Hellboy 4e - pirates, automata, psychics, oh my!

[Bruno]

I'm talking to my group about running a second GURPS campeign, possibly while I take a little Hiatus from the first one, and I've settled on Hellboy. Characters will be part of the new crop of B.P.R.D. agents hired recently.

I plan on running it in 4e, although with the 3e ritual magic system because it's stylish. Possibly with the full Cabal set of correspondances, although it might be a bit complicated.

I've deliberately avoided giving everyone point totals to work from. I'm making sure they run character concepts and history by me to make sure whoever they come up with fits the style of the setting and isn't likely to get lynched by other party members. So far I've had to reject a vampire, a lich, a catgirl, and an illithid.

On the other hand, they've also proposed a knocker (mineshaft fae), a willful skeleton of a 17th century pirate based on the players ancestor, an anthropologist with an innate ability to detect magic, and an artificial human built from plans drawn by Leonardo Da Vinci.

No final choices yet, but they've definitely got into the swing of things.

Has anyone out there run a Hellboy game in 4e? have any suggestions on updating from the book to full 4e?

To anyone who's actually run a Hellboy game of any edition: any inspirations, warnings, or plot ideas to share? I'm going to start with the adventure from the book, and some of the adventure ideas seem interesting, but I'm wide open to more ideas :D

I'm taking a stab at converting Liz, Roger, Abe, and Hellboy to 4e. I'll post the results once I'm reasonably happy with them. Liz's point total skyrockets, however. No surprises there as she has a zillion levels of Pyrokinesis, which was a point crock.

[Kuroshima]

Helboy, really like the setting, but never had a chance to game it.

As for GURPS Spirits Magic, I think that grafting it directly into 4th ed would not cause any problems. As for using Cabal correspondences, well, they sure look tempting, but then again I think at the hassle to explain both the ritual magic system, and the correspondences, to my players (Most of whom don't speak english), and always decide to leave it for the future. Anyway, there's an article on Pyramid on mixing Ritual Magic with Hermetic Correspondences. Again, very flavourful, but it might be a bit too overwhelming for the characters. Now, is none of them are mages (as it's expected in the BPRD), I would import it without thinking it twice. In fact that kind Hermetic feel could work rather well with nazi thaumatologists.

Can you share your conversions of the main Helboy characters?

EDIT: Also, I think the book requires minimal conversion, the only thing needed would be, in fact, converting the characters. 4th edition in general, and Powers in particular ougth to make the conversion rather easy.

[Not another shrubbery]

Originally Posted by Bruno

I'm taking a stab at converting Liz, Roger, Abe, and Hellboy to 4e. I'll post the results once I'm reasonably happy with them. Liz's point total skyrockets, however. No surprises there as she has a zillion levels of Pyrokinesis, which was a point crock.

I'll be anxiously waiting for your versions, B. Liz might not be such a beast, pointwise... Her normal power levels need not be especially high, right? I'll have to get my HbRPG out of storage to work on it myself.

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by Kuroshima

Can you share your conversions of the main Helboy characters?

Gladly. I'm still working them out, but I have Liz and Abe done up so far.


Liz Sherman

Attributes [95]
ST 10; DX 11 [20]; IQ 13 [60]; HT 11 [10];

HP 10; Will 14 [5]; Per 13; FP 11;

Basic Lift 20
Damage 1d-2/1d

Basic Speed 5.5
Basic Move 5

Ground Move 5
Water Move 1

Social Background
TL: 8 [0]
Cultural Familiarities: Western (Native) [0].
Languages: English (Native) [0].

Advantages [466]
Appearance (Attractive) [4]
Burning Attack (1) (Melee Attack: Reach C; Melee Attack: Destructive Parry; Variable; Psychokinetic) [4]
Burning Attack (Uncontrolled) (10) (Area Effect (+15); Uncontrollable (destructive power); Unconscious Only; Psychokinetic; Emanation) [385]
Patrons (B.P.R.D.) (2) (15 or less; Equipment: no more than starting wealth) [68]
Psychokinesis Talent (1) [5]

Disadvantages [-25]
Duty (B.P.R.D.) (12 or less (quite often)) [-10]
Nightmares (12 or less) [-5]
Sense of Duty (Friends) (Small Group) [-5]
Stubbornness [-5]

Quirks [-1]
Minor Addiction: Cigarettes [-1]

Skills [66]
Acting IQ/A - IQ+1 14 [4]
Alchemy/TL8 IQ/VH - IQ-3 10 [1]
Artist (Drawing) IQ/H - IQ-2 11 [1]
Biology/TL8 (Earthlike Botany) IQ/H - IQ-2 11 [1]
Chemistry/TL8 IQ/H - IQ+0 13 [4]
Climbing DX/A - DX+1 12 [4]
Computer Operation/TL8 IQ/E - IQ+1 14 [2]
Cooking IQ/A - IQ+0 13 [2]
Criminology/TL8 IQ/A - IQ+0 13 [2]
Diplomacy IQ/H - IQ+1 14 [8]
Driving/TL8 (Automobile) DX/A - DX-1 10 [1]
Electronics Operation/TL8 (Communications) IQ/A - IQ+0 13 [2]
Fast-Talk IQ/A - IQ+1 14 [4]
First Aid/TL8 IQ/E - IQ+1 14 [2]
Geology/TL8 (Earthlike) IQ/H - IQ-2 11 [1]
History (Europe) IQ/H - IQ+0 13 [4]
Intimidation Will/A - Will-1 13 [1]
Judo DX/H - DX+1 12 [8]
Lockpicking/TL8 IQ/A - IQ+0 13 [2]
Mathematics/TL8 (Applied) IQ/H - IQ-2 11 [1]
Occultism IQ/A - IQ+1 14 [4]
Philosophy (Comparative) IQ/H - IQ-2 11 [1]
Physics/TL8 IQ/VH - IQ-2 11 [2]
Psychology IQ/H - IQ-2 11 [1]
Savoir-Faire (High Society) IQ/E - IQ+0 13 [1]
Streetwise IQ/A - IQ+0 13 [2]

Stats [95] Ads [466] Disads [-25] Quirks [-1] Skills [66] = Total [601]

Notes:
I nerfed her IQ down one point. She had so many half-point skills it was either down her IQ, or most of her skills would go up a level in the conversion. EDIT: this note no longer applies, above stats and skills have been adjusted back up.

I statted up her pyrokinesis as a Burning Attack, because all she ever does is set things on Fire.
Area Effect (15 yard radius) and Emanation means she burns a 90ft diameter circle, which sounds reasonable for "a city block" as far as I can tell. If anyone with more familiarity with imperial units and the sizes of city blocks can chime in on that, please do.
I gave her 10 dice of damage on the "full power" attack to make sure she burns freeking everything down. That was mostly a guestimate on how many dice to use. I might be overdoing it. When my Powers comp shows up I'll double-check that number.

I gave her the Drawing specialty on Artist entirely out of my ass. Does anyone know what art Liz persues?

I couldn't find a Botany skill in 4e, so I made it an optional specialty of Biology.

I gave her the Communicators specialty for Electronics operation as that seems to be the only piece of electronics ever used by the B.P.R.D. in the comics as far as I recall.

She picked up Applied Mathematics because it's a prerequisite for Physics.

[Bruno]

Name: Abe Sapien
Race: Unknown

Attributes [235]
ST 12 [20]; DX 15 [100]; IQ 13 [60]; HT 14 [40]

HP 12; Will 16 [15]; Per 13; FP 14

Basic Lift 29
Damage 1d-1/1d+2

Basic Speed 7.25
Basic Move 7

Ground Move 7
Water Move 7

Social Background
TL: 8 [0]
Cultural Familiarities: Western (Native) [0].
Languages: Church Latin (Accented) [4]; English (Native) [0].

Advantages [114]
Acute Vision (3) [6]
Amphibious [10]
Damage Resistance (2) (Tough Skin) [6]
Doesn't Breathe (Gills) [10]
Flexibility [5]
Patrons (B.P.R.D.) (2) (15 or less; Equipment: no more than starting wealth) [68]
Rapid Healing [5]

Disadvantages [-52]
Appearance (Ugly) [-8]
Dependency (Immersion in water) (Common) (Weekly) [-20]
Duty (B.P.R.D.) (12 or less (quite often)) [-10]
Sense of Duty (Paranormal People) (Small Group) [-5]
Unnatural Feature (Entirely Hairless) (-1) [-1]
Unnatural Feature (Gilled) (-1) [-1]
Unnatural Feature (Grey skinned) (-1) [-1]
Unnatural Feature (Webbed Fingers) (-1) [-1]
Weakness (Desert-like low humidity) (1d per 30 minutes) (Occasional) [-5]

Quirks [-2]
Book collector [-1]
Romantically interested in Liz Sherman [-1]

Skills [55]
Acrobatics DX/H - DX-1 14 [2]
Acting IQ/A - IQ-1 12 [1]
Boating/TL8 (Sailboat) DX/A - DX-1 14 [1]
Climbing DX/A - DX+2 17 [1]
includes: +3 from 'Flexibility'
Computer Operation/TL8 IQ/E - IQ+0 13 [1]
Diplomacy IQ/H - IQ+0 13 [4]
Disguise/TL8 (Human) IQ/A - IQ-3 10 [4]
includes: -1 from 'Unnatural Feature (Grey skinned)', -1 from 'Unnatural Feature (Entirely Hairless)', -1 from 'Unnatural Feature (Gilled)', -1 from 'Unnatural Feature (Webbed Fingers)'
Driving/TL8 (Automobile) DX/A - DX-1 14 [1]
Electronics Operation/TL8 (Communications) IQ/A - IQ+0 13 [2]
Escape DX/H - DX+1 16 [1]
includes: +3 from 'Flexibility'
First Aid/TL8 IQ/E - IQ+0 13 [1]
Games (Chess) IQ/E - IQ+0 13 [1]
Guns/TL8 (Pistol) DX/E - DX+0 15 [1]
Guns/TL8 (Rifle) DX/E - DX+0 15 [1]
History (Occult) IQ/H - IQ+0 13 [4]
Interrogation IQ/A - IQ+0 13 [1]
Intimidation Will/A - Will-1 15 [1]
Judo DX/H - DX+0 15 [4]
Jumping DX/E - DX+0 15 [1]
Karate DX/H - DX-1 14 [2]
Leadership IQ/A - IQ-1 12 [1]
Literature IQ/H - IQ+0 13 [4]
Lockpicking/TL8 IQ/A - IQ+0 13 [2]
Meteorology/TL8 (Earthlike) IQ/A - IQ-1 12 [1]
Naturalist (Earth) IQ/H - IQ-1 12 [2]
Occultism IQ/A - IQ+1 14 [4]
Piloting/TL8 (Flight Pack) DX/A - DX-1 14 [1]
Piloting/TL8 (Light Airplane) DX/A - DX-1 14 [1]
Research/TL8 IQ/A - IQ-1 12 [1]
Stealth DX/A - DX-1 14 [1]
Throwing DX/A - DX-1 14 [1]
Writing IQ/A - IQ-1 12 [1]

Stats [235] Ads [114] Disads [-52] Quirks [-2] Skills [55] = Total [350]

Notes:
Converted ST based on lifting capacity, not damage. Abe isn't a physical character, and he's skinny to boot. :D

I debated not giving Abe a cultural familiarity, but he really was "raised" in a Western culture, even if he was physically an adult by the time he was raised.

I gave him Church Latin on a bit of a whim; probably influenced by his reading the old demonological book in the HB movie. You could nerf this off of him, but seeing as his point total came conveniently to 350 with it, I'm inclined to leave it :D

Also upped his DR by 1 on a whim. Abe seems to avoid basic abrasions. Gave him Tough Skin as he originally had Toughness. If you nerf Latin and DR back down, his point total is 343.

Converted Double-Jointed to Flexibility to keep the skill adjustments consistant.

Broke down his Unnatural Features for 4e. Could only come up with 4 really distinctive feature groups. This nerfs his disguise skill down, but I think that's fairly realistic - Abe looks wierd.

Nerfed "likes chess" because that's not a valid 4e quirk. The other two seem valid to me - as a book collector and bibliophile, he'd be reluctant to burn Creepy Old Tomes, and he's got a quirk level Sense of Duty: one person, for half the price.

Randomly gave him Sailboat specialty in Boating; if anyone knows what boat he actually piloted, please share.

Gave him Communicators specialty for Electronics Operation for the same reasons as Liz (above).

Nerfed his guns skills down to the one point minimum; I think he only had those higher levels because the rules system (iq bonus) forced it - Abe isn't a gun-monkey.

Picked the Occult specialty on History because I couldn't think of anything more apropriate.

used "Flight Pack" for Jet Pack, and randomly chose Light Aircraft for the second Piloting specialty.

I've left Throwing on his sheet for chucking grenades and rocks, but I think it only made it on because of the Harpoon/Rasputin incident - however, in 4e Throwing isn't good for real weapons, and on the gripping hand I think most of the skill was provided by the ghost who was possessing/guiding Abe at the time. So edit it off or convert it to Thrown Weapons (Harpoon) or just ADD Thrown Weapons (Harpoon) as you like.

EDIT: for stupid spelling error on Sapien.

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by Not another shrubbery

I'll be anxiously waiting for your versions, B. Liz might not be such a beast, pointwise... Her normal power levels need not be especially high, right? I'll have to get my HbRPG out of storage to work on it myself.

Her normal power levels are enough to light cigarettes and the like. I gave her a full die of Burning Attack to be generous, but that's it; Variable lets her town it down to just a point of burning as required. The rest of it is uncontrollable, unconcious only. I didn't put Variable or Selective on the "full power" portion, as I haven't seen her do anything other than set EVERYTHING on FIRE, but if she's manifested more unpredictability then I'd slap those two on as well. Which only raises her point total...

[Bruno]

Roger's power theft ability also becomes hidiously more expensive under 4e, and so it should be. eesh. I'm looking at 235 per power origin (so "mystical" and "technological" unfortunately doubles the cost).

Power Theft: uses point value of powers for enhancing own abilities, Only for recharging fatigue points, Extended Duration (Dispelling condition) = Lots.

[Bruno]

I've changed my mind about nerfing Liz's IQ by one because of all the half points. Heck, these guys are pulp heros. What am I worried about stat normalization about? I'm editing Liz's entry above to reflect the change.

[Qoltar]

Wow!!. ..Bruno, nicely done. I just know that universe from the HELLBOY RPG and the movie, plus a few websites I've visited. Wish I could play in that campaign of yours.

- E.W. Charlton

[Romalar]

The cost for Liz's area burning attack seems to be a bit off to me. Shouldn't it be:

Innate Attack (10d burning; Area Effect 16 yard radius +200%; Uncontrollable (destructive power) -30%; Unconscious Only -20%; Psychokinetic -10%; Emanation -20%; Total modifiers +120%) [110]

That gives a 96 ft diameter circle. If you do 15 levels of Area Effect for +750%, that gives a 32768 yard radius, which is about a 60 km diameter.

Besides that, I think you can save even more points on that attack. As written, she can do 10d burn per second with no limit on when or how long (other than Uncontrollable and Unconscious Only). According to the benchmarking in Powers (available as a preview online) and the info on Basic p. 433, normal fire usually does less than 1d burn per second, a furnace would deal 3d per second, and contact with magma deals 8d+2 burn per second. How does her fire compare to these?

So, if Liz deals her damage in one large instantaneous blast, and the remaining fire is the natural ignited side effect, the ability should be limited with things like Limited Use x/day, Costs FP 8-10, etc., and something like 10 levels seems reasonable. If she deals her damage over a few seconds, perhaps only a few levels are needed (or appropriate?), maybe 4d, and it could have Costs FP 1-2 to limit the duration. Either way, this is still quite enough to cause a large area of devastation.