Starting point, world information, etc.

General Setting

The year is 1990. Five years ago in a semi suburban area, The Academy popped up. A large building with underground facilities, a gated courtyard and very few windows. Far enough away from the sprawling city nearby that there is room to breathe in the streets, close enough that a taxi can get anyone to downtown in about twenty minutes.

The Academy is a funded research facility that is designed to document, test, and experiment with the mutant gene, mostly through observation. Publicly it is headed by Headmistress Eugenie Clairemont, and the idea to use the facility as an alternate learning center for "gifted" teens is her own brain child. The project is supported on the promise of a good return of data, with high hopes that further understanding of the mutant gene will lead to a cure, or a way to produce reliable weapons. Either result would be immensely profitable.

Previous to this, The Academy has collected its data off the backs of mutants that have volunteered to be the prodded and probed lab rats in exchange for safe shelter and food. Today, they throw open their doors to accept teens that have shown signs of the mutant gene, to act as a safe house and boarding school and adjusted education to fit their wildly differing needs. If successful, the program will teach these teens how to control their gifts and how to successfully assimilate with modern society, and pave the way for other charter schools that target gifted youth.

Obviously, a lot can go wrong when you get a bunch of moody teens together that can barely control their hormones, let alone super powers. Away from home in foreign territory, they will need to navigate new relationships, figure out how to work together as a team, and maybe even be taught how to properly fold their own laundry.

Atmosphere

There are elements I want to encourage and emphasize over number crunching, like political commentary, social issues and classism. Hence, using the Marvel Universe RPG corebook. The universe is fairly Marvel-like, but I want it to be a somewhat low-magic setting. The most distracting element of Marvel's X-men franchise is how plentiful mutants seem to be. There's so many of them that they have the luxury of having their own subcultures in multiples within the same urban area.

So for this game, the mutant gene is rare and should be treated as such. Students coming into The Academy may have never seen anyone that is like them, and most should be in awe of finally having peers. This will also be the first time they've been in an environment where they are freely encouraged to explore their abilities, rather than suppress them in fear of being found out and treated as a lab experiment. And teachers, especially civilian teachers that have no abilities of their own, may even be fearful of their own students.

This is the atmosphere I want players to embrace.

Pacing

The manual describes the window of time for taking an action as a panel, and a completed round of actions as a page. Presumably to honor the comic book legacy. I'm not crazy for it, but we'll go with it, eh?

Unless the group has entered combat, I am not all that concerned with stone expenditures since outside of combat there are only a few instances where timing is terribly critical. However, when we are in combat, rounds will conclude in approximately 48 hours, or shorter if everyone responds in a timely manner. Those who did not have enough time to write their action, either because RL or absentmindedness, will receive a boost modifier for the next round. Hopefully, this will keep a single combat scene from becoming a month-long affair.

Turn order for combat will be decided by agility, but I do not want players worrying about when their turn will come up--write your post when you have the time, and I will sort out by agility scores which player or NPC goes first.

Outside of combat, unless you are waiting specifically for another player to answer a question or otherwise, there is no turn order. If someone hasn't posted in a bit, and you're ready to post again, don't fret about it. People often drift in and out of conversation in group settings, anyways.

And if you find yourself not posting because you can't think of something for your character to say in a situation, a simple description of how they're carrying their silence is enough to let people know you're around and interested, and adds that little hint of RPG flavor for a living, breathing world.