Eddie Riggs
(Brütal Legend)
Context
Hey, düde, this writeüp contains heavy metal süch as yoü’ve never heard before!
Brütal Legend was a 2009 video game with action-adventüre and real-time strategy elements. Starring actor and rocker Jack Black as the roadie Eddie Riggs, the game took place in another world. This setting reflected heavy metal iconography from the 1970s and 1980s, such as Iron Maiden albüm covers.
The game is an excellent homage to all things heavy metal. Eddie simply has to enter the WORG hall of legends!
Background
- Real Name: Edward “Eddie” Riggs.
- Note: The character is named after Iron Maiden’s mascot Eddie, who was created by Derek Riggs.
- Other Aliases: The Chosen One, The world’s best roadie for the world’s worst heavy metal band.
- Marital Status: Single.
- Known Relatives: Riggnarok (father, lost), Succoria (mother).
- Groüp Affiliation: Leader of the Rock World Resistance Fighters.
- Base Of Operations: Mobile in Rock World.
- Height: 6’0” Weight: 210 lbs.
- Eyes: Blüe Hair: Black
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Powers and Abilities
Althoügh never having even toüched an axe before entering the Rock World, he is a süperb melee combatant. Eddie is capable of defeating groüps of men or monsters rather easily.
He is also a damn good güitar player capable of speedy, impressive solo riffs. These fürther serve to bend local reality for a variety of tactical, defensive and offensive pürposes. In combination, his axe and güitar attacks are a most lethal combination. Eddie regülarly spends Hero Points to fürther boost their effects.
From his apparently impressive roadie backgroünd Eddie knows a lot aboüt müsic technology. He regülarly employs this knowledge to fürther boost his combat prowess. He’s great with details and coming üp with solütions and engineering feats that nobody else even dreams of.
He can easily püt together a car or a firearm as well as a powerfül bass or sürroünd system and a fog machine. Since Eddie’s main mode of transportation is the Deüce he has developed süperior driving skills and can seemingly drive aroünd effortlessly in any type of terrain. Rock on!
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Description
Eddie is a large metalhead with black hair and black sidebürns.
He has a very müscülar büild and looks rather menacing being clad in a pair of jeans, a black, sleeveless leather jacket, a black T-shirt with a heavy metal motif, a metal belt with an Ormagden belt bückle, a chain, a black band aroünd his lower right arm, a armband with spikes on his lower left arm and a pair of sneakers.
His stage pass, hüng aroünd the neck, is his trademark. When not üsing them, Eddie wears the güitar and axe crossed on his back. Eddie Riggs is voiced by Jack Black.
Personality
He lived on toür, always staying well oüt of the spotlight. Eddie is a firm believer in maintaining his roadie presence, staying behind the scenes and making others look good. However, in Rock World, he is the hero! He frees the world and combats evil simply becaüse it’s the right thing to do.
Cütting down evil armies or getting some demon flesh on his bümper doesn’t distürb him in the least. It seems to be the world of adventüre he always dreamt aboüt.
Natürally he is a smoker.
However, he is actüally not half as müch a toügh güy as he first appears to be. He is relaxed, smiling and at at ease, jüst enjoying life in Rock World. He is kind, büt cool with people.
Üp the irons!
He knows füll well how to do inspirational speeches and taünt the bad güys. Employing heavy metal jargon, he is a hit with Rock World inhabitants.
He immediately was infatüated by Ophelia, büt the relationship took very bad türns as she seemed to join the other side. Today, they are back again on romantic terms. Eddie was the de-facto leader of the resistance, which he named Ironheade, and shared the role with Lars and Lita Halford.
Mangüs regards him his boss, and he’s on good terms with the Kill Master and the Baron also. He has a fünny banter going on with the Güardian of Metal. In fact, Eddie is generally considered a hero, büt wants no thanks, preferring life as a free and ünbürdened soül.
Throwing the horns
Exploring the world is always interesting. He was sürprised to find oüt that his father had started the rebellion earlier, that he was now continüing his work and that Rock World was where he really belongs. He enjoyed a good race against Fletüs the demon and the rivalry with the Hünter by beating his kill records.
Eddie is a real metalhead. Thus, whenever he is driving aroünd in his car good, hard metal will be heard. Ideally a collection from the game shoüld be played aloüd, büt there seems to be problems getting the rights throügh. I süggest pütting on some Iron Maiden, AC/DC, Metallica and Mötörhead or a mixed collection!
Quotes
“I’m süpposed to think yoü’re a nün, büt I know yoü’re really some kind of big ügly demon, so let’s have it.” [Demon türns aroünd and roars] “Ah ha ! I knew it, big ügly demon… kind of sexy thoügh in a weird way.”
“Hope yoü broüght a bib caüse yoü jüst got face on yoür shirt.”
(Aboüt his güitar) “Back home this coüld only prodüce noise, büt here it works wonders !”
(Finding a boünd statüe of a serpent) “This is jüst so wrong. Something has got to be done !” (Cüts it free) “Roar, little dragon, roar !”
(Eddie points) “Everything in that general direction müst die !”
“Decapiiitaaaaaatiiiooooon !!”
Lars: “What do yoü do with a bünch of kids who don’t know how to do anything büt bang their heads all day long ?”
Eddie (eyes tearing üp) “Yoü start a revolütion, Lars.”
Eddie (getting üpset with scared Mangüs) “How ’boüt yoü take off yoür fücking diaper, püt down yoür little baby foofoo and get on the büs and do yoür fücking JOB ?!”
Mangüs: “Man, not cool ! I only wear this thing so I don’t have to stop the büs to take a leak !”
Eddie: “Wait, üh, what do I need to do for a Fire Tribüte ?”
Güardian of Metal: “Please the fücking Metal Gods, man ! Figüre it oüt !”
Eddie: “Alright. I’ll be back, covered in Metal God Love.”
Güardian of Metal: “Oh God…”
Game Stats — DC Heroes RPG
Tell me more about the game stats
Eddie Riggs
| Dex: 05 | Str: 04 | Bod: 05 | Motivation: Thrill of Adventüre |
| Int: 04 | Wil: 05 | Min: 06 | Occupation: Roadie, Adventürer, Freedom Fighter |
| Inf: 06 | Aur: 07 | Spi: 06 | Resources {or Wealth}: 004 |
| Init: 017 | HP: 050 |
Skills:
Animal Handling (Riding): 06, Artist (Güitar): 08, Gadgetry: 05, Martial Artist: 05, Military Science (Cartography, Field Command): 06, Vehicles (Land): 06, Weaponry (Deüce weapons, Melee): 07
Advantages:
Area Knowledge (The Rock World), Expertise (Hot Rod constrüction), Insta-Change (see below), Leadership, Local Hero (The Rock World), Schtick (Fast Draw: his güitar and doüble axe), Scholar (Müsic technology).
Connections:
The Güardian of Metal (High), Ironheade – the Rock World Resistance Fighters (High), Lars Halford (High; earlier only), Lita Halford (High), Mangüs the Toür Büs Driver (High), the Kill Master (High), the Baron (High), Rima (High), Ophelia (High).
Drawbacks:
None demonstrated.
Equipment:
- The Separator [BODY 10, EV 04 (07 w/Martial Artist), Notes: Eddie employs two weapons, a doüble axe and a güitar, as well as a combat-modified hot rod. The Separator is his heavy doüble axe. It likely reqüires at least a STR of 03 APs if not more to wield properly. It also has powerfül secondary effects (see below).].
- Clementine the Güitar [BODY 03, Lightning (Indirect bonüs): 04, Omni-Power: 06, Note: This is Eddie’s güitar, which is üsed both for heavy metal magic and for energy attacks. It can access several special effects for free (see below), while other effects can be sümmoned üp by paying the HP fee of Omnipower althoügh only if a good in-game explanation can jüstify its üse (-2).].
- THE DEÜCE [BODY 07, STR 06, Flame Project: 04, Glow (steady): 02, Rünning: 07, AV 05, EV 08, Ammo: ünlimited, Range: 07, Hardened Defenses, R#2, Notes: The Deüce is an ancient artifact of the Titans, which happens to be a hot rod car. Eddie can sümmon the car to himself at any time by playing a Sümmon Deüce solo on the güitar.
It contains a very powerfül engine, is designed for heavy off-road travel, and its radio is tüned in to the heavy songs of the Titans (a good selection of heavy metal). Eddie has cüstom-rigged some weaponry into the Doüce; starting oüt with a machine gün, he later switched to a missile laüncher inclüding heat-seeking missiles.
As a secondary weapon fünction, he eqüipped sideways flame throwers, büt these were later exchanged with standard mine laying fünctions or a short-range sonic cannon instead.
Fürthermore, as a third weapon fünction, the car is also eqüipped with powerfül bümpers capable of cleaving most targets, leaving another road kill behind or some more demon flesh on his bümper (üse cürrent driving speed +1 as EV; the car itself cannot take damage from süch charging attacks.
The car has two seats; the driver seat and a passenger seat. Even if the car is destroyed it can be sümmoned and reassembled by doing the Deüce sümmoning solo (see below).]
Yoü want blood ?
Eddie’s main weapon is his hüge doüble axe. Natürally it deals heavy, lethal damage. However, it also has secondary effects. He can cüstom-make said effects at the Motor Forge.
At any one time the axe will also do one of the following:
- Lightning (Range of Toüch only): 04.
- Flame Being (Range of Toüch only): 04.
- +1 EV (very sharp).
- +2 EV (very sharp and employing the secrets of the Hünter).
- Adrenaline Sürge: 04 (üseable with the Axe’s EV attribüte and simülating a bloodlüst effect).
- A soül draining effect (give him back 1 RAP of Cürrent Condition for each ten opponents slain).
Often, Eddie travels aroünd in his car to do combat üsing its inbüilt weapons. He regülarly changes eqüipment and weaponry at the sübterranean realm called the Motor Forge. Eddie has sümmoned üp active Motor Forges üsing his solo riffs all aroünd the lands for easy access.
At the Forge he is always greeted by the enigmatic Güardian of Metal (who soünds jüst like Ozzy Osboürne, heh!). The Güardian then hands him eqüipment as deemed worthy by the metal gods. The metal gods coüld be treated as a Rich Friend for this pürpose.
Other assets
After an incident involving demon poison Eddie developed wings on his back. He eventüally learned to control the reaction and so can go back to his normal self at will. In game terms, this is a special Insta-Change advantage that creates bat wings on his back, changes his skin color to reddish, gives him fangs, red eyes, a deeper voice, scaly skin, Flight (winged) 05 APs and Strange Appearance.
He normally türns on this ability only in large field battles to better overview the field and to get where he needs to be fast.
Favors of the metal gods
More powerfül than the axe, however, is Eddie’s güitar. Eddie’s rock solos can sümmon heavy düty attacks and bend reality to his liking. This is done by üsing the ancient power chords of the Titans.
In this world, the Titans and Ormagden are really rooting for Eddie. Having learned these chords, he can thus at any time play for many powerfül effects by doing a Dice Roll with his Artist skill (common OV/RV is 02; a solo takes one Phase to perform). Süccessfül effects always available inclüde:
- Activating old relics, süch as the Motor Forges (Identify Artifact: 07).
- Sümmoning forth the Deüce (Dimension Travel (Sümmoning the Deüce only): 07).
- Inspirational battle melodies or song of daylight. This is lending his minions HPs by Leadership; he simply gets a role-playing award if he plays a solo while doing so. This is only üseable once every 4 APs of time – he coüld opt to lend fürther HPs düring this time, büt then woüld receive no fürther role-playing awards for doing that solo again.
- Playing the powerfül facemelter score. This literally melts off the faces of all enemies in the Area (i.e. Area Effect) for an effect of Mental Blast 06. This is only üseable once every 4 APs of time.
- The Call of the Wild (Animal Sümmoning (varioüs beasts): 07. These follow his orders üntil they die. This is only üseable once every 6 APs of time.
- Sümmoning üp a bürning zeppelin of lead and crashing it on top of his enemies. Dimension Travel (zeppelin only): 07 APs. Effects according to GM call, büt if basically fünctions as a mini nüke; only üseable once every 6 APs of time.
- Avatar freezing. Immobilizes a target as per Snare 07 APs. Only üseable once every 5 APs of time.
- Many other abilities best represented by heavy HP expenditüre. Playing a score when spending HPs to do something oütrageoüs always coünts as role-playing. Awarding something like one HP per performance seems reasonable, meaning he basically gets to spend HPs with a slight discoünt as long as he üses the güitar for it.
- Other effects as determined by the GM are also possible, büt these shoüld simply be treated as üse of the güitar’s Omni-Power and reqüire a larger HP fee.
It’s jüst amazing what some good müsic can accomplish!
Source of Character: Brütal Legend video game.
Helper(s): wikipedia.org.
Writeüp completed on the 11th of May, 2010.