A.L.G.E.R.N.O.N. Files and Related

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dsumner
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Re: A.L.G.E.R.N.O.N. Files and Related

Post by dsumner »

I'd like to see a few more of them published, but unless Aaron is going to at least break even, I don't see it happening. :(
dsumner
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Re: A.L.G.E.R.N.O.N. Files and Related

Post by dsumner »

Just out of curiosity, how many of you guys have made use of Algernon Files characters in your games?
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Post by Davies »

<holds up hand>
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mightydavidson
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Re: A.L.G.E.R.N.O.N. Files and Related

Post by mightydavidson »

dsumner wrote: Tue Nov 23, 2021 4:57 am Just out of curiosity, how many of you guys have made use of Algernon Files characters in your games?
I've used them in previous versions of the Mightyverse. Rex Mundi and his Magi were always the back bone of the International Crime Syndicate there and second in command to whomever was running the organization at the time.
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Re: A.L.G.E.R.N.O.N. Files and Related

Post by catsi563 »

*waves*
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That Sullivan Guy
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Re: A.L.G.E.R.N.O.N. Files and Related

Post by That Sullivan Guy »

It's always gratifying to see people getting use out of babblings.
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Re: A.L.G.E.R.N.O.N. Files and Related

Post by mightydavidson »

That Sullivan Guy wrote: Mon Nov 29, 2021 3:50 pm It's always gratifying to see people getting use out of babblings.
So I was going through that list of characters and I was wondering: Are the Skeleton Crew a group of mercenaries with a skeleton motif or are they a supernatural group of some sort?
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Re: A.L.G.E.R.N.O.N. Files and Related

Post by That Sullivan Guy »

mightydavidson wrote: Tue Nov 30, 2021 12:04 am So I was going through that list of characters and I was wondering: Are the Skeleton Crew a group of mercenaries with a skeleton motif or are they a supernatural group of some sort?
The Bonesmith was a lich technomancer originally operating in the 1920s-30s. Undead and a genius intellect with sorcerous talents paired with an obsession with using bones in his "craft," at that time, his various abilities and talents made him a top-tier opponent for various mystery men and pulp-level heroes of the era. Over time, he acquired a number of unique servants he called his Skeleton Crew — gangsters, hirelings, and minions he "rewarded" by transforming into sentient pseudo-constructs. During the climactic battle between the Bonesmith and his heroic archenemy Captain Courage (at the end of which both were buried under countless tons of rubble from which it would take seven decades for the monster to free itself), an interrupted ritual went haywire and sent the crew tumbling through the netherworlds.

While making their way through various planes and "otherworlds" trying find a path back to Earth, the crew occasionally worked for a variety of alien sorcerers and demons. During this time they made rivals out of a pair of supernatural villains from the American West that had been wandering the planes since the late 19th century, Amos Brimstone and The Hellfire Kid. Brimstone's arcane research eventually led to the pair finding a doorway to Earth proper ... but unbeknownst to old Amos and his partner, the Crew had been tracking the two and discreetly followed through the gate.

The Skeleton Crew acts as supernatural muscle-for-hire to anyone that can pay their asking price. Well, anyone other than their former boss, who they blame for their "exile" and whom they avoid strenuously now that he too is back in the game.

The various members wear a full bodysuit complete with head mask, completely black, and with stylized white skeletons painted on the front. The suits are enchanted to "fill out" the various member's shapes to look like actual meat bodies under the cloth. However, this is just an illusion of sorts as under the costumes each member is really only a skeleton held together with tiny enchanted gold chains and whose bones are covered in glowing filigreed sigils and arcane symbols. The suits are enchanted to repair themselves almost instantly from any damage taken.

The Skeleton Crew
a. Bone Chiller: Once an "interrogater" that worked for the Capone mob, Bone Chiller has magical abilities to induce fear and sink a target into hellish illusions torn from the target's own worst terrors.

a. Bone Daddy: A legbreaker par excellence who even scared the other rumrunners he worked with, Bone Daddy stands a good 7 feet tall normally but can grow to more than 30 feet tall. At either size, his strength is superhuman. Also, he has some small degree of osseokinesis, as he can reshape some of his own mass or painfully warp his enemis' bones with a touch.

b. Bonehead: Another bruiser that often worked with Bone Daddy when they were both alive, Bonehead is massive. Though not as tall as Bone Daddy, Bonehead is easily half again as wide and made of much denser material. He likes to charge like ram through his targets, and is capable of achieving great speed while doing so.

c. Crossbones: A former assassin who wandered from employee to employer along the West Coast while he lived, Crossbones had a bit of a psychotic break upon "awakening" in his new form. He believes he's a pirate or buccaneer, damned for all eternity for his crimes. He tries to make the best of this situation and acts very much like a crazed swashbuckler. Always more a blade guy than a gun user, he carries two stylized cutlasses that appear to have been carved entirely from a pair of large bones.

d. Numbskull: It wouldn't be very accurate to call what numbskull did "muscle-for-hire" as he wasn't generally bright enough to remember to make sure he got paid for his work. As long as he was fed and had a roof over his head, he was pretty much content. Now, he's very bright, as he can temporarily steal intelligence and memories from people (some of which has rubbed off) or just shut down their minds and leave them comatose.

e. Skin Trade : The only female in the group, once upon a time Skin Trade pretended to be a simple moll following around her gang boss boyfriend and keeping him happy. In reality, there was no romantic relationship there — she was that gang boss's prize killer, getting close to her targets by acting the weak-willed and easily charmed damsel in distress before going for the kill. In her current form, she can meld with a target, becoming immaterial and essentially wearing her target like a suit. During this possession she has complete control over the target's body. Of all of the crew she is easily the least happy about no longer having an actual living, breathing body. She misses physical pleasures and takes immensely cruel delight in torturing her opponents emotionally as payback towards a world she can no longer walk through as a normal woman.

Hope that helps.
mightydavidson
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Re: A.L.G.E.R.N.O.N. Files and Related

Post by mightydavidson »

It does help. They don't quite fit for my original idea for them but I'll have no problem finding them a spot in the Mightyverse. Thanks!
dsumner
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Re: A.L.G.E.R.N.O.N. Files and Related

Post by dsumner »

Aaron, do you mind if I post the artwork for Bonesmith, Amos Brimstone and The Hellfire Kid?
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Re: A.L.G.E.R.N.O.N. Files and Related

Post by dsumner »

If you don't mind me asking, I've two more questions for you. I've be seeing you mention the group Pain Garden for years, what's their story? You'd previously made mention of a villain group called Slaughterhouse Six, what's happened to them?
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Re: A.L.G.E.R.N.O.N. Files and Related

Post by That Sullivan Guy »

dsumner wrote: Sat Dec 04, 2021 11:20 am Aaron, do you mind if I post the artwork for Bonesmith, Amos Brimstone and The Hellfire Kid?

No, that's cool. I own all of the art Alex did for us, so you have my permission.
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Re: A.L.G.E.R.N.O.N. Files and Related

Post by That Sullivan Guy »

And so people know who the second two pieces of art refer to:

Amos Brimstone and Hellfire Smith:
Amos and Hellfire have been partners for a while. Close to 150 years, to be more exact. After teaming up to fight off immortal puritan adventurer Cavendish Drew and his allies in the years after the American Civil War, the two fiends found they worked well together, complementing each other’s strengths and (more importantly to them) compensating for each other’s weaknesses. Since then they’ve amassed quite a reputation among the players in the supernatural underworld on Earth and in other places.

They’ve been busy for the last few years working on a number of hellworlds for the multidimensional concern Morningstar Acquisitions but have recently made it back to Earth proper. Neither of them cares very much for the 21st century they’ve seen so far, nor do they think very much of the current breed of so-called villain. They’re loudly vocal about both of these judgments.

Amos Brimstone is a sorcerer and lich who has heavily enchanted a pair of sixguns to increase the efficacy of his spells and to act as his phylactery. “Spellslinger” is not an inaccurate description of his personal style of magic. In addition to the defensive magic he’s woven around his partner, he’s also subtly linked the two on a psychic level – he can feel what Smith feels in terms of the man’s drinking, whoring, and other visceral pursuits. Its small compensation for giving up the ability to enjoy those things personally, but immortality always carries a price.

Ezekiel “Hellfire” Smith is a cambion, which is to say half-human and half-demon. As he puts it, “Mama had an open mind, ferocious appetites, and questionable associations. Bless her blackened, withered little heart.” He has no shame about his origins. In fact, he’s kind of proud of his parentage, which given that he’s vice walking, doesn’t come as any great surprise. One of the deadliest gunfighters that ever slapped leather, he’s a vicious fighter, hard to kill, full of demonic tricks, and a slave to his many bad habits.
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Re: A.L.G.E.R.N.O.N. Files and Related

Post by That Sullivan Guy »

dsumner wrote: Thu Dec 09, 2021 4:22 pm If you don't mind me asking, I've two more questions for you. I've be seeing you mention the group Pain Garden for years, what's their story? You'd previously made mention of a villain group called Slaughterhouse Six, what's happened to them?
I scrapped the Slaughterhouse Six as a friend of mine loaned me his copy of Gramercy Island for Heroes Unlimited and that book had a former high-end villain group called The Slaughterhouse Seven. Too close for my comfort.

As for Paingarden:

Paingarden:
This group started out as a small band of eco-activist types who were tricked into taking part in a ritual by Simon Magnus. He told them the ritual would summon a group of nature elementals to wreck a logging company the group had targeted. It was actually intended to sacrifice the group to give Magnus power over said elementals. The ritual went awry and the group members were instead transformed, melding with the summoned elementals to become new entities altogether. They are now full-fledged eco-terrorists (...who really don’t like Magnus, which is very much par for the course for anyone who's ever worked with the toad).

Blood Red Rose is a physically enhanced specimen with incredible pheromone-based abilities (and a bit of a hedonist with needy relationship issues).
Briarmane is a savage close-quarter combatant with claws and a lengthy mane reminiscent of thornbush stalks and stems.
Sequoia is a towering wooden man with numerous brick/tank traits.
Wildflower is a frenzied plant controller whose seemingly timid and slight female figure belies the fact that she easily lapses into berserk rages.
• The fast-moving (almost gliding around above the ground) Gravemoss resembles a grim reaper figure made of gray mossy substances and whose touch eats away at skin and bone, steel and concrete.
Hemlocke is a woman dressed in in puritan-era “cavalier” garb (think Solomon Kane) whose clothing is actually made of leaves and weeds; she carries two weapons that look like matched flintlocks but that fire a variety of plant-based chemical payloads ranging from toxins to incendiaries.


Note that my Sequoia predates Steve's version in Threat Report by more than a decade, but since his version is the one published, I'll probably have to rename this guy now.

When Jon was looking for a team entry on the Threat Reports, I submitted The Cybertribe, The Starbreed, and Paingarden. He decided at the time that they only had room for two and they went with the Tribe and the Breed, as everyone knows now who has the book. Such is life. Means I still own Paingarden, anywho.
dsumner
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Re: A.L.G.E.R.N.O.N. Files and Related

Post by dsumner »

The Hellfire Kid

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