Wearing the Cape has a big cast, most of which are superheroes. One of the biggest problems this created was the need for careful consistency. Who is the strongest hero? The fastest? How do they stack up against each other? How useful are their powers in specific situations? Fortunately, I had a tool ready-to-hand for the purpose. I mentioned in an earlier post that I was once a huge Role Playing Game fan, specifically that I’d dabbled in GURPS.
Although the Atlas campaign had failed to fly, the point-based rule system for constructing superheroes and fighting with them proved a tailor-made solution to my problem. So I sat down and drew up some character sheets, and what follows is, for all gamers with an interest, the stats for Astra, Wearing the Cape’s main character, along with character notes.
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Name: Hope Corrigan (aka, Astra)
Attributes: ST 8 [-20], DX 13 [60], IQ 12 [40], HT 20 [100]
Secondary Attributes: Dmg 3d+2/6d (23d/25d with Super Effort); BL 205 lbs (5 tons with Super Effort); HP 32 [0]; Will 15 [15]; Perception 15 [15]; FP 30 [30]; Basic Speed 8.5 (includes BS +1.5) [0]; Basic Move 10 (includes BM +2) [0].
Advantages: Appearance (Attractive) [4]; Basic Move +2 (Super, -10%) [8]; Basic Speed +1.5 (Super, -10%) [27]; Damage Reduction (100) (Super, -10%) [270]; Damage Resistance 75 [338]; Enhanced Move 4 (Flying; Super, -10%) [72]; Flight (Super, -10%) [35]; Longevity [2]; Microscopic Vision 1 (Super, -10%) [5]; Nictitating Membrane 15 (Super, -10%) [14]; Parabolic Hearing 3 (Super, -10%) [11]; Pitiable [5]; Regeneration (Slow; Super, -10%) [9]; Resistant to Metabolic Hazards (+8; Super, -10%) [14]; Reputation 2 [10]; ST +12 (Super, -10%) [108], ST +12/220 (Super, -10%; Super Effort, +300%) [348]; Telescopic Vision 3 (Super, -10%) [14]; Temperature Tolerance 8 [8], Very Fit [15].
Perks: Striking Surface [1].
Disadvantages: Duty (Sentinels: almost all the time, and extremely hazardous.) [-20]; Honesty [-10]; Pacifism (Reluctant Killer) [-5]; Secret Identity (Astra, Serious Inconvenience) [-5]; Sense of Duty (Family, Friends, Team) [-5].
Quirks: Jumpy [-1], Responsive [-1].
Skills: I never got around to cataloging all Astra’s skills, but did give some thought to her training. With intense daily fight-training from Ajax, who taught her a combination of Boxing and Wrestling, and Atlas, who taught her combat-flying (Aerobatics and the Human Missile technique), by the end of Wearing the Cape she possesses Boxing-13 [2], Wrestling-13 [2], Aerobatics-12 [2], and Human Missile +1 [2]. Obviously she’s still training.
Character Notes
Astra can bench-press 40 tons, so she can’t quite pick up a tank but she can flip one over, and while her punch can’t quite penetrate a tank’s armor, she can rip its treads off. Her top speed is 640 mph, so she can fly faster than commercial jets but not military jets. A standard surface-to-air missile can’t hurt her, and while an armor piercing anti-tank missile would, she can absorb quite a few hits due to her incredible toughness
Built on the small side, as Hope she still looks too young to be driving (thus the Pitiable advantage). Her costume makes her look more mature, removing this advantage when she’s Astra. Her reputation is also growing; practically everyone recognizes her in costume, and she actually has a chance of intimidating potential combatants into backing down despite her harmless appearance.
Astra fits into the top 10% of Atlas-type superheroes, and in the US there are less than a dozen Atlas-types stronger than she is. This should give readers an idea of the ceiling I wanted to place on superhuman strength; the Post-Event world has no heroes comparable to Superman, who can easily lift cruise-ships and take hits from the main guns of battleships. Modern technology is quite capable of building weapons powerful enough to take Astra and even Atlas out–if they can hit them. Nonetheless, the Atlas-type hero’s combination of strength, toughness, and mobility, makes him a dangerous opponent for whole armored divisions. No wonder the Army tried to recruit her!
Marion G. Harmon, A Writer in Vegas. 
(Apologies for commenting on an older post, I just discovered Astra’s world this past week.)
My guess was going to be Champions/the Hero System.
Astra’s world reads very much like a game setting to my eyes. I mean this as a compliment; I think it’s a very “playable” place.
Thank you–there is nothing new under the sun, and lots of the themes I played with in WtC and VI have been covered in some form or other in any RPG system that has asked how superheroes might actually behave and how the world might really see them. Perhaps if it becomes popular, the series will spawn its own gamebook…
Sorry to reply to a very, very old post but being a Junior Petite should give her an Agility and Power Density advantage AND a reduced surface area for ranged attacks.
Yeah, well I didn’t go with GURPS. But thanks, I might someday do a conversion sourcebook.