Jinks

[Doctor Agenda]

In my conspiratorial Champions setting (now includes Teen Champions), supers are called Ultras (for copyright reasons), and you can be an Ultra hero, Ultra criminal, or just an Ultra, if you have powers. They tend to be the product of alien experimentation or interbreeding with members of hidden civilizations (like Telos, under Mt. Shasta). Heredity is a bit unpredictable though, and not everyone with weird genetic structure gets to be an Ultra.

 

Like the Deuces and Jokers of Wildcards, Jinks (a pun on the speculative Gene X source of super powers and running with the idea that they have a 'jink' in their genetic code) either have insignificant powers or drawbacks that outweigh them, and like the Jokers and Marvel's Morlocks and Mutants, tend to be ghettoized.

 

Since I am having a whole neighborhood of Reno be 'Jinktown', I'm interested in filling out the population. Not everyone in Jinktown is a 'Jink', even there they are a minority, but there's enough that you will tend to see a few on the street if you're walking through the area. Jinks tend to have a descriptive 'Jink name', not always kind or PC. I'm looking for suggestions. Here are some who have already been introduced:

 

Janus: Two-headed crimeboss of Jinktown, based on Diomedes from Predators. He is actually a Telosian who did not fare well in the Rebirth Chamber (Terrigen mists 'tribute'). One of his bodyguards is 'Rubbernecker' and can stretch his neck (only) to five feet long.

 

Forewarned: Early shift bartender at Lefty's Tavern. Male, has four arms and ambidexterity.

 

Chill: Late shift bartender at Lefty's, can cool something he can hold in his hands down to half the ambient temperature. Connected.

 

Floater: Member of the Orphans street gang, nearly weightless, wears heavy combat boots to keep from being blown away. Likes to jump off buildings to make an entrance.

 

Scareface: Member of the Orphans. The skin on his face is invisible, but he can make it visible with effort.

 

Pop Tart: Stripper at the Jink Pussycat (aka, the Jink), can teleport short distances but can't carry anything with her, even her clothes. Suffers short-term memory loss when she teleports, but it also heals any wounds she may have.

 

Doc Mock: Unlicensed healer, his powers to heal injuries are effective but always cause severe scarring.

 

Night Girl: Sees in the dark better than a cat, but is easily dazzled and her eyes are peculiarly large, works as a maid.

 

Big Brotha: Borderline Ultra, super strong and tough but excessively large and only has normal human stamina. A PI who moonlights as an enforcer for Janus when business is slow. Based on a 4th Ed character named Price.

 

Fat Lady: Dimunitive woman whose singing voice causes debilitating pain to anyone who hears it. Runs a coin laundary.

[wcw43921]

Re: Jinks

 

Clarence "Duke" Statham--Runs the Lucky Star Pawn Shop just outside Jinktown. Can transmute any metal object into gold, but he keeps this a secret more closely guarded than an Ultra-Hero's true identity. Not even his immediate family knows of his power.

 

Buckley "Bucky" Statham--The son of Duke Statham, Bucky runs the Star World Comics Store next to the Lucky Star (his father owns the building). The place has become a hangout of sorts for the younger residents of Jinktown, mainly because they have few other places to go. Bucky is secretly envious of those with superpowers--even the Jinks--and fervently hopes that some day he will become an Ultra. So great is his desire that he has created a costumed identity for himself (The Enemy--black outfit with black hooded cloak, black shirt with white block-letter "E") and has secretly gone out on several occasions to "fight evil." So far he hasn't found any--yet.

[Doctor Agenda]

Re: Jinks

 

I like, thanks!

 

Which also brings us to the subculture of Ultra groupies, posers, and wannabes who like Jinks (except the 'icky' ones) as the next best thing to an Ultra and much easier to get close to...not to mention that the minority of 'regs' who consider Jinks sexually exotic is still larger than the number of Jinks. It wouldn't be so bad to be a Jink except they act as a lightning rod for envy and resentment of Ultras since they are comparatively vulnerable and often can't hide their nature.

[Ice9]

Re: Jinks

 

Phantom Limb - One of his arms is permanently incorporeal (he can't turn this off, not even momentarily). He can still feel what the ghost arm is touching, if he concentrates. Wears a baggy overcoat to hide it. Could be a low-level criminal, using his arm to feel around inside safes and the like.

 

Slow Burn - Can increase his own temperature hot enough to melt steel, but it increases gradually over several (hours? minutes, at least) of sitting still, and cools off quickly if he moves faster than about 0.5 mph. This can occasionally happen accidentally when he's unconscious, so he sleeps with a heatproof ceramic block under his mattress. Law abiding grocery store proprietor, and doesn't appreciate it when criminal types try to recruit him for their schemes.

[ShadowEater]

Re: Jinks

 

Emma Labronski, IE: Sleepy Sister

 

A nun who runs a soup kitchen for homeless Jinks. People who sleep near her when she sleeps are extra-well rested, and can see and talk with each-other in a mental dreamscape of combined dreams. Rumors of precognitive dreams have started getting her harassed by local thugs looking to turn a buck on the lottery and stock market.

 

 

Lacey Strub,

 

A normal young mother, with a Jink baby... her child (sometimes called 'The Pit') eats anything (chairs, rocks, etc) and does so constantly, and has been steadily gaining density as he does so. Came to Jink town to stop getting such negative attention around her child, has started to draw some heroic and villainous eyes as her now three year old child looks like it might eat itself into Ultra density.

 

 

Dr. Miles Tubermen,

 

A military trained medical officer, retired after losing a leg in combat. Experienced in dealing with mutational medicine, and will work cheap. If you need a tentacle reattached, your second throat is sore, or you just haven't been getting enough Platinum in your alien diet, he is the man to see in Jinktown.

[Sketchpad]

Re: Jinks

 

Take a look at Paragons for Mutants & Masterminds ... there's quite a bit in there that could be mined for a game in the flavor you're using They would obviously need converting, but otherwise, the backgrounds would work out well ...

[fbdaury]

Re: Jinks

 

Cole- Jinktown firefighter, when exposed to fire his skin burns to a flakey black consistency but then he can absorb or redirect the flames- will remain black and sooty afterwards until all the charcoalized skin flakes off within a few hours, looking fresh and pink underneath.

[Doctor Agenda]

Re: Jinks

 

Thanks for the suggestions, all will be used.

 

I think I have a copy of Paragons somewhere, I remember there was a woman mentioned who could make any clothes she wore fit her perfectly who worked as a plus-sized model. Thanks for the reminder, Sketchpad!

[BoloOfEarth]

Re: Jinks

 

Pack Rat: A homeless woman who has all of her possessions in her worn, stained, oversized purse. And I mean, *every* possession, since her Jink turned the purse into a pocket dimension. (Visualize Mary Poppins pulling the tall lamp out of her carpetbag. But a Mary Poppins who rarely washes, has funky-looking teeth, and even saves her apple cores and other garbage.)

 

Monty: A grifter, he can teleport objects but only those weighing less than 10 grams and only for distances under a foot. You can guess how rarely he loses at three-card monty.

 

Tik-Tak: Anything he touches will smell minty fresh. Whether he wants it to or not, which he generally doesn't. A very crotchety old guy.

[MisterVimes]

Re: Jinks

 

Wordsmith - Former beat poet that lost is voice, but his words constantly scroll across his skin by way of the "ink" his body produces. Wordsmith can slide the words off onto low density, porous materials (like paper) as fast as he can think. He can effectively write a novel with his mind.

 

Trashman - Trash-collector that now consumes trash and produces only an oily sweat as waste that evaporates over time. Sadly, as a result, he constantly smells like rotting garbage as a byproduct of the sweat. The garbage as fuel, however, grants Trashman increasing strength depending on how much fuel he consumes.

[ShadowEater]

Re: Jinks

 

Homeless Supers are always fun so...

 

Scarfface: A 16ish teenage runaway who keeps to herself. Actually an escapee from a Chicago drug ring who was using her highly hallucanogenic (and addictive!) spit as the base for the next big drug. Named for the scarf she always wears wrapped around her mouth to hide the shiny golden spittle.

 

Boozer: Older homeless man, shameless beggar, and apparently hopeless drunk. Boozer can astrally project, but only when completely inebriated... usually found begging for booze money, or 'passed out' (IE: astrally projecting) in an alley somewhere.

 

Shadow-Boxer: Always seen screaming, walking around swinging punches and kicks in the air, and similar behavior. While most thing he is just a crazy normal, in his lucid moments he claims to be the only Ultra who can see and fight the 'encroaching army of extra-dimensional shadow warriors!'. No one is really sure.

 

Auntie Blank: An older bag lady, wanders blankly around town rummaging through trashbins for food, ignored by everyone... in fact actively ignored by everyone, who walk around her not noticing her presence even in the most inappropriate of situations! Actually an ex-Ultra mentalist of some fame in past generations, who 'burned out' attempting to mentally reform a powerful villain and her 'ignore me' power is all that remains of her once powerful mental abilities.

 

King Kurb: Everyone knows King Kurb, who lives in the small park down town, has immensely powerful abilities and shouldn't be trifled with... though in fact, his only real power is the jinky ability to appear amazingly powerful to everyone who sees him! Still, he leverages this to be the defacto 'leader' of the street dwelling population of Jinktown.

[BoloOfEarth]

Re: Jinks

 

Porter: A man working at a diner in Jinktown, clearing tables. He has the ability to clear the plates at a touch (teleporting anything on the plate into an unknown location over which he has no control). This could come into play later in the game, as the remains of an open-face turkey sandwich with stuffing and gravy inexplicably drop into the middle of a battlefield.

 

Play-by-Play: This teen boy has bad acne, greasy hair, and wire braces on his teeth. When he opens his mouth, he picks up the local sports talk radio station. Contrary to expectations, though, this actually was the case before he got braces, too.

 

BSOD: This unhappy young man has the unfortunate ability to completely trash every computer or advanced electronic component that he touches. He's never gotten to play a video game or surf the net, and had to manually type all of his school papers.

[fbdaury]

Re: Jinks

 

Flutter- An apparent escaped mental patient in his late teens or very early twenties, he is mute (whether physically or due to psychological trauma is unknown) and he can telepathically speak with the birds of the city or see through their eyes. Unknown if he can fly, as no one has ever witnessed it, but is often seen perching high up on buildings or in other pparently unaccessible places. Lives on the streets as part of a group of Jink youngsters that protect each other.

 

Bioject- Always covered in thick layers of clothing to cover the tumor-like growths on heer body, each of which is a sac containing various chemical agents that her body produces, including poisons, paralyzing nerve agents, a powerful regurgitant, etc. She is able to spit/exhale some of these chemicals in liguid or mist form while others are injected into targets via hollow tooth-like fingernails. Lives on streets with Flutter.

[ShadowEater]

Re: Jinks

 

Margaret Mcgillan, IE: Veghead. Retired teacher, Veghead runs the local community garden. She can communicate with and completely control plants... but plants rarely have anything interesting to say except about soil quality, and she cannot make them move or grow any faster than normal. Still, her all organic produce always turns out the best!

[Doctor Agenda]

Re: Jinks

 

Looks like Jinktown will definitely have the world's most colorful homeless population. With all the casinos it's easy for a person with an addictive personalit to ruin their life.

 

I'm thinking that Janus counts a seedy Jink Porn studio, probably legal, among his operations; but we probably don't want to dwell on that overmuch. It would probably be very lucrative though, between the attraction to Jinks as 'low-rent ultras' and that segment of the population that is interested in the bizarre. Janus definitely gets a cut of the neighborhood's prostitution business (which I believe is still illegal in Washoe county).

 

Bioject and Flutter would make good members of the Orphans, they're not all tough guys, it's hard for Jinks to do well in High School, anti-Jink bigotry is still more socially acceptable than it is with most other minority groups. So their drop-out rate is high and many of them are killing time during the day. It can also be hard to deal with non-Jink family members who expect them to 'try to be normal', so there's a high runaway factor as well.

[Doctor Agenda]

Re: Jinks

 

Margaret Mcgillan' date=' IE: Veghead. Retired teacher, Veghead runs the local community garden. She can communicate with and completely control plants... but plants rarely have anything interesting to say except about soil quality, and she cannot make them move or grow any faster than normal. Still, her all organic produce always turns out the best![/quote']

 

This is a good example of what makes Jinktown a little more than an impoverished ghetto. Because of the high drop-out rate and anti-Jink bigotry, there are a lot of factors that make the neighborhood poor. BUT, lots of Jinks have little talents that can make life a little better for themselves and others. Veghead provides better quality food than you would expect. Say what you want about the prettiness of Doc Mock's work, but he can save your life for a tenth of what a hospital would cost, when time is short, your chances with him are better than a whole room full of emergency room specialists. Trashman performs a useful service, Monty and Porter and Wordsmith bring in tourist money...in some ways Jinktown has the potential for vibrancy.

[Doctor Agenda]

Re: Jinks

 

The PCs in this campaign, despite their Iron Age tendencies, are raising money for a Charter School in Jinktown to reduce the dropout rate; and are trying to help Doc Mock get his healer's license back. OTH, they're focusing on other crimelords besides Janus because he's coughed up money for the HS project and is giving them tips on arguably worse criminals.

[BoloOfEarth]

Re: Jinks

 

Teatime: An elderly widow whose old house obviously gets more care than her neighbor's homes. She grows her own custom tea with Veghead's help, serving it (as well as some exceptional sugar cookies) to anyone who stops in to talk with her. (She's desperate for human contact and will talk your ear off.) Despite her nickname, Teatime's Jink has nothing to do with tea; she has incredibly enhanced sight and a great memory for faces (if not names). Teatime is the head of her street's Neighborhood Watch, keeping an eye on all comings and goings there.

 

Whiteout: This tax accountant has the ability to physically remove ink and toner from paper by running his finger across it. He hasn't used this ability for personal gain, mainly because he hasn't figured out a way to take advantage of it.

 

Basset: This beat cop has the unfortunate mutation where all of his body hair is actually light brown fur, and his ears are overly tall (drooping down most of the time). His senses of smell and hearing are marginally better than normal, but not inhumanly so. Sing Elvis songs in his presence at your own risk.

[Naanomi]

Re: Jinks

 

Not many jink kids attend school, but dropping out or getting kicked out is a bit harder if your mutation makes you 'disabled' by federal law.

 

Marie Hamilton, IE: Teach - The only open Jink on the highschool staff, Teach can suppress Jink powers by touch for a few minutes at a time. She is the head of the drop-in special ed resource room, and has good respect from most of the jink community (even the kids who choose to run the street instead of attend class)!

 

Diego Pratt, IE: Racecar - An incredibly fast speedster, Diego's body isn't durable enough to take the speed. He has severely broken his legs so many times in the past, now uses a wheelchair almost all the time. Not quite so fast in the chair, but fast as any car. Recently started running with the Orphans part time, much to his parents dismay.

 

Miriam Jackobson, IE: Shriek: Miriam's deafness is a blessing to her: if she wasn't born deaf she would become so quickly dealing with her super-loud voice! Loud enough to make everyone around her temporarily as deaf as her, and even break fragile objects at close range, Miriam struggles with knowing how loud she is really is. The district is glad she is going to graduate this year.

 

Evan Gordy, IE: Wideeyes: Freshman, stares off in to space unresponsive a lot of the day but very bright when he is paying attention. Clearly a Jink (his eyes flash strange colors when he spaces off), but no one is sure of his abilities: he can actually use open wireless connections to access the net in his head. The school's open network has made his grades awful, but has done wonders for his World of FantasyHammer character's gear.

 

Lucy Balabano, IE: Flip: Lucy's profound ADHD wouldn't be so bad, if she didn't also have superhuman agility. She can't keep her body still, and constantly flips, jumps, rolls, and does all manner of acrobatic feats at all hours of the day. The fact that she hasn't slept since she was four years old, and never seems to get exhausted from her antics has been hell on her single father (who is also a slightly armored Jink who works night shift as a janitor in a local office building).

[Doctor Agenda]

Re: Jinks

 

Thanks, Bolo, must spread, etc. I liked how Teatime's nom de Jink isn't directly related to her power.

 

Night Girl has been perfected: In addition to her Nightvision and Vulnerability to Sight Flashes, she has the power to conjure Darkness, No Range, must be centered on her. Sadly, Nightvision won't let you see through Darkness.

[Doctor Agenda]

Re: Jinks

 

Naanomi, I especially like Lucy and Diego, but all will be used. Thanks!

[Doctor Agenda]

Re: Jinks

 

Just wanted to check back and thank everyone for their suggestions. You really helped me make Jink Town come alive, and my players really seem to respond to many of these characters; to the point that a couple of them are actually trying to be more like heroes than anti-heroes. Gracias.

[BoloOfEarth]

Re: Jinks

 

I'd forgotten about this thread. Thanks for the reminder. Here’s a few more.

 

Margaret and Paul Thurman, a.k.a. Mum and Pop: This older (late 50s) couple owns and runs a small corner store. Anybody Mum touches becomes mute for the next 60 seconds, and Pop can teleport small objects (less than 50 kg) short distances (less than 3 meters), which works great for restocking the shelves. In addition to working at their store, Mum also volunteers at the Jink Town public library. Personality-wise, Mum wears the pants in the family (Pop rarely talks, even without being touched by Mum) and she isn't afraid to tell friends, acquaintances, and even total strangers how they should act and live, whether or not they ask for her advice.

 

Jeffrey Kellerman, a.k.a. Habitat: A mid-30s construction worker, he has the ability to permanently bond any two objects by rubbing his hand along the surfaces he wants to join together. The common misperception is that his hands generate a “super glue” of sorts, but he actually causes a short-term alteration in the surface molecules that he touches. When two such surfaces are placed against each other and held that way for several seconds, the materials bond at the molecular level, as if they were always joined. He volunteers quite often with Habitat for Humanity (hence his name), building or fixing up homes in Jink Town.

[novi]

Re: Jinks

 

Now, I'm obviously thinking about this too hard, but on Chill's ability to cool something down to half ambient temperature, what temperature scale is using? Half of Fahrenheit is a much different number than half of Kelvin. And what happens if it's a negative temperature? Does the item get warmer?

 

 

And one more jink - Bendy Wendy: This twenty-something is a very low-level stretcher. As in she can only double the length of her limbs, and is marginally tougher than an average human. She is also seemingly boneless; while she has no real difficulty getting around, her rubbery, boneless gait is pretty obvious. She's a musician, taking advantage of her ability for some very wide fingerings on piano and guitar. Unfortunately, to pay the bills, she works at Janus's studio. She's not entirely happy with that, but getting in front of the camera pays very well for the time she puts in.