[PAH] Themed Characters

[Jkeown]

Character Theme

Some characters might, in their travels, come across clothing or costumes that compliment their lifestyle, outlook or mutation set. A little research might dig up some spotty information on the theme and before long the character is wandering the desert dressed in a Ronald Reagan mask, tattered 3-piece suit, he’s carrying a stuffed chimp and gunning down “Evil Empire” agents. Other Ronald Reagan or Dead President themed characters like his style, and give him a bit of preference in dealings and leeway in passage through their territory. Some theme groups are so keen on this they provide the equivalent of “Right to Shelter”

 

Characters may start with a theme. This may or may not cost points, and may result in bonuses to Reputation or Hunteds. If you want to change your theme, you’ll have to poke around and find the proper trappings. The only look that doesn’t convey advantages is the “Dusty Wasteland Goofball” theme, because everybody looks like that.

 

Some possible themes:

Rockabilly: This is ripped off Six String Samurai so obviously I won't try to hide it. Get a pompadour, a guitar and some nice shoes. Dig up a decent suit and learn to play that axe, son... Other Rockers will "dig" your style, if you can pull it off. A quick Persuasion roll using that 1957 Hollowbody Six string might convince them to join the battle against the Knights of Genetic Purity, or it might just get you a meal and a warm patch of floor for the night.

 

Visual Kai: The right (outrageous) make up, a silly dress and a huge blonde wig gets a girl (or guy, secure in his sexuality) a rep bonus among the Goth Lolita crowd, the Anime Fanciers or other Cosplay type groups. The image in my head of a dozen Goth Lolita's charging a biker gang firing full auto is too much to ignore...

 

Dead Presidents: Ranging from a business suit and nice hair to a Nixon mask and a reel-to-reel straped to your back, the Dead Presidents theme is a reputation cult. They won't help you fight, but they'll find some poor bastards to go into battle for you. They adopt names like "Tricky Dicky" and "Dub-ya."

 

SCA: While lots of folks wear chain mail in Gamma HERO, few do it with such "medieval cool." Heraldry, quaffing meade, jousting and eating the roasted legs of unidentifable birds are the order of the day for these folks. None of them know what the letters mean any more, but placing high in a jousting tourney gets you drunk and fed every night for a month or two. Oh, and they know plenty of skills of a primitive nature as well. They call each other "M' Lord" a great deal and have titles that never existed "Earl of Sonora," "Duke Rippington of Lost Angels" and the like.

 

Law Enforcement: A salvaged police uniform and a gun are all you need. A car, painted black and white, goes a long way to getting protected and served by these folks. They like to "enforce the Law" whatever that might mean.

 

I know others can think of more themes... what'cha got?

[Susano]

Re: [PAH] Themed Characters

 

One could watch The Warriors for ideas. Possibly the best idea would be The Yankees -- guys in pinstripe baseball uniforms with bats and caps. They barnstorm PA America, putting on baseball games in exchange for a little food and shelter. Oh, and those bats are really good in a fight.

 

Oh, and another --

 

Cosplayers: These guys (and girls) dress like characters from popular culture. But this being PA Hero, they tend to stick to the more logical choices -- meaning a lot of guys in serepes and cigarillos, or girls in BDU pants, tank tops, and assualt rilfles. Not to mention the hordes of gunslinging anime types.

[Chris Goodwin]

Re: [PAH] Themed Characters

 

Cosplayers: These guys (and girls) dress like characters from popular culture. But this being PA Hero' date=' they tend to stick to the more logical choices -- meaning a lot of guys in serepes and cigarillos, or girls in BDU pants, [b']tanks tops[/b], and assualt rilfles. Not to mention the hordes of gunslinging anime types.

 

If she's driving a tank, what else would she wear?

[Susano]

Re: [PAH] Themed Characters

 

If she's driving a tank' date=' what else [i']would[/i] she wear?

 

Colonial Marines APC

[BNakagawa]

Re: [PAH] Themed Characters

 

the Raider Nation: Silver and Black clad weekend warriors take over some national guard armories and defend their turf!

 

The Kiss Army: good for a cold war scenario gone wrong.

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: [PAH] Themed Characters

 

The Six-Shooter Samurai: Men and women who carry homemade, finely-crafted for the available technology and materials black powder revolvers . You don't get in if you're a mindless killer, although your skills are often quite deadly; rather, you have stepped yourself in a code of personal honor that places your own conscience as the highest authority. This conscience is so highly developed that it counts as a Psych Lim; never start a fight but always finish it, use your guns and skills only against those who do wrong, and protect the "dirtmen" whenever possible because without them everybody starves, and never accept any reward you cannot carry on your back beyond hospitality. The best of these have Gun-Fu skills that are the stuff of legend.

 

The Messengers of God: after a Big Catastrophe, most people would tend to believe that the lord has abandoned Humanity. You are not among them. You could hold to any faith, but your guiding principle is that as long as there is one decent human being on the Earth God's light still shines in the world. You are traveling phiosophers and ethical teachers, trying to reinstill hope in despearate times.

 

Traveling Docs: You are a medical practitioner, mainly self-taught, who makes a set of rounds from settlement to settlement treating whatever illnesses or injuries present themselves. Using such treatments as homemade antibiotics and alcohol, herbs gathered from local areas, and your own ingenuity you keep people alive who would otherwise die.

Motor Convoyers: With access to a vehicle (that you've modified with armor and weapons), you maintain a run among surviving settlements transporting people, cargo and information. By necessity, your vehicles must frequently find themselves fighting bandits and other robbers (including fighting your way through the territory of local warlords). The roads you drive are maintained by crews who collect tolls to support themselves and their families; other "tolls" are taxes collected by local authorities, the value of which is determined by the authority in question. As a driver/gunner, you frequently have to decide who to pay and who to fight.

[Susano]

Re: [PAH] Themed Characters

 

The Messengers of God: after a Big Catastrophe' date=' most people would tend to believe that the lord has abandoned Humanity. You are not among them. You could hold to any faith, but your guiding principle is that as long as there is one decent human being on the Earth God's light still shines in the world. You are traveling phiosophers and ethical teachers, trying to reinstill hope in despearate times.[/quote']

 

And here's your vehicle:

 

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: [PAH] Themed Characters

 

I must credit Leslie Fish for suggesting the last two things I mentioned. The traveling Doc archetype is the protagonist of her song-story "Blue Bread Mold" (her recipe for homemade penicillin -- whether it would actually work is as controversial as whether her song can really teach you how to make "Black Powder and Alcohol".) And "The Old El Paso-Albequerque-Flagstaff-Phoenix Run" inspired the Motor Convoys. Fish has frequently stated that she would have loved to have lived in an aftermath where her creed that "Freedom's wild and woolly -- we don't want it civilized" holds true.

 

Fish's survival sentiment is that you don't need laws or governments, but that you do need ethics. And that just as those who are greedy and power-hungry will use force to seek their aims, those who are not must be able and willing to use force to stop them.

 

Or, as in the case of the protagonists of "Rhododendron Honey", cunning. "Rhododendron Honey" is the story of an independent, anarchic agricultural community that is visited by a group of "soldiers" trying to re-establish government. Of course, to the eyes of these villagers they're just thieves and thugs, so rather than resist they loudly welcome them, have a grand feast in their honor -- and then poison the lot and dump the bodies down a dry well. The song ends with the hope that the rest of the thugs will finally get the message and leave them alone, because this is the third time in a year they've had to do this.

[BNakagawa]

Re: [PAH] Themed Characters

 

I think I still have my AADA membership card somewhere...

[clsage]

Re: [PAH] Themed Characters

 

And here's your vehicle:

 

 

Perfect for disciples of St Attila of Antioch,

the keepers of the Holy Hand-grenade.

 

-Carl-

[Susano]

Re: [PAH] Themed Characters

 

Perfect for disciples of St Attila of Antioch,

the keepers of the Holy Hand-grenade.

 

-Carl-

 

It's on my list of things to do a character sheet for.

[shadowcat1313]

Re: [PAH] Themed Characters

 

And here's your vehicle:

 

 

 

lessee... looks like a centurion hull with the turret replaced by a fixed mount gun, and an open MG mount at the rear. extra body for the built up but lousy armor on the church itself

 

then again what bits of entertainment are hidden in the church?

 

gettting an image of that top mini minaret thing either disguising a verticle launch missile, or being a radome

[Susano]

Re: [PAH] Themed Characters

 

I was going to make it an M1-A1, with three MGs across the back. The church is built over the turret and is extra space with BODY and DEF all its own. I just need an M1-A1 HD file to start hacking up.

[Matt Frisbee]

Re: [PAH] Themed Characters

 

Let's not forget the Abbey of St. Liebowitz -- preservers of forgotten tomes of knowledge and other information. The dress code is pretty easy but the bravery factor in Neo-Luddite society would be very high.

 

If you're feeling really in tune with nature you could always go for the Neo-Tribal look -- watch the kids in Beyond Thunderdome or in Lord of the Flies for ideas of how it might work.

 

And last but not least, if beasts of burden have survived, how about a good new-fangled Mutant Hoe-Down with cowboy motifs and old school shooting irons? Sort of like Blackstarr meets The Postman...

 

Matt "Yeah-I-forgot-the-medication-today" Frisbee

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: [PAH] Themed Characters

 

Colonial Marines APC

 

Heck, if you're looking for post-holocaust weirdness you might find the comic Tank Girl interesting. A neo-punk drives a tank around (where she gets fuel or ammo is beyond me) Fighting the Power, along with her friend Jet Girl. There was a tacky, silly, and somewhat fun movie made of this one.

 

And one could describe Dominion Tank Police as a sort of post-holocaust setting with Humanity on an inescapable death march that they can only cope with by resorting to sheer nihilism. Once the rest of the air goes bad, the future will belong to the mutants who have adapted to it (like Baku) and the machines that don't need clean air to breathe (like the Puma Sisters).

[Susano]

Re: [PAH] Themed Characters

 

I'll also point out that in Dominion, the seas have turned to sand.

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: [PAH] Themed Characters

 

I'll also point out that in Dominion' date=' the seas have turned to sand.[/quote']

 

Man, whatever we did to the planet in that series was totally ****ed up. I guess Shirow-sensei was in a gloomy mood when he dreamt up that particular world. I mean, Matoko Kusanagi lives in utopian conditions by comparison.

[Susano]

Re: [PAH] Themed Characters

 

And the air is often unbreathable due to the toxins in the atmosphere (or whatever air-borne factors required the filter masks). I'm not sure if he was in a gloomy mood, however, as the original Dominion reads a lot like over-the-top cop action/parody. There is the warning about science getting out of control (with Baku leaving he planet to fund a better society) but it is very secondary. The follow-up, No More Noise, is pure cop action (and will probably never see a another episode....).

[shadowcat1313]

Re: [PAH] Themed Characters

 

ok, heres my idea for the XM-101 Abrams "Bully Pulpit"

 

Abrams mobile church

 

Player:

 

Val Char Cost

45 STR 0

13 DEX 9

 

20 BODY 3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3 SPD 7

 

 

 

 

12" RUN 0

2" SWIM 0

0" LEAP 0

Characteristics Cost: 60

 

Cost Power

Weapons Systems

100 1) 120mm Main gun: Killing Attack - Ranged 8d6 (vs. PD), Indirect (Same origin, always fired away from attacker; +1/4), Increased Maximum Range (6,750"; +1/4), Armor Piercing (+1/2), 64 Charges (+1/2) (300 Active Points); OIF Bulky (-1), Limited Arc Of Fire (60 degrees; -1/2), Real Weapon (-1/4), Crew-Served (2 people; -1/4)

2) .50 (M2HB HMG): (Total: 157 Active Cost, 60 Real Cost) Killing Attack - Ranged 3d6 (vs. PD), +1 STUN Multiplier (+1/4), 105 Charges (+3/4), Autofire (10 shots; +1) (135 Active Points); OAF Bulky (-1 1/2), Limited Arc Of Fire (60 degrees; Front mount in belfry; -1/2), Real Weapon (-1/4) (Real Cost: 41) plus +2 OCV (10 Active Points); OAF Bulky (-1 1/2), Real Weapon (-1/4) (Real Cost: 4) plus +4 vs Range (12 Active Points); OAF Bulky (-1 1/2) (Real Cost: 5) [Notes: (x3 number of items)

 

1 mounted on each corner of the rear deck, and one in the front belfry]

14 3) German Version Smoke Grenade Launcher: Darkness to Sight Group 4" radius (40 Active Points); OIF Bulky (-1), 4 Continuing Charges lasting 1 Turn each (-1/2), Real Weapon (-1/4)

24 4) +18 DEF, Hardened (+1/4) (67 Active Points); OIF Bulky (-1), Ablative BODY Only (-1/2), Real Armor (-1/4)

Movement Systems

3 1) Ground Movement +6" (12" total) (12 Active Points); OIF Bulky (-1), Fuel Dependent (fuel is Very Common; must refuel Once per 6 Hours; -3/4), Only On Appropriate Terrain (-1/2), Custom Modifier (Real Equipment; -1/4)

Sensors and Commo

14 1) Millimeter Wave Radar: Radar (Radio Group), +2 to PER Roll, Discriminatory, Increased Arc Of Perception (360 Degrees), Telescopic: +19, Difficult To Dispel (x2 Active Points; +1/4) (46 Active Points); OAF Bulky (-1 1/2), Sense Affected As More Than One Sense [very common Sense] (-1/2), Custom Modifier (Real Equipment; -1/4) [Notes: Salvaged from a crashed longbow apache helicopter]

5 2) High Range Radio Perception (Radio Group) (12 Active Points); OIF Bulky (-1), Custom Modifier (Real Equipment; -1/4)

2 3) Nightvision: IR Perception (Sight Group) (5 Active Points); OIF Bulky (-1)

2 4) Nightvision: UV Perception (Sight Group) (5 Active Points); OIF Bulky (-1)

3 5) Advanced Optical Periscopes: +4 versus Range Modifier for Sight Group (6 Active Points); OIF Bulky (-1), Custom Modifier (Real Equipment; -1/4)

Operations Systems

29 1) Fire Suppression System: Dispel Fire Powers 12d6, all Fire powers simultaneously (+2) (108 Active Points); 2 Charges (-1 1/2), OIF Bulky (-1), Custom Modifier (Real Equipment; -1/4)

11 2) NBC Protection: LS (Immunity All terrestrial poisons and chemical warfare agents; Safe in High Radiation; Self-Contained Breathing) (22 Active Points); OIF Bulky (-1)

Powers Cost: 267

 

 

Cost Skill

4 +2 with Ranged Combat (10 Active Points); OIF Bulky Fragile (-1 1/4), Custom Modifier (Real Equipment; -1/4)

1 +1 with Mechanics (2 Active Points); OIF Bulky (-1), Custom Modifier (Real Equipment; -1/4)

Skills Cost: 5

 

 

Cost Talent

1 Absolute Range Sense (3 Active Points); OIF Bulky (-1), Custom Modifier (Real Equipment; -1/4)

1 Bump Of Direction (3 Active Points); OIF Bulky (-1), Custom Modifier (Real Equipment; -1/4)

Talents Cost: 2

 

Total Character Cost: 334

 

Pts. Disadvantage

15 Physical Limitation: Cannot wade or swim (Frequently, Greatly Impairing)

Disadvantage Points: 15

Base Points: 200

Experience Required: 119

Total Experience Available: 0

Experience Unspent: 0

 

it gives the term "Bully Pulpit" a whole new meaning

[Jkeown]

Re: [PAH] Themed Characters

 

I'm going to be using your Abrams tonight... I'm renaming it to the "Cathedral of St Abrams." The episode's lynchpin NPC was supposed to have gone there... but they won't be told exactly what it is...the PCs will track her to it's last known position when a number of Bad Guys attack.

 

They'll learn where the Naughty Mutants have taken Honey DiJon, a member of the White Hand Healer's Alliance, and have to rescue her.

 

I think the priest in the tank should have a good military name... Father Schwartzkopf or something...

[Susano]

Re: [PAH] Themed Characters

 

My version is the House of Abraham. I haven't done a charcter for it (yet) but will.

[shadowcat1313]

Re: [PAH] Themed Characters

 

just realized something, should we replace one of the MG's with a Mk.19 Grenade Launcher?

 

what else would you use to launch "Holy Hand Grenades"

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: [PAH] Themed Characters

 

[b]Marla Jacoby - The Black Thunder of New Omaha[/b]

[b][u]VAL[/u]   [u]CHA[/u]   [u]Cost[/u]   [u]Total[/u]   [u]Roll[/u]      [u]Notes[/u][/b]
12    STR     2   12      11-       HTH Damage 2d6  END [2]
18    DEX     24   18      13-       OCV 6 DCV 6
14    CON     8   14      12-
14    BODY    8   14      12-
13    INT     3   13      12-       PER Roll 12-
18    EGO     16   18      13-       ECV: 6
18    PRE     8   18      13-       PRE Attack: 3 1/2d6
18    COM     4   18      13-
8    PD      6   8             8 PD (0 rPD)
6    ED      3   6             6 ED (0 rED)
4    SPD     12   4                 Phases:  3, 6, 9, 12
12    REC     18   12
35    END     4   35
27    STUN    0   27
6    RUN      0   6"                END [1]
2    SWIM     0   2"                END [1]
2    LEAP     0   2"                2" forward, 1" upward

[b]CHA Cost: 116[/b]


[b][u]Cost[/u]   [u]MARTIAL ARTS[/u][/b]
3      Defensive Shot:  1/2 Phase, -1 OCV, +2 DCV, Range +0, Strike +2 DC
8      +2 Ranged Damage Class(es)
5      Distance Shot:  1+1 Phase, +0 OCV, -2 DCV, Range +6, Strike +2 DC , +1 Segment
5      Offensive Ranged Disarm:  1/2 Phase, +1 OCV, -1 DCV, Range +2, Disarm, +4 DC to Disarm
4      Offensive Shot:  1/2 Phase, -1 OCV, -1 DCV, Range +0, Strike, +6 DC
4      Quick Shot:  1/2 Phase, +1 OCV, +0 DCV, Range +0, Strike, +4 DC
4      Trip:  1/2 Phase, -1 OCV, -1 DCV, Range +2, v/5, Target Falls
1      Weapon Element:  Handguns

[b]MARTIAL ARTS Cost: 34[/b]

[b][u]Cost[/u]   [u]SKILLS[/u][/b]
3      Acting 13-
3      Combat Driving 13-
10      +2 with Ranged Combat
3      Deduction 12-
7      Fast Draw 15-
1      Inventor 8-
3      Lipreading 12-
5      Rapid Attack (Ranged) 
3      Riding 13-
3      Sleight Of Hand 13-
4      Survival (Temperate/Subtropical, Desert) 12-
3      Tactics 12-
0      TF:  Two-Wheeled Motorized Ground Vehicles
3      WF:  Small Arms, Early Percussion Firearms
6      Weaponsmith (Firearms) 14-

[b]SKILLS Cost: 57[/b]


[b][u]Cost[/u]   [u]TALENTS[/u][/b]
3      Absolute Range Sense
8      Combat Shooting
3      Lightsleep
4      Mounted Warrior (Ranged Combat)

[b]TALENTS Cost: 18[/b]

[b][u]Cost[/u]   [u]EQUIPMENT[/u][/b]
     [i][b]Masterwork Revolvers: [/i][/b]Killing Attack - Ranged 1 1/2d6; OAF Expendable (Very Difficult to obtain new Focus; -1 1/2), 12 Charges (-1/4) [Notes: (x2 number of items)]

[b][u]Value[/u]  [u]DISADVANTAGES[/u][/b]
10     Distinctive Features:  Style Not Concealable, Noticed and Recognizable, Detectable By Commonly-Used Senses, Detectable by Large Group
0     Normal Characteristic Maxima
5     Money:  Poor
20     Hunted:  The American Reconstitution Government 8- (Mo Pow, NCI, Harshly Punish)
20     Psychological Limitation:  Hunts the Killer of her Master (Common, Total)
20     Psychological Limitation:  Code Of The Gun-Bushi Common, Total

[b]DISADVANTAGES Points: 75[/b]

Base Pts: 150
Exp Required: 0
Total Exp Available: 0
Exp Unspent: 0
Total Character Cost: 225

 

Maria Jacoby is an example of a Six-Gun Samurai. A third-generation survivor, Maria's father apprenticed her at an early age to a master Gunsmith who taught not only how to make the finely-crafted weapons of the Gun-Bushi but also the skills to use them -- and the Code behind them.

 

Then, just as she was about to be awarded her pistols, an order came down from an organization called the American Reconstitution Government disarming the Gun-Bushi. One of their agents went to the smithy/dojo in New Omaha to enforce the order and killed Maria's master in a one-on-one gun duel. Before Maria could take her revenge upon the stranger with the hooded face, he left.

 

The ARG exercises little authority in the areas that were once Kansas and Nebraska but claims dominion over all of North America. Maria was unable to claim her Master's guns (the stranger had taken them), so she made her own special pair and became a wandering knight-errant of the Plains. She divides her time between trying to track down the stranger with the hooded face, aiding Plainsmen threatened by bandits or ARG agents (between which she sees little difference) and continuing to hone her skills. Although her Code prevents her from accepting monetary rewards or any goods she cannot carry on her back for her aid, at various times people have lent her the use of biofeul-powered motorcycles on jobs, and she has become quite adept at fighting from their saddles. Were she to lose her guns, it would take her weeks, and a lot of effort, to forge a new pair that is up to her standards; the only guns she will carry that are not of her own making would be those of her late Master should she ever recover them.

[shadowcat1313]

Re: [PAH] Themed Characters

 

one of these monsters in the hands of a militant church of the door to door variety... convert or else?

 

"Knock... knock... knock, Candygram!"

 

looking back at the original picture, it looks like something out of a Warhammer 40K game... leading a Sisters of Battle formation

[bubba smith]

Re: [PAH] Themed Characters

 

The Kiss Army: good for a cold war scenario gone wrong.

or better yet KISS itself

btw whats PA HERO?