CHARACTER CREATION CHALLENGE 2023: Marvel Superheroes (6 of 6)
THE GAME: Marvel Superheroes Revised Basic (1991)
OK, final member of the team. We have three High-Tech heroes, a Mutant, and an Altered Human. What’s next?
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
OK, our final character’s Origin is 59… a second Mutant.
Step 2: Generate Major Abilities
With Mutants, we get to bump up a power, but no changes to Abilities:
Fighting: 44, Excellent. Rank number 20.
Agility: 63, Remarkable. Rank number 30.
Strength: 27, Good. Rank number 10.
Endurance: 68, Remarkable. Rank number 30.
Reason: 55, Excellent. Rank number 20.
Intuition: 94, Incredible. Rank number 40.
Psyche: 39. Good. Rank number 10.
Our mutant is a pretty well-rounded character, scrappy and mentally agile. I think we’re off to a good start on our final hero.
Step 3: Generate Variable Abilities
Health: Equals the rank numbers of F, A, S, and E totalled. In this case 90.
Karma: Equals the rank numbers of R, I, and P totalled. In this case 70.
Resources: Rolled a 32. Good. Reduced to Typical due to being a Mutant.
Popularity: As a mutant, Popularity begins at 0.
Step 4: Powers and Talents
Powers
77, four powers.
64, Ranged Attack Powers. Force. Excellent (20)
44, Body Control Powers. Elongation. Incredible (40)
76, Body Alterations/Offensive. Extra Body Parts. Good (10)
75, Mental Powers. Force Field - Personal. Excellent (20) - Bumped up to Remarkable (30) due to Mutant Origin.
Talents
99 for number of talents - 4.
Acrobatics, Archaeology, Chemistry, Marksman. Very interesting spread.
Step 5: Fill in the Blanks
What is your hero’s heroic name? I’m just about to give up on the random Super names. Let’s see what we get. “Bolt.” Just… “Bolt.” Yeah, not sure about that. I mean, they do have a ranged force attack. That could be a bolt. But they have some other stuff. I recently watched a video by the wonderful Lady of the Library about the mythical figure Lilith, which also reminds me of the character Lilith from Darkstalkers, and this character has extra body parts, so, we can go wings, and then they will be able to fly at Typical speed, or 90mph. So let’s roll with it, and have this character’s hero name be Lilith.
How old are they? She’s an undergrad, 20 years of age, with a fake ID that claims she’s 23.
Does the hero have a secret identity? How do they keep it secret? Amy Ayers has had a frustrating life. She was always just a bit too bookish for her typically Texas country family. As her teenage years came on, things changed for the worse as her mutant genes began to express themselves and she acquired her bat-like wings and prehensile tail. While she learned how to conceal these under baggy clothing or bulky overcoats, she couldn’t hide them from her family forever. Once discovered, her horrified family attempted to pull her out of public school and try to hide her away on their ranch, afraid of the reaction of the community and damage to their family’s reputation. Amy ran away, changed her name, and made her way to Austin to attend college. She got into theater and the Goth scene, where she could allow her physical differences to be a bit less concealed, as they would be taken for costume affectations. Eventually, with the help of a fake ID, she became one of the most popular bartenders at Elysium, in a way hiding in plain sight. As an Archaeology major, she still attends classes with her unusual attributes as hidden as possible, though this becomes exceedingly uncomfortable as the day goes on.
How do they earn a living? Amy tends bar to make her bills, and usually has to scrape to make tuition. Any extra money she may make in tips she happily spends on her work attire, since it’s the one place she is appreciated for being herself.
Where do they live? Amy has created for herself a small home atop one of the taller buildings in Austin, using a rooftop utility room wired for power and adjacent to an HVAC system to build herself an “Aerial Efficiency” she can reach from the air, or by going up the elevator from inside the building and taking the access stairs using a key she “found” at some point.
What is their personality like? When she’s concealing herself, she’s a quiet, almost shy student who largely keeps to herself. When she is on duty at the bar, her personality change is profound, and she’s gregarious, even flirtatious, and plays up her appearance in the Goth club. The real Amy/Lilith is somewhere in between, when she’s not trying so hard to avoid notice, or to earn tips. She is extremely defensive of the LGBTQ+ community at the college and in the club, as she feels her own struggles to accept herself while still hiding herself from society are similar to the issues faced by those friends and patrons.
Do they have any hobbies or pastimes? Amy got into costumes and conventions as soon as she got to Austin, finding places she could blend in. She loves Renaissance Faires, sci-fi conventions, and LARPs.
What does the hero’s costume look like? Amy’s heroic costume is quite a bit more practical than her work garb, which is a bit racy by design. Having participated in several combat LARPs before taking on a real heroic role with the Hill Country Heroes, she realized practicality was much more important when fists are flying. She has created a black top that has slits in the back that her wings can pop open at will, though it takes some doing to get them back inside. Her tail is always free in her hero costume, allowing it to whip around, extend for physical strikes, or snake up over her shoulder to fire a force beam, as she also does from the palms of her hands. She’s been playing with the idea of a mask or cowl to conceal her identity better, but hasn’t yet settled on a look, so her headgear tends to change on an almost weekly basis.
Where did the hero get their powers? Amy’s mutations come courtesy of her homo superior genes.
