[lame mage] Evil Genius #2: Crime & Punishment released!

[Ben Robbins]

UPDATE: Evil Genius #2: Crime & Punishment is now available.

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Evil Genius #2: Crime & Punishment is now in playtesting. If you listen very carefully you can hear players weeping and gnashing their teeth all across the globe.

This is the second in the Evil Genius series, following up on Evil Genius #1: World Domination, and the sixth release from Lame Mage. Not to jinx it, but we have a pretty big playtest roster this time around. It may turn out to be the most playtesters we've had for any product -- Dr Null: Battle on the Bay Bridge was the previous high water mark with 27 people.

EG #2 should be ready to land on your game table at the start of April. There will be the usual sneak peeks here in the meantime. It may seem like a long time to wait, but that just gives me time to get more work done on Evil Genius #3: Expect the Unexpected...

[mancerbear]

I'm very much looking forward to this Ben

Cheers,

[Black Mamba]

With so many playtesters who is will be buying the book?

I will! I will! :)

Looking forward to it!

[rchipman]

I love your work. I am considering picking up Evil Genius and the impending sequal. However I like variety in my game and I need adventures with different types of villains.

If the main villains are all evil genius' the game might get a little repetative.

What I would LOVE to see is something in the vain of the Legion of Doom. Perhaps a series of small adventures introducing seemingly unrelated villains that are actually working together for some nefarious goal.

Perhaps one of your Evil Genius' has actually orchestrated it. You probably wouldn't have to create all of the Villains. It might be a good idea to have some slots open for villains that have appeared in the game groups previous adventures. Since they are working for a new master, their crimes would not even need to follow their normal methods.

I love the idea of this so much that I would write it myself, but I just don't have the time or the skill. I would much rather buy it from you

[Black Mamba]

What I would LOVE to see is something in the vain of the Legion of Doom. Perhaps a series of small adventures introducing seemingly unrelated villains that are actually working together for some nefarious goal.

This is something which I mentioned in another thread a while back. I do believe there is a market for a small Meta-Plot type adventure in M&M. This is the type of adventure which, instead of having 3-5 linear parts, might have twenty non-linear parts which eventually lead into the main scenario. So, in effect, you might be playing in the campaign and entire year before you even learn that all of these little random things have all been part of one large adventure. I love adventures like that and find myself constantly trying to tweak/stretch the ones I buy into campaign adventures rather then session adventures.

[rchipman]

I don't think that I would want it to me quite that many adventures before you reach the climax. In fact if you were to write the adventure to take advantage of villains from previous sessions, you could get a similar effect with a simple 4-5 chapter adventure.

For example, in the adventure I am currently running (Time of Vengance), one of the villains has been severely injured, is in a coma and has MAJOR burns. She is a definite candidate for membership in the Legion of Doom. Simply by teaming her up with one of the new villains you would have woven the previous adventure into the storyline.

[Black Mamba]

I don't think that I would want it to me quite that many adventures before you reach the climax. In fact if you were to write the adventure to take advantage of villains from previous sessions, you could get a similar effect with a simple 4-5 chapter adventure.

I think most of the adventures I have purchased are in the 2-5 chapter stage. There is nothing unusual or unique about that.

What I am talking about are plots which are drawn out to the point where you might have several unrelated adventures in between each piece of the main plot. Almost every adventure I have purchased is more like: Section 1: You do this and learn about Section 2. Section 2: You do what you have learned and learn about Section 3. Continue until you get to the end.

For me interesting adventures are like that wonderful article in Champions about all the seemingly unrelated adventures over the course of the campaign which finally lead to the evil villain trying to get his brain transplanted into the gorilla's body. I like things which are non-linear; where people do not realize they are involved in something special.

[Ben Robbins]

What I would LOVE to see is something in the vain of the Legion of Doom. Perhaps a series of small adventures introducing seemingly unrelated villains that are actually working together for some nefarious goal.

I've been tempted to include the "A League of Their Own" scenario in an Evil Genius, but it wouldn't fit the format -- that scenario works best when the players all recognize the villains from past games. Without the groundwork to establish each character the team up isn't as interesting, as you and Mamba have pointed out.

Don't think I haven't thought about it...

[Ben Robbins]

I love your work. I am considering picking up Evil Genius and the impending sequal. However I like variety in my game and I need adventures with different types of villains.

If the main villains are all evil genius' the game might get a little repetative.

No kidding! Actually "evil genius" refers more to the GM than the characters in the games, the nefarious mind that puts the players through their paces. Because we loves us the GMs.

Evil Genius #1: World Domination did focus on world beater plots, some by masterminds, some not, but each issue will have different themes. For example, Evil Genius #2: Crime & Punishment includes two twists on the venerable bank robbery scenario. I'm trying to keep a good amount of variety in each one while still staying largely on theme. Okay, how about vaguely on theme?

[rchipman]

I guess I just looked at the name and made the assumption...

Hmm, I guess I know where some of my income tax return is going!

[Ben Robbins]

Here's a sneak preview of the new adventures in Evil Genius #2: Crime & Punishment. Crime does not pay, but there's always someone who didn't get the memo:

Deep Runs the Dreadnaut - The armored Dreadnaut plants mines in the city's harbor, holding the seas hostage until his demands are met.

Great Armored Car Robbery - Armor-plated battlewagons stage daring daylight bank robberies. They're not robberies of armored cars, they're armored car robberies!

Doing Time - After thirty years trapped in a moment of frozen time, an innocent man blames the heroes for his unfair imprisonment. Now it's their turn.

Fame is Fleeting - In a bid for fame and fortune, Speed Demon sets out to rob more banks in a single day than any criminal before.

We're still collecting the last playtest feedback, but it looks like we should be on-schedule for an early April release at YourGamesNow.

[fletch137]

Ben, are you a one-man outfit over there? As I see what your doing in the field and read your ars lundi articles, I find myself really agreeing with what it is you're trying to do.

Is your business big enough to be interested in submissions? If it helps any, I'm even located right next door on the Kitsap Peninsula.

[Ben Robbins]

Ben, are you a one-man outfit over there? As I see what your doing in the field and read your ars lundi articles, I find myself really agreeing with what it is you're trying to do.

Thanks Fletch. World Peace through better gaming, that's me.

Is your business big enough to be interested in submissions? If it helps any, I'm even located right next door on the Kitsap Peninsula.

I split this into a different thread, because I think a general "who is looking for submissions" thread is a good thing.

http://www.atomicthinktank.com/viewtopic.php?p=352990

[Ben Robbins]

Art preview from Evil Genius #2: Crime & Punishment by the stylish Storn A. Cook:



Oooh, he looks cranky. Decades trapped in frozen time will do that to a guy.

[mancerbear]

Art preview from Evil Genius #2: Crime & Punishment by the stylish Storn A. Cook:



Oooh, he looks cranky. Decades trapped in frozen time will do that to a guy.

Very nice Ben. I like that alot.

Cheers,