World of Heroes Redux

Superhumans. Ever since the first Superhero, The Saint, was seen throwing cars at hoodlums and leaping tall buildings in single bounds in 1938, Superhumans — Superheroes and Supervillains alike — had been an intregal part of of our world. They were among this world's mightiest beings, and when the world's mightiest city , Megalopolis, was built in 2020, some migrated there, attracted to what would become the technological center of the world, and a foundation for a new standard of living. Or at least, that was the intent.

In 2025, tragedy struck. In a struggle between two Superhuman beings — the valiant Captain Armstrong, and the vile General Stoned — the Pristine tower, the largest, greatest tower in the city, came crashing down. The details of just how exactly this struggle brought down the tower remain unclear, but one thing is certain; hundreds died in the collapse. The public sought someone to blame, and superheroes, once thought of as saviors to the public, became nearly as hated as the supervillains they fought against.

To calm the populace, as well as to finally have an excuse to put those pesky Superhumans on a leash, the Government issued the Superhuman registration act: All Superhumans must surrender their Secret Identities and register with the Government as duly appointed agents, or else risk incarceration. Superheroes will be able to engage in their regular Super-heroing duties when not on a mission from the Government's liason. Of course, not all Superheroes wish to register with the Government for one reason or another. The question then becomes: who will register, and who will not, and what will be the outcome? And perhaps, just perhaps, maybe there was more to that initial struggle that started all this than anybody could have thought...

Hello there! This is 'World of Heroes' Redux, which I think is the fourth version of World of Heroes. (Please correct me if I'm wrong.) As in previous versions of this RP, (which you don't need to look up,) this takes place in a Superhero universe, but one where a registration act established 6 months ago in March, 2025, has divided the Superhero community. You can choose either to give up your Secret Identity and sign up with the Government, or instead choose to remain a free agent and thus technically be an outlaw. Also, you can play as Super-villains if you want, but just know that you won't be able to register; hiring Super-villains wouldn't be good for the Government's public relations. However, since Superheroes are the main focus here, I'll allow three villain PC's; after that, only heroes. In addition, Bad Ass Normals are also charged with the law, so long as they both have a Superhero/villain identity, and can still kick ten kinds of @$$. If you're some wannabe wearing something you bought from the store and can't so much as throw a single good punch, then a wannabe is all you are.

As for power levels, you can be anything from a Bad Ass Normal to being able to lift a large truck. However, I don't want any Superman-level characters in this RP just yet; for now, I'd like to keep things balanced. That doesn't mean you couldn't be really strong, but you also couldn't be really fast and invulnerable either. Basically, try to shy away from the Super Power Lottery. Aside from that though, there are just a few superpowers that I could consider blatantly overpowered for the purposes of this RP; healing in a battle is one, and time-manipulation is another. But aside from those caveats, you can basically do what you want.

The game takes place in Megalopolis, which is the most scientifically advanced city on the planet. For example, the police use laser-guns, there are teleport stations for transporting yourself from one end of the city to the next, and there's even the odd flying car. And the corporation responsible for this is Hammer Industries; a major innovator in technology, it largely built Megalopolis, and welcomed anyone and everyone into it's doors, including the Superhuman population. In the wake of the fall of the Pristine tower, Hammer has done it's best to assist the Government and act in any way it could, including assistance in providing the technology and means to support the act. They seem beneficial enough, but one never can tell...

And of course, here's the Character Sheet. And just an FYI: You can make up to 2 characters, but no more than that.

• Real Name: Self-explanatory; just put your name here, please.
• Superbeing Alias: Your code-name, whether it be 'Ratman', or 'The Mighty Amoeba'; whatever floats your boat. And if you want to just go by your real-name, just put down 'N/A'.
• Allignment: This is where you put down whether you're registered with the Government or not. 'Registered', or 'Not Registered'. If you're a Supervillain, than you can put that here as well.
• Age: Self-Explanatory.
• Physical Appearance: Also self-explanatory. If you wear a costume, then you'd want to describe both what you look like in civilian wear, as well as in your outfit, whatever that outfit may be.
• Personality: What your character's like, basically.
• Powers: I already discussed this earlier, but you can do just about whatever you like so long as you don't go overboard.
• Other Skills: This is basically whatever else your character can do. If you're a Bad Ass Normal, then your Power section will probably be 'N/A', while this section will be rather extensive.
• Accessories: Anything notable that your character may have on hand. It can be anything from a precious keepsake to The Goddamned Batarang.
• Backstory: This is your character's origin story, or at least whatever they've been doing up until this point. This should of course include how you got your powers, if you have any.
• Miscellaneous: This covers anything that doesn't quite fit into any of the other categories. Whatever that may turn out to be is up to you.

And that should do it. If you have any questions about the setting, premise or anything else, please ask. And lastly, Sign-ups will always be open. Here's hoping you enjoy the game!

Registered Superheroes

• Electric Emancipator, by Kkhutwar
• Eternal Maiden Diana, by Daydre
• Fog, by erabel
• Mind Body and Soul, by Sanojutsu
• The Asclepian, by Atomic Nut
• Nexus, by Daydre

Unregistered Superheroes

• The Sword That Protects Earth, Sanojutsu
• Rush, by zsax
• Tower, by deadpool616
• Dropkick, by Nman
• Monsieur Mirage, by Darksidevoid
• Wildcard, by Rareitor
• Brawler, by Eachiunn

Supervillains (3/3)

• Lord Eclipse, by Nick the Swing
• The Silent Siren, by Weirdguy149
• Sisyphus, by Atomic Nut

And we're off! The RP itself is located here, and the Discussion thread is right here. If you've got any questions, please ask them. Here's hoping you all enjoy the game.

edited 6th Apr '15 9:08:08 AM by kkhohoho

I do love me some superheroes. Placeholder for tentative interest.

I'm interested.

Interested. Since Starline City is probably headed for the graveyard I might steal one of mine from there.

Interested, though it might take me a bit to think of something.

Interested, mind if I play an ordinary Badass Normal with no powers?

Interested.

What is the tone of the game?

Posting interest.

x4 Sure. As is said in the opening post, Bad Ass Normal's are perfectly welcome.

Like in some of the previous versions of this RP, this is going to be a sort of tragi-comedy; that is, it's generally going to be serious, but a number of minor NPC's will be somewhat eccentric and provide some humour. It's like an otherwise serious action movie that has jokes and snappy writing throughout.

Potential interest, though I'd like to have clarified - no playable supervillains?

Oh, you can play as Super-villains if you want. I guess I should have clarified that in the opening post, but yes, if you want to play as them, you can do so. Just know that you won't be able to register as a Super-villain.

edited 21st Mar '15 6:34:52 AM by kkhohoho

• Real Name: Scott Lengford
• Superbeing Alias: Lord Eclipse
• Allignment: Unregistered Supervillain
• Age: 29
• Physical Appearance: Scott is a rather handsome man, though not exceptionally so, having dirty blond / brownish hair, grey eyes, and a look that, in his civilian attire, basically says "boring businessman". He works an office job, so he usually wears a white t-shirt, black dress pants and a tie. This conceals his strong and toned, muscular form, being much fitter than his general look and slouch would lead one to believe. And while some men turn to motorcycles or cars when they become bored with life, Scott has turned to a cult that leads him to dress up in heavy (looking) armor. In his guise as Lord Eclipse, he wears a mask that resembles a reflective oval with three openings per eye area, and a breath filtering device near the mouth, giving him a distorted voice, the rest of his head covered by cloth and chainmail. His armor seems more fitted to his body, and has a pair of fin like spikes on the shoulders, but otherwise his armor is very plain looking. Even still, its a rather heavy looking outfit.
• Personality: Scott lived through a rather rough childhood - his father pounded it into his head that as a male, he had to deal with things like a man and not "go over the edge emotionally". As such, his reactions to most things can seem steely and like total nonreactions, almost like dull surprise. However, deep down, he despised his traditionalist father and his "friends" on the high school basketball team. Scott took the chance when it was offered to become a part of something "revolutionary", and became part of the Lord Eclipse Conspiracy. He lives a rather disjointed life - going home after work to a wife and two kids, and then occasionally leaving "for business", which translates to dressing up in armor and leading the Eclipse group in their activities. As Lord Eclipse, he seems to release all of his negative emotions, including hate, spite, and anger, but is rather chilling about them. He seems stressed by the sheer disconnect between his life styles, and occasionally wonders if he really loves his family, or if he simply had them in order to appear proper.
• Powers:
  • Mantra: He can summon powerful dark golems and creatures, and even turn them into either weapons or blasts to use on enemies.
  • Fears Make: Scott is capable of collecting people's fears as energy (ala Sinestro Corps) and summoning representations of what people fear as energy constructs.
  • Khronos: The Emblem of Parallaxus Lord Eclipse has is called Khronos, and it gives him a dangerous touch. His touch ages things, though sufficient armor or such can prevent this effect - he can only age biological matter, and only by direct contact.
• Other Skills: Scott has skill in Baji Quan, rather surprisingly. He's also a pretty good orator.
• Accessories: He keeps an old ipod on his person. It has apparently taken a beating.
• Backstory: Scott grew up in a highly traditional family structure, basically he grew up a WASP. His father "was big on biblical parenting...discipline...roles of family members." Due to his father's influence, he went to a good college, got a degree in marketing, got married and had two young kids...and was utterly dissatisfied. He found no matter what happened, he wasn't happy with himself. He drifted about, learning martial arts, personal fitness, and eventually falling into much more sinister pass-times, going into a religious cult that turned out to be a front for the Lord Eclipse group. He proved himself in some way to the cult and ended up selected to be a Lord Eclipse. As a result, he now lives a bizarre and disjointed life, being a powerful Supervillain some days, and a normal, unassuming father other days.
• Miscellaneous: Despite claiming otherwise, he completely hates his father for said "discipline".

edited 21st Mar '15 2:40:24 PM by NickTheSwing

Tentative interest. Is there an upper limit to the amount of players?

This looks interesting but I have questions. I'm confused about how supervillains factor in. Do they really get pardoned of everything they've done? And what about anything they do afterwards? Is the state condoning their villainy? That seems odd. And if they don't condone villainy after you register, then why would a supervillain want to register in the first place if it just means the government has more information about you?

Also is the plot similar to the last one? Things already got pretty dark when every PC was a hero, which was fine, because it wasn't too dark since we all were still heroes, even though we disagreed on principles. It's one thing to be forced to tolerate working with a registered or unregistered dude, but teaming up Dr. Nazi and Professor Puppystrangle with like, Gunfuscious and the Bionic Nun, and then having to constantly pull out plot armor to prevent them from killing each other every page might be hard to live with.

The thing is, the 'Supervillains get pardoned' bit was only added when Starbound2 wanted to play as one. Basically, I tried to accommodate that, but that might have gone a bit too far. And thinking about it, having Supervillains on the payroll wouldn't be a good idea, even from the Government's viewpoint; while having more superpowered agents would be ideal, having known criminals on the payroll wouldn't do much good for the public image.

Right; we're going to scratch the whole 'Supervillains pardoned' thing. If anyone wants to play as a Supervillain, they can do so, but they'll have to live with not being able to register.

... Is it too late to play as Professor Puppystrangle? :p

I kid, I kid. But I do have a question: Is there a current date to work with as far as heroic histories are concerned? I know that the fall of the Pristine Tower occurred in 2025, but (roughly) how long ago was that? Was it recent? Has the registration act just gone live, or has it been in-effect for a while now?

I believe I'll just port over Andreia, with her sheet edited to fit, of course. That will probably take two days-ish (stupid time zones making it hard).

Alright, I'm working on a character sheet right now. It should be ready soon.

Couldn't the super have become a villain after registering? Granted, they'd have to run, like a felon who paid bail and skipped the court date, but it's possible, right?

6 months, which is incidentally how long it was in the second version of the RP. I'll add that into the opening post. It should still be 2025; let's say October.

If you want to do that, then sure, but you'd be taken off of the Registration list if you turned villain, or otherwise turned rouge.

@Tojin: No, there shouldn't be a limit, and Sign-ups should never close.

@Nick The Swing: He's mostly fine; just see if you can take out his 'Herald of Parralaxus' ability. He's already very powerful without it; having that on top of everything else might be just a bit too much.

Also, just an FYI; I'll accept a few Supervillains, but Superheroes are the main focus here, and I'm sure there will be plenty of Supervillain NPC's as is. Once we get three villain PC's, that will be that.

edited 22nd Mar '15 6:51:25 AM by kkhohoho

Alright, took out that.

This should prove interesting.

Thanks. Accepted.

edited 21st Mar '15 3:04:35 PM by kkhohoho

I was just asking as a hypothetical. I've got something else in mind.

edited 21st Mar '15 3:05:01 PM by Dragon573

Okay-dokey.