[Campaign] 'This Mutant Life' - An Uberworld Campaign

[tribe]

Location: The Angelus Academy, Kew, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Time: Now

 

Something is eating the white mice from the biology lab, and it's not the second-year Goth kid or his posse of shadows.

 

Is it a stray cat who has infiltrated the university, or something more nefarious?

 

Only the characters will be able to find out.

 

The Angelus Academy appears to be a small university nestled in the picturesque grounds of a Melbourne suburb, but among the young adults who go about there daily timetable of pracs, tutorials and lectures are four very special students.

 

They are ubers: young people granted with extraordinary powers.

 

They have been brought together from across the globe by Dr Saul Numen who has secretly established a training camp for young ubers underneath the Academy. He hopes to avert some future tragedy by arming the young ubers with knowledge and training in their powers.

 

As well as the students, Dr Numen has also brought together a unique band of teachers, each with their own special teaching method. Like the students, these teachers are a little more than the usual lecturer. They are either ubers themselves, or have lived alongside ubers for long enough to know the world in which these young people are about to embark.

 

'This Mutant Life' is a campaign which will explore the personal lives of the characters as well as their lives as heroes.

 

An important part of the game will be the split between teachers and students. In the beginning there will be a distinct line between the two groups, and each will undoubtedly have their own storylines and interests; but as time passes, the two groups will tranverse any barriers between them and become a close-knit family.

 

The campaign is currently calling for submissions. I will advertise this on the Player Finder page as well, but wanted to add it here because if there are questions about Uberworld and the potential characters for this game it would be easier to answer them here - as well as allow discussions to develop.

 

A key feature of the student characters is that they need to have been referred to Dr Numen by an established NPC. This means that all students need to have come into contact with an NPC in their origin story. It is strongly suggested that an exitsing NPC be used (see the website) but it is also okay for the player to make up another NPC.

 

Submissions should be emailed to me at uberworld@optusnet.com.au but feel free to discuss your ideas here as well.

 

There are two types of submissions: student and teacher.

 

At the moment I have places for four students and three teachers, but juding from the quality of creators in these parts I might be able to expand those limited spots.

 

Any questions, please ask. Email me provately or publicly here in this Thread.

 

Thanks,

 

Ben Langdon

GM - This Mutant Life

[tribe]

FAQ: Student Characters

 

Student Characters should be built on 250 points (150 Base plus 100 Disadvantages).

 

Students need to come from different countries.

 

Students need to have a Contact with an established NPC. This NPC is the character's mentor, idol, parole officer or family member (or any other connection). This NPC recommended the character to Numen which led to them being accepted into the Special Class at the Angelus Academy.

 

Students must have the following Disadvantage: Secret Identity (15 points).

 

Students must purchase the Special Class Skills Package (found on the website).

 

Students must set aside some of their points in a Development Pool. The Development Pool is basically a reserve of points which can be used any time after the first adventure and simulate the idea that students will quickly develop new skills, powers and characteristics.

 

It's basically XP. It can even be used to simulate experiments that go wrong and result in wildly different powers.

 

The amount of points which go into the Development Pool is up to the character but must be at least 10 points.

[tribe]

FAQ: Teacher Characters

 

Teacher Characters should be built on 350 points (200 Base plus 150 Disadvantages).

 

Teachers need to come from different countries.

 

Teachers must have the following Disadvantage: Secret Identity (15 points).

 

Teachers must purchase the Academy Teachers Skills Package (found on the website).

 

Teachers must have some area in which they are experts. That area will become their teaching method and can be a traditional university subject such as microbiology or applied physics, or it could be an uberhuman-specific area such as Psionics, Magic Theory, Martial Arts Training, Detective Skills etc.

 

Teachers need to be capable of interaction and should be of a high moral code. Inappropriate characters won't be chosen for this game. Teachers need to be role models as well as capable of defending themselves and their charges.

 

More information is available on the website.

[tribe]

Re: FAQ: Student Characters

 

 

Students need to have a Contact with an established NPC. This NPC is the character's mentor, idol, parole officer or family member (or any other connection). This NPC recommended the character to Numen which led to them being accepted into the Special Class at the Angelus Academy.

 

If you are looking for a suitable NPC to assist your young uber, check out the 'Uberworld- Character and Art' Thread for ideas, or go directly to the Uberworld NPC page.

[Guest Lollygagger]

Re: [Campaign] 'This Mutant Life' - An Uberworld Campaign

 

Is there an email list we're going to have to subscribe to? And do you allow lurkers?

[The Arc]

Re: [Campaign] 'This Mutant Life' - An Uberworld Campaign

 

You're going to allow teachers? Coool!

 

There has to be a Mr. Boy character.

[tribe]

Re: [Campaign] 'This Mutant Life' - An Uberworld Campaign

 

Is there an email list we're going to have to subscribe to? And do you allow lurkers?

 

Yep. Sorry about forgetting that.

 

We will use yahoogroups and the address is:

 

http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/thismutantlife/

 

And Lurkers are absolutely welcome - as is constructive criticism.

 

Ben

[Lethosos]

Re: [Campaign] 'This Mutant Life' - An Uberworld Campaign

 

Thinking about it... I don't know exactly "when" the game starts, as I have away-time in Italy for some of the first half of March. But I did give Tribe a character to play with if he wanted to--if it looks like I can actually participate in the beginning, I will use Dinosaur and rework him a little to adapt to the Student requirements.

[tribe]

Re: [Campaign] 'This Mutant Life' - An Uberworld Campaign

 

You're going to allow teachers? Coool!

 

There has to be a Mr. Boy character.

 

The teachers part will be great, I think, but we'll have to wait and see if a Mr Boy type character turns up. Maybe a guest star, but probably not an actual PC.

 

... but you never know.

[Lethosos]

Re: [Campaign] 'This Mutant Life' - An Uberworld Campaign

 

I don't know who the flying buffalos is "Mr. Boy", but it makes me think of Wesley Crusher.

 

And that scares me.

[tribe]

Re: [Campaign] 'This Mutant Life' - An Uberworld Campaign

 

Thinking about it... I don't know exactly "when" the game starts' date=' as I have away-time in Italy for some of the first half of March. But I did give Tribe a character to play with if he wanted to--if it looks like I can actually participate in the beginning, I will use Dinosaur and rework him a little to adapt to the Student requirements.[/quote']

 

The Submissions will close at the end of February.

 

From there it will take a couple of weeks of March to get characters finalised before starting play probably late March or early April.

 

However, it is easy to bring characters in earlier or later. If you'll be away in Italy at the beginning of the story that's no problem. In fact that's really cool. I wish I could go back to Italy!

 

Anyway, if you play a student or teacher it would be easy to slot you in at a later date.

[Lethosos]

Re: [Campaign] 'This Mutant Life' - An Uberworld Campaign

 

Ah, goodie! I'll get goin' on Dinosaur and have it in before I hop on the trans-continental to Milan.

[assault]

Re: [Campaign] 'This Mutant Life' - An Uberworld Campaign

 

There are two types of submissions: student and teacher.

 

Teachers? I may have to reconsider my character submission.

[Vanguard00]

Re: [Campaign] 'This Mutant Life' - An Uberworld Campaign

 

I was thinking of submitting one of each, just to see which one I (and the GM) liked better.

[tribe]

Re: [Campaign] 'This Mutant Life' - An Uberworld Campaign

 

Teachers? I may have to reconsider my character submission.

 

I might even expand the number of characters to 5 teachers and 5 students. Initially I'll run them separately anyway with teachers threads and students threads.

 

Has anyone seen the British tv show called 'Teachers'? Awesome stuff. And the reason I became a teacher myself.... well, mostly.

[Guest Lollygagger]

Re: [Campaign] 'This Mutant Life' - An Uberworld Campaign

 

Do you accept .hdc files?

[tribe]

Re: [Campaign] 'This Mutant Life' - An Uberworld Campaign

 

Do you accept .hdc files?

 

Yeah. In fact I will accept submissions in pretty much anything: Word, Notepad (text), Email, HDC. I'm pretty flexible.

 

And in case people wanted to know, I'll need submissions in the Uberworld character format which is like the characters I've been posting in the 'Uberworld - Characters and Art' Thread.

 

Basically background story, personality, appearance, powers and a quote.

 

I would love long fiction stories to help flesh out your characters, but I understand that the creative juices ebb and flow.

[The Arc]

Re: [Campaign] 'This Mutant Life' - An Uberworld Campaign

 

Mr. Boy is from the movie Sky High. He was the side kick to Commander. He was All American Boy, but after he became a teacher he was known as Mr. Boy. Mr. Boy taught "Hero Support".

[Guest Lollygagger]

Re: [Campaign] 'This Mutant Life' - An Uberworld Campaign

 

Mr. Boy is from the movie Sky High. He was the side kick to Commander. He was All American Boy' date=' but after he became a teacher he was known as Mr. Boy. Mr. Boy taught "Hero Support".[/quote']

 

 

Best thing Dave Foley's done in years.

[The Arc]

Re: [Campaign] 'This Mutant Life' - An Uberworld Campaign

 

Yeah there was another "Kids in the Hall" alumni in the movie. Doctor Mendulla. Don't remember the name of the actor though.

[Guest Lollygagger]

Re: [Campaign] 'This Mutant Life' - An Uberworld Campaign

 

Yeah there was another "Kids in the Hall" alumni in the movie. Doctor Mendulla. Don't remember the name of the actor though.

 

 

Kevin McDonald

[tribe]

Supporting Cast for "This Mutant Life"

 

With the Calls For Submissions open on 'This Mutant Life' I thought it would be a good time to post the supporting characters.

 

Firstly is Dr Saul Numen, who is the 'Professor X' of the team - a man of science who has come out of semi-retirement to train a group of young ubers.

 

Helping him is his daughter from his first marriage: Alsana Numen - a serious and well-tailored Brick.

 

And as the team is set up in Australia, the Australian government has called for some kind of surveillance of what is going on, so they sent in Tobias O'Brien to work as an undercover agent/bodyguard for the young ubers.

 

 

 

DR SAUL NUMEN

Click Here For The Character Sheet

 

Concept Expert Hair Colour Grey

Nationality Austrian Eye Colour Green

Place of Birth Vienna, Austria Height 1.68m

Date of Birth August 30, 1943 Weight 50kg

 

Background

Saul Numen was born during the Second World War and has been marked by the trauma it levelled against his family. He grew up in Vienna and soon found himself fascinated with ubers. This fascination fuelled him for the next two decades as he became a world expert on ubergetics, and alongside Akemi Kanemaru, he created the Numen-Kami Institute of Ubergetics in the 1970s.

 

 

Personality

Numen is in his sixties, although sometimes he feels much older. He has carried the weight of ubers on his shoulders for three decades and feels responsible in part for the actions of evil ubers across the globe. He has resisted several governments' requests to engineer an anti-uber weapon which would strip an uber of their powers, but knows that such a weapon is almost certainly being developed. He believes that the only way to combat evil ubers is by example. The good, heroic ubers are able to provide role models to people around the world as well as offering an alternative lifestyle to evil ubers. But this idea is seen to be outdated in many circles, and as such, Numen is feeling burnt out.

He sees the Special Class of ubers as an opportunity to help shape the future of the world and has put aside his other work to concentrate on their welfare, knowing that a lot rides of the success of this latest group.

 

 

Quote

"It is much easier to blast an enemy into dust or bury them in a landslide than it is to walk in their shoes for a single day."

 

Powers

Numen has no uber abilities, but his understanding and expertise in that area is unparalleled. He keeps himself informed on the active ubers of the world with daily updates, and as a consequence is quite often able to find weaknesses and strengths in those ubers he knows about.

 

 

Appearance

A small man who fades easily into a crowd, Saul Numen, has not had much need for a physical presence during his life. He is well known, but mostly by name. His face is regularly splashed across the pages of science journals and newspapers, but it isn't a very remarkable face and is easily overlooked.

 

 

 

ALSANA NUMEN

Click Here For The Character Sheet

 

Concept Brick Hair Colour Black

Nationality Austrian Eye Colour Dark Brown

Place of Birth Vienna, Austria Height 1.8m

Date of Birth May 18, 1970 Weight 70kg

 

Background

Alsana was the only child of Saul Numen and his wife of twelve years, Saffron Owen. Alsana has spent most of her trying to live up to her father's reputation and followed him into the field of ubergetics with some success. When it was discovered she was an active metahuman, Alsana was thrilled. Finally there was a chance she could truly become her father's daughter.

 

She began a career as a crime fighter, using her strength to defeat evil as she saw it across Europe. But her heart wasn't truly in superheroics. She was a scientist, interested in the reasons behind ubers, not the ubers themselves. She retired from being a crime fighter and helped her father establish the Numen-Kami Institute. She became a Board Member of the Los Angeles Institute and helped establish the Special Class of young ubers.

 

When her father indicated his intention to start a new Special Class in Melbourne, Alsana was asked to transfer to the Australian Institute and handle the young ubers as they settled in to their new lives. To do this she has taken a leave of absence from the Board.

 

 

Personality

The daughter of a world renowned scientist, Alsana doesn't care much for comparisons and is comfortable within her self, although she did have trouble as a younger woman attempting to be everything her father wanted her to be. She is confident and has the powers to support her decisions, not fearing scathing remarks because she can be equally scathing in return, if not more so. She believes that the young ubers at the Academy are naive and wants to protect that naivety.

 

Quote

"I have no comment for the media. What you do with your lives is truly of no concern to me."

 

Powers

Alsana Numen possesses uberhuman strength and durability, as well as the ability to fly. In addition to her uberhuman abilities, Alsana is also an accomplished scientist and administrator, especially when concerning the Numen-Kami Institute.

 

 

Appearance

Alsana has never been comfortable wearing a superhero costume and believes she has destroyed most of the evidence from the early 1990s. She wears suits to work, despising dresses almost as much as costumes, but has them tailored rather than from the rack. She keeps her hair short and slicked back which can make her seem intense and unapproachable - an impression she enjoys when there is much work to be done.

 

 

TOBEY O'BRIEN

Click Here For The Character Sheet

 

Concept Martial Artist Hair Colour Light Brown

Nationality Australian Eye Colour Blue

Place of Birth Brisbane, Queensland, Australia Height 1.85m

Date of Birth February 27, 1979 Weight 80kg

 

Background

After being headhunted during his university years by ASIO, Tobey O'Brien was headhunted again during his twenties as he worked as an intelligence officer. Dr Saul Numen asked him to work for the Numen-Kami Institute, and when the Head of ASIO also appeared and effectively ordered Tobey to agree, he realised that he really had no choice. He resigned but was able to keep his weapon and permit. While not being an ASIO Agent, it seemed that Numen and his institute had been given several concessions from the government.

 

He trained in Melbourne and was then assigned to the Angelus Academy where his job was to provide discrete security for Numen's Special Class.

 

 

Personality

Tobey O'Brien is young and idealistic, a font of optimism. He has slipped seamlessly into the Academy and works part time as a student careers counsellor as his cover, and enjoys the opportunity. However, his true love is intelligence work. He grew up reading spy novels and still dreams of becoming involved in some kind of major espionage incident. Working with Numen he has already been introduced to many potential conflicts.

 

Quote

"You're the hero-in-training, kid. I'm just here to make sure you get a chance to wear the tights, and not end up as some sticky puddle on the boot of Doctor Destructo - or whatever he's calling himself these days."

 

Powers

O'Brien is a highly trained ASIO Agent in good physical condition. He wears concealed armour and carries a powerful handgun, in addition to his extensive training in judo.

 

 

Appearance

Tobey has very short blonde hair and dark eyes, although rather than appearing hard, he is naturally very warm and comforting to others. This empathy is one of the reasons he was chosen for his job. He wears casual clothes to fit in with the uniform crowd, but has been known to wear suits or a dark combat outfit for special assignments.

[tribe]

Current Submissions

 

At the moment I have received the following character submissions, although it's early days yet. Submissions close on February 28.

 

STUDENTS

Jacob Richards - Brick, Metamorph

Makabee Lwange - Metamorph (Stretching)

Norman Brown - Metamorph (Bouncing)

 

 

TEACHERS

Doctor Puzzle - Gadgeteer

 

 

 

If I've missed anyone, let me know. And if you've got a character, let me see it.

 

Email me here

[tribe]

Re: Current Submissions

 

STUDENTS

Jacob Richards - Brick, Metamorph

Makabee Lwange - Metamorph (Stretching)

Norman Brown - Metamorph (Bouncing)

 

Okay, so I forgot to add the almost complete DINOSAUR!

 

Looking at that lineup, we're desperately in need of some female students (although I know Free is coming up with one even as I type!) - oh, and one of the current students on the list could actually be counted as a girl.

 

Sort of... hard to explain without spoiling it.

 

And this is my 100th post.

 

[assault]

Re: Current Submissions

 

Three metamorphs? Whoa.

 

Looking at that lineup, we're desperately in need of some female students (although I know Free is coming up with one even as I type!) - oh, and one of the current students on the list could actually be counted as a girl.

 

One and a half female students is OK. Most Silver Age teams only had one female member when they started.

 

Or I could do a bit of nip and tuck to the character I am working on, although I've been sidetracked into trying to design a teacher.

 

I've discovered that I'm really not that good at coming up with personalities and motivations.

 

(Three metamorphs? Well, scratch my metamorph idea!)