Campaign Ideas : Legion 41

As campaign ideas go, this one couldn't be more simple to explain - a successor version of the Legion of Super-Heroes in the 41st Century. I love super-heroes, and I love science fiction, and they're two great tastes that taste great together. This is another idea that's been kicking around in my head for a while, and the fires were stoked further by the release of the new DC Adventures licensed role-playing game.*

* Of course, the wait for the second book dampened the flames down again. And now we're waiting on the third (of four).. Sigh.

Of course, that thousand-year gap isn't just there to clean the stage so that the newbie player heroes aren't overshadowed by 'real' Legionnaires. I've got some history and backstory to fill in that gap. Specifically - in the 38th century, Earth geneticists created a supreme metahuman being that, true to form, ran amok*. This nearly omnipotent being was finally brought down, but not before it destroyed Sorcerer's World utterly - unleashing a flood of magic back into the cosmos.

* And why is it they never walk amok? Always in such a hurry.

The incident caused the United Planets to outlaw metagene research (with the exception of certain already-proven lines) and to form a task force to deal with the chaos caused by the return of magic. Metahumans and aliens with meta-abilities are somewhat distrusted as a result, except the U.P.'s genetically enhanced soldiers that protect everyone. Of course, after I came up with this, I got into Warhammer 40K a bit, and realized that except for dropping an order of magnitude on the year, this all sounds pretty similar.*

* Seriously, some of the backstory that I can't put on here, in case I use this idea? The parallels are even more obvious, though unintentional.

So in this grim, dark, grimdark future where There Is Only War, a new version of the Legion is founded, providing positive examples of metahumans and a dash of optimism. The NPC pulling it together at first would be a princess of the newly-returned city of Atlantis, a descendant of Arthur Curry, AKA Aquaman, thus giving her a tie to that first age of heroes. 'Hydro Lass'* would bring together a new group of heroes to fight the enemies of the United Planets, protect its citizens, and deal with the occasional magical problem, or forbidden research.

* Hero name is a work in progress. May vary in actual gameplay.

Unlike some of my campaign ideas, I've even got a few of the adventure notions down for this one. Such as :

• What is the source of the metahuman DNA used to build the United Planets' superhuman soldiers?
• A mysterious temporal disturbance is detected in Colorado - forbidden temporal research, or the arrival of a time traveler?
• An immortal human warlord has emerged with the return of magic, called 'Ghul'. He's conquered a dozen planets already, can he be stopped?

It'd be a fun way to play in the DC Universe without getting bogged down with too many continuity issues. And it'd be a perfect fit with the DC Adventures / Mutants and Masterminds 3rd Edition game.

Just as soon as they finish the damn thing.