Forums of the Megaverse®

I got idea for Superheroes in US Civil war/wild west setting.

In the year 1838 Meteor explored over North America,its light cover it,going West to east and North miles within Canada and the same for Mexico.
People who will develop superpowers are only born after 1838 and they manif them at age 13.
Only One in 100000 will develop powers,for Unknown reasons the super can't not passed down thier powers to thier children,
if they are not born in North america.
Ther will only be minor hero and Mutant type Power catagories with only minor powers no more then 3.Ther not Winning the Battles on ther own but effecting the outcome.

So tell what do you think of my idea?

It's always fun to apply HU or BTS to different eras in history and your limitations sound reasonable. Are you going to allow psionics and magic too or just the super powers?

If you are looking for help with this Rifter 79 has a great article on Gaming through History and if you have a copy of Transdimensioanl Turtles they have weapon stats and skills that might be use.

I think not Warshield73,Magic and psionics will be to much.

Thanks for your help.

Except magic and psionics were thought to be in existence at that time. But going on your limitations, I think it should be a range of ages, not just "you're 13, so now you have powers." Some people might not develop them until they are older, say 16. Or some might get them when they get much older. What you need are tables to make some of this more random.

I have to admit that when I first started running Rifts I didn't like magic, most of the games I had run and played in were all tech based so I had a tough time with it. Now, I really never run a game without it except Robotech of course. I just find that when I can add elements of magic and the supernatural it adds something to it. I also find that psionics are less powerful than even minor super powers.

However, given your premise of the meteor causing super powers I guess I can understand why you wouldn't.

gaby wrote:Ther will only be minor hero and Mutant type Power catagories with only minor powers no more then 3.Ther not Winning the Battles on ther own but effecting the outcome.

Did you mean to allow the minor hero (who can have a major power) and the mutant hero (to be limited to no more than 3 minor powers) — or is the idea that nobody has a major power?

(Incidentally: how strong an 1860s military force could a super take on using nothing more than Immune To High-Speed Kinetic Attacks, plus Wingless Flight, plus Energy Expulsion?)

i'd actually remove all flight options from the selections too for this exact reason, heh

That why Super of that time I will not have some powers.
The Super may have a effect on the battle outcome but not win every thing on ther own.
I am trying to make a Balance.

I'd actually allow Glide, I mean you had hot air balloons at the time so that one shouldn't be to powerful.


Daniel Stoker

When I think Old West and Civil War, I think Steampunk with Robotics, but I'm sure that's not what you are going for here.

With a giant steampunk spider robot?


Daniel Stoker

Daniel Stoker wrote:With a giant steampunk spider robot?


Daniel Stoker

As long as there are no magnetic collars with flying blades it shouldn't be OK.

Warshield73 wrote:

Daniel Stoker wrote:With a giant steampunk spider robot?


Daniel Stoker

As long as there are no magnetic collars with flying blades it shouldn't be OK.

So it's totally ok then right?

I played a WW1 game kinda like this. We allowed more then Gaby is going to allow, but we did limit things. For example a mutant was doable, but most high end powers were not. Animal Abilities great, Invulnerability, no. Most powers were not meant to be super noticeable so things like Targeting, or Increased Durability work really well.


Neat idea Gaby.

we played WW1 also. I had an invention that gave me only mega-wings. So I was 'American Eagle' Jack Steele. We had a sniper with two kinds of vision, a natural genius German expatriot, and Cpl. Grunt who was physical training. Its a novel idea for WW1.

For the Civil War, things feel like they should be even less powerful though. More about being exceptional without being inhuman, so no expulsions or flight, nothing too overt. more things like 'the man who can shoot a thousand yards with a rifle' or 'the courier that outruns the horse'

Zerombr,

That is what I was trying to say. A mutant would be very doable, but might look something like this: Animal Brother, Impact Resistance, Heightened Sense of Balance, Heightened Sense of Touch. Nothing that makes them crazy powerful, but gives advantages over a regular person.

Super vision, advanced sight (eyes of the eagle )
Ambidextrous
Ex pp
Ex str
Ex speed
While none of the individual powers are too crazy by them selves the combo is pretty sick

That's be pretty op to me. Ex pp alone is Damn good In a low power game

Every Union Soldier, every Abolitionist, and every Underground Railroad member are all super heroes!

tsh77769

I think it is a great concept but some players might not want a limited game such as you are describing.

tsh77769 wrote:Every Union Soldier, every Abolitionist, and every Underground Railroad member are all super heroes!

tsh77769

WITHOUT superpowers.

Which is -infinitely- more impressive.

In the case of UR members, it took serious guts and a committed sense of righteousness to perform acts of kindness and charity that were illegal and could very well get the person lynched if discovered.

You don't get that sort of superpower from a radioactive spider bite or funky batch of moonshine.

There are villains too: Democrat Party slavers & after their defeat, the Democrat Party terrorist squads of the KKK.

tsh77769

Would you allow any underwater powers for your characters?

abe wrote:Would you allow any underwater powers for your characters?

Minor superabilities only.

Stone Gargoyle wrote:

abe wrote:Would you allow any underwater powers for your characters?

Minor superabilities only.

Would you reduce the powers of the Physical training characters? They can be pretty tough especially compared to characters with just a few minor powers.

All Training types can be in it too.

I think as long as all the players are onboard, and you aren't fighting the person who wants to play Professor Hulk, but with laser beam eyes and teleportation you are good.

Sounds like a fun time.

I'm currently running (for over a year now) "The Man who Stole Hitler's Golem" a WWII setting HU game.

I limited classes at first, but since have opened everything up. WWII Nazi cyborgs, with plenty of riveted metal. Nazi death rays and robot vehicles. Nazi supersoldiers (The Reichsmen), who get their powers from a consumable (Imbued power category) derived from an alien's spinal fluid.

I've done standard adventures (stop the cultists! Protect the scientists! Beware of Nazi Werewolves!) set to historical battles, and buffed to include mythological creatures. As an example, the Emperor of Japan is actually a divine being (Immortal PC) and Adolf "I peed in my pants" Hitler is a student of Magic, though a very poor one. Stupid bastard should have stayed with Art.

Gaby...not trying to offend...please use all the letters, it makes things easier to read.

Now that being said...
A soldier with with superpowers in the US Civil War will have an effect far above and beyond what his or her abilities would typically indicate.

Consider that between the three countries, there was an estimated 50 million people already alive or born in 1839. That means 500 people...with 10,000:1 that means around 17 of those beings are among the Citizens of the United States...and (slightly) more than half of those would likely be on the side of the South.
Most of the soldiers on either side were familiar with their rifles, but were still generally firing wild after the first shot...and if you were in one of the units that kept their smoothbores at the start of the war... (Then there is the issue that the soldiers had to reload one shell at a time.)
Take someone with an EE power, and all of a sudden you`re talking about someone with 70%+ hit ratio, he is hitting more often, and; he never has to reload. (Also consider, that if the soldier has EE: Fire, the target is probably also on fire, and may be carrying highly volatile black powder on his person...)

There are also significant drawbacks for some powers. Someone with Heightened Hearing would be deafened on a battlefield for several minutes after the last volley, and likely have significant loss of for hours after. Heightened Sight, the character would likely be under the effect of a flash grenade while his side was shooting. Both would be better served on an 'Espionage' style character (as would Nightstalking).

Generally speaking, most minor powers, though, would have little effect on a Civil War battlefield. Others (including EE), could be devastating! (i.e.: Extraordinary speed) Remember, most people of the time were exceedingly superstitious. You have a man suddenly running at you faster than a horse can move...you are going to FREAK-OUT...and he's going to beat you to death, while he runs past and torches your supplies. I`d say an automatic HF of at least 12 the first time someone encounters "unnatural" and "demonic" entities. This means that an enemy unit could break and run the first time they encounter the "demon."
Your average "super" would also run the risk of being killed by his own side...for the same reason - Fear. After all, his (or her) powers "have to be granted by Satan!" You would have to have your unit mates acclimated to the power, or have a unit made of "unnaturals."

(Remember...bagpipes were originally used - effectively, too! - as a weapon of terror!)

(Oh...regarding Flight...people have dreamed of flying for millennia. Winged or Wingless Flight should be valid powers for one of those 500 or so people.)

Aliens should be human looking at least to be allowed in the game set during the civil war, or they could be a sub-type of ghost?

abe wrote:Aliens should be human looking at least to be allowed in the game set during the civil war, or they could be a sub-type of ghost?

Wait, what?
A seven month necropost, about how aliens could be ghost subtypes?

What?

Aliens could very easily be incorporated into a Civil War campaign.

Alien enters,
"Hey, fellas, I'm not from around these parts."

Abe, that's a really fun idea! I'd love a Civil War/Wild West game where spectral aliens pretend to be ghosts.

There's an interesting story to be had on the development of the Ku Klux Klan during Reconstruction, and how the ghost motif got folded into domestic terrorism and post-war insurgency efforts. I don't think there's a way to make Nathan Bedford Forrest a little green man that isn't in poor taste; alternate histories in which human atrocity can be blamed on outside forces trivializes the enormity of our actions. That said, there's some tasty Weird West energy with a game where carpetbaggers try to keep a McGuffin out of the hands of a hate group, with no one realizing it's the missing part to a spaceship.

Stone Gargoyle wrote:Aliens could very easily be incorporated into a Civil War campaign.

Alien enters,
"Hey, fellas, I'm not from around these parts."

True...ignoring the movie, which I will admit I actually enjoyed...Cowboys and Aliens, the graphic novel (of which I never heard of until recently) was set in 1873. While there is some controversy about the books, they were apparently better than the movie, so that could be an inspiration for such a campaign.

Borast wrote:

Stone Gargoyle wrote:Aliens could very easily be incorporated into a Civil War campaign.

Alien enters,
"Hey, fellas, I'm not from around these parts."

True...ignoring the movie, which I will admit I actually enjoyed...Cowboys and Aliens, the graphic novel (of which I never heard of until recently) was set in 1873. While there is some controversy about the books, they were apparently better than the movie, so that could be an inspiration for such a campaign.

The thing about that time period is that a lot happened that was not documented, especially in the smaller towns. You could definitely have some fun.

I have a series of posts.. five I think so far about a rifts 1800's steam punk campaign in the rifts section of this board. Feel free to look through it for any ideas you might be interested in.

here is the link to the first part of my little series:

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=162101

enjoy

Would the food powers from rifter 91/2 be appropriate for civil war powers?

abe wrote:Would the food powers from rifter 91/2 be appropriate for civil war powers?

Since the entire book is intended to be a joke...
No.

abe wrote:Aliens should be human looking at least to be allowed in the game set during the civil war, or they could be a sub-type of ghost?

especially if they can turn invisible, hunt only those that are armed, and must be in warm weather.

Sure there was a Savage Worlds game for this which you could crib from.

Plus sure there may have been a few fictional books too.

The aliens MIGHT have some of sort of cybernetics?

abe wrote:The aliens MIGHT have some of sort of cybernetics?

The aliens could have tentacles coming out their wazoo, because they're ALIENS. However, depending on how they want to appear to primitive Civil War-era Earthlings, obvious features like extra appendages, or obvious cybernetics/bionics might be something they'll want to hide. A simple hook prosthesis might pass suspicion, but a laser-arm will draw attention(unless it's a really whacked-out steampunk Civil War setting).
And depending on how much the GM is willing to allow the aliens' extra features/powered/technology to unbalance the game, the GM might decide to allow only certain categories fo cybernetics or none at all.

It's all up to the players and what the GM is willing to allow in the narrative.

Something to consider would be adapting the article "Heroes through the Ages" from Rifter #5. It only went back through the 1920s "Pulp Age" of comics, but talks about how there are certain restrictions that can be applied.

Granted, they place heavy restrictions on the types of power categories available, with most of the super-powered ones pretty much out of the picture until c. 1938. But it does give some good pointers about how other things -- such as skills -- are going to be drastically affected. You won't really see too many characters, for example, with HTH: Expert, let alone HTH: Commando or HTH: Martial Arts. And there won't be any Computer skills, most Piloting skills won't exist, etc.