Hi. I'm running a mutants campaign set in the present day. Mutants are the hot issue, and I'm trying to figure out what messages US presidential candidates will use to bolster their campaigns for 2016. Can you help?
Mutants have been in the news a lot, so much that folks who don't follow the news have heard lots of rumors, and there are plenty of facts and informed speculation available on media outlets including MutantWatch.org and magazine-format TV shows on every network. Here are some of those facts:
The first documented mutant appeared 8 years ago, the first in the US 7 years ago, and now there are new ones appearing every day, with a couple hundred in the US, an estimated 3-5 thousand worldwide, with India, China, and Nigeria, in that order, believed to have more than the USA.
All mutants break the laws of physics as previously understood. About half are “baselines” who only have superhuman strength, agility, and health (think Captain America), many have extreme physiology to the point of appearing inhuman, and some have powers such as telepathy, teleportation, shapeshifting, and control of natural phenomena such as weather, fire, or gravity.
Mutation manifests at puberty; the eldest in the US can barely buy booze, and most are teens. When a mutant uses his powers, he feels an increasing restlessness that can be deferred for a few hours by increasing dosage of intoxicants, sated only by sex (which mutants euphemistically refer to as 5hr energy). Furthermore, even when “powered down,” mutants exhibit certain psychological characteristic characterized by hyperactivity, ruthless competition, extreme commitment to causes, and irritability. Intoxicants do not seem to make mutants clumsy or stupid, but they do affect judgment and often reduce the irritability.
A genetic test is the best predictor of mutation, low on false negatives but very high on false positives, about 20:1. The US has had MuRPA, the Mutant Registration and Privacy Act, for 4 years, and the Genetic Health and Safety Act has just gone into effect, making the genetic test required, being administered through all public schools under the auspices of Homeland Security.
Almost all mutants in the US are affiliated with one of 3 research programs. The oldest and largest is a government-private partnership based at Johns-Hopkins university. Its policies require mutants to stay powered down exceept during brief periods of study each day, and it has been prone to scandals with mutants using their powers to circumvent the closed campus policy and head for the nearest bar. The second oldest is based in Silicon Valley, a smaller program that cherry-picked the most interesting powers by offering lots of cash. It avoided scandal by allowing its mutants to do whatever behind closed doors, until word leaked, and that outfit is now dealing with frozen assets and litigation, but they're still in business, having evacuated to international waters aboard a converted aircraft carrier, where they no longer keep their social policies a secret.
The third group is based in Antarctica, in an enormous cavern excavated by the mutants themselves. International treaty allows research bases on Antarctica, but as the cavern rapidly becomes a city, treaty definitions are being strained. This colony is by mutants and for mutants, working with a sort of talent agency to book gigs as guinea pigs or other commercial purposes, with a deal that grants an office of the US military veto power over their contracts. The base is subject to US law, but no individual state laws such as those which govern the drinking age or the age of sexual consent or indecent exposure. (Conventional clothing is awkward for many mutants, and they don't get cold in Antarctica, anyway.)
Newsworthy events have involved all 3 programs, especially the last one (guess where the PCs are). Here are the high points:
The Johns-Hopkins program has the best reputation of any in the world and attracts mutants from all over the world, offsetting India and China's leads on mutant population. The US military works with that program and has a small force of baseline mutants trained as special forces. (Think of a battlesuit squad, except that they don't need servos to carry the heavy weapons and armor.)
When a mutant of dual US/Israeli citizenship came to the Silicon Valley program, it was subject to a terrorist attack. This mutant and some new friends checked in, then checked out, hiding out in a cavern hollowed out in Black Mesa (on the Navajo reservation in Arizona). There they conceived a scheme of ensuring their own security which ultimately led to the Antarctic base, but in the meantime, the missing mutants dominated the news until the New Orleans event.
Besides some hoped-for scientific breakthroughs, this is when the general public first came to understand just what the mutant phenomenon could mean to them personally. Across an area of seven square miles in New Orleans, in the middle of the night, animals grew to giant sizes and became enraged. A typical family dog had the size and temperament of a grizzly bear, a housecat a tiger. Some were larger, like a 300' alligator, hawks the size of aircraft, but the biggest problems were the small creatures, rodents and bugs, exploding out of walls in ravenous armies, all thanks to the power of a mutant who was not even awake at the time. There's a lot of biomass in the delta, and these critters killed thousands. It could have been worse.
The missing mutants appeared on the scene, using a wormhole gate generated by the Israeli kid, and then he brought in those special forces mutants. They held the line and began rescue operations until the National Guard could form a perimeter and start evacuation. As the sun rose, the media and lots of private phone cameras got unbelievable footage of mutants doing what they can do. The wormhole mutant, “Taximan,” got the most coverage, but analysts who paid attention noted that one mutant manufactured thousands of gallons of pesticide from leaves and grass over the course of the morning.
These mutants became famous, and a couple wound up becoming hosts of a show for National Geographic, Our Strange World. It's basically a standard nature documentary with extra focus on odd critters, blurring into cryptozoology, with mutant hosts whose powers allow them to go comfortably into extreme environments. In the Marianas trench, they found an artificial structure carved into the cliff face, with bronze artifacts thousands of years old, and a bronze statue that kind of looked like one of the hosts.
Taximan and his friends, again working with US special forces, evacuated Yezidi refugees to their cave in Antarctica. A mutant with clairsentience located ISIS forces, and Taximan put Delta Force right where they needed to be for ambush. Rinse and repeat, Delta Force home for supper. The Strange World crew filmed the Antarctic refugee camp.
The mutants who participated in the New Orleans rescue received medals in a ceremony with the president. An honoree attempted to assassinate the president and honored guests with fire powers, or perhaps they just went off accidentally. Mutants saved the president, another resurrected the speaker of the house, and Taximan gated in another mutant from India to provide miraculous healing to everybody else who was hurt.
Karachi dissolved, for reasons unknown. Pakistan decided India must be the reason and launched a nuclear strike. The US stopped it. Taximan opened the gates. The mutant special forces took a Pakistani airfield. Another mutant shrunk aircraft to fit through the wormholes. Within half an hour, jets from ready wings on two air force bases and a navy carrier were scragging Pakistani missiles and planes, and if any had gotten through, Israel's Iron Dome was in place as a second layer of defense.
Shortly after, Putin showed his hand by using multiple wormhole gates to invade Kiev. Russia's seem to be permanent.
Rumors from Cuba say that dozens of highly placed government officials including the Castros were kidnapped in a mysterious way, flying through walls and windows as if yanked by a mysterious force, screaming into the night. (This adventure started before the US declared its intent to normalize relations, I swear, but finished afterwards.) Shortly after, the government was back in place, with a middle-aged man claiming to be Fidel (and supported by Raoul) declaring victory over the USA.
A new fantasy movie, Castle Africa, is getting praise for its amazing special effects. No CGI, it was filmed aboard a certain aircraft carrier, with a mutant using the power of illusion for the outdoor sets and the very realistic monsters. Actors say they didn't have to fake it in front of a blue screen; they saw what the audience sees.
Finally (present adventure), Godzilla, or something close enough, attacked the DMZ, or rather, was herded there by scared Norks. Now he's dead, and we find out he's just a baby. North Korea only has half a dozen first generation mutants, but their breeding program has produced a couple thousand. So next session will be a joint effort by South Korea and the USA, including PCs, and there is no way the story won't break. Footage of the real-life Godzilla is already in the news.
So, there's a big Pandora's box to confuse the voters with hope, plus all the bad stuff. Most people are worried, church attendance has risen, UFO theories have more traction and scientists actually say that alien intervention in human biology is the most plausible explanation. Most mutants are still kids. They have terrifying powers and like nothing better than drunken orgies. How confident would that make you feel? But bad people have mutants too, and US mutants have done some great, one might say heroic things. How do you leverage these sentiments to get elected to the highest office in the land?
Mutants have been in the news a lot, so much that folks who don't follow the news have heard lots of rumors, and there are plenty of facts and informed speculation available on media outlets including MutantWatch.org and magazine-format TV shows on every network. Here are some of those facts:
The first documented mutant appeared 8 years ago, the first in the US 7 years ago, and now there are new ones appearing every day, with a couple hundred in the US, an estimated 3-5 thousand worldwide, with India, China, and Nigeria, in that order, believed to have more than the USA.
All mutants break the laws of physics as previously understood. About half are “baselines” who only have superhuman strength, agility, and health (think Captain America), many have extreme physiology to the point of appearing inhuman, and some have powers such as telepathy, teleportation, shapeshifting, and control of natural phenomena such as weather, fire, or gravity.
Mutation manifests at puberty; the eldest in the US can barely buy booze, and most are teens. When a mutant uses his powers, he feels an increasing restlessness that can be deferred for a few hours by increasing dosage of intoxicants, sated only by sex (which mutants euphemistically refer to as 5hr energy). Furthermore, even when “powered down,” mutants exhibit certain psychological characteristic characterized by hyperactivity, ruthless competition, extreme commitment to causes, and irritability. Intoxicants do not seem to make mutants clumsy or stupid, but they do affect judgment and often reduce the irritability.
A genetic test is the best predictor of mutation, low on false negatives but very high on false positives, about 20:1. The US has had MuRPA, the Mutant Registration and Privacy Act, for 4 years, and the Genetic Health and Safety Act has just gone into effect, making the genetic test required, being administered through all public schools under the auspices of Homeland Security.
Almost all mutants in the US are affiliated with one of 3 research programs. The oldest and largest is a government-private partnership based at Johns-Hopkins university. Its policies require mutants to stay powered down exceept during brief periods of study each day, and it has been prone to scandals with mutants using their powers to circumvent the closed campus policy and head for the nearest bar. The second oldest is based in Silicon Valley, a smaller program that cherry-picked the most interesting powers by offering lots of cash. It avoided scandal by allowing its mutants to do whatever behind closed doors, until word leaked, and that outfit is now dealing with frozen assets and litigation, but they're still in business, having evacuated to international waters aboard a converted aircraft carrier, where they no longer keep their social policies a secret.
The third group is based in Antarctica, in an enormous cavern excavated by the mutants themselves. International treaty allows research bases on Antarctica, but as the cavern rapidly becomes a city, treaty definitions are being strained. This colony is by mutants and for mutants, working with a sort of talent agency to book gigs as guinea pigs or other commercial purposes, with a deal that grants an office of the US military veto power over their contracts. The base is subject to US law, but no individual state laws such as those which govern the drinking age or the age of sexual consent or indecent exposure. (Conventional clothing is awkward for many mutants, and they don't get cold in Antarctica, anyway.)
Newsworthy events have involved all 3 programs, especially the last one (guess where the PCs are). Here are the high points:
The Johns-Hopkins program has the best reputation of any in the world and attracts mutants from all over the world, offsetting India and China's leads on mutant population. The US military works with that program and has a small force of baseline mutants trained as special forces. (Think of a battlesuit squad, except that they don't need servos to carry the heavy weapons and armor.)
When a mutant of dual US/Israeli citizenship came to the Silicon Valley program, it was subject to a terrorist attack. This mutant and some new friends checked in, then checked out, hiding out in a cavern hollowed out in Black Mesa (on the Navajo reservation in Arizona). There they conceived a scheme of ensuring their own security which ultimately led to the Antarctic base, but in the meantime, the missing mutants dominated the news until the New Orleans event.
Besides some hoped-for scientific breakthroughs, this is when the general public first came to understand just what the mutant phenomenon could mean to them personally. Across an area of seven square miles in New Orleans, in the middle of the night, animals grew to giant sizes and became enraged. A typical family dog had the size and temperament of a grizzly bear, a housecat a tiger. Some were larger, like a 300' alligator, hawks the size of aircraft, but the biggest problems were the small creatures, rodents and bugs, exploding out of walls in ravenous armies, all thanks to the power of a mutant who was not even awake at the time. There's a lot of biomass in the delta, and these critters killed thousands. It could have been worse.
The missing mutants appeared on the scene, using a wormhole gate generated by the Israeli kid, and then he brought in those special forces mutants. They held the line and began rescue operations until the National Guard could form a perimeter and start evacuation. As the sun rose, the media and lots of private phone cameras got unbelievable footage of mutants doing what they can do. The wormhole mutant, “Taximan,” got the most coverage, but analysts who paid attention noted that one mutant manufactured thousands of gallons of pesticide from leaves and grass over the course of the morning.
These mutants became famous, and a couple wound up becoming hosts of a show for National Geographic, Our Strange World. It's basically a standard nature documentary with extra focus on odd critters, blurring into cryptozoology, with mutant hosts whose powers allow them to go comfortably into extreme environments. In the Marianas trench, they found an artificial structure carved into the cliff face, with bronze artifacts thousands of years old, and a bronze statue that kind of looked like one of the hosts.
Taximan and his friends, again working with US special forces, evacuated Yezidi refugees to their cave in Antarctica. A mutant with clairsentience located ISIS forces, and Taximan put Delta Force right where they needed to be for ambush. Rinse and repeat, Delta Force home for supper. The Strange World crew filmed the Antarctic refugee camp.
The mutants who participated in the New Orleans rescue received medals in a ceremony with the president. An honoree attempted to assassinate the president and honored guests with fire powers, or perhaps they just went off accidentally. Mutants saved the president, another resurrected the speaker of the house, and Taximan gated in another mutant from India to provide miraculous healing to everybody else who was hurt.
Karachi dissolved, for reasons unknown. Pakistan decided India must be the reason and launched a nuclear strike. The US stopped it. Taximan opened the gates. The mutant special forces took a Pakistani airfield. Another mutant shrunk aircraft to fit through the wormholes. Within half an hour, jets from ready wings on two air force bases and a navy carrier were scragging Pakistani missiles and planes, and if any had gotten through, Israel's Iron Dome was in place as a second layer of defense.
Shortly after, Putin showed his hand by using multiple wormhole gates to invade Kiev. Russia's seem to be permanent.
Rumors from Cuba say that dozens of highly placed government officials including the Castros were kidnapped in a mysterious way, flying through walls and windows as if yanked by a mysterious force, screaming into the night. (This adventure started before the US declared its intent to normalize relations, I swear, but finished afterwards.) Shortly after, the government was back in place, with a middle-aged man claiming to be Fidel (and supported by Raoul) declaring victory over the USA.
A new fantasy movie, Castle Africa, is getting praise for its amazing special effects. No CGI, it was filmed aboard a certain aircraft carrier, with a mutant using the power of illusion for the outdoor sets and the very realistic monsters. Actors say they didn't have to fake it in front of a blue screen; they saw what the audience sees.
Finally (present adventure), Godzilla, or something close enough, attacked the DMZ, or rather, was herded there by scared Norks. Now he's dead, and we find out he's just a baby. North Korea only has half a dozen first generation mutants, but their breeding program has produced a couple thousand. So next session will be a joint effort by South Korea and the USA, including PCs, and there is no way the story won't break. Footage of the real-life Godzilla is already in the news.
So, there's a big Pandora's box to confuse the voters with hope, plus all the bad stuff. Most people are worried, church attendance has risen, UFO theories have more traction and scientists actually say that alien intervention in human biology is the most plausible explanation. Most mutants are still kids. They have terrifying powers and like nothing better than drunken orgies. How confident would that make you feel? But bad people have mutants too, and US mutants have done some great, one might say heroic things. How do you leverage these sentiments to get elected to the highest office in the land?
Mutants and the election cycle
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