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Old 01-19-2018, 09:10 AM   #1
J. Edward Tremlett
 
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Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Lansing, MI
Default Creepy Charly Extras

Hey all!

The article "Creepy Charly" in the Guns II issue of Pyramid went through a few changes. At one point it was going to be a bit longer, mostly to cover a few more bases. Those bits didn't make it into the final cut, but that's what the forums are for :)

So here's some extras for Charly, in case you're wanting to use this skeedy refugee from an Eagles album in your Action campaign.

A Turn for the Worse
If the GM is running a Supers campaign, then Charly can be a couple other things. He could be working for one of the big science terrorist organizations, using unwitting subjects to field-test their weapons. He could be a supervillain who grooves on spreading high-tech mayhem for his own, twisted reasons. Or he could just be a “villainmaker”: someone who helps another person become a supervillain by selling them their high-tech toys.

As for who he’ll sell to, and what he’ll want from them:

Do-Gooders: Charly doesn’t call on people he can’t bend around to his own needs. As such, his participation in a by-the-book Supers game might be limited to “interesting NPC,” “strange menace,” or “background noise.” The players could have a lot of fun trying to track his movements and run him down, but it’s best if he always remains just one step ahead of them – becoming something of a gun-running white whale.

Vigilantes: If the PCs are willing to break the law in order to uphold it, then Charly can supply their needs. He’s happy to deal in non-lethal weaponry as well, but if they’re the sort of “hero” that kills then it’s business as usual. He won’t compromise their position, but if he gets the idea they’re planning on turning on him, all bets are off. Any favors he asks will keep their special consciences in mind, though he’s not above not telling them the real purpose of their mission, just to watch them squirm.

Super-Thugs: The PCs aren’t really supervillains, per se. They’re street gangs, mercenaries, and operatives who rely on high-tech guns and equipment to keep their edge. Such persons will find Charly to be a great resource, as he’s happy to arm them when they find their edge needs a sharpening. Unfortunately, he’s also likely to be arming their competition, and may pitting them against each other for his own purposes.

Costumed Crooks: So you want to break into the supervillain business, but you don’t have any powers? Not to worry: Charly is willing to be your Villainmaker. For a price, he’ll hook you up with the best high-tech weapons and gadgets available – things that the cops, the feds, and the heroes haven’t even seen yet. If you’re smart, you can use that advantage and make a lot of bank before they get wise to your tricks. But when they do, Charly should have something better for you – provided you’re not doing time in a Superslam.

The Lights Are Turning Red
What sort of big favors might Charly require of his customers? Just about anything the GM can imagine: massive heists, deadly raids, prison breaks, assassination, espionage, outright treason – anything, anywhere, as long as it’s extremely dangerous, and within the PCs’ skill set.

Some examples are given below. Why he’s sent his customers on these deadly errands depends on what his real game is, of course. But that won’t matter so much to them when things go bad.

Team One vs. Team Two:
The PCs are told to arrive at a remote location, down in the flatlands of Arizona, and find a geo-cache. In it’s a box that will open at a certain time, revealing their true assignment: get to a small, abandoned Air Force airfield, full of rotting planes and jets. They have to infiltrate the unguarded place, go to the air tower, and recover a “package” he claims his “friends” need rescued.

Charly warns them that they may encounter resistance of an uncertain and unspecified nature. They will, but it will be another group of Charly’s clients. The other team was sent to a different point of reference, and given a geo-cached message that gave them the exact same assignment – right down to the warning about resistance.

Both sides are more or less equally matched in terms of combat experience, tactics, and other factors. The only difference is that they have been using guns from rival manufacturers, all this time. Charly will be watching their performance via hidden cameras, planted all over the base, and won’t be the only one tuning in.

Can the PCs persevere against these interlopers and find the package? If so, what’s in it? Will survival bring some kind of reward beyond their lives, or is no one scheduled to live through this product testing?

Stealing Fire:
In a BATF lockup in San Francisco, there is a large, metal box. Its contents were confiscated from some kook, a couple years back. He got on television and claimed he was handpicked by aliens to rule the world – maybe the PCs remember him?

It turns out he had one thing going for his cause. In the metal box is a strange, cobbled-together device that looks like a 1950’s blender got in a car wreck with a Desert Eagle. It’s heavy, requiring two hands to fire, but when the trigger’s pulled it shoots a burning beam of yellow light up to 50 feet away.

Yes – somehow, this nut made a working laser pistol, and the Bureau got hold of it. Since then, they’ve been in a three-way turf battle between them, NASA, and the NSA over who gets to take it apart. So it’s been sitting in their lockup, in the basement of the well-guarded, constantly-monitored, always-occupied Federal Building in scenic, downtown San Francisco.

Charly wants the gun so he can sell it to a client. The PCs have to go get it for him, and deliver it undamaged. This should be interesting, to say the least.

Black Ops Breakout:
Somewhere in Mexico – five miles southwest of Charcas, in San Luis Potosi – there is a hole in the ground leading straight to Hell.

It’s a square, metal door, twenty feet to a side and set in thick concrete. It opens up automatically when a helicopter bearing a certain, frequently-changed signal comes within thirty feet of it. Any aircraft that gets that close without the signal, or an incorrect one, gets blown out of the sky by surface-to-air missiles. Anyone who approaches by ground gets shot at by automatic machine gun emplacements, or blown up by mines.

The helicopter comes by once a week, delivering food, supplies, and the occasional prisoner – unconscious and locked in a high-tech metal coffin.
The prison is codenamed Mictlan: a high-security lockdown created by Mexico’s feared security agency, CISEN, in the last decade. It was originally supposed to be a place to keep terrorists, dangerous intellectuals, and prisoners no other jail could house. Now it’s a steel and concrete sewer the rest of the world pays to flush its more troublesome refuse down, with no intent of getting it back.

The bad news is that one of Charly’s more wicked “associates” is doing time, there, and the PCs have been asked to go get him out. The good news is that, while you can’t break out, it is possible for someone to break in, provided they can learn the security arrangements, get a map of the place, and have sufficient gear for the job – all of which Charly is willing to hand over.

The worse news is that no one can be truly prepared for the truly nasty thing they will find in Mictlan. CISEN has discovered a quick and dirty system of bio-chemical and electro-psychological brutality that quickly turns human beings into subhuman brutes, capable only of animal responses. After a mere 24 hours of the “treatment,” the damage is done, and the guards just toss their guests into the communal pit. After that, they just need food and water dumped in every so often, and they can pretty much take care of themselves.
This means that the PCs have to get past the well-armed guards, and go into a dark concrete and steel cavern full of ravening, angry troglodytes. All to find a man who might not even be alive anymore, and, if he is, won’t be grateful to see them, much less come quietly. But Charly wants him sprung for some reason, so they at least have to try.
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