GURPS
International Super Teams may have one of the
more unusual geneses of the many GURPS worldbooks.
Its concept of a U.N.-sponsored super police force predates DC's Justice
League International. In one way, it predates much
of GURPS itself.
Nearly ten years ago, a Villains and Vigilantes campaign was started
in New Brunswick, NJ (where I live). The PC super-team eventually split
into two branches -- Warriors East, and Warriors West.
About five years ago, a new GM took over and introduced a radical alteration
into the game-world: the U.N. banned national superteams and appointed the
player group its police force. The two branches of Warriors were renamed
Alpha and Beta (because Warriors West was now in Tokyo, and Warriors East
in London, which would have confused lots of people).
A couple of years later, in a fit of enthusiasm, I developed a history for
the Warriors' World. Partly inspired by the Wild Cards series,
it sought to explain the origin of superpowers, the state of advanced technology,
and why the U.N. had become so strong. In early 1989, I posted it on the
Illuminati BBS. SJG was
developing a superhero worldbook, and I though people might be interested.
They were very interested. Before I knew it, I had been asked to revise
the timeline and write some accompanying material for the Supers
book. The Wild
Cards-like material was transformed into something less derivative,
and the Warriors became a much larger body: the International Super Teams.
When Supers came out, the logical next step was
a full worldbook for the ISTs, which left me with a problem. In a brief
description, it was easy to say, "The U.N. took over." In a worldbook,
I'd have to explain how and why, without losing drama and adventure -- and
make it make sense, to boot! Other details were easy -- just look at what
happened in the real world, and tweak them for better or worse. But justifying
the central motif was a challenge.
I became, for several months, a student of international affairs. The original
Warriors' World was much too simplistic; in it, the many nations of the
U.N. had given in without a whimper to an ultimatum with no teeth in it.
I had to find some way to insert those teeth without radically changing
the nature of the U.N. I found my answer in the flip side of the history.
I'm a comic book reader from way back. I remember when Jack Kirby was doing
counterculture super-hippies in Jimmy Olsen, Superman's Pal, and
when Captain Mar-Vell and Rick traded places using the Nega-bands. From
then to now, I noticed, comic worlds never changed. It
didn't matter if Captain Genius invented practical teleportation;
it somehow never changed society. I hated that. In the real world, if someone
could throw lightning bolts, or teleport, or turn invisible, sooner or later
someone is going to take him apart to find out what makes him tick.
All the way through the IST world's history, people do that. Supers are
poked, prodded and thoroughly investigated -- and scientific knowledge accelerates
accordingly. Scientific knowledge was the key to the altered attitude of
the U.N. What if the U.N. got its hands on something new which made it financially
independent -- and which gave it a bargaining chip to use against recalcitrant
nations without being a weapon?
Fusion power. Cheap, easy to build fusion reactors, with the process
owned outright and licensed by the U.N. -- only to nations which toed the
U.N. policy line. The U.S. wasn't going to let the USSR be the only major
power with fusion, and the other way around. Greed and paranoia became the
motivations of the member nations. "We can get away with this!"
became the motivation of the U.N.
Of course, realism imposed after- and side-effects to the U.N.'s Edicts
of 1982. A president's successor lost an election. Nationalism the world
over began to rise. Espionage became the tool of the day. Radical political
fringe groups gained wider support. U.N. ambassadors were yanked and replaced
with reliable mouthpieces. But the IST had passed from proposal to bureaucratic
juggernaut and was effectively unstoppable. Even as the U.N.'s council chambers
became once again a forum for petty nationalist politics, a strong international
police force with a mission and a sense of dedication arose. The Edicts
could not be reversed without damaging the U.N. irreparably -- and even
a confused U.N. is very important to the nations
of the world.
Some things in the IST world are wish fulfillment; some things are nostalgic
holdovers from Warriors' World. But for the most part, reality-checking
demanded certain results. Of course, I had the advantage of being
able to set the initial conditions, but what resulted from those conditions
is, I hope, a very logical and realistic extrapolation. This is the way
the world might have been.
(Back to Roleplayer
#23 Table of Contents)