Ever since I came across Zen Team in the old 4th Edition Allies book by Scott Jamison, I thought they would make a great campaign background. After several years of tinkering with ideas, this is the version I hope to run in my local gaming group. I'm submitting it to the boards for any suggestions for improvement.
And now...
Zen Team Reborn!
Background
Back in the late 1970s, a small group of scientists working on alternative energy sources for the Japanese government accidentally created the first Zero-point Energy Nexus (ZEN). Empowered in that accident was the son of the project leader, a young scientist who was working as an assistant on the experiment, Genin Mishina, and thus was created Zenman.
However, the birth of Zenman also provided the genesis for his greatest enemy, an intelligent, malignant force that called itself the Unlife, somehow summoned forth from an extra-dimensional qliphothic zone when Zenman first manifested on Earth. For the next several months, Zenman and the monsters created by the Unlife fought across Japan, earning fame in the press for his efforts at saving lives and property.
Zenman proved to be a short-lived success as Genin's body was unable to sustain the potent energies for long periods of time, and the government decided not to risk any further funding at that time on what seemed a fool's errand in trying to create more like him. Unlike the Americans, they had no interest in pouring money down a rathole in order to create supersoldiers. However, several highly-placed ministers in the Japanese government, seeing a rare opportunity in the publicity Zenman had already earned, took the discovery of the ZEN and formed a new corporation, the Zen Investing and Manufacturing Corporation (Zencorp) with the aid of certain private investors. Their intention was to capitalize on Zenman, once a way could be found to better stabilize the ZEN's forces. That method was the ZEN Module, the brainchild of the Zen Project.
After combing through several hundred potential recruits, the newly-devised ZEN Module was implanted within a former soldier in Japan's Self-Defense Forces, and the ZEN energies in Genin's body were used to jumpstart the flow of energies in the new recruit. Zenman II was born. For ten years, he was Japan's most famous superhero, fighting the forces of the Unlife and other villains, with a line of toys, video games, movies and TV programs to guarantee that success. But all things come to an end, and Zenman II retired.
Thus began the next phase of the Zen Project. The technologies had been refined and modernized during the second Zenman's career, and the ZEN's capabilities studied, although much still remained unknown about them. Six volunteers were chosen out of three thousand to receive one of the Second-Generation ZEN Modules. Unfortunately, one of those volunteers turned to crime when his module became active. The rest became known as Zen Team, new heroes for a new decade. But their glory was not to last.
Zen Team fought crime and the forces of the Unlife and became the new darlings of the media, but their main purpose was to act as spokesmen for Zencorp, which had grown wealthy on patents based on various technologies that Zenman and later the Zen Team acquired from supervillains. Zencorp bought up many smaller companies and expanded into numerous enterprises with their influx of wealth.
Meanwhile, the Unlife continued to make inroads into Japanese society, its tendrils entwining wherever it could reach. The Yakuza provided a fertile ground for it to grow and spread its influence, and there are even rumors that at least one ninja clan serves the Unlife in exchange for immortality and power over darkness. Its schemes became more subtle and intricate, acting as a puppeteer as it gathered power.
Then troubles hit when Japan's bubble economy burst, and Zencorp was revealed to be a house of cards built on lines of credit that had been used to buy more and more risky investments. In the midst of this and other scandals, the Unlife struck, destroying Zen Team through its minions. The Zen Project was over.
When the dust settled, Zencorp was dismantled to pay its debts. The government confiscated its assets, but the Third-Generation ZEN Modules were never found. The Zencave, Zen Team's original base, was mothballed, pending an inventory of its equipment that was delayed due to bureaucratic red tape and then finally forgotten. Aiji Orphanage, which the Zencave was built beneath, was leveled during a period of urban renewal and replaced with a new facility: Aiji Senior High School. Zen Team faded into obscurity, and the Unlife laughed and fell into slumber, feeling secure in its victory.
Turn forward the clock several years, and a new principal has come to take charge of Aiji Senior High School, a stern-looking man wearing horn-rimmed glasses by the name of Genin Mishina. Two new teachers have also been added to the staff.
Zen Team's war against the Unlife is far from over. A new chapter has begun, but it will require new soldiers to fight it, soldiers filled with the strength and courage of youth, a new Zen Team for a new millenium.
Creating a Zen Team Member
The prior version of Zen Team was created through a media casting call, since the team's primary purpose was not to fight crime but to sell products for Zencorp in Japan. Principal Mishina is taking a far different approach this time, preparing to fight a secret war as far away from the public eye as is possible. In order to populate the new Zen Team, he has combed through the records of Japan's school system, seeking out special individuals who have skills or abilities that would be valuable to the team.
Characters will be built as Beginning Superheroes (150 Base Points + 100 Disadvantage Points) according to the following lifepath.
Pre-Zen Team Life (50 points)
An individual Zen Team recruit should be someone approximately fifteen to sixteen who is in good health. They should also not have any sort of extreme Physical Limitations such as blindness or missing limbs, or any others that go beyond "Slightly Impairing." All recruits are tested for drug use and given a thorough physical examination and psychological profile. Principal Mishina is not about to give out superpowers to psychotics or sociopaths, so design your character's personality accordingly.
This is not to say that every member of Zen Team must be a righteous, upstanding paragon of virtue. Far from it. Due to the rarity of ability in being able to interface compatibly with a Zen Module, and the psychological toughness that Mishina is looking for in his recruits, he is willing to consider less than ideal individuals. If a person has valuable skills or talents, or the powers the Zen Module grants them would prove useful to the team, that would serve to outweigh their having negative qualities such as a flawed psychological profile or a history as a delinquent. Also, each recruit should have at least a black belt in some form of martial arts.
Before the PC enters the program, players should design a 50-point character (25 base + 25 disadvantages), with the skills the PC would have from hobbies or prior experience. The character should have 15 or more points in martial arts maneuvers from at least one real world style and a Knowledge Skill of their style of at least 8-, and one of their Disadvantages should be Distinctive Features (Style Disadvantage) for 10 points. While the Japanese high school experience is quite different from that of American high schools, it is similar enough that a character should pick one of the clique packages from Teen Champions to provide a balance of backgrounds.
Principal Mishina and his staff of close confidantes among the new roster of teachers will provide training in abilities common to all Zen Team members, but it is all right if they already possess such skills at the time of their recruitment. This training would then allow a PC to raise their skills even higher. All primary characteristics (except for Comeliness) should not be higher than 15 at this point in character creation, PD and ED no more than 5, and Speed maxing out at 3. Training and experience will allow the PC to improve beyond this level.
Basic Training (+10 points)
Each potential member of Zen Team will be given three months of intensive training, and it is expected that a good majority will wash out at this point. Training will be in the following areas: physical conditioning, mental fitness, combat tactics, basic knowledge of the Unlife, first aid, and teamwork.
This breaks down into the following purchases:
3 Acrobatics
1 Breakfall 8-
1 KS: The Unlife 8-
3 Paramedic
1 Tactics 8-
1 Teamwork 8-
Congratulations! At this point, the character has passed basic training and is fit to receive a Zen Module and become a full-fledged member of Zen Team.
Zen Team Member Powers and Abilities (+190 points)
After finishing basic training, the character receives the following Powers which are common to all Zen Team members after the Zen Module is implanted and they are given a special charger unit to activate it (which looks like a wristwatch):
24 ZEN Form: Armor (+10 PD/+10 ED), Only In Hero ID
78 ZEN Form: +10 STR, +10 DEX, +10 CON, +4 BOD, +10 PRE, +2 SPD, Only In Hero ID
3 Polarized Face Shield: Sight Flash Defense - 4 points, Only In Hero ID
3 Insulated Earpieces: Hearing Flash Defense - 4 points, Only In Hero ID
4 Polarized Face Shield: Nightvision, Only In Hero ID
12 ZEN-Enhanced Leap: Leaping +10", Accurate, Only In Hero ID
16 Flashband/Wrist Radio Watch - all Powers OIF
Transformation Sequence: 2d6 Cosmetic Transform, Full Phase Action (4 points)
Chronometer: Absolute Time Sense (2 points)
Wrist Radio: Radio Hearing/Transmit, 360 Degrees, Concealed -3 (10 points)
The character has 50 points remaining to spend on specific Powers, Skills, Perks and Talents that are unique to them. Preferably, each PC should try to fill out an archetype role on the team (i.e. Brick, Energy Projector, Mentalist, etc) by purchasing superpowers and other abilities accordingly, with the following limitations on what is allowed for them to take:
No Stop Sign Powers are allowed
All actual superpowers must be bought with the Limitation "Only In Hero ID"
No Powers may be bought as detachable foci. They must be integral to the costume.
Super-Skills may be purchased as described in Dark Champions (with GM approval)
Powers are limited to 60 Active Points at character creation, and 75 Active Points with experience
Attack Powers are limited to 12 Damage Classes at character creation, but may go to 15 later on
No Power Frameworks at character creation, but may be added with GM permission & experience
Primary Characteristics: limited to 30 – Strength may be taken to higher levels for a Brick archetype
Figured Characteristics: limited to PD 25, ED 25 (incl. Armor), SPD 7, REC 15, END & STUN 60
Resistant Defenses: limited to maximum of 15/15 for all archetypes
All Characteristics are limited to Normal Characteristic Maxima outside of Hero ID
Damage Reduction may be purchased for use in normal form, but requires the following Limitations: Character Must Be Aware Of Attack (-1/4), Only Versus STUN Damage Defined As Shock/Pain (-1/2)
Maximum 25% allowed in normal form, and may only be bought versus Physical damage
Damage Reduction may also be purchased for use while in Zen form, but each level after the first reduces maximum PD/ED by five points (max 50% Damage Reduction = -5 to PD/ED)
Zen Team Member Disadvantages (-75 points)
As a member of the team, the character will have the following Disadvantages:
-5 Accidental Change: Taking BODY Damage From Electricity (8-, Uncommon)
-15 Psychological Limitation: Loyalty to Zen Team (Common, Strong)
-15 Social Limitation: Secret Identity (Freq 11-, Major)
-15 Social Limitation: Subject to Orders (Freq 11-, Major)
-25 Hunted by Unlife (14-, As Powerful, NCI)
Explanations of Disadvantages:
Accidental Change: Electricity activates and deactivates the Zen Module. The flashband acts as a capacitor that can activate it without causing a character damage, but any BODY damage taken from electricity can also cause the change on 8-.
Loyalty to Zen Team: During training, recruits are encouraged to develop a loyalty to other Zen Team members, much like how a military unit operates. The team leader should be obeyed while in the field, and the other members of Zen Team are to be considered comrades in arms.
Note: While not spelled out in a separate Psychological Limitation, public safety and the honor of the team are a part of this, and respect for fellow teammates. Actions which bring honor to the team are encouraged, and those that don't are discouraged. The use of lethal force is acceptable only in the following situations: when facing minions of the Unlife, when a Zen Team member feels his life, the life of his teammates, or the public is at risk. Killing is not to be done frivolously.
Secret Identity: In order to give each member of the team a private life, Principal Mishina and his staff maintain a strict policy of secrecy when it comes to a member's true identity. No one outside of a select few inside the Zen Team Program are to know, not even family or friends. It is for their safety as much as it is for the safety of the individual Zen.
Subject to Orders: Upon becoming a member of Zen Team, a character's life is no longer wholly his own, which is the price paid for the power received. Teams are to be ready to deal with emergencies on a moment's notice, and a member could lose their life battling villainous paranormals.
Hunted by Unlife: Zen Team is a paranormal paramilitary force dedicated to hunting down and eradicating the Unlife from Japan, and so they will tend to bump into its minions fairly often.
Campaign Structure
The campaign is designed with Beginning Superheroes in mind (100 Base + 150 Disadvantages) and will have a mature Bronze Age tone in general, with some Iron Age elements mixed in. The feel of the campaign is intended to resemble recent superhero movies such as Spider-Man or X-Men, and private lives out of costume will be explored alongside the wilder costumed action-adventure. Morality will alternate between Black and White and Shades of Grey. Realism will be more towards the fantastic end of things rather than more realistic, and paranormals are accepted as part of life in the world. The Outlook of the campaign will be positive in general, and efforts by the PCs to improve things will be recognized.
Team Structure
Like its previous incarnation, Zen Team will be constructed around a five-man team, and to balance the psychological profiles members will be selected based on their conformance to general Confucian virtues: Benevolence (Jin), Justice (Gi), Courtesy (Rei), Wisdom (Chi), and Sincerity (Shin). These virtues have associated colors (red, yellow, green, blue, and black, respectively), which will be used to make each team member's uniform distinctive. Note that a woman on the team has the choice to either wear pink (and replace either Courtesy or Sincerity), blue, white, or yellow. Every member of the team will have their own unique color.
Codenames will be used for members of the team, based on the Greek alphabet. So a character might be known as Zen Alpha or Zen Beta, etc. Zen Team used animal-based codenames and took superpowers that tied in with their animal namesakes: Zen Lion, Zen Dolphin, etc. If the players would prefer a different way to do codenames, or use the prior Zen Team's method, it won't be a problem.
Appendix
ZEN Modules
The current generation of ZEN Module is a vast improvement over prior designs. Instead of being a cybernetic implant like those of the First and Second-Generation designs, the Third-Generation ZEN Modules are a form of nanotechnological gel that is simply injected into the human body. Once within, it spreads like a latticework throughout the host, awaiting activation by means of a small electric charge. The transformation sequence takes place in moments, summoning the armor from the extra-dimensional zone where the ZEN draws its power from to encase the body, and the ZEN's power begins flowing through the latticework, enhancing speed and strength, and also allowing access to other powers.
Why select teenagers? Why not adults? The Third-Generation Modules adapt best to a human body that has not yet reached full maturity. With adults, there is a greater risk of overloading the body's systems due to the flows of ZEN power.
Sample NPCs
The following is a short list of NPCs that are involved with Zen Team. Players are encouraged to make up unique NPCs of their own to be added to the cast, for DNPCs or Contacts.
Principal Genin Mishina: The director of the new Zen Team. His reasons for putting together a new team are shrouded in mystery, but there are rumors that it has something to do with the death of his father.
Nezumo Tanko: A thirty-something, single Japanese woman with an athletic build and several scars on her body and face. She dresses well but conservatively, and her attitude is one of restraint. Tanko-sensei teaches PE, but she is also the combat training instructor for the new Zen Team. Rumors of her being a ninja are greeted with a shrug. She is the only surviving member of the original Zen Team, but she does not talk about her past or what happened to her teammates.
Hideo Kano: Kano-sensei is the one who makes sure that the ZEN Modules function to specifications, and he is always interested in hearing about ability manifestations caused by the presence of ZEN energies in the human body. He teaches science and mathematics.
Miaka Sai: A former member of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces, Ms. Sai is tall for a Japanese woman at 5'8", appears to be in her late twenties, and her blue-green eyes are an indication of mixed heritage. She is Principal Mishina's assistant.
The Unlife
Coming from a different plane of existence, the Unlife first manifested on Earth years ago, when the ZEN's forces first possessed a human host through a rift opened between worlds. However, where the ZEN serves to augment and enhance living organisms, the Unlife derives from a plane so alien to our own that it can only corrupt, and ultimately destroy, any living organism with which it comes in contact. This is due in part to its foul nature. The Unlife is not simply the absence of Life, it is the complete antithesis of Life, in much the same way that anti-matter is not simply the absence of matter, but is rather the polar opposite. And ever since it entered this world, it has spread like a stain, a blight that corrupts and distorts all that it comes into contact with.
However, just as the ZEN confers certain powers upon those who learn how to manipulate it, so the Unlife can also confer such benefits. Of course, wielding the Unlife requires its users to allow this foul corruption to course through their bodies, ultimately destroying them unless they make the ultimate sacrifice, the transition to the Unlife to become an Undead, a creature that draws upon the Unlife for its very existence. This happens because life on Earth draws sustenance from the same sort of energies that the ZEN provides. However, the ZEN provides it in a purer form; therefore, followers of the Unlife will constantly have to struggle with their very existence as the basis of their power corrupts and befouls their own bodies with its qliphothic energies.
When it first made itself known, monsters were its minions of choice, usually an animal or the like, changed to horrific form by the Unlife. It would drain humans and other living things of life, but it was not often able to kill before Zenman was able to stop it and allow victims to recover. Later on, it became more subtle, suggesting a sentience behind its actions and not merely an elemental randomness. Evil men and women offered themselves to it, tempted by its power, for it would seek out those most willing to hear its whispered promises of power and immortality.
One of the Unlife's greatest achievements was to corrupt an entire ninja clan: the Goju. They have since become its greatest minions, working its will to further the stain of corruption in the world. In exchange, the Unlife has given them great powers: immortality of a sort, the ability to teleport through the shadows, to change their shape, and even to kill with a single touch.
