Global Guardians Campaign Opening (PBEM)

[Iuz the Evil]

The city of Delhi bustled with activity, even at this early hour. The citizenry had already risen before the sun, and were beginning their daily tasks. Cars, bicycles, and pedestrians had begun to drift out into the streets, navigating a maze of concrete modernity mixed with ancient architecture, as the gray pre-dawn lightened the sky to the east. A quiet bustle of industriousness began to take hold...

 

With a crash of thunder, and flash of lightning, light flared blindingly across the city. The first drops of rain began to fall on a landscape now comprised largely of verdant foliage and faded alabaster ruins, villages of scattered huts and masonry. Of the densely populated metropolis visible moments before, there was no sign. Echoing above the shrieks of monkeys and birds, deep booming laughter rang out with the force of a sudden storm.

 

Across the planet, moments later, a transmission went out to seven unique individuals. "Global Guardians, please assemble in the briefing room. This is not a drill. Repeat, this is not a drill. We have an Alpha Alpha priority situation."

 

=============================================================

 

The Global Guardians Teams 1, 2, 3, and 4 campaigns are each looking for players to replace players who had to drop out due to real life concerns. Interested players should know that I am looking specifically for variants on established comic book tropes. Take your guidance from the pages of the Avengers, the Justice League, the Outsiders, the Teen Titans, the Fantastic Four... I'm sure you get the picture.

 

Global Guardians Team 1 (http://www.globalguardians.com/campaigns/globalguardians.php), GM'd by Rob C Rogers, is looking for a player to take over the powered armor character Gunmetal. Specifically, Rob has stated that what he is looking for is a "new operator" for the armor, rather than someone who will take the character over completely. This means that an interested player need only submit a new background story and skill set, as the power set is already written. The player will be allowed to tweak the character to better fit his style of game play, but would not be able to re-write the character on a large scale.

 

Global Guardians Team 2 (http://www.globalguardians.com/campaigns/globalguardians.php), GM'd by Jack Butler is looking for two characters who are entirely new to the team. The current lineup of Guardians 2 is as follows: ArrowStar (powered armor), Aurora (light-based blaster), Doctor Archeville (super-genius gadgeteer), Samsonite (petite, indestructible brick), Stone (looming, strong brick), and Uriel (angelic sword-wielding weapon master).

 

Global Guardians Team 3 (http://www.globalguardians.com/campaigns/globalguardians2.php), GM'd by James Diel, is looking for two characters who are entirely new to the team. The current lineup of Guardians 3 is as follows: Achilles (a Batman-like skill-master martial artist), Bandit (a teleporting martial artist), Bungie (a super-flexible stretcher like Mr. Fantastic), Guardsman (a Green Lantern-like force projecting blaster), Menagerie (an animal-based shapeshifter), and Warlock, (the Sorcerer Supreme of the Global Guardians Universe). Interested players are encouraged to come up with characters who do not duplicate the already-present archetypes (sending in a martial artist is fine... sending in another teleporting martial artist would ruin your chance of getting accepted, for example).

 

In addition to the two new characters, the GM is looking for a player to take over take over Guardsman, who is effectively the Green Lantern of the Global Guardians Universe. Specifically, James has stated that what he is looking for is a "new operator" for the Guardsman power suit, rather than someone who will take the character over completely. This means that an interested player need only submit a new background story and skill set, as the power set is already written. The player will be allowed to tweak the character to better fit his style of game play, but would not be able to re-write the character on a large scale.

 

Global Guardians Team 4 (http://www.globalguardians.com/campaigns/globalguardians2.php), GM'd by Roland Renhack, is looking for six characters who are entirely new to

the team. The current lineup of Guardians 4 is as follows: the Silicon Sentinel (an android with superpowers), and X (a powered armor hero).

 

Interested players who want to submit an entirely new character are encouraged to come up with characters who do not duplicate the already-present archetypes (sending in a blaster is fine... sending in another light-based blaster would ruin your chance of getting accepted, for example). Those interested in possibly taking over one of the two existing characters up for grabs should just send a full background write-up. For new characters, send a full background and character sheet (in Microsoft Word, if you most possibly can...) to robcrogers3@gmail.com. If you have Hero Designer, hdc files are also accepted as long as they are accompanied by a non-hdc document.

 

Check any of the active player characters on the Global Guardians website to see what is meant by "full background and character sheet".

 

The deadline for submissions is Friday, January 13, 2006 at 11:59 US EST. Players who are accepted into the campaigns will be subscribed to the necessary email lists, so be sure to include your name and email address in the text of your submission. Feel free to ask any questions you might have.

 

Feel free to ask any questions you may have, either here or in an email.

 

The Campaign:

 

Campaign Description: The Global Guardians campaign is a high-powered PBEM campaign featuring the adventures of the Earth's premiere hero team. The player characters are the cream of the crop of the superhero world.

 

Importance of the Player Characters: Very important. Not only are these characters fighting world-threatening villains, non-combat character development and interaction will be a major part of the game. Players should expect to have several turns be nothing but their characters talking to each other and living/working together in non-combat scenarios.

 

It should be noted that not all scenarios will include all of the Player Characters at the same time, and sometimes multiple scenarios will be playing out with multiple groups of players simultaneously.

 

World Description: The Global Guardians Universe is a four-color comic book world full of larger than life characters. Technology is more advanced that the real world, and magic is real. Aliens and creatures of legend roam the Earth.

 

The Story So Far: In the wake of the Cuban missile crisis, the United Nations Security Council unanimously decided that the world had come far to close to global thermonuclear war, and that it was the duty of the United Nations to do something about it. The Security Council authorized the creation of two special enforcement bodies: Checkmate and the Global Guardians.

 

Local Relations: The Global Guardians are respected by nearly every law enforcement body on the planet as an effective team of crime-fighters. There are occasionally hard feelings regarding the Guardians mandate to fight crime everywhere, regardless of jurisdiction, but in general full cooperation is given by the national and local governments.

 

Morality: Global Guardians is stereotypical four-color campaign, and for the most part the morality of the campaign will be four-color as well. However, there will be some crossover between good and evil, and thing will not always be black and white. Characters will find themselves making difficult decisions, but should always try to be good guys.

 

Realism: Strong. Action sequences will be cinematic and descriptive. Characters won't die unless they take excessive risks or are going out in a blaze of glory. How you role-play the character will do a great deal to determine the realism of the game, so please put some soul into your characters. Try to make your descriptions as gritty as possible - use plenty of trash and dilapidated buildings where appropriate, for example. The characters will not exactly find themselves saving the world every other adventure, but their successes will always mean the world to somebody, no matter how insignificant they might seem.

 

Outlook: While the outlook will be mostly positive, there will be many dark moments and many challenges outside of combat. The characters will start out as "the greatest heroes on Earth". It will be up to them to remain that way.

 

Seriousness: While the overall tone of the campaign will be very serious, there will be time for a certain amount of light hearted banter, or comic relief. The heroes will be the world's best defense against the direst of situations. This does not mean that there is no room for humor. Witty repartee, creative use of powers, and the way you play should provide plenty of humor in the midst of even the direst situation.

 

Continuity: The game will be entirely serial. Player actions in one scenario will have effects on later scenarios and continuity will be enforced. Adventures will move linearly through time. Bad guys will remember who you are and what you did to them, and the press will print your exploits for the world to see.

 

Building a Character For The Global Guardians

 

The most important thing to remember when building a character for this campaign is this: the Global Guardians are the best of the best among the community of superheroes. When building their characters, the players should keep the Justice League and the Avengers in mind at all times.

 

All Global Guardians characters should follow these guidelines:

 

Starting Points: 350

Maximum Disadvantages: 150

Maximum Points From One Category of Disadvantage: 50

Maximum Active Points for Any One Power: 75

Special Restrictions, Requirements and Exceptions:

 

1. It is advised that the player make use of all 150 points of Disadvantages.

 

2. All player characters are required to take the 3 point Global Guardians package, described in the house rules section of the Global Guardians website.

 

3. Each character is allowed a single exception to the Active Point Cap of 75; for a single power, the character may take up to 90 active points. Each power so taken must be unique to the individual character on that team. (For example, if someone on a particular team takes 90 active points of Energy Blast, no other character on that team is permitted to take 90 points of Energy Blast. Characters on one of the other four teams are permitted to duplicate the 90 point power.)

 

4. Characters may take up to 75 points of Psychological Limitations, rather than the usual 50 point per category limit.

 

5. All player characters should have either the 20 point Psychological Limitation "Code vs. Killing", or the 20 point Psychological Limit "Will Not Kill". The 15 point Psychological Limit "Reluctant to Kill" is only acceptable if you can convince the GM that your character cannot possibly exist without it.

 

6. This is an international team. Characters should thus be from countries all around the globe.

 

7. If you don't intend to play a character who gets along with others and fits in well with a team, don't bother submitting a character.

 

http://www.globalguardians.com/

[Lemurion]

Re: Global Guardians Campaign Opening (PBEM)

 

Very interesting, I've an idea for a character already.

[Guest Suleyman Rashid]

Re: Global Guardians Campaign Opening (PBEM)

 

How close are we allowed to get to an actually published character? I mean, if I submit mild-mannered Parker Peters, who fights crime as the Astounding Man-Spider, will I be boo'd off the stage?

[Iuz the Evil]

Re: Global Guardians Campaign Opening (PBEM)

 

Well, there's presently a "Guardsman" character on team 3 who is a member of an interplanetary police force dedicated to enforcing "Galactic Law' with their force projection powers, so no... I don't think you'd be boo'd off the stage . As another point of interest, we had until recently 'Arachne', the character from Greek Mythology transformed back to human shape and granted all your typical 'spider-man homage' powers on Team 1 (she's since left). Most of the characters don't correspond quite so closely, but there are definitely those who do.

 

Theme or Homage based characters are fine, actually submitting "Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man" is unlikely to garner acceptance (see Arachne or Guardsman for examples of what would be permissible). There are a significant number of "audited/accepted" PCs on the website, I'd recommend reviewing them prior to actually making a submission (at least the ones on Global Guardians Teams 1-4 or at least the ones on whichever team you're submiting for to avoid duplication). If you have any questions, feel free to send me a private message... I'll be happy to pass along further information or provide clarification as needed.

[Manic Typist]

Re: Global Guardians Campaign Opening (PBEM)

 

Just curious recently. Since there would be new operators for power-armored characters................. wouldn't this be a signifcant overhaul of the character itself? Which is expressely forbidden?

 

The mannerisms, morals, and actions of a new pilot makes for a different character, plain and simple. Only the powers remain the same, but that is secondary.

[Iuz the Evil]

Re: Global Guardians Campaign Opening (PBEM)

 

Just curious recently. Since there would be new operators for power-armored characters................. wouldn't this be a signifcant overhaul of the character itself? Which is expressely forbidden?

 

The mannerisms, morals, and actions of a new pilot makes for a different character, plain and simple. Only the powers remain the same, but that is secondary.

 

Exactly.

 

The overhaul of the character (the individual piloting the Gunmetal Armor, or the new Guardsman of the Sol System) itself is actively ENCOURAGED. It's the modification of the power set that is forbidden. Just to clear up the point.

[Guest Suleyman Rashid]

Re: Global Guardians Campaign Opening (PBEM)

 

Exactly.

 

The overhaul of the character (the individual piloting the Gunmetal Armor, or the new Guardsman of the Sol System) itself is actively ENCOURAGED. It's the modification of the power set that is forbidden. Just to clear up the point.

 

 

So if I decided to submit John Doe, selected by the Grand Poobah's of the "Guardsmen" to be the current guy's successor, all I'd have to send you is a new skill list and a background? He'd basically be Kyle Rainer to the old guy's Hal Jordan? Or James Rhodes to Tony Stark if I were to submit for the armored dude?

[Iuz the Evil]

Re: Global Guardians Campaign Opening (PBEM)

 

So if I decided to submit John Doe' date=' selected by the Grand Poobah's of the "Guardsmen" to be the current guy's successor, all I'd have to send you is a new skill list and a background? He'd basically be Kyle Rainer to the old guy's Hal Jordan? Or James Rhodes to Tony Stark if I were to submit for the armored dude?[/quote']

 

That's the idea exactly... for those two slots alone. A full character submission would be required for any of the "empty" slots being applied for.

 

GUNMETAL

 

GUARDSMAN

 

Just so you have an idea what the power set they're currently wielding looks like, and a basis for any submissions.

 

We're looking at a number of openings for new submissions as well. A primary consideration is character concept... I've found the GMs of the GGU more than willing to "work with you" to get a character tweaked to fit the campaign, IF they like the concept/background and you're flexible enough to be willing to work with them.

 

Check out the following link for House Rules

[Lemurion]

Re: Global Guardians Campaign Opening (PBEM)

 

Here's a basic note on the character I'm working on.

 

Slipstream

 

Evan Glendower was always a bit quicker than anyone around him. Not a lot, but always a bit. He was strong too, a rugby player back in his native Wales. Still, it was science, not sport that interested him most, and not just any science, but high energy physics. A Doctoral student in Space Physics at the University of Aberystwyth, he developed a new theory while studying the solar wind. Studying its kinetic effects, he developed a theory which he called Slipstream Physics. Put simply, Slipstream theory took the ancient idea of the "Luminiferous Ether" and applied it to kinetic rather than photonic energy. All inertial effects, as well as a number of relativistic effects could be explained by the resistance of the Slipstream to changes in motion.

 

In theory then, if you could permeate something with Slipstream it would be able to sustain tremendous speeds and very high accelerations with no real effect on it, or its passengers.

 

With this in mind, Evan began developing a Slipstream generator. Unfortunately, his own understanding of the Slipstream was less than he had thought. When activated, the device exploded, bathing Evan in Slipstream Radiation. For a moment, he thought he was about to die. Then he reacted, moving faster than he had ever thought possible. First he got himself out of the way, then he realized the entire wing was going. Moments later he was back inside, running from room to room, picking people up and pulling them from the building before it burned to the ground.

 

Luckily for him, no one died.

 

That night, he went to Church and prayed, seeing in his own actions, the sin of pride. But what could he do now, being too strong to play for Wales? The answer was obvious, and Slipstream was born.

 

Slipstream is a speedster with a touch of brick. Most of his abilities revolve around his ability to tap the Slipstream, and use its energy for movement. He's still learning and growing into his powers, but someday he could be one of the most powerful speedsters on Earth.

[Iuz the Evil]

Re: Global Guardians Campaign Opening (PBEM)

 

Here are the current lineups (with links) avaliable for reference for y'all who are generating characters for one of these teams. Where a 90 point power is present (thus banning taking that power at 90 points in characters on that team) I noted it in italics. Also note that there are 8 active slots on each of the four teams:

 

Team 1:

 

Adamant - Indestructible and Immortal Brick (Strength)

 

Chronos (writeup not avaliable) - Time manipulator and master swordsman

 

Gunmetal - Versatile Powered Armor (previous Gunmetal was team leader, new one won't be) (Armor)

 

Los Hermanos - Duplicating Martial Artist and Deputy Leader (Duplication)

 

Raptor - Shapeshifting Martial Artist

 

Rook - Energy Projector and Gladiator from a Dark Future (Energy Emissions VPP)

 

Tachyon - World's Fastest Ape and Team Leader

 

Wave Rider - King of the Seas

Team 2:

 

Arrowstar - Powered Armor Hero (Hardened Armor)

 

Aurora - Woman of Living Energy (Energy Blast)

 

Dr. Archeville - Super Genius Scientist and Gadgeteer

 

Samsonite - Unchangeable Brick with 'Dynamic Stasis' Powers

 

Stone - Flying "Man of Steel" Brick (Strength)

 

Uriel (writeup not avaliable) - Angelic Being and Weapons Master

 

2 Open Slots

 

Team 3:

 

Achilles - Super-skilled Martial Artist (Perfect Training VPP)

 

Bandit - Teleporting Martial Artist

 

Bungie - Stretching Metamorph (Stretching Powers)

 

Guardsman - Force Manipulating Interplanetary Policeman (Telekinesis)

 

Warlock - Earth's Sorcerer Supreme (Spells Variable Power Pool)

 

3 Open Slots

 

Team 4:

 

Silicon Sentinel - Artificially Intelligent Robot Brick

 

X - Combat Enhancing Battle Suit

 

6 Open Slots

[Guest Suleyman Rashid]

Re: Global Guardians Campaign Opening (PBEM)

 

Just out of curiosity, what caused six players in Team 4 to drop out simultaneously?

[Iuz the Evil]

Re: Global Guardians Campaign Opening (PBEM)

 

Nothing at all... Team 4 is just getting started.

 

To be fair, there was an abortive attempt to get the GGU up to 5 teams this past summer which didn't work out. Teams 4 & 5 effectively disbanded prior to kickoff, and the two individuals on the Team 4 list are players from that period. We are re-initiating Team 4 only, so as to be sure to have a successful startup this time.

[mikesama]

Re: Global Guardians Campaign Opening (PBEM)

 

Any one else having issues getting mail through, I have tried from 2 diffenet mail accounts and nothing gets through.

[Guest Suleyman Rashid]

Re: Global Guardians Campaign Opening (PBEM)

 

Any one else having issues getting mail through' date=' I have tried from 2 diffenet mail accounts and nothing gets through.[/quote']

 

 

I saw this over on the Non-Gaming Discussions, in a thread entitled "Global Guardians - HELP!"

 

 

The lists crashed and were reinstated in a slightly different format, but they're experiencing some growing pains.

 

Anyone having trouble with the GGU lists should e-mail Jack Butler directly at jbutler@globalguardians.com.

 

 

This has me just a bit confused, since the initial message said we need to send characters to Rob C Rogers, and Rob C Rogers is the guy saying we need to email Jack Butler, but I figure I'll send my submission to both of them. Cover all the bases.

[gojira]

Re: Global Guardians Campaign Opening (PBEM)

 

I've just joined another PBEM game, so it's too bad that these games came up when they did. Until I see how much time the other game is going to take, I want to hold off adding any others.

 

Is it possible to lurk on your mailing list? I'd like to check out the GG. Your campaigns sound like great fun, especially the Hero City one. I think I tried to lurk once before but I got no response from the list server.

 

If it is possible, which list and how should I sign up?

[Iuz the Evil]

Re: Global Guardians Campaign Opening (PBEM)

 

My understanding (based on the site's FAQ) is that lurkers are welcomed on any of the lists. I can send you the "turn compile" for Global Guardians 1 (in which I'm a player) if you choose to lurk on that one... still have it in Word format. Some of the others have the backstory "lost in the listcrash" unfortunately... though you can pick up from now easily enough.

 

Just head on over to the site and sign up to one of the lists via the e-mail link to begin lurking. The various campaigns are in a semi-hiatus during the holiday, I'd expect things to pick back up as it relates to posting in a week or so.

 

EDIT: If you get no response, e-mail Jack or the Webmaster directly. It may take them a little bit (they've got a lot on their plates), but they'll get you on the list.

[Iuz the Evil]

Re: Global Guardians Campaign Opening (PBEM)

 

Here's the GGU Timeline. Just as a point of reference.

[Guest Suleyman Rashid]

Re: Global Guardians Campaign Opening (PBEM)

 

Okay... so should I send my submission to Rob C Rogers or Jack Butler?

[Iuz the Evil]

Re: Global Guardians Campaign Opening (PBEM)

 

I'd send it to Rob as he's coordinating this Call for Submissions... either one would be fine. It'll get distributed to the 4 GMs for review and consideration.

[RobCRogers]

Re: Global Guardians Campaign Opening (PBEM)

 

I saw this over on the Non-Gaming Discussions, in a thread entitled "Global Guardians - HELP!"

 

 

 

This has me just a bit confused, since the initial message said we need to send characters to Rob C Rogers, and Rob C Rogers is the guy saying we need to email Jack Butler, but I figure I'll send my submission to both of them. Cover all the bases.

 

Jack is the one who can get you subscribed to the mailing lists. I'm the one who is accepting the character submissions. You can e-mail them to me at RobCRogers3 "at" gmail.com.

 

Hope this clears things up.

[RobCRogers]

Re: Global Guardians Campaign Opening (PBEM)

 

I've just joined another PBEM game' date=' so it's too bad that these games came up when they did. Until I see how much time the other game is going to take, I want to hold off adding any others.[/quote']

 

I think you might find that PBEM games move pretty slowly. Once you've created your PC, keeping up with two games isn't really all that difficult. Of course, this varies from game to game and GM to GM.

 

Is it possible to lurk on your mailing list? I'd like to check out the GG. Your campaigns sound like great fun, especially the Hero City one. I think I tried to lurk once before but I got no response from the list server.

 

If it is possible, which list and how should I sign up?

 

I'm glad to hear of your interest in the Hero City campaign, which I run and which is about to start back up after a hiatus. We have a full boat of PCs right now, but I welcome lurkers. Right now, I don't think that the subscription e-mails are working correctly, since our server crash. But you can e-mail jbutler@globalguardians.com and ask to be subscribed. If you're interested in participating in games there, you should request to be subscribed to the Admin list, too, and possibly the Chat list.

[Iuz the Evil]

Re: Global Guardians Campaign Opening (PBEM)

 

Thanks for the clarification Rob

[RobCRogers]

Re: Global Guardians Campaign Opening (PBEM)

 

There's still plenty of time to submit characters for the games. We've received a couple of good submissions, but still need more; we do not yet have enough to fill our open slots.

[Iuz the Evil]

Re: Global Guardians Campaign Opening (PBEM)

 

Just as a "heads up", given that this is an International super-team... do try to submit characters from countries other than the United States. The good old U.S. of A. is more than adequately represented by existing characters on the teams.

 

American origin characters will still be considered by the various GMs, just be aware the need for other nationalities is currently also emphasized in this particular Call for Submissions.

[Trained Chicken]

Re: Global Guardians Campaign Opening (PBEM)

 

vis-a-vis nationality, how would you characterize an alien being who has adopted a country other than America as its home?