Now: June 27, 2017 the Earth passed through the tail of a rogue comet. As it did all the A-list supers, hero and villains, vanished. Superman, Supergirl, the Fantastic Four, Batman, the Avengers, most members of the Justice League were gone. Spider-Man had disappeared from the skyline of New York, they and so many-many more were had simply vanished. The only good news is that most powerful agents of villainy had also disappeared. Bizarro, Magneto, Juggernaut, Professor Zoom, etc. were gone without a trace. Even those who were safely incarcerated in super-max prisons from across the globe went missing and haven’t been seen since. With the worlds most powerful heroes gone the remaining super villains ran rampant. SHIELD (Supreme Headquarters for International Espionage, Law Enforcement Division) tried to fill the vacuum without success. America tired of relying on the United Nations for help with the madness that followed what became known as the Great Exodus, eventually just the Exodus, and formed its own version of SHIELD. They called it PRIMUS (Primary Response and Interdiction Military United Service). PRIMUS worked on the Federal level, against supers who crossed state lines in their quest for mayhem or committed Federal crimes such as banks robbery or kidnapping. The States were to be protected by SAT, Special American Tactics, a PRIMUS-like groups that took their orders from the State Governors much in the same way the National Guard does. The mayors of cities were not going to be left with their pants around their ankles. The cities that could afford special police divisions to deal with the remaining super villains mobilized. These special police divisions are known locally by various names but thanks to national news syndication they are collectively known as PART, Paranormal Alert and Response Teams. SHIELD, PRIMUS, SAT, and PART do not together as well oiled components of a greater whole. More often than not they get in each others way, withhold information, and fail to share resources because of personal or jurisdictional biases. Thus the general public has been left relying on superheroes to protect them from the super villains. Some did not vanish in the Exodus and others have risen in the absence of Earth’s mightiest heroes. This is the beginning of their stories…. ============================== The History, Before the Exodus The history of Mystery Men in America is a long and convoluted one. It started in the American Revolution where the patriots who battled English tyranny wore masks to protect their identities. The tradition continued in the lawless west when men stood their ground but hid their identities to protect their families from revenge by those they opposed. Even in pre-American California the masked Zorro defended the people from the Spanish governors who ruled like kings. The civil war had its share of heroes who concealed their identities. They protected the weak when the armies took more than what was needed or slaughtered those who could not protect themselves. These were all mortal men who used cunning, skill, and bravery to fight injustice. They bled and died just like everyone else. Of course there were tales that some of these heroes learned secrets from the American Indians, possessed magical powers, or held supernatural items that made them invincible but these were just tales that made heroes seem larger than life. Just stories, nothing more…perhaps. Tales of a league of extraordinary gentlemen operating in Europe reached the Americas around the turn of the century. They adventured together, battled evil, and protected the common man.. The exploits and membership of this league are highly suspicious and vary upon the teller but tales of their heroism endure to this day. If they existed some of their members were very powerful individuals while others had access to science decades if not centuries, ahead of their time. It wasn’t until the Great War (WWI) that people with unnatural abilities were confirmed to exist. Nicholas Orion Thyme was one of America’s greatest heroes during the war. Few would remember him by that name. Nicholas Thyme is better remembered as The Minute Man. All that is known about the origin of Minute Man’s powers is that he got them from a lab somewhere in Colorado. Minute Man could run a mile a minute and was strong enough to overturn a jeep. During the war he was joined by a small group of ‘super’ heroes. The mechanical suited Giant, impervious to bullets and possessing great strength. Major Victory could lift a fully loaded tank. Vanguard was a muscle bound patriotic cliché. He and his son, Vanguard Jr., completed the unit. It was called The Salvation Brigade. All members of the Salvation Brigade were lost in action battling Kaiser Wilhelm’s Hell Legion, but they took the Legion with them. During Prohibition a number of mystery men appeared on both sides of the law. While some battled the growing power of crime syndicates others joined them for the wealth and power that they provided. One of the most infamous of the prohibition heroes was known as The Bat, in some circles he was simply called (the first) Batman. He was a master detective, martial artist, and was equipped with an impressive array of devices that he used in a personal war against the criminal cartels of New York. He remained active for a few years after Prohibition ended. It is unknown if he was killed or if he just retired. When the Second World War broke out reports of crack unit of Nazi soldiers reached the States: The S.S. Werewolves. The Werewolves were deployed only three nights a month, during the full moon. In most cases they left no survivors but sometimes one or two people were lucky enough to escape. They described the Nazi soldiers as wolfmen like the ones seen in the 1935 film Werewolf of London. The fledgling OSS went into preparation in case America got drawn into the conflict, which of course we were. America’s answer to the S.S. Werewolves was the now famous Creature Commandos. Dr. Myrra Rhodes (Dr. Medusa), PFC Lucky Taylor (Frankenstein), Sgt. Vincent Velcro (the Living Vampire), Private Warren Griffith (the American Werewolf) and their commanding officer Lt. Matthew Shrieve who possessed no paranormal attributes. The Creature Commandos gained their powers from a top secret government program known only as Project M whose files are still classified as Top Secret. The Creature Commandos greatest advantage over the S.S. Werewolves was that they were combat ready every day (and night) of the year, not when the moon dictated. The tragedy was that after the war these heroes could not return to anything that resembled a normal life. When the war ended they retired to a military compound set aside for them by a grateful nation where they lived out the rest of their lives. Governments being what governments are the United States continued to try to recreate the success that Dr. Erskine had with Operation Rebirth during WWII, the program that created Captain America. During the five years of peacetime between the end of WWII and the start of the Korean War various agencies in the United States tired to develop, refine, and perfect a super soldier process. America wanted to be ready for the next war. No super soldiers were fielded during the Korean Conflict but when the Vietnam began in 1955 the United States military saw an opportunity to field test what was being developed in their laboratories. In 1964 when congress authorized President Lyndon B. Johnson to use force in the region several ‘exotics’ were ready to be activated. Project Durable, Project Epsilon, Project Jackknife, and others, asked American servicemen to volunteer for ‘special training and treatment’. In most cases the experiments were dismal failures but in a few rare cases some of the soldiers developed minor enhanced abilities or slight powers. The defense department filed the results of the experiments as fiascoes and returned to the drawing board. Their opinions were perhaps premature. While the test subjects didn’t have immediate measurable gains a minute few saw their abilities grow impressively over time. The children of the test subjects, after reaching puberty and being exposed to some form of extreme stress, gained abilities far greater than their parents had. The success of the Vietnam projects went largely unnoticed. Only a few astute individuals with access to records of the failed programs saw the up tick in the number of new super beings in the descendants of the original test subjects. Before the exodus there were a large number of mystery men on both sides of the law. Some had powers, some did not, but all of them were remarkable in their own way. -- Villains will range from world conquering madmen like Doctor Destroyer (or perhaps Doctor Doom) to disease ridden sexual predators such as Germ. You will likely see characters 'borrowed' from movies, television, and comics (DC, Marvel, and others). The game will be run as Hero System 5ER, modified. The Campaign is set in New York City, primarily in Brooklyn. Combat abilities are important but Role Playing and detective work are a must. -- Character Build Guidelines: Characters can be built on 200 Base Points 150 Disadvantage Points 5 Points in Quirks (OPTIONAL) Quirks are minor 1 point disads inspired by GURPS. Up to 2 quirks can be left open to be filled in during course of play. For example 1 _Quirk: Always carries a bag of Jelly Babbies (Jelly Beans) 1 _Quirk: Carries a $100 in emergency money 1 _Quirk: Sleeps in the nude (does housework in the nude, whatever) 1 _Quirk: Always wears something white in color 1 _Quirk: Speaks with a fake French Accent (or maybe a VERY BAD French accent) 1_ Quirk: Finds in impossible to have a conversation without dropping the F bomb. That kind of thing. And there are bonus points available to those who take the following options. A character who takes Normal Characteristics Maximum as a 20 point disad. These 20 points do not apply to the maximum 150 disad points. Thus he can have 170 points in disadvantages and be okay. This allows him or her to start off with a higher point total at the start of the game. Various package deals are listed in various source books. The packages deals have bonus points equal to the number of points of required skill, perks, powers, and so on divided by 5, not to exceed 20. Package Bonus = (package cost) / 5 Package Bonus points also do not apply to the maximum number of disad points a character can have, allowing him or her to start off with a higher point total at the start of the game. Martial Arts have a style disad that is effectively a 10 point distinctive feature. Someone with a Analyze Style skill can get a bonus to hit (or avoid being hit) with a successful skill roll. Therefore Martial Arts style bonuses are not applied to the total number of disadvantage points a character can possess allowing him or her to start off with a higher point total at the start of the game. Important Note: The maximum number of package bonus points and style disadvantage points can not exceed a total of 20. Normal Characteristic Maximum Points is separate from that and is set at 20 points. (i.e. you can have 20 points in packages AND Normal Characteristic Maximum for a total of 40 bonus points). So to Recap and Summarize 200 + base 150 + disadvantages 5 + quirks (Optional) 20 + Normal Characteristics Maximum (Optional) 20 = total MA Style and other package bonuses (Optional) 395 ============================== I believe that the power level in the game will rise and fall depending on the Player characters. There will always be someone “out there” who is bigger, stronger, and more powerful than the most powerful PC, but can be beaten by the group working together or out smarting or out maneuvering them. The general guidelines for power level are pretty much out of the 5ER book for a standard to high powered game: Characteristics: 10 to 60 SPD 4 to 8 (my preference is 5 but there will be NPCs who break this glass ceiling Combat Values (OCV, DCV, ECV) 3 to 12 Active Points 40 to 90 This is a slippery slope and by that I mean 40 to 90 points in damage dealing power. Things like Reduced END, Variable Advantages, and so forth might make a power MUCH higher in active points but still not be very damaging. Also some mundane equipment (like some machine guns) are going to have a much higher ‘effective’ Active Point value but are available to regular non-powered humans. So please be cautious if you exceed the active cost but don’t automatically think it will be a problem. Skill Points (total for the character) 6 to 16 Though, again, some characters will be much higher that his. Think of Toney Stark or Bruce Wayne. Skill Roll 11 to 16 or less Defenses / Resistant Defenses 30/30 I would like to see everyone being able to take some stun from a 60 active point attack (or less). 60 Active points is basically 12d6, average roll is 42. With 30 defense the character will take 12 Stun. Now mind you these are general guidelines, they are not ENFORCED limits. If you exceed them that will only result in opponents that can take whatever your character can dish out. For example, the Geriatric Heroes are a team of 3 Aunt Maes and one Incredible Hulk. I will have use bad guys on the level of the Hulk meaning all the Aunt Maes are in a world of hurt! Can you say, ‘squash’? I thought you could! There are four real sources of super powers: Technology/Training, Magic, Species, and Mutates/Mutants. Technology/Training: Iron Man, Batman, Hawkeye, and so forth fall into the technology/training camp. As would Green Lantern (though some might argue that GL is more magic than technology). Magic: Include characters such as Doctor Strange, Doctor Fate, Thor, the undead, lycanthropes, wizards, witches, and other super naturals. Species: Include aliens (like Superman), Atlanteans, elves, dwarves, etc. In theory every member of said race has the same powers but expertise with strength can vary greatly by individual. Mutants/Mutates: Mutants are pretty much self evident. They are beings with powers that their parents and fore do not possess which manifest around puberty. Any issue of the X-men should provide ample examples of mutants. Mutates possess a latent X-factor gene that is triggered when they experience some kind of extreme stress. They are pretty much everyone else before the event causes them to change. Examples of mutates include Bruce Banner has a latent x-gene that was triggered by his exposure to the Gamma bomb, otherwise it would have just killed him (like it would have done to a normal person). Peter Parker, latent x-gene triggered by being bitten by a radioactive spider. Steve Rogers, latent x-gene triggered by the Super Soldier serum to become Captain America, the Fantastic Four (Reed Richard, Sue Storm, Johnny Storm, and Ben Grim) latent x-genes … etc.
