Chris Goodwin Posted September 30, 2017 Report Share Posted September 30, 2017 The Government (in the larger sense) is comepletely unprepared. One small department is oddly well prepared (also part of background plot). You and I seem to be drinking from the same well, I think. That sounds much like a certain department in mine as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Desmarais Posted October 2, 2017 Author Report Share Posted October 2, 2017 The last campaign I ran, I had the PCs build non-powered characters and play them a few sessions before getting powers. That way they had a sense of who they were and what they did other than have superpowers. And I had the only people with superpowers be villains, criminals, and thugs. It depends a lot on the tone you want for your campaign. If you want a gritty, realistic sort, then Era Scarecrow has a pretty good framework. If you want a more romantic, four color approach, then having the heroes able to help out extraordinarily in crises (like Superman saving an airplane) to great public acclaim, acceptance, and respect is the way to go. I'll be having the players build their characters in a similar fashion. Although I don't think I'll actually run anything with the PCs pre-powered, I like the idea of the player developing their characters as fleshed out people first, and then adding powers on after. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amorkca Posted October 2, 2017 Report Share Posted October 2, 2017 My current champions game started off with them as science geeks, and we ran a few sessions that turned into a year of play time before they got powers, but they enjoyed that aspectof getting to know who they were!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jmonty Posted October 4, 2017 Report Share Posted October 4, 2017 (edited) I have played something like this. My take was: A comet pass near the Earth in 2006, and after that some people (maybe 1 in 100.000) gains powers. The source is in spores of the comet. People affected by that are called "specials" (like in Rising Stars comic), PCs are built with 200 points and can only have one power or a set of very related powers (my players choose Invulnerability, Magnetism, Duplication, and Invisibility+Light powers). Players were working for a Private Military Contractor, and another PMC had a rival group (8th Division) based on the DV8 comics. The fist mission was in Iraq, and clashed with this DV8. There was a powered televangelist who rallied against the specials while being one of them, but he thought his powers were God given and powers of the other specials were something of the Devil. And more, his power was a very high VPP and he can Transform normals in specials. I wanted him to be one of the two main enemies, but as the campaign progressed I focused in the other menace: The comet passed before, and a veteran of the Punic Wars is still alive and knew the comet were about to come again, and had a vast conspiracy waiting to help any special with law problems and criminal leanings. And they were targeting people with Teleportation: Join them or die. The comet idea gave me a world like ours, with no history of powered beings (supposedly), and it turned an Out of Context Problem: There was no technology to counter this powers. There were a Supermax Prison in a ship, in international waters. Some of the prisoners were heavily sedated, and the guards carried guns with ammunition of uranium coated with cyanide. But... When the prisoners broke out the guards evacuated without fight. Edited October 4, 2017 by Jmonty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Desmarais Posted October 5, 2017 Author Report Share Posted October 5, 2017 There were a Supermax Prison in a ship, in international waters. Some of the prisoners were heavily sedated, and the guards carried guns with ammunition of uranium coated with cyanide. But... When the prisoners broke out the guards evacuated without fight. This idea - or something similar - may get stolen (perhaps not in international waters though). I had't really given much thought to how to incarcerate super-powered criminals in a world without super-tech - but given that the PCs will be part of a government task force working directly with the London Metropolitan Police Force, Im sure the question will come up at some point, and this sounds like a great place for "bad things to happen later". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Goodwin Posted October 5, 2017 Report Share Posted October 5, 2017 This idea - or something similar - may get stolen (perhaps not in international waters though). I had't really given much thought to how to incarcerate super-powered criminals in a world without super-tech - but given that the PCs will be part of a government task force working directly with the London Metropolitan Police Force, Im sure the question will come up at some point, and this sounds like a great place for "bad things to happen later". My "oddly prepared government agency" has for years been running an underground prison/concentration camp/experimental laboratory for supers. Much longer than supers have "officially" existed for. I hadn't thought about the details in depth, but I was assuming they were keeping troublesome ones in a medically induced coma, and/or using others to maintain force fields and such. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Desmarais Posted October 5, 2017 Author Report Share Posted October 5, 2017 My "oddly prepared government agency" has for years been running an underground prison/concentration camp/experimental laboratory for supers. Much longer than supers have "officially" existed for. I hadn't thought about the details in depth, but I was assuming they were keeping troublesome ones in a medically induced coma, and/or using others to maintain force fields and such. That's kind of creepy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrinku Posted October 6, 2017 Report Share Posted October 6, 2017 I think it's meant to be. Well played, sir! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteelCold Posted October 6, 2017 Report Share Posted October 6, 2017 The first thing any semi competent government agency should do in finding and recruiting people with is get at least one person who can nullify other's powers like The Haitian from Heroes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jmonty Posted October 6, 2017 Report Share Posted October 6, 2017 The thing about a ship in international waters is they can do anything above the law inside this ship. (I'm sure this happens in real world) In my game the ship was operated by the same PMC the PCs were working for, (a theme in my campaign was the privatization of military) and some of the cell were designed to contain specific special effects, but the prisoners with mental powers were sedated. Of course, the supervillain recruiting teleporters had a plan to locate the ship via captured agents with a location device. The device was not noticed, and the prisoner interrogated revealing some of the philosophy of his organization (specials being the Out of Context Problem that can destroy civilization as we knew it), and then the teleportation tunnels opened and the villains came to the rescue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spence Posted October 9, 2017 Report Share Posted October 9, 2017 A lot if good ideas here. But, yes there is a but Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrinku Posted October 10, 2017 Report Share Posted October 10, 2017 I don't know about the rest of you, but the assumption of trust no one, everyone is corrupt and all are dark conspiracies has become very very blah. That well has become pretty dry for me. It never attracted me in the first place. Welcome back to the Bronze Age! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
assault Posted October 10, 2017 Report Share Posted October 10, 2017 I don't know about the rest of you, but the assumption of trust no one, everyone is corrupt and all are dark conspiracies has become very very blah. That well has become pretty dry for me. This is why I commented that there is no such thing as "realistically" in this situation. The conspiracy stuff is a choice, not an inevitable result of such a situation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Desmarais Posted October 10, 2017 Author Report Share Posted October 10, 2017 A lot if good ideas here. But, yes there is a but Why stay with the dark and depressing "guberment is E V I L" mold? After a while it has become so pedestrian. I'd rather play or run a more upbeat supers game for a change. As supers emerge some see the easy road and become villains, but not always killers. Some good guy supers become hardened vigilantes, but the majority step in to help local law enforcement as welcome allies and even members of the local law enforcement, fire department or other responders. Instead of the same old trust no one paranoia, how about a world of mostly good with the overly envious, overly fearful, corrupt and evil ones being the exceptions. I don't know about the rest of you, but the assumption of trust no one, everyone is corrupt and all are dark conspiracies has become very very blah. That well has become pretty dry for me. My intention is to very much NOT go dark - but I'll incorporate ideas from a variety of sources, and even ideas from dark concepts can be used in non-dark games. In the case of this campaign there is not particular "the government is E V I L" vibe. It's just a big bureaucracy, neither good nor evil. The heroes work for a apartment that acts in tandem with the Metro Police, and they are definitely positioned as the Good Guys (rather then the Not A Bad As The Bad Guys Guys). Certain background plot elements require that they be working "within the system" - but not in a darkly depressing "there's a huge evil conspiracy within the British government that the players need to defeat", but more that there are secrets the PCs will need to uncover, and the very existence of these secrets will only become apparent to people within the system. Plus, it provides a framework for financing, equipping, and organizing heroes who have no other reason to be together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrinku Posted October 10, 2017 Report Share Posted October 10, 2017 As a career (Australian) bureaucrat, my take is that bureaucracies largely magnify their government's character. Bad policy from above can sometimes be mitigated, but at the end of the day we have to apply the law as directed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
megaplayboy Posted October 10, 2017 Report Share Posted October 10, 2017 Ductile Concrete is a pretty good real world material that would be a good material for building a super-prison with. For further strengthening, the addition of steel plates and perhaps a thin layer of carbon nano-fibers or graphene might be sufficient for restraining low-to-medium level bricks. Anesthetic gas, tasers, etc. would probably suffice for most detainees, and collars and cuffs lined with C4 for hard cases. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.