Megalomania is a psychopathic condition that’s predominated by infantile delusions of wealth, power, or omnipotence. Individuals stricken with this malady of the mind are often obsessed with grandiose actions or extravagant things. People such as these feel they deserve the best life has to offer. Thus, their hidden hide outs have all the creature comforts money can buy and are protected by cutting edge, often ridiculously lethal weaponry, while stunning companions attend to their needs. The villains make excellent leaders for secret societies, cabals, and organizations that demand fanatical loyalty from their followers.
Adversaries of this nature can launch drawn-out schemes. Unlike merely evil or greedy villains, megalomaniacs long to prove their superiority and may pause the implementation of world domination plans to toy with important captives. Dangerous prisoners are typically forced to endure a long-winded monologue while their captor boasts of their world conquest plans: Their audience will soon be dead anyway, and corpses tell no tales. Besides, a quick demise would mean little and do nothing to prove why the villain is destined to rule the world! The ensuing tirade can prove useful: Captives may be able to shrug off the effects of being drugged, gain time to loosen their bonds, or accidentally receive information needed to escape an impending death trap. In many ways, the megalomaniac’s ego is their own worst enemy because personality flaws of this nature are often a great boon to those who attempt to thwart their schemes.
1he very nature of megalomaniacs makes staples for espionage games. Modern settings featuring these villains can utilize a myriad of locals as the advent of the internet allows world domination attempts to be spawned from nearly anywhere. Wild West games might feature smaller scale events such as a land baron who is angered by heroes whose meddling is blocking attempts to add land acquisitions to her empire.
Someone who feels the heroes have slighted them could turn into a megalomaniacal villain. Such a person would be bent on getting revenge from those who have wronged them!
Some megalomaniacal villains prefer to discard their foes rather than go through the trouble of slaying them; it makes their victory more sweet to think that the heroes will live forever with a humiliating defeat. (Of course, it also gives the would-be heroes an opportunity to rally together to bring down a seemingly unstoppable foe.)
Doctor Zahd
Reflexes 1D+2: sneak 2D
Coordination 2D: piloting 4D
Physique 1O+1: running l D+2, swimming 1D+1
Knowledge 5D: business 7D, scholar 5D, tech 6D
Perception 3D: investigation 3D
Presence 5D ( +2): charm 6D, command 7D, intimidation 6D, persuasion 6D, willpower 7D
Strength Damage: l D
Move: 10
Fate Points: 2
Character Points: 5
Body Points: 14
Wound Levels: 3
Disadvantages: Bad Luck (R2); Enemy (R3), the free world; Infamy (R3), wanted by various national and international law enforcement agencies; Quirk (R3), deathly afraid of heights
Advantages : Authority (R3), the head of a world-domination effort; Equipment (R4), protected by cutting-edge weaponry; Wealth (R4) Special Abilities: Increased Attribute: Presence (R2), +2 to related totals; Quick Study (R1); Skill Bonus: Leadership (R1),+1 to command, intimidation, and persuasion