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Campaign
Description:
Defenders of New Zealand is
six character, moderately powerful campaign, in which the the characters
will be the heroes of an entire (small) country. There will be
investigation as well as combat. The characters have been elevated
beyond the level they would have achieved on their own, and this should
show in character development. Importance
of the Player Characters:
The Defenders of New Zealand
are just that. They are responsible for defending an entire country.
They're are not high powered, but they are the best where they are.
Villains and Tane will be the only more powerful characters encountered,
except in unusual circumstances...
World
Description:
The Global Guardians Universe is a four-color comic book world
full of larger than life characters. Technology is more
advanced that the real world, and magic is real. Aliens
and creatures of legend roam the earth.
The Story So Far:
Since the dawming of
the Age of Superhumans, the Mighty Heroes of the British Empire
defended all the colonies equally, with no bias. The smaller
nations were poor targets for Supercriminal activity; they had
less resources but just as many superheroes as the larger
countries in the Empire. In this time the colony of New Zealand
contributed one or two heroes at a time, who generally moved to
the United Kingdom or the United States once they were no longer
needed by the Empire.
This kept New Zealand secure, safe even in the World Wars
from metahuman danger. But it was not war, but peace, that was
to pose the greatest danger to the small island nation...
The year 1948 saw the cost of colonies become too great for the
struggling British Empire. An act of Parliament dissolved the ties
between New Zealand and the Motherland. This left New Zealand unguarded
militarily and in terms of Metahuman defense. A series of hasty
alliances solved the first problem, but the second seemed insoluble. New
Zealand no longer had heroes, and a call of recall to ex-patriated
Heroes of the Empire was not answered.
Except by one man. Tane. When the government attempted to negotiate
terms with him, he organized a demonstration. Every other candidate was
lined up for a 'Field Training Exercise', and challenged to defeat him,
even working together. They didn't see him between when he finished that
statement, and when he gently brought them back to consciousness.
By the third such demonstration, it was clear to all that they needed
Tane. He seemed closer to a force of nature than a man, and for good
reason. He was a demi-god, a half-Maori sorceror and descendant of Tane,
God of the Forests. His power was not wholly native however. Privately,
he has made clear to officials that he had also been taught by his
Pakeha (white) father in some form of Western mysticism.
Tane never made a great claim to fame. He was almost uniformaly
successful, with only three super-crimes taking place on his watch. A
watch that lasted 25 years, all of it solo. Tane never even took an
apprentice. He didn't need to. He looks the same today as he did 55
years ago. Well, except for one small detail...
The year 1973, was the end of his time as sole guardian. A strange
shape appeared out of the sky, falling to the ground on the road in
Auckland city, just next to present site of the Sky Tower. A metallic,
gleaming human form fell to the ground, smashing through the ground,
burying itself completely. It broke free of the concrete, and dusted
itself off. Standing up, it was a fearsome figure. A diabolic figure,
over two meters tall, humanoid but possessed of crow's wings and a razor
sharp beak. Tane instantly appeared in the Domain, and flew from there
to the site of the creature's arrival. The battle between these two
beings would be long to describe. Suffice it to say that the
'robot-devil-bird' was reduced to slag and fragments of flesh, and the
Great Tane was left a cripple, unable to move his legs and covered in
scars. Tane muttered a curse, in Maori, that echoed like thunder... All
in the city heard of his anger at the machine that had come to end a
life, and knew what he had meant.
This panicked goverment officials. The Minister of Paranormal
Affairs, long considered worthless, consulted the archives
half-heartedly established under Tane's protectorship, searching for
records of any New Zealand Citizens who might possess powers. The man of
the moment rose to the occasion, uncovering a dozen candidates. Tane
tutored them from a wheelchair as quickly as he could. Training
exercises were in plentiful supply, as they soon faced thrice their
number in imported paranormal criminals. Teamwork and training triumphed
over the greedy, disorganized rabble. For a brief time, pride in
Disciples eclipsed that for the All-blacks. The black DOT became a
national icon.
This feat is all the more impressive when the narrowness of their
powers is taken into account. The two most powerful members of the team
was Horse, who had simply been a man with the physical power of a
Clydesdale, and the Team Leader Voltine, of the electric touch. Creative
use of magic gave them their edge, an edge sorely needed when facing the
hardened, experienced criminals they defeated in their first year.
This model has been kept to for the past 27 years. After the first
six of the original Disciples retired, Tane has always insisted on a
half dozen Disciples; no more, no less. He trains others, but they are
never activated until one of the six retires or is killed (this has
happened once; cancer). Tane's criteria to activate a Disciple are
unknown, but are not based on experience, or power. When asked, he
simply smiles, shakes his head, and looks to the sky.
Local Relations:
The Defenders of New Zealand (DoNZ) are treated essentially like a
combination of sport stars and police officers. This is appropriate, as
they are what they are through a combination of 'talent' and training,
and this is well known. Ordinary citizens press for autographs. As a
Government agency, DoNZ is called upon frequently for help, which helps
their image furthur. The Defenders do have more privacy than superheroes
in other countries do; probably something in the national character.
This is not to say that people do not dig for dirt; just that only the
minority of reporters do. Double lives have been maintained by several
previous members of the Defenders; Horse and Voltine for example.
Morality: While
less encumbered by regulations than standard law enforcement, the
Defenders are, simply put, under orders. They are expected to be
rational, and not use excessive force. Individual morality should be
high enough to pass inspection by telepathic probing.
The campaign will be four-colour enough for this to not be
impossible, although sometimes decisions will be hard.
Realism: Strong,
but not overwhelming. This is still superheroes, even if it is more
realistic than some. Characters won't die unless they show themselves to
be too stupid to live or are going out in a blaze of glory. How you
role-play the character will do a great deal to determine the realism of
the game, so please put some soul into your characters.
Outlook: Generally
positive. DoNZ still feels like the 'Invincibles'; there has yet to be a
significant failure. Things will go wrong for darker moments, but things
should usually get better.
Seriousness: This
game is not a comedic look on superheroing. Serious harm can befall the
characters, although in the spirit of the comics, it will not be
permanently fatal. The world around them will be hurt by any serious
mistakes, but impact will be minimized in logical ways.
Continuity:
The game will be entirely
serial. Player actions in one scenario will have effects on later
scenarios, and continuity will be enforced. Adventures will move
linearly through time, bad guys will remember who you are and what you
did to them, and there will be public record of activities. |
