I am SUPER excited (heh, see what I did there?) to include this very special character in the 31 Days / 31 Character Challenge! I've been obsessed with the Deadline Heroes RPG for some time now so it was a given that I'd include a character from the game. Unfortunately, I've not yet run or played it.
Therefore, in a departure from my other entries for the 31 Days Character Challenge, this is an original character I created just for the 2024 edition. That's right, for a change of pace I'm going to do things the way they're supposed to be done! Inconceivable!
Did I mention I haven't been able to completely translate the rules for Character Creation yet? Anyway, let's go!
Character: Far Future Girl
AKA: The Tomorrow Hero, Alura Zordox
Player: None yet. Possibly me, possibly an NPC.
System: Deadline Heroes
Nature: Endless possibilities.
Gamemaster: None Yet. Maybe me?
Circa: Today 2024
Origins: Again, I've been wanting to run or play this game forever but haven't been able to find enough of the material translated into English to make this viable. Luckily I am nothing if not persistent (read: obsessive, hyper-focused). I was recently able to find a number of resources including a set of Quickstart Rules (or 'Trial Set' as the website calls it), Actual Play reports, Sample Characters, and run them through a few translation programs.
By essentially reverse-engineering some character temples and fan-made PCs, I was able to creation Far Future Girl. It's me, so I knew I wanted her to be an Alien. As for powers, I wanted a classic Superhero of the American Flying Paragon variety. Messing with some AI Art designs to get a basic idea I ended up with a character that, to me at least, looked like a Japanese Anime take on the Legion of Superheroes. So, that's what I went with.
Backstory: Alura Zordox was a new Superhero on her first mission after graduating from a Hero Academy in the campaign city...one thousand years in the future! She encountered a villain with a Time/Space Warping power and accidentally flew right into one of his portals. She popped out of a similar portal but in the 21st century!
Still going at her full burst flight speed, Alura slammed into the extraterrestrial villainess Kokorosa-Chan, leader of the Earth Invasion Society. Kokorosa had hypnotized a bunch of young male heroes and were having them walk into her own Time/Space gate when Alura crashed into her. The collision made Kokorosa-chan loose concentration. The brainwashed boys were freed but spent a few moments thoroughly confused. Suddenly, one of them shouted to Alura that Kokorosa-chan was a villain trying to take over the Earth!
Kokorosa-chan, Leader of the Earth Invasion Society
from the Deadline Heroes RPG supplement, 'Villains Showcase'
Zordox seemed to recognize Kokorosa-chan at that moment and hit her with a Thousand Year Punch! The other heroes shook off their stupor and together all of them were able to subdue the Earth Invasion Society and its leader. The guys cheered for Alura and soon introduced her to other heroes. After explaining she was from the year 302X, the modern heroes dubbed her the Tomorrow Hero: Far Future Girl!
Overview: I see Far Future girl as a somewhat naive though very intelligent young woman who has quickly fallen in love with the 21st century. She loves to hang out with the other heroes, eat hamburgers and instant ramen, play video games, go to the movies, check out social media, and do all the typical things a normal young adult person does - all of which are completely new and foreign to her.
At the same time she is very confused by things we take for granted. You need a job to pay for food and shelter? Why? You still have trash? There's no Teleporter Booths to get around the world. How do you quickly travel to another country or to the Moon for a concert? What? No one lives on the Moon?!?
Alura misses her Mom and Dad very much, mentioning in passing they her father is a Superhero and her mother one of the smartest Super-Scientist's in the galaxy. She definitely gets homesick but also really enjoys being here in our present. Far Future Girl is a young hero torn. Should she stay in the 21st century or find a way to get back to her future?
The Highlights:
I don't have any yet as I haven't played her but I look forward to making some. I feel like Far Future Girl will be a really fun character to play. In my mind she's a mix of Supergirl and the Teen Titans Animated Series version of Starfire.
Game Info:
As noted I don't have the full Character Creation rules available to me in English. Luckily, it seems that in Japan a common practice is to take one of the templates or sample characters, change their name and appearance to whatever the player prefers, and then run them from there. As the player and PC go on from scenario to scenario that character gains Growth Points used to improve and customize them further, resulting in a unique PC after initially being a 'copy' of a pre-made one.
I was able to translate some of the sample characters, including a number of different 'Harbingers', the Origin type recommended for playing beings from another world such as Gods or Aliens (Thor, Wonder Woman, and Superman are described as examples of Harbingers). Kitbashing some of the these sample characters together and modifying some of the powers here and there (based on other powers from other characters) I was able to create Far Future Girl's sheet.
Her main abilities, Body, Spirit, and Environment, come from her Harbinger template, as does her Life, Sanity, and Credits. As for the powers, as I noted above, I took a few liberties with ones I had seen on the sample sheets. High Speed Movement (which I explain as Flight) is one that is directly from the game. Her Thousand Year Punch was inspired by the games' One Million Power. I made the punch less versatile then the power as written and I'm fine with that. Body of Steel is akin to the powers Armor Shield, Barrier, and Iron Body. Guardian is another power directly from the game (translated as Guard) but I was unclear how it works so I came up with a less powerful but more flexible variant.
One thing I found really funny was that the Harbinger gets no Skill Level bonuses at all. The explanation is that these characters both rely on their powers and physical prowess more and are often unfamiliar with the mundane things a normal Human would have to do.
Notes:
In DC Comics, Alura Zor-El is the name of Supergirl's mother. Querl Dox is the true name of the Legion of Superheroes member Brainiac 5, an alien of the Coluan species and a descendant of the villain Brainiac. Far Future Girl's real name pays homage to Supergirl and Brainiac 5, who were a romantic couple in the Legion of Superheroes comic.
Taking some inspiration from this and the Japanese Anime 'Project: A-ko', I imagine Alura Zordox is the daughter of a genderbent version of the pair; a female Brainiac 5 and a male Supergirl (a variant Superboy I suppose. Superlad?).
The One Million Power that Thousand Year Punch is based on was definitely inspired by the power of the same name in the Anime/Manga 'Tiger and Bunny'. I additionally wanted a nod to 'Detroit Smash' and the other US city and state named super punches used by All Might and Deku in 'My Hero Academia'.
Why did Alura recognize Kokorosa-chan? I'm thinking there is a villain in her future time of the same species.
Legacy:
Me. Anime. Superheroes. How could I not like this?
It is heavily structured however, as are many modern Japanese TRPGs, and that might end up annoying me in the long run. Still, if there is a way to loosen it up a bit I would definitely use Deadline Heroes as a reoccurring and/or ongoing fill-in game for when we can't play one of our regularly scheduled campaigns.
From the far future to modern day to a Medieval Post-Apocalypse Fantasy! Swords, Sorcery, and Giant Robots clash as we meet GARETH of OLLWOOD!
Have at Thee!
AD
Barking Alien
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