Dungeon #21: Jammin'

#RPGaMonth - March Part 1:  Dungeon #21

So, this is my late review for March. Actually, it is only a part of it.

This is one of the RPG books I own for the longest time. If I recall correctly, I bought this one in 1991. It is number 21 from January/February 1990. It says on the inside that the Dungeon had 31000 copies printed at that time.

At that time I couldn't read English very well and wasn't really able to make much use of it, but the back cover fascinated me nevertheless.  So, I bought it used for 5 Deutsche Mark (~ 2$ at the time).

In it you'll find a Gaelic themes adventure called the Cauldron of Plenty (AD&D lvl 2-4), a higher level (15-18) D&D adventure called the Bane of the Elfswood, a general Fantasy adventure for AD&D (lvl 8-10) by the name of Incident at Strathern Point and a greek themed adventure for AD&D Lvl 6-8 which has the title The Chest of the Aloeids. I only skimmed those, but they look fine to me.

What I read and ran was the last adventure by Jasmes Ward himeslf called Jammin'. This is an introductory adventure to Spelljammer that can be played without the Spelljammer box set and serves as kind of an advertisement to the setting.

The following will contain hefty spoilers if you plan to play it, you should really stop here.

The group meet same moreorless shady thief which seemed to be a Grey Mouser type to me in a tavern, who hires the crew to get some treasure of some moon god from a flying ship that will land in the mountains this evening.

In truth the ship is a stranded space ship, that got stuck on the ground on our thief wants the party to loot the ship to collect his share afterwards. It is a pirate ship run by undead spirits lead by a spectre captain  now. In true pirate fashion the skeletons have pistols and weird stuff.

In play the game went on like a dungeon crawl, where the players explorer the ships deck. The spectre keeps the skeletons in a certain folded state and will only activate them after certain events. It has an aura of mystery how this sailing ship can be found in a small lake in the mountains with no connection to rivers.

If the players are succesful to defeat the spectre and his crew they will have their on ship to sail the wild space, i.e. the airless void that contains the planets.

I liked it very much: it feels a bit old fashioned, but in a wonderful and weird way. Spelljammer as a setting seemed great, and I will write more about it in the second part.

Perry Rhodan in Cortex Prime Heroic - Part 2

Disclaimer

All rights regarding Perry Rhodan and any parts belonging to the series of novels under that name belong to Verlag Pabel-Moewig in Rastatt. This page is a fan product as described here by the series' editor in chief.

All rights regarding Cortex Prime are licensed to Magic Vacuum Design Studio. The Cortex Prime Heroic System is in a beta/testing state right now and details can be found on the Kickstarter page here. I would like to thank Magic Vacuum Design Studio for the permission to write about this and to publish the following character files.

 

Perry Rhodan in Cortex Prime Heroic - Part 2

Last week I ran my Cortex Prime Heroic scenario in the Perry Rhodan setting at a local con (HeinzCon) again. So, I decided to share the remaining three character files I prepared for that session.

Sample character files

IRMINA KOTSCHISTOWA

Affiliations:           
Solo   D10     
Buddy D6 
Team D8


Distinctions:        
Not an old lady
“I can create life”
Smart but controlled temper

Power Sets:               

Mutant
                     
Cell Control D8
Psionics D8
Empathy D8
Psychic Resistance D6

SFX:  Healing. Add D8 to dice pool when helping others to recover stress.  Spend 1 PP to step up physical stress or trauma of someone else.
SFX:  Focus.  If a pool includes a Mutant power, you may replace two dice of equal size with one die +1 step larger.
SFX: Reprogram cells. Add a D6 and step up your effect die by +1 when inflicting physical complication on a target using Cell control.
Limit: Exhausted. Shutdown any Mutant power and gain 1 PP. Recover power by activating an opportunity or during a transition Scene.
Limit: Shaken Confidence. Step back all Mutant powers by one step to gain 1 PP.  Activate an opportunity to recover.

Special Agent of the Cosmic League
Energy Shield (Enhanced Durability) D8     
Fly (Combat Powersuit) D6
Combined Beam Pistol  (Weapon) D6
                     
SFX: Cell activator. Ignore stress, trauma, or complications caused by aging or poison.
Limit: Gear Shutdown any Cosmic League power and gain 1 PP. Recover power by activating an opportunity or during a Transition Scene.


Specialties:
Medical Master D10
Science Master D10
Psionic Expert D8
Psych Expert D8

Milestones:       

“But where is the ethics in this”
1 XP When you use your mutant power to alter the genes of a non player character or refuse to do so in a dangerous situation.
3 XP When ...
10 XP When you use your mutant power to kill a living being or cure a deadly disease.                                     

“Never call me old”
1 XP When you ...   
3 XP When you ...
10 XP When you ...

Bio:

Irmina Kotschistowa was born on April 26th in 3412 on Terra (Kirgisistan). She is an excellent scientist on the field of bio chemics and worked with the Cosmic League League's leading scientist Geoffry Abel Waringer on the planet of Last Hope.

Irmina Kotschistowa is of medium height, slender but rather curvaceous. Her hair is long and very dark with grey strains. Although her biological age is 175 years and her real age is some centuries she despises to be called an old lady.

Her special ability is called metabiological grouping, i.e. she can control biological cells. With this ability she is able to cure diseases, but also to cause deadly cancerous mutations. Moreover, she can reprogram the DNA to condition the cells for a specific long term behavior, even when she isn't there.

Each time she uses her mutant abilities to harm other beings Irmina feels a strong guilt.

PERRY RHODAN

Affiliations:      
Solo   D8
Buddy D6
Team D10

Distinctions:
Knight Of The Deep
Risk Pilot
Heir To The Universe

Power Sets:        

Elected Representative of IT
Superhuman Intuition D10
Enhanced Reflexes D8
Enhanced Stamina (personal cell activator) D8
Psychic Resistance D6

SFX: Instant Situational Awareness. "Instant Switcher". Spend one 1 PP to reroll.
SFX: Aura of a Knight. Ignore psychic stress or trauma for 1 PP
SFX: "The Terranian". Ignore the highest die of your roll. On a success step down the highest die in the doom pool by one for 1 PP
Limit: Exhausted. Shutdown any Mutant power and gain 1 PP.  Recover power by activating an opportunity or during a Transition Scene.


Speaker of the Cosmic League
Energy Shield (Enhanced Durability) D8
Fly (Combat Powersuit) D6
Combined Beam Pistol (Weapon) D6

SFX: Cell activator. Ignore stress, trauma, or complications caused by aging or poison.
Limit: Gear Shutdown any Hanse power and gain 1 PP. Recover power by activating an opportunity or during a Transition Scene.

Specialties:    
Combat Master D10
Cosmic Master D10
Covert Master D10
Psych Master D10
Menace Expert D8
        

Milestones:        

"The scar itches..."
1 XP When you
3 XP When you
10 XP When you

?
1 XP When you
3 XP When you
10 XP When you

Bio

Perry Rhodan (born June 8, 1936, in Manchester, Conneticut) is a Terran and wear a cell activator. He was the first person to fly to the moon. With the aid of the Arkonides and their superior technology that he found there, he united humanity and led them to the stars.

He is tall, of slender, almost gaunt stature. The eyes are gray-blue, his hair is dark blond.

On the one hand Perry Rhodan's tremendous logical thinking, his sense of cosmic connections and the ability to adapt to new circumstances in no time at all - Rhodan is therefore repeatedly referred to as an "instant switcher". On the other hand, a dry sense of humor characterizes the human being Perry Rhodan.

For bystanders but especially his intuition is legendary, which has led him to nearly always make the right decisions based only on fragmentary pieces of information, the scope of which he could not estimate at the time.

Currently, Perry Rhodan leads a fleet of Galactic ships that has set out to investigate the Frostrubin and the Endless Armada.

ICHO TOLOT

Affiliations:      
Solo   D6
Buddy D10
Team D8

Distinctions:
Former Agent of Seth Apophis
A Friend of Mankind
Carries the Heritage of the Beasts

Power Sets:        

Halutian
Godlike Durability D12
Superhuman Strength D10
Superhuman Speed D10
Superhuman Intellect D10
Superhuman Reflexes D10

Superhuman Stamina D10

SFX: Planning Brain. Step up or double a Haluter die against a single target. Remove the highest rolling die and add three dice for your total.
SFX: Focus. If a pool includes a Haluter power, you may replace two dice of equal size with one die +1 step larger.
SFX: Increase Cell Structural Density. Spend 1 PP to ignore physical stress or trauma unless caused by psionic attack.
Limit: Urge Laundering. Shutdown Superhuman Intellect for 1 PP. Recover power by activating an opportunity or during a Transition Scene.
Limit: Oops. Turn a Haluter Power Trait into a Complication to gain 1 PP. Recover on an opportunity or during a Transition Scene.

Scientist from Halut
Fly (Red Combat Suit) D10
Combined Beam Pistol (Weapon from Halut) D10

SFX: Cell activator. Ignore stress, trauma, or complications caused by aging or poison.
SFX: Hyperphysical tinkerer. Add a d6 and step up your effect die by +1 when using Scientist from Halut to create assets involving hyperphysics
Limit: Gear Shutdown any Hanse power and gain 1 PP. Recover power by activating an opportunity or during a Transition Scene.

Specialties:    
Combat Master D10
Cosmic Expert D8
Psych Expert D8
Science Expert D8
Tech Master D10
Menace Expert D8
        

Milestones:        

"My little one"
1 XP When you
3 XP When you
10 XP When you

Honest Character
1 XP When you
3 XP When you
10 XP When you

Bio

Icho Tolot is a Halutian scientist who became one of humanity's most loyal friends. It is a typical Halutian. Its size of about 3.50 m at almost two tons of weight under terrestrial conditions impressed almost every opponent.

Tolot is adventurous, sincere, sincere and, like all Halutians, loves its independence. After a brief study of humanity, its enthusiasm for humans grows. As - like all Halutians - two-sexed beings, in time it develops a kind of maternal instinct for the Terranians, sees them as its "children" and loyally supports them. It often calls them "my little one". It has an intimate relationship with Pucky in particular.

His notorious laughter is so loud that it can sometimes lead to health damage in his environment. For example, the left eardrum of a ship's commander burst when Tolot laughed out loud next to him.

Halutians have two brains separated by a horizontal bone plate: The upper one is called the Ordinary Brain and takes care of the bodily functions and feelings and thus corresponds approximately to a human brain. The lower, the Planning Brain is an organic computer with the power of positronics. It allows the Halutians to draw absolutely logical conclusions quickly and precisely and perform complex calculations. A Halutians smallest perceptible time unit is ten nanoseconds.

In case of danger, thanks to their special metabolism, Halutians can deliberately transform their body structure on a molecular-atomic basis. There body is thus harder than Terkonit steel, so it already requires a heavy ship's gun to hurt a Halutian in this state. Thanks to their metabolism, they can survive five hours without a protective suit in a vacuum.

My Review of Justifiers - Das Abenteuerspiel for #RPGaMonth

My Review of Justifiers - Das Abenteuerspiel for #RPGaMonth

This month, February, I am reading an older game from 2010 called Justifiers - Das Abenteuerspiel. Some may remember that there was a Science Fiction game called Justifiers released at the end of the eighties.

Part 1

Markus Heitz whose name is very prominent on the cover is a successful German fantasy novelist who was an avid player of said game. When the opportunity presented itself he bought the rights to the setting and wrote two great novels in the Justifiers universe. Moreover, he was the editor of a series of about 10 book from other authors in the same cosm.

So in 2010 a new German edition of the Justifiers game was released by Ulisses Spiele (which may be more known for the new Torg - Eternity nowadays) and that is what I am reading right now.

It is a 300 something page hardcover in DinA5 format, i.e. about half US letter format. It starts with a 20 pages short story by Heitz which puts you right into the world.

The setting itself is a very grim Sci Fi world in 3042 AD where large corporations are in control of complete planets. Since not everything such a corporation does is legal or achievable without violence  they employ a special kind of soldiers, called Justifiers. The rpg is about squad level military actions done by those Justifiers who are more often than not half-man half-animal characters. These products of genectical engineering of animal DNA into humans are called Betas and they get some of their characteristics from the type of animal like Cat, Armadillo or Bison.

Part 2

Pages 52 to 156 contain the chapters on Rules and Character Creation. The rules part is rather short, only 34 pages and of those eight pages dwell on explaining what a pen & paper is and the obligatory text example of a group playing the game.

The rules are rather simple. Each character has three attributes Physical, Mental and Spiritual and subordinate to the attribute there is a number of skills. Physical skills are athletics, ranged and close combat, survival and resistance. Mental skills are computer usage, stealth and some more. Spiritual skills include intuition, perception and so forth. In total there 15 skills. Skill checks are done by combining the attribute and skill value and taking the corresponding number of d6 into the dice pool. Modifiers can increase or decrease the number of dice. Each 5 or 6 in a roll gives one success point and you need a certain amount of successes to achieve what you had in mind.

Combat is as you would expect, but with very few hit points. Some things are special nevertheless:

1. at the beginning of a fight each player gets a roll and with a success all players get the complete stats of the enemy
2. initiative is done by going clockwise round the table, rotating the starting player like in a traditional card game.
3. characters never die from hits instead become unconscious in the worst case.
4. besides the standard actions in a combat like move, defend, attack. There are also certain special actions depending on the scene which are prepare by the GM and for which special action cards are dealt.

The last point is a bit puzzling. The idea is that you run premade scenarios which will already include such special action cards, but one could imagine preparing such before the game in other cases as GM. To add a certain action feeling each character has fate points that work in the usual way.

I have not played this game, but I played another game called John Sinclair from the same author with similar rules (without the special cards) and must say that it generally works very fine. Combats are fast and fun.

The next chapter is about character creation. Character creation starts by picking a race, i.e. the type of animal that was used to enhance the human dna. The rules has 10 such beta types: armadillo,  bison, polar bear, fox, cat, rhino, chimpanese, tiger, racoon and wolf. Each type has certain specialities. Armadillos have body armor, bison charcters are strong etc. Interestingly the book also shows images beta types that  are known from the novels but for which there aren’t rules like a badger beta. Next you pick the specialization of the character within the squad like pilot, field medic, technician, weapon expert. Specialization gives certain perks/advantages, equipment and skill points. Next you distribute points to the attributes and certain skills. Furthermore, you get a number of adventure points to buy additional advantages or equipment.

Since the characters play in military squadron each player has a rank and a number of mission points that she or he must fulfil before be allowed to leave the corporation and became a free person. The mightier the beta type the more of these points are necessary to become free. The main thing is: if a character isn’t free he or she isn’t allowed to keep what the find on a mission other than to buy it with adventure points.

At the end we get 10 example characters. One for each beta type.

Part 3

The last part of the book offers the rules for playing as a group, i.e. the creation of the spaceship and the game mechanics for flying and fighting said ship. The rules are similar to what is described in the second part.

Next, there is a section about the exploration mode. This is a more boardgame-like system where you do a squarecrawl instead of a hexcrawl. Players a given certain cards and they make special skill checks based on the effects of the cards.

Finally, the last third is a complete scenario for the characters on the world "Holz-11" which offers a mission with a mix of the explorative board-game like mode and the more normal rpg mode.

I will not go into details because to be honest I have only skimmed through the scenario. Why?

To a certain extend my interest in the game ceased to continue after I had understood the rules and the boardgame-like aspects didn't go so well in reading it. So, be warned: playing might be totally different and what reads strange might actually be much fun on the table, but for me it made the impression of moreorless repetetive die rolling mechanics without much story or suspension. I have played a monster hunter companion game with similar mechanics called John Sinclair and the rpg part will ceratinly be fun, but as in John Sinclair I fully expect a certain balancing problem. The be good at the squarecrawling you need a character who is specialised on certain things, but then he or sche sucks at fighting and vice versa. I would expect that a certain part of the party are always a bit bored because they can't do meaningful contributions.

Outlook

It seems that Markus Heitz who owns the rights to the game thinks about Jusitifiers in a similar way now. Last Saturday he announced a new edition of Justifiers (in English) in cooperation with Clockwork publishing (makers of the new Space 1889) which shall be kickstarted this year and will use the mechanics of the German RPG Splittermond. The reason for the change of system are that the old system seemed to be a bit dull and also easily unbalanced for him.

Thus, no need to care too much about Justifiers - Das Abenteuerspiel in the future as a new and different edition is on its way.

RPG Review - StarSiege

Disclaimer: I am trying to read an RPG book a month this year as part of this Google+ community. The following review is based on reading and some dry testing, but although I tried a copuple of times, I never managed to get a group together in the last weeks.

Introduction 

As my RPGaMonth for January I have read Troll Lords 2008 Science Fiction RPG called StarSiege: Event Horizon. You can get the whole thing at DTRPG and there is a free QuickStarter available http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/58817/StarSiege-Introductory-Manual.

Unfortunately, my playtest did not happen in time so everything that follows is based only on reading the thing. I hope that I can play it for real in the near future and will add some more comments here then.

compared

Screenshot of the Cover of the StarSiege Box Set. The books itself are b&w.

The basic review

StarSiege comes in a box with three different books. There is the Field Manual which could be called the player's handbook, there is the Operations Manual which could also be called GM's guide and a setting book called Victory 2442.

StarSiege itself is a (heavily) modified version of the so called SiegeEngine system used in Castles and Crusades or Amazing Adventures which I am very fond of. The basic game mechanic is rolling a D20 against some difficulty rating which has base 18 for your weak attributes and base 12 for the good ones. The attributes themselves are the usual D20-type ones when it comes to attribut bonus, but instead of the D&D ones you get Physique, Reflexes, Knowledge, Savvy, Confidence and Empathy. As usual you can pick a species like feline or android but instead of classes you have professions and skill bundles. StarSiege doesn't have individual skills but instead you have certain bundles like Combat which is for all skills that are in the realm of fighting. Specialities can provide additional bonuses like for Defense.

There aren't levels either instead experience points can be used to increase an attribute, buy a speciality and so forth. The last legacy of it's OSR kind of origin StarSiege got rid of are Hit-Points which increase by level. Instead there are very limited number of  wound points and stress points for mental damage and a maximum of three critical hits each, before a character is dead. Finally, there are bennies which are called Nova Points which work in the usual way.

Part of a screenshot of my PDF copy, the contents are black&white.

The way of dealing with combat of any kind, i.e. between persons, tanks on the ground, planes in the air or star ships, is all handled in the same way. There are distance bands like Close, Medium or Long and these come with a logarithmic scale for the different size classes if you want to figure it out in real distance. In game term shooting space ships in close distance works exactly like shooting at robots in close distance on a personal level. The rest is mostly the usual OSR like way with the idea of Critical Wounds instead of vast number of hit points.

There are rules for mutation, psionics and cyber ware and very general creating equipment which work the same for weapons, psionic powers and basically everything you want. It is a point buy system which makes use of the logarithmic scale and special effects or flaws. Although this subsystem is very basic it is nevertheless elegant. You could as easily build a death star as a one person submarine.

In the same simple but elegant way StarSiege describes money transacts with a simple credit system which works on a personal as well as a planetary level. Speaking of planets the operations manaual has a system for creating planets as well.

All in all the rules are a combined 70 pages. Very dense and simple but seemingly elegant.

Part of a screenshot of my PDF copy, the contents are black&white.

There is also a setting book with 24 pages. In short it is about a SciFi Setting with little Psionics, almost no Cyberware and no mutant powers. There has been an almost devastating war with an alien race, which humanity only won at great cost with the help of other aliens. Now, there is little central government left and colonies start to find there on ways. I'd say it is not bad, but also nothing special.

StarSiege isn't about a fixed setting though. It aims to be a general SciFi rpg which can be used to play the Expanse as well as Star Wars in the same manner that old AD&D could run campaigns in ancient Rome or in Middle Earth. Its rules are simple and reading it makes you admire the elegance. It is like someone tried to make an original Traveller like game with more D&D like mechanics.

A more detailed look at a boring part

Doing some dry runs of fights things get a bit less fun. For me there is too little element of surprise. You do a to-hit roll and then your weapon does a fixed amount of damage. Depending on the kind of armor, the damage is dealt to the armor or the character. In the first case the armor will get worn out soon, in the second case your character will be.

Now, things are a bit too simple for my taste. Doing the same static amount of damage does mean other then missing there is no other challenge in combat besides hitting the enemy 3 or 5 or maybe 10 times, if it is some thing really tough you fire at. Technically, that might be a nice mechanism, but it never lets players experience a coup de grace or something like that. My take would be to rate success a bit by the amount the roll exceeds the challenge rating. Something that is done in many other RPGs.

So what is StarSiege, really?

In my humble opinion StarSiege is more a tool kit to build a campaign and build a custom version of the game for it. You want to play Firefly style adventures then you probably want to tweak fighting rules a bit more to the heroic side. There are optional rules for minions (called Mooks in the book) compared to real boss fight like encounters.

If your group is more into a Star Trek like approach then this game should work quite well. You just build the ships and planets and go on.

You might even want to play a stellar expansion game. In such a case it is possible that each player plays a planet (sic!) and built from there. All necessary rules are included, you just have to tweak here and there.


It is really that versatile. In a way it is a bit like Fate or even more FAE. A very reduced system with tons of possibilities, but unlike Fate there are not tons of cool setting books flying around.

The only available module for StarSiege. Printout from the PDF.
The brown coat reminds me of something...

 

What the future might bring for StarSiege

In the Troll Lord Games forum there is talking about a new edition of StarSiege written by Jason Vey who did Amazing Adventures. That version should be more compatible with the other StarSiege Engine games and would certainly have a detailed less abstract combat system for example. There is no real news about whether this will happen or not, as it depends on the success of Amazing Adventures and StarSiege.

What we know is that Troll Lord Games is working with James Ward who created Metamorphis Alpha to do a SiegeEngine version of the game. I read that this should be out in Q2 probably meaning a Kickstarter for it in Q2 2018. Maybe this will give StarSiege a bit of a push as well.

 

Conclusion

I'd recommend the game just for reading it and seeing how simple things can dealt with in comparisson to games like StarFinder and the like.

Perry Rhodan in Cortex Prime Heroic - Part 1

Disclaimer

All rights regarding Perry Rhodan and any parts belonging to the series of novels under that name belong to Verlag Pabel-Moewig in Rastatt. This page is a fan product as described here by the series' editor in chief.

All rights regarding Cortex Prime are licensed to Magic Vacuum Design Studio. The Cortex Prime Heroic System is in a beta/testing state right now and details can be found on the Kickstarter page here. I would like to thank Magic Vacuum Design Studio for the permission to write about this and to publish the following character files.

(Titelbild Perry Rhodan Erstauflage Heft 2721, © Pabel-Moewig Verlag KG, Rastatt)

 

Perry Rhodan in Cortex Prime Heroic

We had a very successful test of the upcoming Cortex Prime Heroic system in the Perry Rhodan setting. Perry Rhodan is the main character of the series of science fiction books that is running in Germany for more than 50 years. It is a very epic space saga where story arcs span thousands of years and numerous galaxies. The series is famous for its very action oriented novels where mutants with paranormal powers fight alongside Perry Rhodan to defeat evil super intelligences which enslave the population of entire planets and such evils.

We played in the story line of the Cosmic League where Perry Rhodan and his force face the super intelligence Seth-Apophis and are blamed for some evil deeds of said super intelligence by a giant armada of millions space ships righteously called the Endless Armada.

In contrast to the official rpg "Perry Rhodan - Das Rollenspiel" this allowed for fast heroic action play with the main characters from the novels. We could (re)play the mission to take an Armada Armory and help top rescue the Armada Prince directly from the novel.

In this part I will show two character files we used in the sessions. The files itself were complied using the information from the corresponding page in the Perry Rhodan Wiki called Perrypedia with additional input from Zornhau and Shadow Lass.

Pucky and Ras Tschubai are not only two of the most famous characters in the series they are also a famous team of teleporters that usually operates behind the enemy lines taking up to three specialists for the mission with them. Thus, they provide an excellent starting point for characters in the Perry Rhodan setting.

Sample character files

PUCKY

Affiliations:             
Solo   D8       
Buddy D10    
Team D6


Distinctions:          
“Ubiquitous killer”
Last of his kind
“Savior of the Universe”

Power Sets:               

Multimutant
                       
Teleport D10
Telekinesis D12
Telepathy D12
Psychic Resistance D10

SFX: Multipower. If you use more than one power from Multimutant in your dice pool, step down each dice once per additional power.
SFX:  Area Attack. Target multiple opponents. For every additional target, add d6 to your pool and keep +1 effect die.
SFX: Pushing the Limit. Step up or double a Multimutant power for one action. If the action fails, step back that power. Spend a PP to recover that power.
Limit: Exhausted. Shutdown any Mutant power and gain 1 PP. Recover power by activating an opportunity or during a Transition Scene.
Limit: Weak body. Step up any physical stress or complication to gain 1 PP.


Special Agent of the Cosmic League
Energy Shield (Enhanced Durability) D8       
Fly (Combat Powersuit) D6
Combined Beam Pistol  (Weapon) D6
                       
SFX: Cell activator. Ignore stress, trauma, or complications caused by aging or poison.
SFX: “Too cute to hurt this animal”. On a successful reaction against a physical attack, convert the attacker’s effect die into a Too Cute to Hurt stunt. Spend 1 PP to do this even if the reaction was not successful.
Limit: Gear Shutdown any Cosmic League power and gain 1 PP. Recover power by activating an opportunity or during a Transition Scene.


Specialties:
Combat Expert D8
Cosmic Expert D8
Psionic Expert D8
Psych Expert D8

Milestones:       

“Special Officer Puck”
1 XP When you fail to understand a direct order and have to be reminded of it                       
3 XP When you use your telekinesis power to let someone hover helplessly in the air you do not agree with or who called you a space rat
10 XP When you play a prank on a someone that either makes the mission fail or by some weird coincidence allows the mission to succeed                                       

“Compassion is my strength”
1 XP When you see someone mistreated and speak up to it       
3 XP When you teleport away to investigate a creature being mistreated
10 XP When you completely leave the mission at hand to help someone or when you continue the mission leaving someone in need of help alone                                        

Bio:

Pucky is about one meter in size and looks like a giant upright walking beaver with the head of a mouse. He has one big characteristic gnawing tooth and brown fur with a tint of red. He is overweight and lazy when it comes to physical activities.


Sometimes Pucky behaves in a childish way, but many times this happens because he does not want other to see who he suffers emotionally from failures to help victims of abuse or mistakes that lead to the death of innocent. He tends


He is very keen on helping weak and suffering creatures against any form of abuse of power. Many times he ignored his mission in order to serve justice to the oppressor, varying from physical punishment to teleporting them to deserted places.
He usually teams up with Ras Tschubai and one or two specialists for a ground missions and is feared by many enemies because of the combined use of telekinesis, telepathy and teleportation to attack from different places at almost the same time. The Maakhs called him the “ubiquitous killer” although Pucky very rarely kills his enemies. After destroying a giant artificial intelligence that thought of itself as “ruler of the universe” and threatened to destroy  a whole planet Pucky has called himself “the savior of the universe” more than once.
Abilities:
Pucky can move objects the power of thought and is able to teleport. The maximal distance of teleport is about 500 000 kilometers. He can read the thought of other creatures using his telepathic power as well.

RAS TSCHUBAI

Affiliations:        
Solo   D6
Buddy D10
Team D8

Distinctions:
“Dark Phantom”
Pragmatic Daredevil
Shy Giant

Power Sets:        

Mutant
Teleportation D12
Enhanced Reflexes D8
Psionics D8
Psychic Resistance D6

SFX:  Area Attack. Target multiple opponents. For every additional target, add d6 to your pool and keep +1 effect die.
SFX: Versatile. Replace Teleportation die with 2d10 or 3d8 or 4d6 on your next roll.
SFX:  Increased resistance to antimutant measures. Ignore Stress or Complications caused by such antimutant technology for 1 PP
Limit: Exhausted. Shutdown any Mutant power and gain 1 PP.  Recover power by activating an opportunity or during a Transition Scene.
Limit: Shaken Confidence. Step back all Mutant powers by one step to gain 1 PP.  Activate an opportunity to recover.

Special Agent of the Cosmic League
Energy Shield (Enhanced Durability) D8  
Fly (Combat Powersuit) D6
Combined Beam Pistol (Weapon) D6
Microbombs D8

SFX: Cell activator. Ignore stress, trauma, or complications caused by aging or poison.
SFX: Tactician. When using Combat Master  to create assets, add a d6 and step up your effect die.
SFX: Robotics Genius. Spend 1 PP to step up a robotic Tech resource
SFX: X-Logic. When dealing with robots, double one power die.
Limit: Gear Shutdown any Hanse power and gain 1 PP. Recover power by activating an opportunity or during a Transition Scene.

Specialties:       
Combat Master D10
Cosmic Expert D8
Psych Expert D8
Science Expert D8
Tech Master D10
Menace Expert D8
          

Milestones:        

Pucky’s calming half
1 XP When you have to remind Pucky of the mission
3 XP When you push the team to continue working on the mission
10 XP When you take an additional risk threatening the overall mission's success to help Pucky

One of the few mutants that survived
1 XP When you are reminded of all fellow mutants that lost their lives fighting at your side
3 XP When are trying to teleport somewhere but are reflected by antimutant measures
10 XP When you survive a death trap specially designed to kill mutants

Bio
Ras Tschubai was born in Sudan in 1947. He has black curly hair and dark eyes, is very tall, and buff. His personality is that shy and intelligent pragmatic person who is not afraid of taking risks when the mission requires.  His belief in god helps him to stay calm and focused. He has excellent reflexes that have saved his life more than once.

Besides being a masterful tactician he also has a degree in chemistry and a PhD in robotic psychology. Furthermore, Tschubai invented a novel approach called x-logic to understand how robot with artificial intelligence behave.

Tschubai has been the partner on ground missions for Pucky for more than a thousand years and is seen as the calm stabilizing element without which Pucky would be too easily distracted from the goal of the mission ahead.

Abilities:
Tschubai is able to teleport up to 500 000 kilometers and used his powers to terrify enemies by suddenly appearing close to them and vanishing before they can react. This has given him the nickname "Dark Phantom". He is an expert when it comes to robots.