Judge:
Dead Sidekick
Player Slots Filled: 7 of 7
Campaign Links:
Earth-8603
Game World Overview: Earth in the Interweave Universe has all the features of the real one: same countries, same personalities (politicians, movie stars, etc.), same historical events (World War II, 9/11, etc.), and so on. However, there are differences. Many fictional countries, such as Qurac, Vlatava, Zandia, Wakanda or Genosha, and organizations like the espionage agency, S.H.I.E.L.D. and its enemy, HYDRA. The basic concept of the Interweave Universe is that it is supposed to be just like the real world, but with super-heroes (and super-villains) existing on it. The Interweave Universe also contains fictional cities, such as the cities of Gotham City and Metropolis The presence of superhumans affected the cities, but the general history of the fictional United States was similar to the real one. Recently, many events that changed the whole political stage of the World have taken place, from Lex Luthor being elected as President of the United States, to entire cities (and even some countries) being destroyed, as well as a Third World War. There are other significant changes, such as the Earth is slightly larger than ours. The planet Saturn has 18 moons rather than 19 because Superman destroyed one, and other such differences.
The tradition of using costumed secret identities to fight (or commit) evil had long existed in this world (for example, with the medieval Black Knight) but it came into prominence during the days of the American 'Wild West' with heroes such as the Phantom Rider. During the 20th Century, the tradition was reinvigorated, mainly during the 1930's, with heroes like The Crimson Avenger and The Sandman and then later by Captain America in the 1940s (not the first costumed hero of the time, but the most influential) and then by Superman in modern times. By 1940, the first Superhero team, The Justice Society of America (JSA), was formed. During World War II, all of America's heroes were banded together as the All-Star Squadron to protect the United States from the Axis powers. However, due to a magical spell cast by Adolph Hitler (using the Spear of Destiny and the Holy Grail) the most powerful heroes where unable to enter Axis-held territories, leaving the war to be fought mainly by normal humans such as Sgt. Rock and The Unknown Soldier. Some superheroes that could not be affected by the Spear of Destiny's ability to subdue and control magical and extradimensionally powered beings (such as Captain America and Bucky, androids like the original Human Torch, or genetic mutates like the Creature Commandos) were able to cross enemy lines and take superhuman warfare to the Nazis.
After the war, under pressure from the paranoid Committee on Un-American Activities the JSA disbanded. While many types of heroes were active afterwards (mainly non-costumed, such as the Challengers of the Unknown or Detective Chimp, or covert teams like First Line), it wasn't until Superman's public debut that a new generation of costumed heroes became active.
Of course, as one would expect in a universe with superheroes, there would inevitably have to be crime and evil, and this universe is by far no exception. Arguably the most dastardly and dreaded villain in the Interweave Universe by far would have to be Victor Von Doom, the dreaded Doctor Doom, archenemy of the Fantastic Four. He has the record of most heroes fought, having fought nearly every hero on Earth. Other major villains include Erik Lehnsherr, the mutant master of magnetism known as Magneto and the mutant overlord Apocalypse, archenemies of the X-Men, corrupt businessman Norman Osborn, the megalomaniacal Green Goblin, Doctor Otto Octavius, a.k.a Doctor Octopus, and Eddie Brock, the venomous Venom, all of whom are the top archenemies of Spider-Man, Victor Creed, Sabretooth, archenemy of Wolverine, Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin of Crime, archenemy of Daredevil, Samuel Sterns, the Leader, and Emil Blonsky, the gamma-irradiated monster the Abomination, archenemies of the incredible Hulk, the Dreaded Dormammu and Baron Mordo, archenemies of Doctor Strange, the Nazi Fascist Red Skull, archenemy of Captain America, the trickster god Loki, archenemy of Thor, the Mandarin, archenemy of Iron Man, Kang the Conqueror and Ultron, archenemies of the Avengers, and Mephisto, archenemy of Ghost Rider and the Silver Surfer.
The majority of the superhumans on Earth owe their powers to the "metagene," a genetic feature of unknown origin, which causes some people to develop superpowers when exposed to dangerous substances and forces. Most of the superhumans on Interweave Earth owe their powers to the Celestials, cosmic entities who visited Earth one million years ago and experimented on our prehistoric ancestors (a process they also carried out on several other planets). This resulted in the creation of two hidden races, the godlike Eternals and the genetically unstable Deviants, in addition to giving some humans an "x-factor" in their genes, which sometimes activates naturally, resulting in sometimes superpowered, sometimes disfigured individuals called mutants. Other superhumans owe their powers to magic, genetic manipulation or bionics (see below). A large power gap resides between superheroes and civilians, making superheroes almost god-like. Still others owe their powers to not being human at all (see races, below). There are also many heroes and villains who possess no powers at all but use advanced technology or training in special skills, such as martial arts.
A degree of paranoid fear against mutants exists due to stories of mutants being a race or even a species (Homo superior or Homo sapiens superior) that is evolving and is meant to replace normal humans. This has caused organizations to form to deal with the problem, who can be divided into three camps: those who seek peaceful coexistence between mutants and normal humans (the X-Men and their affiliated groups), those who seek to control or eliminate humans to give mutants safety or dominance (Magneto and his followers, as well as other mutants such as Apocalypse), and those who seek to regulate or eliminate mutants in favor of humans. The latter often use the robots known as Sentinels as weapons.
Superheroes are generally accepted by the general public, with some (such as Superman and The Flash) actually having museums dedicated to them. The governments of the world have long realized that they must deal with the "metahumans" in some way. Years ago an organization called "The Dome" was formed to help superheroes who needed to fight crime across international borders; the superhero group called the Global Guardians were their main agents. However the Dome eventually lost its United Nations backing to the Avengers (who later lost UN sanction to the Justice League.)
The American government has had a more untrusting approach, however. Currently, the government deals with metahumans and similar beings through its Department of Extranormal Operations (DEO). Covertly, they use an organization of power-armored agents known as "Checkmate". The government also formed Task Force X (known as the "Suicide Squad") for "black ops" mostly using imprisoned (and thus expendable) supervillains enticed with offered clemency into helping them. Following the recent passage of the Super Human Registration Act, which strengthened the provisions of the largely unenforceable Mutant Registration Act of 1998, the US Government has created the 50-State Initiative, a hotly debated move towards both controlling domestic superhumans and escalating the tense international "arms race" of state-sanctioned superhuman teams following the rash of superhuman-caused mass destructions on American soil in recent years and the full takeover of nations by superhumans like Black Adam and Magneto.
Internationally, the Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistics Directorate (SHIELD) serves the United Nations in defense of Earth from superhuman, extra-terrestrial, and extra-dimensional threats. Some nations, untrusting of SHIELD following former director Nick Fury's botched covert war against Latveria and his successor Tony Stark's own abuses of power, have become signatories of the Freedom of Power Treaty, which in effect is a mutual defense pact between nations to counter the use by other nations of superhumans in unconventional warfare and terrorism. Norman Osborn has recently been appointed to reform SHIELD...
....more to come....
Character Creation Guidelines: The Interweave Universe [ClassicMarvel.com Campaign Forum Designate Earth-8603]
Character Creation Rules version 1.0
These are the rules for Character Creation for Dead Sidekick's "Interweave Universe" PBEM campaign. A Shift-Y debt of gratitude is owed to Carlos "the Rook" Lising [Earth-009] for bringing back Dale Donovan's Point Buy system from Dragon Magazine's Marvel-Philes. I have expanded upon that system's framework a bit, but the structured format retains its simplicity.
Character Creation and core mechanics for the Interweave Universe PBEM are limited to the described Powers and Talents found in:
Marvel Super Heroes Advanced Players Book
Marvel Super Heroes Advanced Judge's Book
Marvel Super Heroes Ultimate Powers Book
Any Character Creation rules questions may be directed at
dead_sidekick@e-mile.co.uk
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In the Beginning there was 600 points...
Phase One: All Character applications begin with 600 "Creation Points" (600 CPs) to be spent purchasing Abilities, Powers, Equipment, Talents, and Contacts. There's real power potential here. You could potentially build the equivalent of an early career Fantastic Four member or Spider-Man in his prime with this number of CPs. In a world full of Marvel and DC heroes and villains, your Character can definitely draw some attention to himself (welcomed or not.) "What's big and blue and wants you to play nice?"
I don't want to debate starting Character power levels, as 600 points is quite reasonably enough for a Character to compete on equal footing with what I as Judge intend to throw at the Players in the course of the game [notwithstanding the Judge's power to make the Living Tribunal wear a kangaroo suit with boxing gloves and go on a rampage...]. Simply put, 600 points is what you have to build a Character with. If 600 points is not enough to build the Character you wish to START with, this game likely isn't for you. There's a whole bunch of "best at what they do" type Characters in the Interweave Universe. You have to earn your way on to those elite lists, just like they did in their games (in the comic books.) 600 points is enough to build a starting Character that can hold his own individually and complement a team greatly. Keep in mind that this is not a solo adventure campaign. Your Character would be working with other player's Characters as an ad hoc partnership or bona fide superhero group with Karma and Advancement pools.
EVERYTHING that appears on your Character sheet must be paid for. NOTHING is free, and the total cost of the Character may not exceed 600 CPs.
On a scale from 1 to 100...
Phase Two: Allocate CPs to your Character's primary FASERIP stats. No single FASERIP stat may be rated higher than Unearthly (100). One FASERIP stat point costs one CPs (1:1)
Don't spend it all here, there's more to do...
Adding your Character's starting Health and Karma totals together reveals how many CPs you have spent on your FASERIP stats.
Brother, can you spare a dime?
Phase Three: Allocate CPs to your Resource rank. One point of Resources costs two CPs (1:2) Example: Remarkable (30) resources would cost 60 CPs. No Character may begin with more than Remarkable (30) Resources.
Multiplying your Resource rank by two reveals how many CPs you've spent on Resources.
Who wants your autograph?
Nobody, yet. All starting Characters begin with ZERO Popularity.
POWER!
Phase Four: Spend CPs purchasing power slots for your Character. Each slot costs 10 CPs. Some particularly potent powers cost two power slots (those marked with an asterisk in the Ultimate Powers Book, for example.) Such powers cost 20 CPs, the cost of both slots to be used. Powers that do not have a power rank (Circular Vision, for example) cost 30 CPs per slot.
Phase Five: Spend CPs to buy ranks for your power slots. Allocate CPs to the rank numbers of your purchased power slots One CPs will buy one power rank point. Powers that costs two power slots to purchase in Phase Four also multiply the CPs cost of their power rank points by 2.
No Character may begin with more than 150 rank points per single power. (Yes, you could concievably start with Shift-X ranked Powers!!!)
Example: Partisan Prime wants Unearthly (88) Martial Supremacy and Amazing (50) True Invulnerability. He must spend 10 CPs for Martial Supremacy's power slot, and 20 CPs for True Invulnerability's required two power slots, and then 88 CPs to set the Martial Supremacy power rank at Unearthly (88), and then 100 CPs (2 x 50) to set the True Invulnerability power rank at Amazing (50.) Partisan Prime would have to spend 218 CPs (10 + 20 + 88 + 100) on this grouping of powers.
"Banned powers": There are no banned powers, save for those you can not possibly purchase with the cap of Shift X (150) rank points maximum per power, such as the various Class 1000 level resistances. Just a side note to all you reality warping, time traveling, dimension hopping mad scientists: if you break the universe, someone will be along to make you pay for it.
"Custom powers": By Judge's strict and extremely unlikely approval only. Describe the power in detail - what it is, how it works, what it does, what it can't do, what its Nemesis power is, etc. Make sure this power is a stand out, something original, and unique, something you can't cover adequately with the given powers in the Player's Book and Ultimate Powers Book as published. Getting a custom power approved is emphatically and intentionally difficult, as we'd like to stay with what the core rulebooks have available. Presume that you're trying to sell a fish a broken umbrella. If you've slogged your way through all that discouragement and dirty looks and still want to try to submit a custom powered Character for approval, presume your custom power submission initially costs three power slots (30 CPs) and 3 CPs per power point, and that approving it may hinge upon it costing even more (4 power slots and 4 CPs per rank point, etc.) or the custom power may just be unapproved for play altogether. Most desired customizations can likely be built via combinations of Powers and Limitation tweaks already available. Please try that route first.
Unique Weapons and Equipment: Players desiring to equip their Characters with neat toys must spend 10 CP per item plus 1.5 times the cost of that items highest rank number.
WEAKNESS!
Phase Six: Adopt optional Limitations and Weaknesses to gain back spent CPs. This phase is entirely optional. If you choose to saddle your Character with weaknesses and limitations to regain spent CPs, the severity of the Limitations determines the number of CPs regained. See the Advanced Player's Book, page 9, for examples of Limitations and the ranks associated with them for an estimate of how many CPs can be regained. Any limitation not covered in the Advanced Player's Book will be arbitrarily assigned a rank by the Judge. CPs regained are in standard rank denominations (Good = 10, Monstrous = 75, etc.)
Please note that some powers in the Advanced Player's Book REQUIRE the adoption of a Limitation. Required Limitations DO NOT regain spent CPs. Also note that Powers that require a Limitation to be chosen also require that Limitation to be of a severity equal to the power rank (An Incredible-ranked power that requires a Limitation in its published description must adopt an Incredible-ranked Limitation, but gets no regained CPs for it)
Skills and Talents
Phase Seven: Purchase Talents for your Character. Talents cost 5 CPs each. Talents marked with an asterisk (Advanced Player's Book, page 10) cost 10 CPs each. Don't forget to explain how your Character acquired each Talent chosen in your Character history and / or personality write-up.
Also note that certain Talents produce an optional Contact for you Character. These Contacts are NOT FREE OF COST. (See Phase Eight)
Who do you know?
Phase Eight: Purchase Contacts for your Character. Each Contact costs 5 CPs. Your Character may have up to 5 Contacts maximum. Talents that produce optional Contacts still have to pay for those Contacts at 5 CPs each.
Keep in mind that your starting Character will have ZERO Popularity. You may know a lot of people, but none of them are going to let you borrow their anti-matter cannon with a smile. Established superhero or major comic book organization Contacts by Judge's approval only.
Tell us all about you...
Phase Nine: Create your Character's history. Who is your Character, where did he come from, how did he get his powers, why did he take up superheroing instead of bank robbing and mass murder? Details details details! Character submissions are incomplete (and mercilessly rejected on sight) without an origin story and information about the Character's motivations and personality quirks, moral alignments, hobbies, etc. If your Character has Talents, let us know how they were acquired and what your Character does with them. If your Character has Contacts to call upon, explain those relationships as well.
Be thorough. Mysterious origins are fun until someone else reveals them. I'd rather not be the one to tell you who your Character is, so why don't you do it instead?
And this goes without saying but will be said anyway line - ORIGINAL CHARACTERS ONLY. This is a role-playing game first and foremost. You are not your Character, and your Character is not you with superpowers. Some of my most favorite Characters I've created and played across a wide variety of genres are not like me in real life, at all. Some would kill me if they met me, some I'd consider killing. What it all boils down to is that this is a role playing game, a chance to "not be yourself."
Submit your Character and cross your fingers...
Phase Ten: Submit your Character for approval. Make sure you only spent 600 CPs creating your Character given the ratios and spending caps outlined above. Document thoroughly where CPs were spent and also notate which book and what page the description of each power purchased can be found. Send you Character submission to
dead_sidekick@e-mile.co.uk
Screen test...
You will be notified if your character has been selected to participate in the game. If your submission is not recruited, don't be discouraged. There will be more opportunies to join the game in the future.
Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 03/01/2009 05:31PM by The Last Duskblade.
When, when, when?!? I can hardly wait to submit! 
