The 7th Enigma Universe (sometimes abbreviated 7E) is the label I'm applying to a new fiction project I'm working on.  The core concept is to, like Heroes on NBC, Astro City, Rising Stars, or similar works, take a slightly different look at the tropes of comic book superheroes and the worlds they inhabit.  It's nothing that hasn't been done before, but I hope I've found a worthwhile angle.  And if I haven't, you can't really stop me anyway. :P

That still begs the question "what is the 7th enigma?" but I really don't have an answer.  I don't even know what the other six enigmas are.  It's just that 7th Enigma can be made into a really cool logo.

The 7th Enigma Universe takes its inspiration from the question of "what would happen if people had superpowers in the real world?"  It's an old question, debated countless times.  There have even been some "realistic" takes on superpowers in the past.  The NBC show Heroes, which probably kicked this matter to the front of my brain again, is a recent example.  Going into the wayback machine a little, there's the Wild Cards universe.  Both of those are similar in that they limit the field a little before grappling with the question.  I decided to avoid those limitations myself.  In the 7E universe, anything goes.  All the classic "origins" will be available, and not limited by world-builder's fiat.

That means I want room for aliens, magic users, mutants, and guys in power armor, and even alien mutant magic users in power armor.  It also means I'm not going to dodge around the supertech issue by saying mad inventors and superscientists are using some highly refined form of psi power to make their machines work.

I am, however, taking a completely different dodge.  A world where superpowers had been around all along wouldn't really be recognizable to us.  It'd be so drastically changed that what I was writing would be more like science fiction than superheroes.  So taking a page from Marvel's New Universe (one taken many times before) and saying superpowers and related phenomena didn't exist until recently.  I'm going to tell the story of a normal world that one day wakes up and realizes it has superpowers.  Then, in manageable chunks, I can examine the ramifications of different superpowers.

But what does this mean to you, my legions of adoring readers?

Well, for one thing, it means a new label over on the side.  I'm adding a 7th Enigma category.  7th Enigma content might also get other labels, like Artistic Widgets and Fiction Widgets.  But mostly, 7th Enigma Widgets will be for gaming.  Specifically, they'll be for the 4-Color system, for which I am deeply indebted to Phil Reed of Ronin Arts.  (Everybody say "Thanks, Phil")

And yes, I could have used M&M instead, but I can write 4C characters off the top of my head, with no references at all.  For M&M characters, I'd have to have my book, and my character creator spreadsheet, and it'd take time.  And, honestly, I'm too lazy for that.  So this way, you get stats you can use if you were a fan of the most Marvelous supers game from the 1980s, and I get to hash out ideas in a solid form.

I'm simultaneously developing the setting and plotting the first book (tentatively called Seven Wonders).  As I go along, I'll put up stats for various characters, and maybe some gear and so-forth.  Of course, don't quote me on any of this.  What ends up in the book may be different than what I post on the blog.  For one thing, I have to keep some surprises, and for another, I change my mind a lot.

Before we get going, I'll give you a brief rundown of 4C.  For more info, try the Ronin Arts forums, here.

There are 7 Primary traits and 4 Secondary traits.

Primary

Melee: This Primary Trait is the measure of a character’s expertise in melee combat. When kicking, punching, stabbing, or otherwise fighting in close quarters, this Trait determines the success or failure of the attack.

Coordination: This Primary Trait is the measure of a character’s physical proficiency. When shooting, throwing, dodging, balancing, or otherwise employing physical nimbleness, this Trait determines the success or failure of the action.

Brawn: This Primary Trait is the measure of a character’s physical power. When lifting heavy objects, determining damage with melee or thrown attacks, throwing an object a certain distance, or otherwise engaged in activities relying on physical power, this Trait determines the success or failure of the action.

Fortitude: This Primary Trait is the measure of a character’s physical stamina and robustness. When attempting to hold breath, resist sickness, overcome toxins, ignore fatigue, keep from dying, or otherwise engaged in physically strenuous tasks, this Trait determines the success or failure of the action.

Intellect: This Primary Trait is a measure of the character’s intelligence. When attempting to invent, solve a problem, learn, or otherwise use smarts, this Trait determines the success or failure of the action.

Awareness: This Primary Trait is a measure of the character’s intuition.  When attempting to sense danger, spot something, recognize a hunch, or otherwise work on instinct rather than analyzing a situation, this Trait determines the success or failure of the action.

Willpower: This Primary Trait is a measure of the character’s mental strength. When dealing with psychic abilities, magic powers, issues of willpower, or otherwise using powers of the mind, this Trait determines the success or failure of the action.

Secondary

Damage: This Secondary Trait is a measure of the physical punishment a character can suffer before dying. This Secondary Trait uses a numerical score (not Rank Value) that is decreased as the character takes damage. This Secondary Trait, as well as damage and healing

This Secondary Trait’s starting value is calculated by adding up the Rank Values of the character’s first four Primary Traits (Melee, Coordination, Brawn, and Fortitude).

Fortune: This Secondary Trait is a measure of the character’s ability to use luck, training, and/or experience to influence the present. This Secondary Trait uses a numerical score (not Rank Value) and points may be spent from it to affect die rolls and improve the Rank Values of Primary Traits.

This Secondary Trait’s starting value is calculated by adding together the Rank Values of the character’s last three Primary Traits (Intellect, Awareness, and Willpower).

Lifestyle: This Trait is a measure of the character’s wealth and ability to procure needed items and services.

To calculate the Rank Value for this Secondary Trait roll once on Table 1.

Repute: This Secondary Trait is a measure of how well the character is known; the greater the score the more popular the character. This Secondary Trait uses a numerical score (not Rank Value).

To calculate this Secondary Trait’s value roll d% and divide the result by 3 (round up).

(Not that I'm going to do that)

Rank Values: Primary traits have a percentile value and a descriptive adjective.  The number is all that really matters to the system, but the descriptors are much more flavorful.  You can add your own when you play.  For simplicity's sake, I'm just going to use the rank numbers, and generally the first one from any given range within a rank, such that someone with a 30-39 has a 30 for my calculation purposes.

Rank 
1-2    
3-5    
6-9    
10-19
20-29
30-39
40-49
50-74
75-99
100-149        
150-999        
1000  

Besides Traits, you've got Powers, Skills, and Contacts. 

I'm using freeform powers, which is a fancy way to say I just make up whatever I want.  It's easy: just describe what you want the power to do and assign a rank number to it.  These characters won't be "balanced" like, say, the Unisystem ones, but the source material isn't particularly balanced, either, and in this case my task is to represent the source material accurately rather than to produce completely playable content.

Skills are the stuff a character is particularly good at.  Both in the pulp-inspired writing that I like and in superhero comics, there's a lot of latitude in a character's skills.  Captain Striker can use any gun he damn well picks up, and fly any kind of plane, because that's the way the writer wants it.  So Skills are fairly broad, although I'll suggest specialties.  A skill gives a character one extra rank when he's using it.  For instance, a Scientist with an Exceptional Intellect would have a Super Intellect in the area of Science.

Contacts are the people a character knows and can call on for help or information.  I'll be pretty descriptive with these, since that's more fun to me than totally broad categories.

By next week, I should have a pretty good idea of what characters will be running around.  To the (negligible) extent that I'll focus on anything, I'll try to focus on villains, since they're really the fun people anyway.