WWYCD: We hope you're feeling better now

[Hermit]

Your character awakens in a padded cell out of costume, no mask, wearing the outfit of a mental patient. If you have powers, they don't appear to be working. If you didn't appear to be human before, you do now (Thing would now be looking like his old self Ben Grimm, for example). A nurse hears you stirring, and calls for the Doctor. You appear to be in a strait jacket

 

Dr. Anna Kincaid comes forward to explain to you that you seem to have come out of your last psychotic episode. For sometime, she claims, you've been under the delusion that you are a superhero. Your loved ones (some of whom maybe alive again but will of course, assert they never died) put you in here for your own good and are hoping you are 'well' again. The staff still has the costume you were found in , which looks a bit substandard compared to the 'real' one you remember wearing all these years, but if you say that the Doc will indicate it is part of your delusion, and the fact this looks inferior to your eyes is "a good sign"

 

If you ask about your heroic identity, Dr. Kincaid will assure you that hero is real, out and about, fighting crime, they just aren't you. If you are a public Identity hero, it seems someone else bears that mantle. If you are a secret Identity hero, even the few you trusted with your secret ID deny you ever were a crime fighter.

 

It seems as if either you are/were crazy, or the entire world is...

Since you're the hero of this story, you may think the latter is more likely.

 

WWYCD?

 

 

(Oddly, your knowledge gained remains accurate. If your character knew of Arcadia, he still does. He/she may know the secret IDs of other crime fighters (Though they will wonder who you are and how you found out) and so on)

[Derek Hiemforth]

Re: WWYCD: We hope you're feeling better now

 

Seeker (my long-running Green Lantern type, who predates the famous Australian martial artist ) would initially try and see if he was under some kind of mental domination. That's not likely, since he has a high EGO, Mental Defense, and Mental Damage Reduction specifically against Mind Control and Mental Illusions. So if he couldn't shake the "illusion" fairly quickly, he'd dismiss that idea and move on to alternatives.

 

The first alternative would be that he has somehow been transported to an alternate Earth, where he never took on the Seeker mantle. He'd play along with the hospital staff for a while, trying to get them to consider him "cured" and release him. In the meantime, he would work on an escape plan in case that didn't work (he's a skilled street-level private detective even without his power ring).

 

Once out of the hospital, he would contact the "real" Seeker and try to explain what he thinks happened, in hopes of getting his or her assistance in getting back to his own world.

 

At no point would he even momentarily entertain the idea that he actually is crazy.

[Plex]

Re: WWYCD: We hope you're feeling better now

 

Plex: Would automatically believe that someone was playing a joke on him. (Trying to out joke the jokester.) The most likely culprit in his mind being the AI computer, FRED, for the group base. He would also ask to see his twin brother, with whom he shares power, and his wife. If the belief that he was not the hero still held sway after talking to his brother, his wife- whom he turned from a life of villainy, and confronting FRED, he would start to believe that this was all in his head; that one of his archnemesis was trying to pull something over on him and begin fighting the illusion. He would have no doubt in his mind that it is an illusion, this timeline or whatever it is was false. He is, and shall ever be, one half of the hero known as Multiplex.

[Enforcer84]

Re: WWYCD: We hope you're feeling better now

 

Enforcer would be amused. As a vat grown bioconstuct he'd have precious little family. But, if everything were as convicing as you say. He'd assume dimensional travel; he's quite experienced with that. He'd try to get aid from his former employer as she too comes from another dimension and would (presumeably) be able to confirm his story and theories.

[TheRealVector]

Re: WWYCD: We hope you're feeling better now

 

I'd find this even more amusing if the doctor instead insisted that there are no such things as superpowers or super heroes and the whole world appeared to be exactly like the "real" world.

 

I just might have to pull that on my group. Thanks for the idea.

[Hermit]

Re: WWYCD: We hope you're feeling better now

 

I'd find this even more amusing if the doctor instead insisted that there are no such things as superpowers or super heroes and the whole world appeared to be exactly like the "real" world.

 

I just might have to pull that on my group. Thanks for the idea.

 

Welcome, though both Batman:tAS and Buffy have had episodes similar to it so I can't say this is anything original on my part

[TheRealVector]

Re: WWYCD: We hope you're feeling better now

 

Welcome' date=' though both Batman:tAS and Buffy have had episodes similar to it so I can't say this is anything original on my part [/quote']

 

The whole thing has a very "Twilight Zone" feel to it, so I'm sure a variation of the theme has been done many times before Batman and that other show ever did. Still I hadn't really thought of it so I thank you for the inspiration. Gotta tread carefully though, my players (and I admit myself) aren't too fond of "lets all lose our powers" storylines.

[Stormraven]

Re: WWYCD: We hope you're feeling better now

 

Checkmate is a toughie. As with another, he's very difficult to affect with Mental powers, and his intelligence is not defined as a superpower - it's just him, at 38 Int. It would be very difficult to explain that away.

 

If that were a non-issue - they grant his intelligence, for instance, just indicating that it unhinged him, or some such, he would assume - as many others would - extra-dimensional situations, use his intelligence to convince them he was cured, leave, and build a machine to send him home.

[McCoy]

Re: WWYCD: We hope you're feeling better now

 

I'd find this even more amusing if the doctor instead insisted that there are no such things as superpowers or super heroes and the whole world appeared to be exactly like the "real" world.

 

I just might have to pull that on my group. Thanks for the idea.

I think I did that one as a WWYCD.

 

Thought so. Now let's see if I can make the link work.

 

http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35321

[Kevin Schultz]

Re: WWYCD: We hope you're feeling better now

 

Shinji Miromoto - his actual power is that of a limiter: it's more difficult for him to channel Dark Force energies than the average person, and he is not as powerful as the average person when doing so. The benefit of this is that he does not suffer the long-term, insanity-causing effects of having Dark Energy channel through his brain. Thus, this would likely turn him into the most powerful sorcerer in the world, as it would combine his hard-earned experience in wielding Dark Energy with the unlimited potential of an unfettered user.

 

To be honest, he'd be scared silly. He's probably contact the Dark Congress, the mercenary/scientific/villian group that studies Dark Energy, and explain the situation; he is a member in good standing, or if he was not he would simply join up again and become one. They'd likely get him home.

 

EDIT - or they'd be scared silly as well - this essentially means that someone out there has the ability to unfetter a dark magus: the whole Dark Congress is made up of wizards who are fettered, and as such study those who are not: their power comes from the fact that they don't go insane, while their test subjects do. Such a power would be the ruin of them.

 

Jake the Troll - He's never not been a troll. Thus, there is no default for him to fall back on. He'd assume it was a dream, and wait to wake up, or else assume someone was playing a trick on him.

 

Icon - Emma would likely be the most effected; her STR, CON, and BODY are all completely defined as super-powers. Thus, loosing them would put her in a coma. Assuming she was just given default values (8 or 10), she'd wonder why the information she has is still accurate, and would contact her teammates and have them help her.

 

Of course, it was the manifestation of her powers that caused her mother to be put in a wheelchair, her parents to get a divorce, and her father to gain sole custody. Going back to the hell that was her life before would suck.

 

If she were never to gain her powers again? Eh, no biggie; they were only 150 points of a 350 point character; that still leaves a 200-point hero in the process of training to be a federal agent.

[Amber Nytstar]

Re: WWYCD: We hope you're feeling better now

 

Luna Moth: First thing Diana would do is ask about her mother's pendant and a fractured crystal that she was carrying, acting very worried about either item being stolen (granted, the 'real' Luna Moth would probably have the fractured crystal.) Then, she call up her family and ask some very pointed questions about Luna, i.e. Gramps about how his protege was doing, Dad about whether she would be charged for any of the Luna Moth's crimes, and Victoria about the events shortly after their mother's death. Her last calls would be to her apartment for a bit more information on her last 'episode' from her roommates, and to set of triplets that she occaisionally babysat, and taught the ins and outs of cape gliding to. What she would do next would depend on what she learned, but it would involve playing along and learning as much as she can.

 

The Flying Kittens: (If all three were being told they were deluded.) Play along. Call their 'sometimes' babysitter, Diana, and ask how the Kittens were handling the local villains. Talk to their parents about why neither of them attended the recital before the kids 'lost' touch with reality and if the parents being supervillains were part of the delusion. Finally, hope like h*ll they really were deluded, especially if they don't each have an unluck-creating aura here and their parents weren't villains, but try to disbelieve the illusion in case they're not.

If only one Kitten was affected: Something stinks, and it's not the tuna sandwiches from lunch. More likely it's some villain trying to break his/her will for brainwashing.

First off, the Kitten starts trying to disbelieve the 'illusion', and would ask if the family can visit. His/her first questions his/her siblings (if the triplets were unsupervised) would be: Are they two of the Flying Kittens? And if so, then who's the third Kitten and why wasn't the patient involved?

[BcAugust]

Re: WWYCD: We hope you're feeling better now

 

Hmm, surprisingly, two of my characters could have this happen.

 

Nox: This one would be terrifying to her, not because she's not a hero... but because she would lose all of her friends. Then again, once she got out she'd look up Peregrine and Diomedes. We've had experience with time travel and alt worlds, and if Sherry can convince them.... plus, someone else getting Shadowstrike is bad.

 

Artemis: While in ancient times, Artemis is a peasant girl who suddenly knows Chinese, the Americas, how space is, and the inner workings of both Thera, oracles and time travel...

 

worst scenario, her parents fled with her into Herculiade lands, she got picked up by her father, who... well, if he believes she's touched by the gods, would likely imprison her up north in the Black Forest. And without her powers, she can't get out, though she likely could convince someone that she does remember this other "life"... which would likely end with her mindwhacked into following Grendel(enemy general, and all around evil guy) and telling him everything she knows, which would be bad.

 

Somewhat scenario, her parents fled with her into Fianna lands, they investigate when the "other" Artemis becomes big, Artemis gets sent to the Western Fianna who have people who know her and can vouch her memories are real, especially since they have mind healers and oracles who can tell. Artemis is then, depending on what's going on, either sent back to her proper place in time, held hostage until the shapeshifter taking her place is through, or is seconded to one of her friends in the Fianna when her powers reawaken.

 

Best scenario She was taken into Theran lands, she uses her knowledge to go and talk to Hermes and Quetz, who can verify her story(Quetz has telepathy. Even if it was "crazy", I shouldn't have any of that information or memories). Then, we'd figure out what was going on, likely time travelness, then try and fix it.

 

Then again, Artemis has a lot of people to turn to. It's just going to be damn hard without her powers, and she'd likely hurt herself a fair bit trying to get to those people. (Had her powers since she was thirteen, and has an amnesia about her life before that. It's a story point.)

[Fireleaper]

Re: WWYCD: We hope you're feeling better now

 

Avatar of the sun: Go comletely bonkers because the only people he really knows is his team mates, will worry about the other him and how the hell he became something he wasn't, blast his doppleganger with several questions just out of curiosity. Has no family to turn to, might realize that he was in a different dimension and try to fix it.

 

Orca: Finds where VITAS is fuming and slap him silly for touching that keystone (or whatever it is called), then maybe work out how to get out of this god damned alternate universe thing.

[Badger]

Re: WWYCD: We hope you're feeling better now

 

Badger- "oh well, this dream again, I'm sure I'll wake up soon"

[TheQuestionMan]

Re: WWYCD: We hope you're feeling better now

 

Sunburst - Acknowledge what they are saying is true and cooperates with everyone. He tries to convince everyone he has regained his senses and wants to move on and become a productive member of society. Once outside he begins to investigate what happened and even tries to meet with the Superhero who has taken his name. He will try to keep deceiving everyone into believing he is cured while trying to become the Here he was.

 

Cougar - Deceive the staff and effect his release. Then hunt down the thief and regain his identity.

 

Cougar (II), Rogue Trooper (II), and Guardian (II) - Wakened from a nightmare he accepts it and tries to move on with his life.

 

 

 

More later

 

QM

[TheRealVector]

Re: WWYCD: We hope you're feeling better now

 

I think I did that one as a WWYCD.

 

Thought so. Now let's see if I can make the link work.

 

http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35321

 

Thanks for the link. Interesting...

[wylodmayer]

Re: WWYCD: We hope you're feeling better now

 

Alas, this thread nicely illustrates the conceptual problems with my characters. To wit,

 

Ace would probably just hit on the nurses and kick back for a while until he figured out a way to get out. He might assume he's in a simulation designed to get information from him, especially if the doctors start asking him to describe his delusions - in which case he would start feeding them loads of disinformation calculated to wreak havoc in the "real" world, just to send up a red flag out there.

 

Cat has severe psychological problems - she'd probably buy the story, and unless her teammates rescued her, would likely live out her days as a mental patient. In fact, she might resent finding out it was all a hoax (assuming it is); she'd be much happier to believe that it was all a delusional fantasy and that she might someday have a "normal" life.

 

Likewise, Holocaust is a paranoid schizophrenic who takes heavy doses of medication to subdue the voices in her head. She's also a supergenius. If there are any inconsistencies in the doctors' behaviors, she'd notice. Beyond that, she probably wouldn't buy it - she already knows what it's like to be psychotic, and this doesn't sound like what she's familiar with.

 

Terminaxx would probably wind up in the restraint cells, because he's an obnoxious jerk with a violent temper and a compulsive need for confrontation.

 

Come to think of it, I'm realizing I don't play very many "heroic" heroes.

[nexus]

Re: WWYCD: We hope you're feeling better now

 

Most of my PCs would immediately suspect some form trickery, Shidoku specfically, drugs and government "spooks". She'd act complicent and start asking questions about her "family" referring to think only she knows or that just never happened, trying trip up her captors while casing for a means of escape. It would really rattle her if she had two normal eyes, since she lost one due to her violent background and only got a cybernetic replacement due to becoming a "superhero" (More Dark Champions) so that wuld require some explaining

 

Eve, being childlike would be most baffled . Would she have a body appropriate for her girl her menal "age" or teenaged body similar to her robotic one? She'd probably take some time to get herself orientated and spend allot of time asking to her see father and get him to explain what happening and why there was another "her" She's modelled on his flesh and blood daughter that was killed.

 

One characater, Ivy might even more releif than anything if her "real" life was in order as she remembered it: happily married, two children, etc She might even try to buy into the story for awhile but the existience of another "Ivy" would nag at her since it would have to be pretty much indentical to her "psychosis".

 

Harmony would probablyt suspect Redwood's resident illusionist Jonathan was pulling the mother of all pranks and plot a terrifying revenge...

[Sundog]

Re: WWYCD: We hope you're feeling better now

 

Terminus is more than a little secure in his identity (part of being creche-raised as a super-soldier). He'd assume he was either being manipulated by someone, or, had been thrown into yet a third universe.

 

However, unless someone has tampered with his memories, it wouldn't be hard to show his real ID. Just give him a few days in a high-tech lab and he'd have his railguns back...since all Terminus Soldiers are taught how to make and maintain their own weapons.

[Trebuchet]

Re: WWYCD: We hope you're feeling better now

 

Zl'f has two civilian identities: The famous Olympic gymnast/superheroine, Elena Alekseyeva; and the alternate one of a severe executive assistant to a billionaire philanthropist which she regards as her "real" Secret ID, Pavla Sergetov. Which one is she incarcerated as?

 

Since her boss and several of her coworkers are also MidGuard teammates, how are they acting in this scenario?

[Lord Mhoram]

Re: WWYCD: We hope you're feeling better now

 

Blackcat would play along, and pretend to be normal. Then try and kick something to see how much damage she did (if the situation demanded that her Martial arts were of a more normal level), she would try and contact the Pentarchy. Failing that, she would work on meditation to readjust her ch'i to re-access her abilities. Because hers were trained, day by day, she would never accept that they were lost, but would play "normal" while she figured out if she has been bodyswitched, altered, or moved in dimension.

 

Angelfire would freak out - her powers are all reflections of her nature - being a half angel half demon. Although if she were normal, but still a huge rock star, she might just go with it.

 

Meeb - not really applicable

 

Ballistic would track down the major mages of the world, figuring someone did a number on him, and drained his magic powers, and hid his supersuit. He's a detective - he'd figure it out; whatever it was.

 

Sift would likely think like Ballistic, figuring she is either under some huge mental illusions, been drained, or been transported. She's work on fiding what was up.

 

Terminal Velocity would completely freak out, and not recover well.

 

Smokeater would figure it was some sort of mind game from the aliens.

[saiyanslayer]

Re: WWYCD: We hope you're feeling better now

 

Ashley ( a TK martial artist with Regeneration w/ ressurection) would most likely kill himself trying to see if he really didn't have his powers, since his reg only works to bring him from the brink of death. Otherwise, he'd think it was some kind of mental brainwashing (yet again) and train himself to the human limit to find who did it and make them regret it.

[Blue]

Re: WWYCD: We hope you're feeling better now

 

Anthem would be calm until discharged. I could see the doctor saying that her fantasies that her mother is long dead is symptomatic of her dementia, feeling completely withdrawn from the world. Her father's turn toward villainy was likely some hidden resentment of him.

 

Anthem would request that she be tested for a certain chemical imbalance, like the one her father had in her "delusion", because maybe the shoe is on the wrong foot.

 

Once released, she'd enjoy that she has a family.. a real family. But there would come a day when she would have to test to see if she still has powers, probably cutting herself to see if her inulnerability was a fantasy.

 

If she didn't have powers, she'd grow up normal as she could manage, finish school, and likely become a cop or other law enforcement. If it turned out she had powers, she'd create her own costume and take up her old activities behind her parents back.

[Powerhouse]

Re: WWYCD: We hope you're feeling better now

 

Great scenario, I need to rep.

 

(edit: darn, I need to spread more rep around. Sorry!)

 

Based on this:

 

(Oddly, your knowledge gained remains accurate. If your character knew of Arcadia, he still does. He/she may know the secret IDs of other crime fighters (Though they will wonder who you are and how you found out) and so on)

 

It looks like the whole world has changed... assuming that my characters really WERE supers at one point!

 

Lady Silver: would be very convinced that it was some type of trick. When she couldn't use her magic though, something that comes almost as second nature as breathing, she would be in real shock. There probably isn't too much that could stop her from casting that she wouldn't be aware of or be able to detect. Yet *something* is stopping her because she does have her powers... right?

 

This could definitely be fun as family (either dead or in another dimension) come to visit her as normal. "Amanda, we love you so much and we just want you to be better." "But somethings not right! They took my powers!" "*sigh* I knew that occult phase would have terrible consequences." Heck, it would be positively heartwrenching as if her first fiancee showed up alive- she would WANT to believe in it.

 

She'd be caught up between believing her memories and lure of her family. She'd tried meditating as much as possible to see if she could figure out what was blocking her spellcasting but try to hide it so that the staff didn't see it. Eventually, I think that she would decided that either the world has been changed by some powerful magic and she needs to figure out what it is and how to confront it (and gain her powers back to do so) or she really is crazy. With those two scenarios, it's better to assume the former rather than ignore the threat to the world. If she's really IS crazy, well then the only person who gets hurt is herself. Better that than the whole world and the people she loves.

 

Question: would she be able to leave the hospital at all? If so, it would be interesting to see what happens if she tries to visit various mystics who should know her yet don't. Or is this more localized to the hospital and visitors?

 

Starknight: no way, no sir, no ****ing how! She's a superhero, case closed. This is a trick and once she figures it out, she's going to bust some heads! Definitely interesting since the onset of her powers was a real emotional liberation that helped her shed her repressed nature and instead started living life! She'll crawl, bite, and scratch her way to where she's spposed to be.

 

Possible scenario: try to seduce some guard to undo her straightjacket in return for some "favors" only to knock him out and escape. Works better of course if she remembers and is able to execute her combat training. Then it's escape to the outside world and start figuring out what happened.

 

Nova: another interesting case since she's an alien. I suppose in this case, she would appear human and her family (originally killed when her planet was obliterated) are alive and human. Her alien memories become nothing more than childhood fantasies that she developed after reading too much sci-fi. The kicker is that Doctor Ann Kincaid looks just like Lady Silver (Nova's best friend and someone who Nova is in love with). All of these together I think would lead her to accept this new life and actually be relieved that it was her tragic past was just a delusion.

[Hermit]

Re: WWYCD: We hope you're feeling better now

 

Zl'f has two civilian identities: The famous Olympic gymnast/superheroine, Elena Alekseyeva; and the alternate one of a severe executive assistant to a billionaire philanthropist which she regards as her "real" Secret ID, Pavla Sergetov. Which one is she incarcerated as?

Darned if I know, more likely Pavla, but which ever is a more fun scenerio for you

 

Since her boss and several of her coworkers are also MidGuard teammates, how are they acting in this scenario?

 

As they are protecting their own secret IDs from outsiders, she'd be one of those outsiders... so they might be shocked when she revealed she knew their heroic identities assuming she did.