There's A New Sheriff In Town

[Certified]

Story Notes

 

This What Would Your Character Do is designed for Non-Iron Age heroes and/or heroes with a Code Versus Killing in a setting where heroes are unlikely to kill.

 

Prelude

 

While investigating a theft matching the style of a long time enemy you track down their current safe house. The pace seems to have been abandoned for days and their is no sign of their goons anywhere. Locating the master control room you find your foe and their assistant horribly burned, their skin blackened with no other real clues as to what has happened. The stolen items are in the control room as well protected from the fire by the safe they were stored in.

 

As the days after the death happen other known super powered criminals begin turning up all burn in the same manor. Following a lead on another crime you track the villain to an ally where they see a small girl in a ballerina outfit try to stop them. Laughing they push the girl out of the way to which she responds: You're a bad man. At this point there is a blinding flash of light. Blinded you can hear the momentary screams before the air is burned from the villains lungs.

 

The criminal killer could not be more than eight or nine. tracking her seems like it wont be a problem. When you find her though, What Would Your Character Do?

[bubba smith]

Re: There's A New Sheriff In Town

 

Alert both the police and the juveinile athorities

[Hyper-Man]

Re: There's A New Sheriff In Town

 

My namesake hero would hold his breath and attempt to capture her.

[assault]

Re: There's A New Sheriff In Town

 

Interesting genre clash. Clearly the girl is a demon or something of the sort. Time to call in the local mystic.

 

While my various characters would hold back until her nature was proven, they would feel entitled to respond with increased levels of violence once it was.

 

In other words, the "girl" would go splat.

[CrosshairCollie]

Re: There's A New Sheriff In Town

 

Thank Insert-Deity-Here for NNDs and Stun Only energy blasts. All my characters have 'em.

[Cygnia]

Re: There's A New Sheriff In Town

 

Finding out what the nature of this entity is would be key. Cascade's water powers at least can help neutralize/restrain this creature. Rather than treat her as "evil", she'd want to know if perhaps this is a spirit looking to be put to final rest. And for that, it's time to see if any child ballerinas (accidentally) died in a fire in Campaign City's history, especially a fire caused by a villain battle.

 

Shadow Wing has spirit sight and is probably in a better position to tell if this a lost soul looking for vengeance to be finally put to rest or is a more malicious entity corrupting the face of the innocent. His NND doesn't work on the innocent (those who have a CvK humans) but this creature seems to have willingly crossed the line, seemingly young age or not.

[drunkonduty]

Re: There's A New Sheriff In Town

 

My UNTIL power armoured cop would, calmly and quietly, talk to the kid and explain that what she is doing is not good. She would be careful to explain that she, my character, is a Cop and therefore a Good Guy(Girl) and work from there. She is a cop so she would have to try and bring the kid in, but with words. And would argue on the side of diminished responsibility. Maybe try to get the kid enrolled in one of those schools for mutants she's heard about in lieu of a sentence.

 

Um, did I miss something? Why are so many folks assuming this is some vengeful spirit? Why not a mutant whose powers have manifested early? Or any other super hero motif for that matter. Maybe she's a super genius and designed that a Power Tutu she's wearing?

[bubba smith]

Re: There's A New Sheriff In Town

 

the ones who read the OP must be thinking of the horror movie trope demonic possesion

[DusterBoy]

Re: There's A New Sheriff In Town

 

I'm thinking along the lines of a little girl with simplistic morality and very little (or perhaps no) conscious control of her powers.

 

Who knows? When she is made to realise the full import of what she has done, she may well be horrified.

 

Calm and kind and compassionate is the way to go here. Explain what she is doing is wrong and that real people are dying in a very horrific manner. Tell her that there are schools where she can learn to control her powers. Talk her down, make it easier her for her to give herself up, tell that she is not in trouble, 'cos we are looking at diminished responsibility here, right?

[assault]

Re: There's A New Sheriff In Town

 

Um' date=' did I miss something? Why are so many folks assuming this is some vengeful spirit? Why not a mutant whose powers have manifested early? Or any other super hero motif for that matter. Maybe she's a super genius and designed that a Power Tutu she's wearing?[/quote']

 

Yes, you did miss something. She's a genre mismatch. (Outside some of the darker Bronze Age stuff, anyway.)

 

She's a monster, not a heroine. She's past the point of redemption. The best possible fate available to her is a tragic death.

[Certified]

Re: There's A New Sheriff In Town

 

Researching the nature of her powers will reveal that the girl is a human mutant. Looking into who she may be a girl matching her description went missing from a foster several weeks prior after the family's home burned down.

 

- - -

 

Yes, you did miss something. She's a genre mismatch. (Outside some of the darker Bronze Age stuff, anyway.)

 

She's a monster, not a heroine. She's past the point of redemption. The best possible fate available to her is a tragic death.

 

The little girl is meant to be out of place. The reason for the genre notes at the beginning of the post were to establish that things like heroes and villains dying was not common place or more likely a rare occurrence. Deciding what to do about/with the child becomes a lot easier when "heroes" are killers. Although, this storyline really does not belong in a heavy Silver Age game I didn't want to narrow things down too much initially.

[Drhoz]

Re: There's A New Sheriff In Town

 

Sadly both Vitus and Zero are pretty Iron Age ( must be all the hemoglobin ) so they wouldn't get to respond here.

 

If he did, Vitus's response would probably be pat the kid on the head and say "Good girl".

 

Actually, he'd be genuinely concerned - he likes kids, and the main reason he sometimes threatens to use them as experimental test subjects is because he doesn't want to risk becoming too emotionally attached to anyone again. He's been hurt too many times by the horrible murder of people he cares about. And this kid could very easily wander into a situation she can't handle.

[Kal'El Wayne]

Re: There's A New Sheriff In Town

 

Well, our group have a continuous Golden/Silver/Four-Colour universe that we tend to use whenever we want to run a lighter kind of Supers game (Which is nine times out of ten) and we have pretty much adopted my first Hero system character as being like Bat-God on steroids. Sir Johnstone never actually adventures anymore, things 'just happen' in a way that is technically untraceable back to him. (Basically think God without the mystery.) And since he hates people who even use the image of a child to do evil, this sort of thing never ever happens in our Code Versus Killing universe. And like you said, in other games it wouldn't matter.

[assault]

Re: There's A New Sheriff In Town

 

Well... the logic of the universe suggests that she is doomed, one way or another. It's all about vainly trying to prevent that doom at this stage. And, of course, containing her so she doesn't do any more harm.

 

The last thing is the first priority. Her powers could make it difficult for the more Batman-y kind of characters, but even they should be able to manage it.

 

Clearly her powers need to be suppressed. Her mutation needs to be cured. If that's not possible she needs to be put into suspended animation of some sort. Possibly forever.

 

If her powers can be removed, she will also need to have her memories erased. Then she can be released, but...

 

The reason why Phoenix had to die comes into play in this situation. The body count is too high to be dismissed. She's doomed. The long term suspended animation situation seems the most likely, or else she will be destroyed by her own powers a la Terra.

 

This situation is as much a horror story as a superhero one.

[Cygnia]

Re: There's A New Sheriff In Town

 

Yeah, the cynic in me is seeing this as some twisted mish-mash of Bernie Goetz with Mary Bell. :-/

[drunkonduty]

Re: There's A New Sheriff In Town

 

Mmm. Not seeing the 'she has to die' thing. I hear your point about her being 'out of place' but that's her role as a villain after all. I just don't think that killing her (or damn close: eternal hot sleep, memory erasing and power suppression are all pretty extreme) is the only possible response here.

 

In fact I'd say killing her is all a bit Old Testament/Eye for an Eye morality of the sort you'd get in Iron Age stuff. Heroes with CvK should be looking at a kinder, gentler approach. And even if the Universe gets her in a karmic sort of way that's just the GM doing the same thing (going all Old Testament) using a deus ex machina. Which comes of as preachy. Not to mention who plays RPGs so the GM can solve everything with a deus ex machina?

 

So, to re-state: a character with a CvK should not be gunning down a child (again: diminished responsibility) who has committed crimes, even serial murder.

[assault]

Re: There's A New Sheriff In Town

 

Heroes with CvK should be looking at a kinder' date=' gentler approach.[/quote']

 

Removing her powers and her memories of what she did is the kinder, gentler approach.

 

It's what Superman and Batman would do.

 

But the reality is that she would go mad and destroy herself.

 

None of this has anything to do with the heroes killing her.

 

EDIT: I present The Comics Code.

[Zed-F]

Re: There's A New Sheriff In Town

 

The criminal killer could not be more than eight or nine. tracking her seems like it wont be a problem. When you find her though' date=' What Would Your Character Do?[/quote']

 

My characters: do nothing for a moment while I OOC ask the GM, are you sure you want to take the game there? This is an out-of-genre element for a CvK-oriented game -- at least assuming having the air burned from one's lungs is a lethal attack.

 

I can play Soulbarb (for instance) effectively either way, but once we start down this road, the game is going to get an awful lot uglier in a big hurry. Her entire character progression is centered around a gradual move from a cynical Iron Age outlook on life to a more optimistic one, as a result of her discovering certain truths about herself and as a result of the impact her own actions have on the world around her. 'Turning back the clock' on her character development by changing the tone of the game in this sort of way is certainly possible, but alternatively this may be a chance for her to provide the voice of experience on why things are not done that way. I'd want to get a very clear message from the GM on what his/her intentions are before proceeding here.

[Certified]

Re: There's A New Sheriff In Town

 

My characters: do nothing for a moment while I OOC ask the GM, are you sure you want to take the game there? This is an out-of-genre element for a CvK-oriented game -- at least assuming having the air burned from one's lungs is a lethal attack.

 

I can play Soulbarb (for instance) effectively either way, but once we start down this road, the game is going to get an awful lot uglier in a big hurry. Her entire character progression is centered around a gradual move from a cynical Iron Age outlook on life to a more optimistic one, as a result of her discovering certain truths about herself and as a result of the impact her own actions have on the world around her. 'Turning back the clock' on her character development by changing the tone of the game in this sort of way is certainly possible, but alternatively this may be a chance for her to provide the voice of experience on why things are not done that way. I'd want to get a very clear message from the GM on what his/her intentions are before proceeding here.

 

Based on what you've said this may actually be an ideal dilemma for someone like Soulbarb. For them it could serve as a kind of redemption through proxy or a test of how far they've come. The story is not meant to overtake the campaign but it seems like it may have a more personal touch for this character.

 

- - -

 

To help with the confusion about the setting clash let me add a bit of clarification. The child has only recently discovered her mutant abilities and although she is trying to do the right thing she has little to no control over them. It is unclear if she realizes the full implications of what she is doing other than stopping bad people.

 

- - -

 

As for her being out of place in a code versus killing world. I wanted to create a situation where it was a really stark comparison what she was doing wasn't really aligned with the world as a whole. Someone mentioned the Dark Phoenix Saga another good example I think is the original Days of Future Past.

[Zed-F]

Re: There's A New Sheriff In Town

 

Certainly Soulbarb's Soulsight and a few questions would be adequate for her to determine the nature of the situation; the emphasis on communication is to ensure the GM and the player both agree on the nature of the situation.

 

For it to be really appropriate for Soulbarb to act as a long-term mentor, the person in question would probably have to be over the age of majority, or at least close enough that they could reasonably be responsible for themselves. Soulbarb has no particular interest in being a substitute parent for someone else's child. She does, on the other hand, have sufficient connections to be able to get the child invited to the local equivalent of PS-238, where they have people more suited to the education of superpowered youth. Most likely, the end result would be that Soulbarb teaches the kid a couple life lessons while she gets the ball rolling on that score, and by the time the story arc has come to a conclusion, the paperwork to get the kid enrolled will have been completed and someone else will be able to take over -- likely to Soulbarb's relief, as unless this is coming quite late in her career, she isn't ready to be a parent yet and doesn't view herself as role-model material.

[drunkonduty]

Re: There's A New Sheriff In Town

 

Ah well, assault, I think you and I are going to have to agree to disagree on this one.

 

My character isn't going to assume certain genre conventions are going to kick in (ie: karma will get her.) And I, as a player, don't see much between killing and a memory wipe. And if, IF mind, the memory wipe is kinder than killing there is a still kinder option and that is guidance. CvK suggests to me that you should be opting for the kindest option.

 

But I do see where you're coming from, the responses you favour would be genre appropriate for Silver Age. I would find myself kickin' against the genre in this case. (I'm not very silver age, what can I say?)

 

cheers.

[assault]

Re: There's A New Sheriff In Town

 

Ah well' date=' assault, I think you and I are going to have to agree to disagree on this one.[/quote']

 

It's a big enough world for both of us.

 

My character isn't going to assume certain genre conventions are going to kick in (ie: karma will get her.)

 

Neither would mine. But I would. I've got that touch of Genre Fiend and Tragedian. Oh the angst!

 

And I, as a player, don't see much between killing and a memory wipe. And if, IF mind, the memory wipe is kinder than killing there is a still kinder option and that is guidance. CvK suggests to me that you should be opting for the kindest option.

 

It would be a partial memory wipe, aimed at getting rid of the whole "OMG I BBQed those people!" trauma, but leaving her personality intact.

 

Incidentally, my character would investigate her home situation, to try to discover what triggered the whole episode, and, if possible, put it right. That has the risk of changing the game from superheroes to social workers, but it's "what Superman or Batman would do".

 

But I do see where you're coming from, the responses you favour would be genre appropriate for Silver Age. I would find myself kickin' against the genre in this case. (I'm not very silver age, what can I say?)

 

Yeah. Of course I had to use Bronze Age reference points (Dark Phoenix, Terra) myself. And Golden Age ones - Superman met abusive spouses and exploited orphans in his early activist days. The denial of superpowers to those incapable of using them correctly was very Silver Age though. Bordering on superdickery at times.

 

cheers.