[Deciding System] Bruce Wayne's X-Men - Cross-over/Mash-up Supers

[Sojobo]

Spoiler: Alfred, Charles, and Bruce

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The Xavier School for the Gifted
Just outside Gotham City, 35 years ago

Alfred Pfennigwerth stood across from Charles Xavier, his stern gaze clashing with the calm demeanor of his old friend. They were surrounded by the polished oak and cluttered papers of the study, a place usually reserved for quiet contemplation, now thick with tension.

“You haven't known him as long as I have, Charles,” Alfred said, his voice low and deliberate. “You don't know the darkness he’s been trying to outrun. If you think mere training can erase that, you’re mistaken.”

Charles adjusted his glasses, his expression one of composed concern. “It’s not about erasing, Alfred. It’s about guiding him to use his intelligence, his gifts, for more than vengeance. He could be more than a vigilante.”

Alfred scoffed, his voice echoing slightly in the quiet room. “In this corrupt city? He’s a Wayne. His legacy isn’t to parade around; it’s to cleanse the city that killed his parents.”

Outside, Bruce leaned silently against the wall, listening intently. The words of his two mentors, one like a father, the other a guide, mingled with his own turbulent thoughts.

Charles reached out, trying to bridge the gap. “You raised him, Alfred. I know your instincts are to protect him, but we can't let him be consumed by darkness. He has immense potential.”

“The night his parents died, he sought justice, not hope,” Alfred countered, his voice sharp, his usual German stoicism dropping. “Asking him to ignore that calling is like asking a shark not to swim.”

“And if that shark never learns there’s more to the ocean than blood?” Charles’s voice was steady. “We risk him losing himself to a crusade that could destroy him.”

Bruce's hand clenched as he absorbed every word, the paths laid out before him stark and demanding.

“If you think you can mold him into one of your X-Men, you’re wrong,” Alfred said coldly. “He’s a Wayne, and he’ll find his own path, with or without us.”

With that, Alfred turned sharply, his coat flaring behind him. He paused at the door, his look hard and unyielding. “And if you stand in his way, Charles, I will show you what he’s capable of.”

The door slammed behind him, leaving a resonant silence. Charles sat back, the tremor in his hands betraying his calm facade. Bruce withdrew into the shadows, his resolve hardening with the echo of the closing door.

- weeks later -

Alfred's figure was stark against the backdrop of the towering waterfall. He rappelled down the cliff, each movement precise, drawing him closer to a hidden trove he’d hoped would remain sealed.

As he landed in the cave, his resolve never wavered. He swiftly navigated to a hidden alcove, revealing a secure safe. Inside lay a helmet, utilitarian, crafted from materials designed to shield the mind from any psychic intrusion. It was Alfred’s safeguard, a defense against the world’s most potent mental forces.

Turning from the safe, Alfred’s gaze fell on the last item it protected: a small, unassuming yellow ring. As his fingers brushed its cold metal, a chill ran through him—a recognition of the formidable alien power at his fingertips. This ring, a weapon from the stars, was a conduit of fear, control... and therefore, protection.

Securing the ring, Alfred prepared to ascend back through the waterfall, his mind alive with plans. The world above was unaware of the shift in power that had just taken place below. But soon, they would understand. The sinister quietude of the ring was a harbinger of the new reality Alfred was ready to forge, by any means necessary.

As Alfred emerged out of the darkness, the helmet, and the ring, unseen in his pack, glinted yellow.


Image courtesy of KalEl7 on Deviantart

It has been a while since I have played on these forums, but I have a hankering for some cross-over, mashed up Justice League/X-men zaniness after really enjoying the new X-men '97 animation. An idea I keep revisiting and iterating on is simple: what if a crippled Bruce Wayne, long since hung up his cape and cowl, was mentor and teacher to the X-Men?

Assuming people are interested, I have not yet decided what system to use... I could resort to M&M3e, though its been a while since I ran that and I kind of don't look forward to the crunchiness of it. I am tempted to try to put together a no-skill, Aspect only version of FATE, but I know that is not too popular around here. I generally want players to focus on imaginative story telling and not be limited by what the rules or character sheet says, but its been a while and I can't recall anything that fits that bill... SUPERS? Icons? Something PbtA? Bueller?

Edit: 4/28 - [Interest] to [Deciding System] in thread title

[JNAProductions]

Straight-up Freeform is a valid option.

Also, that opening vignette is dope.

[Cerespirin]

Ditto on how cool that opening was.

I'd be down if you're running MnM 3e. It's not really a crunchy system past character creation, and I have enough experience with the system to run character validation and vetting for you if that will ease your burden.

[Lentrax]

Yeah. With a premise like in that opening, how could I not be in?

[Epimetheus]

This sounds incredibly cool. Are you looking for all players to be mashups of Marvel and DC characters, the same way that Bruce is also taking the role of Professor X and Alfred is a hybrid Sinestro/Magneto?

[Seandiggersby]

I'd be interested depending on what system you decide to go with. Have you considered that new marvel system, Marvel Multiverse? It's fairly rules light from what I've seen.

[Cerespirin]

Marvel Multiverse seems, to me, a system that does not want to be played. First they declined to offer any digital edition except for one DRM-locked to Roll20, then the way they took established DnD terminology and twisted it to make in-jokes that only Marvel fans would understand grinds my gears significantly. Roll 616! Our ability scores spell MARVEL! Recognize this and laugh, consumer sheep! Plus, any system that is still using hit points in 2023 without doing anything interesting with them has its head in the past (Sentinel Comics' GYRO system is heckin' brilliant).

That said, I've acquired an OCRed and indexed PDF. The mechanics don't seem completely terrible. I'd be willing to give the system a try.

[ArlEammon]

So is this iteration of X-Men entirely Mutants?

[Sojobo]

Straight-up Freeform is a valid option.

Also, that opening vignette is dope.

Thanks, and yeah I figure that is always an option. I do think we'll agree on some sort of ruleset to work with, though.

Ditto on how cool that opening was.

I'd be down if you're running MnM 3e. It's not really a crunchy system past character creation, and I have enough experience with the system to run character validation and vetting for you if that will ease your burden.

Thanks for the offer, I'm assuming everyone is going to - in a friendly way - check out everyone else's builds, if just out of curiosity. If I decide with M&M, I think at the very least I need to impose some house-rules to 1) speed up combat and increase stakes, because PBP is SLOW (and I'll make sure that simply "take out the bad guys" will be the least interesting tactic to accomplish scenario goals), 2) incentivize imaginative power stunts as a norm, and 3) incentivize fun Team attacks. I may even go a Lancer route and bolt a narrative-style goal resolution mechanic on for non-action scenes, and use M&M for the action scenes... I dunno yet

Yeah. With a premise like in that opening, how could I not be in?

Cool. Any opinion in system?

This sounds incredibly cool. Are you looking for all players to be mashups of Marvel and DC characters, the same way that Bruce is also taking the role of Professor X and Alfred is a hybrid Sinestro/Magneto?

Yes, I'm hoping people will come up with some interesting cross-over ideas (and less along the lines of Amalgam mash-ups, like Dark Claw, Hyena, Shatterstarfire, Thanoseid, Doctor Strangefate, etc.). Some amount of mash-up is fine, but I'm hoping for some elegance. I am probably going to say no to mostly original characters - they have their place and are fun, but the point of this whole thing is some cross-over goodness.

I'd be interested depending on what system you decide to go with. Have you considered that new marvel system, Marvel Multiverse? It's fairly rules light from what I've seen.

I've played it - not a fan. It feels like its borrowing too much from video game power "upgrade" trees. I did love love LOVE Marvel Heroic/Cortex, because of how free-style it was and how the dice mechanic balanced out everyone's power level pretty well, but its a bear to play in PBP format because of the high level of back-and-forth reactions that make the system sing that take seconds in real life but days in PBP. I think I actually like MHR more than M&M in live settings.

So is this iteration of X-Men entirely Mutants?

No, not necessarily. This version of the Xavier School will accept any metahuman, which is basically anyone exceptional or with powers or capabilities from any kind of origin. I don't plan on really going too deep on the school part either, because I barely remember any of that from X-men anyway.

[Cerespirin]

I am probably going to say no to mostly original characters - they have their place and are fun, but the point of this whole thing is some cross-over goodness.

Count me out then.

[Epimetheus]

Yes, I'm hoping people will come up with some interesting cross-over ideas (and less along the lines of Amalgam mash-ups, like Dark Claw, Hyena, Shatterstarfire, Thanoseid, Doctor Strangefate, etc.). Some amount of mash-up is fine, but I'm hoping for some elegance. I am probably going to say no to mostly original characters - they have their place and are fun, but the point of this whole thing is some cross-over goodness.

Okay, awesome! Then how’s this for a character pitch: a young Kryptonian (or a half-Kryptonian or Daxamite if you want to tone down the power level) who has trouble regulating his powers, particularly his heat vision. As a result, he has to wear a specially-made ruby/kryptonite visor to prevent him from accidentally blasting everything all the time.

Cyclops, essentially. But with a DC twist.

[Seandiggersby]

Okay, awesome! Then how’s this for a character pitch: a young Kryptonian (or a half-Kryptonian or Daxamite if you want to tone down the power level) who has trouble regulating his powers, particularly his heat vision. As a result, he has to wear a specially-made ruby/kryptonite visor to prevent him from accidentally blasting everything all the time.

Cyclops, essentially. But with a DC twist.

That's funny cause one concept I was considering was a young Martian girl that was basically going to be a dcified Jean Grey/Marvel Girl.

[ArlEammon]

No, not necessarily. This version of the Xavier School will accept any metahuman, which is basically anyone exceptional or with powers or capabilities from any kind of origin. I don't plan on really going too deep on the school part either, because I barely remember any of that from X-men anyway.

If that's the case, I'd like to try out a magic using character, Doctor Strange.

[Lentrax]

I do not have a particular rule set I would want to use, but I also don’t have many that are superhero specific, save for fate core, masks, and the srd for m&m3.

But I’m open to other stuff so long as I can access it cheap or free.

Also, my initial concept was to use the one I wanted to use for JNAs supers game that never got off the ground, but for an amalgated/cross over style, I’ll probably up her power level a little bit.

She is going to be a Poison Ivy/ Captain Marvel combination. And I have an idea about backstory, but I’m going to wait fully until I know what I will be able to do powerwise.

[ArlEammon]

Or maybe my Doctor Strange is a graduate from Med School and he develops his Scarlet Witch like powers. The Ancient One takes him in and he develops himself as the Crimson Sorcerer Supreme.

Maybe his superhero name should be "Red Wizard."

[Feathersnow]

Posting interest as a doppelganger of some sort.

[Batcathat]

The concept sounds fun, so I'm potentially interested depending on system (personally I would prefer M&M or maybe freeform) and if I come up with some character concept I like.

[Sojobo]

Okay, awesome! Then how’s this for a character pitch: a young Kryptonian (or a half-Kryptonian or Daxamite if you want to tone down the power level) who has trouble regulating his powers, particularly his heat vision. As a result, he has to wear a specially-made ruby/kryptonite visor to prevent him from accidentally blasting everything all the time.

Cyclops, essentially. But with a DC twist.

That's funny cause one concept I was considering was a young Martian girl that was basically going to be a dcified Jean Grey/Marvel Girl.

Yeah those both sound excellent and along the lines of what I'm intending. I've had IRL players come up with essentially a bunch of different takes on the original 5 X-men roster, and I have my own head-canon version, but I always let the players call dibs on Marvel and DC "real-estate" first before world-building.

I do not have a particular rule set I would want to use, but I also don’t have many that are superhero specific, save for fate core, masks, and the srd for m&m3.

But I’m open to other stuff so long as I can access it cheap or free.

Also, my initial concept was to use the one I wanted to use for JNAs supers game that never got off the ground, but for an amalgated/cross over style, I’ll probably up her power level a little bit.

She is going to be a Poison Ivy/ Captain Marvel combination. And I have an idea about backstory, but I’m going to wait fully until I know what I will be able to do powerwise.

Ooooh, that sounds interesting. I love non-obvious/logical crossover or mashup choices!

Or maybe my Doctor Strange is a graduate from Med School and he develops his Scarlet Witch like powers. The Ancient One takes him in and he develops himself as the Crimson Sorcerer Supreme.

Maybe his superhero name should be "Red Wizard."

Sounds cool, especially if this is early on in the journey and there is some room to mature and develop.

Posting interest as a doppelganger of some sort.

Cool! A shapeshifter or more a mimic?

The concept sounds fun, so I'm potentially interested depending on system (personally I would prefer M&M or maybe freeform) and if I come up with some character concept I like.

I'd love to hear what you might come up with!

In terms of whether this is coming off the ground, there is clearly enough interest so I'll start figuring out ruleset details. I am currently leaning toward M&M3e for character creation since people probably have the most experience and access to that, but may slowly adapt the game rules themselves toward more relationship-and-drive focused mechanics with some Blades in the Dark style down-time team, resource, and base-building depending on how people feel. If we just do M&M with some house-rules for allowing more imaginative power-use, thats fine too.