The Book of Chucky (Charles Lee Ray)

[IAmBatman]

Well in an army setting like in the world of Superheroscape, I could see his desire to partner up with another killer who, for lack of a better word, could carry him. I think that's what Child's Play is all about and why it works for Psychopaths as well as Slashers.

The only one that I think is thematically dubious in terms of factional connections is Inanimate Deception. I could see making that an adjacent figure you control rather than being factional (and rather than being anyone in clear sight).

[Arkham]

Inanimate Deception could drop the specific classes.

This is just a direction. Still looking for suggestions and open to any ideas.

[Lazy Orang]

Just a thought, but how about this, running off the idea that was run in the playtest, but also taking a cue from the original design and making him more of a passive, 'plays himself' type, and a bit scarier:

NAME = CHUCKY
SECRET IDENTITY = CHARLES LEE RAY

SPECIES = DOLL
UNIQUENESS = UNIQUE HERO
CLASS = SLASHER
PERSONALITY = INSANE
SIZE/HEIGHT = SMALL 3

LIFE = 3
MOVE = 4
RANGE = 1
ATTACK = 3
DEFENSE = 2
POINTS = 105

CHILD'S PLAY
At the start of the game, place a white Inanimate Marker on this card. While the Inanimate Marker is on this card, Chucky is never considered engaged and cannot be targeted by an enemy figure for attacks or special powers. Before taking a turn with Chucky, if the Inanimate Marker is on this card, you must remove it. At the end of each round, you must, if possible, choose an adjacent figure and roll an unblockable attack die against that figure. If the Inanimate Marker is on this card, you must remove it and roll one additional die.

PHANTOM WALK
Chucky can move through all figures and is never attacked when leaving an engagement.

CLINGY
After a figure ends its movement, if that figure was adjacent to Chucky during its movement, you may immediately place Chucky adjacent to that figure, if possible.

PLAY DEAD
If Chucky would be destroyed, instead place one wound on this card and, if he is not the only figure you control on the battlefield, place the Inanimate Marker on this card.

***********

A little rough, but the basic idea is making his whole 'Child's Play' threat about the passive threat of auto-wounds rather than having to feed him an OM for a single attack of 3 +1 auto.

[Arkham]

I just think the back and forth between marker and no marker is the part that’s meh. Once that marker comes off he’s just boring. When the marker is on, he’s essentially a figure taking up a spot. Chucky should be crazy and blood thirsty. I don’t even need him to last the whole game, I just want to have fun using him. Not sure that accomplishes that, and the 2 unblockables at once is probably a little overkill.

Basically, I feel like I'm leaning more away from him being this stealthy inanimate object after he's shown his cards. The marker system plays it up too much repeatedly going back to it. Once his cards are shown, I'd like him to be more elusive and kill crazy than "I'm just a doll" type approach. Let him make the first strike, but once that is done, I'd like him to have a role worth drafting. I suppose that's where teaming him up with other Psychopaths and Slashers came in.

[Tornado]

I like that approach Arkham. Go down in a blaze of glory!
Just got a weird vision of Michael throwing Chucky at someone, ala Fastball Special.

[Dysole]

COMPETITIVE REVIEW BOARD CHECKLIST

Competitive Concerns
Does the design offer worrisome Order marker movement or efficiency? Clingy is amazing.

Does the design offer superior Auto wounding? No.

Does the design cause the prevention of abilities (Blob, Polaris, Meteorite)? No.

Does the design move other figures? No.

Does the design boost other figures (outside of a narrowly defined set)? No.

Does the design have one or more excellent defensive powers? Play Dead and the Inanimate Marker make it so he's unlikely to die prematurely

Does the design auto destroy or take control of other figures in a way that unbalances the design? No.

Does the design have any other concerns? He could put a real bruising on support figures especially when you can activate him without putting an order marker on him.

Summary of Any Competitive Concerns/Suggestions for Changes: Watch for someone using Clingy to move him up to a support or lynchpin figure and then spend a turn wailing on them and then going inanimate and then hitting them until they're dead. Best way to do this would be with a Zemo (I) style figure so you can activate Chucky at the optimum time.

~Dysole, dolling it up

[dok]

I'm not personally a fan of the "Chucky as Horror Movie Hub" idea. Doesn't really hit the mark for me.

I like the idea of L_O's changes to the SP design. Giving Chucky some passive end-of-round damage once he's been animated. Maybe just:

... if the Inanimate Marker is not on this card at the end of the round, you must, if possible, choose an figure adjacent to Chucky and roll an unblockable attack die against that figure

That ensures that he doesn't just take one turn and then do nothing until the end of the game.

That said, when I look that those armies from the tests I'm not too surprised that Chucky underwhelmed. That first army is all-melee and Cap is the focus. If Chucky hits me, but I'm engaged with Cap, then why would I deal with Chucky? I'm better off just punching Cap again.

The second army had a smidge of range with Jean, but it doesn't look like she used Telekinesis to isolate opponents next to Ragdoll/Chucky. So once again it was just a matter of pounding on the unit in front of you and ignoring Chucky.

Things I'd look for in an army to maximize that version of Chucky are:

• Ability to activate him when convenient (Iron Patriot, Robot, Zemo) or chain activations off of him (Harley Quinn 1, maybe Zombie, maybe Nebula)
• Ranged figures that can pick at an opponent from a distance, thus making them deal with more clingy stuff if they try to ignore an animated Chucky
• Figure Movement to bounce opponents around and make them keep dealing with Chucky. Magneto or Whirlwind or the like is very nice. Angel works the other way, by allowing you to retreat with your non-Chucky figures, so that the opponent has to advance again. An awesome option is Phobos, because he can move opponents in a way that triggers LEAs for Chucky. (And how cool is it to pair Chucky with the God of Fear!)

IP/Nebula/Angel/Chucky/Ragdoll? Zemo/Phobos/Chucky/Ragdoll/Harley? ProfX/Magneto/Mentallo/Chucky/more mutants? I'm spitballing here but you get the idea.

[IAmBatman]

I really don't think sticking with Clingy as the basis of Chucky's competitiveness is going to lead to the play that Arkham is looking for out of him.

[Yodaking]

Yeah, I'd for sure drop Clingy as it appears to be the thing that's holding the design back.

[Arkham]

Exactly. All of those suggested armies aren't ones I'm looking for Chucky to be in. I'm not trying to make him competitive based on Clingy. If he ends up being good, well ranked, that's awesome because he'll probably get drafted more, but I really just want him to be fun and to feel like a psychotic murdering possessed doll. I want people to pick him because he's fun rather than his usefulness, to a degree of course because you want a balance, but to me, when I pick Chucky I should be having a chaotic fun time tormenting my opponents.

[IAmBatman]

NAME = CHUCKY
SECRET IDENTITY = CHARLES LEE RAY

SPECIES = DOLL
UNIQUENESS = UNIQUE HERO
CLASS = SLASHER
PERSONALITY = INSANE
SIZE/HEIGHT = SMALL 3

LIFE = 5
MOVE = 4
RANGE = 1
ATTACK = 3
DEFENSE = 2
POINTS = 105

JUST A TOY
If Chucky has not attacked yet this game, he cannot be targeted by an enemy figure for attacks or special powers. After moving a figure you control that starts its movement adjacent to Chucky, you may place Chucky on any empty space adjacent to that figure. Chucky is never attacked when leaving engagements.

(CHILD'S PLAY some version that does harmful things).

PLAY DEAD
Whenever Chucky receives enough wounds to be destroyed in any way except by this special power, he instead receives one wound and cannot be targeted for attacks or special powers for the remainder of the attacking figure's turn.

I could see this as the basis of a rewrite with Child's Play being less of a factional power. Basically he gets carried around like the doll he is and appears innocent until he's not, then he plays dead after he's hit. In between? Whatever Child's Play does that makes him vicious.

[Arkham]

I agree. That's a good foundation.