The Price of Freedom: A Superhero RPG

[Moblin Major General]

Hello, people of the Forest. So, I've had way too much time on my hands lately, and I've used some of that time to reassess how I've been going about doing roleplay stuff. For the past few months, I have going through and seeing what's been done here, what I've been doing wrong, and what concepts haven't really been seen here a lot on Serenes Forest. That's why I present to you The Price of Freedom. I put the tagline in the title so that no one would come in expecting something like a Fire Emblem RP.

But enough of that for now. Details about the setting and the story will be in one of the spoilers below. First, I need to establish the rules that I and other potential players will follow.

Rules

Spoiler

1. No godmodding, metagaming, Mary Suing/Gary Stuing. This is paramount in a superhero RP, otherwise things would escalate much too quickly.

2. I do not want to cut myself on this RP, so no being edgy unless it's appropriate for the scenario, and no NSFW content besides language.

3.A (soft) limit of one character per participant, and you cannot control the actions of other participant's characters, both voluntary and involuntary. After a certain point, more characters will be able to be submitted.

3a. Please no characters from actual comic books/comic book related material. Characters you had from other superhero RPs are fine, provided they meet the character creation guidelines.

4.General don't be an asshole to other players.

5. Give criticism to me at your leisure.

Overview

Spoiler

There are 3 settings as part of the RP. They are all located on an undisclosed large body of fresh water within 50 miles of one another. This area experiences all of the seasons and weather phenomena of the Midwestern United States (aka Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois and Ohio). I will go into detail of each region, and what to expect when that region is the focus.

New Alabaster- New Alabaster is on the southernmost shore of Lake Tippecanoe. Of the 3 major cities on the shore of the lake, it has the lowest crime rate and has major corporations situated within the downtown area. This makes the city a target for powerful entities, both human and not. Most heroes here act like the police: friendly, approachable, and uncompromising in their duty to protect the innocent from evil. Many of these heroes are rumored to be from elsewhere, but the people adore them all the same.

Fallen Fjords- This smaller city rests on the western shore of Lake Tippecanoe. Named by Norwegian immigrants, Fallen Fjords is a well known entertainment and college town, with the problems that come with that. Worse still, several high profile laboratories within the general area have been suspected of dangerous and illegal experiments, some of which were reported to be unaccounted for. For these reasons, the police have begrudgingly resorted to ask for assistance from "costumed vigilantes" due to them being overworked from their usual duties. However, they prefer that most of the test subjects be subdued alive and prototype weapons be recovered intact so that the district attorney can formally build a case against the offending laboratory. Heroes here need not be personable, but they do need to consider the compromise between stopping crime and helping prevent it.

Sunrise Harbor- No, the name is not technically ironic. Located in the far northeast of Lake Tippecanoe, Sunrise Harbor is so named because it is in the direction of the sunrise, and that the sunrise is a vermilion color in late fall, signalling the off maligned Witch of November that blows across the northern half of Lake Tippecanoe. Coincidentally, the coming of the storms also signals when this overpopulated and nearly bankrupt city is about to explode in violence. Gang wars and violent crime are all too common, and the crimelords have pockets so deep that you can count the incorruptible officers in the city on both hands, and most of them tend to be the low men on the totem pole. Most of the law enforcement comes from the so called "public enemies", costumed vigilantes that either do the job of the police force itself, or go back to the days of the Old West, which is essentially bounty hunting and vigilante justice.

We will be starting in Fallen Fjords, because it's moderate stakes and low barrier of entry. After the introductory arc is complete, we will probably move on to Sunrise Harbor, as I expected New Alabaster to have high level threats similar to DC and Marvel heavyweights like Ultron and Darkseid. 

Each person will be given their own introductory scenario, where they can showcase their talents as a superhero, and then showcase how they act in real life, though not particularly in that order.

Character Creation

Spoiler

Name: This is your character's real name. The one other people will use when talking to their secret identity, if they have one.

Alias: This is the name that heroes/villains will use during the commission of their duties/crimes.

Status: Hero, Villain, or Civilian. This can be changed at any point in the story at the whim of the player.

Power Grid: See Power Grid below for details. Describe powers before showing the stat spread.

Appearance: Put what your character looks like in "real" life and what they look like as a hero/villain if they are one.

Tools: If you expect your character to be able to do things beyond the powers you give them, they should have tools to help them. Describe them and what they do in this category.

Personality: This can be independent of status, as heroes can be jerks and villains can be good people on the inside. Try not to be one note if possible.

Backstory: This should be the most extensive part of the submission, as hero and villain backstories can make or break heroes and villains, and often do. Flesh this out, but I will reiterate the edge and NSFW rule here, because this is the most likely place it will show up in superhero stories.

Power Grid

Spoiler

Though this RP will be statless for the most part, I am instituting a Power Grid system to prevent characters from snowballing into literal gods. The power grid operates in 6 stats, each ranging from 1 to 7, 1 being weakest, and 7 strongest. Adding one additional number to a stat will become more difficult and require more input from me as the number increases. Here is a breakdown of what each number means for each category.

Intelligence: The ability to process abstract concepts

• 1: Impaired or unintelligent, usually denotes mindlessness, disability, or animalism. Animal characters are this if they cannot talk, regardless of actual intelligence.
• 2: Average intelligence. This is a normal person in comic books would be. They are at least aware of the immediate situation, but will be oblivious beyond that.
• 3: Above average intelligence. This is what a lot of protagonists in comic books are.
• 4: Ph.D level intelligence. Most smart superheroes are this, though a lot of notable ones are at the next rank.
• 5: Peak human intelligence. Reed Richards, Hank Pym, and Batman are all this.
• 6: Near omniscience. Equivalent of DC's 12th Level intellect.
• 7: Omniscient. Godlike knowledge.

Strength: The force a character can exert

• 1: Feeble. Cannot lift anything over 20 lbs/10 kilos.
• 2: Average strength. Can lift body weight at most.
• 3 Peak human. Can lift double body weight or up to 1000lbs/450 kilos
• 4: Can lift up to 15 long tons
• 5: Can lift up to 50 long tons
• 6: Can lift up to 100 long tons or more
• 7: Can change the position of celestial bodies like planets and moons. Godlike strength.

Speed: The measurement of the distance one moves in a duration

• 1: Slow. Only able to achieve walking pace at best.
• 2: Average human running speed
• 3: Peak human running speed (Usain Bolt)
• 4: Supersonic (past Mach 1)
• 5: Hypersonic (can breach Earth's gravity well)
• 6: Nearing or at the speed of light
• 7: Beyond the speed of light.

Durability: The ability to recover from injury or Illness.

• 1: Weakened/Sickly
• 2: Average human durability
• 3: Peak human durability
• 4: Regenerative healing
• 5: Bulletproof
• 6: Immune to most forms of weaponry
• 7: Invincible.

Energy Output: The ability to move energy without the use of objects or external power sources

• 1: No ability to project energy
• 2: Can discharge or absorb energy through contact.
• 3: Can project 1 form of energy in a short burst out to 100 meters
• 4: Can project 1 form of energy for a duration of up to 60 seconds out to 500 meters
• 5: Can project 1 or 2 forms of related energy types for an extended duration out to 1500 meters.
• 6: Control of many unrelated forms of energy at once
• 7: Unlimited control of all forms of energy infinitely.

Fighting Ability: Hand to hand combat skill

• 1: Unable to defend themself, weak
• 2: untrained, average civilian
• 3: moderate training (most military servicemen go here)
• 4: Competitive, highly trained fighter
• 5: Master of a single form of combat
• 6: Master of several martial arts
• 7: Virtually unbeatable in unarmed combat

To give an example of what it should look like, I will show the difference between the average person and Superman.

Average Joe

• Intelligence: 2
• Strength: 2
• Speed: 2
• Durability: 2
• Energy Output:1
• Fighting Ability: 2

Superman

• Intelligence: 3
• Strength: 7
• Speed:7
• Durability: 7
• Energy Output: 6
• Fighting Ability: 3

Preferably, most characters would want to be between these two. I want to say that at most the stat total limit is 24 at the start of the RP, and that no stat should go below 2(sans Energy Output) or above 5(except for Fighting ability upon request, but cannot be 7).

My character

Spoiler

Name: Ira McCleod (pronounced Mic-Clai-ode)

Alias: God Ray (didn't like the thought of being called Sunbeam)

Status: Hero

Power Grid: Has powers comparable to, but not the magnitude of, the Sun. Radiates heat and light at will, and is also able to disable electronics in a solar storm fashion.

• Intelligence: 3
• Strength: 3
• Speed: 2
• Durability: 2
• Energy Output: 5
• Combat Skill: 4

Appearance: Ira has short red hair and hazel eyes, and usually has 5 o'clock shadow which he shaves regularly with his powers. He usually wears a labcoat as a technician, with semi-casual clothes underneath. As God Ray, his clothing is a mix of greyish blue and several shades of yellow and orange. He wears a motorcycle helmet that protects his eyes from his own radiant light, stylized to induce the appearance of being angelic.

Tools: a magnifying lens to focus light through to burn through and into things.

Personality: Ira is very quiet and absorbed into his work as a scientist's aide. As God Ray, he keeps this quiet demeanor, as he uses his powers to create the aura of being an angel, or even God himself. He is also religious, a fact often mocked by most of his coworkers.

Backstory: Ira McCleod grew up in a modest house on the edge of Fallen Fjords to two parents of Scots-Irish descent. He was instilled with a mind for science, and a heart for God. After four years of college, he was given an opportunity to work for a laboratory working on nuclear fusion reactors. During one test, the reactor ended up burning itself open, exploding the half of the building it was housed in. Ira was initially thought to have died instantly along with many of the other technicians on duty that night, but he was revealed to not have. It was assumed that Ira was not present during the explosion due to illness, however the truth was far from such. Ira was there with the rest, however the reactor seemed to transfer its power to him, making him like a very small star. Watching his body glow through the dark clouds of night, he felt as though he was a ray of sunlight through the clouds. Hearing that the police force was asking for help from "powerful individuals", he donned the mantle of God Ray (initially, he had thought to take the name Sunbeam, but that didn't seem to inspire fear like God Ray did.

Please let this get off the ground. Please.

[Moblin Major General]

One thing I forgot to mention is that I will be making a Discord server for this so that I will be able to keep contact with everyone.

Edit: here is the link.

https://discord.gg/czFC6r

Edited March 3, 2018 by Hylian Air Force

[Corrobin]

The link is expired.

But this interests me. I'll join. Just need to think up a character.

[Moblin Major General]

Oh. Let me get on Discord to reopen it.

Edit: This link shouldn't expire: https://discord.gg/McmJ6SY

Edited March 5, 2018 by Hylian Air Force

[Corrobin]

Thanks.

Name: Lloyd James

Alias: Short Circuit

Status: Hero

Power Grid: Lloyd can absorb electricity and then discharge it in bolts to attack.

• Intelligence: 3
• Strength: 2
• Speed: 2
• Durability: 2
• Energy Output: 4
• Fighting Ability: 2

Appearance: Lloyd has short but a bit shaggy brown hair and green eyes. He tends to wear t-shirts and jeans most of the time. As Thunderbolt, he wears white and blue tights with yellow accents.

Tools: N/A.

Personality: Lloyd is a relatively friendly and kind individual. He is 16, and in his Junior year. He's also in the gifted program. He has a tendency to underplay his own accomplishments and let other take credit (both on and off the clock as Thunderbolt), which lends to him a tendency to be seen as a pushover.

Backstory: Lloyd discovered his powers around puberty, when he was doing a science experiment involving batteries. After that, he started working as a hero to protect his family from the whole supervillain crazy shit that started coming up.

Edited March 5, 2018 by Corrobin

[Poimagic]

Interesting. Might as well try and join. And as a villain to.

Spoiler

Name: Annie Lloyd

Alias: Marionette

Status: Villian

Power Grid: Can shoot thin wires from her fingertips. If they make contact with anything, they attach to the object, being hard to see. When they attach, Annie can control everything about the object. She can even control inanimate objects as well

Intelligence: 5

Strength: 2

Speed: 2

Durability: 2

Energy Output: 3

Fighting Ability: 3

Appearence: Annie has light yellow hair, usually put up in curls with stormy gray eyes. Annie usually wears fancy dresses, usually of the color white or blue. She only wears other clothes when at school, which is usually a blue female uniform. When she is in her costume as Marionette, she wears a black and red dress, with a white smiling mask covering her face, and her hair is let down. The white mask contains a voice changer in it so that her identity isn’t revealed

Personaility: Annie is a bragger and a very snooty 14 year old. She views everyone except for rich kids as degenerates. She also has the school under her finger due to her rich families influence in the school, meaning she can get anybody in trouble even if they are innocent

Backstory: Annie had been born a genius into a family of rich aristocrats. This is what started her stuck up attitude. She had figured out she had a power at the age of 6 when she was angry with a butler at her house who had tripped and spilt Annie’s drink on her. She had pointed at the butler in anger, like a standard angry person would do. What was different was that a thin wire shoot out of her fingertips, and when the butler had gotten down to clean the spill, the wire attached itself to the butler and he stopped mid cleaning. Annie was confused at first. She moved the finger left. The butler’s head moved left. She moved the finger right. The butler’s head moved to the right. Her parents, who were in the room at this moment, say this, and decided to put her through training. She had fighting lessons, regular lessons, and power lesson’s so that she could be a proud heir to the family name. As for why she is a villain, she is doing just because she wants to and is also doing it to be horrible to those of a lesser class.

I think I’m done. I think.

[Moblin Major General]

Bumping topic... not that anyone cares.

Why can't I ever generate interest?