Let's make a superhero base auditions (Topside description)

[Hermit]

No poll on this one, I thought of about a dozen different ways to break it down, but ignorance is vast, architectural styles are many, and it occurs to me I would surely hit myself later for lame choices I took when better ones popped up.

 

For those of you following... polls were run to determine by committee details about a base for superheroes.

 

We ended up with a base in the city, with an above ground area that was a secure superhero base (and presumably known as such to the public) with an underground area that was a golden age hero team's base that they were protecting from exploitation/discovery for one reason or another. But what shape and style would the publicly known topside be in? Manors with grounds, odd glittering crystal like domes? The options are limitless...

so I'm going to use you guys to limit it.

 

Please propose what might come to mind for you, it doesn't have to be uberred detailed. Describe if it looks high tech, creepy mystical, whimsical, industrial, whatever terms that seem best to you. The building could be similar in design (or have been) to a cathedral, a movie theatre, the popular mall, etc. If you want to give your base ideas names like " Citadel" , "Tower of Power", "Hall of Upright Thinking" or whatever, that's great. I'll look over and pick ten of those suggested and put a poll up to let the boards in general make the final choice.

 

I can offer you nothing but my thanks, and maybe Rep to those I select

[assault]

Re: Let's make a superhero base auditions (Topside description)

 

I like the architectural style of Grand Central Terminal. Also.

[Lawnmower Boy]

Re: Let's make a superhero base auditions (Topside description)

 

Don't rush me, I'm a-thinking.

Okay: generic Vancouver-style building. A three-storey full-block, one/block deep building, facing towards the avenue in a parabola with a too-narrow access road cut 4 metres below the street level in the parabola. The exposed concrete below street level is heavily coated in lichen, there's grass on the earth berm and, slightly scraggly evergreen ornamentals are everywhere along the base. Colour is white and deep green. The back of the building is shielded from public view by a massive amount of vegetation, heavily overgrown in season by morning glory and blackberry vines.

It might be a somewhat-less-than-well-maintained apartment building. But it's not.

[Jalinth]

The Iron Fortress - This building is an overt Iron Age style supers base. Oppressive gray ultra-concrete walls with watchtowers (possibly with intimidating super-science gun turrets), around an imposing windowless structure that looks like it could shrug off a hit from tactical nuclear weapon. Surrounding it is a large level expanse of lifeless pavement and concertina wire fences. These supers are anything but subtle.

 

The idea is the contrast sharply with the golden age base below.

[GoldenAge]

Re: Let's make a superhero base auditions (Topside description)

 

Grand American Art Deco all the way!

 

Above ground a beauty that defies age or era. Below, the mysteries of a glorious age left behind.

 

Back in the old days - The GOLDEN days!!!!

 

 

 

This site is really fun!

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow!

[gmurie]

Re: Let's make a superhero base auditions (Topside description)

 

A renovation of an old and abandoned building.

 

Example:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbtyUsnrY2I

[TygerLily]

Re: Let's make a superhero base auditions (Topside description)

 

Like some of the others have suggested, I like using an older building. Maybe an old courthouse or library that has been moved to a new more modern building. The cement steps and large columns, made in stone or maybe brick would be a nice solid appearing building.

 

A city block with an alley running along side or behind would be cool, especially if vehicles seem to go into the alley and just disappear from view. Someone watching blinks and suddenly the car is gone. Blink again and the another car is racing out.

[Logan D. Hurricanes]

Re: Let's make a superhero base auditions (Topside description)

 

I was thinking about this sort of thing before you began the polls, so now I get to spew forth my ideas upon you all.

 

As much as I like the Fantastic Four, and I like the layout(s) of the Baxter Building and Four Freedoms Plaza, I have always thought that a skyscraper is absolutely the worst place to put an HQ. Things are always falling off of there, and when the villains attack the collateral damage can be tremendous. Villain attacks have been (and will be) inevitable because it is so freaking public. The risk level is much too high for me to be comfortable there.

 

If it is going to be in the city, then I believe that it should be in the industrial quarter (sector, division, whatever your city calls it). Put it on the border between the steel factories and the office park. It will usually have a very large grounds with a lot of empty space between the building and other occupied facilities. It can still be made to look good, but it doesn't have to look trendy, or nice; concrete and steel can be good visible materials.

 

The real question is what will it appear to be on the inside? I'm not crazy about the grand marble floors (and such) for two reasons: 1) They're only there to impress visitors, and 2) They're much too ostentatious for superheroing in my book. So, will they be having visitors, or is this a group only facility?

 

This is a general guideline I've been working on. It would vary for specifics, of course.

[Nekkidcarpenter]

Re: Let's make a superhero base auditions (Topside description)

 

I was thinking about this sort of thing before you began the polls, so now I get to spew forth my ideas upon you all.

 

As much as I like the Fantastic Four, and I like the layout(s) of the Baxter Building and Four Freedoms Plaza, I have always thought that a skyscraper is absolutely the worst place to put an HQ. Things are always falling off of there, and when the villains attack the collateral damage can be tremendous. Villain attacks have been (and will be) inevitable because it is so freaking public. The risk level is much too high for me to be comfortable there.

 

 

 

 

Thats one of the reasons you build your base there. Use comicbook logic instead of attempting to apply real world reasoning. The GM has to come up with adventure hooks tied to your base. Make it easy on him/her.

 

Also, under no circumstances waste points on security systems. It won't stop the GM's villains or npc's, and the hero's have frickin' eye beams and so on.

[Kirby]

Re: Let's make a superhero base auditions (Topside description)

 

No poll on this one, I thought of about a dozen different ways to break it down, but ignorance is vast, architectural styles are many, and it occurs to me I would surely hit myself later for lame choices I took when better ones popped up.

 

For those of you following... polls were run to determine by committee details about a base for superheroes.

For those of us (well, me) joining late (I've been away from these boards for over a month), would you mind providing links so that I can play catch-up on this base idea? Thanks!

[Querysphinx]

Re: Let's make a superhero base auditions (Topside description)

 

I still think the abandoned mall idea is the best. Lots of floorspace. Crates of left over merchandise. Oddly shaped stores, no practical subdivisions that could be called living space. Lots and lots of places to hide. Fountains constantly in need of repair. Bathrooms crammed into weirdly inaccessible corners.

 

The heroes bought the mall base because it was (a) cheap ( located above the forgotten Golden Age hero base.

[Hermit]

Re: Let's make a superhero base auditions (Topside description)

 

For those of us (well' date=' me) joining late (I've been away from these boards for over a month), would you mind providing links so that I can play catch-up on this base idea? Thanks![/quote']

 

Well, the first post pretty much summed up the results, but the now closed polls should be located here

http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=62500

http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=62515

http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=62582

http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=62613

[teh bunneh]

Re: Let's make a superhero base auditions (Topside description)

 

"OK? So me and Jenni, and Jenni's brother Billy, we were like totally at Northamptom Mall the other day? And you know downstairs, where they have the fountain? Right below the food court? Yeah, where no one ever goes? There's this old shop there? It's like, totally hidden away? And they sell, like, I dunno, like things? Well, Jenni and Billy were all like, "Have you ever been in there? They like totally sell old junk! It's all supposed be be like magic stuff, like old stuffed gypsy heads and stuff! And behind the counter is like a door to the Underworld!" And I was all like, "No way!" And they totally dared me to go check for myself, so I was all like, "I'll totally do it." And I went down there and went in, and there was like this old creepy Chinese guy behind the counter and he was totally staring at me the whole time I was there. Anyway, Jenni and Billy were totally wrong, there aren't any gypsy heads, there's just a bunch of old, like, crap. And I was all like, "Don't you have anything cool here?" And the old dude was like, "No," and I was like, "Fine, bye." Anyway, the moral of the story is, don't ever listen to what Jenni and Bobby say. They're totally lame. I think the creepy old guy might've been a stuffed gypsy, though. I don't know."

 

Northhampton Mall is an older building that's seen better days. Most of the stores have moved on to bigger, more modern malls in the surrounding suburbs, but a few places still hang doggedly to life. Some folks wonder why it hasn't been torn down and turned into condos yet, but the owners refuse to sell, clinging to the faint hope of an economic revival in the heart of the city. The Mall is two levels -- the main level has most of the shops. The food court sits at the middle, with a broad staircase descending to the lower level, where a wishing well/fountain still collects a few coins (mostly from people in the food court dropping pennies from the balcony).

 

The lower level has been all but abandoned. Only a few flickering florescents still light the cavernous hallways. Sometimes teenagers go down here to screw around (or make out), but they don't stay long -- the echoing halls, the empty storefronts, and the dim lighting make it pretty uninviting for all but the bravest (or most foolish) souls.

 

Down here, in one particularly dark corner of the lower level, a single shop remains open -- "Chang's Golden Age." It's sort of a knick-knack/Chinese grocery type store, its shelves piled high with a dusty and haphazard assortment of goods. How Chang's stays open when it hardly ever has any customers is anyone's guess. It's been there for as long as anyone cares to remember, since the day the Mall opened. All kinds of rumors abound, each one more fantastic and far-fetched than the last.

 

But it's possible that some of those rumors hold a grain of truth. There's more to Chang's than meets the eye. It holds a secret nearly 60 years old, for Chang's is the "public" entrance to the secret Cavern of Justice, hidden deep beneath the city. The Cavern of Justice is where the great golden-age heroes known as the Union of Heroes once staged their never-ending war against evil!

 

Chang, once known as the sorcerous hero Golden Dragon, still guards the entrance to his team's secret HQ, now used by the children and grandchildren of those great heroes of a bygone age.

 

The mall offers a lot of benefits to these young heroes and heroines. It's close to the center of the city, where the action is. The heroes can park their super-cars in the now-closed underground parking garage. There are several other hidden entrances and exits in varous parts of the cities so they heroes can come and go as they choose. And, of course, the heroes (in their secret IDs) always like to go upstairs to the food court and get some curly fries at lunch.

[Kirby]

Re: Let's make a superhero base auditions (Topside description)

 

Well' date=' the first post pretty much summed up the results....[/quote']

Pshaw! But I wasn't able to get the full feeel of the pole. Also, I was curious if you were just creating an abstract idea, or if this was planned for a new campaign or a current campaign, in case a certain statue was to be destroyed any time soon.

 

OK, so time to reread the options and vote!

[Logan D. Hurricanes]

Re: Let's make a superhero base auditions (Topside description)

 

Thats one of the reasons you build your base there. Use comicbook logic instead of attempting to apply real world reasoning. The GM has to come up with adventure hooks tied to your base. Make it easy on him/her.

I hadn't considered that. Might as well do it right then...

 

"My character lives in a van down by the river..."

[Kirby]

Re: Let's make a superhero base auditions (Topside description)

 

We ended up with a base in the city, with an above ground area that was a secure superhero base (and presumably known as such to the public) with an underground area that was a golden age hero team's base that they were protecting from exploitation/discovery for one reason or another. But what shape and style would the publicly known topside be in? Manors with grounds, odd glittering crystal like domes? The options are limitless...

so I'm going to use you guys to limit it.

 

Please propose what might come to mind for you, it doesn't have to be uberred detailed. Describe if it looks high tech, creepy mystical, whimsical, industrial, whatever terms that seem best to you. The building could be similar in design (or have been) to a cathedral, a movie theatre, the popular mall, etc.

Hmm, maybe the above ground look something like a mini White House (first floor is open to guests/visitors, second and third are not).

 

Underground, the golden age base is being protected for more than just nostalgia and courtesy. Back in days yonder, this building was the site of just another building being constructed. While digging the foundation, the construction crew accidentally activated some (purposely buried) mystical portkey. When the portal opened, strange creatures came out and attacked the city that the heroes helped defeat. No one was able to close the portal (and its existence was kept secret), so they changed the construction of the building from skyscraper to the golden age base so the heroes would be the first line of defense when something else came through (which did happen).

 

As for the portal, every now and then (once a month or year, randomly) something comes through it. The portal can bring someone from another country, another planet, another galaxy, or even another dimension. Along with potential plot seeds of various creature attacks coming through or people seeking asylum from their own dimension/planet/etc., there's the whole "Why is this here in the first place?" Does it belong to the Elder Worm? Demons? Or is it a back-door entrance for V'han? Lastly, the portal is two-way, so a villain caught robbing the base (Signal Ghost or GRAB for example), might abscond with something very important (and vital) into the portal, leaving the heroes to chase after!

 

So, what are you making this base for?

[lemming]

Re: Let's make a superhero base auditions (Topside description)

 

And' date=' of course, the heroes (in their secret IDs) always like to go upstairs to the food court and get some curly fries at lunch. [/quote']

Well, who wouldn't?

[teh bunneh]

Re: Let's make a superhero base auditions (Topside description)

 

Well' date=' who wouldn't? [/quote']

 

I know! Curly fries! :yum:

 

This is actually (loosely) based off a mall that I used to go to as a teen. It was on the verge of death, and most of the lower level had been completely abandoned. It was dark and cold and way creepy, and only a handful of stores remained down there (all clustered in one corner).

[Lawnmower Boy]

Re: Let's make a superhero base auditions (Topside description)

 

Northampton Mall sounds good. (But the food court better have a place where you can get fish and chips!)

I'd suggest one minor addition. To avoid skirting the "ground level public" result, people would have to know that Captain Justice IV and his team hang out in the back room at old Chang's. Like the gaming room at the back of a gamestore, only quieter and less smelly --of people, anyway. Incense, cumin and fried ginger, OK.

[gmurie]

Re: Let's make a superhero base auditions (Topside description)

 

Northampton Mall sounds good. (But the food court better have a place where you can get fish and chips!)

I'd suggest one minor addition. To avoid skirting the "ground level public" result, people would have to know that Captain Justice IV and his team hang out in the back room at old Chang's. Like the gaming room at the back of a gamestore, only quieter and less smelly --of people, anyway. Incense, cumin and fried ginger, OK.

 

Or have it be Chang and one or two of the other retired heroes holding the deed for the mall. They approach the PC heroes with an offer to sell the old place for some lump of money that lets them retire in comfort while having some assurance that their legacy is protected.

 

Then they can turn the old mall into a public base as they please, just so long as they hold to their promise to keep the old underground base under wraps.

 

Of course, with some groups of players the old men might have to be REALLY desperate to sell!

[Kirby]

Re: Let's make a superhero base auditions (Topside description)

 

But what shape and style would the publicly known topside be in? Manors with grounds, odd glittering crystal like domes? The options are limitless...

so I'm going to use you guys to limit it.

OK,it helps to read everything twice, including the title.

 

I don't know why I was thinking you wanted above and below ground description. I have two basic ideas, since the base is above a golden age base. Both of them involve the upper level being three stories and being on large manor grounds. There are two reasons for this: 1) It keeps pesky people from simply peeking out their windows at you and gives an elegant look; and 2) when the inevitable attack on the base comes, nearby buildings won't be close enough for property damage.

 

Idea #1: Make it look classically ancient. Give the building the same architectural style that Washington, D.C. has. White, polished, marble columns always look dignified and professional. Classical statues could be here and there.

 

Idea #2: Make it a Victorian-style house. Walk around patio, blaconies, etc. This gives the base a more homely feel and offers up a warm reception.

 

For both ideas, the ground floor is for all visitors and guests. The upper floors are living/guest quarters as well as potential exercise rooms and such (Homestead is actually a good example for this).

[Amber Nytstar]

Re: Let's make a superhero base auditions (Topside description)

 

I'd like to see the modern base as a sprawling complex situated between the industrial and commercial centres of the city. A good portion of the complex's ground floor could also double as a recreational facility, while the building's basement(s) contain the areas requiring higher security, including the access points for the golden age base.

[teh bunneh]

Re: Let's make a superhero base auditions (Topside description)

 

Northampton Mall sounds good. (But the food court better have a place where you can get fish and chips!)

I'd suggest one minor addition. To avoid skirting the "ground level public" result, people would have to know that Captain Justice IV and his team hang out in the back room at old Chang's. Like the gaming room at the back of a gamestore, only quieter and less smelly --of people, anyway. Incense, cumin and fried ginger, OK.

 

Or have it be Chang and one or two of the other retired heroes holding the deed for the mall. They approach the PC heroes with an offer to sell the old place for some lump of money that lets them retire in comfort while having some assurance that their legacy is protected.

 

Then they can turn the old mall into a public base as they please, just so long as they hold to their promise to keep the old underground base under wraps.

 

Of course, with some groups of players the old men might have to be REALLY desperate to sell!

 

Good ideas. I had forgotten that the upper part of the base was publicly known, but those could make it work.

 

(I had intended to mention that Chang or one of the other Golden Age heroes owned the mall and that's why they wouldn't sell, but completely forgot to put that in the writeup).

[Colossus]

Re: Let's make a superhero base auditions (Topside description)

 

I like the idea of a converted warehouse. I lot of cities with urban redevelopment are taking these area with major tax breaks. It is an example of an urban secret base. Several apartments and maybe an office on the ground floor that all belong to the team members in their secret ID’s and there could be converted below ground floors for the actual labs/gym/meeting room and whatever else.

 

The team would need some way to leave. If it is near the water create a team transport that is a submarine/plane and can leave from an underwater hanger.

[gmurie]

Re: Let's make a superhero base auditions (Topside description)

 

@Hermit

 

So is this still on? You haven't posted any new polls on this in a while.