Gertrude
Context
Champions is one of the early, classic super-hero tabletop role-playing games. Its first edition was in 1981, and it still endures as of this writing (2010s). It has its own roster of characters, many of whom appeared across the decades and editions.
Gertrude is one of the more obscure ones.
Background
- Real Name: Unrevealed.
- Marital Status: Single.
- Known Relatives: Parents deceased.
- Group Affiliation: NSDAP Uberfrauen Der Hilfse.
- Base Of Operations: Mobile.
- Height: 5’11″ Weight: 165 pounds.
- Eyes: Blue Hair: Blonde
Advertisement
Powers and Abilities
Gertrude is a skilled warriour with spear, knife, bow or hands and feet.
She is an expert in jungle survival and has a special rapport with animals that lets her train and use them as effective allies.
History
In 1938, a team of German explorers seeking a mythical lost tribe of Aryans in Africa. They instead found a jungle princess named Gertrude who defeated, captured and questioned them.
She learned that they came from the land of her parents. Having been instilled with patriotism at an early age, she allowed them to persuade her to put her strength in the service of the Reich.
The Nazi “might makes right” ideology accorded well with her “law of the jungle” perspective and she joined the Uberfrauen, a kind of ladies auxiliary to the Nazi supervillains.
Advertisement
Agent of N.S.D.A.P.
Among her wartime activities were spying on the United States in the guise of a circus animal trainer, creating confusion by :
- Letting loose the inhabitants of several zoos.
- Playing “The Most Dangerous Game” with an American hero.
- Crowning herself queen of the animal hybrids of Moreauvia.
- Abducting the fiancée of a popular American hero.
- Erasing the memory of that hero and trying to convince him to fight by her side.
- Guarding a Nazi uranium mine in central Africa.
- Helping discover the subterranean entrance to a “lost world” that a cadre of Nazis escaped into at the end of the war.
Description
A blonde, blue-eyed amazon dressed in a fur bikini and fur boots.
Personality
A fierce and impulsive girl with the fanaticism of a recent ideological convert in 1939.
A bitter, disillusioned recluse concerned only with her baby daughter and her animal subjects by the end of the war.
Quotes
“Why would he want a weakling like her ?”
DC Universe History
Her love interest would have to be an American male character who was :
- Alive in World War II.
- A skilled hand to hand fighter.
- Had a girlfriend who was not a superheroine or other type of warrior.
Game Stats — DC Heroes RPG
Tell me more about the game stats
Gertrude
| Dex: 09 | Str: 03 | Bod: 05 | Motivation: Psychopath |
| Int: 03 | Wil: 07 | Min: 05 | Occupation: Hunter/Gatherer |
| Inf: 05 | Aur: 06 | Spi: 05 | Resources {or Wealth}: 000 |
| Init: 21 | HP: ### |
Powers:
Animal Summoning: 07, Speak with Animals: 07
Bonuses and Limitations:
Animal Summoning may summon any mammal type, but only if they are in earshot.
Skills:
Acrobatics*: 09, Animal Handling: 11, Martial Artist*: 09, Medicine (First Aid): 05, Military Science (Camouflage, Danger Recognition Tracking): 09, Thief (Stealth)*: 09, Weaponry (Melee, Missile): 09
Advantages:
Area Knowledge (Darkest Africa), Attractive, Scholar (Jungle Survival, Animal Communication), Lightning Reflexes, Leadership, Languages (African).
Connections:
Chavez (High), Pentagon (Low).
Drawbacks:
Enemy (Sir Nigel Carruthers), Voluntary Exile, SIH: Weakness, MIH: Non-whites and Jews, SIA: Attractive American Hero.
Pets:
Gertrude has many pets through her supernal Animal Training ability. Her Leadership is only used on her animals, because she has no human followers.
Equipment:
- Knife [BODY 05, Enhance (EV): 01 (Cap is 06), Descriptor: Piercing, Slashing].
- Bow [BODY 03, Enhance (EV): 01 (cap is 04), Enhance (Range): 03 (cap is 06), Ammo: 01, Recommended STR: 03, R#02, Limitation: Low Penetration, Descriptor: Piercing].
- Spear [BODY 02, Enhance (EV): 02 (cap is 06), Descriptor: Bludgeoning, Piercing, R#03, Limitation: Bludgeoning has Limited penetration].
If the spearwielder’s opposition is within a four feet range, the spearwielder gets a -1 to the final roll of their melee attacks while the opposition gets a +1 to the final roll of their melee attacks. If the range is greater, these are reversed.
Source of Character: Golden Age Champions.