Ravenswood Academy Yearbook

[Dr. Anomaly]

Greetings, one & all; I know I haven't been around much lately, but I've been fighting depression again and just haven't been able to force myself to interact much...about the only thing I've posted in more than a month has been the "quote of the week" stuff.

 

Well, as sometimes happens when I fight depression, I find a project and attack it with manic intensity. In this case, the project in question was a yearbook for my Teen Champions campaign's version of the Ravenswood Academy. It's not finished, but it's in such a state as I thought I'd share it with you, and get your opinions, criticisms, and so on and so forth.

 

Before I give you the link, though, let me explain a couple of things about the yearbook:

 

1) Because I wanted the pages to look more like those in an actual yearbook, the clickable link graphics and photos are not outlined in colored boxes indicating they're clickable. Pretty much any thumbnail picture, or any graphic that's not part of the "identifier/banner" near the top of each page is a clickable link.

 

2) Every thumbnail leads to a page that's specific to that person or student. Now, for the most part, since the traditional (non-super) students aren't the focus of the game, their pages are going to remain as they are...a couple of pieces of very basic info and a larger pic of them. There are some exceptions (like Trisha Masters in the Sophomores) but they'll be rare.

 

3) Likewise, while some of the staff and admin personnel have more than the basic info, most of the admin and about 1/3 of the staff don't. That may change over time, but as it stands now I've got more complete data entered for the people I felt the need to.

 

4) There is some duplication. Since some of the non-traditional teachers also teach normal classes, you'll find them listed on both pages. The difference is the "traditional faculty" page lists on the normal classes they teach; the "non-traditional faculty" page lists all their classes, with the "normal" classes "greyed out."

 

5) As you can tell, I used a template to make all the pages as similar as possible...that way I can just add info as I feel like it with a minimum of fuss. In particular, I'd like you to note the "Character Sheet" and "HeroDesigner File" links on every page. Right now, those are active *only* for Twilight of Class Delta (a PC) and Trisha Masters in the Sophomores (an important NPC). Eventually all the non-traditional students will have those links be active, and probably no one else, but I believe in having the links already there should I feel the need to write up one of those other people.

 

Okay, that's it; now, without further ado:

 

Ravenswood Academy Yearbook

 

 

Please let me know what you think, and any comments or criticisms (even just things like pointing out spelling errors) would be very much appreciated.

 

Thanks!

 

P.S It should also be noted that the Teen Champions book lists Delta as sophomores and Gamma as freshmen; I've put it the other way around.

[Dr. Anomaly]

Re: Ravenswood Academy Yearbook

 

Oh, another comment: you may recognize some of the non-traditional students, since I imported them (often with a few changes) from my submissions to the 12 Days of Christmas thread. They are:

 

Class Delta:

 

"Multiple Personality Kid" (although not called that) has been imported as the various Harper brothers. They still all share one body, which can make taking tests a bit difficult.

 

Kid Supernova -- has undergone a gender switch and is now Brenda Douglas.

 

 

Class Gamma:

 

Kid Lamprey is now slightly older and is simply called "Lamprey."

 

Megafauna Lad is likewise a bit older, but still known by that name.

 

Kidthulhu is now Nightbreed.

 

 

Class Beta:

 

The Astonishing Echidna is also older, and is simply "Echidna."

 

 

Class Alpha:

 

Though not from the "12 DCs" thread, I re-used the name and costume concept of "Goldrush" from a posting to the "Pics that could be a superteam" thread from way back.

[Hermit]

Re: Ravenswood Academy Yearbook

 

Wow, I'm too blown away by the hard work to really make any detailed comments.

One thought that did occur was "Did every student stop wearing glasses in high school?" but then, contacts are a big thing, and I finally noticed Potential.

 

This has a good 'yearbook' feel.

 

I almost have the urge to write something in the margins like "Non Trads rule!"

[Steve Long]

Re: Ravenswood Academy Yearbook

 

Very cool!

 

If we ever do an enemies book or what have you for TC, I'm definitely swipin' the title The Ravenswood Academy Yearbook.

[SteveBerman]

Re: Ravenswood Academy Yearbook

 

Wow, there are no average or ugly metahumans in that book.

[hooligan x]

Re: Ravenswood Academy Yearbook

 

Wow' date=' there are no average or ugly metahumans in that book.[/quote']

 

It's like a WB show!

[Dragonblade]

Re: Ravenswood Academy Yearbook

 

Very cool! It was a bit disconcerting at first to see real pictures. I expected art I guess. But you did a great job with that!

[assault]

Re: Ravenswood Academy Yearbook

 

Wow' date=' there are no average or ugly metahumans in that book.[/quote']

 

Of course not. It's not part of the genre.

 

Well, actually that's not true. Some students could have visible mutations that could make them look strange. A few could be geeks, although if they are female they would scrub up OK.

 

But basically, there are very few average looking people in the source material, and it would make no sense whatsoever to take a different approach in this project.

 

This ain't the Real World.

[SatinKitty]

Re: Ravenswood Academy Yearbook

 

Hey Doc:

 

Good to see you again. Only mistake I found after a quick look is the name "Tabitha" is spelled that way. One "b".

 

Otherwise, I think you have another winner, just like those "MtG" cards of yours. I am looking forward to seeing how this develops.

[SteveBerman]

Re: Ravenswood Academy Yearbook

 

Of course not. It's not part of the genre.

 

Well, actually that's not true. Some students could have visible mutations that could make them look strange. A few could be geeks, although if they are female they would scrub up OK.

 

But basically, there are very few average looking people in the source material, and it would make no sense whatsoever to take a different approach in this project.

 

This ain't the Real World.

 

 

I suppose, but then in my games I prefer to transcend the genre a bit. Not every woman has to have D-cups, not every man a dazzling smile. There are overweight heros. Individuals with high Comeliness often have problems because they are so attractive.

 

It enriches the roleplaying in my opinion.

[Vanguard00]

Re: Ravenswood Academy Yearbook

 

Wow. Well done. Verra nice indeed.

[assault]

Re: Ravenswood Academy Yearbook

 

It enriches the roleplaying in my opinion.

 

Fair enough.

 

I personally prefer to roleplay within the conventions of the genre. They are, after all what makes the genre distinct from other genres. And the cheesy bits are fun.

 

The convention I would really like to play around with is the Cold War anti-communist one. I think it could be an interesting hook for a game with the right kind of players.

 

The "right kind" in this case would be the "left kind".

[Spectrum]

Re: Ravenswood Academy Yearbook

 

That's pretty cool. Very nice work there.

 

 

EDIT: "You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Dr. Anomaly again."

 

Dang.

[Enforcer84]

Re: Ravenswood Academy Yearbook

 

Well done and Repped. Good to see you again.

[Super Squirrel]

Re: Ravenswood Academy Yearbook

 

I have to admit, a yearbook format book would make an awesome way to present a Teen Champions campaign setting.

 

Seniors get full page write-ups and are worth more points. Juniors and Sophemores gets half page write-ups and are worth decent points. Only the Freshmen class officers get write-ups, the rest get brief descriptions.

 

Various Clubs "reveal" the school. The faculty section is the GM Notes.

 

Have the yearbook itself be the yearbook of one of the seniors and splatter signatures and messages throughout the entire book. You could have some sort of evil yearbook comment from a villain here and there.

[Super Squirrel]

Re: Ravenswood Academy Yearbook

 

Overall Dr. Anomaly, the page looks great.

[Wolven]

Re: Ravenswood Academy Yearbook

 

Awesome Job! I love the fact that you used real photos for each person. Fantastic!

[CourtFool]

Re: Ravenswood Academy Yearbook

 

Where did you find the pictures? I can usually find pictures for adults, but sometimes I am afraid of what I might find if I tried to do a search for teen models.

[Dino]

Re: Ravenswood Academy Yearbook

 

This ain't the Real World.

 

Hear, Hear! People like attractive characters in thier TV shows, movies, and comic books, so why not in games? I can be ugly in real life. In my games I want to be larger than life.

 

My game group has been "bodycasting" as we call it, for years. It adds a visual depth to the game that even custom artwork can't match. Describing characters as real people allows you to take advantage of the players prejudices and preconceptions too; if you describe and NPC as beautiful, the players have to take your word for it, but if you cast that NPC as a real actor then the players can make up thier own minds how thier characters would react.

 

I find it promotes good roleplaying.

[Dino]

Re: Ravenswood Academy Yearbook

 

Where did you find the pictures? I can usually find pictures for adults' date=' but sometimes I am afraid of what I might find if I tried to do a search for teen models.[/quote']

 

Follow the link in his sig.

 

IMDB is always a good start (though you can't copy thier pics directly).

[Dr. Anomaly]

Re: Ravenswood Academy Yearbook

 

Wow, I'm too blown away by the hard work to really make any detailed comments.

One thought that did occur was "Did every student stop wearing glasses in high school?" but then, contacts are a big thing, and I finally noticed Potential.

 

This has a good 'yearbook' feel.

 

I almost have the urge to write something in the margins like "Non Trads rule!"

 

Thank you, Hermit; high praise!

 

In regards to the "glasses" thing...that wasn't a concious decision on my part; it's just that the pictures I found didn't generally have people wearing glasses. That's more a limitation (if you will) in my available resources than anything else.

 

Though let's go with the "contact lenses" and "laser surgery" angle...after all, Ravenswood is a private school, so doubtless the families of most of these kids could afford the laser surgery.

[Dr. Anomaly]

Re: Ravenswood Academy Yearbook

 

Very cool!

 

If we ever do an enemies book or what have you for TC, I'm definitely swipin' the title The Ravenswood Academy Yearbook.

 

I think that's a great idea, Steve, and not just for the obvious reason. I think a yearbook really would be a great format for such a book (or just a collection of teen NPCs, not just enemies), and SS's suggestion further down would work really well.

[Dr. Anomaly]

Re: Ravenswood Academy Yearbook

 

Very cool! It was a bit disconcerting at first to see real pictures. I expected art I guess. But you did a great job with that!

 

Thanks. As difficult as it was to find enough of the right kind of pictures to do the job, I think it would have been even more difficult to find enough art to fill the bill.

 

The only one without a photo piece right now is Twilight, and that's because she has a deathly pallor, and the style of dress she has isn't easy to do, either. (Something I'd really like to mimic if I can do it properly, as her player has very definite ideas about that.) I'm working on photomanipping a couple of pics of Christine Ricci to do the job, but I'm not finished with them yet.

[Dr. Anomaly]

Re: Ravenswood Academy Yearbook

 

Of course not. It's not part of the genre.

 

Well, actually that's not true. Some students could have visible mutations that could make them look strange. A few could be geeks, although if they are female they would scrub up OK.

 

But basically, there are very few average looking people in the source material, and it would make no sense whatsoever to take a different approach in this project.

 

This ain't the Real World.

 

That was exactly the feeling I was going for, Assault, and for precisely those reasons. You will note, however, there are some among the non-traditional students that come near to looking average, and there are certainly average-looking people among the traditional students.

[Dr. Anomaly]

Re: Ravenswood Academy Yearbook

 

Hey Doc:

 

Good to see you again. Only mistake I found after a quick look is the name "Tabitha" is spelled that way. One "b".

 

Otherwise, I think you have another winner, just like those "MtG" cards of yours. I am looking forward to seeing how this develops.

 

Thanks, SatinKitty. But believe it or not, that's not a misspelling, any more than Lamprey's name ("Tomas Clearwater") is. Both Tabbitha with two Bs and Tomas without an H are variant spellings I've encountered over the years, and so I decided to use them.

 

(I admit I may in part be influenced by my own personal experience, since my sister has an unusual name that's actually just a slight variant on a much more common one. )