Sentai Campaign Setting...Yep I went there.

To start the only reason why I did this is because my 3 year old son is quit fond of Power Rangers; thus I had me thinking as a gamer about a potential game setting.  Now I’m not a the biggest fan of Power Rangers.  And for those of you who don’t know what Sentai is it is a genre of manga/anime/Japanese action show that exists surrounding a group of people (often teenagers/young adults) that are given the great responsibility and power to protect the planet from numerous monstrous threats by assuming empowered forms and summoning giant robots.  They are able to instantly assume their “costumed combat form” that grants them often enhanced resistance to harm, greater strength and speed, as well as access to fantastical weapons and equipment like laser guns, sentient swords, as well as enormous vehicles that they can pilot and merge together to form a super powerful mecha.

Now the whole Sentai thing I think got started with Voltron (Go Lion Force) which I loved as a kid and would still love to have the toy set..don't hold me to that as I'm likely wrong.

But I digress, I’m not a big fan of the Power Rangers, but there’s other Sentai series out there like Ultraman, Kamin Rider and so forth.

My son loves Power Rangers.  He’s 3 years old and loves the giant robots.

As for why I dislike the show…

1.    Bad acting.  I can’t stand really bad acting; it drives me nuts.

2.    Saban.  Yeah the guy who owns the rights here in the states.  Dude is lazy and is just taking what they’re doing in Japan and editing in his own footage instead of spending all that money he’s built up from doing this to create an original series that has no Japanese footage.

3.    No body armor.  Yeah I hate spandex, to me its lazy considering that you can build foam suits for monsters, but you can’t make the Ranger’s suits look like they actually provide protection?

4.    Mistreatment of actors.  It’s not a big secret and the original cast (for here in the states) certainly have a number of stories, especially the actor who played the Blue Ranger.

Yes it’s a short list, but it is mainly me just ranting a bit and not really getting to the point.  You see, I see some RPG potential in creating a Sentai campaign setting because of my kid and his desire to watch Power Rangers.  But how to do it and with what game system?

Now for my table top RPG’s I use Hero System, D&D 5^th Edition, Pathfinder, Savage Worlds, Star Wars (FF version & Saga Edition), and Mutants and Masterminds.  By now everyone should know what my preferred system is (for those who are new – Hero System).

So what I’m going to do here is create a Sentai campaign setting for Hero System, but my way.

Campaign Name:  Invasion from Beyond – Guardians Unite!

Plot:  The game takes place on Earth in the far future (year 22XX).  The world still thinks it’s alone in the universe until a massive alien ship arrives in orbit around the moon.  From there it begins to selectively bombard the planet and unleash monstrous creatures to the surface.  Humanity fought back, but they were outclassed by what they faced.  The enemy forces not only possessed technology beyond that of anything humanity had but the creatures they sent to control and corral humans also seemed to have magic like abilities.

At the cusp of enslavement another ship arrived.  Though smaller it managed to repel the much larger ship.  From there it arrived on the planet where special soldiers sent out and fought the creatures that were still on earth and gathered humanity into safe zones.  The aliens were very human like save for long pronounced ears like that of an elf as well as their oddly colored eyes.  They were called the Savarian and had lived lives much like humanity had – ignorant of the threats beyond their planet, but they were fortunate to be more advanced than earth though not enough to repel the arrival of the Imperium.

Their world was left virtually destroyed, pillaged of its natural resources and people.  By that time they had lost the opportunity to use the weapons they had created to fight back against their foes.  But they vowed to not let another culture befall the same fate.  By the time they found the next planet on their hit list the invasion of earth had already been underway.  The Savarain shared their technology and helped the people of earth to recover while the Imperium remained in the system, curious and angry about the enemies that arrived had managed to drive them off.

The Savarian had developed a technology to fight the Imperium on top of a means to immunize people against their virus (where if a person doesn’t receive a regular counter agent they turn into one of the Imperium’s monstrous soldiers).  On top of the immunization the chemical used would also allow humans some humans to tap into the energy field of the universe like everyone else, the weave.  It’s the source of the Imperium’s might and something humanity lacked the genetic potential to tap into.

With access to the weave certain people would begin to exhibit special abilities such as greater than normal physical capabilities, an ability to draw in the weave to create spells like effects.  But to stand against the forces of the Imperium more than this was needed, and a combat enhancer was created.  The Savarian called it the Guard system.  Those who have the proper potential can be fitted with a guard system bracer that allows the user to call forth a power amplification suit of armor. 

As the world recovered it was broken up into sectors each with a defensive grid to protect against bombardments and aerial strikes.  But the primary concern were ground forces.  The Imperium’s soldiers could disguise themselves in normal forms and pass nearly any type of screening process for them.  But once they assume their true state they cannot change back, not right away at least.

Their ground forces came in three varieties.  The first were the standard grunts, the transformed of the races that the Imperium had conquered called Grollings.  They were misshapen forms of their previous selves, grey skinned, gaunt with rough skin and surprising strength and agility.  However Grollings no longer possess personalities and are twitchy and violent when given directions – but follow orders to the best of their abilities.  Next are the Rex, the evolved forms of Grollings whom have been experimented on further.  They no longer resemble their former selves and have unique monstrous forms with equally unique powers.  The Rex have personality but no memories of the lives they once had.  They also can assume a normal form that can be programmed into their genetics .  The form can be dropped at a moment’s notice, but reassuming it is time consuming for the Rex.

The final creature that the Imperium can deploy is the Rex Kaiser, a massive version of the normal Rex, one with the power to level cities.  The body of a Rex contains a special enzyme that can be triggered through bombardment of a specific energy type that triggers instantaneous cellular regeneration and growth resulting in the Rex becoming massive in size.  Some Rex are even equipped with an emergency energizing system though micro-sizing the tech to do so is extremely time consuming.  Fortunately the energy needed for this takes time to build up so that it can be beamed down to the planet’s surface and often needs a week to do, though if multiple Rex are standing in the area they can all be affected by the beam.

To battle the Rex Kaiser the Savarian have also developed massive combat machines called Senshuken (Champions).  The Senshuken are set up to use and amplify the power of the person assigned to call on it and use it.  In addition to this each Senshuken is uniquely made for the user and not just in appearance but the machine is built to match the fighting capabilities of its user.

But the Grollings and Rex were not the only things that the Imperium created.  To force humanity to group up into easily controlled population centers (and to weed out the sick, weak, and elderly) they also mutated many of the natural animals of the planet creating powerful predators that humanity would have to contend with, with some they even purposely grew to Kaiser Rex sizes.

And since they first came to earth the Savarian and their “Guardians” have stood as protectors against the machinations of the Imperium for six hundred years.  After six hundred years of attempting to take control of the planet the Imperium left.  They took what they could from the rest of the planets of the solar system – enough to sustain their operations to move to the next system.

Earth recovered and in time the Savarian were officially able to call Earth home.  Peace settled in on the world but the Guardians were now a corner stone of protection for the planet.  Earthling knew that it would only be a matter of time before someone else came, the Savarians were clear that the Imperium was just one threat that existed in the depths of the universe, and that others were out there possessing similar technology and ideals as them would undoubtedly come to earth for their own reasons.

While the planet was at peace they also prepared for what could come next.  While there was a single training base set up for Guardians the time of peace allowed for the base to be decommissioned and for new “academies” to be set up around the world to train up guardians to protect the different places of the world where humanity remained.

As time progressed the academies flourished and became the central hubs of each pocket of civilization, their new capitals.  And it would only be a matter of time before new threats to the planet would rear their heads.

People and Places

Now keep in mind that as the GM you have the right to change any of this to fit in with the story you have in mind.  This is meant to be a helpful and to save some time for GM’s.

·         New Haven (America/Canada) – This New Haven is not like that of any other city or town in the North American by the same name.  New Haven is one of the many Mega Metropolis’s that were created to protect humanity from future attacks.  Located in and around the Rocky Mountains, New Haven stretches across the mountain range taking up portions of 2 states and part of Canada.  The mountains were chosen for the Protection grid for the superior capabilities of detecting and countering air born attacks.  Additionally protective bunkers and a high speed tram system has been built into the mountain range to provide superior defensive capabilities should enemy ground forces breach air defenses and the Guardians fail.  New Haven’s Guardian Academy is one of the largest around as the New Haven Guard Corp. prefers quantity over quality as they condition young candidates to be soldiers.

·         San Angelo (America/Mexico) – This is a region that takes up a portion of California, New Mexico and a large portion of Mexico.  San Angelo is one of the farming Metropolises that exist and supplies not only food for itself but exports extra food where needed.  San Angelo is the largest of the Mega Metropolises as it is home those people of South America that managed to flee north.

·         Nu Japan (Japan) – As an island nation, Japan was already large enough to be made into its own Mega Metropolis.  Via terraforming techniques brought by the Savarian, the island has been doubled in size.  It was also in Japan that the Savarians first landed and began to help the people of earth.  Because of this the Guardian Academy of Nu Japan is considered to the be best and often the most promising candidates from across the planet are sent there for training before being sent back to their own Academies.

·         Monarch (Britain) – The British islands are similar to Japan in how the entirety of their land is that of a Mega Metropolis.  A great deal of research and development on the Guard system is done here and a large population of the Savarians and half Savarians live here.

·         Other Lands – There are other Mega Metropolises around the globe and these should be seen as opportunities for GM’s to branch out and build their own Mega Metropolises and Guardian teams.  There exists a world council with one rep from each of the Mega Metropolises.  They handle the interactions between each of the Mega Metropolises doing what any bureaucrat would do.  They also govern the Guardian academies as well.

Meister Aldenmer Sholdur - A Savarian man who is incharge of the Guardian program.  He over see's the upgrading of the Guard system and is the master designer of the Senshuken.  He is a bit eccentric and is one of the oldest Savarian around.  (Savarian's have a life span 5x that of a normal human.)  Meister Aldenmer is also a letch and is typically the bane of the women that work around him.

Meister Testia Carvon - A Savarian woman and the only person who keeps Meister Aldenmer in check, often with threats of physical violence.  Extremely intelligent, Meister Testia is in charge of designing new guards for use by candidates on top of her duties of over seeing candidate placement for the academies.  She is a kind person as well, possessing an eidetic memory, and surprising martial capabilities. 

General Richard Hillbrand - A human man in charge of Guardian deployment and grand overseer of the Guardian Academy system.  He works closely with Meister Testia on candidates and their placement though she has final say on who goes where.  He sets the curriculum and is fond of gardening.  He is a tough but fair man, and he is aware that students can't be pushed too far in one direction or the other.

The Guard System

For this setting the guard system is a powerful device that through digital mater reconstruction allows the user to generate a suit of armor around themselves in a few seconds as well as specialized weaponry as the situation calls.  The Guard system amplifies the physical capabilities of the user as well as any special capabilities they may possess.  The specialized weaponry also can act as a focusing device for powers that in their normal form are difficult to control in addition to enhancing them.  The system also act as a means of storage for vehicles and equipment one may need in the field.  The system however does have limits in that the data it can process and store and thus reconstruct is limited and so the Guardians Senshuken cannot be stored via this system.

Working out of the academy there are often two to four teams of Guardians working to cover a specific deployment region.  The same system that stores the armor is also used as a specialized transportation relay network throughout the Mega Metropolis to deploy not just the Guardians but their Senshuken as well.

Adventure Hooks

There are a number of possible adventures that a character can go on.

·         Revocation of the Guardians:  The earth has experienced enough peacefulness that the world council has decided to disband the Guardian system.  But in the midst of the dismantling of the Guardian Academy system a new threat to the earth arrives and the earth has caught the world unready to completely defend itself from the threat.

·         Obliteration:  A massive alien force has arrived and begun an orbital bombardment of the planet fiercer than what could be anticipated.  Outside of the Mega Metropolises the world is ravaged by the bombardment and landing parties.  It’s all-out war with the invaders as all Guardians are sent to the font lines.  But this leaves the Mega Metropolises without any defenders and new Guardians have to be found.

·         The Last Mega Metropolises:  The world has fallen to a new set of invaders and they have all but succeeded in wiping out humanity, save but a single Mega Metropolis that has managed to repel all of the invading forces.  But they need new Guardians as there isn’t very high life expectancy for Guardians in this war.

Spandex or Form Fitting Armor?

While the setting is meant to set up that the characters will wear something more akin to high-tech body armor that obviously appears to be body armor and is not just colorful spandex…but that shouldn’t stop a GM from switching this to spandex.

The thing about spandex is that it is difficult for people to envision it being having spandex providing any sort of protection.  Either can work but it’s up to the GM to decide.

Armor is often color coded based on character personalities, or position in the team, or something else.  For example some setups might be red is the leader, blue the techy, black the heavy weapons, pink is a sniper, yellow is a stealth expert.  Other colors might fill in for other things, such as green or white being a melee expert, or maybe purple is the stealth expert and yellow is more the melee expert type.

To Pose, or not to Pose – that is the Question

In the Sentai shows, assuming “poses” is something the heroes often do.  There is typically no real reason for this other than to be cinematic.  However this can vary depending on how hokey the GM wants to make the game.  Some poses can be made to grant certain benefits until a new pose is used.  One pose may grant a bonus against being hit, another a bonus to attack rolls, and maybe another grants a bonus to damage and so forth.  Then there are team poses that may grant a bonus only when the whole team is present.

Of course this isn’t necessary as poses are hokey and not something people actually do in a fight…well not unless your apart of the Ginyu Force.

Anime Clichés

Now in anime there are certain cliché elements that exist with characters.  For example the heroic type character might be decent looking but not over the top in looks – however for some reason girls keep falling over themselves for his attention (or at least select girls do).  Another trope is the character who eats more food than their body should rightly be able to hold.

Now depending on the flavor of the game that the GM is looking for they may want to apply some anime clichés to their game, or they may just want to treat it as a type of superhero game.  The general idea for the setting is to keep things serious but light hearted as well.  The characters are superheroes after all and may deal with problems in the academy with their fellow students, to superhuman criminals who of course didn’t make much of themselves once they got out of the academy.

Game Systems

The game setting can technically be run in just about any game setting, though with some settings and rules you may have to make a few changes.

Hero System:  Obviously the game setting is really good for Hero System.  Characters would be built off of around 250pts with around 25pts of Complications.  Players then will work with the GM to set up the character’s special powers as well as their Guard forms.  The basics of the Guard form should be premade by the GM and depending on how the GM wants to run things can cost the characters points or not.  As for special powers that the characters will have that should be paid for out of the 250pts they have to start.  If the GM feels like this is too few points for the character in their “normal” form then they can up the amount, or lower it if they want the characters to be more “normal” than “super”.

NOTE that this setting is primarily written with the idea of making use of the Hero System to craft your characters however that shouldn’t stop anyone from adapting it for other systems.

D&D 5^th Edition:  This is one system that needs some tweaking of the setting and rules to make things fit.  The player races available would be humans, elves (Savarians) and half-elves (Human/Savarian).  Super human powers come in the form of spells that the character can cast on themselves.  First the character gains an additional +2 to be applied to 1 chosen attribute.  From there the character gains certain spell like abilities.  First they gain a single cantrip of their choice.  Next the player has the option of taking a Level 1 spell that they may use with a recharge of 6 (on a 1d6).

Every 3 levels the character can choose to either improve on the spell as if it can be cast at a higher level (a permanent upgrade) or they may take up a new spell with a spell level being 1 higher than that of the previous innate spell that the character had.  The Save DC for your spells is either the same as that of your class, or you may choose or it is CON based.  New spells taken gain a recharge of 6.  Note that during a short rest all innate spells with recharge are recharged.  Alternatively instead of being able to gain any spell abilities the character can instead choose to get a +2 to a chosen physical attribute, or they may choose a skill that they may have advantage on rolls with.  Note that the restriction on Attribute scores still apply.  If you want to apply the +2 bonus to a maxed out attribute regardless it will grant instead a +1 to a single chosen derived aspect of the attribute (like to hit, damage, AC, saves, skill rolls, etc.)

Now depending on what the GM wants to do they may want to restrict available classes too if they want to keep magical abilities to just those who have been in the Guardian academy.  It also may be necessary that characters have to multiclass to show their balance education on combat and magical capability.

The Guardian Form encases the user in essentially Mythril Full Plate Armor.  It does not interfere with spell casting abilities either.  Spells cast while in the armor are cast as if the character were 1 level higher then they are.  In addition to this the armor grants advantage to either STR checks, DEX checks, or CON checks.  It also grants the user darkvision while it is active.  The armor can gain “enchantments” on it that cost the character XP instead of gold (thus slowing level progress in favor of more powerful armor).  The armor also has a weapon that is favored by the PC that can be summoned.  Typically it is either ranged or melee, and the character will have access to both a ranged and melee weapon, however one weapon must do more damage over the other to show the character’s favor toward that weapon.  For example if the character is a swordsman then a long sword or great sword would be their primary choice.  The secondary weapon would be something like a short bow or hand crossbow.  OR if the character wants to dual wield then they have to strike a balance with the damage of all weapons they use.

The other limitation that can be put on the character is any gained XP is reduced by 10% to compensate for the spell like abilities and other advantages the character has.

As for the monsters; Grollings are essentially Ghouls or Ghasts if you’re looking for stats.  Rex can be any other monster, but when they become Kaiser Rex then their size is increased to Gargantuan.  Their HP is is also multiplied by 4. And they gain reach and proportionate benefits that a Giant of the same size would have.  Damage of weapons would also increase by 3 dice, and effective spell casting capabilities would be treated as if cast by someone 3 levels higher.

As for the Senshuken of a Guardian the same thing applies to the character as it would the Kaiser Rex even though the character is treated as if they are piloting it instead of transforming into it.  If the Senshuken has other forms this can be dealt with by changing movement and how attacks are made.  Also Senshuken have an ultimate attack, it’s a single powerful attack that can be unleased once per day.  The attack is made with advantage and deals damage with the Senshuken’s primary weapon, (it will have its fists and typically a ranged attack or melee attack based on the user), or secondary weapon.  The damage of the attack is doubled and if a critical hit is delivered then the damage id doubled yet further.

If merging is something that the GM wants to do then the Senshuken’s size are large sized instead, (and instead of adding 3 to things it’s a 1, HP is simply doubled).  When merged the Senshuken is treated as the normal sized build as mentioned before.  If necessary the GM is free to tweak things as needed of course.

Mutants and Masterminds:  So for this setting you’ll likely be looking at a power level of 10.  Now Players don’t have to spend points on building a giant robot unless the GM wishes to go that route.  Since M&MM is similar to Hero System there really isn’t much that needs to be done in terms of special rules.

Savage Worlds:  Not the system I recommend for anything really.  So the rules for superpowers are not that great and you may want to do some house rules regarding this.  The same goes for giant robots and monsters were you may have to house rule some stuff.  One option for going into Guardian form is that it simply grants a +2 to applicable rolls, or in a few rare instances it may grant an additional die type increase.  It also may be necessary for the GM to create new feats that the players may choose that better fit in with the setting.

•