Earth 10: Proof of Concept

As I mentioned, I ran a proof of concept game for the high-powered DC Heroes game (and really, is there any other kind? it's sort of the point of DC Heroes). This is taking place on Earth 10 in which the classic DC Heroes first appeared to the public in late 2008 with Superman showing up in Metropolis. Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman are pretty much the same but the other heroes may or may not be.

In today's quick session we nailed down that on Earth 10 it's the Justice Alliance of America (JAA), and its early 2013. The original JAA lineup was shattered by the Calendar Man's harnessing of the Mayan Apocalypse. Superman has taken it on himself to reform the JAA, and his initial two recruits were Vigilante (for his unbreakable morals, detective skills and government contacts) and Firestorm (for his raw spiritual power - Supers just learned of his weakness to magic in the Mayan Apocalypse and wants some strong magical types on his side). The new JAA HQ is a submerged base in the Gulf of Mexico. Superman built a structure there as a watch-base with Kryptonian science when the Deepwater Horizon accidentally awoke a mass of kaiju in 2010. It is serving as the core of their new high tech HQ - when we see out heroes Vigilante is upgrading our communications gear and Firestorm is transmuting raw materials for Superman's expansion of the base. 

The plot itself involved the appearance of several alien ships in the solar system, the lead of which disgorged Terra Man (once again a space cowboy, complete with one six-shooter armed with dwarf star matter, one that linked to a star's corona and his faster-than-light winged horse). When Superman investigated TM's entry into Metropolis Terra Man bush-wacked him, pinning him under dwarf star material bullets so he could soloiquize a bit about his origins and plan to sell Metropolis as a zoological preserve of humans before 'what was coming to Earth showed up (cue ominous foreshadowing)'. Superman tunneled his way out from under the super-dense material with his heat vision, but TM had disappeared. 

Vigilante and Firestorm arrived then (we hypothesized that the base has Kryptonian wormhole technology that gives a boost to everyone's travel speed to deploy them around the western hemisphere faster - the faster characters still get there first but we never have to wait for Vigilante to catch up on his motorcycle). Vigilante says he knew of Terra Man back in the 1870's - TM and his dad were desperados facing apprehension who were abducted by a UFO instead (well, TM was abducted, his dad died in the UFO’s exhaust). That's when TM reappeared with his gang of, well, more hims. Superman and Firestorm engaged the multiple TMs while Vigilante took a sniper position and analyzed their opponent(s). Everyone was holding back until Vigilante discerned that these were robots and took one out with his Lightning Shotgun.

Once the truth was revealed Firestorm and Vigilante made short work of the machines while Superman raced around Metropolis to remove Terra Man's bomb/force field generators from the island of New Troy's 13 bridges and tunnels, working at super speed as he had just seconds before their detonation. The real Terra Man again disengaged his cloaking device (well, cloaking Duster) and activated a dozen more of his robots when Vigilante shot the hat off his head, breaking his cybernetic control of the robots. The two western-idiom supers had a quick draw contest which Vigilante won, shooting TM's pistols out of his hands. Firestorm, meanwhile, played tag with Nova the Space horse until he could touch it, using his spiritual powers to exorcize the harsh 'breaking' of the noble beasts soul. The beast turned on its former master, knocking him near senseless, and a knuckle-bruising blow from Vigilante finished the job, sending TM off the roof and right into Superman's grasp. 

Superman, as a duly recognized agent of the city of Metropolis and the state of Delaware (no, seriously, that's where Metropolis is, you can look it up) took Terra Man into custody, and Nova the space horse returned to his herds racing across the galactic plains. 

Not exactly weighty stuff, but suitably goofy and cosmic to fit the tone I wanted to hit. Logan totally got the vibe of Vigilante being the skills and research PC who analyzes the problem while his allies keep it busy, and Jason clearly understood that Superman would naturally be drawn away from the fight to handle 'bigger' threats to normal people. All told a satisfactory proof of concept. Now to refine things a bit.