JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Heroic Roleplaying: Stardust Crusaders Adventure Book

By Lonesome Blues DM and Blue Man

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JJBAHRP - Draft 0.0.7b - CHOO CHOO MOTHERFUCKER Edition

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Heroic Roleplaying: Stardust Crusaders is a fan creation based on the 1987- “JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure” manga series written, illustrated, and created by Hirohiko Araki.

All images and names of characters, locations, and Adventures, unless expressly stated are TM and (c) Hirohiko Araki, Shonen Jump, Shueisha, and Subs. Used without permission.

All references to people, places, and things including titles, lyrics, and other media are the property of their respective copyright holders. Used without permission.

This game material references the Cortex Plus® game system, available from Margaret Weis Productions at www.margaretweis.com. Cortex® and Cortex Plus® and all associated logos and trademarks are solely owned by Margaret Weis Productions, Ltd. and are used with permission. Margaret Weis Productions, Ltd. makes no representation or warranty as to the quality, viability, or suitability of the purpose of this product.

Stands contributed by Deepo, elementsguy, Ozzy Crowley, and Anon.

Stand Creation Rules are a highly modified form of those found in JOJO’S BIZARRE TABLETOP. All rights reserved.

Special thanks to Zealot Vedas and all of /SSS/ and /WWW/. Stay fabulous, my friends.

Text by Lonesome Blues DM (aka TK Nyarlathotep) and Blue Man (aka J Frost).

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ADVENTURE: STARDUST CRUSADERSPreparing for the Adventure…Pg. XXTerminology…Pg. XXStructure of the Adventure...Pg. XXTo Jo or Not to Jo?…Pg. XXIncorporating Music…Pg. XX

The Stardust Crusaders Sourcebook…Pg. XXSTAND PROUD: A Guide to Stands, Stand Users, and Standing Tall…Pg. XXStand Power Sets…Pg. XXRoundabout: The Joestar Family Line, the Speedwagon Foundation, and the

Ripple…Pg. XXAround the World: A Traveler’s Guide to the World’s Exotic Locales…Pg. XXSeize the Night: Creatures of Darkness…Pg. XXFalling Off the Edge of the World: Dio and His Bloody Ambition…Pg. XXGoing Off the Rails: Shuffling Your Stardust Crusade…Pg. XXAdventure Milestones…Pg. XX

ACT ONE: The Man With the Star…Pg. XXScene Structure…Pg. XXHooks…Pg. XXDoom Pool…Pg. XXAction: A Man Possessed…Pg. XXTransition: Jailhouse Blues…Pg. XXAction: Get Out of Jail Free…Pg. XXAction: The Terrible Invader…Pg. XXAction: DIO’s Curse…Pg. XXTransition: The Evil Spirit’s Identity…Pg. XXTransition: The Thing on the PlaneAction: Insect Attack!Transition: Seek An Alternative Route

ACT TWO: The Stand Warriors…Pg. XXTransition: A Stay In a Nice Hotel…Pg. XXAction: The Devil…Pg. XXAction: Yellow Temperance…Pg. XXAction: Emperor and the Hanged Man…Pg. XXTransition: Research DIO’s Assassins…Pg. XXAction: Local Flavor…Pg. XXTransition: Enya’s Hospitality…Pg. XXAction: Justice…Pg. XXAction: "Geb" N’Dour…Pg. XXAction: “Khnum” Oingo and “Tohth” Boingo…Pg. XXAction: Anubis…Pg. XXAction: “Bastet” Mariah…Pg. XXTransition: Relax At An Inn…Pg. XXAction: D’Arby the Gambler…Pg. XX

ACT THREE: DIO’s World…Pg. XX

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Transition: Beautiful Cairo…Pg. XAction: Deadly Duo!…Pg. XXTransition: Find DIO’s Manor…Pg. XXAction: Pet Shop at the Gates of Hell…Pg XXTransition: The Mysteries of DIO’s Manor…Pg. XXAction: The Mist of Emptiness, Vanilla Ice…Pg. XXTransition: Learn the Secret of DIO’s Stand…Pg. XXAction: End of THE WORLD…Pg. XXAction: Save a Hero’s Life…Pg. XXTransition: The Long Journey Ends…Pg. XXAction: Destroy DIO’s Body…Pg. XX

HERO Rap SheetsBoingo…Pg. XXHol Horse…Pg. XXIggy…Pg. XXJean Pierre Polnareff…Pg. XXJoseph Joestar…Pg. XXJotaro Kujo…Pg. XXMuhammad Avdol…Pg. XXN'Dour…Pg. XXNoriaki Kakyoin…Pg. XX

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STARDUST CRUSADERS

Stand proud, warriors! This is a full-blown Adventure for the Cortex Plus Heroic Roleplaying system based on Part 3 of Hirohiko Araki’s JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, titled Stardust Crusaders, with additional material referencing Pts. 2 (Battle Tendency), 5 (Aureo Vento/“Golden Wind”), and 6 (Stone Ocean). Future supplements will be based on Parts 1 and (Phantom Blood and Battle Tendency), the Apocrypha of Pt. 3 (The Genesis of the Universe, The 7th Stand User, and more) and Part 6 (Stone Ocean) and will feature further material from their respective sources.

In this Adventure, you’ll be playing as someone with phenomenal powers, be it the of the Ripple or Spin, mighty martial arts infused with the power of the sun or the golden rectangle, a Stand, a ghostlike entity that hovers behind you and can affect your opponent or the environment with a variety of bizarre effects, or even another power entirely (there’s vampires!)! When the course of your life is radically altered by the machinations of a vampiric madman named Dio Brando, you and a group of other likewise-affected warriors must race against Dio’s assassins to the city of Cairo, Egypt to put an end to DIO’s bloody ambition once and for all. Will you and your fellow Stardust Crusaders put an end to DIO, or will he fuse once and for all with the stolen body of his ancient arch-rival and bring an age of darkness to the world like none ever seen before?

Stardust Crusaders works best as an Adventure for 4 to 6 players (but more or less are welcome and even encouraged! Do what you want, Heaven’s Door hasn’t written “I will only run with 4 to 6 players.” in the margins of this Adventure), and can take an absurdly long amount of time to play or could be over in seconds if someone removes time with King Crimson or just advances the end of the universe in seconds with Made In Heaven. You could even be doomed to just replay the Adventure over and over again with Killer Queen. Point is, don’t play RPGs with bad guys.

You might get inspired by the Rap Sheets, scenes, and other elements to continue past the three Acts, and that’s cool too! Your story doesn’t end just because the book did. Heck, you might not even use all the scenes in this book, or you might add some after using them all, or whatever! The future Phantom Blood + Battle Tendency and Stone Ocean supplements will add even more fun stuff for you to use, so your campaign can run as long as Anubis’ life (which is a few thousand years, give or take).

Everything in this Adventure is meant for the Emcee’s eyes only, but they might throw you a bone and let you see some stuff before, during, or after in the Sourcebook section. Ask and ye shall (probably) receive. Also in order to play this, you WILL NEED EITHER a copy of Marvel Heroic Roleplaying Basic Game or the Premium versions of either Annihilation or Civil War, or the Cortex Plus Hacker’s Guide which contains the rules for Fantasy Heroic Roleplaying a differently focused game with all the rules you’ll need. There may or may not be a forthcoming version of the Heroic Roleplaying rules, but that’s between you and Margaret Weis and is beyond the scope of this game.

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PREPARING FOR THE ADVENTURE

Like most adventures, Stardust Crusaders requires some prepwork before you inflict it on your helpless players. Here’s what you’ll need:

Read over the whole Adventure and become familiar with the three Acts and the way the scenes flow in each Act. Familiarize yourself with the sourcebook so you won’t be caught flat-footed if your players do something tricky (which they should, it’s JoJo’s after all). Print copies of the Sourcebook if you think your players will dig it!When your group meets up for the first session, each player should choose a hero from the Rap Sheets provided, make their own with help from the STAND PROUD chapter, or even convert a hero from another Cortex Heroic game line entirely and re-fluff them as a Stand User or with some other incredible power!Be sure you have enough dice (d4, d6, d8, d12, and d12), Style Point tokens (D’arby the Elder prefers poker chips!), and some kind of action order token for each player (maybe a Major Arcana tarot card). You can also include miniatures, maps, and anything like that. You may also benefit from taking note of each hero’s Affiliations and what Milestones they’ve chosen. Keep this list near you during the game.If your group has never played a game of Cortex Heroic Roleplaying, you should introduce your players to the basic rules and go over their Rap Sheets with them, or help them construct or convert their Rap Sheet. The rules of this are virtually unchanged from Marvel Heroic Roleplaying, so if you think it would help, hand out copies of a Cheat Sheet as well. I recommend both the Hero’s and Watcher’s Cheat Sheets from Nerd NYC, which can be found rather easily via Google or your search engine of choice. Obviously the terminology will be changed (see below), so make sure your players are privy to that too.

TERMINOLOGYTo better fit the mood and feel of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, I’ve modified some of the

terminology a little. Anything that’s unchanged means what it means per Heroic Roleplaying, but otherwise the differences are listed as follows:

* Adventure: Replaces Event. The overall journey your player characters go on, and the campaign you’re playing in.

* Emcee: Replaces Watcher. Your loving GM.* Pose: Replaces Push. Adding a d6 to your dice pool.* Rap Sheet: Replaces datafile. Basically the character sheet.* Style Points (SP): Replaces Plot Points (SP). The narrative currency of the game.* Emcee Character: Replaces Watcher Character. The NPCs, good, bad, or otherwise.

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STRUCTURE OF THE ADVENTUREStardust Crusaders is a 3-Act Adventure. Each Adventure should provide ample

opportunities for your players to be tricky, mess up enemies with their incredible powers, and show off their impeccable style. The Emcee should have equal opportunity to keep the action funky fresh with an exciting selection of bad guys and other Emcee characters.

—Act 1: The players should be introduced to the concept of Stands, learn of the mad ambition of DIO, and even fight a couple of enemies themselves before they leave for Cairo.

—Act 2: On the road to DIO’s hideout in Cairo, the heroes have found themselves pursued at every possible corner by DIO’s loyal assassins, other Stand Users who wish to kill the Stardust Crusaders (that’s the adventuring party) to prevent them from learning DIO’s secret and possibly even harming their master.

—Act 3: Having learned the lengths DIO is willing to go to to prevent the heroes from reaching him, the heroes finally arrive in Cairo. There they must find the location of DIO’s hidden base and put an end to his reign of terror once and for all.

TO JO…This Adventure, as-written, assumes you’re playing as the Stardust Crusaders provided

in the HERO Rap Sheets provided starting on Pg. XX. However, I understand if that might not be your players’ style. Maybe they don’t like the heroes of Part 3, they want to play as their own heroes, or they might even want to play as heroes and characters from a later (or even earlier!) part of the series.

For characters from the earlier parts of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, they will be covered in the later Pt. 1: Phantom Blood and Pt. 2: Battle Tendency sourcebooks. For characters to play from later parts, work with the player to extract the most important parts of the character and put them onto a Rap Sheet. For help, I suggest going to the character’s page at the JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Wiki at http://jojo.wikia.com. Pay extra attention to the Stand Rankings and note what each means to help make a character mechanically.

Finally, if your players want to play as original heroes, or a mix of original and the provided Heroes, help them make a character sheet utilizing the next chapter, STAND PROUD: A Guide to Stands, Stand Users, and Standing Tall. If the group consists of all original heroes, I highly recommend including at least one party member related as friends, family, and/or by blood with the Joestar family line. It’ll make their conflict with Dio more personal, and give Dio a reason to be especially careful with the party on his tail.

…OR NOT TO JOIf you don’t want to use the pregenerated Rap Sheets but you do want to retain a little

authentic JoJo’s flavor, I recommend making up your party in a slightly specific way. In JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, there’s typically a fairly thematic way that the main characters’ party is set up, with the protagonist, usually a JoJo, a friendly rival, a straightforward ally, and a mentor. This dynamic typically gets mixed up for variety, but it’s tried and true more often than not.

In Part 3, the party makeup goes as follows:Protagonist/JoJo: Jotaro KujoFriendly Rival: Kakyoin Noriaki, IggyStraightforward Ally: Joseph Joestar, Jean-Pierre PolnareffMentor: Mohammed Avdol

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This party makeup typically works for most parts, so when composing your party, I recommend your group work together to build a dynamic similar to this one. Remember that just because the Protagonist is, well, the Protagonist, doesn’t mean he gets the spotlight. In the original Stardust Crusaders manga, Polnareff gets in as many victories and chapters as Jotaro and grows just as much as a character. Everyone gets to shine, whether they’re the JoJo or the Friendly Rival.

One last word of advice on this dynamic; Always name thematically. If someone wants to be a JoJo, make sure they’re a JoJo, even if they come up with a name that tows the line a little (Giorno Giovanna and Josuke Higashikata are excellent examples; look up some Japanese to see why “Higashikata” counts as a “Jo”.) They don’t necessarily have to be a Joestar, but a name like Joseph Jones, Joe Jonovan, or Georgette Jolson would fit a JoJo nicely. If someone wants to be the friendly rival, make a name that’s cool as ice, like Caesar Zeppeli or Okuyasu Nijimura. Over-the-top and ridiculous fits in just fine.

Also, you can never go wrong with a celebrity reference name. Actors, musicians, fashion designers, authors; Name your character after stuff you like! This goes so far that there’s even a character named Funny Valentine at one point. Don’t be afraid to ham it up.

Finally, there’s also the matter of converting datafiles from Marvel Heroic Roleplaying (remember, they’re Rap Sheets now!) into existing characters. This is perfectly fine and will even be discussed a little bit more in-depth in the STAND PROUD chapter. The long and short of it is, if you make a Stand User out of Wolverine, remember that the character themselves isn’t inherently made of metal, extremely adept at healing, and capable of producing claws; all those powers come from their Stand. Come up with a whacky name (probably music-based!), a cool Stand design, and the Stand User’s relationship with their power and you’ll be golden!

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INCORPORATING MUSICNow we’re in the thick of it. One of the most important things to the JoJo’s Bizarre

Adventure franchise, besides posing, using your wits, and being fabulous is the music. Even in the silent manga form, music plays an essential part in the story and setting, ranging from characters having obscure knowledge of Weird Al to human beings with names like “Robert E.O. Speedwagon”. After Part 3, nearly every Stand is named after a band, album, or song, and several humans before, during, and after Part 3 are named after band members.

To this end, I highly suggest incorporating music into your Stardust Crusaders campaign!This will add flavor to an encounter, make character more awesome, and generally add excitement and fun!

As far as rules go, I suggest doing this…Each character has 1 - 3 theme songs. The GM controls the soundboard/playlist/etc. and may play these themes whenever he feels it appropriate.These theme songs play during critical moments such as a 3 or 10 XP Milestone, a particularly awesome showing in a scene, or just a really good description.If your theme song plays during an Action Scene, the player has assumedly Stunted and does not need to pay the Style Point to gain the benefits of a Pose or Stunt on the first turn after the theme started. They just get a d8 or d10, depending on impressive description.

These rules don’t apply for Emcee Characters, whose themes usually play when they first appear and during their battle. If you’d like for it to apply, perhaps pick an exciting few generic battle themes, and play the Emcee Character’s main theme when you spend a d10 or higher out of the Doom Pool. The same rules as above apply, adding a d8 Pose or d10 Stunt to their dice pool for cool description and general evil-osity.

SIDEBAR: Super Sounds of the Stardust—In addition to all of the previous information, I’ve included 1 - 3 character

themes for each Emcee Character statted out, as well as on the Rap Sheets at the back of the book. These are the furthest thing from mandatory possible, and you can feel more than welcome to change themes, only use one or two, or even scrap the whole thing and ignore the music bit. It’s all in you and your players’ hands!

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STAND PROUD: A GUIDE TO STANDS, STAND USERS, AND STANDING TALL

The Limits of Destiny: Rules of StandsNow it’s time to learn about your special abilities, your hero’s Stand. While the form,

function, and features of every Stand vary wildly from person to person (or rat to algae to corpse with an unstoppable flesh-eating mold thing), most of them are either bound by the rules or defined by their odd exception to them. So here we go!

Your Stand is like your guardian angel, sworn to protect you. The name comes from the fact that Stands “stand by” their user, sometimes using their powers without their owner’s direct order in order to protect the user and, as a result, themselves.An individual my only have ONE Stand, although the stand can evolve, such as a Stand that creates sound evolving into one that can create the effects of that sound, or a Stand that can create life becoming a Stand that can cancel the effects of any action. Just go with it.Stands can be inherited down a family line. Weirdly, this one is less common in the manga than you’d think.A Stand is a part of its user, so any damage taken is shared by both. Thus, if a stand breaks its arm, the user’s arm will also break. Some Stands, such as those with armor or increased durability, are immune to this effect (See Silver Chariot (Pg. XX)).Stands may only be seen by other Stand users, except for Stands bound to physical objects (Such as a Stand attached to a sword or a ship. See Anubis (Pg. XX) and Strength (Pg. XX).)Stands can only be directly damaged by other Stands. There’s not really a whole lot else to this one, but if you wanna have mooks or something be slightly dangerous, have them go for complications or Emotional or Mental stress.A Stand’s power is directly inverse-proportional to their range. The further away a Stand gets from its wielder, the less powerful it gets (or, in the case of some super short-range stands, it dissipates entirely and returns to the user). Long-range Stands and/or Stands with long-range abilities work far more simply, basically being powerful up to their maximum range or, y’know, just plain being projectiles. A bullet doesn’t hurt any less until it’s exceeded its maximum range, a fireball or a gemstone fired from a Stand probably doesn’t either.Stands are usually bound to their User’s body, but like with every other rule, there is always an exception. Iggy’s Stand, The Fool (See Pg. XX) is bound to sand and nearby dirt instead of himself, while Wheel of Fortune (See Pg. XX) is bound to a car.When a Stand User is killed, their Stand vanishes with them. Conversely, when a Stand is dealt a fatal blow, its user dies and the Stand vanishes. What constitutes a fatal blow varies from Stand to Stand (some have higher durability, after all), but generally if an injury happens to the Stand that would kill the User, chances are good both are dead.

Categorizing the Impossible: Stand Types/Stand Creation 101It’s worth noting that while every Stand is unique, Stands can often be filed under a

Stand Type. There’s a limited number of types that cover a wide range of abilities, and the typical Stand Types are as follows:

Close-Range Stands: Mama say knock you out. These Stands are typically devastating close combat fighters, such as Star Platinum (Pg. XX) and Silver Chariot (Pg. XX), or just have generally close-ranged attacks, such as Magician’s Red (Pg. XX) and Cream (Pg. XX). These guys will mess you up in a heartbeat, so keep your distance.

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Long-Range Stands: Long Range Stands are a little trickier. As the name implies, they mostly attack from long ranges, and unlike the typically exclusively-fighty Close-Range Stands, Long-Range Stands tend to have a variety of strange abilities, from object or person possession (See: The High Priestess, Pg. XX; The Lovers, Pg. XX) to tendrils (Hierophant Green, Pg. XX) or even remote damage (See: The Lovers again, Ebony Devil, Pg. XX). Long-Range Stands may seem more powerful, but they are generally unable to defend themselves once someone finally gets close enough to them, with advantage, to beat the snot out of them.Bounded Stands: Some Stands are bound to physical objects that can be seen by others, hiding their true form as special objects in the shape of the mundane. Their abilities vary wildly, but their ability to develop is often middling-to-lacking due to the fact that they often can only do certain predetermined things. Examples include Strength (Pg. XX), Thoth (Pg. XX), and Horus (Pg. XX).Ability Stands: These Stands are typically invisible to everyone, including other Stand users, but manifest as a supernatural ability the Stand user possesses bound to their own body. They typically are the toughest Stands in terms of durability because the Stand IS the ability, and is thus unlikely to be broken easily. The only real example of an Ability Stand in Stardust Crusaders is Khnum (Pg. XX), with others to be be covered in the Stone Ocean supplement.Automated Stands: These are nuts. Get this: Stands that work on their own. They typically have a simple objective without directly obeying any orders from their user, but some can be preset to follow orders following their activation. The user doesn’t have to be around for the Stand to work, and their range is often near-infinite just cuz they’re running on automatic. Furthermore, if they take any damage, the user typically does not because the Stand is a separate being altogether, such as the self-aware sword Anubis (Pg. XX) and the living wart-tumor-thing, The Empress (Pg. XX).There are also Stands known, respectively, as Combined Stands (which are Stands that are a mix of the above abilities, such as Weather Report) and Evolved Stands (Stands that have the inherent ability to evolve and become stronger, such as Whitesnake, pg. XX but to be covered in much more detail in the Stone Ocean Supplement.). These are beyond the scope of Stardust Crusaders and will not be covered in this book, but will take some focus in the Stone Ocean Supplement.Finally, there are stands who don’t fit under any of the previous categories but have categories and abilities all their own. These are called Special Stands. The only real Special Stand in Stardust Crusaders (to start with) is The World (Who has Universal Range, see Pg. XX), but by spending XP, your players can unlock a potential Special Stand ability for their character to use in Act Three: DIO’s World.

Now I Know My A-C-E’s: Stand StatisticsStands are governed by a set of Statistics that dictate what they can do. These are

Power (Sometimes called Destructive Power), Speed, Range, Durability (Sometimes called Staying), Precision, and Potential (Sometimes called Development Potential or Learning). Each of these defines a different aspect of the Stand’s abilities, and are ranked on a scale of A > B > C > D > E, with the only ranking lower than E being None, and the only thing higher than A being Infinite. Both None and Infinite are extremely rare, with only a handful of stands exhibiting either throughout the series.

The following rules are for starting new Stands and for adapting pre-existing ones BASED ONLY ON THEIR STATISTICS. Special abilities, circumstances, and other exceptions will be up to you, the Emcee, to decide on a case-by-case basis, but you will be able to look at the pre-made Stand power sets later in the book for inspiration. Note your Stand’s Statistics on your Rap Sheet as a baseline to keep these rules in mind.

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Finally, all Stands have the Conscious Activation Limit:Limit: Conscious Activation. While stressed out, asleep, or unconscious, shutdown

STAND POWER SET. Recover POWER SET when you recover that stress or wake up. If you take Mental trauma, shutdown STAND POWER SET until you recover that trauma.

Destructive Power: This is how hard your Stand can hit. It doesn’t just apply to a Stand’s brute force, however. It also applies to all their abilities put together.To portray Destructive Power mechanically, use the following rules:

At None, your Stand has no destructive power AT ALL. It cannot gain Weapon, Strength, and/or. Give it the following Limit:

Limit: No Power. A pool containing dice from STAND POWER SET cannot be used to inflict Physical stress.

At E or D, your Stand’s destructive power is Very Weak or Weak, meaning less to much less powerful than an average human. It can gain Weapon and/or any Blast or other destructive powers, but each starts at d6 and costs XP to gain. Furthermore, the cost to buy an attack ability at d6 is doubled if your Stand’s destructive rank is E.At C, your Stand’s destructive power is Average, at the same level as a normal human’s. This means it’s as good as, say, a knife or a bullet from a small pistol, but not much greater. It can gain Weapon, and/or any Blast or other destructive powers starting at d6 (but no higher), and does not need to spend XP to gain them, only to improve them.At B, your Stand’s destructive power is Good, meaning above human average. This means it’s on the level of a grenade or other explosive, or a large-caliber bullet. It can gain Weapon, Strength, and/or any Blast or other destructive powers starting at d8 (but no higher), and does not need to spend XP to gain them, only to improve them.At A, your Stand’s destructive power is Excellent. Think C4 or an elephant gun or a blade that can cut through tanks. It can gain Weapon, Strength, and/or any Blast or other destructive powers starting at d10 (but no higher), and does not need to spend XP to gain them, only to improve them.At Infinite, your Stand’s destructive power is, well, Infinite. It can destroy anything. This basically means it’s like a neutron, nuclear, or atomic bomb - just really spectacularly destructive. It can gain Weapon, Strength, and/or any Blast or other destructive powers at d12, and does not need to spend XP to gain them. Additionally, it may gain the following SFX if appropriate to your Stand:

SFX: Infinite Power. Step up or double any attack power for one action. If the action fails, add a die to the doom pool equal to the normal rating of your power die.

Speed: This is how agile your stand is, how fast it can move, and how quickly it can perform its super-cool function. To portray Speed mechanically, use the following rules:

At None, when activated, your Stand cannot move. Period, end of story. Give it the following Limit:

Limit: Immobile. Earn 1 SP when your Stand’s inability to move becomes a complication for you.

At E or D, your Stand’s Speed is Very Weak or Weak. This means it’s as slow as a snail or a tortoise or something else really slow. It can gain Speed, Reflexes, and/or Flight in its power set, but each starts at d6 and costs XP to gain. Furthermore, the cost to buy a movement ability at d6 is doubled if your Stand’s Speed rank is E.

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At C, your Stand’s Speed is Average, and can move at the speed of a normal human. It can gain Speed, Reflexes, and/or Flight in its power set starting at d6 (but no higher), and does not need to spend XP to gain them, only to improve them.At B, your Stand’s Speed is Good. It can run as fast as an olympic runner in peak physical condition, and possibly even faster. It can gain Speed, Reflexes, and/or Flight in its power set starting at d8 (but no higher), and does not need to spend XP to gain them, only to improve them.At A, your Stand’s Speed is Excellent. It can move as fast as a jet (or fast as a shark if you wanna get all metalhead with it) and its speed is truly incredible. It can gain Speed, Reflexes, and/or Flight in its power set starting at d10 (but no higher), and does not need to spend XP to gain them, only to improve them.At Infinite, your Stand’s speed is truly godlike, and can more than likely violate chronological restrictions and possibly even timeline causality. This thing is fast. It can gain Speed, Reflexes, and/or Flight in its power set at d12, and does not need to spend XP to gain them. Additionally, it may gain the following SFX if appropriate to your Stand:

SFX: Infinite Speed. Double a movement power for one reaction to an attack action. If that reaction fails, add a die to the doom pool equal to the normal rating of that power die.

Range: Range tells you how far the stand can move spatially, how far from the user its powers can influence, and how far away it can physically appear. Range’s rules are slightly different from the other abilities.To portray Range mechanically, use the following rules:

At None, your Stand can only really manifest at you, ground freaking zero. This probably means it’s limited to touch-based attacks the user personally makes. Give your Stand the following Limit:

Limit: Zero Range. While facing an opponent you are unable to physically reach, change any STAND POWER SET power into a complication and gain 1 SP. Activate an opportunity or remove the complication to recover the power.

At E or D, your Stand’s Range is Weak or Very Weak. It can’t go much further than you, only able to extend 2 meters (or 7 feet) at Very Weak, or 10 meters (33 feet) at Weak. It can gain Stretching, Teleport, and/or Senses, but each starts at d6 and costs XP to gain. Furthermore, the cost to buy a movement ability at d6 is doubled if your Stand’s Range rank is E.At C, your Stand’s Range is Average, so 20 meters (66 feet). It can go reasonably far, at least far enough to spy on someone or something neat like that. It can gain Stretching, Teleport, and/or Senses, starting at d6 (but no higher), and does not need to spend XP to gain them, only to improve them.At B, your Stand’s Range is Good, 50 meters (a little over 164 feet) in any direction! That’s a helluva range, but not quite the best ever. It can gain Stretching, Teleport, and/or Senses, starting at d8 (but no higher), and does not need to spend XP to gain them, only to improve them.At A, your Stand has Great Range, able to travel up to 100 meters (a little over 328 feet). Holy crap! You could probably grab the tips of skyscrapers or something at that range. It can gain Stretching, Teleport, and/or Senses, starting at d10 (but no higher), and does not need to spend XP to gain them, only to improve them.At Infinite, your Stand has just that: Infinite Range. It can go anywhere you can visualize (and possibly even places you can’t, but it can), almost like it’s got a life all its own. It can go all over, man. It can gain Stretching, Teleport, and/or Senses at d12, and does not need to

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spend XP to gain them. Additionally, it may gain the following SFX if appropriate to your Stand:

SFX: Infinite Range. Add a d6 and keep an additional effect die for each additional target.

Durability: This is how tough your stand is, how much endurance it has, and how well it can resist getting beat up. It can also measure how well it can stick to other objects, if that’s your Stand’s bag.To portray Durability mechanically, use the following rules:

At None, your Stand is absolutely the weakest of the weak, in terms of resisting damage. I don’t think it could even beat a pigeon. Give it the following Limit:

Limit: No Durability. Earn 1 SP to step up Physical Stress inflicted by physical attacks by +1.

At E or D, your Stand’s Durability is Very Weak or Weak. It can’t hold up to most solid punches. Poor thing’s just kinda puny. It can gain Durability, Stamina, and/or any Resistance power in its power set, but each starts at d6 and costs XP to gain. Furthermore, the cost to buy a resistance or staying ability at d6 is doubled if your Stand’s destructive rank is E.At C, your Stand’s Durability is Average, at the same level as a normal human. It can take a good solid punch from a tough opponent, but not a whole lot more. It can gain Durability, Stamina, and/or any in its power set starting at d6 (but no higher), and does not need to spend XP to gain them, only to improve them.At B, your Stand’s Durability is Good. It could probably take a tank round with only minimal damage, if tanks could hurt Stands (Disclaimer: Your Stand is immune to tanks. You are not.). It can gain Durability, Stamina, and/or any Resistance power in its power set starting at d8 (but no higher), and does not need to spend XP to gain them, only to improve them.At A, your Stand’s Durability is Excellent. Wow. Your Stand could probably take the tank round, then the tank dropped from a skyscraper, then the explosion of the tank. Jeeze. It can gain Durability, Stamina, and/or any Resistance power in its power set starting at d10 (but no higher), and does not need to spend XP to gain them, only to improve them.At Infinite, nothing hurts your Stand. Not. A. Thing. The only thing keeping your stand from taking on every other Stand from here to Cairo is, well, the fact that you don’t have Infinite Durability. It can gain Durability, Stamina, and/or any Resistance power in its power set at d12, and does not need to spend XP to gain them. Additionally, it may gain the following SFX if appropriate to your Stand:

SFX: Infinite Durability. Spend 1 SP to ignore Physical Stress or Trauma unless dealt to the Stand User themselves.

Precision: Precision measures a Stand’s accuracy in terms of hitting things, as well as how well its abilities can influence or affect a specific target. A relatively simple ranking.To portray Precision mechanically, use the following rules:

At None, your Stand can’t hit the broadside of a barn (but it could potentially nuke a bunch of other barns that you were desperately hoping to avoid). Give it the following Limit:

Limit: No Precision. Change any STAND POWER SET power into a complication and gain 1 SP. Activate an opportunity or remove the complication to recover the power.

At E or D, your Stand’s Precision is Weak or Very Weak. It could potentially affect a range of things, but not very well and not very accurately. It can gain Reflexes, and/or Senses (if not already gained by Range), and any other precision or control-based powers in its power set, but each starts at d6 and costs XP to gain. Furthermore, the cost to buy a resistance or staying ability at d6 is doubled if your Stand’s destructive rank is E.

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At C, your Stand’s Precision is Average. It has normal human eyesight, aiming, and so on, basic 20/20 vision stuff. It can gain Reflexes, and/or Senses (if not already gained by Range), and any other precision or control-based powers in its power set starting at d6 (but no higher), and does not need to spend XP to gain them, only to improve them.At B, your Stand’s Precision is Good. It’s good stuff, able to pick a precise target or even a handful and hit them hard. It can gain Reflexes, and/or Senses (if not already gained by Range), and any other precision or control-based powers in its power set starting at d8 (but no higher), and does not need to spend XP to gain them, only to improve them.At A, your Stand’s Precision is Great. Really world-class and truly talented, you can target any part of any dozen people at once, or even different parts on a bunch of folks, or really anything you can put your mind to. It can gain Reflexes, and/or Senses (if not already gained by Range), and any other precision or control-based powers in its power set starting at d10 (but no higher), and does not need to spend XP to gain them, only to improve them.At Infinite, nothing can resist your Stand and its incredible effects. This Stand could target the individual eyelashes of you, your entire extended family, and everyone they talked to today, and still have room to hit everyone on the nose on its way back. It can gain Reflexes, and/or Senses (if not already gained by Range), and any other precision or control-based powers in its power set at d12, and does not need to spend XP to gain them. Additionally, it may gain the following SFX if appropriate to your Stand:

SFX: Infinite Precision. Shutdown your highest rated STAND POWER SET power to step up another STAND POWER SET power by +1. Recover power by activating an opportunity or during a Transition Scene.

Potential: Potential is unique among statistics for being less literal, less concrete. Instead of measuring a specific physical or mental trait, it measures the possible functionality of the Stand, how it can utilize it’s abilities and powers, and how it can advance and become smarter and more powerful. Mechanically, it works somewhat inverse of the other Statistics, with None being a peak state, but the most limited, and Infinite being the weakest, but most limited. To portray Potential mechanically, use the following rules:

At None, your Stand is at its most powerful, the greatest it will ever be. It could even be nearly omnipotent. It starts with 8d8 in Power Traits. These can be can be combined one step at a time to a maximum of d12, subtracting a die each time (8d8 —> 7d8 + d10 —> 6d8 + d12 —> 5d8 + d10 + d12, etc.). It begins with four SFX.At E, your Stand’s Potential is Very Weak. It has precious little room for mobility. It can do plenty, but it can’t learn much. It starts with 6d8 in Power Traits. These can be can be combined one step at a time to a maximum of d10, subtracting a die each time (6d8 —> 5d8 + d10 —> 4d8 + 2d10, etc.) It begins with four SFX.At D, your Stand’s Potential is Weak. Not a lot of room for growth, but it hasn’t mastered itself yet either. It starts with 6d8 in Power Traits. These can be can be combined one step at a time to a maximum of d10, subtracting a die each time (6d8 —> 5d8 + d10 —> 4d8 + 2d10, etc.) It begins with three SFX.At C, your Stand’s Potential is Average. It knows about as much about itself as any fully-grown adult, but it can always learn how to do more. It starts with 5d8 in Power Traits. These can be can be combined one step at a time to a maximum of d10, subtracting a die each time (5d8 —> 4d8 + d10 —> 3d8 + 2d10, etc.) It begins with four SFX.At B, your Stand’s Potential is Good. Your Stand is pretty fresh, but has had to kick a few asses and take a few names. It’s got so much more it can do, however. It starts with 5d8 in Power Traits. These can be can be combined one step at a time to a maximum of d10,

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subtracting a die each time (5d8 —> 4d8 + d10 —> 3d8 + 2d10, etc.) It begins with three SFX.At A, your Stand’s Potential is Very Good. Wow, this Stand can do whatever its master wills, it just needs to be able to do it based on ability and its master’s willing to teach it. It starts with 4d8 in Power Traits. These can be can be combined one step at a time to a maximum of d10, subtracting a die each time (4d8 —> 3d8 + d10 —> 2d8 + 2d10, etc.) It begins with three SFX.At Infinite, I have two questions. One, is there anything your Stand CAN’T do? Two, how the hell did you manage to get this!? Either your Stand is brand, brand new, fresh out of the box as they say, or your Stand is somehow actually an infant. It starts with 4d8 in Power Traits. These can be can be combined one step at a time to a maximum of d10, subtracting a die each time (4d8 —> 3d8 + d10 —> 2d8 + 2d10, etc.) It begins with two SFX.

Building the Perfect Beast: Stand Creation 201Next up, actually creating and statting out a Stand. The rules above are great for

conversion, but what if your Stand doesn’t already exist? You’ll need to make it, of course so here’s how!

Your Stand’s Statistics have a Power Level and a matching Point Value. (Note: Many of the Stands in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure and in this book itself do not match the power levels or point values - these are strictly for character and Stand creation use ONLY.)

The Power Level’s point value can be used to buy ranks in your Stand’s Statistics. The Emcee may assign your Stand a power level or you may be allowed to select one of your choice. As stated, with your Stand’s Power Level selected, you take the assigned amount of points and use them to buy ranks in your Stand’s Statistics as follows:

The ranks None and Infinite are specialty circumstances and cannot, by default, be selected at character creation. When all your ranks are assigned, use the Statistics rules on Pgs. XX - XX to determine how your Stand will be made.

SIDEBAR: But What if I WANNA Start With None and Infinite?What, None and Infinite? For a Starting Stand? That’s kind of odd. I mean, it can work,

sure, but it’s kind of odd, I mostly just included None and Infinite for use in converting Stands.

I guess if it means that much to you, then a rank of None costs 0 Points, while a rank of Infinite costs 21 points. That seems suitably expensive to me. Don’t like it? That’s cool, you can

Low Power: 30 points Medium Power: 45 points

High Power: 60 points FABULOUS: 75 points

E: 1 point D: 3 points C: 6 points

B: 10 points A: 15 points

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have your own rules for None and Infinite at character creation! You can even contact and tell me about what you did if you want.

Hold the Phone, Slick. Where’s My Powers?That’s a mighty interesting question, and by “My” powers, I assume you mean the Stand

User’s powers. Well I’ll tell you - look at your favorite character’s Rap Sheet. Characters start with Affiliations, how good they work in a team, Distinctions, which are little phrases and things that describe them and their abilities, Specialties, which are areas of knowledge and expertise the Stand user personally has, and player Rap Sheets have Milestones, which are things the PC can do to game some XP. Those are all the things your character can do. Those are the User’s abilities, so just pick anything that makes sense.

Waitaminute, I Ain’t Done With You. What About Mechanics?Oh, you want some mechanics to go with that? Alright, fine, pushy. Jeeze. Figure out

your character’s age in three categories - 29 and Under, 30 - 55, and 56 and Over. Is your character young and small or old and frail? That’s a Distinction. Does your character wanna be a grown-up or find a way to age more gracefully (by any means necessary)? That’s a Milestone. Think stuff like that. Distinctions are what your character IS. Milestones are what your character wants (or doesn’t want) TO BE. As for Affiliations, just figure how your character works best - in a Team, with a Buddy, or Solo by themselves. Now for Specialties, characters 29 and Under get 2d8, which can be combined to d10 just like the Stand’s Potential. Characters 30 - 55 get 3d8, which can be combined to a maximum d10. Characters 56 and over get 4d8, which can be combined to a maximum d12. d8 is Expertise in a subject, they know a lot, d10 is Mastery, they’re probably a highly regarded expert on the subject, and d12 is Grandmastery, meaning they’re probably THE greatest in the world.

Bang, zoom, done. Now get off my back.

Stand Power SetsNow here’s some goodies for you: Stands and Stand Power Sets to help inspire,

motivate, and even shamelessly give you your own Stands and Stand Power Sets. These can be stapled to a character of your own, modified to fit a character, or even be used as the base for a similar Stand all your own. Sky’s the limit!

Make It Easy: Alternative Stand Power SetsDon’t like the more concrete powers? Then there’s an easier way to do power sets. After

spending points on your Statistics, as on Pg. XX, keep any given SFX or Limits from the from Now I Know My A-C-E’s (as well as the number of SFX from Potential), write out a short descriptor of what, specifically, your Stand can do, then make your Statistics themselves into your Power Set. That way, instead of specific powers, you list your Statistics. The statistics have the following dice:

D, E, and None: d4C: d6B: d8A: d10Infinite: d12

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This will require some tweaking from your Emcee, but what I would recommend is that you roll each stat, obviously, when it becomes relevant, adding up to two of the die types to your dice pool based on relevance.(So punching hard enough to break a stone wall would be Power + Durability, hitting a very specific part of an opponent would be Range + Precision, etc. etc.). When your character tries something new they’ve never done before, they can add Learning to their Dice Pool as well, regardless of whether or not there are already two dice in the pool. If their roll succeeds, they may add a new SFX based on the cool new move they just did.

And that’s that! Simple and clean, although not as good for specific powers. Still, if you want even less crunch and even closer to the “rules” of JJBA, that might do it for ya.

Turn the Lights Off :Turn the Lights Off creates an eery mist that can be used to inhabit the minds of

others. When inhabiting others, it takes their greatest fears and insecurities and gives them arms and teeth, and traps them in a pocket dimension from which they cannot escape. It manifests as an eery mist with a frightening eel-like creature that swims through it.

—Intangibility d10—Mind Blast d10—Telepathy d10—Enhanced Senses d8

—SFX: Bend the Nightmare . Add d6 and step up effect die by +1 when using Turn the Lights Off powers to inflict Emotional stress.

—SFX: You Control It. Use two or more Turn the Lights Off powers in a single dice pool at -1 step for each additional power.

—SFX: Taken for Turns. Step up or double your Turn the Lights Off powers for that Scene, or spend 1 SP to do both. Take second-highest rolling die of each subsequent action as Emotional Stress.

—SFX: Calm & Wild . Step up or double any Turn the Lights Off power for one action. If the action fails, add a die to the doom pool equal to the normal rating of your power die.

— Limit: No Power. A pool containing dice from Turn the Lights Off cannot be used to inflict Physical stress.

—Limit: Immobile. Earn 1 SP when your Stand’s inability to move from its fixed spot becomes a complication for you.

—Limit: No Durability. Earn 1 SP to step up Physical Stress inflicted by physical attacks by +1.

—Limit: Everybody Complicate It. Change any Turn the Lights Off power into a complication and gain 1 SP. Activate an opportunity or remove the complication to recover the power.

—Limit: Conscious Activation. While stressed out, asleep, or unconscious, shutdown Turn the Lights Off . Recover Turn the Lights Off when you recover that stress or wake up. If you take Mental trauma, shutdown Turn the Lights Off until you recover that trauma.

The Future is Medieval

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The Future is Medieval is an incredible mechanical humanoid with a highly futuristic design, complete with visor with the glowing back and forth light thingy, and wielding a fearsome-looking laser blade. It can reduce the complexity of any physical object presented to it (swords to simple clubs, a pistol down to a flintlock, a laptop down to an older model, etc.) until it begins breaking down for various reasons, then further until it’s in its simplest form (i.e. swords —> Iron ore, a pistol —> a hunk of metal and some wood, a laptop —> gasoline and unrefined diamonds).

—Cyber Senses d6—Sword Blast d6—Enhanced Durability d8—Weapon d8—Superhuman Speed d10—Superhuman Reflexes d10—Supersonic Flight d10—Transmutation d10

—SFX: Heard it Brea . When including Transmutation as part of an attack against armed or equipped targets, add d6 and step up effect die by +1.

—SFX: It Ends With Nothing . Add a d6 and step up your effect die by +1 when inflicting object reduction-based complication on a target.

—SFX: Howlaround Armor. Spend 1 SP to ignore Physical stress or Physical trauma unless caused by electric attacks.

—SFX: Coming Up for Air. Shutdown Enhanced Durability power to step up another The Future is Medieval power by +1. Recover power by activating an opportunity or during a Transition Scene.

—Limit: Conditional. When struck with electric-based attacks, change any The Future is Medieval power into a complication and gain 1 SP. Activate an opportunity or remove the complication to recover the power.

—Limit: Gear. Shutdown a Weapon or Enhanced Durability powers and gain 1 SP. Take an action vs. the doom pool to recover.

—Limit: Limited Utility. Transmutation may NOT be used to inflict Physical stress or trauma.

—Limit: Conscious Activation. While stressed out, asleep, or unconscious, shutdown The Future is Medieval . Recover The Future is Medieval when you recover that stress or wake up. If you take Mental trauma, shutdown The Future is Medieval until you recover that trauma.

The World’s AddressThe World’s Address is an expensive-looking, emerald-green pen that can teleport

an item anywhere written on the object - as long as the user clicks the pen afterwards. The catch is that it relies on specificity - it can go terribly wrong if you just write “Into Dio’s House”, but if you write “Into the bedroom of Dio Brando the vampire’s lair at 616 Khoshekh St.”, success is more guaranteed. Of course, one must know information that specific AND have the time to write it out.

—Teleport d10—SFX: Copernicus Was Wrong. When using Teleport in your dice pool, re-

direct Physical stress to Emotional stress at no cost.

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—SFX: Hear This Song. Step up or double Teleport for one action, then step back to 2d at -1. Recover power by activating an opportunity or during a Transition Scene.

—SFX: A Sadder Mess. Add a die to the doom pool equal to your current Emo-tional stress to add that Emotional stress die to a pool including a The World’s Address power.

—Limit: Leaves Me Depressed. Earn 1 PP when your lack of knowledge of a lo-cation becomes a complication for you.

—Limit: Not Already Guessed. When you have only a limited amount of time to write a message, change any The World’s Address power into a complication and gain 1 PP. Activate an opportunity or remove the complication to recover the power.

—Limit: Gear. Shutdown a The World’s Address power and gain 1 SP. Take an action vs. the doom pool to recover.

Double Dutch BusResembling a bizarre cross between man and bug, this diminutive stand is the strongest

stand in the entire world. It could outrun Made in Heaven, unfreeze The World, and outwit Ro-han Kishibe. It can heal things better than Crazy Diamond, break things better than Star Plat-inum, and mess up the plot better than Gold Experience Requiem. Except it can’t do any of those things, it’s pretty run of the mill. Unless, of course, you convince your opponent it CAN do those things, then it can. But only to them, and anyone else convinced it can totally mess them up. If they have any reason to believe it’s weak, though, the walls come crumbling down…

—Superhuman Stamina d10—Mimic d6

—SFX: Movin’ Pretty Fast . Step up or double any Double Dutch Bus power for one action. If the action fails, add a die to the doom pool equal to the normal rating of your power die.

—SFX: Double Down. Add a die to the doom pool equal to your current Emotion-al stress to add that Emotional stress die to a pool including a Double Dutch Bus power.

—SFX: Off the Bus. Use your current Emotional stress die as your effect die, then step up your Emotional Stress by +1.

—SFX: Illusory Power. Add d6 and step up effect die by +1 when using Double Dutch Bus powers to inflict Emotional stress.

—SFX: Gutsy Move. If a pool includes a Double Dutch Bus power, you may replace two dice of equal size with one die +1 step larger.

—Limit: Missed My Train. On an attack that deals Emotional stress, change any Double Dutch Bus power into a complication and gain 1 PP. Activate an opportunity or re-

move the complication to recover the power.—Limit: I’ll Be Darn. Earn 1 PP to step up Emotional or Mental stress inflicted by

opponents calling your bluffs by +1.—Limit: Ain’t Got No Car. Count 1s and 2s on dice as opportunities when using a

Double Dutch Bus power.—Limit: Conscious Activation. While stressed out, asleep, or unconscious, shut-

down Double Dutch Bus . Recover Double Dutch Bus when you recover that stress or wake up. If you take Emotional trauma, shutdown Double Dutch Bus until you recover that trauma.

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UNDER CONSTRUCTION

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ROUNDABOUT: THE JOESTAR FAMILY LINE, THE SPEEDWAGON FOUNDATION, AND THE RIPPLE

<==To Be Continued |\|

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