CHARACTER CREATION CHALLENGE 2023: Marvel Superheroes (3 of 6)
THE GAME: Marvel Superheroes Revised Basic (1991)
Our Hill Country Heroes, based out of Austin, Texas, have two battlesuit-clad college students to start the team off. What manner of midnight marauder will mosey in this time?
Marvel Superheroes Character Generation
Get an Origin
Generate Major Abilities
Generate Variable Abilities
Generate Powers & Talents
Fill in the Blanks
Step 1: Get an Origin
Oh, mystical d100, grant us a number. 37. This hero is… a MUTANT! Oh, no! Senator Kelly told us all about those filthy muties. So, this example of homo superior will be allowed to increase the power rank of one of their powers by one level. That’s great! But they will have their starting Resources reduced by one, not so great. Due to the reputation of mutants in the Marvel Earth setting (616?) starting Popularity is always 0. This character will also be susceptible to any anti-mutant technologies.
Step 2: Generate Major Abilities
Our Mutant gets to roll on the Random Ranks table, and unlike the two High Tech heroes we have already created, there’s no cap on any of the rolls. I seem to remember in the 1986 Advanced Set that Mutants got a bump to their Endurance Rank, but that’s not here, so we won’t do it.
Fighting: 35, Good. Rank number 10.
Agility: 12, Typical. Rank number 6.
Strength: 62, Remarkable, Rank number 30.
Endurance: 20, Typical. Rank number 6.
Reason: 29, Good. Rank number 10.
Intuition: 39, Good. Rank number 10.
Psyche: 07. Poor. Rank number 4.
Well, not everyone is The Hulk. This character is above average everywhere but Agility, Endurance, and Psyche. And only Psyche is below average.
Step 3: Generate Variable Abilities
Health: Equals the rank numbers of F, A, S, and E totalled. In this case 52.
Karma: Equals the rank numbers of R, I, and P totalled. In this case 24.
Resources: Rolled a 32. Good, dropped a Rank to Poor due to being a Mutant.
Popularity: As a Mutant, this hero has a Popularity of 0.
Step 4: Powers and Talents
Powers
Our Mutant has fairly mundane stats, not super terrible, but not super-super. An 82 on percentile dice means this hero has five powers.
60, Ranged Attack Power. Slashing. Rank: Incredible.
86, Body Alterations/Defense. Life Support. Rank: Remarkable.
27, Energy Control Power. Magnetic Manipulation. Rank: Typical. Good.
49, Body Control Power. Invisibility. Rank: Typical.
17, Matter Control Power. Weather Control. Rank: Good.
All right, so what can we make of this? Not sure just yet. I want to see what Talents we get first. But I have an idea about tying all the powers to Ley Lines and mystical energies.
Talents
Our hero rolls an 04, only one Talent. Escape Artist. Interesting… and helping come up with a theme for the character.
Step 5: Fill in the Blanks
What is your hero’s heroic name? Fantasy Name Generator gave us “Professor Smooth Raccoon.” I think we’ll shorten it to “Professor Smooth” and roll with it.
How old are they? Professor Smooth is 21 years old.
Does the hero have a secret identity? How do they keep it secret? Billy Schwartz spent much of his life in a series of foster homes, never quite fitting in with any of his well-meaning guardians. His latent abilities always caused strange things to happen, unsettling things, and one by one each set of foster parents passed on the opportunity to adopt- until he was placed into the care of the Muellers. Heinz Mueller was old enough to be Billy’s grandfather, a retired stage magician that saw something special in the young boy. He and his wife Augusta adopted the now 16-year-old Billy and showered him with love, magic, and home cooking. Billy eagerly learned the tricks and illusions Heinz taught him, and surprised his new parents and himself by improving on them- in some pretty impossible ways. Through trial and error it was found that Billy’s strange abilities were linked to the Earth’s own mystical field, allowing him to manipulate ferrous objects, alter local weather, become invisible, and sling razor-sharp shards. He worked these abilities into a stage show under the name “Professor Smooth” and brought in some extra income for his struggling, elderly parents. They saved every penny of his “magic money” and used it along with his state foster care benefits to send him to school at the University of Texas, where he is pursuing a theater degree under the assumed name Billy Blackstone, after one of his favorite magicians. Only a few people might remember his spottily-attended performances under his real name, he hopes his activities with his friends and classmates in the Hill Country Heroes stay associated with his Professor Smooth persona. Anti-mutant crusaders might come looking for him, and Heinz and Augusta aren’t getting any younger.
How do they earn a living? The state is paying much of his college fees, he makes a little additional cash by appearing at birthday parties and other children’s events as Professor Smooth.
Where do they live? Billy lives at home with Heinz and Augusta Mueller in East Austin, and commutes to class on an ancient moped.
What is their personality like? Billy is overly theatrical at almost all times. Everything is the revelation of ancient magics, or a mystery of the universe. Showy, with sweeping somatic gestures, Billy never uses one word with ten would do. Any time he’s around more than just his close friends or the Muellers, he adopts his stage persona’s larger-than-life bombacity.
Do they have any hobbies or pastimes? Billy loves the study of the greats - Houdini, Blackstone, David Copperfield, Doug Henning. Even though his mutant abilities allow him to do real magic, he still measures himself against the great stage magicians and studies their acts, reads their biographies, and tries to emulate or one-up their performances.
What does the hero’s costume look like? When decked out as Professor Smooth, Billy wears a tuxedo of Victorian cut, complete with boatcloak and top hat.
Where did the hero get their powers? Billy’s mutant powers began to manifest at age 5, and became more powerful over time.
