Illuminatus!: Champions

[Mister E]

I'm still in the middle of the book, and am finding it a real treat.

 

If you were going to use concept-elements from the "Illuminatus! Trillogy" for generating a Champions campaign featuring superheroes in such a world: what would you do, and where would you start?

 

(Don't feel like you need to hold back any plot secrets, just because I haven't finished the book.)

 

These are some ideas I'm tossing around:

 

1) Superheroes as people (or whatever) that have "waken-up" to a larger reality, giving them their unique powers.

2) A secret war of supers, battling outside the public's awareness.

3) Manditory psionics for all supers.

4) Having the Astral Plane as the battlefield for super-powered combat.

5) Having normal humans simply not be able to "see" super-humans in action.

 

Lay it on me! fnord

[tbryant23]

Re: Illuminatus!: Champions

 

One message I took away from the trilogy was that no one system of belief would lead to true enlightenment. I would suggest that a supers campaign based on the trilogy go beyond four-colored good vs. evil to a full spectrum of goods vs. evils, or other oppositions, without going to gray, which would, I think, diminish the importance of the search for truths that is important in the books. For example, the heroes would most likely work for an agency (governmental, religious, commercial, etc.) that stood for some official order of reality, but they would also have other allegiances to other sources of truth, or switch allegiances as part of the campaign.

 

I think alternate dimensions, overlayed upon our own, is a great idea. Having the different characters have different levels of awareness to these dimensions could add tension to the campain. There would also need to be a good deal of humor, misdirection, and large submersibles.

 

Tim

[Mister E]

Re: Illuminatus!: Champions

 

This is great stuff, thanks tbryant23.

[tbryant23]

Re: Illuminatus!: Champions

 

Thanks, Mr. E.

 

The original version of Steve Jackson's Illuminati game included a brief bibliography, which was how I found the Illuminatus! Trilogy. Since each of the cards in the game represents a different group or secret society, they could be used as a random scenario or plot generator for a campaign. The game is a good play by itself, too.

 

Personally, I'd like to see a hero whose powers are based on the amount of U.S. currency he has on him.

 

Tim

[ThothAmon]

Re: Illuminatus!: Champions

 

From the original card game have the supers be in the employ of one of the main factions (The Gnomes Of Zurich, The UFOs, The Cult Of Cthulhu) with associated abilities.

 

From the trilogy you have to have psychic/mystic powers and a consporatorial feel such that the public never know the truth (c.f. The Invaders, X-Files).

[Redmenace]

Re: Illuminatus!: Champions

 

There are a couple of sources for something like this.

 

The Godsend Agenda:, about paranormals throughout the ages who have had various agendas. I didn't care for the system but there were useful ideas of supers behaving like gods of old, ie seeking worshippers, gathering agents and warring against other "gods".

 

Gurps Illuminati and Wierd War Two both had some useful ideas, though the first is the must have.

 

Lovecraftian Supers:"Let the Mythos power your heroes", was an article from SJG's magazine Pyramid. It posits a campaign setting in which the mythos is the secret special effect behind all powers. There are all sorts of hidden truths and terrible costs for them. If you can, I reccomend taking a look at it.

 

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