Character Creation: Wicked Heroes: Children of the Mirror

Only got three more games in this book, and I read this one this morning and it's actually kind of interesting, so here we go!

The Game: Wicked Heroes: Children of the Mirror
The Publisher: John Wick Presents
Degree of Familiarity: None
Books Required: Just the one, plus a standard deck of cards

 

Wicked Heroes, like a bunch of the games in this book, came out of someone asking John Wick how he'd do a particular kind of game. In this case, someone asked for his take on a supers game, and we got a horror supers game.

Now, supers and horror are easily my take favorite game genres (favorite genres in general, I think), so that's a pretty cool mashup. The implementation is pretty nice, too; I think that if you wanted to run a big, sprawling, multi-season game with it, you'd want a different system, but the setting seems pretty solid. The basic idea is that there's a cursed artifact that gives people superpowers, everyone has one power and one curse, but if you kill another super, you get their power in addition to yours but replace your curse with theirs.

Obviously, running a game of this would be a little like running a Highlander game. You can be buddies with the other characters, but lurking in the back of your mind is the idea that there's advantage to murder (this is also true of Vampire: The Masquerade, but the system doesn't allow for easy murder). Poses an interesting challenge for a gaming group, which might be why it's been on my mind off and on all day.

BUT IN ANY CASE, I'm making a character here, and you can't stop me.

Who am I? Basic character concept, a normal person who has no idea who they are. "Homeless freelancer." My guy (let's call him Jordan Grace) is a freelance web designer. He couch-surfs or crashes with his parents (they won't let him move in, but he'll stay for a week at a time before they start pressuring him to get a job and he bounces). Jordan is 21, has a degree in communications and a minor in art, he's naive, he's pleasant, and he's not as funny as he thinks he is. But he's basically a decent sort.

When did I Awaken? I figure out my Gift and Curse when I meet another Child of the Capital Letter Mirror. Let's say that happened very recently. Like, last week. Jordan was at a party, planning to crash in the den after everyone left (the owner of the house said it was cool), and a guy showed up and Jordan just...knew. And he's scared out of his mind. Jordan bolted, which is good, because that guy would have killed him. (This may or may not be true, but Jordan sure got that vibe.)

What is my Gift? I dunno, deck of cards, what is my Gift? Holy shit, I drew a joker. That means I get two Gifts, because I already killed someone for one of them. Well, let's say that guy at the party tracked me down, we got into a fight, and Jordan got really lucky. Drawing two cards, I get the four of hearts and the eight of clubs, which means...Pusher (I can look into someone's eyes and give them a single command they have to follow) and Memory (perfect recall).

Well, I think it's pretty clear that Jordan had Pusher from the get-go, and the other dude had Memory. Probably the other dude sought to get a better (or at least more impressive) power by killing Jordan. We'll say that the other guy caught up with him outside his parents' house, and Jordan, acting on impulse, ordered him to run into traffic.

What is my Curse? Ha. You know, there are charts for the Gifts, one for every card in every suit (except aces and jokers), and the book says there are charts for Curses, but there aren't. There are just four Curses: Hate, Lust, Greed, and Fear, and I got the one from the dude I killed. So I draw a card and get spades, which is Fear. That's fine. Now, do I pick something that I Fear, or do I just respond with Fear when my curse is invoked? The book isn't clear (which is, like, not uncommon with these games), but it seems to imply the latter.

What are my Motivations? Asked Mr. Stanislavski. I get 12 points to divide up amongst my Motivations, and I can't put more than 5 in any one. Cool. (Oh, and one of the example ones is "White Power" which is hella not cool.)

Well, I think Jordan wants to make his parents proud, but it's not his primary motivation, so I'll just put 3 points there. I think he wants to learn the truth about what's happening to him, and that's more important, so I'll stick 5 there. Four more.

Let's get a little weird with it, and say that Jordan inherited the other Blessed's memories, but only in fragments. Jordan has fractured memories of wandering through a house...maybe a hospital? So my last Motivation is Find the House from my Visions.

Cool. So, physically, Jordan is slim, slight (doesn't eat much and doesn't get great nutrition), kind of hunched. He wears nerd glasses and typically has some scruff because he doesn't shave often, and his hair is a little too long. He's not hostile, though - he's pleasant and chatty, and he's very, very careful not to accidentally tell someone to "go soak your head" or something equally unpleasant.

That's done, then!