[Supers] Nerfed Marvel Universe

[awesomenessofme1]

I spent some time trying to think of a more clever name, but sometimes simple works best.

This thread is an idea spawned from a random flash of inspiration I had during a discussion on the GURPS Discord server (shameless plug). The idea goes thus: What if you took the Marvel universe, brought down the power level across the board, and gave everything a bit more grounding in reality? I shouldn’t go any further without mentioning Phantasm’s Marvel Reboot thread, which has given me both inspiration and a useful cross-reference for my builds, as well as my own Malice setting, which you can see as a kind of precursor to this thread. Now, onto the juicy details!

Nerfed Marvel (I’ll just call it NMU from now on, to save time) is set in 2004. The age of superheroes began five years ago, when the Fantastic Four were empowered by cosmic radiation after a successful orbit of the planet Mars. In the years since, many heroes and villains have surfaced (or resurfaced). Further details will be included in various biographies and lore posts.

From a meta standpoint, these are some of the parameters I’m working with for the setting (subject to be added to, unlikely to change):
No magic.
No explicit supernatural or mystical entities.
No aliens, gods, Atlanteans, vampires, etc. At least, none on Earth. Just humans and mutants. ("Human" here meaning humans, mutates, altered humans, and whatever term I haven't heard of that's still basically human.)
As mentioned, an across-the-board drop in power levels. I’m trying to keep relative power rankings similar (i.e. a character that’s much stronger than another should still be much stronger), but relative power levels will likely change significantly.

It’s worth noting what Marvel content I’ll be working from in this setting. My actual direct comic book knowledge is limited. I’ll be basing my builds (and to a lesser extent lore) primarily on the movies (MCU, X-Men, 2000s FF, Raimi Spider-Man, and a few others), TV shows (especially the X-Men animated series), sources like the marvel.com biographies, and pop-cultural osmosis. I may start reading comics more in the future, but I can't guarantee it. Combined with the whole conceit of the setting, this means many characters will be drastically different from any particular version of them. I hope you understand.

The first set of characters I’ll be posting are the Avengers (Ant-Man, Wasp, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, and Captain America), followed by Loki. I have the stats done for all of them, and I’ll start posting them as I finish the full write-ups.

[Donny Brook]

Loki and Thor are definitely aliens and/or gods.

Also, though less significantly, Captain America, Ant-Man, Wasp, Iron Man and Hulk are not technically 'mutants' in the Marvel usage.

[awesomenessofme1]

Originally Posted by Donny Brook

Loki and Thor are definitely aliens and/or gods.

Just wait. It will make sense in time.

Originally Posted by Donny Brook

Also, though less significantly, Captain America, Ant-Man, Wasp, Iron Man and Hulk are not technically 'mutants' in the Marvel usage.

No, but they're humans. Did you miss me saying "humans and mutants"?

[Donny Brook]

Originally Posted by awesomenessofme1

Did you miss me saying "humans and mutants"?

I guess I missed what you meant by it.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by awesomenessofme1

No, but they're humans. Did you miss me saying "humans and mutants"?

In the lexicpn of most Marvel rpgs, "humans" without adjective usually means Hawkeye and other martial artists, costumed acrobats or gadget users. Spiderman, the FF, Hulk and even Captain America usually get classed as "Altered Humans".

Tossing the Hulk in with "Humans" is a not very usefully broad category.

[AlexanderHowl]

Yes, most supers are not a human anymore. In the old TSR Marvel RPG, they classified characters into six broad categories: aliens, altered humans (which includes any magicians like Dr. Strange), high-techs (which includes anyone whose powers come from magical gadgets), mutants, normal humans, and robots.

[awesomenessofme1]

Added a line to the original post because apparently the word "human" is a source of confusion. Go figure. Next up, the first actual character of the thread, Ant-Man.

[naloth]

Originally Posted by Donny Brook

Loki and Thor are definitely aliens and/or gods.

Also, though less significantly, Captain America, Ant-Man, Wasp, Iron Man and Hulk are not technically 'mutants' in the Marvel usage.

I suspect he'll be doing a more "Ultimate" version of the characters. Ultimate Thor, for example, was a raving lunatic. His original powers were a belt and battery powered hammer.

[DangerousThing]

What about Dr. Strange and his ilk? He is definitely magic.

[awesomenessofme1]

Originally Posted by naloth

I suspect he'll be doing a more "Ultimate" version of the characters. Ultimate Thor, for example, was a raving lunatic. His original powers were a belt and battery powered hammer.

Seems like Thor is generating a lot of discussion. I was originally planning on posting the characters in the order listed in the original post, but I think I'll bump him up the list.

Originally Posted by DangerousThing

What about Dr. Strange and his ilk? He is definitely magic.

I hadn't brought that up yet, but I knew it would come up eventually. There is a man named Stephen Strange in this world, he is a doctor, and he did suffer catastrophic nerve damage to his hands in a car accident. I might even stat him up at some point. I have a few ideas. But he's not going to be Sorcerer Supreme.

There are also some other edge cases I haven't fully decided on. Juggernaut, for example, can definitely still fit in, just needing an origins change. But someone like Ghost Rider is definitely on thin ground and there's a solid chance he won't fit in.