Conception and Inspiration:
Since I initially didn't believe I could beat my schedule bloody until it submitted so that I could play on the C-team, I never read Christopher's post on what the game was actually about. I initially thought that we were going to be playing the B-Team rejects- street level supers who didn't have the super powered juice necessary to tumble with real threats.
Wrong. I'd found myself in another TL8 modern campaign with vanilla humans roughly near the suggested point total for starting an Action game.
I mean, I started with Agency 17 (built off Kromm's prototype of what became Action 4, no less), and Prohibition Mob is not a far cry from those roots, either (one of my players has been throwing in-character verbal jabs at how much 'spy' shit is going on lately in the Mob game).
I'll admit, I was concerned. Expectation: I'll get to build out a character with POWERS! Reality: Action 4 gets to be my bitch. Again.
Seriously though, a year or two down the line I am going to want to play a mechanically interesting character something fierce. I want bells, whistles, AND GONGS. Multiple alternate abilities with tasty enhancements.
Anyways, it took me a much shorter time than normal to settle on what kind of character I wanted to play. Normally I flit between ideas for days, eventually having to weed out the 95% that's crap or pure gimmick from the actual workable concepts.
I wanted to play a character who goes through everyone's trash. Who believes that everything is connected in some grand conspiracy. Naturally, such a character lends themselves to investigative work.
Once the group got together and indicated that everyone was fine with me playing a more or less complete ripoff of the DCAU character The Question, I got to work on Agent Veracity.
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| Christopher Rice has kindly allowed me to show you this lightly redacted version of VERACITY's Sheet, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act |
Backstory:
Agent Veracity's backstory is as mysterious as the conspiracies he delves into.
Capabilities:
Veracity is an accomplished investigator and spook. Even considering how much of a pariah he is within AEGIS, nobody doubts that he's good at what he does.
- Veracity has four wildcard skills- Detective!, Tradecraft! Encylopedist! (he's banned from AEGIS trivia night), and Infiltrator! (Ordered roughly by relative skill level)
- Veracity has a high IQ, with great Perception and Will. He's quick (DX) and athletic (HT), although not anything special when it comes to strength (ST).
- Veracity has numerous mental advantages that help him in his role as investigator/information gatherer.
- Veracity is a stellar shot with a pistol, especially if using his Signature Pistol, Nancy. This includes having Close-Quarters Battle improved, as well as making use of Targeted Attack (Hand) to disarm foes.
- That said, Veracity is almost worthless in a melee, unless he's using stealth to slip behind someone and fuck their shit up with a knife.
- Veracity has crazy high Expert Skill (Conspiracy Theories)
- Veracity would be decent at using Tradecraft! to talk with people if he wasn't so insistent on mentioning the moon landing hoax, chemtrails, or how the neighborhood watch is a front for a satanic cult.
Simply Flesh and Steel:
Veracity uses an ASP pistol, modified to accept a micro-reflex sight. The ASP isn't accurate enough to benefit from being Fine (Accurate), although it had numerous other benefits which lead to me selecting it:
- Bulk of 1
- Fast-Draw Bonus
- Weighs less than 2 pounds
- Comes base with Fine (Reliable)
- Explicitly mentioned as being a candidate for a screw-on suppressor
Veracity uses the aforementioned Suppressor with Subsonic Ammunition for a lovely -5 to Hearing (-10 with the cinematic suppressor rules in place).
I see two big downsides to the ASP. Damage is lackluster at 2d+1 pi. A skull shot can be reasonably expected to deal 16-32 damage (rolls of 4-8 on 2d-1), which isn't bad, but isn't going to play well with even cheap body armor.
The other downside is that the ASP has an ammo capacity of 7+1, which definitely means that firing at full ROF means that Veracity will need to reload after just 3 turns of shooting.
Veracity isn't a bad shot with a rifle, he's just that much more skilled with a pistol, especially Nancy.
The Character Creation Experience:
It being my first time playing with Christopher as GM, character creation was overall very smooth and easy. Christopher is a GM who helps players realize the concepts they want to play, just so long as the concept is campaign appropriate (The Jetpack medic will have to wait for another campaign).
Veracity was originally built on ~300 points, although that was(DELETED FOR SECURITY REASONS) to (REDACTED) to ensure that Veracity was actually capable of doing what I hope to do with the character. That said, the version of the character I had at the first point total was one that I would have happily played. Wildcards make a massive difference.
Christopher takes a very active role in character creation. Some groups might not be okay with taking a month to hammer things out and get things to fit together correctly, but for the style of campaign that's being run, I definitely think it was the right move. I can't see myself using that approach all the time- it is MUCH easier to say "Go use Action 4 to build a 250pt character" than to go through the effort that Christopher has to ensure the C-team will be cohesive. It's been an interesting look at another way of doing things.
Overall, 9/10. If Veracity catches acute lead poisoning I won't dread creating a replacement character. Christopher might dread my next concept though; I have to top the tinfoil hat somehow.
Overall, 9/10. If Veracity catches acute lead poisoning I won't dread creating a replacement character. Christopher might dread my next concept though; I have to top the tinfoil hat somehow.
Parting Thought:
