Perry Rhodan in Cortex Prime Heroic - Part 1

Disclaimer

All rights regarding Perry Rhodan and any parts belonging to the series of novels under that name belong to Verlag Pabel-Moewig in Rastatt. This page is a fan product as described here by the series' editor in chief.

All rights regarding Cortex Prime are licensed to Magic Vacuum Design Studio. The Cortex Prime Heroic System is in a beta/testing state right now and details can be found on the Kickstarter page here. I would like to thank Magic Vacuum Design Studio for the permission to write about this and to publish the following character files.

(Titelbild Perry Rhodan Erstauflage Heft 2721, © Pabel-Moewig Verlag KG, Rastatt)

 

Perry Rhodan in Cortex Prime Heroic

We had a very successful test of the upcoming Cortex Prime Heroic system in the Perry Rhodan setting. Perry Rhodan is the main character of the series of science fiction books that is running in Germany for more than 50 years. It is a very epic space saga where story arcs span thousands of years and numerous galaxies. The series is famous for its very action oriented novels where mutants with paranormal powers fight alongside Perry Rhodan to defeat evil super intelligences which enslave the population of entire planets and such evils.

We played in the story line of the Cosmic League where Perry Rhodan and his force face the super intelligence Seth-Apophis and are blamed for some evil deeds of said super intelligence by a giant armada of millions space ships righteously called the Endless Armada.

In contrast to the official rpg "Perry Rhodan - Das Rollenspiel" this allowed for fast heroic action play with the main characters from the novels. We could (re)play the mission to take an Armada Armory and help top rescue the Armada Prince directly from the novel.

In this part I will show two character files we used in the sessions. The files itself were complied using the information from the corresponding page in the Perry Rhodan Wiki called Perrypedia with additional input from Zornhau and Shadow Lass.

Pucky and Ras Tschubai are not only two of the most famous characters in the series they are also a famous team of teleporters that usually operates behind the enemy lines taking up to three specialists for the mission with them. Thus, they provide an excellent starting point for characters in the Perry Rhodan setting.

Sample character files

PUCKY

Affiliations:             
Solo   D8       
Buddy D10    
Team D6


Distinctions:          
“Ubiquitous killer”
Last of his kind
“Savior of the Universe”

Power Sets:               

Multimutant
                       
Teleport D10
Telekinesis D12
Telepathy D12
Psychic Resistance D10

SFX: Multipower. If you use more than one power from Multimutant in your dice pool, step down each dice once per additional power.
SFX:  Area Attack. Target multiple opponents. For every additional target, add d6 to your pool and keep +1 effect die.
SFX: Pushing the Limit. Step up or double a Multimutant power for one action. If the action fails, step back that power. Spend a PP to recover that power.
Limit: Exhausted. Shutdown any Mutant power and gain 1 PP. Recover power by activating an opportunity or during a Transition Scene.
Limit: Weak body. Step up any physical stress or complication to gain 1 PP.


Special Agent of the Cosmic League
Energy Shield (Enhanced Durability) D8       
Fly (Combat Powersuit) D6
Combined Beam Pistol  (Weapon) D6
                       
SFX: Cell activator. Ignore stress, trauma, or complications caused by aging or poison.
SFX: “Too cute to hurt this animal”. On a successful reaction against a physical attack, convert the attacker’s effect die into a Too Cute to Hurt stunt. Spend 1 PP to do this even if the reaction was not successful.
Limit: Gear Shutdown any Cosmic League power and gain 1 PP. Recover power by activating an opportunity or during a Transition Scene.


Specialties:
Combat Expert D8
Cosmic Expert D8
Psionic Expert D8
Psych Expert D8

Milestones:       

“Special Officer Puck”
1 XP When you fail to understand a direct order and have to be reminded of it                       
3 XP When you use your telekinesis power to let someone hover helplessly in the air you do not agree with or who called you a space rat
10 XP When you play a prank on a someone that either makes the mission fail or by some weird coincidence allows the mission to succeed                                       

“Compassion is my strength”
1 XP When you see someone mistreated and speak up to it       
3 XP When you teleport away to investigate a creature being mistreated
10 XP When you completely leave the mission at hand to help someone or when you continue the mission leaving someone in need of help alone                                        

Bio:

Pucky is about one meter in size and looks like a giant upright walking beaver with the head of a mouse. He has one big characteristic gnawing tooth and brown fur with a tint of red. He is overweight and lazy when it comes to physical activities.


Sometimes Pucky behaves in a childish way, but many times this happens because he does not want other to see who he suffers emotionally from failures to help victims of abuse or mistakes that lead to the death of innocent. He tends


He is very keen on helping weak and suffering creatures against any form of abuse of power. Many times he ignored his mission in order to serve justice to the oppressor, varying from physical punishment to teleporting them to deserted places.
He usually teams up with Ras Tschubai and one or two specialists for a ground missions and is feared by many enemies because of the combined use of telekinesis, telepathy and teleportation to attack from different places at almost the same time. The Maakhs called him the “ubiquitous killer” although Pucky very rarely kills his enemies. After destroying a giant artificial intelligence that thought of itself as “ruler of the universe” and threatened to destroy  a whole planet Pucky has called himself “the savior of the universe” more than once.
Abilities:
Pucky can move objects the power of thought and is able to teleport. The maximal distance of teleport is about 500 000 kilometers. He can read the thought of other creatures using his telepathic power as well.

RAS TSCHUBAI

Affiliations:        
Solo   D6
Buddy D10
Team D8

Distinctions:
“Dark Phantom”
Pragmatic Daredevil
Shy Giant

Power Sets:        

Mutant
Teleportation D12
Enhanced Reflexes D8
Psionics D8
Psychic Resistance D6

SFX:  Area Attack. Target multiple opponents. For every additional target, add d6 to your pool and keep +1 effect die.
SFX: Versatile. Replace Teleportation die with 2d10 or 3d8 or 4d6 on your next roll.
SFX:  Increased resistance to antimutant measures. Ignore Stress or Complications caused by such antimutant technology for 1 PP
Limit: Exhausted. Shutdown any Mutant power and gain 1 PP.  Recover power by activating an opportunity or during a Transition Scene.
Limit: Shaken Confidence. Step back all Mutant powers by one step to gain 1 PP.  Activate an opportunity to recover.

Special Agent of the Cosmic League
Energy Shield (Enhanced Durability) D8  
Fly (Combat Powersuit) D6
Combined Beam Pistol (Weapon) D6
Microbombs D8

SFX: Cell activator. Ignore stress, trauma, or complications caused by aging or poison.
SFX: Tactician. When using Combat Master  to create assets, add a d6 and step up your effect die.
SFX: Robotics Genius. Spend 1 PP to step up a robotic Tech resource
SFX: X-Logic. When dealing with robots, double one power die.
Limit: Gear Shutdown any Hanse power and gain 1 PP. Recover power by activating an opportunity or during a Transition Scene.

Specialties:       
Combat Master D10
Cosmic Expert D8
Psych Expert D8
Science Expert D8
Tech Master D10
Menace Expert D8
          

Milestones:        

Pucky’s calming half
1 XP When you have to remind Pucky of the mission
3 XP When you push the team to continue working on the mission
10 XP When you take an additional risk threatening the overall mission's success to help Pucky

One of the few mutants that survived
1 XP When you are reminded of all fellow mutants that lost their lives fighting at your side
3 XP When are trying to teleport somewhere but are reflected by antimutant measures
10 XP When you survive a death trap specially designed to kill mutants

Bio
Ras Tschubai was born in Sudan in 1947. He has black curly hair and dark eyes, is very tall, and buff. His personality is that shy and intelligent pragmatic person who is not afraid of taking risks when the mission requires.  His belief in god helps him to stay calm and focused. He has excellent reflexes that have saved his life more than once.

Besides being a masterful tactician he also has a degree in chemistry and a PhD in robotic psychology. Furthermore, Tschubai invented a novel approach called x-logic to understand how robot with artificial intelligence behave.

Tschubai has been the partner on ground missions for Pucky for more than a thousand years and is seen as the calm stabilizing element without which Pucky would be too easily distracted from the goal of the mission ahead.

Abilities:
Tschubai is able to teleport up to 500 000 kilometers and used his powers to terrify enemies by suddenly appearing close to them and vanishing before they can react. This has given him the nickname "Dark Phantom". He is an expert when it comes to robots.