Mutants and Masterminds, Anti-Earth Liberated: Now What?

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Snakeman12
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Mutants and Masterminds, Anti-Earth Liberated: Now What?

Post by Snakeman12 »

I am toying with an Anti-Earth idea that is different from all the other ones I have seen. It would start after the Tyranny Syndicate has been defeated and toppled as Anti-Earth's rulers. However due to this the world is in a state of chaos and thus the victorious forces of justice need to fix things. To top it all off there are quite a few opportunists, terrestrial and alien, looking to take advantage of the situation in one way or another. Also the Tyrannny Syndicate members, how many of them are left, would be itching to retake their old place. Does anyone have any thoughts on this idea?
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Davies
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Re: Mutants and Masterminds, Anti-Earth Liberated: Now What?

Post by Davies »

Sounds like a worthwhile campaign setting; I'm familiar with some discussions about a similar, 'adventures in the aftermath of the dark lord's fall' fantasy campaign, so I'd be interested in seeing what you do with the idea.
"I'm sorry. I love you. I'm not sorry I love you."
Snakeman12
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Re: Mutants and Masterminds, Anti-Earth Liberated: Now What?

Post by Snakeman12 »

Davies wrote: Mon Jun 14, 2021 8:07 am Sounds like a worthwhile campaign setting; I'm familiar with some discussions about a similar, 'adventures in the aftermath of the dark lord's fall' fantasy campaign, so I'd be interested in seeing what you do with the idea.
Some suggestions are always helpful.
RainOnTheSun
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Re: Mutants and Masterminds, Anti-Earth Liberated: Now What?

Post by RainOnTheSun »

One thing I wonder about Anti-Earth sometimes is how bad it really is, compared to Freedom-Earth. The Freedomverse often seems to take a Marvel approach where the villains are just as powerful as the heroes, if not more so.
FuzzyBoots
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Re: Mutants and Masterminds, Anti-Earth Liberated: Now What?

Post by FuzzyBoots »

One of the things I've been discussing with Snakeman12 in another forum is whether there is a meaningful way for the good guys to "win" on Anti-Earth. With how it's cast as a direct opposite, with morality just kind of working differently, it's kind of assumed that they always come back. Depose the Tyranny League, and if they don't struggle their way to power, then some other ambitious super will eventually be ruling the city in the same way that if the Freedom League were defeated, they'd be back by the next episode. I guess a lot of it comes down to how much you see the people of that world as inherently bad, or at least very id-driven, by nature, and how much you want justice to always triumph, even on a world where the physical laws are arrayed the other direction.
One thing I wonder about Anti-Earth sometimes is how bad it really is, compared to Freedom-Earth. The Freedomverse often seems to take a Marvel approach where the villains are just as powerful as the heroes, if not more so.
Hmm... one common difference, too, for various Anti-Earth kinds of setups is that the villainous versions of the heroes tend be more effective, or at least more permanent. When they put down a rebellion, the heroic versions of the villains tend to die or get lobotomized so there's even less opposition. I know that part of it is narrative, so that when the Justice League travel to Earth 3, they're that world's only hope, but it does make the heroes seem that little bit more ineffectual, that Batman will throw Joker into Arkham over and over again as more people die, that Superman will grab the local warlord and take them to the Hague and a few years later, the man's son is terrorizing the local populace again.
RainOnTheSun
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Re: Mutants and Masterminds, Anti-Earth Liberated: Now What?

Post by RainOnTheSun »

The question of whether people on anti-earth are inherently bad is an interesting one, because the implication is that people on prime-earth are inherently good, and, well, people on prime-earth can't be too inherently good or the Freedom League won't have anything to do. Even the original DC Crime Syndicate is more convincing in that respect when Lex Luthor and the Joker are colorful thieves, and less convincing when Lex Luthor owns half the world and the Joker has a big enough body count to depopulate a medium-sized town. If they're the bad earth to our good earth, why isn't our good earth any better?

Hm. Evil-earth vs neutral-earth doesn't have quite the same appeal. Good-earth vs evil-earth with neutral(Prime) earth caught in the middle, maybe?
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Davies
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Re: Mutants and Masterminds, Anti-Earth Liberated: Now What?

Post by Davies »

What follows may be the product of entirely too little sleep.

In our world, the world that superhero comics are supposed to reflect, most of the groups which have valued cruelty and deception have been relatively small ones, existing within larger societies and preying on them -- criminal organizations, hate groups, you get the idea. Those larger societies have generally been composed of people who claim to believe in more noble ideals, even if they often didn't live up to them.

If you flip that on its head, then what you get is a world where there are groups which value admirable principles existing within larger societies and trying to help. Those larger societies are composed of people who claim to believe in cruelty and deception ... but often don't have it in them to practice such things.

Imagine a world where online anonymity gives people the freedom to be kind to each other without anyone being able to prove that they did so.
"I'm sorry. I love you. I'm not sorry I love you."
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