings) or a single higher powered set (Sentinel Soldier armour or the R.H.I.N.O suit).

[MidnightBlue]

Yeah...it sounds kind of like a Thunderbolts setup...without the criminals.



"You know...instead of trying to recruit all of these villains supposedly trying to walk the straight and narrow...why don't we just confiscate their stuff and train our own agents?"

"Sounds like a plan."

[Spidermaniac]

I think the post-Civil War New Warriors used gear based on other people's equipment (both heroes and villains). But, they were mostly former mutants not trained agents.

For my money, since the days of the TSR Marvel "Weapons Locker" supplement, I've wnated to run a sort of "super-hero reality show" where a corporation (Roxxon/Brand?) has duplicated unpatented super-tech and uses it to make their own super team by inviting "exceptional individuals" from around the country and turning them into "heroes".

With Marvel Heroic, I could see the "borrowing tech" idea easily done by allowing players to pick one or two gear-based power sets and then adding in their own distinctions, specialties, and backstory.

[Shingen]

I think this is a fantastic idea. There are plenty of c-list villains with cool tech that can be fitted to cool SHIELD agents - this would be an awesome setup.

[AccidentalRob]

With Marvel Heroic, I could see the "borrowing tech" idea easily done by allowing players to pick one or two gear-based power sets and then adding in their own distinctions, specialties, and backstory.

It would be simple enough – create a character based on a normal person. Essentially, a datafile with no Power Sets. Then, grab a bunch of Power Sets from defunct or "captured" villains and tell the players "have at it".

A continuing part of the story could be when those former villains come a-lookin' for their stuff. It's well known that the Vulture is very territorial about his tech.

[The Doom Pool]

Dude! Come ON! I just got settled into a nice new ongoing Marvel campaign. Don't throw awesome ideas like this around all willy nilly!

[MidnightBlue]

With Marvel Heroic, I could see the "borrowing tech" idea easily done by allowing players to pick one or two gear-based power sets and then adding in their own distinctions, specialties, and backstory.

It would be simple enough – create a character based on a normal person. Essentially, a datafile with no Power Sets. Then, grab a bunch of Power Sets from defunct or "captured" villains and tell the players "have at it".

A continuing part of the story could be when those former villains come a-lookin' for their stuff. It's well known that the Vulture is very territorial about his tech.

I could see making these versions of the characters dual-power sets:

Set One - SHIELD Training and Resources.

Set Two - Confiscated/Duplicated Villain/Hero Gear.

[Shingen]

With Marvel Heroic, I could see the "borrowing tech" idea easily done by allowing players to pick one or two gear-based power sets and then adding in their own distinctions, specialties, and backstory.

It would be simple enough – create a character based on a normal person. Essentially, a datafile with no Power Sets. Then, grab a bunch of Power Sets from defunct or "captured" villains and tell the players "have at it".

A continuing part of the story could be when those former villains come a-lookin' for their stuff. It's well known that the Vulture is very territorial about his tech.

I could see making these versions of the characters dual-power sets:

Set One - SHIELD Training and Resources.

Set Two - Confiscated/Duplicated Villain/Hero Gear.

I like both approaches. Create a SHIELD agent with training and resources as a power set, and his own affiliations/distinctions/specialties as need be, and then pick out a power set and add in.