[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.

[awesomenessofme1]

Ant-Man

Real Name: Henry Jonathan Pym
Height: 6’
Weight: 185 lb
Age: 32
Hair: Blond, short
Eyes: Blue
Uniform: Red-and-black armored suit, sealed silver helmet with red visor, black boots and gloves
Powers: Naturally, none. Using the Ant-Man suit, he can shrink to a size of just under 1.5 inches. While shrunk, he has greatly reduced strength and speed, but retains a high level of durability relative to his size.
Skills: High intelligence and training in various scientific skills - in particular, chemistry, particle physics, electronics, and robotics. Proficiency in unarmed combat.

Dr. Hank Pym is a genius particle physicist and biochemist. Out of grad school, he spent a few years working as a researcher before his girlfriend, Janet Van Dyne, convinced him that he had the skills to be successful on his own. Listening to her advice was a gamble that paid off, as within a year of working for himself, he accomplished a miraculous breakthrough with the invention of the Pym particle. The details of how said particles work are a mystery to everyone except Pym himself (and maybe even him). When pressed, he’s given several contradictory explanations, from shunting mass extra-dimensionally to altering the space between atoms. What is known is that, within limits, Pym particles allow the alteration of the size and mass of objects. Inspired by the heroics of fellow scientist Reed Richards and the Fantastic Four, Pym experimented until he was able to create a system allowing the safe shrinking of humans. This allowed the creation of the Ant-Man suit, and later the Wasp that he gave to Janet. A year and a half ago, Ant-Man and the Wasp became founding members of the new superhero team the Avengers. Pym’s ego and stubbornness has led to numerous clashes with Tony Stark (and to a lesser extent Bruce Banner), but the team has become a functioning unit.

Pym is painfully aware of the limits of his technology, and he is always striving to improve it. In particular, he is attempting to reduce the safe minimum size achievable through Pym particles. At the moment, this is roughly a factor of 50, making his shrunken form just under an inch and a half tall. This makes his superhero name a bit misleading, but “Roach-Man” doesn’t sound as good. Pym is also experimenting with pheromones and sound frequencies that may allow communication with and control over insects, which would synergize well with his shrinking ability.

Though Pym is fiercely defensive of his Pym particle tech, various other inventions and innovations of his, combined with Janet’s business sense, have allowed him to become quite wealthy. He is unused to this wealth, however, and tends to live below his means, funneling the extra money into his research and invention.

Ant-Man [300]

Attributes [140]
ST 11 [10]
DX 12 [40]
IQ 14 [80]
HT 12 [20]
Damage 1d-1/1d+1
BL 24 lb
HP 11 [0]
Will 13 [-5]
Per 13 [-5]
FP 12 [0]
Basic Speed 6.00 [0]
Basic Move 6 [0]
Dodge 9
SM0 (-10 when shrunk)

Advantages [98]
DR10 (Hardened 1, +20%; Can’t wear armor, -40%; Breakable (DR10, SM0), -25%; Can Be Stolen (Must be forcefully removed), -10%; Superscience, -10%) [13]
Nictitating Membrane 5 (Breakable (DR5, SM-7), -25%; Can Be Stolen (Must be forcefully removed), -10%; Superscience, -10%) [3]
Sealed (Breakable (DR10, SM0), -25%; Can Be Stolen (Must be forcefully removed), -10%; Superscience, -10%) [7]
Shrinking 10 (Full HP (Not for mass, +0%), +30%; Full DR, +30%; Minimum Size Only, +0%; Breakable (DR10, SM0, Machine), -40%; Can Be Stolen (Must be forcefully removed), -10%; Superscience, -10%) [50]
Status 1 [0] ¹
Versatile [5]
Wealth (Wealthy) [20]

Perks [1]
Supersuit [1]

Disadvantages [-30]
Bad Temper (15) [-5]
Curious (12) [-5]
Pacifism (Cannot Harm Innocents) [-10]
Secret Identity [-5]
Stubbornness [-5]

Quirks [-3]
Brutally honest and open with opinions [-1]
Jealousy (Intellectual rivals only) [-1]
Protective of Pym particle tech [-1]

Skills [94]
Acrobatics-11 [2]
Area Knowledge (New York City)-15 [2]
Biology/TL8-13 [4]
Boxing-13 [4]
Chemistry/TL8-14 [4]
Climbing-13 [4]
Computer Operation/TL8-15 [2]
Computer Programming/TL8-13 [2]
Computer Programming/TL8 (AI)-14 [4]
Current Affairs/TL8 (Science and Technology)-14 [1]
Driving/TL8 (Automobile)-11 [1]
Electronics Operation/TL8 (Scientific)-14 [2]
Electronics Repair/TL8 (Scientific)-13 [1]
Engineer/TL8 (Electronics)-13 [2]
Engineer/TL8 (Microtechnology)-15 [8]
Engineer/TL8 (Robotics)-13 [2]
Holdout-13 [1]
Judo-12 [4]
Jumping-13 [2]
Machinist/TL8-13 [1]
Mathematics/TL8 (Applied)-13 [2]
Navigation/TL8 (Land)-14 [2]
Physics/TL8 (Particle Physics)-16 [12]
Research/TL8-14 [2]
Running-12 [2]
Stealth-13 [4]
Swimming-12 [1]
Weird Science-16 [16]

1 – includes +1 from Wealth (Wealthy)

[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.