Jeff Wayne's War of the World's meets Champions

[proditor]

The Grand Idea....

 

Okay, a lot of us know that there is little better in this world than Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds right? If you have played the video game, you also know the fun of deploying modified tanks and pre-dreadnaughts against Tripods...so...if we can do Victorian/Steampunk Sci-fi, what's to keep us from changing the page as it were? The idea...

 

"No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinised and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water..." (H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds)

 

Okay, we know the aliens were pretty powerful technologically and we can make some summations on a few other things. They were arrogant and not particularly thorough. They get gakked by the common cold for pete's sake! Okay, they also have that wonderful little invention, the Black Dust. Now it's almost a hallmark in the superheroic genre to create heroes from some event that kills off most normal people. In Wild Cards, it was a virus that was designed to just that. Now going back to the arrogance of the Martians, yes the Red Weed/Black Dust combo works well, but in a small amount of survivors who emerged different. Altered on a fundamental level, they have stood forth to defend the Empire from the assault of these invaders from beyond. Yes, that's right, I'm combining War of the Worlds and Champions.

 

Setting: England, 1900. (The possibility exists to expand elsewhere with great ease, just drop a few cylinders and you are off to the races.)

 

PC Power Level: Since we are going to be fighting Tripods and Heat Rays and Martians (Oh My!) we're going to be generous with points and settle on 300 for a starting PC. IMPORTANT NOTE! ALL PC's MUST buy the LS: Immunity to Black Dust (5 pts?) as one of their powers.

 

Conventions of the setting for character creation: Only a small fraction (say 0.1%) survive the Black Dust for whatever reason. British Scientists have yet to determine what allows only a few to survive and gain vast power while the overwhelming majority perish. Most (85%) of those who survive the Black dust are enhanced physically. They become stronger, faster, more durable, all to varying degress. In short, they have very physical powers that are completely inherent to themselves. This can include things like wings, laser beams from the eyes, anything physical and tangible really. Another group (10%) has developed along a more mental path and they have abilites associated with the great mystics and yogis of the time. The last group (5%) have "sport" powers, those to strange to classify as physical or mental. This sport group also includes a very small amount of hyper gadgeteers employing Steampunk tech that is almost as bizarre and powerful as the Martians!

 

Costumes: Yes, surprisingly. Most of those who survive the Dust feel compelled to adopt a persona that can serve as a beacon for the Empire. More than simply the need to protect one's identidy, this is the need to fuel a nation's morale.

 

 

Some known survivors for the setting:

 

Britannic: Rising from the grim remains of Oxford, he shrugged the detrius of destruction from him and looked around at the dead city that he had called home. All around him the shrill cry of a heat rays split the pre-dawn darkness, the flashes strobing in the distance like thunder on a summer's night. He cried, tears streaking through his grime and dust covered face. Then came the sound. A heavy tread came from just outside the shattered remains of his house and he looked up through what had once been his roof to see the scout machine peering around for new prey. Fear should have gripped him cold, but it had no hold on his heart. No, white hot anger burned there instead. He crouched slightly and then lept at the leg of the machine. Almost unknowing he struck at the leg, a last desperate act of defiance. The next few seconds actually shocked him into immobility. The result of his blow had been profound and the leg virtually exploded, spilling the mighty machine to the ground and shattering the control compartment. Moreover, as he looked down, the man who would become Britannic realized he was some 20 feet in the air and just hovering. The realization of his new abilites came to the fore and in short order, Britannic became a one man evacuation force in Oxford. The crown credits his quick actions with helping to stabilize the front and hold the martians to no new conquests, but it was at heavy cost. Britannic was struck down by three of the war machines working in concert, heat rays dancing across his form. While he did not die that die, he was out of the fight for some time and a new caution was adopted by the British. They had their new champion, but he was not invicible. What is known is that he is highly resistant to harm, Strong to the point of myth and able to fly under his own power. Sometimes it is this last ability that serves him best as with his recovery, he has become an able scout for the Empire in addition to being one of it's most capable fighters.

Quote: "The sun shall never set on the British Empire!"

 

Donnybrook: Born in the death of Upper Surrey, Donnybrook had once been a prize fighter of some reknown and consummate ability. As he hacked the last of the Black dust from his lungs, he felt...different. Staggeringly slightly, he leaned against a brickwork wall and cried out against the death of all he had known. His fist slammed against the wall in impotent rage...and the wall exploded. Donnybrook has added a near perfection level physique to his skills and the innate ability to get right through any beings defenses. Steel, Brick, and yes, the strange martian composites, all have felt the shattering blows of his mighty fists. While he is nowhere near as strong or invulnerable as Britannic, he still delivers almost as much force and is far quicker.

Quote: "Marquis of Queensbury me arse, I'm gonna show you bloody wankers why they call me Donnybrook!"

 

Nike: The first woman to step forward after surviving the Dust, Nike has only been a precursor of things to come, not an anomaly. The ratio of individuals surviving has been pretty even amongst the sexes and the Brits still aren't sure how to deal with these newly empowered (literally) women. Nike is glad to explain it to them. Get out of her way and let her save the Empire before the sun DOES set on the empire. Nike has taken her name from mythology and has impressive abilities to back it up. Her hands can emit focused blasts of force and she can send herself aloft at will by similar measures. She can also generate a field of this force around her as a protective field.

Quote: "Stuff that woman's place rot, If you keep getting in my way, you'll lose this town!"

 

Stella Stovepipe: One of the very few "Gadgeteers", Stella discovered her gift only after being evacuated to London before the advancing martians. Ideas for bizarre contraptions literally exploded into her mind and she found herself compelled to build them. Working on her own, it still wasn't long before a strange figure in boilerplate steam powered armor was seen on the field of battle, throwing the very height of Victorian know how right back at the invaders! The British Army quickly supported this new enigmatic figure and was stunned when the battle ended and a woman emerged from the suit! She was quickly co-opted to help design the next generation of British War Machines and her "Track-layer" idea has now become a reality soon to face the martians in battle. But Stella still longs to fight the enemy directly.

Quote: "No, no, no...Look guv'nor, I know you was a doctor and all when I was cleanin' stoves fer a livin', but now you have ta listen, that just won't work. Lemme show ya how to do it..."

 

So...what do ya'll think? I'm idly considering this for a DH article, but I'm not sure how that works with rights and what not. Might be easier to make it a forum project. Next would be full sheets for the 4 above and then some martiany goodness to follow.

[OddHat]

Re: Jeff Wayne's War of the World's meets Champions

 

Sounds like great fun.

 

Have you read the second League of Extraordinary Gentlemen TPB? The League faces the invading martians, finally destroying them thanks to a weapon developed by the real creator of Winnie the Pooh. Insane, wonderful stuff, and it might give you all sorts of ideas for this setting.

 

Don't forget that this time period had plenty of literature dealing with (low level) Superhumans, and that Hugo Danner (one root character for Superman) was only a few years away from serving in WWI. Plenty of other material to bring into it.

 

You could have an interesting set of relationships going on between better educated, lower powered Supers and Super-Normals of Europe, and the flashy, higher powered Black Dust Supers.

 

The latest Planetary TPB also has some interesting ideas for this period, as does the Wold Newton Universe

[Lord Mhoram]

Re: Jeff Wayne's War of the World's meets Champions

 

Great idea.

Don't have much to say, but feel compelled to post in any thread that mentions Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds.

[CDad]

Re: Jeff Wayne's War of the World's meets Champions

 

Great idea.

Don't have much to say, but feel compelled to post in any thread that mentions Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds.

But of course! Hmm... now what sort of music would you play during sessions?

[Just A Guy Name]

Re: Jeff Wayne's War of the World's meets Champions

 

I wish I'd thought of this. My only quibble is that the points seem kinda high for the setting. If it were me, I'd probably go 125 + 100. Not a big deal, though. Good on ya!

 

It looks to me to be very much worthy of writing as an article. If you keep it here, in the forum, I'll try to think of something positive to contribute

[st barbara]

Re: Jeff Wayne's War of the World's meets Champions

 

To "Proditor" I love it ! Have you read the second "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" by the way? That featured the Martian invasion if I remember corectly.

[Curufea]

Re: Jeff Wayne's War of the World's meets Champions

 

BTW, if you weren't aware - there are three movies of War of the Worlds coming out next year-

 

A Hollywood Tom Cruise/Steven Speilberg adaptation set in modern day USA:-

http://www.waroftheworlds.com/

 

A Pendragon Pictures movie set in Victorian England - that should be the nearest to the actual story yet:-

http://www.pendragonpictures.com/

 

A CGI movie based on the Jeff Wayne musical (Also set in Victorian England):-

http://www.thewaroftheworlds.com/

 

All due out next year....

[CDad]

Re: Jeff Wayne's War of the World's meets Champions

 

Woohoo! I think I'd better start saving for a couple of DVDs...

[proditor]

Re: Jeff Wayne's War of the World's meets Champions

 

Just checking in, little harried at the moment so this got back-burnered.

 

StBarbara: No, I read the first TPB and I know this is gonna shock folks, but I wasn't a fan.

 

Curufea: Cool! I knew about 1 & 3, but I had no idea about 2. Awesome! Thanks for the info.

 

Just A Guy Name: I'm still pondering the idea of an article. I'll make up my mind soonish, probably after the holidays. I went for 300 points so that they could be a "viable" threat to a Tripod. I'm going to look at it some more as that was honestly just kinda shootin' from the hip.

 

Glad ya'll like the idea, I think it could be a really cool medium length campaign and one of the few that has a beginning, middle and end if you want it to.

[Curufea]

Re: Jeff Wayne's War of the World's meets Champions

 

TLoEG is not to everyone's tastes, and contains adult concepts (especially the second volume) - dark and disturbing in parts.

 

However, one interesting thing that Hyde pointed out that is very valid in a superhero game is - Tripods are a very stupid design. You take out one leg, and they fall over.

[proditor]

Re: Jeff Wayne's War of the World's meets Champions

 

TLoEG is not to everyone's tastes, and contains adult concepts (especially the second volume) - dark and disturbing in parts.

 

However, one interesting thing that Hyde pointed out that is very valid in a superhero game is - Tripods are a very stupid design. You take out one leg, and they fall over.

It's not the dark and disturbing that bugged me, it was...I'm not even sure I can put a finger on it. I mean, I read stuff like Grips, Elementals and erm...that demony one....Oh yeah, Faust! I actually felt kind of let down by TLoEG. Like it had great promise but I didn't feel I got the delivery. YMMV of course.

[Curufea]

Re: Jeff Wayne's War of the World's meets Champions

 

True - I thought it was a bit esoteric. A comic for comic writers. Or a comic for people who did their masters in Victorian literature.

 

But on the other hand if it sparks interest in folk to read the originals and then go back to the comic and say "oh yeah, THAT's what that reference is about" then I suppose it's valid.

 

Anyhow - another interesting resource is "A fistful of Tripods" a simple wargame-

Which is no longer online (drat)

 

War of the Worlds online resources-

http://drzeus.best.vwh.net/wotw/

 

Tripod miniatures-

http://www.tin-soldier.com/tripod.htm

 

Oh, and I actually have made up this paper model of a tripod. Fiddley, but not too hard to do.

http://www.cutnpastesf.com/

[OddHat]

Re: Jeff Wayne's War of the World's meets Champions

 

True - I thought it was a bit esoteric. A comic for comic writers. Or a comic for people who did their masters in Victorian literature.

 

But on the other hand if it sparks interest in folk to read the originals and then go back to the comic and say "oh yeah, THAT's what that reference is about" then I suppose it's valid.

 

Maybe. I think that it was a comic for fans of fantastic literature. I've read everything Moore was referencing over the years, just as a fan of the genre. Also, the main characters have all made their way into popular culture through film and TV; it was the background stuff that got a little more obscure. If there was a problem with the books, it was the lack of an attractive emotional center; Mina and Alan are the most sympathetic characters, and neither of them are people you'd want to have a beer with.

[wcw43921]

Re: Jeff Wayne's War of the World's meets Champions

 

However, one interesting thing that Hyde pointed out that is very valid in a superhero game is - Tripods are a very stupid design. You take out one leg, and they fall over.

 

The same can be said of any "Walker" vehicle--from two-legged vehicles like Gundam Mobile Suits (and just about any other fighting robot) to the AT-ATs from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. Even eight-legged "spider-walkers" would have problems functioning if it lost even one of its legs.*

 

This is why I remain less-than-convinced of the viability of anthropomorphic or zoomorphic vehicles as weapons of war. As storytelling devices, however, they work really well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*Now a "centipede-walker" with a hundred or more legs, might be able to sustain the loss of one or more legs without a critical loss of functionality. Perhaps Foxbat was right all along.

 

Now there's a thought. . . :shudder:

[Curufea]

Re: Jeff Wayne's War of the World's meets Champions

 

Which reminds of BattleWarMechBots from Macho Women with Guns (a "wargame" that is more fun to read than play). One of the enemies is basically a huge Smiley with arms and legs. The history of them and why they are no longer used by the military is they thought the concept of giant robots to be silly...

 

Anyhow, more good War of the Worlds stuff--

 

http://robk.proboards13.com/index.cgi

[proditor]

Re: Jeff Wayne's War of the World's meets Champions

 

Minor update.

 

I just completed my article for submission to Digitial Hero. Wish me luck guys!

[OddHat]

Re: Jeff Wayne's War of the World's meets Champions

 

Luck.

[Just A Guy Name]

Re: Jeff Wayne's War of the World's meets Champions

 

Minor update.

 

I just completed my article for submission to Digitial Hero. Wish me luck guys!

Glad to hear you finished it, proditor! BOLTY

[AlHazred]

Re: Jeff Wayne's War of the World's meets Champions

 

I feel compelled to mention my writeup of the Martians and their fighting and handling machines on Surbrook's Stuff page. These were based on a careful reading of the book, and not the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen TPB; however, the power level of the Martians is still decent enough that the War Machines should give superheroes trouble.

[Trebuchet]

Re: Jeff Wayne's War of the World's meets Champions

 

I feel compelled to mention my writeup of the machines on Surbrook's Stuff page. These were based on a careful reading of the book' date=' and not the [i']League of Extraordinary Gentlemen[/i] TPB; however, the power level of the Martians is still decent enough that the War Machines should give superheroes trouble.

Have you ever considered updating these into Hero Designer and Hero boards' formats?

 

Excellent work, BTW. Rep for you just because I love Martian fighting machines.

[Redmenace]

Re: Jeff Wayne's War of the World's meets Champions

 

Good Luck Proditor, bad luck Earth.

[AlHazred]

Re: Jeff Wayne's War of the World's meets Champions

 

Have you ever considered updating these into Hero Designer and Hero boards' formats?

I have them in HD format. However, I see no reason or way for him to host and maintain files he cannot read or use. However, I'll provide them here.

 

Martian.hdc

Martian Fighting-Machine.hdc

Martian Handling-Machine.hdc

[Susano]

Re: Jeff Wayne's War of the World's meets Champions

 

I soooo want Proditor to run this so I can be the Werewolf of London.

[TheQuestionMan]

Re: Jeff Wayne's War of the World's meets Champions

 

This is a great idea. I want to put a spin on it myself. Marvel's New Universe - Strike Force Morituri cames to mind. Hmmm... Maybe.

 

Love the concept. Please post your online resources from Victorian Campaigns.

 

Awesome

 

QM

 

P.S.: I didn't like LXG Comic, but thought the movie was great fun. Are you looking for anything online. I wouldn't mind hunting down a few links.

[TheQuestionMan]

Re: Jeff Wayne's War of the World's meets Champions

 

Oh oh oh oh !!!

 

Take the Monsters like the Vampire, Flesh Golem, WereWolf, etc.. To join in the fight to save their world.

 

The Vampire after all has just seen his food source dry up, The Flesh Golem has no one to chase him with torches, and the WereWolf has no one to feed upon.

 

Moriarti, Fu Manchu, etc... survives and joins in the fight. Imagine the chaos inherent as the Villians help the fight and at the same time try to take control.

 

Lovin it.