Nemesis
In our Genre , most Villains do not kill. They may set off explosions that hurt people and destroy things; they may inflict mutagens, steal valuable Wealth, divert Gadgets into uses not intended nor desired by their inventors, endanger the city, and hold hostage plucky investigative journalists.
But they never directly commit murder. That would violate the rules of the Mock-Gritty Genre.
A Dark Reflection
A Nemesis is the rare exception to this limitation. The Nemesis opposes everything that a Hero holds dear: they are going to make a difference, oh yes, but it will be of the destructive sort. They may be the Arch Enemy purchased as a Drawback during a Hero's character creation phase, or they may be an NPC encountered during an adventure who develops to Nemesis status during roleplay interactions. Where an Arch Enemy particularly hates the Hero, this is not automatically true for the Nemesis. The Nemesis may adore the Hero (and be determined to control them), or care little about the Hero while being determined to accomplish some goal that the Hero prevents. A Nemesis is almost always a type of Subplot.Restrictions
- Each Hero can have only one Nemesis.
- Like any other Subplot, the Nemesis Subplot might reach a natural conclusion over time. If the Nemesis is permanently vanquished, or redeemed, or in some other way the Subplot is completed permanently, then the Hero must spend at least one full Adventure adjusting to the new nemesis-free normal before they are eligible to encounter a new Nemesis.
