Andrew Seiple's Blog: Transmissions From the Teslaverse - Posts Tagged "setting-design"
Red and Blue, Black and Gold
Did you know that there are some authors and companies out there that make superhero roleplaying games?
I'm a fan of Mutants and Masterminds myself, but a few weeks ago I picked up one called "Wild Talents" when it turned up on sale in my local game store. It was written by Dennis Detwiller, Kenneth Hite, Shane Ivy, and Greg Stolze. It's kind of an expanded idea of their original "Godlike" game. Most of the book's dedicated to the rules and setting of course, typical RPG fare... but part of it is an amazing chapter on superhero worldbuilding.
They introduce four concepts that act as good measurements of how far from our own universe a superhero universe has strayed.
Red is how much our main timeline matches another timeline. In a Red 1 world, the Soviet Union fell, World War II ended in the 40s, the US lost Vietnam, we don't have any moonbases circa 2016, and for the most part, history's untouched despite the introduction of superpowers. In a Red 2 world, one or two major events were different as a result of powers. In a Red 5 world, the timeline's totally different, to the point that practically no major events past the introduction of powers are the same.
Blue is a measure of the fantastic... It's how much weirdness is possible for the setting. In a Blue 1 world, there is no such thing as magic, humanity is alone in the Universe, radiation is usually bad, and there are no other dimensions. There are superpowers, but that's all. In a Blue 2 world, there's typically one fantastic thing besides superpowers, and it's either hidden or muted. In a Blue 5 world, Jetpack gorillas can live on the moon so long as they fight off the Atlantean nazis who park their aetherpanzers up there on weekends.
Black is a measure of morality, and overall darkness. Black 1 worlds are gritty, shades of grey where only we judge ourselves, there is no karma, and no one's all good or bad. Nothing's entirely good or evil. In a Black 2 world, some things are clearly good and some are clearly bad, but most of it's still on us to judge. In a Black 5 world there is good and there is evil, and heroes don't do drugs stay in school kids!
Gold determines the capability of a protagonist or antagonist to seriously change the setting. In a Gold 1 setting it doesn't matter that Superman can help with space exploration or that Reed Richards can cure cancer, because they don't. In a Gold 2 setting, there's some limited help, a few tech advancements or societal changes but they're fairly minor and gradual. In a Gold 5 setting we all live in the sky thanks to Awesomeman's levitation stones, and we have flying cars! Or we all live in the blasted remnants because Ragequit burned the world, and now we have to Mad Max it up for scavenged granola bars and gasoline.
This is a seriously useful and well-thought-out scale.
It would have been useful to have it around when I was designing the Teslaverse, because it would have saved me a lot of time, helped me articulate things more clearly. But hey, I can do that now.
RED: I'd put the Teslaverse at Red 3. Most of written history matches up with our own timeline, up until World War I. But the further you go, the more drift happens. Some major events are altered or resolve differently, even if you can still recognize Earth's history if you squint and turn your head a little. Much of the Teslaverse looks like Red 2 at first glance... but then secrets are revealed, and the true disparity of the setting is brought into relief.
If you dropped a person from our world into most nations of the Teslaverse, and took away their television and internet, they wouldn't notice for a day or so, probably. But eventually they'd start wondering why the architecture was different and what all those antennae and pylons on the buildings were about.
BLUE: Blue 3, with no regrets. Magic's a thing, even if it's mostly hidden. Various types of radiation can make mutants instead of cancer, and there ARE jetpack gorillas, but they certainly don't live on the moon, thank you very much. They're doing very well in their superscience-warded plateau in the Congo, thank you very much. It's all due to an agreement with the Atlanteans, who dwell deep within the waves and are said to worship unspeakable elder gods... so yeah. Lots of weirdness, but it's not shoved in people's faces all the time, and for the most part society toodles along, trying to ignore the fact that weird stuff is out there and there's not much the average human can do about it.
Drop an average human from our world into the Teslaverse and they'd think they were having a hallucinogenic episode the first time a naiad manifests in the office water cooler and demands wine sacrifices. Or as the MRB calls it, a code 7731.
BLACK: Black 3, with shades of 2 mostly because Dire. The Teslaverse is a world where killing is a horrible thing to do, and you should only do it in self-defense. Karma always has a way of coming back on people, and good folks are generally more successful and rewarded, while bad folks eventually suffer. There are exceptions... Doctor Dire seems to get away with more malice, but that's usually due to the fact it's done for righteous reasons and never lightly. She STILL has horrible luck, and has to work hard for every pyrrhic victory she wrests from the jaws of cruel fate.
Drop an average human from our world into the Teslaverse, and they'd eventually find themselves tested or pulled into being a good or bad person. It's possible to stay neutral and just be an average sort, but it takes work and dedication and either cowardice or prudence depending upon your viewpoint.
GOLD: Gold 2. Tesla changed the world, but he didn't complete what he started... his technology replaced our power grid, our internet, our electronics, and advanced the general tech level of the world by a decade or two. But other areas are much the same. Superscience is useful but, well... stability, safety, cost, functionality... pick two. Then that goes down to one, when villains figure out how to mess it up. Magic is NOT safe, even for skilled practitioners, so you certainly don't want it in the hands of the mainstream populace. And sure, some supervillains could transmute continents into gold... but the banking conspiracies would pick up a phone and have them dead within minutes if they did.
It IS possible to change the world, but there are so many counterbalances and both heroes and villains who like it as it is, that you have to overcome a ton of challenges before you get anywhere close to making such changes lasting.
Drop an average human being from our world into the Teslaverse, and... well. Any human can change the world, really, given luck and skill.
Funny how often we forget that. Fortunately, we have our stories to remind us.
And on that note, I'll sign off. Peace, out!
I'm a fan of Mutants and Masterminds myself, but a few weeks ago I picked up one called "Wild Talents" when it turned up on sale in my local game store. It was written by Dennis Detwiller, Kenneth Hite, Shane Ivy, and Greg Stolze. It's kind of an expanded idea of their original "Godlike" game. Most of the book's dedicated to the rules and setting of course, typical RPG fare... but part of it is an amazing chapter on superhero worldbuilding.
They introduce four concepts that act as good measurements of how far from our own universe a superhero universe has strayed.
Red is how much our main timeline matches another timeline. In a Red 1 world, the Soviet Union fell, World War II ended in the 40s, the US lost Vietnam, we don't have any moonbases circa 2016, and for the most part, history's untouched despite the introduction of superpowers. In a Red 2 world, one or two major events were different as a result of powers. In a Red 5 world, the timeline's totally different, to the point that practically no major events past the introduction of powers are the same.
Blue is a measure of the fantastic... It's how much weirdness is possible for the setting. In a Blue 1 world, there is no such thing as magic, humanity is alone in the Universe, radiation is usually bad, and there are no other dimensions. There are superpowers, but that's all. In a Blue 2 world, there's typically one fantastic thing besides superpowers, and it's either hidden or muted. In a Blue 5 world, Jetpack gorillas can live on the moon so long as they fight off the Atlantean nazis who park their aetherpanzers up there on weekends.
Black is a measure of morality, and overall darkness. Black 1 worlds are gritty, shades of grey where only we judge ourselves, there is no karma, and no one's all good or bad. Nothing's entirely good or evil. In a Black 2 world, some things are clearly good and some are clearly bad, but most of it's still on us to judge. In a Black 5 world there is good and there is evil, and heroes don't do drugs stay in school kids!
Gold determines the capability of a protagonist or antagonist to seriously change the setting. In a Gold 1 setting it doesn't matter that Superman can help with space exploration or that Reed Richards can cure cancer, because they don't. In a Gold 2 setting, there's some limited help, a few tech advancements or societal changes but they're fairly minor and gradual. In a Gold 5 setting we all live in the sky thanks to Awesomeman's levitation stones, and we have flying cars! Or we all live in the blasted remnants because Ragequit burned the world, and now we have to Mad Max it up for scavenged granola bars and gasoline.
This is a seriously useful and well-thought-out scale.
It would have been useful to have it around when I was designing the Teslaverse, because it would have saved me a lot of time, helped me articulate things more clearly. But hey, I can do that now.
RED: I'd put the Teslaverse at Red 3. Most of written history matches up with our own timeline, up until World War I. But the further you go, the more drift happens. Some major events are altered or resolve differently, even if you can still recognize Earth's history if you squint and turn your head a little. Much of the Teslaverse looks like Red 2 at first glance... but then secrets are revealed, and the true disparity of the setting is brought into relief.
If you dropped a person from our world into most nations of the Teslaverse, and took away their television and internet, they wouldn't notice for a day or so, probably. But eventually they'd start wondering why the architecture was different and what all those antennae and pylons on the buildings were about.
BLUE: Blue 3, with no regrets. Magic's a thing, even if it's mostly hidden. Various types of radiation can make mutants instead of cancer, and there ARE jetpack gorillas, but they certainly don't live on the moon, thank you very much. They're doing very well in their superscience-warded plateau in the Congo, thank you very much. It's all due to an agreement with the Atlanteans, who dwell deep within the waves and are said to worship unspeakable elder gods... so yeah. Lots of weirdness, but it's not shoved in people's faces all the time, and for the most part society toodles along, trying to ignore the fact that weird stuff is out there and there's not much the average human can do about it.
Drop an average human from our world into the Teslaverse and they'd think they were having a hallucinogenic episode the first time a naiad manifests in the office water cooler and demands wine sacrifices. Or as the MRB calls it, a code 7731.
BLACK: Black 3, with shades of 2 mostly because Dire. The Teslaverse is a world where killing is a horrible thing to do, and you should only do it in self-defense. Karma always has a way of coming back on people, and good folks are generally more successful and rewarded, while bad folks eventually suffer. There are exceptions... Doctor Dire seems to get away with more malice, but that's usually due to the fact it's done for righteous reasons and never lightly. She STILL has horrible luck, and has to work hard for every pyrrhic victory she wrests from the jaws of cruel fate.
Drop an average human from our world into the Teslaverse, and they'd eventually find themselves tested or pulled into being a good or bad person. It's possible to stay neutral and just be an average sort, but it takes work and dedication and either cowardice or prudence depending upon your viewpoint.
GOLD: Gold 2. Tesla changed the world, but he didn't complete what he started... his technology replaced our power grid, our internet, our electronics, and advanced the general tech level of the world by a decade or two. But other areas are much the same. Superscience is useful but, well... stability, safety, cost, functionality... pick two. Then that goes down to one, when villains figure out how to mess it up. Magic is NOT safe, even for skilled practitioners, so you certainly don't want it in the hands of the mainstream populace. And sure, some supervillains could transmute continents into gold... but the banking conspiracies would pick up a phone and have them dead within minutes if they did.
It IS possible to change the world, but there are so many counterbalances and both heroes and villains who like it as it is, that you have to overcome a ton of challenges before you get anywhere close to making such changes lasting.
Drop an average human being from our world into the Teslaverse, and... well. Any human can change the world, really, given luck and skill.
Funny how often we forget that. Fortunately, we have our stories to remind us.
And on that note, I'll sign off. Peace, out!
Transmissions From the Teslaverse
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