KO Clown is character ported over from a Tiny Supers team I threw together for a one-shot a while back. He's not a perfect translation of the original but close enough, and I've taken the opportunity to write up his nemesis Mister Mean as well. I might tackle some of the other members of the Syracuse Seven eventually. The one-shot went very poorly - the players hated the system, which I did warn them was kind of light - and it would be nice to get some mileage out of the character concepts, at least.
EDIT: Since posting this, I've also added a third "cartoon character" to my roster in the form of Deadeye Mouse, an occasional flunky of Mister Mean.
KO Clown
KO Clown started out as a character in the 1930s "Clown Town" cinematic cartoon series, where he mostly played the hero by showing up at the last moment to stop the scheme of Mister Mean by bonking him with a hammer. The shorts weren't the most sophisticated humor even for their era, but became popular enough to get a newspaper strip and later a children's radio program and comic book. In the late 1940s a young boy named Ricky Little somehow gained the ability to summon KO Clown into our reality by saying the magic word "Okaykayo!" and the two of them spent about five years bonking real-life mobsters, recalcitrant Nazis, mad scientists and Communist spies alongside other peculiar Golden Age heroes.
Ricky disappeared when he was sixteen, the same night that a studio fire destroyed the original prints of the Clown Town shorts and that was the last anyone saw of KO Clown for decades. Clown Town faded into obscurity by the end of the 1950s, and remained an obscure "lost media" curiosity until 2023 when a forgotten film reel was discovered by a film historian. As luck would have it, that historian had a ten year old daughter and the magic word worked as well for her as it had for Ricky Little. It took a while to explain concepts like "child endangerment" to KO Clown, but he eventually accepted that things had changed. He now works with a minor superhero team rather than an unpowered preteen crimefighting partner. Many villains hate him with a passion - getting beaten silly by an old-fashioned cartoon is embarrassing - but he's actually got his fans even in the supercrime community.
But no matter how busy things get, he still makes time to visit little Susie and always comes when she calls out "Okaykayo!" Her father is still digging into KO Clown's past, and there are some things buried there that might be awkward for everyone involved. If KO Clown can manifest here in the real world, why not other cartoon characters like Mister Mean? And what happened to Ricky Little?
Description: A cartoon clown. Tall, gangly, rubber-limbed, wearing bright blue pants, a canary yellow shirt with big red buttons, white suspenders and gloves, and enormous red clown shoes. Frequently carries the tools of his trade, with his powers letting him conjure an endless variety of pies, seltzer bottles, jugglers' clubs, rubber chickens and similar props out of thin air. His favorite "toy" is a huge red mallet that's taller than he is. His clown makeup changes to reflect his emotions, usually glad, sad, or mad. Sometimes he goes all monochrome just for the sake of nostalgia. Has a jolly voice and his movements are weirdly irregular, like early cel animation.
Gender: Male Age: Clowns Are Eternal Height: 6'2" Eyes: Bright Blue
Hair: Neon Green Fright Wig Skin: Pasty White Under The Clown Makeup Build: Lanky
Background: Performer Power Source: Unknown Archetype: Wild Card
Personality: Jovial Health (G/Y/R): 32/24/11
Powers: Strength d10, Transmutation d10, Elasticity d8, Leaping d6, Size-Changing d6
Qualities: Creativity d10, Acrobatics d8, Banter d8, Cartoon Clown d8, Close Combat d8
Status: Green (32-25) - d6 / Yellow (24-12) - d8 / Red (11-1) - d10
Abilities:
Green
Have A Present! (A) Boost or Hinder using Transmutation. Use your Max die. If you roll doubles you may also Attack using your Mid die.
Juggling Act (A) Take any two different basic actions using Elasticity. Use your Min die for each.
Principle of Chaos (A) Overcome a challenge in a way that is truly unpredictable. Use your Max die. You and your allies gain each gain a Hero Point. Minor twist: How did you fall in line to get something done? Major twist: What caused you to become predictable and stale? RP: No one can predict what you will do next.
Principle of the Clown (A) Overcome a challenge that has already flummoxed a more serious teammate. Use your Max die. You and your allies each gain a Hero Point. Minor twist: Which hero has to bail you out of the predicament your shenanigans have gotten you into? Major twist: What boring grown-up thing that you ignored is now getting you into big trouble? RP: When a crisis strikes your teammates, they can just say the magic word and you'll be there to help. Okaykayo!
Yellow
Bonk! Bonk! Ha-ha-ha! (A) Attack using Elasticity. Use your Min die on one target, your Mid die on a different target, and then Boost using your Max die.
Gifts For Everyone! (A) Boost all nearby allies using Transmutation. Use your Max + Mid dice. Hinder yourself using your Min die.
Whomp, Whomp, WHOMP! (A) Attack multiple targets using Strength. If you roll doubles one ally is also hit by the Attack.
Red
How Do You Kill A Cartoon? (I) You have no limit on the amount of Reactions you can take. Each time you use a Reaction after the first one each turn, take 1 irreducible damage or take a minor twist.
Purely Cosmetic Damage (R) When you are Attacked and dealt damage, you may ignore that damage completely. If you do, treat the value of the damage as a Hinder action against you instead.
Raining Trouble (A) Hinder any number of targets in the scene using Transmutation. Use your Max + Min dice. If you roll doubles, also Attack each target using your Mid die.
Out
Friends With The Animator (A) Defend an ally by rolling your single Creativity die.
Tactics
KO approaches a fight about a seriously as he does everything else - so, not very much at all. Only children being put in danger gets him to put on his Mad face, and he'll do his best to save them using Overcomes as soon as possible.
Barring that sort of thing, he has a lot of options in Green but will usually use Have A Present! to Boost himself by conjuring up a suitably clownish weapon or prop, then do his Juggling Act to take whatever two basic actions seem best with the bonus applied to whichever is more important - or funny. If there's an opening for an amusing Overcome he'll do that instead, especially if it's unpredictable enough to use Principle of Chaos or show up a more dour teammate with Principle of the Clown.
In Yellow, Whomp, Whomp, WHOMP! offers a strong and only ever-so-slightly risky way to scrub off minions, especially if he has bonuses to use with it. He can easily set that up himself with Bonk! Bonk! Ha-ha-ha! to hit a couple of targets and generate a solid bonus, or he can pass the bonus to an ally who needs it more. He can also exert himself to hand out Gifts For Everyone!, giving huge bonuses to all nearby allies at the cost of a small self-Hinder.
In Red he almost stops taking damage. Unless an Attacker can ignore reactions, the combination of Purely Cosmetic Damage and How Do You Kill A Cartoon? effectively turns Attacks into Hinders, with the small cost of taking one damage or a twist per Attack beyond the first between his turns. He may wind up buried in penalties, but it's awfully hard to actually put him Out. He also gets access to Raining Trouble (his retcon choice) for big penalties on every foe and a fair possibility of doing some damage as well.
If he does go Out he still provides a solid defense for an ally each round thanks to being Friends With The Animator, letting him continue to materialize inconveniences for his foes even while his ghostly clown form hovers over his cartoon tombstone.
Design Notes
KO Clown actually has kind of a rotten set of dice available but still manages to make it work in play thanks to some efficient abilities. He's not the hardest-hitting hero ever (nothing above Mid die) but spreads attacks around well even in Green. He's very good at Boosting both himself and allies right from round one, and even his "small" Green Hinder uses Max, while his Red Hinder option is one of the strongest in the game. His Red zone defensive combo is pretty silly against most opponents, and if he does go out he's got a solid defensive ability there too. Principle of the Clown is a reskinned version of Principle of the Sidekick, letting him show up stuffy boring adults, get himself in trouble by behaving childishly, and appear on the scene when most needed by his friends.
What he does lack is defensive Reactions before Red, although he can Defend a bit while doing something else even in Green. Generally speaking he doesn't need to worry much about taking damage fast because of the way the brakes slam on in Red, so he can concentrate on throwing mods and multi-target damage around with some impunity.
Conceptually, he's a living cartoon from a 1930s short, and is as pliable as a cartoon of that era should be. His Size-Changing and Elasticity represents stretch-and-squash animation styles, Leaping covers him literally bouncing around (often stretching his arms to reach farther when one of his bounces falls short), and his considerable Strength is as much ignorance of the Laws of Gravity and Inertia as anything.
He also has a very strong Transmutation power, which he mostly uses to conjure props out of thin air, as well as occasionally doing things like turning bricks into gingerbread or firearms into pop guns. Basically if it's something funny he can probably manage it on a small scale, although reality is more resistant to his pranks than celluloid was. No turning the sun into a big light bulb and flipping the switch off these days. He's particular fond of whipping up giant mallets as impromptu weapons, bouquets of flowers that inexplicably Boost or Hinder the people they're given too, and gift-wrapped presents for any kids in the audience. He can't conjure up anything really complex or boring (comic books but not a dictionary) and with his 1930s mindset modern things like personal electronics are right out.
Exactly what his abilities look like in game varies, but Whomp, Whomp, WHOMP! usually involves him hitting or stomping the ground so hard it sends out shockwaves, or sometimes clashing giant cymbals if all his foes are airborne (that one should probably get a new name momentarily - Clang, Clang, CLANG! works). Transmutation-based Boosts and Hinders involving materializing objects (he likes flowers and wrapped gifts and balloons) and tossing or handing them to the target. Raining Trouble is literally that - miscellaneous items appear and fall on his targets, ranging from enormous water balloons and gigantic pies to (when he rolls doubles) anvils and cartoon weights and the like.
His greatest weakness is "Kissy Stuff" as he puts it. As a character from a 1930s children's cartoon who has the emotional maturity of a stereotypical ten year old boy, even mild displays of affection throw him off his stride. Explicit sexual displays are pretty much his Achilles' heel - assuming he even recognizes them for what they are. He may express concern about catching cooties when fighting female supervillains.
___________________________________________________________________________
Mister Mean
Much like his nemesis, Mister Mean was a character from the 1930s "Clown Town" cartoon. He was the show's principle bad guy, always scheming to take over the town and make its citizens' lives miserable and always stopped in the end by KO Clown. It's not clear how he's followed the Clown to the real world in the 2020s - is there a rotten little kid behind it? - but he's back his old shenanigans. While technically a supervillain, his idea of an ingenious criminal plot tends to be childish, outdated, impractical or all three. He works very poorly with his peers, many of whom either baffle or secretly horrify him. His weird powers are useful enough that he does attract all manner of petty thugs as henchmen, although they're more interested in using him as a distraction while they get away with some actual loot - often in bags clearly labeled as such. To date he's proved impossible to arrest (much less imprison) as he melts away into a puddle of black ink when defeated, inevitably returning in weeks or months.
It's quite possible that Mister Mean may only be the first Clown Town villain to manifest. The shorts did have other lesser baddies and there's obviously some kind of breach in reality revolving around the films. If the breach widens it may only be a matter of time until there's more criminal silliness going on. For now it seems Mister Mean is the only one carrying out schemes to counterfeit nickels, steal all the ice cream in the city, and turn everyone into mice.
Description: A cartoon bad guy. He generally wears a black suit under a black overcoat and a tall, crooked stovepipe hat - black, of course. Short and scrawny with a hunched physique and arms so long his spidery hands drag on the ground. Carries a six foot long fountain pen that he impossibly tucks away in his coat when it's not needed. His inability grow suitably villainous facial hair is a sore point for him.
Gender: Male Age: Timeless Classic Height: 5'0" Eyes: Red
Hair: Black Skin: Sickly Green Build: Hunched
Approach: Underpowered Archetype: Loner
Health: 20 + (5 x H)
Powers: Transmutation d8, Elasticity d6, Giant Fountain Pen d6, Size-Changing d6
Qualities: Stealth d10, Cartoon Villain d8, Finesse d8, Banter d6
Status: (# of Other Allied Villains) 0 - d10 / 1-2 - d8 / 3+ - d6
Abilities:
Even Narrower Escape (I) Whenever you would be reduced to zero or fewer Health, prevent that damage and reduce all of your power dice by one die size. If this reduces any die below d4 you are knocked out.
General Nastiness (A) Attack multiple targets using Cartoon Villain. Defend against all Attacks against you until your next turn using your Min die.
Ink Siphon (A) Attack using Giant Fountain Pen. Use your Max die. Recover Health equal to your Mid + Min dice.
Narrow Escape (R) When you would be Hindered or when an Attack would reduce you to zero Health, reduce the penalty to -1 or reduce the damage to 1.
Upgrades & Masteries (optional):
Power Boost (I) +20 Health. Increase all Power dice sizes by one (max d12).
Master of Total Chaos (I) Automatically succeed at an Overcome when you throw out all the rules during a situation that is spiraling out of control.
Tactics:
Mister Mean is an old-fashioned cartoon villain. He's sneaky and underhanded and prefers to prey on the weak - stealing candy from babies is his idea of a good time - but if it comes to a fight he's gleefully violent. He'll Take Some Time To Gloat to open a scene then use General Nastiness, which usually involves pulling cartoon bombs out of nowhere and chucking them around wildly or fencing with his signature weapon, a giant fountain pen. Once he starts taking damage he'll use Ink Siphon to skewer an enemy and restore himself by draining their life force, a move that thankfully gets censored into cartoon violence when used on real-world targets. His Narrow Escape reaction lets him avoid the worst of incoming penalties or cancel out a blow that would otherwise defeat him, and if that's been used up Even Narrower Escape will save him at least once.
With his upgrade his powers are bit stronger, he starts with a lot more Health, and he gets an extra last chance with Even Narrower Escape. His mastery is pretty much exactly what you'd expect from a living cartoon character.
Mister Mean's powers are very similar to KO Clown's, although he favors conjuring up comedically menacing weaponry with Transmutation instead of circus props. He's particularly fond of big round bombs (usually labelled as such) with sputtering fuses, jagged daggers that don't seem to actually draw blood, blackjacks and occasionally tommy guns when he's feeling like playing gangster. His signature weapon is a huge fountain pen that he can use to jab people, spray ink, or siphon energy from people - which leaves other cartoons all shriveled and puny but just makes real world folks intensely sleepy.
His greatest weakness is extreme squeamishness about the sight of blood, which (as he puts it) just isn't natural. "Why are you people all full of red ink?"
No comments:
Post a Comment