Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Reconciling Xmen III and The Days of Future Past Trailer For Your Old School Super Heroes Campaign

Trying to deal with the various X movies, Wolverine, and the 80's comic books are going to give you a headache. Forget it and forge your own campaigns in the cracks of the various alternative worlds of classic Marvel Super Heroes. 
Everything in the Days of Future Past story line stems back to Project Wide Awake all the way back to March of 1983. 
The events stir the pot for Days of Future past to come about.

According to Wiki : 


Project: Wideawake is a fictional United States government program in the Marvel Comics universe. Its purpose is detecting and capturing mutants employing the robots known as Sentinels.




Back in 1987 these adds ran in various comics and they had far reaching implications for the various Marvel mutates and mutants of the Marvel universe. 

Everything Starts With Project Wide Awake
According to Wiki :
The U.S. Government had been studying the mutant problem for years. Federal Judge Chambers headed up the Federal Council on Mutant Activities, which concluded with a 5-year study that was interpreted to show mutants were a menace to mankind. Meanwhile, Senator Robert Kelly was also conducting a study on the mutant situation. He, too, did not trust mutants, but his aspirations toward the presidency prompted him to be much more vocal about the "mutant menace."
Mystique, and her Second Brotherhood of Mutants, sought to show people that mutants could not be pushed around and attempted to assassinate Kelly. They were stopped in the nick of time by the X-Men. Instead of defusing the situation, Mystique had only made it worse. Despite the fact that he was saved by mutants, Kelly clung to his radical mutant deterrent theories and helped press the White House for more action.
In response to all these pressures, the President secretly instructed the National Security Council to create a covert, illegal commission to deal with the problems posed by the increasing numbers of mutants in America. Codenamed Project: Wideawake, the commission is headed by the National Security Advisor, Judge Petrie, and includes Frank Lowell of the C.I.A., Raven Darkholme of the Defense Department, Dr. Valerie Cooper, Special Assistant to the National Security Advisor, plus many other currently unknown members of the U.S. intelligence community. Henry Peter Gyrich, a top agent for the National Security Council, was chosen to be head of operations for Project: Wideawake.
Right from the start the commission had troubles, mainly because they had not completely defined their course of action for handling the American mutant population explosion. Because mutants were beginning to pop up all over the world, some members of the administration decided that America should start enlisting the aid of friendly mutants into the ranks of government agencies (under careful control, of course) for America's protection. Other members of the administration felt that the mutants should be rounded up and used as a resource, but their methods denied mutants even their most basic civil rights. Still other bureaucrats believe that all mutants should be destroyed. Project: Wideawake has evolved more towards the second way of thinking (mutants as a resource) under the direction of Petrie and Gyrich.
Realizing that they would have a fight on their hands against mutant teams, such as the X-Men, the government enlisted the aid of various private firms and interests to develop methods and equipment which would strengthen their position. Strangely enough, some of the most efficient items and fighters were recruited from the mutants themselves, whether knowingly or unknowingly. The mutant named Forge developed many items for the various defense departments, including a gun that would strip a mutant's powers away from them for an indeterminate period of time. This item was to be used against Rogue, but when Storm intervened, it stripped her powers away instead. While all known models of the device have been destroyed, and Forge made sure the plans were eliminated, he still continues to blindly work for the U.S. defense agencies. Recently, Mystique and her Second Brotherhood of Evil Mutants struck a deal with the U.S. government to become a mutant deterrent force answerable only to the Oval Office through a Special Presidential Liaison, Dr. Valerie Cooper. Thus Freedom Force was born, a mutant team designed to fight mutants. But it was the involvement of Sebastian Shaw, the Black King of the Hellfire Club, and himself secretly a mutant, that turned out to be the greatest threat to American mutants. As head of Shaw Industries, a major U.S. defense contractor, Shaw provided the Department of Defense with new versions of the mutant-hunting Sentinels.
Basically your crew of super heroes who operated in 1987 -89 were going to get into a bit of a dust up with a mutant hating public and protesters along with douche bag government agents. 
Don't ever get me started on Department H and The Hell Fire club as well. 
Encounters tended to be razor sharp lines in the sand with PC's really walking the moral line. 

Get Everything I'm About To Talk About

HERE

The Marvels Super Heroes added the Project very early all the basic game with the apply named : 

Project: Wideawake (MHAC5) 

"They are the children of the atom, the next step in human evolution. They are mutants, hated and feared by mere humans. Some, like the X-Men and the New Mutants, are protectors of humanity. Others, such as the Hellfire Club and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, want to be the masters of humanity.
Now, the major Marvel mutants, well-meaning and malign, are collected in one book. More than 50 heroes, villains, and interested parties ... are described inside, along with notes on the X-Men's mansion, important non-mutants, and the fearsome Sentinels -- mutant-hunting robots created by the United States government to deal with the mutant menace."

1985 ... Jeff Grubb ... 32 pages ... TSR 6861 ... ISBN 0880381930

Basically in thirty two pages you got everything you needed to foreshadow the events to come in Days of Future Past. With Kitty Pride taking center stage in the next X men movie and her abilities now tied into the time travel angle. The realms of alternative worlds are blown wide open! 
If your using this material for a basic Marvel Super Heroes game there are two books that your going to need for it.
See Marvel Super Heroes like Marvel Comics is New York City  based and New York is the Marvel centerpiece.
The following supplements suddenly become incredibly useful. 

New York, New York (MHAC6)



"There are a million stories in the teeming urban center of New York City: Gang Wars between criminal rivals. Rampages by wild-eyed mutants. Superpowered bad guys carrying grudges. It's a tough place to survive, even if you have the proportional strength of a spider.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK is several products in one. Inside you'll find a handy combat wheel and random adventure generator. There's also a collection of short adventures to help you set up an urban campaign or to add spice to a published adventure. In addition, NEW YORK, NEW YORK expands the original campaign MARVEL SUPER HEROES map all the way to the river. Finally, we've included a rogues' gallery of the powerful villains and heroes that make the mighty metropolis of the Marvel Universe so challenging.
If you can make it there, you'll make it anywhere.
This game supplement is designed for use with the MARVEL SUPER HEROES role-playing game. It contains an easily assembled Combat Wheel, 16-page adventure book, 16-page character book, and 21.5" x 33" city expansion map."

1985 ... Kate Novak & Jeff Grubb ... 16 + 16 pages + map + wheel (the second cover folder, intended for cut-out) ... TSR 6863 ... ISBN 088038199X

Concrete Jungle (MHAC7) 

Concrete Jungle has 12 different heroes and 42 different villains, plus 12 supporting characters, and maps of the Daily Bugle, Peter Parker and Matt Murdock's apartments.

-Wayne

"It's called the city, but it's really a concrete jungle filled with dangerous predators like SCORPION and HOBGOBLIN, masterminds like KINGPIN and HAMMERHEAD, and world-beaters like the RED SKULL and TITANIUM MAN. It is also the home of such heroes as SPIDER-MAN, DAREDEVIL, and MOON KNIGHT, plus numerous shadowy figures such as the PUNISHER and CLOAK and DAGGER.
Gathered here in one place are the foes you love to hate and the heroes who patrol the urban wasteland. Miss it at your own risk!
This game supplement is designed for use with the MARVEL SUPER HEROES role-playing game. This package contains a 32-page book describing the villains that threaten the city, and the heroes that protect it."

1985 ... Jeff Grubb ... 32 pages ... TSR 6865 ... ISBN 0880382260
These two supplements give the DM NPC heroes to kill, kidnap, and play with without actually injuring your PC's at all. Centering things in New York allows you quick access to the New York State Xmen school as well.
When we switch up the game to the Advanced version well things move up a few notches. Children of the Atom is a one stop shop book.

Children of the Atom (MA1) 

"Blessed and cursed with super-human abilities, the ranks of mutantkind are constantly growing, constantly expanding. An apprehensive world holds them at arms' length, wary and suspicious of the unknown. An uncomfortable air of mistrust clouds their dealings with normal men, and an even more sinister air of hatred hangs over the dark places in men's hearts.

Only through understanding can humanity pierce this murky veil that separates men from mutants. Knowledge drives away the fear of the unknown. And so, TSR proudly presents Children of the Atom, the complete, up-to-date guidebook to homo sapiens superior.
From Acanti to Wolverine, from the Alliance of Evil to the X-Men, every significant mutant and mutant group known is described in detail. A bonus short adventure, Dreamchild, is also included.
The most far-reaching revolution in history is taking place in our genes. To survive, we must understand the children of the atom.
Children of the Atom consists of a 96-page roster book and a 10 1/2" x 15" pull-out map. This game accessory is designed for use with the MARVEL SUPER HEROES™ Advanced Set."

1986 ... Kim Eastland ... 96 pages + detachable map ... TSR 6872 ... ISBN 0880382929
This one has a bit of everything mutant related including the various teams, mutants that have been killed off and the start of some of the Wide Awake and Days of Future Past elements but there are many potent spoilers in there as well. This reference is way,way, out of date or is it? This was never our world at all. It may seem like it at times with strange and twisted distortions but this is a world of madmen, mutants, and the beginnings of a brutal robotic run police state. 

Prelude To Wide Awake

There is one module that springs to mind as the entire prelude to the events that happen in both Days of Future Past and Project Wide Awake ! 
Mutating Mutants (MLBA1) 

""Being a mutant is tough. Being a New Mutant is even tougher. I think I'll pay those kids a friendly visit. Y'know, I may be Wolverine, but I don't have many friends who aren't out to use me. These kids haven't gotten hardbitten and cynical like this old warrior. Yep, time for a drop-in ..." 

Later ...
"Somebody is after these kids. Trying to hurt them, and hurt 'em bad. Somebody just made a big mistake, and I intend to see that they find out just HOW big. Somebody's gonna pay for what they've done to the kids ..."
Wolverine watches as the New Mutants slither, crawl, and hop toward their goal. He knows they'll never be the same again. What's worse, he also knows HE'll never be the same again..."

1990 ... Bruce Nesmith ... 32 pages ... TSR 6893 ... ISBN 0880388412
This sucker has it all including the greedy hearted bastard Sebastian Shaw at its black heart!
Its like a mini slice of the events to come. I run this one time and again for various groups and the loathing for both Shaw and the elements of Wide Awake are built right into this one! 




Get all of the basic game modules right over
HERE

Mutating Mutants Adventure  And the Children of the Atom Book 

HERE

Finally if you really want to round out your Xmen collection get the Advanced Xmen Box set as well HERE

While your working download the Fold up figures as well.
HERE


What If
X men III Is An Alternative Marvel Movie X World?
The poster shows Wolverine's claws unsheathed in front of a big X representing "X3". At the middle is the title while at the bottom is the production credits and rating.

With the plot of X men Last Stand going something like this : 
Twenty years before the movie's current events, Professor Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr meet a young Jean Grey at her parents' house to make her aware of her powers. Ten years later, a young Warren Worthington III tries to cut off his wings, before his father discovers he is a mutant.
The next scene opens with the X-Men in battle against a giant robot in the Danger Room.Kitty Pryde and Colossus have joined the team, although Cyclops is absent. Storminsists on working as a team, but Wolverine has Colossus throw him as he cuts the giant robot's head off. Storm is upset with Wolverine for not working as part of a team.
Sometime afterward, the pharmaceutical company Worthington Labs announces it has developed an inoculation to suppress the X-gene that gives mutants their abilities and makes them different from other humans, offering the "cure" to any mutant who wants it. While some mutants are interested in the cure, including the X-Men's Rogue, many others are horrified by the announcement. In response to the news, the X-Men's adversary, Lensherr, now known as Magneto, raises an army, led by him, Pyro,JuggernautArclightMultiple Man, and Callisto, warning his followers that the "cure" will be forcefully used to exterminate the mutant race.
Cyclops, still emotionally distraught about the loss of Jean, returns to Alkali Lake. Jean appears to Cyclops, but as the two romantically kiss, Jean takes on a fearsome appearance. Psychically sensing trouble, Professor X sends Wolverine and Storm to investigate. When they arrive, the two X-Men encounter telekinetically floating rocks, Cyclops' glasses, and an unconscious Jean. Cyclops himself is nowhere to be found. Xavier explains that when Jean sacrificed herself, she unleashed the powerful alternate personality she calls "Phoenix". Wolverine is disgusted to learn that Xavier has kept Jean in check telepathically, but when Jean awakens, he realizes she is not the Jean Grey he knew. Jean pleads with Wolverine to kill her, but when he refuses, the Phoenix surfaces and knocks out Wolverine, before escaping to her childhood home.
Magneto, alerted by Callisto to the presence of an immeasurably strong and powerful mutant, realizes that it must be Jean Grey. Magneto and his allies are already at Jean's childhood home when Xavier and his X-Men arrive. The two men vie for Jean's loyalty until the Phoenix resurfaces. She destroys her family's house, disintegrates Xavier, and leaves with Magneto.
The X-Men regroup to confront Magneto's army, despite being significantly outnumbered. Magneto has diverted the Golden Gate Bridgeto provide access to Alcatraz Island, the location of Worthington Labs facility. The military troops defending the facility are armed with plastic "cure weapons" able to neutralize the attacking mutants, and non-metallic to counter Magneto's powers. Magneto lets the lesser-powered mutants charge ahead, with heavy initial losses, but then they rapidly begin to overwhelm the troops. The X-Men's Wolverine, Storm, BeastIceman, Colossus and Kitty Pryde arrive to battle Magneto and his troops.
During the fight, Beast injects Magneto with the cure, nullifying his powers. Meanwhile, Kitty has entered the facility to find Jimmy, who is the source of the cure and saves him from the murderous Juggernaut. They escape as Army reinforcements arrive, only to be obliterated by Phoenix, lashing out with her power and destroying everything around her including the lab itself. Wolverine realizes that due to his self-healing power, he is the only one who can approach her. He tells Storm to evacuate everyone and faces Phoenix alone, his power barely neutralizing the destructive nature of her disintegration attack. Jean, momentarily gaining control, begs Wolverine to save her. Telling Jean he loves her, Wolverine forces himself to stab her, killing her, and, in her dying moments, Jean turns back to normal, smiles at him, and dies. Wolverine weeps over her dead body in his arms in the middle of the devastated island.
The school continues without Xavier, with Storm now as headmistress and Logan as a teacher. The US president appoints Beast as ambassador to the United Nations, Rogue returns, telling Iceman she has taken the cure and the two hold hands skin-to-skin.
In the epilogue, Magneto sits alone at a chessboard in a San Francisco park. He gestures forlornly towards the queen, causing it to tilt slightly.
In a post-credits scene, Dr. Moira MacTaggert checks on a comatose patient who greets her with Xavier's voice. Startled, she replies, "Charles?"

The door is now open with Days Of Future Past to suddenly allow the franchise to recon the entire movie or to show this one as an alternative Earth.
What does this mean for your PCs? With the power to move between the various Earths suddenly the world of the X movies becomes open for the possibilities of adventurers coming into the various time lines.
 This opens the field up for William Bill Stryker to make an appearance. 
Stryker has had appearances in Xmen God Loves,Man Kills, The Ultimates universe, And even Age of Apocalypse.
You can find out more about him right
HERE 
Danny Houston summed up Stryker quite well in an interview.
Wiki speaks about it thus : 
"This is a younger version of Stryker. Huston liked the complex Stryker, who "both loves and hates mutants because his son was a mutant and drove his wife to suicide. So he understands what they're going through, but despises their [destructive] force." He compared the character to a racehorse breeder, who rears his mutant experiments like children but abandons them when something goes wrong. " 

You can bet that William Stryker will be playing a major role in the new Days of Future Past and the formation of the Sentinels.
He might also act as the bedrock of evil  for many different worlds as the fulcrum that allows the Days Of Future Past Alternative Timeline to come about.
 
Could Stryker actually be the deciding blip that changes it all? Could the evil wrought in X three disappear as a dream?
Well it just might in your campaign world! 

2 comments:

  1. Great write-up for my favorite superhero RPG!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've got more Marvel Super Heroes Rpg merry madness coming up soon!
    Nuff said!
    Thanks for the comment!

    ReplyDelete

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