Gantz Hero

[Edsel]

In the following series of posts I will present my adaptation of the anime and manga Gantz into Hero System. I mentioned this project briefly in the “Your ‘2005’ Pet Gaming Project” thread. Well here is Gantz Hero and I have just about finished. The only thing left to do is maybe create a few of the characters from the anime. I might even get around to writing up an alien or two if I can find the time.

Gantz – Disclaimers

WARNING 1: I highly recommend Gantz, both the anime and the manga, however… The Gantz anime is rated TV-MA due to graphic violence and nudity. The manga is even more graphic than the anime. It is science fiction based in modern Tokyo. The characters are all normal everyday people from a wide cross-section of society. The principle characters in the anime are equivalent to US high school students (aged 16-18).

WARNING 2: This narrative is spoiler heavy. If you intend to watch the anime or read the manga you may want to do that first. I think the anime is more entertaining if you go into it with complete ignorance of what is happing. A big part of the story is the confusion that the characters experience while trying to determine what is going on. What is written below will reveal some of the mysteries. I will give away as little as I can about the plot, but some must be revealed in order to explain the setting.

[Edsel]

NOTE: Updated information appears in blue text.

Gantz (pronounced GAAN-za, or at least that’s how it sounds at the mid-point break in the anime) is an anime that is based, as most are, on a manga of the same name. I first encountered Gantz when ADV began offering the anime for sale in North America. I have since found out that the manga has never been officially translated to English, nor is it offered for sale in the United States. Fortunately there is an excellent fan-done scanlation available on the web.

Gantz himself (or itself) is a large deep black, semi-glossy, opaque, sphere about 4½ feet in diameter. The sphere is featureless and, I suspect, it is a near perfect shape. Gantz rests in an empty apartment in a large complex. There are no furnishings in the apartment. The main roof has glass doors that open onto a balcony. It looks as if it is on the third floor or perhaps higher. There is an entry hallway and a bathroom and that’s about it.

Gantz is more than he at first appears. Inside the sphere are all sorts of interesting things. The sphere has at least three doors, one on each side and one on the back. The front can display all sorts of images and text messages. At first glance none of this is apparent since it looks to be completely featureless, solid and inert. Inside Gantz is a man. The man is naked, completely hairless and in a fetal position. He is connected to the interior workings by cables and rods that are jacked into his head. He also wears a transparent, medical-style, breathing mask. The man is seemingly unconscious. It is likely that he is what controls the sphere and is also the intelligence that relays messages, via the video-enabled, front of the sphere. The rear and side doors open up and telescope outward about four feet. Each of these is a rack holding weapons and equipment. The side doors hold a variety of weapons (two different pistols and a rifle). The rear rack holds small cases that are individualized with names printed on them. The cases hold black skin-tight suits for those whose names are on the cases. Details about the weapons, equipment and skin suits are provided in the Equipment Descriptions section. When the racks are deployed and the doors are open it is hard to believe all of that stuff managed to fit inside there and still leave room for the occupant and the other gizmos.

People are transported into this apartment to do Gantz’s bidding. They are never aware that they have been chosen until they are teleported into the apartment. Each of the “players” is snatched from the jaws of their impending death and deposited into Gantz’s apartment. Whatever they happen to be wearing or carrying comes with them. On the first mission one street thug still has his pistol and one unfortunate had expired while in the bathtub (fan service). In the case of the two main characters from the anime (Kei Kurono and Masaru Kato) they had just been run over by a subway train. They were killed and just as their consciousness was fading they vanished from the subway station and materialized before Gantz.

“Players” is my term for the people who work for Gantz because to me it appears that Gantz is using them as playing pieces in his game. I also use the term “hunters” for the human players. I often refer to missions the characters are forced to undertake as “rounds” or “games.”

When Kurono and Masaru appear in the apartment for the first time there are already nine other people here. For the most part the people are all sitting around baffled since they have no idea what is going on (except for one, but he is feigning ignorance). The people who are in the apartment quickly discover that for some reason they cannot seem to leave the apartment. They don’t know if the doors are locked or not, they just can’t seem to use the doors. They reach for the doorknobs but find that they somehow cannot seem to grasp them. To say the least this is disconcerting to the players. No attempt to exit the apartment will, by any means, will work at this point.

Before long they are joined by a twelfth person, which completes their “team.” They watch as the new arrival is assembled in front of them. A series of beams are projected from the silent orb. The sweeping beams construct the person, a slice at a time. It is pretty graphic but there is no blood split. Each of the people relates how they were just about to die when suddenly they were here. Some are accident victims others were dying of illness there are crime victims and even one suicide. In several cases people that die together are transported here together (so not everybody are strangers to one another). Regardless of injuries or health all the people transported here are now in good health. They might still be overweight, out of shape, old or young but they are healthy.

A few minutes after the party has assembled (and everyone has figured out that they can’t leave) music starts to play. It seems likely that the music is emanating from Gantz, however we later learn that Gantz can make his players hear things.

Gantz now begins to talk to the players using text messages that appear on the front of the sphere. Gantz only talks to the players via these written messages. Occasionally he will respond to players who talk to the sphere, but only once in a while and only if he chooses to do so. He never provides any explanations or chats. He only communicates what he specifically chooses to let them to know. We find out that Gantz is only barely literate. He spells terrible, some letters are reversed and some letters are replaced with numbers that resemble the letter that should have been used. However, his messages are readable and understandable. Typically Gantz starts out with the following message. “Your lives have ended. How you use your new lives is entirely up to me. That’s the theory, anyways.” Of course this message is badly spelled. In the first episode the next thing that appears on sphere is: “You shmucks will now go out and defeat this person.” It shows a picture of the alien enemy for this round along with a few words about its characteristics, likes and a quote. After the players have had a few seconds to think about this suddenly the side and rear doors open and extend. Those in front of one of the doors are likely to be hit (probably not hurt but knocked back). This reveals the weapons and the cases that contain the body armor (skin suits). No explanation of any of this is given to the players.

After a period of time (I’d guess 5 minutes) the players start to be teleported out to the field of play for this round. Hopefully the players have realized that grabbing some weapons and putting on the skin suit is a good idea. Refer to the equipment descriptions for details on the weapons, equipment and skin suits. The teleportation process can be scary. Each person will vanish one at a time gradually starting from the top down. When the top of their heads to the eyes have materialized outside they can see where they are appearing at and can still talk to the others before their mouth translocates. My guess is that the whole process takes about 30 seconds per person. I’d probably trim this time to one Turn in Hero System. The person takes with them anything they are wearing or carrying. While their arms are still in the room they can grope about for things to take with them.

Once the whole team is at the field of battle they have one hour to find and terminate all of the aliens in the playing area (a one square kilometer area). The information that Gantz has provided about the alien opposition is pretty weak. There are usually more of them that the players suspect (sometimes a lot more) and there is usually more than one type. Though all the aliens on a mission are related there are generally several varieties and Gantz has told the players about one of the weaker types. I have never seen an alien leave the playing area, hunters who approach the edge of the playing area are warned by hearing a sound akin to a cellular phone’s ring tone that get louder as they approach the boundary. If they persist and try to leave the field of play their head will burst (device implanted in brain, more info later). If you are killed on a mission you are permanently dead. If you are injured, no matter how badly, you will be made whole and healthy upon completion of the mission. If time expires and not all of the aliens have been eliminated, the surviving hunters are teleported back to the apartment. The players’ are each given enough negative points to put them back to zero. In the example in the manga a character is sent on a solo mission and kills all but one of a dozen or so aliens. At that point he was out of options to defeat the alien and so he ran and hid until time expired (willing to accept death if that is what it meant). Instead as time expired he was teleported back to the apartment and when Gantz scored him it said, “LOSER –46 points, total 0 points. Let’s start over.”

During the mission the players and the aliens are invisible to normal people. This invisibility covers sight, hearing and smell, but not touch. I do not know about radar, sonar, taste, etc. However the effects of stray shots and the collateral damage of their battles are visible to normal people. Though all of the battles take place in developed areas there is only the occasional bystander present. Perhaps this is a matter of the timing of the battles. In the three missions I have seen less than half a dozen bystanders have ever been around to see the damage. No one has ever tried to write a message on a wall to attract someone’s attention (who knows if that would work). However this also means that bystanders can be injured or killed as a result of the battles. One of the suit powers is a form of invisibility that is effective against the other players and the alien enemies as well. Only one character has figured out how to activate this power and he refuses to share the information.

In the mission in where the character lost all of his points, loosing them was not the worst of it. In a few days the alien that he left alive showed up in the real world to seek revenge for its slain comrades. Many bystanders and police officers were killed before the character managed to finish off the alien. Apparently the aliens are content to live their lives among humanity invisibly (apparently they can see the normal humans either, but the hunters can). But if you attack them and then fail to finish them all off the survivors are liable to find out how to access the real world and seek satisfaction. In this case the alien was willing to kill whoever stood in his way. Initially, the alien starting killing people as pay back for its comrades that had died. He hoped that slaying other people would hurt the hunter in the same way the loss of his comrades had hurt him (emotionally).

In one of the later missions it seems as if the aliens can actually see mundane humans who cannot see them. In this case it seems that the aliens ignore the normal people since they pose no threat. Also in this case (and some of the previous missions) it seems as if the aliens don’t spend there free time doing much other than sitting or standing around motionless. Aliens of this type are often in the shape of statues (perhaps a form of disguise). For instance, the aliens from mission three are all statues inside a temple that come to life. In a later mission the aliens are life-sized dinosaur statues that come to life (though some of them have powers beyond mere dinosaurs).

Upon destruction of the last alien the team will start to teleport back to Gantz’s apartment. Anyone who is not dead is restored to health (even limbs are regenerated). Next Gantz hands out scores. On the front of the sphere Gantz spells out, “Time to share the points,” or something similar (remember he spells badly). Next Gantz’s caricature of one of the surviving players will appear along with his nickname for the player. The nicknames are usually humorous or embarrassing. A score will be awarded (based upon aliens slain by that player), along with a line or two of critique for that player. Gantz’s critiques are rarely useful and he often uses them to poke fun or make jokes about those who scored zero points. If you survive but personally fail to kill any aliens you get zero points and are mocked. If you score some points then Gantz will use this space to tell you your current total and how many more points you need to reach 100 and get the “win.”

Once a character reaches 100 points they are given, at least three options to choose from (if there are other options I don’t know them yet):
1. They are freed and their memories of what has transpired are erased.
2. They can choose to receive a “very powerful” weapon (no indications of what these might be).
3. They can choose to revive any of the hunters that have died on a previous hunt. In one case it had a record of a human that was the quarry of a hunt (I won't spoil and tell how that came about).

I have yet to see a player reach 100 points. The highest score I have seen is 90 but that character was killed during the next mission. Mortality among Gantz’s players has been quite high. In the three missions that I have seen (or read): Four of twelve survived mission one, six of twelve survived mission two, the third mission is still underway in the manga but only four of twelve are still alive. There is a dog that technically brings the number of players to 13, but the dog seems to be a joke of Gantz. He never does anything but steer clear of the battle, but he always survives and gets 0 points. Players generally get from 1 to 5 points for each alien they kill (some really nasty ones are likely worth more). In a Gantz Hero game it will be up to the GM to figure out how much specific alien kills are worth.

After points are awarded the apartment can now be left. The survivors are free to return home and resume their lives. They can even take their armor and equipment with them. However in a few days or weeks (when they are alone, or only with other players), they will suddenly feel their hair stand on end. Within a few minutes they will become paralyzed and then they will start to teleport back to Gantz’s apartment for their next mission. New players will be found (snatched from the jaws of death) to fill the ranks out to twelve and the next game will be afoot.

Upon their return all damaged or destroyed equipment has been replaced. There is a hazard to taking your equipment home with you though. If you are away from it when you are pulled in for the next game you’ll have to do without it. One of the character’s wears his armor and pistol home after the first mission and they are still at home on his desk when he has to start the next mission (however there are extra weapons so he still got a new one of those). From that point on the characters are very careful to keep their stuff close at hand or they leave it with Gantz in the apartment.

There are exceptions to the rule of twelve. The team is sometimes slightly larger (13 or 14). In once case only a single character survived a mission and when he was called back to the apartment he was sent out on a solo mission.

Unknown to each of the players, they have a small device implanted in their brain. (Some of the characters start to suspect something like this.) No doubt this device was implanted during their reconstruction. Its one definite function is to act as a cortex bomb. If you do something against the rules or against Gantz’s will your head will be blown off and this time you’ll stay dead. This device may also be how Gantz is able to make the players hear things when he wishes.

Gantz will kill a player if they leave the area of play during a hunt and talking with outsiders about the game is also a good way to get your head blown off. Gantz in a little more tolerant on this last point since it is doubtful that anyone not associated with the game will believe you. However if they do start to believe you, you may not be around much longer to do any more convincing. Another trick that Gantz has up his sleeve is control of the weapons he assigns his players. Apparently if he doesn’t want your gun to fire it won’t. This happens to one player who starts using his gun outside of the game during his time off. The gun functions just fine for a while but when he starts thinking about selling it and later becomes involved in a fight with a street gang his gun quits working and the street thugs kill him.

Are the characters clones, copies or are they the original person? This is one of the mysteries that the characters have to contend with. The theory postulated by the characters in the anime is that they are actually copies. The original person was killed and they are exact copies of that person with memories intact. This is supported by the fact that Gantz, very rarely, makes a mistake and copies someone who survives their brush with death. One character claimed that he had heard of this happening and in fact at the end of the first mission we find out that it has happened to one of the characters. The person returns home only to discover that their original was saved at the last minute and is now in the hospital. The character runs away and tries to start a new life without being discovered (that still doesn’t keep them out of the game). However, in the case where the original did actually die the body has vanished. When Kruono and Masaru are killed by the train and Gantz snags them, their dead bodies vanish in the twinkling of an eye (which causes a bit of a stir in the local press).

I think that about covers everything. If you have any questions feel free to post and I’ll try to answer. If you have been reading this manga or watching the anime and have anything to add or correct, even better.

[Edsel]

Creating Characters:

The characters are supposed to be randomly chosen people who have been saved from their impending deaths. The point spread is therefore whatever you want to make it. I would suggest that you make the players normals since that will capture the feel of the setting more accurately. 25 points plus up to 25 points in disadvantages.

All of the characters seem to come from the campaign city. So unless there are elite commandos (who just got killed) in the campaign city the chances of someone like that showing up are pretty slim. However a police officer, firefighter or gangster would be believable.

What I’d mainly caution about is allowing the players to be too strong. A big part of this type of campaign is terror. The players should fear death. If you are going to try and capture the feel of the anime and manga you’ll need to be pretty ruthless. You do not have to become a killer GM to do this. Each hunting party is made up of 12 individuals, so unless you have a lot of players you’ll have lots of NPCs for the players to befriend and then watch die horribly.

Running the Game:

Mystery is a big part of this. The players should take a while, maybe even several secessions, to figure out what the heck is going on. The players are supposed to be normal people torn from their normal lives and thrown into what is essentially a high tech gladiatorial arena. They are powerless to escape from Gantz’s control and so regardless who they are the only options they have are to kill the aliens and try to stay alive.

Learning Gantz’s unwritten rules are a challenge. You have a couple of options here to prevent characters from getting killed due to ignorance. First you can have one of the NPCs do something that gets them killed. Usually one or two of the new recruits will get themselves killed when they try to leave upon their arrival in the playing area. Or you can have a NPC plant to feed limited amounts of information to the players. This would be an NPC who has already survived a couple of missions and is willing to tell what he has learned.

The aliens can be a creative or weird as you want them to be. The characters in the anime are always being surprised by what the aliens do. They are aliens they don’t really think like humans. Some are fairly easy to slaughter, some are darn near impossible to kill. Some aliens they may be able to shoot dead easily. Others may require a certain method to kill and the players will have to figure it out. In the current issue of the manga the alien they are fighting keeps regenerating and they haven’t figured out that a small circular device that it carries is the key. If they can figure out that they have to destroy that first (or accidentally destroy it) then they can win, otherwise they may be wiped out. Try to keep the players guessing, confused and scared.

The hunters are a varied lot. Some are normal everyday people but a disproportionate number may be scum-bags (gangsters, hoodlums or thugs killed by other criminals or police). There could be drunk drivers, or druggies who have overdosed the occasional suicide, etc. Then there are the good people, innocents killed in accidents and people who have died due to some illness. Imagine how someone who had died after a prolonged bout with cancer would react to being resurrected and restored to health. It might be a kick to introduce a celebrity into the mix to throw a curve at your players.

[Edsel]

X-gun

This is a large pistol that should be pretty hard to conceal due to its girth. Estimated size is 10" long, 6" thick (thickest at the barrel), and 6" tall. No indication of its weight is ever given. It must be fairly light based upon the ease people have carrying it and shooting it (thus the low STR minimum). The weapon has a dual trigger so both the index finger and the middle finger have to be used to activate the weapon. People unfamiliar with the gun may not realize that both triggers have to squeezed at once to fire. The sight is a small video screen (2"x2") on the back of the weapon that displays an x-ray image of the target. This is very useful in identifying if that odd statue or robot is actually an alien in disguise. The sight can be activated without firing the weapon. There is never any depicted incidence of the weapon’s ammo being exhausted (0 END cost). There is no indication of a magazine or other method to hold ammo so it is likely that the weapon has its own internal power cell. When the weapon is fired a ring of emitters extend out from the main barrel and the emitters and barrel glow. There is a delay from the time the target is hit until the effects are felt. This seems to be about 3 seconds. Thus far the manga and anime have not shown any effective defense against the x-gun’s attack therefore I have made it an NND that does body. To me the attack seems to be some sort of microwave gun since it causes the target to explode. A limb or head hit on a human will usually blow the limb off or explode the head. To ensure this level of lethality I have given the weapon 3d6 of damage, easily enough to kill a human on a good hit or completely disable a limb.

X-Gun:
Total/Real Cost: 172/45 Weight: 1.25kg
(Total: 172 Active Cost, 45 Real Cost) RKA 3d6, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), NND (Power Defense; +1), Does BODY (+1) (157 Active Points); OAF (-1), STR Minimum 6 (STR Min. Cannot Add/Subtract Damage; -1), SE, Side Effect occurs automatically whenever Power is used (3 Segment delay in the effect upon the target; -1/2), Beam (-1/4), No Knockback (-1/4) (Real Cost: 39) plus +1 OCV (5 Active Points); OAF (-1) (Real Cost: 2) plus N-Ray Perception (Sight Group) (10 Active Points); OAF (-1), SE, Side Effect occurs automatically whenever Power is used (Reduced Arc 30-degrees; -1/2) (Real Cost: 4)


X-rifle

This is a rifle version of the X-gun. It is about 42” long about 4 inches in diameter. It fluted tube with various bands wrapped around it. Toward the end of the barrel the emitters thicken it to about 6 inches diameter. It has a conventional looking shoulder rest and the sight folds out from the main body. There is a pistol grip handle with the twin-trigger arrangement on the underside. It seems, at best, to by only slightly more damaging than the X-gun (so I gave it one extra DC). Its main advantage is long range shooting. One character that experimented with it said that, "it is accurate to at least one kilometer." There is no indication whether or not the sight provides the same x-ray power as the sight on the X-gun but it seems to be a rifle version of that weapon so I gave it the X-ray capability. The STR minimum is low since the characters seem to have no problem firing it without using the shoulder rest.

X-Rifle:
Total/Real Cost : 211/55 Weight: 3.60kg
(Total: 211 Active Cost, 55 Real Cost) RKA 3d6+1, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), NND (Power Defense; +1), Does BODY (+1) (175 Active Points); OAF (-1), STR Minimum 10 (STR Min. Cannot Add/Subtract Damage; -1), SE, Side Effect occurs automatically whenever Power is used (3 Segment delay in the effect upon the target; -1/2), Required Hands Two-Handed (-1/2), Beam (-1/4), No Knockback (-1/4) (Real Cost: 39) plus +1 OCV (5 Active Points); OAF (-1) (Real Cost: 2) plus N-Ray Perception (Sight Group), Telescopic: +6 (13 Active Points); OAF (-1), SE, Side Effect occurs automatically whenever Power is used (Reduced arc of perception 30-degrees; -1/2) (Real Cost: 5) plus : +6 vs. Range Modifier with X-Rifle (18 Active Points); OAF (-1) (Real Cost: 9)


Y-gun
This is an odd looking weapon. The pistol-grip and back-half of the weapon are about the same size as a conventional semi-automatic pistol. The short barrel has three longer barrels attached to the central unit by spars. The result is what I have dubbed the Y-gun, a pistol with a triple barrel arrangement. Though it is not as big as the X-gun the spaced barrels makes it take up about the same volume of space, if not more. Oddly you usually do not see this weapon until someone is ready to use it. My guess is that the barrels don't deploy (telescope or fold out from the main body) until the weapon is ready so it is probably easer to conceal. The trigger is the standard Gantz double trigger.

The gun has two firing modes: entangle and disassembler. The disassembler mode only seems to work on targets that have been immobilized by the gun’s entangle. There is not much in the way of sights on the gun, but the entangle spreads a little allowing an otherwise near misses to hit (no OCV bonus or penalty).

In entangle mode the weapon fires three rocket-propelled projectiles that are connected by a triangle of unknown fiber. The filament is thin but very strong. Upon hitting the target the filaments lengthen (either they are elastic or more filament is fed out of the projectiles) and wrap around the target. The projectiles quickly bury themselves in the ground (or even concrete) anchoring and immobilizing the target. No alien that has been hit has ever been depicted escaping. No attempt has been made to entangle a giant-sized alien but it seems unlikely that the entangle would work on a target bigger than a single hex. You might be able to use multiple shots to entangle the limbs of giants individually.

Disassembler mode is a mystery of sorts. It either disintegrates the target or teleports them to parts unknown. To use you simply shoot your DCV 0 target with the gun. A beam appears and takes away the victim with sweeping strokes. It looks like a reverse of the procedure that brings new characters into the Gantz Room. The beam extends straight up out of sight. This leads me to wonder if it would work on a victim indoors (I bet it would). Whether the victim is dead or teleported away the effect is the same, they are never heard from again. Nothing has ever resisted this effect so I guess the only defense is not be caught in the entangle.

Y-Gun:
Total/Real Cost: 160/80 Weight: 1.75kg
Multipower, 160-point reserve, (160 Active Points); all slots OAF (-1)
1) Rocket bolos:
Slot Cost: 5u
Entangle 8d6, 8 DEF, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Takes No Damage From Attacks All Attacks (+1/2) (160 Active Points); OAF (-1), Entangle Has 1 BODY (-1/2), Cannot Form Barriers (-1/4), Beam (-1/4)
2) Disassembly:
Slot Cost: 1u
Teleportation 5", Ranged (+1/2), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Usable As Attack (+1), MegaScale (1" = 10,000 km; +1 1/4) (42 Active Points); Limited Power (Only vs targets previously entangled; -1), OAF (-1)


Alien Tracker

The Alien Tracker is akin to a GPS tracker. It is a small device that can be easily carried in a pocket. The detector shows the out of bounds line of the game (usually one square kilometer) it shows the location of the players and the location of the nearest alien to the tracker. The map is equal to a high quality, real-time, aerial photo. It only seems to show the nearest alien (or group). Once the nearest alien is eliminated it shows the next nearest alien and so on. This device also has a timer on it that shows the remaining time in the game. There are numerous controls on the tracker so I think that it must have several nice options but, to date, the only thing the characters have used it for is to show what I have listed.

The map has no descriptions of what the places are. Thus it has Area Knowledge instead of City Knowledge. The Locator detects the location of all of the players in the game (the hunters and the aliens), however certain aliens cannot be detected until they come into play.

It is a GM's fiat when additional aliens will become detectable although there has never been an instance where aliens have surprised a group of hunters by not appearing first on the alien tracker. It is usually a case of, "Okay we got that one, look there's another one on the gizmo." Of course if players don't think to check the tracker the may well be surprised.

Alien Tracker:
Total/Real Cost: 43/20 Weight: 0.10kg
(Total: 43 Active Cost, 20 Real Cost) AK: Game Area (5 Active Points); OAF (-1) 12- (Real Cost: 2) plus +3 with Navigation (6 Active Points); OAF (-1) (Real Cost: 3) plus Absolute Time Sense (3 Active Points); OAF (-1), Limited Power (Only counts down remaining time in the game; -1/2) (Real Cost: 1) plus Detect Players in the game 11- (Unusual Group), Discriminatory, Increased Arc Of Perception (360 Degrees), Range, Sense, Telescopic: +14 (29 Active Points); OAF (-1) (Real Cost: 14)


Skin Suit

The skin suits are the most technologically fantastic piece of equipment the characters will have. They provide defense (armor), a form of invisibility and increased strength (which also includes a boost to running and leaping). The suits are custom tailored for an individual and will fit nobody else. They are literally skin-tight and absolutely nothing can be worn under them, but several characters have worn clothes over them (jackets, pants, etc.). The skin suits cover the entire body (including feet and hands) with only the head being exposed through the high collar. The suit seems to provide protection to the head as well so it might actually be a force field of some sort, however in all other respects it seems like armor. They look like black leather (or latex rubber) with numerous flat metal disks at various joints (one at each wrist, two at the front of the neck under the chin, others down the back, near the waist and other locations). Several of the disks are inset with a crystal or something similar. These crystals seem to have dim human outlines within them and perhaps some tiny text or symbols. It is almost like they are an indicator or gauge of some sort. Specifically the disks at the neck and wrists are this type. The ankles are thick and seem like they must contain devises of some sort (perhaps shot absorbers for super-leaping) there are several disks there as well.

One drawback of the suit is the initial difficulty in learning how to use it (they come with no instructions). With a little effort characters can figure them out since they seem to be thought, or emotion, activated. Those unfamiliar with the suits can sometimes activate certain powers without realizing quite how they did it. I have written-up some house rules for suit operation.

The most major drawback of the suits is their tendency to “go bad.” If the defenses of the suit are over-stressed the suit can burnout, loosing all of its abilities including armor. Fortunately when this happens it is apparent to the wearer as the crystals darken and melt. (Perhaps the crystals are energy cells?) For this reason I have given them a burnout roll 14 or less. If the defenses burnout, all suit abilities cease functioning. In this case I’d call the suit equal to light leather armor and give the character 1 point of resistant PD and ED. Normally the armor protection is very good but there have been several instances of alien weaponry against which they are ineffective.

Skin Suit Defenses:
Total/Real Cost: 105/48 Weight: n/a
(Total: 105 Active Cost, 48 Real Cost) Armor (10 PD/10 ED) (30 Active Points); OIF (-1/2), Activation Roll 14-, Burnout (-1/4), Conditional Power (Does not work if any of the suit's burnout rolls have failed; -1/4) (Real Cost: 15) plus Power Defense (5 points) (5 Active Points); OIF (-1/2), Activation Roll 14-, Burnout (-1/4), Conditional Power (Does not work if any of the suit's other burnout rolls have failed; -1/4) (Real Cost: 2) plus Hearing Group Flash Defense (5 points) (5 Active Points); OIF (-1/2), Conditional Power (Does not work if any of the suit's other burnout rolls have failed; -1/4), Activation Roll 14-, Burnout (-1/4) (Real Cost: 2) plus Damage Resistance (5 Flash Def./5 Power Def.) (5 Active Points); OIF (-1/2), Conditional Power (Does not work if any of the suit's other burnout rolls have failed; -1/4) (Real Cost: 3) plus Physical Damage Reduction, Resistant, 50% (30 Active Points); OIF (-1/2), STUN Only (-1/2), Conditional Power (Does not work if any of the suit's burnout rolls have failed; -1/4) (Real Cost: 13) plus Energy Damage Reduction, Resistant, 50% (30 Active Points); OIF (-1/2), STUN Only (-1/2), Conditional Power (Does not work if any of the suit's burnout rolls have failed; -1/4) (Real Cost: 13) 0

Skin Suit Powers:
1) Strength Booster
Total/Real Cost: 37/15
+25 STR, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2) (37 Active Points); Requires An EGO Roll (-1), No Figured Characteristics (-1/2), OIF (-1/2), Conditional Power (Does not work if any of the suit's burnout rolls have failed; -1/2)
2) Running Enhancement
Total/Real Cost: 18/9
Running +6" (12" total), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2) (18 Active Points); Requires An EGO Roll (-1), Conditional Power (Does not work if any of the suit's burnout rolls have failed; -1/2), OIF (-1/2)
3) Jumping
Total/Real Cost: 18/9
Leaping +12" (2"/19" forward, 1"/9 1/2" upward), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2) (18 Active Points); Requires An EGO Roll (-1), Conditional Power (Does not work if any of the suit's burnout rolls have failed; -1/2), OIF (-1/2)
4) Stealth Mode
Total/Real Cost: 45/22
Invisibility to Sight Group , No Fringe, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2) (45 Active Points); Requires An EGO Roll (-1), Conditional Power (Does not work if any of the suit's burnout rolls have failed; -1/2), OIF (-1/2)

[Edsel]

This the all I have completed so far. Attached to this post is a Hero Designer Prefab with all the equipment. When I have time I may try to design a couple of the characters and/or aliens. But I got a busy week coming up so it may be a while.

[NuSoardGraphite]

I saw the first couple of episodes of Gantz. Its Jacked up!

Whats up with those "Green Onion" aliens?

[Edsel]

I have the first 5 discs in the anime and have watched the first 4 so far. I have also read the manga which is quite a way ahead of the anime. It is still pretty wierd but it is very addictive.

[Curufea]

An interesting series - but the ending is a bit confusing.

A few things-

The X-Guns don't always have delayed effect. Gantz can change the rules (ie Hunt the PC).

Gantz plays musak (ie the lowest type of catchy tunes, early morning radio themes, or elevator music) and tends to write text in l33t style (in the manga at least).

Arousal, as well as anger, can activate a skin suit.

The monsters tend to be iconic for tabloid media and kitsche.

[nexus]

Wild, so its basically some cyborg/computer guy using deceased people to play a live action version of X Com UFO Defense?

[Edsel]

BTW if anybody needs to know what l33t is all about click here. this site give a pretty good low down on what its all about.
In the anime one of the characters mentions that Gantz, "can't spell for sh**." In the manga (the english scanlation at least) all of Gantz's writtings are done in l33t style.

In the manga Kurono has a hard time figuring out how to use the suits powers at first (Strenght and leaping) until he realizes that his strong emotions (anger and lust) seemed to be the key. However none of the other characters seem to have experienced these problems, or at least not to the degree that Kurono did.

Perhaps I should make a note about the variation of the delay the X-Guns effects (I do not recal seeing a delay when the rifle is used for sniping).

If ADV ends the anime with volume 6 I will be sorely disappointed. I know that there were at least 24 episodes (more I think) in the Japanese original. ADV has been releaseing 2 episodes per disc and the collector box will only hold six discs. The discs are selling for less than most anime, but since there are only two episodes per disc that is only fair.

[Edsel]

Wild, so its basically some cyborg/computer guy using deceased people to play a live action version of X Com UFO Defense?

Yep, pretty much. The hunters who live through a couple of games start thinking about it as such too. There is usually one chief alien in each hunt, wether or not this alien is actually the boss the players start refering to it as such. Example: "This ought to be pretty easy now since Kurano already killed the boss for this level." Gantz obviously considers it to be a game since he awards points and such.

There is no indication, so far, as to where Gantz came from. In the manga he started in the room. In the anime he materalizes in the room at the start of the first episode. Since the anime is set in modern day the tech that Gantz has is more advanced than anything that exists in the real world. Either he has alien technology, he from the future, or he is part of some top secret government group with a lot of high tech.

[Curufea]

My personal theory is that Gantz is one of many used by an alien superpower for the purposes of entertainment. There may be additional hunts by other Gantz in other cities (or even in the same city).

As each hunt lasts an hour only - and only covers a 1 km area - they may never know.

The beaming up of the Y-Gun and the frequent "satellite eye view" for the 1km area map/deadzone always suggests to me an outerspace control / ship of some sort. And that Gantz is actually working for something else.

[Edsel]

I have read more of the manga lately and discovered certain things that I did not know when I made the original posting. For instance I know what happens if time runs out. I know what happens when you get 100 points. I have also found out what the true purpose for two triggers on each gun is.

Hopefully I will have the time over the next couple of days to make a few modifications and additions.

[Curufea]

Dang, now you've got me REALLY curious...

[Susano]

Dang you Edsel! I'm now up to Chapter 120+ and totally hooked!

What an utterly bizarre setting!