WWYCD: Heroes on Strike

[Hermit]

If your campaign already has a Registration act (Like CU 5th), the authorities begin to enforce it with a vengeance, and several congressmen begin insisting on changes to it to make it even tougher for superheroes.

 

If your setting doesn't, then one is proposed and passed.

 

Much to your surprise, all the NPC super heroes in your nation declare a "strike". They stop fighting crime; big and small, mundane or superhuman, it doesn't matter. They may stand by in costume, but they cease to lift a finger. Even the most stalwart heroes, the most obssessed crimefighters, and the most ardent protectors of life seem to be united in this strike. What's more, it soon begins to yield results. Unbalked and unimpeded by superheroes, the supervillains begin stomping the authorities into the dirt, PRIMUS and UNTIL both are hopelessly outmatched especially since their own 'authorized' super heroes are refusing to help and disobeying orders to assist! It is clear the government is re-thinking its position, but in the mean time lives are in danger! and there's no doubt that for most of the superheroes, this is -not- typical behavior.

 

 

WWYCD?

[McCoy]

Re: WWYCD: Heroes on Strike

 

Cheeta is my only character with a Secret ID, he would not register. The rest would, under protest, and fight to have the registry law overturned.

 

All characters. Would not strike. Does seem uncharacteristic of the NPC heroes, investigate possible mind control or other coersion. Preservation of innocent lives remains top priority.

 

Millennium has some special problems here. Sale of his action figures and other licensed merchandise support not only his livestyle, but his charity foundation as well. Has to continue being a hero, and a high profile hero, without getting a reputation as a scab. Perhapse pay for a few media spots to remind people that he does not work for the government, that the reason he is a high profile hero is to inspire others to connect with their own inner hero, and a hope that the differences between the government and the metahuman community will quickly be resolved.

[Powerhouse]

Re: WWYCD: Heroes on Strike

 

That's always been something that I wanted to write personally since it makes sense to me in that many supers would say "screw this" if the government tried to come down that hard. It's like gun control in that if you outlaw super powers (or in this case force them to register), then only outlaws will have super powers.

 

I have the idea sketched out in my head as part of a meta arc for the Silver Knights and the team basically went underground and tried to continue their super hero duties. It lead to about half of the team getting captured and tossed into a superhuman lockup. The resulting jailbreak will be awesome!

 

That said, I'd be very suspicious if all supers went on strike. While I can see some saying to hell with this, the Batman types are still going to be hunting down criminals and others would go underground. This would be very suspicious and would be investigated.

[Badger]

Re: WWYCD: Heroes on Strike

 

Badger- would not have registered to begin with.

 

In any case this scenario would probably send him back to villainy. I can see what would happen if some low-powered gov't agent came up to him and said he was forbidden to use his superpowers.

 

badger would give him one of those glazed "yeah, whatever" looks. And fly off. If pursued in plane. The plane is going down in flames.

 

 

Frosty Bob- much the same way as Badger. Though apart from immortality he is just a heavily-armed gun-nut (more or less). Though he would put more style into the rebuking of said gov't agent. Though it would be harder for Bob possibly, because he has served America, in WWII, Korea, Vietnam, and the first Gulf War.

[Metaphysician]

Re: WWYCD: Heroes on Strike

 

Any character- either lecture the authorities on the sheer idiocy of what they are doing, or flip the table and hang the idiot GM from his toes by the ceiling fan.

[st barbara]

Re: WWYCD: Heroes on Strike

 

If she couldn't persuade the authorities or the heros to change their minds and at least come to some arangement that benefitted the population "St Barbara" might try mounting a political campaign to get the law changed, while trying to protect as many innocents as possible. If all else failed she would go back to Denmark and leave the U S A to work out the results of its legal actions !

[Chuckg]

Re: WWYCD: Heroes on Strike

 

Playing along with the gag for the sake of argument (as "flip the table" is a good response here, thinks I...)

 

Starguard -- is already registered, and keeps working. Every time she meets an NPC hero, lays the guilt trip down on them massively for taking out their anger against /politicians/ by abandoning /innocent people/.

 

Dr. Pain -- is already registered. Keeps working. Calls in his agent and asks him to get a top-level PR firm working on lobbying against this stupid garbage. Sarcastically informs all the 'striking' heroes that if they're gonna be protesting, then they can damn well throw some bucks in the tip jar and help him fund some lobbying, or else they're just lazy jerks.

 

Baron von Darien -- is a vampire. Paranormal registration laws are the /least/ of reasons he works underground and avoids the authorities as much as possible. His 'secret defender of mankind against mystic threats' career won't be affected much, if at all.

 

He'll still think his fellow heroes are being massively dishonorable hypocritical dillwads, though. Which would make this one of the very few occasions when him and Starguard are having the same emotional reaction to anything.

[Blue]

Re: WWYCD: Heroes on Strike

 

Uncle Slam heads the local PRIMUS office, and would most definitely not be involved. He also would have been fighting this bill in Congress before it passed. He would go on TV and appeal to heroes to remember that self-sacrifice is part of the score. He'd likely be dismissed as a government pawn, but I think he would manage to carry a few back into the fold on Charisma alone. Many heroes got into this because they admired him.

 

Anthem would continue to fight crime. She would just be sure to not be there by the time police showed up so that she couldn't be hauled in.

 

(Note that if I were running this, I might even take some lesser heroes and have them interfere with any heroes who crossed the picket line)

 

Audra Blue would call them all wimps, but she'd also cause continual and untracable interruptions to congressional computers and certain government services that don't hurt the average person. Not to mention that she'd expunge any computer records kept on heroes who did comply, so they are not in the system.

[Zed-F]

Re: WWYCD: Heroes on Strike

 

Cerulean: Again, not really understanding the politics involved, perfectly happy to move out of the country if that's what it takes to keep doing his thing and keeping V'han at bay, more concerned about the reactions of the rest of his teammates, checking with the mentalist about mind control possibilities, etc.

 

Soulbarb would be astounded at the reactions of both the government and the NPC heroes, and would have a long talk with her favourite teacher about the politics of the situation. Since she's unregistered and already avoids limelight like the plague, she'd probably wind up keeping on helping people, just making even more certain there's absolutely no publicity involved to that effect. Once the government comes to its senses, things should go back to normal.

 

Glaive is in this gig at least partly for the money -- after all, a girl needs to eat. She's probably going to get more 'morally neutral' contracts like bodyguarding and bounty hunting, so business would if anything pick up; she'd probably wind up too busy for any freelance hero work on the side anyway. As far as registration goes, she wouldn't bother. Strictly speaking she's an illegal alien anyway, so that would entail way too many complications, and besides, the government's got way bigger fish to fry than her.

 

Beastwarden would not be interested in registering; he's just as much an illegal alien as Glaive is. He'd probably keep helping the people of his community in a subtle way that doesn't draw media attention. No more changing to polar bear form for a while, though his other forms and his mental magics should still be useful for keeping the lid on things in his own area.

[sinanju]

Re: WWYCD: Heroes on Strike

 

Hell's Angel is, I think, the only DOSPA-registered superhero in the Empire City campaign (though there are only three other PC heroes). Bastian (a vampire superhero), Sparks (electrical powers), Hardcase (former PC brick) and Checkmate (teleporting martial artist) are all unregistered, as far as I can recall.

 

Since only registered superheroes are on strike and my PC is the only registered hero, the question is moot.

[teh bunneh]

Re: WWYCD: Heroes on Strike

 

Are you kidding? Myrmidon is probably the guy who organized the strike in the first place! He doesn't much trust the government and certainly wouldn't give up his identity or anything else about himself, and he would encourage the heroes he has influence over to do the same.

 

Blur!! would continue to fight crime as usual, and if she ever found another hero loafing, she would berate him (at high speed and high volume) about how he was falling down on the job and how he wasn't worthy to call himself a hero and how he needs to join her in stopping the bad guys and bringing about justice for all!!!!!!

 

Chevelier would honor the strike, but would secretly work to find out who was behind it.

 

Bludhoney continues to kill as many badguys as she possibly can. "Strike? What strike? How about that? I thought things were busier than usual."

[Hermit]

Re: WWYCD: Heroes on Strike

 

Since only registered superheroes are on strike and my PC is the only registered hero, the question is moot.

 

HMM? Nope nope.

 

To quote myself (with bold added)

Much to your surprise, all the NPC super heroes in your nation declare a "strike".

 

Even the ones who don't get paid or work for the government directly before hand refuse to fight crime. Hence the quotation marks around "strike"

[sinanju]

Re: WWYCD: Heroes on Strike

 

Even the ones who don't get paid or work for the government directly before hand refuse to fight crime. Hence the quotation marks around "strike"

 

Oh. Well, then. Clearly something sinister is going on. Many of these people simply wouldn't do that. So they must be under some kind of external influence. Hell's Angel would a) wonder why she hasn't been affected by the mysterious personality transplant, and try to figure out how it happened, who's behind it, and how to put an end to it.

[Amused]

Re: WWYCD: Heroes on Strike

 

Gwendolyn would probably ignore the problem and continue doing what she always does, beating up bad guys and turning them into butterflies. Eventually she'd probably get dragged in by her group of "friends" (their super team). She would think it was an extremely stupid idea to even have to register, especially since the bad guys aren't probably going to be registered of their on free will, so what would be the point. She would think it extremely stupid of the other super heroes to go on strike, but eh, that means more for her.

Until she gets thrown in jail or something similar by the authorities, she would think it a non-issue and ignore the whole thing.

[Ghost Archer]

Re: WWYCD: Heroes on Strike

 

Ghost Archer: Some have a higher purpose and politics has nothing to do with it. I am sorry if my friends and associates in the community feel such drastic action is necessary but do not expect me to subscribe to such a course. Rather than trying to change the government they need to get off their collective high-horse and get back to saving lives. I am afraid if I saw one of my colleagues standing by, doing nothing, as innocent people are endangered, that I might take the time after I am finished with the threat, to instructed these 'striking' heroes just exactly what 'striking' means. Trust me, doing that once or twice will persuade more than a few wayward heroes to return to the fight.

If I find this is not effective, especially on the more 'iconic' types and figure that it is so contrary to their nature that it is 'unnatural', I would find out why and who ever has caused this to happen had best make peace with the deity of their choice.

[Guest WhammeWhamme]

Re: WWYCD: Heroes on Strike

 

Any character- either lecture the authorities on the sheer idiocy of what they are doing' date=' or flip the table and hang the idiot GM from his toes by the ceiling fan.[/quote']

 

Is it just me, or is this _really_ looking like some kind of mind control set up?

 

No, really...

[Matt Frisbee]

Re: WWYCD: Heroes on Strike

 

Is it just me, or is this _really_ looking like some kind of mind control set up?

 

No, really...

 

No, you're not the only one -- that's what my danger sense is telling me about it. Anybody seen Menton lately? (Like you'd remember, right?)

 

Matt "Scratchin'-his-head-and-looking-for-that-spare-neroscrambler" Frisbee

[Wormhole]

Re: WWYCD: Heroes on Strike

 

Wormhole: Is a villain and will be chortling with glee as he cleans out the city and humiliates the cops.

 

Hardware: Protecting innocent lives is too important to join in the strike and will be disappointed, to say the least, with any fellow superheroes who take part in it.

 

Air Raider: Is a viglante, not a superhero. It's business as usual for him.

 

Tigershark: They're pulling this bullsh_t again?

[Metaphysician]

Re: WWYCD: Heroes on Strike

 

Is it just me, or is this _really_ looking like some kind of mind control set up?

 

No, really...

Okay, add "check for mind control" first. The problem is, this is more people than even Menton could feasibly manipulate unnoticed.

[Chuckg]

Re: WWYCD: Heroes on Strike

 

Especially given that 'the entire NPC hero population' would logically include at least one powerful mentalist.

 

AAMOF, it would include at least one of every type of character that would be logically expected to resist *any* single kind of Mind Control special effect, whether it be via Mental Defense, being the wrong class of mind, not being biologically alive and subject to pheremones, or what have you.

[Matt Frisbee]

Re: WWYCD: Heroes on Strike

 

Okay, but what if Doctor Destroyer rigged up a special mind amplifier which included the invisible power effects, armor-piercing and penetrating advantages to Menton's natural abilities? Maybe Menton found a lens (like from the lensmen series? Maybe the Infinite Man is conducting an experiment?

 

Personally, if I was playing in such a campaign, I'd throw some dice at the GM for creating such an unbalanced power (unless he told me it was a plot-complication-power-level event). Then I'd be secretly thankful that it wasn't affecting me!

 

Matt "Trying-to-remember-what-recharges-the-endurance-battery-on-the-neuroscambler" Frisbee

[Chuckg]

Re: WWYCD: Heroes on Strike

 

Okay' date=' but what if Doctor Destroyer rigged up a special mind amplifier which included the invisible power effects, armor-piercing and penetrating advantages to Menton's natural abilities? Maybe Menton found a lens (like from the lensmen series?[/quote']

 

Then how did it affect all the heroes who were robots, undead, etc?

 

That's the thing. In most games, the "entire hero community" includes at least one of everything. Even Doom's global mind-control gizmo in 'Emperor Doom' missed one guy... Simon Williams, aka Wonder Man, who as an ionically-charged 'undead' being had no metabolism to be affected by the Purple Man's pheromone powers.

[Guest WhammeWhamme]

Re: WWYCD: Heroes on Strike

 

Then how did it affect all the heroes who were robots, undead, etc?

 

That's the thing. In most games, the "entire hero community" includes at least one of everything. Even Doom's global mind-control gizmo in 'Emperor Doom' missed one guy... Simon Williams, aka Wonder Man, who as an ionically-charged 'undead' being had no metabolism to be affected by the Purple Man's pheromone powers.

 

Sure. Of course, it is excluding the PC's, for one, and there may be other exceptions... or would-have-been exceptions.

 

Heck, maybe most of the exceptions got talked into it by their teammates?

 

Exactly _why_ it works would have to vary from campaign to campaign. But a plot that doesn't, you know, plot, kinda sucks.

 

Heck, maybe this is a 'the god of Unions has been kidnapped, and his powers amplified' kind of deal. Actuallly, I kinda like that idea...

[Hermit]

Re: WWYCD: Heroes on Strike

 

Not to spoil things for those who might be taking this a wee bit seriously but...

 

Mostly it was just a bit of whimsy I thought of throwing out onto a thread type known for hypotheticals no matter HOW riddiculous or unlikely and seeing how people thought their characters would respond

[Matt Frisbee]

Re: WWYCD: Heroes on Strike

 

Not to spoil things for those who might be taking this a wee bit seriously but...

 

Mostly it was just a bit of whimsy I thought of throwing out onto a thread type known for hypotheticals no matter HOW riddiculous or unlikely and seeing how people thought their characters would respond

 

Okay, okay, point taken. But isn't the expounding fun, too? To me nothing's funnier in Mystery Men (the movie) than when The Shoveler, Mr. Furious and Blue Raja are arguing about what sort of super-science weapon is about to attack them when, in fact, the lawn sprinklers are kicking on...

 

Sorry, but I do love low-powered hijinx. Be well.

 

Matt "Metagaming-far-too-much-for-my-own-good" Frisbee