The Chimera Sirens

Superhero fiction created by die roll.

Thank you for tolerating my lack of editing on these. I'm doing them for fun and am thus being a bit lackadaisical.

Using the Masks RPG, I come up with the basic situations and use the die rolls to determine the direction of the story before filling in the details.

The characters were created by a mix of random rolls and selection of ideas.

Chimera Sirens: The Transformed - Bronze Chimera

Bronze Chimera - Umeko Hayashi - Age 23

Umeko Hayashi/Bronze Chimera - 5'7" 218 lbs.

The Transformed

Asian, Bronze Skin and Steel Hair, No Costume, Cold Eyes

 

She has two powers: Technopathy and Impenetrable Skin

Labels - Creation

Freak +3

Danger +1

Savior +0

Superior +0

Mundane -1

Chimera Sirens: The Janus - Pearl Chimera

Pearl Chimera - Ayako Wakahisa - Age 22

Pearl Chimera 5'2" 107 lbs

The Janus

Woman, Asian, Shabby Clothing, Distracting Costume, Oni Mask

Powers: Energy Absorption and Impossible Mobility

Labels - Creation

Freak -1

Danger +1

Savior +0

Superior +0

Mundane +3

Chimera Sirens: The Protege - Jade Chimera

Minako Kita, 5'5" 104 lbs

Jade Chimera - Minako Kita - Age 18
The Protege
Woman, Indistinctly Asian, Conservative Clothes, Armored Costume

Mentor's Power: Magical Training
Personal Power: Twilight World Evolution
(Enhanced Hearing, Nightvision, Magically Inert)
Shared Power: Air Control

Labels - Creation

Freak +1
Danger -1
Savior +0
Superior +2
Mundane +1

Chimera Sirens: The Legacy - Amber Chimera

Amber Chimera 5'4" 101 lbs

Amber Chimera - Kyou Higa - Age 17
The Legacy
Woman, Okinawan, Raver Clothes, Traditional Costume

Divine Visions, Magical Training, Aquatic Adaptation, Multi-Dimensionality, God-Like Beauty

Labels - Creation

Freak +0
Danger -1
Savior +2
Superior +1
Mundane +1

Some Superhero Tropes

There are several elements of superhero fiction and settings that I appreciate and some that I do not. In some cases, I dislike the underlying message that a particular element delivers and in other cases I simply don’t find the trope makes much sense. These are not entirely consistent likes and dislikes either. A trope I dislike in one instance is one that I feel is entirely appropriate in another instance. However, I’m going to go ahead and discuss some of these below and when I have issues with them and when I don’t.

Night's Black Agents Char Gen - GUMSHOE

This is a general summary of character creation in the GUMSHOE vampire spy thriller game NBA printed by Pelgrane Press.

The premise of the characters in this game are:

"For a few years now, your character has been part of Europe’s shadowy underground of criminals, mercenaries, and deniable paramilitaries. Before that, you were on the rolls somewhere: MI5, DGSE, Stasi, perhaps even the CIA or Mossad. Someone recruited you out of the sunlight, and taught you to survive in the shadows."

Usually in the first operation, the players uncover proof of the existence of vampires and also come to the attention of the vampire conspiracy.

Chimera Sirens: The Bull - Marble Chimera

Marble Chimera - Katja Holgersson - Age 20

Marble Chimera, 5'11", 150 lbs

The Bull

Woman, Swedish, Casual Clothing, Simple Costume

Superhumanly Tough, Inhumanly Strong and Uniquely Skilled at Fighting due to a combined genetic and magical experiment performed on her giving her the ability to take on the form of a semi-demonic, physically perfect body.

Labels - Creation

Freak +2

Danger +2

Savior -1

Superior +0

Mundane -1

Masks Solo Campaign

The idea of this is to create some characters and run them through a campaign on my own.
I'm going to use various random generators (Palladium books, Seventh Sanctum, Abulafia, Behind the Name, etc)

We'll see if this works as well as any of my other attempts at serial stuff.

Seventh Sanctum has already given me a name for this group: Chimera Sirens. And yeah, they're likely to all be female, at least to start.

If this goes long enough, I'll give it its own page in the menu.

As it stands these are the playbooks being used:

Bull, Legacy, Protege, Janus and Transformed.

I'll roll up some stats, each in their own page, and try to expand that later.

Since I currently live in Japan, that's where I'll set it.

Low Magic in Dungeons and Dragons 5e

Trying to model a low magic setting in most Dungeons and Dragons systems can be challenging since the core assumptions of the game assume a very magical reality. There is also the fact that there is often disagreement on what exactly is meant by the term “low magic”. The one common element is that magic is uncommon in low magic settings. Some would extend that to assume that non-human creatures are also rare and that magic is weak. However, this is not always the case. There are several fantasy stories considered low magic which have instances of powerful magic within them.

My Five Questions and the use of Build Plans

In most, if not all, role playing games, there comes a time when a character grows in power and ability. Different systems provide different methods for advancing characters and most of those advancement schemes require the player to make a choice of how to direct a character's advancement. In such situations, I tend to approach my decision on what to take based on a set of concerns that I've summarized with five questions.