Roleplay / Power Academy

Started in August 2011, Power Academy is a Forumotion roleplay forum (soon to be turned into a graphic novel) centering around the eponymous boarding school for teens with superpowers. A freeform tale of action, adventure, romance, comedy, drama, and tropes. Lots and lots of tropes. There's a character page here.

Provides examples of:

Setting

Power Academy

• Academy of Evil: Played with; the Academy trains both heroes and villains, but is considered neutral ground.

• Elaborate University High: The school is fairly impressive where size is concerned, with a large main building, several dorms, and a sizable sports field. The surrounding forest could also be considered part of Power Academy's territory.

• Mysterious Teacher's Lounge: At the very least, it includes a fridge, soft couches and soothing music. A nice little space for the headmaster to share some private time with one of the nurses.
• No OSHA Compliance: The underground parts of the Academy.
• Scenery Gorn: First, the Academy is shown in a damaged state shortly after Vilhelm's attack. Later, during the endgame, Terminus launches a full-out assault on the Academy; though largely intact by the end, the place is utterly trashed when all is said and done.

• Truce Zone: The academy as a whole, intended as neutral ground between heroes and villains. Not that it stops battles from breaking out on the school grounds.
• Virtual Training Simulation: The Self-Defense class.
  • Deadly Training Area: Alexei puts his best effort to avert this in his simulator grounds, ensuring that none of the students actually die in the middle of a scenario.
• Where the Hell Is Springfield?: The Academy's location is never specified.

The Forest

• Cool House: The long-abandoned Normco mansion, which boasts disused research labs and an Elaborate Underground Base.
• Green Hill Zone: Especially since it's one of the earliest levels.

Paranorm

• Absurdly Spacious Sewer: A couple of the sewer tunnels in Paranorm can be used for shortcuts.
• After the End: The town essentially rebuilt itself from the ashes following a zombie outbreak 30 years prior.
• Dungeon Town: At one point during the Superhuman Civil War, the town comes under attack by raiders—and they just so happen to attack when the party temporarily visits the town.
• Fanservice with a Smile: The Ghost Pirate and Rockstar Bar, especially considering the students can take part-time jobs there. There is also the Maid Hall, where Dawn gets a job.
• Fashion-Shop Fashion Show: Happens when Sam is taken to Gothically Correct, a store that specializes in Gothic apparel.
• Greasy Spoon: The aptly-named Fries With That Shake, a no-frills diner.

• Honest John's Dealership: Flotsam and Jetsam, a small, rickety stand that sells random crafting items.

• Zombie Apocalypse: The town was ravaged in a small-scale outbreak 30 years prior, but was rebuilt in time.

Kragsmark

• City of Adventure: NPCs, shops and sidequests aplenty.
• City on the Water: Half of Kragsmark is situated on an artifical island in the middle of a vast lake, connected to the mainland half via bridges.
• The City Narrows: The seedier parts of town, in both halves of the city.

• Friendly Local Japantown: Sakura Gardens, a very Japan-influenced part of town.
• Host Club: The Den of Angels, a high-class exotic dance and host club.

• Wretched Hive: Whereas Paranorm simply has a lot of weird things happening, Kragsmark is utterly crime-ridden.

Elsewhere

• Airborne Aircraft Carrier: The Indomitable, Equinox's heavily-armed flying battleship. Vilhelm's army hijacks it as a mobile base of operations, and he uses it to start bombarding a city as a show of force. Luckily, the heroes stop him in time.
• Apocalypse How: Regional level implied. Alice and her family grew up in a hellish, irradiated wasteland left over from a nuclear war, and Garrett mentions that a huge zombie epidemic broke out about 30 years prior.
• Aliens in Cardiff: The city of Hell, Michigan (which in this timeline, rather than a small town, is a long-abandoned city) has become a haven for malevolent demons. Eris later takes over the city, turning it into...well, Hell on Earth.
• Big Fancy House: Jonathan Knight's mansion, a large and comically opulent estate, serves as a late-game dungeon.

• Eldritch Location: The Howling Abyss, Terminus' pocket dimension.
• Eternal Engine: Vilhelm's hideout, a sprawling complex that serves as his main laboratory (or abattoir, depending on who one asks). The Indomitable also counts.
• Evil Tower of Ominousness: Knight Research Headquarters, a tall red-and-black skyscraper in the middle of Kragsmark's mainland.

• Mirror World: The Howling Abyss features several areas that mirror locations the party has been to before, only something is very...off about them.

• Year X: Played for laughs. As a Running Gag, the exact year the "present" takes place in is never specified or is obscured in the audience's view.

Characters

Tropes for specific characters can be found under the Characters tab.

• Action Girl and Dark Action Girl: Generally, unless explicitly stated to be otherwise, female characters in this universe can really kick some ass.

• Dysfunction Junction: Nearly everyone has their own set of issues to deal with. However...
  • There Are No Therapists: Averted thanks to Magi, the school's psychiatrist.
• Enforced Cold War: Between the heroic and villainous students, usually. A small amount of them intermingle; a few even fall in love.
• Everyone Is Bi: Played with. At the very least, there are very few characters who fall into either of the extremes on the Kinsey Scale. Aside from the multitude of bisexual characters (male and female alike) in the story, there are ones who mainly interact with the opposite sex but are willing to make exceptions, as well as sexually fluid characters.
• Fanservice: Plentiful, and equal-opportunity—the amount of male and female fanservice is treated equally. LGBT relationships are also visible in the story as well. However, there are no characters who serve solely as eye candy.
• Morality Kitchen Sink: Heroes, anti-heroes, anti-villains, and villains abound.

Story and Themes

• All Your Base Are Belong to Us: During the endgame, Terminus attacks the Academy in a last-ditch attempt to destroy the heroes.
• Beach Episode: The students take a trip to the beach at one point for a day of relaxation (and also some Fanservice)...
  • Busman's Holiday: Only to find some of Vilhelm's operatives salvaging weapons and tech from a jettisoned piece of the Indomitable, thus making it another mission.

• A Day in the Limelight / Lower-Deck Episode: Can happen when rarely-seen or otherwise minor characters come into focus for a while.
• Deep-Immersion Gaming: Forms the basis for the training grounds and the holoroom.

• Genre-Busting: As the description above would indicate. There are elements of adventure, comedy, romance, drama, contemporary fantasy, science fiction (particularly elements of Steampunk and Post Cyber Punk), and Slice of Life throughout.
• Hard Light: Used in Timmy's holoroom and Alexei's simulator grounds.
• Love Hurts: A running theme throughout the romance arcs is that despite the problems that come with a romantic relationship, it's generally worth it for those who try to make it work.
• Lovecraft Lite: Considering that Jonathan is (along with Terminus) one of the main villains.
• Not Wearing Tights: Played with. Although Power Academy is firmly established as a school for superheroes and supervillains alike, most (if not all) of its students and staff favor street clothes over costumes (armor, specialized jumpsuits, et al aside). Heroes with trappings like costumes are not unheard of, though.
  • Not Using the "Z" Word: Codenames are mostly nonexistent (or at the very least scoffed at). Even the terms "superhero" and "supervillain" are rarely used, and some even consider them derogatory.
• These Are Things Man Was Not Meant to Know: At least two varieties: the Creators (such as Jonathan and to a lesser extent Bethany), and the Great Old Ones (such as Terminus).

• Zombie Apocalypse: One of the non-canon side stories. See also Paranorm under the Setting folder.

Meta

• Animesque: The characters have a very anime-influenced aesthetic.