What does your hero, or hero team, stand for?

[BobGreenwade]

I've recently started work on a book of supervillains for a publisher (that's all the detail on the deal that I'm going to share for right now), and I'd like to pose a question to superhero gamers in general to find the most common themes in your stories.

 

Superman, for example, was once held to fight "for truth, justice, and the American way." Batman lives to strike fear into the hearts of criminals, to make the streets of Gotham safe. Spider-Man's famous motto is, "With great power comes great responsibility."

 

Their greatest villains, by contrast, challenge these themes. Luthor is "the American way" (of capitalism) gone horribly wrong. The Joker lives to strike terror into the hearts of innocent civilians. The Green Goblin, Dr. Octopus, and the Kingpin use their great power not responsibly, but greedily.

 

So, to make the villains as interesting as possible, they should contrast with the heroes in some way.

 

In a game, the most frequent "theme" is just fighting superpowered crime, and there are no demands on the GM to make the stories any more interesting than crime-solving and -busting. This makes the motive of "just stealing big bucks and running away to someplace nice without an extradition treaty" sufficient.

 

But then there are always those others. If your heroes are together to protect the environment, then polluting super-corporations, eco-terrorists, and anti-life mystic threats would be the most appropriate. If your heroes exist to protect the planet from alien invasion, then there should be some invading aliens for them to protect the planet from. If your heroes have teamed up to hunt down mystical monsters, then such monsters are a necessary part of the equation. If their group mission is, in addition to fighting crime and protecting the population, to inspire young people to make a positive difference in society, then their main enemies could be a superpowered street-gang and character assassins.

 

It doesn't even have to be a mission, but a philosophy. Fighting crime to keep the streets safe invites villains who are especially violent and destructive, while fighting crime to ensure everyone's freedom invites villains who traffic in slavery, mind control, and similar offenses.

 

You probably get the basic idea by now. So what's your hero's, or hero team's, mission and/or core philosophy?

[bubba smith]

Re: What does your hero, or hero team, stand for?

 

tuff-man would be against sports corruption and ILLEGAL sports gambling

legitimate gaming at licensed beting facilities he has no problem with per se'

[TheQuestionMan]

Re: What does your hero, or hero team, stand for?

 

The Brigade Universe (Vol. 7) - The Granite City Brigade: X-Cons given a chance at redemption by the government. Superheroes for a year and a day in a city that desperately needs a Super Group.

 

 

Cheers

 

 

QM

[Egyptoid]

Re: What does your hero, or hero team, stand for?

 

Fourteen Suns:

 

The hero group was ad hoc, and the GM hardly gave us time to

theorize or philosophize. There was always work to do, someone to rescue.

The group's unofficial motto would be Don't ask Why me, Ask What Next ?

 

 

Seekers of Earth

 

This marvel group had to rebuild the Earth after Armageddon. Their motto was

Forget not that the earth itself enjoys to feel your bare feet and the winds love to play with your hair. They had to right wrongs, both in the environment, and those who abused the earth.

 

 

USA-5O

"I will never forget that I am an American crime-fighter, fighting for justice, responsible for my actions, and dedicated to the principles which make my country great, glorious, and free."

[Shadow Hawk]

Re: What does your hero, or hero team, stand for?

 

Face of Justice was a group of super powered vigilantes, who put out a press release that went...

 

We are all the people that have been murdered.

We are all the innocents who have been made to suffer.

We are the judge.

We are the jury.

And if need be, we will be the executioner.

We are the Face of Justice, no longer blind.

[Balabanto]

Re: What does your hero, or hero team, stand for?

 

A few examples from Legacies: There are lots more

 

Millennium Guard: A better future for all mankind.

 

OPAL: To assist people with difficult superpowers in adapting to society

 

Vigilance (Teens): Truth! Justice! Surviving High School!

[hfergus]

Re: What does your hero, or hero team, stand for?

 

Misfit League - Two kinda mashed together. "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing" and "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded."

 

To them, it means to use the powers, and use them well.

[Nothere]

Re: What does your hero, or hero team, stand for?

 

I've never really been a big fan of mission statements. Sure saying I'm here to protect the children sounds nice, but does that mean a 45 year old shouldn't bother asking for you help?

Though one charecter did sort of make a mission statment. When first confroted by a criminal who said "Who are you?" Scardey Cat replied

"I'm just a poor scared little kitty trying to get by in the cold cruel world."

Later he amended it by adding, "And if I can help someone else get along I'm glad to do it."

[AnotherSkip]

Re: What does your hero, or hero team, stand for?

 

Twilight Reargurd has a theme of Redemption (GM Enforced)

[Enforcer84]

Re: What does your hero, or hero team, stand for?

 

Looks at character sheet,

 

"Get your hands off of my woman Mother F$*#@&@#!"

That can't be right.

[Bloodstone]

Re: What does your hero, or hero team, stand for?

 

I think the Regulators were somewhere along the lines of:

 

"When things go bump in the night, we're the ones that bump back."

 

combined with...

 

"Man, I can't believe we get paid for this!"

[DusterBoy]

Re: What does your hero, or hero team, stand for?

 

My PCs all have truth and justice and protecting innocents as an important motivation, even though that might not be their primary one. Some of them, like RoadRunner and Domino, are out to have fun with their powers and adopt a more lighthearted attitude towards their crimefighting and heroics. Others, like Casimir, the leader of my version of the Champions (very much in the mould of Champs:New Millennium's Quantum) still thinks like a PRIMUS agent and pays a lot more attention to the actual legal niceties of the job. Black Steel (think the X-Men's Colossus) was a quarterback for the 49ers for brief period before his powers kicked in and sees himself as a professional superhero, so he tends to play to the crowds and enjoy himself more. He also coaches semi-pro teams when not superheroing. Naturally, his students think that having a bona fide superhero as a coach is absolutely awesome.

[Zed-F]

Re: What does your hero, or hero team, stand for?

 

My PC Soulbarb has twin themes of dealing with Mystic Threats, and of Redemption.

 

My PC Sylph/Maenad has a primary theme of Self-Discovery.

[shadowmage87]

Re: What does your hero, or hero team, stand for?

 

Well, my PCs have a very pro-freedom theme, sorta GM enforced. See, besides the obvious brick guy who robs banks just to see how long it takes him to rip the vault off its hinges, the main villains are a mega-corporation trying to push meta-human registration, a strong organized crime syndicate, the new federal agency established to police and monitor metas and a group of light-themed, extremely powerful supers who are trying to establish their own vision of a peaceful utopia (for the greater good).

 

I just realized how one-sided that is....

[Drhoz]

Re: What does your hero, or hero team, stand for?

 

The Skeleton Crew (of which Vitus was a reluctant member ) spent most of their time eyeing a hole in reality in the middle of town. Admittedly, it started off a nexus, and then Vitus dropped a dimension bomb on it. Hijinks ensued.