Mutants & Masterminds: Galactic League - Idea- Galactic Legion

[Krul]

I'm considering possibly running a cross between a Star Patrol(Lensmen), Legion of Superheros, with a touch of Shadowrun(as in Magic/Tech side by side), just checking to see if it would interest anyone. Most likly using M&M system, as it seems the best one for this sort of idea.

[jameson (ST)]

Sounds rather like this: Mutants & Masterminds: Legacy

[Krul]

Similar to yes, the same, no, though I will mention that I rather like that game, from what I've seen.

First off, the scale is galactic, rather then local in terms of stars. Second, the time frame is so far in the future, that humanity has splitered into thousands of sub-species, and managed to spread across the Milky Way, Andromeda, and several other local Galaxies. I'm also taking a bit from DC 1 Million, if you know it. It's 96,723 years in the future, no one is even sure which planet humanity originated from, let alone if it still exits.

The Galactic League, with the Divisions of System Defenders, Star Patrol, and Cosmic Guard, hold a status about equivalent US Marshal, in a large part of the galaxy (Also think the Jedi's influence).

Magic is now recognized as the science of belief, that with a certain amount of belief, talent and potential, one can actually impose one's will on the cosmos. Psionics is the power of the mind, rather then magic, it's tapping the inner potential. Cosmic power is neither of these, but someone interfacing and tapping the energy of the universe.

Technology: Besides the regular advances of technology, there are also a number of others that we don't have today. Biotech, Psytech, Mystech, Necrotech, D-Tech(Dimensional), are all some of the unusual technologies available in this future.

[jameson (ST)]

Hmm color me intrigued. The PCs are part of the "law enforcement" then?

[Joani]

ditto - I'd love to be part of this

[Noah Weston]

This does sound interesting. Any idea on Power Level?

[Krul]

PL 12 (I considered Higher, but I think it will work as a starting point). This means you are either unusually powerful and skilled with regards to your abilities, or you climbed the ranks.

- Your uniform is going grant life support and some measure of communication (A Psycomm, or Personal Hypercomm), and a bit of personal protection (not much, but some), this will be free, issued to you by the Galactic League. The Group will also have a starship, with Space Flight 20

Going to Have superhero elements, but I'm looking a for a more Space Opera feel.

Yes, in a way, Law Officers, sort of like the Lensmen, independent of a particular system/cluster goverment, but acknowledge by them as a very important aspect of Galatic Civilization. The most powerful individuals in the galaxy belong to the league (which includes the PCs). The Galactic League's Allegiance, using M&M terms, would be to Justice, Liberty, & Law.

[Forge]

*hears Lensman*

OoooOOoohh, color me interested.

[Noah Weston]

I'm not familiar with Lensmen...

[Forge]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lensman_series

Ron Howard is working on the movies, yo!

[Rebekka Van der Vyse]

I could go for this too. MegaGirl is fun. I could use my other idea - the TK Goddess or change that to a Sorceress of some type.

[Krul]

It's an interesting series, worth the read. Of course, this isn't going to be identical, but it is going to have similarities.

[Rorx]

Oh, I think I could definitely go for playing a Lensman

[Rebekka Van der Vyse]

I've vaguely heard of the Lensmen, but never read it. Maybe I should, eh?

[Krul]

To break it down a bit, for character generation purposes, if you chose to rise though the ranks, and to better understand how the Galactic League runs.

First off, it was founded by Archon and his allies, several thousand years ago, after a particularly brutal galactic war that had lasted close to 800 years. Archon himself was actually created during this war, due to a being ground zero of a Cosmic Bomb (a weapon designed to destroy an entire star system), and somehow, due to a number of factors, he absorbed the full energy of the bomb into himself, changing him dramatically, making him immune to aging, the rigors of space, and making him one of the most powerful users of Cosmic Energy Control [Think Silver Surfer in terms of power]. He has some trouble with Mystical power sources, and is rather vulnerable to Hellfire [which is a problem in some of the Dead Zones]. Realizing that a single man, however powerful, can not police an entire galactic cluster, he sought out allies, and together they founded the league. He is still alive and active as High Commander of the Galactic League.

System Defender deals with the issues of a single star system, or directly adjacent ones, when necessary. They tend to be about power level 6 to 8, though some of the Seniors are higher. Ranks are Trainee(Just out of Training, PL6), Defender(PL 7, Six Month Service), Senior Defender(Promotion to Senior simply requires PL 8, 2 years of service, and a refusal to advance to the Star Patrol). There's usually no more then such individuals per system then there are planets in the system.

Star Patrol members run to about Power 8 to 10, though again, some of the Senior Patrolmen are higher. Ranks here are Star Trainee(Rare, but occasionally a particular powerful applicative to the League starts at this point, essentially they are just out of training, PL 8), Patrolman (PL 8 Either 2 years as a Sword, or promotion from Senior Defender), Senior Patrolmen (5 years as a Patrolman, PL 9. Advancement to PL 10 gains the SP a invitation to join the Cosmic Guard, they may accept or not). The Star Patrol are assigned a patrol Sector covering about 250 stars or so, and sometime have missions that extend another 100 stars, issues involving broader areas then that are the duties of the Cosmic Guard. A star patrol unit, not counting support, has about 6 to 12 active members per ship, though a number of ships can be assigned to a single sector, if it's a really tough one.

The Cosmic Guard are assigned to a particular Galaxy and it's satellite galaxies, though their missions and influence extends to the entire local Cluster (Travel between Andromeda & the Milky way takes about a Day or so with Space Travel 20)

Local Cluster (This is as far as humanity has spread out): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_Group

Ranks are - Nova Trainee (PL 10 trainee, same as the others, they are always unusually powerful and skilled folks who join the League, it involves personal approval by the leaders of the league), Guardian or sometimes if being fancy Cosmic Guardian ( PL 11, 5 years as Nova, or promotion from Senior Defender), and Senior Guardian (PL 12, there is no guideline for when one is promoted to this rank, but usually one has to be a Guardian for a number of years).

There are a few other ranks, such as a System Commander, Captain(Leads a Star Patrol or Cosmic Guard Group, needs to pass a test to insure they are a capable captain, but otherwise is chosen by the Patrolmen/Guardians), Sector Commander, etc. [Yes, the PC's would be able to chose which of them is leader]

There's also another Rank, that's the League Leaders and founders, called the High Guard, if your contacted by them personally, your either being given a very important mission, or the shit just hit the fan, and prepare for something extremely serious. The leaders number 12, and are drawn from a pool of Senior Guardians, 8 of which are revolving posts, 4 are not. This doesn't count Archon, who is sort of a 13 member who only acts to break ties, when necessary. If your contacted by Archon, it's going to be bad (it's also very rare that he does so).

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What do the ranks mean?

All of them have Broad Police Powers regarding misuse of powerful abilities and technology equivalent (Cosmic Bombs are Restricted Tech for example). Two members(this almost never involves a trainee at any level, unless there are no other members available) + one senior(at any level) can together invoke Judicial status, becoming in effect a Tribunal. Rank at one level is + 1 to the other (A Patrolman has equal status to a Senior Defender for example). In rare situations involving military activity (A invasion of a system example) they have officer level rank, equal to their own + 2.

*******

Players should belong to the Cosmic Guard, either as Nova Trainees, or Cosmic Guardians. I should also point out, life extension being what it is, Immunity to Aging is very common, many members of the Galactic League have served for centuries.

Understanding Mystech - Incorporating Magic and Technology is very difficult, but it has advantages. [You'd need Artificer, Inventor and Ritualist Feats, plus the right knowledge and craft skills at + 20 or better] A Mystech invention can be continue to work even in tech dead zones, and can do things natural technology can't (IE - Resurrection Chamber, Transmutation, etc). Mystech can also be drained by a sorcerer to give a spell certain feats (IE - Make your Mystic Blast Homing), but it destroys the device to do it.

Understanding Psytech - Anyone can use some the leser levels of Psytech, but only a Psychic with Craft(Psytech) + 20, Inventor(Psytech) and Ritualist(Psychic) can manage to create the more powerful Psytech(called True Psytech). True Psytech allows a Psychic to give up one of his powers in exchange for another, and it last indefinitely once created and committed. The bonus can not extend to higher then the power itself, and if it's less, the psychic still loses full access to that power while powering the device. Furthermore, while it lasts indefinitely, as soon as the psychic chooses to stop committing his power to that effect, it breaks down and must be fully redesigned. However, the moment the Psychic reclaims his power, the device stops working, and must be fully rebuilt from the ground up.

Biotech is just that, Biological Technology that can be attached to a persons body, similar to Trinity Biotech, that it bounds to a persons genetic code, and it's a lot broader in application.

[Krul]

Galactic Patrol Uniform (The look of the uniform is up to the League Member, only the League Symbol is constant)

Device + 7 – Hard to Lose, Restricted x 2 - Formatted to a single DNA, Brainwave, Spirit Pattern, can only be used by the member it’s issued to.

Psycom – [Communication + 4 (Mental: Selective, Subtle x 2 ; Area, Limit – League Members)]

Universal Translator [Comprehend + 2 (Speak and Read all languages)]

Void Preserver [immunity +9 (Life Support)]

Mystic Sustainer [immunity + 1 – (Starvation & Thirst)]*

Armor [Protection + 4]

Psychic Reinforcement [Mind Shield + 2]

Lie Detector [super Senses + 2(Acute Awareness – Lies; Hearing Based)]*

Cosmic/Mystech/Psitech/Biotech/Cybernetic Enhancer [boost Powers + 4]*

,,

The Mystech Sustainer is a rather uncomfortable system to activate, in essence is uses something similar to photosynthesis, combined with a mystical enhancer, only it draws on dark matter to sustain it. Legion Members describe the effect as constant tickling or itching sensation on their skin, that adds a slowly growing headache while it’s active. As such, it’s something that they only use when they have no choice, as it must be active for 8 hours out of every 24

The Lie Detector is an activation device, it is Acute in that it not only allows someone to tell if he’s being lied to, but also if the subject is avoiding the truth, what it can not tell is why. Legion Members are reminded here, that sometimes a person will lie to protect someone else, or their own life, and not to assume that they are committing a crime.

What sort of Enhancer depends entirely on the nature of the PC’s powers.

For those of you wondering, this is a 30 point Device, no you don't have to spend points for it, and it’s a creative marvel that incorporates Biotech, Mystech and Psytech. Yes, if you’re a mage you can burn off points from the Enhancer for momentary feats, and they will restore, at a rate of 1 point per 24 hour period. If you’re a Psychic it with mental communication, it doesn’t add to your range, but it will allow you to use the subtle and selective feats even if you don’t have them.

This is standard issue, but some suits vary according to personal capabilities, someone who has protection at the max would instead have a stronger Mind Shield (+6), and someone who has those life support abilities naturally may have a stronger boost instead.

[Rebekka Van der Vyse]

Curiouser and curiouser. This is looking mighty interesting. Very good job Krul.

[Justin OOC]

Count me in. I've got a number of ideas as it stands.

[Mr Fox]

This sounds interesting. I really enjoyed the Lensmen books. How many players will you be having.

[jameson (ST)]

I'm not familiar with either of the sources you cited but a little research tells me that the scope of this game might be a bit more than I want to take on right now. I'll keep my eyes on this thread but don't feel that you need to save a spot for me.

[Krul]

Players - I'm looking for between five to seven players, with the potential of stretching that to eight, but not more. I'd like players to cover somewhat different concept/areas. I'm still working a bit on the starship, but it's going to be based around a Space Battleship, though somewhat more powerful. Players will be able to work together in space battles, running the battle ship, with someone who has high levels of flight/blast being able to act as a star fighter to the battleship.

Skill wise, you will need the following, overlap is completely allowed, and if one of you doesn't seem able to cover it, I'll provide an NPC who can. I am also thinking one PC may end up the leader, and a Senior Guardian.

Navigator - Knowledge - Physical Sciences covers Astrogation

Pilot - Pilot

Captain - Knowledge(Tactics)

Gunner - High Attack Bonus

Engineer - Knowledge and Craft needed

Someone may want to cover the Medic and Diplomat end as well.

[Krul]

Origins [some Ideas for Characters]

Alien/Genetic - While 90% of the sentient races are related/derived from humanity, there a small number who are not, usually very very different, as in crystalline or a gaseous race. Powers that are racial/genetic in origin, are common to your race, but you are likely the most advanced in them. This origin also covers beings empowered by cosmic entities, which can mean rather unique beings.

Divine/The Source - While there is still a lot of debate about the nature of the First Cause/Creator, it is known there is a Holy Source of power and a Infernal Source of power, many who use this power claim to draw their power directly from the source. Some argue that this is simply a more powerful version of Mysticism. These cover other dimensional, divine and infernal beings, some of them very powerful, but in this time, humanities potential outshines many ancient and forgotten gods, but some humans have semi-divine blood that awakens their power.

Magic & Mysticism – To learn and develop magic, one first has to belief you can, that’s the most important aspect of magic. The second, is to recognize that with will, the right focus, and a knowledge of arcane patterns, one can work magic. That focus might be magic spells, symbols, rituals, or gestures, but the focus almost certainly is needed.

Psionics – Awakening the inner power of the mind, psionic carries enormous potential and power, though it’s limited to the power of the mind, telepaths, telekinetics, clairvoyants, teleporters, pyrokinetics, to name a few types of psychics.

Super-Science – this particular origin, within the League at least, tends to be beings related to fully sentient and self-willed AI’s. An AI might chose to have a child with a human being (not impossible, with tech as it is, just hard), or might actually chose to make a biotech/nanotech body, and download their consciousness into it.

Mutation – This is almost always accidental, each mutation is unique to that individual and not shared by the species as a whole. Archon is said to be the most powerful mutation powered individual to every exist, so far.

Training – The ultimate training, is when one moves past skills, to the development of Chi. This is most often the province of the martial arts, but Chi is awakening the power of the Soul, like Psionics is the power of the Mind. There is a lot of overlap to them, but Chi can be developed in training, Psionics requires natural talent as well, Chi can be developed by anyone.

[Justin OOC]

Dibs on Starfighter... Thinking something akin to Superman.

[Krul]

So a version of the paragon archetype, it's yours then, though I hope to see a bit of variation on it.

A few other thoughts -

Precognition & Postcognition, if you take these, you must also take the Uncontrolled flaw with them.

Time Travel while not impossible, it has been found that the past is extremely difficult to alter, time shifts are easy to turn back, large shifts almost always snap back to the original, though sometimes alternate timelines of the old remain. Minor shifts in history though can sometimes remain, but there's no certainty of that. Also, there tends to be a limit on how far a temporal traveler can go, a sort of temporal gravity, that grows stronger the further one goes forward or backward in time.

High Attributes - Attributes beyond 25 are superhuman, I'd generally prefer to see these as enhanced attributes. However, though it's not strictly required, if it fits your concept to be superhuman in some attribute naturally (Example: Superhuman Intelligence in an AI with Biotech/Nanotech body.)

[Yseult Sierra]

I'm thinking Sapphire Rose is going to be recycled from a Scion of Aphrodite into a Super-Sexy Psion.

Not sure yet if I'll lean more to TK Mastery type stuff, or more mind-bendy type stuff, or an even split.

Btw, any chance you know what an Elan is, from D&D? It's sort of a psionic rebirth into a race that is psionically made.

This is of course only if you still have room for one more - not sure how much interest/players you have so far.

(This is the same player as Seraphine/MegaGirl/Sean Cassidy/Bombshell/Jadzia/Sapphire Rose)

[Krul]

The idea of a psionically created race, or a psionic rebirth is completely aloud for this game, and yes, I know of the Elan, don't know many details.

I've got a number of folks interested, though jameson bowed out, you put in interest earlier.. at the moment, only Justin has claimed a concept yet. Though it appears you want to lay claim to the psychic character now.

Folks who've indicated Interest: Joani, Noah, Forge, Rorx, Justin(Superhuman/Paragon Type), Mr. Fox, Seraphine/Yseult(or whatever character your using at the moment *winks*) [That's seven, so it's more less at the limit, unless someone chooses to withdraw, though I might be willing to allow one more, with a really cool concept] These folks have first choice for spots though.

EDIT IN: I looked up the Elan and found out more about them, really cool, I say run with it.

[Dawn OOC]

Now that you've more or less closed things, I can admit that I was sorely tempted to put together the diplomat for the game. I doubt that I have the time, though, so I'll just watch hungrily from the sidelines.

[Krul]

Well, Dawn, it's not quite closed.. there's a possible 8th spot available, for a really cool and convincing concept, if you want to grasp it, so the question would be 'what sort of diplomat do you have in mind?'.

[Forge]

I'm laying claim to an Engineer, roughly thinking 'lone survivor of his planet magma/crystal/weird alien man'. Depends on what song/pic I can find first.

[Dawn OOC]

Originally Posted By: Krul

Well, Dawn, it's not quite closed.. there's a possible 8th spot available, for a really cool and convincing concept, if you want to grasp it, so the question would be 'what sort of diplomat do you have in mind?'.

If you're familiar with SG:Atlantis, it'd be based loosely on Elizabeth Weir. She'd likely be a genius reading/understanding people, and would have cut her teeth on diplomancy on her home planet. After she had mastered that, she was tapped to help with some xeno-diplomancy of a complex and important nature for her planet. She turned out to have a even greater knack for doing that, one would say a special one.

She would either be an extraordinarily gifted member of her (essentially human) species, or found to be somehow altered or enhanced. She would be then pulled into the Galatic Legion to fill a much-needed role of someone who fights with her words, not her fists. She'll likely be a pacifist, probably one without any PP put into her Attack.

Huh. That was a bit longer than I'd intended. However, that's her, in a nutshell.

[Krul]

Well, the Galactic Legion does deal with things directly sometimes, but diplomacy is also nessary at times. But there is a time for battle and a time for charisma and diplomacy, and the leaders of the Galactic Legion certainly recognize that.

Also, I don't always want it to be about fighting, this is space opera, and sometimes that means negotiation and diplomacy(Like in Babylon 5, or Farscape). Furthermore, a diplomat character could follow something similar to the Hippocratic Oath. Also, such a character could be considered in some ways, to be a useful present in a Tribunal, as they would certainly be fair. However, I'd be interested in seeing her views on violence after dealing with a powerful villian bent on genocide, and how something like that might affect her.

I recommend though, that a character like this possess some useful non-combat powers, such as Healing, Precognition(Uncontrolled), Supermovement, Super-Senses (any). This is not a requirement though, just a suggestion.

This is actually a Cool Concept, In my view, consider it yours, and with that, the last potential spot is closed, eight is my limit.

***************

Forge - Engineer eh? Is he one of the offshoots of humanity, or one of the 10% of races who don't have human ancestry?

[Forge]

I was thinking one of the 10% Completely non-human and enigmatic in nature, but very good at what he does. Gentle Giant type maybe.

[Krul]

Ah, cool then.

Here's a thought though, what if he/it wasn't even humanoid in appearance, but a floating crystal, with several other crystals floating around it, bound together by a complex energy pattern.

And, as an engineer, perhaps Create Object with the Movable Extra, might have even been his race's method of interacting with the world, with Flight being the other power that allows him to more or less float (I could even see it being Innate to his race)

[Mr Fox]

So what has been taken so far in terms of party roles and archetype choices?

[Krul]

Superhuman/Paragon Archetype(Starfighter) - Justin

Psionic race/Human Descent(Psionic/Genetic) - Seraphine/Yseult

Engineer Alien(true alien) - Forge

Diplomat/Human Descent, with Significant variation - Dawn

Need

Pilot, Navigator, Gunner, Captain

Archetype/Roles, really there are a lots of possiblities, but here's some: Mystic/Mage, Speedster(Could make a really good gunner), Energy Control/Blaster, Shapechanger(Or Animal Mimic), Super-Science Human/Machine, Infiltrator (Intangible and Invisibility good here), etc.

[Krul]

Ok, Justin's shifted more toward a powerful TK/Starfighter concept, more like Superboy then superman, which is a bit different then the original idea, it's sort of similar to a paragon, with significant variation.

I should say, regarding Energy Controllers, I don't mind some overlap in this area, as long as they manage different arrays

[Mr Fox]

The two concepts that sound interesting to me are Super-Science Machine Captain or perhaps Shapeshifter Infiltrator

[Joani]

I'll come up with a concept over the weekend. I'm currently a bit busy with RL stuff.

[Dawn OOC]

Would anyone mind if I pick up some ranks for piloting and navigation? Basically so that more than one of us knows how to do it. This is assuming I can afford it.

[Krul]

Dawn: I don't mind overlap, myself, as the ST, a backup pilot/navigator isn't a bad idea either, after all. The Pilot should simply be the best Pilot. If the rest of you are able to do some piloting that's OK in my book, in fact, it's a good idea, after all, what happens if he or she is down for the count, or kidnapped?

Mr. Fox: Chose one, and go for it, the Super-Science Machine Captain is an interesting one, I'd sort of like to see this one, someone who's part machine, or a machine consciousness downloaded into a biotech/nanotech body could be very interesting. A shapechanger/infiltrator, is also a intersting idea.