Campaign Idea

[Wintreborne]

At my friends' urgings, I am finally digging out my old champions stuff and starting up a regular game. I have an idea for a campaign that I need some advice with. Please excuse me if this topic should be somewhere else or if this has been covered in a previous post. If either of these is the case please point me in the right direction.

 

My idea: Something has happened in today's world that is causing people to develop super powers. (This would be the world as we know it now and suddenly your neighbor is able to fly ) These "mutations" would be very rare, less then 1% of the population so there are not a lot of super powered people. My question is, how would the government react? Would they try and round everyone up for study or call them terrorists and try and jail/kill them all? If there is a source book which covers this period of new-found super-ness then please let me know the title. Any help would be appreciated.

[Jarekk]

Re: Campaign Idea

 

Well, how dark is your campaign?

 

It's really about how you want to play it--it the government the bad guys? Or, are the heros a form of cops? Or, both?

 

The big thing is, the people. Do you think that the people would be more afraid of the sudden supers, or would they be more afraid FOR them, about what might be done to them.

 

If they were rounded up, would the people cheer? "Yaay, we're safe!"

 

Or, would they hold candle-light vigils? "Let the Mighty People go!"

 

Or, both? Some on each side?

 

Probably, as with most things, the truth would lie somewhere in the middle. But, the great thing about being a GM is, YOU decide what the "truth" is.

[Hermit]

Re: Campaign Idea

 

I can't find my copy, but the 5th Ed "Champions genre" book has a page or two about campaigns where the first super heroes have appeared.

[Agent X]

Re: Campaign Idea

 

It would probably have to do with the cumulative experiences the public and the elite had with superbeings. The more natural disasters solved by supers the more popular they are. The more cities wrecked in superfights the less popular they are. The more alien invasions stopped the more popular they are. See?

[Hermit]

Re: Campaign Idea

 

Another thing would be their portrayal in the media BEFORE they arrived.

 

If most were raised seeing super heroes as cool or good, when real ones arrived they might be eagerly embraced.

If seen as just comedy, folks might not take them seriously.

 

And, of course, if all anyone read was Iron Age comics, the arrival of real supers would send people screaming in fear

[Guest Major Tom]

Re: Campaign Idea

 

If you're looking for ideas on how to run a campaign such as you've described,

then I recommend that you get hold of a copy of R. Talsorian's Cybergeneration

2nd Edition if you can. While it's setting is that of the Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0. RPG,

its basic premise -- young people being transformed into superhuman beings by

a viral organism (actually a man-made self-volitional nanocatalyst), and short-

ly thereafter being labeled as disease carriers by a corrupt government that wants

to destroy them because it can't control them for its own ends -- sounds exact-

ly like what you're looking for. If you can't find a copy of it in your local FLGS,

then try Noble Knight Games (http://nobleknight.com). They carry a lot of the

R. Talsorian game lines (including Cybergeneration and its associated sup-

plements), so there's a good chance that you'll be able to find a fairly decent

copy, maybe even at a slightly lower price than you normally would at your local

FLGS

 

Major Tom

[Wintreborne]

Re: Campaign Idea

 

Thanks for the thoughts guys, I will look for the Cybergeneration book. That was sort of the direction I was looking for. I was really wondering how everyone thought the government (local and national) would respond in the afternoon if people suddenly started flying and shooting energy bolts this morning.

 

My personal thought is that they would first want to study what is going on and some people would probably want to be changed back to "normal" and would volunteer for tests. Would the proverbial MiBs come knocking on the doors of those who wouldn't volunteer? The military would definatly be interested, I am sure. I was hoping for some more ideas along those lines. Thank you for what you have suggested so far, though.

 

Wintreborne

[Doug McCrae]

Re: Campaign Idea

 

IMO the government would initially do whatever was necessary to maintain order and preserve life. That could mean bringing in the National Guard or even declaring martial law *if* the situation was bad enough.

 

The mutation might be regarded as a disease and treated like an outbreak of the Ebola virus*.

 

Once order had been restored, different parts of the government would act in different ways. The police would request new weapons to deal with crazies and criminals with superpowers. The 'men in black' would do everything they could to bring mutants under their power, study and recreate the mutation. IRL the CIA has tried things just as weird, such as remote viewing.

 

 

*Really it's the Wildcard virus of course.

[Arkham]

Re: Campaign Idea

 

May I recommend the setting for White Wolf's RPG,

Aberrant. It has nearly an identical scenario, an accident

has caused normal people to suddently 'erupt' into 'Novas'

( superpowered beings ). Society reacts to both extremes,

some embracing them as saviours, some worshipping them as

gods, and some damning them as 'aberrations'. ( Aberrant,

get it? )

[Guest Major Tom]

Re: Campaign Idea

 

IMO the government would initially do whatever was necessary to maintain order and preserve life. That could mean bringing in the National Guard or even declaring martial law *if* the situation was bad enough.

 

The mutation might be regarded as a disease and treated like an outbreak of the Ebola virus*.

 

Once order had been restored, different parts of the government would act in different ways. The police would request new weapons to deal with crazies and criminals with superpowers. The 'men in black' would do everything they could to bring mutants under their power, study and recreate the mutation. IRL the CIA has tried things just as weird, such as remote viewing.

 

 

*Really it's the Wildcard virus of course.

 

And let's not forget those happy-go-lucky mad scientists at DARPA -- you know, the

guys who are presently looking for folks to help out with their powered-armor

project.

 

Major Tom

[Haerandir]

Re: Campaign Idea

 

Someone mentioned the Wildcard Virus, which brings up an interesting question: What other effects do the superhero mutations carry, if any? Is that 1% rate the total infection rate, or is there a percentage of 'failed' changes? I would think the reaction to something that made 1% of the world's population superhuman would be different from something that that made 1% superhumans, 4% hideous mutants and 5% corpses.

 

Likewise, how widespread is the change? Just one geographic region? Only major cities? Everywhere? If, as in the Rising Stars comics, the superhumans are confined to ~100 individuals in a single town, then the government will absolutely try to contain them for study (and possible exploitation). If supers start randomly popping up everywhere, then it's likely that no one will even try to round them up. If its just major cities that are affected, then unless the effects are entirely benevolent, there's likely to be some panicked flight from the cities, and the government may attempt to move in to control that, possibly nabbing/recruiting a bunch of supers in the process (more as a side effect of declaring martial law than anything else).

 

Also, people's reactions are going to be at least partially dictated, as Hermit said, by their portrayal in the media before the event and immediately after. Additionally, the first major superhuman to get widespread media exposure will very likely set the tone. If he's like Superman (or Aberrant's Fireman), then the initial impression will be positive, and people will initially be inclined to treat supers as if they were 4-color do-gooders, even if they aren't. If he's a Magneto-type who's decided that the superhuman transformation is the dawning of a new race of Mankind, destined to supplant and destroy Homo Sapiens (just to pick a random example), then no amount of PR will convince the populace at large or the government that any supers, including the PCs, can be completely trustworthy.

 

Just off the top of my head, I would say that most governments would be inclined to contain the supers if it seemed even slightly feasible, for study. The military and intelligence communities would want to recruit supers, but would refrain from doing so for several months (at the very least) while they attempted to determine exactly what was going on. Most governments would not immediately label the supers terrorists, criminals or threats to public safety without at least strong circumstantial evidence to back up such an accusation. Wild rumors would circulate, fringe groups would call them all sorts of things (angels, demons, messengers from the stars, ancient Lemurian war gods, you name it), but unless someone manages to arrange a commission of Nobel laureates issuing reams of reports to substantiate them, nobody would take any of those theories very seriously. Certainly any kind of dictatorial or totalitarian governments could do whatever they wanted, but the majority would proceed with caution, and adopt a 'wait and see' attitude. However, if any kind of Magneto-clone shows up, starts blowing up military bases and amassing hordes of loyal followers, then you might start seeing the crackdown.

 

Also, when you say 'less than 1%', do you mean "pretty close to 1%", or "actually a LOT less than 1%, I'm just using 1% as a placeholder for 'a very small number'"? One percent of the world's population is over 6,000,000 people. Are you prepared to figure out what will happen with ~800,000 supers running around in NYC? It will definitely change things. One percent is actually quite a large number. At anything approaching 1% of the world's population, no government would be able to effectively control the supers via force, even if most of those 'supers' had very minor powers. The governments would realize this very quickly and take pains not to create any kind of "Humans vs. Mutants" racial war if they could avoid it. That means no internment camps, no forced conscription, none of that, even if they otherwise would have tried these tactics. The smaller the super population, the more likely these tactics are to at least seem feasible, if not any more moral or desirable.

[Battlestaff]

Re: Campaign Idea

 

I have to agree with Haerandir that 1% is a very high number. The question I have is did all the supers appear at once, or are they continuing to 'activate' over a span of time? There will be a different government reaction if all the supers appeared at once than if they continue to appear over time.

 

If all the superpowered beings (SPB) appeared at once, the government will most likely be concerned that SPB would appear in the future. When none appeared over time, the government would then turn more toward cataloging the known SPB, and (depending on the public's reaction to SPB) trying to contain (if the public accepts them) or control (if the public doesn't).

 

If SPB continue to appear over time, I believe the government would again attempt to catalogue any SPB that has appeared, but would also attempt to figure out a way to detect people who are going to become SPB. If it required DNA samples, the government could attempt to require testing of all people (the success depending on the public's acceptance of SPB). If it didn't (and we are dealing with comic book science here, so anything is possible), they may set up discrete investigation units to find SPB before their powers activate. Governmental response would again depend on the public's reaction, openly taking the SPB into custody if the public fears them, or quietly 'acquiring' latent SPB if the public loves them (imagine the public's reaction when it learns that the reason no new SPB have appeared isn't because no new ones have activated, but because the government has kidnapped all SPB prior to their powers becoming active....)

 

Another question is the power level of the SPB. Are they all of the same general power level, or does that vary by individual? Do the majority have minor or medium powers, with only a handful having powers reaching the level of average game superheroes? Governmental reaction will differ if all the SPB have powers that allow them to topple buildings than if the vast majority have abilities hovering around 10 STR TK, or the power to transform water into wine, and nothing else? (think about the theological implications of that) The more powerful the individuals, the stronger and more direct government reaction is going to be. The weaker the powers, the more likely the government is going to ignore certain individuals with powers deemed 'non-useful,' though certain powers will still be of interest (telepathy, invisibility, etc.).

 

A few other points:

 

Are all the powers visible, or can some be bought with invisible power effects? Are all powers required to buy visible power effects (where appropriate)? The more subtle the power, the more the government will have to put into detecting SPB before controlling them, and the more fear the public will have.

 

Does a person, or even just a few individuals, physically change when their powers activate? Do most continue to look the same, with only a few changing forms (sprouting wings, etc.). This would aid the government in detection, though it would also likely play a large factor in the public's reaction to the SPB. The more drastic the change, the more likely the public will fear the SPB.

[Ghost who Walks]

Re: Campaign Idea

 

DP7, an old comic from the late 80s had this theme. Worth mining for ideas, the interesting part was that all those who got powers were mostly ordinary people. There were some other comics in the ssame universe, but DP7 was the only one worth the money.

 

 

The government's reaction would be to contain the people. They would perform experiments, but they would really have no idea what they are doing, unless of course this roblem has happened before.

 

Given enough time, and dissections, the government might eventually figure out how to make their own people with powers. They will then use them to round up everyone else.

 

If it has happened before, then older records might hold a clue. Ancient gods/demons/angels may have just been people with superpowers, for example.

 

If powers are first occuring, the legal issues may be interesting. A city may pass "zoning regulations", for example. Or restraining orders...prohibiting certain people from entering the city limits. Then place the affected person's ex-husband and kids within the city, and a new supervillain is born!

 

Forget about the US federal government trying to regulate powers...when was the last time Congress did anything? Try the state legislatures...

[JakSpade]

Re: Campaign Idea

 

Hey, what about people who have the ability to "evolve" other's special abilities, either spontaneously or on purpose? These people could come in contact with someone with latent superpowers, and their abilities are triggered on...

 

Jak

[Wintreborne]

Re: Campaign Idea

 

Thank you for the information all. You have given me several things to think about. Let me mull a few things over and write a few things down. I will bounce more ideas off of you later.

 

Wintreborne