seneschal

Axtgxt has dealt with this extensively In some of the old threads.  Even had a revised SIZ chart.

Watch a bunch of Fifties sword-and-sandal movies for inspiration!  Archetypes?

The Avenger -- The Evil Usurper (tm) has killed his/her father the king and stolen the kingdom/city-state/love interest (probably all of the above).  The Avenger is traveling incognito while seeking allies to help him take it all back before the villain can marry the Love Interest and consolidate his power.

The Love Interest -- A pawn in the Evil Usurper's political games, the Love Interest is frequently the Rightful Heir (unless The Avenger is) whom the bad guy needs to marry to legitimize his rule.  The Love Interest acts as the heroes' spy within the palace but is always being watched and faces death if the villain thinks she has outlived her usefulness.  The L.I. Is always ridiculously good-looking and can sometimes be a handsome prince when the Evil Usurper (tm) is a scheming queen or sorceress.

The Beefy Guy -- Sometimes The Avenger but often an independent ally, the Beefy Guy is strong enough to lift gates off their hinges, overturn wagons and chariots with one hand, and fight off at least six evil minions at once.  His chest is at least 5 feet wide and he rarely wears a shirt.

The Lusty, Busty Henchwoman -- She used to be the villain's main squeeze but now he's thrown her over for the princess.  The Henchwoman might ultimately become an ally of the good guys but in the meantime she is likely to try to murder the Love Interest out of jealousy, poison or seduce any hero she can get her well-manicured fingers on, or hypnotize a potentially friendly nobleman who might aid the Rightful Heir.

Coming!

The Kitten

Crash Comics, 1940

Katie Conn is an agile, precocious 11-year-old girl devoted to her foster father and eager for adventure.  She doesn't rush into situations, however, but carefully studies them first before acting.  Katie has blonde curls, wide blue eyes, and a plump dimpled smile, the better to gull adult criminals with.  She's been known to ambush spies from behind and chloroform them with supplies borrowed from a medical kit.  Conn threatens to become a calculating bombshell when she grows up; the boys are in trouble and Cat-Man had better have plenty of aspirin handy for all the headaches she's going to give him, starting about four years from now.

The Kitten possesses no overt super powers.  Her abilities are the product of her traumatic upbringing.  Her circus aerialist parents were teaching her the family business before their death in a car crash.  Her uncle took her in only to use her in his criminal schemes, forcing her to commit thefts and burglaries.  She's now the unofficial mascot of a military intelligence base, being raised by a guy who sneaks out at night dressed as a cat to beat up gangsters.  Even as a minor, Katie Conn is already more dangerous than many mature adventurers.

Cat-Man doesn't usually team up with other superheroes but the Kitten is his link to them.  She is best friends with Mickey Matthews, sidekick of the Deacon -- a would-be gangster turned crime-fighter who masquerades as a clergyman.  Together, Conn and Matthews have joined other sidekicks to thwart thugs who have escaped the notice of their mentors.

STR 10

CON 13

SIZ 9

INT 14

POW 11

DEX 16

APP 10

Move:  10

Hit Points:  11 (22 CON+SIZ)

Damage Bonus:  +0

Armor:  None

Attacks:  Brawl 55%, 1d3+0; Grapple 55%, 1d3+0

Skills:  Climb 70%, Dodge 50%, Fast Talk 35%, Hide 45%, Jump 55%, Listen 55%, Perform (Gymnastics) 55%, Spot 55%, Stealth 45%

Powers:

Super Characteristic -- +6 DEX (18), +2 APP (2)

Defense, -30% to be hit by enemy attack (6)

Notes:  As a minor, the Kitten began with -280 professional skill points and -7 characteristics points.  That left her with 220 skill points plus 140 personal skill points (INTx10), total 360.  She got 26 power points (2x greatest unmodified characteristic).

Cat-Man

Crash Comics, 1940 - Cat-Man Comics, 1946

Like Mowgli, Tarzan, Pecos Bill and the Black Condor, David Merryweather was orphaned in the wild and adopted and raised by beasts.  In this case it was the jungles of Burma and the foster mom was a tiger.  Merryweather's tropical upbringing enabled him to develop the strength, agility and heightened senses of a great jungle cat as well as the proverbial feline nine lives.  Because, of course it did.  Given this childhood, he adapted surprisingly well to human civilization when brought to the United States as a young man.  David was grieved, however, to discover that men preyed upon each other like the animals he had left behind.  To combat this evil he initially became a private detective but quickly donned cowl, cape and leotard to deal with wrongdoers more decisively and directly.  As the mysterious Cat-Man he battled gangsters, spies and saboteurs, even jungle tribesmen from Back Home.  Fortunately he elected to turn his captured foes over to the police rather than simply eating them.

When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, Merryweather hastened to enlist in the U.S. Army as any virile, patriotic American male would do and over the course of the war rose to the rank of captain.  In addition to patriotism, however, he needed a steady job with a regular income.  As Cat-Man he had busted an unscrupulous man who had forced his orphaned, athletic 11-year-old niece to commit burglaries.  Merryweather felt responsible for young Katie Conn since he had put her only remaining relative behind bars.  Because there was both a Great Depression and a World War on, the State had permitted him to adopt the girl, although she addressed him as "Uncle Dave" rather than as "Dad."  Now he had to support her.

Lieutenant Merryweather was assigned to stateside duties, and Conn lived with him on base.  She complicated both his and Cat-Man's lives immeasurably.  In addition to being a skilled gymnast, Katie was bright, inquisitive, and cunning.  She quickly figured out what her adoptive father did in his spare time and insisted on tagging along, first in her school clothes and later in an imitative costume she'd sewn herself.  Eventually Merryweather was forced to allow her to become his sidekick, the Kitten.  Conn was sneaky, resourceful, and too smart to tackle adult crooks with brute force alone.  She helped Cat-Man thwart Japanese agents as well as German mad scientist Dr. Macabre.

Despite his serious demeanor, Merryweather demonstrates concern and compassion for the soldiers under his command.  He clearly loves his daughter but manages to resist parental overprotectiveness when the pair find themselves in a tight spot.  He's trained her well and expects his lessons to stick.  As Cat-Man he is gleefully brutal when bashing bad guys.  So far he has managed not to kill any of them.

Cat-Man went through several costume changes before settling on a light orange long-sleeved leotard set off by cowl, cape, trunks, boots and gloves of a more reddish orange.  The cowl features wide, cat-like ears.  His legs are bare.  Merryweather seems slimmer and more wiry in his military uniform than he does in his Cat-Man outfit, which perhaps includes fake muscles on the torso.

STR 23

CON 14

SIZ 14

INT 17

POW 14

DEX 22

APP 12

Move:  10

Hit Points:  14 (28 CON+SIZ)

Damage Bonus:  +1d6

Armor:  2 (kinetic, tiger tough)

Attacks:  Brawl 71%, 1d3+1d6+2; Grapple 71%, 1d3+1d6+2; Heavy Pistol 61%, 1d10+2

Skills:  Animal Affinity (Big Cats) 50%, Climb 81%, Dodge 89%, Hide 51%, Jump 66%, Knowledge (Law) 46%, Listen 66%, Persuade 56%, Research 66%, Sense 56%, Spot 66%, Stealth 53%, Track 54%

Powers:

Super Characteristic -- +12 STR (12), +6 SIZ (6), +6 DEX (18)

Armor (2)

Defense, -60% vs. enemy attacks (11)

Super Senses -- Night Vision (3), Enhanced Hearing (3), Enhanced Smell/Taste (3)

Unarmed Combat, 1 level, +2 AP to limbs when blocking/parrying blows (20)

Regeneration, 3 levels, costs 1 energy per HP healed, 3 total (9)

Extra Energy, +50 points (5)

Leap, 4 levels, +4 meters vertical or +8 meters horizontal leap (4)

Failings -- Dependent (Katie Conn)+3; Feral Under Stress +1

Notes:  Cat-Man had 92 power points based on randomly rolled characteristics plus 4 more for Failings, total 96.  He had the standard 500 skill points plus 170 personal skill points (INTx10).

Just for fun ...

Reviews?

https://m.youtube.com/c/KarolinaŻebrowskax/videos?disable_polymer=true&itct=CBAQ8JMBGAEiEwjXia7OuN3qAhVDpYIKHQXdBUg%3D
 

Cthulhu players are always seeking historical resources.  This lady is an expert on period clothing.  Her videos might help Keepers and players add some verisimilitude to their games.  For example, female investigators can run and walk quite well while wearing a corset.  Sitting for long periods of Library Use, on the other hand ....

Now that we've got that sorted out, we've got to discuss the concealed scattergun your PC has strapped to each forearm.  😉

Skeletor is racist and misogynistic?  I dunno. He seems to hate everyone equally, except he hates He-Man more, and his posse is a pretty diverse lot.  He even has a more-competent woman, Evil-Lyn, as his second-in-command.  I've often wondered why she didn't just keep this week's Artifact of Power and set up shop on her own account.
 

Professor Fez, introduced as an example villain In "Astounding Adventures," looks an awful lot like Karloff's portrayal of Ardeth Bey in "The Mummy."  But if you prefer Sydney Greenstreet from "Casablanca," fine.  He wore a fez, too.

Or was it my joke about race- or gender-swapping the villain that offended you?  If so, what right do you have to be offended?  Marvel Comics gave us a female Doctor Octopus while Otto Octavius was down for the count.  The CW gave us a black Iris and Wally West and a black Jimmy Olsen just for the heck of it.  Hollywood gave us Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury (sure, he's a badass, but Bruce Campbell wasn't available?), Will Smith as James West (Smith should stick to fighting aliens and vampires), and Michael Clarke Duncan as The Kingpin (he was intimidating but not Wilson Fisk).  If they can get away with it, why can't you or I in our role-playing games?  At least you don't still have to pay Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner when your campaign bombs (shudder, Daredevil 2003).

This video got me thinking.  Do your heroic player-characters have a persistent arch-nemesis who keeps coming back for more no matter how many how many times he is defeated, imprisoned and/or seemingly killed?  The bad guy doesn't have to be superhuman, just ridiculously determined -- like Wile E. Coyote.  His schemes may vary but his basic motives and methods remain fairly consistent.  So ... what if he isn't immortal after all?  What if he isn't even the same guy each time?

In our example video, Skeletor was manufactured in the tens of thousands, all recognizably him but with subtle and not-so-subtle variations.  Apply this to a flesh and blood character.  Variations in build, skills, intelligence, and personality.  Comic books do this all the time.  Whole squads of people have been the Green Goblin and Hobgoblin.  Dr. Doom has an endless supply of robot doubles (as did Superman at one time).  How many takes on The Joker have we seen since 1940?  What happens if several of them show up to ambush the adventurers at the same time -- without each other's knowledge or cooperation?

What if the insidious Professor Fez, previously an aged British colonial type in the Boris Karloff mold, is suddenly now Latino, or a black guy from Philly?  What if their heated discussion of what to do with the captured PCs is interrupted by a slinky female Fez who insists that she is the genuine article and must be in charge?

Are your heroes prepared to battle an army of duplicates, sorta duplicates, and cosplayers?  Just because a character interpretation is goofy doesn't mean it isn't competent and dangerous.

Ssssshhhhh!  The Deep Ones are currently managing a tony seaside resort/spa in Malibu where wealthy clients sun themselves, sip green smoothies of unknown composition, and undergo "rejuvenation therapy."  Don't bother trying to join.  You can't afford it.  Would-be investigators might be able to get on as extremely low-level service staff.  The turnover rate is even higher than normal.  Good luck finding former employees.  They all seem to have disappeared.  No, I don't know if the resort's presence has any influence on the general weirdness of the greater Los Angeles metro area.  The Mythos isn't responsible for everything, you know!

"Return of the Revenge of the Ghost of the House of the Son of the Bride Of Cthulhu, Part III!"

😳

Rinehart outsold Agatha Christie for a while.  "Staircase" was filmed multiple times as "The Bat," my favorite version being the '50s one with Vincent Price.

Ground squirrels, bazillions of them.  Cleaning up the environment turned out to be a mistake. It is no longer safe for humans to come closer than 80 feet of the surface (flying squirrels and all).   Law of unintended consequences.  

"Red Harvest" -- Dashiell Hammett's nameless Continental Op stirs up a hornets' nest of crime just by showing up and asking a few questions in a corrupt small town.

"The Hound of the Baskervilles" -- Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes sends assistant Dr. John Watson to check out an unusual death at a remote rural estate.

"A Caribbean Mystery" -- Agatha Christie, spinster Jane Marple's island vacation is interrupted when fellow guests start turning up dead!

"The Woman In White" -- Wilkie Collins, when an heiress' fiance' whisks her away to an isolated mansion the woman's female cousin and the bride-to-be's former drawing tutor both become concerned and attempt to track her down.

"The Big Sleep" -- Raymond Chandler, private detective Philip Marlowe Is hired to chase a blackmailer away from a wealthy man's daughter, but the seemingly simple job reveals convoluted layers of sin and murder.

"Thunder On the Right" -- Mary Stewart, a young woman travels to a French convent to meet her cousin only to learn that her relative died in a messy mountain-road car crash.  But the burial was hasty, the details don't seem to add up, and the nuns aren't eager to answer her questions.

Settling Mars will be like settling Antarctica -- except without readily available air and water but with poisonous soil.

3 hours ago, g33k said:

Hoverbike?

uhhh... google "Scorpion 3" or "s3 hoverbike" ... and visit the bank for a loan...

 

Banks?  Loans?  Why, we've evolved beyond such things.  The Party, er, Starfleet says so.

I like your write-up.  You made fox spirits dangerous but not ridiculously overpowered.  You might want to double-check the formatting to improve your entry's clarity.

I have to wonder, with all the large predators available why did certain cultures in Asia and North America decide that a Chihuahua-sized canine was the critter to be afraid of?  Sure, they're fast, agile, sneaky, and adept at snatchIng chickens and pets -- but so is a coyote, and foxes don't hunt in packs.  What made the fox the creature to fear?

On the other hand ... 

BRP fans are always looking for the next globe-trotting mystery campaign for Astounding Adventures or Call of Cthulhu.  But Agatha Christie has already written two of them for you, complete with exotic locations, tangled conspiracies, and ruthless but colorful villains.  And they're even set in the right era.

"The Man In the Brown Suit" (1924) is crammed with murder, hidden identities, sea voyages, mysterious NPCs with shady agendas, and colonial adventure in South Africa.  "They Came to Bagdad" (1951) has very much the same action -adventure feel, only this time set in the Mideast with a bit of James Bond flair thrown in.  No spoilers, but a GM could pretty much read these novels, stat up the major characters, and run a game.   Both are available as audiobooks online.

How does a fox lady tell the good humans from the bad humans?  The good ones taste better.  😧

Lemuria was a continent-spanning empire before the cataclysm, sending traders, explorers, troops and missionaries around the planet to found colonies, gather resources, and counter the schemes of its rival Atlantis (whose emissaries were engaged in similar tasks, the dirty copy-cats).  When war threatened, Ossana used the crisis to overthrow the ruling white wizards, install her followers, and enforce the worship of Ubasti nationwide.
 

Both civilizations fell when their respective continents were destroyed, and each side's survivors founded new nations among their overseas colonies.  The Cult of Ubasti was able to re-establish its authority in some of these nations because Magic Isle provided a continuation of the old Lemurian order.  When later generations rebelled, priests took the faith into hiding, re-introducing Ubasti worship in other guises as opportunity arose and influencing events from the shadows when direct political control proved impossible.

No spoilers, but there is also an obvious "Scooby Doo On Zombie Island" connection that could be made.  Or a link to the Stephen King movie "Sleepwalkers."  An ancient, global religious organization could have a lot of forgotten branches, dissident groups and heretics.

Did you ever attempt a gumiho write-up?  According to the Wikipedia entry for "My Girlfriend Is A Gumiho," the title character possesses superhuman strength, exceptional running and leaping ability, and an incredibly keen sense of smell.  So ... maybe the powers of Marvel Comics' Kraven the Hunter?  I suppose it is a matter of how super each super ability is. The description fits Tarzan of the Apes as well as the 1977 TV version of the Hulk.  Can our furry femme fatale slap 5-7 goons around, or can she bench-press an SUV?  It is one thing to leap over an 8-foot garden wall but another to jump to the roof of the local Best Western Inn.