SUPERS III

Created by the GMastEr

Updated 06/09/2004

This section outlines Supers III. This campaign is the sequel to my abortive Supers II campaign, that lasted about 1 session, and the previous Supers I campaign, that degenerated into 'assault the base' here, and 'kill some people' here. All information is now handily compiled into a single socument, as opposed to multiple files.

SUPERS III BACKGROUND

This background covers the events that have taken place in my campaign from 1994 to 2005 (the campaigns starting date). Note that this is an alternate timeline, and none of the events took place (like I needed to say that).

1994 – Gulf War ends. Combined SAS, Navy SEAL and Spetsnaz operations team successfully ‘remove’ Saddam Hussein, although his death is officially blamed on an attack via long range cruise missiles fired from the HMS Liberator and USS Conqueror.

1995 – The world begins to relax once again, as peace is restored. Terrorism and small internal wars continue to flare up across the globe, but no more than usual.

1996 – January 1^st. The ‘Sons of Hussein’, a military group comprising of Hussein’s most fanatical followers, lead by a man claiming to be his illegitimate son, rock the world by announcing that the are a nuclear power. Their demands to the UN are simple, immediate and unconditional surrender.

January 3^rd. Emergency meeting of the UN council in Paris. The decision is unanimous; the demands will not be met under any circumstances.

January 4^th, 12.00pm. As the UN council plans its next move, approximately 50 missiles armed with thermonuclear warheads are launched from several secret staging grounds within Baghdad and other allied middle Eastern countries. Their targets are the capitals of several major UN countries, including London – England, Washington – USA, Paris- France, Berlin – Germany, Lagos – Nigeria, Canberra – Australia and Moscow – Russia.

January 4^th, 12.30pm. As the missiles close on their targets, radar stations across the world lose contact with over 90% of them. One missile spirals out of control and strikes Paris, destroying it totally, and 95% of the UN council along with it. Two of the missiles detonate over Russia and blanket most of the country in radioactive fallout. Another missile narrowly misses London, but instead ditches into the Atlantic, and does not explode. Also, mysteriously, Baghdad and several other Middle Eastern cities are destroyed, seemingly by rogue missiles. This series of events is eventually termed ‘The Strike’.

January 8^th. Another meeting of the UN is called, but only 30% of its members show up. Missing are the UK, USA, Russian and African delegates. The meeting tries to find out "What happened?" but few answers are turned up.

January 10^th. In separate speeches across the world, various governments (including the UK, USA and Russia) reveal the existence of orbital weapons platforms and defence systems that were responsible for the neutralisation of the missiles. Several countries are thrown into panic as terrified people try to leave their homes, fearing retaliation from the orbital weapons and other hostile powers. Other countries tighten down under martial law to try and regain order.

1997 – Aftermath. By now, the world is a very fearful place to live in. 80% of all countries have introduced martial law, round the clock patrols and other similar methods to keep order. The UN has disbanded as members can no longer trust one another. Simultaneously, the Swedish Corporation, CHA (Corporation of Humanitarian Aid) secretly offers its support to France and Russia, who both suffered badly during the Strike.

1998 – The CHA begins to move out to other countries, covertly and individually offering their support in aid work, funding and security. Most accept, others (including Southern Africa, the UK and Iceland) do not. By the end of 1998, the CHA have installations in 75% of the world’s major countries.

1999 – The Blaze. All across the globe, riots break out in every major city. Panic grips the world and fear treads on every corner. The CHA are quick to respond, and a good deal of the mobs are suppressed, although a great deal of damage is done, mainly to the countries military and law enforcement agencies.

2000, March 20^th – The Second Strike. Countries who do not have CHA ‘protection’ suddenly realise what is happening, their armies and defences are being slowly whittled away by the CHA. Defence systems are reactivated, fleets and aircraft are brought back online, and armies begin to mobilise.

April 2^nd. World War III. The massed armies of the few independent countries move against CHA positions. Massed battles rock the planet as the armies’ clash with the CHA’s superior forces, in training, manpower and equipment.

December 29^th. Resolution. The war is over. In 9 short months, the CHA has crushed 98% of all resistance. Surviving units flee before the onslaught of the CHA armies. CHA sets up governments in almost all of the remaining independent countries. Instrumental to the CHA’s victory are the orbital weapons platforms, which were responsible for destroying large parts of the resisting countries.

2001 – Enforcement. CHA renames itself the Corporation of High Administration, and lays claim to the world. Small pockets of resistance remain, but the CHA begin to reinforce their positions, and recruit people for their forces. Martial law is enforced world-wide, with constant patrols of heavily armed and armoured ‘protection forces’. The CHA appears also to be using advanced robots, armour, equipment, and most notably, weapons.

2002 – A New Hope. During a conflict on the border between France and Luxembourg (an escape attempt by rebel forces), several of the escapee’s demonstrate unusual abilities. One rips a tank apart with his bare hands while another resists bullets and grenade fragments. The CHA border patrol is almost completely wiped out and the Rebels escape. Rumour spreads like wildfire, and people begin to think that there is hope for the world again.

2003 – Strange events involving people with extraordinary powers become commonplace. Many people dub the individuals ‘supers’ and ‘metahumans’. Some call them ‘mutants’ or ‘freaks’, which become a common derogatory term. The supers strategy appears to be against the CHA, although others work for themselves and some just terrorise everybody. The CHA respond by stepping up security, and filed testing experimental weapons against their new foes.

2004 – The CHA unveils the ‘Public Protection Force’, or PPF. The PPF’s primary mission is to ‘safeguard citizens from the metahuman menace’. In practice, the PPF is an elite super extermination squad, using advanced technology against their paranormal opponents.

2005 – Present day. The PPF are spreading throughout the globe, stamping out metahuman influence everywhere, with limited success. It appears that the versatility of supers can outmatch any technological threat. Several key areas still hold out against the CHA, including small parts of the UK, the USA, Europe, South Africa and Australia.

SUPERS CHARACTER ARCHETYPES

In an effort to promote better characters, I wrote a discussion on the various common types of superhumans, if only to try and get the players to avoid them. From what I recall, it didn't work. Of course, I missed out a lot of types of superhumans, but I'm only human, right? Right?

‘Fire Man’

Fire based characters are highly popular in the supers genre. This is because they are easy to build and are generally quite effective.

The obvious primary advantage is Body of Fire. This is usually coupled with Fireball or Flame Jet, and often Control Fire and Wall of Fire as well. Flight is also quite popular, as well as increased DR.

Example: Body of Fire level 10 (50), Fireball (DX-1) Power 4 with Explosive Effect (+40%), Instantaneous (+20%) and Full Power Only (-10%) (40) and Control Fire (IQ-3) Power 3 (10), totalling 100 points.

‘Water Man’

Water based character are frequently not used, for some unknown reason. Water can be just as deadly as fire, and in some cases even more deadly!

The primary water ability is Body of Water. Other abilities include Water Jet, Water Cannon, Control Liquid and Create Liquid.

Example: Amphibious (10), Body of Water (40), Gills (10), Water Cannon (DX-2) Power 4 with Costs 1 Fatigue (-5%) (25), and Create Liquid (DX) Power 14 with Water only (–50%) (15), totalling 100 points.

‘Earth Man’

Earth based character are extremely rare, owing to their ‘strangeness’. However, they are quite tough, and can be good for ‘brick’ style characters.

The primary earth ability is Body of Earth. Other useful abilities are Stone Missile, Sand (Mud) Jet, Shockwave, Mould Earth and Wave of Earth.

Example: Body of Earth (40), Sand Jet (DX) Power 5 with Instantaneous (+20%) and No Knockback (-10%) (30), Bind (DX) Power 9 with Must be touching the ground (-20%) and Pinned, but can act normally (-40%) (30) totalling 100 points.

‘Air Man’

Air characters are also strangely rare, but that’s because people think air isn’t very good. Humph.

The primary air ability is Body of Air. Other favourites include Flight, Wind Blast, Wind Jet, Create Air and Whirlwind.

Example: Body of Air (50), Flight with Controlled Gliding (-45%) (22) and Wind Blast (DX-1) Power 4 (28) totalling 100 points.

‘Acid Man’

Acid characters haven’t even been done yet. So here’s Body of Acid.

Body of Acid 50 points, plus 8 points per level after the first

Your body is composed of a powerful acid that could quite easily melt through almost any substance. Crushing weapons do half damage, cutting, impaling and missile weapons will do 1 point of damage only. You take full damage from energy based weapons, 50% more damage from fire or dehydration based attacks and double damage from alkali based attacks. Full immersion in water will do 1 point of damage per second until you get out or die.

You may use your abilities normally, but all Physical skills are at –8. You can alter your form to any reasonable shape (GM decides) so long as your volume does not change. Acid of any strength or concentration will not harm you.

You will also do 1d of damage per level to anything you come into contact with or comes into contact with you. This was bought as a Generic attack (6 points per level) with Continuing Damage (+100%), Instantaneous (+20%), Always On (-40%), Touch Only (-20%), No Knockback (-10%) and Full Power Only (-10%) for a total of 8 points per level (I dropped the fraction). This damage is also applied to all of your physical attacks. It also means that melee weapons hitting you, or anything you try to pick up, will take this damage.

Special Enhancement: For 10 points per level instead of 8, you can shoot your acid in a stream. This is treated in all respects as a super powered attack based on your DX with a range of [damage x 10].

Special Variant: Your body is composed of an alkali rather than an acid. This changes nothing, except the fact that you take extra damage from acid based attacks.

Special Limitation: You cannot switch out of Body of Acid. This is extremely crippling, because no matter where you stay, you will eventually melt through the floor! This is considered a disadvantage worth –40 points, and not recommended for PC’s.

Other useful abilities for acid based characters have not actually been created J . However, almost any attack power augmented with the Continuing Damage enhancement will suffice, and DR is also appropriate, perhaps with some kind of limitation. Disintegrate is also appropriate.

Example: Body of Acid level 5 (90), DR 5 vs. Crushing only (10) totalling 100 points.

THE WORLD OF 2005 - SUPERS III

The world of 2005 is extremely repressive. Taxation accounts for around 70% of the averages workers wage, and the remaining 30% is spent on CHA products anyway, so the CHA gets it all in the end. The taxes are so high as to pay for the CHA’s military and security forces and a fairly comprehensive health and insurance plan. In fact, this is one of the areas where CHA have improved life, medical care. Because so much of a workers wage is going into a medical plan, medical care is free and efficient for the average CHA citizen. Of course, if you’re an outlaw, you won’t expect to get this.

Security checks

All citizens of the CHA government have an ID card. This card contains detailed information about the holder, including appearance, security clearance, medical and financial details. The card also works as a credit card (slang: credcard), allowing the purchase of any item in the shops. It also allows access to various areas within CHA cities, depending on the security clearance.

Economics

The money of the 21^st century under CHA rule is the CHA credit (slang: cred). There is no other form of currency in everyday life; all other individual currencies (e.g. the pound, dollar and rouble) have been eliminated. However, barter is still used within the Rebels, and certain Rebel factions still retain the ‘old currencies’ of their homeland.

Housing

As is popular in my future campaigns, the average citizen has a home in a CHA owned Resi-block. These mammoth structures, often towering hundreds of stories into the air, house between mere hundreds of people to thousands of people, depending on the quality. Each Resi-block room is roughly the same; it is a single level apartment, usually containing approximately 4 areas. These areas are the bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and living / recreation room. Each room contains basic amenities, provided by the CHA, including a house computer that provides security and entertainment, and access to the CHA public access network (CHAPAN, a censored version of the Internet) and a Vid-Com / Vid-Screen allowing contact with others, and the CHA Television Network (CHA TV). Anything extra is paid for by the occupant(s).

Work

Every CHA citizen apart from outlaws, and the infirm (i.e. the old, the ill and the insane), works for the CHA in some way. Usually this is data entry or manual labour for the average citizen and security or military duty for the above average citizen. The degree of importance of your job is directly related to your pay, and as such, data entry clerks and manual labourers get paid little, security guards get paid more, and military personnel and administrators get paid a great deal. Still, with the general equality of CHA society, no one should go hungry or homeless unless they want to. See the Status and Job table, below, for more details.

Power

Power is primarily provided by giant nuclear reactors, with backup nuclear power units (NPU). Solar power is also common, as satellites in orbit beam down power in the form of microwaves to receiving stations, which then transmit the power where it is needed. The system is very efficient, and blackouts are almost unheard of. When they do happen, they usually become the subject of local gossip for several days.

Medical Technology

CHA have a good reign on medical technology, and it is one of the few things that its citizens get the benefit of ("A healthy citizen is a productive citizen" – CHA charter 2004). After all, the CHA used to be an aid society! Cloning has been perfected, and is usually used for organ transplants, with critical patients being placed in cryo-freeze until the organ is ready. Otherwise, a 6-12 week waiting period is usually observed. Cybernetics have not been perfected, but people usually prefer to have an organic limb anyway. It is rumoured that current technology can clone an entire human being, but nobody knows if it is possible to transplant a brain into that body, or even copy someone’s mind…

Weapons Technology

Weapons technology has seen extensive research by the CHA, who used said weaponry to win World War III. Laser and maser weapons have existed since the late 20^th century, as this is what was installed into the orbital weapons platforms. Caseless ammunition was nearing completion in the late 90’s, but the CHA completed the research themselves, and used it to great effect. However, this paled in comparison with the portable laser weapons. Initially, they were bulky and fragile, and required a backpack-mounted generator to fire them. Nowadays, they are smaller and tougher, and efficiently use normal power cells. Heavy weapons come in the form of grenade and missile launchers. Gauss weapons are rumoured to be in the test stages. Other TL8 weapons, such as Gyroc’s, Tanglers, and Needlers exist, but they are uncommon.

Rebel forces tend to use outdated 20^th century weapons, mainly comprising of cased assault rifles and handguns, with shotguns being popular assault weapons. Some metahumans eschew conventional weaponry in favour of their own abilities!

Armour

Body armour is almost exclusively in the hands of the CHA. Developments include Monokrys, Reflec and CID body armour. Monokrys is common among security guards and low ranking military officers, while military officers almost always wear CID.

Rebel forces usually wear Kevlar, occasionally with resin bonded Kevlar inserts. Some metahumans rely on their own formidable defences however!

Robotics

The CHA have made astounding advances in robotic technology and programming, and in 2005 they are not uncommon. The most common type of robot is the maintenance ‘bot, and the combat / security robot. Security robots are normally two-legged ‘walker’ types, and are armed with various crowd control and dispersal weapons, and are frequently seen stalking the streets.

Space Travel

CHA are expanding into space, and already have a multitude of orbital factories. There is also a mining colony on the Moon, and plans are afoot for missions to Mars and the asteroid belt. Limited space travel is available to citizens, see below.

Transport

The usual method of movement within CHA society is on foot. CHA makes sure that citizens are housed within a reasonable distance to their workplace. For others, cars are popular, although they usually run on fuel or power cells to avoid pollution. Long-range transport is handled by large megajets, and sub-orbital cruisers can ferry you to anywhere on the plant within 8 hours. For water transport, megajets are usually still used, although ferries and ocean liners still remain popular.

Control Rating (CR) and Legality Class (LC)

The CHA world is very repressive. In previous campaigns, the CR was set at around 4, which allowed civilians to own laser rifles! Now, things have changed somewhat...

The Control Rating is 5. The Control Rating with respect to weapons and armour is 7. Civilians cannot legally own weaponry, armour, or any other useful gear, not even Tanglers. ‘Hunting’ weapons are not allowed, because hunting is pretty much banned except for executives and other high ranking individuals. Other gear can be acquired, by a license is required (this costs 1dx10% of the items costs if the Legality Class is 5, nothing if it 6). See me if you want any specific gear.

Laser weapons are not readily available to anybody except the military and certain security agencies. Caseless weapons are available to anyone cleared for their usage.

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