TheRealVector

I'm in the early stages of creating a new game, with gritty street level vigilante heroes. I asked my players for background ideas that would help facilitate cooperative role-playing. To this end I required that...

1) The characters would know each other and be on friendly terms at the beginning of the game.

2) No "lone wolfs" of any type.

3) Have some reasonably "realistic" motivations to risk their lives, freedom and reputations by becoming vigilantes.

The players then decided that they would all be elite ex-military men who were exposed to unknown chemicals during the early operations of the Iraq invasion. This exposure, while causing no adverse effects at the time, triggers the growth of their strange powers once back in the States many months later. Over time they contact one another and discover they all have similar problems and eventually come together in Chicago. They decide to keep their new powers a secret and, in motivations ranging from a simple strong sense of justice to a "Death Wish" like scenario, they decide to use their military knowledge and new powers to fight crime in Chicago.

OK, too late to avoid all those clichés, but in 2007 what are ya going to do?

Where I want to avoid further clichés is in the overall story arc.

- Why were the chemicals there?

- Who created them?

- Was it coincidence that the characters were there to be exposed?

- Does anyone else have similar powers? Who and why?

- Are they being watched? Manipulated?

- What does the military and the governments really know?

Government conspiracies, black ops, evil corporations, etc. Who hasn't heard it all?

Let me know what you think are the lamest, most overused clichés in this area. Tell me what tired ideas you wouldn't use.

Since one of my players frequents these boards I can't really use any good plot ideas, I just want to get advice on the overused one so I can reverse engineer something almost original.

Thanks in advance.

Re: Order of the Stick

I have started to feel ill from the sheer slaughter. Still' date=' that's what happens. I don't expect such to last at this level beyond, say... the siege. A siege is a nasty business, and it's perhaps proper that it SHOULD be harrowing.[/quote']

 

 

Anybody notice that they're just little stick figures in a cartoon?

Re: Order of the Stick

I really enjoy The Order of the Stick but I have found myself rooting for the "bad guys" more and more. Then again, I'm evil

Re: Venture Brothers Hero?

So how many points is Dr. Girlfriend's Distinctive Feature: Manly Voice worth? I'm thinking a lot! LOL

Re: A Thin Moral Line...?

Sorry I guess I get a little worked up:stupid:

Just let off a little steam and you'll be fine.

Re: A Thin Moral Line...?

Getting close to NGD territory here' date=' but fear of the consequences isn't ethics, in my opinion. Ethics is doing the right thing despite the fact that doing the worng thing would be to your benefit.[/quote']

 

 

I think he was just pointing out some of the fringe benefits of morality, not saying that fear of consequences should be the only motivating factor.

Re: Venture Brothers Hero?

Can't wait to see a list of Dr. Ventures psych disadvantages. Will there be enough room?

Re: Venture Brothers Hero?

These are awesome writeups. Can't wait to get home and down load them.

Go Team Venture!

Re: Disturbing Character premises...

Yeah' date=' it's that pesky freewill thing you see.[/quote']

 

I thought with great power comes great responsibility? LOL

Re: Worst. Hero. Ever.

No offense' date=' but I didn't have to [i']watch[/i] DragonBallZ to know it would suck.

 

It radiates the suckitude.

Never watched the show but I think I saw a brief snippet of it once while changeing channels. All I saw was some sort of over-muscled martian dude yelling at some sort of midget. Weird.

Re: The Hero Forum's Hottest Woman in Comics.

2. This whole thing reminds me of a comic strip near the end of the Bloom County Run, where everyone was trying to find new jobs. Steve Dallas wanted to be in a comic book because "All the women look like Dolly Parton in zero gravity."

But he got a job as Cathy's (of the strip Cathy) new love interest. She ran screaming.

Oh, Bloom County...good times.

I vote for either Emma Frost or Clea (of Dr. Strange fame). What's with the platinum blonds when I really like redheads more?

Re: Maxim's Hottest Comic Females

Dawn

If you love redheads, nuff said.

Re: Are there any Champions Players in Texas?

I'm in Amarillo. Sorry I'm so far away.

Re: New Avengers are very Dark Champions

Can't we all just agree that mutant freaks and nutcase vigilantes should all be imprisoned or exterminated?

Re: Worst. Hero. Ever.

I'll stick to characters who've stood the test of time and remain' date=' for some reason or another, popular. Superman is overpowered and, because of it, could be considered boring. Punisher doesn't fit well into his setting and shouldn't be hanging around with superheroes, regardless. Still, both are better than [b']Cable[/b], right?

 

Cable is a mess of a character with no real redeeming value. He's a monument to how screwed up continuity and characters can get when editors don't - or aren't allowed to - do their job. And he's still in the comics! They should've killed him off or sent him back to whenever he came from years ago so that people would forget him. Instead, he worms his way into the books, time and again. Blech...

Yes, death to Cable...then Superman.

Re: Top Eleven Adversaries of Arnold

Too bad they haven't made that one yet.

Just like I've always said about Highlander: I bet if they ever made a sequel it would seriously suck! So glad that didn't happen.

Re: Worst. Hero. Ever.

Alas, Cable was not cool. Cable sucked donkey. Cable was the harbinger of an era of great suck in comics.

 

However, Cable was also the product of an artist who only made pretensions to being a writer after he was given the store by Marvel execs who were so gooey-pantied over his (briefer than he'd have you believe) honeymoon period with the indiscriminate fandom. Cable was created with the express intent of looking cool and nothing else. So, he wound up looking preposterous, like a walking self-caricture. That's not far to fall from a character created with such low ambitions to begin with.

Re: Maxim's Hottest Comic Females

Did we learn nothing from the "Misogyny In Role-Playing" (which quickly devolved into "misogyny in comics") thread?

LOL

*whoops*

Re: Top Eleven Adversaries of Arnold

Its a call to implied and mythic authority and really means' date=' "no matter what you say, I'm right."[/quote']

 

 

This argument is often the first refuge of those who deny my mystic authority.

 

And since this whole thread is based on our subjective views of Arnie's top adversaries I don't see how getting pedantic about Catacomb's rhetoric really helps.

 

Von D-Man...You take yourself too seriously.

 

Besides, all real sentients know that Giger's Alien is "Pretty much the coolest on screen realization of an alien ever". Or that dude at the end of Contact, whichever.

Re: A Thin Moral Line...?

Considering that ordinary humans still required centuries of debate and armed conflict to establish rule of law and the limits of the state, I can't see any reason to think that a world with supers would have been any neater. While there might have been "superhero wars" between super to establish ground rules, it's just as likely that wars were fought between super and normals with the same result. A lot would depend on the exact era when supers first became common.

 

Keep in mind the mere existence of people with powers wouldn't necessarily change things either way. The existence of persons with malevolent paranormal powers (witches) was an assumption in the real world from the days of the Roman Republic through the 18th century; and was a capital crime in every nation from China to England.

Witches don't have real super powers though. LOL

Or do they?

Re: A Thin Moral Line...?

Exactly...in a world of supers we'd think and behave differantly, because we'd have worked this out. I have to wonder about the whole aproved/sanctioned by society argument (despite the irony concerning myself) does that mean the sanctioned torture/rape specialists working for dicator#777 are "Heros"?

 

They certainly work "within the law"....

And so do ambulance chasing lawyers. There not heroes either. LOL

Re: Top Eleven Adversaries of Arnold

If only we had an archived repository of movie information. Searchable even....

 

IMDB lists Sarah Douglas as "Queen Taramis."

 

Would that be her?

Actually I was just at IMDB for a couple of the names on my list. I asked the question in the spirit of continued dialogue about hot actresses who look good in black leather.

Even more fun than IMDB.

Re: Top Eleven Adversaries of Arnold

Actually' date=' my vote goes to the evil queen in the second Conan movie. And that one actually FELT like a real Conan story. As cheesy as it was, it didn't suck like the first one.[/quote']

 

Good nominee! What's that actress' name?

Re: Top Eleven Adversaries of Arnold

"You have what you want Cohaagen now give these peoplee eaaaarrrr."

 

No Cohaagen, no list. One of the best baddies ever.

 

Also, how did Kyle Reese not make the list?

Your so right, Catacomb. No Cohaagen or Reese? Did this guy actually watch all of Arnie's movies?

My version of the list...

10. Lori - Sharon Stone (Total Recal)

9. Bennett - Vernon Wells (Commando)

8. Various Kindergarten Kids - Various (Kindergarten Cop)

7. Richter - Michael Ironside (Total Recall)

6. Thulsa Doom - James Earl Jones (Conan the Barbarian)

5. Kyle Reese - Michael Biehn (Terminator)

4. Damon Killian - Richard Dawson (The Running Man)

3. Vilos Cohaagen - Ronny Cox (Total Recal)

2. T-1000 Robert Patrick (Terminator 2)

1. Predator - Some Dude In A Suit (Predator)

Re: A Thin Moral Line...?

I think we've also missed another important distinction: In a world where supers exist' date=' the law would have developed in a very different way than it has in the real world.[/i'] If there were villains with superhuman powers, then the heroes who try to stop them wouldn't be considered quasilegal or extralegal; their existence would be assumed and duly incorporated into the law.

Interesting. Perhaps there would have been some sort of "Civil War" amongst the early hereos as the society, and the law, attempted to incorporate them?