Villainous Motivation

In ICONS Superpowered Roleplaying: The Assembled Edition (page 187), it's said that a villain's motivations help define their goals and plans and establish the villain in the game setting. For those Game Masters with problems devising motivations for their impromptu villains, here it is a list to help you out. As always, please feel free to discuss, critique and evaluate in the comments below.

VILLAINOUS MOTIVATION

Roll 2D6 or pick up the one(s) you deem appropriate.

2 Insanity: This villain is insane. Roll again, twisting the result to make it very extreme and deeply irrational. (For example, if you re-roll and get "Carnage", then perhaps the villain wants to destroy the entire world).

3 Vengeance: Something was done to this villain that they think was unjustified. The villain wants to pay back the ones he thinks are responsible.

4 Dystopian: The villain's world-view drives them to establish an evil, oppressive government, religion, or other authoritarian institution.

5 Thrill-Seeker: The villain is mainly driven by the thrill of accomplishing daring crimes.

6 Greed: The villain is overwhelmed by desire for wealth. Even when great wealth is achieved, more must be gained.

7 Anarchist: The villain enjoys inflicting harm on authoritarian institutions.

8 Prejudice: This villain hates and despises some racial or ethnic group, wishing to undo their accomplishments and subjugate them to his/her will.

9 For Hire: The villain has no particular motivation of his or her own. But they've got a reputation for being good at crime, leading other criminals to employ them.

10 Egotist: The villain suffers from the delusion that she has a grand destiny, and deserving of wealth and power.

11 Publicity Seeker: The villain loves to be talked about, to have his picture in the paper, to collect newspaper clippings and watch TV coverage of his own crimes.

12 Carnage: The villain loves to destroy things, preferably ancient, famous, or venerated things.

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Validus

© DC Comics / Used without permission

Origin: Transformed
Real Name: Garridan Ranzz
First Appearance: Adventure Comics #352 (January, 1967)
                            Character created by Jim Shooter & Mort Weisinger

ABILITIES

Prowess 5 {Good}
Coordination 3 {Average}
Strength 9 {Fantastic}
Intellect 1 {Weak}
Awareness 3 {Average}
Willpower 3 {Average}

Stamina: 12
Determination: * - Villain

SPECIALTIES

None

POWERS

Blast ["Mental Lightning] 8 {Amazing}
Damage Resistance 9 {Fantastic}
Growth [Limit: Constant] 3
Mental Resistance 10 {Supreme}

QUALITIES

. Mindless.
. Filled with undirected rage and given to rampages of destructions when provoked.
. "Smash It". 

Points: 54

ORIGIN STORY

The monster known as Validus is one of the dangerous oddities of the galaxy. His origins are unknown to the general public, but his destructive power, whether brute strength or the “mental lightning” he projects from his brain, are infamous. Efforts were underway to find a means of destroying the captured creature when the Legion recruited him against the Sun-Eater. Since then, Tharok has exerted influence over Validus, using the monster as his strong-arm and enforcer to control the Fatal Five.

In truth, Validus is the son of Garth Ranzz (Lightning Lad) and Imra Ardeen (Saturn Girl), taken from the future by Darkseid at the moment of his birth, and transformed into a monster. Sent backwards in time, Validus menaces his own parents. Eventually released from Darkseid’s “curse,” his true future remains to be seen.

Validus's Growth is a permanent part of his Strength and Damage Resistance levels; without it there are “merely” Incredible. Converted characters, most of the times, unavoidably exceeds the 45-point limitation that the ICONS Superpowered Roleplaying Game core book recommends. Character revised according to rules presented in ICONS Great Power book. Streamlined, once again, according to ICONS Superpowered Roleplaying: The Assembled Edition.

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Mano

© DC Comics / Used without permission

Origin: Birthright
Real Name: Mano
First Appearance: Adventure Comics # 352 [DC Comics January 1967]
                            Character created by Jim Shooter and Curt Swan

ABILITIES

Prowess 5 {Good}
Coordination 5 {Good}
Strength 4 {Fair}
Intellect 3 {Average}
Awareness 4 {Fair}
Willpower 4 {Fair}

Stamina: 8
Determination: * - Villain

SPECIALTIES

Athletics
Martial Arts
Technology

POWERS

Corrosion 10 {Supreme}
       Extended

EQUIPMENT

Containment Suit
       Damage Resistance 4 {Fair}
       Immunity to Corrosion 10 {Supreme}
       Life Support 4 {Fair}
             Breathing
             Eating
             Pathogens
             Toxins 
       

QUALITIES

. An outcast in the midst of outcasts.
. Breathes toxic atmosphere.
. Infamous contract killer. 

Points: 65

ORIGIN STORY

A mutant born of the toxic, polluted environment of his homeworld of Angtu, Mano possesses a deadly antimatter “disintegration disk” on his right palm. An outcast even amongst his own outcast people, Mano used his powers to destroy his world, becoming an infamous contract killer throughout the galaxy.

Mano breathes an atmosphere poisonous to oxygen breathers, and so must wear a specialized containment suit virtually all of the time. His suit’s special gloves serve to help contain the annihilating power of his hand unless he chooses to unleash it.

Converted characters, most of the times, unavoidably exceeds the 45-point limitation that the ICONS Superpowered Roleplaying Game core book recommends. Character revised according to rules presented in ICONS Great Power book. Streamlined, once again, according to ICONS Superpowered Roleplaying: The Assembled Edition.

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Ferro Lad

© DC Comics / Used without permission

Origin: Birthright
Real Name: Andrew Nolan
First Appearance: Adventure Comics #346 [DC Comics July 1966]

                            Character created by Jim Shooter

ABILITIES

Prowess 4 {Fair}
Coordination 5 {Good}
Strength 8* {Amazing}
Intellect 3 {Average}
Awareness 4 {Fair}
Willpower 5 {Good}

Stamina: 13*
Determination: 1

Strength is 4 in his normal form.

SPECIALTIES

Art (Painting)
Technology 

POWERS

Alternate Form ["Sentient, flexible Iron" (Solid)] 8 {Amazing}
       Damage Resistance
       Instant
Life Support 9 {Fantastic}
       Breathing
       Cold
       Eating
       Heat
       Pathogens
       Pressure
       Sleeping
       Toxins
       Vacuum 

EQUIPMENT

Legion Flight Ring

QUALITIES

. Daredevil: Need to give meaning to his previously secluded life. 
. Strange appearance: always wears his helmet to hide his disfigurement.
. Can go for days without nourishment or rest, but has to follow such time with equal period of coma-like sleep. 

Points: 52

ORIGIN STORY

Andrew was born one of twin sons of Luiza Karamonte, the famous and beautiful holovid star. A freak of genetics caused her two sons, Andrew and Douglas, to be born hideously deformed; something that was a kiss of death to Luiza's career; the tabloids wanted beautiful celebrity babies, not hideous mutants. She reacted to this after consulting with her PR firm by playing the role of the martyred mother, suffering a "terrible tragedy" that she was determined to overcome. Her career saved, Luiza dumped both her sons with doctors and psychologists in hospitals and rarely saw them again, except for very occasional photo opportunities when it was convenient for her.

Both Andrew and Douglas spent considerable time in mental institutions. Their power, to be able to transform their body into solid iron, did not offset the revulsion that most people felt toward their hideous appearance. Douglas became largely certifiable by a relatively young age, but Andrew seemed more capable of handling the psychological trauma of his condition and reacted better to counseling. Eventually he managed to be integrated with other children while wearing a facemask, and at the age of 13 he was released from the institution; no longer requiring psychological treatment and untreatable physically. 

His mother had no idea what to do with him, though she certainly didn't want him around her, and seemed angry at the doctors for having released Andrew at all. Finally she put him in an apartment in Metropolis with a small stipend and orders that he not be seen in public. 

For reasons he never revealed, but that can be guessed at, Andrew ignored his mother's orders and went to try out for the Legion of Super-Heroes, just as the legionnaires were getting ready to confront the Khund warfleet headed for earth. In the Legion, he finally found a place where he belonged; the legion had its share of freaks, and no one seemed to care that Andrew wore a mask. What mattered here were his powers.

At first, Andrew was still very shy around his companions and particularly in public; but when he started to see that the public actually liked him now, when he gained his own fan club, it woke something up in Andrew. Overnight, he became a daredevil; the first to charge in, the first to want to kick ass. His real personality emerged from behind all of his fears of rejection and Andrew became truly heroic, albeit highly reckless.

Ferro Lad is one of those hints that the Legion, in spite of its goofiness, was a little more mature than many other books at the time. Where else could a team book actually have a character die in one of his missions? This was pretty much brand-new stuff for comics at the time (Marvel can’t even keep his dead people dead, by the way), and it was done just fine, showing Ferro Lad knocking out Superboy and flying a bomb into the heart of a Sun-Eater, sacrificing his life to save the entire universe. This gave the goofy-named kid in the terrible costume (I mean... "Fe" on the front? At least the Metal Men had cooler symbols to use) a lifelong credibility he would never have gained otherwise, and he became a Legion legend for it. He was brought back near the end of the first continuity as a "chronal duplicate” and  it was kind of neat to give people a further look at a guy who never really got a chance to be a mainstream hero. Character revised according to rules presented in ICONS Great Power book. Streamlined, once again, according to ICONS Superpowered Roleplaying: The Assembled Edition.

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