This was supposed to go up two weeks ago and contain
three NPC, but it's a massive pain to create and double check all the equations
for this, even with an auto-calculating character sheet to do much of the work for me.
Mutants in the Now is a retroclone of Teenage Mutant Ninja
Turtles & Other Strangeness, one that has since diverged to become a bit more of its own thing. But something it shares with TMNT&OS is a need for
the GM to make all the NPCs themselves once they run out of the 20 or so from
the three published books. While MitN does make it easier than its predecessor
by having simplified NPC stats, it’s still a lot harder than an OSR monster
which is mostly deciding HD.
The Zodiac and the Deadly Venom Gang
The Overview
Proteus has never seen a market it didn’t want to get into
and has no scruples about toadying up to whatever government to get access. So,
when Roman Pike decided Proteus needed to embrace the Asian Century and break
into China’s yet unthought of demand of biogen pets and food, he went straight to
developing Proteus’s guanxi (networks of personal trust). First heading to the Guangzhou local government and offering to
partner with anyone who would be willing to work on the GOO-P mutagen. This, as
expected, led to the meeting with the Guangdong provincial government, the National
government and then to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
The Chinese government
had been experimenting with GOO-P before, but mostly with trying to discover, contain
and dispose of whatever lifeforms had been contaminated by it. Proteus’s
willingness to work with a local partnership was a massive boost that cut through
the bureaucratic infighting.
Thus, Project Shanxiao
was born. Shanxaio being the monkey-like spirits of the southern Chinese
mountains, driven away by fireworks and so conflated into the Lunar New Year
celebrations to scare away the Nian. A name considered to be well chosen for
what the Chinese government sees as ferocious semi-human beasts.
What is Project Shanxiao?
An experiment to produce
elite mutant warriors for demonstrational purposes. Showcasing the potential of
GOO-P to change ordinary animals into extraordinary warriors, showing rapid mental
development and unlock hidden talents like psychic powers. Each mutant is one
of the members of the Chinese zodiac but codenamed after one of the western zodiac to symbolize the harmony that the international partnership can produce.
It’s a glorified
vanity project that has churned though dozens of test subjects and created a
bunch of violent boondoggles. The brief for what each zodiac should display
were justified post-hoc, based on what talents they did display after
selection, mutation and training. But the partnership has increasingly used
them for internal prestige and wet work. With miscommunication and
disagreements between the partnership, giving the Zodiac quite a lot of
freedom in what they do on their missions.
What each side
wants out of it:
Proteus: That it
earns enough favour for the national government to keep granting Proteus licenses to
import and sell GOO-P related products into the People’s Republic of
China (PRC). Secondarily, it gives Proteus access to massive
amounts of GOO-P and mutants delivered to them by the PLA. Allowing Proteus to
shuffle anything note-worthy into its own laboratories.
The Partner, Pearl River Biological Gene Technology Co., Ltd (珠江生物基因科技有限公司): Pearl River Biogenetic (PRB)
to most people, wants whatever Proteus has and especially what it’s hiding. GOO-P
is hard enough to get without the Chinese government confiscating and obscuring
any discoveries. The money is reward enough, but PRB wants to become a market
leader in their own right. The method is twofold; turn their motley collection
of grad-students, medical supply factory managers and businessmen into an
organisation that can establish its own international facilities to study and
exploit GOO-P away from the government eyes. And to get at whatever
research Proteus won’t share. Where this is by preventing promising discoveries leaving their shared laboratories, wooing Proteus staff into PRB or just corporate
espionage.
Edit: this turned out to be a real Chinese company (广州珠江生物遗传技术有限公司) so I made a new name
The Administration: The PRC wants the importation of Proteus’s
strange and outright frightening products to be regulated and safe. Not just
for the benefit of the consumers, but to prevent any social instability that
could come from people experiencing panic or exposure from discovering what GOO-P
can do. The PLA want experimental results. Mutants can be created from common
livestock and vermin, grow quickly to human proportions and learn exceptionally
fast. They have visions of mutant armies: trained, grown on demand,
indoctrinated but totally expendable. Not to mention any potentially safe human-enhancing
properties.
As the organisation is defeated, it is narratively and game-play beneficial that the more diffuclt and best of the Zodiac are saved for last. So while these NPCs can be fought in any order, after a certain number of victories (indicated by Upgrade 1 and Upgrade 2) the NPC gains new Traits. Any new traits replace the pre-existing ones of the same name and wholely new traits are added in addition.
Xiwangmu, codename Leo
Personality: Nominally the leader of the Zodiac, Xiwangmu
is an aloof and self-centred predator with big plans that certainly don’t involve
Proteus, PRB or any team-members she considers dead weight. Retaining much of her
demeanour from her birth as a Bengal tiger. She spends her days either training
for missions, executing them with precision and violence or meditating in an imitation
of a martial artist. It is during these periods that makes her plans while
everyone thinks she has achieved inner peace. She dresses in infiltration gear or
a traditional male martial arts uniform when off duty.
Background: Trained by Proteus’s security and the Chinese
government alike, Xiwangmu quickly recognised a fundamental disjunction in the
partnership between Proteus and PRB. One that she was delighted to find
extended to monitoring her missions. As she focused on completing the mission
above the bilingual bickering, the monitors found it easier to give her
autonomy.
Plan: Xiwangmu plans to cut the partnership loose and in
everything she does, she tries to advance that plan. When she discovered V.Viper
had formed the Deadly Venoms, she seized control rather than report it. When Huoshu
displayed his amazing technological skills, she pressured him into building encrypted
receivers for burner phones. She steals while on missions and stashes it with
the gang. Mutants she encounters get sorted into two categories; useful and disposable.
Disposable mutants or their remains get reported in, maintaining trust. Useful
mutants get away with an obligation they must repay. Likewise, as she frequently
encounters the criminal underworld, she is always happy to remind those she hasn’t
targeted, that she’s always available to deal with mutant problems via one of
her burner phones.
Tactics: Xiwangmu’s first action will be to kill the lights
if possible, trying to gain the advantage with her Nightsight. If the enemy is
melee-focused, she’s stay back, leaping about as she throws weapons to war them
down. They she leaps forward to fight with claws and fists. Trying to wear down
each enemy and perform a Knock-out before attacking the next, unless she can opportunistically
pick off a weak foe. The sword will be used an enemy has a blade of their own.
If the enemies have ranged weapons, she goes straight into melee.
Plot hooks: She is willing to work with anyone via the
Deadly Venoms in her schemes to undercut Proteus, PRB or the local underworld, but she will always try to maintain authority. Even minor challenges trigger an aggressive response that seems out of place for her feigned composure.
If it looks like the Zodiac are on their way out, she’s
burn the partnership, literally if possible and escape with as much GOO-P,
allies and electronics as she can. But she is still a tiger and will defend her
place in any organisation, responding with even greater escalations than what she has suffered.
Xiwangmu is looking to the future, she is interested in
finding the perfect male Bengal tiger to mutate into her presumably perfect mate.
This takes up quite a bit of her personal time, combing through zoo and wildlife
records and planning a fanciful international heist that could easily draw attention.
She hasn’t even thought of the possibility of a human-mutant and would take a
fair amount of convincing.
Mental: 17 (+3) Physical 18 (+4)
Other Traits: AFF 10 (+0) PRO 24 (+6)
Defence 22 Morale 16 + RESOLVE Save +7 WILL 3 Intiative +8 HP 42 SHT 76 Size 11
Resistance *
Resolve *
Armor *
Move 87 (Jump 72 Running Jump 144) Lift 360
Values: Independence, Survival, Strength
Anthropomorphic Traits: Movement: Biped, Prehensility: Prehensile, Speech: Vocal
Major Traits: Aggressive, Enhanced Scent, Nightsight, Rake
Minor Traits: Claws (ascent, hooked, retractable), Enhanced Hearing, Float, Inspirational (Claws: Knockdown), Teeth (slaying), Spring Leap, Whiskers
Skills: Competency 50%, Athletics 80%, Bargain 40%, Burglary 75%, Camouflage 75%, Meditation 60%, Sneak 80%, Stalk 80%, Track 75%, Vigilance 80%
Unarmed Maneuvers: Strike +10 (claws 2d10+3d8 Edged, teeth 5d8 Edged), Bully +3, Grab:+10 (claws 3d10+3d8 Edged, teeth 6d8 Edged), Knockdown +4, Knockout, Reposition +4, Press +8 (1d12)
Jian: Strike +10 (1d12+3d8 Edged, Hand Counter, Press Flex, Hack)
Throwing Knife: Range +9 (1d10+3d8 Edged Thrown Ammo, Pain, Spin)
Boss: See MITN p.101
Heihuquan: Add a die of damage to Xiwangmu natural weapons or strength when performing a melee strike (already included).
When Xiwangmu repositiosn a foe, Xiwangmu inflicts prone on them. When Xiwangmu inflicts prone on a foe, Xiwangmu may reposition them.
Tiger Blood: When Xiwangmu uses aggressive, she gains +PHY T-HP.
Eye of the Tiger: Anything Xiwangmu picks up and can throw one-handed counts as a Knife, Basic if sharp or otherwise 1d8 damage and Blunt.
Upgrade 1 - After 4 Zodiac members have been defeated
Mental: 17 (+3) Physical 18 (+4)
Other Traits: AFF 10 (+0) PRO 24 (+6)
Defence 22 HP 45 SHT 85
Move 96 (Jump 9 Running Jump 144) Lift 380
Skills: Competency 60%, Athletics 85%, Bargain 45%, Burglary 80%, Camouflage 80%, Meditation 65%, Sneak 85%, Stalk 85%, Track 80%, Vigilance 85%
Unarmed Maneuvers: Strike +10 (claws 2d10+3d8 Edged, teeth 5d8 Edged), Bully +3, Grab:+11 (claws 3d10+3d8 Edged, teeth 6d8 Edged), Knockdown +4, Knockout, Reposition +4, Press +8 (1d12)
Jian: Strike +10 (1d12+3d8 Edged, Hand Counter, Press Flex, Hack)
Throwing Knife: Range +9 (1d10+3d8 Edged Thrown Ammo, Pain, Spin)
Grenade: +6 3d12 Explosive, Throw AoE, Compact, Disposal, Load Hack Heavy
Press the Mountain: When Xiwangmu rolls the maximum value on two seperate damage dice for a melee strike, Xiwangmu inflicts the prone status.
Self-Centered Mind: Xiwangmu can take a moment to spend 1 Will to automatically gain the Focus State
Upgrade 2 - After 8 Zodiac members have been defeated
Mental: 18 (+4) Physical: 20 (+5)
Other Traits: AFF 12 (+1) PRO 28 (+7)
Defence 23 Morale 18 + RESOLVE Save +9 WILL 4 Initiative +9 HP 52 SHT 97
Move 102 (Jump 10 Running Jump 160) Lift 420
Skills: Competency 70%, Athletics 90%, Bargain 50%, Burglary 85%, Camouflage 85%, Sneak 90%, Stalk 90%, Track 85%, Vigilance 90%
Unarmed Maneuvers: Strike +12 (claws 4d10+1d8 Edged, teeth 2d10+3d8 Edged), Bully +4, Grab:+12 (claws 5d10+1d8 Edged, teeth 2d10+4d8 Edged), Knockdown +5, Knockout, Reposition +5, Press +10 (1d12)
Jian: +12 1d12+2d10+1d8 Edged, Hand Counter, Press Flex, Hack
Throwing Knife: +12 4d10 Edged Thrown Ammo, Pain, Spin
Grenade: +7 3d12 Explosive, Throw AoE, Compact, Disposal, Load Hack Heavy
Empress of the Jungle: When Xiwangmu has no SHT, she can maintain a Grab for free.
Yang, codename Capricorn
Personality: Yang is a sheep who has let his rage and
bitterness fester in his heart. Yang hates everything about his situation and
longs to break out and make his own way with the only means he knows will work;
violence and money. Yang has ben treated as a background figure his whole life,
but being passed over for the Aries codename was the last straw. Yang in Mandarin
covers sheep and goats but it just represented his powerlessness in the face of
everything. Yang will seize his moment no matter what. Somewhere deep down in
his genes, he feels a slight amount of care for the Gemini twins, as they have
always followed him and led him to assign them as his flock.
Background: A Finn-Dorset sheep is not a particularly ferocious
basis for a mutant warrior, but Yang has been a perfect example of what Project
Shanxiao intends. Turning a farm animal into a gun-tottering killer. As he
lacked anything special besides being a fingered bipedal sheep, Yang was
shunted into a commando training program that he excelled at. This made him
angry, as he and the other non-charismatic animal mutants were treated as the generic
background to the partnership’s demonstrations. This was sharpened by the
contradicting education he received, for every lecture about Chinese Communism,
he got contradicting literature from Proteus. The trouble was, Yang was smarter
than everyone thought and understood that the criminal underground offered the
best bet for a nobody with brains and a gun.
Plan: Yang has and will continue to be dutiful to Xiwangmu
and the partnership. Doing whatever he is told and working on his alternative
plans. As people tend to assume he’s not a person, he has filed away all kinds
of information he repeats to Proteus or PRB about each other. Wheedling “covert”
missions and assignments where the partnership has facilities. The Zodiac complete the job as bluntly as possible and then split up to maximise their
free time, Yang taking the Gemini twins to manage his growing criminal empire.
Tactics: Yang never fights alone if he can help it. With a
line of Unnamed goons at the front and Gemini Three and Four moving in the
midline, keeping foes under fire. He moves from cover to cover, taking shots at
whoever is under fire from the Geminis or the most dangerous. If he has access
to a bigger ranged weapon, he’s use it on the biggest target. If either Gemini
becomes engaged in mele, he will make a charge to separate them. Using his walking
cane sword, spending a moment as normal to transform it between a Short Staff
and Dueling Sword. Then he will disengage and back up to cover.
Plot hooks: Yang and the Gemini twins are the only mutants
in his organisation. Founded by aggressive take-overs of small-time outfits, Yang
is willing to expand only if he can line up a mission or long-term assignment.
Sometimes he will just grab 10 minutes to make a call to associates, hear what
is happening and issue orders. These orders are typical for organised crime and
impersonal to anyone’s suffering.
He has two types of gangs, the kind who help the partnership
find mutants and run interference, and by proxy help the Zodiac. And the kind
which robs the partnership of things Yang tells them about and so help Yang.
Yang is trigger-happy and a stone-cold killer, but he’s also
a lonely sheep in a flock of self-centred special forces. A bit of kindness from
another mutant of similar experiences will get him to open up about a lot of
things. But if he thinks he has a social link, he’ll try and enmesh that link
into his criminal plans. A proxy that can quicken the day he vanishes into the underworld
to becomes a kingpin.
Mental: 17 (+3) Physical: 17 (+3)
Other Traits: COG 18 (+4) DET 24 (+6) STR 18 (+4)
Defence 17 Morale 20 Save +7 WILL 6 Intiative +8 HP 44 SHT 80 Size 10
Resistance: Blunt 2, Resistance 4 against hazards inflicted by stepping on them (like hot coals, caltrops, etc.)
Armor *
Move 84 (Jump 8 Running Jump 34) Lift 200
Values: Wealth, Respect, Independence
Anthropomorphic Traits: Movement: Biped, Prehensility: Prehensile, Speech: Vocal
Major Traits: Enhanced Scent, Nightsight
Minor Traits: Cold Tolerance [23F], Enhanced Hearing, Fluffy, Hooves, Horns [Blunt], Reduced Sleep, Ruminant Digestion
Skills: Competency 40%, Bargain 70%, Finance 70%, Sneak 75%, Snoop 75%, Stalk 80%, Track 80%, Vigilance 80%
Unarmed Maneuvers: Bully +9, Knockdown +4, Pummel +8, Strike +7 (hooves 3d8+1d6 Blunt, horns 1d10+2d8+1d6 Blunt +D on strikes unless a charge performed this turn)
Style Suppported: Brace, Recovery
Sword, Dueling +7 1d10+2d8+1d6 Edged, Hand Disarm, Counter, Lash Hack, Pain
Staff, Short +7 3d8+1d6 Blunt, Hand Counter, Disarm, Press, Pummel Flex, Spin
Heavy Pistol: Ranged +7 4d8 Bullet Ammo
Traits
Linchpin: See MITN p.101
Powerhouse Prey: Yang may perform a charge against a foe in melee with him as a moment.
This unbalances them as if Yang had just moved into melee with them. Unlike a normal charge, this only affects one target.
When Yang charges a foe, he gains +A on all saving throws in melee until the start of his next turn.
Parential Instinct: When entering melee with an ally with a lower size rating and a foe for the first time in a fight, add 1 to escalation.
Who Dares Bleat: When taking the Focus action, Yang automatically gains the aiming state.
Upgrade 1 - After 4 Zodiac membrs have been defeated
Mental: 17 (+3) Physical: 18 (+4)
Other Traits: COG 18 (+4) DET 24 (+6) STR 18 (+4)
Defence 18 Morale 20 Save +8 WILL 6 Initiative +8 HP 51 SHT 91 Size 10
Resistance: Resistance 2 Blunt, Resistance 4 against hazards inflicted by stepping on them (like hot coals, caltrops, etc.)
Armor *
Move 87 (Jump 9 Running Jump 36) Lift 210
Values: Wealth, Respect, Independence
Anthropomorphic Traits: Movement: Biped, Prehensility: Prehensile, Speech: Vocal
Major Traits: Enhanced Scent, Nightsight
Minor Traits: Cold Tolerance [23F], Enhanced Hearing, Fluffy, Hooves, Horns [Blunt], Reduced Sleep, Ruminant Digestion
Skills: Competency 50%, Bargain 80%, Finance 80%, Sneak 85%, Snoop 85%, Stalk 90%, Track 90%, Vigilance 90%
Unarmed Maneuvers: Bully +9, Knockdown +5, Pummel +10, Strike +9 (hooves 2d10+1d8+1d6 Blunt, horns 3d10+1d6 Blunt +D on strikes unless a charge performed this turn)
Style Supported: Brace, Recovery
Sword, Dueling +9 1d10+2d8+1d6 Edged, Hand Disarm, Counter, Lash Hack, Pain
Staff, Short +9 3d8+1d6 Blunt, Hand Counter, Disarm, Press, Pummel Flex, Spin
Heavy Pistol: +8 4d8 Bullet Ammo
Rocket Launcher: +8 4d12 Explosive AoE, Disposable, Load
Traits
Challenge: When a foe moves into melee with Yang, he gains 1 temporary WILL.
Veterans Only Get Headshots: +A to hit with a Bullet type weapon when the target has a status.
Upgrade 2 - After 8 Zodiac members have been defeated
Mental: 18 (+4) Physical: 18 (+4)
Other Traits: COG 20 (+5) DET 24 (+6) STR 20 (+5) END 20 (+5)
Defence 18 Morale 20 + RESOLVE Save +9 WILL 6 Intiative +8 HP 54 SHT 100 Size 10
Resistance * Apply the highest Resistance of Boss or Blunt 2, Resistance 4 against hazards inflicted by stepping on them (like hot coals, caltrops, etc.)
Resolve *
Armor * Apply the highest Armor of Boss or Linchpin
Move 87 (Jump 9 Running Jump 36) Lift 210
Values: Wealth, Respect, Independence
Anthropomorphic Traits: Movement: Biped, Prehensility: Prehensile, Speech: Vocal
Major Traits: Enhanced Scent, Nightsight
Minor Traits: Cold Tolerance [23F], Enhanced Hearing, Fluffy, Hooves, Horns [Blunt], Reduced Sleep, Ruminant Digestion
Skills: Competency 70%, Bargain 90%, Finance 90%, Sneak 90%, Snoop 90%, Stalk 100%, Track 100%, Vigilance 100%
Unarmed Maneuvers: Bully +9, Knockdown +6, Pummel +10, Strike +10 (hooves 2d10+1d8+1d6 Blunt, horns 3d10+1d6 Blunt +D on strikes unless a charge performed this turn)
Style Supported: Brace, Recovery
Sword, Dueling +10 3d10+1d6 Edged, Hand Disarm, Counter, Lash Hack, Pain
Staff, Short +10 2d10+1d8+1d6 Blunt, Hand Counter, Disarm, Press, Pummel Flex, Spin
Heavy Pistol: +8 4d8 Bullet Ammo
Rocket Launcher: +8 4d12 Explosive AoE, Disposable, Load
Traits
Boss: See MITN p.101
