Generation Gap

[nexus]

This is the barest nugget of a campaign idea I'm working on, barely a skeleton but I thought I'd put up a thread to use as a sounding board for ideas as they occur.

 

“Generation Gap”

 

A supers game based on the idea of changing ages, a setting where there was an idealistic Silver Age period, a Bronze age and is now in a darker Iron age but the earlier, retired heroes, tired of the younger ones sullying their ideals and the notion of Heroism are on a comeback, older, not quite as powerful but canny and experienced. I guess it would be similar to Kingdom Come (which I confess I've never read).

 

I think I’d place it in the 1990s, at least as far as tone for the new heroes. Many of the earlier heroes are well meaning but somewhat hypocritical stuffy old fogies looking back on “their” time through rose colored glasses but they do have a point. Some of the “edgy” new heroes are going to far driven by celebrity, greed and excess or are just psychos in costumes using “heroism” to justify their rampages. A middle ground has to be found and the PCs must find it or at least prevent the villains from taking advantage of the “civil war” among the world’s heroes…

[Hermit]

Re: Generation Gap

 

I had something similar come to mind once. If you don't mind, I'll repost something I posted earlier. Mind you, this was with older farts

 

..............

Otis Broome smiled at his young granddaughter. Her eyes were bright blue, and taking everything in. The old man winked, and tipped his hat to her, “See Betty, this is where I used to work.” He gestured to the parking lot, “Fraid they paved it over, but once, there was a beautiful building on this spot… the ‘Guardhouse’ we called it.”

 

The child looked at him with suspicion, though she also seemed embarrassed at questioning her grandfather, “Were you REALLY Doctor Justice?”

 

“Why child, how rude, “ He tisked, “Since when has your grandfather ever sought to deceive you?”

 

“Uhm..” Betty thought about it, then replied, “How about when you told me that if I kicked the next cabbage over, I wouldn’t get stuck with a baby brother.” She crossed her arms and looked at him, “That didn’t work.”

 

“Touch’e,” Otis admitted with a smile, “But I really was Dr. Justice.”

 

There was an earth shattering boom, knocking both old man and girl to the ground. Otis turned his head to see two figures had crashed in the center of the street. Meteor, the flame covered stone like hero of Libra, was on top of Shatterburst, a notorious villain.

 

Shatterburst kicked Meteor off of him, sending the crime fighter several feet away and landing him near the two.

 

Meteor got up, and motioned at the villain, “Give it your best shot, @zzh*le!”

 

Betty’s eyes bugged a bit at the language. That, however, was the least of Otis’ worries. “Wait,” He called out to Meteor, “My granddaughter and I are here…”

 

“So move..” Meteor shrugged unconcerned, even as Shatterburst fired his jagged energy burst towards him. Meteor dodged easily, seemingly not caring that any innocents might get caught in what he was avoiding.

 

Otis moved as well in a leap that no Olympic Jumper could have made. In one motion he swooped Betty up in his arms and sprung to the side. The energy wash burned at his back, and destroyed his jacket, but while diminished, his powers remained, and he merely grunted once, essentially unharmed. Had Betty been in that same line, she would have been killed.

 

The two superhumans continued to duke it out, blasts and punches flying wildly and Otis found himself getting his granddaughter back to her mother the next street over.

“Martha, take Betty to safety, away from here… I have to go.”

 

“Dad, you can’t…” his daughter began to protest.

 

God, she looks so much like her mother, but I don’t have time for this Otis drew on the same voice he used to use to cause minions to hit the floor “No argument, do it NOW!”

 

She nodded, and took the crying child off. Even as Martha was putting Betty in the car to leave, Otis was already racing back to the fight. It felt weird to be doing this again. His heart seemed to be holding up okay. Not that it mattered if it didn’t. There were innocent lives at stake, and someone had to do damage control.

 

For the next ten minutes, Otis Broome cleared away innocents, saved people downed by falling debris, and yelled a great deal at the idiots who seemed to confuse the amount of property damage they caused with the size of one’s genitalia.

 

He was ignored.

 

Suddenly, Shatterburst grabbed at his throat. A thin red line formed all around his neck.

 

Then the villain’s head fell off, severed.

 

“Oh my god,” Otis muttered to himself.

 

“I had him, Razorwire,” Meteor scowled, “I didn’t need your help.”

 

Razorwire, another member of the superteam Libra, smiled like a Cheshire as she slowly appeared holding her bloody monofilament name sake, “F*** you, don’t be such a baby just because this one counts as mine…”

 

Some teenagers on a street corner cheered, “YEAH! Libra kicks #$$!”

 

They’re worshipping them , Otis felt disgusted, Those boys honestly admire someone who just killed another human being without due process of law…

 

It boiled up in him, “You should be ashamed of yourselves.” He scowled at the two ‘heroes’, “This isn’t how it’s done. You don’t ignore innocents then brag about kills…”

 

“Save the lecture, old man,” Meteor sneered, “Or you’ll be next.”

“I think he’s cute, a bit senile, but cute,” Razorwire laughed, “Let’s go.”

 

With that, the two left. A moment later, so did Otis. Pulling out his cell phone God, how I hate these things. he dialed a number he hadn’t called in a long time.

 

“Hello, Liz? It’s me, Otis. I’m fine, the heart is better I… Liz, please, let me talk. Libra just wrecked part of downtown, endangered innocents without a care, and killed a man without trial…they don’t care. We have to do something.”

 

The sounds of protest buzzed over the other side of the phone.

 

“I know we’re retired, damn it, but we’ve got to do SOMETHING. We’ve got to show this city there are still real heroes, ones who value life, and justice and… Darn it Liz, you know I’m right. You still got Malcolm’s number? His armor maybe old, but I bet he can upgrade, that’s one thing you and I can’t say. Meeting me at the parking lot where our old base was… midnight tonight. Oh, and come in costume.”

 

Another sound of protest issued from the cell.

 

“Yes, I know it will need to be altered. I don’t fit in mine either. Liz, we don’t have a choice. We maybe Yesterday’s Heroes, but we’re the only ones who can save today.”

 

There was a sigh on the other side of the call, an acceptance, and finally a god bless.

 

“You too, Liz, you too,” And Otis Broome, the once and soon to be present Dr. Justice, eyed the vacant Parking lot for at least an hour remembering.

[nexus]

Re: Generation Gap

 

As always, nice writing Hermit!

 

Right now, I'm thinking about the origin of superhumans in the setting and a reasonable method to break them into "ages". Of course the ages won't be as clear cut and are somewhat the product of nostalgia and propaganda than truth.

[Hermit]

Re: Generation Gap

 

As always, nice writing Hermit!

 

Right now, I'm thinking about the origin of superhumans in the setting and a reasonable method to break them into "ages". Of course the ages won't be as clear cut and are somewhat the product of nostalgia and propaganda than truth.

 

Maybe each age would have more common origins?

 

Golden Age superpowers- Mostly from chemicals

Silver Age- Radiations

Bronze Age- Mutants

Iron Age-Nanotech?

[wrestlinggeek]

Re: Generation Gap

 

This is the barest nugget of a campaign idea I'm working on, barely a skeleton but I thought I'd put up a thread to use as a sounding board for ideas as they occur.

 

“Generation Gap”

 

A supers game based on the idea of changing ages, a setting where there was an idealistic Silver Age period, a Bronze age and is now in a darker Iron age but the earlier, retired heroes, tired of the younger ones sullying their ideals and the notion of Heroism are on a comeback, older, not quite as powerful but canny and experienced. I guess it would be similar to Kingdom Come (which I confess I've never read).

 

I think I’d place it in the 1990s, at least as far as tone for the new heroes. Many of the earlier heroes are well meaning but somewhat hypocritical stuffy old fogies looking back on “their” time through rose colored glasses but they do have a point. Some of the “edgy” new heroes are going to far driven by celebrity, greed and excess or are just psychos in costumes using “heroism” to justify their rampages. A middle ground has to be found and the PCs must find it or at least prevent the villains from taking advantage of the “civil war” among the world’s heroes…

 

So, which Age would the PCs be from? Maybe the newly dawning Steel Age (or Diamond Age), which seeks to unite the best features of all previous Ages, while avoiding their bad qualities?

[Certified]

Re: Generation Gap

 

So' date=' which Age would the PCs be from? Maybe the newly dawning Steel Age (or Diamond Age), which seeks to unite the best features of all previous Ages, while avoiding their bad qualities?[/quote']

 

I think this brings up an interesting concept. Since we are talking about generational differences would the setting actually refer to these heroes as being from the Golden Age or the Iron Age? This is something that tends to be forth wall joking kind of stuff, at least in the campaigns I've played in but in this case it could make a lot of sense and add some flavor to the history. Plus who doesn't want ot be able to say they were the herald of a new age in history?

[OddHat]

Re: Generation Gap

 

As always, nice writing Hermit!

 

Right now, I'm thinking about the origin of superhumans in the setting and a reasonable method to break them into "ages". Of course the ages won't be as clear cut and are somewhat the product of nostalgia and propaganda than truth.

 

Well, there's a theme I've been playing with in my campaign.

 

Almost all of the known Supers in the 1940s and 1950s voluntarily served in the military. Many of the better known Supers of that period were actually created as part of government funded experiments on human enhancement (the high death toll and very low success rates of these experiments prevent them from continuing outside of the top secret Science Cities (SCs) established by the worlds governments from the 50s-70s). These Golden Age Supers are on the whole extremely patriotic, socially fairly conservative, and generally possessed of the outlooks and attitudes typical among willing veterans of a popular war. They tend to be pro-government idealists, having seen both the amazing progress of the 20th century and the threat of totalitarianism.

 

There were more known Supers in the 60s and 70s, and the majority were born with their powers, either the direct descendants of WWII era Supers or of survivors of Human Enhancement projects, with a few created in the SCs. This generation of Supers faces an unpopular draft to fight enemies not clearly threatening their country. America won the Vietnam War (more or less; the country was partitioned, America withdrew its Supers, and a civil war broke out again). However, the revelation of atrocities committed by the US government against its own people in the Science Cities damaged citizens faith in government, and broke the bonds of trust between many Supers and the military. The Civil Rights Movement, Youth Movement, and Womens Rights movement further divided the country, especially as a number of very public young minority and female Supers appeared. The last of the Science Cities is shut down by 1971, so far as the public is aware, and the Science City scandal contributes to Nixon's decision to resign. The Draft was eliminated in 1974. Supers that came out of this period tend to be movement idealists, but to distrust the government and the military.

 

The 1980s and 1990s saw a generation of Supers freer of direct government control than any since the 1930s. Supers of this period often sought to profit from their powers. The OSI (think part NSA, part FBI, for Supers) began widely sponsoring Super Teams in cities, offering military pay scale but extremely good benefits (most notably immunity from lawsuits), and corporate sponsorship of such teams became a charitable deduction. The public began seeing Supers, especially sponsored supers, as corporate shills, mercenaries, or (at best) just another flavor of celebrity. Religious Supers became more visible, and more outspoken, as the Southern Baptist Convention began sponsoring Super teams. The Catholic Church's Order of Saint George added a public Super team in part to distract attention from the activities of its long established covert Extraordinary operatives, and Israel's Nephilim drew harsh criticism for alleged atrocities in the Palestinian conflict. Meanwhile, Saudi Aribia and Packistan independently field the first public Islamic Supers.

 

Which brings us to the PCs.

[nexus]

Re: Generation Gap

 

So' date=' which Age would the PCs be from? Maybe the newly dawning Steel Age (or Diamond Age), which seeks to unite the best features of all previous Ages, while avoiding their bad qualities?[/quote']

 

That's largely what I was thinking with options to be from earlier ones if desired though I hadn't thought "Steel/Diamond Age" specifically.

[matrix3]

Re: Generation Gap

 

This is a really interesting idea, Nexus. Keep us updated on your progress.

 

Great story, Hermit. I tried to rep you, but it won't let me.

[matrix3]

Re: Generation Gap

 

To chime in with some advice, if you are looking for "events" to mark off different ages, here is something I was thinking of using.

 

I like incorporating the Tunguska Event into my campaigns, and I was thinking of using it as the start of powers on Earth. I am planning to make it a seed of some sort, set adrift in space, and pulled to Earth by Tesla's Wardenclyffe tower experiments. It burst some miles above the Earth's surface, driving its seed straight down, deep into the crust, where it proceeded to burrow even deeper, miles beneath the surface.

 

This seed draws in power via various means, but releases it according to the sun's solar cycle, each lasting 9 to 14 years (usually 11). The seed released a burst of mutagenic energy in 1919 that enveloped the world, creating the first few supers. It then releases a burst of energy every two cycles, so the second was released 22 years later in 1941, the third in 1963, the fourth in 1985, and the fifth in 2007. There is a variance in the cycles, allowing you to determine exactly when you want these bursts, but each burst can build on previous, giving a reason that supers just keep getting stronger. This will give you a Golden Age (WW1 through the 30s), a Silver Age (WW2 and the Korean War), a Bronze Age (Vietnam and Disco), an Iron Age(80's and 90's), and then your Steel/Diamond Age would be just starting.

[Karmakaze]

Re: Generation Gap

 

You might also like this old thread about the how the Comics Code shaped the earlier ages.

[DusterBoy]

Re: Generation Gap

 

I had something similar come to mind once. If you don't mind, I'll repost something I posted earlier. Mind you, this was with older farts

 

..............

Otis Broome smiled at his young granddaughter. Her eyes were bright blue, and taking everything in. The old man winked, and tipped his hat to her, “See Betty, this is where I used to work.” He gestured to the parking lot, “Fraid they paved it over, but once, there was a beautiful building on this spot… the ‘Guardhouse’ we called it.”

 

The child looked at him with suspicion, though she also seemed embarrassed at questioning her grandfather, “Were you REALLY Doctor Justice?”

 

“Why child, how rude, “ He tisked, “Since when has your grandfather ever sought to deceive you?”

 

“Uhm..” Betty thought about it, then replied, “How about when you told me that if I kicked the next cabbage over, I wouldn’t get stuck with a baby brother.” She crossed her arms and looked at him, “That didn’t work.”

 

“Touch’e,” Otis admitted with a smile, “But I really was Dr. Justice.”

 

There was an earth shattering boom, knocking both old man and girl to the ground. Otis turned his head to see two figures had crashed in the center of the street. Meteor, the flame covered stone like hero of Libra, was on top of Shatterburst, a notorious villain.

 

Shatterburst kicked Meteor off of him, sending the crime fighter several feet away and landing him near the two.

 

Meteor got up, and motioned at the villain, “Give it your best shot, @zzh*le!”

 

Betty’s eyes bugged a bit at the language. That, however, was the least of Otis’ worries. “Wait,” He called out to Meteor, “My granddaughter and I are here…”

 

“So move..” Meteor shrugged unconcerned, even as Shatterburst fired his jagged energy burst towards him. Meteor dodged easily, seemingly not caring that any innocents might get caught in what he was avoiding.

 

Otis moved as well in a leap that no Olympic Jumper could have made. In one motion he swooped Betty up in his arms and sprung to the side. The energy wash burned at his back, and destroyed his jacket, but while diminished, his powers remained, and he merely grunted once, essentially unharmed. Had Betty been in that same line, she would have been killed.

 

The two superhumans continued to duke it out, blasts and punches flying wildly and Otis found himself getting his granddaughter back to her mother the next street over.

“Martha, take Betty to safety, away from here… I have to go.”

 

“Dad, you can’t…” his daughter began to protest.

 

God, she looks so much like her mother, but I don’t have time for this Otis drew on the same voice he used to use to cause minions to hit the floor “No argument, do it NOW!”

 

She nodded, and took the crying child off. Even as Martha was putting Betty in the car to leave, Otis was already racing back to the fight. It felt weird to be doing this again. His heart seemed to be holding up okay. Not that it mattered if it didn’t. There were innocent lives at stake, and someone had to do damage control.

 

For the next ten minutes, Otis Broome cleared away innocents, saved people downed by falling debris, and yelled a great deal at the idiots who seemed to confuse the amount of property damage they caused with the size of one’s genitalia.

 

He was ignored.

 

Suddenly, Shatterburst grabbed at his throat. A thin red line formed all around his neck.

 

Then the villain’s head fell off, severed.

 

“Oh my god,” Otis muttered to himself.

 

“I had him, Razorwire,” Meteor scowled, “I didn’t need your help.”

 

Razorwire, another member of the superteam Libra, smiled like a Cheshire as she slowly appeared holding her bloody monofilament name sake, “F*** you, don’t be such a baby just because this one counts as mine…”

 

Some teenagers on a street corner cheered, “YEAH! Libra kicks #$$!”

 

They’re worshipping them , Otis felt disgusted, Those boys honestly admire someone who just killed another human being without due process of law…

 

It boiled up in him, “You should be ashamed of yourselves.” He scowled at the two ‘heroes’, “This isn’t how it’s done. You don’t ignore innocents then brag about kills…”

 

“Save the lecture, old man,” Meteor sneered, “Or you’ll be next.”

“I think he’s cute, a bit senile, but cute,” Razorwire laughed, “Let’s go.”

 

With that, the two left. A moment later, so did Otis. Pulling out his cell phone God, how I hate these things. he dialed a number he hadn’t called in a long time.

 

“Hello, Liz? It’s me, Otis. I’m fine, the heart is better I… Liz, please, let me talk. Libra just wrecked part of downtown, endangered innocents without a care, and killed a man without trial…they don’t care. We have to do something.”

 

The sounds of protest buzzed over the other side of the phone.

 

“I know we’re retired, damn it, but we’ve got to do SOMETHING. We’ve got to show this city there are still real heroes, ones who value life, and justice and… Darn it Liz, you know I’m right. You still got Malcolm’s number? His armor maybe old, but I bet he can upgrade, that’s one thing you and I can’t say. Meeting me at the parking lot where our old base was… midnight tonight. Oh, and come in costume.”

 

Another sound of protest issued from the cell.

 

“Yes, I know it will need to be altered. I don’t fit in mine either. Liz, we don’t have a choice. We maybe Yesterday’s Heroes, but we’re the only ones who can save today.”

 

There was a sigh on the other side of the call, an acceptance, and finally a god bless.

 

“You too, Liz, you too,” And Otis Broome, the once and soon to be present Dr. Justice, eyed the vacant Parking lot for at least an hour remembering.

 

Otis Broome is already my favourite character. Please say you're going to develop this on this board.

 

(What is a hero? A hero is someone who does the right thing because he cannot do differently, who never quits and always completes his mission. But a hero never thinks of himself as such.)

 

"Why do think this is my responsibility? Because no-one else thinks it's theirs"