Reality TV and your Hero

[wylodmayer]

Over in the Non Gaming Discussion, there's a thread about the "reality" show (I use the term loosely) called "Who Wants to be a Superhero?" Now, I'm not going to try to explain the show in depth for those who don't know - you can check out the SciFi channel website and see what I'm talking about - but I swear, the first thing I thought of when I saw it was using it in a game.

 

Imagine, in a superhero setting, some idiot reality TV producer decides to cut a deal with a major PR firm to run a reality-show style contest between twelve heroes, having them compete in challenges and so forth, and the winner gets a year's worth of free PR, the works. Endorsements, movie parts, appearances with celebrities and heads of state, etc. So, assuming your group's PCs aren't the kind who'd want that sort of thing anyway, imagine the cast and crew constantly getting in the way of the REAL hero work done by the PCs.

 

I think it could be hilarious. It could be a way to introduce great new characters - some wannabes, at least one who loses and goes villain, the one (there's gotta be one) who is actually sincere and marginally useful, and so forth. How do the characters deal with these morons without hurting anyone or screwing up their investigations? Better yet, once the characters have finally gotten the idiots off their backs, turn the tables and arrange for the party to NEED their help. Maybe there's some kind of manhunt on that requires as many heroes as possible pitching in, or one of them has JUST the RIGHT power for something that the heroes need to do...

 

There's SO much potential for this in a game. And, darn it, I'm using Monkey Woman and Cell Phone Girl in a game somewhere.

[McCoy]

Re: Reality TV and your Hero

 

I'm using Monkey Woman and Cell Phone Girl in a game somewhere.

A writeup for Rotiart is definitely on my "to do" list.

[Supreme Serpent]

Re: Reality TV and your Hero

 

The Wildguard comic series is set up along these lines. Tons of heroes applying and competing for spots on a new superteam as a reality show.

[Great Beyond]

Re: Reality TV and your Hero

 

Actually -

 

(spoilers for Marvel's Civil War series follow, provided that I get the background color right )

 

Something similar was the starting point of the current crisis running in the Marvel universe - a team of supers was grandstanding for a reality show crew along on one of their by the numbers busts. The fight rapidly got out of hand, and one of the bad guys blew up - well, the body count is somewhere around 600 civilians. And all of that was on live TV.

 

Whoops. . . .

[Armitage]

Re: Reality TV and your Hero

 

The Amazing Super-Zeroes webcomic

http://www.amazingsuperzeroes.com/index.php

 

At the begining of the comic the team is formed from the winners of a reality show.

[Lethosos]

Re: Reality TV and your Hero

 

The New Defender game that my GM ran is pretty much one. If you went to Origins and played there, two words: Chuck Norris.

[wylodmayer]

Re: Reality TV and your Hero

 

Actually - (spoilers for Marvel's Civil War series follow' date=' provided that I get the background color right )... [etc']

 

Gah, what a "Kingdom Come" rip off. Not to diss anyone's favorite reading material or anything (I think there's plenty of room in the world for people of different tastes), but I am so glad I stopped reading Marvel comics years ago. I picked up Runaways when it got some good notices, but it declined quickly, and I read (but don't usually buy) Ultimates. Other than that, Alias is the only Marvel book in more than a decade I've really liked, and they stopped putting that out (instead trading it in for something more "mainstream" - meh).

 

Like I said, I'm sure that there are things to recommend about plenty of their other books, and I know lots of people still like Marvel comics. I'm not saying they're wrong. I'm just saying that Marvel hasn't really done it for ME in a long time... like since Jim Shooter was Editor in Chief.

 

Then again - and this is funny considering what a raving fan of superhero games and the genre in general I am - I just realized I don't read any superhero books these days. Just "Y the Last Man" and "Fables." Alas.

[David Johnston]

Re: Reality TV and your Hero

 

Thinking about reality shows, suppose that some philanthropic individual offers your characters a base of operations. It used to belong to a Viper-like organisation but after the base was cleaned out the property was sold cheap by the government at auction, renovated and then offered as a rent-free secret domicile for heroes and their next of kin if any want to move in. Then, more than a year later, the newest hit reality show hits the airwaves courtesy of the internal security cameras and featuring you. Reading the occupation contract carefully with the assistance of several lawyers, you realise that the agreement to let you stay does in fact allow this and as per the contract the faces of people maintaining secret identities are left obscured at all times even if they unmask. What would the characters do?

[Supreme Serpent]

Re: Reality TV and your Hero

 

Thinking about reality shows' date=' suppose that some philanthropic individual offers your characters a base of operations. It used to belong to a Viper-like organisation but after the base was cleaned out the property was sold cheap by the government at auction, renovated and then offered as a rent-free secret domicile for heroes and their next of kin if any want to move in. Then, more than a year later, the newest hit reality show hits the airwaves courtesy of the internal security cameras and featuring you. Reading the occupation contract carefully with the assistance of several lawyers, you realise that the agreement to let you stay does in fact allow this and as per the contract the faces of people maintaining secret identities are left obscured at all times even if they unmask. What would the characters do?[/quote']

 

What follows is IMO, YMMV, etc. of course.

 

1) If there were an "occupation contract" from a supposedly philanthropic individual most teams would turn him down flat.

 

2) If there were an "occupation contract" and the team didn't turn him down flat, it's a rare team that doesn't have at least ONE character that wouldn't go over the contract with lawyers BEFORE signing it.

 

3) If none of the characters (several of whom likely have high int scores, are master detectives, etc.) or their lawyers notice such a clause prior to signing, it's likely that the fact the internal security cameras are subverted to another cause would be discovered fairly quickly by any team techies.

 

If all these obstacles are bypassed (ie likely ignored by the GM), I think the issue would be much less what the characters would do, but what the players would do. IMO, this sort of thing would be very bad form by a GM, and unlikely to really work with most groups of characters, much less players.

[David Johnston]

Re: Reality TV and your Hero

 

OK, so no contract. They just offered to let you stay in their property.

[wcw43921]

Re: Reality TV and your Hero

 

Reality TV takes many forms, not just the Real World/Big Brother format. Some of you might be familiar with the show Cheaters, in which someone who suspects their spouse/significant other might be cheating on then contacts the show, and they send investigators with cameras to follow the "suspect" around and confirm his(or her) infidelity. They then have a big confrontation scene where the injured party confronts the cheater.*

 

With that in mind, here's a show which might be found in a superhero universe--

 

UNMASKED!

 

"Could your co-worker be a superhero? Is your next-door neighbor a supervillain? Do you suspect any friends or family of being superpowered mutants? Then call UNMASKED! Our staff of trained, certified supernormal investigators will get on the case and will not stop until they uncover the truth. No superhuman's secret is safe from being--UNMASKED!"

 

Obviously this show is backed by someone with an anti-supers agenda--either a media mogul thirsty for ratings or publicity, or a super-criminal organization like VIPER. Whomever sponsors the show, it poses an unconventional threat to a superhero or any superhuman wishing to keep his powers a secret.

 

 

 

*I hasten to add that this is not a show I prefer to watch--I only saw a couple of episodes for research purposes.

[Vondy]

Re: Reality TV and your Hero

 

Well, the Freedom Patrol is actually a black ops team, so they couldn't be bothered - though they did have a quid pro quo relationship with a gossip reporter who always seemed to have an uncanny notion of what was up, and who was discreet enough not to hurt them with the info they traded with him. Then again, that campaign is in the 50's, so no reality TV.

 

On the otherhand...

 

There is Vanguard - the grandstanding gung-ho ego-maniac campy and completely overconfident media-hound power-armored character with his scientific support staff: Team Vanguard - yes the idea was stolen from Team Defender. Vanguard would eat this up for breakfast. Think Foxbat, but a good-guy, and with a real iron-man type power-suit.

 

Vanguard is really a solo-hero with followers and a secret corporate sponsor who has a group of other solo-heroes he works with when big menaces strike - and who tells the media they are an official team at every opportunity, even though they aren't. So while he would eat it up, his scientific support team (read: college buddies), and his fellow heroes, would be groaning and griping the whole way through...