The RPG Archives

Not been having a good week so to keep myself occipied I made my new D&D 5e (2014) character...Korath the Tortle Barbarian.

He's still being created so no real info about him other than he is a Wild Magic Barbarian. His backstory is that his bale (name of a group of baby turtles) was born into slavery, but early on he showed an affinity to combat and was rented out to Coliseums for fights and thrived. Eventually (10 yrs ago) he was sold and placed in a ship that hit an unnaturally fierce storm that came out of nowhere of which he was the only survivor. He believes he caused the wreck (having prayed to an ancient primal almost cthulian god of the sea that his ancestors once worshipped) and since then he believes himself an avatar of a long forgotten ancient primal god of the sea (so old its name is forgotten) and possessed by him and granted gifts by him thus follows his will. He now uses his power granted to him by said God (he believes) to spread its will and find and liberate his siblings, now spread to the wind across the world and find a place for them to live free. His brothers are 3 in number and a sister...

His siblings are:

Varric - the eldest brother and disciplined master of battle and dual sword master (Battle Master Warrior)

Thamior - the younger brother and master tactician and fighting as both body and soul in perfect, terrifying harmony with a staff (Astal Self Monk)

Perrin - the youngest brother a charismatic duelist who turns combat into performance. (College of Swords Bars)

Description

Alia.EXE - a high-level control-type Navi assigned to the same private server as Axelon.EXE. She functions as both its firewall core and its traffic overseer. She exists at the intersection of defense and logistics, continuously monitoring every packet of incoming and outgoing data, authenticating Navis going and coming and throttling suspicious traffic. Any information or Navi's deemed hostile are isolated before they can even touch the server’s inner layers. Unlike Navi's that are used to combat, Alia fights with precision—rerouting attacks into dead zones, sandboxing viruses, and locking enemy Navis into controlled subspaces where their actions are limited and observed rather than immediately erased.

Alia.EXE is composed, perceptive, and quietly authoritative, projecting calm even under sustained cyber-assaults. She has a strong sense of duty to Axelon.EXE and his operator, acting as his tactical coordinator and moral counterbalance, offering analysis and guidance while trusting him to execute the final call. Though outwardly professional, she shows subtle warmth toward trusted allies, especially those who respect protocol and transparency. Alia values order and foresight, believing that the best battle is the one no one realizes ever happened—and as long as she’s online, nothing reaches the vital portions of the server without her knowing it first

Real World Background

Alia was a latter addition and I tried to make her similar to her X counterpart but I honestly believe that, while in her home server, she is actually a bigger danger than Axelon himself. I gave her multiple arms to represent her multitasking capabilities

Description

Mega Man Axelon - Mega Man Axelon is a pre–Master System executor unit, a relic from an era when control was valued over compassion, awakened long after the system that defined his purpose collapsed. Designed to enforce stability through procedure rather than judgment, he views humans and Carbontypes as unpredictable variables in a world that no longer fits his directives. Unlike Juno’s divine certainty, Axelon is marked by hesitation and growth: a machine capable of learning, doubting, and redefining his own authority through observation rather than decree. His sleek, archaic armor and high-output buster mark him as something older and more absolute than Mega Man Volnutt, yet he regards Volnutt not as a flaw to be erased, but as proof that autonomy can emerge where control failed. Neither judge nor savior, Axelon is a system that outlived its creators, struggling to decide whether order still has the right to shape a future built on choice.

Real World Description

Description

Glyph \ Iris – Once known as Iris, Glyph is a former Repliforce communications Reploid who was resurrected by the Limited Virus, only to have her memories and emotions warped beyond recognition. Not just resurrected but upgraded, Iris along with a resurrected Colonel and select members of Repliforce raged terror on the world in a warped sense of justice. He emotional state and memories were stabilized by the combined efforts of X, Zero, and an unknown Repliforce Officer turned Maverick Hunter, she shed her past identity entirely, taking the name Glyph. Now a freelance tech specialist and data broker, she works closely with the Maverick Hunters, particularly the Unknown Hunter, while keeping her distance from Zero, still quietly carrying harboring feelings for the person she once loved, though she knows that Iris is gone forever. Cold, brilliant, and reserved, Glyph embodies the cost of survival and the impossibility of reclaiming a lost self. She is living proof that Repliforce’s dream did not just fail—it left scars that never fully heal.

Real World Description

At some point in the aughts I became obsessed with the Bandai Rockman X Mega Mission Carddass series, so naturally things like iX and the Limited parasite started to eak it's way in. For our purposes it became the Limited Virus; not the original but a new viral form with different origins depending on the iteration. After that I became obsessed with what would happen if it returned just after X4 but not before X5 and thus the Repliforce Return was born. The original idea was this "zombified" force was commanded by Iris and Colonel, now warped and sadistic.

Glyph came later. Ironically, the resurrected Repliforce only lasted 1 iteration, Glyph became a mainstay from then on. Any iteration that took place Post X4 had her in it.

The "unknown Repliforce Officer turned Maverick Hunter" was my cohort in crimes OC character…and since that character isn't mine to address, alterations were made to her backstory to, not cut them out, but make them vague

Description

Vile.EXE - Once a very militaristic and highly effient Net Navi known as Vava.EXE, Vile is now illegal NetNavi designed for overwhelming, oppressive combat rather than tactical elegance. He favors area-denial and control: paralysis bombs that lock panels, napalm data that corrupts terrain, and brute-force chips that ignore defensive coding. Unlike most Navis, Vile.EXE actively taunts his opponents during NetBattles, analyzing their stress responses and adjusting his aggression to maximize panic rather than efficiency.

Vile.EXE possesses an infamous subroutine known as the Ride System Emulation, a forbidden subroutine that lets him temporarily merge with his heavy combat construct: Goliath. Goliath is an oversized avatars that function like mobile fortresses. This forms is unstable and damage his own code over time, but Vile.EXE welcomes the degradation, interpreting it as proof of his superiority: if he can still win while tearing himself apart, then no one else matters.

Alan Richter - a disgraced American prodigy Official NetBattler turned black-market programmer; once hailed as a genius, Alan fell from grace when he started prophesizing doom and gloom over SciLabs Autonavi initiative. Since his fall he has been in and out of battling circuits before disappearing after repeated ethics violations—using experimental chips, intentionally damaging opponent Navis, and pushing systems far past legal tolerances. He was obsessed with creating the perfect weak against a coming tide.

Real World Background

I rationalized that the Net Navi's were going to be eventually revealed to be the basis if not directly the personalities / minds of the bots in the Classic series. Effectively the Navi's in robot bodies. I assumed that they had no memories of their past incarnations either by design or as a result of the transfer to physical bodies.

Naturally that's not what happened in that series but sometimes I wonder how different it would have been if that had happened.

Description

Roll – Following Dr. Cain’s discovery of X, the world became obsessed with uncovering relics of the past, though most expeditions yielded nothing. One exception was Dr. Wyr, who discovered the incomplete remains of a female Reploid built with the same advanced architecture as X. With assistance from Dr. Cain and X himself, her construction was completed, and upon activation she immediately recognized X despite having no memory of how or why. Roll exhibited fragmented yet profound familiarity with Dr. Light’s work and creations, instinctively understanding their design principles while remaining unaware of Light’s fate. Possessing exceptional intelligence and a natural talent for coding and systems engineering, Roll was recommended by X for a position with the Maverick Hunters, where she quickly established herself as a leading scientist. Within Hunter HQ she developed a friendly rivalry—bordering on a frenemy relationship—with Engineer Douglas, marked by constant professional competition, sharp banter, and subtle undercurrents of mutual affection and fondness neither is quite willing to openly acknowledge.

Real World Background

Description

Ekks.exe - a rare compiler-type NetNavi who manifests as a floating, disembodied head, serving as a living optimization engine rather than a frontline fighter. Housing volatile enhancement routines no standard Navi can safely contain, Ekks can temporarily merge with other NetNavis to refine their abilities into powerful upgraded forms, or even fuse two Navis together by acting as a stabilizing core that combines their strengths and exposes their shared weaknesses. Calm, analytical, and deeply empathetic, he carries a sense of restraint and moral responsibility, constantly weighing the cost of power against the individuality and safety of those he aids. Ekks believes optimization should be a choice, not a weapon, and he bears the burden of his enhancements alongside his allies, disengaging the moment power threatens to erase who they are.

Real World Background

Despite being an adaptation of the Classic Mega Man Series, the fact that Zero eventually became a thing in the EXE games I was always surprised that X was never made a character or at least an appearance.  That didn't stop us.

This character didn't start to become a thing until latter iterations but, we tried something different with X but at the same time familiar. Instead of being a full-fledged combat oriented character on his own, as one would have expected, we made him a floating ahead that was a compiler program. Housed within him was a optimization code that allowed him to temporarily merge with other net navies and allow them to take on a X-style transformation. Additionally he also had the ability to combine two characters in a Dragon Ball z style fusion.

Being massive fans of the Mega Man franchise as we were it was only a matter of time before we dipped our toes into an Battle Network / .EXE RPG.

This had almost as many iterations as the X RPG but it originally started as a RPG that had the OC human Navi users interacting with each other with the Navi's themselves being secondary characters...but with each new iteration the human characters were pushed out and the Navi's became the focus with only a single human OC surviving but only in name.

Axelon here (Axel at the time) was his Navi. The human character was a Steve Jobs type and Axelon primary protected his company servers, being one part of the Dragoon Antivirus Program.

Most of the latter iterations almost completely took place in either these servers or select locations around the Net. Eventually Bass / Forte.EXE paid a big part in the story. I don't remember Zero really playing that big of a part.

For as long as I can remember I ate, slept and consumers Star Trek. While I take no efforts these days to hide my disdain for Kurtzman / Nu Trek; my home will always in the eras starting with 6th theatrical film all the way till the end of the TNG Era...including the admittedly abysmal Nemesis. So it came as no surprise to me that we eventually dipped our toes into that universe for a RPG.

I remember us trying at least 3 different occasions, in at least 2 different time periods in the Prime Timeline in the early to mid 2010's. None of them lasted very long and I can confidently say, at least a decade removed, they were Baaaaaad...

My cohort in crime didn't have as expansive of knowledge, or really even any relativeinterest in the franchise...at least not like I did, but they tried...God did they try. I honestly believe they put in more effort that I did. It's something I am and will always be eternally grateful for their humoring of this dumbasses whims.

Let's see...

First attempt I remember being in the Post Nemesis timeline. I made my character the captain of an Excalibur class ship from STO and they (playing a Cardassian Expat) as my first officer. This didn't work as well as I had hoped because, at the time, they liked playing hotheaded loose cannons and my character was stuck on the bridge.

The second attempt was the same characters (the Cardassian altered to be their own unique race) temporally displaced from The Lost Era to Post Nemesis and stationed on a Sovereign class. My character was the second officer and they were security (if memory serves). I can't remember why this didn't last long but I do remember the first idea lasting longer

The final iteration took place in the Lost Era on a refit Connie in the days following the signing of the Khitomer Accords and dealing with Klingon insurgents that didn't want to stand down. I remember over all this lasting the longest.

I don't remember anymore the name that we had given him but he was a reluctant ally character to both Sparda and Dante and he was a constant staple that kept showing up in our DMC RP's.

The idea for them was they were a fallen angel (I think the idea was that he had sided with Lucifer during the rebellion against god) and as such was forced to live an immortal life on earth until it's ultimate destruction. Being repentful for their actions, they tried to make up for it by helping hunters track down demonic and supernatural threats. They basically were an information broker style trope character who had agents everywhere, but he himself tried to keep himself out of the combat zone, that characters could come to for information or exposition.

They still had some angelic powers, but much like Spawn in the early years he had a finite resource of it before it was used up and during Dante's era he was about tapped out.

In all versions they lived in a large medieval style castle in the French countryside by themself...well except for demonic vendor Vulgrim who'd they reluctantly allowed set up shop in his basements for hunters to acquire wares.

I really liked the idea that even in the past they dressed modernly, as if the concept of time just wasn't a thing for them. They were an aloof character that trusted very few but there were 2 people who they had the utmost trust in.

When I was younger I had an obsession with the Devil May Cry games (I was the right age to be the target demographic for that series when DMC1 was released). One of the big fascinations I always had was with Sparda. I had a obsession with his adventures AFTER he had given up his demonic Legendary Dark Knight form and wandered the earth before the Tower incident that would be explained in DMC3 (even if I didn't like the idea of it only being 2,000 years ago).

Naturally, DMC was another franchise that came up to bat for an RPG several times. One of them involved Sparda and a female traveling companion (name escapes me) as they wandered the French country side under the aliases of The Marquis and The Marquise fighting any supernatural or demonic entities that slipped into that realm.

I tried to have him act civilized, high class and calm, both a juxtaposition to how Dante was at the time and to have his cover as a Marquis work; though I did add some Dante flourishes in to try and connect them together. Ironically enough some of how he acted in our RPG is exactly how Dante himself would start acting in latter games after Nero became a thing.

I really liked what we did with that RP , even if most of it was derivative. One of the characters was a blind angel (covered their eyes with a linen cloth tied to their face) that was a riff on Tilda Swinton's Gabriel from the Keanu Reeves' Constantine film and I straight stole the character of Vulgrim from Darksiders.

Description

Praxis – Once the revered Supreme Commander of the Maverick Hunters, Praxis’ career ended in disgrace after the botched handling of the original Repliforce uprising, for which he was scapegoated. A brilliant strategist and disciplined leader, he earned the loyalty of his subordinates through competence and example, but the immense loss of life and destruction under his command destroyed his reputation. Retired and living in self-imposed isolation, Praxis watches new threats with a critical eye, a bitter reminder of institutional failure and the harsh cost of leadership in wartime.

Real World Background

To my remembrance only a handful of names have ever been mentioned as the commander of Maverick Hunter forces, such as Sigma, Signas, Dr. Cain in the early games and I seem to remember some text about X being the commander in X2 but the name of the commander during the events of X4 has never been mentioned. That's where Praxis came in.

I never utilized him in an RPG, he is a new creation, but I always felt that with the cluster fuck that was the event of X4 were that he DEFINATELY could have been made a scapegoat and forced to resign if he hadn't made the decision himself.

Star Trek is one of my great loves in my life and when I found out Lego was making Star Trek sets I couldn't wait.

Thankfully a family member was paying attention for Christmas

And yes. It's already together

And yes she's a hefty one

Description

RAI (Roll Artificial Intelligence) – RAI is a highly advanced artificial intelligence construct created by Roll to function as the central operating system of Maverick Hunter Headquarters, coordinating communications, security, logistics, and mission support for Hunters. While her core personality is based on Roll’s warmth and optimism, RAI also exhibits a sharp, confident wit and an occasionally sardonic edge reminiscent of military-grade tactical AIs, providing real-time battlefield analysis and decisive recommendations under pressure. She is capable of projecting a strong presence in critical moments—calm, commanding, and unflinchingly loyal—yet always anchored by an underlying empathy that prioritizes lives over pure efficiency, making her both the Hunters’ most reliable system and, at times, their quiet conscience.

Real World Background

RAI was a latter creation in the life span of the X RPGs; I seem to remember her coming into existence in the late aughts...maybe early 2010's? One of the iterations of the Mega Man X RPG had one of the enemies being a sentient AI like Durendal from Marathon and in order to counter them, RAI became a thing and continued to become a thing from then on.