WWYCD: "Dear Superhero" (Warning: Ugly situation)

[Fabricati]

Re: WWYCD: "Dear Superhero" (Warning: Ugly situation)

 

Envy would probably take a few looks at it and be skeptical. As he lives in New York City, there are plenty of better superheroes in the area and certainly many masks better suited to the job. It would also make discovering the country of Dubu fairly simple- the UN Central Office probably gets yahoos asking about this kind of thing all the time. A short plane ride (and a touch of luck) later, he'd be calling up his Contacts and getting everyone's ass on this thing provided the letter was true.

 

Of course, if the letter is the truth, there are probably some psychics he could start training, and that would wreak absolute havoc in the area...

 

Junkyard Dog would wonder how the hell someone in Africa knew about a local American hero, and would then realize just how far her reputation has spread. After a moment of mild freaking out because she never wanted that level of rep, she'd slowly start checking everything out to make sure it was legit. The Dumpster of Justice might be making an appearance shortly.

 

U.S. Steel lives for this kind of stuff ever since WW2 ended and with it rivet workers on the high steel. He's been around almost a century, shows no signs of stopping now, and has made adventuring, if not his job, then a beautiful, beautiful hobby. At this point, he is a very smart, very stealthy brick... And if everything here turns out to be the case, well, it's been a while since his last war; he has no CvK, and wouldn't hesitate to help. Whatever Master Villain is behind this had better start staying up nights.

[Badger]

Re: WWYCD: "Dear Superhero" (Warning: Ugly situation)

 

Badger- Quit team (this way he want go in as a "superhero") And lay some ultimate smackdown. (probably wiping out the evil army). He doesnt much care for the UN. ANd would take a "What are you gonna do about it?" approach with them if they say anything about what he is going to do (not heroic but he didnt ever say he was particularly a hero, and is a reformed villain). One thing that could get dicey is being a pardoned former villain would his now ex-teammates want to bring him in? Though before hand he would take every necessary step to ensure that it was a legitimate letter. Course, this story would hit him harder than most. He is quite partial to proctecting children. ANd he never really has gotten over the murder of his mother and little sister when he was a kid. (infact that is the reason who turned to villainy then herodom in the first place, to avenge their death). The army in question will be blasted into goo on the ground, pretty much is a given (he would be stronger and faster than what they could likely hope to throw at him, and he wouldnt be motivated by any mercy for them, so would likely run down virtually all those who attempt a retreat). The repercussion in the aftermath could fuel some interesting play.

 

 

 

Frosty Bob- former mercenary, just goes back to "mercenarianing" (or whatever he would call it. ). Doing it for free in this case. "TIme to pull out the big guns to mow these freaks down."

[Pyre-Archer]

Re: WWYCD: "Dear Superhero" (Warning: Ugly situation)

 

The Musketeer: Doesn't give a **** about international law; if he could, he'd go in and shoot at who he defined as the bad guys, which opens up a big can of worms for anyone else trying to manage the situation. But the run in with the local super team (or UN squad keeping such well-meaning interlopers out) would be something to see.

 

Pyre-Archer: Much more vocal, locally. start hitting the local media with the letter, try to shame the assorted governments into taking some sort of action.

 

*Then* he'd go in arrows blazing, with whatever backup he could manage to find.

[Badger]

Re: WWYCD: "Dear Superhero" (Warning: Ugly situation)

 

Actually interesting idea. AN archnemesis of the character there to help.

 

Badger- Cant see his archnemesis helping under any circumstances unless it was some part of an evil diabolical plan of his (Dr. Destroyer type, was the one who killed his mother and sister). It would be very hard to expect an alliance (though possible, he would set it aside to protect the village, but be ready to pounce, because who knows their is a catch). Lesser enemies I could see helping, though. He wouldnt necessarily have trouble with a temporary alliance with them. (Heck, his team's leader is a former "enemy" of his, he was the good guy who he fought in his villain days, and was the one who helped engineer the pardon getting done)

[TheQuestionMan]

Re: WWYCD: "Dear Superhero" (Warning: Ugly situation)

 

Riot (fka Nemesis) - Would use his celebrity to bring attention to the situation circumspectly. Then he would offer to run some covert ops for UNTIL in the region. Failing that he would think a great deal about what to do before stepping into this kind of situation.

 

Cougar - Investigate and then begin Covert Ops against the Rebels and other abusers. A shadow in the night, capturing and turning in their Rebel Leaders first and then their Suppliers, and finally their Troops. Turning them all over to the countries courts.

 

Wo Ping - He would investigate. Then target Rebel Leaders, Suppliers, and Associates for serenity...

 

 

Cheers

 

 

QM

[bubba smith]

Re: WWYCD: "Dear Superhero" (Warning: Ugly situation)

 

by serenity you mean dirt nap?

[Lucius]

Re: WWYCD: "Dear Superhero" (Warning: Ugly situation)

 

So, where are all the African superheroes?

 

Lucius Alexander

 

Inquiring palindromedaries want to know

[bubba smith]

Re: WWYCD: "Dear Superhero" (Warning: Ugly situation)

 

possibly on either side of the war

[bubba smith]

Re: WWYCD: "Dear Superhero" (Warning: Ugly situation)

 

i notice this matter draws interest fro regular champions and dark champions as well

[Kal'El Wayne]

Re: WWYCD: "Dear Superhero" (Warning: Ugly situation)

 

Well, note that Africa, being a large continent, may be too large for some of them to cross easily, if they don't have A) Powers that move them, or enough wealth to buy a plane ticket. And they may be very loyal to their own country's government and therefore, when told not to go, they don't. Plus, maybe their local supervillain has been acting just as bad recently and they needed to stop him first, because he's more powerful. Or maybe they just can't leave their own country for very long, like Captain Britain. Or maybe, just maybe, they couldn't care less. Like Doctor Doom, WonderWoman's mother, Namor and a host of other jerk superheroes/rulers.

[Hugh Neilson]

Re: WWYCD: "Dear Superhero" (Warning: Ugly situation)

 

Frosty Bob- former mercenary' date=' just goes back to "mercenarianing" (or whatever he would call it. ). Doing it for free in this case. "TIme to pull out the big guns to mow these freaks down."[/quote']

 

Great opportunity for some past to surface. Maybe former colleagues, still mercenaries, are on the other side. They can even throw up atrocities that the former mercenary was involved in before the "former" came in.

 

Hopefully without getting too far into politics, if it's so easy to make this decision and deal with the problem, why hasn't the UN, or other Supers, done so? What is causing the dilemma? To me, resolving that dilemma would be a much more challenging game scenario than "go in guns blazing and stop/kill the Bad Folk - that will solve everything".

 

I guess it works well in the Real World, though. Look at what a great job US intervention in Afghanistan did. Where would we be if they hadn't gone in back in the '80's?

[Hermit]

Re: WWYCD: "Dear Superhero" (Warning: Ugly situation)

 

In a lot of cases, the campaign setting will certainly have an effect. If Africa has its own continent wide Justice League for example, then the only way this would work is if they are away on a mission, mysteriously missing, or not the heroes they should be.

Or something like that

[Stone]

Re: WWYCD: "Dear Superhero" (Warning: Ugly situation)

 

Quantum

 

Team leader of a quasi-gov backed team of heroes would contact the government to arrange for science research mission to the area (possibly to research solar energy) and have the team assigned as security. Once there, the rebels and any military forces that tried to stop them would have a very very bad day.

 

Stone

 

Packs some bags, gets plane tickets, arrives to the area, and begins helping the villagers building a defensive wall around the city. The first time the rebels show, he would crush every vehicle the rebels have, take their guns away from them, and drag them back into the walled city to the villagers. Its their country, they can decide the rebels fate. This process would continue until the rebels stopped or the villagers had enough guns to defend themselves.

 

Spectre

 

Being the half dead protector of innocents is what this is scenario is all about. He would immediately head off to Africa to find this village. He would question the villagers and the boy to verify the story. If it is true, then rebels would face a very dark, cold, and terrifying death. Then the nation's leaders would face the same for allowing this to happen.

[hfergus]

Re: WWYCD: "Dear Superhero" (Warning: Ugly situation)

 

Ooooh boy. Would all my heroes be ticked.

Volt –Would both tear up and get mad. He’d use all his public approval, appear before the media (which he hates), and even address the UN (which he would also hate) and pretty much lecture them. “If this is not something you deal with, and you do not stop wars, why do you exist?” In addition, in any case, he’d appear in the village. Barring Ubru being dead, (and probably even then) the thugs will be in for a big surprise. If come to task for this he’d say “I came to see my fan Ubru. He was about to be harmed. I could not allow it. They were warned.” If the right villain were helping, he’d go with it if there were no strings beyond “you let me go after this” were attached. Work to change government.

Olorin – Would not care about international incidents. Go there. Give thugs comeuppance. Put magical protection on village (Your own force gets bounced back on you. Gives whole new meaning to “go **** yourself”.) “Talk” to leader. He’d change, one way or the other. (Change his ways or be replaced, as he’s dead – or more likely now a woman and raped by his own thugs – Olorin loves that kind of justice.) He’s worked with villains before on the “lesser of two evils” principle, so that’s not a problem.

Black Tiger disappears. Thugs start disappearing. Further ups disappear. Either the abuse disappears or the leader does. Leaders disappear further until situation improves. He then suddenly re-appears back home. He will work with other villains that can keep quiet.

Futurian “Oh crud. What do you expect me to do? I’m a tech, anti-tech guy. “ He’ll go anyway. If they use guns, they’ll find they only explode in their hands. If they use machete, they’ll warp and become useless. If they use sticks, Futurian will use his own tech. He’d soon go to the leader and mess up his tech until he changes – or gets “replaced”. Repeat as necessary. He’d gladly work with the right villain.

Leadman. Would go and protect the village. Then go straight to the top. He’d be unlikely to kill, but might is pressed hard enough. More likely, he’d use his detective skill to find out “information” and blackmail the guy if possible. If not, try to bring him down with it. If not – at least the guy would have no place to live as he’d destroy each one. Possibly kill the guy. He’d work with the right villain, grudgingly.

[Zed-F]

Re: WWYCD: "Dear Superhero" (Warning: Ugly situation)

 

Soulbarb is a street-level Dark Champions heroine, who by default is a high-school or university-age student. While she can probably get ahold of the money to go to Dubu (her family is modestly wealthy) she may have trouble arranging the trip. That, plus the fact that she's strictly a local heroine, and one that's striving to keep as low a profile as possible to boot, makes it (a) unlikely that they would know about her in the first place and ( suspicious that out of everyone they could possibly call, they chose her. (Of course suspicious is Soulbarb's middle name...)

 

She might look into the possibility of getting the situation in Dubu some increased levels of press coverage with the hopes that some other heroes and/or government would get involved. She would also be certain to investigate thoroughly and make sure that there's no monkey business going on other than as advertised. Given that she's a Dark Champions character, most likely there would be some shadowy players waiting in the wings. She'd be much more likely to discover and act behind the scenes against the latter, than she would be to travel to Africa and kick butt in a fashion visible to the media.

 

Sylph, a street-level Champions heroine, would coordinate with UNTIL and find out what (a) they can officially do about the situation, and ( what they'd like unofficially to be done about it. She'd be happy to lend a hand (as ever) if UNTIL can help with some of the logistics, such as transportation. As a poor student, she can't afford a plane ticket, and hasn't quite got her 'step between trees' ability up to the level of globe-spanning teleportation yet.

 

As for what she could do... assuming we're not talking about a total desert here, any conventional soldier approaching the village with the intent to cause harm would soon find themselves wrapped up in sage grass or whatever the local flora is. Sylph sometimes has issues dealing with powerful supers one-on-one, but she excels at handling masses of agent-level opposition. However, she can't really help much beyond the local level, at least on her own. She's not much of an investigator and has trouble seeing the bigger picture, without someone else to give her the occasional nudge in the right direction. (There's another area where UNTIL could provide some discreet help.)

[Arkham]

Re: WWYCD: "Dear Superhero" (Warning: Ugly situation)

 

That's my point (he has bitten quite a few' date=' after all). [img']http://www.herogames.com/forums/images/icons/sick.gif[/img] There are sooooo many animals tastier than... pig.

 

Sorry, that statement doesn't make any sense...

http://warehouse.carlh.com/article_157/bacon_pig_00.jpg

[Metaphysician]

Re: WWYCD: "Dear Superhero" (Warning: Ugly situation)

 

Most of my PCs couldn't really respond to this, except in a team context wherein the responses would more be determined by the other members.

 

The exception is Hermes, who if somehow dropped into the present ( and stripped of his usual concerns about Evil Pulp Supervillain Illuminati Who Rules The World in Secret ). . .

 

Well, someone would have to explain to him why its a bad thing to simply overthrow the local government and rebuild a new one that actually is competent, honest, and just. Because where he comes from, his home nation *does* exactly that. And even their nemeses wouldn't argue that there's anything morally wrong with taking a weak, incompetently run country, and conquering it.

 

And if no one so convinces him? Well, Duhu is going to be made a safer place, even if it would probably take all of Hermes' time and energy to do so ( he's super fast, and super smart, but he's still only one guy ).

[Great Beyond]

Re: WWYCD: "Dear Superhero" (Warning: Ugly situation)

 

Ironically, Scarlet Arrow was just thinking about shipping costco sized bags of rice and gallons of water to Africa. She's got a teleport that can pretty much get anywhere on the globe (with a few minutes of run-up time) and the ability to move about 4 peoples worth of mass - so she'd be likely to be in that neck of the woods anyway.

 

With a problem this big, might require some long term attention - so she might stay on station for a couple of weeks with the village under her protection, until the bad guys get the hint that coming there wont work (should be interesting how she gets that point across, since Scarlet doesnt kill and most of her bag of tricks are non-lethal debuff arrows). Then she'd arrange a way to get ahold of her (short wave radio or somesuch) incase they decided to come back later.

 

My super-genius tank Natasha is not a very subtle person. She'd probably show up, start busting heads (and tanks and jeeps and whatever was in arms reach, in true tanker fashion), and then set the village up with some kind of super-science maguffinry - power armor for their best fighter, deflector shields, or whatever - so they can fight back themselves.

 

The sad truth is that Great Beyond has way too many civilian responsibilities at home to just up and run off to another continent for two or three weeks (or however long it would take to sort that mess out), so she might not be able to drop everything and race to the rescue. She does have extensive contacts (both heroside and civilian) that she might be able to send that way to help - call in old favors and whatnot.

 

If she was able to somehow shake loose of her duties (and she'd try, no doubt about that), she might try and take the kid on as her padawan, teaching him all manner of magical skills, enough to defend himself and his village. That might be a little too long-term for the immediate problem tho - so it'd probably be a combonation of both. Get the kid out of immediate danger and train him while old friends go deal with beating the bad guys down.

 

I'm not sure how Chill Out Woman would react - she's my latest character, and still in the personality formation stage - and don't even thing she could get down there. She doesn't have the money, the passport or even a rich friend with a jet to get her from near Seattle half way around the world.

[Grymour]

Re: WWYCD: "Dear Superhero" (Warning: Ugly situation)

 

well said revanant

could someone rep him for me?

 

Repped as requested

[TheQuestionMan]

Re: WWYCD: "Dear Superhero" (Warning: Ugly situation)

 

So' date=' where are all the African superheroes?[/quote']

African Comics

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_characters_in_comics#African_Comics

 

List of Black Supervillains

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_black_supervillains

 

List of Black Superheroes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Black_superheroes

 

God Checker - The Gods Of Africa

http://www.godchecker.com/pantheon/african-mythology.php

 

Champions Universe - African Supervillains

Viperia - (Super Girl) VIPER's Heavy Hitter

White Rhino - (Anthopomorphic) RhinoConfused Hero or Villian

Boer - Retired Apartite Superhero

Blaze - (Champions Universe)

Gazelle - (Speedster - Champions World Wide)

Ironhorn - ( , Champions World Wide)

Pridemaster - ( , Champions World Wide)

Ogun - ( , Champions World Wide)

Joseph Otanga - (Mystic Supervillian & President-for-Life , Champions World Wide)

Impala - ( , Champions Universe)

Anubis - ( , CKC & Champions World Wide)

VIPER - ( , Champions Universe & Champions World Wide)

DEMON - ( , Champions Universe & Champions World Wide)

The Warlord - ( , CKC, Champions Universe &Champions World Wide)

Ma'at - ( , Champions Universe & Champions World Wide)

 

 

Cheers

 

QM

[Spidey88]

Re: WWYCD: "Dear Superhero" (Warning: Ugly situation)

 

Phidippus would be in a bit of a pickle. He's just suspicious enough to wonder if the letter is for real (why me?), but so concerned with stopping evil (and helping out disadvantaged kids) that there's no way he'd be able to avoid getting involved. Presumably, he'd dive into research on the conflict to see if the letter had the ring of truth about it, find out it was likely the real deal, and immediately get very sullen...

 

Feeling out of his depth, he'd first contact The Champions and Dr. Silverback, both of whom have far more political connections and a higher public profile than he. Let's assume for the sake of this exercise (and proper drama) that they will be able to provide significant aid, but only in the long term - they can make enough waves and get enough attention for the cause that the U.N. will look into it, but not enough to provide a quick fix.

 

Phidippus cares for "the law" (as much as any tolerated, but unofficially-recognized vigilante can, really), but this would stick in his craw, and badly. Some poor kid in a horrible situation called on him for help; and blast it, he's no doubt just one of many. While the wheels of the political machine have begun to move, they're just. too. slow. Innocent people are dying.

 

Who can he really trust? Who would join him in a mission that could end up in career suicide, if not imprisonment or death?

 

That's the real clincher in the decision for Phidippus. If it looks legit, he'll dive in to do whatever he can - but even if the help would be useful, would he necessarily want to bring his friends into such a sticky situation? In the end, he'd probably say "yes", and ask the heroes closest to him if they'd want to get involved, leaving the decision in their hands.

 

On the short list would be his teammate Ashley (TK-user and martial artist), who's been to Hell and back with him. Phidippus trusts his motives and spirit, if not his horrible mouth. Density-manipulating brick Event and energy projector Horizon would be next; followed by billionaire industrialist/self-made superhero Canadian Crusher, who should be able to throw plenty of money at the problem. Last, and most importantly, is his erstwhile teammate Alagara, whose faerie lineage grants her great magical might from a mystical connection to nature. She's the lynchpin - with a 60-pt VPP for magical effects, she'll be transportation, translator, sensor platform, and fire support. Heck, the Champions and Doc Silverback will get an invite too, as Phidippus trusts them implicitly - and super-smart help is definitely the best kind of help...

 

For drama's sake, let's assume all of the above associates can't get involved directly for various reasons. The Champions must irrevocably forsake their government ties to jump in and can't abandon the city for that long, Ashley's embroiled in a case that requires his full attention (and could capture one of the city's vilest crime bosses very soon), and other such things. If all else failed, Phidippus would beg and plead Alagara - even if she won't help directly, she can at least teleport him there and give him a command of the native language easily enough.

 

Fashioning another identity for himself to protect his cherished reputation as a respected hero in Millennium City, Phidippus fades out of view. A short time later, a mysterious 6-armed being wrapped in ragged cloth known only as "Anansi" begins a one-man guerilla war on a tyrannical regime in Duhu. No rebels are slain by this man-thing; but nonetheless, they soon learn to give the village of Tazera a wide berth...

[Vulcan]

Re: WWYCD: "Dear Superhero" (Warning: Ugly situation)

 

I think in the final analysis, most of my characters would move heaven and earth (to the limits of their capabilites, anyway;)) to resolve the issue. Legality means little when people are being killed/robbed/raped without any legal recouse. So when law means "I have the gun, so what I say is law!" my characters generally have little problem reminding these goons that there is more to power than that which comes from a weapon.

[bubba smith]

Re: WWYCD: "Dear Superhero" (Warning: Ugly situation)

 

Repped as requested

thanks

[The Weapon]

Re: WWYCD: "Dear Superhero" (Warning: Ugly situation)

 

Siberian Tiger: Well, with a name like that, it's pretty easy to figure out what he'd be doing... Let's just say that the next time that bunch of soldiers came to raid that villiage, not one of them would ever be returning. And with a 30+ PRE, surely one of them would talk when threated with becoming Tiger-Chow. (He'd never actually do it, people taste terrible and there are sooo many tastier critters running around Africa...) So from there it's go find whoever issued the orders, then wash, rinse, repeat.

 

Not terribly heroic by some people's standards, I'm sure. But it would solve the immediate problem. Probably not the long-term ones, though.

 

People taste terrible? Since when? I mean when was the last time you heard of someone forced into cannibalism who didn't like the taste? Face it, people is yummy.

[Hugh Neilson]

Re: WWYCD: "Dear Superhero" (Warning: Ugly situation)

 

I like some of the extrapolations. Try this one on for size. The Hero has been away for some time. By the time he gets the letter, matters have been resolved. A Shining Hero has arisen. In fact, a rebel soldier was poised to kill poor Ubru, when Ubru saw a blinding flash of light, heard a crack of thunder, and watched the soldier fall to the ground, smoke rising from his uniform.

 

A mighty armored warrior lay waste to the villainous soldiers. As his saviour, having dispatched the last of the vile rebels, turned towards him, Ubru stammered “Can it be that a Superhero has read my letter and come to our aid? Please say I am not dreaming.”

 

The warrior turned to Ubru and spoke. “This chaos shall cease when the curse of organic…” then stopped in mid-sentence, pausing for a second, two, as his eyes glowed. He resumed his speech “This chaos shall cease – I shall put things to right.”

 

Since that time, the armored warrior has battled the evils of the rebel and government soldiers, and taken control of the nation of Duhu. The atrocities spoken of by Ubru are a thing of the past – any such actions are dealt with swiftly and ruthlessly by this new King, acclaimed by the people of Duhu. His superscience has improved agriculture and brought prosperity to Duhu, and the people cheer his name. Now, what resources are not consumed in this new prosperity are directed to building the military of Duhu – not living beings, but mechanical servitors - to serve the task of bringing this peace and order to other nations of the world, under the benevolence of the

 

 

Great

 

 

and

 

 

Benevolent

 

 

King

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mechanon.

 

OPTIONS: Ubru has super powers. He is a cyberpath of incredible power, but before being exposed to Mechanon never had the ability to use his powers. Even now, he remains unaware of them, but that night, he unknowingly rewrote Mechanon’s core programming with his own morals. Mechanon now possesses the same viewpoint Ubru does, and implements it with the same ruthless efficiency he previously pursued the death of all organic life. Order will be restored. Peace and prosperity will come to all the Earth. All who oppose this bring chaos. They will be removed from the System under the benevolent rule of Mechanon.

 

OR

 

Mechanon is using this opportunity to buy time, and support, for constructing an army of MehaWarriors. When they have been completed, he will have more than enough power to end the plague of organic life forever. And, in the meantime, his humanitarian efforts (everyone knows those soldiers and former leaders deserved everything they got and worse, right?) are lauded by the people of Duhu and neighbouring countries, and even in many far-off lands. And Mechanon is the duly acclaimed ruler – international law prevents interference with his benevolent rule.