Secret Identities and Teammates

[GoldenAge]

Re: Secret Identities and Teammates

 

The characters of my games have been diverse enough that it's never come up. Some characters have had public IDs, others the standard "protect loved ones" Secret IDs, while others still had weird aliases or were actually unearthly in origin.

 

Eventually there is always a union of the characters. What they decide to do when they're finally comfortable with each other is always best, especially if role-played well.

 

There IS one advantage to revealing you Secret ID to fellow (and trusted) superheroes. They'll protect your loved ones as if they were their own. If you disappear (or are captured, shunted to another universe, shot out into space, enveloped by a living dimension, thrown into an endless struggle within your own mind, etc.) you can rest assured that your family is protected. Think JSA!

[input.jack]

Re: Secret Identities and Teammates

 

A stupid question: Why is it no big deal for Seizure to reveal his secret ID to the other player characters in Super form, but has not (I assume) revealed his Super identity to any unmasked normals who are also close friends (possibly including the secret ID's of other PC's, but also other friends and possibly excluding some PC secret ID's)? IOW, what's so special about the fact that his teammates are also wearing masks that these recent acquaintances merit his full trust, when his friends he's known for years don't share this same worthiness?

 

A stupid answer (from someone who has had characters do the same thing).

 

Because the team mates are the guys the character is putting their life on the line beside. And they might be able to use the information of who I really am to find me and save my life. Whereas if I tell my other friends, colleagues, loved ones, etc, that information might actually -endanger- them.

 

Doesnt mean the Player has the right to force other peoples hands tho

[input.jack]

Re: Secret Identities and Teammates

 

No offense' date=' but I doubt it....[/quote']

 

 

Ok, maybe not EXACTLY the same thing...

 

But Ive had characters reveal their IDs after knowing team mates for only a few hours.

 

(Ive also had characters hang onto their SID for a few years, it just depends).

 

When I was playing Guardian Alpha (same basic powers as a teen-aged Superman), one of my team mates, Troubleshooter, was literaly paranoid about his secret ID. (Troubleshooter was a hero, but also clinically insane from basically having been raised by Wild Card, that world's version of The Joker). GA has the power to see through almost anything, and after the rest of the team figured out MY secret ID (based on GA not thinking to...you know...disguise himself in secret ID, or wear a mask in Hero ID...) it was tempting to peek.

 

But that would have been a violation of trust, so GA never peeked.

 

A week later Troubleshooter told me who he was anyway

[Hugh Neilson]

Re: Secret Identities and Teammates

 

It should be the PC option' date=' but if they hid their ID it may have problems. [/quote']

 

A disadvantage that causes problems - who'da thunk it?

 

One of my PC last week actually had another PC masquerade as him using a high level Shape Shift Power. The one PC' date=' who was wanted by the police took the form of the other, while the other was in his SID, a police officer, trying to get more information. Both had SID they have not yet shared. They both enjoyed the role playing. If everyone else shares their ID and you do not there may be trust issues in the team, but that leads to role playing. [/quote']

 

Of course, if your character were framed and his teammates believed it, or they were Mind Controlled to come after him, having them know his ID creates other problems, doesn't it?

 

It really depends on the team feel.

 

Very much so. The players need to agree on the team feel.

 

Some teams like the X-Men and their various allies tend to live together and therefore know almost everyone’s SID (Wolverine is the exception' date=' but hey as he did not know it).[/quote']

 

I think the X-Men were forced to the reveal by the fact they started as students at a boarding school to be trained in the use of their powers. Pretty tough to keep those ID's secret from each other. Similarly, if the Fantastic Four maintained secret ID's, their common origin makes it impossible to keep them secret from each other.

 

Some teams socialize a lot' date=' Teen Titans, and know each others SID pretty much from the start.[/quote']

 

As a point of order, Robin (Tim Drake) has not revealed his secret ID to the other Teen Titans, because he sees that as also revealing Batman's ID and not being his decision to make. He did, however, create another civilian ID for the purpose of hanging out with the Titans in civilian ID.

 

[Hmmm...Gideon, what if Plastron adopted a different secret ID - say a kid from across town - and "revealed" that to stop Seizure's incessant nagging?]

 

Others like the Avengers know some and not others for years.

 

IN the DCU SID are pretty much no longer an issue within the superhuman community, dozens of people (all the JLA, JSA, Titans and their former members) know Batman is Bruce Wayne.

 

I'm not sure Bats is that widely known, but over the years, he has come to trust some teammates. In the Silver Age, the JLA regularly had plots where the members were forced to reveal their secret ID's to each other, but used GL's ring to forget them afterwards. It was certainly considered a bigger deal at that time. [Remember when Pete Ross' claim to fame was that he was the only person who knew Superman's identity?]