Superheroes!

[Cobra5]

I know the RPGs are mostly dead, and I know this one won't get off the ground. But I want to put it out there- for future reference. And, perhaps, to get some outside input for the contex. I know this probably won't pick up any momentum.

I've been reading Ultimate Spiderman, Ultimate X-men, and The Ultimates. It put me back in my superhero phases from when I was a boy. I created a couple ideas for some superhero RPGs, but none really picked up. Then I saw the Incredables, which put me back into that pahse again. And this time one of the ideas I liked.

You may see a bit of similarities with maho... which, despite how much I dislike it, I did help create it. please don't bother bringing to my attention the parrallels. I know it seems to go against some of my ideals in RPs. But just go with me here.

And as I final note before I begin, I'd like to say this is not a WaD RPG. This was a personal idea that I got in my head and have totally not developed it at all yet. This is the bare bones mimimum.


It is the very near future. The universe as we now it now, is mostly unchanged. There are small differences, just lone occurences. Otherwise this universe is parallel to our own up to the start of the RPG.

There are superpowers. How, I don't know. Evolution? Mutation? Alien Intervention? none are truely realistic. Not for my purposes. So, I decided to leave it unexplained. Nobody in this univers knows where the powers come from. Nobody knows if they are developed or herditery. Nobody knows if they are natural or artificial. They just are, and nobody knows why.

Suspending that bit of disbelief... here is my little blurb:

"There have been some isolated occurences of strange people doing strange things. During the cold war, the Russian's attempted to utilize this, creating super-commandoes, but to no avail, as it failed right along-side their Psi-ops program. America catolouged the known events as hoaxes, even in the face of overhwelming proof.

But things are begining to pick up. They are becoming harder to ignore. Though the population on a whole dosn't know, some people are taking notice. Visionaries. Experimentalists. The military.

But most importantly, the people who are, themselves, affected.

And suddenly, a few dissapear. People who make their 'gifts' known. People who don't even know what they can do. People who have nothing better to do.

And where do they go? They don't know untill they get there. But secretly, a single man has relized that these few people posses more power then the others combined. Neither good nor evil, this power is still unclaimed. And this man wants to make sure it goes to the right places.

Enter DSi labs [;D]."

Basically, yeah. The leader of DSi labs will be the Proffesor-X-like figure. He 'invites' a group of people to come and join a new team he's forming. If they hear rumors of strange occurances, then they observe their target for a while. At the first sign of any super powers, they literally take them to the labs. Any way they see fit- Drugging, violence, or even a simple invitation. It depends on the subject. But they must at least come.

The characters will be people invited to join this new super team. They will have the opertunity to become a team of super heroes, going around and, you know, saving the day. I've thought of a couple storylines, but havn't fleshed any out really. DSi is a super-advanced research lab, so they all kinds of technology. And they're always coming up with new stuff (imagaine Q form james bond or something ). DSi isn't a small organization. They operate out of a large, hidden complex, and the staff is numbered in the hundreds. They deal with everything, from the most edvanced sciences to the metaphysical even to the paranormal. Many of the adventures could very well take place right there inside the labs.

There may be a set system as to what powers you can have- or rather, how many powers you can have. I hate 'superman' like heroes who are too strong. They're no fun But I don't think its really nessicery. Just don't go overboard.

Now, my originally idea for soul saber was an RPG where the characters interacted a lot with eachother, and that a real emphisas was placed on character design and personality, putting more emphisas on the RP then the G. Though I like the end result, it didn't accomplish that goal in partigular. Every Superhero comic now has the heros' lives as a major part. I'd really like to see some reall deep characters some day .


So yeah. Basically, to create a character, you need a superpower. I'd get it 'approved' before you start really fleshing it out. I, for example, want to be able to project force shields (like Jean Grey's psychic shields) and force blades (like Psylocke). Cass wants to have flight and super strength, like Rouge from the original X-men cartoon. I thought at first that seemed a bit too powerful, but she pled her case and changed my mind. Everyone will of course have the same opertunity, and it won't be just me deciding whos overpowered and who's not.

I'll type up a character sheet in a moment, using my own guy as an example.

[Cobra5]

I decided to go with the "Young kid still learning his own abilities" archtype, a la Spiderman, personality wise. Powers, two of my favorites, psychich blades and shields rolled into one, but I didn't want to be a mind reader (or telekinetic) so I didn't use the word "psychic"

Name: William De Schryver
Alias:
Age: 19
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Brown, long
Height: 5'6"
Gender: Male
Profession: High School Student
Specialty: None

Superpowers:
- Kinetic Shields: William, through force of will, can project spherical field of kinetic energy. He can control their size, and can include objects other then himself inside them. However, larger shields require much more concentrration. Also, the more pressure and force that is applied ot the shields will drain Will's stamina rapidly. The sphereical shield must always be centered around Will himself, though he bleieve with practice he could learn to manipulate the energies in other ways. Will has not yet developed his telents to stop any significant force, such as bullets, but can easily block blows such as punches and kicks.

-Kinetic Blades: Will can focus to extend a projection of his energy from his cleched fist. These energy 'blades' exist and act upon the physical world. He can use them to cut through most materials, though it is draining on him to attempt and force the blade through harder substances such as metal or brick.

Weapons of choice: Generally what is provided to him. He is largly untrained in combat and prefers to rely on his own talents.

Armor and Equipment: None in partiuclar. He likes to carry a backpack with him during 'missions', just in case, but he has no other true personal equipment.

Bio: A mostly average kid throughout his life. He has always been somewhat unpopular and a bit of a loner. Though his self esteem is what can easily be considered low, he dosn't let most things bother him to a dangorous point.

He is, however, aware of his unusual abilities, and has been since he was young. The only other people being his parents and a select few of his closest friends. He tried for himself to be a 'super hero', with disastorous results, nearly getting himself killed and injuring inocents. Luckily, his indentity was still hidden. He simply keeps his abilities to himself, a little ashamed. Not ashamed of the powers he has, but ashamed as he feels he might not be able to use them.

(I would've really liked a longer Bio, but my creativity still really isnt' at its peak at the moment... )

Pros:
- Excelent defensive team member
- Loyal
- Intelegent and quick to learn new things.
- Follows orders

Cons:
- May panic under pressure. He is inexperienced in combat and still somewhat unsure of his ability to participate in life and death situations
- Still learning his own powers
- Little in the way of offensive power or tactics

[Abishai]

Okay here goes:

Name: Dan Stronson (no it's not my last name)
Alias: none
Age: 28
Eyes: Green
Hair: Short, red
Height: 5'11"
Gender: Male
Profession: Doesn't have to work
Specialty: Manipulating stocks

Superpowers:
-The ability to change chemical formulas of substances, for a limited amount of time. He can also alter the density of a substance, again for a limited time.


Pros:
- His ability allows for quick entry, or exit, out of buildings.
- The ability allows for him to do alright in hand to hand combat, although he preffers to sit back and assist.
- He is independantly wealthy.

Cons:
- Arrogant to a fault.
- Does not like taking orders from anyone, let alone somebody younger.
- Not the most cabable fighter, although he has no qualms about fighting dirty.

History, of sorts:

Dan went through high school a bit of a nerd. He studied chemistry, and he studied biology, he came home and instead of playing football, or sitting down and playing other games, he sat at the computer enthalled with DNA strands and chemical formulas.

His father was a workaholic who was a self made millionaire. He had been raised in a poor family growing up, and was determined that his son wouldn't have to grow up that way. His dad got him interested in the stock market, while it wasn't exactly DNA strands and chemical formulas, it was just as demading of his attention.

After graduating from high school, Dan went off to study chemistry in college. It was here that he began to be constantly humiliated by bullies. It was this constant barrage of harrassment that led to his powers manifesting.

Jeb Johnson, one of Dan's worst tormentors, came over and pushed Dan down into the grass. In a quiet rage Dan thought long and hard about Jeb's blood turning to water... As Jeb was walking away from Dan he began to feel faint, oxygen wasn't reaching his lungs, his organs, his limbs. . . Jeb died minutes later.

[Coral]

Name: Phasenc Kriegsfuhrung
Alias: Phase
Age: 27
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Short blonde
Height: 5'4"
Gender: Male
Profession: Drug Dealer
Specialty: Bartering

Superpowers:
- Hyper-ocity: Phasenc, who's drugs have super abillities, ate one of his stimulant drugs, and the drug has since had a permanent affect. He cant sleep, he doesen't need to eat, he is hyper, etc..

-Uber Running: The effect of his uber-drugs renders him able to run so fast he cant be seen. Running at up to mach 1, he simply runs into the enemy knife first. He can outrun most villain's prop planes.

Weapons of choice: Prefers to use a steak knife, dagger, or sword. Likes to use sharp, blade melee weapons.

Armor and Equipment: Usually wears a leather jacket with an electric current flowing inside, so that anyone who tries to kidnap him gets zapped. Helps to keep off the druggie zombies who need their crack.

Bio: He was always interested in the culinary arts, but his abillities turned to the worse as he aged. With new hit drugs such as, tomacco and cococaine, he began experimenting with the "Super Drugs". Via breeding marijuana, coffee, tomatoes, cocaine, and heroin, he was able to concoct Maricoftomcoin. He tried his potion of drugging, and he fell asleep, in a coma, for weeks on end. When he woke up, he dashed for some coffee, but he found himself at his destination before

Pros:
-Knows people...
-Tactically advantaged

Cons:
-Drug addict
-Psychotic

[Cobra5]

Wow. ok, so we have a super speed guy... Remeber, these are supposed to be superheroes...

Changing substances huh? I never thought/heard of that one before. What exactly can your guy do? Was there every a real hero that could do that?

[Coral]

LOL! Did you even read my character, and accept my goddamn joke?! Come on dude, its a DRUG ADDICTED DRUG DEALER SUPERHERO! Did you think I was serious?!

[Abishai]

Cobra5 said:

Wow. ok, so we have a super speed guy... Remeber, these are supposed to be superheroes...

Changing substances huh? I never thought/heard of that one before. What exactly can your guy do? Was there every a real hero that could do that?

What exactly can he do? *evil grin* For starters, he could create an intense fire with only a match. What do you have if you split a molecule of water. Hydrogen and oxygen. Split a small amount of water into it's elements, throw im a match. . . presto. How about changing the chemical properties of salt. Sodium Chloride, sodium is deadly, chlorine is deadly. . . .the possibilities are endless. He would also be able to neutralize poisons that way. . . by breaking down the chemicals that make it up.

His other half, changing the density would allow for him to change the density of say his fists, making them as dense as lead. It would make your standard punch pack a hell of a lot more wallop. He can also change the density of other things as well. Say of a steel door. . . make it as less dense and it becomes child's play to kick in. . . .

No, there hasn't been a superhero that could do these things.

[Jalathas]

It's me, as a superhero!

Name: Nicholas Farquharson-McIntyre
Alias: Savant
Age: 14
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Dark brown
Height: 5' 4"
Gender: Male
Profession: High School Student
Specialty: None

Superpowers:
-Mental Summoning: Nich can call creatures and objects from his mind into being by concentrating. Unfortunately, this ability only works when he's angry. Usually he creates creatures to fight for him. The more things he brings into being, the harder it is to concentrate, and often his control will slip, and his creations will disappear.

-Levitation: By concentrating, Nich can float in the air, and control his movement with a thought. This is not full-fledged flying, and he moves only about 5 mph, up to about 10 feet off the ground.

Weapons of choice: His mental constructs.

Armor and Equipment: Special DSi helmet that focuses thoughts, to make it easier to concentrate.

Bio: Nich is a geek, and he freely admits it. He was bullied and teased, until one day a few kids cornered him in an alley. They started trying to beat him up, and he fell to the ground, wishing for a miracle to help him. Something happened there, but not even he knows what it was. All he knows it that the kids never bothered him again, and always went white when he came near them. Since then, he has had the power to create awful things with a thought.

Pros:
- Abilities are very useful.
- Extreme knowledge of normally worthless facts.

Cons:
- Abilities only work when angry.
- Has few social skills.
- Gets angry easily.

Well, how is it?

[Cobra5]

Coral- yeah, I figured it was a joke. To be honest, I thought you were just playing the stereotype that was put onto you for some reason, a psychotic weirdo. But I didn't want ot say anyhting about it, in the event you were being serious, in which case it would be pretty offending for someone to take it as a joke.

I don't think the summoning evil things makes the actual person evil. In fact, the heroes who are good, yet have evil powers, are some of my favorite ones. Like Illidan from Warcraft or the whole 'Dark Pheonix Saga' thing. It puts a lot of internal strife with the character.

And Abishai, creative ;D. I like it, personally, not that you'd need my approval anyway.


What kind of villians should there be? Should it be, like, comic-book style, where the heroes fight other super-villians? Or mad geniuses? Or should it be little more real-based where the super heroes fight terrorists and stuff, or something. Even though it works for singular super-heroes, super-teams never just go around saving old ladies from muggers and the such.

[Coral]

Heres another choice. Its this or my other one, you guys pick:

Name: Varies (Nameless)
Alias: Magnifico
Age: Varies (21)
Eyes: Varies (Turquoise)
Hair: Varies (Brown)
Height: Varies (5'4)
Gender: Varies (Male)
Profession: Varies (Clown)
Specialty: Varies (Entertainment)

Superpowers:
-Morphing: He can morph into just about any other person, morph into a car, a bear, a super-mech... You name it!

Weapons of choice: The weapons of whatever/whoever he morphs into.

Armor and Equipment: The armor of whatever/whoever he morphs into.

Bio:
Nobody knows the clown. In fact, somedays the clown doesent appear at his show, but something good happens, by a random person.

Pros:
- Can assume just about any identity

Cons:
- The mutation that grants him his powers is killing him
- He goes a bit overboard with his humor a lot..

[alys]

Abishai said:

His other half, changing the density would allow for him to change the density of say his fists, making them as dense as lead. It would make your standard punch pack a hell of a lot more wallop. He can also change the density of other things as well. Say of a steel door. . . make it as less dense and it becomes child's play to kick in. . . .

No, there hasn't been a superhero that could do these things.

There was a guy from Mutant X that could do that to himself or, if he concentrated hard enough, to other materials.... But, the chemical stuff is neat!

Okay, so, here goes.....

Name: Victoria Lawrence
Alias: Vic
Age: 23
Eyes: Green
Hair: Black, long, v. straight
Height: 5'5"
Gender: Female
Profession: College Student
Specialty: None

Superpowers:
-Telepathy: Very minor. She can only transmit short messages or emotions (ie: "Run," "Turn," a feeling of danger, or a feeling of safety, etc.). She believes she can focus the power into a full-fledged telepathic link, but is, as yet, unable to do so.

-Influence: Telepathy allows her to influence other people's thoughts via their emotions (basically, calm or enrage). She can also create phantom noises or images in people's minds, effectively distracting them for a second or two (unless they have been mentally prepared for that kind of attack). Perhaps she could learn to hone this towards a forced coma in an individual, though it would probably be extremely draining on her (ie. knock her out, too).

Weapons of choice: She took fencing in school, but she dislikes violence, in general, and will try to avoid combat, if possible. She carries a taser bought for her by her father when she moved to New York(? Where would we be?) for college.

Armor and Equipment: Taser, small purse with normal girly things.

Bio:
Vic was born with only 30% of her hearing and was diagnosed as legally deaf when she was only a few months old. Her parents, a well-off couple of Washington socialites, learned ASL and taught their daughter to speak with her hands. When she began school, she was sent to a public kindergarten with a private translator. By the time she'd finished Highschool, she'd gone to over a dozen schools, including public, private and schools for the deaf. She was never popular, nor a subject of ridicule in any of her schools, but managed to skate throughall of them at an A-average without making any lasting friendships or enemies. In college, she switched her major 9 times, eventually deciding to double major in Psychology and Law.
Her powers manifested during Junior Highschool as a result of no particular influence. When brought to the attention of her parents, they didn't believe her, so she chose to ignore it. During her first year at college, she began to hear rumors of other people manifesting powers, as she had, and she began to actively seek them out.

((Yes, I know, it's very skin and bones, but I have to hurry up and finish so I can take my last final and see if I get to graduate, yay!))

Pros:
-her eye-sight is above average, though not supernaturally so (much as many deaf/mute's eyesight is)
-a skilled diplomat

Cons:
-deaf/mute
-only recently accepted her abilities, so she is not well-trained in them, yet

So, what do you all think? I might decide to change her when I re-read this after my test....... Maybe I will want to scrap her, completely--your comments will greatly influence my decision, if you do comment. So... uh... Please do! ;D

[Cobra5]

You question of 'where would we be'- Dosn't matter. People are 'collected', so to speak, from all over the country, perhaps world. And if they like what DSi has to offer, then they go and live on-site there (or back at home during long inactive periods, I guess).

As for the character- coming from someone who is partially deaf, I can say it does indeed affect your eyesight, a lot more then you might think, actually (I can read a lot farther and smaller then most other people, and I'm only a little hearing deficiant). Perhaps in the future your character could learn to communicate entirely via telepathy, which would be neat, a person who could speak and hear only telepathically. But I do see some problems, mostly becuase most people (IE, our chracters) don't speak sign language, and in a combat environment sometimes audiable commands are almost nessicery. I suppose it could be turned into an interesting character defficiancy, but it would be a dificult RP challenge.

As a warning, Dan has asked to 'reserve' telekinesis, unless someone else really wants it. If so, talk to him about it via PM (yeah, even though he dosn't post, he's actually on the board every day, and checks his PMs all the time. He gets paid $6 an hour to do it, actually). He didn't seem particularly intersted in the other aspects of psychic powers, such as telepathy. Just telekinesis.

[alys]

Telekinesis is all Dan's! I don't want to be Jean Grey, heh, so I think I'll leave that part out.... However, I was thinking about an offshoot of the Telepathy being Nerve Stimulation: By tricking the mind, Vic could make people think they were being poked or slapped or tickled or something of the like. It wouldn't do any damage (ie: she cannot break their ribs), but it would be another form of distraction. Maybe she could use it to coax muscles (including her own) to move father, faster, better? At her most powerful, she might be able to trick the heart and lungs of an enemy into momentary arrest or into over-drive, but nothing lethal.
I want her powers to be pretty much inoffensive, but still useful. If she can calm the enemy enough to not fight, then fine, if not, then distract them while everyone else fights for her. If she gets attacked, she'd probably run or use her taser.... Her fencing is pretty much useless offensively--she doesn't carry a foil around with her--but, it grants her some combat/tactical knowledge and a bit of defensive capability against a similar weapon.
Edit: I agree with you on the problems regarding communication. She would have to read lips, and 30% hearing does allow for some, albeit very little, hearing, so she might hear very loud things (like yelling or an explosion)..... And, with 30% hearing, she could also communicate verbally, but it would be rather inarticulate (if you've ever heard a deaf person talk, you'll know what I mean by that)....

[BugHunter]

I think I'll just bang out a hero then. Hmm, what should I be if i were a superhero...hmm

Name: Tanyu Onikage
Alias: BluDrgn (Blue Dragon)
Age: 18
Eyes: dark brown
Hair: blue, spiked up
Height: 5' 6"
Gender: Male
Profession: College student
Specialty: artist

Superpowers:
- Dragon Guardian: When he needs it, Tanyu's body becomes powered up by the spirit of the Blue Dragon. Basically it makes him look all charged up and he then has the ability to fly and have superstrength ((sorry Cass, but I want those powers too)). When charged up he kinda looks like he is engulfed in blue flames and his eyes get a bright faint blue glow. Also, the Blue Dragon kind of has his own personality so when Tanyu is charged up, it isn't Tanyu that is speaking ((think Spamminator)) but for the most part their entities are enfused ((think archon from SC)). The Blue Dragon also for the most part doesn't take much bs when he's around

Weapons of choice:
- No real weapons. But he does know kung-fu, hehehe

Armor and Equipment:
- Doesn't wear armor, doesn't really need it when he has the Dragon Guardian. But he always wears blue and he's never seen separated from his art supplies which he carries in his bag (its not a backpack, its one of those bags you carry on your side)

Bio:
- I guess you can say Tanyu lived a pretty normal life, besides the fact that the spirit of the Blue Dragon guards him. The Onikage family has been blessed with having the blue dragon as their guardian and this trait has been past down from generation to generation. But this entails that these powers given to him are not of his own but gifts from this divine spirit. As for other aspects of his life, Tanyu is a very talented artist and is a student in college. He also ranks pretty high in his class so he's pretty smart

Pros:
- Dragon Spirit mode kicks arse
- High sense of honor and duty
- Great fighter, but thats not his main focus in life. Fighting should be the last resort
- art skills are always a great way to pick up chicks
Cons:
- If he's cut off from the spirit of the dragon, then he's just a regular person

[Cobra5]

Reminds me a bit of the Dark Pheonix, except its not, you know, an ancient God bent on destroying the entire universe.