Solar's Build Thread - The In-Between-Updates Update!

Where in all of your character write ups will go.
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betterwatchit
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Re: Solar's Build Thread - The In-Between-Updates Update!

Post by betterwatchit »

Rising Zan had the katana-and-revolver combo before Like A Dragon: Ishin! And the N64 controller had four buttons dedicated to the camera.

It could be argued that the N64 controller was built with Mario 64 in mind.
SolarOracle
Posts: 549
Joined: Thu Feb 14, 2019 11:01 am

Zan

Post by SolarOracle »

Image
Man, there is a CRIMINAL lack of good Rising Zan artwork and fanart out there. : (

Role: The Hero, Master Swordsman, Master Gunman, Westaboo Wet Dream

Zan

Identity: Johnny, Public Identity.
Gender: Male.
Age: Unknown.
Height: Unknown.
Weight: Unknown
Eyes: Blue.
Hair: Blonde.
Skin: Fair.
Group: None.
Base of Operations: United States of America, Small Town in the South (The name is basically illegible, my best guess is that the place is called "Red Town").

Power Level 9 (PL 10 with Hustle Time) - 150 Character Points

Abilities
Strength 3, Agility 2, Fighting 8, Awareness 2
Stamina 4, Dexterity 4, Intellect 0, Presence 3

Powers
Blade Helicopter
: Feature: Flight Speed 0 (Flaws: Gliding, Source - Sword). [1]

Samurai Gunman Techniques: 11 Point Array. (11) -- [16]
  • Dashing Slice: Area -1 (15 ft. Line) Damage 8 (Flaws: Source - Sword). (11)
  • Hurricane Slash: Area -1 (15 ft. Burst) Damage 7 (Flaws: Source - Sword). (10)
  • Fan the Hammer: Feature 2: Gun Damage +1, (Extras: Multiattack 6) (Flaws: Distracting). (7)
  • Hit Back: Deflect 5 (Extras: Reflect) (Flaws: Limited to Ranged Attacks, Source - Gun). (4)
  • Blade Charge: Sword Damage +2 (Extra: Reach) (Flaws: Limited to using with Charge). (2)
  • Somersault Slash: Feature 2: Sword Damage +2 (Flaws: Distracting, Inaccurate), linked to Leaping 2. (2)
Super Ultra Sexy Hero Combo: Feature 10: User gains a Victory Point after successfully hitting non-mooks with sword or gun attacks 3 turns in a row. [10]

Hustle Time!: Enhanced Advantage (Extraordinary Effort). [1]
Feature 3: Speed +1, Strength +1 and Reach on Sword attacks while using Extra Effort. [3]

Gear
Katana and Revolver: Strength-based Damage 5 (Flaws: Inaccurate) (Extras: Improved Critical, Penetrating 3, Split, Feature 5: Ranged on up to 5 ranks when Splitting). (15) -- (17)
  • AE: Johnny No More: Ranged Damage 5. (10)
  • AE: Demon Slayer: Strength-based Damage 3 (Extras: Penetrating 3, Improved Critical 2). (8)
Advantages
Accurate Attack, Close Attack, Defensive Roll 2, Diehard, Equipment 4, Improved Aim, Improved Critical (Pistols) 2, Improved Critical (Swords), Improved Defense, Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Quick Draw, Ranged Attack 5, Seize Initiative, Takedown

Skills
Acrobatics 4
(+6 total).
Athletics 8 (+10 total).
Close Combat (Swords) 3 (+12 total).
Deception 2 (+5 total).
Expertise (Samurai) 4 (+4 total).
Expertise (Gunman) 4 (+4 total).
Insight 4 (+6 total).
Investigation 2 (+2 total).
Perception 6 (+8 total).
Persuasion 4 (+7 total).
Ranged Combat (Pistols) 3 (+12 total).

Offense
Initiative +6
Unarmed
+9, close damage 3.
Demon Slayer +12, close damage 6, critical 17-20.
Sword and Gun Combo +10, close damage 8, critical 17-20.
Somersault +10, close damage 8, critical 17-20.
Blade Charge +10, close damage 8, critical 17-20.
Johnny No More +12, ranged damage 5, critical 18-20.
Fan the Hammer +12, ranged damage 6, critical 18-20.
Dashing Slice, close 15 ft. line area damage 8.
Hurricane Slash, close 15 ft. burst area damage 7.

Defense
Dodge 12, Fortitude 8, Parry 12, Toughness 4/6*, Will 6
*6 with Defensive Roll.

Complications

Motivation: To Bring Peace Back to Town: Zan returned to the town he grew up after finishing his training as a Samurai, only to find it being attacked and many of its residents kidnapped. His mission is now to locate the group behind it and take them down for good.

Johnny No More: After being defeated and nearly killed in the past, Johnny went to Japan and trained as a samurai, creating a fighting style based on gunplay and sword techniques. After completing his training, Johnny abandoned his name, taking on the identity of Zan, the Super Ultra Sexy Hero and Samurai Gunman, and returned to his hometown to fight off evil and protect the people.

Rivalry: Loki: Zan was almost killed by Loki when he was a sheriff, gaining an X-shaped scar on his face due to twin blades of the samurai. The two encountered each other once again after Jackal attacked Zan's hometown, and Zan seems to still harbor a lot of grudge against Loki.

HAAAAAAAH! HUSTLE TIME!: Once Zan activates Hustle Time, as long as he is still able to or the battle ends, he must continue to spend his Victory Points and uses of Extra Effort to maintain it.

52 Abilities, 31 Powers, 23 Advantages, 22 Skills, 22 Defenses = 150 Character Points


About: The self-proclaimed Super Ultra Sexy Hero and the protagonist of our story, Zan is a confident, snarky and charismatic man who has mastered both the blade and the gun, creating a unique fighting style as a samurai gunman.

Zan was once known as Johnny, the young sheriff of a small town in the south of the U.S., who one day had an encounter with a mysterious masked samurai near a gulch. They fought, but Johnny failed to shoot at the man due to his inexperience, and ended up with a scar in the shape of an X on his face. He was later rescued by an old friend of his late father, Suzuki, who "comes from the distant and mysterious land of Zipangu".

Frustrated by his defeat, Johnny begged Suzuki to train in the sword style of his country so he could become stronger and protect his town, a request which the old man agreed to, as they departed to the country of "Zipangu" along with Sapphire, Suzuki's daughter. Johnny was trained in the art of the sword by the both of them as he continued to practice his gunplay, resolute in his desire to become a powerful champion of justice who would be a master of both arts.

Years passed since Johnny starter his training while in Japan, slowly mastering his hybrid fighting style, now finally able to return to his town as its protector. He abandoned his former name, now calling himself "Zan, the Super Ultra Sexy Hero", as he saw Johnny as having died in the fight from all those years ago that left him scarred, now reborn as someone else more powerful. After Suzuki declared his training as complete, Zan departed back to the U.S., as Sapphire secretly followed him, worried about his well-being.

Upon arrival, Zan encountered the old bartender of his town, who was injured and holding a rifle. He recognized Zan as Johnny and explained that the town had been attacked by a strange group of ninjas who were stealing their gold and had a strange eye mark, a group which Zan somehow recognized as being the evil organization known as the Jackal. The bartender asked Zan to help protect the town, as the samurai gunman wasted no time in rushing into action.

After battling the strange ninjas and other members of Jackal who were attacking the town, Zan saved some of the townsfolk who had been captured, being recognized as being Johnny. He was then told that they had stolen their gold and killed a lot of the local people, and had also attacked the nearby village of Tsuka and built a strange castle there, prompting the samurai to investigate there.

Zan also ran into members of Jackal in Tsuka, who were trying to blow up the town with a strange mechanical walking bomb, which Zan destroyed before it could do any damage. Inside the castle, Zan encountered more captured locals, as well as Sapphire who had infiltrated the village. She told Zan that the man leading Jackal was Loki, the masked samurai who almost killed Zan all those years ago, and that he had built a strange mechanical castle west off the village. Zan thanked her and went on his way to stop Jackal.

While heading west on horseback, Zan encountered a train with the Jackal's eye insignia, which the super ultra sexy hero decided to investigate. On the train, Zan encountered ninjas and other Jackal members, and on the final train car, encountered a strange old man on a flying machine called Dr. Gizmo who seems to be the head of Jackal. Before Zan could get any information out of the old man tho, he unleashed a powerful robot to stop the samurai gunman before flying away on his device. Our hero, however, managed to land a shot, causing it to crash. Zan then set the train to blow up by destroying its engine before leaping off.

Following the train tracks, Zan found a local gold mine that had been overtaken by Jackal, as the stationed Jackal members tried to kill Zan, mad at him for stopping them from going to other nearby towns since he destroyed their train. As he headed into the mine, he discovered it had been turned into a strange factory with weird machinery, which was using the harvested gold for Dr. Gizmo's inventions.

He continued to explore the mine, destroying the machines he encountered along the way, eventually defeating the local boss called Mr. Shogun. After the fight, Zan encountered Loki, who taunted him. Zan challenged him to a rematch, but Loki instead tried to kill Zan by causing a cave-in, annoying the samurai gunman, who now saw Loki as cowardly, barely escaping with his life from the mine, arriving at the golden mechanical castle Jackal was using as a base.

Zan faced many dangerous opponents inside the castle who were guarding Loki and Dr. Gizmo at the top of the structure, but eventually managed to beat them, reaching Loki before the castle's final room. The two finally got to fight again after all these years, but Zan eventually came out the victor. However, as Dr. Gizmo saw the two battling, he told Loki to use "the lord's shield", some strange magical shield Jackal had acquired, to defeat Zan, which enhanced Loki's strength and gave him a powerful armor.

The two continued to battle, with Loki now a much stronger foe, but Zan eventually managed to defeat him again, finally giving the super ultra sexy hero closure for his past. Dr. Gizmo wasted no time in recovering the shield, using its powers to create some strange flesh and steel monster to defeat Zan, leading to the final battle of the game, as the samurai gunman eventually won, causing the entire palace to collapse and Zan to return to the village, which was now finally safe, as Jackal was defeated.

Zan is a REALLY cool character, and I wish the game would have had more dialogue to allow his personality to shine through more. Just something about how unapologetically cocky and reassured he is, constantly proclaiming himself to be a super ultra sexy hero all the time, comes off as insanely entertaining. Aside from that, do I even need to mention how insanely badass the idea of a "samurai gunman" is?!

This build of Zan puts him at PL 9, but able to reach PL 9.5 while using his Hustle Time power, which, in game terms, is just a more powerful version of Extra Effort, further buffing his strength, speed and attacks. I thought it would be fun to make Rising Zan's Hero Point mechanic and M&M's Hero Points the same thing since they share a name, and the best way I found to do this was to have him activating Hustle Time be him using his Victory Points to cancel out Extra Effort's drawbacks. This ends up working out pretty well, as the speed increase from Hustle Time can be represented by him using Extra Effort to gain an additional Standard Action, and him having Extraordinary Effort would allow him to pick some other bonus aside from this as well, plus the other default boosts his Hustle Time power grants him, like a Reach bonus to his sword, as it increases in size, and a higher strength and speed.

Zan has a lot of special moves, like floating through his Blade Helicopter at Flight rank 0, which is him spinning his sword in the air so fast he is able to glide... somehow. He can use a Hurricane Slash, an area attack where he slashes around himself with his blade, useful for crowd control, and his Dashing Slice, which projects a quick slice ahead of him through his sword. Many of his techniques have the Distracting Flaw, as they are difficult to perform and leave him vulnerable, like his Fan the Hammer, which is him repeatedly unloading his revolver on his enemies, or his Somersault Slash, which is extremely difficult to land, having the Inaccurate flaw, where Zan performs a huge leap and spins in the air with his blade.

Zan can also use his revolver to bounce ranged attacks back, a technique called Hi9t Back, which is INSANELY HARD to land in-game, so I gave it only 5 ranks of Deflect. He also has his Blade Charge, where he stabs enemies ahead of him with his blade while moving forward, which I did as a higher damage attack only able to be done as a Charge action. As Zan uses a lot of Victory Points while fighting due to his Hustle Time, Zan has a ttechnique in the game that allows him to gain those quicker known as the Super Ultra Sexy Hero Combo, which he does by alternating blade and gun attacks. I decided to represent this in the game as him needing to consistently hit non-mook targets with his attacks thrice in a row to gain an additional Hero Point, allowing him to be able to have enough Hero Points for his Hustle.

The most interesting and useful part of this build to figure out for me tho was how to do him wielding both a sword and a gun, which I found my solution for pretty elegant, having Ranged on only a few ranks of his damage while Splitting it. This makes sense for me, as he uses the gun as a melee weapon effectively while fighting in close quarters, combining its movements with his katana's (which, by the way, have the insanely badass names of "Johnny no More" and "Demon Slayer" respectively). I decided not to include his lasso as a tool in this build, since he doesn't ever use it.

Overall, pretty happy with how this build turned out. It having a round 150 character points is also a neat bonus.

Outfits: Zan wears a big brown cowboy hat that obscures most of his face, covering up his scar. He wears his long hair in a ponytail, and wears a black kimono with a long tattered red vest over it, having the kanji for "Zan" on its back. Underneath, he wears a black mesh shirt with bandages over his stomach. He also wears ripped jeans with a brown belt, on which there is a lasso, a holster for his revolver and a sheath for his katana. He wears tall brown cowboy boots, has a skaura petals tattoo on his left shoulder, wears white bandages on his wrists and wears a pair of brown gloves. Overall, a really cool way to combine samurai/ninja clothing with cowboy outfits.
SolarOracle
Posts: 549
Joined: Thu Feb 14, 2019 11:01 am

Sapphire

Post by SolarOracle »

Image
The lack of good artwork for her and me desperately trying to hunt some down ended up being a huge factor on this post being so late, LOL.

Role: Secret Unlockable Character, Badass Ninja Spy

Sapphire

Identity: Sapphire, Public Identity.
Gender: Female.
Age: Unknown.
Height: Unknown.
Weight: Unknown.
Eyes: Black.
Hair: Black.
Skin: Fair.
Group: None.
Base of Operations: Japan.

Power Level 9 (PL 10 with Hustle Time) - 142 Character Points

Abilities
Strength 1, Agility 4, Fighting 7, Awareness 3
Stamina 3, Dexterity 3, Intellect 3, Presence 3

Powers
Sword Techniques: 11 Point Array. (11) -- [15]
  • Dashing Slice: Area -1 (15 ft. Line) Damage 8 (Flaws: Source - Sword). (11)
  • Hurricane Slash: Area -1 (15 ft. Burst) Damage 7 (Flaws: Source - Sword). (10)
  • Hit Back: Deflect 5 (Extras: Reflect) (Flaws: Source - Sword). (9)
  • Blade Charge: Sword Damage +2 (Extra: Reach) (Flaws: Limited to using with Charge). (2)
  • Somersault Slash: Feature 2: Sword Damage +2 (Flaws: Distracting, Inaccurate), linked to Leaping 2. (2)
Stylish Sexy Combo: Feature 8: User gains a Victory Point after successfully hitting non-mooks with sword attacks 3 turns in a row. [8]

Hustle Time!: Enhanced Advantage (Extraordinary Effort). [1]
Feature 3: Speed +1, Strength +1 and Reach on Sword attacks while using Extra Effort. [3]

Gear
Katana
: Strength-based Damage 4 (Extras: Improved Critical 2). (6)

Throwing Knives: Ranged Damage 2 (Extras: Improved Critical 2). (6) -- (7)
  • AE: Strength-based Damage 1 (Extras: Improved Critical 2). (3)
Advantages
Accurate Attack, Close Attack 2, Defensive Roll, Equipment 3, Improved Critical (Swords), Improved Defense, Improved Initiative, Move-by Action, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 3, Seize Initiative, Takedown, Uncanny Dodge

Skills
Acrobatics 4
(+8 total).
Athletics 4 (+5 total).
Close Combat (Swords) 4 (+13 total).
Deception 6 (+9 total).
Expertise (Ninja) 6 (+9 total).
Insight 4 (+7 total).
Investigation 2 (+5 total).
Perception 2 (+5 total).
Persuasion 4 (+7 total).
Ranged Combat (Throwing Knives) 2 (+8 total).
Stealth 6 (+10 total).

Offense
Initiative +8

Unarmed +9, close damage 1.
Knife +9, close damage 2, critical 18-20.
Katana +13, close damage 5, critical 17-20.
Somersault +11, close damage 7, critical 17-20.
Blade Charge +11, close damage 7, critical 17-20.
Throwing Knives +8, ranged damage 2, critical 18-20.
Dashing Slice, close 15 ft. line area damage 8.
Hurricane Slash, close 15 ft. burst area damage 7.

Defense
Dodge 13, Fortitude 6, Parry 14, Toughness 3/4*, Will 8
*4 with Defensive Roll.

Complications

Motivation: To Stop the Jackal
: Sapphire followed Zan back to the U.S. after he completed his training for some reason. As the Jackal started attacking his village to steal their gold, she used her skills as an infiltrator to extract information about them, later telling Zan about Loki being their boss.

HAAAAAAAH! HUSTLE TIME!: Once Sapphire activates Hustle Time, as long as she is still able to or the battle ends, she must continue to spend her Victory Points and uses of Extra Effort to maintain it.

54 Abilities, 27 Powers, 18 Advantages, 22 Skills, 21 Defenses = 142 Character Points


About: Sapphire, known as Hatsune in the Japanese version of the game, is one of the few important and named characters in the game, using her infiltration and information gathering skills to help Zan at the start of his adventure. She is unlocked as a playable character after you beat the game as Zan for the first time.

Sapphire is the daughter of Suzuki and lived in the same small mining town as Zan back when he still went by Johnny. She seems to have been trained in swordsmanship by her dad since youth, having a katana even back then, and presumably helped Zan train when she went back to Japan with her father and his new pupil.

In the start of the story, after Zan completes his training and returns back to the west, only to find his village overtaken by the Jackal, Sapphire secretly followed him home, presumably concerned for his well being. While Zan was dealing with the first few of Jackal's goons, Sapphire wasted no time in using her skills as a ninja by pretending to get captured in order to obtain information on Jackal, like discovering that they are being lead by Loki, the same man who gave Zan his scars years ago, and that they are based in a huge mechanical kabuki castle in the outskirts of the region, relaying this information to Zan so he could continue his quest. She then only appears again at the ending, where she is shown among the townsfolk celebrating the Samurai Gunman's victory.

When you play the game as Sapphire, there are some notable difference, mainly that she doesn't have a gun, using throwing knives instead, which are significantly less effective and means she doesn't get access to the same ranged attack power ups Zan does in the stages. She also doesn't have Zan's blade helicopter, only having a regular jump, so some stages are altered somewhat to be able to be navigated. The dialogue in the stages is also different, as the enemies now address Sapphire instead of Zan, and the cutscenes are absent. If you beat the game with her, you get an alternative ending where Sapphire defeats Dr. Gizmo instead, and Zan breaks down crying for being too late, which is pretty funny.

I opted to make Sapphire differ significantly from Zan build-wise, despite them playing similarly, as it feels more thematically appropriate for the characters. Sapphire isn't as strong and hits slithly less hard, but still packs a significant punch with her katana attacks, and is faster and more agile than Zan, having higher active defenses and a slightly higher attack bonus with her katana than Zan, to represent she having had more training and experience with it. She, however, lacks his gun-based techniques, only able to use the sword ones, and has a much smaller bonus with her thrown knives than Zan has with his revolver.

Sapphire also has some other appropriate Ninja/espionage skills, like higher Insight and Investigation, as well as 6 ranks of Expertise (Ninja), which I gave her due to she being referred to as a ninja in in-game dialogue and that fitting her more than Expertise (Samurai) ranks. She also has really good Acrobatics and Stealth, as well as ninja-y advantages, like Uncanny Dodge and Move-by Action.

Outfits: Sapphire wears a yellow yukata decorate with some sort of green pattern. She wears a red sash, has her hair tied up and wears wooden sandals with long black straps that encircle her legs. She also has her throwing knives tied to her left leg, and wears a black mesh stocking over her right leg.
Last edited by SolarOracle on Sat Apr 08, 2023 3:21 am, edited 1 time in total.
SolarOracle
Posts: 549
Joined: Thu Feb 14, 2019 11:01 am

Loki

Post by SolarOracle »

Image
Image
Again, sorry for the lack of good images.

Role: The Rival, Master Swordsman, The Dual-Wield Guy, The Vergil to Zan's Dante

Identity: Loki, Public Identity.
Gender: Male.
Age: Unknown.
Height: Unknown.
Weight: Unknown.
Eyes: Red.
Hair: Brown.
Skin: Fair.
Group: The Jackal.
Base of Operations: United States of America.

Power Level 9 - 117 Character Points

Abilities
Strength 2, Agility 3, Fighting 6, Awareness 2
Stamina 3, Dexterity 2, Intellect 1, Presence 2

Powers
Samurai Techniques
: 12 Point Array. (12) -- [13]
  • Flying Cuts: Ranged Damage 6 (Extras: Split) (Flaws: Source - Swords). (12)
  • Blade Dash: Area -1 (15 ft. Line) Damage 7 (Flaws: Limited to Through Distance Traveled, Source - Swords). (3)
Gear
Pair of Katanas
: Strength-based Damage 4 (Extras: Penetrating 3, Split, Improved Critical 2). (10)

Advantages
Agile Feint, Close Attack 2, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll, Equipment 2, Improved Critical (Swords), Improved Initiative, Instant Up, Minion 4 (Hawk), Move-by Action, Quick Draw, Ranged Attack 2, Seize Initiative, Takedown

Skills
Acrobatics 4
(+7 total).
Athletics 4 (+6 total).
Close Combat (Swords) 4 (+12 total).
Deception 2 (+4 total).
Expertise (Samurai) 6 (+7 total).
Insight 4 (+6 total).
Intimidation 5 (+7 total).
Perception 4 (+6 total).
Persuasion 2 (+4 total).
Ranged Combat (Flying Cuts) 4 (+8 total).
Stealth 1 (+4 total).

Offense
Initiative +7
Unarmed
+8, close damage 2.
Katanas +12, close damage 6, critical 17-20.
Flying Cuts +8, ranged damage 6, critical 19-20.
Blade Dash, 15 ft. line area damage 7.

Defense
Dodge 11, Fortitude 7, Parry 13, Toughness 3/4*, Will 7
*4 with Defensive Roll.

Complications

Rivalry: Zan
: Loki and Zan have met before in the past, as Loki defeated him and scarred his face when they first fought. Years later, throughout the samurai gunman’s adventure, Loki constantly taunts him from afar as Zan hurls insults at him, building up to their showdown at the end of Zan’s quest.

Loyalty: Jackal: Loki has allied with Dr. Gizmo and the Jackal’s forces for unknown reasons.

42 Abilities, 13 Powers, 20 Advantages, 20 Skills, 22 Defenses = 117 Character Points


About: The game's main antagonist, with swordsmanship rivalling Zan's, Loki (pronounced "Lo-Kai") is a high ranking member of the Jackal responsible for defeating Zan all those years ago, which drove him to seek training as a samurai. Though his motives are mysterious, Loki is a constant antagonistic force throughout Zan's journey, taunting him from afar, building up their rivalry and eventual rematch.

Loki plays a prominent role in Zan's backstory, as he is the one to scar his face, though why he allied himself with Dr. Gizmo and Jackal is unknown. Years later, he remains a member of the Jackal, and is the one commanding the mechanical ninjas to wreck havoc in Zan's village. As Zan continues to stop them and starts venturing towards the Jackal's castle, Loki reveals himself to Zan at the end of the gold mine Jackal was extracting their resources from.

As they meet, Zan is initially excited, challenging his old enemy for a rematch, but, to the samurai gunman's surprise, Loki doesn't share the excitement, simply saying he is impressed Zan managed to make it this far and that he should have just killed him years ago. He then uses his katanas to unleash a pair of flying cuts, causing the mine to cave in on top of Zan while Loki makes his retreat, and while the self-proclaimed Super Ultra Sexy Hero manages to escape with his life, Zan calls his old rival a coward who lacks the spirit of a samurai, since he is resorting to such dirty tricks to win, apparently spoiling his mental image of Loki.

They then next meet at the final floor of the Jackal's palace, with Loki taunting the hero by saying he is surprised he's still alive, but Zan, in an iconic scene, retorts by saying "Shut up, you sissy! I'm not letting you go this time", which upsets Loki and starts their fight off. Zan manages to win this duel, prompting the arrival of Dr. Gizmo, who tells Loki to stop playing around and use the power of a suddenly introduced McGuffin he apparently had all along called "The Lord's Shield" to take Zan down, which Loki then does, gaining a set of really cool armor and prompting the second phase of his bossfight, which Zan still manages to win.

After his defeat, Loki falls to the ground, passing out in the corner of the room, which shocks Dr. Gizmo, as this means Zan is somehow stronger than Loki with the power of the Shield. However, he takes the opportunity to take the Lord's Shield from Loki's unconscious body, using its power to create a powerful creature to stop the samurai gunman. As Zan manages to win the final fight and destroy the castle, it's unclear what happens to Loki and if he survived. Tho I believe in my heart of hearts that he is still alive and continues to antagonize Zan from afar to this day!

Loki is a really cool character and I'm pretty sure that, had this series continued, he would have become another playable character. He works pretty well as a rival to Zan, matching him in skill and having a unique fighting style by dual-wielding katanas, which contrasts Zan's samurai gunman thing really well. His whole "Lord's Shield" thing comes out of nowhere, but adds some implied lore to Loki, as he says the Shield was given to him by his master and he won't allow Dr. Gizmo to have it because of that, which I really wish they elaborated on. I feel like, had the series gone on and Loki was a playable character, he could have used the Shield to activate a special mode similar to Zan and Sapphire's Hustle Time, by gaining his special armor and becoming faster and stuff.

Loki's bossfight plays out pretty well for the game's standards, being much more fun and memorable than pretty much all other bosses in the game. He has his pet falcon encircling the arena, which mostly serves to mess up your lock-on targetting and make you waste some time shooting him down, tho if you don't kill it, the falcon starts attacking you with dive attacks as soon as Loki's HP gets too low. Loki can parry most of your attacks if you don't time them well, and will attack by shooting ranged cuts from his swords, attacking with a dual-wield melee combo, or hit you with a hard to dodge blade dash attack.

His second phase, with the special armor and empowered by the Shield, isn't that different, just gaining some stronger combos with his melee attacks, including one that has an unblockable slash that deals a lot of damage, and his projectile attacks are now quicker and unblockable as well. His parries now also leaves the player vulnerable, with Loki following up with a dash attack afterwards. He also has a lot more HP than his first phase. Nothing too exciting, really.

For this build, I overlooked the Shield, as we don't know the exact mechanics of that. Loki is a PL 9 with high attack bonuses and active defenses, able to keep up with Zan and Sapphire, but still not as strong as them due to their more versatile techniques and, of course, their Hustle Time power. He's not as durable as Zan, but has a better parry, and isn't quite as agile as Sapphire. Also gave him some appropriate skills, like a bit of Stealth, a lot of Expertise (Samurai) ranks, Intimidation ranks, and some other relevant stuff. He has his Hawk as a Minion (Build for that later in the post, a modified version of Jab's Large Hawk build), considering you can take it down really quick, and also has some other combat Advantages that it would make sense for him to have. Overall, pretty happy with how this build and set turned out.

Outfits: Loki wears a fully white kimono with a white jacket that has medal-like designs as a pattern also in white, and wears a black mesh shirt underneath, with an upper part that has a black and white fog-like design that spreads tho his collar. He wears a white hakama with a white sash and white socks, over which he wears a pair of wooden sandals. He wears his hair in a high ponytail, contrasting Zan's, and always wears his iconic blue mask, which covers the upper right part of his face, always hiding one of his eyes. When he activates the power of the Lord's Shield, he gains a large set of metal samurai armor with a skull-like design on its chest. Overall, really great design for this guy, tho the mask can be a bit weird.


Image

Hawk

Power Level 4 - 58 Character Points

Abilities
Strength -3*, Agility 4, Fighting 4, Awareness 0
Stamina -2, Dexterity 0, Intellect -4, Presence -3
*-2 due to size.

Powers
Animal Senses
: Senses 3 (Extended, Ultra and Low-Light Vision). [3]
Talons and Beak: Strength-based Damage 3. [3]

Wings: Flight 7 (500 Km/H or 250 MpH) (Flaws: Winged). [7]

Tiny Size: Shrinking 8 (-2 Strength, -4 Intimidation, -1 Speed, +4 Parry and Dodge, +8 Stealth) (Extras: Innate, Permanent) [17]

Advantages
Evasion, Fast Grab, Improved Critical (Natural Weapons), Improved Hold

Skills
Acrobatics 6
(+10 total).
Athletics 6 (+2 total).
Close Combat (Natural Weapons) 4 (+8 total).
Expertise (Survival) 6 (+6 total).
Perception 10 (+10 total).

Offense
Initiative +4
Natural Weapons
+8, close damage 0, critical 19-20.

Defense
Dodge 10*, Fortitude 2, Parry 10*, Toughness -2, Will 4
*Increased with size.

Complications

Disabled: Animal: Hawks cannot speak to humans, nor use their talons to easily manipulate objects.

Loyalty: Loki: Loki’s hawk is loyal to him and will help him in fights.

-4 Abilities, 30 Powers, 4 Advantages, 16 Skills, 12 Defenses = 58 Character Points
Last edited by SolarOracle on Sat Nov 04, 2023 3:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.
SolarOracle
Posts: 549
Joined: Thu Feb 14, 2019 11:01 am

No More Heroes

Post by SolarOracle »

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No More Heroes is a series of hack and slash games directed by Suda51 and developed by his company, Grasshopper Entertainment, previously known for other niche titles, like The Silver Case, Killer7, Killer is Dead and Lollipop Chainsaw. The series is known for its punk-rock aesthetics, crude humor, mature ratings and, of course, its abundance of blood, violence and sexual themes.

The games are mostly a character piece on their protagonist, Travis Touchdown, an unemployed 20-something virgin weeb loser with very few friends and who lives by himself on a small motel room in the rundown city of Santa Destroy, spending most of his time watching pro wrestling, moe anime, playing video games, caring for his cat Jeane and hanging out with his only friend, Bishop, the cashier at the VHS rental next door. Secretly, Travis is a deeply traumatized person, having repressed memories of seeing his parents murdered in front of him as a child by a mysterious assassin, which drove him into his life of self-indulgence and isolation.

One day, after running out of money by buying a beam katana at an online auction - the setting's equivalent to a lightsaber, Travis gets drunk at a local bar and meets Sylvia Christel, a mysterious and sexy woman, and opens up to her about his past, and how he wishes he could get revenge, to which Sylvia tells him she knows a way he might be able to, as long as he kills an assassin known as Helter-Skelter and climb up the ranks of the United Assassins Association, something Travis agrees to, but only if he gets to have sex with Sylvia when he reaches the rank of number 1.

Travis gets newfound purpose in life through his killing and violence, finding some escapism from how boring and miserable his life can be by literally taking it out on the people getting in his way and the other ranked assassins, almost seeing his gig as an assassin as a power fantasy. However, through the experience of climbing through the UAA ranks, Travis starts growing as a person, seeing himself in his opponents and learning from the experience. By the end of the game, after getting his revenge on the person who killed his parents, Travis is right back at his motel room, exactly where he started, but you can tell something has changed within, as Travis is now "The Hero" of Santa Destroy.

As the series progresses, Travis continues to grow as a person and making connections through the battles he faces, eventually marrying Sylvia and having a pair of twins with her. By the final game in the series, No More Heroes III, Travis now sees himself as the hero of his world, and fights off an alien invasion to protect his planet, a far cry from the violent shut-in who only cared about personal glory and getting laid from the start of our story, and is shown caring deeply about the wellbeing of his friends when they get hurt throughout his journey.

I plan on doing a more in-depth set of the series in the future, maybe after I finish tackling Hero Academia: Vigilantes, so I'll save a deeper analysis and my thoughts on each game until then, so suffice it to say for now that I am a huge fan of this series and Suda51's work in general. There is something just so deeply satisfying about mashing attacks against your enemies to split them in half with a laser sword, and how awesome each bossfight is.

The first game was originally conceived as an xBox title, as that was seen as the most "mature" console at the time, but upon learning of the Wii remote's motion-sensor, which would allow the game to register you swinging the remote as a way for Travis to hit with his beam katana, Grasshopper Entertainment shifted the game into a Wii title, which was a brilliant move, as it does indeed feel amazing to cut people in half by swinging the remote, LOL. From then, the series became an M-Rated Nintendo staple, with No More Heroes 2 also being released as a Wii title, and No More Heroes III being released first on the Switch, being pretty much the sole example of a Wii series with an adult target audience.

I first played No More Heroes at a friend's house when I was 10 or so, playing through a single stage, and the game impacted me so much I kept thinking about it for years to come, since I never thought there could be a game with so much blood and violence in the Wii. I finally played through the series in highschool and completely fell in love with it, and anxiously awaited the release of No More Heroes III back when it was first announced. I most recently replayed the series early on last year, after the announcement of a PC release for the third game, emulating it on my PC, and it was probably the best experience I've had with the series yet, as having the beam katana attacks be responsive to your mouse movement feels REALLY cool, and being able to increase the game's resolution to HD made the experience even better. If you feel like playing through this series, I would definitely recommend doing it this way.

No More Heroes Builds
I decided to do a Travis Touchdown build after doing my Rising Zan builds last year, mostly because I liked the idea of Travis fighting Zan, LOL. From there, I kind of started prototyping other characters in the series as builds, but still have to dedicate some time to finish those off, and I'm probably better saving a big undertaking like that to its own thread update in the future.

So for now, I'll only be posting Travis, even though I have some other builds for this series pretty much ready to go, mostly because I think discussing those specific characters alongside other characters in their games will let me get more indepth into them and stuff. Sorry about that, but hopefully, it will be worth the wait.
SolarOracle
Posts: 549
Joined: Thu Feb 14, 2019 11:01 am

Travis Touchdown

Post by SolarOracle »

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Fanart by crazenique
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Role: Asshole Hero, Loser Nerd Turned Badass Assassin, Modern Samurai

Travis Touchdown

Identity: Travis Touchdown, Public Identity.
Gender: Male.
Age: 27 (No More Heroes), 29 (No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle), 37 (Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes), 39 (No More Heroes III).
Height: Unknown.
Weight: Unknown.
Eyes: Blue.
Hair: Black.
Skin: Fair.
Group: Former member of the United Assassins Association.
Base of Operations: United States of America, California, Santa Destroy.

Power Level 10 - 138 Character Points

Abilities
Strength 2, Agility 3, Fighting 8, Awareness 1
Stamina 4, Dexterity 2, Intellect 0, Presence 2

Powers
Wrestling Moves
: Strength-based Damage 2 (Flaws: Grab-based), linked to Feature: User may immediately make a Trip check as a free action after Damage. [2]

Beam Katana: (Flaws: Easily Removable). [9]
Strength-based Damage 6 (Extras: Penetrating 7). (13)

Fourth-Wall Breaker: Feature: Character is aware they are in a video game. [1]

Gear
Badass Motorcycle

Size Medium Strength 3 Speed 7 Defense 10 Toughness 10
Cost 15

Advantages
All-out Attack, Benefit 2 (Reputation - “The Otaku Assassin”, “The Crownless King”, “Travis the Great”, “The No More Hero”, “The Champ Up Aboveground”), Close Attack 2, Defensive Attack. Defensive Roll 2. Evasion, Improved Critical (Beam Katana), Improved Defense, Improved Hold, Improved Initiative, Improved Trip, Equipment 3, Fast Grab, Languages (English and Japanese), Power Attack, Quick Draw, Seize Initiative, Startle, Takedown 2, Uncanny Dodge

Skills
Acrobatics 8
(+11 total).
Athletics 10 (+12 total).
Close Combat (Beam Katana) 2 (+12 total).
Deception 4 (+6 total).
Expertise (Assassin) 4 (+4 total).
Expertise (Pop Culture) 8 (+8 total).
Expertise (Pro Wrestling) 2 (+5 total) (Uses Agility).
Insight 4 (+5 total).
Intimidation 6 (+8 total).
Perception 6 (+7 total).
Persuasion 2 (+4 total).
Stealth 2 (+5 total).
Vehicles 8 (+10 total) (Flaws: Limited to Motorcycles).

Offense
Initiative +7
Unarmed
+10, close damage 2.
Wrestling Moves +10, close damage 4.
Beam Katana +12, close damage 8, critical 19-20.

Defense
Dodge 14, Fortitude 8, Parry 14, Toughness 4/6*, Will 5
*6 with defensive roll.

Complications

Relationship: Sylvia Christel: Travis and Sylvia had a complicated relationship, as Sylvia originally only saw Travis as a potential scam victim, but eventually actually started caring for him. The two eventually managed to get together, getting married and having twin children. However, due to his status as a famous assassin, Travis was afraid others would come for his head and elected to live away from his family, so they wouldn’t be in danger, rarely ever seeing them and being a bit of a crappy father, tho he clearly still loves his wife and children a lot and tries to make it up to them.

Relationship: Bishop Shidux: Bishop is pretty much the only real friend Travis has outside the people he met as an assassin, often recommending and bantering with Travis about obscure foreign movies and pro wrestling matches. His death, orchestrated by Jasper Batt Jr., completely puts Travis on a warpath, killing all of Batt’s subordinates and climbing the new UAA ranks just to have a chance to avenge his friend.

Relationship: Jeane the Cat: Travis’ cat is one of the few other living beings he cares about. He tries to be a responsible owner, frequently playing with Jeane and trying to take care of her health.

Rivalry: Henry Cooldown: Travis and Henry are twin brothers, and battle each other with frequency, treating each other with some level of antagonism and mutual respect.

Charging Required: Travis’ beam katanas run out of energy fairly quickly, and he often needs to charge them, by rapidly shaking them up and down. Charging them typically takes a full round, and a full battery usually lasts him 6-8 turns, with powerful beam katana attacks consuming more energy. Charging them with a battery more than halfway full takes a Standard Action, and charging a beam katana while it’s at least 3/4 charged takes only a Move Action.

Personality: Massive Asshole: Travis has an extremely difficult personality, being extremely disrespectful, womanizing and rude toward others, especially those he doesn’t know. This, along with his recluse lifestyle, is probably one of the reasons Travis doesn’t have many friends.

Code of Conduct: Despite everything, Travis is shown to have a code of conduct toward those he faces. He shows respect to his opponents when he feels they are worthy of it and is against giving them a disrespectful death, and is uncomfortable with his orders to take their lives sometimes. Travis also has trouble sleeping at night, haunted by the lives he’s taken.

Traumatized: Much of Travis' personality and antisocial nature comes from repressed memories of childhood, having a serial killer for a father, having seen his brother be kidnapped and having witnessed the murder of both of his parents by the hands of his half-sister. This caused him to repress much of his childhood memories.

44 Abilities, 12 Powers, 26 Advantages, 31 Skills, 25 Defenses = 138 Character Points


About: The protagonist of the No More Heroes series, Travis Touchdown is a charismatic and brash man known for his unapologetic crude atitude and skills with the beam katana, an energy blade similar to a lightsaber. Throughout the series, Travis faces off against many other assassins, growing as a character in the process and changing his life little by little... though he remains a massive asshole throughout.

Travis grew up in the city of Santa Destroy, with a serial killer and rapist for a father, and had attempted to escape from him with his twin brother, Henry, and their half-sister, Jeane, quite a few times, which never ended well for them, as their father would often abuse them. In one of those escape attempts, Henry ended up being kidnapped by a passing by car, disappearing and leaving Travis and Jeane to suffer alone in the hands of their father. Eventually Jeane would seek martial training, eventually killing their father in front of Travis and disappearing, which was a deeply traumatizing experience for Travis, even though now he was finally free from the abuse, which caused him to repress a lot of his memories of his childhood, including the existence of his siblings and the identity of his father.

Travis then lived a life of seclusion, living in a rented rundown motel room with only his cat, which he named Jeane, and spending all his time playing videogames and watching anime and pro wrestling, learning to fight with a blade by watching VHS tapes about it on repeat, and having only the cashier at the video store next door, Shidux Bishop, as a friend, as the two would often watch movies together and talk about wrestling. Travis, now an unemployed 27 year old without a life, eventually blew all of his money by buying a beam katana for sale on the internet, which he named "Blood Berry".

Feeling down about his situation, Travis went to get drunk at a local bar, where he met with a mysterious and beautiful woman with a French accent who introduced herself as Sylvia Christel. As the two talked, Travis opened himself about his past and current situation, talking about how much he resented Jeane, seeing her as responsible for the current state of his life for the trauma she inflicted on him and abandoning him after the killing of their parents. Sylvia, smirking, tells Travis that she could help him get revenge if he does something for her, which he agrees to, being told to fight and kill a mysterious assassin named Helter-Skelter on a nearby rooftop, which he promptly does.

Sylvia then tells him that by doing this, Travis has entered the rankings of the United Assassins Association as the 11th ranked professional assassin, and must now climb the ranks if he wants to haver a chance at revenge, to which Travis agrees to, but only if he also is given the opportunity to have sex with Sylvia upon reaching the first rank (because of course he would ask for that...).

However, it's not as easy as Travis simply going to each fight one by one, as he needs to pay a fee in between each fight to the UAA, needing to do odd-jobs and assassination missions before each of his fights, but he does so nonetheless, algo gaining the opportunity to meet some other people in town who are able to reach him new techniques, improve his beam katana and train his body for the fights to come.

Throughout his fights, Travis ends up seeing himself in the people he is facing in some way or another, growing as a person and even showing mercy and compassion for his enemies on occasion. He starts questioning where his road of killings is leading him to, and his non-chalant attitude towards those he is killing, causing him to show his opponents more respect.

Eventually, as Travis has climbed to the second rank, Sylvia has started to appear less and less in between each fight, with her having disappeared completely after his last battle. He decides to call her contact number, only for another older woman with a French accent to pick up the phone, who tells Travis she is Sylvia's mother and that all this UAA stuff is a scam her daughter has been running for the last few years, taking the money her victims pay her to hire assassins and keep the bulk of the money to herself, apologizing for all the troubles he's had to go through. She asks Travis how many opponents he still has to fight, and as he tells her only one is left, she tells him he should see it through to the end, which he agrees with.

On his way to the last assassin, Dark Star, Travis receives a call from Sylvia, who apologizes for everything and says she ended up falling in love with him throughout everything that has happened despite how much of an idiot and a loser he is (in her own words), and says that she will make sure he still has a chance to get the revenge she promised him despite all the ranked fights being a scam. Travis doesn't say anything, simply proceeding to his battle.

However, before he can clash with Darkstar, the mysterious assassin is killed from behind, as Jeane reveals herself, her sudden appearance causing Travis to remember his childhood and the death of his parents. Consumed by rage, Travis and Jeane fight, but his half-sister proves to be too strong an opponent for him, as Travis can barely manage to hit her and ends up being fatally wounded. However, before she is able to kill him, Shinobu, an assassin Travis had fought against previously and spared, appears, cutting off Jeane's arm and giving Travis the opportunity to finish her off, thanking Shinobu and heading to leave, before noticing Sylvia, who had been watching the fight, and silently walking away.

After all he's been through, Travis simply heads back home, ready to go back to living the exact same way he used to, but as he is using his toiled, he is intercepted by a large assassin who says has been hired to kill him, but, before he can attack his target, he is killed off by another mysterious man with a beam katana, who challenges Travis to a battle.

As the two ready themselves for their showdown, the stranger introduces himself as Henry Cooldown, Travis' twin brother, and says he and Sylvia have actually been married since college, which only pisses Travis off more. The two then fight, with Henry proving to be a stronger opponent than Travis was expecting, and the fight ending with them taking from the parking lot of the motel to the streets of Santa Destroy, with the pair ready to kill each other, but are interrupted by the arrival of Sylvia, who stops the fight.

Afterwards, Travis seems to have been able to reflect on his life somewhat, as he was seen as the "hero" of Santa Destroy, having a statue built in his honor and everything, as he presumably fought off against other assassins. He seemed to like his reputation, but did little to capitalize on it, mostly just going back to living a still life, filled with videogames, movies, wrestling and anime, and yet, he was somehow far from the person he started out as being, now with a clear sense of purpose and self.

In the second game, a new UAA (well, "new," because the second game treats it as if it existed during the first game for some reason, but the most accepter explanation is simply that it was formed after Travis defeated Jeane as a way to get to Travis) is formed by Jasper Batt Jr., CEO of Pizza Batt and a man who wants revenge on Travis for killing many members of his family (which is a reference to a bunch of side-quests on the first game where you killed guys who wanted to open "Pizza Butt" franchises in Santa Destroy), hiring assassins to kill Bishop, Travis' only friend, which then forced Travis to join the new UAA to climb its ranks and avenge the death of his friend.

During this adventure, Travis meets with Sylvia again, who has divorced Henry and is working for Jasper Batt's UAA, and the two end up having an opportunity to talk again and resolve the tension and resentment between them. He also reunites with Shinobu Jacobs, who helps him in some fights and now sees him as a teacher and master, and eventually confesses to Travis and tries to kiss him, but ends up being rejected, as Travis says he "feels like the teacher in those porn films," causing Shinobu to go away until the next game.

Lastly, he and Henry also reunite, as his twin brother was also captured by one of the enemy assassins and rescued by Travis, giving the two an opportunity to talk and try to resolve the antagonism between them somewhat. Henry tries to repay Travis by killing off some of the ranked assassins before Travis encounters them to save his brother the time (which comically annoys Travis and you, the player, because that means less content!), and joins him for the final battle against Jasper Batt Jr.

After killing Jasper, and seemingly learning his lesson about the unending cycle of revenge the life of an assassin brings, Travis tries to move on with his life, trying to locate Sylvia, who had disappeared after the events of the game, and finally getting married to her, as the two went on to have a pair of twins named Hunter and Jeane (because of course one is named Jeane!).

However, Travis ended up unable to be very present in the life of his children, as he decided that the best way to keep them safe from the constant onslaught of assassins who were coming for his head for revenge or reputation, was to fuck off to the middle of nowhere and live alone in a camper van, only visiting his family on occasion (dad of the year, everybody!).

Seven years after the events of the second game, Travis ends up being tracked down on his camper van by an assassin who wants revenge, Bad Man, the father of Bad Girl, one of the bosses of the first game, and during their fight, both end up stuck inside of a haunted prototype videogame console Travis owns (yup, the series gets pretty weird from this point on), and he and Bad Man learn they can use the power of this videogame console to revive his daughter if they manage to collect and beat all the seven games that were made for the console, kickstarting the events of Travis Strikes Again, which details a lot of extended lore for the series and characters, as well as creates connections to other Suda51 games, setting No More Heroes in a shared universe with stuff like Killer is Dead, Silver Case and Killer7. The two eventually succeed with the help of Shinobu, reviving Bad Girl before parting ways.

From then, the events of No More Heroes III take place, as Travis returns to Santa Destroy after his adventure with Bad Man, as Shinobu and Bad Girl move in to another room in the same motel as roommates. An alien invasion lead by the alien overlord Prince Fuu and his Galactic Superhero Corporation, all of whom are actually powerful alien criminals and assassins, starts, as they plan to take over Earth, so he and his allies have to fight them off. A lot of other weird surreal stuff happens in that game too that is difficult to sumarize. NMH3 is the weirdest entry, LOL.

Travis is a very cool character with whom the target audience projects to very easily (teenager me included), as a 20-something loser with punk-y interests and sense of fashion, niche nerdy interests and no real prospects of a future, but who still somehow comes off really cool and charismatic through his portrayal and fights despite being a massive asshole. Seeing him slowly grow and change as a character is also very experience, as the games are essentially a character piece on him and how he needs to seize control over his life and fight off against his traumas and misguided empty ideals, all while the games remain very entertaining and in-your-face action pieces with a lot of violence and gore, which is always a massive plus for me! : D

I should point out how the games constantly make parallels between Travis and tigers, as his name in Japanese can be read as "Torabisu", with "tora" meaning tiger, and the tiger in Chinese myth being associated with the west, as the guardian of the western night skies and the prideful king of all land animals, rival to the dragon of the east. His design is also heavily based on Johnny Knoxville of Jackass fame, but he always reminded me a lot of Bruce Campbell's Ash Williams from the Evil dead films, especially on the second game onwards for whatever reason, with the scar he gets in Travis Strikes Again and the shape of his head on that game only reinforcing that notion for me. His beam katanas are an obvious nod to Star Wars, but him needing to recharge them by shaking them are a reference to Space Balls, with the many dick jokes about lightsabers that series has.

Travis has a very simple build, as a PL 10 weapon fighter with access to various combat advantages, representing his diverse moveset in the games, able to unleash devastating attacks with the high damage of his beam katana, as well as use wrestling moves while unarmed (which pairs well with his improved trip, as Travis ingame often uses unarmed strikes to leave his opponents prone, and his Wrestling Move power allows him to Trip as a reaction to landing a hit with it, similar to a Fats Grab or something). He also has a "Fourth Wall Breaker" feature, as he often talks directly to the player or acknowledges that he is a videogame character.

Additionally, this build also has Travis' motorcycle, tho each game has him with a different one, despite them all having relatively equal stats (if you ignore the ridiculous speed boosts you can do on NMH3, I mean, LOL). Travis has pretty high skills overall, with decent Acrobatics and Athletics, good Intimidation and Perception, Vehicle ranks for his bike, and various ranks in Expertises for his interests, like Pro Wrestling and general Pop Culture, but also a few for Assassin (tho not many, as he doesn't seem to care much about the goings on of his field of work). The Beam Katana I included as a device is meant to be a generic representation of all Beam Katanas, but I'll include builds for specific ones in a later post. If you plan on using this build, I'd go with him having the Blood Berry, Tsubaki Mk-III or Rose Nasty, as those are his most iconic weapons. Also, he has a recharge complication, representing how his beam katana battery is drained as he fights and he needs to stop to charge it up by violently shaking it, which can take up some time depending on how depleted it is.

Lastly, I deliberately chose not to include his Death Glove on this build, or his tokusatsu inspired Henshin Mode Full Armor, because I don't really like those as mechanics, sorry, LOL. I'll do a separate entry for those when I get to tackling the full series.

Outfits: Travis has many outfits throughout the series, but typically wears a red jacket with Santa Destroy's flag as a design on the back, a glove in one of his hands, his colored shades, a pair of jean, a pair of sneakers, a wristband, a belt, a holster for his beam katanas and, of course, a graphic t-shirt with a variety of available designs. He also has many other possible available outfits throughout each game.
SolarOracle
Posts: 549
Joined: Thu Feb 14, 2019 11:01 am

Tavis' Beam Katanas

Post by SolarOracle »

Like I mentioned in the previous post, I did each beam katana as a separate build as a way to represent each of their individual qualities without bloating Travis' build too much. Here's the ones Travis wields throughout the series.

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Blood Berry: (Flaws: Easily Removable). [9]
Strength-based Damage 6 (Extras: Penetrating 7). (13)

About: Travis' first beam katana, which he bought online before the start of the series, the Blood Berry is a primitive beam katana model developed by Russian technician and beam katana developer, Wolf Vann (which is a reference to a character in Fire Prowrestling, another Suda51 game). It's an older model of beam katanas, having a low battery and the slowest recharge out of all of Travis' beam katanas.

It's design has a prominently black and red color palette with a blue glowing energy blade, and features a battery with two coils that extend when it is activated. It is turned on by a switch on its right side, which causes its receiver to extend and the energy blade to appear, guided by a thin black extendable shaft on its back. Its receiver is capped by a piece with a long yellow spike, which is connected to the rest of the sword by a coiling black cable, presumably being what allows the sword to power itself on and the energy blade to appear.

As the games go on, the Blood Berry becomes the most iconic weapon in the series, as it is the only beam katana to be featured in all games, with Travis presumably upgrading it so that it was able to keep up in strength with his other blades, as by Travis Strikes Again, it is able to be as destructive and powerful as Tsubaki Mk-III and Rose Nasty, and now having a much better battery and recharge.

This build reflects the Blood Berry as it is seen in later games, being as strong as all other beam katanas Travis owns instead of his weakest one. In the first No More Heroes game, it would have a damage of 5 instead of 6, a Penetrating rank of 6, as well as worsen Travis' Charging Required complication, taking one step higher for each recharge action and depleting in less time (4-6 turns).


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Tsubaki: (Flaws: Easily Removable). [7]
Strength-based Damage 5 (Extras: Penetrating 6). (11)

About: The second beam katana Travis acquired on the first game, the first Tsubaki model was developed by Dr. Naomi and is very similar to the Blood Berry in its design and functionality, but being a strict improvement, with a much better battery and with a design that allowed for better fighting, as it allowed Travis to more efficiently combine unarmed attacks and wresting moves with the combos this beam katana provided.

It has a prominently white and red design, contrasting with Blood Berry, and was much more lightsaber-y. Tsubaki doesn't have an exposed battery like its predecessor, and has a receiver similar to Blood Berry's, capped with an even more prominent spike which is surrounded by circles of neon red light, and having an on and off switch at the bottom of its handle. The sword has a smooth white grip, and is much more compact than bloodberry, having a shorter distance between the energy blade's receiver and the extendable shaft, as well as no exposed wiring. Its energy blade is blue, much like Blood Berry.

Build-wise, Tsubaki ended up as the weakest weapon in Travis' arsenal, as it wasn't upgraded like Blood Berry, largely because of its successive models already being improvements on it. Thus, it ends up with a Damage of 5 and a Penetrating rank of 6, slightly worse than the standard of 6 and 7.


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Tsubaki Mk-II: (Flaws: Easily Removable). [10]
Strength-based Damage 8 (Extras: Penetrating 7) (Flaws: Inaccurate). (14)

About: The second iteration of Tsubaki, developed by Dr. Naomi after Travis gave her the Us Military Secrets he acquired after defeating Holly Summers. Perhaps the weirdest weapon in the series, the Mk-II is slow, heavy and clunky, delivering powerful blows with each attack, stronger even than the Mk-III, but having a lower DPS due to its slow attacks and poor handling, more akin to a massive energy-bladed mace than a katana.

Tsubaki Mk-II also has a prominently white and red design with blue blades, having a large handle and a central extending shaft, capped by a piece with a long golden spike that is connected to the receiver of each individual blade. Its five blades extend outward from its center, connecting each to a receiver and an emitter separately at the weapons end and base respectively. This makes it incredibly destructive, but also heavy and unwieldy.

For this build, I made Mk-II Inaccurate to represent its slow windups and strikes, which give the opponent a better window of opportunity to dodge, but proportionally increased its damage, hitting heavy with 8 ranks of damage. Kept its Penetrating at 7, however, as energy swords going higher than that feels weird to me, LOL.


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Tsubaki Mk-III: (Flaws: Easily Removable). [10]
Strength-based Damage 6 (Extras: Improved Critical, Penetrating 7). (14)

About: The final design for the Tsubaki line, developed by Dr. Naomi after Travis collected the remains of the D.O.S. from his master, Thunder Ryu, after his death by the hands of Speed Buster. This is the ultimate weapon of the first game and one of the most iconic weapons in the series, as Travis is often depicted wielding it, as it is perhaps his most powerful weapon. It appears on the second game, where it is renamed to "Camellia", which is what Tsubaki translates to.

This design incorporates aspects of the D.O.S., looking more like a traditional Japanese katana with an energy blade. It is the first beam katana Travis acquires that doesn't need a receiver for its blade, allowing it to be much lighter than his other weapons. Its design is still predominantly white and neon red, having an on and off switch on the back of its handle. It has a golden sword guard featuring the kanji for "Tora", Japanese for tiger, as Travis is often associated with the animal (a pun on his name). Its energy blade has the unique trait of having a green color, probably a combination of the blue from the other Tsubaki swords and the yellow from the D.O.S.

This is probably the strongest individual beam katana build, having a rank in Improved Critical and the PL limit on Damage when wielded by Travis. I like its status as Travis' "final weapon", and wanted that to be reflected on the build without breaking the PL limit, so I thought this was a good way to go about it. This additional Critical rank also makes it more similar to a normal katana build, which I find cool, LOL. The fully upgraded Mk-III on No More Heroes 1 also has the special feature of never needing to have its battery recharged, so you can consider ignoring that complication if you have Travis wielding this, tho in No More Heroes 2, that benefit is removed.


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Peony: (Flaws: Easily Removable). [10]
Strength-based Damage 8 (Extras: Reach 3, Penetrating 7) (Flaws: Inaccurate, Source - Ki, Quirk: Reach rank 2 and 3 only available after user takes enough damage). (14)

About: The first unique katana from No More Heroes 2, another creation of Dr. Naomi, Peony is similar to Tsubaki Mk-II by being fairly slow and unwieldy but delivering powerful attacks. Its main gimmick is that is can sense the user's "ki" or fighting spirit and respond to it, using it as fuel to increase in size. This allows it to grow its blade to enormous proportions and have great range if the user has suffered enough damage in battle. Like other swords owned by Travis, its name also comes from a flower.

Its design is similar to the first Tsubaki model, similar to a Star Wars lightsaber, but having a much bigger handle meant for two-hands. It has a white and red color-scheme, with a red blade with varying size, depending on how much HP Travis has, and has an on and off switch at the back of its handle along with a guide-bar. It is another model that does not need a receiver, allowing for the blade to extend freely and for the weapon to be handled better.

This build is basically a strictly better version of the Mk-II, having a limited version of Reach up to 3 along with the other elements of that build. This reflects it being a slow weapon that deals heavy damage, and how its size can shift depending on Travis' "ki", which I considered handling as a Source flaw, but honestly, I think works better as DM fiat after the player fails to save against damage enough times.


Image
No artwork for just the swords online for whatever reason, sorry. Guess nobody bothered to datamine the models, and for whatever reason, NMH2 doesn't have its concept art and designs published, unlike the first game. Pretty frustrating, LOL.

Rose Nasty: (Flaws: Easily Removable). [10]
Strength-based Damage 6 (Extras: Split, Penetrating 7). (14)

About: The final weapon you get on the second game, the Rose Nasty is an absolutely badass pair of swords that were bestowed to Travis by his late friend, Bishop Shidux. Bishop had apparently ordered these for Travis long before his death at the start of the second game from a friend he had in Japan. They were then delivered to Shinobu while she was visiting Bishop's grave, who then finally delivered them to Travis.

The Rose Nasty is composed of a pair of blades, one smaller and one larger, looking like your standard katana/wakizashi dual-wield, having blades that are very curved compared to his other weapons. It again has a white and red color-scheme, and light red energy blades. One of the swords has a longer shaft with a red curved guard, while the smaller blade has a handle similar to a miniature chainsaw, with a more blocky design and a tall guide grip and all. Travis is typically depicted holding the smaller one with an inverted grip.

This is by far my favorite weapon in the series, purely due to how badass it feels to attack with these and how awesome the curved blades look in motion, delivering cross slashes and shit.
Last edited by SolarOracle on Fri Jun 16, 2023 3:44 am, edited 1 time in total.
SolarOracle
Posts: 549
Joined: Thu Feb 14, 2019 11:01 am

Re: Solar's Build Thread - The In-Between-Updates Update!

Post by SolarOracle »

Sorry for the massive delay on this last post. I was posting it a bit after finishing my Travis post, but then my electricity went out and I lost the whole thing, LOL, which made me then delay finally getting to posting this for about a month. Better late than never, I guess. : P

Also, I was gonna include other beam katanas throughout the series that Travis doesn't wield, but eh, probably better to save those for when we actually get to posting full bios on their wielders, LOL.
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