Marvel, without the superheros.

[Agent 333]

The wonderful world of Marvel is very vast and interesting, even without all the superheroics going on. In particular, there are three agencies that are made up mostly of normal people doing supernormal things. One, the Strategic Hazard Intervention and Espionage Logistics Directorate, commonly called SHIELD, is dedicated to protecting the world from terrorist threats. Their main nemesis, HYDRA (no, it doesn't stand for anything, they just like capitalizing it), is an international terrorist organization with seemingly limitless numbers (presumably due to an incredible recruitment campaign). The orginazation that least approaches the normal is Advanced Idea Mechanics, or AIM. With AIM, even their lowliest agent is a scientific genius. AIM is dedicated to bringing about a better world through Science, no matter what the cost.

The existence of these organizations make the Marvel Universe a ripe place for a Spycraft campaign. You can either ignore the superheros, pretend they don't even exist, or say they are too busy to help the agents out. I personally am running a campaign that uses the second option, and it's quite fun. The agents had a mission in Manhatten, and whilst in the middle of a steakout they saw Spider-Man swinging by chasing a car full of crooks. No relation to the story, other than as a diversion that interrupted their stakeout. Doctor Strange is out of this dimension on a business call while the hapless agents try to take down a mystical threat way beyond their meager abilities. Director Stark is busy fighting biotech enhanced terrorists all over the world. It's all very fun.

Anyhow, I just got World on Fire, and it has inspired me to make SHIELD, HYDRA, and AIM out as full Allegiences, complete with their own Talent, Feat Tree, and Organization write ups. This is an ongoing process, and I'm not terribly good at balancing feats, so feel free to reign me in on the allegience feats if you think they're too strong or too weak.

I'll do each agency in it's own post, and when we're done, I'll add them all to the Wiki.

[Crafty_Alex]

Cool idea. I'd like to see these!

[Agent 333]

SHIELD
The Strategic Hazard Intervention and Espionage Logistics Directorate is a world peace-keeping taskforce who's prime goal is to stop terrorism and protect civilian lives. Since it's inception, SHIELD has been fighting the forces of HYDRA, though in recent years it's been expanding its operations to also combat AIM, Al Quaeda, and other organizations that threaten world security. Although it is technically an international organization, the majority of SHIELD's funding comes from the United States, as do most of it's agents.

Talent:
SHIELD: You protect the world from terrorists every day.
Requirements: SHIELD Allegience.

• At the beginning of each mission you get Caliber III Low Profile Armor (average, SHIELD Uniform) for free.
• Once per mission, you may make a Resources Request check without spending action dice.
• Investigation is always a class skill for you. Further, youor result cap with this skill increases by 5 (maximum 60).
• Once per scene during a Manhunt dramatic conflict after strategies are revealed, you may change your strategy for that round to any other legal strategy. If two opposing characters use this ability during the same round, both abilities are expended without effect.
• You automatically succeed on all cooperative checks where you are the helper if you have at least 4 ranks in the skill being used and the leader shares your allegiance or is one of your team-mates.

More later.

[mouthymerc]

Interesting.  Back in 1.0 when I was running it, I used SHIELD and HYDRA in my games without the superhero element.  Plenty of good ideas there for mining.

[Rhishisikk]

Just remember that Marvel is an over the top campaign world.  If you have the Nick Fury, Agent of Shield series, you begin to realize how much each of the main agencies is able to do.  I would also recommend looking at Black Widow, Hawkeye, and other 'mundane' heroes, as these are things your agents may be set up against. 

Key to the conflict is this: 'Anywhere that SHIELD is not vigilant, HYDRA has its way.'  In this way, clone duplicates of key SHIELD agents were inserted into SHIELD hierarchy just because SHIELD was confident there was no way past their current security on those key members.  With all the [CENSORED] going on in Marvel, I wouldn't be surprised if they pulled a 'HYDRA has controlled SHIELD since its founding' plotline.

[Mister Andersen]

Heh. I like that in the DC universe "My clone did it" has proven to be a valid legal defence on a number of occasions.

My favourite Marvel intelligence group is and will always be the now defunct Weird Happenings Organization, led by the equally defunct Brigadier Alysande Stuart. Basically because they're a homage to U.N.I.T from Doctor Who

[Agent 333]

Alright, time for some feats. I also realized that at some point I'm going to have to make Master Classes for these orgs too....

A note that SHIELD's feats are Tradecraft Feats:

International Peackeeper
Your enemies are everywhere, and so are you.
Prerequisites: Allegience (SHIELD), Career Level 3+.
Benefit: A number of times per mission equal to your starting action dice, you may request transport to any location in the world for you and your team. The transport arrives 1d4 hours after you made the request, and takes the fastest route to get to your destination. The GC may spend 1 action die to declare any pick up or drop off point "Hostile Territory", in which case the transport will avoid it.

Lifelong Operative
You've been with SHIELD long enough to know half of the people on the Helicarrier.
Prerequisites: Allegience (SHIELD), Career Level 6+.
Benefit: At the beginning of each mission, you gain 1 extra action die that may only be used to make Request checks or to increase a Networking/Contact check. In addition, the time required to make these checks is reduced to half standard.

World Protector
You've participated in missions that have literally stopped the world from ending. More than once.
Prerequisites: Allegience (SHIELD), Career Level 9+.
At the beginning of each mission, you gain a number of bonus d4 action dice equal to the mission's Caliber. These dice are counted seperately from your other action dice and do not refresh at the beginning of the next session, but carry over from session to session within the same mission. The GC gains the same number and type of action dice with the same restrictions.

[Agent 333]

World Protector seems a bit strong, but I was running out of ideas. HYDRA and AIM should be easier, the badguys always are for some reason...

[Aldus Vertten]

one of the organizations i've always loved in Marvel is Damage Control. They're not an Intel agency, but i think it's a cool concept to play in such a world.

i miss Brigadier Alysande Stuart. The original Excalibur was a wonderful series.

That reminds me that they introduced some other birtish agency in the series. I think it's MI6, or a secret branch, i'm not sure.

And Wheddon created SWORD, but i think that one was more "alien menaces" oriented...

[Agent 333]

HYDRA
HYDRA is a worldwide terrorist organization devoted to world domination and/or destruction. Although nominally led by Madame Hydra, the organization is currently severly fractured, with many independantly operating cells. The one constant among all HYDRA cells, however, is a supreme willingness to die for HYDRA's cause.

Talent:
HYDRA: You are a proud member of the Hordes of Hydra.
Requirements: HYDRA Allegience.

• +2 Dex, -2 Wisdom
• While you are in a group of 5 or more that share your Talent and are within 15 ft. of each other, you gain the swarm NPC quality.
• You gain DR 1/Specal characters (damage inflicted by special characters ignores this damage reduction). This DR increases by 1 at Levels 4, 8, 12 ,16, and 20.

[Agent 333]

HYDRA feats, of the Basic Combat tree...

Hail Hydra!
You are extreamly dedicated to HYDRA, willing to serve with your life, if necessary.
Prerequisites: Allegience (HYDRA), Career Level 3+
Benefit: The Catch Phrase campaign quality is in effect for you. If that quality is already in effect, you may use it's effect a number of times per session equal to your starting action dice instead of the normal one.

Hordes of Hydra
As a member of HYDRA, you always have backup.
Prerequisites: Allegience (HYDRA), Career Level 6+
Benefit: At the beginning of each mission, you are assigned a number of Tier III HYDRA Agent NPCs equall to your starting action dice as backup. These NPCs are Helpful to you, and gain a +2 insight bonus on all Resolve/Morale checks while your alive, and are considered teammates for all purposes.

Immortal Hydra
Cut off one limb, and two more shall take its place.
Prerequisites: Allegience (HYDRA), Career Level 9+
Benefit: You gain DR X/-, where X is the number of your teammates who share your Allegience within CQB range.

EDIT: Added the Tier of the NPCs to Hordes of Hydra. Also, see below for their stats.

[Mister Andersen]

I miss Brigadier Alysande Stuart. The original Excalibur was a wonderful series.

That reminds me that they introduced some other birtish agency in the series. I think it's MI6, or a secret branch, i'm not sure.

The U.K. originally assigned the wierd stuff to the Resource Control eXecutive. When they went mostly dark (and evil), W.H.O. were created to replace them, but were later done over by the RCX in a frame job that played up their successor's connections to S.H.I.E.L.D to make it look like treason had taken place. After that fiasco was resolved, Black Sun was created as the UK's premier paranormal intelligence agency but they too went to the Dark Side. After that was resolved, the remains of all three agencies were folded into M.I.13 - nicknamed The Department - under the command of Alistair Stuart (Aly's brother and W.H.O's former scientific advisor), with the wonderful Pete Wisdom as their foremost field agent.

Interestingly, the villainous period of the RCX's tenure saw them acting in a fashion highly similar to Torchwood 1 (with the benefit of Crown & Country outweighing any global, legal or ethical concerns), while Black Sun's demise came about following an attempt to raise a demon in conjunction with the Hellfire Club (a pale and badly done version of which was used as the resolution to Torchwood's first season).

And Wheddon created SWORD, but i think that one was more "alien menaces" oriented...

The less said about his tenure on the X-books the better.

[Agent 333]

Hordes of Hydra would probably be more usefull if you knew the HYDRA Agent stat block...

HYDRA Agent (Standard NPC - 42 XP) Init V; Atk VI; Def V; Resilience IV; Damage Save: V; Competence: V; Skills: Athletics VII; Wealth: None; Weapons: 1 x Caliber II, 1 x Caliber I; Gear: 1 x Caliber I; Vehicle: None; Qualities: Talented (HYDRA).


And I like SWORD as a concept, but it's a bit too out there for an Earth based game.

[Aldus Vertten]

- Ok, RCX and Black Sun. Never read any of the ellis stuff on Excalibur, and i think it's him who created BS and Wisdom. And i had forgot about MI13.

- About whedon, i've only read the first 12 issues, and i liked them quite a lot, so i'm afraid different tastes there.

- i thought sword was a little too much for the concept, too.


So far, i like quite a lot your take on Shield and Hydra. I'm eager to see what you do with AIM, which i find very interesting


This thread is making me realize that not reading comics in a year does a lot to your memory and knowledge of all this stuff... gosh, after eight years working in a comic&games store... shame of me...

[Mister Andersen]

HYDRA feats, of the Basic Combat tree...

Most of thes come across as Style feats.

Hail Hydra!
You are extreamly dedicated to HYDRA, willing to serve with your life, if necessary.
Prerequisites: Allegience (HYDRA), Career Level 3+
Benefit: The Catch Phrase campaign quality is in effect for you. If that quality is already in effect, you may use it's effect a number of times per session equal to your starting action dice instead of the normal one.

Benefit: A number of times per session equal to the number of Allegiance feats you possess, you gain the benefits of the Catch Phrase campaign quality. The uses granted by this feat are in addition to that usually granted by the quality should it be in effect during a scene.

Hordes of Hydra
As a member of HYDRA, you always have backup.
Prerequisites: Allegience (HYDRA), Career Level 6+
Benefit: At the beginning of each mission, you are assigned a number of Tier III HYDRA Agent NPCs equall to your starting action dice as backup. These NPCs are Helpful to you, and gain a +2 insight bonus on all Resolve/Morale checks while your alive, and are considered teammates for all purposes.

Um, no. This is more powerful and requires less investment to receive than the Politico's 6th level class ability. At the very least it should be the third feat in the progression.

Immortal Hydra
Cut off one limb, and two more shall take its place.
Prerequisites: Allegience (HYDRA), Career Level 9+
Benefit: You gain DR X/-, where X is the number of your teammates who share your Allegience within CQB range.

This would work better as the second feat in the progression.