Setting:

Much like our world: 2007. The streets of Hudson City, arguably the greatest city on the face of the Earth, possibly the most dangerous as well. Corruption, drugs, crime and vice rule the streets. Violence is the law of the land and the ruthless hold sway, but no more. You will make a difference. You have the power. Either threw dedication, training and an unknown “Gift” you have been handed the power to take back the streets, to protect (or avenge) the innocent and punish the guilty. The authorities might call you Vigilante, perhaps even serial killer, but you know what you are. You are the savior of a new century, a light in the darkness. This will be the dawn of a new era: A Dawn of Heroes.

Background:

This world is like our own but threw a glass darkly. The streets are meaner, the gangs are more violent, the situations a bit more desperate. Crime is rampant in most major cities. People either leave or live in fear of urban predators without conscious or restraint. Organized crime groups run the shadows like small empires of villainy, carving out kingdoms and fighting wars over the bodies of the innocent. Drugs and gangs are way of life for many city dwellers, simply an inescapable fact of living in the city.

The PCs are a new breed of heroes, fighting against the dark tide of terror and crime. They are new but not the first. There have been other heroes in the past most notably the mystery men of the 20s and the Masked Men of World War 2. But other figures, fictional in our world existed in this one. Sherlock Holmes, Alan Quartermain, Robin Hood, figures of fiction and legend actually did walk this Earth. They can serve as inspiration or perhaps a connection for your character’s background. The Mystery Men were never very numerous and were largely driven underground during the McCarthy era, forced by government persecution to retire or vanish. The Age of Heroes passed. Now it has come again.