Retcon the CU

[McCoy]

Re: Retcon the CU

 

Aways a fun one. One of my favorite retcons is to Wold-Newton up the CU. Add in the DC/Marvel characters to the CU timeline (tweaking origins as little as possible), and then let them age normally from the point where the character actually appeared in the pulps or comics. I also merge characters, the idea being one hero or villain whose exploits were reported under multiple names. So, the original Gladiator and Superman are merged, becoming one leaping brick who first came to public attention in WWI, changed his identity, and then fought for his country again in WWII, continuing to adventure in America until the 1960s. Sub-Mariner and Aquaman are clearly the same man; same for Green Arrow and Hawkeye. Some characters have a clear link; the Banner clan is a branch of the Jeckyl family (by way of Hyde), while Bruce Wayne was the illegitimate son and one-time apprentice of a man who used the cover identity of Lamont Cranston. Sometimes the current Champions tribute characters get added to the mix (the Harmon family is a branch of both the Wayne and Stark family trees, while the poor sap who became Grond is the son of a wandering David Bruce Banner).

 

This twists the CU into a completely different shape, but it's a fun shape.

Maybe something like this?

 

1801

John Carter born in Virginia

1872

John Carter travels via astral projection to a world called Barsoom by its inhabitants

1874

John Reid becomes The Lone Ranger

1882

John Carter returns to Earth

1888

John Clayton III Lord Greystroke (later known as Tarzan) born in Africa

1894

"Martian" tripod machine lands in England

1900

Linda Artemidoros born in San Francisco

1902

John Carter returns to Barsoom; A Princess of Mars published 10 years later.

1903

Logan born in Canada, probably Alberta

1906

Britt Reid born

1908

Something exploded in mid air over the Tunguska River in Siberia, with a force estimated

between 10 and 15 megatons

1914

Bruce Wayne born in Gotham City

1917

Clark Savage Jr. takes leave of absence from medical school; lies about age to join Army

1920

Kal-L born on Krypton; planet explodes; Kryptonite drawn into Solar System by the starship's warp engine

1920

Dr. Thomas Wayne and his wife Martha killed after seeing the movie The Mark of Zorro; their son Bruce is the only witness

1924

Bruce Wayne, having learned of the unique pedological methods of Clark Savage, Sr,

convinces Doc Savage to take him on as a student. Doc is impressed by the 10 year old's

eloquence, deternination, & need for Justice.

1932

Charles Xavier born in Connecticut

1935

Dr. Occult begins supernatural investigations

1936

Britt Reid becomes The Green Hornet

1938

Kal-L makes first public appearance as Superman

"Martian" tripod machine lands near Grover's Mill, New Jeresy

1939

First appearance of Batman

World War II begins, Logan recruited for undercover work in Italy and Japan

1940

Jay Garrick becomes the Flash

Billy Batson becomes Captain Marvel

Alan Scott becomes the Green Lantern

Abigail "Ma" Hunkel becomes the Red Tornado

First meeting of the Justice Society of America

1941

Steve Rogers becomes Captain America

Patrick "Eel" O'Brian, carrer criminal, falls into a vat of chemicals, becomes Plastic Man,

reforms.

Three unrelated boys named Billy Batson become the Leutenents Marvel

Aquaman makes first appearance in the "surface world"

Princess Diana of Themescara comes to "man's world"

Freddy Freeman becomes Captain Marvel Junior

1942

Mary Batson Bromfield becomes Mary Marvel

1945

First Atomic Bomb detonated in New Mexico

Britt Reid retires as the Green Hornet

Kara Zor-L born in Argo City, an artificial habitat that survived the destruction of Krypton.

Ororo Munroe born in New York City.

1946

Hank McCoy born

1947

Unidentified Flying Objects spotted by Kenneth Arnold, who coins the term "Flying Saucers" while describing them to reporters

Something crashes on Mac Brazil's ranch near Roswell New Mexico

Scott Summers, Jean Grey, Warren Worthington born

1948

Bobby Drake born

1949

Lois Lane marries Clark Kent

1950

United States enters Korean War. Charles Xavier volunteers for US Army, his step- brother, Cain Marko, is drafted

1951

Last meeting of the Justice Society of America until August 1963

Adam Blake becomes Captain Comet

1953

"Martian" tripod machine lands near Linda Rosa, California

1954

Last public appearance of Captain Marvel for 19 years.

Godzilla (Gojira) attacks Tokyo for the first time.

Discharged from the Army, Charles Xavier travels, meeting Amahl Farouk in Egypt; Gabrielle Haller & Erik Lehnsherr in Israel

1955

Professor Mark Erdel brings J'onn J'onzz to Earth

1956

Barry Allen becomes the Flash

1958

Adam Strange travels to the planet Rann for the first time.

1959

Kara Zor-L comes to Earth; as Linda Lee is adopted by Clark & Lois Kent

Hal Jordan becomes Green Lantern

1962

First public appearance of Supergirl. Superman's public appearances become increasingly less frequent and more cerimonial over the next 15 years

Reed Richards, Ben Grimm, Johnny Storm and Susan Storm make an unsuccessful attempt to reach the Moon in an experimental rocket. The high radiation levels they encounter turn them into the Fantastic Four.

Dr Robert Bruce Banner save the life of Rick Jones, first Gamma Bomb detonated, first

appearance of the Hulk

Defense contractor Anthony Stark goes to Viet-Nam to see how his weapons perform in the field. He becomes MIA, but makes his way back to the United States months later.

1963

The Fantastic Four and Ivan Kragoff become the first Earth-humans to reach the moon.

First public appearance of Iron Man

Xavier Academy accepts its first class of students, Magneto attempts to steal a nuclear warhead, stopped by the X-Men.

1965

Susan Storm marries Reed Richards

1966

Britt Reid II becomes The Green Hornet

1967

Charlie Vicker becomes Green Lantern

1968

Guy Gardner becomes Green Lantern

1970

Clossus, Nightcrawler, Storm, Thunderbird & Wolverine join X-Men; Thunderbird dies.

1971

John Stewart becomes Green Lantern

1978

Superman suddenly appears 30 years younger than he had at his last public appearance.

Tabloids speculate that he has deaged, been replaced by his son or a clone, or simply had work done.

1981

Ralph Hinkley has a close encounter with aliens of an unknow species; becomes the Greatest American Hero

1986

Wally West becomes the Flash

1986

Alan Reid becomes the Green Hornet; killed on first mission

1989

Britt Reid dies

1994

Kyle Rayner becomes Green Lantern

[OddHat]

Re: Retcon the CU

 

Maybe something like this?

 

Ten kinds of groovy.

 

Is that your current campaign world?

[Enforcer84]

Re: Retcon the CU

 

Ten kinds of groovy.

 

Is that your current campaign world?

Heck I'd say it goes to Eleven.

[Susano]

Re: Retcon the CU

 

Heck I'd say it goes to Eleven.

 

Twelve!

[McCoy]

Re: Retcon the CU

 

Ten kinds of groovy.

 

Is that your current campaign world?

It's the background I've had, but the first time I've tried to write it down.

 

Major deviation from actual DC continuity is that Supergirl, not Superman, was a founding member of the Justice League of America.

 

Is the 90 year old Bruce Wayne still Batman? Maybe, there are Immortals on this world, and didn't Doc Savage have techniques for retarding aging? Or it is possible that the original Batman has trained his replacements and they have taken his place seamlessly.

 

Now I have to integrate the CU stuff into it.

[OddHat]

Re: Retcon the CU

 

It's the background I've had, but the first time I've tried to write it down.

 

Major deviation from actual DC continuity is that Supergirl, not Superman, was a founding member of the Justice League of America.

 

Is the 90 year old Bruce Wayne still Batman? Maybe, there are Immortals on this world, and didn't Doc Savage have techniques for retarding aging? Or it is possible that the original Batman has trained his replacements and they have taken his place seamlessly.

 

Now I have to integrate the CU stuff into it.

 

Fantastic!

 

Much rep when I can.

[massey]

Re: Retcon the CU

 

It's the background I've had, but the first time I've tried to write it down.

 

Major deviation from actual DC continuity is that Supergirl, not Superman, was a founding member of the Justice League of America.

 

Is the 90 year old Bruce Wayne still Batman? Maybe, there are Immortals on this world, and didn't Doc Savage have techniques for retarding aging? Or it is possible that the original Batman has trained his replacements and they have taken his place seamlessly.

 

Do what we did. Lazarus Pit.

[Lemurion]

Re: Retcon the CU

 

My default history, that I keep squirrelled away in my brain and need to write down some time, follows a lot of these trends. I definitely include Wold-Newton for the sheer brilliance of the concept, though I do change a few things.

 

At present I'm doing the background for a new campaign, which will be set in my own universe, not exactly the CU by any means. I don't care either way about the magic idea, but since I don't plan on using Star Hero the 2020 end of heroes is irrelevant. However my own background does allow a reason for it if I ever have a reason to game it.

 

I start with Wold Newton-- and follow with most of the famous nineteenth century characters being descended from those lines, which were already noted for producing exceptional individuals as exemplified by Solomon Kane. This gives rise to people like Holmes, Raffles, Tarzan, Allen Quatermain and others.

 

The next major event, and the catalyst for the explosion in true metahumans was the Tunguska Event of 1908. What is not commonly realized is that this event involved the same extra-terrestrial object that had produced the Wold Newton impact of 1795. This object, which appears to have entered the solar system from the outside at some unknown date settled into highly elliptical 113 year orbit. Various collisions and stresses from gravitational interactions caused it to eventually form into a somewhat cometary object with a nucleus surrounded by a number of smaller bodies co-orbiting with it. The Wold Newton event is the result of one of those smaller bodies reaching Earth's surface, with well known results. On the 1908 pass, it was the Nucleus of the T-WN object which collided with Earth, and produced an explosion of metahumanity starting some three decades later. At present we do not know what is to happen, but the next pass is scheduled for 2021, if there is any of the object remaining.

 

I plan on working in various characters from the pulps and Golden Age into my backstory, including majors like Superman, Batman, Captain America, the Flash, Torch and Submariner. However I have not worked out all the details. I do know that the fictional "Doc Savage" is based on the adventures of one Dr. James Vandal, jr. but a lot of the other details are still hazy.

 

Anyway, hope people find this helpful.

[Mantis]

Re: Retcon the CU

 

Is the 90 year old Bruce Wayne still Batman? Maybe' date=' there are Immortals on this world, and didn't Doc Savage have techniques for retarding aging? Or it is possible that the original Batman has trained his replacements and they have taken his place seamlessly.[/quote']You mean like The Phantom - Ghost who Walks, Man Who Cannot Die?

[McCoy]

Re: Retcon the CU

 

You mean like The Phantom - Ghost who Walks' date=' Man Who Cannot Die?[/quote']

Yes, that's one possibility, and I need to put him in the timeline, even though he and Tarzan are so Not PC.

[Guest WhammeWhamme]

Re: Retcon the CU

 

Yes' date=' that's one possibility, and I need to put him in the timeline, even though he and Tarzan are so Not PC.[/quote']

 

Uhm... why are they not PC? Or is it just the stories they were in? (I can understand THAT, but the characters themselves don't seem to be a problem)

[McCoy]

Re: Retcon the CU

 

Uhm... why are they not PC? Or is it just the stories they were in? (I can understand THAT' date=' but the characters themselves don't seem to be a problem)[/quote']

The local African tribes depending on a White man for protection, demonstratably unable to protect themselves until their White guardian came along. Phantom moreso than Tarzan, but IIRC was the plot of one of the Tarzan stories as well.

[OddHat]

Re: Retcon the CU

 

Besides, Tarzan was directly responsible for HIV. Sexual experimentation with non-human primates: Just Say No.

[eavatar]

Re: Retcon the CU

 

See' date=' I guess my point is that some people here are saying they don't like the magic but no one is saying why they don't like the magic. Why does magic strike a bigger negative chord then singularities, advanced aliens, Tunguska meteors, or pixie dust? If you say: "I don't like magic being the source of super powers because I don't want my CU campaign to have magic in it" or "I don't like magic being the source of super powers because I want my CU game to reflect that humanity is mutating due to a natural evolutionary process" then those are reasons to that make sense to me. Saying: "Ewh! Magic!" doesn't to me. [/quote']

 

 

But how do you justify things like Black Paladin and all the magic users? So what you are telling is there are no magic, all the sorcerers are powerful mentalists and every act of magic is just mental power?

[eavatar]

Re: Retcon the CU

 

Mutant Universe:

This is probably one thick campaign setting book and probably that's about it. It sets up a 'pure' mutant campaign where all those with innate superpowers are mutants or at best experimental cyborgs and you have experimental robots and powered armor suits around as well. Alternate timeline from the CU, though crossovers are not impossible.

 

Well, it have a name, it is called Aberrant. One power source rpg setting sounds a bit bland for me, it restrain any chance of background variety diferent than "I got my powers at the teenhood" or "My powers came in a tense moment"

[Lemurion]

Re: Retcon the CU

 

I don't like the one single cause for powers either. However, when developing a timeline, it really helps to set up a divergence point. That's what I do with Tunguska. It's after that point that metahumans really begin to flourish. It's not the cause of all of them (magic based characters predate it, as do the Wold Newtons and many others) however it's a very good historical inflection point.

 

It also has the advantage that if you pick it and the Wold Newton meteorite of 1795 as linked factors from the same object, you can then tie in 2021 (the next return date for a hypothetical T-WN Object) if you want to follow the official timeline.

 

After that point, the combination of increasing population, increasing technology, and the aftereffects of the Tunguska event snowballed to produce the massive number of metahumans the CU sees today. Many factors, all interrelated.

[i3ullseye]

Re: Retcon the CU

 

My worlds have always been very similar to the Marvel universe. I like the whole plot angle of a world that hates and registers mutants, while super soldiers and altered humans are honored as saints.

 

Origins...

 

Some aliens. A whole lot of magic in my worlds. A lot of technology. So I diverge pretty drastically from the CU timeline and origins.

 

But I would certainly add more cheese. Maybe an all powerful gouda, or a fine brie.

[Enforcer84]

Re: Retcon the CU

 

My worlds have always been very similar to the Marvel universe. I like the whole plot angle of a world that hates and registers mutants, while super soldiers and altered humans are honored as saints.

 

Origins...

 

Some aliens. A whole lot of magic in my worlds. A lot of technology. So I diverge pretty drastically from the CU timeline and origins.

 

But I would certainly add more cheese. Maybe an all powerful gouda, or a fine brie.

See, personally I could never get behind that.

I liked DC's Legends miniseries where all supers were hated, but just one group of people that you really can't tell from aliens, or supersoldiers, or Godlings get's hated? And how does a mutant detector tell the difference between a mutant and an alien?

[lapsedgamer]

Re: Retcon the CU

 

This all makes me very hungry for the next issue of Planetary. Come to think of it, that might be a great campaign idea for Champions. Some mysterious benefactor asks you heroes to figure out what the hell is going on with the universe, which would lead them to uncover the whole magic/super-science/super powers thing ( or whatever you prefer). You could even steal that whole Wildstorm immortality if you are a first generation super/ mystery man thing.

 

Imagine figuring out that Takofanes has actually been around for thousands of years. All kinds of creepy X-files goodness with a crunchy superhero smackdown center.

 

If I were to change one thing about the current CU it would be making the Champions about ten years older and about 75-150 EXP badder to give them an Avengers flair, maybe even make Nighthawk worthwhile.

[Susano]

Re: Retcon the CU

 

...maybe even make Nighthawk worthwhile.

 

Now you're just talkin' crazy!

[McCoy]

Re: Retcon the CU

 

I don't like the one single cause for powers either. However' date=' when developing a timeline, it really helps to set up a divergence point. [/quote']

I guess my divergence is either (1) five species of genus Homo survived into modern times, and a sixth began to emerge after 1945 or (2) several nearby stars have planets with technological, humanoid civilizations. Either way, divergence happens in prehistory.

[Lemurion]

Re: Retcon the CU

 

I guess my divergence is either (1) five species of genus Homo survived into modern times' date=' and a sixth began to emerge after 1945 or (2) several nearby stars have planets with technological, humanoid civilizations. Either way, divergence happens in prehistory.[/quote']

 

I like that-- I think everyone's world would need to be diverging in prehistory. I just like one specific event that is a definite inflection point after which one can see the divergence. In my world's case, Tunguska is the point where you can really see the change start to accelerate.

[massey]

Re: Retcon the CU

 

So, the Tunguska thing happened in 1908. In 1938, Superman appears, a grown man of indeterminate age. Has anyone ever run a DC game in which the Tunguska explosion was really a huge chunk of kryptonite? Perhaps it made it to Earth a few years before Supes did, or maybe he landed in 1908 and is about 30 when he first appeared.

[James Gillen]

Re: Retcon the CU

 

My interpretation:

 

I'd KEEP the "magic as the cause of powers" angle, because to me that's the only reason superpowers *could* exist. Superpowers essentially enable the individual to violate selective physical laws, which contradicts the whole principle of physics unless magic exists as a way around that.

 

However, I wouldn't be as all-or-nothing with it as the current Hero Universe. For instance, the Terran Empire setting indicates that magic is at a low ebb, yet psionics still exist. Since the line between the two is rather iffy (except that psi is more 'genre' for SF), any explanation of physics that includes psionics would also have to include magic, IMO.

 

I would use the Champions from 4th Edition, given that Obsidian looks cooler than Ironclad, Witchcraft is Solitaire with less interesting background, and I really miss Seeker.

 

JG

[Teflon Billy]

Re: Retcon the CU

 

My interpretation:

 

I'd KEEP the "magic as the cause of powers" angle, because to me that's the only reason superpowers *could* exist. Superpowers essentially enable the individual to violate selective physical laws, which contradicts the whole principle of physics unless magic exists as a way around that.

{snip}

JG

This isn't necessarily true. In my campaign, superpowers are due to the fact that "physics" itself is not the same as in our universe. It just isn't. Now, magic also exists but it is seperate and distinct from super powers that are just "fantastic" for our real world physics.

 

TB