Please critique my first Capes character

[Sindyr]

Having found someone who is willing to play Capes, I know only have to find one or two more.  Since that should be doable, I am getting ready.

Here is my first attempt at a Capes character.  Please tell me:
1) Have I broken any rules in creating it.
2) Have I made any strategically unwise choices
3) What do you think of the character, his backstory, etc

The Leader (That's his super name, honest. grin)

POWERS:
Super-Intuition: 5 (He's "tuned-in")
Lucky: 4 (So Charismatic that he's cosmically favored)
Invulnerable: 3 (Part of the hero "package")
Super-Reflexes: 2 (He's received special training at the Forbidden Monastery)
Mystical Gauntlets of Power: 1 (Received at the Forbidden Monastery, projects beams of great force, can also use to fly)

STYLES:
Infectious Energy: 1 (Even villains can't help getting in the spirit of things)
Inspire Awe: 2 [P] (I mean, damn!)
Upset People's Plans: 4 [P] (He has a knack for being the fly in the ointment)
Exudes Charisma: 3 [P] (He has more charm than anyone should have)

ATTITUDES:
Confident: 3 (Why shouldn't he be? Grin.)
Friendly: 2 (Extremely affable.)
Makes People Laugh: 1 (Always knows the right thing to say to break tension and lighten the mood)

DRIVES:
Hope: 4 (Hope inspires us to achieve the impossible, and makes the sacrifices worth it)
Justice: 2 (Justice is more than mere laws.  It is implementation of the very fabric of moral truth)
Duty: 2 (To achieve the dream we Hope for, and to achieve Justice, we must commit to a continual process)
Love: 1 (...but we can never forget *why* we do this, for the love of our fellow people and a sincere caring for their wellbeing)

Exemplars:

*Hope: Julie Jordan.  Social and Political Activist - and smoking hot.
*Free Conflict:  Goal: Help Julie fight for the wronged and downtrodden.
*The Leader admires Julie, but sometimes she calls on him a little much.

*Justice: Detective Bill Parker - friendly adversary, has jailed the Leader before for a short while - can't seem to keep him in jail. Or even want to, for too long.
*Free Conflict:  Event:  Bill is torn between looking the other way and arresting the Leader
*Bill and the Leader are close friends, and Bill admires the Leader's aims and commitment (and the Leader admires Bill's devotion to service), but sometimes Bill reluctantly is compelled to charge and arrest his friend for breaking the law in minor ways. (Think Dan Aykroyd and Tom Hanks in the movie Dragnet – or Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson in Starsky and Hutch.)  Due to his incredible charisma and his cosmic luck, the Leader rarely stay in prison for long, and has been acquitted 107 times.  Bill is starting to look to him co-workers like he has it out for the Leader, but the Leader continually defends Bill to any who accuse him.

*Duty: The Forbidden Monastery - though the Leader left it years ago
*Free Conflict:  Goal: The Leader applies lesson taught in his monastery days to his current situation to emerge victorious.
*The Forbidden Monastery taught him many useful lessons, but it can be a challenge to figure out how to apply them to the situations he finds himself in.

*Love: Any Hot Female
*Free Conflict:  Event: The Leader and a smoking hot babe make passionate and probably inappropriately timed or chosen whoopee.
*The Leader carouses, parties, and lives it up – and thought he never seems to make a permanent or exclusive connection, he finds many opportunities to connect one on one with countless ladies – but his rakish devil may care attitude and he tendency to seize the moment have led to numerous "flagrante delictos" at inappropriate times and places, and with inappropriate peoples.  Luckily for him, he rarely is embarrassed for any reason.

Synopsis:

Alex King was born into a privileged and powerful family – Senators, CEO's – movers and shakers.  From the day he was born he was told he was a child of Destiny, and that great and powerful futures awaited him.  He never questioned this – but he also never thought much about what it might mean, or *why* he should be so chosen.

On his thirteenth birthday his relatives came from far and wide to celebrate, in a ceremony they called the Investiture.  It was mostly a social gathering, but with strange and subtle ritualistic undertones.

One of these was at some point or another, each of the attendees came up to him, looked him deep in the eyes, and said the same phrase, "Please accept my offering of the chosen destiny and my cosmic favor", and presented him with some small trinket – and they refused to break eye contact with him until he had accepted the token.  The day was static filled, because each token gave him a small shock, but his father ever at his side would not allow him to refuse any of these "gifts".  Strange, but after each ritual offering was made, the offerer seemed to shrink in on him or herself, appear tired and unsure, and retire to sit quietly, seemingly catching their breath.

After having received tokens from all except his mother and father, a lull developed, and Alex wandered around the top floor luxurious apartment, trying to play the host.  He asked one person after another if he could get them anything, but everyone just smiled and declined, seemingly resigned in some way.

When he asked his uncle if he could get him some refreshment, his uncle unfocusedly ruffed his fingers through Alex's hair and was clearly about to answer in the negative, but changed his mind mid-thought, grinned at Alex, and said simply, "Some wine would be nice."

Alex went to get the wine from the kitchen, but caught his mother and father in hushed conversation, and slipped back out of sight before they noticed him. 

"You should stay," she said to his father, "He will need *someone*"

"It doesn't work that way," his father reminded her, "Without it being all, the Investiture won't be sealed."

"We have been lucky for so long, we won't last long after the transfer"

"But Alex will – he will be something the world has never seen.  We are one of the most powerful families in the world, but even with all our efforts, our pacts, our gifts, our money and power, we still can't achieve any lasting success against the Shadow.  You know that this is the only way."

"Poor Alex, he will be so lonely."

"When he inherits the full force of the Favor, he will not need to be lonely – he will have countless friends.  Listen darling – Alex is special, even before this.  He's a natural born leader – even his adversaries can't help liking and admiring him."

"True enough – the way he dealt with that ring of bullies in third grade, shaming them into reforming.  And now they are some of his best friends!"

"And with the Favor, he can go so much further than we as a Family ever could.  He could truly bring Light to Shadow." His father seemed possessed by certitude and passion. "And if he takes it to the next level, he could even drive away the Shadow for once and all!"

"Dear," his mother said, "No one can destroy the Shadow – but he can make it fear the Light, instead of good folk always fearing it. That would be enough."

Alex forgot all about his uncle's wine request and went quickly into the library, which was empty, to think.  What did all this mean?  Were his parents in some kind of cult?  Somehow he could not believe that anything they were involved in wasn't real, and worth it.  But they were saying some crazy things!

He almost did not notice his father coming in.  "Son, I am so proud of you, of everything you have done, of who you are, and of all you will do.  Always remember that.  And no matter what happens, never doubt that each and every one of us is with you." His father pulled something bright and shiny from a pocket, and looked deep into his son's eyes.

"Please accept my offering of the chosen destiny and my cosmic favor", his father intoned.  Not knowing what else to do and beginning to feel a little scared, Alex took the offered token.

"Dad, what's going to happen?"

"Some difficult things are going to happen, things we had to choose – but afterward, something wonderful."  His father then embraced him strongly.  "I love you, Son.  You are going to shine so bright."

Then, stepping back, his father quickly exited the room, leaving Alex in confusion.

His thoughts were so jumbled that he did not see his mother enter.  But there she was.  She was quietly crying, tears streaming silently down her face.

That was all Alex could take.  The floodgates opened and he too, wept, without knowing exactly why.

"Oh Alex," she breathed, "my son.  I love you so much.  You must forgive me, Alex.  Sometimes we must choose what must be done over those we love."

For a moment she lost her composure, "It's just not fair!"  Somehow Alex knew that the she was speaking of an unfairness to *him*.

Without knowing what this meant, he pulled his mother in, embraced her, and tried to comfort her, "It's ok, mom.  I'm sure it will all be fine."  After all, everything had *always* turned out for the best, since he was born.

She took a breath, pulled back from him, and lifted the charm necklace she always wore from around her neck. "Please accept my offering of the chosen destiny and my cosmic favor", his mother whispered.

Alex knew that he couldn't.  He knew somehow that this was the final piece in whatever was happening.  He knew something bad was just around the corner.

His mother's eyes implored him. "Please!" she breathed.

Alex knew he couldn't take the charm and complete whatever this was – but he also knew that she wanted – no, needed – him to do this.  This was vitally important to her, and to his father, and apparently to every member of the family.

Slowly, so slowly that he almost could believe it was not him controlling his arm, he reached out and took the charm. A snap of static electricity five times stronger than any of the others caught him by surprise.

His mother caught him up in her arms, and held him close.  Both of them were weeping now.

A splintering crash came from the other room.  Violent noises followed. Shouting, gunfire, explosions, screams suddenly cut off.

The library door opened.

A tall wiry athletic man walked in, flanked by two subservient military types.  The subdued lighting of the library seemed to throw his face into constant shadow.  He pulled Alex's mother away from him and snapped her neck in one clean move, dropping her body to the floor.

"So this is the last of the Tribe? This was much easier than I had thought it would be – almost too easy. You!  Take this boy back to the lab – I will want to take him apart piece by piece.  If he gives you any trouble, kill him – I can always autopsy him and learn almost as much."

The tall dark man swept out of the room, barely a minute after he entered it.

As Alex was dragged out of the apartment, he caught glimpses of death and destruction.  They had murdered everyone here.  His family -  all his family – was dead.  After seeing his dead father crumpled against a wall, he simply passed out.

He awoke tied up in a car, driving down some dark and lonely highway, two gunmen in the front seat.  He worked at his bonds, and actually felt them slip and give way.

Just as he freed his hands there was a bang when one of the tires took that moment to suffer a blowout - and the car swerved off the highway, plunged down a steep embankment, and started ripping through the underbrush.

Alex opened the door and jumped out of the car, into the night, landing miraculously unharmed.

20 feet later, the car impacted an old stone wall with a sickening crunch.  Then all was still.

Alex ran into to the night, clambering back up the embankment back to the highway.  He couldn't hear any sign of pursuit, but he wasn't taking any chances.

He found an old but spry man dressed in glimmering grey robes, seated on a scooter, waiting.

"Do not worry, I am a friend – and your captors are dead."

And Alex knew, somehow, that this was true.

"Come with me," the old man continued, "and you will find a home until you are ready."

"Ready for what?" asked Alex.

"When the time is right, you will know" answered the old man.

"My name is –"  Alex began to introduce himself

"No.  Forget your name.  For the rest of our journey together, you will simply be the Chosen."

So the Chosen joined him on the scooter, and the traveled to the Forbidden Monastery, where he learned many things, and eventually took a third name.  And when the time was right, he knew.

[Eero Tuovinen]

Man that's a friggin' long character, hopefully this is just practice and you're not playing him. Nothing else to say, I'm no Capes expert.

[Sindyr]

Heh heh.

[Matthew Glover]

I only noticed two problems with The Leader, rules-wise.  (A) You've taken four drives, rather than the five necessary for a legal character (pg 74.)  (B) You've created more than the one Exemplar you get for free (pg 75).  Exemplars after the first one must be shared by two different players' characters.

[Sindyr]

Ahh... I thought:

You could assign any drive a zero (In this case, I assigned Truth a zero)
You could take a free exemplar per non-zero drive

Are both of the above false?

[Sindyr]

Also, assuming I was wrong and can only have one free exemplar, would each of the four above work equally well?  Are any of them built wrong?

[Matthew Glover]

Ah, I see now.  After seeing your rationale, I had to pull my book back out to make sure that I haven't been reading it wrong, but on pg 74 it says "Assign each a Strength between one and five," so yeah, a zero level drive is broken.  On 75, it says "choose or create on Exemplar for free," so I'm leaning toward "one," rather than one per drive.

On the Exemplars themselves, I personally would say they're basically pretty good.  Here are the changes I'd make and my reasoning for them.  I'm still a noob with Exemplars myself, so don't take this as gospel.

*Hope: Julie Jordan.  Social and Political Activist - and smoking hot.
*Free Conflict:  Goal: Help Julie fight for the wronged and downtrodden.

This is good, but I'd change the Free Conflict to Goal: Julie convinces The Leader to stop what he's doing and instead help fight for the wronged and downtrodden. or something similar stated more simply.  I think this makes that goal more attractive to other players. 

*Justice: Detective Bill Parker - friendly adversary, has jailed the Leader before for a short while - can't seem to keep him in jail. Or even want to, for too long.
*Free Conflict:  Event:  Bill is torn between looking the other way and arresting the Leader

This is an excellent Exemplar.  I feel like the free conflict's wording could be changed to give it more impact, but I'm not sure how to go about it.

*Duty: The Forbidden Monastery - though the Leader left it years ago
*Free Conflict:  Goal: The Leader applies lesson taught in his monastery days to his current situation to emerge victorious.

This feels a little nebulous to me.  I'm having trouble imagining other players choosing to play the Forbidden Monastery character unless that locale is frequently used as a setting for scenes.  I don't have any experience with non-person characters, though, so what do I know?  This is another where I think the conflict wording could be punched up a little.  If you narrate the Leader failing at this, is it because he failed to apply the lesson properly?  Did the apply the lesson properly and fail to emerge victorious ANYWAY?  Hrm.  Then again, that leaves a TON of room for narrative manuvering, which is interesting.  Maybe the wording on this is okay after all.  I'd love to hear somebody else on this.

*Love: Any Hot Female
*Free Conflict:  Event: The Leader and a smoking hot babe make passionate and probably inappropriately timed or chosen whoopee.

Okay, this one is interesting.  I think rather than "Any Hot Female" I'd have a Situation non-person character here.  Which is something I've never contemplated before.  Kind of a weird idea.  It also seems like the conflict itself doesn't leave enough narrative room to make it something that both sides are going to fight for.  The whole Exemplar is so unusual, though, I'm having trouble figuring out how it would go down in play.  I'd like to hear how this worked in practice.

[Sindyr]

Thanks for the feedback, kinda winging it here. :)

*Hope: Julie Jordan.  Social and Political Activist - and smoking hot.
*Free Conflict:  Goal: Help Julie fight for the wronged and downtrodden.

This is good, but I'd change the Free Conflict to Goal: Julie convinces The Leader to stop what he's doing and instead help fight for the wronged and downtrodden. or something similar stated more simply.  I think this makes that goal more attractive to other players. 

I am not sure how to make this one work.  Does a successful use of this goal mean that the Leader exits the scene?  Does it end the scene?  Does it make a new scene happen?  Trying to capture how Julie can pull the Leader into her stuff - even stuff that she doesn't really need him for - since she overuses him a bit.

*Justice: Detective Bill Parker - friendly adversary, has jailed the Leader before for a short while - can't seem to keep him in jail. Or even want to, for too long.
*Free Conflict:  Event:  Bill is torn between looking the other way and arresting the Leader

This is an excellent Exemplar.  I feel like the free conflict's wording could be changed to give it more impact, but I'm not sure how to go about it.

I thought making it an event rather than a goal made sense because its about the place Bill is always in with the Leader and his independent ways.  Now, which he does will be up to who narrates the resolution, but a decision will have to be made one way or the other.

*Duty: The Forbidden Monastery - though the Leader left it years ago
*Free Conflict:  Goal: The Leader applies lesson taught in his monastery days to his current situation to emerge victorious.

This feels a little nebulous to me.  I'm having trouble imagining other players choosing to play the Forbidden Monastery character unless that locale is frequently used as a setting for scenes.  I don't have any experience with non-person characters, though, so what do I know?  This is another where I think the conflict wording could be punched up a little.  If you narrate the Leader failing at this, is it because he failed to apply the lesson properly?  Did the apply the lesson properly and fail to emerge victorious ANYWAY?  Hrm.  Then again, that leaves a TON of room for narrative maneuvering, which is interesting.  Maybe the wording on this is okay after all.  I'd love to hear somebody else on this.

Was trying to capture that Kung Fu Vibe where from time to time the hero flashes back to something he learned and when he flashes forward he can use that lesson. Maybe "Event: the Leader experiences flaskback to relevant monastery experience, and uses that lesson in the present" ?  That way whoever resolves the Event can narrate what if any effect the flashback had on the current situation.

*Love: Any Hot Female
*Free Conflict:  Event: The Leader and a smoking hot babe make passionate and probably inappropriately timed or chosen whoopee.

Okay, this one is interesting.  I think rather than "Any Hot Female" I'd have a Situation non-person character here.  Which is something I've never contemplated before.  Kind of a weird idea.  It also seems like the conflict itself doesn't leave enough narrative room to make it something that both sides are going to fight for.  The whole Exemplar is so unusual, though, I'm having trouble figuring out how it would go down in play.  I'd like to hear how this worked in practice.

Basically, the Leader is down with getting his game on with any lovely lady in almost any place at almost any time.  I figure this has to get him into trouble.  Not sure who to write a conflict to capture this.
-Event:  the Leader and a hot babe go one on one at the wrong time and/or in the wrong place?.

Although I would like to see how you make a Situation as an Exemplar in this case - sounds intriguing!

[Tuxboy]

-Event:  the Leader and a hot babe go one on one at the wrong time and/or in the wrong place?.

Or Event: Leader reviled for treating women as sex objects.

OR

Event: Leader cited in paternity suit

OR

Event: Leader arrested for public indecency

OR

Event: Leader contracts a STD

But seriously I am the only one that finds this Exemplar just a little creepy? Due to it less than heroic nature surely it would be more at home under either the Obsession or Power drives?

[Sindyr]

Well... I like the public indecency one...  *wink*

Seriously though -

He's very handsome and very charming. Women want to have him and men want to be him.  Basic character concept - charm (and luck) is the base character idea.

Given that, it makes sense that a lot of women are going to try to *be* with him.  And he is open to connecting with each and every one of them. He loves them all.  Which is why the Love Drive makes sense.

Love doesn't have to be monogamous or exclusionary to be love - at least in fiction.  The Leader is not obsessed with sex, nor does he worry about the power they have over him or vice versa.  With him its about being open to connecting to each and every one that wants to connect with him - whether or not sex is a piece of it or not.

Now if someone he connects with finds him attractive (which they usually will), and he finds them attractive, then he feels why deny that attraction?  Why not take that connection to the next level, and express it physically?

He is truly good and truly sincere - and therefor this goes to the Love Drive and nowhere else.

Don't get me wrong, you *could* build a character where it would make sense the way you say.  My character just makes sense as he is.

Or Event: Leader reviled for treating women as sex objects.

He doesn't.  If anything, *he* gets treated as a sex object, but usually that doesn't happen either.

Event: Leader cited in paternity suit

It *would* be interesting if pregnancy factored into all the sex you see people in fiction having... but normally in fiction, characters only get pregnant when the writers are ready and willing to have that happen. Unlike the real world.

Event: Leader arrested for public indecency

Again, the "-Event:  the Leader and a hot babe go one on one at the wrong time and/or in the wrong place?." could be narrated with this resolution by any who resolve it.  Of course, the Leader will try to avoid it, but the law gets a little blurry around whether a coat check room counts as "public indecency".   - grin.

Event: Leader contracts a STD

Can't happen.  Not only does it face the wall of fiction mentioned above (Certain things that happen in real life quite a bit happen to protagonists of stories only when writers are ready and willing to have it happen) but also the Leader is Invulnerable. Core character concept.

But seriously I am the only one that finds this Exemplar just a little creepy? Due to it less than heroic nature surely it would be more at home under either the Obsession or Power drives?

I think people react differently to these sorts of things based on a lot of factors, especially how tweaky they get around sex and our more animalistic and passionate sides.

If it helps, I am sure that the mini-Bushes, red-staters, arch-conservative christians, and morally self-righteous would all be more than a just a little creeped out - they would be offended, judgemental, indignant, and all "off with his head" and stuff.

Then again, they have deeper issues. ;)

[Tuxboy]

It would be more than funny for the arch villians to hire extremely attractive lesbians as henchwomen just to mess with Leader's head :

"What? But why don't you want to sleep with me!!! I'm ME you must want to!!!"

*LOL*

Played a less than serious game of Capes at the weekend and one of the heroes was Captain Pheromone, pretty much the same power set as The Leader, irresistible charmer, but played for laughs...nothing funnier than watching Mr. Charisma chased around by numerous people he doesn't find attractive, a group of elderly women in electric wheelchairs, a gang of gay bikers, etc. and finally get beaten senseless by the aforementioned lesbian henchwomen.

Hey it was juvenile but funny...

[ubergeek2012]

Event: Leader cited in paternity suit

It *would* be interesting if pregnancy factored into all the sex you see people in fiction having... but normally in fiction, characters only get pregnant when the writers are ready and willing to have that happen. Unlike the real world.

I think that having an event get played or a conflict resolving is basically the same thing as the writers (players) "being ready and willing to have that happen."

[Glendower]

But seriously I am the only one that finds this Exemplar just a little creepy? Due to it less than heroic nature surely it would be more at home under either the Obsession or Power drives?

I think people react differently to these sorts of things based on a lot of factors, especially how tweaky they get around sex and our more animalistic and passionate sides.

If it helps, I am sure that the mini-Bushes, red-staters, arch-conservative christians, and morally self-righteous would all be more than a just a little creeped out - they would be offended, judgemental, indignant, and all "off with his head" and stuff.

Then again, they have deeper issues. ;)

Animalistic and passionate sides are all well and good.  The creepy factor comes from the innuendo that The Leader is using his amazing Charisma superpower to score with ladies.  I'm sure that's not the intent, but it looks mighty suspicious when the guy that can "inspire awe" as a superpower is constantly getting it on.

*chuckle*  Now there's something you can have fun with.

Event: Horde of angry Husbands surround the Leader.

[TonyLB]

Event: Leader contracts a STD

Can't happen.  Not only does it face the wall of fiction mentioned above (Certain things that happen in real life quite a bit happen to protagonists of stories only when writers are ready and willing to have it happen) but also the Leader is Invulnerable. Core character concept.

Uh ...  no.  Your "Invulnerability" and a point of debt will get you a reaction on the conflict, and that is all.  I mean ... you've read the rules.  You know that, right?

So yeah, Leader can (and I strongly suspect will) get venereal diseases of all stripes, father illegitimate children, be utterly humiliated on national television.  All that jazz.

My take is that the Leader is an awesome character.  He'll be an absolute magnet for Story Tokens, because everybody who meets him is going to want to shove his teeth down his throat in about ten seconds flat.  I'd be interested to see him played alongside Major Victory (my personal take on the "hero people love to hate") just to see which of us could be more engagingly obnoxious.

I particularly loved the Goal: Help Julie fight for the wronged and downtrodden conflict.  That one rocks!  From the moment it hits the table until the moment it is resolved, Leader cannot help in any way.  The Not Yet rule explicitly forbids any such narration, no matter what.  Sure, he says he wants to help, but there's this big television interview, or he just happens to be saving the world, or friday is his night to shampoo the cat.  And that's the ongoing conflict between him and Julie ... that every time she wants him to step up to the plate and do something, there's always some god-damned plausible excuse.

Damn, he is one self-absorbed son of a bitch.  He'll be perfect for Capes.

[TonyLB]

*Love: Any Hot Female
*Free Conflict:  Event: The Leader and a smoking hot babe make passionate and probably inappropriately timed or chosen whoopee.

Okay, this one is interesting.  I think rather than "Any Hot Female" I'd have a Situation non-person character here.  Which is something I've never contemplated before.  Kind of a weird idea.  It also seems like the conflict itself doesn't leave enough narrative room to make it something that both sides are going to fight for.  The whole Exemplar is so unusual, though, I'm having trouble figuring out how it would go down in play.  I'd like to hear how this worked in practice.

Matthew ... I'll simply point out that James Bond is James Bond because he wins this conflict more often than he loses it.

A seductive enemy agent with a thick accent, furry hat and legs that won't quit enters the story.  You know James is gonna hit that.  There isn't any conflict about whether James is going to hit that.  I mean ... dude.  The conflict is about whether our man Jimmy will end up captured and strapped to a laser operating table because he couldn't keep his fly closed, or whether Agent Ivana Yurbahdie will be so moved by her night of romance and passion that when push comes to shove she sides with her hunka hunka British lovin' rather than her own people.

I totally agree with you that Femme Fatale should be created as a Situation, and that the exemplar should be that Situation.  In a given scene maybe the femme fatale in question would also be represented by a second character that makes her distinctive, or maybe not.  I would freakin' love that.  Because, see, Sindyr would play Leader, and some poor schmoe (let's say Wilhelm) would play mousy lab technician Sylvia Reading, and then I'd play Femme Fatale and make Sylvia a Femme Fatale against her player's will.   Wilhelm would use Sylvia's "Shy" and "Wallflower" traits, and I'd be coming right back with "Smoldering Glance" and "She's so coy" and the scene would just sing.

See, now I want to do that.  Like ... all the time.  And, also ... I totally want Sylvia.  Underneath that bushy hair and formless lab coat burns the heart of a jungle tigress.  Believe it!