Jab’s Builds! (Lawnmower Man! Samus Aran! Metroids!)

[RainOnTheSun]

There's one thing about Rogue's power that can't really make it into a role-playing game: the saving throw. In all the "classic" rogue comics I've read, I've never seen it actually fail: she just touches people, and they're out, and she's got all their powers. It's basically an X-trait (no pun intended), and I don't blame later writers at all for nerfing it into the ground. How do you write fights for a character like that with anything that isn't a robot?

[Ken]

God, all of Rogue's costumes suck except the Jim Lee one.

Wow. He got something right. Maybe he had an editor kibitzing with him.

Poor Jim. Such artistic talent (if you can ignore the "same face" issue), such poor writing and editorial results. He really does draw my favorite Superman and Batman, though.

I'd like to see his stuff inked by someone other than Scott Williams. Someone who actually does a proper inking job, and doesn't just trace. And someone who actually understands the concept of line weight.

[Jabroniville]

RAMROD II (Real Name Unknown)
Created By: Steve Gerber & Don Heck
First Appearance: Daredevil #103 (Sept. 1973)
Role: Forgotten Villain
PL 8 (86)
STRENGTH 7 STAMINA 7 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 3
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 1

Skills:
Athletics 2 (+9)
Deception 2 (+3)
Expertise (Rig-Pig) 8 (+8)
Intimidation 5 (+6)
Perception 2 (+2)
Technology 3 (+3)

Advantages: 
Fast Grab, Improved Critical (Headbutt), Ranged Attack 2

Powers:
"Cyborg"
Protection 1 (Extras: Impervious 3) [4]
"Titanium Skull" Strength-Damage +1 [1]

Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+7 Damage, DC 22)
Headbutt +8 (+8 Damage, DC 23)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +8, Fortitude +7, Will +3

Complications:
Motivation (Greed)

Total: Abilities: 58 / Skills: 22--11 / Advantages: 4 / Powers: 5 / Defenses: 8 (86)

-Ramrod II (the first was a one-off, and the third was a member of The Nasty Boys- a goon-squad for Mister Sinister) was an offshore oil rig worker who got injured on the job, and became a cyborg after Moondragon (who was in a villainous guise) fixed him up and sent him after Daredevil in a single arc. He later showed up to fight Spider-Man, becoming a bit of a low-end Mercenary Villain, using a super-hard head as his gimmick- Spider-Man taunted him for his crappiness, and easily defeated him. Once Spidey got Hammerhead as a recurring villain, there was little other purpose for the guy, and so he vanished. Of course, Mark Gruenwald would end up using him once as well (in a scene where Captain America, disguised as Crossbones, has to fight a gauntlet of super-villains- Ramrod goes down quite easily, but Batroc tries to bribe Cap- whom he recognizes by the fighting style- into losing, lest Batroc reveal the secret), and he's since appeared in a couple background scenes, fifteen years after his last appearance.

-Ramrod was enough to handle Daredevil back in the day (and like most DD villains, he would toss around Black Widow first, since she was a Jobber Hero in that book), then fought Captain Marvel & Spider-Man, but by the '90s, he was a guy who could give Captain America a bit of trouble at best before being KO'd handily. So PL 8 seems just fine for this forgotten Jobber.

[Jabroniville]

There's one thing about Rogue's power that can't really make it into a role-playing game: the saving throw. In all the "classic" rogue comics I've read, I've never seen it actually fail: she just touches people, and they're out, and she's got all their powers. It's basically an X-trait (no pun intended), and I don't blame later writers at all for nerfing it into the ground. How do you write fights for a character like that with anything that isn't a robot?

Yeah, that's always a nuisance. It's like Knock-Out Gas- a low DC in the game: a near-100% success rate in fiction.

[L-Space]

-Ramrod II (the first was a one-off, and the third was a member of The Nasty Boys- a goon-squad for Mister Sinister) was an offshore oil rig worker who got injured on the job, and became a cyborg after Moondragon (who was in a villainous guise) fixed him up and sent him after Daredevil in a single arc. He later showed up to fight Spider-Man, becoming a bit of a low-end Mercenary Villain, using a super-hard head as his gimmick- Spider-Man taunted him for his crappiness, and easily defeated him. Once Spidey got Hammerhead as a recurring villain, there was little other purpose for the guy, and so he vanished. Of course, Mark Gruenwald would end up using him once as well (in a scene where Captain America, disguised as Crossbones, has to fight a gauntlet of super-villains- Ramrod goes down quite easily, but Batroc tries to bribe Cap- whom he recognizes by the fighting style- into losing, lest Batroc reveal the secret), and he's since appeared in a couple background scenes, fifteen years after his last appearance.

I chuckled at this, not because it was inherently funny, but because it implies that Spider-man has a hard limit of 1 metal skulled villain only.

[Jabroniville]

"I told you Mutants were dangerous- Just look what they did to my HAND!"

SENATOR ROBERT KELLY
Created By: Chris Claremont & John Byrne
First Appearance: The Uncanny X-Men #135 (July 1980)
Role: Kinda-Bigoted Politician
Group Affiliations: The American Senate
PL 0 (29), PL 2 (29) Saves
STRENGTH 0 STAMINA 0 AGILITY 0
FIGHTING 0 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 4 AWARENESS 4 PRESENCE 4

Skills:
Deception 2 (+6)
Expertise (Politics) 5 (+9)
Insight 1 (+5)

Advantages: 
Benefit (U.S. Senator)

Offense:
Unarmed +0 (+0 Damage, DC 15)
Initiative +0

Defenses:
Dodge +0 (DC 10), Parry +0 (DC 10), Toughness +0, Fortitude +0, Will +4

Complications: 
Hatred (Mutants)- Kelly does not trust Mutants, and openly asks for controls on them.

Total: Abilities: 24 / Skills: 8--4 / Advantages: 1 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 0 (29)

-Senator Robert Kelly was a really neat part of the X-Men books- it woulda been really easy to turn an anti-mutant politician into a raving Strawman (like Graydon Creed turned out to be), but here, the creators were deft enough to actually make their antagonist HUMAN. Kelly thought Mutants needed to be regulated, controlled and watched over, and CERTAINLY didn't like them (Claremont even based some of his personality traits off of the famously-assholish Joseph McCarthy, a man whose behavior was so over-the-top that modern viewers have mistaken actual footage of him for a bad overactor), but he wasn't like Super-Hitler. And hey, this IS a group of people that has people like Magneto as members, and many more members are insanely-dangerous- it is 100% easy to see how someone like Kelly can view his beliefs as justifiable.

-He first appeared at a Hellfire Club meeting, then being a big political means behind getting Project: Wideawake's Sentinel program (ironically, he was working with Sebastian Shaw, who was of course secretly a mutant). The whole Days of Future Past storyline also revolves around him- he's the guy Mystique's Brotherhood of Evil Mutants assassinated, thus setting off the dystopian, Sentinel-controlled future. After Kate Pryde goes back in time to save him, he vanishes for about eight years, reappearing to see his wife killed by Master Mold during a fight with Rogue- this only lionizes his stance against mutants. However, his position softened once Chris Claremont left the books, as he is later shown publicly denouncing Graydon Creed for using Kelly's wife's death as a means of bashing mutants- Kelly carefully points out that the X-Men were trying to SAVE his wife. Eventually, he promises to fight for the rights of mutantkind once Pyro died saving his life from another attack.

-Ultimately, however, he was wastefully killed-off by ANOTHER anti-mutant activist, who felt him a traitor. Despite that, he's still easily the most-iconic "Human Face" of the Anti-Mutant movement (most of the time, you'll just see random mobs- sometimes with actual, literal torches & pitchforks, like everyone just has those lying around!). He was even used in the first X-Men movie, though I found his subplot rather weak- the whole "Let's turn EVERYONE into Mutants!" thing kind of falls flat, especially as the whole point of Mutants is that they were hated because of how they were born. You know, the whole "Prejudice" concept that is so central to the X-Men.

-Kelly is a standard-issue Politician, meaning he's skilled in Politics and Deception (wait... should those even be different Skills?). 

[Jabroniville]

RED SONJA
Created By: Roy Thomas & Barry Windsor-Smith
First Appearance: Conan the Barbarian #23 (Feb. 1973)
Role: Archetypical Female Barbarian, Miss Fanservice
PL 10 (129)
STRENGTH 3 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 6
FIGHTING 14 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Acrobatics 4 (+10)
Athletics 9 (+12)
Close Combat (Unarmed) 1 (+15)
Deception 3 (+5, +9 Attractive)
Expertise (Soldier) 5 (+7)
Insight 3 (+6)
Intimidation 4 (+6)
Perception 4 (+7)
Ranged Combat (Archery) 4 (+12)
Stealth 1 (+7)

Advantages:
Accurate Attack, Agile Feint, All-Out Attack, Assessment, Attractive 2, Chokehold, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll, Diehard, Equipment 2 (Longsword, Bow & Arrow), Fast Grab, Great Endurance, Improved Critical (Sword) 2, Improved Critical (Unarmed) 2, Improved Defense, Improved Disarm, Improved Initiative 2, Improved Smash, Improved Trip, Improvised Weapon, Luck, Power Attack, Quick Draw, Ranged Attack 4, Takedown 2, Tracking

Equipment:
"Longsword" Strength-Damage +3 (Feats: Improved Critical) (Extras: Penetrating 2) (6 Equipment Points)
"Bow & Arrow" Blast 4 (8 Equipment Points)

Powers:
"Wears That Thing in Arctic Conditions" Immunity 1 (Cold) [1]

Offense:
Unarmed +15 (+3 Damage, DC 18)
Sword +14 (+6 Damage, DC 21)
Bow & Arrow +12 (+4 Ranged Damage, DC 19)
Initiative +14

Defenses:
Dodge +13 (DC 23), Parry +15 (DC 25), Toughness +4 (+5 D.Roll), Fortitude +7, Will +8

Complications:
Responsibility (Not Doing The Nasty)- Red Sonja prayed for fighting skills, and received them from a Goddess. However, she is no longer allowed to lie with a man unless he defeats her in combat.
Enemy (Kulan Gath)

Total: Abilities: 58 / Skills: 38--19 / Advantages: 35 / Powers: 1 / Defenses: 16 (129)

-A rape victim given supreme fighting skills by the Goddess Scathach (of the Tuatha de Danaan), Red Sonja is THE archetypical fantasy female, and pretty iconic in general, if only for the infamous Chainmail Bikini. She's based off of a "Red Sonya" created for another Robert E. Howard book (unrelated to the Conan series), which is why Marvel doesn't actually own the rights to her (she left when they gave up the rights to ALL the Conan characters). She immediately became a sensation in 1970s Marvel books, owing probably to... well, just look at her. This kind of "Sexy Scantily-Clad Chick" look was becoming super-popular after decades of the Comics Code cracking down on the "Good Girl Art" of the 1940s pulp-inspired books. And MAN did the artist go all-out with it- the '70s brought out Red Sonja, Jennifer Kale, Satana, Dagger and other women to whom Cleavage Was Power.

-So the Chainmail Bikini, plus the extreme popularity of the Conan tales at the time combined to make Red Sonja a hit- she soon got her own solo series. Alas, it only lasted fifteen issues- apparently even BOOBS couldn't sell a solo female comic book in the 1970s- 1983 produced another failed book. There was even a FEATURE FILM In the mid-1980s starring Brigitte Nielsen, but it bombed pretty hard, despite the link to Conan the Barabarian (Arnold Schwarzenegger himself guest-starred). The current Dynamite-brand comic series has lasted WAY longer than her originals ever did, and are apparently pretty good (though many people pass them by because of the uber-fanservice covers that make it look more like a Fap Book than anything), though apparently the character was killed off and replaced with a descendant with the same concept.

-Red Sonja is basically Conan Lite, though great enough to handily callenge him, and is more of a finesse fighter. At PL 10, she's equal to Marvel's Elektra, and can wade through Mooks like nobody's business (a combination of high Defenses and Takedown 2 means she can effectively avoid almost all incoming attacks, and chop down hordes in an instant).

[Gamebook]

I read the Red Sonya books and in recent years there have been some significant alterations to her character, most of them set up by Gail Simone. They did a reboot of the character with a new series a while back and made her much less angsty and miserable. The rape as backstory thing no longer gets anything like the prominence it once did. She is also no longer a nun, the divine mission from Scathach thing has also been mostly removed.

The revised Red Sonya is more of a lusty adventurer. Very lusty, the 'cannot lie with a man unless he defeats me' thing has been totally done away with. Sonya is now very promiscuous, having numerous lovers (including Conan in a crossover). In an early scene we see her sleeping off a wild orgy, surrounded by other insensible bodies. She often importunes other people on her adventures and complains when she has had to go without for a while. Always a drinker she now gets clattered at every opportunity, to the occasional exasperation of others when it is eight o'clock in the morning and they are supposed to be fighting an evil sorcerer that day. She no longer mopes about killing and death either, taking much more of a joy in cutting down her enemies.

[danelsan]

Gail's run on Red Sonja is pretty damn good in my opinion. I especially liked the second arc, because it was a great story seed for me to steal for an Exalted game...

[Hoid]

....how has she not been killed by run-of-the-mill archers? Maybe it’s because I’m into guys and not girls, but that armor is seemingly designed for her to die a horrible death.

[danelsan]

....how has she not been killed by run-of-the-mill archers? Maybe it’s because I’m into guys and not girls, but that armor is seemingly designed for her to die a horrible death.

She avoided this fate presumably the same way Conan's bare chest does? Though it should be noted that there have been occasions both of them have, when knowing ahead of time they'd be in a big battle, wore actual armor.

[Woodclaw]

....how has she not been killed by run-of-the-mill archers? Maybe it’s because I’m into guys and not girls, but that armor is seemingly designed for her to die a horrible death.

How Stjepan Sejic explained it.

[Hoid]

....how has she not been killed by run-of-the-mill archers? Maybe it’s because I’m into guys and not girls, but that armor is seemingly designed for her to die a horrible death.

She avoided this fate presumably the same way Conan's bare chest does? Though it should be noted that there have been occasions both of them have, when knowing ahead of time they'd be in a big battle, wore actual armor.

...in the RE Howard stories (and not the films), Conan is sensible and wears armor, rather than running around half-naked.

[Spam]

More than once Conan hauled his butt way from a fight when his opponent was armored and he wasn't, usually flat out saying that there is no way he's fighting an armored opponent.

[M4C8]

"I told you Mutants were dangerous- Just look what they did to my HAND!"

SENATOR ROBERT KELLY
Created By: Chris Claremont & John Byrne
First Appearance: The Uncanny X-Men #135 (July 1980)
Role: Kinda-Bigoted Politician
Group Affiliations: The American Senate
PL 0 (29), PL 2 (29) Saves
STRENGTH 0 STAMINA 0 AGILITY 0
FIGHTING 0 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 4 AWARENESS 4 PRESENCE 4

Skills:
Deception 2 (+6)
Expertise (Politics) 5 (+9)
Insight 1 (+5)

Advantages: 
Benefit (U.S. Senator)

Offense:
Unarmed +0 (+0 Damage, DC 15)
Initiative +0

Defenses:
Dodge +0 (DC 10), Parry +0 (DC 10), Toughness +0, Fortitude +0, Will +4

Complications: 
Hatred (Mutants)- Kelly does not trust Mutants, and openly asks for controls on them.

Total: Abilities: 24 / Skills: 8--4 / Advantages: 1 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 0 (29)

-Senator Robert Kelly was a really neat part of the X-Men books- it woulda been really easy to turn an anti-mutant politician into a raving Strawman (like Graydon Creed turned out to be), but here, the creators were deft enough to actually make their antagonist HUMAN. Kelly thought Mutants needed to be regulated, controlled and watched over, and CERTAINLY didn't like them (Claremont even based some of his personality traits off of the famously-assholish Joseph McCarthy, a man whose behavior was so over-the-top that modern viewers have mistaken actual footage of him for a bad overactor), but he wasn't like Super-Hitler. And hey, this IS a group of people that has people like Magneto as members, and many more members are insanely-dangerous- it is 100% easy to see how someone like Kelly can view his beliefs as justifiable.

-He first appeared at a Hellfire Club meeting, then being a big political means behind getting Project: Wideawake's Sentinel program (ironically, he was working with Sebastian Shaw, who was of course secretly a mutant). The whole Days of Future Past storyline also revolves around him- he's the guy Mystique's Brotherhood of Evil Mutants assassinated, thus setting off the dystopian, Sentinel-controlled future. After Kate Pryde goes back in time to save him, he vanishes for about eight years, reappearing to see his wife killed by Master Mold during a fight with Rogue- this only lionizes his stance against mutants. However, his position softened once Chris Claremont left the books, as he is later shown publicly denouncing Graydon Creed for using Kelly's wife's death as a means of bashing mutants- Kelly carefully points out that the X-Men were trying to SAVE his wife. Eventually, he promises to fight for the rights of mutantkind once Pyro died saving his life from another attack.

-Ultimately, however, he was wastefully killed-off by ANOTHER anti-mutant activist, who felt him a traitor. Despite that, he's still easily the most-iconic "Human Face" of the Anti-Mutant movement (most of the time, you'll just see random mobs- sometimes with actual, literal torches & pitchforks, like everyone just has those lying around!). He was even used in the first X-Men movie, though I found his subplot rather weak- the whole "Let's turn EVERYONE into Mutants!" thing kind of falls flat, especially as the whole point of Mutants is that they were hated because of how they were born. You know, the whole "Prejudice" concept that is so central to the X-Men.

-Kelly is a standard-issue Politician, meaning he's skilled in Politics and Deception (wait... should those even be different Skills?). 

Nothing can stop..THE CLAW!