Author Topic: Campaign help requested  (Read 3278 times)

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gtroc

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Campaign help requested
« on: March 12, 2009, 04:56:22 AM »
I saw a lady on T.V. She was born without arms. Literally, she was born with her hands attached to her shoulders... and that was sad, but then they said, "Lola does not know the meaning of the word 'can't.'" And that to me was kinda worse... in a way... ya know? Not only does she not have arms, but she doesn't understand simple contractions. It's very simple Lola, you just take two words, you put them together, then you take out the middle letters, you put a comma in there and you raise it up!
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RobbyPants

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Re: Campaign help requested
« Reply #1 on: March 12, 2009, 10:35:28 AM »
This could be intersting.  Generally speaking, I think the story is more or less solid.  What year is this going to take place?  Is it still during WWII?  What effects does the bomb have on Germany?  Does it cripple their military strength and/or organization?  I'm assuming logistically speaking that historically, Germany had stuff spread out enough that a blow like that would have hurt, but not destroyed them.  You said Germany was working on their own program.  Do they retaliate?

I'm not sure how much you care about being historically accurate, but my understanding of why we didn't bomb Germany was because we'd already claimed victory in Europe before finishing development on the bomb.  So, did we finish development earlier, or did the Germans hold out longer?  Either answer could be acceptable, so long as you figure out which direction you want to go.  I'd lean toward the latter if the Germans had super soliders.

Now, when you talk about the A-bomb creating supers, are you refering to people with actual powers as opposed to normal people acting as vigilantes?  Out of curiousity, what system are you using for this?  Also, supers could be a result of experiments on the whole super solider project.  Maybe some super soilders defected and became heroes.  Maybe someone broke into German facilities and stole the top secret formula for whatever reason.

In terms of Germany invading (IIRC), Poland was their first "invasion", although they "annexed" Austria first with little or no resistance.  Also, as for spelling, I think it's ubermensch.

Let me know how this fleshes out.  It looks pretty cool.
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gtroc

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Re: Campaign help requested
« Reply #2 on: March 12, 2009, 04:18:23 PM »
This could be intersting.  Generally speaking, I think the story is more or less solid.  What year is this going to take place? Is it still during WWII?
I was planning on one of two things. either it is set in the here and now, but the world is drastically different due to the changes in the past, or(and I lean more toward this one) I would run a generational game. the players would play masked heroes in the thirties, fight nazis in the forties, face the McCarthy hearings in the fifties(was it the fifties? I forget), the Korean war, Vietnam, JFK assassination, you know take a walk through history with the players. however they would play a new group of heroes every decade or so, the next generation. they would get to live through all the major historic points of the last century, and being heroes they could change it. that is what I am leaning toward at the moment.
What effects does the bomb have on Germany?  Does it cripple their military strength and/or organization?  I'm assuming logistically speaking that historically, Germany had stuff spread out enough that a blow like that would have hurt, but not destroyed them.  You said Germany was working on their own program.  Do they retaliate?
well now, this is the kind of questions I would need some help with. now during the war, they had supermen. they were the only nation to have super men. that extended the war out and allowed them to hold ground longer than in the real war. I am thinking the A-Bomb would be dropped on Berlin, but somewhere else would do. the key concept of the atomic drop is that the Nazi scientists were working on nuclear research(or something) as well. the bomb dropped on the research facility, they interacted in some way. the bomb did far more damage than normal. I am thinking a sixty mile radius blast zone, but oddly with zero fallout. as for retaliation...do you think they could?
Now, when you talk about the A-bomb creating supers, are you refering to people with actual powers as opposed to normal people acting as vigilantes?  Out of curiousity, what system are you using for this?  Also, supers could be a result of experiments on the whole super solider project.  Maybe some super soilders defected and became heroes.  Maybe someone broke into German facilities and stole the top secret formula for whatever reason.
yes by supers I mean people with beyond human abilities, as there had been masked vigilantes for years at this point. the Nazis were continuing the research into super soldiers, so it could be caused by that. I think it would be interesting if the Ubermensch who were fighting the war were in fact failed experiments. they got superpower yeah, but they were not the aryan ideal, so they had to wear masks to cover the deformities the treatments had given them. thats just a randome thought though. I kind of like the idea that the A-bomb caused the Supers to appear, as that fits with the super hero theme pretty well. comics love there radiation.

as an aside, I will be running this game with Wild Talents Essential Edition.  thank you for your reply, I am looking forward to furthur discourse on the subject.
I saw a lady on T.V. She was born without arms. Literally, she was born with her hands attached to her shoulders... and that was sad, but then they said, "Lola does not know the meaning of the word 'can't.'" And that to me was kinda worse... in a way... ya know? Not only does she not have arms, but she doesn't understand simple contractions. It's very simple Lola, you just take two words, you put them together, then you take out the middle letters, you put a comma in there and you raise it up!
-Mitch Hedberg

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Agita

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gtroc

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Re: Campaign help requested
« Reply #4 on: March 12, 2009, 04:42:11 PM »
thank you very much, so Poland was the first bit of "real" warfare then. where the Ubermensch would be seen by others...that works well. thank you again.
I saw a lady on T.V. She was born without arms. Literally, she was born with her hands attached to her shoulders... and that was sad, but then they said, "Lola does not know the meaning of the word 'can't.'" And that to me was kinda worse... in a way... ya know? Not only does she not have arms, but she doesn't understand simple contractions. It's very simple Lola, you just take two words, you put them together, then you take out the middle letters, you put a comma in there and you raise it up!
-Mitch Hedberg

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RobbyPants

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Re: Campaign help requested
« Reply #5 on: March 12, 2009, 05:33:13 PM »
I didn't even think about the umlaut.  I guess the common conversion would be "ue", so uebermensche, but that just looks wierd to me. ;)
My balancing 3.5 compendium
Elemental mage test game

Quotes
[spoiler]
Quote from: Cafiend
It is a shame stupidity isn't painful.
Quote from: StormKnight
Totally true.  Historians believe that most past civilizations would have endured for centuries longer if they had successfully determined Batman's alignment.
Quote from: Grand Theft Otto
Why are so many posts on the board the equivalent of " Dear Dr. Crotch, I keep punching myself in the crotch, and my groin hurts... what should I do? How can I make my groin stop hurting?"
Quote from: CryoSilver
I suggest carving "Don't be a dick" into him with a knife.  A dull, rusty knife.  A dull, rusty, bent, flaming knife.
Quote from: Seerow
Fluffy: It's over Steve! I've got the high ground!
Steve: You underestimate my power!
Fluffy: Don't try it, Steve!
Steve: *charges*
Fluffy: *three critical strikes*
Steve: ****
Quote from: claypigeons
I don't even stat out commoners. Commoner = corpse that just isn't a zombie. Yet.
Quote from: CryoSilver
When I think "Old Testament Boots of Peace" I think of a paladin curb-stomping an orc and screaming "Your death brings peace to this land!"
Quote from: Orville_Oaksong
Buy a small country. Or Pelor. Both are good investments.
[/spoiler]

gtroc

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Re: Campaign help requested
« Reply #6 on: March 13, 2009, 10:07:30 PM »
I have had a few more thoughts on the setting. more questions than answers really, but I really like where this seems to be going.

so lets look back at the start of it all. what kinds of devices would the criminals use to thwart the cops. I was thinking, initially, that they would have "super cars" and body armor, things like that. how would criminal driven technology advance. also what kind of changes would that cause among the poor. now that the big criminal outfits are looking for engineers and scientists. now there is more than one way out of the poverty for young people. Emigrants would be affected(effected? I hate homonyms) by this as well. would they embrace it as part of America?

I really want Africa to become dark and mysterious. I think it would be interesting if the Congo became infested with supers...or became a super, or something. but I am really not sure how I would see this happen.also I would like it if supers were rare, like super rare. less than a thousand by the end of the millennium rare. so how much of a difference would they make? lets say the were on par with the Fantastic Four in power.

thank you again for your responses so far!
I saw a lady on T.V. She was born without arms. Literally, she was born with her hands attached to her shoulders... and that was sad, but then they said, "Lola does not know the meaning of the word 'can't.'" And that to me was kinda worse... in a way... ya know? Not only does she not have arms, but she doesn't understand simple contractions. It's very simple Lola, you just take two words, you put them together, then you take out the middle letters, you put a comma in there and you raise it up!
-Mitch Hedberg

Games
running: Power and Consequences
Planning: An Imperfect World

Agita

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Re: Campaign help requested
« Reply #7 on: March 13, 2009, 10:24:14 PM »
I have had a few more thoughts on the setting. more questions than answers really, but I really like where this seems to be going.

so lets look back at the start of it all. what kinds of devices would the criminals use to thwart the cops. I was thinking, initially, that they would have "super cars" and body armor, things like that. how would criminal driven technology advance. also what kind of changes would that cause among the poor. now that the big criminal outfits are looking for engineers and scientists. now there is more than one way out of the poverty for young people. Emigrants would be affected(effected? I hate homonyms) by this as well. would they embrace it as part of America?
Affected is correct. To effect basically means to cause.
That said, if I was a criminal, I'd rather be invisible than have full body armor. Super cars as in faster than normal cars sounds good, but they'd need pretty skilled drivers in order to avoid crashing in the middle of the city. Perhaps the ability to swiftly navigate cramped streets would be preferable to pure speed. Some kind of super strong magnet might be cool, for disarming the police from the distance (and, as a side effect, stealing every piece of metallic jewelery in reach - note that gold isn't attracted by magnets, though).
As for the poor, they would definitely be drawn towards crime if they notice robbing banks has become easy as piss, which would lead to a drastic increase in crime (especially if this starts in the 1930s, right after the Great Depression, when there were shitloads of jobless people hanging around). However, Mr. Joe Everyman can't just clap his hands and go to town with his shiny new death ray. He'd have to join one of the criminal organizations that actualy have the funds for that kind of research, so crime would eventually pretty much consist of two or three syndicates that split the "market" between them - or wage street war on one another.
Quote
I really want Africa to become dark and mysterious. I think it would be interesting if the Congo became infested with supers...or became a super, or something. but I am really not sure how I would see this happen.also I would like it if supers were rare, like super rare. less than a thousand by the end of the millennium rare. so how much of a difference would they make? lets say the were on par with the Fantastic Four in power.
The congo becoming a super? Like, the whole jungle/country (I never know which it is... is it a jungle or a country? Both?) getting up and kicking ass?
« Last Edit: March 14, 2009, 12:05:23 AM by Agita »
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Bell

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Re: Campaign help requested
« Reply #8 on: March 14, 2009, 12:03:18 AM »
As the self-appointed (as of right now) superhero/comic book guy of these boards, I would love to give advice on that aspect. Question: What sort of power level are we talking for these heroes. Were the the Ubermenschen (plural of ubermensch) more like Captain America level, or Superman level? My advice would be to keep them around the level of Cap.

My thought would be that as you create new characters, they should get more powerful. 20s/30s heroes would be like Batman and Daredevil. No real powers, just regular people who dress up. Then you hit WWII, and get Captain America level powers. Better than normal humans, but their skills are still what they really rely on. The next power level should be about the level of the X-Men, I would say. Once you hit the eighties or nineties, Boost it up again. Go for broke. Superman, Green Lantern, Dr. Manhattan. The sky's the limit. Maybe wait a little longer before boosting it that high, then you can do things like prevent 9/11, or something.  If you want some good inspiration, there's tons of great comics out there.  Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns and Batman: Year One. Watchmen you are familiar with, but I couldn't tell from your post whether you've actually read it, or just seen the movie. If you haven't, you should, and if you have, you know why it must be read. X-Men comics are always good, particularly for showing how groups can operate in that sort of setting. I'm more of a DC guy, so I can't recommend specific stories to read, but I've always liked the X-Men. If you can get a hold of some Hellboy, that would be ideal.  The setting of Hellboy is very similar to what you've described.

Also, there's the General Pulp/DieselPunk/Occult/Nazi thread, which has tons of good inspiration in it, particularly for the WWII era.

gtroc

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Re: Campaign help requested
« Reply #9 on: March 14, 2009, 02:14:38 AM »
Affected is correct. To effect basically means to cause.
Thank you
That said, if I was a criminal, I'd rather be invisible than have full body armor. Super cars as in faster than normal cars sounds good, but they'd need pretty skilled drivers in order to avoid crashing in the middle of the city. Perhaps the ability to swiftly navigate cramped streets would be preferable to pure speed. Some kind of super strong magnet might be cool, for disarming the police from the distance (and, as a side effect, stealing every piece of metallic jewelery in reach - note that gold isn't attracted by magnets, though).
Invisibility is a bit outside the range of plausible technology of the thirties. no the navigation issue is interesting...I will work that out a bit. I was looking at the actual bank robbers of the thirties(or was it twenties?). Bonnie and Clyde, baby face nelson, pretty boy Floyd, mostly because they were flashy and used the highest technology available to avoid the police. the magnet is possible...I think. does anyone know if electromagnets were that advanced in the thirties? or even close to the thirties. I was thinking of adding advancements made in the next twenty years(forties and fifties) and using those for criminals in the thirties in unique and comic-bookie kind of ways.
As for the poor, they would definitely be drawn towards crime if they notice robbing banks has become easy as piss, which would lead to a drastic increase in crime (especially if this starts in the 1930s, right after the Great Depression, when there were shitloads of jobless people hanging around). However, Mr. Joe Everyman can't just clap his hands and go to town with his shiny new death ray. He'd have to join one of the criminal organizations that actualy have the funds for that kind of research, so crime would eventually pretty much consist of two or three syndicates that split the "market" between them - or wage street war on one another.
I was thinking more along the lines of children in the lower classes taking up engineering and science so they could work for the mob. basement labs and that sort of thing. there already was a large contingent of the lower classes working for the mob in that time period, so I was wondering how that would change with the increese in interest in the fields of engineering and science, as well as strong arming, racketeering, and gambling.

The congo becoming a super? Like, the whole jungle/country (I never know which it is... is it a jungle or a country? Both?) getting up and kicking ass?

yeah that was the basic idea, not that the jungle would get up and move or anything, but that it would achieve a level of intelligence or something. it was just a thought.

As the self-appointed (as of right now) superhero/comic book guy of these boards, I would love to give advice on that aspect. Question: What sort of power level are we talking for these heroes. Were the the Ubermenschen (plural of ubermensch) more like Captain America level, or Superman level? My advice would be to keep them around the level of Cap.
initially the ubermenschen would be very limited in power. they are basically(at least this is where I am leaning so far) the rejects from the program. they are deformed and there powers are singular(they only have one power). prior to the Nazi Ubermensch program there were no supers at all. after the bomb drop you would get fanatastic four level supers, with maybe one percent of those more powerful(the Doctor Manhattans, the Supermans, the Dr. Stranges).


...then you can do things like prevent 9/11, or something.
that's not a bad idea...kinda like Ex Machina. I don't think that the supers should fully prevent it, but maybe they could stop it getting worse...hmmm...thats an interesting adventure idea. they have to decide wether to take out a plane full of civilians to save a tower...I am not sure that would go over well...would that be in bad taste? any way back to the point, good thought I like it.
  If you want some good inspiration, there's tons of great comics out there.  Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns and Batman: Year One. Watchmen you are familiar with, but I couldn't tell from your post whether you've actually read it, or just seen the movie. If you haven't, you should, and if you have, you know why it must be read. X-Men comics are always good, particularly for showing how groups can operate in that sort of setting. I'm more of a DC guy, so I can't recommend specific stories to read, but I've always liked the X-Men. If you can get a hold of some Hellboy, that would be ideal.  The setting of Hellboy is very similar to what you've described.

thank you for the recommendations, I have read all of those, and I will be reading them again in the future to "bone up" as it were. I would also recommend Ed Invincible, BPRD(after Hellboy left, way awesome), Ex Machina(the first trade, after that it gets a little wonky), and my personal favorite Star Man(the newest run, good lord! read this if you read nothing else read this!). I appreciate the thoughts on the matter and look forward to future input.

I saw a lady on T.V. She was born without arms. Literally, she was born with her hands attached to her shoulders... and that was sad, but then they said, "Lola does not know the meaning of the word 'can't.'" And that to me was kinda worse... in a way... ya know? Not only does she not have arms, but she doesn't understand simple contractions. It's very simple Lola, you just take two words, you put them together, then you take out the middle letters, you put a comma in there and you raise it up!
-Mitch Hedberg

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running: Power and Consequences
Planning: An Imperfect World

veekie

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Re: Campaign help requested
« Reply #10 on: March 14, 2009, 10:42:36 AM »
And I finally notice this. :D

Affected is correct. To effect basically means to cause.
Thank you
That said, if I was a criminal, I'd rather be invisible than have full body armor. Super cars as in faster than normal cars sounds good, but they'd need pretty skilled drivers in order to avoid crashing in the middle of the city. Perhaps the ability to swiftly navigate cramped streets would be preferable to pure speed. Some kind of super strong magnet might be cool, for disarming the police from the distance (and, as a side effect, stealing every piece of metallic jewelery in reach - note that gold isn't attracted by magnets, though).
Invisibility is a bit outside the range of plausible technology of the thirties. no the navigation issue is interesting...I will work that out a bit. I was looking at the actual bank robbers of the thirties(or was it twenties?). Bonnie and Clyde, baby face nelson, pretty boy Floyd, mostly because they were flashy and used the highest technology available to avoid the police. the magnet is possible...I think. does anyone know if electromagnets were that advanced in the thirties? or even close to the thirties. I was thinking of adding advancements made in the next twenty years(forties and fifties) and using those for criminals in the thirties in unique and comic-bookie kind of ways.

While invisibility is out of the range, super disguise could work. Or you could use smokescreens, in combination with perfect memory, mutant sonar or crude infravision. Other criminal classics are knockout gas, drilling engines(get to the vault straight with a burrower), grapple shooters(see Batman essentials), glue/net guns, hallucinogen gas. Gadget cars can be helpful as well, cars that can flat out outmaneuver police vehicles, eject oil slicks and caltrops, or turbocharge. Guns can be made with trick ammo, like specially made glass rifle rounds filled with sleep gas, exploding ammo.
Electromagnets were around long before then as well, wikipedia puts the discovery in the 1820s.

Quote
As for the poor, they would definitely be drawn towards crime if they notice robbing banks has become easy as piss, which would lead to a drastic increase in crime (especially if this starts in the 1930s, right after the Great Depression, when there were shitloads of jobless people hanging around). However, Mr. Joe Everyman can't just clap his hands and go to town with his shiny new death ray. He'd have to join one of the criminal organizations that actualy have the funds for that kind of research, so crime would eventually pretty much consist of two or three syndicates that split the "market" between them - or wage street war on one another.
I was thinking more along the lines of children in the lower classes taking up engineering and science so they could work for the mob. basement labs and that sort of thing. there already was a large contingent of the lower classes working for the mob in that time period, so I was wondering how that would change with the increese in interest in the fields of engineering and science, as well as strong arming, racketeering, and gambling.
Add to this, the underground syndicates can afford research better than the legitimate people can, with the rise in crime, the brilliant poor, who can see they'd either be robbed of their discoveries anyway, or work for the crimelords. Especially if it weren't for their brainwork, their family would have to slog like everyone else. The same thing keeps the geniuses from selling out, their family are vulnerable to the various mobs, and while they might be too rare to risk in a firefight, the family members of the various supergeniuses would be valuable pawns in power plays. One genius can be beholden to multiple organisations, and obligated to provide a regular tithe of toys to each. Thats of course, excepting a few who use their inventions to gain power in the mob, ending in high places, these are likely those with few ties to manipulate, or simply evil enough not to care, their opposite number don capes and masks to try to make a dent in crime.
Quote
The congo becoming a super? Like, the whole jungle/country (I never know which it is... is it a jungle or a country? Both?) getting up and kicking ass?

yeah that was the basic idea, not that the jungle would get up and move or anything, but that it would achieve a level of intelligence or something. it was just a thought.

A hivemind? That has potential, with the various animals serving as appendages of the gestalt entity. Just keep it's desires simple, and it seeks to expand it's territory, and defend itself. Explosive growth takes energy though, and the Congo must obtain the supplies from outside, with absorbed poachers and other people who were inside when it awakened serving as it's eyes and hands in the outside world. Somewhere inside though, is the heart and source of it's power, some device or another.

Quote
...then you can do things like prevent 9/11, or something.
that's not a bad idea...kinda like Ex Machina. I don't think that the supers should fully prevent it, but maybe they could stop it getting worse...hmmm...thats an interesting adventure idea. they have to decide wether to take out a plane full of civilians to save a tower...I am not sure that would go over well...would that be in bad taste? any way back to the point, good thought I like it.
  If you want some good inspiration, there's tons of great comics out there.  Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns and Batman: Year One. Watchmen you are familiar with, but I couldn't tell from your post whether you've actually read it, or just seen the movie. If you haven't, you should, and if you have, you know why it must be read. X-Men comics are always good, particularly for showing how groups can operate in that sort of setting. I'm more of a DC guy, so I can't recommend specific stories to read, but I've always liked the X-Men. If you can get a hold of some Hellboy, that would be ideal.  The setting of Hellboy is very similar to what you've described.

thank you for the recommendations, I have read all of those, and I will be reading them again in the future to "bone up" as it were. I would also recommend Ed Invincible, BPRD(after Hellboy left, way awesome), Ex Machina(the first trade, after that it gets a little wonky), and my personal favorite Star Man(the newest run, good lord! read this if you read nothing else read this!). I appreciate the thoughts on the matter and look forward to future input.

Added suggestion on this aspect, instead of preventing 9/11 and other disasters(natural or otherwise) outright, have it be a literal war between superpowered good guys and bad. A few slip past in their covert duels, and sometimes the defense fails, but that is the plight of heroes, ever to react, and ever outnumbered. Instead of just a plane crashing into the WTC for example, have an aerial battle between two supers happening in the background, first intended to distract the Good super and then to prevent him from stopping the impact, on the plane, mind controlled civilians, possibly augmented by a minor metahuman of their own(incredible resilience makes a good power for the metahuman crew on the planes, or the ability to transform into something else), and the objective is a top secret device hidden in the complex, with top of the line security(which isn't proof against a freaking jet impact anyway).

Tsunamis, volcanoes, quakes, hurricanes, all can be tied to metahuman struggles easily, though at least some should be kept natural.
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Re: Campaign help requested
« Reply #11 on: March 15, 2009, 04:08:06 AM »

gtroc

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Re: Campaign help requested
« Reply #12 on: March 16, 2009, 09:16:59 PM »
While invisibility is out of the range, super disguise could work. Or you could use smokescreens, in combination with perfect memory, mutant sonar or crude infravision. Other criminal classics are knockout gas, drilling engines(get to the vault straight with a burrower), grapple shooters(see Batman essentials), glue/net guns, hallucinogen gas. Gadget cars can be helpful as well, cars that can flat out outmaneuver police vehicles, eject oil slicks and caltrops, or turbocharge. Guns can be made with trick ammo, like specially made glass rifle rounds filled with sleep gas, exploding ammo.
Electromagnets were around long before then as well, wikipedia puts the discovery in the 1820s.
super disguise...I am not sure as to how this would work, as part of the premise is that the criminals start wearing disguises(I.E. costumes) and taking on alternate personas. it's a thought though. burrowing engine...now that has some possibilties. does anyone know when the first boring machines were invented? I know that we use them now, and I think they used them on the chunnle, so if it was not too far beyond the thirties, then definitly. exploding ammo is also a pretty neat idea, though I saw an episode of Mythbusters that makes me think glass bullets wouldn't work. still neat trick. mutant sonar and such like owuld not be available until after world war two. as there are no powers until the Nazis invent them. at least that is where the current paradigm is leaning.
Add to this, the underground syndicates can afford research better than the legitimate people can, with the rise in crime, the brilliant poor, who can see they'd either be robbed of their discoveries anyway, or work for the crimelords. Especially if it weren't for their brainwork, their family would have to slog like everyone else. The same thing keeps the geniuses from selling out, their family are vulnerable to the various mobs, and while they might be too rare to risk in a firefight, the family members of the various supergeniuses would be valuable pawns in power plays. One genius can be beholden to multiple organisations, and obligated to provide a regular tithe of toys to each. Thats of course, excepting a few who use their inventions to gain power in the mob, ending in high places, these are likely those with few ties to manipulate, or simply evil enough not to care, their opposite number don capes and masks to try to make a dent in crime.
not a bad concept, similar to where I was thinking as well. of course how would this change the nature of organized crime?
A hivemind? That has potential, with the various animals serving as appendages of the gestalt entity. Just keep it's desires simple, and it seeks to expand it's territory, and defend itself. Explosive growth takes energy though, and the Congo must obtain the supplies from outside, with absorbed poachers and other people who were inside when it awakened serving as it's eyes and hands in the outside world. Somewhere inside though, is the heart and source of it's power, some device or another.
I was thinking less a hive mind and more an awakening of the jungle as a sort of uncaring dark god. the animals are all fine, and people can live there,  they just have to pay tribute to the jungle. it protects them, and they serve it. though there will definitly be aspects of a hive mind there, I am currently leaning toward something more alien, darker, and more intelligent. something with a strange unfathomable purpose.
Added suggestion on this aspect, instead of preventing 9/11 and other disasters(natural or otherwise) outright, have it be a literal war between superpowered good guys and bad. A few slip past in their covert duels, and sometimes the defense fails, but that is the plight of heroes, ever to react, and ever outnumbered. Instead of just a plane crashing into the WTC for example, have an aerial battle between two supers happening in the background, first intended to distract the Good super and then to prevent him from stopping the impact, on the plane, mind controlled civilians, possibly augmented by a minor metahuman of their own(incredible resilience makes a good power for the metahuman crew on the planes, or the ability to transform into something else), and the objective is a top secret device hidden in the complex, with top of the line security(which isn't proof against a freaking jet impact anyway).

Tsunamis, volcanoes, quakes, hurricanes, all can be tied to metahuman struggles easily, though at least some should be kept natural.
that's an interesting take on the matter, requires more thought. also it is well outside of my thoughts at this moment. right now I am focusing on the first costumed villains. I have made some decisions on the matter though. the first was a mail truck robbery 1921. The criminal was named George "Dutch" Anderson(though in my world no one knows his name). he wore a costume and disguised himself and his men in gaudy costumes. they got away with $2.4 million in cash, bonds, and jewelry. this was noted in the news, but soon forgotten. later a young man named John Dillinger decided this was a great scam, and he became the "first" costumed villain. he committed many bank robberies and funneled a good portion of the money back into his enterprise, buying or building better cars, guns, and other equipment. the press loves the angle and soon others start following Dillinger's lead. I still haven't thought of a good name yet for him, or for the true first villain.
I have thought along those lines as well. we have already established(loosely) that WW II ended differently with the dropping of the atomic bomb on Berlin, and the Nazi Ubermenschen.

I would like to see major changes, however I also want a fair amount of realism. mainly, at this point, I am working on this campaign as an excersise. I may run it one day, but right now it's just the fun of seeing where an idea takes me.

as to the Batman statement, how would Batman change the world? I am curious as I tried to think of a way he could and still be Batman, and I could not.
could you give a reason for these incidents please? it seems plausible, I just can't see why the middle east would be friendly to us, unless the cold war didn't happen...but then why wouldn't it. also if there was no cold war then there would be no Vietnam for America. the french would still own it ad the rebels in the hills would be a damnable nuisance. so that's an idea. but why wouldn't the Russians be a threat after the war? I guess they could have been thoroughly demolished by the German war machine and it takes them a decade or so to catch back up to where they need to be. hippies are easier to deal with I agree...
this is an awesome idea, but it is a bit outside the existing structure, as Germany has the big super-weapon(until the A-bomb that is). so that there would be no alliance to stop Russia. now if the Ubermenschen manage to damage Russia enough, we could end up in a very different post war situation. also there will be no West/East Berlin problem, as Berlin is gone.
Edit: It's all a question of whether you want to have an alt. reality game or a Alt. explanation for reality game  ;)

explain please, I have no idea what the difference is, or indeed what the terms mean in context.

thank you very much for your responses, they are very much helping me flesh out the concept better. look forward to continued discussion on the subject in the future.
I saw a lady on T.V. She was born without arms. Literally, she was born with her hands attached to her shoulders... and that was sad, but then they said, "Lola does not know the meaning of the word 'can't.'" And that to me was kinda worse... in a way... ya know? Not only does she not have arms, but she doesn't understand simple contractions. It's very simple Lola, you just take two words, you put them together, then you take out the middle letters, you put a comma in there and you raise it up!
-Mitch Hedberg

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Bryan_0697

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Re: Campaign help requested
« Reply #13 on: March 21, 2009, 08:53:34 AM »