Idea Bank

[Clonus]

It's the 60s. The United States is at war in Vietnam, and every man between 18 and 25 is legally compelled to be registered for the draft. If your number comes up, you must report for a physical examination which does everything technologically possible to determine whether you have powers that could be unusually useful to the military. If you are already known to have such powers then you are always called in. There's a special draft category for guys like you, X-1. You can get a draft exemption by joining one of the superhero teams which are officially recognised by a local jurisdiction and on call by the presiding politician. That's the ONLY way you can get a draft exemption if you are classed as X-1. Some people evade the draft, using one method or another to fake normalcy in the examination, or simply don't come in. Young hero groups form all over the country, trying to establish their bona fides so that by the time their number comes up the local government will have decided they're needed.

[yamamura]

Re: Idea Bank

 

It's the 60s. The United States is at war in Vietnam' date=' and every man between 18 and 25 is legally compelled to be registered for the draft. If your number comes up, you must report for a physical examination which does everything technologically possible to determine whether you have powers that could be unusually useful to the military. If you are already known to have such powers then you are always called in. There's a special draft category for guys like you, X-1. You can get a draft exemption by joining one of the superhero teams which are officially recognised by a local jurisdiction and on call by the presiding politician. That's the ONLY way you can get a draft exemption if you are classed as X-1. Some people evade the draft, using one method or another to fake normalcy in the examination, or simply don't come in. Young hero groups form all over the country, trying to establish their bona fides so that by the time their number comes up the local government will have decided they're needed.[/quote']

 

That is an interesting idea Clonus. A variation that I would throw out is that teams residing state side could become female heavy, as women with powers are not require to join. Of course there can be a ramification when the draft ends. Also it would mean for some reason, a large number of Vietnamese supers existing to counter this larger and more powerful force. A whole a lot of ideas there.

[jkwleisemann]

Re: Idea Bank

 

Vietnamese, or Chinese and Russian... also gives our heroes something to do after the end of the war, as the ones who stay on the teams are lassoed into being Cold Warriors.

[Clonus]

Re: Idea Bank

 

Vietnamese' date=' or Chinese and Russian... also gives our heroes something to do after the end of the war, as the ones who stay on the teams are lassoed into being Cold Warriors.[/quote']

 

I visualise the Russians as sending supers both to counterbalance the Americans, and because they're happier with them far away from Moscow. While the Russians intelligently didn't send regular troops they did send a thousand or so advisors. The Chinese might very well find themselves at odds with their super-population since from 1965 to 1968 they tried to stomp on anyone who showed signs of special abilities...such as the power to read.

[assault]

Re: Idea Bank

 

Assuming my character is American...

 

He would probably have a secret ID, and would therefore only be subject to being called in on a normal basis. After that, things would depend on which character is involved. (The following are the placeholder heroes in my universe.)

 

Captain Atom: has no powers in his normal form.

Cat-Man: has no powers, period.

Crimson Comet: is technically a hunchback! Unfortunately, he wouldn't be able to take the risk that they might look harder at him, and find his wings. So... it might be off to Canada for him.

 

What would Captain Atom or Cat-Man do if they were called up? Serve in their normal identities, of course.

 

PS: Thinking about it some more... My versions of these characters are really just loose homages, since I actually know very little about the originals. In fact, one of the reasons I picked them was that they themselves were derivative, which meant that I could plausibly fill gaps in my knowledge of them by mining the same sources.

 

Fundamentally, they are Four Colour characters. This has the interesting side effect that their responses to "real world" situations (like the draft) would be entirely different to mine. So different, in fact, that I wouldn't like to play them in these situations.

 

I suggested that Crimson Comet might go to Canada to avoid having his secret identity exposed. Actually, I don't think he would. He would have to avoid the situation some other way - one more in keeping with a Four Colour ethos. Being a hunchback would help, but it would require him to not be subject to a medical examination.

 

Awkward. Mixing Four Colour characters and "realistic" situations is always difficult.

[Clonus]

Idea II: Janissaries

 

The characters are humans kidnapped by aliens because they had the right genetics to be given superpowers (which is what the probing was about). The aliens needed warriors to fight in their war so they erased the memories of their abductees and gave them superpowers. However in the first session they learn about Earth and are given a chance to desert and try to go back and find out who they really are.