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Marvel Super Heroes: Nightmares of Future Past

Marvel Super Heroes: Nightmares of Future Past

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Contents

Welcome To My Nightmare ...... •...... •...... 2 Night & Fog ...... •.....••....•....•___ . 20

The Affairs Control Act ...... •...... •...... 3 Non·Player Characters ...... 24

The X·Factor ...... •...... •...... 6 Scenarios and Events ...... •...... 26

Project Wideawake ...... •• __ ...•...... 8 Sentinels' SurveillanceBase ...•...... inside cover

The Tools of Oppression ...... ••.....••..... 13 Search Flow Chart ...... •...... inside cover Mutants Underground ...... ••...... ••..... 15 Special Rules ...... •...... •...... •..... 19

Wrinen by Steve Winter Interior Illustrations by the Marvel Bullpen Cover by John Slatema & Typography by Kim N. Undau Mike Machlan Cartography by Dave laForce

' TSR Inc. P.O. Box 756 � Lake Geneva. WI TSR,lne. 53147 'AODUCTSOF YOUR u.t.ICltUnOH"

This bookis protected under the copyright laws of the United Stales 01 America.Any reproductionor other unauthorized use of the material or art· work containedherein is prohibited without the express written consentof TSR Inc. and Marvel Entertainment Group_ Distributed to the book trade in the United States by Random House Inc. and in Canada by Random House of Canada, lid. Distributed 10 the toy and hobby trade by regionaJ distributors. The names of characters used herein are fictitiousand donot refer to any personsIrving or dead. Any descriptions including similarities to persons living or dead are merely coincidental. All Marvel characters and the distinctive likenesses thereof are trademarks of the Marvel Enter­ tainment Group Inc., and are used wTth permiSSion. MARVEL SUPER HEROES, MARVEL SUPER VILLAINS. . SPIDER-MAN. , ALISON BLAIRE., SECOND BROTHERHOODOF EVIL MUTANTS, CHARLES XAVIER. MOIRA MACTAG­ GERT, PROJECT WIDEAWAKE. JUDGE PETRIE. VALERIE COOPER. FRANK LOWELL, RAVEN OARKHOLME, HENRY PETER GYRICH. , , MARK IV.MARK V. MARK VI. ALPHA SENTINEL, OMEGA SENTINEL, S.H.I.E.LO.. , . X-FACTOR. DAREDEVIL, HUU<:WANOA MAXIMOFF, SCARLET WITCH. VISION, FRANKUN RICHARDS, , DOCTOR STRANGE. CAPTAlN AMERICA, . BEN GRIMM. IRON f..tAN. ASGARDtAN, andWOLVERINE and the distinctive likenesses thereof are trade­ marks of the Marvel Entertainment Group Inc. C 1987 Marvel Enlertainmenl Group Inc. All Rights Reserved. The TSR logo and PRODUCTS OF YOUR IMAGINATION are trademarks owned by TSR Inc. Game design copyright0 1987TSR Inc. All Rights Reserved. Printed in the U.S.A. Picture, if you will, a world gone panic. People with super powers, characters go from there, and how insane. A world where you cannot and mutants in particular, are not long they survive, is up to the attend school, buy food or clothing, considered heroes but enemies and players. They may decide to lie low or even walk down the street without traitors. They are hunted by the and husband their strength until a risking capture and imprisonment. government and hated by the major blow can be struck against the Add to that picture, if you can, the general public. sentinels. Another group may decide specter of giant, killing robots This adventure is not intended for to harry the police and army with programmed to hunt and destroy you any particular group of heroes. In hit-and-run attacks, disrupting and everyone like you. addition, players are encouraged to human operations for as long as This is the world waiting for you in create their own heroes rather than possible. Others may try to get away Nightmares of Futures Past. Mutants use heroes who are active today. to another, less oppressive country, have been declared outlaws and Any heroes who are currently active, or set up an underground railroad to enemies, stripped of their like Spider-Man or Colossus, have lead mutants to safety. The constitutional rights, and condemned either fallen prey to the mutant possibilities are nearly unlimited; this to quick death in battle or slow death hunters or have grown 25 to 50 years book tries to prepare the judge to in concentration camps. The heroes older. Those were hard years, and handle anything the players throw at of our time are gone, either killed they took an awful toll on survivors. him. fighting oppression, stripped of their Nightmares of Futures Past also The world of the future is powers and locked away, or hiding in differs from other MARVEL SUPER frightening and bleak. It is also, shadows, chipping away at the walls HEROES products because It does however, a place of infinite hope. It is of oppression and struggling to not present the characters with a this hope for a better tomorrow that survive as free men and women. specific crime to solve or villain to drives the heroes of the 21 st Century Nightmares of Futures Past is overcome. Instead, this book to fight against overwhelming odds; different from other MARVEL describes the conditions of life in the hope and the knowledge that, SUPER HEROES� adventures. The future and thrusts the characters into without resistance, no one will setting is25 to 50 years in the future. it. Some typical events and hazards remember the terror or the sacrifice The United States is an armed camp are suggested for the judge to get of those who fell before. caught in the grip of hysteria and things rolling. But where the players'

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2 As it is with almost all presidential candidate) Robert Kelly evolution of the United States super-powered characters, the by the Second Brotherhood of Evil rivaling the issuance of Executive general public was skeptical about Mutants. Kelly had long been a Order 9066 in January 1942, which the existence of mutants. While spokesman for anti-mutant forces. led directly to the dislocation and super-powered heroes and villains The need to deal with the "mutant internment of thousands of could be found almost anywhere in menace" was a cornerstone of his Japanese-Americans living on the the world, and all across the United presidential campaign. He was Pacific coast. States, they were highly visible only murdered on Halloween, 1980, while The similarity between the two in New York City and, to a lesser moderating senate hearings on the documents was not lost on anyone. extent, Los Angeles. A surprisingly mutant situation. Also killed were The precedent of Executive Order large portion of the population was Charles Xavier and Moira 9066 was brought up immediately by unwilling to believe those outlandish MacTaggert, who were presentto legal counselors on both sides of the tales about people who could fly, testity on behalf of mutants. The issue. Unlike Executive Order 9066, crush trains with their hands, or attack was filmed by several the Mutant Affairs Control Act was shoot ray beams from their eyes. television news teams and brought before the Supreme Court Headlines from the coasts subsequently seen by millions of almost immediately, where it was concerning the Avengers, viewers on news broadcasts. (The struck down as a wholesale violation Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, and same footage appeared repeatedly of constitutionally-guaranteed rights. their costumed friends were in the following years in a multitude Unfortunately, the White House, dismissed as journalistic stunts of anti-mutant documentaries and while publicly discouraged, was not designed to increase sales. A few news specials.) deterred. (Years later, when the people were convinced by television Instead of teaching humans to fear actual chain of events became documentaries and magazine and respect the power of mutants, as known publicly, there was some articles but most dismissed the the Brotherhood intended, the speculation that the Mutant Affairs whole subject as a massive hoax. assassinations created a wave of Control Act was never intended to be The uproar preceding release of hysterical paranoia and cemented a anything but a smoke screen, Alison Blaire's film demonstrated just largely apathetic public into one solid diverting public attention away from how insecure everyone really was. block opposing mutants' rights. the sentinels program.) Within a When word got out that the film The massive outpouring of rage, month of the bill's demise, the starred a mutant, public outcry hatred, and racism following Kelly's president instructed the National bordered on hysteria. Posters were death gave the anti-mutant Security Council to establish defaced, theaters promoting the film movement the legitimacy it had long (illegally) a covertcommission were boycotted or vandalized, and craved. Suddenly, when geared specifically toward dealing hundreds of newspaper, radio, and mutant-haters spoke, everyone with the mutant situation. This ad television editorials spoke out listened. The simple fact that hoc group, dubbed Project against the "clear and present mutants existed and wielded Wideawake, was headed by Judge danger" of mutant infiltration in unknown powers frightened the Petrie, the president's national mainstream human society. The pants off the average citizen. The security advisor. It included Valerie film's distributors were eventually public demanded action. Cooper (special assistant to Petrie), forced to shelve the project and the Frank Lowell (C.I.A.), Raven film was never released. Kelly's Legacy Darkholme (defense department), The public has a short memory Henry Peter Gyrich (National and the furor died down quickly Carried on a riSing tide of public Security Council, head of when the film's demise was support, mutantcontrol became an operations), and many other announced. A small but vocal issue in political contests at every influential members of the American minority, however, clung to the issue, level, from city council to United intelligence community. agitating against mutants, putting up States Senate. In 1984 an The fact that Raven Darkholme anti-mutant graffiti, and attacking anti-mutant reactionary was elected served as a member of the suspected mutants in the streets or president. Within a year, the Mutant commission deserves special even in their homes. The situation Affairs Control Act was pushed consideration. Unknown to any of gradually but inexorably grew worse. through the congressional her colleagues, Darkholme was in meatgrinder. Presidential support reality the mutant terrorist Mystique, was a key element in the passage of It Hits the Fan leader of the Second Brotherhood of the bill. Evil Mutants. Her position on the Gradually, that is, until the The passage of this bill marked a project could easily have assassination of Senator (and low point in the constitutional compromised any program. The

3 nature of Mystique, however, was mutants whose powers are Individually, these sentinels were not such that she allowed the project to minimal or benign. Normal means as powerful as earlier generations carry out its anti·mutant mission with of confinement are useless, had been. Experience is a great minimal interference. She did not however, against the small teacher, however, and the tactics use her unique position to warn other number of very powerful, employed by the sentinels were mutants of their danger; she sought well·trained mutants. improved significantly. Although they only to safeguard herself and other EX1raordinary means involving were capable of independent members of the Brotherhood. advanced technological devices operation, the sentinels (at first, are the only alternative. anyway) were always accompanied by human controllers whenever they Mutant Control 4. Denied the option of confinement, were sent on potentially hazardous the only alternative is permanent Project Wideawake wasted no time missions or into situations that could removal of the mutants' powers or before jumping into action against escalate into open combat. mutants. The first issue that needed eX1ermination of the mutant population. Sentinels, however, have always to be dealt with was how mutants been unpredictable, and those built should be handled. One group felt by Shaw Industries were no that cooperative mutants and other Sentinels Reborn exception. They were programmed super beings should be enlisted to As Project Wideawake went about with a broad·based directive to round up the dangerous mutants. its business, it became more and "protect humans against the menace Others felt that mutants should be more evident that conventional of mutant domination of SOCiety." put to work, but only under close means were wholly inadequate to Despite their reduced intelligence guard in situations where their deal with mutants. Of all the and increased reliance on human powers are largely neutralized. A country's police forces, military direction, the sentinels as a group third faction urged that all mutants forces, and intelligence agencies, arrived at the conclusion that the be destroyed on sight, with no only one-SHIELD-was equipped best way to carry out their program exceptions. to locate or arrest mutants. SHIELD, was to assume control of Project Eventually the second viewpoint, still under the autonomous control of Wideawake, thereby eliminating the championed by National Security Nick Fury, refused to deal with moderating influence of the humans. Council veteran Gyrich, won out. Gyrich or with Project Wideawake. Within a few years of ousting Project objectives were formulated (In the turmoil to come, SHIELD humans from Project Wideawake, along the following lines: would have more than one run·in sentinels controlled all of North 1. The mutant "X·factor" is with Project Wideawake.) America. The eastern seaboard was spreading at an alarming rate. After a fiery confrontation with largely in ruins, along with most of Unless checked somehow, it will Fury over SHIELD's cooperation, California. The U.S. army was be present in a significant portion Petrie and Gyrich decided to avoid reduced to a fraction of its former of the population (homo superior) enlisting any outside agencies to size-a precaution enforced by the within four to five generations. their cause for any activity besides sentinels to ensure their dominance. Measures must be taken to information gathering; they realized SHIELD was the last of the reduce the incidence of the that bringing in other people risked intelligence agencies to be X·factor by removing those exposing the Project to public challenged, and it put up a heroic carrying it from the gene pool or scrutiny. Since the Project's whole fight. In the end, less than 15 percent by restricting their freedom to existence was illegal, any risk in this of SHIELD's personnel and produce offspring. area was too great. equipment escaped to the wilds of Instead, Project directors decided Canada to form the backbone of the 2. Many mutants possess great to create their own enforcement Canadian Resistance Army. physical and mental powers. Past division. With this in mind, they The program adopted by the experience demonstrates that secretly contacted Shaw Industries sentinels was simple and merciless. they are veryoften willing to use and arranged to resurrect the All mutants, whether dangerous or these powers for advancement of Sentinel program. harmless, were to be arrested and their own goals without regard for interned in prison camps away from the laws or ultimate good of The Beginning of the End population centers. Anyone who human society (homo sapiens). interfered with the sentinels' mission There is no reason to believe that Initially, Shaw Industries or protected mutants was also this will change. manufactured three models of subject to arrest and internment. 3. Normal means of confinement are sentinels for Project Wide awake: Anyone who resisted was killed. adequate for the majority of Mark IV, Mark V, and Mark VI.

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"' l' " , I I. IJ.ll i,,_ .. p:I '" ,fI' 'I' \! ,1, 111., , X-factor is the term that describes A much larger proportion of people Mutants are fo rbidden to live in mutant genes in general. The could be classified as "anomalous" apartment buildings or multi-family X-factor is the mysterious genetic humans; they are not mutants dwellings which also house something that gives mutants their themselves, but possess a high genetically pure humans. All mutants power, sets them apart, andputs probability of having mutant currently living in such dwellings them at odds with society. offspring. This class of people must move. This chapter describes the comprises roughly 18 percent of the Identification cards must be demographics of the X-factor, public population. presented when purchasing the sentiment toward mutants, and the following goods: fo od, liquor, general condition of North America The Caste System gasoline, books, cigarettes, under sentinel control. The stratification of society began electronic equipment, tools, radios, with registration. Within one month weapons, clothing, shoes, Who's Got It? of inauguration, the 1984 airline/train/bus tickets. A mutant is any plant or animal administration ordered that everyone Mutants are fo rbidden to work or whose genetic or cellular structure is must report to the local civil eat in public restaurants not set different from its parents' and has authorities to register for an aside for use specifically by mutants. been since birth. The Marvel identification card. At the time of universe is filled with characters application an organic scan was Mutants are forbidden in public whose genetic structure has been performed along with a blood test to parks and museums. Mutant children altered-Spider-Man, Daredevil, the determine the applicant's class. If must be withdrawn from public -but they are not true mutants the applicant was human, an schools. because they were normal humans identification card was issued and he Mutants are fo rbidden to ride at birth. Likewise, if the child of was free to go. If the applicant was public transportation. Wanda Maximoff () and found to be anomalous or a mutant the Vision displays the power to alter he was issued a special identification Mutants are fo rbidden to be probability fields, he is not a mutant card. Mutants were also given treated in hospitals or clinics which because this power was passed to generic inhibitor collars which are not set aside fo r the sole him by his mother. Franklin prevented the use of most mutant treatment of mutants. Richards, on the other hand, is a powers. They were required to wear All mutant organizations, societies, mutant, because his powers are these collars at all times. The three newsletters, and professional unions entirely different from those classes of society-humans, are illegal. possessed by his parents. anomalous humans, and The key to all of these restrictions The actual percentage of the mutants-were sharply defined and was registration. Without the population that is mutant is difficult mutually exclusive. voluntary cooperation of the people to estimate. Spokesmen for the Beyond these restrictions, life went who registered, events could have anti-mutant movement have quoted on pretty much as before. gone quite differently. figures as high as 8 percent, but this is generally considered to be way out No Mutants Allowed of line. The sentinels, who probably The Decline of Western have access to the most accurate Shortlyafter registration was Civilization information, estimate that the true completed, the government and local authorities began issuing directives. In short order, anomalous humans mutant population of NorthAmerica became outcasts. Most of their prior to the sentinel takeover was just They were harmless at first, intended mainly to harass, but quickly businesses were bankrupted by the under 1 percent. escalated to place severe restrictions loss of all human customers. Even this figure seems Anomalous humans were forbidden outrageously high until you consider on mutants and anomalous humans. One of the first directives required to have children, so their that very few of these mutants had neighborhoods gradually grow older "super powers." Most had very that all mutants and anomalous humans wear an identifying letter: a and older, with no new faces, until minor abilities, or no special abilities eventually they die out completely. at all, because of their mutations. large M or A stenciled on the back and front of all clothing. Other But even their fate seems enviable Unfortunately, all of these compared to that of mutants. distinctions were insignificant to the restrictions, such as those listed below, followed shortly. Housing restrictions forced mutants sentinels; to them, a mutant was a and anomalous humans to move on mutant, regardless of how its Mutants and anomalous humans short notice, almost invariably into mutation manifested itself. are forbidden to bear children. slums and ghettoes where they were

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forced to pay exorbitant rent for knows for sure whether this change assassinations rolled across the miserable apartments. Denied was ordered by the government or country, leaving hundreds of mayors, education, medicine, and legal was undertaken independently by police chiefs, and mutant control advice, they banded together to form the sentinels, but the sentinels had council administrators dead. their own schools and clinics. Then the full cooperation of all government The sentinels struck back these, too, were outlawed as departments. ferociously. Benign mutants (those "mutant organizations." With most At that point, the United States without extraordinarypowers) were of their markets and food co-ops disintegrated. The anti-mutant locked into concentration camps. eliminated, they were forced to buy program relied on the quiet Virulent mutants (those with from licensed racketeers or rely on cooperation of the majority of extraordinary powers) and resisters government rations to survive. humans, anomalous humans, and were executed immediately. mutants. People had cooperated, for The country turned into a war The Roundup various reasons: humans because zone. Cities burned or were they feared mutants; mutants and demolished by the sentinels. About this time, Project anomalous humans because they Telephone and radio communication Wideawake received shipment of its were outnumbered and because was almost entirely cut off. Unable to first sentinels. Ostensibly the cooperation allowed them to control the sentinels and powerless sentinels were to hunt down those maintain a semblance of their to stop them, the federal government mutants who had refused to register normal, family life. When the was useless. and were operating illegal sentinels began arresting mutants, As more and more of the country underground newspapers, tryingto family ties were ignored. Children fell under the sentinels' control, the smuggle mutants out of the country, were taken from their families, violence quieted down. There were or carrying out other subversive or parents were taken from their simply not enough mutants left to illegal acts. children, husbands and wives were fight. Many were dead, and those Before long, the sentinels shifted taken from each other. Threatened who survived were behind barbed their emphasis away from searching with losing their loved ones, mutants wire. The few mutants still at large out unregistered mutants to rounding and their families fought back. Those were scattered and isolated. up all mutants, registered and mutants with super powers attacked This is the situation when the unregistered, for confinement in sentinels and demolished their adventure begins. "Mutant Internment Centers." No bases. People of all sortsambushed one outside of Project Wideawake police patrols. A tidal wave of

7 The history of Project Wideawake one die. If the number rolled is four The alpha sentinel is designed for was covered briefly in "The Mutant or higher, the sentinels back off and combat. It is the most common type Affairs Control Act." This chapter look for a way to capture the mutants of sentinel. The omega sentinel is explores the ways in which the without endangering the human. If intended as a leader and sentinels dominate NorthAmerica the roll is three or less, the sentinels administrator, although it is and the extent of their control, the decide that saving the human's life is extremely powerful in battle. Finally, immediate capabilities of the not worth allowingfour mutants to Nimrod (the "ultimate sentinel") is sentinels, their intelligence network, escape, and attack accordingly. the most powerful sentinel ever built. and sentinel backup forces. Only one exists. Sentinel Organization Despite the fact that all units from Sentinel Law previous generations of sentinels are The smallest unit of sentinel believed destroyed, they show a Every action that a sentinel takes organization is the triad. A triad remarkable capacity to patch is governed by its prime directive: to consists of three sentinels (usually themselves together and resurface protect humanity from the danger of alpha sentinels). It is the typical somewhere else. By the year 2000, mutants, at any cost. patrol unit, so sentinels are rarely any surviving mark I, II, or III A sentinel can use deadly force encountered singly or in pairs. sentinels are quite deranged. If the any time it sees the need and will not Directly above the triad is the Judge decides to inject an earlier hesitate to do so. The only exception squadron. A squadron consists of model of sentinel into the game, it to this is when human life is at stake. three triads plus a squadron leader should be a crazy quilt of patchwork A sentinel always tries to spare the (usually an omega sentinel). repairs and bent on some lives of humans (even anomalous A platoon contains three single-minded mission of destruction. humans). Sentinels are emotionless, squadrons, one platoon leader All sentinels, regardless of their however, and simply balance any (omega sentinel), and an vintage, share several potential loss of human life against administrative team (four mark IV, V, characteristics. All are 20 feet tall, the potential harm to mutants. If no or VI sentinels and an omega humanoid, and contain their sensory other alternative exists, and the harm sentinel). package in their heads. Their brains, to mutantkind is proportionately A company contains three however, are in their chests. larger than the harm to humans, platoons, a company commander Sentinels are programmed to speak sentinels will kill humans to get at (omega sentinel), and company whatever languages they may need, mutants. This aspect of sentinel headquarters unit (nine sentinels of and can communicate with each psychology must be balanced by the assorted typesand vintages). A other silently by radio at any range. Judge. If player characters take company can patrol an area of They walk with Good speed but human hostages to protect 100,000 square miles without taxing cannot run or jump. They have themselves, attacking sentinels its resources. Additional companies slightly better sight and hearing than should take pause while deciding usually are assigned to urban areas humans, touch equivalent to what to do. within that territory. humans, and no sense of taste or The Judge can use the following The company is the largest smell. All sentinels are sealed procedure to determine how standard unit. In the field, a company against hostile environments, sentinels react in the presence of is typically scattered across a wide extreme pressure, and weather, hostages. Roll one die for each area, operating in individual enabling them to travel into outer human hostage and for each pair of squadrons which are largely space or under the ocean with no anomalous human hostages. The independent but which rely on the special modifications. number rolled is the number of company headquartersfor Learning Program: All sentinels mutants that hostage can protect. If coordination and theater orders. If since the mark II series have been the sum of the dice is less than the larger units are needed, they are equipped with an adaptive learning number of mutants present, the created ad hoc. algorithm which allows them to learn sentinels decide that killing or from their mistakes. After three capturing the mutants is more Physical Parameters rounds of combat with a particular importantthan saving the humans. character (mutant or otherwise), all For example, assume that four In the future, six types of sentinels operate in NorthAmerica: mark IV, sentinels gain a + 1 column shift mutants are being chased by whenever they fight that character. sentinels. It is obvious the mutants mark V, mark VI, alpha sentinels, omega sentinels, and Nimrod. Marks This bonus is available to all cannot outrun the sentinels, so they sentinels everywhere, even if only capture a human hostage and turn to IV, V, and VI are obsolete but can still be found patrolling quiet areas. one sentinel has fought the character face their pursuers. The Judge rolls (the information is relayed instantly

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