Designer Chad Underkoffler opens the corebook with a fairly well thought-out deconstruction of comic subgenres, thematic elements, and key conflicts. It stands to reason that we should establish this character's narrative context. It doesn't have to come first, though I'm sure it would in an actual game, but let's start with some ideas and build outward.
Any order at all, eh? Let's take care of Origin first. Unlike a number of supers games I can think of, T&J doesn't attach any special mechanics to a character's origin type. So whether my character is a mutant, alien, magic-user, or skill-based hero, I'll have access to the same pool of... everything. I've had the phrase "genome synchronized" in my head for the past couple of minutes, so I think this character will be an induced mutant, or as Marvel calls them, a mutate. Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, the Hulk all qualify as mutates by virtue of their origins, though the term isn't widely used.
Let's go for a variant of Hal Jordan's encounter with Abin Sur, and assume that the character is a dude for purposes of prose clarity. And theme-wise, let's go for a slightly classic origin tone. In this case, that means an alliterative character name.
On an otherwise normal rainy night, mild-mannered lab tech Gene Orman bumps into a trenchcoated figure while walking through an alleyway. Clearly injured, the figure coughs a few times before squinting, then holding out a glowing, six-fingered hand. A warm glow briefly suffuses
"Hmm. Good. Good indeed," it croaks. "Genome...synchronized."
It falls to the ground with a thud, evaporating -- trenchcoat and all -- into a soft, orange light.
Three days later, Gene awakens from three days of intermittent, agonizing consciousness to discover that as far as he can tell, nothing has changed. Other than having to explain his sudden absence from the lab, Gene seems none the worse for wear. If anything, things seem a little brighter.
It isn't until a voice awfully similar to the evaporating figure warns him to dodge a speeding police cruiser that the truth of three nights ago comes back into focus.
Something has changed.
Perhaps everything.
It looks like we've gotten a head start on Genome's Background -- he has scientific education of some kind, and I assume that whatever derring-do he gets up to involves on-the-job training. As far as important life events go, I figure that there's a good 50/50 chance for a character of this type to have his day job destroyed under strange circumstances.
Although jobs can be good fodder heroes and villains alike, let's say that he gets caught in a mysterious blast at the Silver Heights branch of RecombineX Labs... and emerges as the only survivor. Yet when rescue personnel at the scene see him, they show nothing but fear. Gene's skin has sloughed off in the flames, revealing a perfectly healthy orange-skinned, six-fingered humanoid beneath.
Perplexed by his transformation, he has yet to return to his family. After his presumed death, Gene's now re-orphaned teenaged sister Olivia (usually Olive) was taken to live with their uncle, the accomplished (albeit imperious) Dinesh Ram. (Of course, Ram is only issues away from debuting as the coma-inducing supervillain DNR, but no one knows this yet.)
A simple Motivation is folded in under Background, so... Genome wants to do good in the world while getting to the bottom of his curse.
Although jobs can be good fodder heroes and villains alike, let's say that he gets caught in a mysterious blast at the Silver Heights branch of RecombineX Labs... and emerges as the only survivor. Yet when rescue personnel at the scene see him, they show nothing but fear. Gene's skin has sloughed off in the flames, revealing a perfectly healthy orange-skinned, six-fingered humanoid beneath.
Perplexed by his transformation, he has yet to return to his family. After his presumed death, Gene's now re-orphaned teenaged sister Olivia (usually Olive) was taken to live with their uncle, the accomplished (albeit imperious) Dinesh Ram. (Of course, Ram is only issues away from debuting as the coma-inducing supervillain DNR, but no one knows this yet.)
A simple Motivation is folded in under Background, so... Genome wants to do good in the world while getting to the bottom of his curse.
Let's do Powers now! Now I've got a choice to make; characters can have from 6 Average [0] powers to 1 Master [+6] power, and everything in between, so long as it all adds up to 6. (Average powers are considered to be worth 1 point in this scheme, I think.) Let's take I. 2 Good [+2] Rank Powers and 2 Average [0] Rank Powers.
T&J specifically states that "...whatever a player can think up and that the GM agrees to can be a power." Lots of leeway there.
We've already seen that this character has some form of "spider-sense", so that will need to be one of them. The alien that gave the character their powers also seemed to be able to scan a person's genome by sight, so some form of penetrating vision is also called for. Genetic alteration could turn out quite grisly, depending on the themes we select, but that's also clearly something they can do. In fact, that could easily be two powers -- some sort of nasty offensive ability, and a healing power. That's four!
Good [+2] Genomic Lash
Good [+2] Genomic Repair
Average [0] Precognition
Average [0] Genomic Vision
Power names kinda suck, but they'll get the job done for us. Taking a look at the Powers chapter for inspiration, Genomic Lash clearly corresponds to Beam (of Something). Genomic Repair is a reskinned Healing. Precognition is... okay, I looked ahead. It's Precognition.
Genomic Vision is clearly some kind of Super-Sense. The rules for power synergy are a little unclear, but I'll say that Genomic Vision lets this character designate a single target per... scene, maybe?... to receive a bonus to either Lash or Repair from the insight. Since the bulk of bonuses seem to be the modifier (or MOD; they're used interchangeably in the text) of the power, minimum 1, that'll be 1 to start.
Reading up a bit on Beam (of Something), the general formula for this can do free damage on the normal scale, and costs 1 Hero Point to do damage on the super scale. But I don't think that Genomic Lash has much business breaking down walls, so I'll call that a Limitation. This will yield 1 Hero Point the first time it poses a problem for Genome, and 1 when that limitation is overcome -- but beyond that, it's just a problem. I'm okay with that.
It's suggested that characters have at least one Signature Stunt, a (usually stronger) use of a power that's nonetheless within its normal range of effects. Doing a bit of research into how Healing is supposed to work, it appears that the Power's Modifier is the maximum Failure Ranks (Power or Quality levels temporarily lost during a conflict) it can restore, but there's nothing random about it. That's kind of sad. But anyway, since Healing is specifically for use on other characters, it might be neat to have a way for Genome to heal himself. Putting a self-targeted Signature Stunt on Genomic Repair would allow him to spend 2 Hero Points (giving a Stunt MOD equal to the base ability MOD) to restore... I guess 4 Failure Ranks, adding that all up. Cool.
Let's do Qualities! Much like Powers, I'll need to pick from a few packages. These are neat in that a Weakness is mandatory.
Expert [+4] Geneticist - okay, I've upgraded him. Go big or go home. This covers lab work and some degree of field analysis.
Expert [+4] Athlete - he ran track all through high school and university, and has kept in remarkable shape throughout grad school.
Good [+1] Medic - although he's not a medical doctor by any stretch of the imagination, he keeps his first aid certifications current, and has continued studying practical physiology as a point of personal interest.
Poor [-2] Alien Appearance - a big obstacle, this.
Expert [+4] Athlete
Good [+1] Medic
Poor [-2] Alien Appearance
Origin: Altered by an alien benefactor and reborn in flame, Genome fights for justice as he teeters on the edge of humanity.
Powers:
Good [+2] Genomic Lash (Beam of Something, T&J 40) - Limitation: only works on living tissue
Good [+2] Genomic Repair (Healing, T&J 42)
Average [0] Precognition (T&J 46)
Average [0] Genomic Vision (heavily modified Super-Sense, T&J 50)
Signature Stunts:
Self-Repair - 2 Hero Points to restore 4 Failure Ranks
Hero Point Pool: 5/10 (all heroes start this way)
Codename: Genome. This can really go under Name.
Uniform: I fired up the excellent Titan Icon, a standalone version of the City of Heroes character creator, to get an idea of what he might look like. Here he is, hands aglow:
T&J specifically states that "...whatever a player can think up and that the GM agrees to can be a power." Lots of leeway there.
We've already seen that this character has some form of "spider-sense", so that will need to be one of them. The alien that gave the character their powers also seemed to be able to scan a person's genome by sight, so some form of penetrating vision is also called for. Genetic alteration could turn out quite grisly, depending on the themes we select, but that's also clearly something they can do. In fact, that could easily be two powers -- some sort of nasty offensive ability, and a healing power. That's four!
Good [+2] Genomic Lash
Good [+2] Genomic Repair
Average [0] Precognition
Average [0] Genomic Vision
Power names kinda suck, but they'll get the job done for us. Taking a look at the Powers chapter for inspiration, Genomic Lash clearly corresponds to Beam (of Something). Genomic Repair is a reskinned Healing. Precognition is... okay, I looked ahead. It's Precognition.
Genomic Vision is clearly some kind of Super-Sense. The rules for power synergy are a little unclear, but I'll say that Genomic Vision lets this character designate a single target per... scene, maybe?... to receive a bonus to either Lash or Repair from the insight. Since the bulk of bonuses seem to be the modifier (or MOD; they're used interchangeably in the text) of the power, minimum 1, that'll be 1 to start.
Reading up a bit on Beam (of Something), the general formula for this can do free damage on the normal scale, and costs 1 Hero Point to do damage on the super scale. But I don't think that Genomic Lash has much business breaking down walls, so I'll call that a Limitation. This will yield 1 Hero Point the first time it poses a problem for Genome, and 1 when that limitation is overcome -- but beyond that, it's just a problem. I'm okay with that.
It's suggested that characters have at least one Signature Stunt, a (usually stronger) use of a power that's nonetheless within its normal range of effects. Doing a bit of research into how Healing is supposed to work, it appears that the Power's Modifier is the maximum Failure Ranks (Power or Quality levels temporarily lost during a conflict) it can restore, but there's nothing random about it. That's kind of sad. But anyway, since Healing is specifically for use on other characters, it might be neat to have a way for Genome to heal himself. Putting a self-targeted Signature Stunt on Genomic Repair would allow him to spend 2 Hero Points (giving a Stunt MOD equal to the base ability MOD) to restore... I guess 4 Failure Ranks, adding that all up. Cool.
Let's do Qualities! Much like Powers, I'll need to pick from a few packages. These are neat in that a Weakness is mandatory.
Expert [+4] Geneticist - okay, I've upgraded him. Go big or go home. This covers lab work and some degree of field analysis.
Expert [+4] Athlete - he ran track all through high school and university, and has kept in remarkable shape throughout grad school.
Good [+1] Medic - although he's not a medical doctor by any stretch of the imagination, he keeps his first aid certifications current, and has continued studying practical physiology as a point of personal interest.
Poor [-2] Alien Appearance - a big obstacle, this.
Name: Gene Orman, a.k.a. Genome
Background: Former geneticist turned heroic alien outcast
Qualities:
Expert [+4] GeneticistExpert [+4] Athlete
Good [+1] Medic
Poor [-2] Alien Appearance
Origin: Altered by an alien benefactor and reborn in flame, Genome fights for justice as he teeters on the edge of humanity.
Powers:
Good [+2] Genomic Lash (Beam of Something, T&J 40) - Limitation: only works on living tissue
Good [+2] Genomic Repair (Healing, T&J 42)
Average [0] Precognition (T&J 46)
Average [0] Genomic Vision (heavily modified Super-Sense, T&J 50)
Signature Stunts:
Self-Repair - 2 Hero Points to restore 4 Failure Ranks
Hero Point Pool: 5/10 (all heroes start this way)
Codename: Genome. This can really go under Name.
Uniform: I fired up the excellent Titan Icon, a standalone version of the City of Heroes character creator, to get an idea of what he might look like. Here he is, hands aglow:
And that's that. Truth & Justice itself is a bit disorganized, but there doesn't seem to be a lot of computation to be done by either players or a GM, so it looks like it'd play fairly smoothly. Points to Atomic Sock Monkey for a relatively painless character creation process!
Next time, I'll tackle the classic Marvel Super Heroes game, otherwise known as FASERIP.
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