In RESEARCH and DESTROY you play as a trio of Super Scientists named Larry, Gary and Marie. You’re free to rename them, but for now let’s go with these.

Larry, Gary and Marie were born in an underground bunker–the same one humanity fled to generations ago during the Supernatural apocalypse. Having learnt everything they could from their old science books, the trio emerge from their bunker and discover the RADvan–an experimental, possibly-sentient, slightly-deranged talking van who’ll be instrumental in the fight against the Supernaturals. Now, they’re hungry for knowledge with a craving for some intense field work.

The Supernaturals had better look out!

Our Super Scientists are regular homo sapiens in terms of their physicality. Larry and Marie both are roughly the same height, quick on their feet, wear stylish lab coats and glasses and are equally useful either out on the battlefield or in the lab.

Gary is the short hazmat scientist with some obvious differences Their stumpy legs means they run quite a bit slower, but they have more health to compensate. The hazmat suit provides several unique benefits, such as resistance to fire and the ability to walk through puddles of bubbling zombie blood without taking damage.  It doesn’t provide protection from Mummy curses (which appear as purple clouds), but Gary is tough enough to act within them without being staggered (unlike Marie and Larry).

Unlike the taller scientists, Gary can’t holster their wrist-mounted weapon to run faster. On the flipside, Larry and Marie are encumbered by heavy weapons, while Gary can waddle gracefully regardless of the load. Weapons like the Plasma Thrower–which allows the wielder to fly on a jet of flame–and mobility-boosting gadgets like Rocket Boots can help counter the disadvantages of those wee little legs.

The RADvan is also a bit of a character. The decades spent in solitude outside the bunker have made the RADvan… eccentric. You might say it’s been left alone with its own thoughts for slightly too long. Now that the Scientists have emerged from the bunker, the time for thinking is over–it’s time to put those thoughts into ACTION!

The RADvan is absolutely rubbish at holding any kind of scientific apparatus so it fell into the role of team leader, barking orders and occasionally making polite requests to the Scientists to get things done. The RADvan usually has a good handle on mission requirements as it doles out completely vital nonsense, usually with its own self-interest at heart.

Those criticisms aside, it’s questionable whether missions could succeed without the RADvan’s input. It has several built-in detectors which help reduce the frequency of ambushes. It’s roomier than it looks and easily sleeps two. It’s almost always fashionably late if you consider that a positive trait (most Scientists don’t).

However, the reality is that in terms of actual, hands-on assistance, the RADvan is almost entirely useless. It has no lasers, no supernatural vacuum cleaner on its bumper, no flames emitting from its roof-mounted exhaust. It prefers that any violence meted out is performed on its behalf by subordinates (our loyal Scientists). After all, it’s hard to wash the (Supernatural) blood off your hands when you have no hands. But if it did have hands the RADvan would probably draw creepy pictures all day of Supernaturals getting stabbed–its hatred of them is quite pathological.

The RADvan tries to maintain a healthy work-life balance (at least for itself) and is always on the lookout for like-minded individuals. Possibly for romance.

Larry

Likes: Osteology.

Dislikes: Misuse of interrobangs.

Notable scientific paper: Laserizer Teeth Whitening techniques for Zombies.

Favourite ice cream: Pistachio.

 

Gary

Likes: Ghost Cacti.

Dislikes: Being mistaken for Larry or Marie.

Notable scientific paper: Effective methods for suppressing body odors inside protective clothing.

Favourite ice cream: Lemon sherbet.

 

Marie

Likes: Metals.

Dislikes: Miscalculating a long jump.

Notable scientific paper: A Study of Dogs and Cats living together in the aftermath of the Supernatural Apocalypse.

Favourite ice cream: Mint chocolate chip.

 

RADvan

Likes: Attention.

Dislikes: Supernaturals.

Notable scientific paper: Electromagnetism as a Source of All My Power.

Favourite ice cream: What‽ Hokey Pokey of course, stupid question.