Vampifan's Superheroes and Supervillains 07

Here is my second batch of superheroes to show you. All three were converted by me and all three appeared in my GURPS Supers campaign. Let's take a closer look at them.

At the far left is Flamin' Jane, the poster girl of the GURPS Supers second edition rulebook. There are more illustrations of her in this supplement than any other hero or villain. She even appeared on the front cover of the book (see below). Sarah Jane Dailey's superpowers kicked in when she reached puberty. Fortunately, her nanny counselled her wisely. She kept them hidden and vowed only to use them to help others. She excelled at high school and went to Harvard University where she graduated with a double major in economics and finance. She was immediately hired by a prestigious New York brokerage firm and made a name for herself in no time. Her future secured, she felt it was time to use her abilities to help others. Using her middle name, she adopted a second identity, that of Flamin' Jane. Her super-powered exploits have earned her a favourable reputation with the general public. Her super powers include Body of Fire level:10, Damage Resistance +10, Fireball level:8, Flame Jet level:10, Flight, Neutralise Fire, Smoke level:10 and Super Flight level:2. She cost 850 points. These were her stats for GURPS 3e. I upgraded her stats for GURPS 4e and she ended up costing 1,000 points. To date, she is the only superhero I have upgraded to GURPS 4e. Her figure is a conversion of a Grenadier superhero. I added her cloak and lengthened her hair with Milliput. I really like her, both as a figure and as a character.
Next up is Rising Sun. This superhero made a brief appearance in the Villains & Vigilantes scenario, Search for the Sensei. Jin Ikeuchi is a corporate Vice President at Ikeuchi Scientific, a cutting edge research and development company. Aged 22, he has only recently entered the world of superheroes and meta-villains. He created two gadgets - a jet pack and a pair of laser gauntlets to implement his one and only natural superpower - invulnerability to all crushing damage (bullets, feet, fists, maces, falling pianos, etc.). So his powers for GURPS Supers were easy to create - Invulnerability to Crushing Damage, Gadget - Jet Pack with Flight and Super Flight, and Gadget - Laser gauntlets with Laser level:12. He cost 600 points. His figure is also a conversion of a Grenadier superhero. I added his Laser Gauntlets and Jet Pack.

At the far right is Nightshade, who appeared in the GURPS Warriors supplement as one of the Archer characters. Dwayne Wilson's gym teacher got him interested in archery at an early age. He was a natural and soon began winning tournaments. His little brother, Wade, was frail and was often picked on and bullied at school. Dwayne did his best to protect him but in doing so became the victim of a drive-by shooting. As fate would have it, the bullets missed Dwayne and hit Wade, crippling him. Life went on and Dwayne graduated at the top of his class with an honours degree in engineering. Neither brother forgot the drive-by shooting or the crime that plagued their inner-city community. Working together, they created a high tech compound bow with speciality arrows and a special suit of black armour. Dwayne now tries to stem the rising tide of crime in Los Angeles as Nightshade. He has no super powers or mutant abilities. All of his super powers come from the suit of body armour he wears and from the specially crafted arrows he fires from his bow. There is one interesting trivia fact I want to share with you about Nightshade. In one scenario he witnessed Gothique (see last post) in action and immediately fell in love with her. Unbeknownst to Gothique, she has a secret admirer. He cost 600 points. His figure is a conversion of the Marvel Heroclix Avengers hero, Hawkeye.
The three portraits below were drawn and coloured by me. I drew them to specifically match the poses of their miniatures and I'm especially pleased with the results.

Flamin' Jane, Nightshade and Rising Sun

Flamin' Jane in action on the front cover of the GURPS Supers rulebook.

Vampifan's Superheroes and Supervillains 04

Continuing with my recent theme of showing you some of my old 28mm scale figures of superheroes and supervillains that I made and converted I present to you the Psi-Prime team of supervillains. These seven miscreants appeared in the Villains and Vigilantes scenario, The Secret in the Swamp, published by Fantasy Games Unlimited in 1986. I did not play this scenario with the V&V rules but I did convert it for GURPS Supers and ran it with two other players using our team of Gothique, Vampirella and Wolverine.

At the far left of the two photos above and below is Psi-Prime, the megalomaniacal leader of this group of supervillains. Born Karl Wagner in Munich, Germany, he developed an unhealthy fascination with genocide during his teens. He would often visit Dachau concentration camp. This coincided with the development of his psionic super powers. He majored in chemistry and discovered a chemical that could instantly evaporate water. His plans for genocide by contaminating the water supplies in Germany were thwarted and he fled to the Everglades in Florida. With a stockpile of chemicals he plans to evaporate all the oceans of the world. In GURPS Supers I gave him the following super powers - Dehydrate level:10, Increased Speed level:2, Psychokinesis level:26 (with Instantaneous enhancement) and Telepathy level:12. He wears High Tech Body armour. He cost 1,000 points. He always carries a bag of coins, which he can use as ammo for a telekinetic attack, propelling them as fast as a bullet. My figure of Psi-Prime was sculpted by me and made of Milliput. He is meant to be tall but I think I've made him a bit too tall.
Standing next to Psi-prime is his girlfriend, White Heron. Whilst studying anthropology at university, Karen Moran was given the opportunity to study a tribe of Seminole Indians in the Everglades, She was even more delighted when she was asked to take part in a secret ceremony of the Indians' gods. However, it was all a ruse by Shaman (see below) and Karen was transformed into White Heron, the totem creature of Shaman's tribe. Shaman was working for Psi-prime and when Karen met Karl for the first time they fell in love. She soon came to accept his vision of his master plan to change the world. Karen can transform into a white heron, as well as spouting wings and talons whilst remaining human. She has one unusual disadvantage and that is an addiction for eating raw frogs, which she must do on a daily basis. She was designed for an average 500 points. Her figure is based on an old Grenadier Miniatures Supers figure and was so perfect for her that I didn't need to convert her at all. Sometimes you get lucky and find the ideal figure for your needs.

Third in line is Antioch, known as Shaman. As an aspiring man since his youth, Antioch became frustrated with the continued maltreatment of the Indians by the Whites. He decided revenge was in order. With the aid of the Five Ancients, supernatural spirits he summoned, he forged two magical devices - an Amulet of Life and a Mind Control device. His actions brought him to the attention of Coot (see below) who was working for Psi-Prime. Coot urged Psi-Prime to recruit Shaman. The old man readily accepted Psi-Prime's offer and has never regretted it. Shaman possesses no super powers but he does know a smattering of magic spells. He has Magical Aptitude level:2 and Spirit Empathy as two of his GURPS advantages. He cost 300 points, making him the weakest member of the Psi-Prime team. Shaman is another one of my unique sculpts and was made out of Milliput.
At the far right is Coot, a being from a limbo-like dimension, who ruled there until he grew bored and sought out a new challenge. Psi-Prime made contact with him and offered him a portion of the Earth to rule and a decent portion of the water that would remain after he put his genocidal plan in place. Coot, hoping that this would be a true test of his power, agreed. Coot's super powers that I gave him for GURPS Supers were Enhanced Strength 23, Extra Hit Points +20, Gadget (a fishing rod with Bind power level:15), Increased Speed level:2, Laser Eyes and Longevity. He cost 1,000 points, making him a formidable opponent. He was made by me, using Milliput. His fishing rod was the shaft of a spear I converted. I like him because he looks so innocuous.

For this trio of villains I changed their bases to reflect the fact that they spend all of their time in the swamps of the Everglades and would never appear in an urban environment. At the far left is Alligator, a villain similar in many respects to the Lizard from Marvel Comics' Spiderman series. Roger Engle, was once a biologist studying alligators in the Florida Everglades. This was a dream job for him but he became appalled at the slaughter of so many alligators both legally and illegally that he decided to champion their freedom and dignity. He developed a formula to give him the powers of an alligator. It worked only too well but it also gave him the intelligence of an alligator. When Psi-Prime found him, he manipulated the confused scientist into aiding in his fiendish plan. Alligator has the following powers for GURPS Supers - Amphibious, Breath Holding level:4, Damage Resistance 20, Enhanced Strength 30, Increased Speed level:2, Passive Defence 3, Speak with Animals (reptiles only), Striker (claws, teeth and tail) and Super Swimming. He cost 750 points. I sculpted him out of Milliput. An easier option would have been to simply use a Heroclix figure of the Lizard but I didn't.
Next up is Sludge, one of the Five Ancients who responded to the summoning by Shaman. His form has changed and he is considerably weaker in this dimension. As one of the Ancients (who all desire the downfall of Man) "Sludge" saw that the powers that Psi-Prime had allied with might succeed so he risked entering this dimension. Due to a freak mystical backlash caused by such power entering this dimension, Sludge was transformed physically and mentally. Shaman's two magic items (the Amulet of Life and the Mind Control device) allow him to remain in this dimension. If either were to be destroyed he would return to his original home dimension totally intact as one of the Five Ancients. Despite being considerably weakened he is still a very powerful entity. He possesses the following super powers - Amphibious, Body of Mud, Damage Resistance 5, Doesn't Breathe, Drink, Eat or Sleep, Enhanced Strength 150, Extra Hit Points +35, Immortality and Passive Defence 2. Note that Body of Mud is a combination of the powers Body of Earth and Body of Water. Sludge can alter the state of his body at will - from a liquid mud form to a wet clay-like form. He cost 1,000 points. For the figure of Sludge I simply used an old Grenadier Shambling Mound from a boxed set of AD&D monsters.

Last of all is Swamp Rat, who has no super powers whatsoever but who is a highly skilled and deadly survivalist. Jacob Archer is a U.S. Army veteran with mental problems. He thinks he is still at war and he went to ground in the Everglades where he adopted the name, Swamp Rat. He now believes the entire world is one vast swamp and if he were ever removed from this environment he would become catatonic. One day, he was approached by a man who he naturally shot. Incredibly, the bullet stopped inches from the man's heart. The stranger called himself Psi-Prime and offered Swamp Rat to help win his war if he helped him. This was too good an opportunity to pass up. Psi-Prime then put Swamp Rat in charge of Sludge, who "Rat" immediately liked (mainly because of his brutal killing strength) and within months had achieved near total control over Sludge. He cost 400 points in my GURPS Supers campaign. Swamp Rat is a converted Games Workshop plastic Catachan Jungle Fighter. I added the rolled up sleeves of his coat as his arms were originally bare. I also modelled his hair to match his illustration. His 7.62mm H&K G3 Assault Rifle came from my spare parts box.
The illustrations below were scanned in to my computer from the scenario book and in some cases modified by me. For example, Shaman was only shown from the waist up in the book, so I had to add his legs to the illustration. For Sludge, I added the long nose that appears on the figure so he more closely resembled it. They were all digitally coloured by me.

Psi-Prime and White Heron

Shaman, Coot and Alligator

Sludge and Swamp Rat

Vampifan's Superheroes and Supervillains 03

Here are three more supervillains that I made and converted many years ago. These are all loners but any one of them would be an ideal recruit for the Yamaguchi Yakuza clan that I reviewed last time. When I converted the Villains and Vigilantes scenario, Search for the Sensei, to GURPS Supers I added all three to the Yamaguchi Yakuza to give my player characters a greater challenge. Despite the extra manpower the villains were still defeated!

At the far left of this group is Mount Fuji, a supervillain from the GURPS Supers 3rd edition supplement. Tashiro Yamato is a disgraced Sumo wrestler who has become a ronin, a renegade samurai serving no master. He is a Robin Hood type - to some a hero, to others a villain. He is wanted by the police and a mid-level Japanese Yakuza gang (not the Yamaguchi Yakuza, who are much more high-powered and are quite willing to recruit meta-humans). His super powers in GURPS Supers are Enhanced Strength:190, Damage Resistance:50 and Increased Density level:8. He cost 600 points. He weighs 1,100lbs and yet one of his Quirks is that he thinks he is too thin! I sculpted Mount Fuji out of Milliput. If I was making him today, I'd probably convert him from the Marvel Heroclix figure of the Blob. He is meant to be rather squat looking, hence his lack of height.
Standing next to him is Predator, one of the supervillains featured in the GURPS Super Scum supplement. During the 1920's Archer Hayes led a band of mercenaries on raids along the northern coast of Japan. On his last raid he entered a village temple and found an unusual golden opal. A priest warned him the stone was cursed, the curse being everlasting life. Archer took it anyway and when the temple suddenly exploded he was surprised to find he had not only survived but that his body had changed, leaving him stronger and more agile. A group of ninjas, the Nimba Cult, heard of him and recruited him. He learnt faster than any other recruit and was sent on a mission to assassinate the British ambassador's daughter. But when it came to the actual kill he found he could not stomach such a senseless death. He fled to America and found work as a stuntman in Hollywood. He survived numerous assassination attempts by the Nimba Cult and was forced to move constantly. As the years passed he grew bored. Life held no excitement for him. He never aged and he soon realised that eternal life was a curse. Now he will accept any challenge if it has the possibility of being fatal. In GURPS Super Scum the characters can be one of three power levels - low, medium or high. I chose the high 1000 point option for my Predator. His super powers are Clinging, Damage Resistance:20, Enhanced Strength:60, Full Co-ordination level:2, Infravision, Regeneration and Unaging. Once again, I sculpted the figure myself. His katana and wakizashi came from Dixon's Miniatures who sell samurai weapons separately. The wakizashi is just a katana I bought with its blade shortened. I cut it down to an appropriate length. I think he is one of my better sculpts.

At the far right is Python, the first figure whom I converted from the Golden Heroes role-playing game. I never played Golden Heroes, but I did find it a handy sourcebook for converting some of its characters to GURPS Supers. Mai Lee Noh paid a scientist to develop a serum to bestow upon her the abilities of a python to help her become a Grand Master of the Bando style of Kung Fu. It was partially successful, granting her great strength, fast reactions and a scaly skin, but she was still defeated by the current Bando Grand Master and was forced to flee China in disgrace. She has since made a small fortune hiring her skills to the highest bidder and has built up a good reputation in her work and will do anything to keep her reputation intact. She is a cold, calculating crook, who only gives up if the defeat can somehow be turned into a moral victory. For GURPS Supers I gave her the following super powers - Enhanced Strength:30, Increased Speed level:3 and Passive Defence:2. She also has very high Skill levels in Judo and Karate, specialising in the Bando style of Kung Fu. She cost 800 points. Her figure is a conversion of the Marvel Heroclix Psylocke from the X-Men. I made her in 2003, a year after the launch of Heroclix.
I leave you with illustrations of these three supervillains. They were all scanned into my computer from their respective sourcebooks but I digitally coloured them.

Mount Fuji

Predator and Python

Blog News. I would heartily recommend you check out the Gamers Cupboard blog if you want to see what a Chibi version of Vampifan looks like! Even if you don't like Chibis it's still worth a view. Here's the link - http://thegamerscupbard.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/chibi-vampifan-and-chibi-vampirella.html

Vampifan's Superheroes and Supervillains 02

In my previous post I looked at three lone supervillains I had made, based on characters from GURPS Supers and Villains and Vigilantes. This time I'm reviewing a team of supervillains - the Yamaguchi Yakuza clan. They appeared in the V&V scenario, Search for the Sensei, published in 1986.

At the far left is Kazutoshi Toshinaga, leader of the American West Coast operations of the powerful Yamaguchi Yakuza clan. Crippled as a boy in a car accident that also killed both of his parents, Kazutoshi was taken under the wing of a rich uncle with contacts in the Yamaguchi Yakuza. He studied Engineering at Tokyo University, specialising in Cybernetics. He was offered a post in the Yamaguchi clan, which he accepted. He created his special armoured suit, which gave him full mobility. He quickly rose through the ranks and became known as Shujin. Like Marvel Comics' Iron-man, Shujin gains all of his superpowers from his High Tech suit. He is now based in San Francisco. In GURPS Supers, his suit grants him Super Strength:80, Psionic Resistance level:20 and Damage Resistance:65 in the body and DR:50 in the head and limbs. He is armed with a gold-plated Force-sword. He cost 1000 points. I sculpted him out of Milliput.
Next in line is Maiden Japan, leader of the American East Coast operations of the Yamaguchi Yakuza, based in New York. Lotus Sawara was born in Osaka, Japan. She was a lonely child so she created an imaginary friend, a companion who did things for her, like play catch with her or put away her toys. Later, she realised this was her own mind at work. She was a telekinetic. At age 14, her parents disowned her, thinking she was possessed by demons. She joined a travelling circus and developed an affinity with the circus animals, especially the big cats. At age 20, she joined the Yamaguchi Yakuza, where her talents were appreciated and rewarded. In addition to her Telekinesis, she is a superb athlete and she can speak with feline animals. Indeed, she owns a pet Indian tiger, whom she calls Nihon. Shujin crafted a Force-staff for her much like Darth Maul's double-bladed Light-sword, although long before that Star Wars film ever saw the light of day. In GURPS Supers she cost 500 points, an average score for any superhero or supervillain. Once again, I sculpted her. Her Force-staff is the shaft of a metal spear.

Third in line is Solaris. Born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Tetsuya Kori turned to a life of crime after she was made redundant from her job as an electronics teacher. Whilst on a skiing trip, her latent super powers activated when she was caught in an avalanche. She was able to melt the snow that covered her with her latent Flame powers. Upon joining the Yamaguchi Yakuza she was presented with a flame retardant costume. She named herself Solaris. In addition to her Flame powers, Solaris can blind opponents with a Flare and can fly at super speed. She operates in both New York and San Francisco, depending where she is needed the most. In GURPS Supers she cost a respectable 800 points. I was fortunate enough to find a 28mm scale Grenadier superhero figure who perfectly matched her look. All I had to do was lengthen her hair with Milliput then paint her in the appropriate colours.
Finally, we have Genghis Chi. He may be small but he is powerfully built, super strong and weighs far more than normal for a man of his size and stature. He was born in Brooklyn, New York. He has two loves in his life - chemistry and beating up people. After graduating from college he became a pharmacist and was soon recruited by the Yamaguchi Yakuza. Basically, he is a super-powered version of the villain, Oddjob from the James Bond film, Goldfinger. He even has a steel-brimmed bowler hat, which he can use like a boomerang. In GURPS Supers, his super powers were Super Strength:30, Extra Hit Points +10, Increased Density level:3 (adds 300lbs to his 140lbs weight and reduces any Knockback by 3") and Increased Speed +2. He cost a total of 600 points. The figure I used for Genghis Chi was a Denizen Miniatures figure of a not-Oddjob. Although he is true 25mm scale, he was perfect for my needs.
I'll close with illustrations of the four figures shown above. They were redrawn by me and digitally coloured by me.

Shujin and Genghis Chi

Maiden Japan and Solaris

Vampifan's Superheroes and Supervillains 01

During the 1980's when I was games mastering my group of wargaming and role-playing friends there was one superhero RPG that we played many, many times. It was Villains and Vigilantes (V&V) by Fantasy Games Unlimited (FGU). V&V was far away FGU's most successful game and more supplements and scenarios were produced for it than for any other game in their range. In the late 1990's we switched to GURPS Supers. However, I converted a few of the V&V scenarios to GURPS for my group to play. Carrying on from my recent posts for the Forgotten Heroes challenge I thought you'd like to see some some of my earlier superhero figures that I made and converted for those two superhero RPGs. The majority of the figures I created back then came from various supplements and scenario packs for GURPS Supers and V&V. In this post and the next few, I'll show you some of them, starting with this trio of lone supervillains.

At the far left is the supervillain, Doctor Apocalypse. He was the primary protagonist of the scenario set, The Island of Doctor Apocalypse, published in 1982 for V&V. Pietor Apoucalos was a megalomaniac whose powers came from the mystical Apocalypse Gem which was grafted to his forehead. This allowed him to use any six super powers of his choosing at any one time. I forget which six powers he used in V&V but in GURPS Supers, I kept the six powers limit and gave him up to 1200 points to spend on them. In his current incarnation he chose Enhanced Strength: 80 (200 points), Extra Hit Points +40 (200 points), Immortality (140 points), Increased Speed +10 (250 points), Laser level:10 (270 points) and Teleportation level:30 (self only) (120 points). I spent 1,180 points on his super powers and his total points cost came to 2400 points. When I ran The Island of Doctor Apocalypse scenario using the V&V rules, he wiped the floor with the superheroes of my players. This was the one and only occasion that they lost a fight. He was simply too tough and too powerful for them. Much later, with some trepidation, I replayed the scenario using the rules for GURPS Supers and a team made up of Gothique (a player created Dark Elf superheroine), Vampirella (obviously played by me) and Wolverine defeated him.
The figure was sculpted by me and is based upon the front cover illustration of Doctor Apocalypse that appears on the V&V scenario book. His head is far too big, I realise but I was happy with him at the time so never bothered changing him.

Next up are my two winged flyers. In the centre is Blue Demon, who was one of the villains featured in the GURPS Supers supplement, Super Scum. This was a collection of supervillains both loners and teams. Blue Demon was unwittingly summoned to Earth by a coven of witches (now all dead). He caused carnage wherever he went and was responsible for the deaths of thousands of humans. Annoyingly, he has been killed several times but he always comes back later. His super powers include Doesn't Breathe, Flight, Hardened Skin (metallic blue in colour), Pressure and Vacuum Support, Regeneration, Regrowth, Super Strength and Unkillable. In GURPS Supers he cost 1400 points. My players had no problems in defeating him in both games, although they could never kill him and thus, like any good villain, he would always return. For my figure of him I used the wings of an old Citadel Khorne Demon of Chaos. Being made of metal, these helped to anchor him to his base. Note that his feet do not touch his base. The rest of his body was made out of Milliput modelling putty. He looks exactly like the illustration of him (see below) and I'm very pleased with my sculpt of him.
Finally, we have Talon, another character from the GURPS Supers supplement, Super Scum. Jani Yamahito, a brilliant geneticist, was transformed into the monstrous, reptilian Talon after a failed laboratory experiment. She is not truly evil, even though she has killed, her violence is mostly unprovoked. Her super powers include Chameleon Skin, Claws, Clinging Ability (she can walk on walls or ceilings at half Move), Flight, Regeneration, Regrowth, Super Strength and Toughened Skin. Although she cost 900 points in GURPS Supers, she could still be taken out by a single superhero and she'd be no match for a team of heroes. My figure of her is a conversion of an old Citadel Dark Elf Harpie (similar to the one I used for my conversion of Purgatori). I simply remodelled her head and added a long tail with a forked tip.
I'll leave you with illustrations of this trio of supervillains drawn and digitally coloured by me.

Doctor Apocalypse

Blue Demon

Talon

Blog News. Those of you who are interested in the Shadows of Brimstone game should check out my review of it on The Gamers Cupboard blog here - http://thegamerscupbard.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/shadows-of-brimstone-overview.html
If you think you've already seen it before, think again. It has been rewritten and greatly expanded.