Tuesday, July 11, 2017
Backstory Episodes
When I run tabletop games, I generally prefer to "introduce" my players to the world with individualized sessions that often involve an event in their backstory. For Manda, this was discovering her Spirit Surge "Super Saiyan;" for Abara, it was his actual birth; for Pipsley, it was attaining the backup data for Android 16 to complete his super suit; and for Farj, it was finally approaching his idol, Mr. Satan, for mastery of the genetic and cybernetic fuckery that granted him his power.
A quick run down on backstories before the actual episodes:
Manda (as in "Commando") Briefs is the daughter of Trunks, and has a twin brother named Boxer. Each of them heavily, heavily take after their grandfather. The two act as rivals for each other, pushing the other to get stronger, and seek to tap into their heritage and become Super Saiyans.
Abara (Abra Kadabra Alakazam) is a Majin, formed from Mr. Buu's desire for a wise teacher. Abara is as fresh as a newborn babe, new to the world at large, and yet has a hidden wisdom. Hidden, that is, behind sheer stupidity and other Majin antics.
Pipsley's grandfather was a spy, a double agent sent into the Red Ribbon Army to take it down from within. Lieutenant Magenta Puce worked with Dr. Gero in the Android development labs, before Son Goku completely obliterated the Red Ribbon Army, crippling the man. Lt. Puce returned home, his son becoming a farmer (the very same "farmer with shotgun" assaulted by Raditz when he arrived on Earth). Inheriting his grandfathers cybernetic genius, Pipsley was creating an exoskeleton he was going to use to help his grandfather walk again- but the hatred of Saiyans instilled in Pipsley led him to convert it into a war machine, capable (or so he thought) of killing Son Goku. The last bit he needed was the data files of Android 16, which he would use as the sort of 'Jarvis' to his 'Iron Man.'
Farj (As in "Fudge") Obi grew up a simple farmer, and was recruited into the Red Ribbon Army by the son of Dr. Gero (who later served as the basis for Android 16, as revealed by Toriyama later- that wasn't just a throwaway gag by TFS!). After the death of this man, Dr. Gero, consumed by madness and hatred for Goku, began his projects that led to the creation of Androids 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, and Cell. Farj, unfortunately, served as the test bed for many of his creations. A prototype perpetual energy device was implanted within him, and his genetic code was tampered with, almost turning him into a proto-Cell. Desiring to escape the madness, Farj somehow broke free of Gero's clutches, eventually finding himself testing his abilities at the Tenkaichi Budokai (where he was thoroughly trounced by Mr. Satan, due to his clumsy lack of training and lack of understanding of ki and the boons granted by his genetic benefactors). Farj now approaches Mr. Satan, desiring to find direction in his life.
For more detail on their backstories, I can gather up what each sent me in private, but as this is public some of my players may wish some things private from the others.
Last but not least, the sessions themselves!
EDIT: The file seems to be too large to preview (and thus embed) so here is the link!
A quick run down on backstories before the actual episodes:
Manda (as in "Commando") Briefs is the daughter of Trunks, and has a twin brother named Boxer. Each of them heavily, heavily take after their grandfather. The two act as rivals for each other, pushing the other to get stronger, and seek to tap into their heritage and become Super Saiyans.
Abara (Abra Kadabra Alakazam) is a Majin, formed from Mr. Buu's desire for a wise teacher. Abara is as fresh as a newborn babe, new to the world at large, and yet has a hidden wisdom. Hidden, that is, behind sheer stupidity and other Majin antics.
Pipsley's grandfather was a spy, a double agent sent into the Red Ribbon Army to take it down from within. Lieutenant Magenta Puce worked with Dr. Gero in the Android development labs, before Son Goku completely obliterated the Red Ribbon Army, crippling the man. Lt. Puce returned home, his son becoming a farmer (the very same "farmer with shotgun" assaulted by Raditz when he arrived on Earth). Inheriting his grandfathers cybernetic genius, Pipsley was creating an exoskeleton he was going to use to help his grandfather walk again- but the hatred of Saiyans instilled in Pipsley led him to convert it into a war machine, capable (or so he thought) of killing Son Goku. The last bit he needed was the data files of Android 16, which he would use as the sort of 'Jarvis' to his 'Iron Man.'
Farj (As in "Fudge") Obi grew up a simple farmer, and was recruited into the Red Ribbon Army by the son of Dr. Gero (who later served as the basis for Android 16, as revealed by Toriyama later- that wasn't just a throwaway gag by TFS!). After the death of this man, Dr. Gero, consumed by madness and hatred for Goku, began his projects that led to the creation of Androids 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, and Cell. Farj, unfortunately, served as the test bed for many of his creations. A prototype perpetual energy device was implanted within him, and his genetic code was tampered with, almost turning him into a proto-Cell. Desiring to escape the madness, Farj somehow broke free of Gero's clutches, eventually finding himself testing his abilities at the Tenkaichi Budokai (where he was thoroughly trounced by Mr. Satan, due to his clumsy lack of training and lack of understanding of ki and the boons granted by his genetic benefactors). Farj now approaches Mr. Satan, desiring to find direction in his life.
For more detail on their backstories, I can gather up what each sent me in private, but as this is public some of my players may wish some things private from the others.
Last but not least, the sessions themselves!
EDIT: The file seems to be too large to preview (and thus embed) so here is the link!
The System
What is 345?
The simple gist of it is you have 3 stats: One's a 3, one's a 4, and one's a 5. You roll dice under a stat to perform a given action- if the die is below your stat, that die is a success. You get more dice to roll based on how flashy, cool, badass, or descriptive your action is. It's easy enough to adapt to a one-shot, and that was originally the purpose of the system, but after using it to run a Fullmetal Alchemist / Trigun game and a Kingdom Hearts game, I've found it has an interesting power creep- the kind of power creep one finds in Dragon Ball.
Where can I get 345?
I'm not about to market the system in the least, so I'll provide it right here. I'll also include Boxer's starting sheet at the end.
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