Dr. Rune Posted June 3, 2003 Report Share Posted June 3, 2003 Just curious as to whether anyone else has "timelined" an upcoming campaign. Inspired by "Champions Universe", I decided to try one for my new game and found that it not only set a tone for the game but, it also set up tons of plot threads. Here's what I have so far...... Jan 5th, 1935: History Professor/Scientist Dr. Thaddeus Grayscale comes back in time from the year 3050 to make history “more interestingâ€. He injects the Grayscale Device into the earth’s core, thus generating the Grayscale effect*. May 21st, 1938: Icon makes his first public appearance as he prevents the Brooklyn Bridge from collapsing. Oct. 30th, 1938: Dr. Thaddeus Grayscale adopts the costumed identity of Hardware and begins fighting crime…and having the time of his life. Dec. 8th, 1941: World War II begins. Jan. 18th, 1942: President Roosevelt sends out the call for Icon, and any other “patriotic Americans like him†to help with the war effort in any way they can. March 12th, 1942: Flashpoint and Aunt Artica foil a Nazi plot to assassinate President Roosevelt. June 29th, 1942: Talisman I and Count Karlov are called on to help rescue The Elder, the arch-mage of the earth dimension, from the Rune Society. They are successful and The Elder recruits them into The Seven. July 4th, 1942: President Roosevelt sends Night Ranger, Surge, Calendar Girl, and Flashpoint to gather intelligence on the Nazis. Upon their return, Night Ranger expresses to Roosevelt the need for some sort of “intelligence agencyâ€. August 25th, 1943: A young businessman named Chambers begins a meteoric rise to the top of the financial world. Dec. 15th, 1943: The sun god Ra emerges, heralding the return of the old gods. April 09th, 1943: Though on “the wrong side of the lawâ€, Mr. Big and Songbird break up a cell of Nazi saboteurs. August 13th, 1944: The Century City Penal Authority, with the help of Icon and Hardware begin work on Purgatory State Correctional Facility, a supers only prison, which is built in the middle of Lake Michigan. August 6th, 1945: Icon (under government orders) drops the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. May 31st, 1946: The first computer, Eniac, is created. September, 1949: The House Un-American Activities Committee begins calling in supers to testify on the “Red Menaceâ€, as Nixon calls it. Many heroes go underground or retire. Feb. 10th, 1950: Night Ranger reveals his identity as William Reed and testifies before the Committee, denouncing Icon as a “communist sympathizerâ€. March, 25th, 1951: Eniac attains sentience and blacks out half of Colorado. Hardware, Aunt Artica and Flashpoint defeat it. Aunt Artica is killed in the fight. June 15th, 1952: Eisenhower creates the Central Intelligence Agency and names William Reed as its first head. July 4th, 1953: The Department of Extranormal Affairs (DEA) is created. Feb. 27th, 1954: Dr. Macabre debuts, threatening to open up “the mouth of Hellâ€. He is defeated by The Seven. Sept. 15th, 1956: Mexican masked wrestler, El Espectro, takes on the forces of evil. (CU) December 24th, 1957: Wan Shu begins gene manipulation experiments while amassing a power base in the East. August 5th, 1959: Night Dragon and Snap Dragon are born. May 13th, 1961: The Greek god Poseidon, sick of humans polluting the seas, unleashes the Kraken on California. It’s stopped by an unprecedented teaming of Ra, Vulcan, and Uncle Sam. Jan. 5th, 1965: Earth is invaded by the Zyzerians. It takes the combined might of all of earth’s heroes and villains to drive them back. Comments? Anything to share? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemming Posted June 3, 2003 Report Share Posted June 3, 2003 Re: Time Lines? Originally posted by Dr. Rune Dec. 8th, 1941: World War II begins. Comments? Anything to share? Just a quick nitpick, That date would be when the US was declaring war. September 9?, 1939 would be the beginning of the European War by some historians, while the Chinese & Japanese were already at in 1937. (maybe earlier) Of course, in your Universe, anything is possible. Timelines are good, I've got an emproyonic one on my site. Having something of a history is good. Gives the players something to look at and sprout ideas from. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
assault Posted June 3, 2003 Report Share Posted June 3, 2003 Re: Time Lines? Originally posted by Dr. Rune Dec. 8th, 1941: World War II begins. ... August 6th, 1945: Icon (under government orders) drops the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. OK, well, the Dec. 8th, 1941 beginning of World War II cracked me up. I'm still chuckling. Thank you. In general, your timeline looks interesting. I can't really say much more than that. Years and years ago I played a character that had dropped the Hiroshima bomb. He was from a parallel universe where WWII was fought against a coalition of Evil witches and warlocks. Unfortunately, after the war, my character had become a bit of a liability. He had been developed as the ultimate weapon in the war: a genetically enhanced superman. Unfortunately, his "genetic enhancement" had involved magic. In a world of victorious witchhunters, this was a little embarrassing - proof that "good guys" had been dabbling in the Black Arts. Fortunately, one of the Warlocks had escaped, by fleeing to an alternate dimension. "Obviously", "somebody" had to be sent to hunt him down. Hence my character's appearance in the campaign universe... I had a lot of fun with the Hiroshima idea. It was actually peripheral to the original character conception - I made it up on the fly just as a bit of bragging. My character was actually quite tough, and had a violently fanatical edge, so he creeped the other characters out a bit. The GM played along quite well. In particular, he let me get away with specifying that my character had "bomb racks": big frames that he could strap on to allow him to conveniently carry large objects when he was flying. Sadly, he wouldn't allow me to get a nuke to carry in them. Alan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheEmerged Posted June 3, 2003 Report Share Posted June 3, 2003 Personally, I do this as a matter of course. They're a necessary tool for keeping my idea hamster in line, and for keeping track of what it produces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Posted June 3, 2003 Report Share Posted June 3, 2003 I am not now nor will I ever be that organized. The only event where I see myself making up a timeline is if my players beg for it or I go on to publish my campaign as some kind of supplement and would have to explain it to the world. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost Archer Posted June 3, 2003 Report Share Posted June 3, 2003 Re: Re: Time Lines? Originally posted by lemming Just a quick nitpick, That date would be when the US was declaring war. September 9?, 1939 would be the beginning of the European War by some historians, while the Chinese & Japanese were already at in 1937. (maybe earlier) Of course, in your Universe, anything is possible. Timelines are good, I've got an emproyonic one on my site. Having something of a history is good. Gives the players something to look at and sprout ideas from. The true beginning of the Second World War is considered to be July 7, 1937 when Japan invaded China from the north. Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939 and Britain and France waited until Spetember 3, 1939 to declare war. The war for the US started December 7, 1941 with the bombing of Pearl Harbor, FDR declared war on Japan the next day, December 8, 1941. Germany and Italy declared war on the US on December 11, 1941. The US declared war the same day on Germany and Italy thus making it a true 'world war'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheEmerged Posted June 3, 2003 Report Share Posted June 3, 2003 Re: Re: Re: Time Lines? Originally posted by Ghost Archer The true beginning of the Second World War is considered to be July 7, 1937 when Japan invaded China from the north. Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939 and Britain and France waited until Spetember 3, 1939 to declare war. The war for the US started December 7, 1941 with the bombing of Pearl Harbor, FDR declared war on Japan the next day, December 8, 1941. Germany and Italy declared war on the US on December 11, 1941. The US declared war the same day on Germany and Italy thus making it a true 'world war'. Ooh, you're gonna make me go home and watch my period propaganda pieces, aren't you? Correct me if I'm wrong, but the training films for US draftee's during WW2 actually placed it even earlier than that -- Japan's invasion of Manchuria. Or am I being dense at the moment and that's what you're talking about Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug McCrae Posted June 4, 2003 Report Share Posted June 4, 2003 Dr. Rune: Really enjoyed reading your history. Batman testifies to HUAC against Superman!!? I assume the Grayscale Effect creates superhumans. Loved the name 'Thaddeus Grayscale'. Some of the names weren't period enough for my tastes, though. Hardware? Flashpoint? In the Golden Age? They would've been called The Iron Avenger and Fire-ball. 'Aunt Artica' is perfectly appropriate however. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
"V" Posted June 4, 2003 Report Share Posted June 4, 2003 More about names... "Calendar Girl" made me chuckle. Very apt, very genre. Do you have an idea of her powers/methods or is she just a name at present? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rage Posted June 4, 2003 Report Share Posted June 4, 2003 Re: Re: Time Lines? Originally posted by assault OK, well, the Dec. 8th, 1941 beginning of World War II cracked me up. I'm still chuckling. Thank you. Alan You and me both man. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
death tribble Posted June 4, 2003 Report Share Posted June 4, 2003 I use timelines as well to get background. One of the last ones dealt with the Germans having paranormals but not that powerful in WW2. Think Godlike for those who have seen it. At the end of the war, Uberman the most senior of the Germa paranormals left alive is tried aand sentenced to death. However after bullets and explosives fail, they put him on the Prinz Eugen and drop the A-Bomb on it. A few years later they find Uberman alive in the Pacific living on an island. Hello Superman. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Rune Posted June 4, 2003 Author Report Share Posted June 4, 2003 Originally posted by Doug McCrae Dr. Rune: Really enjoyed reading your history. Batman testifies to HUAC against Superman!!? I assume the Grayscale Effect creates superhumans. Loved the name 'Thaddeus Grayscale'. Thank you, glad you enjoyed it Yes, "the bat" had an agenda and figured that it would be easier without "supes" in the picture.....(sort of like Ozymandias trying to get rid of Dr. Manhattan) Yes, the Grayscale Effect was the catalyst that created superhuman abilities by allowing humans to tap into different areas of the brain. Some of the names weren't period enough for my tastes, though. Hardware? Flashpoint? In the Golden Age? They would've been called The Iron Avenger and Fire-ball. 'Aunt Artica' is perfectly appropriate however. [/b] I agree with you on this point, I was sort of stuck for names though. Hardware was just a gadgeteer, not an armored hero, so Iron Avenger wouldn't have fit that well. I suppose "Gizmo" or "Gyro" would have been more appropriate I like Fire-ball and may steal.....er, borrow that one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Rune Posted June 4, 2003 Author Report Share Posted June 4, 2003 Re: More about names... Originally posted by "V" "Calendar Girl" made me chuckle. Very apt, very genre. Do you have an idea of her powers/methods or is she just a name at present? She was mainly just a name but, the idea I had for Calendar Girl was a pin-up model who discovered she had the ability to travel back and forth in time (only up to a minute) when she concentrated _really_ hard.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Rune Posted June 4, 2003 Author Report Share Posted June 4, 2003 Re: Re: Re: Time Lines? Originally posted by Rage You and me both man. lol...yeah, I'll admit I'm not a history buff....I just sort of "guesstimated". Besides, it took a bit longer to declare war due to the advent of the superhuman.......yeah, that's the ticket Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Worldmaker Posted June 5, 2003 Report Share Posted June 5, 2003 Mine's way too long to even post partially, but I cover from the big bang to a thousand years in the future. In case anyone's interested: http://www.globalguardians.com/background/timeline/timeline1.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winterhawk Posted June 5, 2003 Report Share Posted June 5, 2003 Originally posted by Worldmaker Mine's way too long to even post partially, but I cover from the big bang to a thousand years in the future. In case anyone's interested: http://www.globalguardians.com/background/timeline/timeline1.html This is one of the things I really liked about your campaign/website...especially amalgamating the various football teams into one league. I have a timeline for my current campaign, historically specific to Chicago with elements from CU thrown in for flavor. Its posted at the campaign's club site: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/heroicchicago/ Its in the Databases link. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Worldmaker Posted June 5, 2003 Report Share Posted June 5, 2003 Originally posted by winterhawk This is one of the things I really liked about your campaign/website...especially amalgamating the various football teams into one league. Thanks. Its tough to maintain because you start running out of ideas after a while. And thinking up thirty years of future Oscar winners is rough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Rune Posted June 5, 2003 Author Report Share Posted June 5, 2003 Originally posted by Worldmaker Mine's way too long to even post partially, but I cover from the big bang to a thousand years in the future. In case anyone's interested: http://www.globalguardians.com/background/timeline/timeline1.html Wow! Now that's a timeline! Very well done and great site. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Worldmaker Posted June 5, 2003 Report Share Posted June 5, 2003 Originally posted by Dr. Rune Wow! Now that's a timeline! Very well done and great site. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bcholmes Posted June 6, 2003 Report Share Posted June 6, 2003 Re: Time Lines? Originally posted by Dr. Rune Just curious as to whether anyone else has "timelined" an upcoming campaign. I'm running a campaign in the Champions Universe, so I got a lot of the timeline for free. I've fleshed out the Canadian parts of the timeline for my group over here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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