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Old 06-21-2016, 01:56 AM   #28
PTTG
 
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Join Date: Feb 2011
Default Re: Capebusters -- brainstorming a single-setting game

Quote:
Originally Posted by David Johnston2 View Post
Instant Gadgeteer (Limited to performance upgrades.)
That could work.

Here's a rough draft of the introduction. Let me know if there's anything really absurd in this from a "comic book realism" standpoint.

Quote:
In 2018, Jay Soman, alias Varuna from the Hindi god of darkness*1, attempted to use his unusual abilities to stage a coup upon established world powers. At least three individuals of similar power are believed to have helped him; one, a white male teenager known as Phreak*2, was killed by police forces in the process. Soman's plan consisted of first attempting to hijack control of the US' nuclear weapons systems and using these to extort the nations of the world into granting him and his followers land and and recognition as an independent state.

The four conspirators somehow transported the President from a public speech into a nearby secured room, where they either drugged or otherwise manipulated the President into granting them access to detailed nuclear weapons information, but were not yet able to put their plan into action. The Secret Service located the President within eight minutes, despite the unusual circumstances, and burst into the basement-level room where the conspirators held the POTUS. The initial round of fire killed Phreak, but Varuna returned fire with what reports describe as a "powerful hand-held laser,*3" slaying four SS agents before escaping with the two surviving individuals, despite the room having only one exit. The President was found dead due to deep-level brain trauma,*4 otherwise untouched.

In the aftermath, the Vice President stepped down. Two days after the attack, an internet video purportedly from Soman claimed responsibility and attempted to characterize his actions as well-intentioned. He also claimed that a "new era" of "superpowered people" was coming about -- a claim that is, alarmingly, coming true.*5 Over the following months, a number of empowered individuals have arisen in every country and disrupted the peace and security of the world. While some have come out in support of their governments, most have resisted control and many have ultimately sided with Soman's growing underground organization*6.

The unprecedented events lead to an unusual level of international cooperation, and over the past several months a new international organization was founded by the UN for the express purpose of containing these emerging superpowered threats. This organization, the Ulysses Initiative, contracts with local armed forces for basic policing and security, but has a hard core of elite troops drawn from police and PMC groups experienced with flexibility and rapid deployment.*7

It is now December 2019. You are among the first Ulysses*8 forces to face deployment, a fire team under Durendal section.

Ulysses Foundation:
Sections:
Astra -- Term for a mythical weapon, from Hindu
Bashōsen -- Chinese mythical sword
Colada -- Sword of El Cid
Durendal -- French sword of Roland the Knight
Eurytus -- Original owner of the bow used by Ulysses to slay the suitors; outshot the gods.
*1 - Propogandic way to put it; Varuna's really more a god of justice with a dark, 'edgy' twist. Soman's powers are very high-level warp, which also justifies a powerful innate attack and nearly impenetrable DR.
*2 - Mind reading/control/probe powers.
*3 - Actually a molecule-scale portal connecting the palm of his hand to the core of the sun. (His portals have inversely proportionate range and size.)
*4 - Phreak's death severed the mental connection in a destructive manner.
*5 - The actual cause of enhancement was a cosmic event starting around 1984 and plateauing in the 1990s. Among other things, this event is the source of excess matter and energy when powers would otherwise break conservation.
*6 - Needs a name.
*7 - National special forces teams would actually be too high-powered. I want PCs to be decent but only in the [150] range. Therefore, nations are willing to cooperate enough to volunteer SWAT team members who are near retirement and pay for PMCs to work, but not willing to send in top level military men and equipment.
*8 - A mortal hero who faced and overcame gods through great trials.

One last note, Soman's plan was, indeed, stupid. Exactly the sort of plan a group of overconfident nigh-indestructable teenagers might come up with. That said, anything flashy, alarming, and not-quite-successful-but-scarily-close can work.
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