Ms. Fury Versus The Alpha

Dahlia Drake was heading for bed, rattling around the manse of her late grandmother alone, when her Fury phone chimed. A message from a contact; @devinegoil. It gave a name, the architect Spirit Deborah Planque, and an address, somewhere downtown. "White Knights hired to hit," it read "Tonight. Hurry." Dahlia sighed. Sleep would have to wait. The catsuit had wrapped itself around her like a shadow, before she'd even reached the garage. The Vincent Black Shadow throbbed into life between her thighs and she roared off into the night. 

Yes I know. Ms. Fury is having her second Versus battle. Belladonna has had two too. Yes they are my favourite characters. Sorry; not sorry.

Well I am bereft of inspiration for this fight. So let's have a look at the random inspiration tables from page 73 of Heroes Unlimited Games Master Guide.

My first roll is for villains and gives me a 6 pack of two bit thugs. A whole dozen bits! I quickly generate them and add them to The Alpha's side. They are, by age and alphabet; Leo Duchamp (level 4 Thug, 35), Murray Adair (level 5 Thug, 35), Osbourne Sweeney (level 5 Thug, 28), Eveline Gallo (level 5 Thug, 28), Ivy Wynne (level 3 Thug, 20), and Topher Platt (level 1 Thug, 17). Then there's the 5 dogs/wolves... Uh; Adolf, Badulf, Cuan, Eadwulf, and Ylva.

The second roll is for the crime at hand and I get Murder/Killing. Yikes!

Third roll gives me the villain's reasons why the villains are up to no good. I get "Hired". So someone is paying him to do this.

Fourth roll is for Complications. I get Underground. Which is... okay I guess. The complication table is a bit swingy; there's as much chance of the authorities interfering as there is of being hurled into outer space.

I need a potential victim. A few rolls later I have Spirit Deborah Planque, a Master Gizmoteer. 

This all seems a but much for Dahlia so I decide to keep Gargoyle in reserve. Just in case. And if things go too easy in the other direction I might be able to kill off use the Iron Goth as backup for the fash.

The address wasn't some swanky office building or posh store but a building site. Ms Fury stalked through the concrete pillars and slabs. Keen hearing picked up voices deep within the bowels of the unfinished structure. Fury descended down towards what would one day be a subbasement. 

The dark room was lit by sweeping beams from about half a dozen flashlights. In them she could see a metal table that had been overturned, and blueprints scattered over the bare concrete floor. Most of the beams illuminated a concrete pillar behind which she was sure their intended victim was hiding.

She counted seven criminals, one of whom had shoulders wide enough to deserve their own postcode; no way that was natural. All armed with cricket bats. And 5 dogs; Dobermans. A clowder of cats, of equal numbers, had gathered themselves around her as they always seemed to when she was patrolling the night. Stray domestic cats were hardly a match one on one for a dog of that size, but she could get them to distract and confuse. She was wildly outnumbered, but if she kept moving and focused on the big guy she should be able to demoralise and break the group. All she needed to do was take him down fast. She stepped off the beam on which she was crouched and plunged towards her foes.

Round 0: Fury burns all her actions for the round to slam Alpha for 32 damage. He rolls 3 to dodge, so fails.

Alpha staggers under the impact, dropping his cricket bat, but doesn't fall. 

Round 1: Initiative for the round: Alpha 14, Fury 22, Spirit 14, Mook #1 13, Mook #2 19, Mook #3 20, Mook #4 11, Mook #5 18, Mook #6 3. Dogs are out of play; waiting for instructions. Cats are weighting for the dogs to act.

First Action: Fury unleashes her claws and goes for Alpha's face.
She rolls 24 (18+6) and does 30 points of damage. Alpha fails to dodge again, with a roll of 1.

Meanwhile Mooks #1 through #3 moves left to get eyes on their target. Mooks#4 through Mook#6 move right. 

Their target, Spirit Planque, is dressed in what look like motorcycle leathers and remains in the shadows.

Alpha finally gets to punch his opponent.

He rolls 20 (18+2) for 13 damage. Fury uses her claws to parry with a 25 (17+8).

Second Action: Ms Fury goes for another slash.
17 (11+6) for 22 damage, 11(8+3) for a barehanded parry, followed by a Roll with Blow to reduce the impact; 21 (15+6) for half damage.

Mook#3 points their pistol at Spirit and lets off a shot.
8 (4+4), which in this system is enough to hits, for 10 damage. Oddly there's the sound of a ricochet. 

Mook#2 is undeterred and rushes forward with their cricket bat raised.

Mooks #1 and #2

Spirit finger guns and a bolt of energy blasts out at Mook#3 from the tip of her right index finger and...

22 (18+4), hits for 12 damage. Ouch.

Mooks #4, #5, and #6 are closing in from Spirit's left. Mook#1 hangs back behind #3. 

Alpha is trying to back away towards his bat. Taking his action as movement.
"Will someone get this bitch off of me!" he growls, and then whistles to bring the dogs into play. 

Third Action: Ms Fury stays with him. Slashing again.
15 (9+6) for 20 damage vs. 14 (11+3) for barehanded parry. Rolling with blow for 13 (7+6). He takes every point. He's at 94 SDC remaining, which is basically the mid point for him. He hasn't touched her.

Mook#3 pokes at his scorched clothes and the burned skin beneath before deciding to respond to his boss, and runs towards where he and Ms Fury are duking it out. He's hurting, but he's had worse. Cat#4 attacks Dog#4 before it can act.
15 (12+3) strike vs 20 (16+4) dodge. A miss. 

Mooks #4 and #5

Mook#2 reaches Spirit and swings. Clunk.
10 (9+1) vs 5(1+4) parry for 5 damage.

Spirit responds by punching her. 
18(16+2) vs 18(16+2) parry.
But Mook#2 deflects her with the bat.

Mook#5 has come in from Spirit's left and swings.
23(20+3) vs 17(13+4) parry. For 8 damage
Spirit reacts to the attack which should have blindsided her. Almost like she has some sort of enhanced perception. Or something.

Mooks #3 and #6

Dog#1 rushes forward and grabs Alpha's bat in it's jaws. Ready to deliver it. Dog#5 leaps at Ms Fury.
9(5+4) vs 13(5+8). Only to be pushed away.
Dog#4 follows suit.
15(11+4) vs 15(7+8). To same effect.

Alpha grabs his bat from Dog#1 without so much as a "Good Dog".

Mook#1 reaches Ms Fury and takes a swing.
9(6+3) vs 9(1+8). More by instinct than skill her bat is deflected by the catsuit clad crimefighter.

Cat#2 lashes out at Dog#2
18(15+3) vs 8(6+2) for 5 damage.

Mook#4 goes for Spirit, but is parried.
16(15+1) vs 16(12+4). 

Cat#5 follows after Dog#5 and Cat#1 follows after Dog#1. Dog#2 pounces at Ms Fury and grabs her arm in its jaws.
23(19+4) vs 18(10+8) for 7 damage. 
Dog#3 tries likewise. But is knocked aside.
12(8+4) vs 23(15+8). 
Cat#3 pounces at Dog#3.
22(18+4) vs 7(5+2), for 6 damage.

Finally Mook#6 draws a bead with his gun and gets a good look at his target. Suddenly he wishes he had a bigger gun than a Glock, as he gets a good look at his armoured opponent. He lets off a shot on spec. 
7(3+4), a flat out miss (as ranged attacks need 8+ to hit). 

Action 4: Ms. Fury... holy shit... 

Look I'm down to... well action 3 took me a day to work through. I've already wasted two weeks when I forgot how many characters (at this stage 19) are involved in this fight and focused just on Fury and Alpha. 

This system doesn't work well when it's just one person carrying the load.

And now Blogger's formatting has f-d up. I'm done with this for now. Palladium needs to be revised and I don't have the spoons or brain cycles spar to do it right now. I need a better system.

So join me next time when I look at other superhero systems.

Heroes Unlimited: Phenomenal Paragons: Experiment: The Alpha

 Dutch Lamb always knew he was destined for greatness. It just took a while to find him. He didn't just sit around like some loser waiting for it. No he went to university, read physics, got into extreme sports and fell into the wrong crowd. He didn't actually graduate but instead went into a life of crime, working for the mob. His destiny found him when he assisted another "mob scientist" with an experiment which intended to create mutant dogs as shock troops for the Mob. Something went wrong and Dutch was bathed in radiation. Which somehow resulted in him gaining super-abilities of his own. Now he works freelance as The Alpha.

This is the seventeenth character in my Phenomenal Paragons series. The introduction to which is here. It is inspired by Jacob Pisson's World's Strongest series, here.

This is the second character inspired by a recent (Feburary 2021) discussion on a friend's Discord regarding the Marvel characters of Snowflake and Safespace.

I've always seen the Experiment class as the default for Heroes Unlimited. If you're not any other class, then you go with Experiment. It shares a lot with Super Soldiers, and I thought I'd written up an Experiment already because of the number of times I've generated a super soldier for this project.

As with almost every other class there's a list of charts to roll against to help define the nature of the experiment and what it did to the character. 

• My first roll is on the Nature of the experiment. Which is essentially what was being messed with when this happened. In this case it involved radiation/energy which the character was exposed to.
• The second roll is on the Type of experiment. Which is essentially what were you trying to achieve when this happened? In this case it's an accident. As in they were trying to do something else and have no way of replicating it.
• The third roll is for the number and type of super abilities. I go with 4 minor and 1 major. Because I can.
• The fourth roll is for the side effects of the experiment. These are permanent. You get one roll and done. The chart in the main rules is kind of short and a bit boring so I use one expanded to include fan-made side-effects that I added to, to make up to 50 different options. It can be found here.
  I roll up "New Life Form" (43 on that chart). This gives me a random number of mutations and a roll on one of the tables for Aliens. I use the fan-made Mutations table from before and accidentally do the high average rather than the low average. I get Exceptionally Stocky and Broad which gives him superhuman strength and makes him weird looking; Predatory Instincts which makes him dangerous, and Angelic Face which makes him pretty.
  The roll on the table from the Aliens class gives me "High Gravity" worlder. Which gives him superhuman strength. 
• The fifth roll is to identify the organisation that sponsored the experiment. I get one that is both secret and criminal.
• The final roll is for the character's status with the sponsoring organisation. I get: "Allowed to leave on good terms".

For his major power I want something that says "leader of the pack" and so I pick Animal Abilities: Canine. This gives him a pack of 5 canines to lead. As well as a bunch of other things too.

This One

For his minor powers I go with Extraordinary Affinity and Extraordinary Beauty. Both of these make it far easier for him to manipulate people. Also he's built like Barret Wallace or that Rob Liefeld picture of Captain America. So he needs all the help he can get. 

Physical Perfection also makes people think he's more powerful than he actually is, on top of a bunch of other very useful bonuses.

I also pick Vocalisation as his final power. Not only can his voice be heard over half a mile, but it improves his ability to be command others. His bark is literally worse than his bite.

For his education I roll on the improved chart as normal and get 3 years of college and trade school. Unfortunately I immediately learn his trade is "Professional Thief".

Rounding out his character I roll for his alignment, getting "Anarchist". He's another misogynistic, racist, SoB. Perfect to lead (?) the White Knights. (I'm not saying all anarchists are misogynists and racists; just this character).

So putting this all together...

Name: Dutch Lamb
Super Identity: The Alpha
Team: White Knights
Level: 1 Experiment
Height: 6'4", Weight: 273 lbs, Age: 26.
Alignment: Anarchist
Disposition: Arrogant misogynist; looks down on everyone who isn't a Super. Or white. Or male.
IQ 11, ME 11, MA 29, PS 27*, PP 13, PE 15, PB 39, Spd. 178
Hit Points: 25, S.D.C.: 187, P.P.E.: 20.
(*Superhuman Strength)

Experimental Superpowers: 
Nature of Experiment: Radiation/Energy
Type of Empowerment: Accidental
Super Abilities: 4 minor, 1 major
Side Effects: New Life Form
 Mutation 1: Miscellaneous Mutation: *Stocky & Exceptionally Broad. 
 Mutation 2: Animal 2:Predatory Instincts.
 Mutation 3: Face: Angelic Face
 Physiological Modification: Heavy Gravity.
Sponsor: Secret. Criminal.
Status: Allowed to leave on good terms.

Animal Abilities: Canine:
Extraordinary Affinity: 
Extraordinary Beauty: 
Physical Perfection: 
Vocalisation: Amplify Voice range 1/2 mile, Wider Vocal Range & Command range 100', 

Skills: 
Natural Skills: 
Charm/Impress 98%, Mimic Sounds/Whistles 70%, Modulate Voice 86%, Recognise Personal Scent 56%, Recognise Scent 70%, Track 50%, Trust/Intimidate 96%.
Scholastic Skills: 
Advanced Maths, Athletics, Basic Maths, Body Building, Boxing, Chemistry, Climbing, Computer Ops, Demolitions, English Language, English Literacy, Hot Wiring, HTH Martial Arts, Locksmith, Mountaineering, Palming, Parachuting, Photography, Physics, Pickpocket, Pilot Automobile, Pilot Truck, Pilot Motorcycle, Prowl, Read Sensors, Running, Safe Cracking, Seduction, Streetwise, Surveillance Systems, Swimming, W.P. Pistol.
Secondary Skills: 
Breed/Train Dogs, Diplomacy, First Aid, Land Navigation, Navigation, Pilot Sailing, W.P. Blunt, W.P. Improvised, W.P. Knife, W.P. Shield.

Saves:
Coma/Death: +5%
Harmful Drugs/Toxins (15+): +0
Horror Factor: +0
Insanity: +0
Magic (Spells 12+, Circles/Wards 13+, Ritual 16+): +0
Perception: +1
Poison (Lethal 14+, Non-Lethal 16+): +0
Psionics (15+): +0
Possession: +0

Combat: 
Initiative: +4
Attacks per Round: 2+3
Strike: +2 (+3 w/thrown knife, +3 w/blunt weapons)
Damage: +12
 1d4 Athletic Strike
Parry: +3 (+4 w/blunt weapons; +1 additional w/shield)
Dodge: +2
Roll with Punch: +6
Pull Punch: +3
Critical: Nat. 20

Benchmarks: 
Carrying Capacity: 5,400 lbs (2.7 tons); Lifting: 8,100 lbs (4 tons).
Stamina: Carry Max 60 minutes, 30 minutes while running or fighting. Lifting 15 rounds (225 seconds; 3.75 minutes).
Ground Speed: 125 mph for 15 minutes. (31.25 miles)
Swimming Speed: 81 yards (243ft.) per round for 15 minutes. (2.76 miles)
Leaping Distance: 29' high and 58' broad with a running start. 17'5" high and 29' broad with a standing start.

Background:
Dutch Lamb would like to think that he grew up on the streets and his powers were deserved and earned through his own hard work. But the truth is his family are just common upper middle class racists and he's a crook.

Dutch never had a holiday of adventure on the Blyghton Foundation's dime, and he's always felt robbed. (Some of them found buried treasure, and they kept it!) And he's never inherited anything as nice as a Spanish Quarter mansion, like that bitch he went to school with, Dahlia Drake. Although this isn't the reason he turned to criminality and, uh, social injustice.

He's just that sort of spoiled arsehole.

He leads the Ennor cell of the White Knights through force of personality rather than any real skill. But you know how the fash' are shallow and undiscerning when it comes to leadership. Show them a pretty face and a shouty voice and they get weak at the knees.

So join me next time when I out this joker up against my favourite hero so far. They'll be fighting like cats and dogs when... 

Ms. Fury Vs. The Alpha!

Updates

 Sorry I've not been posting as much as I'd like but... well things continue to be difficult for everyone. My health has been worse than normal. Both physically and mentally. With no help on the horizon and only a looming and impossible to complete deadline. For getting the house sorted. 

So the blog has fallen by the wayside. I've not even been having fun on the new PC. I got into Elite: Dangerous back when it was on sale, but since found it too much like having an actual job. Although if I could earn a million quid for an hour's work in a comfy environment far from others, with minimal risk, and be back home in time for tea; in real life I'd do it in a shot.

I've had to abandon Odysseus Sector for Traveller as my backups hadn't; so Olea, my dead laptop/tablet, took pretty much everything I had with it.
I'm going to come up with something else Traveller wise at some point and share it here with you.

I'm thinking about doing NaNoWriMo this year; I've been toying with writing a LitRPG (yeah I know) for a few years now. I started trying to use Google's Voice to Text stuff a few years back. I got a few thousand words into a story before running out of steam. Going back to reread it at the beginning of this year I realised that the problem was I'd started the story at least a year early, setting-wise. I just have to design a magic system, setting stuff and an actual story.

Otherwise everything is pretty much running along as always.

Heroes Unlimited: Phenomenal Paragons: Imbued Hero: Gatekeeper

 While everyone believes themselves to be special as a child, most grow out of this by their teens. But not everyone. Jonty Clayton always thought he deserved better in life, despite being relatively well off, and was able to find like minded individuals online. Encouraged by these people he sought to take what he felt he deserved. Which resulted in him getting arrested and on a register. While in prison his cell mate hypnotised him. Surprisingly he unlocked super abilities. Now no cell can hold Jonty, no door can bar him; but he can bar others as The Gatekeeper.

This is the sixteenth character in my Phenomenal Paragons series. The introduction to which is here. It is inspired by Jacob Pisson's World's Strongest series, here.

This character was inspired by a recent (Feburary 2021) discussion on a friend's Discord regarding the Marvel characters of Snowflake and Safespace which were introduced to the New Warriors comic back in March of 2020. Snowflake and Safespace are "psychic-er" twins. One of whom is non-binary and a cryokinetic (Snowflake) and the other generates force-bubbles to defend others (Safespace). They're people of colour and pretty heavy handed LGBT representation. The discussion got around to what their villainous counterparts would be called. In the end we came up with the names and concepts of the "Gatekeeper" and "Alpha Male". Naturally this is my take on Gatekeeper with The Alpha coming next.

The Imbued Hero gets their powers from an imbuing agent. Like a drug or something. This gives the character a limited amount of time to get up to their super stuff. This being Palladium there are a number of d100 charts to role on to generate these aspects, Which are expressed as questions. Refreshingly it says I can just pick from them. So naturally I roll on them.

• The first aspect is the nature of the imbuing agent. I roll Hypnotism/Brainwashing. Which is interesting. Somehow the character needs to post hypnotic trigger to go into power mode.
• The second deals with how addictive it is. I roll the maximum. Which is to say "Debilitating and Deadly". So if the character doesn't have their fix (or use their power) at least once every day then they could die from "system shock". So in this case if they don't use their trigger at least once a day they could die. From what? Power build up?
• The third question is who can use the imbuing agent to gain super abilities. In this case I get "...only the... hero". Which suggests the power is inherent to them, but either locked or controlled by post hypnotic triggers.
• The fourth asks who can make the agent. I get "Only those instructed by the... hero". This tells me that while he knows his trigger, he can't use it on himself and has to teach it to others to access his powers. This makes him dependent on a team.
• The fifth question asks how long each "dose" of agent lasts. I get 2 hours. 
• The sixth asks how frequently the agent can be taken and I get "...As needed or desired".
• The final step is how many super abilities and I get two major and two minor. Which is good as that's how many I need to do what I want to do with this character.

The crux of the gatekeeper power is this: I want the character to be able to link any door or gate to any others that are within range, or that they've been to. As long as they are linked either side is connected to the other and moving from one top the other will be just a matter of stepping through the door.

• The minor power of Doorway allows a character to open a door through any wall they touch that's five foot thick or less.
• The minor power of Window allows a character to look through one window and see out any other window within range.
• The major power of Gateway permits a character to open a portal to anywhere in the world, as long as they have the location memorised.
• The major power of Portals allows a character to open portals to anywhere within range, but nobody can see through the portals thus created.

By combining these four and changing things up a bit I can get what I want. 

1. Gatekeeper can create a doorway/gateway on any surface and link it, or any pre-existing doorway/gateway to within any other doorway/gateway...
2. ...Within Portals range...
3. ...Or further to any one of (3 at first level) previously memorised locations. I choose their old prison cell (because being able to dump his opponents there is amusing), their base of operations, and I'll leave the third slot open for mission/adventure specific locations.
4. They can focus and look through their doorways.
5. Since I'm limiting both Gateways and Portals I give the character an ability to manipulate the locks on doors they touch. It's automatic but not instant.

Okay let's put things together.

Name: Jonty Tobin Clayton
Super Identity: The Gatekeeper
Team: White Knights
Level: 1 Imbued 'Hero'.
Height: 5'8", Weight: 200lbs, Age: 21
Alignment: Miscreant
IQ 11, ME 11, MA 11, PS 14, PP 11, PE 13, PB 12, Spd 14
Hit Points: 18, S.D.C.: 49, P.P.E.: 10

Imbuement: 
Nature of Imbuing Agent: Hypnotic Conditioning
Addiction: Debilitating: Must use at least once every 24 hours or suffer withdrawal. 10% chance of death by shock every time they go into withdrawal.
Who can use: Just Gatekeeper.
Who can make: Anyone instructed by Gatekeeper.
Dose Duration: 480 rounds/120 minutes/2 hours.
How Often: As often as needed.

Superpowers: 2 minor, 2 major
"Gatekeeping" (Doorways, Windows, Gateway, Portals)

1. Can open a doorway in a wall by touching the wall, which can penetrate up to 5' of wall. Created doorways are up to 10' high and 4' wide. (Dur: lvl rnds; 1 action to activate. Must remain in contact)
2. Can look through any doorway within sight and look out of any other doorway within range [100'+(lvl-1)x10'], as if they were the same doorway. (Dur: lvl min; all actions)
3. Can connect any two doorways within [300'+(lvl-1)x30'], but can't look through them. Other side of doorway looks normal. Those who pass through without expecting it will be disorientated for 1d4+2 rounds. (Dur: 1d4 rnds, unless doorway ceases; 1 action)
4. Can connect any two doorways on the planet, as long as they have been through at least one of them before. Can only recall [lvl+2] locations at any one time. Can also connect to any doorway within range as 2. or 3.
5. Can automatically lock and unlock conventionally locked doors and gates with a touch.  No lock picking tools needed. Lockpicking/Locksmith/Safecracking skill for unconventional locks is considered 98% (1 action/rnd until lock picked)

Skills: 
Natural Skills:
Lockpicking 98%
Scholastic Skills: 
Advanced Maths, Art (Computer Graphics), Athletics, Basic Maths, Botany, Boxing, Business & Finance, Cardsharp, Computer Hacking, Computer Ops, Computer Programming, Dieting, English Language, English Literacy, History (General), HTH Expert, Law (Business), +Language, +Literacy, +Literacy, Pickpockets, Public Speaking, Research, Sport, Streetwise, Streetwise (Drugs), Writing.
Secondary Skills: 
Accounting, Business Management, Computer Repair, Entrepreneurship, Palming, Pilot (Automobile), Streetwise (Darkweb), W.P. Archery, W.P. Blunt, W.P. Bolas.

Saves: 
Coma/Death: +0%
Harmful Drugs/Toxins (15+): +7
Horror Factor: +0
Insanity: +0
Magic (Spells 12+, Circles/Wards 13+, Ritual 16+): +0
Poison (Lethal 14+, Non-Lethal 16+): +7
Psionics (15+): +0
Possession: +0

Combat:
Initiative: +0
Attacks: 2+2
Strike: +0 (+1 Blunt)
Damage: +0
 1d4 Athletic Strike
 2d4 Bolas
Parry: +4
Dodge: +3
Roll with Punch: +6
Pull Punch: +0
Disarm: +0
Critical: Nat.20

Benchmarks: 
Carrying Capacity: 140 lbs; Lifting: 280 lbs.
Stamina: Carry Max 52 minutes, 26 minutes while running or fighting. Lifting for 13 rounds (195 seconds; 3.25 minutes).
Ground Speed: 9.8 mph for 13 minutes (2 miles)
Leaping Distance: 3'6" high, 7' broad with a running start. 2'1" high, 4'2" broad with a standing start.

Background: 

Jonty Clayton thought he deserved more than his privileged middleclass upbringing brought him. He fell in with a bad crowd online and ended up in the far-right undercultures of incels and white supremacy. Eventually he tried to act on his 'wants' and was caught, arrested and put on a register. Doing prison time his cell mate hypnotised him, awakening super abilities in the young man. The two escaped and Jonty found himself on Ennor. Getting in touch with contacts on the island he hooked up with the White Knights, a team of racist arseholes. 

While Jonty knows his trigger and can teach it to others, but can't use it on himself. He also can't remember who it was who implanted the trigger and escaped from prison with him.

Now wanted by the authorities Jonty has become an a terrorist and criminal with his fascist allies.

Join me next time when I finally present you The Experiment.