WWYCD: Culture Shock

[Zed-F]

Re: WWYCD: Culture Shock

 

Jake the Troll - stares blandly at the Sentinals as their shots fruitlessly bounces off his chest.

Note that while the normal cops in this setting pack normal firearms and might not be much of a threat, the SWAT-equivalents pack firepower equal to your campaign's average attack. They are not guys the PCs can simply ignore, generally speaking.

[sinanju]

Re: WWYCD: Culture Shock

 

Metaphors can also be badly overdone; as I think they have been in the whole Marvel "mutant scare" thing. After all' date=' we don't see the same level of mistrust towards the myriad other superpowered beings which inhabit the Marvel universe. I could see a certain level of distrust towards [i']any[/i] being with inexplicable powers, but why focus exclusively on mutants? What makes Cyclops inherently more scary than Reed Richards or Thor? Magneto is a frightening villain, to be sure, but certainly no scarier than Dr. Doom.

 

Exactly. Spider-Man CLINGS TO WALLS and--for all anyone knows--captures crooks just like flies and SUCKS OUT THEIR INNARDS for sustenance! Nobody gasses on about how he's an evil mutant, though. Somehow, they just _know_ he's not one. (Legal Disclaimer: this may have changed, I don't follow the Marvel comic lines closely if at all any more.)

 

The Fantastic Four are self-admitted mutants--they were bombarded by cosmic rays and had their DNA altered. They're heroes beloved by millions!

 

It's absurd--and always has been.

[Kevin Schultz]

Re: WWYCD: Culture Shock

 

Note that while the normal cops in this setting pack normal firearms and might not be much of a threat' date=' the SWAT-equivalents pack firepower equal to your campaign's average attack. They are not guys the PCs can simply ignore, generally speaking.[/quote']

 

Jake's an elder god - Cthulu/Galactus level. The campaign he's designed for is more of an Eerie Indiana/Strange Luck/Amazing Stories style of game, due to the reality-warping effects he has on the local space-time continum. Thus, his powers are more plot points than tactical abilities. People shooting at him is harmful due to the emotional trauma it does to him (he's a 16-year-old kid), not due to the caliber of the firearm.

[David Johnston]

Re: WWYCD: Culture Shock

 

Exactly. Spider-Man CLINGS TO WALLS and--for all anyone knows--captures crooks just like flies and SUCKS OUT THEIR INNARDS for sustenance! Nobody gasses on about how he's an evil mutant' date=' though. Somehow, they just _know_ he's not one. [/quote']

 

Actually they know he's not one for the same reason they know that the X-Men are mutants. The X-Men call themselves mutants. Spider-Man doesn't. Since nobody ever showed up and announced that on behalf of all the people bitten by radioactive bugs they were going to conquer humanity, Spider-Man gets a pass.

[Zed-F]

Re: WWYCD: Culture Shock

 

Culture Shock, Part 2

 

At the end of one story arc, the GM announces he's planning a change of pace for the next story arc, which should last 3-4 sessions or so and then get back to your usual fare.

 

The next session, your characters find themselves (for whatever reason) taking an unexpected interdimensional trip to MarvelMutantParanoiaLand. Here, the public and law enforcement is hostile to any meta, regardless of SFX, heroic or not. Your characters have reason to believe they will be rescued / transported back eventually, but it will take some indeterminate amount of time on the order of weeks or months before it happens -- enough time that they have to get used to living there, but not so much time that they can really effect sweeping global changes. Oh, and it turns out (through no fault of their own) that a significantly powerful interdimensional baddie got transported to MarvelMutantParanoiaLand with them, and is not very happy about it...

 

Initial investigation reveals that the dimensional baddie is a bit too tough to fight directly; the PCs need allies of some sort to effectively oppose him. However, the GM has dropped a few hints that there might be some sort of cause to the rampant anti-meta paranoia -- something the PCs might be able to do something about. The difficulty is, they aren't likely to be able to do both. The anti-meta paranoia is being caused by a shadowy conspiracy or mastermind figure, centered in Washington DC, and it will take all of the PCs' time and effort to unravel the complex layers of deception and uncover the heart of the problem, before time runs out and they return home. On the other hand, the dimensional baddie is currently rampaging through New York City, the city the PCs arrived in, to the tune of a quickly rising death toll, and it will similarly take all the PCs' effort to either manipulate/convince the local authorities to help them fight it, or contact enough local metas (all of which are in hiding) and convince them to come out of hiding and help fight it off.

 

WWYCD?

 

Soulbarb would definitely be the type to go after the conspiracy. Sylph doesn't think that far ahead and would wind up tangling with the dimensional baddie.

 

EDIT: Redirected to a new thread, no need to respond here.

[Tim]

Re: WWYCD: Culture Shock

 

Psilancer: (clone of Lancer) : She came from a world like this, and for all she knows, it is the same one. She'd try to find/ set up a local resistance cell, based on the one from her memories.

 

As for the baddie. Use her stealth abilities to track him down and turn him into the authorities. KNowing he is not easily stopped and would cause damage to the "troops" and Sentinels enough that they would have to lay off hunting the regular superjoes while they rebuilt and licked their wounds.