Character Creation: Prowlers & Paragons

Look! Up in the sky!

The Game: Prowlers & Paragons
The Publisher: LakeSide Games (there is also a newer edition from Evil Beagle, but I don't have that one)
Degree of Familiarity: None
Books Required: Just the one

Amongst the throngs of superhero RPGs, we have this one! And...yeah. Looks perfectly serviceable. Aims squarely at a four-color, over-the-top interpretation of comic book heroes, which is fine. The book's writing is a little wackier in places than I think necessary (I've never been a fan of the whole "lol why are we doing a 'what is roleplaying' section 'cause you totally know what it is' thing), but there's nothing objectionable. I do find it a little funny that it felt like it had to find a BLANK & BLANK title and wound up with Prowlers & Paragons, 'cause "prowlers" doesn't really seem like it sends the right message. But that's all very nitpicky.

Actually, I think the game would work fine at the table. P&P works on sliding power scale, measured by how many dice you get to build a character. "Standard" is 36 dice, with a maximum trait rank of 10d (this works on a dice pool system, roll a bunch of d6s, evens are successes, 6s explode, but success/failure is about who narrates the result, not whether or not the action happens). It's very narrative focused, but combat has more robust rules because, as the game points out, that's where a lot of the source material lives, which I suppose is true. I do wish the book had an example of chargen, though. 

Well, anyway, let's a make a "standard" hero. First off, I need a concept. I've been replaying Spider-Man on the PS5 lately, and I have to say that swinging through New York is pretty fun. Don't think I've ever made a stretchy hero (well, I made a hero with stretching powers here, but that wasn't really the focus), so how about we do that? 

Theodore "Ted" Townes, by day, is a mild mannered clerk at a mild mannered bodega. By night (or, like, whenever the situation calls for it), he is ready to become...the Malleable Man! (If there's already a superhero with that name, I don't want to know.) I see Ted as very much the archetypal "don the costume and take off after the crisis" kind of hero, which means his bodega probably spends a lot of time closed or else he's got a long-suffering co-worker who isn't even supposed to be here today. Either works. (And this isn't Masks, so we probably wouldn't spend a lot of time dealing with that anyway.) 

OK, good enough concept for now. Let's put some dice into things! 

We start with mundane traits. I get an automatic 3d in each of these, unless I wish to bust any of them down to 1d and take some extra dice. I dunno. Offhand, I feel like Athletics, Charm, Might, Streetwise, and Toughness should probably get some beefing up. Raising these is one-for-one.

So let's bump Athletics up to 7d, Charm to 6d (and I'll pay one extra for the Disguise pro), 4d in Might (meaning I can lift about a ton), and then I'll put 3 each into Perception, Stealth, and Toughness, giving me 6d in each one. That means I've spent 18 points of my 36. 

Super traits! Obviously I need Plasticity and Swing Line. Plasticity actually costs double because, presumably, it lets me do a variety of things that aren't really enumerated, which makes me wonder if I need to take Swing Line. Let's assume I do. If I want 6d in Plasticity, I'd have to burn 12 of my remaining 18 points. Erm. Ok, well, let's put 3 into Swing Line, so I can swing through the city at a leisurely 8mph. I have 3d left for perks.

Well, I want Reach (allowing me to use my powers are distant targets as though they were up close), and I'll take Quick Change with my final die (I can change into my superhero form instantly; we'll assume that Ted can absorb his street clothes and "exude" his superhero costume). 

Flaws! I get three; they'd give me Resolve in play when they cause problems for poor 'ol Ted. I'll say he's Absent-Minded, Broke, and I'll take a Vulnerability to cold (I like the way it works; basically I get a Resolve point if I choose to just fail a defense roll against a cold-based attack).

And that's all the numbery stuff, now we just need the descriptive stuff. Ted is in his late teens, skinny, scruffy, been trying to grow a proper beard for a while and it's not happening. He favors jeans or cargo pants and t-shirts or hoodies (he's not above giving himself a six-pack when he wants to impress someone). 

As the Malleable Man, he's in constant flux - limbs are stretched and looped, neck like a silly straw, and his face isn't masked but it's unrecognizable because he's always changing it. He wears green spandex (which stretches, but not as much as he does), and goes barefoot. It's not like he leaves fingerprints or anything. 

Motivation! If you asked Ted why he does what he does, once he got done denying that he knows anything about this "Malleable Man" character, he'd probably say that doing the right thing is its own reward. That's maybe part of it, but mostly Ted feels that it's awesome and stretching feels good. (This to me speaks to a superhero who hasn't really faced a deadly challenge yet.)

Quote! Can be a catch-phrase or just something cool he said once. Hmm. I think that Ted has been in a couple of situations where he's saved people from a fall by turning himself into a slide or a net, and has yelled out "Enjoy the ride!" as folks plummet into the makeshift tarp or the safety slide he created. At the heart of it, he's having fun and wants other folks to do so, as well, but also there's a bit of "let's keep the mood light" in there.

Details! At this point I make up three details: one about me, one about one of the other PCs, and one about the game world. Well, obviously I don't have any other PCs, but that's fine. So we'll say that Ted works at Luis' Bodega. Luis himself is long gone; he retired and moved back to Colombia years ago. There's another superhero named The Reckoning in the same neighborhood, and he and Malleable Man inadvertently teamed up once, when a couple of local gangs decided to have a shootout in the middle of the damn street. He'd planned on talking to the dude, but he just vanished when the shooting stopped. And, finally, something about the game world. Well, let's say that the gangs that Ted and The Reckoning drove off have joined forces, and have a super-power patron now.

Connections! I need three NPCs. Well, I mentioned a coworker earlier, so let's say that's Tracy. Tracy, like Ted, is perpetually broke so she doesn't turn down the hours at the bodega, but she's a little annoyed at Ted for running out all the time. Bricks is a cab driver (unlicensed, yeah, what's it to ya) who frequents the area, and has on occasion given Malleable Man a ride. And finally, Detective Nunzio is a local who went to police academy and looks out for the neighborhood (or so he says, but it's not like the gangs ever seem to have trouble avoiding the cops...). 

Origin! Ah, yes, how did Ted get his powers? Was he bitten by some radioactive silly putty? Nah, I think Ted was cleaning out the back office of the bodega one day (penance for being late), and found a mason jar of brackish liquid. He set it on a table and then forgot about it, and knocked it over, and it fell, shattered, and splattered on him. He started getting stretchy the next day. He'd love to know what that stuff was, where it came from and why it was just...sitting the back office of a bodega, but he's got no idea where to start. 

I have 16 Edge (Athletics + Perception + Willpower), but that's the only thing left, so the Malleable Man is ready to hit the streets! And then bounce right off them!