''Death Duel with the Destroyers'' is an adventure published by

Fantasy Games Unlimited Fantasy Games Unlimited (FGU) is a publishing house for tabletop and role-playing games. The company has no in-house design teams and relies on submitted material from outside talent. History Founded in the summer of 1975 in Jericho, New York b ...

(FGU) in 1982 for the superhero role-playing game ''

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 the early to mid-1980s. Origin ''Villains and Vigilantes'' was the first role-playi ...

''.

Plot summary

The second adventure published by FGU for ''Villains & Vigilantes'', this scenario represents the first of several battle between a group of superhero

player character A player character (also known as a playable character or PC) is a fictional character in a video game or tabletop role-playing game whose actions are controlled by a player rather than the rules of the game. The characters that are not control ...

s and the mysterious Dr. Apocalypse, a supervillain scientist. A series of monster storms strikes the Eastern United States while a holographic figure of Dr. Apocalypse appears in the skies and mocks the people. The superheroes (

player characters A player character (also known as a playable character or PC) is a fictional character in a video game or tabletop role-playing game whose actions are controlled by a player rather than the rules of the game. The characters that are not control ...

) are then alerted to a giant robot attacking

Times Square Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway, Seventh Avenue, and 42nd Street. Together with adjacent ...

, before they take on the group of supervillains known as The Destroyers.

Publication history

FGU published the first superhero role-playing game, ''Villains & Vigilantes'', in 1979. They published their first adventure for the game in 1981, and followed that in 1982 with ''Death Duel with the Destroyers'', a 21-page saddle-stapled softcover book written and illustrated by

Bill Willingham William Willingham (born 1956) is an American writer and artist of comics, known for his work on the series ''Elementals (Comico Comics), Elementals'' and ''Fables (comics), Fables''. Career William Willingham was born in Fort Belvoir, Virginia. ...

. This was quickly followed by a sequel, '' The Island of Doctor Apocalypse'' (1982).

Reception

William A. Barton reviewed ''Death Duel with the Destroyers'' in ''

The Space Gamer ''The Space Gamer'' was a magazine dedicated to the subject of science fiction and fantasy board games and tabletop role-playing games. It quickly grew in importance and was an important and influential magazine in its subject matter from the la ...

'' No. 52. Barton commented that "''Death Duel with the Destroyers'' could provide a good evening or two of superheroic action. If you haven't yet given up on V&V, wish to wait for the revised rules, or feel up to adapting it to another system, it could prove worth your investment." In the August 1982 edition of ''

Different Worlds ''Different Worlds'' was an American role-playing games magazine published from 1979 to 1987. Scope ''Different Worlds'' published support articles, scenarios, and variants for various role-playing games including ''Dungeons & Dragons'', ''Ru ...

'' (Issue 23), Steve Perrin liked the adventure, although he admitted it was very similar to many "overdone comic book plots." Perrin thought the design of the supervillain lair was well executed, and he also enjoyed the panels of comic book art. He concluded with a good recommendation, saying, "All in all this is a very good scenario for ''V&V'' players."

References

{{reflist Role-playing game supplements introduced in 1982 Villains and Vigilantes adventures