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Magical Girls


Michael Hopcroft

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Originally posted by UltraRob

Instant Change is there to be the trigger to allow all the other powers, which are bought with the Only in HERO ID limitation to function. Without it, she can't change into her costume, "be reborn", and get the powers she needs to triumph over evil!

 

Unforcently, Instant Change, as we know it from 4th Edition, does not exist any longer. Instead, it is now considered a part of Transformation (Cosmetic Transformation). If you, the GM, want to be nice, you can simply give them the power to transform for free, or grandfather the Instant Change power from 4th edition.

 

How this affects magical girls as decribed in your campain, I realy don't know.

 

Steriaca.

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UltraRob, whereas I find your outline of suggested power levels interesting, I think it's a little too weak. I created the Sailor Senshi and they could not function as they do in the series unless they had a higher points. The Sailor Moon RPG book suggested three power levels, one for beginner, intermediate and powerful. Taking Sailor Moon as an example since I mentioned her, there's a definite progression of maturity, experience and power through the series.

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Tech,

 

Well, I think it's a matter of what you plan to throw them up against. :) While I could see raising their "personal power" to 45 or 60 active points if you wanted to give them a little more bang, I still think this is appropriate power level since 13 year old girls just should not have massive stats or skills. I was actually thinking as I made the package that making them 100pt normals was seriously off itself...A 100pt normal is a 1st class nonpowered adventurer, which Sailor Moon is most definitely not to start with. :-/

 

Watching the original SM series myself, I found they tend to function more like magical howitzers rather than front line superhero fighters. A few distract the enemy while the rest chuck energy bolts at them. Most other series are pretty much the same, with varying degrees of fighting skill.

 

Rob

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Originally posted by UltraRob

Instant Change is there to be the trigger to allow all the other powers, which are bought with the Only in HERO ID limitation to function. Without it, she can't change into her costume, "be reborn", and get the powers she needs to triumph over evil!

 

Instant Change only changes your clothes, not your identity (for purposes of OIHID). What you're trying to do is better handled by OIHID or Multiform than Instant Change.

 

I don't know a lot about Sailor Moon, but I don't believe that her clothes are a necessary part of her powers. (Would stripping her of her clothes take away her Powers? That's easily within the definition of OIHID.)

 

If I were you I'd read the FAQ; the general Powers FAQ has a piece on Instant Change right in the beginning.

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Change

 

Whether a Magical Girl has powers out of costume depends on the character concept. In the first episode of Sailor Moon S, a monster destoryed Sailor Moon's tranfpormation pendant (one of the most powerful artifacts in the universe) and Usagi immeidtaely transformed back and had no powers until the pendant was replaced.

 

On the other hand, the heroine of Card Captor Sakura has the same abilities no matter what clothes she wears. She does not have a single costume and transforms the same way everyone else does -- by going somewhere and changing clothes, which given the complexity of her battle costumes usually takes a while. Many of her most important battles were fought in street clothes, and she's even captured a card in her pajamas.

 

How the card got into her pajamas I'll never know...:)

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Originally posted by UltraRob

Tech,

 

Well, I think it's a matter of what you plan to throw them up against. :) While I could see raising their "personal power" to 45 or 60 active points if you wanted to give them a little more bang, I still think this is appropriate power level since 13 year old girls just should not have massive stats or skills. I was actually thinking as I made the package that making them 100pt normals was seriously off itself...A 100pt normal is a 1st class nonpowered adventurer, which Sailor Moon is most definitely not to start with. :-/

 

Watching the original SM series myself, I found they tend to function more like magical howitzers rather than front line superhero fighters. A few distract the enemy while the rest chuck energy bolts at them. Most other series are pretty much the same, with varying degrees of fighting skill.

 

Rob

 

Yeah, it does depend on what your plant to throw at them. No disagreements there. I would however, give Magical Girls some sort of Damage Reduction. Very often, they take a bashing, perhaps getting injured, and keep getting back up. Even Pretty Sammy did that.

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Re: Change

 

Originally posted by Michael Hopcroft

On the other hand, the heroine of Card Captor Sakura has the same abilities no matter what clothes she wears. She does not have a single costume and transforms the same way everyone else does -- by going somewhere and changing clothes, which given the complexity of her battle costumes usually takes a while. Many of her most important battles were fought in street clothes, and she's even captured a card in her pajamas.

 

How the card got into her pajamas I'll never know...:)

 

Since the Japanese like to leave the viewer stumped in so many different anime series, the card got into her bed (not pajamas) some mystical way. I'd presume that the card transformation & getting into her bed where she woke up & found it, occured simultaneously in the real world while she was dreaming it happening.

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Thje Clow card in my Pajamas

 

Originally posted by Tech

Since the Japanese like to leave the viewer stumped in so many different anime series, the card got into her bed (not pajamas) some mystical way. I'd presume that the card transformation & getting into her bed where she woke up & found it, occured simultaneously in the real world while she was dreaming it happening.

 

I was joking. In actuality, it was Sakujra wearing the pajamaas when she captured the card (the very first card she captured,"The Fly").

 

Later on, though, quite frequently "The Mirror" (one it was on her side) disguised itself as Sakura in her pajamas when it was neccesary to conceal a late-night outing.The poitn of this exercise was always lost a little, howverem, since Skaura's big brother could always tell the difference. (it didn't help that Mirror had a crush on him).

 

And get your minds out of the gutter -- Syaoran wouldn't be fooled either.:)

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Another variation

 

Another variation on the magical Girl that keeps coming up in stories like Saint Tail, Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne and, in a reverse take, Man of Many Faces (aka "Please Come, 20 Faces!") is the magical thief -- someone with magic powers and sometimes a transformation who uses them to steal, usually for a good cause. Saint Tail, for example, returns wrongfully appropriated items to their rightful owners, and Kaitou Jeanne (no, her hobby is not crashing into aircraft carriers) seals the demons concealed within centrain beautiful works of art.

 

The series all have certain things in common -- the characters are Hunted both by the police and by someone close to the, usually a classmate or even their best friend, who has no idea of the thief's dual identity. There is a romantic element involved, sometimes involving a mysterious rival and other times something completely different. And the character usually ends up giving up their life of crime when forced to make a choice between continuing their thievery and true love. (the quest for love is an ongoing theme of any magical girl campaign, as any HeartQuest fan will attest.)

 

There are many different ways to build a character like this. A Saint tail-style character has strong magical powers and can do almost anything with them, so she'd probably have a VPP, possibly with the limitation "No powers that cause direct damage". She doesn;t use her powers to fight, she uses them to get into places and evade pursuit. Flight (OAF Baloons) is such a favorite that she might buy it as a separate power. A Kaitou Jeanne type, on the other hand, relies on her acrobatic skills, a few powerful items (like the "Rebond Ball" that turns into a swingline and the pin she uses to seal the demons away), very high DEX and some Martial Arts (Jeanne WILL fight to get past the cops).

 

One trait they all have in common is a tendency to announce their crimes in advance, for various reasons. Sometimes it's because they enjoy the chase (or the chaser!).

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Originally posted by Michael Hopcroft

I was joking. In actuality, it was Sakujra wearing the pajamaas when she captured the card (the very first card she captured,"The Fly").

 

Later on, though, quite frequently "The Mirror" (one it was on her side) disguised itself as Sakura in her pajamas when it was neccesary to conceal a late-night outing.The poitn of this exercise was always lost a little, howverem, since Skaura's big brother could always tell the difference. (it didn't help that Mirror had a crush on him).

 

And get your minds out of the gutter -- Syaoran wouldn't be fooled either.:)

 

Ah, I was wondering if you saw a partial episode and was simply clarifying. The Mirror card has quite a personality for showing up so little. I agree with you - Syaoran is quite the principled guy. Then again, Sakura is quite principled, also.

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Re: 1st Season Magical Girl Template

 

[

1st Episode Magical Girl Package

 

75 base points, 75 pts in Disads.

 

Powers:

 

1) Instant Change. Required: Full Phase Activation, Suggested: Incantations and Gestures. (Should total out to 2 or 3 pts.)

 

2) 30 MAX Active Points of ONE Power of the player's choice, usually Energy Blast, Flash, Darkness, Force Wall. (required) Minimum -1 worth of limitations, usually Gestures, Incantations, requires EGO Roll (to represent insecurity or fear), extra time, Extra END, or OAF. Also requires "Only in Hero ID". (Should end up being 10-15 read points.)

 

3) Three 8-pt Combat Levels, Required: Only in Hero ID. (End up being around 6pts each, for total of 18pts)

 

4) Mind Link with teammates, only to sense when teammates are in Danger (-1). (Never Only in HERO ID (Should be 5pts.)

 

5) 3 Martial Arts Maneuvers, Only in Hero ID. (Assuming they're 4pts each, then they become 3 each for 9pt total.)

 

Total: 44-50pts (which leaves at least 100 pts to play with)

 

Suggested Disads:

 

Normal Characteristic Maxima (20pts, optional), Secret ID (15pts), Hunted by Villian Gang (More powerful, 11<: 20pts).

 

So the Disads alone pay for the Package.

 

We end up with a Magical Girl (or Boy) who can put up a good fight, knows when their teammates are in trouble, and can dodge like heck while whipping off their special attack on occasion. This is in addition to being a competant 100pt Normal character with reasonable stats and skills.

 

Looks about right to me.

 

 

UltraRob [/b]

You don't mind if you can redo my PC in the first season style

but tie the dreamzone powers into it[include the magic sand as a focus for transforms] making her a first time magic girl/msytic novice. I'll send it in by email.

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PhantomGM6101-

 

Sorry guy, but I'm a little busy these days. Besides, you should easily be able to do it yourself using my outline and in a much more appropriate to your campaign format than I could. Just apply the template to the existing character concept and decide what her original "power" was, adding as you see fit. Remember they tend to start off with just one real "core" power, and then evolve from there to add new ones.

 

Rob

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  • 9 years later...

Re: Magical Girls

 

For the benefit of the anime fans who play Hero, what do you guys think would be the most effective way to build a magical girl?

 

There are several different kinds of magical girl, as anyone who has read one of my books will know. I'm thinking of several of these types, such as the kind who transforms into a colrfully dressed warrior maiden with magical atatcks and defenses, or a thief who uses magic powers to commit her robberies, or the preteen girl who tranforms into a beautiful teenager so she can achieve fame and fortune as an idol singer.

 

How do you build any of these characters in Hero, and at what point level should you build them?

Off the cuff I'd build them as Pretty Cure Styled Magic Girl fighters instead of Sailor Moon type magic girls. Let's face it. those ladies and those who follow their example are as dysfunctional as ever. Thier leader 's a ditzy Apathic,lazy crybaby who toughens up and takes down the most evil monsters in a fight with some help from her boy friend Tuxedo Kamen. And don't get me started on WEDDING PEACH.:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::tsk::tsk::tsk::tsk:

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Re: Magical Girls

 

I find Pretty Cure very difficult to watch, but maybe that's just ennui. To model them, one would probably buy their Martial Arts and enhanced Characteristics as Only in Heroic ID. That would explain how a shy, studious bookworm would be such a powerful fighter some of the time, when transformed, but not in her main identity.

 

One of the things in Pretty Cure that lost me was in the first episode, where they simply said the incantations for their transforms and attacks without having any idea what they were saying....

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