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2012
Feb 27, 2011 14:04:38 GMT -5
Post by gamedave on Feb 27, 2011 14:04:38 GMT -5
The most varied group of Supers to appear in the wake of the 2012 Event are the Supernaturals. While all Supers have abilities that seem to violate the known laws of science, Supernaturals are blatantly magical. They are often grouped into two broad categories, champions and mages, but these are labels of convenience, not technical terms, and a Supernatural may have aspects of both. Champions typically received their powers from a mysterious entity that visited them during the 2012 Event. The entity may have appeared in a dream, as an apparition, or as a seemingly physical being. The entity may have appeared to be a spirit, cosmic entity, mythological being, or a kindly old man or wizard. Other than bestowing the powers on the champion, no physical evidence of the existence of these entities has ever been discovered. Some champions claim to be in continued communication with an entity, but even powerful Indigo telepaths have never been able to verify this. Champions typically have a narrow set of powers, directly linked to the particular "theme" of the entity which bestowed their powers upon them. A champion of a mythological war god, for example, will typically have superhuman strength and fighting abilities. Many have a magical weapon or item which grants some or all of their abilities. Champions endowed by a mysterious wizard often have "classic" super-powers, such as superhuman strength, resistance, and flight. Mages, on the other hand, are typically scholars, wiccans, or other student of the occult who discovered that their "spells" became suddenly and spectacularly potent during the 2012 event. Mages typically have far more flexible abilities than champions, limited only by the spells they know, but they usually have some sort of theme to their magic (the four classic elements, mentalism, nature magic, etc.). As noted above, these are not exclusive categories. Some mages may have had their spell-casting abilities bestowed on them, while some champions (particularly martial artist chi-masters) may have endowed themselves with their abilities through occult practices. Supernatural champions are typically in their late teens to early thirties, while mages may be anywhere from their mid-teens (fairly rare, except, oddly, for female wiccans) to their mid-forties, and sometimes even older. Game MechanicsSupernaturals range from PL 8 - 14+. The Mystic is, of course, the archetypal Supernatural mage, while the Martial Artist, Paragon, Powerhouse, Warrior, and Weapon-Master are all good models for a Supernatural champion. All Supernaturals have the following power: Sense Magic: Senses 2 (Detect Magic/Supernaturals, Ranged) * 4 points
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2012
Feb 27, 2011 14:47:47 GMT -5
Post by gamedave on Feb 27, 2011 14:47:47 GMT -5
Perhaps the oddest of the Supers are the NEXTGen. Unlike all of the other Supers, they do not appear to be a result of the 2012 Event, at least directly.
On January 1st, 2013, Miles Cavender, founder, president, CEO and head scientist of NextGenTech (Next Generation Technology Corporation) announced the advent of the artificial Super, the NEXTGen (Nano-Engineered eXTrahuman Genesis). He claimed that his company had mastered a proprietary technology involving nano-engineered recombinant DNA and body sculpting which produced superhuman abilities. And, indeed, he was accompanied at his press conference by a half-dozen Supers who did not seem to fit into any of the known categories, and NextGenTech has since successfully produced several dozen Supers.
It quickly became apparent that NextGenTech was not the only group to successfully create artificial Supers. Since Cavender's announcement, dozens of artificial supers have appeared, apparently the product of secret government, corporate, or other research programs. All of them have collectively become known as NEXTGen.
NextGenTech is the only organization to publicly acknowledge a Super creation program. Governments around the world are still struggling to come to terms with the prospect of artificial Supers. Such research is tightly regulated or banned outright in most countries, but NextGenTech has so far been able to continue operating in the United States, albeit with a great deal of government and media scrutiny.
NEXTGens, and Dr. Cavendish, are odd, even by the new standards of the Age of the Super. All other known Supers were created by the 2012 Event, and no new Supers of other types have manifested since then - but NEXTGen technology continues to produce brand-new Supers. NEXTGen technology itself seems to be the product of a Super, as it violates conventional understandings of biology, chemistry, and physics, but neither Dr. Cavendish nor any of NextGenTech's researchers and scientists appear to be Supers. Neither NextGenTech's staff nor its technology and facilities are detectable by Millennials, Chimeras, Indigos, or Supernatural. And why were NextGenTech and a number of other organizations apparently researching creating superhumans prior to the 2012 Event?
As to the NEXTGen themselves, they are among the most varied of the Supers. Although NextGenTech is selective about the candidates for its NEXTGen process, its selection criteria are unknown, and there do not seem to be any common denominators among NEXTGens other than age (all known NEXTGens are in their late teens to early 20s). They also display the widest variety of powers. While raw physical enhancements are the most common, NEXTGens have displayed virtually every known super power.
However, the NEXTGen process is far from perfect. NEXTGens all seem to have some sort of flaw in their powers - and the more powerful a NEXTGen is, the bigger the flaws tend to be. In addition, NEXTGens don't seem to be able to attain the level of power of other types of Supers. Finally, unlike all other known Supers, NEXTGen cannot sense their own kind.
Game Mechanics NEXTGens vary from PL 8 - 12. Any of the archetypes other than the Construct can be used as a NEXTGen, with a few tweaks. A NEXTGen should have a tightly focused set of powers granted by a pseudo-scientific enhancement. All NEXTGen have flawed powers. At PL 8, a NEXTGen must apply a Flaw to his or her highest point-cost power. For each additional PL, a NEXTGen must apply a new Flaw (although additional Flaws may be applied to the highest point-cost power that currently does not have a flaw). [Edit: I realized that the preceding rule is unwieldy and doesn't really get the results I was after. I really want NEXTGen powers to have inherent flaws, particularly if they are pushed to the limit, but I'd appreciate some input on how to accomplish that in terms of game mechanics]
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2012
Feb 27, 2011 20:22:39 GMT -5
Post by gamedave on Feb 27, 2011 20:22:39 GMT -5
2012: Age of the Super is intended as a very specific world, with a very specific set-up, as opposed to a generic comic book super hero world. Therefore, there are a number of common supers concepts that just don't exist. As a general rule of thumb, if something doesn't exist in the real world, it didn't exist in AotS prior to the 2012 Event, and, other than the Supers themselves, probably doesn't after the 2012 Event, either. In particular, everyone is human.
Note that the list below is not exhaustive. I just tried to cover some of the more common concepts, to give a better idea of what is and is not allowed in 2012: Age of the Super. I want to try to avoid, as much as possible, player frustration with the GM disallowing a concept they really got in to. If you have an unusual concept that you think would fit into 2012: Age of the Super, that's great. Just don't get upset if I ask you to tweak or revise it to fit it into the campaign background.
Accident: Radiation and chemical exposure don't create Supers any better in AotS than they do in real life.
Alien: Just like in real life, the only "evidence" of alien life in AotS are shaky eyewitness testimony and shakier blurry images. No alien heroes. Sorry.
Construct: Technically, a Supernatural enchanter or an Indigo or NEXTGen with boosted intelligence could probably create a golem or android. However, the focus of the campaign is supposed to be how newly emergent Supers relate to normal humans and to each other; a true non-human just doesn't fit the tone very well. It's not technically off-limits, but it is discouraged.
Escaped Government Experiment: Yes, with NEXTGen, there are in fact Supers who were apparently created by secret government programs. However, there are no sinister government conspiracies performing experiments on unwilling test subjects and then hunting them down when they escape. Realistically, who would try to give super powers to someone they didn't trust completely? Any NEXTGen are almost certain to be extremely loyal members of whatever organization created them who volunteered for the program.
Hidden Race: No Amazons, Atlanteans, Cat People, Faeries, etc. Everyone is human, with human parents.
Mutants: No one was born with super powers. Everyone got their powers in the 2012 Event, except NEXTGen, who were deliberately manufactured.
Newbie: Actually, NEXTGen are an exception here, since they are still being produced, and a NEXTGen character could have just manifested - but keep in mind they are the result of a deliberate process that they knew the purpose of going in (see "Escaped Government Experiment", above). Other than that, ALL Supers were created by the 2012 Event, so everyone has had their powers for a while. Which is not to say a character couldn't have decided to try to ignore them until now, but they didn't just spontaneously manifest yesterday.
Ninja: While an individual Super with a ninja motif is fine, or even a Supernatural who thinks of himself as a "real" ninja with traditional ninjitsu powers, there are no ninja clans, and no one would have "real" ninja training.
Old Timer: There were no Supers before the 2012 Event, which occurred only recently. So, no wandering immortals, no semi-retired veterans, etc. The most experienced heroes have only a year or so under their belts.
Super-Normal: As discussed above, 2012: Age of the Super is supposed to be a fairly realistic world plus Supers. Even though Batman is technically a "normal human", he's completely unrealistic (world's greatest detective plus Olympic level athlete in multiple events plus real ninja plus super-genius inventor plus handsome billionaire plus...). In AotS, if you want to play a "super-normal" type, you can play a low-powered Supernatural champion or NEXTGen whose enhancements don't individually exceed the "normal human" caps, but in aggregate are unrealistic. The Crime Fighter, Martial Artist, and Weapon Master archetypes are good examples.
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2012
Mar 21, 2011 9:25:53 GMT -5
Post by darthorn on Mar 21, 2011 9:25:53 GMT -5
I just wanted to make sure that we are starting in California and if not thin were? also i vote San Francisco as the main city
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2012
Mar 21, 2011 23:14:20 GMT -5
Post by gamedave on Mar 21, 2011 23:14:20 GMT -5
I just wanted to make sure that we are starting in California and if not thin were? also i vote San Francisco as the main city Actually, we're starting at Mike's place.
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