Hero Histories based on the Ages of Comics

[Doug McCrae]

My current campaign has a history based on the ages of comics – Golden, Silver, etc. Appropriate characters appear in each time period. For example Golden Age superheroes are powered by chemicals, radio waves or by learning magical mysteries in Tibet. Silver Age heroes are aliens or radioactive. Communists are often involved in their origin stories. And so on.

 

If you have created a similar campaign history, how did you approach it? Did you make any unusual decisions?

 

I made my Superman analog, Johnny Tomorrow, a Silver Age hero rather than Golden Age for a number of reasons. As an alien, Superman's origin feels more SA than GA. The comics of the 50s and 60s were, imo the best Superman stories. The Superman that's the hero's hero, the hero against which all others are measured, is the Superman of the SA. I gave Johnny Tomorrow a mysterious death in 1963, JFK and MLK style. I always felt the best SA Superman stories are the ones where he dies, which happened quite frequently as they were all 'imaginary stories'. They're like the death of Balder.

 

One could have a 1938 social activist Superman as well, you would if you were Warren Ellis, but I feel that Superman is a relatively minor figure. He only stayed that way for about a year, not at all necessary for a hero history. There doesn't really have to be a definite 'first superhero' at all imo, several could've appeared more or less simultaneously, it doesn't matter that much who was first.

[Certified]

Re: Hero Histories based on the Ages of Comics

 

One of the campaigns I'm in over at Hero Central centers around older heroes coming out of retirement. For whatever reason I thought the bast way to try and capture this idea was have the character kind of mature trough the ages starting out as a late pulp early golden age detective. When working on the timeline I tried to tink of things as print runs of a comic to emphasize the shift in eras. Here's the bio for the masked detective Vigilant.

 

Vigilant

 

 

 

Vigilant Prime

 

Val Char Cost Roll Notes

8+22 STR -2 11- / 15- Lift 75.8kg/1600.0kg; 1 ½d6/6d6

8+15 DEX -6 11- / 14- OCV: 3/8/DCV: 3/8

8+7 CON -4 11- / 12-

8+7 BODY -4 11- / 12-

20 INT 10 13- PER Roll 16-

20 EGO 20 13- ECV: 7

20+10 PRE 10 13- / 15- PRE Attack: 4d6/6d6

12 COM 1 11-

 

2+19 PD 0 Total: 2/21 PD (0/15 rPD)

2+16 ED 0 Total: 2/18 ED (0/15 rED)

3+3 SPD 12 Phases: 4, 8, 12/2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12

4+5 REC 0

16+14 END 0

16+22 STUN 0

Total Characteristic Cost: 33

 

Movement:

Running: 4"/8"/8"/16"

Leaping: 1"/2"

Swimming: 2"/4"

Swinging: 28"/56"

 

Cost Powers END

Overseer Armor, all slots OIF (-½)

30 1) Titanium and Kevlar Plating: Armor (15 PD/15 ED) (45 Active Points); OIF (-½) 0

9 2) Reinforced Skeleton: +7 BODY (14 Active Points); OIF (-½)

9 3) Assistance Servos: +7 CON (14 Active Points); OIF (-½)

30 4) Reactive Smart Tissue: +15 DEX (45 Active Points); OIF (-½)

4 5) Image of Vigilance: +10 PRE (10 Active Points); Limited Power Power loses about half of its effectiveness (Only for Pre Attacks; -1), OIF (-½)

13 6) Intergrated Predictive Movement Controls: +2 SPD (20 Active Points); OIF (-½)

15 7) Exo-Frame Weight Distribution: +22 STR (22 Active Points); OIF (-½) 2

5 8) Running +4" (4"/8" total) (8 Active Points); OIF (-½) 1

9 I am Vigilant: +3 PER with all Sense Groups 0

1 Iron Will: Mental Defense (5 points total) 0

23 Overseer Weapon Systems: Multipower, 35-point reserve, (35 Active Points); all slots OIF (-½)

2u 1) Bolo Line: Entangle 3d6, 4 DEF (35 Active Points); OIF (-½) 3

1u 2) Snatch: Stretching 7" (35 Active Points); Limited Power Power loses about half of

its effectiveness (Only for Grabing and Pulling; -1), Cannot Do Damage (-½), OIF (-½), Always Direct (-¼) 3

2u 3) Swing Line: Swinging 28", Reduced Endurance (½ END; +¼) (35 Active Points); OIF (-½) 1

1u 4) Reel Em' In: Telekinesis (23 STR) (35 Active Points); Limited Power Power loses about half of its effectiveness (Only to pull in targets trapped in a Bolo Line; -1), OIF (-½), Affects Whole Object (-¼), Beam (-¼) 3

2u 5) Shot in The Eyes: Sight Group Flash 7d6 (35 Active Points); OIF (-½) 3

4 Counterstrike +2 +2 3 ½d6 / 8d6 Strike, Must Follow Block

5 Defensive Block +1 +3 Block, Abort

3 Martial Grab -1 -1 Grab Two Limbs, 18 STR / 40 STR for holding on

4 Martial Strike +0 +2 3 ½d6 / 8d6 Strike

3 Martial Throw +0 +1 1 ½d6 / 6d6 +v/5, Target Falls

5 Takeaway +0 +0 Grab Weapon, 18 STR / 40 STR to take weapon away

3 Takedown +1 +1 1 ½d6 / 6d6 Strike; Target Falls

 

Perks

10 The Watchtower: Vehicles & Bases

1 False Identity

1 Contact 8-

1 Contact 8-

8 Money: Wealthy

 

Skills

10 Martial Training: +2 with HTH Combat

10 Years on the Street: +2 with DCV

3 Acrobatics 11- (14-)

3 Acting 13- (15-)

3 Breakfall 11- (14-)

3 Climbing 11- (14-)

3 Computer Programming 13-

3 Criminology 13-

3 Cryptography 13-

3 Deduction 13-

10 Defense Maneuver I-IV

3 Electronics 13-

3 Instructor 13-

3 Lockpicking 11- (14-)

3 Mechanics 13-

3 Persuasion 13- (15-)

3 Scholar

2 1) KS: Abnormal Psychology (3 Active Points) 13-

2 2) KS: Known Criminals (3 Active Points) 13-

2 3) KS: Organized Crime (3 Active Points) 13-

3 Scientist

2 1) SS: Battlesuit Engineering and Design 13- (3 Active Points)

2 2) SS: Biology 13- (3 Active Points)

2 3) SS: Criminal Psychology 13- (3 Active Points)

2 4) SS: Physics 13- (3 Active Points)

3 Security Systems 13-

3 Seduction 13- (15-)

3 Shadowing 13-

3 Stealth 11- (14-)

3 Streetwise 13- (15-)

3 Systems Operation 13-

3 Tactics 13-

3 Teamwork 11- (14-)

 

Total Powers & Skill Cost: 317

Total Cost: 350

 

200+ Disadvantages

10 Watched: Local Police 11- (Mo Pow, Watching)

10 Hunted: Behemoth 8- (As Pow, Harshly Punish)

Notes: Behemoth was once a construction worker who mutated after an industrial accident. A giant of a man Behemoth relies on his vast amounts of strength to take whatever he wants. not much of a thinker Behemoth has a special hatred for Vigilant and an even greater loathing of the impostor who has taken his name.

20 Hunted: Maas Inc 8- (Mo Pow, NCI, Harshly Punish)

Notes: A powerful multinational Vigilant exposed in his early years. Despite the appearance of new management someone at Maas holds a long grudge.

10 Physical Limitation: Age (Infrequently, Greatly Impairing)

20 Psychological Limitation: Bound By Duty (Common, Total)

10 Psychological Limitation: Code Against Killing (Common, Moderate)

10 Psychological Limitation: Somber and Melancholy (Common, Moderate)

15 Psychological Limitation: Stubborn (Common, Strong)

10 Psychological Limitation: Perfectionist (Common, Moderate)

10 Reputation: Obsessed vigilante, 11-

5 Rivalry: Professional (Vigilant; Rival is As Powerful; Seek to Outdo, Embarrass, or Humiliate Rival; Rival Aware of Rivalry)

20 Social Limitation: Secret Identity (Many Enemies) Frequently (11-), Severe

 

Total Disadvantage Points: 350

 

Background/History: When other here's were heroes were getting to slow to keep up Vigilant refused to let go. Driven he pushed his body until it finally shut down on him. Recoiling at his own weakness Vigilant went into a long retirement as he looked for some way to continue the fight.

 

Squirreling tech away over the years Vigilant has studied robotics, biochemistry and physics looking for some why to transcend the weakness of the flesh. It was in this long period of isolation that a new hero emerged taking up the mantle of Vigilant.

 

Unlike the original this man did not have to rely on skill or training, imbued with super senses and speed he began making an name for himself. This drove the original Vigilant deeper into his study. For all his training, all his knowledge, in the end he was just human. However it was this new Vigilant who who would cause him to end his retirement.

 

When a foe from his past emerged, the Mad Titian Behemoth returned to the city he began a one man war on the new Vigilant, eventually capturing him. Putting out a call he demanded the man he now called Vigilant Prime show himself and take the punishment in store for the importer.

 

Although unfinished Vigilant donned a new suit, a reflexive exoskeleton dubbed the Overseer Armor. Multiplying his strength it removed the strain on his body and where he lacked the speed of his youth compensated with titanium and Kevlar. On that day Vigilant finally retired accepting his body would never allow him to be a hero again. On that day Vigilant Prime emerged from a long dormant slumber to save the new Vigilant from the man-god Behemoth.

 

Vigilant Prime is hardly on what one would call god terms with Vigilant II. The new hero has done what he can to avoid him since his rescue. Vigilant Prime has told himself to leave this new man alone. He seems to walk the sleight an narrow and for now that's good enough for him.

 

Powers/Tactics: Vigilant as the name implies is a man obsessed with justice and seeing the right thing done. In his prime he was a master martial artist using twin guns with trick bullets to put down criminals. Now, drawn out of retirement by the emergence of a new hero taking his name Vigilant Prime as he calls himself relies on a unique suit of power armor to compensate for his age

 

 

 

Timeline

 

 

 

• April, 1955: The masked detective Vigilant makes his first appearance routing a shipment of weapons being smuggled out of the US to Nazi hardliners in Germany.
  
• May: Vigilant encounters Ruby Red: Seductress of the SS for the first time shutting down an illegal airfield outside of Detroit. Ruby Red escapes using the hyper advanced EJ-14 Barron Jet.
  
• June, 1955 - November, 1956: Vigilant has several adventures combating Nazi resurgent groups in the US. Notable foes include: Black Barron, Commander Blitzkrieg and Ruby Red.
  
• December, 1956: Vigilant leans that Ava Daring, his girlfriend, is secretly Ruby Red, Seductress of the SS after a battle across the Detroit skyline.
  
• January, 1957: Vigilant defeats Professor Storm, The Weather Lord at his research lab. The fight ends with an explosion destroying Storm's weather control equipment. Professor Storm is presumed dead.
  
• February - April: Imuthes, The Mummy Lord arrives in the US. Vigilant and Imuthes battle several times as the Mummy Lord attempts to rub local museums and art galleries. This culminates at the Governor's Mansion when Imuthes attempts to resurrect Ramses the Great.
  
• May: Vigilant receives commendation from Dwight D “Ike” Eisenhower for effort to root out remaining Nazi element in the US. Eisenhower Quips: I told the guys at the Washington Post it wasn't me.
  
• June -December: Vigilant returns to fighting the increasing Nazi presence in the US.
  
• May, 1961: After a period of silence Vigilant reappears having infiltrated a secret Russian base under Lake Eire.
  
• June - August: having uncovered the Red base Deep Blue Vigilant does battle with Russian Solders as he searches for a way out of the underwater maze.
  
• November: Vigilant battles Ivan Blood. Critically wounded in the battle Blood destroys the base in an attempt to kill Vigilant.
  
• December: Drifting for Days Vigilant is found and rescued by a fishing crew.
  
• January, 1962: Professor Storm resurfaces, now able to control weather at will, a side effect of his previous battle with Vigilant.
  
• February: Vigilant learns that Ivan Blood is secretly an alien shape shifter, I'vor Bloure. Using advanced technology Vigilant is abducted.
  
• March, 1962 - June, 1964: Taken back to I'vor's home world Vigilant battles aliens through the Theta Sector helping to save the Gal-Mar, an enslaved slave race.
  
• August, 1968: The body of Vigilant is found inside an alien stasis pod outside of a small village in the USSR.
  
• September - December: Vigilant escapes the Iron Curtain.
  
• January, 1969: Vigilant fights Ruby Red and her squad of fighter pilots for the last time over Korea. Vigilant uses the EJ-14 to return home with Ruby Red.
  
• March, 1972: Vigilant is inducted into the League of Justice.
  
• April, 1972 - March, 1976: Vigilant fights along side with the League of Justice and other heroes doing battle with many super powered. The League of Justice Roster includes: Crimson Avenger, Gallant, Lady Wolfe, and Starchild. Notable Foes: Behemoth, Berserker, The Agents of Challis, Fire Eater, Gold Crusher, Quake, Reaper, and Ur - The Time God.
  
• June 1978 –January 1979: Professor Storm manipulates Behemoth tormenting Vigilant.
  
• February 1979: Vigilant defeats Professor Storm. Professor Strom founds Tempest members include: Behemoth, Reaper, The Smiling Lord, and Xi’or.
  
• March 1980: Vigilant visits Ava Daring (Ruby Red) in prison. Before dying she confesses that she came out of retirement to see if Vigilant would resurface. After not seeing him for years she feared he had died.
  
• April: Crushed by Ava’s confession and her death Vigilant begins searching for some way to let himself retire.
  
• May: Confronted by Xi’or, an alien shape changer and member of Tempest Vigilant accidently kills him.
  
• June, 1980 – January, 1982: Shocked by his own actions Vigilant leaves the US traveling to the Philippines. There he tries to start a new life but cannot let go of his past, rescuing prisoners on a slave ship heading to Thailand. Vigilant has several other adventures in the Far East. Foes Include: Jade Empress, Sand Spider and Vengeance.
  
• February: Vigilant and a reformed Jade Empress marry. Before they are able to leave the temple the Jade Empress is killed by Vengeance.
  
• June: Body of Vengeance found at steps of Buddhist temple where the Jade Empress was slain.
  
• December: Vigilant returns to the US.
  
• January, 1983 – April, 1988: Vigilant returns to crime fighting. Older, he relies more on gadgets and his skills than he has in the past. Suffering much more severe wounds than in his youth, Vigilant is forced to come to grips with his age. Vigilant begins exploring technologies he brought back from the Theta Sector and the stasis pod that had preserved him.
  
• June: White perusing the criminal Maxwell’s Demon, Vigilant disables the villain’s means of flight. Although the criminal survives Vigilant is forced to reconcile with his age.
  
• July: Vigilant battles with Behemoth stopping a prison break. Four guards are killed and Vigilant is left severely wounded even though Behemoth is defeated.
  
• August, 1988 – December, 2008: Vigilant slowly slips into retirement as obsessed with finding a way to keep fighting despite his failing body.
  
• January, 2008: Mutant hero with amazing sensory powers takes of the mantle of Vigilant.
  
• January, 2009: Vigilant II is captured by Behemoth who demands the real Vigilant, Vigilant Prime reveal himself and be killed in the place of this new hero.
  
• February: Vigilant emerges from retirement using an experimental Overseer exosuit to save Vigilant II from Behemoth.
  
• March: Vigilant, now referred to as Vigilant Prime returns to crime fighting full time.
  

 

[bubba smith]

Re: Hero Histories based on the Ages of Comics

 

very good but shoudn't vigilent 1's adventures sart in1935 ww2 had ened by 1955

[Certified]

Re: Hero Histories based on the Ages of Comics

 

When I was working on the timeline I wanted him to start earlier but I knew from the start I didn't want him to have any kind of super powers until the modern age. Vigilant as it stands is about ninety. Part of what I wanted to portray was the decline of his body and his loathing of having to rely on technology to compensate for it. Sure this could have been done if I pushed it back into the true pulp era but at a hundred and ten that's pushing even my exaggerated suspension of disbelief for the character.

 

One of the things I made sure not to cover is a true back story for him. No mentioning his real name how he learned martial arts but I pictured him in his thirties at the start of his career as a crime fighter, old enough to have fought in the war or a number of other things.

 

Oh and that was post number 999.... I'll need to come up with something good to break 1000 with.

[Doug McCrae]

Re: Hero Histories based on the Ages of Comics

 

That's really good stuff, Certified. The alien shapeshifters and Professor Storm are very Silver Age. The prof feels like a Flash villain. I've got a somewhat similar character called Professor Tumult who uses a 'hurricane gun'. Lady Wolfe, Starchild, Berserker, Behemoth, Reaper and Ur the Time God all have a great Bronze Age feel. The picture of Behemoth looks a lot like a crazy Defenders bad guy from a mystic dimension. The 1980 Far East connection is also very period appropriate, very Frank Miller. The Vengeance/Jade Empress incident looks like a homage to Bullseye/Elektra. I reread those Daredevil issues quite recently and it's an amazingly good story, very emotional. Ruby Red is the Red Skull, right? Does she switch from the nazis to the reds?

 

I have one minor criticism - Imuthes the Mummy Lord would not be possible in 1957, as the comics code banned the walking dead. He'd have to wait until the 70s when the comics code was relaxed to rise from his tomb once more.

[Doug McCrae]

Re: Hero Histories based on the Ages of Comics

 

You're right that Vigilant himself feels like a 1930s two-fisted (or two-gunned in his case, like The Spider or The Shadow) pulp hero. Perhaps like Captain America he could've been frozen in ice until 1955 or passed thru a time warp?

[Clonus]

Re: Hero Histories based on the Ages of Comics

 

The Victorian Era: Despite warnings from natives, African explorer brings back "devil's root". Botanists everywhere are fascinated and cuttings from it quickly spread around Europe. All of the "serums" that are discovered, to turn invisible, accelerate to superhuman speed, regenerate elderly or injured bodies, levitate, shapeshift or what have you contain an extract of devil's root along with the enzymes and hormones that determine precisely what the serum does. The side-effects are grievous. Many of the greatest minds of Europe fall prey to experimentation with the root, and resulting insanity and death.

 

However there are other power sources, most notably the occult societies which offer to train people to unlock their psychic potential, control the flow of their chi or just make pacts with various paranormal entities to use some portion of their power. "Occult" means "hidden" and a fierce invisible war goes on between them, by mutually unspoken agreement avoiding the sight of the public for displays of their true power.

 

Lastly there are the makers of automatons, submarines and flying machines. Most of them cheat, using black box technology whose origins remain unclear. Attempts to publicly demonstrate these toys tend to lead to their core elements being stolen by espionage agencies, criminals and the more forward-looking secret societies all of whom have their own uses for room temperature superconductors and positronic sponges.

[Certified]

Re: Hero Histories based on the Ages of Comics

 

That's really good stuff, Certified. The alien shapeshifters and Professor Storm are very Silver Age. The prof feels like a Flash villain. I've got a somewhat similar character called Professor Tumult who uses a 'hurricane gun'. Lady Wolfe, Starchild, Berserker, Behemoth, Reaper and Ur the Time God all have a great Bronze Age feel. The picture of Behemoth looks a lot like a crazy Defenders bad guy from a mystic dimension. The 1980 Far East connection is also very period appropriate, very Frank Miller. The Vengeance/Jade Empress incident looks like a homage to Bullseye/Elektra. I reread those Daredevil issues quite recently and it's an amazingly good story, very emotional. Ruby Red is the Red Skull, right? Does she switch from the nazis to the reds?

 

I have one minor criticism - Imuthes the Mummy Lord would not be possible in 1957, as the comics code banned the walking dead. He'd have to wait until the 70s when the comics code was relaxed to rise from his tomb once more.

 

 

Thank you, I'm glad you liked the timeline. With the Gal-Mar storyline I wanted to capture something like Jack Kirby's galactic adventures. At the same time I really was looking for a kind of Flash Gordan throwback story arc

 

In the seventies I wanted to have Vigilant really jump from being a pulp age throwback to fighting at the same power level as actual super heroes. To make this transition I thought a four color styled Justice League or Avengers would serve as a kind of spring board. The logic being if he can fight alongside powered super heroes he's obviously as strong as them. You know power creep from changing writers.

 

The eighties seemed to have a lot of Asian connections and so I thought it was appropriate. The Jade Empress being a kind of combination of Storm, Lady Deathstrike and Itsu. This was also a darker time in comics and so I wanted to reflect that.

 

As for Ruby Red although he married the Jade Empress I think his heart always belonged to Ava Daring. With introducing the Jade Empress I was also trying to strike on some of the strange kind of love stories that crept into comics of the time. Scott, Phoenix and Phoenix comes to mind. Although the timeline never actually details it I think she does since it's in Korea where he finally captures her.

 

I have to admit I'm surprised I only had the one comic code infraction. Maybe Imuthes the Mummy Lord only had the scary name but was a living human? Something along the lines of Shiwan Khan, possessor of magical powers but still human?