NationStates Jolt Archive

For some time now I've noticed an influx of super hero RP's in the main Nationstates forum. The levels of participation are high and the stories are always interesting, though I notice they tend to dwindle and eventually die after a good while. Though I'm sure there's some semblance of continuity, I believe we can do better. I also believe that we can offer more rewarding, less jumbled storylines if there was only a more active hand in the organization process. It is because of this that I've come to the forums to propose an idea-one which I think will work very well if others are willing to get serious about it.

Super Hero roleplays always start out the same way. There's an OOC thread where people sign up for two sides...the good guys and the bad guys, a process which ultimately results in eight or nine main characters and a lot of waiting around for others to post. I'm all for participation...I'm an advocate of the more the merrier, believe me. But only if everyone involved is going to be active. Time after time people drop out inexplicably, and hey...that's understandable. Real life takes precedence over a gaming forum. It's cool. But say there was a waiting list. Let's say that only a few choice people are allowed to post in the thread, and every one else who signed up has to wait for one of those people to drop out. Bam, someone slips right into that abandoned position and assumes that particular role-with their own character, of course.

Putting a restriction on how many people can be involved makes everything less confusing, more coherent, and in my humble opinion? More interesting. It allows for more individual character development, two words that can be scarce in an action thread with a ton of players. In those types of situations you're constantly trying to push the thread forward, otherwise people are going to get bored and disappear. With less open positions, everyone feels a bit more vital to the plot then they otherwise might.

Another thing that might make a super hero universe more fun is fewer important roles and more supporting ones. To me, a setting with ten villains and heroes, all with their own unique powers and abilities makes the story feel...cheaper. What if we had one hero, possibly a sidekick, and a couple of villains? And what if we filled in the rest of the story with characters like the police commissioner or the mayor, or a judge on the take? Maybe a ruthless DA? A love interest? All of which could enhance the plot but also be discarded if a lack of activity is perceived?

What I'm basically getting at is, I want to moderate a super hero universe. I want to create a story, maybe play a couple of little parts in it, and let other people (or help them, rather) fill it out with their own characters and ideas. There will be limited spots available. Right now I'm looking for somebody to play the main character of the story, the hero. All you need to know right now is that the story will take place in a fictional city on the eastern coast of America called Stanton, and it will be PMT (mostly to allow for any special equipment the heroes and villains may need). It will be about how the hero came to inherit his powers (or whatever he/she has that makes them special). There will be villains and other characters available, but I need a hero first and foremost so we can get a basic idea of how the story will play out.

If you're interested, jot down your idea for a hero, including what powers/equipment/abilities they have and who they were before they got them. I'm looking for capable writers and originality mostly. Thanks for your time, and hopefully this works out.

I'm interested, although this seems like it could end up being a little restrictive.

Hero (of 1000 Faces) path for the main char perhaps?

I'd be willing to portray the hero, but probably as a young man, but one that can somewhat expect what's coming. I might as well get into it:

Alright, so many people talk about ancient myths and legendary heroes as if they were just that: myth and legend, exaggerated tales told in an allegorical sense and passed from generation to generation as a means of preserving and enriching one's culture. From Hercules and the Twelve Labors, to King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, to Sinbad the Sailor, all are tales of fancy. Our hero, however, knows otherwise: these heroes of myth actually walked the earth, and while the telling of their exploits has been deliberately exaggerated to dismiss factual belief in these current myths, many of these mythic figures were in fact related.

The power of one is passed to another upon death, and our hero's beloved uncle has just passed away. As a result, our young hero, I'd say no more than twenty seven and having just gotten his doctorate in chemistry, is suddenly given powers that he didn't expect to receive for at least another ten to fifteen years. The hero's father was already empowered, but currently unavailable to train his son. The tradition of maintaining secrecy about their true nature has always been kept, only allowing the most circumstantial pieces of evidence to exist to placate the conspiracy theorists and nut-jobs in order to convince the rest of society that they don't exist.

Now, though, our hero is suddenly more than just a hero, and his life has been turned fully upside down by this sudden change of events. He doesn't have the subtlety of either his father or uncle, nor does he have their experience. He's going to have to learn, and it's going to be on the steepest learning curve that he has ever experienced.

As for the powers, well, those aren't fully fleshed out yet. Much like those relatives whose lives have been immortally fictionalized in legend, the abilities vary from one to the next. Generally, though, it depends upon what the particular individual concentrates on developing. Enhanced levels of strength, speed, and reflexes are prevalent, though the idea of Herculean strength on par with what could be associated with Superman is laughable. Flight has been achieved, as have various forms of energy projection, though in the hero's instance, power development will just be starting.

He will have increased physical abilities, such as a bench press approaching half a ton and a two minute mile within the first few weeks. More importantly, he'll be more resistant to injury, less prone to illness, and more attentive to his surroundings. His training in Martial Arts, notably military combat from his uncle and Tai chi chuan (Tai chi) in college, are enhanced, making combat scenarios more brief, less fatiguing, and less likely to result in injury.

I haven't come up with a name yet, but he's basically a recent graduate with his doctorate looking for a way to balance his public life with his private, not because he wants to, but because he must. His upbringing has inadvertently instilled a guilt complex in him that would, to use the colloquial, make any priest proud.

So, that's what I've got. TG or message if you want or don't want. Hope that this gets off the ground.

Tag for interest.

I am interested.

In fact, I've tried to "set the stage" for things like this in previous RP's I've participated in. My Superhero character, the Metal Man, is more than just a crime fighter. He's also a teacher, a mentor and a student of the human condition. He often takes up with other characters and swaps skills--and he has a set of skills to pass on that make a fellow character more effective (mnemonic memory skills that allow one to memorize an arbitrarily long list, the ability to read 1200 words a minute with full comprehension, martial arts, engineering, etc.). He grooms his companions to become heroes in their own right. Of course, in the brutal conditions in which they live (a refugee camp in Chad, for example), these skills can mark them for death (tyrants hate the Metal Man), so there has to be some care--but this offers the opportunity to RP regular people with skills that are in dire need where they live and the ruthless creeps who would trade them as commodities.

So I'm interested. In fact, I'll go a step farther: I'd like to have an RP where the Metal Man is a hero, but where I write from the point of view of one of the people he's swapping skills, etc. with.

How's that?