Gaming Stuff

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Greaser dude complete with pompadour, comes in with a friend as a designated driver.

Sees splatter of red in a window, goes to tell the host. She rolls her eyes and follows him into the house where they're attacked by Rancher Carl.

Greaser dude saves the host (Susannah) and gets stabbed in the shoulder.

Decides to run and pull the knife out of the ghost's hands so it stays in his shoulder.

Tosses it randomly off into the woods.

Gets to the driveway and finds all the cars sabotaged.

He and someone else try to leave through the suburb... end up back in the house driveway.

Hides in the trunk of a car until daylight.

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Preppy bimbo girl took This old thing? and we settled on an heirloom gold bracelet. I decide that the way it is useful is that Carl isn't going to immediately try to kill her because it marks her as his descendant.

She watches Carl pull Susannah over the fence and listens to her being beaten to death and runs... along with pretty much everyone else.

Flees into the forest.

Carl catches up to her and tries to turn her to his side. Her response: "I politely decline" and throws one of her stiletto heeled shows at him and runs.

Tries to hide in a tree, is recognized by ghosts of people Carl killed in life while stealing the land and flees calling out "I politely decline!"

Later hears her lesbian friends getting menaced by Carl, rushes in to save them. Throws her other show at Carl and manages to grab his gun and take off running.

(for those keeping track, the survivors have now stolen all of Carl's big damage weapons)

Survives with her lesbian friends by fleeing through the forest.

Still has the ghost gun with her.

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Local store-kid shows up to deliver some booze to the party and, like so many other people, flees while Susannah is beaten to death.

Gets to the driveway and is shot by Carl fleeing. Realizes Carl hates late and tries to get out of the suburb running from light to light.

Relaxes at the wrong time and his head is ripped off when he stumbles right into Carl. Has his head ripped off.

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Spooky goth girl runs from the house and gets to her own home... and finds her family slaughtered.

Decides "well, I hated them anyway but DAMN?".

Started with Self-Taught Magician and had a banishment spell.

Leaves her house with her book and some gear and Carl starts attacking her.

Fails to cast her banishment and then is tossed into a wall and down on the ground.

As Carl is about to step on her, she casts the banishment spell and tears up her body to successfully cast.

Limps to the edge of the cursed area and manages to call an ambulance.

Health never recovers, but survives.

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Local kid here to see his fellow outsider friends.

Like most people, flees while Susannah is being killed.

Gets into the drive way like shop-kid and greaser-guy.

He and the greaser guy try to run through the streets but show up back at the party house.

Unsuccessfully hides but runs away, dodges a spare tire thrown at him. (It hits the car the greaser guy is hiding in... greaser guy stays calm and does not react.)

Since he's already felt the spell redirecting him once, he's able to avoid it the second time and escapes... taking the only flashlight with him.

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A local witch girl starts with self-taught magician and chooses a summoning spell to summon a being of shadow and violence.

First roll, 10+ roll of summoning her monster to send it after her bullies.

There are now two monsters on the field. Because this spell also broke the banishment on Carl early.

Second roll, fails to hold it together, understands exactly what she's done, and revels in it. Now a new monster. Spends the rest of the scenario wandering around sucking souls out of people and causing suffering herself.

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Biker dude came in looking for his friend who was supposed to meet him at this party they were crashing.

Screaming lady comes running of the house? Meh, ignoring that going back to the party.

My friends head impaled on a weather vane? Yup, nope, let's keep drinking and walking into the party.

Lights go out and the party goers freak out and scatter? Get absolutely plastered and wander into the woods.

Nah. Nah. Nah. Nah. I can't hear you!

Slips and falls underneath the dripping half-body of Patrick (Susannah's brother).

Freaks out and runs smack into Carl.

Fails to fight off Carl.

While crawling away, reflexively grabs something and hurls it at Carl. Carl catches his knife and stabs the biker with it.

Biker struggles to his feet, flees to the house and almost walks through witch-girl's shadow monster.

Is devoured.

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Himbo guy shows up late to the party. Wanders around the empty place and eventually finds Susannah's brutalized corpse.

Decides it's one of Patrick's stupid Jackass jokes.

Gets into his car and tries to drive away. The curse redirects him and he somehow finds himself driving into the pool.

Almost drowns getting out. Cuts himself on the car window.

Wanders up to the house and suddenly is attacked by a creepy shadow monster that might have arms with fingers or maybe tentacles with suckers, it's hard to tell.

Successfully flees.

Having been redirected once, he manages to flee.

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Two characters didn't get used.

The government right this off as a terrorist attack by home grown militia.

Preppy has a cursed cowboy rifle.

Before I move on, some thoughts:

Be Sparing

If every scene the Spooky involves their Dark Side then it gets to be a little one note. One way to cover it is to only bring it out with more stand out cases. A psychic getting angry at a murderer is not really something worth pinging them on Rage for, they're already pretty justified in retaliating. But inflicting someone with a bad case of the flu in response to having a paper ball thrown at their heads over over is definitely the sort of nasty thing the Dark Side tags are meant to push you toward.

Signpost Everything

The Hunter might not know exactly what the consequences of their choices are, but player should be making an informed choice about moving forward. If the nasty thing is that the hunter will forget something important, tell them that they will forget something important. You don't have to tell them what it is, but let them know the broad strokes of the consequence coming for them. You'll see me say this a few times below but it's important enough that I decided to come back up here and say it as a general consideration.

Giving in vs Resisting

In a lot of cases, I am presenting inversions of the normal expectations for one tag or another. In these cases, "giving in" to the dark side is actually long term a healthier thing. But for game play purposes focus on how that makes things a lot harder in the short term.

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NOTE: I'm listing some inspiration characters, but in some cases I'm including tags that don't fit the inspiring character.

Eldritch Exposure (Heather Morell - Katalepsis)

Yes, her name is a link.

In this example, the character's powers come due to exposure to some sort of supernatural or eldritch power that is causing them to change in fundamental ways that are wreaking havoc with their mental and physical health as they become something that doesn't easily work with normal physics or human biology. This dark side is not intelligent, but merely a progression that is hard to deal with.

For this I'm using the following Dark Side tags:

Hallucination

Pain

Paranoia

For hallucinations. This is a matter of senses beginning to adapt or new senses starting to form. In the interim, the hunter is getting a lot of junk information that serves no useful purpose. The result of a still human brain trying its hardest to parse a very much not human array of senses.

Pain is similar, the body is reshaping itself to account for developing powers and in the meantime, the spooky can't easily handle the strain and thus experiences chronic extreme pain. This could also come with intense nausea and other symptoms.

Finally you come to Paranoia, which may be the easiest tag to work with in the way Dark Side is phrased. With the hunter having difficulties understanding what's real and what's a glitch in their sensory abilities and constant worry about when their pain might make itself an issue leads the character to become constantly anxious about what's coming next.

This is inspired by the character Heather Morell from Katalepsis. The only reason I opted not to use Hallucinations in my reworking of Katalepsis as an MotW series is because Heather has the Sight and is reliably seeing actual spirits. So as much as she tries to convince herself they're hallucinations, they are not. Also note that you could easily present a young Heather as a Spooky who does have another voice in their head pushing them places. But early on in the story, she isolates herself from the entity that started her change and is mostly dealing with issues inherent to who she herself is.

Now, how to apply these tags in a game. What are some terrible things that these powers can ask of you?

Pain

We're going to start with Pain here. What can pain ask of you? Quite simply... the pain itself. Using the powers causes pain and the hunter knows that. The dark side asks the hunter to accept that using their power is likely to cause them pain. Most of the time, this pain will be at a level that the hunter is used to and thus not worthy of an experience point.

The Keeper should sign post when the spooky is about to a level of pain that is not ordinary for them with the "ask" the dark side is coming with is to ask the hunter not to do the thing they were just about to do and force the hunter to use other means to handle the situation. If they go through with it, though, they will mark one experience as well as suffer some other consequence due to the dark side such a -1 forward until the character has a chance to rest.

Example: Powers cause pain.

Nasty Thing: The pain this time is going to be really bad.

Give in: experience pain and nausea maybe taking -1 forward or ongoing, but can use powers.

Resist: They can't use their powers and must find alternate means to help the situation.

This covers the situation of "do nasty things" (experience pain) with the consequence of "your powers are not available" if you don't go through with it.

Hallucinations and Paranoia

Moving on to Hallucinations and Paranoia which I've bundled together because the answer to dealing with each of these is very similar. In some ways you still have an entity trying to push you to do something terrible, only the entity is yourself rather than something truly external. (That said, both of those could also be played as the result of direct manipulation by some possessing spirit.

In this case, the "ask" comes of the false information and urgency these Dark Side tags provide. For example, if you suddenly describe fire catching all over the building. Maybe it's real, maybe it's a hallucination. Likewise, the hunter might suddenly be struck with an absolute certainty that some bystander is lying to them or maybe following them. You might also combine the two and have the hunter "notice" that something seems to be moving under the skin of some person.

Example: Spooky hallucinates that a fire is happening.

Nasty Thing: Start a panic, pull fire alarms, get people out!

Give in: They rush about causing problem when there's no danger and have to deal with the fall out.

Resist: The effort to shut out the hallucinations prevents them from focusing on their powers.

Example: Spooky convinced that person is lying!

Nasty Thing: Confront them, interrogate them.

Give in: Spooky gets in the person's face and awkward social situations insue.

Resist: Not trusting themselves or their powers, they instinctively shut them off until they have a chance to calm down somehow.

Example: Spooky convinced that person is possessed/replaced!

Nasty Thing: Attack that person. Kill or exorcise them.

Give in: Has to be stopped by other hunters. Or maybe they hurt the person in the attempt to exorcise them.

Resist: As with above, the immediate revulsion as they realize their powers are lying to them causes the Spooky to shut them off for a time.

But. Here's a thing with these tags. You can also turn them around like so:

Example: Spooky doesn't believe the fire in front of them is real.

Nasty Thing: Ignore it, do nothing.

Give in: The fire spreads out of control, people are hurt, possibly including the Spooky.

Resist: The close call and confusion leads to the same instinctual power shut down.

Example: Spooky worries that their distrust of a person is delusional.

Nasty Thing: Let the person get away with lying.

Give in: Believe them. Maybe even defend them from other Hunters.

Resist: Mind is in chaos and indecision on some levels. Can still act mostly normally, but their powers are inaccessible.

Example: Spooky thinks they were seeing things and person isn't really possessed or replaced.

Nasty Thing: Let the monster/minion go.

Give in: That monster attacks someone, maybe even the hunter.

Resist: Same sort of instinctual shut down as above.

Regardless of whether the hunter is faced with some real thing they're doubting or a threat that isn't really and they're only imagining, the Keeper should make it clear which choice provides XP and which choice takes away their powers. Yes, this does make it obvious whether something is true or imagined, but that should be fine. The player deserves to know which story direction they're taking at the moment.

Lab Rat (Eleven - Stranger Things)

In this case, the Spooky's power is as a result of being experimented upon to bring out their raw latent supernatural abilities. They've been subjected to various drugs and training regimens that have left all sorts of impact on them. Then there is also the matter of the culture surrounding them as they go through all this.

For this I'm using the following Dark Side tags:

Secrets

Rage

Greed for Power

For Secrets, the Spooky has been in an environment in which everyone is keeping secrets from them. The people running their experiment know things about the character that the Spooky doesn't and they may know many other secrets besides. This may also be portrayed as the Spooky becoming obsessed with keeping their origin a secret out of some sort of shame.

Years of abuse and torture have given the Spooky a hair-trigger temper. There's very little space between calm and absolutely berserk for this character. It may have even been vital to what allowed them to escape. They overreact to things, taking mild threats to be a matter of life and death.

In this case, the lab experiments found the Spooky feeling powerless for a long time. So now, they are driven to get more and more power for the simple reason that it makes them feel safe. There's also a potential for falling into the cycle of abuse where the abused becomes the abuser. Though ideally as a hunter, this doesn't last long.

Aside from the Greed for Power element, this is Eleven from Stranger Things. Instead of that, I would give her Poor Impulse control. But otherwise this example is entirely inspired by her circumstances. Her reactions to bullies are extreme and she spends most of the season chasing secrets that people refused to tell her about.

Secrets

So how does the matter of people keeping secrets from you lead to your powers potentially shutting down? One of the big ones is secrets that the experimenters know about just how the hunter's powers work. This could be a maintenance cycle that the character doesn't know about. Or an inherited genetic disorder that a biological ancestor had which will cause problems.

An interesting interpretation on this approach is that the powers starting to fail could be the inciting event rather than the consequence of the choice. This is certainly something you would want to talk about with your Spooky ahead of time as normally the loss occurs after the choice and you'll want to make sure they're okay with that reversal.

Example: Power shut down.

Nasty Thing: The Spooky needs to contact the people that experimented on them or maybe break into a facility.

Give in: A scene around the above need occurs at the end of which the hunter should get their powers back somehow.

Resist: The hunter continues on the mystery without their powers. If this goes on to the end of mystery their powers will come back but there's no way of knowing what triggered the loss in the first place.

Rage

The many sorts of terrible things that can result from Rage are pretty obvious. This Dark Side is going to push the Spooky into conflict with other people possibly even more than Violence does. And the kicker is that this might a situation one can turn to Billy Joel about because the anger isn't always evil and it isn't always wrong. (for those that don't know, that's a reference to the lyrics of The Stranger.) The Rage might very well be a part of how the character escaped in the first place.

Another take on this might be that currently the character can only use their powers while their veins are filled with the hormones that come with being angry. So, instead of having someone with a hair trigger temper, you might have someone that has to make the effort to build up their anger anytime they want to use their powers. In this case, I would only pull this dark side if the Spooky is feeling happy or joyful about something. Basically, the need for their powers ruining one of the few times they don't feel angry.

Example: An annoying bystander makes the Spooky mad.

Nasty Thing: Go overboard in reacting to them.

Give In: The Spooky terrifies or hospitalizes the bystander.

Resist: The mental stress makes it impossible to reach the powers for some time.

Example: The Spooky needs to make themselves angry.

Nasty Thing: There will be collateral damage.

Give In: The Spooky is in an enraged state lashing out verbally, physically, and psychically.

Resist: The Spooky is unable to reach the heights of anger necessary to use the powers.

Greed for Power

This isn't a very difficult tag to work around. Greed for Power is going to push the Spooky to do questionable things pretty easily. Where this becomes a problem from a gameplay perspective is in how to explain the powers not functioning when the Spooky resists. When the Dark Side represents a sapient entity manipulating the hunter, that's easy, but as an internal function or malfunction it's a little bit different.

That said, we've been making use of the idea of the mind instinctively shutting down the powers as a response to sudden shocks about terrible things it almost pushed the Spooky to do, and that still works for this one. That does sound like "hey isn't that just the same answer to all these questions" and sure, but so is "the creature giving you power punishes you by taking it away."

Example: The Spooky is tempted to use a machine to boost their power.

Nasty Thing: The machine will over stress the local power grid or maybe just the building.

Give In: Danger power fluctuations, rolling brown outs, or shorted fuses.

Resist: The Spooky cuts the experiment off just before bad stuff happens, but the effort to that point temporarily exhausts their powers.

But less turn this on its head again. What if instead of actually being greedy for power, the Spooky is terrified of themselves giving in to the lure of power. In this case, the Dark Side might pop up in cases where the Spooky feels like powers aren't needed and refuses to use them. The problem here is that on its face, then giving in to the impulse means not using their powers where as resisting it means using the powers.

The best way to handle this sort of thing is to reverse some of the way the Dark Side works.

In this case the "Nasty Thing" is not having powers because you're resisting the urge to use them. In which case you would get an experience for not using your power in this one instance. But in this case, I would again only award the experience if the character resolves the entire situation without using powers that would really make it a lot easier. So, at the end of the whole scene.

Example: The Spooky is concerned about using their telepathy and other powers to invade someone's privacy.

Nasty Thing: The Spooky has to investigate without powers.

Gives in: The Spooky doesn't use powers.

Resist: The Spooky does use powers.

Vow of Purity (The Golden Child)

In this case, the Spooky's powers extend from a staying true to a code of intense virtue. If they fall off the proper path then their powers may weaken or fail them completely, and the demands of the path might be something that's easy to hold to in a temple, but much less so when you are faced with the threat of a monster about to eat one of your friends.

For this, I'm using the following Dark Side tags:

Violence

Rage

Guilt

And all of these are going to be used in their inverse.

Part of the code the Spooky must follow is that they must eschew violence to keep their powers. In this case, they may be placed into a position where they see a monster about to eat a bystander and have to make a choice between their vow and that person's life in the moment. Or at least it may appear so in that moment of crisis.

Contrary to the Lab Rat above, the Spooky with this vow of purity must not give in to rage or else they will find their powers failing them. This means that they may have to tolerate a lot of petty abuse without resorting to any sort of retaliation on their tormentors.

Finally, we have Guilt. As I said, it is easier to be virtuous in an isolated temple where the sources of temptation are few and far between. Once out in the world, the Spooky is going to find themselves presented with situations where they maybe could have done something to prevent a terrible thing if only they had acted rather than cling to their vow.

The Golden Child is never really shown being tempted in the movie, rather the movie is spent with the villains are trying to undo the child's supernatural protections in other ways. However, this felt like the best example I could think of for this sort of character.

Violence

So let's start with violence. The life of a hunter is generally filled with violence so the character is going to be seeing a lot of it. More than that, they may find themselves in a position where none of the rest of the team is around to help and someone's life is at stake. The obvious route is to fight off the villain or monster but that will mean the loss of their powers until they get a chance to atone. So how do they solve it?

An important part of this approach is to not punish the Spooky for solving the problem without using violence. If the Spooky protects someone by simply standing between them and the monster, that's not violence. The challenge here is to create a scenario where violence presents itself as desirable but is also definitely not the best choice for the situation. Immediate self-defense or defense of other I'd probably not punish.

Example: The Spooky is speaking to a villain who is gleefully explaining all his plans. Nobody else in the team is nearby.

Nasty Thing: You could kill them right now, but it would break your vow.

Gives In: Holds back on attacking the villain and letting them live.

Resists: Takes the opportunity to kill the villain right there. Ending the threat. You can atone later.

Rage

As an inverse in the case above and also a Dark Side point, you have to be a bit more strict on what is considered acting in anger. A Spooky calmly using their spells to ward or even rebuking a demon is not going to be running afoul of their Dark Side tag. However, if a bunch locals start harassing the Spooky in petty ways, like hitting their head with tiny paper balls over and over, then telling them off might be considered breaking the tenet.

Also note that in even in cases where some manner of anger is proper and necessary, the Spooky might be tempted to still go beyond that point. Consider bringing out this Dark Side in the middle of a tense moment to tempt the Spooky into going over board. Show them a friend harmed in the crossfire and ask them what they are going to do about it. Nasty things in this case is again going to be letting the monster free.

The other thing to be aware of is that Rage and Violence have a lot of overlap, but are not the same thing.

Example: Some locals are harassing the Spooky with petty things like tripping them, calling them names, or getting in their face.

Nasty Thing: Let the bullies continue to harass you without retaliation.

Gives In: The Spooky is distracted by their tormentors until they get bored or someone else interferes.

Resist: Tell off the bullies, maybe humiliate them.

Example:

Nasty Thing: Something or someone the Spooky cares about is threatened or harassed. Deadly harm is not at immediate risk.

Gives in: The Spooky focuses on supporting the friend and repairing the damage done.

Resist: The Spooky resorts to retaliating against the tormentor, perhaps even using their powers against the villain.

Guilt

This is a matter of always feeling like there was something more the Spooky could have done. The constant worry that their vows cause more harm than good and that there's seemingly no permanent solution available that doesn't involve breaking one tenet or another.

The sort of acts this can lead to might be similar to those presented in Rage and Violence, just with a different internal motivation. But in the interest of avoiding every Dark Side situation feeling the same again focus on what could be different.

Example: The Spooky is aware that someone they are tempted to hurt is going to be somewhere and it isn't a clear final confrontation.

Nasty Thing: The Spooky refuses to go with the team to do that part of the investigation.

Gives In: The Spooky is not around to provide their help in the investigation.

Resists: The Spooky goes, but refuses to use any of their powers around that person for fear of accidentally breaking their vow.

The Drunken Medium (Winter Mullins - Dark Quarter)

In this case, the Spooky's powers are heavily tied up in an addiction of some sort. Perhaps their powers only work while they are engaging in the addiction, or maybe the addiction interferes with those powers. Regardless, the addiction and assorted feelings come around over and over for the character. In all honesty, this is one of the more straight-forward of these example characters, even with a second mind pressing the issues.

I'm using these Dark Sides for this.

Addiction

Mood Swings

Self-Destruction

Addiction is the most prevalent in this theme on the face of it, the title and inspiring character to lean this toward alcohol, but any addiction can be worked around. And again, this could be a case where the powers only work while you're engaged in the addictive behavior. Or it could be the powers are inhibited by the addictive behavior.

In chasing the highs of whatever addictive behavior or substance is involved comes the wildly swinging moods of the character. They'll be joyous and happy one moment, filled with rage the next, and completely chill and laid back soon after. They are mercurial, and if that comes a wide range of erratic behavior.

Recklessness and self-recrimination alike both tend to lead addicts into some form of self-harm either intentional or incidental. And this is something that definitely cause issues in a hunter's career. This isn't always about causing one's self physical injury, but also covers sleep deprivation and financial ruin.

Winter Mullins from the board game Dark Quarter is a good example of this. I've only seen one or two of his scenes in the game, but I do know that his story line revolves around his addiction. Unfortunately his ability to speak to ghosts only works while he is inebriated.

Addiction

Whether the addictive behavior is needed to use the powers, then hype up the cost on the hunter's personal life and the toll that addiction has. You might start to ask questions as to whether the power is something toxic that is overall unhealthy, or perhaps the addiction is a crutch the hunter uses to do something they should be able to do without it.

On the other hand, when the addiction causes the powers to fail, then you'll be focused on the sort of harsh experiences the hunter has while trying to keep away from the addiction. Withdrawal, temptation, shakes. In this case giving in is actually the healthier option, but it will come with downsides in the short term. In this case, assume that downtime does involve some addictive behavior and make that clear with the player.

To be clear. If the powers come with the addiction give the hunter gameplay downsides to go with being drunk or sleep deprived or stressed out from losing money. If the powers come by avoiding the addiction, then avoid mechanical downsides for "resisting" and instead give them for the downsides of staying away from addiction: withdrawal, temptations etc. Among other things, this would make the "resist" path of, say, getting drunk have the "benefit" of not have that -1 ongoing for going through withdrawal symptoms.

Example: The hunter needs the addiction in order to use their powers.

Nasty Thing: Getting into the addiction is definitely going to ruin something.

Give in: The hunter goes deep into drink, gambling, adrenaline chasing, or whatever and the damage is immediate apparent.

Resist: The hunter avoids the addiction and has to do without their powers.

Example: The hunter needs to avoid addiction in order to use their powers.

Nasty Thing: Withdrawal, shakes, distraction and temptation.

Give in:The short-term downsides of resisting addiction cause noticeable obstacles, but you do have your powers.

Resist: Get drunk, go to the casino, who cares. Everything is smooth and easy.

Mood Swings

There is a common thought that happiness is always better than sorrow or anger, but toxic positivity and unhealthy elation are definitely things. When the character is riding high on their emotions they are prone to forget important things and let stuff slide. The downward swing of this equation uses the same sort of suggestions you can see above in rage and guilt.

Another thing about mood swings is that you can have them going on in the midst of addictive behavior or in the midst of a period of trying to stay on the wagon. So this presents a way to change up the depiction of the situation by not mentioning the addiction directly but instead focus on the emotions going on. If the hunter brings up the addiction themselves, well, then you're doing your job.

Example: The hunter is excited/depressed and letting the rest of the world go by without thinking about it.

Nasty Thing: The hunter will forget to do something that is very important.

Give In: The hunter will only remember the important thing when it is either too late or almost too late.

Resist: The shock to the hunter's mind and system on remembering to do the thing causes disrupts their powers.

Self-Destruction

In a lot of ways, this entire concept is self-destruction. The addiction is the cause and the mood swings are part of the symptoms. But here we get to the core of the matter. However, this tag can be treated on its own merits. Perhaps the hunter has something of a martyr complex so that even without the addiction they may be self-destructive.

Another way to address this is maybe the self-destruction presents a way around one of the other two tags. If instead of giving in to the addiction they can suggest to the Keeper that they start using pain as a way to distract them from the temptation and stay focused on using their powers.

Example: A bystander is danger.

Nasty Thing: Regardless of what action the hunter takes the first thing they do is put themselves in the line of danger. Even if another hunter is ready to protect the bystander.

Gives in: They face the danger the bystander would have.

Resist: They stay where its safe and their lack of confidence in themselves causes their powers to slip away for now.

Example: The hunter is tempted to go back to drinking.

Nasty Thing: The hunter periodically gives themselves small cuts and jabs to stay focus and not think of the addiction.

Give In: The hunter takes 1 Harm past any means of harm reduction.

Resist: The hunter avoids harming themselves but will lose their powers due to the effort of resisting both the addiction and the self-destructive thoughts.

The Sleepy Psychic (Taniyama Mai - Ghost Hunt)

In this case, I'm going to actually create one of my own Dark Side tags. The game doesn't expressly say that you can do this, but it's part and parcel to the way a lot of the game works. In any case, this is a case where the Spooky's powers mostly only work while they're asleep leaving them vulnerable to other dangers.

In this case I'm using the following tags:

Lethargy

Paranoia

Poor Impulse Control

Lethargy in this case comes from the fact that while the Spooky has several minor or passive abilities that just function all the time, their biggest powers only happen while they are asleep. And they have an instinct for when they need to use these powers resulting in them periodically going to sleep when it would be inconvenient for other purposes.

Paranoia here is less about the Spooky and more about the monsters and villains. Monsters and curse-wielders tend to figure out the Spooky is a threat to their plans very quickly and then identify them as a major target even if they're not the most physically or magically dangerous. This is partially based on picking up things the Spooky says but could also be due to a lot of the passive level supernatural stuff the Spooky is doing.

Since the Spooky at least initially isn't aware of how much of what they do involves using psychic senses and premonitions, they also don't have the awareness of when something may or may not be dangerous. Their instinct tells them that something should be looked at or someone should be defended and they do it without even thinking about questioning it.

The inspiration character for this is Taniyama Mai who throughout the series shows herself to have excellent instincts for the core of any particular problem, who is innocent, and what is dangerous. This is even well before she or anyone else are aware that she's a psychic. The other psychics on the team eventually teach her some self-defense magics and the last graphic novel (never adapted to the anime) has her almost solo saving the whole group from a haunt. But still, the big bursts of knowledge she gets comes from her dreams which seem to be a combination of several Spooky moves.

Lethargy

I'm going to go over two ways that this can be interpreted and I'll start with the interpretation Mai has: several of her major powers only work while she's asleep. In this case, there's an instinct that comes with these powers that will push her to fall asleep when there's something her she's subconsciously aware of that needs a dream in order for her to be consciously aware of it. This can even come to her when falling asleep is dangerous.

The other interpretation is that using the powers causes the character to become incredibly sleepy and tired. Such that they must choose to either not use the power and stay awake or else use the power and be forced to get a lot of sleep afterwards. I'm pretty sure there is a character that has this sort of price to their powers, but I'm not sure where I saw it.

If the character does fall asleep while a villain, minion, or monster is nearby and they're alone, then they'll wake up just barely at the last moment where they can do something to get away. If it is just dangerous to their personal life, then they'll be woken up by their teacher, boss, parent, or such.

Example: Something dangerous is coming and instincts demand the Spooky sleep.

Nasty Thing: Falling asleep right now is at least inconvenient. Maybe you're at work or school. Or maybe something dangerous is physically near.

Give In: The Spooky falls asleep and has to deal with whatever sort of fallout that comes with.

Resist: The character stays awake and misses out on the chance to use their powers to learn more detail about whatever's going on.

Example: Using their power might give a vital bit of intel.

Nasty Thing: They'll fall asleep right after using their power and passing on whatever they've learned... or finished starting fires, or whatever.

Give in: The hunter gets the chance to use their power and stay awake long enough to pass on info or complete a task. But then falls asleep immediately and needs to be protected.

Resist: The character stays awake and has to help in less supernatural ways. Missing out on whatever they could have done.

Paranoia

I'm going to start with the weird interpretation here, that being this represents the paranoia of the people around the Spooky. In this case not giving means that those unconscious powers the Spooky uses without thinking just don't go off at the moment and thus they don't do anything to alert the villain. Otherwise, it means that villains, minions, hostile bystanders, and monsters will become suspicious of the character either because they say something that says they know more than they should or because the creature can actually feel the Spooky's power, consciously or otherwise. Meaning that annoying and abusive high school teacher who may not be the villain but is still bad immediately dislikes the Spooky.

The other interpretation is more expected. The Spooky's instincts and gifts have left them nervous and jumping at shadows. They're never sure when their powers are warning them of a danger or whether they're just imagining things. They are right often enough to never disregard it but wrong often enough to never totally trust their feelings.

Example: A potential suspect for casting the curse is being accused and the Spooky might instinctively reach out to see if it's valid.

Nasty Thing: Someone will immediately dislike or suspect the Spooky of being a problem.

Give in: Use your power, get some feeling about the truth of the matter. You're now a target.

Resist: Go unnoticed but also not learn anything to see if the accused is guilty.

Example: The Spooky has doubts about a recent feeling they had.

Nasty Thing: You will have no confidence in what you sensed.

Give In: Don't say anything to anybody else yet, even the other hunters. It will be almost too late when you suggest it.

Resist: Tell the others what you sensed but immediately feel like it was worthless and your powers fail for now.

Poor Impulse Control

The most obvious interpretation of poor impulse control is the idea of a character who instantly gives in to any whim. Buys the stuff at the impulse buy shelves. Says things without thinking. All that sort of stuff that one associates with over enthusiastic dogs in movies. Or memes about ADHD.

Another option for poor impulse control could be far more directed and focused on a particular type of impulse. Maybe the hunter is instinctual about protecting people and will move to defend people or check things out without considering that that might put them in danger. They never seem to learn. It's part of their power, but gets them in danger regularly. In some ways this will work like the Mundane's don't worry I'll check it out as it encourages going into danger while providing an experience point.

Example: There's a pretty necklace there on the cultist's desk.

Nasty Thing: Take the necklace that is almost certainly cursed or extremely important to some ritual.

Give In: The curse or attention of the cult is firmly targeted on the Spooky.

Resist: Your brush with the curse or enchantment has left your powers bound up for the moment.

Example: You immediately want to go to the person you saw when you tuned in to the monster.

Nasty Thing: Go to the potential victim first. Then call the other hunters.

Give in: You're firmly in the path of danger with the other hunters far away when trouble starts.

Resist: You get help, but working against your instincts shuts down your power.

-----------------

Some other thoughts. The Dark Side ramps up over time as you spend Luck just like a Monstrous curse, so a lot of the advice from my post on escalating curses can be useful.

For another consideration, you might decide that different Dark Side tags mostly affect different aspects of the Spooky's power.

For example, using Taniyama Mai:

Mai's Lethargy associated powers are The Sight, Tune In, and Premonitions as well as a Guardian spirit she talks to often. Essentially she astrally projects and is able to observe the psychic environment while asleep. Her Premonitions are a result of observing patterns of behavior during this time, and also conversations with her guardian.

Mai's Paranoia connected powers would mostly be her basic weird move: Trust Your Gut and Hunches. Because again, she is almost unerring at realizing who's innocent or needs protecting which makes villains really not like her.

First of all, I am certainly going to use the optional rules of using a team playbook and I'm going with one of the light hearted ones due to the comedic overtones. I considered going for Mundane Monstrosities, but I really don't think the high schoolers are innately magical as that team playbook assumes. At least not in ways I can't cover by just basic weird move choices. I also considered Mystery Club, but that team book is very much about people earnest to be do-gooders a la Scooby Doo. So, instead, I'm going with Suburban Watch Group.

First step: pick your style and I almost considered doing a custom one, then I looked at the first option:

Thrown in the Deep End - You started out knowing nothing about the supernatural, and you’re still catching up. At the end of each session, ask: “Did we learn something new about the supernatural world?”

For people unfamiliar with Monster of the Week the style gives question which is used to determine if the Team Playbook accumulates XP for a session or not. If the answer is "Yes" the playbook gets 1 XP. If the answer is "Yes, and it came up a lot." then the playbook gets 2 XP. Every 5 xp is an upgrade.

Anyway, on to the team creation.

The next step is to choose a main Team Enemy and Team Ally.

Now, the post doesn't really specify an enemy, so, I'm just going to choose one of the set of five sample main villains.

Bradshaw, a property developer who wants to rebuild the city—by any means necessary.

So while this "Bradshaw" won't be involved in every misadventure, he'll be behind a lot of them. The other four sample enemies are:

The Pale Man, the powerful and malevolent ghost of a mass murderer from a long time ago.

All the ghouls attracted to the local cemetary

Discord, goddess of chaos and disorder

A conspiracy of vampires trying to take over your community.

My experience with Team Playbooks is players are usually happy to say "You pick the main villain" to the Keeper and skip this part as they want to discover the villain slowly over time. Of the five options Bradshaw and the Pale Man are the most interesting, but Bradshaw sort of feels like the most amusing.... depending on how prone your particular group is to complaining about the ongoing capitalist hellscape.

On to Allies.

So... our high school wannabe satanists... the temptation is strong to make the Mithraic fertility goddess the ally, but it's so much fun if she's one of the hunters and is basically the only one that knows anything about anything.

The sample allies here include:

Asani, an old and knowledgeable witch

Petersen, a community-minded cop

Red, cafe/bar/restaurant manager. Always welcome at their place.

The SWG, an ally team that does patrols around the neighborhood.

The sports club, an ally team. Assumes the hunters are part of the club.

Asani feels like it would be too much access to knowledge for the style of being thrown in the deep end. Not sure a friendly cop is right for this group.

Neither of the friendly teams feel right... heck, I'd expect a local other watch group would consider these kids villains to be and would end up being played as Bystanders with the Busybody (to interfere in other people's plans) motivation.

Red is a possibility... but know what. I'm going to say that the team ally is the School Librarian.

Hannah, school librarian, probably the only adult that interacts with the kids with appropriate respect. Kind but also doesn't take crap from them.

Now we move on to their starting Team Move the moves of this playbook are:

Earned Trust - The community know you and know you mean well. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. No.

Familiarity: Always recognize when something's changed. Pfft. Right.

Domestic Wardings: You know how to protect houses from evil influenes. This bares looking at, they might have learned this since the first summoning.

Backyard Allies: Animal friends. Maybe, not terrible.

Craft Circle: When you need a physical item for a magical spell or ritual, you can craft a substitute together.

Then there's the option to take a move from another Team Playbook or change the Team Style... neither of which feel good for a starting Team.

And I think I'm going to go with Craft Circle because these goobers will go "oh we don't have the cast bronze dagger... hmmm, maybe a prop from theater class will work?"

Granted, all members of the team need to be involved in the Craft Circle, so now we have this Mithraic Fertility Goddess needing to supervise arts and crafts for a bunch of teens... and, hey, this might also cover gardening to make herbs for rituals too.

The full text of the move is as follows.

Craft Circle: Whenever you need a physical item as a magical requirement, you can craft a substitute together. All the hunters must take part, and you’ll need a few hours. You can replace one requirement per spell this way.

Now we move on to Team Assets. We get two points worth of this.

I'm going spend both points and take "Sacred Site"

Sacred Site: A place outdoors that has reservoir of magical power. The Keeper always considers this site when a magical ritual requires a particular place.

That's probably the graveyard they originally did the ritual.

That covers the team playbook, let's get to the hunters, starting with the kids. (The goddess will be later)

We don't have much characterization of the individual characters in this group of "high school satanists" aside from "goobers" so we'll go with Punky Doodles designs there and me picking playbooks that seem fitting.

I'm going to avoid any of the outright magic playbooks like Spooky because I don't think they have innate powers even after this. I'm going to go with the following:

Hoodie Kid - The Abandoned - A playbook for someone that has experienced abandonment or neglect.

Book Kid - The Crooked - A playbook involved with shady practices and some heat after him.

Pigtailed Kid - The Searcher - A playbook about a person who had a close encounter with something supernatural and now wants all the answers.

For those unfamiliar with Monster of the Week:

Charm usually covers any social interaction ranging from encouragement and persuasion to deception and intimidation.

Cool usually covers things where you need to keep a clear head. Team work, escaping hazards, pulling off stunts, and stuff like that.

Sharp is used when you're doing something that involves observing your surroundings or studying and remembering information.

Tough is used for fighting and protecting people most of the time.

Weird is used for anything paranatural ranging from premonitions to unnatural physical capability and performing magic.

As a side note, even if people don't have the Use Magic weird move, every character can do Big Magic. (Rituals)

Now time for Fantasy Name Generators

Let's name the hoodie kid, Atticus. Probably goes by Addie.

The line I'm choosing for them is as follows.

Charm -1

Cool +2

Sharp +1

Tough +0

Weird +1

It makes me a bit amused that they're actually very reliable when there's a crisis and is a bit more observant that most people assume, but is very shy and retiring, so isn't good with people.

From there, I'm going to say his Abandonment is Neglected:

I think I am going to give them trust your gut instead of use magic as a basic weird move. I want to give them something more low-key anyway, and trust your gut is just a fun move (especially when it goes badly). I know several players that take the move as their base weird move purely because of the fun a missed roll will get them.

Trust your gut is basically a built in way to ask the Keeper for hints on what to do next. With how much improv is involved in MotW it's basically passing the baton back to the Keeper who will give good, iffy, and bad options based on your roll.

This means they'll be able to use tradecraft once per session. That move is meant to represent someone who's tactical acumen is preternatural to the point of having something like instinct mode from Hitman games, detective mode from Batman Arkham games, or eagle's eye from Assassin's Creed. But it can be used for just being weirdly aware of the tactical and strategic situation. It just creates a list of potential objectives that could help out. In this case, it's basically someone used to taking care of themselves having an instinct for it.

Anyway, beyond Abandonment, we need to give Addie two more moves.

It feels like trusting the book kid got them in trouble here, so I'm giving him somewhere out there and I do like the idea of them being a bit underestimated constantly so giving them underdog which gives them bonuses to rolls if they're bleeding badly and resilience to damage if they're suffering a penalty to rolls.

And hey, let's go further into Gear choices.

Momento - A diary of stories you told yourself about your "real family".

Sneaky Weapon - Slingshot (1-harm close quiet useful)

Secret Gear - Lots of long-lasting food, Smartphone

Yup... the family must be fun with that memento.

On to book kid. He looks like a Thaddeus. Probably has a nickname like "Pick" that he pretends isn't because he got caught picking his nose in elementary school and insists it's short for "Ice Pick"

Now on to the playbook.

I think Thaddeus is all about that Charm and talking his way around things. So I'll pick one of the two Crooked rating sets that has high Charm.

Charm +2

Cool +0

Sharp +1

Tough -1

Weird +1

So, wimpy, okay in a crisis, but not great or even good. He was good enough to get the ritual to work even if he definitely had a major glitch to it. So, yeah.

For his Crooked background... I'm juggling burglar, grifter, and charlatan. But I think I'll go with grifter.

I'm then going to pick his other two moves and going to make artifact and driver. And the artifact isn't going to be the obvious Grimoire since the book they have is.... less than reliable. Instead, it's going to be a Lucky Charm. Having a single use of Luck doesn't seem like much but Luck is powerful in this game and is an ever dwindling resource. So starting with an extra point is rather large.

The artifact is clearly his new age mishmash book of spells and rituals. For Driver, I'm going to see he's from a well-off family and he has his own car as a gift, a used old RX-7 that he had to rebuild, and access to the family SUV as well.

For Gear, the older playbooks mostly only offer weapon choices and I'm going to avoid guns and give him a baseball bat.

Baseball bat (1-harm hand)

For his basic weird move.... hmmm. I thought about giving him use magic that's part of why I gave artifact intending to give him the grimoire at first. I've obviously changed my mind on that. In fact, I'm going to give him another low key weird move that he might not have even realized he had. One that will work with his manipulative ways: empath.

One of these days, I'll get a hunter who takes empath and I'm going to freak them out when I talk about how the room is angry. Yes, I said the room.

Now we have to go back to talk about his Heat. A lot of the example Heat options are intended for serious adult criminals, so not great for a high school punk. So we'll make something new instead.

Let's say that he managed to rather severely embarrass one of the rich kids when he sold a bunch of test answers that were for tests used by teachers two years ago. Got him a neat video game console and an enemy for life.

And of course the origin of his true connection with the supernatural was when he summoned the goddess.

Now we come to pig-tailed kid. And I'm going to say her name is Rain but it's actually Raine, but she tries to encourage people to not use the extra "e" because it's not as Goth then. Endless frustrations when dealing with any official listing of her name.

I was thinking about giving her a bit more Tough, but I forgot that The Searcher has no rating line that gives it more than a +0 Tough. Ah well, let's make her the weird one and go totally stereotypical by saying that the one girl has the best current magical aptitude. With the following ratings.

Charm +0

Cool -1

Sharp +2

Tough +0

Weird +2

Oh look at that, I also made her the smart one. Really doubling down on the stereotypes. Okay.

Anyway, her first encounter that she has questions about is pretty definitely going to be the summoning of the goddess which you'd think said character would be able to give her answers but nope. (Except then I went ahead and instead made it her parents had witnessed Mothman).

You know what. I'm leaning in to her being the smart and weird one. For her mandatory first encounter option I'm going with some of the stuff that lets her get info just off the cuff.

And having just read that the First Encounter can be "someone close to you" as well as you. Maybe her parents saw mothman as kids and she grew up hearing about all their stories and they do all the cryptozoologists stuff and she'd been out on expeditions to find like Bigfoot or such in the past.

Then on to her open choices. As kid of the local cryptozoologists nuts, everybody knows she's prone to believe anything weird. Probably what caused her to fall in with Thaddeus and Addie in the first place. So that sounds like fellow believer then I think I'm going to give her just another day so that she may not be able to handle teens calling her a freak or adults lecturing her or losing control of a car, but hey, put something magic in her way and she'll just walk through it.

As to Gear:

Investigation Tools: Historical documents and witness reports of strange events, Cryptid hunting gear

Self-Defense Weapon: Incapacitating Spray (0-harm hand irritating)

And for her weird move... how about Sensitive. So she has a sense for the psychic environment and supernatural presence.

Now... it's time to get to the Mithraic goddess. Let's name her Ytuna, Goddess of Work, Autumn, and Fertility. (no that's not a proper Mithraic name, I am still using Fantasy Name Generators)

Now, there's a few clear options for this eminently supernatural entity. The most obvious of which is The Divine which is a champion sent down from a heavenly realm to perform some sort of ongoing mission. Think Castiel from Supernatural, Michael Carpenter from Dresden Files (yes, he's human, but his status as a Knight of the Sword counts), or several interpretations of Thor.

However. The Divine is a very much battle oriented playbook and while I have zero doubt that a fertility goddess can do some extreme violence. I'm also looking at the nature of her task here. And I'm going to go with The Envoy, which is an person that has been sent by unseen "Overseers" to perform some strange, cryptic task. I originally wrote to be a bit more sci-fi in nature, drawing on Babylon 5's Kosh and Mr. Morden in particular, but I also point to Gandalf as an example of an Envoy.

You know what, I'm also going to lean into her being a specifically minor goddess and give her average weird instead of high weird. Envoys all have good Cool like Divines always have good Tough... the other ratings are a bit more variable. This is the rating line I'm giving her:

Charm -1

Cool +2

Sharp +1

Tough +1

Weird +0

She is expressly described as someone who hasn't spoken to humans in ages and, sure, Charm also cover intimidation unless you have a move like fervor from the Wronged playbook, but that face up there does not scream "good with people" and there are ways to intimidate that don't depend on a die roll.

This also means she's the only person in the group that has a decent Tough score.

The next step is her Overseers. I'm going to assume they're part of the forces that establish the rules of her summoning and binding. Overseers are distant, most Envoys do not have a way to reliably contact them and instead depend on their Overseers appearing to give instruction as opportunities to discuss anything with them. So we pick two values the Overseers have and one Concern the Envoy has.

Values: Order, Honesty

Concern: Narrow-Focused

So, the gods and powers that enforce Ytuna's binding find both honesty and order important, but Ytuna is concerned that they are far too narrowly focused on details.

Now, we have to choose her task and the accompanying secret wisdom option. This is an easy one: Guide.

As a note, start-of-mystery and start-of-session moves aren't usually the sort of things that a character can narratively predict are going to happen and thus ask for help to perform them it's stuff like sudden visions of the future for the Spooky or orders from their Sect for the Initiate. So the ability to provide help on such a move is pretty big. As is the ability to help someone without being in the vicinity.

Now, on to her optional moves, she gets two. One of these is going to be about her frustrations with the way her advice never gets followed, no one listens to Zathras and the other is going to be about her disobeying her bosses: the council has made a decision.

As to gear she gets two:

Resources - Mysterious financial assets.

Weapon - Rebuking Touch (1-harm hand holy)

So yeah, she gets money from ... who knows where. She just has money as she needs it. She's a goddess, who's going to question it? Also, yes, most gear is actual gear that you hold... but sometimes its stuff like martial arts or being a goddess that can painfully rebuke you with a simple touch.

As to her basic weird move? I'm going to give her the games original and still default basic weird move: use magic.

This move is a full page in the core rulebook, so I'm only going to paste the very top of it. The rest is a list of possible effects and glitches the hunter can choose as well as a list of possible requirements the Keeper can insist on you having.

And that gives us the following:

Goobernatorial Council of Maybe Mages

Team Playbook: Suburban Watch Group

Style: Thrown in the Deep End.

Team Enemy: Bradshaw, the property developer. ("Which is he?" "The evil one" "That doesn't narrow it down any.")

Team Allies: Hannah Grimes, school librarian, likes and helps them out, but also won't take nonsense from them.

Team Move: Craft Circle

Team Asset: Sacred Site

Atticus "Addie" Myers - The Abandoned

Charm -1

Cool +2

Sharp +1

Tough +0

Weird +1

Moves

Abandonment: Neglected

Abandoned Moves: Underdog, Somewhere Out There

Basic Weird Move: Trust Your Gut

Gear

Slingshot (1-harm close quiet useful)

Diary of stories told to themself about their "real family".

Harm: OOO|OOOO - (Unstable at 4, Dead at 8)

Luck: OOOOOOO (7/7)

Abandoned Special: When you mark a Luck, you find something or someone you thought was lost forever, or someone or something you hoped you’d never see again.

Thaddeus "Ice Pick" Larimie - The Crooked

Charm +2

Cool +0

Sharp +1

Tough -1

Weird +1

Moves

Background: Grifter

Crooked Moves: Driver, Artifact

Basic Weird Move: Empath

Heat

Scammed some rich bullies on fake test answers.

Gear

Restored RX-7

Access to Family SUV

Lucky Charm (Shark tooth on a chain)

Baseball Bat (1-harm hand)

Harm: OOO|OOOO - (Unstable at 4, Dead at 8)

Luck: OOOOOOO (7/7)

Crooked special: Whenever you spend a Luck point, someone from your past (heat or underworld) will re-appear in your life. Soon.

Raine "Rain" Soto - The Searcher

Charm +0

Cool -1

Sharp +2

Tough +0

Weird +2

Moves

First Encounter: Cryptid Sighting (her parents saw Mothman)

Searcher Moves: Fellow Believer, Just Another Day

Basic Weird Move: Sensitive

Gear

Historical documents and witness reports of strange events.

Cryptid Hunting Gear

Incapacitating Spray (0-harm hand irritating)

Harm: OOO|OOOO - (Unstable at 4, Dead at 8)

Luck: OOOOOOO (7/7)

Searcher Special: When you spend a point of Luck, your first encounter comes up in play. It could be a flashback, new occurrence, or related event.

Ytuna the Aggravated - The Envoy

Charm -1

Cool +2

Sharp +1

Tough +1

Weird +0

Overseers: The Powers that Be

Values: Order, Honesty

Ytuna's Concern: Narrow-Focused

Task: Guide

Moves

Secret Wisdom: Guide

Envoy Moves: The Council Has Made a Decision, No One Listens to Zathras

Basic Weird Move: Use Magic

Gear

Mysterious Financial Assets

Rebuking Touch (1-harm hand holy)

Harm: OOO|OOOO - (Unstable at 4, Dead at 8)

Luck: OOOOOOO (7/7)

Step One - The Eight Attributes

IQ: 10

ME: 14

MA: 14

PS: 15

PP: 20

PE: 10

PB: 14

Spd: 11

Step Two - Hit Points and SDC

Psionics start with a base of 30 SDC.

Hit Points: 15

SDC: 30

These will increase with skill selections and we will be adding Inner Strength Points, ISP, to this set of traits.

Step Three - Occupational Character Class

You can get Psionics through three categories in Heroes Unlimited. Mutants, Aliens, and Psionics.

If you roll Psionics straight up, as we have done here, then you are what the game calls a "natural psionic". The game is very specific that these are humans (and that italic emphasis is in the text) rather than mutants. It also says that mutants and aliens are less powerful than natural psionics.

There's something rather distasteful about that emphasis on the distinction between a "natural" human psionic and a mutant one. For all that the game tends to frame the idea of human supremacy as a villainous trait... it does build it into a lot of the mechanics. So it starts to feel like "yes, we're superior, but we shouldn't boast about it and treat our lessers fairly" after a certain amount of time.

I feel like some of that comes with the idea of people unconsciously channeling their PPE into different directions. Under that logic, a mutant would have channeled some of their PPE into their physical mutations, leaving a bit less to form psionic powers out of. This doesn't really explain aliens unless the game assumes that "human" is the default form of mortals unaffected by environmental issues and that the aliens burn some of their PPE to be born in a shape that will survive their environment.

Which... is still... kind ick. Honestly, I think it most likely that Kevin Siembada and other developers just didn't consider the implications of their design.

Anyway, on to those mechanics.

All types of Psionic Superhero gain the following:

+2d4 ME (5)

+1d4 MA (3)

But when we come to the ISP we see some differences:

Natural Psionics: MEx2 + 1d20

Alien/Mutant Psionics: MEx2 + 1d8

Also, both types get +10 ISP per level, but the Natural Psionic specifies that starts at level 1 and the Alien/Mutant doesn't.

That's a pretty severe difference. I rolled an 11 and with the bonuses above we have the following.

ME: 19

MA: 17

ISP: 59

I'd like to note that they flat have a higher ISP here than what you'd see in a Beyond the Supernatural character. This is because Heroes Unlimited is mostly about mortal superheroes and villains and while supernatural horrors show up, they aren't usually the focus. So the game doesn't use that "proximity of the supernatural" rule that Beyond the Supernatural does. So instead of having ramping power based on the threats they face, Heroes Unlimited Psionics have a base level of power that they always have access to.

Then we move to the selection of powers and we see this distinction again.

Natural Psionics: Three major and six secondary powers.

Alien/Mutant Psionics: Two major and four secondary powers.

That does point out the big difference between psionics in Heroes Unlimited from other Palladium games.

Instead of splitting into categories of Healer, Sensitive, Pyrokinetic, Physical, or the like... you instead just have Major and Secondary. Oddly, the list of major powers is much longer than the list of Secondary powers.

Another big difference between a Heroes Unlimited Psychic and a Beyond the Supernatural psionic is that psionics in Beyond the Supernatural gain new powers as they level. Reptan ended up with 22 powers while Riyo ended up with 13. By comparison, this character will start with 9 powers and never get anymore. And it also won't get a lot of the side powers that the PCCs of Beyond the Supernatural get. So they are, by and large, inferior psionics though they don't suffer from having less power around non-believers, so most of the time they will act stronger... just never reach the heights of power of a Beyond the Supernatural psychic facing off against an Ancient Evil.

Oddly enough for Heroes Unlimited there's also not a chart for randomly choosing powers.

So, we're going to choose the following powers:

Major

Astral Projection

Telekinesis

Telepathy

Secondary

Alter Aura

Mind Block

See Aura

Sixth Sense

Speed Reading

Summon Inner Strength

We also have a section for Psionic Combat providing the following:

2 Psionic Attacks per Melee

This increases at levels five, seven, nine, and twelve.

From here we move on to Education. We roll on the same table most Heroes Unlimited characters do:

High School Graduate

Military

Trade School

One Year of College

Two Years of College

Three Years of College

Four Years of College

Military Specialist

Bachelor's Degree (College)

Master's Degree (College)

Doctorate or PhD (College)

I'm going to point out here, that Palladium acts as if you will never get past this level of education. I'm going to point at the way Medusa of the Gorgon Sisters is just short of being able to get the Medical Doctor skill and leveling up will never get her the ability to graduate to being an actual doctor. This system also hits upon the 80s-90s attitude that college is the proper right way to progress and everything else is inferior.

Anyway, I rolled a trade school, which gets this character 2 skill programs and 8 secondary skills. With the skill programs getting +20%.

I am choosing Physical and Mechanical Program. Then I'm getting or choosing the following skills:

Trained

Mechanical Engineer (+20%)

Locksmith (+20%)

Aircraft Mechanics (+20%)

Robot Mechanics (+20% - 40% = -20%)

Acrobatics (+20%)

Boxing

Climbing (+20%)

Swimming, Advanced (+20%)

Secondary

HTH: Martial Arts*

Basic Electronics

Basic Mechanics

Auto Mechanics

Running

Athletics (general)

Language: Japanese

HTH: Martial Arts costs 2 skills as a Secondary and 3 as a trained skill in this game.

So both Robot Electronics and Robot Mechanics have those skills start at -40% unless you're the mechanical genius hero. I ignored that for Maesoko because she's an alien from a space-faring race, but I'll apply it here.

The physical skills provide the following bonuses:

+1d4+4 PS (7)

+1d4 PP (4)

+4 PE

+5d4 Spd (19)

+6d6+1d8 SDC (34)

+2 to Dodge underwater

+3d4 (9) Speed Underwater

Side Note: What's the point of a Spd bonus underwater when PS determines swimming speed? I guess if someone got the swimming speed powers that would matter.

Step Four & Five - Money and Alignment

Psionics have an 89% chance to own a car and 4d4x$1000 of finances. I rolled yes to the car and about $10,000 of savings.

Alignment will be Unprincipled and I'll roll up the backstory. Starting with country of origin on the Ninjas and Superspies chart to keep the odds of the character being East Asian high.

Okay, boy does this date this game. I just rolled the country of origin of Czechoslovakia. That split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia back in 1992 and hasn't been a combined nation since that time. Given this edition was published in 1993 that kind of tells me that they just reprinted a lot of the stuff from the original 1984 printing without checking if things needed to be updated.

I imagine that would also explain a lot of the income and price information.

Anyway, Czech. Since I've been placing these people in the same general region of Date-Fukushima, I'm assuming they got there.

Side note... I'm beginning to feel like I should place the Beyond the Supernatural people with the Nightbane character instead of the Ninjas and Superspies and Heroes Unlimited characters. Heroes Unlimited expressly works with TMNT and Other Strangeness, Ninjas and Superspies, and Mystic China. Meanwhile, Nightbane has information about using Beyond the Supernatural in its setting. Alternately, they might all be separate.

Anyway... something to consider on the base page instead of this one. Back to rolling this character's backstory. Using a mix of Heroes Unlimited, Ninjas and Superspies, and Beyond the Supernatural background tables.

Countryside, small town or village

Laborer, Middle Class

Powers manifested in early teens

Alignment change, at some point in the past she was a villain

Orphan raised by elderly relatives on mother's side: great aunt/uncle couple.

No psychic phenomena in the last two generations, but her great-aunt and uncle told stories about relatives they remember having odd powers.

Pleased with their powers.

Anyway, that brings us to the following complete character:

Běla Čechová

1st Level Natural Psionic

IQ: 10

ME: 19

MA: 17

PS: 22

PP: 24

PE: 14

PB: 14

Spd: 30

Vital Statistics

Hit Points: 19

SDC: 64

ISP: 59

Powers

Major

Astral Projection

Telekinesis

Telepathy

Secondary

Alter Aura

Mind Block

See Aura

Sixth Sense

Speed Reading

Summon Inner Strength

Traits

Carry 1,100 lbs, Lift 2,200 lbs.

Run 600 yd/m per minute

Swim 88 yd/m per melee (15 seconds)

Sustain highest swimming speed for 14 minutes

Leap 4ft High/5ft Long

45% chance to Intimidate or Invoke Trust

Fearless of Heights

Skills

Trained

Mechanical Engineer 65%

Locksmith 50%

Aircraft Mechanics 65%

Robot Mechanics 10%

Acrobatics: Sense of Balance 80%

Acrobatics: Walk Tightrope or High Wire 80%

Acrobatics: Climb Rope 98%

Acrobatics: Back Flip 80%

Acrobatics: Prowl 50%

Boxing

Climbing 85% / Rappelling 65%

Swimming, Advanced 70%

Secondary

Athletics (general)

Auto Mechanics 50%

Basic Electronics 40%

Basic Mechanics 40%

HTH: Martial Arts

Language: Japanese 55%

Running

Combat Bonuses

3 HTH Attacks per Melee

2 Psionic Attacks per Melee

+5 to Strike

+6 to Strike with Body Block/Tackle

+8 to Parry

+8 to Dodge

+7 to Damage

+8 to Roll with Punch/Fall/Impact

+2 to Save vs Psionics

+2 to Save vs Insanity

Underwater Bonuses

+2 to Dodge

+9 Speed

Moves

Body Block/Tackle - 1d4 damage

Leveling Up

The only thing that's going on with leveling is numbers getting bigger and the acquisition of some new secondary skills as follows:

Level 3: Two Secondary Skills: Chinese, Prowl

Level 6: Two Secondary Skills: Sing, Dance

Level 9: Two Secondary Skills: Art, Cook

Level 12: Two Secondary Skills: Pilot: Automobile, English

Level 15: Two Secondary Skills: Computer Operation, Mathematics: Advanced

Which brings us to the following Level 15.

Běla Čechová

15th Level Natural Psionic

IQ: 10

ME: 19

MA: 17

PS: 22

PP: 24

PE: 14

PB: 14

Spd: 30

Vital Statistics

Hit Points: 62

SDC: 64

ISP: 199

Powers

Major

Astral Projection

Telekinesis

Telepathy

Secondary

Alter Aura

Mind Block

See Aura

Sixth Sense

Speed Reading

Summon Inner Strength

Traits

Carry 1,100 lbs, Lift 2,200 lbs.

Run 600 yd/m per minute

Swim 88 yd/m per melee (15 seconds)

Sustain highest swimming speed for 14 minutes

Leap 4ft High/5ft Long

45% chance to Intimidate or Invoke Trust

Fearless of Heights

Skills

Trained

Mechanical Engineer 98%

Locksmith 98%

Aircraft Mechanics 98%

Robot Mechanics 80%

Acrobatics: Sense of Balance 98%

Acrobatics: Walk Tightrope or High Wire 98%

Acrobatics: Climb Rope 98%

Acrobatics: Back Flip 98%

Boxing

Climbing 98% / Rappelling 98%

Swimming, Advanced 98%

Secondary

Art (6th) 60%

Athletics (general)

Auto Mechanics 92%

Basic Electronics 98%

Basic Mechanics 96%

Computer Operation (1st) 60%

Cook (6th) 80%

Dance (9th) 88%

HTH: Martial Arts

Language: Chinese (12th) 98%

Language: English (3rd) 65%

Language: Japanese 98%

Mathematics: Advanced (1st) 64%

Pilot: Automobile (3rd) 88%

Prowl (12th) 98%

Running

Sing (9th) 80%

Combat Bonuses

6 HTH Attacks per Melee

6 Psionic Attacks per Melee

+7 to Strike

+6 to Strike with Body Block/Tackle

+11 to Parry

+11 to Dodge

+11 to Damage

+8 to Roll with Punch/Fall/Impact

+2 to Save vs Psionics

+2 to Save vs Insanity

Underwater Bonuses

+2 to Dodge

+9 Speed

Moves

Body Block/Tackle - 1d4 damage

Karate Kick - 1d8 damage

Jump Kick (Critical Strike)

Leap Attack (Critical Strike)

Judo-style Body Flip/Throw 1d6 target loses initiative and one attack

Entangle

Critical Strike on natural 18-20

Knock-Out/Stun on natural 18-20

Step One - The Eight Attributes

IQ 15

ME 21

MA 12

PS 13

PP 15

PE 11

PB 15

Spd 20

Step Two - Hit Points & SDC

From the basics.

HP: 14

SDC: 20

Step Three - Select a PCC

I'm choosing the the Psychic Sensitive which comes with these following traits:

Sense Supernatural Evil

Opening Oneself to the Supernatural

Recognizes Possession

Recognizes Magic Enchantment

Step Four - Selecting Psychic Powers

The Sensitive starts with two set powers:

Meditation: Advanced

Empathy

Plus 1d6+5 other Psychic Sensitive abilities at level one and then get one additional Psychic Ability per level of advancement starting at second level. I rolled a four, so a total of nine other powers at the least.

Clairvoyance

Dispel Spirits

Mind Block

Mind Block Auto-Defense

Precognition

See Aura

See the Invisible

Thought-Reading

Total Recall

Also, I never got around to spending PPE for the Latent Psychic, but it turns out the Sensitive gets some set bonuses.

+1d4 ME (2)

+1d4 IQ or PE - Choosing PE (3)

And gets the following Bonuses as well:

Save vs Psychic Attacks on 10 or higher

+3 on Perception rolls

+3 to Save vs Horror Factor

+3 to Save vs Possession

+1 to Save vs Magic

+3 to Save vs Mind Altering Drugs, Magical Charms, and Mental Confusion

+20% to Lore: Demons & Monsters

And the following vital characteristics:

PPE: 3

ISP: 11 (22, 44, 66, 110)

To explain the numbers in parentheses, ISP in Beyond the Supernatural ramps up based on the circumstances. Specifically, what sort of danger they are facing.

Being examined by normals x1

Actively investigating x2

Lesser Demons & Supernatural Predators x4

Greater Demons & Demonic Servants x6

Ancient Evil & Alien Intelligences x10

Now moving on.

Step Five - Choosing an Occupation

So, I'm going with this character being a Psychiatrist/Psychologist and that provides the following skills.

Anthropology (+20%)

Biology (+10%)

Chemistry (+10%)

Chemistry: Pharmaceutical OR Parapsychology (+20%)

Research (+15%)

Computer Operation (+10%)

Lore: Superstitions (+20%)

Lore of Choice (+15%)

Psychology (+25%)

Technical: Writing (+20%)

Toxicology (+20%)

Then nine Elective Skills from the "standard available categories" (not clear on what these are). They gain +15% on Medicine and Science skills and +5% on Communication, Paranormal Studies, and Technical Skills.

And finally, four secondary skills from the standard available categories.

I'm going with the following:

Parapsychology (+20%)

Lore: Cults & Secret Societies (+15%)

Electives

Lore: Demons & Monsters (+20%)

Chemistry: Pharmaceutical (+15%)

First Aid (+15%)

Medical Doctor (+15%)

Language: Japanese (+5%)

Pathology (+15%)

Athletics (general)

Physical Labor

Running

Secondary

HTH: Martial Arts

Literacy: Japanese

Because this doesn't have a separate Secondary Skills list, I have to spend three skills to get HTH: Martial Arts. Ah Well... it also means as I level up and gain skills I can get from the whole list.

Nevermind. Apparently Psychologists and Psychiatrists don't learn new skills as they move through the world.

-_-

Also... there's no retail worker or restaurant worker for occupation options.

And now I'll summarize all the bonuses involved.

+2 ME

+5 PE

+3 PS

+13 Spd

+22 SDC

Step Six - Alignment and Character Details

Huh, Beyond the Supernatural has its own character background charts buried near the experience point charts. I should go back and roll these for Riyo.

Country of Origin: Tibetan (actually rolled this on N&S)

Second Born

Husky build

Tall

Thirties, I think 37.

Psionics only recently manifested.

All around good person

Raised in a country village

Family has no known history of psychic powers

Family members died in supernatural tragedy

Embarrassed about her powers, use them responsibly, but doesn't like talking about them.

As a note, apparently Tibetans don't normally have surnames but may adopt one if they live in a society that expects one. So I gave her a very common Japanese surname. She very much won't appear on any family registry though.

Tanaka Rapten

1st Level Psychic Sensitive

IQ 15

ME 23

MA 12

PS 16

PP 15

PE 16

PB 15

Spd 33

Vital Statistics

HP: 14

SDC: 42

PPE: 3

ISP: 11 (22, 44, 66, 110)

Powers

Clairvoyance

Dispel Spirits

Mind Block

Mind Block Auto-Defense

Precognition

See Aura

See the Invisible

Thought-Reading

Total Recall

Traits

Carry 320 lbs, Lift 640 lbs

Run 660 yd/m per minute

Save vs Psychic Attacks on 10 or higher

Sense Supernatural Evil 300 ft radius

Opening Self to the Supernatural 600 ft radius.

Recognize Possession: 50%

Recognize Magic Enchantment 30%

Recognize Evil Magic Enchantment 40%

Recognize Magic Item Possessed by Evil Beings 50%

Skills

Anthropology 60%

Biology 50%

Chemistry 60%

Research 55%

Computer Operation 70%

Lore: Superstitions 50%

Lore: Cults & Secret Societies 35%

Parapsychology 50%

Psychology 60%

Technical: Writing 50%

Toxicology 60%

Electives

Lore: Demons & Monsters 50%

Chemistry: Pharmaceutical 55%

Language: Japanese (55%)

Medical Doctor 75%/65%

Paramedic 55%

Pathology 55%

Athletics (general)

Physical Labor

Running

Secondary

HTH: Martial Arts

Literacy: Japanese 40%

Combat Bonuses

4 Attacks per Melee

+1 to Damage

+3 to Pull Punch

+3 to Roll with Punch/Fall/Impact

+3 on Perception rolls

+3 to Save vs Horror Factor

+3 to Save vs Possession

+2 to Save vs Magic

+3 to Save vs Mind Altering Drugs, Magical Charms, and Mental Confusion

+4 to Save vs Psionics

+6 to Save vs Insanity

+1 to Save vs Poisons

+4% to Save vs Coma/Death

Moves

Body Flip/Throw does 1d6 damage, victim loses initiative and one attack.

Leveling Up

Honestly, since the only leveling is the character gaining 14 more powers, meaning I don't have to track what happened when. And we're going straight to Level 15, might as well just jump to the level chart.

Tanaka Rapten

1st Level Psychic Sensitive

IQ 15

ME 23

MA 12

PS 16

PP 15

PE 16

PB 15

Spd 33

Vital Statistics

HP: 14

SDC: 42

PPE: 3

ISP: 39 (78, 156, 234, 110)

Powers

Astral Projection

Clairvoyance

Commune with Spirits

Dispel Spirits

Mask ISP & Psionics

Mask PPE

Mind Bolt

Mind Block

Mind Block Auto-Defense

Object Read

PPE Shield

Precognition

Presence Sense

Remote Viewing

See Aura

See the Invisible

Sense Dimensional Anomaly

Sense Evil

Sixth Sense

Telepathy

Thought-Reading

Total Recall

Traits

Carry 320 lbs, Lift 640 lbs

Run 660 yd/m per minute

Save vs Psychic Attacks on 10 or higher

Sense Supernatural Evil 300 ft radius

Opening Self to the Supernatural 600 ft radius.

Recognize Possession: 98%

Recognize Magic Enchantment 98%

Recognize Evil Magic Enchantment 98%

Recognize Magic Item Possessed by Evil Beings 98%

Skills

Anthropology 98%

Biology 98%

Chemistry 98%

Research 98%

Computer Operation 98%

Lore: Superstitions 98%

Lore: Cults & Secret Societies 98%

Parapsychology 98%

Psychology 98%

Technical: Writing 98%

Toxicology 98%

Electives

Lore: Demons & Monsters 98%

Chemistry: Pharmaceutical 98%

Language: Japanese (97%)

Medical Doctor 98%/98%

Paramedic 98

Pathology 98%

Athletics (general)

Physical Labor

Running

Secondary

HTH: Martial Arts

Literacy: Japanese 98%

W.P. Paired Weapons

Combat Bonuses

7 Attacks per Melee

+2 to Initiative

+2 to Strike

+5 to Parry

+5 to Dodge

+5 to Damage

+3 to Pull Punch

+3 to Roll with Punch/Fall/Impact

+4 Disarm

+3 on Perception rolls

+3 to Save vs Horror Factor

+3 to Save vs Possession

+2 to Save vs Magic

+3 to Save vs Mind Altering Drugs, Magical Charms, and Mental Confusion

+4 to Save vs Psionics

+6 to Save vs Insanity

+1 to Save vs Poisons

+4% to Save vs Coma/Death

Moves

Body Flip/Throw does 1d6 damage, victim loses initiative and one attack.

Karate and any hand strike/punch

Karate style kick (2d6)

Any kick.

Leap Kick (3d8 counts as two attacks)

Critical Strike on natural 18-20

Knock-Out/Stun on natural 18-20

Death Blow on natural 20

Can perform Holds

Back Flip

Back Flip Escape

Step One - The Eight Attributes

IQ 12

ME 13

MA 13

PS 11

PP 15

PE 20

PB 12

Spd 12

Step Two - Hit Points & SDC

Alright, for now Aliens start with SDC 20 and Hit Points is standard so PE plus 1d6. These will both be subject to change but currently we have:

Hit Points: 22 (yes, I rolled a 2 on the 1d6)

SDC: 20

Step Three - Occupational Character Class

And now we move on to the Alien which, like the Experiment, has it's own sub-steps to this overall step three. I didn't write these out for Experiment, but maybe I'll go back and edit that in.

Step One - The Usual Stuff (see above)

Step Two - Alien Appearance

Step Three - Physiological Modification Due to Unearthly Environments

Step Four - Determining Super Abilities

Step Five - Determining Education and Skills

Step Six - Reason for Coming to Earth

Step Seven - Familiarity with Earth

Step Eight - Equipment

Step 3.2-3.4 - Alien Appearance, Physiology, Powers

Well, for the appearance I rolled "Humanoid: Canine" so basically they look like a dog, wolf, or fox person. The intention is to be on the more animalistic side. Think SWAT Kats or TMNT and Other Strangeness.

I think I'll go with fox-lady because sure, why not?

Anyway, that adds:

+1d4 PS (1)

+1d4 Spd (4)

+10 SDC

Huh, those rolled bonuses do lean into fox a bit.

For Physiology, I got a "Frozen World"

So, she needs to where a special suit to survive temperatures above freezing. This also gives us:

Height: 5ft +13 inches (13) - so 6'1" - tall fox lady

Weight: 190 lbs. At 6'1"? That's pretty svelte.

+40 SDC

Impervious to even Deadly Cold

For determining super abilities I rolled on a table which has the following options:

1-49: Super Abilities

50-60: Psionics

61-69: Experiment

70-79: Robotics

80-89: Alien Mystic

90-00: Bionics

So, you can see that this type of hero sort of exists as a cross section of most of the other possible types of hero.

And I rolled a 30, so, Super Abilities it is. It says "One Major and One Minor" or "roll on Random Ability Table".

I think we'll go with the One Major + One Minor.

And I rolled up Karmic Power... and just to be silly and fun: Impervious to Fire & Heat.

So, she's from a Frozen Planet but immune to fire and heat... huh.

Karmic Power is interesting. As long as the cause is good and just, the character receives a lot of bonuses. She might also be able to focus on other people to give good people bonuses or evil people penalties.

Bonuses to Self when acting in the name of good and just things.

+6 to Roll with Punch/Fall/Impact

+2 to Strike

+4 to Parry

+6 Dodge

+6 to save vs poisons/toxins/gases

+6 to save vs psionics

+4 to save vs magic

+20% to save vs coma/death

Death Blows only stun the character

Critical Strikes only do normal damage

Knocks opponent unconscious on a roll of natural 20 to strike. 3d4 melees.

+10% on a skill if it is to save a life or help an important cause.

+1d4x10 SDC (40)

Opponents to the Karmic character get no bonuses to their rolls against said character.

They can, as said, also focus on other people giving them cheers like "you can take this guy! I know it!" or "you can do it!". Giving these bonuses:

+1 to Strike

+2 to Parry

+2 to Dodge

+4 to Roll with Punch/Fall/Impact

+2 to Save vs Poison/Toxins

+10% to Save vs Coma/Death

+10% on a crucial skill action.

And if focusing on an evil opponent ("Villains never win!") they can apply the following:

-1 to Strike

-2 to Parry

-2 to Dodge

-10% on a crucial skill action

However, if they do something evil or cruel their powers go to zero and if they double down, they gain the penalties for an evil person.

So, basically, even more paladin than most D&D paladins.

Step 3.5 - Education

So, for rolling Education and Skills I rolled "Engineer" so six skills from electronics, mechanical, and computer. Two science skills, one communication, and five secondary. With a +20% bonus to the skills other than secondary skills. She could also learn up to three secondary skills from friendly Earth natives. And I'm going to assume the same leveling Secondary skill gain buried in the FAQ page.

Side note, I am a bit irritated that there is no way for a medical student to pick up medical doctor skill according to the rules as written. Only secondary skills are gained on leveling. But that's a gripe for another character, really.

I'm going with the following:

Trained Skills

Computer Operation

Computer Programming

Mechanical Engineering

Electrical Engineer

Robot Mechanics

Robot Electronics

Astrophysics

Mathematics: Advanced

Laser Communications

Secondary Skills

HTH: Martial Arts*

Athletics (general)

Cook

Pilot Automobile

I may add more secondary skills based on what I get for their familiarity with Earth.

Side note, reason I always take HTH: Martial Arts as a Secondary rather than a trained skill... it counts as THREE skill selections when taken trained and only TWO when taken as a secondary skill.

Step 3.6-3.7 - Arrival and Familiarity with Earth

For the reason they came to Earth, and reading this now it might have influenced how I wrote the Visitor playbook for Monster of the Week without me knowing it, the options are:

1-19 Last of their People

20-38 Crash landed!

39-55 Outcast!

56-70 Intergalactic Champion of Justice

71-85 Glory Hound

86-00 Came to Study Earth

I hit "Crash landed!" with a roll for what they feel about earth being "It's a nice place. likes it here."

Then on to familiarity with Earth we have the following:

No familiarity

Some familiarity

Has studied Earth

The difference here is mostly RP but also presents the ability to speak some Earth languages and how well. I rolled "Some Familiarity" so I got the following which means she speaks four Earth languages at 90%.

I'm going to go with:

Japanese

English

Korean

Chinese

Also, that feels good enough to justify the extra three Secondary Skills so that will be:

Dance

Sing

Art

Step 3.8 - Equipment and Money

There are several tables here and I'm just going to give their results:

Earth Clothes/Disguises: None

Special Weapon: Ion Blaster (100ft range, 3d6 damage, 20 shot clip)

Two extra clips

Anti-Gravity Flight Ring: (max 40mph, Hovers 1-600 ft above ground, SDC 8, maximum weight 500 lbs)

4d4 x $1000 worth of valuables = $10,000 (in 1980s money)

And yeah, I haven't been changing it to yen, because the books change everything to dollars regardless.

Step 4 - Education and Skills

This was determined above but I'll bring it all together here and also combine all the attribute bonuses involved:

Trained Skills

Computer Operation 80%

Computer Programming 60%

Mechanical Engineering 65%

Electrical Engineer 65%

Robot Mechanics 50%

Robot Electronics 50%

Astrophysics 50%

Mathematics: Advanced 74%

Laser Communications 60%

Familiarity Languages

Japanese 90%

English 90%

Korean 90%

Chinese 90%

Secondary Skills

Art 40%

Athletics (general)

Cook 50%

Dance 40%

HTH: Martial Arts*

Pilot: Automobile 80%

Sing 40%

Bonuses from powers, alien origin, and skills. (The provisional bonuses for Karmic Power will be set aside since they don't always apply... just mostly apply.)

+2 PS

+6 Spd

+58 SDC

+1 Parry/Dodge

+1 to Strike with Body Block/Tackle

+1 to Roll with Punch/Fall

Maesoko

1st Level Alien

IQ 12

ME 13

MA 13

PS 13

PP 15

PE 20

PB 12

Spd 18

Vital Statistics

Hit Points: 22

SDC: 78 (118 vs Evil)

6'1" - 190lbs

Alien Appearance

Humanoid Fox

Frozen World

Crash Landed

Likes it here

Some familiarity with Earth

Powers

Karmic Power

Impervious to Fire and Heat

Traits

Intolerance for heat canceled by Impervious to Heat power

Impervious to Cold

Carry 130 lbs, Lift 260 lbs

Run 360 yd/m per minute

Skills

Trained Skills

Computer Operation 80%

Computer Programming 60%

Mechanical Engineering 65%

Electrical Engineer 65%

Robot Mechanics 50%

Robot Electronics 50%

Astrophysics 50%

Mathematics: Advanced 74%

Laser Communications 60%

Familiarity Languages

Japanese 90%

English 90%

Korean 90%

Chinese 90%

Secondary Skills

Art 40%

Athletics (general)

Cook 50%

Dance 40%

HTH: Martial Arts*

Pilot: Automobile 80%

Sing 40%

Gear

Earth Clothes/Disguises: None

Special Weapon: Ion Blaster (100ft range, 3d6 damage, 20 shot clip)

Two extra clips

Anti-Gravity Flight Ring: (max 40mph, Hovers 1-600 ft above ground, SDC 8, maximum weight 500 lbs)

4d4 x $1000 worth of valuables (gems/precious metals) = $10,000 (in 1980s money)

Combat Bonuses

General

2 attacks per melee

+1 Parry

+1 Dodge

+1 Strike with Body Block/Tackle

+4 roll with Punch/Fall/Impact

+3 to Save vs Magic

+3 to Save vs Poisons

+10% to Save vs Coma/Death

Karmic Power

Bonuses to Self when acting in the name of good and just things.

+6 to Roll with Punch/Fall/Impact

+2 to Strike

+4 to Parry

+6 Dodge

+6 to save vs poisons/toxins/gases

+6 to save vs psionics

+4 to save vs magic

+20% to save vs coma/death

Death Blows only stun the character

Critical Strikes only do normal damage

Knocks opponent unconscious on a roll of natural 20 to strike. 3d4 melees.

+10% on a skill if it is to save a life or help an important cause.

+1d4x10 SDC (40)

Opponents to the Karmic character get no bonuses to their rolls against said character.

Encouraging Others

+1 to Strike

+2 to Parry

+2 to Dodge

+4 to Roll with Punch/Fall/Impact

+2 to Save vs Poison/Toxins

+10% to Save vs Coma/Death

+10% on a crucial skill action.

Lecturing Evil-Doers

-1 to Strike

-2 to Parry

-2 to Dodge

-10% on a crucial skill action

Step Five - Rounding Out Character

Most of the stuff you'd do in this step was covered by the Alien stuff. So all that's left is to choose the alignment, and I think this will be the Principled character to go with the Karmic Power (Scrupulous and Unprincipled also work, despite Unprincipled being technically Selfish, the game thinks it's good enough) but just the full on girl scout Principled feels best.

Leveling Up

Not much to this, just the gaining new secondary skills mentioned on page 36 of the Heroes Unlimited book. Ninth Printing, 1993.

Level 3

Two Secondary Skills: Language: Vietnamese, Spanish

Level 6

Two Secondary Skills: Language Thai, Automotive Mechanics

Level 9

Two Secondary Skills: Writing, Escape Artist

Level 12

Two Secondary Skills: Prowl, Photography

Level 15

Two Secondary Skills: Running, Body Building

Maesoko

15th Level Alien

IQ 12

ME 13

MA 13

PS 15

PP 15

PE 21

PB 12

Spd 27

Vital Statistics

Hit Points: 68

SDC: 92 (132 vs Evil)

6'1" - 190lbs

Alien Appearance

Humanoid Fox

Frozen World

Crash Landed

Likes it here

Some familiarity with Earth

Powers

Karmic Power

Impervious to Fire and Heat

Traits

Intolerance for heat canceled by Impervious to Heat power

Impervious to Cold

Carry 300 lbs, Lift 600 lbs

Run 540 yd/m per minute

Skills

Trained Skills

Computer Operation 98%

Computer Programming 98%

Mechanical Engineering 98%

Electrical Engineer 98%

Robot Mechanics 98%

Robot Electronics 98%

Astrophysics 98%

Mathematics: Advanced 98%

Laser Communications 98%

Languages

Japanese 98%

English 98%

Korean 98%

Chinese 98%

Vietnamese (12th) 98%

Thai (9th) 95%

Spanish (12th) 98%

Secondary Skills

Art 96%

Athletics (general)

Automotive Mechanics (9th) 74%

Body Building (1st)

Cook 98%

Dance 98%

Escape Artist (6th) 55%

HTH: Martial Arts*

Photography (3rd) 60%

Pilot: Automobile 98%

Prowl (3rd) 62%

Running (1st)

Sing 98%

Writing (6th) 54%

Gear

Earth Clothes/Disguises: None

Special Weapon: Ion Blaster (100ft range, 3d6 damage, 20 shot clip)

Two extra clips

Anti-Gravity Flight Ring: (max 40mph, Hovers 1-600 ft above ground, SDC 8, maximum weight 500 lbs)

4d4 x $1000 worth of valuables (gems/precious metals) = $10,000 (in 1980s money)

Combat Bonuses

General

5 attacks per melee

+6 Parry

+6 Dodge

+2 to Strike

+3 to Strike with Body Block/Tackle

+4 roll with Punch/Fall/Impact

+4 Damage

+3 to Save vs Magic

+3 to Save vs Poisons

+12% to Save vs Coma/Death

Moves

Karate Style Kick 1d8

Jump Kick (Critical Strike)

Entangle

Leap Attack (Critical Strike)

Judo-style Body Flip/Throw 1d6 victim loses initiative and one attack

Critical Strike on natural 18-20

Knock-Out Stun on natural 18-20

Death Blow on natural 20

Paired Weapons

Karmic Power

Bonuses to Self when acting in the name of good and just things.

+6 to Roll with Punch/Fall/Impact

+2 to Strike

+4 to Parry

+6 Dodge

+6 to save vs poisons/toxins/gases

+6 to save vs psionics

+4 to save vs magic

+20% to save vs coma/death

Death Blows only stun the character

Critical Strikes only do normal damage

Knocks opponent unconscious on a roll of natural 20 to strike. 3d4 melees.

+10% on a skill if it is to save a life or help an important cause.

+1d4x10 SDC (40)

Opponents to the Karmic character get no bonuses to their rolls against said character.

Encouraging Others

+1 to Strike

+2 to Parry

+2 to Dodge

+4 to Roll with Punch/Fall/Impact

+2 to Save vs Poison/Toxins

+10% to Save vs Coma/Death

+10% on a crucial skill action.

Lecturing Evil-Doers

-1 to Strike

-2 to Parry

-2 to Dodge