Lynette's father was Lancelot Birmingham Roderick, aka Lance Roderick, aka the superhero Lightning Rod. Lance was born in 1915 and fought supervillains from just before World War II up until 1989 when he was killed by a villain. The villain was captured, and confessed to the police in the presence of his lawyer. He was sentenced to die, and ironically enough, was executed in 1999 in the electric chair. Lynette appeared in court to testify, though she was only asked, and answered, three questions: "What is your name?", "Was Lancelot Roderick your father?", and "Was Lancelot Roderick also the superhero known as Lightning Rod?"
Lance Roderick, in civilian life, was an overbearing control freak. When he had the costume on, he was everyman's everyhero, and loved playing for the cameras. He was married three times: the first (Victoria Lane Worthington) in 1938, the second (Wanda Alice Williams) in 1947 as soon as the ink was dry on his divorce papers, and the third (Janice Lynn Biggs) in 1963 after his second wife died in 1960. Lance had a child from his first marriage and none from his second. Lynette was born in 1970, and was Lance's only child from his third marriage. Lynette's mother died in 1973; Lynette has no memory of her.
Lance was verbally abusive to Lynette growing up, but he never sexually abused her; he didn't hit her, not even to spank her, until she was 15. This incident culminated in her pulling a .45 on him; he never hit her again, and hardly spoke to her at all after that.
Growing up, Lynette thought she was severely unlucky. She was always getting into major accidents: having weird toxins dumped on her, getting soaked in chemicals and struck by lightning, being irradiated. It wasn't until after her father's death, and she got into his notes, that she found out he was trying to turn her into a superhero by dumping her into "radiation accident" type situations. There are no lingering effects from all of this except that she is mildly radioactive. Lynette's older brother Jacob has no powers, except for Life Support vs. Aging that their father had. Lynette seems to have inherited this as well (and picked up an immunity to radiation somewhere along the way), though also appears to have no other powers of her own.
Lynette was pushed hard as a child, graduating from high school at age 14. She graduated from M.I.T. in 1990 with Ph.D's in Physics and Computer Science, and an M.S. in Mathematics. She almost didn't graduate at all. Shortly after her father died, one night, while drunk and stoned, she seriously contemplated burning down her father's house and killing herself. She realized that if she did this, he would win, so she pulled herself together, finishing college and taking control of her life.
Throughout most of her childhood, her father had her in ballet, gymnastics, and martial arts classes, with the result that she moves like a cat. After her graduation from college, she began training herself and acquiring equipment and gadgets. She was able to get into her father's lab and his trophy room, but there is a secret part of the house whose purpose no one seems to know; to this day she has been unable to get into that, though not for lack of trying. It appears that this secret room is booby trapped, and she doesn't want to be the booby.
Lynette most assuredly did not wish to become a dark avenger of the night; the Batman schtick was overdone, in her opinion. She decided not to become a superhero at all, but the villains had other ideas. After several of her father's old enemies decided to make her a target, she took matters into her own hands; she's been working on devices for protection, some incorporating parts of old supervillain gadgets (taken from her father's trophy room).
Lynette has written (actually written herself, not ghostwritten) a combination memoir/expose of Lightning Rod, published in 1997. Entitled "Highest Point: My Life as the Daughter of Lightning Rod", it pulls no punches. The title is a reference to lightning seeking the highest point to ground itself out on.
Lynette became involved early on with the Linux project. She was one of the first few people to successfully install it and run it as an operating system, and some of the first patches bore her name and e-mail address (lroderick@foo.mit.edu). If she wanted to, Lynette would be approximately second in Linus Torvalds' "hit by a bus" line of succession (after Alan Cox). Lynette knows Richard Stallman but doesn't get along with him.
Through her holdings in Roderick Enterprises (fairly substantial), book sales, plus various stock options she's received because of being involved with Linux (and having gotten out at the right time), she is quite wealthy.
Lynette drinks socially (she absolutely adores true European beers, especially dark), smokes sometimes (usually only when she's drinking), has an occasional joint, and consistently drives 10-20 MPH (or more) over the speed limit. Her car is tricked out with an anti-radar stealth system, so she's never been pulled over nor given a ticket (she built the car herself). She has just turned 30 this year though she looks 23, and will probably continue to look 23 for quite some time. (Her father looked 40 at the time he died at age 74.) She doesn't take shit from anybody. She carries a Desert Eagle concealed in a holster (no mean feat), a hand grenade in her purse (she started that long before she'd ever read the Amber series), and a chip on her shoulder.
She is occasionally in touch with her older brother Jacob Lane Worthington Roderick (born in 1942) but doesn't see him much. He is a rich playboy jetsetter, the current CEO of Roderick Enterprises, and has his own life, which doesn't include a kid sister young enough to be his daughter. Lynette is quite happy with this, because her life doesn't include an older brother old enough to be her father. Jacob is gay, and has a son (Michael Lane Roderick) who is about four years older than Lynette.
Most of Lynette's relationships with men have been poor. She is absolutely determined that if she is ever in a relationship again, it will be with a stable, nice person and not an abuser. She has never been married and is currently resolutely single.
Lynette has been putting some serious study into the occult, especially magic, and given the existence of some superheroic mages, seems convinced that she can tap into something. She's aware that she's never going to be a Dr. Kismet, so she's treating magic as though it were any science, and attempting to generate some repeatable experiments. So far she hasn't had much luck, but she's still working on it.
Lynette is 5'9" tall, has long, wavy red hair and turquoise eyes (her favorite colors are blue and green because she can wear one or the other depending on what color she wants her eyes to be). She dresses nicely and has fairly expensive tastes in clothes. She drives a red sports car of indeterminate make and model with license plate "LYNETTE".
Lance was always a careless lad. He was frequently getting shocked by equipment that was insufficiently grounded. In 1935, there was a freak lightning storm; Lance and his father drove out to the factory to make sure everything was locked down. As they ran toward the gate, lightning struck the top of the building; another bolt streaked from the building to Lance and his father. His father was killed instantly; Lance was in a coma for several weeks. Upon coming out of the coma, Lance found that he could absorb electrical energy and throw lightning bolts.
After coming out of the coma, Lance felt a lot of anger and guilt at his father for dying, feeling like he was somehow the cause of it. Lance began drinking, which made him unstable. He started becoming violent, and hit his mother more than once. She eventually died of a broken heart, in 1937.
One day in 1938, Lance was present at the scene of a bank robbery and hostage situation. Almost without thinking, he used his powers to stop the robbery and rescue the hostage. This was a rush! Finally, he felt like he could do something right, and redeem himself in the eyes of his father. The hostage, whose name was Victoria Worthington, was so grateful to him that she married him. He had a costume designed, and thus Lightning Rod was born! He fought crime for several years, until World War II started, when he was brought into the government's Greek Letter Projects (see below under Campaign Use). He was studied by Project Gamma (high energy supers), as well as providing his services to help the war effort by stopping supervillains, saboteurs, and spies. Roderick Industries became a wartime contractor as well, thus increasing Lance's fortune. Lance and Victoria's son Jacob was born in 1942. By the time the war had ended in 1945, researchers at Roderick Industries had invented the transistor, giving the Allies man portable radios and smaller, lighter, more efficient and reliable radar units. After the war ended, Roderick Industries (now Roderick Enterprises) was worth a fortune, and Lance kept reinvesting the profits. He also continued to make his mark on the world as Lightning Rod.
Lance had been having an affair all throughout his marriage to Victoria, and shortly after the war ended, she divorced him. He married Wanda as soon as he could. They had no children together, though Jacob spent a lot of time with his father and stepmother. Lance was extremely disappointed that Jacob seemed to have no powers, and wouldn't be able to carry on as Lightning Rod II when he got older; Lance eventually grew to resent his son. This resentment pushed Jacob away from his father, though the lad had no trouble asking for or accepting money and gifts (including cars, houses, and stock) from Lance. Jacob was pretty cagey, and kept using the money Lance gave him to invest in Roderick Enterprises.
Wanda wasn't overly happy in their marriage, though she loved Lance, and Lance had at least avoided having any affairs as long as they were married. Wanda died of cancer in 1960, and Lance was devastated. He put most of his energies into fighting evil, leaving Jacob to run Roderick Enterprises, which he did well.
By this time, Lance felt like a bitter old man, even though he still looked young and didn't seem to be aging. He married Janice in 1963, shortly before President Kennedy was shot. They had one child together, Lynette, in 1970; Janice died of cancer in 1973.
Lance subconsciously blamed Lynette for causing her mother's death, and throughout her childhood he performed experiments on her hoping to bring out her super powers, though subconsciously part of him wanted her dead as well. He pushed her hard, and at the same time thought he could win her love by giving her "stuff": private tutors, gymnastics, ballet, and martial arts lessons. All this seemed to do was to cause Lynette to resent him.
Lance started drinking again. All throughout the late 70's and into the 80's he was an alcoholic, and this affected his performance both in his position as CEO of Roderick Enterprises and as a superhero, eventually proving to be his downfall. One of Lightning Rod's enemies, the Pink Carnation, had done a little research, and found out that Lightning Rod was a drunk. The Pink Carnation went on a crime spree with the express purpose of luring Lightning Rod out.
Lightning Rod didn't stand a chance. His reflexes dulled by years of drinking, he fell to the Carnation's onslaught, and was killed, one of the first superheroes to die in the line of duty in many years. There was a manhunt on for the Pink Carnation, and he was captured. He was eventually found guilty of premeditated murder with special circumstances (the Pink Carnation used his sonic powers to disrupt Lightning Rod's heart rhythms, causing him to go into fibrillation and eventually die due to heart failure; an ambulance arrived in what should have been enough time to save Lightning Rod, but his powers kept interfering with the defibrillator).
Lightning Rod was given a hero's burial and a state funeral. Superheroes from all over the world flew in to attend. The photograph of Lightning Rod's teary-eyed daughter Lynette placing a rose on his casket made the front pages of every major newspaper in the western world, and won the photographer a Pulitzer.
Lance's identity as Lightning Rod was secret until his death; though his wives and children knew it, they kept the secret.
In a World War II era game, the writeup of Lightning Rod could be used, as is, as a PC or an NPC ally of the players. PCs who are scientific or technical types (especially if they have anything to do with electronics) could work at Roderick Enterprises in their secret identities.
The Greek Letter Projects were a series of secret government supers research projects that went on during World War II. There was one for each letter of the Greek alphabet, and I can't remember what they all were; Project Alpha was the "super soldier" project, and there were a few others that I recall (Project Psi was, of course, mental powers, and Project Chi was time travel.) Feel free to invent your own, or substitute your own WWII Secret Government Project.
In a modern day game, depending on the time frame, a Lightning Rod with an additional 50 years worth of experience could be used. Be warned that by this time he is One Tough Customer. All of his powers have increased, plus he has a zero-range EMP blast that takes out electronics and can make people ill (RKA vs. electronics plus a CON drain). Unfortunately for him, years of drinking has lowered many of his characteristics: at least Dexterity and Constitution, maybe more. (Give him a little credit, though -- at least he went down swinging.)
If you wish, you can have the death of Lightning Rod occur later, perhaps even in the presence of the PCs. You could change Lynette in one of two ways if you decide this:
Lynette could be used as-is as an NPC ally or patron of the PCs. She could even be a love interest of one of them, though they would most likely have a rocky relationship. She would be more likely to be a former than a current love interest. In a higher powered campaign, especially in one more oriented toward detective and technical legwork, she could even be used as a PC, though she doesn't want to put on a costume and fight crime. It's more her style to sit at home, filter through information, and send others to do the legwork.
It could be that all of those experiments Lightning Rod put Lynette through during her childhood could have had a delayed effect, and some kind of powers emerge! The most probable types of powers that might occur would be something related to electrical or electromagnetic energy.
A Dr. Kismet is mentioned. He (she?) is a Dr. Strange / Dr. Fate type of supermage; the name is a deliberate play on Dr. Fate. Feel free to flesh out Dr. Kismet some more.
Jacob Roderick, or his son Michael, could potentially show up in play. Good looks seem to run in the family. It is possible that Michael has powers, and could even be run as a PC. Or Jacob could have other kids who may or may not have powers. Very little detail is given about either of them, so the GM can flesh them out however she pleases. Jacob is rich, probably more so than Lynette even, and could conceivably have any number of reasons to want to hire a group of supers.
For a more mystical feel, replace Lynette's gadget pool with a magic pool. This would definitely make her into a superhero class character.
Who is to say Lance never fathered any other children? He could have; any of them could have powers of their own. Perhaps one of his affairs was with a female super.
Lynette hires or asks the player characters to find out what's in the secret room underneath the house. It's lined with lead, glass, steel, and other things to foil various forms of N-ray vision. It's hardened, to make teleporting in difficult. The security systems seem to have their own backup power supply, and Lynette can't even tell where they feed off of the main anyway. The PCs could use a number of different methods: research, roleplaying out a high Security Systems skill, maybe even a seance to ask the shade of Lance Roderick how to get in. Note: Don't just let a PC with a high Security Systems roll come in, roll some dice, and open the vault. This will take some planning and game time to achieve. If it were that simple, Lynette could have done it herself! Jacob Roderick hires or asks the player characters to help protect him from gay bashers, possibly super powered gay bashers. Michael Roderick has just developed powers, and would like the PCs to teach him how to use them. Lynette has a superpowered stalker. Enter the PCs. If one of the PCs has magic-based powers, Lynette might come to that person for advice, training, or encouragement. Or, she might accidentally call up something she can't handle, and come to the PCs for help. Someone is funneling Roderick Enterprises resources out of the company. This could be a straight-up case of embezzlement, or it could be something more sinister. Viper could have agents inside, and be using them to build equipment for them. Remember also that Roderick Enterprises is a defense contractor; any corporate espionage directed against them would be considered espionage against the U.S. government, and be treated accordingly (by the FBI, CIA, PRIMUS, etc.). Remember also that anywhere Viper is, UNTIL is also. The PCs share a hunter with Lynette and/or Lightning Rod. They happen to be in the same place at the same time when the hunter(s) attack. This could be related to any of the above. If Lightning Rod is still alive, he could be drunk and going on a superpowered drunken rampage; the player characters happen to be in the area (whether in secret or heroic ID is up to the GM).
15 STR 5 23 DEX 39 23 CON 26 14 BODY 8 23 INT 13 14 EGO 8 20 PRE 10 26 COM 8 5 PD 2 5 ED 0 5 SPD 17 8 REC 0 46 END 0 34 STUN 0 Characteristics Cost: 136 6 Life Support,safe in radiation,immune to aging 3 Acrobatics 14- 3 Breakfall 14- 3 Combat Driving 14- 3 Computer Programming 14- 5 Concealment 15- 3 Deduction 14- 7 Electronics 13- 3 14- Fast Draw 3 High Society 13- 3 Inventor 14- 3 Mechanics 11- 3 Security Systems 14- 3 Seduction 13- 3 Stealth 14- 3 Streetwise 13- 3 Systems Operation 14- 5 Tactics 15- 20 2 Levels,all skills 3 WF,Quarterstaff,Small Arms 31 PKG,"Martial Arts" (3) Basic Strike (5) Def Strike (5) Choke Hold (5) Off Strike (5) Def Block (4) Martial Escape (4) Martial Dodge 3 Jack of All Trades 3 Scientist 2 KS: Law 11- 2 PS: Administration 14-,(INT based) 2 PS: Computer Programmer 14-,(INT based) 2 PS: Dancer 14-,(DEX based) 2 PS: Gymnast 14-,(DEX based) 2 PS: Leadership 14-,(INT based) 2 SC: Physics 14-,(INT based) 2 SC: Computer Science 14-,(INT based) 1 SC: Mathematics 11- 1 SC: Thaumatology 11- 2 Concealed Weapon Permit 10 Money,wealthy 20 Base: Other (100pt) 31 Vehicle: (155pt) 72 VPP (60),only change in given circ,restricted type of powers,"Gadget Pool",Must be a focus(-1/2) (17) PKG,2D6 RKA,"Sniper Rifle loaded with ice bullets",vs physical defense,IAF(-1),bulky,1 Charges(-1 1/4),4 Clips,14- Activation(-1/2),Invisible(+3/4),Sight Group,Unusual Sense Group,3 Levels,related group,OAF(-1 1/4),fragile,Only for sniper rifle(-1/2) (13) 8D6 EB,"Concussion grenade",vs physical defense,1 Charges (-2),OAF(-1),Explosion(+1/2) 0 (16) 3D6 RKA,".50 Desert Eagle",vs physical defense,7-8 Charges (-1/4),2 Clips,OAF(-1) 0 (7) 8/8 Force Field,"Force Field Belt",OIF(-1/2),2 Charges (-1/4),continuing,duration: 1 hour 0 (15) Clairsentience,"Radar tracker",Radar,x250 Increased Range, IIF(-1/2),fragile,Requires radar or directional radio receiver tuned appropri(-1),Only for determining location (-1/2),No control over where viewpoint goes once it is placed(-1/2) 2 Powers Cost: 278 Total Cost: 414 Base Points: 100 10 Public ID 10 Rep,"High up in Linux kernel (gets asked for sound bites)", occur 11- 10 Rep,"Daughter of beloved hero Lightning Rod",occur 11- 20 Distinctive,"Very beautiful, catlike moves, long red hair", concealable,extreme 10 Distinctive,"Tattoos",easily concealable,major 5 Distinctive,"Radioactive",easily concealable,minor 20 Psych Lim,"Overconfident",very common,strong 15 Psych Lim,"Resents supers; feels like she has something to prove",common,strong 10 Watched,"Older brother",as powerful,non-combat influence, harsh,appear 11- 10 Hunted,"Father's old enemies",as powerful,harsh,appear 8- 194 NPC Bonus Disadvantages Total: 314 Experience Spent: 0 Total Points: 414
Lightning Rod
15 STR 5 23 DEX 39 20 CON 20 13 BODY 6 18 INT 8 11 EGO 2 25 PRE 15 18 COM 4 5 PD 2 4/44 ED 0 5 SPD 17 7 REC 0 40 END 0 31 STUN 0 Characteristics Cost: 118 30 EC (Electricity) (30) 30a) 12D6 EB (Electricity) 6 15b) 75% Damage Reduction (ED) (Electricity),resistant,Only vs. Electricity(-1) 20c) PKG (Electricity),+40 ED (Electricity),Only vs. Electricity (-1),0/40 Damage Resistance,"Only vs. Electricity" 16d) 10D6 Absorption (Electricity),vs SFX (one power),Only vs. electricity(-1) 12e) 6 BODY Regen,Only when connected to an electrical power source(-1),Costs END(-1/2) 6 6 60/0 End Reserve 5 0/10 End Reserve,Only when connected to an electrical power source(-1) 3 Life Support,immune to aging 3 Bureaucratics 14- 3 Electronics 11- 3 Inventor 13- 6 3 Levels: with Lightning Blast 3 KS: Financial Management 13-,(INT based) Powers Cost: 155 Total Cost: 273 Base Points: 100 15 Secret ID,"Lance Roderick" 10 Physical Lim,"Alcoholic",infrequently,greatly 20 Psych Lim,"Overconfident",very common,strong 20 Psych Lim,"Glory hound",very common,strong 15 Rep,"Beloved superhero",occur 14- 10 Vuln,"Sonic attacks",uncommon,x2 stun 10 Vuln,"Sonic attacks",uncommon,x2 body 20 Susc,"Immersion in grounded water",uncommon,per turn,3D6 15 Unluck,3D6 15 DNPC,"Wife",incompetent,appear 8- 20 Hunted,"Various enemies",more powerful,harsh,appear 11- 10 Watched,"U.S. Government",more powerful,non-combat influence,harsh,appear 8- Disadvantages Total: 180 Experience Spent: 0 Total Points: 280