World of Freedom 3.2 - Whatever Comes To Mind

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Voltron64
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Re: World of Freedom 3.2 - Minerva, Yuuki Yukimura

Post by Voltron64 »

Davies wrote: Mon Jun 05, 2017 7:24 pm The origins of the curse on the eldest son of the Villagatos family of Argentina are somewhat obscure, but are believed to date back to at least the seventeenth century. By the twentieth century, the curse had weakened to the point where those subject to it had some control over it, and used their ability to transform into a cat-like humanoid to protect their family's interests. However, just what doing so has entailed has varied from generation to generation.
Take it there's a been a fair share of jaguar-man having long protected and/or preyed on the good people of Argentina?

With the unfortunate fact that this one had to be the latter.

Shame, Peron was in need of being beguiled by such a pest.
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Re: World of Freedom 3.2 - Minerva, Yuuki Yukimura

Post by Davies »

Voltron64 wrote: Tue Jun 06, 2017 1:00 am Take it there's a been a fair share of jaguar-man having long protected and/or preyed on the good people of Argentina?
The Villagatos heirs who were able to control the beast usually just protected their families, so from the perspective of those good people of Argentina who weren't Villagatos, it's been pretty much preyed on for the whole history. Until Santiago Villagatos, at least.
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Dracula

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Dracula

Image

The above is a reasonably good representation of what he really looks like. His shapechanging abilities allow him to look much younger when he pleases.

They've spun some pretty good stories, haven't they? "Vlad Tepes, after his lifetime of cruelty, was cursed with immortality and an undying thirst for blood by a --" And here the tale splits, some blaming a Romany vampiress, some a fairy obsessed with the night. "-- and ever since he has haunted the shadows as Dracula!!" Blah, blah, blah, I vant to suck your bluhd.

Feh. All lies. Vlad III was actually well known among the vampires of his era as their unflinching adversary, and while they likely had enough of a sense of irony to have found the notion of transforming him into one of their slaves appealing, by the time he met his death, his body was in no condition to be transformed into one of the undead. Whatever hell he found for himself, it is not this one in which we live. Ask any scholar of Stoker's novel and they'll tell you that his Count is a poor match to the historical impaler, that Stoker was writing about a "Count Wampyr" until some mysterious stranger suggested he use Dracula as his model. (That one's a lie, too, but we'll get to it later.)

Vlad III was married multiple times, and had many children. By a Hungarian noblewoman named Illona, his eldest son was also named Vlad Dracula, who made a claim to the Wallachian throne but never ruled. The younger Vlad's own eldest son was given the name Ladislas Dracula, and became the administrator of Castle Hunedoara. His two sons, the younger Ladislas Dracula and John Dracula, were granted baronial titles by the Holy Roman Emperor in 1535, in honor of their ancestors' crusades. Ladislas had only one son, also named John, who married a woman named Anna, had no known children, and disappeared from history. And as we all know, where history ends, myth begins.

John Dracula de Band (to use his full name) was a scholarly man. And unfortunately, he was not a particularly wise scholarly man, as his studies soon led him into arcane and esoteric subjects. His wife did commit suicide, and he may have told himself at some point that his studies were directed towards the possibility of raising her from the dead, but if so he was kidding himself. Eventually, his studies drew the attention of the notorious Scholomance, and he was invited to join this community of magical scholars for a year. His magical powers great terribly great during this time, and he was not the tenth scholar who was taken by the devil. (Which here means, 'was bloodily murdered by his fellow students in a sacrifice to the devil'.) With his new knowledge, it seemed the best thing to do was to ensure that he could continue to exist so as to gain further knowledge and power, and so he employed his arts to transform himself into a vampire, and has ever since haunted the night.

In the seventeenth century, he managed to inveigle himself into a position of caretaker of certain properties in the Borgo Pass region owned by descendants of his cousin George Dracula de Band after those descendants died out. Almost immediately, he began styling himself Count Dracula. The handful of local heroes who dared to oppose him were defeated with terrible ease, and he took steps to ensure that no tales of his deeds spread beyond the borders of his tiny kingdom. But overall, his was a quiet terror, and he spent most of the eighteenth century and the nineteenth in slumber, his mind traveling along the Crimson Coil, and earthquakes marking his periodic awakenings.

After one such earthquake in 1893, he embarked on his first great war against the world. The full details of his travels to England have only recently come to light; suffice it to say that he failed to gain the foothold in the West that he sought, and yet retained many agents of his will even after he was forced to flee into the shadows. Such has been the consequence of every one of his campaigns since then -- he never wins, and yet he always ends up with a few advantages that he didn't have before. He keeps getting stronger.

And now, with so many of his old enemies fallen, and so many advantages within his grasp, he has begun a new war. He has traveled to the new center of the Western World -- New York -- and gathered up all the agents he has recruited over the years. He treats with other masterminds as he never has before. So far, only the Raven has learned of what haunts New York's nights, though he has begun to gather old allies and new against this threat. Perhaps it will be enough.

Or perhaps a new dark age, where monsters freely roam, will begin.

Dracula -- PL 13

STR 7 | STA - | AGL 5 | DEX 5 | FGT 10 | INT 5 | AWE 4 | PRE 7
Powers: Blood Drain (Weaken Stamina 12 [Resisted by Fortitude], Grab-Based, Limited to Draining 1 rank per round), Blood Link (Mental Communication 3, Limited to anyone who drinks his blood; Mind-Reading 8, Sensory Link, Limited to anyone who drinks his blood), Shapechanging (Morph 4; AP: Concealment 5 [all visual and hearing] and Insubstantial 2), Sorcery (Perception Ranged Cumulative Affliction 13 [Resisted and Overcome by Will; Impaired, Disabled, Incapacitated], Dynamic, Insidious, Subtle, Variable Descriptor [Emotions], DAP: Summon Animals 2 (Bats, Rats, or Wolves), Horde, Mental Link, Multiple Minions 6, DAP: Environment 10 (3 points of effect), Selective), Spider-Climb (Movement 1 [Clinging]), Undead Invulnerability (Immortality 6, Limited [not when staked or beheaded]; Immunity 30 [Fortitude effects]; Impervious Protection 12, Limited [not against holy weapons], Regeneration 10, Source [blood]).
Advantages: Benefit 4 (Wealth), Connected, Fascinate (Persuasion), Improved Critical (Blood Drain), Improved Hold, Improved Initiative, Jack-of-all-trades, Leadership, Power Attack, Ritualist, Startle
Skills: Close Combat: Unarmed 4 (+14), Deception 12 (+19), Expertise: Magic 14 (+19), Insight 4 (+8), Intimidation 12 (+19), Perception 8 (+12), Persuasion 12 (+19), Stealth 8 (+13)
Offense: Initiative +9, Unarmed +14 (Close Damage 7), Blood Drain +14 (Close Weaken Stamina 12, Critical 19-20)
Defenses: Dodge 14, Parry 14, Fortitude Immune, Toughness 12, Will 13.
Totals: Abilities 76 + Powers 155 + Advantages 14 + Skills 37 + Defenses 22 = 297
Complications: Power--Motivation. Compulsion (Must be invited into any dwelling he does not own). Power Loss (All powers except Undead Invulnerability cannot be used in daylight hours.) Weakness (Can be held back by a holy symbol in the hands of a believer or by garlic).

Bride of Dracula -- PL 9

STR 6 | STA - | AGL 1 | DEX 2 | FGT 6 | INT 1 | AWE 2 | PRE 3
Powers: Blood Drain (Weaken Stamina 9 [Resisted by Fortitude], Grab-Based, Limited to Draining 1 rank per round), Blood Link (Mental Communication 3, Limited to anyone who drinks her blood; Mind-Reading 6, Sensory Link, Limited to anyone who drinks her blood), Spider-Climb (Movement 1 [Clinging]), Undead Invulnerability (Immortality 6, Limited [not when staked or beheaded]; Immunity 30 [Fortitude Effects]; Impervious Protection 7, Limited [not against holy weapons]; Regeneration 10, Source [blood]).
Advantages: Attractive, Fascinate (Persuasion), Improved Hold, Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Startle
Skills: Close Combat: Unarmed 3 (+9), Deception 7 (+10), Expertise: Magic 4 (+5), Insight 6 (+9), Intimidation 9 (+12), Perception 8 (+11), Persuasion 10 (+13), Stealth 9 (+10)
Offense: Initiative +5, Unarmed +9 (Close Damage 6), Blood Drain +9 (Close Weaken Stamina 9)
Defense: Dodge 9, Parry 10, Fortitude Immune, Toughness 7, Will 8.
Totals: Abilities 32 + Powers 68 + Advantages 6 + Skills 28 + Defense 18 = 152
Complications: Slavish Loyalty--Motivation. Compulsion (Must be invited into any dwelling the master does not own). Power Loss (All powers except Undead Invulnerability cannot be used in daylight hours.) Weakness (Can be held back by a holy symbol in the hands of a believer or by garlic).

The woman called Mary Morstan by Bram Stoker is one of Dracula's current brides; unlike the other two, she has AWE 3 and the Motivation Unwilling Loyalty. Dracula can have more brides, but making one puts him and the new bride in a vulnerable state until they recover. He can have male brides, he just chooses not to do so.
Last edited by Davies on Wed Jun 07, 2017 2:40 am, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: World of Freedom 3.2 - el Lince, Dracula

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As I said, seamless blending.
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Re: World of Freedom 3.2 - el Lince, Dracula

Post by Davies »

:oops:

Tomorrow: The Patchwork Man.

(Well, come on, you weren't expecting him to show up where the other guy is?)
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Re: World of Freedom 3.2 - el Lince, Dracula

Post by Davies »

Ah what the hey, it's tomorrow somewhere.

The Patchwork Man

Image

In 1816, the year without a summer, in an estate on the shores of Lake Geneva, two already great poets, two would-be novelists, and the half-sister to one of the novelists who was the mistress of one of the poets, began to alleviate their boredom by embarking on a ghost story competition, from which was produced one of the greatest horror stories of all time, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Except that's yet another lie. But possibly not the lie you're expecting, where Shelley's story was inspired by events that had happened a generation or so before that.

For there was another guest that month at the Villa Diodati -- one of the rarest of all supernatural creatures, a so-called 'Promethean'. It was this construct of flesh and bone and sinew and soul who started the ghost story competition by simply telling the others the story of his long life and journeys. Their reactions varied, some thinking it nothing more than an imaginary tale which either fascinated or disgusted them, some believing it and finding meaning in the tale. But one of them, Dr. John Polidori, knew that it was true, having heard rumors of such creatures from his more esoteric contacts. He persuaded Mary Shelley to assist him in murdering the Promethean, taking advantage of her fear of the creature. They succeeded in their quest, largely because the creature, weary of its unending existence, allowed them to succeed.

The murder was disguised as an accident, but Mary Shelley developed a guilty conscience over her part in it. Now that the monster was no more, she could see her own actions clearly, and they disgusted her. At last, she demanded that Polidori attempt to restore life to the creature -- surely, if life had been kindled by the hand of man where no life existed, it could be rekindled anew by such means. The challenge appealed to Polidori, and he began to construct a laboratory in the Villa, obtaining alchemical ingredients and replacing the damaged portions of the creature's form with body parts recovered from cadavers. At last, they were ready, and electricity drawn down from a lightning storm energized the patchwork corpse in the vat of chemicals.

Something was born, that dark night in July. Not merely a new Promethean, but an entirely new kind of Promethean, mightier than the reanimated corpses of previous eras. The creature fled into the night soon after its birth, and Mary Shelley began to write her magnum opus, partially in an attempt to make sense of what she had wrought, combining her guilt and Polidori's pride into the singular namesake of her novel. For his part, Polidori was determined to hunt down the creature, and delved further into the world of the occult in order to gain the power to do so. He ultimately faked his own death five years later, to begin a new life under the name ... of course ... Von Frankenstein.

As for the creature, he too traveled in the shadows, attempting to make sense of his existence, seeking to avoid the creatures who seemed to fear him so much. He read Shelley's novel and found it in his heart to forgive his dark mother. At last, near the middle of the nineteenth century, he elected to follow the lead of his fictional counterpart and seek his end in the far north. He did not find a final end, but he was lulled into a decades-long sleep in the ice.

In 1937, an expedition undertaken by Nazi scientists discovered his inert form and returned him to Germany, where he regained consciousness only to find himself a prisoner of a descendant of his 'father', the so-called Baroness Veronika Von Frankenstein. As with her ancestor, she too was determined to use him as a means to discover how to repeat his creation reliably. He endured her tests with disgust, but also with a certain disturbed interest. Was it possible that she could create others like him? If she could, would he no longer be so terribly alone in the world? But such hopes died when it became clear that he would be disposed of once she needed him no longer.

Five years later, an American mystery man was taken captive and held prisoner in Castle Frankenstein. In rescuing him, his friends -- the other members of the so-called Fearless Four -- also freed the creature, who assisted them in their escape and returned with them to America as a fire-forged friend. Dubbed the Patchwork Man by these stalwarts, who were now the Fearless Five, he was startled to find himself welcome among the community of heroes which was establishing itself in this Golden Age. After all, many of them were no less strange than he.

But all good things must come to an end. In 1948, the Fearless Five became involved in time distortion that caused them to disappear from their era. Of all of them, only the Patchwork Man has ever been seen since, having emerged from another, lesser time distortion in 1974. He has no memory of any time passing between the two events. It seems likely that whatever the group encountered destroyed all but the indestructible Patchwork Man ... but in his darkest moments, he suspects that the flesh of his friends has somehow been combined with his own, accounting for his power growth.

The Patchwork Man was lured into fighting the True Believer by a would-be imitator of von Frankenstein in 1984, and assisted the second Raven in one of her first cases in 1991. Aside from that, he has sought to avoid involvement with superhumans of both malevolent and benign dispositions. Lately, however, his peaceful existence in a disused subway station underneath New York City has been disturbed by the awareness that an old evil is moving in the night. He feels ... not fear ... but a weary realization that he may be drawn into a struggle once again. But whether he will struggle on behalf of a people who fear and reject him, or on behalf of a worse monster who seeks to control him, remains to be seen.

The Patchwork Man -- PL 11

STR 7 | STA - | AGL 3 | DEX 2 | FGT 9 | INT 3 | AWE 3 | PRE 1
Powers: Fury of the Damned (Enhanced Strength 6, Fades, Side Effect [Vulnerable]), Unnatural Construction (Immortality 4; Immunity 30 [Fortitude effects]; Impervious Protection 12; Regeneration 6), Unusual Senses (Senses 4 [low-light vision, mystical awareness, visual senses counter concealment]).
Advantages: All-Out Attack, Distract (Intimidation), Evasion, Fearless, Improved Hold, Improved Initiative, Languages 4, Power Attack.
Skills: Acrobatics 8 (+11), Athletics 4 (+13), Expertise: Life Sciences 4 (+7), Expertise: Philosophy 9 (+12), Intimidation 13 (+14), Investigation 4 (+7), Perception 8 (+11), Stealth 8 (+11).
Offense: Initiative +7, Unarmed +9 (Close Damage 7, Damage 13 w/Fury of the Damned)
Defenses: Dodge 7, Parry 10, Fortitude Immune, Toughness 12, Will 11
Totals: Abilities 46 + Powers 80 + Advantages 11 + Skills 29 + Defense 13 = 179
Complications: Acceptance--Motivation. Prejudice (unnatural appearance). Temper.
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Re: World of Freedom 3.2 - el Lince, Dracula

Post by Voltron64 »

I know that look of disgust in your eyes.
You can't hide it from me.


I've seen all its expressions in many faces like your own.
I am intimately familiar with rejection.
Yes, these scars and stitched wounds are horrifying to behold.
Were I truly alive, they'd be enough to kill me.

But I am not alive.
Not yet.


Not in the way you know it.
A fire burns within me and animates this dead flesh,
these legs that have wandered the far regions of the Earth,
these hands that have killed men.

And I walk with a purpose.
You will not stand in my way.
These hands have killed men.


(BTW, who were the Fearless Five?)
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Re: World of Freedom 3.2 - el Lince, Dracula

Post by Davies »

<nod> Yeah. On Earth-Prime, Prometheans are even rarer than the Chronicles of Darkness makes them out to be, but then not all Earth-Prime cities have large numbers of vampires living in them either. They don't have as many "cool powers" either, and I don't know if any of them ever have succeeded in achieving rebirth.

The Fearless Five are a group of superheroes from The Algernon Files: Fires of War, from whence I got the Patchwork Man's image. Veronika Von Frankenstein is from there, too.
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Re: World of Freedom 3.2 - el Lince, Dracula

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Patchwork was one of my favorites from the Algernon Files. Great to see him.
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Re: World of Freedom 3.2 - el Lince, Dracula

Post by Davies »

Glad you liked it. Him. Y'know. :)

Okay, made some slight adjustments to the No-Account Count so he's no longer built on more points than freakin' Superboy-Prime. That was overdoing it.

Tomorrow: An American Werewolf in New York. We'll save a bundle on the location shoots!
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Re: World of Freedom 3.2 - el Lince, Dracula

Post by Hoid »

Voltron64 wrote: Tue Jun 06, 2017 11:37 pm I know that look of disgust in your eyes.
You can't hide it from me.


I've seen all its expressions in many faces like your own.
I am intimately familiar with rejection.
Yes, these scars and stitched wounds are horrifying to behold.
Were I truly alive, they'd be enough to kill me.

But I am not alive.
Not yet.


Not in the way you know it.
A fire burns within me and animates this dead flesh,
these legs that have wandered the far regions of the Earth,
these hands that have killed men.

And I walk with a purpose.
You will not stand in my way.
These hands have killed men.


(BTW, who were the Fearless Five?)
Promethean: the Created is awesome.
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Davies
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Re: World of Freedom 3.2 - el Lince, Dracula

Post by Davies »

Hoid wrote: Wed Jun 07, 2017 2:56 am Promethean: the Created is awesome.
I certainly agree, otherwise I wouldn't be [s]ripping it off[/s] taking inspiration from it.

Aside: Why don't we have a strike-through code?
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Re: World of Freedom 3.2 - el Lince, Dracula

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Davies wrote: Wed Jun 07, 2017 3:04 am Aside: Why don't we have a strike-through code?
Sorry, I used those parts to build my robot friends.
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Re: World of Freedom 3.2 - el Lince, Dracula

Post by Davies »

Arkrite wrote: Wed Jun 07, 2017 4:23 am
Davies wrote: Wed Jun 07, 2017 3:04 am Aside: Why don't we have a strike-through code?
Sorry, I used those parts to build my robot friends.
... well, I guess that can't be helped, then.
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Re: World of Freedom 3.2 - el Lince, Dracula

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Davies wrote: Wed Jun 07, 2017 3:04 am
Hoid wrote: Wed Jun 07, 2017 2:56 am Promethean: the Created is awesome.
I certainly agree, otherwise I wouldn't be [s]ripping it off[/s] taking inspiration from it.

Aside: Why don't we have a strike-through code?
Honestly, most of what you'd see in either OWoD or NWoD is begging to borrowed for supers settings.

I mean, who wouldn't the First Murderer as a prominent supervillian in your campaign? ;)

EDIT: Because apparently DC did.
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