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Hi again folks! I decided it was time to review one of the many books of super villains available for V&V. There are 4 that I know of for sure, Most Wanted, Most wanted 3, Opponents Unlimited, and Super Crooks and Criminals. There might possibly be 2 more, Enemies at large (which I know nothing about...yet), and Most Wanted 2 (Heroic Worlds says there is no such book, FGU lists it as out of print? I’ll find out one day). In any case, I decided on Most Wanted Volume 1 for 2 very good reasons. First, it is my favorite (and IMHO the best) and second, it is the only one written by Jack Herman AND illustrated by Jeff Dee...need I say more?
Appearance:
What can I say, I just like the way V&V books look! I like the old school no nonsense, black and white, small font, and double collum interiors and color cardstock cover of these books. I liked game books in the days when they had a uniformity to them, and you knew instantly what game they were for. I also like the fact that all the V&V books are rather thin this one is 24 pages). They are very sturdy and convenient to haul around AND most important, find things.
Each of the villains is illustrated very nicely by Jeff Dee (with some being inked by a very competent Albert Deschesne). The illustrations are all about the same size, and follow the stats of the character. It is very well organized (in alphabetical order), and each entry is easy to find, read, and find stuff.
In the center are the V&V standard heavy cardstock cut-out miniatures/counters depicting the characters in the book. They fill the second page with CHESS and Intercrime agents and soldiers, as well as some police. All done by Jeff Dee also, Very nice and useful.
Contents:
After a brief introduction by Jack Herman, explaining that the book is the list of the Chess Most Wanted, and several humorous comments, it jumps right into the villains.
There are 30 villains listed in all (standard for their villain books). There is a TON of diversity in levels from level 1 all the way up to the massive level 17 Motivator. Due to the nature of V&V, adjusting a few levels down or up is pretty easy. Each villain comes with an illustration, V&V stats, an Origin and Background, Combat tactics (and M.O.s) that they will use, and Personality/character traits. The opinion on the amount of detail will differ from person to person. To me, they provide plenty of information. More than enough to know who they are, where they come from, how they think, and what they will do. In this day and age, when a book describing 30 villains probably takes a 150 page hardcover book, I would guess that some people will find this reading a bit light, but, to me it is perfect. You’ll have to make your own judgement based on your won opinion.
As I said before, V&V never fails to amaze me at the amount of unique characters they can come up with. Many supplements for supers just seem to take Marvel and DC characters, and try to change them up a bit. Not so with V&V. Their villains are very strange, and totally different from most of the published comic book villains. They are also a lot of fun. If you can read through this book, and not have an idea for a plot seed for each villain (more than one for most) I would be very surprised).
I was just going to touch on a few of my favorite villains, but I figured, what the hell, I’ll give a line or 2 on each of them. I’m going to stay brief, you’ll have to trust me that there is a LOT more, both in powers and descriptions, to each villain. The only way to truly appreciate the lot is to read through the book yourself. But, without further delay, here are the villains you will find in Villains & Vigilantes Most Wanted Volume 1:
Bandit, a gadget using famous ex-racecar driver. Bandit turned to crime as a form of thrill seeking, after attempting a comeback, and finding he had lost his “edge”. Obviously he drives fast cars, and has super speed as one of his device powers.
Beekeeper, an ex-boxer and potential movie star who’s career hit the skids when he got arrested. Stealing a super suit intended to fight killer bees, Beekeeper found he can control bees (now his only true friends), along with other powers.
Buzzard, a real scummy dirty cop! Buzzard can fly and uses teargas bombs. He is responsible for a lot of drugs on the street. Fortunately he is a wimp, and at level 1 you should have a good time beating up on this creep!
Crossfire, a heartless mercenary who uses her expertise with a crossbow and a variety of nasty quarrels. This chick is TOUGH and mean!
Dragonhand, a Bruce Lee wanna be, he literally attacks with fists of fire.
Ebon Angel, V&Vs answer to Batman, the Ebon Angel is pretty cool. After the death of her brother from drugs, she began a personal war against street crime, and Buzzard. Ebon Angel works mostly at night, using the darkness to her advantage. She has vibratory powers, as well as a paralysis ray, glider cape, nightvission lenses, and darkness bombs. A troubled soul. grubman 2 thumbs up :)
Boogeyman, A promising optometrics and burn victim specialist, boogyman turned to a life of crime when he was disfigured (and endowed with super powers, light, flame, ect) when an accident splattered his face with chemicals. Being blamed for the lab accident, he was forced to seek mercenary jobs, but most employers found his appearance repulsive. His current mask makes him look headless, although the illustration shows him with a jack o’ lantern head (?).
Jaws, a sharklike mutant humanoid, Jaws was born on a sinking ship, and raised for 4 years in the see by a wale shark. After being beached, he was discovered by humanity. Jaws was dismissed by society as an unclassifiable curiosity (the fact that he kept trying to eat people didn’t help!). If you have a body of water in your adventure, you’re going to want Jaws there! grubman 2 thumbs up :)
Leo the Lion, a lionlike humanoid mutant, leo is the president (dictator) or Malawi (by underhanded tactics). A noble opponent.
Madame Frigia, a girl who had it all, but divorce and financial problems led her to being bored, and a life of crime. She has taken a place in the underworld with a small gang, although she is a loner. She uses her ice powers gun to torture opponents, and is heartless and cruel.
Marutukku, you guessed it, this psycho is a worshiper of the Great Old ONes. His powers were acquired after reading a copy of the Necronomican in (of all places) the Vatican(?). This villain with delusions of godhood is perfect if you want to include some good old Cthulhu cult bashing into your V&V adventures. grubman 2 thumbs up :)
Mirage, a master of illusion whos abilities come from early childhood drug use. She donates a good chunk of her ill gotten wealth to drug research centers. Doesn’t strike me as real nasty though? Funny note, the illustration (she also appears on the front cover) is the same as on page 16 of the V&V rulebook, with the name Motivator behind her. Motivator comes later in this book. Just an odd inconsistency.
Mother Superior, a villain you just can’t help but like! MS got her superpowers through magic from a suit and equipment of a crusader during an archeological dig. Unfortunately she also inherited the double-standard morals of a crusader. Stop MS while she is destroying a abortion lab and killing all those within, and you will be labeled a sinner! So many plot seeds, so little time. grubman 2 thumbs up :)
Motivator, for those of you who like your challenges TOUGH! At level 17, Motivator is the toughest villain in the book. She is brilliant, and with powers like Mind and Emotion control, she will just kick your ass. Extremely useful as the ultimate leader of your underground crime ring, I wouldn’t suggest sending your heroes against her till they have a little experience under their belts.
Mountain Man, a goofy villain who got his powers while investigating a crashed meteor in 1779. The super strong mountain man was accidentally sealed in a cave (he chased a bear into) and wasn’t re-awoken until1979 by a construction crew accidentally discovered him while working a strip mind. MM is enraged by the destruction of wilderness in America.
Mystico, Want Zombies and Voodoo? You get it with Mystico. Transmutation and Animal control are his main powers. He was a decent guy until his best friend was killed by cops for a crime he didn’t commit. He hit the skids and the bottle. In a drunken stupor, he animated his best friends corpse, only to find he couldn’t “put down” the zombie again, and now it follows him around constantly. They indicate in the text that the zombie stats follow, but hey don’t (obviously a mistake) however, stats for the walking dead shouldn’t be to hard to improvise. If they are,Zombies appear in a couple V&V adventures and you can just steal the stats from those.
Nightmare, an abused child who’s main powers are Darkness Control, Emotion control (fear), and illusion, this guy was destine to cause trouble! Basicly, he’s just nuts, and enjoys causing “nightmares” in others. (for some reason, this guy strikes me as the kinda kid who was a gamer. :))
OD, A lonely street kid who displayed artistic talent. He joined a street gang, and was mutated when beat up and left in the back of a truck containing chemicals, to take the rap for stealing it. Now he breaks into museums and gallerys to “look around”, and likes to create living works of art with his Transmutation and Illusion powers.
Psi-Phon, a mutant psionisist who was abandoned by his parents inn a state park as a baby due to his uuggllyy appearance, he survived by leaching off of the mental energies of campers until chased out by rangers and vigilantes. He now operates out of a circus freak show, all the while searching for his parents.
Samhain, OK, my comment about “unique” villains is going to be questioned here, as you start playing that piano theme music from Halloween. The result of a possession when his witch parents sacrificed him on halloween, Samhain is, well, Mike Meyers (and I ain’t talking the “yeah baby!” one!). Knock this guy down, and he’ll get right back up. This guy is tough and scary, but there is one way to put him down, it is...hey, what was that?...what the! aaaaAAAAHHHH!!
Shadowjack, a physics student who created a portable black hole, resulting in the destruction of most of his schools lab, and leaving him with a superpowered alter-ego with a taste for evil! Stretch powers, Darkness Control, and a Bullwhip make for a pretty interesting villain.
Simon Shrew, The Assassin Extraordinaire. Simon doesn’t really have any super powers, just a lot of fighting skills and heightened abilities. He is a master of disguise, and an expert assassin.
Snow Man, a blind guy with a chip on his shoulder, as he keeps getting passed up for promotions due to his disabilities, he stole equipment giving him light control, Ice powers, sonic abilities, and others, and killed off most of his co-workers (OK, I know you are living the fantasy right now! :)).
Spyder, The leader of the Inhuman League (Marutukku, Tank Gunner) Spyder has (you guessed it!) Arachnid powers! He can do most of the things Spider man can do, but isn’t near as strong...but, he does have venom (heh heh!). He is also very agile, and carries a Samurai sword (?). He is slightly less described than the other villains in the book, but there is just something about the guy that makes you want to throw him at your PCs. grubman 2 thumbs up :)
Stigmata, Imagine a guy dying from a rare disease offered the chance to have his brain implanted in that of a super robot that resembles a gargoyle, with all it’s powers. To bad they didn’t know he was claustrophobic, and being trapped inside a robot body drove him mad!
Tank Gunner, Well, this guy is really just a military psychotic with a tank and lots of weapons fighting an imaginary war against communists and Nazi spies.
Tengu, A smuggler who found a magic scroll that allows him to transform into a winged super villain.
Trickshot, a cowboy that is an expert with his modified pistols. Started a life of crime to support himself, accidentally killed someone, and is now back to working in carnivals? Hmm, this guy is kinda disappointing as a villain!
Vibron, A comic book junkie, his longing for super powers opened his mind up, and he developed super powers, Vibratory, Telekinesis, naturally (?!). He tried being a super good guy, but found it to hard and constricting, so gradually became a super villain. Super combat is just a big fun game to him. With a little fleshing out, this one has potential.
Vindicator, a mercenary for hire with no real powers, just heightened skills, and a big gun!
The book finishes off with a list of thugs and their stats.
Conclusion:
This book is just meat and potatoes. If you want a quick villain, inspiration and plot seeds, or just something light to read on your lunch break, this (and any of the V&V villains books) are worth the $6 they will cost you.
One of the things I like is the Indie feel. V&V doesn’t try to follow standard comic conventions, and doesn’t mind throwing in silly, bizzare, unique villains.
Some of the villains are good filler, some are cool right out of the box, and some will require some work to make them a bit more interesting. Personally, I like making my own villains, because I feel more “in touch” with who they are, and their goals, but these have served as excellent filler villains, and quick villains for me.
I will say, the book is pretty light on the bricks, with Leo and Mountain man being the only ones...oh well, bricks are probably the easiest villains to make up yourself.
