Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

[David Johnston]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

Is it being unduly picky to point out that in Shakespeare, Hamlet never gets to be a king? (Although in the original story he did.)

[Robyn]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

hopefully it will look better in the morning

 

The first part is good, the second part finished while I was staring at the screen and trying to make sense of the words to remember where I was in the story, and the third just shows how tired I was (I don't know whether to be more surprised that I remained coherent at 5 in the morning, or that I was able to stay awake long enough to recognize my sentences as such). I'll make one Edit when I finish rewriting this section, hopefully in time

[Robyn]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

Is it being unduly picky to point out that in Shakespeare' date=' Hamlet never gets to be a king? (Although in the original story he did.)[/quote']

 

That's one of the details I have to add. Facial features and voice for the ghost, to indicate age; a crown on his head, more realistic than the one Thomas is wearing, etcetera. This isn't young Hamlet, who stars in much of the play; this is old Hamlet, the king who died before the play properly began.

[Robyn]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

Okay! Final version is up

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

All right, give how hellish the day has been for me, I fear I may be making it hellish for someone else too, and I have no wish to do that. So, I apologize in advance.

 

Robyn, the amount of work you have put into your entry is astounding. It's a shame you posted it here, actually, because you could have sold it somewhere to a magazine were it not published here. I must give you a great deal of credit.

 

But, sadly, not the win. You have left the vital question unanswerable: now that the King is in this world, what will he do now and how will it matter?

 

dbsousa's entry does that in abundance. His Phantom Stranger has a goal, a very compelling one. She also has a very intriguing core power that lends itself to a number of very interesting possibilities.

 

So, with kudos to Robyn for effort, dbsousa gets the win.

[Robyn]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

Robyn' date=' the amount of work you have put into your entry is astounding.[/quote']

 

Several days of research to find out more about Shakespeare and his plays than I ever imagined . . . then realize that I couldn't possibly do it justice with the story I had in mind. A few more days to actually write said story, using almost none of the information I acquired

 

It's a shame you posted it here' date=' actually, because you could have sold it somewhere to a magazine were it not published here.[/quote']

 

There's a rule about that on the forums? Or did you mean the common rule for accepting submissions that it shouldn't have been published elsewhere?

 

You have left the vital question unanswerable: now that the King is in this world' date=' what will he do now and how will it matter?[/quote']

 

Unanswerable or unanswered?

 

Using this character as an ally, "only for characters whose players bothered spending points on obscure but colorful background skills", was part of my original idea; when I was rewriting the end, I decided to leave an additional opening in there so GM's could bring him in as a wandering NPC even if noone in the group liked Shakespeare.

 

By the way, if anyone is interested in learning more about Hamlet (the play, not the person - well, come to think of it, him too, it was an extremely thorough source), I recommend this page. The first paragraph under "Scene by Scene" was critical to my creation of a scenario that would lead to the name.

 

Those were the two basic elements that inspired the entire story, interestingly. I was toying around with different meanings of the word, and "Stranger" reminded me of a rephrasing that went "There are stranger things on Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than were dreamt of in your philosophy", so I decided to go with a character that would be favorably disposed toward PC's who spent their points on "useless" skills (namely, Background/Knowledge skills about Shakespeare), and then I came up with the neat-sounding phrase "I am the phantom you sought to make a stranger."

 

The rest was just an exercise in providing background exposition to fill the reader in, while making their conversation flow as naturally as possible. Weaving in a second conversational layer around their physical actions was tricky in some spots, but I think I kept them brief enough that normal people could realistically manage to talk about two different things at once like that.

[David Johnston]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

All right, give how hellish the day has been for me, I fear I may be making it hellish for someone else too, and I have no wish to do that. So, I apologize in advance.

 

Robyn, the amount of work you have put into your entry is astounding. It's a shame you posted it here, actually, because you could have sold it somewhere to a magazine were it not published here.

 

Then again, it could just be deleted here, rewritten a little and still submitted to a magazine.

[Robyn]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

Then again' date=' it could just be deleted here,[/quote']

 

But if it was deleted here, noone could read it anymore

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

Does sousa know about his selecting the next title?

 

And Robyn, I do owe you rep. I need to spread it some more, which is hampered by my not visiting the Rep The Person Above thread often (I prefer, when possible, to rep people for what they do.) But rest assured this will not be forgotten for some time.

[dbsousa]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

Sorry I didn't check back sooner. I have to pick a new hero? Let me google a second...

 

 

how about Captain Terror?

[Maelstrom]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

"We come out of the dark like a dream . . .

Our goal in life -- to kill you clean . . ."

 

Mike "Terror" Terhatz was an operator. A good one. But in the Navy, it's not always what you know, but what a$$ you kiss. The Academy, Teams 2 and 7, War College, and finally command of his own Team . . . but it wasn't enough. He was passed over for a Flag over and over again, while better-connected Captains, "real" Captains, with surface-warfare commands, went on to Admiral.

 

What would you do? In the Navy, it's up or out, and he was OUT with a capital "Oh, shi+" just before his 20. With two marriages sacrificed on the altar of his Duty, and a tiny pension, he'd starve. Unless . . .

 

The first one was hard. The guy was an average joe, no one special, but he owed this guy in Vegas a lot of money, and Mike needed a "finder's fee". Breaking in was easy . . . and he woke the guy up with a gloved hand over his mouth and a combat knife at his throat. The fear in his eyes . . . it was almost as good as a Flag. And now, if you cross the Mob, you'll meet:

 

Captain Terror

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

It is a terrible thing to be always afraid....

Such was the lot of Martin Kraft. from early childhood, he had been beset by a dozen crippling phobias, all interacting with one another, which made interacting with the world nearly impossible. And his mother, who was stuck with the task of raising him, knew it was a crying shame because she knew he had a fine and clever mind otherwise.

 

No doubt a competent psychiatrist could have gotten him on his feet in very little time. But those were expensive, and Ms. kraft had no money. She was nearing despair until she ran into a man named Louis Farr.

 

Louis Farr did not call himself a psychiatrist, or even a doctor, any longer. He had been involved in a research study on the treatment of phobias with experimental medication, and when the trial went hideously wrong he was the one who took the fall. Now he was a schoolteacher, the only job he could do legally since he could no longer practice medicine. He lied what he saw in Marvin as well.

 

Louis Farr's intentions were not cruel or evil. All he wanted to give hope to a family that had none before. And when he asked marvin to take his concoction, he did show a dramatic improvement. He no longer cowered in terror at every little thing, or at the bullies who constantly chose him for their vicious sport.

 

But then the bullies suddenly stopped coming to school, and Louis began to hear about many of them breaking down, having horrible nightmares and waking up with large chunks of their sanity torn away. It didn't take long for him to realize that somehow marvin was the cause. he discontinued his treatment, and the problem continued; marvin's brain had been altered permanently by the drug, and now his unconscious mind was lashing out at anyone and everyone who had done him wrong. Louis then did the one thing that an ethical medical profssional would not do: he told marvin everything that ahd happened.

 

Of course, an ethical medical professional would not ahve gotten the boy into such a mess in the first place. And louis farr was no longer any sort of medical professional.

 

Marvin understood what had happened, and was remorseful. he made a startling request of Louis: to prevent him from hurting others in his sleep, could he arrange not to sleep at all? But Louis had a better idea: he trained Marvin in the technique of lucid dreaming, so that even he slept the morally better part of his mind would still have some small control.

 

The final blow was when the shooter came. One of marvin's classmates had decided being the next Kip KInkel would be fun, so he went to school with a pair of assault rifles planning to start killing people. Marvin, hiding from the shooter, decided to take one of his sleeping pills and see what his dreaming mind could do. And it worked; the shooter was found babbling to himself, hemmed in by an extreme case of claustrophobia which he had never before possessed.

 

Now Marvin lives two lives, one waking and one sleeping. Awake, he is a high school student, gradually coming out of the shell he had built for himself. Asleep, he is one of the participants in a new sort of war; the War of Dreams, where the fantasies of idle brains are real and palpable and can kill.

 

In that war, he is the ultimate warrior, whose ability to turn any dream into nightmare makes him uniquely dangerous. And while he still struggles with himself over how to use his ability, he is determined that he will only harm those who destroy the minds of the vulnerable.

 

All there is to fear is fear itself. I am fear. They will fear me.

 

Those who bring fear to the helpless in the day shall know him in the night, and they shall know him as the bringer of the dreams that terrify -- Captain Terror.

[Sundog]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

So, who wins?

[Maelstrom]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

Hopcroft wins. Go on, Hopcroft! Ply your craft!

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

Hopcraft wins. Go on' date=' Hopcraft![/quote']

 

Hopcraft? Who's he?

 

Anyway, let's see what people do with Animal Man.

[Sundog]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

Hopcraft? Who's he?

 

 

Your unacknowledged love-child with Lovecraft? Ewwww...

[David Johnston]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

Max Brezhinsky was an athlete of extraordinary natural gifts, and they gave him a full ride into college where of course he made the most of the educational opportunity by partying so wildly that it was unbelievable that he could still be a football star. People could only wonder how well he'd play without the hangovers. A real party animal. It didn't matter though. He still got tapped for the pros as a running back. He was just that good.

 

Then one of his parties turned sour. One of the groupies was raped, and there were some big gaps in Max's memory that put him in an awkward position. He listened to her statement, sobbing as she called him an animal. No more party. On the advice of his lawyer, he pled out, guilt-stricken and cold sober. He spent two years inside, and when he got out, got a job as a club bouncer, staying sober and working out obsessively. And it was at the club that he heard the word. His team-mate and good friend, the QB, was now under the thumb of an organised crime figure. Had been, ever since that night. And suddenly he started to wonder.

 

So, he put together a outfit that would serve to cover his identity, not very flashy by vigilante standards, but a serviceable body armour and face mask combination and he started to follow the threads, intimidating people into talking, breaking into offices, busting heads, disrupting operations. He got his name from the question he'd always ask: "Who's the real Animal, man?"

[Maelstrom]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

The Animal Man

 

In the fantasy land of faraway Sanfrancisco, the warriors of the Presidio gathered, their furry tails twitching as they made their plans.

 

"One among us must lead!" went up the cry. "Who will it be?" they all asked. Soon, the seven largest and strongest came forward.

 

They were mighty indeed. The smallest of them was over three feet long, and the largest nearly four -- powerfully built and experienced in war. Each of them was legendary for their accomplishments against rats and cats, and even dogs. But to fight the new enemy would require cooperation.

 

Ponru, the largest, put it this way: "We live in their world. They make no regard for us. If we are to force a truce, we must enter their world. We must force them to take notice of us."

 

The others agreed, and the Seven went to train for their first joint operation. Weeks they coordinated and cooperated and when the time came, they were ready.

 

Their target was the one at the edge of Presidio . . . Herman, a large, foulsmelling brute taken to throwing glass at them. Ponru carried a scar along his flank caused by one of Herman's empties. He readied himself at the top of a framework of sticks and vines, and gave commands to the others. With Rend at his left and Lutu at his right, they clung tightly as the other four pushed and steadied the frame. Ponru and his two-squirrel assault team readied themselves, as the four supporting lurched in a crude -- but improving -- caricature of a human gait.

 

"Errrmmaaaannn!" screamed Ponru. "Errrrmmmaaannn! Weee cooommme fooor ooooo!"

 

Herman raised himself from his drunken stupor long enough to stand and gape, as the four supporters took a final step towards their target and swung the framework around. Rend, holding to the framework with his back paws and swinging a rock in his front paws, easily connected with the drunk's jaw, breaking it and knocking him down, unconscious.

 

Ponru chittered in his own language, and the squirrels took Herman's raincoat and spread it over the framework, lifting it back upright and taking positions. At that point, a mounted patrolman noticed the odd scene, and called out,

 

"Hey, you! Stop!"

 

The Seven broke ranks immediately and disappeared into the park, rallying later and recovering their framework and raincoat after the policeman and the ambulance containing Herman had left.

 

They moved to their next target . . . an organic grocery . . .

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

I'll be choosing Sunday night, so if anyone has any more ideas for Animal Man now's the time.

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

Maelstrom gets this one.

[Maelstrom]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

Great!

 

How about . . . Power Girl?

[Robyn]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

Great!

 

How about . . . Power Girl?

 

I have an awful vision of someone posting a parody of a certain popular music group, and ending with a dialogue line - "Girl Power!"

 

I have an awful vision of most of you pummeling me to death after I post it, so I won't

[Robyn]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

Great!

 

How about . . . Power Girl?

 

So . . .

 

Is there a time limit on this?

 

I have an awful vision of someone posting a parody of a certain popular music group, and ending with a dialogue line - "Girl Power!"

 

I have an awful vision of most of you pummeling me to death after I post it, so I won't

 

Then again, if noone else comes up with anything . . .

[mikesama]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

*The TV cuts over to a news desk while the words 'SPECIAL REPORT' flash on the screen in from fo the news desk. The camera slowly pans twoards the news anchor leaving a picture to thier right showing a downtown street completly torn up in some sort of battle.*

 

"This just in, a sudden attack on a downtown bank by the Masters of Mayhem was stopped by what appears to be a lone teenage girl. Reporter Kirk Michaelson has the story, Kirk?"

 

*The screen cuts to a reporter standing near an overturned car, Police and Firefighters hurrying around behind him moving people and wreckage.*

 

"Less than an hour ago you couldn't tell this street apart from any other busy city street. That all changed when the Masters of Mayhem literally blasted thier way into the bank behind me. They quickly broke into the vault and took a large sum in cash and bearer bonds. As they left the bank they began to indescriminatly attack the bystanders on the crowded and now hopeless gridlocked street. It was at this time something unexpected happened and from reports it seems that ..."

 

*The reporter is interupted by someone off camera and a quick conversation is held. At the end the reported points to something behind the camera and can clearly be seen saying the words 'hurry' and 'go'.*

 

"Ladies and gentelman we have an eye witness video of what happened when the Masters of Mayhem left the bank, we will have it on your screen in just a second ... and here is the footage."

 

*The screen changes again to a view from across the street and several stories up from the bank, the image grainy and shaking. Several of the villans are firing at the nearby cars explosions and chaos drown out all dialgue except for that of the cameraman. Three of the villians eldow each other in a jockular fashion pointing down the street at a large snarl of people and cars. All three point thier hands at the tight knit group and torrents of energy erupt from thier hands and streak down at the confused bystanders.

 

The camera pans to follow the path of the bolts of energy strait at the panicing bystanders, then suddenly when the bolts are only feet away from striking the suddenly veer away as if yanked on the end of some string. All three bolts strike a teenage girl in a silver and yellow body suit, her face is hidden by a full face cowl. She walks out into the street interposing her slim frame between the crowd and the villians. As she walks out the camera zooms in on her and arcs of energy crackle and pop about her body.

 

Annother torrent of energy leaps from the hands of the villians and are again sucked into the body of the young woman. A short exchange is made between one of the villians and the young girl. The young girl then unleashes a blast seemingly composed of several different kinds of energy, striking near the feet of one of the villians scattering them like bowling pins. Streams of energy rolled off the teenagers hands and began to repeatedly strike at the assembled villians. The villians quickly scattered making thier escape. The teenage girl quickly disapeared into the crowd. The screen then cuts back to the reporter.

 

"From eye witness reports Burn of the Masters told the young woman that she didn't know what kind of power she was dealing with to which she responded 'I am power'. Whoever this ... Power Girl is she certainly backed up her claim, back to you in the studio."

[David Johnston]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

Poor boy. He looks sick. Really, all these institutions handling radioactive materials ought to be more careful. Sometimes I think it's my fault. If I didn't go around covering for their mistakes, if I let more people die from their carelessness, maybe their government would watch them more carefully. Oh, look, now he's "tossing his accounts", as they used to say. It's his body trying to cleanse itself of the contamination, trying to live. It won't be enough.

 

I walk up beside him and put my hand on his shoulder and say "Hey, mister? You look pretty sick. Maybe you should go to the hospital."

I'm just making conversation. Actually there's nothing a hospital can do for him. I'm the only thing that can save him. But should I? I offer him tissue to wipe his mouth and he thanks me. What a nice guy, polite even when he's feeling so sick. Will he stay nice? Give some nice people a little power and they can't handle it. They just turn out awful. Is it better to live in corruption or to die innocent?

 

"I'll be fine," he lies without knowing it, muttering under his breath "I have to be. My aunt and..."

 

Well...I guess I'm just not the kind of person who can cross her arms and let someone die when he's right in front of her. I concentrate and the power flows out of my palm and into his body. I'm no healer. I can't take away his poisoning. But I can change him into someone who doesn't have to worry about little radiation. He'll probably look back on this day and figure out this was the day his life was changed forever. Maybe ruined, depending on how he handles the powers I'm giving him.

 

I don't wear a costume. I don't fight crime. I look like I'm only 13. I've looked that way for almost a century now. Who am I? I'm the unnoticed reason why this city has ten or a hundred times as many "heroes" and "villains" than anywhere else. I hope I always stay unnoticed, because I'm Power Girl, and if they ever spot me, I'll be in a lot of trouble.