The Editor

Keep the issue moving. Make the trouble interesting. Never confuse fairness with fun.

The Editor runs the issue. That means describing Skyscraper City, playing villains and supporting characters, deciding when rolls are needed, adjudicating Powers and Stunts, handing out Kabooms, and keeping things moving when the heroes have collectively decided that hiding in a broom closet is their best tactical option.

The Editor is not there to defeat the players. The Editor is there to give them something worth defeating, preferably something much too powerful.

Screw Balance

Peril Patrol has no encounter balance, challenge ratings or point totals for comparing heroes and villains. A supervillain can be stronger, faster, smarter and tougher than the entire team, backed by an army, equipped with a death ray and standing inside an indestructible battle suit.

Good.

Now the players have a problem.

If they cannot beat the villain by punching harder, they may have to run, hide, trick somebody, exploit a Stupid Weakness, misuse the scenery, spend Kabooms or come up with a plan nobody expected.

THE EDITOR'S BALANCE TEST

Do not ask:

Is this villain worth the same number of points as the heroes?

Ask:

Will this villain give the players interesting things to do?

If the answer is yes, proceed.

Unfair is not the same as boring. A villain who simply announces that the heroes lose is useless, but a villain who can flatten them while also possessing a ridiculous obsession, exploitable SFX, nervous Goons, a badly designed machine, an enormous ego and one Stupid Weakness is excellent.

Power creates the problem. Personality creates the solution.

Making a Villain

A villain should be almost as quick to create as a hero. You need a Name, a one-line Concept, four Attributes, one or two Talents, one or two Powers, any important Signature Gear, an Obsession, a Stupid Weakness, a Catchphrase! and enough Hit Points to survive as long as the issue needs.

There is no villain point budget and no encounter-building formula. Assign the numbers that fit the character.

A physically unimpressive mastermind may have low Brawn but tremendous Brains and Moxie. A cosmic brute may have absurd physical scores and very little sense. A villain's statistics should tell you who the villain is, not how much the heroes are expected to spend defeating them.

Obsessions

Heroes have Running Gags. Villains have Obsessions.

An Obsession is the ridiculous idea the villain cannot leave alone. It explains the scheme, shapes the Monologue and frequently prevents the villain from doing the sensible thing.

Dr. Quake — Who controls the earth controls the world!

Lobster Lord — Humanity must learn from the lobster.

Atomic Head — The world would run much better under Atomic Head.

When the villain can either solve a problem sensibly or pursue the Obsession, prefer the Obsession. Supervillains did not put on costumes because they were committed to practical decision-making.

Stupid Weaknesses

Every important villain should have a Stupid Weakness.

A Stupid Weakness does not have to be a physical vulnerability. It may be an embarrassing word, an ordinary household object, an emotional trigger, a flaw in the villain's machinery, a ridiculous scientific principle or some piece of personal vanity that matters far more than it should.

Lobster Lord has problems with nutcrackers and drawn butter.

Dr. Quake reacts badly to being called Kwak.

A Stupid Weakness gives the heroes another way to win besides reducing Hit Points, and it gives the Editor another way to make a powerful villain beatable without making that villain less impressive.

Discovering a Stupid Weakness

Sometimes the heroes already know the weakness. Sometimes they discover it through a Brains roll, a Power Stunt or an overlong villain Monologue. Sometimes a player simply notices something that ought to be true.

Wait. He's Lobster Lord. What happens if we get a giant nutcracker?

If the idea fits the character and improves the issue, the Editor is allowed to say:

That sounds right.

Done.

Do not protect your preparation from a better joke.

Named Villains

Named villains should usually survive long enough to feel important. As a loose guideline, 8 to 15 Hit Points works for many of them, but this is not a balancing formula. Give a villain more if they should be extremely tough and less if their danger comes from Powers, machinery, followers or the situation.

A villain who reaches 0 Hit Points does not necessarily disappear forever. They may be blasted through the roof, fall into their own machine, vanish in smoke, escape in a vehicle, be carried away by Goons or shout promises of revenge while plummeting into the river.

They can return later.

Of course they can.

Goons

Goons exist to guard doors, operate machinery, carry crates, kidnap scientists, shout warnings and get knocked into furniture. Keep them simple.

A standard Goon has:

Attribute	Score
Brawn	3
Zip	3
Brains	2
Moxie	2

Give the Goon one Talent relevant to the job and 3 HP.

Examples include Masked Science Goon — Science!, Security Goon — Security, Abduction Goon — Abduction and Heavy Equipment Goon — Forklifts.

If a Goon needs more rules than this, promote them to a named character.

Goons Should Fall in Groups

Do not roll twelve separate defenses for twelve identical Goons. If a hero performs a good Stunt against a group, let several of them go down at once.

Gunbunny sprays the room with fire, one Goon dives behind a desk, another gets tangled in a curtain, three are knocked flat and somebody ends up with a wastebasket over his head. Resolve the useful part and move on.

Large groups can be treated as a single Goon Mob, as described in Fights!.

Goons Are Employees

Goons have lunch breaks, workplace rules, supervisors, grievances, safety concerns and opinions about management. Use this whenever it makes a scene better.

A Goon does not have to fight to the last Hit Point. Goons may surrender because the boss fled, the machine exploded, the shift ended, overtime was not authorized, the assignment was misrepresented or nobody told them giant monsters were involved.

The Masked Science Goons in particular may have very strong views about laboratory safety.

Villains Monologue

Important villains should Monologue!. They have put considerable work into these schemes and someone is going to hear about it.

The first proper villain Monologue of an issue receives comic-book courtesy. Heroes may prepare, whisper, hide, edge toward exits or inspect suspicious controls while the villain talks, but they should normally allow enough exposition for everyone to understand what is happening.

Once the villain has explained the machine, the grievance, the timetable and why the heroes are fools, normal hostilities may resume.

Villains should explain too much. A confident villain may accidentally reveal the location of the controls, the escape route, the Stupid Weakness, the countdown, problems among the Goons or an entirely separate part of the plan nobody asked about.

This is a feature.

The Big Red Button

Secret bases contain controls, and controls should be readable enough to tempt players.

Useful labels include:

ON
OFF
SELF-DESTRUCT
DO NOT PUSH
EARTHQUAKE INTENSITY
RELEASE SHARKS
ROBUT ARMY
MORE POWER

If a villain has constructed an enormous world-conquering machine, it should contain at least one control whose purpose is immediately obvious.

This is not poor engineering. This is proper supervillain engineering.

Make the Scenery Useful

Superhero fights should not happen in empty rectangles.

A laboratory may contain chemical tanks, cranes, catwalks, cables, control panels, forklifts, unstable machinery and suspicious levers. A city street may contain cars, hydrants, lamp posts, buses, newsstands, scaffolding, civilians and conveniently open manholes.

Do not merely describe scenery. Offer toys.

Players should be able to throw it, break it, climb it, freeze it, electrify it, hide behind it, drive through it or turn it into a Stunt.

Put Things in Danger

Heroes need things to save as well as villains to punch.

Collapsing bridges, runaway vehicles, trapped civilians, endangered Goons, falling debris and unstable machinery give Powers something useful to do besides inflicting damage.

A character using Super-Strength to hold up a collapsing building should feel just as important as the character punching the villain, and often more so.

Failure Moves Forward

Never let one failed roll stop the issue.

If a necessary clue roll fails, the heroes still get the clue, but inconveniently. If infiltration fails, somebody discovers them. If a chase fails, the villain escapes somewhere interesting. If the heroes fail to find the secret base, the villain may find them instead.

If the heroes are captured, excellent. You have saved everyone travel time.

FAILURE CHANGES THE SITUATION

A failed roll does not cancel the scene.

It creates the next problem.

When no good consequence immediately suggests itself, ask the player:

What goes wrong?

Players are often remarkably good at sabotaging themselves.

Do Not Punish Creativity

When a player invents an unusual Power Stunt, the default response should not be:

That isn't listed.

Ask what they are trying to accomplish, decide whether the SFX supports it, choose an Attribute and set a difficulty.

If the proposed Stunt would instantly solve the entire issue, scale it down, make it difficult, require a Kaboom or let it solve only part of the problem. Do not make imaginative play useless merely because the player did not choose the solution you expected.

Do Not Punish Cowardice

Running, hiding, screaming and surrendering are legitimate play.

If Chameleon becomes a chair because a cosmic monster has entered the room, that is not a failure of adventure design. That is Chameleon.

A terrified retreat can produce pursuit, capture, villainous boasting, demands, property destruction or new opportunities. If the behavior fits a Running Gag and genuinely complicates matters, award a Kaboom.

Cowardice is only boring when nothing happens because of it.

When the Heroes Are Winning

Escalate without erasing their success.

The villain may activate Phase Two, summon something, escape into a vehicle, reveal another machine, grow to enormous size or announce that the destroyed device was only the first part of the plan.

If the heroes destroyed the earthquake machine, let that matter. Then reveal what happens because they destroyed it.

Do not secretly triple the villain's Hit Points merely because you expected the fight to last longer.

When the Heroes Are Losing

Give them opportunities, not rescue.

An overconfident villain may Monologue. Unstable machinery may expose a weakness. A frightened Goon may know something useful. A control panel may have an obvious switch. A vehicle may arrive. A cage may be unlocked. Somebody may discover a crate labeled EMERGENCY SUPERHERO SUPPLIES.

The heroes should still have to act, but make sure there is something to act on.

When Nothing Is Happening

Make something happen.

A door explodes. A villain calls. A monster appears. The lights fail. A wall collapses. A siren starts. Mister Chips notices something troubling.

If necessary, somebody hears:

Is this thing on?

Then the Monologue begins.

Hand Out Kabooms

Be generous when players make their own lives harder in ways that fit their characters. Running Gags, panic, terrible decisions and taking obvious bait should regularly produce Kabooms.

Do not award Kabooms for empty repetition. A Running Gag has to create a real complication. Chameleon saying “I leave” five times while still standing in the same room earns nothing.

When a Kaboom is earned, remember the ritual.

KABOOM!

The Editor Can Cheat

The Editor may adjust Hit Points, alter timing, add or remove Goons, decide a secret door exists, change a villain's escape route or ignore a rule that is making the issue worse.

Do this to improve the game, not to defeat the players.

If the heroes produce a brilliant ridiculous solution, let it matter. Do not move the goalposts because you wanted another three rounds of combat.

The Editor's authority exists to protect momentum and tone, not to protect prepared outcomes.

Continuity

Continuity exists until it becomes inconvenient.

Important things should persist: characters, relationships, recurring villains, headquarters, vehicles, established jokes and Running Gags. Minor details may shift when nobody cares enough to check.

If a contradiction matters, resolve it in whatever way improves the current issue. If it does not matter, do not resolve it.

Skyscraper Comics has survived worse.

Recurring Villains

A recurring villain does not need an elaborate explanation for returning.

They escaped prison, rebuilt the armor, were released on a technicality, survived somehow, were reconstructed by Goons, were not really destroyed or simply appear again because this month's cover needs them.

Explain it if the explanation is funny.

Otherwise, get on with the issue.

The Editor's Five Questions

When uncertain, ask:

What keeps the issue moving?
What fits the character?
What gives the players something interesting to do?
What is the funniest reasonable result?
Do we really need a rule for this?

The answer to the last question is usually no.

Preparing an Issue

A Peril Patrol issue should require very little preparation. At minimum, the Editor needs a Villain, a Scheme, a Place, a Complication and a Big Finish.

For example:

Villain: Dr. Quake

Scheme: Shake Skyscraper City until everyone recognizes his genius.

Place: The underground Quake-O-Drome.

Complication: The Cavalier keeps calling him Kwak.

Big Finish: The earthquake machine reaches Maximum Quake.

That is enough to begin. Everything else can develop at the table.

For more structure, generators and instant complications, see Random Tables! and Issues & Series Play.

PERIL PATROL RPG

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