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prufock
2014-07-03, 08:56 AM
I posted this in the "other systems" forum, but received sadly little response. Despite it being run as M&M, though, I'm not looking for system help, but rather story ideas and feedback, so the general forum might be more appropriate. Any and all feedback is appreciated!

The Idea:
The DCU in 2028 experienced another "Crisis," which has taken all the big shot heroes away from Earth. They've been gone a long time, and no one knows why. Over a year later, and they still haven't returned. They could be dead, disappeared, or who knows what. It's also 15 years in the future, so some heroes are retired, injured, or otherwise indisposed.

Meanwhile, on Earth, with only a few handfuls of costumed vigilantes and superpowered heroes left, crime has gone through the roof. Supervillains are having a field day as there aren't enough heroes to deal with them all, and even petty crime is on the rise. There are still a few old faces left around combating what they can, but the numbers game is against them and their efforts are like an umbrella in a hurricane.

The PCs form the new Justice Legacy, attempting to do the work of the old Justice League in their absence. Investigating the Crisis is not their job. Their job is to hold down the home front, inspire hope in the citizenry and fear in the criminals. Each character will be the successor to one of the lost heroes, at least in spirit, and should adopt at least some sort of thematic resemblance to that hero. The characters already defined are:

Omen - an actual sapient black cat with bad luck and shadow powers, successor to Batman (using fear tactics and stealth, etc) in Gotham.
Big Miracle - the daughter of Big Barda and Mister Miracle, who will probably fill the shoes of a Wonder Woman/Superman type. Likely home base in Metropolis.
Blue Lantern - filling the role of Green Lantern, obviously; he'll be a healer, buffer, defensive type with Extra Effort for constructs and such. Likely home base in Coast City 2.0.
Martian Man - filling the Martian Manhunter role, he might be a (reformed) white martian or a red martian.

Setting Details:
More integrated technology. Computers track you nearly everywhere, mostly voice-activated, keep track of your personal preferences, enhanced AI.
LexCorp exists again, having bought out Google (now known as Googolplex) and its subsidiaries, is mostly an internet and tech business, having designed most of what technology you encounter day-to-day. Basically puts facebook and apple out of business.

QUESTION: Throw any and all ideas for adventures/plots at me. I have a few ideas, but I'm sort of struggling with the execution. I've never run a game set in DCU before this. I'm basically looking for ways to introduce the heroes, considering they'll be spread out over the DC United States (Metropolis, Coast City, Gotham, etc). I'd like to have an introductory adventure in which the PCs each follow a trail leading to the same place (Metropolis), meet up with each other, and take down the baddies. This would culminate in them being recruited by Dr. Mid-Nite to form the Justice Legacy, and the introductory story should tie into the main story (see post #2).

prufock
2014-07-03, 08:58 AM
Main story arcs and villain ideas:

1) There will be multiple "hero" groups with different agendas; they may be striving for similar ends, but through different means, or they have different goals. The "bad guys" aren't going to be decisively clear, and my PCs may side with a different group than I expect. There will be a Birds of Prey team, featuring Oracle (who has the ability to deal with Gaia - the Global Artificial Intelligence Array - to an extent). This will feature old faces as well as some new characters. Some have been members before, others haven't. Doctor Mid-nite, now completely blind, is the first one who will try to recruit the PCs. He has some history with the "big bad" and a face to face showdown between the two is mandatory. There is a group of catwomen called the Glaring, who oppose the big bad through its own means, but is composed of thieves and scoundrels. There will be a group of post-modern Luddites who oppose all of this newfangled technology as well (would love ideas on who should be in this group).

Each group may have new members, but should have at least one old face, probably leading the charge.

2) There is a hit out on superpowered and costumed vigilantes. Deadshot, Deathstroke, and Lobo are all possible encounters. While more of a side quest, the party may need to discover who has put this contract out so they can stop it. The mind behind this is Vandal Savage, who has his own plans for the world.

3) The main antagonist/sort-of villain is Mister Terrific. He is the brains behind the whole Gaia network, and believes that through constant surveillance he can curb the crime rate and/or make sure criminals meet justice. He does get more and more extreme in his beliefs though. Working for LexCorp, his newest project is the CompLex - a computer chip that gets inserted into the host's brain for "faster, more efficient control of your Gaia interface." It has retinal display, built-in mics and audio, subdermal haptic sensors, etc. Of course, more nefariously, these things can be used to disable criminals or even control them by hacking in and messing with their virtual reception. This, of course, remains a secret. Some people oppose this on principle, while most see it as just the next step in the already ever-present global communication and media.

Terrific's motto is "Play Fair." He really does have good intentions, to do his part to stamp out crime in the most effective way he can. He's just gone a little loopy with power. He has many many more T-spheres than before, which patrol somewhat like military drones. Nobody trusts him.

Feedback, as always, is appreciated!

SimonMoon6
2014-07-03, 09:31 AM
You can always just reuse the Appellaxian Justice League origin story. They each fight a minor foe who leads them to where another stronger foe awaits.

You can do this with pretty much any major villain. Like have the Construct cause electronics problems in each city, while his main self is somewhere else (that the heroes track down, meeting each other in the process). Maybe the Construct even has a minor avatar of himself in each of the heroes' city so they have something minor to fight first.

prufock
2014-07-04, 11:47 AM
I'll have to look that up, I'm not familiar with it.

TeChameleon
2014-07-06, 02:56 AM
Hrm... some simple ones:

- Amanda Waller will still be around, and if there's a seat of power to be found, she'll be close to it. She'll also be more than ready to backstab it (and with a reasonably solid plan, to boot) if she thinks that it's no longer acting in the interests of the American people. Checkmate and/or the Suicide Squad are always fun encounters.

- There's a reasonable chance of the Secret Six transitioning from anti-villains (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AntiVillain) (warning: TV Tropes link) to a more anti-heroic role, or even straight-up (if still impressively violent) heroes. Deadshot especially has always had a bit of hero-worship for Batman, and if Omen were to confront him, it might wind up being a secret test of character to see if s/he's a worthy successor to the Bat.

- Speaking of Omen, if the group runs into any of the Teen Titans, there's a good question that s/he'll be asked about any connection with the previous Omen (http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Lilith_Clay_%28New_Earth%29). Could go well, could go amazingly badly, depending on which of the ex-Titans they end up meeting.

- As far as Luddites go, I can pretty easily see Ted Grant going that route. He's not necessarily anti-tech, but I've always gotten the impression that he held some fairly definite opinions regarding sanctity of the body, and at this stage in the game, he's getting a little old to be rushing off into the next big Crisis. Some of the other hard-line martial artists might also go that route- Richard Dragon, Bronze Tiger, Lady Shiva and those types. For that matter, a lot of the magic types would be unlikely to go along with the idea of sticking tech into their bodies. The Phantom Stranger, the Spectre and Dr. Fate are probably all gone with whatever Crisis has gone down this time, but the Shadowpact and Justice League Dark probably left a few members around. The remains of the Rock of Eternity might make a decent, T-Sphere-free base. Also, assuming Vic Stone is still around, I can see Cyborg being more than a little unhappy about the idea of integrating someone else' tech into his body, given how poorly that has worked out for him (repeatedly) in the past. Could make for some rather amusing scenarios where someone who's something like 80% tech is working with the anti-tech people.

- If your players become insistent on tracking down the source of the crisis, an interesting trick I've seen done (several times, actually, once in the original Crisis :smalltongue:) is a 'Flash' that was actually a manifestation of the Speed Force. Barry Allen managed to gasp out cryptic clues while bouncing back in time in the original Crisis on Infinite Earths. And Impulse One Million was considered to be a manifestation of 'all the scattered thoughts of the speedsters passing through the Speed Force'. Just have your Speed Force whosit warn them that they have to stay focused closer to home to solve the crisis, or some such.

- Don't forget all the cross-dimensional threats, too...

- If Deadman is still around, or maybe Kid Eternity, then there's a surprisingly simple and obvious way to jolt Mr. Terrific out of his megalomania; pull up Terry Sloane, the original Mr. Terrific, to give him a good talking to.

- Big Miracle and Blue Lantern automatically invite a New Genesis/Apokolips (especially since Big Miracle is the Granddaughter of Highfather and daughter of one of the best Female Furies) and Color Corps connection, which opens up the space opera corners of the DCU. Unless whatever Crisis happened involved the various space empires, then:

* New Genesis

* Apokolips

* The Dominators (rather nasty almost-hive-minded super-geneticists)

* Rann (adopted world of Adam Strange- Adam would no doubt be concerned with the state of things on Earth, but at the same time, he'd feel responsible for Rann. Maybe he'd try a Gen. I Transformers solution and want to move Rann into Earth-range so the commute would be easier..?)

* Thanagar (aka Hawkworld)

* Warworld (whatever iteration it's up to now and Mongul/Mongal),

* Zerox (the Sorceror's World- Mordru, the various magical recruits of the LoSH)

* Htrae (aka Bizarro World)

* The Vega System- including but not limited to:
** X'hal (space goddess worshipped by the Tamaranians and who really doesn't like the Psions)
** the Omega Men
** The Citadel Empire, their Gordanian Slavers, Branx warriors, and Karnan and Changralynian slaves
** The Psions (evil lizard-scientists who tortured Starfire into getting superpowers, created X'hal, and a host of other rather stupid things that they would ironically have to have been brilliant to actually do)
** Tamaran (Starfire's homeworld)
** Euphorix (homeworld of the Omega Men's usual leader)
** Okaara (see the Color Corps entry)
** Starlag II (Prison world)
** Rashashoon (think Casablanca IN SPACE! and you won't be too far off)
** Rogue (erratically-orbiting world with shy natives)
** Voorl (primitive, nearly-dead world whose vicious, greedy natives self-clone 100 times when they die, making it a rather dangerous area, even though people have tried to wipe them out several times, even pulling the Krogan retrovirus bit on them. It never works)

* the L.E.G.I.O.N./R.E.B.E.L.S./R.E.C.R.U.I.T. organization(s)
** Colu (Brainiac I, II and V's homeworld)
** Durla (home of the Shapeshifters- Chameleon boy being one of the most famous, but hardly the only one to go out into the universe),
** Khundia
** Starhaven (where Dawnstar of the LosH and Wildstar of L.E.G.I.O.N. hail from),
** Dryad (home of quiet, retiring, super-strong rock people)
**

* the Controllers (and their Darkstar Corps),

* the Color Corps
** Ysmault (home of the demonic Empire of Tears and the Red Lantern Corps)
** Okaara, (home of the Okaaran Warlords, who trained Starfire and invaded Earth at one point, along with the Orange Lantern Corps)
** Qward (home of the Weaponers of Qward, minions of the Anti-Monitor, and the Sinestro Corps)
** Oa (center of the universe, home of the total ***** Guardians of the Universe, and the Green Lantern Corps)
** Odym (unspoiled jungle world and home of the Blue Lantern Corps)
** Nok (home of the Indigo Tribe)
** Zamaron (home of the Star Sapphire Corps)

... and, well... check it out (http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Planets).

prufock
2014-07-07, 09:56 AM
Whew, lot of good ideas there Chameleon! I'll try to incorporate some of them. A few comments follow.


- Amanda Waller will still be around, and if there's a seat of power to be found, she'll be close to it.
With a world government, there's no doubt she'd have some position of authority, however I don't think she'll necessarily come into play. She may make a cameo as a "behind the scenes" character, but she won't be a primary plot point.


- There's a reasonable chance of the Secret Six transitioning from anti-villains (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AntiVillain) (warning: TV Tropes link) to a more anti-heroic role, or even straight-up (if still impressively violent) heroes. Deadshot especially has always had a bit of hero-worship for Batman, and if Omen were to confront him, it might wind up being a secret test of character to see if s/he's a worthy successor to the Bat.
The Secret Six would certainly make interesting antagonists for Omen, and placing Deadshot in there does jive with my idea about bounty hunters hired to off superheroes. I probably wouldn't use all of them, though, or delve into the other Omen.


- As far as Luddites go
Wildcat is certainly an interesting idea. I had planned for him to be working with "The Glaring," a morally-ambiguous cat-themed group. I'm not sure they'd really be anti-tech, though; they're more thieves and burglars.


- If your players become insistent on tracking down the source of the crisis
I don't expect them to do that (they know the theme of this campaign is earth-based and I've told them their job is to hold down the fort here, not go off on intergalactic investigations), but I'll keep that in mind.


- Don't forget all the cross-dimensional threats, too...
- Big Miracle and Blue Lantern automatically invite a New Genesis/Apokolips (especially since Big Miracle is the Granddaughter of Highfather and daughter of one of the best Female Furies) and Color Corps connection, which opens up the space opera corners of the DCU. Unless whatever Crisis happened involved the various space empires, then:

We'll mostly be sticking to earth for this campaign, and won't be dealing with much if any dimension-hopping. However, that doesn't mean extraterrestrial/extradimensional entities can't visit earth.

Particularly, I'm planning to have some Color Corps folks (those who are still around; 99% of all the corps are also missing) make appearances. Dex-Starr the Red Lantern cat will show up to take issue with Omen at some point in what should be a humorous encounter, and Lobo and Dawg II are still out there with a red ring as well. Other Corps members might still be hanging out in space, and I'm considering Luthor having an orange ring in a safe somewhere "in case of emergency."

Htrae may be an interesting thing to bring in. Bizarro Miracle (Debacle? Cataclysm? Booby Trap?) could be fun!

SpikeFightwicky
2014-07-07, 07:19 PM
I'm not 100% up to date on the latest of the New 52 DC stuff, but here are some ideas / thoughts:

- How experienced are the players? ( I mean in-game) For example, would Deathstroke be able to quickly dispatch them, or would it be a more even fight?

- An possible way to get them all together is to mix the rogues galleries. For example, Batman villain A meets up with Superman villain B, involving both 'protege' heroes. See below for more details:

- It seems like Superman's enemies would be more immediate threats (at least, the more physical ones). I could see Intergang suddenly making many gains in Metropolis in the chaos following the lack of supers thanks to the new Crisis (as far as I know, they're still operational). They operate at many different levels, so they could be an appropriate threat / recurring threat (once the NJL gets on their radar). They could even have moved into Gotham to start a turf war (or striking a deal with the Penguin, each getting a piece of the other's city's pie).
Possible hooks: Intergang sent out 'feelers' to the various big cities (Gotham, Coast City, etc...) to either set up shop or sow disorder in someone else's turf. Kyle Abbott setup a meeting with the Penguin to supply him with alien weaponry (from their ties to Apokolips). Somehow (a mole, a double-agent, etc...), the Luddites got wind of this arms deal, and show up to put a stop to it, turning into a large brawl spilling out onto the streets of Gotham. It would be a way to get Big Miracle and Omen on the same page (BM could have followed their trail from Metropolis). Kyle (or someone else from Intergang) can slip away and be followed to Coast City, where he meets up with that area's Intergang contact.

- Assuming Omen isn't quite on par with Batman, the Dark Knight's rogues gallery would have more freedom to execute their schemes. They'd also be more likely to be operating without anyone's knowledge.
Possible hooks: Javelin shows up in Coast City, causing widespread fear and panic through some newly upgraded javelins. The javelins release a fear toxin over a large area. The effects seem extremely intense, but only temporary. Beating Javelin (and questioning him - assume at least Blue Lantern would be involved) reveals that he was contracted by someone in Gotham to 'field test' a new delivery system for the gas (wide-range aerosol). The field results aren't quite as potent as expected. This leads back to Gotham, where an investigation eventually reveals non-other than Scarecrow tinkering around with a new formula for his fear gas (involving Omen, and if the above scenario is run, Big Miracle). The investigation is interrupted by a new version of the Tatooed Man, who attempts a sneaky attack on the group while they're already involved in combat. This new Tattooed Man (or woman? either way, a protege or 'inspired by' version of the original - I think the original is dead now - is there to test out their combat prowess and tattoo powers, and cash in on the bounty whilst they're at it).

- Not sure about Martian Man. They could be hunting down one of the bounty hunters who already killed a super and eventually confronts the group. Maybe hunting Tattooed Man? Not overly familiar with Martian Manhunter villains. Ditto with the Lantern. I know them from JL stuff, but not their own comics.

Either way, let me know if this is the kind of stuff you're looking for (or if I'm way off target). I know way more Marvel than DC, though I do know a decent amount of Batman and Superman stuff.

Edited Content Starts Here:
One more thing... Are any of the villains getting newer / younger replacements or sidekicks? Quick example, a new up-and-comer in the field of electronics figures out a method of mind-control / hypnotism similar to Mad Hatter. Having heard of his exploits in the field, he seeks him out to learn more from him. They could either become the new Mad Hatter, or they could team up (in that case, maybe 'March Hare' as a villain name? They seemed to hang out in the original Alice story... after all, 'Mad as a March hare' is a British turn of phrase, echoing the Hatter's idiom. Maybe some tragic / twisted back story / origin event happened in March, fitting in with the character theme and making them more unhinged when it gets close to March, and calming down in the following months). I'm sure Jervis won't be as much of a spring chicken in 2029, so maybe he wants some help (or approaches the new potential to teach them more). Of course, this new Mad Hatter / Mad Hatter sidekick would need their own twisted back story / possible psychosis to fit into the Bat's peculiar list of enemies. The potential is about as limited as the number of villains. That and you can include a new spin on an older villain without changing the villain themselves.

TeChameleon
2014-07-07, 10:02 PM
Right, sorry- I did actually see your comment about the action being primarily Earth-based; I meant more that those worlds and empires and whatnot would be available for invasion-type plot points than as locations for the players to visit... especially since something like half of them have already invaded Earth at one point or another :smalltongue:

I have a hard time imagining Ted Grant working with a group of cat-burglars, feline-themed or no; he's always struck me as a fairly straight-arrow type of guy who wouldn't be too comfortable with the whole Robin Hood-esque schtick you seem to be directing the Glaring towards. Although, thinking about it, there doesn't seem to be any real reason for groups not to overlap. The supers community has always been pretty close-knit in the DCU.

As far as Bizzarro-Scott Free goes, the first thing that pops to mind for me is that maybe Roulette ducked over to Htrae to dodge the crisis, and, given her penchant for deathtraps, set herself up as a Bizzarro-Miracle- maybe stealing Dr. Impossible's tech to do it?

Hmm... other thoughts- if Mr. Terrific has taken over Lexcorp (speaking of which, 'Googolplex' is a thing of beauty through sheer horrible pun-ness), there's a handful of people who'd likely remain loyal to Lex- Mercy Graves and the Contessa chief among them.

... ooh. One other thing. If Aquaman was amongst those that disappeared, then there's been a Cthulhoid invasion building up under the sea (under-the-sea, lalala la... er, sorry...) that... I think it tries to break free once a year or some such? Right, quick Googling brings up the Night gods (http://www.aquamanshrine.net/2010/03/brave-and-bold-vol2-32-april-2010.html). If Aquaman and Etrigan are missing, then that could be... problematic.

prufock
2014-07-08, 08:10 AM
I have a hard time imagining Ted Grant working with a group of cat-burglars, feline-themed or no; he's always struck me as a fairly straight-arrow type of guy who wouldn't be too comfortable with the whole Robin Hood-esque schtick you seem to be directing the Glaring towards. Although, thinking about it, there doesn't seem to be any real reason for groups not to overlap. The supers community has always been pretty close-knit in the DCU.
Yeah, you're right there. The only thing they have in common is their desire to circumvent Terrific. I'm actually considering Vandal Savage as the leader of the neo-Luddites, with a sort of "survival of the fittest" attitude.


As far as Bizzarro-Scott Free goes, the first thing that pops to mind for me is that maybe Roulette ducked over to Htrae to dodge the crisis, and, given her penchant for deathtraps, set herself up as a Bizzarro-Miracle- maybe stealing Dr. Impossible's tech to do it?
How about using Impossible himself? He's already a negative carbon copy of Mister Miracle.


... ooh. One other thing. If Aquaman was amongst those that disappeared, then there's been a Cthulhoid invasion building up under the sea (under-the-sea, lalala la... er, sorry...) that... I think it tries to break free once a year or some such? Right, quick Googling brings up the Night gods (http://www.aquamanshrine.net/2010/03/brave-and-bold-vol2-32-april-2010.html). If Aquaman and Etrigan are missing, then that could be... problematic.
I will save this one for a guest shot - I have one former player that called the Aquaman legacy if he visits for a guest appearance.



I'm not 100% up to date on the latest of the New 52 DC stuff, but here are some ideas / thoughts:

- How experienced are the players? ( I mean in-game) For example, would Deathstroke be able to quickly dispatch them, or would it be a more even fight?
Don't worry, we're ignoring the reboot. It's as if Flashpoint never happened. The group is fairly well-experienced, know the system pretty well, and come up with creative ideas from time to time (though punching their problems is the primary tactic). I could see them able to handle the PL 13 Deathstroke.

I'm not really feeling the Intergang idea. No particular reason why, I just don't see them involved in this story in a big way.

I do like some of your ideas for how to bring the group together, though, just not the particular villains you cite, except possibly Tattooed Man. Particularly, Blue Lantern should be able to track a villain back to either Gotham or Metropolis. Omen probably has the least transport ability, but may be able to use his shadow magic to teleport.


- Not sure about Martian Man. They could be hunting down one of the bounty hunters who already killed a super and eventually confronts the group. Maybe hunting Tattooed Man? Not overly familiar with Martian Manhunter villains. Ditto with the Lantern. I know them from JL stuff, but not their own comics.
Hm, Tattooed Man could be interesting. Now that you mention MM, I'm not so familiar with his foes either, except other martians. However, if the new character inherits the fire vulnerability, perhaps Heat Wave from Flash's rogues. It would be interesting to have Effigy still around (since he killed the original MM once), but he's dead, killed by the Spectre. Of course, after Brightest Day, he could be resurrected. Or, just spitballing here, since he was killed by Spectre turning him into lamp oil and placing inside a green lantern-like device to be burned, perhaps the lantern survived and someone finds it...


Are any of the villains getting newer / younger replacements or sidekicks?
They can. For example, I'm thinking of Joker being inactive (since Bats isn't around to toy with any more, he sort of just loses interest) and Harley Quinn taking over as the "new Joker."