Apart from the adven- ture seeds listed here, Mind, Inc. makes an interesting bit of back- ground color. Its com- mercials on television and radio, its heavy use of the city’s 3-D bill- boards, and its ad plas- tered on park benches and the sides of buses all help create a sense of “reality” and consistency for the Millennium City setting. Player charac- ters or NPCs who find themselves facing issues of addiction or mental health concerns may turn to Mind, Inc. for help and find themselves in the grips of PSI’s pro- fessional brainwashers.
DEUCE
Val Char Cost Roll Notes
10 STR 0 11- Lift 100 kg; 2d6 [1] 17 DEX 21 12- OCV: 6/DCV: 6 11 CON 2 11-
8 BODY -4 11-
10 INT 0 11- PER Roll 11- 18 EGO 16 13- ECV: 6
8 PRE -2 11- PRE Attack: 1½d6 14 COM 2 12- 4 PD 2 Total: 12 PD (8 rPD) 3 ED 1 Total: 11 ED (8 rED) 4 SPD 13 Phases: 3, 6, 9, 12 4 REC 0 22 END 0
20 STUN 1 Total Characteristics Cost: 52 Movement: Running: 6”/12”
Cost Powers END
92 Shadow-self: Duplication (370-point shadow form), Altered Duplicate (100%; +1), Ranged Recombination (+½); Original Character Is Incapacitated And Helpless While Duplicate Exists (-1), Duplicate Auto- matically Recombines With Deuce If It’s Knocked Out Or Killed And Cannot Be Re- Created For One Day Thereafter (-0) 0 20 PSI Blaster: Energy Blast 8d6; OAF (-1),
16 Charges (-0) [16]
16 PSI Armored Costume: Armor
(8 PD/8 ED); OIF (-½) 0 4 PSI Radio: Radio Perception/Transmission;
OAF (-1), Affected as Hearing Group As Well As Radio Group (-¼) 0 16 Mental Wards: Mental Defense
(20 points total) 0
Skills
2 Animal Handler (Equines) 11- 3 Concealment 11-
3 KS: The Bible 12-
2 Language: French (fluent conversation; Eng- lish is native)
3 Shadowing 11- 3 Stealth 12-
Total Powers & Skills Cost: 184 Total Character Cost: 236 200+ Disadvantages
10 Distinctive Features: Mutant (Not Concealable; Always Noticed; Detectable Only By Unusual Senses)
20 Hunted: VIPER 8- (Mo Pow, NCI, Kill) 25 Psychological Limitation: Despondent, Believes She’s a Hopeless Sinner (Very Common, Total)
20 Psychological Limitation: Terrified Of Both PSI And Its Enemies (Common, Total) 15 Social Limitation: Secret Identity (Angela
Baker) (Frequently, Major) Total Disadvantage Points: 290
“SHADOW-SELF” FORM Val Char Cost Roll Notes
0 STR -10 9- Lift 25 kg; 0d6 [0] 30 DEX 60 15- OCV: 10/DCV: 10 18 CON 16 13-
10 BODY 0 11-
10 INT 0 11- PER Roll 11- 25 EGO 30 14- ECV: 8
20 PRE 10 13- PRE Attack: 4d6 12 COM 1 11- 3 PD 3 Total: 3 PD (0 rPD) 22 ED 18 Total: 22 ED (10 rED) 6 SPD 20 Phases: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 5 REC 2 40 END 2
20 STUN 1 Total Characteristics Cost: 153 Movement: Running: 6”/12”
Flight: 30”/60”
Cost Powers END
60 Shadow Form: Desolidification (affected by any energy attack), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +½), Persistent (+½), Inherent (+¼); Always On (-½) 0 60 Shadow Touch: Ego Attack 3d6, Affects
Physical World (+2); No Range (-½) 9 5 Hard To Hurt: Damage Resistance (10 ED) 0 10 Mental Wards: Mental Defense
(15 points total) 0
60 Shadowflight: Flight 30” 3
5 Shadow Sight: Nightvision 0
Skills
4 +2 OCV with Shadow Touch 5 Concealment 12-
5 Shadowing 12- 3 Stealth 15-
Total Powers & Skills Cost: 217 Total Character Cost: 370 200+ Disadvantages
10 Distinctive Features: Mutant (Not Concealable; Always Noticed; Detectable Only By Unusual Senses)
25 Enraged: when Angela’s body is taken/ moved (Uncommon), go 14-, recover 8- 20 Hunted: VIPER 8- (Mo Pow, NCI, Kill) 20 Physical Limitation: Mute (All The Time,
Greatly Impairing)
15 Physical Limitation: Automatically recom- bines if Knocked Out Or Killed (Infre- quently, Fully Impairing)
20 Psychological Limitation: Revels In Chaos And Fear (Common, Total)
15 Vulnerability: 1½ x BODY from Energy Attacks (Very Common)
45 Experience Points Total Disadvantage Points: 370
DEUCE PLOT SEEDS
Angela reads reports in the news of a “shadowy figure” who’s slaughtered several innocent people. She’s terrified her Shadow-self is to blame, but she has no recollec- tion of any such actions — or even of unleashing the Shadow-self at that time. She doesn’t dare tell anyone in PSI that she might be losing con- trol of her powers; who can she turn to? Deuce meets a male PC when they’re both in their Secret Identities and becomes romanti- cally attracted to him. How can she develop a relationship without revealing who she is, and what she does? A chance encounter reveals that Shadow- dragon (Conquerors,
Killers, And Crooks, page
193) can control Deuce’s Shadow-self, calling it forth at will, com- manding it, and even enhancing its power. He kidnaps her and the two of them begin a crime spree that the PCs have to stop.
109
Millennium City
■Chapter Six
Background/History: Angela Baker was born in 1981 in Mill Valley, California, to parents of the “hippie” generation who belonged to a series of “alternative” religious groups. In 1994 her mutant power first manifested at a weekend prayer meet- ing; as she prayed along with the rest of the congre- gation, she slowly slipped into unconsciousness and a diaphanous “shadow-form” began to float around the room. Her parents and their “guru” condemned the creation as a manifestation of Angela’s sins and cast her out of the congregation, decrying the taint of Satan in her.
Angela went to live with an aunt in San Francisco. Her aunt had little interest in her, so Angela spent a fair amount of time on her own. While she struggled to get along with the aid of a local church, her shadow form caused havoc on the dark streets at night. Fearing for her own sanity, she visited a Mind, Inc. outlet bookstore, where a counselor, realizing her “sinful shadow” might indicate potential psionic powers, called Edward Cummings. It wasn’t long before Angela, now code-named “Deuce,” was a student of PSI living in Millen- nium City. Personality/Motiva- tion: Angela has learned a great deal about
the nature of her powers from her studies with Psimon and Inquisitor. She now accepts that her power is psionic and not the work of the Devil, and with that understanding has gained greater control over her “Shadow-self.” She’s grateful to PSI for its assistance and the financial aid, and though she’d prefer not to commit any more crimes, she’s weak-willed enough to do as she’s told. Besides, her “shadow” very much enjoys the fear and chaos she spreads working for PSI, and it’s getting harder to resist the desire to release the shadow....
Quote: None. Angela’s Shadow-self is mute, and she herself spends most combats unconscious.
Powers/Tactics: Angela’s mutant powers allow her to manifest a psychokinetic “being,” a semi-ethereal form of shadow. Intangible to the physical world and able to fly at tremendous speed, her Shadow-self cre- ates painful psionic interference patterns in sentient targets by means of a wraithlike touch. However, while her Shadow-self is active, Angela falls into a deathlike coma, utterly nonresponsive to outside stimuli until something disrupts her Shadow-self (i.e., Knocks it Out or kills it) or it returns to her vol-
untarily. (In game terms, Deuce has to buy another Duplicate
if her Shadow-self is killed, of course; the special effect of the purchase is
that she just re-creates the same Shadow-self.)
Angela retains all memo- ries of the Shadow-self’s actions while it was out of her body. PSI prefers to use Deuce as a scout and spy, keeping Angela’s body in a nearby van while her Shadow-self stealthily gathers information.
Campaign Use: Deuce is PSI’s resident sneak, providing Psimon and Medusa with information on their enemies. Like sev- eral of the younger members (Lancer or Torment, for example), she’s not particularly evil, and if offered an alternative might turn against her bosses, if someone could overcome her fear of them.
Deuce is generally intended to be weaker than a starting superhero; she hasn’t yet fully developed her powers, and in fact the better side of her nature may hold the Shadow-self back. You should only adjust her powers if you want to expand the range of her psychic abilities; she even has some unspent Dis- advantage points in case you need her to manifest a new power spontaneously in combat.
Deuce doesn’t Hunt heroes unless ordered to. Even then, all she does is recon them and report back to Psimon.
Appearance: Angela is a pretty brunette, twenty- one years old, 5’7” and thin, with pale skin and a sad demeanor. Her Shadow-self looks like her dark negative image, with a crueler expression, wild, manic eyes, and no mouth.
SOULFIRE
Val Char Cost Roll Notes
13 STR 3 12- Lift 150 kg; 2 ½d6 [2] 21 DEX 33 13- OCV: 7/DCV: 7 18 CON 16 13-
10 BODY 0 11-
13 INT 3 12- PER Roll 12- 18 EGO 16 13- ECV: 6 20 PRE 10 13- PRE Attack: 4d6 20 COM 5 13- 7 PD 4 Total: 15 PD (8 rPD) 12 ED 8 Total: 20 ED (18 rED) 4 SPD 9 Phases: 3, 6, 9, 12 7 REC 0 50 END 7
26 STUN 0 Total Characteristics Cost: 114 Movement: Running: 6”/12”
Cost Powers END
67 Pyrokinesis: Multipower, 67-point reserve 4u 1) Enflame: RKA 3d6, Indirect (+½); No
Knockback (-¼), Not Versus Targets In Or
Under Water (-¼) 9
7u 2) Fireball: RKA 3d6, Explosion (+½) 7 Martial Arts: Karate
Maneuver OCV DCV Notes
4 Disarm -1 +1 Disarm, 23 STR 4 Dodge — +5 Dodge, Abort 4 Knifehand -2 +0 HKA ½d6
(1d6+1 with STR) 3 Legsweep +2 -1 3½d6 Strike,
Target Falls 16 Padded Costume: Armor (8 PD/8 ED);
OIF (-½) 0
5 Fire Resistance: Damage Resistance (10 ED) 0 22 Wall Of Heat: Missile Deflection (bullets),
Ranged (adjacent hex; +½) 2 10 Mental Wards: Mental Defense
(14 points total) 0
2 Stay In The Kitchen: Life Support (Safe Environment: Intense Heat) 0 5 See Heat: Infrared Perception
(Sight Group) 0 Skills 3 Breakfall 13- 3 Combat Driving 13- 2 CK: Newark 11- 1 KS: PSI 8- 2 KS: Video Games 11-
2 Language: French (fluent conversation; Eng- lish is native)
3 Lockpicking 13- 3 Streetwise 13-
Total Powers & Skills Cost: 172 Total Character Cost: 286 200+ Disadvantages
0 Dependence: must snort cocaine at least once per day or suffer Incompetence (Common, Addiction)
10 Distinctive Features: Mutant (Not Conceal- able; Always Noticed; Detectable Only By Unusual Senses)
30 Enraged: Berserk in combat (Very Common), go 8-, recover 11-
20 Hunted: FBI 8- (More Pow, NCI, Imprison) 15 Psychological Limitation: Bully (Common,
Strong)
10 Psychological Limitation: Believes His Powers Control Him (Uncommon, Strong) 10 Vulnerability: 2 x STUN from Cold attacks
(Uncommon)
5 Vulnerability: 1½ x BODY from Cold attacks (Uncommon)
Total Disadvantage Points: 300
Background/History: Harold Gripp was a bad kid. Born in 1984 in Newark, New Jersey, Gripp started cutting school and hanging out on the streets before he was 10. He was soon selling drugs and commit- ting petty robberies with his band of cronies. Caught and sent to juvenile hall in ’99, Harry was soon among the leaders of the reform school gangs and seemed headed down a slow path to nowhere...
...until his mutant powers manifested in the spring of 2001. He was part of a cleanup detail collecting trash by the side of a New Jersey free- way when he and another inmate got into a fight over nothing in particular. As two fellow inmates restrained his arms, Harry stared intensely at his opponent, and was as surprised as anyone when the other young man screamed and burst into flames. In the ensuing confusion, Harry escaped from the cleanup detail and fled into the woods.
Harry spent the next few months on the run, working his way west as he learned how his powers worked by committing petty robberies of gas sta- tions and convenience stores to survive. He arrived in Millennium City in September, where Trace detected him. PSI recruited him by promising to teach him how to control and use his powers in new and interesting ways. For the last year, Harry has studied with the inner circle of PSI, who know about his psychological problems but still consider him a potentially powerful weapon.
Personality/Motivation: Harry suffers from a number of undiagnosed psychological problems. He’s naturally paranoid, prone to violence, and patho- logically unable to sympathize with the pain of others. This makes him a bully who only responds to intimidation (Psimon and Medusa can intimi- date him easily... for now). He is at least borderline schizophrenic, a problem that currently manifests as “voices” only he can hear. The voices tell him to use his powers on anyone or anything that annoys or frightens him.
Harold has developed a cocaine habit over the last few months, a little secret he has so far kept from his “handlers” at PSI. Despite his tremendous power and the great potential PSI sees in him, Harry is defi- nitely a time bomb waiting to go off.
Quote: “Burn.”