What do you love and what loves you?
Essential Builds!
Welcome to Essential Builds, the blog that captures popular culture characters on the run and forces them to fight for their lives in Essence20.
The Running Man is the movie all non-Terminator Arnold Schwarzenegger movies wish they were. Flashy action, a quick pace, memorable kills, peak pun-per-kill ratio, larger than life characters, and a smarter than you realize plot. I respect that, unlike the original film, Edgar Wright’s new Glen Powell-led The Running Man is based on the book, but I miss the game show. And more than that, I miss the Stalkers.
So much so, I asked the audience of the latest episode of Upshift which Stalker they’d like me to build this week. Almost unanimously, you all picked Dynamo.
Who Is Dynamo?
I need to start by saying that I called the characters in The Running (1987) “larger than life”. That’s not the same as “fleshed out”.
Dynamo professionally hunts down captured criminals participating in a life-or-death game show. He electrifies his targets with lightning arcs generated by his light-bulb armor, and scintillates audiences with his operatic renditions.
Why? Who knows! Every other Stalker lives their gimmick. Sub-Zero? Hockey theme, uses ice. Buzzsaw? Chainsaw is his weapon of choice and the entirety of his personality. Fireball? Jet pack and flamethrower guy. Dynamo stands out not only as the electric opera odd man out, but also because he’s an impressive singer. That’s because Dynamo actor and professional opera singer Erland van Lidth did his own singing.
He also worked in computers. Guess Dynamo isn’t that unrealistic after all.
Building Essence20 Dynamo
Electric weapons, light-up armor, and matching car are all easy. It’s the opera singing that’s going to require digging up some specific options. And yes, this most likely means we’re mixing My Little Pony with an R-rated dystopian action movie, as Lauren Faust surely always intended.
Influences
1st Crowd Pleaser (My Little Pony Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook)
2nd Bard (My Little Pony Roleplaying Game Knights of Canterlot)
3rd Disenfranchised (G.I. JOE Roleplaying Game COBRA Codex)
Another rare Influences-first build!
For those who don’t know, I list a build’s Role, Origin, and Influences in order of importance to the character. Dynamo’s electric powers take a backseat to being The Running Man’s audience-participation Stalker, thanks to his Heldenbaritone pipes!
Crowd Pleaser isn’t just about being an artist but being a performer, giving a bonus to Performance Skill Tests based on the size of the audience. That fits Dynamo so well. The first time we see him, he uses his electric powers to light up a sign that says “Clap if you love Dynamo”.
I took Crowd Pleaser first because the penalty on the first non-Performance Skill Test of each day might have catastrophic consequences when Dynamo drives into a fight and starts shooting electricity (and not for the chuckle I get knowing this The Running Man villain’s first option is from My Little Pony).
Bard, one of the D&D class-based Influences from Knights of Canterlot, basically gets Bardic Inspiration. Theoretically this wouldn’t be a great fit for a Stalker, since they work solo. However, in the movie, Dynamo rushes with Buzzsaw in a rare Stalker team-up. Even if Dynamo isn’t intentionally helping Buzzsaw, his bright lights and captivating singing distract Arnold (whose character has a name, but let’s be honest, it’s Arnold) and his teammates.
Finally, I landed on Disenfranchised when I asked myself what would turn someone into a Stalker. Based on Fireball’s “last year’s losers” line, we have reason to believe the Stalkers are in on the corruption of the television show and, by extension, the government. But they’re also all these talented athletes and performers. At some point, was Dynamo on the path to being an opera singer who didn’t kill people? Or was he always working toward the combination artist/murderer? And even if that was the dream, at what point did he smarten up to how the business works?
All that to say, I like the idea that Stalkers have a chip on their shoulders because they like being in on the lie. I think the Influence Perk, which gives a bonus “on a Skill Test that directly harms something from how you used to see the world” applies to hunting Runners. As criminals, they’re the people who had to break the unfair rules of society to get by. If the Stalkers want to keep their privileged positions, they need to keep these desperate people in their place.
Role
Renegade (G.I. JOE Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook)
I struggled more than I expected to find Dynamo’s Role. I thought about Vanguard because the technological side of the Role suits the character, and Inspiring Words fits our build. But the more I had to squint to see how a Vanguard Perk worked for Dynamo, the harder it was to see the Role working at all.
I moved on to Transformers, but neither Warrior nor Gunner work for the element jet, which is a grey area that operates between melee and ranged.
Transformers’ Scientist and G.I. JOE’s Technician both would get us the equipment we need, but force us into a Smarts build that doesn’t work.
I even considered Night Vale’s Soldier for a hot minute.
So I scrapped the work I’d already done and tried a different approach. Instead of trying to find the best Role for Dynamo specifically, I asked what would be a good Role for Stalkers to default to. That’s how I landed on Renegade. Like the element jet, that Role exists in the area between melee and range. It’s also aggressive, tough, and flexible. It can move faster when it needs to, and it can go all out on its attacks when in position.
Role Perks like Not Getting Away That Easy and Fearsome Presence feels right even before reading them. After reading them, the former gives Essence20’s equivalent to an attack of opportunity for fleeing, and the other makes enemies want to flee. What’s another word for fleeing? Running! And what’s a type of enemy? Men. It works for fighting Running Men is what I’m saying.
I’m also going to point out a nice bit of rules language that works in our favour: Not Getting Away That Easy says “you can use Contingency action as a Free action one per turn, but can only use it to take the Attack action when an enemy enters or leaves your reach.” Note that it doesn’t say it needs to be a melee attack. We can get in an enemy’s face, and if they try to flee, they eat 10 gigawatts of area effect.
Setting and Focus
G.I. JOE, Troublemaker (G.I. JOE Roleplaying Game COBRA Codex)
As much as the Renegade won me over as the Role for Stalkers, Troublemaker fits that much better as the Focus.
COBRA Codex offered two Focus options to turn the Renegade into the Dreadnoks. Any Dreadnok. The Rigger is specifically for vehicle drivers like Thrasher, Storm Rider, and Zanzibar (although Zanzibar got the better Freebooter focus in Quartermaster’s Guide to Gear), but Troublemaker is basically every other Dreadnok. Signature Weapon gives a close combat weapon (like Road Pig’s cinderblock hammer), element jet (Torch’s blowtorch) or Power Tool (Buzzer’s chainsaw). After reconsidering the Element Jet, I feel better choosing the Directed Element Rifle as our signature weapon. And since vehicles are important to all bikers, Troublemakers get Rigger’s 1st level Perk, Riding Rig, at 20th level. That’ll cover Dynamo’s electric car (our second environmentalist build in a row!).
Signature weapons like power tools and element weapons, and vehicles? Stalkers are Dreadnoks!
Faction
ICS (International Syndicate – G.I. JOE Roleplaying Game Intercontinental Adventures: Factions in Action Vol. 2 )
Very rarely have we included generic rules in Essence20 games meant to empower players to build their own options. However, after two books dedicated to Factions, I wanted to give groups a way to use all these new Factions rules in more ways than just the Faction rules we provided. Enter Intercontinental Adventures’ generic Factions.
We’re using International Syndicate, the generic global baddies, to represent the ICS, the state-controlled broadcaster that produces The Running Man. Since the meaning of ICS is never revealed, we’ll pretend it means International Commercial Syndicate.
Generic Factions need us to fill in gaps. For International Syndicate, we need to establish the organization’s endgame (authoritarian control of the population), theme (game show), and means (propaganda through entertainment). We also need to establish four Skills tied to our means, one for each Essence Score. We’ll say Athletics, Driving, Alertness, and Performance. That covers the crossover between production crew, hosts, and Stalkers.
This Faction is rather generous with Equipment Qualifications. We’re Qualified with either 1 Limited weapon and 1 Limited battledress, or 1 Restricted weapon or battledress. That’s good, because Dynamo’s the most obviously armoured Stalker.
Unfortunately Renegade’s Reckless Abandon doesn’t work unless we’re in Light Armor. No worries there, Dynamo wears light armor.
(pause as people catch on to the word play)
(pause for a growing round of chuckling)
(gesture everyone to sit back down after chuckling turns into an extended standing ovation)
Sadly, there’s no Restricted Light Armor. So we’ll go with Impulse Armor, which is Limited and therefore affords us an additional Limited Weapon qualification. I’m split between an Element Grenade or Element Jet, to increase our electric arsenal, or a Limited close combat weapon, for practical reasons.
I totally forgot this, but International Syndicate also gets up Mentor as a bonus Perk. That works out because I considered taking it anyway! Renegade’s worst Essence Score Progression is Social, which Dynamo needs for Performance. The Role’s best Essence Score Progression is Strength, which Dynamo doesn’t really need. So we’re using Mentor’s benefit, which lets us associate a Skill with a second Essence, to treat Performance as a Strength Skill. We can either read that as opera demanding powerful lungs, or that the person who recruited Dynamo into the Stalkers taught him to work out while singing because that gimmick will get him over with audiences.
Origin
Enigma (Power Rangers Roleplaying Game Across the Stars)
I admit, I’m getting meta here. Technically, Enigma is for Wolverine and Jason Borne (ooh, add that to my list of future builds) amnesiac savant types. I’m choosing it because I had zero clue how Dynamo came to be. And yes, The Running Man is based on a Stephen King (under Richard Bachman) novel, but like most of the movie, Dynamo isn’t in it. Any Origin I went with would be purely speculation.
Even though I chose this Origin because Dynamo’s backstory is an enigma to me, it’s actually a useful option for our build. We can increase any Essence Score, we get average Health and Ground Movement, and we get a free General Perk. We’re using it to get Needle Drop from Hawk’s Personnel Files, which lets us roll Performance for Initiative. Runners know they’re about to face Dynamo when they hear him singing in the distance.
Essence Scores and Skills
Strength 5 – Conditioning x1, Might x1, Performance x3
Speed 5 – Driving x2, Targeting x3
Social 3 – Performance (Music) x3
Smarts 3 – Alertness x3
Because Performance is split across two Essence Scores, I listed Skills by Skill Points instead of Ranks. This nets us Performance (Music) +d10*. Probably a bit much considering I only gave Dynamo 1 Rank in Might, but how often do I get to go all in on Performance for a combat build?
Everything else reflects what we see Dynamo do on screen and Skills a Stalker would need. I do need to get him some Ranks in Intimidation eventually. Both our Role and our Focus give us Intimidation-based Perks, but only at 14th and 17th level.
If only Dynamo had more Ranks in Driving, he might have run Arnold down.
Conclusion
A bit like my last build, not knowing a lot about Dynamo opened up a lot of room for creative choices. I started this build thinking Dynamo was the strangest Stalker. Now, it’s obvious to me that he’s the most dynamic.
Also, somewhere along the way I realized his catchphrase could be “I’m your worst lightmare.” Then I realized that would be a great name for a Ponified Dynamo. And the option to add magic to this build just makes it that much more electrifying.
Time to write the My Little Pony dystopian game show adventure, The Running Mare.
Resources
Field Guide to Action & Adventure
G.I. JOE Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook
G.I. JOE Roleplaying Game Cobra Codex
G.I. JOE Roleplaying Game Intercontinental Adventures: Factions in Action Vol. 2
G.I. JOE Roleplaying Game Hawk’s Personnel Files
My Little Pony Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook
My Little Pony Roleplaying Game Knights of Canterlot
Power Rangers Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook
Power Rangers Roleplaying Game Across the Stars
Welcome To Night Vale Citizen’s Guide
Ryan Costello is one of the designers of the Essence20 system and an author on the G.I. JOE, Transformers, and My Little Pony Roleplaying Game Core Rulebooks. As of this writing, he’s written over 300 000 words for Essence20, contributing to over a dozen products and counting.
