DOGFACES Rule Alterations

PLAYING THE ROLES

WORLD WAR II

The central and defining event is the Second World War. Following the declaration of war, their prime adversaries were Nazi and Japanese super-soldiers (as well as fifth-columnists and saboteurs). The presence of super-powered champions on both the Axis and Allied sides of the war accounts for the fact that the war follows much the same course as in our world. The usual assumption is Allied and Axis super-soldiers counter each other, so the war follows pretty close to the real world.

IRON AGE

The Iron Age or “Dark Age” of comics began sometime in the 1980s. It’s characterized by a shift away from the bright colors and simple themes of the Silver Age toward more mature, often violent and explicit, stories and characters. In particular, the Iron Age features a rise in vigilante heroes far more willing (if not eager) to kill their opponents. It finds echoes in Hollywood action-adventure films featuring exaggerated gunplay, violence, and sexuality.

SHADES OF GRAY

A key element is the often morally ambiguous nature of heroes and villains. Sometimes it’s difficult to draw a clear line between the two. For example, in the Silver Age, a hero whose family is murdered devotes himself to bringing criminals to justice, and is sworn never to kill, since that makes him no better than the scum he fights. In the Iron Age, the same origin creates a vigilante hero who swears to wreck bloody vengeance against all criminals. He does what the law cannot, because the system is flawed and corrupt, gunning down criminals and fighting villains to the death. The moral ambiguity extends beyond just violence. It touches upon other issues like drug use, sexuality, personal problems, and heroes making money off their powers. Some heroes are mercenaries, doing their job for pay. Others are ruthless businesspeople, cashing in on their costumed identities with licensing deals and personal appearances. The setting should reflect these more complex and adult issues.

LONE WOLVES

The heroes of the Iron Age were often solo acts, lone avengers on a personal quest. Since most Mutants & Masterminds games are group experiences, you may need to play down this aspect of the Iron Age. Fortunately, Iron Age heroes did occasionally band together into teams, albeit more loosely organized than the superhero teams of the Silver Age. Iron Age teams were often modeled on police or military special operations units rather than a crime-fighting “league.” Team members still occasionally struck out on their own, especially when dealing with personal matters they preferred to keep to themselves.

BLACK OPS

Many characters and stories adopted a paramilitary style. Instead of superheroes, characters were “special operatives” often working for a government, corporation, or organization. Elements of the espionage and action-adventure genres seeped into the comics. Costumes tended to be less flashy, more body armor and camouflage, military-style jumpsuits. Characters often adopted military attitudes, ranks, and backgrounds. Iron Age villains also took on a more practical and political tone. Terrorists of various stripes became common, along with gangsters and druglords (reflecting the 1980s “War on Drugs”). Villains were more likely to be found in boardrooms and they controlled international networks of influence. Solo villains were often psychotic serial killers and similar monsters.

GUNS, GUNS, GUNS!

Heroes like guns, and lots of them. Even some heroes who didn’t particularly need guns carried and used them. These were real guns, too, not Silver Age “blasters,” guns loaded with “mercy bullets,” or similar science-fiction weapons, but guns firing live ammo (preferably armor-piercing and at full-auto). In addition to guns, other lethal weapons are common, including swords, knives, and various martial arts weapons, especially shuriken, sais, katana, and nunchaku. Some characters have high-tech or magical versions of these weapons, but more often they are simply mundane tools of bloody violence wielded by expert hands.

HUMAN HEROES

The heroes have feet of clay. While many Silver Age heroes were given foibles, they truly come to the fore. Rather than just heroes who bicker amongst themselves, for example, there are heroes dealing with serious problems like alcoholism, drug use, and racism. Heroes are portrayed as people, who sometimes make mistakes or have flaws they need to overcome. This creates plenty of opportunities for complications (see Complications, page 122). Heroes can have martial and relationship problems, dark personal secrets, struggles between their heroic and super identities, and battles between conscience and duty. A particular issue for patriotic heroes is increasing cynicism toward patriotism and national loyalty in general.

SOCIAL ISSUES

Comics began to deal with some of the issues forbidden by the Comics Code by handling them in what was considered a helpful way, offering positive role-models for young readers. For example, the comics addressed the issue of drug abuse by clearly portraying it as something bad. So long as it wasn’t glorified, the Code didn’t pose any problems (particularly since it was largely self-enforced anyway). The major social issues of the 1970s and ‘80s all showed up in the comics to one degree or another. Among the most popular were:

• Women’s Rights: Feminist heroines and empowered women became more common. Female heroes made it clear they weren’t going to serve solely as “secretaries” to hero teams and they were just as capable as any male hero, if not more so. Female villains often had enough of male-domination and were prepared to serve it up in spades. Stories ranged from serious issues of discrimination to campy “battles of the sexes” where empowered heroines who’d had enough fought it out with their male counterparts (usually under some sort of villainous influence).
• Black Power: Minority heroes—notably black heroes—become more common, although it was all but required for such heroes to have the word “Black” in their names. Such heroes were often angry crusaders for equal rights as well as justice for all.
• Substance Abuse: Drug and alcohol abuse, previously forbidden by the Comics Code, became issues. Heroes fell victim to the “demon in a bottle,” and were forced to deal with the consequences, or discovered their young wards were addicts, much as unsuspecting parents were forced to deal with children on drugs. In later years, the “War on Drugs” became a common theme, and drug-dealers common foes for street-level heroes. Some heroes even gained their powers from accidents involving designer drugs, echoing some of the deliberate “super-serum” heroes of the Golden Age, some of whom discovered they had a drug problem stemming from the source of their powers.
• Youth Empowerment: From the flower children of the 1960s to the “Me Generation” of the 1980s, comics featured more young people who weren’t just loyal sidekicks of older mentors, but full-fledged heroes in their own right. Often, the younger generation had a new way of doing things, and they were looking for independence from their elders.
• Multinationalism: Following the trends of minority-rights, comics in the later years began to introduce more heroes and villains from nations outside North America. Often they were simply guest-stars, but some comics included regular foreign characters, with different cultural backgrounds. Comics also took place outside of North American cities and went to other places on Earth.

LEATHER & LATEX

Just as guns became fashion accessories for the well-dressed hero or villain, costumes in the Iron Age took on a more “mature” appearance. Tight-fitting leather, with as many straps and buckles as possible, or formfitting latex or spandex became common. Various sorts of body armor showed up (to protect against all those guns) and costumes had a paramilitary style to them: jumpsuits, bandoliers, web-belts, combat boots, and so forth, were common elements. Sunglasses, goggles, and helmets often replaced masks, and heroes as well as villains sport tattoos, piercings, and other body-art.

NINJA!

The Iron Age of comics saw a fascination with martial arts, ninja in particular: dark clad assassins wielding almost mystical powers of stealth. Rogue ninjas became vigilante heroes while villains often sent ninja minions or lieutenants against the heroes. A common archetype was the westerner trained in the secret ninja arts (who then almost always turns against ninja tradition to become a hero). Rivalries between student and teacher or former fellow students provided conflict for heroes and villains. Any Iron Age team worth its salt had at least one ninja-like member (if not several).

FANTASTIC FRONTIERS

Many heroes are explorers by nature, blazing trails into new frontiers. These exotic places often hold danger, for the heroes and the world.

• Lost Worlds include isolated plateaus where dinosaurs still roam (and maybe hunt primitive tribes of humans). Living examples of dead civilizations like ancient Greeks, Romans, Aztecs, or Mayans may still exist, and could have technology (or magic) in advance of their ancestors, or even the modern world.
• Hidden Civilizations are sources of heroes and villains. Cities hidden in isolated places like the Himalayas, Antarctica, or the bottom of the ocean are home to offshoots of the human race. Sunken cities like Atlantis and Lemuria are common in the comics, inhabited by aquatic or mer-people. Perhaps legendary cities like Shangri-La, El Dorado, Lyonesse, and Brigadoon exist in one form or another. You can decide just how well hidden these civilizations are, what the inhabitants are like, and what adventure possibilities they offer.
• Fantastic Dimensions range from abstract places like the astral plane and the dimension of darkness (or similar conceptual dimensions) to parallel Earths where history took a different course. Heroes can use Dimensional Movement to reach these dimensions, while their inhabitants might do the same to reach Earth.

REALISTIC POWERS

Super-powers in the Iron Age were often treated more realistically than before. Writers sought to power-down many characters and offer at least somewhat reasonable explanations for the fantastic powers of others. More importantly, they explored many of the consequences of such powers, beyond using them to fight crime and injustice. What did it really mean to be a god among mortals, an alien among humans? Generally, the realistic implications of powers made them more lethal. After all, strength sufficient to lift tons should easily smash flesh and bone. Laser beams able to melt steel inflict horrible burns, and so forth. Gamemasters looking to capture an Iron Age feel should ratchet up the realism and lethality of the campaign in general.

HIGH AND LOW LETHALITY

Mutants & Masterminds is set up so attacks generally do nonlethal damage, which never seriously hurts characters. Even the most powerful nonlethal attack can’t do anything more than knock you out, so heroes and villains can pound on each other all day long without any serious effects. The occasional lethal attack seems that much more dangerous by comparison, although many heroes have high enough Fortitude and Toughness save values to avoid the worst effects of lethal attacks. Some games, however, particularly those with a more grim and gritty style, may call for a different approach. In these games, lethal attacks are the norm and the default is to have all super-powers do lethal damage. Characters are much more likely to end up disabled or even dead in combat, and a high Toughness saving throw is vital to help characters survive. Minions don’t get knocked out. They die by the dozens in various spectacular ways. Effects like Healing and Regenerate become very important for keeping heroes alive in high-lethality games. On the other side of the coin is the low-lethality series in which characters almost never suffer serious injury and nobody really dies. In this case the lethal attack option (see page 163) isn’t available. Therefore the worst that can happen in combat is getting knocked unconscious. This may strain some players’ suspension of disbelief, however, and make certain types of characters inappropriate for the game. Like style of play, the Gamemaster should explain to players in advance if a series is high or low lethality so they know what to expect and can create their heroes accordingly.
Readers will note that the rules in Mutants & Masterminds reflect the “reality” of the world of the comic books, not the real world (where people can’t fly under their own power or bend steel in their bare hands). For example, is it realistic that someone able to bench press a tank doesn’t put his fist right through normal people when he hits them? Is it realistic that a man (no matter how strong) can pick up a building without it collapsing under its own weight? Of course not, but that’s the way it works in the comics. The same is true of many other super-powers that violate physical laws as we know them. The goal of Mutants & Masterminds isn’t to rigorously simulate the real effects of super-human strength or heat beams capable of melting steel, it’s to simulate how these things work for comic book superheroes.
To inject more realism into your Mutants & Masterminds game, however, keep the following tips in mind:

HERO POINTS

HERO POINTS will function as normal rules, for awarding and spending. They will reset at the beginning of each "story arc" (1-5 game sessions). Carried over session to session until then. With these additions...

EXTRAORDINARY EFFORT

Extra effort and hero points allow characters to accomplish a lot. However, there are those times when even extra effort isn't enough and extraordinary effort is called for. In these cases, you may wish to use the following option. Once per adventure (more or less at the GM's discretion) a player can decide to use extraordinary effort. The player may spend any or all of the remaining hero points as well as up to three fatigue results (which renders a normal character unconscious). These can apply to any of their normal uses, and the benefits stack. So a hero who uses extraordinary effort, expending three hero points and suffering two fatigue results, can apply five levels of extra effort to a task. The player cannot spend hero points (if there are any remaining) to offset the fatigue from extraordinary effort.

LAST-DITCH EFFORT

This option goes beyond even extraordinary effort (previously): in addition to all the effects of extraordinary effort, characters can also suffer damage from pushing beyond the limits of their abilities. The progression is staggered, disabled, unconscious, dying, dead; each grants an additional level of extra effort. This extra effort can be combined with hero points and the expenditure of fatigue levels as desired. So a hero could gain up to five additional levels, but it means the character dies at the end of the effort. Last-ditch effort is usually reserved for truly dramatic situations where the heroes sacrifice all in order to succeed.

LETHAL ATTACK DEFAULT

The default given in M&M is to allow any attack to inflict non-lethal or lethal damage, depending on the attacker’s intent. In this campaign most attacks and super power attacks will be considered lethal. Most ranged attacks, most melee weapon attacks, and any attacks using Enhanced or Super Strength of +5 and above. Situations may vary and will be handled case-by-case when needed.

SLOW RECOVERY

Characters in Mutants & Masterminds recover from damage and injury fairly quickly. In a more realistic game, characters may recover slower, say an hour for bruised, a day for injured, 20 minutes for unconscious and a week for disabled. This means injuries put characters out of action for longer and players will likely go to greater lengths to avoid them.

INSTANT DEATH

At the GM’s option, a Toughness saving throw against lethal damage that fails by 20 or more can result in immediate death, rather than changing the character’s condition to dying. This is suitable for campaigns with more realistic lethal damage; such massive damage is almost certain to kill poorly protected or unlucky characters. The players can, of course, still spend hero points to improve such poor Toughness saves.

MISCELLANIOUS

LETHAL KNOCKBACK

For greater realism, lethal attacks use only half their damage bonus when determining knockback. This reflects that lethal attacks tend to have less overall “push” compared to nonlethal attacks.

TOUGHER MINIONS

A failed Toughness save normally leaves a minion unconscious or dead. In this campaign, (some) minions suffer only a stunned result from a failed Toughness save and must fail by 5 or more to be rendered unconscious or dead. This allows for occasions when heroes merely stun minions with an attack and makes minions a bit more difficult to take out in combat. Some minions are supposed to be a bit more of a threat.

TACTICAL MOVEMENT

Mutants & Masterminds combat is fairly freeform in terms of character movement. Using the basic M&M rules, but characters with movement powers can easily go anywhere in the map in a single move action! This does not suit a tactical style; in this case, this campaign implements the following. Characters have three modes of movement under the tactical variant: normal, accelerated, and all-out. These are the same for most characters (30 feet, 60 feet, and 120 feet). The difference is for movement powers. The power’s movement rank becomes its all-out movement. Its normal movement is 30 feet, plus 5 feet per rank, and its accelerated movement is twice that, 60 feet plus 10 feet per rank. So a character with Flight 6 has a normal tactical movement of 60 feet ((6 x 5) + 30), accelerated movement of 120 feet, and allout movement of 500 MPH.

HOW FAR CAN YOUR CHARACTER MOVE?

Generally, you can move your speed in a round (as a move action) and still do something, such as making an attack. You can move double your speed as a full action (two move actions). If you move all out (also a full action), you can quadruple your movement rate or more, but lose your dodge bonus to Defense. If you do something else requiring a full action, you can only take a 5-foot step. Encumbrance: A character carrying a large amount of additional weight moves slower than normal (see Carrying Capacity in the Abilities chapter of M&M).

FLIGHT DRAWBACKS

As a halfway option between using the Flight Maneuverability system and not using it at all, this campaign takes elements of maneuverability into optional drawbacks for the Flight power, as follows: As a default, Flight has essentially perfect maneuverability. Limitations of a flier’s maneuverability are handled as drawbacks, with the usual requirement that the total value in drawbacks cannot equal the Flight power’s cost (that is, cannot reduce its effective cost below 1 power point). The following drawbacks are each worth –1 point.

• Minimum Speed: You must fly no less than half your maximum speed or you stall and begin falling. You can restart your Flight power as a move action unless other circumstances prevent it (including other drawbacks).
• Forward Only: You cannot back up while flying; you can only fly ahead.
• Wide Turns: You cannot execute a greater than 45 degree turn per move action while flying, although you can slow your flying speed while turning, if you wish.
• Runway Required: You need a level runway to take off and land. You can’t take off or land vertically or hover.

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DOGFACES