Watchmen 2006?

[Demongg]

This thread is to gather neat ideas for an UPDATED (Ultimimized?) version of the Watchmen...

So IF you were to put together a NEW game based on the events and history of the Watchmen series (alan moore) to play in the setting 20 year later (set in 2006?) how would you have had the Watchmen characters and world evolve to modern times??

I'm thinking players would PLAY - NEW original characters coming on the scene with all the background of the past years of the events in Watchmen. Kind of like the Night Owl and company walked in the path of THEIR predecesors...


what would YOUR interpretation of - the Watchmen 2006 - be??

-kev-

[palehorse]

Well, since a lot of the new technologies and what not seemed to depend on Dr. Manhattan to keep them going in one way or another (fabricating rare elements, etc) I imagine things would've gone to hell for awhile after he left. Veidt's 'solution' was a temporary fix at best, and with the balance of power thrown out of whack (again, with Doc M. leaving) you'd end up with a world that's probably not all that different from what we have today.

[Demongg]

Well, since a lot of the new technologies and what not seemed to depend on Dr. Manhattan to keep them going in one way or another (fabricating rare elements, etc) I imagine things would've gone to hell for awhile after he left. Veidt's 'solution' was a temporary fix at best, and with the balance of power thrown out of whack (again, with Doc M. leaving) you'd end up with a world that's probably not all that different from what we have today.

what about any other "adventuring heroes" out and about... and HOW would/could they make a comeback?

I'm just looking for ideas on the results from the Watchmen series and then the effect it would have on the current world (with that background) and how a new crop of "Watchmen" appear (ie. the PCs.)

what do you think all those personalities of the Watchmen series are doing now?

-kev-

[Demongg]

BTW - here's a neat web site to help get some basic info and such on the series...

http://www.bry.fast.co.za/~stuartm/rave ... .html#char

-kev-

[palehorse]

Well, the only ones 1) left alive and 2) who showed in interest in staying in the game were Dan and Laurie. And they were both pushing middle age at the time of Watchmen, so I'd expect they're both well and truly retired, and living in a house on the beach in Florida, provided one or both of them weren't killed or arrested.

I wouldn't expect to see Doc Manhattan again.

Adrian? Well, he certainly kept himself in stellar physical condition, so provided that the black ship of his dreams never caught up to him resulting in guilt-ridden suicide, I imagine he'd still be running his company, with more power and influence behind the scenes than ever. I could see him ending up as a Howard Hughes-type crackpot.

[Demada]

Eh... I don't think you really need to "Ultimatize" the Watchmen. It makes the Ultimate universe look like the Teletubbies, IMO. A whole series whose point rests with the fact that the villain is right, and his plan is the best one for mankind...

[Demongg]

Eh... I don't think you really need to "Ultimatize" the Watchmen. It makes the Ultimate universe look like the Teletubbies, IMO. A whole series whose point rests with the fact that the villain is right, and his plan is the best one for mankind...

Okay... fair enough, I agree they don't need to be "Ultimized" but my real thought was to ask about how you'd plan/run a game set in the Watchmen setting 20 years later.

The insight (reminder) that "the villain is right" is a good example of what I was looking for.

-kev-

[Demongg]

Eh... I don't think you really need to "Ultimatize" the Watchmen. It makes the Ultimate universe look like the Teletubbies, IMO. A whole series whose point rests with the fact that the villain is right, and his plan is the best one for mankind...

Okay... fair enough, I agree they don't need to be "Ultimized" but my real thought was to ask about how you'd plan/run a game set in the Watchmen setting 20 years later.

The insight (reminder) that "the villain is right" is a good example of what I was looking for.

-kev-

[Demada]

Ah, I see. Well... There are several ways the world could go. One would have to do with Veidt's solution not working, and the Soviet Union and U.S. going back into an arms race, which could perhaps end in Nuclear Holocaust, or could end like it did in real life. This atmosphere isn't really conductive to masked heroes. The enemy is simply too big for them, although small crime could still be a target, there would be nothing on a world wide scale they could do. Another would be Veidt's solution working, the world coming together. Pretty much the same as the first situation. The enemy is not too big, but non-existent. Crime they could fight, but there would be nothing threatening the world. It would basically be running a group like the Minute Men, the PCs would not have somethind as big as Veidt to go against. The only way I can see of running it would be to mix the two, Veidt's solution works, temporarily, but eventually people begin to forget, and it has to be redone. Even after Veidt died, he could probably, with his money, come up with a way to keep it going from beyond the grave. He is obsessed with the Egyptians, death wouldn't phase him much. PCs would be investigating these "alien attacks", and find the path leading to some secret facility where there is an automated production of giant aliens.

[Bard]

I think the Watchmen worked specifically because of the time period they were set in and the history behind them. I don't think you CAN "Ultimatize" the Watchmen simply because updating them to the modern day takes away from what made them so alluring.

While I suppose modern events COULD create someone like Veldt, I don't think they work quite as well as the stark insanity of the Cold War.

I dunno, the work just seems to maintain it's allure and it's edgy feel because of the time period it was set in. I'm really not sure a) if it would hold up in a more updated setting or b) why we really NEED to talk about updating it at all.

[Liberator]

I agree with Bard, the Watchmen are what they are in part because of the time period it's in.

Now...in 2006 if you wanted to do something along the same idea...it could be like 'Who's Watching John Ashcroft' or 'Where the heck did the Bill of Rights go?" and so on....

[Demongg]

this is an old thread - but I saw someone talking about the Watchmen write-ups and thought I'd reply...

I think the Watchmen worked specifically because of the time period they were set in and the history behind them. I don't think you CAN "Ultimatize" the Watchmen simply because updating them to the modern day takes away from what made them so alluring.

While I suppose modern events COULD create someone like Veldt, I don't think they work quite as well as the stark insanity of the Cold War.

I dunno, the work just seems to maintain it's allure and it's edgy feel because of the time period it was set in. I'm really not sure a) if it would hold up in a more updated setting or b) why we really NEED to talk about updating it at all.

In my original post I tossed out the word "Ultimize" haphazardly...
The Ultimate Marvel lines are their own style of gritty.

That's NOT the style that I intended.
What I was meaning was to theorize on what the Watchmen world would be like 20 years later...
and if you attempted to create a game set in that bleak style what COULD it be targeted on to "remind" the player characters of the "sins of the past"?


and again - the thought isn't to update this excellent comic but to think about the type of world setting it would be to play a game in it 20 years later...

Compared to the ugly greys of the world today with the shrinking "global village" the 80's almost seem naive in a way...
I think that's what Frank Miller was poking fun at with his Dark Knight Returns written IN the time peroid!


I'm still not sure what major political themes of TODAY would work into the setting (or how their world would have played out in time) to begin an epic satire for a "Watchmen the Next Generation" but that's why I'm enjoying bringing it up.

-kev-

[gnownek]

How about this?

Earth develops space-travel technology and becomes an agressive, militaristic society bent on subjugating all alien races until they bust
the scum who attacked them!

The watchmen of the far future find out and send a message to the watchmen of 2006 to prevent it.

Then the aliens turn up for real......

[Liberator]

Aha! I see what you were getting at.

I'm gonna have to re-read the Watchmen cuz' I'm having a hard time visualizing what it might look like 20 years later.

I would think that some of the characters like Rorschach or the Comedian, might have developed some sort of cult-like following.

Part of me sees it as being really bleak...but than again maybe it's more utopian...

Dang it. Good question.

One thing you could do would be have the characters work for a govt. agency that is looking into the technology used to 'teleport' that huge creature thing to NYC (was it NYC? I thought it was NYC...man I really need to read it again). In part of their 'search', they could come across old reports of the Watchmen, family members, etc. and so on....

And than they could find out the portal is still open.....

[The Human Pest]

What the heck. I'll give it a shot.

1. The plot works, more or less. Manhattan departs for the stars. The world backs off from nuclear war, and a brief period of cooperation (against the alien menace) results in somewhat of a detente between the US & USSR. The USSR pulls out of Afghanistan in exchange for US withdrawal from Viet Nam (which the US wants to do anyway, since it's a constant financial drain) and both start crash programs in dimensional research.

2. Veidt funds Robert Redford's run for the Presidency and employs enough dirty tricks to bring down Nixon.

3. Building on Manhattan's tech advances, the oil crunch is avoided, and major powers have less interest in the Middle East. Things stay chaotic there nonetheless, and Saddam Hussein eventually comes to power. The US continues to support Isreal, albeit on a lesser scale. Iraq & Iran slug it out anyway.

4. The US economy booms; the USSR lags behind and eventually starts divesting itself of East Germany, Poland, etc.

5. Redford serves two terms, followed by Vice President Clinton. The USSR, nearly bankrupt, dissolves during Clinton's administration, but he serves only one due to economic turndown.

6. Dan Quale elected president. Economy booms despite the fact he's an idiot. Serves two terms before being impeached in sex scandal.

7. Al Gore elected president in narrow margin over Vice President George W. Bush.

8. Middle Eastern terrorists, frustrated with US support of Isreal, drive planes into the WTC.

9. US invades Iraq.

10. Terrorist cells, crazed snipers, militia nuts and drug cartels bring havoc to the streets.

Okay, as for the characters ...

Nite Owl II & Silk Spectre II were a hot number when we left them, 20 years ago, so maybe they'd have a kid or two by now to carry on the third generation of the legacy.

Long lost bastard grandchild of "Hooded Justice" makes an appearance the "Headsman" and starts terrorizing criminals.

Long lost grand-niece of Mothman inherits family moolah and invents flying device. Calls herself "the Butterfly."

Jonathan Veidt, world reknowned philanthropist murdered!

Whodunnit?

[Daywalker]

Pest has a good idea but we should also remember that Jon and Laurie both talk about gettign back in the game. Perhaps they themselves go about training the new generation of vigilantes.

[Liberator]

I like the Human Pests take....

Although, I've been trying to keep recent events out of my games....I get enough of that during 'reality time', I don' want it invading my gaming time too.

[DrObvious]

If I had my druthers (although I don't even know what a druther is), I'd be in a game like this:

I like the idea that Jon and Laurie are training the next wave of heros. PC's and about others, 20 total I would say.

Setting goes along just like THP outlines, stopping at 7 (same reason as Liberator).

Keep Headsmen and Butterfly as semi allies of the PC's. Like what Spiderman and Wolvie are in Ultimate-world. They, however have some serious bad blood between the two of them. Where they just doin' the horizontal tango and they broke up, or is there more?

Jonathan Veidt, world reknowned philanthropist murdered!

Rorschach's protoge shows up, refusing to answer any questions as to if he was involved in Veidt's death. He also shows signs that he may be the original Rorschach, like less fighting and more research/detective work.

Hours after Veidt's death, another giant SquidAlienThing shows up in a major city, killing itself and whole city.

PC's go on exciting and memorable mission to find out any of the above hooks.

[Demongg]

I like the Human Pests take....

Although, I've been trying to keep recent events out of my games....I get enough of that during 'reality time', I don' want it invading my gaming time too.

while I completely understand this point - it's actually the modern climate of political and world ickyness that made Watchmen so "real"...
So I don't think I'd dwell on it - but I wouldn't ignore the more recent events of history...

it's odd that even with that BIG change of the Watchmen universe 20 years ago that everything so obviously and easily flows back to near the same situations as we have today.... isn't it?


the other note is - this theoretical campaign idea would obviously be very gritty in nature...

-kev-

[Demongg]

What the heck. I'll give it a shot.

Wow Pest.... you did a great job - this is exactly what I was looking to conjure up.
The only thing I would wonder is if there was "more to it" than just a murder mystery of a guy that probably deserves it.

6. Dan Quale elected president. Economy booms despite the fact he's an idiot. Serves two terms before being impeached in sex scandal.

7. Al Gore elected president in narrow margin over Vice President George W. Bush.

how come you chose to go with these two ideas?
just wondering

Jonathan Veidt, world reknowned philanthropist murdered!
Whodunnit?

yeah - who did do it?
what's your different takes on the solutions and is there more to it that just a dead body?

good stuff!
-kev-

[The Human Pest]

I did the presidential switch thing because in the original work, Robert Redford was used as counterpoint to Ronald Reagan.

So I just followed the reversal of political parties that Moore already started.

If you really used this sort of backdrop for a game, and if your Players aren't familiar with Watchmen, then you could gradually reveal the "true facts" behind the NYC tragedy. Maybe they find Rorshack's journal; maybe they interview the 50 or 60 year old Nite Owl II & wife.

But it seems like Veidt would have plenty of enemies which would make for a decent mystery.

And remember, this is a guy who faked an assasination attempt on himself.

Could he fake his own murder?

Maybe it would be time to create a big distraction again, so that he could manipulate world events.

Hell, maybe Ossama Bin Laden is just one of Veidt's puppets and the WTC disaster itself was part of a projected plan to uproot Sadaam or someone.

Or, maybe Doc Manhattan has made a return, and decided to reintegrate Rorschack.

I think you could take it in a lot of directions.

[The Human Pest]

Aaack.

My bad.

Saw a repost of the idea over at rpgnet & someone gleefully pointed out:


1 It was Adrian Veidt, not Jonathan.

Oops.

2 Hooded Justice was a homosexual, and therefore unlikely to have had offspring or grandchildren.

The second problem doesn't bug me much. There's no biological rule that says gay males can't father children.