Reichs and Fall, the WWII era Superheroics RP

I'm gonna try to keep this brief so none of you have to read through a humongous wall of text to get down to basis of what this is all about.

The year is 1942 and World War II is waging across the globe. Things are looking grim for the allies and many are beginning to wonder if the Axis forces are going to win the war. But, there is a small bastion of hope left for those who would stand against the forces of Fascism. You have been asked to join a small force of men and women who want nothing more than an allied victory and an end to the second World War.

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• Civilian Name: (This should be self-explanatory)
• Alter Ego: (Your character's superhero name, leave this blank if you just want to use his/her civilian name.)
• Age: (18 and over please)
• Nationality: (Your character can come from any country, even Axis ones. Keep in mind that some countries that exist today didn't exist back in the early 1940s.)
• Appearance: (Pictures are preferred, but descriptions are fine)
• Powers: (Try to keep it around 3 or lower on the Super Weight scale or run power ideas past me first).
• Abilities: (Martial arts skills, safecracking, juggling, etc.)
• Equipment: (Rayguns, swords, nunchucks, etc.)
• Personality:
• Bio:
• Misc: (Anything of note you think I've missed in this signup)

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It should be noted that this is going to be a fairly campy and lighthearted game, so try to keep characters from being too angsty.

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Accepted Characters

• Rai Dhanpal
• Fyodor Markovich Lazarev
• Lone Star
• Marksman
• Soloist
• American Glory
• Black Flame
• Logistic Fury (Backup/secondary character)
• Batmaid
• Frederich Schuler
• Devastator
• Desperation

edited 1st Jul '14 12:21:24 AM by Eachiunn

I've been thinking of using a character with soft mind control capabilities. I know that such things would normally be broken/unacceptable in most cases, but I like my character idea enough that I want to see if its alright.

Some of the power specifics:

• My character needs to be in close range with targets in order for his powers to work, as in, he needs to be hugging distance in front of them. And the duration for which he needs to do this is long enough that he can't do this in the middle of a heated battle (1-2 minutes or so).
• His powers can only affect NPC mooks/redshirts that will die if a PC/significant NPC sneezes on them. He can't affect P Cs or NP Cs with any sort of elite status battle/storywise. Additionally, these abilities don't work on mooks from his nation (so he can't simply take over his nation's command structure).
• In-universe-wise, my character doesn't have direct control over MC-ed mooks. He doesn't know what they're doing at any given moment and they don't offer him line of sight/direct sensory input. He can tell them what to do, but otherwise they act on their own initiative, except loyal to my character. (You could decide whether you take control or them or I write what they do. I think the latter would be easier to manage, even though the potential to metagame is great.)
• My character's mind control effects are permanent unless one of the following happens: Death, the mook is brainwashed by another person, someone interferes with the psychic connection, etc.
• Also, if it isn't obvious, he can only affect people who are still alive.

My character also has a secondary ability that isn't supposed to have an effect on combat unless you have a specific scenario in mind. Basically, the secondary power allows him to run around shirtless in the middle of winter.

That seems okay since I'm *hoping* that Pv P won't happen terribly often and I'd be okay with what you've suggested working on Mooks (I'll be controlling them for the sake of simplicity) and I think it would be okay if he'd be able to implant suggestions into tougher enemies heads (though they can choose to ignore them).

That sound okay?

edited 30th May '14 1:23:22 PM by Eachiunn

Okay. I'll probably have my full character sheet up soon or once I start seeing other characters.

Edit: Wait, are you controlling them or am I?

edited 30th May '14 1:35:47 PM by CathariSarad

I'm controlling them.

Okay, thanks for clarifying.

Given the glacial pace my other games are proceeding at, I suppose I may give this a go. Vaguely Lovecraft-for-laughs Gurkha, coming right up!

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• Name: Piper Rai Dhanpal (formerly battalion pipe band, 1st Bn/4th Gurkha Rifle Regiment, Burma Theatre; now His Majesty's Occult Service, Special Operations Executive)
• Alter Ego: none
• Age: 21
• Appearance: Nepali features: short height (average for Nepalis), black hair. Slightly yellowish tinge to features due to malaria.
• Nationality: British Commonwealth
• Powers/Abilities: he's a Gurkha. 'nuff said. (All right, all right...)
  • Skilled bagpiper. In addition to being able to cause a Highland Charge out of nowhere and melt someone's eardrums at a hundred paces like all good bagpipers are able to do, Dhanpal's bagpipes have been patched with shoggoth skin (or whatever the hell it has in place of skin). This gives them a range of decidedly nonstandard abilities: heads explode, machinery resonates, women lament; less offensively, they can play notes of silence—covering the noise of an advance and inducing dread.
  • Kukri of the Middle-Aged Gods. Ever since he stabbed in it the face of something icky and unnameable Dhanpal's standard-issue kukri has had a faint purple sheen to it; there's also an odd pattern inscribed in the blade, visible only in ultraviolet. Dhanpal is insistent that the blade doesn't actually eat souls, merely introduce them to the Mother of a Thousand Young, who proceeds to show her new visitor pictures of all of them until their heads explode. (The trick to surviving it is to very politely head her off early, change the subject, and then have a nice cup of tea with her; go easy on the Space Mead unless you want SAN damage.) Rather worryingly, this effect is electrically conductive.
  • Marksmanship with his standard-issue Lee Enfield no. 4 rifle. It's a classic. It doesn't need upgrades. In addition to the famed "mad minute" drill of firing off 15 aimed shots in one minute, Dhanpal has been trained to launch rifle grenades with it.
  • In short: physically he's small, tough, and fast, but not superhuman—at least not by Gurkha, Sikh, ANZAC, or Highland standards. His equipment is a little different.
• Equipment: standard-issue gear, incl. khaki jungle uniform, Lee Enfield rifle, bayonet. Personal equipment includes the kukri of the Middle-Aged Gods and the Shoggoth-Skin Bagpipes.
• Service History
  • Rai Dhanpal was born and raised in Sikkim Province, India, and joined the 4th Gurkha Rifles at the age of 16, in 1937. Was recruited into the battalion pipe band two years later after demonstrating a talent for the Highland pipes, just as the war started.
  • Served in Burma under Gen. William Slim as the Japanese invaded. Survived the disastrous retreat to Imphal, coming into Imphal under the weight of a wounded comrade, bagpipes at his hip, despite being badly sick with malaria himself.
  • Fell into a coma during his recovery for three days, but woke up bellowing warcries and shouts of "get back here, you toad-faced bastard, I'll show you Nyarla-whatsit, Ayo Gurkhali", kukri in hand and bagpipes on his hip (despite the fact that both pieces of equipment were taken off him when he was hospitalized, a fact that bewilders hospital staff). Since then he's recovered surprisingly quickly.
  • Dhanpal doesn't usually mention exactly where he dreamed he was, but his descriptions match the fabled Plateau of Leng, which apparently looks a little different now that an angry Gurkha's been through it. SOE took an active interest in his stories and proceeded to recruit him into HM's Occult Service.

Charlie Stross's cheerful, optimistic predictions for 2017, part one of three.

I've got to point out that the Your Head A-Splode aspects of the pipes won't be doing much against some of the stronger willed enemies you'll be facing. Other than that, he's fine.

Well, of course. That's only one of three ways he has to make their heads explode, after all. (Or get them to make friends with Shub-Niggurath.) It's rather messy.

...that seems to be an unintentional theme with Dhanpal, but yeah, I'm playing this for light-hearted comedic effect. Besides, looking through the feats of badassery that Gurkhas have done through the ages is quite enough to make your head explode with sheer awesome, so it's only fair.

Charlie Stross's cheerful, optimistic predictions for 2017, part one of three.

All right, approved.

To repurpose an old City of Heroes character...

Edit: Nevermind, pulling out.

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• Name: Zelig von Söldner
• Alter Ego: Laser Baron
• Concept: Tech Thief/Mercenary
• Age: Early 30s
• Nationality: Germany
• Appearance: ^Expand  Lost the screenshots of him, you'll have to make due with description:
  Zelig has short, immaculately styled, golden-blonde hair and brown eyes. He has a look of handsome nobility, with a charming smile and a strong, cleft chin. He has a knack for accents and languages, and can affect a flawless American, Frenchman, or Englishman. He's thin, and stands a mere 5' 6", a great source of ridicule he tries to hide with tall shoes, or these days, powered armor.
  
  The armor brings him to about 6' 2", in fact. It built of sleek, dark gray plates with a wiggling sheen. A black-visored helmet completely hides his face, and radio antennae rise from either side of his helmet. Wide, angular pauldrons hold in place a black cape that wraps around his arms when he's not fighting. Opening it reveals opulent, red velvet lining that convey high-society despite the militaristic ensemble.
• Powers: (Most of them draw from a limited common energy source. All of Laser Baron's powers come from his equipment.)
  • Increased Strength: The suit has servomotors that boost the wearer's strength and endurance to a decent degree, though lifting vehicles above one's head is beyond its capabilities.
  • Flight: Rocket thrusters in his shoulders and feet enable a moderate flight speed - faster than a car, but not enough to race a fighter plane. When low on power, or subtlety is needed, they can adjust to a quiet, low-altitude Hover mode.
  • Sensor Array: Low-light and Thermal vision modes enable the wearer to detect hidden enemies.
  • Sealed System: The wearer is capable of surviving in high-pressure, toxic, and underwater environments for a lengthy period due to an internal air supply.
  • Armor: The armor is relatively light, though it is made of a surprisingly durable alloy unknown to Allied forces. Will stop an MP-40, but not much else.
  • Ornate Forcefield: The primary layer of protection is an electromagnetic field that overlays the armor in artful, almost Victorian patterns of red light. When fully charged, it is capable of taking considerable punishment.
  • Energy Leech: From the underslung barrel of the laser rifle is the means to recharge the other systems. A wavering ray of red-orange light links the wearer to a target, sapping their energy for the use of the suit. During this time, the other active functions of the suit and rifle shut off, making the wearer somewhat vulnerable.
• Skills: Technology, Deception, Persuasion, Energy Weapons, Larceny, Culture
• Equipment: (Detailed Above)
  • Prototype Powered Armor
  • Selective-fire Laser Assault Rifle
• Personality: ^Expand  Laser Baron fancies himself a collector of fine art, rare and ancient texts, and most importantly, high technology. He stops at nothing and lets no-one stand in his way to be in possession of the cutting edge; whether it is weaponry, robots, or advanced scientific instruments - he has to have it.
  
  While his title is more or less self-proclaimed these days, Laser Baron very much acts the part of a pompous noble. He believes himself very talented, especially in the realm of theater, and often bursts into an act with little provocation. He makes sure his opinion is always heard, even when it is not solicited; and he’ll usually play the White Knight to the dismay of any women in his company.
• Bio: ^Expand  Zelig von Söldner was descended from German barony. The sole heir to a considerable family fortune, he had fast cars, a beautiful mansion, and a vast art collection, ever expanding through his discerning eye. Then the war began, and, bored with the life of luxury, he signed up to fight the Allies.
  
  He used his social stature and natural charm to land in the Wunderwaffe, Germany's top-secret weapons development branch, though even there his primary role was high-risk testing and facility guard duty rather than anything so great as development. Nonetheless, he became acquainted with the most cutting-edge of military technologies, even making adjustments and repairs as needed.
  
  Eventually the scientists and engineers became sick of his pretentious attitude and his tinkering on their prized technological achievements, and his ancestry suddenly came into question. A long-dead grandmother he barely knew was identified as ethnically Jewish, and Zelig was branded Mischling; crossbreed. His rank was stripped, and he was cast out of the Wunderwaffe. Worst of all, his manse was raided by Nazi soldiers, plundering his collection in the name of Kunstschutz, or "Art protection."
  
  However, Zelig had no intention of letting go of his possessions. With an intimate knowledge of the patrols, and a knack for cat burglary he never knew he had, he broke back into the heavily guarded facility. Within, he came upon yet-untested prototype weapons and armor, more advanced than anything he had seen before. His burglary was not long unnoticed, however, and before he knew it the guards were upon him. He decided now more than ever would be a good time for a test-run of his new toys, and blasted his way through the swarming soldiers and out of the facility - though not before destabilizing a rather temperamental energy generator.
  
  With the facility destroyed and his ties to the Reich effectively cut, Zelig swore he would retrieve his stolen art next, though even so equipped he knew he wouldn't get far alone. Thus he defected to the Allies, offering his services as "The Laser Baron" to the war effort in hopes of recapturing his art from the homes of the Nazi officers in which it would no doubt end up. At the very least, he'll bring down the system that stole everything from him.

edited 16th Jan '15 1:32:54 PM by StygianEmperor

Flesh is a design flaw.

Seems fine by me, approved.

My stupid phone has trouble opening those notes you're using, could you just lay them out as normal text?

(Or I guess I can just wait until I get home and read it on my PC)

Fine, but there's a reason I did that. I'll put them back soon.

Flesh is a design flaw.

And here is my character. Took me way too long to make this thing.

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• Civilian Name: Fyodor Markovich Lazarev (note: I’m not 100% sure what his rank would be. Probably Sergeant or something higher since he has combat experience.)
• Alter Ego: None
• Age: 24
• Nationality: Russian Soviet Federalist Socialist Republic
• Appearance: Think Gaston, except bald with a beard and a ‘stache. About 6 feet and 1 inch. Brown eyes. Most of the time he wears nothing but pants, boots, and a helmet while wearing his upper uniform as a cape. He has a muscular build and a hairy chest. In addition, his nipples glow reddish-pink, which he can hide by covering them with his uniform/gymnastiorka.
• Powers:
  • As Fyodor often appears without wearing a shirt, he might notice people catching a glance from a distance, as his chest isn’t too half bad looking. However, should someone get too close to it and stare at it for too long, they will find themselves completely overwhelmed by the sheer manliness of Fyodor’s hairy chest, and they will at last understand the glory that is mother Russia! (The glowing nipples may have something to do with this.) This goes doubly so should Fyodor decide to show some leg. In other words, Fyodor’s manly chest acts as a form of soft mind control.
  • Power specifics:
    • Fyodor needs to be in close range with targets in order for his powers to work, as in, he needs to be hugging distance in front of them while exposing his chest. When the target gazes at Fyodor’s magnificent chest at this distance for 1-2 minutes, they will become loyal to Soviet Russia (and by extension Fyodor).
    • Fyodor Markovich’s powers can only affect NPC mooks/redshirts that will die if a PC/significant NPC sneezes on them. He can try to affect P Cs or NP Cs with elite status/strong will, but whether or not this works depends on the willingness of the PC/NPC. Additionally, these abilities don't work on mooks whose heart already lies with Soviet Russia.
    • Fyodor doesn't have direct control over MC-ed mooks. He doesn't know what they're doing at any given moment and they don't offer him line of sight/direct sensory input. He can tell them what to do, but otherwise they act on their own initiative, except loyal to Fyodor. (MC-ed mooks will act under the control of the GM.)
    • Fyodor's mind control effects are permanent unless one of the following happens: Death, the mook is brainwashed by another person, someone interferes with the psychic connection, etc.
    • Fyodor can only affect people who are still alive.
    • When a mook becomes MC-ed due to Fyodor’s manly chest, it becomes fluent in Russian. This fluency doesn’t go away should something disrupt the mind control effects. (I didn’t have this in my first list since I forgot to include it, but I intended it when designing my character’s powers.)
  • In addition, Fyodor’s body is resistant to cold temperatures. This allows him to be perfectly comfortable running around in the winter without any clothes on, allowing him to show off his manly chest no matter the situation. However, concentrated frost-based attacks will still have an effect on him. (This isn’t supposed to have a significant effect in combat.)
• Abilities/Talents: Painting.
• Equipment: (note: I’m not sure what the full inventory of standard Russian equipment was. I’m also assuming he has basic survival stuff.)
  • Mosin-Nagant 1891-1930 rifle with bayonet.
  • TT-30 pistol.
  • NR-40 (knife)
  • Grenade(s) (What grenades Fyodor uses will probably depend on the date or what is available. Most likely RGD-33 or RG-42.)
  • Saperka/Entrenching shovel
• Personality: Fyodor is idealistic and optimistic to the point where his mind tends to gloss over any sort of horrific events or other sorts of travesties in favor of his beliefs. He rarely feels disgust or extreme outrage except when things affect his comrades or his ideals. He believes wholeheartedly that communism and the Soviet Union/state are ultimately good and just, and he considers Josef Stalin to be something akin to a messiah. He also believes that an age of eternal happiness will come when the whole world becomes a part of mother Russia. He would prefer to spread the glory of the motherland by converting people with comradeship, but at the same time he will kill those who refuse to help his cause. Not to mention, if people display cowardice at a crucial moment, he will not hesitate to shoot them to prevent them from fleeing.
• Background: (My history might be a bit iffy, and I’m not sure of the exact times of everything.)
  • Fyodor doesn’t recollect much about his early life except that it was a happy and pleasant time. As a child, he had always known he had wanted to serve the greatness of Russia under Stalin. His rifle had been given to him as a sort of family heirloom. Around the age of fifteen, his nipples started glowing.
  • For most of his career as a soldier, Fyodor had been stationed along the Mongolian border. He was considered an unusual soldier: abnormally optimistic, he refused to wear his upper uniform, and he had glowing red nipples. Despite his odd behavior and non-adherence to uniform, he wasn’t punished for this aside from a few jeers from his comrades. However, he proved a capable soldier during the border skirmishes.
  • One day during a raid, Fyodor’s squadron had captured a few Japanese soldiers. As this was one of the first time the squad had successfully captured some of the Japanese, the squad debated on whether to leave the prisoners to interrogate them or kill them off right away. Due to his idealism, Fyodor favored interrogating them and treating them well and had been trying to comfort them. During this, the Japanese prisoners started speaking Russian despite showing no indication of knowing the language beforehand. In addition, they started screaming fanatical praises to Soviet Russia and Josef Stalin, and demonstrated a bizarre devotion to Fyodor.
  • Confused by this, Fyodor reported this incident to the authorities, who had then taken him in. After some experimentation with other prisoners and malcontents, the authorities determined that Fyodor had the power to influence people’s beliefs and desires when he exposed his chest to someone for a given length of time. Figuring this power would be useful for quelling dissidents and would help turn the tide in the western front, the authorities made Fyodor swear his allegiance to Soviet Russia and communism. After this, Fyodor has been sent to the West to help push back the German advance, and to help against other threats.
  • (note: I’m not sure how all the heroes are supposed to meet and whatnot and I don’t know the exact starting date. There would probably be more, but I’m not sure of the details/status of supervillains in this context, or the hierarchy/organization of supers.)

edited 31st May '14 3:35:49 PM by CathariSarad

In other words, you've just made WWII!Vladimir Putin. Heaven help us all.

Charlie Stross's cheerful, optimistic predictions for 2017, part one of three.

Approved for the glory of Mother Russia.

To answer your questions.

The game's starting post will give you all a chance to post how you got to HQ as well as giving you all a better idea of what's going on in the game world.

For now most of the major supervillain types are off in their secret bases or conspiring with Hitler ^Note I'm still working on figuring out what the main villains will be, I'll try to make sure everyone gets an archnemesis of some sort..

Super hierarchy is something that your characters will have to figure out for themselves when they get around to meeting each other, if they think it's necessary.

I'm out, sorry. This has gone a little too silly.

Flesh is a design flaw.

Well, this wasn't exactly going to be completely serious to begin with.

Alright then. And it appears I have scared someone off.

Hey, I figure everyone got due warning about what kind of game this would be when the GM outright approved a character who had tea with Shub-Niggurath and chased a shoggoth off the Plateau of Leng.

Charlie Stross's cheerful, optimistic predictions for 2017, part one of three.

I thought it would be like Freedom Force vs. the Third Reich, which is just the right amount of campy. I got the wrong impression.

edited 31st May '14 6:25:04 PM by StygianEmperor

Flesh is a design flaw.

Ia ia Bergamot fhtagn!

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• Civilian Name: Javier Rodriguez
• Alter Ego: Lone Star. Actually has another name for his alter-ego, akin to a super nickname, "Tex"
• Age: 27
• Nationality: Texan American
• Appearance: His face/body looks like this◊, with a Texas Ranger badge embedded over his heart. He wears this outfit, however.
• Powers:
  • Everything's Bigger in Texas: Sizeshifting that lets him scale his body in size, so that he can be anywhere from five times as tall to five times as short, with a 'normal' height of six feet. When shifting in motion, momentum is conserved, but energy does not have to be, and is created or absorbed to maintain his momentum - falling in normal form and growing huge reduces speed, falling when already in huge form... someone's going to make a medic hero, right? Things he is wearing or smallish things he is holding, like his guns and lasso, also increase in size proportional to him.
  • Texan: Being from Texas means he has the physical prowess of three men. And the alcohol tolerance of ten. (In case it wasn't clear from the wording, this isn't really a super power, just being on the upper bounds of Super Weight 1 without actually going into super territory - when he's in his normal size, that is.)
• Abilities: Shooting wild west guns, quick-drawing revolvers, Good Old Fisticuffs, horseback riding, herding cattle, playing cards, smoking cigars, harmonica playing, hard drinking, singing cowboy songs, speaking Spanish or ending sentences with Texas-accented Spanish words, lassoing, tracking, branding cattle, castrating bulls, spitting tobacco really far, delivering calves, and riding bucking broncos. Oh, and cow tipping.
• Equipment:
  • Lone Star State Ranger Badge A Texas Ranger badge, it has magic that causes it to drop a handful of .44 Winchester rounds into his hand, whenever Javier flicks his with his thumb.
  • Colt Frontier Six-Shooter (.44-40 variant of the Single Action Army)
  • Winchester Model 1873
  • Bowie Knife
  • Lasso (Fifty-foot length)
  • Harmonica
• Personality: Rustic and not one to perorate, he still finds himself on the boisterous end of the scale. Leans towards being kind-hearted to people he cares about. He stands for truth, justice, and the Texan Way - most problems are able to be solved by liberal application of guns, drinks, or fists.
• Bio: Adopted at a young age by a kindly couple that couldn't have children of their own, and who decided to adopt nearly a dozen orphans to raise, Javier grew up in the outskirts of Austin. He had a normal Texas lifestyle - living on his family ranch, herding cattle, shooting trespassers, getting drunk. One day he was chasing a cow that had run away through a break in the fence, when he found himself in a strange cave. Inside was the long-dead body of a Texas Ranger, his badge still shining. When he got close to the badge, it launched itself into his chest and embedded itself into place just over his heart. He knew what he had to do. He went out and found that damned cow.
  A couple years later, when he heard about the attack on Pearl Harbor and America's entrance into the war from the newspaper, a strong sense of duty radiated into his heart, and he went to the enlistment office, to see if they could use a hand. For some reason the recruiters laughed him off, and wound up getting into a fistfight where his unique gifts were displayed. A representative from the government's intelligence division (Which would eventually become the Office of Strategic Services, not sure if we're that far along in 1942 that they exist yet) saw him, and recruited him for a 'unique service branch for atypically gifted individuals'.

This seems like a pretty fun character, approved.

I'm wondering now if the character I'm making will be too serious for this. Unless he's the Comically Serious.

edited 1st Jun '14 12:59:01 PM by tricksterson

Trump delenda est