02 THEME SUMMARY

This is important information every player should know, even if they don't read the full theme files or timeline.

  • Age of Heroes is a comic book game based on a combined DC/Marvel universe. It also folds in small aspects of other comic book universes.
  • Our universe developed normally for a comic book universe up until World War II. The war ended when the Human Bomb blew himself up in Japan. That was also the end of the first Age of Heroes. After that the more fantastic aspects of the universe ceased to function on earth. Powers no longer worked, magic became very weak, strange and unusual technology ceased to function, and aliens and otherdimensional beings no longer visited. As might be expected most heroes took off their masks, though some heroes without powers still operated in this time.
  • The second Age of Heroes began on 1/1/2010. Powers and comic book tech started functioning again. Magic returned to full strength and aliens once more began visiting Earth.
  • There were exceptions to this. Some people did demonstrate powers before 2010. Such powers tended to be low key and unreliable. Charles Xavier, for instance, was very good at guessing what people were thinking and reading other's intention and was very persuasive. An alien such as Kal-El of Krypton might have been on Earth, sent here from a dying planet, but without any major powers until 2010. Someone like Tony Stark might have made technology ahead of his time that was on the cusp of comic book superscience.
  • Since 2010 a few events have occurred but nothing on the scale of a major comic book event such as Final Crisis or Secret Invasion.
  • Humans with powers that aren't granted by technology, magic, or alien heritage are known as metahumans. A small percentage of the human population has the metagene that, when activated, grants a person extraordinary powers. Mutants are those metahumans who are either born with an active metagene or who manifest an active metagene before the end of puberty without outside stimuli such as radioactive spider bites or gamma exposure. Mutants are not as universally feared or prejudiced against as they are in the Marvel Universe, though there are some who see them as a threat to humanity or the next stage in evolution. Those are rather radical beliefs, however.
  • No public superteam has formed since 2010. The DEO (Department of Extranormal Operations) is the US agency dedicated to handling metahuman issues. SHIELD is an international intelligence organization mandated by the United Nations. Checkmate is their US specific counterpart. Xavier's Institute has become a home for young mutants and other metahumans and has the goal of teaching them to control their abilities in order to better function as a part of society. Organizations such as HYDRA and Kobra also exist in the shadows.
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