Photos - need a little character help

[zornwil]

Below will follow a longer post with the character write-up and the HD proposal attached. These are for Jack's Legacy campaign and already sent to him.

 

What I'm having trouble with is a particular Disad - under extreme stress and in particular when fueled by his "fear of failure" his powers go whacky and trigger counter-productively. Kind of like Cyclops' eye-beam when the visor is off, but this is more uncontrolled and is not really a power side effect. It should be a character disad.

 

How would you model that, HERO Assembled? See the Custom Disad below for how I referenced it for now, but that needs to be fixed.

[zornwil]

Re: Photos - need a little character help

 

1. The Facts

 

Wallace Gold is the son of Horatio Gold, the secret identity of the well-known Captain Photon, the mutant who can manipulate light and even create force walls and energy blasts of concentrated light particles. Horatio, though, is also fairly well known as a captain of industry, the founder and still-CEO of Shopping World, one of America's premier mass-merchandise stores, rivaling Wal-Mart. Wallace was born with some, but not all, of Horatio's powers, most likely as a result of genetic dilution as Horatio's wife was a regular human.

 

As Wallace's powers began to manifest just before puberty hit, Horatio realized the importance of teaching his son responsibility. The father had always been domineering in his son's life. Horatio was a self-made man, born to poor farming parents, and resolved to make good in his life. He was a noble man to most, and as an industry leader as well as a hero he tried to do what was right at all times. Unfortunately, though, he was intolerant of his son's "softness" as the son grew up in relative luxury. Horatio was so concerned that Wallace would become more like his "unambitious" parents that he drove the boy too hard. Lessons on handling his powers were no different - as Horatio heard one of his superheroic friends' teenager offspring had become an active superhero, he "hinted" to Wallace to follow that path. In some part Wallace eagerly embraced it - after all, he wanted to please his father. But in large part his heavy-handed father forced him into it.

 

As such, Wallace grew to resent the role. He was a much more academic sort of kid, inclined to study in his room rather than engage in physical pursuits. And in school he was mostly ostracized for being a nerd; withdrawing into his books made life easier. But as he got to know the other teens (he was the youngest of the lot, barely having turned 13) he did enjoy their company, mostly. In fact he found like-mindedness in a couple and learned a lot about how to deal with people.

 

His father's sense of competition rubbed off on him in a way, though, in that he perceived a rivalry with the other kids, a rivalry he felt he was on the losing end of. Certainly some rivalry existed - teens hardly have a strong sense of self - but not to the degree he envisioned. As the "going got tough" and they took on larger challenges, he always felt underpowered and a "bit player". While he socialized with a couple members of the groups, others he remained a bit distant from.

 

As High School completed and he readied for college, he could go to any university he chose, and he chose to go to MIT. He specialized in physics, particularly quantum physics. Naturally, leaving Chicago and becoming absorbed in his studies kept him from adventuring.

 

When he completed his Bachelor's, his father began to demand he come "home" and work in the family business - adding that "you can continue your career here, the city needs you." Wallace wasn't so thrilled with the idea. He hardly considered his studies complete and, after considerable dialogue, finally convinced his father that for his field a PhD was necessary.

 

Upon completion of his PhD, by this time 28, he was one of the world's foremost minds in the world of quantum physics. His father appreciated the son's accomplishments and banished the thought of working in Shopping World. Instead, he used his influence to get him a job working in (insert whatever formidable scientific-oriented private enterprise you like here, your choice), which "happened" to have offices in Chicago. Wallace was displeased - he didn't want to work in the corporate world, he wanted to remain in academia or work for a think-tank of sorts. But he shut up, as he knew that his father was helping, and, besides, he knew that his father wasn't going to readily accept the one thing Wallace would not compromise on - no more adventuring.

 

Horatio was crushed and even berated his son for a "lack of responsibility". Wallace explained that he was hardly self-centered - his work was being leveraged for the good of mankind and it left no time for a superheroing life. He skirted the issue of his perceived inadequacy, but he did press on the point that he was not nearly so powerful as his father. Horatio never agreed and a serious divide arose between them. They still spoke, they were still social, and to say they didn't respect each other would certainly be going too far - but under the surface they had lost some mutual respect and a gnawing bitterness ate at their souls.

 

Wallace has naturally lost touch with most of his former associates - largely out of a way to reject his former life more easily as well as due to his work. Being in Chicago of course he runs into a couple of them with some frequency, but most of the time it amounts to "oh we should do lunch sometime" - but without the lunch ever happening. By now Wallace is ensconced in his career. He loathes being in the corporate world but for the most part he is happy as he does get to tinker and study. They do try to keep him happy, but between bureaucracy and corporate culture there is inevitably some conflict. At some point Wallace seems destined to get back into the academic world.

 

Wallace’s powers have hardly been used since his adventuring days. What he doesn’t realize is that with age they’ve grown more powerful – but unexercised that won’t be apparent at first. In fact, they are so powerful that they exceed his father’s by far. One problem he will experience is that if he isn’t careful they go “critical mass†and trigger a massive and deadly blast. Like Cyclops, he has to carefully watch himself. This means he cannot push his powers, and the limit expressed for his powers on his character sheet is there because he can’t control it beyond that level.

 

As the game begins he’s received a call that Teen Angel is dead. Whereas he had dismissed the attack that left Penumbra (formerly Kid Shadow) in a coma (after all, Penumbra was still adventuring), he now realizes, as his teammate explains, that it’s likely someone is after his old team, the Sidekicks, as clues suggest Teen Angel’s and Penumbra’s attacks were related. He reacts…

[zornwil]

Re: Photos - need a little character help

 

2. Memories – Wallace Gold AKA Photos

 

Wallace opened the unassuming unmarked canvass notebook, the one he’d casually left on the top shelf of the bookcase along with various other personal effects. He briefly thought of how foolish it was to leave there, how his father would certainly – and even correctly, Wallace thought (and then went on to think, “nothing worse than thatâ€) – chide him for such thoughtlessness. But who would even look in his things? Until moments ago, he’d thought surely no one. Since the news of the tragedy, he wasn’t so sure. And so he had picked up the notebook to put it away. To ensure it wouldn’t fall into the “wrong hands†(and he thought of how silly that sounded but that it was true). But as happens so often when one grazes the past, it hurts. A stray paper sticking out of the notebook stuck into Wallace’s flesh, cutting surprisingly deep. A tiny bit of blood came to light – “to lightâ€, the phrase echoed in his head. The blood, the notebook, “to light†– his past in a few words. So he opened the notebook…

 

The pages were yellow with age. He smiled, despite himself (he hadn’t even intended to open it, let alone admit to even the slightest pleasure in doing so). He became a little annoyed at himself for feeling such foolish sentimentality, particularly because… and then he mentally fell silent, unable to think the next thought except for a jumble of images and events that he still couldn’t properly put together. And then he thought to himself, “That’s the thing, it’s not my life. It’s my father’s, that’s why I don’t get it. I just…did what he wanted. That’s what he doesn’t get. I never ran away from it – I was never in it in the first place.â€

 

Still, Wallace ran through the pages, turning them. The first few pages were silly attempts at fiction writing. He’d wanted to be a writer when he was a little kid, something he’d long since scoffed at. It had no practicality and besides, he thought to himself, it wasn’t anything he was good at, anyway. He wasn’t the creative type, he thought, not like “what’s-her-name†on the team. He almost slapped himself for not remembering her name – he’d even had a crush on her back then! Such a silly kid, he thought.

 

Then the worst of it happened – that swelling in his chest, those butterflies in his stomach. “Damn this is so…CHILDISH!†he thought. Then he remembered one thing he could never deny, no matter how he tried. “I was a super hero.†He looked around the cramped library of his condo, embarrassed, and then said it aloud, not out of pride but entirely out of wonder. “I was a super hero,†quietly, softly he said it.

 

And he turned the pages of the notebook.

 

This was “the†notebook. He never did write about how he felt when he found out he had powers, but this was the notebook he was writing his “notes†(he never called it a journal or diary) in at the time. He saw the entry that reminded him vividly:

 

October 12, 1967

 

Bobby took my money again. I don’t care, I know he’s not better than I am. I’m not afraid of him. He’s just a lost soul, he’s more afraid than the other kids, and that’s why he’s a bully.

 

The thing is, I don’t know what to tell dad about needing more money. He just told me I can’t have anymore. He’ll kill me if he knows I let Bobby take money from me. He doesn’t understand, I don’t want to solve this with fighting. I am a pacifist. I believe in the ways of Mahatma Gandhi.

 

Wallace grimaced as he read this. Now he knew what a lie it was. He remembered clearly what happened on October 13th. Bobby met him in front of his house, threatening to beat him up right there. You had to say one thing for Bobby, he had incredible nerve. And he knew human nature – nothing whatsoever could have embarrassed Wallace more than being beaten up right in front of his house with the possibility of his mother or father finding out by witnessing it.

 

He remembered it like yesterday. Bobby echoed something he’d foolishly given up, saying, “Come on ‘Gandhi’, little wussy-boy, come on, let’s see your ‘passive resistance’ in action. Come on!†Then Bobby shoved him to the ground. Wallace remembered the panic he felt. He’d been in fights here and there as a younger kid but by this time thought he’d out-grown fighting, and, besides, those fights had all been “kid stuffâ€, just messing around. This time someone was really going to beat him up. And the truth was that he was afraid, no matter what he’d written in his notebook.

 

“’Panic’, yes, that’s the word,†Wallace thought. He didn’t cry though. He remained in control of his emotions externally even though he really thought something was going wrong inside as he became dizzy. Still, he stood up, turned to Bobby, and calmly said, “We have to do this somewhere else.â€

 

It was Bobby’s laugh that set it off. That laugh, he just stood there, laughing at Wallace. Wallace couldn’t even remember what Bobby exactly said. It didn’t matter, he was being made fun of right there in front of his house even as he tried to reason through the situation. Wallace remembers his thoughts at that moment, ugly thoughts, condemning Bobby as a “beast†and wishing horrible things on him. He lifted his hand, shaking his fist at Bobby. It would have been ineffectual but somehow something happened, and all his childhood embarrassment and rage focused through that fist, and then it happened…

 

A bright flash of light shot out from his fist, striking Bobby in the face and knocking him over. It happened so fast – especially the next part, as his father, just pulling up into the driveway, screeched to a halt and jumped so fast out of the car Wallace swore his father was flying. Actually, he was, as Wallace would later find out. Horatio Gold, Wallace’s father, self-made millionaire and toast of the town, was a superhero. A mutant, even. And so was Wallace.

 

Horatio sent Wallace to his room brusquely, where Wallace fled to uncertainly and sat awaiting what surely must be punishment, he thought at the time. The father made sure Bobby was okay and sent him home. Bobby was so dazed he apparently never knew what hit him. And when his father came into the house Wallace learned the whole truth. His father was Captain Photon, the shining (literally) hero of Chicago.

 

The pages turned…

 

November 24, 1967

 

This is so weird. I met “Teen Angel†and the other three kids. I’m the youngest; dad says I’ll be the toughest, though. I wish he wouldn’t say things like that. And I wish we didn’t have to lie to mom, but I understand. Still, I wished he hadn’t brought me in like that and introduced me as “Private Photon.†I feel like a creep.

 

Anyway, she’s…something else! She’s pretty. She’s smart. She’s I don’t know. I don’t even know what to think.

 

It’s cool – the kids actually have their own meetings without any adults around. Dad let me join in and they talked about actually going out and fighting crime. The other kids all have started or been working with others. Kid Shadow got them together. He’s pretty cool. I think Teen Angel likes him. They probably like each other.

 

Wallace sometimes wondered why he didn’t write down more of what he felt. He knew what he felt then – mild jealousy. Nothing serious, just a symptom of puppy love. But he really did like Teen Angel from when he first met her. Then again, most kids did. She was just that sweet, let alone anything else. Wallace now remembered why he couldn’t remember her name at first – to him and all the others Teen Angel was more her real name than any other. Now…she was really an angel. Despite himself, Wallace started to tear up. He choked back a lump in his throat. He wanted to put the book back down. He wished he’d never answered the phone. He thought to himself, “DAMNIT THIS IS NOT MY LIFE ANYMORE!†Then he corrected himself, “It never was, really.â€

 

Yet the page turned still…

 

January 25th, 1968

 

We NAILED those gangsters! NAILED THEM! And we saved that woman. She was so happy, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone that grateful.

 

We did it as a team – there was a whole bunch of them, at least 30 in that gang. I guess some of us were scared. I wasn’t, but Kid Shadow sure knew what to do. He gave a speech beforehand, like he was a coach or something. Kinda wordy, kinda went on and on, but I have to admit he did get everyone going. I guess it rubbed off on me.

 

I didn’t think I’d even be able to move. After those “light drills†today that dad had me doing I was so sore I could barely move. I know it’s not a game or anything, but dad takes it too seriously. I talked to Kid Shadow; he says his dad doesn’t even care about what he does. Maybe that’s why he’s so cool. But then he told me that he’s pretty lonely actually. I would never have guessed.

 

Anyway, it was pretty cool when dad dropped me off to go out with the Sidekicks. I wish I could hit as hard as Kid Shadow or move as fast as Teen Angel. I’m sure I will, though, I’m still learning, like dad says.

 

I wish I had more time to write, I have to finish this paper now.

 

Wallace thought, “Was I really that naïve?†And then he came across another entry and his eyes froze, locked into the writing…

 

August 20th, 1969

 

Today was not good.

 

Fire Child joined us, like the plan. We went after that bank robber, Big Money, the one that got away from dad a few weeks ago. We were all set to nail him – Kid Shadow was all excited for me. I guess I should have acted more excited, but I just don’t like to act like a kid.

 

Anyway, Fire Child was with us. And we all managed to get set in the right places, we knew just where Big Money was hiding. Kid Shadow was about to give the signal, and I was about to lead the assault.

 

I don’t know what happened. He said he gave the signal, but I didn’t see it. Then Fire Child burst into action – he was all in flames and stuff. He grabbed Big Money, the other kids fighting off the bank robbers. I cast a blinding light on some of the mobsters and they stopped. But that was about it.

 

In seconds Fire Child brought Big Money out and the police were already there. He handed Big Money over. I was inside. I just went home, I snuck off.

 

Then Teen Angel called me and yelled at me, saying how mad they were and scared they were that I was hurt or something happened to me. They’re so stupid, where could I have been? I just left. What was I going to hang around for? Fire Child can do it all anyway.

 

I don’t even really like those guys much anyway. They’re okay, I mean, but they’re all stupid kids, acting like superheroes. I have more important things to do. I am going to be a scientist. I am going to be an expert in photosynthesis.

 

PS – early AM August 21st, 1969

 

My father saw the news. He was all mad that Fire Child picked up “his†bad guy. Then he asked why I wasn’t in the picture with the other kids and where was I. I just told him I had to go home early. I hate my life.

 

Well I would anyway. But I guess that’s stupid. Kid Shadow came up to my window tonight to talk. I was in no mood but he wouldn’t go away. I tried to blind him but then we got into a tussle, nothing serious, but then we had to be quiet when dad yelled, I told him I was practicing. He was pretty surprised so he shut up! I’ll have to remember that one!

 

Anyway, Kid Shadow talked to me about things. I didn’t think about how he feels and how the other guys feel. I know they’re my friends. I know Fire Child was just new to the team and didn’t give me an extra second to go.

 

I still think Fire Child’s a jerk, though.

 

Wallace grinned. He rarely wrote anything with that much emotion, before or since. Then he flipped, without thinking, through the pages. They stopped cold where he had embedded a picture of Teen Angel, autographed. Next to it was the news story, preserved in Mylar, and the diary entry from that fateful day in 1972:

 

December 14th, 1972

 

It’s all my fault.

 

We were helping out the older heroes in a tough battle with those ghoulish grave robbers and they’re “who knows what they’re up to†plot-of-the-week. (I swear, sometimes this is goofier than those 1930s comic books).

 

I set off a bright light to blind them, the usual trick, then recede into the shadows and go all light myself so I can sneak up and pick off the real losers. Ho-hum…but it’s what I do well.

 

Well it’s what I DID well.

 

It went haywire – I couldn’t control it. I’m just too – I’m not a fighter. I’m a thinker. I was thinking of an equation regarding a nuclear reaction, and then it just went haywire –

 

My blast went off but it didn’t focus, the particles hit everyone in their eyes, almost everyone anyway. Teen Angel got it, so did that greasy kid with the lisp. They, those “ghoulsâ€, they also mostly got hit, but a few weren’t.

 

One of them pasted Teen Angel. She laid there for a while. I couldn’t even get over to her. I tried to pick her up but my hands – it’s like they weren’t working, I don’t know what happened. I tried but ….

 

I’m just going to get out of this soon. I have to go to college anyway.

 

The thing is – the thing is she laid there and one of those things jumped in front of me and clawed her – she bled, she bled, blood spurted up. It went right next to me. Then everything got – I don’t know, fast. I was back in action and then I realized the blood was on me. All over me. I grabbed her and…

 

I ran.

 

I ran fast. Far away. I woke her up. She was actually okay. She was mad I took her from the battle. She said she wasn’t some weakling.

 

A weakling like me is what she meant, I guess, whether she knew it or not.

 

That hurt. He remembered that night. But what he remembered most, what he didn’t write – and he wondered why not – was how afraid he was of her wound and that he was afraid of his own mortality. If he hadn’t been so afraid – then or now…

 

He looked at her picture. He remembered her lying there in his arms, bleeding while he felt helpless. And he thought of what her final moments may have been like.

 

Then the sobbing began and he could not stop it. It didn’t end until nothing was left.

 

And then he knew what he had to do. He didn’t care it was 2 AM. He didn’t care at all. He picked up the phone – he had to call an old friend. One of those left alive anyway…

 

3. Notes for later

 

Wallace has a strong sense of obligation, particularly to others. Only rarely does his ego overcome that sense of obligation. As such, he’s naturally hooked into the adventure from the start.

 

More importantly, he’s looking for something to belong to, and now that he’s more secure in himself the grown-up “Sidekicks†are likely to provide the emotional support he’s needed since childhood but was too afraid to seek out then. It will take time, but eventually the taciturn Wallace Gold will come “home†to his former teammates. He’s long been emotionally distant from people, keeping up the wall he built with his father’s help, a wall that made sense to keep others from his secret and made sense for him to hold up against his father. But every person needs somewhere where they feel they can just “be themselves.†Deep down, Wallace wants that more than anything.

 

Complicating matters, though, is that he is not his father’s son, exactly. His life experiences are far different and he sees his father as a distant stone god-like being who feels neither pain nor fear. As such, his own fears are amplified. He fears failure more than anything else; he fears that if his father sees him fail that all of his father’s respect will be gone. Moments of that fear can be devastating.

 

But finally, from his upbringing, he understands the old adage about “with great power comes great responsibility.†He reflects on Teen Angel, both the incident where she was hurt when they were kids and her recent death. He will grow beyond mere guilt and its root cause in his fear of failure to embrace that with his powers he can make a difference – and that he must. With a little help from his friends.

[Bengal]

Re: Photos - need a little character help

 

4d6 Unluck. Hand-wave the specifics.

[zornwil]

Re: Photos - need a little character help

 

Oh and here's the HDC.

[Hermit]

Re: Photos - need a little character help

 

I think I'd go with a variation of Beserk when facing failure/humiliation. The FX being his powers lash out uncontrollaby or go to maximum damage/effect all around him. He can only ride it out.

[zornwil]

Re: Photos - need a little character help

 

I think I'd go with a variation of Beserk when facing failure/humiliation. The FX being his powers lash out uncontrollaby or go to maximum damage/effect all around him. He can only ride it out.

I thought about that. I think so long as it's random it's okay, it shouldn't be QUITE so disadvantageous as an automatic attack on friends. Although a lot of his powers just blind people and such so I suppose it wouldn't be so devastating.

[Hermit]

Re: Photos - need a little character help

 

Well, I'd say it would probably lash out at the closest targets first, be they friend or foe. If in doubt though, you could always see if a -5 points on it would be acceptable since it might not be as bad as a true beserk.

[Super Squirrel]

Re: Photos - need a little character help

 

Zornwil, I hope you (and I) get in. Your character and mine are going to fit well together, especially since I went to Harvard while you went to MIT. My character lives on Cape Cod which means... drunken summer college parties!

[zornwil]

Re: Photos - need a little character help

 

Zornwil' date=' I hope you (and I) get in. Your character and mine are going to fit well together, especially since I went to Harvard while you went to MIT. My character lives on Cape Cod which means... drunken summer college parties! [/quote']

Yeah, hope to see you and Hawksmoor there (not sure who else is applying, no slight intended to others). I don't think Wallace is the drunken party type other than rare occassion, though!

[Super Squirrel]

Re: Photos - need a little character help

 

Assuming that Peter is in, he would only be able to drink something that is Wheat, Barley, or Rice based. Any sort of berry alcohol would hospitalize him.