So here’s my first stab at building a character. Not sure I have the system right, and the name is terribad. (I got it from a random Chinese name generator.) Comments & critique are appreciated!
Meng Hui-li, the Lightning Sorceress
Ma Hui-li was one of the subjects of a Chinese experiment to create a hyper-intelligent human. The others are either dead, or even more insane than she ever was. (The infamous Doctor Chimera is also rumored to be connected to the project, most likely as one of the researchers.) Unfortunately, in her case what was created was a being without any empathy, conscience, or ethics, only hate and rage towards those who had done this to her. After freeing herself and destroying the compound, Hui-li proceeded to sell the products of her intellect to anyone with the money to buy them and the will to use them.
Then one day, someone managed to reach the person underneath all that cold, uncaring intellect, hate, rage, and pain, and make her care again. Hui-li isn’t as smart as she once was, but the joy her work now brings is worth the loss.
Verbs: Smash: 1 Influence: 0 Maneuver: 1 Protect: -1 Investigate: 2
Summary of Powers:
Hyper-intelligence and scientific skills. Think Reed Richards plus Doctor Doom plus Tony Stark plus Lex Luthor. Now cube the resultant IQ.
Powers that are advantages: Usually has a halo of multi-function drones around her. Plus an array of gadgets.
Simple: Construct or improvise a device to solve a small-scale problem.
Difficult: Prevent an alien trans-dimensional portal from imploding and destroying the earth.
Borderline: Design, construct and deploy an array of shield drones to stop Hong Kong from being wiped out by a typhoon. In under thirty minutes.
Impossible: Time travel.
Origin: Not That Girl Anymore: You used to operate in a world that any do-gooder would not care to be associated with. State what your life was like and what turned you around.
I was previously involved in: Developing hyper-technology and selling it to the highest bidder, mostly supervillains or two-bit dictators, anyone that would pay and actually put my technology to use,
I changed my ways because: My neural conditioning started breaking down, and I started caring about other human beings. I even fell in love. (Sort of, it’s complicated.)
Courage Under Fire: when you receive hostility in return for trying to genuinely do what is right, say how you mitigate the hostility and roll+Influence. On a 10+, you sway those that witness your heroism, the EiC will offer you a chance to write in or increase a Bond. On a 7-9, as a 10+, but the EiC will first offer you an ugly choice or a hard bargain.
Double Take: when you Burn a Bond with a teammate in order to gain the trust of someone else, roll+Influence. On a 10+, you gain their trust and may write a Bond in with the new person. On a 7-9, you must offer assurances that you are on their side.
Drive: Create
Book available to open when:
-You work building, researching or studying is used against you and those you care about.
Workspace: Choose which of the following your workspace includes. Choose 3: portal to another dimension, biology lab, a junkyard of raw materials, hi-tech vehicles, weird-ass electronics, machining tools, transmitters & receivers, a proving range, relics of the golden age, booby traps, hi-tech machinery and parts, cosmic artifacts, unknown relics or unknown technology.
When you go into your workspace and dedicate yourself to making a thing, or to getting to the bottom of some shit, decide what and tell the EiC. The EiC will tell you “sure, no problem, but…” and then 1 to 4 of the following:
• It’s going to take hours/days/weeks/months of work;
• First you’ll have to get/build/fix/figure out _;
• You’re going to need _ to help you with it;
• The best you’ll be able to do is a crap version, weak and unreliable;
• It’s going to mean exposing yourself (plus colleagues) to serious danger;
• You’re going to have to add _ to your workplace first;
• It’s going to take several/dozens/hundreds of tries;
• You’re going to have to take _ apart to do it.
The EiC might connect them all with “and,” or might throw in a merciful “or.” Once you’ve accomplished the necessaries, you can go ahead and accomplish the thing itself. Work together with the EiC to come up with what it does and how it works.
Move available to open when:
-You go for broke and sacrifice something important to you in order to get your workspace.
Deep Pockets: when you need an item or object that is not complex or too hi-tech (EiC’s call), roll+Investigate. It has to be something small enough to be on your person. On a 10+, you happen to have just the thing, or close enough. On a 7–9, you happen to have something pretty close but there’s a catch, the EiC will tell you what it is. On a 6-, you used to have just the thing, but it looks like an enemy stole it from you, you lost it somewhere, the EiC will tell you where you last saw it.
Move available to open when:
-Your desire to learn about something endangers your physical or mental health or your identity.
Question for Kyle Simons, when my power states
Borderline: Design, construct and deploy an array of shield drones to stop Hong Kong from being wiped out by a typhoon. In under thirty minutes.
how does that interact with the Workplace move? My power states i can just create technology why would i want to trigger Workplace? Only to figure something out? There is a weird dichotomy there. I feel that when i don’t have the move i would just use the power but when i have the move i would need to follow the mechanics, thereby weakining my power.
Confused.
Hi Hollis, so for your powers profile you want to not only list things that you can do but also things that you’ve actually done. (That’s why you don’t have to roll for them in the future – you’ve already done it and know how to do it). So you can’t leave your powers quite so open like that. So her power might be that she’s a genius (and the moves in your book will support being able to whip out cool stuff to use, making stuff). But your powers is what you can do and have already done.
If you’ve constructed and deployed drones in order to stop a typhoon and put that in your profile that’s fine – that means when that situation arises again you can do it (but it might not be likely to happen again, so you might want to choose something else). Something like this maybe:
Summary of Powers:
Hyper-intelligence and scientific skills. Think Reed Richards plus Doctor Doom plus Tony Stark plus Lex Luthor. Now cube the resultant IQ.
Powers that are advantages: Usually has a halo of multi-function drones around her. Plus an array of gadgets.
Simple: Bypass security or simple electronics with simple drone bots.
Difficult: Can reprogram to take over a piece of technology made by an alien race or world-class genius.
Borderline: Use bots to go out and take over other pieces of technology across the city and have it interface with my own.
Impossible: Take over all the technology across the country or world without it great deal of time.
-So these things you can do, and have done before. You can do anything else that fits with your vision of powers and that you have on hand but you’d have to roll Push to do it.
-To make or create things that you do not currently have on you (as you can’t foresee every possible thing) you’d need to go to your workshop and make it first. Or pull it out with Deep Pockets.
-So it’d work kind of like Batman – you’ve got bots that can do a variety of things (that you define with your powers summary). But to do things with them you haven’t listed yet you need to Push. To do things that don’t involve drones or whatever you have on you, you’d need to first acquire what you need to do it.
Tim Franzke Your moves can only state things that you can and have done. So if another typhoon comes to hit Hong Kong, you’ll be able stop it without having to roll. It’d be better to do something a little more broad though as it’d be more useful though.
You workspace move would be to create technology that you do not currently have. Like, he would’ve had to create the technology and bots to protect typhoon with his workspace. His power (being crazy smart) allows him to do this – but it does not mean you have any and all technology at your disposal to do anything with it at any time.
Your power summary is for the big, broad strokes. Your powers profile is to detail what, exactly you can do with what you have and not have to roll.
You roll Push if you have the ability to do it now, but have never done it before.
You cannot do it if it’s not part of your powers summary regardless but having a workspace allows you to expand what you have so you can do more when the occasion calls for it.
AHHH. Now i understand how the move and powers work. Not sure i like that. Have to meditate on that.
It means you’ll probably be rolling Push a lot in the beginning as you gradually discover new powers or work on new projects and gadgets and such until you have an arsenal. You complained about advancement being too slow. All you need to do is roll one move to advance!
But push is rolled +nothing right? That doesn’t seem that fun to me at first glance.
Would it be fun if everything was easy and you got everything you ever wanted with every roll? If it means enough to your character at the time to put it on your powers profile, you could always Burn a Bond 😉
Ah, okay. That becomes somewhat clearer. Thanks, Kyle Simons. So the examples would have to be less specific and more general. The Hong Kong thing would be moved to her backstory then.
Yeah – or use it as a source of something specific you did – like maybe taking over all the satellites above Hong Kong (and then using them to project a shield or stop a typhoon or however – I’m sure it’s happened in comics before!).