NOW LIVE! -- The Awfully Cheerful Engine on Kickstarter! An action comedy RPG inspired by cheerful tabletop games of the 80s! With a foreword by Sandy 'Ghostbusters' Petersen, and VTT support!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Davies" data-source="post: 8125307" data-attributes="member: 30538">Maureen Summerisle<img src="https://photos.smugmug.com/My-First-Gallery/i-5JXTmwn/0/8c25e05a/S/RCO006_w_1604676790-S.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />When she was four years old, Gwenno Summerisle was sent with her mother away from the Hebridean island which her ancestors had ruled since time immemorial (that being defined as the late 18th century) ostensibly because her father planned to divorce her mother and marry someone to give him a son, but actually because he had well-founded concerns for his family's safety, to say nothing of his own. As it happened, he was right to worry, as he was murdered the next year when the harvest failed that year, just as it had the previous year, despite all the desperate measures that had been taken. Summerisle's culture rather devolved after that, but it seems to have made a comeback, recently, under the guidance of a distant cousin of Maureen's grandfather. It would probably not be a good idea for her or any other claimant to the title to go back, though.Regardless, Gwenno grew up in Nevada and had almost completely forgotten about her origins by the time that she turned eighteen and started trying out to be a showgirl. She managed to get hired by one of the smaller casinos, and then a somewhat larger one, and was actually making a fairly good life for herself when a chance encounter with someone she's never talked about ended that life forever, since pregnant women are not generally considered to be showgirl material. Unwilling to take the simple solution to this problem, she gave birth to her daughter, Maureen, in 1992, spent a year recovering and then went back to work as a dance school instructor. Maureen's father was not in the picture, but Gwenno married a poor but dishonest LVPD officer and established a relatively happy family life all the same.When Maureen was eight, her younger brother went missing and has never been seen alive since. When she was twelve, her stepfather was killed in a shootout with some drug dealers. When she was fourteen, her mother was murdered by a serial killer. People she got close to while in foster care tended to meet unpleasant ends. She developed the belief that death was stalking her, showing her what he could and would eventually do to her. She decided not to go to that meeting quietly, and took up martial arts, at which she showed a surprising amount of talent. Sometimes, she felt herself shifting, becoming stronger, faster, harder.At eighteen, she was finally had her long-expected meeting. Death, as it turned out, was actually a man -- a crazy man who claimed to have magical powers which he'd employed to bend the fates of those around Maureen so that they'd meet unpleasant ends. Apparently, the psychopath was acquainted with her biological father, and took a sick interest in the notion of claiming Mephistopheles' daughter as a bride. All that she had to do to make it stop would be to marry him, and then -- Actually, she didn't bother listening to the rest. She proceeded to beat her tormentor half-way to death, at which point he gurgled out a threat that if he died the curse would never end, and that no one she loved would ever be safe. "Okay," she said, and then beat him the other half-way.Ever since then, Maureen has ambled around North America in a series of cars that she obtains through fair means or foul, looking for people who have problems with what she considers to be monsters, and helping them out -- for a fee that she sets based upon a completely arbitrary assessment of her 'clients'. She is definitely not a superhero, and regards the capes-and-tights crowd with disinterested contempt. By and large, she preys upon low-powered supers who've completely lost their minds following their mutation, but she has also encountered werewolves, vampires, witches, apparent ghosts and so-called fairies. Whatever the opponent, if someone is willing to pay her to take it on, she does so. If not, then not.Maureen has never met her alleged father -- either of him -- and has been noted to stay out of San Francisco. She has crossed paths with Dame Beatrice Barrowman, and wants to kill her. One important factor of Maureen's attitude is that once she decides that someone is a monster deserving of death, they are on that list for life, and nothing -- not the most saintly behavior -- will get someone off of it. While she worked with Argus agents during Dracula's recent activities in New York, and didn't attack Dame Beatrice when there were all sorts of people around who would have tried to separate the two of them, she spent the entire episode glaring cold death in the old witch's direction, and getting the same cold glare from her bodyguard.Sort of a shame. He's kinda cute. Oh well.Maureen Summerisle -- PL 9Abilities:STR 2/0 | STA 4/0 | AGL 5/1 | DEX 3/1 | FGT 7/3 | INT 1 | AWE 3 | PRE 2Powers:"Become Who You Were Born to Be": Enhanced Characteristics 16 (Agility 4, Dexterity 2, Fighting 4, Stamina 4, Strength 2), Subtle, Activation (Move Action) - 32 pointsFind Weakness: Strength-based Damage 4; Enhanced Advantage 4 (Close Attack 4) - 8 pointsMonster-Killing Dance: Enhanced Advantage 3 (Evasion 2, Move-by Action); Enhanced Defenses 4 (Dodge 2, Parry 2) - 7 pointsResistance: Immunity 1 (vampiric blood drain); Immunity 20 (mental effects), Limited to Half Effect - 11 pointsAdvantages:Attractive, Close Attack 4, Defensive Roll 2, Equipment 2, Evasion 2, Extraordinary Effort, Improved Initiative, Improvised Weapon 2, Languages 2, Move-by Attack, Power Attack, Redirect, Takedown 2, Taunt, Uncanny DodgeEquipment:Frequently-Replaced Car: Size Large; Strength 5; Speed 5 (ground); Defense 8; Toughness 8 - 10 pointsSkills:Acrobatics 6 (+11/+7), Athletics 6 (+8/+6), Deception 8 (+10), Expertise: Magic 5 (+7), Expertise: Streetwise 5 (+6), Insight 6 (+9), Perception 4 (+7), Persuasion 8 (+10), Vehicles 6 (+9/+7).Offense:Initiative +9/+5Unarmed +11/+7 (Close Damage 6/4)Improvised Weapon +11/+7 (Close Damage 7/5)Defense:Dodge 9/7/3, Parry 9/7/3, Fortitude 6/2, Toughness 9/5/4/0, Will 9.Totals:Abilities 22 + Powers 58 + Advantages 15 + Skills 27 + Defenses 10 = 132 pointsComplications:Vengeance, Or Something Like That--Motivation. Cursed to Bring Doom to Those She Loves, and So Loves No One.* Power Loss (Monster-Killing Dance, if she's not committed to killing the target.) Reputation (heartless mercenary.) Vindictive.* Just to be clear, it's not clear at all whether she's actually cursed in this manner. Frankly, voluntary emotionally detachment from everyone around her is probably a curse in and of itself.</blockquote>

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