The Darkness Within

The game Breakdown features highly-stressed protagonists ("Pros," as we call these characters) trying to do some fundamental good amid a tide of inhumanity. Their emotional drive makes them powerful and vulnerable; they risk breaking down the harder they push.

The Darkness Within setting is a new supplement in final development stages (wouldn't really consider it a playtest at this point, especially given the underlying system's been long-tested and now is in print, and the additions are not extensive) which focuses on people who have superpowers and those close to them. Normally, the group would decide the setting, but for convention purposes three broad settings will be supplied for the players' choice, and it may be modified as players choose during play.

Inspirations include:

• Love and Rockets (the comic book, focusing on the emotional connections of friends in a world of unusual powers and low-key sci-fi)


• Concrete (another comic book, wherein the title hero searches for meaning in his deformed super state)


• the family dynamics and emotional explorations of the early Fantastic Four comics


• "classic" Hawk and Dove


• the X-Men "Dark Phoenix" story arc


• the Mystery Men (the movie's exploration of their personal stories)


• the aspect of people dealing with possessing power in Buffy the Vampire Slayer