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Old 02-02-2023, 01:40 PM   #1
Bathawk
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Default Campaign idea help: Royals: Masters of War

Hey all, just looking for input on a GURPS Supers campaign based on a comic called "Royals: Masters of War"

The comic was a six issue series set during World War Two. The idea was based around "The Divine Right of Kings" In which super beings exist, but they only come from those of royal blood...wether that royal blood is English, French, Japanese or whatever is irrelevant. Though my campaign will be set in modern times.

USing Englad as an example, there can easily be a hundred Earls, Dukes, Barons, Duchesses and so forth, but the strongest and most powerful supers are those that can trace the bloodlines directly to King or Queen, it dosen't help that historically the weaker powered princes in line for the throne deal with unforseen accidents

I was hoping to use the 3rd edition GurPS Vampire: The masquerade supplement as a basiswith "Caine" taking the place of the King, and with players having to buy levels of bloodline" to increase what kind of abilities they can purchase...almost any super abilities are possible, but I would like to think each royal bloodline has it's own strengths and weaknesses English Royalty might have a high percentage of say, Water manipulators or masters of magnetisim, but few shapeshifters or telepaths

While you can't increase your potency by feeding off a "purer" royal, those farther from the throne in succession get an automatic upgrade once they get closer to the throne...in other words if the King does, all his progeny get uplifted to his former power level. This invites a lot of bagstabbing as royals on the upper end have the ability to defend themselves, they also like to keep the "lessers" in check

Players will nominally start no where near that, most will be in a "King Ralph" situation...with almost no knowledge of their ancestry until their powers emerge...though higher level bloodlines will have more perks, such as wealth, allies, patrons and so on, to the point of having resources on par with the Justice League or Avengers.

Of course each marriage is between one royal and one "commoner". For obvious reasons. Two supers by definition becomes incestuous except from another foriegn bloodline...something that takes a great amount of effort politically to accomplish. Not to say it dosen't happen (much like two vampires mating in the World of Darkness) but it's usually hushed up when discovered with a lot of falsified documents and lies (and a hefty secret disadvantage) The fact that it's rumored to be encouraged in some circles in hopes of creating different and more powerful supers, is only rumored

The "elevated" commoner is usually not helpless though. Before any such "arrangement" it has to be known their lives will be in danger...after all, a number of "elevated" meet with gruesome ends only to find a new suitor has miraculously appeared to charm the new widower...as a result, prospective partners often have non super abilities such as being gadgeteer,s magic users or martial artists. This is how some improper unions are covered up (ie. "how dare you accuse Duke Voltage of marrying his third cousin! Lady Valerie's "Thunder Punch" is from studying with Tibetan monks, not royal blood!")

the "king Ralph" effect is common in countries that don't nominally have royal bloodlines like America and Australia. Dalliances with foreigners sometimes create such offspring among the wealthy power brokers of the world the Carnegie, Rockefeller and Onassis families would be likely to "poach" offspring form royal families to create a bastard "new royalty" in other countries (with thier own strengths and weaknesses)

Thats my starter background any advice, from backgrounds tohow to put things into GURPS terms is appreciated!
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Old 02-02-2023, 03:06 PM   #2
naloth
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Default Re: Campaign idea help: Royals: Masters of War

It's a practical arrangement: those with powers take over. Genetics allow further generations to stay in or claim more power. Because of the insurmountable advantages a super has vs a normal at low tech, commoners can't really challenge the system.
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Old 02-03-2023, 01:00 AM   #3
Inky
 
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Default Re: Campaign idea help: Royals: Masters of War

Reminds me a little of "Girl Genius", in which a lot of the royal families seem to be families of hereditary "Sparks" (mad scientists, in other words). (It's implied that that's a case of what Naloth said, that that's how they became royalty in the first place).
The "Girl Genius" royal families do indeed seem to walk a fine line between selecting for inventing talent and not collapsing from inbreeding. Especially since "the Spark" is always accompanied by some amount of dottiness as it is.

From your description, and from this review I found, it really sounds as if all this is, mechanically, just background fluff for the powers. At most, the amount of points you could spend on powers (or the highest level you could have in them, or something) might be capped by your Status, or something (might need to adjust for people who were legally royalty but had no Status, heirs in exile and what not).

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bathawk View Post
those farther from the throne in succession get an automatic upgrade once they get closer to the throne...in other words if the King does, all his progeny get uplifted to his former power level. This invites a lot of bagstabbing as royals on the upper end have the ability to defend themselves, they also like to keep the "lessers" in check

Players will nominally start no where near that, most will be in a "King Ralph" situation...with almost no knowledge of their ancestry until their powers emerge...though higher level bloodlines will have more perks, such as wealth, allies, patrons and so on, to the point of having resources on par with the Justice League or Avengers.
This seems confusing. What actually determines somebody's power level? Do you have to actually be recognised as in line to some throne somewhere? Or do the supers just inherit increased powers when their predecessors die in a way that happens to match the laws of succession (and may, in this setting, have given rise to them), but would continue even if they were no longer the royal family of anywhere? For instance, do the surviving descendants of the French royal family have any superpowers in this setting, or not?

"Potential Advantage - Heir" in Basic Set (page 33) might be useful - both for being the heir to a title and for being the heir to more superpowers!

If it's literally that when a king dies, all his children get uplifted to his former power level, that seems as if it would lead to an increasing number of superheroes over the generations. Possibly instead it's that the eldest (or whoever inherits) goes up one step, to the king's power level, while the others go up one step (from a lower starting point) or stay as they are, in the same way that titles are inherited, with a fixed number of "slots" being available in a given family?
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Old 02-03-2023, 06:05 AM   #4
The Colonel
 
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Default Re: Campaign idea help: Royals: Masters of War

Quote:
Originally Posted by Inky View Post
This seems confusing. What actually determines somebody's power level? Do you have to actually be recognised as in line to some throne somewhere? Or do the supers just inherit increased powers when their predecessors die in a way that happens to match the laws of succession (and may, in this setting, have given rise to them), but would continue even if they were no longer the royal family of anywhere? For instance, do the surviving descendants of the French royal family have any superpowers in this setting, or not?

"Potential Advantage - Heir" in Basic Set (page 33) might be useful - both for being the heir to a title and for being the heir to more superpowers!

If it's literally that when a king dies, all his children get uplifted to his former power level, that seems as if it would lead to an increasing number of superheroes over the generations. Possibly instead it's that the eldest (or whoever inherits) goes up one step, to the king's power level, while the others go up one step (from a lower starting point) or stay as they are, in the same way that titles are inherited, with a fixed number of "slots" being available in a given family?
Speaking of which, what happens if you have multiple dynasties - for example the Stuart or Plantagenet pretenders to the British (or at least English) crown or the Bourbon/Napoleonic thing in France. Actually, come to think of it, I'm not sure the Stuart pretenders have abandoned their claim to the French crown either...

Actually, there's lots of potential here: think of all those Indian kings dispossessed after independence (or other former tributary monarchs who fell with the Empire) ... what about the Emperor Norton?
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Old 02-03-2023, 08:46 AM   #5
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Default Re: Campaign idea help: Royals: Masters of War

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Originally Posted by The Colonel View Post
Actually, there's lots of potential here: think of all those Indian kings dispossessed after independence (or other former tributary monarchs who fell with the Empire) ... what about the Emperor Norton?
Oh yes, I like the superpowered Emperor Norton. One of the more benevolent monarchs in history. What would his powers be . . . ?
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Old 02-03-2023, 01:43 PM   #6
dcarson
 
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Default Re: Campaign idea help: Royals: Masters of War

If royalty is usefully powerful would the US have a royal family to not give up that advantage? Would if they were against that have made sure that no royals are allowed in the US.

Would the Hawaiian royals have managed to keep the coup from seizing power and still be an independent country.
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Old 02-03-2023, 02:38 PM   #7
Bathawk
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Default Re: Campaign idea help: Royals: Masters of War

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Originally Posted by naloth View Post
It's a practical arrangement: those with powers take over. Genetics allow further generations to stay in or claim more power. Because of the insurmountable advantages a super has vs a normal at low tech, commoners can't really challenge the system.
Yes it becomes a "chicken or the egg"....Did royals become leaders because of their powers? Or are powers the spoils of becoming leaders?

Prior to the 20th century is was probably just a given that Royals were chosen" by divinity. It wasn't so much their super abilities that kept the masses in line, but the apparent fact that they were destined to tule by holy mandate, the powers were simply "proof"

After Watson and Krick in the 20th century and the discovery of DNA along with Darwin's theory of evolution, it may be more common to declare that "maybe it wasn't Heaven that decided these people should be in charge"....but royals are probably less than likely to indulge in any research that pokes holes in their power...personally or politically

Add to the fact that while a 3d fireball and a DR: 10 would be more than enough to to rule in the dark ages, it really doesn't measure up to teflon coated ammo being fire at rate of 600 rounds per minute from a mile away....eac generation would see "lower royals" more in the realm of "parlor tricks"
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Old 02-03-2023, 03:08 PM   #8
naloth
 
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Default Re: Campaign idea help: Royals: Masters of War

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Originally Posted by Bathawk View Post
Yes it becomes a "chicken or the egg"....Did royals become leaders because of their powers? Or are powers the spoils of becoming leaders?
I suspect it's a bit of both. If unknown royals still get (albeit weaker) powers, then it's likely there's a hereditary trait of some kind. The idea that powers increase with status suggests there's also some kind of investment granted by some source.

I'd make the exact nature of the source either mysterious or even multiple sources:
- Perhaps the will of the people (accepting being ruled, fear, loyalty, happiness, despair) matters.
- Perhaps various deities are favoring or acting through followers. Perhaps it's confidence associated with status.
- Perhaps rules are secretly improved by magic items (making the crown, scepter, sword, armor, banner, or jewels more than symbolic).
- Perhaps powers are divided by living relatives - giving you a good reason to keep the bloodline tight (sith mentality, master/student).
- Perhaps a larger family increases the power of certain bloodlines

That's just a few off the top of my head, and like I said I'd probably use a mix and not tell anyone exactly what's going on.

As for the last point, powers might scale with technology, population, or other factors. A ruler of a small nation might have minor abilities while the King of the British empire at its height might be a good match for the entire Justice League.
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Old 02-03-2023, 03:13 PM   #9
Donny Brook
 
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Default Re: Campaign idea help: Royals: Masters of War

This idea would require a substantial revision of history or some kind of arbitrary "powers start now" point in the recent past for it to make sense in a version of our real world.

Consider the monarchs of France. The Merovingians weren't kings until the Franks borrowed the whole idea of monarchy from other peoples. The Carolinians weren't royal until they thrust aside the Merovingians by force majeur. The first Capetian became king by an election of great nobles. It's hard to see how any of those events would lead to genetically transmissible super powers.
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Old 02-03-2023, 03:38 PM   #10
Bathawk
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Default Re: Campaign idea help: Royals: Masters of War

Quote:
Originally Posted by Inky View Post
Reminds me a little of "Girl Genius", in which a lot of the royal families seem to be families of hereditary "Sparks" (mad scientists, in other words). (It's implied that that's a case of what Naloth said, that that's how they became royalty in the first place).
The "Girl Genius" royal families do indeed seem to walk a fine line between selecting for inventing talent and not collapsing from inbreeding. Especially since "the Spark" is always accompanied by some amount of dottiness as it is.

From your description, and from this review I found, it really sounds as if all this is, mechanically, just background fluff for the powers. At most, the amount of points you could spend on powers (or the highest level you could have in them, or something) might be capped by your Status, or something (might need to adjust for people who were legally royalty but had no Status, heirs in exile and what not).


This seems confusing. What actually determines somebody's power level? Do you have to actually be recognised as in line to some throne somewhere? Or do the supers just inherit increased powers when their predecessors die in a way that happens to match the laws of succession (and may, in this setting, have given rise to them), but would continue even if they were no longer the royal family of anywhere? For instance, do the surviving descendants of the French royal family have any superpowers in this setting, or not?

"Potential Advantage - Heir" in Basic Set (page 33) might be useful - both for being the heir to a title and for being the heir to more superpowers!

If it's literally that when a king dies, all his children get uplifted to his former power level, that seems as if it would lead to an increasing number of superheroes over the generations. Possibly instead it's that the eldest (or whoever inherits) goes up one step, to the king's power level, while the others go up one step (from a lower starting point) or stay as they are, in the same way that titles are inherited, with a fixed number of "slots" being available in a given family?
I envision things as a subconscious "hive mind" without intelligence or will, but power. To use the real world, When Queen Elizabeth died, Charles was now the highest ranking noble of royal blood, and he got "uplifted" to the Queen's power level even before any official coronation. Somehow the "blood" knows...In a way think of "Highlander"; regardless of how an Immortal takes anothers head, somehow the universe knows who's responsible...so if the Queen was...I don't know a base 3000pt. character, and Charles was 2,500...upon her death he received a +500pt. increase in power, and his children would be upgraded from say a base 2,250 to his former base of 2,500

You brought up an interesting point I hadn't considered about exiled or non-recognized lineages. In "Royals" I believed the French royals were all put to death.
I've been thinking mostly in terms of English royalty and branching out from there once I have the "rules" in place, but I'm also going to have to either redo history, or find reasons why....for instance...America gained it's independence from British rule (threats from other royal nations not to get involved?) Or how was Emperor Nicholas of Russia's royal family killed, and if the story of Anastasia created any "bastard" lineages inside or outside of Russia

My current answer to your question, is if a "deposed" royal family still lives, they maintain their powers, but gain no "upgrades" for climbing the chain of succession.

Speaking of upgrades. I probably mispoke when I mentioned a royal getting an influx of points once they move up the chain. It's why I'm trying to model the "rules" after Vampire the Masquerade. In that game, any vampire regardless of any special extra abilities they posses can burn "blood points" they can "burn" to heal, do great feats of strength or speed and fuel the unique powers they later gain, the greater potency of their generation allows them to create a higher reserve of points to fuel these abilities

I imagine the royals much the same...even before they start buying lightning blasts, insubstantial or teleportation. even the weakest royal can do some basic tricks...a once a day word of command, or strength boost...higher level royals would automatically gain weak immortality, and later an ability to fly and so forth. Your "succession" level also determines how much you can spend on abilities....no 20 dice innate attacks when your 43rd in line of the throne
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