Anyone who has known me for any real period of time knows that I have been #TeamCap all the way for the past few years. Though truth be told, I never paid much attention to the character until the MCU came along and instilled a deep and abiding respect for the character. Since then I have gone back to the comic book character and have done quite a bit of reading over the last few years. I knew as soon as this topic was announced that I wanted to convert him into a playable character.
Now, some of you may remember that I did create a more fantastical version of him previously as the Innish warrior Stiofan MacRogers for the second edition release of 7th Sea. For this outing however, I wanted to stick closer to his roots – specifically World War II. And there are few games better suited for that than Greg Stolze’s GODLIKE.
GODLIKE for those unfamiliar is World War II with superheroes. Now, these aren’t the typical superheroes that you see nowadays in your comic books – these are men and women with low powered abilities that may or may not help them survive more than a regular soldier. The game’s tagline is “You are larger than life, but the war is larger than you.” “You can be faster than a speeding bullet,” the back cover of the book states, “as long as you don’t step on a landmine.” These powers, while studied intently, are a complete mystery to scientists and doctors. Their abilities are entirely psychic in nature, powered by the Talent’s will to change the world, and as such are subject to an interesting number of limitations. For brevity’s sake I won’t go into these, but if you find yourself intrigued, I would absolutely recommend trying to find a copy of GODLIKE.
So without further ado, I present to you my take on Steve Rogers, the Super Soldier.
Captain Steven Rogers
Age 21, Ht 5’6″(6’2″) Wt 120 lbs (220 lbs)
Nationality American
Education High School
Dependents None
Motivations To serve, and to see bullies everywhere stopped
Body 1 (5) Coordination 1 (4) Sense 2
Brains 2 Command 2 (5) Cool 3 (5)
Skills Athletics 1, Brawling 2, Climb 1, Cryptography 1, Dodge 2, Driving (Motorcycle 1), Endurance 1, Explosives 1, Grenade 2, Hearing 2, Knife Fighting 1, Inspire 2, Languages (English 2), Leadership 2, Machine Gun 1, Map Reading 1, Mental Stability 2, Mortar 1, Navigation (Land) 2, Pistol 2, Radio Operation 1, Rifle 1, Run 1, Sight 2, Stealth 1, Submachine Gun 1, Survival 1, Tactics 3, Throw 1
Base Will 9
Talent Power (Cost: 40 points)
Super Soldier Form (Attacks, Defends, Robust, Useful Outside of Combat; 3/6/12)
2hd (Extras: Always On +1/+2/+4; Flaws: Nervous Habit (must inject self with “serum”) -1/-2/-4, Backfires -2/-4/-6; 12 points)
Hyperstat: Body (2/5/10)
+4d (Flaw: Attached to Alternate Form -1/-2/-4; 4 points)
Hyperstat: Coordination (2/5/10)
+3d (Flaw: Attached to Alternate Form -1/-2/-4; 3 points)
Hyperstat: Command (2/5/10)
+3d (Flaw: Attached to Alternate Form -1/-2/-4; 3 points)
Hyperstat: Cool (2/5/10)
+2d (Flaw: Attached to Alternate Form -1/-2/-4; 2 points)
Hyperskill: Health (1/3/7)
+2d (Flaw: Attached to Alternate Form -1/-2/-4; 2 points)
Hyperskill: Endurance (1/3/7)
+2d (Flaw: Attached to Alternate Form -1/-2/-4; 2 points)
Beacon (Robust, Useful Outside of Combat; 3/6/12)
2hd (Flaw: Attached to Alternate Form -1/-2/-4; 8 points)
Power Description: Rogers’ simple presence on the battlefield is an encouragement to his allies. On a success, he grants each of his allies that can see him a point of Will that disappears at the end of the next round if not used.
Main Power Description: Rogers injects himself with some kind of chemical cocktail. No one, not even him really knows what it is, but whatever it is, his body simply flushes it out and excretes it after use. Several seconds after he injects himself, his body changes drastically. He grows over half a foot in height and gains 100 pounds of muscle, turning him into the physical ideal of the soldier. He’s taken to wearing baggy clothing and stretchy material when he can find it so that he doesn’t go through quite so many uniforms from his transformations.
Background: Steven was born in New York City to the son of Irish immigrants. His father died when he was very young and his mother contracted pneumonia and died while he was a teenager. Rogers was wracked with frail health his entire life. When the war broke out, his greatest desire was to serve his country, but his health prevented him from being enlisted no matter how many times he tried. Desperate, he started to look for a medical cure to his maladies, spending what little he had on various medicines, finally injecting himself with a small cocktail of over the counter medications that he had created. And that act triggered his Talent. Upon showing the Army his new powers, he was whisked away to Section 2 for study and was finally allowed to serve with the TOG.
Weapons
(1) Thompson Submachine gun (Spray 3/0, Capacity 30, Damage: Width+1 in killing and shock).
(1) .45 M1911A Automatic Pistol (Capacity 7, Damage: Width +1 in killing and shock).
(2) M2A1 “Pineapple” Hand Grenades (Penetration/Area: 2/3).
(1) Fairburn Sykes Commando Knife (Damage Width in shock +1 killing).
Other Equipment
M1 steel helmet (LAR 2 for hit location 10), olive drab “beanie,” M1941 field jacket, 10 pocket cartridge hip web-belt, waterproof map case, boots, ammunition bandolier, musette, blanket, raincoat, 9 days of field rations, compass
Design Notes: First thing first, Captain Rogers is not built for the default level of play in GODLIKE. I simply could not make the character that I wanted with only 25 points to spend on powers, and so I opted to give him a few more points to play with. 40 points puts him in a higher level of play. Instead of gritty and heroic realism, this allows him to punch above his weight class slightly in a more cinematic game – perfect for Cap. Beacon might also be a little bit cheesy as a power – Will is a powerful currency, but considering that it’s really his only shtick beyond getting jacked, I didn’t feel too bad about it, especially since it doesn’t last for longer than a single round. And with the more cinematic game in mind for this build, I didn’t feel too badly when I designed it.
Ben Erickson
