Cyberpunk Superheroes Campaign

[Major_Eclectic]

Originally Posted by dataweaver

What's the nature of these super-powers? I'm guessing that it's some sort of "meta-gene"; Professor Somethingoranother has the ability to manufacture powers. And if he can do it once, he can do it twice: in this way, you can introduce a second team of superhumans to act as foils for your group: a second set of test subjects that Doctor Whateverfield either couldn't reach or didn't know about.

I haven't really decided what the "source" of super-powers is, aside from them being the result of some application of mad science. The idea has always been to have the bad guys come up with another evil superteam to counteract the players. A second generation of super-agents where the good doctor wasn't able to short-circuit the programming. Maybe even have the other superteam contain a few previously friendly NPC's for the sake of pathos a la "Winter Soldier"

Before that though, I was planning on introducing some faceless goons with watered-down super-powers to act as mooks. bad hombres that are more than a match for your run of the mill freedom fighters, but only tough enough to make the players feel tough. These would be kind of like an alpha-stage test of the supers program.

Originally Posted by dataweaver

Are all powers engineered, or is there something going on that's causing (rare) spontaneous outbreaks of powers — possibly with dangerous side-effects? How long has the potential for superhuman powers been a known quantity, and how long have superhumans been active? Are there any conspiracies at work here?

Well, I had planned on supers only being the results of engineering, but it would be kind of cool if the evil professor was just jumping on an already occurring natural process, Cherenkov radiation from the new generation of fusion power plants, or some other technobabble. This means that the players and their eventual nemesis' (nemeses?) are the first and most experienced supers, but eventually "wild-strain" supers will start popping up and fighting for the resistance, the government, and just for their own personal profit (Hooray for super-merceneries!)

Either way, superpowers are a very new thing, the players will be the first and only, at least for a little while.

As far as conspiracies go, yes all over the place. The government isn't really the government, its really just a game that the corporations and the super-rich play to get one over on their rivals and as a clearinghouse for muscle. The President and congress are just pawns up for sale to the highest bidder and the corporations are considered sovereign entities, free from oversight and with no obligation to follow the law of the land in their own enclaves.

[Major_Eclectic]

Originally Posted by dataweaver

So far, all of the powers you've described are "controller" types: everything is control and/or manipulation of something around them. Nobody has any "morphic" powers (e.g., healing factor, armored skin, elastic form, shapeshifting abilities, body of liquid or energy, etc.): everyone's composed of ordinary flesh and bone. It's possible that "super powers" in your setting simply don't include physical mutations, and that everything verges on being an exotic form of psionic powers that go well beyond the traditional definition of psionic powers. Or it could be that all physical mutations are NPCs, and the players simply haven't encountered them yet.

It wasn't my intention to limit powers to control, That's just what everyone picked. Like I said, we sort of did this on short notice without a lot a prep time, so basically everyone just looked through the list of examples in SUPERS and picked one they liked, or at most combined two similar ones together. I know that I'm going to have at least one more player this week, so it's possible they might pick something a "morphic" power or something else equally out there.

[Major_Eclectic]

Originally Posted by dataweaver

Are you willing to let your fledgeling supers improv with their powers? I'm thinking along the lines of Temporary Enhancements and Using Abilities At Default (Powers pages 172-174, which Psionic Powers used as the basis for its Psionic Techniques): in short, if they pay a small FP fee and roll at a penalty, they can manifest capabilities over and above what they have on their character sheet.

Yes, I'll have to spend some time going over this. I generally like players to have as much freedom of action as possible. The only problem is, with the exception of one or two of them, they are not experts with GURPS. I might have to try to put some optional builds together for them, and then sit down and go over it with them to see if they like it.

Thanks for all the ideas, I love them. Keep it coming.

[Major_Eclectic]

Originally Posted by dataweaver

On the cyberpunk front, how far are you going in terms of the transhumanist elements of cyberpunk? Put another way, what does technology permit in terms of "upgrades"? Cybernetic implants? Bionic limbs and/or replacement parts? Are there any AIs or robots, or battlesuits? What TL is biotech at? Are there parahumans or bioroids in the setting? Uplifted animals? etc. Have any superhuman inventors come up with future-tech innovations beyond the setting's baseline tech? In short, how superhuman can you be without actually having powers?

In GURPS terms the setting is solidly TL9, so their are definitely bionics and cyberware. I'm thinking that most people that get stuff like this concentrate on stuff more along the lines of neural jacks and computer linkages, although their might be the possibility of them fighting some corporate cyborg troopers with dermal armor and bionic arm-cannons. AI's and robots will be all over the place, but I want most of the fighting done by flesh-and-blood humans (or 'borgs) so their won't be any "battledroids" beyond maybe a few tele-operated support drones.

As far as bio-tech goes, I don't want to go too far in that direction. Rich people have excellent pre-natal gene-screening so they always end up being a little taller, prettier, and healthier than average, but no uplift and no gene-splicing beyond maybe some minor aesthetic stuff.

One of the players settled on quick gadgeteering as one of his main powers, so it is entirely possible that we might end up with some TL10 gear of his, I wanted to make sure non-conventional powers were viable so we talked it over and decided that if he has an idea for something he could whip up a prototype quickly enough to have it (sorta) operational within two or three game sessions given the right facilities, even though that is stretching the RAW for gadgeteering. However talking to that player after the first session he might end up changing his focus to something else too, which I don't mind. We kind of jumped in without them having much time to think, and I don't want him to have to play a character he doesn't really like because of it.

[Manycubes]

I'll mention two sources worth looking into for inspiration. Both have as their premise that the superheroes were super soldiers created by the government and implanted with the “Ideal of Truth, Justice, and the American Way” as a means to make them more loyal.

Of course this all backfires when these vets come back home from “the war” and see the degraded state of the country they were fighting for.

First is the comic book series called “Marshal Law”. The first couple of issues have some of the most detailed filled drawings I have ever seen and really convey the crush of a future society gone astray.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshal_Law_(comics)

Second is the old RPG called “Underground”, which basically takes the “Marshal Law” idea and makes an RPG out of it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undergr...e-playing_game)

Both of these are highly satirical as they combine the “old fashion values” of the superheroes with the degenerate ideology of the 21st century.

[Major_Eclectic]

Originally Posted by Manycubes

I'll mention two sources worth looking into for inspiration. Both have as their premise that the superheroes were super soldiers created by the government and implanted with the “Ideal of Truth, Justice, and the American Way” as a means to make them more loyal.

Of course this all backfires when these vets come back home from “the war” and see the degraded state of the country they were fighting for.


Second is the old RPG called “Underground”, which basically takes the “Marshal Law” idea and makes an RPG out of it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undergr...e-playing_game)

Ha, I remember Underground. I had it back when I was in high school. I only got to play it once or twice but the books were so much fun to read. I loved the hilariously oversized guns they made for super-strong characters. Nothing like lugging around a 45mm revolver just in case.

[dataweaver]

Originally Posted by Major_Eclectic

One of the players settled on quick gadgeteering as one of his main powers, so it is entirely possible that we might end up with some TL10 gear of his, I wanted to make sure non-conventional powers were viable so we talked it over and decided that if he has an idea for something he could whip up a prototype quickly enough to have it (sorta) operational within two or three game sessions given the right facilities, even though that is stretching the RAW for gadgeteering. However talking to that player after the first session he might end up changing his focus to something else too, which I don't mind. We kind of jumped in without them having much time to think, and I don't want him to have to play a character he doesn't really like because of it.

If he likes the tech-oriented theme, but not the specific choice of powers, consider replacing his powers (or at least the Quick Gadgeteering) with Machine Telepathy, possibly with some "cyberspace delving" thrown in for flavor: it has more immediate bang for your buck.

[The Benj]

I must get around to reading Underground. I recall it having a cool system for changing society through your actions (and that having side-effects that may or may not be desirable).

[Major_Eclectic]

Originally Posted by dataweaver

If he likes the tech-oriented theme, but not the specific choice of powers, consider replacing his powers (or at least the Quick Gadgeteering) with Machine Telepathy, possibly with some "cyberspace delving" thrown in for flavor: it has more immediate bang for your buck.

I think he wants to get away from being the techie altogether. He mentioned something about doing a more offensive gun-centric type of character, like a bullet-wizard guy with super-high perception and ETS or something like that.

[Major_Eclectic]

Originally Posted by The Benj

I must get around to reading Underground. I recall it having a cool system for changing society through your actions (and that having side-effects that may or may not be desirable).

I don't remember it having any kind of social change-mechanic. The whole purpose of the game was that the world sucked and sucked hard. If you could change it the game would end. Underground was an unrepetent celebration of the 90's RPG habit of style over substance. It was all about making an awesome character idea and walking around as the most badass thing on the planet. I remember thinking the system itself kind of sucked, but reading the books was amazing and the art style was supercool too.