Else Earth: Project Superteam!

[Enforcer84]

Project: Superteam!

Reality Show on AAN (All-American Network)

 

• Series one 2002
• Series two 2004
• Series Three 2010

 

Project: Superteam! Was a casting-call based reality tv show in the vein of American Idol and its countless successors. The first series is still the most watched Television series ever.

 

The premise of the show was inviting costumed heroes from around the world to try out for a spot on the roster of a brand new, fully financially backed super hero team. The winners would have their costumes redesigned by fashion industry icons, the team would have a base, a vehicle, a sophisticated computer/communications system and a merchandising contract.

 

Series One: Philadelphia

The initial two episodes featured over 100 colorful heroes of varying levels of experience, a few grown up former sidekicks, heroes from smaller regions hoping to join the big leagues and a fair number of eccentrics in costumes who were bounced out as soon as they tried to show their “powers.”

 

After a field of 25 was chosen to proceed to the actual contest the heroes moved to Philadelphia to a temporary HQ while the contest continued. Philly was chosen for its surprisingly scant hero scene for a city its size.

 

After fifteen episodes that tested their combat abilities against robots, traps, and stuntmen. Tested their tactical thinking with quizzes, mock hostage situations, and games, and their presence and charisma with interviews; the final ten heroes found themselves in a real-life event.

 

A group of villains some who had worked together previously but many who had not took umbrage with the idea and attacked the studio. The heroes won the day and the final cuts were made shortly after the cleanup.

 

Dubbed the Freedom Force (named for Philly’s lone hero team that disbanded in the 90’s) the team consisted of: Anvil, Cross, Kale, Mahnn Ms. Mist, Pride Master, and Ratri were chosen. They later offered membership to Micron. Kale finally took a super hero code name as Mettle.

 

The team got along very well, they worked hard, developed teamwork and have a good reputation in their home town. The rest of the superhero community were less open to them at first, treating them like a bunch of posers.

 

It was also later revealed that the villains who attacked during the “Finals” were paid by the show.

 

The Freedom Force is still active in Philadelphia, though Pride Master left the team in 2005 because he missed his home in New York. He was replaced with a local heroine known as Liberty Belle. Micron was killed tragically in the line of duty in 2011 and the team added former contestant Phaeton.

 

 

Series Two: Portland

Taking place in the Pacific Northwest, another metahuman light area of the US, series two promised even more drama and craziness. This time the tryouts attracted even more people and the judges let a few of the more oddballs through.

 

The formula played out fairly straight-forward but this time the producers lost control. A few of the contestants turned out to me far more ruthless and ambitious than the first series. Going so far as to try and eliminate the competition in discreet ways. At the end of the series there were 15 heroes vying for seven spots.

The “Oh my gosh it’s Supervillains!” Finale erupted into a three-way battle between the hired gun supervillains, the “good” contestants and a contingent of contestants who decided they’d simply take the prize.

 

In the end, a team called the Northwest Guardians emerged consisting of: Amazing Man, The Blaster, Commando, Crimson Magus, Lady Godiva, Skyhigh, and Scout.

 

The team took some flack when it was revealed that Scout was under-aged. They also had to deal with the fallout of the Blaster’s not infrequent property damage. This lead to the network to cease insuring the team and cut their funding. 

 

The team disbanded in 2007 after an attack by their former fellow contestants gone rogue left Commando gravely injured and the Blaster dead. In 2010 the team reformed with original members Amazing Man, Crimson Magus, and Lady Godiva. They added new members Oberon and Titania, White Rose and the Canadian Shield. The latter two helping the team with their funding.

 

Skyhigh moved to Los Angeles and joined the Golden State Guard.

 

Commando and Scout have close ties with the team and are considered “Reserve Members” while Scout finishes school. Commando works as the team’s trainer and tactician.

 

 

Series Three: Heroes in Paradise.

After the ratings disappointment and money pit that was series two the producers at AAN shelved Superteam! for years, finally making a comeback in 2010 with the Hawaiian series. This proved to be the final hurrah of the franchise. Ratings were up from previous series but the costs were getting astronomical and the superheroic community had grown to view it as unfavorable for true heroes to appear on it. This series had more drama, infighting, and craziness than the other two combined. One hero, The Golden Flame came out as gay only to retract this as an attempt to sway the judges; a love triangle turned violent as Mister Mako (a contestant from year one) attacked and tried to eat Electron as they were both wooing (badly) the lovely Planewalker.

 

In the end, a team of barely compatible heroes formed the Champions of the Pacific: Bungee Boy, Bunny, Electron, Mr. Adonis, and Vault Man stayed a team about as long as the average Bachelor/Bachelorette winner stays engaged.

 

The most redeeming feature of Series 3 was the tributes paid to the heroes who had died in the line of duty from previous series.

 

Their base was later purchased at a steep discount by a philanthropist who reformed the Champions of the Pacific, keeping only Planewalker and Vault Man from the original team. Curiously, many of the heroes added to the team had appeared in the previous seasons: Professor Powerful (Series 1), Freebird (Series 2), Bullettrain (Series 1), and Cinderblock (Series 2). Finally, a local hero, a girl-genius named Akua. 

 

 

 

 

In the end, the Project Superteam! Franchise begat three (or five, depending on how you look at it) hero teams of middling power that persist to today. Gave several heroes and heroines television exposure, sold a lot of merchandise and were a credible source of reality entertainment.

 

They also led to the creation of a villain team known as the Castaways that more or less act as hunteds for all three teams. They're mostly publicity seeking but are dangerous in that pursuit. 

 

 

[Enforcer84]

GM's Notes: If you've never read Todd Nauck's Wildguard: Casting Call mini series, do so, it's great. Between this and the Avengers Experimental Franchise adventure from the old TSR Marvel Superheroes game I've done hero tryouts adventures a lot. I love the concept. These games were mostly played for laughs - many of the heroes were (4th Ed) 200 points or 275 in 5th Ed, they'd probably be 300 pts in 6e. 

 

The heroes were generally one trick ponies. 

 

Of the heroes I can recall: 

Amazing Man - a Superman Light built on 275 points. He had a 55 STR and was the strongest of any of the characters. Gained his powers from a Scion Stone (mystical stones that grant super powers - generally sentient but small pieces can be "dumb") 

Anvil - Brick in almost literal sense of the word. 30 STR, brawler, absorption as a defense to his defenses. Life Support and Knockback resistance. A mechanic from New Jersey. 

Beaverman - Low Level Brick. Guy is from Corvallis and a long-time Oregon State fan. A little nuts. Still patrols the Northwest. He's surprisingly popular. 

Blaster, The - This guy had One BIG power 20d6 EB with Variable Advantage (+1/2) and a bit of armor (3rpd/14red) he was otherwise normal. Had a low CV. Tried so hard to be a hero but was generally a menace. Gave his life fighting the Castoffs. Memorialized by his former team-mates and a hologram of him is on permanent display in the lobby of the All-American Network.

Bullet Train - Low Level Brick/Speedster. Runs into things. Former Football player who gained powers trying to use super science to recover from career ending injury. 

Bungee Boy - Stretcher. Child of a superheroic father, Master Elastic who died in battle. He chose the name Bungee Boy to try out and make mistakes hoping to take his father's moniker when he matured. Underaged at the time of his series. Now in his early 20's and going by Master Elastic.

Bunny - Animal Powers, She knows its a dumb name. But her powers are her powers. Minor speedster/hopper with strong legs and martial arts. As she's matured she's pondering changing her name to Rabbit. 

Captain Cardinal - (Series 1) A flight suit with sonic resistance. This guy was created before I moved from CU to Else Earth, his original hook was a desire to save Bluejay from villainy. (Childhood friend) Bluejay isn't in the Else Earth Universe so he became just a bird-themed battle suit guy. 

Cinderblock - A carbon copy of Anvil. Almost literally I changed the secret ID and reused him. Quietly removed him from history. 

Commando - A military-trained vigilante. Not quite the Punisher, Commando wasn't a killer, used special non-lethal ammo. Father of Scout. Their career as Hero and Sidekick was fraught with danger from Children's Services as Scout's occasional bruises and bumps were red flags at school. 

Crimson Magus - A kid who inherited an antique bookstore who found a living grimoire that trained him in sorcery. The Book was his familiar. His bookstore became the Northwest Guardians' base for a while. Book's name is Libram

Cross - A kinetic manipulator. He could stop people in their tracks, absorb Kinetic Energy into STR. An EMT and very popular fellow from the first series. 

Deacon Free - (Series 2) a skilled survivalist and combatant. Deacon Free was a flag suited vigilante from the midwest whose bodycount had been carefully hidden from the show's producers. He desperately wanted to win and get financial backing for his war against evil. Charismatic, he manged to convince a few of the less morally upright contestants of his series to join him in "overthrowing the tyranny of the network." Formed the Outcasts shortly afterwards. Hated Commando. 

Electron - Electrical powers and electronics skills. Straight forward and underpowered. I still have him in Hawaii fighting crime. He'd be about 400 points now. 

Fire Fighter - (Series 2) - Fireman in a suit of powered armor based around firefighting and rescue. Operates out of Seattle area now.

Firewatcher - (Series 1) Typical flame wielder. Orphan, is unsure of his heritage but his mother was a supervillain. Moved to the Midwest and fights crime there. 

Freebird - Naturalized Metahuman with wings from Alabama. Tough as nails and quite the southern gentleman. He's very popular with the local media.

Geothermal - (Series 3) Powered Armor guy I swiped from Millennium City and plopped into Else Earth. 

Golden Flame - Came out to give himself a "backstory" in series 3 then recanted after he'd been cut. He's been regretting that ever since. He is not gay. He fights crime in relative anonymity in Chicago. 

Lady Godiva - Lawyer and martial artist with beauty powers that are more effective the closer to naked she is. She wears a surprisingly modest costume that she can peel off bits to enhance her powers. She has an unwanted following. 

Micron - A gadgeteer shrinker. He got smarter as he got smaller. He did very well in the tests but his small size made him less marketable so he was passed over. Joined the team later. Died in battle. 

Mister Mako - Shark Powers. VERY short fuse. Tried to kill a fellow contestant over the affections of another contestant. Now a member of the Castoffs. He blames Electron and Planewalker and seeks to destroy them. 

Mettle - a strong man who turns into steel. Lost his wife to Cancer but before she died she made him swear to do something with his superhuman gifts. Does the hero thing in her name. Very popular. Started seeing an EMT in 2011. 

Mr. Adonis - Self-Loving Strongman. Made the cut because he's a romance novel cover come to life. He was easy to market. He's like a law-abiding Bulldozer. He was a horrible team mate. Still fights crime, moves around a lot because he has a habit of harassing women and no team keeps him on for long.

Ms. Mist - Comes from a crime fighting family. Her super powers are unique though. She is her team's leader and tactician. She was underaged when she appeared on the show (she was 16) has grown leaps and bounds as an athlete and combatant since 2002. 

Night Warden - (Series 1) A former sidekick to the masked detective Knight Hawk, tried to set himself up as leader early on but had trouble connecting with the others. Cut in the seventh episode and took a break from the business for a while before returning to fight crime in Chicago. 

Phaeton - A Captain Marvel pastiche. Solar Powered strong man who's strength faded at night. He was only 11 (though in his Phaeton Form looked mid 20's) when he tried out for the team. He and Ratri were kind of smitten with one another but once he revealed his true age she freaked out. When he joined the team later she avoided him for a while. Now that he's an adult they've been pondering a relationship. 

Planewalker - a teleporter who can transport items at range. She's driven, professional, and attractive. Very popular heroine in the Islands. 

Pride Master - feline powers and control. His cat-like behavior made him a television smash but kind of creeped out the judges. Never the less he was chosen, fought the good fight for a while but couldn't shake his homesickness for New York. Left the team to fight crime in NYC.

Professor Powerful - A octogenarian who gained super powers on vacation. Wages a "war" with a similarly powered old villain (They're friends but chose the opposite sides of the law). He's not the most powerful superman clone out there but he's a fair sight more powerful than your average 80 year old. (STR 45)

Ratri - A moon-goddess in training. She was very popular in Series 1 and the attraction between her and Phaeton was obvious and played very well. When he revealed his true age to her (she was 18 at the time of the series) She freaked out. Now they're cautiously dating. She has desolidification, darkness, and moon based powers.

Scorpio 7 - (Series 2) The answer to the question, what if Batman had come from a family of criminal professional wrestlers? Really a question no one asked. One of the few over cost heroes in the adventures. He had skills and perks up the wazzo but was basically a brawler and looked like Sting of the WCW in his trench coat years. 

Scout - the extremely agile side kick to Commando. She learned everything from her dad. Underaged (13) during the series shooting, her biggest hunted was children's services. When her father was injured she promised to go to college and then decide if she wanted to follow in the heroic footsteps. Military training but preferred not to use firearms. 

Skyhigh - a growth brick who gained her powers from her former NBA bench warmer father who tried to ensure that his kids would be basketball stars. A very normal girl who had superheroing thrust upon her. She grew to like it (hah! Pun!) however and moved to California to be closer to her family. Her brother didn't get super powers however and is a star for the Sacramento Kings. 

Thunderbolt - (Series 3) A flying speedster with sonic boom powers, lost his temper during his series and attacked one of the other contestants. Then attacked one of the judges. Later joined the Outcasts. 

Vault Man - Son of a supervillain with speed powers, Vault Man inherited powerful legs and is a leaping hero. Trying to atone for his father's sins. Skilled hand to hand fighter and can kick like a mule. 

[pinecone]

Very nice! I will be using some  of this for sure.