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20:44, 28th March 2024 (GMT+0)

Super Heroes of WWII.

Posted by doom29169
doom29169
member, 306 posts
Mon 12 Jan 2015
at 20:25
  • msg #1

Super Heroes of WWII

Capt. America the First Avenger is the greatest superhero movie ever. Every time I watch it I come back here and request a game using WWII as a backdrop. I'll even lay out some basic plot ideas for you:

Before the War, Superhumans were extremely rare, but not unheard of. The Titan, Captain Freedom, and Lady Liberty fought the Germans in the Great War, but their time has passed. They have faded into the landscape, unheard of for years.

In the winter of 1943 the Germans withdraw all of their crack Panzer Gandiers from the battlefield. Intelligence suggests that this is the last gasps of the Nazi regime, they could not be more wrong. By spring of 1944 the Americans and their allies are being pushed on their heals and in some cases into full retreat by the Nazi Uber Machen, the commando units that fell back to Berlin returned to the field. They are stronger, faster, heal themselves fast enough to shake off even high powered machine gun attacks. Stories of them leaping over entire trenches are flooding in from the front. The Allied Powers must turn to their own Super Soldiers, of which they have far too few. This forces the Allies to seek new recruits, especially from among the imprisoned superhuman population.

Think in terms of old war movie like The Dirty Dozen or Where Eagles Dare. Toss in a healthy dose of Weird Science and a smattering of magic and viola a wonderful game receipt. System wise I am flexible so long as I do not have to purchase anything new. I have recently learned Marvel RPG (the newest one), but I know many systems which can easily work for this game. Tell me what you are willing to run and I will adapt as best I can. Players should be limited to 4-6 and the powers should be limited as well. No one should be Kal-El, but someone could play a version of say Iron Fist or Spider Man without upsetting game balance. These characters should not be invulnerable, the war should be a real challenge for them and they should deal with the threat of dieing.

Interested parties please Rmail me as I rarely check back here for updates. Thank you in advance for your kind attention.
anmcomic
member, 301 posts
Tue 13 Jan 2015
at 13:51
  • msg #2

Re: Super Heroes of WWII

God I love that movie, I've tried running a similar game in the past, but it flopped. Years later I'm tempted to try again.

The basic premise was that the existence of superpeople, parahumans as I call them, was kept hidden from the public. A top secret group of powered soldiers face off against a secret division of the nazi government which uses both dark magic and mad science. Sound interesting?
doom29169
member, 308 posts
Tue 13 Jan 2015
at 15:36
  • msg #3

Re: Super Heroes of WWII

Heck yea. I also like the idea that maybe they are lie the dirty dozen, people who are looking for a second chance and redemption and all that.
CrazyIvan777
member, 147 posts
Tue 13 Jan 2015
at 16:32
  • msg #4

Re: Super Heroes of WWII

Rather interested in this line-of-heroing as well!
StarMaster
member, 90 posts
Wed 14 Jan 2015
at 06:56
  • msg #5

Re: Super Heroes of WWII

I've been putting together a game for this using the Coretex Plus system. It's simple and easy enough that no one has to buy any new books or rules--I can post them on the board.

While the proposed scenario is interesting, it seems to me it has a few drawbacks.

The 'dirty dozen' aspect would seem to be branding all the parahumans/powered soldiers as killers/criminals of some kind.

The 'powered soldiers' label wouldn't seem to allow for female heroes.

That would also seem to rule out magic-based heroes, as well as martial artists.

If the setting is Europe during World War II, I find it a bit preposterous that the existence of these parahumans could be kept secret for very long.


Other than that, anyone still interested in a slightly different scenario?
doom29169
member, 309 posts
Wed 14 Jan 2015
at 12:20
  • msg #6

Re: Super Heroes of WWII

StarMaster:
The 'dirty dozen' aspect would seem to be branding all the parahumans/powered soldiers as killers/criminals of some kind.


Which was sort of the point. =-(

StarMaster:
The 'powered soldiers' label wouldn't seem to allow for female heroes.


Agent Carter found a way into Capt. America, right?

StarMaster:
That would also seem to rule out magic-based heroes, as well as martial artists.


Why? please explain.

StarMaster:
If the setting is Europe during World War II, I find it a bit preposterous that the existence of these parahumans could be kept secret for very long.


Sure. That makes some sense.

StarMaster:
Other than that, anyone still interested in a slightly different scenario?


Yup-o. And just because one gets started doesn't mean I won't play in a few more. I love the whole WWII comic book action idea so bring them all on!
anmcomic
member, 302 posts
Wed 14 Jan 2015
at 15:34
  • msg #7

Re: Super Heroes of WWII

They could be kept secret if conducted like a black ops group, and if the nazis were trying to be secretive too. The public didn't know about concentration camps till after the war, the nazis had hidden labs we still don't know the purpose of and occult societies we still don't know much about IRL. Just cause they're over there doesn't mean they're with the normal soldiers. Hellboy did a similar concept with the BPRD.
doom29169
member, 311 posts
Wed 14 Jan 2015
at 17:04
  • msg #8

Re: Super Heroes of WWII

Good point. I agree with you.
StarMaster
member, 91 posts
Thu 15 Jan 2015
at 00:17
  • msg #9

Re: Super Heroes of WWII

Maybe it was just the brief scenario description that made it seem a bit... restrictive.

Sure, Agent Carter was in the Captain America movie, but she wasn't a soldier. I just thought it would be a bit unworkable to have a female soldier running around with a bunch of macho male killers.


As for the group being kept secret, sure, they aren't advertising, but you'd have a hard time keeping common folk from noticing parahumans performing incredible deeds.


Perhaps it's the way he phrased it, but he said the Nazis were using magic, and implied that the parahuman 'super'-soldiers were being created by the military, not just gathered up. Otherwise, why aren't the Nazis also gathering up these parahumans? And if they are, you'd think the psychokillers would be more apt to work for the Nazis than the good old patriotic army.


The reason I ruled out martial artists is because they aren't really parahuman, and just how would the army go about creating one anyway? Who's training them (that wouldn't make a better parahuman soldier in the first place)?


I'm still having a hard time wrapping my head around the idea that ALL parahumans are psychokillers. Unless the criminals are transformed into parahumans, which seems rather an insane idea. On the other hand, if the premise includes an assortment of projects that was each producing a parahuman...


Anyway, I'm still hammering out the rules for my game. Should have it done by the weekend. Now all I need is a name for it...
doom29169
member, 312 posts
Thu 15 Jan 2015
at 00:29
  • msg #10

Re: Super Heroes of WWII

No I don't mean that they are all psychos, not at all. Criminals, perhaps. Maybe just people who made bad choices. At the point in time of the description, the military is desperate. They don't have to time to find all the parahumans out there. There is a ready pool available, some who aren't psychos but made bad choices and honestly want a chance at redemption.

As far as backstories, I am only skittish about mutants. The whole "I was born this way" tends to be a cop out. There are all sorts of possibilities for creating superhumans, why take the "easy" way out? Does that make more sense?
anmcomic
member, 303 posts
Thu 15 Jan 2015
at 05:35
  • msg #11

Re: Super Heroes of WWII

It would be mostly recruitment actually, with a variety of origins. I'm not sure if I like a whole team of super criminals, but one or two could definitely have this origin. I find it a little restrictive and parahumans are rather rare so a whole team of bad guys would be more difficult than a variety of backstories. I use the term 'powered soldiers' not to refer to characters like Captain America, but rather a person with superhuman abilities who fights in their countries millitary, as opposed to a traditional superhero. Origins and powers are completely up to the players. Though to be honest martial artists, at least practitioners of eastern styles, don't really fit the time period.
doom29169
member, 313 posts
Thu 15 Jan 2015
at 12:33
  • msg #12

Re: Super Heroes of WWII

Well I am looking forward to both of your offerings.
doom29169
member, 314 posts
Fri 16 Jan 2015
at 00:57
  • msg #13

Re: Super Heroes of WWII

Actually you could have a martial artist hero, there is a very large Chinese population in California. Remember the guy Capt saves with Dum Dum who is Chinese, "I'm from Fresno, Ace." So if you want you can play one. =-)
StarMaster
member, 92 posts
Fri 16 Jan 2015
at 02:45
  • msg #14

Re: Super Heroes of WWII

True. And remember, the pulps and comics from the 30s were famous for mystics and monks from the Far East. It was still a largely unknown and mysterious place.
doom29169
member, 318 posts
Fri 30 Jan 2015
at 19:04
  • msg #15

Re: Super Heroes of WWII

I am going to ask for this again, only this time I want to stress that it be adult so that only players of a mature character will find their way to it.
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