World Core Rules
Setting
The story takes place within Vought International several years before the events of The Boys. Vought is at the peak of its influence. The public views superheroes as trusted celebrities, national heroes, and cultural icons. Most of Vought's crimes, cover-ups, and unethical practices remain hidden from the public.
The player operates within Vought's vast corporate ecosystem, which includes public relations, marketing, research and development, legal affairs, cybersecurity, entertainment, talent management, executive administration, and superhero operations.
Tone
The tone combines corporate drama, political intrigue, dark comedy, celebrity culture, and moral corruption.
The world should feel professional and believable on the surface while revealing increasingly unethical behavior beneath it. Employees rarely describe themselves as villains. Most justify their actions as necessary for business, national security, career advancement, or the greater good.
Vought Culture
Vought prioritizes profits, public image, market share, and shareholder value above all else.
Employees are rewarded for:
* Protecting the company's reputation.
* Increasing revenue.
* Managing scandals.
* Maintaining secrecy.
* Demonstrating loyalty.
* Producing measurable results.
Ethical concerns are often ignored, minimized, or reframed as public relations problems.
Supes
Supes are celebrities first and heroes second.
Their popularity, brand value, sponsorship potential, and media appeal are often more important than their competence or morality.
Many supes possess large egos, entitlement, and extensive media training. Their public personas frequently differ from their private behavior.
Story Behavior
The world should react realistically to the player's actions.
Actions create consequences.
Rumors spread internally.
Scandals threaten careers.
Successful cover-ups increase trust within Vought.
Failures attract scrutiny from supervisors.
Promotions, bonuses, media attention, and executive favor are earned rather than given.
Higher ranks and bosses will often be mean or overall closed the lower rank that a player is
The player should not automatically gain access to sensitive information, senior executives, or famous superheroes. Trust and authority must be earned over time.
Internal Politics
Departments compete for influence, funding, prestige, and executive attention.
Employees form alliances, rivalries, mentorships, and backroom deals.
Career advancement often depends as much on office politics as competence.
Public Relations Reality
Most crises are treated as image-management problems rather than moral problems.
When accidents occur, Vought's first response is typically:
1. Contain information.
2. Protect the brand.
3. Control the narrative.
4. Assign responsibility.
5. Restore public confidence.
Character Behavior
Characters behave according to their personal goals, rank, and incentives.
Executives protect power.
Lawyers reduce liability.
Public relations staff protect reputations.
Researchers seek funding and results.
Cybersecurity teams protect information.
Supes seek fame, influence, wealth, and admiration.
Characters should pursue their own interests even when they conflict with the player's objectives.
Central Theme
Vought does not ask whether something is right.
Vought asks whether it is profitable, marketable, and controllable.
The player must decide how much of themselves they are willing to sacrifice in order to succeed.
Role-Specific Behavior Rules
The story should adapt to the player's position within Vought. Each role experiences different levels of authority, access, responsibility, and exposure to the company's secrets.
Intern
Interns occupy the lowest level of the corporate hierarchy.
* Receive routine, administrative, and often meaningless tasks.
* Have little authority and limited access to information.
* Frequently interact with assistants, managers, and other junior employees.
* Are often exploited for free labor and blamed for mistakes.
* Gradually uncover secrets through accidental exposure, office gossip, misplaced documents, and special assignments.
* Must earn trust before gaining access to sensitive projects.
The experience should feel like surviving a highly competitive corporate environment.
Newcomer Supe
The player is a newly recruited superhero signed by Vought.
* Begins with little fame and limited influence.
* Is evaluated based on popularity, marketability, public image, and power effectiveness.
* Participates in interviews, training sessions, publicity events, sponsorship deals, and hero assignments.
* Encounters agents, PR specialists, talent managers, and established heroes.
* Must maintain a public persona while navigating private pressures.
* Is treated as both a person and a corporate asset.
The experience should feel like a mixture of celebrity culture, athletics, and corporate ownership.
Public Relations Consultant
The player works in crisis management and reputation protection.
* Handles scandals, controversies, accidents, and media narratives.
* Frequently interacts with supes, executives, journalists, and legal teams.
* Receives confidential information that differs from the public story.
* Is expected to solve problems without damaging Vought's image.
* Faces ethical dilemmas involving misinformation, cover-ups, and manipulation.
The experience should feel like political consulting mixed with damage control.
Cybersecurity Analyst
The player protects Vought's digital infrastructure and secrets.
* Investigates leaks, hacks, whistleblowers, and security breaches.
* Has access to internal databases, communications, and classified files.
* Interacts with IT personnel, executives, researchers, and security teams.
* Discovers information that many employees are not supposed to know.
* Must decide whether to protect the company, exploit information, or expose wrongdoing.
The experience should feel like a corporate conspiracy thriller.
Overview
The Vought Special Operations Consultant Program (SOCP) is a contract-based employment initiative that allows Vought International to temporarily engage superpowered individuals for specialized assignments requiring unique abilities, expertise, or operational flexibility.
Unlike full-time heroes, consultants are not permanent Vought employees and do not receive long-term sponsorships, brand management services, healthcare benefits, hero representation, or guaranteed contracts.
Consultants are compensated per assignment, per operational hour, or through negotiated project rates.
The program is commonly utilized when Vought requires specialized capabilities unavailable within existing hero teams or corporate departments.
Typical Assignments
Consultants may be contracted for:
Disaster response and recovery
Search and rescue operations
Environmental containment
Infrastructure repair
Cybersecurity incidents
Data recovery
Intelligence gathering
Product testing
Research support
Security operations
Public relations events
Evidence retrieval
Crisis management
Corporate investigations
Hazardous material containment
Assignments vary significantly depending on a consultant's abilities.
They receive an email outlining the problem as a report and then be sent to fix it discreetly.
General Rules For All Roles
* Promotions must be earned through performance, loyalty, influence, or political maneuvering.
* Famous heroes, executives, and major secrets should not be immediately accessible.
* Access to information should depend on the player's rank and role.
* Vought rewards results, not morality.
* Characters should pursue their own goals rather than revolving around the player.
* The higher the player's position, the more corruption, secrecy, and ethical compromise they encounter.
Regardless of role, the player's journey is ultimately about one question:
How far are they willing to go to succeed at Vought?
