Sunday, April 11, 2010

Xena and Gabrielle

For your enjoyment.

Xena and Gabrielle stats for use with the Ghosts of Albion and Army of Darkness games!



I am setting these AFTER "Friend in Need". Obviously Xena had to come back to life for some reason and now her and Gabrielle are back to doing what they do best.

Friend in Deed
Friend in Deed (FinD, and it is "in Deed" and not "indeed") is my "lets go find Xena and bring her back to life because she is the Promised One" adventure/episode. Takes place after the series finale ("Friend in Need", get it?), Gabrielle is struggling to live up to Xena's legacy and struggling to continue living without Xena. While her intentions were initially good, she has been spiraling into darkness and depression. She has forgotten what she had learned as Eli's student. She has been traveling on the Path of the Warrior, trouble is she is close to leaving that and been straying onto the Path of Vengeance.

And that was about as far as I got.

I know the plot is to rescue not only Xena (she is in an in-between spiritual plane) but also Gabrielle. I always imagined Gabrielle trying to continue Xena's journey but feeling like she was failing and sinking deeper into depression. That is where your characters come in and help her save the day! Or something.

One idea I had was to have a group of characters, hearing of the prophecies in The Dragon and the Phoenix believe they apply to Xena and Gabrielle instead of Willow and Tara. In the end they discover the truth, but still Xena is brought back.  Besides killing off Xena was kind of stupid.

Either way I am a sucker for happy endings.

I gave them both Anamchara.  I think it is appropriate.

Here they are!

Xena, Warrior Princess of Amphipolis
Very Experienced Hero

Life Points 83
Drama Points 20

Attributes
Strength 6
Dexterity 6
Constitution 6
Intelligence 3
Perception 4
Willpower 6

Qualities
Promised One (regenerate 6 LP per hour)
Anamchara (Gabrielle)
Attractiveness +2
Hard to Kill 7
Fast Reaction Time
Natural Toughness (+4 to Armor)
Nerves of Steel
Situational Awareness

Drawbacks
Adversary (lots, old enemies, forces of evil, Greek Gods-Ares in particular, Caesar)
Honorable (Minimal)
Love, Tragic (various significant others and offspring)
Love (Gabrielle)
Mental Problems (Mild Cruelty)

Useful Information
Initiative 11
Actions 3
Natural Armor 4
Perception 1d10 + 9
Fear 17

Skills
Acrobatics 8
Art 1
Crime 4
Doctor 1
Driving 3
Getting Medieval 8
Influence 2
Knowledge 4
Kung Fu 8
Languages 4
Notice 5
Occultism 3
Science 1
Sports 3
Wild Card

Combat
Maneuver Bonus Base Damage Notes
Nerve Pinch 14 * Incapacitates the target by cutting off oxygen to their brain
Must make survival checks. See suffocation rules.
Sword 14 24 Slash/stab
- Decapitation 9 24 x5 damage
Chakram 14 24 Slash or Bash (depending on how thrown)
Punch 14 12 Bash
Kick 13 14 Bash
- Flying/spin kick 11 21 Bash, war cry optional, but very cool
- Sweep kick 13 6 Bash
Dodge 14 Defense action
Parry 14 Defense action


Gabrielle, The Battling Bard of Potidaea
Very Experienced Primitive Screwhead

Life Points 46
Drama Points 15

Attributes
Strength 3
Dexterity 3
Constitution 3
Intelligence 4
Perception 5
Willpower 4

Qualities
Anamchara (Xena)
Artist (Bard)
Attractiveness +3
Hard to Kill 4
Fast Reaction Time
Nerves of Steel
Situational Awareness

Drawbacks
Adversary
Honorable (Serious)
Love, Tragic (various significant others and offspring)
Love (Xena)

Useful Information
Initiative 8
Actions 2
Perception 1d10 + 7
Fear 13

Skills
Acrobatics 4
Art (writing) 5
Crime 1
Doctor 3
Driving 2
Getting Medieval 5
Influence 3
Knowledge 4
Kung Fu 4
Languages 2
Notice 2
Occultism 3
Science 1
Sports 2
Wild Card

Combat
Maneuver Bonus Base Damage Notes
Nerve Pinch 7 * Incapacitates the target by cutting off oxygen to their brain
Must make survival checks. See suffocation rules.
Xena taught this to Gabrielle in Friend in Need.
Grand Katana 13 17 Slash/stab (+5 to hits and damage)
- Decapitation 8 17 x5 damage
Chakram 8 12 Slash or Bash (depending on how thrown)
Sais 8 6 Slash/stab
Punch 7 6 Bash
Kick 6 8 Bash
Dodge 8 Defense action
Parry 8 Defense action


Weapons of note

The Chakram of Darkness

Xena's (and used by Gabrielle after FIN) weapon of choice is her Chakram. A metal throwing ring, the Chakram is razor sharp. Xena was able to throw the chakram in such a way that it could hit multiple opponents and fly back to her. Despite its razor sharpness she could catch it and she could also use it to inflict slash damage or bash damage.
It was later revealed that this was in fact the Chakram of Darkness and had the ability to kill a god. Xena balanced it with the Chakram of Light and this ability was lost.

The Grand Katana

Made of the finest craftsmanship in the world, all other swords are toys compared to the Grand Katana.
Back in her evil warrior days Xena challenged the Sensei. The girl Akemi used it to kill her father. In order to regain her honor Akemi begged Xena to kill her with it. When Xena returned to Akemi's home, Akemi's ghost lead her to the sword. It was given the ability to harm malicious spirits and Gabrielle used it to avenge Xena's murder.

Its craftsmanship is so fine and the enchantments are such that it adds +5 to any attack and damage. The Grand Katana is also a unique weapon with a long history. Possessing it automatically gives the wielder a reputation and an extra 2 points of Adversaries representing those who want the sword for themselves or to return it to its rightful owners.

Anti-Magic Tattoo

Gabrielle has a large coiled dragon tattoo on her back that makes her immune to most forms of evil magic. She is immune to effects of any offensive spell below PL 4 and can negate up to 40 points of LP damage from any malicious spell-like supernatural attack.
Akemi's ghost tattooed Gabrielles back in long and painful procedure. It is unknown if others have learned this skill or at what level they are capable of enchanting the tattoo.

Directors Note: This is Level 4 tattoo. Anti-Magic tattoos cost 3 points per level and require someone with the knowledge to apply it. The Cast member then can no longer use Magic.

Links
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xena:_Warrior_Princess
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112230/
Whoosh!, the largest Xena related website on the web. http://www.whoosh.org/

Nerd Girls of Note: Lucy Lawless


Why is Xena important?
I get asked why I like a show that was so obviously full of fluff and a terrible butchering of history and myth.

Simple.
Xena is important.

Xena concluded her run in 2001.  At the time she started there were not a lot of strong female characters on TV and certainly very, very few in the lead role.  Sure X-Files had Dana Sculley, but she was supposed to be the "straight man" to Mulder.
Once Xena got popular we got Buffy, Charmed, Dark Angel, Alias, Birds of Prey, the list goes on.  More than any of these other shows (yes, even Buffy) Xena has been studied by academics on it's effects on media, pop-culture and women's studies.  We have (well...had) planets named after her, she has become a pop cultural reference and an icon to many.

In my games certainly Xena and Gabrielle are spiritual ancestors (but not actual ancestors as in some Uberfics) of Willow and Tara.  Something I had hoped to demonstrate in "Friend in Deed".
Maybe I'll get around to running it one day.





B/X Blackrazor is also talking about Xena on his Blog.
B/X BLACKRAZOR: The Problem with Xena


Purchase the Buffy the Vampire Slayer game from Noble Knight Games.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer

3 comments:

Tim Knight said...

Simply brilliant! Thank you.

Alex Osias said...

What is it about this post? I seem to get tons of referrals from this post to my site?

Timothy S. Brannan said...

Everyone gets a ton of hits from this one. It is above and beyond my most popular page with over 105,000 hits since it went up.