It's a bit of a what if?

What if the Heroes and villains who went off to the Secret Wars, never made it home. I'm not playing out the heroes on battleworld. That's been done. I'm playing out the Marvel Universe living in the aftermath of the disappearance of their greatest heroes.

No Cap, Thor, Spidey, Hulk or classic 80s X-Men...Just the survivors trying to deal with the loss of their friends.

Oh and no Retcon character either, so only characters who existed at the moment that Secret Wars came out back in 1984...

Thoughts?

Who died on Battleworld?
Avengers
Captain America, Thor, Ironman II, Wasp, Captain Marvel II, Hawkeye and She-Hulk.

Fantastic Four
Mister Fantastic, Human Torch and the Thing

X-Men
Professor X, Cyclops, Colossus, Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Rogue, Magneto and Lockheed.

Independent
Spiderman and Hulk.

Villains
Absorbing Man, Doctor Doom, Doctor Octopus, the Enchantress, Kang the Conqueror, Klaw, the Lizard, Molecule Man, Titania, Ultron, Volcana, and the Wrecking Crew. The cosmic entity Galactus.

Who is left?
The Fantastic Four
Invisible Woman, Crystal, Medusa, Ms. Marvel II, Frankie Raye

The Defenders
Silver Surfer, Doctor Strange, Clea, Namor, Namorita, Valkyrie, Nighthawk, Damion Hellstrom, Red Guardian, Hellcat, Devil-Slayer, Black Goliath, Paladin, Stingray, Torpedo, White Tiger, Gargoyle, Moondragon, Cloud, Andromeda.

X-Men
Beast, Iceman, Angel, Banshee, Polaris, Havok, Sunfire, Shadowcat Dazzler,

New Mutants
Cannonball, Psyche, Wolfsbane, Sunspot, Magik, Magma and Cypher

Avengers
Hank Pym, Tony Stark, Rick Jones, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Black Widow, Swordsman, Hercules, Black Panther, Vision, Black Knight, Mantis, Ms. Marvel, Falcon, Wonderman, Tigra.

Alpha Flight:
Guardian, Aurora, Northstar, Sasquatch, Shaman, Snowbird, Marrina, Puck

Power Pack-NPC


Team America-NPC


Independent
Moon Knight, Punisher, Daredevil, Richard Rider, Doc Samson, Ghost Rider (Johnny Blaze), Firebird, Frogman, Rocket Racer, Rom the Space Knight, Iron Fist, Powerman, The Prowler, Red Wolf, Texas Twister, Shooting Star, The Phantom Rider, Captain Ultra, Shroud, Thundra, Shanna the she-devil, Kazar, Blade, Shang-Chi, Misty Knight, Colleen Wing, Madrox, Captain Britain, Quasar, Antman (Scott Lang), Cloak and Dagger, Beta Ray Bill. Werewolf by Night, Topaz, Nomad, Spider-Woman, Doctor Druid, Brother Voodoo, Stuntmaster, Machine Man, Night Nurse (Linda Carter, Christine Palmer, Georgia Jenkins and Clair Temple), The Human Fly, Razorback, 3-D Man, Black Cat, U.S.-1, Defensor, Shamrock, Peregrin, Blitzkreig, Union Jack, Aguila, American Eagle, Arabian Knight, Blue Shield, Collective Man, Guardsman, Jocasta, Tamara Rahn, Tagak, Elisabeth Bradock. Mockingbird, Jennifer Kale.

I believe I recall reading a What If? to this effect... basically, everyone on the Battleworld died after Doom gained ultimate power from the Beyonder. Only Doom returned to Earth, and he took over the Earth. Sue Storm tried to organize the remaining heroes against him, but Doom prepared and dealt with the real threats. Doom permanently adjusted Stark's blood alcohol level to keep him in a perpetual state of inebriation without killing him. Dr. Strange withdrew from reality for a bit to prepare, coming back with some very powerful spells to make him a threat to Doom, but as powerful as he was, he still had to chant his spells and Doom only had to think to alter reality... so Strange was defeated, too. Invisible Woman, pregnant before Mr. Fantastic disappeared, had pregnancy complications but --showing some small mercy to her-- delivered her child and allowed them to live since he took Reed away (he could easily have brought him back to life, but chose not to because he knew Reed would work tirelessly until he found a way to defeat Doom). Somewhere along the line, Doom also acquired the Infinity Gems and defeated the Celestials and some other stuff happened... as I recall, Earth society was almost destroyed, but some of humanity survived and they began rebuilding. Doom, having returned to Earth, found a humble community to join and lived out his life as a normal man.

I never read it. My thought was that none of them made it back and no one on Earth has any idea where they disappeared to...

So, basically, everything transpired as shown with Doom stealing the Beyonder's power and killing off everyone... but then the Beyonder reclaimed his power and killed off Doom, too. And then Beyonder, disgusted by the lesser beings and the power hungry Doom, retreated back to his own dimension never to bother anyone again?

Another What If story similar to this that is one of my favorites is the "What If? Secret Wars... 25 Years Later" (which I think came at the end of volume 2).

In it, there heroes and villains survived, for the most part, but were stranded on the Battleworld with no way home. So they settled down, put aside all their differences, and raised families. Reed Richards had died, and I think James Rhodes (Iron Man) did as well... but Professor Xavier took to wearing the armor to give him mobility he'd lost. The Hulk retreated into the wilderness and became something of a sub-urban legend, and Spider-Man became permanently bonded to the symbiote to the point that it became his flesh (when partially dissipated, there was nothing underneath but bones).

• Wolverine had a daughter with Storm. Her name was torrent, and she had her mother's weather control but also exhibited some feral qualities (like fangs).
• Thor had a son with the Enchantress, and named him Baldur. He learned spellcasting from his mother, but was also very strong like his dad. Enchantress left Thor for Doom and had another son with him, but she was ultimately killed by Doom.
• Hawkeye had a son named Mustang with She-Hulk. He was super strong and green like his mom, but was also a crack shot with the bow and arrow like his dad. He and Absorbing Man's daughter were shown together before the big fight at the end.
• Human Torch had a son by Wasp, and he could shrink down and had flaming wings and fire generation power, so he was called Firefly. He was also popular with the girls.
• And Captain America had a daughter called Crusader with Rogue. She could fly and was strong like her mom, but it seemed like she had learned how to fight and use his shield (because she had some skill with it when she stole it to go fight the villains' kids). During the big battle at the end, she had been knocked to the site where everyone had put aside their differences and found she was worthy to lift Thor's hammer, and came back with it to fight young Doom. Later on, Captain America chided her for taking the hammer, but Thor assured him that as far as he was concerned, that she lifted it made it her's.

I also remember Absorbing Man and Titania had a daughter, Molecule Man and Volcana had a son, the Wrecker had a son, and the Lizard had... some kind of crocodile-like offspring.

When the fighting had resolved, the Hulk showed up and declared that he'd been spending all of his time thinking of a way to get home. The plan required Thor's hammer and a device he'd built. But when they were ready to use it, The Watcher showed up and looked on quietly with a sad expression that shook the parents' resolve. They had correctly guessed that something bad had happened in their absence and decided to stay where they were because they'd built lives there.

The kids, however, decided to go see Earth for themselves. They arrived in Central Park and were attacked by a Sentinel. After beating it, they discovered all of Manhatten was in flames and overrun by Sentinels... so the remaining heroes didn't fare well on their own when the Sentinel program was put into effect. My guess is that the Sentinels turned on any altered humans as mutant sympathizers.

Nope, actually my thought was that Doom failed to defeat the Beyonder to take his power from him and in the ensuing battle, not only was battleworld destroyed but everyone there (obviously) was killed too.

Doom's reach frequently exceeds his ability. Stealing the power of the Silver Surfer comes to mind as well.

Besides you seem to be missing the point of all of this. The story isn't what happened on Battleworld.

It's what happens to everyone at home afterwards.

bobmalo Wrote:
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> Besides you seem to be missing the point of all of
> this. The story isn't what happened on
> Battleworld.
>
> It's what happens to everyone at home afterwards.


No, I'm not missing the point at all. I was making comparisons to two comic stories that examined possibilities similar to what you're proposing. One was more about just Doom, but it gave a glimpse at the world the heroes left behind. The other started on the Battleworld, but ended with a very different glimpse of what happened in the heroes' 25 year absence and left 5 new, young heroes to clean up the mess.

What format are you running this game in? voice? text only? physical meeting? experienced players?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/21/2015 07:44AM by Giledhel.

Giledhel Wrote:
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> What format are you running this game in? voice?
> text only? physical meeting? experienced players?


Physical. tabletop!

Now I am wondering if i should include characters that might be left over from the 'Lost Generation' series

Didn't all (or most) of the Lost Generation heroes get killed off repelling a Skrull invasion?

Here's something else to consider: will anyone remaining behind on Earth eventually take up the mantles of the lost heroes?

Will there be a new Fantastic Four led by the Invisible Woman? Will Moon Knight go crazy and adopt the personas of Captain America, Spider-Man, and Wolverine and use equipment that lets him fake being them when he's not being his own brand of crazy?

Both Hulk and She-Hulk got whisked away... will the Red Hulk eventually show up? Will Doc Samson step up and become the new Hulk (in name only) as part of a new Avengers team? What happens with the leftover X-Men and the continued harassment by the anti-mutant crowd (Cameron Hodge, government agencies, Sentinel program, etc.) --will the remaining X-Men be enough to hold their ground without the leadership of Professor X or Cyclops?

Also, is Dr. Doom still a presence on Earth thanks to Kristoff, or will it be just Doombots, Doombots, Doombots?

Lots of possibilities to explore (which is why I referenced those other stories, because they had a couple of angles which could inspire new ideas).

There were a few unaccounted for at the end. I'll probably leave them out as they don't fall into my original criteria that if they didn't exist at the time, they just aren't available. We all know that Cable, Gambit and other X-Related characters are out there...and there is nothing to keep me from introducing them (or Scarlet Spider...) but my notion is these B and C graders just trying to cut the mustard. I'm considering (depending on how many players I have...) having them pick characters from every group and round-robin a massive campaign that ties into one other over the different groups.

And as to Moon Knight, no...I didn't like the Bendis series where that stuff happened...LOL

We actually did this a few years back (Shifting the date back on the Secret Wars a bit). But ours was 20 years later. Doom and Titania were the only ones who had returned, and Titania didn't remember what happened. Doom withdrew from Earth, it not being a challenge now that Richards was gone. A whole new generation of heroes formed, with a few aging heroes and villains. Ben Reilly became Spiderman, eventually marrying and later being divorced by Mary Jane. Franklin Richards created a duplicate of Ben Grimm (equally as strong, but human looking), who teamed up with Titania to form a new FF, Iron Man went to prison. It was kind of a blast figuring out who had done what in the intervening years. Would be incredibly fun to play through those times after the disappearance. I'm sure you will have a great time.

Looking through the list of whose left, Defenders I believe were no longer functioning as the original team, if they were around this would have been Beast's group. With the Hulk disappearing, though, the karma problem would have been believed to be solved, and you might see the remaining originals returning.

Ms. Marvel was not yet a member of the Fantastic Four.

Your first big story might be the vision, that was the beginning of his attempt at world domination.

Old Post, but interesting idea.

I wanted to do a Secret Wars game for some time:
- Players would choose to be Heroes or Villains (I have also toyed with the idea of different 'Camps' based on character types - so possible standard heroes/villain groups, mutant hero/villain groups, mechanical/artificial beings.. ect, i even toyed with adding DC/Image to it - so allowing for marvel hero group, dc hero group, marvel villain group, dc villain group - really depended on the interest.)
- Each Side would have their "Base" that they started at - huge complex.
- Each Side would have a number of active characters, BUT would also have huge number of inactive characters - all frozen in suspended animation pods. Once an Active Character is killed - A pod on the base activates releasing a new character. (Basically at the start of the game, an entire catalog of available characters would be generated for each side).
- Battleworld itself is created from pieces of different planets, dimensions and even time periods - allowing everything from dinosaurs to killer robots to ninjas to aliens to nazis running around. Alien cities.. places from earth.. basically a scary and interesting place to explore and battle on.
- With the players on each side - it would be the players who come up with the plans and such for defeating the other side and/or finding a way to trick/beat the Beyonder.