Mutants: An X-Men AU RPG

Not really, no. As I said in the OP, you can play Morlocks or Extranormals with powers; they'll just be called Empowered mutants. And no, it wouldn't be OP'ed or marysuish because Morlocks don't really have powers, at least not in the traditional sense. Some might have wings which allow them to fly, or they might have somewhat greater strength or agility than normal humans if they're a Funny Animal or Petting Zoo Person, but other than that, most don't really have Superpowers. A few do, just like Extranormals and those without visible mutations do, but this wouldn't wouldn't make them overpowered compared to the other two.

I'm wondering if I should change some of the terminology here, at least when it comes to those with powers. I though was pretty clear about Empowered mutants, that Morlocks and Extranormals can have powers, etc., but this is the second time I've been asked if Morlocks and/or Extranormals can have them. I'll try and work on the OP a bit more, but I'm not sure what else I can do about that.

edited 8th Dec '15 9:15:04 PM by kkhohoho

Okay, cool. My sheet ought to be up sometime tomorrow.

Just letting you know that Sign-ups are still open. Just making sure everyone's aware of that. Sometimes, when there's not much activity, people think the RP's dead. But no, Sign-ups are still open. Just get your sign-up sheets in when you can, OK?

edited 15th Dec '15 7:15:09 AM by kkhohoho

• Name: Pyotr 'Peter' Trapelov

• Age: 17

• Race: Morlock

• Appearance: Imagine yourself a lizard. Not just a mere beast, but a frightening, two-meter long and bi-pedal abomination with bloody red eyes and row of horrible, jagged teeth inside its jaw. Green scales cower all of its slim body, down to the tail that should not be there at all. Its arms just like humans’ have five fingers, but end with sharp claws. You will surely get a picture of this poor fellow.

• Personality: Peter is a jaded and pessimistic person that – however – still believes in ideas of peaceful coexistence between humanity and mutant kind. Partly, out of desperation, because his whole was filled with nothing but racism and fear, so he actually wishes to be accepted by someone – no, anyone. However, his prior experience left him somewhat wary of others, so Peter always tries to distance himself from others. Usually, by using biting sarcastic remarks and occasional jabs. He has some complex about his looks and greatly envies mutants that look ‘normal’

• Powers: Peter’s main abilities related with his unique physiology consist of heightened sense of smell used primarily through the sensitive receptors located on the end of his tongue, agility and strength that are above average levels. He also has natural weapons – muscular tail and sharp claws. However, he uses external heat sources to control his body temperature. In other words, a cold-blooded creature. Therefore, Peter could not operate normally in colder regions.

• Skills and Other Abilities: Peter is a great artist

• Accesories: A tattered hoodie and worn-out backpack

• Backstory: “Let me tell you a story, friend. I can guarantee that this will be a hundred-percent правда (truth). It all began in the city of Moscow… I must admit that my parents had no love for me – that is for sure. No loving parent will leave his flesh and blood at the doorstep of circus when their ‘beautiful’ child had scales all over his body. I guess, that was quite the shock for them, was it not? Well, long story short – I was a walking and talking freak show. A human-lizard! Imagine that! I was fed with job after freaking fifteen years of constant abuse and cruelty. The bastards treated me like an animal! I decided to quit. To run away and never look back. When we had a grand tour in America, I simply broke the locks of my cage… Of course, I heard about America. Land of Dreams, they said. You will be accepted for who you are – not what you are. Ha-ha… Tough chance. It was a хрень (bullshit) and nothing more. If not the professor, I would not be here now – I am sure. Got neatly lynched by a mob for… Well, for being a bi-pedal dinosaur, I think. That’s all. The morale of this story is that the grass only seems greener and all humans are equally bastard. On this hemisphere or the other…”

edited 15th Dec '15 9:16:10 AM by Zetsubou

Accepted. The only minor nitpick I have is his name, as it's rather similar to a certain metal behemoth from the canon X-Men mythos. (AKA, Colossus.) If he shows up, it could be somewhat confusing trying to tell them apart when they aren't using codenames. But we'll cross that bridge when and if we get to it. Other than that, accepted.

I can change it, if you want so...

edited 17th Dec '15 2:29:36 AM by Zetsubou

Regarding earlier, the Electro-Bond Manipulation isn't really that versatile. For example the fake teleporting involves turning themselves into a thinly spread cloud. Thus maintaining it too long causes insta-death. Plus, aside from flight only a fake regenerative factor (as in shifting around mass to fill in holes) and structural cohesion + force (making the body hit harder, faster, stronger) comes to mind. Though honestly I'm just pointing that out, I want to toy with new abilities anyways.

So, for example, what about a Mutant that grows bone rods that serve as an outlet for their electrical generation? They can't be retracted, and whilst their internal organs are durable enough to just get pushed away their healing factor isn't heightened. Thus remove bone spike and they start bleeding out. In add the fact they need more bone spikes present if they want to add more angles, the risk/reward seems about balanced. Though technically their entire skeletal structure can handle the electricity, thus any exposed bone works.

Sorry it's taken me so long

• Name: Nick Walders
• Age: 19
• Race: Morlock
• Description: 5'3", blocky build, blue hair worn in a buzzcut, pale green eyes. Usually rather scruffy looking as he often has to be reminded about hygiene
• Personality: Because of his power Nick comes across as a highly functioning autistic, often slow to respond to others, speaking seldom and in choppy sentences, never looking people in the eye etc. In truth he's all too aware of everything and has to filter his responses. In general he has a very calculating, even cold mindset.
• Powers: Hyper Awareness. Nick has a special sense much like a combination of Peter Parker's "spider sense" and Daredevil's "radar". It allows him a 360 degree awareness of his surroundings in minute detail. It also, until a few years ago reduced him to a catatonic state. Now, having it more or less under control it makes it virtually impossible to sneak up on him and allows him to do a Sherlock Scan.
• Abilities: He's very good at math and an excellent chess player
• Background: Between his appearance and his lack of responsiveness to the outside world, it was guaranteed that his wealthy parents would have him institutionalized and do their best to forget his existence except when it came to paying the bills. Gradually over the years he learned how to filter the overwhelming stimuli he was exposed to until, at the age of 18 he was able to prove himself responsible enough to be released.

He currently lives off a pension given to him on the condition that he keep his existence away from the press. This included changing his name (If you want you can make his original name whatever you want including one of the richer families in the Marvel universe. If he has siblings they would be unaware of his existence although he might know of theirs.

He can have recently been approached by either Xavier, Magneto or both. I can have him join whichever one better fits the storyline.

edited 18th Dec '15 4:02:29 PM by tricksterson

In that case, he'll be part of Xaiver's X-Men. We've only got two others in the group at this point, so the more the merrier. And of course, accepted.

Okay, cool

• Name: Ashley 'Ash' Nishihara

• Age: 17

• Race: Empowered

• Appearance: Stands at 5'0 and has a rather dark skin complexion. Ebony hair with bright red highlights on her bangs, light brown eyes, and a very curvy build.

• Personality: Ash is often short-tempered and impulsive. She always seems to have something smart to say-no matter who it is, friend or foe. Despite being quick to anger and, essentially, quick to fight, she has a good sense of survival and knows when it's better to turn and run.

• Powers: Smoke Manipulation, Generation, and Absorption. At the moment, the most that Ash can do is create clouds of smoke-perfect for clean getaways-as well as absorbing other sources of smoke. She most commonly uses this power to absorb the smoke of her cigarettes. A nifty side effect of this power is that her lungs are, ironically, very resilient. So smoke in general, as well as cigarettes, won't damage them. There's an unfortunate drawback that she needs to smoke, her body needing the nicotine and smoke. Later application of this power includes using Smoke to fly, creating constructs of solid smoke, and turning herself into smoke-but we're not there yet.

• Skills and Other Abilities: Is very good in a fight, having learned some boxing skills from her Father. She's also learned how to pick locks some basic mechanic skills when it comes to cars, being able to fix and hot wire whatever she needs. She can also speak Japanese...probably not the most useful skill, but she can do it.

• Accessories: Three rings she keeps on her ring, index, and middle finger. The faces of an lion, tiger, and bear respectively.

• Backstory: Half Japanese, Half African-American, and ALL attitude, Ash always seemed to not really fit in with either communities. The only place she really felt accepted was the streets, where the only thing that mattered was just how tough you were. She got into a lot of Gang activity, said gang becoming a second family to her. At least, until her Mutant Powers suddenly came in, her second family suddenly treating her like "the red headed step child". On the verge of dropping out of school, she was found by Xavier and accepted into his school, something that her parents thought would help-considering it was a new environment with new people.

Anything that needs to be fixed?

Nope; it all checks out. Accepted.

@Kkhutwar: Why don't you just type up a character sheet and we'll see how it goes? I'm not really sure what to make of your character concept in theory, but in practice, it might be a different story.

edited 19th Dec '15 7:26:45 PM by kkhohoho

>"My sheet ought to be up sometime tomorrow"
>December 8th

I'm having a bit of trouble finishing up the backstory, but everything else is finished. Not sure how to go from "homeschooled" to "at Xavier's school".

(also note that i have almost no knowledge of x-men)

Name: Araci Loronha. (Note: the "nh" is pronounced like the Spanish ñ.)

Age: 17.

Race: Empowered mutant.

Appearance: Araci is rather tall for a girl, standing at 5' 11". She has dark brown skin and well-maintained straight black hair that reaches her mid-back, usually done in a simple ponytail. Due to her mutation, she also has some decidedly non-human characteristics. Namely, her ears are larger, pointed, and have fur covering them that sticks out in tufts at the ends. In addition, her hands and feet look and act more like paws (though she still has opposable thumbs) and her nails have been turned into claws. She usually wears a t-shirt and jeans, though she occasionally will wear a skirt or dress. She also wears a pair of glasses with a slim frame, giving her a permanently sarcastic or almost bored look.

Personality: Araci is very optimistic. She honestly believes that everything will turn out fine, even if currently the world is engulfed in a shitstorm of epic proportions. She's also very lazy and laid-back. Her clothes are perpetually rumpled because she can't be bothered to take them out of her clothes hamper after washing them, she leaves her homework until the last minute, and she even walks in a slow, unhurried way (even when she should be in a hurry). As part of this, she tends to leave her verbal filter off until someone is noticeably offended by something she said, at which point she'll mind her words a bit more.

Powers (If Applicable): Other than better hearing, reflexes, and sense of smell, Araci has the ability to manipulate sound waves, and can use them for anything from throwing her voice to creating concussive blasts of sound. She's still got some trouble controlling it, however, and will sometimes create random bursts of sound when angry or scared. As a side effect of this, she can also see sound waves as waves of variously-colored light. She can't turn this off, which makes living in a crowded place like Rio or New York tough for her, as she is sometimes literally blinded by the sheer amount of sound around her.

Skills and Other Abilities: She's not a terrible cook, and is pretty good with languages. Being raised bilingual helps.

Accessories: She usually has a feather stuck in her hair, at the insistence of her mother, who wanted to keep some of her tribal customs and have Araci keep something to remember her by at Xavier's school.

Backstory: Araci was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to a member of the Tupinambá native tribe and a Brazilian businessman. She lived there until she was about 7, when her father's chain of clothing stores went under and they moved to the United States; New York City, specifically. There, her father rebuilt his business and the three of them lived in... well, not quite the lap of luxury, but they lived very comfortably, with Araci being rather pampered. She was fairly popular in school, if only because she was pretty rich, and was considered "exotic". However, her mutation chose exactly the wrong time to manifest; her 17th birthday party. She had just blown out her candles when she felt like she was going to vomit, and rushed into the bathroom. After a few minutes of heaving into the toilet with the door shut while her friends and family waited anxiously outside, she sat up and looked in the mirror. Naturally, her sudden transformation was surprising, to say the least, so she let out a cry of shock. After hearing that, one of her friends managed to pick the lock and opened the door, only to find Araci with huge ears and paws for hands and feet. As it turns out, people who are only friends with you for your money are fickle friends, as all of them promptly left her house as fast as they could. Fortunately, her parents weren't as quick to judge. Since she couldn't very well go to a normal school the way she was, they homeschooled her for the rest of her junior year. She also was able to practice and refine her abilities in the relative safety of her own home. After a few months, they were contacted one day by a bald man in a wheelchair named Charles Xavier, who said that he was setting up a school for mutants such as Araci. After some deliberation, her parents agreed that it would be best for Araci to go there, so she wouldn't end up injuring someone accidentally with her sound blasts. And so it was.

Miscellaneous: Speaks Portuguese and English equally well. Doesn't speak the Tupi language, much to her (and her mother's) chagrin. Loves listening to different music so she can see the sound waves it produces; as a result, her phone's music list ranges from classical to heavy metal. Her favorite band is The Barons of Tang.

edited 20th Dec '15 4:14:34 PM by Tojin

Accepted. Also, here's a handy-dandy wiki entry on the X-Men for your perusal. You don't have to read it if you don't want to, but it might help you get a bit more familiar with the X-mythos.

Also, you could always just say that she was found by Xaiver and brought into his school. He is a telepath after all. It's part of how he searches for new students, using his telepathy to look for teenaged mutants who would be a good fit for the school. At some point, he could just have talked to her parents, who eventually agree that Xaiver's school is the best place for her right now.

edited 20th Dec '15 1:34:52 PM by kkhohoho

Ah, thanks! I'll go ahead and edit that part in.

So when are we starting?

edited 23rd Dec '15 6:04:00 AM by tricksterson

Well, I've been waiting for players to join up, but it doesn't seem like that'll be happening. We'll wait until the end of the week, just in case, but if we don't get anyone else, then we'll just have to get started.

This still open? I have a character I'd like to enter...

edit; here he is;

• Name: Cale Bluefield
• Age: 16
• Race: Empowered Mutant
• Appearance: A rather nerdy blond kid, bright blue-green eyes, and a skinny, tall frame. He has glasses he needs on constantly, which are blocky and usually don't shine too brightly. He has a pale complexion, and a bracelet on his left wrist. He wears a blue t-shirt that seems to billow around him, jeans and sneaker shoes. He looks very innocent and oddly cutesy, in a very Adorkable seeming fashion.
• Personality: Cale seems to have a troubled personality, having gone through a lot of bullying and coming out from it with a rather odd philosophy. He seems to have some form of obsession with strength and notions of masculinity, but hides these things behind a front. He acts nice and friendly, wanting lots of “best friends” because he is “weak right now” and that's the nature of “weaklings like me.” He cannot stand bullies and sportsmen, and cannot think – due to his past – that athletes are anything except arrogant “monsters”. He seems to also take on some sort of video game inspired terminology, starting when he got his powers.
• Powers (If Applicable): Cale's power is basically Green Thumb at the start, his first wave of mutation letting him create and manipulate existing bio-matter, making any number of sorts of plants, including vines, thorns, and even large species with hostile natures that he can control. Far later in the RP, he will develop Energy Absorption powers – in that he can take in energy, and then use or manipulate it in other ways. He only develops this power after honing and training his first set, perhaps inferring a link.
• Skills and Other Abilities: Cale is very, very, very good with computers and chemistry. He is also a very competent persuasive speaker and in general knows how to phrase things.
• Accessories: his bracelet, which he got from his mother.
• Backstory: Cale came from a middle-class family, a dad who worked for a tech giant company as an IT guy but with little reward for it, and a mom who switched jobs often trying to find one to best pay for everything. He was bullied during school for being small, weak, and liking flowers when all the other boys preferred sports or cars. He tried to show equal interest in sports and cars, but was still bullied for not being “physically made for” those things. This resulted in a growing sense of frustration. His mother, however, taught him to no matter what just smile and keep moving, no matter what happened. His power manifested during a confrontation with three bullies, and ended with “A very large flower” chasing them off. His dad heard about the School and transferred Cale there, hoping he could develop better there.
• Miscellaneous: Catchphrase; “Howdy friendo!”

edited 24th Dec '15 2:00:35 PM by NickTheSwing

Sounds good; accepted. The only little nitpick I have with it is that you didn't list what kind of mutant you are; Extranormal, Morlock, or Empowered. It doesn't matter that much, but I'd appreciate it you specified what kind of mutant you are. (Though again, Extranormals and Morlocks can count as Empowered mutants as well, not that it matters much in your case.)

Right; that should be enough players to start. Unless anyone has any serious objections, we'll be starting Monday the 28th, just a few days after Christmas. To anyone who is interested in signing up but hasn't done so, this is your chance to do so before the RP starts up, though Sign-ups will always be open regardless.

edited 24th Dec '15 10:02:38 AM by kkhohoho

Edited it as you said.

Whew. That took a while. Anyhoo, the RP's open, first post available here. Discussion thread to follow soon. Have fun!

EDIT: And here's the Discussion Thread.

edited 28th Dec '15 8:06:54 PM by kkhohoho