Supers Of Safari City

A SWADE game of Zootopian supers

This is a game of supers set in a world of anthropomorphic animals inspired by Zootopia, BNA, and DC/Marvel. It follows a ragtag team of misfit supers who must band together and work their way up to becoming one of the major superhero teams in a massive city populated by hundreds of species of animals, where strange adventure lurks around every corner.

GMed by IMGoose

Our Heroes

Warpig, warthog blaster/teleporter, played by Talisman

The Gay Blade, fox masked vigilante, played by Elfwine

Gila Monstrosity, Gila monster brick, played by Mark Twain

Jack Frost, donkey elementalist (ice), played by Gaius of Xor

The Amazing Chromato, chameleon illusionist, played by Leliel

Samuel Bandit, raccoon sorcerer, played by Donan

X-12, elephant cyborg, played by Aurebesh

SWADE Charsheet

Setting Intro

"Safari City. What a beautiful melting pot we call home. Just the other day I was out for a walk saw a lion, a tiger and a bear doing some yoga together in the park while a bunch of old gazelle ladies went galloping past on their morning run. Can you believe that? Where else in the world can you see so many species living together in such harmony? Hell, where else in the world could I find joints that do reasonably priced rodent, canine and lizard cuisine all on the same street?

Oh yeah, you're probably wondering why the rent is so low if this city is so great. Well, when a city is this big, and is such a beacon of peace and harmony, it tends to attract...attention. From supervillains. Lots of 'em. Just last week I was trying to drive to work when some skunk with a bad attitude and the power to spray acidic gas decided to hold up the traffic. He was ranting and raving and demanding one trillion dollars or he was gonna melt half the city, the usual stuff. His stink was so bad I could smell it from a hundred yards away. Thought my fur was gonna fall out.

It's not all bad. Where there's villains there's heroes. That skunk was only making a ruckus for a few minutes before a couple of members of Alpha Pride showed up to take him down. Nah, wasn't Ultra-Mane, it was Horsepower and Warwolf. The big guy was probably off doing something important. I tell ya, that Warwolf really needs to sort out his anger issues. He almost ripped that skunk a new one with his titanium claws. The fight was really cool, though. Adds some excitement to your morning commute.

Anyway, if we lived anywhere else in the world, that would have been headline news. Here? That's just another Tuesday morning."

Our heroes live on the planet Theria, a world very much like our Earth except humans never existed. Instead, one hundred thousand years ago it was visited by beings known only as the Precursors who uplifted many of the local lifeforms into intelligent beings known as Higher Animals (lower animals still exist, in case you’re wondering where the beef in your burger comes from). Over time the Higher Animals formed tribes, then kingdoms, then entire nations that developed advanced technology similar to 21st-century Earth.

Safari City (also known as the Concrete Jungle) is the largest and most diverse city on the planet, home to nearly 40 million souls and capital of the United Animal Nations. A bustling hub of commerce, science and industry, it’s inhabitants of all species live together in harmony - except for the frequent attacks by supervillains.

All Higher Animals possess the alpha-gene, a remnant of the Precursors’ meddling that occasionally activates and grants an individual super powers. Over time the number of individuals with powers has exploded, sometimes due to attempts to deliberately activate the alpha-gene, sometimes due to the byproducts of mad science or mysticism leaking into the populace, and sometimes due to random chance.

While some individuals or nefarious groups have tried to use these powers for their own gain, others have dedicated their lives to using their powers responsibly and helping others. Safari City is home to many of these superheroes and many of them have banded together into teams. The most famous team is Alpha Pride, led by the mighty lion superhero Ultra-Mane and consisting of seven of the world’s strongest heroes.

Most teams of heroes are much less famous however, and there are many smaller teams just trying to make a name for themselves - which is where our PCs come in.

Known NPCs

Supers

Alpha Pride – the greatest hero team in the world, comprised of seven of the most accomplished superheroes ever. Headquartered in the Tower of Heroes in the middle of Safari City, they are usually travelling all over Theria or into space tackling major threats – but they can occasionally be seen patrolling the streets of the city.

• Ultra-Mane: A lion with the powers of flight, super-strength, energy projection and incredible durability. Generally considered the strongest hero in the world, his secret identity is unknown.

• Warwolf: Real name Lupus Fang, a wolf who was subjected to a top-secret super-soldier project, possesses titanium bonded to his skeleton and greatly enhanced strength and reflexes. Is rumoured to have an entire team of therapists for his anger issues.

• Horsepower: Horse with super-speed powers. Real name Boris Stallsky, an Olympic runner whose alpha-gene kicked in during the 200 meter sprint at the Global Animal Games, literally tearing up the track.

• The Queen of Blades: A crane wielding an enchanted katana, said to be able to cut through diamonds. Real name Aiko Kuren, rumoured to be an immortal swordmistress who has been fighting evil for hundreds of years.

• Mistweaver: A dolphin with psychic powers. Real name Tethyca Aquarius, princess of an undersea kingdom, she has powers of telepathy, telekinesis, and intangibility.

• BUN-E: Robotic hare constructed by a famed scientist who passed away shortly after. Hyper-intelligent and able to hack into virtually any system.

• Nightrunner: A shadowy lizard hero with no powers, but lots of money. Provides a lot of the funding for the Alpha Pride in between using ninja training and gadgets to fight crime.

Power Pups – a team of five teenaged canine superheroes that moonlight as a pop musical act.

The Mage Masters – a circle of sorcerers who protect the city and the rest of the world from mystical threats from the Arcane Realms.

W.I.L.D – A clandestine spy agency that fields a team of reformed supervillains. Said to work in the shadows to support the efforts of superheroes.

Civilians

Mayor Sheldon Greene – The mayor of Safari city. Very old but also very wise, is unusually concerned with the common citizen for a politician.

Nat Gnawly – Highly popular mouse journalist and social media star, tends to get far to close to the action to report on superheroics around the city.

Known Locations

Towers of Heroes – a massive tower in the middle of the city, headquarters of the Alpha Pride. Also serves as something of a headquarters for all superheroes in the city.

Archimedes University – The main centre of higher learning and scientific research for animals in the city. Has a sign outside stating how many days since the last rift in the time-space continuum.

Wolf Street – a region of the city dominated by skyscrapers full of massive banks, stock exchanges and investment firms. Frequent target of supervillain attacks.

The Sea District – a partially-submerged part of the city, home to most of it’s aquatic inhabitants. A rich and glitzy part of the city full of casinos and nightclubs, but seems to attract frequent sea monster attacks.

The Reserve – a large natural park at the edge of the city, home to many lower animals and beautiful landscapes. Popular location for denizens of the city to go camping and get back to nature.

The Undercity – a labyrinthine network of tunnels and underground spaces where species that prefer subterranean spaces prefer to dwell. A lot of supervillains also like to make their lairs in it’s deepest levels.

Setting Rules

Born A Hero Heroes may ignore the Rank qualifications for Edges during character creation. They must still meet any other Requirements as usual. The usual rules for Rank Requirements apply afterward.

Fast Healing Wild Cards make natural healing rolls once per day instead of every five days (or once per hour if the race has Regeneration). Bumps & Bruises: Wild Cards recover one level of Fatigue from Bumps & Bruises (page 125) every four hours instead of the usual 24.

Heroes Never Die Heroes in movies very rarely die. When they do, they go down fighting or perform one last, epic act of heroism. With this rule in play, Wild Cards who are Incapacitated from a damage roll make a Vigor roll as usual but treat Critical Failures as regular failures and ignore the rules for Bleeding Out. How a hero might survive what should be certain death is a chance to get creative. An adventurer who falls from a towering cliff, for example, might land in a pool of water or crash through the branches of a forest far below. If the situation is particularly heroic or if it serves as a major story point, the GM and player can decide the character perishes. A hero who confronts a massive demon on a crumbling bridge, for example, might take the fiend with him with his final blow.

More Skill Points Thanks to technology and improved education, characters in modern and futuristic settings have 15 skill points at character creation rather than 12. This helps them take Driving, Electronics, and other skills common in the modern world.

No Power Points Instead of using Power Points, characters with Arcane Backgrounds simply choose the power they want to activate and make an arcane skill roll. The penalty to the roll is the power’s total cost in Power Points (base cost plus all Modifiers), divided by 2. Round up. Casting protection (1 point) with More Armor (+1) and the Hurry modifier (+1), for example, has a cost of 3 Power Points. Half rounded up is 2. Success means the power activates as usual. A raise grants any additional bonuses stated in its description. Failure means all current powers are canceled and the caster is Shaken. Critical Failure results in Backlash (page 151). Maintaining Powers: Characters can maintain those powers that allow it as long as desired, but each one maintained inflicts a −1 to all further arcane skill rolls. Power Preparation: A caster may prepare powers by concentrating for an entire round (no movement or other actions and must not be Shaken or Stunned). If successful, he ignores 2 points of penalties on all powers cast on his next turn. If he does not enact any powers on his next turn, the preparation is lost.

Character Creation

All characters start at rank Novice with the Arcane Background edge of their choice, although if you desire to play a non-powered super you can swap this out for another edge for free.

As No Power Points is in play, all characters start with 2 powers regardless of Arcane Background.

Each character may also pick racial abilities based on whichever species they may be - if two characters are of the same species they can still have different abilities, explained by their powers altering their respective anatomies.

Starting funds are $300 unless affected by hindrances/edges.