Only You Can...

[SKJAM!]

Your character is contacted electronically or mystically by the supergroup they either belong to or most come into contact with, as appropriate.

 

Or that's what it looks like at first, but your character quickly spots that the people contacting them have subtle or obvious differences from the ones they know. They're also looking particularly beat-up/distressed. And indeed, the person calling soon admits that they are the parallel universe counterparts of said characters.

 

They explain that on their world, despite the many similarities, (name of character) never existed. Somehow, the group has managed to struggle along anyway (perhaps with a different member) until now, but a crisis has arisen. And only the powers/skills/unique properties of (name of character) can save the day.

 

The question is twofold:

a) How has the absence of your character changed things in this parallel world?

What sort of crisis would require your character, and only your character to solve?

 

Best luck!

[bubba smith]

Re: Only You Can...

 

tuff-man's absence has provided that there is more sports corruption in his world and more attepts to outlaw martial arts tournaments.

[Badger]

Re: Only You Can...

 

Badger- Not much I can think of on this one. The Doc Destroyer facsimile would have one less hunted. And the Doc clone would have killed his mother and younger sister regardless of his existence. (though if he didnt exist that would likely mean his sister wasnt born either more than likely)

 

I suppose there might be a few baddies that he killed during his villain days (pardoned) that would still be alive. Though I doubt many of them would have had power enough to make much influence. Maybe a mob boss or 2 could have flexed excess political power otherwise..... Some of those he may have happened to "accidently" kill while a team member might otherwise be alive too. While that list is fairly small (damn leader is a blasted boyscout want let him do it) they were considerably more powerful.

 

 

 

Frosty Bob- This one is fairly easy. His indestructible invincibility from being immortal helped to turn the tide of several WWII battles. (He still is peeved he isnt mentioned in history books. ). SO the Nazis and Japanese would have probably won those battles. So the war would have been won by the Axis or at the least the war likely would have lasted a bit longer.

 

 

Not sure what use they would be in an alternate universe.

[Drhoz]

Re: Only You Can...

 

*grins broadly*

 

Vitus would love this. They admit that they can't cope, and come begging for his help? He'd rub his furry paws together with glee. That he doesn't exist in their world doesn't surprise him - there's only ever been 6 versions of Aura, and as far as he can tell they're all erased now.

 

Major differences - there wouldn't be a big reality flaw in the middle of a major intersection of Kingdom City (where he dropped a Dimension Bomb spell at his own feet because he was that pissed off with his own team mates and Eurostar), nor would Eurostar, Ist'vatha V'han, or Dr Destroyer have attacked Nebraska. Dr D tried twice. They all wanted to kill Vitus. He has that effect on people.

 

The Tanashim people may well have fallen to demonic invasion.

 

As to why they need Vitus, a cross-dimensional or magical threat seems likely. Especially something invulnerable to non-magical attacks.

 

 

Edge City would be mostly unchanged without Zero, sad to say. But if they need a world-class mentalist, that would suggest there's a horde of Manchurian Candidates running around that need spotting. He'd certainly be able to spot anybody under mental compulsion.

[Zed-F]

Re: Only You Can...

 

Soulbarb: Soulbarb would groan at another visit from dimensional duplicates, even if she herself isn't among them. She might suspect that she did once have a dimensional duplicate in the visitors' home dimension, but that one of her other dimensional duplicates killed that instance of her. (Fortunately the auto-genocidal duplicate is no longer a threat as far as she's aware.)

 

In any case, a world without Soulbarb is a world without Camuranima. At her usual power levels, the world in general and Houston in particular would actually be a better place overall without her because Camuranima would not be around behind the scenes mucking things up. Eventually Soulbarb does get powerful enough to confront Camuranima and get rid of him, but she isn't there yet. Neither is she a member of a supergroup at this point in her career, but most likely what any future supergroup would need out of Soulbarb is her mystical expertise -- especially her knowledge concerning demons and the afterlife in particular -- and her ability to see souls directly.

 

Things are probably not a lot different in a world without Sylph except that there would be more patients in the local hospital. If she were not around, some other hero would step up to the plate, as is typical for Silver Age universes. There's really not much that's unique to Sylph -- there are other experts on Greek mythology around, and her healing powers, while handy and not terribly commonplace, certainly are not unique in her campaign world. Most likely what she would be needed for specifically is to deal with some problem related to a species of intelligent super-kudzu that is aggressively taking over their campaign city but defying all attempts to communicate with it, let alone defeat it. Sylph's powers of plant empathy and control would blossom to new heights in that sort of environment and could indeed be key to establishing a dialogue with the new race.

[hfergus]

Re: Only You Can...

 

Volt About the only thing unique about him is his moral center, heroism and abilty to inspire and lead - even when he really doesn't want to. That would most likely mean the group is fractured and that is the problem. The main thing that may have happened is that Dr Destroyer killed about 1/10 of the world, and world would be reeling. No, he did do it by himself and it may have not happened, but he destroyed the device that would have done this.

 

Olorin Versatilty is his game. As a mystic with a large VPP if he knows what he is up against, he can be very effective. That is probably what they need. And he probably find out weaknessses if needed and expliot them. As to his main effect on the world right now, probably a demonic invasion has occurred because he was not there to shut the gate before too many came through. If this were it, he'd shut down the gate to prevent reinforcements. Then he'd think about opening another gate. To Faerie. They owe him a favor.

 

Black Tiger About all he could do that they may not is detective work. Can't think why they would need that badly. About the only thing different would be that Louisville Kentucky would be badly overrun with crime and corruption.

 

Leadman They need someone who is full of gloom and doom? Only thing unique about this brick is that he can increase gravity. (TK down only)Almost all differnces in this world be be due to his detective work - mainly in his secret id.

 

Futurian "Uh... You need me? Are you sure? Wait, don't tell me. You have one or more 'Terminators' running around. Ok, if that's it, I'm in!" That would be his big difference. He stopped a Terminator scout basically by himself. Seems he was "destined" to do that. When he thinks about that, he hates it. Good thing he doesn't think too much. (!?!?)

[Karma]

Re: Only You Can...

 

Fore-eyes: Actually has vivid 'memories' of a world like this one (in which he was never empowered and so could not save it), it's his main reason for doing what he does, although they are in the future and I'm guessing this is the 'present'. Pretty much any world in which his ability to foresee a danger/catastrophe/etc. was earth-shattering would do as 'what would happen without him'.

 

Hardball: The only thing I can think of where his powers would have made 'all the difference' would be one in which something needed to be delivered to exactly the right spot from a distance, possibly through a small hole in a force-shield/etc. "I have a device that if it were delivered right here on the alien ship could disable it. We can punch a big enough hole in the alien ship's shield for it to fit through for a split second but it would shoots down any vehicle that gets close. We know it ignores single human figures as unimportant. If there were only someone who was accurate enough to throw it through the hole..."

 

Watts also comes from 'a world that needs him (it)'. Without him the Great Leader would successfully take over every human mind on the planet. If both worlds are on the same time-line (it is the 'present' in both worlds) then the Great Leader was born far earlier than in the campaign world and the alternate world does not possess the technology to build the King-Slayer robots or send them back through time to stop the Great Leader before his powers manifested (yes Watts is a Terminator (sort of).

[Alibear]

Re: Only You Can...

 

The Cat carries a a staff (after a very long an convuluted campaign) which is basically the God of Law's avatar on our earth version.

 

Any foul or unclean beasties like Vampires or creatures of darkness are bought vulnerable to it. His martial punch with it 17d6 normally, a porent enough threat but when that is doubled against the unclean it's more than enough to destroy any he's encountered so far on contact.

 

If and when he meets a real evil godlike threat, Cthulhu or the like The Cat feels the staff will make the difference.

 

 

edit: It turns out one EX PC is Ithaca's (the Windwalker) daughter. He would make a decent threat.

[SKJAM!]

Re: Only You Can...

 

Like Vitus, *Talion* would gloat a little bit at the alternate New Legends team being forced to admit they need him, considering how little respect he's given in his own world.

 

Very little would have changed without him (different dead people), but the thing they'd need him for is a nearly unstoppable menace that just so happens isn't immune to its own powers.

[Hermit]

Re: Only You Can...

 

Aquatic - Ends up discovering that his efforts to help the meta teens in the city were not entirely in vain. Many of them that he helped would , in this other world, be in even worse shape if not for him. Further, his mother, never having found a reprieve of the madness of being stingray, might have enacted some truly terrible ritual that much sooner leading to disaster for Atlantis.

 

Or so I'd like to tell myself as a player

[Clonus]

Re: Only You Can...

 

Your character is contacted electronically or mystically by the supergroup they either belong to or most come into contact with, as appropriate.

 

Or that's what it looks like at first, but your character quickly spots that the people contacting them have subtle or obvious differences from the ones they know. They're also looking particularly beat-up/distressed. And indeed, the person calling soon admits that they are the parallel universe counterparts of said characters.

 

They explain that on their world, despite the many similarities, (name of character) never existed. Somehow, the group has managed to struggle along anyway (perhaps with a different member) until now, but a crisis has arisen. And only the powers/skills/unique properties of (name of character) can save the day.

 

The question is twofold:

a) How has the absence of your character changed things in this parallel world?

What sort of crisis would require your character, and only your character to solve?

 

Best luck!

 

Well in Riptide's case, his team would have disintegrated shortly after they formed. It was his idea, and he was the one who went out and recruited replacements every time they had a mass departure, which happened several times. Phoenix would have become a supervillain. And I suppose it's conceivable that 90% of the worlds population would be dead although that might be giving him too much credit. He did stop the plan, but someone else might have if he wasn't there.

 

As for the crisis, it would probably involve the Atlanteans, maybe ending a war with them.

[DusterBoy]

Re: Only You Can...

 

Futurian "Uh... You need me? Are you sure? Wait' date=' don't tell me. You have one or more 'Terminators' running around. Ok, if that's it, I'm in!" [i']That[/i] would be his big difference. He stopped a Terminator scout basically by himself. Seems he was "destined" to do that. When he thinks about that, he hates it. Good thing he doesn't think too much. (!?!?)

 

Terminators? Are we talking gleaming metal endoskeletons with red eyes here, or about something else?

[hfergus]

Re: Only You Can...

 

Terminators? Are we talking gleaming metal endoskeletons with red eyes here' date=' or about something else?[/quote']

Yup, that's what I'm talking about. Where he came from, everyone can defeat a terminator easily. That's what the power set they all have was for originally.

[Blue]

Re: Only You Can...

 

1)Lack of the character's presence

 

Uncle Slam not being present throughout many famous historical events would definitely foil the timeline, but more importantly without his iconic image there would have to be some other figure adopted, or for story purposes, we fail to hold together as a nation. The U.S. fractures into several large countries.

 

Anthem would have a far smaller effect. The crimes she has stopped at street level impacted dozens if not hundreds of lives. There is no major change in the time line overall, no "butterfly effect" that is noticable on a large scale.

 

Audra Blue's absence results in Nolan Brisbain, a prominant NPC, being killed after continuing his tour of South America. He never founds the campaign city, and that geomantic nexus that resides at that site instead is adorned by the massive Abbey of the Black Pope. From there he converts "the faithful" and controls much of the world through purveying a twisted image of God and what he wants of us.

 

2) The Crisis

 

Uncle Slam is contacted because the warring countries that were the United States cannot set aside their differences long enough to face down their Greatest foreign enemy. He's called into bring them together and lead their unified troops against these foreign invaders.

 

Anthem is destined to stop someone to whom she has no current attachment; a long time nemesis and time manipulator named Eldritch. She's slated to do so in our future, and that is why they contact her to help against him in their present. In their world, he is using his knowledge of future events to cause a war to break out (Think of an event like the Cuban Missile Crisis).

 

Audra Blue is the only person with the hacking skills to face down an A.I. that has control of the world's networked electronics.