Alternate Earth Characters #8

[farik]

Alternate Earth Characters #8

Your GM has announced he's going to run an alternate Earth game and he wants you to make a modified version of your character to fit his "Alternate Earth Setting. The GM is being deliberately unclear about whether you'll be playing your alt character or if your regular character will be facing them.

 

So what is different about your character from

Communist Earth

Communism captured the hearts and minds of the working class across the globe and the Soviet Union is the world's supreme government but the the ineffectivness of a large scale communist regime has led to a world of iron fist oppression with small pockets of capitalist and religion oriented resistance.

[Chuckg]

Starguard -- oh dear, it's a cosmic-powered Z'lf from Legacy World.

 

What would be a good Communist name for her? "The People's Star?" "Bright Guardian?" Feh, I can't think in apparatchik fluently enough.

 

Baron von Darien -- heh. Heh. heh. An 1100-year old German/Russian aristocrat? With the powers of a master vampire? In a world where the Communists won?

 

The "Baron of Death" will be the nightmare of every commissar from Lithuania to the Chinese border, and a legendary figure of both awe and dread among those who still have the will to resist the all-crushing State. KGB men will have their careers broken for failing to catch him, and Politburo members will be found drained of blood in their most secure bedchambers...

 

... well, unless my other character dropped 16d6 Holy on him.

 

Seriously, in Communist World, the Baron's on the fast track to being one of the most prominent -- and most ruthless -- resistance leaders.

 

 

Dr. Pain -- becomes "The People's Champion", a famous Olympic athlete who gained superhuman strength and loyally chose to serve the State as one of it's metahuman protectors! *applause*

[farik]

Kenneth would devlope the Husky formula and act initially to defend the people believing that is the government. As the oppression is realized he will turn against the communist regime promoting a purer form of socialism Kenneth's idealism wouldn't let him abandon the beliefs of his upbringing completely and as a result he would be a true defender of the people protecting them from the both government and the terrorist rebels (with their aristocratic old world philosophy)

[Blue]

Very much like the Nazi backgrounds.

Anthem is still leaning toward some ideal of freedom and being kind and would therefore grow up in this case as an enemy of the state. Uncle Slam would be a Russian Supersoldier thanks to the Eastern Block values instilled in him by his family.

[assault]

Whoa! Assault becomes a Flagsuit! Ohh, maaan...

 

Aside from hunting down resistence cells, he would spend time exposing corrupt officials, as well, of course, as emergency response/rescue work.

 

He would make enemies within the bureaucracy, but hopefully his faction of the Party would be strong enough to protect him.

 

There's a fair chance that he would be a leader of a superteam.

 

His book, "The Dialectics of Metahumanity", would be a standard, although controversial, academic text.

[Trebuchet]

Originally posted by Chuckg

Starguard -- oh dear, it's a cosmic-powered Z'lf from Legacy World.

Hah!

 

Since the real Zl'f's father is (or at least was) a devout communist, in a world where communism ruled Zl'f would probably now be a super-soldier for the Soviet Union. I'd like to think she'd have some moral qualms about some of the stuff she does fighting the evils of capitalism, but in a world like that I can't honestly be sure. Certainly the Russian Orthodox religious morality of her deceased mother would be much less influential. So she'd just as likely be a super-Spetznaz operative. (Zl'f would be pretty scary as a neo-ninja.)

 

BTW, Zl'f is still a eurosocialist even in our campaign. As a child of the Soviet elite and then as a relatively pampered gymnastics star, she just never quite realized how tough it was for ordinary workers in the USSR. After all, she never went without.

[Argus]

I'm not your Comrade

 

I’ve played this one also,

 

Argus ended up fighting the Communist at every turn. With his abilities he would gather together a group of equally minded META Humans and go to ground. He would play the game as a Super Assassin and try to Hit the top most men in the Communist Party.

 

 

A.

[Glen Sprigg]

Snowbird would be an underground hero, fighting against Communism much as his grandfather fought against Nazism. As paranoid as he is about his secret identity, he'd be difficult for the KGB to track. He'd be on his own, not trusting others enough to team up with them.

 

Comet would probably be a state-sponsored hero, having grown up on a collective farm in Montana. A loyal member of the Party, he would be hunting insurgents such as Snowbird.

 

Shadowhawk would be one of the leaders of the resistance in North America, using his carefully husbanded resources to fight the Communists at every turn. His multiple identities and technology would give him the edge he needs to avoid having to fight them physically.

 

Archangel, much like Nazi-world Archangel, is one of the most hated enemies of the State. Proof that there IS a God is NOT what the Communists want to see wandering around. Too bad they can't kill him...

[Guest WhammeWhamme]

Flippant would be in a good situation, really. He's athletic elite, and eastern european (1 gen imm to US). He'd be broadened by the emergence of his powers, and might end up 'defecting' to the "real" world... ...or trying to create change.

 

Wraith would be haunted by all those killed by the regime... Guess what he'll do. (hints: as in Nazi World, Gozer)

[Vex]

Hmmmm, let's see....

 

Adrenaline would, for the most part, be a loyal member of society and would fight to protect the country. Unfortunately, some of the oppression would grate against his artist sensibilities.

 

Realm would have become a member of the KGB and would have been an excellent assassin/thief. Maybe even a James Bond-type character for the mother land.

 

Hecabus would probably be a high ranking official (with his abilities though, Hecabus could be several high ranking officials)>

[Fuzzy Gnome]

Lin-Si wouldn't have any problem with Communism spreading to the West, as long as the Communist government has no problem with her mystic martial arts. Which they wouldn't as she's much more like Green Dragon than Dr. Yin in power level and politics. She doesn't threaten the government or the fabric of reality, just beats up a few thugs and demons here and there.

 

Seraph doesn't care what kind of government the primitive mortals have, but if the world was too bleak and grey he might go to Malva or somewhere.

 

Plasma worked against the Russians in the early 80s in her lab, reverse engineering KGB and Viper gadgets and alien artifacts, so Q can make sure he's giving the latest tech to the double-zero agents. I wouldn't be surprised if she continued to fight against Communism after the Cold War was lost, probably in the English or Canadian underground resistance movement.

 

Ace is somewhat aristocratic and wouldn't like the Communists one bit. He'd be the heroic defender of some non-Communist enclave.

[The Watcher]

Daniel "Warp" Stone, son of one of the most wealthy and influtential black marketeers on the planet, and probably in the top tier himself, he secretly uses his great resources and mutant power of dimensional manipulation to help the innocents ground down by the corrupt communist regime.

 

Spectrum becomes Comrade Solar, Colonel in the Glorius People's Revolutionary Space Force, and a shining example of the New Soviet Man.

 

Mystic: Practioner of arcane arts officially disdained as backwards superstitions which kept down the masses, he fights a long and lonely war against mystical evil to protect an ungrateful proletariat that would label him an Enemy of The People if they knew of his power and knowledge.

[assault]

Peoples' responses to this thread have been very interesting. I'm beginning to get quite interested in this as a setting!

 

Hmm... Maybe it's time to write an adventure...

 

Let's see... Make sure that it's set in a "realistic" late Stalinist society, not "High Stalinism" or a Cold War caricature... With capitalism (mostly) a fading memory, the "security" ideology would be weakened, strengthening more liberal tendencies. Supervillains would take on a paradoxical role, being both threats and pretexts for authoritarian methods of rule!

 

Resistence superheroes would have a problem: what are they actually fighting _for_? To restore a now defunct way of organising society? Or just to reform the existing system? Or what?

 

And then there are the Alien invaders.

 

The supernatural threats would be kind of interesting too. Of course the existence of the supernatural doesn't mean that any particular religion is correct, nor does it change the historical nature and record of religious organisations.

 

Clearly there would be projects attempting to work out exactly what is going on with "supernatural" phenomena. These might be hindered by bureaucratic dogmatism, plus, of course, some of the supernatural (and pseudo-supernatural) entities themselves! Plus, some religious organisations might attempt to maneuver themselves into positions of power by demonstrating the "correctness" of their beliefs - making "psychic research" programs a kind of Trojan Horse for the reintroduction of religion into official dogma. And there would be many other agendas, both hidden and open.

 

Of course, you could run pretty much any scenario you want in such a setting. Bank robberies? Sure. Assassinations, technology theft, hostage rescues, Armageddon prevention... All the old stuff still works.

 

Hmm. Now I have something to think about for the rest of the afternoon.