I haven't. But that's because my usual method of gaming is called "wishing I could game"
But why limit yourself to the past? I could see a futuristic one just as easily. Kind of like a HU version of DC's Legion of Super-Heroes. (Not a conversion, mind. Just inspired by.)
Brian
HU in other times than modern
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BillionSix
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We played a sort of twilight of the 19th century campaign similar to the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. There were a few literary characters like Zorro, or in our case his son. The same with Tarzan. These were both NPCs, while the players ran a whole array of characters. We had an alien who had been worshiped as a god in Ancient Greece with Immortality, Extraordinary PE and EE: Electricity, a weapon expert equipped with basically WW2 era equipment (new names, but those stats), a psychic who was related to the druids (healing and sensing abilities for the most part), a N&SS Dedicated Martial Artist who's form I can't remember, and a African mystic who was really a mutant with Animal Brother, Beast Master, Metamorphosis: All Animals, Ferrel, and Extraordinary PE. The game worked out really well, and was a blast.
RockJock, holder of the mighty Rune Rock Hammer!
I just had an idea for an apocalyptic HU game earlier tonight. It was inspired by a cheesy episode of The Outer Limits I recently saw.
Game starts off at night, and the PC's are normal people. There are no super heroes or super powers (that anyone knows about at any rate). Just the modern world as it really is. Anyhow, the PC's notice that the full moon is especially bright. Like almost as bright as the sun.
Strangely, long range communications seem to be out, but local communications seem ok, so you can call across town, or a couple of hundred miles away, but not across the continent.
Anyhow, someone in the party should eventually figure out what the problem is: There's something wrong with the sun. Maybe it went nova. Maybe there's just a huge sunflare. But one thing's for sure, the other side of the planet is toast, and there's a good chance that this side will be toast in a few hours too. If the party isn't smart enough to figure this out, and no one took any science skills that would likely deduce this, hit them over the head with a stick... er... I mean drop them a hint.
So, pretty soon, the chaos ensues. There's looting, there's people doing the things they've always wanted to, but were never brave enough to do (you know, smacking your boss because he's an a-hole, or proposing that cute chick that lives across the street that you've never had the courage to even talk to, etc).
Well, a couple hours later, the aurora borialis appears, flying across the sky at about 100 miles an hour. The mega storm hits at this point. (The science geek in the party should surmise that the storm could only be generated by a massive solar flare - if the sun had gone nova, it would burn off the atmosphere on the exposed side rather then creating a super storm.)
By the time the next day rolls around, pretty much everything is ruined, and the death toll is uncalcuable. On one side of the planet, everything was killed, except some of the very deep ocean life. On this side, the planetary hurricane caused massive flooding, and the winds have devistated the cities.
Over the course of the next few weeks, alot of people get sick and die from radiation sickeness. But of those that survive, about 1% develop super powers.
Game starts off at night, and the PC's are normal people. There are no super heroes or super powers (that anyone knows about at any rate). Just the modern world as it really is. Anyhow, the PC's notice that the full moon is especially bright. Like almost as bright as the sun.
Strangely, long range communications seem to be out, but local communications seem ok, so you can call across town, or a couple of hundred miles away, but not across the continent.
Anyhow, someone in the party should eventually figure out what the problem is: There's something wrong with the sun. Maybe it went nova. Maybe there's just a huge sunflare. But one thing's for sure, the other side of the planet is toast, and there's a good chance that this side will be toast in a few hours too. If the party isn't smart enough to figure this out, and no one took any science skills that would likely deduce this, hit them over the head with a stick... er... I mean drop them a hint.
So, pretty soon, the chaos ensues. There's looting, there's people doing the things they've always wanted to, but were never brave enough to do (you know, smacking your boss because he's an a-hole, or proposing that cute chick that lives across the street that you've never had the courage to even talk to, etc).
Well, a couple hours later, the aurora borialis appears, flying across the sky at about 100 miles an hour. The mega storm hits at this point. (The science geek in the party should surmise that the storm could only be generated by a massive solar flare - if the sun had gone nova, it would burn off the atmosphere on the exposed side rather then creating a super storm.)
By the time the next day rolls around, pretty much everything is ruined, and the death toll is uncalcuable. On one side of the planet, everything was killed, except some of the very deep ocean life. On this side, the planetary hurricane caused massive flooding, and the winds have devistated the cities.
Over the course of the next few weeks, alot of people get sick and die from radiation sickeness. But of those that survive, about 1% develop super powers.
I haven't actually started running the game yet, but I have a game that I'm in the planning stages for.
Medieval level tech, with supers. However, I'm probably going to have to do some pretty massive modifications of the power catagories, and disallow or modify a number of super powers.
Basically, it's the Earth, in the far future, after the environment has been totally trashed, and all of the people of means have long since evactuated the dying Earth. The planet is going through a period of adjustment, and extremely rapid evolution. There's tons of mutanegic chemicles that have leaked into the evironment, and tons of escaped replicating nanotech. There are areas of high radiation from a number of small scale nuclear wars, etc.
Medieval level tech, with supers. However, I'm probably going to have to do some pretty massive modifications of the power catagories, and disallow or modify a number of super powers.
Basically, it's the Earth, in the far future, after the environment has been totally trashed, and all of the people of means have long since evactuated the dying Earth. The planet is going through a period of adjustment, and extremely rapid evolution. There's tons of mutanegic chemicles that have leaked into the evironment, and tons of escaped replicating nanotech. There are areas of high radiation from a number of small scale nuclear wars, etc.
I've often pondered the idea of a HU and/or Nightbane game taking place in various points in history such as Industrial Revolution, WWI, WWII, American Revolution, Spanish Inquisition (mutant powers = witchcraft), Crusades, Egypt (maybe the pharoahs were really mutants, afterall they were supposedly Gods), etc.
Or even in more mythical/legendary situations. What if Robin Hood, Merlin, Arthur & the Knights were mutants?
Haven't run one yet though. History was one of my lesser subjects in school, I don't think I could do a good job pulling off a historical game. I used to play in a group DMed by a guy who had a masters in some kind of history, he would have done a fantastic job of it, but he only DMed D&D.
Maybe if I had the time to watch a few movies and quality documentaries from the History Channel about a specific period I'd be able to pull it off, but I don't have that kind of time these days...
Or even in more mythical/legendary situations. What if Robin Hood, Merlin, Arthur & the Knights were mutants?
Haven't run one yet though. History was one of my lesser subjects in school, I don't think I could do a good job pulling off a historical game. I used to play in a group DMed by a guy who had a masters in some kind of history, he would have done a fantastic job of it, but he only DMed D&D.
Maybe if I had the time to watch a few movies and quality documentaries from the History Channel about a specific period I'd be able to pull it off, but I don't have that kind of time these days...
Last edited by LostOne on Wed Feb 28, 2007 3:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"But you can't make an omelet without ruthlessly crushing dozens of eggs beneath your steel boot and then publicly disemboweling the chickens that laid them as a warning to others." -Order of the Stick #760
An Arthurian times game, as someone mentioned above, would be really cool.
To prep for it, I'd simply get a few of the History Channel's documentaries about the times, watch a few movies, and probably pick up a book on Arthurian myths. Probably every OCC and skill needed for the game can be found in either the Palladium Fantasy Basebook, or the HU2 line, although Necromancy would be a good addition as well; I'm not sure which Pally Fant book they covered Necromancy in.
I'd hybrid HU2 and Pally Fant. Every character would have an OCC in addition to their super powers (unless they were a mage or psychic, at which point I wouldn't allow super powers).
I'd go for a game that takes place within a generation of the Romans withdrawing from England. For back story, I'd go into the fact that the Romans lost an entire Legion in the isles - the legion marched out, and was just never heard from again. The Romans were constantly having problems from the Picts, and the Gaelic tribes, and built Hadrian's wall to try to protect themselves - but it didn't really help that much. Because of problems with the German tribes threatening the empire, Rome withdrew its forces from the British Isles to help defend themselves. (Real history.)
Now, just add in a meteor strike somewhere in the British Isles, that came around the time of the Romans withdrawl, and you have a source for "weird radiation" to allow the rise of mutants in the Isles.
I wouldn't nessisarily try to stick really close to the Arthurian myth, but rather hybrid it with the real history of the times, both proveable through archeological evidence, and the theoretical.
I would actually make Excalibur a real magical item, and the source of King Arthur's (NPC) powers, per the magic weapon rules in HU2.
To prep for it, I'd simply get a few of the History Channel's documentaries about the times, watch a few movies, and probably pick up a book on Arthurian myths. Probably every OCC and skill needed for the game can be found in either the Palladium Fantasy Basebook, or the HU2 line, although Necromancy would be a good addition as well; I'm not sure which Pally Fant book they covered Necromancy in.
I'd hybrid HU2 and Pally Fant. Every character would have an OCC in addition to their super powers (unless they were a mage or psychic, at which point I wouldn't allow super powers).
I'd go for a game that takes place within a generation of the Romans withdrawing from England. For back story, I'd go into the fact that the Romans lost an entire Legion in the isles - the legion marched out, and was just never heard from again. The Romans were constantly having problems from the Picts, and the Gaelic tribes, and built Hadrian's wall to try to protect themselves - but it didn't really help that much. Because of problems with the German tribes threatening the empire, Rome withdrew its forces from the British Isles to help defend themselves. (Real history.)
Now, just add in a meteor strike somewhere in the British Isles, that came around the time of the Romans withdrawl, and you have a source for "weird radiation" to allow the rise of mutants in the Isles.
I wouldn't nessisarily try to stick really close to the Arthurian myth, but rather hybrid it with the real history of the times, both proveable through archeological evidence, and the theoretical.
I would actually make Excalibur a real magical item, and the source of King Arthur's (NPC) powers, per the magic weapon rules in HU2.
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Uncle Servo
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The concept of the 'super-powered hero' is really nothing new (the HU2e core book touches on this very subject, IIRC). We have heroes/villains with extraordinary abilities going all the way back through recorded history and before. Gilgamesh, Beowulf, Herakles, Merlin, Aneas, Samson, Pecos Bill, etc. -- all would certainly fall into the category of superbeing in today's society.
Personally, I would think it'd be pretty easy to set an HU campaign in alternative time period... especially mideval times (with a little help from PFRPG).
Personally, I would think it'd be pretty easy to set an HU campaign in alternative time period... especially mideval times (with a little help from PFRPG).
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Hi! I'm Danger, but today I'll be Uncle Servo's Sock Puppet. -- Danger
US <Uncle> saves the day again. -- RockJock
And Servo has engineered another good idea. -- Sentinel
Hi! I'm Danger, but today I'll be Uncle Servo's Sock Puppet. -- Danger
US <Uncle> saves the day again. -- RockJock
And Servo has engineered another good idea. -- Sentinel
A PF style ancient HU game could actually get fairly powerful if you let it. You can go with the mutant knight type, but also the Longbow man/Ancient Weapons Master with magic arrows, mages, psychics, etc. Here is sort of a guide to how I would set the classes up. Not having run this sort of game, who knows how well it would turn out. I have run PF characters in HU several different ways in the past.
Mutant, Experiment, Immortal, and similar would be pretty much as they stand now. I would be ok with giving them a Occ from PF, but I would probably limit it a bit. No Longbow man, Knight, Paladin, or other high end Men at Arms, but things like Soldier, or Sailor would be fine, as would Scholars, and most optional classes.
Psychics and Mystic Study would come straight from the PF classes, or the HU. The big difference is they might be allowed better access to magic items.
Ancient Master, Ancient Weapons Master, and PT would stay pretty much as they are now. They are the best of the best combat training wise. They beat a knight, or a longbow man hands down.
Aliens can be really, really fun. Leave them as aliens, even with high tech gadgets and weapons. Think of your alien character visiting ancient Rome.
Hardware classes can be a real challenge, but doable if the player and GM are both thinkers. You end up with gimmicks ranging from flash bombs, primitive firearms, steam powered contraptions etc.
Robots, and Bionics I would limit to Aliens. If you still wanted to play one I would allow it, but it would basically be a golem type being. I would also probably limit some items like radios.
Super Soldiers would probably be treated like Mutants/Experiments, but I might consider allowing them knights, or Longbow man as options.
Secret Operatives, Stage Magicians, and Hunters/Vigilantes, would become Thief/Assassins, Knife Throwers, Rangers and such. I would probably start with the PF class, then give them the special bonuses/skills from the HU class. I would also consider adding a N&SS style MA that fit. Something with stealth for example.
Super Sleuths could also be fun. I would start with the Bounty Hunter/Finder class in Eastern Territories, then give them a similar treatment as the SO, SM, and H/V above.
Mutant, Experiment, Immortal, and similar would be pretty much as they stand now. I would be ok with giving them a Occ from PF, but I would probably limit it a bit. No Longbow man, Knight, Paladin, or other high end Men at Arms, but things like Soldier, or Sailor would be fine, as would Scholars, and most optional classes.
Psychics and Mystic Study would come straight from the PF classes, or the HU. The big difference is they might be allowed better access to magic items.
Ancient Master, Ancient Weapons Master, and PT would stay pretty much as they are now. They are the best of the best combat training wise. They beat a knight, or a longbow man hands down.
Aliens can be really, really fun. Leave them as aliens, even with high tech gadgets and weapons. Think of your alien character visiting ancient Rome.
Hardware classes can be a real challenge, but doable if the player and GM are both thinkers. You end up with gimmicks ranging from flash bombs, primitive firearms, steam powered contraptions etc.
Robots, and Bionics I would limit to Aliens. If you still wanted to play one I would allow it, but it would basically be a golem type being. I would also probably limit some items like radios.
Super Soldiers would probably be treated like Mutants/Experiments, but I might consider allowing them knights, or Longbow man as options.
Secret Operatives, Stage Magicians, and Hunters/Vigilantes, would become Thief/Assassins, Knife Throwers, Rangers and such. I would probably start with the PF class, then give them the special bonuses/skills from the HU class. I would also consider adding a N&SS style MA that fit. Something with stealth for example.
Super Sleuths could also be fun. I would start with the Bounty Hunter/Finder class in Eastern Territories, then give them a similar treatment as the SO, SM, and H/V above.
RockJock, holder of the mighty Rune Rock Hammer!
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Novastar
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Wasn't there a recent Rifter article, on this vein?
"Epoch of Legends" (Rifter 35 or 36, IIRC)...
"Epoch of Legends" (Rifter 35 or 36, IIRC)...
Petty tyrants thrive when they have authority backed by vague regulations.
I would hit that so hard that whoever could pull me out would be the true-born king of England. ~ Mark Hall
Novastar only speaks the truth. ~ Brandon Aten, aka The Galactus Kid
I would hit that so hard that whoever could pull me out would be the true-born king of England. ~ Mark Hall
Novastar only speaks the truth. ~ Brandon Aten, aka The Galactus Kid
There are two ways I see to look at future versions of HU Earth as far as powers go. You can go the MDC route, and use Scraypers as a guideline. It definitely ups the power of some powers, while making others much, much weaker. The other easy option is to follow the AU model. By this I mean that everything stays sort of even. A laser pistol in 2250 doesn't do significantly more damage to a human body then a 9mm pistol from 1990. The justification is something like body armor got better, and better, they switched to lasers that were designed to specifically defeat armor, but was less effective against people, or the laser gets a stun setting in addition to the damage version. Lots of movies and comics have done something similar. You don't see most hand held blaster or phaser shots vaporizing someone at 2,000ft. Both versions can be cheap, but will work.
RockJock, holder of the mighty Rune Rock Hammer!
Novastar wrote:Wasn't there a recent Rifter article, on this vein?
"Epoch of Legends" (Rifter 35 or 36, IIRC)...
Last Rifter I got was something around 16, so I really couldn't say.
"But you can't make an omelet without ruthlessly crushing dozens of eggs beneath your steel boot and then publicly disemboweling the chickens that laid them as a warning to others." -Order of the Stick #760
I am planing a Game set in the 30s but tech level is highter.
Aliens invade Earth in 1770,some how this start superpowers in humans,by 1920 the majorty of aliens lefted earth.
Now thers a big Rivalry in between the countries who want to get any alien tech lefted on eath.
What do you think of my idea?
Aliens invade Earth in 1770,some how this start superpowers in humans,by 1920 the majorty of aliens lefted earth.
Now thers a big Rivalry in between the countries who want to get any alien tech lefted on eath.
What do you think of my idea?
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Sir_Spirit
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Dumb Dwarf wrote:Nice idea gaby, but one question. Why do the aliens leave earth? Were they defeated by some military force (on or off earth)? Did they run from the dreaded Common Cold? Are they just toying with humanity? And why did they leave organizations on the level of countires intact if they invaded?
Alright so it was more than one question, and you probably wouldn't want the players to know right off of the bat. I like it. (Quietly makes a note to steal Aliens invading earth and skipping out mysteriously campaign)
Maybe they left for religious reasons?
Damn ICE/BCP/BorderPatrol! Damn everyone who won’t damn ICE/BCP/Border Patrol!! Damn everyone that won’t put lights in his windows and sit up all night damning CE/BCP/BorderPatrol!!!
If you support ICE/BCP/BorderPatrol at this point, you would have called the Gestapo on the people surreptitiously moving into your neighbor's attic and huffed that you were only following the law.
If you support ICE/BCP/BorderPatrol at this point, you would have called the Gestapo on the people surreptitiously moving into your neighbor's attic and huffed that you were only following the law.
Sir_Spiri+ wrote:Maybe they left for religious reasons?
They left because their psychics predicted the downfall of man in the 21st century due to reality tv.
"But you can't make an omelet without ruthlessly crushing dozens of eggs beneath your steel boot and then publicly disemboweling the chickens that laid them as a warning to others." -Order of the Stick #760
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9voltkilowatt
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I'd like to try an American civil war era game, characters would get only one or two minor powers, mostly those that don't change the character in any outward fashion.
or
Run a series of games played during the various crusades with the characters getting to choose a single Major power. With the more awe inspiring possible being viewed as divine agents.
or
Run a series of games played during the various crusades with the characters getting to choose a single Major power. With the more awe inspiring possible being viewed as divine agents.
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Daniel Stoker
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gaby wrote:I am planing a Game set in the 30s but tech level is highter.
Aliens invade Earth in 1770,some how this start superpowers in humans,by 1920 the majorty of aliens lefted earth.
Now thers a big Rivalry in between the countries who want to get any alien tech lefted on eath.
What do you think of my idea?
Sounds a lot like an issue of 'Exiles', but it's a cool story and has some good potential.
Daniel Stoker
Judaism - More Old School than either Christianity or Islam.
Different times
Yeah, I often wondered trying HU in different eras such as the Victorian era of England (Sherlock Holmes, Charles Dickens) or Nazi Germany before World War II broke out. Another is the Gangster era (1930s, Al Capone) or Communist China in the 1960s. Has anyone tried a conspiracy/Illuminati-style campaign for HU?
Real life history makes great inspiration for roleplaying games.
Real life history makes great inspiration for roleplaying games.
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Stone Gargoyle
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RockJock wrote:I've run a WWII game in a HU world similar to Marvel. What I mean by this is the setting was WWII, but you had human offshoots with much superior to the human norm, as well as a smattering of alien tech.
my game runs in an alternate timeline where the Nazis won, so at some point I want to run a campaign set in those years.
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