Sad but True

Hey
I'm you life
I'm the one that takes you there
Hey
I'm you life
I'm the one who cares
They
They betray
I'm your only true friend now
They
They'll betray
I'm forever there

I'm your dream, make you real
I'm your eyes when you must steal
I'm your pain when you can't feel
Sad but true
I'm your dream, mind astray
I'm your eyes while you're away
I'm your pain while you repay
You know it's sad but true

Hate
I'm your hate
I'm your hate when you want love
Pay
Pay the price
Pay, for nothing's fair
Hey
I'm your life
I'm the one that took you there
Hey
I'm your life
And I no longer care

I'm your dream, make you real
I'm your eyes when you must steal
I'm your pain when you can't feel
Sad but true
I'm your truth, telling lies
I'm your reason alibis
I'm inside open your eyes
I'm you
Sad but true 		Sad but True
Image by Michael Brack, used with permission from Vajra Enterprises


The Dance from Apartment 12D

Val Char Base Cost Pts. Roll Notes
0 Str 10 ×1 -10 9-
13 DEX 10 ×3 9 12- OCV: 4 / DCV: 4
0 CON 10 ×2 -20 9-
10 BODY 10 ×2 0 11-
13 INT 10 ×1 3 12- PER Roll: 12-
18 EGO 10 ×2 16 13- ECV: 6
10 PRE 10 ×1 0 11- PRE Attack: 2d6
0 COM 10 ×½ -5 9-
0 PD (Str/5) 0 ×1 0 Total: 0 PD / 0 rPD
0 ED (CON/5) 0 ×1 0 Total: 0 ED / 0 rED
3 SPD (1+DEX/10) 2.3 ×10 7 Phases: 4, 8, 12
0 REC (Str/5+CON/5) 0 ×2 0
0 END (CON×2) 0 ×½ 0
10 STUN (BODY+Str/2+CON/2) 10 ×1 0
Total 0

Pts. Power/Talent/Skill/Perk Roll
Dance Powers
105 Lack of Physical Existence - Desolidification, vulnerable to damage done to its abode, 0 END (+½), persistent (+½), inherit (+¼), always on (-½), linked (-¼) with Full Life Support, inherit (+¼)
35 Brain Infestation - 6d6 Major Transform humans into mindless servants, partial transform (+½), works against EGO not BODY (+¼), 0 END (+½), limited target - humans (-½), target must be willing or unable to resist (-1), gradual effect - 25 years (-3¼)
28 Use Faustian's Senses - Clairsentience w/ Normal Sight, Hearing, Smell/Taste and Touch senses, mobile perception point, ×8 Max Range, 0 END (+½), only through Faustian's senses (-1), takes double effects from Flash attacks directed at Faustian (-1)
17 Command Physical Reality - Change Environment (make new abode look like old one), 32", 0 END (+½), persistent (+½), gradual effect - 1 month (-2¼), physical manifestation (-¼)
45 Create Experiencing Puppets - 6d6 Major Transform humans into mindless puppets, works against EGO not BODY (+¼), 0 END (+½), limited target - humans (-½), target must be unable to resist (-2)
13 Connection to Faustian - Mind Link, with any Faustian, up to four targets, psychic bond, feedback (-1)
53 Control Minds - 6d6 Mind Control, telepathic (+¼), 0 END cost (+½)
30 Feel Minds - 4d6 Mind Scan, 0 END cost (+½)
30 Follower - 75+75 points Faustian
356 Skill Total
0 Char Cost
356 Grand Total

Disadvantage Pts.
Physical Limitation: Complete lack of understanding of physical world and human society (all the time, fully) 25
Psychological Limitation: Must spread the song (very common, total) 25
Total 50



Campaign: HEROes in Dark Alleys (HERO System conversion of In Dark Alleys)

Background:
Humans are than meat puppets - they love, they hate, they want, they think and they feel. These desires are usually expressed, and thus fade out of existence, drowned by new thoughts and desires all around them. But sometimes, when a building stands abandoned for too long, and the unexpressed desires are left to ferment, they congeal, forming a cycle of experiences, thoughts and perceptions. This is The Song. The burning desire for expression, the will to make The Song heard by as many people as possible is The Dance.
The Dance is born mindless, nothing more than a wish, or the remnants of a collection of unfulfilled wished. Like all wishes, Dances cannot effect Reality, but they can effect thoughts. Especially those of weeks minds, like drunks, drug users and psychos. Those lost souls who happen to wonder into The Dance's building experience parts of The Song, and The Dance gains access to their minds, learning to use their neurons to think for him, gaining intelligence for the very first time.
These wrecked minds are, however, poor vessels for The Dance. When a mostly sane and sober human opens his mind in a final act of desperation, screaming for help at any cost, The Dance can enter his mind, infesting it with The Song, but granting it it's powers to effect human minds. The Dance then orders it's Faustian servant to perform an assortment of chores for him, such as fortifying and protecting it's building, and removing any threats to The Song.
Eventually, The Dance will understand that the best way to ensure its survival is to make copies of itself. It will order its Faustians to secure old apartments in abandoned buildings, and decorate them so they look like The Dance's original abode. They will then command the Faustian to kidnap and drug some poor victim that no one will miss, and bring him to the new abode. There, The Dance will use the will less human as a meat puppet to experience The Song, perpetuating it. Powerful enough Dances even gain the ability to control physical Reality to a limited degree, and would split the puppet in half, creating the perfect experiencer.

Personality:
Dances don't have personalities in the conventional sense of the word. A Dance is nothing more than the desire to perpetuate The Song, having it experienced by as many people as possible. Although it is sentient, and can sometimes be reasoned with or bargained with, it's emotionless, and views human as nothing more than potential vessels for The Song, or enemies that should be removed.

Appearance:
The Dance has no physical existence. It is nothing more than a collection of hopes and desires. It's abode is deserted apartment in an old, condemned, building, meticulously kept the way it was when the experiences making up The Song were first felt. It is usually quite well protected, it's windows barricaded, and its doors closed with state of the art locks.

Powers/Tactics:
Dances will usually rely on their Faustians to do their dirty work, granting them the power to read other minds in order to do so. Their next line of defense are the will less puppet The Dance surrounds itself with. If all else fails, The Dance will try to defend itself by directly forcing The Song on the target's minds, robbing them of their will or, if it is powerful enough, by directly manipulating the physical environment - e.g., making the floor collapse underneath its enemies feet.
Note that even though The Dance has no physical Existence, it can be harmed if the characters interfere with The Song - either by killing its experiencers or by physically disturbing its abode.

Notes:
The previous write-up I had for this song (excuse the pun) was merely a modernized, psychic, version of the old Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hide story. Since I've already done several of those, I decided to completely rewrite this page as part of the 5ER revamping I'm doing. Dances are creatures described in the In Dark Alleys roleplaying game by Vajra Enterprises. Even though I think I did a pretty decent job on converting them to HERO System, this write up still lacks some of "feel" that only a campaign driven system like the original one can give it.

Campaign Use:
Unless one of the characters is a Faustian, Dances are best used as villains who pull strings in the background. They are perfect for the role of the soulless, heartless, inhuman villain who just does not care for anything but fulfilling his cause.


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 Image by Joseph Barnhard