There’s no shortage of reality-rewriting crises in comic books – DC, for example, is well known for its continuity-wrecking events. Usually, we see heroes battling the villain who wants to change history and the aftermath, which can be a full victory for the heroes, with no alterations, or a partial one, where most of what they knew is preserved. I can only recall one instance of a story that dealt with possible imperfections in the reality-rewriting effect.

That’s when I thought it could be an interesting mini-campaign to have the PCs start remembering or being plagued by echoes of the erased universe and then discover that their whole world is actually the second (or later) version of existence. This installment provides a few ideas on how to conduct such a campaign.

Pitch

The true pitch of this campaign should be: after a reality-changing crisis, the new universe starts fraying at the seams and the heroes must confront erased versions of themselves, other heroes and villains to save this new continuum.

However, if you disclose it at the start, it ruins the fun. Your pitch should be about a regular super-hero campaign. Actually, regular is not the best term. You should tell your players that you want to test a new system, or want to reboot an old campaign.

It should be something that doesn’t get them suspicious when you ask that they make new versions of one of their old supers characters. They don’t need to be all from the same campaign. In fact, if they are from different past games, it enriches the campaign, as you get to draw elements from a wider selection. I’ll explain this a bit more below.

Premise

A powerful cosmic entity (henceforth, the Entity) saw that the old universe (or multiverse) wasn’t cutting it anymore and decided to close the curtain on it. Obviously, the heroes (and villains) of Earth (maybe several of them) weren’t going to sit still while this happen.

While some heroes faced the Entity and its minions directly, others met with powerful allies in search of alternative ways to end the conflict. Massive battles ensued, where the fate of the universe literally hanged, and billions died.

The final apocalyptic confrontation saw a multitude of superbeings united against the Entity and after a bloody, almost hopeless battle, they lost – in a way. See, the entity wanted the destruction of the universe and for a brief instant, it got it: everything ceased to exist.

But the Entity wanted this to last and it didn’t. Thanks to the heroes, the universe restarted with a few differences here and there, but since nobody remembers the crisis or how things were before, everything is as it has always been.

Except for the Entity. It was dragged in the tide of the reality restructuring and spread wide across the entire universe, losing most of its power. Most, but not all. Ever so slightly, it flexes its cosmic muscle trying to break free of its cage and, in doing so, strains the fabric of reality.

The cracks and ruptures it causes allow erased beings and things to come back into existence. For now, it’s just little things, but what happens when whole worlds or universes come back? And if the Entity ever frees itself, will another crisis happen?

Who are the PCs?

They are regular super-heroes of the setting, but as I said in the Pitch section they should be new versions of the player’s old characters. Why? Because this campaign will be more fun for the players if, when they realize what’s going on, they have an emotional connection to their characters’ past lives.

To get that, you have to use characters that the players have played with and were invested in. And since rebooted versions of a hero often have several things in common with the past one (although some major changes are made), it’s preferable to have the current character be inspired by an older one.

So, what happens in this campaign?

This campaign should work pretty much like any other four-color supers campaign, with regular super-heroics being interspersed by crisis arc episodes. At first, these should be minor incidents, like a person claiming to be a relative of one of the PCs or a hero that nobody remembers.

By the second or third adventure in the arc, your players may catch on to what is going on and investigate it. When they do this, they get in tune with the destructive vibrations of the Entity, meaning they start remembering a lot of stuff of their old universes, including things about other heroes and villains.

Nobody will believe them, if they try to alert other heroes about what is going on. First, because no one has any recollection of the crisis. The heroes just can’t believe that such a massive event would leave no trace in their memories (not even in the mystical and cosmic heroes’). Second, despite all the right details the PCs might give about someone’s life, others will be plain wrong.

Depending on how intense the PCs are in their goal of alerting their colleagues, the super-hero community might regard them as quirky or psychopathic, and deal with the characters accordingly.

But that’s not the only problem for the PCs. Their synchronization with the vibrations will alert the Entity to the characters’ meddling. Remembering how these “bacteria” were able to defeat it once before, the Entity will concentrate on finishing the characters off before they can warn others about its plan.

The PCs will be bumping into all sorts of villains and threats from those other universes (the versions from your previous campaigns) as the entity focuses the tears in the fabric of existence on Earth. Go crazy on rescuing old villains, creatures, NPCs etc.

Reality on the rocks

At some point, even the most skeptical hero will believe the characters’ story. The campaign becomes mainly about dealing with the fragmentation of reality. The scope depends on what you want to deal with.

If you would rather not have a major cosmic event involving superpowerful heroes, other cosmic entities and alien empires, assume the PCs’ actions have turned Earth into a fulcrum point for the Entity’s attack.

Fixing the problem does not require traveling to the center of the universe, it can be done right here on our world. But besides the cataclysms the Entity unleashes once it realizes the heroes are on to it, the characters and their allies have to face a new obstacle: their earlier versions.

Although probably as heroic as the current heroes, these erased champions would rather be alive again than stricken from existence. They will fight to the death to prevent their newfound lives from being erased.

It’s not that they want the Entity to win – they plan to fight it after they defeat their current counterparts. They are gambling that if they are the ones to best it, their version of the universe will be resurrected in an eventual reality reboot or, at least, it will be preserved alongside the present one.

Depending on how you present this dilemma to your players, they might be sympathetic to the erased’s plight and try to reach a compromise (after the obligatory fight scene). Tell them that the leading mystic and cosmic experts think this is a bad idea and that they run the risk of both versions annihilating themselves, even if they defeat the Entity.

If the PCs insist on trying this, then it’s up to you. Maybe they have to accomplish some goal besides vanquishing the Entity in order to ensure the merging of both versions of the universe. This could be an adventure in itself. For example, they have to go to the Stone of Forever to get the Spark of Life to strengthen the erased reality.

If the characters succeed in preventing the Entity from achieving its goal, the new universe might be a combination of your old campaign and the (not so) new one. If the campaign goes on, this could be an excellent point to allow the players to make alterations to the characters: background, abilities, powers etc.

If they fail… Well, you can always start a new campaign.

Some After the Crisis seeds

Here are some seeds for your campaign. The first one should be used early on in the campaign, before any hint of the actual story arc is given. It will serve as foreshadowing. The second one will probably be a decisive turning point, when the PCs realize there’s a pattern in all this bizarre happenings. The third one is set at the final phase, when the characters and their allies are fighting against the Entity itself.

Daughter of Mine: After saving innocent bystanders from some threat, one of the PCs (choose one whose past version was married or had a daughter) is approached by a young woman (don’t make her crazy, she’s an extremely nice person). She seems very excited and tense at the same time. After fumbling for words, the woman blurts out that she thinks she is the character’s daughter. After the initial confusion and probable denial by the PC, the woman tells him about these childhood memories she has of him as her father and will reveal some bits of information about the character that should not be readily available to a stranger, plus, she has some of the same mannerisms of the character. Still, in a super-hero world there are more than enough ways to get private or secret information. Investigating the woman will reveal she has a perfect valid identity, a verifiable history and even biological parents that are still alive and whom she recognizes as her parents. DNA tests reveal no match whatsoever to the PC. Case closed, huh? Not quite. Telepathic probes will show that her memories of the character are true. Maybe they have been implanted by an enemy as a plot to destabilize the PC and attack him? If one of the characters suggest that, make sure the woman is kidnapped right on cue. A supervillain did notice this woman was hanging around the characters too much and, assuming her of being important to the PCs, kidnaps her to attract them to a trap. If you are running a Bronze or Iron age campaign, she dies in the ensuing battle, her last breath a poignant message to her would-be father. In a less gritty game, she survives and might even become an addition to the PC’s social circle, occupying a rather odd, though still important place of “daughter by affinity”.

Nowhere Hero: The PCs are getting pounded by a team of supervillains when a new hero appears and saves the day (make him more powerful than individual PCs). After the fight, when the characters thank him and ask who he is, the hero frowns and then laughs. He says the joke is good, but that they know perfectly well who he is, since he’s been protecting the city for years now. When the PCs deny any knowledge of him, the hero gets confused and starts listing his many acts of heroism, all of which the characters know nothing about. Starting to get worried, the hero takes the PCs to TV stations and newspapers that, he claims, will have photos and footage of him in action. Obviously, not only don’t they have them, the employees there have never heard of the hero. But they are still excited to have a brand new super-hero appear at their offices with the PCs in tow. The reporters barrage the characters with cameras and mikes asking all sorts of question. Disoriented by what’s happening, the hero flees. If the PCs catch up with him, they will notice he seems depressed. If they offer to help, he will confide his secret identity to them. Research will reveal matches for his name, but no one that resembles him. He will give the names of relatives, friends and acquaintances, but again no true match will exist. However, telepathic probes will show the hero is not lying and truly believes what he’s saying. Like the woman form the previous seed, his memories are true. The hero will ask to be left alone or will leave of his own accord. Later, the characters will see on TV that he snapped and is going through the streets of the city grabbing bystanders and yelling at them things like “Remember me!”, “I saved this city hundreds of times! Why won’t you remember me?!”. Soon he starts throwing cars around, leaving the PCs no other course of action than to battle him. If defeated, the hero is sent to the setting’s superprison; if not, he goes on doing more property damage, until he stops falls down on his knees and cries. He won’t resist the PCs now.

The Ghosts of Supers Past: As all hell is breaking loose thanks to the Entity’s actions, the PCs lead a team to stop the threat once and for all. However, on the way, they are intercepted by a large force of metahumans, mostly comprised of the heroes that were erased by the previous reality crisis, including earlier versions of the characters. They fight hard, since both sides know that the fate of their universe is in the balance. If the PCs try to reason with their counterparts, the discussion described in the Reality on the rocks section takes place. Remember, however, that the characters are leading a team, which includes heroes with no counterparts and that have no reason to trust the erased. They will oppose any sort of deal and will race on to defeat the Entity, making any negotiations by the PCs even more difficult. If the characters can reach an agreement, the erased heroes join the team; if not, the earlier versions will detain the PCs and their allies and go after the Entity by themselves. How this ends depends on what options you presented your players with. Winning against the Entity can have three outcomes: the current universe is preserved; the current universe is preserved, but now has elements of previous versions (this can vary from minor details to almost a 50/50 split); a previous incarnation of the universe substitutes the present one. The fate of current and earlier PCs will depend on these outcomes and the actions they have taken during the final confrontation. Maybe one of the current characters sacrificed herself and now the player uses her previous incarnation as a PC. There are lots of fun combinations.

Inspiration

As I state in the introduction to this installment, there’s no lack of available reality-crisis events to draw inspiration from – why, in the past 25 years DC had four, if I’m not mistaken. But sources for “after the crisis” stories are few and far between. Here are a some:

The Nearness of You: This amazing story from Kurt Busiek’s Astro City comic book series (issue number 1/2) deals with the repercussions of a reality-altering event, but in this story it’s caused by time manipulation.

Planetary/Batman: Night on Earth: A crossover made of win and awesome that shows the field team of Warren Ellis’ Planetary comic book traveling to a Batman-less Gotham City in search of a killer, only to find themselves confronted by several versions of the Dark Knight. This also gets points for including the expression “partial collapse of the multiverse” in reference to DC Comics’ 1986 Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Time of Crisis: A Mutants & Masterminds adventure by Christopher McGlothlin that focuses on a reality crisis, but that has a small section at the end called “Post-Crisis Reboot” that offers advice on handling alterations to the universe after the heroes win the day.

I hope you liked it. Feel free to share any comments, suggestion and criticisms on the forum. If you ever run this, let me know too.