New Campaign Idea: "X-Men: First Class" As The Only Canon

[Theron]

So, I re-watched XMFC today. It's great fun. I love the Spy-Fi vibe to it, and the notion of mutants interacting with real-world events hits a sweet spot for me.

 

Of course, the film has -all to do with with established X-Men continuity (comics or films), which got me thinking...

 

A while back on RPGnet, someone proposed a Star Wars game that used only the first movie (the one released in 1977, whatever Lucas wants to call it this week) as canon. Everything else would be extrapolated or interpolated from it. Nothing from Empire or Return. Certainly nothing from the prequels or the novels. It was a neat idea and rather liberating.

 

This afternoon, I started positing an Marvel Mutant setting wherein "First Class" is the sole canon. Anything said or implied in the movie is true. Anything else is speculation or requires additional justification to exist.

 

At this point, it's a very raw and lumpy, undeveloped notion. But I already have some ideas to work with:

 

1. Mutants only. There's no mention of other types of superhuman in First Class (or any of the X-films, for that matter) and I like it that way. It's easier to play up the mutant menace when one isn't constantly trying to split hairs over what is and isn't a mutant.

 

I could see a place for hyper-competent super-spies, but no more than one PC in the group.

 

2. The mutant intervention in the Cuban Missile Crisis could have some very interesting repercussions on the Cold War.

 

3. I would probably not set the game in the 60s. I'd rather have the Missile Crisis be the first time the public became aware of mutants and develop the history from there for a decade or so. That way, I can add in additional characters from X-history, but suitably modified to fit the new setting.

 

4. However, there's no reason a player couldn't pick a particular favorite X-Men character, write them up, and play them, provided their background was altered to fit the setting.

 

Anyway, it's a nugget waiting to be refined, but I think there might be something worth polishing on.

 

Ideas? Comments? Condemnation?

[Shadow Hawk]

Re: New Campaign Idea: "X-Men: First Class" As The Only Canon

 

I like the idea. Of course, you realize the "First Class" continuity(sp?) matches the X-movies pretty closely. And the Wolverine movie. It does notnotnot match the comics, as you noted. Using that as a basis...

X-Men: First Class occurs in 1962 (Cuban Missile Crisis).

Wolverine occurs in about 1990 (ten years prior to first X-Men movie, based on Scott Summers/Cyclops age.)

X-Men (first movie) occurs in 2000 (based on release date).

OR you can ignore the other movies, like you said.

 

Power Level: could be Teen Champions, or full on supers, depending on whether you want to do young mutants just reaching thier powers or established, trained mutants. Or both, with two parrellel campaigns.

More to follow after I ponder some more.

What limits on powers? Could we have mutant-mages ala Scarlet Witch, or mutant gadgeteers ala Forge? Mutant weaponmasters (mutants whose powers are well suited for weapon training), mutant martial artists (ditto)?

[Theron]

Re: New Campaign Idea: "X-Men: First Class" As The Only Canon

 

Yeah it does, sort of fit the movies, if you squint and don't think about it too hard. In the first movie, Magneto helped Charles build Cerebro and built his helmet to neutralize Charlie's telepathy. In First Class, the gubmint built Cerebro, based on Hank McCoy's design. But such inconsistencies are half the fun.

 

I'll probably approach it as a monumental "What If?" exercise. Without the Avengers, Wanda and Pietro (assuming they were born) remain with their father, for instance. Colossus never leaves the USSR, which doesn't collapse due to reasons to be made up later.

[lapsedgamer]

Re: New Campaign Idea: "X-Men: First Class" As The Only Canon

 

Yeah it does, sort of fit the movies, if you squint and don't think about it too hard. In the first movie, Magneto helped Charles build Cerebro and built his helmet to neutralize Charlie's telepathy. In First Class, the gubmint built Cerebro, based on Hank McCoy's design. But such inconsistencies are half the fun.

 

I'll probably approach it as a monumental "What If?" exercise. Without the Avengers, Wanda and Pietro (assuming they were born) remain with their father, for instance. Colossus never leaves the USSR, which doesn't collapse due to reasons to be made up later.

 

I didn't have a moment's issue with that actually. I assumed that when Magneto said that he and Charles built Cerebro, he was talking specifically about the version shown in the movie, which was clearly an upgraded model. The fact that he didn't mention the prototype is easily glossed over because he really had no reason to mention it in that context.

 

Your bigger problem is with the seemingly random appearance order of characters. There's a White Queen in Wolverine who looks to be about nineteen or twenty, but the same character appears in First Class, thirty years earlier, looking to be about twenty-five or so. Wolverine and Mystique don't age like everyone else, so that's not a problem. Still, there are certain issues that you have to deal with. I mean Hank McCoy is in all four X-Men movies, if mainly in cameo. Which version is the one you really want to go with? It's a mess unless you just pick a continuity and stick with it as you suggest.

[bigbywolfe]

Re: New Campaign Idea: "X-Men: First Class" As The Only Canon

 

Where was Hank in X2?

[Brother Chaos]

Re: New Campaign Idea: "X-Men: First Class" As The Only Canon

 

Hank was in X3 not X2

[bigbywolfe]

Re: New Campaign Idea: "X-Men: First Class" As The Only Canon

 

I know he was in X3. He also had a cameo in X1. The post above mine said he was in all 4 X-men movies, hence my question.

[Folded]

Re: New Campaign Idea: "X-Men: First Class" As The Only Canon

 

I like it. The idea of trying to sort out multiple continuities from the movies, comics, cartoons and the rest, is mind-numbing. Picking one clear set of events and working entirely from there would allow for much cleaner playing in what could be an enjoyable universe. Haven't seen the movie, but I'm warming to the idea.

 

On a broader note, changes to the way that the Cuban Missile Crisis went down would have massive repercussions on history. Further, the appearance of a superpower that isn't a nation as well (mutants in general and those mutants in specific), will have yet more repercussions. You've got some interesting questions to ask.

 

The civil rights movement was just gaining steam at about this time. How does the movement deal with mutants? Are they included as an oppressed minority, or are they seen as a threat? Will mutants stop Kennedy's assassination? Dr. King's? Malcolm X's? Bobby Kennedy's?

 

Marvel has glossed over some huge issues involving mutants for various reasons. Are mutants involved in the Vietnam War (Watchmen did touch on this, but you won't have Dr. Manhattan walking around, probably)? How do the various world religions respond to the existence of mutants? I don't see a problem with the Buddhists, and the Hindus might go either way, but the Religions of the Book are truly problematic (Judaism, Christianity and Islam), especially the fundamentalist sects. What about the appearance of mutants in countries other than the superpowers? There is no reason to assume that all mutants will appear in 'first-world' places, or even have the slightest idea what a mutant is. Witch burnings and new Alexanders come to mind, not to mention mutants being involved in conflicts nearly anywhere. There's also the response of extremist political ideologies and their responses (China comes to mind, but Russia as well).

 

Other historical events could be affected, as well. A mutant sets foot on the moon before Neil Armstrong does. Charlie Manson turns out to be a telepath. The Wild Cards series, edited by George R.R. Martin, goes through some of these in the early books. You might want to check them out.

 

Sounds like a fascinating project, altogether. I'll be interested to see what you do with it.

[IndianaJoe3]

Re: New Campaign Idea: "X-Men: First Class" As The Only Canon

 

Where was Hank in X2?

 

He was on the TV in the bar where Mystique picks up the guard. I don't recall him being blue and furry, though.

[Folded]

Re: New Campaign Idea: "X-Men: First Class" As The Only Canon

 

Here's the link on youtube. And no, he's not blue and fuzzy in this one. Neither is he Kelsey Grammer. But he started out as normal-looking when he first appeared in the comics, so it's not entirely unreasonable.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgjYx3i18B0

[Theron]

Re: New Campaign Idea: "X-Men: First Class" As The Only Canon

 

Your bigger problem is with the seemingly random appearance order of characters. There's a White Queen in Wolverine who looks to be about nineteen or twenty' date=' but the same character appears in First Class, thirty years earlier, looking to be about twenty-five or so. Wolverine and Mystique don't age like everyone else, so that's not a problem. Still, there are certain issues that you have to deal with. I mean Hank McCoy is in all four X-Men movies, if mainly in cameo. Which version is the one you really want to go with? It's a mess unless you just pick a continuity and stick with it as you suggest.[/quote']

 

Yeah, that's why I'd be taking First Class as the only source of true information. I'm pretty sure there's a scene in X2 or X3 (it's been a while since I watched either) with bald Patrick Stewart Charles walking in a flashback set in the 80s. There are too many internal contradictions, so it's better to start with a relatively clean slate.

[fbdaury]

Re: New Campaign Idea: "X-Men: First Class" As The Only Canon

 

Yeah' date=' that's why I'd be taking First Class as the only source of true information. I'm pretty sure there's a scene in X2 or X3 (it's been a while since I watched either) with bald Patrick Stewart Charles walking in a flashback set in the 80s. There are too many internal contradictions, so it's better to start with a relatively clean slate.[/quote']

 

The Wolverine movie shows Charles walking when he saves the kids from the island near the end.

 

Also, the biggest seeming contradiction for me is the fact that the government would clearly have valid proof of the existence of mutants prior to X1, even outside of the shadowy black ops corner employed by the Weapon X project.

[Ockham's Spoon]

Re: New Campaign Idea: "X-Men: First Class" As The Only Canon

 

Hollywood doesn't often insist that sequels/prequels be entirely consistent, so picking a single movie as canon and borrowing from others as you see fit sounds like a good strategy.

 

My own two cents is that while you might limit metahumans to being mutants (no magic or extraterrestrials, etc.) you will probably want to have some kind of foil for the mutants. Governments may try to control mutants for their own purposes, but that is a limited resource pool and they will want to have some non-mutant way to deal with them. You could go as far as the Sentinels from the comics, but you might just have highly trained, super-equipped soldiers. Soldiers could be anything from Competent Normals with really good gear all the way up to Iron Man clones, depending on the power level of the game. However you handle it, the non-mutant forces should be a credible threat, even if individually they are no match for most mutants.

[lapsedgamer]

Re: New Campaign Idea: "X-Men: First Class" As The Only Canon

 

I actually have always thought that Marvel missed a chance at an interesting storyline by not having the Sentinels be men with tech instead of AIs. You saw that a little in God Loves, Man Kills, but they never really played with it too much outside of that.

[Steve]

Re: New Campaign Idea: "X-Men: First Class" As The Only Canon

 

When thinking about the timeline, if you set it an alternate present day, you should think seriously about having every mutant take Life Support vs Aging at the one point or maybe even two point level. If you wanted to include Professor X and Magneto, they'd be in their late 70s now, I think. Slowed aging would be a reasonable mutation. The same thing could explain the White Queen and other mutants who seem very long-lived.

 

If a mutant was around and saved the life of Dr. King, I think they would find a place in the Civil Rights movement.

 

If a mutant saved the life of President Kennedy, the world would be a very different place in 2011.

[fbdaury]

Re: New Campaign Idea: "X-Men: First Class" As The Only Canon

 

.

 

If a mutant saved the life of President Kennedy, the world would be a very different place in 2011.

I can't remember what it was but there was a show where Kennedy was saved from assassination and he then precipitated a possible nuclear exchange through his actions- to correct this, he was shown how the world was supposed to be and agreed to help correct things, even going so far as being the man on the grassy knoll that fired the killing shot!

[dmjalund]

Re: New Campaign Idea: "X-Men: First Class" As The Only Canon

 

I can't remember what it was but there was a show where Kennedy was saved from assassination and he then precipitated a possible nuclear exchange through his actions- to correct this' date=' he was shown how the world was supposed to be and agreed to help correct things, even going so far as being the man on the grassy knoll that fired the killing shot![/quote']That would be Red Dwarf

[Steve]

Re: New Campaign Idea: "X-Men: First Class" As The Only Canon

 

Back to the main topic, there are some practical issues to consider when taking First Class as the starting point.

 

If you set the campaign in the modern day, mutants have been around and growing in numbers for six to seven decades. I think they might be even more prevalent than was shown in the original X-Men movie trilogy. How quickly are there numbers growing? Were they numerous enough to participate in the civil rights movements, or are they only numerous now in 2011?

 

Fifty plus years is a long time for a society to adjust to having superhumans around. There might be large segments of the population that isn't really scared of them. Of course, if Magneto and his bunch are acting like terrorists, that could cause a lot of fear and paranoia to grow.

[Ravor]

Re: New Campaign Idea: "X-Men: First Class" As The Only Canon

 

Not to mention that as I recall Kennedy did not have the election locked down by any means, and given the anti-mutant bigotry in the universe its entirely possible that being saved by one could have led to a backlash from the voters, sealing his fate at the voting booth.

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: New Campaign Idea: "X-Men: First Class" As The Only Canon

 

I can't remember what it was but there was a show where Kennedy was saved from assassination and he then precipitated a possible nuclear exchange through his actions- to correct this' date=' he was shown how the world was supposed to be and agreed to help correct things, even going so far as being the man on the grassy knoll that fired the killing shot![/quote']

 

There was a similar New Twilight Zone episode called "Profile in Silver" in which a time traveler accidentally saves Kennedy's life, only to find out that Khrushchev's just been murdered and the world is on the brink of war. He sets things right by swapping places with Kennedy -- the researcher took the bullets while Kennedy took his place in the future as a history professor.

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: New Campaign Idea: "X-Men: First Class" As The Only Canon

 

Not to mention that as I recall Kennedy did not have the election locked down by any means' date=' and given the anti-mutant bigotry in the universe its entirely possible that being saved by one could have led to a backlash from the voters, sealing his fate at the voting booth.[/quote']

 

Kennedy would have had a very rough go of it in 1964. Despite the relief from the resolution of the Missile Crisis he wasn't all that popular or, really, successful. He had just set the nation on the path to the debacle in Vietnam and didn't have a coherent response to the civil rights movement. Goldwater would have had a pretty good shot at winning and history would have taken a very different course (for one thing, no Great Society).

[kahuna's bro]

Re: New Campaign Idea: "X-Men: First Class" As The Only Canon

 

I actually have always thought that Marvel missed a chance at an interesting storyline by not having the Sentinels be men with tech instead of AIs. You saw that a little in God Loves' date=' Man Kills, but they never really played with it too much outside of that.[/quote']

marvel prpobably didint want armr clad sentenels to seem too much like iron man

[Mathew]

Re: New Campaign Idea: "X-Men: First Class" As The Only Canon

 

Didn't they depict young Charles and Magneto as friends in the beginning of X3 in the 1990s, where Charles could walk, and they tried to recruit Jean Grey. This would be 30 years AFTER Charles was shot in the back right in First Class right? So he should be in a wheelchair.

 

So somehow 30 years after First Class Magneto gave up his evil ways, Charles had a miraculous recovery, and they worked together for a while. Then Charles had a relapse and Megneto went evil again?

 

Also, if you want to play with ages, Hank McCoy was supposed to be maybe 16 to 18 in First Class. 1962... So in X-Men 3 he is 62 years old? I guess you can chalk that one up to being a mutant.

 

Hey, maybe hank had a temorary cure or an image inducer for X2?

[Werehawk]

Re: New Campaign Idea: "X-Men: First Class" As The Only Canon

 

Funny this thread should appear because I have been working on several events that take place sometime after the movie for a local con here in Ohio. I'm limiting myself to the first volume between 1963 to 1975 in terms of what characters I'm using (both heroes and villians) but not exclusively if it runs the game better.

 

 

It is 1964, a new President is in office, and the Cold War now has a new and unpredictable element, the existance of Mutants all over the world.

CIA Agent Moira MacTaggert is the only person in the government with any experience with Mutants but is reluctant to work with them since the "Cuban Incident". She realises that Erik Lenscherr and his Brotherhood must be stopped but she does not trust her superiors. She does have one ace up her sleeve, Professor X and his X-Men.

Meanwhile,Professor Charles Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters is up and running. Teaching newly discovered Mutants how to be responsible with their abilities while looking to shore up his team to fight Magneto and his Brotherhood. However, with his new Cerebro still under construction, Xavier's recruitment of new X-Men has been a hit-or-miss affair at best and he has only been able to add three more Mutants to the roster. Joining Dr. Hank McCoy(Beast), Alex Summers(Havok),and Sean Cassidy(Banshee) are Pietro Maximoff and his twin sister Wanda, a slow-witted speedster named Quicksilver and an unstable probability manipulator named Scarlet Witch respectively and both have had an earlier run-in with Magneto, and Shiro Yashita, a loose cannon with nuclear powers and a rival to Havok calling himself Sunfire. Agent MacTaggert covertly sends Xavier anything that might lead him to Lenscherr or other possble Mutant threats but he realises they are on their own.

Events in the works:

1) MASTERMIND.

A group of suspected Irish militants waging a terror campaign in London have been shown to exhibit superhuman abilities against London's security forces. Powers resembling those of Magneto and his Brotherhood. Xavier is not convinced it is Erik and sends the X-Men to investigate. Complicting matters is an ambitious MP named Jason Wyngarde who is exploiting the situation for his own ends.

2) THE HONEY TRAP.

A high ranking Russian official defects to the West with a wild story of a "Soviet Super Soldier" programme. A group of Mutants similar to Xavier's X-Men but under the power of the KGB. Agent MacTaggert believes her and alerts the X-Men. But is her story real or is she bait to capture the X-Men?

Let me know what you think.

[Spideydave]

Re: New Campaign Idea: "X-Men: First Class" As The Only Canon

 

I have been thinking about this same idea for a while now. "Rebooting" familiar worlds in fresh and new ways. I have been coming over to the idea with my various RPG groups, that it is easier to get a campaign off the ground if the players have to do less work to learn the setting. Taking an existing comic book setting but "rebooting" or starting it from a very specific point is a good idea. By starting at a specific spot in the setting's timeline you can leave or take what you want. Then when you introduce "new" characters from the setting the players who are a little familiar with the setting will recognise your NPCs without much exposition on the GMs part.

 

I just recently started a Dark Champions game myself and I kind of wished I had done the same.

 

The ohio con game sounds fun.

 

Spideydave