Vanguard00 Posted February 22, 2005 Report Share Posted February 22, 2005 Someone else started a thread on timelines, and a mention was made of using real-world events. To some extent the "canon" CU timeline does this, but in what other ways have you taken real world events and made them into campaign-specific events? I'll provide two examples: First, on 9/11/2001, Eurostar attacked the downtown New York area, causing massive damage. At the same time, Grond (spurred on by armored mercenaries) led an attack on the Pentagon (he missed the White House, *shrug* ). Other attacks were launched with various success/failure around the United States. Eurostar was finally driven off, but not before they collapsed the WTC towers to cover their escape. Second example (not-yet-but-soon-to-be used): that tsunami...what if it heralded something else? What if something or someone was coming up from someplace deep? Mole people? A sleeping dragon only recently awakened? Was Dr. Destroyer's newest base accidentally destroyed? See the idea I'm goin' for? Any other ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stmichaeldet Posted February 23, 2005 Report Share Posted February 23, 2005 Re: Use the news A while back I saw a report on the theft of the hand holding the keys to Heaven from a statue of St. Peter at the Vatican. That became the tip of the iceberg for a long-range plot where a major mystical/extradimensional baddie named Vastator is attempting to undermine and eventually control Earth's dimension by acquiring physical representations of powerful symbols. - St. Michael Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike W Posted February 23, 2005 Report Share Posted February 23, 2005 Re: Use the news I tend to keep my campaigns set at least six months behind the actual time so that if something happens, I can work it in. I almost never do though. But it does give me a chance to work comic book "news' in if I like it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CBikle Posted February 23, 2005 Report Share Posted February 23, 2005 Re: Use the news It always irritates me a little when I read posts about GMs incorporating 9-11 into their game worlds as a scenario/plot element. I'm not one of those overly sensitive types, but it always seems crass to me. Guess it's still too soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zornwil Posted February 23, 2005 Report Share Posted February 23, 2005 Re: Use the news To me, it seemed "necessary" in keeping some corresponding events and handling the way "my" world relates to this one. It seemed to go okay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike W Posted February 23, 2005 Report Share Posted February 23, 2005 Re: Use the news Part of the problem comes in how "real" the world actually is. Most comic book worlds are loosely based on the real one. But the real life politicians are removed. Still, that doesn't mean that art(in whatever form) doesn't react to real life. I can see leaving 9-11 in the time line, but I don't know as I would rework the reasons for it. Although, you do have to wonder if the second plane would have hit in a city full of superheroes. Aside from that though, it's easier to use 9-11 as a "jumping off point" where 9-11 happens as it really did, and then the reaction to it is modified somewhat by the differences in the two worlds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devlin1 Posted February 23, 2005 Report Share Posted February 23, 2005 Re: Use the news With all this stuff lately about Choicepoint (a huge consumer data broker spawned from Equifax) being involved in a huge fraud/identity theft scandal, I keep thinking there's a story angle in there, but what that angle is isn't coming to me. One obvious hook is that Choicepoint is actually a front for some criminal bent on uncovering every super's secret ID, then selling the information off piecemeal to the highest bidder. However, I'm convinced there's something more there that hasn't occurred to me. Anyone have any thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike W Posted February 23, 2005 Report Share Posted February 23, 2005 Re: Use the news Have a "super hacker" type make it look like some technological hero was behind it. Or maybe an Avengers/JLA style group that has lots of uber computers. Eventually the good guys should be proved innocent, but in the mean time they have to defend themselves from their charges...and deal with having their computers confiscated since they would now be evidence. Even worse, the contents could be subject to Freedom of Information Act inquiry based on them now being part of a court case and therefore potentially a "public" record. Can you imagine what happens if the entire databanks of the Avengers or JLA were suddenly made available on the internet? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Willy Posted February 23, 2005 Report Share Posted February 23, 2005 Re: Use the news With all this stuff lately about Choicepoint (a huge consumer data broker spawned from Equifax) being involved in a huge fraud/identity theft scandal' date=' I keep thinking there's a story angle in there, but what that angle is isn't coming to me. [/quote'] I haven't heard anything about this - any details? But as a game element, it spells alien invasion to me... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supreme Serpent Posted February 23, 2005 Report Share Posted February 23, 2005 Re: Use the news Way back, when Eastern Europe was collapsing/changing, I ran a few scenarios there, w/heroes stopping villains from taking advantage of the situation. I had Deathstroke mind control the various candidates during the California recall election. Fun seeing the hero team pile into Ahnold's Hummer to rush to the rescue of Gary Coleman and Larry Flynt. Meanwhile, another villain was running a campaign to try to get himself elected. Last year, I had an group of extra-dimensional Soviets attack the Oscars. I've had heroes support efforts to put out large real-life wildfires, and similar things. Various origins tied to real-life events. Hiroshima, Chernobyl, etc. One of my current characters was prompted to become a hero due to 9-11, and the inability of the gov't/available heroes to stop it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanguard00 Posted February 23, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2005 Re: Use the news It always irritates me a little when I read posts about GMs incorporating 9-11 into their game worlds as a scenario/plot element. I'm not one of those overly sensitive types, but it always seems crass to me. Guess it's still too soon. Thanks for the input. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnTaber Posted February 23, 2005 Report Share Posted February 23, 2005 Re: Use the news Hi Vanguard: I've done this in other genres as well. If you run out of idea grab the newspapaer and pick out three random stories. Make an adventure out of it! Works great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanguard00 Posted February 23, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2005 Re: Use the news Hi Vanguard: I've done this in other genres as well. If you run out of idea grab the newspapaer and pick out three random stories. Make an adventure out of it! Works great! I do that sort of thing anyway. In fact, I think my first time as GM was based on news items. I was just curious as to what sort of news items others had incorporated into their campaigns. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zornwil Posted February 24, 2005 Report Share Posted February 24, 2005 Re: Use the news Thanks for the input. Now now, a little dissension from a main topic is okay, and CKBible didn't (at least from my perception) try to really argue or make a federal case out of it. While I don't agree with him and I think one has to post a dissenting note in a thread with restraint, I know on occassion I've dropped into a thread to mention I really didn't agree with the point of the thread if I felt that strongly. BTW, it's a good topic, Vanguard00. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CBikle Posted February 24, 2005 Report Share Posted February 24, 2005 Re: Use the news Thanks for the input. Well, sorry that wasn't the reply you were looking for (the next post will probably be closer to what you want). Incorporating catastrophic events like 9-11 and the tsunami as source material for an RPG can be very risky, especially since ramifications from both are still ongoing. I think it's still too early for both. Every RPG group is different, but for superhero games, nothing breaks apart suspension of disbelief faster than blending in real world tragedy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CBikle Posted February 24, 2005 Report Share Posted February 24, 2005 Re: Use the news Early in our game(about ten years back), somehow President Bill Clinton and Hillary were machiavellian, behind-the-scenes traitors, murderers and opportunists. The basic premise (in our multi-GM game) was, what if all the accusations back then were true, and the Clintons were tied into coke-deals, real-estate scams, the death of Vince Foster,selling missile-secrets to the PRC, etc. At the time, two of the players were pretty right-wing and I was (and am) more centrist in ideology. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zornwil Posted February 24, 2005 Report Share Posted February 24, 2005 Re: Use the news Early in our game(about ten years back), somehow President Bill Clinton and Hillary were machiavellian, behind-the-scenes traitors, murderers and opportunists. The basic premise (in our multi-GM game) was, what if all the accusations back then were true, and the Clintons were tied into coke-deals, real-estate scams, the death of Vince Foster,selling missile-secrets to the PRC, etc. At the time, two of the players were pretty right-wing and I was (and am) more centrist in ideology. When we ran I had Bush Sr. as a puppet of Baker, who was involved in a deep, dark global domination conspiracy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iuz the Evil Posted February 24, 2005 Report Share Posted February 24, 2005 Re: Use the news Early in our game(about ten years back), somehow President Bill Clinton and Hillary were machiavellian, behind-the-scenes traitors, murderers and opportunists. The basic premise (in our multi-GM game) was, what if all the accusations back then were true, and the Clintons were tied into coke-deals, real-estate scams, the death of Vince Foster,selling missile-secrets to the PRC, etc. At the time, two of the players were pretty right-wing and I was (and am) more centrist in ideology. Wow, you were playing in the political mirrorverse of the campaign I am presently playing in. President George Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and a cabal of energy industry oligarchs are portrayed as machiavellian, behind-the-scenes traitors, murderers, and opportunists. The basic premise is that basically "all the accusations are true", and the neo-Cons are tied into invading foreign countries under false pretenses to seize reserves of natural resources, rolling back personal liberties and civil rights to empower their buddies who are bastions of corporate greed, "dissapearing" people without legal recourse into convenient third world Guantanamo-bay style "detention facilities" or friendly "foreign run" torture centers, rigging electoral outcomes, and pretty much getting up to all sorts of EVIL, while manipulating a subverted media. It's pretty out there, but has been a lot of fun to play in so far. I strongly suspect that there's some even more secretive Illuminati-style group behind the front which we're aware of so far. Good times Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Armitage Posted February 24, 2005 Report Share Posted February 24, 2005 Re: Use the news Although' date=' you do have to wonder if the second plane would have hit in a city full of superheroes. [/quote'] Or even the first plane, in a world with real psychics who actually can see the future. Sept 10-"Holy @#$%&! Call everyone you know! We all have to be in Manhattan tomorrow! And send some people to Washington DC and Pennsylvania too!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McCoy Posted February 24, 2005 Report Share Posted February 24, 2005 Re: Use the news With all this stuff lately about Choicepoint (a huge consumer data broker spawned from Equifax) being involved in a huge fraud/identity theft scandal' date=' I keep thinking there's a story angle in there, but what that angle is isn't coming to me. One obvious hook is that Choicepoint is actually a front for some criminal bent on uncovering every super's secret ID, then selling the information off piecemeal to the highest bidder. However, I'm convinced there's something more there that hasn't occurred to me. Anyone have any thoughts?[/quote'] How about the villainous equivalent of the Witness Protection Program? Choicepoint might be manufacturing new deep-cover Secret ID's for villains who have a public ID or who have gone to prison? Player character sees someone who looks exactly like a villain who escaped custody a few weeks ago, only in civvies, not uniform. When confronted, they produce ID saying they are someone else. They agree to accompany PC to the police station, where their ID turns out to be genuine, police find they were ticketed for speeding while the villain was definitely in prison, fingerprints & DNA do not match the villain, but do match their records from when they were in the army 20 years ago, etc. Voter registration, credit reports, tax returns, high school transcripts, all check out. There are occasional late or missed credit card payments, traffic tickets, a bankruptcy and six months collecting unemployment when the tech bubble burst, a rich and full tapestry of a past. Even better if the PC tried to subdue the "supervillain" with their powers before confronting them verbally (remember this needs a villain smart enough to take a dive and pretend to be a helpless normal). In his bulletproof deep cover ID, the villain charges the PC's with assault. maybe they wind up in the very jail he escaped from? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victim Posted February 24, 2005 Report Share Posted February 24, 2005 Re: Use the news Quote: Originally Posted by CBikle Early in our game(about ten years back), somehow President Bill Clinton and Hillary were machiavellian, behind-the-scenes traitors, murderers and opportunists. The basic premise (in our multi-GM game) was, what if all the accusations back then were true, and the Clintons were tied into coke-deals, real-estate scams, the death of Vince Foster,selling missile-secrets to the PRC, etc. At the time, two of the players were pretty right-wing and I was (and am) more centrist in ideology. Wow, you were playing in the political mirrorverse of the campaign I am presently playing in. President George Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and a cabal of energy industry oligarchs are portrayed as machiavellian, behind-the-scenes traitors, murderers, and opportunists. The basic premise is that basically "all the accusations are true", and the neo-Cons are tied into invading foreign countries under false pretenses to seize reserves of natural resources, rolling back personal liberties and civil rights to empower their buddies who are bastions of corporate greed, "dissapearing" people without legal recourse into convenient third world Guantanamo-bay style "detention facilities" or friendly "foreign run" torture centers, rigging electoral outcomes, and pretty much getting up to all sorts of EVIL, while manipulating a subverted media. It's pretty out there, but has been a lot of fun to play in so far. I strongly suspect that there's some even more secretive Illuminati-style group behind the front which we're aware of so far. Good times One of these scenarios doesn't preclude the other. But then the heroes will probably hate all forms of government. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
humantorch101 Posted February 24, 2005 Report Share Posted February 24, 2005 Re: Use the news Last year, I had an group of extra-dimensional Soviets attack the Oscars. Hah, just had a great idea that the superheroes could have their own version of the Oscars lol. Could even be called the Clarks, or the Bruce's lol. And the Best yearly performance by a superhero in Vibora Bay goes to .......Black Mask. God they would so get attacked every year by supervillains lol. rgds Torch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iuz the Evil Posted February 24, 2005 Report Share Posted February 24, 2005 Re: Use the news One of these scenarios doesn't preclude the other. But then the heroes will probably hate all forms of government. Now THAT would definitely make me twitchy about government... heh, players would be in full on "fight the Power" a la Authority mode. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanguard00 Posted February 24, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 24, 2005 Re: Use the news Well, sorry that wasn't the reply you were looking for (the next post will probably be closer to what you want). Incorporating catastrophic events like 9-11 and the tsunami as source material for an RPG can be very risky, especially since ramifications from both are still ongoing. I think it's still too early for both. I don't think it's a matter of being "too early". Some people will never be comfortable with such things. For example, you’ve expressed a negative reaction to the 9/11 event being worked into a game, which is a fair and reasonable feeling. By the same token, others might take offense to certain political/religious characterizations offered in other posts, and still others (like myself) hate to see such notable events and persons completely ignored within a campaign. I’m just one of those types of people who like to see real world events blended with the game world, in whatever form. Some folks have kept 9/11 fairly intact, but used supervillains to take over the planes (for example). Others have ignored it. Others did what I did—changed it so that it bears only a passing resemblance to the real event, but maintains the integrity of game-world history overlaid with real-world history. Every RPG group is different, but for superhero games, nothing breaks apart suspension of disbelief faster than blending in real world tragedy. Not true. Nothing breaks apart suspension of disbelief faster than sucky role-playing. It shouldn’t matter what the setting, real-world-vs-game-world events, political characterizations, etc, turn out to be. Role-playing is just that, and if a particular person has difficulty getting past a specific event, real or otherwise, then perhaps that game isn’t for them. That's not an assigning of blame or guilt or anything else--sometimes people and games just don't mesh. Feelings are always valid—and personal--but projecting those feelings as broad generalizations isn’t a reasonable or even particularly rational response. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanguard00 Posted February 24, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 24, 2005 Re: Use the news How about the villainous equivalent of the Witness Protection Program? Choicepoint might be manufacturing new deep-cover Secret ID's for villains who have a public ID or who have gone to prison? Player character sees someone who looks exactly like a villain who escaped custody a few weeks ago, only in civvies, not uniform. When confronted, they produce ID saying they are someone else. They agree to accompany PC to the police station, where their ID turns out to be genuine, police find they were ticketed for speeding while the villain was definitely in prison, fingerprints & DNA do not match the villain, but do match their records from when they were in the army 20 years ago, etc. Voter registration, credit reports, tax returns, high school transcripts, all check out. There are occasional late or missed credit card payments, traffic tickets, a bankruptcy and six months collecting unemployment when the tech bubble burst, a rich and full tapestry of a past. Even better if the PC tried to subdue the "supervillain" with their powers before confronting them verbally (remember this needs a villain smart enough to take a dive and pretend to be a helpless normal). In his bulletproof deep cover ID, the villain charges the PC's with assault. maybe they wind up in the very jail he escaped from? I like this a lot... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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