Crazy Mary and her crew are tangential characters in the John Nowak fiction originally published in back issues of Autoduel Quarterly. Doppelganger; ADQ Vol 3 #2 Summer 2035 and Amateur Status ADQ Vol 4 #3 Fall 2036. As such these characters* are (c) John Nowak and Steve Jackson Games. I make no claim to rights to these characters (* for John Nowak characters). As such, I have tried to keep Mary and crew consistent with the stories by John Nowak.
At the request of the founder of Ballard, OK, Crazy Mary and her crew have decided on Ballard as their home base of operations. Why? a number of reasons; I-44 is quick access out of the Free Oil States and into the USA, there’s still oil in Oklahoma and the Marauders have access to it, Ballard is “in the middle of nowhere” as far as being found, but right off of I-44, the Marauders take care of Mary’s HQ when she and hew crew are out and about and in exchange Mary runs goods and supplies back to Ballard. The fact that her previous point driver Justin Bailey (see map #2 of Ballard, OK) retired to Ballard was also a factor.
“Crazy” Mary Konig* – Rig Driver, Crew Leader (Driver +2, Trucker +3, Gunner +2, Exotic Dancer +2, Mechanic)
Mary will take any load anywhere for the right price. She and her crew have a reputation across the country and the Free Oil States as “Fighters for the little guy”. She will NOT stop for any tollbooth whether it is legit or not. Most legitimate tollbooths will wave Mary and her crew through rather than suffer costly damage.
Mary is a skilled exotic dancer and can usually be convinced to do a striptease on top of whatever bar the crew is relaxing at. Mary and Justin are a couple but it’s an open secret.
It’s not known to the general public, but Mary doesn’t have one tractor-trailer combo. She does in fact have six identical tractors and van, refer, and flatbed trailers to match. The other five are sitting protected inside her compound being refurbished/repaired and readied for the next run. A truck can take a lot of damage running toll booths and Mary doesn’t like to be kept waiting on repairs.
Bruce “BJ” Johns and his pet chimpanzee, Mackie – 2nd Rig Driver (Trucker +2, Driver +2, Gunner +2, Pilot +2, Mechanic, Cyclist) Mackie has been trained to push the fire button when the computer locks onto a target. As such Mackie has Gunner skill.
BJ was a helicopter pilot with the U.S. Army during the Second Civil War. He was shot down over Texas and was a P.O.W. until the end of the war. Bruce wandered the American southwest looking for work where and when he could find it. One day he came upon a still drive-able red and white cabover rig surrounded by the remains of a motorcycle gang. From the looks of things the truck driver and last cyclist both got off lucky shots and took each other out. BJ thanked whatever gods that were looking out for him, removed the dead driver, climbed in the truck and drove off. Less than a mile down the road, BJ noticed a very scared chimp at the side of the road. The chimp recognized the truck and excitedly waved. BJ pulled over and the chimp climbed aboard. Initially wary of the new human in the driver’s seat the chimp shied away from BJ at first. However, it didn’t take long for the scared chimp to warm to BJ and the two have been inseparable ever since.
A few months after acquiring his new rig, BJ by chance, happened to be empty and was looking for a good paying load anywhere. He happened to be sitting at the same lunch counter as Mary’s crew when he overheard Mary and her crew talking about how they would manage the overflow on their latest job. BJ offered his services for the cost of keeping his rig running to the delivery site just for the chance to run with the famous team. Mary agreed to the terms over Justin’s objections. Enroute, the convoy was beset upon by a snatch and grab gang. BJ had the opportunity to cut and run to save his own skin, instead he stayed with the convoy and impressed the hell out of Justin, Mary and the rest of the crew. Mary then offered him a permanent position with the crew.
After joining up with Mary’s crew, BJ found another being he couldn’t live without, Hoshi, Mary’s communications guru. She and BJ fell for each other and fell hard. Hoshi is the only other person that Mackie will comfortably be alone with.
BJ is either driving a second tractor trailer or a 10-wheel truck depending on the nature of the job. Unlike the rest of Mary’s crew, BJ’s rig is painted a distinctive red with white stripes. His 10-wheel truck has a similar paint scheme.
Rebecca Wolfe – Advance Scout (Driver +2, Gunner +2, Mechanic, Cyclist, Hand-to-hand +2, Cartography +2, Stealth +2, Acting +2)
Rebecca claims to a be a direct line descendant of the legendary Pocahontas. She will drive about 10 – 12 miles in front of the convoy to suss out traps, unmarked tollbooths, and other potential problems. She is a former autoduelist on the AADA circuit and wanted something that was both more of a challenge and relaxing at the same time.
Her car looks like any run-of-the-mill family vehicle. It is anything but. She can fight her way out of most situations if need be but she’s paid to NOT draw attention. However, her looks make that a difficult assignment. As stated, she can fight her way out just about any situation if need be. Though her stunning looks and hourglass figure have gotten her out many situations. If neither playing it cool, shooting the joint up, nor playing the coquettish damsel-in-distress do not solve the problem, Rebecca knows the Convoy is less than 10 minutes away.
Justin Bialy* – Point Driver: Introduced in Nightsword ADQ Vol 2 #4 (Driver +2, Gunner +2, Hand-to-Hand +3, Cyclist, Runner, Mechanic, Weaponsmith, Trucker)
Drives the Doppelganger II Pickup with Camper-shell, Avatar, or Avatar II depending on the job and general road-worthiness of his vehicles.
Justin is the “Brass Cross” clone of Justin Bialy. He was activated April 14, 2034 when the original Justin never returned from a solo trip. The Nightsword Team unexpectedly rescued the original Justin shortly after the activation and Justin has been with Mary’s crew (more-or-less) ever since.
Justin is not the most social person and prefers to be by himself or with Mary. He runs “colors” on all his vehicles, though you’d have to ask him what the open scroll and bastard sword actually mean. He is also fond of homemade Chicken Noodle Alphabet Soup.
Kevin* Martin Penwald – Escort (Driver +2, Gunner +2, Trucker +2, Mechanic +2, Security +1, Computers +2, Medic +1)
Kevin drives the convoy’s mobile support rig. He can handle any minor repairs or injuries the convoy might encounter, at least well-enough to get them to the next fortified truck stop.
A former trucker himself, Kevin enjoys the relative peace of driving his 10-wheel “mobile support vehicle”. Kevin was involved in a rather nasty incident shortly after the conclusion of the Second Civil War in Alvarez Texas. After busting his friend out of jail, the incident escalated into a near leveling of the town. Kevin and his compatriots were chased to the Texas / Mexico border where a shoot-out completely destroyed Kevin’s rig. Kevin retired from trucking and lived in semi-retirement with his girlfriend Melissa.
Melissa was killed a year later when a biker gang ambushed the couple. Distraught and left for dead by the gang, Kevin was rescued by Mary and her crew. Kevin has been with Mary’s crew ever since. Due to his past experience with that one cycle gang, Kevin doesn’t fully trust the Marauders.
Colin Walker* – Backdoor (Driver +2, Gunner +2, Mechanic, Trucker)
Colin has been with Mary since the beginning. He was the first and only applicant when a newly licensed truck driver was looking for a point driver. Colin may not be the best driver or gunner on the open road, but he is loyal. He has seen crew members come and go, but he has always been there for Mary.
Over the years, Colin has moved from point man to back door. His job is to take care of anyone stupid enough to try and attaqck the convoy from the rear. He also now drives a custom van built by the Professor as a thank you to Mary and the crew.
Collin does not particularly trust Justin as he has walked out on Mary before, cost the crew money with repeated losses of point vehicles and the fact that Colin has harbored a crush on Mary since she uttered the words, “your hired”. As such, there is tension between Justin and Colin.
Paul Edgecomb – Compound Security (Driver +2, Gunner +2, Security +2)
Brutus Howell – Compound Security (Driver +2, Gunner +2, Security +2)
Dean Stanton – Compound Security (Driver +2, Gunner +2, Security +2)
Harry Terwilliger – Compound Security (Driver +2, Gunner +2, Security +2)
The foursome were up and coming on the AADA Free Oil States minor league dueling circuit. However they had a side hustle going in which one pair would hijack RV’s and hi-end civilian cars from rich vacationers and duelist wannabes. The other half of the foursome would “chance” upon the distraught now stranded motorist and offer to help recover the hijacked vehicle for a reward. It was a sweet little racket that allowed them to keep them dueling vehicles in repair, keep Gold Cross paid and current and paid the bills when dueling didn’t.
Well it was a sweet gig until they managed to hijack Chris DeHart, then head of the Oklahoma AADA. DeHart retaliated by banning them from competing and blacklisting them in both the Free Oil States and the USA. Not wanting to go north to the cold, nor south to the Mexican problems, the boys attempted to expand their scam to the independent Big Rigs. Mary was one of their first intended victims. Impressed with their audacity and recognizing them from their cut-short dueling career, Mary offered them more secure jobs as her security detail.
Hoshi, has provided them with scrubbed clean new identities and they can continue to duel when time allows. Because of her generosity, the Boys (as Mary calls them) are loyal to her and her crew to a fault. The Boys don’t particularly care for the Marauders and view them as disposable front line defenses for Mary’s Compound. They actually view the “REAL” citizens of Ballard as extensions of Mary’s “family”.
Hoshi Johns – Comm Officer (BJ’s wife) (Driver, Computers +2, Communications +3, Code Specialist +2, Cryptology +2, Gunner)
Hoshi is completely mum about her past. She’s dropped hints that she’s worked for an acronym agency in the past. She’s hacked just about every secure site on the internet. She’s defeated the bio-tech security employed by secure couriers. She speaks at least four languages and can defeat any vehicle security in under 3 minutes. Her best friend in Ballard is Roy Hefflo and locals swear they talk to each other in computer code.
Mary found her at an automated toll booth. Justin was about to open fire on the site to make it easier Mary to blast through when he saw Hoshi pulled up next to one of the booths and coins and bills spewing forth. Justin radioed Mary to slow down, surprised Mary did. The crew watched as Hoshi completely emptied out the entire facility. Mary approached the young woman and offered her a place in her crew.
How good is Hoshi? If Mary were Batman, Hoshi would be a combination of the Batcomputer and Oracle all rolled into one package. It was always assumed that Hoshi only had eyes and ears for technology. That is until Mary rolled back into town with BJ following Kevin’s Mobile Support. Justin swears he saw an electric spark between the two. Collin tells the story that time stood still while a choir of angels sang until Mackie jumped out of the cab, into Hoshi’s arms and waited for BJ to walk over. BJ and Hoshi don’t like being apart when the crew is on the road. Mary swears that Hoshi has modified BJ’s comm system that allows them to stay close when apart.
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*PLEASE NOTE* This supplemental information was written for Car Wars 1st – 4th Edition rules and game play. It is compatible with Car Wars 6th Edition by adding 35 years to the future history.
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