free20 troublemaker

8/6/2019 Free20 Troublemaker

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Text, Layout and Design: Chris A. Field

Stock Art Courtesy: Anthony Cournoyer,

Shaman’s Studio Stock Art Packs

Free20: The Troublemaker Template is a

free Otherverse Games product, suitable for

inclusion in almost any D20 based campaign.

The concepts in this book are as applicable to

dungeon crawls as they are modern action

campaigns. Special attention is given to using

this template in Psi-Watch and Otherverse

America campaigns.

Using this product requires either the D20

Modern Core Rulebook, or the 3.5 Player’s

Handbook published by Wizards of the Coast.

If you like what you’ve seen in this Free20

product, stop by the Otherverse Games website

atwww.otherversegames.blogspot.com or visit

our sales site on www.rpgnow.com.

The Troublemaker Template

While working on the Otherverse America

core rulebook last month, I took advantage of

the after Christmas sales to purchase some new

DVDs. Among my purchases was the Star

Wars: Clone Wars animated DVD, which

introduced a new character to that venerable

universe: the sarcastic, enthusiastic young Jedi

Ashoka Tanu. While Ashoka was had a unique

name and a unique look, I realized how familiar

she was to me. Ashoka was Jubilee or Kitty

Pryde or Carrie Kelly (the Dark Knight’s

Robin) repackaged and redecorated, but stillinstantly recognizable, and still enjoyable as a

character.

All the fictional girls mentioned above share

certain traits: all petite, nimble females, all

sarcastic and quick-witted, all running on nerve

and bravado, all anxious to be taken seriously

by their larger, more experienced male partners,



and none of ‘em exactly as tough or competent as

they think they are.

The Troublemaker Template helps gamers

build young heroines who fit the tropes of the

fictional girls who inspired the template. This easy-

to-attach template rewards players for fully embrac-

ing this character concept, keeps them alive in the

face of overwhelming opposition (at least hopefully),

and adds a handful of appropriate new weaknesses

right out of the comic books.

Acquiring the Template: The Trouble-

maker Template is an acquired template which can

be added to any humanoid or monstrous humanoid

of size Medium or smaller, who has an INT and

CHA score of at least 8. Only females (or at least

non-males, in species with really unusual genderdivisions) in the Adult age category or younger can

gain the Troublemaker Template.

Size and Type: The Troublemaker’s size

and type are unchanged from a game-rule stand-

point, but Troublemakers are usually, tiny, petite and

seemingly delicate. Troublemakers are at the lower

end of height and weight norms for their age, gender

and species.

Ability Score Modifiers: -2 STR, +2

DEX, +2 CHA. Troublemakers are cute, quick-

witted and sharp-tongued, but their petite size limits

their strength and durability.

Special Qualities: A Troublemaker gains

the following special qualities. These traits are

personality quirks, flaws and dramatic responses

rather than genetic or supernatural abilities.

Quick Reflexes (EX): Troublemakers areincredibly agile little bundles of danger. Troublemak-

ers receive a +1 bonus on REF Saves and Initiative

checks, in addition to any DEX bonus.

Totally Fearless…. Kinda (EX): Trouble-

makers are reckless and confident, and despite their

inexperience, relish overcoming new challenges and

fearsome foes. A Troublemaker receives a +4 bonus

on WILL Saves made to resist fear, including

magical and psionic fear effects.

However, inexperienced young Troublemak-

ers are prone to panicking in combat, and freezing

up for a few seconds while they get their bearings. A

Troublemaker must always choose the Total De-

fense action during their first round of melee combat.

If the Troublemaker wants to take other actions

during the first combat round, she must succeed at a

DC 22 WILL Save. Failure indicates she takes

Total Defense; success indicates she can act as she

chooses during the first round.

Girlish Envy (EX): Troublemakers have

difficulty relating to older, more confident (and more

curvy) women. They constantly measure themselves

and compete against the older women in the group,trading insults, undermining their authority and

generally causing trouble.

A Troublemaker suffers a -2 penalty on

CHA based skill checks made against humanoid and

monstrous humanoid females in the Adult age

category or older. If the woman is exceptionally

beautiful or confident, having a CHA score of 16+,

the Troublemaker is especially uncomfortable

around her, and this penalty increases to -3.

Combat Crush (EX): Troublemakers make

surprisingly good partners for frontline warriors.

Their antics in battle are a great distraction, and their

devotion to their more experienced partners is

unmatched.

Each day, the Troublemaker can declare her

crush on a single ally, of either gender, who must

have a STR score at least two points higher than her

own. When flanking in conjunction with this combat

crush, the bonus provided is +3, not +2 as is normal

for a flanking bonus. If the Troublemaker declaresher Combat Crush to a female character, she does

not suffer the interaction penalties described in the

Girlish Envy template trait in relation to that

character.

Challenge Rating: The Troublemaker’s

base CR is unchanged.

Level Adjustment: +0



Troublemakers in Psi-Watch

Since The Dark Knight Returns is one of the

seminal works of the “Iron Age” of comics, and the

Psi-Watch is inspired by those same comics, the

Troublemaker template is a natural fit for the cam-

paign. Jubilee of the X-Men andCyberforce’s

Velocity, two of the iconic female characters of the

1990s, are prototypical Troublemakers.

Troublemaker characters should focus on

enhancing their already impressive speed, agility and

defensive abilities. Cybernetics and psionic powers

that emphasize mobility and evasion are prime

choices for Troublemakers. Since a youthful, jailbait

sexiness is part and parcel of the template, most

players will select an attractive, mostly humanoidplayer race for use with the template. Gamemasters

can expect lots of Gravity Cat, Patriot Ivory,

Cityborn, Challengers, and Spetnazsi Troublemak-

ers, even a few Light Reconstruction Cyborgs but

somebody is going to show up at the table with a

flirty, teenaged Jupiter Tainted or Patriot Anvil

mutate. If that happens, just go with it… and try not

to picture a 500 lb lunk of living granite in a mini-

skirt. It’ll just hurt your brain.

Troublemakers are common to most of the

factions in Psi-Watch.

A player can build an iconoclast Final

Sword using this template- a promising young

swordswoman who is constantly butting heads with

the Order’s matrons, who spends as much time on

punishment details as she does in the sword dojo

because of her impudence. Likewise, a Trouble-

maker might be a new Psi-Watch agent, a talented

and cocky young para-human recruited right out of high school. Naturally, the Troublemaker will fight

almost as hard against her own organization’s drill

sergeants as she does enemy cyborgs.

Troublemakers are a basically heroic

archetype, likable and hopeful. As such, the

gamemaster should probably avoid using this

template with the setting’s villains, like the Huxley

Emergence or Mung Thoy Tan’s thuggish enforcers.

Nothing prevents the gamemaster from

building villainous Troublemakers, though. Even the

most blood-thirsty anti-heroes might hesitate at

taking down a little girl, even if she is a villain. If you

are comfortable making the campaign about moral

choices, rather than run n’ gun action, giving a minor

villain or three this template might be a good choice.

After all, the spiked chain-wielding GoGo Yubari

(from Kill Bill vol 1), is a damn good example of an

evil Troublemaker. Evil Troublemakers live up to

their name- they are sadistic, cruel and manipulative,

and use their barely legal beauty as another weapon

in their arsenal.

Troublemakers in the Otherverse

Like their counterparts in Psi-Watch,

Otherverse Troublemakers can hail from any faction,and can fight for any cause.

Troublemakers are naturally common to the

Choicer faction, since the Choicers are a gynarchy,

whose military places great emphasis on graceful

and dexterous melee experts. Many young Clinic

Defenders, and even a few of the normally more

serious-minded Neo-Witch Midwives acquire this

template along the way. Troublemakers are media-

friendly Choicer activists and combat volunteers;

Choicer porno-blogs and Mesh sites are dominated

by attractively packaged young Troublemakers. The

Choicer media enjoys and encourages the antics of

the pseudo-nation’s Troublemakers, holding them up

as one ideal of young, female heroism.

Lifer Troublemakers are in many ways, the

antithesis of their movement’s stereotypes. The

prototypical Lifer is hideously huge, male and brutal.

By contrast, a Lifer Troublemaker is nimble, attrac-

tive, female and more focused on defense and

evasion than killing. Tossing a Troublemaker Lifersoldier at the players is a good way to refute some

of the setting’s unspoken stereotypes and once again

humanize the group’s Lifer adversaries, especially if

your campaign focuses heavily on regular gun battles

against the A.O.G.

Many Lifer girls who choose the CFL Kid

or Block Mother starting occupation also acquire

this template. These young, purple-garbed women



blend the playful innocence

and sexiness inherent in the

template with their own

responsibilities as teen

mothers.

Further Reading

The comic-booky,

stereotypically feminine

inspiration for the Trouble-

maker can also be felt in

many other Skortched Urf

products. The Troublemaker

template makes a good

thematic fit for the Neo-

Witch Guardian andInno-

cent advanced classes(Skortched Urf Studios

Advanced Class Update

line).

The template pro-

vides some much needed

levity and innocence for

Black Tokyo (Black Tokyo

campaign setting, Otherverse

Games) adventurers. Many

Harem Mages might create

Troublemaker playthings, and

if you want to play a cute and

cuddly cat-girl, picking

Nekomusumane as your

player race works just as well, if not better, than

picking Gravity Cat.

Living Toys (from D20 Decade:1980s,

Otherverse Games) are a good thematic fit to the

template. Siren and Swiftwing Pixies are great

character choices (and even better power-gaming

choices) for fantasy gamers making use of thistemplate. Both races can be found in The Thinking

Races: Inhuman Beauty (Otherverse Games).



Free20: Troublemaker, Chris A. Field, Otherverse

Games, 2009

www.otherversegames.blogspot.com

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