World of Freedom 3.2 - Whatever Comes To Mind

Where in all of your character write ups will go.
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Davies
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Re: World of Freedom 3.2 - Fyirwhrx! Nero! The Beacon! The Scarab and the Ankh! Project Freedom!

Post by Davies »

Voltron64 wrote: Sat Oct 28, 2017 3:51 am I wonder if retroactivetly, there could be a connection between Savant and Vanguard (including Victor Prophet)?
That is exactly the case. When I created Savant's backstory, I left the identity of his creators open, and reading about Victor made me decide to use the Vanguard.
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Re: World of Freedom 3.2 - Fyirwhrx! Nero! The Beacon! The Scarab and the Ankh! Project Freedom!

Post by Voltron64 »

Davies wrote: Sat Oct 28, 2017 3:59 am
Voltron64 wrote: Sat Oct 28, 2017 3:51 am I wonder if retroactivetly, there could be a connection between Savant and Vanguard (including Victor Prophet)?
That is exactly the case.
So what, Savant was designed as a countermeasure for the Iron Age while Victor was meant the same way for the Modern Age?
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Re: World of Freedom 3.2 - Fyirwhrx! Nero! The Beacon! The Scarab and the Ankh! Project Freedom!

Post by Davies »

Voltron64 wrote: Sat Oct 28, 2017 4:01 am

So what, Savant was designed as a countermeasure for the Iron Age while Victor was meant the same way for the Modern Age?
Savant was engineered to be a superbrain by a faction of the Vanguard who were unsatisfied by the fact that young Victor was clearly not one, unlike Doc Prophet. The failure of the Savant program temporarily put that faction out of business, but Victor's later defection resulted in them (notably including Savant's biological father, Alonzo Cheney aka the Unknown) taking control of the agency.
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Re: World of Freedom 3.2 - Fyirwhrx! Nero! The Beacon! The Scarab and the Ankh! Project Freedom!

Post by Davies »

Jimmy Hooker
AKA The Old Man

Image

James Anthony Hooker -- Jimmy to his friends -- was born before the American Civil War, and grew up in the Wyoming Territory. In his early twenties, though employed as a ranch-hand, Jimmy Hooker spent quite a bit of his spare time practicing his shooting. He was also known for being extraordinarily lucky -- or at least, that was the generally accepted explanation for the way that he recovered from injuries that could have killed a less fortunate man. In fact, Jimmy was a very early example of a mutated human being, though this wouldn't become clear until much latter in his life.

Both his skills as a shootist and his luck were tested quite a bit when he joined up with a posse who went after the mad-dog killer, Alex "Tombstone" Tubbs. The Tombstone Kid took a particularly vicious dislike to Hooker, because the way Jimmy kept coming back from seemingly fatal wounds meant more work for Tubbs. Jimmy was one of the seven surviving members of that posse who chased the Tombstone Kid down into Mexico, and was present when the Kid was struck down by a lightning bolt. The long chase had cured him of any desire to be a wandering gunslinger, and he headed back to Texas to find work as a cowboy once more. He was unfortunate in his choice of employers, however, and ended up working for one Raymond Hunter -- an alias employed by Mastermind.

Very soon after that, Jimmy found himself entwined in a convoluted plot involving his boss, several guys who looked just like his boss, doors that led to some very unusual places, and a bunch of people in really odd costumes. His loyalty to his employer went out the window when he found out that the fellow was trying to become the Master of the World, and he wound up helping the Freedom League to battle Mastermind across recorded history and beyond. The chronal energies to which he was exposed super-charged the regenerative abilities that he'd always unwittingly possessed, but caused them to have the unusual and unfortunate side-effect of causing him to age rapidly, albeit only superficially, when they were used.

Although Mastermind's plot was failed, Jimmy and the Freedom League briefly found themselves in a timeline altered by their own actions in the past. He again assisted them in setting right the changes in history that had led to vampires ruling Freedom City and the world. Unfortunately, all these time jaunts and risks to temportal integrity prompted the Time Keepers to prohibit the Freedom League from any more time travel for some unspecified duration, which prevented them from returning Jimmy to his original time.

Jimmy wasn't too bothered by this turn of events. He'd seen too much to really be satisfied with going back to his home on the range. Instead, he set out to explore the brave new world of the future ... and promptly got into trouble with the law. Where he was from, if you got a little drunk and a little rowdy (okay, maybe not so little of either) the sheriff tossed you in the slammer to sleep off the drunk and then let you go in the morning, probably telling you to get the heck out of town if you didn't have a job. You didn't get hit with fines, much less threatened with more jail time if you couldn't pay them!

Fortunately, he was given another option -- community service with the Ex-Cons. He was more than willing to help them out, and has actually chosen to continue serving with the team even after fulfilling the requirements of his probation. While this isn't widely known, the charismatic cowboy was the one member of the group who managed to get a certain amount of good press before the entire team became famous in the aftermath of the Day of Vengeance.

Soon after he arrived in the present, Jimmy discovered that the Tombstone Kid had apparently been revived as some sort of zombie gunslinger, and hooked up with a bunch of fearsome sounding monsters. Jimmy knew perfectly well that if he could find out about the Kid, then the Kid could probably find out about him. If the Kid (as seemed pretty certain) still held a grudge, and came after Jimmy, it'd probably be a good idea to have backup of his own ... hence the reason he chose to stay with Project Freedom after completing his probation.

Ironically, this never became an issue during his time with Project Freedom, which ended after the group terminated all of its contracted employees in the wake of Harriet Wainwright's death. During the team's adventure in the Terminus, Jimmy was exposed to exotic radiation that caused his regeneration ability to cease aging him, and in fact quickly restored him to his actual biological age. He decided to leave Freedom City and journey to the west in hopes of finding some semblance of the life he'd known in the past.

He was actually quite successful in this, and found a job as an actual cowboy on a ranch in Arizona. For a few months, it seemed that everything was going well. Then his past finally caught up with him, as the Tombstone Kid sought him out and demanded a duel -- an honest-to-goodness quick draw shootout in the middle of town at high noon. Knowing that the zombie gunslinger would probably start killing the townsfolk if he didn't get his way, Jimmy agreed and faced his deadly enemy one last time.

He actually managed to outdraw Tubbs, putting a shot right through the creature's skull, causing Tubbs to collapse to the street. Shaky with the release of tension, Jimmy turned to walk away from the scene -- and was promptly shot in the back by the Tombstone Kid, unsurprisingly not killed by something as straightforward as that. Tubbs intended to fire a few more shots into Hooker, but the people of the town formed a human wall around Jimmy to hold the Tombstone Kid back. This wouldn't have stopped him, but the zombie's vampiric master, Stalker, chose that moment to summon him back to his side.

Unfortunately, Jimmy's regenerative abilities were unable to cope with the effects of the Tombstone Kid's ghost bullets, and he passed away a few hours later. He was buried by the townsfolk with honor.

Jimmy Hooker -- PL 11

Abilities: STR 3 | STA 6 | AGL 4 | DEX 6 | FGT 12 | INT 0 | AWE 5 | PRE 2
Powers: Fast Healer (Regeneration 10), Gunslinger (Array: Enhanced Skill 4 [Ranged Combat: Guns 4], AP: Feature [Can fire two guns of Ranged Damage 4 or less at once])
Advantages: Accurate Attack, Assessment, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll, Diehard, Endurance, Equipment 5, Improved Critical 2 (revolver), Improved Disarm, Improved Initiative 2, Power Attack, Quick Draw, Ranged Attack 4, Redirect, Seize Initiative, Taunt, Tracking.
Skills: Acrobatics 4 (+8), Athletics 8 (+11), Deception 10 (+12), Expertise: Animal Handling 6 (+8), Expertise: Riding 6 (+6), Expertise: Survival 8 (+8), Insight 2 (+7), Intimidation 8 (+10), Perception 14 (+19), Ranged Combat: Guns 8/4 (+14/+10), Stealth 4 (+8), Treatment 2 (+2).
Offense: Initiative +12, Unarmed +12 (Close Damage 3), Revolver +18 (Ranged Damage 4, Crit 18-20), Independent Aim +14 (Ranged Damage 4 Crit 18-20, Ranged Damage 4 Crit 18-20), Lariat +12 (Ranged Affliction 4, Resisted by Dodge)
Defense: Dodge 14, Parry 12, Fortitude 11, Toughness 8/6, Will 5.
Totals: Abilities 76 + Powers 14 + Advantages 26 + Skills 40 + Defense 15 = 171 points
Complications: General Decency--Motivation. Man Out Of Time. Enemy (Tombstone Kid).
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Re: World of Freedom 3.2 - Fyirwhrx! Nero! The Beacon! The Scarab and the Ankh! Project Freedom!

Post by Davies »

Tomorrow: The Commander, in memoriam.

Next: An idea I got from Icons.

Then: An adaptation of one of the Super-Powered Legends.
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Re: World of Freedom 3.2 - Fyirwhrx! Nero! The Beacon! The Scarab and the Ankh! Project Freedom!

Post by Arkrite »

Davies wrote: Sat Oct 28, 2017 1:52 am Savant
AKA Sebastian Gregory.
Savant was a character you could love to hate.
Or at least I did.

I was never really sure if he was good or evil during the entire game and eventually just came to the conclusion that he wasn't really either. He found out secrets, paraded them around to prove he had learned them, and kept moving on. The fact that these secrets usually came from bad people resulted in him being more heroic than not.

Either way before reading this I had assumed that Zane and Savant would have some kind of overblown martial arts showdown on the roof of a moving train where one of them falls to their doom. A doom that would likely involve them surviving just fine because neither of those two will just die.

Now? Ooooh boy, this could end badly in the future...
Davies wrote: Sun Oct 29, 2017 12:08 am Jimmy Hooker
AKA The Old Man
Jimmy rarely got much face time, but he was a fun sort. He was a combination of Donnie's blue collar everyman, and an unflappable "I've been around" personality. Rarely did much ever phase him, and he was remarkably well adjusted for a Project Freedom member.

I'm not going to lie I felt pretty bad hearing about Jimmy's death.















And then the suspicious side of my mind noted: Homicidal unkillable undead people with a grudge hundreds of years old will stop trying to murder you and everybody around you if they think you're dead.
Hmmm... Well, hope springs eternal.

Of course not everybody can get a happy ending.
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Re: World of Freedom 3.2 - Fyirwhrx! Nero! The Beacon! The Scarab and the Ankh! Project Freedom!

Post by Davies »

Arkrite wrote: Sun Oct 29, 2017 11:28 pm
Now? Ooooh boy, this could end badly in the future...
He sent Zane a congratulatory note including a well-known Bacon quote when Billie was born. To his mind, it was him saying "stop trying to destroy the universe, your kid lives here". Zane may have taken it differently.
Arkrite wrote: Sun Oct 29, 2017 11:28 pm I'm not going to lie I felt pretty bad hearing about Jimmy's death.
It was no easier for me to write than it was for you to read.
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Re: World of Freedom 3.2 - Fyirwhrx! Nero! The Beacon! The Scarab and the Ankh! Project Freedom!

Post by Shock »

Davies wrote: Sun Oct 29, 2017 12:08 am Unfortunately, Jimmy's regenerative abilities were unable to cope with the effects of the Tombstone Kid's ghost bullets, and he passed away a few hours later. He was buried by the townsfolk with honor.
1) NNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
2) I hate it when the bad guy cheats in a duel. And I consider not dying when you get shot in the head to be cheating
3) NNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!
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Re: World of Freedom 3.2 - Fyirwhrx! Nero! The Beacon! The Scarab and the Ankh! Project Freedom!

Post by Davies »

Shock wrote: Mon Oct 30, 2017 1:34 am
Davies wrote: Sun Oct 29, 2017 12:08 am Unfortunately, Jimmy's regenerative abilities were unable to cope with the effects of the Tombstone Kid's ghost bullets, and he passed away a few hours later. He was buried by the townsfolk with honor.
1) NNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
2) I hate it when the bad guy cheats in a duel. And I consider not dying when you get shot in the head to be cheating
3) NNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!
Sorry.
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Re: World of Freedom 3.2 - Fyirwhrx! Nero! The Beacon! The Scarab and the Ankh! Project Freedom!

Post by Shock »

I'll get over but he was my favorite of Team A.
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Re: World of Freedom 3.2 - Fyirwhrx! Nero! The Beacon! The Scarab and the Ankh! Project Freedom!

Post by Arkrite »

Number two for me.
Admittedly I was biased ;~)
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Re: World of Freedom 3.2 - Fyirwhrx! Nero! The Beacon! The Scarab and the Ankh! Project Freedom!

Post by Davies »

The Commander

Image

Dieter Krieger was born in West Germany in the mid 1960s. By his early teens, it was readily apparent that he possessed superhuman strength and toughness. His father (and only parent) seemed unsurprised by this, but advised Dieter to keep them a secret. Fortunately, they were relatively subtle, and so even though he soon became the star of his school's wrestling team, most people took this as evidence of mundane natural talent and hard work.

On his eighteenth birthday, however, Dieter's father revealed the truth about his son's origins to him. He was actually the product of an experiment originating from a brief alliance between SHADOW and Ubermensch (or Superior, as he'd been calling himself then) in the early 1960s. Genetic samples had been taken from Superior, and used in another attempt to create a more advanced sort of super-soldier, by exposing the "serum" to children still in their mother's wombs.

Dieter's father, a semi-retired SHADOW agent, was thrilled by the success of the experiment that his son represented. Not only had he manifested highly useful traits, but he hadn't mutated into a horrible monster like so many of the other subjects. Now, he could use those powers in the service of the Fourth Reich!

Dieter was, to put it mildly, less than enthused by these revelations. He responded to them by contacting the West German security agency, and informing them of his father's activities. The old man was whisked away, and Dieter never saw him again.

He decided to try and make some good out of the vileness of his origins, by using his abilities to fight crime in West Germany, under the name Schwarzkappe. He enjoyed a certain amount of success in these endeavors over the next four years. His biggest case came in 1989, some months before the Wall came down, when he visited Berlin and fought a group of American "aesthetic terrorists" who were attempting to continue their rampage there. He then pursued them back to their stronghold in Manhattan, and assisted the Americans Hardcore and the Raven in defeating them once and for all.

The attention that the American media gave to the affair, more than he had ever received back home, had an unexpected result. He was contacted by an American comic book company who'd come up with an unusual gimmick to increase their publications' sales. They were going to sponsor a team of real-life superheroes based on their fictional characters, and wanted Dieter to be one fo them. Specifically, he'd become "Commander Atom", the team's leader.

After some consideration, Dieter decided that he'd accept the job offer. It seemed like a clever way to do some good while at the same time making a decent living. Then too, it seemed likely to be much more exciting than the mostly mundane crimefighting he'd been doing in Germany.

Today, the Incredible Five are largely regarded as one of the most laughable of the super-teams of the early 90s. At the time, however, they were a big hit, in terms of the sales boost that their activities gave to the comics that inspired them, as well as in the sales of merchandising. And they did actually do a fair bit of good, though the way that it all ended has tended to obscure that.

In 1991, the Incredible Five were sent into battle against a new foe, the Intimidator, an armored figure who caused unaccountable fear in almost everyone who got near him. Fighting off the fear, Commander Atom got the Intimidator into a headlock, hoping to hold him still long enough for one of his team-mates to blast their enemy. Nobdy was more surprised than the Commander when the Intimidator -- a nineteen year old high school dropout in non-powered armor with fear-generating powers -- broke his neck trying to get out of the hold.

The teams' lawyers advised Commander Atom to claim that he'd sincerely believed that th Intimidator was a genuine threat, and that he'd acted in self-defense and the defense of his team-mates and innocent bystanders. But Dieter couldn't bring himself to do it. In retrospect, there'd been too many clues that fear was all that this guy had going for him. He pled guilty to manslaughter, and received a sentence of 15 to 25 years.

Unfortunately, even as prepared to start serving his sentence in Stronghold, worse was to come. It came out that the Intimidator, as well as quite a few other so-called threats faced by the Incredible Five, had been hired to pose as a villain by the PR gurus employed by the group's sponsor. So rather than a hero who'd made an unfortunate mistake while pursuing what seemed to be a genuine threat, and then a principled decision to own up to the mistake, Dieter ended up looking like a pawn and a complete idiot.

Stoically, he served his sentence, unhesitatingly ratting out other inmates whenever he learned something was up. Despite this, he was courted by the True Brotherhood, an association of quote unquote Aryan supervillains with ties to SHADOW (and, some whispered, to Thule). He permitted the idiots to think that he was interested in associating with him, while luring them into mistake after mistake.

Unfortunately, they weren't quite as dumb as he thought. (But then, who could be?) And that's when Dieter found out the precise limits of the protection that the screws at Fort Sunderland were willing to extend to a snitch. He survived the experience, but spent a long time recovering in the prison hospital.

Eventually, he got his parole. As part of some political maneuverings between various Departments of Corrections, he ended up transferred to Freedom City, to serve his probation there as a member of Project Freedom. Because of his experience as a team leader, he soon found himself serving as the field commander for the Ex-Cons. More than any other factor, he was what turned them from a super-powered clean up crew to a team ready and able to fight crime when necessary.

Then Toxic became a member of the team. Her youthful appearance disturbed him a little, reminding him of his mistake, but he resolved to treat her no differently than any of the other members of the team. This resolution lasted until she ended up in a situation from which he had to rescue her, listening to her complaints about how she could have gotten out of it herself with a patient smile.

It only took a few such episodes for Dieter to admit to himself that he cared about this young woman far more than he wanted her to know ... and to realize that she clearly did not feel the same way about him. It was not really much of a surprise. Unrequited love was exactly the sort of thing that should happen to him. He resolved to endure it, and he did so, even when Toxic began to develop feelings for someone else.

The Commander led Project Freedom (specifically Team A) through its deadliest year, up until the invasion of the Terminus. Remembering the group's encounter with Omega a few months earlier made him want to speak against the mission, but ultimately he kept silent. He was killed in action saving Fredrik Zane in the latter's confrontation with Shadivan Steelgrave. He attempted to put Steelgrave in a chokehold, only to be electrocuted by the Annihilist's armor and then blasted at point blank range by his repeller rays. However, the distraction allowed Zane and Toxic to escape unharmed, and he murmured "Fair trade," before expiring in Charlie Graham's arms.

Brought back to Earth-Prime, his body was given an honored burial by the Freedom League. The political situation in Freedom City did not permit the erection of a statue to him on Heroes Knoll at the time, but one was finally installed in 2014.

The Commander -- PL 12

Abilities: STR 6/3 | STA 8/3 | AGL 7/2 | DEX 7/2 | FGT 12/6 | INT 1 | AWE 3 | PRE 1
Powers: Combat Awareness (Enhanced Advantage 5 [Ranged Attack 5]; Enhanced Fighting 6), Hyper-Physique (Enhanced Agility 5; Enhanced Dexterity 5; Enhanced Stamina 5; Enhanced Strength 3), Keen Eyes and Ears (Senses 2 [extended hearing, extended vision]), Mobility (Leaping 3; Movement 1 [slow fall]; Speed 3), Tough as Nails (Impervious Toughness 4).
Advantages: Accurate Attack, Agile Feint, All-Out Attack, Benefit (Every Trick in the Book)*, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll, Fast Grab, Improved Critical 2 (unarmed), Improved Grab, Improved Hold, Improved Initiative, Language (English, German is native), Leadership, Move-by Action, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 5 Set-Up, Takedown, Teamwork, Uncanny Dodge.
* Resists Feints and Tricks with Fighting.
Skills: Acrobatics 5 (+12), Athletics 5 (+11), Close Combat: Unarmed 4 (+16), Expertise: Military 9 (+10), Insight 7 (+10), Perception 7 (+10), Stealth 5 (+12), Treatment 4 (+5).
Offense: Initiative +11, Unarmed +16 (Close Damage 6, Crit 18-20).
Defense: Dodge 13, Parry 14, Fortitude 14, Toughness 10/8, Will 9.
Totals: Abilities 42 + Powers 79 + Advantages 20 + Skills 23 + Defense 20 = 184 points
Complications: Atonement--Motivation. Relationship (Toxic). Reputation.
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Re: World of Freedom 3.2 - Fyirwhrx! Nero! The Beacon! The Scarab and the Ankh! Project Freedom!

Post by Shock »

Poor Dieter. He deserved better than he got
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Re: World of Freedom 3.2 - Fyirwhrx! Nero! The Beacon! The Scarab and the Ankh! Project Freedom!

Post by Arkrite »

I actually held hope of him cheering up and getting the girl.

And then I ruined it. :oops:

Honestly I liked the Commander but he did feel like he'd long since given up on ever being happy. That guy you just wanted to smack because if he'd just be a little happier things would probably start going his way.
Of course considering how horrible things had gone for him I kind of understand why he felt the way he did.
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Re: World of Freedom 3.2 - Fyirwhrx! Nero! The Beacon! The Scarab and the Ankh! Project Freedom!

Post by Davies »

Shock wrote: Tue Oct 31, 2017 2:47 am Poor Dieter. He deserved better than he got
Arkrite wrote: Tue Oct 31, 2017 3:24 amHonestly I liked the Commander but he did feel like he'd long since given up on ever being happy. That guy you just wanted to smack because if he'd just be a little happier things would probably start going his way.
Of course considering how horrible things had gone for him I kind of understand why he felt the way he did.
He was pretty much suffering from untreated mental illness, I'm afraid, and the nearest psychiatrist was a villainous mastermind who took pleasure in exacerbating his condition. It's likely that he might have tried to find some sort of momentary happiness with Rachel if not for that, but they were too similar, in some ways, and would likely have ended up feeding each others' misery.
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