Name: Shaggy Man Val Char Cost 18 STR 8 14 DEX 12 16 CON 12 12 BODY 4 10 INT 12 EGO 4 15 PRE 5 8 COM -1 8 PD 4 3 ED 3 SPD 6 7 REC 32 END 29 STUN Characteristic Rolls: STR: 13-, DEX: 12-, CON: 12-, INT: 11-, EGO: 11-, PER: 11- Run: 6", Swim: 2", Jump: 3-1/2", Lift: 300 kg Cost Powers END/Roll 53 Love Magnet; 10D6 Mind Control; +1-1/4 adv Area Effect Radius, Doubled (10" Radius); +1 adv Continuous; +1 adv 0 END, Persistent; +1/4 adv No Verbal Command Required; -2 limit Independent; -1/2 limit Love Only; -1/2 limit Always On; -1/4 limit IIF, Toy Horseshoe Magnet 5 +5 EGO, +5 COM, +5 PRE, -2 limit Independent, -1/4 limit IIF Love Magnet Cost Skills, Talents, Perks Roll 3 Concealment 11- 3 Conversation 12- 3 Persuasion 12- 2 PS: Hobo 11- 2 KS: Baseball 11- 3 Sleight of Hand 12- 3 Seduction 12- 3 Stealth 12- 3 Streetwise 12- 5 Survival 12- 3 +1 with Throwing and Catching 75+ Disadvantages 15 Ragged Hobo, concealable with effort, causes prejudice 20 Must Tell the Truth, common, total 20 Normal Characteristics Maximums 13 Watched 11-: Ozma, more powerful, non-combat influence 1 Quirk: Must Be Shaggy 1 Quirk: Despises Money OCV: 5; DCV: 5; ECV: 4 (6 with Love Magnet); Mental Def.: 0; Phases: 4, 8, 12 PD/rPD: 8/0 ; ED/rED: 3/0 Costs: Char.: 54 Disad.: 70 Powers: + 91 Base: + 75 Exp.: + Total: = 145 Total: = 145 Source: L. Frank Baum, "The Road to Oz," 1908 Background: The Shaggy Man showed up Dorothy Gale's Kansas farm one afternoon, slipping fallen apples (and an angry Toto) into the huge pockets of his tattered coat and asking which road led to Butterfield. He was dusty and weatherbeaten, but his eyes were kind, so the girl offered to show him to the crossroads. When they arrived at the crossroads, however, the Shaggy Man headed in the opposite direction from Butterfield. He told Dorothy that a man there owed him money and that he didn't want it; he only wanted to be loved. She turned to go back to the farm and found 17 roads instead of the usual five and the way to her home nowhere in sight. Not knowing quite what to do, she followed the Shaggy Man, who had chosen a road at random. After all, the hobo said, a road was bound to take them somewhere. A thief and liar used to sleeping in barns and living by his wits, the Shaggy Man stole the Love Magnet because he was tired of being shunned by society and wanted to be loved. He found redemption of a sort in escorting Dorothy and two other lost children they met to Oz. He talked their way past the armed sentries of the Fox-King, risked his own life protecting the children from the cannibalistic Scoodlers, and figured out a way to cross the Deadly Desert that cut them off from Oz. Once there, Princess Ozma allowed him to stay on the condition that he be honest and true. She gave him a fine suit decorated with fringe and bangles so that he could shed his rags and still remain the Shaggy Man. He eventually earned her trust and was appointed Governor of the Royal Storehouses. Powers and Abilities: The Shaggy Man's first told Dorothy he had been given the Love Magnet by an Eskimo who was tired of being smothered with affection -- and who was eaten by a bear soon after he parted with it. After bathing in the Truth Pond, the Shaggy Man admitted that he had stolen it from a vain young lady so that she would marry the man who loved her rather than teasing all the males in Butterfield, Kansas. However he got his hands on it, the Love Magnet is that rarest of magical artifacts, a love charm that really works. It isn't much to look at -- a rusted toy horseshoe magnet that he keeps shoved deep in one of his enormous pockets. And he can't control other people's decisions or actions. However, the Love Magnet does make everyone within eye contact favorably disposed toward him and his companions. It also has the effect of making him more handsome and impressive than he would otherwise be. This doesn't always work out the way the Shaggy Man wants it to. A race of talking donkeys granted him their highest imaginable honor: the head of a jackass. When he and Dorothy were captured by cannibals, the charm made the savages all the more eager to taste them! Disadvantages: To regain human form after being given a donkey's head, the Shaggy Man had to bathe in the Truth Pond. As a result, he is now compelled to tell the truth whether it is expedient to do so or not. While he's been granted a luxurious suite at the palace, Ozma keeps close watch on the Shaggy Man with her magic mirror to ensure that he doesn't return to his old thieving ways. And his furtive manner and wild hair and beard make him the sort of person parents guide their children to the opposite side of the street to avoid. Height: cm (6' 7"), Weight: kg (230 lbs), Sex: Male, Race: Caucasian Appearance: Although the Love Magnet puts an attractive twinkle in his eye and a gleam to his smile, the Shaggy Man still presents a somewhat forbidding appearance. He's a tall, muscular man somewhere past middle age with long, wavy hair, bushy eyebrows, and a full beard that he purposefully brushes the wrong way to make it stick out even more. When Dorothy first met him, he wore a shapeless hat, a tattered brown ankle-length coat with enormous pockets, and worn boots. He carried a stout walking stick that also served as a club. At Ozma's palace he wears a rose-and-cream colored suit of velvet and satin, suitably decorated with fringe and ribbons so that he maintains his shaggy persona. ============== The Defenders of Oz Why write up the Oz crew for the Hero System? There are several good reasons. According to author L. Frank Baum, Oz is a difficult to reach but real place located on early twentieth-century Earth, much like other lost worlds such as Maple White Land, King Solomon's Mines or Pellucidar. And like them, it preserves something from the planet's past, in this case, functioning magic. It is conceivable that a hardy band of cowboys or pulp adventurers or a superhero team could stumble upon Oz during their travels. Also, the heroes of the Oz books are arguably the earliest example of a modern superhero team, predating the Justice Society of America by more than forty years. While they may not be as "super" as later protagonists, they demonstrably have abilities beyond those of mortal men. The Cowardly Lion's powerful muscles enable him to leap wide ravines and reach palace balconies with a single bound. The Tin Woodman and Tiktok are at least men of metal, if not of steel, impervious to blades and to the primitive firearms native to Oz. The Shaggy Man, while not strictly a master of men's minds, frequently gains the loving cooperation of total strangers. Dorothy Gale may not be able to bend steel in her bare hands, but she is an all-American heroine raised by foster parents on a small Kansas farm. Like Captain America of the Avengers, she's able to get her motley collection of powerful friends to work together to protect the people of Oz against evil. ============== Hero System write-up by Kevin Scrivner