ProteX
"ProteX" is a Marvel Super Heroes campaign run in 1994 with cast members of the outdoor musical Texas and played in Canyon, TX.
Campaign Setting
In the Marvel Universe, mutants are humans who are born with natural superhuman abilities, and most normal humans fear and hate them. The X-Men are a paramilitary group of mutants that fights for peace and equality between normal humans and mutants. They are led by Charles Xavier, also known as Professor X, a powerful telepath. Professor X runs a school for mutant children out of his mansion in Westchester, New York, which secretly is also the headquarters of the X-Men. The X-Men's archenemy is Magneto, a mutant with magnetic abilities who leads a mutant supremacist group known as the Brotherhood of Mutants.
Player Characters
The design of this campaign is plot-based, and character driven. Unlike other Marvel Super Heroes campaigns, each PC will start the campaign as a mutant. Life as a mutant is complex, often filled with hardships, struggles for acceptance, and moments of triumph. Unlike other superheroes who gain powers through accidents or science, mutants are often feared and hated by society for being born different. This sets up a dynamic where being a mutant is not just about having extraordinary abilities, but about navigating a world that can be hostile and discriminatory toward them. The PCs are a step above the New Mutants but are not full-fledged X-Men either.
Important NPCs
The Children of the Atom primarily interact with other mutants, and those forces wishing to destroy them. Mutants live in constant fear of persecution, and humans see mutants as a threat to the natural order, leading to movements aimed at regulating, imprisoning, or even exterminating them. The stories of mutants being hunted down, rounded up into camps, or used as guinea pigs for scientific experiments is reminiscent of the darkest periods in human history, such as the Holocaust or the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. Ironically, one of the most iconic mutants, Magneto, is a Holocaust survivor, and his worldview of advocating for mutant superiority and dominance stems from his belief that humans will never accept mutants unless they are in control.
Episode Guide
Each weekend the players assemble to play what has been designated as an episode. However, during the week, there are opportunities for the players to collaborate on upcoming plans and confer on current events amongst themselves and/or the Gamemaster. Episodes are part of a larger campaign and contribute to the overall narrative, theme, or character development. Episodes can vary widely in terms of tone, genre, and content.
Places of Note
While many of the adventures of the X-Men occur in the northeastern part of North America (or spanning across the galaxy), the scope of this campaign is global, with the party using the teleportation abilities of other mutants to travel across the United States and to visit several continents. The primary base of operations for ProteX is the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning in Westchester County, New York. Although most of the adventures were abroad, several episodes ended with the party returning home to heal and debrief.
Rules and Redundancy
The main goal of the campaign is to have fun. Unfortunately, there are times when rules can come into conflict when players are attempting to achieve their goals. House Rules allowed for situations like these to be mitigated when there was insufficient information to deal with specific encounters.
Weapons Locker
Core rule books contain a plethora of melee and ranged weapons for the players to choose from. However, there are times when the characters encounter weapons and items of power that go beyond the scope of what is readily available for purchase. Herein lies an inventory of non-standard items encountered throughout the campaign, from the mundane to the spectacular.
ProteX by Tawhid Ahmed Shoriful, Important NPCs montage (Ayya Saparniyazova, Alonso Espinoza, Yvan Quinet, Rita Zhirkova, Darko Babovic, Meguro Bonin, Javier Orabich, Kris Anka, Rosangela Arreaza), Places of Note by Edwin Christopher
Artwork for Tawhid Ahmed Shoriful on this page falls under Vecteezy License Agreement.
All other artwork on this page falls under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.