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[M&M OW/Collab] Alpha World


Sailor OOC

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Hello. Welcome to Alpha World

 

It's been a while since there has been a Open World/Collaborative style game on the site, and it looks like there is some demand. I, Justin, and a few others have been communicating back and forth in forming a Mutants and Masterminds 3rd Edition game that takes place with the real world as the backdrop slowly coming to terms to superhumans and the strange and bizarre appearing.

What happened is in 2008, when the Large Hadron Super-collider was used for the first time, it subtly changed the rules of reality. Causing people to start developing powers that affect reality. It also tapped into the global subconscious and gave an avenue for the paranormal to start becoming real.

Here are the important bullet points to note for the world...
 

1: The event that had supers appear on earth is tied to the first collision experiment at the Hadron Supercollider in 2008. Somehow it made a subtle change to the "rules" of reality just slightly enough where people with super powers can exist. Very few reach the level of the characters in the game, but many people are just -slightly- talented enough to seem more lucky or perceptive. These people are unaware they have a really small superpower, with the people flying overhead or shooting lightning bolts from their eyes on the news...

2: There hasn't been that much time from "The Event" (we need a name for that), so the geniuses that have appeared haven't shifted the technology level that far from today, although some tech that right now in real life seems it's in the R&D department is actually in use or on the shelf now in the game world.

3: Most supers that are doing super things in the setting are either in Law Enforcement, Public Safety, or Military roles. There are also many normal roles that a super can be in. Particularly if having powers would give you an advantage in your career.

4: Supervillians don't really exist yet in appreciable numbers (and are NPCs) but they are a problem.

5: Players can work with their home government as a independent hero, a member of their nation's military or government outright, or as a mercenary. Players can team up however they please. There is no "registration" for supers currently happening anywhere.

6: The theme is 4-color, so identities have to be hidden for logical reasons, and the players are of generally a well functioning moral and ethical compass.

7: Technology in the world isn't farther advanced than now, but tech that is considered in R&D right now in real life is more readily availiable. The influence of super-geniuses is just beginning to take root. Battlesuits and the classic iron-man stype of battlearmor is a thing, as well as one-off super-advanced combat vehicles like tanks or aircraft.

 

8: Power Level 10, 150 Power Points. Players are limited to 2 characters, and must wait a minimum of 3 months to create their second character. If they wish to play something different they must drop or permanently NPC a currently active character.

9: No restrictions on concepts mostly, all characters must be approved by two members of the Moderator group.

The Moderators are:

Dawn OOC
Justin OOC
Rebecca OOC
Malachite Drake
SalmonMax

I am going to post a blank post where a FAQ will go that will clarify a few things as questions are asked.

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FAQ

 

Always Under Development And please read the first post...

 

Q: So who runs things around here?
A: It is a Quintet of Rebecca OOC, Dawn OOC, Justin OOC, Salmon Max, and Malachite Drake.

 

Q: Are things like Magic and things a thing in the setting?
A: Yes.

 

Q: Can we be an alien?
A: Not for your first character and not for the first few months of the game's lifespan. First Contact needs to be special...

Q: Can I be something that looks inhuman?
A: As long as you don't scare people off... it's cool.

Q: Who do I send sheets to?
A: Right now I and Justin will go over sheets, and for all intents and purposes you will just need two people to say your sheet is good. Later on others can volunteer to approve characters for participation.

Q: What are the PL/Point settings?
A: 150 Power Points, Power Level 10, no restrictions on available effects.

Q: Is there a meta-plot to this?
A: The plot will be player driven, allowing the players to collaborate and create a story between each other. If people wish to join into your story they are free to as long as there is prior agreement.

Q: Who's in charge here?
A: If you need to know who is wearing the badge around here, I and Long are two of the driving factors here, but others can volunteer to help in the organizational side of things. This is a group collaboration more than a top-down game.

Q: Is game time RL based or set by something with people's fictions?
A: The time of a story must be dated close to the RL date when it is posted. It can be backdated though, although people's backdated fictions cannot interfere with the events of another unless arranged prior.

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So The Event happened six years ago and that's where everyone's powers are supposedly from... so the Hadron Collision suddenly made magic possible and created werewolves and ghosts and vampires and all things ooky-spooky...?

 

It doesn't seem to jive.

 

If someone can play a 'magic' character... how does anyone know magic when it's only six years old?  Doesn't seem to be a whole lot of practice time.

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1: Magic follows what we understand with our myths, legends, and superstitions. What used to just be a lot of mimbo-jumbo that did nothing, now actually has visible results.

 

2: Werewolves, Ghosts and Vampires? If they were in the game they would be NPC villians. There's nothing nice about them in any real-life folklore. And if you did play one of the "good" ones... you'd be really hated in feared anywhere outside of modern civilization that has been colored by popular culture with the "monstrous hero".

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So magic, an inexplicable phenomenon, always existed... but it didn't tangibly exist until a scientific phenomenon occurred, and now magic works?  Also, vamps, werewolves, etc, are all supernatural.  By your definition, they've always existed (because magic and the supernatural existed before The Event)... but if The Event was the occurrence that allowed people to make use of supernatural abilities/powers (like those possessed by werewolves, sorcerers, etc)... then how could the supernatural have existed before The Event?

 

I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around the layout.  It makes hard to make heads or tails for a character background.

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Yes, it matters.  The reason it matters is because 'magic' is a clearly defined and separate entity from 'science'.  In Aberrant, people could call what they did 'magic' if that's what they wanted to do, but the effects were still firmly rooted in a scientific and biological principal (their node).  To say 'magic always existed but didn't work until a scientific effect happened' just doesn't make sense.

 

I was considering playing a character whose background was mystical in nature.  It does matter to me because if his background is mystical and mysticism existed before The Event, then that would mean that my PC and his people could have a more clearly defined background, both historically and mythical.  As written, the PC and his people, despite a long, rich history of ritual and mystical practice, just now got the ability to actually do anything mystical within the last 6 years... thanks to a scientific phenomenon.

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Not to try and override what Becca just said (this is her game -- well, hers and Long's-- and she's da boss, but I have an idea.
 
Dark Matter / Dark Energy.  
 
The TL;DR version is that these two things are what Scientists generally point at when they can't explain a thing right now.  Invisible energy / matter that permeates reality and explain the inexplicable.  Things with no mass acting like they have mass?  Dark matter.  Universe speeding up and expanding when it shouldn't be?  Dark Energy.  There's a LOT more to it, but there's the basics.
 
It could be ruled that The Event which "subtly changed the rules of reality" and "tapped into the global subconscious and gave an avenue for the paranormal to start becoming real." did so in such a way that old school traditions and the rules they followed actually had the extra 'oomph' that they needed to have a measurable impact on the world.
 
Pre-Event, people followed these traditions in much the same way that they do now.  There are rules, procedures, and (depending on who you ask) effects.  Post-Event, those effects are now scaled up to the degree that they are suitable for a supers game.  
 
Regarding the other supernaturals (vampires, werewolves, mummies, demons, bigfoot, etc) that's an example of reality tapping into the universal subconscious and editing itself to suit it.

"Folklore says that there should be a vampire on the mountain over there.  There isn't one.  Reality creates a vampire.  Folklore says that the vampire should have been there for hundreds of years.  It's only been there for an hour.  Reality alters its memories so that it remembers the last few centuries.  Folklore says that it should be weak to sunlight, crosses, garlic, and stakes.  Reality loads up is new creation with weaknesses.
 
What does this mean for everyone else?  It means that having "ancient monsters" even though The Event is significantly less ancient is possible.  At the same time, other people who may find themselves turned into vampires by the rules of reality altering are those people who live the "vampyr" lifestyle to its extreme.  

Ultimately, never underestimate the power of the universal subconscious, particularly when reality-bending effects are happening.
 
BUT!!!!!

This is just my $0.02, not my game.
Going to let Rebecca and/or Long chime in here.
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I can see that it's what you were ultimately going for, but admittedly it was a bit fuzzy.

Fixed though.

Personally I think it would be hilarious to have a "Centuries Old Vampire" that at least starts out largely ignorant of "The Event" (since the idea of its being created by a Dark Matter/Energy 'Splosion is completely antithetical to its "having existed for centuries")

 

Having one of them trying to have a "this is what really happened" discussion with some nerd that got the ability to summon creatures from its magic cards on "Event Day" would be interesting.

"I have a legacy that spans the ages!"
"Dude, you weren't real a few years ago"
"I am ageless!"
"You are delusional"

Best part:  They're both right.

 

 

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Thank You Hyo, that summation actually covers my own beliefs on the subject quite well.

 

In short, Prior to the Event, none of superhumans, paranormals, aliens, or things beyond simple humanity existed.

 

After the Event, they not just exist, but thrive.

 

The Event altered Reality itself, allowing things that had never before existed to exist.   Furthermore, it allowed them to have always existed, even if no overt official records of such did before six years prior.

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Using the formula then, I'll be playing Jesus.  Enough people believe in him that when The Event happened Dark Matter or Energy or what have you could have easily just spontaneously created him.  Prolly a create theme (turning liquids into booze), Healing (Resurrection), Movement (water walking), Immortality (3 days), Henchmen (12 of them), and Benefit of having the entire Church as my personal army.

 

I'd work on a background, but you guys should know it already.  I'll start crunching the numbers.  For a fee you can 'rent' my PC to hang out with you for a day and he'll be your 'Personal Jesus'.

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Using the formula then, I'll be playing Jesus.  Enough people believe in him that when The Event happened Dark Matter or Energy or what have you could have easily just spontaneously created him.  Prolly a create theme (turning liquids into booze), Healing (Resurrection), Movement (water walking), Immortality (3 days), Henchmen (12 of them), and Benefit of having the entire Church as my personal army.

 

I'd work on a background, but you guys should know it already.  I'll start crunching the numbers.  For a fee you can 'rent' my PC to hang out with you for a day and he'll be your 'Personal Jesus'.

 

Don't forget Complication (Quirk): Total Pacifist and Complication (Quirk): Always Turns Other Cheek. ;)

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I figure your being ridiculous again, Dave, picking at what you see as the problems in an idea or system, but if your serious, I would like to suggest a ruling to disallow direct religious figures, a.k.a.  Jesus, or Krishna, or Thor.  No reason someone can't be an angel, or demon, or ashura, or valkyrie, or a child of zeus, but players shouldn't be allowed to play actual deities.

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Actually, I was serious.  I thought it'd be interesting to create an old fashioned figure trying to make heads or tails of completely modern view points... while fighting crime. Your suggestion is a bit hypocritical however; you suggest that players be permitted to play the sons or daughters of any god... just not the son or daughter of God.  I thought it'd be an interesting way to go with a character, something I'd personally not seen done in a long while.  Hell, South Park does it nicely.

 

Anyway, if people aren't cool with it, or just want to be ugly about it, I can go with something else.  Like... The Dude.

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Actually, I was serious.  I thought it'd be interesting to create an old fashioned figure trying to make heads or tails of completely modern view points... while fighting crime. Your suggestion is a bit hypocritical however; you suggest that players be permitted to play the sons or daughters of any god... just not the son or daughter of God.  I thought it'd be an interesting way to go with a character, something I'd personally not seen done in a long while.  Hell, South Park does it nicely.

 

Anyway, if people aren't cool with it, or just want to be ugly about it, I can go with something else.  Like... The Dude.

 

Technically, Jesus is God is the Holy Spirit, so he's a divine figure in his own right by a lot of Christian dogma. I would have no issue if you wanted to play a scion of Jehovah, especially since the Old Testament God is still in the "kick ass for my chosen people so long as they're following me" mode. 

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Technically, Jesus is God is the Holy Spirit, so he's a divine figure in his own right by a lot of Christian dogma. I would have no issue if you wanted to play a scion of Jehovah, especially since the Old Testament God is still in the "kick ass for my chosen people so long as they're following me" mode. 

We could split hairs, but we'd get nowhere.  He was born a human and ascended to 'godhood' (something divine), which is both theologically accurate and defines Scions.  You're right as well, that is how the faithful perceive him.  As part of the Holy Trinity, God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are all considered a single entity.

 

I don't know... Old Testiment is more villian material.  Like the guys in Dogma... "You didn't say 'God bless you'..." *fire off a few rounds, killing the sinful sneezer*

 

If I went OT I'd quite literally have to smite everyone who smoke, drank, had premarital sex, I'd have to stone pregnant women to death if they weren't married, used foul language,  and I'd also have to smite any woman who spoke without first getting permission from a man... that would make for some really poor life decisions early on and land the character either dead or in some sort of an asylum. :P

 

It'd be Hell on Earth.  I'd have to smite everyone on the planet, since thought is as good as deed I'd also have to smite anyone who has ever had impure thoughts... the paperwork alone would be a nightmare.

 

Now... Craig Christ... hmm...

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I would have to admit, as a scion of a god you'd not do too much damage, no matter who.

So, are you part of the Merovingian line, Dave? Are you part of a greater conspiracy? ;)

Sorry, my inner Dan Brown is screeching like a giddy schoolgirl.

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I'm with the guys who invented the Picaso Code... but we caught him during his blue period... yeah... the clues were like, all over the place.  We decided Di Vinci was the better bet, plus, we got Tom Hanks at a discounted rate.

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I'm not honestly sure.  I don't want to make new accounts, so I'll be playing a PC I've already used before.  Since we're allowed 2 slots I may make 1 male and 1 female and do a Spider-Man / Black Cat thing.

 

What's the policy on making villains?  If I make a Black Cat type character she'll be morally 'gray'.  She's not a good guy (she steals, lies, even hurts people) but she's not a psychopath or one of the 'TAKE OVER ZE VERLD!' types.  She'd be one of those PCs that's more than willing to help the good guys, but will probably only be in it for herself.  Especially if there's a profit in it for her.  Also it might give people the opportunity to foil some of her capers, or fail to foil her capers and either way creating a nemesis sort of character.  Kinda the Batman / Cat Woman rapport except everyone is thankful for her help... but usually will want to ring her neck afterwards when she skips out on them.

 

The Spider-Man guy is easy.  Young kid gets super spider powers, delivers pizzas, hates life, loves being a spider guy.  Not sure how to explain how he got bitten by a radioactive hadron spider... but meh.

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