Character 9: V for Victory

Okay, so we go back to the Polyhedron magazines with March 2003's V for Victory, which as you might have guessed is an RPG set in Wordl War 2.

There really is not much to say about this game. It's really not that amazingly interesting mechanically and is essentially a cookie-cutter level based D20 game. You get your pre-war background as a substitute for race, your training instead of class. One interesting bit is your specialty, which gives you an area of expertise such as amphibious invasions or mounted warfare. Unfortunately, all it does is give you a bonus feat, so there's really not much to it.

On top of this, I really don't think a level based D20 game captures the grittiness of a WW2 game properly, bar perhaps 1st level, where the tissue paper fortitude of your characters gives the right sense of vulnerability. Honestly, were I to run this, I think I'd tweak the hp a bit so that you absically only got a few hp per level, meaning combat remains dangerous throughout. But really, this is one of the last games I'd run, not because i hate it (it's very rare to find a game I hate) but simply because of it's mediocrity compared to other games covering similar territory.

Anyway, let's get those 4d6 rolling!

12, 8, 14, 14, 12, 8

No heights of brilliance there and a couple of peanlties, but I guess we'll have to see what we can work with. Rolling for pre-war background, it seems my character is a revolutionary with intelligence training

Bit of tinkering around and we have something. Andre Benarious left the small rebel groups of the Spanish Civil war when he found his homeland had been taken over by the Nazis! Fortunately, his espionage and sabotage training will be put to good use!

Andre Benarious
1st level, Intelligence training
Hit Dice: 1d6+1 (7 hp)
Initiative: +1 (dex)
Speed: 30ft
AC:11 (+0 Defense, +1 Dex)
Attacks:+1 Browning High Power pistol
Damage: Browning High Power pistol 1d10
Face/Reach: 5ft by 5ft/5ft
Career Ability: Inspire
Specialties:Combat Engineering
Saves: Fort +1 Ref +1 Will +0
Abilities: Str 8, Dex 12, Con 12, Int 14, Wis 6, Cha 16
Skills: Bluff +9, Decipher script +7, Demolitions +9, Diplomacy +4, Disable Device, +4, Gather Information +6, Hide +4, Innuendo +2, Move silently +4, Research +4, Sense Motive +2
Languages: French, English, German, Spanish
Feats: Skill Focus (demolitions) (B), Skill Focus (Decipher script), Skill Focus (Bluff)
Equipment:Forged ID papers, Browning Higher Power Pistol, microcamera, German currency

Yeah, Andre is far better off the battlefield than on. Thus, I put everything into skills, the things intelligence types specialise at. Unfortunately, apart from skills, everything else about him sucks. Ah well, it's not like I'll ever play him anyway.