Princess of the Universe takes place in a progressive pastiche of such ‘80s and ‘90s cartoons as Masters of the Universe and She-Ra, where iconic heroes and villains with action-figure names clash without fatality in colorful fantasy landscapes. One of its unique features is that each player controls both a hero character and a villainous lieutenant of one of the setting’s Big Bads. It is set in the world of Eidolon, where powerful magic and high technology exist side by side, and conflict is about claiming legitimacy rather than destroying one’s enemies.
Character generation looks simple at first, but I suspect this game of hidden depths. It’s very open-ended, so I’ll try to put some extra thought into my choices.
The first step is to give your character a Distinction. This is the epithet or tag line you want to be associated with the character’s name, like She-Ra’s “Princess of Power,” (or, if I may jump genres for a moment, Daredevil’s “Man without Fear”), and it will help establish a theme for the powers and other features you select later. Eidolon has an artisanal version of high tech (termed “Craft”), in which marvelous and unique machines come out of master smiths’ workshops rather than factories. I like the idea of being a gadgeteer in this environment. “Master of Machines” doesn’t quite have the feel I want, though. “Gadget Guru”? Meh. I want this character to be nonbinary, so “man of” or “woman of” type epithets are off the table, which is a pity because “Girl of a Thousand Gadgets” kinda does the other stuff I want this feature to do. “Motorized Champion of [insert Virtue here]” should do the trick, I suppose.
Once we have a Distinction, we can create a Name that reflects it. Mechanis embodies the tech idea, is non-gendered, and has that action-figure feel we’re trying to capture.
Third, we choose one of the setting’s seven Virtues as the pole star for our heroism. These are Courage, Empathy, Freedom, Honor, Justice, Sacrifice, and Truth. None of these strike me as obviously apt for a tech hero, so I’m going to pick something that sounds fun: Freedom. Mechanis is all about the ways that technology can free you from limitations.
Fourth, we choose the hero’s three Powers. The first, called an Apex Power, is a scene-stopper that requires recharging. The second, your Core Power, is the character’s go-to in most situations. The third, your Risky Power, is very effective but can have really unfortunate blowback. In Mechanis’ case, each can be a separate device. These don’t all have to be combat abilities, and the examples provided for Risky powers (“Court Politics” and “Bargains with the Unseen”) suggest social or other noncombat contexts.
For an Apex ability I want some kind of giant powered armor suit to form around me, and I can use it for a clutch action in combat or disaster mitigation or whatever, and then it runs out of power and returns to its storage form. I’m going to call it Mech-in-a-Box whether that’s a good idea or not.
For a Core power I like the idea of something vehicle-based (which can be absorbed into Mech-in-a-Box when that moment comes). Jet-bike! Yes, I want a jet-bike! OK, how do we frame this as a power? Hell, can we just call it Jet-Bike?
It seems to me that the most appropriate type of Risky power for a gadgeteer is some form of jury-rigging that tries to make a machine either exceed its safe limits of operation or perform a task way outside its design parameters. Both can have creative and dismaying side effects. I’m just going to call this power Jury-Rigging.
Each of these powers will be further defined by adding Facts that illuminate their workings and limitations. Each Power can have up to five, but if you’re in a hurry the game advises defining two Facts for your Apex, three for your Core, and two for your Risky.
So, what can we say about Mech-in-a-Box? First, it increases my size. Giant powered armor is giant, and it enables me to do giant things like reach very high places or punch very large monsters. Second, it retracts after use, so basically I’ll get one action each time I charge it up. I’m not sure I’ve quite got the hang of this, since the rulebook is kind of thin on examples of this rule in action, but we’ll forge ahead.
The Jet-Bike is definitely fast. Using it gets me from A to B more quickly than most other characters, which may not always be the smartest move. I can also use it to ram obstacles, or foes if things get punchy. Third, I can carry one passenger on it, but I can’t guarantee they’ll stay on if I have to pull a tight turn or something.
Jury-Rigging requires another device to modify; I can’t pull a machine out of thin air (but I can possibly use it on the devices attached to my other Powers, at the risk of damaging them). Also, it can increase a device’s power or change its function.
Finally (for our Hero) we determine Spirit and Charge pools. These stats change a lot over the course of a game, but you begin each session with 1 Charge and 2 Spirit. Charge tokens can be used to implement your Apex power; Spirit is your endurance pool.
Having created a hero, we should now come up with a villain. Villains in Princess of the Universe seem to have sillier names than the heroes, which again reflects the source material. The process is basically the same, with one twist: concept, name, Grudge instead of Virtue, Powers, Facts, Charge and Spirit.
Villains don’t have to be mirror-images or complementary to your hero, though it’s certainly an easy route to follow. How about a demolition-themed villain? Master of Explosions is a fine Distinction.
And for a name, let’s call our baddie Boomblasto and make them a braggart as well as an explosives enthusiast.
Now, instead of a Virtue, villains have a Grudge, which can be pretty much anything. Boomblasto hates buildings and vehicles and anything bigger than a person that people make. All creations must be flattened is their credo.
Now let’s give them some powers. I want a time bomb as either the Apex or the Risky power, and hand grenades as the go-to. Let’s save the time bomb for Risky and make Boomblasto’s Apex power a Big Blast.The Big Blast emanates from Boomblasto’s own body; it blows away whatever isn’t secured to the ground in their vicinity; and it knocks down whatever is secured to the ground.
Their core Grenade power involves thrown bombs that knock targets prone and break windows and doors.
And finally, their Risky Time Bomb power creates a delayed explosion that can flatten a city block. Boomblasto’s kind of a one-note character, but that note is loud.
And that brings us to the part of the show where we encapsulate our characters as stat blocks:
Mechanis: Motorized Champion of Freedom
Virtue: Freedom
Powers:
Mech-in-a-Box (apex)
--increases Mechanis’ size
--retracts after use
Jet-Bike (core)
--fast
--rams foes or obstacles
--can carry one passenger
Jury-Rigging (risky)
--requires another device to modify
--can increase a device’s power or alter its function
Charge Tokens: 1
Spirit: 2
Boomblasto, Master of Explosions
Grudge: All Creations Must Be Flattened
Powers:
Big Blast (apex)
--emanates from Boomblasto’s own body
--blows away whatever isn’t secured
--knocks down whatever is secured
Hand Grenades (core)
--thrown bombs
--knock targets prone
--break windows and doors
Time Bomb (risky)
--delayed explosion
--can flatten a city block
Charge Tokens: 1
Spirit: 2
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