The Yakuza

Tommy ‘Ten’ Tanaka
Power Level: 10; Power Points Spent: 150/150
STR: -1 (8), DEX: +2 (14), CON: +1 (12), INT: +2 (14), WIS: +2 (14), CHA: +2 (14)
Saves: Tough: +1/+9, Fort: +4, Ref: +5, Will: +8
Skills: Bluff 6 (+8), Computers 2 (+4), Concentration 6 (+8), Gather Information 2 (+4), Intimidate 6 (+8), Language 4 (+4), Notice 6 (+8), Search 4 (+6), Sense Motive 4 (+6), Stealth 4 (+6), Knowledge (arcane Lore) 4 (+6), Knowledge (business) 6 (+8), Knowledge (current events) 4 (+6), Knowledge (streetwise) 4 (+6), Knowledge (theology & philsophy) 2 (+4)
Feats: Fighting Style: Sword-fighting, Accurate Attack, Defensive Attack, Improved Block, Improved Disarm, Improved Initiative 2, Power Attack, Taunt, Benefit (Wealth) 6, Luck 3, Master Plan, Leadership
Powers: Irizumi: Cobra Tattoo (Death Touch 10) (DC 20; Vampiric, Range); Octopus Tattoo (Additional Limbs 4) (Alternate; 10 extra limbs; +4 to Grapple when not using Imp. Grapple, Feats: Improved Grapple); Yin-Yang Tattoo (Chi 10) (Alternate; effect: healing); Chainmail Tattoo (Force Field 8 ) (Alternate; +8 Toughness; Impervious); Impervious Flames of Hu-Sin Tattoo (Energy Aura 7) (Alternate; energy type: fire, DC 22); Swan Wings Tattoo (Flight 5) (Alternate; Speed: 250 mph, 2200 ft./rnd); Heaven Cutting Blade (Device 4) (hard to lose) [Strike 10 (DC 25); Immortality; Immovable 2 (Resist Movement: +8, Resist Knockback: -2); Leaping 1 (Jumping distance: x2); Mind Shield 2 (Impervious +2 to Will saves vs. Mental effects)].
Attack Bonus: +8 (Ranged: +8, Melee: +8, Grapple: +7)
Attacks: Unarmed Attack, +8 (DC 14), Cobra Tattoo (Death Touch 10), +8 (DC Fort 20), Impervious Flames of Hu-Sin Tattoo (Energy Aura 7), +8 (DC 22), Strike 10, +8 (DC 25)
Defense: +10  (Flat-footed: +5), Knockback: -8/-10
Initiative: +10
Languages: Japanese, English, Chinese (Mandarin), Russian, Spanish
Totals: Abilities 16 + Skills 16 (64 ranks) + Feats 19 + Powers 51 + Combat 36 + Saves 12 + Drawbacks 0 = 150

Thomas ‘Ten’ Tanaka gets his nickname from having all ten fingers – he has never failed the yakuza in all his years of service. He is the main Yakuza boss for the entire West Coast. His rise to power began with an arranged marriage to a woman who turned out to be an ogre; unable to dwell in the human world, she married Tanaka so she could live vicareously through him. Her family are all monsters, bakemono of the worst sort, and some of them have deigned to help their human relation from time to time. Two of these, his brother- and sister-in-law, are his chief assassins.

Yosokai
Power Level: 8; Power Points Spent: 120/120
STR: +5 (20), DEX: +2 (14), CON: +5 (20), INT: +3 (16), WIS: +1 (12), CHA: +1 (12)
Saves: Tough: +5, Fort: +7, Ref: +10, Will: +5
Skills: Acrobatics 6 (+8), Computers 3 (+6), Diplomacy 3 (+4), Gather Information 5 (+6), Intimidate 7 (+8), Investigate 2 (+5), Medicine 6 (+7), Sense Motive 3 (+4), Stealth 8 (+10)
Feats: Improved Grapple, Fearsome Presence 8, Instant Up, Move-by Action, Improved Initiative
Powers: Spider Hair: Additional Limbs 2 (2 extra limbs); Elongation 4 (Elongation: 50 ft., range incr 40 ft., +4 Escape & Grapple); Super-Movement 5 (slow fall, wall-crawling 2 (full speed), trackless, swinging); Breath of Fog: Obscure 3 (Radius: 25 ft.);

Attack Bonus: +8 (Ranged: +8, Melee: +8, Grapple: +13/+17)
Attacks: Unarmed Attack, +8 (DC 20)
Defense: +8 (Flat-footed: +4), Knockback: -2
Initiative: +6
Languages: Japanese
Totals: Abilities 34 + Skills 11 (43 ranks) + Feats 11 + Powers 18 + Combat 32 + Saves 14 + Drawbacks 0 = 120

Yosokai is a Futa-kuchi-onna, a type of obakemono; very rare. Her hair is mobile, and she has a fully-formed fanged mouth in the back of her head; sometimes it whispers things to her. Yosokai is Tanaka’s left-hand; she seduces and infiltrates his enemies, then destroys them from within.

Hiruki
Power Level: 8; Power Points Spent: 120/120
STR: +2 (14), DEX: +2 (14), CON: +5 (20), INT: +0 (10), WIS: +0 (11), CHA: +0 (10)
Saves: Tough: +5, Fort: +13, Ref: +5, Will: +5
Skills: Acrobatics 6 (+8), Diplomacy 4 (+4), Escape Artist 6 (+8), Gather Information 10 (+10), Sense Motive 3 (+3), Sleight of Hand 4 (+6), Stealth 2 (+4)
Feats: Equipment 1, Chokehold, Elusive Target, Evasion 2, Fearless, Grappling Finesse, Hide in Plain Sight, Improved Grapple, Improved Grab, Luck 4, Precise Shot 2, Power Attack, Redirect, Sneak Attack 3, Startle, Uncanny Dodge (Hearing) 3

Powers: Rokuro-Kubi Powers: Anatomic Seperation 3 (separate: head, both hands, 3 separated parts); Flight 2 (Speed: 25 mph, 220 ft./rnd); Regeneration 14 (recovery bonus 3 (+3 to recover), recovery rate (bruised) 3 (recover 1 / round without rest), recovery rate (disabled) 2 (recover 1 / hour), recovery rate (injured) 2 (recover 1 / 5 mins), recovery rate (staggered) 2 (recover 1 / 5 mins), recovery rate (unconscious) 2 (recover 1 / action), DC 24; Source (Darkness)); Immunity 2 (critical hits); Sword: Strike 4 (DC 21; Mighty)

Equipment: Sword [Strike 4, DC 21; Mighty]
Attack Bonus: +8 (Ranged: +8, Melee: +8, Grapple: +10)
Attacks: Unarmed Attack, +8 (DC 17), Strike 4, +8 (DC 21)
Defense: +8 (Flat-footed: +4), Knockback: -2
Initiative: +2
Languages: Japanese
Totals: Abilities 19 + Skills 9 (35 ranks) + Feats 25 + Powers 19 + Combat 32 + Saves 16 + Drawbacks 0 = 120

Hiruki is Tanaka’s chief of assassins. He is a rokuro-kubi , a bakemono capable of seperating his hands and head from his body and fly them around. Many of Tanaka’s enemies have died quietly in secured rooms under heavy guard, strangled to death.

Zeroman

Kevin Rose is a moderately successful private investigator and independent troubleshooter, known for his discretion. He’s also the hero-for-hire Zeroman, a masked adventurer who’s been a bodyguard, security specialist, and general do-gooder. As far as the how and why of that, it’s something he literally fell into. Kevin was a fairly normal guy going to school as a criminal justice major (his original intent was to become an FBI field agent) and paying his rent by being a stuntman and action stand-in on various low-budget movies.

One of his friends on set was mistaken for a famous star and murdered; Kevin realized that it was connected to two other killings in the same area. When the cops refused to believe him about the connection between the murders, he created a ‘costumed ID’ (using what he had in the closet at the time, castoffs from various films he’d worked on) and put his skills to use in tracking down the ‘Star Slasher’ himself. He got some good publicity from it and truth to tell he liked the idea of jumping around at night and putting the beat-down on the criminal element. He doesn’t make a big deal about his secret ID, and frequently the only difference between ‘Kevin’ and ‘Zeroman’ is the tie-on mask.  Zeroman is most frequently seen around the Hollywood/Redwood City area.

He’s self-trained as a mixed-martial-arts fighter and traceur, capable of leaping over fences, breaking brick with his fists, and avoiding all but the most extreme obstacles. He also uses customized firearms and ‘Z-rangs’ when needed to stun a foe from a distance. (These weapons are hardly ever taken from him, so they’re just represented as extensions of his Strike ‘power’).

Attr: Str 14 (+2), Dex 16 (+3), Con 12 (+1), Int 14 (+2), Wis 11 (+0), Cha 16 (+3)

Saves: Toughness +1/+8, Fortitude +4, Reflex +5, Will +3

Combat: Attack +8, Strike +8 (DC 22, Crit 18-20), Defense +7, Grapple +10, Init +7

Skills: Acrobatics 7 (+10), Climb 4 (+6), Disable Device 6 (+8), Drive 2 (+5), Escape Artist 4 (+7), Gather Information 9 (+12), Investigate 8 (+10), Language 2 (+2), Notice (+4), Search 4 (+6), Sense Motive 4 (+4), Stealth 7 (+10), Knowledge (streetwise) 4 (+6), Knowledge (current events) 4(+6)

Feats: Equipment 3, Acrobatic Bluff, Connected, Defensive Roll 4, Elusive Target, Evasion, Improved Critical (Strike) 2, Improved Initiative, Luck 3, Move-by Action, Prone Fighting, Precise Shot, Sneak Attack 2, Redirect, Instant Up

Powers: Super-Movement 3 (Sure-Footed 3 (75% penalty reduction)), Strike 5 (DC 22; Mighty, Thrown 2), Leaping 1 (Jumping distance: x2) Super-Senses 2 (Darkvision)

Equipment: 15 Equipment Points Armored Jacket [Protection 3, +3 Toughness; Subtle], Swingline [Super-Movement 1, Swinging], Vehicle: Motorcycle (Spd 5)

Drawbacks:

Complications:

• People Come To Me With Problems
• Known Superhero. You put my brudder in jail! Eat lead!
• Erratic Job. Uncertain hours, spotty pay
• Bossy Landlord. Where’s the rent, ‘Hero’!?

PP Spent: Abilities 23 + Skills 18 + Feats 24 + Powers 17 + Combat 30 + Saves 8 – Drawbacks 0 = 120

Tongs in The Bay Area

The Black Pagoda is a powerful criminal organization in the Bay Area, but they operate mainly through intermediaries since their main base in the mountains south of San Francisco was destroyed in 1956.

The Gamma Corps – Notes

The Gamma Corps is a body of law enforcement officers that patrol the Milky Way galaxy to preserve civilization and galactic culture. The Corps is comprised of three levels: the First Council, the Corps Council and then the patrol members of the Corps itself, the Centurions. The Centurions are a million-year tradition in the galaxy; before them, the Council employed the Myrmidons, energy constructs born from the Well of Stars itself. They proved to be too inflexible, particularly in dealing with planet-bound races.

The Centurions are powered by tapping the quantum singularity that lies at the center of the galaxy. The laws of physics break down at the lip of its event horizon, allowing near-instantaneous transmission of energy to any Corps member regardless of the position in time or space. It also connects them to the hypermind of the Corps. It has been a Corps tradition that whenever possible a dying Corps member joins with the singularity, allowing himself to join his mind to the hypermind.

Booster stations for the Singularity are situated throughout the Galaxy, these also serving as Centurion-run facilities for healing, training and recruitment. The Sol System, being of especial importance because of its unique position among the higher and lower dimensions, has the only Centurion station on the outer rim: the ‘moon’ Io is in fact an artificial mobile world-base. It also serves as a transport nexus for star travel.

Corps Prime is situated on a ring-shaped artificial world surrounding the Singularity. Corps Prime is the largest construct in the Galaxy, created by the First, the council of races that were the first beings to become sentient after the Big Bang. They have since evolved into post-physical forms.

The Supremacy

The Supremacy first appeared as an offshoot of the eugenics movements in the 1930’s, when a cabal of scientists began to realize that certain metahuman traits could be passed through inheritance or that selective breeding could lead to a much higher chance of metahuman activation. Scientists before WW2 were just barely scratching the surface of understanding metahuman traits and many still did not believe such things even existed, so funding for their research was very tight. To ensure a ready supply of cash for their research, in 1935 the scientists brought together and trained one of the first supervillain groups in the world: Satan’s Seven.

It is perhaps an axiom that the more radical elements in any organization eventually wind up controlling that organization because of their untiring efforts at getting their own way. So it was with the informal cabal; by 1941 it was controlled by Lord Vulcan, once the leader of Satan’s Seven. His gifts included superhuman intelligence and an intuitive grasp of technological artifacts that far surpassed his time period. He began to believe his gifts placed him above his fellow man and he gradually moved the focus of his fellow scientists from research to experimentation.

Lord Vulcan believes that metahumans represent a superior track of evolution and continually tries to ‘improve the breed’, creating machines and serums that can unlock the metahuman potential he thinks resides in everyone. He has made several improvements to himself and his minions and it’s not uncommon for him to experiment upon normal humans and metahumans alike as he tries to grant himself ever more powerful abilities.

Since the 1980’s, he has backed several organizations with the stated goal of taking over the world and setting up a metahuman ruling class to police the common herd of humanity, which will be used as breeding stock or raw materials, depending on their genetic fitness. Several more radical groups have spun off of these organizations, usually devoted to some form of high-tech terrorism or using the ‘Supremacy’ ideology as a front to pull in people for indoctrination into their own ideals. Sometimes Lord Vulcan destroys these spin-offs himself, other times he may reveal their plans or locations to ATLAS or local superhero groups, depending on his mood and how far he feels the group has deviated from his message.

Super Soldiers

From the birth of warfare, it has been the dream of the state to create the superior soldier, a cut above what talent or training can provide to a man. Numerous programs were tried in many parts of the world down through the ages but the first true ‘super soldier’ formula was created in 1885. The results were hushed up and buried, and this set the tone for similar experimentation over the next hundred years. Quickly it was learned that superior aggression or resistance to the idea of killing was not desirable a trait to re-create for soldiers that also had to come home after the war. There were numerous horror stories from that period and the roots of many later supervillain experiments lay in the period from 1890-1900.

Sandstone

Sandstone

PL 6

STR

DEX

CON

INT

WIS

CHA

-1

+1

+1

+0

-1

+1

8

12

12

10

8

12

Toughness

Fortitude

Reflex

Will

+6/+4*

+6

+4

+2

* Flat-footed

Skills Acrobatics 3 (+4), Bluff 9 (+10), Computers 4 (+4), Diplomacy 3 (+4), Drive 2 (+3), Escape Artist 4 (+5), Knolwedge (Pop Culture) 3 (+3), Notice 4 (+3), Search 3 (+3), Stealth 5 (+6)

Feats Defensive Roll 2, Improved Grab, Redirect, Instant Up, Quick Change 1

Powers: Alternate Form: Particulate (Sand) 6 (Insubstantial 1, Immunity 5 (Critical Hits, Suffocation, Disease, Poison), Elongation 5, Strike 6, Blast 6, Super-Senses 3 (Tremorsense); Protection 3, Burrowing 6 (Limited: Only Sand/Loose Earth)

Combat: Attack +5, Damage (Strike +6); Defense 16 (13 Flat-Footed), Initiative +1, Knockback -3

Drawbacks

Abilities 2 + Skills 10 (40 ranks) + Feats 6 + Powers 39 + Combat 22 + Saves 11 = Total 90

Flashback

Flashback

PL 8

STR

DEX

CON

INT

WIS

CHA

+1

+6

+2

+0

+1

+2

13

22

14

11

12

14

Toughness

Fortitude

Reflex

Will

+8/+3*

+6

+12

+6

* Flat-footed

Skills Computers 2 (+2), Craft (Art) 2 (+2), Craft (Mechanical) 6 (+6), Diplomacy 2 (+4), Knowledge (Pop Culture) 2 (+2), Notice 2 (+3), Search 2 (+2)

Feats Defensive Roll 5, Evasion 2, Improved Disarm, Move-by Action, Stunning Attack, Luck 1, Equipment 1

Powers Super-Speed 10 (Power Feats: Rapid Attack, Wall Run, Water Run); Alternate Powers: Strike 8, Deflect 10 (All Ranged, Action: Reaction)); Immunity 5 (Fatigue Effects); Protection 1 (Costume Jacket)

Combat: Attack +8, Damage (Unarmed +1; Mach-1 Punch +8), Defense 18 (14 Flat-Footed), Initiative +46, Knockback -4

Drawbacks

Abilities 25 + Skills 5 (20 ranks) + Feats 12 + Powers 60 + Combat 32 + Saves 15 = Total 0

The New Frontier

The Bay Area in 2008 has a population of 31.3 million people, making it the largest population center in the United States. There are four main urban centers: San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose and Redwood City. Each is a large modern skyscraper-studded city with populations in the millions.

San Francisco is a haven for free-thinkers, artists and authors. It boasts the largest metahuman population on Earth, an estimated 25,000 people with an expressed metahuman ability of Delta-class or above. It has the largest Asian population in the US (27% of residents). One man in five above the age of 15 is gay. It has the only phone book in the US with the profession ‘Wizard’ listed. Due to the physical nature of the peninsula, San Francisco has the densest population of any city in the US.

Oakland is an urban hellhole of crime and corruption. It’s been voted ‘Most Corrupt Police Force in the US’ every year since 1968 and boasts the highest violent crime rate in the US. Oakland has suffered crippling economic downturns and is a sea of urban poor. Save for the showcase waterfront mall area, the average income of an Oakland resident is $10,000 per year with a 35% unemplyment rate. Massive decaying housing project towers serve as gang headquarters in the war for the streets. Ironically, just south of Oakland’s borders in Freemont is an economic boomtown in terms of jobs and living standards due to the massive automotive plants and subsidiary industries.

Redwood City is all glitz and glamour. This is where the displaced film industry settled and all major studios maintain a significant presence here. The huge marina areas host both cargo container ships and million-dollar yachts. The finest hotels and entertainment venues are here, though San Francisco still has the best restaurants. The theater and ballet companies that have settled here are why the northern part of the area is called ‘Little Broadway’.

San Jose is a gleaming ‘city of the future’ that boasts one of the highest standards of living in the US. Every major and minor technical company has some level of representation here. It has the first automated guidance roadway system in the US, which came online in 2001 and serves the inner city area, with extensions out to the primary shopping districts, airport, and Disneyland.

Fortress

Fortress, aka, Nicholas Fort, was a member of the Silver Seven until he betrayed and murdered his teammates in order to fuel Douglas Pierce’s political ambitions and his own lust for power – as Pierce moved into political circles, Fort took over more and more of the overtly criminal organizations Pierce had set up to destroy of muzzle his rivals.

Fortress joined the Silver Seven in 1983 at the age of 20 and quickly became one of it’s most popular members. Appealing and photogenic, the young hero was often the ‘face’ of the team to the media and the press. Poised, cool under pressure, and with a glib tongue, Fortress kept the Silver Seven in the limelight for years. His skill on the battlefield was also impressive. Fort was born a mutant and at 14 his powers began to manifest. He gained a mild degree of super-strength but his greatest power was his invulnerability: he is the highest-rated non-cosmic entity in that category. He is on record as having lived through a direct fusion explosion, being thrown through the heart of a star, and having shrugged off N-Pulse’s disintegration beams.

When news broke of Fortress’s betrayal, many denied it even though he confessed to the crime; such was his popularity with the people of Oakland. Even when his dealings with Pierce were later revealed in full, many claimed it was a smear campaign against him.

Nicholas Fort is beleived to currently reside on the private island of Ikros in the Agean Sea, home of the Fort family and heart of their shipping empire, sheltered by his family despite demands by ATLAS that he be turned over to them for criminal prosecution. The Greek government’s strained relations with ATLAS at present probably contributes a great deal to the lack of official national cooperation. Fort is currently wanted in the US and Canada for 147 counts of criminal conspiracy and violation of various RICO statutes, and wanted for questioning in at least 6 murders (his four teammates in 1988, Monica Sales in 2000 and Oakland city official Howard Parks in 2003).