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The Villains Know What The Are Doing: The Mastermind

The Villains Know What The Are Doing: The Mastermind

The Villains Know What The Ae Doing: The Mastermind

 

A Guide to Cunning Adversaries - Vol. 1: The Mastermind

Your heroes have faced down cosmic tyrants, defeated rampaging monsters, and thrown down with the toughest brutes the city has to offer. But have they ever faced an enemy who has truly out-thought them?

Inspired by the hit series on monster tactics, The Villains Know What They're Doing shifts the focus from the battlefield to the long game. This guide is for Game Masters who want to create adversaries that are more than just a collection of powers and a final boss fight. This is for GMs who want to build villains whose greatest weapon is time, and whose plots are intricate, deceptive, and challenging webs of intrigue.

This inaugural volume focuses on the quintessential plotter: The Mastermind. We provide a complete framework for building a non-powered, high-intellect antagonist who can challenge an entire team of Power Level 10 heroes not with raw power, but with sheer, unadulterated cunning.

Inside This Guide, You Will Find:

  • The Five Principles of Cunning Villainy: A deep dive into the core philosophy of a true mastermind. Learn how to use timeless strategies like "The Shell Game" (the goal is never the real goal), "The Rule of Three" (a plan is never just one plan), and "Leverage and Liabilities" (attack the person, not the hero) to create plots that are layered, adaptable, and truly devious.

  • A Ready-to-Run Mastermind: Meet Silas "The Architect" Crane, a fully detailed, non-powered PL 12 villain. This profile includes his complete stats, motivations, advantages, and complications, all designed for a Mutants & Masterminds 3rd Edition game.

  • A Complete Adventure Outline: Unleash "The Phoenix Protocol," a full adventure framework designed to put the Mastermind's principles into practice. This multi-act plot presents your heroes with a public threat that is merely a cover for a far more sinister objective, challenging their brawn, their brains, and their morals.

  • Minion Stat Blocks: The Architect never works alone. This guide includes a complete stat block for his primary proxy and ultimate decoy, the formidable PL 9 Foreman Android, ready to be dropped into your game.

If you're ready to elevate your game beyond the slugfest and present your players with an adversary they will be talking about for years to come, then it's time to learn what the villains know.

Stop throwing punches. Start weaving webs.

For less than the price of a cup of coffee, give your heroes a villain they will never forget. 

If you want to explore Nova City and save it from the Void Emperor, check out Nova City Heroes: The Vanishing Saga

    £4.99Price

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