Around the World With A New Character Each Week

[tribe]

I've started a blog because everyone else seems to have one, but I didn't really feel like I had much to contribute on a philosophical, current issues platform. So I was looking at my atlas and wondering about all those poor little heroes and villains in far away places who never get to see the light of day.

 

And I had an idea (which has probably been done before, but what the hey!).

 

I'll set up a blog where I will post a character from each of the 193 countries in the back of my atlas - one character a week.

 

I felt pretty good.

 

And then my son was throwing dice around - the D6s, the D20s... it was a great game of catapults and the knights were going everywhere... anyway, I digress! I saw the dice and thought back to my tabletop gaming days which were long, long ago.

 

And I thought I might as well have fun with the project and bring in some dice rolling. So I came up with eight steps to building a character.

 

Hope this makes sense. The steps are below.

 

The reason I wanted to bring this here was that I'm happy for anyone who feels like taking the characters or pictures, and adapting them for their own campaigns. If you ever needed a character from Albania, well, now I have one.

 

I'd also like feedback on the characters. Room for improvement, etc.

 

Anyway here are the guidelines I'm using:

 

Step One: Pick a country, following the list in my atlas. No cheating, no skipping.

 

Step Two: Roll 1D6 to determine if I'm creating a single character or something else.

1-4 Single Character

5 Organisation

6 Team (roll 1d6+1 for the number of characters involved)

 

Step Three: Roll 1D6 to determine gender.

1-3 Male

4-6 Female

 

Step Four: Roll 1D6 to determine Alignment.

1-2 Hero

3 Vigilante (deliberately breaks the laws)

4 Neutral (or having their own agenda)

5-6 Villain

 

Step Five: Roll 1D20 to determine Archetype.

1-3 Brick

4-6 Energy Projector

7 Gadgeteer

8-10 Martial Artist

11 Mentalist

12-13 Metamorph

14 Mystic

15 Patriot

16 Powered Armour

17 Speedster

18 Weaponmaster

19 Skilled Normal or Mastermind

20 Roll Twice

 

Step Six: Roll 1D6 to determine Character Points.

1 150 points (100 Base + 50 Disadvantages)

2 250 points (150 Base + 100 Disadvantages)

3 350 points (175 Base + 175 Disadvantages

4 350 points (200 points + 150 Disadvantages)

5 450 points (300 points + 150 Disadvantages)

6 600 points (400 points + 200 Disadvantages)

 

Step Seven: Roll 1D6 to determine Experience Points.

1-3 No Experience

4 2D6 XP (2-12XP)

5 4D6 XP (4-24XP)

6 8D6 XP (8-48XP)

 

Step Eight: Roll 1D6 to determine Era.

1-5 Modern Era

6 Other Era (Roll 1D6 Again)

 

1 Golden Age

2 Silver Age

3 Bronze Age

4 Iron Age

5 Future Age

6 Alternate Earth (Roll Again For Alternate Earth Era)

 

 

Oh yeah, and then I'll create the picture. I'm not a professional artist, so don't expect miracles, but I can create a decent picture and colour it (my shading sucks, but anyone who knows me can attest to that!).

 

The blogsite is: This Mutant Life

 

So far I have completed a villain from Afghanistan and a Vigilante from (Bronze Age) Albania.

[tribe]

#1 MUGAHID (Afghanistan)

 

The first character was Mugahid, an energy blaster in the tradition of Cloak and the Shroud.

 

 

Character Sheet (HTM)

Hero Designer File (HDC)

 

Dice Rolls

Step One: Afghanistan

Step Two: (3) Single Character

Step Three: (2) Male

Step Four: (6) Villain

Step Five: (5) Energy Projector

Step Six: (5) 450 points (300 points + 150 Disadvantages)

Step Seven: (6) 35 XP

Step Eight: (4) Modern Era

 

The Blogsite is This Mutant Life

[tribe]

#2 DOVE (Albania)

 

The second was a very low powered vigilante from the Bronze Age (circa 1983). She was also a metamoprh according to the roll so I gave her the ability to transform into a dove.

 

She's more of a detective, sneaky kind of vigilante rather than a confrontational one - especially considering her defences.

 

 

Character Sheet (HTM)

Hero Designer File (HDC)

 

Dice Rolls

Step One: Albania

Step Two: (1) Single Character

Step Three: (4) Female

Step Four: (3) Vigilante

Step Five: (13) Metamorph

Step Six: (1) 150 points (100 Base + 50 Disadvantages)

Step Seven: (3) No Experience

Step Eight: (6) Other Era (3) Bronze Age

 

The Blogsite is This Mutant Life

[Gallus]

Re: Around the World With A New Character Each Week

 

Maybe, instead of having Mugahid aware and in control of his powers, you have the dark shadow spirits using him as a puppet to attack in the Earth Dimension. Mugahid wouldn't know that his body was being used to make such attacks, but he might begin to suspect it after waking up several times with torn clothes and no memory of the past few hours.

[David Johnston]

Re: Around the World With A New Character Each Week

 

Algerian power armour? Oy.

[tribe]

Re: Around the World With A New Character Each Week

 

Maybe' date=' instead of having Mugahid aware and in control of his powers, you have the dark shadow spirits using him as a puppet to attack in the Earth Dimension. Mugahid wouldn't know that his body was being used to make such attacks, but he might begin to suspect it after waking up several times with torn clothes and no memory of the past few hours.[/quote']

 

Would you recommend that as a game mechanic or just a character point? I guess it could be done with No Conscious Control.

 

I really like the idea, especially because it can allow Mizhar al-Aafiya, the person, to be rather reasonable. I'll make the edit tonight.

 

Consider yourself repped - and thanks.

 

Ben

[OddHat]

Re: Around the World With A New Character Each Week

 

Great project, and good luck with it.

 

I'm having trouble with the links to the character sheets on your blog, though the links here work correctly. The Blog links all seem to lead to .xml versions of hero designer files.

 

Dove - Sad back story, well done. Mainstream comics almost never deal well with Heroes in countries that have collapsed into chaos or that are controlled by criminals. One suggestion: She's very delicate as you've written her up, and her best attacks aren't going to do much more than knock one or two normals out at a time or break an arm, which isn't going to mean much to the type of foe you have her going up against. She's pretty much stuck with a low level Bronze Age power set in an Iron Age story. You might consider giving her either much more active, explicit support from the crime families (ie, she does scout work and then in come the death squads), or something on the lines of a Mental Transform or Mind Control to let her deal with her targets. Also, her Dove form could probably use some Desolidification (Super-Dodge). Otherwise, one machine gun burst will end her career.

[tribe]

#3 SATURNE (Algeria)

 

The Algerian Powered Armour.

 

I came up with a guardian for a corporation because the alignment rolled up as Neutral, so this character doesn't go out and fight crime. She waits until crime comes to her territory. I figure there are opportunities for her to assist PC heroes or to get in their way.

 

 

Character Sheet (HTM)

Hero Designer File (HDC)

 

Dice Rolls

Step One: Algeria

Step Two: (4) Single Character

Step Three: (6) Female

Step Four: (4) Neutral (Own Agenda)

Step Five: (16) Powered Armour

Step Six: (3) 350 points (175 Base + 175 Disadvantages)

Step Seven: (6) 22 Experience Points

Step Eight: (4) Modern Era

 

The Blogsite is This Mutant Life

 

Next up is a team from Andorra... great news.

 

And the bad news? The most powerful member is built on 250 points. Can anyone say "Teen Champions"?

[tribe]

Dove's Mortality

 

Dove - Sad back story' date=' well done. Mainstream comics almost never deal well with Heroes in countries that have collapsed into chaos or that are controlled by criminals. One suggestion: She's very delicate as you've written her up, and her best attacks aren't going to do much more than knock one or two normals out at a time or break an arm, which isn't going to mean much to the type of foe you have her going up against. She's pretty much stuck with a low level Bronze Age power set in an Iron Age story. You might consider giving her either much more active, explicit support from the crime families (ie, she does scout work and then in come the death squads), or something on the lines of a Mental Transform or Mind Control to let her deal with her targets. Also, her Dove form could probably use some Desolidification (Super-Dodge). Otherwise, one machine gun burst will end her career.[/quote']

 

Thanks for the ideas Oddhat. I am going to go back and tweak the characters once I've let them settle. Dove was built on 150 points which was always going to be a problem for a vigilante, so I don't think she'll get any more defences in her human form, but I love the idea of the Desolid in her Dove form (great for beating a hasty retreat! And she has Lightning Reflexes for her transformation).

 

I think she would be a character the PCs would need to help out of a nasty situation. Her vulnerability to any kind of conventional firearm makes her a potential hard lesson for the players. Maybe she could be killed as a story hook. Maybe her death spawns Dove II.

 

But I think she'd be okay sticking to the shadows and basically not getting into any more face-to-face skirmishes... although, given her Enraged disadvantage that might be problem. I may revisit that as well!

[David Johnston]

Re: Around the World With A New Character Each Week

 

Well Andorra is the kind of Ruritania that in comics tends to be ruled by a Doctor Doom, or a Black Panther. The "team" could be his kids.

[tribe]

Re: Around the World With A New Character Each Week

 

Well Andorra is the kind of Ruritania that in comics tends to be ruled by a Doctor Doom' date=' or a Black Panther. The "team" could be his kids.[/quote']

 

Good idea.

 

I'll make one of the kids the daughter of the Monarch (mentioned but not fleshed out at this time), and three other rich kids.

 

All three will be out to discredit or embarrass their parents (perhaps even kill them, depending on their relationship).

 

So far I've come up with:

 

Sorceress: 250 point Mystic (daughter of the Monarch)

 

Kid Avalanche: 250 point Speedster

 

Veronica: 150 point Martial Artist (daughter of a famous bullfighter who was killed, leaving her in the care of an evil step-mother).

 

Beezle Bob: 150 point Mystic (kid who can change into a little demon - Beezle Bob / Beezlebub)

[Basil]

Re: Around the World With A New Character Each Week

 

I'll make one of the kids the daughter of the Monarch (mentioned but not fleshed out at this time)' date=' and three other rich kids.[/quote']

Andorra doesn't have a monarch. As said in https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/an.html#Govt

 

>Government type:

>parliamentary democracy (since March 1993) that retains as its chiefs of

>state a coprincipality; the two princes are the president of France and

>bishop of Seo de Urgel, Spain, who are represented locally by coprinces'

>representatives

 

Actually, the "coprinces" have been the "rulers" of Andorra for many centuries; that "since March 1993" refers to the founding of a parliament; before, Andorra was ruled by a rather peculiar set-up involving local and national councils.

[David Johnston]

Re: Around the World With A New Character Each Week

 

Andorra doesn't have a monarch. .

 

Andorra also doesn't have any superheroes. Of course an alternative is to just have a supervillain or hero move there to retire in tax-free bliss, meaning that Andorra now has his super powered kids making it their official residence.

[MilkmanDan]

Re: Around the World With A New Character Each Week

 

Andorra doesn't have a monarch.

Well, maybe not now, but maybe he and Dr. Girlfriend decide to move, settle down, have a few kids . . .

[tribe]

Re: Around the World With A New Character Each Week

 

Andorra doesn't have a monarch. As said in https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/an.html#GovtQUOTE]

 

I just found that out this morning too. Apparently the leaders of Spain and France each held a co-Principality role in Andorra.

 

But I've already made a plan to transform it into a stand-alone monarchy.

 

After the Second World War when the French provisional government went to take control of Andorra again (after the Vichy government) a charismatic man came forward and declared himself the rightful ruler of Andorra. His bloodlines went back to the beginnings of the country and since he backed up his claims with superhuman powers (supers had emerged during WWII) the people decided it was time for a change.

 

Andorra became independent from Spain and France under the rule of this new monarch.

 

Snap forward to the present where that original monarch's grandson is part of the small group of super-teens.

[Lethosos]

Re: Around the World With A New Character Each Week

 

Tribe, would you mind if I tossed you back a mystic Greek super that I've got going? I'd have to write out his backstory and actually finish his Disads (because the GM wasn't worrying too much; he was testing a module for Origins. Man, did I out-wow Chuck Norris in that one. )

[David Johnston]

Re: Around the World With A New Character Each Week

 

Just give Dove a hatred of the family. "Nonconfrontational" doesn't fit with "enraged".

[Basil]

Re: Around the World With A New Character Each Week

 

Andorra doesn't have a monarch. As said in https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/an.html#GovtQUOTE]

 

I just found that out this morning too. Apparently the leaders of Spain and France each held a co-Principality role in Andorra.

 

But I've already made a plan to transform it into a stand-alone monarchy.

 

After the Second World War when the French provisional government went to take control of Andorra again (after the Vichy government) a charismatic man came forward and declared himself the rightful ruler of Andorra. His bloodlines went back to the beginnings of the country and since he backed up his claims with superhuman powers (supers had emerged during WWII) the people decided it was time for a change.

 

Andorra became independent from Spain and France under the rule of this new monarch.

 

Snap forward to the present where that original monarch's grandson is part of the small group of super-teens.

 

 

OK, no problem. I wasn't sure if you knew about the unusual set-up in Andorra or not, and thought I'd give you a heads-up.

 

I like the way you've changed the course of history there.

 

In fact, I really, really like your idea. Time to give you some Rep.

[tribe]

Re: Around the World With A New Character Each Week

 

Tribe' date=' would you mind if I tossed you back a mystic Greek super that I've got going? I'd have to write out his backstory and actually finish his Disads (because the GM wasn't worrying too much; he was testing a module for Origins. Man, did I out-wow Chuck Norris in that one. )[/quote']

 

I'm not up to Greece yet - still in the As, but if you want I can add him when I get there.

 

Part of the fun in this is rolling the dice to come up with random concepts. Loving that!

 

But I'm happy to add other people's characters to the list too, once a country is reached.

[tribe]

Re: Around the World With A New Character Each Week

 

Just give Dove a hatred of the family. "Nonconfrontational" doesn't fit with "enraged".

 

I've updated her character sheet. I took out the Enraged (because that was seriously going to get her killed!) and replaced it with a Watched by the rival family who is helping her out.

 

I also gave her some 'feather darts' and armour while taking away her martial arts.

 

She should be okay now - especially for a 150 point character from the mid 1980s.

[tribe]

Re: Around the World With A New Character Each Week

 

 

 

OK, no problem. I wasn't sure if you knew about the unusual set-up in Andorra or not, and thought I'd give you a heads-up.

 

I like the way you've changed the course of history there.

 

In fact, I really, really like your idea. Time to give you some Rep.

 

 

Thanks!

 

I've written up the team page for the Andorran vigilante-kids. You can look at it here and it has a bit about the change to history. There will be more in Strata's background.

 

Basically there has been two Crown Princes since Andorra became independent after WWII. The first one was a mutant who could change the landscape and the second one (current Crown Prince) could create stone giants and kind of became a villain for a while (got to love diplomatic immunity).

 

The prince in the team is actually the third son so he won't inherit the throne unless his older brothers have accidents. He isn't planning anything in that department yet, but who knows?

[tribe]

Updates - Mugahid and Dove

 

I've updated the characters for Mugahid and Dove thanks to feedback received on these boards.

 

The links should work, but let me know if they don't.

 

Mugahid now has a split personality so his 'human' mind is guilt-ridden and his 'shadow' mind loves destruction. PCs should be able to talk him into pushing his human side over the shadow one if they work out his weakness. No game mechanics there (except OIHID) but it is very comic book, if you know what I mean.

 

And Dove has got herself 'feather darts' to throw at bad guys while staying out of sight, and some body armour. She had to sell off her martial arts though. And her main power is to change into a dove and fly away REALLY FAST! (Desolidification - thanks for that idea!)

[tribe]

#4 New Wave (ola Nuevo)

 

The first team in the project landed in the secluded land of Andorra. I've changed the history of the country in classic comic book tradition, and come up with a group of four teenagers who have banded together with the goal of showing up or humiliating their parents who have sent them to boarding school.

 

The team page can be read here.

 

The team is made up of:

 

Strata

Character Sheet

 

 

Sorceress

Character Sheet

 

 

Veronica

Character Sheet

 

 

Beezle Bob

Character Sheet

 

 

Note: My new scanner seems to be picking up the white paper as a shaded white. Frustrating! I'll try and fix the problem but in the meantime you'll have to endure the quality of the scan as it is.

 

[tribe]

#5 BLACK RHINO (Angola)

 

I was hoping to create a Joker kind of vigilante for this one after I rolled up a vigilante gadgeteer, but I ended up with a Batman-style guy. Born into a warzone, Black Rhino never really had the chance to develop compassion, so he fights crime and corruption on all sides with his own version of cold, austere justice.

 

Character Sheet

Hero Designer File

 

 

I'm happy with how this picture turned out. The energy exoskeleton looks cumbersome but the beams are supposed to be able to bend and crackle as he moves.

 

And here are the original dice rolls...

 

Step One: Angola

Step Two: (4) Single Character

Step Three: (2) Male

Step Four: (3) Vigilante

Step Five: (7) Gadgeteer

Step Six: (3) 350 points (175 Base + 175 Disadvantages)

[B]Step Seven: (4) 8XP

Step Eight[/b]: (5) Modern Era

 

[Predatorpt]

Re: Around the World With A New Character Each Week

 

You've been doing a good work with this idea of yours! Can't wait to see the Portuguese character, lol.

 

I have 2 sugestions for the Black Rhino character:

 

- "Fabrice" is a French name, not Portuguese so you might think about changing that name (maybe to Francisco or Fernando). You might use Fabricio (that's a Portuguese version of Fabrice), but it's mainly used in Brazil.

- Some plot ideas for European gamers could involve Black Rhino coming to Europe in the trail of the "blood diamonds" - diamonds extracted by slaves from rebel-controlled areas, sold outside the legal markets. The money from these "blood diamonds" is then used to buy more weapons; spread more corruption, etc...

Or he could just try and take out some of the legal mining companies - they operate like small nations inside Angola, with private armies (mercenaires, lol) and such.

Just my 2 cents