- Villains and Vigilantes
-
Villains and Vigilantes (abbreviated as V&V) is a superhero-themed role-playing game which competed primarily with Champions and Superworld in early to mid 1980s.
Villains and Vigilantes Designer(s) Jeff Dee, Jack Herman Publisher(s) Fantasy Games Unlimited Publication date 1979 (1st Edition), 1982 (Revised Edition) Genre(s) Superhero fiction System(s) Custom Contents
Origin
Villains and Vigilantes was the first role-playing game designed by Jack Herman and Jeff Dee, featuring illustrations by Dee. Fantasy Games Unlimited published the first edition of Villains and Vigilantes in 1979. The second edition of Villains and Vigilantes was published in 1982 with significant rule revisions. In 2010, Monkey House Games published a new edition of the game. [1]
Mechanics
Characters in Villains and Vigilantes reflected the unique nature of the rules. First, instead of playing a completely fictional character, players were encouraged to start the character-creation process with a version of themselves (presumably as the superhero's "secret identity.") V&V then used random die rolls for the origins of superpowers (i.e., mutant, space alien, etc.) number and type, sometimes resulting in odd combinations. A further quirk of the system was that while players advanced in levels and hit points, superpowers did not, lending a different feel to characters at low, middle and high power levels.[2]
Another notable feature of the system was its approach to combat: a table outlined the effectiveness of the attacker's superpower (for example, an energy blast) against all of the defender's powers. In theory, reflecting the interplay of attack and defense powers.
Modules
Crisis at Crusader Citadel was an introductory module, a V&V supplement published in 1982 by Fantasy Game Unlimited, written and illustrated by the game's creators, Dee and Herman. The scenario begins with the players controlling neophyte superheroes, based on themselves, who are looking to apply for membership in the established super-hero team called the Crusaders. During the adventure, the player-heroes have to stop a crime wave being carried out by the Crusaders' opposite numbers, a villain team called the Crushers.[3]
Four years after the adventure booklet was published, the setting of the first module was used as the basis of a Villains and Vigilantes comic book mini-series by Dee and Herman published by Eclipse Comics. Each issue included character sheets for new heroes and villains and update material for the existing ones for use with the game.
Two early modules for the game by Bill Willingham, Death Duel with the Destroyers and The Island of Dr. Apocalypse, used characters that would later appear in his Comico comic book series, Elementals. Similarly, a Villains and Vigilantes character, The Dark, later appeared in a series of comic books by the independent publisher Continüm Comics.[4]
2011 legal dispute
As of 2011, the game's creators are involved in a legal dispute with Fantasy Games Unlimited. They claim that the original Fantasy Games Unlimited ceased to exist in 1991, that their contract specified that in such an event the rights would revert to them, and that therefore the current Fantasy Games Unlimited (a separate legal entity, although with the same owner) has no right to sell V&V material[5].
References
- ^ http://monkeyhousegames.com/?m=201006
- ^ "Clashing on the Plain of Imagination". Philadelphia Inquirer: p. F40. June 7, 1985.
- ^ Prescott, David (November 23, 1984). "Playing Roles, Playing Games". Chicago Tribune: p. N2.
- ^ Naftali, Joseph. "The New Continüm," The Dark vol. 1, #1 (Continüm Comics, November 1990).
- ^ Villains & Vigilantes Creators Sue Game's Publisher
External links
Categories:- Superhero role-playing games
- Fantasy Games Unlimited games
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
