nexus Posted October 14, 2004 Report Share Posted October 14, 2004 I'm considering running an Iron Age Campaigns. Likely in a completely homebrew setting that will borrow from Ultimates and Stormwatch. What I'm looking for is some suggestions and tips for conventions, optional and house rules and other things to add to the Iron Age feel. Here are some I have thought up: 1. Restrict Resistant Defense. Combat should be deadly. 2. Give more a nod toward "realism" at least in the sense powers should have more logical drawbacks. 3. Higher Point total. 4. Common origin for super powers, or at least a common starting point. 5. Lots of current political and celebrity figures. 6. Secret ID should be fairly rare Any other suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JmOz Posted October 14, 2004 Report Share Posted October 14, 2004 Re: Iron Age Champions campaigning Restrict EB, most should default to RKA's I disagree on higher point totals being an element of Iron Age (However, put the points where you wish, I do not think it is a defining feature BUT it is as legitimet as any other) Characters should have a default: Willing to kill instead of Reluctant to kill The goverment are the badguys, most heroes should take hunted by a branch of them (Cops, FBI, CIA, Army, MiB, etc) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nexus Posted October 14, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2004 Re: Iron Age Champions campaigning Ethnic diversity seems to be more prevalent as well as sexual orientation and gender. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddHat Posted October 14, 2004 Report Share Posted October 14, 2004 Re: Iron Age Champions campaigning I used to Iron Age it constantly, to the point that I burned out on dark worlds. However, I do have some suggestions for “good†Iron Age games, as opposed to the really creepy rusty iron stuff I sometimes ended up with: 1) Double all body damage to living targets before applying defenses. Now a STR 30 man will kill a normal human in one punch, and a fist fight between normal humans is a serious matter. Guns become very deadly to normal humans. Drop the stun lottery in favor of Body times 2 for killing attacks, or use hit locations. 2) Extra DCs from Martial Arts no longer apply to inanimate objects. Now Captain Kick boxer can’t smash tanks, which helps drive home how much more than human his buddy Kiniku Gai really is. 3) A common origin for almost all powers. Suspending disbelief over one thing is easier than suspending disbelief over many. 4) Use the knockdown rules unless the person in question has the Does Knock-back advantage. 5) Don’t go too dark. The real world is full of people who are trying to do the right thing as best they can, and even people who are occasionally heroic. Yes, government conspiracies, fear, cults, mass hysteria and other unpleasantness will be very much part of a real-world with Supers, but there will also be people trying to do Good. Don’t forget about them. 6) Don’t forget the humor value, but don’t get too goofy. Aberrant’s view of Nova’s as celebrities was near perfect, and the idea that any super power will be of enough value to someone to at least get you a good living and a chance at more is only logical in most game worlds. Super-Temp agencies, Super-TV, Super inspired fashion and pop culture is fun, logical, and offers a great chance for some satire. Tasty-Ghoul franchises where ordinary people can buy hamburgers mad of human flesh will make it impossible to take the world seriously. 7) Respect your players. Do not degrade and humiliate characters and NPCs for shock value. I really enjoyed Ellis’ run on the Authority. I thought it was a very good, dark take on Supers. Then Millar took over, threw out the premise that Supers were relatively rare (making much of the continuity into rubbish with that step), and had Apollo rape Captain America to death in his second issue. At that point, I had no further interest in the series. You will lose the best of your players if the game turns into shock theatre. 8) Have you read the Wild Cards books? Arguably, they showed both the best and the worst of Iron Age. In books one to four, you had a consistent world with strong continuity, sympathetic and interesting characters, good rubber science, an adult take on super-powers and their impact on the world, and terrible but believable villains. After book four the series stated to sink deeper and deeper into splatter-punk gross out theatre. The world became a nightmare, and the very few sympathetic characters who were introduced were only around long enough to be raped and killed. I’m not sure if Melinda Snodgrass had contempt for the material and the audience, or if she just really needed therapy. Looking forward to hearing more about what you come up with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddHat Posted October 14, 2004 Report Share Posted October 14, 2004 Re: Iron Age Champions campaigning Ethnic diversity seems to be more prevalent as well as sexual orientation and gender. Yes. I always try to remember the world outside of America and Western Europe (a big issue in most American comics and RPGs). The west is a small part of a big world, and we are dominant mainly because of our tehnological edge. If China really did have Wuxia Kung-Fu and Taoist magic, if the Gods did walk in India, if the Magic were real in Africa, our technology would mean a hell of a lot less. In an Iron Age setting, it can add a lot to work with that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hypnotoad, the Posted October 14, 2004 Report Share Posted October 14, 2004 Re: Iron Age Champions campaigning I don't consider myself an expert on Iron Age genres, but doesn't collateral damage and the consequences thereof come into play? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nexus Posted October 14, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2004 Re: Iron Age Champions campaigning I don't consider myself an expert on Iron Age genres, but doesn't collateral damage and the consequences thereof come into play? Yeah, that is definately a factor. No more free wheeling city block destroying battles in the middle of New York with no innocent casualities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddHat Posted October 14, 2004 Report Share Posted October 14, 2004 Re: Iron Age Champions campaigning Yeah' date=' that is definately a factor. Not free wheeling city block destroying battles in the middle of New York with no innocent casualities.[/quote'] That too. Also, note the economic costs of mass destruction in an urban environment. If downtown Tokyo does get trashed, the global depression should last a few years at least. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hypnotoad, the Posted October 14, 2004 Report Share Posted October 14, 2004 Re: Iron Age Champions campaigning That too. Also' date=' note the economic costs of mass destruction in an urban environment. If downtown Tokyo does get trashed, the global depression should last a few years at least.[/quote'] I don't think you'd have to go that far. Just causing major damage to a major corporate HQ can have a ripple effect on the surrounding environs. Companies might leave the area, if they thought that it was unsafe to conduct business there. Folks would lose their jobs... A whole snowball effect could hit resulting from a single fight. Man, that'd suck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nexus Posted October 14, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2004 Re: Iron Age Champions campaigning "Villains" and "Heroes" with an agenda. Political, Moral or otherwise and the will to see it threw, even to violate the law to do so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paigeoliver Posted October 14, 2004 Report Share Posted October 14, 2004 Re: Iron Age Champions campaigning 1. Restrict Resistant Defense. Combat should be deadly. 5. Lots of current political and celebrity figures. Any other suggestions? Perhaps to combine these two you could have a scenario where a villian kills Jennifer Lopez. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freakboy6117 Posted October 14, 2004 Report Share Posted October 14, 2004 Re: Iron Age Champions campaigning they did the rather good x men poptopia where chamber from mutant X got involved with a english brittany clone wghich turned out to be a cheap ploy oh her part to raise her publicity and move in a new direction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mutant for Hire Posted October 14, 2004 Report Share Posted October 14, 2004 Re: Iron Age Champions campaigning Look at this thread for the last major discussion on the subject. There's actually very little in the rules there and a lot in the campaign setting. But there are a few points for the rules that we can go into: 1. Heroic equipment rules Superheroic equipment rules were unrealistic but simulated the superhero genre in gold through bronze. Heroic equipment rules are more realistic and more Iron Agey, as they encourage characters to carry gear. 1a. Watch out for equipment drops A GM should be careful ofwhat equipment falls into the hands of characters The fact is that looting opponents comes a lot closer to what you find in the Iron Age comic books than anything else. It certainly falls into the area of realism that we're talking about here. 2. Most damaging powers generate Killing Attacks None of this "my fire powers are more stunning than damaging" sort of stuff. The GM has to look at the special effects of the powers and then get a very good explanation of why a power wouldn't cause killing damage in most cases. 3. Allow Resistant Defenses for everyone The opposite of the proposed rule, but even in Iron Age, heroes at least don't die often and the villains tend to last a while as well. On the other hand, innocent bystanders who lack resistant defenses tend to drop like flies. 3a. Spandex is optional Characters who aren't naturally invulnerable should wear armor. If purchasable armor isn't good enough (and in high power it won't be) then you need supertech armor for the heroes to put on. Armor is very Iron Age as well. 4. Secret IDs are allowed in a specific fashion Heroes are allowed to secretly work for an agency and wear a costume that covers all of their features. To the general public, they are working for some cover business with a job that doesn't require normal hours. Spouses are more likely to know than not, though not always. In some ways, think of an Iron Age campaign as a heroic campaign which can have very high point totals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddHat Posted October 14, 2004 Report Share Posted October 14, 2004 Re: Iron Age Champions campaigning 3. Allow Resistant Defenses for everyone The opposite of the proposed rule, but even in Iron Age, heroes at least don't die often and the villains tend to last a while as well. On the other hand, innocent bystanders who lack resistant defenses tend to drop like flies. Big "Yup" to this one. Many Iron Age mags start from the assumption that the police and military are helpless against Supers. Combat may kill a lot of normal people and mooks, but heroes somehow come back again and again. Regeneration and resurection were my default answer for this in most Iron Age games; they were what made the difference between a Super and a temporarilly boosted normal. Another very Iron Age option: Non-persistant defences, especially Force Fields. Many Iron Age comics have the Supers standing invincible under the first few machine gun bursts, then spitting blood from a simple kick to the chin after they've been stunned. Force Fields and Ablative Defenses are good for simulating this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katherine Posted October 15, 2004 Report Share Posted October 15, 2004 Re: Iron Age Champions campaigning Sex and sexuality seem to play more of a role. On a more sleazy note, some Iron Age comics show allot more skin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Posted October 15, 2004 Report Share Posted October 15, 2004 Re: Iron Age Champions campaigning One slight concern. If modern, gritty superheroics are Iron age, have we only got one more iteration - Stone - to go before we run out of genres? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metaphysician Posted October 15, 2004 Report Share Posted October 15, 2004 Re: Iron Age Champions campaigning No, I'd say most modern comics are less Iron and more Bronze. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kristopher Posted October 15, 2004 Report Share Posted October 15, 2004 Re: Iron Age Champions campaigning It seems to me that, based on the commonly accepted definitions, most comics never really went "Iron", and that the Iron Age was more about the edges and less about the center. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mutant for Hire Posted October 15, 2004 Report Share Posted October 15, 2004 Re: Iron Age Champions campaigning One slight concern. If modern' date=' gritty superheroics are Iron age, have we only got one more iteration - Stone - to go before we run out of genres?[/quote'] If one looks at the Ages as styles, then we've more or less finished the set. I tend to view genres as points on a sphere, with the DC Silver Age at one pole and then the Iron Age at the other pole. The Golden Age was a steady progress away from the pulp genre, which was closer to the Iron Age pole towards the Silver Age Pole. Marvel's Silver Age shifted everything off the Silver Age pole and then there was a steady crawl down towards the Iron Age pole. After a time, Marvel and DC have pulled away from that. It seems to me that' date=' based on the commonly accepted definitions, most comics never really went "Iron", and that the Iron Age was more about the edges and less about the center.[/quote'] In maintstream Marvel and DC, you're perfectly accurate. Only a few titles went Ironish and even they tended to hang onto an element of Bronze and have reverted. It was mainly in the Indepedent comics that you found a lot of Iron. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nexus Posted October 17, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 17, 2004 Re: Iron Age Champions campaigning Would the use of Resource points from Dark Champions be a good suggestion for an Iron Age game? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metaphysician Posted October 17, 2004 Report Share Posted October 17, 2004 Re: Iron Age Champions campaigning IMHO, the use of Resources could be a good thing for *any* game, but thats probably just me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddHat Posted October 17, 2004 Report Share Posted October 17, 2004 Re: Iron Age Champions campaigning IMHO' date=' the use of Resources could be a good thing for *any* game, but thats probably just me.[/quote'] Not just you. Fully agreed here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nexus Posted October 17, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 17, 2004 Re: Iron Age Champions campaigning Not just you. Fully agreed here. Why would you say that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddHat Posted October 17, 2004 Report Share Posted October 17, 2004 Re: Iron Age Champions campaigning Why would you say that? Personal preference only. I’ve never liked charging points for real-world technology, bases, and vehicles (super-tech is a different matter). I also feel that Favors and Contacts tend to be overpriced for what they get your character in play. On the other hand, I understand the need to quantify, especially in Champions. I’ve used house rules to deal with it, which works well enough. Resource points are a nice system fix for those who are looking for a compromise between standard charging points for everything and house ruling around real-tech issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metaphysician Posted October 17, 2004 Report Share Posted October 17, 2004 Re: Iron Age Champions campaigning Pretty much the same thing. Lets the heroes ( and villains. . . ) use real world and "off the shelf" equipment without paying full price. Also lets you do revolving sets of Bases and Vehicles more easily. It also provides a mechanic for "Trophy Room" tricks. . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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