[DitV] Golden Age - A Superhero DitV Variant

[Ranxerox]

Okay, here is an idea that I had for a DitV mod. Since, I haven't had an opportunity to playtest it, please take everything here with a large dose of salt.  Comments and suggestions are welcomed

Golden Age

Concept:  While fighting the villain TimeMaster a group of 1940s superheroes is transported to the distant future year of 2012.  Then TimeMaster dies before he can take them back to their own time, leaving the heroes to adapt to the strangeness that is 2012.  As a variant on a variant TimeMaster can take a group of present day superheroes back to the 1940s (or earlier).

Characters:  Player Characters have 18d6 to divide among the 4 standard DitV Stats;  a; 2d4 3d6 2d8 in Relationship Dice; 5d6 in Super Dice.

Stat Dice and Trait Dice are largely unchanged from DitV.

Relationship Dice:  Each character should have a relationship with the time from which they came.  This relationship can be a complicating factor for the character or a source of strength but it is inescapable.  Characters can also have relationships with causes and beliefs and also with long lived individual who span the gap from the 1940s to the present.  However, as with DitV most of a character's relationship dice should be left open.

Super Dice:  Super Dice are used to represent any super powers, super skills or super equipment that the character possesses.  Examples might include super strength, flight, invulnerability, ray gun or mysterious fighting arts of Far East.

The exact in game effect of a super power, super skill or piece of super equipment is something negotiated between the player and the GM.  However, GMs are encouraged to any allow any effect that is consistent with the comic book genre that will not break the campaign. 

The super powers, skills and equipment is not determined by the Super Dice associated with the power.  A player can choose to have multiple Super Dice or dice of different sizes than d6s associated with a power but this just determines how many and what size dice are added to the characters dice pool when the power is used during conflict resolution.  Therefore, a character with 3d6 invulnerability is not anymore invulnerable than a character with 1d6 invulnerability.  She does, however, get to add 3d6 instead of 1d6 to her conflict dice pool when she uses her invulnerability during a conflict.

While players start out with a group of six-sided dice to represent their characters super abilities, they have the option of changing one or more of those dice to four-sided dice to represent a power or powers that for whatever reason(s) does not confer much advantage during conflict.  Perhaps the power comes  with substantial limitations or using it comes with negative side effects.  Powers can be made more effective in conflict resolution by adding dice to the power or increasing the size of Super Dice.  Multiple dice can be assigned to a super ability at character creation, but dice size increase can only happen through fallout.

Super Abilities and Fallout:  It is common feature with super powers for the power user to be able to call what size Fallout Dice the power inflicts at the time of  using the power.  Heroes generally call d6s Fallout on unprotected normal people.  Superheroes and supervillains frequently have powers or equipment that limit the damage they take in Fallout – invulnerability, tough, powered armor, "it just grazed me".

NPCs: Normal people typically have 12 to 14d6 Stat Dice and 3d6 Trait Dice.  Modern superheroes and supervillains typically have 16d6 Stat Dice (2d6 less than Golden Age characters); 7d6 Super Dice (2d6 more than Golden Age characters; and  1d4 3d6 2d8 in Trait Dice.

Storytelling:  This is superhero role-playing and the characters should get plenty of opportunities to do good deeds, defeat supervillains, solve problems by creatively using their powers, and occasionally save the world. 

However, the meat of the story is the characters efforts to adjust to the present day.  Getting use to modern technology is a mountain to climb over, but getting use to the changes in culture between the 1940s and the present day (or the reverse if you choose that variant) is a continent to cross.  Some things that were accepted and even expected behavior in the 40s are now considered sexist, racist, homophobic or religiously intolerant behavior.  On the other hand, many things that are acceptable today to the eyes of someone from the 1940s are likely to seem base, crude, unchivalrous, immoral, rude or needlessly cold and uncaring.

Golden Age, as one might expect, is structured like a comic book with adventures revolving around this supervillain or that alien/mystic/mad science threat rather than the town to town structure of DitV.  Consequently, job of representing the moral challenges that the characters are dealing with falls to the NPCs.  Characters may find themselves sympathizing the motives if not the methods of some supervillains they encounter.  There are likely to be things about some modern heroes that they find themselves fighting along side of that are hard to reconcile with.  Some normals that they find themselves be called upon rescue might not seem worth rescuing.  These sorts of dilemmas will give rise to social conflicts between characters and NPCs which will in turn define where the characters adapt to modern times and where they stand their ground.