A SMERSH Assassin from the Villains Supplement
Villains, a James Bond 007 role-playing game supplement, is a recently released product from Victory Games Inc. The art work is supplied by Victory Games Inc.
Background
Melody is a product of a rough neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York, where she either had to learn to use force or her looks to survive. She learned to use both very effectively.
As a teenager, she became the "main squeeze" of a local ganglord, a slow witted hulk who ruled through bashing in skulls. Melody knew that eventually he would be deposed or killed, which would put her in a very vulnerable position. Melody decided to do what she could to prevent this. Knowing that most men found her attractive, she secretly met and seduced rival ganglords and, once they had dropped their guard, killed them.
Melody had no qualms about her methods, and soon realized her talents could be applied in other, more profitable, ways. She hitchhiked across the country, usually accepting rides from men traveling alone who were no match for her seductive charms. Later, while they slept, she would take their cash and valuables and hit the road again. On the rare occasion when the men caught her at it she would try to win their sympathy with a sob story or, failing that, kill them with the switchblade she kept handy.
Just before she was going to rob one of her victims, he asked her to go with him on a cruise down to Mexico. Melody had never been on a cruise, so she agreed; she could always rob him later. While on the cruise, Melody found out that the man was traveling alone and had no close family left. He had no children; so, after his wife died, he sold the house, cleaned out his savings and went traveling.
Melody grew to like the man and even thought of arranging a marriage. While she was considering it, the decision was made for her. One night after a day of hot sun, rich foods, dancing and gambling, the man suffered a heart attack in bed and died.
Melody considered this a bother more than anything else. She mourned the lost income, and dreaded the thought of having to fill out all the paperwork. The official attention might land her in jail, if her past ever surfaced. Then she remembered she had never used her real name. She had spent most of the time wearing large sunglasses and never associated with the passengers, so no one could identify her.
The next day, when the boat docked at its first port of call, Melody went ashore with hundreds of other tourists and never came back. She took all the traveler's checks, money and jewelry with her. By the time the ship's crew finally discovered the body behind the Do Not Disturb sign, she was far away
Melody had found her new career. She would roam the tourist cities finding lonely men with no families or close friends and connive to travel with them. During the trip, she would kill them, dispose of the bodies and belongings (over the side of a cruise ship is an adequate hiding place) and make off with their valuables.
By donning different disguises, Melody lessened the chance of being identified. The disguises also helped her entice her victims. Sometimes, she would pass herself off as a foreign art student trying to get to America for a show. In one inspired moment, she pleaded with a man to help her get out of Morocco because she was going to be sold into slavery Another time in the Caribbean, she went so far as to don contact lenses and false buck teeth to play an Iowan farm girl whose money was just stolen.
The authorities never caught on to her, but a KGB operative who was following one of her victims saw her kill him and toss the body overboard. Thinking she might be an agent from another government, the agent began following hel and soon uncovered her little scheme. When he mentioned her in a report, Orlov, the section head of SMERSH, the international crime syndicate, sent a personal agent to confront her.
At first, Melody was forced to work for SMERSH through threats and blackmail. Later, she came to realize that the pay was better and grew to enjoy the challenge of killing experienced agents rather than the lonely milquetoasts, who had been her original targets.
Melody lives under an assumed name in a New York penthouse. Like any experienced assassin, she never makes a kill in the United States, fearing even the mall_ est chance of discovery.
Modus Operandi
Melody uses minimal disguises to lure her victims into a trusting relationship. Her disguises may be as simple as a pair of glasses and a dowdy hair color, or, if she is feeling really capricious, she may indulge in an elaborate disguise as her country hick outfit detailed above.
When Melody is trying to get close to a suspicious victim, she tries to get as close as possible. By using her Persuasion or Seduction skill, she lulls her victim into complacency so he won't notice how close she is getting. Since these skills cannot be used by non-player characters (NPCs) against player characters (PCs), any attempt by Melody to close in on a character would be role-played out.
The following rules are provided if you allow use of these Interaction skills on PCs or as a guideline when PCs attempt to use this strategy on NPCs.
Make a Persuasion roll if the victim is the same sex as the assassin, Seduction if the victim is the opposite sex. (All appropriate modifiers described in the interaction chapter in the James Bond 007 Basic Game rules apply to these rolls.)
For Persuasion, consult the chart in the Interaction chapter to determine the result of the victim. For Seduction, the victim gets the WIL (Willpower) roll as described under that skill. If the Persuasion result was a "Y" or the victim fails his WIL roll to resist Seduction, the assassin is within ten feet and automatically gets initiative in Fire or Hand- To-Hand Combat because the victim is lulled into complacency.
With her victim lulled into a sense of security Melody makes her move. During a hug or a kiss, she presses her gun against her victim and fires. This method leaves little doubt of making a fatal wound.
Even if the Persuasion result is a "?" or "N," or the victim made his WIL roll to resist seduction, you should determine how close the assassin moved towards the victim.
Note: this procedure is equally effective if the PC is just trying to talk his way up to someone to disarm them or to engage in Hand To Hand combat. It does not have to end in Fire Combat.
Of course, the players may become suspicious if every naive tourist they meet turns out to be Melody, so you should have them meet a number of civilian NPCs or even Friendly Secret Agents who fit the bill.
Statistics:
STR: 7, DEX: 11, WIL: 14, PER: 9, INT: 8 Skills
(Skill Level/Primary Chance):
Charisma (12/26), Cryptography (6/14),
Demolitions (3/11), Disguise (8/16), Diving (9/18),
Driving (7/17), Electronics (2/10), Evasion (8/17), Fire
Combat (10/20), Gambling (4/13), Hand-to-Hand
Combat (7/14), Interrogation (6/14), Local Customs
(3/12), Riding (7/18), Seduction (8/21), Sixth Sense
(9/17), Stealth (7/2 1), Torture (10/21)
Abilities:
Connoisseur, First Aid, Photography
Height: 5'5"
Weight: 128 lbs
Age: 28
Appearance: Striking
Fame Points: 45
Survival Points: 6
Speed: 2
Hand-To-Hand Damage Class: A
Stamina: 32 hours
Running/Swimming: 45 minutes
Carrying: 101 - 150 pounds
Weapon: Compact Off-Duty Police
Fields Of Experience: Board Games, Fine
Arts, Golf, jewelry, Rare Collectibles, Snow Skiing,
Squash, Tennis, Toxicology, Water Skiing
Idiosyncrasies:
None
Interaction Modifiers:
Reaction ( - 3), Persuasion 2), Seduction ( - 1),
Interrogation ( + 1), Torture (0)
Description:
Hair: blonde;
Eyes: hazel; Scars:
None;
Distinguishing
marks: None
Weapon:
Melody adopted this weapon because she wanted
a gun small enough to fit into her handbag, but powerful
enough to stop any enemy. She is not too distressed
about the limited ammunition. By using the method
described above, she gets right up against the victim,
pulls out the weapon and empties the gun into the
victim. She figures that four .357 slugs at point blank
range will stop about anyone.
Robert Kern works for Victory Games
Inc. and is the author of Goldfinger II and
Thrilling Locations for the James Bond 007
game. Neil Randall is a freelance writer who
has written several adventures for the James
Bond 007 game including Dr No.
C-O-P .357
PM 0
S/R 2
AMMO 4
DC H
CLOSE 0-2
LONG 6-10
CON -2
JAM 99
DRAW +1
RL 3
COST 150
The small size Compact Off-Duty Police belies the
power of the .357 magnum bullets, The automatic was
designed to be an easily concealable weapon with
excellent stopping power that could be carried by off-
duty policemen. The gun does not use a clip. instead, it
has four barrels, each of which holds a round. The bullets
are ignited by a rotating firing pin. The gun is reloaded
in the same way a revolver is, by inserting the bullets
separately, hence their Reload time is the same.
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© Copyright 1986 by Dana Lombardy.
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