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Maxima sity Back from the future in VILLAINS & VIGILANTES gaming ©1986 by Jack Herman VILLAINS & VIGILANTES is a trademark of Fantasy Games Unlimited. Maxima is copyright ©1986 by Jack Herman. All Rights Reserved. MAXIMA Side: Good (independent) Sex: Female Experience: 269,000 Level: 20 Age: Special Training: Scholar 82 JULY 1986 Powers: 1. Armor Device: Genetic implant, ADR 130, increases body denwith no Agility loss, 100% human in appearance, Strength = 1/hour or turn of Defense), Regeneration 2. Heightened Speed: + 1000" to movement, + 33 to initiative 3. Invulnerability: 30 points 4. Heightened Strength: + 30 5. Heightened Endurance: + 30 6. Heightened Agility: + 30 7. Animal Powers: Strength + 20, Endurance + 20, Agility + 20, Intelligence + 20, Heightened Senses (Detect scores x 3), Natural Weaponry ( + 3 to hit, +6 to damage HTH) 8. Lowered Intelligence: Massive memory loss Height: 7’6” Hair: Blonde Weight: 663 lbs. Basic Hits: 14 Agility Mod.: — Strength: 105 Endurance: 86 Agility: 85 Intelligence: 40 Charisma: 20 Reactions from Good: +3 Evil: -3 Damage Mod.: +18 Hit Points: 19,374 Accuracy: +12 Healing Rate: 37.8/turn (189/turn for armor) Carrying Cap.: 384,604 Power: 316 Basic HTH Damage: 7d10 Movement: 1276” (290 mph) Detect Hidden: 84% Detect Danger: 96% Inventing Points: 80 Inventing: 120% Origin and background: In some uncountable future era, mankind awaited his own extinction, brought about by his own hand. Atomic, bacteriological, and chemical warfare rendered the ground radioactive, the air infectious, and the water toxic. Barely one human in ten million survived the blast of war. Seven of the last remaining scientists on Earth retreated to a labyrinthine series of tunnels, the remains of an old military base, beneath the deserts of what was once New Mexico. Together, they formed The Covenant; their mission — to save the human race. While two of the team set to work on theories and mechanisms involving the esoteric science of time travel, with the ultimate goal of visiting the infamous “Day the Bubble Burst” and setting things aright, the other scientists (being more pragmatic) devoted themselves to genetic engineering. The latter five hoped to create a special strain of human being who could not only survive but thrive in the ruined Earthly environment. Despite the pressures of diminishing resources, power, and time, and despite the deterioration of their natural lifespans and health from exposure to radiation, toxins, and bacteria, the desperate scientists produced not one but two miracles. First, they created a one-shot time capsule with a range of a few dozen centuries. Second, they created a perfect specimen of their ultimate human being — an artificially grown female named Maxima. Her skin was stronger than steel, her speed and molecular density drastically increased, and her healing and immunity processes incomprehensibly fast. Maxima’s animalistic tracking skills and instincts more than compensated for her lack of formal martial-arts and survivalskill training. Though she appeared to be in her mid-30s, Maxima was a month old when sent on her mission. The complexities involved in creating Maxima, as well as the lack of time and material, precluded producing any other beings like her. The scientists decided that the human race was doomed unless they could send Maxima, as an agent of The Covenant, back into time to prevent the destruction of the world. After a hurried, computer-programmed education, in which Maxima was hypnotically implanted with specific instructions on diverting the Apocalypse, the time machine was set for the latter half of the twentieth century. Maxima entered the machine, a button was pushed, and she was gone. . . .
Despite the precautions, a virulent germ played havoc with Maxima’s immunity system. When she arrived in New Mexico in 1986, she had a raging fever and was near death. Luckily, she was found and nursed back to health by Neville Taylor, a reporter for the Weekly World News who had come to New Mexico to investigate a UFO sighting. Maxima soon recovered, but found to her horror that the fever had erased many of the exact details of her mission from her mind. All she could now recall was that her mission involved the destruction of something called “Prima 1” — whatever that was. What few details she could remember of “Prima 1” now seemed ambiguous, conflicting, or obviously false. Taylor, who fell secretly and hopelessly in love with Maxima, offered his services as her guide through the twentieth-century world around her. She accepted the offer, and ever since then their lives have been one breath-taking, blood-curdling adventure after another. Using Maxima (and those like her) Despite the horrendously heavy stress to what we in superpowered hero gaming circles smirkingly call “game balance,” I would be hard pressed to turn down a player who wished to play Maxima in a campaign that I was running. Her background is well developed and interesting, and her origin alone would provide plotlines for dozens of adventures. I would, however, be careful in designing adventures and combat situations, so as to avoid the two most common pitfalls where characters like this are concerned: 1. Putting the player-character group in situations that Maxima could easily handle all by herself; and, 2. Putting the PC group in situations that only Maxima would be capable of handling. A good example of the former would be a fight against a group of fairly weak criminals that the PCs don’t wish to bother with. Instead, they step back and let Maxima pound the villains. The other extreme would be a fight against several villains, each of which could take Maxima on all by himself. All of the PCs except Maxima are hopelessly outgunned and doomed to defeat. The solution lies in casting your villains carefully, gauging their strengths against those of your PCs. If every character in the PC group has at least one worthy opponent to face, regardless of the variety in levels or powers, then there will be sufficient suspense generated to make the game interesting for all players. Maxima herself is hardly invincible. She has much fewer defenses against mental attacks than physical ones, and entrapment or removal from combat using other means is just as effective as a physical defeat. Still, I pity anyone who goes against her hand-to-hand. With such a fatefully important task as Maxima’s, it is quite possible that her mission to save the world might take over the actions of all the players in the group. Having the thrust of a campaign revolve around the goals of just one player character may tend to get boring after a time. Other players may feel cheated or obliged to put aside their own personal goals for their characters. This situation can and should be avoided. With the open-ended nature of “Prima 1” as it is, the Game Master can make it anything he wants it to be. Some of the PCs’ personal arch-enemies may be involved, or the goals of one PC may overlap with those of Maxima for a time. An interweaving of plot-threads that involve each of the PCs helps keep the game interesting for all the players, and it promotes cooperation and camaraderie among them. And remember — it may be years before any leads on “Prima 1” are found at all. . . . DRAGON 83
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Dust does the job Dear Dragon, I ha
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would add another considerable adva
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Welcome to Malachi Visit a city whe
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advertisers, poets, storytellers, h
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DUNGEON Adventures What readers and
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Peridinium FREQUENCY: Common NO. AP
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Page 64 and 65: NEW PRODUCTS FOR AUGUST 1986 DL13 D
Page 66 and 67: JEFF GRUBB “I’m just your Frien
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