The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob!

[Michael Hopcroft]

I managed to find another gameable webcomic. The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob! seems to have potential as a setting.

The basic premise is that a mild-mannered newsstand owner in Generictown USA, Bob Smithson has become a true weirdness magnet. Things keep on crashing into his roof, for example. (The lengths he has to go to to get it repaired is a running gag). One of his best friends is an alien queen in a human disguise (her real form is that of a large butterfly-like creature). His newly-minted girlfriend is a genius geneticist. And then there's the result of theirr chance meeting, when his new jar of peanut butter was caught in a collision with her experimental genetic material...

Molly the Peanut Butter Monster - 

VAL   CHA   Cost   Total   Roll      Notes
10    STR     0   10      11-       HTH Damage 2d6  END [1]
15    DEX     10   15      12-       
15    CON     5   15      12-
13    BODY    3   13      
28    INT     18   28      15-       PER Roll 15-
16    EGO     6   16      12-       
18    PRE     8   18      13-       PRE Attack: 3 1/2d6
6    OCV     15   6          
5    DCV     10   5          
4    OMCV     3   4          
8    DMCV     15   8          
10    PD      8   10             10 PD (0 rPD)
8    ED      6   8             8 ED (0 rED)
4    SPD     20   4                 Phases:  3, 6, 9, 12
18    REC     14   18
38    END     4   38
25    STUN    3   25
12    RUN      0   12m                END [1]
4    SWIM     0   4m                END [1]
4    LEAP     0   4m                4m forward, 2m upward

CHA Cost: 148



Cost   SKILLS
5      Science Skill:  Engineering 17-
5      Science Skill:  Chemistry 17-
5      Science Skill:  Biology 17-
5      Science Skill:  Physics 17-
4      Language:  German (completely fluent; literate)
4      Language:  French (completely fluent; literate)
4      Language:  Nemesite (completely fluent; literate)
3      Deduction 15-
3      Computer Programming 15-
9      Mechanics 18-
9      Inventor 18-
5      Systems Operation 16-
7      Security Systems 17-

SKILLS Cost: 68


Cost   TALENTS
5      Eidetic Memory
3      Absolute Time Sense
8      Speed Reading (x1,000)
3      Lightning Calculator

TALENTS Cost: 19
Value  COMPLICATIONS
20     Physical Complication:  Young and Naive (Frequently; Greatly Impairing)
15     Hunted:  Agents Ben and Jerry Very Frequently (Less Pow; Harshly Punish)
20     Physical Complication:  ALWAYS Hungry (Very Frequently; Slightly Impairing)
25     Psychological Complication:  Protects "Dad" and "Mom" (Bob and Jean) (Very Common; Total)
15     Distinctive Features:  Obviously Not a Normal Human (Not Concealable; Noticed and Recognizable; Detectable By Commonly-Used Senses)

COMPLICATIONS Points: 95

Base Pts: 200
Exp Required: 35
Total Exp Available: 0
Exp Unspent: 0
Total Character Cost: 235

Molly is quite the character. She is astonishingly naive (being less than a year old, after all), looks like a pink, furry 5'8" dinosaur-like creature with a peppermint-stripey tail, who looks like this:

MolTurnWeb.jpg

She is also a brilliant example of the concept of nurture over nature. She was raised by the considerate, loving Bob and turned out to be bubbly and enthusiastic about life (which can do a lot of damage when combined with her hyper-genius IQ). She has a "sister" in the form of another Peanut Butter Monster named Galatea. "Golly" was raised as a despised lab experiment and she turned out to be a ruthless megalomaniac.

You can see an amusing bit of errata here.

[bobadventures]

Howdy! I'm Jim Cleaveland, the author of "The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob!" I discovered your post through my stat tracker that showed some visitors coming from this site. This is neat! Thanks for making up stats for Molly!

I'm not familiar with this particular RPG system, but by all means, if you'd like any additional help or information on my characters or their world, please let me know. I'd love to have people role-playing my characters.

-----
The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob!
http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com
"Zounds and jeepers!"

[Kap]

That's pretty neat that you two are now in contact thanks to the power of the Internet.

[Michael Hopcroft]

Howdy! I'm Jim Cleaveland, the author of "The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob!" I discovered your post through my stat tracker that showed some visitors coming from this site. This is neat! Thanks for making up stats for Molly!

I'm not familiar with this particular RPG system, but by all means, if you'd like any additional help or information on my characters or their world, please let me know. I'd love to have people role-playing my characters.

Welcome to the world of the Hero System. The system where a clever enough player can build just about anything. It makes a terrible cup of coffee, though.

A terrible cup of coffee: Succor 0 1/2d6, END, STUN simultaneously (+1/2), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2) (6 Active Points); OAF (Supplies and equipment (coffee, coffeepot, water, etc.); -1), Extra Time (5 Minutes, Only to Activate, Unless it's instant, but that tastes even worse....; -1), Gradual Effect (1 Minute after drinking coffee; -1/2), Side Effects, Side Effect occurs automatically whenever Power is used (Tastes awful, everyone hates it.; -1/2), 6 Recoverable Charges (Can only brew 6 cups at a time.; -1/4) Real Cost: 1

Molly is only the beginning. I'm looking at writing up Voluptua as well, before going to Bob and Jean themselves. The actual Molly writeup was more flavorful than what was conveyed in the posting code because that code doesn't include the descriptive labels that help describe what the character can do in typical writeups. Jim, I can send you the full character sheet if you like exported to a PDF file. Many of use Hero Designer, a Java application sold by the publishers, to do the math and write up their characters, and it exports them into a number of different file formats and displays.

Ironically, the next Hero book in the Kickstarter program is about a character with some slight similarities to Voluptua, though less tolerant....

[Lucius]

Hey! That's MY Terrible Cup of Coffee!

Lucius Alexander

The palindromedary points out that someone else inspired the bad coffee....Dust Raven wasn't it?

[Michael Hopcroft]

Hey! That's MY Terrible Cup of Coffee!

Indeed it is. I will correct the quote now, and hope no offense was given.

[Lawnmower Boy]

Indeed it is. I will correct the quote now, and hope no offense was given.

Don't fight, kids! There's enough terrible coffee for both of you!

[FrankL]

[double post]

[FrankL]

Howdy! I'm Jim Cleaveland, the author of "The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob!" I discovered your post through my stat tracker that showed some visitors coming from this site. This is neat! Thanks for making up stats for Molly!

After I saw the link, I started at the beginning and read through in 3 days. I can't wait to see how Ninjas, Ninjas, Ninjas unfolds!

[bobadventures]

After I saw the link, I started at the beginning and read through in 3 days. I can't wait to see how Ninjas, Ninjas, Ninjas unfolds!

Thank you! I hope you enjoy today's installment! (I'm bushed from drawing it!)

[Michael Hopcroft]

A few questions on the Voluptua writeup that maybe someone can help me with: the way I ready it Voluptua's "human" form is only illusory. Her real body is fragile in comparison, and it is what you would strike were you to hit her. The question I have is would the Voluptua still look human were she to be drugged, asleep or unconscious. That would help me determine whether it's Mental Illusions (Self-Only) or something else.

(For Jim's benefit, Mental Illusions is the power to make people see things as something different than what they are. It's usually purely mental, although you can achieve the same effect chemically or holographically -- I suspect holography is what Voluptua uses because she's a high-tech kind of gal. The more dice in it you have the more convincing the illusion is. Voluptua's disguise is very convincing, even giving the appearance of being able to touch the human form. Well, it would probably even more convincing were it not for the proportions thing, but that's a different Complication.)

[bobadventures]

Sure, you can send that. Do you need my actual email address? It's posted at the bottom of the comic page if you need it.

I'd figure my two cents with Voluptua, if you want them, is that (in D&D terms) she has very high intelligence, wisdom, and charisma, and enormous resources; but as a Nemesite she is physically very fragile, and she does not have Riboflavin's fighting skills to compensate for that physical vulnerability--and making herself look human does not actually make her any more durable. The shapeshifting is done via a gizmo, it is not an inherent ability. And, of course, in her natural form she can fly. (I hope that was helpful and not intrusive).

Thanks again! I'm really stoked that you're doing this and I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with!

[Michael Hopcroft]

Sure, you can send that. Do you need my actual email address? It's posted at the bottom of the comic page if you need it.

I'd figure my two cents with Voluptua, if you want them, is that (in D&D terms) she has very high intelligence, wisdom, and charisma, and enormous resources; but as a Nemesite she is physically very fragile, and she does not have Riboflavin's fighting skills to compensate for that physical vulnerability--and making herself look human does not actually make her any more durable. The shapeshifting is done via a gizmo, it is not an inherent ability. And, of course, in her natural form she can fly. (I hope that was helpful and not intrusive).

Thanks again! I'm really stoked that you're doing this and I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with!

It's very helpful. SOunds like it's still Mental Illusions, with a Focus (the holographic device), a minor Advantage (works while asleep or unconscious, or until she decides to turn it off).

I'll send you an RTF sheet for Molly. Hero/Champions uses a different set of assumptions than D&D, but shouldn't be that difficult to understand.

[bobadventures]

[

I'll send you an RTF sheet for Molly. Hero/Champions uses a different set of assumptions than D&D, but shouldn't be that difficult to understand.

Hi, I looked over the RTF sheet. It's very cool! And I'm glad you included her speed.

I don't recall ever mentioning that she had absolute time sense, though. If I did, could you let me know where? Maybe I did and then forgot.

It's very helpful. SOunds like it's still Mental Illusions, with a Focus (the holographic device), a minor Advantage (works while asleep or unconscious, or until she decides to turn it off).

Well strictly speaking it's not a hologram (unlike Golly's holographic beret)--Voluptua literally does change shape, so as a human she has no wings and can't fly.

I feel a little funny describing it here because I've never given the mechanics of it in the strip yet (so its status as canon feels nebulous to me until I've done that), and this is probably more detail than you need anyway, but: a shape-shifter unit is basically a portable version of the space curvature manipulating tech that makes the bigger-inside-than-outside buildings possible. It creates an envelope of distorted spacetime around the wearer, which can be shaped however you program it, but inside that envelope, your real anatomy is unchanged. The first time Bob saw Riboflavin in human form, he wondered how he could be in space without a spacesuit; when Riboflavin dropped the disguise, we saw he WAS wearing a spacesuit, but he and it had been tucked inside a dude-shaped envelope of distorted spacetime. (I'd figure the TARDIS's chameleon circuit on Dr. Who works kinda like this.) As with the buildings, the disguise can be smaller than the wearer, so you can turn into a midget, or in Volly's case, conceal your enormous wings inside it. (And as long as your disguise's mouth tracks roughly onto your real real mouth, you can eat and breathe okay.)

Aaaanyway, so using it does not boost her armor class, hit dice, con, or strength (pardon the D&D-isms).

Oh, and I just realized, I suppose her DEX would be higher in Nemesite form, because she has two extra arms.

Sorry for being so longwinded!

[bobadventures]

A few questions on the Voluptua writeup that maybe someone can help me with: the way I ready it Voluptua's "human" form is only illusory. Her real body is fragile in comparison, and it is what you would strike were you to hit her. The question I have is would the Voluptua still look human were she to be drugged, asleep or unconscious. That would help me determine whether it's Mental Illusions (Self-Only) or something else.

(For Jim's benefit, Mental Illusions is the power to make people see things as something different than what they are. It's usually purely mental, although you can achieve the same effect chemically or holographically -- I suspect holography is what Voluptua uses because she's a high-tech kind of gal. The more dice in it you have the more convincing the illusion is. Voluptua's disguise is very convincing, even giving the appearance of being able to touch the human form. Well, it would probably even more convincing were it not for the proportions thing, but that's a different Complication.)

Ah, I see you posted again while I was writing my response to your other post. Yep, as should be clear from my description in the other post, the disguise stays in place until she turns the gizmo off.

(Hm, I just realized, I did show her human form taking her boots and gloves off once. Well, I guess she can wear actual clothing over the disguise if she wants to.)