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    White Knights, Black Hearts is a Wild Talentsadventure

    for low- to moderately-powered superheroes in a setting

    with all the default character archetypes.

    Please read no further if you expect to go through this

    scenario as a player.

    is adventure brings the player charactersa loose

    group of third-rate, down-on-their-luck supersinto a

    mob war in the turbulent year 1975. As the adventure be-

    gins, the heroes find themselves squarely in the sights ofthe police, the Mafia, assorted superpowered criminals, and

    the citys most famous superhero team. Only quick, street-

    wise thinking and a little superhuman luck will pull them

    through this adventure unscathed.

    Which World?White Knights, Black Hearts is not set in the official

    world of Wild Talents and GODLIKE. Its a mix of the com-

    ics, movies and TV shows of the mid-1970s of our own real

    world. Its about the sweat and grit of Streets of San Franciscoand Shaft,with Bronze Age heroes and antiheroes working

    the streets far beneath the notice of more powerful Silver

    Age-style superheroes.

    The Colors of HeroismHow does the world of White Knights, Black Hearts look

    in terms of Wild Talents axes of superheroic world design?

    Red 2: Superhumans have had a significant but not over-

    whelming impact on this world. e city relies on an officially

    sanctioned superhero team to protect it from superhumanthreats and superpowered factions are at play in the under-

    world, but the culture at large is recognizable as our own.

    Gold 3: Superhumans themselves are certainly not

    changeless, but their reputations change only slowly. Even

    those who dont bother with secret identities find them-

    selves typecast by a public more interested in what they

    can do than what they actually do or why.

    Blue 2: Major supernatural forces are at work but are not

    commonly acknowledged as such. Sure, theres a famous

    superhero called the Black Atlantean, and thats a good

    schtick, but nobody really thinks hes really an immortal

    from Platos mythical Atlantis.

    Black 3: Superpowers tend to clarify the differences be-

    tween right and wrong and amplify the consequences of

    how we obtain and use power. On the streets of Red Shore

    law and order arent always the same as justice and truthinfact most folks in this part of town hear law and order and

    think oppressionbut anyone can see that superpowered

    murderers need to be stopped fast.

    Pregenerated CharactersSix pregenerated player charactersJake e Cannon

    Crawford, Barry Trouble Man Brown, Carter e Streak

    Benke, Carl Leatherneck Anderson, Elias Redshift

    Brock and Rosie Scorch Williamsare included at the

    end of White Knights, Black Hearts.e pregenerated heroes were designed to fit the scenario

    and setting, but players should feel free to create their own

    characters. ere are only a few core requirements.

    250 Points: Each player character should be built on 250

    Points. If they are more powerful than that, you may want to

    beef up the NPCs to keep the players from having an easy

    time of it.

    Put down by the Man: Each player characters back-

    ground should explain why and how he or she has been kept

    back from the mainstream acclaim and success that somesuperhumans enjoy.

    On the streets: e player characters should either be

    focused on making life better for the underside of the city

    or involved closely with such characters.

    Its 1975:at means no Internet, no cell phones, not

    even much cable TV. Even microwave ovens are a novelty.

    Be sure the characters reflect the times.

    White Knights, Black HeartsWild Talentson the Mean Streets

    Written by Shane Ivey Illustrated by Todd Shearer

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    3White Knights, Black Hearts www.arcdream.com

    ContentsW h i c h W o r l d ? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

    Welcome to Red Shore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

    Why 1975? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

    Whats Goin On? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

    Scene 1: The Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

    Scene 2: Fugitives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

    Scene 3: The White Knights (or, Why Cant We Be Friends?) . . . . . .10

    Typical Beat Cop. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

    Typical Plainclothes Detective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

    Typical SWAT Team Specialist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

    Scene 4: The Morgue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

    Scene 5: On the Town . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

    Scene 6: The Crooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

    For the Players: Folks Around Town. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

    Scene 7: Investigating Babyface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Scene 8: Babyface and Crabbe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

    Scene 9: Crooked Talents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15

    Officer Crabbe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15

    Babyface Nestor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15

    Scene 10: The Golden House Club . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16

    Scene 11: Mob Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

    Scene 12: The Press . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

    Scene 13: The Purge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

    Kung Fu Fighting! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

    Scene 14: City Hall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18Lt. Detective Tom Kelley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18

    Sammy Sacchi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18

    M a fi a G o o n s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 8

    Meanwhile, At the Hall of Heroes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

    Scene 15: Fredos Import Emporium Warehouse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19

    Wrapping Things Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

    Needle-Nose (200 pts) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21

    Two-Ton (200 pts) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21

    Joe Assissi (400 pts) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21

    Fenris (250 pts) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

    Nocturne (250 pts) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

    Joe Assisis Favorite Spells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

    The White Knights. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

    Whitelight (338 pts) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23

    Grailknight (437 pts) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24

    The Black Atlantean (500 pts) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26

    Glimmer (250 points) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28

    The Black Atlantean . . . ? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28

    Minute Man (349 pts) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

    The Heroes of Red Shore. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

    Archetype: Pinioned (15 pts) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

    The Cannon (250 pts) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

    Trouble Man (250 pts). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33The Streak (250 pts) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

    Leatherneck (250 pts) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35

    Redshift (250 pts) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36

    S c o r c h ( 2 5 0 p t s ) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 7

    CreditsWhite Knights, Black Hearts is written by Shane Ivey, 2010, and

    illustrated by Todd Shearer, 2006. The One-Roll Engine is Greg

    Stolze. Wild Talents is Dennis Detwiller, Kenneth Hite, Shane Ivey

    and Greg Stolze, 2010. Special thanks to Joe Crowe and KevinPezzano, who came up with Trouble Man and The Cannon, respectively.

    Published by Arc Dream Publishing. Wild Talentsis available to

    gamers and game stores around the world from Arc Dream Publishing

    and Cubicle 7 Entertainment. To order or to get more downloads and

    game resources, visit Wild Talentson the Web:

    www.arcdream.com/wildtalents

    http://www.arcdream.com/http://www.arcdream.com/wildtalentshttp://www.arcdream.com/http://www.arcdream.com/wildtalentshttp://www.arcdream.com/
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    I Told Him Weve Already Got OneWhat s that? Your players want to use characters from your

    existing Wild Talents campaign? Fair enough. rust them

    into the time and setting of White Knights, Black Hearts.

    Here are some tried and true possibilities.

    What if . . . : Its a one-shot adventure exploring what

    life would be like if the characters were in different circum-stances. Purely hypothetical and a favorite of comic books,

    the What if . . . possibility allows the players and GM to

    have a good time and not worry about all the niggling little

    details like just how they got there or how theyll get back.

    Alternate reality: Some powerful entity (a god, wizard,

    dimension-ripping Talent, or whatever) changes the world

    around the characters. ey remember the way it was, but

    they have no idea how to get it back. In the meantime, this is

    their life. Come up with a reason for the characters to have

    been dumped into White Knights, Black Hearts (maybe itwas a test of their powers or morality), and some conditions

    on which they will be returned to their own world, and youre

    set. e quest to get back home might make a good sequel.

    Free your mind:e players think theyve gotten trapped

    in an alternate reality, but its all a shared illusion. Whether

    its a full-sensory computer simulation or some monster

    telepaths mind trip, the result is the same: they are trapped

    in this world until they find out how to make it stop. Let

    White Knights, Black Hearts be the interlude before they

    figure out what s happening, or let the events in the scenario

    be tied into their means of escape.

    Time travel: Got a time machine? Go ahead and use it.

    As the GM, though, youl l need to do a little fudging to

    make the characters fit the scenario; unlike the pre-gener-

    ated characters, your time travelers wont be known to the

    city and wont have any vested interest in protecting it, apart

    from the need to clear their names so as to avoid trouble un-

    til they find their way back home. Maybe they can prevent

    a future tragedy by figuring out the real culprit in this case.

    Do whatever fits your campaign.

    Welcome to Red Shoree action takes place in a run-down neighborhood called

    Red Shore, where the people trust heroes who live among

    them but turn warily away from the cops.

    Where exactly is Red Shore? ats up to you. It could be

    in New York, New Orleans, Los Angeles, or San Francisco.

    Pick your favorite seaside urban sprawl and you can find the

    Red Shore docks at its armpit. e big city goes about its

    business uptown and downtown, but on the outskirts things

    are tough, the work is hard and underpaid (when any can be

    found at all), and the citys official superhuman protectors

    have more important things to worry about.

    e player characters, street-level vigilantes trying to

    make it a day at a time, only do what they can to help. Like

    their adopted community, they have all been put down by

    e Man.

    e heroes are not the darlings of the media, the gov-

    ernment, or the public. ey may even be involved in some

    Why 1975?White Knights, Black Hearts is about trust, corruption, belonging

    and betrayalwith superheroes. Something about that mix just

    sounds right when set to a soundtrack of mid-70s funk.

    But its more than that. In America, the 1970s were a time of

    tremendous culture shock. Every level of official authority seemed

    riddled with abuse. The Watergate scandal rocked the White House

    and toppled the president. The Church Committee hearings ex-

    posed the CIAs dirty secrets to the world. Serpico blew corruption

    in the NYPD wide open. The FBI admitted that it had kept secret

    files on its political enemies for decades. In 1975 the messy, hu-

    miliating retreat from the moral and military quagmire of Vietnam

    finally ended.

    As the anomie spread, the empowerment movements of the late

    1960s seemed often to degenerate into street gangs and terror-

    ists, celebrity posers and noisily ineffective lobbyists. Mainstreamyouth culture slid from muddled idealism to nihilistic hedonism,

    while middle America struggled to carry on unaffected by it all.

    Urban cop shows were ubiquitous in the 70s, but the real-

    world police were often as alien and detached from their crime-

    ridden cities as a foreign occupying force. The pigs had few ties to

    the communities they were entrusted to police, which were wracked

    by the sudden explosion of the drug trade and its violence, impov-

    erishment, and waste.

    The heroes and villains of White Knights, Black Hearts reflect

    those divisions in society, amplified and exaggerated. The goodguys are the underdogs, the poor, the third-rate, struggling to pro-

    tect their own while the truly powerful remain far above and oblivi-

    ous to the truth of the situation. When those two worlds collide,

    blood can spill.

    As it so often did in 1975.

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    shady deals themselves, but mostly they try to do good and

    make life a little better for those around them. ey are

    more concerned with the day to day lives of ordinary people,

    their friends and loved ones struggling to make ends meet,

    than supervillains ludicrous schemes to take over the world.

    After all, on the streets, even the small villains are usually

    too dangerous or too well-connected to be taken down once

    and for allmaybe a thug cant kill you, but he can kill your

    sister, girlfriend, mother, or grocer. As the cops learned long

    ago, when you put one punk or gangster away there are al-

    ways more to take his place.

    ey keep the peace with street gangs, ragingly corrupt

    police precincts, and the mob, because keeping the peace is

    the only way to reign them all in. More often than not, cut-

    ting a deal with a criminal or a gang can keep the peace and

    stop something big from going down, even if it doesnt put

    every bad guy in sight in the big house.

    Take Tony Sacchi, head of the Sacchi crime family. Sac-

    chi keeps the worst drugs, the designer stuff thatll kill an

    addict quick, off the streets, and he keeps his people from

    doing violence against ordinary shopkeepers and citizens. In

    return, he expects the cops and the local heroes to leave his

    people alone when it comes to the small stuff. Sacchi may

    move the occasional stolen truckload of merchandise into

    his warehouse, but thats a small price to pay. ings could

    be much worse.

    Some folks say it would be better for the heroes to take on

    Tony Sacchi and his whole organization.

    ose folks dont have to live in Red Shore.

    Behind the Scenes: Power Playe adventure begins as the heroes become targets in a Ma-

    fia power play. Anthony Sacchi is boss of the Sacchi Fam-

    ily, but his nephew Sammy Sacchi wants to take his place.

    Whats Goin On?Want a snapshot of life in 1975? Well, thats

    too much for a quick note like this. But heres

    a little flavor.

    What do they watch on TV?Cop shows

    are everywhere! Television in the 1950s and

    60s was ruled by Westerns, but these days its

    all detective shows and cops in squad cars:

    Hawaii Five-O, Kojak, Streets of San Fran-

    cisco, The Rockford Files, Adam 12, Police

    Story, Mannix, Cannon; the list goes on and

    on. Comedy hits include M*A*S*H, All in the

    Family, Maude, Happy Days, The Odd Couple,

    Sanford and Son, and The Carol Burnett Show.

    Little House on the Prairie, Kung Fu and Mar-

    cus Welby, M.D., round out dramas, and thereare even a few sci-fi shows around, like Planet

    of the Apes, KolchakThe Night Stalker,

    and

    the hit Six Million Dollar Man.

    Whats at the movies? Historical dra-

    ma, stark urban suspense, and oddball com-

    edy rule the box office. Kubricks period piece

    Barry Lyndon and Sean Connerys The Man

    Who Would Be King

    take new looks at times

    past. Al Pacinos Dog Day Afternoon

    and Rob-

    ert Altmans Nashvillecapture a sense of hope-

    less defiance in the remnants of the counter-

    culture. Actors like Gene Hackman and Steve

    McQueen star in muggy action thrillers like

    Night Moves

    and last years Towering Inferno;

    and comedies are as strange and varied asMonty Python and the Holy Grail, The Rocky

    Horror Picture Show, Shampoo, Tommy,

    Young Frankenstein,and kids hits like Benji

    and the ongoing Herbie the Love Bug series.

    Whats on the radio? Believe it or not,

    Captain and Tennilles Love Will Keep Us

    Together is Number One on the charts. Other

    hits include (Hey Wont You Play) Another

    Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song

    by B.J. Thomas, The Hustle by Van McCoy& The Soul City Symphony, Angie Baby by

    Helen Reddy, and Jive Talkin by the Bee-

    Gees. Want some atmosphere in your game?

    Download a few of these songs to play in the

    background.

    What about politics? Ah, politics in

    1975. The U.S. withdraws from the war in

    Vietnam as South Vietnam surrenders to the

    communist North. The fallout of Watergate

    continues, with former White House staffers

    and officials regularly being deposed and ei-

    ther heading to prison or just now getting out.

    In June, an Eastern Airlines 727 crashes at JFK

    Airport, killing 113.

    Margaret Thatcher became the first femalePrime Minister of Britain in February, the same

    month the Attorney General admitted that the

    FBI kept secret files on politicians private lives

    for decades on the orders of J. Edgar Hoover.

    Teamster leader Jimmy Hoffa disappears on

    July 30 in Detroit.

    In September, two separate women will be

    arrested trying to assassinate President Ford;

    in November, a Senate committee will report

    that U.S. officials and the CIA had formed plotsto assassinate foreign leaders; in December, a

    bomb kills 11 and injures 75 at New Yorks La-

    Guardia Airport.

    But for now its still summer. The sun is

    blazing, exhaust from window-mounted air

    conditioners beats down, and sweaty men in

    sleazy clubs make deals to ruin the lives of a

    few beleaguered, would-be heroes. . . .

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    Sammy Sacchi and his allies want to toss out the informal

    deals that his uncle has made with law enforcement and

    superhuman vigilantes, the deals that keep the heroes out of

    the mobs business (mostly) and the cops quiet and happy.

    Sammy Sacchi likes to think bigparticularly of the big,

    big profits hell make in the drug trade once all his uncles

    stupid rules are gone. He tells his boys that his new prod-uct will take the city by storm, so fast the heroes and the

    cops wont even have time to blink.

    Sammy and his allies are ready to move. Hes made deals

    with street thugs in Red Shore, guys who have been kept

    down by the citys underworld heroes. ey helped set

    things up, and Sammy brought in his own hired Talents to

    drive the heroes off or eliminate them for good.

    Two of these thugsa killer named Jacob Needle-Nose

    Ward and a sorcerer named Joe Assissiarrange a particu-

    larly heinous killing to pin on the heroes. Assissi creates

    illusions to make them look like two of the heroes and get

    away clean afterward; Needle-Nose does the dirty work.

    Sammy Sacchi fully expects to have the heroes under

    control by daybreak, but hes no fool. If he thinks the heroes

    are likely to get to the bottom of thingsand the cops and

    even other superheroes from downtown cant stop them

    he has potential witnesses killed off to keep them from talk-

    ing, just in case.

    If the heroes want to solve this mystery and clear their

    names, they have to move fast.

    Scene by SceneWhite Knights, Black Hearts features a large number of non-

    player characters and possible events. is breakdown should

    help you make sense of it all.

    Scene 1: e Setup.e heroes are framed for a brutal

    murder and must get away from the cops or spend the rest

    of the adventure in lock-up. From here the heroes are most

    likely to interact with the authorities (scenes 2 and 4), the

    White Knights (scene 3), local civilians (scene 5), and/or the

    criminal element (scenes 6 and 9). Scene 2: Fugitives.e heroes have sources among the

    police that they can tap for information on the casebut

    some of those sources arent at all trustworthy.

    Scene 3: e White Knights.e city s official super-

    hero team shows up to help the police deal with these rogue

    superhumans wanted for murder. ey can potentially be

    useful allies for the heroes, but at first they are dangerous

    adversaries.

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    Scene 4: e Morgue. One obvious source of clues is the

    body of the murder victim.

    Scene 5: On the Town.e heroes have a number of friends

    and potential witnesses to interview, if theyre careful enough

    to not tip off the police.

    Scene 6: e Crooks. Red Shore is loaded with crimi-

    nals, from street hoods to powerful gangsters, and many ofthem suspect the gang war thats about to go down.

    Scene 7: Investigating Babyface.e heroes may try to

    track down a thug who bragged to a couple of mafia goons

    about how he was going to help take down the local super-

    heroes.

    Scene 8: Babyface and Crabbe.e thug and his partner,

    a crooked cop, can point the way to the real killersif the

    heroes find them in time.

    Scene 9: Crooked Talents.e heroes may suspect su-

    perhuman involvement and want to question some local

    Talents who live outside the law. Two of these are deeply

    involved in the events in Red Shorebut they are nowhere

    to be found.

    Scene 10: e Golden House Club.e most likely cul-

    prit in the murder is a thug and wannabe assassin who earns

    his living at a pit-fighting club. e heroes may go there

    looking for him.

    Scene 11: Mob Rules.e heroes may go to Tony Sac-

    chi, the mob boss with whom they have a tacit truce, to find

    out what he and especially his closest rival are up to.

    Scene 12: e Press.e cops arent the only ones look-

    ing for the heroes. . . .

    Scene 13: e Purge.As the heroes close in on the truth,

    mastermind Sammy Sacchi decides to cut his lossesopen-

    ing his move against his uncle with a murderous purge of

    everyone involved in the frame-up of the heroes.

    Scene 14: City Hall. e heroes may finally confront

    Sammy Sacchi and his allies, high in the city government, at

    City Hall itself. is is one possible climactic scene for the

    adventure.

    Scene 15: Fredos Import Emporium Warehouse. In an-other possible climax, the heroes may confront Sammy Sac-

    chi and his allies and superpowered goons on his own turf.

    Scene 1: The Setupe streets of Red Shore, nearly midnight. One or two of

    the player characters are out for a stroll, keeping an eye out

    for trouble. ey find it.

    e heroes spy the corpse of a little girl in a dead-end

    alley. Its the body of a local named Tonya Serrano, obvi-

    ously very recently killed and horribly mutilated. ere are

    footprints and fingerprints in the bloodbut the players

    barely have time to look at the scene when a shriek sounds

    out from a fire escape overhead, and a few people come cau-

    tiously to their windows to see.

    An old woman points accusingly at the heroes.

    I saw em! I saw em! ey killed Tonya!

    It is 11:47 p.m.

    en they hear the sirens. Its all happening too quick-

    lyhas that old woman really had time and the inclina-

    tion to call the cops?but the police are coming fast, only

    a couple of blocks away. e heroes have four rounds to do

    whatever they want to do, and onlookers at their windows

    will watch every second of it.

    At first only one squad car shows up, but as soon as they

    see and recognize the heroes one cop will be on the ra-

    dio calling for backup while the other aims a shotgun and

    shouts at the heroes to put their hands on their heads and

    hit the pavement. More sirens are very close. Other squad

    cars will show up in only five rounds.

    Getting away shouldnt be too hard, unless the heroesmake themselves good targets and the cops get lucky. ey

    can shimmy up the fire escapes for the roof, head into one of

    the buildings, or even push right past the cops if they arent

    afraid of gunfire. But they should know to be careful. Being

    spotted at the scene of a murder is one thing. If they kill or

    badly hurt a cop, they lose every last chance of credibility

    with the authorities.

    Scene 2: FugitivesIf the heroes keep their heads down, they may be able to talkto a few people and get to the bottom of things. Its one of

    the few nice things about living in the shady part of town:

    Most people still talk to you when youre on the run.

    at doesnt mean the heroes have an easy r ide. e cops

    and the downtown super-team, the White Knights, are out

    for blood, and the press wants pictures of it. As soon as the

    word goes out that superhumans are suspects, the city s

    heavily armed SWAT team rolls out of headquarters down-

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    King

    Rd.

    King

    Rd.

    Fish

    Ave

    .

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    .

    23rdSt.

    24thSt.

    21stSt.

    25thSt.

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    t.

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    adeSt

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    Basin

    Red Shore

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    North Pier

    Red Shore

    Cargo

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    Port

    Authority

    Southport Public

    Housing Project

    Northhaven Public

    Housing Project

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    Inset

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    21stSt.

    20thSt.

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    Elementary

    School

    Red Shore

    High School

    Red Shore

    Middle School

    19thSt.

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    18thSt.

    18thSt.

    17thSt.

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    15thSt.

    15thSt.

    14thSt.

    14thSt.

    13thSt.

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    12thSt.

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    RED SHORE1

    2

    3

    4

    5

    6

    7

    8

    9

    10

    11

    12

    13

    14

    15

    Crime scene

    Police station

    Serrano apartment

    Williams Investigations

    Gooches Pawn Shop

    Red Shore Elementary School

    Fancy Lady Club

    Fredos Import Emporium Warehouse

    Nestor apartment

    Georgies Place

    Ward apartment

    Red Shore Middle School

    Rodriguez apartment

    Johnson apartment

    Red Shore High School

    N

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    town and waits at the local precinct house for a chance to

    take them down.

    e heroes should have plenty of chances for encoun-

    ters with police, and theres room for variety. ey might

    spot a patrol car coming around the corner, or a beat cop

    in a caf window, or an unmarked car (Brains+Streetwise

    or an equivalent skill will recognize it) parked on a cornerwith a pair of sweaty detectives sitting on watch. e more

    people they talk to in Red Shore, the more frequently the

    cops should show up.

    Sooner or later, the cops and the White Knights will spot

    a pattern in sightings of the heroes, set some baitI heard

    something you oughta know. Come meet me at 23rd and

    Fish Avenue!and land on them with both feet. If the

    players arent very careful, eventually theyll have to fight to

    get away.

    Unofficially, there are a few cops in the area wholl talk to

    them without trying to slap on the cuffs. Maybe they know

    the heroes and dont believe they would have done such a

    heinous crime, or maybe theyre willing to pretend as much

    for the right incentive. It varies from cop to cop and from

    hero to hero. e players have to be carefulapart from the

    cops they know, most call in the SWAT team as soon as the

    heroes show themselves.

    No cops know about Sammy Sacchis plot against the

    heroes.

    Lt. KelleyLieutenant Detective Tom Kelley is in charge of investi-

    gations in this precinct. He knows the heroes, and can be

    convinced that they are innocent and will try not to turn

    them in. (He knows full well that they didnt do it, but hell

    put on a show of slowly coming over to their side.) He offers

    to keep an eye on things and keep them in the loop if they

    will do the same.

    He heard the dispatch go out at 11:44 P.M., three min-

    utes before the heroes found Tonyas body. A witness (Miri-

    am Wilson; see below) saw them carrying the body onto thescene, and their fingerprints and footprints (whatever might

    be on fileit s your call as GM) were all over the place.

    Secretly, Kelley works for Sammy Sacchi, and has been in-

    strumental in recruiting police to work for the upstart mobster.

    He has tried to keep Sammys people from targeting cops who

    dont want to play ballbut he could only shake his head and

    look the other way the time or two when a prospective recruit

    took dumb risks to fight Sammy and paid the price. Anything

    he learns about the heroes, hell report to Sammy Sacchi. But

    Sacchi has told him nothing about the plot against the heroes.

    The DispatcherGeraldine McLaughlin is a no-nonsense dispatcher with a

    clean record, working her way through college. An anony-

    mous call came in at 11:40 P.M.; a womans voice saying theheroes had been seen carrying a body (which appeared to

    be a childs body), into the alley where they found Tonya.

    McLaughlin was dubious, but the woman named the heroes

    specifically and described what they were wearing. She re-

    ported it to a squad car on patrol nearby.

    Officer GwenHarold Gwen, a beat cop, is nervous about everything. Hes

    heard rumors the Sacchi family is getting shaken up from the

    inside, that the boss nephew is looking to squeeze out all the

    boss soldiers and the cops who wont play ball with the new

    regime. Gwen doesnt like what hes heard about the nephew

    he likes things nice and peaceful, like they are nowbut hes

    afraid to rock the boat. He doesnt want to talk to the heroes

    or get involved in anything controversial, and he doesnt know

    anything about the case except what he hears on the radio.

    Officer MillerAnother beat cop, Dick Miller always chases down violent

    troublemakers, but he largely leaves street-level vice alone.

    Hes not on the take with Sacchi or anybody else, but he is

    willing to look the other way if Sammy Sacchi takes over

    and steps up the family s operations in Red Shore, as long as

    things dont get too nasty. He doesnt know anything about

    the murder. If the heroes confront him, he gets on the radio

    to report as soon as the heroes are away and he is safe.

    Officer ConnerA beat cop with some bad, bad habits, Jerry Conner is a

    gambler and a shakedown artist. Always desperate for cash

    to pay his debts from the tables, he beats and threatens do-nations out of the punks on the street, intimidates other

    cops to keep them quiet, and sends enough kickbacks up-

    stairs to keep himself safe from investigation. He has been

    on the Sacchi payroll for a long time, but he doesnt really

    care who is running the show. As long as Sammy Sacchi

    lets him bet and lets him do what he must to pay up, hell

    be happy. He doesnt know a thing about the plot against

    the heroes.

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    Typical Beat CopBody3d Coordination2d Sense2d

    Mind2d Charm2d Command3d

    Base Will5

    Skills: Athletics 1d (4d), Brawling 2d (5d), Driving: Car 2d (4d),

    Empathy 1d (3d), Intimidation 2d (5d), Knowledge: Criminology

    1d (3d), Lie 1d (3d), Melee Weapon: Nightstick 2d (5d), Ranged

    Weapon: Pistol 2d (4d), Ranged Weapon: Shotgun 1d (3d), Stabil-

    ity 2d (5d), Streetwise 1d (3d)

    Weapons

    .38 revolver(Cap. 6, Damage: width in Shock, width+1 in Killing)

    12-gauge shotgun (Cap. 5, Spray 3, Damage: width+1 in Shock

    and Killing)

    Nightstick(Damage: width+1 in Shock)

    Bulletproof vest(LAR 2 for hit locations 79)

    Typical Plainclothes DetectiveBody3d Coordination2d Sense2d

    Mind2d Charm2d Command3d

    Base Will 5

    Skills: Athletics 1d (4d), Brawling 2d (5d), Driving: Car 2d (4d),

    Empathy 2d (4d), Interrogation 2d (4d), Intimidation 2d (5d), Knowl-

    edge: Criminology 3d (5d), Lie 3d (5d), Ranged Weapon: Pistol 2d

    (4d), Scrutinize 2d (4d), Stability 2d (5d), Streetwise 2d (4d)

    Weapons

    .38 revolver(Cap. 6, Damage: width in Shock, width+1 in Killing)Bulletproof vest(LAR 2 for hit locations 79)

    Typical SWAT Team SpecialistBody3d Coordination3d Sense2d

    Mind2d Charm2d Command3d

    Base Will5

    Skills: Athletics 3d (6d), Brawling 3d (6d), Driving: Car 2d (4d),

    Intimidation 3d (6d), Knowledge: Criminology 2d (4d), Lie 2d (4d),

    Ranged Weapon: Grenade 2d (5d), Ranged Weapon: Pistol 3d (6d),

    Ranged Weapon: Rifle 3d (6d), Stability 3d (6d), Streetwise 1d (3d)Weapons

    .45 pistol (Cap. 7, Damage: width+1 in Shock and Killing)

    M-16 assault rifle(Cap. 30, Spray 4, Damage: width+2 in Shock

    and Killing)

    .308 sniper rifle(Cap. 8, Damage: width+2 in Shock and width+3

    in Killing)

    Bulletproof vest and helmet (LAR 2 for hit locations 710)

    Scene 3: TheWhite Knights (or,Why Cant WeBe Friends?)Squad cars wont be the only response to the cops call for

    help. Within half an hour, the White Knightsthe citys

    official superpowered championsarrive in Red Shore,

    looking for the renegade Talents and ready for a fight.

    If they find them, the White Knights request that the

    heroes come in quietly so they can get to the bottom of the

    murderif theyre innocent, after all, the truth will come

    out. As with the cops, the heroes are better off trying to

    escape without a fight. Obnoxious as they are, the White

    Knights may be useful allies later on, and they ll certainly be

    tough enemies. If they kept in touch with Detective Kelley, hes prob-

    ably the first to warn the heroes that the White Knights are

    on their trail. With every passing hour they look more like

    theyre out for blood. ey think the heroes are out of con-

    trol, a danger to the community and the police, and Kelley

    says theyre looking to put them under lock and keyor on

    a slab, if necessary. Just a friendly warning.

    If the heroes have been open with him, Kelley will lead

    the White Knights right to them. He doesnt need much

    information; only enough for Grailknights massive intellectto spot the patterns and guess where theyll show up next.

    Kelley feeds the heroes enough genuine-sounding clues

    warnings to keep them in touch until the White Knights

    are ready to jump on them.

    As vigilantes go, the White Knights are publicity-con-

    scious and genuinely worried about civilians, and they are

    wary of excessive risk to bystanders. is might give the he-

    roes an opening to get away without anyone getting hurt or

    killed.

    Grailknightkeeps watch on the witness, Miriam Wil-son, and on Tonya Serranos home. If the heroes go to one

    or the other after the White Knights have come on the

    scene, Grailknight will be there; but not both, unless theres

    some clue that you think he needs to impart to the heroes.

    Grailknight moves cautiously after taking some time to ob-

    serve the heroes behavior, attempting to sneak up on a lone

    character, incapacitate and arrest him (or her) and haul the

    hero off for questioning. Grailknight is alert, smarter than

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    Tonyas body, she screamed, and the police came before she

    even got a chance to call them. If the heroes have some way of

    telling, Wilson is telling the truthshe saw all of this with her

    own eyes.

    The Old ManJesse Otis is an old man who lives alone on the second floor,

    across the alley from Miriam Wilsons window. He keeps

    heavy bars over his window and a heavy lock on his door,

    and his apartment smells like old cat food. He didnt see

    nothin, didnt hear nothin, dont know nothin, and dont

    want nothin. (Again, the truth.)

    The Single Mom and Her SonLeeLee Miller is a middle-aged mother whose husband left

    years ago. She works two jobs and was sound asleep when

    the body was found; she didnt know anything was wrong

    until she heard the screaming (and gunshots, if there were

    any) outside. Her son, Francois, is a high school student who

    was up late that night with his headphones on, listening to

    James Brown albums. His stoutly barred window is right

    next to the alley, but he didnt hear or see anything, either.

    Scene 6: The Crookse heroes may decide to comb the underworld for clues asto who is trying to set them up. It may in fact save them a

    lot of time and troublegoing through the cops tells them

    a little about the turmoil in the mob, but it wont tell them a

    thing about their own situation.

    Keep track of what the heroes tell Lt. Kelley. As soon as

    he hears they are looking for Babyface Nestor, hell report

    it to Sammy Sacchi, and Sacchi will start having witnesses

    For the Players:Folks Around TownNot all of these locals are friends, but not all of

    them are enemies, either. When youre working

    the streets caution is the key.

    The StreetTonya Serrano:The victim. Eight years old

    and brutally murdered.

    Cecelia CC Walton: A local girl whos

    been working the streets for 10 of her 25 rough

    years. Knows everybody.

    Cedricks Moore:CCs pimp. Strictly small-

    time.

    Chuckie Gooche:A pawnbroker and fence.

    Well-connected and tight-lipped.

    The King Road Disciples: The biggest

    street gang in the area. Into car theft and dope.

    Led by Larry Martin.

    The LawLt. Det. Tom Kelley:In charge of investiga-

    tions in the Red Shore precinct. Canny but not

    crooked. Has dealt straight with you before.

    Harold Gwen: A local beat cop. Quiet, unas-

    suming, mild-mannered.

    Dick Miller: A local beat cop. Gung-ho

    against violent troublemakers, but mostly

    leaves street vice alone.

    Jerry Conner:A local beat cop. Tough and

    intimidating. Word has it he shakes down the

    pimps and pushers regularly to feed a gam-bling habit.

    Carl Crabbe: A local beat cop. Big and ugly,

    with a career that stalled twenty years ago. Fa-

    vors the local hookers and strip clubs.

    The MobTony Sacchi: Head of the Sacchi family,

    whose territory includes Red Shore.

    Giorgio Mans:A representative of Tony Sac-

    chi in Red Shore. Runs Georgies Place.Danny Miller:A representative of Tony Sac-

    chi in Red Shore. Usually found in Georgies

    Place.

    Crooked TalentsBooster: Gregory G. Booster Embry. Ampli-

    fies sound. A small-timer who spies on people

    with his superpower for a living.

    Two-Ton:Karl Two-Ton Kuhn. Increases his

    weight and strength. The heavier he gets, the

    tougher and stronger he gets. Has kept a low

    profile since serving time for a bungled bank

    job.

    Needle-Nose: Jacob Needle-Nose Ward.

    Skin and bones are hard as steel. Got out of jail

    from a juvenile manslaughter charge a year ago.Nape: Henry Nape Ranson. A deranged

    homeless veteran who bleeds liquid fire. Reg-

    ularly jailed for arson, vagrancy, and assault.

    The White KnightsWhitelight: A flying powerhouse who glows

    too brightly to see.

    Grailknight: A mysterious armored avenger.

    Glimmer: A girl who reflects and amplifies

    light like a walking mirror.Minute Man: An aging veteran of WW2 who

    can freeze time for short periods.

    The Black Atlantean: The exiled, immortal

    king of a lost proto-African civilization.

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    murdered before (or after) they can talk. See Scene 13: e

    Purge, on page 17.

    Giorgio Mans and Danny Millerese local mafia hoods represent Sacchi in the area. ey

    work out of Georgies Place, a family-owned restaurant

    on the outskirts of Red Shore. ey dont know anythingabout Tonya Serrano. Usually gregarious, now theyre none

    too talkative. If pressed, they warn the heroes to keep their

    heads down. Sammy Sacchi is making a play for the fam-

    ily, and everybody knows he doesnt like Don Sacchis truce

    with the cops and vigilantes.

    Plus, they overheard a local punk, Babyface Nestor (his

    first name is Bailey, and hell pick a fight with anyone who

    uses it), talking up how he had a plan to get rid of the he-

    roes. Nestor comes around a lot trying to get in good with

    the mob, trying to score some kind of deal for his gang, talk-

    ing tough. ey dont know where Nestor can be found now,

    but he runs with the King Road Disciples.

    But what do the heroes have to worry about from a low-

    life hood?

    C.C. Walton: A Working Girl Witha Heart of . . . Well, a Working GirlWalton has been working the streets of Red Shore for 10

    of her 25 years, and its worn her out. She doesnt know

    anything about Tonyas death or the Sacchi plot, but she is

    always looking for her big break. As soon as the heroes leave,

    she gets on the a payphone to her pimp, Cedricks Moore, to

    tell him everything they said.

    Cedricks Moore: The PimpMoore is C.C.s manager, as he calls it, and hes been

    watching for a way to get in good with the Sacchi family.

    is might be his day. He looks up Officer Conner to pass

    along any news about the heroes actions, embellishing just

    enough ( . . . and they took C.C. for a ride and didnt pay

    a nickel. And you know I cant collect on that!) to keep itinteresting. Conner reports to Sacchi. If Sacchi thinks the

    heroes are on to him or Babyface, he starts the purge (see

    page 17).

    Chuckie Gooch: The PawnbrokerCharles Chuckie Gooch, local fence and pawnshop owner,

    is not a bad sort. He pays his bills and minds his own busi-

    ness. Hes probably on good terms with the heroes, but he

    doesnt want anything to do with any murder or any cops

    or any gangsters. He asks the heroes to stay clear until this

    thing blows over.

    Ronnie Martin: The DealerA street corner dope dealer and low-level gangster with the

    King Road Disciples, Martin doesnt know anything about themurder. He does know Babyface Nestor; he thinks Nestors

    stupid. He thinks cops are stupid, too. And mobsters. And su-

    perheroes. And pretty much everyone except Ronnie Martin.

    Martin doesnt know much about what Babyface has

    been up to lately, but he knows hes been meeting regularly

    the past couple of weeks with a local cop, Carl Crabbe. Ron-

    nie figured Babyface was trying to get on Crabbes good side

    for some reason, but thats just stupid. Crabbe is too big and

    stupid to do anything anyhow.

    The King Road Disciplese Disciples (their symbol: an X with two descending

    slashes, topped by a crown) are led by Larry Martin (no

    relation to Ronnie), a tough 26-year-old who has been in

    and out of city jails since he was 13. His gang mainly deals

    in drugs and turf wars with other gangs. ey know the mob

    works out of the docks only a few blocks away, but they keep

    their distance and figure the Sacchis will return the favor.

    So far, thats worked. Larry has heard rumors that theres a

    shake-up in the Sacchi family, with some new guy looking

    to take over, but he doesnt pay it much attention.

    Martin is derisive of Babyface Nestor, who spent a cou-

    ple of years acting like he was going to be the new man in

    charge of the Disciples until Martin put him in his place.

    All it took was a good beating; Babyface didnt get himself

    killed.

    But Babyface is always looking for some big score. Lately

    hes been seen with Carl Crabbe, a lunkhead of a cop on the

    take. Crabbe spends most shifts at the Fancy Lady, a nightclub

    as dirty as he is.

    Scene 7: InvestigatingBabyface

    e heroes can get plenty on Babyface Nestor on the street.

    Babyfaces ParentsJoe and Jackie Nestor live on the quieter outskirts of Red

    Shore. Not abjectly poor but constantly struggling, they

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    tried to raise Bailey as a hard-working son and seem baffled

    at all the trouble he gets into. Deep down, hes a good boy.

    ey havent seen him in a couple of months. A few yearsago they thought his girlfriend, Nanette, would settle him

    down, but they dont think hes seeing her anymore.

    The Ex-GirlfriendNanette Rodriguez is Babyface Nestors ex-girlfriend. ey

    dated for a long time when they both were teenagers, just be-

    fore he fell in with the King Road Disciples and started getting

    in trouble. at was when he started cheating on her with that

    two-bit slut Cammy Johnson, over on Cedar Street.

    The Two-Bit SlutCammy Johnson has dated Babyface, and many others in

    the neighborhood, off and on for the past couple of years.

    She knows hes been trying to score points with the King

    Road Disciples, but the other guys dont trust him. Babyface

    says a lot but doesnt get much done.

    If the heroes talk her into sharing or ransack her place

    thoroughly, they find a piece of notepaper that Babyface left

    at her apartment last week. e paper isnt labeled with hisname, but his atrocious handwriting is easily recognizable

    if they have something to compare with it. It reads Toreci,

    Grasado in sloppy, choppy letters. Cammy says she doesnt

    know what it means exactly, but Babyface said it was his

    ticket to the big time. en he forgot to take it with him.

    The Parole OfficerDaniel Aldred is Bailey Nestors parole officer. Badly over-

    worked, he has so many clients to keep track of that it

    doesnt bother him to let one hopeless recidivist like Nestorout of his sights. According to Aldreds reports, hes met

    with Nestor once a week as scheduled. In reality, if the he-

    roes get the truth out of him, he speaks with Nestor on the

    phone maybe twice a month and fudges the rest. He hasnt

    actually seen Babyface in over two months and has no idea

    what hes really up to.

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    Scene 8: Babyfaceand Crabbe

    Officer Crabbe is currently on duty, busily getting drunk at

    the Fancy Lady strip club with money he earned from Sam-

    my Sacchi by reporting some of the heroes favorite haunts

    and patrols. His new partner in crime, Babyface Nestor, is inback with one of the girls.

    Carl Crabbe, 47, is a lifer on the beat, unlikely to ever get

    promoted but too well-connected to get fired or prosecuted.

    Hes always ready to lend a hand when a kneecap needs

    busting. Hes been 20 years on the take with the Sacchis.

    If sufficiently . . . motivated, Crabbe admits to a deal with

    Joe Torresi and Art Graziadio, two mafia goons working for

    Sammy Sacchi. Reporting on the heroes was just the start.

    Babyface is going to work the gangs from the inside, and Crab-

    be is going to watch the cops, and both are going to report toSacchis men when they start bringing in their new drugs.

    He might let even more slip out of stupid bravado: Aint

    nothin you can do about it! is goes all the way to the TOP,

    baby! And you cant prove NOTHIN.

    But it takes a lot of coercion to get Crabbe to explain

    further: e top means Assistant Deputy Mayor Andrew

    Kincaid, Sacchis man in City Hall. Kincaids got it all set

    up for Sacchi, Crabbe says, top to bottom. e heroes better

    skip town before they get theirs.

    Crabbe doesnt know anything about Tonyas death andcouldnt care less.

    Sadly, when they finally track Babyface Nestor down, he

    doesnt have much to say. He recently showed a couple of

    Sacchis men around so they could find the heroes and talk

    to them, and in return hes going to be the distribution man

    for new drugs that the mob is bringing into town. e men

    he showed around were introduced by Torresi and Grazia-

    dio; hed never seen them before. One was a young white

    guy in a cheap leisure suit, the other an older white guy in a

    nice black coat and tie, like a banker. When he asked their

    names, the young guy told him to shut the hell up. He

    looked like a killer, and he was obviously too well-connected

    for Babyface to pay him back for his lip.

    Babyface doesnt know anything about Tonya, and cant

    be convinced that her murder had anything to do with his

    deal with Sammy Sacchi. Babyface is looking to get rich,

    sure; but what happened to that girl was just plain wrong.

    Scene 9: CrookedTalentse heroes might want to question a couple of known crim-

    inal supers to see if theyre involved or know anyone who

    might be using superpowered killers. e White Knights

    have done a good job of running most supervillains out of

    town, but there are still a few the heroes can look up without

    (much) trouble. Just one of them is availablethe heroes

    can scare up only rumors of the others.

    BoosterGregory G. Booster Embry has the power to amplify

    sound. He lives in a seedy loft in a different part of the city.

    Hes a lowlife at heart, too lazy to stick with any legitimate

    pursuit for long. He once tried bodyguard work, protect-

    ing an executive who was cutting his shady partners out of

    the company, but it didnt last long: He quickly got bored,

    Officer CrabbeBody4d Coordination3d Sense2d

    Mind1d Charm1d Command3d

    Base Will4

    Skills:Lie 3d (4d), Brawling 3d (7d), Knowledge: Criminology 1d

    (2d), Driving: Car 2d (5d), Ranged Weapon: Pistol 2d (5d), Inter-

    rogation 2d (5d), Intimidation 3d (7d), Stability 2d (5d), Empathy

    1d (3d), Streetwise 2d (3d).

    Weapons

    .38 revolver (Cap. 6, Damage: width in Shock, width+1 in Killing)

    Nightstick(Damage: width+1 in Shock)

    Bulletproof vest (LAR 2 for hit locations 79)

    Babyface NestorBody3d Coordination3d Sense2d

    Mind1d Charm3d Command2d

    Base Will5

    Skills:Athletics 2d (5d), Lie 2d (5d), Brawling 2d (5d), Driving

    Car 1d (4d), Ranged Weapon: Pistol 1d (4d), Intimidation 2d (4d),

    Melee Weapon (Knife) 2d (5d), Streetwise 4d (5d).

    Weapons

    9mm Browning Hi-Power pistol (Cap. 13, Damage: width in

    Shock and width+1 in Killing)

    Switchblade(Damage: width in Shock + 1 Killing)

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    started listening to a couple making love in an apartment a

    few stories above the street, and completely missed the gun-

    man who shot his employer dead.

    Booster usually makes a living working freelance for local

    mobsters (Sacchi among them), spying on cops, lawyers, and

    businessmen. Despite that, he doesnt know whats going on

    with the dead child andunless the players are stumped andneed a cluehe cant shed any light on Sacchi; he makes it a

    rule to never, ever spy on the mob. Hes lazy, not stupid.

    Booster avoids combat. His power amplifies sound but doesnt

    make him immune to it. If he were to boost sound enough to

    deafen or kill someone it would deafen or kill him, too.

    NapeHenry Nape Johnson is nowhere to be found. If the players

    insist on tracking him down and have some foolproof means of

    doing so (Detect Henry Johnson4hd or something), feel free to

    wing it. He is mentally unstable and his blood and bodily fluids

    burn dangerously in open air. Handle with care.

    Two-TonKarl Two-Ton Kuhn earned his nickname when a two-ton

    steel girder fell on him and he lifted it off, unhurt. By all ac-

    counts, Two-Ton has kept out of trouble for a while. Hes on

    parole from a lengthy prison sentence for attempted larceny,

    assault, vandalism, and other charges after an attempt to rob

    a bank ended in a knockdown fight with the White Knights.

    Two-Ton lives in a grungy apartment near the Red Shore

    docks, but his landlord hasnt seen him in a few days, and

    neither have the regulars at the blue-collar bar he frequents.

    If the players are properly diplomatic, some of Two-Tons

    friends tell them that he has a sweet deal going with mafia

    boss Vino Spumoni: Vino pays him a few thousand dollars

    every month, and Two-Ton, in return, doesnt level Vinos

    favorite sculpture museum on 15th Avenue, downtown.

    Spumoni doesnt know where Two-Ton can be found;

    hes happy to pay chump change to keep the big lug happy,

    on the off chance that he can get a favor out of him some-time if he needs it. As it happens, that favor came quicker

    than Two-Ton expected: Sammy Sacchi came to Vino ask-

    ing for Two-Tons help with a problemhe didnt say what,

    and Vino didnt askand Vino passed word along to Two-

    Ton. He hasnt seen or heard from him since.

    Two-Ton is holed up at Sacchis headquarters, waiting

    for orders. e players probably wont figure that out before

    the big finish.

    Needle-NoseJacob Needle-Nose Ward did time as a teenager for man-

    slaughter after killing a biker in a bar fight, but hes been

    out of jail for a couple of years. He lives in an apartment

    on the outskirts of Red Shore, but his apartment is now

    empty and he hasnt been seen for a few weeks. A neigh-

    bor and occasional drinking buddy knows Needle-Nose hasbeen earning his keep in secret pit fighting rings in illegal

    uptown cellar clubs.

    Scene 10: TheGolden House Club

    e players can find one of those rumored pit-fighting clubs

    if they ask around, but the cops and the White Knights dog

    their trail if theyre careless.

    e Golden House Club is downtown in the business

    district, beneath a ground-floor Chinese restaurant. e

    restaurants cellar has a row of full-size refrigerators run-

    ning wall to wall, some plugged in and some not, each of

    them big enough to hold three full-grown men. One of the

    broken refrigerators has a false back which pushes open to

    reveal a passage through the wall behind it.

    is passage leads to the club, a two-story room with cat-

    walks and railings for the audience, above, and a cement pit

    twenty feet in diameter, below, with a simple drain in the bot-

    tom to help with cleanup. Patrons show up at 1:30 A.M. on

    fight nights (usually ursday and Friday), give a password at

    the restaurant upstairs, and are escorted into the club.

    e restaurant staff and club owners dont know anything

    useful about Needle-Nose, only that he hasnt been around

    in a while. However, one of the other fighters, a Talent with

    regenerative powersIggy e Iguana Eddlestontalked

    to Needle-Nose just before he disappeared.

    He said something about getting a job with the mob, says

    the Iguana. Just like he always wanted. He always talked about

    being some kind of super hit man, but they never wanted him. I

    guess somebody changed his mind. Iggy doesnt know exactlywhich mob Needle-Nose might have joined.

    Like Two-Ton, Needle-Nose has fallen in with Sammy

    Sacchi, finally getting his wish. For his first assignment, he

    did the dirty work in the murder of Tonya Serrano, and he

    was happy to find it didnt bother him a bit. For most of

    the scenario, hes holed up with Two-Ton and Sacchis other

    hired Talents, waiting for their next move.

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    Scene 11: Mob Rulese players might go to Tony Sacchi for help or informa-

    tion. Tony doesnt want to see them. ey can go to his

    favorite haunt, a posh midtown nightclub with his offices

    in the back, but theyll have to talk or fight their way past

    bouncers in the front and gunsels in the back to get to him.

    Tony knows that Sammy is making a move on him, and

    hes busy calling in markers from his underlings to see whos

    loyal and whos going to turn on him. He heard about the

    murder in Red Shore, but has no reason to connect it with

    his nephews bid to take over the Family.

    If the heroes seem desperate enough, Tony offers to make

    a deal: If they help him, hell help them. Maybe they can

    spy on Sammy Sacchi and get the names of which soldiers

    are in his pocket, or maybe they can even rub Sammy out

    altogether; in return, Tony will pull strings to get the cops

    off the heroes case and get them whatever evidence is out

    there so they can find the real killer.

    Unfortunately, the evidence he provides is slim; he gets the

    medical examiners report from the morgue and reports what-

    ever evidence the White Knights have provided to the cops.

    If the heroes want help getting into City Hall, Tony Sac-

    chi can provide fake ID cards that will get them in. He has

    two conditions: He wants Sammy brought to him alive, and

    he wants Deputy Mayor Kincaid left healthy enough for the

    cops to arrest. As for the others, he couldnt care less.

    And no, of course he wont ask anything else of the he-roes. e thought would never cross his mind. Never.

    Scene 12: The Presse police and the White Knights arent the only intrepid in-

    vestigators looking for the heroes. When word gets out that

    Talents have been accused of a gruesome child murder, the

    press is quickly on the scene. Television crews with their bulky

    equipment mostly camp in vans, but newspaper reporters and

    photographers are hard to avoid.

    After several hours, when old photographs of the heroescirculate among the media and they know exactly whom to

    look for, two reporters are likely to nail them down. Neither

    goes to the police for fear that their notes, tapes and photos

    will be seized as evidence.

    Anne Hennessy, The City StarHennessy is a writer-photographer for e City Star, a

    weekly tabloid that prides itself on its comprehensive (if not

    always accurate) coverage of superhumans. Anne is a bull-

    dog. If she tracks the heroes down, she promises anything to

    get them to sit still for an exclusive. She will tell their side.

    She will let the city know that the charges are all lies. She

    will put Tonyas family at ease that the real murderers will

    be found, and that these wrongfully accused heroes will do

    everything to see justice done.In reality, of course, she will do nothing of the sort. e

    next days paper features a lurid story that only occasionally

    borrows the heroes words, taken carefully out of context to

    make them look guilty as hell and proud of it.

    Reginald Stuart and TimSimons, the TimesReggie is a writer with the [insert city name here] Times,on

    the scene with Tim Simons, a freelance photographer. Reggie

    tries to do things right. He doesnt promise the heroes exonera-

    tion, only honesty. Hes as good as his word, too; the Timesis

    a straight newspaper, and Reggies article gives the facts and

    the heroes statements without embellishment. (Whether

    this helps them or hurts them depends entirely on what they

    say and do.)

    Scene 13: The Purgee case gets more urgent once the players start getting to

    the bottom of things. eir witnesses start dying. Only by

    moving fast can they get the whole story in time to stop

    Sammy Sacchi, catch the killers and clear their names.

    e purge begins when Sammy decides the heroes

    are close to figuring out his play and the cops and White

    Knights cant seem to stop them. Keep track of what the

    NPCs know about the players actions, and start the purge

    when it looks like Sacchi should figure it out.

    He starts cutting off his underlings in Red Shore from

    the bottom up to cover his own backtrail. He figures eventu-

    ally the White Knights will catch the heroes and theyll get a

    hardened celleither for killing Tonya or for resisting arrestand assaulting police officers. Either one will do the job.

    When the purge starts, the police band goes crazy. A new

    death is called in every couple of hours.

    Harold Gwen is found dead in his squad car, apparently

    a suicide with a self-inflicted gunshot wound (in the back of

    the head, but nobody mentions that outside the morgue).

    Giorgio Mans and Danny Miller vanish after a firefight

    at their bar.

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    Crabbe and Babyface wind up dead in custody if they

    spilled the beans and the heroes turned them over to the

    cops; otherwise Crabbe is found beaten to death in an alley

    and Babyface is found dead near Cammy Johnsons apart-

    ment building, apparently having jumped from the roof.

    Kung Fu Fighting!Eventually, clues will lead the heroes to Sammy Sacchi andDeputy Mayor Kincaid. Confronting one of them should be

    the last big showdown of the scenario. Either run the scene

    at City Hall or the scene at Sacchis place, wherever the he-

    roes wind up first; but not both.

    If they go to Sacchis headquarters his hired Talents are

    there, waiting for orders. If the heroes go to City Hall to

    roust Kincaid, Sacchi is there with his goons, hammering

    out the last details of their arrangement.

    Either way, that scene is the big finish. Everything else is

    just mopping up.

    ere should be no more than one hostile Talent per

    hero: Needle-Nose, Joe Assisi, Two-Ton, Fenris and then

    Nocturne. See page 21.

    en theres Detective Tom Kelley, the heroes erstwhile

    friend, whos been heading things up for Sammy in the pre-

    cinct house. Kelley is phlegmatic if confronted: What can I

    say, boys? Its just business, and business is good.

    Scene 14: City HallCity Hall is in the heart of the city, far from Red Shore,

    right across the street from police headquarters and staring

    across a manicured plaza at the federal building.

    Its not an easy place to get into by foot. ere are metal

    detectors in the entrances and the place is swarming with

    cops. e heroes best bet is to change their look, walk like

    they belong there, and not spend much time in front of any

    one person.

    Breaking and entering might work. e windows have

    alarm tape but the system is down for maintenance. e heroes

    can go in through a window if they can get to it without beingspotted.

    Going in on a lower floor is tougher. Cops are plentiful and

    most of the building is quiet at night. Call for a Stealth roll

    every other floor to get past cops near the elevators and stairs.

    On Kincaids floorthe 13ththere are two cops in the

    hall station and two on duty outside his office. Hand-picked by

    Kincaid himself, they shoot early and ignore Sacchis people.

    Kincaid is in his office with Sammy Sacchi himself, Sam-

    mys lawyer Ed Goldfarb, Joe Torresi, Art Graziadio, and

    Sammys bodyguardsthe Talents he hired to flush out and

    get rid of the heroes.

    Kincaid wont call the White Knights for help against the

    heroes, for obvious reasons. But if theres any external sign

    of a super-powered fight, somebody downstairs will get on

    the radio and the White Knights come to investigate. Alongwith about a thousand cops, who show up in less than a half

    an hourso the players better have their stories straight and

    their evidence ready.

    Lt. Detective Tom KelleyBody3d Coordination2d Sense2d

    Mind3d Charm3d Command3d

    Skills: Lie 4d (7d), Brawling 2d (5d), Driving: Car 2d (4d), Inter-

    rogation 3d (6d), Intimidation 3d (6d), Knowledge: Criminology 3d

    (6d), Ranged Weapon: Pistol 3d (5d), Streetwise 3d (6d).

    Weapons

    .38 revolver (Cap. 6, Damage: width in Shock, width+1 in Killing)

    .32 revolverconcealed hold-out (Cap. 5, Damage: width in

    Shock and Killing)

    Bulletproof vest (LAR 2 for hit locations 79)

    Sammy SacchiBody2d Coordination2d Sense2d

    Mind3d Charm4d Command3d

    Base Will 7

    Skills:Lie 4d (8d), Brawling 3d (5d), Driving: Car 2d (4d), In-

    timidation 4d (7d), Melee Weapon: Knife 2d (4d), Ranged Weapon:

    Pistol 2d (4d), Ranged Weapon: Submachine Gun 2d (4d), Stability

    3d (6d), Stealth 2d (4d), Streetwise 3d (6d).

    Mafia GoonsBody3d Coordination2d Sense2d

    Mind1d Command2d Charm2d

    Base Will 4

    Skills:Lie 2d (4d), Brawling 1d (4d), Driving: Car 2d (4d), In-timidation 2d (4d), Melee Weapon: Knife 1d (4d), Ranged Weapon:

    Pistol 2d (4d), Ranged Weapon: Submachine Gun 1d (3d), Stability

    1d (3d), Streetwise 3d (4d).

    Weapons

    .38 revolver(Cap. 6, Damage: width in Shock, width+1 in Killing)

    Uzi submachine gun (Cap. 30, Spray 4, Damage: width in

    Shock, width+1 in Killing)

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    Meanwhile, At theHall of Heroese Hall of Heroes is what the city-planning commissioner

    put on the building permit, but the White Knights just call

    it HQ or e Hall. Its their headquarters, residence, and

    gymnasium, a reinforced slab of a building jammed into a

    block of busy high-rises across the street from City Hall.

    Ideally, the heroes will try to give the White Knights

    some proof of innocence. Whether they succeed depends on

    which White Knight they deal with and how they have act-

    ed in the scenario. Solid evidence presented to Grailknight

    by a hero who has demonstrably tried to keep innocents

    safe goes a lot farther than a cop-killers empty words to the

    more inflexible Black Atlantean.

    If the heroes cant get the White Knights on their side, they ll

    just have to beat the bad guys before they show upor hope

    they can keep from getting into anything deadly with the White

    Knights before they can come up with exculpatory evidence.

    Scene 15: FredosImport EmporiumWarehouseFredos Import Emporium is a citywide chain of shops spe-

    cializing in imported goods, operated from offices at a ware-

    house in a sparse, heavily industrial part of Red Shore. Its also

    a convenient front for Sammy Sacchis faction of the mob. Sacchi keeps his headquarters at the warehouse, where

    half a dozen mafia gunsels can be found in daylight hours

    and a dozen or more at night.

    e warehouse is a half-block edifice, five stories high

    and filled with shelves and pallets stacked high with heavy

    crates and boxes. ere are massive loading doors on two

    sides, smaller doors elsewhere along the street, and wide

    skylights overhead. e offices take up about half of one wall

    of the place.

    At night, with no workers around, the guards carry shot-guns, talking and smoking to pass the time. In the daytime

    they are more circumspect, mostly staying in Sacchis offices

    while workers go about the warehouses legitimate business.

    Sammy can be found in his office with Goldfarb, Torresi,

    Graziadio, Detective Kelley, and the hired Talents.

    Board Room

    Deputy

    Mayors

    Office

    Corridor

    City Clerk

    Roof Roof Council

    Chamber

    City Hall (Thirteenth Floor)

    Elevator

    Desk

    Interior Wall

    Exterior Wall

    Column

    Copper Roof

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    Joe Assisi uses his powers to warn him when he is being

    observed.

    Kincaid will not be found at the warehouse; the heroes

    can learn his role in things in after-action interrogations,

    and you can describe his arrest as the scenario wraps up.

    (After the big fight in the warehouse, playing out a confron-

    tation with the crooked politician would be a little anticli-mactic.)

    e White Knights show up at Sacchis warehouse only if

    the situation demands it. If there have earlier signs that the

    mob was involved, Grailknight might have planted bugs to lis-

    ten for any clues. If the White Knights will liven things up,

    throw them in; if not, have them show up only after the action.

    Either way, dont let them upstage the players.

    Wrapping Things UpIf the heroes play it right they can get the White Knights on

    their side. Grailknight is smart enough to put it all together

    without too great a show of evidenceespecially after see-

    ing some of the tricks Joe Assisi can do.

    If that happens, the White Knights help round up the

    cops known to be working for Sammy Sacchi and get testi-

    mony out of folks inside Sacchi s organization to prove that

    the heroes were set up.

    Of course, if they grab Sammy Sacchi it may be hard to

    hand him over to Tony Sacchi. . . .

    Without the White Knights help it will be harder for the

    heroes to clear their names, but not impossible. ey might

    get help from Tony Sacchi. ey might take Assisi into cus-

    tody long enough to let police officers or other upstanding

    citizens see some of his tricks. ey might well trick Nee-

    dle-Nose into bragging about killing the girl and pinning

    it on the heroes; hes not the sharpest tack in the drawer,

    whatever his nickname. ey might decide to lean on the

    right cops to get the reports corrected. And so on.

    With superpowersand the right connectionsany-

    thing can happen on the streets.

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    Needle-Nose (200 pts)Jacob Needle-Nose Wards only goal in life is

    to be a hit man. Unfortunately, nobody wants him.

    With skin and bones as hard as steel, he can kill

    with a punch. But the crime lords seem to worry

    that using the same M.O. every time will get him

    and them caught quick.

    Archetype (5 pts)

    Mutant

    Stats (75 pts)

    Body3d Coordination4d

    Sense2d Mind1d

    Charm2d Command3d

    Base Will5

    Loyalty: Needle-Nose (2)Passion: Being recognized as a pro (3)

    Skills (40 pts)

    Brawling 4d (7d), Driving (Car) 1d (5d), Intimi-

    dation 2d (5d), Lie 3d (5d), Perception 2d (4d),

    Ranged Weapon (Pistol) 1d (5d), Stability 3d (6d),

    Stealth 2d (6d), Streetwise 2d (3d).

    Superpowers (80 pts)

    Extra Tough 2HD (20 pts)

    As in Wild Talents. Needle-Nose has two extra

    Wound Boxes on each hit location.

    Heavy Armor 3HD (42 pts)

    As in Wild Talentsbut Permanent instead of End-

    less. He has HAR 3.

    Extras for Body 3d (18 pts)

    +2 Attacks levels (+2), Deadly (+1), Penetration 3

    (+3).

    Two-Ton (200 pts)Karl Two-Ton Kuhn changes his mass and

    strength. If someone tries to move Two-Ton he

    weighs as much as his Size Shift indicates, but he

    weighs his normal 260 lbs on a surface: He wont

    crash through a floor. Hes smarter than he looks,

    and in a pinch he gets very creative.

    Archetype (5 pts)

    Mutant

    Stats (88 pts)

    Body5d+ Coordination3d

    Sense2d Mind2d

    Charm2d Command3d

    Base Will 6

    Loyalty: Two-Ton (2)Passion:Easy money (4)

    Skills (22 pts)

    Brawling 2d (7d+), Driving (Car) 1d (4d), In-

    timidation 3d (6d), Lie 1d (3d), Stability 1d (4d),

    Streetwise 1d (3d), Tactics 2d (4d).

    Superpowers (85 pts)

    Size Shift 5HD (10 pts)

    Useful (+2): Duration (+2), If/Then: only for mass

    (-1), No Physics (+1), Self Only (-3).

    Extra Tough 5HD (20 pts)

    As in Wild Talents but with Attached to Size Shift

    (-2) and If/Then: Width is limited to Width of Size

    Shift (-1). For each level of Size Shift he gains one

    extra Wound Box on each hit location.

    Heavy Armor 5HD (30 pts)

    Defends (+2): Attached to Size Shift (-2), If/Then:

    HAR is limited to width of Size Shift (-1), Perma-

    nent (+4).

    Hyperbody 5d (25 pts)

    Hyperstat (+4): +3 Attacks levels (+3), Attached to

    Size Shift (-2), If/Then: Limited to +1d per width of

    Size Shift (-1), Penetration 1 (+1).

    Joe Assissi (400 pts)Assisi is a member of the Nameless, a centuries-

    old Sicilian mystic secret society. The group is co-

    vert, organized and dangerous, with members in

    virtually every city of the world acting as advisors

    and assassins. Ruthless and sneaky, its members

    fade into the woodwork after achieving their goals

    and commit suicide if captured. The Blooded

    Blade, a curved knife with a disquieting aura, is

    mystically bound to Assisi and will not serve an-

    other. Its corrosive cuts inflcit width in Shock +

    7 Killing damage. When the Nameless die their

    signature knives char away into ash.

    Archetype (21 pts)

    Mystic

    Stats (123 pts)

    Body2d Coordination2d

    Sense4d Mind4d

    Charm3d Command3d

    Base Will 17

    Loyalty: The Nameless (8)

    Passion: Accomplishing the mission (9)

    Skills (48 pts)

    Dodge 3d (5d), Knowledge (Forgery) 2d (6d), Me-

    lee Weapon (Knife) 4d (6d), Perception 2d (6d),

    Research 2d (6d), Scrutiny 2d (6d), Stability 4d

    (7d), Stealth 4d (6d), Streetwise 1d (5d).

    Superpowers (171 pts)

    Sorcery 5d+1wd (171 pts)

    As Cosmic Power in Wild Talents.

    Blooded Blade of

    Ashashan (37 pts)

    Melee Weapon (Knife) +4d (16 pts)

    Hyperskill (+1): +6 Attacks levels (+6), Deadly +1,

    If/Then: Cannot add to regular Skill dice (-1), Ir-

    replaceable Focus (-3).

    Teleportation 7d (21 pts)

    As in Wild Talentsbut with the following on each

    of its three power qualities: Go First 1 (+1), Irre-

    placeable Focus (-3), Subtle (+1).

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    Fenris (250 pts)Harald Fenris Mller is the vicious, charismatic

    young heir apparent of the Nazi villain Kriegsma-

    rine, on loan to Sammy Sacchi as a favor to the

    Nameless (in the person of Joe Assisi). He wears

    an immaculate SS uniform, including the dagger

    (Width in Shock + 1 Killing). His favorite tactic is

    to simply teleport an enemy into the sky. (Leave him

    out if you have fewer than four players.)

    Archetype (15 pts)

    Human+

    Stats (113 pts)

    Body4d Coordination3d

    Sense3d Mind2d

    Charm3d Command7dBase Will11

    Loyalty: Kriegsmarine (5)

    Passion: Proving Aryan Superiority (6)

    Skills (48 pts)

    Athletics 3d (7d), Brawling 3d (7d), Dodge 2d

    (5d), Endurance 3d (7d), Intimidation 2d (9d),

    Leadership 1d (8d), Melee Weapon: SS Dagger

    1d (5d), Navigation 3d (5d), Perception 1d (4d),

    Stability 1d (8d), Stealth 2d (5d), Tactics 2d (4d).

    Superpowers (72 pts)

    Immunity to Water and the Ocean Depths

    2HD (24 pts)

    As in Wild Talents. Water is one Useful quality, the

    pressures and cold of the deep is another.

    Teleport 8d (48 pts)

    As in Wild Talents with these exceptions. The Use-

    ful quality has Power Capacity (Range), so he can

    teleport things without even touching them, and an

    Extra called Blind Teleport (+3), which automati-

    cally moves Fenris or whatever he teleports to the

    nearest safe space even if he cant see the desti-

    nation. It also has Willpower Cost (-2) as a Flaw.

    Each of the three power qualities has Obvious (-1)

    as a Flawwhen Fenris uses his power it leaves a

    thunderclap in his wake.

    Nocturne (250 pts)Once a mortal woman, Nocturne was twisted by

    sorcery into something else. Now she is a tattered

    apparition who no longer knows her own name or

    history. Her appearance shifts from cold beauty

    to fearsome hideousness, and she drains warmth

    and life. She comes at the behest of Joe Assisi, her

    sometimes lover. (Leave her out if you have fewer

    than six players.)

    Archetype (7 pts)

    Inhuman+ (as Human+ but with the Inhuman In-

    trinsic)

    Stats (61 pts)

    Body2d Coordination2d

    Sense2d Mind2dCharm1d Command3d

    Base Will6

    Loyalty: Joe Assissi (2)

    Passion:Instilling terror (4)

    Skills (54 pts)

    Empathy 2d (4d), Intimidation 3d (6d), Knowl-

    edge: Witchcraft 4d (6d), Perception 2d (4d),

    Persuasion 4d (5d), Scrutiny 4d (6d), Stability 3d

    (6d), Stealth 5d (7d).

    Superpowers (128 pts)

    Chill Touch 4d (8 pts)

    Attacks (+2): Daze (+1), Limited Damage: Shock

    only (-1), Non-Physical (+2), Touch Only (-2).

    Note: This attack ignores armor but can be resisted

    with an Endurance roll.

    Elasticity 4d (8 pts)

    As inWild Talents.

    Flight 6d (24 pts)

    As in Wild Talents.

    Immunity to the Needs of Life 2HD (28 pts)

    As in Wild Talents but with Variable Effect. She

    ignores cold, thirst, suffocation, age and suffoca-

    tion.

    Insubstantiality 2HD (48 pts)

    As in Wild Talents, but its Useful and Defends

    power qualities have the Endless (+3) Extra.

    Regeneration 2HD (12 pts)

    As in Wild Talents, but Attached to Chill Touch

    (-2). She recovers one point each of Shock and

    Killing damage for each point of damage that she

    inflicts.

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  • 8/10/2019 Wild Talents - White Knights, Black Hearts

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    23White Knights, Black Hearts www.arcdream.com

    The White Knightse White Knights are the city s officially sanctioned su-

    perheroes. ey have a mandate from the government; they

    have funding; they have costumes; they even have an ar-

    mored headquarters. When theres a high-profile case that

    the police cant solve, or a rogue Talent on the loose, the

    White Knights fly in and do their part; but theyre usually

    far too busy with Big Events to worry about local neighbor-

    hoods or street crime.

    ey know about the Red Shore heroes and regard them

    with wary neutralityto the White Knights, unsanctioned

    vigilantes are potential cr iminals, nothing more.

    e White Knights were founded by Grail-knight and

    Whitelight, partners responsible for several spectacularly

    high-profile adventures After saving the U.N. from terror-

    ists, foiling a murderous plot of the nefarious Nazi villain

    Kriegsmarine, and talking the Mad Talent Nuke out of

    detonating himself beneath Crown Tower, the federal gov-

    ernment chipped in to give them official recognition and

    fundingand the oversight that comes with it. Grailknight and Whitelight recruited a few more pub-

    licity-friendly heroes to fill out the team. Aging war hero

    Minute Man was the first to join, followed by the youthful

    Glimmer. ey hoped to recruit Leatherneck, but the All-

    American Marine seemingly self-destructed at the height of

    his popularity and sank into the streets. e Black Atlantean

    is their most recent member.

    Whitelight (338 pts)Name:Whitelight; true name unknown

    Nationality:Apparently American

    Political Affiliation: None

    Education: Unknown

    Occupation: Government-sanctioned superhero

    Criminal Record: Unknown

    DOB: Unknown; probably around 1940

    Known Parahuman Abilities:Whitelight is tremendously

    strong and resilient and flies at great speeds. He can survive

    the depths of the ocean or the vacuum of space, and can even

    heal others of grievous wounds. He is enveloped at all times

    in a brilliant white glow, too bright for any of his features to

    be made out. e glow seems to shine on every wavelength,

    strongest when he exerts himself. Scientists have attempted

    to use cameras sensitive to X rays, infrared light, ultraviolet

    light, and every other slice of the spectrum to divine his true

    features, with no success. What Whitelight really looks like

    remains unknown.

    History:Whitelight appeared in the city in 1966, a super-

    powered cipher with no memory of who or what he was. He

    knew the language and culture, but his personal background

    and identity were a complete mystery. He knew only that he

    wanted to do good, and he had the power to make it happen.

    Whitelight is often the most visible of the White

    Knightsin every sensebut he leaves leadership and

    planning to Grailknight. Subtlety is not his strong suit.Whitelight is a powerhouse, always ready to act, preferably

    in the most direct manner possible.

    Dependents: None.

    Appearance:A tall, powerful man enveloped in a brilliant

    white glow. His features are impossible to see, though ex-

    amination of his hair and blood (based on a spit test; his

    skin is far too strong to puncture with an ordinary needle)

    indicate that he is Caucasian. He has a strong voice and a

    commanding presence, but sometimes he seems to be self-

    consciously acting the part of the hero.

    Archetype (15 pts)Human+

    Stats (115 pts)Body10d Coordination2d Sense2d

    Mind2d Charm3d Command4d

    Base Will 7

    Joe Assisis Favorite Spells Control Noise: Perfect Peace of Poruul

    Dead Ringer:Semblance of Santakito

    Elasticity:Phaerons Florid Flaccidity

    Harm:Heavy Hand of Herodotus

    Heavy Armor: Hardiness of Horoon

    Illusions: Astleys Apparitions

    Insubstantiality:Mists of Mendoza

    Invisibility: Vehlms Vanishing

    Nullify: Nestors Nullity

    Perceive Observation: Accams Acute Awareness (detects

    when others are aware of your actions)

    Regeneration: Rarys Rapid Recuperation

    Telekinesis: G