Gene-X

Introduction

Gene-X is a superhero game-world/setting devised by Martin Goodson.

The Gene-X world is much like our own, save for the existence of a very few rare people that exhibit super-human abilities not explainable by conventional science. The world's governments conspire to keep the existence of such people under control and secret from the public, although (perhaps inevitably) unconfirmed rumours abound.

Publications

Gene-X: ORIGINS

A three-issue miniseries introducing the world of Gene-X.

Starring

Joe Bardley (Adrian)
Jack Harkness (Graham Pople)
Lillian Janes (Alex Vincent)
Santiana Castella Normenta (Ben Fortune)
Christopher Sullivan (Will Ijebor)
Mike Townsen (Mark Horne)
Ray Rambeau (James Hollywood)
Sebastian Fenton (Sam Thompson)

Issue #1.1 (17 November 2009)

The characters are sent to the Adcotte Academy on a free scholarship. They are soon to discover that they have not received a scholarship due to sterling academic abilities but rather they have been recruited to act as a mutant taskforce for the believed deceased Beatrice Vaile, who is herself a mutant and quite literally a ghost in the machine. Or, as Mike Townsen put it, 'You want us to be super-heroes?'

Their first mission, to identify and retrieve an unknown mutant in the Islington area of London, goes awry when they witness a gang of girls bullying an emotionally disturbed Susan Smith, nicknamed 'Scary Susan', who promptly transforms into a spectral figure whose touch means death ...

Issue #1.2 (24 November 2009)

The heroes (newly joined by Ray and Sebastian) talked Scary Susan down, and then gave her a 'scholarship offer' from Adcotte Academy. During this they had to completely screw up an iphone, and mind control two witnesses, to ensure nobody saw anything.

Then, the next day, they went up against their biggest (literally!) opponent yet, The Giant! A 40-foot tall rock monster that the Government were (as part of their hush up operation) claiming was an out-of-control 'Special Effects Robot'. Uh-huh. Like anyone will fall for that …

Arriving at the scene via gateway, they accidentally materialize inside an outside-broadcast lorry that's controlling the broadcast coverage. Thinking swiftly, newbie Ray cons the director into thinking they were a school trip arrived a day early, and Sebastian fries the lorry's electrical systems, knocking out the coverage. Mike uses his super-speed to whisk the remaining witnesses to safety in the nearest village ('Freak hurricane', no doubt) and the team swing into action.

Christopher determines that the badguy is nothing more than a kid on a temper tantrum/power-trip, though while he does that The Giant has uprooted a giant oak tree (seriously, you should see what this guy can lift…) and is merrily swinging away, not quite trying to swat anyone but keeping them away … until Ray laser-blasts half the tree away which puts a serious crimp on The Giant's fun. Next Lillian disintegrates the Earth out from under the Giant, but with a (quite frankly jammy) saving throw he manages to leap back in time to avoid falling.

Mike races up the giant to pummel him, but with no effect (too tough) and ends up planted in the ground as a 'thank you' for his efforts, which leaves Mike with a bit of a headache (DC 31 toughness save!)

Various physical attempts fail – he’s just too big and strong and tough to do much with, but fortunately the Mentalist members of the team figure out his secret weakness – he’s really, really, dumb.

Christopher accesses his behavioural science knowledge to determine how to treat this 40' monster as a naughty schoolboy, and working together they conjure up a 60' image of TV’s 'Supernanny' (they tried for his mum, but Joe could not get quite the right image...)

Unfortunately the illusion is visual only, so no audio. Christopher tries the 'You’re not the messiah you’re a very naughty boy' act, but it doesn’t work. To be continued ...

Quote of the Night: 'I can take as much wood as you can give me' - Sebastian/Sam.

A to Z

An A to Z of the Gene-X universe is available.