American Icon - Search for a Superhero!

[WhammeWhamme]

Just another one of those ideas that come to me from time to time.
(Yes, I have been made aware it has been done in some comics; since I had never heard of it, I don't care. Besides. The fun part is doing it in an RPG).

Oh yes, the idea.

A member of the (Campaign World)'s premier Superteam, (fill-in-the-blank) has decided to retire, for personal reasons. His powers are, sadly, non-transferable, and there are no obvious replacements lurking out there.

This has alerted (fill-in-the-blank) to an alarming anomaly - the numbers of Superheroes are DOWN worldwide, at least as a percentage of population...

While the (campaign world supergencies) are taking up the slack, this does not bode well for the future. Something needs to be done... and this is just the opportunity needed.

(The Billionaire backing (fill-in-the-blank)) has thus funded the latest addition to next year's television line up - "American Icon - Search for a Superhero!".

Nation wide tryouts have already begun. Entrants are asked to fill out an essay as to why they think they're suitable, and why they want to replace (retiring member). They then show up, and are given a few minutes to demonstrate what they can do, in any way they can arrange.

The organisers are aware most (all?) entrants will be much less powerful than the established team - this is not a problem. (Team Mage) and (Team Gadgeteer) are already getting to work on intense training programs that will test the limits of the contestants powers and increase them. By the end of the year, they should have improved enough to be an asset to the team.

And the runners up should be pretty buff too - positions in other superteams will be made available to them.

(Team Mage) and (Team Gadgeteer) will form the core of the panel of judges, with other team members and other experts filling in from night to night. Contestants, after the opening rounds, will be judged by the public - (retiring hero) was well beloved, and that part of his legacy must remain.

Since power isn't an issue, contestants will be judged on their confidence, creativity and "coolness" - the tests will vary, but all will ask the contestants to deal with a complex (yet common) superheroing dilemma.



I think this is a pretty cool idea. :)

The idea is to start with low powered mutants/mytics/other supernormals and gradually build them up to full-on Iconic stature.

Yes, that does sound a lot like how most people's games normally go.

Anyway. Handled as PBeM/PBBB, players would submit their characters, with a focus on their appearance and powers, along with the IC essay on 'why I am suitable', and a description of their tryout. The first scene is thus the acceptance speech and their reaction. You then move up the rounds.

Combat scenes would be one on one, but could be run simultaneously without affecting each other (since they wouldn't know about the other entrants).

...but roleplaying would be as a group. You've got to deal with the fans, the press, the public, the Old Guard... and each other.

So. What d'y'all think?

[assault]

There was a vaguely similar idea in Millenium City, IIRC.

I like the idea. The potential for satirising reality TV shows adds just that bit more to it. Of course, I'm fairly profoundly incapable of *completely* extracting my tongue from my cheek when playing superheroes. I guess I've read just a few too many Jimmy Olsen stories.

In other words, I think the idea would work best with a fairly light touch. It shouldn't be a comedy game, but it wouldn't be high drama either.

In fact, tone would one of the most important things to get right. The characters would be in competition, to some extent, and that would risk sparking undue competitiveness amongst the players. So the players would have to be pretty chilled out people. On the other hand, they would have to be prepared to take it seriously in the various tactical situations, where cleverness would be at a premium. And bits of the roleplaying would be a bit silly.

This could be a fairly tricky balancing act, where you would need to be sure everyone was on the same page.

It wouldn't be an easy game to run, but if you could pull it off, it could be incredible fun.

You could do other games of this sort too... In Australia the 'Big Brother House' - the setting for a reality TV show - happens to be located in the same theme park/movie studio as a Batman-themed ride, which features a mock up of Wayne Manor and the Batcave. Merging the two together would be a natural.

I won't bother to suggest that the Super-Friends might be another potential source of "inspiration". Clearly Robin beat Wendy and Marvin. :)

[Supreme Serpent]

Would make for a good convention game, where it's more acceptable to have a "winner".

As part of a campaign, you may want to make the contest for a new superteam instead of just one hero. If you want to use the CU, perhaps set it in the early days of Millenium City coming together, so no team established yet as the old one died fighting Destroyer. Could have each player make several characters, and they get whittled down to one each by the end. Of course, have NPC contestants too, and the inevitable villain infiltrators.

Look to the Great Super Villain Contest, and maybe adapt some of the ideas there to a more heroic bent.

[WhammeWhamme]

Right.

Ideas for challenges:

A nice, simple one to start - a fight versus a guy in power armour. He's super tough, super strong, and the fight takes place in a Danger Room-esque simulated Public Street. Padding is provided if requested.

A small child's cat is stuck up a tree. Help?

A press conference.

A Godzilla-Bot is rampaging through the DResque Simulated Town. Stomp it, divert it, outwit it, organise the people... try and minimize property damage.

The Mole Round - randomly paired up into sixes, five of them are secretly told that one of the others is a spy... while the sixth is actually an actor in power armour... complete a mission without having The Mole betray you...

Squad Leader - Placed in a VR suit, the contestant must lead a squad of soldiers to victory...

[Supreme Serpent]

Challenges...

Burning Building - rescue as many dummies as possible in X time limit. Unknown to the contestants, one room has robot w/flamethrower in it to keep it interesting...

Runaway Train (though bus might be more practical) - Stop the bus/save the "people" as best you can.

Fence-sitter - talk the borderline villain into giving the straight-and-narrow another chance.

Banter - dealing with made-up villain with silly costume/powers/name - enrage them as best you can to make them make mistakes, spill their plan, forget their goals, etc.

Possession - little Timmy is possessed by an alien - how do you get it out of him without hurting the innocent child?

Hostage - how do you get the hostage away from the gunman, and get the gunman?

[laxrulz777]

I second the notion above that it might work best as a group against other groups. Either that or make it so that there are multiple winners that will form a new super group... As you've constructed it now it's sort of a one shot campaign (if that's what you're going for then great... but otherwise you might want to think about tweaking it)

I did vote for the "I wanna play, I wanna play!" option so let me know if you try to get it going PBEM or something...

I also agree that tone is going to be vital

[Enforcer84]

Look at the Limited Series, Wildguard. It's fun. The heroes are quirky. Not much by way of trials, but...

[WhammeWhamme]

I second the notion above that it might work best as a group against other groups. Either that or make it so that there are multiple winners that will form a new super group... As you've constructed it now it's sort of a one shot campaign (if that's what you're going for then great... but otherwise you might want to think about tweaking it)

I did vote for the "I wanna play, I wanna play!" option so let me know if you try to get it going PBEM or something...

I also agree that tone is going to be vital

Campaigns with a definite "end point" can be good. Look at it like this... for a six player game:

We have tryouts.
We have call back.
We have top X
We have top (half of X)
....
We have top 12, top 11... all the way down to top 6 before a PC has to be cut.

And that's just the direct challenges. What with the interviews, the charity work, the training sessions... this could go long.

And once it's in the final few rounds (top 6), the pressure is intense.

But the Top Six (12?) would likely have bonded by then. At that point even the eliminated could stay around, to train together and that kind of thing (while the eliminated also have their OWN challenges - being superheroes on REAL teams).

And once the Winner is determined, the contest is over... but the characters are still there. We could cut to the reunion special, for example.

[Arkham]

I actually ran/am running a game that started with this premise.
The PCs were just 6 out of 200+ 'supers' trying out for a new
team sponsored by the secret ID of a crippled major hero.
A good amount of the fun was the introductions for some of the
total schmuck supers with either useless powers, or no powers
or skills of note.

Another of the highlights was the 'test dummy' for demonstrations.
He was a convicted felon who volunteered for an early release
by participating in the show. His name is 'Mr. Immortal' and his
only power was that he cannot die, and any damage he takes
he heals within a minute.

One of the tests involved strapping fake explosives to his chest
and dropping him out of a helicopter 300' up. The heros' goal was
to disarm/disable the bomb, and save the 'hostage' from his fall.

p.s. Oh, and once I ran out of ideas for challenges, we just
moved over to a more standard game with the PCs being the winners
and getting the 'free' base, vehicle, and such.

[rbezold]

If this is going to be a pbem or (better) a bbb game, I wanna play. But I wanna play the losers. You know, the kind of people who make your jaw drop and say "is he kidding?" Ideas:

Bulldozer

Howie Spurn- Radio shock DJ who dresses up as "Flatulanceman"

Gunk- Possess the proportinate strength and speed of silly putty

Atom Bomb Man- Mild mannered unemployed physicist by day, at night he straps a fission device to his back and terrifies criminals for miles

Batman- A big thug with a baseball bat

If you can stand it, I can come up with other lamos.

[Arkham]

Lemur man. He can climb. If he has a rope, or handholds.
Darth Nemesis. Back-yard wrestler. No talent. Bad face-paint.
Car-man. Can turn into a car. Can't drive himself. Can't turn back. ( but there is a button inside someone else could push )
Wetboy. He can sweat on command. And then absorb it back.
Thunderbunny. From some other thread on this site. Pink bunny outfit and a gun.
The Head-man. Growth-based brick. But only his head grows. And he takes *2 stun from all hits to the head. And takes all the stun to his head that he does _with_ his head.
Dr. Time. He is a physics professor. He can make time pass very, very slowly by explaining temporal physics. ( or at least it feels like time passes slowly )
Bomb-man. He can explode. Once. Cannot put himself back together.
The Rumbler. He can burp the entire alphabet backwards and forwards in a single gulp of breath.

[WhammeWhamme]

This game just LAUNCHED on Hero Central. See y'all there. :)

[st barbara]

Actually this looks like a fun scenario to introduce a bunch of players to a new campaign. You could then have the PCs be the "winners"of the contest and they then have to try to form a team together !

[zornwil]

I think it's a fine idea WW, good luck with it! Let us know how it goes, if you would.

[OddHat]

Mostly my vote came out of post Thanksgiving grumpiness. Good luck with it, and I hope your players have a great time. :)

[starblaze]

If you haven't yet, watch the movie Mystery Men. It has some good ideas for really lame characters.