If we had an ultra-powerful super with ecologically-based superpowers . . . they'd be able to stop the war pretty quickly. So, it’s “easy” in the same way that a Mary-Sue is easy.
But, more importantly, who is this super? Why haven’t we heard of them before? Sure, we could just “make one up” but that would be intellectually dishonest. This isn’t happening in a vacuum. Why didn’t they show up to miraculously repair the Exxon Valdez oil spill eleven years ago? Why haven’t they repaired the damage to Iraq and Iran? Jerusalem? There are plenty of ecological catastrophes in the IST world that they would be needed for. Spontaneously creating one to keep the war from being too devastating is GM Fiat and reduces any act that an adventuring party does to nil—we don’t have to keep that reactor from melting down, Dr. Fixaflat will be here soon to clean up the radiation and lead everyone in a rousing chorus of Kumbaya.
If Witchwind actually was Hexe, then, well, this would be a different war. We don't have these resources to throw at the problem. Creating those resources makes adventuring in the world irrelevant. “Boy, it sure is nice that these ultra-powerful supers let us play with our powers . . ..” That’s why I didn’t like my after-shocks idea. We need to come up with ideas to empower players, not marginalize them.
Your suggestions seem to be centered on “let’s reduce China’s ability to wage a war to the level that a conventional war could be fought and won against them.” That’s not IST, and I’m pretty sure that’s not what Bob is looking for. This is Supers. This needs to be stories about small groups of amazing people working against incredible odds to do, not just amazing, but awesome things. We’re not talking four-color (IST isn’t, quite, four-color), but, we are talking supers. An IST team wouldn’t find any pleasure in just standing out there mowing down lightly-powered infantry. But, a holding action against powerful foes while they’re evacuating a hospital or school, that’s the job of Heroes. Flying into the heart of the enemy forces with a gadgeteer-created super-something (“hey, even I don’t know what it’ll do, you didn’t give me enough time to adequately test it”) should be the bread-and-butter of a group.
[sarcasm]Sure, China would have a problem with breeding kids.[/sarcasm] 15 is adult enough. Their plan was to be done in 30 years, not have the first phase of the plan done. And there’s no doubt that they’re less concerned about human rights now, than they were before Tiananmen Square. And keep in mind it was 1989 when we learned about the project . . . how long had they been working on it before then? Discovering the genes in 1985 may have simply sped up their process. It may have allowed them to focus on select lines and prune others.
China’s basic soldier will have to be able to stand up against U.N. Powered Armor Infantry. That should be our base-line for them. Powered Armor Infantry would be the main target that China has been planning to battle since the start.
Keep in mind that Colombia has the ability to “mass-produce” supers. Sure, they’re short lived (only 2d hours), but they were 1k supers in 3e! The basic character for IST was 600 points. China could have refined that down from an art to a science.
And the US may have destroyed its arsenal in 1987. Buchanan went off U.N. power in ‘98 and could have begun building a new, anti-U.N. arsenal any time before that. The technology and the infrastructure still exist, and, the US has proven that it can do some pretty amazing things with its manufacturing capability in the past.
We don’t need them to be weaker, we just need them to have an Achilles heel. The U.N. and the IST have some, pretty glaring, weaknesses (I’m figuring out some ideas for that, which could be interesting).
But, more importantly, who is this super? Why haven’t we heard of them before? Sure, we could just “make one up” but that would be intellectually dishonest. This isn’t happening in a vacuum. Why didn’t they show up to miraculously repair the Exxon Valdez oil spill eleven years ago? Why haven’t they repaired the damage to Iraq and Iran? Jerusalem? There are plenty of ecological catastrophes in the IST world that they would be needed for. Spontaneously creating one to keep the war from being too devastating is GM Fiat and reduces any act that an adventuring party does to nil—we don’t have to keep that reactor from melting down, Dr. Fixaflat will be here soon to clean up the radiation and lead everyone in a rousing chorus of Kumbaya.
If Witchwind actually was Hexe, then, well, this would be a different war. We don't have these resources to throw at the problem. Creating those resources makes adventuring in the world irrelevant. “Boy, it sure is nice that these ultra-powerful supers let us play with our powers . . ..” That’s why I didn’t like my after-shocks idea. We need to come up with ideas to empower players, not marginalize them.
Your suggestions seem to be centered on “let’s reduce China’s ability to wage a war to the level that a conventional war could be fought and won against them.” That’s not IST, and I’m pretty sure that’s not what Bob is looking for. This is Supers. This needs to be stories about small groups of amazing people working against incredible odds to do, not just amazing, but awesome things. We’re not talking four-color (IST isn’t, quite, four-color), but, we are talking supers. An IST team wouldn’t find any pleasure in just standing out there mowing down lightly-powered infantry. But, a holding action against powerful foes while they’re evacuating a hospital or school, that’s the job of Heroes. Flying into the heart of the enemy forces with a gadgeteer-created super-something (“hey, even I don’t know what it’ll do, you didn’t give me enough time to adequately test it”) should be the bread-and-butter of a group.
[sarcasm]Sure, China would have a problem with breeding kids.[/sarcasm] 15 is adult enough. Their plan was to be done in 30 years, not have the first phase of the plan done. And there’s no doubt that they’re less concerned about human rights now, than they were before Tiananmen Square. And keep in mind it was 1989 when we learned about the project . . . how long had they been working on it before then? Discovering the genes in 1985 may have simply sped up their process. It may have allowed them to focus on select lines and prune others.
China’s basic soldier will have to be able to stand up against U.N. Powered Armor Infantry. That should be our base-line for them. Powered Armor Infantry would be the main target that China has been planning to battle since the start.
Keep in mind that Colombia has the ability to “mass-produce” supers. Sure, they’re short lived (only 2d hours), but they were 1k supers in 3e! The basic character for IST was 600 points. China could have refined that down from an art to a science.
And the US may have destroyed its arsenal in 1987. Buchanan went off U.N. power in ‘98 and could have begun building a new, anti-U.N. arsenal any time before that. The technology and the infrastructure still exist, and, the US has proven that it can do some pretty amazing things with its manufacturing capability in the past.
We don’t need them to be weaker, we just need them to have an Achilles heel. The U.N. and the IST have some, pretty glaring, weaknesses (I’m figuring out some ideas for that, which could be interesting).