Best jobs for Secret IDs?

[ScrewySquirrel]

the thing with Stripper is, if you're good at it and relatively young and single, you might get by on a lower-middle-class lifestyle working only a few days a month, which is why its good as a superhero day job.  It is considered morally questionable, so would not work in several 4-color campaigns, but might be perfect for a Dark Champions game

[massey]

13 hours ago, Tjack said:

   
    Once you’ve got the Batman/Bruce Wayne thing worked out you also have all the Robins, many of the Batgirls, possibly Oracle, taking out the Birds of Prey, Nightwing and thru him all of the Titans who don’t already have public ID’s. 
    Bats is the lynchpin.  A smart and ruthless villain with one piece of information using Bat villains as muscle could conceivably wipe out a major cross section of effective opponents and cripple the heroes tactical thinking capabilities with out ever tangling with Batman himself.

    Identity Crisis part II...

    

Again, I think the problem here is that we don't see that kind of coordination between criminals in real life.  You can get head-scratching results when you pick and choose which genre conventions you're going to follow.

 

Having a mastermind who somehow coordinates lots of villains is fine, but that's a comic book thing.  And if we're using comic book things, then Batman and friends have protection for their secret IDs, because that's a comic book thing too.  If we're going "realistic", then recurring costumed villains who hold a grudge against the hero probably don't exist either.

 

[dmjalund]

5 hours ago, BoloOfEarth said:

Archer's joke about strippers aside

I think I've seen that episode

[Tjack]

5 hours ago, massey said:

Again, I think the problem here is that we don't see that kind of coordination between criminals in real life.  You can get head-scratching results when you pick and choose which genre conventions you're going to follow.

 

Having a mastermind who somehow coordinates lots of villains is fine, but that's a comic book thing.  And if we're using comic book things, then Batman and friends have protection for their secret IDs, because that's a comic book thing too.  If we're going "realistic", then recurring costumed villains who hold a grudge against the hero probably don't exist either.

 

    Who’s going for realistic?  I’m talking about Secret ID’s and Batman.  I even referenced the comic mini-series Identity Crisis.

     I was just free associating some ideas based on a previous post about how many characters in DC knew the Bat’s identity and how that chain could be followed.

[Clonus]

47 minutes ago, Tjack said:

    Who’s going for realistic?  I’m talking about Secret ID’s and Batman.  I even referenced the comic mini-series Identity Crisis.

     I was just free associating some ideas based on a previous post about how many characters in DC knew the Bat’s identity and how that chain could be followed.

 

It couldn't be followed that far.  Knowing who Bruce Wayne is doesn't let you know who Barbara Gordon, Kate Kane or Stephanie Brown is.  They have no particular connection in civvies.  Red Hood has long since abandoned any civilian I.D.  His mask is an affectation.  And last I checked Nightwing actually was outed and became a superspy. 

[Tjack]

1 hour ago, Clonus said:

 

It couldn't be followed that far.  Knowing who Bruce Wayne is doesn't let you know who Barbara Gordon, Kate Kane or Stephanie Brown is.  They have no particular connection in civvies.  Red Hood has long since abandoned any civilian I.D.  His mask is an affectation.  And last I checked Nightwing actually was outed and became a superspy. 

  That’s why I said “many of the Batgirls”, and “possibly Oracle“.   And while I know about the whole spy thing and calling the character “Rick Grayson”  I personally refuse to acknowledge them. Or in the words of Graham Chapman, “This is too silly, move along now.”

               A Monty Python quote is always in order.

      And can we get back to the original thread please.

 

[Ockham's Spoon]

On 8/20/2020 at 11:45 AM, massey said:

 

In the real world, criminals don't actually target cops at their homes. 

Tell that to the police in Mexico threatened by drug cartels if they don't play along.  In societies riddled by corruption, people who try to take a stand are often targeted, be they police or activists or otherwise.

[CaptainCoulson]

I don't think Secret ID and Public ID are complications. I think that they are things that *can* be complications. If I'm playing a hero with a secret ID and I don't take any social complications or anything to make my secret ID into a complication, then my identity stays absolutely secure. Even if I go about joking around as "Joey", claiming to be the famous, well-known superhero "Captain Power", even if neither of those wears glasses, or a mask, or has any kind of disguise, my friends and coworkers all just kind of laugh it off and lightly mock me for pretending to be a superhero. Villains just assume that I'm a full-time superhero and never try to uncover my secret, even if I let slip that I actually have a day job at a specific local business. It just all happens to work out. Or, if I have a public ID but not as a complication, the same thing happens but everyone already knows that Captain Power is Joey from downtown. 

 

In which case, I would probably still go with a job as a freelancer, preferably one that has some way of utilising your powers or skills as a super-hero on your day-job. 

 

Having said that, obviously a secret ID or a Public ID, or even some halfway point between the two, could be a good and interesting complication. Lots of reasons for those to come up, with villain looking into your personal life or tracking you, and plenty of role-playing opportunities.

 

In which case, maybe take a job that does make your personal life harder or more tied to the super-hero persona, like a position with the Justice League's museum, so you have to let people see you stood right next to photographs of your super-hero ID a lot.

[BoloOfEarth]

In my games, I roll beforehand for all Complications (including Secret ID / Public ID), and try to work any successful rolls into the night's adventure.  I've been doing that for years.  And in my experience, even the players who don't have either one as a Complication, still want to have personal-life stuff happen to their characters.  I dunno, maybe they're just jealous of others being in the spotlight.  So in the end, I try to touch on something in each hero's life, and just make it bigger / more directly involved for those whose secret / public ID rolled successfully.

[unclevlad]

Back to the point about good jobs for secret IDs...the flip side is things to avoid.

 

--obviously, required shift work becomes a major pain

 

--VERY public ID, eg. guitar god.  Too much attention getting paid.  Might not be shift work but tends to have extensive time commitments (appearances, interviews, etc.) included, and major attention on your public face simply makes isolating your hero face that much more difficult.

 

--anything requiring notable security and background checks.  I was looking at stock broker as a background aspect for a high-class spy-type hero.  Broker in itself sounds pretty good, but the license requirements include FBI security checks, and that's something to avoid IMO.  

[Greywind]

Not if you also have a Deep Cover.