The Institute

[Emerald Flame]

Greetings... I have been trying to put together a campaign setting for out gaming group. It is admittedly more difficult than I had originally thought. I bought the Emerald City setting book(s) and read that through. I liked the setting and the idea that there were limited numbers of "supers" in the [immediate] setting.

I have been a big fan of the Marvel movies and rewatching them with my sons has brought new and old ideas back to the surface. I really like the X-Man movies (#1 & #2 at least) and I also enjoyed the "First Class".

I opted to try and set up the game along the lines of the X-Men movies. The heroes are all mutants and they are all a part of what I am tentively calling the "Carter Institute".

All the PC's are PL10 and as previously mentioned.. all mutants.

I thought of using a character from the 2e Freedom City Sourcebook, Professor Artur Zion. In that book, he is a villianous version of Professor X. He has a family of psychically gifted children. He could serve as a primary "bad guy".

I envisioned the "Institute" being run by a woman, whose father passed away, leaving her a fortune and a legacy (Yet to be determined)

The PC's would be staying at the Institute, located in the mountains outside of Emerald City. They would have matching uniforms and Institute-provided equipment.

[Uniform design from Hero High, with a recolor by me]

I wanted to try and avoid having the team as the "Protectors of the City" and instead make them a team that is more mobile and able to protect the city as well as anywhere else.

Like I said... this is a work in progress. We kick off the game in March.

Any thoughts? Any ideas?

[Ash Williams]

I'm currently working on a group that's basically a black-ops team with superpowers. Or as one friend put it, "They do heroics that don't make the front page of the Daily Planet."

So that's one route you could go. Naturally, there could be one character on the team that's a bit of a glory-seeker who tends to whine about their heroics being ignored. Just a suggestion.

One thing, though: The whole anti-mutant, constant lynch mob mentality Marvel's done with the "mutant menace" tends to get a bit stale and repetitive over time. So I'd recommend easing back on that.

BTW, love the costume design. Other options could be "same colors, different attire", or vice versa.

[Emerald Flame]

Thanks.. I was planning on not really touching on the entire mutant hating. It is one of the reasons I drifted away from Marvel. I was considering the "black ops" theme also. .. Maybe a mix... The A-team of the super world??

[Horsenhero]

Depending on how you wish to set your technology, maybe your team is connected to one or more NGO's worldwide to combat oppression and threats governments won't. That would be one way the team could become aware of problems on a nationwide or even global scale. That also avoids the "secret government connections interfere with your mission" plotline. It would necessitate secrecy by making the team operate outside the protective umbrella of government approval, but that could add some nice drama to the game.