CHARACTER CREATION CHALLENGE 2023: Everyday Heroes (1 of 6)

THE GAME: Everyday Heroes (2022)

Everyday Heroes is a new RPG by the folks at Evil Genius Productions, namely D. Todd Scott, Sigfried Trent, Chris Ramsley, and Jeff Grubb. It’s designed to use the 5e engine to replicate the wonderful functionality of the original d20 Modern game to allow players to create the action heroes of movies like Highlander, Escape from New York, Kong: Skull Island, and more. In fact, each of these games I’ve mentioned have been licensed by Evil Genius, and they’re releasing adventure modules for each, including background and adventure ideas plus genre specific character creation options. First up is Escape from New York, with The Crow hot on its heels.

This game rocks. See Episode 3 of our Podcast to see what Bobby and I think of this gem. I’m looking very forward to playing it. Just creating characters is getting the creative juices flowing. The classes are each made up of an Archetype, like Strong Hero, or Charismatic Hero, plus a class that’s sort of a specific concept within that Archetype. Each character is further defined by a Background and a Profession, with all of these combining to build the character you want to play. Want even more versatility? Multiclass feats. Can’t find the Background or Profession you want? The rules are present in the corebook to create it. The tools are all here.

So, how does one create a character for Everyday Heroes?

A HERO IN SIX STEPS

1. Concept the Character

2. Background

3. Profession

4. Ability Scores

5. Archetype and Class

6. Finishing Touches

Step 1: Concept

I dunno why… but my brain is headed in a very specific direction. Everyday Heroes has licensed quite a few IPs from the 80s and 90s, and references action franchises from that period. For some reason, I’m drawn to creating a team from one of my favorite 80s action cartoons. Can Everyday Heroes do it? We’ll find out together. Let’s start out with a familiar idea - the millionaire (billionaire?) playboy and secret leader of our special mission team. This character is the kind of person who inspires his team through loyalty rather than rank or station. He’s got to have money, since he bankrolls the team. He’s also got to be fairly sharp, because although he’s no Tony Stark, he has to be able to understand the tech and conceptual applications so his designers and wrench-turners can create the team’s gear. So, with this in mind, let’s move on.

Step 2: Background

Wealthy Family. This lets us bump INT or CHA by 1, we’ll go CHA. He gains proficiency in Vehicles or Intimidation- Vehicles it is. And the Silver Spoon feature allows us to choose from a list of rich kid perks, we’ll go with +1 Wealth.

Step 3: Profession

Finance. Our hero is a venture capitalist as far as the public is concerned. His Intelligence goes up by 1, he becomes proficient in Insight and Persuasion, has a large office, professional clothes, and a luxury car. Wealth level 5, and a personal assistant.

Step 4: Ability Scores

Everyday Heroes has the option for a standard array of scores, point buy, or random rolls. Normally, I dig random rolls, but our last set of characters for B/X D&D were heavily randomized. Let’s try to tailor these characters to just what we want. We want our hero to be charismatic and bright, so let’s go CHA 15, and INT 13. That costs us 14 of our 27 points, leaving 13. That leaves us enough points to put an 11 in three of the other four stats, and a 12 in the last one. So let’s put the 12 in DEX. After modifications from earlier, our ability scores look like this:

• STR: 11

• DEX: 12

• CON: 11

• INT: 14

• WIS: 11

• CHA: 16

Step 5: Archetype and Class

So, this is our team leader, so we’ll go with Charming Hero as the Archetype with the Class of Leader. This gives our hero proficiency in CON and CHA saves. Choosing three skills from the list presented, our leader picks up Perception, Persuasion, and Social Sciences. He becomes proficient in Basic and Advanced equipment, and Expertise in Persuasion. He gains the Executive Pack and a Tactical Rifle as equipment.

The Class grants the Command talent at Level 1, using his reaction to grant an ally a move or attack. We also get to choose two Tricks from the Leader list, we’ll take Defensive Order and Inspiring Order.

Step 6: Finishing Touches

Speed is 30 feet, like most humans. Starting Proficiency Bonus is +2. We fill in Passive Perception, and the skill totals. Wealth - our total is 6, but the rulebook limits PCs to 5. So as GM, knowing what the concept for these players is, I’ll keep that extra point of Wealth in mind when we’re generating vehicles, gear, a base, etc. later.

At this point, we’re expected to create the Persona of the character, we’ll go through the list and make some choices.

• Motivations: Charity, Redemption. Our Hero believes in helping others, and uses his vast wealth to do so. He is also troubled that his family’s fortunes helped unleash the high technology weapons and equipment his father’s former business partner stole upon the world, and works to bring them to justice.

• Attachments: Family. After the death of his wife, he is left with his young son in his care.

• Biography: Born into wealth, our hero was something of a thrill-seeking rebel, eventually acting as a test pilot for the covert equipment and vehicle designs of his father. When is father was betrayed by his partner, who stole many designs with the intent to sell them to the highest bidder, he focused on the task at hand and began building a team to handle the situation. His focus was so total he was taken by surprise when his wife passed due to illness, and is now left raising his son alone while still pursuing his nemesis.

• Beliefs: As a youth, he never had much time for deep philosophical thought. Now that responsibility has been thrust upon him, both for his son and for the destruction the dissemination of his father’s technologies have caused, he is in the process of re-evaluating what it is he truly believes. Wealth feels empty, simply a means to an end, if all the things he loves are slowly taken from him. After the loss of his father and wife, he is holding on to his son and his friends as a spiritual anchor- and yet he has to order his friends into danger time and again. This has led him to the realization that family isn’t just who you’re related to, it’s the people you choose and choose you in return.

• Role: He knows he’s not as tech savvy as some of his team, not as martially oriented as others, or as skilled with science, but he knows how to organize all those skills to accomplish a common task. His role by nature is that of a Leader, though he shows the world that of a Philanthropist.

• Appearance: As an 80s Action Hero, it was inevitable he would be a blonde-haired, blue-eyed “All-American” type, which by 2023 is considered a bit of a worn-out trope. However, the cartoon I’m emulating did make an attempt at a diverse cast, for 1985 it was a pretty decent one, though the way it handled some characters might be a bit cringe today. The IDW comic reboot recasts the character as African-American, BTW, and this reminds me I need to read all of that run. Let’s see if we can take the best of what they did in ‘85 and improve upon it as we build the team.

• Virtues: The leader is Brave, Compassionate, and Generous. He is often sidetracked by his earnest desire to help people in trouble even if it means slightly delaying the task at hand. He’s the kind of multimillionaire that will chase domestic terrorists through Michigan and stop long enough in Flint to hire engineers and set up a fund to replace the city’s water system before continuing on with his original task. In other words - a completely fictitious kind of multimillionaire.

• Flaws: It’s not on the list, but we’ll give our Leader the Flaw of Indecisiveness. While he gives a good show of being the completely together, determined leader with a plan he is sometimes brought to a halt by his internal dialogue over putting people in harm’s way- especially his team, who he considers family. He’d rather take all the risks himself, but he knows he’s not always the best team member for the job, and that gives him pause.

• Quirks: Dad humor. His attempts at levity often come off as the epitome of “Dad Jokes” and cause groans and facepalms.

So, who is this team leader we’ve been working on? Well, I have to admit I started off with the mission to make Matt Trakker, leader of M.A.S.K. from the 80s TV show. As I worked through character creation, I realized that 80s cartoons often leave out details or overplay personality traits, and this became “my take” on Matt Trakker and a slight rewrite of M.A.S.K. lore. Now, this has been a trend in the IPs I grew up with since the 80s actually happened. Masters of the Universe had the original continuity from the mini-comics that was later rewritten for the better known cartoon, and again for the live action Dolph Lundgren film, and again several times for more recent comic and animated incarnations. Transformers had multiple continuities, as did GI Joe, and even M.A.S.K. was redone in the Hasbro shared universe as a reaction to the threat of Cybertronian life forms on Earth. So this is my M.A.S.K. continuity if it were an 80s or 90s film series to fit the feel and tone of Everyday Heroes. The more I had to come up with details for Matt, the more I started to see him in my head as a Firefly-era Nathan Fillion, but with the amiability of his Castle character rather than the space-rustic crustiness of Mal Reynolds. Matt is a guy with a difficult past, even though he was born into ridiculous wealth. He’s one of those rare few who recognize not everyone is as fortunate, and that he can use that fortune judiciously to improve the lot of others. He’s also got to make amends for all the M.A.S.K. tech that was stolen and used to enable V.E.N.O.M - which I will totally backronym to come up with something less on-the-nose than what it stood for in the original show.

Of course this means I’ll have to stat up the masks, and vehicles as I go. Since Everyday Heroes is built on the 5e engine, that makes for the ability to imbue the masks with spell-like effects from 5e to come up with a quick-and-dirty mechanics. Stay tuned for the masks and vehicles post.