Character Creation Challenge - Day 11

 Today's challenge character is joining us from Yggdrasil and was created using Guardians. Also, I rolled stats using my Batman dice. 

Kotyr Ratatoskrson

Origin: Supernatural 

Class/Level: Super-Agent 1

XP:  0 (+5% bonus)

Str 10 (0) Int 10 (0) Wis 12 (0) Dex 17 (2) Con 13 (1) Cha 13 (1)

Initiative Bonus: +1

Saving Throw: 12

Energy Points: 6

Hit Dice: 3d10

HP: 20

AC: 14 (Martial Arts, Dexterity, Danger Sense)

Attack

Claws +0, 1d10 damage

Gifts (2): Spy/Military Contacts, Gadget 1 

Powers (4): Immortality, Super Speed (S1), Wall Crawling,  Claws

Limits (2): High Maintenance, Outsider

Issues (1): Phobia (Snakes)

Class Features

Surprise Attack - when he successfully sneaks up on, surprises, or distracts enemy he receives a bonus of +4 to hit and does double damage.

Dark Fighting - suffers half normal penalties (usually -2) when fighting in any degree of darkness or against invisible opponents

Skill - knack for achieving unlikely results when doing roguish, vehicle operation, extreme athletic feats, GM may require saving throw for particularly dramatic and highly cinematic results

Combat Specialization: Martial Arts - unarmed attacks gain a +1 to hit, deal 1d6 damage, and if used to incapacitate a foe with a successful attack, he receives an immediate free attack against another enemy within reach, +2 to AC when unarmored and able to move

Languages: Old Norse

Profession: Bike Messenger

Equipment: Loki's Belt (Features: Chameleon, Danger Sense, Omni-Lingual)

Background

Kotyr Ratatoskrson is the teenage son of Ratatoskyr, squirrel messenger of Norse legend, and a Valkyrie. Like his father, he's full of energy and loves to gossip. However, unlike his father he's deathly afraid of serpents. His father sent him to Midgard to gain worldly experience and gather information about the realm. 

Nathan Fillion is Nathan Drake!

I've not owned a Playstation product for more than a few months since the days of PS2. That being said I'm familiar with the Uncharted series. They're critically acclaimed and supposed to be fun as Hell. Of course the franchise has been picked up by a movie studio, but the film is in production Hell. I don't know that any official film could top this live action fan film though. Even if, like me, you aren't the most familiar with the series, you should enjoy this. 

This really makes Raiders! of the Lost Artifacts. Anyone played that?

Freebooters, OD&D Piracy

Freebooter takes OD&D and divorces it from elf game worlds and places it in the golden age of piracy. It was created by Night Owl Workshop. I've talked about a few NOW releases before (Guardians and Beasties).

The rules are very similar to OD&D but not identical. That being said, it's close enough. The back cover mentions 4 classes and in the next bullet mentions the optional Bokor class. I think this should have been combined, because the optional class is the fourth. The rules are complete. You get character creation, how to play, classes, equipment, and ship combat rules. Much of the book is devoted to the setting (the Caribbean during the golden age of piracy).
Since this is set in the real world, there is no bestiary, per se. Instead combat stats are given for various human antagonists and allies as well as animals (though some of them lean towards the fantastic). There are some interesting random tables. A nautical appendix N is presented and the book ends with the optional Bokor class and magic associated with it.

There are a few typos and one big mistake a noticed. The Target Number 0 chart on page 36 lists classes from Raiders of the Lost Artifacts, another Night Owl Workshop game, instead of the classes from Freebooters.

This is a fun book. While you could definitely just run a game straight out of the book, this is a perfect pirate sourcebook for White Box. That's why I bought it and I don't feel disappointed.

You can buy a print version from Lulu or get the pdf or print version from OBS.

Succubus Sunday

This is a Xenoc succubus from Beasties. The artwork is by Thomas Denmark.

Beasties for OD&D

So one thing I noticed about White Box: Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game is that there aren't that many monsters in it. White Box Zombies has some classic monsters and zombie variations you could add. You can find a few more in White Box Gothic. Still there aren't many monster books for OD&D. Luckily Night Owl Workshop's Beasties has you covered.

I currently have the pdf, though I plan on picking up the print version after Origins. The pdf is 88 pages and those pages are jam packed with material. As the product description says, it has 27 monsters, 6 NPC's, 37 drawings (all done by the primary author Thomas Denmark), 5 maps, and 1 "megadungeon" sample. That's quite a bit for such a small book.

The primary layout is page of monster description and stats followed by artwork for said monster. The stats are simple and presented in OD&D/S&W format. However, there are also conversions for other OSR games, including Denmark's own games like Guardians. The descriptions of the monsters give enough info to make them real, but don't over do it. My favorite monsters are the fetid quasidemon and the Xenoc succubus. The NPC section is really cool and has several unique spellcasters. There are two really cool random charts. The first is 12 Minor Undeads which includes several unique minor beasties. This is followed by 12 ingenious tricks and traps. Near the end of the book we are presented with a flying locust citadel, which is related to the Locust God (a creature mentioned in the text). Finally we have a cool map of the Underworld.

This is a fun monster book. It's definitely worth the cover price and should be a welcome edition to any OSR game. You can grab the pdf and print version at OBS or Lulu.

New Guardian - El Hijo de Lobo Plata

Lucha Underground has been added to Netflix and I've fallen in love with it. I grew up watching wrestling and fell away from it (though I still follow it a bit because of friends). That being said, I've always been in love with lucha libre. As far as I'm concerned, people like Santos and Blue Demon were real life super heroes. I've decided to convert the only Mutants and Masterminds character I've actually played, El Hijo de Lobo Plata, to a new supers system I've fallen for, Guardians.

El Hijo de Lobo Plata (Salvatore Nochez)
Exotic Super-Agent (1st level)
Str 14 (1) Int 10 (0) Wis 12 (0) Dex 18 (3) Con 13 (1) Cha 13 (1)
Gifts: Gadget Points 2, Occultist, Super Star
Powers: Super Jumping
Features: Surprise Attack, Dark Fighting, Skill Combat Specialty: Martial Artist
Limits:
Issues: Duty, Enemy
Gadgets: Lobo Plata Mask [2 gadget points] (Mind Shield, Silver Strike (Claws/Fangs feature), Detect Supernatural, Light Armor)
Equipment: Backpack, cell phone, tool box
HP: 23 EP:  ST:12  AC 15
Languages: English, Spanish Profession: Maintenance Man

New Guardian - The Wandering Nephil

I wanted to try statting out a higher level character in Guardians so here's Kid Nephil's father, The Wandering Nephil. 

THE WANDERING NEPHIL (Nathaniel "Neph" Avery)
Supernatural Power Wielder (7th level)
Str 12 (0) Int 15 (1) Wis 11 (0) Dex 13 (1) Con 16 (2) Cha 14 (1)
Gifts: Leader, Occultist, Detective, Medical Background, Police Powers
Powers: Flight, Ultimate Healing, Ultimate Regeneration, Ultimate Super Striker (Smiter), Life Support
Limits: Empathic Healing, Vulnerable to Heat
Issues: Enemy (Neros the fallen archangel)
Gadgets: None
Equipment: Leather Jacket, Smiter (+5 to hit, 4d6+5 damage)
HP: 48 EP: 17 ST: 6 AC 8/12
Languages: English, Latin Profession: Doctor

New Limit: 

Empathic: This (luckily) rare limit typically only applies to the healing power. When the character uses this power, they effectively take the wounds and injuries they are healing into themselves. They take a point of damage for every HP they heal.

New Guardian - Kid Nephil

Now that I've talked about Guardians, I thought I'd stat out some characters. I'm going to start with a 1st level rookie , Kid Nephil (formerly Kid Nephilim, before I thought about how silly that his name was plural).

KID NEPHIL (Ryan Avery)
Supernatural Bruiser (1st level)
Str 13 (1) Int 10 (0) Wis 14 (1) Dex 16 (2) Con 13 (1) Cha 15 (1)
Gifts: Leader, Occultist
Powers: Flight, Healing, Regeneration, Super Striker (Smiter)
Features: 1d6 unarmed damage,  Unstoppable, Combat Specialty: Acrobatic
Limits: Empathic Healing, Vulnerable to Heat
Issues: Enemy (Neros the fallen archangel)
Gadgets: None
Equipment: Backpack, Cellphone, Handcuffs, Leather Jacket, Smiter (+2 to hit, 2d6+2 damage)
HP: 24 EP: 8 ST: 13 AC 14
Languages: English, Profession: Student

New Limit: 

Empathic: This (luckily) rare limit typically only applies to the healing power. When the character uses this power, they effectively take the wounds and injuries they are healing into themselves. They take a point of damage for every HP they heal.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Ryan Avery is a third generation hero. His grandfather is the archangel, Avarialus, who was notably active on Earth during the 1860's and 70's. His father is the deceased vigilante, The Wandering Nephil, and his mother is the retired (and reformed) villainess, Ms. Direction. He's a young hero and has only recently recieved his mother's blessing to take up the family business. Calling himself Kid Nephil, he dispenses justice and mercy with the help of his father's blade, nicknamed Smiter, and healing abilities.

Guardians

Guardians has a great premise.

"What if the original roleplaying game was inspired by colorful superheroes rather than Tolkenesque fantasy?"

Like the other games at Original Edition, Guardians builds off a rules set that most of us love and know.

Instead of a race, you pick an origin, which are broad categories that let you know how many starting powers, gifts (exceptional advantages), limits (weaknesses/disadvantages associated with powers), and issues (universal drawbacks anyone can have) you have. Remember, this is based on original edition so there are classes that go from 1-10. Characters are supers though, so they have more starting hit points and abilities than other characters with similar levels. The four classes are bruiser, super-agent, power wielder, and gadgeteer. There's a large selection of powers to choose from and when combined with the classes allow you to make a wide variety of character types.

I've not played Guardians yet. I just bought it Thursday evening, so I've not had the opportunity. Still I'm really excited to give it a test drive. Because of the base game it's built on, it's so super easy to pull from all of those classic games we know and love. The book is currently on sale at Drivethru RPG, you can purchase it here. Anyone else played it? If so, what did you think?