Heroes: Adventure Academy Sign Ups Interest Check and World Building

I've decided to post, here, the basic information of an RP I did on another site, and see where I can go with it. To put it into the simplest terms, this RP will examine tropes common to the copious number of superpowered teenager books and comics available.

But I suppose I should stop dallying and cut to the chase. Heroes: Adventure Academy is (at the start) about a school situated in a small town in eastern-central California called Hartford. Following the odd events of a meteor hitting a hill, a large number of the teenagers and some of the young adults have begun to develop odd abilities.

The teachers are utterly unprepared for this at first, and not even the local authorities know what's really going on. As if that was not enough, there was a break in at the old museum a town over, someone stealing a large cache.

As the government and numerous other forces begin to move in on the town, a group of students decide to group together and take a stand, to actually make use of their powers to survive whatever comes next.

The Setting: The Town of Hartford is a rather alarming paradox already, even though it exists technically within the State Boundaries of California, there's a lot of odd laws in place in the town. For example, the town's teenagers cannot be outside past seven o'clock - not even on a Weekend. Parents, even of older teens, are fully capable of making all decisions. Even if it entails a teenager's friends.

In addition, we have a charismatic, possibly corrupt mayor who has authored all these laws and kept them on the books somehow. Including draconian restrictions on the internet and restrictions on teenage gatherings.

The school itself and the town surrounding, even before the meteor landed, however, were as you might imagine very, very weird. There's already numerous urban legends and stories of strange happenings in the surrounding areas. Especially the area surrounding where the meteor landed.

To put it bluntly, Hartford is very unkind to its young population.

Setting: The School's Structure: Western in structure and with a uniform code, the School seems like an outtake from an eighties movie. While the cliques are enforced in some ways, its made apparent that nobody likes the strange way the school is run outside of a few. However, due to frustrations caused by the laws, the school has a tremendous bullying problem.

However, the administration seems to be content to sit on its laurels and ignore the problem, apparently thinking if they ignore it long enough it'll go away.

The most well known bullies are Marcus Recht, Eric Stanton, and Eva Langford. The Principal is a well known toadie to the Mayor, and tries to make everything run smoothly and "produce a sufficient number of graduates".

• Background Events Occurred Thus Far:
  • Mysterious robbery - the thief left only a card that stated LITTLE TIME REMAINING.
  • The Recht Brothers had a painfully public fight recently.

• Starting Plot: The official beginning is thus; with the powers emerging in students like wildfire, a club was announced by Galen Recht, the younger brother of aforementioned Marcus. Officially, its a comic book club devoted to appreciating numerous comic book heroes and other "nerdy" pursuits. In reality, it is a group for young people to band together and defend themselves using their new abilities. Be it from the bullies Galen says "lord themselves over us like they're nobles", or be it defending themselves against the strange laws of the land. There is also a degree of focus on the strange figure sighted escaping that museum, and finding out who he is.

• Sign Ups: Due to the nature of this RP, Sign Ups are indefinite, there will always be openings.

• Name:
• Age: (mostly teenage to young adult)
• Gender:
• Appearance:
• Personality:
• History / Bio:
• Power: (you have 1 power, though you can use it many different ways, with training)
  • Required Secondary Powers:
• Skills:
• Other Details:

edited 22nd Nov '14 8:21:32 PM by NickTheSwing

Interested. Can I post my character sheet here or will there be a separate thread for that?

Feel free to post it here.

Time for some more World-Building:

• The Strange Town of Hartford: Despite its location, the Town of Hartford is, as covered before, extremely paternalistic. While some parents have voiced objections to this, others, like the Recht Family parents, have been particularly ardent supporters of the Mayor. Hence, there will be a lot of discomfort in this group regarding the very idea of teenagers with superpowers. The Mayor even seems to fear the very concept, and has tried to keep the idea out - using his connections to bar certain books. While the Mayor has a near on 85% approval rating among adults, its made very clear early on that there might be something skeevy going on in regards to his approval rating.

In case you're wondering about those clubs, of course they need to have a "responsible adult" present. The unofficial rule being "an adult responsible for reporting to the Mayor in case they get ideas.

• Urban Legends: Around ten years ago, there was this rumour of a cult living out in the woods called the Children of the Origin. It was said that they venerated a being called The Originator, who demanded that they keep Hartford "insulated" from the outside world. There've been some suggestions that the Mayor was once a part of this organization, but nobody really paid much heed to this. There's also the story of the Rabbit Man, an insane man who dresses as a rabbit and lives out of the woods.

As you can tell, the folks in town are really not very fond of the woods.

Definitely interested. Waiting for more world building info if there's any.

Also, just trying to get a feel for how the world is going to work; on a scale of party-based adventure to anarchic free-for-all, where do you envision this RP falling? I want to know so that I know what kind of character to make.

edited 25th Oct '14 2:24:30 PM by HouraiRabbit

Essentially, this RP will be about people in Galen's club, and their battles to find out the Academy's secrets. So, essentially, party based adventure.

As for more world building, feel free to submit your own ideas. Here's a bit more from me;

• The Mayor's Name: All that I can say without spoiling a major plot twist is that his name he tells to people in the town is Mr. Shreve. Shreve claims he actually comes from a "strong family lineage" of "people interested in the stability of community".

• The Eye of Ormsbigor: Located in the town library, this strange artifact is said in really old stories to be from the middle-east, and that it somehow came to have the soul of a wicked djinn placed inside of it. Other stories depict the Eye as being sentient unto itself, due to being used as a container for wicked spirits. Whatever the case is, the Eye is regarded as part of an urban legend - allegedly, if it is touched when the sun shines on the iris, it becomes attached to someone.

Sounds Interesting.

Will the US forces doming into Hartford be considered a third party, or allied with the Mayor?

By and large a third party. They're interested in finding out what, exactly, is going on, and why there are several anomalies.

First and foremost, after arriving in Hartford and the surrounding area, strangely enough, contacting home base is extraordinarily difficult.

Are there any set rules for the superpowers?

Just try not to duplicate powers, and keep away from Story-Breaker Power levels.

How broad is our power allowed to be, and can required secondary powers be used on their own? In addition, since parents are fully capable of making all decisions for their children, how does that affect young parenthood? In addition, how do orphanages/adoption/etc work there and how are underage out-of-towners treated?

Finally, out of the entire population how many of them are now superpowered?

What are the rules of the school? Also is there an Absurdly Powerful Student Council?

edited 27th Oct '14 5:15:35 PM by Nouct

Yes, there is an Absurdly Powerful Student Council. Its led by Mayor Shreve's teenage son Andreas...mostly.

Like, a fire user can generate general heat, and manipulate existing fire into interesting forms. As for young parentage, the new child is controlled entirely by the young parent's parents, and they can do anything they want with it, including give it up for adoption without telling their offspring a thing. Orphanages function to "control" their charges, and while adoption is a goal, they're actually fine keeping the kids there as long as possible, due to...incentives. Underage out of towners are basically shuttled to an orphanage. While the orphanage kids go to the same high school as everyone else, they're heavily encouraged to return home immediately after school is over. As for number of people becoming superpowered, while a number of adults have attained a power, 35% of the teenagers have a superpower, and that number is growing.

Basically, the school calls for a reverence to one's elders, but in practice, this rule is not very heavily enforced. There's a whole bunch of places you're technically not supposed to go (guess what happens), and there are two buildings by the back of the school that, strangely, are no longer in use. Entrance into these places is prohibited. A student's grades are immediately available to parents, and are mailed once every week.

Not quite what I meant regarding broadness of power. Well, would something on the scale of manipulating atoms be completely impossible? Obviously none of the P Cs would be allowed anywhere near that, but are NP Cs expected to be such beasts? Regarding required secondary powers, would they only be active when using the main power or always active? Thus a pyrokinetic could rush through a burning building without actively doing anything.

What if the underage out-of-towner can prove they have family? Are they still trapped in the orphanage or do they have to let the kid leave? By the way, what is the population number there? Oh, and can you explain what "control" and "incentives" means there?

edited 27th Oct '14 10:31:15 PM by Kkutwar

Yeah, as far as PC's go, atom manipulation is way beyond what can be done. Some of the main villains will be pretty nasty, though. The required secondary powers are active all of the time. For example, my character, even if he's not using lightning, he's still unable to be harmed by electricity.

If they can prove they have family, then the orphanage will try to contact this family. This measure will fail. They're then put right back in, and hopefully adopted off soon, for one reason or another.

There are currently 90,000 people living in the town, its a rather large town.

Control = teach that the paternalistic ways are absolutely morally correct, and to be a good little piece in it.

Incentives = money, among other things.

• The Central Department: Ostensibly an oversight committee to make sure individual groups do not do things with the Mayor's money that he doesn't want done, there's a sinister vibe to the oddly named "Central Department".

• Communication Knockout: Oddly, it seems very difficult nigh on impossible to contact people out of town, and communication can only happen inside of town. Most people blame the meteor for this one.

Does communication affect the internet?

It seems like it does not. Note my use of the word seems.

• The Commune: A strange group that allegedly is a branch off group of the aforementioned cult. There is not much info on them, and many conflicting rumours. It is said that they teach their flock that the year and day is wrong, and that the Mayor is, in secret, planning to do something fiendish to the entire town. Given the cult of personality the guy has, there must be something compelling for him not to go after The Commune...

• Name: Galen Recht
• Age: 15
• Gender: male
• Appearance: Galen is a rather thin, but toned and rather muscular youth, giving the impression he is involved in athletic activities. He has light red hair, blue eyes and usually wears a blue t-shirt, pairing that with a denim jacket, dress pants, and grey and blue sneaker shoes. He's not quite handsome yet, and still looks very boyish, leading to the "baby-face" nickname his Big Brother Bully came up with. Galen, ever since his powers awoke, has developed an odd tendency for one of his eyes to glow brighter blue when he's using his powers.
• Personality: Galen is essentially the kind of kid who grows up to become a leader - he listens to his friends, he has a fast-working, innovative mindset, and at the same time, a commanding, organized perspective. While this can end up in him looking like a jerk some times, its mostly unintentional on his part - and he is a teenager, mind. Galen does though seem to enjoy stories and comics depicting teenage heroes struggling against adversity and winning. Galen seems to have a rivalry with his brother, and the two of them even before the Empowering were notoriously at each other's throats. Galen has a good relationship with his current girlfriend, Mira, who it seems acts as someone that calms Galen down whenever his temper and / or attitude start to go too far.
• History / Bio: Galen and his sister Lyanne were always adored by their parents, who seemed to view them so well precisely because they viewed twins being born as a good sign, as opposed to their elder son, who Galen always noted seemed outcasted from the home. Though he never developed sympathy for Marcus' end of the ordeal - Marcus was one of the most mean-spirited bullies at the school, and they recently had a painfully public fight.
• Power: Shock and Awe - Galen can control and fire lightning.
  • Required Secondary Powers: At the start, Galen needs a lot of practice with his power to use it, much the same way a bow-man needs practice with his arrows, and getting the arc just right. Somehow, it seems he generates a lot of electrons almost out of nowhere, firing them off, and then usually the generation results in crackling remnants of the power left over from the discharge. Given the amount of energy involved in this, it seems he's also able to withstand the lightning's heat and force. Due to his power involving a force that results in a huge soundwave even if Galen's blasts are less large, it appears he has adapted in some ways to this - he can withstand a lot more punishment from sound than any normal human possibly could - likewise, Galen seems to have an incredible resistance to light and heat due to his control of lightning.
• Skills: to confront his brother more equally, Galen's also tried to learn some martial arts. He is also, as noted, a very capable leader even at this age.

edited 22nd Nov '14 8:37:03 PM by NickTheSwing

What about Required Secondary Powers?

edited 22nd Nov '14 1:48:14 PM by tricksterson

Ah, correct. What kind of secondary powers should my character have?

Look here. Also what about more mundane skills. For instance I'm thinking of making my character a biker chick in the making so she would be able to ride and maybe fix motorbikes. So either a separate Skills category or amend Power to Power /Skills?

edited 22nd Nov '14 7:58:09 PM by tricksterson

Alright, I added a skills category and a required secondary powers section.

I am looking forward to your character.

Okay, here she is. Hope others who have expressed interest follow.

• Name: Sheila O'Brian
• Age: 17
• Gender: Female
• Appearance: 5'10, Athletic build, long red hair she usually wears in a pony tail, blue eyes. When not in school usually wears leather jacket and pants.
• Personality. Has a chip on her shoulder that has only grown bigger since getting her power but it hides a vulnerability most people don't see. If you can get past her prickly armor you have a friend for life.
• History: Grew up poor and abused. The latter stopped about a year ago when she took a baseball bat to her father. Since then she has been semi-homeless, coming home only when absolutely necessary. She works at a garage and frequently sleeps there to which the owner turns a blind eye because he knows about her home life.
• Power: Super-Reflexes
  • RSP: A high and constant state of situational awareness combined with the ability to move real fast to dodge or block attacks.
• Skills: Can ride and fix motorcycles really well. Also has taken up martial arts, currently an orange belt although her new power has propelled her to the edge of the next level.
• Equipment: Her motorcycle, a Harley Davidson which she calls "Baby"

edited 25th Nov '14 6:11:05 AM by tricksterson