Freedom City is a campaign setting for the Mutants & Masterminds game system. Freedom City, the town, is the default setting for the 1st and 2nd editions of the game and is where most setting information is provided for. Also known as "the Freedom Universe" and "the World of Freedom," it is a setting built around the conceit that superheroes appeared roughly at the same time that comic book heroes did in the real world. Its primary hero, The Centurion sparked a massive wave of imitators in the 1930s and carried on until he was killed in a battle with a supervillain known as Omega. Unlike the comic book Superman, the Centurion remained dead and it is up to the player characters and similar successors.In 2010, Emerald City was revealed to be the default setting for 3rd Edition, being set in an analogue of Seattle, WA as compared to Freedom City being an analogue to New York City, NY.The tone for Freedom City is light and airy, roughly meant to simulate The Silver Age of Comic Books. While there are some exceptions, like the villainous Jack-A-Knives, it is mostly meant to be a place of fun and whimsy rather than darkness.Supplements for the setting in 2E include: Agents of Freedom, Book of Magic, Freedom's Most Wanted, Golden Age, Hero High, Iron Age, Silver Age, and Worlds of Freedom, as well as the adventures Time of Crisis and Time of Vengeance.
This setting contains the following tropes:
Abusive Precursors: The Preservers are explicitly noted as being amoral and unempathetic.
Affirmative Action Legacy: The most recent person to take the name of Johnny Rocket, the setting' premiere NPC speedster, is openly gay.
The current Star Knight, actually the first Terran-born human to be invited to join the Order of Star Knights, is the American-born daughter of immigrants from Greece and Central America.
A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Talos, who wants to replace humanity with robots the same way humanity replaced the gods (and the gods replaced the titans). The Erinyes/The Furies Three, who were originally known as the Chorale.
Both were made/mentored by Daedalus, an Iron Man/Hank Pym expy.
All Your Powers Combined: Argo the Ultimate Android (i.e. Amazo) has all the powers of the Freedom League. The Meta-Grue (i.e. Super-Skrull) has all the powers of the Atom Family.
Anthropomorphic Personification: Dr. Metropolis, living embodiment/spirit of Freedom City. Hiroshima Shadow, living embodiment of... yeah. Jack-A-Knives is the Spirit of Murder.
Anti-Hero: While mostly an idealistic setting, there are a few of these listed under villains.
Type IV: The current wielder of the Crimson Katana is explicitly described as an anti-hero who fights people much worse than she is, though her situation is complicated by the fact that her father, one of those people, routinely hijacks her body. The Silencer, as the setting's Punisher analogue, could be this ...
Type V: ... or possibly this. As another example, Larceny Inc. are straight up criminals, but do as much to oppose the Labyrinth as most heroes.
Captain Geographic: Britannia. Lady Liberty and Patriot for America. Mad Maple thinks he's one for Canada.
Captain Ersatz: Just about all the pre-made characters are derived from either better-known Marvel and DC Comics heroes, or heroes from Kurt Busiek's Astro City.
Some of the organizations too: AEGIS is essentially S.H.I.E.L.D, right down to their names being synonyms.
Cloning Blues: The vast bulwark of SHADOW is comprised of legions of cloned troopers. The general public is aware SHADOW uses clones, taken from the body of the 1930s Nazi star athlete, Holtz Hellman. They're all really clones of Wilhelm Kantor, Overshadow himself.
Comic Book Tropes: Being a comic book inspired RPG, this is a given.
Crapsack World: Averted, hard, on Earth-Prime. The main universe of the Freedom City setting is an optimistic place where most people are basically good and most people love superheroes. Other dimensions like Erde and the Terminus, on the other hand...
Not to mention the obligatory Anti-Earth where the heroes are villains, the villains have been wiped out, and everyone's corrupt. The Iron Age supplement also creates a world full of violence, corruption, and few signs of hope, although it of course ended eventually.
Cut Lex Luthor a Check: The Thieves' Guild, mentioned in Freedom's Most Wanted and the 2E Time of Crisis, are six brilliant scientists who've managed to develop technolgoy from extremely detailed holograms to Batman-level bolo-themed gadgets, to cryokinesis to weather controlling. They use these inventions to rob banks. It's even noted in their descriptions that they could have made millions were they all not more than a bit crazy. (They're specifically a group Captain Ersatz of The Flash's Rogues, who were pretty much the same.)
Cycle of Revenge: The Scarab and Overshadow have been locked into one for the past 5,000 years.
Evil Counterpart: The Tyranny Syndicate, the evil counterpart of the Freedom League. They're from Anti-Earth, an evil counterpart of the main Earth-Prime setting.
Evil Tower of Ominousness: Subverted by a rare heroic example, Pyramid Plaza. The Scarab's Silver Ageincarnation built what amounts to "the World Trade Center, only with three buildings, and they're triangles" over his secret base. They're still the tallest buildings (and the hottest real estate) in Freedom City.
Functional Magic: Baron Samedi. Eldrich. Hades. Malador the Mystic. Medea. Seven. Una, Queen of the Netherworld.
Genius Bruiser: Taurus, the Minotaur of Crete himself, possesses an perfect memory and a knack for puzzles. As one can imagine for someone who has lived since the heyday of Greece, this means he is verydamnsmart.
Government Agency of Fiction: AEGIS (American Elite Government Intervention Service), The Ministry of Powers, UNCOT (United Nations Command on Terrorism), UNICORN (United Nations International Coalition Ordering the Reality Nexus), UNIQUE (United Nations International Quorum of Unaligned Exceptionals), UNISON (United Nations International Superhuman Oversight Network), UNPEC (United Nations Paranormal Enclave Committee), and UNSAC (United Nations Science Advisory Council).
And in the Time of Crisis adventure, Der Übermenschen (The Supermen): Der Eule (The Owl), Die Geist (The Ghost), Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods), Der Hand Des Todes (The Hands of Death), Übermensch II (Overman II), and Weißer Ritter (White Knight).
Legacy Character: Blackbird. Bowman & Arrow. Crimson Katana. Fear-Master. Johnny Rocket. King Cole. Lady Liberty. The Raven. Red Death. Siren. Sky Lord. Star Knight. Trawler.
Several legacies are also explicitly left open for players to pick up and run with, some of which come complete with power templates to start from.
Invoked as a cover for Daedalus who lets the public believe he's the legacy of the 1960's superhero but in fact actually is that hero (he also doesn't mention that he's THE Daedalus)
My Grandson Myself: Daniel Daedalus, one of the world's most brilliant scientists and engineers, is not merely named for the figure from Greek mythology, he is the original Daedalus. Many believe the Daedalus who fights alongside the Freedom League today is the son of the Daedalus from the 1960s; he does nothing to discount the rumor, since his immortality isn't widely known.
Politically Incorrect Villain: Exaggerated with White Knight. He is literally a member of the Ku Klux Klan who was given fire powers by Mr. Infamy when he wanted to "purify the Earth".
The Power of Rock: The second Fear-Master. The Maestro (but he uses Classical music).
Power Crystal: Daka crystals, which can channel various forms of energy. The Moonstone, a psionic amplifier held by the Farsiders. The Starstone, the energy source for the Star Knights.
Powered Armor: AEGIS Agents have access to the MAX and Super-MAX armors. The Power Corps are an octet of power armor-wearing mercenaries. The Star Knights are the Green Lantern Corp, but with suits of armor instead of rings. Daedalus, Devil Ray, Doc Otaku, Overshadow, and Star Khan are the most prominent individual users of power armor.
The Atom Family is cut from the same cloth as the Fantastic Four, and a dash of Power Pack. And also a bit of the First Family in Astro City, especially in the sense that this family actually changed and grew over the decades.
The law firm Cabot, Cunningham & Crowley references Laurie Cabot, Scott Cunningham, and Aleister Crowley, all occult authors.
Centurion is their Superman expy (from a parallel Earth where the Roman Empire never fell). He died in battle with Omega, Lord of the Terminus, and he's stayed dead.
Conundrum is a Riddler expy.
The Crime League is the Legion of Doom/Injustice Gang expy.
The Curator shares much in common with Brainiac, specifically the version from the DCAU.
He's much more like the Preserver of the same continuity.
Hiroshima Shadow is an isotope of Radioactive Man (the Marvel one, not the other one).
The Green Man springs from the same soil as Poison Ivy and Plantman.
Johnny Rocket is an expy of The Flash; his name, Johnny Wade, references Johnny Storm and Mark Waid. His being gay is in homage to Northstar, another speedster.
There's also a bit of Liberty Belle in there, and even DC's Uncle Sam (in Worlds Of Freedom, we're told that, just like Sam spent the American Civil War split into Billy Yank and Johnny Reb, the Spirit of Liberty empowered Columbia and Southern Belle).
Her husband is Trevor Wright; a reference to Steve Trevor and a play on "Mr Right".
The Next Gen is very Teen Titans -esque. They're students at the Claremont Academy.
Omega, Lord of the Terminus borrows from both Darkseid and Thanos.
In one supplement, he basically fills the role of the Anti-Monitor.
Overshadow combines elements of Hawkman (constantly reincarnating) and Doctor Doom.
Patriot, the main Captain America expy, is Jack Simmons, named after Cap's creators Jack Kirby and Joe Simon.
Pseudo is very much a Martian Manhunter homage, though his race, the Grue, are much closer to a mash of the Skrull (militaristic shapeshifters) and the Kree (specifically, the Supreme Intelligence-like Grue Meta-Mind).
Word Of God is that they're named after the late Marvel exctutive editor Mark Gruenwald (their home planet is called Gruen-World).
The Psions are Magneto and his Brotherhood of (Evil) Mutants, but for mutants with psychic abilities rather than any mutant.
Quirk is Mr. Mxyzptlk, but slightly more annoying.
The Raven (the first) filled the Batman expy. His daughter, the second Raven, homages Earth-2 Huntress (The daughter of Batman & Catwoman) as well as being the grandchild of the setting's equivalent of Ra's al Ghul.
The Thieves Guild are one-to-one homages to The Flash's Rogues: Huckster is Trickster; Bola is Captain Boomerang; Looking Glass is Mirror Master; Weather Mistress is Weather Wizard; Firebug is Heatwave; and the Mad Maple is Captain Cold. (Although the Maple's name and Canadian origin are also a Shout Out to Big Name Fan Jim "T. M. Maple" Burke.)
Terra-King shares much in common with Marvel's Moleman.
Toy Boy is the DCAU Toyman expy. His last name, Lettam, as a Sdrawkcab Name.
Der Übermenschen, of the Time of Crisis adventure, are direct parallels to DC's Freedom Force. Der Eule is Black Eagle, Die Geist is Phantom Lady, Götterdämmerung is The Human Bomb, Der Hand Des Todes is Dollman, Übermensch II is Uncle Sam, and Weißer Ritter is The Ray.
In the Erde setting, Dr. Tomorrow names his wonder chemical noburpolene.
The Ultima (aka the Hyperboreans) are an expy of Marvel's Eternals
UNISON has a fair bit in common with UNIT, in particular having dealt with alien invaders operating from a base they had constructed in a gravel quarry in central England in 1969.
As well as almost every member of The Thieves' Guild: The Bola, The Firebug, The Huckster, The Weather Mistress, The Mad Maple, and... Looking Glass. Well, almost.
Voluntary Shapeshifting: Victoria Atom. The Grue. Changeling (a Grue from a parallel world). Pseudo (a rogue Grue).
We Can Rebuild Him: The Power House can do it. Also, this happened to Patriot.
The Emerald City material contains the following tropes:
Captain Ersatz: As usual with the setting, however now lampshaded with an actual character named Ersatz, who has the power to assume the form of an imperfect copy of any hero (In his first appearance via an illustration he takes the form of a fat version of Princess.)
Cute Bruiser: Princess pretty much defines this trope.
Green-Skinned Space Babe: Subverted with Xeno, who is a female of her species (actually the hybrid of a female alien and a female human), but looks like a bug like humanoid rather than a beautiful human woman.
Mass Super Empowering Event: The Silver Storm has recently hit the city, with survivors gaining powers. There's an on-going adventure series where you try to discover why it happened.
Playful Hacker: Digital Demon, one of the Cybertribe. Leads to a Crowning Moment of Funny when the report on him is handwritten, with some choice personal comments from the investigator.
Samus Is a Girl: Two different examples: Both Ultramarine and Xeno are difficult to identify as female unless you read their backgrounds.
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