THE POWER OF FOUR

Comic book teams come in many forms. From solo heroes to teams with a seemingly never-ending roster, there is a great diversity in team organizations. Some teams are very static, never taking on new members while others have a very open membership, accepting new champions to their roster on a regular basis. Some teams are official organizations while others are a loose confederation of heroes bound only by a common belief, objective or motivation. There is, however, a very useful, commonly seen team organization that repeated throughout decades of comics - the four-man team. 

Much like the vaunted five-room dungeon of fantasy RPG fame, the four-man team looks to digest the concept of the super team down to its bare essentials. This team formula is not meant to be a strict layout for a team but rather the most elemental building block of a solid team structure. Adding to it and refining it is certainly allowable and even adviseable but this basic layour will get you going and give yo ua plyable team if you choose to go no further. 

At the core of the four-man team are four distinct roles. These can vary but these four are the most commonly expressed. The four key roles are as follows - 

The Brain: Often but not always the leader, this character is the thinker, strategist. Their powers may or may not helpto define their role or be completely unrelated. Character such as Mr Fantastic are a prime example of this role but others such as Cyclops from the X-Men or Captain America from the Avengers also fit the trope. The important thing for this character type is that they are inclined to provide command and control for their team.

The Brick: Frequently a huge, hulking figure such as Thing or Hulk, this character's primary role is combat and defense, often combining toughness, physical damage output. They do not need to be huge, imposing figures though and there are a fair number of examples of more normally proportioned Bricks, like Rogue. A variant on the Brick is the Brawler, trading skilled fighting for simple brute force. Example of this variant are Puck, Wolverine, and Beast.

The Blaster: The primary ranged combatant in a four-man team come in the form of the Blaster. These characters unitlize ranged attacks or mobility to engage the team's opponents. Guns, energy blasts, or psionic abilities are common manifestations of this role but also a teleporter or speedster might fit the roles as well. It is not uncommon for this role to be duplicated across another role in a team as well such as Cyclops being one of the X-Men's primary blaster characters while also being a leader. 

The Support: The most broadly defined of the roles, the Support often manifests any combination of powers that allows them to defend, obscure, transport or otherwise provide useful backup to the other members of the team. Magic characters and characters with very versatile power sets often fall int othis role and may have characterstics of other roles. Storm and Jean Grey are both good examples of Support characters even though Storm has the ability to fire blasts of lightning. 

A team that possesses some combination of these four roles will be set up for success, however with such a small team it is important that the character in each role is designed to fully support their role on the team. It is also recommended that each role have some overlap into other roles and this can be done freely between roles. There is, for example, no reason, a Leader cannot also be a qualified Brawler or a Brick have abilities that allow for Support. Doing so will help assure the team can function well enough with a member down or should the team get split. 

Once you have the core four set up, it is easy to expand a team, adding additional members who fill one or more of the roles or who do not specifically fill any of the four roles. Larger teams tend to repeat on the combat roles of the Brick/Brawler and Blasters first, with additional Support being added after that. The X-Men have a Leader who is also a Blaster but Also has a Support who is a Blaster. They have both a Brawler and a couple of Bricks, depending on the specific team lineup. 

This brings me to one of my personal variants of the four-man team which I like to use specifically for villain teams. This formula is one I noticed on a lot of villain teams, specifically in the 90s and it produces and interesting dynamic. Rather than the Leader, Brick, Blaster, Support roles, this team is broken down into the Master, Monster, Killer, and Weirdo. In this lineup characters are built more along themes than specific team roles but they tend to end up creating interesting teams nonetheless. 

The roles for my four-man villain team are defined thusly - 

The Master: Thsi character is the leader of the team but not always through virtue of being the most qualified. They are often the most powerful or more brutal ofthe team and therefore keep the rest in line through fear and their will alone. They are often gifted with a lot of power or tech that makes them able to stand on their own.

The Monster: Much like the Brick, the Monster is often a hulking, brutish figure though they may be some sort of creature or at least look the part. Savagery mixed with brute strength and endurance typifies the Monster. Monsters often have abilities beyond simple simple brute powers. 

The Killer: Killers are similar to Brawlers though they are not always combat oriented. Sometimes, the killer is more of a stealth support sort of character. They are often indicated by savage weapons, natural or otherwise. 

The Weirdo: This is the most outlandish of the four villain types in this model. The Weirdo is usally some sort of strange being such as an alien or demonic life form, a being of pure energy, or an unspekable horror from beyond reality. Weirdos often have strange powers, making them something of a Support character.

As you can see the basics of the four-man team can be altered with a little thought along the lineso f themes or style rather than specific tactical roles. You should never feel limited by the four-man team either, whether it is the just the basics unit o your team or the entirety of it, creativity really is the only limit.

TO BE OR NOT TO BE - DOES A NEW CHARACTER NEED A FULL ORIGIN?

There are many characters with extensive backgrounds stretching back to the earliest days of the comics industry. Everything from science, to magic, to the wonders of the body’s own genetics have been used to explain the wondrous powers of comic books heroes and villains. What many people don’t realize is that these origins were often never conceived of when the character was first created and only became canon later in the character’s existence.

In the long history of comic book characters there are even some characters who have never had a definitive origin revealed in the pages of any book. Oftentimes, characters' origins are unknown to themselves and their comrades and thus kept from the reader until some story element or elements finally reveal them. The mystery and uncertainty of an unknown origin can add to a character’s charm, allowing room to grow and areas to surprise readers later on down the road when the character might be getting a little more known and predictable.

In RPGs making the decision to keep the exact details of your character’s origin a mystery can be fun for you as a player as well as your GM. It allows players to get into playing without the burden of trying to come up with a complicated backstory and the GM has the opportunity to fill the blanks in for you later on. Most systems require you to roll or make a choice about your character’s power source but you can leave it at that and not specify anything until later. A scientific accident can be left at a simple, “An explosion in the lab..” or, “due to an unexplained laboratory accident.” If your character has a mutant background you can leave the origin very basic with just a glimpse of their childhood and early life, filling in specific events later. Your alien character only needs to know what species they are a general reason to be on Earth.

The most important thing to understand if you choose to do this is that you are allowing your GM a lot of room to play. You are essentially surrendering the details of your character’s origins to the campaign and entrusting your GM to figure it out as you play. With this decision, you will need to display a fair amount of willingness to play along and collaborate with the choices your GM makes for your character. That is not to say that you have to accept everything your GM comes up with. Ultimately your character is yours to play and such an agreement is still at the consent of you, the player. GMs should be willing to work with the player, adjusting when a player voices displeasure at a direction taken with their character’s true origins.

Another thing to consider when taking this approach to a character’s origins is to have a discussion with your GM about anything you absolutely want to take off the table when it comes to revealing a secret origin. You can also agree ahead of time just how long you want to keep that origin secret and what, if any, lasting effects the revelation will have on your character. This should help to ensure that the final reveal is as seamless and satisfying as it can be.

Choosing to play a character with a secret origin is a big decision to make but it can be a lot of fun. It can take as little or as much time as you want and just remember some of the most famous characters took half a dozen to a dozen issues for their true origins to be revealed while others have gone literally years, even decades without having theirs revealed. Just be willing to play along and see where the fun takes you.

YOU'VE BEEN PLACES - BUILD YOUR CHARACTER'S LORE THROUGH NPCS

Decades of comics have given the characters found within the countless pages extensive backgrounds, each a rogues gallery of friends, allies, and enemies. These, of course, were developed with time and successive layers of story, something we seldom get to have in tabletop games. To this end, it can be worthwhile to not only create your hero but a few other characters from their background.

Many games assume that a character is starting at the beginning of their heroing career, however this is not always explicitly stated. Many systems allow for starting power levels that are on par with well-established comics characters and so it would be completely reasonable to decide that your character has been adventuring for some time before the start of play. As such, there is plenty of room to create a few secondary characters to fill in that time. They don’t have to be enemies or anything spectacular but a few nicely thought out NPCs can really round out a character.

At minimum it is worth your time writing up any every day NPCs that your character interacts with, unless they are interacting with established characters from the universe. Think of what family members, work associates, and other people in the neighborhood your character might have interacted with. If you are running a street-level campaign these characters might be a local grocer, a street kid, or even a homeless person that your character interacts with on a regular basis. If you're playing a character with a strong connection to their home life, like Spider-Man these could be immediate family or close relations, perhaps even dependants. Alternatively, they could be people that your character knows from their alter eog’s professional life, fellow scientists, engineers, social workers, etc. They needn’t be friendly to the character either, as designing rivals, nosey neighbors, or low-level bad guys can add texture to your characters. You can even design employees, if your character is the sort to have them.

In addition to everyday NPCs, a player can and should think of at least a couple of villains from their past. Not only is this a nice gift for your GM who can then use them against your character later (as you wrote them or otherwise), but these sorts of NPCs can help your GM establish the sorts of themes and tone you want to explore with your character. Darker themed NPC villains will establish your character as the sort who fights those sorts of enemies while a bunch of mystic ninjas tells you GM of a very different sort of feel. If at all possible, you should at least write up any enemies who have appeared in your hero's origin or background as such characters have a tendency to resurface later in a hero’s career. Again, you are trying to flesh out your character to enrich your play by inspiring your GM with some personalized content for your character.

Besides everyday and enemy NPCs there is also room for creating other heroes your character might have worked with in their past. This is especially useful if the campaign is taking place in a place other than where the character established themself. These sorts of characters might have been partners, sidekicks, mentors, even friendly rivals or teammates. If they are from another location than the character’s current stomping ground, they can be a handy off-camera backup, rescuer, or source of plots and stories for your hero. An old ally seeking help or bringing news from your character’s old patrol makes for a great introduction to a new adventure. These sorts of characters can be used by the GM to great effect but also provide handy backup characters for players who have a character with a reason to look in on their main character should something happen to them.

One last form of NPC to consider creating for your character is an entire organization. This may seem daunting at first but when you consider that new characters in comics often have ties to existing organizations or even invent new ones, it’s definitely a route to go. The famous Weapon X program, later named Weapon Plus, wasn’t in comics until 1974 when it was mentioned in The incredible Hulk #180. Organizations can be big or small and give you the opportunity to play with something that could very much add to your campaign’s universe. Organizations are a topic that warrants its own post but they can definitely be a fun project.

In the end, lore goes beyond just NPCs but I find that the NPCs are key to the lore of a hero. These characters you create, whether enemies, rivals or supporting cast, will generate ideas and stories that give your character the feel of having come from somewhere, with several issues under their belt before the start of play. A little thought and time spent will slingshot your character into a campaign with more definition than a freshly rolled set of stats.

GET OUT OUR COMPASS - MORALITY MAKES THE HERO

It is undeniable that the vast majority of comic book protagonists are heroes. While there are some that stray from the heroic path most, most fall very much within the construct of "hero". It is important that when you create your characters, you decide in which direction their morale compass points.

Because comic books have, for the vast majority at least, a very decided general tone, you are best served by creating characters that fit that tone and the conventions of the comics, if you want your games to feel like the comics themselves. You don't have to and certainly good stories can be told by straying from the heroic path but this means that the tones of your games will either fit a very specific sub-genre of super heroic comics or something altogether different. 

A hero's morality is , however, not a simple matter of good or evil. Every hero possesses a complex set of values and bonds with those things which are important to them. Family, friends, duty, honor, the preservation of an entire species or world, the list is practically limitless. Choosing one or two key, guiding principles for your character will certainly be enough to play with but delving deeper will make for a much more satisfying role-playing experience, adding layer and nuance. Many heroes have a broad motivation for truth, justice, law, and/or order but what does this mean to them? What else is important to them? Do they value connection, love, faith, friendship and how do they reconcile these with their role as a hero?

Peter Parker is famous for having a mess of a life in which he constantly juggles his family, friends, relationships and even his day job with his life as Spider Man, a state of constant stress and chaos that has fueled his titles for decades. The X-Men have always walked the line between a high social morality and search for justice and equality but each and every character in that team has struggled with interpersonal relationships driven by their individual brand of a heroic moral code. Even a character that seems so simple and laser-focused as Captain America has found himself struggling with the more complex elements of his love for his country vs his general stance on truth and justice. 

What you choose for your character should certainly fit the nature of the campaign. If you are playing a high justice, paragon superheroes sort of campaign, throwing in a broken, murderous, loner type is not going to work. Likewise, having an overly docile, pacifist character might be a tough sell for a gritty, street-level campaign. Fitting your character's morality to the setting, campaign style, and even the team they are in, is critical for an overall satisfying campaign. This doesn't mean your character can't be your own and unique, but all players are best served by making sure their characters mesh. You can take this even further by working with other players to create characters with complementary motives and morality. This does not mean they have to be identical but that they can benefit one another in different ways. Having a gruff, aggressive type in a team works well with another character who is more calm, reasonable, or empathetic. A contemplative character with a more restrained sense of morality can benefit from a teammate who is more flexible in their morality and quicker to act.

It just takes a little thought and you can create a rich sense of morality and motivation for your character. Doing so will not only improve role-play and enrich your campaign, it can even score you some handy Karma. Remember, your GM is looking for reasons to throw Karma your way. Do yourself a favor and set them up to do so.

 

CONTINUED DELAYS

 

Apologies for yet another Friday with no post. Statting up characters tends to tak a lot of time and things are just getting away from me me on that front. I am working on some characters from my gaming past, so stay tuned and they will come out.

Just blame it on Spider Man. 

YOU THINK YOUR ORIGIN IS WEIRD - THE CASE OF THE ORIGINAL SPIDER WOMAN

The other day I was rewaching an episode of MerryMarvelite, a YouTube Marvel comics lore channel. This particular episode was on the very strange and convoluted backstory of Jessica Drew, the original Spider Woman and it hit me. A perfect example of why players shouldn't shy away from those randomly generated, seemingingly nonsensical combinations of powers and backgrounds.

Rather than go in depth with a rehash of her background, I have posted the inspiring video above but leave it be said that Spider Woman's origin is a convoluted mess of magic, super science, brainwashing, time travel (via hybernation), and retconned recollections. But there is much that can be taken away from this. Her nanny was a cow woman (and then she wasn't, but she was..) for Stan's sake!

Too often we get caught up in tightly crafted origins and backstories and power sets that manifest in clean, logical ways, but this is, for the most part, a very modern comic books convention. For many years, origins weren't always a given and might often be thrown in as an afterthought and through various bits and pieces as the character progressed. A character might go through a dizen or more issues before we even glimpse their true origins. Often the the layers of weirdness were brought about through various layers of different creators' writing and influence, each trying to put their own mark on the character or attempting to fill in perceived holes or "fix" things.

The characters we create can simulate the sort of long-form, winding, twisting road by just accepting the rolls we roll and finding ways to make them work. I talked abou this in my previous post but I feel that Spider Woman is a great example of this and so worth repeating the point for. It's perfectly fine to have a tight background and origin for your character but there is nothing wrong, and in fact a lot of fun to be hand, in embracing the weird and rolling with it. Generations of comic books will certainly back this play.

WHAT DO I DO WITH THIS? - INTERPRETTING ODD CHARACTER CREATION ROLLS

The Ultimate Powers book, while providing an amazing array of powers and abilities is also famous for creating some really weird combinations. 

The Classic Marvel Super Heroes RPG utilized a random character generation system as its core method of creating characters.  While random character generation is a time-honored and popular method of generating characters in TTRPGs that, it can lead to some bizarre characters. In this article, I hope to provide some hints and tips for making the most of wild random results. 

While other methods of character generation were proposed, such as modelling and and the point build system in Polyhedron Magazine, issue #72, random generation was the primary method and one that was most often used, in my experience. There is something enjoyable about discovering who and what your character is through a series of random rolls. Sometimes these are completely random with little or no choices to be made along the way and sometimes they are more guided, with each roll leading to another. MSHRPG's method is very much the latter, with each roll determining a chart or column that you will roll on for the next part of your character. 

Early versions of this method found in the original boxed set and then the Player's Book of the advanced set, kept these options pretty tightly confined, but as the game grew and supplements such as the Ultimate Powers book were released, the random options, while still guided through charts and tables, became much more sprawling, complex and often convoluted. This made for a seemingly endless number of combinations and options but the results could often be very strange and hard to reconcile, especially for newer players. Usually, the powers and origins generated are perfectly fine and can be meshed together with little problem, however it was quite possible to end up rolling something wild like a plant/robot or a character with fish communication and fire powers. It is these strange cases which I seek to address.

1. Substitution

One of the easiest ways to handle the rolling of seeming incongruous powers is a simple method of substitution. To do this, allow a player to exchange a power for two ranks in other powers. Additionally, I have found it simple enough for the player to decide which of powers they wish to keep and simply substitute unwanted powers for either a new roll or choosing a power more appropriate to the theme set. This gives the player a chance to hone their powers. You can even allow a player to sacrifice ranks to gain new powers, should they feel the need to expand their initial powers beyond what they rolled. This should be done at an exchange of two power ranks from one or two powers to gain another power. A GM should be careful of abuses using these exchanges. It is advisable to allow no more than one or two new powers using this exchange method.

To further reinforce responsible power and rank exchanges, a GM can reward a player for maintaining a tight theme to their powers, giving them a +1 Column Shift bonus to powers that fit a particular, narrow theme. It is important, when doing this, that the theme be well defined up-front, so as to make sure the player isn’t trying to scam the system. GMs should work with players to firmly establish the theme while also being willing to listen to creative interpretations of powers (see #2 below). 

Doctor Doom classically combined hi-tech and science with magic.

2. Interpretation

The more complicated way to do this is also the more interesting way. Instead of changing out oddball powers, a creative GM and player can choose, instead, to spend some time getting creative with how to interpret powers to bring them into a usable consistency. This may require some mental gymnastics but comics have proven that no combination of powers is truly impossible. Mixing magic and science are well-established in comics, often in some interesting combinations. In addition to powers, sometimes origins can seem a bit disjointed with players having to reconcile how they might be a mutant robot or an alien deity, etc. 

In these cases I find it is best for a GM to really listen to the creative vibes that the player brings to the discussion, keeping an open mind and listening from a position of wanting to make it work. Marvel comics has given us alien mutants whose mutation is the ability to feel compassion or a mutant character whose powers allow him to speak with and channel the dead. Classic characters, such as Scarlet Witch, blended magic and mutant abilities and we have seen magical robots like the Asgardian Destroyer or alien, psychic, cyborgs like ROM and the Space Knights. Anything can be done if you simply apply some creativity. Now, I realize that not everyone is as well-versed in comics tropes and lore and so that may not be such an easy undertaking, so allow me to give you some tips on how you might accomplish this. 

Magick was a character that combined mutant, sorcerous, and demonic powers all into one

One great method for making these disjointed powers work together is to recontextualize them. Consider changing their nature or the exact effect and how that produces the final power. Control powers can always be reframed based on the type of energy they are using. In addition the source of the manipulation can change to accommodate the theme of the character. A classic version of this is the force field or elemental control powers. Force fields can be expressed in any number of ways. While one character might generate an energy field of force from a technological device, another might simply generate telekinetic force with the power of their mind, while at the same time another, insect themed character, might create a wall of insects that provides some defense in a similar manner. Elemental control characters might use technology, a magic item or the power of their mind e.g. pyrokinesis. 

It is important to understand that all of these methods can crossover without any real need for explanation. If your character roles computer communication or machine speaking and you rolled a mystical origin, just have the abilities work by reading the electronic code as if it were a language to be translated, energy to be manipulated like any other, or even the spirits of the machine being contacted. Even some of the more esoteric powers can be linked together through theming. Imagine you roll a bunch of incest-themed powers but then time control. You might be tempted to drop the time control ability but, maybe it’s just a matter of researching which insects have a mythical or folkloric connection to time. Chances are most insect abilities will work together regardless of the insect type and now you have a very unique character.

The same applies to combining backgrounds and origins where a magical cyborg can make perfect sense when we consider the various Asgardian mechanical constructs of the techno-magic of the Dire Wraiths, Doctor Doom, or Apocalypse. Just remember, one of Marvel’s most famous characters is an undersea hero who can fly (Namor) and there is a super acrobat who is the byproduct of demonic possession (Puck). You just need to be willing to bend with the rolls and sometimes squint until you see the hidden picture in the mess.   

OFF THE BEATEN PATH - BREAKING FROM YOUR CAMPAIGN'S NORM

Modern comics have created a perception of intense planning and forethought with their interconnected crossovers and prescriptive metaplots. This, however, is not, nor has it ever been the way for the majority of comic book history. Even heavily themed, more focused books, like X-Men, have had their disconnected, seemingly random encounters. Comics often had to insert filler stories between major events, to keep books going or while they were trying to find their legs. This was, of course a purely business-based decision as many comics literally struggled to stay in print, often getting cancelled and restarted before they finally found their voice. 

As gamemasters, this gives us a lot of wiggle room with what you can plot for your campaigns. As mentioned in previous posts, seeming;y random things often happen in any given title but this randomness can be controlled and planned for and not quite as odd and slapstick as some of the previous examples. Where that post was written to give permission to have simple, dumb fun happen in your games, here I am talking about being more intentional with side quests outside the normal theme of your game. 

Taking your players outside of their usual themed plots and stories is a great way to allow them a break from their usual. In addition, such adventures often introduce the characters to new obstacles and situations that put their powers to the test and provide opportunities for them to expand upon those powers. As a GM, these side adventures will let you expand you storytelling and character design. Spider-Man may spend most of his time duking it out with a constant run of quirky villains but he occasionally gets chucked into another dimension, to another planet or finds himself tangling with enemies outside his usual rogue's gallery.

Side adventures are great ways to introduce new elements for your story as well. While they don't need to carry over beyond the initial adventure, they can certain provide a lasting element to your campaign. Just as the X-Men discovered a supply of Vibranium in the Savage Land, along with introducing heroes like Ka-Zar or villain such as Sauron, a side quest into a new space provides seeds and questions to later exploit in your games. The Ihumans and their expansive story were introduced through an encounter with the Fantastic Four. In these cases, the comic book universe and the setting of the particular titles were broadened beyond their normal focus, making for a more interesting story and ultimately providing elements that could be called upon later just asv GMs can in their games. 

As a GM, it is important to consider what you hope to accomplish with these side adventures. Consider tying them into your players desires - things they may have mentioned in passing along the way or even specifically asked for. If you have a player who is hoping to expand their powerrs in a new direction, perhaps consider how one of these side adventures might help with that? You may have an upcoming eneemy planned for your players that might present them with a challenge that they normally have no means to deal with and a side adventure to a new place or with a new character could allow them that means, if tey are crafty enough to make the connection. Side adventures are also great ways to foreshadow upcoming events in your campaign. A seemingly random encounter with an alien species could just be the tip of the iceberg of a massive event in your universe. 

Whatever you do with side adventures, make sure that, while they seem outside the norm for your heroes, they still do something to enrich the game and story of those heroes. Too many totally random "What The..?!" moments will leave your players feeling there isn't any sort of direction to the game and while this may be okay for more casual campaigns or with certain kinds of characters, mostp layers are going want a little more meaning in their campaigns. 

STUFF HAPPENS - RANDOM ENCOUNTERS

Comics are full of deep plots, interweaving plots, metaplots and ongoing stories but there are also a massive number of seemingly random, short-term, or even one-off encounters that occur in nearly every title. While this tends to be the province of solo heroes like Spider Man or the Incredible Hulk, just about every hero and team of heroes has had encounters with enemies outside their usual cast of characters. 

To a great degree, these sorts of randomly encountered characters serve to allow comics creators to experiment with new ideas play around, and have fun. They are often less defined, sometimes less well thought out and sometimes very silly. Quite often these character are introduced with the intention of having them become recurring characters should they prove popular enough but in many cases, they come, go and are never heard of again, that is until another creator decides they want a crack at the character.

This is one of the greatest benefits of these characters for GMs. GMs are notoriously creative, constantly coming up wth new NPCs and characters. With many games it can be tricky to find a believable, useful place for all this creativity but superheroes games have it written int othe very fabric of the genre. Leaning into this will only serve to make your games feel more like the comics they are based on. If you have an idea, jot it down, scribble together some quick stats and file it away in you folder of random encounters to use when you and/or your players need a break. That woodchuck-themed villain may only show up for one ill-fated fight with your players' heroes but he will be remembered. 

Random encounters need not stay random though. As I have pointed out in several previous posts, these characters are right for creating questions, rectonning, seeeding. A seemingly random hero may develop over time, returning as a lost relative, an alternate self, connected to a character's origins. Random encounters can spin off into new player characters even much in the same way that Peter Parker's styslistc costume change in Secret Wars became the pehenomenon that is Venom and then all the symbiote maness that came out of that. the key is that they never have to though, allowing  GM to create and use them freely. 

PRODUCTION DELAYS

 

Apologies for there being no From The Folder Friday this week. I got behind on posts and wasn't able to have it ready for today. Will get it posted next Friday. 

ALIEN SPECIES - ANOTHER CLASSIC RECURRING ENEMY

 

Last time, I wrote about recurring enemies and how they are a great way to world-build and allow yourself, as a GM, some easy filler or convenient opponents to slip into your campaign, from time to time. This time, I'd look to look at another sort of recurring enemy that is also not a named team or villain - alien species. 

Whether it is the Skrulls, Kree, or Badoon, comic book universes are filled with nearly endless examples of alien empires, all with their own agendas, special powers, equipment and often even named characters. Many of these alien empire are framed as distant, warring factions who occasionally appear on Earth to cause trouble while others are shown to have machinations on Earth itself or, even better for the GM and your players, the PC heroes. they can come, go, stay or disappear as your cmpaign needs as well, only as present a you want them to be but often able to appear out of nowhere, despite seemingly gone.

When choosing which alien species to use, spend a little time considering what it is that you want them to do. Larger alien empires will have greater resources to bring to the fight, sometimes even having their own sperpowered operatives, like the Super Skrull or Captain Mar-Vell. While any race can be sneaky or warlike, different species are goign to play into this better than others. The Skrulls ae definitely a better fit for a secret invasion than say the Kree or Brood, even though any of them have shown an ability to hide among humans. 

One of the nice things about using alien species in your games is that they afford your the same scaleability as organizations, even more so in many cases. Additionally, their alien nature and often unimaginable technolgy can allow them to come and go freely and appear from nowhere, much like ninjas or secret organizatons can. When doing any of these, you needn't worry too much about the specifics of how they are doing what they are doing as comic book aliens are often given great leeway when it comes to the exact nature of their abilities and technologies, often coming up with previously unrevealed weapons and even powers as their presence progresses in the stories. 

Alien species, much like organizations are not confined to the role of enemy either. You can have them be as monolithis or complex as you like. Comic books are full of turncoats, traitors, subversives and subfactions among alien species and their empires. These anomalies add depth to the recurring aliens, allowing the players' characters to make friends and allies even while fighting the majority of the alien menace. the exact motivations and reasons for these anmalous characters can be as simple as differing opinions, politics, or even a person agenda that goes against the overall motivations of the species such as love, revenge, honor, or any other personal expression of emotion or intelligence. 

One last consideration with using aliens is that the universe is massive and comic book aliens often travel not just between planetary systems or even within the same galaxy but often from entire other galaxies or dimensions. Because of this, you can invent new alien as freely as you like without ever feeling like you have explain their existence. Even if they are from an area of "known space" such as the Shi-ar empire, you can explain them with just a few waves of your world-building wand. An alien may be from the farthest reaches of space or just around the cosmic bend and just simply never discovered or even kept hidden from detection. They might have simply blipped into existence or awakened after eons of slumber, or slipped into this universe through the fabric of time and space.

Aliens provide a rich tapestry of options for a GM to come up with endless encounters fo their players. They will provide characterful opponents that the players can love, hate, or love to hate. They can even provide the spark for new characters to be played by your players. The next character at your table may be a rogue member of a species or an advanced scout sent to prepare the world for a coming threat. 

What are some of your favorite comic book aliens?

How have you used aliens in your games?

Have you ever had any players make character from alien species you have brought into your games?