Mutants & Masterminds 3e - Superstring Multiverse.pdf

(7685 KB) Pobierz
Disclaimer
This book is a work of fiction!
If you are too incompetent to figure that out, you
should seek professional help immediately.
Our apologies to the vast majority of people to
whom this message does not apply.
WRITTEN BY:
Travis Legge & Ma Liparota
EDITED BY:
Travis Legge
ART DIRECTION BY:
Travis Legge
LAYOUT & TYPESETTING BY:
Travis Legge and Darius McCaskey
INTERIOR ART:
Some artwork copyright Ade Smith, used with
permission.
Some artwork copyright Sade, used with
permission.
Some artwork copyright Shaman’s Stockart used
with permission.
Some artwork copyright Team Frog Studios/Paul
Arden Lindberg, used with permission.
SPECIAL THANKS TO:
Jim Lee. Your work has been an inspiration on so
many levels.
Super-Powered by M&M and its associated logo are
Trademarks of Green Ronin Publishing and are used
under the provisions of the Super-Powered by M&M
Trademark License
(see www.mutantsandmasterminds.com/licensing
for details).
CREDITS
SUPERSTRING MULTIVERSE
contains Open Game Content in accordance with the Open Game License v1.0a. (Hereaf-
ter referred to as OGL) The text of the OGL can be found in Appendix A of this book.
All artwork and design elements, speci c layout and trade dress and speci c character and group descriptions are hereby
de ned as Product Identity in accordance with the OGL and are Copyright ©2014 Aegis Studios.
All charts, systems, and rules modi cations are hereby designated as Open Game Content in accordance with the OGL.
SUPERSTRING MULTIVERSE
Copyright© 2014 Aegis Studios. All Rights Reserved.
2
Bolt watched in horror as Apop the Destroyer drew back, readying a killing blow. Seraph
dangled limply from Apop’s other hand, bloody and barely conscious. Chi was three blocks
away; pulling bystanders out of a building that Apop had set to ames. Alphawave was already
unconscious at the villain’s feet, and Archer was pinned beneath a ipped over car.
Bolt had less than one second to react. Her team was beaten, she was absolutely no match
for Apop in a one-on-one ght, and their greatest hope of taking the Destroyer down might not
survive another punch, let alone prolonged combat. Less than a second to make a decision. For
Bolt, a second could have been an agonizing eternity of doubt and second-guessing.
Bolt knew she didn’t have that luxury. She had to do something drastic, swing for the
fences, and hope for the best.
As Apop’s st tightened and the synapses danced down his arm commanding him to strike,
Bolt took o running. She ran right past Apop as the electrical impulses in his nervous system
reached the muscles in his arm. She was going fast, even for her.
As Apop’s arm crossed the rst millimeter of space between his st and Seraph’s face,
all of the windows in the southwest side of the city began to ra le. The rst wave of pressurized
air from the sonic boom left in Bolt’s wake was touching the glass. Bolt didn’t notice, as she was
already halfway across the Atlantic Ocean.
Bolt had never run this fast. She hadn’t even thought it was possible. As her speed
increased she felt herself get heavier. Her limbs seemed to gain weight and mass, but there was no
change in size. Her costume felt like concrete. Beads of sweat formed on her brow as she hit the
Oregon coast. Bolt gri ed her teeth, digging deeper for more speed.
As Bolt passed Apop the rst time she could not perceive any discernible movement from
his hand. Seraph was still alive and it looked like all the time in the world remained before Apop’s
hand would meet Seraph’s face. Bolt had made one lap around the planet in a fraction of a second.
A collision at this speed would be deadly.
So she kicked it up a notch.
Abandoning any restraint, Bolt leaned in and pushed herself as hard as she could go. As
fast as she could go. The pain set in somewhere in Japan and by the time she reached Montana, she
felt her tendons and ligaments begin to tear.
“Just a few hundred more miles,” she thought. “Keep it together.”
When Bolt arrived back on the ba le-torn street where Apop held Seraph on the verge of
destruction, it looked to her as if she had never left. She had made it with time to spare. Still,
that was no reason to take chances. Bolt leaned in and body checked Apop with her right shoulder,
slamming into the ancient villain at faster than light speeds.
The impact tore Bolt’s arm out of the socket and the pain was blinding. She felt the force
of Apop being thrown from the point of impact, but she was blinded by the pain and could not see
SUPERSTRING
MULTIVERSE
3
where Apop landed. Fearing she might die if she
hit anything else, Bolt focused as best she
could on stopping herself.
Her feet dug into the concrete. The
soles of her shoes, normally impervious to
superspeed, melted straight away leaving burns
and lacerations on the bo oms of her feet.
She felt a bone snap in her left leg and dropped
to the ground, doing her best to roll with the
impact. For what felt like an eternity she rolled
along the ground, ripping her suit to ta ers.
Bolt lay in a crater, staring at the
sky. Smoke rose from her costume and blood
dripped from her body, but she was alive. More
importantly, so was Seraph. She wasn’t sure
where Apop might have landed, she only hoped it
was far away: like on another world.
After taking a few seconds to allow her
most grievous injuries to heal, Bolt started
to sit up. As she looked over the edge of the
crater, she saw a golden streak of light moving
toward her along the ground. A strangely
familiar golden streak…
Bolt gasped as another young woman,
dressed in a similar costume, ran up to the
edge of the crater at subsonic speeds. This
doppelganger stopped and looked down. The
pair locked eyes.
“Lady,” the newcomer said, her voice
shaking with nervous energy. “You’ve got some
questions to answer.”
Bolt cocked an eyebrow, recognizing
the voice. It was her own, almost. Similar, like a
twin’s. Bolt removed what was left of her mask
and the doppelganger took two shocked steps
back.
“I’d say that makes two of us,” Bolt
replied as she forced herself to her feet.
SUPERSTRING
MULTIVERSE
4
Welcome to the Superstring Multiverse!
Throughout the history of superhero
comics, the concept of a multiverse has been
used by numerous publishers to allow for
characters to go on non-canon adventures,
explore story options that would dramatically
alter the primary narrative of the heroes and
ask the question, “what if…?”
The Superstring Multiverse is an
a empt to recreate that freedom in your M&M
tabletop game. Utilizing the characters from
our Superhero Support line of products as a
base starting point, we have decided to craft
a vast and complicated multiverse of parallel
worlds and in nite options to integrate into
your game.
Within the Superstring Multiverse core
supplement we will explore basic ideas and
theories on the operation of the Multiverse.
We will also introduce a few new powers that
facilitate travel between worlds and provide
some guidelines on di erent ways to integrate
characters from one world to another. Whether
you would like to play a band of dimension-
hopping heroes chasing down cosmic threats
from reality to reality, or simply run the
occasional one-shot session looking at your
regular characters through the lens of another
world, we’ve got you covered.
In order to allow for the broadest
range of creativity and freedom for Game
Masters, we are presenting the rules for trans-
dimensional play in a modular style. Each rule
is optional (and as such, some may directly
contradict one another.) Game Masters are
encouraged to incorporate those rules they feel
best represent the stories they wish to tell
while freely discarding the rest.
In addition to the new powers and
rules regarding interdimensional travel, we
are also providing a basic core se ing and a
few alternate versions of that se ing. Future
Superstring Multiverse products will examine
other alternate takes on the basic core se ing
provided herein, referred to as World 6. Some
game stats and backstories will be provided for
characters from World 6 within these pages,
and Game Masters are encouraged to check
out the numerous Superhero Support books we
have put out, which are lled with NPCs who are
ready to be dropped into the se ing, or passed
out to players to use as their own characters.
Basic Rules
The Superstring Multiverse uses
the basic rule set laid out in the Mutants &
Mastermind’s Hero’s Handbook by Green Ronin
Publishing. While certain worlds may cause
characters to shift in power levels, introduce
new Descriptors, ban certain Descriptors,
or incorporate complications and modi ers
speci c to that world, each world in the
Superstring Multiverse will ultimately use the
Core Mechanic and basic rules detailed in the
Mutants & Mastermind’s Hero’s Handbook by
Green Ronin Publishing.
World Template
Each world in the Superstring
Multiverse will be presented according to the
same template. This template will be used in
the Superstring Multiverse core supplement.
Each subsequent expansion for the Superstring
Multiverse that expands the se ing by
introducing new worlds will follow the same
format, for ease of reference.
1. Introductory Fiction
Each world’s description will begin with
a brief short story that sets the tone for that
world, often focusing on one of the principal
NPCs of that world while illustrating a typical
occurrence or event within that world.
2. Setting Description
This section describes the premise,
mood and theme of the world. This segment
will examine what makes the world di erent
from the “main” continuity of World 6. This
section will examine the presence and level of
technology and magic within the world, give an
overview of how powers function and provide a
broad overview of the history of super-powered
beings in the world.
SUPERSTRING
MULTIVERSE

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika:

Zgłoś jeśli naruszono regulamin