WWYCD:Nightmares of Past Futures

[nexus]

Sorry to those that hate these threads and I hope this one hasn't been done before, but it struck me as interesting.

 

While on patrol in a suburban neighborhood (Or passing threw on more important business if you such things are beyond you), your PC stumbles onto a group of superhumans attacking what appears to be a perfectly normal middle class home with heavy and lethal force. Its only blind luck that the family isn't already dead. The attackers turn on you savagely regardless of if your character intervenes or just approaches to investigate. They are heavily armed, powerful, well coordinated (to a military degree) and equipped with advanced gear and weaponry that matches no known organization profiles in your game universe. They also seem to have a high degree of knowledge about your powers and tactics.

 

But, heroically, you managed to save the targets and escape/drive off their assailants. The grateful civilians are completely clueless as to why they were attacked. Investigating turns up a normal background, no connection to Viper, other supers, anything that might prompt such an attack. A few days pass, then those same supers contact your team via secured means (encrypted, telepathic, whatever it takes). They explain that they are revolutionaries sent from a future, a fairly dark future where a genocidal war has nearly destroyed mankind. The cause? A single vile dictator that happens to be the youngest daughter of the family they attacked. The super provide what proof they can (images, psionically transmitted memories, etc) and the child does truly seem to grow up into a evil figure that will be responsible for countless deaths.

 

What do you do?

 

Edit: The girl's future self isn't specifically trying to kill superhumans and wasn't apparently triggered by the sudden death of her parents/family at some point in the past. In other words, there guys might be misguided in their attempt to change the past, but they are not complete idiots.

[Chuckg]

Re: WWYCD:Nightmares of Past Futures

 

Starguard -- call the New Sentinels. (Who, really, would most likely have been called already.) Vote for the position of 'we need to see that she's raised in really really nice conditions to hopefully make her not grow up evil'.

 

Dr. Pain -- Ask these future nimrods if they've ever heard of the terms 'time paradox' and 'self-fulfilling prophecy'. Offer to loan them his Terminator 1 & 2 DVDs.

 

Baron von Darien -- you mean they lived through the initial fight?

 

What Dr. Pain did, only with much deeper examination of the situation (i.e. -- the girl), along with relocation, along with notification of the Trismegistus and/or any superhero friends he might have that we have a time/prophecy situation in progress, and we need to figure out if it's one of those that can be avoided, one of those that is inevitable, or one of those that could have been avoided but the act of trying to avoid it in this particular fashion just /made/ it inevitable.

[OddHat]

Re: WWYCD:Nightmares of Past Futures

 

Style - Does everything in his power to determine if this is true, including directly visiting the world of the Supers who sent the data. Carefully explains to them that the branching nature of time makes it impossible to change their world by killing this child. Uses force if he has to. Investigates many possible futures of the child, seeking a way to prevent this tragedy in his own world.

 

Flesh Gordon - Is completely out of his depth. He'll alternate between protecting the child and making passes at the female revolutionaries. WIll take the child and her siblings for a ride in his Strato Ship, and feed her sugary "space food" from the nutrient synthesizers and teach the kids rude songs in the Trade Tongue of the Empire. Could easily forget why they are out here and convince himself that he and the kids are an interstellar folk music group dedicated to entertaining famillies on a thousand worlds! The kids will have to talk him down. May find a way out of the problem by pure luck.

 

Legend - Will protect the weak. He will also seek guidance from his team mates on ways to prevent this dark future.

[Metaphysician]

Re: WWYCD:Nightmares of Past Futures

 

Microman II: Asks the logical question- "How, exactly did this dictator rise to power?" In particular, how she arose despite the presence of the Sentinels, or if the Sentinels were wiped out prior or during in some way.

 

For that matter, he'd probably like some evidence that this even *is* their timeline anymore. . .

 

Diomedes: The entire family now has a benefactor. For the forseeable future, Diomedes is going to be dedicating a good portion of his money and attention to this little girl, hopefully becoming a mentor figure. OTOH, he asks his Contact some questions about the nature of time, first.

[Whitewings]

Re: WWYCD:Nightmares of Past Futures

 

Red: Blank look. Her knowledge of such things is fairly minimal. Once someone explains it in terms she can grasp, her reaction will be simple: "Be nice. Girl will be nice."

 

Faye: She'll do her best to be an unofficial "big sister" to the supposed future dictator. Of course, she's not going to take these jokers at face value; she'll either perform or have someone she trusts perform deep telepathic scans to be sure these guys aren't just nuts. If they aren't nuts, well... see above, for Dr. Pain. "Yo, stupids. Ever watched 'Star Trek?' Didn't think so. You mess with this kid again and you're lunch meat. Clear? Good." Subtle isn't in her vocabulary.

 

Champion Wind: As Champion Wind, she won't do much. As herself, she'll try to be a friend to the girl, so that if she does rise to power she won't become an evil dictator.

 

Ika: "Unh?" She's bascially a cave girl. Good luck explaining time travel to her.

 

Crystal: Well, the staggering wealth of the Kaine family and the huge array of contacts they have sholud be enough to find the family breadwinner a job somewhere else. Crystal herself might or might not take a personal interest in the girl, but she'll put the word out that it would be advisable to see that she grows up fairly happily.

[Badger]

Re: WWYCD:Nightmares of Past Futures

 

Badger- She hasnt done anything evil yet. So this is not justified. His former bad self would be tempted to kill her for the good of the world. But would probably go into future to help them there.

 

Frosty Bob- Ask to go into the future. To meet this dictator. And probably hit on said dictator. If the COM is high enough.

 

Weasel- The gadgeteer of the group, analyzes their proof, does some Calculus-like mathmatecal gobbledy-gook. BLAH BLAH BLAh. Bob and Badger get bored and go to future w/o him. He also would probably "borrow" some of their tech to add to his power armor. He is the only one of these main three who has any notion of what time travel does and works.

[BcAugust]

Re: WWYCD:Nightmares of Past Futures

 

Cyrande would be wondering how the family survived. And would likely question the nature of the girl. If she's a sociopath or psychopath, then Cyrande would likely quietly kill the girl. If that's not the case, she'd likely argue for taking the girl in and having Starguard mentor her.

 

Nox, on the other hand, would require a member of her team to sit on her long enough to listen to these guys (Loathes people who use lethal force and is very protective of innocents) While she would probably agree with Diomedes to mentor and protect the girl, she'd insist the other team goes to jail at the very least.

[sinanju]

Re: WWYCD:Nightmares of Past Futures

 

A few days pass, then those same supers contact your team via secured means (encrypted, telepathic, whatever it takes). They explain that they are revolutionaries sent from a future, a fairly dark future where a genocidal war has nearly destroyed mankind. The cause? A single vile dictator that happens to be the youngest daughter of the family they attacked. The super provide what proof they can (images, psionically transmitted memories, etc) and the child does truly seem to grow up into a evil figure that will be responsible for countless deaths.

 

What do you do?

 

Cassandra, Man-Ape, Hell's Angel, pretty much ALL my characters curse them for the ignorant, time-travelin', paradox-inflicting MORONS that they are!

 

Of COURSE she grows up to be a dictator with a serious hard-on for wiping out superhumans. Superhumans attacked her family when she was a child for NO GOOD REASON THAT SHE KNEW ABOUT!

 

Didn't these dimwits ever watch The Terminator?

[nexus]

Re: WWYCD:Nightmares of Past Futures

 

Well, it wasn't that she had a hard on for killing superhumans. She becomes a Hitler like figure that tries to take over the world.

 

To clarify matters, their story confirms her "rise" wasn't caused by any odd attacks or the sudden death of her family. In other words, they're not complete morons but seem to be an honest, last ditch attempt to stop something nightmarish from happening in the future. Like World War 2 and the Holocaust except on a bigger scale.

 

Edit: They're not complete morons. Apparently I am.

[Twilight]

Re: WWYCD:Nightmares of Past Futures

 

Well if thier story confirms that it was odd attacks on the girl's family and the death of her family that caused the girl's future rise, Twilight would suggest rather tersely that they refrain from attacking her family lest they cause the event they're trying to prevent in the first place. Of course Twilight is rather protective of children and would be very annoyed by thier attempts to slay one. Of course as he's not an idiot himself, Twilight would find it practical to keep an eye on the girl and try to steer her in the direction of goodness if he can.

[nexus]

Re: WWYCD:Nightmares of Past Futures

 

Well if thier story confirms that it was odd attacks on the girl's family and the death of her family that caused the girl's future rise' date=' Twilight would suggest rather tersely that they refrain from attacking her family lest they cause the event they're trying to prevent in the first place. Of course Twilight is rather protective of children and would be very annoyed by thier attempts to slay one. Of course as he's not an idiot himself, Twilight would find it practical to keep an eye on the girl and try to steer her in the direction of goodness if he can.[/quote']

 

Wasn't.

 

I screwed up.

[Twilight]

Re: WWYCD:Nightmares of Past Futures

 

Wasn't.

 

I screwed up.

 

Oh, well Twilight will still suggest they not attack her as it COULD HAVE been something like that that caused her rise. Plus he's not fond of those who attack children, as I mentioned before. Otherwise his reaction is the same.

[Chuckg]

Re: WWYCD:Nightmares of Past Futures

 

OK, time to play 'hack the prophecy'.

 

"This child is absolutely, 100% destined to grow up and conquer the Earth and rule it under her iron heel!"

 

"OK, fine. Fire up the dimensional jumper. I'm Fed-Ex'ing her ass to Nazi World.'

 

'... the wha?'

 

'It didn't say *WHICH* Earth, did it? And the net amount of evil in the multiverse actually goes marginally *DOWN* as, well, she sounds like at least a /few/ percent improvement on Hitler.'

 

'What if she comes back here and conquers our planet in the name of Nazi Science?'

 

'Dude, if they could find the dimensional way back to our world, they'd invade us anyway, her or not.'

[Blue]

Re: WWYCD:Nightmares of Past Futures

 

If the future is malleable enough that it can be changed through killing the transgressor then it can be changed through proper education of the individual. I don't see any of my characters sacrificing the girl, even if they were convinced it was the truth. It's more likely that they would do their best to help her be the right kind of person.

[Guest WhammeWhamme]

Re: WWYCD:Nightmares of Past Futures

 

If the future is malleable enough that it can be changed through killing the transgressor then it can be changed through proper education of the individual. I don't see any of my characters sacrificing the girl' date=' even if they were convinced it was the truth. It's more likely that they would do their best to help her be the right kind of person.[/quote']

 

Well... anything like that has one flaw: Things can go wrong. One traumatic incident ten years from now and she disappears and begins building her power...

[Chuckg]

Re: WWYCD:Nightmares of Past Futures

 

Well... anything like that has one flaw: Things can go wrong. One traumatic incident ten years from now and she disappears and begins building her power...

 

IMO, this is not the superheroic attitude.

[The Watcher]

Re: WWYCD:Nightmares of Past Futures

 

Well... anything like that has one flaw: Things can go wrong. One traumatic incident ten years from now and she disappears and begins building her power...

Still, if the time travellers knew enough about her to track her back to her family, they know enough about the history of her rise to give someone enough information to potentially derail it. Especially if they already have considerable political influence and power of their own.

 

That said...

 

Warp: Joins with his fellow Sentinels in trying to mentor the girl away from the course that leads to her becoming a dictator. Maybe get her interested in something with little conquering potential such as comic book writing.

 

Meanwhile, as Daniel Stone, builds his politcal influence and contacts to the point he can totally trash her political career and any cause she espouses, in case the mentoring attempt does not work out.

 

Either way, she's prevented from rising to power without killing her.

 

Spectrum: Uses his heroic stature and charisma along with that of the rest of his team to influence her away from the attitudes that would make her a dictator.

 

Mystic: Magical "coincidences" steer her away from the events and people that would make her become a dictator, and onto a path where she would live a happy but uneventful life.

[gewing]

Re: WWYCD:Nightmares of Past Futures

 

Well, Stalker went enraged (unless maybe it was AFTER his therapy/retirement) and proceeded to kick/punch/choke them until they are unconscious/not moving/ etc when he realizied they were attacking an innocent family, particularly with children. If they lived, his team mates would probably be doing all the logical/super intelligent things that WOrld class magicians and technologists do when confronted with Chronological anomolies.

 

He would proceed to monitor her, and set her up in Counseling with RHino's wife if she showed signs of problems.

 

 

JHIII would be really torn. Probably end up going through to the distopian future to help, though he is a supernormal.

[Blue]

Re: WWYCD:Nightmares of Past Futures

 

Well... anything like that has one flaw: Things can go wrong. One traumatic incident ten years from now and she disappears and begins building her power...

Yes, I'm aware of possible issues. But none of my characters would perform summary executions. Hence, this is the choice.

[Guest WhammeWhamme]

Re: WWYCD:Nightmares of Past Futures

 

IMO' date=' this is not the superheroic attitude.[/quote']

 

I agree. It _is_, however, the attiude of men who cannot afford to fail, because failure leads to a fate worse than death...

 

Yes, it is the "superheroic" thing to do - risk everyone to prevent certain harm to one person because you're sure you can make it all work out... - but not everyone plays THOSE superheroes.

 

Because, observed from a distance...

 

That said, for mine: Estatua, Flippant, and several no longer operative PCs of mine would go for the 'double or nothing' toss.

 

Ghost might very well BE one of the Time Travellers (she's from an apocalyptic future), but she's not exactly a Superhero (despite being a Marvel/DC hybrid world...), so she doesn't count.

 

Rook IS a time travelling future alterer with a mission... but letting them accomplish THEIR mission would conflict with his (to make sure his team stays Good, Noble, and Incorruptible), so he joins the 'classic' superheroes in actions, despite privately sympathising.

 

 

I tend to both metagame things ("This is going to be a bad decision...") and act in character ("but nonetheless, I act like an idiot..."). Plus I have psych: Devil's Advocate.

[Guest WhammeWhamme]

Re: WWYCD:Nightmares of Past Futures

 

Yes' date=' I'm aware of possible issues. But none of my characters would perform summary executions. Hence, this is the choice.[/quote']

 

Oh, sure. It's just that this is one of those times when CvK or even simply being a Good Person can be a Bad Thing...

[Chuckg]

Re: WWYCD:Nightmares of Past Futures

 

I agree. It _is_, however, the attiude of men who cannot afford to fail, because failure leads to a fate worse than death...

 

Yes, it is the "superheroic" thing to do - risk everyone to prevent certain harm to one person because you're sure you can make it all work out... - but not everyone plays THOSE superheroes.

 

Why am I hearing 'Idealists drool, pragmatists rule! Superheroes are naive idiots!'?

 

(add) In the New Sentinels campaign, our characters -- in character voice -- had a discussion once. It was about whether or not to allow a potentially dangerous alien from an even more dangerous alien species hang around and try to be friends, or if we should take our one opportunity shot now to zap somebody who could prove dangerous to the planet just by existing. And there were signs that she was reaaaaaaally dangerous. There were also signs that she wasn't, so...

 

From our game logs (edited for grammar, etc.)

 

Horus-Re -- "I judge her no differently from you, I simply do so in hope. That is what I ask you to do. And if our hope is in vain, we will face the consequences of it together."

 

Warp -- "Fine. I can't argue with that. But even if she is as noble as you say she is, that doesn't change the fact that her people aren't. And her presence and that of her ship on Earth puts the entire planet in jeopardy. OK, more jeopardy than it already is in."

 

Horus-Re -- "I will tell you a secret, Warp. Humanity is always in constant dire peril for its temporal existance. There is always some way that it is... and there has always been some way to mitigate that.

 

"I have come to believe that man will always find a way to endure, but that is not the point. If man simply endures, man is pointless, man is just a well adapted animal. The point is that man endures in hope.

 

"Of course her presence here brings the threat of her dark and savage empire, but so what? If her presence here, amidst the race I have found to have the finest souls in creation, betters her, strengthens her, then it is worth that.

 

"We are heroes, Warp, champions of humanity. We do not exist simply to ensure man endures. We exist to ensure man endures in hope. If we lack hope ourselves.. how do we do that?

 

"Think on what I have said, please. I will leave it at that."

 

-- New Sentinels campaign logs, session 31

 

And as Earth's last line of defense, the New Sentinels in general (and Horus most specifically, as 'Superman') are people who *really* can't afford to fail. Our first really major screw-up will probably the one that blows the planet up.

 

The point is, we're trying to succeed at something different than mere 'survival at any cost, no matter who or what we have to butcher to stay alive'.