Dr. Destroyer, the ultimate arch nemesis, quite possibly the biggest threat in all the long history of the Champions game and Champions Universe. Seemingly unlimited resources, unmatched personal power, and your little dog too!

The Book Of The Destroyer is a look at the Champions Universe's ultimate bad guy, his history, personality, resources, devices, plans, plots and schemes. But that's really just the surface of the book. Any enterprising GM can use this source book to create their own campaigns Grand Master Villain, it's really a framework of Comic Book World Domination.

Chapter One - Doctor Destroyer. Starting with a history of the man known as Albert Zerstoiten and his rise to become Dr. Destroyer. It starts with his childhood, and goes all the way forward to the 'present day' Champions Universe. After his history is gone over there is a section dedicated to looking at how the man thinks, covering his core personality, various quirks, leisure activities and interests and an idea of his daily routine. Beyond this being how Dr. Destroyer thinks it can be used as a template to build a Master Villain Personality, as it looks at many important attitudes common to many Comic Book Master Villains. The next section of the chapter is Dr. Destroyers Character Sheet, and his various personal capabilities; including four variations on his Powered Armor should a GM really want to surprise their players. There is also a brief section covering some Weaknesses of Dr. Destroyer on a personal level.

The previous assumes that you're using Dr. Destroyer in a Champions Universe campaign, or a campaign built on similar assumptions. But Dr. Destroyer has been around a long time, so the book also provides Dr. Destroyer Through Time. A look at the various power levels and capabilities of Dr. Destroyer that can be used in Golden Age, Silver Age and campaigns set in alternate times (or if an enterprising GM wants to bring together Dr. Destroyers from across time!). Also provided are ways to use Dr. Destroyer in other genres - with Character Sheets. Pulp and Dark Champions turn him into a mad scientist, Fantasy turns him into a powerful war-mage. All of these elements allow you to take the master mind and use them in games beyond just Champions.

Chapter Two - Shadow Destroyer. Probably one of the coolest Plots I've seen in a Hero Book is Shadow Destroyer. Somewhere in another dimension is a Dr. Destroyer who uses more than just technological superiority, he uses Magic too. Enter Shadow Destroyer, an even more ruthless conqueror than the classic master villain. Entire campaigns can be structured around Shadow Destroyer, his interaction with Dr. Destroyer and his plans in general. For fans of the Champions Universe he has a different Secret ID than Albert Zerstointen, one that might surprise you.

Chapter Three - The Legions Of Destroyer. You can't take a look at Dr. Destroyer, or any would be world conqueror, without looking at his minions. From the superpowered men that lead his army, to the army itself. Eleven supervillains are written-up. For the most part they are all reprints from various sources, but there are six new powerful villains to pit against your players, from high ranking minions in Destroyer's ranks to assassins he can set upon unsuspecting targets. Six variants on the agents and foot soldiers that serve Dr. Destroyer are also provided. And lastly, the remainder of those who work with, serve and unwittingly assist Dr. Destroyer on his mission of world domination. From the powerful Medina Family who have their hands in crime around the world, to a charity organization that Dr. Destroyer has set up to be his benign eyes and ears.

Overall, especially with the Agents and Servants sections, this is a good look at how to set up a support strucuture of personnel for a master villain.

Chapter Four - The Tools Of Destroyer. This chapter is essentially power write-ups for the various kinds of equipment that Dr. Destroyer or his agents employ. Including the powerful AI Sennacherib, several weapons, and other equipment his agents can use. Also provided are several vehicles his agents use. And lastly, the true backbone of the Destroyer Army, his many Robots. From the basic robot and its variations, his wardroids and his Destroyer Android, among a few others a GM can use to surprise players with.

Chapter Five - The Realms Of Destroyer. A world conquering master villain needs not just one base, but many bases, to launch his various schemes from. This chapter details each one, including a few massive vehicles he uses as mobile bases and bases he has under construction. Dr. Destroyer uses a basic base template that he designed for all his needs, allowing a GM to reuse the maps for the most part in case things get moved from base to base in a groups efforts to stop the menace. The bases include Destruga II (his mobile island). Poseiden's Fist, his massive submarine. Tartarus, his main headquarters. The Vale Of Javangari hidden deep in a mountain range. And Zerstorenstern, his cloaked space station. Three other secret bases are covered briefly as well.

If you ever needed a collection of master villain bases along with their obscure locations around the globe then look no further than this chapter.

Chapter Six - Gamemastering Dr. Destroyer. The last, and possibly most important, chapter of the book looks at how to actually use the Master Villain in a campaign. One of the advantages of the Champions Universe is it's a very open campaign type, just about anything you can think of from a Comic Book is probably somewhere. With that in mind, the first part of this chapter looks at Dr. Destroyer's relationships with the many varied elements, groups, organizations and other supervillains and superheroes in the Champions Universe. If you don't use that setting you can still get an idea of how a master villain would relate to various kinds of groups (from ultra-powerful villains to villainous organizations like VIPER).

Dr. Destroyer Vs. The World looks at the response of various governments and other organizations to the threat of this master villain. Again, it focuses on Champions Universe specific entities, but that can easily be extrapolated to similar organizations and governments in your own campaign. And finally, Using Dr. Destroyer looks at how the master villain looks at taking over various parts of the world, why and what problems he is encountering. As well as seven plot seeds you can use either separately or strung together in a whole campaign. My favorite of these is the "Dr. Destroyer Wins" scenario, you could base an entire campaign as super powered resistance to a world ruled by Dr. Destroyer.

The Downside:

I think the only thing really missing from the book is a short section on how to defeat Dr. Destroyer, the book almost presents him as the unbeatable foe. There are, scattered throughout, suggestions on how to weaken his plans, foil some, and get to some of his underlings. But no solid advice on how to defeat him beyond the old standby of overwhelming force.

Also, as I understand it, the Shadow Destroyer plot is at least part of a Champions Online plot line and so there's little beyond presenting him. From a roleplaying standpoint as a source book, it doesn't look into how Dr. Destroyer himself will deal with the issue when he understands what's going on. But that's really a minor quibble.

The Otherside:

As I said at the start, while the book focuses on one master super-villain: Dr. Destroyer, you can easily use this as a framework with which to build your own master villain upon. Covering all the bases of what it takes to conquer and ultimately rule the world.

If you've ever needed a resource to create a Master Villain with then I highly recommend this book. Or if you really wanted to know what made the premier Supervillain of Champions tick.

Help support RPGnet by purchasing this item through DriveThruRPG.