Earth-218

I never set out to create a shared universe for the campaigns that I run. I simply started introducing Player Characters from previous stories as NPCs out of, well, basic laziness. Still, the opportunities this has provided speak for themselves considering that nearly all of the characters in my current campaign have come from these previous stories. Everything up to this point has been leading to a crossover that ties my D&D campaigns in with the “modern” settings will happen on Earth-218 - a world where DC and Marvel characters both exist (and is home to the Marvel Superheroes campaign I ran back in high school).  This is where the gaming materials I have for Colonial Gothic, Boot Hill, Gangbusters, Call of Cthulhu, d20 Modern (and its supplements), the James Bond Role-Playing Game, and Star Wars plus several other smaller settings (Kill Puppies for Satan, Infestation, Creeks and Crawdads, Toon, and Ninja Burger) will all be combined into what hopefully turns out to be a coherent whole.  It incorporates characters from most of the fandoms I have enjoyed over the years.

There are only four “tiers” of metahumans.  As a side note, “Metahuman” applies to any being with what could be called superpowers.  “Mutant” applies specifically to people who are born with superpowers.There is some measure of prejudice and racism among the super-powered community.  Mutants tend to look down on other Metahumans and slurs like “science experiment” and “lab rat” are not uncommon.  Non-powered humans tend to be more distrustful of mutants, especially since the 1960s when more militant mutants who had grown tired of hiding in fear of being victimized or exploited by normal humans and led by, a former US Army captain who served in the Black Devil Brigade during the previous World War, declared themselves to be “homo sapiens superior”.

1. Street Level – Anyone without metahuman abilities or only minor powers, improved physical stats, superior fighting abilities (armed or unarmed).  This level includes character like Bat-Man, Captain America, Daredevil, Green Arrow, and the Punisher. 
2. Mid-Level – These characters are more powerful than “street level” heroes and villains but aren’t considered to be the “Big Guns” of any particular region.  This level includes characters like Beast Boy, Danny Phantom, Spider-Man, Static Shock, and Wolverine. 
3. The Big Guns – This level shows off the most physically powerful characters or those with the greatest versatility in the use of their abilities.  This includes Colossus, Groot, Iron Man, Storm, the Thing, and Dr. Strange (although an argument could be made that Dr. Strange and Storm belong in their own class due to the breadth of their abilities).  Colossus and the Thing are widely regarded to be the two (physically) strongest people on the planet (because while Bruce Banner may exist, the Hulk does not) and hold an Annual Stone vs. Steel Strongman Competition for charity. 
4. Cosmic – Entities of this power level have the ability to affect entire planets or even galaxies with their powers.  This includes characters like Darkseid, Galactus and his heralds, Green Lantern, Molecule Man, Superman, Thor, and Wonder Woman as well as any character whose primary ability is reality alteration.  None of these beings exist on/have traveled to Earth-218.

These levels are not meant to imply that a Street Level character couldn’t defeat a Mid-Level character or even a Big Gun.  Bat-Man or Captain America are both capable of defeating Iron Man in a fight.  It is just a measure of the range of their superhuman abilities in comparison to other characters. 
 
Metahumans began appearing as early as the 1870s but their powers were either weaker or less “flashy” than the powers of the next generation or World War II-era of “metas”.  These metas were powerful enough that after the end of the war, all of the signatories of the Paris Peace Treaties and the Treaty of San Francisco agreed not to deploy super-powered humans during armed conflicts between nations.  This condition is also a requirement for any sovereign state that wishes to join the United Nations.

The starting year for this portion of the campaign will be 2012.  The Fraal (known as the “Asgard” by Stargate Command) enforce the Protected Planets Treaty that keeps the Goa’uld from invading the planet (not to be confused with the Tycho Treaty that covers relations between Earth and various spacefaring races).

Magic exists alongside advanced technology.  Space travel exists but Faster-Than-Light Travel, Warp Drives, and access to Hyperspace is limited to alien civilizations.  In this world, the CIA, NSA, Federal Marshalls, and Secret Service never formed or were incorporated into S.H.I.E.L.D.  S.H.I.E.L.D. has three special divisions under its aegis that function more or less with complete autonomy – the BPRD, MiB, and the Psi-Ops Division.

Psi-Ops was born from the MK Ultra program in the 1970’s to combat superhuman threats and is made up of agents trained in the use of psionic abilities and to fight with plasma-powered swords designed by Howard Stark (Game-wise, these agents are identical to Jedi Knights).  The President’s bodyguards are drawn from these agents.

There are characters from the Marvel and DC Universes, the Dresden Files, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Supernatural, Hellboy, MiB, SG-1, and so many others.  Even the Cthulhu Mythos has a place in the Earth-218 continuity.  Published characters in this setting include but are not limited to:

Cheyenne Mountain, CO – Stargate Command

Chicago, IL – Bat-Man, Oracle, Harry Dresden

Denver, CO – Prof Kate Corrigan

Detroit – Robocop, Static Shock

Fairfield, CT – BPRD (Hellboy, Abe Sapien, Liz Sherman)

Bangor, ME – X-Men (Angel, Beast, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Shadowcat, Wolverine, Professor X)

Latveria – Dr. Doom

Miami, FL – the Teen Titans (Robin (Tim Drake), Beast Boy, Jubilee, Danny Phantom, Speedball)

Nanda Parbat – the League of Assassin, Ra’s Al Ghul

New York City, NY – Spider-Man, the Avengers (Ant-Man, Black Widow, Captain America, Falcon, Groot, Iron Man, Rocket Raccoon, Sandman, Wasp), Fantastic Four (Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, the Thing), Dr. Strange, MiB

Nevada – Bruce Banner

Seattle, WA – Black Canary, Green Arrow, Huntress

Washington, D.C. – Justice League (Colossus, Cyborg, Daredevil, Nightwing, Plasticman, Wonder Man)

Wakanda//Africa – Black Panther, Storm//Vixen; Queen La of the Lost City of Opar; the Phantom 

After the events of “Civil War”, the Fifty-State Initiative is enacted with every state receiving a government-sponsored superhero team (although not all states have filled out their team rosters yet).  Even after the repeal of the Superhuman Registration Act, these teams remain in place, largely funded through the merchandising of members likenesses – action figures, coloring books, t-shirts, sports drinks, and so on with proceeds going toward the modest stipends the heroes receive, a reserve fund to pay for legal fees, damages to public and private property, medical expenses, and so on.

Wealthier teams like the Avengers operate out of private facilities like Stark Tower or the Avengers Mansion but all teams do have a government-provided base of operations.  Independent heroes like Daredevil or Luke Cage do still operate but they are wholly on their own.  Spider-Man straddles this line, serving as a reserve Avenger (one weekend per month/two weeks per year) while remaining independent the rest of the time and his monthly stipend is pro-rated accordingly.

Cape-Spotters: Paparazzi who focus on superhumans; these “journalists” are generally despised but often serve as sources of information for heroes or police.  K-MEL Radio (Home of the Camel, Where Every Day is Hump Day), a TMZ-style gossip channel focuses specifically on metahumans and costumed crimefighters, especially their relationships, identity speculation, and commentary on costumes.

                Example Stories:

1. NYC’s very own Spider-Man was spotted in Chicago this weekend where he hooked up with the Bat-Girl to apprehend the criminal Clock King.  To this reporter, it looked like romance was in the air as the Caped Crusader’s protégé and the wall crawler fought side-by-side to foil the villain’s nefarious plot to cripple the Windy City’s mass transit system in the nick of time.

2. Wolverine debuted a new costume Monday night.  It looks like it’s out with the brown and gold and in with the blue that the rest of the X-Men have been wearing for the past year.  Does the uniform change mean that he’s going to be more of a team player now?  Only time will tell.

3. In other costume news, the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen was spotted in an all-black uniform last week instead of the traditional red suit we’re all used to seeing him in.  Could it be that the Man Without Fear has finally realized that he might not want to wear bright colors if he plans on working nights?

4. And finally, in our last story before the break, the Avenger, Rocket Raccoon’s mouth may have gotten him in trouble in the wake of the recent Jersey City school shooting.  Did the trash panda’s outspoken opinions on gun control earn him a firearm faux pas?  Avengers' team leader Captain America was unavailable for comment.  And now, a word from our sponsors…

The earliest confirmed metahumans date back to 1879 when an opium-based drug called Moreaux, developed by Ichiro Hirsuto surfaced in San Francisco.  It was highly addictive but had an atavistic side effect – it turned its users into human/animal hybrids.  Most of the addicts died from overdoses or ended up in circus freak shows.  Nearly all users who successfully adapted to the change went into seclusion but a handful found employment putting these mutations to work, most often as bodyguards or hired killers.

Nearly all samples of the drug were destroyed but it resurfaced or was recreated from Dr. Hirsuto’s research in the 1920s so it is possible that these notes have survived into the modern age.

In the 1920s the appearance of Lord and Lady Faro (Charles and Linda Overton), Chrolokill (Anatoly Yansen), and Thorn (Stanley Stiers – the real life inspiration for Michael Myers) were considered to be the first “modern era” metas but some historians believe that the myths about Hercules, Achilles, and other legendary figures are based on actual people with enhanced abilities.

It wasn’t until 1936 when the Nazi Parahuman Program was founded, followed by the American Project Rebirth in 1943 (followed by the Weapon Plus program that ran from the end of the war until the present) that metahumans began to appear in comparatively significant numbers although the appearance of the Soviet Simian on the Eastern Front during World War II implies that Russia did find some measure of success in their human-chimpanzee hybridization experiments in the 1910s.  Even the Captain Patriot Program, which was an attempt to recreate the success of Project Rebirth, was effective, the test subjects often “came back from the dead” as zombies if they were killed in battle.  Still, adding superhumans to the chaos of the war did not make a significant difference as their numbers were too limited to deploy them on a large scale and they were mostly used to counter the superhumans of the opposing side.  They did however serve as excellent symbols for propaganda.

Most people of Earth-218 would be surprised to learn how widespread the supernatural was during the war.  Werewolves, vampires, the Captain Patriot zombies and a whole host of medieval monsters fought against or alongside the greatest technological terrors of the modern age.  The expansion of Christianity in the early Middle Ages and, more specifically, the growing power of the Catholic Church drove many supernatural creatures into hiding.  The first precursors of what would eventually become the Ordo Malleus were formed to seek and suppress knowledge of magic, calling it “witchcraft”, “sorcery” and “a tool of the devil” despite having wizards and alchemists among their ranks.  They were largely successful and by the beginning of the Renaissance, most people believed that the supernatural was just stories, myths, and folklore but in the mid-1690s, the Ordo Malleus overplayed its authority during the Salem Witch Trials, drawing censure from Pope Innocent XII.  Afterwards, the organization showed more restraint but it was greatly reduced in power and size although it still continues to serve the church’s interests.