This is my first game, and my character's first fight. I did this primarily to test out the combat system. Anyway, without further a do, here's my characters stats (I'll put it in a spoiler box to save room, edit: apparently you can't use spoiler boxes on this forum, so I put his stats into a quote box instead, primarily to divide it from the story), followed by the story I wrote for him:
Chapter 1: First nightThe Black Chameleon
20 pts (12 stats, 8 powers)
B2 A3 M1
Powers:
Clinging, 1 pt
Super speed 5, tiring, priority x5, 5 pts
Swift strike, 1 pt
Invisibility 1, 1 pt
Skills:
none (unskilled and young)
Advantages:
Instant Change, never surrender
Disadvantages:
Young, unskilled
Mental Malfunction:
Veangeful: This character hates to see injustice go unpunished, and can't accept defeat in such instances.
Description:
Young and vengeful, The Black Chameleon had no real talents or significant knowledge on anything. But after touching an ancient stone tablet he was granted superhuman agility and speed, not to mention increased strength and the ability to fade from sight, as long as he remains still. This all allowed him to finally lash out at all the things he hated, despite his complete and utter lack of useful skills.
He can transform into and out of his costume at will. Its a full-body costume with a full face mask that is mostly black with thick, dark-green stripes on his arms, torso, and legs. His eyes appear bright green.
Bryan was out patrolling the steets at night, looking for trouble. He leapt and ran across rooftops as he explored the city. Eventually he found what he was looking for.
He heard a panicked voice begging for mercy and went to investigate. What he found was a young man cowering against a wall with two large street thugs standing calmly infront of him. He perched on the edge of a two-story building, looking down into the alley, and remained still so he would fade from sight as he watched to see what was happening.
The man spoke with a shaking voice: "I...I...I wasn't able to get the money, I tried, I swear to god!"
"Swear to my fists, punk"
It was now or never. This would be his first time, luckily he found what should be an easy mark. With all he could do now, surely he could handle two low-lifes, right?
He leapt off the top of the building, landing feet-first behind the thugs. Though he justy fell from a two-story building, he wasn't injured in the slightest. That alone made him feel indestructible, but he didn't have a moment to celebrate. He swung at the thug on his right, hitting him square on the back of the head and before he could even yelp, he whacked him with his left hand, and sent the thug flying over 10 feet away to the right.
He then switched his attention to the other thug. He could move so fast, that he was able to down one thug before his friend or even the victim was able to realize something was happening. He swung his leg towards the other thug's head, but hit his shoulder instead. Inhuman speed didn't grant him accuracy, apparently. This was however enough to swing the thug around and let him punch the thug square in the face. His fist whizzed past his head, only scrapping his cheek.
Gods, he was starting to wish he practiced hitting people before he went out. Still, the man had only just realized that something was happening, so he still had a moment more to throw a couple more punches. This time, he managed to hit the thug square in his face, and with his right-hand too. sending him flying 15 feet away, out of the alley and onto the sidewalk.
This all happened in under a second in a half, though it felt like an eternity to Bryan. When he got his blood flowing now, everything seriously looked like it was moving in slow motion.
The man whom he had just saved from a vicious beating looked at Bryan in shock, then glanced back and forth to the two thugs who now lay 30 feet apart and unconcious the ground. He then looked back at Bryan, though it took him a moment to think of something to say.
"Th-thank you..."
"Why did these thugs want money from you?"
"I...I can't say." Bryan was puzzled.
"What, are you involved in crime yourself?" Bryan thought that he might need to beat up this guy too, "Are you a drug dealer?"
"No, no! I... I do drugs. They're...my suppliers. I ran out of money, so I bought some from them and told them I would pay back later, extra. I...I couldn't get the money. I lost my job, and now...I...I appreciate what you did, but I still owe them money, and their gang will still come after me."
Bryan listened to the poor man's story, and crossed his arms. He didn't know what to say. There was nothing more he could really do for the man, unless he somehow murdered the entire gang or something like that, which wasn't really an option. The man could seek police help, but if they found out they would likely arrest him for drug usage, or perhaps hand him over to the gang, depending on what kind of cops they were.
Bryan stood there in silence, trying to think of a solution, but he could not. "I'm sorry, but like you say there's really nothing I can do for you. Guess you should never have gotten involved in drugs in the first place..." The man's face shifted from panic, to anger, as if to say: How dare you!
"Look, I can't think of any way for you to get out of this. I would do something if I could. But... I can't. Besides, you did something reckless and now you're paying the price for it. I'm...sorry." Bryan lowered his head and the two stood there in silence for a moment. "Look, I'll see what I can do, if anything. But for now, you're probably not safe. I would try to get out of the city if I were you; there's a gang after your head and the cops probably won't help someone who's addicted to narcotics, assuming they're not in league with this gang anyway."
Bryan wasn't expecting this. He was expecting to save the man, he tell him his new superhero name, then go off into the night, happily-ever-after. Instead, he saved a man that maybe he shouldn't have saved, and who was in a situation that Bryan couldn't really help him with.
The two stared at each other a moment more, the man obviously still * off over Bryan telling him what he shouldn't have done. After a few moments of staring at each other, Bryan just turned around, leapt up onto the wall and climbed back to the top of the building from which he had just jumped a minute earlier. Instead of climbing back up onto the ledge where he had been perched, he decided to leap over the alley to the next building and climb ontop of that.
He stopped and stood ontop of that building with his arms crossed. That was definitely a good fight, he won before the thugs could even lay a finger on him. But at the same time, he hadn't really accomplished anything by doing so. After a few minutes, he decided that he could at least call the cops on those thugs he just beat up. He turned around and looked back down into the alley. Both the thugs were still there, laying on the ground, but the man he had just saved was long gone. After thinking for a moment, he leapt down back into the alley, and changed back into his civilian clothes. He didn't know how he did it, he didn't have to say a magic word or do any special motions, he could just will it and his costume would appear or disappear, in green light. Underneathe he was just wearing jeans, sneakers, and a green t-shirt. He walked out of the alley, taking note of the address, and found the nearest payphone to call 911.
"911, what's your emegency?"
"I just saw a superhero, dressed in all green and black beat up a few thugs in an alley on Elmer street. They're still laying on the ground over here."
"We'll send someone over, can I get your name-" At that, Bryan hanged up. He didn't want to reveal who he was. He started to walk away, then realized that they might dust the phone for prints. How stupid of him! He should've just called him with his costume on. At least that way his hands would've been covered in gloves. He went back and tried to wipe off the phone with his shirt. Hopefully, they wouldn't try to track him. He then ducked into another alley, changed back, and climbed ontop of a roof. He decided to stay there and watch what the emergency personnel did. Besides, he could turn invisible afterall. Not like they would notice him.
It only took a few minutes for ambulances and cop cars to pull up. Bryan remained still, because he was only invisible when he was standing perfectly still. First, the cops outlined the thug's unconcious bodies in chalk, while paramedics made sure they were still breathing. He then watched them load the two thugs into the ambulance, after tying them down onto stretchers. The ambulances then left, but the cops stayed behind, apparently investigating the area. Hopefully, they wouldn't think to dust the nearby phone for prints. It was around the corner a good distance away though, so it may not occur to them. The cops scanned the area around where the fight occured for a few minutes, then they reported in on their communicators before getting back into their cars and driving off.
That was close. He really should be more careful. Next time, never take the suit off. What was he thinking anyway? Did he really think he would be less likely to be caught without the suit on? At least he would've had gloves on when handling the phone, and besides, no one would've knew who he was anyway with the mask and all.
He thought about going out again and looking for more trouble, but decided that maybe he should head back home before his father realized he was gone. He was still at work when he left, but of course he wouldn't be at work forever. No doubt he would immedietly head to his room to look for him, to chew him out for random things just to blow off steam, just like he did every day when he came home.
Bryan looked around a moment to get his berrings, then began to head back home.
Commentary:
For his first fight, I decided to put him up against 2 thugs, just to make sure I didn't overwhelm him. And besides, I was hoping he would be able to finish them off before they even got their first panel, which he obviously succeeded in doing.
As for the mechanics of what happened. I only rolled for the combat scene. First, him jumping off the building. He failed his atheletics/acrobatics check (because he's unskilled), but he did soak the fall so I ignored it. I then decided to count that as a movement and do my attack. It wasn't that hard to hit the thugs (I used the stats for gangsters for them, they did have guns on them, but they didn't get the chance to use them). This gave them a defense of 7, and with my agility at x2 to hit with swift strike, it meant that I had to roll a 3 or less to miss! Obviously, I hit every blow. Took out the first thug in two hits, but I botched the damage rolls for the next thug (I believe he rolled 7, then 3 damage, after soak of course), but I had one panel left, so I rolled and got a whopping 20 something damage! Note that I may have calculated the distance he flew based off his soak rather than his actual knock-back value, oops. Oh well. Doesn't matter.
After that, I just made up the conversation with the victim as I went along. And admittedly, it didn't turn out the way I wanted. Bryan described how he expected it to go, and honestly that's what I expected to happen too. Oh well, at least I have a nice plot hook now for future stories. Next time though, I think I'll throw him up against 4 thugs, just to make the fight a bit more dramatic, maybe this time he'll actually get hit.
Playing him, I kinda feel like he's a bit op. With swift strike AND super-speed 5, it means that he gets a whopping 6 attacks (at x2 multiplier) per page!!!! Looking at that, its kinda no surprise he was able to take out 2 thugs before their panel even came up.
Anyway, it was fun, despite playing by myself, I will definitely continue this character. Perhaps I'll upload the next stories I do, perhaps I won't. It all depends on how it turns out. Sadly, I don't have a villain for him to fight yet, though I have come up with an idea for a partner for him.
