Design Notes
Instead of making every character chip in for a combined Manager and Staff background, I wanted to make a manager using the slightly tweaked creation rules from the STreet Fighter Player’s Guide. In the tropes of the movies, you know the character who isn’t the combatant who gets dragged along and often time has the knowledge necessary to solve the problem. That’s the Manager of this Street Fighter Team!
Managers get to start with the usual 7/5/3 for Attributes. In contrast to most Street Fighters, Mandy’s Primary will rapidly go to Mental Attributes, the Secondary to Social, and the Tertiary to Physical. 10, We will definitely prioritize Intelligence and Perception for Mandy starting with a 4 in each, leaving a 2 for Wits. Appearance and Manipulation will get the extra points in Social as well. The starting attribute scores are therefore Strength 2; Dexterity 2; Stamina 2; Charisma 2; Manipulation 3; Appearance 3; Perception 4; Intelligence 4; and Wits 2.
Abilities is where we start to see the slightly tweaked rules – Managers have 10/8/4 to assign for Abilities as opposed to the usual 9/7/4. While Knowledges may seem like the natural fit to start, I am going to begin with the Primary in Talents, Secondary in Knowledges, and Tertiary in Skills. In Talents, we will spread out the points between Alertness, Insight, Streetwise, Subterfuge, and the Manage Talent! Since we can only start with 3 in any ability, we will put Manage at 3, Alertness at 1, and the rest at 2. Mandy’s fascination with Street Fighting manifests in her three ranks of both Arena and Style Lore with 2 ranks in Finance from her previous career. Finally, a rank in Drive and Security means two ranks in Bookie round out the Abilities. Her free rank of Linguistics for the campaign will be Italian.
In exchange for the skills, the Manager only knows 4 Techniques and 3 Special Maneuver points to start. That makes it easier for sure on this part where a little block, a little punch, and a few athletics are quickly disposed of. That means the starting Techniques will be Punch 1; Kick 0; Block 1; Grab 0; Athletics 2; and Focus 0.
Her starting maneuvers are simple- Jump(1) and Elbow Smash(2)! Because Managers do not get a formal “Style” for Street Fighter purposes, they are limited to buying Special Maneuvers that are available to “Any” style at that point cost.
Backgrounds get an enhancement for Managers as well starting with 8 instead of five. Staff and Backing at 3 are good starts and Contacts of 2 quickly deal with the starting 8 points. I plan to spend some more in the Freebie point section, but for now this will be a good start. The Backing is definitely internal and coming from her company, running the whole Stable, for the Team and the Staff reflects not just Transmarco provided employees but also independent contractors Mandy has signed for the purpose of the improving Palladion
It isn’t clear how much Renown a Manager should get, so I will put it at 2 with one point in Glory and Honor. She won’t really have much chance to increase it since she shouldn’t be doing a lot of direct fighting, but we’ll record that anyway. Similarly, her starting Chi is 1 and Willpower 4 reflecting a lower total characters more likely to use those disposables in combat.
With 5 Freebie points, I’ll raise Mandy’s Dexterity to 3 making her a bit better than most. Next, I am going to push her Manage to 4, add a rank of Computer, and a single Willpower rank for the next 5 Freebie Points. The last five all go into Backgrounds! We add another 1 rank of Staff, 2 more ranks in Contacts, and 1 Ranks in Allies. Mandy has great connections that she uses to her fullest to get Palladion fights, cover the logistics of travel, and handle all those unglamorous things that go into trying to make it as a professional fighter. I decided not to give her Resources, or an independent source of wealth, but have her reliant on the Backing from her employer and to give her something to hold over the Team members.
Advancement Notes
For fun, though, we are advancing the entire Team a bit to show how to develop the characters with Experience. 50 Experience gives us plenty to work with especially if we are not looking too deeply at Maneuvers and fighting! There are a smattering of skills Mandy needs to have or improve on to really fit into this Street Fighting World. With experience, we can look to 1 Rank each of Intimidation, Investigation, and Mysteries (2XP each). Both Leadership and Publicist will go from nothing to 2 ranks as she learns how to boss around stubborn street fighters as well as what needs to happen to get the word out. (4XP each). Raising Subterfuge to 3 will also be a big help to Mandy. (4XP). Both Intelligence and Wits can get raises to 5 and 3 respectively further improving her managerial talents. (24XP).
After enough fights, Mandy learns a combo for Block to Elbow Smash that can catch even Street Fighters unaware. (4XP).She should probably work on her Stamina and Blocking, but instead she has gotten better at hitting things raising her Punch Technique to 2 (3XP) as is her sometimes fiery way. That leaves us with a single XP with which we will raise her Chi to 2 even though she has no specific use for it just yet. (1XP)
Character Notes
Mandy seems like an All American Girl in so many ways. She grew up in a suburb, had loving parents, got good but not too good grades in school, and went to college. A small liberal arts college suited her well and she found a place where her natural intellect flourished and was challenged. She completed college with only a minimal number of youthful indiscretions tha inevitable come from the folly of youth.
Mandy landed a good job using her English degree to proof and prepare grants for a non-profit. It wasn’t necessarily challenging, but it was rewarding in its own way. She took the time here to go back to school and found a Masters Degree in Public Finance to be a fun addition to her skills. From there, she went to work for another school as their Finance Manager. It was harder work than she had before and it certainly put her through her paces … but she couldn’t help but feel like she was not really living up to her potential. She was facing ennui and boredom as she approached 30.
Things began to change for her when she fell in with the Circus Club at the School. She started to take Circus Arts classes and learning how to use the aerial silks. It was freeing, liberating for her. The bruises were worth it even when she had to answer awkward questions. She felt more at home than she had before. This was the gateway to Street Fighting.
One of her fellow club members asked if she had ever seen the fights and unwittingly she went along. When she realized it was an underground fighting ring, she expected a dark, dingy, and frightening experience. While it was dark and a bit dingy, the fights were not so brutal or intimidating as she expected. There was a bit of class to this after all. Mandy was hypnotized by the different styles of the Fighters and began spending more and more time sneaking off to watch the fights and taking her vacations to visit famous, or infamous, arenas around the world.
Her hobby eventually became too much to bear. She had to get closer to the action. Putting her best foot forward, she left her job as a public finance manager and joined Transmarco, Inc.! She was eminently qualified from a technical standpoint to handle finances and logistics for teams, but it was her unabashed love for the Circuit and how she could spout off on the history of different styles that sealed the deal. It may have taken another year or two before she got her first team, but Mandy is ready to take Palladion as far as she can.
It’s odd for her because she is nearly a decade older than everybody except Gunther. The two of them sometime commiserate about the folly of youth where Mandy is often the Team Mom to Gunther’s Team Dad. It seems like they are getting exciting and interesting assignments, like that one with the Count, but something isn’t quite right for her to put her finger on. It is in the quiet moments when she gets the most excited. The quiet moments let her focus on being part of this hobby and joy that consumed her. In the quiet moments, Mandy grins the widest.
Mandy Sheet Here.
Palladion Overview Here.
Fillable Character Sheet from SFRPG.com
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Guard-a-manger
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