Advice for 1960s campaign please

[MrNarrator]

I am starting a new obsidian portal campaign set in 1960's America using Heroes Unlimited. I'm curious what changes you think might be needed to adapt to this setting? The overall idea of course is that it's in the middle of the Cold War, and a new arms race will be developing with the advent of super heroes. My thought is technology will still be advanced because of the hardware types that are emerging, but probably not widespread. Would you make any changes to skill programs? What skills would you eliminate? What might you add? Looking for any suggestions- I'd like to have this take hold, and am willing to put in some work to make it happen. I've taken a shot with some of the skills already, but this is my first run- and obviously, my formatting skills are gonna have to improve. Bear with me If you are curious, you can see the bare bones of what I've got here:

https://atomic-age.obsidianportal.com/

Thanks guys!

[Alrik Vas]

Cold War, huh? Well, if you're going to have hardware heroes still, most tech skills will still exist. I don't see much difference, as you can just say "Oh, well this genius character developed this secret nano-tech 40 years before the world ever knew about it", so yeah...

Not really sure what you'd change, honestly.

[The Oh So Amazing Nate]

Skills that are common place now would be cutting edge. I'd knock out things like computer use/programming and hi tech communications skills and things like that. If they are available in your game I'd only allow them for Hardware or Electrical mechanical genius chars.

[Tor]

I think the Empowered category from PU2 would be great for representing various experimental drugs that give powers, would fit with the whole hippy thing. I like temporary powers too, that Hourman effect.

[say652]

Bikers were feared give them a horror factor of at least 12 (14-16 for 20 or more).
Roleplay the rampant drug addiction.
Police were incompetent. Discrimination so nonhuman looking characters can expect it.
Average top vehicle speed 85-90mph.
Most fights involved bats knives chains beetmugs BUT not guns.

[Tor]

Bikers were feared give them a horror factor of at least 12 (14-16 for 20 or more).

Man, after seeing the 1969 film 'Easy Rider', guys with pickup trucks scare me more than bikers.

[The Beast]

If you have Ninjas & Superspies there's a few skills that would fit in pretty well in that decade.

[gaby]

Well ther going to be Conflicts between the heroes and it will be very Grey,the heroes will have different value and different priorities as what the see as a crime.
The heroes will only unify to fight a Equal Opportunity Evil who is a Danger to the Group each hero is protecting.

[knightgoblin]

You might find some ideas in the RPG Brave New World: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brave_New_World_%28role-playing_game%29

It's interesting how you went the other way with the JFK assassination.

[say652]

Menace idea. An antimutant group lead by a mutant with Negate Super Powers

[green.nova343]

If you can find it, Rifter #5 had an article about handling heroes "throughout the ages". Not a whole lot of changes were recommended for the 1960s...however, remember that certain skills aren't going to be very common. Computers, for example: there were no such things as "personal computers" back then, & they were limited to very large corporations, government agencies & the military (not to mention their stats & performance were much lower). Nor will you see a big need for Laser Communications, & the chances of most people learning Pilot Jet Airplane (or especially Pilot Space Shuttle) will be severely limited.

[MrNarrator]

These are great, thanks! Keep the advice rolling. I found a decade book for the 1960s from a different RPG that has a lot of cool world info, but am Hoping to capture the cliche, cheesy outward appearance with a gritty story beneath the surface. Love the ideas for crime and other plots. I'll check out Rifter 5 for sure. I've eliminated quite a few skills, but wondering if I should tone down computers some more. I don't want to do more home brewing than necessary, but these are all solid points I want to address.