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There are two Americas. In one, the New Deal never ended. The United States never formally entered World War 2, with an imbalanced superpowered split bringing an early end to the conflict and a corresponding rush to the Cold War. Nominally neutral, the United States was pushed forward by superhuman activists and the gift of the friendly atom. In 1953, metal capsules rained from the sky across the planet, bringing with them the Martian invaders with their marsforming generators and spindly tripods. America barely defeated the aliens, and the threat from outer space cemented the existing order, leaving the opposition forces to bide their time. Today, superhumans act as civil servants, guarding against Martian incursions and using their powers to complete great public works. In the other America, the superhuman forces of World War 2 only worsened the conflict, leading to a drawn-out war that ended with cities across Japan and Europe reduced to irradiated rubble. As the hostilities ceased, the robber barons clawed back their lost power in the United States over the course of decades. This culminated in the 1981 purge of the striking air traffic controllers which heralded the end of labor protections and the final rolling back of social safety net legislation. Today, superhumans are freelancers, taking lucrative contracts from the ascendant megacorporations while the toiling masses are reduced largely to gig economy jobs to survive. Now, someone or something has broken the barrier between these worlds and they are beginning to collide. First the edges of reality began to fray, tearing open holes in spacetime. Then things began to pass between the two Americas. For now, these rips are small, fleeting. They manifest quickly in isolated places and disappear without a trace. Currently, they are totally unknown to the public at large. But they are growing worse every day. Unless something is done, the two Americas will merge, with catastrophic consequences for both. Who You Are The player characters are sophomore students in Class 4 at Eugene V. Debs High School in Terre Haute, Indiana. Class 4 is the Superhuman Educational Track, the only one of its kind in the city. You quickly discover that something is not quite right, that invisible rifts are letting things through from a strange other version of your world. Because of your youth and inexperience your teachers and the authorities do not believe you, leading to your group deciding to investigate for yourselves and getting caught up in events much bigger than yourselves. The Setting In both universes, Terre Haute is a metropolis for different reasons. In the world of the PCs, it was partially destroyed by the Martian attack in 1953 and then rebuilt by the Works Progress Administration, the first project undertaken after the invasion and thus the model for everything that would come after. In the other America, the city languished until the 1990s, when the mayor had the bright idea to drop corporate taxes to zero right on the eve of the tech revolution, making Terre Haute the epicenter of this boom, bust and second boom, transforming it from a minor city to a regional hotspot and de facto center of the real power behind the failing federal government. What You’ll Be Doing Investigate the big mystery and search for a solution, balance studies with your personal life, deal with the difficulties of being an unsanctioned super, battle supervillains, cross-dimensional threats, Martians and other assorted foes, explore your powers and what it means to have them. The Tone, Expectations and Character Creation Guidelines Generally lighter in nature. I’m not interested in telling dark or gritty stories in this campaign, and while those aspects exist in the world they will not be explored here. Violence and injury are a given, death can occur, depending on how things play out. But in general the villains are more interested in advancing their schemes than causing death, super-powered punches are just going to knock people out, and mature themes won’t be touched on. One important thing to keep in mind is that in this setting, the player characters are not sanctioned to use their powers in any official capacity. They are unlicensed and therefore will have to keep their identity a secret unless they want to be arrested. The Principle of the Mask plays this up obviously, but it will be vital for all the characters to think about. Starting out they are not established yet, and we will play through their development into full-fledged vigilante supers, so don’t worry if you don’t have an alias or costume idea in mind, we can develop that early on. Also, these characters are generally not trained for combat starting out. They have basic training in controlling their powers, but no real combat preparation. Don’t let that stop you from taking stuff like Close Combat, that can easily be explained as karate lessons etc. Because of this, the scale will start small. Numbers don't really go up in Sentinels, so as the characters gain confidence and experience, the fictional stakes will rise accordingly. Some Backgrounds are a little harder to work with for this pitch. Law Enforcement, Military, Criminal, Former Villain, Retired, etc. If you’re still interested in taking them, we can work something out. Being the child of a police officer or soldier, a delinquent punk or the former sidekick of a villain are all possibilities that work, it just depends on how you’d like to play it. All of the Power Sources will work fine, some are a little more out there than others. Aliens beyond just Martians do exist, but are far more mysterious and will probably be considered an oddity. Similarly, all the Archetypes and Personalities can be used with no adjustments. Other than all that, don't feel like you need to come in with every detail about your character figured out. You can use broad strokes, and we will most likely develop some more in Session 0 and the rest in play. Inspirations The primary source I’m pulling from is “My Hero Academia”, but since I know dick-all about Japan I made the setting America and exclusively America. The X-Men comics are obviously an inspiration here too, but this isn’t Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, this is public school in a universe that mostly cares about having good public education. The “Avengers Academy” series is also a pretty good fit, and is close to the sort of classes and goals that educators have in this setting. How, Where and When We'll be playing live on Roll20 using Discord for voice and chatting. I have two possible timeslots that I could run the game in, Wednesdays at 7:00 PM Eastern Time or Thursdays also at 7:00. When you post your app, please include your preferred timeslot(s) as part of your post. Recruitment will run for a week, ending at midnight March 13th. If you have any questions, feel free to post here or send me a PM.
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Mar 7, 2021 01:36
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| # ¿ Apr 26, 2024 23:48 |
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Being an open alien is totally fine. The Alien Relations Agency is very accommodating towards aliens seeking to visit Earth. An alien going through the American education system would probably be both a diplomatic win and a public relations boon. Fostering positive relations with the larger interstellar community would be a real feather in their cap.
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Mar 7, 2021 02:44
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I was hoping to get 5 people and that's what we ended up with! Welcome aboard: Alexandrite (Zomborgon) Clark Lawson/Hexoskeleton (unseenlibrarian) Paisley Hirst (Tricky) York Thomas Kay/bios.Hazard (Rent-a-Bot) Jaye Smith (Barbed Tongues) Come join the Discord and I look forward to gaming with you all soon!
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Mar 14, 2021 06:19
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