Darren's Golden Age Sneak Preview #3: Ghost Cabbie!

Darren Watts · March 28, 2012

OK, well, Sneak Preview #2 didn't get much in the way of attention or feedback, so maybe we need something a little... different. Ghost Cabbie was originally the creation of Riley McLaughlin, one of my favorite people to roleplay with ever, and who is also responsible for characters like Proteus of the Sentinels and Optimus, whose post-costume life was detailed in UNTIL: Defenders Of Freedom. I quickly co-opted him as a NPC in the long-running DOJ GA campaign in San Francisco, and he's turned up in a number of my games since then.

[cs] GHOST CAB

Val Char Cost Roll Notes

35 STR 25 16- Lift 3200 kg; 7d6 HTH damage [3]

16 DEX 12 12-

10 CON 0 11-

10 INT 0 11- PER Roll 11-

10 EGO 0 11-

10 PRE 0 11- PRE Attack: 2d6

5 OCV 10

5 DCV 30

3 OMCV 0

3 DMCV 0

4 SPD 20 Phases: 3, 6, 9, 12

7 PD 18 Total: 7 PD (7 rPD)

7 ED 18 Total: 7 ED (7 rED)

4 REC 0

60 END 8

15 BODY 5

- STUN 0 Total Characteristics Cost: 146

Movement: Running: 60m/240m

Swimming: 12m/24m

Cost Powers END

53 Eight Cylinders: Running +48m, x4 Noncombat [3]

10 Drive Up Walls: Clinging

67 Ghost Form: Desolidification (not vs. Magic), UBN (Only Those Inside It, +1), Reduced END (Half END cost, +1/4); Takes Extra Time (Full Phase, -1/2) [4]

20 Sealed Up Tight: Life Support: Self-Contained Breathing, UBN (Only Those Inside It, +1)

45 Car Body: Takes No Stun

15 Car Body: Does Not Bleed

4 Car Body: Knockback Resistance -4m

25 Car Body: Life Support: Does Not Eat, Does Not Sleep, All Safe Enviros, Immune to Disease and Poison

10 Radio: Radio Perception/Transmission

4 Submarine Mode: Swimming +8m

30 Car Powers: Multipower (30 pts.)

3f 1) Cloud Of Smoke: Change Environment (-5 to all Sight PER rolls, Area Of Effect (32m Radius +1)) 3

3f 2) Oil Slick: Change Environment (-5 to DEX Rolls to move on, Area Of Effect (Surface 16m radius +1) 3

1f 3) Oil Spray: Sight Group Flash 6d6; No Range (-1/2), Not Vs. Desolid (-1/4), 8 charges (-1/2) 3

Perks

35 Follower: Ghost Cabbie (175 pts.)

Talents

3 Absolute Time Sense

3 Bump Of Direction

41 Danger Sense 15- (Sense, Any Type, General Area)

25 Universal Translator 16-

Skills

3 Acrobatics 12-

3 Concealment 11-

5 CK: New York City 14-

5 Navigation (Land) 12-

3 Shadowing 11-

3 Stealth 12-

Total Powers & Skills Cost: 419

Total Cost: 565

400 Matching Complications (75)

15 Distinctive Features (NY Cab, Not Concealable, Noticed)

10 Hunted: General Blut (As Pow, Infreq.)

30 Physical Complication: Is A Car (Oversized, No Hands, Etc.) (All The Time, Greatly)

20 Psychological Complication: Loves Ghost Cabbie (VC, Tot)

Total Complications Points: 75

Experience Points: 90

[cs]GHOST CABBIE

Val Char Cost Roll Notes

13 STR 3 12- Lift 150 kg; 2-1/2d6 HTH damage [1]

13 DEX 6 12-

15 CON 5 12-

10 INT 0 11- PER Roll 11-

15 EGO 5 12-

10 PRE 0 11- PRE Attack: 2d6

5 OCV 10

4 DCV 5

3 OMCV 0

5 DMCV 6

4 SPD 20 Phases: 3, 6, 9, 12

7 PD 5 Total: 10 PD (3 rPD)

4 ED 2 Total: 7 ED (3 rED)

6 REC 2

30 END 2

10 BODY 0

28 STUN 4 Total Characteristics Cost: 75

Movement: Running: 12m/24m

Cost Powers END

5 Unfazeable: +10 PRE, Only to defend against PRE Attacks (-1)

10 Right Place At The Right Time: 2d6 Luck

Perks

10 Contact: Various Useful in Streets of New York City

Talents

6 Combat Luck (3 PD/ 3 ED)

3 Lightsleep

Skills

8 +1 Level with All HTH Combat

3 Bribery 11-

3 Bureaucratics 11-

7 CK: New York City 16-

11 Combat Driving 16-

3 Concealment 11-

3 Conversation 11-

6 Gambling (Cards, Dice, Sports) 11-

2 KS: New York Underworld 11-

2 KS: New York Politics 11-

5 Mechanics 12-

2 Navigation (Land) 12- (-1/2 Only When Driving)

3 Paramedics 11-

3 PS: Cabbie 12-

2 Shadowing 11- (-1/2 Only When Driving)

3 Streetwise 11-

0 TF: Small Motorized Ground Vehicles

Total Powers & Skills Cost: 100

Total Cost: 175

175 Matching Complications (50)

10 Hunted: General Blut (As Pow, Infreq.)

15 Psychological Complication: Cabbie’s Code Of Honor (Com, Str)

15 Psychological Complication: Loves the Streets and Inhabitants of New York City (Com, Str)

10 Unluck 2d6

Total Complications Points: 50

Experience Points: 0

Background/History: Bennie Meyer was a cabbie on the streets of New York City, a genuine “character” who knew everybody, every street, and every out-of-the-way dive from the Bronx to the Battery. He called his cab “Comet,” and he lavished care on it every day, washing it regularly and tinkering with the engine well into the night. One day in the summer of 1938, Bennie accidentally witnessed a mob hit by Vincent “Mad Dog” Fratianno of the Buoniconte family, and was called to testify in the ensuing trial. Fratianno decided to rid himself of the troublesome cabbie, and had a bomb wired to Comet’s ignition one night while it sat in Bennie’s garage.

What happened next is a matter of some considerable speculation. According to Bennie, Comet was such a good car and their love for each other so strong, that when Bennie was approaching the cab unawares the next morning Comet somehow set off the bomb itself early, exploding into a fireball before his eyes. Bennie, heartbroken, took the wreckage to a junkyard and testified against Fratianno that very day while choking back tears. Fratianno was sentenced to the chair.

After a sleepless night, a bleary-eyed Bennie walked all the way down to his garage the next morning before remembering that Comet wouldn’t be there. To his astonishment, he saw his beloved car sitting right there, good as new! Apparently, the relationship between car and driver was so strong that Comet had returned to “life,” except now with some new features and abilities it had never shown before, including a rather forceful “personality” and a devotion to doing good and helping the unfortunate. Of course, Bennie insists Comet (now considerably better known as “Ghost Cab”) always had personality- “she just couldn’t show it so well before.”

Of course, some of the more rational members of the Defenders (who have come to know Bennie and Ghost Cab quite well) insist that Bennie’s story is absolutely ridiculous; as Meteor Man says, “I refuse to believe in an afterlife for inanimate objects!” Perhaps Bennie himself is the superpowered one, with psychic abilities that have simply manifested in an unusual way. Whatever the real story might be, no one can deny that the streets are much safer with Ghost Cabbie out on patrol. And plenty of people, superheroes and normal Janes and Joes alike, have discovered that when they really need to get somewhere, somehow a dark green cab with a smiling, portly driver appears on the corner ready to pick up a fare, no matter the destination.

Personality/Motivation: Bennie, himself now better known as “Ghost Cabbie,” has always had a pretty open mind about the supernatural, and now that he has a chance to help people out he’s thrown himself into the job with gusto. He’s not a superhero by any stretch, but he considers his knack for helping to get the right people to the right place at the right time to be an almost sacred calling. Though Ghost Cab does not itself speak, it clearly understands pretty much all spoken languages, answering questions with horn honks and blinking headlights that Bennie at least has no difficulty interpreting.

Quote: “Hang on a minnit- this story is giving me a pain in the head-bone.”

Powers/Tactics: Bennie Meyer is just a typical two-fisted New York cabbie, perfectly capable of mixing it up with the odd mobster once his dander is up. Ghost Cab, who’s been built as a character instead of a vehicle because of its undeniable intelligence and drive, has the typical powers of a 1932 Ford Model B as well as some unusual abilities, such as being able to drive up walls or straight through them with no harm to its passengers, seal itself off for underwater trips (once even keeping several heroes alive after being shot into space!), or help out in a fight with well-placed oilsprays and suddenly-opening doors.

Campaign Use: Ghost Cabbie is a fun bit of comic relief when a campaign has gotten too serious, as well as a plot device par excellence when a GM finds herself stumped for a way to get heroes from scene to scene. Despite regularly being played for incredulous laughs, Ghost Cabbie’s a genuine hero through and through and always should be played with a straight face.

After The War: Ghost Cabbie continued to protect the streets of New York into the early 1950s, when both Bennie and the cab mysteriously disappeared. They returned briefly in 1992 strangely changed, as Bennie now had a Mohawk, dark sunglasses and a trenchcoat with an unreasonable number of pouches, and Comet was a Corvette with a hood-mounted flamethrower. They never explained what had happened to them in the preceding decades, and everybody was quite relieved when they disappeared again shortly thereafter.

Appearance: Ghost Cabbie is a dark green 1932 Ford Model B four-door sedan with black fenders and a spare tire mounted on the driver’s side of the chassis. Bennie Meyer is a slightly overweight male in his forties, balding, and frequently wears a black vest over a white shirt and dark slacks and a tweed flat cap.

MisterVimes · March 28, 2012