I have to admit I rather enjoyed the old Hardy Boys / Nancy Drew Mysteries. I was more partial to Nancy Drew; having a crush on Pamela Sue Martin and later Janet Julian. I was quite excited on hearing there was going to be new Nancy Drew series staring Kennedy McMann. So imagine my delight when the show went hard-core supernatural.
The show is full of ghosts, possessions, family curses, witches fighting other witches, and yes lots of mystery. In its 3rd season, it is one of my new guilty pleasures.
Plus Nancy would be fantastic for any number of supernatural RPGs. In the spirit of crossovers how about Nancy for the Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG. After all, Buffy would not have been here had it not been for Nancy Drew. And the Nancy Drew show would not have been on the CW had Buffy not been on the WB before it.
So here is Nancy for the Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG.
Nancy DrewExperienced Hero
"Everyone loves a mystery" Life Points: 33
Drama Points: 10
Strength 2
Dexterity 3
Constitution 3
Intelligence 4
Perception 5
Willpower 4
Qualities
Attractiveness (2)
Fast Reaction Time
Hard to Kill 1
Drawbacks
Adversary (1)
Useful Information
Initiative 5
Observation 10
Height: 5'8"
Hair: Red
Eyes: Blue
Skills
Acrobatics 3
Art 4
Computers 2
Crime 5
Doctor 2
Driving 2
Gun-Fu 0
Getting Medieval 2
Influence 3
Knowledge 4
Kung Fu 2
Languages 2
Mr. Fix-it 2
Notice 5
Occultism 3
Science 3
Sports 1
Combat
| Maneuver | Bonus | Damage | Notes |
| Dodge / Parry | +5 | - | Defense Action |
| Grapple | +6 | - | Defense Action |
Gear
--
You wont see Nancy getting into too many fights and she has never, in my memory, used a weapon. Maybe a she has picked up a stick or used a supernatural weapon, but never a gun or even a knife really. Her main weapon is her mind; her keen intelligence and her photographic memory.
She would really fit in well. I mean Horseshoe Bay might as well be a Hellmouth with all the supernatural shenanigans going on. This Nancy Drew really is the spiritual daughter of Buffy, as much as Buffy is the spiritual granddaughter of Nancy Drew from the books.
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5 comments:
Is that the newest Nancy Drew? Looks like (a young) Madchen Amick!
Personally love Nancy (have since I was a kid) and have turned my children into fans as well. RPGs like Kids on Bikes (which I own) and BubbleGumshoe (which I don't) are always beckoning me to play them with this idea of doing a "Nancy Drew Game."
*sigh* But she'll always be better in book (and film and television) form.
Adding the supernatural to ND is a pretty cool idea, one I fully support (much as I enjoyed it with the excellent Scooby-Doo: Mystery Incorporated series). I realize she's a pretty down-to-Earth, "rational explanation" type but she's so damn pragmatic, I can easily see her pivoting and bringing the same no-nonsense attitude to being a Hunter of the Weird.
[not Bess, of course. She'd be blowing out her shorts]
Man...you put me in a mind to craft Nancy in the various RPGs I own: Beyond the Supernatural, Trail of Cthulhu, Vampire (using The Hunters Hunted), etc. Could probably do a whole month of posts just modeling Nance & Co. in variation.
; )
RE: Your Write-Up Here
Is there any kind of "get out of jam" skill? I seem to recall our heroine picking locks and wriggling out of ropes and such. Does that fall under acrobatics in your game?
More of a Tom Swift Jr. guy myself, but to each there own. :)
For a series of books that inspired several generations of scifi writers, actual scientists, and countless engineers neither Tom nor his father have had much love in terms of media adaptations. I suppose they'd just be too quaint and old-timey for modern audiences, where mysteries are relatively timeless.
@JB, Yes this is the new series that premiered in Fall 2019.
I'd LOVE to see your Nancy for Kids on Bikes!
For this version, I would use her Crime skill. So a Int + Crime check to know how to get out of a situation and a Dex + Crime to say pick a lock or remove ropes. In "Buffy" skills are not tied to abilities; mix and match as needed. Makes for a lot of uses of skills.
@Dick McGee, I think Nancy, more than all her contemporaries, was updated with the times more often.
No doubt. Tom Jr. (the hardcovers from the 70s) was himself an attempt to modernize the franchise from his father (just plain Tom Swift) since gadgets like big searchlights and motorcycles and airships weren't feeling so cutting edge anymore. Junior got rehashed a couple of times after that that I know of, with a dreadful spacefaring series in the 80s or maybe 90s that dropped the science for Star Wars, and a late 90s/early Oughts one that had him as an edgy young inventor making better skateboards and cellphones and the like. Calling them out of touch would be too kind.
Nancy (and the Hardy boys) have not only had more attention and care put into their update/reboot attempts, a good mystery remains a good mystery no matter when its set. Predictive science and invention, not so much.
Ha...you know, I just went back and read my review of Kids on Bikes from 2018, wondering why it's been gathering dust on the shelf for so long. Turns out, I didn't think much of the game's design:
https://bxblackrazor.blogspot.com/2018/12/kids-on-bikes_7.html
Which (to me) is quite funny considering how many spin-offs they've come out with since it was first published (Kids on Brooms, etc.).
If I REALLY wanted to do Nancy Drew, I'd probably just go straight to Bubblegumshoe. However, for a ND with supernatural element, I can't help but think BTS has DISTINCT possibilities.
; )
RE: Nancy Updates
Most of the latest ND books can't hold a candle to the old Carolyn Keene novels (they're hopelessly juvenile...the Case of the Missing Sandwich garbage), but I've been pleased with all the live-action stuff I've seen. I'll have to check out the latest...is that CW? It looks like CW. Hard to get behind a Nancy with a cell phone, but I'll take it if she at least has a blue convertible and not a skateboard.
RE: Crime skill
Ah. That makes perfect sense. Guess I wasn't thinking this morning!
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