Rules and Setting Mutants & Masterminds: Future Imperfect - Game Setting

[Joani]

General Background and Setting/Theme:

It is the year 2011. Mankind has been confronted with an evolutionary step that significantly changed everyday living. The Mutants. Some be called a freak of nature, most are revered as heroes or saviors and some are too alien to barely pass as once human.

The first Mutants are rumored to have been born some time during the 2nd World War but no one can actually pinpoint the exact date when this phenomenon became part of everyday life. Some time around the early 80's the Mutants couldn't be ignored much longer and many decided to go public after a Mutant calling himself Adam prevented a plane crash by virtually catching the plane and putting it safely down. The next 20 years brought wonders and controversy as more and more Mutants became common sight. Not all with good intentions or good will for the general populace. Fortunately criminal intentions remained scarce or only a local phenomenon. No worldwide threats have been issued and many Mutants led a 'normal' life using their powers to their natural advantage in specific fields. Some Mutants helped develop advanced technologies using their unique powers or superior intellect – the world entered a golden age.

The new millennium changed that. A strange disease started to spread through the Mutant society killing many of the more influential and powerful Mutants in its first wave. In a matter of weeks the Mutant population got reduced from the ten-thousands to a mere hundreds. The less powerful, so called Class I and Class II Mutants seemingly more resistant to the disease than the Mutants of Class III and higher.

Scientists worldwide are looking for a cure to this day but have made no to little progress. The Virus seems to adapt too quickly. Governments have started to put the Mutant population in special camps where they stay monitored in the attempt to keep the Virus from spreading. Only a very selected few Mutants have not been affected yet but this seems to be just a matter of time.

The latest move of the worlds Governments has been the so called 'registration act' which demands every Mutant to register and reveal his abilities and powers – all in the name of safety and for the search for a cure. This hasn't been well received by the majority of the mutant community and only a few have actually registered themselves.

Progress and prosperity has come to a halt and the golden age was over.

Enter the PCs...

This is the general setting and background. Consider this to be an alternate earth, very much like ours, yet differently because of the mutant phenomenon.

Mutants are classified into power classes defining how powerful their potential is or will be. There are 5 Classes and their definition is as follows:

Class I Mutant

Minor control over super natural phenomena, no or very little superhuman attributes or abilities. These Mutants pass almost as human although some of their abilities are nothing a human could ever possibly do. Still their powers are very limited.

(In game terms Class I are about PL 4 with a maximum of about 90 Powerpoints. Class I Mutants are almost not affected by the Virus. It causes only a minor flu or some fever in the worst cases).

Class II Mutant

Limited control over super natural phenomena, minor superhuman attributes or abilities. These Mutants have more control and power than the Class Is but still lack the dramatic abilities the heroes of the golden age were capable of. Still many Class II's have managed to establish themselves as local vigilantes or similar force to be reckoned with on a small scale like a city.

(In game terms Class II is limited to a PL of 5 with a maximum of 105 Powerpoints. Class II Mutants get ill by the Virus but to no deadly effect. Their symptoms range from high fevers to more severe, but not deadly illnesses. They can be treated with normal medicine if they are kept under supervision in a hospital.)

Class III Mutant

Moderate control over super natural phenomena, superhuman attributes or abilities are common. Some of these Mutants have joined teams of supers during the golden age contributing with their abilities to the greater cause. Most are very specialized in one field of expertise. Many have been employed in large companies or governments and have established themselves accordingly.

(In game terms Class III is limited to a PL of 6 and a maximum of 120 Powerpoints. The Virus deal's damage now on exertion or constant poweruse, additionally to the above mentioned effects)

Class IV Mutant

Almost complete control over super natural phenomena, superhuman attributes or abilities more than common and sometimes beyond associated powersets/themes. These Mutants set themselves apart from the wide range of the Class I's to III's by their raw power and potential. Class IV's are formidable opponents able to fend off several Mutants of lower powerclass on their own. Many are employed in global wide companies or part of special military forces used by the Governments throughout the world. Class IV's are difficult to control and their presence can be a curse or a blessing, depending on which side your on.

(In game terms Class IV is limited to a maximum PL of 7 with 150 Powerpoints total. They suffer like Class III's from the Virus and given their higher PL they can die when failing their saves.)

Class V Mutant

Raw unlimited potential – at least in theory. Class V's are as frightening as they are rare. Only a handful are known to the public, the real number counts no more than 50 global wide. Class Vs are only limited by their own psyche and personal ego. Given enough time any power could be developed and mastered. Class Vs suffer most severe under the Virus, killing them if they access their potential. Survival is strongly dependent on restraint.

(In game terms Class Vs do not have a potential maximum. The known Supers were ranging from PL 10 to 12 with Powerpoints in the range of 180+. They suffer like Class IV's from the Virus only their Powers can cause severe feedback able to knock them out at once)

The PCs are going to be Class V Mutants starting out with 135 Powerpoints and PL 7 at character creation. Part of the background will be providing me with a thorough and complete powerset and theme which should be like the nature of the Character you build. I'm trying to establish a sense of uniqueness for everyone so communication and feedback is essential during this phase of the creation process. Unlike in Aberrant there is no 'eruption' that triggers a change. All Mutants are born with their powers, albeit very weak and limited at birth but steadily increasing when they get older until they reach a base understanding around puberty/adolescence. Control of their powers will be achieved around late teens early 20s. From there on Mutants increase their potential within their theme and powerset depending on powerclass (you guys have no theoretical limit as Vs).

[Joani]

The Virus

The following information is mostly OOCly.

I wanted to make sure that you guys understood how the symptoms of the Virus express themselves. The overview of the Classes includes how the Virus affects said Mutant. The higher your class the stronger and more severe the effects are. A Class IV or V Mutant does not only fight with the direct damage through strenuous power use. They also suffer under the ‘minor’ effects like catching a flu or pneumonia. The longer the Mutant is ignoring the symptoms the more severe the effects become. You can’t ‘calculate’ your risk by simply staying within your Health Levels to make sure you’re fine.

A flu that is not being treated can get worse and eventually kill you. Some everyday illnesses can become chronic and wear you down, literally.

Besides the mentioned effects you can get penalties in form of difficulty adjustment to rolls in certain circumstances. I will use that to add drama to a situation depending on the story. I also ask you guys to keep that always in mind and consider that when you post and use your powers.

[Joani]

Rolling Dice and telling stories

This game will use the IC-Roller to determine rolls and the results of said rolls.

If you cannot or don’t want to access Invisible Castle then we have to fall back to use the Chat-bot dice-roller of the Beta-Chat.

I generally try to avoid rolling dice since this is a role-playing game and not a roll-playing game. Some situations make rolling dice necessary though.

To keep track of your vital stats I want you to add in a spoiler your current health status and penalties at the end of your post.

If you write fics or describe scenes and want to add some dramatic effect you can decide to relent/forfeit a roll and just describe what is happening. Especially in collaboration fics I’ll give you as much leeway as possible to keep the story going. No need to make a roll which could negatively affect the story you want to tell. If you want you can always choose to roll – and if the PCs involved want to resist against a specific action. I will administrate accordingly if necessary.

On the same account I don’t expect you to keep track of your Health Status and penalties in a fic. You can describe all kinds of power uses within your limits and reasonability. If things get out of hand I will ask you to edit that or simply put a veto on it.

Main thread stories (not fics or sidetracking) will always need to keep track of rolls and Health Status. That’s a necessity because combat may come swift and unexpected. It also shall give you a feeling of how your PCs condition is and how tough things are getting. Once we’ve got enough posts and Chosen gives us subforums I will transfer all threads tagged with Fiction to an appropriate Forum. The rules about fics apply to those stories only, just to avoid misunderstandings.