AFU Heroes & villians

So, naturally, being a Superhero verse, we went on and created a bunch of heroes and villians for it! The problem is creating memorable characters which are a bit disposable, but very memorable. Allies that the players can encounter, interact with and empathize with (esspecially if they're killed) and antagonists the players love to hate and will enjoy encountering again and again. So we've held off on most of the big ones mentioned in the previous post, just a bit... Note, all Heroes and Villians listed here are Wild Cards!

Hero

Harvest Moon
Sarah Carline is special. Young, attractive, wealthy successful; people wonder what she’s doing single and living in a rust-bowl like Orphicten. The young Magistrate with Special qualifications in Superpower law says she’d dedicated to cleaning up the city. That’s not the truth, though. Not entirely. Sonya’s hard reputation is attributed to her fist month on the job. She was asked to review the villain Chimera’s case. Sonya ruled that Chimera was to be tried as a Supervillian. Quickly found guilty; Chimera was locked down for transit to Exodus Rock. Unfortunately, Chimera escaped and began taking revenge on all those who’d participated in determining his guilt, including Sonya whom he infected with a virus engineer from both tiger and bat. Though Marv Smalltown eventually rescued Sonya and recaptured Chimera the damage was done. Each night since, Sonya has transformed into the woman known as Harvest Moon; part Vampire, part Weretiger. So far, only Marv Smalltown and Chimera know Sonya’s secret.

Harvest Moon
Race: Werewolf/Vampire

Rank: Novice

A D10, Sm D6, Sp D4, St D6, V D10

P 6, Pa 2, T 7, Ch +4

Skills
Climb D6, Fighting D10, Knowledge (Occult) D4, Notice D6, Tracking D6, Stealth D8, Streetwise D6,

Hindrances
Gimmick – At sunrise Harvest Moon becomes Sonya Carline until sunset (Major), Loyal (Minor), Stubborn (Minor).

Edges
Arcane Background (Superpowers), Berserk, Very Attractive.

Powers
Attack, Melee – Razor Claws 2D6 (4), Super Attribute – Agility (1), Super Attribute Vigour (2), Undead – Vampire (2), Wall Walker (1).

Gear
None.

Sonya Carline
Race: Werewolf/Vampire

Rank: Novice

A D6, Sm D10, Sp D6, St D4, V D4

P 6, Pa 2, T 4, Ch 0

Skills
Driving D6, Knowledge (Legal) D12, Investigation D10, Persuasion D10.

Hindrances
Gimmick – When night falls Sonya Carline transforms into Blood Moon (Major), Loyal (Minor), Mean (Minor).

Edges
Attractive, Arcane Background (Superpowers), Rich.

Powers
None.

Gear
Brief case, papers, limitless credit card, glasses.

Marv Smalltown
Barry and Mary Smalltown moved to Orphicten during the war to take advantage of the city’s booming war industry. After the war they wanted children, but found themselves unable to conceive; so some years later they adopted an infant orphan named Marvin. But the world had moved on and Orphicten was rusting. Like most people employed by the war industry, Barry and Mary hadn’t earned enough to save and couldn’t move on. But Barry was struggling to find work. While they were raising Marvin to believe in right and wrong, Barry was doing odd-jobs for the Mikos Family. Marvel was ten when he found out, and never took money from his father again, instead getting whatever odd jobs he could. Arguments were frequent between Marvin and Barry in those days. In his mid teens one particularly savage argument resulted in Marvin striking his father in front of some colleagues. His father was knocked unconscious in an instant. When his father’s colleagues stepped in Marvin beat them all. More came later, and left after Marvin threw a car at them. Marvin had left the Smalltown home by the time Barry had returned from the hospital; setting out to clean up Orphicten. Now in his late twenties, Marvin Smalltown has been living on the street for nearly a decade. He’s tried and is still trying to clean up Orphicten. But the criminal is clever and Marvin is ever-idealistic. They’ve drawn him into their web and learnt to work around him. He takes out individuals, even the big bosses. But every one he misses scales up the ranks. One day Marvin Smalltown may clean up Orphicten, but that day is decades off.

Race: Human

Rank: Legendary

A D8, Sm D6, Sp D8, St D12+10, V D12+5

P 8, Pa 4, T 14, Ch 0

Skills
Climbing D8, Driving D6, Fighting D12, Gambling D4, Intimidate D8, Persuasion D8, Streetwise D12, Stealth D8, Swimming D8, Taunt D12.

Hindrances
Arrogant (Major), Illiterate (Minor), Vengeful (Minor).

Edges
Ambidextrous, Arcane background (Superpowers), Brawny, Fleet Footed, Improved Frenzy, Power Points

Powers
Leaping (2), Super Attributes -Strength (10), Vigour (5), Toughness – Hardy (6).

Gear
Brass Knuckles (D12+D4+10), Cash $50-400.

Villian
Corpse Tiger
As a youth, Yorimoto Kane was a thug doing dirty work for the Yakuza. However, after going toe-to-toe with superhero, Tigerwoman, Kane was deemed worthy of a new position, entering training as one of the Yakuza’s ninjas. What none had realized at the time was that Tigerwoman had contracted a savage virus, sending her powers were into a contagious flux. As such, the battle had left Kane with similar abilities but terminally ill. Slowly and painfully dying, only to find his consciousness trapped in an animated corpse, Kane’s powers are thought to be the only thing keeping his body animated at present. Kane’s torture did not end there. He began to rot and maggots soon infested his flesh. The Yakuza, however, promised treatment in exchange for service and so Kane became Corpse Tiger, undead ninja. Then the bombs fell, destroying nearly all of the Yakuza’s global capital, save their few Pacific holdings. Suddenly, Corpse Tiger found himself without work or treatment and trapped in a rotting corpse! While Kane has learned the secret of his Yakuza treatments, they are far from perfect or cheap. Now a rat for hire, Corpse Tiger will work for whoever pays for the next treatment. Still respected amongst the now ex-Yakuza Ninjas, Corpse tiger occasionally hires his old comrades should the job require them.

Race: Human

Rank: Novice

A D8+2, Sm D6, Sp D8, St D6, V D8

P 6, Pa 6 (8 - Leaping), T 8, Ch -4

Skills
Climbing D8+2, Fighting D6, Intimidate D6, Lockpicking D8+2, Notice D8, Shooting D6, Stealth D8+2, Swimming D6, Throwing D8.

Hindrances
Terminally Ill - Decaying (Major), Distinctive Appearance – Semi-decayed Humanoid Tiger (Minor), Ugly (Minor).

Edges
Acrobat, Arcane Background (Super Powers), Quickdraw, Thief.

Powers
Attack, Melee – Device: Sword (2), Leaping (2), Undead (4), Wall Walker (2).

Gear
Sword (3D6), Shuriken (3/6/12, D6+D4).

Deimos, god of dread
Derik Moses had a superpower. He was a super junkie. He could do drugs more often and in vaster quantities than any other junkie on the planet. For all his efforts; Derik got nothing but a killer addiction. When Shadow hit the streets, Derik was the first and hardest to use it. In fact, Derik used so much Shadow that his flesh and bones dissolved and his mind melted into his shadow. Slowly, Derik Moses took on the persona of Deimos- Greek god of dread. Without a body, Deimos was immune to all the old narcotics which once dominated his life. The big time junkie became a small time dealer of Shadow. While at the bottom run of the ladder now, Deimos has the potential to claw his way to being a real problem if left unchecked.

Race: Human

Rank: Novice

A D6, Sm D8, Sp D8, St D4, V D4

P 8, Pa 5, T 4, Ch 0

Skills
Fighting D6, Guts D8, Intimidate D12+5, Notice D8, Stealth D8, Streetwise D8.

Hindrances
Alien Form – Living Shadow (Major), Distinct Appearance – Living Shadow (Minor), All Thumbs (Minor).

Edges
Arcane Background (Super Powers), Fleet Footed, Power Points (5).

Powers
Altered Form – More Stretch 1, Fall Proof (+5), Attack, Melee – Reach 1” (+3), Dark Vision (+2), Fear – Scary (+1), Super Skill – Intimidate (+3), Wall Walker (+1).

Gear
Five hits of Shadow at all times.

Shadow
Shadow isn’t a villain. It’s a drug that creates them. Shadow’s growing popularity is attributed to its side effects. Not only does anyone under the influence of Shadow gain the Overconfidence Hindrance, it also grants the user powers. Specifically these are Altered Form and Dark Vision. A hit of Shadow causes the users eyes to film over with a strange black liquid. This liquid additionally coats their limbs, generally from the knee and elbow down; giving them their stretch effect. Shadow junkies are generally easy to spot, as the more they use it the blacker their limbs and eyes become stained, with some of the most hardcore being permanently pitch.

If the user already has these powers they gain distinctly different benefits. For Altered Form, a user with this power gains More Elastic at +3. This bonus stacks. For Dark Vision, the character gains +2 on all Notice rolls.

It is, however, horribly addictive and already possessing the powers are no protection here. Each time the character takes a hit of Shadow they must roll Vigor at -4. Failure indicates the character gains the Habit (Major) Hindrance. Whispers indicate overdosing on Shadow can have other strange effects.

A single hit of Shadow sells for $200. Dealers have been known to water it down with black berry fruit drinks (thus disguising the fact it is watered down), which sells for $10-100, depending on how watered down. Watered down, it always grants the Overconfidence Hindrance and as addictive as at full strength. It is at half strength, a hit of shadow will grant a single power. The affects if Shadow last 2d6 hours, regardless of strength.

Shadow Junky
A D6, Sm D4, Sp D4, St D6, V D6

P 6, Pa 6, T 5, Ch 0

Skills
Driving D4, Fighting D6, Notice D4, Swimming D4, Stealth D6, Streetwise D4.

Hindrances
Habit – Shadow (Major), Overconfident.

Edges
Arcane Background (Superpowers).

Powers
Altered Form - More Elastic 1 (3), Dark Vision (2)

Gear
Improvised Weapons – Chains, pipes, crowbar, etc (D6+D4).

Races of Sauria: Warcarved

Remember when I mentioned Warforged for Sauria? Well, they rattled around in my head for a bit and here they are (and more of my cruddy art).

Warcarved

Soon after the Sorcerer-Dragons established themselves on Druki, their thoughts turned to the defense of their island. Powerful though the Sorcerer's are, they Druki have always loathed to tear themselves away from their meditations and study. Contemplation of this problem led the greatest of the Druki Dragons, Tu the Supreme Sorcerer, to an unorthodox solution. In order to create a race of warriors who would defend Druki no matter what, Tu carved Humanoids from the island's Tiki trees and shattered himself, imbuing each with a shard of his own life. With Tu's death the Warcarved were born; a race of tribal warriors who carve their young from the Tiki trees of Druki.

Nic's Law

One of the things I find when building a setting or world is there hits a point when it becomes an organic process. Case in point with the last two posts being about Dragonborn society in Sauria. Thing about the organic process is the world truly is alive... it unfolds on its own! And because of that, it grows in unexpected ways- producing things that its creator doesn't expect. Case in point- Asianic Dragons popping up in Sauria...

So the stab I'm making here is that RPG setting building should, stress on should, go through a number of phases along the lines of;

Nic's Law
1- The Basics, just write up the bare minimum of ideas you've got for your world.
2- Expand a little- just enough so its playable...
3- Map the damn thing. Thanks to Tolkien, we all expect maps now...
4- Leave it be... Don't touch it...
5- Start using it...
6- Once you start using it both yourself and your players will probably think of things beyond and outside the original conception... just let it grow...

7- Don't worry about new additions breaking the theme of your world...They'll end up highlighting the key themes with contrast if done well.
8- Little additions can be the biggest changes.
9- Don't use every bit of your world... Just because all this stuff is there doesn't mean it has to have an impact on your game. Part of having a HUGE fantasy world is the fact there's usually too much to have in a single campaign. Plus... it lets players incorporate bits of background themselves...

10- Do not convert your setting between rules forms... This is akin to changing the laws of physics! Its a bigger shift than most realize!

So through some development my current world, Sauria, ended up like this...

From starting like this...

Just by adding...

Saurian Background: Dragon Magic & Form
Dragons aren’t just the first sorcerers. They were also the first race to master magic. The Sorcerer, crude in their Arcane discipline, must thus choose one of two paths. Either to forge their own or walk the vast pathways left in the Dragons’ collective wake. Indeed, for the first practitioners of the Arcane, there were no other disciplines other than Sorcerer and no paths other than wild magic. From this foundation, all other forms of Arcane mastery were born.

Sorcery has thus always been a transformers art; the turning of raw magical matter into something more solid through force of will alone. With it the Dragons built the Dragonborn from the crude mutual ancestors the shared with the Kobolds. The latter race being descended from those left to their own evolutionary path. Dragonspawn are, similarly, a failure on the trail-and-error process of which the Dragonborn are the end process. Lizardfolk? Yuan-ti? Who knows precisely how many other creatures the Dragons birthed through their sorcery?

Why then do Dragons only have one form? The short answer is they don’t. Like the Dragonborn there is an accepted form. This form is the one shared by all major Opri- including both Metallic and Chromatic -of Dragon. But, just as the Dragonborn were produced from after strings of experimentation, deviant examples of the Dragon exist. The Druki are one example of such deviations of the Dragon form.

Saurian Monsters: Druki

The Druki (pictured above, image "Lung 2" from Wizards.com D&D gallery, Oriental Adventures gallery) are deviant Dragons from the miniature continent of Druki to the east. Though it is often thought that the Druki are more magic than Dragon; a series of spell given the shape scale, claw and fang. Despite rumours that the Druki ancestors were living spells and not Dragons, the Druki do not heed this claim. Rather, they claim descent from the great Dragon-Sorcerers of old- masters whose Arcane skill was such that their spells became physically part of them.

Druki Deviant
Level 8 Brute 350 XP
Large Magical Creature (Dragon)
HP 105; Bloodied 52
AC 20, Fort 19, Will 20, Ref 21
Speed 8, Overland Flight 15
Action Points 1

Crackling Bite (Standard; At Will) * Lightning
Reach 2, +11 vs AC, 2d6+5 Damage
Flaming Claw (Standard; At Will) * Fire
Reach 2, +11 vs AC, 1d8+5 Damage

Ice Blade Bubble (Standard; Recharge 10) * Cold
Close Burst 5, +9 vs. Fort, 4d8+5 Damage.

Alignment; Unaligned, Languages; Draconic
Str 20 (+10), Dex 20 (+10), Wis 17 (+8), Con 15 (+7), Int 17 (+8), Cha 15 (+7)

Druki Portalist

Level 12 Artillery 350 XP
Large Magical Creature (Dragon)
HP 100; Bloodied 50
AC 22, Fort 21, Will 23, Ref 22
Speed 8
Action Points 2

Side-Step (Move; At Will) * Teleportation
The Druki Portalist may teleport itself 3 squares at will.

Portal-over-Fangs (Standard; At Will) * Teleportation
Range 10, +17 vs Will, Target is Teleported 8 Squares for no damage or is Teleported directly up for 2d6+5 falling damage.

Teleporting Claw (Standard; At Will) *Psychic, Teleportation
+17 vs Will, 1d8+5 Damage, Target is teleported 8 Squares

Boom! (Standard; Recharge 10) * Fire, Teleportation
Close Burst 6, +19 vs. Ref, 4d8+5 Damage, target is teleported 8 squares

Zap! (Encounter; Move) * Lighting, Teleportation, Zone
Burst 4 within 10, +19 vs Fort, 3d8+5 damage, target is teleported 8 Squares.

Alignment; Unaligned, Languages; Draconic
Str 19 (+9), Dex 19(+9), Wis 22 (+11), Con 17 (+8), Int 22 (+11), Cha 17 (+8)

Still to come (maybe)… Druki Golden Sorcerer & Druki Crimson Wyrm

2 new tidbits of Saurian background

What can I say? I'm gearing up for a D&D Campaign in this world! That means most of my RPG creative juice is geared to it!

Death of a Dragon
The death of a Dragon is often a problematic, if not tragic, affair for the Dragonborn in their service. They are faced with four equally abysmal choices. Firstly, the entire family can commit ritual suicide or Okakesx-loex (Honour-Death), a fate normally reserved for those Dragonborn who have failed in some way and wish to appease their masters. Secondly, they are permitted to enter the service of the next closest Dragon in relation to the deceased (if any exist). This is often means, for a Thurgrix, to give up ones status. It additionally means the Dragonborn family becomes the lowest ranked Dragonborn in this particular Clan.

Thirdly, the family can pledge Vas-durah (all-service). They then maintain the Dragon’s Hoard and Lair till the last member is dead. In most cases this is a tragic affair. Such a family can rarely attract marriage prospects from outside its own ranks. Over the generations they watch their lands; wealth and numbers slowly recede with the last becoming slowly more and more inbred!

Lastly, there is the option to become Thrah (Outcast). Meaning that the family opts out of Draconic society in a strict sense, casting their fortune to the winds to whatever end comes. Of all, this option is the least likely to bring assured shame or doom on the family’s head. Indeed, the Purple Dragonborn are a clear example of this. Bound to no Clan specifically, the majority of Purple Dragonborn are Thrah, as were their ancestors- back all the way to the time when the Purple Clan was lost.

Asmodeus?
The name ‘Asmodeus’ is that of the Goliath god of Authority. It is also the name of the First Emanation of Dis the Inferno and lord of the Nine Hells within the Teifling religion. How did this come to be?

No one is completely sure. There are, however, two thoughts on the matter. Namely that taking slaves from many lands. it is sometimes assumed that Goliath slaves carried the name into Ba’al-Turath and it eventually became that of the First Emanation. It is equally assumed that an escaped Goliath slave carried the title with them back home. Then again, many point to the fact that Teifling’s trade with Brown Dragons. This means that the title could have just as easily filtered one way or the other through the trade-lines between Dragon Clans.

How the Dragon got his Dragonborn

Was thinking today about Sauria today... Or more specifically; 'how do the Dragons get their Dragonborn?'... Well, here's how!

The Birth of a Dragon
The number of eggs produced by any one Dragon varies, based on colour. Despite the actual number, the number of Wyrmlings hatched is usually between one and four. At this point any real responsibilities of the parents end with a single task. That is, to gift their child with a Dragonborn family. Any married Dragonborn couple (along with their children, grand children and so forth) within the service of either parent are eligible for this task. One of the couple is then given the rank of Thurgrix. Save the direst circumstance, it is usually from such a beginning that all Dragonborn in the service of an individual Dragon originate.