Runaround Sue
"Copyright Bryan Feir, 1991. Permission is granted to the editors of the Net.Champions Compendium to edit and include this work in the Compendium and distribute it electronically and to users of the Net.Champions Compendium to distribute this electronically and print it for personal use, as long as this copyright notice is included. All other rights reserved."

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Name: Bryan Feir
Address: 374 Glenholme Ave., York, Ont., Canada M6E 3E5
Email: bryan@sgl.ists.ca
Phone Number: (416)654-1567


"Runaround" Sue

Character Name: Susan Garvey              (267 points) by Bryan Feir
                aka 'Runaround' Sue

OCV: 8       PD   2       ED    3       Levels:   None
DCV: 8      rPD   0       rED   0       Defenses: Desolid, AO
ECV: 5      Total 2       Total 3
Description:
Sue is a tall, athletic looking young woman; slim, but not anorexic. She has naturally red hair which she keeps cut a bit above the shoulders, sky-blue eyes, and a mild complexion with a strong tendency to freckle. Her body looks like something she takes care of; she's clean and in good shape.

Voice depends on her frame of mind; the more excited she is, the higher the pitch goes. Normally she speaks in a slightly higher than normal tone, but it doesn't sound 'squeaky'.

Usual clothing for sue is a light tank top or T-shirt, a pair of shorts, and very high grade expensive shoes. She prefers light blue and white as colours. Note that she will continue to wear a tank top and shorts into the middle of winter, no matter how low the temperature gets. She'll also usually be seen with a small cellular phone strapped to her belt.

All of the above is noticeable if she stands still, which isn't very often. There's a constant light blur around her, and it's difficult to catch any real details.

 10  	Str    20* - Bought with 'Affects Real World' advantage
 24 	Dex    42
 13 	Con     6
  8  	Bod    -4
 18  	Int   	8
 14  	Ego  	8
 10/21 	Pre  	7* - +11 PRE 'Defense only' (+1/2)
 10  	Com   	2
  2    	PD    	0
  3   	ED    	0
  6  	Spd    26
  9	Rec     8
 26    	End	0
 20    	Stn	0
        ---------		-----
	Total 123	123	Total

Dex Roll: 14-
Int Roll: 13-
Per Roll: 13-
Ego Roll: 12-

   Cost    Skills/Talents/Perks:
           =====================
    3      Bump of Direction
    3      Absolute Time Sense

    1      Perk: Bonded Courier's License

    3      PS: Courier (INT) 13-
    1      Fam: Law
  ---      -----
   11      Total

Cost	   Powers:
	   =======
 15        EC: Disconnection from 'real' world
 43 65 80  Desolid, 0 END(+1/2), Pers. (+1/2), Always On(-1/2)
 60 60 75  Flight: 20", 0 END (+1/2), Pers. on first 5" only (+1/2(10))
                            (combat 120"/turn,  20m/s,  72km/h,  45mph)
           +x4 NCM on flight (gives 960"/turn, 160m/s, 576km/h, 360mph)
 15 15 30  Full Life Support
---        -----
133        Total

Bonus	Disadvantages:
100	==============
 10     Enraged: When taunted about being a 'freak' (unc, 11-, r8-)
 10     DF: Slightly blurry looking
  5     DF: Bright red Hair
 10     DNPC of the week (note 'Flirt' below)
 10     Watched: Courier regulatory boards (LP, NCI, 14-)
 10     Phys: Poor hearing (unless really concentrating)
 10     Phys: No fine sense of touch
 15     Psych: 'This is neat'  (show-off)  (vc)
 10     Psych: Flirt
 10     Psych: Curious
 10     Public ID
  5     Rep: Mischevous
 10     Rep: Very honest and strict about courier job
 20     Vuln: x2 STUN from any non-mental attack that actually hits her
 22     Experience earned
 	-----
267	Total

Character Concept:

Sue is sort of a cross between a low-level speedster and a toon in some respects, though with a lot more of a 'realistic' attitude than you'd expect in a toon. Due to her problems with reality (Desolid, always on) she's pretty much useless in a knock-down drag-out combat, but she makes a great scout or thief.

Explanation of Powers:

Sue's 'flight' is essentially bought with the special effect: running. Note that there is *no* limitation that she has to be connected to a solid surface, though. She can quite happily run across a canyon without falling in, climb up a staircase that only exists in her mind, start doing chin-ups on a 'bar' that is made of thin air, etc. In this respect, she's often almost toon-like, and she's enough of a show-off to keep that idea going.

Essentially, solidity and gravity are states of mind to her. Unless she focusses on something, nothing is solid to her. She can walk through walls and stand there as bullets fly through; on the other end, she can sit on a non-existant 'solid' surface. 'Down' for her is whichever direction she's designated it in: she can walk across the ceiling upside down with no problems.

With regards to the latter, notice that the first 5" of flight is bought Persistant. This is because the local 'down' and any local 'solid' objects she's created are maintained by her subconscious. If she's walking on the ceiling when she's knocked out, she will collapse upward onto the ceiling. If KO'd while standing on an imaginary platform, she'll land on it, and stay suspended in mid-air.

As for generally 'how the powers work', Sue can be simply considered to be literally somewhat out of touch with reality. Most of her simply doesn't exist on this plane anymore. She's half here, and half in another world where the laws of physics seem to only exist in her mind; this other world also always has air for her to breathe, a constant temperature, etc. The 'set of common attacks' that can hit her is essentially any attack that has the Transdimensional advantage, or anything that causes some sort of dimensional effect, such as teleport-based attacks.

The vulnerability above stems from the fact that she's simply not used to anyone being able to hurt her anymore.

Note also that her hearing most of the time is quite poor; the air simply doesn't impact on her eardrums unless she's concentrating enough to make that part of her solid. She still gets hit by sonic flashes at the moment, though.

Background:

NB: the 'how she got her powers' bit is easily modifiable, as it really doesn't matter a lot for the character concept.

Sue Garvey was always an energetic person, even back as a girl. She started winning awards in racing from back in grade one, and was simply one of those children that was difficult to keep up with. The nickname 'Runaround Sue' came early and stuck with her. Far from considering it a problem, Sue revelled in the attention, and tended to be a bit more of a 'tease' than absolutely necessary, just to keep up the reputation.

The origin of her powers dates back to a time she spent at a new summer camp that was operated for a few years. The camp was, in fact, a front for a villainous research organization who figured it would be an ideal opportunity to do some experiments on super-powered types. All the children were given experimental mutagens, with the idea that they would be allowed to grow up into their powers, then retrieved when mature.

Unfortunately for them, the organization was busted in a raid a couple of years later. A few managed to escape, but they managed to destroy the records so that none of the authorities could tell how they'd acquired their test subjects, or the names of those subjects.

Sue herself grew up quite normally, though she hit puberty a bit late. The change hit her during a track meet in grade eight; the combination of the mutagens from before, puberty, and the adrenaline burst when she hit 'second wind' in the race triggered off her powers. Everything around her seemed to slow down, and she suddenly found herself around the last lap in a couple of seconds and still speeding up. She couldn't quite make the last turn at her new speed, and saw the wall coming at her... and then through her.

Needless to say she was a bit shocked at this revelation... also needless to say, she was promptly disqualified from the track meet. The latter didn't bother Sue as much as most had thought; while winning medals for running was no longer a question, she had a new fascination to play with. She began experimenting a lot with her powers. There were a lot of terror stories going around for a while as she started playing pranks on a few people in high school, especially the 'jocks'...

While in high school, Sue did spend a little time doing assistant 'hero' work. She got to see what some of the supers were like up close, and what super battles could be like. She decided that this really wasn't her style, and so shied away from it after her original couple of years.

Not long after her eighteenth birthday, Sue started up her own corporation, with her as the sole member. Billing herself at first as 'Runaround Sue Deliveries, Inc.', she made a fair bit of money for a while acting as an amateur courier. As soon after that as she could, she managed to apply for a professional courier's license. Now, the 'Runaround Sue Courier Service, Inc.' is the highest priced courier in town, but she is a bonded courier and she can guarantee cross-town deliveries in about five minutes. With the cellular phone she carries, she can take calls anywhere, as well. She's occasionally done advertising 'demonstrations' where she's outrun FAX messages across town. She's actually quite well off in terms of cash these days.

While Sue refuses to get involved with any active 'heroing', or wear the stereotypical spandex, there's still a strong idealistic streak in her. Most of the times she's had to pay back on the time guarantee were because she stopped along the way to disarm a mugger or something similar. Of course, the fact that she admits to this and has been completely honest about being late has just upped her reputation even further.

Personality wise, Sue is still a young woman, and a rather bouncy one at that. She sees her powers as something 'kind of neat', and has a bit of a tendency to show off. Worse, she never really had time to learn that she was 'mortal' before getting powers that render her nearly impossible to hurt. She's always willing to help people out, but doesn't like being tricked or taken advantage of. And there's that occasional mischevous streak that pops out...

Identifying Quotes:

(Ten seconds after business call, when she shows up in office:) "Runaround Sue Courier, at your service. Sorry it took me so long, that cross-town traffic is murder."

(Facing thug with gun:) "Give me that silly thing. You don't want it to go off, do you?" *BANG* (Looking at where bullet hit the wall behind and through her.) "Oh, maybe you do."

(Wide-eyed innocent look:) "You don't really suspect *me* of putting your bicycle around the lamppost, do you?" (Lamppost sticking up through open triangle in bicycle frame so you need either desolid or a crane to get it off.)

Tactics:

Sue isn't much on tactics, really. She rarely gets involved as a superhero, so that isn't usually a problem.

Sue's main tactic consists of getting the crooks' attention on her, getting them annoyed, and letting them waste their ammunition while the hostage makes a break for it. Or something along those lines. Since she can't really do a lot in combat (the effective 3xEND on her STR just to get it to affect the real world limits her), she prefers to humiliate the crooks, and keep them in place long enough for the real authorities to show up. Unlike a lot of other supers, she *IS* familiar with the law... she knows exactly what is involved in making a 'Citizen's Arrest'.

Sue's never really had to deal with someone who could actually hurt her, and probably won't respond well to it. She'll walk into the middle of things as usual, and be very shocked when she actually gets hit.

Sample Encounter:

"Stop! Thief!"
The motorcyclist gunned his motor after he grabbed the lady's purse. You'd think people would know better than to hold their purses out that close to traffic these days. By the time anyone figured out who she was pointing at he'd be long gone; one of the advantages of the 'third lane' on a busy street.

The people watching along the side of the road were startled to see a bright flash of blue zip along the road, and quickly catch up to the thief. The blur matched speeds, resolving itself as a young woman with a backpack who seemed to be casually jogging along... at close to thirty miles an hour. She knocked lightly on the helmet of the cyclist, smiled at him through his faceplate, and then grabbed the left handle through his hand and squeezed the brake lever.

The cyclist was nearly pitched over the handlebars, but tried to keep his cool. He stopped the cycle, and pulled out his knife. The young woman just kept looking at him, then grinned at the knife. "Cute." "Let's see how cute you find this." He made a quick slash at the back of her hand, more to scare her than anything else. She made no attempt to dodge, and the blade went right through.

She grinned at him again. "You ever seen the movie Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom?"

"Huh?" Confusion overtook nervousness for a moment, then suddenly she stuck her hand through his jacket and well into his chest, right where he thought his heart would be. Already close to the edge, the would-be thief fainted.

She shook her head. "They don't make purse snatchers like they used to." She picked up the purse, and handed it over to the owner, who was running in that direction. "Here you go, ma'am." Then she checked her watch. "I'd better get going, I've got a package to deliver. Be back in a few minutes for when the police show. See you!" And barely waiting for the thanks, she turned and accelerated down the road again.

A bit melodramatic, perhaps, but you get the point. And yes, Sue will come back and deal with the police if any charges are going to be laid in the matter. She's a bit more idealistic than a lot of supers, but also knows exactly where she stands legally. And given her job as a courier, she doesn't want to risk losing her license by doing anything illegal.

Possible Extensions and Campaign Use:

General suggestions on how to soup up Sue fall into three basic categories.

Category 1: Her relationship with reality.
   At the moment her ability to make other objects desolid is limited
     to a very small amount of weight that she's comfortable with.
     (Which is why she always wears light clothes.)  With some practice,
     she should be able to get 'Usable Against Others' on the Desolid.
   As she gets a little more used to handling physical objects, Reduced
     END on the strength would be useful.  As it stands, full strength
     attacks take up 3 END, which will tire even her out.
   Flash Defense vs. hearing is also a good idea.

Category 2: Speedster maneuvers.
   Sue may be very fast, but she's still fairly low speed for the
     classical speedster.  Her DEX and SPD could easily be raised
     (The present DEX 24 is just to let her get the jump on people
     who bought the point-effective 23), as could her flight.  A
     side note, that if the flight is increased it will be more
     point effective to take the Life Support out of the EC and make
     the EC larger.
   Other speedster style elements can be added once she starts pushing
     the envelope a little more.  Little things like Instant Change,
     Missile Deflection on others, Autofire on STR, etc.  She doesn't
     have most of these things now because she didn't go the superhero
     route, and never really had to learn them.

Category 3: Skills, Contacts, etc.
   Sue is rapidly gaining some prominance in the business industry.
     She's saved a few people's jobs by getting forgotten packages
     across town in a few minutes.  More contacts, the Well Connected
     modifier, and getting Wealth are definitely possibilities in her
     present line of work.
   Eidetic Memory and Lightning Calculator are things she will likely
     get soon.
   She doesn't have a lot of skills right now, but she's still young.
     Skills will be forthcoming.  A touch of persuasive type of skills
     will come in as she gets more comfortable with dealing with
     businessmen, including the Bureaucracy skill.

Campaign use:

The obvious way to get Sue into the campaign, especially if the group doesn't have a speedster, is to hire her as a courier. Or just have her run across something while on a restful jog, and decide to help out.

Given her job, and her dedication to it, she's unlikely to stay for very long with an established supers group. She could easily be hired by a villain to deliver an explosive to the hero's HQ, for that matter; unless she knew that the package itself was unsafe, she'd deliver it. As long as the person signs the form saying it's not one of the items prohibited for transport, she'll make a best effort to deliver it. And she won't look inside it; she takes her license and the codes behind it *very* seriously.

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Bryan Feir           VE7GBF|"I am a great believer in luck, and I find that the
bryan@sgl.ists.ca          | harder I work, the more I have of it."
                           |                          -- Stephen Leacock
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Taken from the pages of Jens-Arthur Leirbakk