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Another villain fills our second space this week, for use in
a space campaign...
Janno the Blade; psionic starport gang-leader
(c) copyright 2001 Brandon Cope
Total Points: 61 Points
Age 20; 5'11"; 160 pounds; a man with tanned skin, brown
hair worn in a rather bad mohawk, and his clothing a motley
assortment of punk-style attire.
ST 11 [10] - thrust 1d-2, swing 1d+1
DX 12 [20] - basic speed 5.5, move 5, dodge 5
IQ 12 [20]
HT 10 [-]
WL 12 [-]
ADVANTAGES: Charisma +1 [5]; Telepathy (Power 6)
[30].
DISADVANTAGES: Berserk [-15]; Overconfidence
[-10]; Semi-Literate [-5]; Status -1
[-5]; Wealth (Struggling) [-10].
QUIRKS: Points at people when he talks to them; Keeps his
psi abilities secret; Talks and acts like the star of the
current 3-D vid action hit (whatever it may be).
[-3]
SKILLS: Acting-10 [.5]; Beam Weapons/TL9 (Laser)-13*
[.5]; Brawling-12 [2]; First Aid-11/TL9
[.5]; Intimidation-12 [2]; Knife-13
[2]; Leadership-13** [2]; Shadowing-12
[2]; Stealth-12 [2]; Streetwise-12
[2]; Survival (Urban)-12 [2]; Tactics-9
[.5].
*includes +2 from IQ
**includes +1 from Charisma
LANGUAGES: Anglic (native)-12 [0].
PSI SKILLS: Psi Sense-11 [2]; Emotion Sense-12
[4].
EQUIPMENT
Being poor, Janno the Blade doesn't have a whole lot: on his
person, he'll carry a small (concealed) vibroknife, a cheap
laser pistol (also concealed) and maybe 20-30 credits in the
pockets of his trashy "punk" clothing.
BIOGRAPHY
Janno heads the Razors, a small and brutal starport gang. He
considers himself to be an excellent leader and tactician,
and his gang to be the best on the planet. Unfortunately, he
is mistaken, and his overconfidence gets his troops killed
often. There is even a growing plot amongst his lieutenants
to kill him, and have someone else take over. Janno tries
not to get into fights himself, not because he is cowardly,
but because he tends to lose control in combat situations.
Much of Janno's past is a mystery, even to himself. He
remembers little prior to twelve years ago - when he was
about eight years old - when he found himself on his own, in
an alley in startown. Older memories are limited to vague
images of two adults - whom he assumed were probably his
parents - and a room filled with scientific equipment of
some kind.
Fortunately for Janno, his special gifts (see below) made
him better able to survive the rigours of life on the street
than if he had been without them... More capable than most
children, he went from beggar to gang-banger, and eventually
from gang-banger to gang leader. And despite his uncertain
past, Janno makes it obvious what he wants in the future:
control of all of the crime in the area of the starport.
Luckily, the powerful crime-bosses in the startown consider
him no more than an arrogant thug, and have taken no steps
to eliminate him - yet. In truth, his gang is hardly more
than a nuisance, numbering less than twenty punks - most of
them teen-agers - with fairly minimal skills.
Unknown to most of his gang and no one outside of it, Janno
has minor psi ability, limited to sensing emotions and
detecting other psis. However, these powers have proved to
be useful at times, and Janno is always looking to finding
creative ways to use them.
ENCOUNTERED
Characters encountering Janno will find him surrounded by a
half-dozen of his (mostly) loyal thugs. Regardless of how
many of his gang members are present, he will always act
with an unhealthy mixture of bravado and tactless
behaviour.
CANONICALITY
Other than an extra -5 points in disadvantages, Janno was
built using the standard GURPS rules. For some campaigns,
the GM may wish to turn his concealment of his telepathy
into a Secret disadvantage, depending on the setting (such
as "GURPS Traveller").
WHAT IF?
Janno will fit in virtually any campaign, requiring only
minor changes for modern-day or cyberpunk games (remove or
downplay telepathy power) and fantasy settings (change
weapon and TL skills, drop Semi-Literate). And to facilitate
customisation, Janno's exact background has been left vague,
for the GM to fill in according to campaign needs. Some
possibilities:
* His parents learned of his psi abilities when they began
manifesting themselves at age six or seven, and they
abandoned him. (This is more likely in settings where
psionics are suppressed or persecuted, such as in "GURPS
Traveller").
* His parents were psis on the run from the government or
some private organisation. Janno became separated from them
while they were in the startown, perhaps because they were
forced to continue on without him (perhaps he has siblings?)
or because they were captured (or even killed).
* He was part of an advanced genetics experiment and somehow
escaped; he might have run away, or been released by
sympathetic scientists, or the laboratory was raided and he
fled, ultimately becoming lost. See the Pip and Flinx series
by Alan Dean Foster for further ideas along this path (or,
if you can find a copy, "GURPS Humanx").
* As a variant on the previous idea, he was intentionally
released "into the wild" as part of a long-term experiment;
either he's still being observed, or the program has long
been shut-down and he's on his own.
ADVENTURE SEEDS
Janno - and his gang - could be used as an annoyance subplot
in an adventure, or perhaps the focus of a adventure by
himself:
Baggage: The PCs have some business in the starport -
legitimate police work, illegitimate wetwork or anything in
between - and catch Janno's attention completely
coincidentally. For reasons known only to Janno, he decides
that killing the PCs will get him in good with the
crime-bosses up the food chain, and improve the standing of
his gang. So the PCs have to contend with a couple of sloppy
attacks, more a source of confusion and annoyance than real
danger. But it will slow them down, and they'll have to take
the time to figure out what's going on. By the time they
locate Janno, the PCs are likely to be cranky and quite
annoyed; it remains to be seen exactly what kind of
impression the results will make on the crime-bosses...
Hostile Witness: Having to kill Janno the Blade might be a
bit of a challenge. But an even greater challenge will be
keeping him alive for 48 hours... The deal is, PCs need
Janno; he has information that is extremely valuable, and it
will be two days before he can make any official statements
to the authorities (or whomever, depending on
circumstances). So it's up to the PCs to keep their witness
safe until that time. Janno, of course, doesn't appreciate
the situation, and will be wholly uncooperative whether he
means to be or not. And to make matters worse, there are
those on the street who would prefer that Janno keep his
mouth shut. The PCs will have to keep him safe, though by
the time the two days are through they may want to kill him
more than his enemies do.
- written by Brandon Cope (copeab@yahoo.com)
- edits & additional material by andi jones
(andi@angelwerks.com)
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