The Untold Story of the Villain Mission Force

 I thought it might be fun to share my Afterword for the upcoming VMF book, and also share a back cover image from the original VMF Marvel version I did for personal use only. It was a full-on TTRPG that I still run to this day. 

First, the Afterword: 

Every three years or so, I get the itch to make a superhero game. If you've followed my work, you know I've already made a lot of them. But was there any untrod ground left for me, you ask? Yes! Villain Mission Force is a title that's been part of my personal mythos for a long time. The very first VMF game took place at Phantom of the Attic Games in Pittsburgh, PA in April of 2014. I ran it using a version of SuperSystem 4th Ed., and it featured a blend of RPG and skirmish action using rebased Heroclix from the Marvel Comics line. It was awesome and I was in love. The VMF were usually lesser villains, the kind of foes that a comic company's headline heroes would mulch before breakfast. Borrowing from DC Comics' Suicide Squad, I took them and gave them Mission Impossible style trappings, always setting the action in the early 1980s. 

They did crazy stuff like traveling back in time to the 1977 Detroit Auto Show to prevent the death of John DeLorean at the hands of Ninjas, or stealing a book holding dark power from Count Dracula. Sometimes they all died. It was the whole process that was fun, as each game began with each team member incarcerated, and included a series of table rolls describing how they got there. 

Fast forward to today, winter 2025, and this VMF represents something new for me. I have never done a procedural, Solo / Co-op super game that focused on the characters' journey from zero to hero. Or in this case, nobody to nemesis. Using the campaign mechanics I developed and tested in 2d Delves, I've now written just that game. It's a skirmish super miniature game, for sure, but now it will give players that RPG feeling of taking their hard-scrabble crew of ne'er-do-wells from the dregs of anonymity to the heights of infamy. VMF-style. 

Hope you enjoy the ride! 

Now that image I promised!

Sometime soon I will also re-share (I've posted it before elsewhere) the awesome front cover piece done by Rich Yanizeski--it's his homage to X-Men 140. 

Thanks for reading!