The world changed with the turning of the millennium. Superhumans appeared without explanation. Justice, the first acknowledged super, said it himself, "It's like something out of the comic books I read as a kid. So that's what I'm going to do, be a superhero." Years later, superheroes and supervillains are just another fact of life. The official United States superhero team Americana is based in New York. Therefore, many heroes and villains have gone west to seek their fame and fortune. Los Angeles is the largest mecca for supers on the west coast. In 2001 after the fall of the World Trade Center towers, the Department of Homeland Security was formed. In addition to their responsibilities over Immigration and Border Protection, they have also been given the responsibility for oversight of supers operating within US borders. This has widely been regarded as a bad idea, as the territory squabbles with the Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Prisons have shown. The big perennial scare is whether they will try to get Congress to pass a superhuman registration bill. However, overall public support of supers means that such laws haven't had much traction or success. This is a superhero campaign set in a modern day world almost identical to our own. Superpowers have only existed for a few years; while society has largely adjusted to this, there is still room for the characters to have major impact. The world is as realistic as possible with superheroes flying around, and the fantastic occurring on a semi-regular basis. Magic is real, while super-science and high technology "technobabble" accomplish wondrous (but not cartoony) things. Mutations and the refinement of natural abilities can reach similar levels. There are no aliens, alternate dimensions, or time travelers. Player Characters are expected to be (and will be respected as) heroes. This means they require a reasonably heroic motivation, and some degree of aversion to killing, and be able to work with other heroes and authorities. They will be fighting against everything from low-level street crime, to nefarious agencies, to supervillains. There will be a strong focus on character interactions and personal lives - to include non-combatative interactions with villains. There will be a high level of connectivity between characters, be they PCs, NPCs, heroes, villains, celebrities and civilians - like Spiderman, where they sometimes knew each others' identities, were friends, or had different attitudes or relationships between normal and super identities. In certain (split party) situations, players may roleplay NPCs. No previous experience with the Hero System necessary.
