America the Battered

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• America the Battered

Game Description

It is the turn of the millenium. This New Year will mark President John F. Kennedy's thirty-ninth year in office. Thirty-nine years since the United States last had a leader elected to office by democratic vote. Thirty-seven years since five percent of the world's population was officially declared to be without rights. Thirty-six years since Kennedy declared martial law and officially abolished the Bill of Rights for all American citizens.

November the twenty-second, nineteen sixty-three. That's when it all went to hell. You know the story. President Kennedy, his wife Jackie, the motorcade, the crowds...

The attack.

The Devastator was the one behind it, but the one leading the terrorists on that day was a man named Lee Harvey Oswald. A delta - a super-human, a "paranormal", a homo sapiens delta, whatever you want to call them. He wasn't the first delta, but he was the one firing that rocket into the President's vehicle. He was the one who put Kennedy into that three-day coma, and the one responsible for Kennedy's hatred of all things delta upon waking.

After all, the first lady died that day. Of course he was going to be mad.

But he abused it. Sent the Delta Registration Act down to Congress, pushed it through on the back of the emotional tidal wave that the American public was giving him. No one was about to say no to that man, not after you saw the pictures of his little boy saluting his mother's casket. The day that bill was signed into law, five percent of America's population - every single delta - had their rights declared null and void.

Register with the government. Have all your movements tracked, every single fact about your life kept on a public, unprotected database. Let every crook you've stopped over the years, every guy you ticked off in high school, every man whom you ever turned down for a date know exactly where you live, where your children go to school, and where your wife does her shopping. Let them know your exact powers, your weaknesses.

Your other option: be declared an enemy of the state, and spend the rest of your life rotting in jail, hiding your powers or on the run.

Welcome to the year 1999. Location: America the beautiful.

Yeah, right.

The Game

This is America the Battered, a Mutants and Masterminds 2e game.

Despite the fact that this game will use Mutants and Masterminds rules, it didn't actually start as a Mutants and Masterminds game. The setting is the one used in Matt Forbeck's superhero RPG series Brave New World. The Brave New World system, however, is extremely limiting in terms of customization, so I've decided to transplant the setting into a Mutants and Masterminds game.

This game will actually feature two "teams" of superhumans. One team will work for Delta Prime, the other for the Defiance. This means that, at least to begin with, both groups will be at odds with one another. For more information on the Defiance and Delta Prime, see the appropriate threads in the game forum.

The Setting

The game will begin on September 1st, 1999, only a few weeks after the execution of the famous Delta Prime defector and Defiance leader John Carpenter, better known as the delta "Patriot". In the wake of Patriot's execution, riots have swept the country. Originally instigated by undercover deltas protesting Patriot's execution, the chaos soon spread as Delta Prime stepped in for damage control. Several "regs" - non-superhumans - were dragged into the conflict, and soon there was nationwide panic.

The game will begin in Crescent City. Whether or not it will stay there remains to be seen.

Despite the fact that it is only 1999, this version of America possesses technology well beyond our own, thanks to delta-empowered inventors making huge leaps in technology. Among other things, cold fusion has been discovered, and laser weapons, flying cars, and the like, are - while not common - not entirely unknown. Most of these fantastic gadgets are created by deltas whose powers have turned them into brilliant inventors.

The Crunch

In this version of America, superpowered humans are more common than in most worlds. However, they are also weaker than most people that we would refer to as superheroes, rarely possessing more than one power. A delta might possess the ability to fly, for example, but not have the ability to fire laser beams from their hands. Another might have that ability, along with a slight increase in natural toughness, but not super-strength.

As such, all characters start at Power Level 8 and have 120 Power Points to spend during character creation. All heroes also have the "dormant mutation activated by extreme stress" origin.

The Applications

Submit your characters in the "Applications" section in the game forum. Your application should include your character's name, codename, backstory, appearance, personality, important relationships with others, yadda yadda yadda. You will need a completed character sheet at some point, though it's fine if you want to submit the fluff now and finish the crunch later.

You will also need to let me know whether or not your character is a member of Delta Prime or the Defiance. If you are a member of the Defiance, which of its philosophies do you subscribe to? If you're a Primer, which section do you work in, and what is your rank? No rank higher than Lieutenant will be accepted, and I'm probably not even going to accept those. Go Sergeant or below unless you have an absolutely brilliant reason that I should accept you as a higher-ranking member.

You can submit two applications, if you'd like: one for the Defiance and one for Delta Prime. However, I'll only accept one of the two at the end (if I accept either).