Jack Torrance from 'The Shining'

'Here's Johnny'

John Daniel Edward Torrance

F: Gd (10)/Ex (20)

A: Typ (06)

S: Typ (06)/Gd (10)

E: Gd (10)/Ex (20)

R: Gd (10)

I: Ex (20)/Gd (10)

P: Typ (06)

Health: 42/50

Karma: 36*

Resources: Typ (06)

Popularity: 0

Talents:

Jack Torrance has the following talents:
Teacher

Profession: Writer

Repair/Tinkering

Business/Finance

Powers:

Jack Torrance is a mostly normal person with a troubled background and a history of both drinking and violence. Although Jack has sobered up at the beginning of the novel, the ghosts of the Overlook and the pressures of both his past and solitude drive him slowly insane and make him susceptible to spiritual possession. Prior to becoming ‘The other’ or ‘the beast’ as outlined in the novel, Jack’s FASERIP are represented in the first column, while the time when Jack is ‘possessed’ is represented in the second column. Jack has some potential for the Shining, as stated in both in The Shining and Dr. Sleep, hence the higher intuition, which is further supported by the miniseries of the same name. Despite this, when fully possessed by the Overlook, Jack undergoes a subtle but important transformation:

Possessed:

Jack’s possession is not as obvious or as direct as one would assume. From the moment of Jack’s arrival in the Overlook Jack is slowly brought into the hotel’s sway, working to unravel his psyche and allow full possession of his facilities. When Jack is fully subsumed by the ghosts and hotel, Jack’s FASERIP change to reflect a manic desire to murder his family, especially his son Danny. In the novel, Jack is no longer referred as Jack, but rather as the monster. AS such, Jack is completely at the whim of the ghosts and has the following abilities:

• Increased FASE: Jack’s Fighting, Strength, and Endurance go up while possessed, and while not superhuman, are greater than his normal abilities. Jack is able to take several mallet blows to the head and still function, as well as recovering from being knocked unconscious more quickly. Jack’s strength increases mainly due to his near manic insanity, and while fully in the thrall of the ghosts, Jack doesn’t require an Endurance FEAT when suffering great damage (Like trying to dump the boiler during the mini-series which burns him). Jack’s Intuition actually goes down representing the possession, and while Jack gains health from his increased attributes, he can no longer gain karma unless completing his goals set by the ghosts.
• Psychic Potential: Although not directly stated, it’s implied both in the novel and the 1997 miniseries that Jack may have some small ability at the Shining, and due to his drinking and other problems he may have repressed it. In the cases where Jack is being ‘reached’ with psychic power, Jack gains a +2cs to overcome the possession he is under. In addition, Jack is able to exist at some level past death, appearing in the 1997 miniseries as a spirit to his grown son and in Dr. Sleep to help Danny against Rose the Hat. It is heavily implied also by Stephen King that Jack was more than represented in the 1980 movie version. Jack can perceive the ghosts of the Overlook without them necessarily manifesting, however this isn’t something that is as common as their purpose is to drive him further towards their goals.
• Overlook Protection: The Overlook will occasionally aid or protect Jack in unusual ways. First, as seen in all versions of The Shining, The ghosts in the hotel will manifest to provide assistance in limited ways – such as freeing Jack from the freezer. Second, should an attempt to dissuade or ‘reach’ Jack be attempted, first Jack will make an appropriate Intuition/Psyche FEAT, and if he fails, the Overlook will then make a FEAT for Jack. Please see my write-up from several years ago on The Overlook for details

 Contacts:

Due to Jack’s previous history and drinking he has few remaining contacts. Along with the scandal that Jack had while teaching in college, Jack’s professional career is mostly destroyed.

Limitations:

Jack’s Limitations range from his personal limitations to the limitations as being the earthly force for the ghosts of the Overlook:

• Alcoholic: Jack is a recovering alcoholic; whose past is violent and well-known to the authorities. Due to his drinking Jack accidentally broke his son’s arm as well as engaged in an affair with a student which ended his academic career. As such, Jack’s recovery is tenuous at best, and one of the things used by the ghosts of the overlook to drive him further towards destruction.
• Karma Use: Jack cannot gain Karma through any normal activity while at the Overlook, and can only gain Karma while under the sway of the ghosts and completing their goals. Jack can spend from the Overlook’s karma pool while ‘The Monster’, as effectively Jack is just a part of the hotel at that point. Jack cannot spend Karma for kill results.
• Insanity: Jack is considered ‘insane’ while possessed and has little memory of his activities early on when issues happen.
• Dark Secrets: Jack is rife with dark secrets, ranging from accidentally hurting Danny to having an illicit affair with a student.

Notes:

This is a combination of all the current representations of Jack Torrance in The Shining. I drew a lot more from the novel than the Kubrick movie as for characterization, and added the 1997 miniseries aspects that were green-lit by King. I wanted to reflect the Jack Torrance who was the more complete version as presented by all three initial appearances.

One thing I wanted to make sure to capture was that Jack Torrance was in fact something else when he was possessed. I think that as King stressed this in the novel and in the 1997 miniseries, I felt that it was important to differentiate the FASERIP qualities. I also think that adding the karma and resistance from the Overlook was important.

Buttonhead from 'Night Breed'

Lie still... it's quicker this way 

 Dr. Philip H. Decker

F: Ex (20)
A: Gd (10)
S: Typ (6)
E: Gd (10)
R: Gd (10)
I: Ex (20)
P: Ex (20)

Health: 46
Karma: 50
Popularity: 2 / - 5
Resources: Gd (10)

Talents:

Sharp Weapons
Resist: Domination*
Law Enforcement*
Psychology
Sociology
Medicine
Forensics
Detective
Stealth

Powers:

Prior to his 'death' at Midian, Buttonhead had no powers.

Contacts:

Doctor Decker was a well-respected psychologist, law enforcement asset, and community leader, with various contacts in those areas and fields. As Buttonhead, Doctor Decker had none of those, and was actually a wanted serial murderer.


Limitations:

• Secret ID: The general public, law enforcement, or anyone dealing with Doctor Decker had no idea he was a prolific serial killer.
• Dark Secret: Doctor Decker is far from the kind physician, and is a sociopath monster who is insane.

Job Kraus from 'Still Life with Crows'

F: Ex (20)
A: Ex (20)
S: Ex (20)
E: In (40)
R: Pr (04)*
I: Ex (20)
P: Typ (06)

Health: 100
Karma: 36
Resources: Fe (02)
Popularity: -10* (See Limitations)

Talents:
Job Krauss has the following skills:
Knowledge: Medicine Creek area
Knowledge: Spelunker
Knowledge: Children’s Nursery Rhymes
Rabid Brawling
Artistic Expression*
Improvised Weaponry
Tracking and Shadowing
Blind-Fighting

Powers:

• Physical Juggernaut: Job Kraus is a hulking figure, misshapen due to a childhood accident and forced to live underground in the Kraus family caves all of his life. As stated in the novel, Job is strong enough to pulverize rocks in his hands, break limbs with ease, and shear limbs free of attachment. In addition, Job’s endurance is considered a superhuman thing: Surviving a crippling accident in his youth, recovering to master his environment and surviving unseen for over fifty years, surviving various falls, gunshot wounds, and lacerations without slowing significantly down, and recovering from near fatal attacks in shorter times. While Job is not superhuman in the powered sense, his Endurance and tolerance to pain is considered extremely upper reaches of human. As such, Job can make Endurance FEATs to remain conscious when a stun or slam effect has been made once per encounter. Job ignores reduction effects to his FASE based on damage with a successful Endurance FEAT.
• Artistic Savant: Job has had little formal education past his very earliest childhood, seemingly child-like and slow but possessing a keen intellect and ability to absorb information and create in bizarre means. By growing up in near total isolation and under the conditions of secrecy, Job has none the less trained himself artistically, unaware what he was doing was wrong. Job attempted to actually create physical versions of the nursery rhymes which were his favorite, for instance baking a man and filling him with snakes, snails and puppy dog tails (as per the rhyme). Job’s ability to gain knowledge is astounding, allowing him to repeat artistic creations with Gd (10) ability. It is debatable that Job’s intellect and reason are actually Pr (04), as it is to be assumed that he may have greater ability but lack of any education or social environments has stunted his faculties.
• Sneak Attack: Job’s knowledge of his home area, especially the Kraus Caverns is second to none. Kraus’s lifetime of knowledge more than allows him to attack from concealment while in those locations. Job was able to successfully eliminate two teams of state police in combat armor, as well as severely damage several others. Job successfully also got the drop on Agent Pendergast, a special agent of the FBI with years of special forces training and an incredible sense of awareness. Targets must make an intuition FEAT against Ex (20) intensity or be caught by surprise. In the Kraus caverns, Job can use his talent and knowledge to increase the difficulty to Rm (30). Sense like Danger Sense, Tracking, or such are not affected by this ability.
• Ideally adapted: Job Kraus has spent a lifetime in the darkness, and as such can see in very little light (actively avoiding it). As such, Job is not hindered in movement or vision in normal darkness.

Contacts:
Job has only one contact, his mother.


Limitations:

• Hideous and Odorous Job is hideous in body and presence, granting him a -1cs to all reaction bonuses and social interactions. In addition, Job’s odor is one of the first things that alert someone to his presence, granting individuals an free Intuition FEAT to detect Job within an area.
• Limited Understanding Job has very little understanding of people, the outside world, or anything short of his underground world. Job’s limited social interaction comes from his mother, and Job speaks in a combination of guttural noises and sing-song sort of child-like speech. Job’s inability to understand such things such as the outside world and/or people leads him to believing he is either playing a game or becoming enraged, reducing his ability to control himself or his actions. Job must make a Psyche FEAT when encountering someone or something, and then must also make a Psyche FEAT when provoked or if those people do not understand his reactions. Job’s inability to comprehend his own strength also means that he will react at full force physically. 

There are pictures of Job that have been done, but the description places him as a hulking figure with a baby-like face (always grinning) and wisps of white hair. 

Dr. Richard Malcolm from 'The Night Strangler' (1973)

What's a few lives compared to immortality, Mr. Kolchak?

An near-immortal doctor who preys upon victims every 21 years, Richard Malcolm is dangerous, deranged, and perhaps beyond the capability of most men. Discovered by the intrepid Carl Kolchak as the person responsible for a series of Seattle murders in 1973, Kolchak uncovers a carefully hidden history of a man whose existence defies understanding.

Dr. Richard Malcolm

Richard Malcolm,MD

 

F: Ex (20)

A: Gd (10)

S: Ex (20)

E: Ex (20)*/Am (50)*

R: Gd (10)

I:  Ex (20)

P: Ex (20)

Health: 70/90

Karma:  50

Resources: Ex (20) *

Popularity:  0 (As Malcolm), -5 (as the Seattle Strangler)

Talents:

Malcolm has several talents he’s perfected over the century+ he’s been alive. These talents include:

Military

• Doctor*
• Alchemy*
• Occult Lore*
• Chemistry
• Knowledge: Seattle Underground areas
• Knowledge: Seattle
• Knowledge: Current Events
  Knowledge: Cultural History 19^th – 20^th Century
• Brawling

Powers:

Alchemical Immortality and Physiology: Malcolm has nearly mastered a alchemical formula which grants improved health, vigor, strength, and longevity. Malcolm’s formula is not perfect (See Limitations), and he must administer a certain amount during a certain period or beginning aging in an accelerated pace to his true age. While under the effects of the formula, Malcolm has the following abilities:

•  Increased FASE: Malcolm has greater strength and vigor than a man of his build and size, being able to snap a person’s neck or power through a group of police officers in ambush. It is assumed that Malcolm’s FASE would be more akin to a normal man of his build and age if he had not started the formula.
• Longevity: Malcolm’s formula preserves his youth at the age he began treatments while not actually granting him immortality. Malcolm is considered to have Longevity.
• Recovery: Malcolm’s statement to Carl Kolchak when discovered suggested that while in the ‘bloom’ of the treatment he was able to recover from fatigue and wounds easily, granting him Ex (20) recovery.
• Resist: Disease: Malcolm also suggested that the formula played some hand in his ability to resist the outbreaks of disease that plagued his family in the 19^th century, as such it is suggested Malcolm also has Ex (20) resistance to disease.

Equipment:

Underground Lair:
Malcolm maintains a residence in the unused and un-reclaimed parts of Seattle, including his primary residence, an extensive chemistry lab, library, and the mummified corpses of his dead family around a table. The area is extensively damaged and requires an Intuition FEAT of Gd (10) or better to navigate. Entrances to the surface are still marked on original city maps, but for the most part Malcolm is left alone.

Contacts:

Under the assumed identity of his great-grandson, Malcolm maintains some connection within the city with the charity that bears his name, but for the most part Malcolm has no current contacts.

Limitations:

Dependency on the Forumla: While the formula works to keep Malcolm young, it is not perfected and must be administered with fresh material (blood and such) every 21 years. Without the formula or its doses Malcolm begins to deteriorate and the following occurs:

• Loss of Endurance ranks: Within six weeks of the 21^st anniversary Malcolm begins to physically deteriorate, requiring hire doses of the remaining stock to simply remain. Malcolm loses an Endurance rank ever five days until he is able to rejuvenate with a new batch.
• Hideous Appearance: Malcolm begins to ‘rot’ as he deteriorates, appearing as a corpse-like man while requiring the formula. Malcolm’s body seems to suffer a degree of decomposition as the formula wears off, which is reversible with another dose.
• Dependency: Malcolm is dependent on the formula to remain alive, and as such, has justified its methods in creation.

Richard Malcolm as he begins to decompose

Matthew Cordell, the Maniac Cop from 'Maniac Cop'

He'll kill again... he enjoys killing.

Matthew Cordell was a cop who was brutal, unforgiving, and unwilling to stop. Decorated and yet reviled by his corrupt fellow officers, Cordell was set-up for crimes he didn’t commit and sent to Sing Sing, the very prison he had sent various criminals to while a cop in NYC.

Once there, Cordell was quickly attacked and beaten, disfigured and apparently killed. Only the faintest trace of life remained, and Cordell was quietly released, believing he would never wake from his coma. Cordell did wake, and began a bloody and homicidal rampage through the city, seeking to destroy those who had set him up, as well as anyone else who got in his way.

Matthew Cordell, The Maniac Cop

Officer Matthew Cordell

F: Rm (30)

A: Gd (10)

S: Ex (20)

E: Rm (30)

R: Typ (06)

I: Gd (10)

P: Ex (20)

Health: 80

Karma: 36

Resources: Pr (04) at best through his ex-wife Sally

Popularity: 2/5/-10 (As police officer to general public, To other officers in the NYPD, as the Maniac Cop Killer)

Talents:

Law- Enforcement*

Blunt Weapons

Brawling

Driving

Knowledge: New York City area

Powers:

Maniac Drive:

Cordell is driven to not only gain vengeance for himself but to punish anyone who gets in his way. As such, Cordell displays many pseudo-powers in his pursuit, which combined with his own almost inhuman endurance and strength make him more than a match for groups of people. These abilities include:

• Inhuman Tolerances: Matthew Cordell cannot feel pain like a normal human, and shrugs off pain easily enough and is considered to have a variation of Iron Will at Ex (20). Cordell simply doesn’t acknowledge the damage from such things until it overwhelms him.
• Adrenalized Strength: Cordell’s strength is far greater than a man his size and build, which is impressive as he’s already fairly large. As such, Cordell’s strength hovers around Ex (20) most times, with rare occasions where he has shown that he can display near superhuman strength – such as flinging men off of him or tossing people several feet. For the purposes of this write-up, it is assumed that Cordell has Ex (20) strength due to his condition and that it is always in effect.
• The Drop: Cordell seems to be able to get the drop on people with frightening regularity, and as such is assumed to have something akin to Gd (10) stealth for such purposes. Cordell seems to be able to show up at opportune moments without discovery at will.

Equipment:

Bladed Billy-Club: Cordell utilizes a custom police billy club, which possesses a concealed blade inside of it, which is made of Gd (10) material and can do Gd (10) edged damage, halving effective body armor.

Contacts:

Matthew Cordell has no real contacts.

Limitations:

• Horribly Disfigured: Matthew Cordell is horribly disfigured due to the attack in Sing Sing and cannot hide his identity easily. In addition, Cordell suffers a -2cs reaction bonus when attempting social FEATS.
• Maniac: Cordell does not seem to care who he kills, innocent or guilty alike. Cordell kills his only real contact, his ex-wife Sally, when she is no longer a use to him. Cordell kills casually and often, but is not so insane as to be openly overt – he chooses his moments and then maximizes his body count. Cordell is also obsessed with getting revenge on those who set him up and had a hand in his disfigurement.
• Believed to be deceased: Cordell is believed to be dead, and as such is considered to have no identity or resources. The resources that Cordell has currently were probably provided by his wife Sally.