A World Apart [A TMX Campaign]

[Terminax]

A World Apart is the newest version of my main campaign world, which combines elements of 4th Edition Champions/Dark Champions with elements of 5E/6E Champions/Dark Champions with my original material.

 

A basic primer is going to take me awhile and many posts and edits, so please bear with me. This won't be all finished in or two sittings. Feel free to post comments or questions and I'll reply as able. A note to those people with particularly strong Right-Wing/Libertarian views or apocalyptical Evangelical Christian beliefs or anti-LGBTQ+ leanings - my table are not for you. To save us all time and energy let's just silently agree to disagree and your presence or commentary are not necessary. While I often use real world events, locations and personalities, I tend include completely fictional equivalents particularly the closer we get to the now, as to sidestep certain events, topics and real world politics to keep things as friendly as possible. I have no issue with in-game adult topics, language or violence but let's not turn it into a Tarantino flick either. I'm also not a comedian - I like a good chuckle or laugh every once in awhile but if you're wanting a LOLs-a-minute game with CLOWN, Foxbat or other funny schtick stuff I'm just not your guy. I'm mostly a Marvel (Daredevil, Spider-Man, Iron Man and Avengers, Clairmont X-Men, pre-Garth Ennis Punisher, New Universe and Strikeforce Morituri), DC (Batman, Flash, Superman and 1980s Vigilante and Suicide Squad) kind of dude with a good helping of Image (Lazarus and Invincible), Avatar (Absolution, Supergod and Uber), Old/New Valiant (Bloodshot, Ninjak, Harbinger and H.A.R.D. Corps) and Indie (Copra, GI JOE/COBRA, Thunder Agents and Empire) plus many more - in short, I'm pretty well read

 

A World Apart is set at either a 400 point level with 75 points of Complications for your average starting Modern superhero (70 active points max) OR at a 500 point level with 100 points of Complications (100 active points max) representing either experienced superheroes from the Bronze/Silver/Golden ages, mythic/legendary or Godly beings or Galactic/Interdimensional superheroes. Players are welcome to have one (1) playable sidekick or partner built on 300 points with 50 points of Complications (60 active points max) OR one (1) secondary character that a player can alternate play with, built on a 400 point level with 75 points of complications (70 active points max). The conditions where a second character are playable include solo play (schedule to be determined), office hour play (one short session per month, during my weekly office hours) or instead of your main character at normal sessions because of unusual circumstances - always ask ahead of time. The group's membership/affiliates/allies are generally expected to either have some form of Code vs Killing or a neutral position on the subject. No casual killers or murder-hobos please. Characters with sidekicks or partners are expected to (mostly) share the beliefs and ethics as the primary character at the start but they can diverge over time in-game. Secondary characters have more flexibility and can be anything from solo heroes to lone-wolf vigilantes - just expect them to have less screen time than a primary character will get. The higher, 500 point with 100 points of Complications style characters are meant for more experienced players who can handle the additional burdens such characters may face. Supervillains may focus more on the veteran superhero who's been active for years or a mythic/legendary or Godly figures may have specific requires/restrictions or responsibilities tacked one - "Goddamn you mean I have to answer the prayers of my believers?". Lastly Galactic or Interdimensional superheroes potentially face hazards MUCH more powerful than typically found on Earth.

 

My game usually runs bi-weekly or every other week, with one day set aside towards the end of the month for what I call Office Hours, which amounts to a block of time I've set aside for players to ask questions, discuss rulings at previous games, maybe run a short side session or otherwise make myself available to them. I'm always contactable either through a forum message, email or Discord but I may not be available or able to comment quickly. 

 

Next up, some background information.

[assault]

27 minutes ago, Terminax said:

A World Apart is set at either a 400 point level plus 75 points of Complications

 

Is that 400 points (including Complications) or 475 points (400 + 75 from Complications?)

[Terminax]

2 minutes ago, assault said:

 

Is that 400 points (including Complications) or 475 points (400 + 75 from Complications?)

 

Including, You have 400 points to spend and you need 75 points of Complications. The same for the other types.

[assault]

I thought so, but the ambiguity was there.

[Echo3Niner]

57 minutes ago, Terminax said:

A note to those people with particularly strong Right-Wing/Libertarian views or apocalyptical Evangelical Christian beliefs or anti-LGBTQ+ leanings - my table are not for you. To save us all time and energy let's just silently agree to disagree and your presence or commentary are not necessary.

 

Man!  That means I can't use my favorite Predator line from Jesse, after he offers everyone in the chopper some chew; without some Snowflake getting their feelings hurt.  Oh well, I can still use "I ain't got time to bleed..."  or "If it bleeds, we can kill it..."

 

I am a registered Independent, with serious Libertarian leanings - but, that usually means "socially liberal", at least to me...

 

Looking forward to the rest.

 

Edited June 3, 2021 by Echo3Niner
Typos

[Duke Bushido]

Well great.

 

Now I want more than anything to know what your favorite line is.....

[Echo3Niner]

48 minutes ago, Duke Bushido said:

Well great.

 

Now I want more than anything to know what your favorite line is.....

 

Hahahaha, NOT apparently in THIS thread Bucko!

[Mr. R]

I have come here to chew bubble gum, and kick ass. And I'm all out of bubble gum.

[Terminax]

A broad outline of A World Apart:

 

---

 

The world of A World Apart is similar but different than ours. Superheroes, as we know them came into being mostly in the Interwar years and World War 2. Mystics, wizards and strange things weren't unknown beforehand or during but the world-at-large didn't believe so their power, influence and visibility were highly restricted. Yes they were there, but in the shadows. On some worlds, Nazi Germany and it's fascination with the occult were responsible for a surge in magical forces but here not so much. Instead the cause behind that, would be found in 1920s Egypt. During Howard Carter's discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb, he inadvertently weakened a ward that lay under the tomb placed there in times far older than the Pyramids themselves. One of seven such scattered across the world at what once were the nexus points of ley line energies that fed magic to the planet. As the one in Egypt faltered so did the other's weaken, slowly but surely. This act, allowed energies once dammed up and shunted elsewhere to flow once more unimpeded. At first it was just a trickle of an increase in magical power but as the coming decades would reveal the eventual flood that'd come would have grave consequences for the world. At the same time, science was revealing secrets of it's own, leading man to build devices of increasing complexity and power, shaping the world in ways never seen and revealing fundamental building blocks to the universe itself.

 

As the world barreled into World War 2, the first true superhumans were born in the labs of Germany and America, then Russia and Britain then all over as experimentation in biological and chemical sciences unleashed man's true potential. While most weren't much more powerful than highly trained and those at the peak of athletic fitness, some were and demonstrating powers of the unbelievable - the strength to lift tons. to throw electricity or fire or the power to move objects with one's mind or probe into the thoughts of others. As the world fought each other so did these men (and women). Patriot, the American Shield, Herrenmensch [Master Man], Blitzkrieg, the People's Protector, Red Star, Union Jack, Spitfire and many others. Soon, advances in war making technologies would unleash novel technologies, most barely understood or stable. So-called Doomsday devices would be invented and almost always fail. Until the Americans developed the atomic bomb and used it to end the war in the Pacific, destroying two Japanese cities in the process. Germany itself was beaten long before that, even with the boasts of it's masked men, scientific elite and occultists who turned to the ever increasingly available mystic arts.

 

The Post-War period was a time of denouement as the world recovered and changed even more. The first generation of Superheroes for the most part faded away. either retiring from public life or dying as side effect of the means which they gained their powers. A very few stayed active, though most stayed in the shadows. The unleashing of the power of the atom would have it's own side effects. Radiation and radioactive pollutions from the variety of nuclear explosions would go on to affect the genetics of a tiny minority of people, giving them superpowers through mutation. While most of those so afflicted would not demonstrate their powers until the late 50s and early 60s, those that were blessed or cursed by them were a magnitude more powerful than the generation that came before them. The second and less visible side effect is the unseen side effect of nuclear detonations. Each time one was exploded for testing, the energy waving forth dramatically affected the nexus points and ley lines of magical power on the world. Now that they were properly "live", instead of being inactive, each blast overcharged the ley lines and nexus points. They still were being drained but now with pulses of power charging through them, other wards began to fail faster. If only man had known what it'd soon unleashed.

 

As the world recovered, men and women of power and influence gathered together and formed the criminal cartel they called VIPER. A council of elites were formed to direct the organization from the shadows and they recruited a leader, a figurehead of sorts to act as their public face who they called the Supreme Serpent. Arming themselves with cutting edge weapon technology, VIPER quickly found supervillains to be of supreme usefulness and recruited them if only to serve as living weapons. Their goal was to gain power, and eventually dominate the world. Elsewhere, unknown to all, one of Germany's top scientists had stayed aloof and untouched by Allied hands. Now calling himself Doctor Destroyer, he would prepare in secret for his own plans of world domination. In North America, a motley collection of mystics, magically inclined individuals and even a Dragon (woken from it's long slumber by the return of magic levels worldwide) assemble and found what will become the modern Circle of the Scarlet Moon. One of their own would seek his own path, ultimately creating the basis of the future DEMON organization. On the side of "Good", the United Nations Tribunal on International Law or UNTIL is formed and in the USA, PRIMUS is created. 

 

The Korean War proceeds largely without the presence of superheroes until the United Nation forces regain the initiative and push Northwards towards the Yula River. At that moment, North Korea reveals that it has developed a reliable and reproducible means to create superhumans at an unprecedented scale, deploying the world's first (and to this day) only superhuman army. Pushing the UN back to the 38th parallel, the Korean War ends in stalemate that lasts to the modern day.  Around the world, other nations rush to do the same but over the coming decades, the various programs are rarely create more than a singleton or handful of superhuman results. By the late 60s the first mutants start cropping up, the majority of which appear in the American West or Japan. Technology advances quickly, leading to a profusion of superhuman enhanced by powered armor and giant robots. It's at this time, America's leading technologist and inventor becomes Paradigm. A new wave of superheroes take the world and particularly the United States by storm, becoming the heroes of the silver age. Some are legacies, taking over the roles of Golden age heroes while others claim to be Gods and Demi-Gods of old awakened by the changing world.

 

The assassinations of both Kennedys tip the world ever so slowly into a darker, more complicated world. Decolonization in Asia and Africa lead to conflict after conflict. The silver age begins to tarnish and turn it's generation of superheroes into peacekeepers and peacemakers. Supervillains of increasing power begin to appear, as do Mutants. As the world enters the third stage of superhuman development, or the bronze age to some - the first aliens appear (or at least acknowledged in modern times) drawn to Earth by it's numerous nuclear bomb testings over the years . These first incursions are almost always met by superhuman force and drive away, for now the majority of these off world visitors. Among the space faring races, Earth becomes a place to avoid - too dangerous, unpredictable and unwise by their standards - though some of them have other musings. It is in 1970 that Doctor Destroyer first appears and defeated by a coalition of superheros under the banner of UNTIL. VIPER not to be outdone also launches it's first forays in global domination but all of which fail, leading to an internal collapse and reorganization. RAVEN is birthed in these tulumutus times as an counter anti-colonial organization, marking among its members, magnates and royalty from around of the world unwilling to lose their power bases without a fight. In Chicago, a young teen comes into the possession of a mystical amulet that transforms him into a tall, dark haired muscle clad man that can fly like a jet, easily lift a locomotive over his head and nearly indestructible to harm. Calling himself the Mighty he becomes the Midwest's greatest hero. 

 

Learning from Korea, the United States settles the war in Vietnam quickly choosing instead to focus it's counter-Communist efforts elsewhere. Instead of the notion that it will fall under the sway of the Russian communist bloc, Vietnam joins Yugoslavia led Non-Aligned Movement. PRIMUS deploys the fruits of decades of research, unveiling the fruits of the Cyberline program - the Golden Avenger and his lesser counterparts the Silver Avengers to the world. While still not unlocking the secret of making a superhuman army as North Korea has, it does gives the USA a firm leg up over nearly everyone else.  Paradigm coaxes Patriot out of his second retirement, recruiting ten of America's most notable or powerful superheroes into the group known as the Elite. While the 70s and early 80s can be called the Bronze age by some, it stands out as the time where more superhumans than ever, many with much milder powers appear. VIPER and RAVEN begin a series of conflicts and raids against each other. Mechanon makes his first appearance in 1982 and over the course of the next few years would terrorize the east coast of the US, battling several local superhero teams, being destroyed each time only to return again.

 

In the mid-80s, The Mighty everyone in Chicago knows, disappears from public service only to be replaced by a different, slightly slimmer and smaller man naming himself the Mighty and paired with a woman of similar color and build calling herself Ms Mighty. The pair claim to brother and sister, and the children of the Mighty who they claim has retired. They serve in his stead for several years until the evil robot known as Mechanon once more attacks. In an ambush strike Mechanon swiftly strikes down Ms Mighty and in a brutal engagement across the system it and the Mighty trade blow after blow until the robot crushes the stalwart hero. Badly damaged in victory, Mechanon self-destructs when the Elite and other superhero reinforcements confront it. A search is made for the fallen Mighty and Ms Mighty but the bodies have disappeared.

 

The Cold War ends with the USSR beginning to collapse, Europe pulls together to first create the European Community then the European Union. Even as the Berlin wall falls, a outspoken Danish politician calling for even greater unity becomes disillusioned with the whole project and leaves the European parliament. In the months to come, this man would be the supervillain known as Fiacho and create Europe's first supervillain team, called Eurostar. Recruiting Europe's most powerful supervillains into it's ranks, Eurostar becomes the Europe's opposite to America's Elite. As the Warsaw Pact disintegrates and the USSR's influence retreats, South Eastern Europe becomes Eurostar's playground until VIPER, resurgent and refocused ambushes the team. Killing several of Eurostar's roster, this sparks a war between the two that lasts to this day. Iraq invades Kuwait and is ultimately repulsed by a coalition led by the USA. At the same time, a coup in the USSR leads to a dramatic reorganization it's borders as many of it's member states condemn the coup and breakaway. However the coup is ultimately successful and Russia reorganizes the USSR into a smaller but less burdened nation.

 

In the early 90s, America undergoes a sea change in politics as industrialist and business tycoon Russel G. Warding launches the Patriot party, successfully not only capturing political control over states such as Minnesota, Ohio and California but also becoming the first third party President of the country in the 1992 election campaign. The country's political landscape changes overnight. The Patriots lose control of the Presidency in 1996 to the Democrats but regain it in 2000 and ultimately losing it to the Republicans in 2004. 9/11 as we know it in our world, never happens. Instead, the world faces invasion by an apparent interdimensional conqueror who is stopped by an alliance between the world's superheroes and supervillains, with only notably North Korea refusing to get involved. This event would reinvigorate UNTIL as an international agency and cooperative effort to fight against worldwide threats. Canada would create it's own national superteam, called the Sentinels after members of the Elite cross from the American side chasing down a team of VIPER supervillains and challenging Canada's sovereignty.

 

Appearing in Chicago out of nowhere in early 2018, is someone who looks like the original Mighty in both appearance and powers. Saving a crowd from an out of control bus, he would quickly disappear as he appeared. Since then, whoever this Mighty is, has intervened city wide hundreds of times saving countless lives. Paradigm tried to confront the hero to ascertain his identity and was brushed off and told to "Get the hell out of my way you corporate stooge. Go back to Wall Street!" which was caught live on camera much to the chagrin of the armored hero.

 

GM's note: There are, obviously many many points being glossed over here and lots of other events not yet listed. More edits are coming and more will be detailed in future postings. Patriot is an Captain America (Marvel) clone, The American Shield is a Shield (Archie/Impact) clone, Paradigm is an Iron Man (Marvel) clone. North Korea's superhuman army is heavily based on Uber (Avatar). The Mighty is a Captain Marvel/Shazam and family (DC) clone, Russel G. Warding is a fictional replacement for Ross Perot Jr.

[Nekkidcarpenter]

16 hours ago, Terminax said:

My game usually runs bi-weekly or every other week, with one day set aside towards the end of the month for what I call Office Hours, which amounts to a block of time I've set aside for players to ask questions, discuss rulings at previous games, maybe run a short side session or otherwise make myself available to them. I'm always contactable either through a forum message, email or Discord but I may not be available or able to comment quickly. 

 

This kind of sounds like you are recruiting.

 

[Terminax]

Technology, Magic and Mutants in A World Apart

 

---

 

Technology in this world is often well advance of our own, but in general application of said technologies still happened across a same time frame as world. For instance, while cellphones and similar small sized communications equipment were deployed much earlier than the real world, their overall usage didn't really take off any faster than in the world of A World Apart. Super science and technology has been rampant since just before WW2. Early superhumans were almost all the result of genetic alteration (even if they didn't understand genetics until later) via biological and chemical augmentation. Early computers and even cybernetics/robotics existed in very experimental forms from the start but they didn't really get used/applied until later. Things like power armor and robots saw service in WW2 but they were crude compared to what developed in the so-called Silver Age. The internet bloomed in the same time frame as the real world but things like broadband and fiber optics supplanted dial-up  in much quicker timeframe and so on.

 

Mecha and super robots exist, with mecha largely supplanting super robots in modern times - the difference in the two is mostly a matter of appearance and size. Mecha tend to be smaller, look like real robots/vehicles and far more numerous than you'd expect. Super robots tend to be giants, and outlandish looking and most have been long retired by the modern era. Yes there were giant monsters and yes they fought. Just in general, they did so outside the public eye or were actively covered by outside forces. Japan was super crazy in the 60s and 70s for them and had no less than 7 super robots (many of which were combiners!) but over the years they've all been destroyed, dismantled or mothballed and in modern times, Mecha have taken their place. The USA, Russia and China maintain the largest numbers with most other inclined nations have a one to three dozen such machines.

 

Similarly from the 1970s onwards, there was a tremendous increase in power armored and cybernetic using superbeings. In modern times, particular since the 2000s the military, police and other security agencies all have access to such technology though the ultratech versions used by the likes Paradigm and Doctor Destroyer are far beyond anything in common use. Life extension technology is extremely common with the wealthy or powerful easily able to double their natural life expectancy.

How the North Korean superhuman program works is completely unknown, even to Doctor Destroyer though he's of the opinion it's based on alien technology. UNTIL thinks it's some form of magic. There seems to a different series of techniques involved, because they have developed quite a few variations over the years. The most typical power set is a low-powered brick with low-powered speedsters and telekinetics being the next two most common power sets. However, there are a number of much more powerful versions of the above that combine all the previously mentioned characteristics and even some unique abilities. What IS known, that the process is ultimately fatal to the user - dramatically shortening their lives. Typically the subject is endowed at 18-20 years of age (and possibly earlier) and the average lifespan is reduce to 30 to 35 years of age and often less, depending on how much they use their powers. Lives are very expendable in the DPRK and women are expected to have as many children as possible as result.

 

---

 

Magic on the other hand is wildly disputed topic in IC terms. There's as many truths and fictions as there individuals, creatures, and entities and it becomes muddled fast to normals. All that people can really agree on is magic exists, that supposed patheons of Gods amd Demi-Gods exist and the rare Dragon makes an appearance. For the people who are actually involved in the magical world, they know magic has existed for much longer than current record of history and that is has largely waxed and waned over the years and since the 1920s it has been absolutely exploding beyond any level ever experienced by humanity. For as many people who claim they have the answers, just as many people try to disprove them.

 

Magic, like superpowers is only wielded by a small fraction of the population and in many forms. There are a handful of "Arch Mages" or high-powered magical beings seen in public but for the most part, they keep quiet on the vagaries of magic. They're usually just viewed as superhumans with a difference. Governments tend to really dislike magic as they cannot control, quantify or regulate it effectively.

 

The speculation concerning the seven (or are there more?) great wards - all of which predate the structures placed over top of them - focuses on the idea that there was some precursor of modern man, who lived in an age unknown to those that came after it and of no record of it remains. Certainly geographic and archeological evidence does not support this but magic is... weird. What IS known, is that three of the wards have completely failed each leading to a small catastrophe in the modern world. Four more are believed to exist and are all compromised and will fail eventually. But nobody knows where or how or what will happen when they do. As to what the wards were intended for, it's believed that they channel Earth's magical energies into a containment spell which quelled magic for thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of years. Both the Circle of the Scarlet Moon and DEMON have their own theories, ranging from entombing some great precursor mage to sealing away primordial beings but is it the truth? Nobody knows.

 

Magical creatures from Trolls to Goblins to Fae and the frequently mentioned Dragons exist, but are very rarely seen by the general public and often will be just be confused with superhumans in general. After all is there any difference between an Orc and a person who LOOKS like an Orc thanks to a mutation? Magic is... weird. 

 

---

 

Mutants are believed to be the result of the radical increase in radioactivity resulting from nuclear weapon usage for the past 70+ years. Like normal humans who have undergone experimental superhuman augmentation, they've been affected somehow at the deepest genetic levels which manifest in all sorts of superhuman abilities and powers. However, in direct contrast to the results of experimentation, technology or even magic or the divine - mutants face allot of public mistrust and blowback for mostly hypocritical and religious reasons. The negative view of mutants is not nearly held as strongly as classic racism, sexism or classism divides but certainly is a rising problem.

 

According to Rhodesia and South Africa (which both remain as isolated White dominated Apartheid states in A World Apart) there are no mutants nor magic using people in either country. The truth is, as soon as anyone, emphatically non-white shows a speck of superhuman ability, regardless of it's origins they are tracked down and murdered. Whites with superhuman abilities, even mutants are required to serve the state in perpetuity, and maintain the cover than their abilities are the result of enhancement technology. Those that don't get with the program are likewise eliminated unless they manage to flee outside of Africa.

 

---

 

2 hours ago, Nekkidcarpenter said:

This kind of sounds like you are recruiting.

 

 

Not at the moment but perhaps sometime in the future. I'm putting out the campaign notes in full first.

[Tjack]

15 hours ago, Mr. R said:

I have come here to chew bubble gum, and kick ass. And I'm all out of bubble gum.

   Rowdy Roddy Piper said that in They Live.  Different wrestler, different movie.

    I’ll take the heat if anybody complains, but I won’t take much.  

  I just checked YouTube and the line is “I’m surrounded by a bunch of slack-jawed fa990ts, this stuff will make you a goddamned sexual tyrannosaurus!”  
   I don’t like the word and I won’t put up with anybody using the word to put someone down. I don’t even like it when a gay person uses it or when a black person uses the...God help us “N-word” but I don’t think I get a vote on those. 
I won’t put up with a lot of whining when those words or others are used to quote something accurately. Calling the character from Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn “N-word Jim” makes everybody look stupid and takes away the ability for people to call out the ignorant ones who use that kind of language to destroy.

[Echo3Niner]

57 minutes ago, Tjack said:

   Rowdy Roddy Piper said that in They Live.  Different wrestler, different movie.

    I’ll take the heat if anybody complains, but I won’t take much.  

  I just checked YouTube and the line is “I’m surrounded by a bunch of slack-jawed fa990ts, this stuff will make you a goddamned sexual tyrannosaurus!”  
   I don’t like the word and I won’t put up with anybody using the word to put someone down. I don’t even like it when a gay person uses it or when a black person uses the...God help us “N-word” but I don’t think I get a vote on those. 
I won’t put up with a lot of whining when those words or others are used to quote something accurately. Calling the character from Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn “N-word Jim” makes everybody look stupid and takes away the ability for people to call out the ignorant ones who use that kind of language to destroy.

 

Well, I appreciate you taking the heat, even a little.

 

However, the reason I love that quote, is because it's the context it's used in - when I was in the Marine Corps, and still in those Marine Veteran circles, gay men jokes are super common - not in depredating gay men, but more in a commonly accepted trope of absolute superiority over another man.  You can't get much more dominating than forcing another man to have gay sex...

 

It's just like when I say "he (does whatever) like a little girl."

 

I have immediate family members who are both gay men, and have been in the Corps - I also have two daughters, one who was in the Corps and one who is serving right now - they all take the jokes in context - in fact, my adult kids have even been known to use them.

 

So, bottom line - I don't use that word either, except in the company of other hard corps types, who get it.  Which, ironically, is the setting in the movie, and the way that quote is taken by my family...

[Terminax]

Guys, when I said "To save us all time and energy let's just silently agree to disagree and your presence or commentary are not necessary". I meant, don't litter my thread with your completely off-topic banter. 

 

 

[Echo3Niner]

14 minutes ago, Terminax said:

Guys, when I said "To save us all time and energy let's just silently agree to disagree and your presence or commentary are not necessary". I meant, don't litter my thread with your completely off-topic banter. 

 

 

 

Ohhhhhhh, right, sorry...

[archer]

22 hours ago, Terminax said:

Feel free to post comments or questions and I'll reply as able. A note to those people with particularly strong Right-Wing/Libertarian views or apocalyptical Evangelical Christian beliefs or anti-LGBTQ+ leanings - my table are not for you. To save us all time and energy let's just silently agree to disagree and your presence or commentary are not necessary.

 

2 hours ago, Terminax said:

Guys, when I said "To save us all time and energy let's just silently agree to disagree and your presence or commentary are not necessary". I meant, don't litter my thread with your completely off-topic banter. 

 

 

First, don't tell us to feel free to post comments when you don't want us to feel free to post comments.

 

Second, politely requesting us to not make off-topic posts in this thread is fine.

 

Third, that was not a polite request.

 

Fourth, you have absolutely no control over what people post on this thread and don't post on this thread. This is a discussion forum on a website which deliberately has a free-flowing discussion forum. If we were to for some bizarre reason want to discuss haircare tips here, that is perfectly fine.

 

Fifth, if you insist on having control over the discussion, you need to go to the "clubs" section and post there instead of here.

[Terminax]

I'll ask a moderator then. I don't feel it's too much to ask people if they have comments or questions, that they be about the actual topic of the thread. I don't go into other people's threads and have rando conversations that are just out to piss someone off.

[Tjack]

47 minutes ago, Terminax said:

I'll ask a moderator then. I don't feel it's too much to ask people if they have comments or questions, that they be about the actual topic of the thread. I don't go into other people's threads and have rando conversations that are just out to piss someone off.

      Stay frosty friend,  I and everyone else who went on a little tangent already backed off. You’re now in an argument with only one guy, and it’s not me. If you want an apology from me, you can have it.... I’m sorry.  
     It looks like you’re still a little new to the board, but this was not an unusual event around here and it was nothing personal. It’s nice to have some new blood around here. Just cut us some slack when we go astray, and we’ll do the same for you someday.   
   If nobody said it before....Welcome aboard.

[Opal]

 

On 6/2/2021 at 6:20 PM, Terminax said:

particularly strong Right-Wing/Libertarian

 

It doesn't take particularly strong Libertarian views to want to point out that the Right Wing is not Libertarian, at all - like, ew - 

 

But you did kinda throw down the gauntlet there, I mean, I assume unintentionally:  The board's policy - and less casual denizens can correct me if I'm wrong - is not go into RL politics much in the gaming forums, and that gives you the option to say "hey, enough with the politicks" when someone does go off on a political tangent you don't care for - but to preemptively say you don't want to hear about politics /from one side/ is kinda introducing politics into the discussion, in itself.  

 

(And, it's straight-up politics, call it history because it was 30 years ago, but a Third Party President?  That's possibly the least plausible thing in the whole batch - magic is real, ley lines unstoppered by Tut's tomb, gods & monsters, alien invaders ..OK, sure, it's genre... but a 3rd Party winning the Presidency?) 

On 6/3/2021 at 4:48 PM, archer said:

if you insist on having control over the discussion

Blogs are a good option, too, you can keep all your writing together, and you can moderate comments, yourself.

 

On 6/3/2021 at 11:30 AM, Terminax said:

Rhodesia and South Africa (which both remain as isolated White dominated Apartheid states in A World Apart)

So, I've noticed several bits of alternate history so far, and I am curious how that happened.  IRL, Rhodesia was immediately beset from all sides - UN sanctions, the Russians, and the Chinese, /and/ their neighbors in Africa all backing their foes and basically no one backing them.  Did Doc D or Viper intervene as part of a long game plan for world domination that simply called for more unstable minority-rule states muddying international waters?  Did specific home-grown supers intervene?  

South Africa is easier to see - if the mass program of divestment hadn't held together, for instance - though it also makes me think they probably stayed Nuclear.

 

Also North Korea is an interesting choice for super-powered army.  What resources did they get that somehow the world's superpowers couldn't uncover or duplicate with decades of trying?  A mystery that might offer possible plot threads and origin stories.   It'd also completely change the PRC/DPRK dynamic, and give 'juche' some real teeth.

[Echo3Niner]

1 hour ago, Terminax said:

I don't go into other people's threads and have rando conversations that are just out to piss someone off.

 

Dude, if that was in reference to my original response; you completely missed my intentions.  I thought your statement about right-wing politics was funny, and made a joke.  I was not intending to piss anyone off, including you.

 

I also didn't intend to derail your thread, and even apologized for doing so.

 

Perhaps if you're going to make such a strong statement about anyone's politics, you should have a bit of a thicker skin...

 

Back to the original programing...

[Terminax]

Everyone - I'm cool. We're cool. I might have been annoyed, but I am not remotely angry with anyone. I apologize if I've ruffled any feathers with my statements.

 

I've made it a policy that I tell people up front what they can expect from me at my table (whether virtual or not) and one of the things is I don't want to play with certain types of people. I don't wish them any ill, but the vast majority of the Right-Wing and so-called Libertarians, apocalyptic Evangelicals and anti-LGBTQ+ types hold views very contrary to mine and work against my well-being and that of many others. I don't really want to discuss it at length in public, hence why I asked what I did.

 

Tjack - Thank you for the welcome. I am however not particularly new. I've been a member since 2009. I've just not communicated much over the years. Past social anxiety issues mostly.

 

Opal - I'll refrain from further RL political comment in public. I will send you a PM instead to address your points.

 

The third party in-game politics however are fair game. I happen to remember Ross Perot Jr sort-of Presidential run in 1992 and it definitely had an impact, even if he fizzled out. Third party candidates were getting elected elsewhere, like Jesse Ventura in Minnesota. So in a world of superheroes, and different outcomes, I could very well see a third party IF it was run well and consistently having an opportunity in 1992 when both the Republicans and Democratic candidates were weak and suffering from missteps As parties go, the Patriot party is a center-right with a very "Greatest Generation" vibe to it especially at first. Russel G. Warding was young (early 40s), charismatic, very successful both in business and family without any whiff of scandal. He had connections that served him well and unlike Perot, spent time building his political movement and message well advance of the election and stood firm on his messaging throughout the election. He appealed to allot of the voter base and was shockingly elected. He only lasted a term however because the Patriot party held neither the House or Senate and had to fight every inch to get anything done, so he was voted out then the next four years sucked and he got elected again, this time with a much bigger margin in the House, and about the same as before in the senate and he got allot more done. Sadly his successors weren't as talented, and the party steadily lost ground afterwards but I haven't gotten to the more modern political climate.

 

There is quite allot I haven't gotten to yet and the Rhodesia/South Africa history blurbs and specifics are part of those. There's an couple of alien invasion/incursions that hit in the 70s, and Rhodesia/South Africa lucked out and retrieved alien salvage from one which gives them a technological edge against their neighbors. Rhodesia in particular also have a significant RAVEN presence.  I've told others elsewhere on the forum I am a fan of old school VIPER and RAVEN. The dynamics of 4E's war between them that led to RAVEN falling to VIPER then being milked for cash, then freeing and reinventing itself was one of the best long term plot threads that spanned the original setting. My twist is that yes RAVEN loses the war, is taken over by VIPER and milked for cash then frees a *portion* of itself. The freed RAVEN in the 90s becomes the reinvented Raven as what occured in the 4Es An Eye For An Eye book. However, there's a portion that sticks together under VIPER, who ultimately "sheds" it as franchise to one of it's most reliable Nest Leaders and it becomes RAVEN 3.0, which serves closer to the original RAVEN in design rather than the criminal conspiracy that Raven develops into. Three orgs, two with the same name and all very confusing to outsiders if they don't pay attention/know the backstory. South Africa is an entirely different matter and is basically old Apartheid Africa given a new lease on life thanks to alien technology.  They're heavily dependent on robotic drones which allow them to cope with numbers it's opposition possess. Africa of this world is much more in strife torn than our world.

 

As to North Korea, it's easier to answer this backwards. I'm a huge fan of the Uber comic and really have wanted to do something with it in game form and this someplace I think I can use the ideas behind Uber without it being an alt-WW2 universe. North Korea is basically a nazi state in all but name and conveniently they had this one time when they could have been pushed off the map had the Chinese not stepped in to save them. So instead of the Chinese stepping in, what if the North Koreans had an army of super men that they finally commit to action? That's my hook. As to what the whole process is, that's one of the secret plots I'm not going to reveal outside of it getting revealed in-game. Every North Korean has blood taken and tested, to determine their viability as a candidate. They get a mark on their personal papers and when they serve their obligatory service, candidates get pulled based on said mark and the national need for particular subtype of super man, go to the deep underground (yet unpenetrated by outsiders) bunker complex in the North of the country and... go through the process and return to duty as part of the North Korea Special Forces branch. Back during the war, the process was a bit cruder and they made only the basic light brick initially but against normal soldiers, that's still more than enough. Over the years since, they've refined and broadened their capabilities and it wasn't until after the armistice that the developed their equivalent to the "battleships" of Uber. As for China, they basically have the same view of North Korea after they got the bomb... contain contain contain.

 

As to why other countries haven't figured out North Korea's secret sauce? Or duplicated on their own? They just plain don't have the secret ingredient(s) or the secret recipe/formulation to make it and the North Koreans who know either are number less than twenty and perhaps as many as three know both and none of them have been above ground since they were read in. Attempts have been made to procure it and failed. As to good old Doctor Destroyer, he's dismissive of whatever they're doing because he knows his technology is better. He's certainly grabbed a few "samples" over the years and tried to figure it out and... it's secret has always eluded him. That should tell you something. Malachite... err, I mean Teleios has the same thought process.

 

Most of the world's super soldier programs follow the traditional paths - genetic manipulation, biological and chemical augmentation or cybernetics. Cybernetics are by far the most reliable method but not cost effective. Genetic manipulation is a crap shoot - mutates are tend to be as random as mutants are (and yes, I follow the Marvel conventions of Mutates vs Mutants) but hybrids... well there's been some success there just hasn't worked out to the point where nations would trust the results or tolerate the bad publicity. VIPER on the other hand... Biological and chemical augmentation can be fairly reliable and comparatively cheap but they usually go only so far and have side effects. Other technologies have just worked out better. Power suits and Mecha for instance. Not any cheaper, but normal people can use them and that ultimately makes them more comfortable to most governments.

 

 Long winded but I hope that answers your questions.

[Terminax]

I've been recuperating from a deck job for the last couple days, so have had time to sit down and write. Not quite enough along to show the work but getting there. Hero Designer is sure getting a work out! 

 

Terror Incorporated

 

Profesor Muerte, the renegade disciple of Doctor Destroyer founded his hybrid villain team/organization in the early 1980s. He'd strike seemingly at random, with agents in tow and causing terrible casualties before packing up. In truth his terror attacks were merely diversions so other agents could carry out bank heists, rob precious metal or gem exchanges and kidnap the wealthy to ransom without interference from law enforcement. On occasion, he'd raid corporate or governmental research labs to steal their secrets. Profesor Muerte soon branched out, networking with other criminal and terrorist organizations, becoming an instrumental middle man and outfitter. By the late 80s, he had well established himself and began experimenting with various techniques to develop super beings, resulting in creation of Gigante, Think Tank and several others. He also recruited the mercenary Feurermacher and former IRA terrorist Scorpia to his cause.

 

Through the 90s, Terror Inc kept relatively clear of superhero activity, crossing swords more with the likes of UNTIL, PRIMUS and other law enforcement agencies. Successful as they were, the group began to crack with the ambitious Scorpia wanting more from life than being Muerte's lackey and Feurermacher growing wearing of Muerte's failed promises to stabilize his condition. When the latest Gigante died in a confrontation with UNTIL, Scorpia, tired of the situation decided to contact Eurostar secretly and offer her services, which Fiacho immediate accepted. Scorpia easily convinced Feurmacher to join with her, and between the two they murdered Profesor Muerte and after taking what they could from Terror Inc's lair, blew it up and left to Europe.

 

The problem was, they did not kill the Profesor. The man who Scorpia and Feurmacher killed was in fact, Profesor Muerte's longstanding chief agent and body double. For years, he'd operated as Profesor Muerte's proxy in the field while the real Profesor Muerte kept entirely to the shadows. While Scorpia's betrayal stung, it was never unexpected that she'd turn on him. She and Feurmacher had never met or worked with the original Muerte. Hidden in his true lair, Profesor Muerte let Terror Inc seemingly crumble and take the pressure and heat that had built up against for two decades away. In truth, he purged and reforged his organization and simply picked up where the old group left off, establishing new fronts to provide the same services he always has. In the last decade, he has created a new squad of super agents and prepared for the eventual confrontation with Eurostar. He has sold them weapons and tech for their own efforts, building in the means to track and disable them when the time is right to attack.

 

Notes: Gigante, Terror Inc's brick was not a single person but a long succession of short lived constructs created by genetic alternations and surgical grafts that were always just called Gigante and looked identical. Because of the expense of their creation and their short life span, between two to four years each, Profesor Muerte only created one at a time and would replace them at need. Scorpia and Feurmacher never cottoned on because Gigante followed the orders of the (false) Profesor Muerte.

 

Profesor Muerte himself remains a budget version of Doctor Destroyer, with four major outposts across the world, eight more smaller hideouts and facilities, a small fleet of vehicles including a stealth airplane and transport submarine plus an agent corps of about 1,400.

 

Terror Incorporated super agents TBD.

 

Deathstroke

 

Another group of the 80s and 90s, Deathstroke fell apart when their plans for world domination, ended in complete failure and all but the founders and brothers, Requiem and Chiller were seemingly killed. The brothers were sent off to Stronghold and rotted there, failing to escape during either the major breakouts in late 90s and 2000s. That's when the super villain Think Tank came into their lives in 2015. The odd psychic/cybernetic villain had bounced across America for close to twenty years, serving as a freelancer for ARGENT, PSI and VIPER as well as groups like the Crusher Gang or the Ultimates until his capture by the Elite. Sent to Stronghold, it turned out that Think Tank had compromised the integrity of the facility years in advance and had secretly stockpiled the means to escape. While gathering and reassembling his scattered components, he was spotted by Requiem and Chiller and to keep their silence offered to take them with him. In the break out, Think Tank neutralized not only the power dampeners, security robots but also the hot sleep cells. The mass breakout of 2015 shattered Stronghold to it's foundation.

 

As promised, Think Tank took Requiem and Chiller with him, and the newly freed brothers pitched the idea of reforming Deathstroke. Not having anything better to do, Think Tank agreed but with the caveat that he'd have input on any new additions to the team. Their first recruits were the modern Blowtorch,

 

Notes:  The DuMorte brothers, Requiem and Chiller have hardened over their decades of imprisonment. 

 

Think Tank, was created by Profesor Muerte early on in his career to be his version of Doctor Destroyer's minion Menton. Comprised of the disembodied cybernetically boosted brains of six minor psychics wired together into a gestalt being, and encased into a small tracked chassis with four robotic tentacle arms, Profesor Muerte found the results lacking so he dispatched the creature into the world on it's own, wiping it's memory of it's creator and giving it the secret mission of compromising Stronghold and staging a break out should it end up there. It took it years to get there but it did and once it did, for the first time in years Think Tank found itself aimless and latched onto the DuMorte brothers.

 

Blowtorch II took over from Blowtorch I, after the original burned himself to a crisp fighting an unnamed vigilante in a Detroit warehouse in 2013. Aside from cosmetic changes, the new one uses an improved version of the original's customized flamethrower which he calls the "Inferno Gun" and carries a second, handgun sized version as well as delayable explosive incendiary charges. Blowtorch II isn't the pyromaniac that the original was, just a professional arsonist who "upped his game.

 

 

[Mr. R]

12 hours ago, Terminax said:

I've been recuperating from a deck job for the last couple days, so have had time to sit down and write. Not quite enough along to show the work but getting there. Hero Designer is sure getting a work out! 

 

Terror Incorporated

 

Profesor Muerte, the renegade disciple of Doctor Destroyer founded his hybrid villain team/organization in the early 1980s. He'd strike seemingly at random, with agents in tow and causing terrible casualties before packing up. In truth his terror attacks were merely diversions so other agents could carry out bank heists, rob precious metal or gem exchanges and kidnap the wealthy to ransom without interference from law enforcement. On occasion, he'd raid corporate or governmental research labs to steal their secrets. Profesor Muerte soon branched out, networking with other criminal and terrorist organizations, becoming an instrumental middle man and outfitter. By the late 80s, he had well established himself and began experimenting with various techniques to develop super beings, resulting in creation of Gigante, Think Tank and several others. He also recruited the mercenary Feurermacher and former IRA terrorist Scorpia to his cause.

 

Through the 90s, Terror Inc kept relatively clear of superhero activity, crossing swords more with the likes of UNTIL, PRIMUS and other law enforcement agencies. Successful as they were, the group began to crack with the ambitious Scorpia wanting more from life than being Muerte's lackey and Feurermacher growing wearing of Muerte's failed promises to stabilize his condition. When the latest Gigante died in a confrontation with UNTIL, Scorpia, tired of the situation decided to contact Eurostar secretly and offer her services, which Fiacho immediate accepted. Scorpia easily convinced Feurmacher to join with her, and between the two they murdered Profesor Muerte and after taking what they could from Terror Inc's lair, blew it up and left to Europe.

 

The problem was, they did not kill the Profesor. The man who Scorpia and Feurmacher killed was in fact, Profesor Muerte's longstanding chief agent and body double. For years, he'd operated as Profesor Muerte's proxy in the field while the real Profesor Muerte kept entirely to the shadows. While Scorpia's betrayal stung, it was never unexpected that she'd turn on him. She and Feurmacher had never met or worked with the original Muerte. Hidden in his true lair, Profesor Muerte let Terror Inc seemingly crumble and take the pressure and heat that had built up against for two decades away. In truth, he purged and reforged his organization and simply picked up where the old group left off, establishing new fronts to provide the same services he always has. In the last decade, he has created a new squad of super agents and prepared for the eventual confrontation with Eurostar. He has sold them weapons and tech for their own efforts, building in the means to track and disable them when the time is right to attack.

 

 

 

OHHH, I love this idea.  Much better than the undead Prof, or the cloned one.  This shows a level of manipulation that is truly Machiavellian.   Any hints to who his Super powered squad will be.  

 

Also I'd make the real Prof something like Prof. Prometheus from the Algernon Files.  Looks normal, Has all high tech nimiaturized devices all over him, and at least three contingency plans in place!  Just a suggestion!

[Terminax]

45 minutes ago, Mr. R said:

OHHH, I love this idea.  Much better than the undead Prof, or the cloned one.  This shows a level of manipulation that is truly Machiavellian.   Any hints to who his Super powered squad will be.  

 

Also I'd make the real Prof something like Prof. Prometheus from the Algernon Files.  Looks normal, Has all high tech nimiaturized devices all over him, and at least three contingency plans in place!  Just a suggestion!

 

Thank you. I prefer this as well. I liked the idea of Scorpia and Feurmacher moving on to fill out Eurostar from a story perspective but I always felt Muerte had more potential that being used as footnote. The other ideas aren't bad, but they're not for me.

 

The real Profesor Muerte is a roughly around 1,050 points where the (false) Profesor Muerte is roughly 600 points. He wears his armor, in mirror to Doctor Destroyer and was badly disfigured when they had their initial falling out. Unlike the 4E or 5E/6E timelines they've never worked together once Doctor Destroyer rejected him and blasted him in the face, leaving him for dead. I prefer to leave the reasons why ambiguous for story purposes.

[Terminax]

Regulator

 

A legendary vigilante, Regulator has been active for over 30 years, mainly across the Southern United States but occasionally ventures further afield and even abroad. Combating crime since 1989 without official sanction, Regulator has a reputation of hardboiled operator who rolls in hard and heavy against his targets. He became such a nuisance to VIPER that in 1997, they set him up by deploying a copycat assassin who attacked both criminals and the law alike, resulting in both attempting to bring down Regulator. Eluding the dragnet set against him, Regulator tracked down and confronted his VIPER doppelganger, capturing the man and the evidence needed to clear his name. Regardless, Regulator was still pursued for his earlier vigilante actions until President Warding pardoned him during his second term. It is around this time that Regulator activities become more sporadic and difficult to track until the mid-2010s.

 

 Notes: Regulator is based on one of my old characters with an entirely new backstory. The modern take is he's a DC Vigilante/Mack Bolan clone. Primarily a martial artist w/guns, he's picked up a few unusual abilities over the years and after his pardon in 2000 was brought into a secret domestic counter-terrorist program where he served as a deniable asset. When the Democrats took power in 2009. the government program was reorganized, leaving Regulator out in the cold and on his own. At that point he resumed his lone wolf operation but still has an unofficial relationship with the government agency he once served.