teitan
Legend
Hey kids, I have been working on a project for Mutants & Masterminds and I wanted to post the core notes here for you guys to check out. I think it has a pretty cool feel to it, almost like Planetary meets T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents so let me know what you think and I will post some more stuff later on this. I almost got "this" close to having this published as a comic book.
Without further ado I present Omega City or Unlimited Power.
Unlimited Power
Super powers exist in the world of UP because of the discoveries of Dr. Emil Power, former science adventurer and found of both Power Unlimited and Omega City. It was not through design but accident. While adventuring in South America in 1923, Dr. Power came across the fabled City of Gold, El Dorado and discovered that not only wasn’t El Dorado a city, but was in fact an alien spacecraft with these magnificent engines. He set up his secret headquarters in El Dorado and experimented with the devices and materials in the ship while adventuring around the globe, searching for the key to reactivating the ship or at least discover how it works.
It was in 1939 that Dr. P first successfully reverse engineered the alien engines and synthesized a fuel for the engines but the fuel was imperfect and ambient energies leaked out of the engine, unbeknownst to Dr. P.
Around this time the first super-humans began to appear. There weren’t many and the power levels were quite low and outside of a few blips relatively little news or fanfare was made of these adventurers as that is what most of them were.
All this time though, magick worked, even before Dr. P’s discovery. It was not something many believed in so it was always a fringe element of society but Hitler knew of the power of the occult and what it meant to his Reich. He had been collecting relics since the beginnings of the Reich’s rule of Germany with the help of several different occult orders he had unearthed many religious artifacts but their loss would be Hitler’s downfall.
It was in 1949 that Dr. P suffered a near fatal accident that rendered him paralyzed from the waist down. Suffering this setback he put himself to the task of redefining himself and releasing his new technology to the world. He began to design a city that would redefine the world. Using his technology he set about building a machine that could control volcanic eruptions and in international waters he created a chain of islands and built his city, Omega City.
Omega was opened to the public in 1969 and the UN relocated to Omega in 1976. Several large corporations also make their headquarters in Omega, from Micro-Tek to USOil Exchange.
It was in 1998 that Dr. P introduced the new power source for all of Omega. Using his machines to create a hollow island he placed the alien engines in them and connected the city to them. This unleashed a massive amount of ambient energy into the atmosphere and small incidents of random people gaining power, causing small scale, yet tragic destruction, only to burn out began appearing in the news. These people were called Omegas.
Dr. P saw an emerging threat as more and more of the “Omegas” began appearing and were more capable of controlling the energies around them. In response to the growing threats to world security he created the Crisis Response Team and implemented the program in Omega City.
What makes Superpowers work?
In the universe of UP superpowers function as a matter of imagination. Dr. P created an imperfect fuel for the engines because he couldn’t understand what fueled the alien vessel. The vessel was a cross dimensional space craft that was fueled by the imagination and beliefs of the operators. In his misunderstanding and attempt to understand the ships through Earthly science Dr. P manufactured a fuel based on anti-matter, which he had uncovered in 1937. The reaction of anti-matter with the engines unleashed the energies in an uncontrolled but unseeable manner. To all visual impressions the engines simply ran, but the energies bled into the world. Well, when Dr. P powered up the energies permanently in 1998 it unleashed a steady supply of faith energy that bestowed the users with power or the means to power.
A scientist who invents a suit of power armor is tapping into the ambient energy unleashed same as the man who can blast energy from his eyes. What differentiates the two is that this energy is imagination energy so it allows the scientist to develop a perfect understanding of how his mechanism would work and how to build it. This allows for all possible origins for superpowers outside of “mutants”, which is a good thing but could also open up a new can of worms in a future story about “mutants” coming in the next 20 years or so.
The purpose of the C.R.T., dubbed Unlimited Power by the media, is to investigate possible threats to Omega City and eliminate them as well as stop any immediate threats occurring within the city. The C.R.T. is more than just the core team but also includes the security force of Power Unlimited headed by Mickey Gasman and his wife Noelle Gasman. This unpowered team helps in removing civilians from possible dangerous situations and after the problem has been handled to rebuild destroyed areas of the city. The latter part of their job is luckily the less performed thanks to the wisdom of Dr. P and his C.R.T. core.
Powerhouse: Raymond Powell. Age 30. Ray is the former head of security in El Dorado, now an undersea headquarters for Dr. P and Power Unlimited. Ray is Dr. P’s most trusted aid and near constant companion. He first puts on the suit to protect Dr. P from the resurrected Tiger’s Eye, a cultist of Kali thought killed in 1949 during Dr. P’s last adventure. After the battle in 1999, Ray became a visible symbol of the company and bodyguard for Dr. P. His suit allows him to control the ambient electromagnetic energies around him, giving the illusion of super-strength except that it only works on metal objects. When his power is activated Ray’s body crackles with electricity. The suit is blue and yellow with a lightning motif added after he used the suit to defeat Tiger’s Eye
Willow Wisp: Created by Dr. P after combining his own DNA with that of one of the alien fossils he discovered in El Dorado, Dr. P. created his “daughter” Willow Power. Willow wears a white body suit and when powered up she gives off pure light. She can control her density to become intangible and superdense but both states cause her severe pain and her organs start shutting down within seconds. Willow has long brown hair and big brown eyes. Until recently she was a student at Omega University studying police science.
Mastermind: Willem Dubois, former jewel thief, one time most wanted man in the world after being set up by his employer. Dr. P offered to help him redeem himself and get revenge if he went to work for him in the C.R.T. After a long surgery implanting the nano-tech in his brain, Willem became Mastermind. Mastermind has access to enough nano-based gadgets to make Batman jealous including swing lines, gas pellets and his infamous dart gun. Contained within each dart are liquid nanites that move to the nervous system and give Mastermind an amount of control over the victim for a limited time, earning him his name.
SOme notes on Omega City as a game setting.
OC is a decidedly lower powered setting because a lot of powers rely on tech as opposed to innate abilities. The tech is possible because the ambient energy that created the Omegas fuels the imagination of the inventor so that the impossible becomes possible. Yes some people, most in fact, that become Omega class characters have innate powers that manifest due to their emotional states etc. exist but this isn't high octane superheroes, this isn't Grant Morrison or Mark Millar, this is Wally Wood, Jack Kirby and Warren Ellis.
I would set the Power Level at 8 or possibly as low as 7. It isn't a gritty setting though so use the optional hero point rules from the Annual as opposed to the default system.
When I get time I will post some information on some of the villains and other heroes of Omega City.
Without further ado I present Omega City or Unlimited Power.
Unlimited Power
Super powers exist in the world of UP because of the discoveries of Dr. Emil Power, former science adventurer and found of both Power Unlimited and Omega City. It was not through design but accident. While adventuring in South America in 1923, Dr. Power came across the fabled City of Gold, El Dorado and discovered that not only wasn’t El Dorado a city, but was in fact an alien spacecraft with these magnificent engines. He set up his secret headquarters in El Dorado and experimented with the devices and materials in the ship while adventuring around the globe, searching for the key to reactivating the ship or at least discover how it works.
It was in 1939 that Dr. P first successfully reverse engineered the alien engines and synthesized a fuel for the engines but the fuel was imperfect and ambient energies leaked out of the engine, unbeknownst to Dr. P.
Around this time the first super-humans began to appear. There weren’t many and the power levels were quite low and outside of a few blips relatively little news or fanfare was made of these adventurers as that is what most of them were.
All this time though, magick worked, even before Dr. P’s discovery. It was not something many believed in so it was always a fringe element of society but Hitler knew of the power of the occult and what it meant to his Reich. He had been collecting relics since the beginnings of the Reich’s rule of Germany with the help of several different occult orders he had unearthed many religious artifacts but their loss would be Hitler’s downfall.
It was in 1949 that Dr. P suffered a near fatal accident that rendered him paralyzed from the waist down. Suffering this setback he put himself to the task of redefining himself and releasing his new technology to the world. He began to design a city that would redefine the world. Using his technology he set about building a machine that could control volcanic eruptions and in international waters he created a chain of islands and built his city, Omega City.
Omega was opened to the public in 1969 and the UN relocated to Omega in 1976. Several large corporations also make their headquarters in Omega, from Micro-Tek to USOil Exchange.
It was in 1998 that Dr. P introduced the new power source for all of Omega. Using his machines to create a hollow island he placed the alien engines in them and connected the city to them. This unleashed a massive amount of ambient energy into the atmosphere and small incidents of random people gaining power, causing small scale, yet tragic destruction, only to burn out began appearing in the news. These people were called Omegas.
Dr. P saw an emerging threat as more and more of the “Omegas” began appearing and were more capable of controlling the energies around them. In response to the growing threats to world security he created the Crisis Response Team and implemented the program in Omega City.
What makes Superpowers work?
In the universe of UP superpowers function as a matter of imagination. Dr. P created an imperfect fuel for the engines because he couldn’t understand what fueled the alien vessel. The vessel was a cross dimensional space craft that was fueled by the imagination and beliefs of the operators. In his misunderstanding and attempt to understand the ships through Earthly science Dr. P manufactured a fuel based on anti-matter, which he had uncovered in 1937. The reaction of anti-matter with the engines unleashed the energies in an uncontrolled but unseeable manner. To all visual impressions the engines simply ran, but the energies bled into the world. Well, when Dr. P powered up the energies permanently in 1998 it unleashed a steady supply of faith energy that bestowed the users with power or the means to power.
A scientist who invents a suit of power armor is tapping into the ambient energy unleashed same as the man who can blast energy from his eyes. What differentiates the two is that this energy is imagination energy so it allows the scientist to develop a perfect understanding of how his mechanism would work and how to build it. This allows for all possible origins for superpowers outside of “mutants”, which is a good thing but could also open up a new can of worms in a future story about “mutants” coming in the next 20 years or so.
The purpose of the C.R.T., dubbed Unlimited Power by the media, is to investigate possible threats to Omega City and eliminate them as well as stop any immediate threats occurring within the city. The C.R.T. is more than just the core team but also includes the security force of Power Unlimited headed by Mickey Gasman and his wife Noelle Gasman. This unpowered team helps in removing civilians from possible dangerous situations and after the problem has been handled to rebuild destroyed areas of the city. The latter part of their job is luckily the less performed thanks to the wisdom of Dr. P and his C.R.T. core.
Powerhouse: Raymond Powell. Age 30. Ray is the former head of security in El Dorado, now an undersea headquarters for Dr. P and Power Unlimited. Ray is Dr. P’s most trusted aid and near constant companion. He first puts on the suit to protect Dr. P from the resurrected Tiger’s Eye, a cultist of Kali thought killed in 1949 during Dr. P’s last adventure. After the battle in 1999, Ray became a visible symbol of the company and bodyguard for Dr. P. His suit allows him to control the ambient electromagnetic energies around him, giving the illusion of super-strength except that it only works on metal objects. When his power is activated Ray’s body crackles with electricity. The suit is blue and yellow with a lightning motif added after he used the suit to defeat Tiger’s Eye
Willow Wisp: Created by Dr. P after combining his own DNA with that of one of the alien fossils he discovered in El Dorado, Dr. P. created his “daughter” Willow Power. Willow wears a white body suit and when powered up she gives off pure light. She can control her density to become intangible and superdense but both states cause her severe pain and her organs start shutting down within seconds. Willow has long brown hair and big brown eyes. Until recently she was a student at Omega University studying police science.
Mastermind: Willem Dubois, former jewel thief, one time most wanted man in the world after being set up by his employer. Dr. P offered to help him redeem himself and get revenge if he went to work for him in the C.R.T. After a long surgery implanting the nano-tech in his brain, Willem became Mastermind. Mastermind has access to enough nano-based gadgets to make Batman jealous including swing lines, gas pellets and his infamous dart gun. Contained within each dart are liquid nanites that move to the nervous system and give Mastermind an amount of control over the victim for a limited time, earning him his name.
SOme notes on Omega City as a game setting.
OC is a decidedly lower powered setting because a lot of powers rely on tech as opposed to innate abilities. The tech is possible because the ambient energy that created the Omegas fuels the imagination of the inventor so that the impossible becomes possible. Yes some people, most in fact, that become Omega class characters have innate powers that manifest due to their emotional states etc. exist but this isn't high octane superheroes, this isn't Grant Morrison or Mark Millar, this is Wally Wood, Jack Kirby and Warren Ellis.
I would set the Power Level at 8 or possibly as low as 7. It isn't a gritty setting though so use the optional hero point rules from the Annual as opposed to the default system.
When I get time I will post some information on some of the villains and other heroes of Omega City.
