Let's build a Champs/GURPS campaign.....

[Digital Arcanist]

This is the same as my D&D thread but using Champs/GURPS rules.

1. Must be an Earthbound campaign set in the current year.

2. Heroes are either mutants, magical, or created using science (armored, implants, etc.)

3. No wacky technology like Transporters or Phasers. I want to keep things semi-realistic.

That's pretty vague I know, but it should help us to get started.

[Mulsiphix]

I'm not familiar with either game system but as far as general ideas go, I have a few. I've always been very taken with settings that include cybernetic implants. Nothing major like an android but anything from replacing an arm with some sort of connection/port where you can plug in various types of weapons and/or firearms. Replacing skin and/or bone in critical places on the body like the back of your skull, chest plate, stomach, or armor directly on top of the spine. Such a setting is 8 Man, Wild Wild West (the movie), and to a greater extreme Battle Angel. In these types of settings Bounty Hunters/Hunting is almost always a guaranteed hit. Plenty of room for good versus evil and with cybernetics it gives the ungifted the ability to play on an equal field with those who are born or otherwise aquire above human traits/abilities.

[rabkala]

Okay, here it is. It is an appocolictic world where nearly everyone is slowly dying from radiation, disease, crippling mutations, and starvation. A rich Mega-corp (let's call it Hasbro) was in contact with aliens for years, they made huge profit with selling the alien advancements. By the time that the rest of earth found out the Mega-corp was playing with fire (and screwing the aliens), we were being bombarded from space. The aliens left Earth a smoldering wreck. Hasbro took their knowledge and technology to turn all their execs into survivable humans. A few of them developed a conscience (the supers) and tried to help the dying of earth(the regulars), while some continued with their evil ways (the villians).

1) earthbound check
2) created using science check
3) nothing wacky Check

[Mulsiphix]

A rich Mega-corp (let's call it Hasbro)

ROFL!! Aren't aliens considered wacky? Wouldn't they have transporters and phasers? Space ships, in my opinion, aren't semi-realistic. Now if they weren't in fact aliens but a long discontinued government splinter cell (like S7 several years after the end of Transformers the movie) that was decommissioned shortly after the Roswell incident, that would be different. They had knowledge of a real space craft that was extremely simple in design but was enough for them to harvest key technologies, start Mega-corp, and rise to power over the next few decades. The government, having long suspected mega-corp of terrorist activities, declares them enemies of the free world. The hunt inevitably leads to a war with several nuclear armed countries that fight on behalf of mega-corp in return for exclusive access to elite technologies and vast quantities of currency. The war ends in a nuclear winter that spans the globe.

To survive in the extreme radioactive conditions on the surface humans start replacing key organs, rotting flesh, appendages, etc... with cybernetic alterations. Nothing as complex as a heart or brain but simpler vital organs, like lungs and kidneys, are readily available to the surviving masses. Most of mega-corps technology and resources were lost during the world wide nuclear strikes that brought an end to the war and the known world. For several decades mega-corp was thought to be wiped out or at least no longer a threat.

In the decades that follow humanity forms new cities and government as we know it today no longer exists. Most "modern" technology was lost and, technologically speaking, humanity was only able to manufacture things that were "cutting edge" at the turn of the 20th century. Given the ecological, economical, environmental, and political setting of the world, technology follows a much different path over the next few decades. Technology of luxury and convenience are no longer important. Surviving this new existence requires a constant struggle to maintain balance between available natural resources and the growing numbers of humans.

[rabkala]

My original thought, was make it similar to Torchwood except set it in Victorian England. A relatively stable rift where humanity is fighting a secret war against alien encroachment. The masses don't realize why crazy/horrible things happen, but the unit is there to make things right. Then incredible tech is something like we have now, not a problem.

I then remembered you wanted current year. I still like that idea, so I figured I would post it anyway.

[Digital Arcanist]

How is a transporter and a phaser wacky? And that sort of leaves out magic, mutations, and advanced science, which at first read #3 appears to contradict #2. No Cyclops. No Dr. Strange. No Nightcrawler. Can you clarify?

Are we talking a grittier setting with low powered supers?

No Star Trek technology.....

[Digital Arcanist]

I'm going to feed all your data into the bat computer and see what it gives me....

[Mulsiphix]

I'm going to feed all your data into the bat computer and see what it gives me....

The modern inner workings and secretive plans of the real modern day Hasbro?

[fmitchell]

No Star Trek technology.....

That's not much of a clarification: Star Trek also has aliens, semi-realistic cybernetics, etc.

I gather the intent is to prevent deus-ex-machina technology, e.g. "Oh, we just transport out of harm's way", "We disintegrate the enemy instantly", "By rerouting the DPS conduit through the holodeck and the transporter we create an army of solid holograms," etc.

I actually played in a Champions campaign that ended not with a bang but with a whimper. The GM tended to throw in ideas from anywhere simply because they sounded cool. Between two game sessions, two of the cleverer players figured out that using a previously introduced ultimate force field ("bobbles", does that ring a bell?), they could effectively prevent all travel between dimensions. Since the major enemies of the campaign were extra-dimensional, that effectively ended the campaign.

[Digital Arcanist]

Its not a DPS conduit but in fact an EPS conduit.

I don't want matter transporters, food replicators, holodecks, instantaneous healing machines and generally any of the technology found on Star Trek or Star Wars.

Aliens in the campaign are fine as long as the players don't leave Earth and of course I don't want players to have extraterrestrial origins like Alien resistance fighters or something like that.

[Mulsiphix]

Another piece of Trek technology that should be left out is the universal translator. If aliens are involved I think a language specialist, like the one aboard the Enterprise in the latest Trek series, would be more realistic. Even though full out androids are virtually unheard of in the Star Trek universe the available bio technology is insane (i.e. the Borg). As long as the cybernetics are basic I think they would be perfectly feasible in a modern day campaign.

[Mulsiphix]

Star Trek characters are only heroes through their intellect and mastery of technology. Even Seven Of Nine was nothing without her borg knowledge and bio technology. Star Trek is just like most sci-fi universes, real people in different situations, usually in a different time period or part of the universe. Rather than restricting all Star Trek Digital Arcanist period I would post a descriptive listing of what exactly you consider "fruity" and what you consider "fair game" for this campaign.

[Digital Arcanist]

I'm starting to feel a little dense here. As I'm not following what you mean. If you take away healing, teleportation, eye beams, man-of-steel, Green Lantern, and technology found on Star Trek, that leaves caves and clubs. Ah! I get it. You're wanting Captain Caveman adventures! But with bat computers.

Wait. Feeding data into bat computers? They feed data into computers on Star Trek. Computers are out. Unless that bat computer is a bunch of hive-mind smart bats.

Leaving out Star Wars, too? So, psionics are out. Air vehicles are out. Robots are out. Supers are getting kinda thin here.

Yep, Captain Caveman Adventures are your best bet here. Legendary stories can come out of heroes known as Ug the Strong, Superclub, Bear-Girl, Hairmaster, and Dinoboy. Or Kroft adventures with H.R. Puff-n-stuff, but that's just getting wacky.

Could Star Trek be considered a supers genre? I guess with Q but not with Kirk, Janeway, Spock, Picard, and the red shirts (well, maybe the red shirts). They might be heroes, but they're hardly supers. They do walk around in tights, though.

Sarcasm is not a good color on you Ron....

As I stated in the first post mutations, magic, and current-age technology is allowed for the players. So yes, Cyclops' eye beams are allowed as well as a Green Lantern ring but only that of Allan Scott's seeing as it is magical and not a construct of Oa. Power Armor such as that of Iron Man and War Machine is allowed but not Iron Man's Repulsor Rays because they are overly powerful. Lasers are allowed but they must conform to today's physics standards and not some micro-device as seen on Star Trek.

I also don't want instantaneous healing devices like medical tri-corders or Bacta tanks (yes, I know Bacta doesn't heal instantly but it is a miracle drug).

I like Rabkala's idea for the campaign. I think I will change the name from Hasbro though and the fact that super-heroes are ex-executives. I was thinking more along the lines of Lex Luthor's Everyman Project but secretive. Although I find it humorous to have all the heroes with Knowledge Skills in corporate mergers, marketing, and accounting.

I also like Mulsiphix's point about linguistic liaisons between the aliens and humanity.

[Digital Arcanist]

Good points.
World War 3 erupted and the planet was practically dead from exposure to every WMD on Earth, but instead of death something else has happened to the good folks of this shinny blue planet.
Gia struck back and took the brunt of the assaults in order to save those she could. Computers, iPones, and streaming video technology are useless now without the Internet. It's a jungle out there, and those few humans that were touched by Gia have gained abilities that no mortal should ever possess. Other beings long sleeping awoke and spawned creatures and twisted a few more humans. Artifacts stirred to live. Ancient evils rejoice at their new freedom.
Slap on a few surviving cities and we're in business.

I'm really liking this idea as well. I might have to work two different campaigns or perhaps have Rabkala's campaign end with a crucial fight that the players lose causing World War III and moving into your campaign.

By Gia you mean Gaea, or Gaia if you lean towards Greek myths, right? When you say Gia that immediately brings to mind the Angelina Joli film about models.

[Dimthar]

If you are thinking only in Super Strength, Intelligence, Speed, Healing or in other words "Super Enhanced Physical Abilities" you can get those from "Drug Abuse" (Stimulants), but the difference with the "Super Soldier Serum" is that the characters are addicted to it. Or how about the group of genetically engineered "Supermen" like Khan from Star Trek??

An Earth were the Pharmaceutical Corporations are the rulers, the planet is so polluted that people need to buy "Replacement Organs" from those companies very often. Of course some humans have been adapting to the pollutants and as a result are developing "Super-Abilities". In addition, organ black market is hotter than ever (reminds me of Battle Angel Alita). The Rich and Famous live in cleaner environments and rule from their heavily guarded neighborhoods.

Prosthetics could also be the source of Enhanced abilities, from something subtle like Will Smith's arm in "I Robot", to a complete Cyborg.