Wretched Vigilantes

CRIME CITY NEEDS ITS OLD HEROES BACK

Hammettville, Texas, is better known as Crime City.

For years, the original Vigilantes kept its gangs, criminals and corrupt officials under control. Their success eventually made them seem unnecessary, and the programme that created them was shut down.

The surviving heroes returned to ordinary life.

Some coped better than others.

In their absence, superhuman crime began to rise. Criminals gained access to the same experimental drugs, cybernetics and biological enhancements that had created the Vigilantes. A new team, the Vanguard Squad, was assembled to protect the city.

Instead, Vanguard became the Crime Lords.

The former heroes seized control of Hammettville and now terrorise the people they were supposed to defend. With the city under their rule, its retired Vigilantes must drag themselves out of obscurity, confront their own failures and attempt to reclaim the streets.

Wretched Vigilantes is a gritty, street-level superhero setting for the Wretched Role-Playing Game, inspired by crime comics, morally compromised heroes and urban noir.

PLAY THE VIGILANTES

Take the roles of the surviving members of Hammettville’s original superhero team.

These are not shining icons at the height of their powers. They are retired, damaged and frequently compromised antiheroes who have already discovered that saving the city does not necessarily save the people doing it.

Return to action, confront the Crime Lords and decide whether redemption remains possible.

PLAY THE CRIME LORDS

The setting also supports campaigns centred on the corrupted Vanguard Squad.

Play the supervillains attempting to maintain their control of Hammettville, manage rival criminals and deal with the return of the heroes they replaced.

The book includes established heroes and villains as pre-generated characters, together with prompts for building adventures around them.

INSIDE YOU’LL FIND

• The city of Hammettville, infamously known as Crime City.

• The history of the original Vigilantes and the corrupted Vanguard Squad.

• Surviving Vigilantes presented as playable characters.

• Major Crime Lords and other established villains.

• Adventure prompts for heroes and villains.

• Neighbourhoods, factions and criminal organisations.

• Random encounters and setting material.

• Rules for superhuman powers using Perks and Drawbacks.

• Cybernetics, biohacking and experimental super-science.

• The Vices and Virtues system.

• Connections to the wider WretchedVerse.

• Campaign options for retired heroes, new vigilantes and reigning supervillains.

The default power level is closer to street-level vigilantes and enhanced humans than cosmic superheroes. The setting does include more unusual powers, technology, aliens, demons and magic, but Hammettville remains a city where ordinary weapons, organised crime and personal failures still matter.

An independent review praised the setting’s distinctive voice and its supply of neighbourhoods, villains, factions and random material, describing it as a well-rounded superhero setting with enough material to sustain years of campaigning.

PRODUCT DETAILS

• 262-page superhero setting book.

• Designed for the Wretched Role-Playing Game.

• Compatible with other suitable old-school rules systems.

• Gritty, street-level superhero action.

• Written by Michael Straus and Miguel Ribeiro.

• Originally published in 2023.

This is a setting supplement rather than a standalone game. The Wretched Role-Playing Game core book or another compatible old-school rules system is required for play.