Starting a new M&M campaign...

[Doug McCrae]

Have a look at Jess Nevins Fantastic, Mysterious, and Adventurous Victoriana. For the 1920s game, Pulp and Adventure Heroes of the Pre-War Years might be better. You will literally never need another source of ideas, they are both amazing.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Thanks for all the help so far, everyone!

Update:

1) I picked up a 2nd Pocket guide to use at the table...that brings me to 4 M&M2Ed Core rulebooks.

2) I picked up Instant Superheroes. It provides writeups for the main archetypes of superheroic games, plus at least 2 variants, all at PL10. Fortunately for me and my players, it also includes Sidekicks- PL6 versions of all those same archetypes (not the variants, though).

3) Some NPCs are being added to the staff of Cavorite Academy:

Abraham Van Helsing: Professor Emeritus in Pseudo-Necrology (the study of the undead).

Dr. Moreau: Adjunct Biology Prof. Killed by the Zeus the Orangutan (who becomes Dr. Zeus) in the middle of the night while transporting his last set of animals to his private island...

4) Most surprising of all...the guy I though would absolutely not play in this campaign- because he said so- is making noises that sound suspiciously like he wants to design a PC.

 

[ValhallaGH]

4) Most surprising of all...the guy I though would absolutely not play in this campaign- because he said so- is making noises that sound suspiciously like he wants to design a PC.

That tends to happen once they realize what they can actually do. The freedom, excitement, and pure fun of doing and playing just about whatever you want (within the limits of the genre) really sucks people in.

Alternatively, he's planning to sabotage the campaign so that everyone can come back to whatever he wants to play. :-( I hope not, because that sort of thing can permanently damage gaming groups, and that would really suck.

Good luck, and I'm glad they're getting excited about it.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I've known and gamed with this guy since about 1985- he's no saboteur.

I think the similarity of M&M to 3.XEd is part of what is drawing him in...if in fact he is planning on playing.

My guess is that, if he does join in, he'll try to mimic his favorite D&D class: Wizard. He's been playing Wizards since we started gaming together. Within any given edition of the game, and even across editions, his spell list remains virtually unchanged, uncannily resembling the list Thanee occasionally posts.

Which bugs me not in the list. For all that he's a proverbial stick in the mud, he's a good guy to game with.

In fact, I hope he does join and have a good time with the system, since Warriors & Warlocks (hardcover) is due out soon, and I think it would be a good system for the group. If he- the hardest sell in the group- is converted to becoming a believer, odds are high that everyone else will be a fan as well.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I've been watching the Military History channel a lot lately- I'm almost regretting setting this in 1912.

Yeah- I get the Titanic and the forebodings of WW1, but I have so many ideas that would rock for a slightly later era.

1930s & beyond...

Dr. Zeus hypocritically experiments on animals himself- exactly what he killed Dr. Moreau over- creating a subspecies of bonobo who are intelligent enough to pilot his cavorite enhanced ornithoptors. The Baum Bombers (named after the literary creator of flying monkeys) terrorize certain cities in his name.

The Nazis come to power, and using Etherships they hid on Venus, start WW2. Native Martian separatists misguidedly ally themselves with the Japanese (who consider them inferior, of course) and other Axis powers in a new bid to free themselves from the grip of exploitative Terran empires.

Dr. Zeus begins using plans stolen from the Axis powers. His minions construct a small space station. On it, he mimics the insane brilliance of the one human he respects, the terror of the last century, Prof. Chun. The space station is equipped with a powerful (stolen) Babbage calculating engine to control a vast array of mirrors, reflecting sunlight in tight beams of death all over the Earth. He also experiments with Nazi coal-powder enhanced vortex guns, Sound Cannons, and Japanese microwave death rays...

I could go on.

If ANYONE wants to run this campaign in a later era, let me know and I'll be glad to help brainstorm!

In less frustrating news, I've found hard copies of the main villains from the 1900's HERO version of this setting, and put my hands on my Space:1889 books as well. Now, if only I could find my hard copies my original adventures and/or G.A.I.A. "newsletters."

 

[GlassEye]

1912 was during the heyday of real-life airplane experimentation/invention. The first bomb was dropped from an airplane in 1911. The first zeppelin flew in 1900. A genius like Dr. Zeus could easily improve upon the early monoplanes of the time and with Dr. Moreau's notes, stolen when he killed the scientist, create a race of bonobo with intelligence enough to pilot.

Control of Mars by the German Reich leads to native martians aided by a plucky, young archeologist named Ned (who might later become known as Lawrence of Mars)...

Anyway, the point is your ideas (which I think are awesome) could still be easily used. Steampunk is all about anachronistic tech, isn't it?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

True, true.

But even though I intend to use Venus, I really want to leave it somewhat untouched wilderness so that when Germany is defeated in WW1 and the Treaty of Versailles gets signed, they'll be able to hide some of their Aetherships in its jungles.

That way, Venus becomes one part mysterious planet, one part secret Nazi base, and ultimately, the campaign's equivalent of the African front in WW2, where Planetarischer-Kommandant Rommel's Venuskorp and General Patton's 2nd Corp tangle!

As for Dr. Zeus, I can see him being ahead of the curve, but maybe not quite that far. Then, of course, there is the question of whether its better for his Baum Bombers to have been inspired by Oz, or whether the flying monkeys of Baum's stories (first published in 1900) were inspired by Dr. Zeus.

One selling point for the latter: we gain a bit of a Zardoz homage. Another would be that I could engage in a bit of foreshadowing when the PCs meet the preoperative Zeus in Moreau's lab, reading The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

Hmmmmm...

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Scenarios I'm working on (besides anything w/Dr. Zeus):

1) an interplanetary ghost aethership- possibly of Martian origin- is encountered by the Cavorite Academy group on their way to one of the other planets. Good, old fashioned PCs versus Undead action!

With no clerics...



(We'll see who paid attention in Dr. Van Helsing's classes!)

2) again in the Aether, they encounter... Pirates of the Space Sargasso! They might be Venusians, they might be from a variety of races and species. They may just be sentient plants- the motile form of the Space Sargasso- or unique creatures that call the Sargasso home.

(must resist using Venture Brothers references in this one)

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I have just facepalmed myself.

The more I think, the more I realize how many untapped resources I have at my disposal.

I had mentioned in the "Pitch your Homebrew" thread that this setting would make for a pretty cool alt-Spelljammer campaign.

Then I realized...I can use Spelljammer adventures! (DUH!) After that brilliant revelation, I realized I could also use published adventures from Space:1889 itself.

Neither of which did I do with the original group.

Sure, there will still be PCs to stat out, but the main plotline work is already done!

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Further refinement (aiming for a Marie Celeste/Rime of the Ancient Mariner/Moby Dick vibe):

The Ghost Aethership- Starsea Dweller- will be ghostly white (of course) and will be of an unusually large size.

One member of the party's ship (a Corp. Baha Ross), upon seeing it off the port bow, will have a psychotic break, claiming that the ship they now see claimed the life of his elder brother, Albert Ross. He will commandeer the ship, steering it right at the ghostly apparition, chasing it down relentlessly.

The Starsea Dweller, though, strikes then evades repeatedly, until it finally comes along broadside with the party's ship...and then the battle with the zombies will begin!